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What Is a League of Legends Minion? Waves, Roles, and Gold Explained

By Freedom251 Team · · 8 min read

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A League of Legends minion is an autonomous lane unit that periodically leaves its team’s Nexus, marches toward the enemy Nexus, attacks enemy units and structures, and can be killed for gold and experience. Minions form the clock of every lane: their waves determine when you can safely last-hit, trade, recall, roam, or damage a turret.

There are four standard categories: melee, caster (ranged), cannon (also called siege), and super minions. They differ in durability, damage, value, spawn conditions, and effectiveness against turrets. Their exact numbers change with patches, so the figures below are identified as Patch 26.1 or Patch 26.9 values rather than permanent rules.

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What a minion does

Minions are computer-controlled units tied to a lane. They spawn at regular intervals, move along the lane as a group, fight opposing minions and champions when appropriate, and attack enemy structures when they reach them. A wave that survives longer can become both a moving shield for your champion and an additional source of damage against a turret.

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Killing the unit is not enough to receive its gold: your champion must deliver the final hit. Experience follows separate rules and can be shared, with the ratios revised in Patch 26.1. This distinction is why a player can stand near a wave for experience while missing the gold from its individual minions.

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Minion types and their jobs

Melee minions: the front line

Melee minions fight at close range and occupy the front of a wave. Their comparatively high durability lets them absorb attacks before the more fragile ranged units are exposed. They are the units you usually see taking the first hits from enemy minions, champions, or a turret.

Patch 26.9 changed their health scaling to 430 base health plus 35 every 90 seconds. That is a current-patch reference, not a timeless stat: later balance updates can change both the base value and the scaling.

Caster minions: ranged damage behind the line

Caster minions attack from range and normally stand behind the melee line. Their positioning allows a wave to keep dealing damage while the melee units are being fought. They are less durable than the front line, so losing them quickly can make a wave collapse even when several melee minions remain.

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Cannon or siege minions: high-value pressure

Cannon minions are tougher, more valuable units with special rules for attacking turrets and with attack scaling tied to game time. The first cannon appears on wave 3. Cannon waves are therefore predictable opportunities to contest a last hit, protect a push, or force an opponent to spend more time clearing.

Patch 26.1 raised cannon damage to turrets to 84% under the patch’s cannon-turret rule and changed cannon gold to 50 gold plus 1 every 90 seconds. Treat both figures as Patch 26.1 values; Riot can rebalance them.

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Super minions: base-push units

Super minions are empowered units associated with pushing into an enemy base. They are not part of every ordinary lane wave; they appear under special base-push conditions. Patch 26.1 set their base attack damage to 180 and grouped their gold with cannon minions at 50 plus 1 every 90 seconds.

How waves spawn and what changes over time

A wave is the timed group of minions that travels down a lane. Waves do not appear whenever a champion clears the previous group; the game’s spawn schedule controls them. That schedule creates a repeatable rhythm for farming and movement.

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The cannon schedule

The first cannon minion arrives on wave 3. Later cannon appearances follow the game’s timing rules, and the composition changes when the cadence changes. Under Patch 26.1:

  • From the 14-minute mark, waves spawn every 25 seconds. When a cannon appears on this cadence, one fewer melee minion spawns.
  • From the 30-minute mark, waves spawn every 20 seconds. When a cannon appears on this cadence, one fewer caster minion spawns.

The faster late-game schedule was deliberate. Riot Games described the Patch 26.1 change this way: “In order to create more windows for successful pushing, we’re increasing the rate of minion wave spawns in the mid and late game.” Riot also stated that the goal was to create push opportunities without causing runaway gold and experience inflation from simply producing waves faster.

No complete early-game interval table is provided, so do not assume that the 25-second or 20-second figures apply before their stated time marks. Use the in-game wave timing for the current patch when planning an exact recall or rotation.

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How minion gold and experience work

Last-hitting awards gold to the champion that gets the killing blow. Missing a last hit means losing that minion’s gold even if an allied champion or minion finishes it. The value depends on the minion category and, for higher-value units, can scale with time.

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Minion type Patch 26.1 gold information Patch 26.1 experience information
Melee 20 gold 62 experience
Caster/ranged Unchanged in the cited Patch 26.1 excerpt; exact amount is not stated there 31 experience
Cannon/siege 50 gold plus 1 every 90 seconds 75 experience
Super 50 gold plus 1 every 90 seconds 75 experience

The experience figures are also Patch 26.1 values. That patch revised shared-experience ratios, but the exact ratios are not specified in the available notes summarized here. Do not treat the table as a promise that every nearby champion receives the same amount in every situation.

Cannon and super minions are worth more than ordinary units, which explains why players contest them aggressively and why a missed cannon last hit is especially costly. The time-based increase is attached to the unit’s gold value, so a later cannon or super minion can be worth more than one early in the match.

