r/ADCMains

I am slowly losing all hope for this role.

80% of games are against mages

Supports are either brain damaged or act like little children (with the exception of few actually good players)

Fun and interesting champs, like Kalista, are weak / pro play jailed

Build path for items sucks + there is no creativity in build paths

What is the point of playing this role anymore?

I'll start straight up by saying I am not an ADC main, but im starting to understand you because Mages are indeed starting to become frustrating even for me as a Midlaner, but at least I have counterplay as a Diver/Assassin cuz i can get on top of them but ADCs have no chance and this is my conclusion:

Mana is no longer a resource in this game for mages. It only is a resource until Lost Chapter and Mana flow Band is stacked- And Lost chapter can be cheated with TP, which most mages in bot do. I have literally went in a practice tool and casted 43 spells as a lvl 11 Syndra with Torch+Cosmic before i got completely OOM (I could cast 2 ultimates in that window btw) which sends me to the 2nd point.

The lack of CDs. Everything just comes up super fast and with Transcendence + Lost Chapter item (Torch/Luden) you have close to full uptime as a mage. An assassin/Diver can punish that cooldown with insta gap close in lane yes, but what can the ADC do when the Mage spells outrange him and his gap close is inexistent.

Then there is the wave clear, every mage one shots waves from safety. ADCs nont named Sivir dont.

And finally is the kill threat. Most ADCs have no kill threat on Mages because Mages can fish or posture for burst dmg from outside of range of the ADC and back away if their fish was unsuccessful.

The ADCs selling point over the mage is exactly this: The lack of downtime as long as you are allowed to hit, but mages in modern League lack downtime, most have a defensive/peel tool that can be held, used aggressively or defensively (syndra e ziggs W, hwei fear,xerath E, Lux Q dont even get me on Mel W), but when CDs and mana costs arent there to gate them, their value goes through the roof.

Even against assassins and dive, they have access to Seeker/Zhonya which is not an ideal buy but its still better than ADCs' GAs

Finally is the counterpoint: Who is killing the Nasus/Ornn/Sion/Mundo if you have a mage bot. Well it wont be easy and sometimes it will be indeed impossible if your mid also picked Akali and so on but there is still the rest of your team and you likely put the enemy adc either so behind or in such an uninteravtive state (no kills, no plates) that The ADC itself wont be able to impact the teamfight.

Also the 6 item scenario, yes 6 item Cait outscales 6 item Ziggs as DPS, but she has to put so much mechanical and awarness effort, If she gets hit by an engage it is ziggs bomb in 1 ziggs Q and she dies. Ziggs just plays from a mile away and tosses Q at random hoping poke lands and if engaged on satchel Zhonya.

Tl&Dr: Mages mana costs and small downtimes along with their superior range and safe wave manipulation abilities power-creep adcs.

Iv tried it before but how are you meant to move it during a fight, currently I play on locked and use my minimap to see the enemy for example if I’m leaning into the river I will look at my minimap instead of my screen as I feel I will see the enemy earlier I think if I okayed with unlocked I wouldn’t have to do this

I have so many questions...why so many supports nowadays are just mid lane rejects xd
this is about emerald elo, so yeah, still low elo and makes sense...but game before it was aurilion support that someone dodged, then this guy who ended up playing Mel, didn't troll except a few obviosly ks, but that's not a big deal. It's the mental process behind them to play mid lane champs (and even Ashe) blind

https://preview.redd.it/tcdbh6snmebh1.png?width=1030&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e76090ac00f74df51beb7f5fc50cf2884cbf775

(Note: The automod for this sub blocks all links in the body text so I am putting the direct links to the UCLA paper, the Riot patent, and my original breakdown in the very first comment. Please read them.)

I posted a thread a while ago breaking down Riot's matchmaking patent and the UCLA engagement paper. Someone on this sub claimed I didn't actually read the patent text so I went back to dig even deeper. I found something completely insane that everyone needs to see.

Riot isn't just looking at your rank or your win rate. They're actively profiling your behavior and assigning you specific personality categories to manipulate team chemistry.

I want to show you the exact text from their patent documentation:

> "At Action Block 3400, turning to FIG. 8, one electronic process 4000 to create player matches for teams and opponents is shown 4000. In this process 4000, the behavior data in database 1110 are filtered in to a number of pre-defined personality categories, e.g., Leaders, Teammates, Mentors, and Verbal Aggressors (Action Block 4100). A score may be generated for each active user at each category, and each category may have a pre-defined threshold. For example, a player with a high “Leader” score will have received over 500 positive commendations (e.g., by players using the interface 1150 in FIG. 4) over the player's lifetime with at least 25% Friendly Commendations, 25% Helpful Commendations, and 25% Team Oriented Commendations. A player with a high “Teammate” score will have received over 500 positive commendations with at least 25% Friendly Commendations and 25% Team Oriented Commendations. A player with a high “Mentor” score will have received over 500 commendations with at least 40% Friendly Commendations and 40% Helpful Commendations. Further, a player with a high “Verbal Aggressor” score may include over 50 negative reports, such as those shown in Mescon Application, with at least 25% of the reports being related to Verbal Abuse and 25% of the reports being related to Offensive Language"

I think it's wild that they're sorting us into literal bins like Leaders or Verbal Aggressors using a mathematical threshold based on our lifetime reports and honors.

