Views: 32823 Common support mistakes (aka stop doing these and climb ladder)
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Introduction
Hello.
I thought about making a wall of text for the guide at first but I'm also seeking for opinions and more mistakes that supports are making. It feels better to have a wall of text here than in the guide too :)
So basically I had bronze V account and I'm taking it towards diamond V. (Currently being around platinum). I've seen supports of all kinds and picks. I've lost lanes only because of the support and I've almost lost my mind in some games. I'm trying to list mistakes that are really bothering me. Also trying to provide a example how to fix it or what should be done instead. I have no specific order in which I'm going to list the mistakes. Let's get to it then:
Starting with Ancient coin
Ancient Coin is a really bad starting item. It doesn't provide anything for the lane. It doens't give a single good stat for the early laning phase so you're already behind in lane if you start with it. Spellthief's Edge is much superior item for ranged supports. Superior melee support start is Relic Shield. IF you want the coin because of the talisman's great active, start with a Ruby Crystal, rush early Sightstone and then get the coin. Second option is to start with other support item and sell it later for the coin.
No reasoning behind picking support
It's very common to pick a support you're not familiar with it or a support that is basically garbage against the enemy team. You want to look at your ADC's pick, enemy ADC pick and enemy support pick. Those are the most important facts. Second factor is the enemy team composition but that's a bit more extreme and I wouldn't go there. Use lolcounter or something but do avoid picking first time Blitzcrank into Morgana lane where you either miss all the hooks or get blocked by the Morgana shield. Have at least 2 supports you're comfortable with and think twice before picking. You propably don't want really aggressive support like Leona with really passive ADC.
Overaggression
Really common for Leona players for example. You go way too deep and your ADC can't follow so you end up giving 1 free kill away for the enemy team. Same goes for team fights. You must have knowledge of what your ADC/team is capable of doing. The best way to communicate is saying like "I go in after Vayne tumbles again" and then ping like crazy on the Vayne but do remember your ADC capability of following. If you have ADC Corki that has no mana to follow for example, you will most likely lose the trade or give a free kill. You also want to be aware of your summoners and enemy summoners. Communicate before doing anything if you're not sure what your team/ADC wants to do. Try to have about the same distance of enemies than your ADC does.
Freezing a lane with ADC in mid game
Let's say you have lost a turret in bot lane. Your ADC is too far behind to go in team fights yet and wants to freeze the lane under second tower for free farm and xp. If the enemy bot lane still pushes, stay in lane and ask for ganks but the enemy bot lane is most likely going to roam and you don't want that. Give your ADC vision and follow the enemy bot lane to defend objectives like mid lane tower. There is absolutely no reason for you to soak xp from ADC and leave your team 3vs5.
Really late wards
It's really common for supports to go without extra wards besides the totem for several recalls. Supports get upgraded support item or just leave the base with 200 gold because they need items fast. You can't leave your lane unwarded after your second recall. You must have wards troughout minutes 5:00 -> 8:00 for example. This is the point where the enemy jungler is around bot lane. Get early wards after your second recall, pink ward is adviced for objective control. Do not skip Sightstone at any cost. I see way too many supports calling it a rubbish item and rushing damage items and then getting rekt by enemy jungler. BUY EARLY WARDS AND SIGHTSTONE. Never run out of vision if possible. Getting lane ganked or surprised by the enemy jungler happens but the probability is much less if you have vision.
Not switching totem into sweeping lens
You often see the whole team or only jungler with a Sweeping Lens at 30 minutes of the game. As a support, you want to have vision control which also means denying the enemy team vision. Switch to your lens after getting Sightstone so you can have the vision advantage. Get oracles by late game or earlier if they have stealthed champions.
Lack of Dragon/Baron control
Your team goes
dragon
, it gets stolen and you all get killed. Avoid this by having a pink ward or at least a Sweeping Lens available to get rid of the enemy vision from the
dragon
. Then go give vision from the side lanes/brushes to be able to see anyone who comes towards the
dragon
. Then you can make a better decision if you want to continue or if you should turn and attack. You never want to do objectives blindfoldedly.
