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Textbook LoL - How to Support (Elizabeth) by Captain Katsura






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ATTENTION TO READERS
All of the warding tips is assuming you are playing on the blue side. I may add a purple side if I don't get lazy. Just invert it in your head if you are purple side.
It may take a while to finish the Matchups Chapter. I am reviewing all champions with their counterpicks. What I've written so far is words that just came out of my brain. I will edit it thoroughly
Feel free to leave feedback and suggestions!
1. Contents
2. Introduction - What is the role of a support?
3. How do you support? - Early Game Presence
a. Warding
b. Harrasing
c. Sustaining
d. Going All In
e. Zoning
f. Trading/Skirmishes
4. How do you support? - Mid Game Presence
a. Warding
b. Roaming
c. Objectives
5. How do you support? - Getting a Gank
a. Aggression
b. Making the Play
c. TP Ganks
6. How do you support? - Warding
7. How you do support? - Team Fights
a. Peeling
b. Initiating
8. Runes
9. Masteries
10. Summoner Spells
11. Item Builds
12. Matchups
13. Synergy
14. Tips and Tricks
My Top 3 Favorite Supports:



The role of a support is often undervalued, but if you play as an ADC, you will see the difference between a good support and a bad support.
I've been through Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum leagues and many supports I've played with in the first three leagues are incredibly passive - up to the point that you want to punch your teeth out. They stay in the brush without any presence or pressure, and the ADC gets poked so hard, that they get pressured under turret and eventually gets out-farmed. I've been in countless games where this happened, and it sickens me to the bone when I see it.
"What is the role of a support?"
The support plays a vital role in the game. He/she has to sacrifice creeps in order to get your team's ADC fed, and with what little money you have, you need to consistently purchase



Key Skills needed for a support:
Map Awareness:
-As a support you need to be your eyes for your ADC. Often, the ADC isn't paying much attention to the map since they are busy with farming.
Decision Making:
-Being the support, you engage and disengage all skirmishes at bot lane. You need to know whether you can win a trade or not.
Intuition:
-You need to know when there will be a gank by the enemy jungler. In most cases, when the enemy gets too aggressive, there will be a gank by the enemy jungler.
Selflessness:
-Sometimes you need to sacrifice yourself for the greater good of the team. If you can't do this, you can't support.
a. Warding

It is very good to ward the brush that the enemy is in. This allows you to always have vision of them and you can initiate easily.
The tri bush on blue side should also always be warded. The enemy jungler and mid often walks through this to get to bot lane. You can also put a pink here if there are invisible junglers

Dragon is also very important to ward. Not only does it show when the enemy is doing it, it can also show when the enemy mid is roaming, and the exit/entrace to enemy blue buff
b. Harassing
Some support characters have great harass, while others have great sustain, or all in capabilities. Here are some supports that are good at harassing:










c. Sustaining
In the current meta, harassing and going all in is the most viable. But that doesn't mean sustain supports such as










d. Going All In
The last type of support is one that goes all in. Champions such as








e. Zoning
Think of zoning as an art. You have to keep the balance of aggression, mind games, and control. If you play too passive, the enemy support will take advantage and push you back to your turret, but if you play too aggressively, you can make mistakes, and matching up against a


f. Trading/Skirmishes
When it comes to skirmishes, the champion selection and rune selection is vital. At level 1, 2, or 3, your items will still likely be the starting items you got in the first minute, thus not much additional damage or tankiness will be added through them (you will most likely be on the same terms as your enemy).
Some champions that are GOOD at early game skirmishes are:




Some champions that are BAD at early game skirmishes are:




*Taric is mana hungry and has extremely high cool downs
As you can see, the champions that are GOOD at early game skirmishes are those that have strong initiates and CC and decent burst damage to back them up. The champions that are BAD at early game skirmishes are either very mana hungry, have high cooldowns, low damage, or inconsistent CC.
a. Warding

The

The tri bush should still be warded if your enemy's turret is still intact.
If your team is ahead, go ward offensively. The entrances to blue and red buff are very good. If you have good map awareness and intuition, you do not need to ward the buff directly. At this point the must ward is

