It’s been a while since I’ve created anything here because I’ve been struggling to survive through my University exam period. However, with that over, I’ll hopefully be able to write more regularly.

League of Legends is still reeling from the 4.10 Patch, with most notably the changes to Nidalee and ADC itemisation. This article will discuss the changes to ADCs, the picks and the items, as well as a few other things. As a quick note: I don’t say Marksman, I don’t like the term for whatever reason. Similarly, these item changes affect other roles and champions outside of the ADC family, however I won’t discuss that (for now….. :D)

1: Item Changes

2: Champions

2.1: Twitch

2.2: Kog’Maw

2.3: Caitlyn

2.4: Lucian

2.5: Corki

2.6: Tristana

3: Power Spikes

4: Exemplar Situation

5: TL;DR

Item Changes:

The previous few patches have essentially been Lucians rushing Bloodthirster and bullying lane until towers, dragons and CS leads have been established and the fate of the game seemed to be set. Well, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but Riot identified the pattern of BT having been simply too strong, in terms of stats, for the cost. To see the full changes, go here.

The first change is the Bloodthirster, definitely necessary. There was little excuse to ever build another item first, due to the high AD it gave for trades and the sustain to keep you in lane. Champions that scaled with high AD ratios became the top tiered picks with few exceptions. Lucian, Graves, Caitlyn saw consistent play, with Twitch and Kog’Maw being the exceptions I suppose. However, with less lifesteal and lower AD ratios, the safety of the item and perceived OP-ness is removed. To compensate, Riot gave it a new passive allowing players to overheal in the form of the shield. Maplestreet does (an accurate?) calculation of how the shield functions here. As it would seem, the shield isn’t practical. With supports rewarded for auto attack trades and ADCs inclined to in order to win the lane, sustaining the shield is very unlikely for any great benefit.

It will make jungle camps maybe a little easier, so Blue side gets an unintentional buff – as they have easier access to jungle camps (Double golems vs. Wight). This will be probably most evident for Caitlyn, who is arguably one of the better ADCs capable of still starting BT, due to her superior range advantage allowing her to maintain the shield. Her blueside is stronger due to angling of the map, meaning her trap placements under tower provide stronger zoning potential. So overall, whilst there seems to be little benefits with the new BT, there are niche examples of where it’ll be effective. On top of this, there is potentially a neat interaction between the new BT passive shield and Barrier, creating higher effective HP. Whilst LeBlanc just got her silenced removed, she still theoretically has high 100-0 potential, as does Syndra and Rengar. The difference between Heal and Barrier is that Heal requires a champion to be missing HP, whereas Barrier can be activated on top of a full HP bar. Similarly, if you’re not missing enough HP, Heal gives diminishing returns, because it can’t overheal. So with 100-0 potential picks, BT passive and Barrier can create a large degree of artificial HP, meaning they’ll have to 150-0 instead. This obviously, isn’t going to be very applicable on a game by game basis, but I’d argue it’ll be prevalent in a few games. The shield/BT interaction is quite neatly summated in im_ls ‘s vlog.

Blade of the Ruined King, overall, got buffed in my opinion. People seem a little fixated on the nerfs it received on the Lifesteal, but considering it stayed the same price (unlike BT) and the passive damage increased, it means ADCs that can build BotRK first will power spike earlier. Theoretically, this should lead to an early/mid game advantage and a better dragon fight. Whilst it hasn’t received drastic changes, it has become more powerful as an item due to the changes other items received. Champions that can rush BotRK should see more competitive play, as it inherently counters champions that build IE first. The build path favours BotRK throughout all stages, with the cutlass purchase being arguably better in a sustained laning phase over the B.F. Sword, due to its Lifesteal component. However, all in will sitll favour the B.F. Sword player, if this section of the laning phase goes unpunished (via all ins) then the BotRK player purchases their first item before their enemy gets IE and from there on out it should be extremely one-sided.

Infinity Edge got buffed with an extra 10 AD, making it on par with the new BT. But due to the other stats, it’s now probably going to be rushed more often than not over the BT as a first item for many ADCs. This received criticism from the likes of Doublelift, who inferred that bot lane match ups and trades will unfairly be decided through whoever gets more crits, less revolved around skill. However, like before this doesn’t solve the issues first item IE has always had. Due to it’s cost and build path/components, it takes far longer for an ADC to peak and become relevant, essentially requiring 3.8k for the IE and then another 2k+ plus for Statikk Shiv or Phantom Dancer to hit a relevant spike.

Mercurial Scimitar and Youmuu’s Ghostblade both received minor buffs in order to try keep them relevant and provide alternative build options. Both should see more play, but they’ll only be relevant so long as particular ADCs are viable within the meta, as they’re not optimal for everyone or in all situations.

