Quick Cast and Smartcast Explained: How to Set Up Faster Casting

Quick cast fires your ability the moment you press the key, instead of making you press and then click. It is strictly faster, it takes about a minute to set up, and almost every high level player uses it. Here's how to configure it properly.

League of Legends Guide

Quick Cast and Smartcast

Updated August 2026

By default, casting an ability in League takes two inputs. You press the key, the game shows you a range indicator and waits, and then you click where you want it to go. Quick cast collapses that into one: press the key and the ability fires at your cursor immediately.

It's faster in every situation, it costs nothing, and the overwhelming majority of high level players use it. If you're still casting the default way, this is the highest value thirty seconds you'll spend outside a game.

The Three Cast Modes

Modern League gives you three ways to cast, and the middle one is what most players should be on.

Normal cast

Press the key, see the indicator, click to confirm. Two inputs and a decision point in between.

Only genuinely useful while you're learning what an ability does and how far it reaches.

Quick cast

Press the key and the ability fires instantly at your cursor. One input, no confirmation, no indicator.

The fastest option, and the one to use for abilities where you already know the range by feel.

Quick cast with indicator

You see the range indicator while the key is held, and the ability fires the moment you release. You get the visual feedback of normal cast at effectively the speed of quick cast.

The right default for most players and most abilities. Set this one and stop thinking about it.

Where to change it: Settings, then Hotkeys. You can flip every ability at once with the "Quick Cast All" option, or expand the per-ability list and set each one individually. There's no need to rebind anything by hand the way there was years ago.

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The Modifier Keys Worth Knowing

Whatever cast mode you settle on, these three modifiers work on top of it and are worth learning properly.

Shift + ability

Smartcast that one ability, regardless of your normal setting. Useful if you play on normal cast but want one specific spell fast.

Alt + ability

Self-cast. Targets you, instantly, without needing to find your own champion in a teamfight. Essential on shields, heals and cleanses.

Ctrl + ability

Level up that ability, if you have a point spare. Far faster than clicking the plus icon, and it works mid-fight.

Per-ability overrides

You don't have to pick one mode for everything. Many players quick cast their damage and leave a long-range ultimate on indicator so they can aim it.

Alt is the one people miss. If you play a support with a shield or a heal, self-casting with Alt is the difference between protecting yourself instantly and clicking around your own champion while a fight happens. It's the single most useful modifier on this page and almost nobody sets out to learn it.

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A Sensible Setup

If you want a starting point rather than a menu to experiment with, this is a configuration that suits nearly everyone:

Quick cast with indicator on everything, then move individual abilities to plain quick cast as you get comfortable with their range. Long range global ultimates and anything you routinely aim across the map are the abilities most worth leaving on indicator permanently.

Give it a few games before judging it. Switching cast modes feels wrong for about twenty minutes and then feels obviously correct, and going back to double-clicking every spell becomes unthinkable surprisingly quickly.

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Where to Go Next

Cast speed is one of several settings-level changes that make you faster without any practice at all. The rest, including attack-move binding and the mechanics that build on quick cast, are collected in Advanced Mechanics.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is quick cast in League of Legends?

A cast mode where pressing an ability key fires it immediately at your cursor, instead of showing an indicator and waiting for you to click. It turns two inputs into one, which makes every ability come out faster.

Is quick cast better than normal cast?

For almost everyone, yes. It's strictly faster and the vast majority of high level players use it. The only reason to stay on normal cast is if you're still learning an ability's range, and quick cast with indicator solves that anyway.

What is quick cast with indicator?

A middle option that shows the range indicator while you hold the key and casts when you release. You keep the visual feedback of normal cast at effectively the speed of quick cast, which makes it the best default for most players.

How do you turn on quick cast?

Open Settings, go to Hotkeys, and either use the Quick Cast All option to change every ability at once or expand the per-ability list to set them individually. You can mix modes, so quick casting your damage while leaving an ultimate on indicator is perfectly normal.

How do you self-cast an ability?

Hold Alt and press the ability key. It targets you instantly without needing to click your own champion, which matters enormously on shields, heals and cleanses during a teamfight.

Can you level up abilities with the keyboard?

Yes. Hold Ctrl and press the ability key to spend a point on it. It's much faster than clicking the plus icon and it works in the middle of a fight, which is when you most often need it.

Still on normal cast? Try quick cast with indicator for three games and tell us in the comments whether you went back.