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How do you secure kills while playing Marksman?

James Stone··2 votes·990 views

Recently, to try to fill my ranked quota, I've been trying Marksman champions. I ended up last post-season in gold, and got placed in Silver II. I decided to take a break from ranked to improve myself.

But for fuck's sake, there's nothing more excruciating than trying to learn Marksmans in Silver/Gold.

2 games as tristana, one with draven, one just now with graves. Every bloody time I ended up with nearly the same, or more, assists than my support, got 3/4 of my earned kills stolen from me, got absolutely 0 peel and got wrecked because (and let's be honest here) I still don't have good ADC positioning. It's completely and totally frustrating to see some jackass playing Maokai or some other crap stealing kills while the enemy was 50HP and my auto was flying, and then completely and totally failing to carry while the enemy Marksman gets a one-and-a-half item advantage because their teammates aren't bellends. And almost every time they unironically shittalk the 2/8/19 Marksman for "doing no damage". No shit, sherlock.

So, could anyone teach me how to secure kills more effectively? Still need to pratice my positioning, already got good orb-walking, but I can't do shit with an item-based class if I get goldstarved from my items.

11 Comments

the Anarchit3cht4 votes

Well for one, a kill is never YOUR kill. Lose that attitude and try again. Your job is NOT to get kills but OUTPUT DAMAGE. If getting a kill is going to put you at risk and you aren't in a position to handle that risk(i.e. 60 second respawn timers, enemy trying to take baron/dragon/towers/etc) then don't go for the kill. The fact that you've sent them back to the base gives you at its shortest--a 12 second window. That is, if they have enhanced recall, homeguard boots and teleport. If that isn't enough time for you to make a play then you still have some work to do and aren't as good as you think you are.

You shouldn't be gold starved because you aren't getting kills--you got a bunch of minion kills to make up for that. Depending on the mix of minions it will take you roughly 10-25 cs to equal the gold you'd get from a kill. You should make enough gold based on CS alone. Kills depreciate in their value the more times your target dies unless they manage to get on some sort of streak while minions only gain value as the game goes on.

FHMarshy3 votes

I think what you need to learn is that an assist is just as good. The whole point of being an ADC is not to KILL, but to SURVIVE. Your late game will come and you will start carrying in team fight IF YOU DON'T DIE.

Guilty of playing on smurffs, I see way to often that ADC try to chase kills too often and end up dying because of it. Assist gold is still gold. You don't NEED to get the kill to benefit from it.

James Stone1 votes

Thanks for the reply, and I completely agree with you. Thing is, like I said in my example, I suck at positioning, and the poepl who are actively trying to steal kills are the ones who should have been peeling me. So trying to survive means running away like a scared boy scout because big bad Riven/Warwick/Xin/whatever are coming to get my juicy squishy ass.

It'll just be a matter of improving I guess, but damned if it isn't frustrating

TehNACHO1 votes

I'd optimize for tank busting if I were you.

Your job is to supply your team with a surplus of DPS damage, mostly towards melting tanks. You don't need all the kills, that's the cherry on top, but you definitely need to make sure that the enemy frontline falls faster than your own.

On a related note, don't chase for kills, focus on not only surviving as long as possible, but auto attacking every instant possible.

James Stone1 votes

Good advice. Thank you.

Zmuecat1 votes

If you can't get a kill consistently, other people are stealing them from you, or you are not properly CSing to be able to put out the damage needed.

As a support, I try to make sure all the kills go to ADCs, but honestly, I could get all the kills so long as long as you are CSing properly, getting assists, and not dying, the game will work out four times out of five.

Also, stop trying to LEARN ADCs in silver and gold, go play normals for that shit.

James Stone1 votes

As I said, I'm not playing ranked. Normal Draft. I said silver/gold because for the most part your N-Draft MMR tend to be close to your Ranked placements.

Zmuecat1 votes

Sorry, misread.

AvariceSyn1 votes

I agree with the point that the most important part of playing marksman is staying alive.

If you're really that set on securing kills, my only advice is to keep playing the role and get a real feel for your turn speed, attack speed at different levels with different items/masteries, missile speed, and movespeed. If you have this down, you know exactly when to attack for the last hit.

Personally, I enjoy playing Cait and Varus the most for the long-range secures. Varus' Q does hella damage when fully charged, and even more when you've got Blight stacks on an enemy.

The more you play the role and get a feel for your champions DPS capabilities, the easier it will be to know exactly when to strike and commit, and what it will take to get the gold.

But back to staying alive, even an underfed ADC is better than a dead or dying one. ADCs have some of the easiest scaling in the game, all it takes is time.

QuantumLight1 votes

All these interesting replys... im going to go ahead and say, pick an adc that doesnt need peel... thats why i play blue ez in ranked.
also, if your sups are ksing you that much, its not them screwing up as much as your not focusing the target right. that or your sups are trolling.

Kitten of Evil1 votes

Well, I know it's somewhat disfavored now (I mostly see Heal on ADC, Exhaust on support), but ignite can help secure kills... otherwise, like people said, an assist is still better than no gold. Also, keep in mind that the vast majority of your income should (and will) come from CS. A kill is worth about 10-15 CS (fewer if it's large minions).

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