Given the general discontent with Zed, why do we tolerate these hyper-mobile caster ADCs?

LaserDeathBlade·4/19/2016, 10:01:19 AM·45 votes·3,079 views

I hear a lot of talk about Zed being 'anti-fun' and 'too mobile' or 'oppressive laning phase' or whatever, and yet every game I play I'm just sitting there thinking, "there's never a Zed in my games but these poro-****ers are always here:"

Ezreal Graves Lucian Corki

I've been playing top more and more for the explicit reason of getting as far away from these stupid cancer-balls as possible, yet true to their gameplay, these cancer-balls are inescapable and follow me top lane too.

Everything about their kits is designed to be as frustrating and unfun as possible, they're an abomination that has completely overtaken the ADC class and just about everything else too.

  • They're just as mobile as Zed, if not more-so, except they're ranged and do way more damage
  • Everything about their kits are centered around doing a ton of dmg to you while ensuring you can never do damage to them.
  • Abusively strong laning phase, doesn't even matter which one they go in
  • The harass is ridiculous. Ever wonder why Mages feel weak this season? Probably partially because Caster-ADCs do almost as good of a job waveclearing and harassing as proper mages except also have lifesteal + DPS. I remember S2-S4 when teams grouped, the ADC would cease to get CS because the mage would waveclear it all, now it's just about the complete opposite.
  • I'm sure theoretically they're supposed to trade raw-DPS in exchange for their burst and mobility, but I really don't see them doing that much less DPS than a normal ADC especially considering they dominate lane so hard
  • They're untouchable. Nothing better than the good ol' Ezreal/Morgana combo where even if you manage to touch Ezreal despite his 9001 range and happens to not have Morgana's black shield on, he manages to blink through 90% of CC abilities anyway.
  • The worst part is they're in every goddam game. They're so oppressive that we just see them as the norm for ADCs now. We've completely forgotten the original 'normal' ADCs like Ashe/Jinx/Draven. It's gotten to the point where when I gank bot lane, I subconsciously focus the support because I know the ADC is just going to dash away and shoot me in the face 40 times.

All I want is for these champions to be an option, not mandatory. ATM they completely crowd out other ADCs, which is super lame because their design is centered around being annoying and frustrating.

62 Comments

Ultîma4/19/2016, 2:35:09 PM28 votes

Given the general discontent with Zed, why do we tolerate these hyper-mobile caster ADCs?

Because Riot forces us to lol

WalkingInACircle4/19/2016, 2:41:58 PM16 votes

A mana cost and relevant minion positioning.

Zed: Is my Q on cooldown? No? -> Cast it. Is my W on cooldown? No? -> Cast it.

YossarianSensei4/19/2016, 10:22:36 AM13 votes

I don't understand when League took a total 360 in design philosophy and said 'it should be really hard to assassinate a carry'.

Even during S1 or whatever when bruisers/Assassins were super strong and the only ADC was like Ashe, people still understood that late-game ADC with the right amount of peel would be an absolute monster.

Nowadays if you catch out an ADC as a bruiser it's like a 50/50 chance of being able to duel the ADC depending on who you're playing, which is pretty backwards IMO.

Spoofghoul4/19/2016, 3:41:08 PM9 votes

banning lucian every single game

dont see much corki's tho

idk but something about lucian just pisses me off

That ridculous amount of dashing and movepseed boosts on top of over 9000 movespeed from items its 100% bullshit. He is fucking worse then pre rework kassadin and he has more burst and he is ranged and he has more dps and he has lifesteal and he gets max cdr and infinite mana from 1 item

fuck that tumor champion

WadeWilson13374/19/2016, 5:59:31 PM7 votes

Lucian honestly just has no weaknesses. Jack of all trades, master of none. Very strong though.

Ezreal is such a god damn obnoxious champion. He just afk farms in lane, and basically has a low cooldown flash with his E. If the game just lasts until he gets Manamune and Iceborn Gauntlet, he becomes quite possibly the strongest kiting champion in the meta at the moment considering his Q applies iceborn, which is just so dumb i cant believe it wasnt hotfixed. He doesnt have great waveclear and takes some time to get going, but god damn this champion is annoying.

Corki got nerfed, but beforehand he was so overtuned it was insane. He was just an ap champion who could abuse the broken as fuck AD itemization. It makes no sense.

Graves is a Ranged, Bruiser, AD Assassin. Yep, i dont know what they were thinking either.

