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Everyone should try support and jungle

Mira Arya Enthe··67 votes·4,468 views

I'm not saying in ranked. Or as your main. Or that it should be compulsory. But I think everyone, for their own good, should play 5-10 games as support, and 5-10 games as jungle a season, at least. Not mandatory, just by choice they should go and do it. And not as a troll pick, as a normal, meta support/jungler. These roles teach you so much about team play, objective play and reliance on your allies. On top of that, you will understand these roles better, be able to play with them better, rage at them less, and learn useful skills. You will probably get better at warding, playing safe and general map awareness.

Real talk though. Autofill, like it or hate it, you will get support and jungle sometimes. I am a jungle main, but I picked up playing support a lot in normals, so that if I get autofilled to support, it's cool. Everyone, everyone should know how to support. It is a cornerstone role, you will be forced to play it sometimes, and it teaches you more about map awareness and warding than arguably any other role. Most people should know how to jungle, it is crucial to objectives and swaying lane balance. More importantly, you will know what a jungler must do, and how they function, so in your primary role in ranked, you can know what to expect from them, and how to work with them better.

This isn't to thrash anybody, or say any role is bad. It's just saying, autofill and good teamwork, demand that we all get better at support and jungle, because these are huge roles that function totally different from top carry, mid carry, adc carry last hitters. And if you don't know how to jungle or support, you can't just fudge it. It's not like a mid main getting top and still knowing the basics of laning and last hitting, picking somebody like swain, vlad or cass top to get by. It is a totally different aspect of the game. Learn it, for your good, your team's good, and your ELO.

54 Comments

TyrekGoldenspear8 votes

True that, I learned every role to a competent level, and now I dont even notice when I get autofilled.

Because of my time playing jungle, when I mid I instinctively know where the enemy jungler is going after a gank, and the general farm paths so I save on warding sides on the river I know they aren't.

After playing support I have a much better consciousness of my ward cooldowns and general map awareness.

+1 for another excellent post Dragon Lady.

EDIT: BTW, have you had any luck with AP Shyvana? Or is it just doomed to fail?

It Hertz When IP6 votes

{quoted}

I learned every role to a competent level, and now I dont even notice when I get autofilled.

I main Support, and I too don't even notice when I get auto-filled.

Unstoppable Monk1 votes

Shyvana item 3116 item 3151summoner 11 JG this season can't really fail too hard if you have enough experience as a tanky-initiator / Shyvana. Running AP makes you squishier, although it plays like a Singed that flings himself into people after farming up like a regular Shyvana.

Cute Poro3 votes

I main support so I have that covered xD

I'm just not a jungler, I've tried it once but I don't enjoy it. I do play mid/adc sometimes though :D

Mira Arya Enthe3 votes

{quoted}

I main support so I have that covered xD

I'm just not a jungler, I've tried it once but I don't enjoy it. I do play mid/adc sometimes though :D

Upvoted for support main :3

Cute Poro1 votes

Aw thank you~

3tyson3 votes

i main jungle and suport lol i really dont get why people dont like these roles ? jungle is maybe the greatest of them al if i pick sej into vi im pretty bad counterd, and if this happends in lane its done think of fighting tryndamere with teemo here being sej i can avoid vi and be usefull by ganking i dont get bullied all game if i ward a bit

ive played tons of games as a suport and i rarely get my lane carried by my adc as a suport i am the one who make all the plays im the one who wind the lane if my adc whines about a kil i took i feel like bruh this is my lane you should be happy u get to cs in my lane and stfu all the kils are mine because i am the one who is making the plays if i give them to you sure thats good if i wasnt sure if you could get it wel thats fine since im the onr carrying this game annyway lol

i deffenetly rather spend my laning time zoning of intimidating and herassing the enemy than spending all my energy at killing minions

afther this sure if i didnt play my shaco suport but played something like blitz i might not be the one to be making solo kils but i can stil make plays and destroy the enemy team i just have to consider more factors when making plays

Briars1 votes

i main support and top. Jungling never clicked with me, i dabble with it when i get it autofilling, but im REALLY bad at it and usually get offered a role change when i let them know in champ select. i usually take it though cuz id rather be in a role im good at.

in order its Support > top > mid > adc > jungle for me

Oakleaf Ranger2 votes

It's probably has to die with the fact that those roles can be heavily impacted by the performance of teammates. Jungling sucks when your laners can't even hold their own or when the enemy jungler picks up easy kill due to lack of warding, map awareness, and overextending. Also don't matter how good you are at support if your adc is a monkey.

