Why do Marksmen feel so weak?

With the mix of tanks, bursty mages and assassins, Marksmen rely too much on their teammates to accomplish their duties. Surely, in higher level play, this is rarely an issue. In Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers, where 89% of ranked players are placed, we see this issue much more often. Players are starting to abandon their beloved ADC role.

Early Game

For an ADC, early game should seem pretty straightforward. Focus on farming CS and then go in for the kill if the opportunity arises. Don't feed during lane and then when late game arrives, it's your turn to shine. Your lack of damage, attack speed and mobility in the early game really puts you at a disadvantage to mages who have a mix of crowd control and damage, bruisers who have the mobility and tankiness and assassins who can just show up, kill you and then get out.



The main issue is getting to the late game without having been completely abused beforehand. Or in simpler terms, trying to not feed. Whichever lane gets the first advantage will usually be able to keep it throughout the mid game and with popular junglers like Hecarim, Lee Sin, Evelynn and Rengar, getting that advantage has never been easier. Whether this advantage is set-up with a few potent ganks or just through counterpicks, most players in low tier ranked won't be able to climb back up from such a setback. At this point, the big challenge becomes trying to survive the mid game as a team. Then getting to the late game where, once everyone is near full build, gold doesn't matter as much.





Mid Game

Almost every Marksman is weakest here. This is the point in a match where turrets start to fall, teams start to group up, dragons become a higher priority and teamfights start to break out more consistently.



Why are ADCs weaker at this point?

Well, Marksmen will usually have completed their boots with 1-2 full items. Usually an Infinity Edge with a Runaan's Hurricane or a Statikk Shiv. There's just not quite enough damage output here against bruisers and tanks with any armor. Mages and most junglers can usually burst you at this point as well. You rely heavily on your team to peel for you, but you don't do enough damage for them to be motivated to do so, at least in lower tier ranked play.

The best way to get through this phase without feeding is to sacrifice some of your damage output to just stay alive. Be patient. Some teammates will probably complain to you about it but just push through. Stay behind everyone. I mean everyone. Avoid greedy autos which place you in a bad position.





Late Game

Around the 25-minute mark, if you have been able to find some CS and maybe a few kills or assists, you should have 3-4 completed items along with tier 2 boots. This is where you start to shine. You can auto over 1.50 times per second and you have at least 50% crit. With the Infinity Edge's passive effect, you can easily hit people for 600 damage per auto if they crit. You can take down towers fairly quickly, as well as drakes, and having you during a baron attempt is crucial since you do most of the damage without using up mana.

Many people believe that at this stage you should be able to 1v1 almost anyone with a few exceptions. I believe that this is incorrect. As a Marksman, not only is it not your job to duel others 1v1 but risking a death during the late game can cost your team the win since death timers are much longer. At this point, stay grouped with people who can peel and who have shown that they know to protect you. Try to set up advantageous team fights, take down an inhib and end the match patiently.

Image courtesy of destroyzer.deviantart.com

What to Make of All This

This hasn't always been the way to play the Marksman role correctly and effectively. There was a time where it was fun, where you could play more aggressively without being punished every time. Where you didn't have to rely on your whole team to carry you to the late game. I feel like with other roles being buffed a few times in a row and with the nerfs on items and mechanics affecting Marksmen champions, the state of the Marksman role was inevitably going to become what it is now.

I remember how it was in Season 3, where playing around your ADC was one of the most common competitive strategies. You would often see Doublelift, Wildturtle and Zuna playing in the NA LCS and tearing up games, hard carrying their teams. And then Season 4, where you had players like Imp (LCK), Uzi (LPL) and Namei (LPL) who were consistently unmatched by their respective counterparts.

Here's are a few modifications that I think would go far to improve the Marksman role:

Small range increase, an average for all the marksman champions

Base attack speed buff, this will help with CSing as well as kiting

Implement a different Lifesteal mechanic, unique to marksman champions

More diverse itemization, the current items are stagnant and are refined more toward AD casters and assassins

I truly hope, from the bottom of my heart, that something is done about this sooner than later. I'm not an expert on balancing League of Legends, but I feel strongly about the fact that Riot Games can bring back the Marksman role to its former glory.

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