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Lam

Lam

澜

S Jungle
Difficulty

Assassin/Fighter

Roving Assassin Gap-Close/Cleanup Balanced Hard

Also known as

Lam's Chinese name is 澜.

澜

Quick summary

Lam is a top-tier Jungle Assassin who wants to close distance and snowball off picks. Public guides recommend a build starting with Relentless Blade and Smite.

Current patch decision guide

When to pick Lam, when to avoid them, and how to adapt your build.

Updated 2026-05-31

Lam is a top-tier Jungle Assassin who wants to pick off isolated heroes once mobility is online. Public guide data shows a build centered on Relentless Blade, Lightfoot Shoes, Boots of Tranquility, paired with Smite, used to clear camps efficiently and convert pressure into ganks. Pick him when the draft lets Lam reach the targets his kit is designed to threaten; avoid when the enemy chains crowd control that stops the engage before damage lands.

Pick Lam when

  • The enemy team has carries with limited self-peel that Lam can reach before the team can react
  • Your team can engage first, letting Lam second-wave into low-health targets
  • The enemy draft includes Lu Bu, Wuyan, and Xiang Yu, who appear in counter data as matchups Lam can pressure.

Avoid Lam when

  • Enemy peel is strong and Lam cannot reach the backline without dying first
  • Your team has no primary engage, leaving the cleanup pick with nothing to follow up on
  • The enemy team is built around answers to Gap-Close, removing the windows Lam's kit needs to perform.

Power spikes

Early game: jungle clear into level-4 ganks is the first window where Lam can translate routes into kills.
Ultimate unlocked: Death From Below converts mobility into burst, the moment Lam starts threatening picks across the map
Late game: cooldowns become short enough that Space Split influences every team fight rather than being a one-shot tool.

Build decisions

Cooldown assassin jungle core

Lam's official build leans into cooldown reduction for his Gap-Close and Cleanup pattern. Relentless Blade and Rapacious Bite scale physical attack from monster kills, while Lightfoot Shoes, Boots of Tranquility and Meteor stack movement and cooldown reduction so his mobility and combo reset quickly. Axe of Torment is the anti-squishy core for punishing carries.

Sustain & survivability tail

Nettle Gauntlet and Cuirass of Savagery (both offense and defense) plus Eye of the Phoenix (Health regen) give Lam the sustain to skirmish repeatedly, while Pure Sky (temporary damage reduction), Sage's Sanctuary (on-the-spot resurrect) and Destiny (negates fatal damage) are the late insurance. The recommended arcana are Mutation, Red Moon, Hunt, Stealth and Eagle Eye, with Smite for jungle control.

Matchup logic

Versus crowd control

Reliable hard control stops Lam's engage before the combo lands. Bait the most threatening control skill before committing Death From Below, and wait for ally engage to absorb peel.

Role positioning

Lam is a Jungle pick whose value depends on tempo from objectives and cross-map kill threats. Stick to the role plan rather than forcing fights his kit is not designed to win.

Synergies

Public synergy data lists Lady Zhen, Gan & Mo, and Mi Yue as strong partners for Lam. Plan engages around Lady Zhen's setup window, then second-engage with Death From Below.

Common mistakes

  • Engaging without follow-up — gap-close gets you to the target, but a solo dive without ally damage trades 1-for-1.
  • Engaging first instead of second — cleanup picks lose their value as primary engagers.
  • Engaging without checking enemy summoner-spell cooldowns, which often decide whether Lam's commit reaches the target alive.
  • Pathing predictably and getting tracked by the enemy jungler — vary first clear and rotate based on ward placement rather than muscle memory.

Background

Stealthfin

Three Kingdoms
“Sneaking in the darkness, striding in the light...”

The man who now goes by the code name Lam was exiled by his people for his inauspicious birth and spurned by his peers for possessing unnatural abilities. He was left to die in the rubble of a battlefield but was found by Cao Cao, who took him in and trained him as one of his covert assassins. Lam embraced the lonely life of a hunter in the darkness, if only to survive yet another day. That would all change when he was sent on a mission to eliminate Little Lute, a girl who appeared to him so utterly warm-hearted and kind that shattered his beliefs and led him to abandon his past once and for all. Now, the ruthless assassin is only willing to get his hands dirty for those he deems worthy.

Race:
Human
Height:
180 cm
Style:
Sorcery
Nation:
Wu
Title:
Former Wei Killer

Source: Official Honor of Kings — canonical lore for Lam.

Base Stats

Source: in-game capture (HoK Global v11.x, 2026-04-20)

Survivability

3312
Max HP
150
Phys DEF
75
Mag DEF
51
HP/5s

Offense

170
Phys ATK
5%
Atk Speed
200%
Crit DMG

Utility

380
Move Speed
560
Max Mana
14
Mana/5s
Melee
Range

Build

How to choose a build

Start with the safe default badge if the draft looks normal, then swap to burst, anti-tank, sustain, or utility builds when the matchup clearly calls for it.

Jungle Full AD lethality

Safe default

Start here if the draft looks standard and you want the safest all-around setup.

