Tips from Diamond Player about Climbing Ladder as Support

Before we get too close to the end of the season, I wanted to share some tips I collected on getting to Diamond using only support. I'm currently Diamond IV, started this season as Plat V, but I started my ranked career in Silver (I think Silver III? Don't quote me on that). I climbed the ladder mostly through solo queue, because I wanted to prove to myself that you don't need to duo. Below are some things I have learned and that may or may not be useful to you.

-Either be a one trick, or play a few champions well. It's possible to climb the ladder with nearly anything; however, some champions/strategies will climb the ladder faster than others. If you want to play nothing but support Veigar to diamond, you can, but it may take you longer than someone who is a seasoned one trick pony Thresh player. The two easiest strategies for climbing are completely mastering and spamming 1 champion, or becoming and expert in a small pool (of about 3) champions. A person who is experienced with a champion will be able to win against even their counterpicks because that player will have way more knowledge about the match up. If you want to climb quickly, I do not recommend learning more than 5 champions for ranked, and I do not recommend fill. Those two things can be done, but you will generally climb slower as a result. If you play your off role often, I recommend learning 1 or 2 champions for your off role, and up to, but not more than 5 for your main role. Using myself as an example, I only play 2 champions in my off role (jungle), and while climbing I only really used 4 support champions.

-Learn from streams The fastest way to learn, is to learn from others. If you're a support, you can try watching Liquid Pain's stream. He's a challenger support player that streams often and will answer questions. When watching, try to see what streamers do differently from you. How do they move around the map? When do they back? What items do they buy?

-Play smarter, not harder. You will slowly improve by just playing a lot, but rapid improvement comes from honestly analyzing your mistakes. Not many people have time to sit and watch replays of their games though, so a great comprise is to use Overwolf. You know that HUD replay that appears on streamers games after they die that shows them instant replays of their deaths? That's Overwolf. When you die, Overwolf will immediately replay a 20ish second time period up until your death so that you can see what mistakes you made that led up to it. ONLY FOCUS ON YOUR MISTAKES. If your ADC forgot to ult, it doesn't matter. Always think of what YOU could have done to make the situation better.

-Use sticky notes. Use the windows sticky notes, or whatever you want, to write down reminders of what you should be focusing on improving every game. Just write three things to focus on. You can write "ward more" or "sweep more" or "build better". Just simple things. You don't want to remind yourself of too many things because you'll overwhelm yourself. Focus on a few areas of improvement at a time.

-Use pick intent. Especially if you're a one trick pony. This does two things. Makes sure people don’t ban your champion, and allows others to pick their champions around yours to make a balanced team.

-If you're first pick, ask if anyone wants to trade. This helps more if you’re a top or mid laner, but the point remains the same. You can avoid getting counterpicked, which will give you an easier lane.

-If you're trading, lolking the person you plan to trade with. This is because sometimes they go AFK, and when you ask what they want they might not respond. Just pick their highest performance champion for them. That way, when they get back from doing whatever, you’ll be able to give them a solid pick.

-Dodge if someone is trolling/raging in champ select. Then wait 5-10 minutes before queuing up again. You’re almost guaranteed a loss with a player like that on your team. Losing LP is better than losing MMR.

-When banning, use bestbans.com. It will show you what you actually should be banning. Personally, I don't ban champions that I plan to face in lane because I am confident enough in my own skill to beat "OP" champions. If you're not comfortable doing that, just ban the top bans.

-Don't practice champions in ranked. Use normal draft to practice champion mechanics. Personally, I would suggest you don't take a champion into ranked until you've reach mastery level 4 with them. You don’t want to lose LP and MMR trying to learn a champion. Basically, you need to spend more time fighting the enemy, than fighting yourself.

-As a rule of thumb, get Sightstone first, or a ruby crystal if you can't afford a gold item. It’s better to prevent the enemy from getting 300+ gold from a gank you didn't see coming, than for you to get a little extra gold from your gold gen item.

-Be a leader. Tell your team where they need to be. Teams with no direction tend to wander around the map and get caught. Don’t give the enemy a chance to find an opening. This will involve a lot of typing, and positive thinking, but you'll win more games.

-Keep track of objective timers. Usually the jungler does this, but I find it easier to do it myself. Ping the objective you want to go to TWICE, and say it in chat. Always try to setup dragon/baron at least minute before it spawns. Objectives win games.

-Call out people that aren't following the plan Sometimes players are playing the game on autopilot and don't even know. Don't be mean, just say something like "Hey Irelia, dragon is coming up soon can you head bot side please?"

