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ADC is not a fun role

Hauling Ashe·2/2/2018, 10:41:59 PM·49 votes·4,225 views

I have been an ADC main since I first started playing, and I have enjoyed my role, practiced a lot at improving my kiting, farming, and wave manipulating abilities and teamfight positioning over the last two years. I really love the bot lane characters as well.

That being said, being an ADC main is like pulling teeth. You don't feel in control of your destiny in the slightest. Either your team feeds you or your team pushes you to feed. There is no balanced bot lane duel, where I can use my skill to outlast an early game lane bully and scale with my hypercarry. No, I am but a toddler at the mercy of my estranged parents, the support and the jungler.

It doesn't matter if I can outplay the Draven. My support will go in and get shanked by Blitz and feed kills. It doesn't matter if I try to play safe and farm up to make up for my mistakes or my support's mistakes. My jungler is busy camping the top lane and is too busy to care that Tristana and Lux are whittling away at our hp and our turret and will have it down at the 10 minute mark.

My stats look so ugly or so impressive, it is rarely anything in the middle - feast or famine. I am an Ashe and Caitlyn main and I know those champions inside and out. I don't go 0/5/0 at 15 minutes. Except in this season, apparently.

See, unlike the solo lanes, I am not just reliant on my own skills and map awareness and the occasional gank from my friendly neighborhood jungler. I am reliant on my support not being an autofilled troll or the weak link with the Bronze 6 MMR. I am reliant on the jungler deciding if bot a is real or imaginary lane.

Sometimes I do play poorly, and when I do, the blame is on me. But I know I don't play that badly. I'm not the greatest but I'm not a habitual feeder. Except my stats would indicate otherwise this season.

Last game I had a Rakan who was hitting my minions, diving a Jhin/Lux kill lane, and when Jhin ulted me, Rakan (with full health, by the way) walked out of lane and into the tri brush even after I had managed to dodge the first three shots and let me die on the fourth.

I don't understand what I'm expected to do. I love being the glass cannon character. I enjoy having to think ahead and it often pushes me to play at my very best, knowing I can be deleted by almost any champion if I'm not in the zone. But lately it all seems irrelevant. Nothing I do matters. If I get a quadra kill, it's because I had a decent jungler who fed me early and the other team didn't. If I go 2/9 it's because no amount of farming and playing safe in anticipation of a late game spike can help me catch up with the enemy ADC who got fed off my inting support.

This is not me complaining about the players I get on my teams. I know everyone has to deal with their share of trolls and boosted players. This is me lamenting that my proficiency as an ADC player has little to no effect on how well I do in my matches. I have no way to gauge my skill because nothing I accomplish is in my control.

I know there are going to by high-and-mighty gold ranked players telling me to "git gud scurb", but that advice never helped anyone and I honestly don't believe my skill is the problem. I feel like I can't carry as an ADC. All I can do is make myself as carryable as possible. This isn't some "ADC in 2k18" meme. I'm just feeling exhausted and helpless in this role.

67 Comments

Kaìju2/3/2018, 1:30:49 AM18 votes

Another Ashe player, the dream. Yeah it feels bad as fuck this year. Normally support is fairly in control but you can do something but this season just feels bad. I really would accept a nerf to ADC damage if they just made the role slightly more self reliant because in soloQ playing ADC is the biggest gamble. If you play supp, mid, or jungle you can help your carry, if you play carry you have to hope one of them helps you.

Raven Redeemed2/3/2018, 9:17:07 AM15 votes

Yeah. The boards have been complaining about top laners having no agency over the game (which is true to some degree) but adc's, in my opinion, have the least agency of any role. They are completely reliant on their teammates for CC (since they have very little defense in their items and kits unlike their mid lane cousins), to make plays, and ward (since it is usually very easy to kill a lone adc). Tons of microplay but very little macro.

In my opinion, adc's need more defense in some form (cc, mobility, raw stats, items, etc.) and have their raw damage brought down in exchange. That way they can spend more time in fights to actually deal sustained damage instead of burst or be bursted.

Edit:

No, I am but a toddler at the mercy of my estranged parents, the support and the jungler.

Forgot to say, that gave me a really good laugh!

NekoniClaws2/3/2018, 11:34:39 AM15 votes

ADCs are the support's dog. They have to follow sup's engages, rely on their wards, their peel, adapt to their roams and how they position in lane.

The idea that the opposite is true is because about 1 in 50 adcs - seeing their support has roamed or mispositioned, order, 'you're my support. stick to me.' -they give ADCs the bad rep and they're the ones who make it seem like ADs are always kicking their sups around.

I can't play ADC. My wings feel clipped. And I can't stand the chump I get stuck laning with. Watching a support fail to go for obvious plays over and over... drives me absolutely insane.

