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Choose Champion Build:
- Thresh
- Leona
- Lulu
- Blitzcrank
- Janna
- Nami
- Taric
- Soraka
- Sona
Introduction
I am a Diamond Support/AP Mid Player. I have been playing for over three years and have been Diamond since Season 2. Support is my best role and I have done it in Solo Que as well as in Ranked 5's for high elo teams. I decided that rather than making a ton of different guides, I would make just one. This is a general guide going into detail about the role itself, as well as the 9 Supports I currently play. Above are the Items, Abilities, Masteries and Runes of the Champions.
Season 2Diamond |
Season 3Diamond |
Season 4Diamond |
Top 5 Supports Spoiler: Click to view
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Top 5 Underestimated Supports Spoiler: Click to view
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Supports have three main roles to fulfill throughout the game. The three main/core roles supports play are Map/Vision control, allowing your Marksman to farm as easily as possible, and Protection. These are the three core roles supports play because a large portion of the game is fought in multiple areas of the map. If you don't have vision of Baron or Dragon , you will put your team at a disadvantage in global gold and experience. Besides that, vision is needed to ensure you can farm, do buffs, roam through the jungle, and or catch enemies. Vision goes a long way. Secondly, if you don't allow your Marksman to safely/easily farm during the laning phase, he will have a tough time transitioning over to the mid game. Making laning phase easier would be, warding bushes, and river, shielding/healing your carry, disengaging or engaging fights. Why protection? Shouldn't your carries be able to position correctly? As much as positioning correctly does play a large part of any carries or rather, anyones job in the game protecting them is essential. You cant position correctly 100% of the time because enemies have so many gap closers it makes it impossible to dodge everyone. Many bruisers jobs are to be an anti carry and are to aim for the carries. If you have ever watched me play I try to protect my carries every game I'm support. At the end of the day I may not do the most damage but give me decent carries and I will keep them alive.
Core Roles:
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What Summoners are for Support players, and what do you feel the best are?
I think for any champion, including Support the best Summoner is Flash. I feel the utility it brings is unmatched. You can Flash as an initiate, follow-up, securing a kill, or escape. Some champions like Annie or Sona can initiate amazingly with Flash that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Beside Flash their is also Heal, Clarity, Teleport, Exhaust, Ignite and Clairvoyance. All of them have their own unique way they can help your team, but the most important two are Exhaust and Ignite. Heal is a decent ability but has a long cool down and nearly halved by Ignite. I think it would be 3rd best ability to use, but I don't recommend it at this time. Clarity although gives a bunch of mana to you and your surrounding allies, that's all it does. If you watch your mana, most times you will not be in a situation without any, in which case you would probably back and buy items. Teleport can be used in certain situations such as an team trying to push and take towers & objectives quickly as an group, but most times you want to be able to win 2v2's. Being able to win even fights or having summoners to defend or attack with are better than ones that just barely sustain you, or get you somewhere faster for your bot lane. Clairvoyance was my favorite support skill. It reveals a small area on the map for 5 seconds, while being very useful, I feel the cool down is way too long.
When do I choose Exhaust over Ignite?
The main two summoners, beside Flash, are Ignite and Exhaust. The tricky part is, when would you choose exhaust over ignite? Ignite has more kill potential and damage output. Many people prefer ignite because, beside doing damage it also reduces healing effects. The way I determine if I'm going to choose Exhaust is by taking a look at the enemy team. Do they have a strong dive comp, or initiate? Can I protect my carries, or reduce burst damage? Examples of champions I take exhaust against are: Fizz, Jax, Kha'Zix, and Riven. Effect: Exhausts target enemy champion, reducing their movement speed and damage dealt by 30% for 2.5 seconds and reducing their attack speed by 50% for the duration. Also, I almost never run ignite on champions with low kill potential such as Janna and Soraka. A good note is to check what summoners your team has against champions with health regeneration like Dr. Mundo and Volibear. If your team is running only one Ignite, taking it could be an option.
