Ignorant supports are the main reason ADC can't carry/climb

I recently wrote an article on here about how players in the support can cost teams games due to poor champion selection, build paths, and lack of knowledge about the support role. The post receive some positive and negative remarks about the ideas I had on the subject matter. I just want to clear up any confusion about me calling the support role second fiddle to ADC. The support role is extremely important due to the amount of utility it can provide for the team. ADC is the only role in the game with a limited champion pool, thus not allowing them to choose anything other than a marksmen (unless you play some off meta champion like or in the bot lane). Unfortunately, the game revolves around who can do the most damage, and thus "carry". Everyone wants to do damage so they can call for their ADC or Mid to get 9x because they didn't do as much damage. The main point of my previous article was to show how support doesn't need to do damage to carry. Good engage or peel can carry, even if that doesn't show up in the post game stats. I don't think people understood that I wasn't trying to project my failures to someone else because I'm insecure about messing up. The ADC role is limited to begin with, and a player picking something that rivals what the ADC does negatively effects their ability to survive and do the damage that the role is intended for.

This article is going to be centered around solo ranked where the ADC and support are not a duo. Champion select is such a valuable key to winning, but most players don't care enough to worry what fits with the team composition. I already mentioned that ADC is limited in champion pool, and champion select is where the mistakes begin. Everyone knows the player Bottom is going to choose something ranged that deals AD (I know there are exception such as and ). Even if Bottom doesn't show their intended pick, why lock in as support when mid has shown and top and jungle have and selected, respectively. There is some blame to go towards the solo lanes and jungle, but choosing some AP champion because everyone else has AD selected is idiotic. If no one is going to play tank, the support has to step up and be the tank. The majority of games played in the current meta have some form of a teamfight, and five damage dealers vs a standard composition loses every time. An issue with players have with tanks is that they can be "boring". Not just tanks, but any of the meta supports that provide shielding, healing, peeling, or sustain. This draws back to the desire to do damage. Many support do not trust their ADC to carry so they choose something that can carry, in damage that is. Since only damage matters to the majority of players in the game. I would know, my duo is a damage thirsty Mid laner who selects and wonders why we lost to the armor stacking tanks. Support players need to put trust within their ADC and give them the resources to stay alive and deal damage.

Trusting someone else to do damage can be rough, especially if the ADC is struggling. This is where support players become the heaviest part of the team. They lose a game because their ADC struggled and the opposing ADC make more plays. After this game, they think every ADC will be trash, and proceed to choose a damage dealing mage. The ADC in the following games continue to be useless and deal no damage, have no gold, can't 1v1 anyone on the other team, etc. Rather than blaming the ADC, look at the support. 100+ farm, , , no . This isn't a tag team wrestling match where the support can tag in and deal the damage while the ADC builds tank. That doesn't happen. Ever. I recently went against a support who had no idea that having the third most farm on the team hurt his team. There are four sources of income and when the support decides to farm, there a five players fighting over the resources. I just so happened to be autofilled support, so I played and finished with three farm. We won that game without much challenge, and I didn't abandon my ADC after we gave up a double kill to .

The last point I want to make about solo ranked is that it is consistently open for games (except during maintenance). Ranked is not the NFL. There is no set number of games a player can play then they are set at that rank for the season. The games is more like the MLB, where over a course of time, the players average out their wins and loses to find where they belong. Win rates are the main source for finding out what is successful and what isn't. With that in mind, let's look at a hypothetical situation. Some player gets support and plays something off meta. for example, and this kid wins the game due to some poor play by the other team. Rather than playing what has an over 50 percent win rate, this player will continue to play support and over time will lose games to the average of the champion. The law of averages is extremely important in ranked play since there a many games to be played and the only way to climb is by winning more than losing. Looking at the current champion.gg support win rates, all the damage dealing mages such as , , , , , , , , and are all under 50 percent. It's not like some of these champions are unlucky and lose for reasons other than themselves. They just don't fit what the support role needs for a team to win. Not only that, but the players playing those champions aren't building or playing the champion to it's highest value in the support role.

People believe that climbing is a matter of skill and players will end up where their skill level takes them. I find this very true for all roles except ADC and support. Yes, a good ADC will destroy lower skilled players, but in a lane that is 2v2, there is a need for both players to be working together in order to succeed. Tyler1, a former challenger player who has played the game consistently for a very long time, was placed in Silver following his unban. Had he played in a solo lane, he would of most likely dominated all games in the lower elo, but he is an ADC main. The ADC role is so dependent at times on teammates getting fights started and peeling of assassins or tanks. For players who get support, rather than diminish the value of the ADC, pick a champion that boosts it, and play to enable the ADC to do what the name implies. Support doesn't translate to AP mage who does the most damage in the game. The definition of it is something that bears the weight of something and keeps it upright. ADC can be extremely heavy without the resources they need to do damage. This goes for all players, but especially supports who build damage, look at your own mistakes before lashing out on someone.

This article is just my opinion, and is only backed by experience and win rates found on champion.gg. If you are a player who plays AP damage building supports, or any damage building support, don't hit the comments calling everything I said biased and tilt-induced. All you should do is avoid getting on my team, since I don't like your kind.