Can I get some advice?

BeardedNinja23·3/12/2016, 2:22:57 PM·6 votes·1,006 views

Okay so I am a support main who is currently in bronze 3. I've been trying really hard to climb out of bronze. I began in b4, dropped to b5 and now I'm in b3, so I have climbed a little bit. My champs that I play are soraka and thresh but can play blitz, braum, naut, and malphite when needed. It feels as if I'm stalling out though, which is very frustrating. I want to get better because I enjoy playing the game. What my questions are 1. How can I carry as a support if no one on my team is doing well, 2. How can I get better and climb, and 3. Do I need to main another role or at least get a back up role? I'm genuinely wanting to learn and get better. So any advice (positive preferred) will be helpful.

18 Comments

I hate my ADC3/12/2016, 4:27:32 PM3 votes

Thresh has a very high skill requirement and require a lot of knowledge with positionning, team synergy, usage of CC and yada yada. I don't know how well you do with Thresh but he's rarely the best pick for someone trying to improve from bronze. Soraka is 150% reliant on her team to do anything and the only carry you can do with her is to reduce the amount of gold the enemy get. Just like Janna except you can't prevent damage taken by your team or cover for their bad positionning.

Alistar, Nautilus and Janna are all great support champions to start with.

As for your questions:

You don't. At least not literally. You don't "carry" a game as a support, you allow your teammates to carry and/or you negate the enemy carrying.
Be versatile. One of the most important part of the game happens in champ select. Play the champion that synergize the best with your team and which can screw up the enemy hard. You have a Jhin for ADC but they have a Zed or Talon mid? Play Alistar. The enemy has a very hard engage team? Play Janna. You got a Ashe ADC? Play Leona!!!
You need at least a backup role for the rare case you don't get support, but you can very well rank up as support only. I only support (minus the rare times I mid) and I'm climbing rather quickly.

My advice? There is nothing stronger than countering an opponent. Cockblocking, zoning, disengaging, sustaining, map pressure, map coverage, etc. They are all good ways to counter. You just need to play to your team strength and capitalize on your enemy weaknesses. For example, Draven is a bully but he is extremely vulnerable to hard CC, snares and displacement. When against, depending on the enemy support, an Alistar, Blitzcrank or Nautilus can easily screw him up. A Karma can also work well if his support is a bully without sustain or early hard engage like an Annie or Brand. Always ask your ADC what he's gonna play in champ select and if you are first or second pick, go with a safe champion like Alistar or Janna.

Edit: Another advice... Time your abilities. Do not exhaust an enemy that is already CCed or that isn't actively doing damage, unless it's the only way you have left to keep them from escaping and secure the kill or if they are going to kill an ally if you don't use it for the snare. If you play Nautilus, don't ult while the target is already locked down by your passive root. Wait for them to attempt an escape, to engage or to stop them from dealing damage to your carry. Losing even 0.5s of CC because you use multiple at the same time can be fatal or mean that the enemy will escape with only a sliver of health left.

Edit 2: Don't get caught. Dying means the enemy team get gold and you lose precious time without any XP gain in a role that is already XP starved. Learn how to play the pink ward game and when it is safe to make an attempt at destroying an enemy pink ward. Always be aware of where the enemy team is on the map or where the enemy jungler was last seen and when.

Amelie3/12/2016, 5:18:46 PM2 votes

You can't carry Bronze level players as support, especially if they are all losing. Season 6 is very unforgiving due to snowballing. The only [possible] exception is if you are playing a burst mage (ie. not a utility support).
Play more roles. Don't pigeon-hole yourself into support when you are Bronze, you need to learn at least one other lane. You won't learn the game very well from the support position. But when you DO know the game very well, you can become an excellent support player.
Yes, see above. Traditional supports have extremely limited influence in Bronze (and Silver). I suggest picking up something way simpler than Thresh, and pick up something else to main besides the passive Soraka.

Only other suggestion I have is look up videos of basic league tips. You want to try to not die more than 5 times a game. This may mean you need to play more carefully.

