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If you want to support well, read this. (Long Post)

Takananoshi·10/28/2015, 5:56:20 AM·4 votes·9,190 views

Note: This focuses solely on early item building and maintaining a fair amount of gold gain.

I have been a support main for 4 years and even I have made some mistakes back then while supporting. So, as usual, I learn from it and correct those mistakes. Let's say you main a tanky support like BraumBraum or LeonaLeona . Of course you'd start off with Relic Shielditem 3302 and Health Potionitem 2003 and probably a Stealth Warditem 2044 . That's how I always start off my games at least, because many junglers can gank you at level 2 so your trinketitem 3340 won't be long enough to actually be worth looking at your river area. Be sure to use your first 2 Relic Shield stacks as early as possible on the melee minions (never use them on the mages, they share less gold). Then, once you get your 3rd Relic Shield stacks. Wait until the big minion comes and execute like that, and keep saving your relic shield until big minions come. (Or you can use the Relic Shield stacks sooner to heal your ally, if you aren't a tanky healer like AlistarAlistar or TaricTaric ) Once you go back for items, do NOT buy Sightstone yet. Instead, upgrade your Relic Shield into Targon's Braceitem 3097 and buy 2 Stealth Wards. If you buy the Sightstoneitem 2049 first, your stacks won't come fast enough to make gold faster for you and your ally, Targon's Brace increases the stack gain by double the amount of the previous one (Relic Shield) and you get 3 stacks maximum instead of 2. You can continue wasting your stacks a lot faster than you normally would. Still though, don't waste them on the mage minions, because they still give you less gold. Once you go with your regular support tank build (and please max Targon's Brace by getting Face of the Mountain)item 3401 , You can be really tanky enough to be a GREAT frontline for your team. And please be sure to tell them to stay behind you in team fights, because if you cannot tank, then something is wrong; Your role objective is to literally get hit for your team to protect them. Face of the Mountain has an active that grants you or your ally a shield, it's probably better to give it to one of your allies instead.

Relic Shield note: Do not kill any minions if you do not have any stacks, unless your adc recalled and/or it's far from early game. Sightstone note: Be sure to change your Trinket from Warding Totem, to sweeping lens to seek enemy wards when you buy a Sightstone.item 3341

If you don't play tanky supports; Let's say you play SonaSona or LuluLulu instead (For example). Your starting item can be Spellthief's Edgeitem 3303 or Ancient Coinitem 3301 if you are a passive-type support (a support that barely initiates fights and focuses immensely on keeping your adc alive), and you can get a Stealth Ward and a Health Potion (or it's probably better getting a Mana Potionitem 2004 if you're a champion that can already self heal). With Ancient Coin, all you really have to do is stay by minions while your adc ally destroys them all so you can get a bit of gold from them. With Spellthief's Edge, you'd have to be a bit aggressive to get gold from them: Mainly basic attack enemy champions a lot AT LEAST. But be careful not to draw too much attention. With Spellthief's Edge, You will gain gold if you have stacks on the item AND you attacked an enemy champion while having that stack (You can also gain gold from attacking an enemy structure). Unlike Spellthief's Edge, with Ancient Coin, there's no stacks. You just gain gold with every nearby dead minion. With your 2nd visit to the shop, do what I explained previously with the tanky champs (But in this case, upgrade to Frostfang item 3098 /Nomad's Medallion item 3096 respectively, and then get 2 Stealth Wards). You would be able to make a lot of gold A WHOLE LOT FASTER to ensure getting a Sightstone by your 3rd visit. When you get everything built up enough to be in team fights (please do): do NOT be in the front of the teamfights, you're not a tanky champion in this case and you will probably die faster than anyone on your team, making you useless. Instead, stay near one of your squishy allies, like your adc or mid lane ally and make use of your skills to turn the tide of battle. It is very important that you get 40% cooldown rate on nearly any support champion so you can crowd control constantly. (Also, items with high mana regen helps, unless your SorakaSoraka , then you'd probably want Health Rgen items as well as Mana Regen.

Supporting is as important as any other role in League of Legends. You cannot get far without a skilled support (or a skilled anything). In this case, assists are the new kills. If I have left anything out, feel free to tell me.

6 Comments

blackprior10/28/2015, 2:11:28 PM1 votes

Thanks, that was really helpful. I usually get sightstone on my first trip back.

Amelie10/28/2015, 3:10:18 PM1 votes

Useful general guide, but I personally always build Sightstone before upgrading my support item, unless we are sitting at turret and not getting ganked. I feel the early HP and spamming wards (and early sweeper to help slow down teleport ganks) is more useful than gaining gold. Also, never upgrade item 3303, it's not gold efficient.

warpenguin55510/28/2015, 3:15:59 PM1 votes

Yeah that's what I do when I get relic shield. I always make sure to bring an extra ward with though

Zaranchi10/28/2015, 5:10:30 PM1 votes

Thanks for putting this together! I'll try to be more mindful of melee minion hitting, didn't even think about that, so good point!

I will say however, that to me, the ancient coin seems far better overall than Frostfang. Main reason is that the coin active can be used to initiate or disengage as well as catch up to fleeing enemies. The frostfang has a short range, and you can only slow people if they get hit, so anybody that dashes out of it or is outside of the area of effect (coming at your from the side), will not get caught. The coin boost allows you to give your teammates a boost to get in or out quickly. Furthermore, the coin generates more gold and is less risky overall that the frostfang passive which requires you to hit the enemy (making you have to go up). I have come to the point now where I exclusively only build the coin or the tank item.

What are your thoughts?

PS. I think you should clarify your post title to say something like Supporting Well Early Game as this isn't really a comprehensive guide, but a good outline for early game.

JustJayson10/28/2015, 5:35:23 PM1 votes

I still prefer sight stone / boots first as I prefer to roam often as a support. If I see the enemy jungler top lane and bot has pushed to their tower, then I am going to get deep wards in their jungle and possibly roam mid to make a play or force summoners. I often do this when I have knowledge of where the enemy is and try to coordinate with jungler and mid. Getting those deep wards allow you and your team to have more information. This assists your own jungler allowing safer counter jungle when they have knowledge and making / preventing counter ganks.

Overall you can have a much larger impact assisting your team than simply working in the bot lane. Your adc needs to know how to play in that situation though. I never upgrade relic shield to targons, I most often grab kindle gem before hand then straight to face of the mountain. With spellthiefs edge I often never upgrade it and sell it for the talisman of ascension later in the game.