I am new to the game and have taken a liking to support but the one problem I have seem to not be able to fix is going against mid lane champions like Vel'koz Annie and Brand that are playing support. Any suggestions on how to approach going against such champions would be much appreciated.
SciFi Scrivener3 votesI'm a support main that plays some mage supports like Brand, Zyra, and Morgana. The best counters are tanks, especially those with hooks. Thresh, Blitzcrank, and Nautilus can bring the mages closer to the adc to kill off quicker. Also, poke the ADC a lot. Most mage supports don't heal and you can chase the ADC back to base a lot if you can get poke on them.
I like Maokai support as a good option. He can take the hits and his saplings poke for a lot. His engage is really good, and of course the ult can help engage and peel.
Just some ideas, I look forward to reading what others have to offer also.
Bootleg Gay2 votesMage supports are best countered by tank supports, like Leona, Alistar, or Nautilus. They don't care about their damage, and can hold them down for your team easier.
sheldonbunny1 votes[{quoted}](name=One Best Gay,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=8ym8x07e,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2017-10-23T13:08:16.090+0000)
Mage supports are best countered by tank supports, like Leona, Alistar, or Nautilus. They don't care about their damage, and can hold them down for your team easier.
Debatable. A good AP support can deal with tank supports in turn. Most tank supports suffer from melee range, while AP is able to poke and CC. Early game tank supports will not be durable enough to deal with a well versed AP support.
It basically becomes a skill match up between supports. An example: Leona's win rate against Velkoz in Platinum+ is only 47.37% and has been roughly at that rate for multiple patches.
As for advice for the OP, it depends on the matchup. Against most poke supports do quite well, if you know how to use windows of aggression wisely. If you're more the passive sort, utility supports still hold their own quite well, especially into mid/late game. Just expect to get pushed in. If you have decent jungler, they can help apply pressure to your lane.
Personally I fight fire with fire. I pick a support I can zone/be aggressive with back. If that's not possible, a utility with the idea of surviving the lane and waiting patiently for the right moment.
Metal Janna2 votesSupport Orianna
main here. Ori's a generalist support that can shield, provide utility, or poke depending on her build and which skills she focuses on leveling first. I like her for her versatility, which makes it difficult for the enemy support to do what i'm about to explain.
Countering any support is a matter of identifying their weaknesses and exploiting them. For mage supports these are usually squishyness, mana thirstiness, and cooldowns. How you exploit their weaknesses depends on what champion you're picking with the exception of cooldowns, which any champion can exploit.
For tanky, CC-heavy supports like 
and 
, it's a simple matter of building tankiness and catching them and hoping your ADC can exploit their squishyness. Rush your vision item (
, 
, or 
), and get 
, 
, 
, or 
in order to catch them. Get Redemption
for tankiness for both you and the ADC, then continue building tank items until you're an unkillable juggernaut.
For sustaining supports (heals and shields) like 
you want to exploit their mana thirst by outlasting their mana. To that end, build your vision item early for the health boost, grab enough mana items to keep your mana up with theirs (
builds into most support items, and 
builds into 
, so grab whichever one fits the support items you want to build later). Grab boots if you need them to dodge skillshots, then grab support items for your ADC as soon as you can. 
is OP and a good choice on all sustaining supports unless your ADC is Jhin. For 
, I usually build instead because he has no escapes, so he needs the extra tankiness and it's one more heal you can use to sustain him in lane.
Exploiting cooldowns is a matter of patience and rhythm. Put on some music and watch for an opening. For example, once 
fires her Q she's unable to escape for ~11 seconds. CC her or burst her down during that window.
Regarding 
, 
, and 
in particular, i'm afraid I can't offer much advice.
has super long range, so your chances of poking him out of the lane or catching him with CC are bad. Focusing his ADC is probably a good idea. 's silence can counter his pokes and ult, but that's about it.
's unavoidable stun is OP botlane. Who in the world at Riot thought giving a champion with an unavoidable point and click poke a stun on that poke was a good idea?! When her stun is up, you either block it with 
's shield or it's all-in time. Once she hits 6 she has two stuns she can use back to back to chain CC by herself, which is even more OP.
has insane burst damage from the very beginning. According to the patch notes, Riot thinks his mana is too weak to be an OP support. I disagree, but maybe that's because I only play mages. Pick tanky I guess :/.
Dope Solo1 votesGive up now. 
Rainfall1 votesthere are roughly 4 kinds of supports: healers/shielders Damage Dealers Tanks Something in between
lynxeride1 votesThanks for all the help I didn't expect to get this much feedback so fast. This should help out a lot, I look forward to trying out all of your suggestions and coming back to you with what I have found, wish me luck.