@Riot: A veteran Support main's opinion on the support role currently

Hello Riot,

I've been a support main on League since I started, during season 1. I've seen a lot of metas (Graves/Taric comes to mind), I remember the world in botlane pre-sightstone, I've seen the end of Heart of Gold and Philosopher's Stone and the start of Spellthief's Edge, Ancient Coin and Relic Shield, I remember taking CV/Flash and being happy with one finished item at the end of the match. I remember the rise and fall of champions, the reworks, the old Sona, Soraka and Taric. I remember Thresh's release, my heart melting for Braum and what they both meant for the support role.

For everything that you've done for us Support mains, I want to say: Thank you!

##That said… I'm here to talk about my opinion on the current state of supports in the game, and while there are a lot that has already been done, I wouldn't mind more improvements! I will also give some ideas I had thinking about it. ######Obviously, I will be completely subjective on this, since it's an opinion.

#What is a Support? What makes a champion a Support?

A Support is a character that, obviously, will help their teammates to win. The particularity of a support is that they don't interact directly with the primary element of the game: Damage. A support gives utility to their team, either through heals, buffs, debuffs or CCs (which are a specific type of debuffs). A support doesn't try and fight alone, but they amplify their ally's power; they ARE a living buff.

Finally, a support is a role, not a class, not a position. However, supports are almost exclusively played as a botlane partner, since the share of resources across the map seems to be optimized this way. I'll consider as support any character that is, in the meta, seen primary as a botlane partner.

##Who are the Supports; what classes are they in?

If we take a look at this article, we can see where the supports are categorized:

• Tank – Vanguards:
• Tank – Wardens: ()
• Mages – Burst: ()
• Mages – Battle: () ()
• Controllers – Enchanters: () ()
• Controllers – Disruptors:
• Unique:

In parenthesis are Hybrid playstyles.

We can already conclude obvious things from that: Enchanters, with 100%, has the biggest ratio of supports in category, followed by Wardens, with 50%. All other categories contain 0 to 2 supports. Also, if we remove those whose initial design was not meant to be a support, there is only one other class containing a sole champion: Vanguards, with Leona, whose kit was designed to go paired with an ally in lane.

So why are there other champions, and why are they played support? None of these interact with their ally with their kits. No heal, no shield and no buff. There are two factors that explain their role: High base stats and reliable/powerful CC. They can, even though they don't have buffs, peel for their teams thanks to somewhat reliable CC or by their quantity, while they either tank enough or deal enough damage with a limited gold income. We can say that these champions are mostly outliers that happen to function in an unintended role. What we're more interested is what defines a support. If we remove outliers, we are left with only 2 classes:

##A support can be either a Tank or an Enchanter.

In Tanks, we can see Vanguards and Wardens. While the latter is closer to the typical thematics of a support, the former works well in the role by enabling the fight for their mates. Tanks soak up a lot of damage, which is helpful for them, thus indirectly for their allies. The difference between them and Wardens is that Wardens use their tankiness to actively protect while Vanguards use it mostly to survive in the fray, extending their impact. Enchanters are the pure definition of a support: they buff, debuff, heal, and apply CC while doing very little damage (except, for some, early poke in lane).

#Popularity of the role: a lack of incentive

You can try and make the role as complex, fun and rewarding as you want, Supports will never be popular. Never. The thing is that there are people that either don't want to be reliant on their teammates or merely just don't like not being powerful damage-wise. Being support is getting away from the central gameplay element, which is damage. I don't care not doing damage in fights, that's not what I'm playing support for.

However, I have to say that there is something that really bothers me: I can't play the objective. Every single objective in the game needs damage, From the minions to the monsters, towers and even nexi. I can't deal damage, fine. I can't interact with the map, problematic. Even in the late game, I can't afford to go get a small jungle camp, I can't push a lane by myself. But I can ward! And to ward, I need to wander in the map. But on my path, I realize that I have nothing else to do than wait. That's a problem. Even clearing enemy wards I don't do well, because I lack AS.

