S6 P2 - Support Main; Let's talk about supports

Bennett TL·Dec 24, 2016·1 votes·953 views

FT5 Bennett - Summoner search results - League of Legends

I'm a thresh main, and it feels like since the changes to support items, that thresh has come back in a huge way. It no longer feels as though when you lose lane, you're just useless and have to just sit on the back line as squishy as your carries anymore. I also feel like karma, and zyra are back up, if not still t1 supps. But I think thresh is back to the spot where he used to be during s4 and s5. It feels weird not building 40% cdr on him anymore though, but it works.

come join my stream to talk more about it or just to watch some gameplay! I'll be streaming for most of the night, and playing support in duo q as I'm trying to get back into plat to begin my climb to diamond this season.

http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=FT5%20Bennett https://www.twitch.tv/bennett_tl

11 Comments

Bennett TLDec 24, 20162 votes

Honestly, support is really hard to climb as now. If you're not playing play makers it's super hard to carry and have lots of influence on the game. However, with that being said, if you really do want to stick to playing support and climbing as it, the best 4 champs to play and climb with right now imo are karma, thresh, janna, and zyra. I honestly think zyra is hard though just because it's hard to position correctly with her. It's also best to learn the other roles of the game too because it entirely influences your decision making and shotcalling for playing support because you understand what they're looking for and everything. Once I started climbing as support 2 seasons ago, I was also climbing in every role. Support is probably one of the roles where you can dominate games if you understand how to play as 5 and how to just push leads as just a duo.

SchmidttyGamesDec 24, 20161 votes

Support Champions are in a good place. Sadly, Auto-Fill has put the role itself in a bad place.

When you're dominating lane and your ADC flames out over 1 kill taken during a foiled gank attempt (that you foiled thanks to Vision Control). When you ping the enemy jungler coming your way from Scuttle and your carry proceeds to hit their tower, and them flames you for "not helping them" when they get crushed, even though you warned them to get the hell out of there...

As a Support Main, I find the current meta amazing for Support Champions. But the player base itself has become so toxic to the role that I find no joy in doing it anymore.

Bennett TLDec 24, 20161 votes

I agree with you on that. However, that's how it has generally always been. Even in plat last season, most people wouldn't really listen to my shotcalls until I made impact in other lanes. Once I did though, I noticed people would generally listen to my pings. Once I got higher up in plat, I noticed people generally listen to you without the need of having to prove that you're good and know what you're talking about.

SchmidttyGamesDec 24, 20161 votes

Playing purely Support, I don't think I'll make it out of Silver, or into an elo where the skills I have studied and learned for the role are going to matter. If I don't pick a Zyra and my team craps out, often I can't do anything to help. If I pick a pure Support like Janna, I am entirely at the mercy of my team, and in low Silver, that's a gamble all by itself.

Yesterday I was flamed at for "leaving lane" to ward the dragon pit at 8m. -_- You just can't tell these people that it's your duty, your bloody job, to do these things. Your carry thinks that you're his slave and the rest of the team assumes you're worthless.

People tell me that I'm a Support Main because "you can't do anything else well enough to matter". And then they wonder why no one wants to do it.

[zombie-brand-facepalm]

chipndip1Dec 25, 20161 votes

The point is that not everyone wants to be Janna, but the itemization in the role assumes EVERYONE WANTS TO BE JANNA. Like, everyone. It's infuriating. I don't like that play style, and there's not a damn item that reflects that. Or rather, none that aren't garbage.

GinoSoldierDec 25, 20161 votes

{quoted}

The point is that not everyone wants to be Janna, but the itemization in the role assumes EVERYONE WANTS TO BE JANNA. Like, everyone. It's infuriating. I don't like that play style, and there's not a damn item that reflects that. Or rather, none that aren't garbage.

I love that Riot's acknowledged that half the supports in the game spend most of their teamfight time looking at grey screen so they made Redemption an active usable when dead.

chipndip1Dec 25, 20161 votes

It's actually sad when it comes to the mixed messages we get about the role.

GinoSoldierDec 25, 20161 votes

{quoted}

It's actually sad when it comes to the mixed messages we get about the role.

I loathe that people in general hate change. If there wasn't such an enormous bias against change, there might be a chance for support players to get the gameplay they deserve instead of having to wait for gradual, bit by bit, reluctant change.

One of the most major changes that need to happen is to ADCs to be removed from the core of the game. Yet we know it'll never happen, not because the game would become unplayable, but because people DON'T WANT to adapt to new things, regardless of whether it's good for them or not.

GinoSoldierDec 24, 20161 votes

The entire issue, the reason why people dislike playing support outside of actual support players, is exactly because you're always at everyone's mercy. Go ward? Get caught, die. Initiate as supp tank? Lack of stats will see you dead. Attempt to do the very basic function of damage, get outdone by every single other champion in the game, at virtually every point in the game.

While i realize Supports have a very specific function and 'do not necessarily need items to perform' i find ludicrous that they're lowered to the rank of weakest of all players in terms of stats for that reason alone. They can absolutely be allowed to peel/heal/damage while still being dedicated towards supporting the team in statwise-efficient manners.

My reasoning of this is exemplified by Sona. What happens when you give a Sona gold and the freedom to build straight AP? She becomes a danger in terms of damage, brings massive amounts of healing to her team, and can help her team through mobility with E. Not only that, but she can cripple enemy carries and assassins through well-timed W and E Powerchords which are much more powerful than you'd expect from a current support Sona.

(I played a game as Sona mid recently, and hit 900 AP. I healed for well over 300 per W not counting the shield, and sped up allies for a whopping 68% MS. The W Powerchord lowered enemy damage by over 50% and the E Powerchord's slow was actually very strong. Build was item 3100 item 3504 item 3285 item 3089 item 3165 item 3135 )

While yes, this is an endgame build, my impact on the game was constant and obvious as i built myself up.

I'm not implying supports should have quite THAT much power on a regular basis, I just can't see what's wrong with shifting the meta and make supports actual players of this game, on equal stat footing with everyone else.

It HAS been getting better as seasons went, i recognize that much, but I think it's time Riot scrapped the Sightstone altogether and let the vision be entirely be given over to their great Trinket system. That will be the first step towards making Supports feel good to play for the general people, i believe.

chipndip1Dec 25, 20161 votes

You will NEVER convince anyone that supports should have access to scaling stats, no matter how much good you mean by it.

Bennett TLDec 25, 20161 votes

I personally believe that it just depends on what support you're looking at trying to play. There are several dedicated tank-cc supports that get super tanky off support items. There are also several champs that get lots of damage and only have to build sightstone in their build. It's all just a matter of who you play imo and what suits you