From what I see:
You shouldn't do damage
You need to have a strong impact
Debuffs are "anti-fun", so none of that
You can't heal/shield too much
Warding isn't fun and that should be dealt with
What the fuck are you supposed to do? Build six boots?
TheDelighted52 votesSupports saving champions : "OMG, heal/shields to PO rito nurf." Supports not saving champions: "OMG, noob supp, reprorted for no helpng"
: ^)
dominusx7 votesOh let me dive and try to kill the adc like i'm supposed to. Oh wait the adc has 3 lifebards and it feels like i'm hitting a juggernaught era Volibear . oh wait he does 900dmg per auto oh wait my screen is grey
Revali25 votesOh wait the adc has 3 life
sorry, this cracked me up a bit just picturing a bard bukakke throwing w's and stuns everywhere
Verdade15 votesAssassin is dueling champion with great mobiliy, burst damage and ability to choose when and where he wants to fight. He should be able to sucessfully duel anyone but tanks and anti-assassins
ADC is ranged sustained damage champion with high focus on dealing damage with limited defense.
Support is champion who sacrifices his own power to protect others via shields/healing/cc.
Assassin should easily kill ADC or support 1v1. However he shouldn't be able to kill ADC when protected by support, especially not without serious risk/huge outplay
grittedblade2 votesunless the assassin waits for the support to blow all their major anti-assassin tools
Glory ln Death3 votesExactly! The assassin needs to be smart and plan their assassinations wisely - like actual, real-life assassins.
Zenthon Prime1 votesExcept that isn't how it works in any actual game.
See, if the assassin waits that long, you lose the fight because the support isn't gonna blow those spells on anything but the assassin's target. If the assassin jumps the ADC, support saves them. If the assassin jumps the support, support saves themselves. Granted, you can waste one spell on one of the two, who proceeds to get "saved", then burst the other for mindgames, but that depends on how fed you really are. Either way, you're gonna die and maybe get a kill.
Not that I miss assassins, but to say the state of defensive supports right now is ok would be a bit of a stretch.
Itsbeghdev2 votesIf the enemy support is holding everything to guard against you, then the other threats on your team can do their work undisturbed, from getting kills for themselves to setting up harder kills for you to be peeled from. If there aren't any other threats, well, there's your issue!
...
...in theory
10Tickler26 votesSupport Main, Level 6 Karma, level 5 Illaoi (Support).
First thing I want is for a shift in the mindset that Supports are the only people who can do certain things. Namely, Warding. I'm fine getting a Sweeper, I'm fine upgrading to the nicer one, but when I'm devoting one of my item slots to a gold-inefficient item that gives Mediocre health (
), and either upgrading for the barest Cooldown on my items, or similarly mediocre amount of Either AP, HP, or Mana Regen, the least I can hope to expect is for people to use their free trinkets to help me get vision control on the map, and upgrade to the even better one, once they reach level nine.
Now, when it comes to items, I'm at a lower ELO, which means my build ends up varying a lot, depending on whether or not I've gotta switch to a more carrying damage-based role, or a more supportive one. 
is great, but overloaded, completely overloaded for what it costs and what it does. 
, imho, is AMAZING. 
needs to be an Activatable item, keep the stacking mechanism, but allow the support to CHOOSE when it finally procs. 
is situationally viable, but only on a select few supports.
Another issue worth addressing comes with supports like Leona, Braum and Tahm, other SUPPORTS who are slated to be TANKS. Toplane items are usually double-billed as support tank items, BUT...
They're REALLY expensive, and since gold gen's in a good place right now, I'd hate to ask for more income for the tanky supports. Instead, 
is a decent choice, but when it comes to TANKINESS, it does feel lackluster. An afterthought item "Huh, my ADC is dying a lot, but doing good damage, I should take more of their damage" sort of situation. So imho, what we need are more TANKY items intended and PRICED for Support-oriented characters. Give the SS upgrade an Extra Cloth armor, and the ARMOR from it, maybe 5 extra, and it won't feel so overpriced and understatted.
Supports just seem to either Scale Super-hard right now, and end up acting as carries, or, falling far behind their team, in both levels and income.
That's just my .02 tho.
HazyCloud712 votesWonderful post, accurate summation of the current state of support and really reasonable suggestions.
Other support players should follow your example instead of posting strawman arguments.
