Support Itemization Tier List With DIG Biofrost
How good are the Support Items actually? Let’s break that down with DIG’s very own Biofrost!
There are a ton of items in League of Legends and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming as to what to choose and when to appropriately fit your situation. Well, today, DIG’s very own Vincent “Biofrost” Wang is sitting down with me, and we’re going to break down the strengths of the Support Items across the class, and really unpack how dynamic these stat sticks are!
Starting Items - Shoulderguards, Relic, Sickle, and Spellthief’s.
For Supports, there are very limited options in terms of flexibility when it comes to starting items. The four core items all evolve into our Sightstone, so we’re pretty much always starting there. But typically Melee Supports almost always go Relic Shield, especially if they have any AP scaling to them. In situations where you’re playing a Melee Support like Braum or Sett though, someone that values auto-attacks over abilities, then you’ll opt for Shoulderguards simply because you lack AP scalings or auto-attacks are more meaningful to your damage in early skirmishes.
Spellthief’s and Sickle are your ranged Support choices. Mages and Enchanters will almost always opt for Spellthief’s as it supplies AP and Mana-regeneration, two stats that make the laning phase stronger for the two archetypes. ADCs like Miss Fortune, Senna, and Ashe that can flex into Support will pick up Sickle since it offers them AD stats, which improves their ability to harass and trade in lane.
Enchanters can also opt for Relic Shield depending on how volatile their matchup is or depending on the range matchup in the lane. Against other ranged matchups, Spellthief's wins out. But, against volatile picks like Blitzcrank, Leona, or Nautilus, Champions that look to punish early and hard, Relic Shield can provide a safer pattern of play for Enchanters, promoting their intent to scale. Additionally, should you be caught out, the extra HP offered by Relic may just save your skin.
Overall, all the starting items are relatively even in terms of power and since they set a benchmark across the board, we rate them collectively as B-tier and they will be represented on the tier list by their completed forms.
Mythic Items
Mythic Items are where a bit more variation can get introduced into Support play, but even still, there are some more clearly defined and better options to go for barring any major adjustments by Riot.
So, for Mythic Items, it’s divided up based on what kind of Support you are. If you’re a Melee Support, you have Evenshroud or Locket. In very niche cases, you’re skipping your Mythic all together. Someone like Sett comes to mind rushing Dead Man’s, but again this is a niche thing. For the most part, Supports opt for one of the two options. I prefer Evenshroud most of the time and rate it above Locket since it gives a damage amp and is the more aggressive option. And generally, since you’re playing a melee Support, that’s generally what you want to go for.
If you’re playing a Ranged Support, you have three options of Mythics. Imperial Mandate, which is strictly reserved for Nami and Ashe and nearly no one else. Other Supports should go either Moonstone or Shurelya’s. When it comes to breaking down those two options, Moonstone is the far more consistent and easily applied item. However, Shurelya’s provides a more dynamic and impactful effect with the increase to movement speed making it a more skillful item to utilize. Typically, consistency helps a piece win out over another, but Movement Speed is such an underrated and impactful stat to apply, that we rate Shurelya’s a step up over Moonstone.
Mage Supports often opt for their Mythic of choice from Mid Lane. So, Liandry’s or Luden’s in most cases. Liandry’s is excellent against team comps featuring high health pools or multiple tanks, while Luden’s is a great choice against squishier comps or for Burst Mages looking to play a sub-carry role and delete unaware squishies. Both these items fall at the same tier, while Crown and Everfrost are steps down in terms of power and effects.
Second and Third Item Choices
Again thinking from Melee and Ranged perspectives in split cases. As a Melee Support, a lot of the time you have to think about healing. If healing is prevalent, going Bramble/Thornmail early is a good option. But keep in mind that as a Support, you don’t have a lot of gold generation. So, a lot of the time your second or third item is going to be your last item. So, buying cheap things is generally the way to go. So, I kind of work my way through a checklist. If they have a lot of healing, I go Bramble/Thornmail. If no healing, then Knight’s Vow. But say one person on the team is really fed, and I have a lot of CC, then I’ll go Anathema’s Chains to help shut that person down. If it’s more of an even spread, then I default to Knight’s Vow to help my primary carry.
When playing Ranged Supports, for example Lulu or another Enchanter, then most likely Putrefier is the best anti-healing option. If they don’t have any healing or they have a lot of CC, then Mikael’s is a great pick up. In extreme cases where the enemy composition has a lot of healing, say against a Senna-Seraphine or Soraka-Seraphine, then skipping Mythic all together to get Putrefier early is a great call. Same could be said for heavy CC lanes like Ashe-Leona, opting for Mikael’s quickly can help nullify what those Champions provide.
The Ranged items sit generally above the Melee items due to the fact that they are far less conditional, have more flexible applications, and generally are far less expensive than melee items. One of the things to keep in mind about Melee Support items, often Tank or Bruiser items later down the line, is that since their items bleed over into other role identities the completed items themselves are vastly more expensive than a Support budget might be able to afford. So, again, components over completed items in the case of Melee Supports.
Other Item Options and Mage Support Itemization
So, as I mentioned, as a Support your income really limits your options of items. But, there are a few to keep in mind depending on your situations. For example, Staff of Flowing Water is a great pick-up if the enemy composition isn’t presenting heavily in regard to CC or Healing. It’s a great synergy item for Enchanters. After that, especially once you hit level 13, Vigilant Wardstone is almost always a go-to buy for me. It’s extremely cost efficient and helps you maintain great coverage of pinks around the map.
When it comes to Mages, you’ll typically be following your Mid Lane itemization. But, in cases like Lux or Seraphine, you can be cheeky and blend your build between AP and Enchanter options depending on the front that is presented to you and what needs to be countered. Additionally, these Champs have the bonus of being able to flex into Support if their econ starts to dry up a bit due to low volatility in game. But, if you’re picking your champion to fulfill a damage need on the comp, it’s almost always more valuable for you and the team to opt for damage. Especially in lower ELOs, random damage can sometimes just flat out win the game.
As far as other items like Redemption, Ardent Censer, Zeke’s Convergence, or Frozen Heart these items fit a similar in similar veins to Staff of Flowing Water as options that are okay if you have nothing else to build, or in the case of Ardent and Frozen Heart, are great options to boost a collective of similar allies or counter a collective of enemies. Factor in how your team deals damage and what range you have to be playing at safely to help make the choices on if these items are going to be impactful for you or not. But, especially when concerning Frozen Heart which is often a later stage buy, consider your gold investment and if the game’s level of income is meeting tempo for you to reach the item without sacrificing vision.
One last huge honorable mention before we close out, Stopwatch is still quite valuable on most Supports. While the cost of Stopwatch has been adjusted to bring it away from favor, the ability to bait opponents or cycle turret aggro on dives is absolutely invaluable if you’re playing in a dive composition. Always keep in mind if this item is worth slotting for in your Inspiration Runes where it is far more efficiently selected than it is straight up purchased from the store.
In regards to our tier list, anything that you see on the list that wasn’t mentioned, simply wasn’t that much of a factor in decision-making due to its cost or overall inefficiency on a Support budget. When it comes to rating the items in comparison to their peers, cost effectiveness is going to weigh far more heavily on the scale that direct power or effects.
Closing Out
There you have it folks! What you need to know about itemization and the perceived strength of the items across the board! Thanks to Biofrost for sitting with me again for another guide piece, you can check out our previous coverage with Bio here on the site, and you can follow him at these social links if you want to follow more of the legend himself.
