These are League of Legends’ top-tier ADCs for this season’s solo queue.
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 10.18.
Caitlyn
Pros
- One of the highest ADC ranges in the game
- Crowd control
- Dash which goes over walls
Cons
- Item dependant
- Gets outscalled by other meta ADCs
Caitlyn’s enormous range and headshots with a guaranteed critical strike always keep her in the meta as one of the best ADCs. It’s easy to last-hit minions with Cait while constantly poking enemies from a range that they can’t respond to. Her traps even provide zoning potential. She also makes positioning in teamfights simple since hitting enemies from the backline isn’t a problem. And in case one of them tries to escape, Ace in the Hole will get them. Caitlyn is simply one of the safest bot lane picks because she’s easy to play and rewarding.
Item build
As with most ADCs, the Precision tree is essential for Caitlyn. It grants you access to a mini-heal and movement speed buff via the Fleet Footwork keystone, which is severely underrated on most ADCs. The tree also gives you the lifesteal you need so that you can focus on other core items alongside Legend: Triumph to save you from low-health situations, both during the laning phase and in the mid game.
Sorcery should be your secondary tree. It grants you access to Nimbus Cloak to make you mobile after using a summoner spell and Gathering Storm to increase your scaling potential.
Ability priority
Caitlyn’s skill priority is: R>Q>W>E. Her Q is her bread and butter ability, allowing you to easily clear waves or unleash devastating amounts of damage on enemy champs. It’s best to sync it up with your trap from W, which is why W is maxed second to lower the cooldown and allow you to combo Q with W as often as possible. While E is the only mobility ability in your kit, it’s maxed last since the utility from W outweighs the cooldown reduction from E.
Game plan
Your general goal as Caitlyn is to make the laning phase hell for your opposing bottom lane. Use your high range to harass your opponent on a consistent basis. Put traps down to stop them in their tracks and unleash devastating amounts of damage when they try to run away. If a jungler comes, you have both your trap and dash on E to deal with them. Your base damage is so high that you can easily turn on them with your support and kill them before they even reach you.
As the game goes by, keep farming well and get your core items to be the carry your team needs. In teamfights, don’t use your dash aggressively and use your traps wisely around neutral objectives or during a siege to stop the enemy from engaging.
Senna
Pros
- Infinite scaling
- Strong utility
- Global ultimate
Cons
- No dash
- Slow wave-clear
Senna is the only support/ADC in the game who can easily play both roles. While she was initially designed to be a support, she quickly became a staple pick for ADCs. Her infinite scaling, which grants her free AD, crit, and lifesteal, is too good to pass up. She may have some flaws, like the slow wave clear, which makes her inferior to most ADCs who can clear waves fast, but her kit and overall utility compensate for that.
Item build
The Inspiration primary tree is essential for ADC Senna. Glacial Augment makes her extremely obnoxious for enemies to deal with and buys you enough time to keep doing damage or run away from enemies. Biscuits will grant you additional sustain during the laning phase, while Approach Velocity and boots make you more mobile. The secondary Precision tree grants you the needed mana to spam your abilities, while Alacrity gives you the attack speed that you won’t get from items since you’ll go for a Lethality build most likely.
Ability priority
Senna’s skill priority is the following: R>Q>W>E. Maxing Q will grant you the healing and damage required to poke and sustain through the laning phase. It’s the perfect two-in-one combined ability. Maxing W second will let you follow up with a root more often on your Glacial Augment proc to get a pick or run away from enemies. While E is extremely powerful in coordinated play, it’s rarely used by your solo que allies, so it should be maxed last.
Game plan
Senna is an infinite-scaling ADC. She gains more damage and stats as the game goes on. Your goal is to poke early on and try to pick up souls to get to your power spikes as soon as possible. Don’t expose yourself when picking up souls, though, since good players will punish you for that. Try to poke enemy champions down before going for a soul. Since Senna lacks the traditional wave clear that most ADCs have, try to plan your back to base accordingly. Don’t let enemies build a large wave and crash it into your tower since it’ll be difficult to get CS under it.
In teamfights, try to fully use your utility. Don’t just go and right click on enemies since Senna isn’t the proper pick for such gameplay. Use your heal, shield, root, and global ultimate to assist your allies in need and turn fights when needed.
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.
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 over the last few patches both in pro play and solo queue. She’s a lane bully who excels in the early to mid game. Her ultimate allows you to kill entire teams in a clumped-up zone.
Her recent buff and nerfs to other popular ADC ensure her stay is for a long period of time in the meta.
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 anything. 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 CC you. Don’t waste your ultimate before you see them using their CC or dash.
Ashe
Pros
- Global ultimate
- Easy to play
- AoE CC
Cons
- No dash
Ashe has risen from the ashes and has returned to the meta after a long absence. Her simple kit combined with the latest reworked item, Death’s Dance, makes her a good pick into most meta bottom lane compositions.
She can withstand Syndra and Aphelios with ease and that makes her a great pick in today’s bot meta that’s infested with these two champions.
Item build
While there are a couple of viable builds, this is one of the most efficient ones with Precision as the primary tree. Lethal Tempo allows you to do insane amounts of damage when combined with your Q. Presence of Mind helps you keep your mana in check to spam those W’s all game long. Legend: Alacrity will grant you the needed attack speed to do damage as often as possible and Coup de Grace is taken to help you land that killing blow on the low health opponent.
The secondary tree is Inspiration with Biscuits and Approach Velocity, which will be easily proced by you with your W. It helps you stick onto targets once you have them locked down.
Ability priority
Ashe’s skill priority is R>W>Q>E. You want to max W as soon as possible to be able to waveclear easily and also poke your enemies down. In some rare circumstances you might want to max Q first—for example if you’re facing two tanks in the bottom lane. This is a rare occurrence but might be possible in today’s meta and so the poke from W will be useless.
If you max Q first then remember to max W second, the utility from E is negligible since it is useless in teamfights, where your team needs you to do as much damage as possible.
Game plan
Ashe is a stable ADC which excels in all stages of the game. While she might get beaten during the laning phase or outscalled in the later stages of the game by other ADCs, her team can always count on her being useful.
Adapt your build based on what the enemy team composition is. If they’re running a lot of tanks, then rush Blade of the Ruined King. If they’re filled with squishy champions then rush Essence Reaver or Infinity Edge instead. Regardless of your starting items, always remember to get Ruunan’s Hurricane and Death’s Dance. These two items amplify your power more than any other item in the game.
