Awhile ago Riot was interested in why more people don't support

I was thinking about supports recently and something occurred to me. There isn't a lot of variety of play styles a support offers. I think this is an issue because supports are something a lot of people get stuck with. They don't really like the role and it could be they are lacking champs there that fit their preferred play style.

Generally speaking there are only a few types of champs that wind up in support:

1. Babysitters This is your s and s. These are mostly passive champs who sit back and don't make the big flashy plays. The downside is they are terrible at carrying but on the upside they are excellent at being carried when properly played as they can mitigate some mistakes your teammates make.

2. Tanks These are the meatshields like or . They do well at soaking up damage meant for an ally.

3. AP utility mages, probably designed as mids at one point You know, champs like or or who weren't really intended to be playing the support role but have enough utility in their kit they can do it well enough until they can afford items to be relevant as a DD.

I'm thinking that some of the problems with people hating on support is limited play styles as you can see. First of all, no one like playing the healer in online games. Particularly if you don't have any good tanks as friends. In LOL you never know if there's going to be a good tank on your team. In MOBAs the babysitter is least likely to be the hard carry of the team. Secondly is that after healers, tanks are kind of unpopular by nature. Some people like the role, but a lot of players just don't like being the person who's job is to stand there and soak up damage. Meatshield is not an endearing title either. While some tanks can hard carry if they have good CC and it's not like they don't have options to make a useful play, again it's more a case of enabling your teammates to carry rather than being the full time hard carry. I think this is why the 3rd category became popular a few season ago, people realized it was easier to play their favorite mid champ as a support because mid is heavily contested and everyone wants to be a carry.

This last point leads to people's complaints about not being able to carry as a support, a complaint that I'm not sure is properly expressed while it is being expressed in volume. What if we looked at it less as "there's no one who can carry" and more as "there's no options for carrying in the style of champion I like"? Don't get me wrong, there is a lack of hard carry potential I'm getting into

So what kind of champs are missing in the support role?

**1. No AD champs at all. ** Yes I'm ignoring support ashe and support MF at the moment, but I think people are happier that way. Even though Kayle can support, which is so rare I don't see her listed as a champion.cc support, when she does, she pretty much builds AP. AD kayle in any lane is pretty rare these days.

**2. All wardens, few vanguards. ** Just about all primary tanks seen in the support role save for Leona are a warden. So as far as tank supports go, we mainly see the reactive type of support instead of the balls deep initiator. I think this is why we see the odd Naut support or Sion support. People want a tanky initiator (playmaker) why can either start a fight or lock down a damage dealer on the other team. Of the one support vanguard we have, Leona has a big problem in that she's an early game champ which makes her bad for low elo players (bronze and silver) who can't fully take advantage of her early strengths. In a span of 5 minutes Leona loses 4 points of win rate. Lower elo players can't count on having teams that'll win before 25 minutes. At the least we need a second vanguard designed as a support who scales into the late game.

3. No bruisers allowed Some people like playing champs with a good mix of damage and defense. While AP damage dealers can make it as a support if they have utility, and tanks can go support, we really don't see any support champs designed with a mix of defense or damage in mind. Leona tops or jungles are kind of a heavy bruiser in that they do get a single damage item, but those players are rare and as for supporting is concerned, there's no bruisers to be found. No divers, no juggernauts, nothing. This takes an option away from support players as we can't just pick a champ who can go tanky or play as a damage dealer depending on how the game goes. We have to guess right in champ select what our team needs, this is an issue for people picking first or second. If you are picking late and don't want to play a full on tank, you don't have an option for a champ who is tanky but still deals damage.

4. Assassins are right out I know this ain't happening, but I'm just saying if you are an assassin main and you get stuck with support, you aren't getting a champion you like to play.

Considering that support is a role that's hard to keep filled, perhaps it'd be best if riot were to widen the variety of champs that can do well as a support and offer more flexibility in the role.