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Dear Supports...

AthenasHarpy·2/11/2015, 3:55:30 AM·23 votes·3,558 views

This is aimed more at low-elo players, as I'm sure this is already done (and understood) at higher elos...

On your first back, if you have 1300g, PLEASE: (1) buy a sightstone (and switch trinket to sweeper ) - 800g (2) upgrade your T1 income item (, , ) - 500g

I play support a lot, I'd argue that it's my main at this point, and it's easy to see how much you help your team (and yourself) by doing these two things. I mean, how can you ignore those improved stats? You're crippling yourself by not having a fully upgraded income item, and the actives are so good for teamfights.

Also, so many times your teammates have bad map awareness, so placing more wards (and sweeping enemy ones) helps you help your team by preventing their potential deaths. I typically do more mia and warning pings, even for other lanes, because I'm not "tunnel csing".

If I see another post-game lobby and you still have only Relic's Shield, I'll cry.

EDIT: I guess some people are misunderstanding my point. Support is not the only one who should be warding. Watch all the high-elo matches you want and you'll see pinks/greens are purchased, and trinkets are upgraded.

That said, not everyone is a higher-elo player at this point in time; I suggest the above only as a way to carry your team to victory simply because other players DONT typically buy/upgrade wards. As a support, you're not really a dmg carry, but setting up plays and making calls can carry your team to victory. Warding and sweeping is a great way to help you do so.

EDIT2: I admit this is pretty awkward timing given the 5.3 ward updates XD Overall, TEAM vision can greatly help you win games.

58 Comments

Reynard the ƒox2/11/2015, 4:00:22 AM13 votes

Lux no sorry i think my gold will be much better spent on a blasting wand

some of my abilities grant sight anyway so, like, theyre basically wards

sincerely, 1/3/2 support lux

Fried Noob2/11/2015, 6:53:41 AM9 votes

What is this sightstone of which you speak? I know only the blasting rod, as it gets me to Deathcap faster.

tseihei2/11/2015, 4:01:22 AM7 votes

eh on the sightstone I 100% agree. as far as the remaining 500 gold, it can depend. Some people like blitz may want to go boots for the grabs instead, and with some supports it may be better to go for makeals and mana regen early.

redniwediS2/11/2015, 4:50:42 AM6 votes

Personally I always keep the warding trinket in the lane phase, and just buy a few pink wards. After the lane phase, or if we're doing well, I'll upgrade to the pink ward trinket instead of the sweeper. It's not as good for clearing random wards, but it's great when the enemy keep warding over the wall at dragon or baron.

Besides, it's not just the supports job to manage vision. One person literally cannot do it all anymore.

Scramrail2/11/2015, 5:22:25 PM4 votes

Im actually kind of shocked and amused by some of these responses. If youre playing support, theres really no reason you should be prioritizing AP over anything else (ESPECIALL vision) since youre gold income, even with an gold income item (which some of you have said you don't even upgrade XD) is so pathetic youll literally never be able to be relevant with damage unless you get SUPER fed in lane, in which case it likely wouldn't matter anyway.

Theres literally no good reason to ever NOT get a sightstone on your first back if you can afford it, as vision is pretty much the most important thing in the game. I mean, Codex is only SLIGHTLY better in terms of stats compared to Frostfang, and if you go for the former as opposed to the latter youre gimping your damage potential, mana regen and gold income for a small amount of extra AP and 10% cdr. Now if you want to delay building FQC for other things that's far more understandable as its not that great of an item once its completed, and things like Mikaels can be far more beneficial depending on the enemy comp.

I cant even really imagine a scenario where rushing a Mikaels is a good idea to be honest. Definitely not if youre sacrificing Sightstone, and possibly not even if youre just sacrificing your gold income item. If youre far enough behind or your teammates are bad enough that youre seriously considering a Mikaels over a Sightstone/income item, it probably wont make much of a difference.

I am kind of curious about the pink ward trinket though. I had a game not too long ago that went on so long that even as the support I was getting close to full build, and I had to decide between either not building another item, or switching my sweeper for the pink ward totem to free up a slot in my inventory. I elected to ditch the sweeper for the totem, and im curious if there is any consensus on whether this was the right call or not. Its less reliable than just carrying pink wards around, as it has a cooldown, but it seemed like the right call so I could get another item completed.

Would it have been a better idea to just sell my income item at that point and keep buying pinks? While not the best in terms of stats, I do find the actives pretty useful for chasing/running/surviving.

Lwnt2/11/2015, 3:52:41 PM3 votes

Fuck sightstone because I love the new updated item 3361 . I can place 3 wards on the map just like sightstone without wasting a slot. Stop enforcing support to be ward bitches because we are not.

For income item I only stay tier 2 unless its item 3069 because the other active are not as useful as u think.

Rozzeta2/11/2015, 3:59:08 AM3 votes

What If I want to upgrade my trinket to item 3362 ?

YOU BEEN WARNED2/11/2015, 5:47:56 PM2 votes

1300g ?