There are only 2 elements of out-of-combat gameplay that don't scale in power with combat stats: Placing wards and triggering plants. I'm not saying they're not important, but for a role that's about tactics, with already limited and conditional power in combat, the amount of doable actions for supports is awfully low. And consider that wards can also be placed by allies and that Sightstone pushes the support further away from combat stats, and that plants are equally doable by any member of the team.

The only out-of-combat action a support does better than their team is placing wards. A support can't clear, can't farm, can't push or depush, can't get towers, buffs, nor epic monsters.

I don't care what I can't do, every role has its weakness. The problem is that there is not much left for me to do out of a fight. This has often led me to wander around, trying to reach my closest ally for an unnecessary skirmish.

The problem with Sightstone is that it is the only way for a support to have an out-of-combat utility but that it also gets them away from the only thing in which they manage to still be relevant, causing them to be quite irrelevant in AND out of combat. The issue is even bigger that support already have troubles getting stuff in the first place.

In the end, supports, besides their very nature that many people don't like, have a huge lack of reasons to feel useful, because they're pushed so much towards warding power that they eventually don't even get the stats they need for combat.

Supports need map objectives that synergize with their innate strength!

#Stats and itemization: a lack of dedication; a problematic competition

(First of all, I am going to talk mostly about Enchanter itemization, mainly because I don't have that many ideas to give for Tank supports.)

Support itemization, the eternal problem. How to make a Vanguard item affordable for a support? Or an enchanter item that won't be abused by mages?

Well, there is a question that we need to ask before we answer to that: Do we accept the idea that a support will always have less gold? Then do we agree to balance their itemization accordingly, enforcing the impoverishing meta of a duo-laner?

If we accept this idea (which personally doesn't bother me and makes sense, since supports need an ally to function), we can then move forward, but there is still a sacrifice to make. A loss of elegance in the stat system: the addition of a new stat. And I am going to explain why it is needed.

Enchanters have a big itemization problem right now, and not the one we would think of. This is not about not feeling powerful or a balance issue.

##It's an identity problem

Enchanter items now give something that only Enchanters want: Healing and shielding power. But this cause the Enchanter class to be reduced to only that thing.

The thing is, a support build for an enchanter will often look like this: and / four of them have an active component, three improve heals and shields, one heals, one shields, one heals when you heal or shield, one procs when you heal or shield. One places a ward.

Don't get me wrong, I love healing my teammates and I love being able to improve my heals.

But when half of your actives does not depend on your champion, and that you are reduced to a healing/shielding machine, what's the point of having more than one Enchanter in the game? To top it off, we only get one Keystone, which also add power to heals and shields.

And obviously, we can't give too much AP to items, because mages would abuse them, nor we can boost the Enchanters' AP ratio, because their sololaning would become unbalanceable,

Therefore, I suggest that Enchanters, for the sake of identity diversity, get their own stat: Enchanting Power (EP).

EP would be present only for enchanter items, and ratios limited to non-damaging abilities in Enchanters' kits. This way, we can, without the worry of mages abusing it, give stats to support at a lower cost. Plus, you can add a new type of ability: enchantments, which would designate abilities with an EP ratio. Therefore, you can have items whose effect triggers when you "enchant" an ally or an enemy.

You can also boost or nerf the ratios for supports to give them more defined strengths. Soraka could have a better heal; Janna, a better AD buff; Nami, a better speed boost, etc…

Here are examples of what could be done with EP (numbers are a bit random, this is just for illustration):

NEW Dryad's bangle —> 300 Gold +15 EP New item as referent, defines what has EP and the base cost of 20g per EP.

—> + Dryad's bangle + 375g = 800 Gold +20 EP +50% base mana regeneration UNIQUE: +10% cooldown reduction Reworked as an intermediary item for basic enchanter stats.