T RexHasTinyArms3/12/2016, 10:01:57 PM2 votes

So really simple basics are to think about what you can improve and focus on improving every game rather than winning every game. It can be easy to be discouraged by losses and pay more attention to what teammates do wrong than what you could do better, but that doesn't help you climb (bc it stunts your growth as a player). I'd suggest watching some support mains stream and looking at what they do to win games (do they roam and get all lanes ahead, do they ping a lot for objectives [and can you tell when/why they are going to ping], do they just trade really well, or is it something else). Then look at your own games and think about what you aren't doing. Do you undervalue taking dragon/tower after you kill the enemy bot lane? Do you not control vision well? Do you position poorly in team fights, or are you missing opportunities to engage/make picks/peel that could be winning games for you? Focus on improving something specific every game, like controlling dragon better, or taking the first tower of the game, or punishing lane w/ an early level 2 and getting first blood. Once you improve one thing and can do it consistently, improve the next. You'll start being so much better than supports at your level that you start winning more games and you'll go up in rank.

Also consider the mechanical difficulty vs your comfort w/ the role. Thresh has a ton of options, but that comes with a lot of room to misuse an ability or lose some of his power bc you could have played something better w/ the options his kit has. This means you have to spend a lot of time learning thresh. That's time you learn just thresh, and you still have to learn the support role. If you're making mechanical errors w/ thresh, or are so focused on playing him right that you're distracted from improving your skill at the role, then you're hurting your climb by playing thresh. You have to choose if you want to invest time working on thresh as a 1 trick or something, knowing that it will keep you from climbing as fast, or if you want to pick up a champ you can get comfortable on mechanically much faster than thresh and then focus on improving at the role so you can climb faster. Oh and I think Soraka has some nerfs on pbe that are gonna really really hurt her most likely, so you may want to consider if there are any other supports you want to learn. (Blitz, annie, anything high impact for team fights that can abuse positioning errors from enemies is what I'd recommend. Low elo has so many opportunities to make picks bc people don't respect positioning and you can then win a 5 v 4 after you pick one of their team off and have that power play time during the death timer.)

o0PonY0o3/12/2016, 2:37:08 PM2 votes

I don't think you can on those champs IF everyone is behind. Best thing is to keep good vision for potential picks on stragglers.
Keep playing, ask questions, watch streams and guides. Maybe narrow your support pool to a few and master them. Once you get out of bronze, silver, gold etc. everything changes. But I think that for bronze, your best best is to play your very best champion as it is generally fill ed with the least experienced players and your mastery of a few champs can pull you out of here. If I were you I would spam Naut support or something with tons of cc and heavy engage.
If you want to learn and get better then play whatever. If you want to carry than yes, you might want to pick up a different role. I'm not saying a support can't or doesn't carry, but carrying as a support is hard when your whole team is behind.

WowSuchDoge3/12/2016, 5:03:19 PM2 votes

Stop supporting. Pick a carry champion. Main that champion. Win win win. ez

Phenyxs3/12/2016, 2:31:33 PM2 votes

I would try another role maybe. Change it up. But if your feeling like your stuck or spinning your wheels I would back out if rank and play norm for a bit. That's what I have done. I grew frustrated with rank and trolls, afk and non skilled so I stopped playing rank. I play aram or norm draft. I am not as stressed and having overall better games.

Truly Prideful3/12/2016, 6:01:58 PM1 votes

Adding some mage supports to your roster may help you "carry" games in lower tiers. Things like Lux / Brand / Vel'koz have solid CC and very good damage without needing a ton of gold. This could be a good solution until you climb higher up and people will take advantage of your utility supports more.
Honestly, just keep practicing and expand your champion pool. Focus on your play every game, find your mistakes, and learn how to fix them. You could always click the record match button at a site like op.gg for a replay that you can watch after the game.
If you really like support, try placing bot as your secondary. If you understand the ADC matchups as well as the support matchups it will benefit you greatly in the long run.

I only really got to browse stats a little since I'm on mobile, but your ward numbers seem a bit lower for the game lengths. I'll take another look when I get home in a couple of hours. Always like trying to help if possible.

Sassmast3r3/12/2016, 6:43:53 PM1 votes

Although I'm not ranked and so therefore my opinion is obviously not credible, keep in mind that this is no more than an opinion, not fact.

