Silver Support and Frustrated

Hagrids Double ·Mar 9, 2016·2 votes·558 views

I main support and have been getting somewhat frustrated lately because I feel I'm not doing as much as I can to help my team. Many of my games lately I have been able to keep my ADC ahead but then the rest of my team is getting killed or already feed enemies. This almost always happens before I am comfortable leaving my ADC alone. I stay till he is in a position to where I know if I leave him and he plays smart he will live but by time I do thise the enemy team has been fed. So I am just wondering is there anything else I can do? I'm worried about roaming to early because I don't want to leave my ADC to get killed and don't want to wander and lose EXP because we dont get kills or end up getting killed myself. Any tips will be helpful. Ever since I have got into Silver 5 I have not been able to keep any LP I have earned and I just want to climb.

Thank you in advance.

12 Comments

IqqiMar 9, 20162 votes

First, as the support, your one role is to keep the ADC from falling behind. That is always your number one objective. You are not supposed to be roaming around and supporting other lanes as your primary objective. If your mid and top get killed 1v1 or by a jungle gank that is not on you.

2nd make sure you are playing an actual "support" and not trying to make a kill lane. This is what I see 90% of supports in silver try to do. They have the CoD mentality and they think they have to go in and get kills. Do not be playing Leona. Do not be playing Vel'Koz support or any of these other "kill lane supports". In solo Q you do not have the synergy to be able to know when to go in and know your ADC will follow you. If you do not destroy your lane, you potentially lose late game because you did not gain an advantage during your spike, and thus are not as strong transitioning to team fights. I would consider Thresh to be an exception to this rule.

When I say "play real supports" I mean you should be playing Janna and Soraka. These are actual real "support" champions. Soraka is (might still be after 6.5?) for Bronze and Silver if you play her correctly. Of course it comes down to your mindset. If you are a support who is trying to get kills for your ADC than you have a CoD mindset and are not playing to win the game, just win lane. ADCs get destroyed today without proper peel. Damage from bruisers and "fighters" has never been higher. If you get engaged on your ADC will likely get zoned super hard or killed.

You should be playing Soraka and Janna. Your mindset should be to not die. That's it. You place vision, you make sure your presence is known in lane, and you let your ADC CS and do his little thing. IF your jungler comes down, you do your best to assist with getting a kill. You can help with this. You have the Janna slow and speed boost, you have the Soraka silence! (which prevents flash) there are plenty of things you can do to assist in ganks Without having to deal damage.

The best part? Soraka and Janna transition so well out of lane phase. Soraka heals stupid. Thats the line I lose. Plenty of it in Bronze and Silver. People who eat poke for breakfast. She heals them right back up. Because of her sustain she also allows your team members to stay and push advantages much longer than you would otherwise because of health. Build her like a tank, carry your team. You won't get any thank you's you wont get any pats on the back, but when you throw out 35,000 in healing a game, you know you played a huge part in your teams win.

Janna is a similar case. I still prefer Soraka, but Janna is an awesome second. She provides peel for your team, but more importantly your ADC. She has the slows, the knockups and such to keep the enemy divers off your ADC for as long as possible. Keep separation for your carries, provide healing and shielding and you are again looking at an awesome actual "Support".

Champions like Annie, and Leona are not supports. They may play that lane, but they are engage champions. They don't do any actual "supporting".

RavenhaleMar 9, 20162 votes

Annie is hard engage and disengage. There's no rule that dropping a bear means you have to fight it out. I will Tibbers that Jungler that thought he could get in behind us. And Annie will be relevant all game long. Her stun doesn't fall off. The issue with Annie is that she can't protect her ADC from bad positioning. One stun will rarely be enough. She needs to be with an ADC that has decent escapes, like Tristana or Ezreal. I agree that she's too situational to be used as a "Go To" when it comes to Support.

Leona is more of an understanding that she doesn't have to be an All or Nothing champion. Her zenith blade is a quick root and she has two stuns in her kit. Sure, that's a lot of engage potential but it also can work on breaking up a dive. Leona is also a good pick if a Blitz got through the ban process. But as far as being a bodyguard goes, I think Braum and Alistar both do it better. Honestly, any of these are good to bring if your team doesn't have a Tank.

I wouldn't hesitate to pick Morgana into some situations. Her snare can work very well as peel and her shield negates CC.

But I do agree that the most reliable support picks are Janna and Soraka. You can cover a lot of mistakes made by your ADC, which will certainly happen.

IqqiMar 9, 20161 votes

If you really think a tibbers stun is going to protect your ADC I know found your problem. Morgana would possibly be the only other support I would think of.

Every champion you listed here has short stuns. They are not champions who provide a significant level of peel and sustain for your team. If you want to try to validate these support picks that's fine. You came to the forums for advice. IF you just want to blow it off for your own opinions than its hard to understand why you were here in the first place.

