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@Riot, Support update?

RedCyclone··74 votes·3,830 views

I am pretty dissapointed to hear that after AP mids they are probably going to focus on assassins next

Support has been stupidly stale for a long time with only Thresh and Janna being constantly picked for the last 3 whole years, a large handful of supports are viewed as a problem when played and are usually tuned to weaker by design then other supports just because of their annoyance factor, we see more non-support champions come into the meta then we actually see support champions come into the meta, what is ridiculous

AP utility supports don't feel too great and constantly get shafted by AP mids and AP mage supports like Brand and is always geared to make the AP utility option of playing severely gimped due to other lanes abusing their intended items

Peel has been the god trait of supports in all elos for far too long, buffing, healing, poke, scouting, tanking all fall under peeling in terms of power when in reality they should have the same feel of impact, one should not feel like a complete idiot for picking someone who isn't Thresh or Janna in just about every teamcomp and really should have a large range of champions who excell at certain specific support categories that can really compliment very different teamcomps altogether

Lulu is a fucking identity crisis on crack left unchecked and terribly managed where she is good in offlane and one of the worst supports in the game, can we please have support Lulu back?

Utility ratios are a failed project I would like to compare to Dominion, barely touched since their inception, no new ones or balance changes looking at these ratios and it gates certain supports to gain 200+ AP to get the same amount of utility most other supports start the game with, either focus on them or remove them, don't just ignore them

Sightstone is still a waste of stats if you don't care about health, in higher elos you are expected to go the season 1/2 route of literally holding off your last item slot to have open for pink wards, a handful of support items that are very rarely built because they are incredibly stat and money gated

And lastly, no one wants to do it, I play mid/support usually in solo queue and I get mid probably 1/15 games, it's ridiculous how undesirable this role is, but who can blame people? just look at all the points above

Riot please, there is so many issues with support right now, I would really like to know if you have anything planned at all to improve the support experience, not everyone wants to main Thresh/Janna FOREVER

81 Comments

shyv12 votes

i actually really liked support until all the vision changes. it was a lot of fun. i mained it all through season 5 and genuinely enjoyed it, i wasn't just one of those people that played it because nobody else wanted to. but now i can't stand it. i don't think support has ever been less fun. maybe in season 3 when there were no support items.

most people at my elo think the support is their ward bitch. and now that there are no fucking wards, i'm always the one that get flamed when my team runs blindly into the jungle and dies. they removed wards to encourage people to ward.. but nobody even uses their trinkets right so what the fuck. i hate support now. i almost never play it anymore.

sp44110 votes

Gotta love that logic.

"We want to encourage people to ward, which is why we're removing wards and nerfing every single ward item."

shyv1 votes

i don't think riot honestly gives a shit about support at all

this season, they gave us "new support items" that were literally just.. the support items we already had but combined into one. they made it sound fancy because it gave one more ward than sightstone, but that's the same amount of wards that the old sightstone had..

Narasimha1 votes

Close, but not quite. it's more "We want people to ward, not cover the entire map so one team dominates with vision"

shyv1 votes

when they changed it so that one person can only have 3 wards on the map at a time, it was perfect. i'll agree that one person lighting up the entire map was too much, but 3 wards per person? that's completely reasonable.

not to mention people (at my elo anyways) usually wouldn't have 3 wards on the map at a time anyways, unless they were support. wards cost money.

EfficientDynamo9 votes

To be fair, a support class update would likely be much more difficult than any other class update. Supports range from supertanks like Leona and Braum to squishy poke mages like Sona and Zyra. The other classes are more unified in what they want (junglers want better clears, mages want AP, top laners want health, etc.) to a greater extent than the support class. Also, it is likely difficult to maintain their off-lane options, like Taric top.

Its a pity there isn't a support-centric stat like AP or health that could be unique to the class. Maybe give the supp items a passive where it grants extra gold/exp for each CS not taken in lane? That might balance out the income gap for them, and since other laners wouldn't plan on missing any CS it would be a useless item for them.

