I have no clue how ADC mains play this role with any regularity.

Naalith··109 votes·22,905 views

A stray skill shot touches you? Half your health is gone.

Some dude is AOE'ing a teammate? You magically get ticked once and have to recall.

You see assassin, fighter, bruiser, mage, or fucking oatmeal cookies on the other team? Instant death.

Your support is slightly worse than their support? You'll sit under tower and get killed by the enemy ganking you over and over.

You die once to their ADC? Well there is no cooldown on right clicking which is the only stat that matters, so they'll have more AD and continue to farm you.

Your team won't protect you in teamfights? You sit on a gray screen all game and hope your team can win.

Also, fuck playing against Brand and Zyra.

I truly don't understand how you people do it. I mean, when you get super fed and hard carry the game and just delete people left and right it feels super good but those games don't happen often and usually you just kinda help get a few kills before getting nuked by one of the various ways to die in this game. I play every role a ton too, probably like 35% jungle and an even distribution between everything else, but ADC lately just feels so bad to play. I feel like I'm a little kid with super powers who has to be carted around in a stroller by his mom or some shit, it's ridiculous. If you're out of position (or not, sometimes) for one half of a split second you are instantly dead. Not a fan.

178 Comments

EmollientNut045 votes

My favorite is taking 40% of your health from a Luden's proc + Arcane Comet

Seriously fuck this game lmao

GigglesO24 votes

Damage nerfs are very much needed.

Starcraft243ver2 votes

That never happened.

ArtumisPrime2 votes

So the dude exaggerated a little bit...big deal. It doesn't change the fact that damage is absurd and r%%%%%ed.

ArtumisPrime1 votes

Wait wait wait...I can say "fuck" but not "r%%%%%"?

Atmosphere3 votes

Haha you fool, you have tripped Riot's censor system. Cower in fear at their restriction of words! [sg-miss-fortune]

ArtumisPrime5 votes

Your numbers might be exaggerated, but the point is absolutely spot on.

I played this game for 8.5 years (since just after Skarner release) and uninstalled a few days ago. Haven't played in weeks.

It would be really nice if RIOT would quit trying to string the players along and just be honest with us. Really disappointed in them and the way they've handled things.

Don't say you're going to reduce damage because it's too high across the board if you're only going to do one patch of nerfs followed by nothing but damage buffs thereafter.

EmollientNut01 votes

There's a lot of people on this post with the whole "Press X to doubt" but it's pretty surprising how accurate that number is. Obviously if JUST a Luden's is finished we're talking about way less than that, but an average mage will chunk you for 25% with a couple items.

However if you're against any Luden/Liandry/Rylai users? Say goodbye to your health bar from an ability that missed by 500 range.

ArtumisPrime3 votes

I'm sorry, but no. It's not at all accurate.

If we take a midling ADC like Kalista (average HP and HP growth) here is the math on AP numbers required for LE + AC to hit for 40%:

Level 1 - 534 HP x 0.4 = 213.6 - 130 (base damage of LE and AC) = 83.6 / 0.3 (LE + AC = 0.3 AP scaling) = 278.6666 AP required for 40%

Level 9 - 1246 HP x 0.4 = 498.4 - 162.94 = 335.46 / 0.3 = 1118.2 AP required for 40%

Level 18 - 2047 HP x 0.4 = 818.8 - 200 = 618.8 / 0.3 = 2062.6666 AP required for 40%

This is before even taking into account any MR at all.

I agree with the notion behind your post...but you have exaggerated the numbers. Even if unintentionally.

AirKingNeo3 votes

please nerf mages for christ sake

Rákãñ29 votes

Don't forget while dealing with that, you'll see every salt in the game gets directed at you for being useless cause you couldn't farm properly. Don't even try to get some farm on the side or push on a tower. It'll get worst from on there.

Thefrostyviking8 votes

I mean every lane gets flamed so that´s nothing strange overall, jungle in particular gets hit a lot with it so if you can jungle and stay cool you probably wont feel pressure from any other lane.

