I had an inching question in my mind, “What would be the benefit of me devoting my soul to a certain Champion? If I one-tricked would I really benefit and boost myself towards my ranked goal?” And then I set about finding which of my pool I’d like to main hardcore in this aspect, but again I was haulted, “Who of these is the best to main?” I asked,“Are there stats that can lead me to believing one Champion is better than another?”

So, I set about digging and I started my journey at LeagueofGraphs.com, a wonderful website that compiles a ton of useful information that you can use to analyze yourself and the trends in the meta. Conveniently, they have a subsection of their Champions tab that is, ‘Winrates by Experience’ which is calculated as Winrates with 50+ ranked games. This list is able to be filtered by Rank+ meaning you can start your base at Iron+ or higher at around Plat+. Alongside this adjustment, there’s a bar that measures the trending winrate and fluctuation of it, so you can see what Champion is doing better at any given time.

Setting myself some time to see which of my main Champions I should devote myself to, I was sad to see my personal Champs were a bit lower down the top of the list. But, with a desire to know in mind, I decided to take this list and pull out from it the top 10 Support Champions from it to better direct myself. So, today you’re going to get my insights into the top 10 Champions to play based on experience as I unpack the top of this list!

As a note, I avoided listing a few Champions from the list. Maokai was a name I looked over, he would’ve landed in our middle of the pack area, but with Riot putting more emphasis on him as a Top Laner with adjustments, I wanted to look over him when considering our Support. So, consider him an honorable mention. The same could be said for the likes of Xerath and Vel’koz, who while effective Poke Supports, are really designed with Mid gameplay in mind. And unlike Brand (spoiler), the split between Mid and Support playmates on those two isn’t astronomically different. Additionally, my base for this list is Platinum+. Should you want to go back and check League of Graphs yourself, you can adjust the base however you see.

Finally, these rankings are actively updated and in flux, so these are my impressions from when this article was written.

#1 - Taric, the Shield of Valoran

When I saw Taric on this list, I raised an eyebrow. Taric is typically known to be a cheese strategy enabler with previously popular double Support Lanes and Master Yi funnel strats. But, with both of those strats being addressed by Riot to a decent level, it’s surprising to see Taric as high on the chart as he is.

But, when pulling away from the cheese methods of play, it does make a lot of sense. Taric’s ultimate has one of the highest impacting effects in the game, invulnerability, and the precise timing and positioning needed for it to cover a team does take time to master. You’ve got to master when and where you need to be and Taric has to position all on his lonesome.

Additionally, Taric has some of the best extended trades in the game thanks to his passive and heals. Coupled with a stun that he can combine with his allies, then there’s some skillful expression in angling and mastering Taric’s approach. Sad to say he’s not the most viable of picks available in the Solo-Queue Support circuit right now just due to how much time it takes to master this handsome man, but it’s clear that investment in him is a worthy endeavor.

#2 - Brand, the Burning Vengeance

Brand’s a bit surprising to see up here. As a middle of the pack Support pick, Brand is known as being a pubstomp Champion that can be used to easily climb from the depths of low ELO to mid ELO. But, when the majority of your kit is skillshot oriented, mastery and familiarity of your ranges does pay off. And since Brand thrives on punishing mistakes and ulting his way through teamfights, it’s not a surprise to see him hovering just out of the top spots for winrates on experience. And like I mentioned in our intro, his playrate between Mid and Support is astronomically different, so it’s no doubt that he’s far more suited to Bot Lane than in Mid.

#3 - Swain, the Noxian Grand General

And now for one of MY Champions. There’s a lot of divisiveness about Swain’s kit. He’s got all the layering that a control mage loves, he’s got the range of a battlemage, and his damage in the early game is akin to that of a burst mage, so that begs to ask what exactly is Swain? Well, from my 100+ games on the Champion in the past two seasons, he’s whatever you need him to be.

Swain initially starts off the game with a very clearly defined role as a bit of a lane bully and burst mage in lane. His combo has the potential to kill or bully out any ADC or Support that isn’t an Enchanter, and once he gets tempo control over the lane, he’s hard to stall. Then you can transition him down a deeper path of burst mage if you wish, or you can pivot with items like Liandry’s and Zhonya’s to take a more burn-mage/dps angle. If your team is lacking frontline, it’s not a terrible idea to opt for items like Spirit Visage to promote his sustaining and drain-tank approach.

And I guess that leads me to say this is where Swain’s investment is worth it. He’s got plenty of avenues to explore in terms of team composition. If you get down and can recognize what is best for your team you can take advantage of his ability to snowball, defend, and just generally be a nuisance at any ELO. Additionally, abilities like his W are super great at scouting out and keeping track of the Jungler’s pathing. So, there’s just another tool to the grand strategist’s arsenal.

#4 - Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths

NAUT surprising to see not here. Champions with high impact CC like Nautilus possess, tend to fare well in Solo-Queue environment since they can lay down an oppressive amount of CC to keep their enemies down. With the flexibility to be either an engage-piece with his hook and ultimate, or a disengage-piece with his ultimate and E, Naut can play a flexible role in any composition.

