Supports And Balance.

Rainfall·May 1, 2017·13 votes·1,364 views

It has come to my attention that riot does not have any intention of bringing balance to the support role. From the start of this season the support role has probably lost all item diversity. Supports with linear/boring gameplay are thriving. Ivern,who was allowed to be broken for months. which is garbage,because pro supports used it with olaf and now it doesnt even feel like a support item. All in all,item diversity is dead and a lot of he highest winrate supports have kits that do not rely on the players skill. In conclusion,riot did not make the role more IMPACTFULL,riot made the role EASIER.

18 Comments

BlâckLotusMay 1, 20177 votes

Support balance circles had always been slower than other roles,but i agree that this is not acceptable,not buying item 3190 item 3107 as support is like crippling your team.

ManwalrusMay 1, 20176 votes

Honestly items aren't even the main problem, it's ridiculous champions that aren't supports being played bot lane. Mid laners with sightstone like Malzahar Zyra Velkoz etc. were probably the most cancerous thing in the game for a good long while, they relied on dealing enough damage to 1v2 the enemy bot lane and nothing else, which forced most real supports entirely out of the meta. I was an Alistar main last season, imagine playing alistar into Brand every single game, not fun. I made it to Diamond last season as a support main and the meta earlier this season was so terrible that it actually forced me to stop playing support for awhile, hell it was so bad that this current lulu meta is preferable.

RainfallMay 1, 20172 votes

AP supports are still supports,the problem with initiating suppors is that you need to be coordinated with your team,the reason you pick alistar or leona or thresh is so that you provide easy and succesfull setups for ganks to your teamates.If you can not coordinate with your team those champions do not feel as impactfull. That is the reason malzahar is a good support despite not being a support. He deals a lot of damage AND he can create setups for ganks with his ultimate.

ManwalrusMay 1, 20179 votes

I have to disagree that mid laners with sightstone are supports considering they do absolutely nothing to support their carry/team, it's all about them dealing damage, singlehandedly winning the lane and snowballing uncontrollably. Isn't "providing easy and successful setups for ganks to your teammates" part of the definition of what a support is? Correct me if I'm wrong but supports are supposed to actually support their team in and out of lane.

If you can not coordinate with your team those champions do not feel as impactfull.

While that's certainly true in its own right it has never been an actual problem until recently, the reason they don't feel impactful is more because they literally cannot do shit in lane against these champions besides sit under tower and wait for a jungle gank, hoping you'll be relevant later on if you just roll over and take it now. It isn't remotely healthy for a class of champions to be able to do that, even when mage supports like Annie were good in the past they were never oppressive to the point where you just can't interact with them. Having "just don't go near them" as their only counterplay shouldn't be a thing. Not to mention that just because Malzahar is good bot lane doesn't mean he should be played there.

RainfallMay 1, 20172 votes

AP supports have been around since season 2,what makes you think riot has the ability or the will to remove them from the bottom lane now?

ManwalrusMay 1, 20172 votes

I said that they were never particularly oppressive until recently, not that they should remove them entirely (thought I wouldn't be upset if they did) and while they certainly have the ability to remove them from the bottom lane I doubt they'd do it. It cannot be denied that in their current state though, they are a problem.

Nummoner SameMay 1, 20172 votes

Dude's got a point, playing against any of those AP supports is the literal opposite of fun.

NymzoMay 1, 20172 votes

{quoted}

AP supports are still supports,the problem with initiating suppors is that you need to be coordinated with your team,the reason you pick alistar or leona or thresh is so that you provide easy and succesfull setups for ganks to your teamates.If you can not coordinate with your team those champions do not feel as impactfull.

Any supports can set up ganks, there's only a few exceptions like Soraka Sona and to some extend, Janna that don't have good set up for ganks because they don't have enough cc or it's telegraphed.

You pick Alistar if you want an annoying wall that the enemy assasin can't ignore and is also a safe pick in laning phase.

