Keeping ahead of the enemy in objectives (mainly turrets and epic monster kills) is one of the most straightforward ways to push your team into a solid lead. While some of their buffs are small, with enough objectives getting stacked up on your side of the map, you’re sure to have an easier mid to late game.
Understanding objectives in League of Legends is one of, if not the, most important things to know once you have a handle on your champion’s kit. While they might seem like something that is not important to winning a game, your team capitalizing on objectives can shift gold leads and the pace of the game squarely into your favor.
Objectives are units in the game that have major gold and mechanic-specific weight when killed by a team. They contribute to the 2025 Season’s Feat of First Turret and Feat of Monster Slaying, respectively. Teams often will strategize how they can take down the objective before the enemy team can approach, since the advantage of having the buffs or gold it provides can turn a losing game into a winning one, or maybe even throw your team’s hard-earned lead in just a few poorly-timed teamfights. If your team falls behind throughout the game, you may be granted objective bounties, or extra gold for successfully taking an objective. These range from 250 - 1,000 gold depending on how big the lead is.
Usually, we can put objectives into two categories: turrets and epic monsters. The first category is pretty straightforward; if your team takes down a turret, you will have a much easier time pressuring the enemy around the map. Epic monsters have other mechanics baked into them that make them a great addition to your team’s potential leads (or losses, even) in lane.
Turrets are a great source of gold but also allow more strategic macro choices throughout the game. For example, a top laner that has taken the first turret of the game can either choose to group or continue building a threat by shoving minions and chipping away at the tier two turret as the rest of their team continues elsewhere. Eventually, someone will need to come answer the push. If your team loses first turret top, your top laner will have a much harder time joining in on teamfights without risking your inhibitors and nexus.
Epic monsters vary greatly in their gold impact and strategic uses. Their buffs vary throughout the game and can go from mildly annoying to game changing depending on who gets them, and when. In the early game, taking Drake and Void Grubs might seem pretty minimal in its impact. If you can secure enough of these small buffs, though, the enemy team will have a hard time trying to keep up. Epic monsters include: Voidgrubs, Dragons (all), Rift Herald, Atakhan, and Baron Nashor. They provide game-length buffs that affect your entire team.
Different objectives will appear (and may disappear) throughout the game and should generally be considered priorities in the order that they spawn. Turrets, while being objectives, are incredibly difficult to take down in the early game, thanks to their extra resistances before armor plating drops at 14:00. With that in mind, teams should focus on the early game Epic Monsters when possible. From the second the game starts, you can see a lot of useful timers by pressing “tab” and looking at the top of your screen!
The spawn order is as follows:
Different objectives are important in different ways; some will instantly impact your ability to win, might help build up your team’s lead slowly, or might be straight up requirements to win the game. The main thing to know, though, is that having more objectives than the enemy team is largely going to be an advantage.
While your team might not have gotten the first two Drakes, getting all tier three turrets and Voidgrubs will set your team up with a lot of pressure that the other team won’t have as easily without fighting. A team that has taken Void Grubs and Rift Herald will have a much easier time taking turrets, which is another form of objective. A Jungler that has secured three Drakes will have prepared his team for significantly easier teamfighting. All objectives have merit, but a game is not instantly lost without them.
The potential to snowball or use the buffs they provide your team to extend your lead is game-changing if used properly. As we all know, though, a lead is never a guaranteed win if there isn’t strategy (and more importantly, teamwork) behind it.
Objectives exist in every part of the map, regardless of whether we’re talking about lanes or jungle. That said, everyone needs to be aware of all objectives to make sure that teamfights can happen safely and efficiently. Having all members of the team rotating toward objectives can be important both for defending your team as they take objectives, but also keeping tabs on the location of enemies for better offensive tactics.
For turrets, making sure that you and your allies don’t overextend and that you know if the enemy is shoving minions down a lane is important. A 4v5 teamfight (if the enemy is shoving) will run differently than a true 5v5. Having one of your allies pushing towards the enemy base while the whole enemy team is safer than shoving with no vision on the map. Keeping an eye on where everyone is can be huge when it comes to picking fights and keeping deaths at a minimum.
Securing Epic Monster objectives ultimately comes down to the Jungler, thanks mainly to Smite. The rest of the team can help them and ensure that there is a safe window to take Epic Camps. A Jungler might be able to sneak Drake by themself early in the game… but the longer the game goes on, the more help they will need as enemy laners start rotating with their Junglers.
The most important objective will change quickly throughout the course of the game. For example, Drakes can be very important in the early game when neither team has the advantage but falls off in priority during the two-to-three Drake period of the game. People will often stop worrying about them as much when it is not the first Drake of the game, Soul Point, or Elder Drake. Taking Baron Nashor in exchange for the enemy team getting a third Drake is normally not considered a bad trade, but giving Soul for Baron is generally considered much less of a no-brainer.
The first objective in any lane is to farm up and chip away at turret plating. Starting off the game with a gold lead will make helping out in teamfights much easier. Generally speaking, each laner should try their best to back up their Jungler if it will not endanger their lane state. Top lane cannot usually help with Drakes without Teleport, but the mid laner can rotate. Following your opposing laner is also very important to make sure your allies don’t get outnumbered.
Junglers need to make sure that they balance farming and ganking in the early game, so as to not fall too far behind the enemy. It might be difficult to do this if you’re a very slow clearing Jungler and the enemy isn’t, or if your kit lends itself to ganks over farming. Being able to meet, if not beat, the enemy Jungler in a one-on-one fight early can be the difference between winning first Drake and handing over the Feat of Warfare.
Generally, teams should prioritize the epic monster camps that come up early before they push for turrets, as the armor that towers get in the first 14 minutes of the game will make it significantly harder to take a turret unless the enemy laner has gone AFK. Bot lane should expect to rotate up to secure first Drake, assuming that they are not shoved into their turret. If they are, the Jungler can come through and gank (hopefully getting a couple kills) before the three go together.
As the game progresses and the traditional laning phase ends, teams following their Jungler into Epic Monster camps will become more and more necessary. Group with your team when Epic Monsters are about to spawn and follow the Jungler in (or engage if your champion’s kit allows) to get your team ready to fight.
When nothing major is about to spawn, laners should try to push minions to apply pressure and force the enemy team to answer. A fed top laner pushing solo can bring multiple enemies to answer, freeing up space around other important objectives. Rinse and repeat until you crack the enemy’s base, and you’ll be winning in no time!
Objectives are everywhere in this game, and team’s priorities will need to shift as people buy items and scale. While many of the buffs that you’ll find from taking down Epic Monsters might be temporary or small, over the course of a full game of Summoner’s Rift, they add up quickly. Finding ways to capitalize on your team’s ability to rotate and pressure across the map can’t guarantee victory, but it does pave the road for you! Keep an eye on the timers (and your minimap), and you’re sure to succeed.
