Patch 13.20 changed everything and in this list edition (With three new picks), we have the return to the top of one Loose cannon. Find out who are the Best ADCs to play in League of Legends Patch 13.20 - Anti-Snowball edition
League of Legends Patch 13.20 brought significant changes to the meta.
Anti-Snowballing adjustments along with the Jungle ones just created an entirely new metagame that rewards new unique picks such as Rammus and makes the scaling mages the best champions to pick (Orianna comes to mind).
There are still a few long-stayers in the meta that are still dominating. However, the early Game runes nerfs, Doran’s Item buffs, reduced Death Timers, EXP penalties, etc did make an impact (Check our Patch 13.20 summary and post to learn all the details).
A few bot lane changes are important to mention, these buffs/nerfs and the Patch 13.20 demanded to swap four ADC spots in this edition’s list.
Changes to ADC in Patch 13.20
Let’s start with the biggest one, Jinx buffs.
After dominating early parts of the season Jinx disappeared from most tier lists.
Time passes, and after a couple of patches (Since 13.9) the meta just flat out did not match Jinx's ideal pace… until now. The buffs in this patch have propelled her to God status, she's so broken that Riot has already planned a set of nerfs in the upcoming patch.
- Health Growth: 100 ⇒ 105
- Passive - Get Excited! - Stacks on Stacks: The 25% bonus total attack speed gained from Get Excited! takedowns now stack.
- R - Super Mega Death Rocket!
- CD: 75/65/55 seconds ⇒ 70/60/50 seconds
- Minimum Damage: 30/45/60 (+15% bonus AD) (+25/30/35% of target's missing health) ⇒ 32.5/47.5/62.5 (+16.5% bonus AD) (+25/30/35% of target's missing health)
- Maximum Damage: 300/450/600 (+150% bonus AD) (+25/30/35% of target's missing health) ⇒ 325/475/625 (+165% bonus AD) (+25/30/35% of target's missing health)
In the Nerfs department, Kai’Sa’s domination with her Lethality build caught the eyes of Riot immediately so she’s getting a small nerf.
- Base Armor from 28 to 25
The nerf itself is small but was enough to make her early laning phase much weaker. Also, Caitlyn being good does not help Kai'Sa in the slightest.
5. Caitlyn
You may argue that she should be in the 1st spot.
After buffs in 13.18, and nerfs to the most performing ADCs, Caitlyn has slowly risen in priority and has made it to our 5th spot in the list.
Currently, in very high elo (Masters+ to Challenger), she’s terrorizing with her Lethality build.
Recommended Caitlyn build
What makes this Lethality build function and go wild is the pairing with First Strike. The extra gold allows you to get your cheaper lethality items way faster and the extra true damage allows Ace In the Hole (Ultimate) to take at least 60% of their HP, in some cases one-shotting them.
The key to playing Caitlyn in Patch 13.20 is to take advantage of your huge auto-attack range (650).
She’s a lane bully so you need to maintain the lane priority in the laning phase, meaning that you need to harass the laner as often as you can while pushing the minion wave (Track the Jungler to avoid ganks).
This playstyle does require some practice, but once you get it, she’s unleashed.
Following that trend though, this aggressive playstyle has a flaw.
First, her 90 Caliber Net (E) is not a reliable escape, making her vulnerable to ganks.
Second, certain assassins run her down easily (Nocturne).
Finally, although her Lethality build is OP, Caitlyn’s has subpar damage against tanks.
Caitlyn has little details on execution that require study and practice to be great at her. That’s why she has always been more appreciated in higher elos or pro play.
For that reason, we do recommend checking our MOBAFire guides to learn the Sheriff of Piltover properly.
Check Counterstats for the best picks against the Sheriff of Piltover.
4. Jhin
Back to the 4th spot.
Scaling being big hasn’t changed Jhin's spot… that much.
In the previous entry, we mentioned that the engage supports turn Jhin into a deadly laner. This is even more true in Patch 13.20 thanks to the meta favouring more Tanks like Rammus.
Recommended Jhin Build
Deadly Flourish (W) roots and the extra damage of Curtain Call (Ultimate) make Jhin one great standalone champion.
The reason that Jhin is dropping from the 3rd spot is tanks being good (Jhin struggles against them), and new bot picks in the patch just flat out being better.
