See the title? Yeahh. Don't complain if there's too much text and too little pictures, its called a textbook, deal with it.

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

4. How do you support? - Mid Game Presence

5. How do you support? - Getting a Gank

6. How do you support? - Warding

7. How you do support? - Team Fights

8. Runes

9. Masteries

10. Summoner Spells

11. Item Builds

12. Matchups

13. Synergy

14. Tips and Tricks

Hello, I've been playing LoL since S1, but have only been playing ranked games since last year. I started in Bronze, and went through all leagues and divisions until my current standing Platinum 2 (still climbing for Diamond though!). I've been playing as a support mostly since last year, and by far it is one of my favored roles.

My Top 3 Favorite Supports: , [speedy], [speedy]

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 Stealth Ward, until Sightstone and Vision Ward. You will also almost always be under-leveled as you are busy with roaming or warding.

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 or if the enemy continuously wards it.

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: , , , . The art of harassing is to chip the enemy's hp as much as possible and taking as little damage possible before going in for the kill. The characters listed above are great at doing this because either they have a lot of bonus damage, or long range. So the main question is "How do you harass?". With the added Stealth Ward it is much easier to harass because, you have vision over the enemy supports (if they are in the brush). This is possibly the easiest time to get some damage in. If you have skill shots such as , , or it is very easy to aim and predict the enemy's movements as they are approaching the brush. However, supports that required mostly auto-attacks (AA) to harass, such as and his Flay passive, can't do this. These supports most effectively harass if you have vision of the brush and the enemy doesn't have vision in yours. In this scenario, you can AA the support without them having enough time to react. If you are also clearly more dominant than the enemy support you can 'zone' the enemy support and ADC away from the creeps, making them lose valuable xp and gold.

c. Sustaining

In the current meta, harassing and going all in is the most viable. But that doesn't mean sustain supports such as and are weak. In fact, it is because of their sustain that they are still picked. However, their low defensive stats make them slightly too squishy against some adc/support combos i.e. Leona/Draven. Sustain supports such as the two stated above have amazing length of stay in lane, with great harassing capabilities and decent zoning abilties. 's Hymn of Valor and Power Chord gives her great poke, and 's Starcall and Infuse also gives good harass. However, these supports don't do well against all in bot comps, such as a , where they can burst you down pretty quickly.

d. Going All In

The last type of support is one that goes all in. Champions such as have great all in capabilities at level 2, that you can either get a kill, or at least burn a flash. The one thing in common with all of these supports, is that you have A LOT of crown control. This means, stuns, slows, knock ups, knock backs, and about anything that can impair movement or get them as far from their turret as possible. Basically, you want to kill or deal as much damage when they are locked down. ADC's such as help with these comps, since they add additional movement impairment. With these supports you can zone out their ADC like crazy, but beware of enemy ganks. If you don't have don't overextend.

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 or could kill you. When you zone, you can play mind games. If you have a skill shot, you can reposition to make it seem as if you're going to shoot it out. This can cause the enemy ADC to miss creeps, or you might even get the skill shot on him if the opportunity arises. When you are zoning the enemy, make sure you're not going on a bloodthirst rampage. As a support you need to know the limits of your character and your ADC, you have to know that they also have a jungler, and can gank you anytime.

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 Dragon should always be warded. This objective is what makes a lot of the game in the mid game. Fights break out over dragon since it gives a lot of global gold and xp.

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 Dragon and entrance to blue buff.

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 Feral Flare jungler, you should consider doing this.

b. Roaming

By this point, you should have enough money to purchase a Sightstone, and some Vision Ward. I usually try to roam mid when I'm warding, or after I've backed. This way you waste the least amount of time. You also need to note how good your mid is and whether he/she needs help. When you roam you want to at least get an objective. Getting turrets are a necessity to gain vision control. If your mid doesn't want to take the turret down, try coordinating with your jungler to counter jungle.

c. Objectives

With your Sightstone, you should always try to ward Dragon . If you are ahead by a lot, try warding the enemy's blue buff. This allows for easy counter jungling and you get to anticipate ganks earlier due to the much earlier notice. You should also be weary of the enemy jungler, the mid game is generally the time when you start taking turrets down for vision control and dragon control, so be careful of ganks.

