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I Need Help (Support)

MagykalMaiden··2 votes·687 views

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this, even if you don't want to help.

I've been playing League of Legends for a year and a half to two years now. I haven't always played as regularly as I do now, but recently I try to play at least two games everyday. However, I don't seem to be getting any better. I've dropped from Bronze IV to Bronze V and I really was hoping to go the other way. I normally play support (usually Janna, Nami, or Leona), and I was hoping to get some tips or advice to improve my games. I'm currently learning other supports in normals matches, so the advice doesn't have to be specifically for any of the champs I listed above.

I don't mean this to be toxic or arrogant, but one of the main problems I have is with my teammates. What happens is that the mid laner (for example. It's not always the mid laner) will have a poor laning phase. Then someone else gets mad and starts flaming them for "feeding" (it's only feeding if it's intentional, right? Am I wrong on that?) and that just makes him [the person flaming] look toxic and he just decides not to help mid anymore or mid starts to feel bad at the game and slips into a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. So in addition to gameplay tips, morale-boosting tips would also be greatly appreciated.

I'm here to learn, so if you need anything from me like a video of gameplay or something, just ask me and I'll get you some footage or something.

7 Comments

JavelinJoe4 votes

Janna and Nami both get better the higher up you go in rank. Bronze is all about "picks" most of the time. Try out Blitzcrank Thresh Nautilus Morgana Leona Bard if you haven't.

Tips:

    1. Get a Sightstone early. Vision control is key to being a support. being able to know where enemies are will allow you to choose the best option for what to do next.
    1. You do not need to be on a fed carry to be a good support. Going 0-10-25 is way better more often than not than going 10-2-3. This is because Supports are primarily meant to protect their carries and to be their defense if/when needed. SO those 25 assists can do a lot for your team where they may not need just another selfish damage dealer.
    1. Everyone is frustrated if they lose lane. But if they consistently are dying over and over again (while also picking up a kill or 2 here and their at the same time) then yes they are feeding. Every kill/assist will reset your gold value if you are on a death streak. Death streaks can lower your gold value down to something like 50 gold. So dying is no longer a reliable source of income for opponents until you get a kill or an assist. But, it is also feeding if they don't do anything to fix their dying issue. If they are dying a lot and do not get some defense (usually an Abyssal or a Zhonyas if AP and a Maw or a QSS if AD), or if they are playing recklessly, then they are not trying to live (survive) and are feeding. Feeding is also just a generic term for someone who just has a lot of deaths (usually 4+ pre-20 minute deaths is a good/bad sign that you likely are feeding, especially if all the kills are going to only one champion).
    1. Build for your role. A support does not really build expensive items. item 3512 item 3050 item 2049 item 3143 item 3174 item 3060 item 3107 item 3190 item 3504 can be your best friends (depending on what champion you are playing). Look for more utility rather than raw damage, or some hybrid of damage and utility if need be. item 3116 is a good example of damage/utility.
    1. Lastly, whatever you do, do not bm/flame/criticize your teammates for any reason under any circumstance. Being the Support means that you are often the hole where the team dumps their shit when they are mad, especially the ADC. Just mute them if need be, but try and be as positive as you can. It really helps when someone is positive (in their speaking, not necessarily K/D/A, though that helps) on the team. Trust me on this one.
k wìx2 votes

Support main who started @ Bronze levels and worked my way up to High gold / Low plat levels of play. I've mained a LOT of different support champs over the years, and usually feel a bit 'ahead' of the meta. My playing (mechanical) skills are average at best, but I try to make up for that with better game knowledge. I'll post some tips:

