Sell value: 112 of 118 finished items refund exactly 70%. Guardian Angel refunds 40% and burns 1920 gold

How much of an item's price do you get back when you sell it? I went through all 118 finished items on Summoner's Rift that are built from components, and 112 of them refund exactly 70%. Of the remaining six, five are support quest items. The only regular finished item that drops to 40% is Guardian Angel.

How selling works

You can sell anything you bought at the shop at any time. You only get part of the price back and the rest is gone. Think of selling Doran's items or Dark Seal late in the game to free a slot for a finished item (the full refund you get from undoing a purchase right away is a separate mechanic). All numbers come from Riot's official static data for patch 16.21.

Finished items default to 70%

Item	Cost	Sell	Refund
Infinity Edge	3500g	2450g	70%
Rabadon's Deathcap	3500g	2450g	70%
Bloodthirster	3400g	2380g	70%
Zhonya's Hourglass	3250g	2275g	70%
Guardian Angel	3200g	1280g	40%

Even the priciest items, IE and Rabadon's, give you 2450 gold back. You lose 1050, which is 30% of the price. Components like B. F. Sword and Cloth Armor are almost all 70% too, and every tier of boots, from the first pair to the final upgrade, is 70%. The rule turns out to be pretty simple.

Selling Guardian Angel burns 1920 gold

GA costs 3200 and sells for only 1280. You lose 1920 gold, about 1.8 times the 1050 you lose on IE or Rabadon's. That is by far the biggest loss of any item you can buy on Summoner's Rift. Behind it, Rabadon's and IE at 1050, Bloodthirster at 1020 and Trinity Force at 1000 all cluster around 1000. GA is on its own.

The interesting part is the components. GA is built from Steel Sigil (1100g) and B. F. Sword (1300g), and both sell at 70%. Sell the two parts and you get 1680 back. Combine them into GA and the sell value drops to 1280. So you pay an 800 gold combine cost and the sell value goes down by 400.

The data doesn't say why GA alone is 40%. Maybe it's to stop people from using the revive, selling it and buying a different finished item (that's my guess, anyway).

The 40% group: starters and consumables

Item	Cost	Sell
Doran's Blade	450g	180g
Doran's Ring	400g	160g
Dark Seal	350g	140g
Seeker's Armguard	1600g	640g
Celestial Opposition	400g	160g

All five Doran's items (Blade, Ring, Shield, Bow, Helm), Cull, Dark Seal and World Atlas sell at 40%. So do Health Potion, Control Ward and the three elixirs. Early-game purchases are grouped together on the 40% side. The five final support quest items trace back to a 400 gold starter, so they get the same treatment.

Seeker's Armguard is on this side too. You pay 1600 and get 640 back, but finish it into Zhonya's Hourglass (3250g) and the sell value becomes 2275, back to 70%. Holding an Armguard and then selling it is the worst way to own it.

Takeaway

There are really only two sell rates: 70% or 40%. Finished items and their components are almost all 70%. The 40% group is starters, consumables, Armguard and GA. When you sell a Doran's item late, getting 160 to 180 back is about as good as it gets. GA is the opposite. Buy it planning to sell it and you throw away 1920 gold. If you swap GA for another finished item late in a game when you no longer need the revive, remember the loss is about 1.8 times what selling IE would cost you.

Source: Riot Games' official static data.

Selling IE costs you 30%, but GA takes 60%. That angel is greedier than it looks