What champions can you be banned for; by playing them as support?

Resolution·Aug 1, 2016·6 votes·2,677 views

This is an actual serious; non troll post. I was informed if you choose a champion that doesn't fit the current meta you can be banned (Support Team has actually confirmed this).

As a Brand support main; I'm wondering how this works. I manage to get S grade almost every game, and do very well for my team. Yet I'm finding people calling me a "Troll"/reporting me for choosing that champion as it's non traditional. It's very viable to bring a burst mage bot lane (Annie/Brand/Zyra) for kill lanes - I'm wondering how that translates to other champions.

I see a lot of break the meta videos and they show insane combinations that actually work. Question is - is there a list of champions your allowed to play support? I'd hate to be punished for trying something new in normals.

53 Comments

Tyrone LannisterAug 1, 201610 votes

I thought none. Unless you are inting or being super toxic, no champ will get you banned as support. If the support team has said something about this please link it. Im genuinely curious

Jo0oAug 1, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Tyrone Lannister,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=KwMPwXFj,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2016-08-01T05:20:41.587+0000)

I thought none. Unless you are inting or being super toxic, no champ will get you banned as support. If the support team has said something about this please link it. Im genuinely curious

I mean... you'd have a hard time convincing me that a "support" player running Zed or Jhin or something along those lines isn't trolling.

SpoofghoulAug 1, 20162 votes

Actually, jhin can work your ult can be used to start fights or disengage from far away you have a long range root and you have traps for extra slows & vision these can help ward flanks in sieges and setup escape routes

so plenty of utility to use him as support

zed doesnt have much utility i guess so thats a bit different

I used to play mundo support, excellent poke damage without needing items for it, after level 6 can solo dragon with ult and % cleavers

will outtrade adc's & supports in the 1v1 during early game and the non stop cleaverspam is no joke

Jo0oAug 1, 20165 votes

Poke mages are totally fine, as long as you honestly play as support: Don't blatantly steal kills, don't take CS, build a real support item and a sightstone, etc.

Honestly, most champs can support to some extent. As long as you honestly embrace the role and aren't just taking your top/mid champ to the bot lane, you should be safe from punishment.

TheSingularityAug 1, 20162 votes

Pretty much. Long live zac support

DepártAug 1, 20161 votes

hey man zac does a shit ton of base dmg, that guy can 1v2 bottom and get his adc fed if played right

TheSingularityAug 1, 20161 votes

Not currently bae. Cait sona zyra and trist all rain on his parade while being reasonably common picks. Sure his lvl one poke is awesome however lvl 9 is when he really starts hitting like a truck. Untill then you just gota hope you don't vs a long range lane bully ;) That and you need the freedom of spamming spells for sustain without your adc goin skits at ya (only ever done it with a random once, he got mad XD) or simply being able to retrieve your blobs

VolcanuzAug 1, 20161 votes

My favorite S1 support was Wu supp. I loved crushing peoples hopes when they see me as supp.

ShadowatomAug 1, 20162 votes

Could you show what the support team said? I'm curious since this sounds very odd that they'd say you can actually get banned for"troll picks."

ResolutionAug 1, 20161 votes

http://imgur.com/a/8PXRZ

Wait, apparently that's just for ranked? I heard it applies to normal as well. I'll try to look around to confirm that as well.

EDIT: Not me - a guy on Reddit was talking about his case; and how he got banned for picking a non meta choice.

SpookyNeedleAug 1, 20162 votes

{quoted}

http://imgur.com/a/8PXRZ

Wait, apparently that's just for ranked? I heard it applies to normal as well. I'll try to look around to confirm that as well.

Why is Fiora mid troll? I took her vs Vlad and carried the game. I really don't think it's good 99% of the time, but you CAN do well

ResolutionAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Why is Fiora mid troll? I took her vs Vlad and carried the game. I really don't think it's good 99% of the time, but you CAN do well

Would really like to see an official list or a better insight into this from a Red; Really don't want to be blindsided for trying to have fun and experiment. I've actually seen Fiora mid a few times and it's worked.

DepártAug 1, 20161 votes

AP Hecarim mid is very self/team destructive, but fiora mid and AP fiddle support is absolutely not. That is a totally unfair ban unless he was doing it way too often, I wouldn't worry too much about a list of champions that are allowed to go to X, you can do anything anywhere and it could possibly work, just don't do it in ranked if you haven't practiced winning with whatever you're doing extensively.

