Stats for mythic rank, last 7 days — third-party aggregation, not an official Moonton figure.
Written by EllieAnth — playing MLBB since 2017 (9+ years), peak rank Mythical Immortal, 1126 stars.
How to itemise Joy and, more importantly, why each item earns its slot.
Overview
Joy relies on precise dash timings via Meow, Rhythm of Joy! to build Beat Energy and unleash her ultimate, Ha, Electrifying Beats!. Because her kit relies heavily on Magic Power scaling for both offense and survivability—granting shields on rhythmic dashes and massive Spell Vamp during her ultimate—this build focuses on maximizing Magic Power, magic penetration, and movement speed. Joy thrives by diving into enemy formations, maintaining mobility, and sustaining through intense skirmishes. High magic power directly amplifies her defensive shields and ultimate pulses, while slow effects and cooldown reduction allow her to continuously stick to targets, land Look, Leonin Crystal! setups, and execute perfect rhythmic dashes effortlessly throughout team fights.
Early
Equipping Arcane Boots in the early game provides essential magic penetration, allowing Joy to maximize early damage output when ganking with Look, Leonin Crystal! and Meow, Rhythm of Joy!. The added movement speed synergizes with her passive, Humph, Joy's Angry!, making it easier to position for clean skill dashes, secure early jungle camps, and rapidly rotate between lanes during early skirmishes before enemies purchase defense.
Core
Genius Wand is crucial for reducing enemy magic defense with every hit from Meow, Rhythm of Joy! and Ha, Electrifying Beats!. Since Joy pulses damage rapidly during her ultimate, she instantly applies maximum stacks of magic defense reduction. This spike in penetration turns her mid-game rhythm combos into terrifying burst damage while providing additional movement speed to aid her mobility-heavy playstyle.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Magic: Dealing Magic Damage to enemy heroes will reduce their Magic Defense by 3-7 (scales with level) for 2s. Stacks up to 3 times.
Core
Ice Queen Wand applies a continuous slow whenever Joy deals skill damage. This makes it significantly easier to land successive dashes with Meow, Rhythm of Joy! on elusive enemies or hit targets using Look, Leonin Crystal!. The slow ensures enemies cannot easily escape the area of effect of Ha, Electrifying Beats!, allowing Joy to land every pulse of her ultimate cleanly.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Ice Bound: When a skill deals damage to an enemy hero, it will also slow them by 10% for 2s (stacks up to 3 times). This effect has a 1s cooldown.
Late
Fleeting Time drastically reduces the cooldown of Ha, Electrifying Beats! whenever Joy scores a kill or assist. Since her ultimate is her primary source of team fight presence, control immunity, and Spell Vamp, having it available constantly after eliminating targets allows Joy to chain continuous aggressive dives during prolonged late-game engagements and objective fights around the Lord.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Timestream: Hero kills or assists reduce the Ultimate's current cooldown by 30%.
Late
Holy Crystal massively boosts Joy's overall Magic Power, directly escalating the scaling on all her abilities. This amplifies the damage of Ha, Electrifying Beats! and increases the shield generated when casting Meow, Rhythm of Joy! on the beat. The sheer increase in Magic Power elevates both her burst execution and her survivability, turning her into a high-damage, resilient late-game threat.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Mystery: Gains 21%-35% extra Magic Power (scales with level).
Situational
Blood Wings provides a massive Magic Power boost alongside a substantial regenerating shield that grants bonus movement speed. For Joy, this shield stacks on top of the defensive benefits from Meow, Rhythm of Joy! and Ha, Electrifying Beats!, providing crucial protection against sudden burst damage when diving backline squishies in late-game team fights.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Guard: Gains a shield equal to 200% of Magic Power. The shield will regenerate 20s after being damaged, and grants 30 Movement Speed while it lasts.
No build survives every draft. These are the situations where the order above should change.
Rush Fleeting Time immediately after completing Genius Wand. Securing early kills around the Turtle will rapidly reset Ha, Electrifying Beats!, allowing you to maintain aggressive pressure across lanes without waiting for long cooldowns.
Prioritize Ice Queen Wand directly after Arcane Boots. The extra slow on Look, Leonin Crystal! prevents slippery targets from running away, enabling you to land every beat of Meow, Rhythm of Joy! and complete your full energy stack.
Prioritize Blood Wings earlier right after Holy Crystal. The shield and extra movement speed absorb incoming burst damage, giving you the necessary window to hit perfect beats with Meow, Rhythm of Joy! and unleash Ha, Electrifying Beats! safely.
Item recommendations come from the game's own hero data. The explanations are AI-generated from Joy's ability kit and the items' in-game passives, and are checked automatically against the item list — they never introduce an item the game does not recommend for this hero.