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Support Etiquette/ Stealing Kills

devomp·3/11/2016, 12:29:24 AM·2 votes·3,628 views

I'm very new to the support role. I've only played a handful of games in that role, after playing a bunch of games as ADC or top.

I just played a game as blitz, and pretty early, about the 5 minute mark, I grabbed their ADC, and my ADC and I quickly took care of him, but the problem is, I got the kill. My ADC got mad because I didn't let him get the kill. So the next time, I backed off, and sure enough, he tried, but couldn't get the kill. Had I joined in after grabbing their ADC, I'm sure we would've killed him, although, I might have gotten the kill again.

But isn't it better for someone to get the kill, rather than me back off, and then no one gets the kill? He got mad at me when I got the kill again, around the 30 minute mark. He kept thinking I was stealing his kills, when I was just trying to stay alive and help our team.

I understand that's it's important for the ADC to get powerful quickly. I'd be totally fine letting my ADC get all the kills, but when you get in the thick of a fight, and everybody's shooting, and grabbing, and punching, and tornadoes and birds of prey are flying around, how in the world am I supposed to damage the other guy right until they're on the brink of death, and then calmly step aside and let the ADC get him? And like I said, a couple times, I backed off and then the enemy survived.

So. Am I looking at this wrong? Did I really screw up? Is support really just supposed to politely hang around, place wards, and not kill the enemy? Or was that guy overly sensitive about missing out on some kills?

Thanks.

19 Comments

A New Horizon3/11/2016, 12:35:04 AM2 votes

KS= Kill Secured*[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]*

FIDDLESTICKS B0T3/11/2016, 12:39:10 AM2 votes

Most people at lower levels and ELO's get REALLY mad about support taking kills and such, but honestly it doesn't matter. Take a look at any high ELO botlane, and you'll see that a lot of the times, supports will sometimes get a lot of kills in the botlane. The difference in high ELO is the adcs actually realize that they needed the support take that kill because they would have died or the enemy would have gotten away. So basically don't worry about it and let the ADC guy figure it out for himself.

Baby Ghoul3/11/2016, 12:34:28 AM1 votes

No.

If your ADC cannot secure a kill, then you should finish them off. You should realize that kills are next to useless on a support though. We don't get to farm like the other roles do unless there's an AFK or people are neglecting pushed lanes mid game.

If you get a primadonna ADC, which is very common, mute them. Don't take direction from them because an ADC that cannot finish off an opponent. That is not someone you want to be taking direction from.

Nahui3/11/2016, 12:41:54 AM1 votes

Here is how it goes.

You're low ELO, so anytime you get the kill, you will be flamed because people can't accurately read a situation and understand how gold allocation works.

Never try for the kill. You don't want the kill, ever. You want the ADC to get the kill. Ideally ADC walks away with 300g, and you walk away with like 150 or w.e the value is. However, sometimes it is unavoidable. Sometimes you need to get the kill to get the kill at all. 150g and experience to your ADC is better than 0 of each.

If you see the target is about to die and your ADC is positionally sound to get the kill, try and back off. Basically, pretend in the moment that the enemy is about to die, delete yourself from the screen. Imagine you aren't there at all. From what you see, will your ADC get the kill? All things considered being enemy support, health of your ADC, flash/heal available to the enemy, will your ADC get the kill if you were suddenly gone? If yes, back off. If no, keep going.

There's lots of things to think of in potentially less than a second of a window. It's harder low ELO, but as you get better, it comes naturally. Blitz is actually good for this. So long as your ult has been used, it's hard for Blitz to accidentally get the kill as he's both melee and has long, high damage cooldowns so all you can realistically steal with in such a situation would usually be an auto attack or an E. Kill steals often happen with champs like Leona who have a delayed burst, from her shield, or core items like sunfire being a ticking bomb and getting the lucky tick.

Just be mindful, however taking a kill here and there is not awful and is never the reason an ADC does poorly or you lose lane. Sure, take a few kills and now youre being annoying and a bit detrimental. But it's still the ADC getting assist gold and the experience they'd receive regardless. And honestly, it can be good for the support to earn a couple of kills. If your ADC is far ahead, you'd receive more benefit from the full gold than they would.

