As a support, your focus is helping your team, especially your ADC (Attack Damage Carry) during the early game.
Your job includes:
- Providing vision with wards
- Protecting your teammates
- Setting up kills
- Controlling objectives
Choose Your Support Style
The first step to becoming a good support is picking your playstyle. Each style has different strengths and requires different skills.
- Engage Supports: Champions like Leona, Nautilus, and Rell who start fights and lock down enemies
- Enchanter Supports: Champions like Lulu, Soraka, and Janna who shield, heal, and protect
- Mage Supports: Champions like Brand, Zyra, and Vel'Koz who deal high damage
- Roaming Supports: Champions like Bard and Pyke who move around the map to help other lanes
Try different styles to find what works best for your gameplay preferences.
Warding is Your Priority
Vision wins games. Good vision control gives your team information and denies it from enemies.
After completing your support item quest:
- Replace your yellow trinket with a red sweeper
- Always buy pink wards when you can
- Place wards at objective entrances and in bushes
- Clear enemy wards before objectives
Good ward spots include dragon pit, river entrances, and enemy jungle paths.
Control the Lane
The support decides how the bottom lane goes. You have more influence than most ADCs in the early game.
You can:
- Create pressure by standing forward
- Zone enemies from farm
- Protect your ADC from ganks
- Time your level 2 power spike for advantage
For level 2, you need the first wave plus the three melee minions from the second wave. This gives you an extra ability and can lead to kills.
Match Your ADC
Support is about teamwork with your lane partner. Your playstyle should complement your ADC's strengths.
If your ADC plays aggressively, pick a champion that can follow up. If they play passively, focus on protection.
For aggressive ADCs like Draven or Lucian, engage supports work well. For scaling ADCs like Vayne or Jinx, protective supports are better.
The LoLTheory tool is very helpful for picking the right champions and building the right items. This tool analyzes matches and suggests optimal builds for each situation.
Know When to Roam
Roaming can help your entire team get ahead. As a support, you can leave lane at good times to help other lanes or your jungler.
Good times to roam include:
- After pushing the wave
- When your ADC recalls
- When you see the enemy jungler far away
- To help secure objectives
Make sure your ADC can stay safe while you're gone. Champions with escapes like Ezreal can handle being alone better than immobile champions.
Teamfight Properly
In teamfights, you need to make quick decisions about your role. This often depends on both team compositions and who is ahead.
You need to decide whether to:
- Engage: Start fights by catching enemies
- Peel: Protect your carries from threats
This depends on team composition. If you have a fed carry, focus on keeping them alive. If the enemy has one key threat, you might help lock them down.
Objective Control
Support players lead the team in securing objectives. This becomes even more important in the mid and late game.
- Help your team secure objectives through:
- Clearing and placing vision around Baron and Dragon
- Engaging when the enemy jungler is away
- Using crowd control to zone enemies
Support may seem simple at first, but it has incredible depth. You can control the pace of the game, save teammates from certain death, and set up game-winning plays.
Remember that as support, dying for your team can be worth it if it means saving a carry or securing an objective. Your value comes from your utility, not your KDA.
With practice and these tips, you'll be climbing the ranks as a support main in no time.