Aimléss7 votes

I agree that JG is the most flamed role, they get abused hard. Though ADC is definitely number 2 because most of the other remaining lanes are only really gonna get flamed for feeding. ADCs get flamed for farming, not farming, getting tower dove, and my favorite, "being in melee range" cause that is the only possible way Camille could've ever got onto me. XD

Thefrostyviking4 votes

aye i got my dose of that too x)

"Dumbass ADC overextended"

Like.....how does one not overextend against a champ that has a screen long gapcloser that also uses flash&ult to extend their range?

Or against that enemy heca/rammus rolling in at 500+ movespeed crossing entire screens in seconds doing disastrous levels of damage on impact.

....ah memories.

No real wonder to me at all why self peel marksmen capable of avoiding such events are the most popular x)

Krytoric24 votes

Now take all of what you just said, and imagine looking at the boards everyday for the last 2 years and get told that ADC is "broken" and "single handedly carry every game"

It's insane to me that this is one of the first times where i actually agree lol. I've been an ADC main for like 3 years now? and it's absolutely ridiculous, you get one shot by literally anything, then if you manage to survive by some act of god, you get told your role is broken lol.

LTK KoRo5 votes

Well if you seriously disagreed about ADCs being "broken" during ardent meta then it was obvious you're an ADC main, they're always biased.

OmegaNITRO15 votes

Or because what was actually broken during the Ardent Meta was what the item was actually used for. Shields, heals, and passive buffs to the ADC.

In short, the enchanter support was what made bot lane broken, not the ADC benefiting from it. That's why it was called the Ardent Meta in the first place.

HàrrowR5 votes

I remember few years ago i went to the boards to whine how weak adcs are and was completely shocked by people claiming the role is super op, while from my point of view i was praying to god to get a good supp and don't have a fed zed on the enemy team, while running around cowering behind my team mates for the entire duration of the game trying to farm my 3-4 items so i can play the game, people should really play a role to understand it before talking out of their ass

ExxonV14 votes

Was actually watchin the new cinematic where jhin just goes into a bow when camille jumps at him thinking it's pretty much the reaction as adc now too just give up once someone manages to reach you, u just dead no matter what you do.

But seriously, the playstyle is "fun" but atm it's totally broken, the concept of a sustainable damage long range champ is totally gutted by the presence of so many high mobility one shot killers. People talk like "oh thats an assassin, they're suppose to one shot the adc" but that's not always been the case, there's been counterplay before. Namely the assassin used to need to be ahead to actually one shot, and flash or teammates could save you, or depending on who it was you could kite them. Now they have to land so very little, you'll die even if you had everything up, to an assassin who wasn't even doing well.

I pretty much ditched the role but play adc junglers now like graves/twitch, more resources, need less babysitting and can pick your fights. Playing actual ADC feels abit like masochism at this point. You're only able to even look useful if your supp is decent.

Thefrostyviking8 votes

The most popular marksmen are Sivir, lucian,Vayne and kai´sa for a reason x)

These 4 have actual self defence capabilities when dived on, and their damage doesnt take an eternity to come online either.

Like people have been telling me that any marksman that hits the top 5 is OP AF, and im just sitting here like "no man, the top 5 are made by their time more than anything, because damage is only relevant if alive to use it".

Then they throw a clip of some 5,0,0 marksman+support with 3 items detonating some glass cannon or melting a juggernaut who has nothing but health and AD and call it proof of anything.

Free Roll2 votes

{quoted}

The most popular marksmen are Sivir, lucian,Vayne and kai´sa for a reason x)

These 4 have actual self defence capabilities when dived on, and their damage doesnt take an eternity to come online either.

Like people have been telling me that any marksman that hits the top 5 is OP AF, and im just sitting here like "no man, the top 5 are made by their time more than anything, because damage is only relevant if alive to use it".

Then they throw a clip of some 5,0,0 marksman+support with 3 items detonating some glass cannon or melting a juggernaut who has nothing but health and AD and call it proof of anything.

Uhm you never played sivir then lol. Sivir has the worst dmg in the game I think until she has 3-4 items. People like me do play her because until then I can run away from everyone while i patiently farm up. Lucian/vayne/kaisa are in an entirely different league that sivir, and i cant even look at one of them or they kill me as sivir i just play passively wait for team. I also play sivir because i can actually be useful and influence the game win condition while actually being a useless ADc, aka I am smart and when i see someone out of position press R to get game winning pick by enabling my teammates to dunk someone.

