poke mage supports are way too good

macspam·12/26/2018, 8:11:02 AM·2 votes·1,721 views

i can hardly think of a case where i would rather have any support other than an AP poke mage, except for maybe if I'm playing Kalista in which case i want a tank.

Let me give some examples, consider 'engage supports' like pyke or thresh versus 'poke supports' like xerath or lux. If the 'engage support' lands their ability you get some CC and a bit of damage but it's really up to you as the ADC to dish out the damage. This doesn't seem to work when you're against a 'poke support'. Say the thresh hooks enemy ADC, their 'support' will just throw out all their abilities at you or Thresh, doing more damage than you (as ADC) and they often will end up winning the trade.

The problem is that the 'poke supports' actually have super strong engage in the form of their CC, but, crucially, have their own damage to back it up.

It's getting the point where i am starting to despise playing botlane, especially on red side, where I am forced to use free cam to even see their champ casting spells. Free cam is not impossible for me but I have to look so far down the screen that I am practically not even visible anymore (They can harass me under turret from the bush anyway). I have practiced like 6 different ADCs to get a feel for the role, getting up to mastery 5 + on each, and at the end of the day the only one I really want to play is Sivir because she can at least spellshield some of these "skillshots" (Lux E and Xerath Q, as well as the Pyke Q / Thresh Q / Brand W).

When I'm playing against an ADC with a mage support, it's like the ADC is the support because they enable the mage to focus completely on spamming the opponent with their spells and come 15-20 minute when the game is usually decided they still are more impactful than their ADC.

It feels like hardly anyone plays any sort of defensive support and as a result, botlane is this super snowbally bloodbath all the time. Even playing MF recently I feel I hardly have an impact on botlane and it's decided by who has more poke, just like ARAM.

I would love if the meta would favor ADC to have their own solo lane so that they can farm and trade like a normal lane, instead of auto losing lane because the enemy picked double poke into your 'actual' support. People say they are paired with support to keep the ADC alive but is that really the case when supports just want to get kills 90% of the time, on both teams?

Let me say I am a silver player, so if you want to talk shit do it, but please do so in a constructive way. I would just appreciate some advice regarding how to deal with this.

4 Comments

FullmuteAll play12/26/2018, 8:19:16 AM2 votes

So I know it is kinda obvious but maybe Practice dodging skills ? I as a mage poke support can tell you it is the biggest counter to me. If I can't land skills I can't harass you nor kill of course.

macspam12/26/2018, 8:33:06 AM1 votes

[deleted]

TheProfezzor12/26/2018, 5:25:25 PM1 votes

I enjoy poke support bc I like dealing dmg. That being said, you are wrong that even if hard engage supps engage the poke supp will win the trade. Poke supps generally have high cd early so they will lose. If you are forcing after you've eaten some harass then that's another story.