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Which Support has the highest skillcap?

nDoro·3/29/2016, 7:22:52 PM·1 votes·9,080 views

I always thought that Alistar might have been the most difficult to master, but I soon realized after playing him that the only thing difficult about him is is Q-W combo; no one just puts in the time to master it, which later becomes the easiest thing to land with practice.

I also main Janna, and have thought that she has one of the highest skillcaps, but again, the only difficult thing about her is deciding how and when to use her ultimate. Her E is just a matter of timing (as is for any support with a shield) and her Q late game can just be mindless Q-Q-Q-Q-Q to disengage. Her W should be used in the player's best discretion because of the tradeoff between her own speed and the enemy's.

I have mained Thresh before, but stopped doing so, because I found that his hooks are often just a guessing game - which way is the enemy going to dodge? In higher elos, people sidestep a lot better. Just when I think I figured out the enemy's dodging pattern, they switch and I miss, but his hook seems like the only thing really difficult about him to master (especially because people pick carries such as Lucian or Ezreal into Thresh).

Nami's bubble is, indeed, one of the most difficult skills to land as a support, but the rest of her skills are pretty self-explanatory. W is hard to get a good feel for? You just bounce it off of enemies and allies as needed, it's not that hard once you figure out that it bounces.

I was considering Lulu as a quite difficult character to play, because she has two extra uses for her W and E, which can affect her Q. But is having more options really considered more difficult? Or is having limited options but using the most of them considered higher skillcap?

And lastly: Bard. I feel like his gameplay is largely based on luck as well. If his teammates and enemies are in an unfortunate position, Bard might as well not use his ultimate at all. His Q is very difficult to land stuns with in late game when the roam is very strong. Magical journey is pretty cool and although I do not like Bard's playstyle (as he is often unreliable, in my opinion, in saving anybody), I do agree that he undoubtedly has a high skillcap.

What do you guys think? Who are the supports with the highest skillcaps? There are many that I missed in this post, but please mention them as well. The system will only allow me to input ten options.

10 Comments

Athenes Lulu3/29/2016, 8:16:08 PM4 votes

Thresh and Bard. Other than being mechanically intensive, both can singlehandedly make game-changing moves (whether if it's for the better or worse) quite easily. Their spells are also obvious enough for people to follow-up or back off, therefore making both of them even more powerful at making game-changing moves.

Janna is a close third, but isn't as mechanically intensive as the other two. She and Alistar can only do so much when their team... aren't so smart or aren't doing so well.

Nami has a high skillfloor, mechanically and semi-decisively. Lulu just has a high decisive skillfloor, so if someone who has 0% of supporting knowledge, he will have a hard time.

Mysticman893/29/2016, 7:52:51 PM3 votes

I was thinking about this lately as well, and I think I eventually settled for thresh. Not only is it about landing hooks (which can also involve anticipation), theres using the hook as an escape (hooking a jg camp over a wall, pulling yourself).

Lantern mechanics go pretty deep too, on where exactly to position it, and when. Lots of tricky plays involve throwing the lantern and immediately pulling yourself on a hook to give people fancy rides.

Even flay has a pretty high skill cap in actually using it to interrupt dashes, since it's very quick to cast and relatively short range making it easy for people to use it too soon or too late.

Bard is mechanically not that hard, but theres definitely an honorable mention to him based on just how game changing his ult and magical journeys can be so theres a lot of strategic potential there.

Janna also made my short list, as properly timed/aimed Q's are a big deal (interupting dashes at you are relatively easy, but anticipating and timing it to interupt dashes perpendicular to you is hard mode. Additionally, many dashes leave you with a super tiny reaction time window even if they are at you, so if honing reflexes counts as part of skill cap that's a point for her too. Lots of skill in when/where to use the ult as well, as theres tons of instances where Janna ults and actually saves enemies, or tries to do a fancy flash ult play only to have it not work out and suddenly be out of position and flashless. (I do main janna though, so I'm somewhat biased.)

Ali's Q-W combo was tweaked a few patches ago so you can just queue them together and so it's almost trivial to do the combo now so I don't really consider him a possibility. Karma and Lulu both have lots to their respective kits so there might be a case for one of those, but I don't play enough of those/see enough of those to have a strong opinion.

GenghisEmo3/29/2016, 7:40:24 PM2 votes

Im still going with Thresh. Takes more skill relative to others (when to Q onto enemies, and when to disrupt, hook lantern combo, hold enemy long enough, then go in.

Then the joke, Annie. Such a high skill cap champ.

Rowna10/6/2016, 8:40:50 AM1 votes

Janna can q-q+ r exaust adc to knock up and push the other support away from there adc making it a 2v1 zone. She can e to harras. In lane. You can also flash ult q , w you or ally and slow the retreat for a doubble. Late game q could be used for more the disengae. Such as making pick ups. On runners. Stop channel ults. (malz, kat, warwick, galiaio.) a ult uses on her provide displacement. So if a kindred ults, flash and press r to win. Her e can save a turret or pick up kills on divers. Her movent is near unmatched. Perfect for rowtaions in lanes. Not to metion item actives. Locket, for a shield team. E the adc, in fights q any try hard. And if your team is losing ult the back line...

She has alot of decent combos, just matters what is going on. Getting tower dove? Flash there escape and ult. E. Poke w slow q lane easy and exausht poke... Is how you play the kit, And how you position around the team and the map, as well as what skills you use and item actives you use in a fight or to foce the fight.

Valexfor3/29/2016, 7:32:52 PM1 votes

Well Thresh is one of the hardest to actually master, even when you can play him at a base level, to do the cool madlife plays, you need to be able to read so much in the game and have so much precision and timing it's just not worth it most of the times since thresh needs A LOT of help from his team, help you won't get most of the times. Nami is pretty easy, only his q is a bit harder, but once you hit level 6 you won't q, you will mostly ult then q: way easier, same results. Alistar since they just made his combo the easiest thing in the game has become so easy he could be played by a bot, literally. Bard is harder later in the game, but is so strong earlier that you won't reach that time, also he becomes harder only against opponent wth good positioning, which you won't find below high plat usually. Janna is just braindead, her difficulty level is the same as pressing a button. Lulu doesn't need to choose from her options: whatever she does is the right thing to do, enough said. Let's not even talk about nautilus or leona or others since they're even easier than the ones above so in the end in my opinion: Thresh is still the hardest, not because his kit is hard (far from it) but because hitting those hooks is incredibly hard and people don't know what the lantern does, not because he's actually any harder than nami, nautilus or janna or any other support.

Worst Kench NA10/6/2016, 8:42:51 AM1 votes

Bard, easily.

Nami's Q is easy as shit to hit. If I can still hit them whilst being Bronze 5 and not playing this game for six months, so can you.

Lovely Pants3/29/2016, 7:58:25 PM1 votes

Thresh and Bard the obvious choices. Each of Bard's abilities is a utility knife in itself, while Thresh has tons of ways he can chain his abilities to deal with different scenarios.

Remembering that skill cap is different from skill floor, of which hers is pretty low, I would also argue for Janna as having an incredibly versatile skillset which can lend itself to a multitude of unique plays despite the more general strengths she wields.

Nahui3/29/2016, 8:04:21 PM1 votes

Thresh easily. He has so many aspects to his kit, as well as needing exact, precise timing to execute certain aspects to their fullest.

Sure, anyone can hook someone, and pull themselves to them, flaying them and activating box. But at max potential, it's when Thresh can throw a hook or flay to stop Lee Sin mid Q, or effectively lantern, or position the box correctly.

Bard is a close second, however mechanically he is simpler.