The current ADC meta has already stabilized. Learning about matchups involves making counter-picks. For example, choosing Twitch when playing against Jinx. In this post, I’ll provide a complete ADC matchup guide, covering which ADCs are advantageous in specific matchups and explaining why they are considered counters.
Table Of Content
Jinx
Let’s focus on Jinx. Jinx is an ADC with strong late-game potential, relying on critical strikes with her basic attacks.
However, it’s important to note that Jinx faces challenges in the early game and is susceptible to aggressive opponents in lane. She is particularly weak in early 1v1 fights. Champions like Twitch, Ashe, Draven, and Tristana are effective at countering her due to their ability to win 1v1 matchups.
In terms of laning dynamics, Jinx may face difficulties in farming if her support roams, potentially leading to 1v1 situations. Kalista and Varus are also solid picks against Jinx.
Jinx synergizes well with support champions that can provide protection. She pairs effectively with champions like Thresh, Lulu,Milio, Janna, Braum, and Tahm Kench, who can easily apply crowd-control effects.
It’s crucial to recognize that Jinx’s impact escalates significantly from mid to late game.
Jhin
Jhin is different from other ADCs. He reloads 4 shots at a time, making him feel more like a sniper than a traditional ADC. He can hit from farther away, so he’s like an assistant ADC, supporting the team.
Jhin is well-rounded and works well with most supports, especially those that can grab and deal damage like Xerath, Zyra, Ashe, Nautilus, Pyke, and Shaco. However, he doesn’t do well with utility supports and is also weak on 1v1s. If you struggle playing with damage supports, then Jhin is a good pick because he works well with them.
Twitch
When it comes to playing Twitch in League of Legends, it’s easier to take advantage of his abilities when the enemy is not skilled. Twitch has stealth, so if you’re not paying attention, you can get punished. Lower-ranked players will agree with me.
Twitch is a hypercarry late-game ADC and is also strong in the early game. His ultimate ability can deal a lot of damage to multiple enemies, especially with buffs. However, he struggles against tanks. He becomes significantly stronger in the mid to late game, making him good in all stages of the game.
His counters among ADCs include Varus, Kalista, Draven, and Nilah. Nilah is especially good against Twitch due to his lack of mobility.
Good supports to play with Twitch include Lulu, Yuumi, and Rakan, as they can complement his abilities. Tank supports like Leona or Alistar are difficult matchups for Twitch as he can’t do much damage against them.
It’s important to consider the enemy support when picking Twitch to ensure a favorable matchup.
Lucian
When playing as Lucian, he excels in the early laning phase and remains strong until mid-game. However, due to his short range, he becomes less effective in the late game. For instance, Jinx has a range of 700, while Lucian’s range is 500. Therefore, Jinx has the advantage in the late game due to her longer range. This is why it’s often said that Lucian falls off in the late game. Additionally, he struggles to shred tanks because he doesn’t deal percentage damage.
It’s important to note that Lucian’s strengths lie in his strong laning phase, and his dash ability allows him to set up kills on his own. He also has good 1v1 potential. In terms of his counters, champions with long-range such as Ashe and Caitlyn pose a challenge for him. Equally strong 1v1 champions like Draven, Kalista, and Varus are also problematic for Lucian. He tends to struggle against champions who have more range or are better equipped for 1v1 situations.
When it comes to supports, champions like Milio are beneficial as they increase the range of Lucian’s auto attacks. Nami is also a good support for Lucian and his build changes when paired with Milio or Nami. Additionally, champions like Taric, Braum, Leona, Nautilus, Maokai, and Sona work well with him. Lucian usually has no problems with damage-focused supports, but he performs best when paired with tank supports or champions like Milio and Nami.
Kog’Maw
When it comes to Kog’Maw, some people may not be familiar with him. Kog’Maw primarily deals AP (ability power) damage. His basic attacks also mostly deal AP damage, even though he doesn’t build AP items. Selecting Kog’Maw in an all Attack Damage (AD) team is not that bad, which many people may not realize.
He excels at shredding tanks due to his high percentage of damage. Therefore, he is effective against tanks. However, his drawbacks are apparent as well. He heavily relies on his team. This means that his weaknesses are very clear – he is a slow champion and can’t deal damage when his W (Bio-Arcane Barrage) ability ends.