Leaving ADC alone in lane/overextending
You never want to leave your adc in 1v2 situation. You should have some sustain when going in lane and follow the ADC recall rythm. If the ADC goes back and you have nothing to do in the lane, you should also recall. Even if it means just getting hp/mana back or getting 1 potion, do it. You will get in lane at the same time as your ADC and have a fair 2v2 lane again. Your ADC will get zoned or killed at 1v2 situation.
Don't push on your own for no reason
Pushing for a fast level 2 with your adc is a must but if you're alone in the lane waiting for your ADC to come back or your ADC is roaming, don't push needlessly. You never want to steal a minion from the ADC because not only you deny the gold, but the xp too. If there is a reason to push like denying a minion wave from enemy bot lane, it's fine and you should be doing that but if you have a minion wave coming towards your turret and your ADC is coming from golems for example, don't just start randomly hitting the minions and taking them. I've cried my heart out several times when my support is alone in lane and taxes 1 minion wave for nothing.
Assist your ADC to last hit
a Minion wave is pushing towards your turret and your ADC doesn't have enough attack damage to last hit the minion, land a auto attack in between tower shots so the ADC gets the minion. It's trickier if you're Thresh but try to help. If you have a huge minion wave, don't attack the full hp ones which ADC will be able to get but attack the half hp minion so the ADC can get them in 1 auto attack.
Item builds
Enemy team is CC:ing the living hell out of your ADC and you got Randuins + Sunfire. How is that helping him to survive? You're a little bit tankier and you probably won't die but having your ADC dead is 4vs5 and you can't win that situation in most of the cases. Get Mikael's Blessing or Locket of the Iron Solari before building tanky stuff.
Holding a minion wave
So your ADC is close to coming to the tower and minions are pushing. What you should do is take the few damage and block the minions until your minion wave reaches the enemy minions or your ADC is there to farm the minions. This way you ensure the ADC won't miss any cs. It's not worth taking 33% of your hp to save ADC few minions though. So do this with reason.
Taking ignite for a passive lane
Ignite is not too bad of a summoner fro support but Exhaust is way better in 90% of the cases. Exhaust wins team fights. You can take Ignite if you can have pressure with it for the bot lane (not going to be succesful most of the times unless you play really aggressive) therefore it's much better to take Exhaust. I would highlight the summoner even more against hypercarry champions.
Taking too much poke
Usually this applies when the enemy has minion control. For example, you're Thresh and you want to use Flay passive on the enemy ADC. You succeed in doing so but you take much more poke in return by the minion wave aggression and the enemy duo. You want to synergize poke fights unless you can get free damage or win a trade against the enemy bot lane.
Positioning
So you are a Leona behind the AD carry. This sentence is already wrong. Your position as a support (especially if tanky support) is not behind the ADC. Supports position should be relative to the ADC's or in front him the ADC so you can counter initiation's or start them. If you position behind your ADC, your ADC will get initiated on and it's already too late for you to try to do anything. Disengage is pretty much the only option you've got left.
Getting caught while warding
Warding is good and highly recommended but having map awarness is important when going out to the fog of war. Facecheking a brush when you have no idea of anyone's location is propably not a good idea. You want to have a safe warding route or use safe warding like you can ward over a wall by hovering the mouse little bit over the wall. It's highly recommended so you won't get caught while warding a dangerous position. Second option is to have your team with you or check a brush with abilities for example, to see if it's safe and then go ward it.
I'm out of ideas for now but I'll keep editing as I get more ideas or see more bad support action.
Thanks for the read.
Hello.
