1. A different view on the role of support
First off, let's talk a little bit more about the roles[1] in lane phase. We have 3 conventional lanes: top, bot, and mid. And as discussed on the post dedicating jungle[2], from my views, jungle and support are kinda special roles in comparison with the remaining ones, and I wanna discuss a little bit more on these special roles. Unconventionally, jungle and river can also be seen as lanes, the 2 unconventional lanes besides the 3 conventional ones.
First off, let's talk a little bit more about the roles[1] in lane phase. We have 3 conventional lanes: top, bot, and mid. And as discussed on the post dedicating jungle[2], from my views, jungle and support are kinda special roles in comparison with the remaining ones, and I wanna discuss a little bit more on these special roles. Unconventionally, jungle and river can also be seen as lanes, the 2 unconventional lanes besides the 3 conventional ones.
+) Jungle can be seen as the "dynamic lane" or "jungle lane", where the laners (junglers) dynamically go through to catch the monsters. On the contrary, the 3 conventional lanes can be seen as "static lanes" where the laners kinda statically wait for the minions to come; the degree of dynamics of junglers is much more than that of the conventional laners[3].
+) The river, on the same way, can also be seen as a special lane: "the river lane" or "the null lane", the habitat of special monsters: Rift Scuttlers, Rift Herald, Dragon, and Baron Nashor. The river lane is the boundary line dividing the other lanes (the map) into two parts controlled by the two teams: red part and blue part, so, it has one more special property the other lanes (including "jungle lane") do not have: it does not have red part and blue part which are separately controlled by the different teams. Looking at it this way we have the 5 lanes for the 5 roles:
Top laner
Mid laner
Jungle laner (jungler)
Bot laner is ADC
River laner is supporter
Supporter is kinda special: it doesn't have an explicit source of power, an explicit source of gold and experience to level up. Many players consider supporter is the least important role of a team; many others think of it to be "the real player at bot" or "the true bot laner" for its importance. What is the truth? Or how should we think of it?
2. Supporter – "the null laner", "the owner of the river"
Since bot is often seen to be the source of power for ADC, supporter is often seen to be the unexpected companion at bot for stealing experience and sometimes gold from ADC. What is the truth and how we should understand of the role of support?
First of all, we often forget the important fact that to be a support means the support of a whole team (not the support just of ADCs). Just like the other roles who have particular and different tasks in lane phase and later phases, supports also have particular and different tasks in lane phase and later phases. In lane phase, the main task of supports is to accompany ADCs to help them collect power. In later phases, the tasks of supports are different and more complicated (which we may discuss at other time).
"So, [typically in solo queue] if you do good jobs but ADCs still complain about the weakness or badness of 'their supports', just try to cooperate and help them as much as you can in lane phase and plan for the later phases; remember that you are the support of the whole team, not just of ADC."
The main duty of support in lane phase is to help the ADC get advantages in comparison with the enemy ADC by helping increase the ADC's sustainability and trying to decrease that of the enemy ADC. Generally:
+) Prevent all kind of threats to your ADCs, these threats include: the harassment from the other ADC and support, the ganks from enemy jungle and mid and even top with Teleport. To do this, supports need the capabilities of healing, shielding, binding, warding, etc.
+) At the same time, maintain and deploy all of the same threats on the other ADC and support to help take them down if possible, to prevent them from getting ahead. For this, supports need as many CC abilities as possible, some degree of harassment potential, etc.
3. Resources: gold and experience
Support's duties in lane phase are to help the ADC, and so they would have gold and experience from doing that, right from the support items and/or Rune and Masteries pages: that's their part. Also, the items needed for supports to do the jobs are not so expensive in comparison with those of ADC as well as other roles. Consequentially, support should not take cs and kills, that is the part of ADC, not support (they have their own already).
The items needed for ADC to get power are very expensive in comparison with those of supports, so try to help the ADC get kills and just get the kills for yourself only if the ADC definitely cannot. The same for experience.
Two typical kinds of supports: AP support or tanky support? For this, refer to the post for my ideas of what should be the best support for a particular game: Roles and lanes: how and why? Meta breakdown!
4. Warding patterns – my own playstyle
The particular playstyle on supporting would be very different for different players, here I wanna mention some important keys of my own playstyle:
+) Keep track of the enemy jungler: this is often one of my favorite ways I use to help my team mates. As discussed in [4], support may have more room in mind (more "relax time") to observe the map, and I always use this advantage to try to keep track of the enemy jungle and alert my team mates whenever I see he can cause trouble, not just to ADC but also for mid and top. To know where the enemy jungle is, or at least in which side of the jungle, is very effective to prevent him from ganking, in my views.
+) Always ready for your top to Teleport if they want and do so by putting a ward on the further bush at the bottom side of the lane. As a top laner, I did find many situations when I wanted to gank bot by Teleport but couldn't find a ward to do that; this is why when playing support, I'm always ready to fix the issue for the top laner.
Also, if the enemy top laner takes Teleport, be aware of his potential ganks on your lane that way(s).
