League of Legends Support Items Guide - Help your team!

League of Legends supportive items

Welcome to MMOAuctions guide to support items in League of Legends. In this section, we will be covering items intended to help players during the game by providing various utilities. These items are bought most often by players who play the Support role helping their AD Carry during laning phase and the whole team later on. By reading this article, you will gain knowledge about items for this role which will help you decide what to buy during the game. 

Why you should focus on utility items

Many new players who have either chosen to become a Support or got assigned to this role, refuse to focus on items designed for this role (Doran’ Ring Lux support…). It happens because in Riot’s game everyone wants to ‘win’ the game and carry their team to victory. Meanwhile imagine the situation in which one team focuses purely on damage and another has a tank, support, and a jungler. Without a doubt, you already know the answer. The second team wins in almost every scenario. 

It happens because every role in the team is important and it should be played correctly to achieve victory. League of Legends was designed as a team game and because of that playing as a team makes winning easier. If everyone in your team becomes a DPS there will be no one to save team members from dying.

As a Support, your role is to provide utility and save your team members from being taken down. By purchasing warding items, you can show your team members locations of their enemies and help them in ambushing opponents or prevent them from being ambushed themselves. Shielding and healing items can save crucial champion in the team from death and therefore win you a teamfight. Power amplifying items can raise the toughness of your tank or damage to your AD Carry. It is essential to know when to buy certain items. Since there is a wide variety of things supports can buy, be invited to read below which items you should focus on during your game.

Starter items for Support

Oftentimes overlooked in lower divisions, where people do not fully understand the mechanisms of the game. Highly praised in the higher divisions, especially for a warding capability. Back in the days, there were many instances, where support items were so good, that they were picked by carries. Nasus was seen in the top with the Coin or in the mid with currently removed Frost Queen’s Claim (an item similar to Twin Shadows). Gangplank was happy with the coin as well. Junglers kept purchasing the Sightstone for additional vision, gold generation, ward hopping (Lee Sin and Jax), or even item actives CDR. It was so powerful, that it forced multiple nerfs. Now you can’t pair up the support starting item with a smite, killing creeps turns off the gold generating passive, and the Sightstone was removed.

Why is it so essential to have them as support? Why going Lux support with a Doran’s Ring is pure stupidity and a tilter? 

First of all, gold. As a support, you will be rarely farming. The most often time, where you are hitting creeps, is helping your ADC last-hitting under the tower in the early game or taking Relic Shield charges. Outside of it, if you do not manage to snag a Rift Scuttler as you go, or cheeky steal enemy camp, you are not taking any farm. No farm - no gold. No gold - no items. No items - no power. 

Second of all, the vision. After completing the quest, you are given ward charges. Decent support player in a 25 minute game is putting around 25 wards. You will not have wards from Doran’s Ring, Dark Seal, Long Sword, or whatever the noobs are starting with. No wards - no vision. In lower divisions, it doesn’t matter. People aren’t paying attention to vision, they lack the map awareness, and generally, they do stupid things. In higher division, you will be flamed for not having wards as support. And your teammates will be right to do so. You can still carry from a support position, you can still do damage with certain picks, but mind your place and your role. 

And if you still think, that you are better off with the infamous Doran’s Ring - go on. It can be nice in Bronze as well, right? But mark our words - you will not climb. And it will be you to blame, not your noob teammates. 

Relic Shield: +1 Gold every 10 seconds, +50 Health

Passive: Grants a charge every 40 seconds which allows you to execute minions. Upon successful minion kill both you and nearby allied champion to receive the full amount of gold that comes from this creep kill. On top of that, it transforms into a Targon's Brace after acquiring a certain amount of gold with this method.

Best first-tier item choice for tanky supports. Improved survivability with a chance to earn additional gold. Not a great choice for squishier champions since going for last hits with this item passive might be risky. It offers the best healing and sustainability from all starting items. Unlike Spellthief's Edge, this item becomes troublesome at later stages of the game since most of the minion waves will be cleared instantly.

The main problem with Relic Shield is the last hitting part. If you want to make more gold, you should focus on killing every possible cannon minion with this item. You won't always have charges ready to do this and you won't always be in a position to go that far into a wave. You might get caught by the enemy team, pulled, stunned, slowed, etc. - it is a risky business. Because of that, Relic Shield can easily fall behind in gold per minute compared to other support starters. It is why Relic Shield works well for tanky, engaging support. Walking up for the last hit is an automatic threat of going in. 

