Beginner’s Guide to Turrets in League of Legends in 2020

A Turret, oftentimes referred to as a Tower, is a kind of fortification in the League of Legends game that blocks enemy champions and minions from getting to the Nexus. Any champion that wishes to proceed with an attack through enemy territory has to destroy the turrets in League of Legends. Minions can’t make it any further until the turrets are destroyed, and the turrets themselves do a whole lot of damage.
This article isn’t all inclusive but serves as a great guide to turrets in League of Legends which should point into how to deal with them, or otherwise use them to your advantage.

Basic Info about Turrets

Turrets deal quite a lot of damage, so you shouldn’t stay in their range for too long. They start targeting you at a sight range of 1095 or an attack range of 775. You’re not expected to know how far (or close) this is right away. The only way you can master this exact distance is by checking at which point the turrets start attacking minions.

Also, take a look at our tips on the basics in League of Legends as well. We’re sure you can find some good info in there as well.

When you or your teammate destroy a turret, it will grant each member of your team experience points and 150 gold. When the turret is near destruction, however, you can let your minions take care of it since last hitting doesn’t guarantee any kind of extra perks. While they are at it, you can use the time to farm monsters. On the topic of extra gold, note that Ashe, Twisted Fate and Avarice Blade gain some extra gold due to their special abilities.

Since turrets count as terrain, abilities that take advantage of terrain can put you at an advantage. For instance, Vayne’s ‘Condemn’, Poppy’s ‘Heroic Charge’ and Nautilus’ ‘Dredge Line’ can be used to condemn an enemy into a friendly turret. Then just sit back and enjoy the free kill.

Turrets can be deadly, both to you and your enemy

The amount of damage you inflict on a turret first depends on your attack damage plus any additional bonus. They cannot be attacked using armor or magic. Additionally, they lose magic resistance and 150 armor when enemy minions get close.

There is one last special kind of turret known as the fountain turret, and it’s the most powerful of them all. It usually protects the opponent’s spawn point and will drain your health bar in a hit or two, even if you’re on full health.

Inner turrets in League of Legends cannot receive any damage until the turrets that come before them are destroyed. Outer turrets, on the other hand, have a bit more armor at the start of the game. This starts to decay four minutes after the game starts and finish in another 4 minutes.
With that out of the way, let’s visit a bit more complex stuff. First off is turret diving.

If you’re looking to incorporate your new knowledge into split pushing tactics, you can also read our guide on split pushing in LoL here.

Turret Diving

This is moving in fast and unexpectedly into the turret’s range in order to kill an enemy. However, it’s not just a matter of attacking your enemy blindly. If done at the wrong time or without any definite strategy, you will end up losing most of your life.

There are a few things to consider before diving turrets in League of Legends, of course. First of all, the most ideal champion to dive with is one who has a gap closer – a skill that can help you quickly close the distance between you two. Essentially, anything that gives you a significant speed boost – for instance, Garen’s Q – qualifies as a gap closer.

Also, before you dive, study your enemy. The worst enemy to dive is one who has a CC (crowd control) ability or a stunning spell. Lux and Vayne are some good examples. If you’re stunned before you get your man, you’re definitely dead.

Turret diving is risky, but it can also be rewarding

Another thing to do before you dive is to consider how effective you will potentially be both as a champion and your item set. Tanks have lots of health and are better suited for diving since they can soak up more damage than any other class. At the same time, they don’t deal that much damage so they should be ready to take quite a few hits. For this reason, it would be a good idea to take out your opponent fast and get out of range before you sustain too much damage. An even better strategy would be to secure the kill and use your skill to get out of range faster.

It all seems kinda obvious, but the amount of practice you need to perfect turret diving is completely unreal. The only real rule you need to follow if you want your dive to be successful is be smart about it. Don’t be too aggressive, don’t be greedy, don’t be stupid. Don’t just jump into turret range when you’re not certain you’ll be able to deal some damage on your opponent.

Pulling enemies into the turret

A great mischievous strategy to take advantages of the turrets in League of Legends would be to find ways to pull the enemy into the turret’s proximity range so both of you can finish him off.