Position 3
Relentless Blade → Lightfoot Shoes → Boots of Tranquility → Meteor → Axe of Torment → Rapacious Bite → Nettle Gauntlet → Pure Sky → Cuirass of Savagery → Eye of the Phoenix → Sage's Sanctuary → Destiny

LINXAN

Jungle Full AD lethality

Snowball

Best when you are ahead and can keep tempo through picks and fast clears.

Position 3
Relentless Blade → Boots of Resistance → Meteor → Axe of Torment → Rapacious Bite → Cuirass of Savagery → Pure Sky → Overlord's Might → Sage's Sanctuary → Destiny

Jungle Full AD lethality

Burst damage

Best when you can reach squishier targets and convert quick kills.

Position 3
Relentless Blade → Boots of Tranquility → Rapacious Bite → Pure Sky → Nettle Gauntlet → Meteor → Cuirass of Savagery → Axe of Torment → Overlord's Might → Sage's Sanctuary → Destiny → Immovable - Sky Dome

Jungle Full AD lethality

Anti-tank

Best when the enemy team has multiple frontliners or early defense items.

Position 3
Relentless Blade → Boots of Tranquility → Axe of Torment → Cuirass of Savagery → Rapacious Bite → Overlord's Might → Blood Rage → Spikemail → Ravage - Phantom → Destiny → Starbreaker → Boots of Resistance

Jungle AD penetration

Anti-tank

Best when the enemy team has multiple frontliners or early defense items.

Position 3
Rapacious Bite → Boots of Resistance → Axe of Torment → Pure Sky → Ominous Premonition → Succubus Cloak

Jungle Full AD lethality

Burst damage

Best when you can reach squishier targets and convert quick kills.

Position 3
Relentless Blade → Boots of Tranquility → Meteor → Axe of Torment → Rapacious Bite → Nettle Gauntlet → Storm Sword → Pure Sky → Boots of Resistance → Cuirass of Savagery → Overlord's Might → Sage's Sanctuary

Presets

Jungle Full AD lethality

Anti-tank

Best when the enemy team has multiple frontliners or early defense items.

Position 3
Relentless Blade → Boots of Resistance → Meteor → Axe of Torment → Rapacious Bite → Cuirass of Savagery → Overlord's Might → Starbreaker → Sage's Sanctuary → Destiny

Jungle Full AD lethality

Snowball

Best when you are ahead and can keep tempo through picks and fast clears.

Position 3
Relentless Blade → Boots of Tranquility → Meteor → Axe of Torment → Rapacious Bite → Pure Sky → Overlord's Might → Demonsbane → Sage's Sanctuary → Destiny

Jungle Full AD lethality

Anti-tank

Best when the enemy team has multiple frontliners or early defense items.

Position 3
Relentless Blade → Boots of Tranquility → Axe of Torment → Rapacious Bite → Boots of Resistance → Eye of the Phoenix → Overlord's Might → Starbreaker → Sage's Sanctuary → Destiny

Skills

passive Hunter

Basic Attacks and skills deal extra true damage to targets with low Health

skill1 Wavebreaker

Lam enters “Submerged” state, greatly increasing his Movement Speed for 3 seconds. When the duration ends, Lam leaps out of the water, immediately restoring 50% of this skill’s cooldown. While in Submerged state, casting the skill again will cause Lam to surface early, dealing 300 (+120% Bonus Physical Attack) Physical Damage to nearby enemies and slowing their Movement Speed by 50% for 1.5 seconds. Passive: While in river terrain, the Submerged state has no time limit. If an enemy hero with below 30% Health appears within 1500 range, Lam gains 450 Movement Speed.

skill2 Space Split

Damages nearby enemies while gaining a mark. Basic Attacks spend marks to gain a dash and Health recovery effect. While submerged, Skill 2 has an extra dash effect.

ultimate Death From Below

Throws a dagger in the target direction, then dashes to the dagger after a short delay, dragging enemies in his path to the dagger and dealing damage to them. Submerged: Cancels the cast animation and skill delay.

Skins

7 skins
Lam skin: Violet Contract

Violet Contract

Lam skin: Blossom Aquaknight

Blossom Aquaknight

Lam skin: Wish of Order

Wish of Order

Lam skin: Ascension: Pendekar

Ascension: Pendekar

Lam skin: T-Rex

T-Rex

Lam skin: Cazador de Rayos

Cazador de Rayos

Lam skin: Lonesome Hunter

Lonesome Hunter

Playstyle

Lam's win condition runs through Death From Below (throws a dagger in the target direction, then dashes to the dagger after a short delay, dragging enemies). Reset between kills rather than over-staying in a won fight.

Patch History

S7 Nov 2024 Mechanics Changes

Balanced early and late game strength, and made it harder to repeatedly use enhanced Basic Attacks

Show details

"The mechanism that let Lam's enhanced Basic Attack reduce Skill 2's cooldown by a fixed amount allowed Lam to spam his Skill 2 and enhanced Basic Attack in the late game. This made it difficult for opponents to counter him, a situation that we hope to improve with these adjustments. At the same time, we have moderately increased the base effects of his skills to enhance the experience for newer players."

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