We all play ranked in pursuit of many things, glory, excitement, the dopamine of overcoming an adversary. However, the one thing that comes with achieving all these in victory is the gain of LP and ranked ascension (no not that one). We may all seek the same outcome here but unfortunately the world is not fair and we all start at different places on the ladder, but this should not stop you in your ambitions, but that does not mean you should optimize your chances of climbing.

One way we can all do this is by picking champions that thrive against the average player of the ELO you are playing in. That’s where this piece comes in, this piece, the second of five, will detail some of the best Support Champions for each ELO so that you can raise your win rate, raise your ELO, and, of course, raise your rank.

Iron

It seems fitting to start at the bottom on the ladder as we all have had those games when we started playing the game, and for those of you there right now, do I have the pick for you. To break it down we must identify the characteristics of Iron ranked Summoner's Rift games. Iron games tend to have the following in common: a lack of CC, a lack of tank stats, and a tendency to go to the late game. So what Support Champion embodies these characteristics?

Why the head of Noxian management himself in Swain, with his E into Passive CC chain (snare into displacement pull) paired with his health stacking aspect of his passive and team-fight scaling (in part thanks to a variety of good itemization choices and good AP scaling on his abilities) the tendencies of lower ELO games are ripe for the exploitation and extortion of LP by the Noxian powerhouse in Swain.

Bronze

As we start to pull ourselves up the ranked ladder, we see the land maintained by warm towels, hot water, and lemon juice, yes that was a Bronze joke in every sense of the word. But what are the biggest factors in bronze when looking through a Support lens? The answers are damage and AOE. With games tending to go longer into a team-fight stage and the number of players reaching maximum potential damage being low there is a need for additional sources of AOE damage.

The Support that does this the best is Brand, with 3 of his abilities and his Passive all having potential routes to be used as an AoE damage spell, his DPS output on multiple targets cannot be matched by another in his role. With player tendencies playing to their strengths, this pick is an ideal choice in this ELO if you want to win more games.

Silver

As we close out looking at the lower half of the ladder, we start to look at the battle of barge poles and javelins as the concept of poking from a range outside of your enemies range becomes very potent. If the enemy can’t/won’t get in range to hit you with abilities, crowd control, or even auto attacks, and so drafting a poke choice into an ELO that doesn’t know/understand how to gap close can create a scenario ripe for the harvesting of LP.

So who is the longest range Support in LoL, sadly for me it’s not Vel’Koz (even if he is a close second), but instead its Xerath. With excessive range on both his Q and W you will find range to be your friend with this pick, keep them where you can hit them but where they can’t hit you.

Gold

OK, so now we enter the top half of the ELO ladder, players here are starting to understand what the macro game and rotations are. So let me just drift back into my malicious side for just a moment to ask: How can I mess with players in this ELO the most? The answer comes in the form of one concept: CHAOS. Players here do not enjoy having to play a bullet hell simulator in LoL as players focus is on gaining leads and then smashing their power wallets into each other, but what if they can’t get their wallet out before the swarm is on them? No gameplay plan for them to win.

This is where Zyra fits into this picture, with the chaotic disruption her plants bring in lane, team-fights, skirmishes, and even basic rotating Zyra is in a prime place in this ELO to mess up everyone who faces her day. With player tendencies playing to their strengths, this pick is an ideal choice in this ELO if you want to win more games.

Platinum

Ah Platinum, or as I have called it, land of potential outplays, where one individual move can change the tempo, momentum, and direction of intent of a game. So how do you draft an advantage for yourself on this rung of the ELO ladder? The answer is by minimizing the room for outplay, you do this by using one or a combination of the following, point and click abilities, hard crowd control, and wide range AoE.

So what champion has this in spades, well it’s the sentient tree in Mao’Kai. With a point and click snare and gap closer and AoE snare on his ultimate, the plant turned champion is excellent at closing windows of outplay and this ability to deny the strengths of players at this ELO makes this pick an ideal choice.

Diamond

As we reach the top rungs of the non-apex tiers, there is one thing that players love to have when it comes to drafting (both blind or knowing the matchup), and that is versatility. Players at this ELO know how to play around differing enablers and so having a champion with not just a tool belt but a Batman-level utility belt will do well here.

This is where Bard comes into play, as his ability to stun and stasis enemies while healing and transporting allies (whilst also having a very high level of mobility himself) means he can be useful in almost every scenario. With player tendencies playing to this champion and their enabling strengths, this pick is an ideal choice in this ELO if you want to win more games (also, let’s mention that Bard can use his ultimate to stasis a turret and deny a Rift Herald charge).

Conclusion

So there we have it, a pick in/for each tier of League of Legends ranked system that is set well to be a choice for those of you wishing to optimize your chances of an elevated win rate in the pursuit of pushing to a higher rank. Now remember, first timing a champion in ranked is never a good idea, learning a champion in practice tool into bot games into normals is always a good way to go so that you are ready for ranked, and good prep means better performance and better performance means better chances of winning, which is no bad thing. With that I once again leave you with the thoughts of GL, HF, and GG.