Spellthief's Edge: +2 Gold every 10 seconds, 10 AP, +25% to base mana regen

Passive: Grants a charge every 10 seconds up to 3 charges total. These can be consumed by damaging enemies with abilities to grant some bonus damage on hit. With every successfully landed ability you will receive a bonus gold and you will consume one charge. By upgrading this item to Frostfang and acquiring a fixed amount of gold through a passive your Frostfang will upgrade itself into the Eye of Frost.

Grants gold for damaging enemy champions. Great choice at this tier for the support that wants to bully enemies. The pressure in a lane is key here. You have to teach your enemies, that they will get hit in the face for every CS they walk up to take. Aggression is what will win you the lane and guarantee the steady gold income. You will use all the stacks on the opponents, and hopefully, you will force them to go to the base, which will give you some free time with a tower. Remember, hitting structures also give gold. But keep in mind, that playing too aggressive may draw the attention of the enemy jungler.

You want to be wherever the action takes place to keep using the stacks. Unlike its counterparts, you can’t be passive with it. And you will need gold until the very late stages of the game. In theory, the carry with a full build doesn’t need more gold. Support needs to buy control wards over and over. 

Spellthief’s Edge doesn't have as many cons as its predecessor. Of course, if you are ranged AP champion you will need to land your skill shots in order to reduce stack count and earn gold however for most of the games there will be a lot of fighting on the bottom lane anyway so it should not be an issue. You don't have to run anywhere special and misposition yourself to gain gold for the most part so this item is usually a very safe choice.

Ancient Coin: +2 Gold every 10 seconds, +5% Cooldown Reduction, +5 Bonus to movement

Passive: Minions killed by allies have a chance to drop coins that can grant Ancient Coin owners either gold or mana regeneration.  Upon collecting 500 coins with this passive player upgrades this item into Nomad's Medallion.

Not a bad item to be fair but in this category, there are better choices. Relic shield provides safer farms and better bonuses than an ancient coin in most cases so it is rarely picked during the game. You might consider it on champions who run around lane trying to provoke like Thresh, Blitz or Leona. It also works great in passive lanes where not many fights occur. Unlike the previous two items this one doesn't require killing minions or hitting spells but just being in the lane which is its main advantage. If you are uncertain which support item you should go for then this one is probably the safest pick of all three.

Just as with Relic Shield, this item flaw comes with positioning. It might be tough sometimes to pass through minion waves just to pick up a coin and of course, in this scenario, you are also risking being caught by enemies. The main advantage of this item when comparing it to Relic Shield is that you don't have to hunt for cannons. You just pick up coins that come out of minions.

Core Support items

Core items are the main pieces of equipment that you will complete by merging various smaller items into one bigger. Although these items are quite costly they are still much cheaper than the main items for other roles. Below you can find brief descriptions of said items and explanation in which situations they are a good choice.

Ardent Censer: 60 Ability Power, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 50% Base Mana Regen, 8% Movement Speed, +10% Heal, and Shield Power

Passive: Grants bonus attack speed and magic damage to your target when you shield or heal an ally.

A great addition to your kit if your team relies heavily on attack speed. For example - you have a hyper carry ADC and champions like Master Yi in the jungle while also having Jax on the top lane - all of them can benefit from this item quite a bit. Since this item provides a bonus to both heals and shields, heroes with this kind of abilities will benefit the most from buying Ardent Censer. The best examples would be Janna, Soraka, and Karma.

Shurelya's Reverie: 40 Ability Power, 10 Cooldown Reduction, 200 Health, 100% Base Mana Regen, 5% Movement Speed

Active: Gives 40% Movement Speed to nearby allies for 3 seconds

Yet another case where you will need to see what is your team composition before making a decision about this buy. This one can go two ways. It can serve the purpose of catching enemies and sticking onto them (like Blitzcrank or Thresh), and it’s not conditional like Righteous Glory. It can also be a disengage tool, especially when paired with Karma’s Mantra + E. It also works best for melee heavy teams since catching up to enemies might be a struggle.

Athene's Unholy Grail: 30 Ability Power, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 30 Magic Resist, 100% Base Mana Regen

Passive: Enhances your healing output and adds AP basing on Mana Regeneration. Dealing damage to enemy champions generates stacks, which are consumed upon healing on shielding, granting additional heal up to 250. 

Athene’s is the best on champions that can both poke the enemy, and shield or heal. It does not belong exclusively to the support role, as in certain compositions mid Orianna, Lux, or Karma can also use it effectively. When the ADC that you are laning with is struggling against his opponents, having a hard time being ganked constantly - this is the item that can help. Don’t buy it on a champion, that remains relatively passive, without clear access to enemies, as he will not be able to generate enough stacks.