Now that I’ve briefly covered the changes to the items, I’ll share my opinion on how this affects individual ADCs, who will remain relevant and who will fade; who will be better or worse! Obviously, these are my opinions on each ADC and I implore you to try and test them out yourself to see if you agree or disagree.

Twitch:



Twitch came into the meta due to his high scaling, good team fight abilities and assassination potential. Whilst his rework heightened his prominence and brought attention to him. For many competitive minds, it started the process of why this champion had gone under the radar for so long. Simply, the rest of the champions didn’t allow him to exist. Previously, the top lane tanky bruisers were dealing too much damage, in conjunction with assassin mid laners like Ahri, Zed and Kha’Zix to name a few. Without a reliable escape, he was simply too easy to shut down and delete from team fights. When top lane damage was put in check and the FotM champions all received nerfs, as well as similar happening to the mid lane where utility champions like Orianna, Ziggs and Lulu took over. As such, he was allowed to flourish when in compositions with Orianna, highlighting a strong team fight, or with Nidalee in the infamous “Twitch-Nidalee comp” that has something like a 75% win rate in NA LCS.

Twitch, on patch 4.9, Twitch built Blade of the Ruined King into various attack speed items, often Stattik Shiv and then Last Whisper to maximise the burst potential and team fight damage with Ra-tat-tat-a. On 4.10, Twitch builds BotRK as usual, in it’s buffed form. Following from this, he can build as previously, however it’s more efficient to build Youmuu’s Ghostblade, because of its buffs. Ghostblade offers AD, crit chance, CDR and armour penetration, as well as the active giving attack speed and movement speed. This means 4.10 Twitch power spikes earlier than previously in a similar manner, with arguably more power. His assassination potential is higher than previously, due to the burst from Ghostblade.

Overall: Twitch has gained in strength. His burst and assassination is more potent than previously and he’ll more quickly than a lot of champions. With the rise of Kayle and the continual use of Lulu, Morgana, Nami and Orianna, he’ll remain contested in many ‘protection’ styled compositions.



Kog’Maw:



The spaceworm was extremely valued within the Korean scene in recent times, utilised for his insane scaling and high damage. Previously, he has seen less play within the meta similarly to Twitch, because his lack of mobility inhibits his survivability. Having said this, we still saw him occasionally in the Western scene, with players like Genja trying to bring him out of the shadows. It really took until the rise of Soraka and the beginning of the modern “Protect the Kog’Maw” composition for him to arise internationally.

On patch 4.10, Kog’Maw is really quite unaffected. I feel that he needs to rush Trinity Force first, giving him mobility and kite potential (Phage/Zeal) as well as significantly more burst and damage (Sheen). His W procs Sheen’s passive, meaning he has relatively good “jab” trades. After Tri Force, it’s generally agreed that BotRK, even prior to its buff, is the next best option. BotRK provides more mobility/self-peel (albeit every 90 seconds) in the form of the passive. But more importantly, the passive health % (increased to 8 from 5) works extremely well with Kog’Maws W. So whilst building as an ADC, he’s still effectively shredding through enemy front lines with %based magic damage.

Overall: Kog’Maw was slightly buffed. The self-peel and lifesteal were fairly important on him due to his lack of mobility and poor early game respectively. Considering TriForce went unchanged and the passive of BotRK got a buff, as well as the fact other lane bullies are unable to rush a Bloodthirster well before Kog’Maw has finished an item means that he is in a stronger state in comparison to other ADCs, considering his power spike should be more timely and equal in comparison to the other ADCs. Considering his high damage prior to this patch, the strong champions and compositions mentioned in relation to Twitch, Kog’Maw is an even stronger ADC than previously.

Caitlyn:



Caitlyn has always been a fairly prominent ADC since her release because of her range advantage and late game monster status. She isn’t always highly contested because she doesn’t naturally build Bloodthirster, due to her real damage being through her AAs. Whilst she has been utilised in a more supportive measure as of recently because of her innate waveclear and her ultimate having strong synergy with common assassin midlaners like Syndra and LeBlanc, ensuring close to certain death making many pick comps very potent. Caitlyn however, still most effectively benefits from Infinity Edge and Phantom Dancer/Statikk Shiv, due to her range advantage and headshot. As such, in certain match ups Caitlyn should gain a significant advantage within the game. Now with IE being the common rush, Caitlyn gains an advantage over other ADCs due to her inherent synergy with the item. Caitlyn has historically suffered during the mid game, where her lane bully status is over but her late game monster status has yet to take off. However, now that other ADCs similarly have their power spike delayed, her lane dominance will result in the faster IE buy and this should mean that she becomes a stronger ADC than previously, in my opinion.

