Minions are the thing you interact with most in League and understand least. They arrive on a clock that changes twice, they carry a target priority list, they have two aggro ranges, and one undisturbed wave is worth more gold than almost anyone guesses.
League of Legends Guide
Minions
How the Wave WorksMinions are the thing you interact with most in League and understand least.
They arrive on a clock that changes twice during a game, they rank targets in a fixed order that puts you last, and they get stronger on a schedule with nothing to do with when they spawned. None of it is in the tutorial. All of it changes how a lane should be played.
The wave runs on a timetable, and it changes twice
Waves leave the base every 30 seconds from 1:05, and that never feels like it changes because it does so quietly.
| Game time | A wave every | Cannon minion |
|---|---|---|
| 1:05 to 14:00 | 30 seconds | First one arrives with wave three, then one wave in three |
| 14:00 to 25:00 | 25 seconds | One wave in two |
| 25:00 onward | 25 seconds, then 20 from 30:00 | Every wave |
Both halves of that table are worth memorizing for different reasons. The shrinking gap between waves is most of why the late game feels frantic: there's less empty time to do anything in, and every lane refills faster than the one you learned on.
The cannon count is the practical half. Cannon waves decide dives, plates and most recalls, so knowing whether the next one has a siege minion in it changes whether you go home now or in thirty seconds.
Opening minions ignore champions for 28 seconds in the side lanes and 18 in mid, and when the waves meet they spread their attacks evenly across all three enemy melee minions instead of focusing the closest. All six melee minions then die at almost the same moment, so neither team gets a free push out of a coin flip. Any advantage in the first minute has to come from a champion doing something.
Two things make the wave shoot you
Standing in their path with nothing else in range, or damaging an enemy champion with a basic attack or most targeted abilities. That's the whole list. Skillshots and area damage largely don't call the wave down on you, which is a bigger deal in a poke lane than most players realize.
Then there's the range, and there are two of them. A minion picks up a target within 500 units on its own. When an ally is being attacked by an enemy champion, the range on that call for help doubles to 1000, so the distance that decides whether you get shot isn't between you and the minions. It's between the minions and the person you just hit.
Once they do turn on you, the order they choose targets in explains the rest:
| Priority | Target |
|---|---|
| 1 | An enemy champion attacking a nearby ally |
| 2 | Enemy minions attacking a nearby ally |
| 3 | Enemy minions attacking an allied minion |
| 4 | A turret hitting an allied minion |
| 5 | The nearest enemy minion |
| 6 | The nearest enemy champion |
You are last, and they refuse to swap between targets of equal priority. That single rule is why aggro slides off you the instant the two waves collide, and why the trade you took a second too early hurt so much more than the identical one taken a second later.
One exception is worth keeping: minions already hitting a turret ignore calls for help entirely. Trading under their tower is cheaper than it looks, for the person doing the trading.
They hit you at half, and each other at full
Against champions a minion deals half its damage. Against other minions it deals the full amount plus a bonus scaling off the target's current health.
Same unit, two completely different damage profiles, and the weaker one is pointed at you. That's why standing in a wave is survivable and why a wave still deletes itself in seconds.
They scale with your team, not with your lane
New minions take their level from the average champion level of the team that spawned them, rounded down. Not the lane they're walking into. The whole team.
So a team that's collectively behind is shipping weaker minions into every lane, including the lane that's winning. Their wave beats yours before either of you touches it, and almost nobody notices it happening.
On top of that, minions gain health and attack damage every 90 seconds, which is every third wave, and their movement speed climbs steadily from six minutes. The wave you cleared with three abilities at eight minutes is genuinely a different unit at twenty. If your clear stops feeling clean, nothing went wrong with you.
A wave is worth 125 to 195 gold
That's one undisturbed wave, with the exact figure depending on the clock. Three waves is a finished item component with change left over, and the game hands you two of them a minute.
Nothing else in League pays that reliably or that often, which turns the most repeated advice in the game into arithmetic instead of nagging. Walking away from a wave to go look for a fight isn't neutral. It costs a specific number, and now you know roughly what it is.
- Count cannons rather than guessing. Every third wave until 14 minutes, every second until 25, then all of them.
- Poke with skillshots when you can. Targeted damage brings the wave with it, and area damage mostly doesn't.
- Measure aggro from your target, not from yourself. The call for help reaches 1000 units.
- Take the trade after the waves meet, not before. Minion attention is already spoken for.
- Price a roam before you take it. Two waves is a Long Sword and change.
Frequently asked questions
When does the first cannon minion spawn?
With the third wave, then one wave in three until 14 minutes, one in two until 25, and every wave after that.
Why did the whole wave suddenly attack me?
You basic attacked or used a targeted ability on an enemy champion within 1000 units of their minions, or you're standing in their path with nothing else in range.
How much gold is a wave?
Between 125 and 195 depending on game time, climbing to the top of that range by 25 minutes.
Do minions get stronger over time?
Yes, on a 90 second cycle, one upgrade every third wave, with movement speed climbing separately from six minutes. Their level also tracks your team's average, rounded down.
Why do minions ignore me under my own tower?
Minions already attacking a turret don't answer calls for help, so nobody in that wave is coming to defend their champion.
The short version
The cannon has a count, the aggro has a trigger, and the wave has a price. Learn the price first: once you know what a wave is worth, most bad games start looking like a series of bad trades rather than bad luck.
For turning those waves into a lead, our lane advantages guide is the next step, and basic laning mechanics covers the last hitting and pushing side of it.
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