Boards›Gameplay

Question on ADC role.

Samus72·12/31/2015, 3:57:34 AM·1 votes·332 views

I'm no good on the front line. I've tried it many times and I just get crushed. I'd rather play support or ADC. And by support, I mean heal or shield. As I understand it, ADC is meant to stay back and DPS from a distance. Ok, I can do that.

But lately, I am getting a lot of heat for low kill counts. Of course, if the front line is getting dropped easily, I will back off rather than stand there and give the enemy another kill. People are suggesting (in their own colorful manner, I might add,) that my job as ADC is to do damage and get kills no matter the cost. Somehow, I just don't think rushing in "Leeroy Jenkins" style is going to do myself, or the team, any favors. If anything, I'll now get flamed for feeding. I thought it was the tank character's job to take the hits so I can snipe from behind which is how I play when using Caitlyn or Ashe.

Soooo, am I wrong about this? Am I supposed to just charge in even if the tankier characters are getting three shotted? Am I supposed to just stand there shooting at an enemy or enemies that run right over me and gain another kill?

8 Comments

Erockandroll12/31/2015, 6:39:20 AM5 votes

First of all, don't confuse doing damage with getting kills. Though it is true that people want the ADC to get fed, it's not really kills that wins games, it's the objectives that you score off those kills. Really I don't sweat not getting a kill, as long as the enemy is dead, and I can do something useful as a result.

Generally, my policy in teamfights as the ADC is to club the nearest guy I can safely reach. Of coarse safely, usually requires the enemy be CCed, or unable to attack you. As for the whole Leroy thing, That works if the enemy is relatively scattered, and your chaining kills together. (But that usually requires you to be fed first.) Going from one kill to the next, but don't run into a 5 man, that will get you killed faster than anything.

Also, if you do get the luxury to chose your target, always go for a carry. Either the Enemy ADC or APC, or Assassin.

Jalkan12/31/2015, 6:46:49 AM2 votes

{quoted}Am I supposed to just charge in even if the tankier characters are getting three shotted?

If your tanks are getting 3-shotted, then your team is likely too behind to stand a chance in an even fight.

As for how to teamfight as an ADC, before you enter keep in mind the abilities your opponents have and have not used. Kite back from their fighters and assassins until they burn their CC and jumps. Unless your team is ahead and you know you'll win anyways, it's best to stay back until the assassins have decided to jump on another teammate, especially if your champion doesn't have an escape, then you start outputting your damage, first on the most dangerous targets. KogMaw

Athenes Lulu12/31/2015, 7:35:28 AM2 votes

As the ADC you shoot whoever is in front of you, because stepping any further into their backlines means you are stepping into the "danger zone".

You don't have to take kills, but you DO have to deal enough damage to stay relevant; which is why you should try to stay alive and continuously dealing damage. You should try to take kills because we all know AD is expensive as fuck, and we all know kills grant you more gold than just assists.

Even though you DO stay in the backlines, ADC is no easy job. If it's not for the mechanically difficult task of simultaneously staying alive and dealing damage at the same time, then it would be having to work and deal with another person in lane.

But yes in a teamfight, you, as an ADC, shoot whoever is in front of you, no matter who's more fed. Unless you can reach the priority targets within your attack range, prioritize whoever is in front of you. If your frontliners are dying so quickly that you can't even shoot anything, then forget about it and just run because you're not going to fight in outnumbered situations unless someone is very fed. Otherwise, find something to shoot so you're not useless.

Xenomancers12/31/2015, 2:38:04 PM2 votes

ADC surely is a support role. You are a damage support. People will really get on you for not helping in fights and they will also get on you for having "bad positioning" and get engaged on during a fight. A lot of this has to do with your team and the protection they provide - the warding of flanks (which if they aren't warded you literally have no safe place to be). Essentially being the ADC sucks unless you are with good players. What is going to work best for you is this. I call it the clean up strategy - when you see the fight break out make sure you are at least a half screen away from any enemy. Let ults get blown and people commit to fights - then just start attacking the closest target or use flash to take out a priority target if you can do it safely. If an enemy starts to close on you fall back and deal damage if you can. However - if you are winning the fight you can turn aggressive and try to destroy everyone (this is the fun time to be ADC)

Samus7212/31/2015, 7:07:36 AM1 votes

It's as I thought. People are just upset that they are defeated and looking to blame someone other than themselves on it. The ADC that got away is a perfect scape goat.

With the play style I practice, I don't like being defeated. Watching my defeat number go higher and higher tells me I'm doing something very wrong. I'm quite confident in the thought that the same team mates yelling at me to get more kills would be the same ones accusing me of "feeding" the enemy. I wanted to get some confirmation that I was playing smarter than those telling me I wasn't. These two responses have helped.

Don't get me wrong. I'm really working on the instinct to constantly run. I read about pro teams that "punish the enemy mercilessly when they make a mistake." I like that idea. It's one thing to watch the pros do this. It's quite another to do it myself. The goal is to recognize when to run and when to stand there and just shoot the enemy because I can kill them before they get me. That's MY goal anyway.

Samus7212/31/2015, 6:16:44 AM1 votes

Okay.

Makior7212/31/2015, 4:05:58 AM1 votes

Wish I could help you here but i'm a pretty horrible adc myself. =/