Default Support Runes
This is my default support page. Not everyone has 20 rune pages or enough IP to buy everything. This works for most or all supports. Some pages may be a little better, such as Greater Mark of Armor for Thresh or Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration for Annie, but this should be your default. It provides you with Armor and Magic resistance, both of which are good early, mid and late game.
Runes
Possible Secondary Rune Page (Mana Issue Supports)
Such as: Lulu Nami Soraka Sona Janna
Some may find this unorthodox or unnecessary but I love this page. I love to poke, especially on Lulu and I find I run low on mana. This helps with sustaining your mana during aggressive bot lanes. It provides you with a little less armor and magic resistance but still allows you to remain tanky.
Runes
The mastery pages I use are above for each champion. The most standard is 9/21 which is for ranged squishy champions like Lulu, Nami, Sona, Soraka, and also work for Janna. The second mastery page i use is 16/14 or close variation to that. Its for more tanky supports such as Thresh, Leona, Blitzcrank, and Taric.
0/9/21
This is my 0/9/21 mastery page. This is my standard Mastery page for most of my supports. You can always alter a few of them such as removing Meditation or Fleet of Foot and getting Scout or getting Enchanted Armor . I like this page because, not only does it give health it gives movement speed, mana regeneration, starting and passive gold and more.
0/16/14
This is my 0/16/14 mastery page. This is my main page for tanky supports, such as Leona, Blitzcrank, Thresh and Taric. For Taric I usually run more Meditation because of his mana pool. This page provides you with more tank stats than the previous one, giving more armor, health regeneration, and also reduces damage taken from critical hits.What starting items are the best?
Well that all depends. You change starting items depending on the lane you are facing. If you're fighting an extremely poke heavy bot lane you could do the Doran's Shield start. If you're a melee such as Leona Taric or Blitzcrank you may want to start with Relic Shield. If you want to play more passively, usually if you are ranged, you might find Ancient Coin to be useful because it provides passive gold, while allowing you to build into Talisman of Ascension.
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Default Start: For most of my supports I start this way because although I'm aggressive I still like the passive gold, and health/mana regen. It also allows me to upgrade later to an Talisman of Ascension.
Relic Shield Start: Many times for Leona, Blitzcrank, and Taric I will buy Relic Shield then upgrade it to Targon's Brace. Occasionally I will start this way with Thresh because his high auto attack damage make it easy to last hit. After lane phase I sell Targon's Brace for Nomad's Medallion. I honestly like the feel of Talisman of Ascension over that of Face of the Mountain.
Situational Start: I don't go this start very often, because you either lack early Health Potion or Stealth Ward. It does work against very heavy poke comps and aggressive bot lanes, but I dont think its a substantial difference and prefer the other starts. Some supports like Annie can even do a Doran's Ring start, but I prefer the other two.
Tip
Although I start with Stealth Ward in all my starting items, after buying Sightstone I replace it with Sweeping Lens. This allows me to have the start of two wards, but then still the ability to sweep wards at a low level. Also buying Vision Ward and placing it in Tri Bush, or behind Lizard Elder help with early counter warding and vision.
I've seen people max other skills first.
Why do you max certain skills over others?
Every game is different. There are different situations and possibilities in every game. Much like runes and items, sometimes you have to change them depending on the lane your facing.
Examples:
Thresh I personally like to get Death Sentence at level 1 because its better for catching and engaging. If your team invades it has a much longer range than Flay and locks them down longer. Flay is more damage, but maxing Dark Passage is very good, for the cool down and utility it brings. Flay stays at an 9 second cool down, so maxing Death Sentence next is better in my opinion because it gives you more chances to initiate when you miss.
The Box>> Dark Passage>> Death Sentence>> Flay
Leona - Leona I actually never change my skill order. I think she is one of the few exceptions because, the only real other option could potentially be to max Shield of Daybreak first, but I really never see a reason to. My skill order for Leona is start with Shield of Daybreak then, Zenith Blade, into Eclipse. From here you want to max Eclipse first then Shield of Daybreak. Gives you more burst damage, higher tank stats and lower cool down on your stuns.
