The best ADC champions in League of Legends

Some champions in League of Legends are just flat-out stronger than others. For the marksmen and markswomen of the game, there are several types of champions available.

This list of top-tier champions can change depending on a number of factors. Usually, there’s some kind of balance adjustment behind those changes.

Best AD carry champions in League of Legends Patch 13.24

Ezreal

Pros

• Perfect for kiting
• Good scaling
• One of the safest laning phases
• A pleasure to play when fully mastered

Cons

• Weak early
• Takes time to master him
• Struggles later in the game against other meta hypercarries

Ezreal has been a weak pick so far this season. That said, the abundance of hypercarries have allowed him to rise as a perfect counter, especially during the laning phase. Thanks to his long-range abilities, he can damage the enemy bot laners without getting hit in the process. On top of that, he’s a great pick when you’re looking to get lane priority.

Ezreal Item build

Ezreal has had several different types of rune setups over the past few years. Now that scaling ADCs are meta, however, Ezreal wants to get a more offensive rune that allows him to get stronger early-game trades. Therefore, Ezreal players go for Press the Attack with the goal of using the rune’s effect to prevail in two-vs-two situations and mid-game skirmishes. Presence of Mind, Legend: Bloodline, and Coup de Grace are the minor runes from the Precision tree.

The secondary tree for Ezreal is Inspiration, with Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery as the filler runes. It’s more gold-efficient than the Sorcery rune tree, and it grants Ezreal additional sustain for the laning phase. 

With the changes to Trinity Force in the mid-season patch, Ezreal players are reverting to the old build of previous seasons. Trinity Force and Manamune are the two core items, followed by Serylda’s Grudge for the maximum ability haste and damage output. After that, get Ravenous Hydra for the lifesteal and round off the build with one between Frozen Heart and Guardian Angel. In most scenarios, Frozen Heart will be the better defensive item since it further increases Ezreal’s mana and it also grants more ability haste. 

Ability priority

Ezreal has only one max order: R>Q>E>W. Mystic Shot (Q) is his spammable spell and main source of damage, which also allows him to reduce his other abilities’ cooldowns. After that, you want to prioritize Arcane Shift (E) since it’s his main escape and repositioning tool. Max Essence Flux (W) last. 

Game plan

Ezreal’s has great scaling, but in the current meta, you’re bound to play aggressively and use your range advantage to push waves and get lane priority. You want to bully out the enemies by quickly pushing waves and trying to capture neutral objectives like Dragons. Since most meta ADCs are hypercarries, they will be much weaker than you, and they won’t win the skirmishes during the early stages of the game. 

Ezreal’s best item spike is at three items, once he upgrades Muramana into Manamune and picks up Serylda’s Grudge. Try to fight as soon as you reach that spike by poking and kiting the enemies in the middle of the fight. 

Jhin

Pros

• Safe laning phase
• Long-range ultimate
• A pleasure to play when fully mastered

Cons

• Reload mechanic takes time to get used to
• Can be shut down easily

Jhin is another champion who was indirectly buffed by the crit item changes. He’s one of the best ADCs at absorbing pressure thanks to his strong wave clearing and doesn’t need as many resources to deal damage. 

In a meta where bot lanes are always looking to find action and initiate a snowball, Jhin is one of the best candidates to neutralize this plan.  

Jhin Item build

Jhin’s reload mechanic doesn’t make him rely on attack speed, so Fleet Footwork is the best rune you can go for. It gives him additional healing and a movement speed bonus that can be used to kite enemies and quickly reposition from dangerous spots.

The minor runes from the Precision tree are Presence of Mind, Legend: Bloodline, and Coup de Grace. We mentioned how attack speed is not effective on Jhin, so getting extra lifesteal is always better. For the secondary rune, choose Sorcery and get Nimbus Cloak and Celerity instead. This will further boost Jhin’s movement speed and increase his chances of escaping from enemy threats or dodging spells. Celerity/Gathering Storm

Jhin’s build has undergone changes with the ADC itemization from Patch 13.10. He now rushes Stormrazor instead of the Mythic item Galeforce to take advantage of the item’s Energized auto attack and extra movement speed. Given the higher cooldown on Galeforce and the bonus AD scaling on the passive, it’s now built second on Jhin. Get The Collector or Rapid Firecannon as the third item slot, and follow it up with Lord Dominik’s Regard to deal more damage later in the game. Round off the build with a Guardian’s Angel or Bloodthirster, depending on the situation. 

