AD's State of the Game - Ft. Chaox of TSM

Whether its just due to player preference, or in-game tweaks and balances, the meta-game is constantly changing in League of Legends. You remember when everyone was playing Urgot? How about when people were running Soraka / Karthus. or the roaming Alistar? Today we're gonna be discussing the top tier meta-game that's going on in bottom lane. Is one AD considered the best while some are considered the worst? We'll find out.

The Key Players: With the recent change by Riot to somewhat balance all the ranged ADs, it seems like more or less, all of them are viable. However, just like it was before, some heroes are just better cut out for the job than others. Chaox takes the time to discuss some of the reasoning behind this.

xcyteZ: So what AD's are more or less viable in the current state of the game?

Chaox: Heroes like Sivir, Graves, Vayne, Corki, Cait are definitely more viable in solo que but Kog'Maw and Ezreal also have their place in competitive matches.

xcyteZ: Why are AD's such as Ezreal, Urgot, or Tristana less popular? Is it because they are just flat out worse than the others? Or is it because they have a much smaller niche in which they were effective? 

Chaox: I don't feel like they're necessarily worse than the more popular ADs. Like you mentioned, those heroes are definitely more team comp oriented. Ezreal fits well into a poke comp while Urgot is a good pick against a heavily AD stacked team due to Frozen Heart.

xcyteZ: If you had to pick, would you say there's currently an AD that's just flat out better than the rest right now?

Chaox: Yea most definitely. Graves is all around the best AD right now. He's got a good laning phase, good single target and AoE damage for team fights.

Twitch, The Plague Rat: No love for you? Apparently not. I'm sure in solo que he is viable...to a certain extent. But against the likes of a top-tier AD player coupled with a strong AD. There's just no way that Twitch would ever stand a chance in the laning phase. Why? Well it's quite obvious once you take a couple minutes to think about it but I'll quickly explain the biggest reason why.

• His Burst: Twitch's burst potential is great. However, unlike most of the champions, he takes so much longer to do it. In order for twitch to really punish you, he'll have to attack you, then slow you, then attack you a few more times, then expunge. This is like a 4-5 second process. If you get stunned or silenced during this you're pretty much screwed. Not to mention even if you do get the whole combo off, you've just used close to half your mana.

In no way shape of form can Twitch effectively trade vs. any of the top-tier AD's because their DPS is just far greater. Sadly, if it wasn't for his weak laning phase, I could most definitely see more teams using Twitch as their AD carry as his skill set outside of lane is rather strong in a 5v5 scenario.

The Reality: Ever since high level League of Legends has turned the bottom lane into a duel of Support + AD vs. Support + AD, it's really just been the same few heroes that have been on a revolving door. Even though teams like "Rock Solid" aka: "Dignitas" have experimented with some interesting support picks, heroes like Janna, Taric, Sona, and Soraka have been the only ones to truly withstand the test of time. Likewise, it seems like the AD picks are pretty much being cycled through in accordance with the in-game tweaks and balances that Riot implements. Have the players just run out of creative steam? Or have we just found the best of the best? Hopefully it's not the latter.

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR A FIRST IMPRESSION ANALYSIS OF VIKTOR