Heckin Support1 votes

Lats time they did the support update and shifted to make ap scale with the utility, imo it failed. Then they tried to "fix" Sona, and she is still the same as she was before. I really wish they would jump in and try to deversify the support role like they did the adc role (except maybe not make it so supports can go every role and start dominating the meta).

My biggest peve which I always bring up, my favorite character, favorite role, most mastery points, Sona. She has potential to be so so much more, and she's still just a q q q q q q and every now and then a w. Her e is a joke and there's no point to level it up after you put 1 point into it. But that's off track, and I fully support a support rework.

A Miss Fortune3 votes

I don't think they made the ADC role anymore diverse. Instead of seeing Vayne and Jinx every game we see Lucian and Ezreal every game instead.

MrBuffington2 votes

They could just divide it into sub-classes they address one at a time, like how they did juggernauts (instead of all fighters) or bot lane marksmen (who were pretty similar across the board. Also contrast with marksmen/marksmen sub-classes like Teemo, Kennen, TF, Azir, etc) and how they're doing classic mages (vs. utility mages like Orianna and Karma, or artillery mages like Ziggs and Xerath, minus Vel'Koz).

They could just do utility supports (Janna, Lulu, Bard, Sona, Soraka, Nami, etc) and support tanks (Leona, Braum, Blitz, Thresh, etc). Most of the other champs that get played support get covered by other class updates (Zyra, Brand, and Vel'Koz are all covered in the mage update; other tanks like Naut, Shen, Trundle, Maokai etc have significant play in other roles and can get covered by a different update).

EfficientDynamo1 votes

They definitely could, but would that address the problems with the support role of inadequate gold income and slot efficiency, coupled with lackluster scaling on their abilities? Not disagreeing with you, since arguably the support tanks have great synergy with the juggernaut/tank items and therefore could be ignored in the short term.

Regardless, your scenario is how it most likely will play out. Sadly, it will likely be a year until supports get touched.

MrBuffington1 votes

Yep, while I'm excited for the class updates, they don't come nearly fast/often enough. In the past, item set reworks seem to come with preseason changes, though with the new direction with class updates, that might be the best way to address itemization for classes, since they can address the whole group at once

Still, there might be hope with the mage update, since there was, at least briefly, some overlap with mages and AP supports with frost queens. They might possibly do some touch-up to itemization then. Here's hoping

Baby Ghoul8 votes

A support update is needed more than anything else. Supports have been neglected for so long. Sometimes they'll throw scraps our way, but it's time for Riot to deal with it head on.

  • Support itemization continues to be horrible.
  • Support scaling is also horrible.
  • Supports are getting more and more aggressive. summoner 4 summoner 14
  • Map control feels tedious, only makes a difference in those few close games. As a result there are few games you feel you make an impact.
  • Supports are considered warding machines by the vast majority of players, this needs to change some how. They need to go back to the drawing board on this one.
  • Support's success is tied way too closely to how well their ADC does for my liking. I know you can roam, but it's not always a viable option in every game.
  • The majority of my ADC's do not use their trinkets, and early game I only have 2 ward charges on a high cooldown.

The next biggest issue with supports is how they are treated by this community. I can't tell you how many times I've been cursed out because a ward of mine expired, or how many times teammates expect me to constantly have dragon warded. It's everyone's job to do that.

So many games I have been warding over 50%, that's not good. We get so little income, and people steal pinks and wards I've been working on destroying. It's sad. There are so many situations where you're least likely to carry, but most likely to get blamed for a loss. I can't do anything if my ADC plays like they're a melee bruiser (unless I'm Tahm Kench).

There are so many support champions that I love and continue to play, but I am usually disappointed in games because of all the above listed. It's time for a change.

