Riot is sacrificing the identity of the support role to make it more “fun” and appealing.

koshkyra·11/11/2019, 9:44:39 PM·102 votes·20,957 views

Support is supposed to be about protecting your allies, not doing massive damage. So stop condoning “damage supports” just to make the role more appealing to people who dont play it. The other 4 roles are already fully damage-focused and now its going to be all 5 if you keep heading in this direction.

And by “damage supports” i dont mean “anything that isnt an enchanter.” I mean the last two supports released are literally an assassin and a marksman and those are the two farthest classes from “support.” And the last two seasons have only been hook supports and mage supports, which just turn botlane into a dodgeball game of who gets hit by the first CC and dies.

232 Comments

The thigh guy11/11/2019, 11:35:19 PM47 votes

Riot gave up on supports being supports when they made Pyke.

Kazekiba11/11/2019, 9:55:24 PM27 votes

That's because prior attempts at making support feel impactful and active failed on a solo queue level. Autofillers were still going Lux/Brand or dodging/trolling even with Taric, Zeke's Herald, Redemption, Shurelya's resurrection, and Sightstones removal.

Riots done a lot to rebrand Support but it won't change the players perception of it, so they're tackling it in a newer unique way. And if Senna proves too strong, they can always slow down her dps in favor of her support playstyle. Hopefully they can make more supportive AD items for her+pyke and other future AD support champions season 10 enables

Everyday Legends11/11/2019, 11:51:09 PM20 votes

Remember when they made a Jungle/Support who had less focus on damage and more on enabling his teammates? Ivern

Pyke and Senna aren't the first times they've tried to blend different roles. They're just the most recent examples.

ZephyrDrake11/12/2019, 12:50:54 AM19 votes

Support had never been about just protecting carries. If that was the case why are champions like Alistar, Leona and Blitz played as supports? They engage and lock down targets. They can be used to peel but that is not their forte.

Support has always been about being a champion that can work on low income. What they do range from shielding and healing, engaging and peeling or being a secondary source of damage

Flawless Fetus11/11/2019, 11:18:28 PM17 votes

As much as id like to agree with you, senna is fkn great. Lol.

Lewd Neeko11/11/2019, 11:30:34 PM13 votes

Though I like enchanter supports more than other types, I like Senna. Honestly, I'm cool with anyone being played as support so long as they have some form of CC, because along with protecting allies, supports can often set up kills for allies.

CurS1VE11/11/2019, 10:01:22 PM13 votes

Yuumi ? What's your thoughts on that dog shit champ?

hazerddex11/11/2019, 9:51:52 PM10 votes

no one want's to play the heal bot so yes support's need to change to be more fun. this is a video game fun should be the top priority.

TrevorAlu11/12/2019, 9:02:48 AM8 votes

As a support main, I really miss being able to have the feeling that I am doing something to "protect" the people on my team. I never really feel that I was able to do anything significant when I play Janna or Nami because dmg is so high and they have been nerfed so much that I'm really only useful for my cc abilities. I don't want to do damage when I play support, I want to support my team. When I want to do damage, I go mid and hope I don't get shit on by an assassin.

Metal Janna11/12/2019, 5:57:44 PM7 votes

Look, i'm a big fan of the "protect the adc" playstyle - I main enchanters - but there's never been a time when kill pressure wasn't a legitimate support quality. There's plenty of discussion to be had about how much kill pressure a support should be allowed to bring, but to claim supporting is only about playing defense for the carry is just flat out wrong.

Corvega11/12/2019, 2:46:01 PM5 votes

Enchanters and wardens are champions that are supposed to protect allies and not do massive damage. Support is just a role, not a class, just like bot lane is just a role that is usually played using marksmen champions, but on occasion is played by mages.

NaughtyWord11/12/2019, 7:24:21 AM4 votes

{quoted}

Support is supposed to be about protecting your allies, not doing massive damage. So stop condoning “damage supports” just to make the role more appealing to people who dont play it. The other 4 roles are already fully damage-focused and now its going to be all 5 if you keep heading in this direction.