If your team is behind, ward defensively. The entrace to your wraiths and blue buff is very important to ward and try to pink ward your buffs/the entrance.
At this point try to get wards into bushes and areas enemies are bound to cross. This include enemy wraiths, bush near wolves, and dragon. However do this only if your team is ahead.
Baron is a very situational ward at the 15-25 minute mark. If they have a strong

b. Roaming
By this point, you should have enough money to purchase a


c. Objectives
With your


How to control dragon - If you want to successfully take a dragon, you must make sure of some key points. a) Enemy jungler is not nearby. b) Enemy bot/mid lane cannot do anything to stop it. c) No enemy vision on dragon. d) Your jungler needs to know how to smite correctly.
If the enemy jungler is not nearby, it is very unlikely that anyone can steal the dragon, unless your jungler doesn't have smite, or is a complete ******.
If mid/bot lane turrets are down, or they are low on hp, they can't do anything to stop your team from getting the dragon.
If the enemy has vision on the dragon, it will be much easier to steal it, either from smite steal, or an AP mid burst, such as


If your jungler doesn't know when to smite, you're just going to give the enemy a free dragon. This has happened to me so many times.
a. Aggression
This is probably the hardest thing to do when you are getting a gank from your friendly jungler. If you go too offensive, it will be too obvious that you are getting help from someone, which means that they will back off. This wastes your jungler's time and possible a bit of your mana pool. Often in lower ELO gameplay, you see the support and ADC getting overly aggressive, this just gives away that there is a jungler ganking. The easiest supports to get ganks are probably supports that can go in, i.e.




b. Making the Play
All supports have kind of crowd control, and you need to coordinate with your jungler so that no millisecond is wasted on the movement impairment. However, there are some supports that can help your jungler instantly into battle.




c.
Teleport Ganks
Commonly picked up by farm heavy top laners, or often by



Offensive Warding

If you have their bot turret down, start roaming to mid, and start taking dragon control. These are the location I usually ward.

Same as having the bot turret down, when you have the mid turret down you can start getting dragon control and blue buff control. Also be vigilant when your mid is roaming bot.
Defensive Warding

If you have a dead bot turret, ward defensively. Your red buff will most likely be taken or at least warded. Dragon must always be warded in this scenario, the enemy will try to take dragon control. The ward in the lane is to make up the missing vision from the turret. This is recommended but not necessary. Warding the entrance to your red buff, river, and enemy blue buff can also be very beneficial, since you can catch people off guard.

If you have a dead mid turret, ward your red buff, and pathways to bot lane. Their mid lane will most likely try to gank bot, or your jungler. Pink tri bush or entrance to wraith.
a. Peeling
This is the one thing that I don't see much of in low ELO's. As a support you need to take care of your ADC, 'peeling' the enemy assassin or anyone that does damage off him. This is hard, because sometimes you used a CC to initiate, then you lack the required CC to peel the enemy off your ADC. Here are the 3 KEY POINTS for peeling: 1. Crowd Control, 2. Summoner Spell, 3.

1. It is key to stop the enemy from attacking your ADC, because this allow your ADC to not get zoned and allows him to deal as much damage as possible.
2. Your Summoner Spell (SS) is also very important for effective peeling. The two SS that is very good to peel is








3. With


With the nerf of the armor seals, this becomes more viable as it only give 0.09 less armor (total of 0.81 at 9 runes)

This rune should be picked with most AP supports as it allows you to deal more damage than AP Marks.

AD is very good on some supports, such as an AD Blitzcrnak or a



Greater Mark of Armor Penetration
Not recommended even for AD supports e.g.

Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration
Good for some AP/Hybrid supports. I pick this usually on



This is a scrub rune for people who don't know what a support is. Bot lane is about getting as much money FOR THE ADC. This includes kills and objectives as well. When you take this, you get rid of 9 potential armor or 72 potential hp.

With the recent nerfs on this, I prefer getting hp seals and armor quints/marks depending who I'm playing. Otherwise, this is a must for support.

This is now a very good seal. Because of recent nerf of armor seal and champion base armor buff, you can now use this more effectively.

Health regen, although it may not sound important, it can help you stay in the lane longer. In terms of runes, health regen quints are more efficient, since it gives more while taking up less potential space. In other words you need 5 seal slots to make 1 quint.

Very good with sustain champions. I often use this in conjunction with armor marks for sustain champions such as




Highly recommended. I usually take this with a combination with scaling MR, although the support you're playing against also plays a big role on deciding which runes to use. The mix I go with is usually 3 Flat MR, 6 Scaling MR. This gives 4 bonus MR at lv 1, and 18 MR at lv 18.

I highly recommend taking this rune if you're up against supports that don't have much magic damage.

This is a MUST of AP supports. Mix it in with MR Glyphs. I usually go for 4/5 MR glyphs and the rest is AP.

Not necessary, but can be used if you want more armor seals.

Not needed. The items you will buy will have CDR.

An amazing rune. After the recent nerfs of armor seals. I've been starting to use this a lot more and using hp seals.

