So, you're looking to learn how to play support League of Legends? Good choice! The support role is the unsung hero of any successful team, providing the vision, protection, and crowd control needed to secure victory. It's a challenging but rewarding role that requires a deep understanding of the game, excellent communication, and a selfless attitude. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to get started.
At a glance:
- Supports protect their team through healing, shielding and crowd control.
- Vision control is a key part of playing support.
- Effective communication with your ADC is essential.
- Knowing when to roam and help other lanes can swing the game.
- Item builds are focused on utility and team support.
Understanding The Support Role: More Than Just Babysitting
Forget the stereotype of the passive healer hiding behind their ADC. A good support is a proactive playmaker, constantly looking for opportunities to gain an advantage for their team. You're the strategist, the warding expert, and the peel master, all rolled into one. You'll be enabling your ADC in the early game, and transitioning to protecting your entire team as the game progresses.
Champion Selection: Finding Your Support Style
Supports come in various flavors, each with their strengths and weaknesses. Knowing what kind of support you want to play is the first step towards mastering the role.
- Tank/Engage Supports: Think Leona, Alistar, or Nautilus. These champions are durable and excel at initiating fights with crowd control (CC). They're the frontline, diving into the enemy team and disrupting their plans. If you enjoy being in the thick of the action and setting up kills, this is the playstyle for you. They often have early access to crowd control and excel at locking down priority targets.
- Enchanter Supports: Soraka, Lulu, and Janna are prime examples. Enchanters focus on keeping their carries alive with shields, heals, and buffs. They're less about engaging and more about protecting and enabling. This style thrives when paired with strong carries who need the extra sustain and protection to shine. Consider this path if you prefer a more reactive playstyle and like empowering your teammates.
- Damage/Mage Supports: Brand, Zyra, and Vel'Koz fall into this category. These supports bring significant damage to the bot lane, often acting as a second AP carry. While they offer less utility than tanks or enchanters, their kill pressure can be immense. You'll trade some team-wide utility for lane dominance, which can snowball into a significant advantage.
Choosing champion kits that aren't mechanically demanding is often optimal, allowing you to focus on macro decisions and warding, freeing you up to focus on map awareness.
Essential Summoner Spells for Supports
Your summoner spells are crucial tools for survival and playmaking. Choosing the right ones can significantly impact your effectiveness in lane and beyond.
- Flash: This is almost always a must-have. Flash provides unparalleled mobility, allowing you to engage, escape, or reposition in a flash (pun intended!). Tanks can use it to close the gap for an engage Tunjangan DPR Naik? Simak Ini, while enchanters can use it to quickly get in range to save a carry.
- Ignite: An aggressive option, especially effective on tank supports like Leona or Pantheon. Ignite provides kill pressure in the early game, allowing you to secure crucial advantages.
- Heal: Primarily used to keep your ADC alive, Heal provides a burst of healing and a temporary movement speed buff.
- Exhaust: A defensive spell ideal for enchanter supports. Exhaust reduces the damage dealt by an enemy champion, making it invaluable for dealing with high-damage threats like assassins.
Laning Phase: A Support's Symphony of Actions
The laning phase is where supports truly shine. Your role is to be the driving force in the bot lane, dictating the pace and creating opportunities for your ADC to thrive.
- Trading: Harassing the enemy laners while protecting your ADC is a core skill. Consider the minions' health, use the brush to your advantage, and coordinate your attacks with your ADC. Knowing when to trade, and efficiently trading is key to snowballing your lane.
- Pushing Lanes: Helping your ADC secure last hits and control the minion wave is essential. Coordinate with your ADC to either push the wave for an early level advantage or freeze it near your tower for safety.
- Warding: A primary responsibility. Keeping the bot lane warded prevents ganks and allows you to play more aggressively.
- Level 2 Power Spike: Reaching level 2 before the enemy lane is a significant advantage. Coordinate with your ADC to push for level 2 and then look for an opportunity to engage.
Don't underestimate the power of denying CS (creep score) with careful positioning. Champion knowledge is key here - understanding each champ's power spikes and weaknesses. Remember at level one, you and the carry will often go to the jungle for a quick check and perhaps a strategic ward.
Mastering the Art of Warding: Illuminating the Map
Warding is arguably the most crucial skill for any support player. Vision control wins games.
- Early Game Warding: Focus on warding the river entrance, tri-brush, and enemy jungle entrances to prevent ganks. Remember Dragon spawns at 5 minutes.
