How to play support LoL - the ultimate guide to carry your carries

So you are here which means you decided/were forced to play the most unrewarding, flamed and depressing role in the whole League of Legends. Congratulations! You have just placed your head on a chopping block. We’ll make sure you’re not gonna lose it. If you want to know how to play support in lol, keep reading. 

Table of contents:

What does Support do?

Which Support is right for you?

Which Spells are best?

Which Items should you go for?

How to Play Support?

Getting out of Elo Hell

Autofill Support

Support Tips & Tricks

Summary

What does a Support do in LoL?

There are five main positions in League of Legends - top, mid, jungle, attack damage carry (ADC) and support. The two latter combined make ‘bot lane’ or ‘duo lane’. Typically the role of support is self-explanatory. Due to ADC being weak and unable to protect himself, he’s in need of help.

Here is where you come in.

But protecting ADC is not your only responsibility. You also need to care about the vision, your team’s safety, objectives and eventually - win. You keep an eye on everything so that your laners can freely focus on their role, which is carrying.

And this way YOU ARE the ultimate carry.

It’s a hard role, least appreciated and glorified, particularly in low Elo. Below Gold, you’re just another carry. But if you’re patient and good at your craft, one day you may see something like this after the game.

Which LoL support champion should I pick

The champion pick is where the game truly begins. 

Remember - the lower you are, the more emphasis players put into team fights, rather than a macro game. Thus, picking a champion who excels in teamfighting might be a good choice (Yeah, I remember you, Brand).

Types of LOL support champions

We can group LoL supports based on their skills, abilities, purpose, and tactic.

Always keep in mind, that some of them are useful, others just playable. We’ll underline the viable champions, leaving those only playable not underlined. Also 

Generally, anything that has crowd control abilities, doesn’t need a lot of gold to be useful and has some lane presence, can be viable. Although its viability will depend on current META.

Tip: Sustain is countered by all-in. All-in is countered by poke. Poke is countered by sustain.

1. Against Soraka you’ll pick Alistar, and kill her level 2-3 with ignite.

2. Against Alistar, you’ll pick Zyra, and beat the crap out of the cow from range.

3. Against Zyra you’ll pick Soraka, and you’ll heal through all her damage.

And so on.

LoL Support Defensive Champions

Their skillset allows them to heal, shield and by any other means defend others. Their offensive potential is usually mediocre and not worth an effort (with some exceptions). Of course, you can build full AP Janna, Karma or Morgana and deal damage, but this also lowers your true potential, and thus your chances of winning.

We would not advise picking these champions in lower divisions. They are ‘carry-dependant’. Having none of them, makes you useless as well and you'll need your enemies to make a major mistake in order to win.

Champions: Bard, Janna, Kayle, Karma, Lulu, Lux, Morgana, Nami, Orianna, Sona, Soraka, Taric, Yuumi, Zilean.

Fun fact: Back in Ardent Censer META Trundle was a quite viable pick here. 

Engage/Disengage

These are usually tanky champions with a lot of crowd control abilities. They can start the battle, lock enemies down with slows, stun, roots or knock-ups, and also use the same tools to stop enemies engage. They are also called the ‘playmakers’, but in order to do that you need:

• high proficiency at the champion,

• following teammates.

Don’t expect yourself to pick Thresh for the first time in a lifetime, and go MadLife mode right away. I also do not recommend those in low Elo. They require lots of mechanical skill, roam understanding, correct spacing and trading which probably you will be short of.

Champions: Alistar, Blitzcrank, Braum, Cho’Gath, Galio, Gragas, Leona, Malphite, Maokai, Nautilus, Ornn, Poppy, Rakan, Shen, Sion, Tahm Kench, Thresh.

Fun fact: Alicopter plays Rammus support in NA Grand Master. 

LOL Support Aggressive Champions

My personal favorite type of League of Legends support.