The only thing I disagree with is your opinion on Knight's Vow; 60 armor and 400 health is absolutely amazing value for 2400 gold, and that isn't even factoring in the passive. Sure, it requires the support/adc to be near one another for the support to get the extra 40 armor, but as far as tank support items go I think Knight's Vow is an excellent place.
10Tickler3 votesIn a lategame teamfight, when damage is flying in all directions, true tanks would find better survivability from bigger items, 400 health, after 60 AR reduction, is one good crit from a well-farmed Carry, and then, on top of that, you're also taking what is it? 12% of the damage your carry is taking as true damage. Doesn't /seem/ like much, but if they're focused and 100-0'd, because they weren't far enough back, then that's a pretty big chunk of HP gone in the beginning of the fight.
HazyCloud74 votesI think you're vastly underselling the item. Just the stats, with 400 health/60 armor/100% base health regen the item is already 104% gold efficient.
Compare it to a real tank item like Randuin's Omen (500 health/60 armor) & you'll see that it provides similar stats, but with a much better passive for a far lower cost (2400 vs 2900). That isn't even mentioning the extra movement speed towards your partner that it provides as well. Real tank items provide slightly more stats but they also cost more and aren't as efficient.
Glory ln Death3 votesAnd don't forget the omnivamp you get from your partner, too!
Aptest6 votesI believe you are miss-understanding .
The 12% damage reduction on this item is the afterthought. The real effect you should take into consideration is the 12% lifesteal.
12% lifesteal from a damage dealer's damage output, combined with the rest of your tanky build, is worth a lot of survivability.
Glory ln Death3 votesEven better than lifesteal, it's actually omnivamp! You heal for 12% of all the damage your partner does to enemy champions!
A lot of times, I'll actually partner with the jungler or other initiator/Diver if the adc isn't getting immediately busted or assassinated in fights. Better for the initiator since they take reduced damage, I can follow up quickly with the bonus movespeed, and I can get healed a bunch from the damage they do!
Big Lincoln13 votesYou can't heal/shield too much
I don't see why this is a problem. Doing too much of either pretty much removes outplay potential from enemy assassins and nukers. Shields wouldn't be as much an issue if there was a way to bypass them besides "do more damage," but until then.
Support items should offer noticeable ways to help your team (preferably through more than just 'big AoE heal' because that's kind of redundant). It should be conditional power and, if it's defensive oriented like Locket or Redemption, then it should have a tighter window of use but more reward for using it at exactly the right time.
Debuffs are "anti-fun", so none of that
I don't agree with this either; I'm sure Riot's lumped it into their 'unhealthy' pile, but I have no problems with debuffs on their own.
Bots Whilst High22 votes[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=zJ4A8Gs7,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-12-20T23:52:28.290+0000)
I don't see why this is a problem. Doing too much of either pretty much removes outplay potential from enemy assassins and nukers. Shields wouldn't be as much an issue if there was a way to bypass them besides "do more damage," but until then.
Support items should offer noticeable ways to help your team (preferably through more than just 'big AoE heal' because that's kind of redundant). It should be conditional power and, if it's defensive oriented like Locket or Redemption, then it should have a tighter window of use but more reward for using it at exactly the right time.
I don't agree with this either; I'm sure Riot's lumped it into their 'unhealthy' pile, but I have no problems with debuffs on their own.
So the Champs with little counterplay because of their mobility and huge damage are complaining about the squishies staying alive longer than they're supposed to? Ecks dee.
What about all the times I've played support and am 3 levels behind and the Assassin dives me for free gold everytime they're ult is up? Where's the counter play to that? Been fizz ulted under tower one too many times to give a damn about assassins
Big Lincoln4 votes
shuts assassins down on a targeted spell.
Besides that, it depends what support you're playing as. Bard, for example, does not care and can easily turn on Fizz himself. Some supports like Soraka are pretty vulnerable. But you probably shouldn't be complaining about Fizz specifically being 3 levels ahead of you; either you've spent a lot of time on failed roams or he's fed. But it doesn't turn around any different for... any champion that's 3 levels ahead of you. Any juggernaut or bruiser would just walk under turret and kill you while tanking.
So the Champs with little counterplay because of their mobility and huge damage are complaining about the squishies staying alive longer than they're supposed to?
When the assassin has made use of their kit to outplay the enemy team and still fail because supports have massive shields and heals, yes, it's a problem. Just like it is right now, in probably one of the worst metas I've had to experience so far.
