What's with Riot, going all excited talking about Support Brand?

BeatzBoyFTW·Nov 29, 2014·1 votes·633 views

Is there a new thread or something that leads to this? And why of all the sudden he is the only single champion to have 50% discount?

18 Comments

poopoo peepeeNov 29, 20142 votes

They want to break the meta.

Time to try something new, instead of ridiculing other people in champion select. It's time to break the meta.

Deal with it.

TsundayNov 29, 20141 votes

They don't really want to break the meta or they wouldn't nerf supports every time they tried to find a different home. In fact Soraka's rework (which I absolutely adore) was pretty much stated to be 'yeah she's really unplayably weak on her own but if you play her in a duo lane she kicks A' If they're going to make it so support champions (like Sona/Raka rework and I'm sure the upcoming Taric rework) don't work on their own, they're pretty much forcing them into the duo lane.

Honestly I would love to see Leona be made viable as a tank instead of a support. In fact she might be but every time I try to take her top I get stuck with Singed or Teemo or Heimer aka somebody that shove to turret or farms behind turret making a lot of top laner's lives a living hell.

BeatzBoyFTWNov 29, 20141 votes

Uhh Leona IS a tank

TsundayNov 29, 20141 votes

which is why almost everyone plays her as a support. Yes she's a support tank, but due to her passive she's not really viable as a straight support. An actual tank isn't going to build face of the mountain or sightstone. support tanks normally don't end up as tanky as an actual tank because of those 2 items. Tanks can often waveclear and solo push a lane between teamfights, Leona can't as easily again because of her passive. She's a primary tank, secondary support but she gets played as a primary support secondary tank instead. I wish she was a viable top pick

KlNGPlNNov 29, 20141 votes

which is why almost everyone plays her as a support. Yes she's a support tank, but due to her passive she's not really viable as a straight support. An actual tank isn't going to build face of the mountain or sightstone. support tanks normally don't end up as tanky as an actual tank because of those 2 items. Tanks can often waveclear and solo push a lane between teamfights, Leona can't as easily again because of her passive. She's a primary tank, secondary support but she gets played as a primary support secondary tank instead. I wish she was a viable top pick

I think Leona is currently able to fit into BOTH the roles of tank and support quite easily. I would argue about support tanks not being as tanky as designated tanks.

TsundayNov 29, 20141 votes

It's not that support tanks aren't as tanky kit wise (because they are) but a tank that is being played as a support, in that game, is less tanky than a toplane tank. If I were to play tanky braum bottom and then play tanky braum top I'd have a whole lot more tank stats without that face of the mountain, that sightstone, that locket I might be building.

But in this meta? I don't think Leona is that viable of a toplaner. She's very aggressive and she can set up ganks for her jungler very well, but she's a tank she doesn't really have damage and on top of the damage she should have some of that damage is mitigated into her passive which doesn't really work in a solo lane unless the jungler is absolutely camping your lane for you.

Hyrum GraffNov 29, 20141 votes

Have you SEEN soraka supporting a bruiser, bot (I was vs a raka/cho lane). It's freakin' scary.

TsundayNov 29, 20141 votes

did you see old soraka supporting a bruiser? When she could give that bruiser 200 free armor? The key point is still that Soraka is supporting somebody she's not very viable by herself. If Riot wanted to put mages in the duo lane in the supportive role Soraka would go in, it'd force supports like her into a solo lane to 'shift meta' and Soraka can't sustain herself in a solo lane. Riot obviously wants her to support. So they don't want to 'shift the meta' to mages as supports instead of supports as supports.

JunkοNov 29, 20141 votes

Do you seriously think Soraka was healthy to play against top and mid lane?