Overall: Caitlyn is a situationally strong pick. If she is second picked into a favourable matchup (taking into account the build path of the other ADC) then there’s the possibility of abusing the lane advantage and snowballing that into the mid game, where she can be ahead of the enemy adc and allowed to scale into the late game safely. She still has good synergy with assassins and on top of this provides waveclear for teams lacking it. Her late game is generally underappreciated and Caitlyn deserves more time in the spotlight in my opinion.

Lucian:



Lucian was probably the biggest example of the ‘Bloodthirster Bully’ who upon getting that item, seemed to be ready to take on the world. In Oceania’s Winter Regional, he had a 100% win rate during the Round of 8, having been picked or banned in close to every game (if not all). I believe that this routine continued into the Round of 4 in similar fashion. In other regions, he’s had similar successes, having a strong early game and transition into the mid game without dropping off late game. However, when the Bloodthirster changes went through, it was assumed all was lost. In my opinion, Lucian still has the same potential as previously. Whilst he may not be appropriate for every single composition as he previously seemed to be, he still has a similar function.

Someone, maybe in a troll attempt or after some clever theorycrafting, has started a new trend in Lucian builds that is already seeing popularity in competitive play, with WildTurtle of TSM going 9-1 against CLG. Similar to Twitch, Lucian can build BotRK into Ghostblade, due to the BotRK passive scaling with Lucian’s passive and the attack speed from both items synergising with his ult, among an obvious myriad of other appreciable stats from those two items. In a similar manner to how TriForce provided good burst and stats to Lucian (although I personally never subscribed to TriForce on Lucian) BotRK and Ghostblade seem to have a similar effect.

Overall: Lucian is the same problem he used to be. Follows a different build path and maybe has a slightly different power spike and playstyle, but overall he seems as strong as previously, although maybe slightly less of a hassle during lane phase. I don’t see why he won’t remain a highly contested pick.

Corki:



Corki will most likely be the oddball star of my review of the ADCs. He hasn’t seen much play at all recently, outside of being utilised in poke comps (generally with Karma in lane) or sometimes as a counter to Twitch in lane. But overall, you don’t (often?) see teams fight over a Corki pick, he’s not terrible but just didn’t seem very contested. The new patch, in my opinion, really highlights his strengths. With lifesteal becoming much less common, with people not rushing BT and generally only going two or three dorans blades in terms of lifesteal, means poke and trades are more permanent. Corki’s passive means that all of his auto trades hurt. They should be hurting a lot. On this tangent, Corki is fairly renowned for his all in potential in lane. Popularised by the Leona + Corki lane, his all in potential is in most scenarios, is fairly strong.

To add to this, I think Corki (as well as Jayce but that’s for another time) will have to replace Nidalee in poke compositions. Poke/Siege styled play is still extremely potent, it’s just not as toxic now that Nidalee was reworked. Players and teams will need to create new and innovative strategies in order to effectively pull off the poke playstyles now.

Overall: Corki is definitely a secret weapon in my eyes. I think his build pathing now means he’ll have an optimal laning phase, in comparison to previously. I think there are more opportunities for him to be picked and that he’ll an absolute weapon when utilised correctly.

Tristana:



Tristana seems to be gaining popularity, even Doublelift pulled her out in LCS recently, without great success. I think Tristana, prior to patch 4.10, was awkward and generally lacked opportunity to play. Her lane phase had interesting damage and all in potential, but it always feels like such a risky pick. Last hitting and freezing waves is also a massive issue due to her passive. Tristana, similar to Caitlyn, also fell off really hard when behind and generally during the mid game. Overall, she has never felt like a safe pick due to the wave she power spikes and that she’s very much dependent on getting an easy path into the late game in order to be effective.

The changes don’t alter this, in my opinion. Her passive still makes CSing harder and freezing the wave next to impossible. Her lane phase can still be abused by the enemy support and lane swaps (where freezing the lane isn’t possible). She’s able to rush BotRK, which is a positive, however I don’t think this makes her safe, because until she hits a 3 item mark she still isn’t going to be too much of a threat. Whilst she is good at dealing with enemy threats due to her scaling range and ultimate, there are other ADCs who offer similar safety such as Caitlyn (due to her range and E) or Lucian due to his E.

Overall: I think there are close to no instances in which Tristan should be picked over another ADC due to the fact most are capable of doing what she does, but better. The changes haven’t made her outshine the rest of the ADCs and I don’t think there is any great reason to pick her.

Power Spikes:

Ok, so I’ve detailed the important ADCs in my mind, I don’t think the changes really affect other ADCs that much other than maybe Graves who has really just died in a heap without the high AD stats from old BT. If you were bothered to read through all my opinions on individual ADCs, you’ll notice one common factor I continued to mention went along the lines of “item pathing” and “power spiking”. By this, I essentially am referring to the concept I assume everyone is familiar with in that, ADCs are fairly useless early game. Their role is to be babysat through lane and scale into the late game with items and damage. Whilst there isn’t really a single “click” moment where they turn from useless into god tier, an appropriate analogy might be akin to climbing a staircase. Each step should represent a spike in power, generally as a result of reaching a level or purchasing an item. Some obvious level power spikes for ADCs are:

Vayne: Level 6 – where she gets her ultimate and should generally be able to reciprocate damage and outduel opponents, providing she isn’t too far behind.

