I don't understand adc?

Promisering·Nov 4, 2018·11 votes·6,503 views

I've only been playing for a few months now. Well I played several years ago for a few weeks - when I did I played mid. I found out a co worker played and he said he played support, so I said I'd join him and I'd play adc. /endbackstory.

Now I'm playing a lot solo, and I've noticed that adc's don't do the most dmg? but they're also the most squishy? I don't understand what their strength is when there are tons of champs that do insane amounts of dmg with great survivability, and lane clear etc.

Is this the way adc has always been? and should I just swap roles for next season? I'm starting to get much better at the game, (obviously I make mistakes, enough of them in fact) But I feel like other lanes are just more dominant, and in games where I have a bad jngl or support, it feels really hard to adc.

Thanks in advance for your time//thoughts - appreesh.

38 Comments

OtterlyLostNov 4, 201819 votes

No this is just how ADC has always been. It's just been getting progressively worse and worse but no one on the boards will admit that or agree because they hate ADCs on principals. I do suggest changing roles. Other roles are easier to climb with and better for having an impact and most champions in those roles have more flexibility. I'd only stay as an ADC main if you actually enjoy the champions and are hopeful for it to eventually get better.

Fízz v2Nov 4, 20188 votes

It's just been getting progressively worse and worse but no one on the boards will admit that or agree because they hate ADCs on principals

that or because they are still the only viable champs bot lane, and anytime something else becomes strong bot lane it gets nerfed instantly because every adc player starts crying xd

OtterlyLostNov 4, 201811 votes

[{quoted}](name=Fízz v2,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=R27wVQhJ,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2018-11-04T20:05:22.325+0000)

that or because they are still the only viable champs bot lane, and anytime something else becomes strong bot lane it gets nerfed instantly because every adc player starts crying xd

How terrible. An ADC main not wanting their lane phase made even worse because high base damage mages are invading their ONLY lane. It's not like mages cant go mid and top.

Fízz v2Nov 4, 20184 votes

So then what makes adcs weak? if they are the squishiest champs with the worst damage, why are they still pretty much the only viable thing bot lane at worlds and in soloq?

OtterlyLostNov 4, 20183 votes

[{quoted}](name=Fízz v2,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=R27wVQhJ,comment-id=0000000000000000,timestamp=2018-11-04T20:16:59.469+0000)

So then what makes adcs weak? if they are the squishiest champs with the worst damage, why are they still pretty much the only viable thing bot lane at worlds and in soloq?

They aren't the only thing viable bot lane. There were multiple non ADC picks at worlds(Heimer, Swain, Vel'koz) and in soloqueue, people pick them because that's what they know. I'm not going to pick swain up as an ADC main because for 1. I don't want to. For 2. I don't know how to. For 3. I like ADCs and I would rather play them.

And while I'm here debunking your nonsense, there wasn't a single nerf to a single strong non ADC pick bot lane. Not one. The only one that received a nerf at all was Swain and he is still one of the highest winrates bot lane and it wasn't even to what made him strong in bot lane. There were multiple picks bot lane that were extremely toxic and problematic(fiddle/Heimer comes to mind but also Yasuo in general, Xerath, any of the mage supports that should be shipped back to mid) but none of them have been nerfed or addressed despite them being inherently problematic.

As for what makes ADCs weak, hmm, I don't know, it could be having lower base AD, lower HP regen, lower HP, lower MR, lower Armor, lower base damages that approximately 90% of the roster.

ZardoNov 4, 20181 votes

Even me, someone who LOVES my Swan never played him when he was meta bot. If I want to play Swan, I play him mid or top. I queue for bot because I want to play ADCs and be able to afk farm for like 15 minutes unless some major fights happen bot, I queue for mid because I want to play mages or assassins and want to impact the map.

Fízz v2Nov 4, 20183 votes

Heimer was the most picked non-adc at worlds, you know how often he was picked? Twice XD

Its not just because "thats what people know", if there were better picks bot lane they would be played at worlds.

And while I'm here debunking your nonsense, there wasn't a single nerf to a single strong non ADC pick bot lane.

