These support picks will dominate (or Hook you to death) before the huge pre-season shake-ups. Find about the picks in this list.
Last patch we saw huge changes that flipped the script on how to play the game. A much slower-paced game marked the return of scaling picks into the bot lane, with Jinx being at the forefront in Patch 13.20 with all of her ridiculous buffs.
Although the patch did affect most champion picks across all lanes, this didn't quite happen in the bot lane. Still, there are a few new picks (One that feels more like a carry).
Support Changes in Patch 13.21
A few changes are coming to the support role, but mostly to adjust a few picks to make them viable in the jungle (Yeah...), and slight buffs to two underperformers: Seraphine and Tahm Kench.
Seraphine got tweaks to reduce her laning power and make her stronger for the support role. The changes included a lot of adjustments to her abilities, scaling, and more.
To be honest, they didn't quite hit the mark because Riot already has planned some changes for her.
The second buff is to Tahm Kench. Is not as big but will improve his health damage scaling with his passive An Acquired Taste, and cooldown refund on Abyssal Drive (W).
Another three supports getting changes are Zyra, Morgana, and Brand. However, these changes are towards improving their Jungling more than helping out their role as support.
You can check all the details of these changes in this article.
Jumping into the list.
5. Soraka
The only enchanter on the list
Soraka has been "killing" it after changes in Patch 13.20, and this continues to be the case in this patch.
Although the meta is mainly dominated by engage supports, Soraka is one of the only enchanters who can “hang” against them, and this is mostly because due to her solid laning and heal scaling, which makes her one of the best picks in this meta of tanks/hypercarry champions.
Recommended Soraka build
Once you get your core build of Moonstone Renewer+ Redemption, Soraka becomes a healing machine, turning impossible fights to your favor with the sheer amount of healing from your Astral Infusion (W) and Wish (Ultimate).
Great Sorakas position in a way that allows her to do the most healing while being safe enough, forcing players to engage which can lead them into making silly mistakes.
Also, Soraka’s laning is pretty good when used right, her Starcall (Q) damage and slow is an annoying poke that heals her. The other great laning skill is her Equinox (E) that when combined with CC setup, makes for deadly combos with the silence (clip of Keria using it last worlds).
On Soraka’s cons, she doesn’t have mobility, although there are setups from players that use her Salvation (Passive) so she can move quickly this is not enough to survive a Nocturne jumping on you. (Link to jungle post).
Second, she needs levels and items to scale so if you somehow end up being behind, don’t expect to do much in the game. Playing safe is a must.
The last counter is... people buying anti-healing or using Ignite, which hinders her healing by a ton. But, believe me, that rarely happens with people greed out more important damage items.
If you somehow scale (And survive Nautilus and Jax chases), she’s truly THE healing hypercarry in the meta and one of the easier champions to climb ranks if you know how to play her.
(That's why she's the only enchanter included in this list.)
To learn the Star Gazer, check our recommended MOBAFire guides.
To counter her besides using Anti-Healing, check CounterStats.
4. Thresh
This lantern guy makes our 4th spot on the list
There’s no more well-rounded support than Thresh, and in a heavy engage meta, he shines the most.
Thresh's unique strength is his versatility, not only does he have Death Sentence (Q) hook that locks down enemies, but he also has Flay (E) that allows both to engage and disengage in different ways.
Recommended Thresh build
What makes the cherry on top, is his Dark Passage (W) lantern, not only you can use it to save over extended carries but you can combo it with Q to create unique plays.
Once Thresh has his core build, you can dominate the mid-game with picks or peeling your ADC from any champion jumping on them.
Thresh is only limited by the player's creativity and skill, which makes for one of its main drawbacks, he’s quite the challenge to use at its maximum potential, and with picks that are far easier and can do insta engages that even the professional Thresh players cannot avoid, then you know why he’s our 4th spot.
Cons
- Difficult to master (Expect to invest some games in)
- Squishy compared to other tankier supports
- Struggles against high mobility engage
To learn Thresh, check our recommended MOBAFire guides.
