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What is a support? Explanation.

Papa Andrei··14 votes·1,708 views

So it appears to be the whole "support" community of League is the source of much attention lately, from the whole summoner 11 supports to Mages coming botlane (and being subsequently gutted). So the question is, what really IS a support in League of legends?

A support is a PLAYSTYLE that is designed to disable the enemy team or enable your team to win the game. And this can be achieved through multiple different ways. And we have champions dedicated to a certain way of doing this.

We have the heal/protect playstyle, accentuated by champions like Soraka Janna Sona .Their jobs is to heal, shield, buff their allies and keep them alive and going.

We have the Tank/protect playstyle, seen commonly by the champions such as Braum Taric , These champions/playstyle's main job is to stop anything harmful from getting to their teams Healthbars, and retaliating in turn at the enemies, mostly through delayed cc. They generally have a sort of bodyblocking mechanic or way to keep their carry(s) alive without excessive heals and shields.

Now we got the Tank/Engage supports, whose job it is to make the enemy just be CC or disable for a duration of teamfights or so their carries/wards are safe from attack from that target. Commonly seen by Alistar Ivern (Note, I exclude Thresh and Nautilus as they are seen more as pure Tanks/Generalists than supporting champions.

And then we have Debuff based supports, which is mainly just debuffing the enemy through slows, polymorphs, Stat reductions and other things that hinder their ability to function. Mostly seen by Nunu and Lulu

And now onto the "supports". Basically any champion whose main job does not fall into the categories above, is either not a support, or fits into to many that they can do many other things besides supporting.

Damage "supports" have one job, kill the enemy, thats it. They can self set up, set up for their team, and do damage all at same time. Mostly seen by Brand Zyra Malzahar Death is the best cc after all.

The issue is, a "support" can be defined as anything, ADC supports it team by doing consistent damage. But the Support role is for characters who are dedicated to Hindering the enemy team, and assisting the allied team to victory.

Questions?

37 Comments

Hethalean10 votes

You forgot another critical part of supports imo. They have to be gold efficient. A champion who needs to scale a ton to do anything will probably not fair well in the support role. That is why Brand/Malzahar/Zyra are all APC supports while Lux isn't that good at all. They can do some work without items. :)

Papa Andrei1 votes

No thats getting into game mechanics/balance side of things. I am more discussing what the general THEME or goal of a support is to do.

Hethalean1 votes

Fair enough.

Dolasaur2 votes

Very much this. This is pretty much the only hard rule for supports; the rest is derived from this.

Papa Andrei2 votes

Again, that is a gameplay balance thing with numbers. I am more discussing what their theme/kit goals are meant to be.

Quil Evrything3 votes

OH yeah. Because lux's Q totally fails to work unless you have 500 AP. i mean it cant even stun ONE person, let alone the full TWO people without that.

and I mean .. her ult? It's not like 500 damage with zero items.. on up to 5 people=2500 damage.... is anything good. pfft. thats like tickling the enemy. Not like the 75% Ap scaling on that helps much either.

/sarcasm.

Mira Arya Enthe1 votes

Lux doesn't stun anybody, just saying :^)

GULAG 4 U1 votes

But people act like snares are stuns :^}

LordGeovanni1 votes

for melee characters they might as well be

Hethalean1 votes

lol and her damage in lane is pretty bad without items and easily avoidable. Her mana costs are high so she can barely miss before she's oom and have done nothing. OUTSIDE of lane, sure she might do something like an APC if somehow lane did extremely well, but if she's behind she's going to be way outclassed because she doesn't have items. 2500 damage on an ult for 5 people? That's really low damage for a carry at lvl 16. ESPECIALLY on how hard it is to hit. If she focuses the carries, it's going to be unlikely that she'll burst them unless again somehow her horrible laning phase went very very well and she got carried.. Other champs like the other ones listed don't require 5 people to be in a 200 unit wide skill shot to 'look good with numbers' on damage.

Compared to a Brand ult on 5 people? Sure, not as high theory crafting damage, but doesn't require 5 idiots to stand in formation like this is the colonial war era... plus that passive proc is just going to destroy people. As far as apc supports go, Lux is pretty much outclassed in every regard, except in that she can Snare two people.

