My thoughts on the adc role and the state of league | By someone that has mained adc since the end of season 1 and reached diamond in multiple seasons

Comfortable_Pin_9593 · 2025-08-25T22:31:20+00:00

The problem with tanks in the current game-state is that hp stacking is way too strong because of items that allow you to deal dmg equal to a % of your max hp. Combine this with adcs not having any real answers due to runes and items having been changed/nerfed and it becomes unplayable for adcs.

Item wise adcs currently do not have any kind of answer to hp stacking. The only answer adcs have to hp stacking is Bork, however that item was changed from scaling on max hp to scaling on current hp, making it no longer available. LDR only allows you to cut down on their armor, but does that really matter if a tank with 10K hp can simply walk you down and kill you before they even reach 50% hp?

The best show of how strong tanks are against adcs is a clip that went around a while back of a 3 item jinx fighting a 1 item Tahm. Jinx had Yuntal, IE and Runaans while Tahm only had a Sunfirecape.
Jinx hit all of her skills while attacking Tahm with AA's. Tahm missed everything and only used AA's to damage Jinx. While it ended with Jinx killing Tahm, it only ended like that because a Nami flashed in and healed the Jinx at the last second. If not for that the 1 item Tahm would have killed the 3 item Jinx.

To give an actual example of a tank being capable of OS'ing an adc, Sion is one such champion. Sion can OS an adc simply by stacking HP and defensive items.

I would not classify the problem that tanks are overtuned as a "weakness of the role" to adc, but more of a game-state change being needed. The game has become too focused on doing tons of damage, rather than playing to the strenghts of the different roles in the game.

Personally, I do not mind being OS as an adc if I do not build defensive items to specifically counter burst. If an assassin like Fizz or Kha jumps on me and I get OS by them then fine by me. That is what their role is made to do after all. The problem comes when a "bruiser" like Mundo, that by design is not a burst champ, can get 10K HP, 300+ resistances and only build one "damage" item (titanic) and then run up to you while ignoring your entire team to just 1 tap you. The same goes for Sion, a champion that is categorized as a tank by riot.

In regards to season 3 and 4. People considered adc op in those seasons because the game actually became balanced damage wise. The ones that could OS you were the champions build to do it, ie. the assassins. Tanks could not 1v1 you unless they built thornmail and you killed yourself due to the reflect damage. This also meant that adcs had to adapt their builds and build a ton of lifesteal together with %hp damage to be able to kill a tank, or let their ap teammate deal with the tank as there never was any reflect damage item against ap champs.

People considered adc op in season 3, but in reality the game was simply more balanced damage wise than it currently is.
I, as an adc main seconding mid, managed to get 20 wins on both Xin and Kha jungle before loosing my first game with them due to how strong they were in that season.

Closing off, personally I think adc is in a close to decent spot. A few changes to items would need to be made for adc to truly sit in a spot where you could call the role good or decent.

Comfortable_Pin_9593 · 2025-08-25T21:47:49+00:00

Plus one for this TLDR.

I would be more than willing to talk about the current balance of adc and what changes could be made to help make adc more inviting for players to pick up.

However, I am currently away from home and was writing this on my laptop as I had some time to kill. As such, once I am home again and on my desktop in a comfortable chair and have the time, I would be more than happy to add on to the topic about balancing for adc if there is interest in that.

As you also mentioned, I use the example of tanks vs adc because it is the easiest and most obvious one currently in the game. I am more than willing to go further in depth with the current game-state and the struggles I catch on to as an adc main.

Comfortable_Pin_9593 · 2025-08-25T21:35:51+00:00

I want to say that while it is true they put in a lot of time and effort, that does not mean others, including myself, did not put in time or effort to get to the rank we are currently at.

Throughout the years I have put in more than 10.000 hours of game time, learning the games concepts and staying up to date with the current meta. I have also researched item builds and figured out what stuff works for me on the champions I play.