Liquid Children1 votes

{quoted}

A support update is needed more than anything else. Supports have been neglected for so long. Sometimes they'll throw scraps our way, but it's time for Riot to deal with it head on.

  • Support itemization continues to be horrible.
  • Support scaling is also horrible.
  • Supports are getting more and more aggressive. summoner 4 summoner 14
  • Map control feels tedious, only makes a difference in those few close games. As a result there are few games you feel you make an impact.
  • Supports are considered warding machines by the vast majority of players, this needs to change some how. They need to go back to the drawing board on this one.
  • Support's success is tied way too closely to how well their ADC does for my liking. I know you can roam, but it's not always a viable option in every game.
  • The majority of my ADC's do not use their trinkets, and early game I only have 2 ward charges on a high cooldown.

The next biggest issue with supports is how they are treated by this community. I can't tell you how many times I've been cursed out because a ward of mine expired, or how many times teammates expect me to constantly have dragon warded. It's everyone's job to do that.

So many games I have been warding over 50%, that's not good. We get so little income, and people steal pinks and wards I've been working on destroying. It's sad. There are so many situations where you're least likely to carry, but most likely to get blamed for a loss. I can't do anything if my ADC plays like they're a melee bruiser (unless I'm Tahm Kench).

There are so many support champions that I love and continue to play, but I am usually disappointed in games because of all the above listed. It's time for a change.

Literally every single game I have 50% or more of our teams wards. Ususally more than everyone else combined.

lxlLilybellelxl6 votes

Hopefully some supports will be part of the Mage update seeing as how most utility supports are also Mages. Playing Tank supports can be frustrating too since tank items can be so expensive, and there is a serious gold income issue for tank supports. item 3302 item 3097 item 3401 and item 2303 all become horribly gold inefficient seeing as how mid-late game every other teammate can burst down minions waves quicker than you can last hit a single one.Thresh can't even proc those items properly half the time and cause both himself and his ADC to lose out on valuable gold. Trying to play any tank against Kalista or most ADCs is like a death wish, who can shred down most tanks early game, and can grab a B.F. Sword for only 1250 now compared to any amount of substantial armor or health a support can actually build on their crap income. Not to mention Utility supports can get assists for just throwing out a shield, but as a tank you can literally TANK the crap out of some damage, or an ult etc and if your ADC gets a kill and you never touched the Enemy = no assist = no gold.

Mana regen and the removal of blue pots was a nail in the coffin for a lot of supports as well who are extremely mana heavy until they are able to get their first regen item... but ofc Sightstone comes first. As a support Main i have to say my time in the bot lane feels pretty crappy, I'm basically a ward bot who gets no gold income or compenstation, Even assist gold can feel crappy especially when the Jungler or the ever roaming mid is involved= less gold for me. ADCs have such over loaded kits and amazing itemization to choose from that most support lanes feel boring and you rely too heavily on your adc not to be bad or you're just going to have a super bad time bot lane.

TeCoolMage2 votes

Sadly, Riot is focusing on 'traditional' mages, so utility and very mobile mages aren't counted (So no Leblanc / Ahri, along with Karma and Lulu)

Kubox1 votes

Thresh is not supposed to build Relic though. Well, not that he's not supposed to, but he is, at his core, a ranged character. You can buy relic on Nami and max her E to proc it, but odds are it's not reliable.

Now the problem lies on how Thresh isn't even melee nor ranged, as if I recall correctly ranged only items don't work on him. Might have been fixed though.

Hellioning1 votes

Ranged only items work on him now.

lxlLilybellelxl1 votes

I buy Ancient coin on Thresh tbh, but when i don't support or i see an enemy thresh they always buy relic shield and i hate it.

Quantum Lotus1 votes

{quoted}

Hopefully some supports will be part of the Mage update seeing as how most utility supports are also Mages.

the "supports" in the mage update are zyra, vel'koz, and brand.

manbearswine1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Nephilim Born,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=wb47jAFt,comment-id=00030002,timestamp=2016-02-21T01:01:12.171+0000)

the "supports" in the mage update are zyra, vel'koz, and brand.

