First, I'd like to introduce my support tier list, which may differ from your opinion.

Godlike
Thresh, * Sona
(* = Really good and well mastered, high elo. Is much different than normal Sona played not correctly. Much higher skillcap than people think. All supports are good when mastered, but I want to praise this one.)

Tier 1
Lulu Nami, Blitzcrank

Tier 1.5
* Fiddlesticks, Janna

Tier 2
Leona, Zyra, Sona, Taric

Tier 3
Alistar, Nunu & Willump

Tier 4
Nidalee, Soraka, Lux, Karma

Fun, but really optional supports (Not competitive)
Morgana, Elise, Zilean

I don't think it's necessary to explain the tier list, but I'll shoot anyway.
Basically, Godlike tier are supports that excel in the role and are the most useful for your team and ADC. Obviously tiers below Godlike do not do as well, but can get trough the support role. Tier 1 is more more than vialable picks, tier 4 not so much.

Now then, read further if you are interested why to pick certain supports, for certain ADC, for certain counter-pick, for certain team. I don't think you need to, EVER pick from Tier 4, considered the amount of supports given, so I won't bother going that far.

Tier Fun: These champions could go for normals, for fun lane. The reason why they're not Tier 4, is because I don't really want to encourage even a little the usage of these in competitive. They are better off in other roles and shouldn't be picked for support as they can't utilize their kit to the fullest there. These are fun champions for normals tough. They CAN support, but really, no please.



Thresh is tanky support champion with really good cc. This is one of those supports who can make the calls and carry potentially bad adc. Thresh is quite beast at any stage of the gameplay. Early game you already have 2 really nice CC abilities and a ability to save your adc. Your lane is also very easy to gank. Once you reach teamfights stage, you can once again make the calls if you hit the right target. This is the reason tough why Thresh gets so much love in champion selection.

Synergies: Ashe, Vayne, Graves, Varus, Twitch, Miss Fortune

Thresh is really good with pretty much any ADC, but is even better with this group.
Why this group; They have one or more of above, allow Thresh to position better to land cc and Thresh the opposite: Ashe, Varus, Twitch, obtain high bursting abilities Graves or have Thresh reliefing their bad early game for late-game carrying Vayne, Twitch.

Counters: Alistar, Lulu

Thresh is countered by supports who have abilities to disengage, have high/long-range poke, ability to block the CC, high shield. I could add few other supports based on these, but they lack follow-up abilities or something more important.


Lulu is a high poke, mobile support which has a bit of everything. Doesn't excile only in offense, but also in defense. Sort of all-around good pick and deserves it's popularity. I really like her kit. She is like day and night. Wether it's question of defense or offense, she can decide which side to use. Lulu play-style is dependant on your ADC and your lane is in-favor when it comes to ganking as you can provide utility to your jungler.

Synergies: Vayne, Twitch, Miss Fortune

Lulu is much like Thresh --> really good with pretty much any ADC.
But why this group; They all benefit from Lulu's kit which gives them moments where they can go "balls against walls" and they benefit from Lulu giving advantage of positioning.

Counters: Soraka, Sona, Nami, Caitlyn

Lulu is countered by supports who have abilities to disengage, heals, even higher counter poke, abilities to counter mobility. Pretty much the only decent way to counter is the heals as Lulu lanes tend to go aggressive, because she does so much damage.


Blitzcrank is a high CC, somewhat mobile, aggressive support. Doesn't have any real defensive mechanics for itself or for it's ADC. Blitzcrank is clearly all-in support who needs the killing potential also from ADC. Blitz can also deal with damage, yet not being the tankiest support of all. To sort it out: what it lacks in defense, gains in offense.

Synergies: Draven, Ezreal, Miss Fortune

Obvious ADC syngeries.
Why this group; They all have good early game damage and can snowball with even few kills in lane, making full offensive support such as Blitzcrank a good choice. Blitz can also relief a bad early game and make strong late-game ADC's do better, but I feel there are better supports for it.

Counters: Lulu, Thresh, Alistar, Leona, Ezreal

Blitzcrank is countered by supports who benefit if you accidently pull them, have higher CC or counter the initation opportunity blitz makes with Rocket Grab. Pretty simple support with obvious pro's and con's.


Fiddlesticks is a high damage output, sustainish, one of the best CC ability containing support. His defense is damage and relies on 1 high CC ability. The insane damage early game from AP mid style kit allows Fiddlesticks to snowball hard if gets few plays at bottom. As for the huge lack is the defense abilities and squishy(ish) early game.

Synergies: Varus, Ashe, Draven

Why this group; High early-game damage, could maybe even add Ezreal. Fiddlesticks benefits from ADC the same way Zyra does. ADC that can offer it CC for more damage work really well or just simply ADC with high early game damage to snowball with Fiddlesticks.

Counters: Janna, Alistar, Thresh, Leona

Fiddlesticks is countered by supports who can counter it's ultimate or damage out-put with shields or high CC. If you get behind with Fiddlesticks it's harder to comeback. Same goes the opposite way if you get few kills and get ahead.