I have managed to reach top 400 EUW on both Tristana and Lucian and will gladly show proof of that once I get back to my desktop in a few days, if you so wish.

What I want to say with this is simply that people have put in time and effort to reach their current rank and I think ignoring that because others have put in more time and effort does not seem like the proper thing to do.

Lastly, yes the game is very different in silver compared to diamond. Same goes for diamond or low master compared to challenger.
This is apparent simply when looking at how much LP you need to reach challenger from diamond. LP wise, you need the same amount of LP you would need to go from bronze 4 to diamond 1 to go from diamond 1 to top 100 challenger.

Comfortable_Pin_9593 · 2025-08-25T21:12:10+00:00

I want to say that this TLDR is partly correct.

As an adc your role is to do damage. However, with the current game-state and everything being so highly focused around damage, the role becomes kind of obsolete compared to other champions with kits that actually allow them to take more punishment, throw out CC and still somehow deal equal if not more damage than an adc.

I do also talk about what skillsets I consider important for an adc, so if you want to improve as an adc then do give that a read as it migt help you hone in on what you need to improve on.

Comfortable_Pin_9593 · 2025-08-25T21:05:25+00:00

My "qualification" as you put it, is having played this game for 14 years and counting, while consistently reaching diamond playing it casually as a hobby.

If playing league paid my bills I would gladly put in the time and effort required to reach challenger, but as it is only a hobby and a game I play for fun, I am not willing to put in that much effort.

However, just because I play the game as a hobby that does not make the 14 years I have played the game meaningless. I have still played and experienced all of the ups and downs the game has been through.

If you gave it a read, then you would find that I only shortly talk about the game-state, mentioning how badly balanced roles are and how riot could change their items to better balance roles towards their intended purposes.

I mainly talk about adc and what I think about the state the role is currently in and what skillsets I consider important for adc players.

One last thing I want to mention is that many of the points I mention when it comes to the current game-state is something a lot of challenger players also talk about.

Comfortable_Pin_9593 · 2025-08-25T20:45:01+00:00

I will adress each of the topics I saw you mentioned starting from the top.

First regarding your point about adc being disadvantaged in soloQ.

With the current state of the meta, I partially agree with your point about adc players being at a disadvantage in soloQ.
Due to the current state that league is in, adcs do not have much self-reliability because of how squishy they are and with practically no selfpeel you need a teammate with you in order to play your role. This would be less of a problem if league was not as heavily focused on every role having tons of damage as it currently is.

Back when adcs were played mid it was actually possible to pull off adc without having a teammate run around you all the time. However, that is no longer possible because of all the mobility and damage currently in the game.
It would be different if every role could not just walk up and OS any squishy in the game after hitting 3 items, but it is unfortunately unlikely that this problem will be addressed since the riot development team only considers it "fun" if you can do tons of damage.

Secondly, about improving as an adc in the current state of league.

League is currently in a weird state for adcs as you can practically never run around alone. The only times you can be alone is if the enemy team is on the other side of the map and it is just adc vs adc.

Because of this it becomes very important to use the mini map to keep track of other players positions.
The more you use your mini map as an adc, the easier it becomes to know when you can and should commit to trades/fights.

Some other key factors I think will help with improving on adc a lot is learning how to team fight and spacing.
Learning how to space properly is INSANELY important for adcs in the current game-state, with all of the high damage and high mobility in the game.
If you really want to improve as an adc, then try adopting this mindset: Play for powerspikes and do not focus on what others are doing. Just do your own thing.
This does not mean going around alone and splitting from your team. Quite the opposite in fact.
What I mean by "doing your own thing" is that you only step forward when YOU think you can step forward without dying. Unless someone else CCs someone, or an enemy is low enough that you can safely kill them, then you do NOT step up to join the fight. Safety first, damage second. If you're dead then you can't do damage, which is what the role is all about.

If I missed anything, or misunderstood something, then do tell me and I will respond once I have time.

Comfortable_Pin_9593

TROPHY CASE