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How to Learn Other Roles as a Support Main?

Snake Pillar·9/9/2015, 10:20:02 PM·1 votes·6,093 views

Hi! I'm a support main who play champs like Nami, Janna, and Leona. (Recently been learning Thresh) I do want to learn other roles, but I find that it's really hard to carry. I've been supporting ever since I started to play League. (Friends are partly blame cause I used to be a baddie and they said, "Play supp so we won't lose") I've been starting to play ADC and mid a bit this season, but even if I do win lane, I don't do particularly well outside of lane unless at least one other lane does good too. My mindset is very support oriented and I don't have the bloodlust to be some hyper-carry. I don't do outrageous plays and try to fight when we're outnumbered. I'm like, a chicken. I don't fight fights unless I'm sure that we'll win. But I really really do want to become good at a lane other than support, because it's almost impossible to rank by maining support. I have barely any control over the game, especially in like bronze/silver elo. My only problem is that I can't carry, and when I do try, I often end up dying in every team fight. How do I improve?

13 Comments

Zmuecat9/9/2015, 10:24:31 PM2 votes

Best thing to do is to ease yourself into other roles. Jungle is easy, you just play tanks. Once you get a feel for the jungle, look at the champions who can jungle decently and choose what you look from there.

Mid you can go Lux Morgana Lulu Karma . These champions can play both mid and support with some success, so you can take them bot then head to mid and build them full AP (or however they should be built). After that, do some experimenting and see who you like as a whole for mid, I like Anivia for the wall utility, the stun, etc.

I don't like top. I've tried since the general meta was established to like top, but I can't get into it. Can't help you there.

TouchpadExpert9/10/2015, 1:18:45 AM2 votes

Play bot games. Get mechanics down.

Start out in mid lane with mages. Lots of supports often function in the mid lane or some in the top lane. Karma can go in both lanes and can even jungle to an extent. Other champions to consider:

Anivia Mid, Lulu Mid & top, Morgana Mid, Nautilus Top & jungle, Shen Top and Volibear Top

Linna Excel9/10/2015, 1:33:12 AM2 votes

I'm in the same spot. People who start support don't learn that killer attitude early enough. Practice makes permenent so the best thing you can do is play with intermediate bots a lot and try hard to make plays, roam a bunch, etc. Once you get used to doing those sorts of things, you can start doing them in game so long as you beat your opponent.

BTW, practice CSing. As someone who started support then learned the jungle next, CSing is a bit of an issue for me and I've had to practice a lot just to get to 85cs/10 minutes in a solo custom game.

Kei1439/10/2015, 12:12:58 AM1 votes

I'm in the same boat and still trying to shift through into other roles, it takes alot of time but I do see myself getting better at it bit by bit. I'd play every role and try to get a sense of how to play that role.

Of course, I have no idea how to get better and I'm probably doing it the hard way, but I'd watch youtube videos of high elo players with commentary, I'd watch basic league tutorial videos (I don't like those videos that just show a bunch of "I'm so good plays" while the educator just speaks, I prefer the ones that explain to me bit by bit along with the video of what they are talking about, since my knowledge of the game just sucks), and watch LCS.

As I play the role more, the comments inside the videos start to sink in and I'm starting to able to see what I'm doing wrong. Bit by bit, I'm trying to improve my play and has gone up from Bronze 5 to Bronze 2 and slowly on the climb.

The main thing that helped me within all the roles are mainly gameplay knowledge:

Getting better mechanically (aka CSing) & positioning (got that from ADC)
Getting better senses in map awareness (got that from jungling)
Understanding roaming & times to roam (got that from mid lane)
Understand item power spikes against my opponents
Understanding what every champ does and how to play around that (got that from playing every champ at least 3-10 times, normally when they are at free rotation, in different lanes)

Overall, getting to play each lane better helped me understand macro gameplay more, allowing me to shotcall and make better decisions. Of course, my support play level has increased as well because of everything else I now know. I get caught out less now, I roam better, I have better map awareness, better ward locations and timings, when to help shove the lane and when to freeze.

EDIT: as someone else suggested, try the magey support champs in mid lane, as that will help you improve as a support as well. My dark bindings on Morgana is much better now since I started using her mid.

Support Wood 59/10/2015, 12:51:51 AM1 votes

I encounter the same problem too - I played passive a lot. Most of the time I dont lose lane but dont carry it either. I realized youve got to be aggressive (not ham - should know the limits) to win. If your enemy cc is on cool down, and you know the enemy junglers not there, got to start engaging on them. You win games by punishing enemies mistakes.

