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Anyone else feel like Healing and shields are quickly becoming the crux of support gameplay ?

La Bello··1 votes·431 views

anyone else feel like there is a growing over saturation of heals in shield on support champions especially in league? to the point that the class as whole is starting to get warped and balanced around it? Windspeakers blessing,Heal and Shield modifiers, Locket and Redemption...

anyways some of my current thoughts are

1.If this trend continues should there might be a need for a anti-shield item or a shield pierce of sorts? 2.Is this(shields/Heals in every kit) truly necessary or is this the "easy way out" of balancing supports? 3. often the Shield/Heal abilities feel "filler" with some small after effects to make them unique so why not give them another ability altogether? 4. does this trend put champions who cant utilize shields and heals more effectively at a innate disadvantage as majority of support items purchasable with the support budget revolve around these aspects? 5.what truly "defines" a support champion? how important is base damage and utility? What makes champions like Lux Malzahar Brand Zyra Annie Zilean encroach on botlane instead of Middle lane despite having not very many "supportive" abilities ? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? 6. does the average player enjoy "shield it to win it" gameplay or "protect the carry" stratagems or would he rather have more independent agency?

anyways

just a collection of shower thoughts I had.feel free to chime in on you feel on the matter

8 Comments

Viktor Von Lazer1 votes

support is a pretty diverse role. You have those who primarily bring damage, those who are focused on utility or those who are mostly there to soak up damage aka tanks. I don't think shielding is really a problem, perhaps it's the lack of diversity in support items (redemption locket only) which bothers some players, but building one of them even of a damage support is viable as most damage supports just need morellos void and deathcap to do sufficient damage.

La Bello1 votes

not only item 3107 and item 3190 which are splashable items great on everyone but also dont forget "enchanters" have item 3174 item 3504 item 3222 to choose from . thats like 3 items for heal/Shield supports whereas Melee vanguards really only have item 3109 as their core item.

Erockandroll1 votes

{quoted}

support is a pretty diverse role. You have those who primarily bring damage, those who are focused on utility or those who are mostly there to soak up damage aka tanks. I don't think shielding is really a problem, perhaps it's the lack of diversity in support items (redemption locket only) which bothers some players, but building one of them even of a damage support is viable as most damage supports just need morellos void and deathcap to do sufficient damage.

Those items are fairly support agnostic, And that's because they have a strong utility, that is independent of the stats you build, so you can build it on any support. That in of itself is good. (even though people complain seeing it on everyone)

The two issues I see, (which may be interconnected) is A) they synergy between the two items themselves. and B) Their Value as Teamfight items, overshadowing single target utility. (Like Zeek's or Vow) My main concern in the former case is if these two items end up getting balanced around each other. Cause if that happens that these items, (Really just locket) will feel useless without the other.

The latter issue, it's obvious that these items are in meta. But My question is, do these items force the meta? If so they are obviously problematic, as they would be limiting comp viability. But if a Teamfight meta developed on it's own, these items would be obvious choices for said meta. (and not necessarily be broken)

PPPPPPPPPPPP2701 votes

Average shield values of champions have gone up quite a lot since season 4.

I will call it healing force the bonus shield and healing effect.

It's getting pretty stupid as Lulu is now top ban and most common builds is always rush redemption into ardent censor/locket.

The synergy between those 3 items is insane and the fact healing force stacks is downright stupid at times. Supports don't really care for damage and don't even need pricy AP items to make shield values and heals really high.

Tin of sardines1 votes

hum, like me see... a fews supports:

has heal: Alistar Bard Nami Soraka Zilean

has shield: Annie Blitzcrank Ivern Karma Kayle Leona Lux Malphite Malzahar Morgana Nautilus Shen Sion TahmKench Thresh

has both: Janna Lulu Rakan Sona Taric

has none of that: Amumu Anivia Brand Braum Gragas Kalista Maokai MissFortune Nunu Mordekaiser Taliyah Teemo Trundle TwistedFate Veigar Volibear Warwick Yasuo Ziggs Zyra

look, is balanced, you just need pick more unusual supports. oh, you mean only pop supports? ok, I gonna look at champion.gg for reference.

has heal: Alistar Bard Nami Soraka Zilean

has shield: Annie Blitzcrank Karma Leona Lux Malzahar Morgana Nautilus Sion TahmKench Thresh

has both: Janna Lulu Rakan Sona Taric

has none of that: Brand Braum MissFortune Trundle Veigar Velkoz Zyra

Shield bot is so truth...

conclusion, yes supports are full of shields, and if you add: item 3107 item 3190 item 3060 item 3174 item 3401 you have, even more heal and shields. in fact... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2364582/mediaindex?page=1&ref_=ttmi_mi_sm the name of the show is agents of shield, now if you look for shields in that gallery, you gonna see few. in other words "support have more shields that a series called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

P.S.: did a Yasuo slipped by?

La Bello1 votes

annie and Leona dont have" shields" per say

they have damage reducers

Tin of sardines1 votes

it look like a shield, it must be a shield, no time to look to details.

chipndip11 votes

Asking this type of thing on here won't give useful answers. People around here pride themselves in being snowflakes rather than competitive.

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