Without sarcastically overemphasizing the "Support" part?
This isnt a complaint thread or anything, I didnt just get my ass violently and non-consentually burnt to a crisp, I'm just curious - because I don't think I've ever just called it Support Brand.
It's "Support" Brand.
Radiant Wukong17 votessame with "support" 
Kingnewgameplus51 votesIt's not "support" swain its "wtf you picked support swain in my promo's gg reported" swain.
Bellafiori12 votesWe understand you want to support swain, but your team does not want you to support swain.
P0IS0N IVY4 votesNot until the pros do it anyway.
50000000000000001 votesADC Swain is not a troll pick
Supreme Senpai6931 votesNothing better than a Ziggs / Trist bot lane. Say goodbye to the enemy's towers.
MissingKayo6 votesinsert inappropriate joke
LightIsMyPath1 votesExcept there is only a viable support here and 2 semi-viable.. ?
bistroh2 votesZyra works as a legit support, but the others don't.
Fairyfleur2 votesOrianna support doesn't usually go full ap, and it works.
Karol Scheibler1 votes[{quoted}](name=Command Ethereal,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=KehtBNh0,comment-id=00000007,timestamp=2016-12-28T06:10:04.013+0000)
Orianna support doesn't usually go full ap, and it works.
Have you ever heard of Aqua Dragon? He plays a lot "off-meta" champions. He was playing supp Orianna at some point - it appears that you go build similar to Janna, maxing E.
Fairyfleur1 votesOh, no I haven't. Although I do know that's how you play it.
MinaZer01 votesE max Ori Eye of the watchers is strong, Ori support very underrated
Fairyfleur1 votesmhm!
dominusx17 votesyeh its fine 'support' brand oneshoting teams faster than our midlaner.
dominusx3 votesi aint even mad anymore.
Ahristocats14 voteshttps://gyazo.com/e0f0816e7177a918205f6842d7b4b147
removing 70% of the enemy team hp is supporting your team i don't see any issues
GULAG 4 U9 votesbut hey let's ignore the actual problems and cry about yassuo xd
Ariel the Cruel2 votesI went squid support into an enemy team with only 1 squishy (ADC). Wound up doing as much champion damage as the next two people combined. True damage OP.
LuxannaVeritas11 votesThis is probably an unpopular opinion of mine (apparently a lot of my opinions are unpopular lmao), but I do say "Support Brand" with no sarcasm.
The reason why I'm probably one of the few who say it is because when I say "support", I'm talking about the POSITION, not the CLASS.
and champs of the like are of the support CLASS. They focus on helping their ADC survive through the laning phase, and focus on CC and shields/heals.
On the other hand, there are champions like and yes, 
who can be played in the support POSITION. Their damage range matches up well with the ADC, so they can deliver reliable poke. Most of them also have reliable CC, and some of them even have shields to help allies ( ).
Plus, champions that can heavily punish (aka do lots of damage) opponents who are out of position, and champions that heavily relies on snowballing are actually VERY GOOD in bot lane, because you always have one opponent there that is squishy. With luck, the support is squishy too. The two champions that come to mind are and .
Yes, LeBlanc. She's probably not a great pick in ranked, but in normals it's a great way to practice punishing enemies for getting too close, since there are TWO of them in the bot lane. I've played her to great success (aka tilting the ADC off the face of the Earth).
So in short, Brand is not of the support CLASS. However, due to his heavy punish and the increased amount of targets in the bot lane, he is viable in the support POSITION. That's why I say "Brand support" with no sarcasm.
SteelMankind3 votesWould argue that Orianna played as a bot lane support is pretty mediocre. She is a midlane support.
Catastrop2 votes
Yes, LeBlanc. She's probably not a great pick in ranked, but in normals it's a great way to practice punishing enemies for getting too close, since there are TWO of them in the bot lane. I've played her to great success (aka tilting the ADC off the face of the Earth).