From what I remember they are focusing on their mage aspects,they might not be supports at all once the rework is done.

Hell,I remember even for zyra they want to focus on her mid lane,I sure wonder why nobody wants to play supports with that approach.

Quantum Lotus1 votes

{quoted}

From what I remember they are focusing on their mage aspects,they might not be supports at all once the rework is done.

Hell,I remember even for zyra they want to focus on her mid lane,I sure wonder why nobody wants to play supports with that approach.

That's why I put "supports" in quotations. Usually the main reason people bring those champions bot lane is to counter a sustain lane. Kill beats sustain. Hence the reason why most of them bring ignite as well.

manbearswine1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Nephilim Born,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=wb47jAFt,comment-id=0003000200000000,timestamp=2016-02-21T23:56:23.058+0000)

That's why I put "supports" in quotations. Usually the main reason people bring those champions bot lane is to counter a sustain lane. Kill beats sustain.

Actually all of these guys are much more poke than kill,tanks are generally the kill lanes,anyway I'm not sure why they are "supports"(and not just supports),I mean tanks bring bulk and utility,utility supports have more utility,mages have utility+damage,they are as much supports as tanks are.

Hence the reason why most of them bring ignite as well.

There are actually two different(well three) reasons why people take(or used to? The gw nerf made ignite bot moronic,as you kinda want to ignite the adc to mitigate heal,which imo is a completely moronic interaction,but I digress) ignite on them:

  1. lower elos: "I deal damage might as well get more of it",not much logic here,but whatever.
  2. higher elos: See all of these guys are more vulnerable than most supports,and are pretty much forced to fight and lack disengage,ignite is stronger in 2v2 fights,so they take it to help their chances if one of them starts.
  3. support mains will often opt for ignite to try and force an advantage out of getting a role they are comfortable in.(this has little to do with it being a tank support/utility support/mage support),you'd even see good janna players go ignite,but that was before the moronic gw nerf,not sure what goes on now.

So my point is: it's not cause it's a kill lane,it's because it's rather easy to force them into a fight they can't back out of,so they take ignite to help with their chances if that happens,or to discourage their opponents from forcing such a scenario in the first place.

Dengeden6 votes

I quite like a role that strives to do as much as possible with as little as possible. Very rewarding when you get something done.

The shallow champion pool is an across the board issue. However, there are a handful more picks than Thresh|Janna as you can see below and everyone has one or two pocket picks in their main role.

Peel has been the god trait of supports in all elos for far too long, buffing, healing, poke, scouting, tanking all fall under peeling in terms of power

Good luck with that, considering buffing, healing etc. all serve to help you peel.

can we please have support Lulu back?

If you don't mind a full rework.

AP utility supports don't feel too great and constantly get shafted by AP mids and AP mage supports like Brand

...riiiiight. That must be why Bard sees more play than the likes of Velk and Brand the higher the elo.

Utility ratios are a failed project

Meh, support items supplement what utility ratios lack. It's a decent tool to gate early game and supports have a safer time stacking Mejai's than carries (also, Zeke's).

And lastly, no one wants to do it

Not for the reasons you mentioned though. Nobody likes the risk of playing something that isn't a carry.

GenghisEmo4 votes

I went from being super happy to get supp in S4 and S5... to dreadiing it in S6.

It is so boring or frustrating.

There is no reward.

Riot should give Supps 5 times the IP. And just give us a free champ for supping so often.

I was going Mid and Supp or Mid or Fill, and sometimes Fill outright, only to get Supp most of the time. I use to not mind it in PreS6, but now i really dont like supp.

I thought mages were feeling weak in the beggining of S5, i was dead freaking wrong. Now it is EXPONENTIALLY worse.

I miss the good ol days.