And yes, I'm a sup main. I hate my species. XD

vgamedude2/3/2018, 2:51:44 AM11 votes

Lmao adc doesn't feel in control of the game? Try top lane.

And that's an issue with the draven outplay point, there isnt a huge amount of room for outplay trades when it's all auto attacks.

Aimléss2/3/2018, 11:24:01 AM10 votes

Yeah, this is spot on. ADC's are just as hopeless as top laners in determining the outcome of games, but for different reasons. Adc's can't really use their skill to win lane, and have to hope others get them fed, and they can use their skill to win as long as that happens, but if no one helps them, they'll just lose by default. Top laners can use their skill to win lane and get themselves ahead, but fall short because even with that gold the enemy ADC will likely just melt them if they're fed. Both roles can't really roam and help others either, so you just gotta cross your fingers and hope the rest of your teammates do decently.

All while jg, mid, and sup can assert their will on the game early on, and dictate the pace, especially in this FF@15 meta. I have no clue what Riot could do to fix this problem. I find myself winning so many games as ADC while just AA'ing away while my team melts through the enemy, and losing games where I deal practically no damage while the enemy team one shots me. This happens when I play mid too, but most of the time I'm winning and melting the enemy team and it feels good, cause I'm usually the one who started the snowball, and in the loses I probably didn't play that well, I can tell what I do matters in that lane.

TheGreatNinx2/3/2018, 3:41:10 AM9 votes

It might be due to those champions being pretty weak atm. I mean cait 40 something win rate against vayne when cait is supposed to counter.... An ashe well.... I'm not sure whens the last time I've seen ashe so I'm not sure about her. But I feel ya. I used to be ADC main as well but switch to jungle because it didn't seem to matter if I got ahead or not if the jungler jerking it in his jungle for the whole game, split pushing all game even though he isn't playing split push champiob or at the wrong times,camp 1 lane that didn't need a camp and/or is never around to take dragon/baron or won't defend those objectives. Ever since the switch I've been winning more but I thirst to play Jhin just 1 more time and I just have to say no :(

Yordle Xayah2/3/2018, 7:30:51 PM6 votes

This is the reason why I've been trying to play my Trist in the Jungle... bless Spirit (in LCK) who discovered that was a viable thing.

With all the ADC hate going on on the boards and NOBODY ever considering how dependent the role tends to be of the Support and rest of the map, I'm amazed your thread got this many up votes, but I'm glad it did!

[poppy-wink]

DNFVixen2/3/2018, 12:46:35 AM5 votes

this whole season is so fucked i been playing hots and archeage, league is 0 fun now. R.I.P. seasons 3-5 (esp 5)

FurriesAreHot2/3/2018, 4:10:42 AM5 votes

I don’t find playing ADC to be much fun anymore either.

no to toxic2/3/2018, 9:51:29 AM5 votes

But ADC has the most impanct. If you are a fed toplaner and your bot lane feeds you lost give up you wont survive anything and splitpushing doesnt work since the enemy team can go send 4 while their Rengar sieges a Anivia Viktor and Sivir succesfully due to them having no items. But if the enemy top laner is fed and yours is uselsss then the story is different. Your top is still a useless 0/5 Jack who still builds more dmg instead of tankiness but their fed top laner can be something extremly useless wich your team can easily deal with like Darius Aatrox Trundle you know champs wich have to spend alot of resources to catch you if you arent alone and not in melle range of them. Wich is why its far more important for a adc to go even than for a top to be feeding. P.S. screw all supports wich aren`t Taric they all barely know how to play their champ.

EssenceOfPoo2/3/2018, 5:53:38 PM3 votes

I feel like this doesn't get mentioned enough or is overlooked. I've played a decent amount of marksman in the bot lane (as well as decent amount of other lanes hence I think I'm making a fair comparison) and i've got to say it's possibly the least impactful role and even lesser in lane. When I win lane,most of it is because my support is better than their support. He doesn't just sit back passively as an Alistar but goes in for his headbutt combo when the Morgana has used up her shield and snare. Or when my Janna knows how to establish brush control so that her tornado is more effective. Or just simple things like my Blitzcrank not going for a grab when there's obviously a minion right in front of him. Heck, even Soraka can play aggressively and establish lane pressure.

Sometimes, it gets really frustrating because even when my support and I have managed to bring the bot turret to low health and we have a mountain/infernal drake that we could secure, our jungler is oblivious about objective control. Instead he tries to gank the top that is going even over and over again, instead of helping us bot so we can rotate.

