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What is with the obsession with ADCs?

guguy123·6/16/2015, 9:29:22 AM·2 votes·1,288 views

Despite the meta constantly changing and swinging around back and forth, the role of ADCs as vital factors and the center of attention has stayed consistent, firmly planted in the meta. Why? On a competitive level I see exactly why they would opt for focusing so much on one person. Having a person who can dish out insane DPS and melt their team is vital to winning, and since monster faceroll champs like Yi, Trynd, and Kat are easily countered and played around in LCS level play, and autoattacks are the most reliable source of damage in the game (You can't dodge em, can't spellshield em, can't cleanse em), it only makes sense for ADCs to become incredibly effective and vital to a team comp. Furthermore, Assassins are not very good right now in competitive play because of the sheer amount of crowd control available to players and the reflexes and coordination that these pros have allow them to instantly lockdown an assassin before he can do his job, and at that point the assassin has failed. But all of this dissolves once you get to lower ELOs.

  • Faceroll champs like Yi, Trynd, and Kat run rampant with nobody stopping to think "Hmm, maybe full damage isn't the best way to build Warwick"
  • Nobody runs summoner spells like cleanse or times things like spellshield correctly, and people are terrible at dodging skillshots (This is balanced out by the fact they are also terrible at HITTING skillshots)
  • Players at this rank are generally far worse at positioning, which is punished by far most severely on ADCs.
  • Lack of communication and more widely varied skill levels (Bronze-Silver skill levels vary widely, from players who are obviously climbing and have a general understanding of the game, to people who ask for blue buff on Yasuo.) leads to teammates being unreliable, which means that the constant care and peeling that ADCs in high levels get just isn't there. This is mostly an ADC problem because most facerolly champions have ways to survive and peel for themselves ( Yasuo windwall and shield, Fiora ult and parry, Tryndamere ult, Yi's entire fucking kit)
  • Assassins completely destroy Marksmen at this level because their teammates are, as said above, unreliable. I'm not saying as an ADC in low ELO you should blame your team, not at all. I'm saying the teamwork and communication just isn't there.

So this brings up the question of why even bother with ADCs if you can just send one of these facerolly champions bot lane, along with a support, and play things out exactly the same but with a champion with a more self-reliant playstyle, that can do well without his team having godlike peeling....

If you have any opinions on this I'd love to hear them, because obviously I don't know best, and this isn't meant to be a "STOP USING ADCS" thread, just spurring some discussion concerning the current meta of the game and how unchanging the ADC role is....

EDIT: I'd definetly give a free pass to Kalista and Jinx though, as they are very powerful champions regardless of being ADCs or not.

20 Comments

Win1Ocent6/16/2015, 12:13:09 PM5 votes

You guys are forgetting one thing. The adc is not primarily there for the damage, the reason an ADC is in every single game is because they excel at one thing, taking down turrets from a range. Every role has strengths, the ADCs biggest advantage over other roles are tower pushing, mages deal ranged damage but lack the attack speed. Winning a game is not about kills, it's about objectives and having one champion with godlike pushing abilities is great. This is why Jinx is so popular.

Try to play a game without an ADC and you'll notice how hard it is to siege turrets while the enemy is defending it, if you walk up as a melee to attack the turret the enemy team will take you down but an ADC can stay at a much safer distance. With an ADC you don't need to be far ahead to siege.

Don't get me wrong, ADCs deal great damage and that is certainly one strength, but the higher you climb the more their pushing ability shine through.

Knight SoIaire 6/16/2015, 9:56:51 AM2 votes

adc's are always in the center because riot keeps them as a strongest role

mages are similar to them but most of the time they either lack the sustained or burstdamage adc's have while being gated by mana ... their utility and stuff is similar

on the other hand adc's get to have both the best sustained and the bet burst damage while not lacking much in cc or utility as a role adc's were meant to simply dish damage without a pause ... riot made them into the masters of all the damages without much of a cost and thats why they are a must pick in any game

thats why nobody ever though of not having one ... or switching it ower to any other champion ... becuase other champions have downsides (being squish when building full ad is not downside ... also lifesteal)

in lower elos faceroll champions as you called them arent a good idea ... because ranged enemies will exploit you on the other hand if you are better than enemies and just passing through lower ranks you dont need to feel forced to play an actual adc

yet in normal game where the skill level is quite equal ... adcs are better becuase they are just better

disregardable6/16/2015, 9:38:21 AM1 votes

I have a question. What class of champion has ever been out of the meta, at any point?

Wezz6/16/2015, 9:41:40 AM1 votes

>Faceroll >Yi

rofl

Koldheartedjsp6/16/2015, 10:24:22 AM1 votes

damage output

Only Play Darius6/16/2015, 7:58:13 PM1 votes

Because they are the only ones who can safely take down turrets. Since you NEED to destroy turrets, ADC's will always be relevant.