Ancient coin or wards on ap support?

BreeBreeBRAN·10/14/2014, 4:22:24 PM·2 votes·1,665 views

When I play ap support (usually Morgana but it's been Sona lately) I always start with 3 wards, a pink ward, sweeping lens and faeries charm. But when I watch other people play support they always start with an ancient coin and a warding totem. To me that just seems like a greedy support. You're supposed to provide vision to sustain your adc right? But I can understand why they'd pick ancient coin so they can have more presence in lane quicker. Vision or income?

14 Comments

Drukyul10/14/2014, 4:48:12 PM6 votes

Spellthief's all day.

Anyway, the income leads to a faster sightstone. Vision AND income!

TheRainInSpain10/14/2014, 7:43:14 PM2 votes

It always depends on the support and both teams.

Coin for a more passive laning phase. Your first item should be a Sightstone, and you're looking for a mid/late game presence.

Thief for early harass. You'll be bullying your opponents out of lane or getting early kills (Jungler, ADC, or Support KillSecure).

Doran's Ring if you picked a "real" mage for support and are going to transition into a second mage for mid/late game. Some supports transform into pretty good roaming mages for the mid game, but if you go this route, you might end up taking some kills from your ADC (or carry jungler).

Wards (Stealth, Pink, Combination, etc) if you need early vision/pink vision. This is more for passive ish lanes when going up against a stealthy jungler, if you want to retain control of your bush and are going for a lane freeze while waiting for an early gank from your jungler.

Strommsawyer10/14/2014, 5:00:02 PM2 votes

Especially on Morgana, I would opt for less wards.

Jungler comes in? Land a dark binding and walk away.

Depending on how long you plan to stay in lane, 3 wards seems like a lot at the start of the game.

Deep Terror Nami10/14/2014, 5:46:09 PM1 votes

You don't start with a bunch of wards because very often your first back to pick up a Sightstone, Pink, and Sweeper happens before you ever get ganked by the jungler, or he only came by once (which your yellow trinkets and maybe 1 green ward are enough to counter). If you just buy a ton of wards, you have shit sustain and will lose your lane, and you'll also probably still have green wards when you first back and get your sightstone. The earlier you start with a gold item, the quicker it pays for itself and starts giving you a profit (plus they have a little sustain built in).

BreeBreeBRAN10/14/2014, 6:14:15 PM1 votes

One ward for tri bush. One ward for the river. One for the bushes by the towers. A pink ward behind their blue or red depending on which side I'm on. Like 90% of games I've played the jungler either camps bot the entire laning phase, or the majority of their ganks are bot. I don't trust my skillshots enough to land a q that'll save my adc from a gank unless there is no minion wave because I usually end up panicking and stunning a minion.
So it just made sense to me that if I can avoid ganks longer then we can usually stay in lane longer and farm more gold.

MysticWav10/14/2014, 6:37:13 PM1 votes

I usually have the increased starting gold mastery when supporting and open with either a gold item, potions, and a warding trinket, OR a gold item, 2 green wards, and a sweeper. Depends on how important I think keeping a given enemy supports wards clear is.

Magma Lux Mid10/14/2014, 6:43:01 PM1 votes

On Zyra I start Spellthief, three health pots, and ward totem almost every time. First back I can usually afford Frostfang, health item, and a couple wards and pots.

I start with 3 health pots because Zyra is squishy and could use the sustain to stay as high health as possible. I'll also use her plants as wards if my trinket is down.

EDIT: Not to mention that a lot of AP supports (Zyra, Morg, Annie, Karma) are heavy poke champs. Spellthief gives you AP and some bonus damage so your poke hurts a bit more.

Eleshakai10/14/2014, 7:32:17 PM1 votes

Spellthief is your friend as an AP support. you'll get so much gold, it'll pay for itself within a relatively short time and when you count in the trading power... it's just amazing.

If you don't trust your skillshots, practice them. Don't sacrifice your early game just for that.

ParinoidPanda10/14/2014, 7:41:05 PM1 votes

I just had a flashback to season 2...

But on topic, If you get a gold generating item first, you'll have 800 gold by 6 minutes, when you'll be wanting a Sightstone. Until then, starting with the warding trinket and 1 ward 2 pots is plenty. especially since the ADC starts with a Warding trinket too.

Frostbutt10/15/2014, 12:21:32 AM1 votes

Depending on my support, I start with one of the gold income items (Targon's for tanks, spellthief for ranged supports, Coin for thresh), a ward, two potions, and a warding totem.

Then, I get sightstone ASAP, replace my totem with a lens, then go onto upgrading my gold income item. Buying an income item first is not greedy at all. Taking CS from your ADC would be greedy.

CrispCrustacean10/15/2014, 1:54:19 AM1 votes

First, Buying the recommended build for morg support is better because you need that gold income from the support items Second, get a item 3303 because pool ticks grant 1 proc per tick which is 15/30 (if upgraded) gold each time its used with full stacks

Der Metzger10/14/2014, 4:56:35 PM1 votes

why start 3 wards?

Duke Anax10/14/2014, 5:16:57 PM1 votes

what do you need all those wards for?

I rather start with coin, one ward and yellow trinket, That's usually enough until I go back for coin upgrade and more wards.

But I haven't come across enemies that start sweeper yet.