Extra Supports in Free Champion Rotation

Riot·Nov 14, 2016·5 votes·158,438 views

EDIT: In our original post we misspoke a bit by saying we're adding 10 extra support champs to the rotation. As many of you have pointed out, not all of these champions are supports in the classical sense (hi Brand and Zyra!). Nevertheless we included these 10 because they can all be effective options for support and cover a wide range of playstyles, so we've gone back and clarified some of our language in the articles.

Greetings, summoners!

Starting on Tuesday, Nov 15, we’re trying something a little different by adding ten additional champions to the free rotation that are effective choices for support (for a total of 20). The champs are:

Blitzcrank
Brand
Braum
Janna
Leona

Nami
Sona
Taric
Thresh
Zyra

These extra ten champions will remain available for four weeks, while the rest of the rotation continues as normal.

This is basically a little experiment to see if giving players free access to a broader pool of supports improves queue times. For more information, check out Meddler’s post on the current state of Support!

Here are this week's free champions:

Blitzcrank - the Great Steam Golem

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Tank

Secondary Role Fighter

Brand - the Burning Vengeance

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Mage

Braum - the Heart of the Freljord

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Support

Secondary Role Tank

Janna - the Storm's Fury

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Support

Secondary Role Mage

Leona - the Radiant Dawn

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Tank

Secondary Role Support

Nami - the Tidecaller

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Support

Secondary Role Mage

Sona - Maven of the Strings

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Support

Secondary Role Mage

Taric - the Shield of Valoran

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Support

Secondary Role Fighter

Thresh - the Chain Warden

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Support

Secondary Role Fighter

Zyra - Rise of the Thorns

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Mage

Secondary Role Support

Cassiopeia - the Serpent's Embrace

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Mage

Gangplank - the Saltwater Scourge

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Fighter

Jarvan IV - the Exemplar of Demacia

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Tank

Secondary Role Fighter

Jhin - the Virtuoso

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Marksman

Secondary Role Assassin

Karma - the Enlightened One

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Mage

Secondary Role Support

Lucian - the Purifier

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Marksman

Master Yi - the Wuju Bladesman

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Assassin

Secondary Role Fighter

Soraka - the Starchild

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Support

Secondary Role Mage

Tryndamere - the Barbarian King

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Fighter

Secondary Role Assassin

Vel'Koz - the Eye of the Void

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Mage

Wondering how we picked this week's free champions? Read up on it HERE.

See you on the Fields of Justice!

331 Comments

King DellronNov 14, 2016204 votes

#A Corporate Matter Episode: It's the end of the world as we know it.

Morgana "THE END IS NEAR!"

Kayle "What in Runeterra are you on about now?"

Morgana "The end of all that we know is coming."

Kayle "I still can't believe he made you my secretary. CAN'T I PLEASE SWITCH?"

DrMundo "No."

Kayle "BUT WHY! ALL THE OTHER CORPORATES GET TO PICK THEIRS. I HATE HER SO MUCH!"

DrMundo "Because, Corporate Mundo feed off pain and suffering. Me enjoy watching you fight."

Morgana "Well, at least he's honest.

Kayle "Alright, what was that about the world coming to an end?"

Morgana "Oh right. THE END IS NEAR!"

Kayle "Yes, but why is it near? And if no one needs to be banned, how is it my problem?"

Morgana "I know because I have read the signs."

Kayle "What signs?"

Morgana "First, Ionia chose to leave the Valoran Union."

Kayle "Ok, that was unexpected. But not the end of the world."

Morgana "Then the Piltover Volicubs won the world series for the first time in three thousand years."

DrMundo "Me admit, me lost money on that."

Morgana "Then, Azir was elected emperor of Shurima."

Azir "Make Shurima rise again."

Morgana "And finally, the most unlikely of all. Yorick got reworked. This can only mean that-"

Karma "Barry messed up the timeline again."

Kayle "Who are you?"

Karma "You can just call me Iris. These magic powers are awesome. Have any of you seen someone who can move super fast? Especially if they couldn't do so before. I need to fix this."

Morgana "I think I saw Talon out in the park. He's a lot more mobile than he used to be."

Kayle "And more annoying than I thought possible."

Karma "That's probably him, thanks."

Kayle "Now that that's over with. I have heard enough crazy talk today. If you would excuse me, I need to get back to perma-banning people for swearing."

Ryze "THEY ARE COMING!"

Kayle "Great, now who's this wackjob?"

Ryze "THE WORLDBREAKERS ARE COMING TO END THE WORLD."

Morgana "Makes a giant grin."

Kayle "WELL, WHERE ARE THEY HUH? I DON'T SEE ANY-"

Nasus "HELLO, INSECT!"

