Vynertje's Support AMA and advice thread

[quote=Slappiz][quote=Vapora Dark] Am I meant to save it specifically for spots where I already know they warded [/quote] this, not hard if you have decent vision control. If you're assassin you either sweep bush you are heading through or trying to ambush from. Obviously :P Help sweep areas around drake, baron etc. Sweep while rotating. [b]That's all I would ask for as a support and that you buy one early defensive pink ward.[/b] It's obviously harder to keep track on wards as non-supports since you constantly have to focus on farming.[/quote]

[quote=I want to be a Blitzball]Should you take [[Exhaust]] most of the time or [[Ignite]]? Watching any league, I see people run [[Ignite]] even when their enemy can blow your adc up in an instant. Against what champions would you recommend [[Exhaust]] and when should you take [[Ignite]]?[/quote]

[quote=jcdagohoy][quote=I want to be a Blitzball]Should you take [[Exhaust]] most of the time or [[Ignite]]? Watching any league, I see people run [[Ignite]] even when their enemy can blow your adc up in an instant. Against what champions would you recommend [[Exhaust]] and when should you take [[Ignite]]?[/quote] I think every support should always take exhaust because it guarantees a kill most of the time. But taking ignite on a support is optional, I don't really know but it depends on what playstyle you're gonna do in the game. But always take exhaust everytime you play the support role cause it gives your ADC more time to chase and get the kill.[/quote]

[quote=The_Nameless_Bard][quote=I want to be a Blitzball]Should you take [[Exhaust]] most of the time or [[Ignite]]? Watching any league, I see people run [[Ignite]] even when their enemy can blow your adc up in an instant. Against what champions would you recommend [[Exhaust]] and when should you take [[Ignite]]?[/quote]I, uh, pretty much always recommend [[exhaust]]. [[ignite]] does basically nothing late game by comparison besides apply grievous wounds while [[exhaust]] is a really easy way to just gimp an enemy's damage in a teamfight. Supports who want to gain an early advantage like [[Karma]], [[Zyra]], ect can take [[Ignite]], but that's pretty much it.[/quote]

[quote=Vynertje]Will answer these questions in a few hours, currently doing some work.[/quote]

[quote=daefish]Hi OP - I'm pretty new to LoL still, even though I've played off and on through the year - still only level 22, so I realize I've not even really scratched the surface of the game. I want to start getting good at a role, and I think that I found a niche with support. I've tried ADC and APC and while I enjoy having high kill numbers, I find myself lacking in enough skill and experience right now that I tend to feed the enemy as well and I feel that will only be exacerbated as I go up in levels and hit 30. I've played 5 games with Soraka and loved her - went 4-1 including a 2/2/26 match that I enjoyed immensely. However, I've read a lot of this thread and I see you haven't hardly talked about her - is there a reason for that? Is she considered a bad support or just underpowered compared to other ones, like Janna (which I've noticed you mention a lot). Also is there a good place to learn warding tactics (I'd rather get a start now, than try to do it later), or should I just look a video up on Youtube. Additionally - I assume that I should learn several supports in case one of them gets banned (that's the term right?). I really find myself enjoying healing - nothing is more satisfying to me than seeing my teammate near death fighting and through my healing getting him the kill and keeping him alive. It's a great feeling and I know that I am contributing to the team. Are there other supports that do well with healing/shielding like Soraka? Thank you in advance for reading my book![/quote]

