The BIG problem with a lategame class in shorter games that is over protected and suported

In case you didn't get it i'm talking about ADC/Marksmen in games that have been getting shorter and more snowbally over time

A bit of a rant coming next, trying to explain why we are in this stinkhole of a meta how this works and at the end giving some solutions

The problem is that if your class is supposed to get strong lategame as in 40 minutes have passed you managed to get yourself 3-4 items

Well when games are decided at 10 - 20 and and before 30 your class is irrelevant

Yet here we are with Marksmen in every game still, better yet often they not only pop up in bot lane but in other places as well Now we are stuck with a better botlane wins meta

Now we have also been in the adc2k17 lul meta people bitching about them being weak which was a complete fallacy because they were not, they simply didn't have enough impact in the first 10 minutes is a period where games where decided by that point

But as these things tend to go, people adapt to such situations and stretch the time it takes to decide games up along with some small scope changes which also do this and suddenly games are decided a little later. And now we are stuck with this toxic better ADC wins meta ( or whoever clownfiesta's the botlane most)

problem here is how ADC are relevant quite early in the game already whilst also being the strongest lategame class with some of the strongest defensive items available. But that isn't all they also get beefed up by their team with a wide array of tools to buff them and defend them, with he lifesteal on top they suddenly end up being the hardest to kill class in the game provided they can grab a small lead and snowball that

And that is why we are in this shitty meta

A lategame class being buffed over time to be more viable and impact full earlier through flat stat boost in items with price reductions on top You can not outscale them ever period, these boosts to stats don't go away in the lategame they made that part even stronger then before They are as relevant as you early on and with a small lead they will gain a permanent edge over you for the rest of the game One of the big offenders here is lifesteal and warlords, this scales directly with their damage output, warlords + vampirism + dorans blade + censer also allows the adc to forego the lifesteal altogether until later in the game Case in point, jhin healing for 1500hp and running around with over 700 movement because of a keystone is kinda dumb, whils being an extreme case he isnt the only one who can easily abuse this if can hit hard you can abuse it if you can charge it up fast you can abuse it and if you build crit you can abuse it

Their one major weakness, having no defenses has been completely removed items like this contribute a lot to it Don't forget about the stackable zeal items, both in effects as well as the stackable movement which allows the ranged marksmen to out walk melee champs.

However things like line Make it really annoying, not only did Marksmen get enough defenses of their own to pick from everyone else is now allowed to pitch in too.

Once a small lead is established shit like this makes it near impossible to kill them yet you also cannot outdamage them nor can you stall to outscale them

and well if if by some miracle you could outscale because you had 5 superlategame scaling champs You cannot stall them Shive with IE when it crits deals about 660 dmg to 5 minions and stacked with firecannon you can hit structures with it too with additional range Compare that to Sion who is only allowed to deal 180 damage to minions by standing still for 2 seconds

Somewhere Something has to give Because this is getting really stupid now

Ways to bypass early ''defense/sustain'' through masteries and items, mostly supportive items Helps catapult dps Outscales everything damage wise (this isnt really new) but even better then they used to Their main weaknesses being gone, mainly defense and early/midgame and to a lesser extend movement/mobility and waveclear

There is more to this, counters like assassins have been weakened with longer burst windows, tank damage has been gutted (yes there are a few outliers but this is mostly kit issues) as well has health and sustain int heir core items, pretty much olafing their midgame power

All in an attempt to keep them strong and viable in ever shorter games as well as increasing the support population to prevent queue time build up

And the end result is a complete loss of strategy due to shorter games and snowball as well as being stuck in this 1 strategy meta which consist of ''better'' botlane wins

A lategame class isn't bad in concept, but it only works in longer games which are not as snowball sensitive And even then they would still need weaknesses.

This used to be their earlygame and midgame, which is no longer the case And it also used to be their defense, again no longer the case

In earlier seasons they were still the most reliable damage carries but the sheer amount of bullshit shielding healing and buffing didn't exist back then and they had to rely on proper positioning and help from their team's KITS to survive, lifesteal wasn't as prevalent and not as much of an issue as it is now because they other defensive tools weren't there

Right now they have ridiculously potent defense steroids on their own in addition to ridiculous defense boosts from their team on top of stat buffs on top of more mobility and they can still use kiting positioning and have their team peel and block for them they can even waveclear better then the best wave clear mages if they wish too

The only way to fix this this to strip some power add in additional weaknesses and redistribute some support power

Personally i would change lifesteal to not scale with crit anymore as Marksmen have plenty of other defensive options as well as very potent protection from team

Make shields and heals from items partially scale with the receivers hp Allow for different effects on steroids for different champions, for example ardent censer could give melee champions a movement boost instead of an attack speed boost Or have different interactions with items like zekes by allowing mages to blow up the frost storm or melee to receive their own etc etc

these aren't huge changes but they will help a lot by allowing supports to support more then just their adc, which redistributes some power

The lifesteal no longer scaling with crit will also help a lot because it is a form of defense that scales directly with offense by tuning that down we weaken their sustain and make them more reliant on their team for protection which is fine imho because this is a team game after all

And i would change runaans into an energize item which no longer crits but rather applies 75% AD magic damage on secondary bolts and apply on hit effects twice once it fires these bolts

Then i would change the bonus movement on zeal items, basically remove it and put it on kircheis shard instead

And all the energize items would give bonus movement which ramps up alongside their energized charge and losing it upon losing these charges by attacking

Hopefully that would fix things