ADCs are usually the squishy hyper carries in teams, but not all of them are the same. Some ADCs have mobility in their kit that allows them to survive better, but the rest of them must rely on their sheer stats to tank damage thrown at them in the laning phase and teamfights. Champions are granted stats based on their role in the game.
The Top 7 Best Tanky ADCs in League of Legends are:
- Draven
- Caitlyn
- Kalista
- Nilahn
- Apehlios
- Ashe
- Miss Fortune
Let us take a look at each of these ADCs and what they excel at. Remember that having relatively higher stats does not automatically make them better, and they are still prone to damage if they misposition in the lane or in teamfights.
Draven
Draven is one of the tankiest ADC in the game. His kit is very simple and relies on his ability to walk up and basic attack his opponents while keeping his axes spinning. Draven sits at 675 – 2443 Health, 29 – 105.5 Armor, and 30 – 52.1 Magic Resist. These stats allow him to build full damage and be able to burst his opponent before he gets bursted.
Strengths
Draven is extremely strong and oppressive in the early game. If he gets a kill early, his passive can allow him to cash out a serious lead, making him the best snowballing ADC in the game. If Draven fails to cash out in the early game, he is able to do so with his ultimate when it becomes available at Level 6. His Q cooldown scales down a lot by Level 9, which allows him to drop axes and still maintain his DPS.
Weaknesses
Draven is a very hard champion to master because of his axe catching mechanic. A large portion of his damage comes from his spinning axes, and dropping those will make him a sitting duck. He also relies on his passive to snowball faster than other ADCs, and dying will waste a lot of these passive stacks, essentially stunting his strength. Anything that forces him to drop axes in teamfights will greatly reduce his impact.
Caitlyn
Caitlyn is an obnoxious ADC to play against because of her basic attack range. Her stats include 580 – 2399 Health, 28 – 107.9 Armor, and 30 – 52.1 Magic Resist. Her headshot passive allows her to burst her opponents in the span of seconds, while her range keeps her away from harm.
Strengths
Caitlyn’s biggest strength is definitely her basic attack range. This allows her to poke her opponents in the early game, discouraging them from trading back or going all in. Her W placements can make brushes a death trap and her E allows her to create distance between herself and her opponent. Her ultimate can be a great execute tool in teamfights.
Weaknesses
Caitlyn lacks any form of escape if her E is down, so she must be careful when using it to land a headshot. Her W is not rewarding if misplaced, so it is better to learn to combine with ally CC sources (Such as Thresh Q). Her R traps her in an animation during which she is unable to move and vulnerable to engages. Her main source of damage is her auto attacks so anything that prevents her from constantly auto attacking can shut her down in teamfights.
Kalista
Kalista is a very oppressive laner in the early game. Her strength is unlocked as soon as she buys boots on her first recall. Her jumps allow her to dodge skillshots and gap close onto her opponents, making it really hard to get away from her damage. She has 604 – 2542 Health, 24 – 112.4 Armor, and 30 – 52.1 Magic Resist.
Strengths
Most ADCs lack mobility in the early game due to their long cooldowns. Kalista’s passive allows her to run down her targets once she gets in range to auto attack. These leaps also allow her to dodge skillshots. Kalista’s E also allows her to secure objectives by executing them using her spears, this can be combined with a friendly smite. Her R allows her to save her teammate (mostly support) or can be used to set up an engage.
Weaknesses
Kalista’s auto attacks require vision to land, and opponents dropping vision constantly can prove to be an issue for her. While Kalista has better armor than most of the ADCs in the game, the fact remains that she is an ADC and will get crushed if she is CC’d and prevented from leaping away. Her E only resets if she scores a takedown, failing to reset this ability will cut a large portion of her burst damage.
Nilah
Nilah is a relatively newer addition to the League of Legends roster. With stats as good as 4 7.06 Health, 27 – 98.4 Armor, and 32 – 66.85 Magic Resist, Nilah stands strong as one of the best ADCs at resisting magic damage. Her unique kit allows her to fight in melee range and survive for long durations.
