Pseudo Supports: Season 5 Support

Bot lane can be a rough place. It can be difficult to rely on your marksman to do damage if you aren't duo queuing with them. You'll pick Braum, Thresh, or Leona at an attempt to bring some crowd control or survivability, when all you really needed was some more damage. Although not favoured in the competitive scene, hard-hitting supports do play their part in solo queue. With a lack of co-ordination and teamwork, solo queue players are the perfect prey for the pseudo support. To help guide you through the bot lane struggles, I will discuss the pros and cons of some of the support picks I favour over others!

1. Lux

(Art source: http://yiichan.deviantart.com/art/Lux-lol-446426224)

 

Probably the rarer pick of the three champions I will be discussing, but nonetheless, Lux has some strong points when in the support role. The mid lane is her most popular home, but here are some reasons as to why she fits in bot lane too!

Pros

- Binding: Crowd control is always a positive when looking for support, plus this spell can bind two people at once.
- Shielding: Lux's W is an area of effect shield, which scales off AP, so the more damage you build, the larger the shield! A shield has it's obvious positive use which is to negate damage, but this shield can negate twice as much, as it fires out wards - shielding once - and then returns to shield a second time!
- Great damage: Lux's kit brings a lot of burst damage over a large area which is great for 2v2 fights.

Cons

- Very squishy: If Lux eats some crowd control, she has no escape and she will most likely die, as you don't tend to build defensive items on her.
- Skillshot reliant: Her damage is great: if it lands! All of her abilities are skillshots so you need to make sure you're hitting the targets, otherwise you're useless!
- High mana costs: Her Lucent Singularity (E) is her best form of poke in lane however, with 5 skill points in it, it costs 130 mana to cast. Compared to someone such as Lulu, whose Glitterlance is 80 mana at max rank, this is a costly spell for a support.

Who to Lane With?

As Lux focuses mainly on bursting someone down, she pairs well with champions who also burst their enemies! Champions such as Ezreal, Graves and Miss Fortune, who all have extremely strong level 6 ultimates when paired with Lux, are some great choices with Lux support. You'll need a marksman who can bully their lane opponents, otherwise Lux could easily be punished for her lack of defensive stats.

Who NOT to Lane Against?

Try to avoid champions such as Caitlyn, Kalista or Lucian, or any other marksmen that have dashes, as this could make it difficult to land your skills. If you're trying to secure a kill, make sure they use their dash before laying down the majority of your damage, or you could end up missing!

 

2. Brand

(Art source: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Brand-from-League-of-Legends-263264560)

Brand is the recipe for a heated bot lane. From his 2 second stun, to his multi-person ultimate: he really packs a punch! Similarly to Lux, he is most often seen in mid lane, but with the help of Spellthief's Edge, he's been known to cause trouble in the bot lane, and here's why!

Pros

- Dat stun: Who wants a 2 second stun combined with instant damage, plus damage-over-time afterwards? I know I do!
- Multi-person ultimate: His ultimate works great in 2v2 fights, especially if you've landed some of your other skills before firing it. Great damage, and no skillshot involved.
- Built in ignite!: Brand's passive is basically just an ignite ability, as long as you hit the enemy with an ability, so you can afford to take exhaust and still have the kill pressure of ignite - perfect!
- Great mana costs: Brand's Sear (Q) is 50 mana at every rank, which makes for some cheap poke in lane, and at max rank, his W and E are both 90 mana. Very affordable damage.

Cons

- Skillshot reliant: Like Lux, Brand needs to aim his stun as it's a skillshot. It also requires one of his other abilities to have already hit his enemy, as they need to be "ablaze" for his stun to work.
- Nothing but damage: Apart from his stun, Brand is just damage. No shields, no defensive builds or abilities. If he can't land his abilities, he's a pretty useless support, other than for warding.
- Come back!: With no slows, or speed up abilities, catching the kill that's just getting away is a difficult thing for Brand.

Who to Lane With?

Due to his lack of chasing ability, I'd probably advise playing Brand with marksmen which have some form of utility. Ashe and Varus would both work well, as they can lock down a target for Brand to deal damage. Kalista could also work well, as you could use Kalista's ult to reposition yourself - but make sure you don't throw yourself to your death!

Who NOT to Lane Against?

Champions which out-range Brand could cause problems in lane. Caitlyn, Tristana and Jinx are marksmen to avoid, due to their escapes and crowd control to stop you chasing (Flame Chompers on Jinx).

 

3. Vel'Koz

This one-eyed, sentinel-wannabe voidling is my last pseudo support of choice, which I feel fulfills this role more so than many others. With his formulaic skillshots, and his true damage passive, Vel'Koz is the true definition of "pseudo support", and here's why.

Pros

- Low mana costs: His Plasma Fission (Q) maxes out at 60 mana per cast, with his W and E maxing out at 70 mana per cost. With a combination of all three costing 140 at 1 rank each, that adds up to some incredibly cheap early game poke on top of his passive.
- Kill pressure: It's no secret that Vel'Koz deals damage, and the enemy laners will know this. He puts them under pressure that he can chunk them to low health at any given time. His E always knocks up enemies, which is a great form of crowd control, as it stops enemies being able to cast spells.
- Great peel: As mentioned, his E knocks people up, but also pushes them in a direction, based on where it is casted. In addition to his Q, which has a slowing effect, Vel'Koz is a great peeler for his marksman.

Cons

- Floating or not, you're a sitting duck: Vel'Koz can easily be shut down by crowd control, as he has no escapes in his kit. Unless he's played by Neo, this sentinel won't be dodging much.
- Skillshot reliant... do you see the trend?: Like Brand, and Lux, and many others... Vel'Koz relies on skillshots. If you miss your skills, you're just a floating support voidling, simply. There's a reason people favour bruiser supports, or supports with shield abilities, as they are useful without using skillshots.

Who to Lane With?

Similar to Vel'Koz, you want to pick a champion who plays relatively safe who pokes. Engaging his not Vel'Koz's strongest point, unless he lands his E, so it's better to just use your Q to knock their hp down. Graves and Ezreal work well, as they're both relatively safe, and can poke down and burst with Vel'Koz at level 6. Caitlyn and Varus also work well with him, due to the easier chance of landing your Q's if they're slowed by Vel'Koz's Q.

Who NOT to Lane Against?

Vel'Koz works well against a lot of champions, including some sustain champions such as Soraka and Sona. Their healing abilities are costly, and cannot keep up with the constant poke of Vel'Koz. Picks that Vel'Koz doesn't like to play against are people with hard engage and crowd control. Leona and Braum can easily lock down the immobile voidling, so be careful to avoid these two in lane.

 

Final Thought

(Art source: http://thornb123.deviantart.com/art/League-of-Legends-Lux-213046493)

So next time you're wondering how to help secure some kills in the bot lane, or just adding some more champions to your support champion pool, perhaps think about one of these pseudos. They'll certainly add some power to your bot lane, and some wins to your ranked stats.