I thought about making a wall of text for the guide at first but I'm also seeking for opinions and more mistakes that supports are making. It feels better to have a wall of text here than in the guide too :)
So basically I had bronze V account and I'm taking it towards diamond V. (Currently being around platinum). I've seen supports of all kinds and picks. I've lost lanes only because of the support and I've almost lost my mind in some games. I'm trying to list mistakes that are really bothering me. Also trying to provide a example how to fix it or what should be done instead. I have no specific order in which I'm going to list the mistakes. Let's get to it then:
Starting with Ancient coin
Ancient Coin is a really bad starting item. It doesn't provide anything for the lane. It doens't give a single good stat for the early laning phase so you're already behind in lane if you start with it. Spellthief's Edge is much superior item for ranged supports. Superior melee support start is Relic Shield. IF you want the coin because of the talisman's great active, start with a Ruby Crystal, rush early Sightstone and then get the coin. Second option is to start with other support item and sell it later for the coin.No reasoning behind picking support
It's very common to pick a support you're not familiar with it or a support that is basically garbage against the enemy team. You want to look at your ADC's pick, enemy ADC pick and enemy support pick. Those are the most important facts. Second factor is the enemy team composition but that's a bit more extreme and I wouldn't go there. Use lolcounter or something but do avoid picking first time
Blitzcrank into Morgana lane where you either miss all the hooks or get blocked by the Morgana shield. Have at least 2 supports you're comfortable with and think twice before picking. You propably don't want really aggressive support like Leona with really passive ADC.Overaggression
Really common for
Leona players for example. You go way too deep and your ADC can't follow so you end up giving 1 free kill away for the enemy team. Same goes for team fights. You must have knowledge of what your ADC/team is capable of doing. The best way to communicate is saying like "I go in after Vayne tumbles again" and then ping like crazy on the Vayne but do remember your ADC capability of following. If you have ADC Corki that has no mana to follow for example, you will most likely lose the trade or give a free kill. You also want to be aware of your summoners and enemy summoners. Communicate before doing anything if you're not sure what your team/ADC wants to do. Try to have about the same distance of enemies than your ADC does.Freezing a lane with ADC in mid game
Let's say you have lost a turret in bot lane. Your ADC is too far behind to go in team fights yet and wants to freeze the lane under second tower for free farm and xp. If the enemy bot lane still pushes, stay in lane and ask for ganks but the enemy bot lane is most likely going to roam and you don't want that. Give your ADC vision and follow the enemy bot lane to defend objectives like mid lane tower. There is absolutely no reason for you to soak xp from ADC and leave your team 3vs5.
Really late wards
It's really common for supports to go without extra wards besides the totem for several recalls. Supports get upgraded support item or just leave the base with 200 gold because they need items fast. You can't leave your lane unwarded after your second recall. You must have wards troughout minutes 5:00 -> 8:00 for example. This is the point where the enemy jungler is around bot lane. Get early wards after your second recall, pink ward is adviced for objective control. Do not skip
Sightstone at any cost. I see way too many supports calling it a rubbish item and rushing damage items and then getting rekt by enemy jungler. BUY EARLY WARDS AND SIGHTSTONE. Never run out of vision if possible. Getting lane ganked or surprised by the enemy jungler happens but the probability is much less if you have vision.Not switching totem into sweeping lens
You often see the whole team or only jungler with a
Sweeping Lens at 30 minutes of the game. As a support, you want to have vision control which also means denying the enemy team vision. Switch to your lens after getting Sightstone so you can have the vision advantage. Get oracles by late game or earlier if they have stealthed champions.Lack of Dragon/Baron control
Your team goes
dragon
, it gets stolen and you all get killed. Avoid this by having a pink ward or at least a Sweeping Lens available to get rid of the enemy vision from the
dragon
. Then go give vision from the side lanes/brushes to be able to see anyone who comes towards the
dragon
. Then you can make a better decision if you want to continue or if you should turn and attack. You never want to do objectives blindfoldedly.Leaving ADC alone in lane/overextending
You never want to leave your adc in 1v2 situation. You should have some sustain when going in lane and follow the ADC recall rythm. If the ADC goes back and you have nothing to do in the lane, you should also recall. Even if it means just getting hp/mana back or getting 1 potion, do it. You will get in lane at the same time as your ADC and have a fair 2v2 lane again. Your ADC will get zoned or killed at 1v2 situation.
