Tips for Playing Support

Oftentimes in Solo Que the last pick of each team gets left with Support, whether they wanted it or not. As a support main it pains me having to watch another player who hates the role and thinks that support is easy then proceeds to ruin everything for both the bot lane and their entire team. So here are some tips that can help turn your play from being stuck on support to thriving in the the position.

Be Annoying

One of my favorite things to do as a support is to try and do as many little things that will annoy my opponent to the brink of of their limits. Here are some examples. When you are on blue side carefully roam up through your tribush and place a ward on their Gromp and Blue sentinel area. This helps you do two things. First, opposing junglers don’t like doing camps while sitting on wards and they may even decide to run accross the map and start opposite of you.

Second, on the off chance they do decide to get a leash and start gromp just hang around a bit and throw a skill shot at the last moment and go for the steal. With the new jungle the way it is most junglers smite at the start of the Gromp spawn meaning their level two isn’t guaranteed. Even more so with champs like Blitzcrank, Vel’Koz, Thresh - who all have an excellente Q ability for taking that last hit. There are few things more satisfying than taking the level two from the enemy jungler and have them type in all-chat “AFK” - sow the seeds of discord in your enemy and watch the sparks fly.

Don’t let the Enemy ADC get the Cannon Minion

This tip goes right in with being annoying but can even lead to some great trades and fights in the bot lane. We all know that every ADC loves getting that 40 plus gold from the cannon and it’s your job as the support to make him always have to think twice before doing so. One of my favorite ways to do this is with Braum. Right before he goes for that last hit walk or leap in and throw up his E shield, Stand behind Me. While it starts off as annoying or gimicky over time it can be a real hindrance especially if your ADC is CS’ing well.

Eventually it will get to a point where the opponent feels he has to actually contest whether or not they get that Cannon and thats usually about the time where their positioning will be the worst making them a prime target for an engage or gank. Even without a Braum shield other supports are really great at contesting CS. Throw a Blitz hook or Nami bubble - without even needing to land - just make sure they are always zoned back at that pivotal moment to get that last hit.

 

Don’t Be Afraid to Secure Kills

I remember when I first started playing support I was told, “Make sure the ADC gets the kill!” and time after time I would just watch as my teammates chased just outside of that last auto attack range and watch the enemy make it to safety. Secure kills. I mean this literally and not as a joke to say steal kills. Don’t watch helplessly as an opponent gets away,use your best judgment and decide when it’s right to set off the ignite, throw that last auto, or pop your ultimate for the kill.

While you still may get a few snarky remarks from bad teammates it’s much better to help get both you and your ADC every advantage you can get. Believe me, it’s much better to apologize for taking a kill or two than say you were trying to give the kill after you watched them get away.

Support doesn’t Mean lots of Deaths

So many rookie support players have this idea that when it comes time for a team fight they should fly head first in, blow all of their CC and abilities, and then stick around until they die. The game doesn’t care what role you are playing. Every death is more experience and gold for the other team. This holds true even more so in the early game and laning phase. Letting the other team get First blood to trade for a kill on their ADC is not worth. First Blood gets more gold and the same experience whether they killed the support or the ADC. Three kills on the support is still three kills worth of Gold. Just because you locked in support doesn’t mean your death is meaningless.

In this game small leads oftentimes turn to large ones which then translates to wins. Once you hit the mid and late game you should be doing everything you can to stay alive as long as possible in fights. Not just to use your abilities but to also be that sweet bait that everyone thinks is the easy support kill. If you can stay alive and through the team fight every ability or ultimate that was used on you means one less that was used against your carries. That’s how games are won and lost. Sure, you are gonna get focused down pretty often, but if you make the enemy work for it, through forcing ignites, ultimates, crucial CC, then you did your job as a support.

Following all these tips won’t make you Kiwikid and for sure won’t win you every game. What it will do though is give you an edge up on that other guy who got stuck on support and isn’t giving his team as many opportunities to win the game.