Typically aggressive support doesn’t need as much gold as a solo laner to do work. They are mostly AP based champions (Zyra, Brand, and Vel’Koz being I guess the most popular in that department) with high base damage and some CC.

Playing these champions will require going for the blue support item and poking the crap out of your enemy in the early game.

These champions are in my opinion the best to get yourself out of Elo Hell because of their carry potential. With engaging support you need a good follow up, which not always will be there. With protective champion you need carries. With aggressive support sometimes you will have the opportunity to turn the whole game around with one good play, one good teamfight (and we’re assuming that you ARE good players capable of doing such things). Most of all, they are the least carry-dependant champions as they can win by themselves.

Champions: Anivia, Annie, Brand, Fiddlesticks, Pyke, Veigar, Vel'Koz, Xerath, Zoe, Zyra.

Fun fact: I have bumped into Teemo playing support, and in certain conditions, it can work. His blind will give you an advantage in trades, and his shrooms act like a ward.

Off-META supports

This category includes unconventional champions, that in theory can work in a support role, but it’s rather uncommon. If you are Iron to Gold player it’s not recommended for you to create META, because most likely you will fail.  It’s better to use tested and viable strategies than looking for your own.

Three justified instances of playing off-META supports are listed below.

Certain compositions

Illaoi - combined with Draven gives him cashout whenever he kills the Soul Vessel.

Miss Fortune - as a counter to Zyra plants. Also, MF required hard CC AD Carry like Ashe or Varus.

Pantheon - in duo with Taliyah. His W allows her to land her W, and roaming potential is massive.

One trick

If you are top Riven main or jungle Nocturne, and you have over 500 games played on that champion, you can give it a try. Simple League of Legends rule says that bad one trick is better than a good first-timer. If you are an experienced Riven player, you know her combos and animation well, you can carry, but it will be much harder.

Also, you need to keep in mind that your teammates, especially in low Elo, will not share the enthusiasm on the idea and take you for a troll. Remember that League of Legends team consists of five players, and when they are working together it’s much easier to win, than when one of them is stubbornly trying to lose. Low Elo players tend to believe in their skills, even if they aren’t there. They think of themselves as if they were the best players in the world dragged down by n00b teammates and AFK’s (which is obviously a lie). They lack auto-criticism and telling them: ‘Trust me, I played 500 games on this champion’ will not satisfy them, and best case scenario they will leave the lobby. Worst case they will throw the whole game.

So, humility is sometimes a decent solution.

One more thing. As support in League of Legends, you will not get as much farm and experience as a solo laner. So if normally as a Riven you’d beat down Jax at 20-minute mark, you may not be able to do this as a support.

Troll game

If you feel like playing normal and having pure fun, then some troll pick may be your way to go. You can check BunnyFufuu and see his full AD Thresh. Also, I've always enjoyed Darius down at the bot lane.

How to play support in lol - The beginning

The game begins in the lobby.

There are 20% odds that you’ll land the first pick. Hold up right there. Someone may ask you to pick for him, so care. If you are asked for the first pick, don’t instalock your champion. Matching someone’s request, you are already building positive vibes around the game. You’re being cooperative, and cooperation brings you one step closer to a victory. If it was jungler or a mid laner, he might even be kind enough to roam down bot lane, who knows?

Back to your pick. First of all, unless you are a pro player, don’t pick every support available. There is no need to. One of the most common pieces of advice for improving at League of Legends is to main up to three champions at each role. So select three main characters and devote them to them. The best option is maining one of them, and having two more just in case - one for countering your own main, and one for other instances.

I used to main Zyra. When she was picked or banned, I was picking Brand. In other cases, I was going for Janna, or if we needed something beefier I was choosing Braum.

Synergy

Some champions work well with others, some not. Synergy surely helps in winning your lane, and the game as a whole, but it will not always be a deciding factor in champion selection. You need to pick a champion, that represents you, your nature, temper, that fits you and so on. Pick carefully, because at some point you will be treating your main with the sentiment as if it was a part of your family or even part of yourself.

