Recommended of these supports

[quote=zraven7]Ok, I'm a rather new player. I've found I enjoy playing a support character a lot of the time. Whoever you lane with tends to be happy, and you almost always contribute in team fights. It's satisfying. While I plan on trying to learn as many characters as possible, I'm trying to figure out a few to focus on for now. I'd like to have a tanky support, and also a more "pure" support. For the tanky support, I've been playing with Alistar, and I like him a lot, though I've found the extent of his usefulness can be somewhat situation-dependent. As far as the "pure" support, I'm looking into Soraka and Sona. I know that Soraka has the versitility of being a carry as well as a support, and has superior burst-healing ability, but Sona has her auras, an auto-target heal, and an ult that can entirely turn a team battle. I know the best advice is, of course, try em all, see what fits, but I'm trying to be a lil frugal with my IP so I can by some runes at 20 and get a some characters up to a better strength level, help my team more. I want someone who is good in teams with friends, but can also keep me rockin if I'm in solo and get stuck with a team that's less than ideal (won't listen, won't talk, doesnt speak english, etc.) I know a lot of this is opinion, but I wanna hear what more experienced players have to say. Thanks guys, and I hope to see you in game soon![/quote]

[quote=sirell][[soraka]] lacks damaging impact, more damage reduction for teammates. [[Sona]] is a consistent and fairly versatile champion. Now, tanky supports - [[Blitzcrank]] [[Leona]] [[Taric]] These are my top picks for that. For pure supports - [[Janna]] [[Taric]] [[Sona]] [[Alistar]][/quote]

[quote=zraven7]Thanks for the response, sirell. Hadn't considered Leona or Blitzcrank. Don't know why, really. Should have. I'm probably gonna go ahead and grab Soraka because she's only 450 IP, but after that, I'll save up and get blitz. having 3 Champs to jump between should let me work with most teams. I'll read through your Blitz support guide. If it's as helpful as you've just been, expect another up-vote. GG, HF. :-)[/quote]

[quote=utopus]To add on to Sirell's post, I would recommed getting [[Taric]] or [[blitzcrank]] first as a tanky support. IMO Blitzcrank in particular has a high skill cap, and his skill types can help you improve your gameplay with other champions ([[amumu]] and [[nidalee]] come to mind) and can often win you a lot of pre-30 games with just that damned [[rocket grab]] of his. [[Taric]] is probably a lot more reliable for an offensive lane, though, considering his incredibly safe & reliable poking power. From the ranked games i've played, I've seen taric used more often than blitzcrank. As for Pure supports, Sirell kinda hit it right on the dot. I always had a liking to janna, because of her sexiness, her mobility, and her defensive, yet high CC skill set. Although RIOT kind of nerfed her to the heavens, she is not that expensive, and doing a nice [[shurelya's reverie]] + [[flash]] + [[monsoon]] from time to time is just so satisfying! Just my friendly input. Wishing you fun with your future games, -U[/quote]

[quote=lifebaka]Blitz just got an HP nerf, so I'd expect him to be slightly less tanky than before. His main utility is in his pull. Leona doesn't start to be tanky until she takes her shield, and then her tankiness drops considerably when it's not up. Her main utility is in her two stuns. Taric is a great pick. He's fairly consistent in lane, makes his lane partner tankier without having to do anything, and scales very well into teamfights. He also has a targetted stun. Alistar is definitely a tanky support, thanks to his ultimate. He's also great to pick up because he can be gotten, with a skin, for free by subscribing to Riot's Youtube channel, and he can be used as a wonderful support-tank jungler.[/quote]