ADC/Marksman class and Selfishness

#Disclaimer Okay, first of all this is NOT a circlejerk thread about "everyone who plays an ADC is selfish and hates supports."

I do not like circle jerks, and in fact I think I will be the first person in the long time to defend Marksman. I will be using Marksman in reference to them throughout this post, just to not confuse new players. For those new players curious, ADC means Attack Damage Carry. It use to apply to several melee and ranged champions who carried the damage dept of a team through basic attacks. Now Melee ADC was replaced with Skirmishers and Ranged ADC became Marksman.

#Selfishness When speaking of selfishness I am not talking about players. Every human being can stand on their own merit regardless of what champion they play. I am not interested in discussing stereotypes. I am discussing the class design and how people consider it "That selfish class that only brings damage!"

#Arguement 1: All Marksman Bring is Damage Incorrect. Since they do not compare well to Assassins or Skirmishers, we will be comparing them to their 'high utility' partners in carrying, mages. Mages are known for being extremely high utility. Instead of carrying through basic attacks and AD scalings, they carry through AoE/Burst spells and AP scalings. Mages come in a large variety, just like any class. Just as Vlad plays nothing like Ziggs, neither does Jhin play anything like Vayne.

But do Marksman really only bring damage? First of all, there is the valid Arguments of Twitch and Kog'Maw. Aside from their Tiny slows they essentially only bring damage. Please note that Kog'Maw is in a weird spot. A pure, damage only carry likely will not continue to function well in this game. Twitch is secondary class assassin, so my assumption is that he losses other potential team utilities to gain assassin tools. Fair is fair, these two exist, but these two are NOT the Marksman class entirely, they are two exceptions rather than a rule. Just as other than his slow, albeit a tad stronger, Karthus is only damage. He also is an exception, not the rule.

No, in fact, when we start measuring up, they bring just about as much utility as mages. Let's start with the worst offenders, the 'pure offense' types:

Brand and Malzahar are two of the more offensive mages in the game. They are there for damage. Malzahar brings that damage over time, while Brand in a single Volley of fire and destruction. Now let's look at the team utilities they bring to the table.

Brand: One, single target stun. Malzahar: Silence, single target suppression.

Vayne and Graves, these two clearly exist to bring a hurting. They aren't known for high utility. They are known for their damage. Let's look at the team utilities they bring.

Vayne: One, single target knockback with potential stun. Graves: A slow and an AoE nearsighted effect.

Looks like on the high offense side... they line up nicely. Marksman and Mages that is. Both bring utility AND damage to the table. They bring different damage types also mages do theirs over stronger spells while Marksman is more reliable and DPS based.

Now let's look at some of the more high utility examples:

Trying my best to give mages the best view I dug into mages now used heavily as supports. Since then nobody could say I didn't look for high utility. Let's look at what they offer.

Morgana: A single target root, a channeled tethered stun AoE, A shield for allies to mitigate damage/CC. Zyra: Vision, a root and a knockup.

Ashe and Jhin, staples of utility in Marksman class. Do they offer only pure damage? Hell no. They bring a lot to the table as well.

Ashe: Consistent slows on basic attacks, AoE slow on volley, Global vision scout, Global stun with slow AoE. Jhin: Traps for vision and slows, Root with immense range, four shot long ranged slow.

Seems like Marksman are bringing plenty of utility to the table. But... let's try to look at something even more teamwork focused. I mean, surely nothing like Vlad's ult, a team wide buff can come from an Marksman? Right?

Team damage buff Team movespeed buff

Oh...

What about team fight ultima-

Now YES! No Marksman offers more support style abilities like shields or heals. There is a very good reason for this. The failed experiment at giving Marksman a utility that was more support style. A champion Riot has no idea how to balance or deal with now.

So yes, Marksman DO bring much more than damage to the table. They bring plenty of utility just like their mage counterparts. The thing that separates Marksman and Mages are what they scale off of and how they deal their damage. Because whether it is Caitlyn Traps or Annie's stun, both bring utility.

#Argument 2: Marksman need peels and a support! Correct! Marksman do need peel, at least most do. So do most mages, most supports and even some squishy melees. That is the price of not being very tanky, is you need somebody to keep you from getting damaged. This is normal, healthy behavior. I would only be worried if Marksman did not need peel. And just as mages have some minor self peel, most marksman have something like Draven's Stand Aside or Sivir's Shield.

