Towers - Should Champions Attack or Let Minions Deal with It?

Christopher RPh·7/23/2015, 5:26:49 AM·3 votes·1,480 views

I know there are going to be situations where there's the urge to push towers, and in such cases, champions would probably attack towers. But early on in game, is it better to just clear the enemy minion wave, and let your minion wave deal with the tower while you return or go do something else?

I ask because I usually get my minion wave to the tower and then I focus tower until my minions are cleared by the tower. Is that not how it's supposed to be done?

13 Comments

AwesomeChad7/23/2015, 9:28:07 AM5 votes

First off, make sure you clear out the enemy minions. Thats important gold and exp you don't want to miss out on. It is more situational to leave the turret up as long as possible so i will discuss these scenarios. When to leave the enemy turret up:

When you're dominating the enemy in laning phase and you wish increase this gold and exp advantage you have over them. Keep the enemy turret up so you can use it to deny the enemy cs if they're not in lane. If they appear in lane, freeze the minion wave far from their turret and play aggressive on them when they try to walk up to cs.
When you want to deny the enemy CS in general. The enemy turret is great for deny csing (an alternative form of denying cs is freezing the wave which causes the enemy minions to kill all of your minions)
When you don't have your core items and still need farm. The enemy turret is a major factor to why you're able to farm minions in that space you call "the lane". Without the turret present, the moment you clear the enemy minion wave, your ally minions will push towards the enemies' side of the map, forcing you to overextend for cs. This puts you in a risky position, especially if you don't have wards in the nearby enemy jungle.

When NOT to leave the enemy turret up:

When you want to make an impact on the rest of the map. That pesky turret is the main reason why you can't simply shove the minion wave and roam. Killing the turret means the next time you clear the enemy minions, your minion wave will push to the enemies' side of the map, putting pressure in that lane. If left alone, the minions will start dealing dmg to the next turret and potentially destroy it. This somewhat forces the enemy to go to that lane just to clear out your ally minions, meaning it could possibly be a 5v4 teamfight in your favor elsewhere on the map.
When laning phase is over and players start grouping up. Your job becomes to take objectives at this point so kill the turret since its an objective. This also opens up part of the map to your allies as they can set up vision control in the nearby enemy jungle. This also applies to your enemy laner leaving the lane to roam elsewhere. Pressure that turret and take it down if this is the case.

Source: I am a diamond 2 ADC/Jungle main

Linna Excel7/23/2015, 5:32:10 AM3 votes

If there are enemy minions around the tower, farm those first.

Their Jungler7/23/2015, 5:59:46 AM2 votes

Farm the minions that will be defending the tower and let your opponent lose CS. Sometimes you may need to bring down tower if you need to help other lanes, especially as a midlaner.

TouchpadExpert7/24/2015, 12:38:40 AM2 votes

There are some certain scenarios where you should prioritize one over the other.

Super early game 00:00 - 07:00 At this point and time you want to prioritize minions over tower hits. The reason for this is because you are super weak and because the towers are super strong, in fact they have a buff on them that lasts the first 7 minutes of the game. I don't know the numbers on the buff but its significant enough that you won't do very much damage at all to the turret. It is much better to focus minions.

07:00 - 14:00 Transition phase

Around this time the first tower falls somewhere on the map. At this time what you want to do is take chip shots at the tower. When you shove the lane attack tower and only attack minions if it gets you a last hit. But make some kind of damage on the tower. If you get the tower low enough you can siege it and eventually take it down. One thing to take into consideration is that the tower gets stronger if there are zero minions nearby. So leave 1-2 minions alive of the enemy's minions and focus solely on the turret. When it gets 3 or more focus the minions.

14:00 - End game

At this point someone somewhere is able to shove the lane super hard and push down the turret. They can then siege the turret if hey can outmuscle whoever they have under that tower or they can roam and force objectives elsewhere on the map. Usually teams are grouped by now so you can actually take a tower with a good tank champion tanking the hits and everyone else pummeling the towers. But you can still repeat the startegy listed in the transition phase, just be aware that you should be strong enough to take towers regardless of whether or not minions are involved.