Swain Vlad and Irelia got nerfed. And guess why you dont remember many non adcs getting nerfed for being good bot lane? Because its so hard to even be viable bot if you arent an adc lol.

As for what makes ADCs weak, hmm, I don't know, it could be having lower base AD, lower HP regen, lower HP, lower MR, lower Armor, lower base damages that approximately 90% of the roster.

90% of the roster also cant crit you for 400 HP with nearly 2 unmissable attacks per second at 3-4 items ;)

OtterlyLostNov 5, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Fízz v2,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=R27wVQhJ,comment-id=000000000000000000000001,timestamp=2018-11-04T23:45:52.706+0000)

Heimer was the most picked non-adc at worlds, you know how often he was picked? Twice XD

Its not just because "thats what people know", if there were better picks bot lane they would be played at worlds.

Swain Vlad and Irelia got nerfed. And guess why you dont remember many non adcs getting nerfed for being good bot lane? Because its so hard to even be viable bot if you arent an adc lol.

90% of the roster also cant crit you for 400 HP with nearly 2 unmissable attacks per second at 3-4 items ;)

Hold up, he was only picked twice. So it couldn't be possibly because he was banned the rest of the time? How many bans did he get again?

And no, Vlad did not get nerfed; please show me where Vlad got nerfed in the patch notes. Irelia, likewise, got nerfed because she's a problem mid, not bot. In fact, everyone was crying for her to get nerfed, not just ADC mains. Please show me one person who doesn't want her nerfed.

And its honestly not that hard to be viable bot if you're not ADC; its just bot happens to be the only lane you can go to to play ADC. And regardless of what you think, Heimer, Swain, and Yasuo for a long time were all the highest Winrate bot laners, even after they rebuffed the ADC roster. And I really don't care if their pick rates were low; they weren't any lower than Twitch Jungle or Quinn top in some cases, both of which are used as arguments for ADCs having "lane diversity."

And Trynd, Yasuo, Yi suddenly don't exist, amirite? or Rengar who only needs one unmissable Q to do roughly 800 damage to you. Or Kha'zix. Hmm... All of these none ADC champs who can just press 1 button and insta delete you, some of which only need one to do the same amount of damage that two AA's take.

Fízz v2Nov 5, 20181 votes

Rengar isnt gonna kill a tank and the others are basically melee adcs. So add "from range" to my last sentence.

Also Heimer was picked mid 3 times so you dont really know what role he gets banned for. And being a flex pick makes him look better bot than he is.

OtterlyLostNov 5, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Fízz v2,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=R27wVQhJ,comment-id=00000000000000000000000100000000,timestamp=2018-11-05T05:30:11.929+0000)

Rengar isnt gonna kill a tank and the others are basically melee adcs. So add "from range" to my last sentence.

Also Heimer was picked mid 3 times so you dont really know what role he gets banned for. And being a flex pick makes him look better bot than he is.

No of course rengar shouldn't be killing tanks; that's supposed to be ADCs job. But that's not what you said. Stop moving the goal posts for this debate just because you're losing.

And it doesn't matter if we dont know what role he got banned for; what matters is that he got banned so that is obviously going to affect his pick rate in any lane at worlds.

And I'm still waiting for you to show me the nerfs for Vlad that he apparently received. Or nerfs to any of the currently highest winrate non ADCs bot lane, which are Swain and Heimer. Yasuo was up there at a 1.5%(on par with Quinn top and higher than Twitch Jungle) but he's since disappeared with no real changes to bot lane aside from a buff to Ashe.

Fízz v2Nov 5, 20181 votes

Heimer didnt get nerfed because he never was too good, Vlad got his E scaling nerfed, and Swain got things nerfed too when he was actually top tier bot.

Stop moving the goal posts for this debate just because you're losing.

Not sure if you can even call this a debate since pretty much your only argument for why adcs are weak was "their base stats are lower" which literally meas nothing. They are still by far the number 1 thing played bot.