Now i pretty much only play Naut, Leona, Braum, Thresh. Occasionally, Janna and Morgana.

Any other supp, and it is boring or just not rewarding at all. And the ones i mentioned are barely rewarding. And i use to use "non-supp" champs as supp, and still have loads of fun. Now i cant =(. No more Sejuani Supp (even after the dumpster), since it worked well with Ashe ADC or S5's equivalent of Blue-ish Ez.

Shonjl4 votes

Maybe its just how I play but I like support due to Morgana since I build her the same way I do mid. I always get Frost Queen and depending on if my team asks, 1 other support item(item 3190 item 2049 item 3069) then just AP(RoA,Rylai,Liandry)

I don't try to take CS purposely, I do poke with my pool, often on the caster minions since that is where they are usually at and after about 3 points into pool, it can kill them, but I am always out for the kill. I make literally no attempt to stop a kill. If the ADC can obviously get it I will pull back, but if they aren't already on top of things, I will take every single one.

I can see why support must be boring though since I play champ that can carry a game if she gets fed. My ADC can become useless but if Morg gets fed, she can make picks if she lands a good Q, or ult Zhonyas in the dead middle of the enemy. I have won games due to that actually. Stopped supporting the ADC but made myself the threat, in turn feeding the ADC from assist, kills if they actually can do it, or just free farm. Sure the ADC may get pissy and nonsense, but when they free farm a good 100 CS, get a few assist and catch back up and actually can contribute again, they are thankful, even if a lot don't actually say it.

The big problem I see with support is truthfully not the support role. Its the community. They always complain about things instead of actually being smart and learning to counter it so they get nerfed into the ground and I see the community as the reason Support got destroyed. People cried for Sona nerfs, Janna nerfs, repeat nerfs on Soraka. Then they cry when Thresh and Janna are in every game. The community is at fault here and until they stop crying, it won't get better. In the past I used to see Raka, Sona, Janna, Naut, Blitz, Thresh, Leona, Braum, Lulu, Morg just to name a few ALL THE TIME. Who do you see now? Morg, Janna and Thresh. The rest got gutted(Sona) about to be gutted(Raka) or just aren't favorable due to meta(Leona, Braum) Hell Lulu has no idea what she even wants to be atm. She can barely solo lane since she really don't have any offensive power, and her support isn't that too amazing vs what it used to be. Lulu shield and Ult used to be game changing, now its like who cares? 1 auto or spell pops the shield and kills the ulted champ due to snowbally nature now.

FantasySniper3 votes

The Sightstone update helped, but they didn't execute it well at all.

item 2303 item 2302 item 2301 vs. item 3401 item 3069 item 3092 + item 2045

Almost all supports that know what they're doing will pick up the Ruby Sightstone over any of the Eyes. Some supports that appreciate the extra slot over the item active will get an Eye, but that's still only a few out of the majority, and it's arguably sub-optimal regardless when you consider that a lot supports get power from core items like Solari and Mikael's. Supports are spending an extra 1800g just to get the item active CDR. They really should drop mirror stats onto the Eyes and make them more slot-efficient if they ever want them to be used.

SpecterVonBaren3 votes

Eye of the Equinox is actually pretty good. Why the hell should I invest in Face of the Mountain and give up one of my slots for it when my teammates will see me going up to a wave with full charges and use a fucking ult to clear the minions as if they thought I was about to steal their children?

As for the other two, no one is going to give up FQC's active and no one but Soraka builds Coin anymore (Why did they remove the movespeed on it?)

Healurownbum1 votes

FotM Spoils of the War in lane it's not that bad. But the problem is at least on my Elo that they want me to be a tank support and yet deny me one of my major gold making things by not letting me us my stacks. I'd end up still being made of paper and barely able to do more then ward and maybe block a shot or two before i need to go back.

Just would love it if ppl would not deny the use of stacks. And if they do at least accept i will be less then i could of been.