You have to get to know your pick. What are its good and bad sides? What it excels at, and where does it fall off? What it synergizes with? Does it have crowd control? Maybe you will have no AP Carries?

I remember one time I had Yasuo ADC back in the times when it was not even close to META. He asked for Alistar. I went for it. Yasuo carried like crazy. All I had to do was W + Q combo and vision control.

Which support in League of Legends should I main 

The lower you are, the more simple the champion is recommended. Something with not a lot of skill shots, few hard mechanics, something that does not require 500k mastery points to do stuff. Something that is relatively easy to play and rather common, so that you don’t need to explain the whole idea to your teammates (‘OMG, Malzahar support? You trolling! I go afk’). The lower you are, the less game knowledge people have, so don’t count on that. Some of them still think that only support is able to put a ward.

‘Which Summoner Spells should I pick as support?’

Heal - gives the caster and the closest or the most wounded ally 90 - 345 (based on level) health along with a 35% bonus movement speed for one second.

You can go for heal when playing defensive champion or with Guardian keystone (Resolve tree), where you can amplify total healing with Revitalize rune. Good spell when your ADC goes for teleport, but don't ever take it on damage supports.

Ghost - your character is ghosted (moves through units) for 10 seconds and gains increased movement speed.

Right now I can't think of support, that would benefit from using it.

Barrier - shields your champion for 115 - 455 (based on level) for 2 seconds.

Recommended when you are selfish and you play support, that is relatively easy to kill or gains heavy enemy focus (like Soraka).

Exhaust - slows the enemy by 30% and reduces his damage output by 40%.

Number one option on non-damage passive champions, especially combined with hyper-carry ADC against assassin enemies (Zed, Talon, Katarina etc.). 40% dmg reduction is sometimes a question of life and death for your ADC.

Flash - blinks your champion 400 units range.

There is no reason not to take flash.

Teleport - after 4 seconds teleports your champion to a target.

Not really useful on supports, at least not in solo queue.

Smite - deals 390 - 1000 (based on level) true damage to a monster, minion or pet.

Even less useful than Teleport.

Cleanse - removes all disables except suppression (Malzahar or Skarner ult) and knock up. Grants 65% tenacity for 3 seconds.

Commonly used on Tahm Kench in higher divisions and pro play, because of his Devour. He can save a teammate, but can't save himself.

Ignite - sets enemy on fire, dealing 70 - 410 true damage over 5 seconds. Applies Grievous Wounds (healing reduction).

Must-have for aggressive supports. Ignite in lane increases kill pressure. Recommended against heavy healing champions, like Vladimir or Aatrox, and against healing supports like Soraka.

With Unsealed Spellbook on supports, these tips do not apply.

You don’t take flash on Yuumi, as she doesn’t need it. Most of the time she will be attached to an ally and benefit from them having flash. Also, she will not be engaging with flash, as it’s not her purpose, and having additional battle spells becomes handy.

Which support item should I take?

There are three - Ancient Coin (yellow), Spellthief’s Edge (blue) and Relic Shield (green). They all cost 400 and basically, there is no reason not to take them as support. If you see Lux or Xerath support with Doran’s Ring, you can feel sorry for them. As support, they will not get enough gold to carry, and this is the main purpose of taking the support item - to compensate for the gold deficit.

Each of them has its quest to fulfill. Working on it gives you additional income, and after it’s completion it upgrades your item giving you better stats and wards.

They all cost 400, thus allowing you to buy two health potions or control ward Faerie Charm. Go forward if you are 100% sure you will dominate the lane. Otherwise, choose pots.

Ancient Coin 

- 5% cooldown reduction,

- + 2 gold per 10 seconds,

- +5 movement speed.

Unique - Favor: nearby enemy minions killed by any ally sometimes drop a coin which gives 28 gold or 6% of missing mana back (minimum 10). A gold coin can only be dropped if an allied champion is nearby. Cannons will always drop a coin provided that you don't kill it.