Solar Flare>> Eclipse>> Shield of Daybreak>> Zenith Blade
Lulu - I max Glitterlance than Help, Pix! because this gives more damage. You can also max Help, Pix! and Whimsy if you find your on the defensive the entire time. The reduced cool down on poly-morph and upgraded shield could help you stay alive.
Wild Growth>> Glitterlance>> Help, Pix!>> Whimsy
Blitzcrank - Some max Overdrive first because it gives movement speed and attack speed to get into position. I personally don't because I like the cool down on Rocket Grab. This gives me decent damage on my Rocket Grab than lower cool down on Power Fist because I feel knock up is very useful in a fight.
Static Field>> Rocket Grab>> Power Fist>> Overdrive
Janna - You can start off with Howling Gale if your teams invading. I find if you're not invading, starting with Eye of the Storm works very well. The early trades and poke damage help quite a bit. Janna has no real sustain so maxing shield is her only way to attempt to poke the enemy without going pure AP. Not only does it give a shield but also bonus damage.
Monsoon>> Eye of the Storm>> Zephyr>> Howling Gale
Nami - I try to play very aggresive when I Nami. Her Aqua Prison is very good, and that accompanied by being able to heal + damage with maxing Ebb and Flow work very well. I usually don't max Aqua Prison second though, because I like the movement, slow and damage, that Tidecaller's Blessing provides.
Tidal Wave>> Ebb and Flow>> Tidecaller's Blessing>> Aqua Prison
Taric - You generally max Shatter because it provides you with more burst as well as a bunch of armor. In some cases, you're being harassed and poked to much bottom lane, taking to much damage that you cant land your stuns. Your Marksman may also be taking to much damage and, shatter's armor just isn't enough. This is when instead of maxing Shatter you would go for Imbue than Shatter next.
Radiance>> Imbue>> Shatter>> Dazzle
Soraka - If your teams invading, I like to start with Infuse first. My reasoning behind this is because if your team catches an enemy, silence will stop them from flashing for 1.5 seconds, in which you get extra damage and may secure the kill. If i'm losing lane and cant poke I wont get Starcall until around level 7 because I may not have the chance to use Starcall to poke early and I don't want to push the wave.
Wish>> Astral Blessing>> Infuse>> Starcall
Sona - She is much like Taric in respects to maxing heal over damage. Generally you want to max Hymn of Valor first because this provides you and your carry with extra damage, as well as you being able to poke and burst. If you find you are falling behind, and can't poke much you would switch to Aria of Perseverance and sit back and sustain lane.
Crescendo>> Hymn of Valor>> Aria of Perseverance>> Song of Celerity
Many of your item choices seem to be the same. Why is that?
These are the items I usually get on my supports. I can probably add a few later, but these are the ones I normally use. After much trial and error and thousands of games, I find that these work the best. You never want to build the exact same build every game, but you can have a default structure. The default structure is your "main" set of items, but can be changed by the enemy having certain champions. An example would be if your enemy has heavy Ability Power champions like LeBlanc & Kennen, you may want to replace Randuin's Omen with something like a Banshee's Veil or Guardian Angel.
