Lesson 6 of 6 · 5 min
Objectives & Turret Plates
Neutral objectives are the only permanent rewards in the game. Learn what each one is worth so you stop fighting over the cheap ones.
// What you will be able to do
- Rank the early objectives by what they are actually worth
- Know when turret plates expire and why that deadline matters
- Decide whether an objective is worth a fight before the fight starts
Kills expire. Waves expire. Objectives do not. A 
stack is on your champion for the rest of the game; a 
that falls does not come back. This is why teams that trade 'we take , you take a kill' are usually winning that trade by a mile, and why the last lesson of this track is about learning to want the boring thing.
| Objective | Window | Real value |
|---|---|---|
| plates | Until 14:00: then gone forever | 160g each, and the is softened for later |
| Outer | Any time | Permanent map space plus a global gold payout |
| stacks | Every ~5 min | Permanent stats; the soul at four stacks can decide the game |
 | Early window only | Serious extra damage to buildings for the next several minutes |
 | Mid-early window | Effectively a free if used on a pushed lane |
 | 20:00+ | The siege window that ends games |
Notice that this reframes what 'winning lane' means. Winning lane is not being ahead in CS and kills at 14 minutes. Winning lane is having converted that into plates, a , or jungle pressure by 14 minutes, because at 14:01 the plate half of that option disappears and the lead has to be spent some other way.
is up, both teams walk to the pit, and a 5v5 breaks out with nobody actually hitting the . Three people die on each side and the objective is still standing.
The fix
Before walking to an objective, answer two questions: can we start it, and can we finish it before they arrive? If the answer to either is no, the objective is not the play, take something on the opposite side of the map instead.
It is 13:30. You have just won a fight in your lane and the enemy laner is dead for 30 seconds. What is the highest-value thing you can do with those 30 seconds?
That last idea, take something on the other side of the map, is called a trade, and it is the beginning of macro play. When the enemy commits five people to an objective you cannot contest, the correct answer is almost never to walk into them. It is to take the most valuable thing that is now undefended and make the exchange favourable.
- Know the spawn timer of the next objective 30 seconds before it spawns, not when it appears
- Have vision on the approach before it spawns, not after
- Before 14:00, ask every time you win a lane fight: can I get a plate out of this?
- If you cannot contest, take the trade, do not walk into a fight you already lost
Your team has 25 seconds of free time after winning a fight at 15 minutes. Order these by value, highest first.
- 1Take the outer you are already standing next to
- 2Take the that spawned 10 seconds ago
- 3Place deep vision in the enemy jungle
- 4Recall and buy