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 , or .
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. , because they have hard initiates and can lock down an enemy for several seconds. This allows the friendly jungler to stroll into battle. However, you cannot be too passive either. If it seems that you are trying to make the enemy push to turret, it can take ages if they are freezing lane, and if they push to the turret, they will most likely back off (unless they have Stealth Ward). Junglers that gank easily are: Shaco, Evelynn, Vi, Lee Sin

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. is the best example for this. Your Dark Passage is an amazing tool that allows your jungler to instantly get into bot lane. is also good, because she has a massive movement speed boost that can help your jungler get into lane faster, but this doesn't work as well as .

c. Teleport Ganks

Commonly picked up by farm heavy top laners, or often by , Teleport is a very useful summoner spell, not only used to get back into lane, but also to surprise gank another lane. Usually if you have a Teleport in your team, you want to ward the bush further away from your turret, possible near the edge. This allows a lot of space for the top laner to move and less time for the enemy bot lane to react.

These are the most common scenarios in everyday Solo Ranked Queues

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. Mikael's Blessing.

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 Exhaust and Heal. Giving AS/MS slow AND reducing damage and a heal AND MS boost to a friendly ally. The SS you get usually depends on the enemy's assasin. E.g. Against a , get Exhaust. Against , Heal would be better, although this is arguable. NOTE: Only get Heal if your ADC gets Barrier
3. With Mikael's Blessing you can free a friendly ally from ANY crowd control which can be game changing

Let's look at all the possible runes for a support. I will recommend what runes to use for what type of support at the end of this chapter.

Greater Mark of Armor
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)
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
This rune should be picked with most AP supports as it allows you to deal more damage than AP Marks.
Greater Mark of Attack Damage
AD is very good on some supports, such as an AD Blitzcrnak or a since it's perfect with Power Fist and Flay
Greater Mark of Armor Penetration
Not recommended even for AD supports e.g. . Since bot lane success is dependent heavily on early game, having flat AD is best.
Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration
Good for some AP/Hybrid supports. I pick this usually on or . Kayle is pretty self explanatory, but Annie because you can't always use your spell to harass, since the stun is what allows you to have presence.

Greater Seal of Gold
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.
Greater Seal of Armor
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.
Greater Seal of Health
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.
Greater Seal of Health Regeneration
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.
Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration
Very good with sustain champions. I often use this in conjunction with armor marks for sustain champions such as and even (although I prefer going really tanky instead of sustain). Sona and Soraka are very good with this, because you can spam your heals more. Since they both give defensive bonuses, the 0.81 missing armor is not noticeable.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
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.
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
I highly recommend taking this rune if you're up against supports that don't have much magic damage.
Greater Glyph of Ability Power
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.
Greater Glyph of Mana Regeneration
Not necessary, but can be used if you want more armor seals.
Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction
Not needed. The items you will buy will have CDR.

Greater Quintessence of Armor
An amazing rune. After the recent nerfs of armor seals. I've been starting to use this a lot more and using hp seals.
Greater Quintessence of Health
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.
Greater Quintessence of Health Regeneration
Decent, but not great. This rune isn't very effective against burst bot comps or in any team fights.
Greater Quintessence of Magic Resist
May be used if you are playing an AP support who use glyph slots for all AP
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
This is a better option than AP glyphs. 4 glyphs = 1 quint approximately.
Greater Quintessence of Mana Regeneration
Quite good if you are spamming those heals.
Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage
Not really necessary, even for . Bonus defensive stats are better.
Greater Quintessence of Gold
Useless. Get money through more kills/assists
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed
I love this, but this is useless on many supports. I use this only for

My standard AP Support Mastery Page 9/7/14

Mastery Explanation

OFFENSIVE FOR AP ONLY

Double-Edged Sword
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.

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

Mental Force
Self-explanatory

Arcane Mastery
Self-explanatory

DEFENSIVE

Block
Interchangeable with Recovery . This mastery is very good early game since it blocks up to 2 damage from enemy champion basic attacks, and up to 4 when you get Unyielding .

Recovery
Often overlooked, this mastery is actually very good with sustain bot comps. Sustain supports like goes well with this. Since they can't go all in most of the time, they have to rely on their incredible sustain to wear the enemies down.

Enchanted Armor
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.

Unyielding
This is a MUST if you get Block .

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

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

Juggernaut
This is a MUST mastery.

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

Resistance
Depending on the team I am against, I change between Hardiness and this. Although most of the time I use the bonus armor. An example team to get this is, TOP Ryze, MID Any AP, JUNGLE Elise, SUPPORT Morgana

Perseverance
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.

Swiftness
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.

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

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

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

Legendary Guardian
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

Runic Blessing
Useless. When you poke an enemy in lane through an AA, the creeps will just break the shield. Might as well use your Perseverance and base hp regen

Tenacious
Self-explanatory

UTILITY

Phasewalker
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.

