And no, not Azir's soldiers. I mean stuff like Twisted Fate's W, Poppy's Q, etc.
I mean it is an autoattack.
EDIT: I don't mean on-hit effects. I mean autoattacks that are converted to magic damage.
oreosauce3 votesIt doesn't do physical damage. Twisted Fate's W does magic damage, so lifesteal doesn't work for that. There's something called Spell Vamp, which is the same as Life Steal only it works for your magic based abilities.
Mathbalnase2 votesSpellvamp, except where stated otherwise (ex: 'applies on-hit effects'), applies to all active abilities (and some passive abilities), not just the ones that deal magic damage.
Note also that there are some instances where Lifesteal applies to attacks which deal magic damage (see Warwick's ult, for instance).
67chrome1 votesIt doesn't do physical damage.
Life steal is based on auto-attacks just like Thornmail, Tabi, and Doran's Shield though. Champions like Warwick and Poppy do actually life-steal with magic damage auto-attacks.
There's something called Spell Vamp, which is the same as Life Steal only it works for your magic based abilities.
Spell vamp doesn't care what type of damage an ability does. It just works with all abilities.
Darius's true damage? Smite's true damage? Riven's physical damage? Zed's physical damage? Garen's Spin to Win? Pantheon's Spear? Yi's Alpha Strike? Spell vamp doesn't care - it only cares you're using a spell.
Unless that "spell" is an on-hit effect, a Sheen-like auto-attack booster, or an ability masquerading as an auto-attack that applies on-hit effects (Mystic Shot, Blade Waltz, Infinite Duress, Double-Up, Twin Bite, Parrrley, 3-Talon Strike, Tumble, Siphoning Strike, etc.) Outside of on-hit effects, those all apply life steal though.
Kazaashi1 votesThe physical dmg component of the AA still benefits from Life Steal. The magic dmg is an extra "On-Hit" effect, not part of the AA itself.
Serevas1 votesSo you want an on hit effect to apply an on hit effect........what?
67chrome1 votesWhy can't we lifesteal off magic based autoattacks?
Probably due to life steal teetering a dangerous line between offering a nice incentive for squishies to be more reckless, to tank'n'spank drain-tanks that just sit there and eventually overpower things with life steal.
Most bruisers deal a lot of mixed damage with some solid on-hit effects thrown in there. Give life steal on, say, Volibear's Lightning or Jax's Grandmaster's Might: and you've got something that's an immovable wall that can just sit on things and kill them. Jax already does that in 1v1s with spell vamp working on his Grandmaster as-is.
Magic damage on-hit is also usually very potent early-game, as it tends to come with some solid base damages, essentially giving a free 10~60 AD with 35% armor pen thrown in the mix (MR is often at least 35% lower than armor - through bases or items). Give life steal on top of that: and you've got some oppressive early-game power. Like, >50% HPs Aatrox sustain without needing to hang below 50% HP or sacrifice damage for life-steal or run with a champion with horrific base HP.
Anyways - life steal when used well is an incentive for high-risk plays. Life steal can also obliterate risk and turn a game into a pretty dull tank'n'spank ordeal. On a decent amount of magic-damage on-hit: life steal runs into a lot more dull tank'n'spank issues. Or just tons of AA power-budget strains.