Sorry I can't hear you over the glory of my item 3010 .

sealust2/11/2015, 1:18:28 PM2 votes

Agreed 100%. Sightstone should always be priority, and getting that second tier GI item helps with sustain and, you know, gold income.

skippersd2/12/2015, 8:56:16 AM1 votes

Just a quick note about gold items.

While both yellow and green is worth upgrading, the T2 blue item is kinda crap. It gives you 5 AP, 25% regen (farie charm) +5 dmg to the spells/AAs, and +5 g on those procs.

If you have the money to spare, you are better off with a forbidden idol, for way more mana regen and CDR.

Lwnt2/13/2015, 5:37:39 AM1 votes

I am sick and tired of people saying you have to buy sightstone as a support. STOP IT BECAUSE ITS ANNOYING!!!. I like support class because it feels good to help your teammate to get kills and save your teammate butts from dying. But I HATE sightstone so much. It the most dreaded item to buy. Even RiotXypherous said its a end-game slot inefficiency item. With the new Greater stealth totem I will have my three wards on the map at all time. Yes there will be one less sweeper but who cares because you can still win with just 1 or 2 sweeper.

Envy Sin2/13/2015, 6:09:24 AM1 votes

Do not buy frost fang, It more often then not puts you behind. In "low elo" games and Pro games alike.

Zazusha2/13/2015, 10:20:21 AM1 votes

Gangplank Support Bankplank aint got time for ur Sitestone thing. need that item 3093 & item 3057 , Who needs sight vs ganks when u have oranges that make you K

In reality though, upgrading to item 3097 happens, might not be first back. ( item 2049 normally is ~4th thing bought)

Xx420n0sc0p3sxX2/13/2015, 2:15:21 PM1 votes

I personally like to back semi early as Blitz to pick up a tear. Allows me to use mana much more freely and I tend to stack a bit of mana (IBG Frozen Heart) later on in the game, finish a muramana, and be able to help carry. I still obviously pick up a Sighstone and finish my support item (I prefer the golden disco ball for the active).

wwwdots2/13/2015, 4:32:27 PM1 votes

sight stone not worth rushing for in lane phase unless ur stuck there for over 15 min.

Vesarixx2/14/2015, 1:11:47 AM1 votes

I tend to pick up sightstone a bit later into the game at times but I pick up 3 wards and usually a pink on each back, either way item 3341 get swapped to early, gold income items depend on the game though, no reason to rush item 3069 if you can't make use of it early on and there is another item that might be better.

Weasel Kensei2/11/2015, 8:02:11 PM1 votes

Im not entirely sure if the meta of "You filthy support, do all the warding" is good. I think everyone should consider wards, there is no reason not to. If youre going to make a case for how important is for X, Y, Z to be done with wards/sweeping lenses, then it can only be done better if everyone shares the responsibility. When I go mid I buy a pink for my back right jungle bush near the raptors, and a stealth on my first back to ward the opposite side of my free ward. Denying the jungler easy ganks on me more than makes up for the cost. At level 9 you can bet Im spending 250 gold on better wards and keeping 100% up time on both river bushes. Similar when I top, pink on my bush between inner and outer turrets, stealth in river, free ward in one of the bushes, which ever they will try to escape too the most.

Iv seen games that have gone decidedly in our favor get stagnated by enemy turtling, and to counter this we start split pushing. This lets them catch up in farm and take out a split pusher or two, or catch the jungler invading. This starts to melt down our snowball and lets them find a way back into the game. This "way back into the game" could be easily curbed by people spending the 250 gold on upgrading the free trinket so you can see the gank coming.

Iv finished countless games where no one else has upgraded their free ward, and they've even announced "full build." Also when your getting pushed back that is the time to buy wards and ward up the bushes and jungle. Often we have been able to escape the base and kill ADCs and Junglers invading our jungle cause they though we were stuck in our base and didnt know where they were.

Look at it this way, if you spend 250 gold on a ward/trinket upgrade, and you avoid 1 gank cause of it, then you denied them the 300-500 gold bounty on you, not to mention NOT losing out on the farm you cant get while dead.

Warding is everyone's responsibility, the only reason the current meta even works is because others are abiding by it. If every player had upgraded wards at 9, and had decent placement, then they would have a decided advantage due to the vision they would gain. Im tired of begging people to buy wards just so we can avoid their fed jungler, warding well in the first place would potentially stopped them from getting fed in the first place.

So a "supports do this warding scheme" maintain the meta thread isnt really helping in my opinion, its merely an attempt to train people to do something that only works because others agree to do it the same way. Just like old black powder musket days when hundreds of soldiers would line up shoulder to shoulder across from the enemy army and launch volleys of musket fire at each other.... that kind of warfare only worked cause that is what the enemy agreed to do also.

