In ranked, I main adc. But I also play jungle a lot, or mid. whatever my team needs me to play.

As such, I believe that I can offer a lot of insight on the subject of adc's, not just as someone who plays them a lot, but also as an outsider looking in so that I'm not biased as many other people who strictly main adc. But im also not biased as someone who hates adc's without havent actually played the role either.

People hate adc's. I get that. you see them every game, and as a result, (even more so than toxic champions like Yasuo, Zed, Leblanc, Fizz, or any other roflstomp champ/role) you've probably been handed your own ass by an adc once they've reached 4-5 items more often than the champions mentioned above.

Another reason people hate adc's is just because of the nature of the lane. Solo q is notorious for it's lack of communication and coordinated play; this is especially true in lower elo's, but is also somewhat present in higher elo's as well. Bot lane is the only 2v2 lane, synergizing perfectly well with solo q's bad coordination, and as such kills are more likely in bot lane. It's just the nature of the beast. Because of this an adc is more likely to come out fed out of the lane, putting the opposing team behind. This is not the fault of the champions who identify as marksmen, just the nature of the role and lane they go into

this is why many people seem to hate the idea of adc's actually getting help, even if they do desperately need it. I mained adc all of season 4. I played adc a decent amount in the beginning of season 5. But I found that adc's were just weak compared to many other roles and champions. There are exceptions of course, as jinx as been strong all season, vayne has been recognized as a strong pick a little less than halfway into season 5, and ashe was pretty dang strong directly post-rework. but yes, other than a few outliers, adc's have been on the whole pretty weak. I would know, I play as and agaisnt them a lot. It also doesn't help our cause that this %%%% has increased adc hate 100x fold by herself. (seriously, fuck her, both mid/jungle/top/support and non-kal playing adc mains hate her guts, trust me).

It got so bad that I near abandoned the role, and just spammed the crap outa jungle because I had such a greater impact on the game. As adc I felt weak compared to literally everyone on the both teams other than the opposing botlane and my support.

Look, even my boi Trin, who HATES the role, agrees with their plight: https://youtu.be/uNPktI93N6c?t=15m15s

I think the marksman update is going help a lot. They'll still be weak early game compared to a good majority of other champions, meaning they'll still be dive-able and punishable, but life will also be a easier post laning, where in the current meta the best thing to do post-lane is just farm or last hit champions in teamfights to get to your 3 item powerspike asap, so you can start being even relevant. Literally every adc except sivir, ashe, corki is very nearly useless before that 30 min mark. the first 2 because they have the utility of their ultimates and corki is strongest in the mid game.

the best part about it, in my opinion, is the item update. For basically every adc, their build path until the 5th item (im not counting boots) is the exact same, every game. If You're a crit adc ( ) well then you're getting IE first, PD or shiv second , bt if they arent building armor or lw if they are for your third, and fourth that bt or lw you didnt finish 3rd. EVERY. GAME.

if you're , you're buidling botrk, hurricane, bt, lw. EVERY. GAME. If you're , botrk, PD, IE, lw, EVERY. GAME. : botrk, ghostblade, ie, lw : tri, botrk, ie, pd, lw. get lw before the ie if they have armor. EVERY. GA- you get the point.

The item update finally, finally gives adc's some diversity in their builds. this needed to happen. i won't stand here and lie to you and say that some items **cough ** executioner's calling cough won't be broken on release, but that'll get changed. you know. eventually.

the point im trying to make here is that adc's are actually pretty weak right now, despite what you all might think. the update, in my eyes, is finally gonna add some diversity to the pretty stale item builds of the role, and make the role feel not like total shit before you get that 3rd item. The way you play the game is still going to be the same people! Kill the adc! (unless there's a yi, yasuo, or kat on the enemy team, always kill them before anyone else). That job is NOT being made harder either. If you actually look at the PBE, you'll see that armor and health are actually getting universal buffs.

The final thing I want to say is that people need to not judge the game on things that haven't happened yet. Or even right as they come out, before we have time to adjust and make better, informed decisions before passing judgement. Do I think adc's are going to be getting stronger next patch? Yes. Is is going to be unbearable? quite possibly. But I doubt it. Riot have always been learning from their mistakes, and balance, when you really think about it, has been pretty good. Is it deserved? I do believe yes, it is.