The Support role explained

There seems to be a lot of thread lately from people that don't really understand what it means to be a support. I feel like it's important for everyone to know what the role really entails. Doesn't matter if you are a top, middle, jungler, ADC or support main, everyone should be aware of what each role is meant for and for this thread, I want to cover the Support role.

So please do take some of your time to read this and understand what the support role really means.

Before I start, let me tell a little bit about who I am as a league player. I am currently plat 2 and I've been maining Support for a very long time now. I mostly play Sona and Nami. Janna being my all time favorite champion. I duo with an ADC often and have done my share of solo queuing. This being said, let's get into the subject of this thread.

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• The Support job

First and foremost, we should talk about what a Support has to do and what they shouldn't do.

A lot of people would say that the Support main job is to take care of their ADC, or like some would say "be the ADC's bitch". That is absolutely not true. A Support job is to take care of the enemy team so its team, and more importantly, its ADC can take care of themselves.

Whether it's by denying the enemy ADC its CS, allowing its ADC to freely kill its CS, setting up kills, preventing deaths, securing objectives and so on, the Support job is to disrupt the enemy team to give his team a lead and protect them. It is not the support job to do the ADC, the mid, top and/or jungler job.

This leads to what a Support shouldn't do. Like I said, a Support shouldn't be doing another role's job. This means split pushing, CSing, taking care of the enemy split pusher and so on, unless forced to or if there are no better options. In the end, what is the most important to understand about the Support role is that it isn't there to "carry". The support isn't the ADC, nor are they the mid laner or top. Yes, a Support can deal damage with a Sona, but that is supportive damage. It's the extra damage the carries needs to take down enemies. Of course, the support can be fed and kill a Fizz in a Crescendo, Q and Power Chord, but that is a best case scenario. You should never play a game expecting to be fed. That is true for anyone, not only the Support. I will talk about dealing with teammates playing poorly later in this post for those who play Support, but an important thing to keep in mind is this: A support should ALWAYS let the rest of their team get the kills unless doing so would allow the enemy to escape, cause a teammate death or risk losing an objective. It is also important for everyone to remember that the Support should still not take any chances in this regard. If there is a risk, even if it is small, that the enemy escapes or that a teammate dies if they do not secure the kill, the Support shouldn't shy away from attacking. Do not hate your Support for taking a kill, they may just have saved your life. Hate them if they purposely steal it. But that, that is a controversial topic I will not delve into.

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• What makes a champion good at support

I've been seeing a hell of a lot of threads about "Insert X champion here" support! Stop it! Pantheon, Kled, Yorick... They aren't good support champions!

A good support champion is a selfless one. It is a champion that can thrive while being starved of gold. A champion that can do what a support does best. There are only a few scaling champions that are good at support. Sona being one of them. You want a list of good supports? Here is a list, my list:

Those champions have innate abilities that allow them to thrive without gold. Whether it is CC, slows, shields, healing, high base damage, speed boost, damage boost, etc. they are the ones that are able to perform the duty of a Support in an efficient way.

There are exceptions like: That can do just as well or even better than the other supports I mentioned, but those are that, exceptions. In order to play them at their full potential, you need to have good knowledge of team composition, matchups and so does your ADC that will be playing with you.

Yes, a can support, yes a can too, but their effectiveness as a Support is low and unless the team compositions on both sides favor them, they will not be good picks.

I may have forgotten some champions in those lists and I apologize for that.

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• Dealing with teammates that play poorly

This section is mostly for Support players. It is something that bugs a lot of us and I'd like to clarify it.

This is probably the biggest problem for any support. A support can only be as good as its team is. It is a sad truth that any Support main has to face. No matter how well you play as a Support, the only constant factor is how well you can stagger the enemy team. Any supportive action you take for your team will only be as useful as they make it out to be. Too many time have I seen a teammate simply stop attacking or moving thinking they were doomed to die after I gave them the opportunity to not only get out alive but get out alive with a kill or even two. The most common thing a Support will face is an ADC not being able to make use of the gold you secured them across the entire duration of the game. Whether it's from the ADC playing poorly, or the rest of the team not understanding that an ADC needs protection from more than just their support.

In the end, the best way to deal with a teammate that play poorly is to focus on those who can make the best use of the support help while minimizing the damage the teammate that play poorly could do. This can be done in multiple ways.

• The most effective one being warding. If a teammate constantly over-extend, ward for them to limit how much they will get caught. Vision WINS games.
• Sticking with the player that will make the best use of the support's kit. Whether it be stuns, shields, heals, speed boost or supportive damage, it can help secure kills and/or objectives for the team in a much more efficient way if used in synergy with the right teammate(s).
• Never giving up on your ADC. I know it sounds stupid, but even if an ADC plays poorly, they are still part of your team and you still need them... most of the time.
• Build your items to maximize the benefit. Items like are only as good as your team makes them while items like are as good as the enemy team makes them. Use this to your advantage. There is not a single perfect build. It always depends on the game, especially when it comes to supporting.

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• Conclusion

If you read up to here, thank you. Hopefully, you could find useful information in here and it helped clarify certain things regarding the support role. If you have any questions regarding the support role or a certain champion as support, I'll gladly answer them and I am open to any feedback or comments.

Cheers. I hate my ADC, proud to be a support.