Navigating Bronze as Support (Tip Thread)
I am just posting this for anyone who is a support main and having issues navigating bronze. I might expand this if my strategy gets me through silver--then again, the strategy might work just as well there, too. As advice has been fairly limited, and none of it relating to my current strategy, and my current strategy took me from the bottom of bronze 5 to silver 5 over the course of 2 weeks, I thought I'd offer it. TL;DR at bottom.
Tip #1: Play a wave-clear support. By this, I mean a champion who can easily clear a wave of minions. The only ones I can think of are Morgana (more at mid-game) and Zyra. When your ADC goes AFK or dies to making bad decisions, your ability to wave-clear will get you gold, help keep the enemy team away from your turrets, even allow you to push lane so you can back and not leave your turret exposed.
Tip #2: Play to get the kills. If you're going to rely on your ADC in this ELO, you're likely going to be stuck in it for quite a while. This point isn't against ADCs or to say ADCs are bad players. In their defense, it's hard to watch minions, enemy mechanics, and the map all at once. So if your ADC isn't good at these things, don't hold back trying to get them fed. Take the kills and carry the lane. This is why a character like Zyra/Morgana are great choices--even Lux. There are others, but the first two have good wave-clear and can be lethal.
Tip #3: Build like a mid-laner if you're constantly playing games where your efforts as support are useless. By this, I mean build full damage. Skip sightstone if you need to (though as your other teammates start to show improvement, be quickly willing/able to build like a normal support and play accordingly). Pretend like bot lane is a mid lane with a camping JG, and do what you can to destroy your opponents.
Tip #4: Focus exclusively on KDA (kill to death ratio). Remember, for supports in particular, KDA is total kills and support kills divided by # of deaths. A good support should have few kills, but in this ELO, just do what needs to be done. Your main focus while you're working to be a stronger support should be as high of a KDA average as you can get. Don't be afraid to walk away from a fight and let people die. If you can't end that fight (especially if it was a bad fight to begin with), just walk away and spare your KDA. This isn't to say KDA matters overall, but at this ELO, knowing how to avoid death and when to walk away are very important concepts to master as a support. The only way you'll get there is by being willing to limit the number of deaths you receive.
I'd say that you should shoot for a 3 KDA max as a goal. I'd say that your overall goal is to die no more than 3 times any given fight. When that average shows up for you, you WILL see more wins.
Tip #5: If you are building vision items, which ultimately you will have to do as you improve, make sure you prioritize sight stone and sweeping lens/oracle and for early-mid game, keep 2x vision wards on you at all times. Do these things before you build into anything else. IF you must deviate, do so only for the sake of your boots. Swifties are highly recommended for your boot choice.
Tip #6: mute, mute, mute. The absolute second someone trolls you in chat, just mute them. Don't get into a bad mood by replying or dealing with them. At some point, you'll know when you're playing your role right and they aren't, and then maybe you can troll them back for the lulz, but while you're looking to improve, mute those toxic people and carry on. If you do take kills and CS, you will get a lot of protesting from your ADC; but as long as you're only doing these things because your ADC can't manage mechanics or is doing a poor job, his advice/complaints are moot. You do you. He'll figure it out eventually.
Tip #7: If you do have a good ADC, reward them with positive remarks and honors. To be honest, at this ELO, I'd say only ~40% of ADCs will shine as decent or great players. Remind them how awesome it was working with them for that kill or that win.
Tip #8: Don't play the ban game and don't try to counterpick at this ELO. You need to learn how to play against all comps anyway. Might as well learn how to deal with Katarina instead of permabanning her. Might as well learn how to win using X champ instead of trying to meta the enemy team. Frankly, several games are going force you out of your meta and into your discomfort zone. So play the champ you like and don't worry about the bans. Until you're playing with a well-functioning team, the bans won't matter anyway.
Tip #9: ping ping ping, stare at that map. Learn to decide where you're going to move your character by staring at the mini-map as much as you possibly can. If you are in direct conflict with enemy champs, then you have to stare at the lane. But when you're not in direct conflict, learn how to decide where to move exclusively by navigating looking only at the mini-map. This will help you with map awareness, which is about 75% of your role as support. Once you know what the enemies can do and have done already, this will be super easy. It will take some practice. But as I've gotten better, I find myself staring at the mini-map about 75% of the time and clicking to move at points I see out of the corner of my eye. Trust me, this is perhaps the best skill I've learned as a support.
These are the basics for what's been working for me. There are more details I should add, and might do so later if this thread even matters enough to bother. I will be happy to address any questions you might have accordingly. :) Good luck!
TL;DR: Play Zyra support. Build her generally as a mid-laner. Learn to move around by watching the mini-map. Mute people who are toxic or complaining about you. Focus most of your attention on your KDA. Don't ban champs you dislike; learn to deal with them. Feel free to take kills and minions if your ADC is being grabbed by blitz all the time/dead/afk/who knows what. When your team is doing awesome, tell them they are doing awesome. Practice, practice, practice.
