Supporting: Aggressive or Reactive?

Many people think that the sole goal of a support is to protect the marksman; however, many neglect to note that a support is the main playmaker in the bottom lane until laning phase is over. Whether you choose a reactive support like Janna, Braum, or Soraka, or an aggressive support like Zyra, Leona, or Blitzcrank is a decision that has to be made in champion select  based on the other team's bot lane, and your own marksman.

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When to pick reactive supports:

Reactive supports' main job is to help get the marksman out of laning phase safely, without giving up kills. They usually have low kill pressure in lane, but they provide plenty of peel and make it nearly impossible for the enemy laners to get kills. Late game, they provide excellent peel and utility for their team. The main reactive supports are Janna, Braum, and Soraka, as they provide very little crowd control and damage but have much more protection than other supports. Their main weakness is that they have trouble getting their marksman kills in lane. 

Reactive supports go best with late game hyper-carry marksmen or poke heavy marksmen like Kog'Maw, Vayne, Ezreal, Tristana, Ashe, and Varus. Early game, hyper-carries are often more vulnerable, and thus require more protection and cannot afford to go aggressive until they have items. Likewise, poke-heavy marksman work well with reactive supports because they are able to do a lot of damage in short bursts, but they aren't as strong drawn out fights.

When to pick aggressive supports:

Aggressive supports are supports that generally set up kills in lane, if they can make plays happen with their marksmen. They have kits with strong crowd control, but are usually lacking in protective abilities. The main aggressive supports are Leona, Annie, Blitzcrank, and Zyra. These supports have strong kill potential in lane, but they are vulnerable if they get behind since they have little protection for their carry, and they are weak to ganks if they use their crowd control on the opposing laners.

Aggressive supports go best with lane bully marksmen who are capable of outputting a lot of damage early game, and have strong burst potential like Miss Fortune, Caitlyn, Graves, Draven, Lucian, Jinx, Quinn, Twitch, and Corki. These marksmen are generally considered lane bullies and do well in trades and in drawn-out fights. Thus, they synergize well with supports who are able to lock down the opponents. However, if these marksmen get behind in lane, they are considerably weaker late game than a lot of hyper-carry marksmen, with the exception of twitch and jinx who scale well into late game while maintaining a fairly strong early game.

When to choose a well-rounded support:

A well-rounded support is a support that has tools to play both aggressively or reactively based on their situation because of their kits. Supports such as Lulu, Thresh, Taric, Sona, Karma, Nami, Zilean, Alistar, and Morgana have kits that have both aggressive and reactive abilities, which makes them highly versatile or well-rounded. 

If you are unsure of whether you should be choosing an aggressive or reactive support or are unsure whether your marksman will adhere to your playstyle, these supports are generally safe to choose because they can match a reactive or an aggressive playstyle. Supports like Lulu, Nami, and Thresh provide great protection and crowd control, but are highly skill-shot dependent. However, there are other supports like Sona, Taric, and Karma that provide similar utility while having much fewer skill shots, making them good for beginners.

Obviously, there are no solid rules for choosing a support because it is possible for an aggressive support to do exceedingly well with a poke-heavy marksman, and it is possible for a reactive support to secure kills in lane; but in general, these guidelines can be followed to choose a good support for any situation. So hopefully before locking in Blitzcrank when you are last pick in ranked and being forced to support, you will consider whether there was a better choice in your champion pool.