lasthitting

Lasthitting, or last hitting, is the act of delivering the killing blow to minions, neutral monsters, or other units in MOBA games to secure gold and experience. The term is most closely associated with games like Dota 2 and League of Legends, where the amount of gold a player earns depends on last-hits rather than simply dealing damage. The key idea is timing your attack so that your hit is the final damage that kills the unit, rather than a hit that would have killed it anyway by another source.

In practice, lasthitting is a core lane skill. Players strive to maximize their creep score (CS), the total number of minions they last-hit, to build an early economic advantage. Denying—killing or severely damaging allied minions to prevent the enemy from gaining gold from them—is a related tactic in some games and contributes to lane control. The rules for denying vary between titles, but the underlying principle is to reduce the opponent’s resource gain while maintaining one’s own.

Several factors influence lasthitting, including attack damage, attack speed, minion health, armor, and the presence of enemy harassment. Players often combine auto-attacks with abilities to secure difficult last-hits, particularly on high-health or high-armor targets. Mastery of lasthiting typically requires practice in dedicated modes or early-game lanes to refine timing, positioning, and wave management.

Overall, lasthitting is foundational to the strategic economy of MOBA play, influencing item progression, power spikes, and lane dynamics throughout a match.