Just joined champ select, Hovered a squishy supp & was flamed by my top & jg for going squishy support. They were hovering teemo/jax and were asking me to switch off and play a tank support instead. Tired of players thinking they can chose what support plays if they need a tank, but top and jungle have options.
Bârd18 votesTank supports work because they're given defensive tools that are either invaluable or that allow them to double dip into the limited amount of gold they get.
Passive, ult
Q, W, Ult
W, E
E
W
W
R (Takes half the enemy tanks resists)
You should have a secondary tank or bruiser to help frontline, but the issue isn't that they're gold inefficient. The issue is that they're poor.
Verarticus7 votesTank supports work because they're given defensive tools that are either invaluable or that allow them to double dip into the limited amount of gold they get.
You should have a secondary tank or bruiser to help frontline, but the issue isn't that they're gold inefficient. The issue is that they're poor.
ALL tanks have tools to make them more durable. That's what makes them a tank in the first place.
50000000000000002 votesA lot of fighters, too. Frontline needs defensive steroid.
tieger051 votesYou're right, but you're still missing the point.
1wolfpack12 votesas I support main, I just play what I feel like regardless of what my team-mates say.
Ralanr4 votesSame. Though I usually play tanks anyway.
DarkRitual8 votesSejuani is actually passable as a solo-tank support, due to her passive. However, the rest of your team still needs some good CC in there. Otherwise, tank Karma or Janna is what I'd say to go. Ignore rest of team complaining and do your thing.
Aimléss1 votesIf you're playing off-meta trash like that in my ranked game, I'm definitely gonna complain. Tank Janna???? Who even attacks Janna, especially a tanky one who's gonna have mediocre shields in return.
DarkRitual3 votesNot full tank, but pretty close.
, with an MR item to finish it off.
Pretty tanky, and you're relying more on engage/peel, with shields still being decent.
Aimléss1 votesThat's more bruiser, if even that, since as a support it takes forever to get your items so you'll still be squishy the majority of the game. And second, "No one attacks Janna", even if she is kind of tanky, If someone had to choose between killing her or a damage champ, they're gonna go for them everytime.
DarkRitual4 votes2300 for Vow, and 2400 on Zeke's.
No one attacks you? Guess it's a good thing those supportive items still do other things. Also saying nobody attacks Janna is blatently false in most games. If you're building tanky, you can float near the front line and eat skillshots still (not all of course).
It's most certainly not anywhere near optimal, but it's DOABLE.
50000000000000002 votesZeke's is probably not a good item on tank Janna. It activates on ult, and Janna's ultimate pushes people away, which means Zeke's active is hard to use.
DarkRitual1 votesYeah. It's not optimal, but it's doable to go frontline and ult to seperate someone back. The storm aura lasts long enough either way that you can get some work done with it.
50000000000000002 votesWhy not something like Frozen Heart, Locket, or Redemption?
DarkRitual1 votesIf only building a single Idol item, Censor is the one for Janna. The movespeed is also useful since you can forego boots on her without being left behind. Locket isn't that amazing anymore without multiple Idol items or a lot more health stacking. Picked Vow over FH, for the bit of health and the link passives.
50000000000000002 votesI meant in place of Zeke's. The build has a lot of resistances, so some health could help round out the build. Redemption could give that extra bit of HP. Locket wouldn't scale that well, but instant AoE shield is still pretty nice. Frozen Heart is the most situational of the three I suggested, if they have little to no magic damage threats.
I admit that the Zeke's have pretty attractive stats, though.
50000000000000001 votesOfftank Morgana is also pretty good. It allows you to chase with your ult on, instead of using Zhonya's and hoping for the best. She also doesn't have much heals/shields, so you don't miss out too much by forgoing Ardent Censer and such.
DarkRitual1 votesI used to do this back when Locket had a chunk of health on it.
and situational boots would be what I'd build for it now.
ZT Xperimentor5 votesEven when your team is snowballing, the support is several thousand behind in gold; sadly most players don't know that because they haven't played enough support.
chipndip14 votesWhenever the team doesn't pick a tank: Pick Sona, pray you guys don't shit the laning phase, spam W and pretend you guys are like 35% tankier than you actually are. Hopefully win.
