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ADC for Dummies; ADC 101
Topic Started: Feb 15 2015, 09:21 PM (2,486 Views)
Wizard996
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Random Silver Scrub
I usually do at least mediocre in the early game, provided my support is willing and able to help me. However, even if I get massive food in the early game and/or win lane, how do I transition this into the mid/late game?
Currently, my best guess is poor positioning, lack of peel, and running at times I should just be shooting (or vice versa: engaging when unwise).
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ShadowKnight1224
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Every day is Lissandra Appreciation Day
ADC is possibly the most mechanics-oriented role and it's consequently one of my most loathed ones. Mid and top are mostly about wave control and roaming, jungle is about making global decisions and support is about reading people and anticipating actions of both enemies and allies. ADCs are more focused on the moment to moment decisions and every mouse click matters. It's pretty difficult and I have no wisdom whatsoever to offer because I'm terrible at the role.

Personally I only have fun playing ADC when I get one on ARAM that I can build as an AD caster and just chunk people for 1/4 of their HP with a single Q ([Arpen/CDR/raw AD] on Caitlyn/Varus is amazing and you should try it). Otherwise it's a really stressful, high-pressure role.

Good luck!
Edited by ShadowKnight1224, Feb 16 2015, 03:20 AM.
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Jpdaniel
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We've GOT to have GOLD
I don't have much advice. ADC is a role with so many mechanics running through it it's insane. I'd rate it with jungler as the hardest roles. But you need to work on safety and get a feel for when you can move up or need to back down.

My advice would be play a long-ranged ADC like Caitlyn. Practice a lot in Normal games and get good at just staying back and focusing on being safe first and foremost. But I really wouldn't know much about this. It's something you have to experience.
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Kwon Ri Sae
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Name Changer Extraordinare
I mean, in regards to mid-late game, you probably should be attacking the closest target, and getting your team to peel off assassins from you.

Of course, this only applies if you have last whisper. If you're attacking a heavy-armor tank without last whisper yet, its probably better to ignore him, and go for someone else, since you won't be doing meaningful damage anyways.
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Sodaman64
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It's My Town Now
I mean I'm pretty scrubby when it comes to adc but the one thing that I know I should be using way more is attack move. It makes life much easier if you can alternate between attack move and normal move in a team fight so you can kite (I might just be talking out of my ass though). One problem that I have a lot is that I slow down in terms of farm during the mid game. You gota make sure you're still getting cash flow you know?
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501st Big Mike
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I reserve the right to be loudly opinionated on subjects I am completely ignorant of

ADC is the easiest role ever. Do whatever the hell you want and follow one of 2 paths when the results come in: 1) You get kills - Take all the credit and act like you know what you are doing; 2) You die - Point your finger at the support and call them trash.

Same basic model goes for solo laners too, just replace support with jungler.
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XalkXolc
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Lightning Ball goes Boom
Ah, ADC. Once, I asked questions just like this one as I rode the Jinx Train to 30. There are many nuances to this role, the most mehcanics-heavy of them all (Not entirely true, IMO, but then again I'm not very good). But, yeah. I had the same problem, and it probably boils down to poor positioning. This was the biggest problem for me for a while, and I still work on it constantly. Positioning is one of the most important parts of ADCing, IMO, but it also takes a while to learn and get used to. When in doubt, BE BEHIND SOMEONE. Long-ranged AD's make it easier to stay back and poke, but with shorter range, it's really best to use abilities for pre-fight poke. Also, if Till says anything that contradicts what I say, he's probably lying a far more reliable source.
Edited by XalkXolc, Feb 16 2015, 04:02 PM.
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Tofuology
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Nya Nya~
ADC Main here! adverts eyes

ADC is highly position reliant, and it also demands that you have a lot of awareness of what's going on (this includes the minimap). There are going to be many different scenarios in many games, each forcing you to do something different. There will be times when you have to completely ignore tanks and do as much damage as you can before you die. Other times, you need to kite for your life, while your team peels for you. And there are moments where you're leading the charge, killing everything in your path (this method is not recommended, but it does happen). You have to play each scenario differently.


