Introduction
In League of Legends, Attack Damage Carries (ADCs) are typically the primary damage dealers on a team. They are typically ranged champions who build items that increase their attack damage and critical strike chance, allowing them to deal massive amounts of damage in a short amount of time.
There are many different ADCs to choose from in League of Legends, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. So, it’s no wonder that a lot of people ask the question: Which ADC has the highest DPS?
And while the answer may seem simple to some of our readers, for the newer players this question is actually tricky to answer. Let’s take a look at not only which champions do the most damage but other things that can influence the damage ADC players do.
Which ADC Has the Highest DPS
When it comes to DPS, there are a few different factors to consider. First, you need to look at the champion’s base attack damage. This is the amount of damage they deal with each basic attack. Second, you need to look at their attack speed. This is the number of attacks they can make per second. Third, you need to look at their critical strike chance. This is the probability that their attacks will deal critical damage, which is double their normal damage.
But once you figure out the base stats of the champion you still need to take their abilities into account. Most champions have a “steroid” in their kit, which is a buff that increases one of these base stats. If they don’t have that they usually have some ability that increases damage, range or area of effect.
This means that there are about three categories for “Highest DPS” for ADCs and this is without counting mage ADCs which would complicate this stuff too much so we’re leaving them out.
Highest DPS vs Squishy Targets
We’ll start out with those ADCs which are great against targets with barely any defense. We’re talking about champions like: ADCs, Mages, Enchanters and Assassins. Basically, anyone not a Tank or Diver. These guys have low or average HP and low armor stats, making them prime targets for ADCs to click to death.
Aphelios
Aphelios has the unique distinction of being the only champion who can reach max lethality in the game. So that already tells you everything you need to know about this champion in a nutshell (not really).
This champion has got some insane damage late game using all of his 5 different weapons. He is extremely versatile and barring some niche stuff he’s got everything any ADC could ever want!
On the other hand, he is a difficult champion to play and even harder to master. He still requires all of the mechanical abilities that every other ADC should be good at, but you also have to add in 5 different weapons which means 5 different attack animations and multiple off-hand/main-hand combinations plus his ultimate’s 5 different versions.
Its for that reason that I would only recommend Aphelios to players who want to really push themselves and learn a single champion for a long period of time, the rewards are great with you mastering the most versatile ADC in the game, but it’s not for everyone.
Jinx
Before the introduction of Aphelios to the game Jinx was the highest DPS champion in the game period. And even now she is right there next to Aphelios if the targets don’t buy much armor.
Jinx has got two main weapons which she can switch with her Q, her machine gun gives her stacking attack speed up to a maximum of 130%. While her rocket launcher gives her attack AOE properties.
If you combine her Minigun with her passive “Get Excited!” which gives Jinx a movement speed and attack speed bonus you end up with about 155% extra attack speed without any item at level 18. If you add items that scale with attack speed like Kraken Slayer you end up with a champion that can do tremendous damage per second.
Jinx does suffer from a mediocre early and middle game, and it can feel overwhelming coming back from a really bad early game. But she is much easier to play and to learn than Aphelios. I would recommend Jinx to anyone looking to get into ADC, she will teach you a lot of good habits to have for most ADCs with a balanced and straightforward approach to the game.
Highest DPS vs Tanks
Now let’s go over some of the best ADC picks for when you got a bunch of tanky targets to hit. Think Dr. Mundo, Cho ‘Gath and so on. These guys are really hard to kill for most every archetype but there are some ADCs which are especially good versus them.
Vayne
Vayne is the classic anti-tank ADC. Introduced to League of Legends way back in season 1 she has remained as the premier anti-tank ADC ever since.
Vayne’s W is designed to punish players who stack HP. It deals bonus true damage based on the target’s maximum health, and it can go as high as 10% at level 5!
Just with her W Vayne is a serious threat for tanks the entire game. If you’re a tank and the enemy have a Vayne then you better watch out because she will do pretty much the same damage the entire game even if you stack tank items, and she also has an awesome stun with her E, plus she becomes invisible and runs really fast towards opponents with her passive and Q.
Vayne is a cool champion, she is a bit difficult to play because she doesn’t really have a true dash, but players who get good at Vayne are good at pretty much every other ADC because Vayne is all about the fundamentals like attack-moving and positioning which translate well to all of the other ADCs.
Kog’Maw
We’re back with another classic League of Legends champion. This one is even older than Vayne. Kog’Maw was released almost an entire year before Vayne and shares many things with her on his kit.
Kog’Maw is all about damage per second, his Q gives him a passive increase to his attack speed and the active is a projectile that can shred up to 31% of the target’s armor and magic resist just like that!
Then his W gives him a buff for 8 seconds which gives Kog’Maw a whooping 210 attack range and 6% extra magic damage added to his auto attacks.
This makes Kog’Maw the original hybrid ADC, enemy players can’t really itemize against Kog’Maw and must instead kill him before he kills them, there is just no other way.
Sadly, Kog’Maw does pay a heavy price for this damage, he has no dash, his movement speed is really low and without his W his attack range is really low, this makes him a difficult and punishing ADC to play when there are all of these assassins and divers flying around the map and making your life difficult.
Still, Kog’Maw has a place in League of Legends, if you’re opponents have locked two tanks in, picking Kog’Maw is going to be a great idea.
Conclusion
Alright so we talked about a bunch of different champions in this article but who is our number one pick for highest DPS in the game? Well, the answer to that question is more complicated than just a name.
If you are facing a team with no tanks then our answer would be Aphelios, followed by Jinx and then most other high DPS ADCs like Twitch and Kai’Sa.
If you’re up against a team with a bunch of tanks (2 or more) then you need to pick one of Vayne, Kog’Maw or even AP Varus.
Because League of Legends has so much variety no match is ever going to be the same, depending on picks the game can go in a completely different direction, so don’t limit yourself to binary thinking like which is the best one all the time. That champion doesn’t exist unless it’s a temporarily broken champion.
For most players, picking their favorite ADC who isn’t considered one of the worst in the game (so no Corki or Kalista) is good enough. The only exception to this rule would be picking aggressive early game ADCs like Draven and Samira. Those guys have a different playstyle so you need to consider that before diving deep into them and expecting awesome DPS at 35 minutes!