As a support main, one must realize that being the support, what you're doing is you're helping your team carry itself; you aren't responsible to carry them. You're supposed to set up situations for them to get kills, heal them while they're fighting and/or buff them, save them when possible, but you are not the actual carry. If you're whole team is doing poorly even with your help when you're giving it your all, then there isn't a whole lot to do. Sometimes this just happens due to a lack of good communication in your team, or maybe a bad team composition. You just have to deal with what is more than likely going to be a loss, and think "How can I do better next time?"
I'm not ranked nor do I have plans to ever actually play ranked, but if I was in your shoes, I would do the same as I suggested on #1 - How can I do better next time? What can I change in my play-style to further assist my team in the future? In the end, you can't control how other people play, only yourself, and so the only way you can get better is to realize that you are ultimately in control of your own rank, and thus need to work on how you can better yourself and your play-style to assist not only yourself, but also the team as a whole.
Personally, I primarily main support, and secondarily main ADC, however I can mid if necessary. I would recommend ensuring you are capable of playing at least two roles, and even better yet three. If I were to suggest another role to main, I would say either ADC or jungle, as both mid and top are (in my opinion) lanes that focus too much on how oneself can be the best, and not on teamwork, which is what this game is all about. ADC teaches you better communication with your support as it (sometimes) forces you to engage after a support sets something up for you, and in general just teaches you how to better "gel" so-to-speak with your teammates. The same can be said for playing the jungler for your team, except you also get to call shots yourself, such as objectives like Baron or Dragon, or when certain fights can happen. Overall I feel like these three roles as a whole are better roles to main than top and mid because those three actually teach you what you really need to know in order to win: teamwork.

When it comes to the supports that you main, what might be something you can work on is indeed teamwork, especially since both Thresh and Soraka tend to get boots of mobility. Try to help mid lane out when you see them struggling or want them to get ahead of the enemy, or perhaps even try to scout out opponents and ping for followup to catch the enemies off guard and score some points there as well. Sometimes when I miserably fail bottom lane, I still manage to help the rest of my teammates out enough that we end up winning in the end.

One thing you need to remember though. Some games you simply can't win. There are inevitably going to be losses you have, and sometimes you just have to accept them and think about what you personally could have done better to increase your chance of victory said game.

Hope I helped!

BlkStar1003/12/2016, 7:38:44 PM1 votes

Well this is a funny question , that depends on how dirty would you like to get your hands .The "carry" supports in bronze are champions with burst potential and poke like Annie , Morgana, Sona , Teemo . You can also play tank support that are purely annoying like Maokai , Nautilus , Leona ( itemize her as a juggernaut ). 2.As a support , you are relieved from cs-ing and that means you will have the responsability to be a playmaker . A supports game is like chess , you have to be two steps ahead of your enemy bot laner and for that you must understand his pros/cons , powerspikes , mindset etc . Don't forget the minimap and wards . Find a friend to play adc and skype . You will also be able to trade roles with him if you wish to .
Yes . Try learning to learn the adc role in order to undertand better what your adc needs . There are all types of adc's out there . If you happen to miss a lot of cs just make a custom and practice some cs mechanic to improve your cs-ing . It will help you on learning other roles later on ( if you wish to ) .

Resent3/12/2016, 7:48:30 PM1 votes

if nobody is doing well, then a support is not going to do well. understand that your PRIMARY job is to keep your ADC alive. if your ADC is garbage, then rip ur role
the biggest problems that low elo players have is having no map awareness, no actual matchup awareness, no trading skills, zero focus on last hitting, etc. as a support, you don't need to focus on last hitting persay (unless you're melee and using relic shield). focus on those.
my personal opinion, support isn't a viable way to climb unless you're duoing with someone competent. you need to carry yourself out of low elo. supports don't quite exactly do that in the ways you need to.

add me in-game if you have more specific questions

HadesBlades3/12/2016, 10:27:13 PM1 votes

If you want to be a person that can fill the support role and carry role, getting better at morgana and malphite are the ways to go. Morgana can be used either top mid or support and is a decent mage that can wave clear easily and has decent damage. Malphite can be one of those carry tanks that brings enough cc and disruption to a team fight he is pretty decent in this ad meta.

Support is a hard role to carry in because you have to win lane, and post lane rotations. I would practice morgana support and then move to mid lane, she could be one of the easiest supports to move freely around in lanes. And once you master her champions like lulu, and diana all will be easy to cary with. :D Practicing support is far different from mid and top, but at least you will have the mechanics down of that champion so you can use them in lane.

MofoJames3/13/2016, 1:06:26 AM1 votes

I know a lot of people are saying that you should tailor your picks to counter the opponent, but I think a better strategy is to hone your skills on a champion who can work well in a lot of situations. In a video discussing strategies for the new season, Bjergsen said that most people overestimate the importance of counterpicks compared to champion mastery. If you take a champ you've played five times because it counters your opponent's main, you're really asking to be shat on. A favorable matchup won't make up for the experience gap.

That being said, I don't think Thresh or Raka are great champs to main. Thresh is a strong generalist, but requires excellent mechanics and game sense to use effectively. Soraka just isn't very strong right now. I'd recommend Braum, Blitz, or Janna if you want to find a straightforward champion who has reliable power and good matchups. Develop your skills on those champs and you should see results.

