My ingame Name is Guffel001 (which was sadly already taken on mobafire) and I play on Euw since season 3. I was always a support main mostly because I was too bad at kiting and solo laning. Jungle was no option because I would always afk farm the whole game. I peaked mid diamond in solo/duo the last few seasons. Right now I try to climb again with Taric.

1. Laning phase
In the laning phase your playstayle depends on your Adc and the enemy botlane. If the enemy has a low threat support and/or adc you should always look for fights by hitting your E. If you are playing with a scaling Adc against an early botlane or a poke lane you should play passiv and wait for gank or good opportunities and scale. You have a big powerspike at level 4 when you have 2 points in your Q as it allows you to spam Q aa Q aa and so on. As long as you have mana this makes it nearly impossible to fight Taric to that state. If you play passiv you should try to deffend your turret platings as these can get the enemy fed even without you dying. If you are the aggressiv one on the other hand ward deep and get as many platings as possible. Once the platings are gone at minute 14 you can also start roaming.

2. Mid game
In the midgame you try to contest dragons and herold with your team and make catches with your E. I also like to my scuddle crabs by myself if no one is willing to help me. If you already got the bottom turret of the enemy down you can also lane swap and get the enemy top turret aswell. Your job as a support is also to place key wards around the map and clear the enemy vision. This is especially important when the dragon is about to spawn.

3. Late game
In the late game Taric is all about team fights. His R is a huge game turner, especially if you play against a teamfight comb and your comb doesn't shine in teamfights. If you feel like it you can initiate fights with E and Flash. As Taric you should make your team pressure objectives so the enemy team has to react and go into fights they don't want to take. Keep in mind your R has quite a long cooldown and nothing is more awkward than telling your team to fight while you forgot your ult was on cooldown.

First and really important is the usage of your passiv. Whenever you cast an ability your next 2 autoattacks are buffed and faster but most important they lower your basic abilities cooldown by 1 second each attack and give you 1 charge of your Q. As a Taric player you have to build a certain confidence at trading with your passiv and Q. Even when the enemy jungler comes to visit you there is no direct reason to retreat. Often it's even easier to hit your E when the enemy chases you and not the other was around. You just start attacking and healing, attacking healing and so on. If one enemy dies you get a mana refund from Presence of mind and the fun continues. This combo is the reason I don't consider any melee support as threat because as long as they want to fight you, you get your passiv auto attacks off and with that your heals.

Next ability is your W. Usually you want to have it on the one ally you want to buff up with the armor boost. There are situations where you want to put it on another ally. For example a teammate who is about to engage and you give him your E for an unexpected stun. Also when contesting objectives you want to put your W on a backline ally so you can heal the frontline and the ally heals the backline. This also ensures that your Ult will hit most people on your team. If you are peeling for your Carries on the other hand you should give your W maybe to a frontline ally so he and his bruiser buddy get the ult and heal aswell.

Your E is quite straightforward but also your bread and butter spell for kills. You can start casting E and right before it ends you flash into the enemy for an unexpected stun. Chasing with your E active can be quite painfull as enemies will learn how to walk out of it. I found it helpfull to not cast E on the enemy while chasing but a bit left or right of him. If you cast it directly on the enemy you are chasing he has 3 possible ways to go: 1. Stand still and hope you go left/right. 2. Go left. 3. Go right. Thats a 1/3 chance you get it right. 1/2 if the enemy isn't hardened enough to stand still. If you cast it left or right of your enemy the only real option for him is to go the other direction (why would he walk into your E?). That information you can use now by walking to that particular direction.

Your R can be tricky to use. If you use it too early, the enemy can bait it out and engage afterwards. If you cast it too late your team is dead. They key with timing Tarics ult is to know when the enemy will commit for a fight. This is usually when some keys spells are used, typically engages and ultimates. If you see an Amumu for example who just hit your jungler with his Q and 2 other allies are in his R range you don't think you just cast your Ult. It's not very likely that Amumu will just walk away when he could have made the fight winning ultimate. And even if he does because he sees you ulting you also made your job: protecting your team.

This is my first Guide and I hope I could give you an insight in the way I play Taric and support champions in general. English is not my first language so please don't be to harsh on me with grammar and stuff. If i could inspire anyone to try this fabulous guy my day is made.

Greetings, Guffel001