3tyson1 votes

thats true but me being a god mid while jg feeds my lane adc and sup feed and top feed feels like they impact my game to

Oakleaf Ranger1 votes

I mean that's sucks too but at least if your strong or somewhat fed then there is still a chance of winning instead a of guaranteed stomp when the team fights start happening plus people forget that junglers work with less experience and gold than solo laners. So it becomes a real possibility of losing a 2v1 against a fed laner.

3tyson1 votes

ive had games where my adc was shit and i stil carried as a suport ive had games where EVERY lane went full feeding on the enemy team

i ignored all of their cries and said fuck it im amumu and kept farming my jungle keeping an eye open for enemys pushing their luck a bit to much and punishing them if possible than hard carried my team to the nexus

Ariel the Cruel1 votes

Also don't matter how good you are at support if your adc is a monkey.

MonkeyKing Now that was uncalled for. (>_>)

GrReaper963 votes

As someone who has played all roles I have to say supports and junglers aren't always the victims. Ive actually encountered more toxic supports than toxic adcs, and i play support more than i play adc. Pretty much the same goes for jungler, i almost never get flamed. I've lost count on how many times when i play mid top or bot never pings ms and suddenly a Riven or a Thresh comes and faceroll me and then people flame me for feeding mid. And ive got flamed plenty of times as a Top when my enemy laner suddenly tps mid/bot and gets a kill, even though they just b a while ago so i had no idea they would tp. Supports and junglers arent the only victims, thought they might they the most common ones. Its about time they get off their high horses.

TeCoolMage1 votes

Yeah as someone who's played all 5 roles too, it's the mids and ADCs that get raged at for everything tbh. "Why aren't you going in even if you're OOM? Why are you shoving LB instead of following her while she roams? Why are you autoing the tank instead of Xerath? Why are you buying boots instead of an extra long sword?"

And you're not allowed to argue back because supports always gets the right to criticize as they're the 'best team players gg'

GrReaper961 votes

Exactly i dont know how many times ive played mid and get flamed for not roaming because their top somehow got 3-0 in the first 5 minutes or get blamed for aiming a tank when nobody is peeling for me.

TeCoolMage1 votes

Heck, ADCs are even supposed to aim for tanks as auto attack based ad champs tend to get the best penetration and %hp damage itemization

Xeruon2 votes

Jungle is my off-main role, but I've never faced the high amounts of toxic BS everyone seems to talk about.

Then again, my main JG is Khazix , which allows me to solocarry the game, so I dunno.

Mira Arya Enthe2 votes

{quoted}

Jungle is my main role, but I've never faced the high amounts of toxic BS everyone seems to talk about.

Then again, my main JG is Khazix , which allows me to solocarry the game, so I dunno.

Depends on the jungler you play. Tank junglers, farm junglers and mage junglers get more BS than assassin junglers. Because assassin junglers can get kills easier, get fed easier and gank easier. The former is slow, team reliant and often not even good till the 15-25 minute mark depending on who they are.

Xeruon2 votes

True, I suppose. Especially since people will give a lot more faith to an assassin than a tank when it comes to carrying.

Venedictos1 votes

Also wanna add to this, that a lot of players show respect to teamates with good KDAs just because it is the only stat they can appreciate. There's also games you won't get any kills but will manage to grab 2 dragons and 2 towers, but you won't get any praise because it doesn't appear on your KDA.

Mira Arya Enthe1 votes

[{quoted}](name=SE Accelerator,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EVUtQmeU,comment-id=000000000001,timestamp=2016-10-08T17:04:49.356+0000)

Also wanna add to this, that a lot of players show respect to teamates with good KDAs just because it is the only stat they can appreciate. There's also games you won't get any kills but will manage to grab 2 dragons and 2 towers, but you won't get any praise because it doesn't appear on your KDA.