RavenhaleMar 9, 20161 votes

I'm not the OP and I clearly stated the limitations of Annie and an alternative purpose for picking Leona. I didn't even disagree with your assessment on the most reliable support picks. No reason to downvote me over your lack of reading comprehension.

IqqiMar 9, 20161 votes

well deserved.

Hagrids Double Mar 9, 20161 votes

See I almost always end up being the tank for our team because I must just have odd luck because my team almost never pick a tank so I'm usually the only front line. The champs I usually play are Alistar, Braum, and Bard. I will bust out a Thresh or Morg when I feel we need something else in our team. I can play the more healy supports but I feel I'm almost always forced to pick a tank support because we almost always lack it.

RavenhaleMar 9, 20161 votes

I guess the question then is how do you play your Braum/Alistar? Are you creating a safe environment for your ADC to CS? Because that's really why Soraka and Janna are strong choices. Janna can shield to mitigate poke and peel to negate dives. Soraka can negate all damage picked up from poke and trades. You can win lane simply by out-sustaining your enemies and creating a sizable CS advantage.

Same goes for tank supports. Make sure you use that Relic Shield for sustain (preferably when the ADC is hurt). Peel to negate dives. Control your lane with vision and intimidation. This has been the most effective use I've found to work when I play Leona. Flashy plays just gets you killed or too hurt to protect your ADC. High risk, mediocre reward.

In my opinion, your first priority is always to stay alive. You can't help your ADC if you're dead. Don't do anything that would impair your ability to assist your ADC (aka suicidal flashy plays). Again, this is very easily achieved by Janna and Soraka that are backliners. Tanks require a bit more understanding of how much poke they can eat. That's why I felt Alistar is probably much better at what I do with Leona. His roar would solve some of the sustain issues Leona puts up with. That and a 650 unit knockback is a lot better peel than a 1 second stun.

After laning phase, it's just harder to do your job as a tank than if you picked Janna or Soraka. Remember that you're still the support with the goal of protecting your carries. It's really not your job to clobber theirs. You are not the damage. Front line simply means you stand between your carry and them. It doesn't mean you dive their carries.

Don't have any other suggestions than that.

XenomancersMar 9, 20162 votes

I'll help you out man. If you are winning lane but the rest of your team is failing - you NEED to roam and your adc should come with you. If he just wants to afk farm - leave him. A fed adc with an underfed front line is pretty dang worthless. Id advise to start ganking mid and moving about mid and bot. You will lose some levels doing this but as support I don't care much about levels - I care about warding gank paths and getting my carries kills. Try to get your team to group for 4 and 5 man ganks. Set up wards deep for TP ganks. Anything you can do to get your team back in the game. Ward enemy buffs - ward rift herald. A few picks here and there will get things turning in your direction. Inevitably you will run into superior teams - as in - there is nothing you can do. In that case just keep on grinding and you will still advance.

The DeckownerMar 9, 20162 votes

it's the same for every role, u can be doing ur part well but rest of ur team is getting destroyed, nature of yoloqueue

Hagrids Double Mar 9, 20161 votes

I know just feels like either I'm doing more than my fair share of trying to get shit done or not doing enough to help us come back lol

The DeckownerMar 9, 20161 votes

sometimes it feels less frustrating for roles like assasins and fighters because even when enemy carries were ahead they can still do their job, but for tanks, utility support, mage, it just feels kinda like...nothing much can be done.

KazaJhodoMar 9, 20161 votes

If your team is suffering you need to help them. It should go like this:

Get your adc fed, like 5/0 fed and even or greater cs than enemy adc (should be way greater if you are 5/0). As quickly as possible. Take your tower, push the lane, get wards moved up into their territory to make plays.

When you have an advantage you have to USE it. The longer you wait the more caught up everyone else is becoming.

Tell your other lanes that are behind to allow their lanes to push in (should be doing this already), but people don't know what to do, so help them. Tell them you're coming to gank, and wait for you. Call for your jungle, wait for the mid to overextend and kill.

DENY vision with your red trinket. Move your vision into specific areas at a time. Don't get caught out.

Figure out where the enemy jungle is and ward up to setup a trap with your jungle/adc/midlaner. If you're really ahead, get swiftys to maximize your ability to help your team all over the map.

Use vision to abuse the enemy, use your lead and the tower you destroyed to move up your vision. Start tracking their blue buff to farm their jungler.

Plan ahead, tell your team what you're doing.

Granted you can only do this with a good adc, but if you have a good adc, smash your lane into the ground. Set a goal, reach it, take the tower, and go kill everyone else. Tell your team how to setup so that you can go kill everyone else. Plan ahead.

If you can get an objective, take it. Focus on goals- dragon, warding enemy turf, finding the enemy jungle, taking towers, keeping your bot turret up, so on so on.

SIlver 5 is hell. Just do the best you can until they fix the ranking system.

Support and Ranked