Kayle "One coming to. H-h-hi there."

Trundle "We are the world breakers, and we've come to break everything."

Hecarim "In the whole world."

Kayle "Wait, you guys are the Mayan end of the world. Weren't you guys supposed to be here like, four years ago?"

Hecarim "We were, but someone messed up on setting the alarm for 2012."

Nautilus "Look, how was I supposed to know they only have an extra day once every four years. I mean, what's up with that?"

Nasus "Oh well, at least this way we are more unexpected, even if we do look like idiots."

That sentence reminds King Dellron of how he plays CSGO.

Trundle "Yeah, we are still going to kill you all. And there is nothing you can do about it."

Nautilus Trundle Nasus Hecarim "MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Will our heroes survive? Will the world end? Why does all this stuff only seem to happen at the Corporate Office? What is the point in asking all these questions? Tune in next week to the anticlimactic part 2 and maybe find out the answers to some of these questions.

KhaelodrinNov 14, 201657 votes

So what you're saying is, "No one expects the Worldbreaker Inquisition"?

Fondling GemsNov 15, 201619 votes

Either that or the Breaker Nation attacked.

After all, why limit your memes to one option?

PrimeTime AlphaNov 16, 201623 votes

THE AMOUNT OF MEMES... PACKED INTO ONE STORY HOLY SHIT. MEMELORD2K16 [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

Unseen BladéNov 14, 201648 votes

Why, why would you make Blitzcrank free for 4 weeks. Why god, why god.....

The Last ZicaNov 14, 201611 votes

Same reason Brand and Zyra are on the list. Because they enjoy your pain... I'm surprised Lux and Morg aren't on there. Morg would just be too cruel. Can you imagine 4 weeks of permastunlockuntilyoudieofit? Zyra is horrible, but still not quite that horrible.

VindlerNov 15, 20168 votes

In morg's defense...if thresh and blitz q's make you q.q then Morgana's your gal. Yea, a lot of morg-support players are just lane crashing, but she's my go to counter-pick against any team composition with heavy cc, especially the rocket-groper.

grarrrgNov 15, 201642 votes

ARAM is going to be...interesting

ThaxosisNov 15, 201622 votes

You mean ASAM? Didn't you hear they changed it? All Support All Mid!

-Your local Soraka main.

BlueBilberryNov 16, 20167 votes

FYI, played an aram with all primary support champs - and won quite handedly.

Athenes LuluNov 14, 201639 votes

no Lulu

I'm triggered

The Last ZicaNov 14, 201616 votes

Sad that Lulu isn't on the list. Confused that Brand is when Lulu isn't... Lulu is far more supportive while Brand is mostly going to just go 1v1 stuff in whatever lane he wants, because he has the burst to do so.

Athenes LuluNov 14, 201610 votes

I mean I do get why don't they put Lulu as part of the supports. Lulu actually requires a good deal of basic support knowledge to play even decently, and since "free champion rotation" is more meant for people who have never supported before... pretty fair.

But still funny on how they picked Zyra or even Brand over Lulu.

GwenavereNov 14, 20169 votes

They picked Zyra because of the level of competitive play she saw. If they put champions that people saw their favorite teams play in LCS up for free, it's one more chance to get people to try the support role.

DespicableONov 14, 201638 votes

I'm sorry Riot, you will never get me to play support.[slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

DespicableONov 14, 201681 votes

Edit: *Rito

GodotºNov 15, 201669 votes

Wtf? Your original comment got so much hate and the word Rito got like 15 likes...

GIMME LIKES RITO RITO RITO

Supreme Senpai69Nov 15, 201637 votes

This is an amazing discovery. Apparently the word Riot gives downvotes yet the word Rito gives upvotes.

Now that I've said both, what will happen?

GodotºNov 16, 201612 votes

world explodes

Good DominoNov 16, 201617 votes

Man I seriously hope people are just watching your post, making sure your votes stay at 0. FOREVER NEUTRAL!

The Salty DogNov 15, 201632 votes

Hey as a dedicated support main for the most recent season making it to d5 on 2 accounts here are some of the thing I would reform for the support role.

add in a ad support Item to increase the support pool available even though the current support are great it can be stale to some people to only play tanks or sheild/heal mages. 2.Supports need more gold share and better items to help them snowball to exert pressure on the game. 3.Lack of cdr on Knights vow and locket feels strange and makes me feel like I need to buy cd boots every game.
Reward supports for their playmaking in game adc's get triple kills in a fight and is regarded as a god but if the saved a team member with a well timed shield/heal/cc it is often overlooked. Thanks for reading my post I only want to better support as a role!