But altogether, i have to highly disagree with these champions blocking out all others. Kindred is just as if not more banworthy than Graves. Also, KogMaw is a much more potent champion at the moment than all of those except arguably graves. And Sivir is insanely strong and quite likely beats out atleast 2 out of Ezreal, Corki, and Lucian, but people just dont play her because shes pretty boring.

Weathered4/19/2016, 1:14:10 PM6 votes

Ezreal wouldn't be as bad if his kit had a dash instead of a blink. Even if you cc him, if he starts his blink animation first, he's headed to the other side of that wall regardless.

LankPants4/19/2016, 1:56:00 PM4 votes

I think it mostly comes down to the fact that a sustained damage pattern is generally less frustrating than burst. This can even be seen within the champs you listed, people have been calling for Grave's head (rightfully) for a fair while now and he's the most burst centric of the 4.

I do certainly agree that something needs to be done about all 4 of those champs though. Especially Lucian. That fucker's in every game and it's abundantly clear to anyone with half a brain that he's super broken right now.

Only Play Darius4/19/2016, 5:05:00 PM4 votes

Yes, Zed is hardly the problem ADC's are the ones ruining this game. People just hate on Zed because he's a shadow ninja and attracts try hard players who want to make flashy LCS plays and spam laugh after shoving you to your turret etc.

Akali is SO HOT5/7/2016, 3:40:38 PM3 votes

Welcome to Gameplay where the only 3 circlejerks here are: ADCs are underpowered and need buffs, Mages are underpowered and need buffs, and Assassins are overpowered cancer that needs to be deleted.

EnderForHegemon4/19/2016, 3:13:21 PM3 votes

skillshot vs Zed's 'fun' point and click a one shot ult?

Saianna4/19/2016, 4:56:20 PM2 votes

I like building Lucian AP.

His damage is +/- of a starved mage, but I don't really care. I'd feel dirty playing Lucian AD.

TheChaoticSwede4/20/2016, 3:57:46 AM2 votes

And here I am waiting for the moment when I can finally play Jinx again without having to worry about getting flashed on by a Graves Ezreal Draven in pre-6 and dying before I have a chance to know what even happened.

Jhin kinda filled the void for a bit but he's just not the same. I really just want to play Jinx in ranked again without having to know that I automatically cripple my lane match-up because of how niche she's become.

Honestly this was a combination of her three nerf in-a-row with no compensation along with the fact that the ADCs listed above can just delete her before she can get any momentum going. She's still good at taking towers at least but if you're looking for a teamfight/fighter adc then she's pretty much in the exact opposite direction of that now.

FantasySniper4/20/2016, 4:49:22 AM2 votes

Me, Nocturne , goes in on Corki after he uses his dash. He's at like 20% health. Then he dashes again, and I use the whole duration of the fear just getting close to him. I immediately die because his dash does that much damage and I couldn't even close in on him.

https://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/59034601.jpg

Thurst285/6/2016, 1:56:29 PM2 votes

I'm tired of this hyper mobility meta in general not just the ADC's. You have shit like Ekko, LeBlanc, Shaco, plus all the above mentioned and more. It's getting old. It's getting to be more about who can dance around and kite more then it is out plays. For fuc sakes Kalista hops around faster then you can run away. I think I have even been out hopped when I tried to ghost out. I don't mind the faster pace of the game. I do hate how much damage champs do this season. Team fights last like 8 seconds tops. This seasons damage spike and the mobility have nearly had me delete client 3 or 4 times so far. Aside from EzI don't even like playing those champs. Kinda mindless. I just like that Ez throwing skill shots all day. But even that is kinda mindless. I miss the tank meta where you get in real fights that last a while. A chance to escape the fight and come back in or just leave. Now it's all or nothing unless your hyper mobile, then good luck getting away from a lost fight.

lofi n chillhop4/19/2016, 4:53:24 PM2 votes

zed has so much mobility in his kit, not only that but his mobility gives him invulnerability.

the hyper-mobile casters, once they use their mobility, are always vulnerable. unlike zed.

RisenDarkKnight4/20/2016, 2:25:28 AM1 votes

They are the only defense against people like Zed. If you pick Jinx against a mobile assasin like Zed and a diver Malphite you're gonna get blown up without doing anything in teamfights 75% of the time unless you have godlike peel. Ezreal would be able to avoid that pretty well and still deal damage.

I personally like playing adcs like Ashe/Jinx/Varus, but it really sucks playing them into very mobile enemies.