Twin Shadows: 70 Ability Power, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 7% Movement Speed

Active: Summons two ghosts that chase nearby enemies. On contact, they slow them and reveal their location.

A great choice if you have in your team champions who have skillshots or need help catching up to enemies. The best examples would be Nidalee or Vel'koz. The first one would benefit from easier spears and the second one can land full combo without too much struggle with Twin Shadows slow. Due to its interaction with Glacial Augment keystone, it’s popular on champions like Veigar and Ahri in the mid lane. On support, it works similarly to Shurelya - you can either look to catch enemies, or slow them down to run away. It is a perfect item to avoid face checking. Whenever enemies disappear in the Fog of War, and you are going on your warding duty, use ghosts to search the bushes. If you tend to use this item a lot along with other action items, like Locket of the Iron Solari or Redemption, picking Ingenious Hunter rune might be a great idea. 

Knight's Vow: 40 Armor, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 250 Health

Active: Lets you set your partner. You will get 20 Armor and 15% Movement speed towards your partner. You take some of the damage he takes as true damage, and you are healed for the portion of damage he deals with.

A great choice overall for every beefy support and a selection of junglers in a hyper-carry team-comp. This item gives additional tankiness to the champion of your choosing so it is a great choice to counter high burst champions who focus your ADC or any other team member. It’s a risky item since you are taking the damage your partner takes, but if your partner deals with no damage, you get no healing. In general, this item provides decent stats and in most matches will have a reasonable value.

Zeke's Convergence: 60 Armor, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 30 Magic Resist, 250 Mana

Active: You can choose a target ally. When you cast ultimately while being close to him you will be surrounded by an aura that slows enemies and your ally will receive a bonus to his damage.

Quite a coin flip item. Many players don't have a clue on when you should buy Zeke's. It is not very popular in lower elo, since it requires some sort of coordination and reliability. And in low elo you can’t expect people to do the right things. It is a great item for tank supports like Leona, Braum, or Alistar and for those that can benefit from slow like Rakan. Also, Blitzcrank with his silly ultimate cooldown can abuse the item.

Locket of the Iron Solari: 30 Armor, 60 Magic Resist

Active: Shields nearby allies absorbing some of the damage for up to 2,5 seconds.

A great way of mitigating enemy damage when there is a lot of AOE to take on. Enemies that Locket of the Iron Solari is best against are those with huge area skills like Ziggs, Lux, Malphite or Kennen.

Redemption: 10% Cooldown Reduction, 10% Heal and Shield powers, 200 Health, 50% Base Health Regen, 150% Base Mana Regen.

Active: Sends down an AoE on a chosen location that damages enemies and heals allies

Quite similar use to Locket. Redemption helps you mitigate damage, hurt enemies and recover already lost health. Because of that, it is one of the most popular support items in the game. If used correctly, it can be extremely cost-efficient. Throwing down a heal in the perfect spot can change a course of teamfight so without a doubt it is one of the best support items in the game. It can also heal minions, which can be useful during a siege.

Also, don’t forget about the damage-dealing parts. Redemption kills happen even in the pro play.

Mikael's Crucible: 10% Cooldown Reduction, 20% Heal and Shield strength, 40 Magic Resistance, 100% Base Mana Regen

Passive: Improves Health Regen based on your Mana Regen

Active: Removes crowd control effects from the target and grants him 40% Movement Speed for 2 seconds.

Another quite forgotten item on this League of Legends items list. This one provides an active ability that can cleanse all of the stuns and roots from your target. This item should be brought to counter champions that wish to lock down your allies and burst them to death. During laning phase, it works great against champions with stuns and snares like Ashe, Morgana, or Varus. As a support, you should consider buying it against the likes of Skarner, Malzahar, and Fiddlesticks for their reliable, long-lasting, point-and-click crowd control. It is also worth considering when your ADC asks you for it. However, if he keeps getting caught and fails his positioning, nothing, not even the best support, can protect him. 

Remnant of the Aspect: +1 Gold per 10 Seconds, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 350 Health, 200% Base Health Regen

Remnant of Watchers: +2 Gold per 10 Seconds, 35 Ability Power, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 200 Health, 50% Base Mana Regen

Remnants of the Ascended: +2 Gold per 10 Seconds, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 200 Health, 125% Base Health Regen, 10 Movement Speed

This is the item trio which usually is skipped for other items from the list above. The first upgrade on the starter item already grants three wards which is the cap anyways and players don't like to spend almost 1k gold on minor upgrades that these items provide. Since supports do struggle with gold income these items are not worth it.