Very good. I'm still experimenting with the different ratios of health and armor to find the perfect mix. But this rune is a must if you don't have hp seals. Having the extra hp helps in lane domination.

Decent, but not great. This rune isn't very effective against burst bot comps or in any team fights.

May be used if you are playing an AP support who use glyph slots for all AP

This is a better option than AP glyphs. 4 glyphs = 1 quint approximately.

Quite good if you are spamming those heals.

Not really necessary, even for


Useless. Get money through more kills/assists

I love this, but this is useless on many supports. I use this only for

Mastery Explanation
OFFENSIVE FOR AP ONLY

It is debatable whether an extra 1.25% CDR is better than this, however I prefer to do extra damage as it allows you to harass more and trade better.

Self-explanatory, AP's generally don't need AS

Self-explanatory

Self-explanatory
DEFENSIVE

Interchangeable with



Often overlooked, this mastery is actually very good with sustain bot comps. Sustain supports like



A very good mastery that adds a decent amount of bonus MR and armor. At level 1, it should add at least 2 bonus armor and MR, late game it can go quite high. Usually around a +10 bonus for me with my builds.

This is a MUST if you get


This mastery is a MUST since it allows you to have a lot more meat at lv 1.

This mastery is situational. I don't find myself always using this since you do not get aimed as often as your carries.

This is a MUST mastery.

Most of the time I get this mastery. A bonus 5 armor at lv 1 is quite significant.

Depending on the team I am against, I change between


Significantly helps you in lane. Lets say you have 500 hp at level 1, this will regenerate 5hp per 5 seconds, which is A LOT. The number may seem small, but added with you base health regen and potential hp regen runes/masteries, you can have as much as 15~ hp regen per 5 seconds.

I don't always get this mastery, but do not overlook it. It is actually very good against some champions and it does help you A LOT.

I don't always get this, but I do when there are crit heavy champions such as



Highly situational. This mastery isn't really needed unless there are a lot of AOE magic damage.

This mastery is only good if you have a self-heal. The champions that need this are probably only




Amazing mastery. In a full team fight it give a bonus 20 armor and 10 MR. THIS IS A LOT, especially coming from 4 measly mastery points

Useless. When you poke an enemy in lane through an AA, the creeps will just break the shield. Might as well use your


Self-explanatory
UTILITY

Often overlooked, this mastery is actually very useful especially in the late game. The 1 second can actually make the difference between death and getting away. This has happened to me countless times. It also helps you get to base faster if there is a massive minion wave or a split pusher.

I usually get this mastery if the support I'm playing doesn't require much mana regen, or if the champion benefits from this, such as





I get it when the support I'm playing needs it. Usually on




Although I never get this mastery, conceptually and theoretically it is a good mastery, since it allows for safer warding

An amazing mastery that is always a MUST get. Scales beautifully into late game and is godly in every way.

Pretty useless unless you have a very large mana pool. May be used on AP Supports or on



A very good mastery that scales very well into the late game (when elixirs are bought). This mastery is also very good at early game since it INCREASES the amount healed by an hp pot. Instead of 150hp for 15 seconds it is 165hp over 16.5 seconds. AMAZEBALLS

I never find myself not taking this. Extra money is always good.

Not very good since you don't get any of the buffs anyways and it does not extend


Useless for supports. Not enough damage to make use of it

Such a good mastery. It changes




A very good mastery that allows decent gold income. At 10 minutes you should have around +100 gold from your ADC's creeps

Very good mastery that helps significantly early. Allows you to buy a GP5 item, 2 pots, and a ward. The ward is very helpful early game since it allows you to zone safely for 3 minutes.

Not very useful for any support except


Since you would be underleveled most of the time getting this would be very good. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this over


Very good for both melee and ranged characters, although it is leaned to help ranged characters more. In 5 AA you get as much money as a melee champion with an assist/kill.

Possibly one of the best utility mastery. Not only does it give CDR for your QWER skill set, it also give CDR on ACTIVATED ITEMS. This means more Talisman of Ascension




Self-explanatory. It would be a waste not to get this if you have 20 points in Utility.

Ignite is a very powerful spell that allows great burst damage and kill secures. If you choose this spell you will win many bot lane skirmishes since you have more damage.

With the recent buffs of



Not so great anymore since the transfer from passive farm heavy bot lane to the current meta.

A very good disengage and tool for baiting, but only get this is your ADC runs



HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY SITUATIONAL. 0.000000001% most of the time I do not choose this SS. I've chosen it only ONCE in my entire lifetime, and that's because I was playing against both a




May work, but does not create as many plays as


This is a MUST. With this SS you can create so many plays and is a great tool for escaping/chasing.




