Minions on Summoner's Rift
Minions are units aligned with one of the teams. They spawn periodically from their nexus and advance along a lane towards the enemy nexus. They attack automatically any enemy unit or structure they find in their way. There are four kind of minions: melee minions, caster minions, siege minions and super minions.
Lore
Minions are magical constructs summoned for battles. They are not fully sentient beings, they are controlled by summoners.
Summoning minions requires a constant and massive amount of magical energy. Nexuses focus magical energy from powerful crystals. This energy is enough for sustained minion spawning. The destruction of a nexus stops the summoning magic.
Minion bodies can be magically constructed from several sources, including animated magic scrolls, animated sand, magically animated bolts of cloth, and even sound.
Necromancy is a minion summoning technique that uses dark magic to reanimate 
corpses. Most known practitioners of necromancy come from the Shadow Isles.
While not magically constructed, living minions share many traits with magically constructed minions. Voidlings summoned through 
portals are controlled by those who have the magical power required to use them. One of such persons is 
Malzahar. A Celestial Being known as 
Bard is frequently followed by minion like spirits known as 
Meeps that aid him in his tasks (though they are more like companions than outright minions).
The earliest recorded use of minions for battles was at the battlefield known as Summoner's Rift, where summoners from ancient sides known as the Protectorate (Stag crest) and Magelord (Owl crest) fought against each other.
Gameplay
Minions start spawning from the Nexus at 1:15 and keep spawning every 30 seconds for the rest of the match. They spawn in this order: Super minions (if active), three melee minions, one siege minion (intermittently, change to Super Minions if the enemy 
inhibitor in their lane is destroyed), three caster minions.
Behaviour
Minions walk along a lane until they find an enemy unit. When they find an enemy unit, they attack it. When they find several enemy units they choose their target following a priority system. They prioritise their targets following this order:
- Enemy champions attacking an allied champion.
- Enemy minions attacking an allied champion.
- Enemy minions attacking an allied minion.
- Enemy turrets attacking an allied minion.
- Enemy champions attacking an allied minion.
- The closest enemy minion.
- The closest enemy champion.
Once a minion has chosen a target, it only switches to a new target if the new target has a higher priority. If they see a new target with the same priority as their current target, they keep attacking their current target.
Minions reevaluate their target every few seconds. For instance, if an enemy champion attacks an allied champion and then stops attacking, minions will keep targeting the enemy champion for a short time after he stops attacking.
When the target of a minion leaves its sight, the minion switches to a new target or keeps advancing if there are no targets within sight.
Main Stats
Every 90 seconds (i. e., every third wave) the strength of new minions increases.
Minions deal 50% increased damage to Turrets and about 40% reduced damage to enemy champions.
The armour of turrets is reduced when enemy minions are nearby.
Minions have 325 movement speed.
Types
| Melee Minions | Caster Minions | Siege Minions | Super Minions |
|---|---|---|---|
 
|
 
|
Blue Siege Minion Red Siege Minion |  
|
The following items affect the way champions interact with minions. Each item can be improved to work more effectively:
Ancient Coin: Passive: Unique – Favor: Nearby enemy minions killed by an ally (excluding yourself) will sometimes drop a gold coin that can be picked up to either grant 28 or restore 6% missing mana (minimum 10). Coin can only drop if an allied champion is nearby. Siege minions always drop a coin upon death as long as you did not kill them.- Relic Shield: Passive: Unique – Spoils of War: Grants a charge every 35 seconds, up to 3 charges. Basic attacks can consume a charge to execute minions below ( 50% / 30%) of their maximum health. Killing a minion by any means with a charge grants you and the nearest allied champion kill gold. These effects require an allied champion to be nearby. Receive diminishing gold from excessive minion kills.
- Spellthief's Edge: Passive: Unique – Tribute: Grants a charge every 12 seconds, up to 3 charges. If an allied champion is nearby, damaging basic attacks and abilities against champions and structures consume a charge, up to one per attack or cast. Consuming a charge grants 20. Receive diminishing gold from excessive minion kills.
Apart from these, the Banner of Command, described in the Buffs section, allows champions to buff minions.
Buffs
Minions can be buffed in several ways.
The 
Banner of Command is an item that can be used to strengthen a minion. It has the following effects on the minion:
- Greatly increased attack damage, health, armour and magic resistance.
- Immunity to magic damage.
- Damage taken from turrets reduced by 30%.
- The gold gained by the minion goes to the champion who strengthened it.
The Banner of Command cannot be used on super minions.
Killing Baron Nashor gives the buff to the champions that are alive in the killing team. Buffed champions have an aura that provides several buffs to nearby allied minions:
- Speed increased to 90% of the average speed of nearby champions, up to a maximum of 500.
- Resistance to slow effects.
- Area of effect damage, damage over time, and persistent effects are reduced by 75%. This doesn't affect super minions.
Destroying an enemy Inhibitor provides a small buff to allied minions in the lane where the inhibitor was destroyed.
