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How to be a good support

LVL 5 PORO··2 votes·1,094 views

99.9% of people are bad at support. By reading this simple guide you can be better than most people!

As the Support, it is your job to control vision for your team. This is the most important job of the Support. If you don't do anything right, do this. Place wards on the map. Bonus points if you Sweep/destroy a ward. If you don't have a Sighstone, a pink on the map at all times, and some type of vision you have failed at your job.

Step 1: Don't ever buy this item: item 3092

Step 2: Buy this item FIRST: item 2049 It doesn't matter if you are "support" Kindred or support Bard, you get this item first, no matter what.

Step 3: Upgrade your trinket from item 3340 to item 3341 when you get Sightstone.

Step 4: Buy a item 2043, put it in the bottom bush and always keep one in your inventory.

Step 5: Look at the map at least once every 3 seconds to check for the enemy jungler. You should know where he is at all times. If you don't, you're doing something wrong.

Step 6: Actually USE item 2049 If at any time you have max wards you have failed as a support. Ward the river, ward the enemy jungle. Just ward SOMETHING!

Step 7: Auto Attack someone! If you havent attempted to hit, or kill the enemy ADC or support you arent doing your job. You should be hitting them 24/7 unless you are Blitzcrank or something. If you are sitting behind your ADC or in a bush healing them when they get hit you are doing a bad job. You are being a ward. Dont be a ward, place wards. HIT SOMEONE!

46 Comments

Final Boss Naut7 votes

downvoted because no explaination why item 3092 is bad to plebs, and they wont listen to just "dont do"

LVL 5 PORO2 votes

Dont get item 3092 because its a trap item and item 3401 item 3069 are better in every way. Is that good enough? I did say it was a simple guide.

Salidfingers2 votes

item 3092 I get this item all the time.

Imagine late game and a 1000 stack nasus coming at your carry and you main Zyra support. E+R+Queens+E+Exhaust.... He is not touching your carry.

Queens blade when used with high CC support is amazing.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

Coin can do the same thing and engage where FQC cant.

Salidfingers2 votes

I don't try and engage, I rather control the fight.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

Well your just hindering your team.

Salidfingers1 votes

Really?? Guess 60-65% as zyra support must mean I can work on improvement. :)

It's all about play style, you can possibly make charging in at full speed work but with me, I love it when they do that since it's easy to land a 3+ man e and a ult.

I'm pretty sure you charged in and caught many people. We both have what works for us.

My problem is queens blade isn't shit and people need to stop underestimating it

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

Everyone has what works for them, I'm not saying its wrong, just not optimal. Sure you can get FQC, but Coin is just better. Its akin to using a knife when you have a screwdriver. Sure you can use both to get the job done but one is just more efficient and better at the task.

Salidfingers1 votes

Half right. What's effective to you is not effective to me. 2 different tools for 2 different jobs and I am not out to cut bread. :)

SpartenA79912 votes

Exactly. The slow is amazing with champions with no major mobility like zyra, lux, morgana, sona/nami (sort of)

Linthe2 votes

[{quoted}](name=L Ange Noir Von,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=EzEtt0Tw,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2015-10-20T04:37:17.606+0000)

Dont get item 3092 because its a trap item and item 3401 item 3069 are better in every way. Is that good enough? I did say it was a simple guide.

Im ALWAYS getting frost on Morg.

Deep Terror Nami4 votes

I used to default to Spellthief's because of the better gold income with a ranged harass and the stats, but with the buffs to Talisman line it's hard to find a good reason to ever start Spellthief's even if you planned on trading it out later.

However, I do think it has its place; if the enemy has a few melee with strong sticking power (like Xin Zhao, Udyr etc.) but not a strong comp that we need to disengage quickly from (like Gnar, Riven, Vayne) I think FQC can be better. With the melee they will tend to rush a squishy target and you can screw them over with the active of FQC. Again, this all depends on whether your team needs the disengage speed from Talisman or not.

As for buying Sightstone first, this is true about 98% of the time. The other 2% is when you are forced to recall with awkward amounts of gold; it's ok to buy regular wards and boots if you can't afford the SS on your first back, and if you're roaming to make early ganks (like Annie) you can rush Mobis but you must continue to maintain vision with regular wards.

Pink placement varies. If you are pushed up in bot lane you can put it in the river bush. If you're even or pushed back, you can place it in your tri-bush or up near mid to help them and cut off counter-jungling and river ganks early.

"Being a ward" is not as bad as it sounds. There is never just one "best" way to play the game. While I most often am very aggressive, weaving in auto-attacks for bits of damage and the Bandit gold, if the enemy is a strong kill lane it may be best for me to sit back and just make sure I don't get caught and if my ADC does I can peel them off (the ADC can rarely peel for a caught support). I'm only saying to not force yourself to be aggressive if the enemy is much better at it.

