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Support abilities I wish we had.

GuiltyGecko·2/19/2015, 11:10:00 PM·14 votes·1,389 views

I was just thinking about how small our roster of supports are, and how we lack certain abilities on dedicated supports. Some I thought of are:

• Ability to grant a Spell Shield. -Just like it sounds(Edit: Think Sivir or Nocturne), an interesting supportive ability would be grant a spell shield to an ally. Don't know if it would have bonus effects, or how long it would last, but it's interesting at least.

• Cleanse ability -This would be like GP's oranges, except it would be ally cast.

• Grant Mana/Fury/Energy

  • Soraka's old ability to grant mana, except it could also give other resources as well. OR maybe just give mana. Still, it would be nice to see on a champion in the future.

• Grant Stealth -I heard that Lux used to have this ability on PBE or something a long time ago? Not sure if that's true, but perhaps if it wasn't AoE it would offer an interesting strategic niche for a support champion.

• Grant Flat/% AP/AD Buff -I know I know, something something hidden power. Right now, we really only have Janna's shield that does something similar, but we don't have an AP version. Lulu used to have an AP version until it was removed. If it was a buff in addition to some other mechanic that might be interesting.

• Wall Ability -Azir and Anivia are mages with wall abilities, but we don't have any dedicated supports with similar wall abilities. I know you COULD play them support, but I am looking for some dedicated support stuff here.

• Grant Dodge -The ability to grant Jax's dodge ability to a champion. I don't know if we want to consider dodge something unique to only Jax, but if we don't then a support being able to grant dodge as a buff would be cool.

• Pet Supports -I'm not even completely sure how this would work, but a support that was pet based (Zyra is arguably this?...meh?...) might be interesting.

• Damage Amplification on Target -Think Zed ult damage amp, or vlad ult damage amp. A support could mark a champion "for death" and all damage against that champion would be amplified by some amount. Pretty straight forward.

• Grants % or flat CDR reduction. -So we have ways to increase attack speed and help AD champions, but not AP champions. Perhaps this ability would decrease an allied champs cooldowns by a second, or allow them to cast at 40% CDR for the duration.

These were just off the top of my head, but I think Riot has a lot of room to play with when it comes to support abilities and I would like to see some interesting ones in the future.

12 Comments

Cindikle2/19/2015, 11:39:24 PM7 votes

{quoted} • Ability to grant a Spell Shield. -Just like it sounds, an interesting supportive ability would be grant a spell shield to an ally. Don't know if it would have bonus effects, or how long it would last, but it's interesting at least.

Morgana. But I assume you meant more like Sivir's Shield.

• Cleanse ability -This would be like GP's oranges, except it would be ally cast.

I've wanted Kamra's RW to be able to do this to allies for while now. "Heals allied champion for (small amount) and reduces CC effects on ally by 35%. At the end of channel, any crowd control effects are removed and Karma gains 20% missing HP."

This likely wouldn't be OP because it requires her R and most CC wouldn't last the full 2 second channel anyway. You'd have to plan very far ahead to use it like that. It also costs you your only hard CC.

• Grant Mana/Fury/Energy

  • Soraka's old ability to grant mana, except it could also give other resources as well. OR maybe just give mana. Still, it would be nice to see on a champion in the future.

This created a bit of toxic matchups that forced those champions to be balanced around the combo. Urgot being the wost case.

• Grant Stealth -I heard that Lux used to have this ability on PBE or something a long time ago? Not sure if that's true, but perhaps if it wasn't AoE it would offer an interesting strategic niche for a support champion.

Every other stealth comes with a good bit of counterplay. It would be hard to do this, but interesting none the less.

And Lux's shield used to grant stealth instead of a shield. I wasn't there for it. But I doubt it lasted long.

• Grant Flat/% AP/AD Buff -I know I know, something something hidden power. Right now, we really only have Janna's shield that does something similar, but we don't have an AP version. Lulu used to have an AP version until it was removed. If it was a buff in addition to some other mechanic that might be interesting.

Yadda Yadda hidden power as you said. Taric actually does this with his ult.

• Wall Ability -Azir and Anivia are mages with wall abilities, but we don't have any dedicated supports with similar wall abilities. I know you COULD play them support, but I am looking for some dedicated support stuff here.

This one would be cool to see.

• Grant Dodge -The ability to grant Jax's dodge ability to a champion. I don't know if we want to consider dodge something unique to only Jax, but if we don't then a support being able to grant dodge as a buff would be cool.

Would be cool as well. But since that could make someone Immune to whatever ADC they are diving, it'll never happen as something you can place on another champion.

• Pet Supports -I'm not even completely sure how this would work, but a support that was pet based (Zyra is arguably this?...meh?...) might be interesting.

Zyra I would say counts Orianna too. Although her mana costs keep her from working as a support. Heimer is funny to play as support. If Azir's early game wasn't so weak he would work. Every support is Kalista's pet

• Damage Amplification on Target -Think Zed ult damage amp, or vlad ult damage amp. A support could mark a champion "for death" and all damage against that champion would be amplified by some amount. Pretty straight forward.

Mina from Dawngate. Would love to see her as a support. But the game works a bit differently for that to work so easily. Her ult was more or less Vlad's ult though.

• Grants % or flat CDR reduction. -So we have ways to increase attack speed and help AD champions, but not AP champions. Perhaps this ability would decrease an allied champs cooldowns by a second, or allow them to cast at 40% CDR for the duration.

Could have the support place a "zone" where champions inside of the zone have their cooldowns reduced by 1 second every second they are in the zone. But this oculd be OP as hell on some champions like Ezeal who would just Q forever.

