This article is brought to you by Gamer Sensei. Learn from the best. Check out Gamer Sensei for your own personal League of Legends coach!
Some champions in League of Legends are just flat-out stronger than others.
For the marksmen and markswomen of League, or the ADCs, there are several types of champions to play. There are attack-speed-focused hyper carries like Jinx and Tristana, and then there are the face-melting high early damage carries like Draven and Jhin. Fortunately, the current ADC meta allows players to choose whichever one suits their tastes because they’re all mostly viable right now.
This list of top-tier champions can be affected depending on a number of things. Sometimes the meta shifts for no apparent reason other than players’ tastes, but usually there’s some kind of balance change behind it. It can be difficult to keep up on the flavor-of-the-month champs, so let us do that for you.
Here are our top five ADC for League’s Patch 11.1.
Kai’Sa
Pros
- Mixed damage
- Invisibility
- Late-game beast
Cons
- Low range
- Hard to come back if behind
Kai’Sa has come back into the meta following the recent itemization rework. She benefits a lot from the new items, especially Guinsoo’s Rageblade, which converts critical chance into additional on-hit damage.
Kai’Sa can build AP, AD, or attack speed and remain effective as long as she builds them in the correct scenarios. For instance, flat AP is best used for reliable burst damage, but full AD and crit is used for high-risk, high-reward bursting due to relying on crits. The attack speed and attack speed hybrid builds work best against teams with tons of tanks. They put out the most consistent and reliable DPS due to her true damage passive.
Item build
While there are plenty of viable keystones for Kai’Sa, the most efficient one to help you have a great early game is Hail of Blades from the Domination tree. It allows you to do quick trades with the opposing bottom lane without exposing yourself too much. Taste of Blood alongside Ravenous Hunter will help you out with additional sustain both in and out of the laning phase. Eyeball Collection is taken out of the second row since it’s the easiest to stack to get additional AD.
The secondary tree is Precision for Presence of Mind and Legend: Bloodline. Both these runes aim to fix two of your core weaknesses, mana, and lifesteal which you won’t be getting from itemization.
Ability priority
Kai’Sa’s skill priority is: R>Q>E>W. You want to max Q as soon as possible to be able to farm waves efficiently and poke enemies when needed. You want to max E second to get a reduced cooldown on your attack speed steroid alongside the invisibility when upgraded, allowing you to be slippery in teamfights. The damage per level from W isn’t as high and impactful as the other two abilities, so you max it last.
Game plan
Your general goal as Kai’sa is to reach your power spike and then assist your teammates in taking objectives. Your power spike occurs when you get enough AD, AP or attack speed to upgrade your abilities, granting you additional damage or utility.
During the laning phase, you need to focus on forcing good trades for you and your teammate. Use Hail of Blades on cooldown to get efficient trades, while also making sure to activate Taste of Blood on cooldown to help you have a better laning phase.
Once you get out of your laning phase with your Guinsoo’s Rageblade, keep up with the farm and make sure to stick around with your team for the neutral objective. They’ll be the key to your victory once you use the Rift Heralds for early gold leads or the Baron to siege the enemy. As the game goes by and you get stronger, remember to stick around with your team so that you don’t get picked up by enemy split-pushers and killed before your team can help you.
Miss Fortune
Pros
- Strong AoE damage
- Lane bully
- Attack speed steroid built in kit
Cons
- No dash
- Doesn’t deal that well with tanks
Miss Fortune became more popular after the latest item rework considering other crit-oriented ADCs got nerfed. She is viable with a lethality-oriented build, which is efficient on most champions nowadays after the latest lethality item buffs.
The power spike is quite cheap since lethality items don’t have a huge price tag on them unlike other critical strike-oriented items. Until Riot will buff critical chance or lower the gold price of such items, Miss Fortune will be in a great spot with her lethality build. She can withstand against most popular ADCs right now easily without any issues.
