The notorious bottom lane: a constant 2v2 battle of positioning, engaging, and who can farm minions the best. Generally, picking which champion to play bottom lane simply resides in which attack damage carry or support you like to play the best. Though, taking a step back and looking at champion kits and how bottom lane ADC/support synergies work could spell disaster for you enemy duo with you laughing towards their Nexus.

There are a lot of different ways to duo on the bottom side of the map in the current meta. In theory, any champion could play bottom lane; however, we are going to be sticking to the classic meta ADC/support combination and taking a deeper look at the some of the best ADC/support synergies that can be utilized.

ADC/Support Types

Each ADC and support can fall into a certain category of playstyle, with some pairing together better than others. So, before we get into the list of the some of the best synergies bottom lane, let’s take a look at which types of ADCs and supports synergize well together.

• Early Game ADC + Engage Support

ADCs that have a very strong early game kill potential like Lucian, Kalista, and Xayah pair well with Supports that can engage early with a large amount of crowd control (CC) like Braum, Rakan, and Leona. Taking advantage of these strong early game ADCs with an engage support is the most viable way to start that frosty snowball to getting the ADC fed and ready to carry the game.

• Hypercarry ADC + Caretaker Support

ADCs that need a little bit of time to ramp up, meaning their early game is a bit weak but once they get a couple items under their belt, they can hard carry a game with their eyes closed, pair well with those supports that have a good amount of early sustain to keep their ADCs alive early game and allow them to farm and get stronger. ADCs like Vayne, Jinx, and Kai’Sa pair well with sustain supports like Soraka, Janna, Nami and Yuumi.

• Poke ADC + Mage Support

Doubling up on poke in a duo lane has the potential to be one of the most tilting things to do to someone in League of Legends - and there’s no better place than the bottom lane. Having an ADC with solid poke like Ashe, Varus, or Caitlyn and pairing them with a mage support like Vel’Koz, Brand or Lux is a recipe for incessant poke for your enemy.

Wombo Combos

Now that we have taken a look at the general theory of champion combinations in the bottom lane, it’s time now to take a look at some of the best ADC/Support synergies that League has to offer.

Lucian + Braum

Lucian and Braum are an insane duo together. With the early game strength of Lucian paired with the tanky poro-lover’s passive CC, it is nothing short of deadly. Braum’s passive, Concussive Blows, that procs off of 4 auto attacks from himself or allied champions gets triggered incredibly fast with Lucian’s passive, Lightslinger. Before the enemy knows it, they are frozen, spamming their Flash key in an attempt to avoid taking Lucian’s R - Culling to the face.

Another boost to this duo’s synergy is Braum’s W - Unbreakable. Lucian’s ultimate is easily interrupted by CC. But when he's with a Braum, Unbreakable can block any projectile or skillshot forms of CC, allowing Lucian to fully blast his pistols if someone is looking to stop the dual wielder. Engaging with Lucian's Culling paired with Braum’s ultimate Glacial Fissure, knocks the enemy up in place to, again, take Lucian’s Culling to the face. Once Lucian’s ultimate has finished, his passive Lightslinger is activated and ready to proc Braum’s passive faster than any other champion in the game.

Xayah + Rakan

In the lore, they are lovers. On the Rift, they are an insurmountable force. Xayah and Rakan synergize very well together simply because playing with each other bottom lane actually boosts their own abilities. If Xayah uses her W - Deadly Plumage, and Rakan is nearby, he will also gain the effect and bonus movement speed when Xayah hits an enemy champion. This means double the deadly dosage of freaky feathers shooting out at the enemy bot lane duo. If Rakan casts his E - Battle Dance on Xayah, the cast range is actually increased, giving Rakan an increased way to disengage and help out your Xayah ADC if she gets in trouble.

To top it off, Xayah and Rakan can back together. If one of them is channeling Recall, the other can come and join in to head back to base. The recall timer is based on the player who initiated the recall, meaning that if Rakan starts the recall, Xayah can finish hard pushing the lane and then come join in for speedy reset. With these enhancements to their abilities, I wouldn’t want to be the one to get between these lover’s quarrel.

