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Tips on how to be the carry that your support hopes for (from a support main)

MrSc0tty··42 votes·13,814 views

Hey buddy. I'm your support. Odds are, we're a couple of strangers who have never met, and will never speak, and we're going to be expected to act as a perfect unit for the next 20 odd minutes while we duke it out against two other guys in the same situation. It's often hard to know what to do, and what the other guy expects, so I just want to give you a few friendly tips so we can go ahead and crush these other schmucks as hard as possible. These are things that, as a support main , I either really love, or really hate to see, in no particular order, that can make you a higher quality of right click warrior.

  1. If I am being attacked, you should be attacking someone. If you are being attacked and I am peeling people off you, you should be running until you're out of danger. DONT run away if I'm being whacked on (I will die ) and DONT try to turn and take a kill if you're low and I get someone low (I can kill them, no reason for you to put yourself in danger.)

  2. please practice your CSing. Go into a custom game and make sure you can last hit nearly every creep. There is nothing more frustrating than losing a lane for no reason because a guy who's been basically free farming is 40cs down on his opponent. If I fed two kills for no reason would you be annoyed? Being outfarmed is the same thing.

  3. I give you all the gold in the lane so you can spend it wisely. Please build items that make sense. DONT:

-Build early crit chance before AD -Rush BT as a first item -Build boots, especially Zerkers, before you have your first big item

You should pretty much be bee lining to get IE (when in doubt), Bork (If you're someone who uses that), or maybe TF (situational.) if you have spare gold, buy something towards last whisper. AFTER that first item, get boots. Too many carries get super lost when they can't build BF on their first back. ADC itemization is pretty darn easy and we both worked hard to get that gold, don't come back to lane with a shiny pair of bezerkers on your first back.

  1. if you're taking tower aggro, 9 times out of ten that's a bad idea.

Supports are made to cc. If the enemy support is around, odds are they can keep you under that tower way longer than you wanted to be there. Tower aggro: not even once.

  1. when you're ever in doubt, next to me is NEVER a bad idea mid/late game.

The closer you are to me, the easier it is to peel for you in a fight. I'm positioning like a squishy too most of the time, so unless I'm a Leona who's actively licking the nostrils of the enemy team, stick with me and we should be golden.

52 Comments

RiotRiot Whist18 votes

Nice post :) It's always good to try to understand the other roles especially when you have to lean on them so hard. If you're an ADC knowing this stuff can make laning so much smoother on both of you. Though Supports do need to understand that sometimes their actions and playstyle is not always clear.

One thing I find that works well when playing support is being able to inform my ADC when I'm harassing VS when I'm going deep to make some plays.

I play a lot of support Karma so I harass nonstop. I realized not long ago that it can be VERY hard to tell what is harass and what is me attempting to capitalize on bad positioning for a kill. I try to drop a ping on my target when I'm going full in now. That helps considerably and I find I have a lot less situations where my ADC doesn't help and just farms the wave.

It also helps to communicate with your ADC to try to get an idea of their play style vs yours. Knowing your adc would rather play safe and farm up at the start helps prevent situations where you run in and he runs away.

MrBuffington3 votes

That's a great point, I'm guilty of this when playing support. Sometimes when playing Thresh or Gragas, I land a Q and my ADC jumps in, even though I'm just harassing/trading. A lot of times I forget to make clear that we're going in, or just harassing; it's always a blessing to have an ADC that can make up for my errors/read whether I'm playing harass or going in without me pinging. It is something I need to work on, for sure though.

RiotRiot Baconhawk9 votes

Ohmygod this is me too. I am a Karma main (mid and support, even top and yes--jungle) with around 300 ranked games with her. The number of times I've died alone in bot lane because I go full on aggression but my carry has no clue what's happening are astounding. The only other two supports that I feel LOOK similar in initiating are Thresh and Leona, and they are tanky all-inners, so because Karma has so many strategic options it is actually really difficult to tell if my tether is just to scare them off the cannon minion or if I'm running down lane with them to drop a full combo on their faces.

