adc is fun - raphy

Before Game Starts

ADC archetypes

This dictates how good your champ is at specific trading

Long Trade (All in) > Short Trade (Burst) > Poke > Long Trade (All in)

There are three types of trades, long trades, short trades (burst), and poke
- All champs can do any of these, but usually they’re better at one than the other
Conquerer/Lethal Tempo > PTA/HOB/Electrocute > Fleet / Comet / DH
- You can typically tell what the adc is good at by looking at the rune
None of this > actually means anything, don’t let it get into your head

Support archetypes

There are 4 main archetypes: All in ~= Catch > Sustain > Poke > All In (Catch)

This does not strictly mean better, it’s just an easier match up

Poke

goal is exactly what it says, you want to take extremely short trades and avoid getting all in’d
PUSH THE MINIONS, take safe trades, poke under tower, DO NOT HIT TOWER FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, wait for bounce, ward + say hi to enemy jg, x2
poke vs. poke, wait until they use their spells/poke on cd
poke vs. sustain, this is losing btw most of the time, be careful of shields/heals afterwards even if you get the poke off if you lose health you lose the trade —> wait until pushing under tower
poke vs. all in, this is your winning lane, all you have to do it not get caught by their cc

Sustain*

this is the only one w/o a adc counterpart besides senna adc/vampire scepter rush adc
healing + shields, this is a support skill check, and the adcs goal is to avoid skill shots + eat minions —> you literally win the lane by just not dying bc your support is secretly a hypercarry but for utility

Catch

All in

Support archetype dictates HOW you play the lane, ADC archetype is an added synergy bonus

The strength of the lane is dependent on your synergy
- Same archetype: ex. Ezreal + Karma vs. Caitlyn + Xerath
  - Ezreal (B Tier Poke) + Karma (B Tier Poke) vs. Caitlyn (S) + Xerath (S)
  - obvi, you’re both poke lanes, the enemy is WAY better poke than you
  - but Ezreal Karma is a better sustain lane so play it like a Sustain vs. Poke lane and all of a sudden it feels better bc Xerath will eventually have no mana
  - If you don’t have a different archetype to rely on, it is a skill check
- Different Archetypes: rock paper scissors
  - All in > Sustain > Poke > All In
    - Catch, I feel is a little more nuanced where you need to hit your skill shots, avoid dmg but you can kind of slot it under All In
    - Every single lane CAN win against each other if you know each other’s win condition, you just need to be better
- Misynergy: if your support and your adc are NOT the same archetype, your botlane archetype defaults to the support’s
  - ex. Lucian
  - Draven + Yuumi vs. Lucian + Leona
  - ^not a sustain lane, ALL Draven lanes turn into All in Lanes
  - that’s just how it is, and by a smaller extension (samira, nilah, melee adcs)
- Multiple Archetype Lane
  - Lucian Nami
    - You can play this as poke bc Nami is poke or you can play it as Catch as soon as Nami hits bubble bc Lucian is better at All In
  - All lanes have degrees of how good they are at each archetype, not just every single champ is one archetype for example
    - Nami is Poke (B), Sustain (A), Catch (B)
    - Leona is Poke (F), Sustain (D), All In (S)
    - Lux is Poke (B+), Sustain (C), Catch (B)
      - tiers are just my opinion, it doesn’t actually matter, all that matters is you need to gauge how good they are at what they do and if they’re better than what your bot lane does
- Level 6 Changes the Archetype
  - literally means what it says, be careful of certain champs hitting 6, such as Ashe R, Leona R, Maokai R,
  - You are going to have to plane the lane differently as they are now better at certain things, don’t eat shit

