Back for my last guide of July, I'm Hoodstomp. In case some of you aren't familiar with who I am, I used to play professionally, but now am a high-elo/amatuer player. The role that I enjoy playing the most is the AD Carry, or "marksmen". I've played this role for a while, resulting in me having lots of experience and knowledge in my role. My main account is in Diamond 1, while I have a few smurfs, all spread around diamond elo. Corki has been around for a while. He's gone in and out of the "popular ADCs" circle. However, he may slowly be seeing a comeback. Corki is certainly not to be underestimated. Be sure to follow me on Twitter if you want to know whenever I have a new guide out, or on the rare occasion I might be streaming! @Hoodstomplol

Pros

+ Does all three types of damage (physical, magic, true). + Destroys enemy tanks because of armor shred from Gatling Gun and his different sources of damage. + Amazing wave clear with Phosphorus Bomb, Gatling Gun, and Missile Barrage + Great duelist/split pusher. + Good long range poke with Missile Barrage.

Corki is overall pretty strong. He can deal all three types of damage in this game -- physical, magical, and true damage thanks to his auto-attacks, abilities, and Hextech Shrapnel Shells. This makes it a little harder to itemize against Corki. He has good wave clear with his Phosphorus Bomb, Gatling Gun, and Missile Barrage. Corki is also a great duelist because of his Hextech Shrapnel Shells and Gatling Gun armor shred. He's also a good split pusher because he has his innate escape of Valkyrie to get away from most sticky situations. Lastly, he has a decent long range poke with his ultimate, Missile Barrage.

Cons

- Can be mana hungry. - Long cast time for escape with Valkyrie. - Valkyrie can be interrupted by a lot of spells such as Blitzcrank's Power Fist and Thresh's Flay. - Can be abused by long range champions early in lane. - Is an old man.

Corki does have a couple of flaws though. Because of his dependence on spells for most of his damage, you can find yourself running out of mana pretty quickly. His escape, Valkyrie, also has a long cast time. It also has a fairly long cast time like Tristana's Rocket Jump, allowing him to be stopped by abilities such as Thresh's Flay and Blitzcrank's Power Fist. Corki can be punished by long range champions early on in lane, like Caitlyn. He's also an old man, which is why he moves so slow for someone riding a plane.

// The offense masteries is, for the most part, not a surprise. The 21 points ensure you have plenty of damage sustained throughout the game. Who wouldn't want that? The only thing that may stand out to you are the points into Blast and Arcane Knowledge . These points are taken because a lot of Corki's damage ends up being magic because of how often you use all of his abilities.

// The 5 points into the defense tree aren't too surprising. Scaling health is great on a squishy carry, and there's also the Summoner's Resolve mastery if you do decide to take Barrier. You never know when that little bit of HP can end up saving you from dying.

// Finally, the 4 points in the utility tree can turn out to be quite helpful. Summoner's Insight reduces the cooldown of your Flash. Meditation increases your mana regen, helping you get off an extra few spells throughout the whole game, possibly allowing you that killing blow you wouldn't have gotten otherwise.




The 9 AD marks for runes are the basics. Everyone takes these on ADCs because it helps with trading and last hitting in lane. This extra AD also will help you be able to take down towers early. It's especially useful and important in 2v1's. It'll also help your Gatling Gun do a little bit of extra damage.

All armor seals are also basic runes for ADCs. It keeps you from taking too much damage from champions, minions, and on the rare occasion, towers. This is important because the extra armor allows you to be able to trade easier in lane, resulting in less damage taken. During mid-game, the armor keeps you from being decimated by any other well-farmed AD assassin, like Zed.

The magic resist runes are useful in lane when taking poke from supports like Sona. It'll reduce a small amount of damage that can end up saving your life. During mid-game to late-game, it reduces a small bit of the burst from those strong AP mages. The mana regeneration runes are helpful for reducing the cost of Corki's spells, which undoubtedly will be used a lot.

