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Please Teach Me How to Last Hit (with AP Champions)

TheGrandAlliance··1 votes·4,729 views

...because no matter how long I attempt at it I always mess it up with AP champions (generally midlane) such as Ahri Leblanc Katarina. I either hit too soon, too late, or the minions always mess it up. Using spells (and its mana) doesn't help either for the same reasons. With AD champions it is pretty straight forward and the higher AD levels make it easy.

Alas I tried closely watching LCS mid laners, and spectator mode otherwise for SoloQ but yet still haven't figured it out. I do have low lag (<30MS) so this isn't a problem (for NA play anyways)...

Farm is everything at low level... and if you cannot get any gold you will quickly fall behind.

_EDIT: IF there are certain runes/starter items I should consider to assist this please advise as well. Also if you have ideas on how much CS a midlane should have at X min that is also useful. IF there is also strategy as to which minions I should kill first and such rotations please advise. _

Also to posters: Yes I do have auto-attack disabled... I learned ages ago that is a most evil thing to have...

NOTE TO RIOT: The HP bars of minions should change color or otherwise some sort of indicator when a minions HP is =/< AD (AA) DMG so that a player can easily tell when to last hit vs waiting for more damage. Because HP of minions is always changing the current system makes it very hard to try and do math otherwise. Furthermore if HP health was indicated by numbers and not only by bars this would also assist.

20 Comments

IcyPepper4 votes

Practice in customs. Learn their aa animations, and time those autoattacks. CS'ing without using waveclear is important for freezing the lane (and conserving mana when you're not Katarina).

TheGrandAlliance1 votes

{quoted}

Practice in customs. Learn their aa animations, and time those autoattacks. CS'ing without using waveclear is important for freezing the lane (and conserving mana when you're not Katarina).

I tried but problem is (if you mean vs bots or no bots) is that vs AI doesn't pose any challenge. Even if I can get it to work in PvE it all goes to the wayside in PvP (usually due to harass or mana conservation considerations). Also when vs bots you usually end up pushing the lane to the turret too much because the AI is bad at countering so it isn't very realistic either.

Even so sometimes I mess it up... if using AA or Spells both.

IcyPepper4 votes

You don't want a challenge at first. Here, let me explain:

First, make a custom game with no other champion other than yourself. Pick a lane, and freeze it. Your goal is to not push the lane too far, and conserve as much mana as possible. Try to get at least 80% of each minion wave. Keep practicing until you get 100% for ten minutes or something.

Then, go to bots. This is "easy mode," since you said it has no challenge. Focus on cs'ing, harass the bot but don't focus on killing them. Just cs until you get at least 70 at the ten minute mark. Keep practicing until you do that, then aim for 100 cs at just past ten (11-13ish).

Then go to pvp and try practicing your cs skills. Get a premade and play with four friends if you're worried you'll get yelled at for not getting a lot of kills. Get dat cs. Then try balancing killing and cs'ing.

I know mages and assassins are more kill-heavy early game, but cs'ing is important. As someone who plays a lot of adc, I tend to focus more on farm early game than getting kills. I harass the enemy enough to make them back off, but I absolutely hate burning a flash just for a kill (I'm more about surviving and not giving kill gold than getting kills myself), but I certainly know how to cs.

TheGrandAlliance1 votes

{quoted}

You don't want a challenge at first. Here, let me explain:

First, make a custom game with no other champion other than yourself. Pick a lane, and freeze it. Your goal is to not push the lane too far, and conserve as much mana as possible. Try to get at least 80% of each minion wave. Keep practicing until you get 100% for ten minutes or something.

Okay I will try that again... however last time I did that (and only using AA as well) I ended up pushing lane to the turret every time. Without a "pushback" from a bot, and being that turrets mess it up (because caster minons wont' go into turret range) it messed it up for me.

IcyPepper1 votes

You can always get a friend to join you for the same thing for equal pushback to simulate a frozen lane in-game, if you want.