OtterlyLostNov 5, 20181 votes

Heimer has had a 53 to 54% wr bot lane, which is the highest of any of his three roles. But not too good, right?

And the only nerf Swain received was to his ultimate; this did not impact his bot lane play at all as he is still doing best bot lane by a mile and especially compared to his other two roles. It's as if he has good synergy with all of the popular and strong supports along with insane base damages.

And oh woooow. They're the number 1 thing played bot; totally broken! It's not as if they only have one lane to actually play in! No! They're just absurd damage, tanks with tons of mobility that can impact the map from level 1!!1! RIOTPLS nerf this class that can only play bot lane with a support and no where else because they have one lane while every other champ has two to three!

My argument that their base stats are bad is valid but so is the fact that their items are expensive, they lack self peel, they literally dont matter even if they're fed because that 3/10 kha is still gonna blow them to smithereens in teamfights. It's not as if the entirety of worlds was played solely around top, jungle, and mid. Like always. Like literally every worlds except last season.

Fízz v2Nov 5, 20181 votes

There was a time when Heimer was more hyped than noe, but that went away with adc buffs.

Fizz, zed, syndra, ahri, many junglers... All of them only have 1 lane or role to play in, yet their classes arent the only thing that is viable. Assassins can only go mid for the most part, but theres still mages and bruisers/tanks there.

OtterlyLostNov 5, 20181 votes

Heimer is still the highest winrate bot laner. I don't know why you're ignoring this.

Fizz: mid, top, jungle for a time Zed: mid, top

Syndra and Ahri could go top with more luck than most of the ADC roster.

All of the junglers can be played top and have historically been played top.

drash79Nov 4, 20182 votes

{quoted}

How terrible. An ADC main not wanting their lane phase made even worse because high base damage mages are invading their ONLY lane. It's not like mages cant go mid and top.

Viktor : JOIN THE GLORIOUS REVELATION!

GayFluffyUnicornNov 5, 20181 votes

Just play a tank or pick an assassins to counter the mage. You don't need to play an ADC every single game and expect it to work. Adapt or die.

OtterlyLostNov 5, 20181 votes

Okay and top laners need to play mages to deal with Viktor top. They dont have to play a melee bruiser. Adapt or die. :)

EedatNov 4, 20185 votes

ADC is the most balanced its been in a long time. They're not strong enough that they hands down completely dominate the game over everyone else. Not weak enough that they're worthless. There's actually a relatively good balance between AD casters, Crit, and On-hit marksmen right now. I think people who play ADC are used to being the hands down strongest role in the game because they were for a year and a half before getting brought back down. Now being relatively balanced feels "weak" when in fact its just weak by comparison. This is something that happens quite frequently among champion mains as well. When their champ is overtuned for so long being brought down to normal feels "weak" when it's not.

OtterlyLostNov 4, 20182 votes

{quoted}

ADC is the most balanced its been in a long time. They're not strong enough that they hands down completely dominate the game over everyone else. Not weak enough that they're worthless. There's actually a relatively good balance between AD casters, Crit, and On-hit marksmen right now. I think people who play ADC are used to being the hands down strongest role in the game because they were for a year and a half before getting brought back down. Now being relatively balanced feels "weak" when in fact its just weak by comparison. This is something that happens quite frequently among champion mains as well. When their champ is overtuned for so long being brought down to normal feels "weak" when it's not.

No, its not honestly all that balanced. The only thing keeping many ADCs relevant is Stormrazor; if that item disappeared tomorrow, many ADCs would be at sub 50% winrates. When an entire class's relevance hinges on a single item and who can most affectively abuse it or other items besides it, that class is not balance.