I know some people will argue that this patent is over a decade old and that the old honor categories are gone. I want to point out how easy it is for backend engineers to update an algorithm without filing a new public document. They've simply adjusted the machine learning model to look at your total aggregated honors instead of specific categories like friendly or helpful. We just give generic honors now but the underlying math functions exactly the same way. On top of that, the influence of system reports for verbal abuse and offensive language is still entirely live and relevant today. Riot just tallies those metrics to keep sorting our profiles into these exact same behavioral bins.

I also read through the literal claims section at the very end of the patent document because this is the only part that actually carries legal weight and it shows how deep this shit goes. Claims 8 through 13 outline how the engine uses first, second, and third degree connections between players based entirely on mutual honors after a game. What that means is that the algorithm is actively mapping out a huge invisible social network across the wider player base to link specific people together. I also noticed that claim 14 flat out says that the engine stores your behavioral category scores into a fast memory cache the exact second you log into the game client. That blows up the argument that tracking behavioral profiles for millions of users is too resource heavy to run in real time because they're literally loading your personality data beforehand so it is ready to go. I think the craziest part is claim 16 which explains the entire baseline structure of the system and says that teams are formed based primarily on personality categories and behavioral vectors. Skill level isn't even mentioned until claim 17 as a secondary modifier. Legally speaking, the patent treats behavioral profiling as the core foundation of the engine and competitive skill is just an afterthought tacked on at the end.

It gets even worse when you see how they build the teams. They aren't just matching random people with similar MMR. They're engineering the social dynamic of your lobby.

Look at this next quote:

> "In system 1000, the player matching engine 1130 at Action Block 3400 may dynamically match players based on personality scores, such as those described above (Action Block 4200). For example, the player matching engine 1130 may create a 5 player team that includes at least one player with a high Leader score and the remaining 4 players who have high Teammate scores in accordance with the formulas above."

They're literally handcrafting a psychological cocktail for your team to maximize engagement. If you've ever felt like your lobbies are bizarrely manufactured to create a specific team environment, you're not crazy. It's written right there in their official legal filings.

I'm sharing this specific piece because I'm tired of the constant gaslighting. They tell us that match manipulation is just a myth or a coping mechanism for tilt. It's clearly a documented corporate strategy.

Check my comment below for all the direct links to the source material. Let me know what you think.

I’ve been trying to figure out what’s holding me back, and I think I need outside perspectives.
I peaked around **Gold 3**, then went through a really rough stretch of ranked. Since then, I’ve taken a **one-month break** from League just to reset mentally and come back with a clearer mindset instead of queueing while frustrated.
One thing you’ll probably notice if you look at my match history is that there aren’t many games. That’s because I **changed servers due to ping issues** (around 140 ms down to about 6 ms), so my match history on this account is relatively short.
I mainly play **ADC**, and this is where I’m confused.
A lot of my games feel similar. I usually leave lane ahead in CS, plates, or kills, but somewhere after laning phase I stop converting that advantage into wins. At this point, I’m not interested in blaming teammates because I’m the only constant in every game.
To try and improve, I even paid **$500** for coaching. After reviewing my gameplay and finishing the session, the coach’s conclusion was basically: **“This game ain’t for you.”**
That honestly stuck with me.
Since then, I’ve been asking myself two questions:

\- Is **ADC simply not the right role for me?**

\- Or am I repeating the same mistakes every game without realizing it?
I’m seriously considering switching to **mid lane** now that I’m back, but I don’t want to role-swap just because I’m frustrated if the real issue is my decision-making.
I’m looking for honest feedback from people who have been in a similar position. If you’ve been the type of player who consistently won lane but struggled to close out games, what changed your gameplay? What should I be looking at when reviewing my own games?
I’m open to criticism. If the problem is obvious and I’m just not seeing it, I’d rather hear it than keep repeating the same cycle.

Made a lil montage
I’d be interested to see what rank you think the clips are

I hover around Emerald 2 usually. I play mostly Jhin and Senna, with Sivir and Xayah as a sort of situational picks.

I'm 33, and not trying to get very far up the ladder, but I've been trying to get out of Emerald for about a year now. I've tried watching YouTube content and guides, but I got bored of it and it made it a little too much of a chore. It felt like too much information too keep in your head while playing, and I am trying to get as far as I can with (sort of) the least amount of mental effort possible. Doesn't mean I'm not making an effort, I just want it to be within a range where it doesn't feel like a chore.

I still play a fair amount, around 400 games since the start of the year. I still like the game and what I like most about it is reducing it into simple rules/concepts. I got to Emerald using these rules:

• Don't die at all cost: With the exception of extremely high value deaths (around objectives, etc.) I try to not die at all. I don't always succeed, but that's always my goal.

• Prioritize farming: Almost never hard push, except when leaving lane or leaving for Drake/Baron. I know wave-state basics/fundamentals.