#KarmaMechanics2014 #KarmaStruggleIsReal

steelblacksky1 votes
  • oh my goodness. so many times this. then sitting silently after i finally have to back off from hard zoning by myself and the enemy in allchat is like "thank god finally".

meanwhile i sit silently behind my screen thinking.. dead stick adc.. why for the love of urgot why, if i have them zoned off your screen hard, could you not even get all the cs T.T .

  • i feel the greaves pain too. twice today alone in intermediate bots i get an ashe(lvl 30 summoners both with x>30 wins). twice the first item built is berserkers greaves. twice i'm killing myself trying to get them to just attack the low enemy one time please for the kill early on.

  • that said asking for some competence if not out of the gate, then at least by level 6 with regards to lane positioning around enemy abilities is nice too.

enemy is a varus with a penetrating line skillshot? please stop needlessly crossing a line from varus through me behind me and making it free and easy for him. enemy has an aoe ability like make it rain? when i'm on side b of the minion wave from you stop trying to stand on top of me every ten seconds as you wander back and forth for some reason that makes sense in your head.

  • another highlight punctuated from the last two days. waiting to lasthit from minion damage on enemy wave when i zone out both enemy champions, until we have three full minion waves backed up and pushing.. i just don't.. what are you doing..here i'll help lower some.. omg, please farm for the love of god already. then enemy returns and you see the adc decide to try to harass them with that many pushing minions.. ... ... .. sigh. tableflip /wrist.

  • if you are low out of position and ignored the jungler walking past that nice ward in the river, and i run the wrong way and get them to chase me, don't run out after me. please. i don't farm and am avoiding netting the kills where possible. my bounty recovers far more slowly than yours should. get thine self out and away to freedom, do not feed em and waste my actions covering for your inattentiveness.

  • i would also like to say it is silly easy to kill secure with that tether second tick or q just trying to slow down an enemy enough for your slow and slow to react adc to catch up for a final shot after you've largely soloed them.

-also karma specific. pls watch for when i use empowered/mantra then spell vs normal. usually a big hint. i will give you credit if its an r>q combo very fast and i don't ping, but r>w and me running past them is a hint to begin murdering them good. doubly so if i a threw you a shield for the ms boost on the way in and they are at or below half already.

Hyrum Graff1 votes

Pro tip: you can make the fist-character hashtags show up by adding a slash \ before them. So this, without the quotation marks (quote block doesn't matter):

"#Karma"

Becomes this:

#Karma

Hyrum Graff1 votes

Karmaaaaaaa! <3

Morvrannis7 votes

Good post.

I'm not good enough to write the corresponding, "Tips on how to be the support that you carry hopes for" but would love to see that as well.

RiotRiot Baconhawk5 votes

I'd love to see this as well!

  1. Don't be my caboose. U HAS SPELLS USE DEM PLSKTHX!
Tamat6 votes

Awesome tips. Would love to see a more in-depth strategy guide posted in Community Creations. Would love to see a guides community pop up in the Boards. :)

CaptainWednesday5 votes

From one Braum to another, great list! Keep carrying those ADC's and they'll keep saying they carried the team.

We both know who carried who ;)

Morvrannis1 votes

Although I am not a good ADC, I fully realize how much my support carries me until I can start doing it myself. ADCs stand on the shoulders of giants. Or, in the case of Annie support...smaller giants...

Dreyst5 votes

THIS.

Speaking as a rather crappy ADC who happens to support more often than not, your support is your lifeline. Your midlaner is more focused on killing their carries, and your toplaner should be near half health if they're doing their job properly, and is more focused on being a frontline annoyance than actively peeling for you. Your SUPPORT on the other hand is literally your babysitter. They will protect you because that's basically their only job. So don't be an idiot and STAY WITH THE BABYSITTER.