Hatless Casual3 votes

The main issue plaguing traditional poke/sustain supports is the fact when Riot makes an item that works really well for supports mid's abuse it until it's damn near ruined. Look no further than item 3092 for a recent occurrence of this.

Riot might want to actually tune the champions, since Supports have virtually no items to build right now and what we do get other AP use it.

Anidan1 votes

The problem is that if you make a cheap item really gold efficient, the champions getting a lot of money can get and abuse that item much faster and much easier than the people who the item may be intended for. No amount of fine-tuning will ever change that.

Hot Cousin3 votes

Thresh and Janna? No.

Annie Braum Blitzcrank Bard Brand Soraka TahmKench

CoffeeDave3 votes

I'm a Nami main since I've started playing late S3. I used to love playing support, even in the days of the 'ward bitch'. Making due with less items, peeling, healing, and speed boosts. Making plays that will get the team the win, that's what I loved about support. Now, more and more I'm seeing non-support 'supports'. Brand Trundle are becoming more and more popular as support, Nautilus Lux Morgana Annie supports are still running around as well, and why not? they can do things on there own. With these vision changes and changes to other roles, I feel less impactiful as a 'Traditional' support main then ever before. What's worst is champs in other roles can play in other roles. We see Graves in the top and jungle as well as ADC, Ezreal Can be played in the Mid lane, Riven can be played top and mid, TahmKench Quinn Nidalee Pantheon can pretty much go where they want.....but holy cow if Janna goes to the mid-lane riot nerfs that.

If I can't be impactful as a traditional support in a support role, then can I take my traditional support in another role and be impactful there?

Bootleg Gay2 votes

Honestly thinking these guys might be up after the mage update. One problem at a time though. I trust that the support game will be fixed eventually. In the meantime, try to have fun learning a new support champion or two. I know I have fun playing Bard, Vi, Nautilus, Leona, Soraka, and Malzahar as supports.

RedCyclone8 votes

Not heard anything from them at all concerning the subject, you would have thought with the dynamic queue statistics of no one wanting to support and fill basically meaning support 99% of the time that they would have thought "Hmm, support really needs some changes"

NichtHurz2 votes

Yeah, I think it might be justified to have a look at the support role and even though supports seem to be quite hard to balance in terms of what fits the meta and compositions, support actually feels like a role with some of the most diverse champs in terms of gameplay. There are other parts of the game where champs share too many broken aspects or that just feel like completely outdated in general, while they might not even offer too different gameplay. I think it was the right decision to focus on adc's first (absolutely similar item builds for almost everybody just wasn't good) and then go for immobile mages, because if they're not really strong some of them feel completely outdated compared to other champs.

TaoistMaster2 votes

we need Nunu back bottom :)

EchoezOfRain2 votes

We need a Utility stat, a stat that increases the effect of slows, heals, shields, speedups, ect. Riot could then make a huge array of items built for supports this way while keeping the AP stat away to avoid abuse from mages.

ZT Xperimentor2 votes

Supports are in serious need of help, much more so than assassins since they just abuse ranged physical carry items. http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/player-behavior-moderation/Low8xOxJ-how-you-treat-your-supports-aka-biting-the-hand-that-fed-you?comment=0006

SnazzyTheMister2 votes

i think one of the biggest problem with supports is the communitys view of them. they've changed alot is the past seasons and until the mentality around supports changes its going to be hard to make good changes to the role.

ModKnightsKemplar2 votes

Step 1a: Buff yellow trinket.

Step 1b: Remove sightstone from game.

Step 2: Watch supports get useful since they can actually buy items now.

Possible step 3: Figure out a better way to give passive gold that junglers can't abuse (this is the hardest one, but also the least important)

PikaCHU5671 votes

If we buff Yellow Trinket and remove Sightstone. Then supports will have to choose between the Yellow Trinket or Oracles Acceleration. If supports get Yellow Trinket, they will have to rely on Vision wards. With Oracles, support would have to rely on their team to ward. So imo, removing Sightstone is a bad idea.