The Mage Issue

If you aren’t playing mages rn, it’s literally free lp
If you are playing mages, you are part of the problem and should be banned
- I am not going to be telling you how to win on mages botlane, idc
If you happen to be playing a traditional marksman against a mage, it’s going to be tough
- You inherently lose lvl 1-3, because their spells + waveclear is better, more dmg, and safer
- If you have an all in support, you need to capitalize on that
- If they also have an all in support, that shit sucks
- If they have a poke support, ts also sucks
- I think the true best lane set up that you can have is having all in vs. sustain
How do you trade
- Typically they’ll use spells on the wave, and you can trade on them, but you need to be careful of poke/cc
- You don’t want to be randomly trading unless you know it’s free
- If you take more dmg than them, it’s cooked
- If they take more dmg than you, they can tp for free —> oh that’s not good
  - typically if you know it’s mage bot, you want to also take tp, or exhaust if you have an all in support bc the faster you take fights the better it is
- Most mages are geared towards burst and some are poke
  - Reminder, the reason why all in supports are good for you is because once they blow their load, all they have is auto attacks until their next spell rotation (which you win btw)
  - You need to be in a situation where your sustain dmg is better than their burst dmg
They have better wave clear
- This means they can poke you under tower
- This means their support is free to roam
- This then probably means your support will abandon you
- I would advise refillable + boots, and just leeching xp

Early Game

Trading Goals

Health Values:

if you are a burst, you want both of you to be lower health + if you have higher initiative
if you are poke, you are fine w/ higher health and longer trades
If you are all in / catch, you need to be high health until you hit lvl 2-3 or whenever your supp wakes up

Sustain Matchups:

if you are winning, you HAVE to push the lead, do not let sustain matchups catch up
If you are losing health for no reason, fucking stop it

Misc

try to hit the wave w/ spells AND hit enemy
If you are ending the trade, land your autos and then end w/ spells
Heal BEFORE ignite, and IGNITE before not at the end
STOP GOING FOR BAD TRADES IF THE JUNGLER IS NOT PATHING TO YOU
STOP GOING FOR TRADES IN GENERAL AT 2:55
Kill the casters first!!!
try normal casting more
if hard winning, push wave before the waves meet = easier to cs and enemy has to cs under turret
can safely cs if enemy is also csing
can only cs if the gold gained outweighs a health pot or if you don’t eat major shit for it

Csing Under Turret:

minions will be targeted closest t the bottom of the scepter thing
for level ? smolder needs to prep casters under turret, auto + tower shot

Smother:

don’t focus on getting the kill if you’re a lot strong and healthier
Let them dwindle and die —> they have to recall or die

Farming Macrowise:

stop dying = more farm
don’t make plays unless it’s during your deadtime (you don’t lose anything)
tempo: how close you are to deadtime = time you have to do plays
for fast push (one wave): half roam

Level Spikes

Level 2: 3 Melees on the Second Wave

Level 3: First 3 Waves on Fourth (Cannon) Wave

Level 6: if you missed minions at any point or you failed to keep track of how fast your enemy laner got to lane, just pretend that they are getting 6 first

need to gauge if your 2v2 lvl 6 is better than theirs

Recall Timing

On cannon waves (every 3 waves is a cannon wave)

2:55 scuttle crab spawn (3rd wave)

4:55 first drag (9th wave)

Cheater Recall: (If jungler is pathing down first clear)

Slow push into crash 3rd wave
Recall
It will slow push into you, and you slow push back
Drag or Dive

In General:

What gold do you wanna go home on?

Is there an objective coming up?

Slow push from (1-6), fast push 7+

it takes like 2 waves to complete a slow push

Wave Management

Fast Push: (your wave clear is better, late game)

How: quickly kill wave w/ autos + abilities
Why: don’t want to be in lane —> recall, ward, rotate
Positives:
- stronger later in lane
- favors scaling champs for fast pushing and getting fast pushed into
Negatives:
- don’t do this shit when you’re weak early
- can only do it if you can clear the wave w/o being punished for it
- don’t fast push into scaling adcs —> fast push if you are a scaling adc

Slow Push: (need to be stronger and can maintain + finish the slowpush. early game)