Arakadia3/13/2016, 1:14:21 AM1 votes

In bronze, its kinda hard to climb and people don't think "where/what should I do next?" and make alot of msitakes. I suggest you play people like Kat, Yi, Xin Zhao, and Trynd who are all very strong especially in low elo. Once you climb out you can play other champs as people will be more thoughtful.

bolivian heat3/12/2016, 2:53:22 PM1 votes

Here's the bottom line, just abuse the broken cancer that is dynamic Q. As long as u don't feed and play like you have some common sense then every time u win a game, look at your team, whoever carried or did great , friend them and invite them or ask them to group with u for next game. If u get smashed by the enemy team, look to see were their best players, whoever stood out to u as great players, send them friend requests as well and try to get them to invite you. As long as you play your best and don't feed and aren't toxic then generally the players whom u would want to play with will add u or accept your friend request. If , as u climb u find better teammates, be if on your team of the enemy team then just replace your old ones if they start playing bad . also the only true way to carry from support role is to play burst mages. Brand, Annie, lux, velkoz, and zyra. Master them and then u will be able to carry from support role and attract other good players in either side to want to add u or accept your friend request.

SolidPooh3/12/2016, 2:56:32 PM1 votes

Watch your map my friend, ward often and run to the farthest advanced ally to make sure they cant be graped by enemies.

Wards can be a stronger ally than an incompetent player.

try shot-calling drag earlier.

set up for the team even 1 minute before you drag.

Buy bard and get focused on thresh.

Don't be a hero, you have a lantern of souls for that.

pay attention to your failing lanes and notify the proper authorities.

Map awareness, Map awareness, Map awareness - always check that li'l bitch out

pretend enemies always have their ults, and at least pretend you know what they can do to you (if you dont know) meaning waltz carefully.

and finally: Smoke a bowl.

good luck

Hoi Im Temmo3/12/2016, 3:07:49 PM1 votes

Sadly, you cant (generally) you are more for setting up an ally to carry. But even if you give them every advantage and play perfect, it will be on them to play well with it. Now, even in low bronze, if you were to actually play perfect and they don't, it is highly unlikely they can throw a huge advantage. But it can happen.
Continue playing. As long as you are enjoying the game, division is something that will improve over time. You can grind, but this is a team game, not WoW or similar, so grinding is not optimal for progress and often ends in frustration.
You don't "have" to, but adc, mid, and some top laners (not all their) are much better at carrying. Generally, to carry, you need massive damage to shut people out of the fight, Amazing cc, or split pushing power. Some supports have the cc (sona ults can literally win games) but they require the opportunity to be properly used, and opportunity the player has to then respond t0 appropriately, and in time.

The champs you listed are GREAT at being supports, but not at being the hidden carry of the team.

RoodToob3/12/2016, 4:56:15 PM1 votes

With the new draft, its always a good idea to have a second role prepared. Also i see you have a big amount of champs ready to go, That's good, but try to really get good at 2 or 3 of them. You'll see you could carry a bot lane easily with someone like thresh.

To get better, look at your minimap. A Lot. It helps way more than you think. Also, after every game question what you did wrong in that game, ESPECIALLY if you won, because you are less aware of your mistakes seeing as you won, and most will think they have nothing to improve on.

Chat is normally a waste of time, but that doesn't mean you should flat out mute everybody, communication with your ADC (if he's not a dick) is so good in solo queue. It's unorganized and if you guys are synced, you are more likely to win. This does bring up a duo queue partner. Having a partner that you have voice comms with gives you huge advantages. I have a friend in a similar position as you and whenever he plays with me (I'm crap ADC btw, like silver lvl, even if I'm Plat) he plays better himself because he knows when i can go in because we communicate.

Lastly, learn basics of your role in and out. Many, many people in bronze do not understand objectives or last hitting and how important they are.

PS. If all else fails, wombo combo comps only need to win 1 fight to win game, especially in bronze. Also, they're easy to pull off

FortisDominus3/12/2016, 5:47:13 PM1 votes

when everyone is getting their asses kicked and you are the support, there is not much you can do
getting better requires alot of experience and getting better is not something people can really teach you, its something you have to learn on your own. If i had a suggestion its to watch replays of your games and play with people who are better than you.
i suggest maining jungle because its honestly the best way to climb right now due to vision not being as strong as it was in the past

If you want to climb, i suggest you learn how to jungle because you will have the most impact on the game because of the way vision this season has been nerfed