Most of the time you'll want to be taking two lifesteal quintessences and one flat AD quintessence. The two lifesteal quints make sustaining in lane much easier. Lifesteal quintessences are taken because of the Season 3 nerf to Vampiric Scepter. Another option is to take three lifesteal quints. Really, it's up to personal preference. When paired with your Doran's Blade that you'll be starting with, auto-attack the creeps if you're taking any damage. The AD adds to your Greater Mark of Attack Damages that you took, making last hitting and trading easier.

Flash Although Corki already has Valkyrie, Flash is still very useful. It's the summoner that there is no questions asked about. Flash is a summoner that you'll see basically everyone be taking on the majority of champs, minus a select few. It's another good escape, despite the slew of nerfs thrown at it throughout the seasons. Flash can allow you to catch up for the Trinity Force proc, escape from an assassin, or just make a huge play in general.

Ignite Ignite is a pretty strong summoner spell for Corki. It adds to his burst damage, does a nice DoT damage, and also reduces healing effects by 50%. Make sure to tag your enemy with an Ignite to secure a kill during the early laning phase. It'll be useful all-game long though! You can use it to reduce an enemy from spell vamping, life-stealing, heal through an item, or heal from an ability. This is more important during the late-game. Corki will usually be fine with Valkyrie and Flash.

OR... Barrier Barrier is a summoner spell that was added to Summoner's Rift in Season 3 and quite popular. Barrier is a summoner that provides you a shield, blocking a certain amount of damage for 2 seconds. Make sure to pop Barrier if you know a large amount of burst damage is incoming. It's quite strong, especially during early phases of the game. A way to use it is to Barrier-bait your enemies in a 1v1 situation by saving it until you're low, then using it to shield yourself while you get the killing blow on them. If you're facing someone else with Barrier, try not to get Barrier-baited yourself!

OR.. Cleanse Cleanse is a summoner spell that will prove to be useful in certain situations. If you see that you're up against a CC heavy team, assuming you're playing draft/ranked, definitely take Cleanse over Ignite and Barrier. It can save your life from that crucial Nami Aqua Prison or a Crescendo from Sona. It'll be useful both in lane and during team fights. Do remember it also reduces any incoming CC by 65% as well. If possible, try to save it for the actual hard CC, like stuns, and not soft CC, like slows.

Hextech Shrapnel Shells (Passive) Hextech Shrapnel Shells is an amazing passive for an AD carry. It gives Corki bonus damage on his auto-attacks which is great early while still scaling even better into the late-game. You'll be able to last hit creeps really easily in lane with Hextech Shrapnel Shells. When you have tons of damage late-game, 10% additional true damage on top of 600+ damage critical hits really will have your enemies taking a toll.

Phosphorus Bomb (Q) This is Corki's basic nuke. Phosphorus Bomb is instant damage so you can't really dodge it that easily. It's really nice for harassing enemies in lane and bursting in teamfights. It scales off of AP so it doesn't really do much late-game, but it is invaluable early/mid-game. Phosphorus Bomb also gives vision of enemies if you hit them with it. Because of this, you're able to hit an enemy in the bush whereas you normally wouldn't be able to without a sight ward in the bush.

Valkyrie (W) Valkyrie is Corki's innate escape. This ability is GREAT because it has a gigantic range and very smooth takeoff. It can go over almost every wall in the game, so most of the time, you can find yourself easily getting out of a rough situation. It can also be used as a gapcloser, but remember to have good judgement of when to Valkyrie into the enemies. If you spot enemies nearby with a sight ward, definitely do not Valkyrie to kill the low HP carry unless you're a real man.

Gatling Gun (E) Gatling Gun is Corki's best damaging ability in my opinion. Gatling Gun shreds armor while ALSO doing damage. The armor shred lets Corki do a lot of damage to everyone throughout the entire game. Your auto-attacks will do more because of the shred. Corki will end up dealing huge damage to squishies and tanks alike with this ability. Gatling Gun also scales off of AD, which is amazing. Combined with Hextech Shrapnel Shells, your damage is pretty strong.

