After investing countless hours into a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, one can easily overlook the initial challenges of mastering it. Take League of Legends, for instance, which boasts an extensive roster of over a hundred champions, a myriad of items, and various jungle monsters. Among the foundational skills that players must grasp is the delicate art of “last hitting.” This technique involves striking an enemy creep just as it is about to perish, allowing players to earn gold and credit for the kill.
Innovative Last Hit Indicators
Recognizing the difficulty new players face, Riot Games has been experimenting with a feature designed to simplify last hitting: last hit indicators. These indicators provide visual cues to show the precise moment when a creep will succumb to one of a player’s autoattacks, thereby facilitating easier kills for those who may struggle with gauging their damage output. Although this feature has been limited to casual modes for several months, recent patch notes revealed its impending introduction to normal draft and ranked play.
Responses from the community have varied. One Reddit user, TsundereeTease, expressed skepticism, stating, “Last hitting is literally the skill gap in lane; if you can’t last hit, you shouldn’t be in ranked. What’s next, auto aim for skillshots?” Conversely, another user, garethh, offered a more optimistic perspective: “Cutting back the barrier to entry without touching the play and counterplay of League doesn’t seem like an inherently bad idea to me. If everyone knows if their auto will kill or not, what changes? Lazy players, sporadic players, and/or auto-filled players are empowered a bit. The entirety of the play and counterplay of laning still exists.”
In light of the mixed feedback, Riot Games has opted to take a cautious approach regarding the last hit assistance feature. In a post on X, the company stated, “We want to get more data and feedback to decide if we should make them an option for ranked before making that call. So we’ll keep them enabled, but off by default, for swiftplay, co-op vs AI, and normal draft, to collect data and iterate.” This indicates that while the feature may eventually be integrated into ranked play, its future remains uncertain.