Default & Core Items
Ruby SightstoneCost: 1,550 (125) +360 Health Unique Passive - Ward Refresh: Holds 5 charges and refills upon visiting the shop. Unique Active - Ghost Ward: Consumes a charge to place a Stealth Ward that reveals the surrounding area for 3 minutes. A player may only have 3 Stealth Wards on the map at one time. This is the MOST IMPORTANT item for any Support player to buy. Not only does it drop wards, it also gives a decent amount of health. Sightstone should be one of the first items a support buys, and can be later upgraded. Map & Vision control are very important. |
Talisman of Ascension Talisman of AscensionCost: 2,000 (970) +20% Cooldown Reduction +10 Health Regen per 5 seconds +15 Mana Regen per 5 seconds +2 Gold per 10 seconds Unique Passive - Favor: Being near a minion death without dealing the killing blow grants 4 Gold. Unique Active: Grants nearby allies +40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds. (60 second cooldown) This favorite support item. This provides you with cooldown, regen and a speed boost to your team. It gives you the ability to catch or escape situations which greatly affect your team. Some like Face of the Mountain which is decent, but I prefer this on ALL my supports. |
Locket of the Iron SolariCost: 2,550 (600) +300 Health +20 Armor +10% Cooldown Reduction UNIQUE Active: Grants a shield to nearby allies for 5 seconds that absorbs up to 50 (+10 per level) damage (60 second cooldown). UNIQUE Aura - Legion: Grants nearby allies +20 Magic Resist and +10 Health Regen per 5 seconds. I find this to be very important also, because not only does it increase your health and armor, it also increases your nearby allies magic resistance and health regen. The shield it gives also helps a lot, because at level 18 it gives a shield for 230. If you can land it on all 5 members, that's an extra 1150 health combined. |
Mikael's CrucibleCost: 1,600 (720) +40 Magic Resist +12 Mana Regen per 5 seconds UNIQUE Passive - Mana Font: Increases Mana Regen by 1% for every 1% of missing Mana. UNIQUE Active: Removes all stuns, roots, taunts, fears, silences, and slows on an allied champion and heals that champion for 150 (+10% of maximum Health) (180 second cooldown). I find this item to be very useful as well. I put it on most of my champions, not only because the magic resistance and mana regeneration, but also because the removal. It removes all stuns, roots, taunts, fears, silences and slows on an allied champion or yourself, and heals them for a decent amount. Some may argue this isn't core, which it may not be, but its a cheap item and I feel it fits a supports role very well. Does not remove suppress such as Infinite Duress and Nether Grasp. |
Randuin's OmenCost: 3,000 (1,000) +500 Health +70 Armor UNIQUE Passive - Cold Steel: When hit by basic attacks, reduces the attacker's Attack Speed by 15% and Movement Speed by 10% for 1 seconds. UNIQUE Active: Slows the Movement Speed of nearby enemy units by 35% for 2 seconds (+1 second per 200 Armor and +1 second per 200 Magic Resist) (60 second cooldown). I really like this in my core builds. It gives armor and health, as well as slowing enemies attack and movement speeds. Its active also slows surrounding enemies, which makes it a very good item, especially on Leona and Thresh who are usually in the middle of the fights. If enemy is heavy Ability Power than can be swapped out, but either way a good item. |
Oracle's LensCost: 475 (475) Limited to 1 Trinket. UNIQUE Active: Reveals and disables nearby invisible traps, devices and wards for 6 seconds in a medium radius and grants detection of nearby invisible units for 8 seconds (60 second cooldown.) Normally you want to start with an Stealth Ward because the early vision, and warding from ganks is needed. After buying Sightstone or Rubystone sell the Stealth Ward to buy Sweeping Lens. This lets you have the vision early, then once you are able to place wards constantly, you can remove enemy wards. Late game after some core items are built, upgrade into this. |
Ionian Boots of LucidityCost: 1,000 (675) UNIQUE Passive: +15% Cooldown Reduction UNIQUE Passive - Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed I get these boots on most of my supports, usually ranged like Janna, Lulu, Sona and Soraka. They're cheap and very good, providing much needed cool down reduction and movement speed. They can be late/all game or later sold and replaced with Mercury's Treads. Most times you have items to replace that cool down with, so getting Mercury's Treads later is more helpful. |
