Is Exhaust Or Heal Better For Supports?

DoYoHomewerk·4/21/2015, 10:44:24 PM·2 votes·1,030 views

Exhaust is often recommended for supports and adc's take heal, but would it help more if the support took heal too?

20 Comments

Volt Cruelerz4/21/2015, 11:52:02 PM3 votes

I'd say Exhaust on the support because the speed boost on the ADC from Heal can be useful in teamfights for repositioning.

GaleWinUnleashed4/21/2015, 10:48:59 PM1 votes

Exhaust is amazing.

The Lilly4/21/2015, 10:49:18 PM1 votes

Yes and no, with some supports, say Leona, yes, because she can neither shield or heal the carry. Say Nami, no, she can heal herself and her team, it would be pretty useless. While with a non-meta one, yes, because they usually dont have a heal or they aren't used to match ups so it will give themselves some support. So, in all reality it just depends on the match up and the champion.

City of Toronto4/21/2015, 10:49:42 PM1 votes

Exhaust to protect your carry and/or win 2v2s.

Ignite to kill the enemy bot lane.

Don't take heal because of diminishing returns for consecutive heals within a certain time window.

Hellpyre4/21/2015, 10:51:09 PM1 votes

Exhaust would be my recommendation as a general rule. Basically, as a support you want to improve your ADC (and later the rest of your team)'s ability to defeat other champions. Exhaust allows you to put an enemy out of commission during a skirmish or teamfight, as well as preventing more damage in most cases than heal would return. It also provides a similar ability to change distance, while increasing the relative amount of distance created by mobility abilities. Finally, redundant healing in lane has reduced effectiveness over a short window, while staggered exhausts do not.

Renaille4/21/2015, 10:54:33 PM1 votes

Double heal can't be utilized in an all in well, while exhaust is amazing for it.

Sir ArmaMalum4/21/2015, 10:59:52 PM1 votes

Heal gives a debuff that diminishes the next heal for a decent period of time (30 secs iirc?) meaning at the time your adc heals and you need to pop spells to decide the fight you can't use you heal without sacruficing half of the health it gives. Exhaust, however can be used while your adc uses his/her heal and that hot moment will be more likely in your favor. Ignite is also a good option as has been mentioned if you're going for a kill lane.

Live2LetDie4/21/2015, 11:34:30 PM1 votes

Like everyone said, second heal doesn't do much when used in a certain time window. Ex greatly reduces speed and damage while ignite completely rekts the other adc heal.

Krigjer4/21/2015, 11:39:48 PM1 votes

I take both Exhaust and Heal.

I started playing in season 2 when it was common to bait out tower-dives with heal, and it targeted everyone that was in range. It's a habit I wasn't able to drop, and I'm more comfortable running heal instead of flash when I support.

If my adc has a problem with it, I don't really care. Either take barrier or take heal anyway for the movement speed, I'm going to play how I'm comfortable.

Drukyul4/21/2015, 11:42:59 PM1 votes

I prefer exhaust on the ADC and heal on the support, but that's just my preference. I think an ADC is more likely to survive a 1v1 against an assassin or bruiser with exhaust instead of heal. And there are so many times where the speed boost from Heal can be used simply to catch up and CC someone when you really need it as a support.

Stonington4/22/2015, 1:47:36 AM1 votes

It's inefficient because

Healed champions are debuffed for 35 seconds, causing subsequent Heal casts on them to be 50% less effective for that period.

It's really a decision between exhuast and ignite for supports.

The Ecdysiast4/22/2015, 5:01:21 AM1 votes

I say Exhaust if you're Soraka and Heal if you're Leona. Better explained as Healers need more CC and the superheavy CC champs need that heal to save an overextended ally. (who burned their Heal >35 seconds ago)

Teridax684/22/2015, 8:10:33 AM1 votes

summoner 7 is more practical on the marksman because it gives them a lot more control over the healing and movement speed boost -- using it even a split-second too late could get them killed or could lose them a kill. Even if your support is with you 100% of the time (unlikely, since they have to go ward at the very least) and is premade with you (and communicating in voice chat), you're still not going to have the same reaction time with Heal as you would with it directly on the marksman. By contrast, summoner 3 lasts much longer and, while still pretty time-sentitive, is much better at being used preemptively or "just to make sure".

I also think you're omitting summoner 14 here: if you're playing a support with a ton of crowd control already (e.g. Thresh , Leona , Blitzcrank , even Nautilus now), and you feel confident enough in your abilities to not need Exhaust, Ignite will give you a huge amount of kill potential in bot lane, and just having it available will put a ton of pressure on your opponents. If you're not sure, though, I'd say Exhaust should be your default go-to spell as a support.

NoMonku4/22/2015, 8:50:07 AM1 votes

Take exhaust. Unless your ADC wants to take it and wants you to take heal, Exhaust is usually the better alternative. For me as an ADC player, I prefer to be able to keep myself alive with my own heal used at the last minute, then rely on someone else to save me.

MLDzXnRRR4/22/2015, 8:54:01 AM1 votes

Exhaust is better in teamfights, Ignite is good only against draintanks like Swain or for finishing low hp enemies.

DoYoHomewerk4/23/2015, 3:09:02 AM1 votes

thx guys!!! XD playingBlitzcrank and Braum with exhaust or ignite now!

4ManVotedAgainst4/23/2015, 3:20:11 AM1 votes

I usually take the combination of summoner 7 summoner 3 when playing a Tank-Support. Otherwise summoner 3 summoner 4 with Utility Supports. For APC-Type Supports I just go summoner 14 summoner 4 in many cases or in some cases summoner 14 summoner 12 . For very niche-specific cases sometimes a summoner 7 summoner 13 is called for depending on circumstances.

KMannnnn14/21/2015, 10:47:50 PM1 votes

It can depend on the scenario, but most of the time, exhaust will be the better option. In a 2v2, heal's power is decreased when used within a certain time window, and in a teamfight, exhaust is a failsafe way to stop an assassin or another adc from damaging your carry.

Kariu Rena4/23/2015, 3:27:55 AM1 votes

looks like you need to do your homework