Hey guys, with how overwhelmingly complicated League of Legends is, we figured we'd make
a comprehensive guide to get newer players started on the ADC role.
It can be daunting getting started playing a new role, or even the game in general, which
is exactly why we're making this guide.
We'll be going over very basic things, such as what kind of ADCs there are and simple
laning tips to get you started instantly.
But before getting into things, here's our question of the day.
Out of all the champions in the game, who has your favorite dance?
I'd have to say mine is definitely Ezreal, as his dance reminds me of a time when I was
younger and much more cultured.
Sadly, those days are gone for me now.
I'd still love to know what your favorite dance is in this game though.
It's always interesting to see what everyone enjoys, and what the most popular type of
characters are.
I have a slight hunch it might be Ahri.
This is a challenge to prove me wrong.
Don't let me down boys and gals.
To kick things off, let's talk about the different type of ADCs available, so you can pick the
style that you most enjoy.
ADCs can generally be broken up into 4 categories.
Utility, Mobility, Hyper-Carry, and Lane Bully marskmen.
As a beginner, we'd recommend disregarding stuff like the meta or what's OP.
Just focus on what you find fun, so let's break down each of these ADC types so you
can know exactly what you'd like to play.
Utility marksmen are very team-oriented.
They don't deal the most damage out of all ADCs, but they make up for that with powerful
engage abilities and teamwide utility spells.
If you're someone who likes to shot-call, or provide support to your allies, then we
definitely recommend utility marksmen for you.
Mobility carries are literally just what they're called.
They are marksmen who have built in mobility in their kits.
These are the ADCs you'll always see in montage videos, as they are quite able to take care
of themselves.
Marksmen are quite frail for the most part, but mobility marksmen can be quite daring
and even take on other classes 1v1 with their outplay potential.
If you're someone who likes to play solo or make big plays, then we'd definitely recommend
picking this type up.
Hyper-carries are probably the most hit or miss of all the ADC types.
They are by far the most team dependent as they are incredibly vulnerable due to their
lack of mobility and defensive spells.
What they usually lack in survivability they make up for in insane damage though.
They have nearly no play making potential on their own, but when the stars align you
will never feel more alive.
If you're a patient person and can wait for your opponents to make a mistake rather than
you making your own play, then we'd definitely recommend this type.
Lastly, there's the lane bullies.
Marsksmen tend to be quite weak early on, but not lane bullies.
As their name suggests, you are playing aggressively from the get go.
They dominate the early laning phase, and can snowball their leads to victory from how
strong they can become by crushing the laning phase.
If you want to play the game through hyper-aggression the whole game, then we'd definitely recommend
lane bullies for you.
Not all ADCs fall under just one category though.
Most of them fall under 2, so you can get the best of both worlds with different kinds
of ADCs.
Again, we highly recommend disregarding the meta and choosing what you enjoy the most
to begin your journey in this role.
Lastly, if you're unaware of what your build for these champions should be, then we highly
recommend websites like u.gg or blitz.gg.
You won't find the best possible builds on there, but they're a great starting point
so that you don't have to waste brain power trying to figure out how to itemize your champion
when you first pick them up.
As a quick reminder, if you want to improve fast and get the rank you've always wanted
then check out our hyper improvement system at skill-capped.com.
We have professional courses by top players, smurf commentaries where a challenger player
walks you through how to climb out of every rank from iron to diamond, and we upload tons
of new, exclusive guides to our website each week.
In fact, we're so confident you'll improve using our system that if you don't climb at
least 5 divisions while actively using skill-capped you can claim a full refund, so there's no
risk.
What are you waiting for?
check out skill-capped.com, and get the rank you've always wanted, link in the description
below.
Okay hopefully you've got a good idea of which style of ADC you'd prefer to play by now.
Let's talk laning.
One of the very first things players want to learn is how to stomp their lane opponents
every game.
Well, as an ADC, you're going to find that a lot of your success is tied down to the
skill of your supports.
The support generally dictates the pace of the lane, since they actually have the most
influence due to their early strength compared to yours.