He has specific requirements to succeed. For example, it’s like having talent, but not being able to go to school due to financial constraints or being unable to attend a university due to being underprivileged. That’s how Kog’Maw’s life in the game can be.
However, if the circumstances are favorable, such as having a tank in the team and receiving support buffs from your allies, then he can excel immediately. In some cases, there used to be an event in the Korean League of Legends (LCK) called “perfect SAT score Kog’Maw,” which indicates how much he relies on luck and support from the team. From this, it can be inferred that Kog’Maw can be challenging to play in low elo.
As for his counters, some champions are stronger in lane than Kog’Maw, such as Caitlyn, Varus, and Draven. Recommended supports for Kog’Maw are those who can provide protection, such as Lulu, Milio, Yuumi, Janna, Tahm Kench, and Braum. Thresh and Taric are also good choices, while other supports can be disregarded. It is not advisable to play Kog’Maw with damage-focused supports.
Nilah
It’s difficult to consider Nilah as an ADC, so I’ll tell you when to pick her. I have a rule for when picking her: when my support can heal. Why? Nilah increases the amount of her support’s healing ability significantly. Soraka and Rakan are good choices. Rakan has heal and can initiate, while Taric and Yuumi are also good options.
Don’t pick her if it’s not one of these 4. It’s hard to snowball with her, as she’s not that good. I’ll tell you exactly why here: don’t bother playing her, but her strength is that she’s already level 6 when the enemy is at level 4 due to her passive, which makes her level up faster. However, she’s not long-ranged. She has the shortest range among ADCs at 500, but Nilah’s is only 225, so she’s hard to use, almost like a melee champion. That’s why she’s difficult.
I won’t go over counters; to be honest, counters don’t matter. She’s playable with the 4 supports mentioned above.
Ashe
Ashe’s strengths include the ability for her basic attacks to apply a slow, and she also has a spell that grants vision. She has long range and a decent laning phase. However, her weaknesses are that she is immobile, doesn’t take down tanks quickly, and even when she’s fed, she can’t hard carry like other crit-based ADCs. It’s important to note that Ashe is not a crit-based ADC, but rather an attack speed ADC, so she falls off in the late game.
In terms of counter ADCs, Ashe struggles against champions like Varus, Draven, and Kalista, especially when they are played by skilled opponents. While she can usually win against Kalista, going up against a skilled Kalista player can be challenging. Additionally, champions like Twitch and Nilah can also pose a difficult matchup for Ashe.
Recommended supports for Ashe include Lulu and Thresh, as well as any champions who can protect her. Ashe’s W slow sets up well for her support, making champions like Thresh, Tahm Kench, Braum, and Nautilus good choices. Support champions who can chain crowd control abilities, such as Zyra and Seraphine, are also effective due to their synergy with Ashe. Seraphine, in particular, is a good match because her E roots enemies who are already slowed, complementing Ashe’s kit.
Lastly, Ashe is good to pick with damage supports. Why? She’s also an assisting ADC, not as much as Jhin, but she can be considered like one, it might sound sad but usually, secondary ADCs synergize with damage supports. Since Ashe can set them up as well with her slow, and let your support do damage.
Caitlyn
Caitlyn is the standard for an ADC. When it comes to leveling up abilities, her passive and general leveling, she stands out. She has the longest range among all the ADCs and a nice array of skills including an escape mechanism and high range.
She’s a crit-based champion and is not bad against tanks. However, her weakness is that she needs to snowball in the early game. To benefit, she needs to shove the wave under the tower to take turret plates. If she dies a few times from ganks, she does no damage, which puts her at a disadvantage. Therefore, she can’t take down tanks when she’s behind. If things go smoothly, she deals well with tanks.
Among champions who snowball, Caitlyn is the best because of her long range. Jhin, who has a longer range, annoys Caitlyn rather than countering her since he applies crowd control from far away. The same goes for Ashe and Varus. It’s a little challenging for Caitlyn if she goes up against a good Kalista or Draven player, meaning she usually wins if they’re not good. Typically, Caitlyn wins if both players are at the same skill level.
