So you’re comfortable in the ADC role? Great! It’s time to step out of your comfort zone and try something new: magical ADC’s. “But Mel, ADCs are Physical…” While Hunters are Physical Gods, there are some Mages which suit the ADC role quite well.

1. Chronos

It’s time to master Chronos. Arguably one of the easier Magical ADCs, Chronos has a range of abilities which help him with his in-lane sustain and can save him from tight situations. This being said, do not underestimate his potential to deal damage.

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Tips

- Chronos’ damaging abilities combine well with each other, providing good synergy. You can use Stop Time to stun an enemy, and then use Time Rift. The stun you used will ensure that you land Time Rift, which is fairly small and can be missed quite easily. You can follow this up with some basic attacks and easily get kills. This combination will secure kills on a large number of enemies!

- It is not recommended to build Hastened Fatalis on Chronos. Accelerate removes the movement penalty of casting basic attacks. When using basic attacks as your main source of damage (for example, after your ability combo), you should have Accelerate active. Of course, you can purchase Hastened Fatalis if you feel it is necessary and a key part of your build, but you are likely to benefit more from a different item, like Rod of Tahuti, that provides more Magical Power.

- Chronos’ ultimate Rewind is incredibly strong, and is one of the key parts of his kit that places him in S+ tier in Ranked Duel (1v1). Often used as a last resort, Rewind rewinds time by 8 seconds. However, this does not only restore your health from 8 seconds ago. You will return to the state you were in 8 seconds ago: this includes your health, mana, ability cooldowns, and position. More often than not, this is helpful to you. However, it can put you at a disadvantage, like if you received healing or were in a dangerous position such as under an enemy tower.

Playing Against a Chronos

If you are against a Chronos, watch out for his Stop Time and Time Rift combo. This can throw out a lot of damage, so it’s a good idea to pick up Purification (also known as Beads to older players) to get you out of his stun. If you are left without Purification and are about to be stunned, it is a good idea to use a jump, dash or leap to get out of this. This will not save you from the stun, but will put you out of Chronos’ range meaning that he is unlikely to be able to follow Stop Time up with his Time Rift. Xbalanque would be a strong pick against Chronos, due to his period of CC immunity within his dash.

Rewind has a wind-up duration of 2 seconds. If you see him starting to use his ultimate at low health, it is possible to burst him down with a large amount of damage before he gains the full effects from his ultimate. If you try to burst a Chronos down from maximum or high health, you are unlikely to kill him outright, meaning that he can simply use his ultimate and restore himself to a high state of health again. Therefore, it is recommended to save any potential burst for when Chronos reaches a level of mid to low health.

Chronos has a large amount of sustain in lane, due to Wheel of Time. This provides him with either health regeneration or a full mana refund on any abilities he uses. I would recommend bringing some potions to lane in order to attempt to match his sustain. Accelerate also provides him with great chasing potential, due to the removal of the basic attack movement penalty. At certain times it might be a better idea to keep fighting rather than attempt to retreat and having Chronos chase you with basic attacks.

2. Freya

A popular choice with Team Dignitas’ own Suntouch, Freya is a versatile God. With Magical Lifesteal built into her kit through her passive, and an ability transforming her basic attacks from Melee to Ranged, she is strong in the ADC role.

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Tips

- Remember that Freya’s Pulse not only changes her melee attacks to ranged attacks, but also provides AOE damage and a slow. In the laning phase, this is your only real source of waveclear, so it is ideal to attack grouped minions with. In teamfights, this is useful to attack enemies that are grouped up. Also take note that Pulse and Irradiate can be used together to provide a highly damaging ranged Basic Attack. This is more useful than using Pulse alone against a single target, such as the enemy ADC. Yet, with the removal of the AOE, it is slightly harder to hit these attacks.

- Banish is a useful ability for set-up during ganks or teamfights. If used correctly, Banish will take an enemy out of the fight briefly, then returning them to the ground where they will take a large amount of damage. This is useful to set-up for ganks from your Jungler or rotating mid-laner, giving them time to get into lane and throw out damaging abilities. However, you must be aware of your teammates’ intentions, as you might be banishing an enemy just as a teammate throws down their Ultimate! Timing and communication is key.