Just tell 'em what you're doing so they don't go ham on your thinking it's a 1v1.

TheGrandAlliance1 votes

{quoted}

You can always get a friend to join you for the same thing for equal pushback to simulate a frozen lane in-game, if you want.

Just tell 'em what you're doing so they don't go ham on your thinking it's a 1v1.

Yes always true of course... does require that thing called a "Friend" of course LoL :) No worries I will figure it out eventually.

mvargus1 votes

{quoted}

Okay I will try that again... however last time I did that (and only using AA as well) I ended up pushing lane to the turret every time. Without a "pushback" from a bot, and being that turrets mess it up (because caster minons wont' go into turret range) it messed it up for me.

I do this occasionally. The key is to only AA and only use 1 AA per minion. You are trying to gauge what you need to do in order to last hit so you don't want to push the lane at all.

It will slowly start pushing forward, so about ever 4-5th wave you wind up pushing your minions into the turret and then backing off to allow the lane to reset.

And it does take a lot of practice. I really should be doing this far more often than I do, but right now I find I'm a jungle/support main and those 2 positions are a bit more difficult to practice in custom games where no one else is there.

kayek2 votes

What I generally do and what seems to work for me is watch what your caster minions are attacking. If you are going in for a list hit try to line up your aa so it would land just after your caster minion does its damage. Hopefully you get the lat hit! this also applies to your melee minions but they have a more subtle attack animation so its a bit harder with them.

ModWulf Helhammer1 votes

very, veeeerrrry carefully. As someone who sucks at CSing in general, when I finally got a mid laner I liked (Xerath) and started playing more than just ADC, it really sucked

Drunk Rummate1 votes

Keep in mind the minions don't take damage from your allied caster minions until the projectile actually hits it. It's just something you have to get the hang of honestly.

crazymage1 votes

Like other posts have been saying going into a custom game and practicing is the best way to learn how to last hit. For this you shouldn't add bots and only focus on last hitting without using any abilities. It can be helpful to not by items or level up skills so you don't get tempted. Last hitting is all about watching the health bar you can click on the minion to see the exact hp bar, so look at which minion is taking the most damage and click on it so you know when your aa will kill it. If your really struggling you can take a few marks of AD to help as well as the first two mastery points on the far right of the offense tree. These will help you last hit even if your off a couple of damage points.

64931067_DEL1 votes

Turn off your auto attack in menu, and pick Ashe for practice with Cassi bots. Generally, each champ has his/her unique attack motion and you need to practice with every specific champ. But if you could take 90-100% cs with Ashe against Cassi bots, everything will be easy.

TheGrandAlliance1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Melody of Mew,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=OJVh9JVG,comment-id=0005,timestamp=2015-04-29T21:49:47.496+0000)

Turn off your auto attack in menu, and pick Ashe for practice with Cassi bots. Generally, each champ has his/her unique attack motion and you need to practice with every specific champ. But if you could take 90-100% cs with Ashe against Cassi bots, everything will be easy.

I dont' have problem with AD champions... just using AP ones.

TouchpadExpert1 votes

Here's a trick I use: Press S. or if you want to be difficult press H.

Pressing S or H means you stop/halt. You will stop walking and also stop attacks midway through. This is a good way to cancel an attack animation if you feel like you are striking the minion too early. You can then wait a fraction of a second longer to re-initiate the attack with a single click and now you have secured +22 gold.

When farming under tower there is a trick to getting all of the CS. Follow this rule. Melee minions get shot by turret 2x. You now auto attack once and you have secured +22 gold. Caster minions are slightly more difficult. You attack minion once when it is full health. Turret shoots said minion once. You auto attack for a second time to get the kill. +19 gold. Cannon minion has no trick. You will need to watch him carefully.

BarbieJesus1 votes

Start by doing one of the following; Turn your auto attack off! Escape > Game > uncheck "Auto Attack" Move constantly so your auto attack does NOT go off unless you command it to!