I had a terrible KDA yesterday. But ended up soloing 4 dragons, and taking 3 barons and an elder with my team. Plus some towers. We won needless to say, despite being otherwise behind most of the game. Because objectives>KDA

Blades in Exile2 votes

How would you recommend starting? I agree with what you are saying but I never like to actually go and play as a jungle in a pvp because I know I would suck and feed the enemy, causing my team to flame me.

Mira Arya Enthe1 votes

{quoted}

How would you recommend starting? I agree with what you are saying but I never like to actually go and play as a jungle in a pvp because I know I would suck and feed the enemy, causing my team to flame me.

Read a guide, play the champion in bots first to practice the jungle route, then do a normal.

Dolasaur1 votes

  1. Pick two junglers that are not super popular (i.e. Zac has a 50% ban rate now, so not a good choice). They should be different roles. A couple "easier" junglers from various roles: Amumu and Sejuani (tank), Skarner and Udyr (off-tank), Jarvan IV and Wukong (AD bruiser/initiator), Fiddlesticks (AP).

  2. Find a guide for your champ that gives you a reasonable idea of your jungle route, runes, masteries, and early buys. You don't need to buy runes to match up perfectly, but good runes can make the difference between a full clear and dying on your second camp.

  3. Start out in custom games- no pvp, no bots, no other people. Go through until you can clear as much of the jungle as is reasonable for your champ. If you die early or have to back super early in a pvp game, you won't learn as much as you should. So make sure you can do a "normal" clear for your champ without help.

And you're ready for pvp! If you do do bot games, I'd avoid getting used to ganking them. The bad habits you can pick up from getting used to bot reactions to getting ganked are more severe than for laners, in my opinion.

Last comment: There's a great guide on MOBAFire for general jungling. The specific details about the champions are 3.5 years old, but the general analysis style is great. If you enjoy reading, check out http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/who-is-your-jungler-and-what-does-he-do-114118. Think about the points that are used to analyze different junglers (i.e. clear speed, pre-6 and post-6 ganks, etc.). Think about how you can capitalize on those strengths in your games as a jungler. And when you return to your primary roles, keep that information in mind too when deciding how to play. ("My bot lane partner and I are super aggressive champs! But the enemy jungler is Xin Zhao and ours is Warwick, so pushing up will get us killed regardless of how dominant we seem to be in 2v2.")

Venedictos1 votes

You can pick a simple champion that scales well into the late game. Often times, unless you are in very high elo, you won't be getting punished or invaded because the enemy jungler doesn't really know what to do with jungle. Jungle isn't the role of "farming things that aren't in lanes and ganking lanes". Junglers aren't the laner's whores. Junglers are there to mainly secure objectives, provide vision that laner's can't because they have to keep their lanes in check, they are there to apply pressure to laners, even by not being visible to the enemy minimap. In general, jungle is a game of strategy much like chess and requires a lot of thought into how the lanes will play out, when is the optimal time to gank a lane (usually you look in lanes to see which way they are pushing) and where & when the enemy jungler will show up, as well as, which skirmishes you can win. It's really a role that isn't made by the player's individual mechanics as much as it is made by how experienced and smart the jungler is.

Kitty Pix2 votes

As someone who has only been playing League for a few months, I'm actually incredibly grateful that one of the first roles I learned to play was support-- and loved it! I FIRST first played ADC, and hated it xD, so I made my boyfriend teach me to support and I haven't stopped since. It only took me a matter of weeks to get Mastery 7 on Sona, my first support, and now I know how to play every lane and feel as thought I definitely have a LOT more awareness and compulsion to ward than most other people in the other roles I play (mid, top, etc.). Jungle has actually been my last role, because as I support I can acknowledge that jungling is HARD. It looks hard and it IS. But since Ivern, I've finally picked up jungle and I agree everyone should know how to play both. They provide so much insight into the different pros and cons of each role and leave way less room for those "where's my gank?" or "fuck this support" moments.