That may dampen your excitement for the AD role, but it's not nearly as bad as it may
sound.
Yes, you can't be the one to initiate every trade or all-in against your opponents, but
you are definitely able to influence how likely it is that your support finds success, which
is the true test of being a good ADC.
Low elo marksmen constantly complain about their supports, but if a high elo ADC main
ever smurfs in low elo, it always looks like their support is insane.
That's because there's a ton of tactics that enable your support to perform much better
than they usually would.
As this is just an introductory guide, we can't go into all of them, but here's the
2 main concepts you should know in order to get you started.
2 type of supports exist.
Melee supports, who like to engage, and ranged supports who are there to support you and
poke the enemy duo down.
You'll want to have different game plans when you have different types of supports.
When paired with a melee champion, one of the best things you can do is very slowly
push the minion and try to keep it on your side of the lane.
Melee supports love it when they have a lot of room to work with to find an engage.
The further away your opponents are from the enemy tower, then the likelihood that your
support finds an engage will be much higher.
It's especially deadly when you allow the wave to push with an engage support, since
jungle ganks become that much easier to set up.
Try to keep in mind that just because you have the wave closer to your side of the lane,
doesn't mean that your support can engage though.
Minions are a massive source of damage in the early game.
To better enable your support, try to both have the wave close to your side of the lane,
and thin the enemy minion wave so that it's not much bigger than yours.
That way if your support does find an opportunity to fight, you won't end up overwhelmed by
an army of minions.
Now, when you have a ranged support there's 2 things to keep in mind.
They are incredibly frail and ranged supports will die instantly if looked at the wrong
way, but they do provide a ton of power through their spells.
They also generally have skill-shot based abilities that are a bit tougher to land,
since they have so much impact.
All this means is that with a ranged support you usually want to keep the wave pushed,
which will make their lives a lot easier.
One, remember what we just said.
Your opponents also don't want to fight at a large minion deficit.
Therefore, if you're constantly pushing the wave, it makes it much harder for the enemy
to engage onto your squishy support.
Keeping them safe is priority number one, otherwise they'll die every minute.
Two, by pushing the wave, you're removing enemy minions from the equation.
The less minions in the way to body block your support's skill-shots, then the much
more likely it'll be that they land their spells, which should help you take control
of the lane.
It can be a bit sad as the ADC knowing that you're not the one making all the plays to
win the lane, but that's the wrong way of looking at things.
Yes, when it comes to the actual execution of a fight you're not in control, but all
the set up before it is completely on you.
There's a ton of wave tactics that ADCs can employ to greatly increase their chances of
success during the laning phase.
The two we just covered are the basics of the basics, and we're always going over more
and more ways you can consistently win lane through wave control in our guides.
That's not to say that there's nothing you can do though.
You can set up damage yourself as well, so let's talk about 2 good moments when you should
be looking to do that.
First is while your opponent is last-hitting.
Auto attacks are usually the biggest source of damage from most ADCs.
So, what you want to do is watch your own minions' health bars closely.
When you know that the enemy ADC is looking to last-hit one of your minions, time your
auto attack against them while they focus on the last-hit.
This is one of the easiest ways of winning small trades.
It's free damage, while you take minimal damage in return.
The second tip is to abuse when your opponents aren't parallel to each other.
So, keep in mind that bot lane is a 2v2 lane.
What you ideally want to be doing at all times is standing parallel to your own support.
That way, if either of you ever get into a trade with 1 of the enemy laners, you can
both fight back together.
It goes without saying, that's what your opponents *should* be doing as well, but players tend
to be bad at this.
When you see the enemy ADC and support not standing parallel to one another, that's your
team to strike with your own support.
This creates a brief 2v1 trade, which you should almost always win.
And obviously keep in mind that this can be used against you as well.
If your own support is standing really far back and refuses to play parallel with you,
then you have to back off as well most of the time.
This is incredibly common for your supports to do in low elo, and a problem you'll just
have to learn to live with.