Why last-hitting matters

It converts lane presence into guaranteed income

Minions are a reliable source of lane gold, but only the final hit secures that gold for your champion. A player who controls health bars and attacks at the right moment can collect a wave while exposing themselves to fewer unnecessary trades. This is the practical meaning of “farming.”

It determines when you can buy and return

Gold from repeated last hits accumulates into item purchases. A clean wave can provide the difference between returning with a completed component and returning empty-handed. Because waves arrive on a schedule, players often push or hold a wave before recalling so that the next group reaches a safer position while they are away.

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It creates pressure even when no champion fight happens

A player who clears a wave faster can make the opponent choose between collecting minions and answering a move elsewhere. Conversely, preserving allied minions can force an enemy turret to deal with the wave before it can be attacked by a champion. Last-hitting is therefore both an income skill and a way to shape the lane’s next decision.

A practical last-hit routine

  1. Read the wave’s health bars. Identify which enemy minion will become killable first and avoid spending a damaging ability that would accidentally take several last hits at once unless pushing is your goal.
  2. Account for allied damage. Your minions are already attacking the target. Wait until their next attacks would leave the minion within your champion’s reliable finishing range.
  3. Prioritize the cannon. On a cannon wave, track its health separately because its gold value is higher and it is usually harder to finish safely.
  4. Choose a push or a hold. If you need the wave to reach the enemy turret, clear more quickly. If you want the wave to remain near your side, take only the last hits and let allied and enemy minions trade naturally.
  5. Recheck the next spawn timing. After the 14-minute and 30-minute thresholds, the shorter intervals change how quickly another wave arrives and how long you have for a recall or rotation.
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How minions damage turrets

Minions can attack turrets once they reach structure range. Current rules set ordinary minion-to-turret damage at 60%. This reduction is why a wave alone usually takes time to remove a healthy turret and why a champion’s attacks or abilities can materially accelerate a push.

Cannon minions have a separate, stronger turret interaction: Patch 26.1 lists their turret damage at 84% under the cannon rule. A cannon wave therefore applies more reliable structure pressure than an ordinary wave, provided the cannon survives long enough to attack.

The wave also changes who absorbs turret fire. Keeping allied minions alive gives your champion a window to attack the structure while the turret is occupied by the wave. Losing the minions first removes that protection and can force you to retreat. This is why players often clear enemy champions away from a turret before committing to hits on the structure, rather than treating minion damage as an automatic replacement for champion damage.

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Using waves to make lane decisions

Push for a move

Clear the enemy wave quickly when you need priority to place vision, help a nearby fight, take an objective, or recall. The faster spawn intervals after 14 and 30 minutes make these windows shorter, so count the time needed for the next wave to meet yours.

Hold the wave near your side

Taking only last hits preserves enemy minions long enough for the wave to remain closer to your turret. This reduces the distance you must travel to farm and can expose an opponent who walks too far forward. The trade-off is that you give up immediate pushing pressure.

Use a cannon wave for a turret attempt

A cannon’s stronger turret interaction makes its arrival a natural time to threaten plates or a structure. Protect the cannon from enemy champions and avoid taking turret fire after your minions disappear. If the opponent must choose between contesting you and collecting the high-value wave, the cannon creates additional pressure even before the turret loses health.

Recognize a base push

Super minions signal a more advanced push into the enemy base. Their 180 base attack damage and cannon-level gold value make them important to clear, but their appearance is conditional rather than part of the ordinary wave cycle. When one arrives, teams must decide whether to defend directly, clear the wave safely, or use the time to attack elsewhere.

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What changes between patches

Minion rules are balance targets, not fixed constants. Patch 26.9 changed melee health scaling to 430 plus 35 every 90 seconds and adjusted Minion Slayer’s damage bonuses against melee, ranged, and siege minions. That kind of update can alter how many attacks are needed for a last hit, how quickly a wave dies, and how effective a champion’s anti-minion tools are.

For accurate practice, use the current patch notes and in-game tooltips rather than copying an old full-stat table. The gold, experience, spawn intervals, and turret coefficients in this article are specifically labeled where Patch 26.1 or Patch 26.9 supplied them.

Quick reference: which minion matters for what?

Question Best answer
Which unit forms the front line? Melee minions, because they fight at close range and are comparatively durable.
Which unit attacks from behind the line? Caster or ranged minions.
Which ordinary unit is most valuable to last-hit? The cannon/siege minion, worth 50 gold plus 1 every 90 seconds under Patch 26.1.
When does the first cannon appear? Wave 3.
When do waves become more frequent? Every 25 seconds from 14 minutes and every 20 seconds from 30 minutes under Patch 26.1.
What makes super minions different? They are empowered base-push units that appear under special conditions, with 180 base attack damage and cannon-level gold under Patch 26.1.
How much ordinary minion damage reaches a turret? Current rules list minion-to-turret damage at 60%; cannon minions have the separate 84% turret-damage figure listed in Patch 26.1.

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