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I feel like I can never rank up as a Support main

nickdec97·Feb 1, 2016·2 votes·2,089 views

Now that we have a new que system where we get our chosen roles, I play my favorite position, Support, almost every game

Now here is what i have soon realized after being demoted and currently on a 8+ losing streak. As a support, its hard to carry a team. The only way its possible is if you have the game changer supports that can break down the game and change the dynamic of teams fights. Ones that come to my mind are with ult, with his headbutts, hooks, and if you are crazy and do this, the supports that just break team fights on their own. Aside from the last two who are not genuine supports, its hard to carry a match from a supporting role.

I feel like I have to rely on team mates that don't hold their lane, or think they can carry 5 teams at once and dive into a 1v5 and get rekt over and over again. Regularly I seem to get the people who think they are gods and try to separately carry a team and we end up losing. One thing stays the same, my lane never does bad. We may not do well, but we don't lose the lane. We hang on decently enough until opportunity strikes or someone feeds the JG maliciously.

I honestly don't want to play ranked any more, because even when support is my secondary role i get it because nobody wants it, and I am losing all enjoyment of league. I don't want that to happen, so how can i fix it?

Should I just learn to play or support? Try and be the egotistical solo stud that tries to carry the team in Mid Top or JG? or just play for fun and don't give a crap about ranked anymore?

Not sure what to do.

11 Comments

Mysticman89Feb 1, 20163 votes

I primarily play Janna in ranked, which has generally served me rather well.

When people get crazy and dive into things they shouldn't, I can dive in after them, and disengage things to limit the amount the opposing team gets fed. When eventually a teammate manages to get fed (there's usually at least one person who seems competent and more suited to a higher mmr), then I can hop on their back and peel off any attempts to murder them, enabling them to carry.

It can be frustrating sometimes when there isn't such a person, but that does seem to be the most reliable way to climb as a support (i.e. finding a particular person to support, and doing you best to minimize the mistakes of the rest). Aggro play makers can be effective too if you happen to have a bot lane partner who happens to be such a person, and if you're particularly good at those pokey champs you can basically spoon feed the kills to even a subpar adc.

I'm pretty sure all supports played have their niche that enable them to (enable someone else to) carry the team, the key is just to find what particular flavour of support you're best at playing in practice.

nickdec97Feb 3, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I primarily play Janna in ranked, which has generally served me rather well.

When people get crazy and dive into things they shouldn't, I can dive in after them, and disengage things to limit the amount the opposing team gets fed. When eventually a teammate manages to get fed (there's usually at least one person who seems competent and more suited to a higher mmr), then I can hop on their back and peel off any attempts to murder them, enabling them to carry.

It can be frustrating sometimes when there isn't such a person, but that does seem to be the most reliable way to climb as a support (i.e. finding a particular person to support, and doing you best to minimize the mistakes of the rest). Aggro play makers can be effective too if you happen to have a bot lane partner who happens to be such a person, and if you're particularly good at those pokey champs you can basically spoon feed the kills to even a subpar adc.

I'm pretty sure all supports played have their niche that enable them to (enable someone else to) carry the team, the key is just to find what particular flavour of support you're best at playing in practice.

Seem's like an interesting choice...I'll look into Janna for sure later. Thank you.

GGX MilliaFeb 1, 20162 votes

At your rank, you have a very limited understanding how the game works. No offense, but when you added Illaoi to the support list, it just started smelling bronze, so I checked.

What you need to do is to learn how to play both your roles and champ better.

It does not matter which support you pick if you can't see advantageous situations that you could exploit.

I would strongly suggest picking one champ with low skill bottom and spamming it. Playing either of these Alistar Blitzcrank Morgana Soraka Sona champs should teach you a lot in various ways, so just choose one to your liking. After that, there's Annie Janna Leona Zyra Thresh . These champs require more than just landing 1 skill to win. Finally there's Braum Lulu Nami Zilean and all kinds of other gimmicky supports - they all require above average understanding when to go in, when to retreat etc etc. Try to land every skillshot (2x if enemy is in bad position). Try to understand what YOU could've done better (even if your teammate fucked up, maybe you should've pinged him etc). and so on. Last but not least, practice. Good luck.

nickdec97Feb 3, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=GGX Millia,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ItiAk1Hz,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2016-02-01T04:55:47.304+0000)

At your rank, you have a very limited understanding how the game works. No offense, but when you added to the support list, it just started smelling bronze, so I checked.

What you need to do is to learn how to play both your roles and champ better.