Champion Skin3 votesWell there is also kind of with his Q (heal) and R..... but then the team would probably have no initiation and well.... the team probably wouldn't survive 2.5 seconds (the delay on Taric ult)
My Waifu Vanilla4 votesTake coin and you won't have money problems. Until Riot evens out the income from the items it is never going to be worth taking Relic Shield since its income is far too....inconsistent and the extra shield comes too late when you could have already had an extra giant's belt of health in your inventory by that point anyway.
Steelflame8 votesAn extra Giant's belt of gold is 1000 gold.
The gold difference between the two isn't that great, and Eye of the Eclipse also has another base 300 HP on Eye of the Oasis. Oasis cost 400 less gold, so that is still a 1400 gold difference before you'd match the durability of Relic line. There is absolutely no case where you would get that big a gold difference between coin and relic.
If you truly want raw durability, the Relic line wins every time, the only issue is you need to get to the 650 gold gen mark to get most of that durability active, because a ton of that durability is in the shield, which is a solid 300 HP shield, which is on top of the 500 HP of the Eye of the Eclipse, making it match Warmogs in raw effective durability granted, just without the out of combat sustain instead having an out of combat shield.
Relic honestly isn't that far behind Coin, it's about 80% as much gold if you are good at managing your relic stacks and don't waste them like an idiot on caster minions, but only the Cannon minions and melee minions if there is no cannon to get.
I personally think the Relic line is about where gold gen for supports needs to be. Spelltheif is too low (and risky), coin is too high (and safe, at that). Relic is fairly safe, having some risk, but also gives sustain to help you take the poke you get getting those melee/cannon minions.
Champion Skin1 votesWell yes Relic is totally fine in lane.... though later on when mages are running around and instantly removing waves with AoE and when ADC's get 
and does the same then it gets rather difficult to proc.....
Steelflame1 votesThats why you have to make sure to upgrade it to Eye of the Equinox. The boosted AS, range, and execution damage brings it to the point where you can pretty well compete with your own team to get the stacks off on the melee and cannon minions.
nomeensno2 votesEh, just do what I do. When they tell me to pick some specific champ I steal away there intent and tell them to play that champ.
Salson2 votesYou really shouldn't value an opnion of someone who plays Teemo.
Some players are entitled, ignore them all, they aren't worth your's or anyone else's time.
notice me Sin pi2 votesas a justification, i just tell them that supports are never allowed to proc 
n therefore are unable to get gold for tank items
Project omen2 votesI'm gonna go ahead and assume that Jax was the jungler and say this: Never hear advice from someone who plays jungle Jax. Also, unless they were first and second pick, they have no right to demand picks from the rest of their team. Are you the top laner or the jungler? Do you want a tank? If you answered yes to both questions, PICK A TANK.
JVP152 votesIt isn't just that supports are gold starved. I often find myself having enough gold to buy most tank items as they're pretty cheap. The problem is that we have to spend item slots on items like Sightstone and gold generation items, not to mention other support items that like that are very good for the team, but the individual stats don't match that of a true tank item. Sure you can get an Eye item, but them you miss out on the shield from FotM, and the item active CD reduction from Ruby Sightstone (which is very handy if you have Locket).
I am also a level or two under the rest of our team and the enemy team, and with my job of protecting the carry, it is very helpful if I have another tanky/bruiser-y person on my team. It doesn't have to be a tank either. It could be a jug like Darius, or even just a diver like Renekton who builds and naturally is tanky.
My point is, supports don't have all of their item slots to dedicate to tanky items, so toplaners or junglers, play a champion with a little natural tankyness, a little CC, and now everyone is happy.
Danjeng1 votesAlistar is a pretty good support tank, due to his inherent high base stats + ultimate + heals out the ass. Even so, I would like a second tank or off-tank on the team, since I can only lock down so many people at once.
50000000000000001 votesIt doesn't even have to be a tank. A team needs at least 2 frontline champions to be effective.
powerbats1 votesAs a support main I go either Blitzcrank tanky or Morg shield tanky a lot of times provided they're not banned. 
beats both 
and hands down in gold farming while being extra safe even after the nerf. This is true especially against super strong poke comps. I've gone coin route and been as much as 250-400 gold ahead of the enemy support. The same has happened to me as a tank with against a support with coin. You can't keep up with them sometimes.