Lady DaybreakerNov 15, 20163 votes

It'd be amazing if they'd take into account for assists and not just kills (I had a game I went 3/2/33 and got an A...) Supports have a hard time getting to mastery 6 and 7 because of this. It's always a big letdown. (Leona main here...it's taken me a long time to get to mastery 6 and I'm still working on mastery 7...I FINALLY got my second 7 token last night...)

Edit: Now I'm a Mastery 7, But I still feel bad for taking all the kills that my ADC should have had.

Run In Outa TimeNov 17, 20167 votes

Level 7 mastery Tahm Kench player here; yeah, it's really tough, and most of the time supports don't get the recognition they deserve. People love when I save them in game, but if we end up losing it's amazing what comments I see sometimes. When I play support I also play champs such as Soraka, Janna, Sona, Braum, etc. One complaint I have and I've heard from others is that shielding is not displayed in the stats; this is a major problem for someone like Janna who does a lot of shielding but may not put out as much healing as a Soraka or as much damage as a Brand. I think it would be a nice stat to see for these kind of champs who are often underestimated; I know a Janna's potential, but sometimes people look at her end game stats like she hasn't done anything. Ultimately, I think showing shielding in game might help this problem.

InTheoryNov 14, 201630 votes

[deleted]

The Last ZicaNov 14, 201622 votes

I think it's very silly that Brand is on the list - he's entirely too capable of non-support play and thus isn't going to help "encourage people to play support" at all. He's not tagged Support or Tank precisely because he doesn't qualify as either - so why is he here? People are just going to play him and go off and 1v1 people because Brand has the burst to do so but his CC is weak and doesn't really help an ADC at all.

KhaoticolNov 14, 201694 votes

Death is the best CC

The Last ZicaNov 14, 201619 votes

Then Jhin is one of the best cc supports. Let's put HIM on the support list for 4 weeks.

You know, instead of Brand.

VoraciousXNov 16, 201613 votes

I mean, four weeks would make sense.

grarrrgNov 15, 201615 votes

(almost) Anyone can Support if you try hard enough. And/or "Death is the best CC".

poi2000Nov 14, 201622 votes

If they switched out and maybe Zyra for Lulu and Bard , this would be a better idea. Instead we get mostly supports and then 2 AP midlaners to ruin everyone's day.

themasterhero22Nov 14, 201620 votes

brand is not a support he is a cancer

Derp R UsNov 14, 201614 votes

[zombie-brand-facepalm]

Supreme Senpai69Nov 14, 201619 votes

So I have to permaban Blitz for the next four weeks :/

I can dodge 50 hooks, but if that 51st hook grabs me then we could lose the game lol. And just cuz I can dodge hooks doesn't mean my ADC can. Man I hate that champion.

VindlerNov 15, 20166 votes

Great time to work on your Morgana mastery though. Nothing frustrates a novice Blitzcrank like a well timed spell shield.

Oh wait, she's not on rotation...

Supreme Senpai69Nov 15, 20166 votes

I gave up on my morg mastery when I just went balls to the wall ham and got an S+ for a well carried game. I think it was something like 6/2/22. We just barely won across nearly an hour because our Jinx ADC was 1/21/13 or some such nonsense.

And then I realized I was only mastery 2 and would not be getting a token for that S.

1Tale Alo KeabenNov 15, 201617 votes

[zombie-brand-facepalm] when brand finds himself listed as support

Leo1024Nov 15, 201614 votes

why would they pick Brand for support? Especially when Alistar just got a mini rework which not only gives them an actual support but a chance to collect more data on him for patch 6.22

StainlessTweedleNov 15, 20165 votes

I think they just want people to queue as supports and Brand is more appealing for people not interested in playing it. Just a guess And it's so stupid if it was true

GamingEelektrossNov 14, 201613 votes

Why isn't Singed in the list?

Ancient DovaNov 14, 20166 votes

I know right. Singed support for the win. Steal your ADC's CS and get killed.

Derp R UsNov 14, 201619 votes

No, no, no. You don't dis the Singed support.

You know why Singed support works?

Because everyone focuses Singed and not the ADC. Just don't run your poison trail through the minons. Get relic shield and whack 'em dead.

GamingEelektrossNov 14, 201612 votes

Singed respect

ForFoxSakesNov 14, 201613 votes

Free rotation is shit when you cant earn boxes or key frags on them. Why would people want to be a support if they arent rewarded for it with zero chance at even getting a key?

GwenavereNov 14, 20169 votes

I think this may be more targeted at newer accounts.

The timing isn't terrible though. Chests aren't going to reset for another month, so many players have already gotten chests on their favorite champions.