Recommended supports for Caitlyn are Lux, Morgana, and Bard because she can chain CCs with them effectively. Lux and Morgana can bind, and Bard can freeze with his ultimate. If you play Caitlyn when these three supports are picked, you’re less likely to receive criticism. Enchanters like Lulu, Nami, Sona, Janna, Milio and Seraphine are also good choices. Thresh and Braum are not bad either since they provide protection. However, I don’t recommend playing her with damage supports.
Samira
Samira is a champion with a diving, melee-oriented playstyle. She isn’t typically classified as an ADC, as her strength lies in engaging rather than dealing damage from a distance.
She’s a crafty champion, strategically choosing when to engage, usually when the enemy is at low health. Knowing when to engage is crucial, but one downside is that she struggles against tanky opponents and requires a high level of skill to play effectively. She can be countered by champions with longer ranges or abilities that can interrupt her ultimate.
However, if the enemy team lacks crowd-control abilities to stop her ultimate, she can be a strong pick, especially when paired with a support champion who has strong crowd-control abilities like Nautilus, Alistar, Rell, Maokai, or Rakan.
It’s not ideal to pick her when the enemy has a tanky support, but if the enemy doesn’t have a tanky support and your team has a support with strong crowd control, she can be a good choice.
Ezreal
Ezreal is an ability-based ADC that relies on a mix of skill shots and auto attacks. Many people recommend playing him for beginners, but I wouldn’t recommend it because he doesn’t do enough damage if he can’t land skill shots.
I think Ezreal is hard to play and depends on being nimble. His strengths include a pretty good laning phase and being easy to solo farm with. Ezreal’s escape mechanism is almost top-tier, but he struggles against tanky champions and isn’t a crit-based champion.
His counter ADCs are Varus, Kalista, Draven, a good Vayne or Kai’Sa player, Caitlyn, Ashe, a good Lucian, Samira, and a good Twitch. When it comes to countersupports, since Ezreal has great escape tools, he’s weak against poke supports rather than tanky ones.
Recommended supports for Ezreal include Karma, as the main synergy champion. He can also synergize well with Leona, Naut, Braum, Pyke, Soraka (whom he can poke with), Xerath, and Lux. Yuumi used to be good, but she has been nerfed a lot.
Sivir
Sivir’s strength is her ability to clear waves quickly and deal damage in teamfights on her own due to her high movement speed. Her ultimate and passive grant her additional movement speed, and she also has a spell shield which means she doesn’t rely heavily on being peeled for.
However, she struggles against tanks despite being a crit champ because her kit doesn’t shred tanks, she’s relatively immobile, and her laning phase is weak, especially due to her short range. On the bright side, she synergizes well with engage supports.
She is weak against champions who excel in 1v1 scenarios. Instead of being picked to counter certain AD carries, she can be played against champions such as Jhin, Xayah, Jinx, and Ezreal. Jinx and Xayah have weak laning phases and can be duelled effectively. Although there’s no strong need to pick Sivir, she has potential when paired with certain supports, like Karma for wave clear or grab supports such as Thresh and Braum who can peel for her.
Enchanter supports like Lulu, Milio, Yuumi, and Seraphine work well with her, and champions such as Maokai and Vel’Koz provide her additional strengths. Other support choices may not be as effective with Sivir.
In conclusion, Sivir is a challenging champion to play, so I don’t highly recommend picking her unless paired with the right support and against the right team composition.
Zeri
Zeri is a highly recommended champion. She is hard for the opponent to calculate her damage because it increases suddenly. She has high late-game carry potential and even in the early game, just having berserkers makes it easier for her, which is why she’s good right now.
However, her weak side is that the early laning phase is hard. She struggles before getting berserkers and even with 1v1s in the early game, particularly against champions like Draven and Kalista due to her short range. Her movement speed is fast, but she’s not that good at taking down tanks. However, compared to others, she is a super carry.
Some counter ADCs are Jinx, Draven, Kalista, Varus, Twitch, and a good Tristana. Zeri does have strong 1v1 potential, but there are simply better champs who are stronger in 1v1.
Recommended supports are Yuumi, Lulu, Nami, Braum, Janna, Nautilus, Leona, and Rakan. It’s not recommended to pick Zeri without one of these supports.
Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune is one of the easiest ADCs to play, with a decent laning phase that makes her great for beginners. However, she struggles to deal with tanks and relies heavily on her support. If she has a bad support, there’s not much she can do.
In the late game, she doesn’t become much stronger; she just maintains her decent performance, relying mostly on her R ability. Miss Fortune is also weak in 1v1 situations because she lacks mobility and struggles against opponents with dash abilities or strong diving potential, such as Samira, Tristana, Kalista, Draven, Twitch, and Lucian.
It’s best to pair her with supports who can chain crowd control abilities, like Leona, Nautilus, and Rakan. Seraphine, Taric, Neeko, Alistar, and Rell are also good options. It’s not necessary to pair her with damage-heavy supports.
Smolder
Once he reaches 225 stacks, he can outperform any other ADC. He is not very effective before reaching 225 stacks but becomes very strong once he goes over this threshold. Below emerald elo, it should not be too difficult for him to reach 225 stacks. In Elos above emerald, I don’t recommend using him unless against Zeri, Vayne or Ezreal.
You don’t need to worry about counters since you should only pick against those 3 ADCs. Good supports to play with are Rakan, Milio, Yuumi, enchanters, or champions that can provide peel such as Tahm Kench, and those who have healing abilities or can provide protection. It’s never a good idea to play him with damage-oriented support.
Kai’Sa
Kai’Sa is considered a top-tier ADC with potent late-game potential and the ability to handle tanky champions effectively. She boasts a decent laning phase and possesses dash and escape abilities, yet her effectiveness heavily relies on having a strong support. A weak support can significantly hinder her laning phase, underscoring the importance of a reliable support partner.
Recommended support options include champions with crowd-control abilities such as Nautilus, Maokai, Taric, Rell, Alistar, Leona, Pyke, Rakan, and Blitzcrank. It’s not advisable to pick Kai’Sa without one of these supports. Additionally, she can be countered by champions like Caitlyn, Varus, Kalista, Aphelios, Draven, Kog’Maw, and Lucian. Due to her susceptibility to counters, it’s best not to first pick Kai’Sa.
Vayne
Vayne is often referred to as “The ideal ADC” and “Father of ADCs” since hypercarries like her were not a thing before she came along. However, another champion, Kai’Sa, has gained popularity, leading to Vayne being somewhat forgotten.
Vayne has the ability to escape and is effective at taking down tanks. However, she struggles with wave clear, is squishy, and is weak in the laning phase. Additionally, several ADCs can counter her. So we’ll go over the champions she’s strong against, they include Jhin, Ezreal, and Samira.
It’s recommended to pair Vayne with supports like Thresh, Braum, Maokai, Taric, Alistar, and Rakan, as they can help her perform better in the game.
Tristana
Tristana has a good escape mechanism, can shred tanks in the late game, and has a decent laning phase. However, she requires a high level of skill because you need to know when to engage, just like with Samira. If the support is not good, it’s hard for her to go in alone as she is very support-dependent. Low Elo players usually struggle with her.
Once she falls behind, it’s a downward spiral, making it hard for her to deal damage. However, when she’s fed, it’s easy for her to play alone. She’s also good at macro play as she takes down turrets fast. It’s important to note that although Tristana’s range increases as she levels up, initially it’s hard for her to go in alone unless her support initiates well.
She is weak against lane bullies like Varus, Draven, Kalista, and Caitlyn but strong against immobile ADCs. Regarding counters, she struggles against tank supports but can excel when facing squishy and immobile bot lanes.
Recommended supports for her include Rakan, Lulu, Yuumi, Leona, Naut, Taric, Alistar, and Morgana. The combinations of Tristana with Lulu or Alistar are particularly effective when playing as a duo. All supports, except for damage supports, generally work well with her.
Aphelios
To put it simply, it feels good to solve an equation. Similarly, Aphelios is good once you know how to use his weapons, but it requires a lot of mastery. He becomes harder to use in low elo. His weaknesses include immobility, difficulty in using his weapons, and his range shortening based on the gun, making it hard to deal damage.
ADCs that counter him are Varus, Twitch, Lucian, Nilah, and Ashe. Good supports for Aphelios include Thresh, Lulu, Maokai, Milio, Seraphine, Nautilus, and Zilean. Janna is also not bad if she’s good, and Rakan is good too.
