Echo Fox Gate's Sejuani Support and the Case for "Non-Meta" Tank Supports

In the first week of the NALCS Summer Split, Echo Fox's Gate pulled out Support Sejuani against Team Liquid. Gate ended up 0/1/5 in the win. Recently, Riot brought reworks to three Champions, which made them viable (on different levels), in the Support role: Sejuani, Zac, and Galio. Let's look at each individually and what makes them have the potential to be a viable Support pick.

Sejuani:

Let’s begin by looking at Sejuani’s passive, Fury of the North. After not taking damage for some time, Sejuani gains bonus armor and magic resistance (MR) and becomes immune to slows. This increases off her total armor and MR, making Locket of the Iron Solari (Locket) a good early item buy as a Support Sejuani.

Sejuani’s kit also has multiple crowd control (CC) abilities. Her Arctic Assault (Q) provides a knock up and her Winter’s Wrath (W) slows enemies hit of its second flail. Her Permafrost (E) might take some practice to activate the stun on enemy Champions (although it might come easier to Tahm Kench and Braum mains). Last, Sejuani’s ultimate, Glacial Prison (R), stuns the first enemy hit while slowing all others at two different points in its duration.

Sejuani’s W also scales off her max health, thus scaling off Relic Shield's build paths, Knight’s Vow, and Randuin’s Omen. Add that to the scaling off Locket and she’s built a nice Support item set.

Zac:

Zac might be the least viable of the three to play as Support. His “brokenness,” however, might just lead to success. According to OP.GG at the time of the writing of this article, Zac tops the ban rate at 100.71%. This ban rate can be traced to one thing: his new ultimate (R), Let’s Bounce!. It not only makes him immune to crowd control, but on a second recast, he scoops up any enemies on top of him and carries them with him. In other words, you can take that enemy ADC that is in a good, safe position and place said ADC right into your whole team.

Zac’s other abilities also provide good CC. His Stretching Strikes (Q) slows whomever it hits and his next basic attack turns into a second Q. If the two targets hit are different, Zac flings the two together and slowing them again. His Q also scales off his max health, thus scaling off Relic Shield's build paths, Knight’s Vow, and Randuin’s Omen. Zac’s Elastic Slingshot (E) dashes him to a location and knocks up anything in the target location. This provides an excellent engage and hard CC for when your Jungler comes to gank.

Galio:

Galio is the best of the three to play in the support role. When Galio was initially reworked, his role selection was spread pretty evenly across Top, Middle, Jungle, and Support. Since then, however, his selection as a Support has decreased so much, that he is not even listed as a Support on OP.GG anymore (which is why I included him on this list). This is a shame because Galio’s kit and scaling not only make him the best of the three Champions discussed here, but one of the best tank Support Champions in League of Legends right now.

Galio Support is a combination of Shen and Malphite Support. First off, he has three forms of hard CC in his kit. His Justice Punch-Shield of Durand (E-W) combo provides good engage for fights in the bot lane, as well as the ability to peel effectively for your ADC. His Winds of War (Q) can be used to push waves or to poke the enemy. His ultimate, Hero’s Entrance, (R) provides a big amount of damage reduction, an area hard CC, and allows him to enter team fights from a distance.

The best part? His abilities scale off MR, making that Locket Support item well worth the purchase. Think of it this way, you bought a shield for your ADC, which simply by buying also increased the damage reduction to your ADC when you R them, increased the damage reduction on you for your taunt (W), and increased your passive’s damage. In fact, by building Locket, you gain about an additional 5% damage reduction to the allied champion that you ult.

His W also scales off his max health, meaning Relic Shield's build paths, Knight’s Vow, and Randuin’s Omen increase his W passive shield. The passive shield from his W really is what makes Galio stand out as a support, because it allows him to be able to handle AP damage supports and poke supports that pose trouble to other tank supports. This passive shield blocks incoming magic damage, meaning those Zyra plants have to work extra hard before it will affect his health. This MR shield greatly increases by building a standard Support item set consisting of Locket, Knight’s Vow, Eye of the Equinox, and Randuin’s. This allows one to build against heavy AD teams, while still have good protection from AP.

Takeaway? Galio can be viable and effect against any type of Support the enemy chooses to use.

Reminders:

As with any tank Support, the point is to peel for your ADC and other damage Champions, provide engage/disengage, and obviously, be a tank. This means think about a good build path for the tank Champion you are playing (i.e. do not build for damage, but utility).

It is also important to note that the Champion’s ability max order rate might be different as a Support than if they were in a different role. For example, many Top Galio players max Q first for the ability to farm. When trying to play Galio as a Support, however, it is best to max Q last. Maxing E and W before Galio’s Q reduces the cooldown of these abilities, allowing for better ability for peel or engage. Keep this point in mind when trying out any of these three Champions!

Enjoy your time on the Rift!

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