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I say this a lot, but it really is a matter of just playing more. Not only will you get better, but so will your knowledge. You'll become more aware of your limits as well as what enemy supports are capable of. Try to poke whenever you get the opportunity to, but know that if you walk in to poke a Leona as Sona, you'd probably have already died about a minute ago.
Just know the small nuances between each match-up. Tiny things like the Flay interaction with Zenith Blade, or timing and easily predicting Aqua Prisons so you can put on a Black Shield will simply come with experience. If you don't want to grind based on experience, then do some research and you'll find these things out.
The other thing as support is to be in front of your curry. Your curry is far more important than you in trades. If you're playing Leona, then don;t just beeline straight for the enemy ADC if your own ADC is struggling. Your ADC is the main source of damage. Generally, it's whoever's curry goes down first that loses the trade, and if you've both over-committed, then your lane will snowball.
Regarding making good calls, it's once again a matter of knowledge. You'll learn your potential and the enemy's potential the more you play, and you can make more educated calls that way.
If your carry is the one that's stupid though, then don't try to help him if he's dead. Save your own ***. It's better to give them one kill than two kills. Know when it's a lost cause, and save yourself some flaming. If he flames you despite it being him doing stupid things, there's a magical function called the mute function in this game. Know that it's him that's the idiot.
Leona as Sona, you'd probably have already died about a minute ago.Just know the small nuances between each match-up. Tiny things like the
Flay interaction with Zenith Blade, or timing and easily predicting Aqua Prisons so you can put on a Black Shield will simply come with experience. If you don't want to grind based on experience, then do some research and you'll find these things out.The other thing as support is to be in front of your curry. Your curry is far more important than you in trades. If you're playing Leona, then don;t just beeline straight for the enemy ADC if your own ADC is struggling. Your ADC is the main source of damage. Generally, it's whoever's curry goes down first that loses the trade, and if you've both over-committed, then your lane will snowball.
Regarding making good calls, it's once again a matter of knowledge. You'll learn your potential and the enemy's potential the more you play, and you can make more educated calls that way.
If your carry is the one that's stupid though, then don't try to help him if he's dead. Save your own ***. It's better to give them one kill than two kills. Know when it's a lost cause, and save yourself some flaming. If he flames you despite it being him doing stupid things, there's a magical function called the mute function in this game. Know that it's him that's the idiot.
@HiFromBuddha Never underestimate the curry!
An important thing to add imo is that you should always be aware of which kind of support you're playing and which kind of lane you're opposing. Some supports excel in smal skirmishes happening over and over again wheras other supports (always depending on your carry) are great at initiating once and being successful. If your carry doesn't respect your calls and positioning you should actually try to convince him but on the other hand sometimes they carry is right and you need to respect his calls.
An important thing to add imo is that you should always be aware of which kind of support you're playing and which kind of lane you're opposing. Some supports excel in smal skirmishes happening over and over again wheras other supports (always depending on your carry) are great at initiating once and being successful. If your carry doesn't respect your calls and positioning you should actually try to convince him but on the other hand sometimes they carry is right and you need to respect his calls.
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HiFromBuddha wrote:
I say this a lot, but it really is a matter of just playing more. Not only will you get better, but so will your knowledge. You'll become more aware of your limits as well as what enemy supports are capable of.
^ this. Know your limits and those of your opponents.
I'd have a few more things to add :
- don't underestimate the power of minions in early trades, especially canon minions.
- when you're about to engage, always try to figure where their jungler is and if the midlaner is mia or not.
- keep track of summonners spells and cooldowns, the latter coming with knowledge and/or experience.
- lose farm or even your turret if it prevents you from dying. Something that happens quite often : you just won 2v2 bottom, you both barely survive, a minion wave is approaching and your carry wants to farm it. But their jungler and midlaner arrive and finish the job.
Jovy
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More than in any other role you need to have good map awareness not only for yourself and your team but also to compensate for your marksman who needs to focus primarily on farm and then also on poking and trading with the enemy. Bot lane is not only home to you, your AD, and the enemy laners but is a frequent stop for the enemy jungler, mid laner and top lane if they have teleport or are Shen. So you need to have all of the river warded (one in front of dragon, one in tri brush) and then wards that give vision on the blue enemy team's red and purple enemy team's blue help out a lot too. As said you need to know where their mid and jungle are before you attempt an engage. When you see an enemy ward quickly click on it to see if it was a trinket or a stealth ward, and time it so you can tell your jungler when it's a good time to gank.