Alright, let's move past the laning phase.
What should you be doing as an ADC during the mid and late game stages of the game?
Well, here's what ideally happens.
Minion waves are the most consistent form of gold for everyone to get.
This means that all 3 lanes should be covered by the mid, top and ADC roles.
Mid and top are interchangeable based on the game's state, but as an ADC you should technically
always be the one in mid, since you're the most vulnerable player and mid is the safest
lane to be in.
Your support should be in mid protecting you for the most part and your jungler can be
somewhere in the area farming some camps.
If you've ever watched competitive play, this will seem standard.
All 3 lanes are being farmed, so everyone is getting a steady amount of gold.
Unfortunately for us, this is not at all what our solo queue games will look like.
Everyone on your team will gravitate towards the mid lane and just sit there sharing gold
and experience.
This is not ideal for you or your team, but sadly they don't know that.
One of the things you can do to ensure you get a decent amount of farm is to look for
enemy minion waves that are entering your side of the map.
As an ADC, it's generally unsafe to be in a side lane.
That being said, if the waves are close to your own towers, then you're totally free
to ditch your team in mid to go and collect waves in this area.
Another great tip is that if your own jungler is neglecting their camps, then you should
take them along the way as you go or come back from collecting waves in the side lane.
Don't try to take your junglers camps while they're in the area, but if you were farming
the bot lane wave and your jungler is top doing Gromp, then it's totally fine to take
the Krugs on your way back to mid for an extra bit of gold in your pockets.
Alright, the final thing we've got to cover is team fighting.
5v5 fights are probably the hardest thing in the game to get good at.
There's so many variables.
Which side is ahead, how do the comps scale, how do our champions interact with their champions,
what item spikes is everyone on, etc, etc.
On top of that, as a marksman you'll be playing the most stressful role of all in those fights.
Everyone on the enemy team will be gunning for you every time.
So what do you do?
Well, like we've said this is an introductory guide and we can't go over everything, but
there is one major concept that new ADC players need to understand or they're going to suffer
for longer than they should.
Do not listen to your teammates.
In solo queue, especially low elo, players constantly say stuff like: "guys focus the
enemy ADC", "guys kill their mid laner" "guys stop focusing the tanks".
All of that is about as helpful as saying "hey just kill the enemy nexus duh."
Ignore that, trust us.
As an ADC the simplest and best tip you can ever get to become better at team fighting
is to just hit whatever is closest to you whenever you feel safe enough to do so.
Yes, that means that more often than not you will be hitting the enemy tanks and bruisers,
instead of their carries.
Remember that you are a marksman.
We know you all want to be Legolas and go into the frontlines to solo an elephant, but
that just isn't realistic most of the time.
You're an archer.
You sit behind walls, or in League terms, your frontline.
You stay there and shoot from safety.
That's your job.
Leave all the highlight plays to the protagonist of this story - the jungler.
Obviously, this rule can be broken.
Surely some of you clicked on this guide right after watching a montage from an insane ADC,
who is frontlining and flanking every team fight.
Yes, you can eventually start doing stuff like that, but you have to master the basics
first.
Some games you'll feel like you're just doing 0 damage to the enemy tanks and that this
advice is bad, but that's just be the symptom of a different problem.
If it feels like you're not doing any damage, that just means you weren't farming properly
enough that game.
As an ADC, tanks should be dying to you if you're freely hitting them.
Yea, you won't one shot them, but your damage should definitely not be ignorable.
Having enough farm and gold to deal good damage in fights is much more meaningful than any
other team fight tip out there, and we have plenty of guides on how to maximize your farm
each game so that you're always shredding enemy tanks.
Alright guys, that's going to wrap up this beginner's guide to the ADC role.
And remember, if you want to improve fast and get the rank you've always wanted, make
sure to check out skill-capped.com for more in depth guide into the ADC role or any role
for that matter.
The link is in the description below.
Otherwise, you know the deal, make sure to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon to
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As always, thanks for watching and we'll see ya next time.
Cheers!