The Support Class - A Side By Side Comparison

Riot claims they care about clarity, yet the site's champion information is severely incomplete, particularly it doesn't include cooldowns, passives lack detailed information, scalings are often missing. In addition, they speak down to us as the players, they talk about "internal tests," but refuse to give us detailed information and don't care about what we the players say.

Having said my peace, I've been wanting to do comparisons amongst support champs. For supports, early game is the most important and thus it's necessary to compare rank 1 and level 3.

Damage: Alistar: P - 10-30 Dmg, 125 Rng; Q - 60 Dmg, 365 Rng, 65 Mana, 17 CD; W - 55 Dmg, 650 Rng, 65 Mana, 14 CD; Ttl Dmg - 125-145 Annie: Q - 80 Dmg, 625 Rng, 60 Mana, 4 CD; W - 70 Dmg, 625 Rng, 70 Mana, 8 CD; E - 20xN Dmg, 20 Mana, 10 CD; Ttl Dmg - 150+ Braum: P - 54 Dmg, 6 CD; Q - 60 Dmg, 1k Rng, 55 Mana, 10 CD; Ttl Dmg - 114 Janna: Q - 60-105 Dmg, 1.1-1.7k Rng, 90 Mana, 14 CD; W - 60 Dmg, 600 Rng, 40 Mana, 12 CD; E - 14 AD, 600 Rng, 40 Mana, 12 CD; Ttl Dmg - 120-165+14 AD Karma: R - 25-75 Dmg; Q - 80 Dmg, 950 Rng, 50 Mana, 7 CD; 60 Dmg, 675 Rng, 70 Mana, 16 CD; Ttl Dmg - 165-215 Leona: P - 35 Dmg; Q - 40 Dmg, 45 Mana, 11 CD; W - 60 Dmg, 275 Rng, 60 Mana, 14 CD; E - 60 Dmg, 875 Rng, 60 Mana, 13 CD; Ttl Dmg - 195-265 Lulu: P - 21 Dmg, ~550 Rng; Q - 80 Dmg, ~925-1575 Rng, 60 Mana, 7 CD; E - 80 Dmg, 650 Rng, 60 Mana, 10 CD; Ttl Dmg - ~181 Morgana: Q - 80 Dmg, 1175 Rng, 50 Mana, 11 CD; W - 12-180 Dmg, 900 Rng, 70 Mana, 10 CD; Ttl Dmg - 128-260 Nami: Q - 75 Dmg, 875 Rng, 60 Mana, 14 CD; W - 70 Dmg, 725 Rng, 70 Mana, 10 CD; E - 25-75 Dmg, ~550 Rng, 55 Mana, 11 CD; Ttl Dmg - 170-220 Sona: P - 27-41 Dmg, 550 Rng; Q - 40-80 Dmg, 700-~550 Rng, 45 Mana, 8 CD; Ttl Dmg - 67-121 Soraka: Q - 70-105 Dmg, 970 Rng, 70 Mana, 7 CD; 70-140 Dmg, 925 Rng, 70 Mana, 24 CD; Ttl Dmg - 140-245 Taric: P - 6+ Dmg, 125 Rng; W - 46+ Dmg, 200 Rng, 50 Mana, 10 CD; E - 40-80 Dmg, 625 Rng, 75 Mana, 18 CD; Ttl Dmg - 92-132+ Thresh: Q - 80 Dmg, 1.1k Rng, 80 Mana, 20 CD; E - 65 Dmg, 400 Rng, 60 Mana, 9 CD; Ttl Dmg - 145 Zilean: Q - 90 Dmg, 700 Rng, 70 Mana, 10 CD; W - 90 Dmg, 700 Rng, 120 Mana, 18 CD; Ttl Dmg - 180 Zyra: Q - 70 Dmg, 800 Rng, 75 Mana, 7 CD; W - 20xN Dmg, 800-1.1k Rng, 16 CD; E - 60 Dmg, 1.1k Rng, 70 Mana, 12 CD; Ttl Dmg - 140+

Summay: Leona has the highest damage-ouput amongst the support class both in min and mix, with her closest rivals being Morgana and Nami. The absolute lowest amongst damage goes to Sona, the only support with a min falling well below 100 damage, she has the lowest max barely 2nd to Braum, her max is so low it only beats out 2 champs' mins. For necessity, all damage is based on single-target output, but include ally participation, some champs like Soraka or Zilean are toxic for multi-target potential.