Unique - Quest. After 500 earned using this item it upgrades, giving you wards.

Coins are dropped in rotation.

This item is the best on defensive, ranged champions who are staying in the lane a lot, not harassing that much.

Spellthief’s Edge

- + 10 ability power,

- + 2 gold per 10 seconds,

- + 25% mana regen.

Unique - Tribute. Grants a charge every 10 seconds (up to three charges). A damaging spell or auto-attack against an enemy champion or building consumes one charge to deal 13 bonus magic damage and granting an additional 11 gold. Killing a minion or non-epic monster temporarily disables the gold generating passive.

Unique - Quest. After 500 earned using this item it upgrades, giving you wards.

This is the best item for champions that are aggressive and harassing, especially AP lane bullies. They benefit the most from additional AP, mana regen and damage on-hit.

Relic Shield

- +1 gold per 10 seconds,

- +50 HP.

Unique - Spoils of War. Gives a charge every 40 seconds, up to 2 charges. Melee basic attacks can use a charge to execute minions below a certain amount of health. Killing a minion while having this item heals you and the nearest allied champion and grants your ally kill bounty.

Unique - Quest. After 500 earned using this item it upgrades, giving you wards.

As killing a minion gives gold to both you and your ally, it is best to kill the Cannon Minion with it.

I do not recommend this item in lower divisions, as you might be accused of stealing a farm, and you will have a hard time using your stacks. Also, it's the best used on tanky, engaging melee supports, which might be hard to play without proper follow up.

Tip: If you are playing alongside Relic Shield support, you will get the gold and healing when you are the closest ally to him. You can use it to get some additional income in mid to late game.

How do I play as support?

As you probably know there are three main stages of the game - early game, mid-game, and late game. Depending on your champion pick, your overall team comp, and a few other factors, your playstyle should be adjusted to the situation.

Early game

Invade

As the game begins, either you invade or not. You should check the team comps. Who has stronger lvl 1? How many ignites each side has? Who has more base damage and CC?

Some champions are made for invading. Twisted Fate has point-and-click stun lvl 1, Braum passive can stun five players and Blitzcrank… Well, it’s self-explanatory.

If you have weak level 1, or you’re not on the same page with your team, give it up. Secure jungle entrances, deny enemy invade and then head straight to your lane.

Tip: Blitzcrank with his grab will want to invade 7/10 times. The good thing against it is hiding as five in the bush in your jungle and set a trap.

Tip: Against Shaco you always want to invade. He doesn’t need a leash thanks to his boxes. Break them, it will slow him down and automatically put your jungle in an advantageous spot.

Leash

Depending on your jungler’s pick and the side he starts, you either help him or not.

If you are leashing, you’ll be a little late in the lane; although make sure you’ll be there before the first creep dies. Otherwise, you’ll be behind in experience and enemies will hit level 2 first.

Pay attention to your opponents coming to the lane. If they are late as well, let your jungler know, that most likely they pulled. 

Tip: sometimes you can make a fake leash, although it requires your opponents to have minimum game knowledge. Fake leash might lead their jungler/bot lane to belief, that your jungler has started the bot.

To do this you show up late to the lane. High Elo enemies will see, that you didn’t spend mana or HP, so they will know you didn’t pull. You can trick them - use an ability on your way to lane or let jungle camp hit you once or twice.

Note: this works only if enemies don’t have a vision in your jungle.

Tip: when not leashing on the blue (upper) side, you can rush into enemy tribush and set a trap. 9/10 times enemy bot will pass through there. You may earn an early advantage.

Tip: playing aggressive support (the one with the blue item) gives you an opportunity to harass enemy jungler, while he’s doing the first camp. Sometimes he will not smite and there is a chance of stealing it. This puts their jungler into a huge disadvantage. You can sneak your way into their jungle and ward the bush near the buff. Wait for the right moment to use your ability. Morgana, Karma or Brand can do it easily.