-Roam when your lane is pushed. Especially if you don’t have kill potential on your lane opponent. Your time is best used trying to screw over another lane, instead of sitting in the brush. Tell your ADC to play safe while you’re gone and ward river when you leave. Edit: Cancerous Lulu brought to my attention that my roaming section needs more detail, so here is a video that can help with that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bp932bJRXA

-Roam if getting tower dove. Sometimes, the enemy will repeatedly 4-5 man dive you. This means it’s time to go because you’re no longer safe at your tower. Roam and try to create pressure/kills in other lanes. Edit: Here is a video to help when losing lane, since if you're getting tower dove, you're probably losing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plBBollEc_E&list=PL9RdXhXESRJzgY_SwHB8T-cZxXljWhQvz&index=13

-Consider early boots, especially if you don’t have kill potential on your lane opponent. They will help you roam to other lanes faster and give more successful ganks. Also consider them against skill shot reliant opponent such as Morgana and Blitzcrank. It’s better to just not get hit than it is to try and tank the skill shot.

-Plan 4 item builds, not 6. So many players make their “perfect” builds with 6 items in mind. You will rarely get to 6 items in a game. Plan to get boots plus 3 items instead. Use can use your time ingame to figure out what you might need for the other 2 items.

-Build based on what's going on ingame. Don’t just blindly follow a build path. You need armor vs AD, MR vs AP, etc. As a support, you might need to get really strange in order to build what you need. This can range from a frozen heart on Sona, or Iceborn on Lulu.

-Don't be an asshole. No one plays better when they are getting bombarded with questions, and being told they suck. 99% of the time, players know they screwed up, because they died because of their mistakes. They don’t need your help figuring it out. If someone dies because they are out of position, DON’T tell them they suck. DON’T ask them why they were there (more on this later). DON’T spam ? ping. DON’T put the “…”. Instead, start planning for the next play and say something like “Lets try to group up on bot tower guys.”

-Use mute function. If someone on your team is flaming, try to stop it as soon as it starts by being positive. Say things like “It’s okay, we got this” or “Don’t worry, I’ll carry this”. If someone calls you out on your mistake, DON’T argue with them. Just say “Sorry, you’re right.” Even if they’re wrong. Ingame is NOT the time to have a debate. If the player continues to flame, just mute them. If a player is getting attacked by another player, suggest to them that they also use the mute function.

-Disable cross team chat. This is probably the second best advice I can give. My games have been substantially better since disabling cross team chat. There is nothing you need to hear from the enemy team. You can focus on communicating with you team instead of chatting, and avoid getting BM’ed from them. Just less things to go on tilt over, such as the enemy saying "gg ez"

-Take advantage of Dynamic Queue. The sad truth is that you’ll probably climb faster using dynamic queue. It gives you a teammate you can trust, and being on comms has a large advantage. Just don’t ignore the rest of your team just because you have some partners. Team with players you trust are good players, not just your friends. If you want to play with friends, play normals.

-Disable their Carry, Enable your own. As a support, try to use your CC to debuff WHOEVER is carrying their team, and use your buffs to enable WHOEVER is carrying on your team. Your ADC won’t always be the most important person on your team. If your Riven is doing all the work, prioritize enabling her instead of your ADC.

-Always try to be within 1 lane over from the most fed teammate. Also, try to ward the jungle for the fed teammate. The vision will allow them to make safer plays, escape roams, and split pusher safer. You being within 1 lane distance means you have enough time to respond to your fed player getting collapsed upon. This is especially true if you have boots of swiftness or mobi boots.

-Before minions spawn, tell and/or ping your team to defend against invades. You can get to your brushes to defend against invades faster than the enemy if you buy your items quickly enough. Make sure your mid laner isn’t just sitting at mid tower, and your top laner isn’t just sitting at top tower. If you're a top or mid laner reading this, please. Stop stop sitting under your tower instead of watching for invades D:

-Help jungler with clearing first camp. Get the camp to about half health, or just a little above smite range before leaving. This gives them a healthy clear, and helps them clear faster. This will be important if they get invaded.

-Tell Jungler ward locations and timers on your side. Tell them where they should gank to avoid the wards. Junglers often waste time ganking through wards that you could have told them existed. Also tell the jungler at what time the ward will expire. That way they know that a certain path is unlikely to work for a while. Help the jungler help you.

-Use these websites: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/League_of_Legends_Wiki

-Use this to research specifics about champions and items.

http://www.lolking.net/

-Use this to research your ADC. That way you can figure out how to best synergize with them.

http://champion.gg/

_Use this to check bot lane champion synergies. Check which champion best supports your ADC, AND counters the enemy bot lane.

http://www.bestbans.com/

-I already explained up above, but basically this site gives you the appropriate bans for your league.

-Know how to CS. This is important because Gold goes SO far on supports. Even getting a wave that would otherwise die to tower is useful. Support items are cheap, so you can quickly get them when you get a little bit of farm.

Freeze waves for your ADC if possible. This means instead of taking the CS, you hold the minion wave and wait for your ADC to get back. This will ensure they get more gold. Careful though, since you'll take damage for doing this.