- Mid to Late Game Warding: Expand your warding coverage to include key objectives like Dragon Pit and Baron Pit. Remember to set up vision a minute or so before the objective spawns to give your team time to react. Dragon spawns at 5 minutes with a 5 minute timer after death. Elder Dragon has a 6 minute timer. Baron spawns at 20 minutes with a 7 minute respawn.
- Vision Wards (Control Wards): Place these in strategic locations like the tri-brush or river brush to provide permanent vision and deny enemy wards. They're expensive, so protect them!
- Oracle Lens (Sweeping Lens): Use this to clear enemy wards after completing your support quest. Denying enemy vision is just as important as providing your own.
- Reacting to Wards: Don't just place wards; pay attention to where the enemy is warding and react accordingly.
Roaming: Expanding Your Influence Beyond the Bot Lane
Roaming involves leaving the bot lane to assist other lanes or secure objectives.
- When to Roam: Roam when your ADC is safe (e.g., under tower, has a significant wave advantage, or when the enemy laners are pushed back). Don't leave your ADC vulnerable to a 2v1.
- Coordinate with Your ADC: Always communicate your intentions with your ADC before roaming.
- Where to Roam: Focus on helping the mid lane or assisting your jungler with securing objectives.
- Effective Roaming: Roaming isn't just about ganking; it's also about placing deep wards in the enemy jungle to track their movements.
Teamfights: Protecting Your Carries and Disrupting the Enemy
Teamfights are chaotic, but a good support can be the difference between victory and defeat.
- Prioritize Your Carries: Your primary responsibility is to keep your carries alive. Use your shields, heals, and crowd control to protect them from harm.
- Crowd Control: Use your CC abilities to disrupt the enemy team and lock down high-priority targets.
- Engage (If You're a Tank): Initiate fights when your team has an advantage or when the enemy is out of position.
- Sacrifice: Sometimes, you may need to sacrifice yourself to save your carry. Tunjangan DPR Naik? Simak IniIt's a tough decision, but it can be worth it if it allows your team to win the fight.
- Pay Attention: Keep an eye on the enemy's summoner spells and abilities. Knowing when they've used their Flash or other key cooldowns can inform your decision-making.
Item Builds and Economy: Funding Your Support Dreams
Supports have the lowest farm priority in the game. Your gold income primarily comes from your support item and assists.
- Support Item: Choose the support item that best suits your playstyle (e.g., Spectral Sickle for aggressive supports, Relic Shield for tank supports, and Spellthief's Edge for AP support).
- Item Builds: Focus on building items that provide utility, healing, or shielding. Redemption, Ardent Censer, and Mikael's Blessing are all excellent choices.
- Warding Income: Warding provides a small but consistent source of gold.
- Totem ward kill=10g
- Stealth ward kill =30g
- Control ward kill = 30g
- Farsight ward kill = 15g
Common Support Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
- Not Warding Enough: Vision wins games. Make warding a constant priority.
- Tunnel Vision on ADC: While protecting your ADC is important, don't neglect the rest of your team. Roam when appropriate and provide vision around objectives.
- Poor Positioning: Stay safe in lane and teamfights. Don't overextend and get caught out.
- Not Communicating: Communication is key. Let your team know your intentions and cooldowns.
- Building Damage Items When You Should Be Building Utility: Your primary role is to support your team, not to deal damage (unless you’re playing a damage support). Focus on items that enhance your utility and provide protection.
Beyond the Basics: Leveling Up Your Support Game
Once you've mastered the fundamentals, there are several ways to further improve your support play:
- Watch Pro Games and Streams: Learn from the best by watching professional League of Legends games and streams. Pay attention to their warding patterns, roaming strategies, and teamfight positioning.
- Review Your Replays: Analyze your own games to identify areas for improvement. Did you miss any opportunities to ward? Did you make any mistakes in teamfights?
- Practice in Normal Games: Experiment with different champion builds, roaming strategies, and laning techniques in normal games before trying them out in ranked.
From Zero to Hero: Your Support Journey Starts Now
Learning how to play support League of Legends is a journey, not a destination. There will be ups and downs, wins and losses. But with dedication, practice, and a willingness to learn, you can become a valuable asset to any team. So, queue up, embrace the challenge, and become the support your team needs! Good luck on the Rift!
Simak Ini