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The State of Bot Lane

Strut·7/5/2018, 8:31:59 PM·12 votes·7,054 views

This post is about gameplay but not directly, it's more about how I feel when I'm playing this game that I love so much. I don't have exact numbers, and I don't have all the knowledge or know-how of a challenger ranked player. Consider this your disclaimer.

I've been playing for three years and some change and I have always, always loved the bot lane. I play pretty much every ADC in the game, and they pretty much all feel terrible to play right now. I used to feel that I could pick pretty much any ADC I felt like playing, and make them work regardless of whether they're weak or not. That's not possible anymore because bot lane feels super matchup dependent now. I've tried playing top lane in the meantime, but anytime I try to learn something that isn't Illaoi I'm against someone mastery 7 who just stomps me into the ground. The game has stopped feeling satisfying to play. When I win it doesn't feel fun, and when I lose its super not fun. I'm all for diversity in the botlane, and I totally get that ADCs were too strong for the better part of this season, but this just feels like the wrong way to fix it. It just feels like I've been pushed out of the only lane where I can exist so someone can pick karthus or yasuo in a second or third lane.

I love this game a lot, I spend a lot of time playing it with friends, but I have to take a break because it's absolutely miserable right now. I really hope theres a way to fix all of this and make everyone happy.

I also wrote this so someone at riot could hear my opinion, not so someone could yell at me "miss fortune has a 54%winrate so how you feel doesn't matter!" thanks

23 Comments

Nipsahoy7/5/2018, 10:52:12 PM6 votes

Your only chance if you are playing a crit marksmen is to try and stall the game out until you reach your 10k gold spike. It's hard to do since melee champs reach their powerspike at 3k gold so you'll be a walking gold bag for about 10-15 minutes of the game you have to try and farm safely and not take any risks whatsoever because you'll be one shotted by everyone on the enemy team. Once you get 3 items you can half health a couple of champs before they 1 shot you but that might be enough to win a team fight for your team.

ApollyonBainer7/5/2018, 10:08:39 PM5 votes

ADCs still do the dmg. But they feel useless because other champs hit their big power spikes before ADCs have a chance. Thats cuz ADCs need more gold and items than most of the other roles. So in order to stay viable you literally cant die and miss farm. Its basically like rewarding good play. Its about knowing your matchup and playing your best. Losing isnt fun but it takes a few wins and loses to improve so if you do play again in the future glhf fam

Relia Fortune7/5/2018, 10:28:03 PM4 votes

Only a select few adcs can stand out right now. Those that do stand out, have to worry about getting ganged up on by bruisers and assassins. Adc nerfs with support nerfs following thereafter was a horrible decision. Leaves you with weak crit adcs and no real reliable way for them to make late game easy. Damage is too high in this game right now. Electrocute, dark harvest, hextech gunblade, lethality, stormrazor, the total armor pen change on last whisper.. all of it is chaos.

By the way, love your name!

Hyquiem7/6/2018, 1:53:01 AM3 votes

Adcs mains need to learn not everything is viable.

[sg-shisa]

SO SRS STOP COMPLAINING.

OtterlyLost7/5/2018, 9:09:18 PM3 votes

I get this so hard as a fellow ADC main. My playrate has deteriorated a lot; I used to play solo a lot more but now I only really play a few games with friends. :( bot lane feels really unfun to play and playing top or jungle arent anymore enjoyable because I just get steamrolled.

The Yetii Rider7/6/2018, 5:01:58 AM3 votes

If you like ADCs so much...why not just leave the bot lane? You can play Kindred or Graves jungle, Vayne or Quinn top, Lucian or Ezreal mid.

SirLucsean7/5/2018, 8:47:20 PM2 votes

If you can't bot lane with a good team comp than don't play the game.

Poke/Utility/Tank, so you both must pick wisely if not you will get stomp by too much poke like.

Kaisa Lux or Sivir Zilean

Make sure your Vayne is a like a god before queuing up with him against massive poke.[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

Hexs Fortune7/6/2018, 6:40:10 PM2 votes

I feel teamplay and comp selection has never been more important.

This is good for competitive play, but solo queue feels rough when Assassins and AD divers are the classes with the most agency.

Juggernauts, Tanks, Mages and ADC all have clear weaknesses, but Assassins and AD Divers tend to have outplay options that make encountering fed ones frustrating.

Daddy Ants7/6/2018, 9:25:10 AM1 votes

Ashe Vayne Kalista Sivir Varus need help.

Caitlyn should get no more buffs until they let the hotfixes settle and see where she lands.

Over buff her and she will constrict bot lane.

MissFortune Draven

Where's the nerfs for these 2?

They both hold extremely high win rates while maintaining 10% + pick rates.

Draven is meant to be a mechanically intense ADC as well.

HàrrowR7/6/2018, 6:29:00 PM1 votes

It just feels like I've been pushed out of the only lane where I can exist so someone can pick karthus or yasuo in a second or third lane.

Damn this is so true,people cried for years to have mages and bruisers bot for some reason,yet there is an outcry when an adc is viable in another lane,like luc mod or vayne top,or even twitch jg,the community flipped its sh*t. But yes lets have another lane for Yasuo,cause top and mid arent enough

BrightWîngs7/7/2018, 8:34:01 AM1 votes

I play pretty much every ADC in the game, and they pretty much all feel terrible to play right now. I used to feel that I could pick pretty much any ADC I felt like playing, and make them work regardless of whether they're weak or not.

fucking....yes... speaking my mind dude I miss being able to just play Vayne Ashe Tristana it just feels like nothing works

Kiting Death7/6/2018, 8:00:47 PM1 votes

Apperantely Gangplank works at rito and wanted to nerf miss fortune

MadSeer7/5/2018, 10:36:15 PM1 votes

I've always played as more of a flex player, this means I do find myself playing bot lane often enough. I've found various ways to handle new matchups and burst meta with different champs, even traditionally crit-adcs, by playing them with a different mindset. It doesn't always work, but teams often have a mix of juggernauts and assassins. Playing champs like Sivir and Ashe and building them for supreme kiting can have you outrunning and burning out Olaf with a Righteous Glory, Ghost and Nimbus Cloak on his Ult while still being able to dish out some decent damage.

The meta can be frustrating, but I like that I can be viable bot lane with traditional crit adcs by doing something else than the same boring build. Take note I'm not experienced (not anymore) and I only do a few ranked now and then, being Silver at the moment, so I'm not speaking as if I knew how to handle everything an adversary can throw at me.

It seems a lot of damage has moved away from ADCs and onto burst champs, but these burst champs will often be elsewhere on the team which still allows for a bot lane marksman to fill a role that's not quite ADC anymore, but still relevant.

What really bothers me is the snowball potential which was always present but not as overwhelming as it is now. Falling a little behind early on can set you way back way faster than before. It's probably because of the 20 minutes game mentality Riot wants to impose, but a 20 minute MOBA that doesn't feel like shit needs to be built around other mechanics than being fed enough to steamroll through the base at that time.

Kinda like HotS which is more reliant on team comp and objective handling. Teams also have predictable power spikes, experience being distributed evenly throughout the team, meaning you know you shouldn't force a teamfight if the enemy team just hit one of those milestones (ultimate level, for example.) In LoL, those power spikes can be at anytime throughout most of the game because it relies on gold and items and one champ can be so far ahead that he can win the game for his entire team.

One isn't better than the other, but the 20 minute game time is more appropriate for one than the other...