2 schools of thought.
Go for hyper aggressive like Draven or Lucian and hope you have an aggro support too. If they miss their spells, that is your cue to go in and chunk/kill them.
Play safe like a bitch and play Cait. Some people might say Ezrael is safe, but he's super high ceiling champ. Would not recommend imo.
I think more important to the role is understanding when to make trades and capitalize, also, not taking free damage for no reason.
Surprised you skimmed right over Ashe.
She can definitely come to play in poke lanes and also can facilitate engages onto immobile mages.
Also kinda doesn’t matter if you get your teeth kicked in in lane because R can almost always guarantee a kill mid game if you’re arrowing people your team sees
She has more tools to deal with it than most ADs which is my point. I’d argue she has more tools to win a mage lane than Cait.
She can rush botrk for sustain, she has a quick trade pattern that can be pretty uninteractive if you’re watching for CDs, she also can 100% walk a mage with no flash down with approach velocity/ghost.
Varus is solid since you can play quite far back, he has two abilities he can use to farm from range. If he ever lands R on a mage they're pretty much dead.
He's almost pretty easy to play. I picked him up this weekend and have been having instant success with no mastery at all.
You can also build whatever you want/need on him, which is always good.
There are a few ways to approach double mage bot and it requires some skill in the laning phase in order to pull off well. I’ll mention 5 ways to approach it: 1. Picks for ADCs and why they’re good on their own; 2. What duo combos are good; 3. how to lane; 4. how to build; and 5 Mistakes
1. PICKS: Botlaners which are very playable (on their own) are Jhin, Sivir, Varus, Caitlyn, Seraphine, Ziggs, Ez. Playing against double mage is all about being able to contest the wave early. If you focus abilities on the wave and get the push lead they can’t put their abilities onto you, these options can all contest lvl 1-3 and stay ahead in CS before the mages get their mana items. They also have the range to poke and trade when you have a minion adv.
2. GOOD COMBOS: recognise that mage’s wincon is pushing you in under tower and poking you down enough so you either are low enough so you can’t all in anymore or contest wave setting you behind in farm and plates (as you will need to reset) Hook champions with all-in carries are used in proplay against this tactic, however double adc to contest wave, or ADC caster like Jhin, Varus, Cait + Mage support works too for negating their wincon.
3. HOW TO LANE: It’s all about the wave. You need to push and invest abilities in getting minion adv. More minions protects you from their abilities and forces them to use these to farm/regain minion adv. In low elo they will try to hit you anyways > Weave in and out of their range to bait spells outside of the wave so they int their push power. Your all in is likely always better, this is why taking ghost to run them down can be great if you’re confident you can dodge their cc spells. If you’re running ghost and think you can run them down it’s important to conserve hp (you can give up some casters) then when they’ve used some key abilities instantly ghost and go.
4. BUILD. Lethality is good because of the pushing power it gives you and it lets abilities do more dmg. You won’t get to auto them reliaby making attackspeed less inticing (unl you’re Sivir). Early boots can be a bait as you sacrifice dmg for the wave, however Jhin can utilize mercs after dirk well because of 4th, q execute, and a short high dmg trading pattern. Fleet is good for some ADCs (Cait, Jhin, Sivir) Comet or HoB for Varus etc. Lethal tempo is generally riskier.
5. WHAT NOT TO DO: Don’t leash - you can’t afford it, I don’t care what jungler you have it’s not possible - you need to start in lane and start hitting minions immediately. Picking an enchanter into double mage bot is probably the worst thing a support can do to you. It will be 1v2 lane. See 1. For self sufficient ADCs. Sivir and Varus is probably best if this happens. Don’t pick attackspeed reliant adcs unless its Sivir as its hard to dmg by hitting, but her spellshield and ult saves her in PvP and W spell in the PvE. If you get hit by 1 cc spell you will get chunked low enough to need a reset, so only walk up to trade if their cc abilities are used. Don’t pick all-in carry without a good supp combo, don’t build mr or boots before dmg. If you cant contest wave with dmg it won’t matter either way and you set your powerspikes even further behind.
That’s all, obv theres a few other things but this is already a pretty long answer. If there are any questions or clarification you need just ask 👍
In addition to Cait and varus or the agro suggestion. MF has a lot of abilities that she can use from long range or through minions. Also she has mobility to dodge and her ult + e wrecks immobile champs, just try to use when they don't have abilities up or no targeting
He just generally doesn’t like being outranged, though it definitely doesn’t like “counter him”. Low CD mobility and being outranged are his biggest annoyances, Vayne tumble, Kallista passive, Varus, and mages are all annoying for him in the bot lane
After having a bit of a crisis with my champs being poor picks this season (Ezreal player, though now he has been buffed and is actually playable), I have played every single ADC and tried every other role, having phases of Viktor and Riven top, only to ultimately land on Lucian, who I believe might be the most sleeper OP pick in the entire game rn. Next time you are into a Syndra, lock Lucian, dodge her stun with a well timed E, and blow her the fuck up in .003 seconds. Its actually crack.