Caitlyn + Morgana/Bard

Caitlyn pairs very well with support champions that have CC, and in this example, we will note the possible synergies with Morgana and Bard.

Morgana’s Q - Dark Binding roots enemies in place for 2 seconds at level 1. That is more than enough time for Caitlyn to put down her traps and set up for a very good trade if not a clean kill. Also, Morgana’s ultimate - Soul Shackles is a guaranteed CC for 1.5 seconds, gives Caitlyn the same opportunity. It is important to note that Caitlyn doesn’t have a strong ability to escape, so pairing her with a champion like Morgana who has a spell shield to negate CC on Caitlyn is always a plus for this bottom duo.

On the other hand, pairing Caitlyn with Bard is similarly a good combination because of Bard’s CC with his Q - Cosmic Binding, which stuns for 1 second to allow Caitlyn to put down a trap and set up a killing combination. Bard’s ultimate - Tempered Fate, which puts all targets hit in stasis for 2.5 seconds, also allows Caitlyn to place her traps down on her enemies to step on coming out of the stun. To help with Caitlyn’s lack of ability to escape, Bard can assist her with his sustain with his W - Caretaker’s Shrine. This little health shrine will give Caitlyn a nice heal as well as a speed boost to get out of sticky situations.

Vayne + Nami/Lulu

Vayne is a late game hypercarry that can 1v9 with her eyes closed given the chance to properly farm and make it out of the laning phase. That is why pairing her with a support that has good utility and sustain, like Nami or Lulu, will help achieve this goal.

Nami is able to keep Vayne in lane and farming with her heal off of W - Ebb and Flow. This lets Vayne build her early items and grow in power, which is essential for Vayne to progress in the game. Additionally, Nami's E - Tidecaller's Blessing - adds on-hit effects to Vayne's auto-attacks, giving her additional damage and a slow. This synergizes well with Vayne's W - Silver Bolts, allowing her to convert that third shot for the extra true damage. Nami can further help Vayne by landing her CC with either Q - Aqua Prison or R - Tidal Wave, setting up kills for Vayne and allowing her to snowball into the mid-to-late game.

Lulu's synergies are similar to Nami's, with incredible utility to synergize with Vayne's kit. Lulu's W - Whimsy, once cast on Vayne, provides her bonus movement and attack speed, helping Vayne position in fights and get that juicy Silver Bolts proc. Whimsy can also help Vayne chase down enemies, coupling with Vayne's passive Night Hunter that already gives bonus movement speed when chasing foes down. Lulu has similar on-hit effects that can help Vayne dish out damage with E - Help Pix!, giving Vayne a shield while Pix attacks targets that Vayne attacks for a short duration. Finally, Lulu has a very good disengage ability for Vayne with her R - Wild Growth, which gives Vayne a boost to her health, slows nearby enemy champions, and knocking up enemies around Vayne to give her a chance to position in a fight.

Ezreal + Sona

Ezreal and Sona work well together because they both have safe early games with a constant source of poke. Ezreal farms with his Q - Mystic Shot and pokes the enemy down, paired with Sona poking with her passive Power Chord and Q - Hymn of Valor, which can be quite deadly. Sona can also sustain Ezreal with her W - Aria of Perseverance and grant Ezreal movement speed with her E - Song of Celerity to help disengage if Ezreal gets too aggressive and does something like Arcane Shift into a fight. The pinnacle of this pair's synergy lies within their ultimates. Sona's Crescendo stuns enemies for 1.5 seconds, allowing Ezreal to line up a Trueshot Barrage for a guaranteed hit, following up with some hefty damage to secure the kill, allowing Ezreal to start that snowball he so desperately needs to get out of the early laning phase.

These are just a few examples of bot lane synergies that are effective and efficient. There are a number of others that are just as efficient and can deal out a lot of good damage. As an ADC, take a few minutes before jumping into a game and think about your champion's kit and what would help you maximize the damage output of that kit - vise versa playing as support. Take a minute to think about what your support kit has to offer and which ADC could potentially utilize it the most. Understanding the different types of carries and supports will aid in your decision making of who to play and maximize the potential for a clean bottom lane with a lot of damage coming out of the laning phase.

Good luck and have fun!