Hello again Summoners! Welcome again to another guide on League of Legends and, this time, I bring you a beginner’s guide on how to play another complicated lane. Here is how to Support. Yes, this is a hard as hell lane to master as well, if not even the hardest. You may think your only job is to, well, support your teammates, especially your AD Carry, and you are right, but is not only that.
To begin from the start, is best to know about the types of Support, best champions for practicing, how to help your team efficiently, how to ward the map well, how to manipulate waves and what you should or shouldn’t do during the match in general.
Told you it was a lot of stuff. But don’t worry, I got you! I’ll do my best to explain everything in an easy and interesting way. So, let us begin!
1. Types of Supports
There are plenty of sub types of Supports, but just to let everyone in the same page, let’s focus on just four: Enchanter, Tank, Pick and Damage. For beginners, is best to start with Enchanters or with Tanks, since they are simpler and easier to play than the others. Let’s see what they do, shall we?
- Enchanter: the most common type of support and the most used one. They work just like a sorcerer or cleric, if using RPG names. Basically, they have a high range attack, which is awesome to get distance from enemies and avoid damage. They also have special skills like heal, shield and some kind of buffs for the teammates, varying especially on move speed and attack speed.
- Tank: the second most common and the second easiest to play. Tank Supports are used for Engages and Disengages, using their high defense and HP status to absorb enemy’s damage and gain advantage for the team. Be careful though, because they usually have a melee attack range and, on Bot Lane, where you have to deal with ADC’s constantly ranged attacks, it can be quite frustrating.
- Pick: I got to say, they are one of the most hated characters in game. Why? Because they have skills that can end the enemy easily, or at least, humiliate them. They focus on grapping and pulling opponents close, and debuffing them with silence, slow and even paralyze. If you wish to be a pain in the head, just go for it.
- Damage: this type is mostly used for more experienced players and, as the name suggests, they focus on dealing more damage to enemies. It’s a hard role to play, especially since you’ll need items quickly to finally be able to deal some damage. However, you won’t get as much money as your ADC, but we will see more of that later.
2. Choosing a Champion
As mentioned, the best ones to start playing are Enchanters or Tanks characters, but of course, you can try the others as well if you wish (just don’t test a new champion on Ranked, please).
Here’s a list of the easiest champions to play of each type:
- Enchanter: Sona, Soraka, Janna.
- Tank: Leona, Alistar, Malphite.
- Pick: Blitzcrank, Morgana, Nautilus.
- Damage: Lux, Brand, Annie.
If you are already an advanced player and would like a bit of a challenge, you can also pick:
- Enchanter: Nami, Lulu, Karma, Orianna.
- Tank: Braum, Maokai, Tahm Kench, Galio, Taric.
- Pick: Pyke, Thresh, Senna, Rakan.
- Damage: Xerath, Vel’Koz, Veigar, Zyra, Swain.
Of course, their types can also change when changing runes, items or even their overall objectives. The Meta is also changing every time, so you are pretty much free to test whatever you want if it suits you.
Keep in mind that everything in League changes constantly, at least a little, but that little can change many things. Items, runes, monsters and even champions can get buffs or debuffs, so try keep up with the new updates. Also, pay attention on what’s getting popular, you can always learn something new and even have a new main.
3. Know your Job
Finally, the most important part, is to know what the heck do you actually do, and what you don’t do on Bot Lane (this is also a big deal):
No Farming for you
The Support doesn’t farm. Yes, that’s it, you don’t farm. Why? Because the Support lane doesn’t need as much gold as the other lanes, and besides, they already get money just by standing nearby the farming ADC, so always stay close to them.
Ok, ok, just to not generalize, you can farm on special occasions: when the ADC is in base and you are still in lane (and safe), you can farm the minions all you want to recover some gold. Also, on late game, if there aren’t many team fights occurring, you can farm again on minions or on jungle monsters.
When you’ll be getting used to playing as a Support and getting better and better, you can also try to help your ADC farming, by attacking minions and letting the last hit go to your companion. Is pretty hard to do this as a beginner, since you can kill a minion by accident and get scolded for it. So practice and practice.
Basic Attacks are important
Do not forget about basic attacks. It may sound ridiculous, but is pretty common to forget about it, especially in the beginning. Supports don’t usually have many damage dealing skills, so their main way to hit minions, monsters, towers and enemies are by basic attacks.
Even if they are not as strong as other champion’s, dealing basic damage could be the key to win an important team fight or objective.
Save Special Skills
Another important deal is to always pay attention to your skills. Do not use them in vain, since mana lost and cooldowns could be the reason to your defeat.
For example, if you are getting ganked, you’ll need to have an important skill for this situation, like slow or paralyze. Enabling the enemy could give you and your companion a chance to escape.
Ward, Ward and Ward
Have I mentioned Ward? This is the most important job the Support do, as well as keeping your teammates alive, of course. Since the Support doesn’t need to farm, they are the best ones to give vision to the map, just like the Jungler. Doing so, not only your whole team is able to get better prepared, but you can also help them by communicating or pinging on where the enemy is (since, you know, there are a lot of people that refuse to look at the map).
Some tips on where to ward are:
- The Tri-Bush, since enemies can literally appear from any of these three sides.
- The Bot River Bush, to avoid Jungler ganks and to help your nearby teammates with vision as well.
- Any other Bush, to maintain vision of your enemies, maybe on a bush that they usually go to.
- The Dragon, for when they finally decide to appear on map. You can keep track if your enemies are willing to defeat it or if they are nearby. In this time, is best to not be advanced on lane, since the whole enemy team can gank you easily.
Another thing is that you can use a regular ward in the beginning of the match, just to gain vision. Later on, you can take the Pink Ward to counter opponent’s wards. Remember, vision in League is key to victory, just like communication.
And always remember, your main goal is to stay alive. If any of your objectives seems too risky at the time, don’t do it. A feeding team is a losing team.
And that’s it for the beginner’s guide on how to Support! Have a great match ahead and see you on the Rift!
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