Ability priority

Jhin has only one max order: R>Q>W>E. His Q, Dancing Grenade, is the most important ability because it allows him to clear minions and potentially harass enemies with the bouncing mechanic. Since his E, Captive Audience, is a trap and it’s not a reliable spell to hit, always max his W, Deadly Flourish, second.

Game plan

Jhin doesn’t differ much from other ADCs in terms of item spikes: He’s at his strongest at two items and keeps up his spike until the fourth or fifth item. Therefore, taking advantage of that time window is key to success. 

During the early game, try to harass the enemies with the grenades or your fourth shot. Even if the enemy manages to trade back slightly, the damage from the critted shot will always be higher. Jhin also offers a great setup or follow-up with his W, making it easy for junglers to gank the lane. 

To be a great Jhin player, it’s essential to have a strong understanding of your positioning. Avoid fighting at close distances or in narrow spaces since it kills your kiting potential. During teamfights, you can use your ultimate to initiate a fight or to clean up low-health targets: assess whether your team has good engage tools and adapt accordingly.

Miss Fortune

Pros

• One of the best teamfighting champions
• Good lane bully
• Scales well later in the game

Cons

• Can be easily punished
• Lacks mobility
• Doesn’t have much outplay potential 

Lots of ADCs were on the nerf list in recent patches, but Miss Fortune was not among them. With other picks getting tuned down, it’s logical to see alternative picks on the rise. 

Miss Fortune has been performing particularly well across multiple Elos, boasting over a 51 percent win rate, according to LoLalytics. She can win most lanes due to her long-range and bullying nature, and as long as she has a good support to pair with her, Miss Fortune can take control of the games. Not to mention she is easier to play than most champions and can single-handedly win teamfights with one good ultimate. 

Miss Fortune Item build

Miss Fortune is a champion that needs a couple of items to deal damage. Therefore, going for First Strike will help her boost the gold economy and speed up the item build. Thanks to her E and Qs, Miss Fortune can always get the upper hand and proc the rune before the enemies can trade back.

For the other runes in the Precision tree, Miss Fortune wants Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery, and Cosmic Insight. This is a fairly standard combination of runes, so make sure to always run these. If you know the enemy is weak early, you can also consider swapping Biscuit Delivery for Future’s Market.

When it comes to the secondary tree, Miss Fortune wants Manaflow Band and Gathering Storm. The former increases her mana pool, giving her the chance to spam more abilities. Gathering Storm, on the other hand, boosts her adaptive force the longer the game lasts.

Miss Fortune usually has two build paths she can go for, but in recent patches, most players opt for the Lethality build. Get Youmuu’s Ghostblade and The Collector as her first two core items. They grant the highest amount of lethality, allowing Miss Fortune to shred through squishy targets in the mid-game fights. After that, she gets Lord Dominik’s Regard to increase her damage on tanks, Bloodthirster, and one between Edge of Night and Guardian Angel to boost her defenses. 

Ability priority

Miss Fortune’s maxing order is always R>Q>W>E. Her Q, Double Up, is the main damage ability to poke the enemies during the laning phase since it goes through minions. Max W, Strut, second to get the bigger boost of attack speed. Since E, Make it Rain, has an AP scaling, max it for last.

Game plan

Miss Fortune needs to take advantage of her strong early game to bully the enemy laners. Poke and harass with Q and E while farming gold with First Strike. If they give you a chance to get a kill, go for it as long as the enemy loses more gold and experience than you. Use the lane priority to capture the neutral objectives. Ideally, you want to take down the bot lane turret as quickly as possible so you can swap to the mid lane and pressure that lane as well. 

In the mid-and late game, stick close to your team and don’t stay alone on side lanes. Wait for an engage from your allies and use your ultimate to blow the enemy team up. Don’t walk forward, and be on the lookout for any threat that might kill you.

Jinx

Pros

• Buffed this patch
• One of the best DPS late-game champions
• A pleasure to play when fully mastered

Cons

• Struggles when falling behind
• Easy to kill without proper peeling

This year, Jinx was considered one of the strongest ADCs at the start of the season, which forced the balance team to nerf her. Now that she has been gone for a while, and other marksmen have been nerfed, she has crawled her way back into the meta, registering great pick and positive win rates across all Elos, according to LoLalytics.