Also, Correct! Marksman does need a support, the whole team does. Support is a vital and important role in League of Legends. Everyone should need a support just like everyone generally needs a tank/tanky champion just as everyone needs some form of ranged damage etc. As for Marksman needing support in laning? Incorrect assumption. That is the meta.

Marksman, especially Ashe and Caitlyn, were going solo mid in Season One. However, smart players realized they scaled mostly off of farm gold for items, while mages/fighters needed more exp for levels. So they moved Marksman primarily into a duo lane with a support champion. The support champion didn't need much gold, they bought a gold item and were mostly proficient with few items. So the Marksman could farm freely and the Mages and Fighters could get full exp. This is why they duo lane with a support. It just works out better for everyone.

Marksman do need supports, because it is most efficient for the team. But a support doesn't belong to the Marksman, it is the team support, it goes in the same lane as the Marksman so that it has a lane. That is all.

#Argument 3: Mages can build tanky at least, Marksman is always squishy! Incorrect. Both are carry classes, in an ideal situation both would choose to buy pure damage. It is more efficient and effective for them to do so. Tank items are not ideal on carries for the most part. That said, if they fall behind or face a specific threat, or have a specific synergy, BOTH can and SHOULD build certain defensive items.

For Mages we have: There are more but these are a few examples. But just as we have those for Mages, we have options for Marksman as well.

For Marksman we have: As a few of their primary choices. Note! This is not including special case items or lethality items. This is the more universal options. Also note that lifesteal is a defensive stat, a very strong one, and that the lifesteal items tend to offer additional defenses as well. Of course, the community thinks lifesteal should be removed, so I suppose soon Marksman will not have any defensive items and everyone else will still have theirs. Then this assumption would become correct and Marksman would need new defensive items or base stats.

#Argument 4: Why pick a Marksman over another offensive class? Marksman is more reliable in most cases than Assassins or Skirmishers. Assassins and Skirmishers must snowball harder to be successful, since they are melee and must put themselves in the danger zone in order to be effective. What is more, they do not offer ranged consistent damage vs objectives, towers and tanks, which is dished out more reliably. Assassins specialize(or are suppose to) in killing squishies and lone team mates caught out. Because of this Assassins are not nearly as strong in team fights unless fed. Even then they are only strong because they make your Marksman and/or Mage go bye bye, which means lost damage and utility for your team. Skirmishers are better split pushers and gasp at skirmishes, they are better at killing 1-2 players than team fightings. Skirmishers tend to excel at cleanup and execution. What this means is they can solo kill people well, and they can close out team fights well. But they cannot initiate teamfights well, they have to wait until the damage is done then flank at the opportune moment. They are not reliable as your team's only damage source.

Mages. You can choose a Mage over a Marksman. However keep in mind Marksman still scale better for killing tanky targets, towers and objectives late game. Also Marksman still bring more consistent, assured, targeted damage overall. What you gain is more AoE typically, some unique niche utility like Zigg's Satchel, and some burst. However, in most metas... why not have both?

The reason you pick a Marksman, and what they contribute to your team, is consistent, targeted, physical damage, from a safe distance. Them bringing Ranged DPS for your team is no more selfish than bringing Crowd control for your team or Heals for your team. It is just another role, another job to be done.

#Conclusion I too hate the soloQ soloCarry mentality. Which is possibly what you have against Marksman(possibly Assassins and Skirmishers as well). But don't let the attitude of insecure players in SoloQ not willing to play a tank or healer, muddle your vision of a class in the game. Every class executes a job on their team. Marksman is consistent damage from safety. Assassins is Killing Marksman and Mages. Skirmishers is providing the team with flanking, split pushing and usually some minor Crowd control in a damage carry package.

So yes, I hate the SoloQ SoloCarry mentality. But what I also hate is the "I play X champion/role and that makes me better than people who play Y champion/role." So let's please stop calling other classes "Selfish" or "Easy" or "Pointless". And start focusing on the fact that this is a team game, and everyone has a role in some composition.

Sincerely - Arya Riven, fighting Circlejerks since Vanilla WoW