Fed vs Behind
When you're fed, you typically want to group with your team to exert your power as a constant source of damage from the back lines. Try to get as many objectives as you can. If teamfights start to break out, you want to do one of two things: either kill/kite the assassins trying to kill you or trying to kill as many squishy people as possible before turning onto the tanky people. Even if you're going to die, and you have no way to get out, you want to do as much damage as possible, so that once you die, your team can clean up.

When you're behind, this is another story. You're not going to do damage, you're not going to be able to kite, and you're definitely not going to be able to tank anything. More than likely, when you're behind, you're just going to blow up. My advice is to just farm it up. If you are absolutely needed for a teamfight, try to group and put out some damage, but your time is usually better spent farming. Exceptions to this include objectives (towers, dragons, etc.) and defending (towers, inhibs). Like I said before, every game is going to be different, so you have to use your judgement on whether your time is better spent farming, or join the team and possibly/probably die without doing nothing.


Teamfights Threats
As previously mentioned teamfights are going to force you to do something different every fight, so you have to be able to adapt to each scenario.

Tanks: Tanks like Vi and Malphite will just constantly chase the hell out of you until you die. If you're behind, you may not be able to kite or even kill them. If this is the case, best thing to do is do some damage to the squishies until you die. Typically, if you can't kite, you're gonna die regardless, so just do what you can. You running away from your team while the tank chases you does NOTHING, except gets you killed. Do some damage, then die like a saint.

Assassins: This could vary depending on what assassin is chasing you, how fed you/they are, which adc you are playing, and what support you have. If you can peel the assassin by yourself or with help of your team, kill the assassin as soon as possible. His job is to kill you as soon as possible, so he can get back out and kill someone else. Once again, don't run away by yourself, it's not doing anything. If you know that the assassin can kill you 100-0 (even with the help of your teammates), just do as much damage as possible until you die.


Positioning
Your job is to stay in the back, behind your team, as much as possible while doing damage. That's why you have such a huge range compared to most champions, so positioning is the key. If you have a very protective support (Leona, Thresh, Lulu), stay with them AT ALL TIMES. They should be there protecting you from the countless divers, while you do damage to their team. If your support can't seem to protect you, try and get someone else on your team to help you survive. Karma (top lane) for example can do this, transitioning from an apc to a second support in order to keep you alive.

If the enemy has a strong initiation or an aoe comp, refrain from grouping to close to your team, while at the same time, don't be caught out by yourself. Being caught out by Malphite, Amumu, Sejuani, or any other initiation champion will just get you instakilled, and that will immediately turn this fight into a 4v5. Stay in the back, wait for your own team to initiate, and do damage.

As previously stated, don't be caught ON YOUR OWN. Staying too farm forward or too far behind your team can easily allow the enemy assassins/initiators to easy gimp you, and your team won't be able to get to you in time. Depending on what the enemy has, you want to have the right amount of distance behind your team, enough to where you're safe from initiation, while also being able to get help if a Wild Initiation Appears!

Typically, as people have said in the post already, you want to hit the closest target to you. This is usually true. But you do have to look at the scenario you're currently in, as somewhat stated way above in this post. If you can seize the chance to hit their guardless adc/apc, take that chance and kill him. If their major damage is gone, that's less likely your team will die, and more likely your team will win the fight.


Champion Choices
What you can do ingame will also be dependent on who you are playing, and how proficient you are with them. Most people will suggest Cait as someone you should play. She has the highest base range in the game (not including Trist's scaling range), she has 2 forms of crowd control for self peel, and is considered one of the safest adc you can play. Most champions have at least 1 sort of CC that can be used for peel.

Ashe (Q)(W)(R)
Corki (W)
Draven (W)(E)
Ezreal (E) (Not a cc spell, but more of an escape spell)
Graves (W)(E)
Jinx (W)(E)
Kalista (Almost her entire kit...)
Kog'Maw (E)
Lucian (E)
Miss Fortune (E)
Quinn (E, meh)(R)
Sivir (R)
Tristana (W)
Twitch (Q)(W)
Varus (E)(R)
Vayne (Q, meh)(E, meh)

Every champ has at least one thing they can use to either cc their pursuers, or to run away from them. So any champion is "viable" to use, you just have to know that champion inside-out and know the limits of the champion. If you're playing someone like Ashe, Varus, or Kog'Maw (who are prolly considered the least mobile adcs) then you'd prolly want to stick with your support a lot more, so they can peel for you. But if you're a mobile champ like Vayne, Kalista or Ezreal, you can have a little bit more room to do stuff (such as focusing their squishies).



