Introduction

Attack Damage Carry (AD Carry/ADC/Marksmen) has been arguably the most important role in League of Legends recently. The ADC goes bot lane with the support. Recently the role of ADC has been buffed and nerfed, but for the most part it has always had importance. ADCs are usually marksmen and do most of the attack damage for the team, recently we’ve been seeing more than just marksmen in the bot lane. Champions such as Karthus, Heimerdinger, and even Cassiopeia have found a home in the bot lane. This guide will outline what an ADC does in game and what they should be doing throughout the game.

A Look at the Champions That Go Bot Lane

Ashe, the Frost Archer: Ashe is a marksman and an ADC. She is referred to as a utility ADC. Ashe is helpful as she does a lot of damage late game and also provides CC. Her ultimate ability, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, is the longest stun in the game as it can stun for up to 3.5 seconds, and is global, so it can be shot anywhere on the map. Her utility makes her a great ADC.

Caitlyn, the Sherriff of Piltover: Caitlyn is a marksman and a lane bully. She dominates lane with her large attack range and empowered autos. Caitlyn can put out a lot of damage quickly and from a distance. When played correctly, Caitlyn can be a headache to play against.

Draven, the Glorius Executioner: Draven can win almost any matchup he’s in due to his great early game and scaling. His skill cap is high due to his Q, Spinning Axe. His Q gives him one empowered auto and stacks with each activation, he readies another axe upon catching one. His damage allows him to all-in early game and win his lane with brute force.

Ezreal, the Prodigal Explorer: Ezreal is a caster marksman and a caster ADC. Most of Ezreal’s damage comes from his Q, W and R, all abilities you cast. As a caster, he uses a lot of mana and is the only ADC who builds Manamune and/or Archangel’s Staff. His is known for his ability to poke down champions in lane and in team fights.

Jhin, the Virtuoso: Jhin is a marksman and known for his burst damage. Jhin has a great early and mid-game but falls to other late game ADCs due to his 4-auto passive. Jhin can burst down anyone once he has items. His passive gives him movement speed with each crit allowing him to kite like other ADCs. Jhin is a very strong ADC with lots of damage.

Jinx, the Loose Cannon: Jinx is a late game hypercarry. This means that her early game is weak, but she scales extremely hard as the game goes into the later stages. She does lots of teamfight damage after she gets Runaan’s Hurricane and Infinity Edge and can carry games when she has three to four items.

Kai’Sa, Daughter of the Void: Kai’Sa is a marksman and a late game carry. Her early game isn’t the worst but her mid-to-late game is extremely good. She has a huge power spike at three items and only gets stronger as she builds more. She can single handedly win games because of her teamfight ability and high damage output. Her late game potential is high, you just have to make it there.

Kalista, the Spear of Vengence: Kalista is another mid-to-late game carry. All of her damage comes from her E, Rend. To get the most damage from Kalista, you must put out as many autos as you can. With Rend, the more autos you put into someone, the more damage it will do. Kalista is an ADC that lacks power when she isn’t with her support or team.

Kog’Maw, the Mouth of the Abyss: Kog’Maw is a late game hypercarry. His early game is weak, but once he builds Blade of the Ruined King, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, and Runaan’s Hurricane, Kog’Maw turns into a turret and a hypercarry.

Lucian, the Purifier: Lucian is a strong early game to mid game ADC. He is one of the strongest early game ADCs and wins lane through bullying and constantly harassing the enemy laner.

Miss Fortune, the Bounty Hunter: Miss Fortune is an early game to mid game ADC. She can put out damage very quickly and burst enemies in seconds. She has a good teamfight due to her ultimate that does massive damage in a cone.

Sivir, the Battle Mistress: Sivir is another late game carry and gets most of her damage once she obtains three to four items. She has great wave clear and great teamfight ability.

Tristana, the Yordle Gunner: Tristana is a late game hypercarry ADC. She has a larger range than most ADCs and amazing team fight ability. She has a gap closer that resets on kills and her E puts a bomb that does more damage per auto while applied to the enemy champion and does AoE damage.

Twitch, the Plague Rat: Twitch is a late game hypercarry. Twitch destroys teams in teamfights with his crit items and passive poison stacks. His ultimate empowers his autos, also giving them the ability to pass through champions and extended range, making him a monster in teamfights.

