unsure about supping, need suggestions

lofi n chillhop·Oct 23, 2015·1 votes·338 views

Hi,

I've been having difficulty whenever I go sup because I just don't have the experience with this meta or with the role to do well. I can't play thresh or braum because they require too much champion experience and matchup knowledge that I am useless as them. I don't like leona because I usually get poked out or watch my adc get poked out and usually if I pick her it's against a thresh who knows how to flay cancel her engage. I can't pick janna because she's too squishy and without consistent experience since I fill, I also get outplayed there.

I do go sona fine, but I can't pick her against hard engage teams, so I need a second sup. Alistar sort of works, but he's like braum in lane, so my adc is usually out-farmed when I go alistar...

any suggestions? or should I just suck it up and fill sona/alistar and accept the 48% winrate as sup fill...

8 Comments

Aeolian MelodiesOct 23, 20152 votes

Annie is good for braindead engage/aggro lane. Ridiculously easy to pick up and do decent as.

Morgana is relatively easy to pick up (provided you can land a skillshot) and is well rounded in offence and defense - she's very good against hard engage supports/comps because she can use her E on the intended target while using Q and R to counter-engage.

Soraka is brain dead easy but she's not that good against hard engage comps, but she's ridiculous against poke since she nullifies it with ease.

Archon XOct 23, 20151 votes

you can add me if you want to discuss it, I'm a plat 2 support main

Taric the GayOct 23, 20151 votes

I can tell you all about Taric but he's hard to play in this way. The short version is to stand by your carry to grant them your aura buff. You heal any poke they take while they are farming. And then stun the enemy ADC when your ADC gets jumped. And use your ult when a teamfight starts happening. Some of his best matchups are against Kalista, Ezreal, Leona and Janna.

Alistar is also one of my better supports. He is a counter engage support. You will have a rough time against poke laners. Your heals are what you will be using early game. But there are some tricks you can use to get in a good engage. One of my favorite tricks is to headbutt a minion as a gap closer then immediately pulverize and walk away. When the enemy knows I am capable of doing this I can effectively zone them out making my laning phase that much easier. But that combo takes a lot of mana so use it sparingly. As a counter engagement support Alistar functions very well against hard engagement compositions such as Leona, Thresh, Nautilus and even Braum. The trick is to head butt the enemy ADC out of the picture then allow your ADC to outtrade the enemy support. Mid to late game you just want to build armor and magic resistance, soak up damage, look menacing and peel for your carries.

I hate Sona. She's got a real strong Laning phase. What I hate about her is how vulnerable she is when she goes in to poke and how her CC has to be charged up in order to use it. That and its only on one target and not even hard CC. Sona's only reliable CC is her ultimate with a 90 second cool down. That's too long of a window of vulnerability for such a squishy champion. No thanks. I will stick with my gem knight.

lofi n chillhopOct 23, 20151 votes

that actually helps a lotthanks. Iwill give taric and alistar a revisit...

any tips on build and level order with them? I'd guess weq max wqe with taric? weq max wqe on alistar?

should I rush zekes every game? I've been rushing locket some games...

Taric the GayOct 23, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=jinxie pooksie,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=dyU16KxO,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2015-10-23T15:02:46.535+0000)

that actually helps a lotthanks. Iwill give taric and alistar a revisit...

any tips on build and level order with them? I'd guess weq max wqe with taric? weq max wqe on alistar?

should I rush zekes every game? I've been rushing locket some games...

Yup, Taric you max in this order R > W > Q > E. I take E first then take Q level 2 if they have a heavy hitting AP support or if they got a rough start and are under 50% hp. Otherwise I take W level 2. Alistar I max like so R > Q > W > E. I take Q level 1 and play safe early on. I take W level 2 and E level 3.

You should always rush a sight stone no matter who you are as a support. Both Taric and Alistar have point-and-click abilties. You can't stun/headbutt something you cannot see. And on both of them I usually get myself a relic shield and upgrade that and use it to help keep me and my ADC sustained through the enemy poke. The active on it really isn't that great. After that my builds tend to differ.