Also picking a pure tank may not be an option due to bans, picks on their side and your side. If your going to get hard countered with the tank choices it's better not to go that route. Besides which the pick x champ perhaps you're not good with that champ or you don't want to counter pick yourself and get obliterated. If Riot ever gets around to making support specific items that only work if you queue as support and pick support champs that fit the criteria and give adequate gold it'll be much easier.
Since right now it's basically turned into a gold race instead of a who's outplaying whom soley.
AFK Push1 votesI mean as long as you have some beef it doesn't matter. What I am saying is that you don't need an actual tank top or jungle, a darius top, or a vi jungle etc. is perfectly fine if they build to frontline as well.
aspects11 votesheres how i see it your not gonna do damage either way you have the same amount of cc either way one is tanky, the other is not i dont really see a competition someone want to explain to me why i would choose a non tanky support (note this is somewhat off topic, as it has nothing to do with team comps, just supports in general)
Candyxo1 votesI play support more than anything, however, I dislike being a front line, I'm clearly not the best player in the world, and I'll never reach that point, I'm okay with being in the #SilverForLife division.
I think that the reason to not pick a tanky support (imo) is that if you aren't comfortable on that champion then you're going to get just as much shit from the 1/7/3 Varus* mid laner anyway so may as well just pick something you like and play it as safe as you can if the odds are against you.
This is a game, yes Ranked is competitive and should be taken a bit seriously, otherwise, there are normals for those that wish to just mess around, but you can't expect all the random players you encounter to excel at every champion or even position for that matter. You're going to do better for your team in the long run playing a champion you know better than a random champion you've never played, just because your team insisted on it.
So that would be a reason to choose a non-tanky support, it may not be the best reason. I'm sure I'll get shit from people in Gold Elo for speaking of such blasphemy, but still, it's reason enough.
*(I'm still salty over a Varus calling me boosted and trash, after I clearly said I can't play poppy very well VS 2 ranged players in ARURF)
aspects11 votesim talking about more in general not so much as for a specific player and what they are good at, but more for the champions themselves what can a ranged support offer that a tank one cannot?
Candyxo1 votesA different style of play, all the champions have something they could bring to the table, and that something could be used easily (I.e. Raka silence/Janna & Karma Shields/Sona Buffs) or things that are a bit harder to land (Tarics new stun/Blitz & Thresh long rang grips), the champions themselves aren't what will matter in the end tho, just because Champion X has strong Combo doesn't mean the player controlling the champion can execute it, like for instance I cannot for the life of me do Alistars Stun/Knock combo even tho it would be a lot stronger vs some teams than taking a Mage Support, it's just not something that I can do.
Plus you can build any support champion like a tank or a glass cannon, some will still be tankier than others even w/o building tank items, but again if you are comfortable playing Champion X then there isn't a reason to be forced to play Champion Y, specially if you aren't Rank 1.
People need to let go of this idea that if they play w/e champion the boys are using in LCS they will turn into some kind of gods and reach challenger, that's not how any of it works. Just play what you like, and let others play what they like as long as they are actually trying to say be a Support when it comes to actively trying to deny the enemy team CS, Taking care of wards, USING SIGHTSTONE then, in the end, it really doesn't matter what they are on.
Critmaster Garen1 votesdepends. can be the teams only tank imo if he has any other type of frontliner to back him up. like a diver or jugg.
i think the same is true for most wardens.
if its a vanguard who has to dive into the enemy team to do his job, then youre corret imo.
Aseraan1 votesplay whatever u want some ppl just not awere of themselfs and they say a lot of nonesense just play the game. i dont know ur division but at lower elo u can pick whatever u want ranked is a lottery u can win or lose whit anything
Pumping Iron1 votesJust go 
/
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and enjoy freelo
Erockandroll1 votesMakes me wonder what people actually want from a tank. (Cause people say we need one just cause)
You have Vanguards who can start fights. And you have Wardens who can protect your team. For Support tanks, they are pretty good at protecting teammates in part due to support itemization. However, they are not as good at being a Vanguard, because vanguards usually need to build more greedy, and protect themselves.
The only exceptions to that might be Alistar, who becomes tanky due to his ult, or Leona/sej, because their engage ults are ranged.