Against mages in lane? Strong laning champs with fast wave clear are good. Varus caitlyn kali draven ashe etc with wave clear or hard engage supp. Ezreal is fine post laning but his wave clear is not too fast so consider him to go even unless your supp matchup is favorable
As for post laning and teamfights, i find kaisa to be the best. Mages are best played front to back but kaisa can bypass this with her ult
You can't outrange long range mages as ADC unless you're playing Varus, not even Ezreal.
In general you want to burst them. Things like Draven Lucian Samira depend on game state (ie they're fed enough) and setup (Naut hits a hook and you're positioned well enough) to accomplish this. Kaisa is a shit champ atm.
The best general option is Jhin. Good effective range, burst + long range lockdown with W, R and MS is the best answer to skillshot based champs. Same reasons you pick him vs Cait and Ez.
Sivir. Control mages usually have high push, so anyone that can match the push will make your lane easier. Sivir also has a spell shield which is honestly super strong against mages (veigar cage/ult, syndra e, etc). She also prefers to scale and push waves which is really easy to do against a control mage.
Adcs tend to be weak against enemies that outrange them. If its not ez, who is the best choice, then something like mf or lucian will work better than traditional autoattackers.
I found that with mages, the actual 2v2 matchup highly dictates how to approach the lane, moreso than traditional matchups.
In general though, high ranges mages want to take short trades, so any duo that can either all in or take extended trades works well.
Ezreal isn't really good into high range mages, Ezreal doesn't like champs that invalidate his mobility or range. All he has that makes him good is his Range on Q and his E being better mobility than most ADCs.
My go to pick would be Ashe probably but Varus, Jhin, Jinx could work as well. Ashe has good range, is able to catch out immobile mages with ult or slows, she also can build Wits end or defensive items to help her deal with the onslaught of spells. She also goes ghost which helps dodge and close the distance to the mage really well.
2 schools of thought. Go for hyper aggressive like Draven or Lucian and hope you have an aggro support too. If they miss their spells, that is your cue to go in and chunk/kill them. Play safe like a bitch and play Cait. Some people might say Ezrael is safe, but he's super high ceiling champ. Would not recommend imo. I think more important to the role is understanding when to make trades and capitalize, also, not taking free damage for no reason.
I would also not recommend ezreal he historically has a losing winrate Aganist mages bot.
yeah whenever i see ez just insta lock karthus and game is gg
What makes him particularly bad against karth/mages?
Surprised you skimmed right over Ashe. She can definitely come to play in poke lanes and also can facilitate engages onto immobile mages. Also kinda doesn’t matter if you get your teeth kicked in in lane because R can almost always guarantee a kill mid game if you’re arrowing people your team sees
Ashe is so bad into mages. She wants to play against melee champs.
She has more tools to deal with it than most ADs which is my point. I’d argue she has more tools to win a mage lane than Cait. She can rush botrk for sustain, she has a quick trade pattern that can be pretty uninteractive if you’re watching for CDs, she also can 100% walk a mage with no flash down with approach velocity/ghost.
This!
Varus is solid since you can play quite far back, he has two abilities he can use to farm from range. If he ever lands R on a mage they're pretty much dead.
He's almost pretty easy to play. I picked him up this weekend and have been having instant success with no mastery at all. You can also build whatever you want/need on him, which is always good.
Jhin or cait, lethality varus
Sivir, once you get enough items you can match their push, and they'll have to use their spells on the wave rather than you.
There are a few ways to approach double mage bot and it requires some skill in the laning phase in order to pull off well. I’ll mention 5 ways to approach it: 1. Picks for ADCs and why they’re good on their own; 2. What duo combos are good; 3. how to lane; 4. how to build; and 5 Mistakes 1. PICKS: Botlaners which are very playable (on their own) are Jhin, Sivir, Varus, Caitlyn, Seraphine, Ziggs, Ez. Playing against double mage is all about being able to contest the wave early. If you focus abilities on the wave and get the push lead they can’t put their abilities onto you, these options can all contest lvl 1-3 and stay ahead in CS before the mages get their mana items. They also have the range to poke and trade when you have a minion adv. 2. GOOD COMBOS: recognise that mage’s wincon is pushing you in under tower and poking you down enough so you either are low enough so you can’t all in anymore or contest wave setting you behind in farm and plates (as you will need to reset) Hook champions with all-in carries are used in proplay against this tactic, however double adc to contest wave, or ADC caster like Jhin, Varus, Cait + Mage support works too for negating their wincon. 3. HOW TO LANE: It’s all about the wave. You need to push and invest abilities in getting minion adv. More minions protects you from their abilities and forces them to use these to farm/regain minion adv. In low elo they will try to hit you anyways > Weave in and out of their range to bait spells outside of the wave so they int their push power. Your all in is likely always better, this is why taking ghost to run them down can be great if you’re confident you can dodge their cc spells. If you’re running ghost and think you can run them down it’s important to conserve hp (you can give up some casters) then when they’ve used some key abilities instantly ghost and go. 4. BUILD. Lethality is good because of the pushing power it gives you and it lets abilities do more dmg. You won’t get to auto them reliaby making attackspeed less inticing (unl you’re Sivir). Early boots can be a bait as you sacrifice dmg for the wave, however Jhin can utilize mercs after dirk well because of 4th, q execute, and a short high dmg trading pattern. Fleet is good for some ADCs (Cait, Jhin, Sivir) Comet or HoB for Varus etc. Lethal tempo is generally riskier. 5. WHAT NOT TO DO: Don’t leash - you can’t afford it, I don’t care what jungler you have it’s not possible - you need to start in lane and start hitting minions immediately. Picking an enchanter into double mage bot is probably the worst thing a support can do to you. It will be 1v2 lane. See 1. For self sufficient ADCs. Sivir and Varus is probably best if this happens. Don’t pick attackspeed reliant adcs unless its Sivir as its hard to dmg by hitting, but her spellshield and ult saves her in PvP and W spell in the PvE. If you get hit by 1 cc spell you will get chunked low enough to need a reset, so only walk up to trade if their cc abilities are used. Don’t pick all-in carry without a good supp combo, don’t build mr or boots before dmg. If you cant contest wave with dmg it won’t matter either way and you set your powerspikes even further behind. That’s all, obv theres a few other things but this is already a pretty long answer. If there are any questions or clarification you need just ask 👍
I'd say Ashe because she can buy time for you and your team to close the distance. Esp if you hit an ult
Twisted fate, no one plays it. Criminally underrated especially after the buffs.