Only attack minions when you're getting the last hit. Try to watch what minions are dropping faster than others and which of YOUR minions are attacking them. Try to time your AA to land right after your minions' AAs land. Get a feel for how much damage your champions are doing at what levels. Some champions, like Annie and Nidalee make CSing look like a joke. There is little to no excuse for missing CS on Annie as she can throw an AA at one minion and Q another simultaneously and use zero mana in the process.

At level 1, it can be fairly difficult to gauge just how much damage you're going to do to a minion. Though, this is the most important time to start getting your CS. You're usually not under a lot of pressure to avoid enemy harass at level 1 unless your opposing laner is extremely aggressive. A lot of people will try to clear the first wave quickly, and that's okay to follow suit, just make sure you're getting your CS in the process. Make sure when minions are getting low, STOP auto attacking that minion and move to another minion until the minion is getting close. You're better off getting your CS and having to play passively than not getting CS and getting destroyed by the enemy laner.

Apex Citavista1 votes

If it's really that hard for you, you can always use the butcher mastery. it adds 2 dmg to all your AA and single target spells. Also, watch the minions, if you left click the minion, it will show you the exact number of hp they have left. Remeber how much your auto does. it will do the exact same damage every time, until you level up, and then it still does the exact same damage for that level. After a few rounds you'll get used to seeing where their hp bar will be, so you can get the cs. Arcane blade helps a lot too(another mastery)

TheGrandAlliance1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Truncatis Guard,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=OJVh9JVG,comment-id=0008,timestamp=2015-04-29T23:30:01.634+0000)

If it's really that hard for you, you can always use the butcher mastery. it adds 2 dmg to all your AA and single target spells. Also, watch the minions, if you left click the minion, it will show you the exact number of hp they have left. Remeber how much your auto does. it will do the exact same damage every time, until you level up, and then it still does the exact same damage for that level. After a few rounds you'll get used to seeing where their hp bar will be, so you can get the cs.

Yes I have figured this out in terms of AD=True DMG vs most minons (or all now with 5.8) however because each wave is has scaling HP the point in which you have to attack is different. If you wait until the bar is x full before... now you have to wait until it is slightly less full the next time (until you yourself power up)

Furthermore you cannot click on every minion for every kill... there is simply not enough time. Lastly this doesn't help the problem of friendly minions "beating you to it" as well and last hitting themselves.

Indeed... if only we could get Numbers instead of bars for HP in this game... that would at least help to some degree.

Apex Citavista1 votes

You completely missed what I meant. If you left click a minon, and watch the hp, you'll see that it hits a certain point, where your AA will kill it. I'm not saying do it for every minions, just 1-2 per wave. Which you have PLENTY of time for. After a bit you'll adjust to seeing the correct time for it. Also if the allied minions beat you to it, that means you're missing it. If they beat you to it, essentially what you're doing is called trying to "freeze the lane". That's where you last hit the minion at the last few hp, to make it be alive as long as possible. If you're lower elo you want to do it sooner. Example: youre lvl1, ap, mage mid laner. You can always figure that your AA at lvl1 will do around 50 damage. so when a minion hits around 30-40hp, thats when you normally want to attack it. Likewise, as your levle grows, every champion gets a set amount of stats per level. Even ap mages get a base attack damage increase per level, so you can compensate their hp increase per level. After some practice it becomes second nature. but it also depends on the champion you play. some champions have a faster moving AA, some have just a faster auto animation, and some have ways for doing an AA reset which lets you fire more than one in quick succession. Pick one champion, and practice it. that is the best way to get good at it.

Fredart1 votes

your ad = attack damage, minion green bar is hp, when your ad is greater than hp then attack, ranged minions seem to have -2 to your ad while melee have -3 to 4 ad

Ahurath1 votes

How do you get good at lasthiting under the preasure of a real game? You practice it in real games.

Don't overthink it and custom training is just a wase of time since you will never have any lane preasure on you so it's very easy to lasthit when all you have to think about is lasthit.

Attack damage makes lasthiting easier so consider using AD reds in your ap pages.

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