The Mind of a Champion: Supports

In every form of battle, whether it being a war across a field, a basketball game on the court, or in this case, the Fields of Justice in League of Legends, a person’s psychological state is as important as the weapon he is wielding. Some people might even suggest that having the proper mindset is true key to victory. Beyond champions, item builds, and player mechanics, having the right way of thinking when approaching laning phases and teamfights is a vital weapon in your arsenal. When used correctly, it can drastically change the result of a game, simply by knowing what to do at excatly the right moment.

In this short series we are going to take a look on each role and see how one should think when playing each of them. As such, I am going to present them first as the overall idea, followed by two opposing points of view. Take note that these are not definites: a good LoL player can get a good mindset down, while a great one can adjust and adapt. I hope by the end of this article my fellow summoners would gain a more clear view on how to play their roles, and also gain more respect for those that they aren’t used to.

First, let us take a look at one of the most misunderstood roles in a team: The Support.

Overview – “I am more than just a ward bot.”

This is simply the most vital thing to remember. The moment that you see yourself as someone who just provides vision, though as important as it may be, is the absolute worst start in learning this role. You are a champion with a set of abilities. Learn how to use each of them as effective as possible. You may be starved on gold, but don’t think of it as a burden. In fact, removing the whole farming aspect frees up your mind, allowing you to focus your thoughts on other details.

Map presence is one good example. Yes, it’s true that every player needs to have it, but since you won’t be worried whether or not you could lasthit a creep, you should pay more attention on what you can see on the minimap. Make sure that you are very attentive and could notice an enemy missing, even from the opposite side. Practice your reactions whenever you see an enemy blip pop up near you, so that you will always have the appropriate response.

Another important aspect to put more focus as a support is timing. Though the jungler is usually the one responsible for timing objectives such as dragon, you should also learn to remember these things just in case. A more important time to remember for a support is the summoner spell cooldown. Not just yours, nor your carry’s, but your opposing lane as well. Being aware that an enemy’s flash is down for this amount time allows you and your teammates to set up a play that would take advantage of that fact. Your jungler could camp on your side more often, since both of you know that their carry wouldn’t be able to escape easily, which would result in your carry snowballing.

As for how to act during teamfights, this is where it gets tricky, for there are two ways to go about it. Both of their effectiveness depends on team composition and the support champion you are running.

Protector – “Want my carry? You’ll have to go through me.”

This kind of player will do whatever it takes to make sure his or her carry is safe from harm. His mental state is focused on peeling, throwing every single crowd control ability he has at anybody going near his carry. When any form of teamfights occurs, be it a straight-up 5v5 or a gank in the jungle, the first thing that goes through his mind is, “how can I get them away from my carry?” He immediately calculates his position relative to to his defendant and any champion going towards that person. From this, he utilizes his crowd control abilites: stuns, pushes, snares, etc. at their maximum potential.

A good example of this is when Alistar, a well-known support champion, is helping his Vayne in a full-scale teamfight. Let’s say Rumble and Taric head straight towards your carry, and Taric already casted his Dazzle, stunning Vayne. For optimal protection, what Alistar can do is Headbutt the Rumble to prevent him from dishing out a huge amount of damage of her. Then, he follows it up with a Pulverize to further disable him, hopefully catching the Taric in the process. This gives the Vayne enough time to deal damage, as well as gain enough distance to be safe.

It sounds great on paper, but sometimes it’s not the best way to play. A situation where this isn’t ideal is when the enemy is using a poke-heavy team composition. Getting near your AD carry won’t do much if you are just getting poked down by long range spells. That is why on other side of the fence, there is the…


Distruptor – “Getting into the teamfight? Not today.”

For this one, he shifts his attention away from his carry and onto the opponents. The purpose? To be as annoying as possible. He forces them to waste their damage on you instead of the more vital targets. More importantly, he takes them away from the fight, completely wrecking whatever team play they were planning on. The cc his champions have is used in an more offensive manner, and he is likely to get into the thick on the battle while doing so.

I’m going to use Alistar again for this one. Let’s assume that there is a fed Annie on the enemy’s team. Moments before both teams clash, the Alistar player can charge headfirst into the fray, and use Headbutt immediately on Annie. This would distance her from her teammates just before the clash. He could then use Pulverize to disable Annie even more. It may even force her to waste her stun and her other spells on him, which is perfect. The few seconds that the Annie is out of the fight is enough time to achieve victory.

This method of playing support is great when you aim to remove a huge chunk of DPS from the opponent, but it can sometimes come at a bigger cost. You are going to risk leaving your AD Carry alone to defend for himself, which is dangerous if your other allies can’t do enough peel. It can also ineffective against dive-heavy teams, as the pressure might be too much and you won’t be able to disrupt the enemy carries.

Final Thoughts

With these two opposing mindsets at hand, you should know when to apply which method, as well and adjusting them according to the current situation. The only way to gain this kind knowledge is through experience, and that, of course, is by playing more League of Legends. In the end, I hope this article helped you readers, even just a bit, and I’ll see you in the Fields of Justice!