Know how to manipulate waves. This means knowing how waves push, when to push, and when to freeze. I can’t explain it here, but here are a few videos to help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSQWcHIl5oc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQz3yU5tzJ0

-Know how to help ADC CS under tower. This is harder to explain, and is mostly just practice, but it helps your ADC a lot. It’s often how I can tell good supports apart from the great ones. In general, melee minions take 2 tower shots before they are within auto attack kill range. For ranged minions, when they are full health, hit them once with an auto attack, then let the tower get 1 shot on them, and then they should be in health range for your ADC to kill them with an auto attack.

DON'T. ASK. WHY. My god this is one of the most passive aggressive, tilting, and not useful questions in the entire game. Let me rant about why this is such a terrible question to ask someone ingame after they make a mistake. First of all, asking a player WHY they did something after they died isn’t helpful because it causes you to think in the past. Instead of reflecting on what you CAN’T change, you need to be thinking about the future and what you CAN change. Time spent typing about the past isn’t going to help you win the game. Second, the type of players that ask WHY aren’t actually looking for an answer. There is nothing you can say that will satisfy this question. They’re asking because it’s obvious that what you did didn’t work, and they want to tell YOU why. It’s wasted time and effort for both parties. Finally, it’s tilting because players already know what they did wrong. They don’t need it explained to them. Please refrain from asking “why” of your teammates. It does nothing positive ingame. Don’t ask why they were out of position, why they built an item, why they missed smite. This just creates conflict that isn’t pushing the game forward.

-Track summoner spells. Know the cooldowns of the enemy laner’s summoners and ults. This will make ganks and fights easier. Tell your teammates, and especially the jungler, when these cooldowns are down.

-Use the ward rubble to find wards. Humans work in patterns, and will often repeatedly ward the same spot. You can use the red ward rubble to get some easy sweeps.

-In fights, make sure you ward brushes so enemy can’t break Line of Sight. Your ADC needs to be able to see the enemy to get most of their damage off, so make sure to keep vision of the enemy for them.

-Buy 1 pink ward every time you back. Pink wards give great pick opportunities and are great for baiting. They also give great objective control. Vision denial is just as important as having vision.

-While doing dragon or baron, and the enemy jungler shows up, turn to fight them instead of going for the smite if the enemy jungler gets too close. You don’t want to lose advantage on the chance of a steal. It’s better to turn and kill the enemy than to keep fighting the objective.

-Don’t stand behind either epic monster pit, especially if you don’t have a dash. You can’t contest the enemy doing the objective from behind the pit. If you have a dash or blink to get over the pit then it’s fine, but all too often people just stand behind the pit and watch the enemy take the objective instead of fighting for it.

-Learn to push your damage. One problem I see in lower leagues is that people let kills walk away that a higher league player would have taken because players in lower leagues don’t understand how much damage they do. This is why it’s important to be familiar with a champion before you use them in ranked. Use normal games to go crazy and push your champion so that you can learn their limits.

-Don’t kill trade when ahead. If you’re ahead, a 1 for 1 trade is in the favor of the other team because of bounty gold. They get more from the trade than you do.

Edit for additional tips: Use the brushes to drop minion aggro. When you are harassing your opponent with auto attacks, you will trigger enemy minions to attack you. Level 4 and lower, this minion damage can actually do more damage to you than you do to the enemy. When you harass the enemy, you can immediately drop minion aggro by jumping into an unwarded brush. This will help you keep your health up.

Understand standard bot lane positioning. I can't remember the proper term for it, but there is a position that you should generally take up next to your ADC. When in lane, try to remain in a parallel plane to the side of the ADC. This allows both of you to react quickly to any harass that may come your way, and pressures out of position enemy at the same time.

Quickly figure out the type of ADC you are laning with. ADC behaviors lie on a bell curve, and it's your job to match them the best you can. If I were to just throw some educated guesses out there, I would say 25% of ADC players play hyper aggressive (they play in front of the allied minion wave, have a high priority on harassing, looking for kills.) 50% of players are neutral (They are generally in farm mode, play inside their minion wave, look for harass occasionally. Usually between waves, or when the support lands CC.) and the last 25% are passive players (they play behind the allied minion wave, will almost always farm unless there is an allied gank. Doesn't look for harass unless it's obvious). None of these play styles are wrong, and often the champion your ADC is playing will inform you on which style they might use. You just want to make sure you match styles the best you can because you want to be on the same page. I've had games where I went in and my ADC continued to farm because they just play a passive style. You can either outright ask your ADC what they want to do in lane, or just learn to get a feel for it.

So ya, that's all I can remember, and all that I wrote down to say. If you guys have any other questions lemme know and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability. I can answer anything about supports and jungling, and I also know stuff about other lanes so don't hesitate to ask.