ReshiKillimAug 1, 20162 votes

I would like to point out the initial part before the part concerning off-meta picks. "Refusing to listen and cooperate with the team" is definitely a major feature here. There's no rule against off-meta picks in ranked or norms, but if you combine that with not communicating with the team the result comes out with the ranked suspension.

MisterShamelessAug 1, 20161 votes

Some players take Darius mid to counter Yasuo and I'm completely fine with that.

SpookyNeedleAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Some players take Darius mid to counter Yasuo and I'm completely fine with that.

Why not just play Riven to counter Yas mid

MisterShamelessAug 1, 20161 votes

Probably because the ultimate isnt a skill shot? Not really sure why people enjoy Darius into Yasuo lanes if it's not the ultimate.

VolcanuzAug 1, 20161 votes

Wow that guys case looks like he was a model player... That was sarcasm btw.

Though some of the things mentioned make sense as supp, fiddles can work but of course as stated, if he wasn't running a supp item he was most likely going for the kill or CS at least. Meaning he was planing on being toxic.

Tobias BracknerAug 1, 20161 votes

Key words "a few examples"

Sounds like the guy was pretty shitty with a lot of those choices for a long time.

EndlessSorcererAug 1, 20162 votes

You can't be banned for picking non-meta champions.

Honestly, I've play with Katarina and Talon supports as the ADC quite happily. I don't really care who they pick so long as they play according by:

Build a gold generation item
Build Sightstone
Letting me last hit minions

Both of the games I mentioned were stomps in our favour and they both snowballed very well (and I just locked down targets as Varus).

Blue Moon WolfAug 1, 20162 votes

In all honesty, none. Picking any champ for any role is not a reportable offence unless you are intentionally griefing your team. you could use MasterYi support and so long as it's not in spite of your team and you are legitimately trying to play him as a support, you really haven't done anything wrong. Now, WILL you get reported for picking a champ that isn't viable as a support for the support role? Without question. If by some chance your team doesn't automatically think you are trolling them and report you, you will still likely have them flaming you for the whole match for picking a bad support. When it comes to what works as a support and what doesn't, it's mostly about utility, CC and how necessary it is for that champ to farm. Annie , and Zyra all work as supports cause they have CC in some form and don't necessarily need to farm to do well. Supports like them gradually poke down the enemy and try to CC the them so the ADC can land the kill. champs like Fiora or Tryndamere rely on farming and kills to do well, so they don't tend to make for good supports, while Lux can get item 3092 and item 3041 and do very well for herself even without any minions.

The main things to keep in mind about what champs can support is:

does this champ have any utility/CC to speak of (outside of items)
Will this champ help the ADC in lane or will it just get in the way?
can this champ get away no farm and an extremely cheap build? (ex. )

Athenes LuluAug 1, 20161 votes

No one should be banned for playing off-meta and play it badly.

But you will get banned if you do it to troll, spite someone else, or as a form of griefing.

Jo0oAug 1, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Cancerous Lulu,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=KwMPwXFj,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2016-08-01T05:27:23.543+0000)

No one should be banned for playing off-meta and play it badly.

But you will get banned if you do it to troll, spite someone else, or as a form of griefing.

Well, where is the line between "off-meta" and "troll"?

Let's say I'm queued as support and I go Jhin. How, exactly, will I support my team? All four of Jhin's abilities have the potential to steal CS, and the kit has very little utility beyond heavy damage. Other than taking kills and CS away from the team, how will a support Jhin get money? Spellthief's Edge?

The same is true for many champs in the game. Many mages can support to an extent, but Vlad, for example, lacks CC and will steal CS. A support Garen offers no peels and only a light silence for utility. Most Marksmen and Assassins are designed to take kills, not set them up for somebody else.

Unstoppable MonkAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Well, where is the line between "off-meta" and "troll"?

Let's say I'm queued as support and I go Jhin. How, exactly, will I support my team? All four of Jhin's abilities have the potential to steal CS, and the kit has very little utility beyond heavy damage. Other than taking kills and CS away from the team, how will a support Jhin get money? Spellthief's Edge?

The same is true for many champs in the game. Many mages can support to an extent, but Vlad, for example, lacks CC and will steal CS. A support Garen offers no peels and only a light silence for utility. Most Marksmen and Assassins are designed to take kills, not set them up for somebody else.

These are terrible examples. Garen is a lane bully / natural tank which is decent for an offensive AD support. Vladimir has sustain and a trollpool that -is- a slow, he's was sleeper-useful in his pre-rework form. Not sure about Vlad now, but he used to combo with Jhin.

