What's a good way to position as ADC?

Ramuhdo·6/15/2015, 8:35:14 PM·1 votes·771 views

I've recently been playing ADC a bit more, due to games feeling harder and harder to snowball as Evelynn jungle. A recurring problem however is when things like Fizz or Master Yi just run into me and delete me. My friends tell me it's because I'm out of position, whereas I always thought I should be near the back, but that gets me flanked too often.

What's a good guideline to observe as an ADC vis-a-vis your positioning in team fights? I tend to play immobile champs like Ashe and (to an extent) Sivir, and it's really starting to get tiresome when enemies charge at you and delete you. I've tried being closer to my allies, but then I'm in the middle of the teamfight and get deleted because, well, I'm in the middle of it.

So I understand I neither need to be on the backline nor the frontline, but I'm a bit lost on what considerations one needs to have in mind to be in the right place.

13 Comments

TouchpadExpert6/15/2015, 10:38:13 PM3 votes

The game where you had Leona, Rammus, Lulu and Twisted Fate one of your tanks should have stayed behind. Most likely Leona. She should have been standing right next to you to stop Fizz from deleting you, but Fizz was smart and Leona was hyper aggressive. He capitalized on your mistake. Now if you were Corki or Ezreal you could have danced around Fizz but you couldn't so you died. You could have baited out his troll pole with a W though, flash/sidestepped his ult and then ulted him if he still wanted to go in on you. Then press Q to increase attack damage and try to kill him before he killed you. But Leona put a gap between you and her. That's a nono for being a support.

Here's the ideal line up for team fighting: Backline | RIght in the Middle | Front lines ADC/APC | Support/Assassin | Brusier/Tank

In your team it should have been like so:

Ashe + Twisted Fate | Leona + Lulu | Rammus

Their team setup should have looked like so:

Kalista | Fizz + Thresh | Gragas + Tryndamere

Your team was squishier (except Rammus) and less mobile. And to be fair, Twisted Fate should have been the one defending base since he can ult over to the team fight at any moment. But whatever.

Variks the Loyal6/15/2015, 8:39:23 PM1 votes

I get the same problems. Maybe because I play upfront, daring ADCS like Twitch and Graves and Lucian.

Try building a Banshee's Veil or Mercurial Scimitar if you haven't. Sorry I don't have much advice.

SolarPWNage6/15/2015, 9:15:28 PM1 votes

Honestly, when you get deleted while you have teamates next to you means, A. The enemy assassin is fed. B. You are way too squishy ( buy some defense runes maybe? ) C. All yo teamates are retards or have 1000 ping. D. You are very greedy as to chase kills or to poke. ( enemies will capitalize on your mistake and murder you)

Best way to not be "deleted" and improve positioning is to stay back. Behind your tanks and support. But wait, you already do that? Know when to use your summoner spells. The only way you can improve your postioning is to learn from your death, what could you have done to advoid dying.

TouchpadExpert6/15/2015, 9:20:16 PM1 votes

In the laning phase what you want to do is be aware of what the other champions can do. Like if they have a Blitzcrank proper positioning entails that you always keep a minion between you and Blitz at all times. You don't stand too close to the turret of a Blitzcrank and you especially don't stand out in the open or right behind a minion who is about to die. This strategy is the standard way of laning and also entails Varus, Caitlyn and Sivir who have abilities that get weaker upon hitting multiple targets or they just shove down a minion wave leaving them prone to ganks. There are rare exceptions to this rule such as against a Miss Fortune proper positioning means that you stand on the outside of your minion wave so as to avoid her double up or if they have a Lissandra support it shortens her poke range.

Proper positioning also involves you watching your minions and their minions. Try to make a guess on which minion of yours will die first and which one of theirs will die first and position yourself nearby both of them if possible. You can then hit them if they go to CS that minion helping you whittle them down a bit and trade better.

Map awareness helps with proper positioning. Hopefully your support has been warding. If they are it generally gives you an extra 5 seconds or so to react before the gank reaches you. But you should also be aware of where the jungler last was. Keep tabs on him and communicate with the team. If he just ganked top and doesn't have a teleport there is no way that he is nearby for a gank. If he just left mid lane after a failed gank and left in your direction it is safe to assume that he is coming your way. Go on the offensive. If you suspect that he is nearby then back off and ping your support a careful yellow ping. Ctrl + left click is the short cut that gives you a "caution" ping. If the jungler is coming try to move over closer to the side bushes so as to put some distance between you and the enemy jungler. You can also use the bushes to juke out the jungler. Get back to turret until he leaves. The longer he stays to starve you of CS the more he falls behind. Ping your team to shove their lanes and pressure those lanes to get him to leave sooner.

ZergReap6/15/2015, 9:41:33 PM1 votes

You can start by playing around your team, use your tanks like a shield and zone control. If you have no tanks whoever is melee. Let them charge in to do the CC and follow up from behind. If they run through your front line trying to dive you like Fizz MasterYi might do, your team should notice and turn their focus to them. It's underrated as adc to just live the fight no matter what. Often times when I am fed they will over commit using as much as possible to kiill me and meanwhile my team is freely hitting them.

Try to do damage to whoever you can hit for free, this is usually tanks trying to get to you. If you can safely hit their adc or mid (whoever the prime target is) go ahead, but be weary because they will probably switch to you as well. You don't want to find yourself "in the middle of the fight" instead be on the outside circle if that makes sense. Make sure you are kiting back as much as possible especially with Ashe. Practice attack move click and orb walking, this is the key honestly.

TouchpadExpert6/15/2015, 10:42:33 PM1 votes

Yeah, not having peel probably hurt you. Perhaps you should have initiated with an arrow aimed for Fizz specifically. Then send Rammus to go chase Kalista. While you nuke Fizz their team is busy trying to peel Rammus off their Kalista. Rammus backs off before blowing all of his spells and your team moves in to cover his retreat. Have Twisted Fate use his range to poke down Thresh or Gragas a bit and when they get too low move in. Whittle them down so they can't tank like they are supposed to.