Mercury's TreadsCost: 1,200 (475) +25 Magic Resist UNIQUE Passive - Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed UNIQUE Passive - Tenacity: Reduces the duration of stuns, slows, taunts, fears, silences, blinds, and immobilizes by 35%. These boots are very good on most champions for late game. They can be your standard boots on champions like Blitzcrank, Leona, Thresh who are melee or initiating and in fights, rather then poking from the outside. |
Situational Items
Face of the MountainFace of the MountainCost: 2,000 (675) +375 Health +10% Cooldown Reduction +25 Health Regen per 5 seconds UNIQUE Passive - Spoils of War: Melee basic attacks execute minions below 200 Health. Killing a minion heals the nearest allied champion for 2% of your maximum Health and grants them (kill + 10) Gold. These effects require a nearby allied champion. Recharges every 30 seconds. Max 4 charges. UNIQUE Active - Deadly Phalanx: Consumes 20% of your current Health to shield target ally for 10% of your maximum Health for 4 seconds. After 4 seconds, the target explodes dealing 10% of your maximum Health as magic damage in an area. (60 second cooldown) I don't get this item very often. While I do start with Relic Shield on Blitzcrank, Leona, and Taric, I dont find this item to be as useful as Talisman of Ascension late game. I usually upgrade it to Targon's Brace during the lane phase, but sell it later. |
Banshee's VeilCost: 2,750 (875) +450 Health +55 Magic Resist UNIQUE Passive: Grants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. This shield refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 25 seconds. UNIQUE Passive: Grants 45 Health Regen per 5 for up to 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion or when the spell shield breaks. This can be a very useful item for heavy CC or Engage teams. Not only does it provide health and magic resistance it also blocks 1 spell. This shield refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 25 seconds. |
Frozen HeartCost: 2,900 (550) +95 Armor +400 Mana +20% Cooldown Reduction UNIQUE Aura: Reduces the Attack Speed of nearby enemies by 20%. I usually prefer buying Randuin's Omen instead, but that does not make this a bad item. This item gives a ton of armor, mana and cooldown reduction. It also slows the attack speed of nearby enemies by 20%. This works especially well vs AD heavy comps, or champions like Jax. |
Sunfire CapeCost: 2,650 (930) +450 Health +45 Armor UNIQUE Passive: Deals 25 (+ character level) magic damage per second to nearby enemies. This is also a good item to get. Gives a decent amount of health and armor, as well as dealing passive magic damage per second to nearby enemies. It may not seem like a lot, but 25+18 damage per second, in just 5 seconds that's 215 extra magic damage. |
ThornmailCost: 2,200 (1,180) +100 Armor UNIQUE Passive: Upon being hit by a basic attack, returns 30% of the incoming damage (before being reduced by defenses) to the attacker as magic damage. This provides you with a ton of armor and also Upon being auto attacked, returns 30% of the incoming damage to the attack as magic damage. This may not be the best item, its pure armor, but if the enemy has a lot of AD damage or their AD damage carries are ahead I think this is a good item. |
Zeke's Herald Zeke's HeraldCost: 2,450 (800) +250 Health +20% Cooldown Reduction UNIQUE Aura: Grants allied champions +10% Life Steal and +20 Attack Damage. I don't particularly love this item on every champion, it really depends. It's good for AD heavy team comps, in which it provides an aura granting 10% life steal and +20 attack damage. I do however find if your missing cool down reduction late game on Soraka after selling Ionian Boots of Lucidity than this item fits. |
Guardian AngelCost: 2,750 (1,310) +50 Armor +40 Magic Resist UNIQUE Passive: Upon taking lethal damage, restores 30% of maximum Health and Mana after 4 seconds of stasis (5 minute cooldown). I don't get this much on support, but I find if they are focusing me and as part of my job its to keep my teammates alive and use my crowd control to help keep them alive, in some situations it can work. It provides armor, and magic resistance, with a 30% health Resurrection. |