What's also very important in bot lane are trades. Not too often are you going to go all in 100% (it depends on your pick, your AD's pick and the enemy bot lane + game time and etc) in bot lane because ADCs need to farm. So what you do before going in is poke and pressure (intimidate your foe into a certain zone, so they don't get farm and can't initiate or poke you). A good trade is when the enemy AD or support take more damage than you do. If you auto attack an enemy Leona and she doesn't auto attack back, that's a good trade. Even though 50 damage doesn't seem like much you should not only auto attack frequently in lane but also in skirmishes and such. 50 turns in 100 and then 200 and then 300 and then they can't engage anymore. When doing that however, just like with every other trade, you need to know how much damage you do and how much damage they do and you need to watch your and your AD health bars closely and back out if you can, when you're losing. If you're playing ranged and the enemy support is a melee the first few levels you need to bully them with auto attacks. If you're both ranged you need to be careful not to take more damage than you inflict and if you're melee you need to stay out of enemy support's range.
Lastly, this should help immensely:
http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=4502027
What's also very important in bot lane are trades. Not too often are you going to go all in 100% (it depends on your pick, your AD's pick and the enemy bot lane + game time and etc) in bot lane because ADCs need to farm. So what you do before going in is poke and pressure (intimidate your foe into a certain zone, so they don't get farm and can't initiate or poke you). A good trade is when the enemy AD or support take more damage than you do. If you auto attack an enemy Leona and she doesn't auto attack back, that's a good trade. Even though 50 damage doesn't seem like much you should not only auto attack frequently in lane but also in skirmishes and such. 50 turns in 100 and then 200 and then 300 and then they can't engage anymore. When doing that however, just like with every other trade, you need to know how much damage you do and how much damage they do and you need to watch your and your AD health bars closely and back out if you can, when you're losing. If you're playing ranged and the enemy support is a melee the first few levels you need to bully them with auto attacks. If you're both ranged you need to be careful not to take more damage than you inflict and if you're melee you need to stay out of enemy support's range.
Lastly, this should help immensely:
http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=4502027
As Janna, which works pretty much against all match ups.
This is pretty much how I played when climbing because you never know the skill lvl of your ADC. If your ADC is good she will probably kill stuff, if not she will at least survive.
1. Start shield! Make sure to shield your ADC every time she might or will get punished for last hitting.
2. lvl 2 take whirlwind, if the enemy team engages just shield your ADC and disengage with the whirlwind.
3. lvl 3 take shield again, same as 2. but now and it's pretty much worth to shield your ADC if she is the one punishing the enemy for last hitting.
4. lvl 4 Take the slow W. If your ADC goes aggressive slow the target she is focusing. Try to save whirlwind if they counter engage to interrupt gap closers or escapes.
5. lvl 5 shield again and same tactics as lvl 4.
6. Ultimate, save it for critical moments to save your ADC or make a 2v2 easier for your duo by spreading the enemy so your ADC has a 1v1 while standing in your heal. A good newbie tip for ultimate usage is to start channeling it if your ADC has 50% health, dont be afraid to use Flash if it will help you to get a better ultimate off.
During laning phase you want to feel like a threat for the enemy. Ward the lane bush closest to the enemy tower, if they do not ward your bush you can walk out AA and quickly walk in again, you will cancel the enemy AA if you do this properly.
If they ward it, use your minion wave to meat shield for you if they have that kind of poke/engage. Look for angels too auto attack the enemy without getting punished, try to be as annoying you can so your ADC can farm easily without getting to much attention. If they decide to start attacking you, just shield yourself use one or two AA and back off. Sometimes I go more aggressive if I have healing potions to force them to back off if they are trying to get lane control early. Your job is to make sure your ADC can farm.
Also, help your ADC to push the lane. Especially lvl 1, sometimes it's critical to be the first team to reach lvl 2.
I try to be a attention ***** during laning phase. Janna has good movement speed so you can easily juke spells with her.