Also when you play Blitzcrank, you can grab the camp through the wall forcing it to reset.

Keep in mind that it’s risky - enemies might turn on you.

Laning phase

How you perform in the lane, affects later parts of the game, or even the whole game. 

If you see your ADC struggle to the last hit or getting damaged, you need to step up a little bit.

Depending on your pick you will be harassing enemies, protecting your carry or waiting for an all-in.

Generally, you will be pushing or getting pushed. It depends on:

• Area of Effect (AoE) abilities - like Caitlyn Peacemaker (Q) or Varus Hail of Arrows (E),

• lane dominance,

• jungler presence,

• if you’re ADC is auto attacking more than his counterpart, you’re likely to push.

Pushing holds enemy bot lane in place, allows you to harass them under tower, dive or roam.

Keep in mind that you will be also more vulnerable to ganks.

You shouldn't auto-attack minions at all, as it disrupts your ADC. Exceptions are:

• CS-ing under the tower,

• lvl 2 rush,

• when you ADC asks for it; make sure you don’t last hit!

Typically when the first tower is destroyed, the early game ends.

Mid-game

Objectives control

This is moving the pressure of the game around the map in a way, that allows your team to take an objective - dragon, Herald, Baron or tower. Your duty here is warding and killing enemy wards.

Objective control depends on the state of the game. If you have an advantage as a team, you will want to force a team fight, find a pick or make opponents back. The good thing is eliminating enemy jungler.

When behind, you may approach the objective and hope that enemies make mistake or your jungler will steal it.

Use your advantages

If you have team fighting composition, you should force team fights. With poking team comp you can push and poke the enemies, slowly dealing damage to towers. In split push composition you should create pressure and enable split pusher.

Rotations

Don’t be stacked in mid lane. It’ not an ARAM. You should be able to predict where the game should be going. For example, if you pushed top lane right to the inhibitor turret, and your mid-wave is closing in, go there.

Rotations are where you care about the vision for two reasons:

- securing a safe path,

- catching an enemy out of position.

Tip: always push mid before going for a neutral objective. This forces your enemies to catch the wave and push back, giving you time and objective control.

Tip: Scuttle Crab is not only for junglers. If you have hard CC in your kit, go for it. It gives money, mana and advantage around the objective.

Late game

Here is where protective supports shine, provided that you have a hyper-carry on your team. You simply wait, maintain objective control, guard your ADC, care about vision and capitalize on enemies mistakes. This is the stage of the game where one teamfight is game-changing, so make sure you are fighting for something. Patience is your friend here.

Nowadays games rarely last 35+ minutes, so if you play correctly you will not find yourself in the late game.

How do I get out of ‘Elo Hell’ playing support?

Vision

One of the reasons I chose the support role. I was getting mad at no vision. There is a special place in Hell for supports not buying support items. I tried jungle and top lane, but eventually, when I saw only Fog of War on the minimap and our support was joyfully running around and doing barely anything, I decided to take this burden.

Vision has been support's duty for a very long time. Whoever has better vision, can set traps and outmaneuver opponents on the map. Lack of vision, neglecting it, not buying control wards, pushing without knowledge of an opponent whereabouts ends up in a lost team fight, lost objective, or even game. And it’s your job not to let that happen.

In the early game, you need to use your free yellow trinket, as it’s the only thing you have by the time.

Check timers. If drake is spawning in a minute and a half, you should set up some vision. Ping like crazy, that you want to sweep the area and put wards. Go for deep wards only when you're safe or guarded by jungler. If otherwise happens, let it go.

Remember, as support you will be flamed for bad vision. Even if you have three regular wards already placed, along with a control ward deep in the enemy jungle, and your teammates never placed their yellow trinket.

Don’t buy Control Ward when you have no pressure in lane. You won't protect it from destruction, which means your enemy gains a total of 105 gold - 75 you wasted + 30 they gain.

