Every Season in League of Legends, we reach a point where we hit our ‘wall’. Sometimes, that’s a series heading upwards into the next division. Other times, it might be slugging it in the middle of the ladder. And often, we walk away from the impression that games are becoming more ‘coinflip’. When you play one of the two Bot Lane roles, you can really get into this negative headspace since a lot of your success is dependent upon the ability of your lane partner. It’s during these slumps where we find it hard to be self-reflective and see what we really need to improve on. So, today I’m going to be listing some common Support mistakes that you might be experiencing, and maybe you can self-correct those behaviors and look for ways to circumvent your poor game states and overcome your current slump!

Pushing Without Wards!

This one seems obvious, but with an increased presence of Carry Style Supports like Heimer, Ashe, Xerath, and Zyra all enjoying Season 2023, this simple mistake is occurring more often throughout all ELOs. So, what’s the quick fix here? Well, whenever you get the push, and your ADC is in a safe matchup where they won’t be suddenly engaged on, you can float away from lane to secure vision in these locations:

For generic ward spots, these locations cover pretty much everything you need. And depending on your Champion or how hard your team is winning, you might be able to secure even deeper wards than these. Naturally though, those closest to the lane are going to be the easiest for you to acquire without risk. These close to lane options are great if you’re on one of those lower mobility Supports like a Mage or Enchanter, while some of the deeper spots can be more easily acquired if you have a larger timer or if you’re on a mobile Support like Pyke or Bard!

Conceding Brush Control

Controlling the brush is a huge tempo aspect of Bot Lane that I’ve noticed to be overlooked in a lot of Support play, especially those that have been autofilled into the role. But why is Brush Control so important?

Well, first and foremost, it gives you a safe space to poke from. Every ability you throw and every time you move forward for an auto goes unseen if you’re controlling the vision in the brush. Naturally, this safe space to poke from lets you quickly stack up gold for your Support Item Quest and secure your vision early if you’re on a Champion that utilizes Spellthief’s or Spectral Sickle.

If you’re on a melee Champion though, Brush Control makes your engagements completely unseen and largely unpredictable. Hooks, windups, and other engage abilities cannot be predicted if an opponent can’t see your positioning. Additionally, if they can’t see your spot, they may self-zone themselves back, reducing the pressure on your ADC to farm because of this. And naturally, it just takes that one unaware moment or greedy position for you to capitalize on it.

So, always strive to maintain control over your lane brushes. Depending on your matchups and how easily you and your ADC can 2v2, it might be worth investing in a Sweeper over your standard Ward Totem to start the game off if lane control and pressure is a focus for your unique Bot Lane Combination.

Trading Into Massive Minion Waves

Again this is a simple tactic that I think has gone overlooked more so by Support auto-fills than anything, but even as someone that mains Support/ADC themselves, I do find myself tunneling from time to time depending on my Champion. And as a Support, you often forget about the wave since your responsibility to it is largely minimal in comparison to your ADC.

So, something that I would work into a checklist for engage opportunities is, “How big is the Minion Wave?” and then ask yourself, “Do I have to fight in the Minions to win?” After you’ve answered these two questions, consider your Champions. If you have someone that can easily displace the enemy or bring them towards you like a Pyke or Blitz, then you may have less concern about the wave if Brush Control is maintained and you can fight without aggroing the Minions.

But, if you’re an Enchanter or are needing to make an engage for tempo control of the lane as a Melee, then it's important to consider the size of the wave as you approach. Because the moment you auto or hit the enemy with an ability, all those minions are putting their sights on you. And if your opponents have tools like Polymorph or a silence like Soraka’s Starfield, what looks like quick burst opportunities can turn sour and cause you to play the next few minutes without Summoners or result in a death.

Additionally, consider the wave as opponents trade into you. If someone just walks up and is autoing your carry while four casters are tuned on to them, show no hesitation about engaging quickly and punishing their arrogant play. Naturally be aware of baits, but overaggression is something that can be tempered quickly by a swift response of your own.

