League of Legends devs admit ADC is an “overpowered” role
Riot GamesWith bot lane being heavily focused on in pro play and ADC items getting buffed earlier in Season 13, Phreak admitted that ADC is “overpowered”. This was paired with a confirmation that bot lane would be getting some nerfs.
Role strength has always been a hot topic among League of Legends players. Considering that most players stick to playing one or two roles and that each role is represented equally on each team, it can be hard to discern when a role is truly overpowered or underpowered.
That said, with big changes to the jungle at the start of Season 13 and a massive buff to ADC items on 13.1b, role strength is a more heated conversation than ever.
In his video explaining patch 13.5 and some of the upcoming 13.6 changes, Phreak outright admitted that ADC is an overpowered role. In fact, he never thought the role was underpowered even when buffing it.
Phreak admits ADC is “overpowered” ahead of nerfs
Patch 13.1b marked a massive set of changes to ADCs, all aimed toward making the role feel more impactful in-game. Many champions within the role got a whole slew of base stat buffs along with buffs to some of the most important crit items.
This led to a trend of ADC champions getting picked in support at a high level due to just how strong they are at pushing lanes and pressuring early on, and it has made it so that the majority of matches revolve around whether or not your bot lane is doing well.
Clips like this of JDG’s Park ‘Ruler’ Jae-hyuk show just how much impact an ADC can have, and how heavily they can outperform other champions when given some time to farm and get their hands on a few items.
With pros all over the world consistently getting Quadra and Penta kills in-game with some of the strongest champions in the role, it’s been hard to shake the narrative that bot lane dominates the game.
Phreak agrees that the role is overpowered, hinting at some ADC nerfs that have since been confirmed. In his video about patch 13.5, he speaks about his motivation for buffing the role initially and his overall balance goals.
“When I buffed ADCs in 13.1b, I was like, ‘I know ADCs aren’t underpowered, but they feel bad. They’re just getting power here.’ Lo and behold, ADC is a very overpowered role now, and it’s gonna get nerfed, don’t worry.”
He followed by saying he can comfortably nerf ADCs now, and that he’s hoping the role is more fun than before after having gone through the series of buffs and nerfs.
Patch 13.6 is almost solely targeting bot lane, going by the preview notes, with Riot trying to give teams more ways to win than just playing around their ADC.
We’ve yet to see the full preview notes with a breakdown of what exactly they’re nerfing, but the fact that so many nerfs are coming to the role has given a very rare case of the developers confirming a role is overpowered – Other than jungle, anyways.