High level adc tips?

LilYonsan·Nov 7, 2013·1 votes·772 views

Hi there, I am currently a gold V player that has decided that for the next season (season 4) that I want to really beef up my mechanics, and work on csing, and learning how to play my weakest role (which is adc).

So far, I've been doing pretty well. I've been outfarming my opponent more times than not, and generally speaking I have one of the highest, if not the highest amount of gold in either team (assuming things go well).

I'm really looking to main adc for the next season, and I know what a really excellent adc can do. I'm looking for some higher level tips from other players that might really prove useful for the coming season.

Thank you all and have a wonderful day :)

10 Comments

cheekzNov 9, 20132 votes

Believe it or not, your friend is right. In a team fight, it is better for you to hit the closest target to you and live. It is not an ADCs job to kill the ADC or anyone in the back line. Although it is true that the ADC has the highest consistent damage output in the game, that is only the case in the Endgame. Throughout most stages in the game, most assassins and mages with be able to burst you down while the bruisers can chain CC in order to facilitate that. In a team fight or ANY fight, your job as an ADC is to survive and shred the frontline. There are too many people in this game that are just too kill starved and they throw the game because they can't close it out making the game last too long as they waste time chasing blindly through the fog of war. The enemy will then farm up and close the advantage gap. In truth, you don't have to get a kill to win a fight. If the enemy gets out with a sliver of health and you don't chase, you can take a tower or two because they have to go back or die. What's better 300 gold for one kill toward one person or 300 global gold team wide (2 towers). Or how about a dragon or baron? The truth is, if you die as an ADC, your team loses that fast consistent ranged damage potential required to take an objective quickly. It's the same as a team that loses their jungler in a mid game team fight; they lose the ability to secure the dragon or baron.

So, who cares about killscore? Be strategic! Get your gold globally and from creeps. Let your kills be opportunistic and not forced (kills are a bonus, not an entitlement). Pressure your advantages, assist your team and take objectives! Be an ADC! And Win!

LilYonsanNov 11, 20131 votes

That's a pretty good point. The more and more I play adc, the more and more I tend to agree with you actually. I just suppose it's a thing that comes with experience and hard knocks rather than theorycrafting and meta-analysis.

Thank you for the tip! I really appreciate it :D

cheekzNov 26, 20131 votes

No problem. I've been playing ADC for about two years now and I'm very meticulous about staying alive. People forget that kills don't win the game. Towers and the nexus wins games. If you want to get kills and kill the back line, there is a role for that. Most call those assassins. Don't play to safe though. With practice you'll get confident and learn to be opportunistic when it comes to going for kills. Just remember. One defensive item. Effective health is for scrubs (just don't get caught). Learn that and you'll be fine! Good luck!

Teysa KarlovNov 11, 20132 votes

The main thing in a team fight is position, if you cannot get to their back line, focus whatever is near to you, your job is to dish out damage, and not die, because a dead ADC does 0 damage.

pwndrasNov 7, 20131 votes

hmm all I can say is that know your lane match ups well. That and who to focus/positioning during teamfights. Don't get too tunnel visioned on people who are about to die but flash away. It is not worth strolling yourself into the middle of the fight just to get yourself killed. Focus a safer target.

LilYonsanNov 7, 20131 votes

Luckily, I know much about lane matchups. I play much support, and I've learned just how well the enemy's kit stacks up to our own. Although, the second tip is a fairly good tip. Often times I will go in with a teammate to go into a fight, only to find myself in the wrong position and then immediately die.

Although there is a question. I've known some of my friends who play adc to merely focus the enemy closest to them. Their argument is "as long as I am doing damage, I am doing my job". I feel this is wrong, however that does beg a certain question:

Is it a good idea to melt the squishy targets as the adc first, even if by doing that you are in a slightly higher degree of danger?

Loe BrowncloakNov 7, 20131 votes

For me it is not that simple. At the beginning I like to poke and put the other team out of position to farm. If the team is aggressive and they attack then I choose the safest target to focus on. If my support is aggressive I focus on the person he focus on with a plan to retreat if everything goes south. I know it is not the best strat, but one thing is clear if you are dead you cant farm. For me an adc's priority is to stay alive. In the end game is when you determine who the priority target is because every match is different. Everyone knows it is very hard to defeat a item up or a fed master yi, jinx, ect. Alot of the times it is because they have a creep count above everyone else. Sure kills win games that is a given, but items to enhance your champion is equally important. That is my take on it at least.

LilYonsanNov 11, 20131 votes

I actually find the more and more I play, the more I tend to actually slightly disagree with you.

Of course, most of what I'm about to say is very situational, it really depends on who is bot lane.

But once I had a friend who mains adc say this "cs is relevant. The important thing is to force them out of lane to give you the advantage". Throughout that game, he made the point of making the game an example of this. Every time I would try to farm, he would go in, and he would tell me to go in as well. At this point, I realized that if I had gone in about half of the times that i decided not to, the worst case scenario would have been forcing them from lane, the best case scenario would have been that I managed to kill them and get even further ahead.

While being able to cs provides a good foundation, and is absolutely essential for playing adc, I find that the farm is still not as good as zoning and forcing your opponent from lane, even if that means you miss a few creeps.

pwndrasNov 7, 20131 votes

If you can focus their squishies down without going into the middle of their team do it. If you can't go in without getting ganged up on then just stay on the outside and help your teammates take out the tanks. Always be aware of where everyone is during the fight. You can take advantage of the enemy carries getting tunneled vision trying to finish off a teammate and you can turn your focus to them.