Umm, I think that's about it for what I have to say. I guess what you can do to develop a better sense of adc would be to constantly pick that role, and just keep practicing. Bot games for csing, blind/draft for everything else. I'd also recommend Dominion to practice some of this stuff. That game mode is very fast-paced, and requires a lot of quick judgements.


tl;dr There are different scenarios for when you're fed/behind, positioning is important, determine who is a threat and how to deal with it, and the choice of adc can determine what you do in fights.
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C Drive
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Wizard996
Feb 15 2015, 09:21 PM
I usually do at least mediocre in the early game, provided my support is willing and able to help me. However, even if I get massive food in the early game and/or win lane, how do I transition this into the mid/late game?
Currently, my best guess is poor positioning, lack of peel, and running at times I should just be shooting (or vice versa: engaging when unwise).
If you don't know how to orb walk, learn how to orb walk. I'm using the dota term, but orb walking is attacking, waiting just enough frames for the auto to go off, cancelling the auto's remaining animation by moving, usually away or towards the target, then attacking again. Kalista's passive is basically ezmode orb walking, but every adc can do this. Twitch has some smooth auto animations, so he's a good champ to practice this with. Reason you should learn this, if you already haven't, is that this is the primary mechanic every adc player should have down perfectly, as it functions as pseudo-peel, maximizes possible damage by either keeping you alive longer or staying in range longer, and looks pretty for the highlight reel.

Also, pay attention to enemy builds. I'm going to assume you have farmed to two core items of ie and stattik. If they have no armor, building last whisper is not as effective as building bt or something. Do they have a lot of lockdown and hard focusing you? Learn to use qss, and buy it asap. Depending on your adc and the team comps and item progression, adc build paths can be pretty variable. Just remember that, sometimes, it makes more sense to build in different orders. I hate it when I support an adc that follows a cookie cutter build. The last whisper buy into no armor as third item in particular pisses me off.

And don't engage as adc unless you have the tools for it. And that's basically exclusively Sivir and Ashe, sometimes midgame twitch. Everyone else should rely on their team to start the teamfight. That doesn't mean don't make a pick if you think you've found a pick, just don't faceplant into groups or the enemy team. Whenever I'm blitz, I love it when non-poke adc run up in front of their tank line to try to put miniscule damage down on a tank. It's the most free teamfight that will ever be handed to you on a silver platter.

And once lane is over, don't stop farming, just don't overprioritize it. Gold is good, you're playing a role with the highest item dependency in the game. That being said, high value objectives like baron, 1st, 3rd or 5th drag, and most turrets are worth more than a wave or two of farm. And try to show up for teamfights, don't pull a doublelift and splitpush farm while your inhibs get pushed down.


This is all coming from a support main, so I'm giving the babysitter's perspective on the role.
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Jpdaniel
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We've GOT to have GOLD
Revoluxionist
Feb 17 2015, 02:34 AM
ADC Main here! adverts eyes
DO you guys really exist?
The only time I see you in the wild is when I suddenly have an ADC that doesn't suck or an ADC that sucks and blames everyone.
I thought all factioners were support mains that also mained some weird obscure champ and can go any role in them.

I guess besides the good advice given: Know how to make use of the few actives ADCs have, practice CSing in customs [or DotA2 like I do since if you can CS there you can CS in league], and remember that running from Master Yi is almost never going to work out, so make the most of your short life.

And rely on your team. Again with the Master Yi example, if your support is next to you, DON'T RUN FROM THE SUPPORT. They probably have a stun or shield or some sort to keep you alive while you blow up Yi. If Darius is barreling towards you, don't make it difficult on your team to protect you.

Almost everything in the ADC role comes from extensive practice. Good luck.
Edited by Jpdaniel, Feb 18 2015, 06:37 AM.
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Tofuology
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Nya Nya~
Jpdaniel
Feb 18 2015, 06:33 AM
Revoluxionist
Feb 17 2015, 02:34 AM
ADC Main here! adverts eyes
DO you guys really exist?
You should hit up LethalOrange the next time you're on. He's an actual Diamond adc main, and I think he'd definitely be the best to go to for advice.
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Mixizm
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XalkXolc
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Kwon Ri Sae
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Jpdaniel
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*Sits nothing and says*
Waitwhat?
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My advice is to get good at actually clicking at your intended target, instead of slightly to the side of them. That always gets you killed.