SoundChaosDebug2 votes

Back in the day before selecting roles you literally needed to be able to play every role selection.

Xonra2 votes

Support, for sure.

I'm not sure I would wish 5-10 games of jungle on anyone that hasn't jungled much or at all before.

They are going to be constantly yelled at, blamed for everything, flamed, and be expected to be the best player on the team while trying to learn jungle (then get flamed for daring to say they are learning while teammates start calling "GG noob jungle we lose") :P

I love support, but I despise Jungle, because I can't mute people fast enough in most games. Always that one guy, you know the one, who can't handle his lane, and just whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiines the entire time about how he only lost because you didn't essentially camp his lane.

I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. All that is going to teach people is how to be on tilt and never want to jungle again lol (speaking from experience)

Venedictos2 votes

That's precisely why everyone should jungle every so and often. Just try to do our job bro, see how it feels to have that one guy in your team. Just try being effective as a jungler, see how tough it is to make decisions. I'm a pretty nice guy IRL, I'm going to help someone if I can do so. Heck, I might even go out of my way for it (and that's bad). But in League it doesn't work that way. There's more value to ganking certain lanes and you have to give up wasting your time trying to save a lost lane that won't carry any advantages towards a win in the long run. And no laner (especially top laners) seems to understand that simple fact.

Xonra1 votes

I know all too well, friend. Is why I do my best to stick up for my junglers and give them all the credit in the world, because I know how stressful that crap can get. Just trying to help like everyone else, but you get all the blame and barely more of the credit than a support does.

As someone who plays top lane, I actually prefer junglers to just do their thing, and kind of enjoy the whole island thing. I usually try to pull junglers top to make it easier for my own jungler, but most top laners when I'm in another role seem to want to be baby sat and it frustrates me just seeing it.

Brain Errör 4041 votes

I have experience in all roles, so when I flame its cause people be giving up too many opportunities. Normally, I almost, always have my waves under my tower for easier ganks especially after nasty trades where me and my opponents are both half hp or so. Nothing bugs me more than when my jungler walks past my lane, into the enemy jungle to take their jungle camps only to waste time because the enemy jungle is cleared or they end up getting chased out of the jungle by the enemy team and my lane follows up because I'm at my tower waiting for a gank.

Desolas Arterius1 votes

I actually didn't get a choice when I first started doing ranked back in Season 3-4 haha :) I used to only play support, but teammates would kick me out and force me to play other lanes.

I did horribly the first time, but after that I learned it would be best to learn every role in case a situation like that happens. Now I play every role fairly well :D I have my mains for each, and that has helped me tremendously as a support and a jungle. I'm just now getting more comfortable in mid. I used to loathe that position because I could never find a champion that fit my playstyle there.

Picked up Zyra mid and now I'm in love <3

But I agree with your post. Everyone should try out every position. Getting a basic knowledge of what the bare minimums are for each role can help you so much.

SpookyNeedle1 votes

Or just 5-10 games of each role, all are beneficial

50000000000000001 votes

Everyone should play each position and role at least a few times.

wiggywonka1 votes

I think I've only played maybe 1-3 games of real meta supports in my life

Lauchmelder1 votes

I usually play support and mid tbh. I know how to jungle, I know clear routes and one to two junglers, but I suck at ganking.

I'd rather chill in lane with my ADC and forcing the enemy out of lane or xp range. Or I make Shurima great again in the center of the playing ground

Zerenza1 votes

I started as a support then transitioned to Top/Mid but i played support for about a month. It really helped me understand the team game as a whole and especially how to aid an ally if i need to instead of just playing by myself for myself.

Darkslayer851 votes

This thread sounds like a mom saying you have to learn to swim.

KilljoyX1 votes

What are you talking about. My team is only there to buy time and absorb ganks on my camps so I can finish feral flare, sated, or whatever other silly stupid scaling build I did this game.

