Botlane support diversity has become worse since preseason 4

VDc0zCqe0w··2 votes·868 views

allright so i'm making this post since i often read here and there that the support meta is good right now, wich is completely false

many people think the support meta is now more balanced than what it was in S3 (yeah S2 was kinda a joke, Sona-Blitz-Nunu everywhere, i'll give you that), but in S3 you had Fiddle, Zyra, Sona, Thresh, Elise (yup, go and play her support right now, she even sucks in her main role lol), Janna (sometimes, see nRated or Bloodwater), Nami, Leona, Annie, Lulu, Alistar (mostly Madlife)

this is a total of 11 champs of wich 1 is poke-burst (Elise), 2 are poke-disengage (Zyra, Lulu), 2 are poke-sustain-AOE (Sona, Nami), 1 is pure disengage (Janna), 1 is well, Thresh (lol), 1 is AOE-CC-heavy (in other words, Fiddle), 1 is an all-in tank (Leona), 1 is an all-in mage (Annie), 1 is a defensive tank (Alistar)

see? so many different types; sure, there is not Soraka and there is not Taric (even if he saw some LCS play, but yeah he was quite bad), but they were still in pre-rework state (read: nerfed to shit on purpose), and Taric still sucks after 2 years, lol

allright, so now what do we have?

Zyra completely overnerfed to the point that she's impossible to play without someone laughing at you (i know people still think she's good but you know, every single pro says she sucks, i think they know more), Sona = same (picked a few times having a really mediocre winrate, then nerfed and not picked anymore), Soraka was fine but you know, they nerfed her HP regen so that she requires more skill and had more """""COUNTERPLAY"""" (read: nerfed and not played anymore), Fiddle well you won't see him anymore since the fear nerf (and other nerfs), Elise lol, she can't even jungle

right now we have: Braum, Leona, Annie, Thresh, Janna, Nami, Lulu, Alistar, Blitz, Morgana

what's the problem here? the problem is that the number is nearly the same, but they are mostly tanks (all-in or defensive tanks), the only non-tanky supports are Janna, Nami, Lulu and Morgana (they build Annie tank-like), and there are really too many all-in supports (4 all-in supports on a total of 10 is huge); there is also a total lack of sustain, out of 10 supports, only 1 has some form of sustain, and only 2 have got some form of poke

at least there is Veigar wich adds some form of diversity in all this me...oh wait...

TL;DR support meta just sucks right now (it does since preseason 4), zero diversity, it's just tanks (both all-in and defensive) and disengage (Nami, Janna, Morgana), poke is non-existant, sustain is non-existant, there are just 4 non-tank supports actually played competitively (Lulu, Nami, Janna, Morgana, i can add Annie if you want but it's still a pitiful number)

i just wrote it really fast and it's probably quite difficult to read but you know, i'm salty and annoyed by this support meta since preseason 4 to the point that i'm not playing anymore and i didn't even buy the DJ Sona skin even if Sona was one of my most played champs (and still is), but you know, poke/sustain is simply useless right now, no point in spending money on that one

12 Comments

Immortal Strife2 votes

I would love for Zrya to get her AA range back to pre-nerf levels, that nerf was BS especially when you consider Annie's AA range.

Sire Hippington2 votes

Sona, Sora and Zyra still work perfectly fine, lux still can work well as support, Shen is quite underated as all-in tank support. and even with your list, it's only 1 champ less than S3....

Sir Yamazuki2 votes

Zyra support works just fine, and has the potential to burst people down without any farm at all. She even has almost 54% win rate in plat+.

