Methods to Ingraining – A Breakdown of Rooting Supports and Which One You Should Be Locking
A look at which of the main supports who use roots and when and how you should be picking them.
A root or snare as it is otherwise known is a form of crowd control that is heavily underrated in the modern vision of League of Legends but its power is not to be underrated. The source of this kind of CC is most commonly seen in the bottom lane with the source being the support. However, the champions that have roots in their kits vary greatly and so do their uses of set roots, so which champion should you or I play if I want to have the CC available in my team? Well, during my time researching this playing champion(s) I’ve known for a long time and those I’m new to as well I found that it really depends on what the team needs to round out a composition to make the best use of the root CC. So, in this piece, I will breakdown the core aspect of every pick and what you should look to base your playstyle around doing too.
Morgana: The Denier
Morgana over the last year has seen a decline in the meta for reasons which vary depending on the persons thought, she is still my go-to for personal reasons but if you should feel the need to pick her up, I would look to play to a countering play style. This is where you use her E: Black Shield to deny the opposition key engage then use her root (Q: Dark Binding) to punish the overextension. Then you can look to use the lead your team has in combination with her Q to punish in the jungle with pickoffs to deny escapes and snowball a lead to hopefully smash that Nexus. So, if you need disengage for your team, Morgana is the root support for the job.
Nautilus: The Frontline Engage
Nautilus has been one of the top supports for a very long time and this is because of his immense CC chain (including the root on his passive auto attacks) and his innate tankiness. These together have made him simple yet strong. The simplicity of going ham, ulting their key carry with your abilities then rooting everyone you can in a teamfight once the carries are gone is what makes the Titan of the Depths good, so if your team needs a support tank or primary engage it is hard to go wrong with what is looking to be another good season for Nautilus (Note that Leona does provide a similar setup but her kit is more about mass stunning than rooting).
Zyra: Chaos and Space-maker Incarnate
Unlike Nautilus, Zyra has been far from the meta forefront in LoL for quite some time, however, that does not mean she doesn’t have her niche. But what is that niche? Well, it's her ability to create zones that enemies do not want to cross as the threat of her plants has to be respected. This is particularly effective against ‘5 Man Deathball’ or ‘Exodia’ comps as it forces them to play against their win condition. Therefore, this makes Zyra an optimal choice for a rooting support who disrupts teamfights.
Lux: The Teamfight Queen
If Zyra is the optimal choice for splitting up a front-to-back team fight then the Lady of Luminosity, Lux herself takes the crown for playing in it. This is because of her immense range and the utility of her W: Prismatic Barrier. These two factors combined with her damage and CC (a root and AoE slow) make Lux a teamfight menace who offers so much in a front-to-back teamfight. To make use of Lux, it's simple. Play with your team and play to follow up your team’s primary engagement while shielding as much of your team as you can. So, if your team has set up for a teamfight composition, Lux may be the root support for the situation (Karma does present a similar setup but with a higher priority on MS than damage).
Swain: The Bait and Switch
Swain is an AP bruiser who found himself being able to mostly play 3 roles (top, mid, and support) but it is in the support role where he has seen the most success in the LoL landscape and this is because when Swain is played in the support role, he forces a dilemma. The dilemma is as follows. The Swain walks up and casts his E: Nevermore so you either have to let him set up for the potential pick or you turn on him and focus down the support which can end very badly (as you will be using cooldowns on a non-carry target), especially as Swain can soak a lot of cooldowns with the bonus HP he gets from his ult and a Stopwatch/Hourglass. This factor generates a lot of pressure and, if you're feeling that your team lacks that pick pressure, Swain can be the key to fit the lock that is holding your team back.
Conclusion
To conclude each of these picks use this single form of crowd control in different ways as part of kits and playstyles, whether it be to strategically punish, as part of a CC chain, to zone control, teamfight effectively, or even to generate pressure, and it is these differences and how you play to these different and unique win conditions that will determine your success on these root wielding champions. Now, remember that when learning a new champion to always try them out in customs, then normal games, and maybe even spend some time on the howling abyss with a friend (make sure to ask your friend how their mental health as C19 has been hard for us all, I know I’m sick of the repeated self-isolations here in NI) so you know how to play your champion to the best of your ability when LP is on the line. With that, I once again leave you with the thoughts of GL, HF, and GG.
