Supports are often overlooked in League of Legends, with their ADCs receiving most of the recognition. While being the carry is important, they cannot do it alone, and they depend on their support to give them the advantage in lane.
One of the main differences between a support and their teammates is their Support Item. Supports should not be taking minions from the lanes unless they need to prevent them from crashing into a tower, meaning their Support Items will allow them to earn enough Gold throughout the game. Champions with a preference towards Ability Power will want to build Spellthief’s Edge or Relic Shield (an item with higher Health in addition to AP). Alternatively, champions with a preference towards Attack Damage will want to build Spectral Sickle or Steel Shoulderguards (an item with higher Health in addition to AD). After choosing a starting item, you will want to grab two Health Potions and head into lane to begin supporting your carry.
Your first recall, on average, should happen anywhere from level three to level five, depending on how aggressive the laning phase has been. An ideal purchase during this time can include your basic Boots of Speed, a Faerie Charm for enchanter supports, or perhaps a Cloth Armor for tank supports, and a Control Ward. Depending on how hard your lane has been so far, you have the option to purchase a Refillable Potion here to keep you more sustained through enemy damage. This item is particularly good on Soraka or any tank support, since they are more likely to take a high amount of damage through poking and or engaging.
As the game goes on, your item build can vary depending on what your team needs to secure the win. Usually, your item build will be the same for your champion, enchanters going items like Staff of Flowing Water or Ardent Censer, and tanks building Zeke’s Convergence and Knight’s Vow. However, this may change in some scenarios, like playing Morgana or Lux and having no other Ability Power on your team, giving you the opportunity to build more damage-focused items. Dealing damage to your opponents so that your carry can finish them off is just as important as keeping them shielded or healed.
The beginning of the laning phase can be rough depending on the match up, as every champion and champion combo has different power spikes at various different points throughout the game. With that being said, it can be hard to gauge exactly what should be done unless you have been against multiple match-ups during your time playing League of Legends. Even your own champion has many different counters and synergies that will vary from match-up to match-up. No matter the match-up, it is important to always maintain a steady percentage of Health and Mana, using them as resources as you trade off with your opponent. You do not want to run out of these resources too quickly, or else you may have to back out a lot more often, leaving your carry alone in lane and vulnerable to an attack. Whoever loses the most resources between the trades will be more and more likely to get shut down or be forced to return to base.
Something to keep in mind when trading with the enemy is that you do not always have to use Mana to win trades. Ranged supports like Nami and Lulu can use their auto attacks to deal plenty of poke damage, especially since this can be done from the safety of your minion wave. If you are not ranged, or simply have long cooldowns on your abilities, use your presence as a tool against your enemies to push them away from their minions with merely the threat of you being able to use an ability on them. Champions like Thresh or Morgana can easily intimidate the enemy bot lane by positioning themself between them and the minions they wish to farm.
If you can not gain the advantage in lane, be there to protect your carry and make smart decisions when engaging. You can still come back from an early disadvantage if you play safe, keep vision up, and be there to assist your teammates. Alternatively, if you have a strong lead in lane, look for opportunities to roam up to help other lanes or get wards deeper in the enemy's jungle. Just because you are ahead in lane, does not mean your team is in an overall good position, since your other lanes could be falling behind. It is important to maintain your own advantage while helping spread support throughout the rest of the lanes when possible. Communication is key, and you should always communicate with your carry and your team when going for engages, roams, ganks, objectives, and team fights in general.
Aside from trading and gaining advantages, it is important to always keep up with the vision around your lane. Having a well controlled river and brush area is beneficial to both you and the rest of your team, even though they are not in the same lane as you. Gaining vision of a particular enemy champion will give your team a lot of information to use to help them make decisions in their own lane. For example, you have warded the Dragon Pit and have spotted the enemy jungler engaging the Dragon. This allows your team a chance to either rotate and shut down the enemy jungler, or gives your team a chance to engage on their enemy laner knowing their jungler can not assist them.
Keeping up with vision can be hard to learn at first, but the best way to learn is to practice and have a lot of repetition. A great way to get in the habit of placing wards is to make sure you have no remaining wards in your inventory before you recall back to base. This reminds you to have all of your wards placed and granting vision throughout the map as you reset in your base, giving your allies plenty of assistance even though you are no longer beside them. A few exceptions to this trick is to not waste your starting trinket ward, since they are a lot harder to replenish given their long cooldown; the other exception is if you are already at your maximum ward placement, and have important wards placed on objectives.
Whenever you are moving through the map, your vision control should follow you, constantly keeping an eye out for any enemy ambushes in key jungle entrances and any surrounding brush. As the game goes on, the areas you want to control vision of will rapidly change, so it is important to always be placing vision whenever it is available so that you will never get caught out in the dark. Keep in mind that placing wards can be dangerous, especially if you are clearing Control Wards in enemy territory. Always communicate with your team before going to ward so that your allies can be there to assist you if need be.
As a support, your job during teamfights and objectives can vary depending on what type of champion you are playing. Enchanter supports like Lulu and Nami will want to always keep their carry shielded, healed, and buffed up. Tank supports like Thresh and Nautilus will want to be ready to engage on the enemy team while also being ready to protect their carry from any enemy assassins. In any case, your job is to ensure safety for your carry and your team as a whole, whether it is keeping an enemy champion crowd controlled (CCed), or keeping an ally boosted up. If you are not able to assist your allies throughout a teamfight, and are more interested in your own success, playing a support may not be your ideal choice, since you will be expected to do all that you can to help your team succeed, even if it is at the cost of your own life, in some instances. At the end of the day, keeping your carry alive is the key to claiming victory in the teamfight and the entire game itself, since they are capable of dealing the necessary damage to the enemy team.
Another important yet more difficult tip to keep in mind is that the individual you need to protect may change throughout the game depending on who truly becomes the “carry” for your team. Sometimes, your top lane Renekton will be far more fed than your bot lane carry, and the team fight relies more on your top laner going in and staying alive as they shut down the enemy team. The win condition for you and your team will constantly change depending on how the game goes, and you will need to keep track of it as much as possible.
Being a support means being your team’s protector, visionary, and even strategist. Your team relies on you to, well, support them in any situation throughout the game, whether you are an enchanter, a tank, or something entirely different. Outside of fighting, it is your job to be constantly picking up information for you and your team through wards, allowing you to spot out key enemy champions and keeping your allies aware of their movements. The course of the game can shift and turn many different ways, but it is important to always be ready to assist your allies and help them secure victory as a team.