Warding TotemCost: 0 Passive: Becomes Greater Totem at level 9 and can be further upgraded with gold. UNIQUE Active: Places an invisible ward that lasts 60 seconds (120 second cooldown.) Limit 3 Stealth Wards on the map per player. I usually don't upgrade this item, but I start every game with Stealth Ward. Even though the ward only lasts 1 minute, it also gives you that extra vision, when you need extra bush control, or vision early. I replace it with an Sweeping Lens after I buy my Sightstone |
Spellthief's EdgeCost: 365 (365) +10 Ability Power +3 Mana Regen per 5 seconds +2 Gold per 10 seconds UNIQUE Passive - Tribute: Basic attacks against champions grant 4 Gold, up to once every 10 seconds per enemy. Killing a minion disables this passive for 10 seconds. I don't really like this item, but I can see it being decent. Provides you with a small amount of Ability Power, and mana regeneration as well as Gp10 and bonus gold on auto attacking. I don't really like this, because it relies on auto attacks, not skills and if you kill a minion its passive is disabled for 10 seconds. I wouldn't say this is the worst item you can get, and can see it being decent on Soraka, Janna, Lulu, Nami, and Sona. |
Frost Queen's ClaimCost: 2,000 (715) +50 Ability Power +10 Mana Regen per 5 seconds +4 Gold per 10 seconds UNIQUE Passive - Tribute: Spells and basic attacks against champions grant 8 Gold, up to once every 10 seconds per enemy. Killing a minion disables this passive for 10 seconds. UNIQUE Active - Arctic Embrace: Chills target enemy champion and all nearby enemies, dealing 50 Magic damage and reducing Movement Speed by 50% for 2 seconds (60 second cooldown.) As stated above, I don't really like this item. I know it "can" grant 8 gold, for each spell and basic attack against enemy champions once every 10 seconds, but 1 wave of minions being cleared in a few seconds with Talisman of Ascension can grant you 4 x 6 gold, every wave. Also prevents you from having to land everything, and risk being over extended. The slow and extra damage may be nice, and can work in some situations. |
Ninja TabiCost: 1,000 (375) +25 Armor UNIQUE Passive: Blocks 10% of the damage from basic attacks. UNIQUE Passive - Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed I'm not a huge fan of Ninja Tabi or Mobility Boots because I prefer the cooldown reduction or tenacity. These are still viable and work well against comps with a lot of AD damage, but little crowd control . Another bonus is that they are very cheap to buy. |
Boots of MobilityCost: 1,000 (675) UNIQUE Passive - Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed. Increases to +105 Movement Speed when out of combat for 5 seconds. I'm not a huge fan of Ninja Tabi or Mobility Boots because I prefer the cooldown reduction or tenacity. These boots still work, I find they can be useful if you feel like you are to slow to be able to initiate properly. They provide you with a ton of movement speed when out of combat. |
There are a few AP items you can buy. I don't normally go for much AP even though it affects most of them in some way, either pure damage, bigger shields, or better heals. They do help, and if you feel your tanky enough, or your teams needs more damage, then here are a few AP items that can work for your supports.
Zhonya's Hourglass Rabadon's Deathcap Rylai's Crystal Scepter Abyssal Mask Athene's Unholy Grail Morellonomicon Seraph's Embrace Void Staff Deathfire Grasp
Pro's & Con's
Viability & Priority
Helpful Tips & Ability Sequence
Final Builds & Situational Items
Thresh
Pros: + Grab & Mini Stun + Great Initiate + Slow & Push/Pull |
Viability: 10/10 Priority: Very High |
Cons: - Long Wind-Up on Death Sentence - Long Cool-Downs Early - Easy to dodge The Box |
Helpful Tips:
- When you land Death Sentence tug twice, before pressing it again to leap to the target.
- Dark Passage is an amazing help to your allies and can be used as an escape or to pull an all to lane for an gank.
- Flay infront of you to push back enemy, or behind you to pull them towards you.
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Face of the Mountain Zeke's Herald
Leona
Pros: + Has two Stuns + Great Initiate + Tanky |
Viability: 8.5/10 Priority: High |
Cons: - No Sustain - Zenith Blade can be interrupted - All In & Can be poked down |
Helpful Tips:
- When enemy places a ward, auto attack + Shield of Daybreak + auto attack will kill it before it goes invisible.
- Your main combo is Zenith Blade + Eclipse + Shield of Daybreak. Eclipse can be casted mid-air.
- Sunlight passive will deal additional magic damage when an allied champion does damage to them.