Edit: Don't spam your Howling Gale, it costs loads of mana early and that mana is better spent on shields on your ADC. Seen this so many times when playing against Janna players. Also your duo is really vulnerable if the enemy decides to engage you when it's on cooldown,
Janna, which works pretty much against all match ups.This is pretty much how I played when climbing because you never know the skill lvl of your ADC. If your ADC is good she will probably kill stuff, if not she will at least survive.
1. Start shield! Make sure to shield your ADC every time she might or will get punished for last hitting.
2. lvl 2 take whirlwind, if the enemy team engages just shield your ADC and disengage with the whirlwind.
3. lvl 3 take shield again, same as 2. but now and it's pretty much worth to shield your ADC if she is the one punishing the enemy for last hitting.
4. lvl 4 Take the slow W. If your ADC goes aggressive slow the target she is focusing. Try to save whirlwind if they counter engage to interrupt gap closers or escapes.
5. lvl 5 shield again and same tactics as lvl 4.
6. Ultimate, save it for critical moments to save your ADC or make a 2v2 easier for your duo by spreading the enemy so your ADC has a 1v1 while standing in your heal. A good newbie tip for ultimate usage is to start channeling it if your ADC has 50% health, dont be afraid to use
Flash if it will help you to get a better ultimate off.During laning phase you want to feel like a threat for the enemy. Ward the lane bush closest to the enemy tower, if they do not ward your bush you can walk out AA and quickly walk in again, you will cancel the enemy AA if you do this properly.
If they ward it, use your minion wave to meat shield for you if they have that kind of poke/engage. Look for angels too auto attack the enemy without getting punished, try to be as annoying you can so your ADC can farm easily without getting to much attention. If they decide to start attacking you, just shield yourself use one or two AA and back off. Sometimes I go more aggressive if I have healing potions to force them to back off if they are trying to get lane control early. Your job is to make sure your ADC can farm.
Also, help your ADC to push the lane. Especially lvl 1, sometimes it's critical to be the first team to reach lvl 2.
I try to be a attention ***** during laning phase.
Janna has good movement speed so you can easily juke spells with her.Edit: Don't spam your
Howling Gale, it costs loads of mana early and that mana is better spent on shields on your ADC. Seen this so many times when playing against Janna players. Also your duo is really vulnerable if the enemy decides to engage you when it's on cooldown,
don't bother trying to get good at champions like Thresh, Blitzcrank, Lulu or Nami, you'll be a nuisance more than anything until you reach at least diamond 5. play stuff like Janna, Soraka, Morgana. Braum and Leona are ok too I guess. play them and focus on improving your mechanics as well as a player overall
Thresh, Blitzcrank, Lulu or Nami, you'll be a nuisance more than anything until you reach at least diamond 5. play stuff like Janna, Soraka, Morgana. Braum and Leona are ok too I guess. play them and focus on improving your mechanics as well as a player overall
I just want to focus on one of the comments you made. You say that you understand the "basics like warding," but after hundreds of games as support, I realize just how naive I was early on about what good warding looks like. You want to keep up 3 regular wards (with a sightstone), 1 vision ward, and clear out enemy wards as much as possible. It takes some experience and reading guides to see just where the best locations for wards are. You want to maximize your vision of the map around key locations while at the same time make it so that your own wards are not easily found and killed. Depending on the game situation, you might want your wards forward into your enemy's jungle, neutral across the river, or farther back in your own jungle. If wards placed in a particular location get destroyed by an enemy often, then you need to know alternative locations that provide similar vision.
On the other hand, you need to be good about trying to guess where the enemy likes to put their wards so you can kill them and knowing where are the strategically important locations that you have to guarantee aren't warded. Obviously everyone tries to kill wards around the baron and dragon pits. But if you're losing, killing wards in your own jungle may be even more important (so that your teammates don't get picked off). Or, if you're winning, you might want to clear out wards in the enemy jungle to make it easier for your team to move around there.
On the other hand, you need to be good about trying to guess where the enemy likes to put their wards so you can kill them and knowing where are the strategically important locations that you have to guarantee aren't warded. Obviously everyone tries to kill wards around the baron and dragon pits. But if you're losing, killing wards in your own jungle may be even more important (so that your teammates don't get picked off). Or, if you're winning, you might want to clear out wards in the enemy jungle to make it easier for your team to move around there.
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I know the basics like warding, poking, and zoning but I seem to be too sacrificial when I engage and majority of the laning phase tends to be a bad time for me