Gold Generation
Talisman of Ascension
This beautiful item is my favorite, and possibly the best gold generating item. It gives a massive MS boost to ALL allied champions nearby. This allows for easy engage and disengages.

An average item used mostly to chase or lock down a person. This item isn't that great. It is commonly built with AP supports such as






Face of the Mountain
This item is often undervalued. First of all it is very cost efficient. It gives great defensive stats and added CDR and health regen. Second, it's active is also quite good. Generally, this is bought with tanky, melee supports such as


Offensive Builds
Zeke's Herald
A very good item for a full AD teams. Nowadays, there are a lot of AD mids to be played, and more and more heavy AD comps are rising. Getting this item boosts them quite significantly. By giving bonus AD and Lifesteal, you allow for greater burst and sustain,

This is one of my favorite items. It can be used to check on objectives, or when you're sneaking in their jungle. You can easily catch people out and take the game by doing so. This item is probably best for


Very good of a pushing comp. If you have a good lane clearance in your team, such as


*4 man because you and the enemy team would most likely have a split pusher

A sunfire? Isn't this defensive? NO. By adding damage per level, Riot has made this item to scale well into the late game. 25 + (level) magic damage is quite a lot. At level 18 it does 33 AOE magic damage. In a 10 second fight it already does 330 magic damage!

A good defensive and offensive item, this item allows you to slow enemy movements. This is very good when it comes to peeling for your ADC, because it allow him to kite more effectively. However this item is situational, and I don't find myself buying this often

This item should only be bought by an unconventional AD support, such as

Defensive Builds

A must item for any tanky support. Although the MR, HP, and HP regen is nice, the reason to buy this is because of the shield that blocks almost ALL spells.

A must item when going against a heavy ad team. Get this if there is a



I don't always buy this since a lot of the time you don't get aimed in team fights since you are not a priority target. I prefer


Highly situational. I see a lot of supports buying this and one thing I have to say is that IT IS NOT WORTH IT in most cases. Every since the removal of the AOE bonus armor I've stopped getting this. This item is used only against heavy AP teams, or if your team needs the extra hp.

Often overlooked by champions that do no have heal, this item is actually a very good MR item. Every since the removal of INSANE MR items such as




Type of Boots

This boots is the most commonly picked for supports because it gives a lot of bonus MS when outside of combat. This large bonus MS helps supports get in and our of enemy territory when they ward and it also helps to initiate.

Comparable to


Good for supports that have heals.


Leona's left boot. For other supports this is situational. Only get it if they have a lot of AP.

Leona's right boot. This is also situational for other supports. Get it if they have a lot of AD.

Get this for AP supports other than


Boots Enchantment

Not a very good enchantment when compared with the others in this list. Alacrity gives a measly bonus of 20 ms, which is not very noticeable. I only get this for


Not needed for any supports, besides the unorthodoxed


Generally a good enchantment for many supports that initiate by going in. Characters like



Ever since the buff of this enchantment, it became really good for initiators. This enchantment is very good with supports who





The general boots enchantment. If you don't know what to get, get this. It allows you to regen faster in the fountain and you get to speedy out of it as well. It is great against split pushers and can save a lot of time.
Alistar, Annie, Blitzcrank, Fiddlesticks, Gragas, Janna, Karma, Kayle, Leona, Lulu, Morgana, Nami, Nunu, Sona, Soraka, Taric, Thresh, Zyra.
These are some 'potential' supports.
Ashe, Brand, Cassiopeia, Galio, Heimerdinger, LeBlanc, Lee Sin the Blind Monk, Lissandra, Lux, Maokai, Nautilus, Nidalee, Orianna, Pantheon, Rammus, Swain, Syndra, Teemo, Vel'Koz, Zilean, Ziggs.






Karma
Kayle
Leona
Lulu
Morgana
Nami
Nunu
Sona
Soraka
Taric
Thresh
Zyra
















When you look at the champions listed above, there are key points to be taken. First of all is the attack range of the ADC.








































Although









When you look at the champions










Tip 2: Red and Blue buffs spawn after 5 minutes of camp clearance. Dragon spawns every 6 minutes. Baron spawns every 7 minutes. An easy way to remember this is 5/6/7
Tip 3: Tell your ADC to take the golems/wight (depends on what side you are on) if your ADC doesn't have anything to farm.
Tip 4: Purchase



Tip 5: You can extend




Tip 6: Always have a

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