What people are used to are being able to actually do damage at three items. What people are used to is being able to actually scale into the game. What people are used to is actually having an opportunity to actually be relevant past laning phase. ADCs don't have that now. Its either they lose hard in lane phase, which is easy to do because MF, Draven, and Lucian are all the top tier ADCs right now and they're all very lane dominant ADCs (as well as the constant pressure from Jungle and Mid because Riot won't take some of their fucking early game agency away), and then spend the rest of the game absolutely useless because there's no chance in hell they'll get to the out scale point before the game is done(and if its Lucian, they won't ever get to it; he's an ADC that never has a bad point in the game despite supposedly falling off in the late game. He is the most egregious generalist the class has ever seen seconded only maybe by Blue Ezreal). Or they win hard and still lose because solo lanes matter more than their own personal skill and they can't do anything when their top or mid or hell, even jungle, feeds their ass off. Because not only have ADCs been gutted but the champions intended to help them survive fed solo laners and actually have a pressing affect on the map as a result have also been gutted. The best supports in the meta right now are what? Leona, Bard, Thresh, Zyra, Blitz, Alistar... You have to go to the 12th position to find the first enchanter and that's Janna. How are all of these heavy damage, heavy engage supports being so dominant if not because all of the disengage, heals and shields supports that are intended to counter them or keep them in check are too weak.

ADCs are only "balanced" because most of the roster are getting inflated power from a single item and even then, that item isn't doing much for the over arching issues of the class as a whole, those being extreme lack of lane diversity(They have one lane compared to many champions who have two sometimes even three lanes), an extreme homogenization of their items and their item builds(there is usually never any item diversity for them, making their build paths stale and samey; its always go for SR, RFC, IE. This is always the correct choice for every crit based ADC which is a problem. There are more zeal items than just RFC and Shiv. All of the zeal items need overhauls to make them more equal in power; give ADCs a reason to build the other zeal items through unique interactions and combinations. And for the love of god, rework SR so its not mandatory or at least make it so its an ACTUAL fucking DPS item), homogenization of their powerspikes(here's where my rant about Lucian, MF, and Draven come in. These are lane bully ADCs; they are intended to be strong early game champions who should be falling off in the late game; they should be less important and less impactful as the game goes on and if they aren't, this is an issue; otherwise we end up in the position we're in right now where they are the strongest in the game and they leave no reason to pick any of the other ADCs; everyone wants every ADC to just be late game power but that isn't how the class as a whole should fucking work. There should be actual variance in power levels between ADCs; Tristana, Twitch, Vayne, Kai'sa should all get dicked on in the early game and lose out a little bit to Lucian, Draven, and MF but there should eventually come a point in the game where they out scale and are relevant; that isn't happening and its a problem), and finally they have an extreme lack of agency in the game. What do I mean? I mean nothing that they do honestly matters. Laning phase is not a equal 50 50 power split; its more along the lines of 50 to the support, 20 to the jungle, 15 to the mid, and 5 to the ADC. There isn't a such thing as winning 2v2 anymore; if there was, even then it would mostly be decided by the support. In mid game, ADCs are still extremely lacking in agency; they can't roam solo, they can't solo push, they can't not be in teamfights, they can't sometimes be in teamfights, they have no means of defending themselves against other champions in the game(literally everything can 1v1 the ADC, no matter how fed they are which is spectacularly unfair; if it was a fed assassin complaining about not being able to 100 to 0 someone, everyone would be saying they needed buffs; if an ADC who is 10/0 is getting 100 to 0'd by a 3/10 assassin because they dared take five steps away from their support, however, suddenly the ADC has fucked up, not that there isn't an egregious amount of damage given to a champion who should be grossly behind and not enough power to a champion who is wildly ahead). Late game is where many of them will finally shine but even then, they have to be with a team constantly in order to even hope surviving.

This class is the furthest thing from balanced. It has huge, gaping issues that Riot refuses to address for fear that mid and top and jungle mains who have no idea what the hell is going on bot lane will have massive amounts of backlash toward. Just look at the Viktor top as a perfect example of the entitlement that these people have. They call for diversity this, diversity that, and that ADC mains should just drop their entire class of champions to "adapt" to this diversity even though its destroying them in their only lane but the second some of this diversity smacks them in the face, its suddenly not okay and it should be gutted. Its the exact same principal as after 8.11 only not nearly half as bad.

