Before I start this project, I believe it is only fair to disclose that this guide is based on my experience as a player and the style that I am comfortable with. Every League of Legends player, no matter what their main position is, will have unique variations in regard to what playstyle is most effective for them, as some would prefer control over burst, while others prefer engage over peel. In other words, this guide is not meant to state that every Support player should play to the guide’s fashion, but rather it is for general guidance.

As a brief introduction, I have played League of Legends since late Season 2 and have mained Support for over four seasons, peaking at Diamond 1 in Solo Queue and Challenger in Team Rank 5s before it was replaced by Flex Queue. Over the course of two seasons, I have played in numerous online and offline tournaments, been given the privilege to play with and against some of the most talented gamers in the semi-professional scene, and have won a minor offline tournament on stage as the zenith of my amateur career.

To the benefit of the readers, the guide will be divided into multiple areas for analysis depending on the stage of the game, as well as subsections for what a Support can do to create advantages for their team. Although it is impossible to predict every scenario a Support may encounter within a game of League of Legends, this guide will attempt comprehensively analyze the role of Support and explain its importance to the game.

TYPES OF SUPPORTS

Support is a unique and highly demanding role in regard to the variety of assets that they are able to bring to their team. Whether it is crowd control or utility, experienced Support players will immediately contemplate carefully before choosing their champion by communicating with their team to recognize what composition they are pursuing.

As a Support, it is critical to understand what champions are ideal and viable in comparison to others for each individual game. While crowd control is optimal, there needs to be sufficient damage. While initial burst is capable of winning a teamfight, there has to be utility to protect the carries. Although a sizable portion of the community believes that the major responsibilities of a Support ends at warding and assisting the ADC through the laning phase, the prowess of a Support player’s understanding of his or her Champion can be the final factor between winning and losing a match.

With roughly around 40 Champions to choose and play from in the Support role, the diversity of these choices is prominently arranged into three central categories classified as Aggressive, Utility, and Sustain Supports.

AGGRESSIVE SUPPORTS

Aggressive Supports are Supports with the highest kill potential among the three categories. This type of Supports’ skill sets will generally provide abrupt burst damage or heavy crowd control that the team can easily take advantage of. Ordinarily, aggressive Supports act as the primary or secondary source of initiation for the team, meaning the team will have to rely on them to make the decisive plays.

The most prominent Champions of this tier are those that can take advantage of the enemy’s positioning such as hook-reliant Thresh and Blitzcrank, or proficient turret-divers like Alistar and Leona.

Overall, aggressive Supports are exceptionally adept in establishing an early Gold lead for the team that can snowball the game effectively.

UTILITY SUPPORT

Utility Supports are Supports whose kit revolves around disrupting or shielding the damage from the enemy team onto their allies. If the aggressive-based Supports are exceptional initiators, then utility Supports are excellent counter-engagers, as they are able to protect their team from the initial burst and amplify the ally’s damage if played correctly. While not as potent as aggressive Supports, they also possess minor form of crowd control, making them incredibly balanced and compatible for almost any team composition.

The most notable champions that fall under this category are average crowd control and shield-based champions such as Janna, Lulu, and Morgana.

Due to the nature of their skill sets, teams can feel secure and confident under the aegis of utility Supports.

SUSTAIN SUPPORT

Sustain Supports are arguably the least mechanically challenging of the three tiers, whose skill set is solely focused on peeling for the ally carries. In comparison, sustain Supports possess the least form of crowd control and the most amount of utility that a team can be offered.

As such, these Supports heavily revolve around healing and amplifying the carry’s damage output, and champions such as Soraka, Sona, and Kayle are the main examples that fall under this category.

While they significantly lack any kill potential, sustain Supports excel in prolonging the teamfight and protecting the ally carries from harm. Skilled Support players who main sustain-based champions will rarely ever misposition, as they are highly susceptible to dying from a single mistake, and will almost always stand near his carries to protect them any potential engage.

ROAMING

A unique aspect that Supports possess is their proficiency to snowball the game by roaming during the early stages of the game. To elucidate, Support Champions are able to act as a secondary Jungler by ganking other lanes to potentially get a kill, or at the very least a Summoner Spell. Roaming is essentially one of the most ideal methods to create immense pressure on the enemy team, as the laners will have to constantly be attentive to their positioning but also be aware of losing a map objective such as Dragon or Rift Herald early on.

Contrary to most beliefs, roaming is a proactive gameplay that any Support can and should be performing regardless of their type. Although it is true that aggressive Supports are more likely to excel at roaming than sustain Supports, it is important to highlight that the central motive behind roaming is to gain advantages over the enemy team by establishing a gold or objective lead. Denying opponent laners from Creeps, experience, and Summoner Spells are small, but accumulating leads like that can snowball the game rapidly, in addition to easing pressure on your team by drawing the enemy Jungler to that lane.