—> + + + 65g = 2100 Gold +25 AP +25 EP +25 magic resistance +75% base mana regeneration +10% cooldown reduction Same passives See below…

—> + + Dryad's bangle + 200g = 2100 Gold +60 EP +35 magic resistance +75% base mana regeneration +10% cooldown reduction Same passive and active Grail and Crucible now more clearly focused on 2 facets, the former being more damage focused, and the latter more universally utilitary. Grail has now only 10% CDR to avoid CDR overload.

—> + + 650g = 2300 Gold +30 AP +30 EP +50% base mana regeneration +10% cooldown reduction Passive UNIQUE: +8% movement speed UNIQUE: Enchanting allied champions (excluding yourself) grant them +20% (+1% per 20 EP) attack speed and their attacks drain 10 (+15% EP) health on-hit for 6 seconds. Added some EP and scaling, so that it's power actually grows with the game and you don't feel like it's too late to buy it. Also, use of the Enchanting term.

—> + + 650g = 2100 Gold +30 EP +400 health +75% base mana regeneration +75% base health regeneration +10% cooldown reduction Active UNIQUE: Target an area within 5500 range. After 2.5 second, call down a beam of light to heal allies for 100 - 440 (based on target's level)(+65% EP), deals 10% of maximum health true damage to enemy champions and 250 true damage to minions (120 second cooldown). Can be used while dead. This effect is halved if the target has been affected by another Redemption item.png Redemption recently. Basically the same. This item is basically the big healing item, so that's ok to keep its focus on it. The boost of EP instead of just healing power still allow a better diversity in champion kits.

—> 350 Gold Same stats UNIQUE – TRIBUTE: Spells and basic attacks against champions or buildings deal 10 additional damage, grant 8 Gold and permanently give 1 EP. This can occur up to 3 times every 30 seconds. Killing a minion disables this passive for 12 seconds. This change allows to reduce the power gap while keeping interactive gameplay, a bit like an enchanter's version of Veigar's passive. Still limited by the CD but stays relevant for the whole game.

—> + + Dryad's bangle + 365g = 2100 Gold +30 AP +30 EP +30 armor +250 mana +10% cooldown reduction Passive UNIQUE: When within 1000-units of each other, you and your Conduit will generate 1 charge every second, up to 100, with a bonus 4 / 2 charges whenever you or your ally attack, and 8 / 4 on spell cast. At 100 charge, dealing damage grants you 15-49 EP (based on your level) and your Conduit 20% increased AP and +50% flat critical strike chance for 8 seconds. Basically the same idea but you don't get the not-that-useless stats but EP instead.

##Other items

There could also be something for -line, but first it needs to find its niche, whether it tries to attract Enchanters or Tanks.

We could also have an EP version of , though I'd like the vision game to get a bit away from the support role, which could either be an equally participating role in the vision game or focus more on ward killing.

##And Wardens, Vanguards?

I'm afraid I don't have any good idea to share with you on that matter. I'll just say that was a big step in the good direction. I can still point out the two main problems:

• Items a bit overpriced for a support income
• Big lack of CDR

But I think Riot already knows about these.

#Conclusion

The support role has been constantly evolving throughout League's history, and most of the time for the better.

We should however realize that there are things to improve. First, we need to clearly define what supports are. Then, see what they absolutely need that they still lack and if the recent additions have been a good idea. Finally, we need to find what we could do to help them.

We've checked all of that. Here is a summary:

1. Supports are mainly Enchanters and Wardens, with also a couple of Vanguards. They are champions that don't rely on damage but helps their teammates through CC and buffs, mostly.
2. Supports cruelly lack purpose outside of combat, besides warding, which is not even an innate strength of them. They also need a better itemization that will reinforce their strengths.
3. The new itemization was good overall for the feeling of power but at the cost of a strong loss of champion identity.
4. For the Enchanters, the addition of a dedicated stat similar to AP, meant for utility power, with an itemization revamped aroud it would probably resolve a lot of problems.

Thank you for reading.