[quote=Vynertje]@all; There's a lot of questions so I'm going to keep it somewhat short. If something is left unclear, feel free to ask. [quote=MyBloodisBlack]I have a hard question to ask but hopefully I can explain myself clearly and get this question across. Recently I have been trying to figure out what is causing me so many problems as a support and recently I figured out the root cause of it is simply because I am constantly worrying about my ADC. Now I am not trying to put blame on someone else however I have found that I struggle to do any kind of warding or I am casting shields and stuff far too early because I am not sure what my ADC is going to do. On multiple occasions when I am going to ward I have informed them and got a reply however when I go to ward suddenly they have engaged in a 2 v 1 out of nowhere and usually die quickly leaving me bemused to say the least. And when I am with them their movement is so irregular that I can't predict whether they are planning to engage or step back and it usually ends up with me using too much mana as I try to guess their intentions. So my question to you is, However you ever had this same problem and what ways did you combat it?[/quote] All you can do is communicate your plans clearly. You cannot directly influence someone's play but if you communicate you can at least make sure you're on the same page. Also, some aspects come with experience and skill. Low level/elo players will be very unpredictable because they just do whatever, so all you can do is try to abuse the enemy doing the exact same thing. To more direcly answer this question: I have had this problem in the past but there wasn't anything specific I could do about it, besides directly communicating your plans and ping spamming when necessary. [quote=Vapora Dark]This isn't really a support specific question, but I figure a support main would be the best person to ask about this: How the hell do you use Sweeper? I switch my yellow trinket to a sweeper every game I play Talon in at around level 6, but I only ever sweep 1-2 wards in any game, even if I spam it every time it's off cooldown. I think the most I've ever had in 1 game was 3 swept wards, and that's because I managed to find 2 wards in 1 sweep then another in another sweep. Am I meant to save it specifically for spots where I already know they warded, or are they just not warding as well as I'm expecting them to? I don't just sweep random spots, like if we're about to start drag I'll sweep the river brush along with the brush near blue, but I almost never find anything there. Feels like either I'm using it wrong or it's a waste to take sweeper in solo q when I could have a free ward instead.[/quote] Well if you just focus on points of contention you should be fine, but try to look around the map for enemy map movements to predict where wards might be. i.e. If you have wards around dragon yourself it is very easy to spot when the enemy goes to ward and where the wards may be. Most important use of sweeper for mid laner (in soloq) is to make sure your routes towards bot/top are clean so you can roam without being spotted. [quote=I want to be a Blitzball]Should you take [[Exhaust]] most of the time or [[Ignite]]? Watching any league, I see people run [[Ignite]] even when their enemy can blow your adc up in an instant. Against what champions would you recommend [[Exhaust]] and when should you take [[Ignite]]?[/quote] I pretty much always go [[exhaust]], but [[ignite]] is good if you have a favourable matchup and just want to kill shit. Main reason I always use exhaust though is because it's guaranteed to be useful late game, even if you have a mediocre lane. Ignite could be considerd a risk-reward kind of thing. [quote=daefish]Hi OP - I'm pretty new to LoL still, even though I've played off and on through the year - still only level 22, so I realize I've not even really scratched the surface of the game. I want to start getting good at a role, and I think that I found a niche with support. I've tried ADC and APC and while I enjoy having high kill numbers, I find myself lacking in enough skill and experience right now that I tend to feed the enemy as well and I feel that will only be exacerbated as I go up in levels and hit 30. I've played 5 games with Soraka and loved her - went 4-1 including a 2/2/26 match that I enjoyed immensely. However, I've read a lot of this thread and I see you haven't hardly talked about her - is there a reason for that? Is she considered a bad support or just underpowered compared to other ones, like Janna (which I've noticed you mention a lot). Also is there a good place to learn warding tactics (I'd rather get a start now, than try to do it later), or should I just look a video up on Youtube. Additionally - I assume that I should learn several supports in case one of them gets banned (that's the term right?). I really find myself enjoying healing - nothing is more satisfying to me than seeing my teammate near death fighting and through my healing getting him the kill and keeping him alive. It's a great feeling and I know that I am contributing to the team. Are there other supports that do well with healing/shielding like Soraka? Thank you in advance for reading my book![/quote] About [[soraka]]: she's decent (not overpowered but not flat out bad either) but there's not as much special to say about her. Her late game is incredible but laning phase is iffy. @ warding: I'd recommend watching Krepo stream (http://www.twitch.tv/skumbagkrepo) - he streams pretty frequently and often focuses on vision control. @ other supports: Soraka is rather unique in that she sacrifices her own HP to heal allies as her main spell, but other supports that heal/shield a lot are: [[sona]], [[nami]] and perhaps [[lulu]]. One big difference is though that they usually use their spells offensively rather than just heal your adc. [[janna]] is the only support that uses a shield as a primary spell.[/quote]

[quote=Vynertje]For those wondering about vision control, I'm currently streaming and discussing vision control while playing. [embed=http://www.twitch.tv/vynertje][/quote]

[quote=Hatted]How do you typically play Braum? I've been enjoying him since his free weeks and I'm now proud to own him. He's my most played champ in ranked and I was curious if you play him aggressive or defensive. I play him offensively; always trying to get those stun stacks off. And if you do play him defensively I'd love to know how you do it. Thanks :)[/quote]

[quote=Vynertje][quote=Hatted]How do you typically play Braum? I've been enjoying him since his free weeks and I'm now proud to own him. He's my most played champ in ranked and I was curious if you play him aggressive or defensive. I play him offensively; always trying to get those stun stacks off. And if you do play him defensively I'd love to know how you do it. Thanks :)[/quote] Well Braum has nothing to offer if you decide to play him defensively (no sustain and high cooldowns on his shield) so if possible you do want to play him aggressively. Playing him defensively means you pretty much waste your pick, but sometimes you just cannot avoid having to play defensively. My 'standard' tactic (well, I don't play [[braum]] that often but that's what I usually try) is to let the enemy push me in during the first few levels (considering he really needs his 3 spells before he can be effective) and let the lane reset to the middle around level 3 then just W to a minion, Q the enemy and fight.[/quote]