The third rail of support discussion is warding - A rework concept

The third rail of support discussion is warding and it's ruining the role. Saddled with a history of being a walking ward stick, supports rightfully said "we want a larger role in the game." and I think at this point they've achieved that. But LoL constantly changes and season to season we should be addressing the point again.

I'd like to address the warding issue via some of the new supports they've released with, ostensibly, isn't related, but I'm hopefully going to make this non-sequitur obvious in a paragraph or two. So lets start with , , and . In each instance, they tried to pull away from enchanter model and give them more interaction than just hanging out and shielding. I'm in favor of that, but it creates a situation in which you're either finding ways to keep people entertaining in a role they don't want to be in to the detriment of the kit, or you have Pyke who I see far more frequently in the Jungle or Top lane. Pyke's almost immediate role shift should give us all some pause. Support is not a role for everyone, and while we need more diversity and engagement, making an assassin wasn't the way to go.

So here's where I think warding should come into play. My argument can be boiled down to this - let's not throttle wards as we have been, and let's not worry that supports are walking ward sticks - lets throw both into overdrive.

To put this another way, lets use bard as the model. Bard is a support, and supports how some of the more engage-oriented supports do, but he also has this second role of getting chimes. Neat, right? Lets make wards the inverse of chimes. Here's how I think it should work mechanically.

GI items would be the equivalent of jungle items insofar as you need to build it or you're screwed. But they also enhance the champ a lot more. Here's what they'd do:

1. Increase MS by 10%.
2. Increase all ward duration by 10%.
3. Upgrade beyond third tier to a 4th tier giving your GI item Blackout.
4. Provide enhanced MS (in the vein of Raptor Cloak) to the champ anytime they pass an allied ward.
5. Zombie ward (ZW) would become standard on the GI item, and the rune would be replaced.

The goal here, again, would be to replicate the Bard condition of chime hunting with wards. In other words, there would be a mad dash if the ADC backs to try and load up the jungle with wards as throughly as possible OR to counter-ward and remove the enemies wards.

This second aspect, I feel, gives this secondary game a lot more verve and intrigue. You would be able to essentially take out their speed and vision (providing your own becuase of ZW), or enhance your own speed from bot and light up the top side of the map.

Generally speaking, warding had been a boring enterprise that you would be screamed at for allowing to fall for anything more than 5 seconds. "No vision. Garbage support. GG." No one wants that back. But if we make warding a lot more of a second ward, I think it would add some spice to the support role, and allow for future supports to have a kit that is more comprehensive.