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As a Support, I'm always the lowest level by late game

lildyo·2/6/2016, 1:39:09 AM·1 votes·1,928 views

Hi friends, so this is a question for my fellow support players.

It seems nearly every single game, if the game gets past the 30+ minute mark I am always several levels behind everyone else on the team. This happens even in games where I have minimal deaths. I feel as though by the time late-game has arrived, most of my team and the other team is always hitting level 18 before I'm even reaching level 16. I typically notice support players on both teams tend to be the lowest level on their team and it just seems to put the supports at a greater disadvantage.

I know clearing the occasional wave for my team whenever they can't get to it can slightly alleviate this problem, but many support champs have terrible wave-clear power ( ), so that usually isn't a feasible option.

TL;DR: playing support seems to put me behind in level. Does this still happen at challenger-level play? What can I do better to avoid this (keep in mind some supports can't just quickly clear a large minion wave or jungle camp)? Or are supports just stuck getting the short end of the experience stick? (that's not a short joke! )

4 Comments

Professor Ward2/6/2016, 1:42:34 AM1 votes

Getting kills give large portions of xp, the best way to stay as close as possible is stay in xp range and more specifically to ward whenever your not going to miss experience, if played correctly you should end up 2-3 levels behind a fed adc.

""Killing a champion: Gives 50% of the experience required to reach the slain champion's next level (not current level). This is increased/lowered by 7% per level difference if the target is higher/lower level and can't be lower than 20%""

Theoretically this means its better to die when closer to leveling up as you will give less experience to the enemy.

MrwiOzV6pB2/6/2016, 1:43:19 AM1 votes

Supports are the underdog's of league. You get the least amount of gold and are normally the lowest or tied for the lowest level. This is why they're so dependent on constantly landing skillshots with cc. I love it though.

Your job as support isn't to wave clear at all. If anything you want to try to give the cs to a fellow teammate so they can buy items to instantly kill people with damage after you slow/snare enemies.

If you're too low level compared to the enemy support it probably means you're team fighting too much. You want to split push with a fellow teammate mid-late game every once in a while to get that good exp rolling.

Deep Terror Nami2/6/2016, 1:44:38 AM1 votes

Yes, you'll typically be behind no matter how well you play. The time you spend roaming and warding while the rest of your team is farming results in this, but it's ok as long as you're being useful. You also have to share the XP you do get with an ally most of the time. The only way to avoid this is to be in a lane alone, and that often means you are absent from where you should be.

runandscream2/6/2016, 2:05:05 AM1 votes

I'm there with you. But it is for a good cause; warding or helping your jungler or midlaner when they get caught out. I enjoy it even if it means I'm behind.