PSA to ADC players: If an enemy is instagibbing you, get a fucking defensive item.

Bârd·Apr 30, 2016·33 votes·4,207 views

Yes , your damage output would be higher if you bought a instead of or against that .

Yeah ,you can pull of more LCS Big Plays against the fed enemy if you got a instead of or

But you know what?

You will not be doing ANY damage if you just die instantly

If Zed is fed, PLEASE buy a early (until next patch, anyways). If Leblanc is 9/1 at 15 minutes, drop whatever your next item is and make it a fucking . If Darius is being Darius, get or (or be Blue ).

Don't just show up to the teamfight, die instantly, and then blame it all on your team for "Being fucking feeder trash" or "0 peel".

And don't you fucking DARE say that "There is literally nothing I can do here" because we ALL know you could have done something. 8 minutes ago. When you decided to start building instead of when just got a fucking Quadra.

41 Comments

CaítlynApr 30, 201629 votes

Clearly youve never played ADC. Because vs a fed assassin, 1 defensive item isnt going to do jack sh*t to save you.

BârdApr 30, 20162 votes

ADC is not exactly my main, but I play a fair bit of Twitch and AD Soraka (I wish I was joking).

No, one defensive item will not save you against a fed assassin.

However, it at the very least gives you a fighting chance.

A Twitch with item 3142 item 3085 item 3031 has no chance against a fed leblanc. If he bought item 3156 instead of IE, he might have lived with a sliver of HP and then been able to heal up and continue fighting a bit.

the Anarchit3chtApr 30, 201611 votes

I see your logic, but sadly it doesnt work that way. Your only hope is that a teammate can peel for you and you can kill them before they kill you.

BigPooStormApr 30, 20169 votes

{quoted}

Clearly youve never played ADC. Because vs a fed assassin, 1 defensive item isnt going to do jack sh*t to save you.

It will help vs burst mages, but yea getting armor vs a fed as hell Talon or Yasuo isn't going to do jack shit because after a single rotation of spells, if you aren't dead, they'll just finish you off with 1-2 auto attacks. Better to just get GA or QSS for Yasuo.

AlüeApr 30, 20162 votes

if only people had this sympathy for mages vs assassins... our zhonya's is shitteh

Steel BlossomMay 1, 20161 votes

Zhonya is shit....?

AlüeMay 1, 20161 votes

Not in terms of stats, just the passive. being immobile for 2 seconds that are invulnerable isn't fantastic imo. I'd rather have an item that operates like maw does.

Steel BlossomMay 1, 20161 votes

In all honesty I think you're pretty right. Squishy ranged champions don't deserve something as OP as a 2 sec stasis. At least a shield you can burst through.

Steel BlossomMay 1, 20161 votes

One defensive item will make you significantly more durable; as a dedicated Talon main I can tell you right off the bat that when I'm buidling flat armor pen and you suddenly got 60 bonus armor, I will no longer be able to oneshot you without ignite and a bonus autoattack, which both brings down my threat to the rest of your team, and also puts me in a LOT more risk.

Mickey DonnerudoApr 30, 201613 votes

I disagree. Core items are more important than any other item no matter what, and not getting them first is the most damaging item decision you could make. They are what make you strong, and allow you to do the job you were assigned to do.

Taking a defensive 2nd or 3rd item, sure. But taking defensive item first as ADC is pretty much building your own grave when the teamfights come.

Imagine a Sivir with only item 3143 item 1001 item 2010 item 3340 .
She would deal no damage whatsoever. You could probably ignore her with no problem.

I would rather see the ADC build a item 3508 or item 3031 and stay back until she sees an opportunity to go in and turn the tide with some decisive autos.
A tank ADC would just go in and deal 80 damage an auto and be overall useless. No one wants to see that.

Granted, you never said to build defensive first item, but I just wanted to point this out. It's not always best to start defensively, especially within the realm of ADCs.

BârdApr 30, 20162 votes

Obviously.

You need at least one full on damage item before you build something half defensive like Maw, and at least two before building a full on defense item (With the exception of Ezreal, who gets an early Iceborn)

Defenses are sometimes necessary for adcs, just don't be dumb about it.

kirbyzamaApr 30, 20168 votes

This is just wrong or at the very least oversimplified. Marksmen save for a few have very few natural defensive stats so they are usually still squishy after building pure tank items. That said I have built randuins frozen heart banshee's and so forth on adc when its appropriate but at the point where you are building BT is 3rd item at earliest and by and large you will need that damage unless you are ahead of the item curb. I have plenty of times been flamed "gg adc has no damage" when I was autoing full time in a fight because I was down one item of damage at the time. Opting into a pure tank item mid build will put yourself effectively one item behind where you need to be. That said if you live than yes it was worth and you will do more damage but either way that damage is still not that high. At 3 items and on you can build nothing but tank if the enemy is squishy and be fine but if they have a tank you will need LW so 4th item on. Also any item that gets built on adcs that enables "tanky marksmen" and resists assassination gets immediately nerfed so its only logical to assume even if a tank item will help you early on its crap on you because its meant to be crap on you. The only real fix to not getting gibbed is wait till 4th item and build ga etc. and "git gud" as unsatisfying as that is to here.

Maw is actually a decent early build though.

tooomineApr 30, 20161 votes

yeah, its comp dependent, I think. If they run 3 tanks, 1 fed assassin, more damage is probably better.

If they run all assassins, surviveability probably is better.

PartholonianApr 30, 20161 votes

You don't need a full damage build to kill assassins; you just need to still be alive when all their stuff is on cooldown.

Dominick DestineApr 30, 20167 votes

I know this is a bad example because it's incredibly uncommon and relies on bad positioning/timing.... but as an Evelynn main, I will assassinate any ADC regardless of their defensive items if they were even slightly overextended. None of those items will save an ADC from me.

