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ADCs in 4.10

Kybre·6/25/2014, 5:50:42 PM·2 votes·1,215 views

With the recent nerfs to lifesteal items, the ADC meta changed a lot. This is my personal opinions on the stronger picks right now, and please give me some feedback so I can decide what to play in Solo Queue for this patch.

So mainly this patch nerfed lifesteal items and buffed crit items, while increasing the cost of Bloodthirsteritem 3072 , Mercurial Scimitaritem 3139 , Berserker's Greavesitem 3006 and Daggeritem 1042. This took down the power if champions like LucianLucian and VayneVayne, but this buffed some champions who mainly rely on crit.

I think AsheAshe is a really viable pick right now, because:

  1. She is built mainly on Crit. instead of Lifesteal.

  2. The gold passive from her E gives more gold = faster buying (Yes, it seems little, but sum up 20 minutes worth of CS and you'd get around 600).

  3. Her slow makes chasing A LOT easier.

  4. She can kite well as well as fight well, so you have options to go for in terms of build and style.

  5. She has no built-in escape, but her slow makes her ridiculously annoying to chase.

Similarly, CaitlynCaitlyn is also a good pick, because:

  1. Her range, with crit, can deal tons of damage.

  2. She is really good at kiting and her E can propel her further backwards.

  3. Able to pick people off easily.

  4. Only needs a bit of lifesteal to survive lane because she can escape easily with E and W if needed.

Kog'mawKogMaw may seem to have been nerfed, but with a different buildpath he is just as good (not in exact order):

  • Bloodthirster item 3072

  • Trinity Force item 3078

  • Infinity Edge item 3031

  • Berserker's Greaves item 3006

  • Runnan's Hurricane item 3085

  • Phantom Dancer item 3046

The reason I would pick up a BT item 3072 over a Blade of The Ruined King item 3153 is mainly of the lifesteal nerf to BOTRK. Now with more lifesteal on BT it provides more sustain along with the bonus shield.

To use him effectively, it means 20-30 minutes of passive play and constant farming to get the first 3 damage items in your build (either item 3072 item 3078 item 3031 or item 3072 item 3078 item 3046 ) before he can shred the enemy team, and with no built-in escape it means you either have to hug the tower or have the jungler apply pressure to your lane.

DravenDraven is now a huge ADC. His damage with his Q on is insane. With Crit items, he can be a huge split pusher late game due to his dueling potential. Although he has to be ahead to do anything in the game, safe play, poking and out-farming your opponent is a good way to earn that lead, but a bit of jungler pressure can give you a lot more gold than just farming.

Well, that's it on my insight for this patch. As I said earlier, please leave some feedback on my decisions on these picks.

5 Comments

MackleDoge6/25/2014, 5:59:18 PM1 votes

I wouldn't get BT. Just in general it is simply awful now. It offers you next to nothing, the shield is entirely useless and the amount of money it costs isn't worth the stats you could get elsewhere. I'd say grabbing BotRK is a much better money spender. Rushing IE and then going Phantom Dancer into Last Whisper seems really strong right now, the only issue is that ADCs are completely worthless until 20 minutes at this point. Just getting IE isn't enough to make you strong, you really don't get a power spike until you get the Phantom Dancer as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing people go into Cutlass before rushing IE. Then they finish up BotRK to go into Phantom Dancer and either Last Whisper or maybe Stattik Shiv.

2xHero6/25/2014, 7:03:44 PM1 votes

Here are my thoughts. The champions that got "hurt" the most by the 4.10 patch are the ones that do a lot of damage based on their spells. The ones that are helped the most are the ones who do most of their damage based on auto attack which basically are the ones who focus on critical strike as you mentioned.

Ashe KogMaw Draven Lucian item 3139 I think you are spot-on with your analysis on these champions. I also think that the buffs to Mercurial Scimitar helps Ashe, Draven, and Kog'maw who do not have an innate escape. However, the higher desirability of the Scimitar might hurt Ashe more than it helps since her main attractive point is her ultimate.

Caitlyn item 3072 I would say that Caitlyn actually suffers from the change a bit since a large part of her playstyle is poking with her Q - Pilltover Peacemaker. The reduction of AD on the Bloodthirster hurts that.

Vayne item 3153 Vayne, is actually helped a bit with the changes on Blade of the Ruined King. The nerfs to the active and the build path hurt, but the improved sustained damage is quite the help to Vayne.

Tristana item 3031 Tristana is one that you did not mention yet. As a the most auto-attack focused marksman in the game, she benefits A LOT from these changes. I expect that she will see a lot more play, especially with the other direct buffs that she received.