Since its release in season 11, the Pirate Gun has become an incredibly popular item in League of Legends. In fact, according to statistics from the specialized site LeagueofGraphs, the Pirate Gun ranks 5th among the items with the highest purchase rates in League of Legends. With its ability to secure kills and provide extra gold, it’s easy to see why the Pirate Gun has become popular as it allows players to get kills easily and snowball the game better.
However, recently, a League of Legends player with the Reddit account SaltyAndTilted has demonstrated that the Pirate Gun is a poor item in terms of actual damage output. Specifically, when comparing the damage potential of the Pirate Gun with Dominik’s Reckoning, it falls short in most cases. Only in the case of Jinx, the Pirate Gun offers slightly more damage at the threshold of 2 items. However, when reaching the 3 item threshold, Jinx with Dominik’s Reckoning outperforms in terms of damage.
Based on the calculations above, we can see that the actual damage dealt by the Pirate Gun is significantly worse compared to Dominik’s Reckoning. Especially when attacking targets with high armor and resistance, Dominik’s Reckoning shows its superiority, making it a strong choice if you want to take down opponents quickly.
This is extremely important for marksman champions since the items for this class of champions are very expensive, and maximizing damage per item is essential. Therefore, if you frequently play in the marksman position, especially with champions that use critical items, Dominik’s Reckoning should be prioritized. Meanwhile, the Pirate Gun should only be used if you are too “fed” and the opponents do not have many tanky champions.