Some more tips;

  • Watch where they ward. Inform your jungler of it so he's not wasting his time coming for a gank.
  • See what kind of ward it is. You can simply time it and inform your jungler to gank when it dies.
  • Learn how to ward beyond the normal placement distance when putting them over thick walls; if you place it more than 50% through a wall, it will go to the other side. That is how you ward the bushes next to the tier 1 mid towers from the lane.
  • Upgrade your trinket asap. Oracle's is way way better than Sweeper. Sometimes you don't have the right amount of gold, but try.
  • Try not to recall almost to level 9. Get the xp so you level up and can upgrade your trinket. I'm really bad at this, I often recall with 1-2 minions worth of xp left XD
LVL 5 PORO1 votes

I agree with this. I start spellthief too but upgrading too FQC is a waste. The poke is good in laning but outside of that ... not so much.

SpartenA79912 votes

This all coming from a silver 3 player. Some support champions use the frost queen claim, and need it's stats to do their job right. I agree completely about sightstone tho. I always buy it if i can afford it, if not, I get a ruby or boots depending on what the scenario is. If you are a melee support like braum, i can't hit them 24/7. The way you are talking is pretty much like saying "supports are ward bots". If yes, just uninstall the game, you don't understand how a team game works.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

NO ONE uses FQC. No one. And if they do, they just wasted their gold on an item that isn't optimal. I said "unless you are Blitzcrank or something" e.g. melee supports. Learn to read please, you seem to have missed a good portion of what I said.

SpartenA79912 votes

This is a type of stupidity, no doctor could cure. At least explain why I should get face of mountain instead of frost queen claim as support zyra?

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

If you are getting face of the mountain on Zyra that's a type of stupidity no doctor could cure. I feel sorry for your ADC.

SpartenA79912 votes

Thats my point. On zyra I have those support item options. I define them as Tanky: face of mountain passive: talisman Aggressive: spelltheif I play zyra aggressive, plus the procs for the gold are easy on zyra with plants

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

uh ... whatever works for you I guess.

Archon X2 votes
LVL 5 PORO1 votes

So more people use Talisman, I wonder why ...

ZT Xperimentor2 votes

With trinkets being free, there's no excuse for anyone on the team to not ward, it's not just relegated to supports anymore. If you're trying to sales-pitch the idea, you need more explanation. You also forgot one of THE most important parts about being a support; communication. You need to work in tandem with your carry for when you're just poking or going all-in; which will backfire horribly if you're not communicating about it.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

I didn't say it was. But Supports often do the most warding.

ZT Xperimentor1 votes

The way you wrote it made it sound like, they're supposed to be the only one on the team warding. That's why I replied as such.

LVL 5 PORO2 votes

Oh no, of course not. Ideally, the support should be responsible for 20% of their teams wards while everyone else contributes. But lets be honest with ourselves, this rarely happens. Especially in low elo. So Supports at the very least should know if no one else wards they should.

Lugg2 votes

Support main here with some changes.

Step 1: Don't listen to original poster. item 3098 is a great starting item for AP supports who poke a lot. It's by far the best one for Morgana Step 2: Start with a gold generating item and do the first upgrade on it before anything else. Then build SS and Mobi boots. Step 3: I agree with this one. Step 4: Also agree. Put it in a bush on your side of the map near Baron or Dragon so you have some vision on that area. Step 5: Every 5 seconds is fine. Step 6: Agree. Step 7: Harassing the enemy laners is important, but your primary job is to keep your ADC safe so they can farm.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

If you have enough gold to buy item 3092 at start you must be an amazing haxor.

Lugg2 votes

Doh! Didn't notice, thanks.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

Np m8

Abyssphere2 votes

{quoted}

Support main here with some changes.

Step 1: Don't listen to original poster. item 3098 is a great starting item for AP supports who poke a lot. It's by far the best one for Morgana Step 2: Start with a gold generating item and do the first upgrade on it before anything else. Then build SS and Mobi boots. Step 3: I agree with this one. Step 4: Also agree. Put it in a bush on your side of the map near Baron or Dragon so you have some vision on that area. Step 5: Every 5 seconds is fine. Step 6: Agree. Step 7: Harassing the enemy laners is important, but your primary job is to keep your ADC safe so they can farm.

I don't agree with step 2. I find that you can't really afford to delay Sightstone even enough to get your tier 2 gold item - by the time Sightstone is built the lane starts to get pretty heavy traffic-wise and dragon control is becoming more important too. You really can't afford to skimp on vision at that point. Getting gold gen upgrades ASAP makes sense, of course, but I think you should do it immediately AFTER Sightstone, not before it. This is of course 10x more true of item 3303, because item 3098 is probably the single most pathetic power spike in the game. Worth getting eventually if you don't want to swap for Talisman, but ridiculous to delay Sightstone for it.

Lugg1 votes

You HAVE to start with a gold generating item. Otherwise you won't have enough gold to get any items early and you will fall WAY behind the other team. Plus, very few junglers will gank pre 5 minutes, so early sightstone isn't even needed 95% of the time. Doubly so since you and your ADC should both have free trinket wards to keep one up in the river.