Healing: None: Annie, Janna, Lulu, Zilean, Zyra Relic Shield: Alistar, Braum, Leona, Taric, Thresh: 40 HP (self+ally), 60 CD; Ttl HP - 80 Alistar: E - 60-90 (self[+ally]), 575 Rng, 40 Mana, 12 CD- Karma: R - 20-40% missing HP (self), 675 Range, 70 Mana, 45 CD Morgana: P - 10% spellvamp (self) Nami: W - 65-112 HP (self and/or ally), 725 Rng, 70 Mana, 10 CD Sona: W - 30+ HP (self+ally), 1k Rng, 80 Mana, 10 CD; Ttl HP - 60+ Soraka: Q - 25+ HP (self), 970 Rng, 70 Mana, 7 CD; W - 120 HP (ally), 550 Rng, 20 Mana, -10% max-HP, 4 CD; Ttl HP - 145+ Taric: Q - 60 (ally) or 84 (self), 750 Rng, 60 Mana, 18 CD

Sumarry: Nami is the most efficient of the 5 actual sustain supports, she heals her ally for the same as Taric, but has lower CD and more than double's Sona's healing. With well positioning, she can heal both herself and the ADC for 65+47 respectively. Soraka heals her ally for double Nami, but costs self-HP and her self-healing is as abysmal as Sona's. Taric can heal either himself or his ally for more than Sona's combined heal and lower its CD for each proc of his passive, all whilst utilizing Relic Shield. Alistar heals himself for double of Sona and his ally for an equal amount to her all for half the cost and a self-lowering CD making it spammable and is also a Relic Shield-user. Sona has absolutely the lowest healing, tied with Soraka for self-healing and Alistar for ally-healing, whilst simultaneously suffering from the unrivaled highest mana cost.

Shields: None: Alistar, Nami, Soraka, Zilean, Zyra Annie: E - 20 Def (self), 5 Dur, 20 Mana, 10 CD Braum: W - 15-30 Def (self[+ally]), 3 Dur, 625 Rng, 50 Mana, 14 CD; W - 100-30% Def (self+ally), 3 Dur, 30 Mana, 18 CD Janna: E - 80 HP, 5 Dur, 600 Rng, 40 Mana, 10 CD Karma: E - 80 HP, 4 Dur, 800 Rng, 60 Mana, 10 CD Leona: W - 20 Def (self), 3-6 Dur, 60 Mana, 14 CD Lulu: W - 80 HP, 6 Dur, 650 Rng, 60 Mana, 10 CD Morgana: E - 70 MHP, CC Immunity, 5 Dur, 750 Rng, 55 Mana, 23 CD Sona: W - 35-70 HP (self[+ally]), 1.5 Dur, 350 Rng, 80 Mana, 10 CD Taric: W - 10 Ar (self), 5-4 Ar (ally), Perma-Dur, 500 Rng, 10 CD Thresh: W - 60-120 HP (self[+ally]), 4 Dur, 950 Rng, 50 Mana, 22 CD

Summary: Braum has the best defensive kit, with 2 abilities to every other supports' singular. Additionally, the combined def. buff is the strongest for its duration, whilst E blocking a full projectile whilst intercepting and reducing all others completely out-scales any HP-based shield. Self-defense sits at +20 Def, whereas Taric's is a combined 15, but remains permanent. Morgana's is niche in that it grants CC-immunity and will thus always be viable. Every other single-target shield is 80 HP and with the 2 AoE shields, Thresh's is nearly double of Sona's. Speaking of Sona, she has the worst shield: the combined HP is lower than single-target shields, the duration is AT MOST half of any other if not much shorter and once again she has the highest mana cost all whilst being the shortest-range ability amongst the entire class by a very large discrepancy.

