The Importance of Early Game Autoattacking

Mages and melee supports leave enormous damage on the table in lane by never pressing right click. Your basic attack costs no mana, has no cooldown, and cannot be dodged. Here's why you should be using it far more than you do.

League of Legends Guide

Early Game Autoattacking

Updated August 2026

Watch a mid or bottom lane in a Gold game and count how many times the mage and the support press right click during the first five minutes. On a lot of accounts the answer is close to zero. They walk up, throw a skillshot, miss it, walk back, and wait for the cooldown.

Marksman players learn early that attacking is the job. Almost everyone else has to be told, and most never are. So here it is: your basic attack is free damage that you're choosing not to deal.

Why the Basic Attack Wins on Value

Comparing raw damage numbers between an attack and an ability misses what makes attacking good. Four things do:

It costs no mana

This is the big one at level 1. Your mana pool is the hard limit on how much you can do in the first few minutes, and every point spent on a harass spell is a point you don't have for a trade or an escape. Attacks draw on nothing.

It has no cooldown

An ability commits you to a window where you have nothing. Attacks come back on your attack speed, which for most champions means roughly two every three seconds at level 1, forever.

It cannot be dodged

Skillshots miss. A huge fraction of the harass thrown in low elo lands on nothing at all, which means the mana was spent for zero. A basic attack that's in range always connects.

It doesn't pull minion aggro the same way

Attacking an enemy champion near their minions does turn the wave on you. But attacking a minion while your opponent stands next to it costs nothing at all, and last hitting is already free damage on the wave you have to be doing anyway.

Put those together and the comparison stops being "does one attack beat one ability" and becomes "how much total damage can I deal in this lane without running out of resources". Attacks win that comparison by a distance.

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The Two Worst Offenders

Ability power mids. Most mages have a base attack damage in the low to mid fifties at level 1, and a 500 to 600 unit attack range. Syndra, to take the example this post has used since 2014, starts with 54 attack damage and 550 range. That's a real amount of free damage sitting on a button, available at exactly the range her Dark Sphere [Q] is thrown from.

The pattern to build is simple: throw the ability, and while it's on cooldown, attack. Not instead of. As well as. A trade where you land an ability and two attacks is dramatically better than one where you land the ability and walk away, and it costs the same mana.

Melee supports. These champions often have higher base attack damage than the carry they're standing next to. Leona starts at 60 attack damage, comfortably above most marksmen. A melee support who walks up, uses their crowd control, and then just stands there watching has thrown away the entire duration of the stun they just landed.

Leona is the clearest case in the game. Her Shield of Daybreak [Q] doesn't replace an attack, it empowers the next one. The ability literally requires you to attack in order to happen. If you're playing an engage support and not weaving attacks between your abilities, you're not just missing damage, on some champions you're failing to use the ability at all.

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How to Actually Fix It

Attack during every cooldown

The habit to build is that ability downtime means attack, not retreat. If you're in range and the enemy is in range, there's no reason not to be hitting them.

Attack after every crowd control

A stun is a free window where they cannot respond. Standing still during it is the single most common support mistake in the game.

Use attack-move, not right click

Right clicking makes you walk into a fight when you misclick the ground. Attack-move never does, and it targets whatever is closest automatically. See Advanced Mechanics for the setup.

Watch the minions before you commit

The exception to all of this. Attack a champion standing in their own wave and the whole wave turns on you. Pull them out first, or take the trade knowing what it costs. Our laning mechanics guide covers how pushing and harassing trade off.

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When Not To

This isn't an argument for attacking constantly and mindlessly. Two situations where holding back is right:

In a teamfight as a squishy champion. Walking into attack range of five people to add one attack's worth of damage is a bad trade. This whole article is about the laning phase, where you're facing one or two opponents and the risk is measurable.

When it pushes a wave you want held. Attacking the enemy champion is fine, attacking their minions when you're trying to freeze is not. If you're holding a wave, harass the player and leave the minions alone.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Should mages autoattack in lane?

Yes, constantly. Most mages have around 50 to 55 base attack damage and 500 to 600 attack range at level 1, so they can attack from roughly the same distance they cast from. Attacking during ability cooldowns costs no mana and adds up to more damage than the abilities themselves over a full laning phase.

Why is autoattacking better than using abilities early?

It isn't better, it's additional. Abilities cost mana and have cooldowns, so they're limited. Attacks are unlimited and cannot miss. The strongest trades use both: land the ability, then attack while it's on cooldown rather than walking away.

Should melee supports autoattack?

Especially melee supports. They often have higher base attack damage than the marksman beside them, and some, like Leona, have abilities that empower an attack rather than replacing it. Landing crowd control and then standing still wastes the window you just created.

Won't autoattacking pull the minion wave onto me?

Only if you attack an enemy champion while their minions are nearby. Minions switch to any enemy champion who attacks an ally, so pull your opponent away from their wave first, or accept the damage you'll take in return.

Does autoattacking push the wave?

Attacking minions does. Attacking the enemy champion doesn't. If you're trying to hold a freeze, harass the player and leave their minions alone, otherwise you'll shove the wave and lose the freeze you set up.

Which champion made you finally learn to weave attacks in? Tell us in the comments.