Varus, the Arrow of Retribution: Varus is a mid to late game ADC. Most of his damage comes from his autos and detonation of his Blight stacks. He also has a good amount of CC and great damage.

Vayne, the Night Hunter: Vayne is a late game hyper carry. Her weak early game is compensated by her late game carry ability. Her potential to carry a game is very high, but so is her skill cap.

Xayah, the Rebel: Xayah is a mid-to-late game carry with a lot of teamfight and solo potential. She has a lot of damage, a root, and an ultimate that makes her untargetable, all great traits to have as an ADC.

Laning as an ADC

ADCs are the most important players on a team, as they do almost all of the damage. In lane, the best advice I can give is do not die in lane. If you die in lane, you will be giving the enemy ADC a gold and experience advantage and allow them to snowball off of that lead. Most importantly, if you die in lane you will possibly be giving up a very important objective. Bot lane is very important because of Dragon being close by. Dying in lane gives the enemy team a free shot at Dragon, which can be detrimental if it is a Mountain, Infernal or an early Ocean Drake.

While laning you want to trade as much as you can. Trade only when plausible. In most instances, you will let the support engage first. If they have a Brand and Lucian lane, it isn’t going to be the best idea to go up to them and trade if you’re playing Twitch. The best way to trade is if they need to kill low health minions and they have a small wave, as you won’t take much minion aggro. If you are in a losing matchup, the best idea is to freeze the wave and hit your minions under your tower so they can’t all-in or force a trade. There is nothing wrong with tower hugging if you know you’re going to scale harder than the enemy bot lane. In this instance, it is recommended.

Last but not least, you need to master last hitting minions. CSing is the most important skill for an ADC. If you miss out on CS, you will fall behind and have no gold, doing no damage at all because you can’t buy items. Late game hypercarries are heavily dependent on CS. Play as safe as possible and get your CS up so you can carry the game in the end.

Teamfighting

ADCs are the main damage dealers in teamfights, therefore they will try their hardest to kill you first. ADCs are very squishy, meaning you will get popped like a balloon if you get caught out. Make sure you keep your distance and use your range. Let your team do all of the engaging with their CC as you pump out the damage from a safe distance. Stay behind the tanks on your team as they are your protectors from assassins and bruisers, who will kill you instantly to allow their team to win the teamfight.

Kiting

Kiting is very important in teamfights and should be done anytime you auto attack as it helps you get charged up autos (depending if you built an item such as Statik Shiv and/or Rapid Firecannon) and, more importantly, it keeps you moving so you won’t get hit by skillshots or jumped on as easily. You must kite anytime you auto. It is very important to always keep moving.

Itemization

Building Armor Early:

In League, anything can happen in games. Your Yasuo mid lane could go 0/13 giving the enemy Zed the ability to kill you almost instantly. Ninja Tabi is never a bad buy when the enemy team has a fed AD champion. Postponing your power spike one item in exchange for dying less is always okay. Guardian Angel is also a must against team comps that pop you. Building it third item is recommended against compositions like that. Guardian Angel should also be built every game as your last item or second to last item.

Armor Penetration and Grievous Wounds:

Tanks that stack armor can make you feel like you do no damage at all. Picking up an early Last Whisper can make a big difference, especially when they build Ninja Tabi and armor to reduce basic attack damage. Last Whisper builds into Lord Dominik's Regards and gives more AD. Against a team that has a Soraka or a lot of self-healing, it’s best to buy Executioner’s Calling early to shut them down. Executioner’s Calling with Last Whisper builds into Mortal Reminder, giving you both Grievous Wounds and armor penetration. You will really see a difference once you build these items.

Quicksilver Sash:

It is best to build Quicksilver Sash (QSS) when the enemy team has a lot of CC. It allows you to remove the debuff and increases your possibility of living. It builds into Mercurial Scimitar, which gives life steal, magic resist, and AD. These stats are always beneficial on an ADC.

Conclusion

ADC is the most important role in League of Legends and also one of the hardest. You must be able to play risky and also very safe, because one misclick or mistake can result in a death. Your damage is critical to your team’s success. A team without a useful ADC, will 9 times out of 10, fall to the team with a useful one.