Starting Support item

Bugog·7/30/2019, 5:58:32 AM·10 votes·6,825 views

I've gotten to the point that I go coin every game unless I am on a support that can easily proc early and mid game.

I stopped going targon because you can get heavily punished early, and mid game your own team uses their abilities to deny you cs.

Frostfang can be good if your team is winning and you can get procs, otherwise you get starved out and you get a fraction of the gold. Unless you're a champ that can reliably proc it long distance it comes off as a hero or zero snowball item.

As sad as it is the coin seems like the only thing that can keep you from getting completely shut out the entire game.

11 Comments

Crispy0Snake7/30/2019, 6:12:30 AM3 votes

Yeah, coin is uninteractive, you can just afk and scale for free, the only weakness is that there's no damage (proc and AP) or mana regen like on item 3303

You don't get hp until T3 on item 3301 compared to item 3302 either, but coin gives movement speed and more passive gold. Relic has the heal and times with cannons really well so you can get much more gold

There are definitely situations where coin is better than relic, I'd say there's rarely a time where coin is better than spellthiefs

Sihari7/30/2019, 6:44:45 AM2 votes

I also choose coin now in most of my games, mainly because with frostfang I dont get a warditem until much later, when the enemy is too strong to poke him every few seconds,which pushes my team even further behind. the risk I have to take for that is just not worth the reward...

Disulfiram7/30/2019, 7:27:14 AM2 votes

One problem I have with item 3301 is that it gives away the fact that you're roaming. You seize the opportunity to go to another lane for a gank, only to realize that there is a coin in the middle of the lane and the enemy already retreated.

The Kombinator7/30/2019, 7:20:18 AM1 votes

item 3311 If you beat enemy hard without pushing hard, then enemy dies, or recalls, and less gold from item. If they beat you, then poking them becomes incredibly risky which means less gold. Basically you need a hyper pusher carry, or a balanced lane to get the gold.

item 3301 Simple, and mostly reliable. It gives no extra damage, but much more extra mana. Great for healer supports for better sustain.

item 4302 Gives enemy better chance to poke, but heals a little. In later stages it gives much less gold unless your teammates allow you to get gold from it, because they kill minions faster, than you can.

Technically item 3098 is for the long-range poker supports, item 3301 is for protectors, and item 4302 is for tanks.

Taking item 3301 as long range poker also works against tanks. Less damage, but more sustain so more damage on long run. And against tanks you might need that.

Taking item 3098 as protector only works, if enemy also a protector. A long-range poker will poke you harder, than you can poke them, and a tank will just goes on you for easy kill at and above lvl2 or 3.

item 3301 Most tanks don't need extra mana, nor has heal. The only exception is Taric who has both. Thresh also uses this one, because though he is a tank he is not considered melee. Meaning that much harder to proc item 4302 .

Support types:

Protector: Uses heal, shield, and buffs to keep the carry alive as primary objective. Janna Soraka for example. Long range poker: Use abilities to poke the shit out of the enemy. Velkoz Xerath for example. Tank all-in: Once got 2, or 3 use all-in combo to get kills. Blitzcrank Leona for example. Morgana Joker. A good Morgana counters every single support in the game. She can still be beaten by greater skill, or tons of gank though.

Bugog7/30/2019, 6:24:48 PM1 votes

Back to the subject at hand...

The point is that the game last longer than the laning phase. On someone like Soraka the item 3098 works fine in the laning phase, but once you get past that your ability to get gold procs goes down unless your team is winning and you get to beat on towers for gold. The same goes for Janna Nami Sona Lulu where putting yourself in front is a great way to leave you team in a 5v4.

The only times where item 3098 seems like a good item is when you can safely harass the enemy. Usually this is Morgana , and maybe some off meta picks like MissFortune Orianna .

I can't tell you the number of times I've had someone use all their abilities to clear an uncontested wave when I'm playing Alistar Leona Braum and leave me there with 4 stacks of targons, or else clearing out caster minions.

But the coin offers some semblance of stability when you're in a group of randoms. Even if my laning partner is potato I can usually stack it by 10 minutes, and come mid game I only need to be near the wave to keep income coming in. It's definitely not a power pick, but getting shut out of the game as a support is already frustrating because you're normally 3 levels behind and barely scraping by as it is.