We have 159 champions in League of Legends, including Renata Glasc, the newest champion added on February 15, 2022. However, have you ever wondered about the original champions? More exactly, who were the first supports the game had? Are they still playable in 2022?
Back in 2009, League of Legends was launched with only 17 champions: Master Yi, Jax, Fiddlesticks, Teemo, Annie, Kayle, Sivir, Sion, Nunu & Willump, Twisted Fate, Morgana, Warwick, Alistar, Ryze, Tristana, Soraka and Ashe. Over the years, Riot’s team played around with them, changing their abilities and appearances to improve them. Some of them were a big success since the beginning and are still among players favourites.
So, today I want to talk about classic champions, more exactly about classic support champions. Since we only had Morgana, Alistar and Soraka available at the release, I will also discuss other supports added later in 2009.
Let’s see what happens with those champions over the years and if they are still worth a shot in 2022.
Initially, her E was not a magic absorbing shield and her Q did not root enemies. Those features were added later. She also received an update in 2019 alongside her sister Kayle, but it was mostly visual. Well, at least now we know she has legs.
Morgana’s Q is still considered a good snaring ability and her E is a powerful tool against any kind of CC or magic damage. If you can predict the enemy's next move and shield yourself or your ADC beforehand, or cast Q to create a killing opportunity, you're already doing a great job with her. And, of course, don’t forget about her R and Zhonya's Hourglass combo. Whenever you see an opportunity, you can Flash into enemies that are out of position and use the combo on them. That’s why you should make Zhonya’s your priority and start building it early.
She is not quite the definition of a support champion. She has low mobility so she is easy to catch and her W can ruin the farming phase for your ADC if you cast it without thinking first. She’s a mage that can work alone as a Mid champion as well, and as a support, she can be easily countered by Sona or Soraka, champions that have more abilities to help their team.
However, the ability to cancel CC is something that you should not trade for some healing that can be done with an item. Keep that in mind when you decide upon a support champion.
From the beginning, Alistar was meant to be a proper tank for engaging in fights and pushing lanes. His old passive, Colossal Strength, allowed him to deal up to 60% additional damage to turrets, but in 2011 this was changed with his current passive, Trample. Also, in an update in 2016, Ghosting was added to his E.
His abilities work smoothly in combos that can lead to killing opportunities. So, even if your enemies are aggressive and push you under your turret you can try Flash into them, knock them up with Q and then throw them under your turret with W. Also, consider pairing him with Kalista because of her R. She can throw you into the enemies so you can damage and slow them down.
However, he is weak against ranged supports who can deny his engagements, and I think this is something that you should not ignore. It’s not a piece of cake to move around with, let's say, a Soraka and a Varus constantly hitting you with abilities and basic attacks.
At level 1, he is not very effective, so you should stay back and play safe until you get points in your abilities. But he has the potential to become a strong tank, especially because of his R that can reduce the amount of damage he gets for 7 seconds while removing any CC effect. So, he can dive without fear and roam to help mid when he has the chance.
Zilean was added later in 2009.
He has a great poke potential with his Q bombs, and he can create opportunities with his Q and W combo, landing two bombs and stunning the target. But that’s something that was added in an update in 2015. In his early days, the bomb did not land on the ground. His passive ability, Time in a Bottle, was called Heightened Learning and granted him and his allies 8% bonus experience from all sources. In 2015 it became the passive we all know today, which can level up allies as he builds up stores of experience.
His R was and still is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. Although he has no healing ability or shield, he can rewind time and revive his ally if they take lethal damage.
As I said, he has great poke potential, so he is suitable against tanks or low range champions. His Q can be placed on an ally, helping them to deal more damage when they engage in a fight. However, the Q is his only ability that can damage and even if the Q-W combo stun is useful, he can be easily surpassed by other supports, like Taric, Soraka, Janna or Sona who can also stun or slow while dealing more damage or even heal. Also, he has long cooldowns, so you need a good amount of ability haste and enough points in Q and W for your combo to work. Because of that, he is quite weak in the early stages of the lane, so you have to play safe and rely on your teammates.
I am pretty sure you remember the Gem Knight.
He was fully reworked and relaunched in 2016 and since Riot changed this champion completely, let’s talk a bit about the old Taric.
His passive was called Gemcraft; after a spell, Taric’s next basic attack had the potential of dealing bonus magic damage depending on his Armor. The Q (Imbue) could heal like it does today, and with W (Shatter) Taric was protected by a hardening aura that increased his and nearby allays Armor. He could splinter the enchanted rocks to damage an enemy Armor, but at the cost of some of his Armor. E (Dazzle) was a ball of light that could stun and with his R (Radiance), Taric slammed his hammer on the ground to damage nearby enemies. Also, his R granted him and nearby alias bonus AD and AP.
He was redesigned to be a tanky support who could mirror his abilities in two locations and make his whole team invincible with his R. The new passive (Bravado) empower Taric’s next 2 basic attacks and reduces his spell cooldowns. Q heals based on charges stored with Bravado, while his W’s effect provides a shield and increases Armor, and the E is now a beam of starlight that stuns after a short delay.
