Hello summoners! New to the game? Have no fear!
Understanding LoL (League of Legends) is a series of posts that I will create in the next few weeks talking about small aspects of the game rather than mechanics. This includes champions or items to buy. Today, we’re talking about last-hitting.
Last-hitting is one of the most important mechanics in the game that you need to learn to play the game, let alone play it well. While you may gain XP from dying units around you, the only way you can earn gold is by actually getting the credit for a kill on a champion or a minion (other than passive gold gain.) Thus, the skill to last-hit is required because 90% of your income comes from last-hitting.
Terminology:
XP – Experience.
Skillshots – Abilities that require aiming to hit properly unlike point and click abilities.
CS – Creep Score. A count of everything that you’ve killed with the exception of champions and structures.
What is Last Hitting?
Last-hitting is essentially aiming to get the credit for killing something (usually minions or monsters) specifically by using your abilities or basic attacks.
How can I effectively Last Hit?
The most basic method of last hitting is simply standing there (using S) and refraining from auto-attacking, then right clicking (or A+left clicking) a unit when you sense that your auto attack or ability can kill the unit to get credit for the kill.
The more effective method of last hitting is not much harder to do. You simply just click around in the general vicinity of your character (say in a circle or left to right) to keep you mobile and “on your toes” until you can get the credit for the kill. This accomplishes two things:
1. It allows you to dodge skillshots more easily because you are constantly moving around
2. It keeps your head in the game because it gives you something to do and allows you to focus
3. It stops your champion from automatically attacking creeps
Why should I Last Hit?
The reason why you should Last Hit comes in the form of auto-attacking, also known as the action of simply letting your champion attack something on his or her own. You want to avoid auto attacking as much as possible (except in certain cases) because this pushes the lane, something that can turn horribly bad because of two reasons:
1. Pushing the lane leaves you vulnerable to ganks – ambushes that turn your lane into a 1v2 or 3v2 that will usually lead to your death
2. Pushing the lane can cause you to become over extended – giving your enemy more space to kill you
There are moments where pushing the lane is a good idea, but the general rule of thumb is that you should always last hit unless you encounter these scenarios which I will list down below shortly.
Another reason why you should Last Hit is because if you auto attack the minions, it will be more difficult to actually get the credit for the kill because you aren’t actually watching when your auto attack will get the kill – you’re just letting your champion attack freely. Without gold, which only comes from getting the last hit, you can’t buy items, which makes your champion extremely weak. Never underestimate the power of items.
When should I push?
Only push when you are safe. You are safe when you feel that you are not in danger of getting ganked or getting killed. Here are some scenarios:
a. You want a tower so you want as many minions on it as possible to tank and deal damage.
b. You want to deny your enemies CS by pushing to their turret (the turret will make it harder for them to last hit as the turret will automatically attack minions and potentially steal a last hit.)
d. You want to try and kill the enemy (auto attacking minions makes your minions stack up and have a larger wave. enemies who try and kill you will be attacked by this large wave of minions from pushing. Remember that minions are very, very strong early game and try not to take as much minion aggro/damage.)
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Always, always remember to last hit. If you are having troubles last hitting, simply create a custom game with bots and practice getting the last hit on minions. A good mark is 100cs by 15 minutes.
History:
Just a decent League player that’s been playing for three to four years. Gold in Season 2, Gold in Season 3 due to laziness. Add Melonscoop if you wish.
Don’t know what League is? Play Here!
http://beta.na.leagueoflegends.com/
Here’s some extra food for thought if you didn’t understand (ignore the champion section, it’s from 2011):
http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=149979