Marksmen are the most common role in the game, you’ll almost always see a marksman type champion in every game. The role of the marksman is to deal damage from long ranges with their basic attacks and abilities while their team tanks the damage at the front. Most of the time they are played on the duo lane with the support, but sometimes you’ll see someone play Vayne top or Lucian mid.
If you’re reading this you’re probably curious on who are the best marksmen type champions in the game, you might be someone who’s new to the game or trying to switch into a role that plays a more active role in dealing damage in team fights. So here are the best marksmen in ranked games.
10.Senna
Senna is a marksman that can be played as a support or as the main carry. Compared to other marksmen, Senna can deal more damage per basic attack and have more range than other marksmans and the only downside is she can't attack as fast as other marksmen that have the same attack speed as her but that isn’t really much of a downside since she can just attack other marksmen while out of their reach, making them unable to trade back damage.
Senna is a champion that can hit you from longer ranges than most marksmen, she can poke enemies with basic attacks at ranges where she cannot be reached. Senna is a champion that becomes a long ranged high damage dealer, she can poke enemies with high damage basic attacks while remaining out of range for the enemy, and if you don't want to be targeted by abilities that can lock on your champion, you can become untargetable by using your ability. And as a support you can heal and shield your team from a long distance and you can also root multiple enemies as well to let your team catch up or run away from the enemy.
Senna is most definitely a late game champion like most champions that need to stack something in their abilities. The more stack you have the stronger you are. Her range will be better than most marksmen and you don't even need to build four crit items to reach 100% crit chance, this gives you a chance to build items that are more damage focused.Her ability to heal allows her to outsustain most enemies at the early stages of the game and even all the to mid game if the enemies lack items that don’t apply grievous wounds to counter healing. Besides being really good for poking enemies, Senna can protect allies through AoE healing and shielding from long ranges.
Although she is really powerful at the late game, she needs to stack consistently as the game progresses as she doesn’t gain AD from leveling up. With the way her kit works, Senna is a better fit in the support role as she is better used to consistently poke enemies to get stacks, and the souls that drop from enemies are more common if they didn’t die directly from Senna, so she’ll have a better time scaling while playing in the support role rather than the Duo.
Early on you’d want to stack as much as you could by poking enemies with abilities and basic attacks or by siphoning the mist from souls that drop from minions that died near her, another tip is to help allies with objectives like dragon or rift herald as those drop more than one soul. You can use your minions to hit enemies with Senna's first ability, you can even use wards to activate her first ability. When pushing towers you can also use your first ability to deal damage to towers. Try to afflict your allies with your third ability to make it harder for enemies to target specific allies on your team.
What makes Senna a Strong Marksman:
- First and foremost is her ability to gain more range with her attacks, this allows her to poke enemies to lower their HP at a safe distance.
- She can contribute as a healer and as a damage dealer for the team.
- She can grow stronger than most marksmen this makes her able to break stalemates in the late game.
See Senna in action:
9.Corki
Corki is a marksman that has a lot of poke, while he is played in the duo lane he can also be played in the mid lane. He also deals more magic damage than physical, even though he scales with AD more his abilities and passive converts it into magic damage. As marksman he can poke enemies with his abilities, he deals a lot of AoE damage and he also has mobility which allows him to reposition if needed.
Corki can be played with an aggressive playstyle, keep dealing poke damage to enemies and if they try to chase just use your second ability to get out. His AoE damage he deals is also no joke and lets him do a lot in team fights and if he has his package he can even initiate team fights while leaving a zone that deals damage overtime when the enemy stands in it, this is really effective when contesting objectives like dragon or Baron.
You can pick Corki when your team composition deals more physical damage and you want to pick a champion that deals magic damage that isn’t a mage, although some mages can be played in the duo lane they don’t deal as much consistent damage that a team may need during team fights. Corki also has good zoning and poking ability. Team fights are where Corki can show what he’s made of with his AoE damage.
Something that some player do is build mage items on Corki and although some of those items may work in some situations, like Void Staff if the enemy is building more items that have magic resist and yeah that is a good build but keep in mind Corki scales more with AD than AP, so you will deal more damage with AD items. Always get the packages when they spawn, as it will allow you to create a zone that deals damage overtime. Sometimes it’s good not to get the package if you want to save it for a possible team fight on objectives, but otherwise always take it as it can help you get a kill or escape.
What makes Corki a Strong Marksman:
- Corki has one of the best poking abilities in the game and all of them are also AoE so he can deal damage to more than one enemy.
- Corki has a dash, allowing him to reposition a lot during fights, this makes him hard to target as he can just escape.
- He is the best marksman for fighting for objectives, he can turn the tides with his package and special delivery.
