Vynertje's Support AMA and advice thread

[quote=Luther3000][quote=XeresAce] Sadly, zyra isn't exactly in the best spot right now, though I can see her wrecking Bard in lane for as long as he remains popular :>[/quote] Or you could pick literally any other support in the game and still wreck him in lane. :^)[/quote]

[quote=The_Nameless_Bard]Eh, I feel like [[Soraka]] would be kind of a stalemate given that she deals no damage as well. xD[/quote]

[quote=UnstoppableBacon]Bard is really fun.[/quote]

[quote=xPolarbear]Opinions on [[Braum]]? I'm making a guide and some information on your part could help improve it. I know him well enough by now, but I believe other opinions are better than personal opinions. 1a. Early game strengths? 1b. Early game weaknesses? 2a. Mid game strengths? 2b. Mid game weaknesses? 3a. Late game strengths? 3b. Late game weaknesses? 4a. Good against?* (any role) 4b. Bad against?* (any role) 5a. Good synergy with __? (ADC) 5b. Bad synergy with __? (ADC) Thanks for your advice/opinions! - xPolarbear[/quote]

[quote=Vynertje][quote=xPolarbear]Opinions on [[Braum]]? I'm making a guide and some information on your part could help improve it. I know him well enough by now, but I believe other opinions are better than personal opinions. 1a. Early game strengths? 1b. Early game weaknesses? 2a. Mid game strengths? 2b. Mid game weaknesses? 3a. Late game strengths? 3b. Late game weaknesses? 4a. Good against?* (any role) 4b. Bad against?* (any role) 5a. Good synergy with __? (ADC) 5b. Bad synergy with __? (ADC) Thanks for your advice/opinions! - xPolarbear[/quote] First things first, I don't mind giving you some advice but I hope you won't just directly copy pasta this into your guide. I'm saying this because this happened to me in the past, not because of you personally. 1a. I'd argue he's amongst the most tanky supports (together with Leona) in the early game and keeps this up throughout the whole game. 1b. He can get poked down easily and has very unreliable engage early game. meaning his laning phase is somewhat iffy. 2a. Following up on engages/ganks with his full skill set. He also peels exceptionally well from this stage on because you can just wreck everyone jumping you with R. He can fight super effectively in choke points. Finally, his shield is really effective against champions that rely on projectiles. Overall he's a really well rounded pick going into mid/late game as you can see. 2b. High mobility disengage - renders his Q and R useless as he has no hard/instant cc. You could also say it's a downside that he doesn't really excel in a single thing. 3 - same as mid game 4a. (BOT LANE ONLY - 'counters' for other lanes than bot make absolutely no sense) Nami (because of E), low mobility ad carries (like jinx/varus) because you can shut them down with your CC 4b. Janna (kites you and everything you throw with ease), Karma, Zyra (if they are good they will poke you down so fucking hard) 5a. Anything with burst and follow up, especially Lucian thanks to double shot, varus also works wonders for your CC combo 5b. Caitlyn, Ashe, anything low damage[/quote]

