Riot says League’s ADCs are too strong—new items and big nerfs are on the way

If you asked any ADC main whether or not their role was too OP, they’d probably tell you “no,” and that the problem revolves around a few specific ADCs and items.

Well, the meta has revolved solely around the ADC for the past couple of months, and Riot has some bad news for those players—it believes the reliance and dependence forced on the marksman role is because it’s far too strong, according to the company’s announcement yesterday.

Widespread nerfs, reworks, and new items are on the way.

One of the primary issues listed by Riot in its detailed post yesterday on the official League of Legends forums was the ADC’s “turn-on” point. In other words, that’s the point of the game where the ADC becomes the heaviest hitter and most valuable role on the team. And generally speaking, Riot thinks ADCs are hitting that point far too early. To fix this problem, the Infinity Edge is being nerfed to the extreme, and new item traits and perhaps a new passive are coming for it, too.

That’s not all, either. Fleet Footwork, Zeal items, and base health regeneration nerfs are on the way, too, to add more risk to the role by removing a ton of survivability. This will force marksmen to rely more on the team’s support and tank roles for peel and protection.

Too many ADC champions are forced into critical strike carry builds, according to Riot, even when that shouldn’t be the most optimal option in every single game. As an answer, buffs are coming for items like the Bloodthirster, Blade of the Ruined King, and Last Whisper to promote non-crit item building. There’s also a new non-crit BF Sword item on the way, as well as a new Domination rune called Hail of Blades that has marksmen in mind.

Those new non-crit items and the Hail of Blades rune are intended mostly for marksmen, but according to the post, they should also provide a significant boost for AD assassins and fighters.

For the complete list of changes, read Riot’s full post.