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Face of the Mountain Zeke's Herald
Lulu
Pros: + Great Poke + Slow & Knock-Up & Heal + Whimsy (Speed Boost or Polymorph) |
Viability: 9/10 Priority: Very High |
Cons: - Squishy - Small Shield - Mana Issues |
Helpful Tips:
- Glitterlance is an amazing poke. Use it & auto attack for more damage. When you have enough mana, you may also Help, Pix!.
- Wild Growth can be used on an ally who is initiating to knock up the enemy team, or as an defensive ability to save a dying ally.
- Whimsy can be used in multiple situations. It can stop channels such as Death Lotus and The Culling. Can also be used as a silence or to stop enemies from attacking for the duration.
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Zeke's Herald
Blitzcrank
Pros: + Grab & Knock-Up & Silence + Burst Damage |
Viability: 7/10 Priority: Medium |
Cons: - No Sustain - High Mana Costs |
Helpful Tips:
- Aim for the Carries and Squishies on enemy team. Landing a grab mid/late game almost always ensures a kill.
- Clear enemies vision and ward a lot. Denying vision then grabbing an enemy when they are trying to ward is usually very effective.
- Sometimes you can Overdrive to get close, then Static Field into an Rocket Grab then Power Fist. This ensures the enemy takes all the damage and cant flash out unless they survive the initial burst.
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Face of the Mountain Zeke's Herald
Janna
Pros: + Knock-Up & Slow + Great Disengage + Bonus AD on Eye of the Storm |
Viability: 8/10 Priority: High |
Cons: - Squishy - Low Poke Damage - No Sustain |
Helpful Tips:
- Howling Gale can stop some champions mid-air such as Zenith Blade from Leona or Headbutt from Alistar
- Use Eye of the Storm when you poke harass. It gives more damage, as well as blocking some damage you take.
- Howling Gale can be used to knock-up and catch enemy champions, as well as a defensive disengage much like Monsoon.
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Zeke's Herald
Nami
Pros: + Two Knock-Ups + Decent Heal & Poke |
Viability: 6.5/10 Priority: Medium |
Cons: - Squishy - Mana Issues |
Helpful Tips:
- Easiest way to land Aqua Prison is when the enemy is going in for a last hit.
- If you want to heal, your ally and yourself with Ebb and Flow make sure they're in range of bounce to enemy, then back to your ally or yourself.
- Tidal Wave may be slow, but can be a very powerful initiate skill, or follow up to an initiate for your team. Can also be used as an disengage.
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Zeke's Herald
Taric
Pros: + Stun + Sustain Heals |
Viability: 6.5/10 Priority: Medium |
Cons: - Short Ranged Dazzle - Mana Issues |
Helpful Tips:
- If you use Imbue on yourself it heals for 40% more
- If your not being poked much, max Shatter for more armor and damage.
- To catch someone late game you can Talisman of Ascension to land an easier stun.
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Face of the Mountain Zeke's Herald
Soraka
Pros: + Great Heal & Global Heal + Silence & Can give Mana + Astral Blessing provides a lot of Armor |
Viability: 6/10 Priority: Medium |
Cons: - Squishy - Weak Early Game - Mana Issues |
Helpful Tips:
- Along with Sightstone rush Talisman of Ascension & Ionian Boots of Lucidity for 40% cool down reduction.
- If you're going to pick Soraka make sure your team has a good tank line/initiate.
- When in a fight, spam Starcall to reduce the cooldown of Astral Blessing
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Zeke's Herald
Sona
Pros: + Poke / Burst + Stun & Slow + Bonus Damage and Ability Power Aura |
Viability: 7/10 Priority: Medium |
Cons: - Squishy - Low Heals - Mana Issues |
Helpful Tips:
- Keeping Hymn of Valor up grants bonus damage and ability power. Whereas Aria of Perseverance grants bonus armor and magic resistance.
- Learn how each Chord works. (Q=Double Damage, W=Lowers damage output, E= Slows)
- In team fights, try to land Crescendo on more than one person.