VDc0zCqe0w2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sir Yamazuki,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=yA0IH8Eu,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2015-03-08T16:29:04.179+0000)

Zyra support works just fine, and has the potential to burst people down without any farm at all. She even has almost 54% win rate in plat+.

i'm honestly fed up about this, every time i bring this shit up people say "lol she bursts without items, lol she got high winrate"

first of all: plat is trash elo

second: http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/support/diamond/by-winrate

48.8% in diamond+, and if you count that diamond 5-2 is trash elo too, that says something

third: every single pro player says she's shit, every single one, i challenge you to find me someone who doesn't say that

fourth: you got zero, zero, Z-E-R-O Zyra games in all your season

jesus christ

Sir Yamazuki2 votes

{quoted}

i'm honestly fed up about this, every time i bring this shit up people say "lol she bursts without items, lol she got high winrate"

first of all: plat is trash elo

second: http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/champions/stats/support/diamond/by-winrate

48.8% in diamond+, and if you count that diamond 5-2 is trash elo too, that says something

third: every single pro player says she's shit, every single one, i challenge you to find me someone who doesn't say that

fourth: you got zero, zero, Z-E-R-O Zyra games in all your season

jesus christ

Plat isn't trash, you're only d5, in no position to be calling others trash.

Why would I be playing Zyra when my duo, Lady Yamazuki, is the one playing Zyra....? Not only that, I don't need to play her in ranked only to know how to play her. Also, pros are very biased and have been wrong so many times. I lost count of how many times some pro or people on boards claimed a champion was trash and then that very champion became so popular. Also, you're not some LCS player, you can play what ever you want in your soloq games. Quit being a sheep.

VDc0zCqe0w1 votes

plat is trash, dia 5 is trash too

we are both trash

point is i play zyra quite often, but you know...why should i play Zyra when i can go Janna (my 2nd main) and win the game @20 with zero problems?

we are not LCS players, but strong champions are strong champions, and trash champions are trash champions, Zyra is trash, Janna is strong, and it reflects on my winrate with both of those, both in S4 and in S5

SmknWdl1 votes

Hey you forgot dat ashe supp...

warpenguin5551 votes

Hell I play Anivia support. Need to practice it more but if it gets good ill go to ranked with it

Hirok01 votes

What I see... uncommonly... Alistar Brand Fiddlesticks Janna Karma Kayle Leblanc Lissandra Lulu Lux Morgana Nidalee Soraka Taric TwistedFate Veigar Zilean most of the time... Annie Blitzcrank Braum Leona Nami Sona Thresh Zyra

I personally enjoy using Zyra Ziggs Shen Sona Soraka Nidalee Lux Nami Katarina Fiddlesticks Braum Brand Blitzcrank Lissandra

derp

GnomeDigest1 votes

Playing support Fiddle was some of the most fun I have ever had supporting as a supp main. The changes to his fear and the bouncing of dark winds really killed him as a support though. i dunno why Riot is so obsessed about driving certain champions out of certain roles.

Something in general seems off about support this season. I cant put my finger on it but something about S5 has made it so I am less impactful in my games than I used to be. In normals I could always win more than lose when I play supp, my main. So when i did other roles a lot I would fall from around 30 wins over .500 to like 20 wins. Then I would play some supp and climb back up to 30 pretty quickly.

Now even when I play exclusively supp I free fall down toward 10-20 wins over .500. Whether I have a great game or not seems more irrelevant than before. I am starting to wonder if early game success just doesnt mean much anymore as I think thats where I was able to make a consistent impact in my games. Winning lane just doesnt seem to mean much anymore. This has by far been the most disappointing season of league since I started playing shortly before Cait's release.

SmokingPuffin1 votes

From where I sit, the competitive support meta has never been wider. We have had a three support meta for a very long time. Remember Zyra Sona Thresh? How about Annie Leona Thresh? We would have killed to have this many support options be reasonably playable in the past few seasons.

I do agree that poke is feeling weak. That's a natural conclusion to reach when everyone is starting 4 biscuits. Leona brings so much sustain to lane that there's no way for Nami or Sona to get through that HP bar in a reasonable amount of time. Back when poke was strong, supports were typically bringing a single pot. Not really sure how to fix it; the 4 pot starts are a side effect of the new jungle being so abusive and ganks getting pushed back to level 4 in most cases.

Raxicor1 votes

I agree on bot lane feeling more restricted than the other lanes. Like I've seen Wukong get a lot more play in mid than top recently and it works just fine. But bot lane is the same pool of champions. Even if a marksmen goes top for a tank harassing lane there's still a adc/support bot combo going on. Other lanes feel more interchangeable I guess?

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