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More non-damaging gold/exp resources throughout the rift could unlock the "scrap collector" support

i cant move wtf··1 votes·294 views

I see so much hidden potential in the support role. It's not that it feels bad to play as it is now, just that I think it could be much more than it is.

I'm a frugal person in rl. I like to be scrappy, to "make something from nothing", to take pieces from a bunch of different things and repurpose them into something else. And when you think about it, isn't that exactly the inherent challenge of the support?

The support is the 5th player in a 4 lane game (the 4th lane being jg). By default they do not have a guaranteed income stream. Riot has solved this mostly by giving supports their own item lines. However I feel this is just one possibility of many and doesn't need to have all the emphasis put on it.

Why couldn't there be non-damaging jg spawns that you can passively acquire by either walking over or standing in their vicinity for a period of time? This would be a great addition for non-damage focused champions to prioritize. At the very least it could bolster a support playstyle that includes heavy roaming and/or enemy jg invading for vision control.

What about a summoner spell similar to smite but doesn't trigger a camp or large minion to aggro and slowly prepares the camp to be passively taken if the player revisits the camp/large minion at a later time (similar to Ivern passive)?

What about a rune that causes your wards to generate gold when they have vision of an enemy outside of your own vision?

These are just a few ideas off the top of my head. Maybe you can think of some more.

I'm not trying to get rid of the current support meta either where you buy a support item and stay with your ADC and roam a bit. There's nothing wrong with that. When I play support I often enjoy it. I would just like to see the "scrap collector" archetype be a thing. I think it's a good fit thematically for the role and would be such a fun playstyle. It could perhaps also give the role a wider appeal and bring some more expressiveness as well.

6 Comments

RaeSacré1 votes

Can't say I can agree at all with either of your suggestions. First off a support leaving lane to jungle? It's already the junglers role to roam and there's nothing stopping other lanes from doing so. Also you want the player to wait in a spot to collect things? Talk about boring! I wanna be in lane where the action is and have my adc's back! And wards making gold? Sounds like a huge invitation to troll for me. Just place a ward in the middle of bot lane just outside their tower and bam! I think what you are typing to work at is making more objectives for the support but honestly as you get better at playing support you understand more and can do more. You have to make use of every mistake the enemy team makes and make opportunities for yourself.

i cant move wtf2 votes

{quoted}

Also you want the player to wait in a spot to collect things? Talk about boring!

The longest wait I had in mind was as long as you stand on top of a Rek'Sai tunnel to destroy it. Then I imagined some you'd just simply walk over without needing to stop, like Bard chimes. It's not very exciting to farm camps as a jgler either but it provides them with an income stream they can manage while they contest for objectives/set up plays.

I'd argue Targons isn't very exciting but it's doing essentially the same thing: creating a non-damaging income source for the support player to manage. Just to be clear I'm not trying to get rid of the current support items or even the current support playstyles, just that adding some different and more roam/warding oriented streams could open up the role to even more possibilities.

Thanks for the detailed response!

RaeSacré1 votes

But there is already incentive in-game for a support to roam. For example if I am forced to back early while my adc stays, then my adc usually ends up backing when I return, thus I probably won't want to be in lane and I'll have already headed mid to give a quick gank while I wait on my adc's return. It's also good to run down river and ward the bush between mid and blue buff that's beside the river to help out your mid laner with vision(or river bush if red side). As it's good to clear blast cones and vision plants just so the enemy cannot use them. It's also good to keep in mind that roams can and is often a VERY bad idea. If you are out of lane and the enemy knows this and their support is with them your adc is as good as dead. Even if they don't die if the enemy is smart the can easily push the adc out of the lane with positioning which means your adc gets no farm. Thus roam creates such lack of opportunity that the opportunities created via roaming is far exceeded. Not to mention you are a support. Even as a tank you are an easy kill if you are caught out alone against their jungler. The point I want to make is that you are wrong in thinking the support is a 5th player in a 4 lane game. So wrong. The dance and duet of the coordination of a adc and support can be a masterful work of skill and art that speaks volumes about the feats a team can reach with coordination and why LoL esports is a thing.

i cant move wtf1 votes

{quoted}

The point I want to make is that you are wrong in thinking the support is a 5th player in a 4 lane game.

I think you misunderstand what I meant by that line. I said it referring to the gold income streams available for both teams. There are 4 steady gold streams and 5 players. One of the players will take in less gold because of this and so I think it makes sense for there to be a "scrappy" type of champion (and what better class would they fit than support?). But in order for that to exist there needs to be more "scraps" (easily contestable gold/exp resources) for a player to pick up.

This post isn't an attempt to undermine any skill involved in the current role of support. I don't argue that. It's only meant to discuss some ways I think the role could be meaningfully expanded to incorporate more playstyles, not to replace the existing ones.

RaeSacré1 votes

I see. But bard has basically already taken the role of a item collecting roaming champ.

i cant move wtf1 votes

Indeed, Bard shows that this type of playstyle is already possible. However Bard's chimes aren't contestable so it takes away the resourceful, "picking-up-the-scraps" quality that I'd like to have as a possibility for a support champion.

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