ModKnightsKemplar2 votes

That depends entirely on how much they buff it.

There is no reason that two-three yellow trinks on your team can't handle the warding if it's buffed enough to actually compete with red and blue trinkets.

Sightstone entered the game at a time when trinkets didn't exist, as a way for supports to have wards without "wasting" a slot. Trinkets now fill that position. They are doubling up on their function, and there isn't any real reason, in my opinion, we can't balance the game around no sightstone.

After all, Riot already nerfed yellow trink because they thought it granted too much vision in the game. I have always wondered why they didn't just remove sightstone to solve that problem. The only reason supports buy it is because they basically HAVE to. None of them want to, for the same reason that other lanes don't.

Fact is, supports, especially non-peel or engage supports, are going to be weak the way they are balanced now. That is because they are balanced around low gold income, but ALSO have to be balanced around the possibility of taking them into a solo lane. The reason that matters is because they can buy items in a solo lane, and can't as support.

If that paradigm changes, support options open up. They don't have to be so weak with items if they are allowed to have them in solo and duo lanes. That's always been the problem, and it's the only long-term solution possible to save the role and make it more desirable. I long for the day that people actually enjoy support.

It can be done right in many other genres. Take TF2 for instance. Nothing scarier than a good medic. But with the way League works, it's not nearly as simple as the FPS medic. We need to recognize that and start thinking about the underlying causes, instead of defending the status quo which clearly isn't working.

EDIT: Read your comment again after I wrote my rant. I think my point to specifically address you is this; you act like it's the supports sole job to ward, but that shouldn't the case anymore. Everyone has access to a sightstone like item. It isn't as much about balancing support around it, it's about balancing VISION around 5 trinket slots. That can be done.

So I am not swayed by any arguments about the support being unable to do ALL the vision upkeep. They shouldn't have to. That's my whole point, and it's why people don't like support. That isn't a fun job. It should be the whole team's job. That's more fun and more healthy. As long as the support is the "keeper of wards and sweepers" no one will like playing them. That's not a fun status quo to defend. It's one of the more negative parts of LoL that has stuck around as a artifact, in my opinion, and it's time for it to go.

Liquid Children2 votes

As a support main, I just feel that playing ranked is basically a toss up at this point. Even if I play like a god, it still doesn't matter. It's 100% reliant on if my teammates want to get the kills I'm handing to them. I can lead them to water, but I cant make them drink. My role is basically try to peel, and set up kills, but my individual play isn't rewarded at all. This might just be part of the Plat Experience (tm) but it fucking sucks. I feel so useless. I feel like I have to fucking be madlife every game and snowball every single lane to even stand a chance of winning. This is so wrong. Every role should have an equal chance to carry, and support shouldn't be the exception. Why should I have to give up the role I like playing and learn something completely new in order to climb ranks? This could also be due to the meta shift, how adcs aren't as strong as they used to be, but I still feel like the support role needs more latent carry potential. Even taking a page out of DotA's book and having supports actually do (dare I say) DAMAGE would be a step in the right direction. Whatever Riot's decision is, there needs to be some sort of substantial change to save us support mains from the hell state that support is in currently.

Baron of Bread2 votes

Thresh and Janna only? Did someone forget the cow? Alistar

CrazedPorcupine2 votes

The problem isn't support champions themselves, but rather the meta itself.

Supports are all fairly diverse champions.