Missile Barrage (R) Missile Barrage is a fairly nice ability to have on an AD carry. It has a REALLY long range, so it can be used for poking when you don't quite feel safe going into the fight yet but still need to do damage. You can also use Missile Barrage to snipe enemies that are running away. The Big One also does MASSIVE damage. Try to have a Big One up when you go into a fight to maximize your burst potential. Missile Barrage also scales off of AD.

This item is what you'll see everyone starting on ADCs now. Doran's Blade gives you a good amount of health and damage, allowing you an easier time trading in lane. The AD helps when last hitting minions, especially under your tower. Gatling Gun can deal a decent chunk of damage early on from the AD gained as well. The passive 5 life-gain on each auto-attack may not seem like much, but when you pair it with your Greater Quintessence of Life Steal, it adds up to be a nice amount of sustain in lane. If you're low on health or getting poked down a lot, be sure to attack minions to gain back your missing health!

• On Corki, going a Phage first is optimal in my opinion. You'll build this into a Trinity Force. It provides you a slow, sealing the fate of your enemy. It also gives you a decent amount of health. Be sure to pick up some Health Potions. Your enemy will most likely pick up a Vampiric Scepter, so they can out-sustain you if you don't bring pots.
• If you don't have just enough gold for a Phage, you can go for a Sheen and some Health Potions, which will still build into Trinity Force, but a cheaper part of the Trinity Force.
• If you're forced to go back early, you'll want to pick up a Vampiric Scepter and some Health Potions if that's all you can buy.

If you've farmed well, you should be getting your major items around mid-game. I choose to rush Trinity Force on Corki because it literally gives him "tons of damage" and utility as well. This item is great because you are constantly spamming your abilities, mainly Missile Barrage, giving you Trinity Force procs over and over, making your damage through the roof. Trinity Force also gives Corki a movespeed boost/slow which makes him great for splitting/dueling. He has an easy time escaping from people, and if you get a Trinity Force slow on someone, they probably aren't going to get away either.

Bloodthirster will usually be your second pick up. The fully stacked 18% lifesteal is needed to stay alive because of your short range. You also have 2 AD scaling skills with your Gatling Gun and Missile Barrage. The bonus 100 AD from a fully stacked Bloodthirster will give you a lot of extra damage so that you can comfortably scale into the late-game with these abilities while doing heavy amounts of single AND area of effect damage to your enemies.

An Infinity Edge spikes your auto-attack damage by quite a hefty amount. The increased critical hit damage is huge, and when you take into consideration of all your other items, Gatling Gun, and Hextech Shrapnel Shells, the enemy will quickly be dead. Be sure to eventually pick up an Infinity Edge at one point.

A Phantom Dancer could be a potential last item if you don't have anything else to get. The attack speed is nice, allowing you to get a few more autos in there each fight. It also goes nicely with your Infinity Edge, increasing your critical strike chance. The ignoring minion collision can also be huge as well.

Go for a Last Whisper if you see that the enemy is stacking armor and your armor shred simply isn't doing it for you late into the game. You never want to finish Last Whisper before Bloodthirster on Corki though. Usually, he has enough armor shred/true damage to carry him even against high armor targets.

Banshee's Veil is a great item if you're against a double AP team comp, such as Ahri and Kennen or Rumble and Vladimir. It can block a fatal Charm, Thundering Shuriken or the burst from a Vladimir Transfusion.

A Guardian Angel is good if you feel like you're the biggest threat on your team. If you're confident in your ability to survive after you respawn, get this. If not, then go something else, such as Banshee's Veil or Mercurial Scimitar.

Mercurial Scimitar is an item introduced in season 3, upgrading from the Quicksilver Sash. The AD from is pretty nice. Mercurial Scimitar provides a good amount of magic resist, and the active of it comes in handy incase you took Ignite, Barrier, or used Cleanse already.