Sir Prepuzius11 votes

everytime i see an adc getting killed i just want to hug him

SovereignMammal10 votes

The best part is when you somehow manage to win lane, while top and mid go a combined 0/17 in 20 minutes, then the entire team flames you for the loss

saltran9 votes

Someome has to do it, we have the moral duty of keep playing adcs botlane and dont play things like Yasuo, Heimer or Cassio bot.

Worth to mention: always do it with a premade supp, as much as I can I play as a premade.

Rαy9 votes

True on so many levels and it's all boiling down to the stupidly high amount of damage in the game.

The oatmeal cookies part killed me (and the ADC ofc).

MrHaZeYo7 votes

It'll change back, but ya AD mains are on hard times.

OtterlyLost2 votes

Accurate, honestly. I'd be curious, honestly, to know how many ADCs are Spikes.

Kai Guy6 votes

I feel like League is filled with spikes as a majority.

OtterlyLost3 votes

Probably. League doesn't lend itself to the other two as much though there are a few. The people that make "troll" builds are probably the Johnny's/Jenny's while. I don't think that there are a lot of Timmy's though and if they are, they're probably pretty low elo.

HeeroTX3 votes

{quoted}

I don't think that there are a lot of Timmy's though and if they are, they're probably pretty low elo.

I think I'm a Timmy.... and yeah. [sg-soraka]

Thaakillah7 votes

Exactly this. Playing ADC is unrewarding and quite plainly not fun anymore

Syrile6 votes

ADCs were pretty garbage when I first started playing and my boyfriend mained support and wanted me to play bot lane with him when assassins were really strong... It was horrible and I almost quit entirely. I switched to mid and was really happy shortly after. Now, I can play a handful of them but on the whole, other lanes are much easier to deal with because of how absurd the damage is and not having to deal with random supports. :D

DUDE BRO6 votes

I like miss fortune for that exact reason. Max W second with swift booties + celerity. Everyone's runnin' around at 375 MS and I'm rockin' a sweet 510.

Makes things a lot easier to dodge/escape when you're that fast.

KAYLE TURBO INT5 votes

yeah ive been an adc / top / mid player in that order from most to least played roles and adc is so unsatisfying when even or behind that i usually stick to top or mid, even sometimes jungle even tho i have no idea how to path properly edit: but 9.3 or 9.4 crit changes look very promising, since they are also lowering overall dmg in runes too which hopefully will also bring some tanks back into the game

Daddy Ants4 votes

{quoted}

yeah ive been an adc / top / mid player in that order from most to least played roles and adc is so unsatisfying when even or behind that i usually stick to top or mid, even sometimes jungle even tho i have no idea how to path properly edit: but 9.3 or 9.4 crit changes look very promising, since they are also lowering overall dmg in runes too which hopefully will also bring some tanks back into the game

The changes are across the board nerfs.

Things will be worse imo.

TsunamiSS5 votes

There is less of a margin for error when playing the role as you've noted and it is incredibly frustrating, especially towards the latter end of last season going into this preseason. I could go on and on about the role, but what bugs me the most is how supports completely dictate the lane nowadays.

Champions like Thresh, Braum, Leona, and Alistar all can literally assassinate me in the early game with 1.5 rotations and ignite. Think about this for a second. These are "tank" supports that typically build 0 damage items, but can burst me if I make one false step. How is this logical? Not to mention the mage "supports" that have proliferated bot lane because they are being crowded out by nonsense in mid.

I will gladly forsake some damage late game, to get more agency early to mid game as well as some extra survivability.

Kerwints5 votes

Hello!

I think there's a really big misconception about roles in this game, and adc in particular, where we all have some collective memory of Doublelift getting pentakills left and right and like that this is what adc is supposed to be like. But it's not. While adc is about dealing damage, constant, sustained, damage, as much as possible, your real job is not dying. Not dying is your actual role in this game, because everyone wants you dead and to do damage, you need to live. So play around that, to NOT die, find ways to survive, position better, and from there on, you'll learn how to do more and more damage, too.

