Quote Originally Posted by Arbitrarity View Post
STAY IN THE BACK. I forget this every now and then, and promptly die. STAY IN THE BACK. You do NO GOOD if you explode and die instantly. You're the team's primary damage source in lategame, and can usually clean up fights as long as you stay alive.

But this is only if you have a true choice of targets, and that's pretty uncommon. Since tanks and bruisers are usually in the front, you can't really hit ranged carries or AP carries without being in range to be killed by the entire enemy team.

I am going to emphasize these points. Focus order comes last in terms of who you should focus, first place is always surviving. If you are alive and the enemy AD is not, you'll almost always be able to win the fight. The damage that you suddenly lose by not have a carry is immense, and often means you can't deal with the bruisers anymore.