How: last hit minions —> crash if the next wave can not get there in time
Why: lane dominance + priority
Positive:
- builds up minion wave so you win trades
- will have a level lead
- once you crash it, enemy forced to cs for a long time —> recall, ward, rotate
Negative:
- bad against champs w/ good wave clear
- if you don’t complete crash, your minions will kill a lot of minions = exp loss
- can get frozen on
- YOU HAVE TO STAY IN LANE IF YOU ARE SLOW PUSHING

Freeze Wave: (need to be stronger to maintain freeze, early game)

How:
- enemy minions out number your minions (reverse slow push)
- thinning
- holding
Why: deny minions + exp
Negative:
- enemy can leave lane to roam
- stop around level 6

Starting the freeze:
- In middle, need one more enemy minion
- In yellow zone, needs two more enemy minions
- In red zone, needs three more enemy minions

Bouncing:

neutral only happens if path is completely clear before minions reach lane
Leftover minions = bounce back (slow push from enemy side)
If you want to build a slow push, you just don’t full clear the minions after crash before your minions get there
If they have the leftover minions and did a slow push, you can build a freeze

Even Minion Rule:

when there’s a same amount of minions, whoever’s reinforcement is closer will slow push bc they get there faster

Minion Aggro:

if you hit enemy within their minion range
- if you get aggro (you hit enemy), the lane will start pushing to them
NO aggro if it’s an aoe spell
In new season, slowpushing and freezing is weaker (make sure to not fight in your freeze or it might break it)

Minion Mirror Rule:

BEFORE YOU CRASH A WAVE LOOK AT INCOMING MINION WAVE AND SEE IF YOU CAN CRASH IT

Level One: Enemy is late + deny one melee minion

If you want it pushing to you, auto a ranged minion + reset

If the average level of team is stronger, your minions push harder

if you have a tower destroyed in that lane, it buffs the minions
losing lane usually has minions push into them
***if you see a neutral wave, you can predict which way it’s pushing

Gank Times

First Clear: 2:45 - 2:55 (scuttle)
Second Clear: 4:50 - 5:00 (drag)
Third Clear: 7:30 - 8:00 (void grubs)
- this is for topside, not you but you have to be mindful your supp is going to roam

I forgot there were junglers in the game

There are 4 Game States
- [double strong] Both junglers pathing bot —> you can play aggro, just be careful
- [weakside] Your jungle is pathing TOP and enemy is pathing BOT —> you need to play more carefully
- [strong side] Only your jungle is pathing botlane —> play aggressive, even or slightly bad trades are OKAY, you can set up a dive or freeze
- [ignored] Both junglers are pathing TOP side —> skill check + do whatever
How do I know where the enemy jungle is starting + pathing to?
- Typically, you’ll get to know if he is spotted (or not) on raptors if it was warded
  - If he starts top side, that means he is pathing bot
- If you lack information, play more carefully if your jg is not pathing bot, and ward before 2:50 ish bc that’s when crab spawns
- after you get ganked or the enemy jg shows somewhere else on the map, you need to remember where he is pathing which you can tell by his cs
  - If he 3 jg camp ganked, he will have 12 cs, + 4 for scuttle crab if it was a long gank
  - If he full cleared, he will have 24 cs, (+4)

They come back again
- If they are pathing bot, they have to reclear their jg and they are going to come back again sooner or later so you have to ward before their timing, so whatever you do to the wave now actually matters —> whatever you do, DO NOT get frozen on (if you do, ward and pray)

Mid Game

Before doing shit, ask yourself will I die if I do this: if the answer is not a hard NO, don’t do it

You have three priorities in this order

Do not die
Collect minions
Do damage
- you can sac minions to join teamfights ONLY if it’s hard winning or you’re just better

Lane Assignments

At 14 minutes or whenever someone’s tower falls, put adc and support in the midlane
- this is changed now to whenever adc gets their quest
laners w/ tp or global ults go to the side lane farthest from objective
swap for best counters
- or if you have an immobile mage, you can stick them in midlane and you can catch sidelane, just make sure to ward for yourself or count how many people show on the map before collecting wave
If your someone is in your lane, go somewhere else or ping them off, you are not sharing