MrBuffington4 votes

I don't agree; it depends on your support pick for sure, but a support can have a much larger impact in the game than just babysitting; in fact, I really don't think that's the optimal way to play support. Sure, if you're playing someone like Braum or Sona, you're probably going to be near your carries during a fight since you offer a lot of good support/peel, but you can impact the course of the game a lot more if you're doing more than just protecting your ADC. A support isn't just the support for the ADC, they're the support for the entire team. The only true reason supports and ADC are in bot lane together is because neither need experience as much as the rest of the team to be relevant in the game; ADC needs gold for items, support only need a few levels and a bit of gold for their utility.

Morvrannis3 votes

I half agree. I think, early on, ADCs are significantly more in need of babysitting. Up until mid-gameish, the support and ADC should be best buddies. But, I also agree with you, MrBuffington, that, at a certain point, the support should help setup plays, help other members of the team, etc. once the ADC starts achieving their power spike and can start making plays on their own.

Of course, all is situational...

MrBuffington2 votes

Oh right, good point, I should have specified, basically until ~lvl 6 (earliest is when I get sightstone, but I usually stay to try to pick up kills/pressure with an ult or two) I stay in lane with my ADC, but once/if I get them fed they should be able to fend for themselves to some degree, imo. I think supports can do a better job protecting their ADC by setting up deep vision and pressuring other lanes by roaming to mid once in a while. It's better than sitting in lane while your ADC free farms (unless they need your protection).

Greato1 votes

I feel like you guys are lacking in the department of what the support does. I am a support main (in Gold IV promos), and the supports job is to be a playmaker, usually supports don't "babysit." I main Thresh, my job is to be near the front lines and catch the ADC dreaming on the front lines. Leona is solely used for her engage, however, champions like Nami tend to stand in the back and try to catch someone with her Aqua Prison. Nami is good for her ult and your positioning is key! Depending upon the support you need to know when and where you need to be. Laning phase shouldn't last till mid game! The supports job is to help the ADC until he/she hits a power spike, usually somewhere past Lvl 7ish, and you need to roam to make plays.

Stephenizgod1 votes

Hmm i disagree as someone who supports more then any other role. In laning phase you "Help" your ADC and they "Help" you, rather then "Babysit" which implies they are useless without you (Not true). You guys act as one in bot lane (ideally), one champ with 8 abilities and 4 summoner spells and a bazzillion possibilities.

In Mid/Late game everyone does their job depending on their champ, as a support who is peeling/sustaining/buffing for your ADC you should stick near them, as a support who is CC'ing the enemy you need to be in the right position at the right time, that can be near or far from your ADC (if you did your job correctly they will be safe).

Supports can make the serious plays and be the difference between a lost and a won teamfight, so their positioning is very important and entirely dependent on the champ and your playstyle. So not all supports are babysitters and the ADC needs to be able to move around, it would be the supports job to make sure they can do that and get away if need be or go in if it calls for it. That doesnt mean the ADC can go anywhere they want at anytime, if they want to survive they better be damn sure the support can follow or its their fault.

Also, knowing who to focus and when is very important to teammates. Idk how many times i will make an awesome play as Morgana support and either have no one follow up or they do it wrong and it fails, usually i am the one blamed. It is not my job to kill them, i am there to give you guys an advantage so you can kill them -_-; gets frustrating to have 3 people stunned and one rooted and everyone is focusing the tank or using that chance to run away for no reason.

MrBuffington4 votes

Great list, if I could make an addition:

  1. STOP CHASING KILLS when I'm not around to help, especially under their tower or into a number disadvantage, unless you're incredibly ahead or you're DoubleLift/Uzi/Piglet. Heck, even if you're ahead, there's no reason to take that risk unless you're absolutely certain (bet your irl life on it) you can pick up the kill and get out. I will do my best to follow up on opportunities in the rare case that I'm not creating those openings, but if you're forcing us into bad situations, it ain't going to end well for us.
ModUlanopo4 votes

  1. Bush control is your friend. You have a trinket. Help me help you by maximizing our vision.

  2. I'm watching your health and cooldowns. You should try to be aware of mine.

  3. Respect my use of my abilities. Yeah, I know you would love for me to throw out that shield/root/stun/heal/etc., but I might be reserving my mana or not wanting to have everything on CD if something bad happens.