+) The river is "your lane": one of the most dangerous threats to your ADC comes from the enemy jungler and mid and the only way they can deploy their ganks is from the river. In my views, how to control the river is the key point to prevent the ganks from those two threats; consequentially, I put a very important impact on warding.
Warding patterns
(1) As depicted in the left image below: if my team is on the blue (lower) side, I always have a ward right in front of the Dragon Pit, this is not only to help ward the main way the jungle go through to gank bot but also to help mid a little bit if the enemy jungler ganks mid that way, as well as a vision on the Dragon of course.
I often see many supports put the ward at the side bush near the bot lane, in my view this is not the best place to ward: it's too near to lane and we may not have enough time to come back safe even when we detect the enemy jungle's ganks; this can not also help mid if the enemy jungle ganks that way, and can not also have vision of the Dragon Pit if the enemy jungle does Dragon.
(2) As in the center image: if my team is on the red (higher) side, I always have a ward at the bush next to the Dragon Pit (on the outer of enemy jungle).
On the same matter, I always start game with a pink ward and have this pink ward at
(1) the outer bush of my jungle's red camp if my team is on blue (lower) side (left image)
(2) the bush beyond the blue camp and next to the mid wall if my team is on red (higher) side.
These places (white circles with eye icons), in my views, are least visited by the other jungler early game, so the pink wards would exist long enough. The pink wards, along with the other (green) wards at the Dragon Pit would be enough for us to detect the other jungler when never they come to the river and prepare to gank: make sure the safe for ADC (bot) and mid as well, since these are the only two ways for the other jungle to gank from. Sometimes, in my excellent games, these pink wards may last until the end without getting destroyed, and become one of the most gold-effective items on the map, like in this one:
Of course nothing is absolutely true, for all cases and situations. There are some exceptions the rules may not find a way into effectiveness. Some champions (Lee Sin for example) can move through terrain and may be waiting to gank at the side bush which we have said not a good place to ward; Evelynn can move through all the [blue] wards without getting detected; Nocturne, Pantheon, and Twisted Fate may gank from... nowhere with the ults; etc. In these exceptional cases, we must find out particular ways to play against. The Evelynn case, for example, I always put wards in her own jungle (at the two positions as shown on the right image) to keep track of her (she can't hide when leashing).
Also, there is one more important exception: many excellent junglers may deploy ganks right from lanes, not from the river (often bot and top, rarely or almost never for mid in this case). That's often when we are forced to play under our own turret, so leave room for the enemy jungler to come right from the lanes and hide at the side bushes. If we don't have the bushes warded and are forced to play under turret, we must be always aware of these potential ganks. This is an example:
Finally, the ideas for support on how to play against the enemy ADC and enemy support should be quite similar for all cases. And so, in my views, how to control the river is the central spirit of an excellent support. And so I would wanna call the river to be "the null lane" and support to be "the null laner" or "the river laner": the master of the river.
This post was completed; there would be just minor adjustments if any on this post
Last update: January 21, 2016
References
[1] For my complete discussion on roles and lanes and meta, check the corresponding post: Roles and lanes: how and why? Meta breakdown!
[2][3] Look at this post for more details: Jungle: what is and how to
[4] In the post: The 'null phase' of a game: bans and picks. How?!, the first section "1. Reasoning (for the lane phase)"
First of all, we often forget the important fact that to be a support means the support of a whole team (not the support just of ADCs). Just like the other roles who have particular and different tasks in lane phase and later phases, supports also have particular and different tasks in lane phase and later phases. In lane phase, the main task of supports is to accompany ADCs to help them collect power. In later phases, the tasks of supports are different and more complicated (which we may discuss at other time).
"So, [typically in solo queue] if you do good jobs but ADCs still complain about the weakness or badness of 'their supports', just try to cooperate and help them as much as you can in lane phase and plan for the later phases; remember that you are the support of the whole team, not just of ADC."
The main duty of support in lane phase is to help the ADC get advantages in comparison with the enemy ADC by helping increase the ADC's sustainability and trying to decrease that of the enemy ADC. Generally:
+) Prevent all kind of threats to your ADCs, these threats include: the harassment from the other ADC and support, the ganks from enemy jungle and mid and even top with Teleport. To do this, supports need the capabilities of healing, shielding, binding, warding, etc.
+) At the same time, maintain and deploy all of the same threats on the other ADC and support to help take them down if possible, to prevent them from getting ahead. For this, supports need as many CC abilities as possible, some degree of harassment potential, etc.
3. Resources: gold and experience
Support's duties in lane phase are to help the ADC, and so they would have gold and experience from doing that, right from the support items and/or Rune and Masteries pages: that's their part. Also, the items needed for supports to do the jobs are not so expensive in comparison with those of ADC as well as other roles. Consequentially, support should not take cs and kills, that is the part of ADC, not support (they have their own already).
The items needed for ADC to get power are very expensive in comparison with those of supports, so try to help the ADC get kills and just get the kills for yourself only if the ADC definitely cannot. The same for experience.
Two typical kinds of supports: AP support or tanky support? For this, refer to the post for my ideas of what should be the best support for a particular game: Roles and lanes: how and why? Meta breakdown!
