Hello! I am an Iron support player and Seraphine OTP~~~

I've created this guide based on my experience struggling to get out of Iron.

This guide acknowledges a few things:

1. League of Legends is a team game, and low Elo players suck. Regardless of role, your best chance of climbing is to incorporate your teammates' badness (and your limited ability to coordinate with them using only pings and text chat) into every decision you make.
   
2. Climbing as a support is especially tough. Your ability to carry feels limited as a consequence of your role on the team, so you're far more reliant on your teammates' performance.
   
3. Because of its position at the left tail of the ranked distribution, Iron probably has the widest range of skill levels of any ranked tier in League of Legends.

Be greedy!

Considering the above, this guide urges a greedy pragmatic approach to playing support in Iron. Assume your teammates are bad unless proven otherwise, and carefully assess risk before helping them. Behaviors like playing close to your
lane partner and helping your jungler kill monsters are likely to get you killed if your teammates suck. Holding back spells to allow your teammates to get the kill gold is likely to allow the enemy to escape. Screw that! Steal kills and play safe.

You still need to be a team player...

All that being said, I am NOT suggesting you play like a total lone wolf and throw your teammates under the bus. There are a lot of capable players in Iron for you to uplift with your Seraphine positive energy. This guide even has some tips on getting started on the right foot with your lane partner and other teammates. It should go without saying, but I am NOT advocating toxicity or wanton selfishness in this guide; think of this as a pragmatic and realistic take on the Iron landscape instead. There will be games where, as a support, it doesn't feel like there's much to support - that's okay! Boss up and show your team that Seraphine support is capable of carrying :)

I also am NOT suggesting you shirk on typical support functions like warding, roaming, helping take objectives and monsters, etc. For Seraphine, these activities and shaping the flow of engagements with your crowd control abilities are huge contributing factors to your team's success and thus your winrate.

Have fun!

But above all, and I cannot stress this enough, I play this way because it's frickin' fun! At the end of the day, that's what matters most to me.

PROS + Abilities hit unlimited targets + Decent damage + Strong crowd control made insane by Rylai's + Lots of item synergies + High-impact ult + The long range of Surround Sound makes it easy to "participate" in kills and get that sweet assist gold

CONS - Slow move speed - Abilities are easy-ish to dodge - Champs with slow immunity are immune to most of her crowd control

Seraphine is a great APC/support hybrid. Her kit is mechanically straightforward but with a lot of nuance, making her easy to learn but tough to master.

This guide encourages an approach to Seraphine that emphasizes crowd control and damage instead of healing and shielding like most support guides. Its approach to crowd control is similar to Lesbianqueen's Catcherphine guide, but that guide stresses healing and shielding over damage overall.

Core Items

Rylai's Crystal Scepter Rylai's Crystal Scepter is the anchor for this build. The slow from its unique passive triggers on-hit when you cast Beat Drop, before Beat Drop's slow, which means you are guaranteed a root from it (and a stun if you double cast it with your Stage Presence passive). Plus, it gives your High Note some crowd control utility as well, which comes in handy if you're in a pinch and Beat Drop is on cooldown. Zaz'Zak's Realmspike This feels like a no-brainer to maximize damage and carry potential. If you're feeling generous, maybe go for Solstice Sleigh. Ionian Boots of Lucidity These are a great boot choice for the cooldown reduction, which allows you to pop off more Beat Drop casts. If you are especially greedy, feel free to buy Sorcerer's Shoes instead.

Other Items

One thing I like about Seraphine is her kit gives her a lot of item flexibility. I have a bunch of items listed in the items section, but I'll highlight a few here.

Imperial Mandate Rylai's Crystal Scepter synergizes really well with Imperial Mandate since it also allows High Note to trigger its unique passive. Plus, because its unique passive deals % of current health damage, it can be very strong against tanky teams. One thing to note for the stat nerds in the audience: the damage dealt by this item's passive is credited to your ally who triggers it, not to you. Blackfire Torch Blackfire Torch and Liandry's Torment both increase your damage with DoT unique passive effects. Both items also grant a percentage increase to your damage, but Blackfire Torch's bonus feels better for Seraphine because it is based on the number of enemies affected by the burn. Since her abilities easily hit several enemies, you can increase your AP quite substantially. Liandry's Torment is probably a bit better against really tanky teams thanks to its % health damage. Blackfire Torch has nice ability haste, though, which Liandry's Torment lacks. Horizon Focus Horizon Focus is really strong on Seraphine, since all of her abilities have enough range to trigger its unique passives. The utility of having the vision alone is worth it, but the damage bonus is also fantastic. Morellonomicon This item is always a must-buy when playing against champions with lots of healing abilities, like Briar, Dr. Mundo, or Swain. Note: I usually still rush Rylai's Crystal Scepter in such scenarios, and buy Oblivion Orb as my second item. I typically buy other items before finishing Morellonomicon last because I like stacking other items' unique passives.

