Supporting in Solo Queue: How to Carry and Not Get Credit

Supporting in solo queue can be pretty challenging. This is especially true in Bronze and Silver League where you have to act like Dante and carry yourself out of “ELO Hell.”

First thing to keep in mind is that support is a very dynamic role. You have to attempt to counter the enemy support and the enemy adc. However, you also have to make sure you synergize well with your adc and your team as a whole. This can be slightly challenging at first but once you get used to a few support champs you should be well on your way to Challenger. I would recommend learning at least one sustain such as Soraka, one harass such as Lulu and one aggressive support such as Thresh.

Know that it is not always this simple. There have been times where a bad engage early on forced me to play more defensively with Thresh or getting help from a jungler allowed me to be more aggressive with Janna. You just have to get the feel of the situation and go from there.

Another factor that can cause problems is the fact that you’re playing with an adc with whom you most likely haven’t played with before. There will be games where you won’t be on the same page as your adc. These are not fun games and you need to limit these as much as possible. You can do this with smart pings and just general communication. Nothing is worse than engaging with Leona or Thresh while your adc farms. This can be prevented by being aware of your surroundings as a support. You don’t have to last hit but you should be aware of the minion waves because your adc cares about them greatly and you should care about your adc. 

Another way to ensure your adc and you are on the same page is by using pings. Now, this is something I still have trouble with because I put too much faith in my lane partners ability to read my mind. When I see an oppurtunity for a great all in I'm going to go for it and hope they follow through. However, if I would ping while going in or right after I engage, I believe I would have even greater success with my aggressive play style. Shouting at my computer after the adc doesn't engage does not seem to be working out well. 

 

Holy Support Carry Batman

There are many ways to carry from a support position. They just aren’t as clear as they are with other roles. One of the most obvious ways is to get your adc nice and fed. This can be tricky if it’s someone who isn’t very good at adc or if the enemy jungler has a personal vendetta against your lane. Don’t lose faith, my friends, there are ways. For instance, say you’re playing Lulu and your adc wasn’t doing too hot in lane. You can just Wild Growth and buff up your tanky jungler or top laner during team fights and watch as they lay waste to everything around them. If you can hold your ground until team fights start, and then keep your adc alive during team fights. You should have a decent shot at victory.

Note that if the enemy jungler is ganking your lane and your jungler is not ganking your lane. This is not the end of the world if you can play defensively and make sure they don’t get dragon, kills or towers. Hope they keep showing up. This should allow your teammates to counter push and take other objectives.

You can help out your jungler and the rest of your team by keeping track of Dragon and Baron repawn timers. Dragon respawns six minutes after it dies and Baron spawns seven minutes after it dies. Please note that in your system settings you can turn on time stamp. This will allow you to see exactly when baron and dragon die.

I try to remind my team when there is three minutes and when there is a minute left until baron and dragon. Around the around two minute mark I try to ward up for objective. Making sure to pink the area of dragon or baron, and warding surrounding brush. 

 

Wonder Twin Powers Activate

What’s that, you have friends and they want to duo queue with you? That sounds awesome. Now your buddy may feel that just because he’s queuing up with a support that he should go adc. Personally, I feel your buddy should try to play the role that they is best at. I find this to yield the greatest results. Now if your buddy is good at adc. Then by all means tear up bot lane together. Just don’t queue up when I do. I don’t get to play very often and I don’t want to get crushed in lane it makes me sad.

Another good thing about playing with a buddy who is playing a non adc role. It can give you some good communication with a lane that you might not usually communicate with. This can lead to some nice ganking opportunities and some great team fights. Supporting can be a challenging position to carry a game from. However, with some practice you should at least be able to help your team to victory. Just don’t expect any credit.