Fleet of Foot
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 Blitzcrank, or Annie. Since Annie usually initiate fights with Flash + Summon: Tibbers the movement speed help her to get to the intended target quicker.

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

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

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

Strength of Spirit
Pretty useless unless you have a very large mana pool. May be used on AP Supports or on Blitzcrank that builds a Tear of the Goddess

Alchemist
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

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

Runic Affinity
Not very good since you don't get any of the buffs anyways and it does not extend Exalted with Baron Nashor

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

Culinary Master
Such a good mastery. It changes Health Potion to Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation which gives an instant heal worth of 20hp and 10 mana. If you get this a standard hp pot restores 185hp + 10mana! <- takes into account Alchemist

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

Wealth
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.

Expanded Mind
Not very useful for any support except Blitzcrank

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

Bandit
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.

Intelligence
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 Mikael's Blessing Twin Shadows Banner of Command and others.

Wanderer
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 Exhaust, this SS now scales amazingly into the late game. As the ADC and possible top laners/junglers get more damage, you can reduce their damage significantly with Exhaust.

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 Barrier or Exhaust

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 with Teleport


May work, but does not create as many plays as Flash

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

The items that I ALWAYS buy are Sightstone and Mikael's Blessing. Why? Because they are absolutely essential for a support. Sightstone gives priceless vision that allows you to prepare for a gank or catch someone off guard. Mikael's Blessing just lets you win EVERYTHING. It doesn't matter if your ADC is CC'd, you have this amazing item to assist him.

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 , however, with , I prefer Talisman of Ascension as it allows you to Flash and combo very quickly.
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 , since it allows them to gain more gold as well as durability. By building hp, the shield gets bigger and the shield is very good when you put it on an AP mid or your ADC, since it does *100% of the target's AD)+(30% of the target's AP), dealing at least 250 damage late game.

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 as it gives even more bonus MS and the slow makes it easy to hook a priority target

Very good of a pushing comp. If you have a good lane clearance in your team, such as or , you can use this to your advantage and go for a 4 man* push down a lane effectively and easily.
*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 . By lower the target's armor, you and your ADC is able to dish out more damage. More damage = more kills = more gg.

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 and other right-click champions

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 Frozen Heart over this item most of the time.

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 Force of Nature, I've been purchasing Banshee's Veil and this as my core MR items. People tend to forget that this also increases hp regen which synergizes well in Perseverance Recovery and any other hp regen items/runes

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 Mobility Boots, but less effective. These pair of boots isn't very good for supports since they don't benefit a lot from it.

Good for supports that have heals. benefits a lot from this because she is able to use all her heals more often. She is also able to help other lanes more often with her global ult.

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 because I get to constantly run at above 500 MS.

Not needed for any supports, besides the unorthodoxed support that will eventually dish out decent damage late game.

Generally a good enchantment for many supports that initiate by going in. Characters like is good because allied champions will walk towards you with bonus MS when you go in.

Ever since the buff of this enchantment, it became really good for initiators. This enchantment is very good with supports who initiate. Supports like benefit a lot form this because they can use their more often and they also benefit from the bonus MS.

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.

Lets look at ALL the possible supports out there. Theses are the one that are picked mostly.
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.

- When playing against an Ali, you have to make sure of some things. First is whether he can W+Q combo. Second is whether he has flash up. If the enemy Alistar has one of these, he can be very dangerous. Insanely long stuns can result in you having to waste a flash or even dying. Ali is weak against supports with strong pokes: Annie, Zyra, Karma
- One of the most popular AP supports next to Morgana, Annie has a very strong poking potential and kill secures. Also she isn't as squishy as some other AP supports because of her shield. Annie is weak against supports that can catch her out: Leona, Blitzcrank, Thresh(sometimes)
- Although Blitzcrank is fun to play, he isn't the best support out there. There are less CC's in his belt than other supports, but he does have the potential to change an entire game. When playing against a Blitz be weary of a Flash+Q, under turret Q, and his mana pool. A Level 1 hook is 120 mana, and Blitz surprisingly has a very low base mana pool. Blitzcrank is weak against bot lanes that hide behind creeps consistently and very tanky supports or supports that can negate him completely: Leona, Morgana, Kayle (Lv. 6 turnarounds)
- With the changes to Fiddle's Fear, he isn't very good anymore because you can't fear when you're in the brush. This gets rid of the element of surprise. Fiddle is also very weak pre 6. Fiddle is weak against supports that can disrupt his drain and ignite. Fiddle is also very squishy and can easily be picked off. Support that are good against him are: Leona, Blitzcrank, Thresh, Soraka
- I haven't played much of Gragas support, but I've seen him played and I've seen it work. With the recent remake of Gragas, he became a very viable support. His belly flop now gives a ministun with a mini knockback, and his barrel now slows. He also has great sustain in lane and good harassing capabilities. Gragas is weak against: Morgana, Kayle. Shielding his ultimate with Morgana is a guaranteed win in the fight. Shielding after the ultimate with Kayle MAY (not guaranteed) turn the fight around.
- Janna isn't a very good early game support. She doesn't have initiating capabilities or any sustain. However, she does have amazing disengaging abilities. She's very strong against supports that go in to initiate e.g Leona, Thresh, because you can tornado them while they are still flying. You also have a strong shield and slow as well as a knockback. Supports that are good against Janna are: Blitzcrank, Morgana
Karma
Kayle
Leona
Lulu
Morgana
Nami
Nunu
Sona
Soraka
Taric
Thresh
Zyra

