Hi there,

My name is Don, my ign is Artifact. I have been playing League of Legends since Season 2 when I was introduced to the game by a group of friends. At first, mobas were very unappealing to me and had a hard time picking up League of Legends.

After putting League of Legends down for a few months, I returned to the game with the mindset that I would grasp a stronger understanding of the game and develop my skills as such. Around this time I began to transition to the role of Support. The role was very appealing to me. In many different games I play both competitively and casually, I take on the role of a support personnel. I enjoy high mechanic/utility based roles that test your understanding of the game and the abilities of your enemy. Ever since, I have been a Support Main with seemingly no weariness to swap.

I do not typically play ranked due to the mentality it holds. I play normals against high ranking players (typically Diamond+) and am content with sticking to them.

The role of Support has changed vastly over the span of 4 seasons to the point where Supports are no longer an extension of the ADC role, but a role in and of itself.

I have developed a very keen interest in taking the utility based kits of supports and weaving them into an aggressive and aggravating pest that the enemy team has to deal with.

This build is based on the fact that you will be roaming very early. Your goal in this playstyle is to feed your mid laner/jungler and tilt the enemy team. You are vacating your bot lane in order to cause chaos around the map and leave the enemy mid laner disoriented before reaching mid-game. This is a very high risk/high reward playstyle. This playstyle is also very fun and tests your abilities as a player. I would only recommend this style of play to those who duo with a mid laner, jungler, or have an ADC they can trust by themselves.

I have experimented with this build/playstyle for a few hundred games and have found it to be most effective on champions like Blitzcrank and of course Thresh. Both have the ability to punish over extending and unsuspecting mid laners as they attempt to cs and breach the level 6 marker. With proper coordination with your jungler, early ganks and invades with your assistance can cripple the mentality and economy of the enemy team.

In order to be successful, you must utilize your mobility boots and provide deep vision for your team. You want to feed your teammates, but also cease any counter action from the enemy teams jungler or other roaming players.

Considering you will be roaming, plan your summoner spells around your mid laner. Exhaust has become a popular pick for some champions in the midlane. Remember that you want to ensure early kills as much as possible.

Exhaust is always a fantastic option especially if the enemy mid laner is an AD based champion.

Ignite is a decent substitute, depending on how bloodthirsty of a support you really are.

Pros

The biggest Pro I can think of is that this play style is unexpected and very irritating.

- Tilts enemy team
- Provides deep vision
- Gives team accurate reading on enemy jungler's activity
- Enables invades
- Very fun

Cons

This playstyle is high risk/high reward. You can be punished extremely hard for playing this way and need to have strong map awareness to be successful.

- Hard on friendly ADC (leaves them susceptible to 2v1 dives)
- Leaves you vulnerable
- Enemy jungler can intercept you mid-roam
- Requires strong communication with teammates. (In solo-que this is rather hard to come by.)
- Not very tanky due to mobility boots rush.

As previously stated, you want to ensure that you and your mid laner are on the same page. There is no purpose in ganking for a mid laner that will not follow up or does not have an exact understanding of what you are about do. When focusing on the mid lane, coordinate with your jungler to gank in unison if possible.

Remember to always consider how your kit interacts with the enemy mid laner's. When ganking always attempt to lead with a flay. I have seen many Thresh players fail to grasp the concept that you do not always have to hook first. Considering your movement at this point is so ridiculously high, abuse it. Walk up to their face, flay them back and wait for them to flash and then hook. Also be sure to consider what your mid laner brings to the table. Coordinate your CC, spells and SSs in the most effective way.

Unfortunately at this current time in League of Legends the ADC role is extremely weak. After understanding this, I decided to come up with the aggressive roaming playsyle.

You want to be sure that your ADC knows that you will be roaming and there is a chance they will be left to a 2v1 for a short duration. If they die in the middle of your roam, the impact you have made elsewhere has negatively impacted your ADC, simply because they did not understand the situation they were in.

This guide places a heavy emphasis on deep warding.

Deep warding offers valuable information to your team that will help them throughout the game and allow you to continue roaming and playing aggressively. You want to make sure that all enemy jungler activity is visible and any thought of roaming to another lane can be safe.

By now I'm assuming most of you have seen the multiple warding guides on youtube or posted on reddit, but here is a brief overview of the most optimal place to put deep wards for invades and early roaming. This is under the assumption that your other teammates are using their trinkets and doing their best to keep vision of the river or tri brush.

This ward setup whether you start on blue or purple side is setup so that you know exactly where the jungler is and his possible intentions. Although you may not know where he went after leaving his jungle, you are aware that he may be ganking, and that you need to be safe.

