League of Supports

Support: a very versatile role that has been subject to some extreme and interesting changes this season. We've seen players from the east pioneer support Annie and seen some classic supports fall out of favor completely. In this article, I'll discuss how the role of support has become such a focal point in the competitive scene.

From the beginning of the season to now, the role of support has been subject to one of the biggest shake ups. Your standard picks of Thresh, Sona, and Leona were met with former mids such as Zyra, Fiddlesticks, and Annie. This change up had completely shifted champions with great utility into a better fitting role, both for their kit and their teams. Though Zyra and Annie support are on opposite ends of the play style spectrum, they both offer a unique twist that compliments which ever marksman they are partnered with. Whether it be Cloud9 with the impressive Zyra/Ashe disengage bottom, or Royal with the powerful Annie/Caitlyn playing very aggressive as we saw in the last semi-final game versus Fnatic, both supports are able to fit their role and fit it well.

So why did this change happen? How were these former contenders mid able to transition to the role of support without any issue? The biggest factor comes from their kit. Zyra has both a snare and a knock up and Annie has a great stun that can be AoE or single target depending on the spell. Their utility has made for such a perfect fit for them and unfortunately, other supports have lost any sort of exposure. Before Taric had his armor ratio damage lowered on his W and his stun reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1.1 at rank 1, he had been featured or banned at the beginning of the season. Simple tweaks like that can remove a support indefinitely from the competitive scene. Even champions like Soraka with a global heal have not been featured due to not being able to have a large enough impact.

You could be saying, "Well, if a global heal doesn't provide enough utility, what does?" Any champion with a hard crowd control that is AoE or, in Thresh and Blitzcrank's case, something that could immediately cause an opponent to become out of position is ground breaking. Zyra's knock up on her ultimate has made her such a great pick for teams that would rather let the enemy engage on them and react to that and Annie's passive met with the surprising burst from Tibbers makes her one of the best supports for a team with an aggressive play style. Even Fiddlesticks has a massive 3 second fear and a multi-hitting silence that can completely shut down an offense before it can react.

The beauty of this role and in essence all roles is that they are constantly changing. One second, a champion is considered a formidable opponent mid, the next they are a perfect fit as a support. The game has become advanced since the days of two fighters bottom and a marksman mid. Because of this, we never can be sure what the meta will look like next season. With the constant introduction of new champions and revisions of old ones, there's no guarantee that anything will be static in this game. That is the true beauty of this game. That is the true beauty of supporting.