As a support I really don't like being the higher tier player used to balance out matches

Gene Freakz·Jun 8, 2016·221 votes·7,609 views

I don't want to say that support is a useless role (some might), but it is not the kind of role that you can especially carry with. Some can and certain support champs can definitely carry but I play a more sustaining role. Games are frustrating when I am the highest mmr player on a team of, say, a casual trio and the players I am facing are all of my mmr. In most, if not all, of these cases my team ends up losing. I play how I would normally and I just go with the flow, but I can't give my players the support they need when their mechanics aren't as a good as the opposing teams. Anybody else experience this?

Edit: I am not necessarily saying I am a high tier player -I'm not - I'm just saying I don't like playing support and having the highest mmr on my team especially when the gap between mmr is large.

125 Comments

AbyssionKnightJun 9, 201632 votes

I'm by no means a good player at this game, but as someone who plays a lot of support (or used to) I definitely know what you're talking about. It feels amazing to empower your team and be the thing that pushes them over the top, and utterly hopeless / frustrating to make the exact same plays, but fail because your team have no idea what they're doing.

That's the main reason support is such a disliked role; you have to rely on others, rather than just your individual skill.

VlasimutheJun 9, 20162 votes

Same story here, I could type out my own long paragraph but it would just be reiterating what you said here.

Presently AbsentJun 9, 20169 votes

{quoted} you have to rely on others, rather than just your individual skill.

so...dynamic queue?

DeliothJun 9, 201624 votes

And solo queue before it.

Civet10Jun 9, 20163 votes

And pretty much support since they were first made a thing.

dark100dark100Jun 9, 20161 votes

True. If I feel my team is bad I pick Tahm or Lux and play like a normal carry. But sometimes this is not obvious. With Braum or Alistar you can never be a carry.

DarkRitualJun 9, 20161 votes

Somebody's never played attack speed Braum I see.

dark100dark100Jun 14, 20161 votes

Neither machine gun Lulu. They are situational and likely go wrong.

DarkRitualJun 14, 20161 votes

Agreed, very situational. I haven't played against the Braum, but I've played both with and against the Lulu ADC. It can be very good if you can lane properly and have a good support.

Catch a ColdJun 9, 20163 votes

Thats what I feel too... its feels very amazing if you are carrying your ADC like 2v5 and winning or dominating the lane or peel the shit out of your team in fights... But its so sad if you try your best so hard but your team isn't good or your carry farms bad and is behind and you are just there at the tower and you can do nothing

OH MAN NOT GOODJun 9, 201615 votes

[deleted]

LatetotheRaceJun 9, 201612 votes

Mark 11:24

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

The fun part about this is it only really applies to things God desires also. Soo.... easier games/better teams, not exactly one of those things I'm afraid.

Supreme Senpai69Jun 9, 20168 votes

I mean you can't exactly pray for God to murder somebody you really dont like haha

~~trust me i've tried~~

DarkRitualJun 9, 20164 votes

That's where the Dark Brotherhood steps in to fill the void.

doombotMECHAJun 9, 20162 votes

your username is fitting

FantasySniperJun 9, 20169 votes

This is my ranked experience as a support main in a nutshell.

DatalessJun 9, 20167 votes

To carry as support you must play a carry support. You have to be the playmaker and you have to be proficient enough on that champion to make the most impact with the least resources. My go to is Bard

A babysitter like Janna Sona Nami or Soraka can empower and enable proficient players and teams, but they can't carry.

TotalJerkJun 9, 20163 votes

Often times when I used to play Soraka she would basically let dumbasses get away with being dumbasses.

Rubbery SkrubJun 9, 20162 votes

Same with Janna, she makes really terrible or mediocre adc's a lot less terrible.

Supreme Senpai69Jun 9, 20162 votes

I've had some super epic plays as Soraka where I save people that really should have died and we both escape with a sliver of HP.

But they inevitably go right back in a second later and die :/

LuxannaVeritasJun 9, 20165 votes

I can go even further. Back when solo queue still existed, I played Soraka one game. Our Fiora was 1v3ing the enemy team, so I ran over and used my ultimate and 1 W so that she could win the 1v3 with a sliver of health.