Spoofghoul1 votes

im a lane main

top/mid/sup

i really liked jungling as well as playign support but i often end up with a weak ass laner who feeds and loses lane without even trying you can't do anything about that as a jungler or support.

support sometimes is also frustrating because you rely so much on your adc, for trading for holding his own when you roam, and you don't want the rest of your team to play bad either

as jungler having 2 or more lanes just lose, thats the most frustrating thing ever in league that's why i quit playing jungler and wont ever play it again.

Because, no joke, every time i played jungle at least 2 lanes went on a feeding spree because they just couldn't handle themselves. keeping on brawling with their opponent and losing no surprise because they were already 2 levels and 1000 gold behind And it isn't even minute 7 yet

So i pretty much only play top and mid now to prevent those lanes from collapsing every time i play a game.

yo i kinda agree with op people need to play jungle and sup more and experience what it's like to play with people like themselves maybe that will make them get better or at least less focused on their kda

FishOfHonor1 votes

Great post indeed . I really enjoyed myself reading it , its very useful for newbies and for veteran players. [slayer-jinx-wink]

HowPlayGAEM1 votes

[deleted]

Venedictos2 votes

Players that spam their junglers for ganks constantly:

Have no idea how to play their lane

Aren't good in their role

Forced themselves into a bad matchup

Easily give up on the game, blaming their teamates for "not taking action", just to avoid admitting they played their lane wrong. (In general will make a TON of excuses about what went wrong and what isn't their fault but will never admit they made any mistakes)

TL;DR Don't try to bother with deadweights.

Imperial Japan1 votes

Mained jungle for a while and I play support occasionally

Byankuya1 votes

o3o -support main, raises hand, has done jungle on and off- I agree with your post. I love tank/fighter junglers like Zac Trundle Hecarim Sejuani. Though I think support has taught me the most with the game, especially positioning due to how squishy some supports get and warding/jungle paths- since most but not all junglers tend to appear after the 3 minute mark or whenever my adc and me think it's a good idea to be by the enemy turret. xD But my heart belongs to my supports, mainly Alistar Leona Thresh. c: -gives you a hug

Mira Arya Enthe2 votes

{quoted}

o3o -support main, raises hand, has done jungle on and off- I agree with your post. I love tank/fighter junglers like Zac Trundle Hecarim Sejuani. Though I think support has taught me the most with the game, especially positioning due to how squishy some supports get and warding/jungle paths- since most but not all junglers tend to appear after the 3 minute mark or whenever my adc and me think it's a good idea to be by the enemy turret. xD But my heart belongs to my supports, mainly Alistar Leona Thresh. c: -gives you a hug

Support mains are among my favorite people. I use to main Leona and Soraka. Switched to jungle because I love dragon lady and fist lady.

Venedictos1 votes

I'm a jungle player and I'm still having laners spam ping me to stop pushing after a kill because "I'm stealing their farm". Dude, I just gave you a HUGE advantage in your lane and I'm not gonna get anything out of it!? Okay. Let's try this again. Top solo killed the enemy and he's left with 100 hp. I'm in the river and I help him shove the lane. Not because I wanna steal his cs, but because I don't want them to give up a random kill into the enemy jungler and I want to deny the enemy top the wave.

So yeah, everyone should play jungle for a change, no matter how bad they are at it. Jungle forces you to have some game sense and is so much more about your strategy going into the game, rather than your mechanics on x champion.

reaperteaser1 votes

Alright, but that should go for all roles though. no matter what role you main, you should be somewhat familiar with all the roles in the game. especially for supports, knowing what each adc is capable of goes a long way.

Catastrop1 votes

I used to main support so I think I'm pretty good as far support knowledge goes, jungle on the other hand.... Like I'm a very proactive midlaner, I'll fill the role of waveclearing roam bot extremely well, and help the lanes(especially bot lane as top lane generally doesn't need me in most cases). Yet, I fail to do exactly this in a jungling role, I've come to accept I'm incapable of playing the role even semi-competently, so I pretty much just base all decision making concerning the enemy jungler using theory I've picked from watching streamers who main jungle. It works for me but I do struggle against more sneaky junglers(Evelynn LeeSin Shaco).

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