League of Legends: League of Lessons

Phase three: late game

Who's your daddy? You are your own daddy. At this phase of the game, you should be the highest threat to your enemies, as you possess the strongest consistent damage out of all your team-mates, and have successfully racked up 2 to 3 end-game items. An analogy for you in the late game phase is: you are a ninja plushie, equipped with a Gatling gun and moving swiftly and avoiding enemy fire, while rapidly filling them with arrows or lead.

Vital tactic: identical to phase two

Your job in phase three is pretty much identical to that in phase two, except that, at this point of the game, you getting caught out of position can instantly spell defeat for your team. Also, your enemies will love to sink their weapons into you more than ever at this phase of the game, as you will probably have the lowest life and highest damage in your entire team.

Survival tactic 1: mind your own business

Team-fights at this phase of the game are usually messy, and it is extremely hard to keep track of everything that is going on. Thus, you might want to reduce the things you choose to focus on in these big team-fights, to things you need to focus most in these fights. As an AD Carry, keeping an eye on your champion should be number one on your list.

I understand some of the issues faced by newer AD Carries, as personally, before I transitioned to play this role, my primary roles were either Jungle or Top and, usually, members of these two lanes are thicker and in the face of the enemies to keep them off your team. As such, you have to watch the enemy's position, as well as your team's, and that will cause you to focus less on your own champion. So when I first transitioned to the AD Carry role, there were countless times where I lost sight of my champion, and when I finally caught sight of him again, he was already kissing the floor like a romantic scene from Twilight.

As an AD Carry, you have to be extremely self-centred and stay alive, regardless of the situation. Newer AD Carries, like me in the past, tend to focus too much on the enemy you are targeting, and lose sight of your champion. (Players call this "Tunnel Vision") But as an AD Carry, if you happily keep firing while stupidly waltzing into your enemy lines, you will get destroyed instantly, which will spell disaster for your team, as the enemy now possesses more damage output and will always -- always -- keep an eye on your champion.

Survival tactic 2: survival items

Possessing a survival item is paramount to succeeding in the late game when the opponents will try their best to lock you down. I would recommend Guardian Angel or Banshee's Veil. As a summoner, you should be able to decide on what survival items are best suited to maximize your chances of staying alive.

Guardian Angel is ideal for most situations, but I would say that it is for situations when the enemy champions have high, long ranged burst damage and low sustain damage. This grants a second wind while the enemies still have all their spells on cooldown.

Banshee's Veil is less commonly used in the tournament scene, but it is good for situations where the opponent has an AP Carry, which possesses high, focused target burst. A good example of this type of champion is Leblanc, and the extra magic resist and spell shield will be able to block off a good chunk of her burst damage, keeping you alive.

Quicksilver Sash is not an item that I will recommend for newer players, as newer players in the heat of battle tend to forget that they have this item. But I would say, under the hands of a skilled player, this survival item definitely has the highest utility compared to the rest, and it is so much cheaper compared to the other 2 choices, as well. What this item does is remove all enemy debuffs that are affecting your champion. At the end of this article, I will recommend some professional AD Carry players for you guys to check out, and you can see how these skilled players abuse, so disgustingly well, the utility of this item.

One tactic that will give you an advantage in this field is to stay out of enemy vision before the team-fight breaks out, and enter when you notice the enemy has blown some of their major spells on your teammates. You lose some damage-time, but you gain the advantage of coming in when the risk of getting focused is lowered.

Vital tactic 1.1: positioning, positioning, positioning

What is positioning? Good positioning is having your champion at a location that allows you to deal as much damage, while taking as little damage, if not no damage at all. I cannot stress the importance of learning this skill. Many games are lost in high level games due to bad positioning of the players from the team that lost. Unlike other MOBA, the loss of 1 player in the team, especially the Carries, can spell defeat for the game.

In team-fights, many people have this misconception that an AD Carry's job is to take out the enemy Carries as quickly as possible, while putting themselves at risk. This is incorrect, as more often than not, you will not be able to reach the enemy Carries unless they come into your face, or the enemy front-liners are dead. And emphasizing on the advice from Cpt Jack: never put yourself in a compromising position, but instead, rain as much devastation as possible on whomever you can target at that given point in time, or what you feel to be the most threatening target within your champion's attack range.

Timing movements between your attacks is also extremely beneficial to keeping yourself alive and preventing dying enemies from escaping. The name of this next skill an AD Carry has to learn is called "Kiting"; it means to keep as much of a distance as you can from melee enemies, while raining auto-attacks on their team. A moving target is always harder to hit than a stationary target, thus, constant repositioning in team-fight will make it harder for the enemies to focus you down.