EedatNov 5, 20182 votes

The only thing keeping many ADCs relevant is Stormrazor

Lol what? Lucian Vayne Ezreal MissFortune are among the top ADCs and they dont even build Stormrazor. I also dont gt your whole "lane dominant ADCs rule the meta" thing when we have Sivir Vayne Kaisa also being top tier.

Here is what I think is happening. You main who is weak as a champion right now and are expanding that to enclude the entire class. Doesn't work like that. What you mean is Tristana is weak. Not the ADC role is weak. The role as a whole is not weak. Yes, they are squishy but they also do a shit of ton DPS and are fantastic at taking objectives. Thats called trade offs. They are still the only class that is practically necessary on every team. But ok I guess they're "bad". Damn, being practically 100% necessary means they're "bad". Alright.

Sorry, but the Ardent meta of ADCs being unkillable demi-gods with burst-per-second damage reigning supreme over all other roles by a mile is gone and you need to get over that.

OtterlyLostNov 5, 20181 votes

{quoted}

Lol what? are among the top ADCs and they dont even build Stormrazor. I also dont gt your whole "lane dominant ADCs rule the meta" thing when we have also being top tier.

Here is what I think is happening. You main who is weak as a champion right now and are expanding that to enclude the entire class. Doesn't work like that. What you mean is Tristana is weak. Not the ADC role is weak. The role as a whole is not weak. Yes, they are squishy but they also do a shit of ton DPS and are fantastic at taking objectives. Thats called trade offs. They are still the only class that is practically necessary on every team. But ok I guess they're "bad". Damn, being practically 100% necessary means they're "bad". Alright.

Sorry, but the Ardent meta of ADCs being unkillable demi-gods with burst-per-second damage reigning supreme over all other roles by a mile is gone and you need to get over that.

Top ADCs are, as I just said, lane dominant ADCs. Thanks for pointing out three ADCs who do decently well in lane and one who can abuse Stormrazor or go a none crit build. That just literally proves my point. As far as Kai'sa and Sivir, Kai'sa honestly has absurd damage in lane and she isn't actually the top of the leader board; her winrate is sub 50 and she only seems over bearing or oppressive because she's popular. .-. If you look at her winrate on OP.GG, she isn't even top five. Sivir is also abusing Stormrazor and her lane isn't bad per say but she doesn't honestly have to do anything either. She just AFK pushes and has lane control that way. And again, she isn't even top five ADCs. For that matter, neither is Ezreal.

And yes, I main Tristana but I also don't think she's bad at all. :/ Considering I have a fluctuating WR with her of 53-54% and many other mains at higher elos have even better winrates than that, she's fine where she is. Would I like buffs? Sure. But I'd rather have them actually address the shit item builds first because Tristana is weak or strong based on what ADC itemization looks like. ANd since she's really weak now, ADC itemization is pretty fucking shit. She's not the only one struggling either. Varus, Kog'maw, Xayah, Caitlyn. Ashe is finally doing better because they changed her slow but before that, she was struggling due to the changes to crit.

And no, I didn't say the ADC role was weak. At no point did I say it was weak. I said it was being crutched by a single item and that it had several gaping problems that Riot refuses to fix. You can't read. I never said I wanted the Ardent Meta back; for one, it wasn't half as bad as top and mid mains like to whine about. For two, it was still all of the support getting all of the agency and control in the game. And it was still ADCs just crutching on a single item to be relevant; it was just static shiv then.

This all stems from them over buffing Shiv in early season 7 because they refused to address the issues with the game then; that tanks were too strong and that the matches were too short.

If you'd actually read, you'd know what I want is for ADCs to actually be champions and be a real class instead of carbon copies of each other. Closer to the meta in season 6 than whatever we had in season 7. Or hell, take me back to season 5 where you had a real goddamn game that had stages and it mattered a little less if you didn't come out on top in lane; you could actually scale and reasonably come back. Hell if you'd read anything I said, you'd know I never asked for buffs at all but just neutral changes. But that's the board bias at work; any kind of change that people want to make for ADCs to make the class remotely cleaner, no matter what, is a buff and therefore shouldn't exist; its just an ADC main wanting a buff for no reason.

