Will Burton
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9 Min read Farming in League of Legends is a key skill that every player should learn to master. Not only is it the most effective way of gaining gold and XP, but having a higher CS score over the enemy laner will allow you to get your core items before them.
Farming is important throughout all stages of the game, and you must farm well in the early, mid and late game.
In this Mobalytics guide, we will be focusing on getting a good CS score in the early game.
Securing the last hit on a minion or monster will offer you XP and gold. During the laning phase, you will rely heavily on the minions to provide you with gold. If you can secure a lot of these minions and gain an advantage over the enemy laner, you will have more gold than them. Having a gold lead over the enemy laner will give you a better first back and allow you to get your core items before the enemy.
Getting a better item will help you win trades or help you survive the laning phase. For instance, an ADC backing with over 1300 gold would allow them to get a Moonquiver, whereas an ADC backing on 900 gold would only be able to get a Pickaxe. The champion with Moonquiver will have more damage which will enable them to win a skirmish.
Gaining a small CS lead could snowball into kills, objectives and much, much more. This is why it is imperative to secure as much CS as humanly possible during the laning phase.
Technically speaking, any champion can be good at farming. However, some champions will find it harder than others. For instance, champions with low base AD stats will find it harder to last hit. Also, some champion animations are not very nice when it comes to last hitting. Champions like base skin Rumble or Nautilus come to mind when I think of horrific auto-attack animations.
Champions who should have an easy time racking up those CS numbers are:
Ezreal is a good farming champion as he can use his Q to help him kill minions. It also has a short cooldown and a low mana cost which is very beneficial for killing minions.
This image and ones similar are taken from the LOL Wiki page.
Get an edge over the enemy ADC with Ezreal’s champion page. It has some great tips and tricks on how to play as Ezreal.
After Syndra’s first back, she will have an item that enhances her damage output. In conjunction with her Q, her W will deal a lot of damage to the minion wave or the enemy champion. With more damage and multiple points in her Q, Syndra will be able to consistently push the enemy into their tower with ease. She will also clear the minion wave faster than the enemy and gain a significant lead over the enemy.
“People fear what they cannot understand.” Say no more, Syndra; overcome your fear by learning how to play Syndra with Syndra’s champion page.
Orianna is a champion with a lot of wave clear thanks to her Passive, her Q and her W. When all three are combined, they allow her to pick up the farm with ease and constantly push the enemy into their tower.
After Orianna’s recalled, her poke and wave clear increases heavily, this only enhances her ability to farm.
Want to learn the optimal builds and Runes for Orianna? Check out Orianna’s champion page.
To increase your gold income and improve your early game farming, it is important to understand the stats related to your performance.
You can check this at any time by plugging in your Summoner name and seeing your GPI scores, as seen in the image below.
With these stats, you can quickly see your overall stats and see how good you are at farming in the early game.
Wave management is a very important thing to learn in League of Legends. Wave management can save your life, help you get kills, and of course- increase your CS score. If you know how to manage the waves optimally and understand where you want the wave to be at any given time, you will make farming much easier.
Ryze power spike
For instance, if your champion is weak in the early game, you may wish to keep the wave closer to your side of the map so you do not get zoned away from the farm. For example, Ryze in the top lane may wish to keep the wave closer to his tower and avoid pushing against a Renekton. If the Renekton understands wave management, the Renekton may freeze the wave near their tower, and you will not be able to farm as he could all-in you when you walk up to last hit.
Renekton power spike
If you overextend to try and pick up the farm, Renekton could all-in you. If you die, you will miss out on more CS and give the Renekton a big gold advantage. From here, he could either continue to zone you and all-in you as soon as you walk back to the lane.
To understand where you should keep the minion wave, I would first ask yourself a few questions:
You can find out when your champion is good or bad by checking out the Mobalytics champion page for your favourite champion.
We could ask ourselves many different questions regarding the lane state, but let us move on. You’ve decided that you need to keep the minion wave closer to your side of the map. But, how do you do this exactly?
Firstly, there will need to be more enemy minions in the lane than allied ones. If there are 3 allied minions, there will need to be up to 3 more (totalling 6) enemy minions in the lane. Secondly, you’ll need to avoid auto-attacking or using spells on the minions. Only last hit the minions at the last possible second. This way, the wave will not slowly creep towards the enemy.
There are so many different nuances and different types of wave management, and it would take me all day to discuss them. I would recommend that you check out the most in-depth wave management guide to make learning wave management a lot easier.
If you find yourself being pushed under your tower in the early game, you may find yourself struggling to secure minions because the tower keeps gobbling them up. To make it easier for you to secure minions, you need to follow this method of last hitting.
Please note that this method of last hitting is mostly aimed at any champion in the very early laning phase (no component items). If you have additional AD items, you will not need to follow this method too closely.
For melee minions, let the tower hit them twice before dealing the final blow. If you auto-attack before the second tower shot hits- you’ll miss out on the gold!
You have some form of freedom for ranged minions, but you need to auto-attack them twice to secure the last hit. You can either auto once, let the tower hit them, and then finish it off with an auto. Or you can let the tower hit them first, then auto-attack it twice. But, it is much harder to do this due to individual champions’ attack speed.
If you’re a Support main, please help your ADC farm under tower by hitting the back minions once to set them up for your ADC. Your ADC will appreciate it!
Tracking the enemy Jungler can help you secure more CS. If you know that they’re not nearby, you can make aggressive plays, or look to walk up and break freezes or do a ton of different wave management techniques.
One reason why tracking the enemy Jungler is important is that it can save your life. If you walk up and the enemy Jungler is nearby- you will most likely die. While you’re dead, you will not be able to secure any minions, which means you will fall behind in gold and XP. You will also give the enemy laner an XP and gold advantage, which they could use to snowball.
Dying and falling behind can quickly snowball into falling further behind. Do not underestimate what 1 death can cost you in the lane in gold and XP, items and levels.
Tracking the enemy Jungler can be made easier by learning their jungle paths. Go to the Mobalytics champion pages and click on any Jungler you’re against. From there, click on the guides page and scroll down to see their jungle paths. With these in mind, try to play accordingly, so you don’t overextend and die.
Amumu blue side clear
You can do other things to track the enemy Jungler by watching the map at all times and avoiding overextending when you don’t know where they are.
Check out our how to improve map awareness guide if you struggle to watch the map consistently.
You can also place wards around your lane and in the river to spot the enemy Jungler before they pay you a surprise visit.
Learn how to ward effectively by checking out our in-depth warding guide.
When using your abilities in League of Legends, do you use them just to farm with, or do you use them purely as a poking tool? Did you know that one of the most optimal ways of using your abilities is in a manner that allows you to last hit while also dealing damage to the enemy champion?
Champions such as Sivir, Syndra, Orianna and Diana have AOE abilities that can damage multiple enemies at once. If you can, you should try to aim your abilities so they hit both low health minions and the enemy champion at the same time.
Of course, it depends heavily on the champion you’re playing and the situation you’re in, and you may not even want to do this if you don’t want to push the wave. But generally speaking, these champions will want to push the wave after their first back. They will also find it easy to push and poke simultaneously as they will have a lot of damage and lower cooldowns.
Looking for more tips and tricks to maximize your mana in League of Legends? Check out this How to manage your mana in League of Legends guide.
Picking up CS in League of Legends is important. You need gold to get items quickly and to win the game. If you’re at a severe gold deficit, you will find it very hard to win the game as the enemy will be way stronger and tankier than you.
We hope these tips will help you increase your gold income in the early game, or at least help you release how one mistake can cost you a lot.
If you have any questions or want to learn more, check out PicklePants’s stream.
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