See Corki in action:
8.Draven
Draven is an AD marksman that can snowball hard when he gets a kill, allowing him to get ahead in gold and items, he also deals a lot of damage while having decent mobility and a knockback that can help him in surviving fights. The damage he deals while he is spinning an axe is deadly, allowing him to out damage most marksmen in the game and once he gets a lead he can just keep dominating the Duo lane.
Draven dominates the game by getting a lead with kills, he deals a lot of damage even at the early stages so once he gets one kill and receives the gold from his adoration stack on his passive, he can buy more items and just deal more damage overall. Draven can also snipe low health enemies with his ultimate.
Draven gains a lot of gold when he gets kills but this depends on how much adoration stacks he has, which means he needs to farm minions or catch his spinning axes, Draven can consistently gain attack speed and movement from his second ability because of how it can reset every time you catch an axe allowing him to be able to keep it active for as long as he has mana and axes to catch. Draven snowballs hard and can catch up fast when he’s behind.
Always catch your axes as each basic attack you do more damage while you have them and you can refresh the cooldown of your second ability. You can build more AD crit items as you have attack speed from your second ability, just keep in mind not to spam the ability as it does cost mana and you might not notice yourself spamming it even though it’s still active. Try not to get killed while you have a lot of stacks with your passive, play safe and try to get a kill, if you have a lot of stacks and you don’t have a high bounty you can even play aggressive and take a death to get the gold from your passive.
What makes Draven a Strong marksman:
- He can deal more damage than most marksmen with just basic attacks.
- He can build more AD giving crit items than attack speed as he can gain attack speed with his second ability.
- You can snowball hard with just one kill.
See Draven in action:
7.Tristana
Tristana is a marksman that becomes stronger the more levels and items she gets. Her range in the early game isn’t all that good but once she gets a few levels in she will have better range than most. As a marksman she doesn’t need to build attack speed items, she can focus on building more items that increase attack damage allowing her to be ahead in the damage she can deal. She also has multiple ways to keep herself alive with her ultimate that knocks enemies back and her second ability that lets her jump away.
Tristana is an attack damage carry that can deal a lot of damage when she gets a chance to hit enemies at a safe distance, and with her third ability she can also deal AoE damage. Early on may be a struggle to get kills or deal damage but as she gains enough range from her passive she’ll be able to easily deal damage from a safe distance.
Early on tristana can will have better attack speed than any marksman in the game, but her range isn’t as good until she levels up a few times so she will mostly fight when she reaches level 4 or 5 or if she has a good support she’ll try to fight more as she’ll have more attack speed so she’ll have a higher chance to win early on fights. She also has two different ways to keep herself alive, her second ability allows her to jump away and her ultimate will allow her to knock enemies back. Her jump also allows her to be really aggressive as takedowns will reset the cooldown allowing her to jump in and out of fights.
Build more AD crit items on Tristana and just put points on your fist ability for attack speed and if you want you can also take the Lethal tempo rune so you gain more attack speed. Building life steal early on is also good, rushing Bloodthirster and getting Glutinous boots allows you to out sustain enemies early on as most champions won’t have items that apply grievous wounds. Kills can reset the cooldown on her second ability but you can also get resets when you pop your third ability.
What makes Tristana a Strong marksman:
- She can gain a lot of attack speed just from her first ability, this makes her a strong on hit marksman.
- Her kit allows her to stay alive in a lot of situations.
- She can snowball hard with the right team composition.
See Tristana in action:
6.Ezreal
Ezreal is a champion that is played differently from other marksmen, he is played by spamming his first ability to deal damage. He is also one of the hardest to kill marksmen in the game as he has a blink ability that has a fast cooldown. As a marksman he can deal a lot of poke damage while remaining at a safe distance. His damage also isn’t any less compared to other marksman and with his playstyle it’s hard to fall off using him.
He can lower the health of enemies from afar and when they are low enough he can blink to get into basic attack range or he can just run away and just keep dealing poke damage. His most common build also makes him a great champion against most marksmen since he builds items like Frozen Gauntlet and Manamune, he can optionally build Frozen Heart if the enemy leans more into AD, giving him more damage and sturdiness against AD champions. Assassins will also find him hard to kill as he can just blink away.
Ezreal can build different items depending on how a game is going. He can build to counter AD while still being able to deal damage or he can build into a pure AD build to deal more damage disregarding any kind of defense and just holding onto the blink ability to not get killed. Ezreal can also snipe enemies with his ultimate which deals damage to every enemy that it hits, this ability is also really good to use in team fights.
If you’re playing Ezreal try not to rely only on his first ability to deal damage, his basic attacks are ranged attacks so you can mix basic attacks with abilities to deal more damage. You can use your second ability on towers as well, allowing you to take towers faster. If you’re behind you can use your ultimate to clear minion waves, especially if the enemy has Baron you can ult on the minions waves that are coming to stop them from pushing.
