League of Legends Patch 5.2

How to play the Attack Damage CarryPosition: Laning Phase

Jonathan Nguyen

February 10th, 2015

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Contents

1 Introduction 3

2 Champions to Pick and When to Pick Them 32.1 Graves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.2 Vayne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.3 Ezreal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.4 Caitlyn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.5 Jinx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.6 Kalista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.7 Varus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.8 Tristana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.9 Miss Fortune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.10 Sivir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3 Laning Mechanics 63.1 Creep Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.2 Orb Walking/Kiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.3 Wave Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93.4 Situational Match-Ups, Poking, All in, Sustain . . . . 11

Disclaimer: Did not include Lucian/Twitch/Draven/Kog’Maw/Corki/Ashe

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1 Introduction

Welcome to the all-knowing guide on how to play the Attack Dam-age Carry(ADC) position, occasionally referred to the marksmanrole. The ADC position has a high priority in the game of Leagueof Legends(LoL) and requires quite a decent learning curve beforemastering this role. This position offers the ability to win or losegames and is the role that offers the highest DPS (damage per sec-ond) out of any LoL class and requires extensive knowledge andsuperior micromanaging of these champions compared to any otherrole. In return for the high learning cap, the rewards are high andplaying by this guide will show you exactly how to reap the mostout of the efforts you put in the laning phase or early parts of yourADC games.

By emphasizing the correct things to practice in game and feedingthe correct knowledge, this guide will help you reach your maximumpotential in the ADC position.

2 Champions to Pick and When to Pick Them

When playing ADC, it is very vital to know the champions and whento pick them depending on the situation. Each marksman championplays a unique role that could be either essential or detrimental toyour success in game depending on your teammates’ champions andyour enemies’ champions.

Figure 1: All the Attack Damage Carries

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2.1 Graves

Graves is a very tanky(high defensive stats) ADC that offers highburst and nuke potential that allows you to kill enemies in quickmanner. He is, however, very short-ranged and requires gettingan unsafe range to do his maximum potential damage. He is avery valuable pick in most situations but especially ones in teamcompositions of many Area of Effect (AoE) damaging champions.

2.2 Vayne

Vayne is a very high risk/high reward pick. She has a very weakearly game and is subject to bullying in lane(early phase of thegame) especially when paired with a support(champion that playswith the ADC in the early part of the game) that does not have aheal. One of her skills offer true damage for every third auto attacktherefore leading her to be very good against tanks and having hy-percarry potential in the late-game when she has most of her items.Her overall health is very lacking to make up for her high potentialdamage/playmaking potential and any crowd-control(stuns, slows,taunts, fears) or assassin champions can make her cry. It is rec-ommended to pick her against mainly melee enemy compositions,paired with a healer support.

2.3 Ezreal

Ezreal is very versatile offering, lots of mobility and poke potentialin damage and can kite enemy assassins very well. He is however,very weak in lane and often outclassed by many other ADCs, leadinghim to be very hard to reach his spike in damage that usually takesa while to vamp up. Pick him when they have mainly an AD meleecomposition.

2.4 Caitlyn

Caitlyn is probably the most superior ADC in lane considering herrange to be the highest base range out of every AD, and her abilityto poke in lane. Her mid game is very lacking, however, and isvery dependent on winning the laning phase hard and gaining anadvantage over the opposing AD. Pick her if you can abuse her range

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with a support that offers heavy poke as well and avoid picking herinto heavy assassins and CC(crowd-control)-oriented teams as shehas an very choppy escape that can be cancelled if used at the wrongtime.

2.5 Jinx

Jinx is another ADC that has a weak laning phase due to her lackof mobility and her ability to be bullied by other ADs. She is verygood late-game, however, and can wave-clear well and take turretsfast as she has a passive that speeds her up and traps to zone outthe enemy. She has very high damage and should be picked whenthe enemy lacks dive-heavy team comps that can lock down Jinx.