And by “damage supports” i dont mean “anything that isnt an enchanter.” I mean the last two supports released are literally an assassin and a marksman and those are the two farthest classes from “support.” And the last two seasons have only been hook supports and mage supports, which just turn botlane into a dodgeball game of who gets hit by the first CC and dies.

Bravo! Hear! Hear!

Get this man a fucking medal, a full march parade, and a 7-gun salute.

This is what happens when enchanters are push out of the Support role. They are just obsolete, the sad thing about that is, enchanters don't really have anywhere else to go.

https://imgur.com/a/pQYliVf

Rapterminator 0211/12/2019, 2:15:17 PM4 votes

{quoted}

And by “damage supports” i dont mean “anything that isnt an enchanter.” I mean the last two supports released are literally an assassin and a marksman

yuumi crying in the corner

Yuumi

Mirai Ko11/13/2019, 5:43:07 AM4 votes

Enchanters and Wardens protect their allies. Support is the role opposite bot that doesn't CS. We shouldn't complain about role diversity. Mages, Tanks, Fighters and Assassins fit in Top Mid and Jungle. Really we should be asking for more diverse options for bot and support.
It's not like traditional enchanters don't exist. There are a lot of them. To the point of redundancy. . .see Janna and Lulu. We had the ardent censor enchanter meta not too long ago. That was very stifling.

JRobin3111/13/2019, 12:43:04 AM3 votes

"Identity of the Support"

What are you talking about? Is that some sort of slang for support META?

I mean what is the "Identity of the Support"? Is that like saying that other players shouldn't play certain champions in the support position because... you don't like their play style?

[sg-lux-2]

Chalze11/12/2019, 1:24:10 AM3 votes

Yeah but according to Riot, it's not as exciting to watch. To adapt a Joker quote:

"If I heal, buff, shield, redirect damage away from my carries or cleanse vital crowd control off my carries, nobody panics.

Because it's all part of the plan.

But when the enemy support lands one hook, well then everyone loses their minds."

8 Lamar Jackson11/13/2019, 7:09:45 AM3 votes

Sometimes the best defense is offense... Sometimes supporting is doing the most damage. Just like sometimes mid is being that person that brings utility. There is more than 1 way to skin a cat although you shouldnt skin a cat...u get what im saying.

Light of Madness11/12/2019, 1:26:28 AM2 votes

I like to save and help. Be useful but if do that usually I will lose cause riot is making sure that damage is the only thing that matters. Who needs to think, right? I remember the games I had so much cd and itens to use it was crazy during TF and was FUN really fun.

Cdore11/13/2019, 9:33:14 PM2 votes

If you are wondering why players are worse and why the gameplay is becoming too bursty, all of it is because of Riot's decisions.

They chose to have players be able to have fun solo more than as a team.
All their champion designs are deliberately done so you can have a chance to carry the game or at least have fun. This was literally their words during their design notes.
Riot reduced the impact of players having to work as a team, and increased players selfishly depending on themselves. Solo queue ranked is a big contributor to this.
No voice comms further increases the divide between players. Might as well hide away all your teammate names and make chatting a non feature at this rate.
Focusing game and visual design more on getting the casual anime audience and pushing out the PC strategy audience. This includes pushing chests and skin sales in favor of smarter game design. The moment this happened, that PC player with some experience in other RTS was replaced with a 12 year old that is playing fortnite and minecraft.

Back in early seasons, each player came to the game knowing that there was an overall strategy to play out and everyone had a role to play. There was a carry, a tank, one or two supports, and someone to take jungle camps, making three solo lanes, and 1 duo lane. Supports and junglers spent their income on vision control, carries farmed to try to get to their damage items, and the tank held a lane to farm up defensive items. Nowadays, you can have five carries and still win games off that alone due to the free damage and gold given to everyone.

Śhunpo11/12/2019, 10:37:43 AM2 votes

ADC literally only feels useless because your support just outright outdamages you, outscales you AND out carries you.

People wouldn't be complaining about ADC if supports were actually supports and not secondary carries.

ActionWildman11/12/2019, 6:52:41 PM2 votes

lol people told me as an AD main to shut up and accept change but look now. SUPPORTS COMPLAINING HAHAHAH