Final Build
Talisman of Ascension
Situational Items
Zeke's Herald
Notes:
Many of my builds are the same items. This is because this is the play style I play and like. I build tanky & cool down reduction supports with high utility. Some can be built more damage, there are also a few other item choices I will add to customize builds more. My favorite support item is Talisman of Ascension. It provides your team with a speed boost for initiating, or escaping fights.
Viability
Viability is the 1/10 Scale I'm using to determine how useful I feel a champion is.
For example Thresh is rated 10/10 because I feel he is very useful in all situations. He has an amazing kit, and can be utilized in many different ways. He can be defensive, by helping farm, shielding and escaping. He can also be aggressive by initiating fights, grabbing and slowing enemies. Whereas someone like Soraka is rated 6/10 because she is more situational. She has low Crowd Control , only a silence. She also has no escapes and little poke. She is mainly a sustain healer.
Priority
Priority is another form of measurement I'm using to determine how well they can affect the game and their team. Very High being the best, down to Very Low being the worst.
What if my favorite champion is poorly rated? Are they useless?
Some champions may be better than others. In some situations Leona initiate can be better than Lulu poke damage and knock up. Sometimes Janna may have to sit back and shield the carry throughout lane and do little poke damage, but come late game the team may get much more from Janna because her disengage is so good.
To answer that question, no, being rated lower does not make someone useless and this is more of a general rating than one that fits every game.
These are the basic warding spots for bottom lane and Dragon control.
Green markers are the most basic areas to ward. If you're pushed back to your tower you would ward the bush closer to you, so you can remain in control . Usually you would ward at the far end just to give the most vision away from you. Blue markers are for buff and dragon control. Warding behind dragon or bush near it help give vision so the enemy can't steal or kill you when going for it without being seen. The ones near red and blue buff are both offensive and defensive. If you are looking to steal or defend your buffs the edges of the bush give a good area of vision. Red markers may not always be used, but they can still be important in certain situations. Sometimes the enemy will tower dive you, or you are pushed far up towards the enemies tower and you could use the extra vision. Warding those spots will help keep you safe in both situations.
Video's
Hopefully I can make a warding guide in the future.
Below is not my video, but it is an amazing ward guide from season 3. You can learn a lot from the video, while out dated it still has important tips.
Remember if your cursor is green its in the bush. If your cursor is blue its not in the bush. You can ward over walls and farther than normally allowed because the wall will push the ward.
Practice makes perfect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPI9bmW6UFo
Wards And Jungle Timers:
Wards = 3 Minute Lifespan
Blue Buff = 5 Minute Respawn
Red Buff = 5 Minute Respawn
Dragon = 6 Minute Respawn
Baron = 7 Minute Respawn
I stream at Twitch.tv/xMissyMeganx. I have every champion/rune page, so I can play anything. I may not be very good at some roles, top being my worst, but if its what you guys want sometimes I'll play it. I do Ranked Solo Que, Ranked 5's but mostly Normal or Customs with viewers. I don't currently have a set schedule because its often random, with job hunting and how hectic life has been lately, but hope to make one in the future. If you want to play games, chat with viewers or myself in chat, listen to good music (I think), or watch good gameplay (ok, maybe not sometimes) then why not give it a try.
I hope to make videos in the future, but for now all I have is a (well edited) Season 3 Sona Guide
Thank you to everyone who helped me with this guide.
It really means a lot to me that you took the time to help. This guide took a while to make and couldn't of been as good without you guys.
Miroke & StancedMode: Critiquing
TomQShibbey: Grammatical Errors
IceCreamy: Gave me some ideas for the Pro's & Con's section
Xpecial: Tips (I took the important ones and reworded/edited them from Xpecial's Reddit Post)
coL.MeyeA: Ward tips video
Special Thanks to
For all of the Artwork
He did an amazing job on every banner, ward template, and video. I know I have some amazing paint skills, but it wouldn't have been the same if it wasn't for his help.
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