Jinx Item build

Jinx’s rune setup hasn’t changed a bit from last time, so let’s just take a quick look at them. For the main tree, you have Precision with Lethal Tempo, Presence of Mind, Legend: Bloodline, and Coup de Grace. This is the best mix that grants extra mana, lifesteal, and higher damage when killing low-health targets. Coup de Grace, in particular, works well once Jinx gets a reset and the attack speed boost that increases her DPS. 

When it comes to the secondary rune tree, choose Sorcery and go for Absolute Focus and Gathering Storm. The first increases the initial damage at the start of the fight, and also increases Jinx’s poke damage coming from her W (as long as she has more than 70 percent health). Gathering Storm, on the other hand, further boosts her late-game power, adding more attack damage the longer the game lasts. 

Jinx’s build is the traditional ADC crit damage build. Kraken Slayer and Infinity Edge are the two core items, followed by Rapid Firecannon (or Phantom Dancer). Round off the build with two items among Lord Dominik’s Regard, Bloodthirster, and Guardian Angel, depending on whether you want more offensive or defensive stats. 

Ability priority

Jinx has only one max order: R>Q>W>E. Switcheroo! (Q) is her most important ability since it gives her more damage output on both the minigun and rockets. Zap! (W) got stronger so it’s definitely worth maxing right after to take advantage of the increased slow. 

Game plan

Just like most crit-based ADCs, Jinx’s DPS goes up exponentially once she can get her hands on the items. Being a hyper-carry, she gets stronger and stronger for every full item she purchases.

Her first real spike comes in when she buys Infinity Edge: you will notice an evident increase in damage output, so focus on farming and make sure to get that item spike as soon as possible. If you have good trading opportunities, you can go for kills.

That said, don’t be greedy or over-aggressive, especially if there’s a high risk it can backfire hard. Play it slowly and you’ll eventually win with teamfights anyway. Be aware of your positioning and understand which targets to focus on: getting a takedown is all you need to start your one-vs-nine show. 

Kalista

Pros

• The rising bot lane pick
• Strong early on
• Spikes in the mid game
• Highly mobile
• Matches well with most meta supports

Cons

• Tough to master
• Falls off later compared to other ADCs

After being off the radars for various seasons, Kalista made a swift return in the recent meta. She has been one of the most contested picks at Worlds with over 80 percent presence rate, according to stat site Games of Legends.

It hasn’t been much different in solo queue, where she boasts a 52 percent win rate at the highest ranks of the solo queue ladder, according to U.GG. In a meta where most picks look to scale and wait for the late game, Kalista is one of the few bot lane options that allow you to play aggressively: as long as you’re able to play the laning phase correctly, you can easily take over the game and get the victory.

Kalista Item build

The rune setup for Kalista is similar to most on-hit marksmen in the game: her keystone rune is Lethal Tempo, followed by Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, and Last Stand. This combination of runes allows her to maximize the DPS by heavily increasing the attack speed while offering additional damage if she falls low on health. In heated moments where fights are played out to the extreme limit, having the extra damage can make a difference between a kill or a death.

Sudden Impact and Treasure Hunter are the secondary runes from the Domination tree. The former gives extra lethality to amplify Kalista’s damage while Treasure Hunter rewards her with more gold whenever she picks up a takedown. It accelerates her economy, allowing her to snowball and create a larger gold lead.

When it comes to her build, Kalisa doesn’t rush the Mythic item first. Instead, she prioritizes Blade of the Ruined King or the lifesteal and the item’s passive that allows her to kite enemies better. Once completed, rush Guinsoo’s Rageblade followed by Runaan’s Hurricane. This third item is essential since it allows Kalista to apply Rend stacks on nearby enemies, increasing the potential damage during the skirmishes. Round off with Immortal Shieldbow and Guardian Angel to increase the lifesteal and resistances of the champion.

Ability priority

The maxing order for Kalista is quite straightforward: R>E>Q>W. Her E, Rend, is her main damage and wave clearing. Since Kalista heavily relies on her auto attacks, maxing Rend is a no-brainer. After that, always max Q, Pierce, to improve the long-range poke damage. Considering her W, Sentinel, doesn’t deal any damage, don’t put points into it until later in the game.

Game plan

As Kalista, your goal is fully dependent on how your early game is played. During this period, you need to be able to get a substantial lead over the enemy bot lane. Whether it’s through kills or minion farm, Kalista needs to take advantage of this time window. The stronger she gets compared to the opponent, the easier it will be to play the teamfights.

Given her strong wave clear which guarantees bot lane priority, you shouldn’t have problems taking down the dragons. If you’re able to get control of most objectives on the map, then Kalista will become a carry machine in the mid-game fights.