Tip: ‘Control ward bait’. Place a control ward in a seemingly common spot and wait a couple of seconds. If an enemy is tempted by ‘free money’, you can get him by surprise.

Face checking

Many inexperienced lol players tend to walk into the bush without vision. They want to hide there, put a ward and maybe set up a trap. Face checking might end badly, as your opponent could have come up to the same idea.

Instead of going in there:

- use damage ability. It may force your enemy out of the bush. Note that hitting an enemy with a damaging spell will give you money from Spellthief’s Edge. 

- use vision giving ability(Zyra plants, Ashe Hawkshot, Maokai sapling).

When your experience and game knowledge become a thing, you’ll know how close to the bush you can approach. You will have a slight idea of how much distance can Jarvan IV cover, how far Morgana’s cage will fly or what is a range on Malzahar ultimate. This is a safe distance.

Always add flash into the equation. If you are not sure about the cooldown, you must assume, that it’s up.

Roaming

What is roaming in LoL?

Roaming is leaving your lane and visiting other lanes, creating pressure. Just showing up will force the enemy to back away.

They say, that in higher divisions support returns to bot lane through the mid lane after first back, ganks mid, sets up a vision, invades with jungler.

Although it’s a good thing overall to help other lanes, I do not recommend it in the lower division. In Bronze to Gold AD Carries are like babies - leave them alone for a while and they'll have full pants while crying at the top of his lungs. And guess who’s gonna be to blame, if he dies?

‘N00b support x9, I go AFK’. And he’ll be right.

You cannot assume anything in the League of Legends game. If you thought that your ADC will stay safe 1 v 2 and he dies, it was your bad move. Not his. It was YOUR wrong assumption. Yes, perhaps your ADC is a monkey without skill at all, but it’s his problem. We want to focus on your mistakes, cause these are the one and only that you can work on.

Roam when:

• enemy support/ADC/both died,

• your jungler is close and you have the push,

• you see enemy support/jungler elsewhere (you can match the roam or push tower),

• you’re coming from the base,

• you picked Bard.

Don’t roam when:

• you are pushed- leaving your ADC in this situation will result in dive,

• you have even slight feeling, that enemy jungler is a bot,

• you don’t see enemy mid,

• you have a hunch that your ADC is a bad player.

When you hear that enemy jungler killed Rift Herald and you pushed enemy bot into their turret, you can set up vision around dragon or go for deep vision into the enemy jungle.

Patience

There is nothing that will hold you back more than yourself. Losing your nerves will lose you more games than n00b teammates. Look at pro players or streamers. They almost never tilt. They are aware, that if they tilt, they lose. And they don’t want to lose. So if you are getting angry - take a deep breath and calm down. If you are winning more than 50% of your games, you will climb.

Patience helps maintain consistency, which is, in my opinion, a key to climb at any Elo.

Consistency

Being able to have good games repeatedly is what will make you climb. Start by winning your lane.

Why is it important to win lane?

1. Advantage - you (I mean your carry) have more farms, items, and power.

2. Psychological advantage - the enemy bot will probably get flamed for losing. Your team will feel better and safe.

3. Jungle attention - if their jungler is forced to camp your lane, other areas of the map have freedom.

4. You have free access to Dragon pit if you stomp opposing bot lane.

5. Snowballing - you spread your advantage throughout the map.

You are partially responsible for your ADC. Dominating bot lane makes two players fed.

Good AD Carries will be matched with you around 50% of the time. This doesn’t mean you can’t win lane. I’d say more - you MUST win lane, step up for the carry, become carry yourself. This is why most guides say aggressive supports are better in low Elo. Fed Zyra, Brand or Pyke can kill the enemy team in one teamfight.

Do your job

Remember, you are supported. No matter which champion you decided to pick, you have still the same duty. Maintain vision around key objectives, destroy enemies wards, ping everything that is important - timers, cooldowns, roam a lot if you can. Take Oracle Lens first back after completing Quest, and take Oracle Sweeper after lvl 9. Always have control wards in your inventory. It is said, that supports full build is 4 items, boots, and control ward.

