This guide is made for the sole purpose of educating people on how to support in the current meta. I have seen so many supports try to play support as AD/AP carries. They lose games and feel bad for it or rage. Hopefully this will stop some of that.

Other guides were: "WTF LONG? I'M NEVER GONNA READ THIS ____!" status. This one should be short and to the point.

Read the text that is GREEN for oversimplified instructions
Also this is for my friend who is "HERP DERP, MORELLO'S TOME STACKING ES NUMERO UNO"

2 things to do when choosing a support.

1.)Choose to your TEAM COMPOSITION. If your team needs CC and a tank, you need to pick a support that provides CC and tankiness.

2.) Choose to your AD CARRY.If your AD carry plays super passive early game, choose a champion that facilitates passive play rather than super damage.

This means, ask your lane partner "Hey, do you PLAN to just farm early game, or do you plan to aggressively harass?" and choose accordingly.

Don't attack minions if someone else is in your lane. EVER. If everyone is gone, LAST HIT; that does not mean attack the minions willy-nilly. It means wait until the last possible moment to kill the minion whilst still getting gold.

Your lane partner will be getting all the last hits in lane.

Your job is to Assist this process by pushing the enemy away with harass, or defending your partner as he goes in to last hit.

Greater Mark of Resilience: Simply put, more armor=less damage taken. Wins lanes

Greater Seal of Avarice: Since you will not be last hittin creeps, you need a source of icome. This is it.

Greater Glyph of Shielding: Simply put, more magic resist=less damage taken. You may swap these with flat Magic Resist at your whim.

Greater Quintessence of Avarice: Since you will not be last hittin creeps, you need a source of icome. This is it.

These are the genral runes you need as a support. Some other runes are listed for specific champs; you do not need those runes for them, they are just overall better for their playstyle.

Flash: this summoner spell is god mode summoner spell. It will let you escape things and initiate things.

Exhaust: this lets you disable enemy offtanks and enemy AD carries. Very convinient for late game team fights and early game ganks. Often times the other people on your team will take Heal or Ignite. You need an exhaust on your team or you aren't doing it right.

Heal: This is for when you just don't have enough heals or range for your lane and you plan on fighting burst fights (not just taking harrass out the ***). Still popular, but since the recent heal nerf, much less effective early game(ignite will do 70ish damage and cut your heal in half, where heal base is 100, so if they have ignite heal only does 50)

Clairvoyance: This is a great summoner spell. However it is not meant JUST for your lane. In this meta if you do not have summoner spells JUST for your lane you will typically lose your lane. Used to keep sight on enemies in bushes/check buffs and dragon/baron.

Do whatever the hell you want with masteries(it's not like you need any (you are a glorified CC/heal bot).

However I prefer two specific builds.

Build 1:
Health support. This is typically reserved for melee-centric, tanky-support champions. You need to live through **** late game. This does that well. 0/21/9

Build 2:
Gold Support. This is typically reserved for ranged, kiting-support champions.
This facilitates your gold growth whilst still giving you decent early game defenses. 0/15/15

There are 9 Items you should know by heart as a support.

Philosopher's Stone Philosopher's Stone: This lets you lane sustain for the rest of early game. it also gets you gold and builds into one of your final-core items.

Boots of Speed: This lets you run away from dangerous enemy agression. It also lets you chase.

Heart of Gold: This makes you less burstable, builds into one of your final-core items AND gives you gold.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity: Cooldown reduction and running even faster, whilst also being a cheap upgrade from boots of speed.

Shurelya's Reverie: Cooldown reduction, less burstable, more regen. SUPER ACTIVATED ABILITY. Final-Core item built from philosopher's stone.

Aegis of the Legion: Most cost effecient item in game in terms of stats. Not to mention it just happens to give an aura that helps your entire team. It also makes you much harder to kill.

OR

These two items are interchangable. In general, if your in the middle of ****, get randuin's. If you are in the back/kiting, get the Locket.
Randuin's: cripples enemy AD at close range
Locket: mitigates a large amount of damage to your team


Sight Ward Sight Ward: This is your best friend. Will save your life mor ethan your lane partner will.

Oracle's Elixir: This kills your opponents' best friend. However it is a significant investment and also makes you a target so avoid purchasing this until you have significant health/Movespeed so you can escape and survive.

This is the god mode support item.

Situations in which to use:

1.)If you are about to get ganked, and you are a little to far out, pop this to get back to your tower before anything bad happens to you.

2.)If the enemy is about to get ganked, activate this and jump on the enemy before they can get away.

3.) If a team fight is initiated ON your team, activate so your tam can reposition themselves and avoid unneccessary losses.

4.) If your team plans to initiate a team fight, activate so your initiator can easily jump onto enemy carries and disrupt the enemy team.

5.) Be creative.

I don't take credit for other people's work

Super-long-ward-guide-of-awesome-for-serious-pros

In general place wards where YOU would go if you were the enemy team. Just remember sometimes people ARE better than you and will go different ways.

If you are not in the bush, or warding/killing/running away, you are doing your job wrong.

For more information on why: Play Video *note: it is an old video, but it still retains most of it's intended purpose*

Also small note: YOUR (ranged) AUTO ATTACKS CAN HARASS ENEMIES, just don't get hit back or shurelya will frown at you.

Don't be afraid to ward your bushes if you find your AD carry is getting pushed away from farm. Wins games.

Let your AD farm, build gold/5, Crowd Control the enemy team, keep enemies of your AD/AP carry.

