They are the unsung heroes of the League. They ask no questions, they fight to the death, and they always push forward! They are minions and they are far more than just sacks of gold and experience!

It's not only champions that get buffed and nerfed come patch time. Minions have evolved from patch to patch just as champions have. New types of minions have come and gone as League of Legends has been refined over time. In this article you will find a brief timeline of major minion changes, the stats behind the minions, the story behind "purple caster minion op," great moments in minion history, and some early minion concepts. Enjoy!



Timeline Of Major Minion Changes

* Like in DotA, you used to be able to deny minion kills from your opponent. This only lasted for the first week of Beta. However, Gangplank still had a deny mechanic on his raise moral ability. This was later removed as well.

Some fun facts about Alpha minions:

Minions used to be able to go on killing sprees.

Minions used to have a 10% chance to crit.

Minions spawned from the inhibitors instead of the nexus.

Minions used to spawn at the 1 minute mark.

Minions gave half gold and experience when you lost an inhibitor.

The Stats Behind The Minions

Everybody regards minions as walking sacks of xp and gold. Minions are much more than that. Minions can turn a duel in your favor, minions can pressure a lane across the map, and minions can secure your team an objective. Don't underestimate a horde of minions, they are a lot stronger than you think. On that note, let's look a little bit deeper at each of the individual minions' stats.

On Summoner's Rift, casting Promote on a Siege Minion or Super Minion will grant the following buffs:

Increased attack speed 50%

Adds (Champion level x 5) + 20 Armor

Adds (Champion level + 10) to Magic Resist

Adds (Champion level x 100) + 100 Health

The Story Behind The Purple Caster Minion

You probably have heard the phrase "purple caster minion op!" A lot of you, me included, had no idea where the phrase comes from or why the purple caster minion is op. Well, I poked around and found out that the phrase is from a 2010 general forum post. The post was by SlyGoat and it read:

League of Legends

The thread took a turn for the hilarious when Riot game designer, Guinsoo, decided to post an epic wall of text. His post helped forever solidifies the fact that the purple caster minion is indeed op. (I'm not going to screen cap Guinsoo's post because it is LOOOOONG! Read it here.)

But neither Guinsoo or SlyGoat officially used the phrase "purple caster minion is op." From what I can tell, the first person to officially say that the "purple caster minion is op" is HeLawlsAtYouSon:

League of Legends

If anyone can confirm or deny that the aforementioned summoner was the first to make this claim, let me know.



Great Moments In Minion History

This first video is considered by some to be the largest minion wave ever recorded.

The second video confirms that the people who think the previous video was the largest minion wave ever recorded are wrong. This is the largest minion wave ever recorded...

Okay, okay... Who the hell knows what the largest minion wave ever recorded was? No one will ever know. So, let's change course... Here is an animated explanation of minions.

And now a song about minions, because why the hell not?

RAMBOOOOOOOOOOO!

This next video is the largest battle between minions I could find. Can you guess which side wins? OP!

The last video is of Dyrus flipping the F@#$ out over a creep block. Being a Dyrus fan, I had to include this.

Old Minion Concepts

Lastly, check out some early stage minion concepts and models.

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