How to kite in LoL – the Ultimate Kiting guide

Wondering what are the most optimal ways to kite in LoL? Here is everything you need to know on how to get better at kiting, the ultimate auto-attack mechanic.

Image Credits | Esports.net/Riot Games

What is Kiting in LoL – Brief introduction

LoL is a game that not only requires a strong game knowledge but it’s also extremely mechanical and only those who are able to become mechanical gods become the very best and climb up the ranks.

Among the various mechanics a player must learn, there is one in particular that differentiates a good from a great player: kiting, also known as attack moving. It’s essentially a way to chase or run away from enemies while still auto-attacking them and dealing damage. It involves canceling the attack animations right after the damage has been dealt. It saves up time and it increases the damage if the target is running away.

It’s also a great way to put enough distance between you and the enemies, preventing them from auto attacking or casting abilities that might be within their range. Kiting is a common mechanic that almost all ADCs must master, but it can be helpful in other roles as well, especially when playing ranged matchups. With that being said, let’s break down everything you need to know on how to kite in LoL.

Learan how your champion’s attack animation works

Kiting or attack move consists exactly in what the name says: you attack and move consistently. While it may look easy to do, knowing how to properly kite in LoL requires great game sense and skill. It also requires a great understanding of each champion’s attack animation and how they work depending on how much attack speed or abilities they might have.

Image Credits | Riot Games

As soon as your champion has dealt the auto attack damage or sees the projectile from a ranged champion flying toward the targets, you know you can start moving and cancel the remaining part of the animation. The best way to learn this is by jumping into the practice tool and using a dummy to train the animations and see how each champion differs from another.

While it may not make a big difference on some units, there are times when even adding an extra auto from the time saved can lead to a kill. It’s quite common in professional play to do that, but since it’s all about instinctive play, players don’t really pay attention to it.

There are different ways to kite in LoL and it depends on how a player likes to move or play, and how they can get the most out of every play every single time.

4 Different ways of Kiting or Attack move

The most simple way of kiting an enemy is by using your mouse right-click: you auto attack and then move the mouse on the ground to move and then move it back onto the enemy.

While it’s the easiest one to pull off, it’s also the most taxing and the easiest one to mess up since it requires you to consistently move your mouse on the Rift and further increases your chances of missclicking which might lead to death or mess up your kiting rhythm. This kiting skill works mostly on melee champions since their auto attack range is small and they don’t have to consistently kite champions. Avoid this at all times on ranged champions, and especially ADCs.

Player attack move

Most pros and high Elo players use, however, an advanced version of the method mentioned earlier. It involves adding the kiting range with the command “A” on your keyboard (default setup, make sure to check your command list).

Whenever you’re pressing the “A” key, it will show you the champion’s attack range and tell you exactly if you’re able to attack the focused target. To get the auto attack, you just have to left click on the target after pressing the “A” key.

Image Credits | Youtube: Mysterio

Make sure to have the attack-range indicator turned on in the Interface section (in the Options menu). This is the most common and most-used attack move setting since it’s easy to do and it’s less risky compared to the one without the “A” key.

Player attack move click

While the player attack move will work fine for most players, ADCs or those who are playing champions with high attack speed should learn the player attack move click since it allows them to kite much faster.

In the hotkeys sections, there is a “player attack move click” command. Assign it to a button you like. Most players put it on the “A” key for convenience. By doing so, you will not need to manually click again (only to move your champion). That being said, be aware that this will not you your attack range, so use this once you get accustomed to the champion’s auto attack range.

In turn, you will be able to kit a lot faster since all it requires is to keep your cursor on or close to the target. It can be a game changer during the teamfights when things get really messy and all you have to think about is dishing out as much DPS as possible.

Player attack only click

The last variation of attack move is the one which only applies to champions. It can be a useful command when you’re fighting in the middle of a minion wave and there are multiple targets that can cause you to missclick, especially during the laning phase.

By using “player attack only click” you won’t have to worry about those missclicks since it will only work if you’re hovering over an enemy unit. It’s not a common setting and it’s mainly used by support since they don’t usually touch minions, but it can improve your gameplay in some specific scenarios.

Find your preferred targeting behavior

Aside from the various settings when kiting, there is also another important aspect to deciding how you want to target champions in the game. In the Game section of the Options menu, you can turn on “attack move on cursor” so that your champion will always attack the closest target to your cursor when kiting. It can be useful since you’re naturally going to have the cursor hovering toward the enemies and the game will prioritize that target for you.

Targeting champions only – a key setup to secure kills

There might be times when you want to avoid damaging anything that is not a champion. While you can do that on your own, there will always be a chance to mess up. For that reason, Riot implemented a special “target champions only” toggle which allows you to use auto attacks on champions. The settings can be chosen in the Hotkeys portion of the Options menu.

Go to “Abilities and Summoner Spells” and scroll down.
Target Champions Only will be toward the bottom of the list: assign a hotkey to use it.

Having said that, there is also a toggle in the Game settings section, which you can turn on and off depending on the game. By doing so, you won’t have to use a hotkey to only target champions. Combining this setting with the “attack move on cursor” option can be extremely useful whenever you’re attempting to execute a dive since there might be a turret “protecting” the enemies. It’s also effective in the late-game teamfights so you throw all the attacks on the right targets.

Kiting in LoL – Takeaways

Overall, kiting is a highly mechanical skill that requires time to train and master. You can be set up how much you want, but ultimately it will be your hands doing most of the work.

That said, it’s important to find the most effective setup or configuration so you can take further improve your gameplay and take it to the next level. Spend time in practice tool and playing games as an ADC (ranged) or jungler (melee) to best learn how to kite in LoL. Ideally, you want to stick to one champion as much as possible so you can get proficient at it and then slowly move to other champions.

The last advice I would give you is to check out high Elo and professional players and how they are able to kite during the teamfights. Check out their Youtube channels and analyze their clicks and overall positioning during both the laning phase and in skirmishes.