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How League’s ADC is changing in 2017
We speak to some of the EU’s best ADCs to get their views on the changing role in professional LoL.
Jhin has proven to be popular this split
© Riot Games
Every season brings new changes to Summoner's Rift, but this year the ADC role has been under a lot of scrutiny. Tons of changes have been thrown the way of some of the champions we usually see in this position since the start of the year, and even now there are a lot of questions surrounding the role.
Has it got harder since last year? What champions are the best to play in the big leagues? Will Riot continue to adjust seemingly every element of the role over the course of the season? All of these remain somewhat unanswered and only a few people in the world will know the answers. Fortunately we caught up with a couple of them to find out.
"The ADC role is really terrible at the moment," says Kasper 'Kobbe' Kobberup, the ADC for Splyce in the EU LCS. "Especially in SoloQ, you basically flip a coin whether you're gonna win or lose. In competitive play I think it's a bit better, since you can do more and have a bigger impact in the game by working together with your team."
This methodology has worked well for Splyce, who currently sit with a 4–3 record in Group B, but it's clear that these changes have unsettled the team that made it to Worlds last year, and they aren't quite comfortable with the new changes just yet.
But it isn't just last year's top stars who are struggling, many teams are. In EU, Origen sit at the bottom of Group B, without a win to their name. However Erik 'Tabzz' van Helvert, the ADC for Origen, isn’t quite as unhappy with the new ADC style as some. When asked if he thought ADC had got harder this season with all the changes he was more sanguine.
"No, I think the recent lethality buff in 7.2 has made ADC stronger," he explained. "The lethality buff increased Jhin's power, while opening up options like ArPen Varus and Miss Fortune. These build paths have more impact in the midgame than crit focused builds."
Jhin has certainly been a hot topic so far this season. While Tabzz seems to think that his power is quite high, he's only played the champion once this split in competitive games, instead playing a lot of Varus, who's also been a top pick for many. Kobbe on the other hand has brought Jhin onto the Rift in six of his 11 games so far, with a 50 percent win rate.
"Right now the meta for ADC's are more utility based ADs and not hypercarries," says Kobbe. "Bot lane is all about level six at the moment, so champions like Ashe, Jhin and Varus are some of the best picks. In general you just try to farm to get your item power spike, before that you can't do so much."
Splyce’s Kobbe at Worlds last year
© Lolesports / Flickr
With patch 7.3 making some changes to the ADC role and the upcoming 7.4 update supposedly bringing even more, the ADC meta is always changing. For some the current situation is a good thing, whereas other must try and find a way to play around it.
"The role of ADC has changed from a tank-killer slash engage tool into a more generic damage dealer and poke role," says Tabzz. "I like it when the ADC role is somewhat caster-focused: Corki, Kog'maw and Lucian are some of my favourite champions, but I think the current meta is fine."
However Kobbe has a different view, saying that Riot made more than a few mistakes with the big pre-season patch and is yet to fix them. Some of his issues have been addressed in the 7.3 patch, but a lot of his complaints lie in the core gameplay and are not something a change or two to a specific champion can really fix.
"I think Riot messed up a lot of their reworks on champions for this season," explains Kobbe. "The impact it has for ADCs is that you can't really outplay people any more when there are champions like Rengar, Camille, Leblanc and Katarina or the usual super tanks you need three or four items to kill. Riot aware of this, since almost every pro player has been talking about it. Of course I hope they will make some changes as fast as possible. I'm not even sure how they didn't make these changes already, but I guess they'll come soon."
Despite clearly not being happy with the way his role is played these days, the unfortunate truth for Kobbe, and the rest of the ADC players in the LCS, is that they just have to find a way to perform well in the current meta and hope that Riot takes their suggestions on board.
Last year, Splyce were fortunate enough to get a meta that suited their play style towards the end of the Summer Split and they enjoyed an incredible end to the season, but even with a less than ideal start to 2017, Kobbe is confident his team will again do well in EU.
"For this season I want to go to the EU LCS finals again, and potentially win. Also I want to go to Worlds again," says Kobbe. "It's a bit hard to say since I think there will be a lot more competition than just G2 last summer, but I believe we can still be a top team."
This kind of confidence may turn out to be what Splyce need, as many other ADCs are still voicing their concerns about the way their role has changed. Kobbe clearly would prefer it to be different, but he knows that he's a job to do. But it does seem like Riot know that there are issues with the ADC role, especially at the top level, and with patch 7.4 on its way we expect the bot lane to become a lot more competitive in the coming months.
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