What makes Ezreal a Strong Marksman:
- Ezreal is a marksman that can easily poke at a safe distance, he can deal damage and easily get out when things get too dangerous.
- The damage he deals also doesn’t fluctuate that much with the builds he goes for, allowing for a more flexible build path.
- He can be used to split push because of how much damage he can deal.
See Ezreal in action:
5.Lucian
Lucian is marksman that can deal a lot of on hit damage and he can also easily activate item passives or abilities that require to be hit by basic attacks to activate. As marksman Lucian doesn't need attack speed to attack fast. He can easily win one versus one against other marksmen.
He is a champion that can do a lot of poke damage with his first ability which allows him to win in the dragon lane quite often and if he has Braum as a support he can easily proc the stun and deal the damage he needs to kill the enemy. With exhaust it's almost impossible to kill him in a fight and if that doesn't work he can just dash away with his third ability. His ultimate can be used to deal a lot of damage or to easily clear minions if he's getting pushed.
Lucian is a champion that is hard to lose the dragon lane with, of course there are other factors like jungle ganks, being camped by the enemy mid laner and jungle or having a not so good support player, but overall he can win most match ups with just little mastery over the champion. He can snowball hard with a lead and with runes like Kraken slayer, he can deal massive amounts of true damage and on hit damage.
Some tips if you're gonna use Lucian is, try to use his third ability first to activate his passive, as every time his passive is activated the cooldown on the dash is reduced. Try to use an ability before every basic attack to activate the passive, this will let you deal the most amount of damage in the least amount of time. Use your ultimate to clear minion waves if you're the only one left and the enemy is pushing your towers or Nexus.
What makes Lucian a Strong marksman:
- He is one of the few marksmen that has a lot of mobility that allows him to deal damage while being able to move around.
- He is really strong early and he can snowball hard once he gets a kill.
- He is a champion that isn't reliant on having a support which is why you can sometimes see him being played mid lane or solo lane.
See Lucian in action:
4.Jhin
You already know why Jhin is number four, as he is a marksman that is obsessed with numbers, having four bullets on his basic attacks and Ultimate and having his voice lines count every bullet he shoots. Jhin is one of the few marksmen that have a bullet mechanic, he deals a lot damage especially with the fourth bullet which is a sure crit and deals bonus damage based on missing health. As a marksman Jhin will have a hard time in frontal fights, as he doesn't gain any attack speed to fire his bullets but instead he gains more damage that allows him to be scary to be hit with.
Jhin's is a champion that can move fast, his main thing is being able to shoot a bullet run back, shoot another bullet and repeat until he needs to reload, his final bullet can be often fatal to low health enemies as it is always a sure crit that deals more damage the lower the health of the target. In team fights he can root enemies or use his ultimate to deal damage at a safe distance while also slowing them down when they get hit. He can also outrun most enemies with just his movement speed allowing him to easily kite melee champions and avoid getting in range of on hit attack speed type marksmen.
Jhin in the early game won't have much power until he buys an item or even just components of the item, his AD scales with his attack speed and crit so building Rapid Fire cannon as a first item is viable. He will continuously get stronger the more items he has, and his AD will also far surpass most AD champions making his critical attacks a terrifying thing to get hit by.
If you're gonna be playing Jhin, keep these things in mind. Early on you'd want to farm until you get items, avoid fighting unless you have a support that can deal a good amount of damage allowing your fourth bullet to deal lethal damage. Try to build one of the core items you need before building any defensive items, you don't need attack speed so you can go straight to Infinity Edge if you get a good early lead. Try to keep track of your bullet count and if you're on your last bullet try to hit the lowest health enemy.
What makes Jhin a Strong marksman:
- He can out damage most marksmen, allowing him to win trades quite often.
- His kit isn't difficult to use and his traps can spot enemies that are trying to gank the dragon lane.
- The ultimate allows him to deal a lot of damage while being in a safe position.
- Four!
See Jhin in action:
3.Kaisa
Kaisa is a marksman that deals a mixed amount of damage, she is a marksman that can be played really aggressively and once she gets a lead she can snowball hard in the dragon lane, dealing a lot of damage with his abilities. As a marksman her on hit damage is insane and her ability to go invisible with just basic abilities make her hard to target, and with an ultimate ability that allows her to quickly dash to a target while also giving herself a big shield, she becomes hard to kill and hard to run away from.
Kaisa is a marksman that can snowball hard, her abilities allow her to burst squishy enemies and her passive allows her to melt tanks. Her ultimate allows her dash into a team fight allowing her to respond faster than most champions in the game. Low health enemies will also have a hard time getting away from her when she has her ultimate ability and even without that she gains movement speed with just her basic abilities. She is a champion that is hard to shut down once she's in the lead.
