If there is a ranged minion right next to a melee minion, why take the ranged minion with relic? It gives less gold, but I see SO MANY supports with relic shield just smack the ranged minion instead. So obviously there is a reason and I'm just missing it.
JavelinJoe2 votesUsually its depends on which is closest, but generally the ranged minions are weaker and easier to kill with the proc. Always fight the ADC for the cannon though since most of the time they don't even let you take a minion without trying to last hit it themselves.
Rossonious1 votessometimes you're just trying to proc the heal as quickly as possible, other times you're trying not to push the wave, other times you're just being lazy
Broken TimeIine1 votesIMO because they have less health and because they are easier to miss by the ADC. The goal of Relic Shield is pretty much, in addition to getting gold and health, to make sure that less minions are wasted
SOLOQSUPERHERO1 votesIt kind of depends.
Sometimes, I just see an opportunity and i go for it because i don't want to be punished by the ranged enemies.
Sometimes I'm paying attention to something else and just want to use my charge - like it might be farther away or closer to the enemy so i may be paying closer attention to that.
Mizuki Zahra1 votesranged minion deals more damage and melee minion has more defenses, easier for adc to miss ranged minion. that or the sup wants to push out the lane
Aptest1 votesI am a very low elo support player. my rationale is, I prioritize my opportunity to easily secure the proc and/or the inability of my ADC to grab that particular CS over the gold that a melee or a caddie will bring.
Tl:DR isn't not worth it for me to eat a combo for a caddie, id grab a caster instead.
Hethalean1 votesHonestly for me, I have too many ADCs fight me for relic procs, and they seem to refuse to let me get any. I'll typically just go for the one that I do not expect them to take. That would mean in your situation I would go for the ranged since the melee is more gold and more attractive to the ADC.
Also ranged minions do more damage like others have said, and are more likely to be missed.
That being said unless it is a cannon minion the 5 gold difference just won't matter in any way because you're income is going to be so low and Relic shield procs just fall off mid game / after laning phase since wave clear is king and no one wants to wait for the melee to walk up and smack one or two. This means that you're just walking around with max orbs all the time.
Excalibait1 votesIf they're Thresh, they are probably just afraid of missing a melee or cannon minion and get flamed for it.
Usually, Melee Supports take 2 melee minions with their first 2 stacks and from there only cannon minions, as it's simply the most efficient thing to do. However, as time goes on (and they upgrade the item), they usually can start to one-shot caster minions from pretty much full HP, which is nice for pushing your lane, but that's pretty much it why to hit ranged creeps. If you play a low waveclear ADC, like Ezreal or Vayne, chances are they want to make sure you don't sit under your tower the entire time.
