On OCE: Riot posted about what it means to be a support: thinking about a new support type
Preface and Explanation
So we all see it, not enough people are playing support. Riot currently thinks this is due to not feeling like you do enough for your team.
that's not true, i can't think of a single support that i don't notice their Clutch heals, or perfect bubbles, the on point hooks, ect
To me i think the issue with support is how it is intended to be played
and the rest are all amazing champions..... and then there's
... he's cool i guess (That was a joke >.>)
but not as many people want to run around trying to do that support business of outplaying an enemy.... by having your carry just do all the work after you land an ability.
The fact is more people want to play as Divers, Fighters, Mages, assassins, and juggernauts... and there is a very little overlap with the support role
yeah sure we have
and
or
and 
But these champions are all sub-optimal when played in the support role, they're still good but they aren't as good as they would normally be as supports
And while the "true" supports are great champions, they don't appeal to as many people. I maintain that its the playstyle of these champions that fails to draw massive crowds as opposed to the lack of attention and items
hell we just put out yet another item that makes
heal more... she didn't need it. Supports have cheap itemization so they don't need more gold income (Though more options would be nice and i'm not knocking that)
we don't need more of the same, we need a new class of supports, and aggressive skirmishing DPS based support, something that prides outplays. we need supports that feel Badass. There's a reason why more people play
than
, and it's not just numbers. there's a reason why people still cling on to
but very few play as
, people get different feelings from the idea of that mobility, the dodges, executes, assassins and fighters, burst mages, ect.
so I've been really thinking hard about a new cast of support... something designed to offer that missing feeling of bad ass that many players feel a preference for, an idea to practically bring more players Willingly into the position, as opposed to us all taking turns doing something that we would rather be leaving to a teammate again not because you don't like it, but because you would rather be playing a different type of champion, because that is your preference, Ideally i would like to see two champions of each type come out, one of AP basis, and one of AD basis.
New support subclasses: Warlords, Coordinators, and Binders
Warlordsare skirmishing fighters or sustain mages designed for the support role, they function by staying in a fight long enough to apply Zone debuffs, these champions might lower resistances, damage output or apply slows, they usually function in melee or short range. they have hard cc in the general forms of Stuns, Taunts, and knock ups
**Coordinators **are champions who function similarly to Mobility mages and assassins, they gain bonuses for staying near allies, and they grant allies values of offensive stats, such as attack damage, life steal, movement speed. They have hard CC in the forms of Re-positions, fears, and snares
Both of these new classes of support are designed to feel like you can actually 1v1 people. wave clear if needed, and possibly even carry come late game. Warlords will feel close in spirit to champions like
but will sacrifice some of their solo power for debuff capacity, while coordinators will be designed to feel like
with the ability to provide tactical advantage while keeping hyper mobile.
Binders are based on AP carries and AD carries, these champions provide mutual buffs between them and a single ally, binders are based on the already existing niche of carry supports.Good examples of champion who could easily be reworked into binders (Which i pray never happens to them) would be
because they have poke, heals, and buffs. A binder would do a little less damage but would instead provide at least two buffs to themselves and a nearby ally and at least one cc, they would be entirely based on synchronization spells and passives, such as marks that make an enemy take more damage from allies and themselves for x seconds. you can see elements of Binder mechanics in the kits of
, which would be their abilities which buff themselves and allies and the abilities which function better when an ally is nearby. The primary difference in how a binder ability would interact is that the binder would provide a larger buff to their allies then themselves
Cool concepts
Warlords
Coordinators
Binders 1.
Other supports
Edit: I put a lot of work into this guys, please give me some real thoughts and feedback before down voting
Edit: formatting
Edit: swapped out
with
to make a more consistent statement
*Edit: Moved footer to the actual footer
Edit: Changed name from Banner lord to Warlord based on a suggestion from Ralanr
Edit Added better formatting and a new "Cool support concepts" section
Edit Added Candurill's champion concept: Umbra, The Dark Servant
Edit Added DrugsForRobots' champion concept: Oracle, the World's Witness
). Not saying your idea is bad its actually very good and I would like to see champions like these in League but each sublass you mentioned I think would be its own champion.
support (
/
) and
. They basicly can't be ignored anymore. Implement an alternative build path for
so whe get options. And voila their you have a group of carry supports.
&
.
/
&
. I personally thought straight about a
got me into league, and I'm pretty sure everyone considers