He rewards mastery through successfully hitting your skill shots, but also rewards knowing your role as it evolves over the course of the game. It’s no surprise to see him rank amongst the best of the Supports that are on the list.

#5 - Janna, the Storm’s Fury

Janna, despite her bad reputation as a mind-numbing Champion, possesses a hefty impact in Bot Lane. With an aggressive play-pattern promoted by builds with Arcane Comet, Janna can take the role of a pseudo-mage early in the lane phase and really lay down devastating poke alongside her ever reliable shielding and disengage. She can naturally opt for more defensive variants with Aery which naturally synergizes with her shielding ability, while still giving her poke some smoke to it as well.

Yes she scales and provides some of the best peel in the game that can enable any respectable Marksmen to do their work uninhibited, but with timing and target selection being key to making the most of her kit, it’s no surprise to see practice pays off when looking at Janna’s winrate beyond 50 games. Understanding when her builds are most appropriate and all the timing and priority that plays into her game is key.

#6 - Sona, the Maven of Strings

Another personal pick of mine finds its way onto the list. Sona’s recent mini-rework has boosted an already decently successful Champion to new heights. Common now in the pockets of every Enchanter Support Main, Sona’s winrate not only increases beyond our 50 game metric, but it also increases as game time extends on Summoner’s Rift. With more access to her ultimate and CDR abound, Sona’s ability to majorly affect teamfights over and over again can’t be dismissed.

Additionally, she has the ability to flex between more AP focused builds, Enchanter builds, or even hybrid herself between the two pathways depending on the game and her income levels throughout. So, if you need an Enchanter but want a little more poke-mage play in your life, she’s a viable candidate with items like Archangels and Lich Bane possessing major synergy with her kit. It’s all just a matter of knowing what you can get away with based on your game state, and Sona’s winrate promotes that investment and understanding.

#7 - Braum, the Heart of the Freljord

With the popularity of Ezreal and the dominant state of Divine Sunderer, Braum’s success when mained is of no surprise to me. Hell, even I, as a person that considers myself an Enchanter player, even gravitated towards mastering Braum after Riot peppered him with a few loving buffs.

Braum is just a great all-arounder. Though he specializes in defensive control and peeling, his kit does afford itself to an aggressive play pattern when paired up with the likes of Lucian, Ezreal, or Samira, who all benefit from the effect of his passive and can adjust their positioning to give Braum advantageous angles. This in-fight adjustment and understanding the switch between peeling and aggression is what makes mastering Braum difficult, but as a true Support pick on the list, it’s clearly worth it to invest in this absolute unit of the Freljord.

#8 - Senna, the Redeemer

I’m happy to see Senna make her way to this list as she is a quintessential pick from both Support and Bot. With her ability to flex between either lane, her play pattern promotes those that have invested time in learning how to approach the fight from both the angles of a Support and Bot Laner.

She also enables a ton of unique strategies with her passive, allowing for lanes like Senna-Tahm, Senna-Sett, or Senna-Swain, to really change up the pace of play in Bot which can put more traditionally minded sorts on the backfoot. And, it seems like every other patch someone has found a new way to bust Senna wide open with unique discoveries between Keystones and item combos, so she’s always one to have in the pocket of mastery.

#9 - Alistar, the Minotaur

I won’t lie, I was surprised to see Alistar make his way on the list. I genuinely figured Leona would nudge him out, but it’s likely that Leona’s popularity and status as a higher tier pick is what is holding her down in comparison to Alistar. So, this ranking in a way make speak to the more dedicated crowd of Support players that love their wild-minotaur. But, let’s dive into his ability on the rift.

Alistar’s got a pretty easy kit to understand, his headbutt-pulverize combo has Malphite levels of fight impact and is an easy point-and-click combo to execute on, his ultimate reduces ALL damage he takes and removes him from CC on activation, allowing him to dive or soak damage without a care in the world, and he’s got a bit of passive sustain to help him through those rougher poke matchups… So, there’s a bit to love here about Alistar.

And like Nautilus, he can take on a flexible approach to his game. Sometimes he may need to be the primary engage piece, but other times he may need to be the primary defensive peeler for his team and his massive CC compliments flexibility and understanding between those two roles.

#10 - Thresh, the Chain Warden

Honestly, I’m surprised to see Thresh down this low on the list, as if I was to encourage any player to invest in any one pick, it’d be Thresh. He is, simply, the quintessential Support Champion of League of Legends. He provides massive utility with all of his abilities, can play a frontline or peeler role for his teams, and the unique positional demands of his spells really promotes mastery of when and where to be at any given moment in a game.

There’s no doubt that any aspiring professional player needs to have Thresh down pat and ready to pull out at a moment’s notice because there’s no extending yourself to the upper echelons of play when not being able to pilot League’s most vicious of Supports.

Closing Out

So, there you have it. As of the time of writing this piece, these are the top ten Supports that are worth your time and effort. Though there overall ranks are muddled with the rest of the League cast, when we refine them down to their contemporaries in the Support pool, we can really see that these picks are separating themselves from the pack as Season 11 rolls on.