Destroying enemy wards is almost as important as putting your own.

Don’t give up on a game

Once I was forced to play Xin Zhao support by accident. I was ready to dodge, suffer a loss and give my team an opportunity to remake, but they said it’s fine, and they will carry me as long as I play like support.

So I rushed a Sightstone, then Face of the Mountain (removed items, but you’ll get the point) and I was trying my best to remain useful.

I had a 100% win ratio on Xin Zhao that season.

That’s the key. No matter what you pick, the basic premise remains the same. You do everything to help your teammates win the game. You do everything that they are not doing - vision, objective control, engaging/disengaging, poking. 

Moral support

Sometimes someone in your team is feeding like crazy. You clearly see that person struggles. Sometimes you want to type in team chat: ‘How about you stop feeding and focus on NOT DYING?’, or something worse.

But you shouldn’t do it.

Flaming will not help. How would you feel, if you had a bad game and you’d get flamed? Would it improve your performance? I’ll allow myself a little doubt here.

So even if your heart is screaming: ‘Uninstall, n00b, and do not queue ever again!’, your fingers should type: ‘It’s fine, we’ll carry you. Gather up’.

Although, you shouldn’t type at all. In most cases, it’s a waste of time and energy, and sometimes it can get you killed. Someone told me: ‘There is nothing that you’re unable to communicate with pings’.

Autofilled support

Ah, yes. Who wasn’t auto-filled to a worthy role of support… It’s a bad omen, something like a black cat passing by in front of you. But it happens since nobody wants to play it (Why? Curious…).

Imagine my anger, when I wanted a brief break from a support role, so I chose the top or jungle and got autofilled support.

But let’s cut to the chase. There are two possibilities:

1. You have something in your champion pool that is viable down the bot. For example, if one of your champions is Vel’Koz or Veigar mid, Nautilus top or Gragas jungle, you can play it as support. Skip to 'Do your job' chapter and follow instructions.

2. You can pick something relatively easy, not mechanically demanding, that will always be useful. Or just tank with lots of CC.

Personally, I can advise:

- Fiddlesticks - all of the Fiddle’s abilities require a target, so you won't miss,

- Soraka - arguably the easiest support,

- Janna - a little more demanding than Soraka, but fits in most compositions,

- Alistar - just learn your Headbutt/Pulverize combo,

- Karma - quite easy as well.

How do I get better at League of Legends - general tips

Practice tool

It’s your friend. Long demanded by the community, finally was implemented over two years ago. Its purpose is self-explanatory.

I recommend ward trading. There is some tricky wards placement, that will prevent you from dying when going for vision, but you need practice. A lot.

Watch guides

You never know everything, and there is always room for learning. Even challenger players sometimes learn a new trick. The more you know, the stronger you are.

The physical aspect of the game

It’s funny, but your physical capabilities are important, and these tips might be game-changing at higher levels.

Eye-hand coordination

Personally, I highly praise this skill, because I was always too lazy to pay attention to it. There are many guides for you to improve this aspect of your game. Sadly, it’s better to show, than tell, so treat it as your homework.

Dominant eye

The majority of people have their right eye dominant. You should look for guides, that will help you determine your dominant eye. It’s better to have your minimap on this side.

Reaction time

We often see pro players having an insane reaction time. It’s something you are born with, but you can also practice. I used Aimbooster for both eye-hand coordination and reaction time.

The mental aspect of League of Legends

Tilt is nothing new in the gaming. As a support, you’ll be raging a lot. Especially when you go for a godlike play, which results in a 2 for 4 trade-ins your favor, and your teammates gomid, instead of taking Baron for free. Then they get aced and you're wondering if they bought they rank for Riot Points.

In that case, just calm down and do your thing. Who knows? Maybe you can push for the end? I know that it’s better to follow them, than not.