Mobility: None: Annie, Morgana, Taric, Zyra Alistar: W - 650 Rng Self-Dash Towards Enemy Braum: W - 625 Rng Self-Dash Towards Ally Janna: P - 5% MS, 1k Rng Perma-Aura; 4% MS Self Perma Karma: E - 40% MS, 1.5 Dur, Single, 800 Rng; R - 60% MS, 1.5 Dur, AoE, 600 Rng Leona: E - 875 Self-Dash Towards Enemy Lulu: W - 30% MS, 3 Dur, 650 Rng Nami: P - 40 MS, 1.5 Dur, ~875 Rng Sona: E - 13-10% MS, 1.5 Dur, 350 Rng, AoE Soraka: P - 70% MS Towards Injured Ally, 2.5k Rng Thresh: Q - 1.1k Rng Self-Dash Towards Enemy; W - 950 Rng Ally-Dash to Self Zilean: 55% MS, 2.5 Dur, 900 Rng

Summary: Every non-Taric tank can dash to the enemy, except Braum who still dashes to an ally. Thresh is the only support that can pull an ally to himself. Zilean gives the largest boost given to an ally whilst Sona gives the lowest, even lower than Nami's flat 40. The longest range goes to Thresh at 1100 on his engage and 950 on disengage, thrice of Sona's who falls all the way down to barely more than half those around the 2nd lowest. Putting Sona into a bottom-level tier all her own, she is the most immobile amongst the class.

Crowd Control: Alistar: Q - 1 Sec KU, .2 Sec Stun, 365 Rng; W - 650 Rng KB Annie: P - 1.25 Sec Stun, 625 Rng Braum: P - 1.25 Sec Stun; Q - 70% Slow, 2 Dur, 1k Rng Janna: Q - .5-1.25 Sec KU, 1.1-1.7k Rng; W - 24% Slow, 3 Dur, 600 Rng Karma: Q - 25% Slow, 1.5 Dur, 950 Rng; W - 1 Sec Root, 675 Rng Leona: Q - 1.25 Sec Stun; 875 Rng Root Lulu: Q - 80% Slow, 1 Dur, ~925-1575 Rng; W - 1.25 Sec Fuzzy Morgana: Q - 2 Sec Root, 1175 Rng Nami: Q - 1.5 Sec KU, 875 Rng; E - 15% Slow, 1-3 Dur, ~550 Rng Sona: P - 40% Slow, 2 Dur, 550 Rng Soraka: Q - 30% Slow, 2 Dur, 970 Rng; E - 1 Sec Root, 925 Rng Taric: E - 1.2 Sec Stun, 625 Rng Thresh: Q - 1.5 Sec Stun, 1.1k Rng; E - KB, 1 Sec 20% Slow, 400 Rng Zilean: E - 55% Slow, 2.5 Dur, 700 Rng Zyra: W - 30% Slow, 2 Dur; E - .75 Sec Root, 1.1k Rng

Summary: Every support in the game has a form of hard CC except Sona and Zilean and then Zilean's slow is stronger, has longer duration and greater range, whilst being more easily available as well. Additionally, Annie, Morgana and Taric only have 1 CC ability and the rest all have 2. Morgana has the longest duration on hard CC at 2 seconds, whilst Nami and Thresh are 2nd with 1.5 seconds. Morgana and Thresh also have the greatest range at 1175 and 1.1k respectively. Nami also has the potential for lengthiest slow of up to 3 seconds, Zilean makes up for lack of hard CC by being the longest guaranteed slow at 2.5 seconds.

In conclusion, you'll note that the names that repeatedly appear at the top of these categories also happened to be considered the strongest supports at some point this season. Thresh, Morgana and Nami are all noteworthy in more than 1 category apiece. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sona falls into dead-last place in every single category with Taric and Soraka being close behind. No propaganda, no hard math, no opinions, just pure statistics straight from the game itself.