The primary focus when roaming as a Support is to recognize how it will impact the ally ADC. Supports should never roam if it will cause their lane partner to suffer immense consequences that will hinder their ability to reach their power spike significantly. In other words, an optimal time to roam is when there is sufficient ward coverage at Bot to allow the ADC to farm safely or when both players have just recalled to base. By reducing the negative outcomes that can inhibit the growth of the ADC, this creates the most ideal situation to roam and assist other lanes.

WARDING WHILE ROAMING

When roaming, the Support's center of attention should almost always be fixated on ward placements. Similar to any ganks, roaming is most heavily reliant on the element of surprise, meaning avoiding opponent’s wards and Jungler are crucial for a successful roam. Therefore, it is important to communicate with the team to scout out enemy wards in advance and plan a route that guarantees an undetected roam. Since I have already written a guide on ward placements, this section will not go in-depth about where wards are most likely to be located, but will demonstrate warding tips and tricks when roaming.

Perspective from Player vs Enemy (Top)

Based on personal competitive experience, I found Supports have a significantly higher success rate when roaming at Top lane as opposed to the Mid lane. While traditional Mid lane champions are easier to kill as opposed to Top lane champions (carries vs. tanks/bruisers), Mid lane is the shortest in length as well as one of the most frequently warded locations in the game.

The figures above portray one of my most frequent warding positions when roaming around the Top lane. Ensuring vision within the tribush and nearby area grants significant intel, as it often detects opposing Jungler’s presence, who could counterattack easily by matching the roamer’s aggression. As shown, the most convenient effect from warding in this position is the fact that the enemy Champions cannot detect the Support on the map, as they are hidden within the blindspot in front of the wall.

Perspective from Player vs Enemy (Mid)

Another unique warding position when roaming is the bushes to the left and right of Mid lane. While not as often used, a major portion of the community do not know that Warding Totem has a larger range than Vision Wards, allowing friendly vision to sneak by undetected by opposing Vision Wards.

Mid lane is much more complex to roam towards in comparison to the Top lane. As stated, Mid is often heavily warded in most bushes and pathways which makes it difficult for roamers and Junglers alike. Accordingly, this makes it that much more critical to take advantage of the small windows of opportunities given.

STAGE OF GAME

EARLY GAME

Early game in League of Legends is primarily revolved around the laning phase and the constant pursuit to get advantages over the enemy team. In comparison to other lanes, Bot arguably has the highest learning curve, as players have to understand not only the matchup against their lane opponents, but also the synergies between the Supports and the ADCs. For Supports, early game is primarily played around vision control for objectives and flanks for a fast gold lead. The playstyle constantly shifts between aggressive and defensive attributes throughout the laning phase, based on the enemy Jungler’s position and skill cooldowns. Therefore, at this point of the game, Supports should constantly be warding for intel and roaming as frequently as possible without causing issues for their ADC.

MID GAME

Mid game is the stage when teams start to group for objectives and slowly force their ward line into the enemy territory. In most games, teamfights around this period of the game determines the winning and losing team, based on how much map control is being gained and lost in addition to the pace of the gold differential. Similar to early game, teams will rely heavily on the Supports to acquire as much map control as possible through warding and deny opposing wards from neutral map objectives. Depending on what supportive type of Champion is being played, Supports’ positioning will be crucial, as picks or peel can determinedly tilt the game in their favor throughout these fights.

LATE GAME

Late game is the point of the game when gold differentials start to become meaningless and teams constantly prey on a single mistake from the opposing team. With death timers long enough to secure Inhibitors and the Nexus, this is when positioning matters above all else within the game. In comparison to other roles, most Support champions are considerably weak and squishy even at this stage of the game, meaning they should never be isolated from their teammates and constantly look to peel for their ADC. During the late game, both teams will be moving as a unit and constantly challenge each other for vision at neutral objectives. It is imperative that Supports, at this stage of the game, continue to ward these areas and deny as much vision as possible. All in all, late game will revolve around the one last teamfight that will decide the winning team, therefore, Supports will be heavily relied on to gain information on enemy position, and protect the carries from any potential danger.

CONCLUSION

Overall, Support is a role that demands great map awareness and vision control to organize plays to get advantages over the opposing team. Skilled Support players will not only look to protect the team, but will always be assessing the situation to create opportunities for their teammates to capitalize on. Although Support is viewed upon as a role that can never hard carry games, it is never a role to be looked down upon, rather it should be considered as one of the most fundamental roles for a team to succeed.

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