Trinkets

Although trinkets can't be considered core items or items at all we want to bring you some insight on what are they and which are worth looking at.

Warding Totem - A basic trinket, which is given to every player at the beginning of the game. Upon use, a player can place a ward which reveals nearby area. The ward is invisible and can only be detected by certain items, trinkets, and abilities. It can store up to 2 charges, which are refilled once every 2-4 minutes. Keep in mind, that you can have only three active wards at a time. When your trinket reaches two charges, immediately use at least one of them. You can put it during the recall, and it won’t break the channeling. These trinkets are free and they are not bound to support only. It means, that every laner can use them. So if you’re playing mid and you’re getting camped, put it in the river and maintain control, instead of expecting that your support will come and cover the whole lane with vision. Deeper into the game you want to swap to another trinket unless you’re playing Lee Sin or Jax.

Oracle Lens - it is a vision-denying trinket which sweeps nearby area in search of invisible units and wards. Upon activation, sweeping begins and lasts for 10 seconds. While this effect is an active player can move to search for nearby invisible units. There is a cooldown between uses which takes between 60 and 90 seconds. After the first upgrade of the basic support item, it should be immediately bought by main team Support. It can also be a good choice if you are laning against an invisible enemy like Shaco or if you need to dodge invisible traps like Teemo's shrooms. Must-have on support. If your support doesn’t go for it after completing the Quest, you have a right to flame him. Also, this is a go-to trinket for assassin’s, as they need to remain undetected to successfully flank. 

Farsight Alteration - Reveals a large area from far away and places Farsight Ward at a chosen location. Shown enemies are revealed for 5 seconds since being seen. Farsight Ward is not invisible and can easily be killed with one hit, however, it lasts indefinitely. This is especially a great choice for champions that can benefit from very long-range abilities. The best example would be Nocturne, Lux or Gangplank's ultimate ability. It is not that popular on support since your job is to put vision and deny vision. Farsight Alteration is more useful on carries afraid of long-range engage, ganks, and for split-pushers.

Control ward - consumable, static, portable Oracle Lens, must-have in mid to late game. There is no excuse for you not to buy it, no matter the role you play. “I don’t ward, I’m not a support” - is a hard-stuck Bronze player talk. Unless you are a very fed carry with a full build, you should always have it. Control Wards play a key part in fighting for a vision. They not only reveal invisible items but also turn off enemy wards. 

Attacking a ward that is turned off will reveal you, so if you have a Control Ward in the Baron Pit, and you want to sneak the buff, leave enemy wards be. Hitting them might warn your opponents. 

It is not recommended to invest in Control Ward in the early game, especially if you don’t have lane control. Although Control Ward is not a completed item, it is said to be a part of support’s full build. 

A word about warding

Warding in League of Legends is one of the most important parts that every champion from each of the lanes (and jungle) can fulfill. If you are aiming to play in the high ELO you will have to learn about ward placement and the importance of constant vision pressure. Without wards, you are much more prone to being ganked or even bullied in your lane. If the enemy team places wards and your team don't, you will be likely caught off guard many times which may lead to throwing away game that already looked like its already won. Understanding this process is crucial to improve your game and it will definitely help you win more. It is why we want to take a look at this process.

The first and most important part starts at the beginning of the game. Every player receives a previously mentioned Warding Totem which is the trinket that holds up to 2 charges. You can and you should use this as much as possible. Every Time you have both charges available your next free ward is not “loading” which means that by not placing all of them you may waste some. Free wards are free vision - placing them doesn't hurt your economy and might help your team get easy frags.

During laning phase, it will be most important for you to place wards that can defend you against ganks. For the top, it will be bush at the end of the river and one closest to your tower. If you are playing on the right side of the map you can place Control Ward in the small bush south of the tower. Those who play on the left side can place Control Ward at the end of the river bush but keep in mind that it is worth it only if you can defend it against your opponent. Junglers should aim to place their wards at the “pixel bush” which is the small bush at the river. Mid players can also place their wards but can also put them in a long bush near their lane. Finally, players from bottom lane should do the same as top players while also warding Dragon Pit.

After laning phase you should focus on placing wards in your own jungle to make farming safer. If your team is winning, you may also think about warding enemy jungle. It will be crucial to leave vision at the river and Drake pit. Also, Herald pit may be contested so make sure to keep an eye on it. During the late game, when most of the fights occur, it will be most important to ward Nashor pit. Having no vision around this area might lose you a game so don't forget about it.

Summary

This is all in our League of Legends Support items guide. We hope that you have learned which utility items you should buy in which situations. If you want to learn more about Riot games product make sure to check our blog page.

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