Glory ln Death3 votesIf the support uses their kit and items to deny you a kill, that's the support outplaying the assassin.
If the assassin is jumping into a fight while the support still has their full kit ready to rescue someone, then they are a bad assassin who didn't think through their plan.
Outplay the support by waiting for their cooldowns or baiting out their shields and switching to another, still vulnerable target.
Itsbeghdev2 votesBecause it's not an outplay if you still fail! Remember that, assassins who say they did everything right after, y'know, not doing that.
HadesBlades2 votesSo the Champs with little counterplay because of their mobility and huge damage are complaining about the squishies staying alive longer than they're supposed to? Ecks dee.
What about all the times I've played support and am 3 levels behind and the Assassin dives me for free gold everytime they're ult is up? Where's the counter play to that? Been fizz ulted under tower one too many times to give a damn about assassins
Except new support items are virtually removing the terms squishy and replacing it with moderate tank stats and enough damage nullification that it is nearly impossible for anyone to kill or stick onto supports or carries especially in the terms of Caitlyn and jhin.
Redemption- Health Locket-armor and mr Sightstone- Health Tailsman/targon- armor or health
Its not that supports shouldn't have the option to outplay but show me how an assassin like Katarina or Talon can stick onto a champion like Janna or nami when she has things like flash, exhaust, locket, redemption, and kit full of escapes and damage reduction. It doesn't matter who you are as a support, items like locket and redemption are too stat efficient when used and are used as an aoe damage nullifer. I get it I main katarina and those items make me salty, but as someone that plays a ton of support too (Janna, lulu, nami, raka) i see both sides.
Ariel the Cruel3 voteshow me how an assassin like Katarina or Talon can stick onto a champion like Janna
Janna is the definition of peel in this game. No one should stick to her. . . . Except Karthus ult. Because the answer is always Karthus.
only zhule3 votes[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=zJ4A8Gs7,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-12-20T23:52:28.290+0000)
I don't see why this is a problem. Doing too much of either pretty much removes outplay potential from enemy assassins and nukers. Shields wouldn't be as much an issue if there was a way to bypass them besides "do more damage," but until then.
Support items should offer noticeable ways to help your team (preferably through more than just 'big AoE heal' because that's kind of redundant). It should be conditional power and, if it's defensive oriented like Locket or Redemption, then it should have a tighter window of use but more reward for using it at exactly the right time.
I don't agree with this either; I'm sure Riot's lumped it into their 'unhealthy' pile, but I have no problems with debuffs on their own.
What to you classifies as a conditional power item? Like are we talking some kind of AOE ability that reduces incoming damage for 1 second? Are we talking an item that can stun or otherwise CC? Are we talking about a reverse that you use to share damage taken with an enemy?
You say that a big heal/shield isn't fun because it counter acts all in champions, but what could Riot put in that is both impactful but doesn't just destroy some other role/character type's power?
Big Lincoln3 votesI don't know, honestly. A brief spell-shield that you can only place on allies? Like, very short duration, but slightly extended if it succeeds, just up to a cap, or instead of that it gives the recipient a buff if you successfully block something. It's reactionary for both players; so an assassin could bait it out, but then if they wait then the ADC might have the time to walk or dash away. Maybe instead of an extended shield, if it pops, then it turns into a silence field for a couple seconds.
Something that's not just 'extra health' that both people can play around.
dukevonart3 votesYou mean 
?
SteelMankind3 votesI don't see why this is a problem. Doing too much of either pretty much removes outplay potential from enemy assassins and nukers. Shields wouldn't be as much an issue if there was a way to bypass them besides "do more damage," but until then.
Execute abilities will calculate their damage based on how much health the target was missing, even if they currently have a fat shield. So things like Garen ult should still kill the very low health target even if the support is shield stacking them.
ChargeItDownMid12 votes[deleted]
chipndip14 votesWhere WERE you when I was spamming threads trying to get this point across!?
WoonStruck1 votesYeah, we're missing debuffers, engagers, disengagers, nukers, pushers, roamers, peelers, buffers, etc all as distinct support archetypes.
There should be far more than " I heal/shield, I CC, I damage"
Itsbeghdev2 votesThat's not really a set of archetypes so much as just nonexclusive things-a-support-or-really-any-champion-can-do, but yeah.
