League of Legends Support Tips

League of Legends Support Tips by Tomzac

Hello everyone, Tomzac here.
So i asked SummonerSchool if i should write a support guide, and i think the responses was quite positive, so i think that i’ll write this guide for everyone that needs it.

EXPLANATION

This is a support guide i’ve wanted to do for a long time but never had the motivation to do.
But i think as a relatively good support player, a guide from me would be a big help to the community of supports.

Let’s get to it!

BASIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE LANE

Basic knowledge about the lane is about knowing when and how and where.

Learn WHEN to engage, Learn HOW to engage and learn WHERE in the lane you want to do it.
Because the placement in the lane isn’t completely irrelevant, no, it’s actually one of the most important things to take note of.
Use the bush vision to your advantage, and if they have a ward in 1 bush, you should move to the other one, it’s all about placement.

WHEN to engage

When to engage is a hard question asked by many.
Truth is many players will tell you that you should engage when you know you’re stronger basicly.
But i think that’s not true.
It all depends on which champion you’re playing and how confident you are with your partner.
I have a duo partner i play with a lot, he’s a bit lower elo than me, altough we’re synergizing PERFECT together.
Synergy is a big fcking deal in botlane, and synergy can be hard to find in a stranger.
But this is mainly a solo queue guide, so i’ll be going out from my solo q experiance.

Basic rules for engaging
– Be confident, and be sure you haven’t been harassed too much
– In almost all circumstances you should focus their ad carry, since you’ll take too much damage if you try to burst the squishy support.
– When you feel you have a clear shot on their ad carry, go for it.
– If you see an opportunity to get one of them to tower, take it.

Basicly, engaging is all about timing, and when to and where to as i’ve explained myself fairly enough in right now.

PASSIVE AND AGGRESSIVE PLAYSTYLES

Passive and aggressive playstyles is one of the biggest deals in botlane as well, as to know when to be aggressive and passive.

So first, let me explain what passive and aggressive playstyles actually are.

Passive playstyle is used when facing a lane you can’t out-damage, and put everything before harassing.
So basicly playing passive will stop at sometime, maybe if you have a better level 6 you can start playing aggressive, or maybe wait untill the lane is over, and start playing aggressive as you grow stronger.

Some good passive champions are:
– Nami
– Morgana
– Janna
– Lulu
– Braum

Aggressive playstyle is when you know you can out-damage the enemy, and you harass everytime the possability strikes.
Playing aggressive is about ZONING, HARASSING and OUTPLAYING.

Zoning is when you deny creeps from the enemy ad carry, by harassing him every time he goes for one.

Some good aggressive champions is:
– Thresh
– Lulu
– Annie
– Alistar
– Braum

SUPPORT

Support is a role that can either be carried or carry hard.

Here’s some pro’s and cons about support.

Pro’s
– You control most of the vision
– You have access to some of the greatest cc champs in the game
– Very funny position when you’re decent at it.
– Can get your ad carry so fed that he can carry later in the game, while you carry him in botlane.

Cons
– If your whole team does bad, you’re most likely to do bad as well.
– If your ad carry fails, it can be hard to pick him up again.
– Relies heavily on team.

But afterall, the pros are much better than the cons, and if you’re a good support you can prevent the cons from being a problem.

Support was the least played role in season 2, when the game for supports was all about keeping vision as there wasn’t a ward limit on the map at this time.
Now in s4, supports has grown to be one of the most succesfull and played roles all over the regions. Because of the use they provide in both vision and cc and presence in both lane and teamfights.

BUILD PATHS

My favourite build path for aggressive supports:

Relic shield > If over 800 gold after back buy sightstone, if not upgrade gold item > Aegis > FOTM > Locket > SITUATIONAL

Situational items can be sunfire cape, omen etc.
Omen is my preferred situational tho, and boots of mobility is my prefered boots, however i tend to buy merc or armor boots if ap or ad is heavily used on their team.

AP support like nami and morgana build path

Spelltheif > Upgrade spelltheif > Sightstone > Upgrade to frost queens claim > (For morgana) Hourglass > (For nami) Twin shadows > Mikaels crucible

I mostly don’t use coin anymore, since i think the two other gold items are MUCH more efficient gold wise, but it’s a matter of taste i guess.
I like talisman very much tho, but i think your gold will be much better off if you buy one of those two items mentioned above in the build paths.

WHEN TO LEAVE LANE
– is a good question.

I usually leave lane whenever we got a tower, or a fight is going on in the bottom river.
I sometimes roam to midlane if im in a BIG BIG lead in botlane, and know im not going to get behind if i roam, but that’s more advanced.
I would suggest leaving lane whenever you feel like nothing more can be done. Push tower > Push waves > Leave lane and repeat that.

I think that was it for trying to explain all the basics, if you have any questions i would be happy to answer!

Best of luck in solo queue, and thank you for reading!