Nami provides lots of Utility/lockdown, similar yet still distinct from Lulu Soraka provides nothing but heals heals heals, providing nearly no CC and no damage. Janna provides powerful kiting and protection, but no damage or really hard lockdown. Sona provides teamwide utility Bard provides powerful movement utility and lockdown. Braum provides powerful protection and peel Alistar provides massive teamfight disruption and protection. Morgana provides MASSIVE lockdown and CC immunity, but not much reliable damage. Thresh provides CC/Protection and peel. Blitz provides potent pick potential Trundle provides the ability to debuff the enemy so you can reliably out duel them. Poppy provides protection and lock down power. Shen provides powerful peel and protection on a global scale. Leona provides powerful long range lockdown and enhanced team damage. Tahm Kench provides powerful saving potential and protective ability. Zilean Support provides a powerful revive, and AoE hard CC on a short CD with decent damage along side powerful utility.

All in all, Supports are diverse enough that they don't actually need any adjustments. The reason Alistar/Braum/Thresh are considered the 3 best supports in the game at the moment is because they are Super tanky with 0 items, and provide plenty of utility/protection for their carries.

Let's analyze their kits Thresh, Infinite scaling armor for free, powerful 99% slow, a shield/dash to save carries from long range, and a knockback and stun to lock down enemies. Braum, Innate resistance grant, free damage resistance on his W, and the ability to block damage from the enemy team. Alistar, AoE hard CC, AoE Heal that synergizes stupidly well with windspeaker's, powerful knockback, and Damage resistance on his ult.

They all have high base stats, are naturally tanky, synergize well with 0 items while providing potent peel, disruption and tankiness that can't be found in other supports.

Each support has been picked in competitive before, all to fulfill the niche that the support fills best.

LankPants6 votes

Each support has been picked in competitive before, all to fulfill the niche that the support fills best.

Sona was only picked a few times after her rework. Post rework Sona has never really seen competitive play, she saw play before her rework but she's basically a different champ now than she was then.

CrazedPorcupine2 votes

While this is true, It's not anything to do with sona's power, it's more her inability to provide adequate protection for her team. In a meta where picks and tanky builds are the most popular, super squishy supports without spammable protective spells or potent/reliable peel just aren't that good. Sona fits into this spot. She's very powerful, her winrate is and always has been over 50%, the problem is that sona's just not in a favorable meta right now.

When I said that every support has been picked in competitive, it was at some point within their existance. Nami hasn't been picked since the introduction of Braum and Yasuo, and Sona is too squishy to be picked, especially in a hard-engage support meta. Karma hasn't been picked much because poke supports just aren't meta right now.

Pika3105 votes

Except Sona's NOT strong, she's actually the weakest support in the game right now. Adrian on Immortals publicly said, any champ that's viable in solo queue can work competitively. If win rate were truly a sign of balance, we'd be seeing Sonas, Rammus' and Amumus all over the pro scene, but that's simply NOT the case at all. These champs' winrates are being artificially inflated by people who main those champs, whilst everyone else sticks to the OP picks of Lee, Soraka or Alistar.

As for Nami in particular, she actually saw A LOT of competitive play after Braum's release. Anyone paying close attention during season 4 will remember the support triangle of counterpicks: Nami -> Morg; Morg -> Braum; Braum -> Nami. Being squishy has nothing to do with being picked if a champ has the necessary tools to compensate it. Otherwise we wouldn't be seeing Ezreal, we wouldn't be seeing Soraka. The only reason we've stopped seeing Nami being played is because Bard has replaced her as the superior choice of her niche that only these 3 champions fill. Without a defined difference between them, the only one seeing play will always be whichever has the strongest numbers and right now that's Bard, with Sona have the weakest numbers and Nami being stuck in between.

Andrysek571 votes

Lulu Just reduced its ratio of spells AP and increases the rest allow him to return the support that she was in season 3

Andrysek571 votes

Why the item used only by media should be as useless ?

item 2302 item 2301 2200 gold for 200 health and 10% CDR ? It's big mouth foutage

item 3050 Us who still play this crap that proc on minions ?

Not to mention the boots:

Season 5 item 3117 500 gold for support and 800 gold for other boots for other post

Season 6 item 3009 item 3158 600 gold for all i feel like I actually scammed somewhere ...

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