Taric I typically build up a ninja tabi for shoes in 90% of my games and occasionally a merc tread in the other 10% for when they have a lot of hard CC or fed mages. Frozen Heart is usually my first "normal" item. It works great against Kalista and other AA based champs such as Jax or Olaf. None of the stats are wasted on him. Most games end by the time you get this far. But in the off chance they last longer the following two items work incredibly well on him: Banner of Command & Zz'rot Portal. You can use these two items to split push the side lanes while your team groups up and shoves mid lane or takes dragon or Baron or something. Zz'rot gives better stats for Taric (all defense) and Banner of Command has a better active/synergy with Taric's kit. Banner also produces more gold for Taric since every minion slain by your super minion gives you the gold. And if it takes any damage you just heal it right back up. Taric's late game stats and how well he synergizes with split pushing while still being an effective team fighter is what makes him strong. You could also build Locket of the Iron Solari if they have AOE AP mages like Zyra, Swain, Vel'koz or Lux. Or if you are the primary tank and a majority of their damage is coming from AP sources then go with Spirit Visage. Oh and Banshee Veil if they have a good Blitzcrank or Thresh.

Alistar I usually build swifty boots. Sometimes mobility if I see lots of roaming and pick offs happening. Merc treads also find a use on Alistar. After that there really is no set item that I build next. I usually base it on what I have opposing me or what I think my team needs most. Zeke's Harbinger isn't a bad item. It suits his style too, where you bide your time then go all in on the enemy. Righteous Glory for when you have a kill comp team and need the speed boost to get close enough to engage on them. Randuin's Omen for the AOE slow. Iron Solari for AOE AP enemies. Zz'rot for split pushing/tanking. Frozen Mallet if you go top lane and need a damage item. Frozen Heart or Thronmail when the enemy team has lots of AD. I wish I could give you a straight answer but my Alistar build is 100% adaptive to whats around me.

IsmokeOreganoOct 23, 20151 votes

Zilean has such high utility with a perma-slow to enemies or speed boost to allies. Has a stun and great zoning with time bombs. Slap your ult on your adc and they can turret dive for a double and speed boost them out of turrets harm after they re spawn. The AoE damage is great in team fights and after laning phase you deal surprisingly high damage. Build a little CDR and his ult is up practically every team fight, and bringing one person back to full health can really change the whole fight.

Nautilus is the definition of a lock-down support. His passive allows his autos to be a mini- stun. between that, his knock up ult, his pull, and his AoE slow you can't escape him. Plus he is tanky enough with his shield to be a bullet sponge. Requires very little champion knowledge to do well.

Galio Underestimated. Very very underestimated. His W heals when he is hit with auto attacks, so the enemy adc will just heal you if you max this first. Q is a high damage slow, and e is a speed buff to your own ADC so they never too far behind. use your W for shield and pop his ult to heal yourself and lock-down opponents while your ADC blasts them down. You choose when to come out of ult so you can secure kills or lock-down as long as possible. get a spirit visage and you're good to go

lofi n chillhopOct 23, 20151 votes

with Galeo do you fight or poke? are his autos decent to use or do you try to damage with his abilities only? does he have a core item after sight stone?

TouchpadExpertOct 23, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=jinxie pooksie,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=dyU16KxO,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2015-10-23T17:29:28.563+0000)

with Galeo do you fight or poke? are his autos decent to use or do you try to damage with his abilities only? does he have a core item after sight stone?

Galio is pretty interesting in that nobody ever maxes his W. If you do max his W you will realize that Galio is the BEST champion in the game for freezing a lane. All those minion hits he takes, yeah he actually gains hp off them. So you and your ADC just farm under tower. Occasionally poke with your Q and when you get minion aggro use W on yourself and heal back any poke you just received. Then when your jungler shows up cast E and engage on them. You ultimate does wonders for setting up an all in. It's pretty hard to poke a Galio out of lane. He will run out of mana before he runs out of health simply because his W is so broken. And with Galio you poke, find an opening and go all in. His auto attack animation is pretty bad and he doesn't hit hard. He will need his abilities to do damage. I stated how to play him in the previous paragraph but I figured this one would be a more direct answer to your original questions. Core items are usually anything with magic resistance. Spirit Visage, Aegis of the Legion, Banshee Veil, Athene's Unholy Grail and Mikael's Crucible. Usually as a support you can only pick 2 of the above items and generally it will be Aegis and Mikael's for their utility aspect. For armor you can go with a thorn mail or a randuin's omen. Galio's E ensures that he can close a gap and get off a good randuins slow field. Frozen Heart is usually too pricey on a support's salary but you could go about getting it if they have a Kalista or something auto attack related like Aatrox or Jax. And merc treads are pretty obvious too.