Blanchimont9 votesMages should NOT be better Supports than actual Supports. The only reason Brands and Zyra are making it into Support is because the Supports we have are pretty bad. Supports either have slows and stuns for engage or some form of sustain. The problem is that a lot of high damage characters have the same built into their kits. With the weak heals and shields and the ability for Assassins to cleanse in their kit, many Supports suck at their job now. Your stuns mean nothing when they are immune to crowd control.
Audiomancy4 votesI think Zyra is a bit of a special case. She just lacks the tools to stand up to most mid laners, but her zone control and CC - along with her high damage - allows her to have a very strong presence in bot.
RogueWill7 votes
"Welcome to Mundo's shoe shop" (funny fact all those boots woudl give additional effect to stacking them is not completely useless)
LunarMageRem6 votesI've been wondering this myself. XD Seems no matter what supports are doing people complain if they are having any impact other than being a wardbot 0.o;;
Blue Moon Wolf6 votesWhat the fuck are you supposed to do? Build six boots?
Who told you about my secret support build :O
BoundaryBreaker4 votesMundo's Shoe Shop XD
Dextix LT6 votesDiamond support main, Level 7 Bard, Level 7 Tahm, Level 7 Galio.
I agree with the sentiment that supports should not do damage, at least not as much damage as carries, it is simply not their job in this game and they have been balanced around that, this is not dota. Such mage "supports" as brand and zyra are extremelly toxic and should not be allowed to do what they do now, because they are secondary carries currently. This does not mean that support should not have any damage again, but it should not be overbearing.
I disagree with the "strong impact" because it is such a vague term. What does it mean? I think me stunning or ultying the enemy makes a strong impact, or when i play a healing support, i can see that my healing has a strong impact. But there are such players that see the only strong impact, when they deal damage and nothing else. As such i disagree because it is so vague and personal, support is always the role that is chosen by those dedicated few, in every game actually, because there are simply more people who care only about damage dealing.
Debuffs are not antifun, they are a part of the game, who the fuck says that? Such retards should be hit on the heads with basic game balance rules. Debuffs are good, and i think more of them should be implemtented for the supprt class so it would make them more unique, for example in dota you have characters like Bane who are premium debuffers, you have champs with passive debuffs such as Omniknight or even champs like Io, who have 0 fighting capabilities but are really good supports.
You can't shield/heal too much. Agreed partly, there are limits, but currently we have not reached them, even before this season i could basically give a second life to my adc with healing supports, it is currently still alright, if it gets out of hand then it should be nerfed, just because of overall balance.
And again, warding, warding is not supposed to be fun, it is a NEEDED function. I already am sick and tired of people saying how it is not their job to ward. No, it is your job to ward your lane and then ward the main places, why? You are the support, the one who is not as reliant on items as the others, one who can buy subpar items for their effects. And they have to be subpar items, otherwise everyone will buy them and game balance will be fucked in regards of vision.
But i agree that sighstones should have diversity, as in, some of them should be for healers/shielders, other for tanks, other for poke supports. But it is a needed item that should not be buffed.
Also, support itemization (And all other itemizations too) should be expanded, because now we have a limited selection of items, and no actual choices, unlike in Dota where you have to choose carefully in every game.
Honestly, i dont see many problems with the support class. It will always be unpopular, and making it popular would require to change an entire class into something it is not. Support is the role, chosen by those dedicated few, who like helping others and do not need the spotlight, those who know what they do good, and dont need recognition.
But that is just my 2 cents....
1wolfpack4 votesdo u know what I would love,
You know the 3 main support items u start each game with:
and how they build into 2 paths.
if they can just combine that so you can place wards and have the kl active ability. that would be sick.
chipndip110 votesCan't have 2 actives on one item.
Knight Sky3 voteslol someone had a bad game or couple of games
Oleandervine15 voteslol someone had a bad game or couple of games
Not really, people are getting up in arms about Redemption and other items, being completely counterproductive to the purpose of the new items - to make supporting fun. Redemption is hella fun, but now people are calling for nerfs like it was Rylai's or something. Plus, most people get royally pissed if you start going carry on supports like Lux or Sona, even after you get your gold item and sightstone built. It's really a no win for supports because people get pissed when they do well.
chipndip119 votesI didn't even play today yet. This is a topic that's long been frustrating to me.
On one hand, people want support to be more popular so autofill can stop plaguing the queues. Support needs more noticeable and appreciable impact on the match in order to achieve this.
