⚔️ Set 11 Guide for Inkshadow Items

One of the new traits added in Set 11 is called Inkshadow. Similar to Shimmerscale from Set 7, this trait grants you bonus items that you can give to ANY unit on your board. It can be difficult for newer players to understand how to properly utilize these items, so in this guide I will cover the different paths you can take in your game.

There are a total 6 different Inkshadow Tattoos. 3 of them are offensive and 3 of them are defensive. If you activate the trait you receive your first item, with 5 Inkshadow you receive your second item and with 7 Inkshadow you receive two additional items for a total of four.

The exact items you can receive is random every game, but they will always follow this pattern:

• Offensive -> Defensive -> One of each
• Defensive -> Offensive -> One of each

The selection is different for every player. The best way to find out which items you can receive is to either hover over the Inkshadow trait or simply open up the Teamplanner and add a random Inkshadow unit like Jax and hover over the trait there.

Currently the best performing Tattoo in the game. Most common early game users are Aatrox, Shen and Illaoi. The best way to utilize this Tattoo is to give it to Shen or Aatrox with Stoneplate and Warmog/Redemption in Senna Ghostly Reroll. The bonus shield will help to keep your frontline alive and buy enough time for Senna to scale.

Potential late game users outside of reroll comps are high HP units like Udyr, Sylas, Galio or Ornn, usually in 3 Inkshadow setups with Kaisa.

The most common early game users are Aatrox, Gnar, Volibear, Jax or Shen.

In a normal Senna setup the item usually just goes on any upgraded frontline unit. It used to be played in Gnar Reroll, but currently he prefers vertical Dryad with Kindred over including 3 Inkshadow.

Another common usage is to run 4 Duelist with 3 Inkshadow with Level 6 in Stage 3-2 as a temporary power spike. Volibear makes great use out of Tattoo of Force and allows you to stay healthier during the midgame.

In late game the best users are Udyr, Sylas or Kayn. Especially Sylas and Udyr make great use out of the bonus stats and will constantly find new targets.

Widely regarded as the worst Tattoo and you should considering avoiding 3 Inkshadow if this is your first item choice. You should mainly consider it as a weak bonus frontline item and it should not get prioritized on your main tank if you have better items available.

There are some units that have a special interaction with this Tattoo:

• Kayn has an AoE Spin after he transform and he will deal the bonus damage and heal for everyone hit
• Irelia has 7 Blades that will all proc the bonus damage and heal for every single unit, which is likely a bug that gets fixed in the future

Outside of Kayn this item is most commonly placed on Udyr, Aatrox, Sylas, or Shen

The bonus damage from this item is not based on the HP of the unit the holder is attacking. This means this Tattoo can be surprisingly good for AoE Abilities and the bonus attack speed can help with mana regeneration for caster units as well.

Right now this item is mainly placed on Senna*3 in Ghostly Reroll or Kai'Sa in Trickshot comps. If you have very good alternative items you can also consider putting it on units like Morgana, as she can utilize all of the stats quite well.

This item more or less acts like Morello, except that it procs a damage over time effect based on the ability damage. If you place it on a unit like Senna she will add a physical DoT on her target, a unit like Morgana will add a magic DoT on anyone hit. While it's usually not relevant, but true damage will convert to a magic DoT for some reason.

The most common users for this item are Senna and Morgana in Ghostly comps. It can also be surprisingly useful for Teemo or Irelia, since you can apply the anti heal effect to the entire enemy team and can skip building Sunfire, Morello or Red Buff.

This item more or less acts like Runaan's Hurricane, except that it will only proc every third attack. However it will fire two bolts which target the lowest Health enemies on the board. Since the damage is based on the total AD of the holder, you want this item on a unit with high base AD and high attack speed to proc the effect more often.

The most common choice is again Senna, since you usually want her as 3 Star and she gives herself an AD steroid with every cast. Outside of Senna there are not a lot of units that get great use out of the effect.

Kai'Sa her ability counts as 4 attacks total, so she will only proc the Bolts once and still has to attack twice afterwards with normal attacks to proc it a second time, making the item rather inefficient on her.