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The tank support issue needs to be addressed

VDc0zCqe0w·1/19/2016, 8:29:15 PM·2 votes·527 views

There are still no words on the above issue since the preseason changes and it doesn't even look like Riot even thinks this to be a problem. The majority of the pro games has a tank support in each team for so long. The only non tank supports that are getting RARELY picked are Janna, Bard, Morg, Soraka. And these ones are getting picked in like 1/10 of games. Even Annie fell completely out of flavor.

Traditional lane bullies supports like Sona, Karma, Lulu (as a support) are long gone. Why would you ever pick them? Several changes the past year resulted to tank supports getting a free pass in laning stage, which used to be their weakness. Now they have no issues whatsover and also are more durable to ganks and way harder to towerdive.

On top of that we have FQC getting nerfed, and while i understand that it was a neccessary i expected some form of compensation for the AP supports, who are already in a bad spot.

This is not much of an issue in soloQ i'd say (even if tank support aren't bad at all in soloQ either http://champion.gg/statistics/#?roleSort=Support&sortBy=general.winPercent&order=descend it's a 5-5 utilityAP support vs tank support in the top 10) but man is it getting boring in competitive.

2 Comments

laksjhdflkjah1/19/2016, 8:42:36 PM1 votes

LCS has a different Meta game. It's like comparing coordinated play to uncoordinated play... Oh wait...

Erockandroll1/19/2016, 8:50:36 PM1 votes

I some what doubt it's a issue of power. Contrary to the "Save Sona" threads, riot continues to see a high win rate from her.

But I think the key problem is the play making potential that some of these champions have. Which is more than just Tank supports. (and not even all tank supports.) A mechanically strong team will make the best use of supports with strong mechanics, regardless of their stats. Which is why someone like Thresh, gets picked in a team comp, more often than a generalist like Sona.

But I do believe there's one important exception, which is in fact the elephant in the room for LCS supports. And that would be Alistar. Even though he does have the mechanics I've just mentioned, He does have one specific trait that makes him abusive. And that would be his Ult. Giving him top tier damage prevention, with very few items.

Aside from that, the other issue is meta. For poke Supports to be good, they have to be in an environment where poke is good. And doesn't tend to be the case when your opponent has multiple tanks.