Refusing To Roam

While I wouldn’t consider Roaming an advanced tactic, it’s certainly something that you see out of more High ELO Supports than you do low ELOs. But it’s a tactic that, when utilized well, can often net map-wide advantage for your team. Remember, just because you might be in a duo lane doesn’t mean your responsibility is to only Support the ADC. Sometimes you have to expand your impression of the game and recognize Jungle, Top, or Mid as wincons and think of ways that you can play towards and support the advantages they’ve created for themselves.

So, what are your timers to roam? Well, we talked a minute ago about that crashing wave. That’s one timer that is great to take advantage of. But, you’ve also got your timers on Respawn or Back. These moments are great to roam from since you’re coming onto the map from the most direct locations to reach where you want to roam to, and you’re coming back with increased resources, be that boots or other components which can shift the variables of your roam.

Hitting Mid or even Top, depending on how volatile the matchup is, can definitely swing those lanes in your favor. And if anything, it creates an expectation for your opposing lane opponents that they have to be aware that they’re being watched. So, your roams to these lanes may actually shift how they approach the rest of their lane phase, which may end up being beneficial to your teammates.

Fighting or Trading Without Item or Level Advantage

This one is that I see a lot out of aggressive players. They think because they’re on a high-impact Champion like Pyke, Blitz, or Leona that the damage or disruption they put out is enough to help swing fights. Especially if they catch someone on the enemy duo out of range of their partner, but something you must always consider is Itemization and Experience that your opponents might have over you. Especially so if you’re fighting in or near a wave.

If you make a pick, you must always consider the potential of your opponents trying simply to make a return kill. And in cases where you’re behind in either item components or experience, even a Long Sword’s worth of stats can swing a fight in your opponent’s favor. So, before you make a play to be aggressive hit that TAB key and see where your ADC stacks in comparison to the enemy ADC, make a note of what needs to happen before you can truly take that pick, because otherwise they may just return fire and neutralize your play or even swing what you thought was a great moment into a negative outcome for you since they were more ahead than you realized.

Picking a No-Synergy Bot Lane

This is one that, personally, I’m big on. Naturally, I think any Champion can beat any Champion if the conditions are right. You can play out a lane with disadvantage and still end up winning a game. But what is always going to be more easily executed is a state where you and your lane partner both have the same idea behind something.

Take for example one side locks in Samira-Yuumi and the other side locks in Kai’sa-Nautilus. Samira and Yuumi have notorious reputations, of course, but in this context, they individually have no way of working towards what each of them wants to accomplish given their partner. Samira wants to fight early and often and outright take over the entire course of the game with her ability to snowball. Yuumi wants to scale up and enable whatever carry she has access to to be an unkillable machine, but way later in the game. These two Champions don’t click naturally as to what they want to accomplish, and this disconnect gives them no lane presence.

Kai’sa-Nautilus though, well, they’re quite alright. Kai’sa can scale or fight early, but it’s Nautilus that enables that early ability of hers. He helps stack her passive and bursts down a target alongside her to expedite her to that late game nonsense she’s capable of. And if for whatever reason the lane goes south, his ability to apply her Passive is what Nautilus is going to come in clutch for since he can shift his goals from being a go-hard Support to being a peel focused Support if he needs to. This duo just simply has a more cohesive identity and ability to play off each other than Samira-Yuumi does, and nine times out of ten, I’d give them the advantage in this matchup.

So, that brings me to say, you want to have a duo that has some overlapping ideologies of play. Naturally acquiring a Support counter is huge, but you want your ADC to be able to swing off your Support counter, and if they can’t, you want to at least be able to enable what your ADC does well. If they want aggression like a Samira does, then Leo/Nautilus is great. If they want scaling like a Vayne does, then a Janna or Soraka is a solid option. If they’re fine with just farming and not interacting like Sivir so often does, then maybe you can make more of an impact by roaming on Bard or Pyke selection.

Whatever way it works out, you want to be able to link with your lane partner in the clutch, so always consider what it is your partner wants to accomplish before you lock-in.

Closing Out

So, there you have it! Be sure you’re warding up, controlling the brush, fighting with minions, picking a pristine lane partner, and always fighting with advantage! Otherwise, you’ll continue slamming your head against the ranked wall that you’ve likely come searching your way out of! Thanks for reading folks, and good luck with the remainder of your first split climb!