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How much CS per minute is good and how to improve your farm in LoL

Farm is the most underrated skill in the game: it doesn't show in highlights, it gives no rush, but it decides more games than any pentakill. An opponent who's 25 CS ahead at minute 10 holds nearly a kill's worth of gold without having risked anything. This guide is about how much CS you should have and how to actually improve it.

How much CS is actually good

An honest reference for solo lanes: 7-8 CS per minute is excellent, 6 is solid, below 5 there's gold sitting on the ground. But the absolute number matters less than the RELATIVE one. What decides your lane is the gap versus your direct opponent at minute 10 — every creep you miss and they take is a double swing.

That's why the key checkpoint is minute 10: compare your CS to your opponent's, not to an ideal table. It's exactly the metric Trenix measures in every report, because it predicts your lane better than kills.

Why CS decides lanes silently

Kills make noise; CS makes steady, riskless gold. While you chase a kill across half the map, the calm opponent can farm a whole wave and come out with more gold than you without risking a thing. Farm is the advantage you don't feel while losing it — and that's what makes it so treacherous.

A CS deficit turns into later items, power spikes that arrive when they're useless, and a lane you "lose" without anyone killing you. Recovering 20 CS is recovering nearly a kill's worth of gold, and it requires winning zero trades.

How to improve your last hitting

Farm is pure mechanics and it's trained outside ranked. Ten minutes of last hitting in Practice Tool with no items or runes, aiming to get close to 100 CS in 10 minutes, beat a hundred games farming on autopilot. Know your champion's base damage to time the hit.

Under tower, learn the rules: casters die after two tower shots plus one of your attacks; melee minions after one shot if you hit them first. And don't sacrifice CS for nothing: chasing an impossible kill or recalling in the middle of a wave pushing toward you costs a wave and a half of farm — the equivalent of dying, without dying.

Frequently asked questions

How much CS per minute is good in LoL?

7-8 CS per minute is excellent, 6 is solid, and below 5 you're leaving gold on the ground. But your CS relative to your direct opponent at minute 10 matters more than the absolute number.

How do you improve farm in League of Legends?

Train it outside ranked: ten minutes of last hitting in Practice Tool with no items, aiming for 100 CS in 10 minutes. Learn your shot damage under tower and don't sacrifice CS for impossible kills.

Why is CS so important?

It's steady, riskless gold. A 20 CS deficit is nearly a kill's worth of gold the opponent gets without risking anything, and it turns into later items and power spikes.

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