Yasss, recognition at last!!! After the rework dropped, I queued up for Support with LB. It was hilarious. I went Ignite and got E first, easiest FB(and subsequent kills) of my life.
LuxannaVeritas2 votesWow, I'm glad there's love for Le Blanc support out there!
I first saw Le Blanc support before her rework, when I was Nami and was playing against it. Sadly, I kept on landing bubbles on her because I would just target the marker she leaves with her w. However, I wondered what she would be like w/o playing against Nami, so I tried it for myself! Granted she's not good against al match-ups, but I still liked it!
Sadly, my only game of Le Blanc support after her rework was against a Malzahar support... so I still have yet to play her in a real matchup. :)
Ningendo3 votesBrand's Pyroclasm is also maximized in the botlane. Asumming the enemy is ablaze or there are no other targets, It bounces 3 times on one target, and twice on another. 2 bounces is a hard hit since it's twice the damage and also procs the blaze ring on ablaze targets, but 3 bounces is a kill in basically any situation.
MLDzXnRRR8 votesBrand carries harder than the ADC or your midlaner lategame... even when he has no items. He also can 1v2 the enemy botlane while you farm. It's very cool champion.
BlâckLotus7 votessupports are not just heal bots. i usualy go undercover with my full ap karma,the game goes to like 30 minutes and my adc is like "karma where is your redemptions?" and im like"AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA"
BananaJannana6 votesPeople think of supports as tanky cc with some healing, but few people appreciate the AP supports
Yes, AP supports, like Brand and Annie, that punish the ADC and act as lane bullies while their own ADC farms until he is ready to go for the kill.
ahferroin78 votesSo, something to think about: Oriana, Lux, and Zyra were all designed with the possibility of being played support in mind. All of them (except possibly Zyra) have kits that are just as much support as mid-lane mage.
Annie and Brand were not, and are played there anyway to turn it into a kill lane. Both of them have exactly one CC tool which is itself a combo and exists to allow them to get kills.
BananaJannana2 votesSo, something to think about: Oriana, Lux, and Zyra were all designed with the possibility of being played support in mind. All of them (except possibly Zyra) have kits that are just as much support as mid-lane mage.
Annie and Brand were not, and are played there anyway to turn it into a kill lane. Both of them have exactly one CC tool which is itself a combo and exists to allow them to get kills.
So because they trade CC for damage, they are no longer supports?
You're proving what I said earlier: people haven't accepted the existence of AP Supports. You think Supports should have more CC and less damage, and perhaps shields and heals, which is so standard of the support role. Anything beyond that, such as champions that trade CC for damage (Annie and Brand), and you say they aren't supports, even though they fit the role incredibly well.
Kill lanes exist. The same way defensive lanes exist. Want a defensive lane? Play Janna. Want a kill lane? Play Brand. You'll notice those two champions are on opposite ends of the damage spectrum, but they're both supports :)
Ariel the Cruel5 votesSo because they trade CC for damage, they are no longer supports?
They're not a support, but they can still be played support. It is a difference between archetype and role.
Support archetype is defined by utility and CC. Support role is defined by helping the team despite getting the short stick in everything. Hence " "Support" " referring to non-support champions that are played support.
SteelMankind2 votesNot Orianna. She's a support who goes mid; she needs too much AP to be a bot lane support.
ahferroin71 votesShe's not played support regularly, but she is still played support. Part of this is because the ball grants vision (so you have a constantly available, indestructible ward you can re-position at will). On average though, she needs no more AP than a support Annie, and even less now that there are items which grant bonus shield/healing power (so you can build 
on her and have a reasonably strong shield).
SteelMankind1 votesShe doesn't have the same base damage as Annie (and has lower ratios) so when played support she's more of an enchanter support than a AP support. It's true that the indestructible ward thing/resists from E is unique to her and therefore has a niche, but if you compare her to Janna/Karma/Lulu who also have shields and have hard cc peel on a basic ability, you realize that Orianna has the best time supporting her team from midlane rather than botlane.
