Chapter 1 Bot Lane - Best ADC for Ranked Solo Queue

Hello everyone, this will be part of a series of Articles that I will be writing about relating to all the Lanes and Positions in League of Legends.  The first chapter is about the Bot lane and more specifically the ADC's.  Later on I'll move throughout the other lanes to give a little insight about strengths, tips, and when to choose your laners.  So without further ado, here we go!

So you're thinking of which ADC Marksmen to go with and you want one that is overall the strongest pick for your team.  One thing I can tell you is to play within your comfort zone and don't attempt to play a champ for the first time in a Ranked game.  Not only will you likely not play as well but you'll also be bringing down 4 other people if you don't get it within the small time window of a match.  Besides from that though, practicing certain champs makes decisions smooth and second nature.  For me, I used to hate playing Caitlyn.  I thought the playstyle was too simple and there wasn't a good skill cap with her... but when I kept trying her out again, I found all the little things that you're able to pull off with her... like the E->Q Combo but also doing it from different angles... which leads into a quick E->R Combo which I've started to do to quickly get out of Line of Sight of a certain enemy to snipe down my main target.  

Here is my list of champs that I feel are strong ADC/Marksmen right now, what they bring to the table and how they match up with your team comps, and also with practice will bring you good results.


Caitlyn 
Pros - Strong pusher/sieger, safe lane bully and ability to poke, very safe farming/fighting with her range and overall toolkit, hard to escape her especially with her ultimate.  

Cons - Inability to carry hard or really catch up if playing from behind, ult not that usable if enemies charge in on you, lower DPS than many other popular ADC's with the lack of a steroid so she relies on her range and poke before going all in.  

Caitlyn is a very popular pick with today's matchups mainly because of her very good range and relative good early farming/bully status.  Her base range is the highest of all ADC's and when utilized properly(which it will be in most higher levels of play) she can be a huge nuissance to play against in lane.  She adds in protection for her lane with traps and has a great disengage tool with her Yordle Snap Trap [ E ].  Her Piltover Peacemaker [ Q ] has a 1300 range and a relatively low mana cost which allows her to constantly poke hard in her lanes and forces her enemies to cower in fear of getting hurt more.  

My recommendations to use her are actually in many situations.  If you're a first pick ADC then there's almost no wrong in ever picking her first.  She doesn't necessarily have any real counters so that's why she's so safe.  She's strong against many of the very popular picks today like Ezreal, Corki, and Vayne so you can definitely use her skillset against those champs.  

Tips - Her traps grant temporary vision use it for checking bushes.  Her traps grant true vision on the target so if a ward is near them with this debuff, you can kill the wards.  Fight in and out or bushes to increase your Headshot [ Passive ] up after and make it harder to hit you.  Use your 90 Caliber Net [ E ] to jump through thin walls like Dragon/Baron walls and also to help chase.  

Ezreal 
Pros - Good Poker, very safe champ because of short CD "Flash", passive % Attack Speed steroid when you land your abilities, Global Ultimate.

Cons - Once caught he is in trouble, must land abilities to deal good damage, all of his abilities are skill shots so if you miss them your influence on the game diminishes.  



Ezreal has always had high popularity because of how safe of a carry he is and because of how versatile he is.  He can be ran as an AP champion that has good poke and burst outside of being a physical damage dealer.  His Mystic Shot [ Q ] has a range of 1100 and a very low mana cost which allows you to constantly poke on targets or comfortably use it to secure your CS.  He is also a hard champion to dive onto because of his innate ability to escape with his Arcane Shift [ E ] being a built in "Flash" on a very short cooldown.  

My recommendations on using Ezreal would be if your team doesn't have that much peels for you or if you're facing a strong all in team.  He's also a safe choice against Thresh/Blitz because when timed properly you can use your Arcane Shift [ E ] to avoid both of their hooks.  He doesn't necessarily counter any other ADC's really but when used properly and when you land most of your [ Q ] 's you will definitely be able to poke out most of your opposition.  Your hardest opponents will be between Graves, Draven, and Caitlyn so unless you're confident in your skill shots, be wary of this match up.  Since Ezreal has very good burst and poke, he pairs well with poke supports like Zyra, Sona, and Thresh.  

Tips - Starting a team fight with your Ultimate gives you a quick 50% Attack Speed boost to ramp up your damage very quickly.  Your Arcane Shift [ E ] is an auto attack reset.  Use your Essence Flux [ W ] to give attack speed boosts to your teammates in team fights and tower sieges.  Use your [ Q ] to check bushes, you will see a passive buff gained by you if you hit a target.  


Jinx 
Pros - High DPS with her [ Q ] passive increasing her Basic Attack speed up to 130% at Rank 5, strong poke with [ W ] with an amazing built in slow, great siege potential, can have up to 700 basic range,  Global execute [ R ] .  

Cons - No escapes so relies on good team peeling and her [ E ] to get target's off her, assassins like Fizz and Zed see her as fish food, once caught she isn't really getting out.  


Jinx is the newest champion to the League of Legends lineup and she has been extremely popular because of her all around toolkit.  She has the ability to poke, chase, set up traps, and execute people around the map.  Her Zap! [ W ] has an amazing 1500 range which sets up for some amazing long range poke but it's a little harder to land considering it hits the first target in it's way and shows a line before it starts to shoot.  It does make for a great way to check bushes since it grants true sight as well.  

My recommendations on when to choose Jinx are when you have a team that has the ability to peel for you.  Without any escape, once a Fizz or Zed gets in range of you, you will most likely be deleted from the game unless you're just that far ahead.  She works well against the ever popular Caitlyn and pairs well with supports that can help you set up kills like Thresh and Leona.  A good combo is when those supports land their stuns, you place your traps down to root them longer, then Zap! [ W ] them to keep them snared for as long as possible.  Early on she's weaker against the higher burst or more all in champs like Corki, Ezreal, and Vayne, but after some items you can definitely go toe to toe with any of them except for maybe Vayne if you're on equal footing.  