4. Warding patterns – my own playstyle
The particular playstyle on supporting would be very different for different players, here I wanna mention some important keys of my own playstyle:
+) Keep track of the enemy jungler: this is often one of my favorite ways I use to help my team mates. As discussed in [4], support may have more room in mind (more "relax time") to observe the map, and I always use this advantage to try to keep track of the enemy jungle and alert my team mates whenever I see he can cause trouble, not just to ADC but also for mid and top. To know where the enemy jungle is, or at least in which side of the jungle, is very effective to prevent him from ganking, in my views.
+) Always ready for your top to Teleport if they want and do so by putting a ward on the further bush at the bottom side of the lane. As a top laner, I did find many situations when I wanted to gank bot by Teleport but couldn't find a ward to do that; this is why when playing support, I'm always ready to fix the issue for the top laner.
Also, if the enemy top laner takes Teleport, be aware of his potential ganks on your lane that way(s).
+) The river is "your lane": one of the most dangerous threats to your ADC comes from the enemy jungler and mid and the only way they can deploy their ganks is from the river. In my views, how to control the river is the key point to prevent the ganks from those two threats; consequentially, I put a very important impact on warding.
Warding patterns
(1) As depicted in the left image below: if my team is on the blue (lower) side, I always have a ward right in front of the Dragon Pit, this is not only to help ward the main way the jungle go through to gank bot but also to help mid a little bit if the enemy jungler ganks mid that way, as well as a vision on the Dragon of course.
I often see many supports put the ward at the side bush near the bot lane, in my view this is not the best place to ward: it's too near to lane and we may not have enough time to come back safe even when we detect the enemy jungle's ganks; this can not also help mid if the enemy jungle ganks that way, and can not also have vision of the Dragon Pit if the enemy jungle does Dragon.
(2) As in the center image: if my team is on the red (higher) side, I always have a ward at the bush next to the Dragon Pit (on the outer of enemy jungle).
 |
| These two places for each side of the map (the white circles on the two first images) are the places the enemy jungler (as well as mid laner) must go through when ganking bot. When these two places are warded, except for some special cases (like Evelynn), the enemy jungle (and mid laner) cannot gank without getting detected, right from beginning. |
(1) the outer bush of my jungle's red camp if my team is on blue (lower) side (left image)
(2) the bush beyond the blue camp and next to the mid wall if my team is on red (higher) side.
These places (white circles with eye icons), in my views, are least visited by the other jungler early game, so the pink wards would exist long enough. The pink wards, along with the other (green) wards at the Dragon Pit would be enough for us to detect the other jungler when never they come to the river and prepare to gank: make sure the safe for ADC (bot) and mid as well, since these are the only two ways for the other jungle to gank from. Sometimes, in my excellent games, these pink wards may last until the end without getting destroyed, and become one of the most gold-effective items on the map, like in this one:
(Check my YouTube channel for more videos)
Of course nothing is absolutely true, for all cases and situations. There are some exceptions the rules may not find a way into effectiveness. Some champions (Lee Sin for example) can move through terrain and may be waiting to gank at the side bush which we have said not a good place to ward; Evelynn can move through all the [blue] wards without getting detected; Nocturne, Pantheon, and Twisted Fate may gank from... nowhere with the ults; etc. In these exceptional cases, we must find out particular ways to play against. The Evelynn case, for example, I always put wards in her own jungle (at the two positions as shown on the right image) to keep track of her (she can't hide when leashing).
Also, there is one more important exception: many excellent junglers may deploy ganks right from lanes, not from the river (often bot and top, rarely or almost never for mid in this case). That's often when we are forced to play under our own turret, so leave room for the enemy jungler to come right from the lanes and hide at the side bushes. If we don't have the bushes warded and are forced to play under turret, we must be always aware of these potential ganks. This is an example:
Finally, the ideas for support on how to play against the enemy ADC and enemy support should be quite similar for all cases. And so, in my views, how to control the river is the central spirit of an excellent support. And so I would wanna call the river to be "the null lane" and support to be "the null laner" or "the river laner": the master of the river.
 |
| This is my unique Rune page for support. I always use this page for all support champions until now, dating back like from the beginning of falling in love with support role. Since support doesn't have many sources of power, especially gold, we should take all kinds of gold-sources possible: including items, Rune and Materies pages. That's also good for ADC and team since that means we would care less of stealing their cs or kills for the gold, at the same time, adding quite a few additional sources of power (gold) to the total amount of the whole team. This page would also have weaknesses, I think, so be wise and judge and adjust it yourself; it still fits my playstyle anyways. |
This post was completed; there would be just minor adjustments if any on this post
Last update: January 21, 2016
The Silencekeeper
[1] For my complete discussion on roles and lanes and meta, check the corresponding post: Roles and lanes: how and why? Meta breakdown!
[2][3] Look at this post for more details: Jungle: what is and how to
[4] In the post: The 'null phase' of a game: bans and picks. How?!, the first section "1. Reasoning (for the lane phase)"
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