Draven
Draven is one of the most challenging ADCs in League of Legends. He is difficult to play because of his need to catch his axes, lack of mobility, and decreased damage output when falling behind. However, if Draven gets ahead, he can snowball and earn more gold due to his passive by getting kills. He excels at ending games quickly and deals more damage than other ADCs.
On the downside, he struggles to deal with tanks. Draven is countered by champions like Varus, Aphelios, Kalista, and Lucian. When it comes to support, champions like Janna, Nautilus, Thresh, Leona, and Rell work well with Draven. It’s crucial not to fall behind with Draven, as he can become quite ineffective if he does.
Xayah
Xayah’s strengths lie in her survival abilities, good DPS, and effectiveness in the mid-late game as well as her ability to shred tanks. However, she is limited by her short range and requires a higher level of mastery compared to other ADCs. The impact of her support during the laning phase is crucial to her performance. If her support is weak, she becomes considerably weaker as well.
Her weaknesses include being easily countered by champions such as Varus and Kalista, who are considered lane bullies, as well as long-ranged champions like Caitlyn, Draven, and Ashe. She synergizes well with supports like Rakan, Blitzcrank, Nautilus, Thresh, Braum, Tahm Kench, Bard, Alistar, Nami, Rell, Leona, and Renata, but doesn’t perform well with damage-oriented supports.
Kalista
Kalista is a challenging champion. However, she becomes much stronger in the lane and is good at snowballing. The better she is, the harder it is to stop her. Her passive allows her to jump, giving her some flexibility. She has weaknesses in that she cannot shred tanks, does not deal much damage if she falls behind, and has a short range.
Varus, a good Caitlyn, and Draven are counters to her. Recommended supports for Kalista are Thresh, Nautilus, Blitzcrank, Pyke, Maokai, and Taric. Kalista and Taric make a perfect pair, and Rell meshes well with all engage supports. It’s not advised to pick her with damage-oriented supports.
Varus
Finally, there’s Varus. Varus is strong against almost all champions and doesn’t have a clear counter. The only potential challenge could be an arcane comet Miss Fortune and Ashe support duo, but this is quite rare. Varus is very powerful, with a strong kit that makes him effective at taking down tanks and performing well in the early to mid-game.
However, as an attack speed ADC, he falls off in the late game compared to crit ADCs. His lack of mobility further exacerbates this issue, as in the late game, consistent auto-attacks are essential, and if he can’t proc his blight stacks, he becomes very weak. Therefore, this is his downside.
He synergizes well with all supports, which could lead one to argue that he should be considered a Tier 1 champion. Some say that reaching a high rank is possible simply by mastering Varus, highlighting his strength. Despite his potential, some find him monotonous to play, but this speaks to his effectiveness regardless of the current meta.
It’s possible to climb the ranks by solely playing Varus, even if he’s listed as tier 5. However, people tend to favor other champions due to their enjoyment of playing them. Additionally, since Varus is an attack-speed ADC, mastering fast auto-attacks requires skill, which may explain why he’s not as popular in lower ranks.
FAQ
Is ADC the hardest role in League?
- Not necessarily. The most challenging part is learning all the 2v2 matchups and understanding how to position yourself in lane and teamfights to maximize DPS while staying safe from danger.
What ADC is good now?
- I would recommend you keep up to date on data from websites like u.gg and lolalytics to see which ADCs are currently meta.
What do I do when I get counterpicked?
- I need to take advantage of (X) champion’s weaknesses and focus on that. This is important because you have to know the enemy champion’s weaknesses, to use it as a counterattack. Let’s say it’s Caitlyn vs Lucian, Lucian is short-ranged, but he goes in on Caitlyn, as she tries to trade using her range. Who wins? Of course, Lucian does, since he has better skill sets. Use those opportunities, taking advantage of Caitlyn’s weakness once she positions poorly and punishing her. Against counters, you can still win if you take good advantage of their weaknesses.
Who is the easiest ADC?
- I recommend you check out our ADC Difficulty Tier List post, where all ADCs are categorized into four different tiers based on difficulty level.
