PSA to players from a support main

Mr Zablinx·3/6/2016, 6:07:26 PM·92 votes·5,415 views

Since support is one of those roles that most players would rather not play, and thus might be somewhat unfamiliar to some players I just wanted to take time to give people some quick tips when playing as and with a support.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an amazing diamond 1 support, but I have played the role for a long time, so I know the many basics that revolve around it.

  1. Try not to be harsh on them. Unless you are like people like me who put support as the primary role, most people playing support probably got it as a secondary role. It's not their main role and as we all know, players are more comfortable with their main roles. Thresh misses a hook? Don't tell him how bad he is.

  2. Relic shield exists. If you see orbs circling your support and they are trying to hit minions, let them, especially the catapult creeps. They aren't trying to steal your farm, they are trying to proc the shield, (for those who don't know, relic shield lets you execute a minion at a certain level with melee that procs a tiny heal and shares the gold of that minion, ranged supports actually have to last hit it).

  3. Your support is warding. Just because you see them with a full item 2049 leaving the base 20 minutes in doesn't mean they haven't been using it.

  4. Just because you die to gank all the way out in bot lane by yourself does not mean you did not have vision. Pay attention to that minimap. It gives SOOO much more information then people realize.

  5. You have wards as well. Most people like to simply dump warding all on the support. Don't do that. Early game, everyone's gonna be starting with yellow trinket, use it. Playing top and river is dark? Put a ward there at the safest convenience you can. Playing mid with both sides of the river dark? Put a ward over the wall on either side and hug that side you warded. Don't try to get the support to come from their lane to yours to ward. And please don't use the "It's going to waste my money and put me back items" excuse. item 2043 is 75 gold. item 3363 is free and lets you place a free ward from a huge range. A small price to pay for having vision of an area that can prevent a death.

  6. Click thresh's lantern. No really, click it. This is both a joke and a serious statement. This dude has been around for 3 YEARS and people still don't know what his lantern does. If you are unfamiliar with the support you have, ask them about it. More likely then not, that player is gonna tell you what they do and this will lead to better communication in lane and team fights. Ex. TahmKench When you see the little fishy symbol turn red on the enemy, i can eat and stun them.

  7. Your support is playing a support. Unless they play someone like Brand or Annie, your support is unlikely to have a lot of kills, if any. They WILL however, have a lot of assists, and if they are initiators, a lot of deaths. So, if you end up losing a game, don't automatically point to the support's kda as a symbol of them being bad or why you lost. On average supports are going to have the highest deaths per team. The only role that on average has higher deaths is, guess who, your ad carry. http://www.elophant.com/league-of-legends/charts/role

  8. Tell them thank you. Support is probably one of the hardest roles, not just in lol, but in mobas. A lot of people really do not understand the complexity of the role and often will think its easy (and end up doing poorly) or simply bash it. The last thing you wanna do is make your support feel like nothing and leave the game, especially in the lower elos.

Thank you to those who read the entire thing. I'm sorry if some people might see it as a rant or disagree with what I stated, but it had to be said. It getting harder and harder to play support champs in solo que, especially in ranked(there is a reason why no one wants to put support as a role, you are going to get it almost 99% of the time). I love champs like Thresh and Leona, but i'm not sure if its worth getting yelled at for 20+ minutes because i've got teammates who don't understand the role.

84 Comments

Ackelope3/6/2016, 7:34:51 PM24 votes

The amount of times I've witnessed a Thresh miss the siege minion with Relic Shield has scarred me for life.

SH Azykan3/6/2016, 8:31:09 PM12 votes

Note to people who don't play thresh often but get forced to support and want to pick him item 3301 is still a very viable start if you are not comfortable last hitting on him or if you purely want to use your E passive for harass. You have better self sustain with it but you have a weaker all in. item 3069 item 3190 item 3143 item 3512 item 2045 item 3158 item 3364 is an extraordinary build as thresh, talisman is great for catching up to make a pick or to disengage. Locket shield, randuins slow, zzrot map pressure, ruby sightstone to lower all the active cd's

You do not HAVE to go relic shield, and if the game goes late enough to where slot efficiency is an issue you can sell talisman for a item 3800 but it rarely will.

Maximum Morde3/6/2016, 9:36:34 PM9 votes

When people take my seige minion while i have relic shield, I just take some lane minions to compensate. Usually they learn to share at that point, or they get super toxic and I get to report them. Either way I win.

CrazedPorcupine3/7/2016, 3:50:52 AM8 votes

Can I just say I love you?

As a long time support main, I cannot tell you how much I have had to argue with my team over all of these exact points.

Ageless Nocturne3/6/2016, 8:02:41 PM6 votes

Your post well-written. +1

Beldair3/7/2016, 2:15:15 PM5 votes

Extra Point:

When you are low health and you see the support turn and engage the enemy, don't turn around and fight....he is doing this so you can escape. It is what supports like to call "Sacrifice".

Idk how many times i've turned to throw myself into the enemy and my teammate jumps in too...

CR4ZYRONDH4VI3/7/2016, 3:43:02 AM4 votes

Great post. Honestly this post should get a ton of upvotes so more people can see it.

Jreyes4563/7/2016, 3:58:12 PM3 votes

When people forget that supp also have cooldowns to their moves.

Athenes Lulu3/7/2016, 3:59:36 AM3 votes

I should add one more:

Know your support's limits. This is probably not as common as OP's other points, but some champs can do certain things, while others can't. So if you died and the support can't necessarily save you, it's not always the support's fault. For instance, Leona is a frontliner; don't expect her to peel for you just because you are grabbed by Blitz. I am a backliner and have no lockdowns, so don't expect me to singlehandedly lock down that enemy ADC and let me do the work for you; you have to do something on your own. If your support has been in lane for 10+ minutes, and is a mana-spammy support, don't expect him to save you when he is clearly OOM. You get the point, but we can't do everything, especially from player stupidity.

Linthe3/7/2016, 4:01:58 PM2 votes

Adding to #1... Don't keep telling me to "hook the other ADC"... If I see a hook opening, Ill throw it and do my best to land it.

But if they are consistently keeping minions between me and them, throwing the hook is only going to drag a minion and waste a CD and some mana.

And you repeatedly telling me to hook the ADC... not helping with any of that...

Meserion3/7/2016, 1:03:26 AM2 votes

I ban Thresh everytime I get a chance.. he is the master of cheese plays :(

RIPxMidnight3/6/2016, 8:31:11 PM2 votes

Great post and all but can we just stop for a second and observe how in the link you posted Mid Lane has the lowest average gold earned and Support has the second highest?

That can't be right.

V The Support V3/7/2016, 4:41:14 AM1 votes

item 3151

This... Is.... Beautiful.

Thank You.

okino3/7/2016, 2:22:11 AM1 votes

i like playing supp... but i think it's only cuz i'm a lazy bastard that doesn't wanna make the "plays" that wouldn't happen even if i tried :D ... ;_;