However.... similar to Evelynn, ADC is a LOT more about positioning than they are about raw stats/items. If the ADC and support are never apart, I will not be able to assassinate the ADC easily.

Jeddy017Apr 30, 20167 votes

Everything else,I understand but since when was Randuin's a defensive item for ADCs?

TotalJerkApr 30, 20167 votes

Season 3/4. It was pretty much only bought as a 6th item when they enemy team was AD heavy. It wasn't actually that great, it's just that with ADC itemization back then there was basically no other option.

HigeApr 30, 20165 votes

armor on adcs is a joke currently though :S with the surmount of armor pen going around, you're so squishy anyway that you have more chances of making it alive by doing more damage than by being able to take one more hit... banshee's is ok but frozen mallet is barely good on an adc who's behind.

F03Apr 30, 20161 votes

{quoted}

armor on adcs is a joke currently though :S with the surmount of armor pen going around

Yet it takes morons 40 minutes to start

Building a last whisper for every adc player I have on my team

AckelopeApr 30, 20163 votes

And when ADCs start building tanky, everyone gets mad as fuck, I mean, just pay attention to these boards, lol. Regardless, getting just one, or maybe even two defensive items really doesn't tend to do that much against assassins and instagibbers, they're all people with crit and high damage who have already built their pen. items by the time you decide to go defense. It's not always a bad idea, but it's overrated tbh.

LeprechaunJinxMay 1, 20161 votes

The distinction here though is when ADCs start building tanky when ahead to avoid dying so they stay ahead vs. building defensive when someone else is ahead so as not to feed them more. Tanky builds while an ADC is ahead is much like the current state of item 3001 , a good item on its own but serves as a great "keep winning lane" item.

ForgiveColourApr 30, 20162 votes

item 3143 ???

BârdApr 30, 20163 votes

HP, armor, crit reduction, and a halfway decent slow.

Against some champs, it helps a bit.

While not as common as some other defensive items, I see it pop up on adcs every now and again.

AeszarckApr 30, 20162 votes

I love the stats on it. It's probably my favorite defensive item, and the active slow is pretty nice too*!

######*When I remember to use it

RandomoniumApr 30, 20162 votes

What really sucks is when you DO buy a defensive item but your team just dives their back line and leaves you to 1v1 the fed assassin. Most ADCs are useless if you don't provide them with any peel.

TheUltimateSpearMay 1, 20162 votes

This is slightly besides the point, but ADC's should not buy QSS against a fed Zed. No one should, in fact, because that item gives ducking magic resist against an AD assassin.

MeaningfulOrgyMay 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

This is slightly besides the point, but ADC's should not buy QSS against a fed Zed. No one should, in fact, because that item gives ducking magic resist against an AD assassin.

You buy qss for the active not the magic resist. Anybody who buying qss to have magic resist is doing it wrong.

IAMS4T4NMay 1, 20162 votes

i would say the same thing then i decided to play some adc and the enemy team had a fed rengar, kha zix, and talon lets just say steraks+randuins+lifesteal doesnt do jack shit

PentaJukeApr 30, 20161 votes

As a Leblanc main I will always buy item 3143 or item 3068 as my last item if and only if they have no cc and have 3 or more ad champs. Or else Ill just get item 3102 almost 100% of the time. So my build mostly looks like item 3027 item 3165 item 3020 item 3089 item 3151 and . All items i buy are situational except and . I even sometimes buy item 3047 or item 3111 .

NiyumiApr 30, 20161 votes

So, what do you do when you're basically a full tank and still instantly die?

VerdadeApr 30, 20161 votes

Thing is, when im playing blue Ez, Zed instagibs me despite having Mercurial and 150 armor (gauntlet), LB can do the same through Maw+Mercurial. So there's that.

LankPantsApr 30, 20161 votes

If Zed is fed, PLEASE buy a .

Amended for next patch, unfortunately this legitimately seems like the best option.

BârdApr 30, 20161 votes

I would probably buy either item 3053 or item 3812 .

item 3157 is plausable on Corki Ezreal Kennen KogMaw Malzahar MissFortune Teemo Tristana Varus because of how they all have an AP side to them (some larger than others)

SpoofghoulApr 30, 20161 votes

i often just grab a zhonyas vs assassins as adc i know the item itself is usless outside of the 45 armor on most adc however seeing that talong get blown up because he decided to jump on your golden face is priceless

SnowFallApr 30, 20161 votes

it's usually only item 3026 you have to buy after your core items as an ADC

ChaosThiefApr 30, 20161 votes

What if Gangplank, for some unknown reason, went full AP?

morris1Apr 30, 20162 votes

Then you need some Jesus in your life because even if you went six IEs his oranges would still probably heal back all the damage.

Hullabaloo907Apr 30, 20161 votes

This seems more like bad positioning/lack of peel issue than an itemization issue

UpDownLeftRightABApr 30, 20161 votes

Riot said the only solution for ADC's is team peel. So do your job!

chipndip1Apr 30, 20161 votes

Defensive options are for AFTER building your marksman's core, and probably shouldn't be a Randuin's...

Frozen/Maw/GA are pretty good defensive options depending on who you are. I wouldn't use Frozen unless I had Varus's range or higher.

TheOvermindMay 1, 20161 votes

That's why you adc players keep complaining about assassins and then you either build incorrectly or not at all. Randy ins will allow you to survive rengars nocturnes talons and shacos burst in order to reposition and for teammates to take em out. But no 90% of the adc players I play against get a qss vs nocturne God knows why and the rest get a steraks and they think a tiny ass 100 hp shield is going to protect them vs 3000 + dmg of burst