Now, if you look only at his abilities, you can say Taric has everything: stun, healing, shield and invincibility with his R. But is it enough to play him in 2022?
His R is one of the most effective ultimates in the game. Use it at the right time and you can even turn the game around in favour of your team. With good defensive items like Frozen Heart or Fimbulwinter, you can scale Taric into a great guardian who can absorb damage for your team. The mirroring abilities is something unique that allows you to have good synergies with your ADC.
However, it’s hard to master him. You need good coordination and decision-making to unlock Taric's true potential. It doesn’t matter if both you and your ADC can stun if you don’t properly position yourself and just waste it. Also, since he is a melee support, mobility is a weak point for him. I suggest you stay close to your teammates to help them, but from a safe position.
Over the years, Riot has not made huge changes to Blitzcrank. They played a little with his passives, adding and removing them, the most notable one being his R’s passive. Before a 2019 update, he fired a random lightning bolt when his R was off-cooldown. Since the update, when the R is off cooldown the lightning charges his fists and marks any enemy he basic attacks.
He has huge damage and roaming potential as a support and, in Season 12, we have great items for him, so he is worth the shot. Evenshroud, Fimbulwinter and Zeke's Convergence are perfect to add some MR and Utility to him, so he can easily engage in a fight. His grab is still better than Thresh’s; it has a long rage, lots of CC and a short animation, compared with Thresh’s which is easy to notice and doge.
His weaknesses are his long cooldowns and high mana costs, which might be a problem. Also, even if the grab is easy to use, your position is key. Take into consideration that you don’t have any shield or healing ability, and if you don’t pay attention to your mana and position it would be difficult to save your ADC from a surprise attack. And don’t forget that some champions have abilities that cancel your grab, like Morgana’s E.
Janna has the only shield in the game that can be cast on turrets. She is another champion that remains quite the same over the years. Her Q received an update in 2018 to damage both the target champion and the minions along the way, and with a recent update in 2022, her passive ability only gives 8% movement speed. Previously, it also granted bonus damage.
She can scale pretty well and thanks to her Q, she can poke well in the early stage of the game. The Q can effectively cancel potential engages and stop abilities like Leona’s E or Katarina’s R. The R can heal her allies while creating killing opportunities, pushing enemies into a wall or under the turret. So, she is effective against assassins that can jump on you and the extra Attack Damage from her E might be very handy.
She is not easy to master, and she is in danger of being countered by other healers like Sona, Soraka or Nami. You need good coordination senses and you must work on timing. It doesn’t matter if your R heals your teammates, if it pushes low HP enemies away and they escape. Timing is also important with her Q and with good positioning. Remember that her tornados have to charge first, so enemies can see them and dodge them. A good idea is to launch from the bushes to surprise enemies.
Overall, she can be a great support as long as you pay attention to your game style and try to coordinate with your ADC as much as you can.
So, how many of you remember the times when Soraka's E gave mana? It was called Infuse and it could be cast both on allies and enemies. Soraka could restore an ally's mana for 5% of her own or silence and damage an enemy. Her W could heal a friendly unit without sacrificing her HP and her Q was meant to damage and reduce the target’s magic resist. Even her passive was different.
She was reworked in 2014. The Riot team came up with this idea to make her pay with her own HP to heal an ally, and then restore her HP with another spell. Those are the Q and W we know today, which made her more of a balanced champion.
Her Passive Ability was changed into Salvation through which Soraka gains 70% Bonus Movement Speed so she can quickly run to heal allies below 40% HP. Equinox, her new E, was a real game-changer for her. Instead of restoring mana, Soraka could now spell a zone on the ground, silencing opponents and rooting them in the end. That made her more flexible and allowed her to engage in team fights more often.
She can be aggressive in the early phase of the game, she can easily counter tank supports or low range champions, and there are plenty of items that can restore a good amount of her mana and HP, like Moonstone Renewer and Warmog’s Armor.
However, she is quite squishy, so your enemies might try to attack you more often to drain your HP. As expected, Sona and Nami can be tough enemies for Soraka. You have to pay attention to your HP bar every time you heal someone, while Sona and Nami don’t have that problem. When you play against Sona take into consideration that she can heal multiple units at the same time, including herself. Also, in the early stage of the game, you might have to spend gold on healing potions if your ADC requires more healing.
In 2022 she is still the best healer in the game. She has lots of heal, including her R’s general heal, and a silence that not many champions have. Remember that you can cancel an opponent’s abilities with your E. She is often a great choice mostly because she can work well with almost any ADC in the game.
We have many good support champions in the game, and Riot surprises us every time they add a new one (see Renata Glasc). We have a vast diversity of champions to pick from depending on our style, but I think the classics are classics for a reason. They might not be as fancy as the new ones, but they have the fundamentals that shaped the support role over the years. And they are still up to the task today, as they were many years ago.