Enchants

This enchantment is becoming more and more popular now. Enchantment: Distortion is great for any ADC, simply because of the reduced cooldown on your Flash, giving you double escapes sooner. It can change the course of a team fight easily by allowing you to escape from your death. Usually, you'll get this enchantment.

Enchantment: Furor is a good enchantment and has been the most common pick for a while. However, as Corki, you should be relatively safe with Valkyrie, and the reduced Flash cooldown would be better than Enchantment: Furor most of the time.

The only reason you should have homeguards is if your base is getting pushed in. This doesn't provide you any stats during a fight. You'd be better off getting Enchantment: Furor or Enchantment: Distortion.

Ashe Difficulty: 2/5 Ashe is a pretty easy matchup for Corki. She doesn't really have the "raw" fighting power to deal with him in lane. You can walk up and trade with her. Even if she attacks back, you will pretty much always come out on top. You have to be wary of getting poked down by Volley though. Since Ashe has a high range of 600, when she hits you with a Volley slow, she can probably get a free auto on you afterwards. Basically, if you trade, you'll win. Getting poked down, you'll lose. Careful about level 6 against Ashe though. She can set up a gank easily when she has her Enchanted Crystal Arrow.

Caitlyn Difficulty: 5/5 Caitlyn lanes are just annoying. She is a champion with massive range and is pretty much made to bully/push the lane really hard. You're going to have a difficult time against her, especially if you don't have sustain. Just try to farm while taking as little poke as you can. Her Piltover Peacemaker can hit you for a lot early on. You probably won't be able to auto her because she stands so far back. Definitely don't trade when she has Headshot up. If you have a support like Sona or Nami with sustain, you can force trades, and slowly widdle her down. If not though, you'll want to be passive unless you can all in her. Once you hit 6, you can deal with her. Missile Barrage makes it easy for you to farm against her. If you land a couple, you can poke her down as well and soften her up for an all in. Ace in the Hole can prove to be a nice finisher, so be mindful of that as well.

Graves Difficulty: 3/5 Graves and Corki is a pretty even matchup against each other. Stripped down, they basically do the same, except Corki slightly wins trades, and Graves has better tools to control the lane. You can trade with him easily, even though his True Grit passive because you do true damage with Hextech Shrapnel Shells. Auto for auto, Corki will always win against Graves. If he's trying to push you in with Buckshot, just make sure to auto attack minions a lot to keep the lane even. You should be fine. Be careful at 6 because his all in is greater than yours if he lands all of his abilities. If you want to all in him, either dodge his Collateral Damage or soften him up a bit with Missile Barrage.

Miss Fortune Difficulty: 3/5 Corki has a surprisingly easy time against Miss Fortune. It's usually very hard for champions to trade with Miss Fortune, Corki can actually come out ahead though because of how much damage his Gatling Gun does. Don't be afraid when she walks up to you, just use Gatling Gun, Phosphorus Bomb, and go to town on her. You have to be careful because doing this a lot will make you go out of mana quickly. At 6, you can completely control this lane. You can poke her with Missile Barrage which will also make her Strut passive drop off, allowing you to fight her a lot more often and making it hard for her to CS.

Varus Difficulty: 3/5 Varus is a very strong hero in lane but Corki doesn't have too big of an issue with him. Varus is very vulnerable to cha,[opns that can get in his face and all-in him. Corki does this very well. If Varus is trying to poke you down, walk up and activate your Gatling Gun and melt his face. You just have to play very aggressively against him. If you ever give him the edge and let him poke you down with his Hail of Arrows, the lane won't go very well for you. There is almost no way Varus can win an all-in against you at level 6. If you can get some type of cc on him like Taric's Dazzle or Sona's Crescendo, definitely Valkyrie in and explode him!