For example, a champion that can use his abilities to perform such stunts is Blitzcrank. He can use his Rocket Grab ability while he’s in the turret to pull any close enemy right to him. That’s going to be one juicy dinner.

Another way this can be achieved is by baiting the enemy while you’re running around with low HP. It’s a risky move, but sometimes it can work well to your advantage.

It can bring about a great feeling of accomplishment when a feat like this is achieved. It will also make the enemy you just murdered due to his own recklessness feel pretty dumb so that’s a plus as well.

A great place where you can find strategies and tips from other players is the Summoner School on Reddit.

Turret Hugging

On wards to turret hugging, which is technically the exact opposite of turret diving. This is a defensive maneuver where you stay close to your turret in order to have a backup plan in case a fight breaks out. Turret hugging is technically also offensive since it gives you a bunch more damage, giving you the ability to take out an enemy even faster.

As with turret diving, you shouldn’t just stay close to your turrets at all times. This is a strategy that can be easily beaten if your opponents know what they are doing. Besides, there are several different kinds of players out there, and lots of them are willing to die if it means you are going down with them.

Some of the most ideal situations for hugging your turret are:
⦁ When the enemy is converging at your location without any minions around to protect them. However, be careful about the sly ones with a powerful ranged attack. These guys can keep a safe distance and harass you where the turret can’t do anything.
⦁ If you’re outnumbered: when there are more enemies headed towards you than you can contain.
⦁ That moment when you’re low on health and there’s nobody to back you up. You can keep turret hugging until someone comes to your aid.

All of these tips can really help out, especially when you’re solo queuing. If you’re in the battlefield with a friend, things can get easier as you can both work towards a good strategy to overcome the challenges. But if you’re in it alone, there’s a lot more you have to focus on.

Farming under enemy turrets

The more you play the game, the more likely that you will find yourself in a situation where you push your lane into the enemy turret. If this happens, be careful how close to the turrets you get. Don’t give the enemy any hit that you can avoid. If possible, also note the range at which they start attacking your minions. At the same time, be on the lookout how many minions you have so you have an opportunity to run before you run out of them.

Farming the enemy right under their nose is no easy job, however. The turret just means there’s a time limit to how long you can farm within that territory. Once your time is up, don’t be ashamed of turning tail and running away.

Find out more ways to farm efficiently in our guide here. Start enlarging your horizons when it comes to hoarding gold for those items.

Farming under friendly turrets

This one sounds pretty easy, and it actually is, but it has a few disadvantages to it. On one hand, you will get your XP much faster, but the turrets deal much more damage than you do.

This means you’re going to lose a lot of gold if it keeps happening. However, you can get around this by:

Waiting for the turret to hit a melee minion twice the setting auto-attack on just once.
Again, waiting for the turret to hit a caster minion once then turn on auto-attack.
Waiting for the health of a siege minion to get as low as possible then turn on auto-attack.
Lastly, you should try as much as you can to stay near your turrets when you recall. It acts as both a defensive barrier and provides an offensive advantage. Furthermore, it helps you gain XP from the minions that get killed while you wait to be teleported back to the fountain.

If you are confident enough now what turrets in League of Legends are and understood the basic concept how to use them properly, go ahead and have a look at our Guide on how to Survive in League of Legends.

The first one down always sets a chain reaction

And that’s a fact in most games. Turrets in League of Legends are basically objectives you need to destroy in order to progress. Taking down all the turrets in a single lane opens up the way to the grand prize, The Nexus.

Taking down the first turret is usually a race in every game. That is because you will slow the farming capabilities of the other team on that lane a lot. You will make them play safer and avoid going too far from the safety of their own turret.

Some final words

Turrets can be both our guardian angels and our demons at the same time. Knowing how to use them to your best advantage can prove extremely useful in League of Legends.

A lot of players try to take their fights outside of the turret’s line of sight. They think that they will have more control over how the fight’s going to go.

There’s no need to do any of that if you know to take play around the turrets and if you properly know how they work. That way, you can use them to snatch away some good farm and maybe some good kills as well.

If you want to be kept up to date with the latest changes to the game which sometimes includes turrets as well, be sure to check the official website for LoL.

Do you have any more questions about the turrets in LoL? Want to share your own tips?
Please do so by leaving a Comment below!