Initiating as support?

LoveMeSomePenis·2/27/2015, 3:29:19 AM·1 votes·894 views

I've began playing unranked matches after leaving my comfort zone of bot matches, and generally just end up playing whatever nobody else wants, which is usually jungle or support. My issue, however, comes from what I should be doing as support.

Playing I generally just leash my jungler, last hit when I have a charge on my and my adc is damaged, and once I get my Q and W up (I start with E, btw) I try and go for a flash QW combo to get a kill. Problem is that I can't get that through my adc in time via typing, and unless I'm skyped, I'm just burning flash and my mana for nothing.

I've read some stuff on a W Q combo, but other then that I don't have an idea on what I'm doing as a tanky support. I assume I should be aggro, but I tend to just play really passive.

5 Comments

FedAsFuk2/28/2015, 10:57:05 PM2 votes

Pings, pings are there for a reason. i believe a quick ping binding is ctrl. SO CTRL left click to ping without moving your hands to G

Leti the Yeti2/27/2015, 3:36:44 AM1 votes

if ur adc is stupid to the point that they cant identify a vulnerable target... even if they are floating in mid air then you're outa luck max your heal first cuz the rest of your kit aint good for shit paired up with that dumb ass knock up or knock away anyone who tries kill you 2

sealust2/27/2015, 4:04:17 AM1 votes

Ping the target before you go in. But take the first level to watch how your ADC is playing first (are they orb-walking, last hitting, taking unessasary dmg, harassing enemy laner, ect.) hitting lvl 2 before your enemy usually calls for major aggro but really it's about gauging your ADC's aggro and if they pick up on your initiation. If not, don't do it again and focus on letting them farm (boring as fuck but hey.)

Eraest972/27/2015, 10:46:28 PM1 votes

The biggest thing you can do as support is have lane presence. Mainly you are there to harass the other adc and support and keep your adc alive and let them farm. Now you are the one that is going to have to engage and disengage. The best times to do that is if a stun/grab ability is on cooldown from their support. That means when you engage they can only flash to disengage. Also keep in mind how many creeps you have. If a new wave just came in or the enemy has a huge creep wave already, it probably isn't a good idea to engage. That is more damage from creep aggro you don't want.

Now if you adc isn't going in that is on them, there is really nothing you can do about it but ping and hope they do something.

Last thing, Alistar WQ combo is really strong. I find it a lot better than his flash Q W combo. A good tip I was taught is to take his W off smartcast. The second you see that mad bull dashing forward hold down Q. It has worked for me about 80%. The other 20% was just me not reacting enough.

I hope some of this helped. I am not the best player in LOL but I have played and seen enough games to know most of the Mechanics. If you ever get a chance, watch some of Aphromoo's stream. Really that is how I learned how to play support :D

GildedCreed2/28/2015, 12:49:27 AM1 votes

What I would do is ping the target you want your ADC to go in on twice, and retreat-ping the target you don't want them to waste their time on. Often times as support, you're the one directing the flow of the battle during ganks (essentially telling the jungler to avoid a certain brush and enter from a different lane. When I go to leave lane to ward, I'll ping my "path" so if I'm blue side, I'll ping tri-brush, and then the OMW ping to the river brush. That usually lets my ADC know that I'm pathing away from him to river instead of pathing straight there and taking a couple skillshots to the face.

With certain ADC players, you'll need to direct the flow of the lane's trades, usually you can tell during the first minion wave (if they harass hard, they're the aggressive type, so they'll usually follow up on initiates when they happen). For passive ADC players (like cait, who farms for pickaxe or BF before turning on the aggression) you'll want to keep the enemy lane from dealing too much damage to you or the ADC, while still keeping yourself from being mana-gated. No mana means no initiates/save. No initiates/saves means no kills/assists or a dead ADC and/or you.

But before you even DO anything, take out the Siege creep. They'll damage you hard during trades if they aggro to you. Casters are a slight problem if your ADC doesn't clear them (which they would want to do, caster v caster won't lower their HP enough to last hit them with alone, which makes it easier to trade plus it gives you something to do while waiting for melee creeps to get low)