Riot doesn't care about Supports so why should the community?

Malix Farwin·Mar 24, 2016·6 votes·931 views

For everyone wondering why support is underplayed it is quite simple. While other lanes are given the spotlight by riot, Support is most often left in the dark. When was the last time you ever heard of a support level rework? How about stats that are meaningful for support that is visually available at all times(we can see how much kills we get or how many minions we slay but heavens forbid we get a small counter that shows wards placed). Support item sets? just 1-2 items then the rest is building items that were priced for people who get farm/kills. How do you get rewarded with being gimped in every possible way including stats that show that you actually did something? you get stuck with a raging ADC that most of the time you have to mute 5m into the game. No wonder no one wants to do that role.

15 Comments

AnratonMar 24, 20162 votes

riot doesn't care for supports .. reference??

healing done as statt? assists? wards placed?

about the item .. sorry dont have a reference now but .. i've read about plans to change mage items .. midlane items will have flat mana while supports are going to have mana regen ... so it is more clear, which items are ment for support and which are for mid ...

darkmatchwaldoMar 24, 20162 votes

You're joking right? Riot gives supports plenty of love with: item 2303 item 2302 item 2301 item 3069 item 3092 item 3401 item 3050

Soraka Braum Thresh Alistar Janna Leona Lulu Volibear Zilean all make more game changing plays than most mid laners to be honest. A good support spoon feeds kills to their team with vision control. Plenty of people love playing support so i don't know where you get "No wonder no one wants to do that role." from.

If your ADC is raging at you 5 minutes into the game...you're probably a pretty bad support.

"including stats that show that you actually did something?" Now you're just showing that you don't even look at advanced detail match history. It tells you who places how many wards, how much you heal, how many wards you kill, and even how much damage you take if you're playing someone like Braum Alistar TahmKench and you wanna know how much damage you soaked.

Also if you're a boss support player you are going to be earning gold between assists and item 3069 item 3092 item 3401 you earn enough gold to still buy items over time. RIOT IS LITERALLY GIVING YOU FREE GOLD FOR HAVING A SUPPORT ITEM and you still say riot doesn't care about supports?

Do some basic thinking about what you're typing before you post it. All of this stuff is painfully obvious you clearly just didn't care enough to think about it.

GenghisEmoMar 24, 20162 votes

3 of those items are still useless.

The others i still agree with, as they are great. But some are still quite pricey for S6 gold efficient laner items can be built much faster and cheap.

And Iron Solari, Radoin's can be viewed as Supp ish too. Both expensive though.

SlythionMar 24, 20161 votes

Supports are actually appreciated and popular in higher elos...

McAnnexMar 24, 20162 votes

So, 90% of the time they aren't. :) -- OP has a point, but eh... Support just doesn't appeal to most league players, clearly.

SlythionMar 24, 20162 votes

It's really not Riot's fault. Low elo players will never make Supports popular simply because their job is to support and not carry (although supports are probably the most reliable carries)

McAnnexMar 24, 20162 votes

Supporting in low ELO is much harder than higher ELO because virtually no one is playing the game properly, which makes your task difficulty range from harder than it should be to nearly impossible. That is why higher ELO players suggest actual carry supports like Zyra, Brand, Annie, etc.

SlythionMar 24, 20161 votes

You are very right. My point is there is no reason to blame riot, but to blame ourselves for the lack of popularity in supports (I personally love Braum when I support, although I almost never support)

GenghisEmoMar 24, 20162 votes

Thats cause high elo live by the code "game recognize game".

Low elo "feed me! Your welcome" instead of "feed me, thanks" and "thanks for saving me".

SlythionMar 24, 20161 votes

100% accurate. Lower elos need to have less of an ego and realize that getting fed is not the most reliable way to win games

GenghisEmoMar 24, 20162 votes

Good thing we recognized this low elo egocentric patter. If only others could too.

SlythionMar 24, 20161 votes

It's tough to notice a pattern if you are apart of it. Rip low elo (even though I probably belong there)

GenghisEmoMar 25, 20161 votes

I belong low, but it feels not too low. I can care less now. Just having fun.

Barely got time for league now.

Baby GhoulMar 24, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Supports are actually appreciated and popular in higher elos...

That's fine, except well over half of the league population is low ELO (Gold or below). You're talking about some 60 percent of people that play this game.

I don't necessarily agree with OP, but come on you guys. We all know that they continue to throw bandaids on the support role instead of taking a meaningful look at it. item 2303 item 2302 item 2301 item 3050

Giving us a couple items we were well overdue for is not making meaningful changes. It's stopping the role from completely sinking.

Support level scaling continues to be a glaring problem in season 6.
Map control feels more tedious than ever.
In season 6 you are shackled to your ADC. It's incredibly hard to break free from bot lane compared to previous seasons.

Those are just a few big ones that are becoming deal breakers.

When you compare what they've given us, compared to what they do for other roles, it's a joke.

I don't believe everyone is a primadonna who wants to solo carry every game. I meet a couple of people like that in my games, but it's not the majority. So many people would want to play support if it wasn't so painful to play currently. It seems like supports don't get adequately rewarded for doing well compared to other roles. In previous seasons I did not feel this way, and so many of my friends who were supports too are calling it quits in season 6.

It's a serious problem that I want part of this community to stop sweeping under the rug by talking about higher ELO. If we keep ignoring the problems supports have in game, then pretty soon you're all going to be having Brand supports with ignite, Deathcap, and no Sightstone.

I'm a support main, and I don't want to have to change my primary role, but I'm tired of people making it out to be like we aren't due for a serious change soon. It needs to happen if this role is going to continue to be viable.

Another thing I'm tired of is the non support mains coming in and posting, "HOLY CRAP FREE GOLD YOU GUISE!!!111!21"

That's very misleading. If you think a support is getting fat off of dying minions, think again. Supports are still the role that needs to build at least half utility, and yet they rarely make it to full build, and if they do it's usually last.

Trust me, most supports are struggling income wise, so buck up. We're helping you secure all your kills, stay in lane to farm, and stopping the enemy from ending you, and that +1 to +7 gold we get is the very least they can give us. But it's fun when people say we are getting "free" gold.

blkh1Mar 24, 20161 votes

at lower elos people care about sheer damage and kills, just like people look at how big of engine and horsepower they have. They want the sensational numbers, not the numbers that really matter. Hence higher elos care about supports more. Supports support the entire team, not just one lane although you do focus on one lane initially.