What did she say afterward?

"Support is the most useless role ever, so don't heal me next time."

WHAT?!?

NakedGrannyJun 10, 20161 votes

Have you considered that maybe she was right?

Maybe not in a specific instance, but a single save does not rationalize the existence of a "I don't get to play and have fun because I'm only allowed to sit here and watch everyone else have fun while I try and usually fail to fix their stupid mistakes" role on a team.

LuxannaVeritasJun 10, 20161 votes

Wait, I don't get what you're saying.

Are you saying that the Fiora is right, or I am right? It sounds like you agree with Fiora in your first paragraph, but agreeing with me in your second paragraph.

Of course, saving someone once doesn't mean that you can't save them again! I kept on healing and trying to save my teammates, because that was my role that game.

MEMEME670Jun 10, 20161 votes

Maybe not in a specific instance, but a single save does not rationalize the existence of a "I don't get to play and have fun because I'm only allowed to sit here and watch everyone else have fun while I try and usually fail to fix their stupid mistakes" role on a team.

But, what about people who like doing that. People who enjoy not needing to worry about cs, and instead trading to try and get an advantage in lane? People who like helping their allies do well, or being able to save them from their mistakes?

maikokkJun 9, 20162 votes

Sona s damage is high and her disengage is ** much ** better for engage. please stop comparing her to babysitter champs

DatalessJun 9, 20161 votes

Sona can't take over a game the way playmaking supports can. She is not weak, but she is not a carry.

Bard brings just as much damage and sustain in the lane phase while also bringing spammable CC and unparalleled map mobility as well as having the largest and most flexible engage/disengage range of the supports.

I'm not saying Sona is bad, but she can't take over a game like Bard can.

maikokkJun 9, 20162 votes

point granted. i just dont like seeing her lumped with champs that have no actual advocacy in games because i do tend to carry with her p easily. also she has near a 55% winrate for a couple patches (edit: havnt looked in a while. that part changed mid patch but ya. still solid)

OdinakosJun 10, 20161 votes

I have been able to carry a weak Lucian with Janna. Only because he knew he was weak with him, played safe and listened to me. We performed the "by the book" route of shielding trading and disengaging and managed to beat out lane and after that he carried the game. While it is a rare circumstance (adcs tend to be cocky), you can actually carry with a babysitting support. Its not rare i at least salvage a lane with janna/nami and later we win teamfights.

But but not Vaynes. I am going full Zyra in that case. If they want to follow my plan thats fine. Otherwise i dont care, carry pants are on since champion select.

DatalessJun 10, 20161 votes

While it's great that you were able to do that, that's still not really the point I am making. You won the game by playing to your win condition and essentially "outplaying" your opponents. This is great and babysitter supports can certainly do that, as outlined in my original post, by empowering their teammates.

But that's not taking over a game as a support, what I'm talking about is winning my lane on Bard, then leaving my ADC to farm safely while I go win the game for my mid & top laner too with the help of my jungler. I'm talking about taking the midgame by the horns and turning a slight advantage into a shutout.

Janna can't do that.

OdinakosJun 11, 20161 votes

My point was that i had a great impact in that game when i turned a unexperienced Lucian into a late game beast. He wasnt even an adc main.

A better example is the dreadful Cait-Nami lane. Every time i play that matchup, no matter how good or bad Cait is, we are probably gonna a)dominate the lane or b) pull a huge amount of resources from the enemy team to stop us resulting in loosing other lanes/objectives.

I love roaming as well (early Cow gangs at mid are deadly) and i admit that it is easier for those supports to have impact on the game, but babysit supports can definetly carry the botlane if the adc does not go full Vayne.

PS: Yeah within the last year i have only seen only one Vayne play smart.

GaleWinUnleashedJun 8, 20163 votes

I've been on a nasty losing streak lately, partly due to this phenomenon, partly due to my own poor play =P

Just waiting for Solo Queue.

trash sionJun 8, 20163 votes

No solo queue. Ever. Because Riot.

ayNigerianPrinceJun 9, 20163 votes

As a silver 1 player it annoys me to see the support on our team being the only one with a platinum border, thinking about the fact that someone on their team is probably filling a carry position (or the opposing lane kms).