Then there's the mid who refuses to roam despite having great mobility and instead decides to duke it out 1v1 vs the enemy mid lane even when it's obvious she could've easily secure a double kill bot as a 3v2 because it's League of Laning till 20min apparently, or the top who has TP up all the time but has never used it to TP to other lane. "I brought TP so that I can TP to my lane. hur dur". Even Trick2g realizes he can not just sit in his top lane all game to stack Q's as Nasus.

And when it comes to teamfights, you better pray that your support knows how to peel for you because if you even get into range to try and AA, and if the enemy team has someone like Jarvan, you're going to turn into dust if you dont have flash.

And if your teammates even have the knowledge to collapse onto that 1 diver who's trying to kill you instead of chasing the enemy team during LATE GAME, you better kiss their asses after game.

If you manage to 1v1 someone, chances are you have more and better items rather than you purely outplaying him.

I feel like being the squishiest class despite having high damage output, your success depends heavily on your teammates. If you lose laning phase and die in teamfights, it's because of your teammates. If you win laning phase and survive in teamfights despite the enemy focusing you, it's because of your teammates. There's really a lack of agency here. There's a reason they call this class a braindead class. And I somewhat agree. It might not be totally braindead but it's the most braindead class. Positioning well, I find, isn't as hard as the many other things the other classes have to juggle with.

I'm not demanding a change in the system. I'm just pointing out the inherent state of marksman and how people view it vs how I view it.

PS: dealing high sustained damage is not the only means of agency. if anything having only that attribute gives you the least agency. ergo, each and other laners/jungle has more impact than the marksman. you might do the most sustained damage, but you're stepping on their shoulders to be able to do that.

Ahri Baka2/3/2018, 4:47:04 PM3 votes

I'ts a team game man , I had matches , where I was a fed adc but lost because , my mid and top lost so I had no one to tank or cc for me in fights so the enemy's 0/7 Jinx came back and did a triple kill and that's it , we lost , it depends on the majority of won lanes to win , most likely , if 2 lanes are won , you win the game , sometimes even if 2 or all 3 lanes are lose, you can win due to combos in team fights and knowing how and who to focus , Tanks top laners are complaining for being 1 shot , like come on , even ad carried and mages can be 1 shot by an assassin diving on you in a fight and 1 shooting and your teammates are busy fighting in frontline , just had a Kalista match where we lost just because our front liners will just go all in and focus the enemies while the enemies had Zed Vi will just ult me and no one notices me or even care , they even had a Kayn so and yesterday in ranked , won my lane as Caitlyn but lost to their corki adc , why ? he just E in the middle fights and 1 shoots me while my team never tried to help me , knowing we had Rammus Shen Sion , the strongest Tanks ever , but how are you supposed to win if your adc gets 1 shot and you do nothing ? yeah that's how it is I'm a mages main , but non of my friends would play adc when we play together so I end up playing adc sometimes, tho I hate that role but I find it way easier to carry than carrying with my mains , I mean adc can keep auto attacking forever , while mages can miss skills hots and even if they them all , long cool downs and useless against tanks

Hyquiem2/3/2018, 8:30:16 PM3 votes

Look, ADC can be fun, but it’s only fun, when you yourself can peel. Which by means is not even real. Though bot lane remains unbalanced as always due to supports, adcs they control supports but they are the play things for them. As much as I’ve seen supports like Blitzcrank Leona Zilean they can litterly just play around with the enemies adc and the enemy the same. For as far it goes the only way to make bot lane Balanced would be making another thing for supports to do instead of walk back and forth or CCing the carry. Supports deserve some fun. Things as they are ment to protect but atleast make the role more entertaining ADC will never be fun when you need some one to hold your hand.

Athenes Lulu2/3/2018, 10:28:39 PM3 votes

I am reliant on the jungler deciding if bot a is real or imaginary lane.

I love this line holy shit.

Back on topic, this is most of why I don't play ADC, despite being a huge fan of playing ranged carries in almost every game I play. Once you're behind, you might as well be useless for a very long time because you can't just go off to another lane and farm to catch up-- no, you'll get picked off the moment you try to go alone. Your support has to ditch you or else the game would be 3v5 instead of 4v5, so you're not really safe from anything either. If that's not harsh enough, it would be you having so much responsibility (and therefore blame), but with little actual room on how much you can do to cover that up.

If that's also not enough, it would be how much blame the community, namely Boards, puts ADCs as THE "snowball problem" due to itemization. No, it had nothing to do with their beloved mages and tanks who go botlane, and literally turned botlane into THE kill lane. They expect ADCs to be completely responsible for all that, which amuses me.

stone the blacks2/4/2018, 2:35:48 AM3 votes

there are few adcs that are niche and balancable Ashe Jhin Quinn Ezreal the rest all to overall good at everything with no distrinct weaknesses and can just build what is meta for them and is not forced into building 1 of 2ish builds such as tank shred or pick making