If you’ve checked out the EU SPL recently, you may have noticed that there are some pretty unconventional picks being shoved into the ADC role. While the return of Sol and Chronos are old news, a new challenger has arrived. Nu Wa ADC made headlines after NRG eSports’ Emil “emilitoo” Stärnman piloted her in their SPL match versus SK Gaming last week. In the past several patches, Nu Wa has seen a good number of buffs, including huge betterments of practically her entire kit in Patch 5.4. You can check out the full 5.4 Patch Notes to see her exact buffs here. So Nu Wa is a good god again, but why ADC and not Mid?

To put it bluntly, Hunters are really not as effective as they once were. At the end of Season 4, teams like Elevate made a name for themselves running a triple Guardian/double Hunter composition. For the most part, this worked purely because Hunters had amazing shred potential and counterbuilding was fairly difficult considering items like Shield of Thorns and Midgardian Mail weren’t nearly as good as they are now. In fact, because of these anti-Hunter changes, Mages have become the new rulers of the meta and have been since Season 5 hit in late January.

Another development leading to the predominance of Mages in the meta was the addition of the magical-only lifesteal and utility item Soul Gem. Originally, Soul Gem was not a good item until it was discovered that certain interactions caused the item to bug out and stack more than it was intended to. HiRez took action and promptly removed it from the game in Patch 5.2 and returned it in its current state in Patch 5.4. The new Soul Gem changed in that it was given 15% more bonus power and one less stack, meaning that it would chunk for more while taking less to stack up. Because of this, spam-oriented gods like He Bo, Janus, and Discordia all became rather good.

Nu Wa and Soul Gem are both good, but how do they fit together? Nu Wa’s ultimate, Fire Shards, is a global ability that hits everyone on the map unless it’s Aegis’d out. Fire Shards will deal anywhere between 250 damage in the mid game to a devastating 1,000 damage late game if you factor in items like Soul Reaver and Soul Gem. The typical ADC or Mid probably has about 2000-2500 health late game depending on their build, so being able to do nearly half their health with relative, unmissable ease is what makes Nu Wa such a potent goddess.

Putting Nu Wa in the mid lane is always a safe bet, but putting her in the duo lane gives her a place to safely farm until late game while also allowing your team to have another mage farming up in center field. The duo lane is much less susceptible to ganks than the mid lane since the speed buff and much of the jungler’s farm is in the solo-side jungle. Also, she is easily able to survive the tough early game thanks to the help of a trusty support like Terra, Cerberus, or Geb. Another point of interest is that, as mentioned previously, her ultimate is global, which means that she does not have to leave lane to help her team out. She may even be able to pick up a kill or two just by sending Fire Shards at dangerously low opponents across the map.

Since the goal of duo lane is to safely farm and the meta is heavily focused on mages, putting a secondary mage there is a potent strategy to consider. Traditionally, we’ve seen Sol, Freya, and Chronos be picked up by most ADC players, but gods like Poseidon and The Morrigan could be utilized in duo as well due to their unique auto attack mechanics. If your goal is to break the meta, you could also look toward Discordia, Thoth, Agni, or Hel, all of which have pretty safe early clear and valuable late game assets that could push your team’s composition over the edge.

But what do you build on these mage ADCs? That’s a complex beast in itself, but as a general rule of thumb, build like you would in mid, but understand that stacking is more viable and early fighting is less likely to happen. Speaking of early fighting, the starting build a mage ADC can go is highly variable and depends heavily on the god you’ve chosen. For instance, on gods like Sol, Poseidon, and Agni, one could benefit greatly from Hunter’s Blessing due to the utility they receive from faster auto attacks. While Hunter’s Blessing can be useful on some of these gods, it’s always a safe bet to go for Mage’s Blessing. Getting that extra bit of cooldown from the completed passive of Mage’s Blessing is, well, a blessing.

When it comes to what you pair with your blessing, again, look to your god. Typically, starting with boots is not something a lot of players do because they don’t offer the damage numbers that items like Uncommon Staff (Warlock’s) or Spellbook (Book) do. One could also start out with Tiny Trinket (lifesteal) if your god scales well with lifesteal, such as Sol or He Bo, but that start is less viable in duo than it is in mid. When deciding between building Book of Thoth and Warlock’s Staff, consider whether you’re concerned about dying early to ganks. If you are, go straight for the Warlock’s Staff. If not, pick up that Book of Thoth and never have to back because you’ve run out of mana.

What you build next really depends on how the first few minutes of the game went. Did you get first blood? Did you die? Did you just sit across the way from each other and clear? If you’ve done a good job, you could honestly finish your stacking item immediately. If you don’t quite have enough gold to complete it, don’t bother going for the tier 2. Instead, you should start investing into your boots. You should probably be finishing them on your next back unless something crazy happens and you get enough gold to finish your stacking item. As a guideline, if you can full buy the stacking item, prioritize it over boots.

Blessing, boots, stacking items are all built, but what’s next? There are a million and a half different possibilities, but a lot of players aim toward some sort of penetration item. A popular selection is Divine Ruin for its passive anti-heal as well as its great general stats. If healing isn’t so much a problem, opting for Obsidian Shard or Spear of the Magus aren’t bad choices either, depending on your god and how they apply damage. If early penetration isn’t necessary, picking up the other stacking item (out of Warlock’s Staff and Book of Thoth) is a possibility, the only possible issue being that you’re going to be stuck in lane stacking it for a good while. However, with jungle camps spawning every two minutes, picking up some stacks in the jungle at the purple buff and oracle harpies makes it much less detrimental than it was last season.

As for what you should have come late game, that’s really up to you and what you’re up against. Want more utility? Add a Chronos Pendant or an Ethereal Staff. Want more burst? Opt into Soul Reaver and Soul Gem. Getting out-traded? Grab some lifesteal in a Bancroft’s Talon or Typhon’s Fang. As previously stated, Mage ADCs build pretty similar to the typical mage mid. Feel it out and build what seems right, but always make sure to keep farming.

Image courtesy of Jay R

Altogether, the most important information to glean from the transition of mages into the duo lane is that firstly, hunters aren’t as strong as they used to be. Secondly, the duo lane is built for farming, so stacking is easy and mages that have weak early games won’t have as much trouble as they might have if they were played in mid. Finally, mage itemization is so strong right now so experimentation and flexibility are two incredibly valuable traits that can make or break a game in either side’s favor.

Need more advice? Check out Team Dignitas’ very own mid lane master Joakim “Zyrhoes” Verngren’s stream here for mage gameplay, or even pop by headhunter Kenny “Arkkyl” Kuska’s stream here and see if he’ll try out a Mage in his ADC ranked adventures.

Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in our shop