The life of an ADC main is never easy. And among all the tanks, assassins, bruisers, and mages of season 13, it’s tough to find a champion that can perform well in all the different matchups.
Besides being squishier than everybody else, some ADCs simply don’t deal enough damage to be considered “carries” nowadays. And even if you’re maining one of them, your best move is to avoid them until Riot Games decides to buff them again.
Here I’ve put up a list of 6 marksmen that are considered D-tier or lower. In my opinion, they aren’t strong enough to carry random teammates in solo queue.
So if you’re goal is to climb this season, focus on the best ADCs here and avoid the ones below.
1. Aphelios, ~45% Win Rate
When Aphelios was first added he was the pinnacle of broken champions in League of Legends. But his “400 years” champion design was nerfed into the ground repeatedly after the backlash Riot received from the LoL community.
Nowadays, Aphelios is only played by high elo one-tricks that know the ins and outs of the champion. But even they struggle to carry their teammates because Aphelios simply doesn’t do enough damage.
To low elo players, Aphelios’ kit may still look broken. And honestly speaking, not even professional players know exactly what he can do.
However, that doesn’t give him any particular advantage in solo queue since he can easily be stomped by many other ADC and support champions.
Aphelios has had the lowest win rate among all the other champions for his role and that has been the case for a very long time.
But the problem with Aphelios is that if Riot Games were to buff him just a bit more than necessary, he’ll end up taking over the meta thanks to his overloaded kit.
On the other hand, he requires lots of practice too. So if you’re a beginner ADC and you’re looking to climb, stay away from Aphelios.
2. Kalista, ~47% Win Rate
Kalista is another ADC champion that has proven to be a complete disaster when it comes to solo queue. She’s too dependent on her team and she only works well in professional games.
The first obstacle for Kalista in solo queue is that she has to be paired with an engage support. Picks like Braum, Leona, and Nautilus are her best partners while with all the enchanters and mages Kalista can’t utilize her ultimate.
And because you’re getting random support players in each game, it’s hard to find a good support for Kalista.
Next, although Kalista can be a decent pick into tanks and melee champions since she can kite them well, her damage isn’t impressive at all. She’s pretty weak early on and requires the right items as well as a good performance on your part to actually do anything significant.
On the other hand, you have far easier ADC picks that can do a similar or better job with far less effort.
And if you’re asking me, I’d reserve Kalista only for Clash tournaments as an ADC.
Read Also: The 7 Worst Mid Laners
3. Xayah, ~49% Win Rate
Ever since Xayah’s lethality build lost its popularity, so did her overall win rate. We haven’t a decent Xayah build in a very long time and it’s obvious to everyone that she’s just a D-tier ADC.
What I personally like about Xayah is her unique playstyle, her ability to control the bot lane, and the fact that she’s a perfect pick against assassins in League of Legends. However, Xayah really lacks damage and can’t be the answer against tanky team comps which season 13 is full of.
Another tough truth about Xayah is that she’s a difficult champion to master. Because her mechanics are unique, it takes a lot of time to become a great Xayah player. And so, she can’t be the pick for newer bot lane players or ADC mains without excellent mechanical skills.
Also, since Xayah has an amazing synergy with Rakan, a lot of low elo Xayah players are forcing their supports to go for Rakan even if they don’t know how to play the champion. This ends up costing them valuable LP, so please avoid it if you’re trying to climb.
I definitely believe that Xayah can become one of the best ADCs in League again but she requires a nudge in the right direction from Riot. And the sooner they acknowledge that the sooner we’ll see Xayah on top of my best ADCs list!
4. Sivir, ~49% Win Rate
It’s tough for me to give other players reasons why they shouldn’t play Sivir when she’s one of my favorite champions in the game. But if I have to be brutally honest, here’s what I’d advise myself.
For starters, Sivir lacks a modern ability kit. Seriously, her champion design stinks of old age. It’s way too simplistic with no real advantages whatsoever.
In theory, she’s supposed to be a battle ADC that’s comfortable being in close range with her opponents. But as soon as an assassin, fighter, or tank comes close to her, she can’t do anything but run away. Sometimes not even that.
Although Sivir’s shield can heal you and help you survive CC or damage initially, it has a long cooldown even in the late game. And once you use it, you’re far too vulnerable of a target.
In terms of matchups, Sivir struggles to keep with a lot of different ADCs. Aggressive bot lane picks such as Ziggs and Tristana can absolutely decimate her and gain advantages early on.
The only viable build path for Sivir nowadays is crit which struggles to do much against tanky team comps. Again, she isn’t allowed to auto-attack much (which is her only source of damage) because she’s a short-range ADC.
All in all, stay away from Sivir unless you’re a God-tier player with her.
5. Yasuo, ~49% Win Rate
Even though Yasuo is more of an off-meta ADC pick rather than a traditional one, his popularity in the bot lane role is enough for him to appear on this list. But even if you enjoy playing Yasuo bot immensely, please avoid him if you value your LP and rank.
Don’t get me wrong – Yasuo isn’t a bad champion at all, just bad for the bot lane role in 95% of the games.
He’s a melee fighter that builds crit and struggles to farm early on. He also forces his supports to choose champions with knock-ups as well as absorb a lot of damage for him. And worst of all, most Yasuo players start to int at the slightest inconvenience.
So, besides getting bullied in almost every matchup, Yasuo cannot be the best version of himself in the bot lane. If he’s in mid lane and has a gold advantage, combined with a level advantage over everyone else, then he’s an unstoppable monster.
But when you confine the champion in bot, you actually don’t use his full potential. Of course, he can perform well if his entire team has airborne effects and shields for him to survive late game teamfights. But the majority of solo queue games aren’t like that.
So, if you like Yasuo, play him in the mid lane instead!
Read Also: Top 5 Best Supports for Yasuo ADC
6. Vayne, ~49% Win Rate
I wasn’t really sure whether to put Vayne on the list of worst ADCs in season 13. Everyone agrees that she isn’t necessarily bad but she definitely struggles to keep with the rest of the marksmen in the meta.
I’d say that Vayne can be a valuable pick against tanks. Her W allows her to deal bonus true damage which is always useful, especially when everyone is building tanky.
But on the other hand, you have to play the laning phase almost perfectly in order to succeed on Vayne. This may not be the case in low elo. But the higher you climb the more your opponents will try to punish you when you play Vayne, especially early on.
Besides, Vayne only works with enchanter supports. She needs champions that can protect her and buff her damage. So when those supports are out of the meta, so is Vayne.
When it comes to itemization, Vayne can go multiple routes. Her most popular build is the on-hit one which isn’t the strongest thing in League but it isn’t bad either.
All in all, I wouldn’t forget about Vayne completely, but I would certainly avoid her at least while trying to climb in solo queue.
Read Also: The 6 Worst Supports
Conclusion
The ADC role is a challenging one when it comes to carrying in solo queue. Apart from the supports, the rest of the roles are always ahead of you in levels and it takes a lot more than the right champion pick to win the game.
In any case, I’d strongly suggest you to avoid playing overly complicated or simply weak champions like the ones on the list above. Don’t make your job harder than it needs to be and play something simpler and stronger.
Read Also: The 10 Worst League of Legends Champions