Jo0oAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

These are terrible examples. Garen is a lane bully / natural tank which is decent for an offensive AD support. Vladimir has sustain and a trollpool that -is- a slow, he's was sleeper-useful in his pre-rework form. Not sure about Vlad now, but he used to combo with Jhin.

You're welcome to disagree with me, but do you really think these were "terrible" examples?

Since when is "offensive AD support" a thing? Poking is ideally from as far a range as possible. Garen needs to be in melee to effectively lane-bully, and doesn't close that gap well. He lacks any slowing capability, which means that he doesn't help his ADC engage. As support, he'll be underfed, which makes his potential to bully the lane significantly worse than it might be at Top. And if you go full tanky with him, his offensive impact will be negligible. Tank supports are a thing, of course, but they're usually characterized by CC, gap closers, sustain, etc. Garen has none of that.

Regarding Vlad, I was referring to his post-rework. Much (most?) of his damage comes from his AoE E ability, which happens to be a great wave clear tool when you're playing him at top, but not exactly something you want a support firing off bot lane.

ReshiKillimAug 1, 20161 votes

It's only trolling/griefing if you're intentionally ruining the lane/game for your teammates. Off-meta is off-meta, it can be a really bad idea that gets your lane wrecked without being any form of trolling.

EG: A Tahm that spits you into the enemy team at any chance they get. That's trolling

Jo0oAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

It's only trolling/griefing if you're intentionally ruining the lane/game for your teammates. Off-meta is off-meta, it can be a really bad idea that gets your lane wrecked without being any form of trolling.

EG: A Tahm that spits you into the enemy team at any chance they get. That's trolling

See, I have to disagree. Some champion kits simply don't have a means of supporting. It's one thing to pick a champ that isn't traditionally support, like Amumu, Kayle, or various other AP poke-mages, with the expectation that you can still fit the support role. But I honestly don't know how somebody could pick Garen support with good intentions.

ReshiKillimAug 1, 20161 votes

It could be done, depending on how you play it and who you're up against. There's a lot of things that can be done with the support role, one of which is a Garen meat shield for the ADC (against someone like Ezreal).

Any champion can be played as a support without it being trolling, just like any champion can jungle. Doesn't make it a good or smart pick, but it's not trolling. Although I would be pretty upset if someone took Garen support in ranked, as long as they play the role they called properly I've got no problems with it.

It's been stated by Rioters on several occasions, that you can't be banned for off-meta/unconventional picks (Like tank Akali was at first considered to be trolling).

I'd definitely say that things like Garen, Jax, or other champs not usually picked in the botlane aren't supports I'd like to have in ranked as I wouldn't have any idea whether or not they'd do well or do badly.

Some of my personal favorites to take as a support, are Kha'zix and Shaco. Definitely not great in the botlane, makes it a lot harder to pull off good plays, but doesn't mean it's not viable nor does it mean the player is trolling.

Athenes LuluAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Well, where is the line between "off-meta" and "troll"?

Let's say I'm queued as support and I go Jhin. How, exactly, will I support my team? All four of Jhin's abilities have the potential to steal CS, and the kit has very little utility beyond heavy damage. Other than taking kills and CS away from the team, how will a support Jhin get money? Spellthief's Edge?

The same is true for many champs in the game. Many mages can support to an extent, but Vlad, for example, lacks CC and will steal CS. A support Garen offers no peels and only a light silence for utility. Most Marksmen and Assassins are designed to take kills, not set them up for somebody else.

Case 1: Person picks Jhin support, and the other person either doesn't really care or approves of it, despite flat-out knowing that the game will turn out badly. He is doing for the sake of "fun" and "trying something different", and that someone approves of it. Sure, they'll lose, but no rules are broken. In lane he may feed from failure of dodging skillshots, but afterwards he actually tries to stop dying. That's not trolling. In fact, as a support main, I sometimes play anti-CC champs as a support even in One-for-All, even in a team of five Katarinas.

Case 2: Person picks Jhin support, despite his entire team telling no otherwise. "OMG I GET TO DO WHATEVER I WANT STFU", or somewhere along the similar the lines of it (it can even be very subtle and calm speech form). What's the reason? It can either be "you took my role", "I just feel like it", anything that promotes "I want to make sure you guys are mad/angry/tilted/whatever". Absolutely no incentives of trying to win, or obvious signs of trying to lose, such as purposely walking in to feed. After lane? AFK, or just giving up. If that's not trolling then I don't know what to say otherwise.