  • Figuring out your partner is critical. Do they play safe and exclusively try to farm? Are they aggressive and trying to start fights? Are they a SKILLED player (Critical to success!) are they a bad player? You need to learn to analyze your partners play. It's important to realize when your playing with someone good - but even MORE important to realize when your playing with someone who is bad.
  • If they are a good player, support them genuinely. If they are bad, be prepared to carry them and 'take-over' the lane a bit. There is absolutely no reason to support a terrible player, because your going to lose. If i make the judgement call that my adc is bad (And I mean genuinely not playing well, csing, farming, bad trades, no awareness) .. I will begin to play very differently. I will take CS when applicable, I will NOT depend on him to back me in an engagement (MUCH safer laning) and I will absolutely avoid contact with the enemy laners until I get out of that laning phase.
  • Anytime that you can cause a 2v1 scenario (where you and your ally can damage an enemy with only THAT enemy being able to fight back) is a huge advantage. Make this happen as often as possible, and NEVER be in a position where you cannot support your ally properly from trading. If the enemy ADC is autoing you or your partner and NEITHER of you are tossing attacks back, then you are losing the trading game, and will lose the laning phase. It's really important to understand how trading works, but thats another topic entirely.
  • Avoid death above all else. You should be analyzing how often you died during a match - I generally die less than 6 times per game. My goal is under 3 deaths per game - 3 strikes your out kinda rule. 'Feeding' is dying a lot in the early laning phase, because you've 'fed' your opponent, they have much, MUCH more pull and power come mid game, and if that player is skilled, it will skew in their teams favor. It's easy to throw a league game because of 1 bad player.
  • You can climb with ANY support. Don't rely on gimmicks - instead, pick your favorite and try to MASTER that champion. Know every matchup. The Magic Damage supports are very viable - They carry harder than many regular supports. Brand and Morgana are great examples of supports that can carry by themselves. Nami and Janna really NEED someone to help them capitalize on their kits.
  • As for team morale/morale in general - ignore chat entirely. Communicate through pings and mute all of the chat, all people are going to do is complain - Don't listen, and dont let a loss get you down - Focus on YOUR OWN PLAY. use that as a guide to if you did well or not (The deaths, like above? did I die more than 5 times? that was bad, I need to die less. Why did I die so much?) Things like that will help you improve FAR MORE than winning or losing. Get better at identifying WHO caused you to lose the game. don't blame them - its pointless, just know why. WHY is Ahri 1-shotting half your team? because someone fed her. What are you going to do about it?
  • On that front, get better at identifying who is strong and who is weak as the game winds into mid game. Who died a lot? They are probably having a rough game, KNOW that your mid isn't that strong right now - KNOW that Warwick has had like 7 successful ganks and is now 8/0/1 and is Absolutely terrifying. KNOWING these things helps you die less. Dying less is everything.
  • Finding a partner and getting on Voice Chat is very viable - this how many, many Duo bot lanes climb.

Uhh... This is a lot - Digest it - goodluck. You will climb if you keep playing and focus on improving.

Nite Owl II1 votes

in ranked you can't waste time typing. just play and remind people that they are stupid for trying to "win" in chat rather than win the game

1wolfpack1 votes

moral boosting tips: -if someone is toxic to you for a bad play w/e just mute them and keep playing.

  • usually when u have a toxic team-mate its that one guy. so...try saying a few positive things in chat to keep team moral high like "we got this" , "we can do this" "gj" "nice play" etc...

tips for playing support

  • watch youtube videos of good support players playing ur champions
  • concentrate on objectives
  • play supports that fit your play-style maybe 1/2 you dont need to play 4/5 different support champions
  • what order you buy items early game is important and I'll give u an example: if your being pushed against ur tower during lane phase you dont need to start sightstone, you wont need it. instead your better off buying something that will help you win trades, or help yo guys push back and win lane. you can buy sightstone later (just not too much later)
  • if you play a poke champion try to poke as the enemy adc is going to last hit a minion so that they either take damage and get a minion or they miss the minion.

I dont want to write too much so i'll stop there.

A Doorknob1 votes

If you're looking to climb pick a cheeseballs support. Janna and Nami are very difficult supports. It not only requires you to have a really good comprehension of these champs but you're also expecting your ADC no know these champs very well which they either don't know or don't care. Leona is another 1 I'd be iffy to pick, not that she's hard, but it requires you to understand when to engage and what to do under which circumstances. For instance, when do you engage when there is a blitzcrank? Most Supports in bronze cannot answer the question to this riddle even when their life depends on it and often engages at terrible times. Instead I'd pick champs like blitzkek, Morgayay, Velkoz, Bananaraka, Tham kench, Sona, Braum, Zilean, Taric, Thresh. Climb the ranks further until you land in a better ELO where your adc plays better and then pick what you enjoy. You will have learned more by this point as well and so you will in many ways, be able to play more effectively with Leona, Nami, Janna.

GemCrash1 votes

Just** stop playing support**, that's not gonna get you out of bronze. You literally won't find anybody worth supporting down there. Not even in silver/gold. pick an assassin, go mid or jungle, snowball yourself and carry your teammates, because **they need to be carried not supported. **you don't even need to be good at them to dominate bronze players. Trust me on this I played all the way from silver to plat in the past two years, even in plat you only get non-retarded adcs half of the time, playing support anywhere lower is pretty much begging for lose.

GemCrash1 votes

The thing about support is you can be the reason to lose if you are doing poorly and your teammates are doing good, but you are very, very ,very unlikely to be the reason to win if you are doing well but your teammates suck. And down there your teammates are pretty much guaranteed to be bad. I'm not saying support as a role is not important, I'm saying there is nobody worth supporting in bronze/silver. The moment you pick support in bronze it's no longer about how you play or how **good **you play, you simply won't be able to change the game.

moral tips? League community is known for being toxic, you can't change human nature, blocking them, farming calmly and reporting them after game is the best thing you can do.

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