First off all, adc is in a terrible spot. Somewhere last season I decided to actually really play adc and I worked really hard on it, and suddenly they announced those terrible changes and I quit playing it because the adc role died that day. Adcs still have not recovered from this hit.

What this means is that as adc, you're always going to be lower level than the enemy solo laners for a long time, and you no longer have the same kind of items as BACK IN DEM DAYS to compensate for it even slightly. That also means that if you're team is behind and you're only slightly fed or going even, you're gonna have a really rough game, unless you're really a lot better than the enemy. This sucks, yes. I've always privately felt the experience defect in botlane is an issue in this game (or not so much an issue as it is a bad experience, no pun intended), but that's for another post.

Are you squishy? Yes, that's the point. Job of enemy assassins is to neutralize you. Your job is to live and do as much damage as you can. In general, your priorities are live > damage, in that order, and not damage > live.

Your monkey team won't protect you. Heck even if you get a Janna she's probably too busy floating about than to shield you. So it's all on you.

So how do you not die?

Watch those pro adcs and note two things as you watch.

  1. Positioning and when they join fights (which is rarely instantly)
  2. Mechanics.
ExpStealer5 votes

Whenever I play ADC I pray to RNGesus that I get decent teammates and non-smurf enemies so I can actually do something the entire game

Heos001 votes

Exactly this, if your support is worst than theirs, your lane is lost, if you win lane and the jungle has a bad matchup your game is lost, if you won lane and you are fed but your top and mid feed hard, it's gg too lmao, there's no actually way to win a game by yourself unless you have a good team composition and normal teammates all of this provided by our RNGesus

ExpStealer2 votes

{quoted}

Exactly this, if your support is worst than theirs, your lane is lost, if you win lane and the jungle has a bad matchup your game is lost, if you won lane and you are fed but your top and mid feed hard, it's gg too lmao, there's no actually way to win a game by yourself unless you have a good team composition and normal teammates all of this provided by our RNGesus

It's so bad that if your team does one bad pick you're done for. Your support went Lux/Sona into Pyke/Zyra? Lost. Your team has no frontline to stop their assassin/mage or even ADC from deleting you? Lost. Your team actually picked good frontliners but they fell just a tiny bit behind? Lost.

Also, half-decent Yasuo on the enemy team? Fucking lost! (Not that I hate the champion, but he's just so imbalanced it hurts to see him succeed)

Anime Fizz5 votes

Masochists basically.

I mean there arent that many ppl left playing adc, on my games like 50% of the time the adc is auto filled (and they feed).

OmegaNITRO4 votes

Unfortunately for me, my favorite champs in the game are mostly ADCs. Been recently trying to branch out to jungle and other lanes more, but having to completely abandon your playstyle and pick champions you don't like as much feels almost as bad as struggling to make an impact on ADC.

That said, I wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone that seriously wants to climb. You have to play much more carefully and rely much more heavily on your team, and there isn't really any tactical benefit to it over any other carry role anymore.

Morticianjohn4 votes

I just play vlad, brand, heim, etc when I get stuck in that awful role

Busty Demon4 votes

You see assassin, fighter, bruiser, mage, or fucking oatmeal cookies on the other team? Instant death.

XD hilarious, but true. Especially those oatmeal cookies. Nerf please....

Jerry SeinfeId3 votes

either your support 1v2's or you use them as a meat shield and get kills off their deaths.

Peel for my ADC3 votes

Totally agree , i've been saying it for a while now , they all need their base resistances or hp increases . But hey I'm the support player resopsible for my ad's life and well being lmfao

Staceman2 votes

Yeah it's the reason I stopped playing this game.

ADC has always been a hard role to play, one misplay and you can lose the team fight. Now ANY other role can oneshot you with little to no counterplay.

Lucian hasn't been nerfed yet?

Doesn't feel good or rewarding to play anymore. I tried playing other roles but I suck at them oh well.

BrightWîngs2 votes

You see assassin, fighter, bruiser, mage, or fucking oatmeal cookies on the other team? Instant death.

The best description of AD Carry ive ever heard lol

More from Gameplay

More by Naalith