Tips - Follow up your team with your [ E ] to lock down targets for kills.  Her [ R ] can be used to snipe Dragons/Barons, you just need to use it to hit a champion and the splash damage can potentially steal it.  Her [ W ] and [ E ] are great ways to check bushes.  


Corki 
Pros - Very strong early burst damage with AA [ Q ] / + AA combo, passive true damage that also allows for easier early CS, pokes well at 6+, best user of Trinity Force since he's able to refresh the Spellblade buff, hard to itemize against his damage since he does similar physical and magical damage.  

Cons - Relies pretty heavily on landing his abilities to deal his large potential damage, long cooldown his his escape Valkyrie [ W ], if he needs to kite targets off him his Gatling Gun [ E ] gets rendered pretty useless for an armor shred, need to be careful about using Missle Barrage [ R ] charges before fights since he will need them for team fights to keep up the Sheen procs.

Corki regained his popularity with his recent mana cost buffs but mainly with the Trinity Force changes.  These were just enough to bring him back in line in terms of strength compared to the other common ADC's used lately.  Having great siege and poke potential, it's no wonder why he's such an easy candidate to choose.  

I would recommend picking Corki with a stun/displacement support since it allows him to line up his burst and damage much more easily.  Supports in this genre would include Leona and Thresh.  He does have the ability to work with many other supports like Zyra and Sona since he can poke very well with them.  Corki also boasts a very strong midgame so he is a good pick vs say a Tristana who is known for having one of the weakest mid games but you will need to take advantage of this before a Tristana is able to rack up kills and the items that allow her to be a huge terror late game.  Corki doesn't really have a hard counter but I'd say a Caitlyn can be tough if you get bullied out early.  

Tips - Only use your [ W ] offensively if you're winning the team fight for sure, it has too long of a cooldown to be used again as an escape within that fight.  Receiving Blue buff reduces the Cooldown and reload time of his [ R ] so he benefits greatly from both Red and Blue.  

Vayne 
Pros - God like late game damage, % true damage!, amazing chaser, great duelist, high outplay potential, great kiting/self peeling capability, great scaling from mid game forward.

Cons - Weaker early game with high reliability on auto attacks, needs to hit her power spikes in order to give a good fight back, many popular current ADC's can bully her early on, relies on getting at least 3 attacks off in a row on a target to do considerable damage.

Vayne had a huge surge of popularity once Draven got a nerf and it is to no ones surprise considering her kit.  She has a Steroid in her Tumble [ Q ] and Final Hour [ R ] , % based true damage, and a stun if aimed properly.  She can also be a pest earlier on with her built in invisibility in her [ R ] when most people can't afford early stealth detection items.  Another thing that makes her so strong in skirmishes is that she's already such a strong duelist, that you usually need a numbers advantage to safely take down a Vayne.  

I enjoy picking Vayne against High HP team comps.  If the opposing team has a very tanky top laner and a tanky jungler, I look for times when I can choose Vayne.  She's a risky first pick champion because there are plenty of ways to counter her and most formidable teams will look to shut you down all game and not allow you to reach your late game status.  If Caitlyn is open I'd recommend to not choose Vayne unless you're very confident in your other laners doing well and allow you to catch up later in the game.  Vayne can work with quite a few supports as well, my favorite probably being Thresh to really help you set up those kills.  If you're against a Caitlyn, then depending on their support, you may want a sustain duo buddy.  

Tips - If mana is not an issue, doing a quick AA -> Tumble/AA -> Condemn combo will get a silver bolts proc off and do considerable damage in a trade where they can't retaliate very well against.  You can Tumble [ Q ] out of Jarvan's ult, Anivia's wall, and through a line of minions that are blocking you. 


Twitch 
Pros - Great scaling into late game, amazing aoe damage with his Ultimate, stealth to sneak up on people!, enjoys extended duels since Expunge [ E ] at 6 stacks does ridiculous damage. 

Cons - Countered by pinks and oracles since he needs stealth to position well into fights, weak to assassins since he has no escape, nerfed his early game recently so needs a few levels to be a real bully.

I feel that Twitch is one of those sleeper champions.  He isn't picked as much anymore but he is such a strong champion.  Even though his most recent nerf toned down his early level bully capability, he still ends up being the same just after a few levels.  He shines in skirmishes and team fights when multiple targets are grouped together.  Popping your ult at the right time is probably one of your most important decisions to make in the match since you can single handedly take down an entire team yourself.  His Spray and Pray [ R ] also triggers all your on hit abilities so your passive poison stacks will be on everyone to Expunge [ E ] on.  

Twitch is my goto choice when I see an enemy Vayne or Ezreal on the opposite team.  As long as I have sufficient support/peeling from my team then I confidently will choose Twitch.  He's weaker against assassination teams that can get the jump on you and take you out so if you see your mid line up not being favorable against that Fizz or Zed, you may want to opt for a different ADC.  Twitch pairs really well with a poke suport like a Sona/Zyra and also works great with Thresh/Leona. 

Tips - His poison passive lasts for 6 seconds, so look to get an auto attack then you can back off, throw your [ W ] down and hit as many auto attacks as you like then Expunge [ E ] for some huge damage.  Twitch isn't as much to play if you have an Eve on your team so the enemy carries alot of pink wards :(.  Your [ R ] gives you massive range where you can take down a tower without it being able to hit you back.  You can also use your [ R ] to hit both Nexus towers at once when you line them up.  



So there is my list of the best ADC's to use for solo queue.  If you have other opinions let me know!  Follow for my next articles to come up about the other lanes!