• Focus closest target: When fight happens, I try to just focus the closest target (within reason, of course).

I also have mechanical rules:

• Look at the mini map every few seconds

• Click close to your character

• Slow and steady: I.e. not get too excited during a fight. Try to slow it down. My APM is usually around 200-220~

Anyway, since I'm stuck in Emerald using these rules, my question is if there are any better rules out there, or if maybe these rules are good and I'm just not executing them correctly. Again, I'm not trying to do too much, and if that means I'm stuck forever then that's fine.

Are there any rule-of-thumbs, concepts, philosophies, headspaces, mentalities, etc.. that can bring oneself into Diamond?

Also, shout out to u/Exciting_Income4766 for letting me know about this because I had no idea until just now.

P.S. Happy 4th of July Summoners! Hope y'all are having a nice time!

Havent kept up super closely with the game for a few months, basically stopped playing consistently around when they added the new items like hexoptics and the new tear items(Been grinding deadlock , fun af btw do recommend). I was an adc/top lane main and i remember that even back then and for a while apc was like secret strong but low pick rate in solo q and things like ziggs were sometimes seeing play in pro.

what caused the apc explosion ive been seeing online and in msi recently? were adcs nerfed across the board ? was lane quests messing stuff up? After lane quests were announced i figured that ranged top was probably going to be strong and did that have a factor in it? someone fill me in pls lol

Edit: I know why apc is good, theyre more self sufficient, and have better wave clear and early game dmg making the lane un interactive for adcs, but this has always been the case its not new. my question is why now all of the sudden is it more viable than before

What is the downside of picking a mage bot, is there none with the right team comps.

Dive comps: they have enough range to follow up and tons of aoe to help with the dive.

Pick/poke comps: it’s a pick comp obviously mages would be good

Front to back: they should have enough damage most of the time and they are very safe especially with strong frontline so they can dish out their damage from Brazil

All I can think of is mages being bad into tanks, but even then a lot of them have so much damage a couple rotations of abilities and they can kill them. Plus poke/pick is normally really good into strong front to back comps

0/10 full ap gragas support? hail of blades blitz support 2/16? lethality thresh top lane? cyclosword/rookern udyr jungle? AD soraka bot? AP pyke?

7 games in a row? In emerald? With not one single feedback report for a teammate punishment? Zero of these ever being on the enemy team?

None of these things are statistically likely (or really even possible) if the game punishes people for trolling and is using any sort of system to NOT put people into losers' queue. But it makes perfect sense if Riot picks a handful of players and targets them to see if they'll have a mental breakdown.

Hello, when I play lulu I like to rush ardent unless there is a situational moment where I need to get another item first, like mikaels for example.

My adc main friend says theres a lot of situations where ardent is terrible, such as with a miss fortune, caitlyn or smolder.

Recently this came to a head when I was talking about my most recent game with a miss fortune adc, I think ardent is great because the attack speed bonus lets her attack more, and I often don't feel like other items are better than ardent first but my friend recommends moonstone, redemption or shurelyas first

Maybe I am biased because I played through the ardent censer meta in 2017 or so

So just for fun with my friend, I had the idea of asking reddit :D

i know this post will get downvoted to hell but seriously why do you still keep playing adc bot when the enemy team has a brand mel or lux that will one shot you after lv 6

it is seriously unfun and everyone knows it and i think everyone should accept that bot lane is a mage lane should move to top lane.

There is nothing a sett darius volibear can do againts vayne ashe ezreal top lane and you get to scale for free with extra levels and enemy rengar or khazix wont be able to delete you in 2 spells.

Besides every toplaner is a ranged toplaner now anyways imo just play adc top because of how unfun botlane is.

Hey guys, I know a lot of people just watch tons and tons of content to get better at the game, and there is a trend I see which is honestly pretty detrimental to a person's growth. Macro being king, now macro is very important but here is the thing, if you can't ever kill the enemy it doesn't matter how good your macro is.

if you make a good baron call, but get wiped cuz you couldn't play the fight, your macro doesn't matter. I just had a game where I had a gold 3 toplaner in my emerald game, who doesn't play ranked and had a grand total of 1 win this season and bro plays aram instead.

I played macro well in the late game and was able to keep this shit storm at bay, I had just as much gold as the 21 kill enemy top laner at the end. Here is the issue, I died a lot in the skirmishes because of my inability to play the teamfights super well, to space the irelia, at the end irelia messed up but I got too excited going melee range with my calibrum stacks where I got flash ulted by malz and died. I couldn't carry when this should have be a free win if I played the late game well, I believe we had a kind of decent pick comp this game, and their divers are too squishy and I could have just melted them.

Take some time to really improve your execution, this is def something I need to work on more, because no matter how much gold is on me its kinda useless if I can't dish out damage.

this is the game btw

https://preview.redd.it/wjapqay1pabh1.png?width=1911&format=png&auto=webp&s=1602f4a866d7bd1c8401653f8ffadf44d310bc4b

I'm currently trying to learn new champions and I was wondering what enchanters ADC mains like to play with