Double down: The art of two AD carries
Riot·2/21/2015, 1:38:24 AM·0 votes·14,924 views
As the North American LCS heads into Week 5, teams are beginning to show an increased appetite for risk in order to gain an edge over the competition. In recent weeks the ever flashy strategy of running two ADCs has started making appearances. After Counter Logic Gaming locked in the Sivir/Ezreal combo in the draft against Gravity Gaming in Week 3 of the NA LCS, Sam “Kobe” Hartman-Kenzler aptly commented, “We raise you a double AD composition.” The gamble paid off for CLG in that matchup as Austin “Link” Shin’s Ezreal, who finished 10-1-4, led his squad to a concise victory.
According to Aidan “Zirene” Moon, this team comp calls for an AP champion in the top lane and strong peel coming from the jungle and support positions. Generally, a team will opt for a mid lane AD carry who can utilize the early Trinity Force power spike as effectively as possible, while being able to escape mid lane gank pressure, making Corki and Ezreal ideal candidates.
Only three teams in the NA LCS have used the double AD composition this season: Team8, CLG, and Team Impulse. In each instance, Sivir has been the bot lane ADC. The versatility of her ultimate On The Hunt synergizes with both the strengths and weaknesses of the composition. This massive movement speed steroid gives her team the ability to either kite backwards, reposition, or chase down targets.
They avoided being backed into corners at all costs, but when given a little runway they were able to effectively kite in reverse. Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black’s Alistar was a crowd control machine and gave Link’s Ezreal and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng’s Sivir ample opportunity to dish out massive amounts of area of effect and single-target damage.
Not only were Impulse operating a less than optimal team composition, they actively chose it into its strongest counter. One of the most effective ways of neutralizing double AD is by using a “super hard engage composition with assassins and bruisers that can get on the ADCs despite move blocks and escapes,” explains Zirene. With the last pick in the draft, Impulse locked in Ezreal knowing the dive potential that Winterfox had with Pobelter on Kassadin and Dong-jin “Helios” Shin on Vi. “It just makes what we intend to do easier because our goal is to jump on one of the carries…They sort of counterpicked themselves."
While the risk taken by Team Impulse in running this strategy is admirable, it was lacking in execution and forethought. “I think double AD has its place,” says Pobelter. “It’s really specific and can be really strong, but it’s also very difficult to execute well.” When asked if he would be willing to run Ezreal in the mid lane for Winterfox, Pobelter grins and says, “Yeah, I’m really cool with that.”
With the potential upside that a double AD composition brings to the table, it is safe to say that we have not seen the last of it in the NA LCS. Be sure to check out LoLesports this weekend to see if this high risk/high reward strategy will make an appearance in Week 5.
How it works
Running two AD carries is not an altogether new idea, although it has seen progressively more play in the Korean LCK and Chinese LPL. North American teams have begun emulating this tactic with varying degrees of success. The upside is clear: two ADCs means twice the threat of consistent, ranged DPS. The downside is that anything less than an early snowball makes becoming relevant in the late game astronomically more challenging.
According to Aidan “Zirene” Moon, this team comp calls for an AP champion in the top lane and strong peel coming from the jungle and support positions. Generally, a team will opt for a mid lane AD carry who can utilize the early Trinity Force power spike as effectively as possible, while being able to escape mid lane gank pressure, making Corki and Ezreal ideal candidates.
Only three teams in the NA LCS have used the double AD composition this season: Team8, CLG, and Team Impulse. In each instance, Sivir has been the bot lane ADC. The versatility of her ultimate On The Hunt synergizes with both the strengths and weaknesses of the composition. This massive movement speed steroid gives her team the ability to either kite backwards, reposition, or chase down targets.
When it works
Counter Logic Gaming are, as of now, the only North American team to achieve a win using this strategy. In their match against Gravity Gaming, they had all the components in place: Top lane Lissandra brings all the AP any team needs and when combined with Alistar and Lee Sin on peel patrol, this team proved impossible to dive into. The key to their success lies in their ability to operate this composition like the well-oiled machine its meant to be.
They avoided being backed into corners at all costs, but when given a little runway they were able to effectively kite in reverse. Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black’s Alistar was a crowd control machine and gave Link’s Ezreal and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng’s Sivir ample opportunity to dish out massive amounts of area of effect and single-target damage.
Why it didn’t work for TiP
Effectively running the double AD composition requires a deep understanding of its functionality as well as ample practice, a lesson Team Impulse learned during their Week 4 loss to Winterfox. Although Impulse technically met the composition’s requirements, their draft phase left much to be desired: Maokai can peel with the best of them, but is a lackluster single source of magic damage and Leona’s ability to protect her carries is rendered useless if she is diving into fights with a Solar Flare/Zenith Blade combination. Eugene “Pobelter” Park, whose Kassadin ripped apart the enemies’ back line with a KDA of 8-1-17, found it all too easy to Riftwalk his way to priority targets. “Their team fights would be really strange," he says. "They’re supposed to be focused on kiting back a bit, and sometimes they would dive in deep and have their front line overextend, while their back line was being zoned out by our Kassadin and Vi. I think a Janna pick for them would have been much more suited if they were planning on running double AD.”
Not only were Impulse operating a less than optimal team composition, they actively chose it into its strongest counter. One of the most effective ways of neutralizing double AD is by using a “super hard engage composition with assassins and bruisers that can get on the ADCs despite move blocks and escapes,” explains Zirene. With the last pick in the draft, Impulse locked in Ezreal knowing the dive potential that Winterfox had with Pobelter on Kassadin and Dong-jin “Helios” Shin on Vi. “It just makes what we intend to do easier because our goal is to jump on one of the carries…They sort of counterpicked themselves."
While the risk taken by Team Impulse in running this strategy is admirable, it was lacking in execution and forethought. “I think double AD has its place,” says Pobelter. “It’s really specific and can be really strong, but it’s also very difficult to execute well.” When asked if he would be willing to run Ezreal in the mid lane for Winterfox, Pobelter grins and says, “Yeah, I’m really cool with that.”
With the potential upside that a double AD composition brings to the table, it is safe to say that we have not seen the last of it in the NA LCS. Be sure to check out LoLesports this weekend to see if this high risk/high reward strategy will make an appearance in Week 5.