Drafting

Not many guides cover this, but to me this is where the game really starts. The draft lobby is your first opportunity to establish rapport with your lane partner (and the wider team). In addition to the threats section above which you can use to pick your ban, here are some tips:

1. I like to ask my lane partner if they understand how Seraphine's slow ( Beat Drop) works. Usually they'll say something snarky like "yea it slows", but in Iron you can be almost certain that your lane partner isn't familiar with the details. I like to take this opportunity to explain: "it slows, but also roots if the target is already slowed, and stuns if the target is already rooted". They will usually pick up on the potential for combos with this in mind. I'll even call the combo out explicitly sometimes (e.g. to Miss Fortune "if you E them, I can easily root or stun them"), which requires knowledge of common bot lane carries on your part.
   
2. Pay attention to your lane partner's activity during the champion declaration phase prior to banning. They might hover between two champions (e.g. switching between Ashe and Vayne). Definitely encourage them to pick the champion you synergize best with if this happens.

Spawning & Laning

The first few minutes of the game are crucial in setting the pace for the rest of the game.

1. Try to purchase items and rush out of the spawn area ASAP to ensure you make it to the bushes near our side's bottom buff before the enemy. If you are delayed at all, you might have to play it safe and ward over walls to get intel on an attempted invasion of your jungle. If the enemy has a grabby champion like Blitzcrank you have to be especially careful, as it's easy to give up an early kill.
2. This is another great opportunity to keep up rapport with your team. If you have Porofessor, you can use it to call certain things out. Good callouts include any premade pairings on the opponent's team (if you're playing Solo/Duo Queue) and any opponent playing an OTP champ they have a high win-rate with. Of course, a "GLHF!" can seem trite but doesn't hurt.

Then, laning phase is when you start to get your first impression of your laning partner:

1. Do they seem...inexperienced? Are they missing a lot of minion gold? Are they taking bad trades when poking the opponent? If they seem inexperienced, prepare yourself to play selfishly.
2. In some cases you can prod them in the right direction, like telling them to focus the enemy carry if they are too distracted by the opposing support.
3. Try to establish an engage tactic, e.g. "use your slow on their carry, then I'll root and we go in".
4. Poke! Poke! Poke! Especially target the opposing carry.
5. Peel! Often, the opposing support will also spend their energy trying to land hard crowd control on you and your lane partner. They will likely succeed at some point. If that happens, throw your Beat Drop and High Note at the opposing carry, not their support! Their carry will likely back off if they lose a lot of HP, which can defuse their engage.

Too many Iron carries throw their abilities around without good timing, which just drains their mana without accomplishing much. For example, my biggest pet peeve is when Miss Fortune players poke or kill minions with their Make it Rain and I try to steer them away from doing it.

Mid Game

I don't have many mid game notes that are different from other guides. Positioning yourself in mid lane by default so you can easily rotate to wherever the action is, is generally the strategy. With this high damage, high crowd control build, you should be spamming High Note to poke down the enemy before engaging in team fights. The slow granted to High Note by Rylai's Crystal Scepter also makes it easier to land Beat Drop for easy picks or as a lead in to a team fight. Of course, Encore is hugely decisive. Don't forget about the extended range it gets when it hits an enemy or allied champion, that gives it a huge amount of versatility.

Late Game

Here, I don't have many notes here that are super Seraphine specific. If the game goes late, in Iron it really comes down to two things:

1. Which team makes the fewest mistakes
2. Which team best capitalizes on the other team's mistakes

Teams that keep their lanes pushed into enemy territory are better able to take towers and inhibitors after winning team fights. On the other hand, teams that disperse after team fights to clear jungle camps or buy items lose initiative.