TLDR approval of others and the purpose of playing all matters. Just because something is "off-meta", that doesn't mean it is "troll". Same goes vice-versa, if anything. The difference is based on what the person is trying to accomplish.

LeeerzeichenAug 1, 20161 votes

I hate when people want to tell me that supports have no right to get cs or kills. I hate when people call a zed support a troll even if he's doing a good job and almost solo killed the enemy adc and I have no problem if he accidentally steals a few cs because his q is aoe. I don't care if he only playes zed support because he didn't got mid as long as he's trying to win. If you have a problem with the lack of vision because he rushed ghost blade instead of sightstone, you can friendly ask or convince him to build a sightstone or build a sightstone yourself, but you have no right to flame him or to demand that he has to build this item. Just stop being ignorant, chill down and do the things that give you the highest chance of winning. Just give the zed support a few kill/cs and watch him being useful.

Jo0oAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I hate when people want to tell me that supports have no right to get cs or kills. I hate when people call a zed support a troll even if he's doing a good job and almost solo killed the enemy adc and I have no problem if he accidentally steals a few cs because his q is aoe. I don't care if he only playes zed support because he didn't got mid as long as he's trying to win. If you have a problem with the lack of vision because he rushed ghost blade instead of sightstone, you can friendly ask or convince him to build a sightstone or build a sightstone yourself, but you have no right to flame him or to demand that he has to build this item. Just stop being ignorant, chill down and do the things that give you the highest chance of winning. Just give the zed support a few kill/cs and watch him being useful.

I'm a support main, I know what we have the "right" to do.

Sure, inevitably, supports get some cs and some kills. Especially when the ADC is out of range, dead, etc. But it's not our primary job.

That support Zed that you're oddly okay with is attempting to support you as a nerfed assassin. If he can randomly get a kill on their ADC that your team otherwise wouldn't have gotten, okay, great. But he's playing an assassin without farming! That's simply ludicrous. Meanwhile, he can't sustain you beyond whatever Relic Shield is giving, he can't peel, he can't snare. He can only poke, in such a way that may steal CS, and in such a way that likely won't do much damage at all since he's underfed.

The whole point of Zed is to get fed, snowball, and rapidly eliminate enemy carries. A Zed with 40 CS at 30 minutes, Sightstone, and Relic Shield probably isn't doing that. So what ARE they contributing, exactly?

LeeerzeichenAug 1, 20161 votes

This is not my point. Just because my champion seems to be suboptimal for the support role, it doesn't mean that I'm trolling that I can't work. I played 4 Diana support games for example and I managed to hard carry 2 of those 4 games because I got a few early kills and snowballed of this lead. Is Diana a good support champ? No, because it's incredibly snowball reliant. Are there better support champs? Yes. Is this a troll pick? No. Can you win with it? Yes.

Jo0oAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

This is not my point. Just because my champion seems to be suboptimal for the support role, it doesn't mean that I'm trolling that I can't work. I played 4 Diana support games for example and I managed to hard carry 2 of those 4 games because I got a few early kills and snowballed of this lead. Is Diana a good support champ? No, because it's incredibly snowball reliant. Are there better support champs? Yes. Is this a troll pick? No. Can you win with it? Yes.

But Diana still has a gap closer, a snare, and poke potential. I'm attempting to identify champs that literally cannot be support, not just suboptimal choices.

Only Play DariusAug 1, 20161 votes

If you are getting results with your support pick then you're fine. I do know of a guy who never used chat and was permabanned for repeatedly playing Nunu support (because it's a shit pick evidenced by his atrocious winrate) so as long as you aren't repeatedly playing a champ you know doesn't work out then you have nothing to worry about

TheLazySunbroAug 1, 20161 votes

I play Singed Singed

Farewell guys

Troll for TrumpAug 1, 20161 votes

Technically none, but there are certain times where it's pretty obvious. At lower levels? Sure.

But if you're in ranked, I don't want to see Nasus support rushing Triforce.

Tobias BracknerAug 1, 20161 votes

The example you posted was an extreme case and it looked like it was a pretty hardcore pattern of the guy doing some insane stuff in ranked that didn't all make sense.

moonbornAug 1, 20161 votes

i doubt whether support team had this confirmed. normally from what i read from countless posts from riot they made clear that nobody can be banned for building different items or picking one or another champion that "is not supposed to be there". you can go soraka mid and you are fine. or karthus support. you also don't even have to build a sightstone if you don't want to(which is a bit selfish but it's your call).