For counter picks, check CounterStats and make this warden of Souls suffer.
3. Senna
Senna is popping off with her Lethality setup
Building Serrated Dirk is giving too many stats for Senna in the early game, making her already strong lane into a warping one.
Senna being a carry support makes her one of the best picks to 1v9 as a support. Yeah, she has utility with her Piercing Darkness (Q) heals, Curse of the Black Mist (E) mist, and her Dawning Shadow (Ultimate) heal+shields, but what makes Senna such a great pick is her absurd range, infinite scaling with Souls and constant lane bullying.
Recommended Senna build
W is a great root skillshot and using your Mist to get extra movement speed allows her to be annoying to catch down. Yet, she’s still really fragile and vulnerable to the likes of Blitzcrank.
Despite being easy to pick up, Senna upfront playstyle could lead you to overextended situations that any good jungler will punish hard.
Finally, if she doesn’t get her soul stacking going, Senna feels pretty weak.
Still, her Lethality build is popping off in the bot lane, and with the current slower-paced meta, expect Senna to go further in the spots for the next patch.
To learn Senna, check our recommended MOBAFire guides.
To counter Senna, look out for her best counter picks in CounterStats. To give you a hint though, she’s really weak against picks that blast her out, Lux and Zyra are good at this.
2. Rakan
After many patches dominating the bot lane, this seems to don’t stop and he’s in our 2nd spot on the list
Rakan is one of the best engage champions in the entire game. The combination of The Quickness (Ultimate) charm along with Grand Entrance makes Rakan initiations one of the swiftest in the game and a very safe one if he jumps back to an ally with Battle Dance (E).
Recommended Rakan build
Having this, makes Rakan valuable to any team, but that’s not all, these abilities are also great at protecting the popular hyper carry champions of the patch from any assassin or engage.
Not all is good for Rakan though. He has a weak laning, doesn’t have many ways to gain priority in the waves, and although he has shields and heals, he’s really squishy.
As good as he engages, a point-and-click ultimate like Malzahar’s Nether Grasp (Ultimate) is enough to stop a Rakan. To be fair, with all of Rakan's tools you can easily get caught up with all of your options and blunder the important fights.
For this reason, Rakan requires a lot of time to invest in to have success with him. The good thing is that if you master the Charmer, he can take you up to the upper echelons of League of Legends. Watch Delight’s Rakan from GenG to get inspiration.
To learn Rakan and take charge of your games, check our recommended MOBAFire guides.
To counter him, check CounterStats and make his life miserable with Maokais locking him down.
1. Blitzcrank
The meta being slower hasn’t stopped Blitzcrank from dominating the bot lane
If you want to climb ranks you should pick Blitzcrank.
The return of picks like Jinx, or even the recently popular Ziggs, made the already strong Blitzcrank into the best pick on Patch 13.21.
Recommended Blitzcrank build
Although these long-ranged champions can be safe behind their minions from most champions jumping on them or trying to poke, one Blitzcrank Rocket Grab (Q) is all that it takes to either burn their Flash or get killed in lane.
I mean it, in Solo Queue Blitzcrank is a menace. No matter how hard is a game state, one good hook can turn into a game-deciding pick that leads into a Baron and then the game.
You may say that this scenario feels like an exaggeration, but a lot of Blitzcrank games can go like that.
Cons
- Missing your Q
- High Mobility champions (Ezreal)
- Falls off in late game
If you want to get started with the Crank, and snatch a few games (And LP) in your way, check our recommended MOBAFire guides to destroy the bot lane.
To counter Blitzcrank, check CounterStats to discover the best picks against him.
Honorable Mentions
- Zyra – The best AP carry support in the game, if you like to take matters into your own hands (And shoot Seeds), check her out.
- Nautilus - Still a great pick and an easy one to learn. He gets outperformed by the picks on this list though.
- Alistar – In Worlds, he’s getting picked a lot. The cow is great to engage and even control the likes of Rakan from engaging with his W. A solid pick overall, but not good enough to be on the list.