PrimaquariusJun 8, 20162 votes

Ive experienced this for over a year now, and at the moment Im on my third real climb to Bronze 4. What I need is an actual MMR reset so I can try all of this again and not end up back down there

jaymc1130Jun 8, 20163 votes

{quoted}

Ive experienced this for over a year now, and at the moment Im on my third real climb to Bronze 4. What I need is an actual MMR reset so I can try all of this again and not end up back down there

Make a smurf. A brand new account. Level it up. Don't spend any money on it. Buy only the cheapest champs and your Main Champ. Use the leftover IP for runes for your main. Proceed to play ranked and One Trick the main champ as high as you can on the ladder. All fresh 30's start ranked with 1200 MMR, or silver 4ish in rank. Going even 4-6 in placements will place you in silver. If you win your first 7 in a row you automatically place in gold (The order matters, you gain bonus MMR for your first 50 lifetime ranked matches on an account for wins. The biggest bonus is in the first game and it decreases slowly over the next 49). If you win all 10 you place in Gold 1. If you play in a premade and win all 10 you place in plat 5. Regardless of where you place keep One Tricking your main until you feel satisfied with its level. Then go back to your primary account and apply what you have learned.

99% of the time this results in a higher ranking on the smurf account and leads to you learning some things that allow you to bring your primary account up to that level. This is all common knowledge among high level players. We often make new accounts to see how fast we can race them to Diamond for fun. I do a new "One Trick Challenge" on a new champ with a new account every season. I'm getting pretty good at it and it takes me about 200-300 games usually to hit diamond.

VerdadeJun 9, 20161 votes

Im 70 games into ranked, never played ranked before, and im in P3. Does this mean im actually diamond? :o Also, im Vel'koz OTP, be it mid or supp :3

jaymc1130Jun 9, 20162 votes

{quoted}

Im 70 games into ranked, never played ranked before, and im in P3. Does this mean im actually diamond? :o Also, im Vel'koz OTP, be it mid or supp :3

Quite likely. If you can manage to maintain that win rate you will be diamond in a handful of weeks. Not only that but you are doing it at a pace very similar to what I can do myself so it might mean you have the potential to be a high diamond player by the end of this season. Congrats! Keep up the good work!

VerdadeJun 9, 20162 votes

Im currently sitting at 63% win rate with +100 MMR over my actual rank, so i think i should climb steadily :3 And thanks :)

Edit: Im very good at AD EZ mid, i know its not meta but i tend to stomp pretty much everyone on my other account. Do you think its good enough to play in rank?

OH MAN NOT GOODJun 10, 20161 votes

[deleted]

VerdadeJun 10, 20161 votes

Hah, nice joke. I played some normals, im getting matched with diamond/master borders every game in normals so ranked is kinda easier for me right now. I still don't understand many mechanics and hidden stuff

OH MAN NOT GOODJun 10, 20161 votes

[deleted]

VerdadeJun 11, 20161 votes

I don't think im going that far, not enough time for that anyways ;) Ill be happy if i hit D5 by the end of this season Also, im only playing 2 champions, both as support - Bard and Vel'koz. I tried to play mid AD Ez and it works extremely well, at least on my other account (i created that one so i could try champions, you know, it's not fun when you play something for the first time and you face diamonds) and im also trying Taliyah, she's extremely fun, played her 10 times so far, 9-1 w/l with 7x S rank. But it might be just because im playing against slightly worse players, but she's fun... i think i'll risk picking her in ranked

RocketRelmJun 9, 20162 votes

I'll be honest, I kind of feel like playing the 100 ish games to get yourself to that state could be better used to, ahem, "git gud". Watch some videos, learn the basic mechanics. If you're in bronze but you deserve to be in high Gold, you should be winning 70% ish of your games.