Vayne Difficulty: 1/5 Corki, in my opinion, is the hard counter to Vayne. She can't really trade against you at any point in laning phase. You can walk up and auto her, Phosphorus Bomb her when she's CSing and just bully/zone her. Usually, Vayne can 1v1 any ADC at 6 because she gets a huge power spike from Final Hour. This is NOT the case with Corki. Hold your ground if she tries to go on you. Literally, just spam all of your abilities. She CANNOT outduel you, as long as you land your abilities.

On your team: Blitzcrank is pretty good to lane with Corki. If he lands a Rocket Grab on your lane opponent early on, you'll probably have a kill under your belt if you can man up, Valkyrie in to them to all-in. Activate your Gatling Gun and use Phosphorus Bomb to guarantee a summoner spell blown at least. Be sure to poke your enemies with Missile Barrage to poke them down. It'll give your enemies a reminder on their positioning. Against: Blitzcrank isn't hard for Corki to play against. Have your support sight ward the lane bushes. You'll be able to easily dodge his Rocket Grabs with Valkyrie, or simply sidestepping. If you do get grabbed, you can Valkyrie away, most of the time with ease. However, if he has Power Fist charged up, he can stop your Valkyrie, so be wary of that.

On your team: Janna isn't too bad or good to go with Corki. Her Eye of the Storm can block damage, and gives him a bit of extra damage on your Gatling Gun, Missile Barrage, and auto-attacks. Her Zephyr and Howling Gale make it easy for you to land your Missile Barrages and Phosphorus Bomb on your opponents. Her Monsoon and Howling Gale are great disengages and escapes, especially when you have Valkyrie as well. Against: Against Janna, you just need to be careful of when you trade with the enemy. You can poke and make Janna use her Eye of the Storm and then back away. Once the shield is done, you can go back in to deal more lasting damage. It's really not wise to trade with the Eye of the Storm on her ADC. Just continue to poke at Janna lanes. They generally have no sustain so all damage will stick. Howling Gale and Monsoon provide her and her lane partner disengages. Her Zephyr provides her movement speed so you may not be able to chase her down easily.

On your team: Leona is very strong, if not the strongest support, with Corki. Her passive, Sunlight, can constantly be consumed by Gatling Gun and Missile Barrage. This lane has great kill potential as well. As soon as she hits a Zenith Blade, you can Valkyrie in. Her multitude of stuns will lock down the enemy long enough for you to easily kill them. You do lots of damage, so don't be afraid to follow up on Leona's engage. Against: Leona isn't too tough of a lane opponent for Corki. Again, have your support sight ward the bushes. If you see a Zenith Blade, try to dodge. If worse comes to worse, simply Valkyrie away. Solar Flare hit you? Valkyrie away. There won't be any follow up because you can easily disengage.

On your team: Lulu is a great support laning with Corki. This lane is strong because of the poke coming from these two. She can Help, Pix! your lane opponents, hit Glitterlance both of them, and you can land Missile Barrage and Phosphorus Bomb easily. Her Whimsy also slows enemies down and polymorphs them. Help, Pix! applies onto your auto-attacks when she shields you. This might allow to you a trade because of the extra damage Pix does. Her Wild Growth is very strong too, giving an instant burst of health. Against: Lulu is simply annoying to play against. Her Glitterlance slow will prove to practically stop you in your tracks while still doing a nice amount of damage paired with a Help, Pix! on you. Her Whimsy will also make it hard to chase her and her allies because of the speed up. During laning, Lulu will probably polymorph you, reducing your damage output. Gatling Gun does still deal damage during Whimsy's polymorph though. Make sure to return her poke at her. She lacks innate sustain. Wild Growth will, at one point, probably prevent a kill for you. No worries though, you'll get it eventually!

