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Do people really think of the support role like this?

Mister Support·11/2/2015, 7:42:14 PM·5 votes·1,212 views

Just finished a game as Thresh with Jinx ADC, Heimer Top, Ziggs Mid, and Gragas Jungle. Enemy team consisted of Riven Top, Lee Sin Jungle, Katarina Mid, Mordekaiser + Blitzcrank Bot. Keep in mind, this is a game in Platinum Elo where people should be somewhat more knowledgeable about the game...

Start of game, enemy team invades through red buff blue side (could easily see it coming). Jinx gets pulled and dies, everyone else made it out somewhat ok. Laning comes along, I try to consistently harass Morde to keep his passive down, and jinx spams rockets to shove the wave. I say to not push against Blitz, so we try to freeze where the wave was. My harass starts to get Morde low and jinx gets closer to go in, Lee Sin came bot just as jinx was going in and gets a kill on her, with the kill being initiated again by a Blitz hook. Later in lane, we get a double kill and things look better. Back and return to lane, moment Morde hits 6 (and me and jinx were just reaching 5, that W passive though lol) Blitz goes in with W and goes to pull Jinx. From when Blitz started W, I space away from jinx so I can prepare to throw a lantern if needed. I figured the distance between Blitz and Jinx was big enough where she could dodge with either flash or just a side step, but it still hit and she ends up dying. Now with the way lane was going, a bit of anger was expected, but what jinx specifically said surprised me.

"THRESH WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN TAKING THE PULLS FOR ME" "IF YOUR A GOOD SUPPORT THEN TAKE THE PULLS AND DIE FOR ME" (that's not my bad grammar, just putting back in what I remember her saying) ...really? Do people really see support as fodder to die for the ADC and take all CC skillshots that they could dodge, but apparently don't? I asked jinx if I was somehow supposed to know she wouldn't be able to dodge the pull and die for her, she got mad and began to afk in base since I didn't understand that... I asked in all chat what everyone thought about this piece of blame...and I was again surprised. Most of the other people aside from Ziggs and Blitzcrank sided with Jinx. Just...what? Why do so many people see one of the roles in League of Legends as something so demeaning? Please, we need to make the community realize that support has its own importance aside from fodder.

As a start, supports aren't even meant to be dedicated to the ADC, the support is dedicated to the team, to keep allies alive with shields and peeling, or to apply multiple amounts of CC on the enemy team to allow your allies to deal massive amounts of free damage. Supports are meant to be kit and item active reliant. It's why most support items are low gold cost and why supports work well in duo lanes without much gold. The reason why they are by the side of the ADC during laning phase is because ADCs also work well in a duo lane environment, where they don't need much experience but more of high stat items (more gold, less experience).

19 Comments

Vistha Kai11/2/2015, 8:14:20 PM3 votes

Mordekaiser "Slave, fetch me their carry!"

redniwediS11/2/2015, 7:48:59 PM2 votes

"People" is a very, very broad term. Some view supports just as a vision bot that covers the weak early game defense of their ADC, where as others view supports as the utility and CC master of the team.

Some "people" still think we had a tank meta and can't tell the difference between a tanky fighter and an actual tank. Some "people" still think champions they don't understand how to fight against are insanely broken. Some "people" even think split pushing is not a viable strategy.

"People", being the broad term it is, covers just about every viewpoint, both correct and not. So yes, to answer your question there are some players out there that think this way. Not all, and not most, but definitely some. Personally I'm in the camp that starts roaming once the lane phase ends, instead of babysitting the ADC.

7ha7guy77711/2/2015, 7:54:02 PM2 votes

Generally speaking, if you can save an ally who is either worth more gold or has more damage output it's better if you die than them (assuming a death is the only way one of you can live). However, if you die to save them and they don't realize it and go back in, you could end up giving them 2 kills instead. It can be a tough call without voice communication.

Linthe11/2/2015, 7:46:47 PM2 votes

In general, no. The one exception I can think of would be something like a Cait ult if you were full and your ADC was low.

I am willing to die in a peel for ADC (and team in general) if there is a dive or a gank.

But no, ADC is responsible for themselves. I NEVER complain when I get hooked. It's my fault.

DarkDeamonDragon11/2/2015, 8:08:44 PM2 votes

I've dealt with this before too, it's everywhere. My ADC Cait would take all the skillshot harass to the face and blame me for not taking it for her. I was playing either Zyra or Vel'Koz support at the time and told her that there's only so many shots I could take for her because I was also squishy and to try to move around between AA's so they can't aim their shots directly at her. She proceeds to call be bad and gripes to the rest of my team. Just muted her after that and once we got out of laning phase I supported my mid laner instead since they were carrying.

Krigjer11/3/2015, 5:59:40 AM2 votes

I was in lane simply last hitting minions while waiting for my adc to get back. Last hitting; not pushing.

Graves freaked out, calling me a bad support because 'supports shouldn't get minions, EVER!'. So I'm supposed to let this gold go to waste? It's not like I'm taking them from you, you're not even in lane.

Kei14311/3/2015, 5:37:27 AM1 votes

Depends ...

you are playing a poke comp .. so getting hooked as jinx should never have happned in that comp. Thats her positioning's problem.

That being said, sometimes when you take the hook, put down a box and then now they can't run from your team's poke. That would work if your team had enough coordination.

Tikkid11/2/2015, 7:48:43 PM1 votes

I was a support main - and there's the reason I stopped and started tryin to learn other roles lol. If bot lane is going bad its Always the support - if other lanes goin bad its the JG - so I avoid those 2 roles now lol.

GundayMonday11/2/2015, 8:14:21 PM1 votes

LOL. Bad players say stuff like what that jinx said. Your idea of the lantern as a life preserver is right on. Maybe drop your ult to slow them down, but blitz hook isn't difficult to dodge. Mute button exists for a reason. Maybe say "I'm not going to take hooks for you, but I will save my lantern in case you get hooked", then drop it.

Angel VII11/2/2015, 7:55:49 PM1 votes

I main support, and while I don't think our 'job' is to die for our ADC repeatedly, under normal circumstances, I would rather die a couple of times than let our ADC die. It's more harmful to the team in the long run if ADC dies than if I die. Actually, in numerous scenarios, I've had to make the choice, shield myself, shield a teammate, speed boost myself, speed boost a teammate, etc. And I ALWAYS choose to save the teammate- be it ADC, mid, tank, or jungle.

Maybe in your specific situation that you described, you could have tried telling Jinx to always keep a minion between her and the Blitz since she was struggling with his pulls so hard. Avoid closeness to the bush? Was it warded? I assume so if you're in plat. Sounds odd for her to be plat ranked and getting hit with so many pulls without trying to dodge. How many if any did she successfully dodge? Blitz pulls can happen pretty fast. How was her ping? Was she having a laggy day? Most days I run at 25-30 ping, but sometimes i can load into game and randomly with no rhyme or reason ping can be in excess of 2k.

I'm just trying to name a number of possible explanations for what happened. No explanation excuses her being rude to you.

You are not cannon fodder as a support. I'm sorry you had such a terri-bad experience. I hope your next game is more successful. =)

Korillo11/2/2015, 8:01:17 PM1 votes

Best bet when playing with these people is to just say nothing, don't respond to them and just play the game. Try to do the best you can and make the best decisions you can. They might be completely wrong like in the case you described, but debating with them during the game is futile and usually just further tilts them.

I wouldn't say most people think this way.