Learn how to improve your skills when in the Support role. Topics in this article include proper vision control, roaming, and other important things to note when picking this role.
The Support role in League of Legends has become notorious for being the easiest role in the game. However, just like any other role, there are fundamental tips and tricks that will help you improve rapidly. Your role in the game has a lot more impact than you think– your worth lies in more than just your abilities. As a Support main of 6 years, here are some tips and tricks I wish I knew when I started the game.
Getting vision in the jungle and around objectives is, arguably, one of the most important things that a Support main has to keep in mind. Although your Support item will give you 3 free Stealth Wards, buying control wards will not only help you, but it will also help the rest of your teammates. Control Wards are unique – unlike Stealth Wards, they don’t expire, but you can only have one Control Ward on the map at the time. Additionally, putting a Control Ward down disables all nearby enemy stealth wards, which will hinder the enemy team.
Supports should be mindful about putting a Control Ward where the neutral objectives will spawn (Baron Pit/Dragon Pit) in order to help feed information to your teammates. Vision can make all the difference when trying to spot an enemy gank or trying to set up a teamfight around a neutral objective.
Additionally, using your Oracle Lens is one of the easiest ways to help clear enemy vision around the jungle. Supports should be looking to grab this item from the shop after their World Atlas upgrades to Runic Compass. Sweeping vision before objectives come up, again, helps your team by clearing enemy vision while also helping you set vision up in crucial spots to look for a good pick onto an enemy laner.
As a Support, knowing when to help push your wave and when to relegate the wave’s XP and gold to your ADC is important, especially on a Champion with AOE abilities (ex. Morgana, Brand, etc.). Your Support item only lets you last hit 3 minions at a time on full charge, so you should avoid hitting your wave whenever you are out of charges so your ADC can get the majority of XP and Gold from it.
Additionally, if both you and your ADC are confident that you will win your lane matchup, then both you and your laner should play more aggressively and aim to hit level 2 before your enemy laners. Also, be mindful of your positioning in lane. Only aim to hit your skillshots when you know they won’t be blocked by the minion wave and if they are confirmed kills in order to conserve your Mana for later fights.
Having a big Champion pool, especially one that doesn’t solely include Enchanters or Mages, is useful in helping you counter-pick and can provide more utility for your team. Champions like Braum, Alistar and Leona may look daunting at first glance, but these Champions can help protect your carries while also providing reliable amounts of crowd control with their abilities.
Additionally, having a large Champion pool will help you counter-pick the other opponent laners when in Champion Selection. For example, if the enemy ADC and Support pick Draven and Blitzcrank, you could pick Morgana to try and block Blitzcrank Q or Braum to peel for your ADC. You can also pick a support that synergizes well with your ADCs pick to help dominate the lane early (ex. Xayah and Rakan, Caitlyn and Karma, Kalista and Renata, Jhin and Leona, etc.).
Contrary to popular belief, as a Support, you do not need to stick next to your ADC for the entire game. You can devote your resources and abilities to get your other laners ahead as well. Roaming around the map is something a lot of Supports are not taught – knowing how to perform this task properly will help improve things like your map awareness and your impact on the game.
Champions with lots of reliable crowd control will excel at this (ex. Bard, Alistar, Pyke), while enchanters (ex. Janna, Lulu, Soraka) will struggle due to their lower HP and squishier nature. It’s important to note that if your ADC is put in a position where they are unable to stay safe and farm under their tower, you should avoid leaving them alone in lane. Additionally, it is important to know that if the enemy support is roaming to a different lane, you can also roam to the lane that they are going to in order to match them.
Positioning and the placement of the wave in your other lanes is important to note when roaming. For example, it’s a lot easier to roam when your enemy laner is overextended with no vision and without a wave to block yours or your laner’s abilities.
Fundamentally, roaming is about knowing when to leave lane, where to apply pressure and how to make plays without losing too much gold or XP. A good roaming Support can help your laners snowball faster, which helps you win more games.
Yes, keeping track of all of those pesky cooldowns does actually matter. In fact, knowing both your own cooldowns and your enemy’s cooldowns can make or break crucial teamfights. Imagine this: you’re in a 5v5 at Baron Pit, and your team has none of their abilities up. The only thing standing between the enemy carries and your own are your abilities and Summoner Spells. Knowing the enemy can’t engage on you or your team will help you decide whether to fall back or stand your ground to try and turn the fight in your favor.
Being mindful of timers on certain objectives that are spawning will also help you feed information to your Jungler and teammates. For example, if you know Ocean Dragon is about to spawn in the pit, you can ping your ADC and your Jungler that you are going to set up vision in the jungle to prevent the enemy Jungler from finding a way into the pit and contesting/stealing the objective. Proactively guiding your team’s next moves around these timers can help shape the outcome of the game. A Support that helps their teammates track objectives while also effectively communicating who has what abilities and summoner spells up allows their teammates to be more coordinated, which will help you consistently close out games.
As always, with practice will come eventual improvement. Queuing up for games with all this information in mind will improve your fundamentals, which in turn will make you a better, more receptive player. Stronger decision-making, better map awareness, and more impactful plays all come with experience. Mastering these habits will help any aspiring Support main level up on Summoner’s Rift.