I will just cover the 3 most picked supports in this section. Please note that all of this is from my past playing experience and that other players have different experiences and opinions.






is a very strong support, he has a hook Death Sentence, that has a 1.5 second stun and drags the enemy around 100 spaces to you. You can also jump to the enemy after you land a hook. Thresh also has a small knockback with Flay, that helps you harass in lane as well as a good continuation of your Death Sentence. He also as a Lantern Dark Passage, that drags a friendly ally all the way to your location as well as giving a decent shield. The range of the drag can be increased if you hook an enemy and reactivate it, and by using flash.
is BEST with: 1. , 2. , 3.
is WORST with: 1. , 2. , 3.
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. all have much higher range than . These characters tend to have long range pokes and attack range and are very mobile, or have something to keep them safe. Playing with a requires the ADC to have a reasonably large attack range, as well as a spell that can consistently damage the enemy. When you land a Death Sentence as a , do not always go in. Try dragging them the max range (2 tugs), then Flay them to your side (if possible). When landing a Q remember that there is a 1.5 second stun. In this time, your ADC can safely walk up or dash to the enemy and shoot some bullets (while maintaining a good distance from a counter initiate). are not very good at this because of their small attack range. For example, against a , these short ranged champions can get jumped on by her and her ADC. Being extremely tanky, has the ability to outlive many other champions in bot lane skirmishes.These ADC's also cannot harass very well without the help of the support.



is also a very strong support. In ranked games, the picks are often and . is a very tanky support that has a lot of early game burst. Her Eclipse Zenith Blade Shield of Daybreak Sunlight, can add up to a total of 60+60+40+35 = 195 damage at level 3!! This is a massive amount, and paired with an ADC that can burst as well, initiates become very dangerous.
is BEST with: 1. , 2. , 3.
is WORST with: 1. , 2. , 3.
, , and all have very high burst damage. 's axes, Lucian's combo, and 's zap all have a lot of damage potential. This means that you can guarantee at least a flash out if you do catch someone off. Leona isn't good with or , because they do not have high burst damage. Their damage is sustained and they only do a lot of damage when they have items.



Although is one of my favorite supports to play, he's not very good. There are so many supports that can just stomp on him and he can easily be countered if the enemy changes their playstyle. You also don't have any lane presence, unless your hook is off CD, and you cannot harass at all. EVERYTHING IS RELIANT ON YOUR HOOK.
is BEST with: 1. , 2. , 3. (only if you are coordinated with your ADC)
is WORST with: 1. , 2. , 3.
When you look at the champions is best with, they all have a stun, snare, or any other movement impairment. This is good, because you can extend the time it takes for the enemy to safely get away from you, this mean more damage. Although + combo has a very low win rate (according to lolking), I've found it a very good combo when you are coordinated with your ADC. If you hook, try hooking close to a wall. Then the can easily reposition using tumble and get a free condemn in. Since Condemn is the longest stun of any ADC, getting it in is usually a kill. With , try to get her to put one trap on the enemy when you Rocket Grab + Power Fist. The champions is worst with tend to be either very squishy or requires their spells to do the bulk of their early game damage.

Tip 1: When using a Vision Ward on Dragon, put the ward slightly inside the pit. This allows you to see wards even on the very edge of the pit.

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 Sweeping Lens after you get your Sightstone. Always starts Stealth Ward at lv 1. It gives you crucial vision that you are not able to afford at lv 1.

Tip 5: You can extend Dark Passage significantly by using Flash and/or Death Sentence

Tip 6: Always have a Vision Ward in the middle bush in the river.

5/10/2014: Added 'Type of Boots' and Boots Enchantment' section under Item Builds
5/11/2014: Added Fiddlesticks, Gragas, Janna on 'Orthodoxed Matchups'