Otherwise, it's all about knowing how to cancel your auto attack animations, when to go into a fight (a couple seconds after it starts, you don't want to be anywhere near the engagement until some abilities are blown), and in what order to build your items.

Knowing the damage formulas and how the items interact with them is really helpful for that last part. I recommend going into excel and doing the math.


EDIT: Also, one thing every ADC should know and love: shift+click. (attack move) Helps a lot with that first problem I mentioned of not clicking exactly on the enemy, as long as you remember to use it.
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Tofuology
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Nya Nya~
CrazyMLC
Mar 28 2015, 10:50 PM
My advice is to get good at actually clicking at your intended target, instead of slightly to the side of them. That always gets you killed.

Otherwise, it's all about knowing how to cancel your auto attack animations, when to go into a fight (a couple seconds after it starts, you don't want to be anywhere near the engagement until some abilities are blown), and in what order to build your items.

Knowing the damage formulas and how the items interact with them is really helpful for that last part. I recommend going into excel and doing the math.


EDIT: Also, one thing every ADC should know and love: shift+click. (attack move) Helps a lot with that first problem I mentioned of not clicking exactly on the enemy, as long as you remember to use it.
What's funny is I don't ever orb when I play adc. I feel like I do a lot better when I just click what I wanna click.
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XalkXolc
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I never use attack move. :\ I just click a lot, b/c...I dunno. Just what I've always done.
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Ares the Proud
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Step 1: Play Draven
Step 2: Be Draven
Step 3: Draven.
Step 4: Get a Killing Spree
Step 5: Forget Legendary, go for Draaaaavening. Its the step above Legendary.
Step 6: Profit.
Step 7: Make Death Fun.
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(Had edited this into my last post, by the time I finished there were more replies and I'd been quoted, so I decided to put this into a separate post.)

If you're interested in long, in-depth video tutorials for league mechanics, this channel is an oldie but a goodie.



And as far as what I mean by what order to build items in and doing the math, here are some very general rules of thumb:

  • Your first big item needs to have a fair bit of Attack Damage. This is because Attack Speed, Critical Chance, and Armor Penetration act as amplifiers for your Attack Damage. They make your Attack Damage more useful.

    • Some ADCs are exceptions to this rule, and want to rush either Trinity Force or Blade of the Ruined King. Look up the champion's LoL wikia page and click on strategy. That will help you figure out what items are best for you.

  • Berserker's Greaves.

  • Now that you have some Attack Damage and Attack Speed, you have your core. For your next item it gets a little more complicated.

    • If you started with an item that builds out of BF Sword, get a Zeal and build it into a Phantom Dancer. You can also get Statikk Shiv if you want an earlier power spike, but it's less effective lategame compared to Phantom Dancer. It's your call.

      • Some ADCs rely on bursts of Physical Damage, like Graves or Lucian. Youmuu's Ghostblade is sometimes the better choice for these ADCs.

    • If you didn't start with an item that builds out of a BF Sword, you probably want to build one of them now. Some ADCs, like Kog'Maw, prefer to rush Trinity Force and Blade of the Ruined King for their first two big items.
    • If you're behind, you need a Last Whisper for your second item before you build one of the above. This is because you need Last Whisper if you want to deal any damage in teamfights, and if you're behind you won't have time to wait for enough gold to get it third.

  • Get Last Whisper if you haven't already.

  • Get another item that builds out of BF Sword. Generally speaking, this means you should have Infinity Edge and Bloodthirster.

  • You need a defensive item now. These are entirely situational, so there's no easy right answer, but some good options are Banshee's Veil, Guardian Angel, and Randuin's Omen. Sometimes, if you're a hypercarry ADC, you'll buy Frozen Mallet for your "defensive" item.


An example build might be Caitlyn with Infinity Edge -> Berserker's Greaves -> Phantom Dancer -> Last Whisper -> Bloodthirster -> Banshee's Veil

Note: some ADCs, like Kalista, build entirely differently.

Disclaimer: I'm not the best ADC in the world.




I like attack move because it's hard to click on things. Don't judge me. It's always useful in the right circumstance.
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