Whenever you are not in a winning position, look to play with your teammates and coordinate picks with your ultimate: use it to bait the enemies or engage aggressively. If you’re able to make these plays work, you should have strong success with Kalista.

Vayne

Pros

• One of the best late-game carries
• High mobile with her Q 
• Shreds through tanks

Cons

• Sub-par laning phase
• Needs a lot of time to ramp up her damage 

Vayne has been off the radar for quite a while, but she’s finally getting some love and recognition she deserves. Thanks to her new build, she has been able to partially fix some of her key weaknesses while retaining her strengths as a late-game carry with high mobility. 

The numbers are speaking for themselves with a strong 51.56 percent win rate, according to LoLalytics. If you’re a mechanically talented player who loves to carry teams on your back, this is the right pick for you. 

Item build

Just like most ADCs, Vayne relies on her auto attacks to deal damage, so, it’s important to get attack speed as well as attack damage. So the best keystone rune for Vayne is Lethal Tempo, which is perfect for teamfights and extended skirmishes.

Aside from Lethal Tempo, opt for Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, and Coup de Grace. Never run Last Stand on Vayne since she won’t be able to proc the effects. If she drops low on health, chances are she might be dead a few moments later.

The secondary tree for Vayne is Resolve which might be a weird combination at first. That said, Conditioning and Overgrowth make her just a little tankier and harder to take down, and there aren’t other good runes. Theoretically, you could run Domination with Taste of Blood and Treasure Hunter, but it’s a high-risk, high-reward setup which I don’t typically recommend.

When it comes to the build, this is where things have changed drastically for Vayne compared to past seasons. She rushes Statikk Shiv first since it helps her to quickly clear minion waves: it has always been Vayne’s main weakness that has gated her from becoming stronger. Now that there’s such an item, she won’t lose lane priority as much. 

After that, Vayne players go for Trinity Force for the Mythic item. It gives her all the stats she needs, and it synergizes well with her kit since she can proc the Spellblade passive consistently. To round off the build, pick up Blade of the Ruined King, Wit’s End, and Guardian Angel for the best mix of offensive and defensive stats. Immortal Shieldow and Phantom Dancer are great alternatives if you’re looking to increase her damage output. Anathema’s Chains, instead, can be built against single-carry team comps. 

Ability priority

When you’re playing Vayne, you should go for R>Q>W>E in terms of ability priority. This is because the new build wants to take advantage of the Spellblade procs rather than the on-hit passive from W, Silver Bolts. Maxing Q, Tumble, lowers the cooldown to two seconds, greatly increasing Vayne’s dodging and short trade potential. Max E, Condemn, last since it’s a situational spell. 

Game plan

Vayne’s trickiest moment in the game is the laning phase and until she closes out the Statikk Shiv. Due to her lack of wave clear early on, as well as the low damage output, there are high chances you will be pressured in the first few minutes. The goal is to survive and farm as much as possible without giving away too much advantage to the enemies. Give up a bit of minion CS if that means you can stay alive for longer. 

Once you get the Statikk Shiv, you can look to play a bit more aggressively but try to keep your focus on getting as much gold as possible from minions. You’ll scale later anyway, so there is no need to force plays: wait for your opponents to make the mistake or let your teammates set up actions. 

In the late stages of the game, use your Qs to kite back and draw a distance from your enemies while auto-attacking them to death. If you don’t get caught, you’ll likely come out victorious. 

Ziggs

Pros

• Magic damage dealer for more hybrid damage output
• Great wave clearing
• Perfect to neutralize bully laners 

Cons

• Doesn’t offer DPS like other bot laners
• Can be vulnerable due to the lack of escape tools

Even though he’s still not a popular champion in the bot lane meta, Ziggs is one of the underrated picks of the patch. With the rise of long-range champions like Jhin, Ezreal, and Caitlyn, Ziggs shines as a great answer to prevent them from snowballing in the early stages of the game. 

Additionally, the champion has a global ultimate and scales well in the late game by becoming a poking machine with his Qs. His win rate is well above the 51 percent mark, according to LoLalytics. 

Item build

Just like his mid lane version, Ziggs’ main keystone rune in the bottom lane is Arcane Comet. It further empowers his poke potential throughout the entire game, and it’s the comet is easy to hit if you apply the crowd controls.  

