League of Legends, at its core, is a game about earning gold to buy items that will eventually crush your opponents and win you the game. As such, we've developed 10 tips you can use in your next games on the Rift so that you can gain an edge over any enemy in every game you play!

1. Employ A CS-Oriented Playstyle

The importance of CS cannot be overstated; any guide about improving in League of Legends will tell you that shifting your focus from kills to farming is the first step in becoming a better player. Think about it like this. The base value of a kill is 300g, yet a full siege minion wave (after 17:15, thanks to the increasing value of a siege minion) is 195g, meaning that securing 2 waves is much more efficient for your economy than constantly sacrificing farm to chase down kills.

In between clearing out lanes and collecting that valuable minion gold, your carries should turn to the jungle camps across the map to guarantee a steady income. Go for the kills when you can afford to, after you’ve already built up an item advantage through your CS gold, so that you can lock them down with greater success.

2. Buy The Right Amount Of Potions

At the start of the game, potions are a vital source of sustain that many champions simply will not have access to until later on.

A very common trap that many new players fall into is over-buying potions at the start of the game if they’re losing lane or have a bit of extra gold; my advice to you is to minimise this unnecessary spending by focusing on playing safer in lane or buying a Refillable Potion if you’re getting bullied by your enemies. This may seem like a minor point to focus on, but in the early game 50g can be the difference between achieving an early powerspike and gifting it to your opponents. At the same time, if you're playing in a solo-lane where you'd prefer to play aggressively but are using an early mana-hungry champion like Gangplank, the Corrupting Potion is a must-pick as your starting item.

3. Identify Efficient Map Rotations

This point is super important across all stages of the game, for every player in the match:

• In the early game, this is most relevant to the Junglers as they move their way across the map looking for ganks and kills. Waiting too long in one area for a gank can give the enemy jungler a CS lead, leaving you on the back foot and behind in gold.
• In the mid game, where skirmishes are more prevalent, more players on the Rift will have their work cut out for them and decisions to make regarding where they focus their attention. Sending teammates with Teleport and other global abilities (Shen’s Stand United, Twisted Fate’s Destiny, etc.) into side-lanes to collect more farm will optimise your team’s economy while not leaving yourselves exposed to a 4v5 situation.
• In the late game, keeping vision of the enemy team and rotating effectively after those massive teamfights are going to mean the difference between securing the win and letting it slip. After winning a teamfight convincingly in the late game, your attention should typically turn to strengthening your team with Baron or Elder Dragon AFTER you’ve laid some damage into the enemy’s structures. Allowing the enemy team to respawn while you’re still in their base can be dangerous, so rotating to those other objectives while the death timers are still counting down is typically the optimal move for your team.
  
  

4. Know When To Sell Starter Items

Starter items provide some of the best value for gold on the rift and while they’re obviously early game items, you don’t necessarily need to sell them as soon as you can. The most important thing to identify in regard to selling your starter item is simple: What do I gain from selling this?

If you’re selling Doran’s Blade for a Long Sword because it will cheapen the cost of your next item, you’re gaining 2 extra attack damage but losing out on 80 health and 3% lifesteal in the process, making this decision gold-inefficient. Hold on to these items until you need to either clear out space for your next big powerspike or until you can sell them for a huge item in your build right away (especially if there is a big teamfight right around the corner).

5. Ensure Kills Go To The Right People

Optimising your economy does not always mean hoarding all the kills and taking all the farm you possibly can. Depending on your role on the Rift and the flow of the game, allowing kills to fall into the hands of other people on your team can be the best play to make. Here’s an example. You’re playing as Syndra in the Midlane with a few kills and plenty of CS under your belt, ready to one-shot anyone with your Unleashed Power. Your Toplane Kayle was shut down pretty hard early on, but you know that coming into the late game she has the potential to dominate in teamfights so you hold on to your ultimate ability while she sweeps up a couple of kills in fights instead. As the game goes on, you’ll benefit from Kayle’s strength and your economy overall will improve as you have a more commanding lead on the game.

6. Maximise Your Baron Powerplay

Taking down Baron Nashor in any game of League of Legends gives your team an advantage. Having bonus attack damage and bonus ability power is one thing, but empowering your minions and decreasing your downtime by enhancing your Recall are the two features of Baron Buff that will boost your economy the most. With Baron-empowered minions, any lane you commit your forces to will be yours, so you should use the buff to push into the enemy’s base. A great strategy for effectively using Baron Buff is to take the inhibitor of the lane you’ve pushed the hardest, then go back and push out the lanes with the most towers still standing.

7. Know Your Team’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Certain teams are going to be stronger in different scenarios; one team may be a teamfighting powerhouse while another could be a side-laning menace. Identifying your team’s strengths (and weaknesses) is necessary in boosting your economy, as this knowledge will assist you in taking the right fights and keeping a stable income. If your team is weaker in fights, sending teammates down side-lanes in a 1-3-1 split is a brilliant way to keep pressure all across the map and keep earning gold at the same time. Teleports on those 1’s are a necessity, and an example of this can be seen below:

If your team is geared more towards those all-in teamfights, make sure you’re keeping strong vision across the major objectives on the map and using your combined strength to bully enemies away from the Baron and Dragon pits, jumping on enemies that get too curious.

8. Chase Bounties

The Bounty System, at its core, is League of Legends’ major comeback mechanic (which you can read more about here). If someone on the enemy team has accrued a bounty, it’s because they’re starting to edge ahead in either farm or kills and should indicate where your efforts should be focused. As a Jungler or roaming solo-laner, moving towards these bounties in the early game is a great way to turbocharge your economy and get a hold back on a game where you were otherwise on the back foot. If you find yourself playing against someone with a bounty, freeze the lane close to your tower so that you create a favourable ganking opportunity for your allies to get your economy back on track.

9. Exploit Tower Plates

The introduction of turret plating to League of Legends is one of the biggest changes made to early gold income so far. Splitting 160g between all nearby champions, 5 times per turret, 3 times across the map has the potential to give 2,400g exclusively from turret plating, which is a huge boost to individual and team economy. If we watch any Clutch Gaming match, you can absolutely expect to see something like this:

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The biggest reason for their consistent focus on Rift Herald at ~10 minutes is that breaking the Eye of the Herald with Turret Plating still active is such an easy way to guarantee an easy gold boost for your team.

10. Know Your Champion’s Powerspikes

As the game progresses and you get stronger over time, your abilities and attacks are (obviously) going to deal more damage. Learning the amounts of damage you can do at different, significant points in your build is necessary to effectively farm out those lanes, secure a Smite steal as a Jungler, or find a much needed shut down on an enemy carry. Take the time to figure out how much you’re capable of dishing out after finally purchasing that Infinity Edge or Rabadon’s Deathcap, which you can easily do in the Practice Tool to increase your success in PvP games on the Rift. This is especially important on champions like Tristana, where AoE damage is their major damage output when farming, so that you don’t let any valuable siege minions slip between your fingers.

Taking advantage of these useful tips will surely strengthen your economy and give you the edge you need over your opponents in your future League of Legends games with practice. It’s impossible to learn all of these immediately, so set aside a few to focus on game-to-game and combine them all in time to dominate your opponents. GLHF!

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