- Freya’s ultimate, Valkyrie’s Discretion, deals a large amount of damage but also takes Freya into the air, away from the battlefield. This can be used to get yourself out of a sticky situation. For example, if you are losing a 1v1 fight and use it, you will be un-targetable and still able to deal large amount of damage whilst using your ultimate.

Playing Against a Freya

Be wary of Freya’s AOE damage, slows and passive lifesteal. If you are standing too close to a wave, you might be clipped by Pulse and take unnecessary damage. The slow on Pulse also makes it difficult to get out of Freya’s damage once she hits you, so be careful. However, note that Pulse is Freya’s only real source of waveclear. When it is on cooldown, she has to get into melee to damage the wave or wait for Pulse to come off cooldown again. If Pulse is on cooldown, Freya cannot damage you unless she engages in melee combat or has her Ultimate. Take advantage of this, and poke her while she cannot fight back. If Freya’s Pulse is on cooldown, she can still use melee basic attacks, and will still throw out a large amount of damage. It is advisable to keep your distance from Freya as often as you can.

With passive lifesteal and the potential to purchase more lifesteal items, Freya can have a large amount of healing; therefore, it might be a good idea to pick up Brawler’s Beat Stick or Weakening Curse. Similarly, your support could purchase Pestilence to reduce the amount of lifesteal Freya receives.

When Freya uses Valkyrie’s Discretion, it can be hard to dodge her attacks. The easiest way to dodge the damage being thrown at you is to actually walk underneath Freya while she is attacking in the Ultimate. She can attack enemies just in-front of her, but cannot attack directly below her!

3. Sol

Sol’s passive gives her a lot of potential in the ADC role when fully stacked; and her abilities help her to throw out a tonne of damage, stacking her passive along the way.

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Tips

- To save mana, especially at the start of the game, it is a good idea to activate Stellar Burst. As this is a Stim, you can activate it at the fountain, replenish the mana used for activating the ability and carry the attack to lane or Jungle camps, activating it on your next basic attack. After a while, this will become second-nature to you when leaving the fountain. However, it is important to note that this ability does not count as a basic attack for activating items such as Demonic Grip or Telkhines Ring.

- Stack your passive! Unstable Manifestation is a key part of using Sol as an ADC. You should stack this passive whenever you get the chance, through basic attacks or your abilities. When fully stacked, you will see a great spike in your basic attack damage. Note that while Radiance does stack a large amount of Sol’s passive, it also deals damage and heals Sol. It is a useful waveclear mechanism, yet is not always used for this purpose as a lot of players see it as an ability that mainly serves to stack Unstable Manifestation.

Playing Against a Sol

When Sol activates Disapparate, she does not immediately gain immunity to damage. In fact, it takes Sol 3 seconds to become immune; therefore if she uses this ability defensively rather than offensively, you still have a 3 second period to throw more damage at Sol, with the potential to kill her. However, note that Sol leaves a damaging trail behind her, cannot be slowed and loses the basic attack movement penalty.

Supernova is highly damaging, but it is difficult for Sol to hit all 8 strikes of this ability. In fact, it can be fairly easy to walk out of the strikes and avoid them entirely.

Be aware of Unstable Manifestation. When fully stacked, her passive provides Sol with +25% Magical Power, +30% Attack Speed and +25% Damage to her basic attacks. Therefore, without her passive stacked fully, Sol will not be dealing as much damage in comparison. If you are 1v1ing a Sol, you will have the upper-hand if she does not have Unstable Manifestation fully stacked, but she will deal a lot of damage if it is stacked fully!

Other Magical ADCs

These are the easiest and most recommended magical Gods for the ADC role, however you can try any God you wish in the ADC role. Professional Smite players try (and win) with a range of Gods, as seen with some of BaRRaCCuDDa’s videos. Naturally, I'd recommend testing this out in less serious modes such as Joust or Arena before taking it to Conquest.

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