Papa Andrei3 votes

To be fair though, rushing CDR and maxing Q on lux while getting Athenes solves most mana issues and makes Reliable CC, along with decent ish base damages. Also Sick snipes :D

Not AS good as others, but on a scale of 1-10 for effectiveness, its like a 4.5

Quil Evrything1 votes

that "except" is pretty huge. the ONLY other champ with a twoperson non-ult snare is bard. her other plus is baron and drag stealing. I've stolen so many of them.

Even with barely any items, she can outburst a smite. R+E combo (well technically, it's E,R+E)

Hethalean1 votes

Zyra Leona Thresh Soraka Shen Taric Veigar Zilean Alistar (really not sure how you forgot Alistar ...) Just to name a few other supports with 2 person non ult CC's that aren't just Bard and Lux. Never under estimate the knock back/forward of a two person Thresh Flay. I didn't even try remembering all the supports that have a 2 person slow. Slows are the worst! lol

You DID specifically mention Snare... so Zyra Soraka might be the only ones you accept because you seem to be limiting the hard CC there... but you said Snare and mentioned Bard ... and he doesn't have a snare in any form. It's a stun. Maybe the list will be fine.

Leona maybe. I forget if her E roots everyone she hits or not. If not, she's not in the list.

All of the above champions perform much better than Lux on low income and down in levels. So again she's just out classed for what she brings. Sure she can steal a Dragon, but like, you're stretching on that one. You're not going to do that reliably. It's a perk. Not sure I'd pick her for dragon stealing over any other support though.

NGNL Asian2 votes

{quoted}

You forgot another critical part of supports imo. They have to be gold efficient. A champion who needs to scale a ton to do anything will probably not fair well in the support role. That is why Brand/Malzahar/Zyra are all APC supports while Lux isn't that good at all. They can do some work without items. :)

Meanwhile mf. press E. free 24 gold. Then aa once, now you have 32.

Mira Arya Enthe2 votes

Leona ? :c

Papa Andrei2 votes

I knew i forgot someone!!!

Mira Arya Enthe1 votes

;P

Nymzo2 votes

Support is a role for champions that have less damage compare to other classes, but they bring very strong utility to their teammate.

Papa Andrei1 votes

Exactly, like I said, they enable their team and disable the enemy team by means other than damage :D

Baby Ghoul2 votes

I think "death is the best cc" is missing the point.

Currently damage is the most, and sometimes only, effective way of protecting your carry. Let's look at two examples

  1. Khazix pops up with item 3814 on Ashe and Soraka . They're both dead. There is no counterplay. Your best option to avoid that situation.
  2. Khazix pops up with item 3814 on Ashe and Brand . Well Ashe is still probably going to die, but Brand will be able to kill Khazix and at least not make that a free kill. In some cases you can even save your carry this way.

The problem isn't mage supports. They've been around for a while now, and they have their place.

The problem is that damage creep in addition to lethality and BS like EoN has made it difficult for bot lane. The whole "ADCs in 2017" meme was funny, because it came just on the heels of when marksmen were in a disgusting state, but Riot still didn't tackle the issue of everything doing too much damage. Lethality and items like EoN pushed that over the edge.

If you don't play a damage support than you and your ADC are in for a rough ride in this meta. Not only is damage flying at you from around the map, but now the support is adding in so much more damage. It's obnoxious to deal with every single game. However I see why the trend is headed in that direction, and I don't blame anyone that goes with the meta.

Playing anything other than a mage support right now is a lot more difficult than in previous seasons because you have almost no room for error. One wrong move and you're both deleted.

Support is an adaptive role after all. We generally adhere to the meta more than any other role because we want to optimize our carry's performance.

An obnoxious amount of mage supports is a symptom of a greater problem.

Papa Andrei2 votes

Thats less of supporting and more "I can kill you before you kill me" sorta deal. Also thats a EON thing cause its literally the most broken item in the game and needs to be straight up removed.

But aside from Riots inability to go back on their mistakes and just add mistake on mistake, supports are the same in their function. Mage supports are in the meta right now cause others CAN NOT do their jobs.

So aside from current gameplay balance issues, PURE damage supports really have no place in the support role and are to be treated not as a support but as a 2nd (Or only) APC.

