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Help me become a more impactful support

Guiboulou·5/29/2016, 5:13:02 PM·5 votes·859 views

Hello Gameplay!

Recently, I have been free falling rather than climbing the rank ladder. I main mid and play support as a secondary role. As you can probably guess, I get support 19 times out of 20. I did try playing Mid/Top instead, but I got top all three games and it really didn't go well... Anyway, my problem is that I don't feel impactful when I play support. I feel like I'm just tagging along and saving a carry once in a while. I would appreciate advice from other support players. Even if you think what you have to say is obvious, go ahead and write it. Any tip is better than no tip. ^_^

I do know that I need to roam more. However, I never know when to roam. Whenever I try to do so, even if we do get an objective/kill where I went, my ADc gets butt-raped while I'm away.

TL;DR - How can I change my gameplay in order to become an impactful support?

EDIT: Really wondering why I'm being downvoted

24 Comments

hh the thinker5/29/2016, 5:25:28 PM2 votes

i myself isn't that great at roaming either. what i tend to do for this though is make up for it with my strong laning. even if it's a losing lane, i know that we need to play safe and i will look for an opening. if you do roam, look for the other team being pushed up too much.

depending on the support you play, it can matter what you will be doing. some supports peel better and some like going aggro more with all ins, some with just poke. something like blitz makes things easier to carry, unless the other team comp counters you (morg, tank or very mobile champs). not saying to play blitz, but the idea is that blitz is a champ that can force something to happen. the more control you have, the easier it tends to be to carry. with lulu for example, her greatest strengths are her poke and her peel she can provide.

if you want to make more of an impact with lets say lulu, you want to be poking down really hard, without getting caught or taking too much return damage. by just bullying the other laners, you make it really hard for them to cs for one thing which can be really big. it also gives your adc/team a chance for maybe a kill. afterwards, peeling and ccing ill be more important. each game is different so be ready to adapt to the changes with your builds and play style. if someone needs something, try your best to provide it.

to go over the roaming more, you roam when your adc is safe to farm freely or just at base. if you don't need to be with adc, then you can look to make an impact else where. then look to see how mid is, maybe ward the other team's jungle (careful of getting caught though) or you can go top lane if you think you can really do something up there, maybe with jungle. if your adc is safe freezing the minions right next to tower, you generally have more time, unless they can tower dive them.

No flash no life5/29/2016, 5:35:15 PM2 votes

Whatever champ you play, you're always focusing on providing vision and denying vision throughout the game. After that, you might wanna ask yourself a question: " is the adc going to be impactful?"

If yes, I'd pick something that allows the adc to make a performance, something that can keep the adc safe, such as alistar, morgana, janna, thresh, braum. If not, I'd pick something that can be impactful without completely dependent on the adc, such as karma, lulu, tahm kench.

Overall, though, I'd say just play whatever you feel comfortable with. Tank ekko has been a thing for a while, but if I were to play ekko my enemy top lane will never leave lane cuz it's ez free kills.

QjTHqo3RTq5/29/2016, 8:54:34 PM2 votes

Being an impactful support often means picking someone with LARGE damage or LARGE cc. You can play anyone you want as a support, but if you want have the largest impact you can, Blitzcrank Nautilus Thresh TahmKench Morgana Leona Soraka Annie Braum Janna Sona are the best choices, they're also more or less in order how of hugely they can carry games.

Athenes Lulu5/29/2016, 9:38:12 PM2 votes

Depends on what you pick, not all supports are flashy buttons-in-order frontliners Blitzcrank Thresh Leona

Supports in general don't seem impactful because people tend to overlook the importance of doing things that's not frontline or DPS work. For example, if you're a designated peeler, focus more on peeling. Have you ever seen your team falling apart because your support isn't present, even though he's a backliner? That's already a good deal of impact of supporting.

Speaking of roaming, not every support is created equal. Some are horrible roamers while some others are designed for it. If you're picking a horrible roamer, best solution, don't roam, and focus more on the lane (such as making sure the enemy ADC doesn't get experience). Otherwise, ask yourself these questions:

What will we gain from roaming?
What will we lose from roaming?
Will my teammates be okay with me just showing up to their lanes?
Will my ADC be okay with me randomly leaving the lane?
Will my ADC be able to be on his own when I'm gone?

If you can't answer either of the questions, starter advice: don't roam. In fact, some matchups are deadly the moment the lane becomes a 1v2, and some matchups are okay to handle when it's a 1v2 situation. Since Lulu kinda sucks at roaming but excels at making a 1v2 lane a nightmare, I have taken advantages of bad enemy support roams and won lanes/games simply because of that; don't be one of those guys.