[quote=xPolarbear][quote=Vynertje] First things first, I don't mind giving you some advice but I hope you won't just directly copy pasta this into your guide. I'm saying this because this happened to me in the past, not because of you personally. 1a. I'd argue he's amongst the most tanky supports (together with Leona) in the early game and keeps this up throughout the whole game. 1b. He can get poked down easily and has very unreliable engage early game. meaning his laning phase is somewhat iffy. 2a. Following up on engages/ganks with his full skill set. He also peels exceptionally well from this stage on because you can just wreck everyone jumping you with R. He can fight super effectively in choke points. Finally, his shield is really effective against champions that rely on projectiles. Overall he's a really well rounded pick going into mid/late game as you can see. 2b. High mobility disengage - renders his Q and R useless as he has no hard/instant cc. You could also say it's a downside that he doesn't really excel in a single thing. 3 - same as mid game 4a. (BOT LANE ONLY - 'counters' for other lanes than bot make absolutely no sense) Nami (because of E), low mobility ad carries (like jinx/varus) because you can shut them down with your CC 4b. Janna (kites you and everything you throw with ease), Karma, Zyra (if they are good they will poke you down so fucking hard) 5a. Anything with burst and follow up, especially Lucian thanks to double shot, varus also works wonders for your CC combo 5b. Caitlyn, Ashe, anything low damage[/quote] Thanks for your response! It's highly appreciated. And no, I won't adding this into my guide word for word, however you'll be mentioned in the acknowledgements and will have your opinion taken into consideration. Let me know if you'd prefer not to be! But first, opinions about your opinions: 1a. Agreed. 1b. I somewhat agree; as you mentioned before he is very tanky, however staying back and walling what needs to be walled can help against poke heavy comps. As for the engage, it somewhat is, however [[Winter's Bite]] has a 70% slow. 70%! That's easily enough for your jungler to gank upon/a [[Lucian]]/[[Vayne]]/etc. to [[Relentless Pursuit]]/[[Tumble]] in on. 2a. Much agreed. 2b. I can agree with the first part. "You could also say it's a downside that he doesn't really excel at a single thing?" Besides the answers in 2a., he does excel at locking down caught-out opponents. That's all I can think of not including those benefits you answered with. 3a. N/A 3b. N/A 4a. What I meant by counters is generally champions that aren't mobile/few escapes/etc. Understood it's important for bot typically, but there are counters in teamfights ([[Final Spark]], [[Life Form Disintegration Ray]], etc.) But I do agree with Nami. 4b. Agreed - definitely depends on the skill of the player. 5a. Agreed. 5b. I'd beg to differ. [[Caitlyn]] has incredibly long range that lets her proc [[Concussive Blows]] followed by a [[Piltover Peacemaker]] to the face. As for [[Ashe]], her slow lets her keep them at bay and procs [[Concussive Blows]] much easier and faster (plus her stuns/slows with [[Braum]] can practically lock down a foe while naturally doing a butt-load of damage.) Thank you for your opinions, they'll be taken into consideration for the guide! -xPolarbear[/quote]

[quote=Vynertje][quote=xPolarbear] 1b. As for the engage, it somewhat is, however [[Winter's Bite]] has a 70% slow. 70%! That's easily enough for your jungler to gank upon/a [[Lucian]]/[[Vayne]]/etc. to [[Relentless Pursuit]]/[[Tumble]] in on. [/quote] Part on ganks is true, but in a 2v2 situation it is often hard to force a fight and quickly proc a stun unless you are significantly stronger. [quote] 2b. I can agree with the first part. "You could also say it's a downside that he doesn't really excel at a single thing?" Besides the answers in 2a., he does excel at locking down caught-out opponents. That's all I can think of not including those benefits you answered with. [/quote] There are a couple of champions that do exactly that, but a lot better (think of [[thresh]] or [[leona]] who can do it without using a 150s cd ult). Thats what I mean by 'not excelling at something'. [quote] 4a. What I meant by counters is generally champions that aren't mobile/few escapes/etc. Understood it's important for bot typically, but there are counters in teamfights ([[Final Spark]], [[Life Form Disintegration Ray]], etc.) [/quote] I know but you shouldn't usually base your pick around those factors. If anything, I base my picks around the general team comp (e.g. poke/pick/all-in comps) rather than on a single pick. [quote] 5b. I'd beg to differ. [[Caitlyn]] has incredibly long range that lets her proc [[Concussive Blows]] followed by a [[Piltover Peacemaker]] to the face. As for [[Ashe]], her slow lets her keep them at bay and procs [[Concussive Blows]] much easier and faster (plus her stuns/slows with [[Braum]] can practically lock down a foe while naturally doing a butt-load of damage.) [/quote] True but if you're picking Cait/Braum you're not playing to braum's abilities. Cait is a poke/push champion which Braum cannot really assist at. So yeah, even though the long range auto's on Q are good, its by no means a good synergy. For Ashe, braum doesn't offer enough peel nor does ashe offer enough damage. Permaslow is nice but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't do much. Ashe really needs someone like Nami/Janna to keep her safe.[/quote]

[quote=XeresAce][quote=Luther3000][quote=XeresAce] Sadly, zyra isn't exactly in the best spot right now, though I can see her wrecking Bard in lane for as long as he remains popular :>[/quote] Or you could pick literally any other support in the game and still wreck him in lane. :^)[/quote] True true, was just saying if you felt like playing zyra now is probably the time to do so :>[/quote]

[quote=Blian]thoughts on the [[Doran's Shield]] starting item on [[Thresh]]?[/quote]

[quote=utopus][quote=blian]thoughts on the [[Doran's Shield]] starting item on [[Thresh]]?[/quote] [embed=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxYOC3gDe7k][/quote]