Item build
The Precision primary tree has all the needed runes for ADCs. Press the Attack will increase your burst damage on a single target, while Overheal alongside Legend: Bloodline will grant you more effective health before a fight and allow you to lifesteal back to full HP if focused. Coup de Grace combined with your ultimate will allow you to unleash devastating amounts of damage to low health targets.
The secondary Sorcery rune is essential here since it has Nimbus Cloak to grant you movement speed to kite easier and Absolute Focus to make you an even bigger bully in lane.
Ability priority
Miss Fortune’s skill priority is: R>Q>W>E. Her core ability is Q, since it has good scaling and allows you to poke down enemies or easily finish them off if they’re low. It’s important for you to learn the positioning requirement for your Q to ricochet to the required target. W max second over E is better since it grants you attack speed, which directly improves your fighting capabilities for the entire duration, while E only affects a small zone from which enemies can just walk away.
Game plan
Miss Fortune is a lane bully and excels in the laning phase. Try to use Q on low-health minions so that it ricochets to enemy champions and crits for 200-percent damage for easy poke potential. Don’t waste your E aggressively since it barely does any damage. Keep it up to run away from enemies or chase them down after the trade window is over. Try to farm as efficiently as possible to reach your power spike.
Once you have one to two items, group up and look for ultimate opportunities in teamfights. Keep track of the enemies with dashes who can dive you or crowd control you. Don’t waste your ultimate before you see them using their crowd control or dash.
Jhin
Pros
- Huge crits
- Strong kit
- Fun to play
Cons
- Immobile
- Weak against tanks
Jhin is one the best ADCs to grace the Rift. He’s recently seen more action again because Caitlyn, a champion that he can easily lane against, has become more popular in both solo queue and professional play.
While Jhin does suffer from some weaknesses, including having no survivability or dashes in his kit, he’s fun and entertaining to play. His kit perfectly complements his persona and creates an interesting gameplay style overall.
Item build
There have been a couple of viable talent trees for Jhin, but most players use the Precision primary tree due to Fleet Footwork. This keystone is valuable for Jhin, granting him some needed mobility alongside a small healing with it. Presence of Mind is taken to counter any mana issues since Jhin is considered a caster ADC. Legend: Bloodline acts as a defensive option, while Coup de Grace is taken for that last shot, huge crit damage.
The most-picked secondary rune page is Sorcery due to Nimbus Cloak. Without any mobility spells in Jhin’s kit, he’s at the mercy of the movement speed buffs that he can get through Nimbus Cloak or ally buffs. Gathering Storm is taken to improve his scaling throughout the game.
Ability priority
Jhin’s skill priority is R>Q>W>E. Q is one of the most powerful basic abilities in the right hands. Use it near low-healthed minions for it to get increased damage before bouncing off onto an enemy champion. This spell during the early game can single handedly win you the laning phase if you use it properly.
W is maxed second to increase your burst damage, while E is maxed last since it’s the hardest spell to land and easiest for enemies to avoid in your kit.
Game plan
Jhin is one of the strongest ADCs in the game, but he needs items to excel. His core build is Stormrazor, Rapidfire Cannon, and Infinity Edge. This combination will allow him to melt enemies in teamfights. Therefore, you should play as safe as possible during the laning phase. Don’t take unfavorable trades. Try to get a combo off of your Q and W, then land some free autos on the rooted target for maximum damage.
In teamfights, your goal is to stick around your team. Try to initiate or finish people with your ultimate and then follow up with autos from a safe distance. Always keep track of your positioning, especially if you’re playing against mobile assassins who can delete you in less than a second.
Samira
Pros
- Great kit
- Ability similar to Yasuo’s Windwall
- Can carry games alone if ahead
Cons
- Can be countered in laning phase by high-ranged champions
Samira is the latest ADC to hit the Rift. Advertised as a gunslinger who can get into melee range and execute enemies, she’s unleashed chaos on the Rift. Shortly after her release, she was hotfixed due to how strong she was, wiping entire teams with a single ultimate cast.
