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What is the Support Role Exactly?

TsundereHeiress·12/13/2017, 6:16:18 AM·2 votes·10,541 views

Ok so me and my friend have been arguing about our views on this role. When she supports me, she leaves me to die. A lot. Saying she needs to be alive for the others to get healed/buffed/shielded. I tell her that it's bullshit because she's MY support. That the others have the jungler to watch out for them. That she should focus on me until we get to their base.

I play support in my free time when I'm by myself. The only time I abandon my ADC, is when they play too risky it gets us constantly killed. Outside of that I never leave my ADC's side and always die to make sure they live. After having me as a support the most deaths I seen on my ADC is 2 or 3 but they got a shit ton of kills.

In short, I believe the Support should focus only on ADC and die for the ADC. She says the ADC should learn to care for themselves after a certain amount of time so that the support can go help the others. I also believe that ALL supports should be ready to jump in front of an enemy attack to protect the ADC. She believes that only front line Supports should do that.

So which is it? Do supports Sacrifice themselves for the ADC or not? Do the Supports help all team members throughout the game or do they focus on ADC only until they break into enemy base?

Please Note: My Support style is because of Jungler. If we have a Jungler, they are a lot stronger than support and can help the other 2 lanes much easier than a support can handling all 4. But, when it comes to team fights I do agree that support should help all. But, until then they should mainly be focused on ADC.

22 Comments

Taeseuk12/13/2017, 7:51:37 AM5 votes

Neither of you are correct.

First the support does not belong to anybody they are there for the team.

That being said until the adc can handles themselves the support should be with them and helping them as much as possible, however if there is going to be a fight say mid or blue buff and they can get there in time to help without putting their add at risk they should.

During the time that the support is with their adc they should die to allow their adc to escape however they shouldn't be diving in front of everything and committing support death if their adc isn't going to escape anyway.

Now while that's the typical role of a support it really depend from person to person some adcs want their support with them all the time, some adcs want the freedom to flex their muscles so have their support roam. Some supports like to follow their adc everywhere others like to roam around giving their adc apace and helping the team. Neither type is wrong or right it's just a different play style just as there are more aggressive supports and more passive supports.

Sarutobi12/13/2017, 6:22:59 AM1 votes

In my opinion the Support is someone who helps the team, not just the ADC. In laning phase ill agree they are there to protect you, help you get the CS while trying to poke the enemies so that you guys can get a lead. With that said though they shouldn't be dying for you, no one should be doing that Support or not! but the support isnt exclusive for you. Its for the team, they should be helping everyone.

Baron Barian12/13/2017, 6:23:35 AM1 votes

The support should focus solely on their adc during the early game, while you're laning along side with them. But mid and late game, you are the whole team's primary source of utility. If a support has a way to help their other teammates, then they should.

Everyone benefits from healing, but if your the adc in a big team fight and are finding that you're taking too much damage and will die, then you're probably positioned poorly anyway.

Lunar Lunacy12/13/2017, 6:25:13 AM1 votes

If your adc is under a lot of pressure or if the enemy minion wave is pushing up to your bot turret you should probably be there with your adc. If you guys have bot pushed up to enemy tower, feel free to roam, but you should get back as quickly as possible (at least by the time the enemy minion wave reaches your turret). You don't want your adc getting zoned by the enemy support.

Some adcs have more escape tools than others or can farm more safely from a range which can mean they are okay to hang out bot by themselves 1v2 for a little while

If the enemy support is roaming, you can too, then you're just leaving it a 1v1 bot and that should be fine if both are relatively even in gold/experience, and it's especially fine if your adc is ahead

I get frustrated myself if the support roams for an extended period of time and leaves me 1v2 to get zoned.

CPU Lyrica12/13/2017, 6:26:34 AM1 votes

The support is, well, in laymans' terms, the adc's babysitter. you make sure they're healthy, keeping up in cs. you tell them when they're out of position, so they fix it (out of position adc + blitz hook = free first blood).

The adc is like a todler. they're dumb. they just want kills, and cs, and to be in the spotlight. you're the support. you're a tool to them (unless you're queing with friends)

my first bit of advice, honestly, refuse to support Tristana and Ezreal . those two are very.. eager to run away and leave the support to die, which harbors the negative attitude of "you're cannon fodder."

Secondly, pick a support, main them, get to know them, then begin to branch out. i started with Sona , who was simple enough. though, being THE MOST, SQUISHY support, the dificulty of learning curve's more based around when to poke, when not to poke. not being caught out, etc.

Support takes alot of practice. being the support means you'll always be behind. it takes alot of practice, and patience, to git gud.