No, moron. Its an ADC main who is tired of having her late game ADCs out scaled by fucking lane bullies. Its an ADC main who wants actual lane and item diversity. Its an ADC main who would like to finally have some goddamn agency because the support and the solo lanes have it all.

saltranNov 5, 20183 votes

Hmmm I kinda agree with you and I apreciate a good coment on the Trash Boards for once but after seeing the Worlds I find it clear that if not even with the highest coordination you can have success at all playing for botlane and the game is decided entirely by solo laners it maybe means that adcs are somehow weak or that meta solo laners are too strong.

Like, before watching Worlds I thought that adcs were on a better spot than after watching Worlds.

EedatNov 4, 20188 votes

Simply put ADCs do the most DPS but are super squishy. This is not to be confused with burst. Lots of other classes have higher burst but lower DPS. An untouched ADC in the back of a team fight will dish out a metric ton of damage over the course of a fight while a burst champion kinda dumps their damage then has a down period where their damage isnt up. There are obviously varying different degrees inbetween. For this reason, ADCs are also fantastic for objectives like taking towers, baron, and dragons where DPS reigns supreme over burst

Bind MeNov 4, 20185 votes

Hello, yes this how the ADC class has been since the dawn of this game, was much easier to actually stay alive back in season 4 and lower when there weren't many flashy champions with overloaded kits, now even supports can out damage you in laning phase, if you want to play the most dominant and impactfull class i suggest bruisers, they are by the far the strongest coming right afrer assassins, they burst while maintaining tanky states, anything can beat an adc if you see someone saying otherwise just remember the boards is where low skill level players come to rant for their poor play.

Jennifer420Nov 4, 20183 votes

the main problem is that riot thinks "tank" is literally the vehicle that you cant destroy and that blows everyone up. so you have stuff like insert any toplaner here who goes blackcleaver/trinity force and then full tank and just destroys stuff.

then you have assassins, the most mobile champs that can kill anything (usually even tanks) in 1 combo and then use their mobility to get out.

mages are ap heavy and most champs dont gain (much) mr so they have some natural burst. then there is adcs. they are ranged so that usually is a good thing and they have a support. the point of them is to reach like 2.5 attackspeed and crit everyone.

but due to op tanks and assassins games snowball and are over way too fast. tl:dr dont play adcs.

players tried to go bruiser bot but riot nerfed it and in low elo (where most of the playerbase are) this is seen as "trolling" by the wannabe pros. and with essenz reaver crit adcs are fucked. they dont have enough ad to make the crit actually do much.

PB4UAMENov 5, 20181 votes

You really don't know what tanks are, and are essentially trying to call Divers and Juggernauts (aka bulky damage dealers, in the later case, juggernauts are mobility and target restricted, low range carries-- literally the opposite paradigm of a tank) tanks, and then bithcing and whining about damage dealers doing damage because you don't understand their role.

Ornn Alistar Leona Sejuani Zac Maokai

Alright, see these guys? These are actual tanks.

Garen Darius DrMundo Volibear Yorick Urgot Chogath Illaoi Renekton

See these motherfuckers? They are juggernauts. They are slow as shit, have little to no range other than Urgot, they cannot choose their targets but rather have to beat on anyone in range, and they all have their own little minigames they have to play to have very heavily gated windows of power. To compensate for all of this, they tend to have largely target agnostic damage, or just tons of damage when they get their windows of power and if you stupidly stay near them, or let them grind through your back line.

They are huge damage threats, but they have more counter-play available to them than any other class, bar none. The chief one is to kite them out, and to fight them on your own terms instead of theirs. If they use their ults or any other significant cooldowns, they are often very vulnerable to punishment, particularly ranged harass/poke. Garen, Yorick and Darius need to hit specific targets, Voli, Mundo, Yorick, Renekton and Darius rely upon stacking up in the middle of a fight, Urgot, Illaoi, Yorick, Cho'Gath and to a lesser extend Darius are all reliant on long CD skillshots to have kill pressure, Cho'gath, Illaoi, Garen, Darius, Yorick and Urgot all need their ult to have kill pressure. Plus, any of their main damaging abilities either needs to stack up, is easily avoidable, and or is highly telegraphed.