While players are still experimenting with her builds to see which one is the strongest, one highly successful build has been found already that’s slowly increasing Samira’s overall win rate.
Item build
The Precision primary tree has all the necessary runes for ADCs. Conqueror will increase your attack damage while in combat against enemy champions, while Presence of Mind and Legend: Bloodline will grant you more mana to sustain what you expend and allow you to lifesteal back to full HP if focused down. Coup de Grace, combined with your ultimate, will let you unleash devastating amounts of damage on low-health targets and delete them off the Rift in the blink of an eye.
The secondary Domination rune is essential here since it has Ravenous Hunter and Taste of Blood, two crucial runes to allow you to heal up during the laning phase and beyond. This will give you the chance to get your core items to carry the game.
Ability priority
Samira’s skill priority is: R>Q>E>W. Q is your core ability to do damage and poke enemies down. E is maxed second for the lower cooldown on your dash to ensure that you’re as swift as possible in teamfights. W is maxed last since the reduced cooldown won’t come into effect in teamfights. They’ll be decided long before your W comes off cooldown.
Game plan
Samira is a scaling monster and excels in the later stages of the game when she has her core items. In the early laning phase, you won’t be able to do much since you’ll get outranged by most meta ADCs, so you need to look for low-health creeps and last hit them without pushing your lane too much. Try to farm as efficiently as possible to reach your power spike, which is the Essence Reaver into Infinity’s Edge.
Once you have these two items, group up and look for ultimate opportunities in teamfights. Keep track of the enemies with dashes who can dive or CC you. Try to position away from them so you get maximum efficiency from your kit. Once you see low-health enemies, start dashing in and unleashing devastation upon the opponents as you stack up your passive to use your ultimate.
Vayne
Pros
- Max-health true damage
- Stealth
- Mobile
Cons
- Low range
- Needs time to get going
Vayne has come back from the ashes to take her spot in the meta after recent health buffs. She has been a risky pick in the past, but the added laning phase power should make her a better pick more often.
The recent item changes gave her a lot of viable options, allowing for flexibility in build path unlike before where you had to rush the same item every game. With plenty of powerful tanky picks in the current meta, Vayne is a great answer to them.
Item build
There’s a number of viable rune builds for Vayne. One of the most popular ones is focused on having Precision as the core tree alongside Domination as the secondary tree. Precision is taken for the keystone Press the Attack, which makes your trades significantly better, alongside Triumph and Legend: Attack Speed to help you survive the low-health encounters, while also making your attacks more fluid. Coup de Grace acts as a finisher and is overall the most impactful during the laning phase.
The secondary Domination tree will give you more sustain in the long run via Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter to ensure that you can get your core items easily and become the ADC your team needs you to be.
Ability priority
Vayne’s skill priority is R>W>Q>E. You want to max your on-hit passive as soon as possible to increase your damage output. Since you’re not getting too much AD early on, both Q and E feel lackluster. Regardless of this, you want to max Q second due to the reduced cooldown on dash and invisibility if you’re using ultimate. If you are going for an AD-oriented build, you can go Q max first instead of W, but going for the AS build is better in the long-run.
Game plan
Vayne is a hyper carry ADC who excels the longer the game goes. You will get bullied out by a multitude of laners, but that should not make you afraid of picking Vayne in the current meta. If you get a small lead early on, you can snowball and then take over the game easily.
Once you get your first Mythic item such as Krakenslayer or Immortal Shieldbow, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with, so it’s important to reach that phase without exposing yourself to too much risk. Aim to get good trades early on, while also ensuring you get enough farm. As the game goes by, keep an eye on which opponents are the biggest threats and try to take them down in teamfights by using your ultimate’s stealth capability. If, however, you cannot eliminate them, try to play back without exposing yourself in teamfights.
Leave a Reply