Why do supports get nerfed when they see play outside of bot but adc's don't?
Kinda sad that zyra, malzahar, brand, karma and lulu got forced into botlane but meanwhile we have
mid being annoying as hell.
Kinda sad that zyra, malzahar, brand, karma and lulu got forced into botlane but meanwhile we have
mid being annoying as hell.
So a common misconception is, "Riot nerfs things that do things they didn't plan for." Looking back, there's a lot of examples that seem to support this theory, AP Janna and AP Lulu being a couple.
The reality however is that we're fine with offbuilds/offlanes. What we're not fine with is when these different builds result in play patterns we find to be degenerate. The reason we tend to kick supports out of mid is that support kits inherently lack counterplay to many of their defensive (and sometimes offensive) actions (they need this, else they would be ineffective at keeping their allies alive as supports). This often creates creates problematic midlane experiences where an assassin like Zed has no chance to succeed against old AP Janna or Lulu as he has no way to get around their cornucopia of CC and Defenses. Nerf AP Janna's waveclear/offensive potential and she's no longer able to mid (there's a baseline of damage/clear you need to function in mid). Nerf her reliable "Screw you for being aggressive" utility and she becomes much worse at support.
In regards to Lucian, it's true that he can be obnoxious, but he still brings a number of tradeoffs when picked as a midlaner, and he isn't unapproachable in the way that AP lulu was.
TLDR: We don't nerf supports out of mid because "OMFG JANNA IS BEING PLAYED MID. GET HER BACK TO BOT AND BUY A SIGHTONE #NOFUNALLOWED" off-builds. We nerf them because when they're strong there it's often because their kits make them unapproachable in ways we would prefer not to support and changing that reality would risk forcing them out of the support role (we saw this happen to Lulu).
because lucian mid has 45% win rate unlike what you listed
Except Lucian mid is trash with a 45% WR and is a prime example of why you shouldn't fall for shitty clickbait YouTube videos or copy/paste something in a pro game without understanding the reasoning or strategies they implemented as a team to make it work.
Lucian has been nerfed multiple times this season alone so I really don't understand this "Lucian doesn't get nerfed QQ" nonsense.
Same thing with Corki. Corki was absolutely gutted this season before getting a small buff so he could actually be played without getting reported for trolling
I can usually find it to be 1 of 3 cases.
The support in question has either an oppressive or uninteractive pattern to them when their spells permit them to farm. (Case with Janna and Morgana)
It's just simply difficult to balance them around both positions. When one position gets a ton more gold than the other. (And apparently because utility mid laners are toxic for some reason.)
The supports kit is designed with Duo lane synergy in mind. Meaning that any indication that solo lane is viable would suggest their support presence is OP. (Sona is a prime example of this, with her auras.)
ADCs' role is to be main damage, starting in the bot lane. Their actual role on the game does not change no matter where they go - their main role is to be a main damage source for the team.
Supports, however, usually have lots of utility and CC, and usually poor scaling and low attack damage. These features make them miserable because they suffer when trying to last hit and lane. If, for some reason, they can overcome this and move into a solo lane, this is a problem. This means that the support is overtuned and their damage output is too high. Their utility then becomes a massive form of shut down in solo lanes, giving them too much edge to then obliterate their opponent. This is why it is alarming when supports can manage to function in a solo lane without a lot of difficulty.
As a support main, the only time supports get gutted in solo lanes is when they are disgustingly oppressive. I love Lulu, she's my favorite champion in the entire game and I've mained her for years; she should never be allowed to solo with her kit. Janna was (even more) braindead as a midlaner, Soraka was ridiculous when she could midlane... See the pattern here?
The truth is, supports should honestly never have the capability to solo lane, unless they are specifically designed to do so (like Ivern). Most of their kits, when overtuned even slightly, are just too suffocating, especially to melee champions. The powerful defensive tools, healing and utility options our class has comes with tradeoffs, and one of them is not being able to solo (as it should be). The sooner other support players understand this, the better. Of course, this is only my opinion.