Early on Kaisa isn't as scary as she needs more items to help evolve her abilities so that they can be more effective. She is also a marksman that doesn't necessarily need a support to protect her all the time as she is able to survive on her own with just the basic abilities she has. She can also be built AP items if you want to evolve her second ability. Her second ability also provides her with attack speed, allowing Kaisa to build more damage items than attack speed focused items.
Early on you'd want to farm minions until you can buy items to evolve your abilities, as Kaisa isn't that strong compared to other early game champions, so play safe especially against duo lanes with a support that has a hooking ability. Try to focus on getting the necessary stats to evolve your first ability as it is your main damaging ability early on. Be smart in using your ultimate, don't just tap it , aim it so that you don't accidentally dash into a dangerous spot where you can take a lot of damage and possibly get killed before even being able to do damage.
What makes Kaisa a Strong Marksman:
- She can snowball with just a few items.
- She is a very strong late game champion that can dominate in team fights by being hard to target and hard to run away from.
- She can become untargetable by going invisible for a few seconds, this prevents her from being focused in team fights while being able to surprise enemies when she suddenly appears beside them.
See Kaisa in action:
2.Caitlyn
Caitlyn is one of the best marksmen in the game due to her basic attack range and the amount of damage she can deal. Her ultimate will also prevent low enemies from escaping, allowing her to secure kills with a single tap of the ability. As a marksman she easily beats most marksmen in the range of basic attacks, allowing her to easily poke enemies or farm minions from afar.
Caitlyn can easily win lanes by just poking and harassing enemies at max range, the damage she deals is no joke and if enemies are caught by her traps she will be able to attack them from an even longer range. Her traps also serve as a zoning ability, scaring enemies from trying to get close and even if they do, she can still dash backwards and slow the enemy, allowing her to easily get away.
Caitlyn is a champion that is really good at poking enemies with basic attacks, her range is already good but if an enemy steps on a trap she can attack them from an even longer range. Her first ability also deals a pot of damage which is also a really good poking ability because of the range and the Area of effect. Her ultimate can also execute low health enemies that manage to get away.
Some advice when playing Caitlyn.try to set traps in unexpected places, like just by the entrance of a bush, so if they enter it they'll be instantly trapped and you can hit them with a basic attack. Although the ultimate is great for killing low health enemies, it can be blocked by other champions, so try not using it when the enemy is being covered by the tank.
What makes Caitlyn a Strong Marksman:
- Her basic attack range is better than most marksman, this allows her to have a high win rate in the dragon lane.
- Her damage is no joke even at the early stages of the game, if you step on her traps you will take a lot of damage.
- She secure kills with her ultimate, making it hard to run away from her when her enemy is low on health.
See Caitlyn in action:
1.Vayne
Vayne is probably the most well known markman in the game as she is a marksman that can dominate games when a player masters her. As a marksman she has a decent amount of mobility and survivability in her kit, she can carry team fights by dealing a lot of damage and not just to squishy enemies but to tanks as well.
She is probably the hardest to kill marksman in the game and her ability to carry games is clear to see. In the hands of a good Vayne player she becomes an on hit monster that melts even tanks. She can go in and out of invisibility making her almost impossible to target if she positions well which gives her more opportunities to deal damage and kill enemies and enemies will have a hard time getting away from her as she gains movement speed when she moves towards them.
Vayne is one of the best AD carry marksman in the game and she doesn't even need as much crit rate as most champions do, the true damage she deals from the passive of her second ability allows her to deal a lot of unmitigated damage to enemies which means tanks almost have no chance in building items to counter her. Her kit also provides her with a lot of survivability, she can dash short distance but the cooldown is also short so she can dash pretty frequently if used right, her third ability also knocks back enemies and stuns them if they hit a wall, and her ultimate allows her first ability to grant her invisibility which makes it hard to target her.
Although Vayne is a strong champion there are some things you need to keep in mind while playing her. Her silver bolts passive will only be activated if she attacks the same target three times. Try to knock back enemies into a wall so that they'll be stunned. Go for the squishy enemies when your ultimate is active. Although you'll be hard to target while invisible, try not to engage while you're alone.
What make Vayne a Strong marksman:
- Her kit allows her to deal damage while being hard to target in team fights.
- She can dish out a lot of damage that is hard to counter even for tanks.
- She remains strong even if she is behind, as long as you play her right she will always be able to deal damage.
See Vayne in action:
These marksmen are the best in the game currently. If you want to make Duo lane your primary role, it's best to have at least three of these champions in your champion pool. Remember to practice using them in normal games before taking them into ranked games as some of these champions have mechanics that are hard to get used to with just a few games.