Guide to play Support

Hi! A lot of you don't know how to play the support role because you think its the most boring role or its stupid. A lot of times people ask not to go support and end up going it due to autofill. The support role is actually one of the most interactive in the whole game if not the most. However, it doesn't always come easy. So I decided to make a guide on how to play the support role. Lets cover the basics!

---Farm--- The support should not steal their adc's farm. Only when the adc is not with you it is allowed to kill the creeps or until the adc tells you when. Supports have items like , and and their upgrades. These items allow you to either steal off gold from poking, killing creeps (this grants your ally hp and gold), or passively receiving gold from dying creeps.

---Wards--- WARDS ARE YOUR FRIENDS! Its important to always have wards, you can choose between sweeper or the regular ward as a trinket but it usually depends on your opponents. Sightstone is a must! Also, picking up control wards at spawn or 1st recall is ideal. Place those in river bushes or tribushes to fend enemy wards, stealths, and regular gankers. Its ok to use up more than the 3/3. Sometimes you have to put one down in a necessary spot.

---Items--- Items vary depending on the support your playing. Healers and shielders usually want to pick up for fighting or quick escapes. Is a very good tool and should be prioritized as a second or third item. Boots depends on how you wanna go about. If your looking for speed: pick up swiftness or mobis. For defenses: pick up the armor or mr boots. For utility: pick up the ionian boots. Items like are depending on your opponent. Damage items is ok, but don't build straight up damage. Lets say you have a Janna, building near the end of the game is very useful. It allows your ult to be stronger as well as shield bonuses. Lets again say you have a blitz, building is good because it adds damage to your E plus another slow.

Now lets get into the more difficult stuff!

---Laning Phase--- The laning phase can go one of two directions - win or lose. Its your job to make sure your adc stays alive. Most of the laning phase is just farming. The support is to try and poke the enemy adc or support and sometimes cause a fight. Your job in the fight is to make sure the adc stays alive, and make the other adc unable to leave if they are losing. If your team is losing that fight, get you and the adc the heck outa there! To do this you will need a champion with CC. And you might hafta burn an exhaust. If your adc and the other adc or support is low on hp, go in for the kill. Better to have some gold than none, but don't tower dive. If you lose the laning phase, THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOUR GOING TO LOSE THE GAME, contrary to what the majority of people think.

---Mid Game--- The support now has two options - roam and help or stay with the adc. Staying with adc helps push and keep them alive but is more vulnerable to ganks. Roaming can be good but leaves your adc all alone. A mix of the two is good. Getting dragon is essential, and to do this you must place wards in and out of the dragon pit. A control ward or sweeping lense is good for detecting enemy wards. In those mini team fights, your job is to disrupt the enemy as much as you can. Exhaust an ideal target, such as a zed or panth. Using active items is also beneficial.

---Late Game--- This time sticking with your team is the ideal way to go. When a teammate is down, its your duty to help them survive. In those major teamfights, once again, DISRUPT THE ENEMY. That is key, along with keeping your adc alive. The adc is your damage dealer, they must stay alive. Items like is very useful in these fights because it damages the enemy and heals your allies. It can even be used while your dead! When baroning, do the same as dragon, except this time you wanna add wards even further outside the pit. This allows your team to make sure that there is no possibility of enemies getting close to the baron pit. A sweepers or control ward is essential to rid the pit of enemy wards. And don't forget to use exhaust, exhaust should be prioritized on the enemy adc this time.

---Runes and Masteries--- Typical runes and masteries. You should build straight up cdr and defences. Mobility is also well along with some gold income and some mr or armor pen. These can be substituted with damage. For masteries, http://imgur.com/gallery/R1d7w (This one is for my Janna and Lulu masteries). Windspeaker's blessing is useful on healing and shielding supports. Deathfire touch or thunderlords is also a good pick depending on support, such as karma, blitz, and tahm kench.

Whew! I think thats about it. If you have any questions tell me in the comments below.