Nalisai1 votes

As a support main myself, a support has two roles - don't let your teammates, especially your AD/AP carry, die, and disrupt the other team as much as possible, usually through various forms of cc.

To that end, a lot of champions really DO work in the support role. There are really very few who don't (assassins mainly suck at support for example).

The main drawback to support, as was previously mentioned, is gold efficiency. Mages who need to build 4 NLR items are probably going to be underpowered by level 3, and the same goes for most AD intensive building characters and their BF swords.

Second main issue with support is how reliant you are, especially early, on your carry performing well. A crappy carry can ruin your entire game if you don't switch your build up fast enough to make a kill or two yourself.

Papa Andrei1 votes

Gold reliancy is more of a gameplay balance issue though.

And almost all forms of support can do both jobs, but their kit makes them lean one way or the other. Except Janna, she does everything.

And of course a support is reliant on their team, thats the point of being a support. You support your team. You can have a solid steel perfect base for a building, but it its built outa paper, the support ain't gonna do much.

GULAG 4 U1 votes

One thing. Not a fucking khazix taking smite and farming the enemy jg and leaving bot 1v2

Papa Andrei2 votes

Well lets see, if the adc is able to play passive, and the Kha and JG both go around enemy jg taking camps, ganking, and setting all other lanes back, would that not be a viable strategy considered in the same vein as Nunu and Lulu, where the job is to make the enemy team weaker than they are through means other than just killing them?

GULAG 4 U1 votes

Except the nunu wasn't doing that. And if you want to use this strat, don't fucking pick khazix to do it.

Also 1v2ing bot is extreme,y fucking hard. A single cc means at least one sums burned or death. Just playing passive doesn't cut it. You'd be at 30 cvs at 10 minutes.

Phazetic1 votes

My idea of a supoort is to try to get the adc strong faster then the other team's adc. This is done by creating situations where the adc can get their items before the other side does. You do this by protcting the adc from ganks, allowing them to farm, denying the other side from farm, setting up kills, and denying kills from the other side. This is done through farming, sheilds, heal, aggresion, or harrassment.

After the adc is set up then the support tries to tip the balance of a team fight into his teams favor, through warding, securing objectives, and denying kills from the other team.

Papa Andrei1 votes

Exactly, so enabling your teamates while disabling the enemy team through means other than straight damage. It is just HOW it is done that matters :D

SpecterVonBaren1 votes

{quoted}

Damage "supports" have one job, kill the enemy, thats it. They can self set up, set up for their team, and do damage all at same time. Mostly seen by Brand Zyra Malzahar Death is the best cc after all.

The issue is, a "support" can be defined as anything, ADC supports it team by doing consistent damage. But the Support role is for characters who are dedicated to Hindering the enemy team, and assisting the allied team to victory.

Questions?

So that means every champion in the game is a support? Why even have the term at all then?

Papa Andrei1 votes

Notice the use of quotations around the word support, and how I said in other comments, support is helping your team through means other than sheer damage.

SpecterVonBaren1 votes

So you say that support is helping your team through means other than sheer damage but you still consider Brand to be a support?

Papa Andrei1 votes

{quoted}

Notice the use of quotations around the word support, and how I said in other comments, support is helping your team through means other than sheer damage.

Please open your eyes before you speak

Escheton1 votes

A support has 1 job; Contribute without taking farm. That is all. That is all it has ever been. Different champs do this in different ways. With different builds, abilities and playstyles. But that is always what it boils down to.

Papa Andrei1 votes

I love when people read my entire post and just ignore literally everything it says.

Escheton1 votes

{quoted}

I love when people read my entire post and just ignore literally everything it says.

I love when people assume I am referencing their post when it is clearly not the only one in the thread.

Papa Andrei1 votes

So you go onto my post, and type a comment about someone elses post? logic.

The Last Ballad1 votes

  1. Empowers their teammates.

  2. Creates a buffer(physical or psychological) in which their team may act in relative safety.

  3. Enables their team to make picks and plays by capitalizing on their enemies mistakes

That is what a support does. Notice how it both includes damage supports, and excludes lane abandoning smite "supports".

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