Or you can play Leona, a tankier, cc oriented and risky version of Blitzcrank .

And you pick Thresh... because he's Thresh.

That is the reason malzahar is a good support despite not being a support. He deals a lot of damage AND he can create setups for ganks with his ultimate.

No, he was a good support because Riot doesn't realize that a point and click supression is dumb as shit and because his mid lane got nerfed.

StoryDuckMay 1, 20172 votes

I would build item 3800 in a lot of games if they only lowered the cost a bit. I would gladly give up 100 mana to have it cost 2200 instead of 2500

FilDaFunkMay 1, 20172 votes

What I noticed with quite a few of the support builds, especially on Karma , is that building tanky works quite well. I do much prefer the standard supports - early poke, but eventually scale out to be shield and peel bots. I am quite unhappy, since rito keep releasing reworks that push champs to be unique, but supports just end up just being the guys that buy sighstone, redemption and locket. Slight hypocrisy.

WinterkillMay 1, 20171 votes

As I have been saying for years now. Riot Games seems to think Gold Income and the Starting Items are only things that need attention. They put off any actual work that the Support role needs . . . in useless mini-updates that don't address the issues directly. The next gameplay update will Divers. Let's face it . . . do you think Riot Games will work on the Support role when they have Lee Sin and Aatrox mains constantly crying about how their champions are no longer playable and suck? In itself, Riot games care more about Lee Sin than the entire Support role. These Developers had years to do anything to the Support role but they keep putting it off.

These Developers either don't know what to with the Support role or they just don't care. The role is not very impactful in gameplay, the itemization is terrible and bland, the champions (Enchanters specifically) are not distinct enough, almost every single Support is forced to build specific items. If you are a healer or shield bot, you need to buy Redemption, Locket, and Ardent Censor. I mean they removed the functionality of some support items for yet again . . . more hidden passives and a stupid quest system that not going to do a thing.

The Developers have shown us for the past few years that they don't know what to do with the Support role and they do not care. The Developers need to address the following:

Find a unique way to make the Support role more interesting and impactful to the game. Adding a stupid quest system is just over complicating something that is an easy fix.
The Support role needs more interactive itemization that doesn't have a passive that increases shield/heal strength. I mean seriously . . . . can they not do it in a more interesting way that doesn't promote button mashing that one heal/shield ability?
The champions all need to offer something different to the game and the world of Runeterra. A lot of Support champions are not interesting enough and don't reach the thematic level they probably could be.

Eternal791May 2, 20171 votes

I definitely have to agree with you about a lot of these things, especially the quest system. I was disappointing when I saw all the improvements to the support items were quest based. And a lot of the support champions do seem pretty uninteresting (both thematic and gameplay wise) to me which is why the only support I play is Thresh (and recently a little bit of Lux). As for itemization, I don't have much of a problem with that given I only play two supports. One I build tanky, they other I primarily build ap. Though I can definitely see your point.

Variks the LoyalMay 1, 20171 votes

To be fair, Righteous Glory was never intended to be a Support item.

RainfallMay 1, 20171 votes

Then why was the movement speed buff AOE? the item also was in a lot of supports reccomended items.

Variks the LoyalMay 1, 20171 votes

It was intended to be a Tank item that allowed them to force teamfights without having to revolve around long CD ultimates or catching enemies out of position.

It certainly could be built in the hands of a Tank Support, but it wasn't made to be exclusively a Support item, but rather a Tank item that could be built in a number of roles.

Tobias BracknerMay 1, 20171 votes

Supports have a lot of diversity.

People just don't want to explore that diversity for absolutely no reason.

JRobin31May 1, 20171 votes

Wait... you only just now reached this conclusion? LoL.

More seriously, it's part of RIOT's designing around "classes" and partly RIOT not understanding the support role.

Itemization can't support all of the classes that would be played in the support role. And the support role only supports the ADC because META... (RIOT designs support to enforce META).