Game-winning play against Doublelift in LCS has players questioning ADC balance

Team Liquid dropped 3 ultimate abilities on top of Doublelift during an LCS match, killing him almost instantly without much potential for counterplay. This has once again called into question the balance of ADC champions in League of Legends.

Balancing the ADC role has been a particularly difficult task for the developers behind League of Legends, especially when it comes to problematic champions like Zeri. Despite multiple item reworks, map changes, and support metas having come and gone since the start of Season 13, the constantly shifting balance of the role is still a hotly debated topic.

And, unfortunately, that kind of comes with the territory. ADCs have a ton of damage output by design, with the main drawback being that they tend to lack options for keeping themselves alive. If an ADC is left alone, they can take over the game. If they get focused, ADC champs can look useless.

However, Peter ‘Doublelift’ Peng’s death in an LCS match has left the community to once again debate whether or not the role is in a good spot. Considering his death may have cost 100 Thieves their match against Team Liquid, people are wondering if the role is truly balanced.

Doublelift’s in-game death sparks League balance discussion

When it comes to ADC balance discussions, people that play the role themselves often feel like their role is too weak. Alternatively, those who don’t play ADC often feel like the role is too strong.

This could be said of any role in League of Legends, but it’s especially true for ADC. The nature of the role as an all-or-nothing damage dealer makes it incredibly difficult to find a middle ground, leaving players who get fed and carry as feeling “too strong” to play against and those playing the role who get focused feeling weak.

However, after Doublelift’s unfortunate in-game death at the hand of 3 long-range ultimates, even those who feel ADC is a little too strong faltered and felt bad for the veteran ADC player.

Players took to reddit, sarcastically mocking Doublelift’s positioning and saying that there were ways he could have played that better in jest.

“Bad positioning by the ADC. You’re supposed to position in the fountain until abilities have been used.” one player claimed, with others saying things like “Bro just play safe”.

However, others were completely ok with the way DL died in this clip and didn’t take issue with the fact that he got taken out.

“Idk maybe I’m just out of touch, but if you use three damaging ults on the squishy carry, so long as you don’t misplay and hit everything, they should die? Is that controversial?”

Ultimately, it’s hard to say whether ADC is a balanced role or not. If Doublelift had the tools to live through getting hit by 3 ultimates like that, would 100 Thieves have won the fight? Should it be harder to kill ADCs, or should they have more defensive options than just Summoner Spells and Galeforce?

Balancing a game like League of Legends isn’t easy and there’s no way to make every player happy, but the fact that Doublelift died so easily during this match has certainly rekindled the discussion.