On your team: Nami is okay while laning with Corki. Her Tidecaller's Blessing slow is quite strong, even at early levels. The extra damage helps a lot too. Your range is relatively short though, so you won't be able to abuse it too much. If Nami does land an Aqua Prison, make sure to follow up. You can get off a lot of damage while your opponents are stunned. At level 6, if she Aqua Prison's and uses Tidal Wave, you can Valkyrie in for a quick kill. Ebb and Flow can also provide you and her sustain in lane, so you don't have to worry too much about enemy poke. Against: The thing you most want to be careful about when playing against Nami is her Aqua Prison stun and Tidecaller's Blessing slow. Her Aqua Prison can be deceiving because of its cast time. She'll most likely try to land it in the path that you're running. If you can't sidestep it, Valkyrie to the side. Her Ebb and Flow can prove to be annoying as it heals for a good amount. You'll want to be careful at 6. Again, you can Valkyrie to the side to dodge Tidal Wave as well. Nami does get low on mana though. Be sure to watch her mana so you know when you don't have to play scared.

On your team: Sona is a great support with Corki, next to Lulu and Leona. Sona is such a strong support throughout the whole game. She can practically 1v2 a lane, making your life a lot easier. Sona's Hymn of Valor and Power Chord plus your phosphorous bomb early during laning can easily bring your lane opponents down to half health. Aria of Perseverance gives sustain in lane as well as extra armor and magic resist. If Sona lands a beautiful Crescendo, your enemies are 100% dead. Against: When you're facing a Sona, you want to try to avoid her Hymn of Valor and Power Chord as much as possible. Those two do quite a bit of damage early on. When trading, be careful and see if she utilizes her different Power Chord types. An Aria of Perseverance powered Power Chord will reduce your damage by 20%, which may not seem like much, but can turn a trade in their favor. Be wary for a Flash and Crescendo onto you and your support. It could result in a double kill for the enemy carry.

On your team: Thresh is a great support with anyone. His Death Sentence is basically Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab. Be sure to follow up if his hook lands onto the enemy. Most of the time, it'll be a kill for you. Thresh has a lot of utility. His Flay can stop channelled spells such as Leona's Zenith Blade and Zac's Elastic Slingshot. The Box is a good engage and disengage with the massive slow it provides. Dark Passage combined with Death Sentence can make great plays. Against: Thresh does counter Corki. He can land Death Sentence onto Corki, and before you manage to Valkyrie away, he can use Flay and stop you from escaping. The Box is a large slow and you can't Valkyrie to "jump" over it. Be careful of jungler ganks with Death Sentence, Flay, and Dark Passage.

• Corki is very strong in the early game. His passive makes his auto attacks do A LOT of damage, so last hitting should be a breeze for him in lane.
• Try to hit your opponents with a Phosphorus Bomb and an auto-attack when they go to CS.
• Corki has a lot of kill potential in lane with Ignite. If you can, look for an opportunity to fight the enemy in lane. Don't be afraid to go all in on your opponent by using Valkyrie to get on top of them and using your Gatling Gun plus Phosphorus Bomb. Usually, no ADC can win a straight up fight with Corki in the earliest levels of the game.
• At level 6, you gain a significant power spike. Missile Barrages do huge damage for a very low mana cost. Try to poke enemies with Missile Barrages in lane.
• If you are still having trouble in lane, you can clear the wave easily on Corki with your Missile Barrage and Phosphorus Bomb combo before the creeps even hit your turret.
• Corki also can't be denied after 6, because you can last hit almost every creep from far back.

People will prioritize you in fights and most likely try to dive you like with any other AD Carry. Pay lots of attention to your positioning and try not to get caught out, because you will die quickly.

In teamfights, you'll want to play like any other AD Carry -- have very good positioning and stay in the back of the fight. This is especially good for Corki because when you are not in range to auto attack enemies, you can be spamming Missile Barrages at your enemies. Remember that your Trinity Force procs each time you use an ability. Corki does a significant amount of damage to tanky targets because of his wide array of damage type. Do not be afraid to stand there and pump a tank full of lead with your Gatling Gun + auto-attacks when a tank tries to dive you. Remember, be aware of your positioning if you're doing so!

Corki is also an amazing split-pusher late-game because he is very hard to 1v1 and he clears creep waves very quickly, so that is always an option if you're worried about teamfighting