On the other hand, no one wants supports to do anything but heal/shield/peel. Now we have Redemption and Locket as they are, and we're probably looking at nerfs...but then how do we get more people to play support?
If I come out and say "Hey, expand the itemization and expectations from the role", I get ignored or downvoted, but people are acting like having an announcer tell me I got a "Penta-Assist" is gonna make support more fun.
This community doesn't know what it wants from the role. Some people even chime in to say the game should delete the role outright. This conversation needs to be had.
SpecterVonBaren9 votesRiot needs to destroy the requirement of having an ADC and a Support in a match. The reason those two roles have such an issue with cue times is that unlike other roles, they aren't about going to a lane, they're about picking a class. Not everyone likes to play Mages but that doesn't mean they can't go mid, not everyone likes to play Tanks but that doesn't mean they can't go top.
If Support champions could go into solo lanes and not have to be a duo lane babysitter then the people that enjoy the support role (Like me) would get to play it whenever we wanted, in whatever position they wanted. Make it so ADC's aren't required for every game and don't require their whole team to peel for them and the people that enjoy the role will play it when they want.
Let me put it another way, imagine if instead of the Jungle position, it was instead called the Assassin position and you HAD to play an Assassin in order to take that position. Suddenly cue times skyrocket because only the people that like the Assassin class are taking that position. If position were just about position and not what class you pick then we wouldn't have que time issues because everyone is playing the role they want.
SociopathFriend2 votesRiot needs to destroy the requirement of having an ADC and a Support in a match.
You're required to have an ADC because LoL is an objective-focused game on Summoner's Rift. So long as that remains the core way to win- ADCs stay.
And so long as the squishy, low-mobility, low-cc, gold-reliant, ADC is in a lane- it will always make more sense for the Support to go bot to keep them alive and in good contention for farming.
Also, Dragon, the more players bot, the better; so you can clear/contest Dragon easier.
You need ADCs because how LoL works. And you want Supports to keep the ADC healthy and earning gold.
People who wish for a game without ADCs can look at the temporary game types for how well that works. Players just find their new meta to follow.
WoonStruck3 votesAlmost every MOBA is an objective focused game. Only Smite requires ranged characters as often as League.
It has nothing to do with objectives and everything surrounding the mechanics of core gameplay (laning/kiting) and the poor itemization of LoL in regards to diversifying the purpose/strengths of range/melee.
The only reason ranged ADCs are required is because League is **objectively **poorly balanced.
Ahristocats3 votesBut every moba needs a support, no? the dude wants the game to not have a support 100% of the time
WoonStruck3 votesYeah, every MOBA needs a support.
League just lacks a diverse pool of them because they nerf things that compete with tanks basically intended to be support, enchanters, or mages who were too problematic to let function as strong mids.
Basic tanks, enchanters, and mages are boring and stagnant. That's why people don't like support.
If Nasus became a meta support due to his pushing power so bot could take tower easily, I can guarantee Nasus would end up gutted.
Nunu was a strong buffer/debuffer? Gutted.
Annie was a strong nuker? Gutted.
Once people stop being stupid and start using Sion/Poppy as supports more? Gutted.
If J4 became a strong support (which only doesn't happen because of his huge mana costs), he'd be gutted.
Yosuke Apperu1 votesI didn't even play today yet. This is a topic that's long been frustrating to me.
On one hand, people want support to be more popular so autofill can stop plaguing the queues. Support needs more noticeable and appreciable impact on the match in order to achieve this.
On the other hand, no one wants supports to do anything but heal/shield/peel. Now we have Redemption and Locket as they are, and we're probably looking at nerfs...but then how do we get more people to play support?
If I come out and say "Hey, expand the itemization and expectations from the role", I get ignored or downvoted, but people are acting like having an announcer tell me I got a "Penta-Assist" is gonna make support more fun.
This community doesn't know what it wants from the role. Some people even chime in to say the game should delete the role outright. This conversation needs to be had.
I want the season 4 inspiration mastery back. Grants 20 exp every 10 seconds when near a higher level ally. Even on winning games I find myself like 3 possibly 4 levels behind. Might as well not even give any support the option to put a 3rd point into their ulti, because you don't even get there anymore.
chipndip12 votesYou never realize just how much that mastery meant until it's gone...[zombie-nunu-tears]