Don't push on your own for no reason
Pushing for a fast level 2 with your adc is a must but if you're alone in the lane waiting for your ADC to come back or your ADC is roaming, don't push needlessly. You never want to steal a minion from the ADC because not only you deny the gold, but the xp too. If there is a reason to push like denying a minion wave from enemy bot lane, it's fine and you should be doing that but if you have a minion wave coming towards your turret and your ADC is coming from golems for example, don't just start randomly hitting the minions and taking them. I've cried my heart out several times when my support is alone in lane and taxes 1 minion wave for nothing.
Assist your ADC to last hit
a Minion wave is pushing towards your turret and your ADC doesn't have enough attack damage to last hit the minion, land a auto attack in between tower shots so the ADC gets the minion. It's trickier if you're
Thresh but try to help. If you have a huge minion wave, don't attack the full hp ones which ADC will be able to get but attack the half hp minion so the ADC can get them in 1 auto attack.Item builds
Enemy team is CC:ing the living hell out of your ADC and you got Randuins + Sunfire. How is that helping him to survive? You're a little bit tankier and you probably won't die but having your ADC dead is 4vs5 and you can't win that situation in most of the cases. Get
Mikael's Blessing or Locket of the Iron Solari before building tanky stuff.Holding a minion wave
So your ADC is close to coming to the tower and minions are pushing. What you should do is take the few damage and block the minions until your minion wave reaches the enemy minions or your ADC is there to farm the minions. This way you ensure the ADC won't miss any cs. It's not worth taking 33% of your hp to save ADC few minions though. So do this with reason.
Taking ignite for a passive lane
Ignite is not too bad of a summoner fro support but Exhaust is way better in 90% of the cases. Exhaust wins team fights. You can take Ignite if you can have pressure with it for the bot lane (not going to be succesful most of the times unless you play really aggressive) therefore it's much better to take Exhaust. I would highlight the summoner even more against hypercarry champions.Taking too much poke
Usually this applies when the enemy has minion control. For example, you're
Thresh and you want to use Flay passive on the enemy ADC. You succeed in doing so but you take much more poke in return by the minion wave aggression and the enemy duo. You want to synergize poke fights unless you can get free damage or win a trade against the enemy bot lane.Positioning
So you are a
Leona behind the AD carry. This sentence is already wrong. Your position as a support (especially if tanky support) is not behind the ADC. Supports position should be relative to the ADC's or in front him the ADC so you can counter initiation's or start them. If you position behind your ADC, your ADC will get initiated on and it's already too late for you to try to do anything. Disengage is pretty much the only option you've got left.Getting caught while warding
Warding is good and highly recommended but having map awarness is important when going out to the fog of war. Facecheking a brush when you have no idea of anyone's location is propably not a good idea. You want to have a safe warding route or use safe warding like you can ward over a wall by hovering the mouse little bit over the wall. It's highly recommended so you won't get caught while warding a dangerous position. Second option is to have your team with you or check a brush with abilities for example, to see if it's safe and then go ward it.
I'm out of ideas for now but I'll keep editing as I get more ideas or see more bad support action.
Thanks for the read.
^Surely not because of the ignite pick. Tbh I'd nearly always take ignite in lower elos because I'd be pretty confident in my ability to shut down the low elo laners so hard they won't need to be exhausted.
Of course.
Generally low elo supports lack confidence and general game knowledge: as soon as you run your fist at them, they back off or suicide because they have no idea how they should react.
Some mistakes I have seen over and over, from the top of my head:
- Going to ward and leave your ADC 1v2 early game, in the middle of crucial part of lane phase.
- Failing to see obvious baits, especially via ward clearing.
- Overcommitting to bush-sitting, especially if it's warded.
