Some Things About Support

So there's been a lot of complaints about support from a lot of different issues. Like...

A lot.

As a support main, I'd like to offer my point of view.

Mages in the Botlane: (Sounds like Angels in the Outfield lol) Here's why people take mages as supports in a nutshell; 1. Traditional supports lack agency and damage, two things that are incredibly important 2. You can possibly carry if you're playing a mage support like Zyra or Vel'Koz so you're not chained to your ADC at the hip 3. A lot of supports have super binary playstyles that aren't engaging or fun Until Riot makes the support role more appealing to actual supports (Enchanters, Disruptors, and the like), we will keep seeing the likes of Brand, Malzahar, and Zyra dominating the support role. In short, damage is too valuable, and traditional supports don't have enough visible impact to be appealing to players.

Support Itemization: This one really grinds my gears. There's been cries for Redemption to get nerfed, but literally one item in two seasons comes out that makes support an engaging role and y'all want to see it dumpster'd. This is why no one wants to support, because you literally can never win. Redemption is an active item that can turn teamfights around, just like Zhonya's, just like Edge of Night, just like BOTRK. It is not different from those items just because it's a supp item. People think that just because you're playing support you can't have a huge impact on teamfights, and Redemption rocked their world when they saw supports coming into their own colors, and frankly I think it scared them. Support items are strong (even if there's only, like, 5 good ones), but they are just as strong, if not weaker, than items designed for mages or ADCs.

"Support is Easy": **Fuck. **You. I have been so many comments and threads reducing support mains to shield and heal bots. You. You are the problem. You are why people don't want to play support. Supports are the most important players on the team. They have to have the best map awareness, the best teamfight coordination, and most of all, they need to know how to play from behind. All you toxic ADC mains out there would be nothing, nothing, without a support keeping you alive. And just because some supports have binary kits (Soraka, Janna), does not make them easy. Ashe, Vayne, and Jinx have binary kits that let them deal shitloads of damage in a short time, but Soraka, Janna, and Nami don't have the same luxury. And on top of all of that, guess who is usually focused in a teamfight? Supports. If a lane goes wrong, who's blamed? The support. Even though the support is designed to provide buffs and help, not to carry a lane by themself. It's ridiculous the amount of pressure placed on this role. And to add to it, you will be one or two levels behind, gold starved, and bitched at because ward coverage is weird or you're not fawning over your ADC hand and foot.

Riot is making good steps towards making support more impactful (Redemption and Knight's Vow are amazing items, fight me), but we have a long ways to go to making it on par with the other roles.