RiotRiot Baconhawk2 votes

COOLDOWNS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER IMO besides positioning, CS, and winning the game ofc. A good carry knows approximate support cooldown timers.

Silverclaw4 votes

As a (decent) ADC main, I really appreciate this. immensely. To emphasize point #3:

a) Infinity Edge isn't a particularly BAD rush on any ADC, but there are sometimes better items (ex. BoTRK on Twitch, TriForce on Kog, etc). The only stat you should NEVER rush is attack speed.

b) Essence Reaver is an underrated item on AD Casters early. The mana regen and CDR allows for much more spell casts, so long as you're also autoing (which is what an ADC should be doing). Yomumu's isn't that great of an item on AD Casters that aren't Lucian.

c) I cry when I see the enemy ADC rush tier 2 boots. I DO NOT care if you're losing lane, I have a BF sword, you have tier 2 boots. Guess who just won the trade?

MrSc0tty1 votes

As a (decent) ADC main, I really appreciate this. immensely. To emphasize point #3:

a) Infinity Edge isn't a particularly BAD rush on any ADC, but there are sometimes better items (ex. BoTRK on Twitch, TriForce on Kog, etc). The only stat you should NEVER rush is attack speed.

b) Essence Reaver is an underrated item on AD Casters early. The mana regen and CDR allows for much more spell casts, so long as you're also autoing (which is what an ADC should be doing). Yomumu's isn't that great of an item on AD Casters that aren't Lucian.

c) I cry when I see the enemy ADC rush tier 2 boots. I DO NOT care if you're losing lane, I have a BF sword, you have tier 2 boots. Guess who just won the trade?

Yeah, those are the usual first three items. But the key is that IE is usually never the WRONG choice, like, say, Statikk shiv or phantom dancer.

Also I'm still baffled by C. ADC seems to be the ONLY class who does this. You never see a mid run back and first buy Sorcs. Top never says. "Gonna #rekt with these sweet Tabis step aside noob lord" it's just ADC with the tier two boots rush. And then they act surprised when the enemy deals literally double their damage.

Pick axe is your friend people.

Liam Neeson2 votes

In certain situations top lane i do actually rush at least the components for tier two shoes, maybe even entirely depending on who i'm against (35% reduction of teemo blind=missing less farm) but as an adc? The 20% attack speed is in other items that do damage as well, no need to try for shoes.

Greato1 votes

Usually rushing tier 2 boots as a toplaner may not be bad depending upon the situation. Usually Merc Treads are the only boots that are to be rushed if they have heavy CC or some annoying silence.

Willahelm Fulber2 votes

It seems that people always underestimate the boots. Although, in the case of berserker's greaves, you're correct in that they're a horrible first buy, but other boots can be really useful: merc treads as Gwisywr pointed out, sorcs (+15 spellpen is actually a lot early on; sorcs+guise is 100% magic pen against enemies who have build no MR), ninja tabi on occasion (I rush these when I'm getting harassed out of lane incredibly quickly), and in the jungle I usually grab boots of swiftness some time between my jungle item and first other major item for the extra movement speeds on ganks and in farming the jungle.

Lane Bro1 votes

I once thought boots were a horrible first buy...then I saw it on LCS one day, MY LIFE IS A LIE!!!

Greato1 votes

Essence Reaver is probably the worst item in the game... lol Infinity Edge and BoRK are the best ADC items to rush depending on the champion. Youmuus is probably one of Twitch's core items and I feel like you don't know that much about ADC builds. My friend is Plat V ADC main and I learn all the builds etc. from him.

Kao Atlantis4 votes

As an ADC main, I love my supports. I was fortunate enough to start playing the game with a friend of mine who mains support and he very patiently taught me everything I needed to know to succeed and have fun. Supports are there to make the ADC shine in the early game, and the entire team shine in the mid and late games. Love this post, it is very insightful and I think it will help a lot of people.

Learning restraint is the most important and hardest thing in League of Legends. Not tower diving, going in when you shouldn't, keeping aware of the map and pings at all times, all stuff people need to be conscious of when playing the game. I think a lack of restraint has been the thing that most often gets me killed during the laning phase.