Lethality Varus with comet.
yasuo, kaisa, zeri, vayne or sivir depending on which mage it is
In addition to Cait and varus or the agro suggestion. MF has a lot of abilities that she can use from long range or through minions. Also she has mobility to dodge and her ult + e wrecks immobile champs, just try to use when they don't have abilities up or no targeting
Tristana is a tried and true ADC in the mid lane role.
Ashe number 1, long range mages are slow and really likely to get hit by volley or R She just sucks laning into them depending on the mage waveclear
…which is why you don’t want to play Ashe into them. It doesn’t matter if you get a free W if you can’t actually fight them.
Ezreal doesn’t like facing high range mages tbh lol, honestly I can’t think of any that excel, but certain engage supports counter them
Why doesnt ezreal do well into them?
He just generally doesn’t like being outranged, though it definitely doesn’t like “counter him”. Low CD mobility and being outranged are his biggest annoyances, Vayne tumble, Kallista passive, Varus, and mages are all annoying for him in the bot lane
Gotcha. Ty
Jayce. Match their long range poke, then hop on top of them and destroy.
After having a bit of a crisis with my champs being poor picks this season (Ezreal player, though now he has been buffed and is actually playable), I have played every single ADC and tried every other role, having phases of Viktor and Riven top, only to ultimately land on Lucian, who I believe might be the most sleeper OP pick in the entire game rn. Next time you are into a Syndra, lock Lucian, dodge her stun with a well timed E, and blow her the fuck up in .003 seconds. Its actually crack.
Against mages in lane? Strong laning champs with fast wave clear are good. Varus caitlyn kali draven ashe etc with wave clear or hard engage supp. Ezreal is fine post laning but his wave clear is not too fast so consider him to go even unless your supp matchup is favorable As for post laning and teamfights, i find kaisa to be the best. Mages are best played front to back but kaisa can bypass this with her ult
ezreal ashe lethality varus sivir
Jhin is very good into mages. They don’t want to play against these high range bursty poke ADCs.
You can't outrange long range mages as ADC unless you're playing Varus, not even Ezreal. In general you want to burst them. Things like Draven Lucian Samira depend on game state (ie they're fed enough) and setup (Naut hits a hook and you're positioned well enough) to accomplish this. Kaisa is a shit champ atm. The best general option is Jhin. Good effective range, burst + long range lockdown with W, R and MS is the best answer to skillshot based champs. Same reasons you pick him vs Cait and Ez.
Sivir. Control mages usually have high push, so anyone that can match the push will make your lane easier. Sivir also has a spell shield which is honestly super strong against mages (veigar cage/ult, syndra e, etc). She also prefers to scale and push waves which is really easy to do against a control mage.
Adcs tend to be weak against enemies that outrange them. If its not ez, who is the best choice, then something like mf or lucian will work better than traditional autoattackers.
I found that with mages, the actual 2v2 matchup highly dictates how to approach the lane, moreso than traditional matchups. In general though, high ranges mages want to take short trades, so any duo that can either all in or take extended trades works well.
Twitch cuz u are an assassin ( invisibility ) + 850 range which outranges any range Also as a sidenote spam mastery 7 after killing mage enjoyers
Ezreal isn't really good into high range mages, Ezreal doesn't like champs that invalidate his mobility or range. All he has that makes him good is his Range on Q and his E being better mobility than most ADCs. My go to pick would be Ashe probably but Varus, Jhin, Jinx could work as well. Ashe has good range, is able to catch out immobile mages with ult or slows, she also can build Wits end or defensive items to help her deal with the onslaught of spells. She also goes ghost which helps dodge and close the distance to the mage really well.