For the remaining runes from the Sorcery tree, go for Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Scorch. This combination allows him to get essential stats like mana and ability haste while also adding a bit more damage to his poke and damage rotations. If you know you will be playing towards the late-game, you can consider swapping Scorch for Gathering Storm to get additional adaptive force as the game progresses. 

In the secondary tree, choose Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery from the Inspiration tree. The former is a great way to save up 300 gold, which can be used to complete the core items earlier. Biscuit Delivery, on the other hand, grants extra mana and health to survive the early laning phase and potential skirmishes.

Liandry’s Anguish, Archangel’s Staff, Shadowflame/Rabadon’s Deathcap, Voidstaff/Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

Build-wise, Ziggs’ items are almost identical to the mid lane version. He still wants to rush Liandry’s Anguish and Archangel’s Staff to get the damage over time passive and the mana. Then, get Shadowflame and Rabadon’s Deathcap to maximize the champion’s damage output. Round off with either a Void Staff or Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, depending on whether you need the passive slow or extra magic penetration.  

Ability priority

On Ziggs, there is only one ability order: R>Q>E>W. His Q, Bouncing Bomb, is his main wave clearing and poking ability so always max it first. After that, level up E, Hexplosive Minefield, to deal more AoE damage and increase the amount of slow applied.

Game plan

Ziggs is a scaling champion, so the main goal early on is to sit back and play safe by focusing on farming the minions. Ideally, you want to avoid fighting against the enemy bot lane without poking or harassing first, or else you will lose most of the two-vs-two skirmishes. 

Thanks to his high damage, it will be almost possible for the enemy bot lane to match your wave-clearing potential. Ward the surrounding areas to know whether you will be susceptible to ganks and try to take down the first turret as quickly as possible with Ziggs’ W. 

In the late game, stay in the back lane and throw as many bombs as possible before the start of a fight. If one of the enemies is caught or engaged, follow it up with all your abilities and the ultimate: a well-landed Short Fuse can blow up an entire team. Be consistent, and watch out for your positioning so you don’t get caught in the mix.

Ashe

Pros

• Solid damage output at all stages of the game
• Global ultimate with her arrow 
• Best for front-to-back fights

Cons

• Weak when behind 
• Immobile champion 

Ashe been rising in popularity, achieving positive win rates across all ranks of the solo queue ladder, according to LoLalytics. Not only is she an easy ADC to learn and master, but she’s the perfect pick to dictate engages with her ultimate, making her a solid pick at all levels of play.

Item build

Ashe is a strong late-game DPS marksman, so the best rune for her is Lethal Tempo. The longer she fights, the more attack speed she can stack, further fueling her damage. 

In terms of minor rune choice, go for Presence of Mind, Legend: Alacrity, and Coup de Grace. This is the most effective combination of runes for Ashe, so she can get extra mana, attack speed, and damage. For the secondary tree, choose Inspiration and go for Biscuit Delivery and Approach Velocity. The former is important since it synergizes perfectly with Ashe’s kit: She can consistently activate the rune thanks to the slow on her auto attacks and abilities.

Ashe is another champion finding great success with Trinity Force after the buffs it received during the mid-season patch. This is because she can take advantage of the item’s passive to kite better while also getting increasing attack damage when attacking champions. Following the Mythic item, Ashe picks up Kraken Slayer and one between Runaan’s Hurricane and Phantom Dancer to enhance her DPS. Phantom Dancer is better if you need more single-target damage while Runaan’s Hurricane is typically better for teamfights and multi-man skirmishes. The last two items are Immortal Shieldbow and Guardian Angel to improve Ashe’s survivability in the late game. 

Ability priority

On Ashe, there is only one maxing order and that is R>W>Q>E. W, Volley, is Ashe’s main poke and harass ability that also applies a slow. Max Q, Ranger’s Focus, second for the additional attack speed and damage. Since Hawkshot is only a tool that provides vision, max it later in the game. 

Game plan

When playing Ashe, your initial goal is to harass enemies and build a health lead over your opponents. If you push the lane, make sure to use Hawkshot to track the enemy jungler and ward bushes to predict incoming ganks. 

Always use the higher range to your advantage. Don’t go for greedy plays and wait for your support or jungler to set up the kills for you. Once you get to level six, you can use the ultimate to initiate fights or ganks: This is one of Ashe’s biggest advantages that no other ADCs have. In the later stages of the game, stay in the back line and make sure not to get engaged or get collapsed on: Positioning is key for Ashe. If the enemies don’t find a way to catch you somehow, you will win most of the teamfights with proper kiting.