jaymc1130Jun 9, 20163 votes

All of those things should be done as well, the making a smurf part is the "reset" hes looking for as a new account will start with 1200 MMR and be entitled to bonus MMR in its first 50 lifetime ranked matches (making climbing much easier in your first 50 lifetime ranked matches on an account). The playing exclusively one champ on the smurf as he levels it is to get him experienced with the champion in a mechanical sense so that playing that champ is second nature, he will know what he can and cannot do with the champ at any given point in time against a wide range of scenarios and circumstances. The hardest part for most lower level players is learning to comprehend the strategic elements of the game: when to take what objectives and why, when and why to pick fights, where to pick fights, communication of a plan and then execution of said plan with the team, how to manipulate waves to your advantage, power spikes for various champions, team compositions, rotations and other things of this nature. Mechanics can only get you so far unless you are UBER talented mechanically (think professional level talented mechanics), the most important things to understand in order to climb are all game knowledge related. You can make it to diamond with garbage mechanics if you are a great strategist and there's no real good way to come by this experience except to get it first hand as videos and tutorials only do so much. Eventually you have to be able to put that theory into practice and execute it. Leveling a new account is a great way to do this.

JRobin31Jun 10, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Make a smurf. A brand new account. Level it up. Don't spend any money on it. Buy only the cheapest champs and your Main Champ. Use the leftover IP for runes for your main. Proceed to play ranked and One Trick the main champ as high as you can on the ladder. All fresh 30's start ranked with 1200 MMR, or silver 4ish in rank. Going even 4-6 in placements will place you in silver. If you win your first 7 in a row you automatically place in gold (The order matters, you gain bonus MMR for your first 50 lifetime ranked matches on an account for wins. The biggest bonus is in the first game and it decreases slowly over the next 49). If you win all 10 you place in Gold 1. If you play in a premade and win all 10 you place in plat 5. Regardless of where you place keep One Tricking your main until you feel satisfied with its level. Then go back to your primary account and apply what you have learned.

99% of the time this results in a higher ranking on the smurf account and leads to you learning some things that allow you to bring your primary account up to that level. This is all common knowledge among high level players. We often make new accounts to see how fast we can race them to Diamond for fun. I do a new "One Trick Challenge" on a new champ with a new account every season. I'm getting pretty good at it and it takes me about 200-300 games usually to hit diamond.

I agree. Also, a secondary account is incredibly useful if you want to play roles that you don't main. For example, you might be a mid main who picks top lane as your secondary role. You don't dare pick jungle because you are terrible at jungle and it would hurt your rank. You can use a secondary account to play jungle without hurting the rank on your main account!

But you are thinking: why not just play normals? Ranked games on a secondary account allow you to see where you actually rank. RIOT doesn't provide that sort of information for normal games.

Only Play DariusJun 8, 20161 votes

The system has always been hard for support mains. Best option is to find an ADC main with reliable performance and duo with them.

jaymc1130Jun 9, 20165 votes

[{quoted}](name=Jelly Mac,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rXlE1Ru4,comment-id=0006,timestamp=2016-06-08T23:57:26.196+0000)

The system has always been hard for support mains. Best option is to find an ADC main with reliable performance and duo with them.

Better to find a jungler unless you are playing at diamond level. Junglers have the most impact on the course of games and therefore the most influence on how games turn out. Find a good Jungler and work with them every time you play ranked. I found a silver support Lulu main by the name of Zeretov last season while I was messing around on a smurf. He showed a TON of promise. But wasn't having the results. I was working on my JG game and learning the role and Eve last year. I took him under my wing as a student and we spammed ranked games together. By the end of the season he was a Diamond level player and I was in promo's for diamond on my account as well.

In old solo queue the best bet as a duo was to have two players controlling different portions of the map. As a JG/support tandem you have the ability to effect every lane at all points in the game and one person dedicated to babysitting the most important carry of your team. For some rather obvious reasons this is a very ideal set up. You have control of vision, you have control of the whole map, and you have the ability to sort of control your most important team members via ganks/peel.

NakedGrannyJun 10, 20161 votes

How very delightfully patronizing of you to condescend to adopt a support player...

Maybe... maybe they were the ones who adopted a self-righteous, egotistical jungler?

jaymc1130Jun 10, 20161 votes

{quoted}

How very delightfully patronizing of you to condescend to adopt a support player...

Maybe... maybe they were the ones who adopted a self-righteous, egotistical jungler?

It cant be both?