@Support Mains, I Need Your Advice

Troy242621·Jun 5, 2015·2 votes·2,713 views

Hello there support main. I have a question, as it's a recurring problem I've been experiencing. I main jungle, but support is my second favorite role, and I enjoy playing it a lot. I frequently play , and the same issue keeps happening.

My ADC will either hang WAY IN THE BACK so they'll never be able to react in time, or they just ignore my CC entirely.

What do I do about this? It's so irritating, and makes me feel like Alistar was a waste of a pick. Should I just not use him or Leona when I'm unsure of the competency of my ADC?

22 Comments

RiotRiotZuluJun 5, 20156 votes

A good way to get on the same page with your adc is just talking to them. During champ select ask them how aggressive they want to play early game. Maybe they just want to hang and farm for the first 10 minutes and think you're going way too HAM. The best thing is just communicating and agreeing on how you're both going to play.

zane yalgirJun 6, 20153 votes

let him go in first and do a strong follow up wait for plays to happen.

watch the enem y movements they will split every now and then if you do a qe combo and back up on the front guy youll peel them and make them turn passive.

the best thing to remember is its the adcs job to win lane its your job to watch over them

its why supp is the mother of the family

its supp in a nut shell in his picture

windwolf777Jun 6, 20151 votes

Aww, Vayne Amumu MasterYi are so adorable. And I wonder why they used the old Highlander icon

R110Jun 8, 20151 votes

It's a pretty old picture. You can see some Season 2 items in there: Elixer of Agility, Philosophers Stone, Heart of Gold, Kage's Lucky Pick, Shurelya's Reverie. There is also Garen's old ultimate icon, it used to be a physical sword landing on the opponent before the visual update.

I still love that picture, it's so well made.

windwolf777Jun 8, 20151 votes

Oh, in that case it makes perfect sense! Thank you for explaining that. And the physical sword sounds AMAZING vs the "magical sun strike" sword

WickedfatesJun 8, 20151 votes

great pic!

LucentileJun 5, 20152 votes

Laying down some harass and then making room is often useful. Mind the range on your ADC too; if they're sitting at max range last hitting, trying to all-in then is a bad idea. Make sure they're in a position to actually help you.

krynnyJun 8, 20151 votes

You said what I wanted to. You are playing support. If your ADC wants to play safe and farm, then keep them safe and use your abilities to prevent enemy harrass. If your ADC want to engage, then use your abilities to CC them so your partner can do more damage. You don't really get to dictate the lane, so communication is key! Ask your jungler for a gank. Having a 3 vs 2 scenario might give your ADC the confidence to engage. Good luck!

JrudJun 5, 20151 votes

Some suggestions:

Get a duo ADC Ping the enemy ADC before going in only do it if your ADC is within range to walk in for some autos, or has a long ranged harass spell up

Troy242621Jun 5, 20151 votes

That's half of the problem. Either they ignore my CC, or they never stand close enough to be in range to react.

JrudJun 5, 20151 votes

Maybe if you ping the enemy carry just before you go to combo your ADC will walk a little closer. Also, watch their ranged harass cooldowns, like Caitlyn's Q. If she just used it, it's not likely she's going to want to go in for more harass any time soon.

disregardableJun 5, 20151 votes

Not a support main, but if your ADC is frequently not following up to your CC, try waiting for them to engage or ping first. It's a per game concern, so don't assume you need to do that every game, just when your ADC seems particularly not near you. Something I was told is that you should always try to stand horizontally to your ADC, so you can engage or retreat at the same time with them.

Deep Terror NamiJun 5, 20151 votes

There's really only two options for that;

A) Tell your ADC to be more aggressive so he can follow up

B) If he refuses A, just play passive. It's better to lose your lane because you both played passive than it is for one to be aggressive and die because you'll lose the lane anyway.

Troy242621Jun 5, 20151 votes

Feels like a waste to have something like an Alistar/Draven lane then play passively and be outscaled.

Deep Terror NamiJun 5, 20152 votes

That's why I play ranged supports almostly exclusively now; I can do my poke without the ADC's permission and follow up, and even if my engage is wasted I'm not in a terrible position now. Hell, most of my recent games I did so much poke while my ADC afk farmed that I ended up doing as much damage and earning as much gold (from bandit/spellthief's) as the carries.

Just gotta figure out if they are cowards early on so you don't rely on them.

zane yalgirJun 9, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Valkyrie Witch,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ynMoFjEc,comment-id=000200000000,timestamp=2015-06-05T23:41:09.456+0000)

That's why I play ranged supports almostly exclusively now; I can do my poke without the ADC's permission and follow up, and even if my engage is wasted I'm not in a terrible position now. Hell, most of my recent games I did so much poke while my ADC afk farmed that I ended up doing as much damage and earning as much gold (from bandit/spellthief's) as the carries.

Just gotta figure out if they are cowards early on so you don't rely on them.

Braum summoner 14 item 3075 item 3083 works wonders when the ap is mid and a supp that does nearly no damage all game.

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1846906597/211846831?tab=overview

look at the time line bad start to a stupidly strong finish and a 30 assit bruam

enemy team had Amumu Ezreal Sona

guess what i got at the 24 min mark that made me near unkillable.... you guessed it item 3075

LucentileJun 5, 20151 votes

Also: It is often not "cowardice" that causes the ADC to stay back. If I see you over extend, and start to harass, and the enemy backs off, victory! Do your little dance as we get some free, safe farm. I'm not going to do the silly run to the turret while last hits get missed behind us. All we've done then is create a very minor XP difference, as opposed to a noticeable XP + Gold difference.

I main support, and frankly, if the enemy laners decide to break off and drop back, that's good. Time to circle back to high five my ADC. Every engagement doesn't have to be all-in.

Troy242621Jun 5, 20151 votes

I'd be perfectly happy with that, it'd just be me pressuring the lane and giving my ADC some easy CSing. I just don't like NEVER being able to Ali combo during the ENTIRE LANING PHASE because my early game ADC never wants to be aggressive. Why pick Lucian/Draven/Graves to farm passively?

LucentileJun 5, 20151 votes

Because they don't trust you. It's really as simple as that. You need to demonstrate that you can succeed. Ping, then combo the squishy into range for them. Graves is not going to dash in and buckshot with some Support who might accidentally knock Leona on top of him.

I find that after a few safe harasses/disengages, my ADC follows up my pings more and more. It sucks since it isn't optimal, but you need to build that trust.

Solidair3Jun 6, 20151 votes

SoloQ is really volatile. Is my support this game going to be great? Is my adc going to be awful and blame me for every gank?

Who knows! It's all about trust. Try to communicate with your adc. Also! Remember that some supports have better synergy with some adcs than others. Sometimes it's just not a good match.

Troy242621Jun 6, 20152 votes

My trust level for other players is literally 0.01 until I can see how they do in-game. I've had too many WhackyWeed420s on my team to trust anymore :x.

Troy242621Jun 6, 20151 votes

I think I'm just not playing support anymore...It's such a miserable experience to have someone completely ignore you, never talk and disregard pings :c..

Maybe I'll try with duo'd ADCs, because Support is really fun, but that is such an AWFUL experience.