State of ADCs, the preseason and the future

There are very many losers in the Pre-Season patch. The latest patch introduced the rise of some very scary, high DPS tanks that can wreck down the enemy team, the mid laners that have huge amount of poke and the tanky supports, who can make one's lane very hard. So, what is the current state of ADCs?

Some background

When the OGN Spring was airing, the Koreans noticed the strength of poke comps. With the poke comp came a champ that had been waiting for its spotlight for a long while, Lucian.

Lucian was, and still is, the perfect champion amongst ADCs in the poke comp. When champions like Nidalee, Ziggs and Shyvana started to dominate the game, Lucian became the number one pick very fast. Lucian has a very poke centered kit, such like many other champions that form the poke comp have.

Lucian's laning is very poke heavy, which makes it quite difficult for the enemy to deal with him. He is pretty easy to lane with and can offer high poke due to his passive, which is also very good at taking creeps down.  Lucian also has a really good transition to mid game, the part when he starts to have more burst than poke and he can burst one down in just a matter of seconds. 

The god tier of PreSeason was formed

When Lucian became a dominating pick, there was already one challenger to him. The recently reworked ADC, Sivir.

A good Sivir player can make Lucian's laning work against him. Her spellshield can make Lucian's poking hard, her pushing capability is really high and she can be a devastating pick against champion's like Leona, Thresh or even Annie, who is one of the best supports with Lucian.

Sivir also has one thing that many people talk about every time they see a discussion about her. She is a very strong splitpusher. It takes one blink of an eye to clear a wave and when Sivir gets to push she can make Lucian's priority, his poking, very hard when he has to deal with a pushing lane all the time.

The third contestant

The girl with FishBones. Yes, the third god tier ADC is Jinx. Jinx is in a really good state now. She fits the new meta quite perfectly, she can push, poke, initate, disengage, root, do massive AoE damage and she can gain attack range that is even bigger than what Caitlyn has. Did I forget something?

Jinx has been a good pick for a while, and I think she will stay as a good pick for a good while. She has a good, efficient kit for an ADC and a good player can utilize them very scarily.

ADCs with a bright future

Kog'Maw is my bet for the next FoTM, because players with good positioning can make Kog'Maw very scary. Also, Kog'Maw is a great champion for one reason. No matter how hard, how long and how badly you are getting beaten down, you can very easily make a comeback and start being the carry you want. We have seen this before in the competitive matches, and it is not pretty when Kog'Maw gets fed. Then, when you add to this the reason he might dominate, which is his tank shredding, you have yourself a ridiculously strong pick.

Draven is just Draven. He can snowball easily, very fast and he can deal huge amounts of damage with his Spinning Axe. He can also beat Lucian in lane, as we saw in the Battle of the Atlantic. Draven just has a potential that many others don't, and I think that Draven is a good pick no matter where the meta starts to shift because of his steady damage output and easy snowballing.

Vayne is a horrible pick. Vayne suffers in lane against any ADC. There literally is not even a single ADC Vayne could beat in lane. But why am I including her here? Because if you have a game where you are going against a Mundo or Renekton, Vayne is very strong pick in this situation. Just do a lane swap with your top laner and make their top laner regret his/her decision to go top. When you add a support that has high CC and tankiness, like Leona, you have a very deadly combination which should make their top laner's game incredibly difficult.

The worst role at the moment

I wish I could tell you that the ADC is still a strong role that can dominate the game. But no, I can't. The meta is basically formed around three or four champions, strict requirements on success and a very annoying amount of bruisers that can kill you from the back line in seconds. The only thing we can do is to hope that ADCs get something that can make them compete in this meta better. But until then, we have to just wait and see.