2.6 Kalista

Kalista is a powerful champion with a passive that lets her havea mini dash everytime she attacks and in the late game, is godlycombined with attack speed and can easily win a game if she getsgoing early. However, this is very hard as she is very squishy(lowdefensive stats) and can be killed easily and often bullied in lane.If you can get her past the laning phase, she is very useful to theteam in securing objectives such as dragon and baron, as her skillrend allows you to nuke these objectives with damage higher thana jungler’s(LoL position to secure objectives) smite. Pick her whenthe enemy team composition doesn’t compose of hard CC such asVi’s ultimate and has mainly melee compositions. Avoid picking herinto double AP(ability power) compositions.

2.7 Varus

Varus is generally a very good pick for any team composition as hisspecial ability at level 6 (ultimate) allows for a chain CC to thatcan snare an enemy and spread that snare to enemies around thatperson giving a full team lock down. He lacks in mobility howeverbut makes up for it for a decent laning phase. Pick him when theenemy team lacks assassins and your team needs some form of crowdcontrol and poke.

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2.8 Tristana

Tristana is another great pick considering her rework since Patch 5.1.She has a jump reset for whenever she receives a kill or an assistallowing her for massive mobility in fights where she is doing muchdamage. Her ultimate pushes enemies away and allows for massivedamage making her very good against assassins. Her explosive shotoffers turret sieging potential as it drops a bomb on the turret andat late game can take down turrets in a matter of seconds. Thisall sounds so good except she has a slow early game to get to herdamage spike making many other ADs able to outclass her beforelate game. Pick her when your team needs wave clear and turretsieging potential and has mid game champions to make up for yourlate blooming power.

2.9 Miss Fortune

Miss Fortune is a super lane bully and has a movement speed buffthat generally allows her to harass enemy ADCs without takingmuch damage back. Her ultimate is very powerful in teamfightsdoing DoT to everyone in range but can easily be canceled. Due toher lack of an escape, any form of crowd control/assassin can screwher over so pick her when your team has dive heavy compositions sothe focus is off of you and you can combine with their AoE damage.

2.10 Sivir

Sivir is an all-around, good at all points, ADC. She has no real spikein power but offers a consistent amount of damage output with aspellshield that can potentially block an ability that can turn thetide of a fight. Her ultimate gives all her allies high movementspeed and she is an essential pick to team compositions that areengage/dive heavy and require being in range to lock down enemies.

3 Laning Mechanics

Laning mechanics is the core that differentiates between a good orbad person playing ADC. Knowing how to play the laning phaseis very essential because one mistake or capitalizing on a mistakecould make or break the game.

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3.1 Creep Score

Creep score is a very essential thing to know how to do in not onlythe ADC position but throughout every position. Creep score ac-cumulates from getting the last-hit on killing a minion in lane andoften translates to a lead depending on how much minions can bekilled. Maintaining a high creep score can usually push your leadfurther if the enemy is not good at ’CSing’ and can lead to won orlost fights due to more gold and differentiating items. Remember15cs accumulates to about 1 kill.

To CS:1.) Wait till the minion reaches a very low health about 1/10th ofit’s hp.

Figure 2: Waiting for low health minion.

2.) Right click to attack on the minion.

Figure 3: Attacking the minion.

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3.) Profit.

Figure 4: Minion returns gold for last-hit.

3.2 Orb Walking/Kiting

Orb Walking/Kiting is an more advance technique in that it usesanimation-canceling where a movement command is directed whilethe animation of an auto attack is in action. Doing and masteringthis skill allows for getting an extra step in between auto attacks andcan be efficient in dodging enemy skills or harrassing the enemy andproceeding to back off immediately without taking much damage.

To Orb Walk/Kite1.) Right click on the enemy unit to attack the enemy unit.

Figure 5: Mouse cursor right clicking on enemy unit.

2.) Right click on the ground in the direction you want to moveimmediately as the attack animation goes off.3.) Right click back on the target you want to attack again, thenrepeat step 2.

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Figure 6: Mouse cursor directing to move in a different direction during autoattack.