I only recommend placing pinks outside Dragon and Baron when your team is present (of course). Pink warding the small brush is a classic spot for it. If your team has the map presence to protect the pink ward feel free to place it there, but it is easy gold for the enemy team and such a common spot that almost everyone will check there for wards. Placing a pink in the brush beside the lane that transitions from the Red buff to golems is a strong choice for warding. Most junglers do not walk into that brush and attempt to choose the least time consuming path to allow for a faster clear. Considering you are limited to placing 4 wards at a time, having a hidden pink in the back line allows for another ward to be placed else where thus more information on their team.

Roaming as a Support must be timed and calculated. Many things need to be considered prior to you leaving your ADC and venturing down a gank path that could leave you susceptible to the enemy jungler and midlaner. There are a few instances where there should be no question that you should roam.

If you recently had a few trades in bot that went your way and you forced their duo to back you should consider a roam.

If your bot lane is incredibly fed and there is very little worry that their enemy duo will be significant, you should consider roaming as a duo.

There are also unique instances that should be considered when you want to roam. Always try to watch and see if the enemy jungler is ganking another lane and how long they are there. Depending on how high their HP is after the gank, it may be a good time to place some deep wards. Just be sure to give yourself the opportunity to deep ward and not place bot in a bad position.

When Roaming...

Before doing anything, inform your team that you will be leaving to deep ward/gank mid/etc. Always communicate your intentions to your team.

There are a few things you want to check prior to making a gank in a solo lane.

Check the map to see if the enemy jungler is present somewhere else and if not where they were last spotted. This will give you an idea of where they may currently be and if there is a possible threat that they may counter gank. If there is the possibility of a counter gank, inform your jungler that they will need to help. Prior to roaming mid check to see where the wave is currently positioned. If the enemy midlaner is pushing the lane, they are vulnerable to a support roam, if your midlaner is pushing under enemy tower then consider deep warding instead.

Always check to see the MP of each of the midlaners. You want to ensure that your midlaner has the ability to followup on the gank and ensure a kill. Attempt to watch mid whenever you can to get an idea of how much damage your midlaner offers and how much damage theirs can do to you. Remember that the enemy midlaner is out of position, but that can change very quickly to you being out of position in a countergank. Once you become familiar with the damage output of your midlaner and theirs as well, you will know what you will need to secure a kill and not exhaust too many resources while still making it out alive.

If you want to roam, you have to be able to digest alot of information and consider the actions that have followed without seeing them.

When ganking mid, there are a few things that you will need to take into consideration.

With such a high utility kit on Thresh, adding movement speed to it can drastically change how quickly you can have the enemy mid laner out of position. The movement speed added to this kit is meant to catch the enemy off guard and allow you to get into prime position to set up a kill or have the enemy blow flash if they want a chance to escape.

In order to maintain the mobility passive, never gank when a fresh wave of minoins has yet to aggro onto your own wave. If the enemy is smart enough to attempt to CC you or slow you down by you taking damage, it is up to your midlaner to engage the fight or hopefully by then you are in a position already where the movement speed you have no longer matters.

As previously stated, I have seen countless Thresh and Blitzcrank players make the mistake of always trying to engage a gank with a hook. Leading with a hook is the best option in roughly 10% of the scenarios that can occur in an early midlane gank as a support. With thresh, leading with Flay(E) is the most effective way of making sure the enemy has to use summoner spells to live or will die. You want to attempt to save your hook for when the enemy either burns flash or uses an evasive ability to attempt to escape. Use lantern as either a follow up to positioning your midlaner after a successful hook or simply as a shield. The enemy may attempt to simply all in and you want to increase your midlaner's chances of staying alive.

This series of actions will account for roughly 70-80% of your midlane roams, assuming you are paying attention to enemy jungler's presence and the general play of your midlaner and the enemies' midlaner. Coordinate with your midlaner and set up a series of actions between the two of you to avoid the possibility that you overlap CC or unintentionally CC a target and cause your midlaner to miss vital skillshots of their own.

Remember to always roam when the situation is right. Do not run around aimlessly without an objective and accomplish nothing. You need to consider the fact that you will be short of experience and still need to lane until you have your full kit available to you. Always try to take something out of roaming, whether it be a kill, the enemies summoner spells, or just deep wards.

This guide deviates only slightly from the norm. It is a simple early build change and separate mentality that you do not have to stay in lane until you lose or destroy the T1 tower. It is unfortunate that the ADC role is incredibly weak at this current point in time. I feel ADCs are left to farm until they have at least 2 items before they become significant in the game. My goal with this mindset is to feed the other stronger roles of the game early on and return to supporting my ADC and the rest of the team during mid-late game.

Hope you enjoyed this guide and I welcome any feedback you may have.