There are more support champions and more supports. The only way to get good is trial and error.

Alistar: Spam your E in lane unless you both have full life. It is relatively cheap mana wise and lets you both sustain long enough to beat the enemy. If you think you can kill an opponent and they are in range, flash onto them and followup with Pulverize then walk to the side of the opponent opposite your AD carry and use Headbutt. You can also land a "Ranged stun" by using Headbut and immideately using Pulverize on contact with the enemy.

Janna: Quickly throw Howling Gale toward chasing enemies to stop them in their tracks. Place Eye Of The Storm on your AD carry before he deals damage or takes damage. Use Zephyr to slow an enemy you are chasing or slow an offtank so it cannot reach your AD carry. USE YOUR ULT TO PUSH ENEMIES OFF YOUR AD CARRY. The pushback is way more useful than the heal.

Soraka: Save your Astral Blessing unless your AD carry is missing a bar or more of health(100+ health). It also gives 125 armor for quite some time, meaning use it on somone who is being focuse by the enemy AD carries and suddenly they take 65% less damage. Use Infuse not only to give your partner mana, but to stop deadly casters(for example: nunu,katarina, fiddlesticks, Leblanc, Kennen, Ahri). The silence lasts ridiculously long and mitigate a lot of potential damage during fights. PAY ATTENTION TO THE ENTIRE MAP. Wish Could save your teammate's life and net them a kill. In team fights spam your Starcall whenever possible. It reduces enemy Magic resist making the enemy that much more vulnerable.

Sona: Keep an eye out on when your passive is at color=#ff0080]u]2 stacks[/u][/color] knowing this you can choose which activate you want, whether it be the slow from [[Song of Celerity, the damage from Hymn of Valor, or damge reduction from Aria of Perseverance. <--This is the difference between good sonas and bad ones. Spamming your skills will run you oom fast. So be careful how much you spam heal or harass. Use Crescendo to disable an entire enemy team. IF you are out of range, flash into range to catch them. Often times this initiate will win the teafight for you.

Lulu: Use Glitterlance to harass enemy champions or discourage enemy chases. Use Whimsy to disable enemy AD/AP during fights or to slow down an enemy you are chasing. Use Help, Pix! to shield your allies. If place on an attackspeed heavy ally it will increase the amount of overall damage done by your passive. You can also use this followed up by Glitterlance to gain som extra range/accuracy on Glitterlance

Blitzcrank: Rocket Grab. Practice your aim. Try not to waste it as it will hurt your zoning while it is down. In general don't shoot it if you are going to miss. Try to follow up Rocket Grab with Power Fist and Static Field. This results in insane early game burst potential. Use Overdrive to catch fleeing enemies or to run for your life. Careful of Static Field's passive! It will aggro the enemy turret if it hits an enemy, and it will last hit enemy minions. Catch people out of position and you have an easy game. Don't grab enemy tanks. If you do people will laugh/rage at you.

Nunu: At the begining of the game, if the enemy jungler does not start at the wraithes, go and Consume it. It is an insta kill and denies the jungler a large amount of exp and gives you that exp instead. Keep Blood Boil on your AD carry ALWAYS. It is the difference between losing and winning a fight. Use Ice Blast on the enemy AD carry during fights, as it not only slows but it also reduces attack speed. During teamfights flash into the enemy team AFTER someone has initiated and use Absolute Zero. The enemy will freak out and wast Crowd Control on you or take decen damage. Not to mention it does slow everything. You are meant to play a tank role during teamfights. Spam Ice Blast at enemy AD/AP if you can reach them, and just scare people of your team.

Taric: Do no be fooled, your [Shatter not only deals tons of damage, it also redues enemy armor by a ton and gives your partner armor. This means the advantage during autoattack fights is pretty much yours. Remember your partner does have naural regen, don't spam Imbue unless he is missing a br or more (100+ health). Your Dazzle is extremely powerful. This lets you create a ranged zone in lane and dominate with your ability to initiate fights and absorb damage. Use Radiance when taking Dragon/Baron. It has an extremely low CD and lets you take them fairly easily with a team. Use Dazzle, then walk up and Radiance followed by Shatter. And don't forget your auto atatcks hit like a truck after using shatter.

Morgana: She is one of the more unconventional supports. She is meant to counter hard CC support lanes such as Alistar and Blitzcrank. Black Shield trolls the enemy SO HARD. SO HARD. Dark Binding has an incredibly long snare, and it also does decent damage. Use Tormented Shadow immideately after Dark Binding along with some auto attacks for some good damage. Black Shield whoever the enemy wants to CC. Soul Shackles is an incredibly powerful team fight tool. Flash in, use Soul Shackles and activate your zhonya's hourglass. The enemy won't be able to target you and they will all be stunned while taking severe damage. Careful, she is slow. I mean slow, so be careful hoe far out you push.

Leona: Super bursty tank. When you choose Leona just make sure you are playing with an agressive partner and make sure you can take the enemy in one shot or you will lose your lane. Use Shield of Daybreak to aply your passive and disable enemies for a short time. Follow Zenith Blade with Shield of Daybreak for s lengthy stun and decent damage. Use Eclipse whenever you are in danger of taking damage from the enemy. This will reduce said damage and if you are lucky damage them as well. When using Solar Flare try to lead your target so they get hit be the middle or suprise them with it. Otherwise they may only be slowed. However Solar Flare has a retrdedly low cooldown late game so feel free to waste it later on.