Downtime: Farm waves

after you get your wave, this is your downtime to do whatever you want
You can base, hover, move to team fights
don’t follow stupid shit and always pick up your wave
also don’t take bad trades, just collect your minions and leave

Why do I randomly die trying to collect mid wave

sometimes your support isn’t going to be there to bail your ass, and that’s just how it is
- You will need to swallow your ego and let the wave push into you to safely collect cs
- You will lose minions, and that’s okay
How do I know if it’s safe?
- If there is a nocturne, you are not allowed to eat mid wave without your support
- If there is a fed assassin and you are not running tabis, you are not allowed
- If there are gap closers missing, no
- If you see everyone on the map and it’s impossible for you to die, yes
- Ask yourself, will I explode if someone is in the bush or if the enemy laner can get on me?
- Before you ever get into a fight, always press tab and check items

Go to empty lanes

Always try to push empty lanes
if they send a weak defender —> take their tower and waves and jg
if they have a strong defender —> push + roam

Count to 5 (if you see a fight break out or want to go for a wave)

before making any plays, count how many people are on the map
If for whatever reason, your team has less people, ping that you’re not coming
- Ignore them, this is not your issue
- Unless someone on your team is so fed that they are worth the dmg of 2 people, don’t follow stupid calls unless it looks hard winning
When you follow a fight, don’t just path towards it, you need to be careful of your positioning of entering a fight

Tempo Lines
- Where is your team on the map?
- If your top lane is hitting tier 2, your midlane is hitting bot tier 2, and you are basing, you need to stop your recall and start hitting something

When should you start fights / force something
- If you’re an adc, this doesn’t matter as much bc you shouldn’t be starting stuff in the first place
- but if there’s a play across the map, or someone is on a far tempo line, you need to gain advantage on both sides of the map if you’re not with them
  - This is like cross mapping for junglers but you apply this to everyone
  - If your toplaner is split pushing, you start smth to divert pressure

Late Game

basically same as midgame except you need to be hovering towards the objective (usually baron) and following the jg around
you don’t start shit, you end it
the minute you die, the teamfight is lost btw

Priorities:

Don’t die
Do damage
- You can flip 1 and 2, if whoever you’re dying for to kill is important AND your team can cleanup after you die

Teamfighting + Positioning (Mid + Late game)

The most important thing is if you are dead, you are not doing damage
If you are playing too safe, you are also not doing damage
- You need to limit test your greed without dying
At the start of a teamfight
- Tell yourself, what ever single cc / spell that can just one shot you
- If you did not physically see a ult / cc being cast, you have to play like it’s up
- You can hit closest target if you doing so will not get you immediately killed
- If you have no vision, don’t go in idc what your team is pinging, you wait
- You wait until all the major spells that can one shot you is on cd
- The enemy has one goal and it’s to make sure your life is a living hell
  - You need to know that and play accordingly, if you die it is YOUR fault
  - Your teammates should’ve played better, but that’s not what matters.
  - Your role is to do damage, so get better at positioning
Main things to watch out for:
- CC (things that can stun, slow, whatever)
- Assassins
- Point and click ults (vi, jarvan, noc)
- Skill shots that will blow you up
- Also stop getting into melee range
Pay attention to item advantages / spikes

Secondary Roles + anything else I forgot

I highly advise playing jg for a little bit
We always get memed on that adcs don’t know macro, and it’s true we don’t know anything
For the most part, it doesn’t matter if your macro is garbage bc it usually depends on jg and supp to do stuff around the map and you can kind of follow along
- However, knowing how jg plays, you can realize that they’re people too
- You can set up plays by managing your wave correctly (pushing when your jg wants objective early, freezing when jg is ganking your lane, setting up slow push for a dive)