CrossetteAug 1, 20161 votes

He posted this.

http://imgur.com/a/8PXRZ

This is more from trying dumb shit in ranked and not talking to the team about picks, it's like the rush of people that are going to first pick Kled without knowing what the fuck they're doing.

QweraRandolphzAug 1, 20161 votes

There is no such thing, there is no automated system for banning anyone for playing anything "out of place". As long as you aren't trolling or int feeding you'll be fine

http://www.pvpdatabase.com/?p=1253

EvewynnAug 1, 20161 votes

Brand is a popular Mage support, just remember to get that sight stone and you'll be fine. Unless you constantly feed with your random stuff, I wouldn't be worried about being banned while playing normals.

If you pick something off-meta, make sure you have plenty of practice with it in normals and have repeated success with it. I main mid and I enjoy playing kooky things a lot (I'm actually pretty decent with stuff like assassin poppy), but I would never bring anything but my best into a ranked game.

Itadaki SeiekiAug 1, 20161 votes

If that's the case, I'm probably not playing League anymore tbh.

I've had a ton of fun playing supports like Gnar, ASol, Rek'sai and a few others, and I DO play them in ranked.

If I get banned for having fun, what's the point of playing?

GULAG 4 UAug 1, 20161 votes

Kha'zix if you're not diamond 1 khazix B)

(He's a challenger khazix player and in s5 he was in the top 20 by only playing khazix and playing him in every single role)

Unstoppable MonkAug 2, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Kha'zix if you're not diamond 1 khazix B)

(He's a challenger khazix player and in s5 he was in the top 20 by only playing khazix and playing him in every single role)

Amen to our buglord support Khazix, curbstomper of those that farm alone at bottom lane. Top tier AD supports swagmaster assassin.

xWatersAug 1, 20161 votes

I played a game against Ekko support as Bard. The lane phase was pretty miserable for my me and my adc cause vayne got a double kill and first blood lol. But its almost like later on in the game where the value of a support was missing in the enemy team. Basically Ekko couldn't save lives and catch people out like I could with my ult.

JorenciceAug 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

This is an actual serious; non troll post. I was informed if you choose a champion that doesn't fit the current meta you can be banned (Support Team has actually confirmed this).

As a Brand support main; I'm wondering how this works. I manage to get S grade almost every game, and do very well for my team. Yet I'm finding people calling me a "Troll"/reporting me for choosing that champion as it's non traditional. It's very viable to bring a burst mage bot lane (Annie/Brand/Zyra) for kill lanes - I'm wondering how that translates to other champions.

I see a lot of break the meta videos and they show insane combinations that actually work. Question is - is there a list of champions your allowed to play support? I'd hate to be punished for trying something new in normals.

I'm calling shenangians. A red DID NOT say you would be banned for playing a off meta support.

I've played literally every single champion as support and I haven't even got so much as a warning.

ResolutionAug 1, 20161 votes

I did not see a red post; I was referring to the support staff pointing out it is.

Truly PridefulAug 1, 20161 votes

As long as you are playing with the intent to win and work with your team then none should be bannable. I used to play Rengar support with random Kalistas and people didn't seem to mind once they saw I wasn't trolling and actually made a lot of plays on the map. As someone who plays ADC, as long as your pick has some logic behind it I'm willing to give it a shot.

Mysticman89Aug 2, 20161 votes

No one.

In approximately 100% of cases, those claiming to be punished for playing something off meta were actually punished for something else (usually toxicity/trolling). Picking an off-meta support (or off-meta anything) is on it's own is not trolling, and with very few exceptions (off the top of my head, kat, yi, and lucian), every champ offers some sort of potential utility that could be support-y, and even the exceptions I mentioned earlier could be as snowbally kill lane type supports.

That said, while playing an off-meta support is not itself trolling, it's not a license to troll under the guise of trying something off-meta. It's not terribly difficult to tell the difference between someone genuinely trying something off meta, and someone trying to troll in a manner they think they can get away with. If such a 'secret troll' actually played their off meta pick while communicating as best they can and trying their best to win, then that'd actually be fine and they would get away with it, but in practice it tends to be far more toxic chatter and bait-y stuff, and thats what players are punished for, not the pick itself.

zlumpyAug 2, 20161 votes

As long as you actually support and contribute to team you can play whatever you want as support. Your team may hate you for going Draven support but if you somehow pull ot off then grats to you.