MissFortune

Dragon Fang Shot3 votes

My personal contribution to this case:

-If I am queuing with a friend and we call duo bot, don't take ADC. Two people who know each other in real life will be much better coordinated than two random strangers. I don't care if you main ADC or that you can't play anywhere else efficiently- two good teammates and one feeder is better than two feeders and one good teammate.

Dreyst4 votes

I actually think differently when it comes to this case. I find that having a jungler as one of the duo pair is much more effective, as their friend can keep them up to date about their side of the map so the pressure to have godlike map awareness is much less. The ability to have a 2v1 or a 3v2 is much more important than having that extra bit of spot-communication to get one more auto on the other laner.

However, I feel that this could be invalidated if:

Neither of you can jungle :/.

Someone calls Jungle or Feed.

If you're in a game where communication is severely lacking. I'm not even talking about low silver/high bronze. I'm talking about the games where your team lets you die because the jungle camp they're farming is more worth than walking from wraiths to midlane to save you.

Orisi3 votes

My biggest pet peeve is when people don't understand the concept of a sacrificial lamb. I do pretty much babysit my entire team, giving them support wherever it is needed or can be given. This includes being full health and diving into the enemy team to buy my team-mates a chance to escape, even if it's just my ADC. If we've both been doing our job, I'm worth less dead than they are, and I can spare the time out if lane more than they can. I've had great moments where a jungled has caught us high up lane, and I've ran 1v3 interference long enough to get my ADC and sometimes myself to safety. But going in knowing I'm sacrificing to keep them alive, only for them to turn and fight, just depresses me.

TheSilentJay2 votes

preach it fellow support! most treat support like putting the worst kid in right field in little league. Put the worst player there and hope he doesn't screw up. But the position is a game changer if done right. And you morgana supports dont forget your still support and might want to ward every now and again. I main Taric . I appreciate a classic support who is big tank decent heal and a whole lot of cc and can keep his adc in lane for ever. have fun guys!

12tales2 votes

Quick point on #3, Infinity Edge is not a particularly good item to rush on ADCs, apart from a select few harcore right clickers (Caitlyn, Trist and Jinx, for the most part). Pretty much everybody else benefits much more from the Blade Ghostblade build, both in terms of damage and utility. Crit damage is a vastly overrated offensive stat, and IE doesn't really offer enough raw AD to make it better for casters than the CDR and Armor Pen of Youmuu's.

Dopefish2 votes

Great post. Although I feel like #2 and #3 could have been maybe put into the intro instead of making points about it. CS, builds, masteries and runes in my opinion are already established for everyone by people that just plain no better. Slight differences are out there, but it shouldn't be to far from the norm.

I do have some points that maybe you would like to add, I'm also a support main.

  1. Trinket ward - It's in my opinion the ADC should be placing their ward first. 90% of the time if should be in the lane bush where their support is hiding if we cannot gain control over it. Most junglers start with bot lane now to get a harder leash so a river bush for the most part isn't needed until later. My main reasoning for this is, if we do happen to get in a 2v2 I can ward the bush while you auto if the enemy tries to use the bush to their advantage.

  2. Awareness - Most would think I'm talking about map awareness, which is also good to have and improve on when possible. But I'm talking about the awareness you have for your own character mana and limits etc to take a look at me... If you are thinking about going in, please make sure you take a look at my mana pool to see if I have enough to do a full combo. If I don't, it's probably not the best idea to go in.

Silverclaw2 votes

Oh, I forgot - could I do the opposite (how to be the support your carry hopes for), with your permission? I have a few good ideas.

MrSc0tty1 votes

Oh, I forgot - could I do the opposite (how to be the support your carry hopes for), with your permission? I have a few good ideas.

Do it! I play both, and try to learn from what I want when I play the other role.

Deep Terror Nami2 votes

I'm a noobie support main, but if I had anything to tell my carry to be better is "Don't let them sit there and kill my pink ward uncontested!". Can't stand it when I spend 100g for their benefit and they just stare at minions waiting to last hit while the enemy is out in the river poking my ward to death and getting paid for it.