In my opinion, the support should have the stealth wards and the carry should have the sweeping lens, oh no spending some of your precious carry gold to murder that stealth champ.... oh my forbid.... The support can spend time walking around placing wards to protect from ganks while the carry farms. The top and mid ward types could vary depending on their disengage options. The mid almost certainly needs a stealth ward, but picking up a lens to help your jungler gank mid isnt a bad idea either. Warding is complex, and the only reason the OP thinks there is "One way of doing it" is cause there's only one way people generally do it.

iluvalar2/11/2015, 8:41:30 PM1 votes

Dear OP, I'm fully are aware of the value of vision. For instance, I'm crazy about that new stack on the yellow trinket. I believe anyone who tought at some point that a sightstone could have been viable for the support should get one.

However all i can do is to do the math again and hope you will understand. As soraka main, I pay 10% of my hp to heal about 200+60%ap hp at low level. If i'm not stupid enough to nerf it by buying hp for myself. It's a ratio of about 2.2:1 . This mean that when I buy a potion at 35g, I generate 40 more gold of potions. If that's not a good enough reason to buy potions instead of wards, then no one should ever buy a potion and just buy ward instead since it's THAT good. But no... last time i checked, people still buy plenty of potions. Even if they are half as good as mine.

Now, for my choice of a blasting wand. It turns that 2.2:1 ratio into a 2.5:1 ratio. This my friend represent a dozen of potions every time i back. Not only that, but it will also give me 30hp everytime I hit a starcall, which i can reflect on my ADC right away for 75hp. So i create a new potion for every 2 champions I hit with starcall. Then again if a potion worth 35 gold and a ward 75. There is no way the 3 wards per back generated by the sighstone could worth the ~20 potions I can produce with a blasting wand.

So yeah, be coherent with yourself, if you believe wards are that good, don't buy potion or armors at all spend everything into wards instead. If that doesn't sound awesome to you, yeah maybe it's not that much awesome as well for supports. Sorry, gonna buy a few wards, wait level 9 and get 3 wards for 275 with my trinkets. Sounds a better plan to me.

Gafugarion2/11/2015, 10:10:20 PM1 votes

Pft, just rush double morellos and deathcap to carry your team from support! Never bother upgrading the starting item, waste of time!

WolfBV2/11/2015, 10:33:30 PM1 votes

OMG IM SO HAPPY NOW. HAVING PATIENCE DOES INDEED HELP WITH PATCHING ISSUES.

TTUPhoenix2/11/2015, 11:19:53 PM1 votes

I play support semi-frequently, and I definitely try to upgrade my gold item to its second tier as fast as possible. The only thing I'd add to this is that I try to get T1 boots relatively early. Helps me get in position to set up kills and/or get in a position to defend the ADC easier.

Mini Gochu2/12/2015, 1:02:46 AM1 votes

As a support main, rushing sightstone is NOT a must. Roaming supports such may rush mobility boots with a pink to ward somewhere deep inside enemy's jungle if they have the chance. This gives you a lot more information, and you can act accordingly to where the enemy jungler is. Sightstone can be bought early-mid game as long as you have 1-2 green wards every time you back. Sweeper should be bought first back / second back depending on situation. (Most times I go for it first back, and once you hit level 9, rush the upgrade.)

Sightstone Upgrade should almost never be upgraded, it's a waste of gold because you are more than likely to never finish the 4 wards you get before backing anyways.

Supports should most times concentrate warding bottom - mid, including jungle. Top should try warding their bush, perhaps ward inside enemy jungle if possible. Mid should ward one side of their lane and stick to it. Jungle should try warding their jungle entry's to avoid counter jungling. They should also try warding enemy jungle if possible. ADC should focus on warding tri-bush, or bottom lane bushes. Supports can only place 3 wards a map and having an extra ward in the enemy jungle is more vital than having one on bot lane side bush.

This is the most basic, and it is just my opinion. Remember supports aren't only there for ADCs. Supports are to help everyone.

Woodakoodashooda2/12/2015, 1:19:50 AM1 votes

And yet AP support players still defend their selfish reasons for going all AP. I admit that my best roles are either Support or Jungle because I don't CS very well. My mid lane game is about average and the same goes for my top lane, but both roles inevitably place me at the center of attention in team fights and I don't enjoy that position unless I am playing something tanky.

As a jungler I am done trying to gank for a bottom lane whose support refuses to provide me with vision! You want your blasting wands and needlessly large rods (emphasis on needlessly)? Fine! Take care. Looks like you've all the damage you need to take on enemy Jungle, Support, Carry, and enemy mid laner whenever they decide it's safe enough to travel half the map to gank your blind ass. And seeing as how top lanes are grabbing teleport more often than not, an encroaching enemy minion wave is their ticket to ride you and your carry into the dirt. But you'd rather not pay the price of admission to see that coming, right?

Silents4292/12/2015, 8:54:21 AM1 votes

Dear Supports,

When I am trying to CS, I need to get into a rhythm so I can last hit, so kindly get the fuck out of the way so I can hit these. Braum your big ass is blocking the minions and your unneeded running back and forth is distracting.

Love ADC

For real though, Support mains, try to ease on the movement, and get the hell out of the way.