- Panicking when you're getting engaged on, poked or zoned.
- Forgetting about dragon altogether - no map control.
- Not pushing your advantage with vision control.
- Preparing mentally and physically (/virtually/w-e) for jungle gank (allied).
In terms of picks-
People who pick supports that have no synergy with their carry. Seriously, think before you pick ****, it's not that hard to figure out what works together and what doesn't.
Support
People who try to counterpick without knowing how to play the champions they're picking-
It's nice that you know that picking
Warding-
When you watch your
People who just seem to place wards at random without thinking about where they want the vision to be. This is a seriously irritating problem with low elo players in general, but it's definitely worse when you're the ADC and you need to buy extra wards so you actually have decent vision.
Skill use-
Don't just use abilities at random and don't spam low cooldown abilities for no reason. If you and your carry are at or near full health you should probably stop mashing
If you can't properly land at least 60% of the skill shots/combos you throw out, you shouldn't be playing that champion, period. A
I might come up with other things...but these are just a few of my peeves from the magical world of solo queue.
Support players overestimating themselves. While not common, I see people trying to 1v2 way too ****ing confidently. No. Don't do it.
Support players underestimating themselves. This happens way too ****ing often... Seriously, a 70% hp zyra running away from a 40% hp lucian? YOU CAN KILL HIM IN 2 HITS
Support players letting the adc dictate the lane. I cannot stress how big of a mistake this is... Your adc will most likely be **** and constantly ask for his hand to be held... if you need to go ward, counter an enemy invade etc just go and let him stay under turret... That 5 cs he's gonna miss isn't more important than the enemy jungler getting kills/you having no vision. He wants to freeze lane when you KNOW you're strong enough to fight? PUSH THE LANE. You go in when pretty even, in a good time, pull off your combo perfectly and then see him continue farming? Don't engage again. Leave bot and just roam... You'll end up doing a lot more good to yourself that way
You see your adc go in on a bad fight? DON'T COMMIT FULLY MORE THAN ONCE. You can't rely on a solo q adc to make plays and somehow turn the situation around. You can commit to the fight once to see if he really knows what he's doing, otherwise do what you can to help him get out alive and if it endangers you just let him die. If he's dumb he needs to learn from his mistakes rather than relying on you to fix them
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS take exhaust. ALWAYS. It's infinitely useful both for aggressive and defensive plays. Shutting down the enemy laners is good and all but in 99% of all low elo games there will be one extremely fed mofo you'll have to exhaust anyway
SIGHTSTONE. Know when to buy it and when to forgo buying it early... I highly disagree rushing it EVERY time if you're below gold I. Do it when appropriate, I.E enemy REALLY is ganking a lot, your LANE is ahead and you need more vision to help out your jungler etc. Rushing chalice (nami, lulu) or haunting guise (zyra) has won me too many games to say that rushing sightstone is the best possible choice. Buying 1 ward to compliment your trinket ward is enough until the first dragon spawn imo
efing pink wards... Don't neglect these ffs if used smartly they pay off VERY quickly
Red trinket - ONLY get this /AFTER/ you have sightstone. No exceptions.
Have at least armor yellows. No 50 starting ap supports pls kthnx
If you buy relic shield, last hit melee minions and the canon minions so you maximize the gold gain
Use your brain when picking... You don't pick a leona into janna when all your engages are gonna be moot, you don't pick soraka in to karma or velkoz because you're gonna be crying under your turret the entire laning phase.
Also, use your brain when trading... Don't shield yourself as janna just to get 1 auto attack off and then your hp melted to half, don't use your snare on zyra to poke... you have a q and plants for that... don't use morg shield to block damage unless it's lethal, it's a very important part of your kit that you need to save for actual dangerous situations... Look at the map, if you don't see the jungler don't commit to extended trades
I think that's all
Even in aggressive lanes, I think
Exhaust is just plain better after lane phase anyways.
Low elo supporting is just disturbing to watch overall.
I mean,