Paperboy5582 votes

Thank you, learning more every dayVayne

Sluiceway2 votes

I think your warning against BT is unwarranted, especially if the ADC in question needs to be at close range to get his or her attacks off. Champs like Draven and Tristana (before she hits max range) benefit from the bloodshield the BT now creates. Like all other major ad items, it is a situational choice, not a sign of a bad adc. Just because the lcs adcs have abandoned it as a first item does not make it bad. On the other had, I think you overlooked building attack speed before ad in your list of what not to do, as I have seen that hamper many adc players. Again, just because lcs players do it does not make it right. Their item choices are often comp specific and have no bearing on the game as the rest of us play it.

Sir ArmaMalum2 votes

Can't say I main support, but I play it often enough to relate.

I would also like to add that a support securing a first blood is not a bad thing either, as that gets them to sightstone faster and gives your team overall more gold (or in other words less gold spent). Unless it would have been a piece of cake to give it to the carry, someone raging at a support getting first blood when they also got an assist and essentially free farm and exp lead makes me laugh a little. :P

Wullf1 votes

Main support here. I got your point but I am completely satisfied when my ADC is polite and doesn't rush into enemy lines.

I'd just like to say that with LS runes and doran or two. IE could be also valid first item. (On certain champions)

DreCello1 votes

Good overall tips.

FatedTitan1 votes

Ok so I have a question. You say don't build early crit chance, then say don't rush BT. Do you define early crit chance as IE, or are you thinking more along the lines of "Don't get Brawlers Gloves"? I've been rushing IE and making BT my 4/5th item if I get it.

Greato1 votes

Are you sure you're a support main? You haven't played a single ranked game and your match history is a bunch of custom games as toplaners... lol Also, Bloodthirster isn't the strongest item early game, usually you rush Infinity Edge or BoRK depending on the champion you are playing.

Crate of Cobras1 votes

Because this post is coming from a Silver player, just like me (woot SIlvertrash) I have to agree with this. The trouble in this post comes from the tone, I think.

I'm an accidental ADC "main" I suppose. I started as support last season, too afraid of failing so I played the role with the least damage, letting others do it for me. I hated ADC, but I've been forced to play so much of it from just filling in normals that it's my most comfortable role.

Not everyone you play with is going to be an amazing ADC main. Coming off as an arrogant support main demoralizes the team worse than a bad ADC not csing well. You article makes the innate assumption that all support players are infallible, when in reality the communication disparity in solo queue renders both players inadequate to some degree.

I get the ADC hate train too - I've seen toxic players in every role, but ADC catches some of the worst of it without reason. Maybe because Sky made that video about it.

OverlordAlphaOM1 votes

Hmm, this is so true, bad itemization, bad CSing, and bad positioning occur so much when I support (Low ranked blues anyone?) and its 9 times out of 10 blamed on me for them playing bad, I just hope more people read this. Although I would like to add one thing (If it hasn't been said already, little tired for reading) ADCs need to remember their role, An "Attack Damage" carry. They need to focus on the right clicks as opposed to spamming spells or calling 'oom' and backing randomly, and just cause they don't have mana, doesn't mean you can't win a early 2v2 fight (Most adc spells delay AA attacks anyways)

YouLostMe1 votes

I'm a Leona who's actively licking the nostrils of the enemy team

Never have I found a phrase that so accurately sums up by playstyle as Leona.

AvidReader1 votes

Ah, the madness of being a support. Definitely a mix of people wanting certain things or not having things go how they want.

My favorite being Blitzcrank Nautilus Thresh , the ability to hook enemies is great, but why must all adc and some others complaining on getting the tank or not the one champ that they want to have pulled and removed from the fight. Is it hard to understand that enemies know that you have the ability to do so and prepare by not being open and tanks being, in most circumstances, the largest enemy getting caught. Then they ignore them and chase after other targets.

Riotgenexp1 votes

Really sweet post.

Razamanie1 votes

Simply put, an ADC must read!

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