Still, if you already play him, Jhin is a great pick to use in this patch. He does have a few tricks to master such as comboing your Deadly Flourish (W) with allies CC or placing optimal traps.
To learn the Virtuoso, check our recommended MOBAFire guides.
Check Counterstats for the best picks against Jhin.
3. Ziggs
A mage steals our 3rd spot on this list.
Ziggs has always been a strong champion in the bot lane. In Patch 13.20 though, he’s on another level thanks to the radius buff in his Bouncing Bomb (Q).
- Explosion Hitbox: 150 ⇒ 180
Ziggs's playstyle relies on bombarding the opposing bot lane duo, his absurd range on his abilities makes trading against him almost impossible, and when paired with engage supports his complete burst combo with E+Q+R one-shots most carries.
Recommended Ziggs build
All of these strengths don't include the fact that Satchel Charge (W) explodes turrets, making Zigg's sieges one of the most dangerous after important team fights.
All of this sounds good, but Ziggs does have great limitations.
- The Yordle does not have much DPS compared to more traditional ADC
- Ziggs relies on hitting skill shots to do any damage
- Vulnerable to assassins, despite having an escape ability with W.
The fact he is in this spot, tells you a lot about his current strength in the bot lane (He’s OP).
If you want to pick a Mage carry to noninteractive annoy your enemies, or to nuke Dragons with your Mega Inferno Bomb (Ultimate), check our recommended MOBAFire guides to play the Hexplosives Expert.
Check Counterstats for the best picks against this yordle maniac.
2. Jinx
The 2nd Pick of this list is Jinx.
After being out of Meta for months, Jinx has returned in big fashion.
Jinx is the perfect pick in Patch 13.20 meta. The slower game pace allows her to scale and become the hypercarry she is.
Recommended Jinx build
But what actually made her an OP pick in this patch is the buffs to Super Mega Death Rocket! (Ultimate) and her passive Get Excited!.
The extra damage in Super Mega Death Rocket! makes it easier to get her passive rolling, and with the uncapped ASPD stacks on Get Excited!, she becomes a machine gun in fights.
However, despite her late-game team fights being disgusting, she does fall flat in certain situations.
First, Jinx is immobile making her susceptible to the likes of Jarvan IV and the recent Flavor of the Patch pick, Rammus.
Secondly, she has rough matchups against very long-range champions. To be fair, only Ezreal and Caitlyn give her the most trouble.
Despite those drawbacks, Jinx is one of the easiest ADCs to pilot and has the best 1v9 potential in Patch 13.20.
The first pick is just more reliable and pickable in every type of game.
To learn the Loose-cannon, check our recommended MOBAFire guides.
If you have trouble dealing with Jinx, check Counterstats to pick the best champions against her.
1. Ezreal
No nerfs to Ezreal, he keeps running the show..
If you read any of the previous entries, you should know by now that Ezreal has been the front-runner for quite some time. Despite this, Riot has not nerfed him (Maybe the new Heartsteel skin line has something to do with this).
His damage with Trinity Force is still great with all of his kit, Arcane Shift (E) allows Ezreal to escape the most dire situations against any meta picks like Rammus or Fiddlestick.
Recommended Ezreal Build
The cons of Ezreal, and why he’s not recommended in lower elos, is the fact that he’s a high-skill capped champion.
To pilot Ezreal properly you must hit most of your skill shots to be relevant, the fact that missing a Mystic Shot (Q) makes you lose your ASPD stacks from the Rising Spell Force (Passive), makes playing badly Ezreal punishing.
Not only that, but the way you position yourself in fights with Ezreal is fundamental to your success. That's why jokes like EU Ezreal are still relevant at Worlds.
The gap between a good Ezreal and an elite one is wide.
There are many secrets to playing Ezreal, even more so if you want to main him in the higher tiers of plays (Masters+), that's why we recommend our specialized MOBAFire guides to help you with that.
Check Counterstats for the best picks against the Prodigal Explorer.
Honorable Mention
- Swain – AP Mages in bot lane are doing hot in WR across all regions. Worth checking out
- Kai’Sa – She’s still good but not as dominant, try to avoid Caitlyn or Ziggs
- Ashe – The Queen of Bot Lane is still a menace, not as hot as the previous patches