Problem with these types of abilities in league is that it will break a champion or four. Causing them to be balanced around the chance they are on the same team as said support.

Zmuecat2/20/2015, 4:07:25 AM6 votes

If only they didn't give Windwall to Yasuo (YAY BRAUM WITH A WEAKER VERSION)

Or binding to another champion for the game to an ADC.

Cause, to me, these scream support abilities.

Baron of Bread2/20/2015, 5:10:20 AM3 votes

For the stealth ability it would be great if the support could stealth an ally, but it only worked as long as the ally was within some distance of them. That way you could put a decent duration on it for some really interesting play.

Unlucky Number72/20/2015, 4:00:36 AM3 votes

1). how about a wall that increased the speed of skill shots sort of like Jayce's . If it had to be balanced than it increases the speed of projectiles both ways.

2). same as above except it increases the damage of skillsthots.

3). same as above except it increases the range of skillsthots.

4). a dash that changes places with the ally you dash to.

5). an area skill where enemy spells can affect their allies.

5). a skill that can transfer blue/red buff between allies. like jungler takes red, comes bot, and support gives red buff to adc.

6). a skill that stores damage taken and then unloads it back into the opponent, possibly in a skillshot, or empowered auto attack. but the damage stored dissipates after a time.

7). a resource bar that fills with damage taken on a support, this resource bar will be used to empower utility spells instead of damage spells.

8). a spell that copies a allied or enemy spell.

9). a spell that donates armor/magic resist

10). a spell that gives an ally items

11). a spell that uses money as their resource

12). a spell that disguises u as an ally. That way u can bait them to jump on what they think is a crucial target but instead it's a trap.

13). a spell that makes a moving impassible wall. kind of like azir's but it moves slower and keeps moving until the spell ends.

14). a spell that makes a temporary bridge. like imagine giving your allies the ability to walk over normally impassible terrain so they don't have to burn flash

15). a spell that creates a portal. like leblanc's distortion but anyone can use it.

16). a spell that makes an ally smaller so the enemy has a difficult time clicking on u to attack u.

17). urgot's ultimate on an actual support.

18). the ability to create fake stealth wards. The enemy can see them with sweeper lens and they die like real wards do but u don't get any vision when u place one of these wards down. or they could be traps that do damage i don't know.

19). a spell that can give a melee champion the ranged of a marksmen but in return reduce their armor, magic resist, and health or vice versa.

20). a spell/wall that reflects skillshots.

21). a reksai ult on a support.

Audiomancy2/20/2015, 7:53:26 AM1 votes

Baleful Teleports.

Daen2/19/2015, 11:26:32 PM1 votes

Ability to grant a Spell Shield.

Morgana is the closest we have at the moment, but I see what you mean.

Cleanse ability

There are multiple items that accomplish this, it would likely be redundant and/or difficult to balance such a mechanic on a support champion.

Grant Mana/Fury/Energy

This was specifically removed from Soraka's kit because it's extraordinarily broken. Allowing a champion to grant a return of one resource (mana) means that any champion with a heal becomes hilariously overpowered since there's no cost to the action.

Grant Stealth

Stealth is already relatively unfun in the game as it is; allowing a champion to grant other champions stealth would basically undermine certain kit functionality.

Grant Flat/% AP/AD Buff

I see very little gameplay with this. Taric is one of the big ones that does this, and it really isn't an engaging mechanic.

Wall Ability

This could be interesting.

Grant Dodge

The only reason Jax has dodge is that it was a core part of his original kit and people essentially campaigned to keep it in some form. Mechanics that cause lack of effectiveness without lack of control can be really frustrating, and dodge is one of them.

Damage Amplification on Target

The two abilities you mentioned are champion ultimates and specifically tie with their kits. This would need to be an ultimate on the support, and I have trouble seeing where it would fit into a support playstyle in a way that is compelling.

Grants % or flat CDR reduction.

CDR is tricky. It would help mages, yes, but it would also be useful for AD casters (and pretty much everyone).

Basically, a lot of these mechanics are restricted to self-use for a reason. When you allow champions to bestow extremely powerful effects on others, it becomes a lot more frustrating to deal with them. Zilean is a great example, because depending on the situation he can completely negate a fight outcome. It's great that he has this unique mechanic, but it's also really annoying for the enemy team.

It's important to design these mechanics to simultaneously be engaging for the user, the allies and the enemies. They don't necessarily have to be fun to play against, but some of these are exceedingly difficult to balance. Let's use granting stealth as an example. Imagine if you could stealth your Amumu for x seconds; your Amumu could just walk over and ult in the middle of the entire team with no planning or utilization of other kit mechanics (Bandage Toss). It essentially mixes mechanics across roles that really shouldn't have them.

Ice Weasel X2/20/2015, 7:01:27 AM1 votes

{quoted}

• Grant Flat/% AP/AD Buff -I know I know, something something hidden power. Right now, we really only have Janna's shield that does something similar, but we don't have an AP version. Lulu used to have an AP version until it was removed. If it was a buff in addition to some other mechanic that might be interesting.

Cindikle already hit on a bunch of the items you listed, but I figured I'd mention a couple here. Pre-rework Sona's persistent aura coverage was huge and her Q gave flat boosts to both AD/AP. Riot didn't like that, so now she has a short range/duration AP-based on-hit effect instead. Gangplank's E grants flat AD boosts to himself and allies in range, but almost nobody takes him seriously as a support.

hh the thinker2/19/2015, 11:13:34 PM1 votes

morg spell shield. the others sound interesting.