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PSA: ADCs are worthless without peel

Randomonium··4 votes·1,055 views

Nearly all assassins, divers and skirmishers have more mobility and gap closers than an ADC has escapes. This provides reasonable counterplay because if the ADC had more mobility than these champions then the ADC could endlessly kite them with superior range. Since an ADC will NOT have more mobility than champions like assassins who can easily kill an ADC 1v1 it is vitally important that the rest of the team provide some form of crowd control to stop the assassin/diver/skirmisher from popping the ADC within the first few seconds of a team fight. ADCs do have the highest damage potential in the game but that damage is sustained DPS, not burst damage. ADCs are worthless if they can't consistently auto attack. If all your ADC is doing is burning everything he can to get away from an assassin/diver/skirmisher then he is not putting out DPS which means that your team will most likely lose the team fight if the other ADC is able to auto attack freely.

I know it seems simple and very obvious but after dozens of game of my entire team charging in while the fed mid/top/jungle 1v1s me it starts to get very, very frustrating. Its not an issue of your ADC not being able to kite, its simply differences in champion kits and playstyles which stack the deck against your ADC. Even if your ADC burns their dash, their QSS, their heal, and their flash chances are they still won't be able to escape the assasin/diver/skirmisher without help. And even if they do manage to survive they will be completely taken out of the fight, resulting in a 4v5 that your team will most likely lose.

So the next time you are in a team fight don't tunnel vision on the squishy carry on the enemy team, especially if there is a fed assassin/diver/skirmisher on the enemy team. Keep you eyes open and engage the assassin/diver/skirmisher if he dives your ADC, especially if your ADC is the most fed member on your team.

NOTE: By ADC I mean the squishy marksman that goes bot lane, not some freak of nature like bruiser Graves top lane.

8 Comments

RISE Shlack1231 votes

As a support main, I approve this message. I've had to run ADC on rare occasions, and it's a glaring problem that many people ignore. I've had a game where I was forced to ADC recently, and I had a Nami support who kept going front line with our Sejuani. Meanwhile, the enemy team's Aatrox, Talon, and Xin Zhao were diving me over and over. But the team said I was a bad ADC, but nobody would sit in the backline to peel them off. I'd always be the first death in the teamfight, and it was extremely frustrating.

My point is your statement is correct - an ADC is useless without some peel. I'm not saying the ADC is the primary protectorate if they are something to the tune of 0/7, but if they are doing decently in KDA and, more importantly, farming well, they should have enough damage to be a threat in teamfights as long as their team doesn't abandon them to the enemy.

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

I've had a game where I was forced to ADC recently, and I had a Nami support who kept going front line with our Sejuani. Meanwhile, the enemy team's Aatrox, Talon, and Xin Zhao were diving me over and over.

When that happens, you pretty much have to grab a defensive item (in this case, Randuin's Omen). Even if you have less DPS, you'll be able to live longer and out-put more damage. You generally want at least an AD and a Zeal upgrade first though; otherwise you are just ignorable.

It doesn't always help, but it is an option.

Coincidentally, Urgot can be a decent option in these situations since he can get Frozen Heart and Randuin's Omen relatively early for a marksmen. That is, after Manamune and possibly Black Cleaver.

Or you could just be Graves. If they come in melee range of you, show them the error of their ways.

Critmaster Garen1 votes

well, thats not entirely true.

case in point Tristana Vayne Lucian Kalista can kite most melees without limit if they play it properly. then there is Graves who can just facetank his enemies, and Jinx with running passive. forget ever catching her with her mines, and 70% slow on her w when her ghost is active. and its not like its hard to trigger. she just needs some random assist in a teamfight off the splash dmage on her rockets and she starts flying.

you really need hypermobile assassins with more than 2 gapclosers to deal with some of them. but the average melee bruiser will probably not win a 1v1 or be able to dive them.

Randomonium1 votes

I'm not trying to be rude but did you even read the post? I specifically said "NOTE: By ADC I mean the squishy marksman that goes bot lane, not some freak of nature like bruiser Graves top lane." I also specifically said that this post is about assassins/skirmishers/divers. Tell me how an ADC can get away from a fed Akali or Zed or Diana or Vi or Fiora or Fizz or Ekko etc etc etc without help from his team? Tristana can only get the jump reset off an assist or off max stacks, which you won't get before you're dead. Lucian gets one dash and then he's dead, he'll only get a dash reset if he can proc his full combo and have a little extra time for it to come off cooldown. Jinx is dead, dead, dead because she has do escapes and isn't going to proc her passive in the first second or two of a team fight. Vayne and Kalista are probably the only 2 ADCs with a shot but that requires you to significantly outplay your opponent.

The whole point of this post is the ADC needs help to deal with these threats. You can't just let these type of champions dive your ADC and expect them to be fine. I'm sick and tired of people telling me to just kite the Zed they fed 8 kills to before 20 min.

SrbLud1 votes

As ADC you probably won't face that assassin untill team fights start. So when they do start your front line is there to protect you so you can output damage. If that assassin gets you then your frontline did a bad job protecting you or you didn't put out enough damage to neutralize the primary targets. All champions and roles have a tradeoff in their kits, scaling, peel potential, stats etc... You as ADC are squishy and you die easily but you can melt the enemy while having your frontline protecting you. That assassin bill burst you fast but has to get behind your frontline close and personal and risk getting hard cc on him in order to get you.

Randomonium1 votes

Yes, that's the whole point of this post. In team fights the front line needs to peel from the ADC. The point I'm making is most people (especially in low elo) don't seem to grasp that concept. They seem to think that an ADC should be able to escape from an assassin with no help (i.e. "dude, learn how to kite the Fizz, its not that hard.")

iTaLenTZ1 votes

Vayne wants to have a word with you

Randomonium1 votes

Both Kalista and Vayne have the potential to duel an assasin/diver/skirmisher if they are equally fed and they outplay their opponent. The point of this post was not to list ADCS who are good at dueling people. The point of this post is to remind people that ADCs in general are not designed to survive well without peel and that if you want to have success in team fights you should focus on peeling for you ADC, not just charging into the fray every time. Do you agree or disagree with that point?

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