The goal of every LoL match is to destroy the enemy Nexus. And while that may sound straightforward, you first have to go through the enemy turrets and inhibitors if you want to claim your victory.
Turrets
The main objectives in League of Legends are turrets. If you want to reach the enemy Nexus, you have to march down one of the three lanes and get through multiple turrets. Turrets are powerful structures that have lots of health and deal massive damage to champions. The best way to siege a turret is by staying behind your minions since turrets will always target them first. Although, if you attack nearby champions, turrets will switch their focus to you.
There’s a total of 11 turrets per team. Depending on how far they are from your base, there are inner, outer, inhibitor, and nexus turrets (with the inner turrets being the farthest and nexus turrets being the closest). Each turret is invulnerable until a previous turret in its lane is taken down. So to get to the inner turret you first need to flatten the outer turret, to get to the inhibitor turret you have to dismantle the inner turret, and so on.
Destroying an enemy turret gives a sizeable gold reward that’s split among the members of your team as well as some bonus gold to the players nearby. Another concept that’s connected to turrets is first brick. The first brick—a play on the term ‘first blood’—rewards the first team to take down a turret with a hefty amount of gold. That’s why pros do everything in their power to siege the enemy turrets as early as humanly possible.
Inhibitors
While turrets serve to defend the Nexus, there are also other objectives they’re protecting. The inhibitors. Both teams have three inhibitors deep within their bases—one per each lane. Even though inhibitors don’t do much on their own, losing them can be devastating. Once the enemy team destroys your inhibitor, their minions in the corresponding lane will receive a stat boost and reinforcements in the form of Super Minions. Super Minions are powerful units that pose a threat turrets and even champions.
Once enough super minions start making their way to your base, you will have no choice but to go on the defensive, effectively forfeiting the map control to the enemy team. And—oftentimes—that means giving up even more objectives. Still, losing an inhibitor isn’t the end of the world. Unlike turrets, inhibitors respawn within 5 minutes, so you can always hold out and find an opening for a comeback later on.
Nexus
Finally, located in the middle each team’s base, there’s the Nexus. The structure itself doesn’t have any unique qualities, and even a single champion can take it down with relative ease. However, before you can attack it, you have to get through at least one inhibitor and both nexus turrets. Otherwise, the building remains invulnerable. Destroying it is the only win condition in League of Legends, so in a way, every other objective serves a singular purpose of reaching the enemy Nexus and taking it down to win the game.