Jennifer420Nov 5, 20181 votes

[zombie-brand-facepalm]

MizayaNov 4, 20182 votes

For most ADCs it's hard to compete with the upfront damage a lot of champions in other lanes / jungle have. There are a few things you can do, however, to maximize your impact. It might be easier to climb as mid or jg but there are plenty of ADCs in challenger so definitely not impossible by any means.

Help your jungler early game if you can. That means getting a lane advantage and pushing out when your jungler plans to fight scuttle or even invade. A lot of junglers will make bad calls (as I have learned in my games, a lot of jglers want to fight at scuttle even when the enemy jungler is a lot stronger at level 2 than them) but sometimes you can make up for that. If you get your jungler ahead then that can snowball into an even bigger lead.
Pressure turret, so that if you take the turret you can lane swap and apply pressure elsewhere. Often your team will have already taken their turret so if that's the case your team as a whole is in a good position to snowball to victory (so try taking RIft herald, dragons, getting control of enemy jg, etc.). Also if your team is doing fine you can just try to keep farming up so that if the game goes on you'll hit your late game power spike first.
Play around your team. Don't try to engage by yourself, be alone in a dangerous spot, etc. Being able to follow up engages and get good damage on the enemy team is really important in teamfights even if you aren't visibly hard outplaying them. ADC isn't the role to solo win a fight against multiple enemies like 1v2 or 1v3, if you're looking for that there are champions like Irelia, Jax, Yasuo, Kassadin, etc. in other lanes.

You will have games where it's impossible to win and games where your team autowins the game for you. It's the games between those two extremes where you can try to make a difference.

PromiseringNov 5, 20182 votes

Thank you all for replying with your insights. I'm sorry I can't reply to everyone here, but I want you to know I've read every word. I'm just trying to get better. I just feel like when I get fed, it's hard to 1v1 other champs that aren't fed, which is weird. I know i'm shit, but i ain't that shit, I attack move at least!

again thanks everyone! Much love

OtterlyLostNov 5, 20182 votes

Good luck on the rift, my dude. I hope you find a class that is better.

KhabithNov 4, 20181 votes

Its because they right-click. If they get OP its supperr unfair. I mean what outplay is there to right clicking. If their support isn't dumb and cc's you before you can kill them. Guess what, your dead. So its kinda weird rn

MarkedOfKaneNov 4, 20181 votes

ADC champions generally will be the highest damage dealers as the game goes on. Sure there are plenty of champions that could flatten you in about two seconds like Zed Leblanc Malzahar .

But Vayne Xayah MissFortune will have higher damage output after a few more seconds and they can do so without having to move in so close. They also can take massive chunks out of your health in a single auto Draven .

In a sustained fight, the ADC will a big contributor to damage. Also great for seiging.

Silly NeekoNov 4, 20181 votes

Being ADC can be a risk, but the good ones tend to be the most skillful in the game, and will end up carrying potentially. I know from one of the worlds live video things that i watched for the mission.... there was one team that was beating up the other side, their ADC Sivir wasnt able to do much more than sit back and add a bit of extra damage and mobility, but shortly after their burst champions fell off, the sivir ended up practically carrying the game.

They are for sure good, but they are only good depending on the player. Though very team reliant as well, they have to know positioning, know what each assassin does and how to avoid them.... but generally if they can survive the first round of burst, or have a bit of peel, they can do some pretty scary stuff.

I was supporting a Kaisa and we very nearly 4v2ed (us being the two) and the only reason that we lost is that their aatrox was a pain in the rear. There has been multiple times as well that just me and a decent adc actually 2v5ed.

