A League of Legends player discovered an issue with auto-attacking that appears to affect all of the game’s champions.
While unique champion abilities are obviously a major factor in defining how League of Legends is played, the auto-attack is arguably the most fundamental element of the game – totally relied on for many marksmen, but constantly used by even the most ability-reliant of champions during the laning phase.
Unfortunately, players have identified an apparent issue with the ability that can put them in greater danger than they would otherwise be.
It appears that, rather than always attacking from the maximum range, the auto-attack will occasionally take an unnecessary step forward before firing, putting the champion unnecessarily close to their target.
The issue appears to occur when an auto-attack is initiated while still on cooldown from the previous shot, which results in the champion taking an extra step forward before being able to fire.
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It may seem like a small difference, but League of Legends is a game decided by tiny margins. Taking a single step too close to the enemy can mean getting hit with a stun, for instance, which in turn leads to a death that, particularly later in the game, could cost the entire match.
Some players countered that the issue might not be a bug, but rather a deliberate feature to account for enemies that are running away. If the auto-attack were to stop at true max range, then by the time the animation occurred the enemy would be out of range and the attack might be cancelled.
Even if it is a deliberate decision by Riot, however, many players still aren’t pleased with the result, arguing that once an attack is initiated in-range it should be executed regardless, and that the current state does more harm than good.
It’s unclear how long this issue has been in-game, and whether or not Riot may look at fixing it now that it has been raised by the community.