I would recommend practice mid or jungle more than adc. I find as support main I can land skill shots well but cant trade as an adc well. Morgana is a pretty easy mid to start with, or even Lulu or Orianna. As for jungle, someone tanky you can engage to start with (Reksai, Gragas, Sejuani, Amumu).

Also, I would recommend learning and practicing shot calling - as I find that is something you can do that will help you and your team win games. As supports check minimaps and ward, this helps you have more info to shot call. Watch streams of high elo players to see how they shot call and that will help you climb.

DXHaseoXD9/10/2015, 1:09:35 AM1 votes

Ah the age old problem of the support main. Well first the trick is to slowly adjust into other roles. The key isn't to force yourself into a role that you have no idea how to play, but rather you should first familiarize yourself with the mechanics of the other roles. The trick to this in my opinion is to first try transitioning from support to adc which will allow you keep yourself in the familiar bot lane, but it does force you to start learning how to play more offensively. Basically this could be called the training wheels of transitioning from the support role. Next try mid because that will allow you to be more familiar with the map in general and help familiarize you with the offensive play style since you'll be the ones making the big ganks or plays. Finally transition into the top or jungle role since these roles will allow you to play the most pivotal roles in any game since they will be the ones tanking and making sure others have a chance to carry or they'll be the ones carrying the whole team. Last but not least, make sure to start with bot and normals because this transition will fuck you up in ranked play.

Miror B9/10/2015, 2:26:06 AM1 votes

I'd reccomend using champions that do not fit your playstyle at all, and just doing things like blind draft/team builder to practice. Get out of your element a bit, try something new, and try to adapt your playstyle. Being able to adapt and use different ones is kinda mandatory to being good at this game, as even in solo-queue you can't always rely on one.

Tyren9/10/2015, 6:24:45 PM1 votes

I'm also a support main, I tend to pick tanky champs and/or champs with utility. You can also play easy champs like hiemer.

Archon X9/9/2015, 10:23:19 PM1 votes

As much as it may seem odd, I'd honestly recommend playing some bot games (vs intermediate of course) because you specifically want to work on your "bloodlust." Since objectives are less important in bot games since unless you have 4 feeders there's essentially no way you can lose, work on going on rampages and getting as many kills as possible. I like taking Jinx and Vayne into bot games to work on becoming that hyper carry. But I feel you, I'm a support main too because I'd rather help my team get an ace than personally score a penta.

Aeolian Melodies9/12/2015, 12:17:55 PM1 votes

Learning ADC should be relatively easy (champions mechanics aside), because as a support player, you know how to work with different support champions, and you know how you want your ADC to play. Start with the safest picks Caitlyn Corki Ezreal Tristana then move to shorter range ADC Graves Lucian Vayne Sivir then learn how to be an ADC without escape that relies 100% on positioning and kiting, Ashe MissFortune KogMaw Varus . Then learn those with more specific mechanics once you understand the role itself Draven Kalista .

If you're trying to learn mid, you can start off with supportive mid laners such as Lux Lulu Karma Orianna Kayle (who can also top and jungle), for instance, them move up to more aggressive mages, Xerath Ziggs Syndra Annie (whom you can play support), Anivia Malzahar etc, then move up to assassins Leblanc Yasuo Zed Ahri for instance.

If you're going for jungle, tanky junglers who often are a bit supportive could be a good fit for you Amumu Nunu Sejuani JarvanIV . Among them, Nautilus and J4 can easily flex to top lane.

Deep Terror Nami9/9/2015, 10:24:26 PM1 votes

Just keep playing them. Make it a point to not play your main role, and fill others instead. Not in Ranked though.

That's what I do. I only play Nami in Ranked, but I absolutely do not play her outside of it. I fill and play other champions in Normals so I get practice elsewhere. If you simply stay away from Supporting for a while I'm sure you'll get used to the carry mindset and can change when you need to.

daemanic9/9/2015, 10:25:06 PM1 votes

the one thing i can say as an old supp main (i was in the same boat as you) you have to throw everything out that you know other than warding and think of it as only 1v1 fights focus on ur lane and watch for jung if jung across map and your lane could be pushed push hard just be map aware and focus on CS once lane phase is over stick to your team and focus on poking or tanking or what ever your playing and keep yourself on the respective line so that if your a tank ur first in if your a nuke look for someone who has been caught and blow them up but most of all just practice just like support every lane takes practice