When you feel that you are angry, take a break. Go take a walk and don’t think about the game for a while. Better don't queue at all this day.

Also, keep in mind that your enemies tilt as well. It’s not very honorable, but effective. If you see that opposing ADC has troubles last hitting, positioning and he’s feeding, when their jungler makes mistake, misses smite or fails gank - taunt them. If they rage or surrender it only increases your chances of winning.

‘/mute all’ command may be the last resort in some games and the ultimate way of not getting tilted by teammates/enemies talking doo-doo. Your best bet, especially in lower divisions, will be typing it right away. Players in Iron to low Plat always talk much, while not having anything smart or useful to say.

Remember, ADC in the lower division will be dead sure about his greatness, because of the word ‘carry’ he’s described with. Even though you will be dead sure, that he paid for boosting.

Map awareness

They say that the best professional support players are barely looking at the screen. Allegedly they are constantly staring at the minimap, while still playing.

Yes, pinging ‘enemy missing’ is a laner’s duty, but your own duty is to keep an eye on the minimap. Yes, laner could have helped, but it is still your mistake.

Your KDA

You are the only person responsible for your KDA, including deaths. ‘My ADC has no brain/hands/mouse’ is not an excuse.

He rushed forward and forced? You shouldn’t have followed him.

He didn’t heal you in time? You shouldn’t trust him.

You engaged but no one followed? You shouldn’t engage.

Get used to calculating. You will not eliminate teammates mistakes, but you can fix your own.

The one and only justified cases of you dying are:

• sacrificing for teammates/objectives - when you die the sixth time, but your ADC with a huge bounty on his head lives, it’s worth it,

• good engage - as Morgana, Alistar or Fiddlesticks jumping into enemies might be a good idea sometimes, as it forces your enemies out of their comfort zone and hopefully gives you favorable teamfight,

• execute - always better than giving away a bounty.

Do not expect anything from your teammates

Do you see your top laner is a Tryndamere one-trick with over 1000 games on the champion and 65% win ratio? Do you assume he’s gonna carry? How does it make you 100% sure he’s not gonna feed?

Does your ADC have summoner heal? You have 50 HP left after bad trade? Did you die right after? Oh, you thought he’s gonna heal you?

This is not your way to go.

Ten individuals share their time in the LoL game. You are in one team with four other people in a classic Summoners Rift game. But in fact, you are alone just as if you were playing with LoL bots. Thinking otherwise already leads you into a misbelief. Besides, how do you wanna carry yourself, when you depend on others?

Duo queue

Team up with someone skilled and trustworthy, who didn't buy his account. It’s at least one teammate you can count on. But remember that duo queueing will match you with tougher enemies.

Learn from your mistakes

Mistakes are the best lesson of life and you'll read it in all guides.

Watch your own replays, think of your bad moves, wrong positioning and how to improve that. Tell yourself: ‘I will never do that again’. You will slowly but surely go up.

Summary

Always have in mind, that maybe everyone will negate your impact on the game. When you are a support, League of Legends may be disappointing sometimes. Maybe you will never get 4 honors after the game, and ADC that you carried on your back will take the credit. This may happen, but let me make one thing clear - be proud of yourself. Since you decided to main the most underrated, yet hard role, it’s already a feather in your cap. You are like a doctor, who’s saving a life, where everyone says: 'Thank God'. You are the silent hero. Keep that in mind. And as you climb, trust me, people will start appreciating your work.

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FAQ

What does support do in League of Legends?

Support does everything to allow his carries to destroy the enemies and win the game. His main role is to care about vision and objectives control.

What types of support are in LoL?

There are protective supports with heals, shields, and utility, tanky ones with good engage and disengage, and damage-heavy ones.

How do supports get gold in a lane?

Currently, there are four starting support items in LoL, each with a different unique passive. Two of them give gold for poking enemy champions and hitting their structures. The other two give you and your ADC gold for last hitting creeps.