Strengths
Nilah has a unique EXP sharing passive that lets her level up relatively faster than her opponents, gaining power faster than them. She also functions well in botlane fights because her W blocks all kinds of auto attacks. Her E gives her mobility to jump into a fight whenever she pleases, and get out when done. Her ultimate is very strong, and she becomes a powerful fighter at first item completion.
Weaknesses
Nilah’s E is her primary source of escape and has a very long cooldown in the early game. Using it aggressively can put her at risk of being ganked. Her ultimate works similar to Diana’s ultimate but requires more follow up, so it is not the best when used solo. Her passive grants her bonus exp when sharing experience with another ally, but if she falls behind, this passive can not rescue her.
Aphelios
Aphelios has 580 – 2314 Health, 26 – 97.4 Armor, and 30 – 52.1 Magic Resist, allowing him to fight up close and personal when he has optimal weapons for it. Aphelios is an immobile ADC that likes to stand his ground and fight his opponents till he kills or dies. This makes him one of the best carries in the game but also poses some risks.
Strengths
Aphelios is a unique ADC because he only has two abilities, out of which one is only used to swap weapons. Aphelios has a wide variety of weapons that perform various purposes, allowing Aphelios to outperform his opponents by simply rotating his weapons efficiently. His ultimate can deal teamwide burst damage, CC them all, or lifesteal his entire health bar depending on the gun he has.
Weaknesses
As we mentioned before, Aphelios is quite immobile and requires heavy peeling from his teammates. He can easily be chain CC’d and targeted by assassins, thus his stats grant him a little more tankiness compared to other ADCs. His weapon combinations can be excellent or terrible depending on how you manage your ammo and rotations. He also relies on his ultimate to deal a big portion of his damage in teamfights.
Ashe
Ashe is similar to some other ADCs in this list because she lacks mobility. Her only way to survive is to kite her opponents. The slight tanky stats she has allow her to survive when jumped on by sources of burst damage. She has 640 – 2357 Health, 26 – 104.2 Armor, and 30 – 52.1 Magic Resist.
Strengths
Ashe is surprisingly strong during her laning phase. She has long range poke with her auto attacks and W. The slow on her attacks only gets more oppressive as she gains more and more items. Her E is an underrated utility that can help her team spot the enemy ganks or roams. Her ultimate is one of the strongest sources of CC in the game and usually has a short cooldown in the mid to late game.
Weaknesses
Similar to Aphelios, Ashe’s biggest weakness is her lack of mobility. This requires her to position well in the lane and in teamfights, otherwise, she is prone to get assassinated. Her ultimate is her only tool of self peel, so using it during the laning phase can leave you exposed to dives and ganks. Her W poke is good in the early game but starts to fall off unless she specifically builds for it. Getting a target with slow resistance off yourself can be a hassle.
Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune, while lacking any dashes or blinks in her kit, is still a very fast ADC. She has 640 – 2459 Health, 28 – 99.4 Armor, and 30 – 52.1 Magic Resist. She can melt through her enemies using her Q and passive, while her stats and movement speed from her W allow her to slip away from the opponent’s grasp without much effort.
Strengths
As stated above, Miss Fortune excels at dealing a large amount of damage to her targets using her passive and Q. Her ultimate is a massive source of damage, granted she can land her waves by combining her E with her ultimate. This E can also be used in the lane to poke her opponents. Her W allows her to move around the map quicker and reposition in fights to use her ultimate optimally.
Weaknesses
While Miss Fortune has her W, she is still fairly vulnerable to ganks and CC, especially anything that slows her down. Miss Fortune stands still while channeling her ultimate, making her the perfect target for divers and assassins even if she can cancel it. Her passive requires her to hit multiple opponents, which means that it is useless in 1v1 duels and can get her killed if she finds herself in such situations.
Conclusion
While the ADCs listed above have better health, armor, and/or magic resist stats compared to other ADCS, the fact of the matter remains that they’re still Marksmen. This means that they have limited tankiness and can be the target of large bursts or chain CC. No matter how tanky your champion is, you must always position well as an ADC to get maximum value out of your pick.
Also read: Top troll supports in League of Legends