Pushing advantage: If the average level of a team is higher than the enemy's, their minions receive the following buffs:
- They deal 10% bonus damage to enemy minions. Apart from that, if the leading team has taken more turrets than the enemy, this damage is increased by a further 10%.
- They take less damage (flat) from enemy minions. The amount of this reduction is: 1 + (turret differential × level differential).
Apart from that, if the difference in average levels is 3 or higher and the leading team has destroyed two or more towers more than the enemy in a single lane, their minions become Enraged:
- Their bonus damage is increased by a further 90%.
- The flat damage reduction is increased by 7 more points.
Champion Buffs
Many champion buffs and heals work on minions, but generally prioritise champions.
Champion buffs that work on friendly minions:
- Blood Boil (Movement Speed and Attack Speed)
- Command Dissonance (Movement Speed)
- Harvester of Sorrow (Movement Speed if running towards him and AoE Magic damage if they're near enough to each other)
- On the Hunt (Movement Speed)
- Stand Behind Me (Increased Armor/Magic Resistance and a dash)
- Time Bomb (Delayed AoE)
- Monsoon (Heal)
Champion spells that can be used on friendly minions but do not buff them in any way:
- Help, Pix! (Reposition Pix)
- Shunpo (Blink)
- Safeguard (Dash)
Creep Score
When a champion deals the killing hit to a minion or monster he earns gold. Dealing this hit is known as "last hitting" and is considered one of the most important skills in League of Legends.
The creep score (CS) is the number of minions, monsters, and champion pets a champion has last hit. The game displays this value in the top right corner of the screen. The stats window that the game displays when pressing the Tab key lists the creep score of each champion. In the early and mid game, CS and KDA can be used to compare how well a player is doing against their lane opponent. Many champions use their autoattack (AA) to last hit. Some champions, especially AP champions, use low cost, low cooldown target or area burst spells to last hit.
Game Terminology
Some game terms related to minions:
- Farming: Last hitting minions to earn gold and experience.
- Lane Momentum: The strength with which the minions in a lane advance without champion aid.
- Pushing: Attacking enemy minions to keep allied minions alive and allow them to advance along their lane.
- Freezing: Preventing enemy minions from pushing the lane without pushing them back.
- Monster Wave: A wave of minions so big that it can destroy most or all of a turret without champion aid.
- Free Farming: Farming without being confronted by an enemy champion.
- Proxy Farming: Farming behind an enemy tower. It's easier than conventional farming because there is no interference from allied minions, but it's usually much more dangerous.
- Split Pushing: Attacking several objectives at the same time when at least one of the objectives is a lane turret.
Trivia
- If the champions do not take part in the battle, the minions in one of the teams will eventually win the game. The team that wins is random.
- When minions scan for a target, it is possible for a champion to pick up aggro multiple times from a minion. Minions can constantly pick up aggro from you and can follow you through the jungle.
- By default, each player sees their allied minions and structures in Summoner's Rift in blue and the enemy minions and structures in red. This is just a visual effect, it has no practical effects in the game.
- Minions that destroy enemy turrets, nexuses or champions without the help of an allied champion are sometimes called "Winions".
Media
- Related Themes
Patch History
- Visual and Gameplay Updates on Howling Abyss map (to match Summoner's Rift).
- Minions no longer gain magic resistance over time.
- Minion health gain over time increased to compensate the loss of resistances.
- Cannon minions no longer have base armor.
- Super minions now grant nearby allies minions bonus damage and resistances.
- NEW BUFF - PUSHING ADVANTAGE
- If your team's average level is higher than the enemy's:
- Your minions deal 10% bonus damage to enemy minions. If your team has taken more turrets, this damage is increased by a further 10%.
- Your minions take 1 + (turret differential × level differential) less damage (flat) from enemy minions.
- If your average level is at least 3 levels higher and you've taken 2 more turrets in a single lane, your minions become Enraged:
- The bonus damage is increased by a further 90%.
- The flat damage reduction is increased by a further 7.
- If your team's average level is higher than the enemy's:
- Melee minion
- Initial gold increased to 20 from 18.5.
- Gold growth reduced to 0.125 per minute from 0.17.
- Caster minion
- Initial gold increased to 17 from 13.8.
- Gold growth reduced to 0.125 per minute from 0.17.
- Siege minion
- Initial gold increased to 45 from 36.8.
- Gold growth reduced to 0.35 per minute from 0.425.
- Minions no longer gain armor or magic resistance over time.
- Cannon minions no longer have base armor.
- All minion health gain over time has been increased to be roughly as durable as when they had resistances.
- Visual Update on Summoner's Rift map.
- Lane minions are no longer worth more experience based on game time.
- Damage from lane minions to champions reduced by about 15%.
- Personal score on Dominion: minion kill reward increased to 2 points from 1.
- Fixed a bug where minions were not properly displaying stat growth over time.
- Cannon minions now spawn every 2 waves after 35 minutes instead of 20.
- Cannon minions and super minions now reduce turret damage by 50%, down from 65%.