Abyssphere3 votes

{quoted}

You HAVE to start with a gold generating item. Otherwise you won't have enough gold to get any items early and you will fall WAY behind the other team. Plus, very few junglers will gank pre 5 minutes, so early sightstone isn't even needed 95% of the time. Doubly so since you and your ADC should both have free trinket wards to keep one up in the river.

I wasn't suggesting you don't start with a gold gen item, I said you shouldn't upgrade to tier 2 before you get your Sightstone. I'm not sure how you misread my post when it explicitly had the words "tier 2 gold item" in it. Obviously you start with your gold item because doing otherwise is the equivalent of not starting Hunter's Machete in the jungle, but your post advocates getting tier 2 gold gen before you get Sightstone and I just cannot agree with that. The gold generation increase between one tier and the next is moderate to the point where waiting a couple of extra minutes on the upgrade isn't a very big deal, but the difference between pre- and post-Sightstone supports is monumental.

I play support more than any other role and while gold generation items are a time investment, which obviously means they become profitable quicker if you get them earlier, it is a complete false economy to get them before Sightstone. You should always aim for 800g on your first back as a support and that 800g should go to Sightstone - almost no exceptions. Going back without enough gold for SS is a failure state similar to ADCs going back before BF Sword. The side effect of this is that if you go back with enough gold for Sightstone you're either a decent bit past 5 minutes or you've done very well in lane - either of these two situations means junglers are going to pay more attention to your lane.

Lugg1 votes

Sorry that I misunderstood that. But you should only get SS over the tier 2 gold item if you are facing a jungler (like Panth, Nunu, etc) that can take dragon early. Plus, you can always get the tier 2 and a couple stealth wards to hold you over until you get SS.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

{quoted}

Sorry that I misunderstood that. But you should only get SS over the tier 2 gold item if you are facing a jungler (like Panth, Nunu, etc) that can take dragon early. Plus, you can always get the tier 2 and a couple stealth wards to hold you over until you get SS.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Archon X1 votes

spellthief is still better to start on mage poke supports, such as Morgana, Annie, Lulu, Sona...

check probuilds.net thanks

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

Yes, spellthief is fine to have but dont upgrade it. Preferably, after laning switch it with another support item.

Mimy1 votes

Question: Why are are you building full ap lulu as support (They had exhaust so they weren't mid.. )

I don't know there's so many things wrong with this on so many levels.

item 3092 item 3303 is a good item.. for lulu. Why? The AP , mana regen, CDR, Gold income with time and with poke and lulu tends to poke A LOT... and it has a wicked slow like a nasus wither (Unless you don't even use your actives).

I'd laugh if I saw a lulu with coin.. you'd be missing out on the AP and a lot of money in pokes. you poke them constantly and you can earn a lot more then you could with coin.

#You say to poke, but you tell them to NOT get the support poke item?

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

If you read closely you will notice I said nothing about item 3303. I said not to get item 3092. Coin is great on lulu.

Caytheles1 votes

This is not how to be a good support, You did not even go into the Defensive offensive Turtle and Vision sticking Warding. those are important to a support, Also synergy was left out. the option to switch Sweepers back to Ward and upgrade to pink. Peeling, Bush swerving. You didnt explain any of that! and they are needed to be a Good support. You just described the Typical "Fill" support.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

Sir, this is not in any way or form an in-depth guide meant to go over everything. This is the bare MINIMUM. Its 1 AM here, I cant type a thorough guide. I wish the typical fill support did any of this, it would make life easier for everyone.

In my experience, the typical fill support doesn't buy SS, doesn't ward, doesn't trade, doesn't change trinks, and sits in the bush or roams. If you can do at least what is listed here you can be somewhat useful, even if you've never played support.

Caytheles1 votes

Then the Title should be "How to be a Decent Support". but i see what you mean, i am usually forced bot lane du to the lack of Knowledge people have of the role.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

Yeah, that'd probably be a better title. Thanks.

Snowyamur1 votes

I mean, seriously?item 3401 item 3069 item 3092

VesperNadal1 votes

For the active the item 3092 isn't that great. At best it is an AOE peel item. But if you play an aggressive poke laner it's a great item. If you can keep up the pressure it has the best gold generation out of all 3 items. That gold generation comes in handy for buying your sight stone sooner. And this is more like a "don't forget to ward stupid" guide. There is more to the supporting role than what is stated here.

LVL 5 PORO1 votes

I can agree with that, but I'd say you want to get SS before any other item.

VesperNadal1 votes

[{quoted}](name=L Ange Noir Von,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=EzEtt0Tw,comment-id=00090000,timestamp=2015-10-21T17:36:15.372+0000)

I can agree with that, but I'd say you want to get SS before any other item.

I always finish sight stone before the final upgrade depending on how much gold I back with. Upgrade the support item if I have 600-750 gold along with some wards and maybe a potion. 850 or more I buy the sight stone and the sweeper.

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