Boards›Announcements

Extra Supports in Free Champion Rotation

Riot·11/14/2016, 3:02:56 PM·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 Dellron11/14/2016, 6:07:33 PM204 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."

NautilusTrundleNasusHecarim "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.

Unseen Bladé11/14/2016, 7:06:43 PM48 votes

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

grarrrg11/15/2016, 1:08:05 AM42 votes

ARAM is going to be...interesting

Athenes Lulu11/14/2016, 6:39:11 PM39 votes

no Lulu

I'm triggered

DespicableO11/14/2016, 6:09:24 PM38 votes

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

The Salty Dog11/15/2016, 11:40:13 AM32 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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!
InTheory11/14/2016, 6:38:47 PM30 votes

[deleted]

poi200011/14/2016, 8:27:12 PM22 votes

If they switched out Brand 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.

themasterhero2211/14/2016, 11:51:47 PM20 votes

brand is not a support he is a cancer

Supreme Senpai6911/14/2016, 9:33:15 PM19 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.

1Tale Alo Keaben11/15/2016, 5:41:32 PM17 votes

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

Leo102411/15/2016, 3:56:22 AM14 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

ForFoxSakes11/14/2016, 7:00:27 PM13 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?

GamingEelektross11/14/2016, 6:46:28 PM13 votes

Why isn't Singed in the list?

Snake Town11/15/2016, 3:08:07 PM9 votes

Brand over lulu?

Linna Excel11/14/2016, 8:54:56 PM8 votes

No soraka?

The bananas will be avenged!

XMUNGAM11/15/2016, 5:14:43 AM4 votes

all good except that you put in zyra.... Zyra ?????

DarthWatermelone11/14/2016, 6:52:03 PM2 votes

10 supports? I think you mean 12 supports. Nice job riot. Nice job