It does not matter which support you pick if you can't see advantageous situations that you could exploit.

I would strongly suggest picking one champ with low skill bottom and spamming it. Playing either of these champs should teach you a lot in various ways, so just choose one to your liking. After that, there's . These champs require more than just landing 1 skill to win. Finally there's and all kinds of other gimmicky supports - they all require above average understanding when to go in, when to retreat etc etc. Try to land every skillshot (2x if enemy is in bad position). Try to understand what YOU could've done better (even if your teammate fucked up, maybe you should've pinged him etc). and so on. Last but not least, practice. Good luck.

That was extremely harsh. "I started smelling bronze." I was silver before the season reset, so when you say crap like that, you can take into some consideration the possibility of how rude it is.

Aside from that, I have seen Illaoi support before, quite a lot believe it or not. and realistically, the fact that she is an OP tank makes it possible. Just cause its out of the meta doesn't mean its not possible. I do understand what i can do better, and how i fix it, but fixing or working on it (minus team fights) doesn't fix the rest of the team aside from bot lane.

GGX MilliaFeb 3, 20161 votes

{quoted}

That was extremely harsh. "I started smelling bronze." I was silver before the season reset, so when you say crap like that, you can take into some consideration the possibility of how rude it is.

I am sorry that I do not wrap my words in silver lining. When I see something untrue which only proves speaker's inexperience, I do point it out. If you prefer people who would say that you're a hidden challenger who is only held back by his teams, well... Not only that is not true, but it also hold you back from actually getting better. If you prefer it, gl & hf is all I can say.

As a side note, I was talking about your game perception concerning the support role, not your mechanical skills, map awareness, etc. Maybe this is your biggest flaw, I don't know, and to be honest I don't even want to check cause I don't want to bother helping you anymore due to your attitude.

Aside from that, I have seen support before, quite a lot believe it or not. and realistically, the fact that she is an OP tank makes it possible. Just cause its out of the meta doesn't mean its not possible. I do understand what i can do better, and how i fix it, but fixing or working on it (minus team fights) doesn't fix the rest of the team aside from bot lane.

All I will say is, go to twitch.tv and ask pretty much ANY league streamer about Illaois support. I would explain what I said in detail, but once again, I do not want to bother.

YumifriesFeb 1, 20161 votes

Playing for fun is the best solution, Another option is getting yourself some friendlies to play with instead of solo que! From what you're saying, it is the fault of others that you end up having a bad game, which I totally agree with since I play support Sona almost exclusively. Try picking up support Poppy those mid/late game heroic charges could be what you're looking for, haha. If your goal is wanting to carry, go jungle. You are basically the caretaker of every lane, and can help someone get that lead or come back from a bad start.

resumedFeb 1, 20161 votes

DONT GIVE A CRAP ABT RANKED N JUST HAVE FUN!!!!!

when you play champions you have fun playing you get good at them and then you get better and you rank up :)

poppy support is REALLY fun to play as. i main support too, and you can carry games as her really well. you can almost play all tanks as a support role with relic shield, poppy is one of the more obvious (and fun) ones though

illaoi support is anti fun though

GuiltyGeckoFeb 1, 20161 votes

You need to find your "anchor" on the team. This is usually easier if you duo queue with someone you trust.

If you're solo, find the person on your team that's doing the best. This isn't always your ADC. Then, make sure you always ward for this anchor, support them, and always at most 1 lane away so you can respond when they are in trouble. You can use any support with this tactic, and I used it all the way up to diamond and I was solo most of the time.

Juggernaut628Feb 1, 20161 votes

I literally had to start playing mid and top lane because nobody knows how to play when I support...

I do fine in premades with 1-4 people though. As long as you duo with your bot lane partner, you can go freaking Wukong J4 bot lane (I did this with my friend in ranked and shat on their bot lane(and won)) and do well. Trying to support a random ADC isn't always easy as they may not be on the same page as you.

Athenes LuluFeb 3, 20161 votes

Morgana

Land your Q
Put on spellshield when you want someone to live longer
Can carry if team is too stupid; you got decent damage to do something

Sona

Just play the positioning game
You can also build lots of AP and poke hard

Janna

E = EZ trades
Click of any button and you can already peel for the stupidest players
Good for anti-dives, one click of any button you already screwed them up
Just remember to save your Q's for peeling/disengage, not poke/engage

Supporting is mechanically easy, but requires a special kind of knowledge of the game if you want to improve. Try practicing with these to help you improve and have a better knowledge of supporting in general.

Good luck :)

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