Lucian: Level 2 – Having gotten Q and E, Lucian is able to chunk large portions ofdamage through Q-AA (passive) – E towards target – AA (passive).

We could continue and keep looking at the timings when different champions gain an advantage, however I think you grasp the point. Similar to this, is items. A quick example is when Twitch finishes his BotRK, where prior to that he seems to struggle a bit in lane because of a lack of mobility and relatively short range (without ultimate), but upon getting this item he can generally stealth into most situations, gain the Q steroid and lay waste to a lot of enemies. Items are important.

On patch 4.9, generally when either ADC gained a tangible advantage, it was titled that they had ‘won’ lane. Whether through an outplay, a misplay or even a gank, when one player was able to recall and has Vamp Scepter, B.F. Sword and potions in comparison to a Vamp Scepter, it’s sort of obvious who has the upper hand. Whilst on this patch every champion won’t be rushing the same item, the same principle obviously applies. However, due to the difference in builds and match ups, some ADCs who might have lost lane on the previous patch are able to come out ahead now because they can build particular items. An example of this is Twitch, who is whilst still having some issues in lane, is able to build the cheapest (large/substantial) first item, BotRK.

A quick reference chart we’ll use for the next example:

Blade of the Ruined King = 3,200 gold Bloodthirster = 3,500 gold Trinity Force = 3,703 gold Infinity Edge = 3,800 gold

If Twitch is versing a champion who has to build IE first, he should be able to get BotRK 600 gold earlier and gain an advantage in lane. Getting this item to his opponent, who has no finished item, should often equal in him getting a kill or forcing his enemy out of lane or at least away from CS. This in turn equals a further lead. This is clearly, very theoretical and doesn’t account of ganks, obnoxious lane match ups or even just a player missing CS or either side getting global advantage, however the theory should still apply. So, on our imaginary staircase, where Twitch should have previously tailed behind, he’s able to leap ahead and gain an advantage over his opponent. This may not seem like a big deal, however in a good portion of cases it really is massive. ADCs should be finishing their first item for arguments sake at around the 10 minute mark. This doesn’t account for a lot of things, however we’ll use it as a general indicator. At around a similar time, other champions in turn, should also be completing items. Jungle buffs should have been collected or stolen, and some lanes will have lost their towers or be in position to lose them. Team fights will break out. Dragon becomes an extremely prominent objective and skirmishes or full blown team fights should be coming to fruition. If one ADC has finished their first item, there is an imbalance in damage. Whilst there are other variables pertaining to enemy champion picks, their items, level and power spikes, at a basic level if an ADC has a completed item and their opponent does not, then they and their team are holding an advantage.

Relating this back to the initial point, now that builds for ADCs are dependent on the pick and less on the OP Bloodthirster, which let’s face it, was rushed on nearly everyone (and if not it was BotRK which was the same price). Now that ADCs are literally expected to peak differently in terms of items, picking an ADC isn’t as simple as always. On top of lane match up, scaling, wave clear, objective speed, siege potential and the myriad of other things that go into selecting the optimal ADC, their relative power spikes clearly have be altered and this too should go into the decision making process. Where Kog’Maw was previously considered a fairly terrible early game champion, now that he’s able to buy Phage, Sheen and eventually TriForce before his enemy has their first item (Infinity Edge in this case), means that whilst he was able to get destroyed last patch because his enemy had a Bloodthirster at the 8 minute mark, things have changed.

I don’t expect that these changes will have a dramatic impact on every game as I’ve somewhat made it out to be. As always, Caitlyn is annoying in lane because of her range and should still be able to bully out the Twitch, so maybe he doesn’t always get BotRK before the Infinity Edge, however I do think that this will be an influencing factor in competitive play.

TL;DR

Itemization effects which ADCs are good and bad. Because not every champion is rushing Bloodthirster and BotRK (3,200 gold), different champions will have increased power and damage at different times, corresponding to their first buys (BotRK vs IE). Champion builds have adjusted now that BT isn’t the “one size fits all” criterion for ADCs. Certain ADCs have been buffed and others nerfed simply due to the items they build. Match ups should change from the previous patch in some situations (build/support dependent). Bot lane will be different in competitive play due to the nature of the lane now, and there players/analysts will continue to search for the next best thing.

As always, if you managed to get through the above then congratulations and thank you! Hopefully this content is somewhat relevant or insight to some, and if not then contact me and let me know what to write about next.

~j i s h~