TsundayNov 29, 20141 votes

A) I believe that Soraka was fine in midlane to play against. Her silence had a long enough cooldown that between her silence and her heal there was a good window of opportunity for any bursty mage or assassin to push her around. Soraka (even with the MR shred that costs a lot of mana to stack) didn't really have a high damage output and as soon as they put mana cost on her E cast I felt it was pretty obvious that any of the strong midlaners could easily win lane against her. What is Raka going to do to Syndra? Silence her so that 1 of her 5 balls disappears, and then heal herself for the massive armor buff so that when a 4 balls, a stun, and then more balls hit these magical balls won't do physical damage to me. Or my silence is going to last a whole 1 second where Fizz might take 2.5 seconds instead of 1.8 seconds to combo me to death. Akali and Katarina are bot magic damage assassins, Orianna, Azir, I can't think of who is actually popular atm in midlane. Zed is the only one the armor buff is good against and with Zed's ult, good luck trying to heal yourself out of that one. I'm sorry that her silence was point and click like LeBlanc's, but unlike LeBlanc, Soraka couldn't 100-0 you in the spam of that silence, she could do like 200 damage to you every 2.5 seconds that would push her lane and make her susceptible to ganks after her E got a mana cost midlane Soraka was totally fair.

B) Soraka was still pretty much the easiest champion to gank and kill toplane. She was immobile, she had 1 silence for 2 champions, her armor buff lasted a whole 2 seconds. Past 6 or 7 minutes if Soraka backed any meta toplaner could take my whole tower if 12 minutes in Renekton or Garen or whoever I'm trying to duel with toplane backs, I scratch his tower a little because I'm an AP champion with no AS.

C) Nothing I said about Soraka in the post you responded to was wrong. They reworked Soraka. I adore new Soraka. I've played Soraka 8 times this week most of the time first picking her and I've won 7 of them so I obviously don't think she's weak or bad. But when she was reworked Morello specifically said he wanted her to feel great as a dedicated healer, to be able to heal more than anybody else could possibly heal, and therefore she had to be kept individually weak to balance her. Soraka was claimed to be a very strong champion with other people around and very weak by herself. Her passive isn't useful in a solo lane and her W active isn't either.

D) The fact that Soraka doesn't really work as a solo lane anymore just further insists she be in a duo lane, Soraka's kit isn't going to allow her to be the carry of that lane, she's going to be the support. So if we're 'oooh changing the meta' and tossing DPS bursty mages into the support role so that botlane is an ADC and a bursty mage, Soraka can't just take the mage's spot midlane. Obviously Riot doesn't want to change the meta of the duo lane or they wouldn't have reworked Soraka to require a lane partner to thrive.

JunkοNov 29, 20142 votes

I believe that Soraka was fine in midlane to play against. Her silence had a long enough cooldown that between her silence and her heal there was a good window of opportunity for any bursty mage or assassin to push her around.

I stopped reading there. Soraka mid/top lane built Athene+Lucidity and 5% CDR from mastery, making her really frustrating to go against because she could spam Q for damage while using W and E to sustain herself or make your life painful.

AMYS GRAVENov 29, 20141 votes

SolWolf XD

MegarolfNov 29, 20141 votes

They want to break the meta.

Time to try something new, instead of ridiculing other people in champion select. It's time to break the meta.

Deal with it.

Edgy

KlNGPlNNov 29, 20141 votes

They want to break the meta.

Time to try something new, instead of ridiculing other people in champion select. It's time to break the meta.

Deal with it.

Edgy

Not to mention the meta is made up of other components rather than just WHERE a champion can be played. The meta includes things like your overall team composition as well as your champion-lane dstribution (1 top, 1 mid, 2 bot, 1 jungle).

BeatzBoyFTWNov 29, 20141 votes

Break the meta.

Meanwhile, people asking pointless questions why Soraka/Alistar/Ryze got nerfed hard due to the usage of maining wrong lanings.

TsundayNov 29, 20141 votes

Because Rito obviously wants all of the bronze 'mid plz plz plz plz plox' players to take my main and go lololol 'I will just play my midlaners in the support role instead'.

Drunk RummateNov 29, 20141 votes

it's not breaking the meta if you're playing 1 top, 1 mid, 1 jungle, and ADC + support bot.

i've had a brand support and played against one today already. it's miserable. they're all terrible.

Gear KittyNov 29, 20141 votes

It may be the beginning of an article series focusing on slightly off-meta champion roles, and then offering them at a discount.

I hope the keep the Dark Horse title for them, though claiming Brand Support is a Dark Horse is choosing to forget he was just a bit behind Annie Support when she was wrecking bot lane.