For the whole issue of making your support the only Tank. You really can't cover both roles. You can either stay in the back line and protect your carries, or you can go to the front line, and engage.
The other issue with making the support tank, your support may be an Autofilled noob at the role. Who may not have practiced tank supports. (if they even own them) But frankly, a back line defense doesn't have to be a Warden. Any Enchanter with shields for days, can protect your squishy allies, and even provide some pick potential.
Champion Skin1 votesBut frankly, a back line defense doesn't have to be a Warden.
Well yeah.... after all one of the best ones at that is (she is really really good at peeling) and of course is also great at peeling with a targeted CC/MS boost + shield + hp boosts with knock up (and AoE slow around the target) + AoE slow
Inada1 votesWell you can bank on pick or kite combos really well. Real problem is its solo que and you always get some ass like me, who tries to make a faker play and fail horribly instead of working around the teams strengths. I mean you should still play what you want people have made it to challenger playing one thing 90% of the time.
ValyrianBlade1 votesJust joined champ select, Hovered a squishy supp & was flamed by my top & jg for going squishy support. They were hovering teemo/jax and were asking me to switch off and play a tank support instead. Tired of players thinking they can chose what support plays if they need a tank, but top and jungle have options.
This is a double-edged sword.
In one sense, pick order takes priority. If top and jungle both want the same champion, whoever comes first in pick order has every right to take that champion (even if the other guy pick intented it first). Likewise, if top and jungle are both picking squishy champs before you in the pick order and the team composition as a whole wants a tank, then they aren't entirely wrong for saying you're the one who is the most responsible for conforming to the team composition. They are earlier on the pick order, so their pick was reasonable given that someone later in the picking order would make a pick to work with the team. Jax is also a secondary front line beefy champion, so it's not like you would be the team's only meat shield.
Further, top is in the uniquely disadvantaged position of being a solo lane. There are many lane opponents who simply do not allow you to have a chance at winning laning phase if you pick a tank top lane. Swapping out to something that can perform well in lane and expecting your jungler or support (who don't have the same issue of needing to go to melee range to farm creeps) isn't unreasonable. On this point, the jungler is in just as much a position to go tank as the support though (although on the current patch a lot of tanky junglers are frequently getting banned [Cho'gath, Maokai, and Zac see lots of bans] so perhaps your jungler has a pool of jungle champions and his tank options were banned out).
Finally (one on your side here) there are some roles that are just expected to bring something to the table as part of their champion pool. If you want to play mid lane, you better damn well have an AP champion you can go to. I don't care if you're first pick, an all AD team comp is almost always the mid laner's fault. If you can only play Zed and Yasuo mid then you shouldn't be queuing for mid (just my opinion - this isn't a rule). There's no requirement for the ADC to play Corki, for the support to play brand/zyra, for the jungler to play elise/nidalee, or for the top laner to play rumble/vlad/swain/galio/kayle. There are simply too few strong AP damage dealing picks in the other roles for a mid laner to be only willing to play AD (and I'm sure I missed some viable AP damage dealers, my point is more that having a Maokai top isn't going to solve your all AD problem). Likewise, top laners and junglers SHOULD be expected to have tankier options in their champion pools. Supports SHOULD too, but given how often people get autofilled support I think it's reasonable to expect that you may get an autofilled support who's only comfortable on 1 or 2 support champions and it's possible neither of those would be tanks. So to whine that your support isn't picking a tank during the pick intent phase is pretty poor behavior - they have every right to ask you to go with a tank, but if you respectfully respond that it's not within your champion pool the top/jungle should have something in their pool to switch out to (or they should be willing to go with a less-tanky team comp).
LexLutheran871 votesIf they are Jax grab taric, he makes for a superb stun buddy, and getting your ult off when he is in the middle, chaos errupts for enemy team.
Ariel the Cruel1 votesTired of players thinking they can chose what support plays if they need a tank, but top and jungle have options.
Oh, you seem to be mistaken. It's not just when when we need a tank that you have no choice. We always get to choose what you play. And if we have any reason to suspect you have a full support roster, you can expect to be told who to play as well.
Oh, and don't you dare forget your core build.
/ / 
Support Problems.
TeCoolMage1 votesactually support tanks get much more gold efficient items. It's a long standing problem for full tank items like deadman's to be bad compared to knight's vow and locket.
The problem is