I stand by the fact that I still think support is low key kind of easy
- They’re really impactful if they’re good
- Not as detrimental if they’re bad
- It’s a high ceiling, high floor which is why people think it’s kind of a boosted role
- However, once you get to higher ranks, this changes as a bad support can quite literally lose you the game
- I think if you secondary support, you will learn to play adc better
  - You are stuck in a lane with them for like 10 minutes or until they get bored
  - they also high key decide what the lane is going to be doing so you might as well learn what they want to do
- Your macro will also improve bc you will be roaming and starting fights like a mini jungler

I don’t suggest secondary top and mid as much as the other 2 bc the skills are not as easily transferable or help playing adc that much
- playing midlane is prob better bc you can lane against things that can and will one shot you which is cool

Whatever

have a game plan of what you wanna do
warding and resets
pay attention to mid game
make some observations to incrementally understand
when you die/fight goes bad —> why did it happen? was it okay?
Ego Problems
There’s mistakes we don’t know about
Have to be able to say no
Have to be able to regulate your emotions
DO NOT worry about anyone else
what could’ve you done
Learn to play from behind
Critically think, how can you win, wincon
Why does a play work or not work
Be able to say no to a play and what can you do
it’s okay to draw strong laners towards you to waste pressure = longer game = get back into the game bc gold matters less w/ more items

Vision

Jungle:
- If invade, keep ward
- If early gank, ward entrance into back for sweepers
- If full clear, ward raptors
Midlane: ward enemy raptors at 40 seconds and river ward (middle)
- control ward on lane brush
- if losing, ward in middle of lane towards their side to check for ganks
Toplane:
- ward before 2:40 (full clear)
- 3 camp gank (2:00)
  - ww, graves, fiddle
- Scuttle at 2:55, refresh fae river for jg
Botlane:
- early and have push —> tribush if on right side (before 1:50)
  - control ward in far brush to get dominance or fae light
- don’t have push + getting mogged —> near brush tower

Trading

minion adv
- fight near wave
- stronger early
minion aggro
- single target = aggro, aoe = no
level spike
- lvl 2 - secpmd wave 3rd melee or 2 melee 1 ranged
- lvl 3 - fourth wave 2nd melee or 1 melee + caster

Timers:

2:55 is crab spawn

Things to ask yourself:

where did jungler start
Do I have to care about 2:55 skuttle gank
How do I want to trade in lane
3:45 is first camp respawn (safe from gank)
5:00 is first drag (be careful, second clear)
8:00 is void grubs
14:00 is midgame faster waves
15:00 is rift herald
20:00 baron (very important)
30:00 fastest waves

Don’t siege w/ a lot of people

bad w/ supports and tanks
if you can do something else, do something else
easier to take first few plates
better to do some small chunks then all at once
try to recall together
match pressure
winning early = mid pressure bc gets to wave first = rotate faster

Stop randomly recalling

From highest priority to lowest priority of if you can recall

You are going to die if you stay in lane (too low health, mana, going to get ganked)
Your wave is in a good state
- You typically want it to be either crashed into tower or frozen towards you
  - this maximizes the cs the enemy loses + minimizes how much you lose
- Meeting in the middle is okay
If the enemy laner is dead or has recalled, you want to push out fast

I keep losing early game and this role sucks

Ok so you lost early, so what. ask yourself can an adc 1v9 at 10 minutes?
- most likely tf not
- Lock in, mute them, and get your bag
- It doesn’t matter if you went 1/5, down 3 plates and 30 cs
- Collect your minions, buy your items, and win that one coinflip teamfight
- Leads only matter if you use them right, and turns out everyone is terrible at ending the game.
- You don’t need to be better than them early, you need to be better than them when it matters
- Your support will int you, your jungle will path top and die 2v1, your mid will jack off
- Once you hit your 3 item spike or hell even 5 items bc people just can not resist taking shitty fights, you will feel exactly what adcs are supposed to feel like, it’s the only role that matters