Good Support for Starting Out?

dootsy·7/24/2014, 7:30:07 PM·1 votes·1,247 views

As of posting this topic, I'm level 29, coming close to 30, and then ranked. I've noticed playing draft pick normals that nobody really likes support, but I think it would fit me pretty well (and I would be able to play ranked with a bit more assurance that I would get a role I play often). I'm a pretty terrible support and would like to improve. I'm also looking for a good support for somebody like me who wants to get into support, but doesn't know a good champion to start out. If anybody knows such a champion, I would appreciate the knowledge. I should probably mention that I play with somebody who mains Vayne, so a good support for her would be nice. TL;DR - Good starting out support champs/ supports that work well with Vayne

20 Comments

cshakes7/24/2014, 7:41:41 PM2 votes

Try Janna. She's good at peeling and her shield gives an AD buff. She also counters a lot of all-in supports (Leona) and doesn't do bad against the meta of Thresh/Morgana.

Another option would be Thresh. I don't play him, but from what I've seen he's good at making picks and his lantern is strong.

Sir ArmaMalum7/24/2014, 7:35:54 PM2 votes

Nami

Nami is a great support champ for Vayne as well as a great training champ, because if you can hit those bubbles well you can land a lot of other skills easily too. She is tough though, so keep that in mind, your first few matches might not be ideal. I know mine weren't :P

Thresh

Is also a good start for a more tank, initiator support. They play differently enough from "raw supports" like Nami, Janna and Sona that I treat them like another role. Thresh is good because his Q isn't as punishing to miss (or in some cases hit) as other displacements like Blitz or Leona, as well as giving you a good mechanic to practice auto attack harassing (E passive).

Linna Excel7/24/2014, 10:00:39 PM2 votes

As of posting this topic, I'm level 29, coming close to 30, and then ranked.

This needs its own comment. You are doing it wrong. You will cost your team games and wind up in bronze 3 if you aren't careful. Ranked is its own beast.

Do not jump into ranked right after hitting 30.

First you need to make sure you have 2 full rune pages and 3 champs per lane you are okay with. You can't start really specializing in a lane until you get into the gold-plat level. Also make sure you can CS well enough. This is important.

Linna Excel7/24/2014, 9:57:36 PM1 votes

OP: do you prefer active or passive lanes? That answer will help out a lot.

Sona's good to start out with and has a low skill floor. Soraka... well soraka sucks right now but she's cheap and I like her anyways. Kayle can play any role, any lane, so if you like her you can play her anywhere. Morgana is cheap and is a good counter to thresh/leona.

Or you could play teemo and make the other team forget you have and ADC because they are too busy trying to kill you.

Kytoflame7/24/2014, 10:25:45 PM1 votes

Blitz, Thresh, Braum, Morgana, Leona

Lewd Neeko7/24/2014, 7:55:15 PM1 votes

You can go here to find supports that work well with Vayne.

Soraka is a pretty good support to start out with, well at least I think so, because she doesn't have any skill shots. You'd max your heal and afterwards, you can max either Q or E, though I usually max E first for a longer silence duration. Also, her ult is global so you can save a dying top or mid lane, too!

Nami is also a good choice. She can stun, give extra damage to her adc (or use it herself to poke the enemy) and heal. Plus her ult can be used to engage/disengage. Landing her stun is a little tricky, though it's easier to land if you aim in front of where the enemy is going to walk instead of right on top of them.

Hyrum Graff7/24/2014, 9:30:02 PM1 votes

What champions do you already play? That'll help me give you some supports that fit your playstyle.

As to "being a bad support," I would give you pointers, but what you should do in a given situation can be very different depending on who you're playing, who you're playing with, and who you're playing against.

In general, though, you should have three over-arching goals:

Keep your adc safe so they can farm (including: protection from harass and engagements in lane, and ganks).
Try to prevent the enemy adc from getting farm.
Have very good map awareness (watching for ganks, pinging when you see the enemy jungler, etc).

Generally, the more aggressive you are as a support, the better you can accomplish goals 1-2. The tradeoff is that being more aggressive also puts you at risk of getting harassed or engaged on, to the point where you can't accomplish those goals anymore for fear of dying.

Note that getting kills, for you or your adc, is not on this list. That's because kills are opportunistic and happen because of your enemy's mistakes. For example, say you harass the enemy adc until they're at 1/4 hp. They now have a choice. They can play really safe, and miss a lot of farm, or they can be less safe, and try to get the farm. If they don't play safe, they just made a mistake, which you can capitalize on and get the kill. But you can't get the kill unless they make the mistake.

Again, that's not to say you shouldn't harass, or look for kills when the opportunity arises. You should just be aware that kills happen when you capitalize on their mistakes, not because you decided, "I'm going to get a kill now!"

shazb0t7/24/2014, 8:03:34 PM

I kinda disagree with these picks. Especially Nami, are really dependent on how good you are with skillshots. She's very unforgiving: if you miss your bubble, you've pretty much left your AD out to dry unless you've hit level 6.

Lulu If you want a good catch-all support, Lulu is still very strong in bot lane despite finding another home in 1v1's lately. She's especially good for Vayne because of how much peel she brings, which is really important for Vayne at all stages of the game. She also does a lot of what Janna does, but in my opinion is better at most of it: knockups, shields, slows, etc.

Braum Braum is another good pick, because of his power to disengage and turn fights. His passive also synergizes great with Vayne, who already scales well with attack speed thanks to silver bolts. Just make sure you're smart with your shields.

Thresh Thresh is decent too, although he suffers a little from the same problem as Nami. Unlike Nami though, he's not entirely dependent on Q (in this case, hooks) to protect his AD. Lanterns and flays are both really solid rescue tools for an AD who needs as much babysitting as Vayne. And if you do land a hook in lane, that sets Vayne up for a really easy Condemn.

Hope this helps.