The only ADC to be very mindful of is Draven. Taking his kills can actually screw his game over due to how his passive is feast or famine. So if paired with a Draven, really try your absolute hardest to abstain from kills. However, sometimes it's unavoidable. Anyone that flames you for it is just using you as a scapegoat to their own poor performance. It's a special element bot lane gets to use in the blame game. Don't take it personally.

Rem Was Here3/11/2016, 12:46:04 AM1 votes

As a support main with my bitch Morgana, this item 3110 item 2045 item 3190 item 3222 is not going to pay itself, but if you are sure the adc can get the kill, just try to not to take it, but if you do, oh well, accident happen, look at slavery.

Ravenhale3/11/2016, 2:21:50 AM1 votes

Sivir It's not stealing if they're dead.

If it's fight or die, I fight. I probably "steal" more kills with poke supports that get focused than I do with Leona. It's just common sense. I'm not going to die and give them gold just to avoid stealing a kill. Same thing applies if my ADC is on the brink of death. No kill for them is better in all scenarios.

Oh, and it's not a big deal about him not getting the kill in the scenario you backed off. I actually do this with Leona a lot. I zenith in, AA, daybreak, and walk out. I don't need to stay in there so I don't. If this forces them out of the lane and costs them CS, I've done my job.

Zarkkast3/11/2016, 3:13:39 AM1 votes

I am a jungle and support main and I instantly mute any ADC that complains about me getting the kill as a support.

Ralanr3/11/2016, 3:19:17 AM1 votes

It's kill secure for a reason. Just apologize and move on.

Abyssphere3/11/2016, 3:30:10 AM1 votes

Early game you should absolutely try your hardest to secure every kill unless you're absolutely certain your ADC will get it. It's not worth risking losing the kill just to ensure that if you do get the kill, the ADC will get the credit. If your ADC complains about you taking a kill in the early game then they're very, very self-entitled. Ignore them.

As the game progresses, it's generally easier and easier to assess whether or not your team will secure a kill you could take. At that point, it's easier to hold back on hitting the enemy champion to ensure you don't take it. However, if facing a particularly dangerous target (say, a Jax or Xin diving into your team), then you should ignore this. Throw every bit of damage you have at that enemy champion because the most important thing is that they die before taking any of your allies with them. If your ADC complains at you for killing someone who was half a second away from brutally murdering them then again, you should ignore them. That's the height of ungratefulness.

When playing people like Blitzcrank you shouldn't be too harsh on yourself if you steal kills. He has a huge amount of burst, it's not easy to control your damage or sync it up with your allies. Accidents happen, especially with people like Blitz that can unload about 1000 damage in an instant. How do you predict killing people with that?

NekuDash3/11/2016, 3:53:33 AM1 votes

As a long time support, it is generally better to TRY to let the carries take the kills. BUT if the carries rage because they couldn't outdamage the support AND fail to secure a kill, too bad for them then. If they start to rage, mute and continue to play the game, report after. If you are still able to KS and they fail to get a kill, that's their stupid fault. [slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

devomp3/11/2016, 11:23:37 PM1 votes

Ok, thanks everyone. That makes sense.

CunamiGirl7/14/2018, 5:41:36 PM1 votes

I were support main for more than a year. I have to tell i only get 4-5 kills during this period that i didnt want to get. So i mean you can avoid to get a kill easily.

Normally a support should only get a kill if the adc could not anyhow. But most supports intentionally getting the kill even when the adc could simple kill the enemy. The reason is: most players cannot support. They feel it humiliating. As an adc its very frustrating.

When i am adc and my support stealing i simple using a skill that hits hard. I do not use it until i can lasthit the enemy securely and get the kill. Sadly in this case i do not give out the whole damage power so sometimes the support dies or the enemy do not dies at all because can flee. That is the life. If your support is an asshole he sometime dies.

disregardable3/11/2016, 12:31:55 AM1 votes

Yes, you should leave the kills, but only if you know he can get it.

Duke Dryfocker5/30/2019, 8:41:26 PM1 votes

And then there's the super annoying player that does no heavy lifting and only engages when they can last hit. Ugh! And it's virtually unreportable. You can only watch it happen in amazement and frustration.

Lapis3/11/2016, 12:32:04 AM1 votes

The guy's overly sensitive, don't worry about it. As you said, a kill is better than no kill.