Jo0o12/13/2017, 6:29:42 AM1 votes

It's certainly not 100% about defending the ADC. That's a big part of it, especially when the ADC is fed and is in a position to hard carry the game, but it's not all of it. A support can easily play off of the mid or jungler, or occasionally even the top laner, in securing kills during the laning phase if the ADC is safe. Generally you don't want the ADC going 1v2 in lane, but when the enemy bot lane is shopping or you've killed one or both of them, there's not much of a reason to babysit.

And generally, even if I'm squishy, I'll die for my ADC. If we're both low and there's an obvious incoming threat like a Cait ult, it 100% makes more sense for me to die than them. They need farm, I don't.

Pandeonor12/13/2017, 6:48:06 AM1 votes

Well.

I support my adc in laning phase. Later on I support the team and don´t care more about the adc. Specifically if my adc is bad I don´t die further on because of him (or better: I try to). Normally I die because of adc... and die... and die... and if he would be safed.... he turns to make one shot more (with 5hp only)... and surprisingly die.

Maybe it´s my fault. One of my problems on support-role is that my faith seems to be connected with the abilities of my adc. What main supports like "the strategy professor" on youtube teach is that if the adc is bad, just leave him alone and better help others in team wich are worth the effort.

The main problem is that half of the time (50% is the "core of league") an adc is weaker then the opposite adc (abilities/MMR). It is very difficult to compensate that.

Kaìju12/13/2017, 6:48:13 AM1 votes

ADC main with lots of supp experience here. Your support is there to baby whoever is gonna carry. In the early game that is the ADC. They need to do everything they can to get the ADC fed. If the game hits 20 minutes and they are still worthless, you find the most fed person on the team any baby them. I have abandoned my carry to die at 25 minutes because our Veigar is infintly more powerful. I will abandon a 1/8 Yi to save a tank if that tank is winning us fights. It's about supporting whoever is carrying. Sometimes it's the marksman, sometimes it's not.

Athenes Lulu12/13/2017, 7:08:19 AM1 votes

the 5th person that doesn't get as much gold and lanes with the adc obviously

and a place for autofilled/bad people to get away with things because they can just pick tank or mage and carry from there, with 2 people dying at a time

kappa

In all seriousness, because of how actually vulnerable ADCs are alone, the "support" is the one to make sure the ADC does his job, which is farm for gold so he can get his items and not die. But with how strong mages and tanks in the spot of "supports" really are, the classical definition tends to be skewed. Now, the more accurate response is "the other person with the ADC botlane", regardless of what either person actually does.

Now to your dispute with your friend, the support actually shouldn't ditch his ADC not because the ADC will die, but because the enemy botlane will snowball even harder because 1v2 is the freest advantage anyone could get. Now to die or not for the ADC, actually depends. If the ADC is ahead and has a bounty on his head, then yes, it is worth to die for the ADC so he gets out alive, and make sure the enemy doesn't get that bounty. If the ADC is behind, useless, and has no bounty, then you're only wasting efforts to die for a useless teammate.

If your ADC is hot garbage, for example, you're better off saving some other teammate that actually helps you win the game. Yes, your ADC needs your help the most and is actually more dependent on his teammates than you are (since you can live w/o an escort while he does), but don't forget that you got 3 more people to watch for. Now, if you're a mage, you're probably not gonna do that unless you have no kills and it's your ADC that does.

iLBGAMing12/13/2017, 12:33:52 PM1 votes

Helping team supposedly, but now a days it's just look at me i'm better then all of you because I can one shot the enemy carry, aka the "supports":

.

But there are some real mvp supports that I come across rarely:

ChiTenshi12/13/2017, 1:07:10 PM1 votes

Supports can sacrifice themselves to protect their ADC, but if the ADC is going to get Blitzcrank Hooked everytime I am not going to bother trying.

If they can't dodge a hook, how can I rely on them to position effectively later in the match and perform their role of DPS?

I would rather put my energy into feeding another ally than trying to save a lost cause.

Micbran12/13/2017, 1:18:14 PM1 votes

If your adc is bad, fuck em, go suck someone else’s dick on your team. You’re there to enable your team to do better, it’s just sad how riot focuses so much on supports who synergize with ADC’s.

Gives No Lux12/13/2017, 8:17:27 PM1 votes

I was going to come here to make a joke about it being a support's role to placate the ADC's ego but it appears as though you've beat me to it. Well played sir, well played.

kattzkitti12/13/2017, 6:21:25 AM1 votes

Support is just that, support for the team as a whole.

FooDang12/13/2017, 8:36:00 PM1 votes

{quoted}

. I tell her that it's bullshit because she's MY support. That she should focus on me until we get to their base.

Nope

In short, I believe the Support should focus only on ADC and die for the ADC.

Nope

As a support I will stay as long as I have to. If Im about to die then theres really no point in me staying any longer. As far as babysitting the ADC, i will do my job as far as warding and peeling but im not going to stand around you in midgame and twiddle my thumbs while you farm. And if you get caught out ill straight up walk away if I know theres no chance in saving you.