Dextix LT2 votesAs a support main i dont appreciate these ap "supports" because they are NOT supports. They can solo the enemy with no items whatsoever.
I am tired of playing conventional supports, and then lane against a brand who fucks me or my adc over because his damage is that of a mid laner.
Lux does not do that with no items, morgana does not do that with no items, even ANNIE does not do that with no items! Brand and zyra however? Carries with no items, which should not be the case, EVER.
BananaJannana5 votes[{quoted}](name=Dextix LT,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=KehtBNh0,comment-id=00050001,timestamp=2016-12-27T13:58:31.982+0000)
As a support main i dont appreciate these ap "supports" because they are NOT supports. They can solo the enemy with no items whatsoever.
I am tired of playing conventional supports, and then lane against a brand who fucks me or my adc over because his damage is that of a mid laner.
Lux does not do that with no items, morgana does not do that with no items, even ANNIE does not do that with no items! Brand and zyra however? Carries with no items, which should not be the case, EVER.
Lux trades that damage for her 2-player snare, Shield, and slow from E. Morgana trades that damage for her incredibly rewarding snare duration, her cc-immunity, and her AoE slow/stun.
You'll notice they're both more defensive with medium damage. Now let's look at the other two you mentioned.
Brand and Zyra both have no shields/mobility. Brand's damage comes from his passive and empowered W, which is a reward for landing his combo. Zyra's damage comes from her plants, whose seeds can be killed; she's only a threat if she lands her snare because she can follow with her combo. If you get hit by her slow-moving and narrow snare, it's very fair that she gets rewarded for landing it.
LuxannaVeritas3 votesYES
"reward for landing his combo"
Whenever I say that Brand's combos aren't the easiest things to land, I get insulted by people who haven't even played Brand in their life, so I'm glad someone else agrees with me on this!
Venomar6 votesI mean, he has a pretty generous projectile speed on his Q and range on his W. I find myself enjoying my fair share of brand, and I've never found his combos "hard" to land, especially since you can Q into a W and still get the stun off. Ofc they aren't "easy" either, but I think of the goofy ass projectile speed on Xeraths stun and realize brand has it made even if he needs two abilities.
DemoGuide3 votesBrand is actually better as aggression counter support. When enemies go in, they usually stuck closer to each other, so you can land your ult easily.
Papa Andrei4 votesMe. Because i literally do play a Support brand. Off tank, max cdr Rylais, GLP, peel build for my carries.
SteelMankind3 votesneed more magic pen less ap. Seriously, look at the numbers on Brand passive and ult. The base damage is godlike and the ap ratio is garbage.
k wìx4 votesBrand is good @ supporting because he brings CC and area denial. He also deals a fair amount of damage with no items.
Crowd Control and Area Denial are both super important for supports.
6Sfool3 votesI think it's more viable of a support than some of the current ones. It shifts the team comp quite a bit but it really does help bot snowball, unlike some other midlaners who are there entirely to steal farm and kills. Champs with executes just plain steal the kills.
I usually split support into 3 categories. Enchanters, tanks, and oppressors (zyra and brand). The first hangs back and buffs allies, the second jumps into the fray to soak damage rather than heal it, and the third is less conventional but really helps keep the enemy bot lane from getting farm and kills. If your champ doesn't fit into one or two of those categories, then I say "support".
DunkinNoobs3 votesChampions like Brand and Zyra are "supports" in the same way that a tactical air strike is technically air "support".
KoKoboto1 votesYeah I hate Brand "support" I'm glad they nerfed Rylais which was his main item so he doesn't do as much damage.
Ningendo9 votesThe rylais change for brand, unlike most, was a buff lol. The cost is significantly lower, making it an easier pickup for the more gold gated support brand. The slow is lower, but its still a permaslow with blaze. In combination with the haunting guise price reduction, support brand has an even easier time pick up damage lol.
Weathered1 votesMy favorite is suhhhh-PORT Feedlesticks.