Some things you need to focus on is:

Farming. This is the blood of the gods for ADCs. Sure kills are good but they in the end make up about half if that of what you should be getting from minions. If you have a problem with last hitting, go into a custom game with no enemy champs or ally champs. Buy 0 items. Just walk to bott lane. Then focus on last hitting with autos only. I think the goal is like 100 farm in 10 minutes? If you fail, restart. Its a bit boring, but you will notice that you will have a lot more gold overall in games. (Last hitting is getting gold for minion kill... it does not mean you can not attack before the last hit.)
learning how to kite. Always keep moving. You will notice some of the only people who have the luxury of standing in one spot and dancing or something is the supports in the lane. Thats because the second that the ADC lets down their gaurd, the enemy support can be on them in an instant and usually with the jungler too. Personally i sit and dance as a support to bait blitz and thresh pulls as morg so i can just shield them xD not recommended for someone learning how to ADC better, though practicing dodging can be done with a friend as well, they can practice their predictions and you can practice yours too. You WILL be the target of nearly every single assassin, bruiser, burster, etc of the enemy team even if you are not doing well. Accept that fact.
be aware of enemy strengths and weaknesses. Some champs have a MUCH stronger level 1, and some have a MUCH stronger level 2. These are not always the same champion. For example... Draven level 1 with a Janna is going to hurt you a ton. No point as a Lucian and Leona to try and do something there. However, level 2 you can all in on Draven if Leona hits her E and you will generally get a kill or summoner spell or two. Some champs dont have a very great laning phase (generally Kalistas until they get a few items, or unless their support pulls off some good plays) however once team fights start up, they can be hell to deal with. Twitch and Kogmaw and Kalista and Sivir are some of the most notable here that just wreck teams with just a bit of peel.
work on weaving in some pokes WHILE farming. This is the LAST thing you should practice, because otherwise you will end up losing farm, doing less overall, and then ending up underperforming. Not a very long explaination here, its pretty self explanitory.

Wave management goes in there eventually but..... theres so much to be said about that.... best i can suggest is look up some videos about it.

NekoniClawsNov 5, 20181 votes

From what I feel, adcs spend a lot of the game not online and trying not to fight. Sure they can trade kills bot because the other AD is guaranteed squishy, but this also means they'll only do about 1K damage every all-in bot, and that adds up to very little.

As a personal stance, I think bot+sup are weak right now. It's notoriously easy to win lane lose game as botlane (of course, by the END of the game, your KDA may invert) which is 2 players being ahead. Constrastingly if a top + jungler get ahead each of them can probably, individually, oneshot anyone of their choice on the enemy team. Whereas a fed ADC still can't just approach a 50CS, 0 kills leblanc and expect to live.

AXayahAccountNov 5, 20181 votes

adc really has always been that. They have safe damage, not the highest. The point is they take towers and dish dmg out and no one can do anything back as long as your team is protecting you.

GrokmirNov 5, 20181 votes

Adc is an extremely team reliant role. Which makes it really hard to carry with in solo queue. I'd suggest maining jungle. If you can get jungle down, it is by far the easiest role to climb with (and it is pretty much every season) + it is the role with the most synergy with pretty much every other role, so you can duo with anyone and still have great synergy.

You can climb while maining adc, but it'll talk a lot more effort/grinding.

Critmaster GarenNov 5, 20181 votes

{quoted}

I don't understand what their strength is

##RANGE

how do people not get this? first of all, they do scale insanely hard and they do deal the most amount of dps in the game, except for some skirmishers maybe who are just as squishy as them without the auto attack range.

but auto attack and ability range is incredibly versatile and the best offense and defensive stat in the game at the same time, as it gives you more target access, and frontloaded impact on teamfights and skirmishes, aswell as increased siege potential to objectives.

it allows you to fight your opponent without directly interacting with him and with the possibility of not being traded back at. at all. somethig that melee champions are never capable of doing.

it also allows you to poke at turrets from a safe position, where melee champions have to walk up and take a much higher risk of drawing turret aggro and getting engaged on.

range is fucking massive in this game, because there is no drawback to it like in other comparable games, like the turn rates that dota 2 has. so to offset this advantage, youre a lot more squishy so you at least immediately die, the moment the enemy does manage to close the gap.

yes, its a shitty design for both sides and core of most of this games problems for 8 years now.