- Minions now deal 50% more damage to turrets, down from 60%.
- Minions now deal 60% more damage to turrets, up from 40%.
- Melee minion magic resist now increases by 1.25 per 3 minutes, up from 0.5.
- Ranged minion armor now increases by 1.25 per 3 minutes, up from 0.5.
- Cannon minions:
- Armor and magic resist now increase by 3 per 3 minutes, up from 0.5.
- After 20 minutes, cannon minions now spawn every 2 waves, up from every 3 waves.
- Cannon minions and super minions now reduce turret damage by 65%, up from 50%.
- Fixed a tooltip bug with cannon minions and super minions.
- Removed mana from all inhibitor minions.
- Twisted Treeline super minions:
- Health increased to 1200 from 1000.
- Base damage increased by 30.
- Gold from minion kills increased by 3 for all minions.
- Melee minions:
- Gain 2 additional armor every 3 minutes.
- Gain 0.5 additional magic resist every 3 minutes.
- Gold bounty increased to 22 from 20 on Summoner's Rift and to 26 from 24 on Twisted Treeline.
- Caster minions:
- Gain 0.5 additional armor every 3 minutes.
- Gain 2 additional magic resist every 3 minutes.
- Gold bounty increased to 16 from 14 on Summoner's Rift and to 19 from 17 on Twisted Treeline.
- Cannon minions:
- Gain 2 additional armor every 3 minutes.
- Gain 2 additional magic resist every 3 minutes.
- Gold bounty increased to 27 from 25 on Summoner's Rift and to 19 from 17 on Twisted Treeline.
- Super minion gold bounty increased to 27 from 25 on Summoner's Rift and to 32 from 30 on Twisted Treeline.
- Improved minion turning when they appear from fog of war.
- Twisted Treeline:
- Melee minion gold per kill increased to 24 from 22.
- Super minions:
- Health increased by 200.
- Damage increased by 20.
- Fixed minion pathfinding.
- Minion kills now display the correct values.
- Super minion movement speed aura removed.
- Minions no longer clear the player's bounty.
- Super minions and cannon minions now have new portraits.
- Cannon minion health boost per 3 minutes increased to 27 from 25.
- Super minion magic resist reduced to -30 from 0.
- Minion corpses now fade out when they disappear instead of popping.
- Super minions:
- Base health reduced to 1500 from 2000.
- Health scaling increased to reach the current values at 30 minutes (exceeding it past that mark).
- Base damage reduced to 180 from 250.
- Damage scaling increased to reach the current values at 30 minutes (exceeding it past that mark).
- Super minions:
- Health scaling increased to 150 from 100 every 180 game seconds.
- Added a 30% multiplicative movement speed boost aura with a 800 radius that affects both minions and champions.
- Minions no longer have health or mana regeneration. This will help the game run faster.
- Cannon minions:
- Health increased to 700 from 600.
- Spawn rate increased to every 3 waves from ever 4 waves.
- Fixed a bug with ghost minions. They will no longer be present when you reconnect.
- Siege minions:
- Red and blue cannons now have Turret Shield (receives 50% reduced damage from turrets).
- Red and blue cannons now deal 100% bonus damage to turrets.
- Fixed an issue where minions were not giving players full credit for kills in the announcements.
- Damage minions deal to champions increased to 70% from 60%.
- Inhibitor bonuses:
- Melee minion bonus damage increased to 10 from 8.
- Ranged minion bonus damage increased to 18 from 15.
- Cannon minion bonus damage increased to 25 from 20.
- Added a new passive to mech minions
- Turret Shield: damage taken from turrets is reduced by 50%.
- Brightened the new mech minions and cannon minions.
- Corrected the collision sizes of the new mech minions and cannon minions.
- Removed aura from rider minions.
- Basic minion gold yield growth reduced by 50%.
- Added new rider minion and super minion models.
- Destroying an inhibitor no longer causes the enemy team to gain less experience and gold from minion kills.
- Duration between minion upgrades increased to 200 from 180.
- Damage minions deal to champions increased to 60% from 50%.
- Minion gold bounty now caps after 30 minutes (10 upgrades).
- New melee and ranged minions for both blue and red teams.
- Super Minions:
- Armor reduced to 40 from 50.
- Critical strike chance reduced to 0 from 10.
- Health reduced to 2500 from 4000.
- Damage increased to 250 from 150.
- Minions should no longer be able to get killing streaks.
- Archer minion health increased to 280 from 260.
- Melee minion health increased to 445 from 425.
- Minions no longer give half gold and experience when you have lost an inhibitor.
- Minion health bars are now brighter.
- Melee minion gold bounty increased to 26 from 22.
- Ranged minion gold bounty reduced to 18 from 22.
- Minions now spawn after 1 minute instead of 1 minute and 40 seconds.
- Minions now spawn from the Nexus instead of inhibitors.
- Minions can no longer be denied.
- Reduced the selection radius of archers and riders (ranged and siege minions).
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