im so close to gold as a support main
any tips? i can carry most teams as long as they dont go full potato on me. i generaly play 
and on occasion 
when our team lacks tanks
4 Comments
I'd try to work Leona into your list of tanks.
Try to upgrade your trinket earlier. I wouldn't waste gold on upgrading to 
. if you intend on getting 
, build 
for the CDR and the ability to build other items. I wouldn't build 
on Nami (I wouldn't really build it on any support, I'd get 
instead) .
Do some experimenting with 
in normal games. It works wonders for me. Pushes side lanes while you and your team are focusing on mid. It's gotten me a good amount of towers. Provides a good alternative to Locket if your team is even or ahead.
If your ADC sucks, try to provide more support to the better carry in the game and don't spend so much time standing around in bot lane helping an ADC that will just feed and not put out any damage.
Always get at least 1 Vision Ward each game. If you're just sticking it in your own jungle defensively that's better than nothing.
Upgrade your Sweeper to Oracle's at level 9 more; denying vision prevents a whole lot of problems and makes it far more dangerous for the opponent to walk around.
Consider 
instead of 
, especially if they have champions with good CC.
You don't always have to use Spellthief's Edge on ranged supports; if the enemy picks something with a lot of kill potential in lane or much better harass than you, it's fine to consider using Ancient Coin and playing more passive (also helps deny their Spellthief's gold generation). Talisman may also be a good early buy for engage/disengage.
Keep buying Vision Wards and definitely upgrade your Sweeper to Oracle's Lens if they have stealth champions like Vayne, Wukong etc.
You clearly have experience, so I will spare you the needless advice about "build patterns" and "general gameplay"
Make your picks, especially in promotions wisely. Don't be playing that Alistar you know, play Soraka, play Nami get who you're good at.
Increase a sense of security. Warding and coverage is good - pinks are always welcome but even in lane. Go all out, walk up, get all the Ebb and Flow bounces. Hit people in the center of starcall, bind them over and over. Your adc might not be able to dominate lane presence, but the ap support base damages can. When you're a heavy presence in lane, it makes them cautious and it lets your adc farm easier and just have a generally easier time.
I've climbed from B1 to almost S2 playing Zyra support (almost exclusively). The most useful thing I learned is that if your adc is shit, cheerfully encourage them to farm and you will defend them. ADCs seem to have this compulsion where they 1) feel like they have to follow up every time you poke and 2) feel like they can only make up for deaths by going for kills.
When I've said something like "I'm going to defend you so you can focus on getting perfect CS. Only come in when I ping. If I get caught don't try and save me. Follow where I ping and I'll keep you safe."
Things like that have turned disastrous lanes into winning games. With some matchups or players winning is just not feeding and going on full tilt. I view part of my job as support as being the emotional babysitter and voice of reason when shit starts hitting the fan. So many of my recent wins have been comebacks.