Support Role in League of Legends - Beginners Guide

Greetings Summoners! Welcome to a comprehensive guide on mastering the support role in League of Legends Season 14. In this extensive guide, we'll cover the essential aspects of support play, from understanding the role to mastering early game macro strategies. If you haven't decided if support is the role for you, or if you're looking to improve your winrate as a support in Season 14  after January 9th 2024, then we've got you covered.

The Essentials

1. Vision is Key: Prioritize vision control to influence plays, secure objectives, and protect your ADC. Understand the optimal warding spots during the laning phase.

2. Diverse Playstyles: There's enchanters, engage/peel tanks, damage-based supports, and niche picks. Choose a champion that complements your team composition and counters the enemy's picks.

3. Roaming Strategic: Roaming can be impactful, but timing and awareness are crucial. Understand when to roam for objectives or mid lane skirmishes, and consider your ADC's safety.

4. New Items and Itemization: Stay updated on itemization trends and learn what to buy for your teams specific needs.

5. Master Key Skills: Develop these key skills to consistently win games.

Understanding the Support Role

Before we delve into the specifics, let's establish the fundamental role of supports in League of Legends. One thing they all have in common is the task to provide map vision with well-placed wards.

Vision Control

As a support, you are the primary ward placer, influencing strategic plays and improving your chances to survive ganks. Your ability to provide strategic vision is key to controlling the map and securing objectives while keeping your duo laner, the Attack Damage Carry (ADC), alive.

During the laning phase in bot lane, this image shows you the most suitable warding spots:

Support Playstyles

Supports come in various flavors, from enchanters to engage tanks, each with the ultimate goal of supporting the team. This can range from enhancing stats and healing to disrupting enemies and engaging in fights. There's several niche picks you can pull out if you get the chance to choose known counterpicks to your enemies in Champion Select.

Enchanters

Enchanters, including Yuumi, Karma, or Lulu, excels in providing heals, shields, and utilities. These champions scale into powerful late-game picks assuming that your teammates managed to stay even in gold or even create a gold lead. If you're playing enchanter support while your team is heavily behind in gold, then you're in for a bad time.

Engage and Peel Tanks

Classic supports like Alistar, Leona, and Nautilus fall into this category. While not as dominant as before, they remain effective in skirmishing early and providing crowd control. Engage tanks disrupt the battlefield, while peel tanks like Alistar or Braum protect their allies. If your team is lacking a healthy frontline in Champion Select, then it could be a wise choice to step up and fill the role.

Damage-Based Supports

Champions like Brand or Zyra, often undervalued, bring damage and pure pressure on the map. If your team is lacking damage or if the champions in enemy bot lane are squishy or weak in the early game, then this is an excellent pick to bully them out of the laning phase before they manage to scale into the mid and late game.

Roamers

Knowing when to roam and when to stay in lane is game-changing. A well-timed roam can secure objectives and turn the tides, but wandering aimlessly can set your bot lane behind. Season 13 has brought about dynamic changes, transforming some supports into impactful roamers, particularly towards the mid lane. This strategic shift encourages potential 3v3 skirmishes together with your jungler with game-changing fights, all while ensuring the safety of the AD carry in the bot lane. You wouldn't want to pick a roamer support if your AD carry has poor mobility or if the enemy jungler and bot lane are capable of diving under the turret. Ezreal is known for surviving ganks while farming safely 1v2, so feel free to pick a roaming champion if your if your duo laner picks him. Any support can in theory become a roaming support, but some are better than others: Alistar and Leona are perfect examples of good roamers due to their heavy crowd control and survivability.

Niche Picks

Beyond the primary playstyles, champions like Rakan, Bard, or niche picks such as Ashe or Heimerdinger offer unique approaches to supporting, dominating laning phases or excelling in objective control. These champions often come with a strategy or as a counterpick against certain champions, so make sure you understand the plan before picking a niche support!

New Items and Itemization

The preseason introduced new items, impacting tanks, juggernauts, and bruisers. Although supports can't access most of these due to high prices, items like Chemtech Putrifier and Thornmail remain essential as it applies Grievious Wounds which reduce healing and health regeneration on your enemies. With a shift towards attack speed-based marksmen, the resurgence of the Ardent Censer meta is having a comeback. Notably, the Watchful Wardstone has become a game-changer, offering practically free stats and increased map control through extra wards. You can find all optimal builds by downloading a third party software such as Blitz.gg.

Key Skills for Support Success

To succeed as a support player, mastering specific skills is crucial for success.

Gathering Information

Identifying the enemy jungler's starting position is crucial for gaining an early advantage. Analyze late arrivals in lanes to determine the side the jungler started, aiding in anticipating potential ganks.

Level 2 Advantage

Securing a level 2 advantage in the bot lane is pivotal. Ranged supports should push for it, while melee supports may find it challenging. Minion execute support items help maintain a safe position.

You gain level 2 after killing the three melee minions in the second wave.

Vision Control

Always prioritize vision around the side of the map you and your team are playing on. Get lane priority by pushing the wave, scout and clear enemy vision, and drop your own wards strategically.

Lane Priority

Having lane priority forces the enemy into unfavorable choices, such as sacrificing minions or at risk of being ganked. Roaming strategically during enemy recalls and pathing through the jungle can create opportunities in the mid and top lane.

Jungle Tracking

After the first three waves, focus on lane priority and jungle tracking. Lane priority grants your team the first move, enabling proactive engagement in fights, skirmishes, or objectives.

Punishing Enemy Roams

Exploit the absence of enemy support or ADC during roams by forcing dives or engaging in favorable fights. Be mindful of enemy jungle and mid positions to avoid turning the situation against your team.

Mastering Recall Timings

A well-timed recall minimizes minion loss and maximizes the enemy's losses. Coordinate recalls with your ADC for synchronized returns to lane, especially after killing the enemy bot lane and pushing the wave into their turret.

Wave Management

Despite not focusing on CS, understanding wave management is vital. Knowing the wave's movement helps plan roam timers, vision control, and jungle ganks.

Understanding advanced wave states adds another layer to your macro game. Recalling strategically during slow pushes or resets can tip the balance in your favor, minimizing losses and maximizing the enemy's.

Conclusion

There you have it, a comprehensive guide to mastering support in League of Legends. We hope this guide helps you navigate the support role in League of Legends.

Thanks for reading, and good luck on the rift!