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From an ex Support main to the player base

PhantomGG··5 votes·1,020 views

So most people hate support because of the very untrue rumor

"supports can't carry.

Another case people have is "supports aren't fun for they don't get kills", as an ex support main I will debunk both of these while talking abit about myself.

So my name is Phantom, I am a ex support main who abused Taric, thresh and Janna last year to get into gold 5. I climbed from about silver 4 to gold five in just two weeks, playing mainly support, with some mid and jungle games inbetween.

Now let me clear right now, the reason I quit support had nothing to do with the two statements, it was actually because I greatly admire jungle, and if i was to ever become super good at this game, it's because I want to be known as a jungler, not as a support. My all time favorite players are peanut, Amazing, Cyanide, Dandy and lastly Spirit.

So now that I have clarified why I stopped playing Support, allow me to debunk the two statements about support.

1-"Supports can't carry" Now let me show you some stats on some champions people find "broken", these are not opinions, these are cold hard facts and statistics.

Yasuo Win Perc: 50% http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/yasuo

Zed Win Perc: 46% http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/zed

Talon Win Perc: 47% http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/talon

Rengar Win Perc: 50% http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/rengar

That being said, out of 2 of the 4 champions i listed, ALL FOUR having strong hate and flame, the heighest they peek at is a 50 percent win ratio. that means 5 out of 10. 50 out of a 100 from the total population of players are failing and succeeding. Now let's move onto some "supports" who people say "cant carry"

Janna Win Perc: 53% http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/janna

Sona Win Perc: 52% http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/sona

Sorraka Win Perc:52% http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/soraka/support

Nami Win Perc: 51% http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/nami

So now we have four meta supports who GREATLY out shine in numbers towards what people "find broken", not opinions, actual facts, now let me talk abit on why

Supports are the initiators, they are the trolls, they are the vision makers, most importantly they stop dumb asses from dying. When you play as a support, a large majority of the time you end up being the shot caller, you end up being in charge of vision, you end up being the guy with all the heals, the shields and the cc. Because of this you control where your team goes, and you are in charge of the flow of the fight. Good target selection and well timed shields, will save your carried from life and death situations. Remember those team fights where you almost won, but the enemy Sorraka just kept full healing everybody? Imagine what it would of been like if your team had that sorraka. Support IS a carry role, just done very differently and has to be exe****cuted with a very different mind set. A calm, collected, objective focused mind set, a mind set where if a fight begins, you dont just randomly press your buttons, no you read the fight and go "what is my main focus to do this fight?"

Now onto point two

Support can be fun in the sense it makes you focus and learn to enjoy the more stratagic part of the game. You don't have big mega damage, so how are you gonna carry? You are gonna carry by remaining focused and controlling the flow of the game with shot calls, and properly executed saves in team fights. If you join the game thinking "I WANT KILLS" than no you aren't gonna have fun, but if you learn to sit back, relax, and enjoy another side of the game, than you can appreciate the beauty in what it feels like, to play support properly,

That is all

I'm simply asking players out their, to give the support role a chance, it aint that bad.

5 Comments

Risk of Fate2 votes

I think that's what enjoy most about being support. Yes, I don't get kills but in the long run I'm usually trying to keep my team focused on objectives and determine threats. Hit my high point when I actually managed to turn a throw (normally when it happens, I completely shut down mentally and don't know what to do). My joy comes from being able to accurate assess all situations and lay out a battle plan.

chipndip12 votes

You mean well, but you're wrong. Lemme explain:

Now, I'ma say you're right. Why switch up when I just said you're wrong? Because it's...complicated. See, those four slayer champs you listed don't win all that much, but they feel rewarding to play. That's what I've been trying to say for a long time. They FEEL strong. They FEEL impactful. The few times you do well with them encourages you to play them more even when statistics, common sense, and even your own team are saying the exact opposite. The game play of these champs is designed in a very rewarding manner, even if the average player isn't winning more than average by playing these champs.

Now, let's move to Sona for example, since I one-trick her like I'll quit the game if I had to pick someone else. We all know people LOVE building Sheen on Sona, even though Lich is a mid lane item and not a support item. Why? Cause it bumps up the power of her Q and makes her feel better to play. I've been trying to convey this point to the boards for a long time, but no one really gives me the time of day when I say that the only real way to fix support is to stop being bitches about the role. Not every support is 100% geared towards defense. Some are offensive tanks. Some are offensive mages. Some, like Sona, are hybrids. Support itemization doesn't reflect the support roster's diversity, so if you don't jive with that defensive play style, you just don't support, especially when the community's always going "Jeeze, take your stupid mages to mid lane". What if the game had a more support-focused Sheen item for champs like Sona and Lulu, possibly Karma and Lux (if Lux support could possibly ever catch on)? What if we had itemization that worked with debilitating people rather than JUST flooding the game with shields and heals all the time? What if we had tanky support items that actually favored a Vanguard's play style rather than a Warden's? The point is that the itemization needs extreme work. Even if we make 50 fun support champs, the game doesn't feel rewarding after picking them because the itemization is lousy.

And if you don't believe me, just look at it now. Riot says "Man, Locket is too strong and is limiting variety. Let's tweak this." Result? Locket is MORE BROKEN and they made another broken support item nearly everyone has to build, which is Redemption. It's time to admit we have a problem.

VeterenMantis1 votes

Its a boring role that gets punished just for existing.

Darkeus1 votes

I love being a support main. But man do we get blamed for a lot of crap. And if you have an easily tilted/troll ADC then it is a miserable experience.

But you are exactly right man.

Baby Ghoul1 votes

You can't simply look at win rate though.

Play rate matters as much as win rate, if not more.

Yeah Yasuo has a 50 percent win rate, but also a 22 percent play rate overall with a 44 percent ban rate. We should also take into account that many more people play mid/top lane compared to those who play support.

I'm also a support main, and yeah I also made it to gold playing only support. Out of 200 and some games I only got mid like 2 or 3 times.

You can climb just fine as support, but it does take longer than the other roles in my opinion. The game does revolve around damage, especially at lower ELO.

Playing support in this game requires you to be craftier compared to other roles. When it comes to other roles you generally have a pretty easy path to carrying your games. You farm, focus objectives, watch for team fights, and try to out damage everyone. There's a simple path for you to reach late game, and usually that's enough for you to have a fighting chance.

As support you don't have that path, and that's why people tend to stay away from support for climbing. Not only that but you are tied to your ADC to a certain extent in a way that they're not because they do have damage. If they're having a poor game, your room for error is even slimmer than it was entering the game.

While some supports excel in keeping champions alive through disengage and sustain, bot lane is still the deadliest lane currently because marksmen are not weak early game anymore. The whole meta has shifted since last year, and I truly don't enjoy it. Playing against a Caitlyn and Zyra is probably the worst thing in the world for example. That's another reason why people avoid support. Bot lane meta is truly the worst.

Scaling is probably the biggest issue people have with supports though. It does cut into your morale when you're 0/0/5 as support, then come up against a 0/5/0 Sion with mediocre farm 2 levels ahead of you.

Not only that but we have the least amount of income with a must buy item.

What I'm saying is there are legitimate complaints when it comes to support, and Riot does need to address them.

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