3.3 Wave Manipulation

Wave manipulation is a more complex concept in that it playsaround the concept of controlling the way the minions are arrangedand which side pushes towards the other and can be used to gener-ally heighten an advantage. An example of this is freezing the lanewhen your enemy is weaker than you and is scared to walk up to gofor CS in fear of dying.

To Freeze Lane:1.) Have the wave of minions accumulate from the other side.

Figure 7: Minion wave accumulating on one side

2.) Last-hit the minions and pressing the stop ’S’ command to notcontinuously attack and ruin the wave from shoving towards you.

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Figure 8: Minions are last-hitted and not completely destroyed holding the wavein a freeze.

Shoving the wave is a very useful way to counter freezing however.

To Counter a Frozen Lane:1.) Use all spells at a safe distance to shove the enemy wave.2.) Eventually your wave of minions should arrive at the enemyturret that kills all your minions and having the two new waves tobe met in the middle again.3.) If unable to do this safely without dying or taking a huge amountof damage, call for help from the jungler or one of your teammatesto help you push and reset the wave as the enemy usually backs offwhen you call for help.

Also in the early game, when arriving at lane, there is a techniqueto get the lane pushing towards you, which is quite essential in moreadvance match-ups when you 2v1 and you can zone out the enemy.

To Get the Lane Shoving Towards You:1.) Come to lane and meet the enemy wave before it arrives in themiddle.2.) Take a couple damage until the first three melee minions line upattacking you.3.) Let the wave meet your minions now and now those minions are

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lined up and ready to attack the first minion on your side killing itfaster and generally have the lane pushing in your favor. This canalso be done if you don’t want the lane pushing to the other side toavoid ganks(unseen attacks from the enemy allies) when you are ina weaker match up.

Figure 9: Wave shoved towards a2v1 lane due to tactic of freezingand manipulating the minions tokill one side faster.

3.4 Situational Match-Ups, Pok-ing, All in, Sustain

Knowing your match-ups is very im-portant in lane as it provides forwhat you should be doing depend-ing on what champion you are play-ing as ADC and who you are play-ing against. I will not cover spe-cific ADCs or matchups as that comeswith what I described of each cham-pion, but generally the role of threedifferent lanes: Poking, All in, andSustain.

Poking Lanes:1.) Utilize your spell or attack range to attack the enemy wheneverthey come in range either to CS. Your support should follow up inproviding damage.2.) Continue to auto attack them at a safe distance and avoid get-ting hit by any of enemy’s spells that would result in a bad positionfor you.

All-In Lanes:1.) Shove the lane hard and try to kill as many minions as you canright when you arrive to lane as your damage spike is at level 2.2.) Be sure to watch your experience bar, because the moment youhit level 2, you want to go all-in. This is due to your damage andkill potential to be high in a short-burst fight and you are bound to

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Figure 10: Shoving lane hard to try to kill all minions and reaching level 2

lose if you stay passive and get poked down.3.) Use common sense however and do not go in if you feel like youwould die.

Figure 11: Going all-in at level 2 to secure a kill.

Sustain Lanes:1.) Your goal is to try to stay alive and get as many CS withouttaking too much damage.2.) Be sure to just stay under your own turret, if necessary, andfarm the minions from there.3.) Harass back whenever the enemy laner tries to attack you, butdo not extend and go into an all out fight that you are bound tolose. If you need to be zoned out of getting CS, then so be it. Los-

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ing a few minion gold is not worth dying for it. Sustain lanes aresuppose survive until their allies help out or they get an item/skilllevel advantage. That is the primary objective you should have inthis lane.

Figure 12: Graves(Red HP bar) is staying under turret to try to sustain in a hardmatch up and not take free damage. A freeze is occurring and Caitlyn(GreenHP bar: Left) is trying to poke Graves out.

With all that said, this manual gives the basic ins and outs ofplaying the AD Carry Position in lane, which translates to overallmaximizing your late game potential and winning the game.

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