Nami is do-it-all around support, which is meant to play aggressive. Most of the times Nami is played as defensive support where you do not use her kit properly. She has high skill-cap like Sona and if you master her, it's really going to pay off. Nami was not that good of a support due really high mana cost and high cooldowns, but things have changed since she has gotten buffs almost as much as Irelia had nerfs. Making Nami more than decent support.

Synergies: Draven, Caitlyn, Ashe

Somewhat strange combination of ADC ?
Why this group; They all benefit or get boost of the slow and CC Nami gives, allowing them to chase. These are not all-in burst champions, but ADC who poke little at a time, excel at kiting and usually force enemy ADC to back-off. With Nami's kit, they can punish enemy bot lane even more.

Counters: Thresh, Blitzcrank, Leona, Graves

Nami to be said as somewhat "slowly", but effectively punishing opponent bot lane, is countered by all-in bursty combinations. Supports & ADC who can CC and chain Nami without her getting the chance to use her kit to the fullest counter her.


Zyra is high poke offensive support with good potential to zone & kill her opponents. She has the kit of ap mid, but does amazingly well as offensive support bot lane with her decent CC. I haven't looked up at her that closely, but the games I have played with her have been decentish. Not the best, but not the worst support either. Is quite different from other supports.

Synergies: Miss Fortune, Varus, Ashe

Why this group; It's not that much about ADC benefitting from support, but it's more both-sided benefit as Zyra has good killing potential. Any ADC with some kind of CC to hold opponents still or benefit from Zyra's root's for high AoE damage are great synergies.

Counters: Leona, Graves, Sona, Ezreal

Zyra is really squishy early levels, so high early game damage and strong burst counters her quite well. Many of you may think why not Blitzcrank then ? - She has really good mechanic to use plants as her defense in order to stay away from Blitz range of CC and block the pulls.


Leona is high CC, tanky aggressive support with decent kit to gap-close and make plays happen. She benefits for good early-game damage with her kit that exceeds the damage of ADC early-game, making her extremely dangerouse early-game with the killing potential. She does lack the defensive and supportish abilities for defensive play-style making her really bad choice for certain ADC. You really will get punished if you pick Leona for the wrong ADC against wrong bot lane.

Synergies: Miss Fortune, Quinn, Draven, Graves

Why this group; ADC's who benefit from the high CC and balls-deep attitude and playing-style are more than perfect synergies with Leona. You're going to burst someone out without much resistance from opponent bot lane. That's the point of Leona. You're not supposed to bring a tent in the fight, the fight should be over once you get the CC out.

Counters: Lulu, Alistar, Janna

Leona is really dependant on being able to follow up with CC after she has tossed her gap closers out. Disabling that follow/ADC's follow, surviving the burst without much harm and then countering. This is the way how to counter Leona and the supports metioned above excel at it.


Sona is squishy, high skillcap support who excels in everything. There is no doubt why she is such popular among the picks. She has really high poke, low cooldowns, heal, ability to gapc-lose and one of the strongest ultimates among the supports. She has to be played carefully tough, it's not just pressing buttons and you gotta care about your positioning and building more than any other support. Sona is decent among the decent user's. I make myself sound like I master Sona, but I'm one of the "Tier 2" Sona users also, but I'm trying to master her.

Synergies: No kidding, almost every single ADC. No specific ones. I could rise some ADC's over other, because they can take advantage of Sona's high poke/aura: Caitlyn, Ezreal, Tristana, Corki.

Counters: Blitzcrank, Thresh, Leona, Draven, Miss Fortune

As said, Sona is really squishy champion. High burst and early-game champions, high CC counter-her so bad. Sona needs items and ultimate to start fighting back against these supports. Really safe pre 6 is important against these guys.


Taric is very much like Sona. He can do it all decently. Doesn't excel at anything specific, but can do it all. He is also quite tanky, making him safe pick among any bot lane combination.

Synergies: Almost every single ADC, but speficially ADC who benefit from his auras the most: Ezreal, Corki and Graves

Counters: Sivir, Lulu, Nami

Sivir, because she can spellshield the stun, making Taric's only CC useless. Supports with high range-poke are really good against short ranged melee Taric.


Janna is very defensive support, one of the best in the game. She isn't supposed to be played offensively or played aggressive in lane phase. Of course in matter of situation she has useful CC and slow and great shield for winning trades, but she is at her best in lane, which is no favored your way, because if you can farm the lane out to mid game against early game ADC --> Favor in your way instead. As said she can be played aggressive with ADC, who don't really need the CC. With ADC that can gap-close and do the damages with Janna's shields.

Synergies: Vayne, Varus, Tristana

Just basically ADC's that can excel late-game who are seeking for safe farming lane-phase.
Nothing too in-depth to it.

Counters: Blitzcrank, Draven, Sona ?

You can't really counter Janna. Early-game champions are the best counter to Janna, but what are they going to do after the first levels ? Not much as Janna isn't required to be in the front line taking the damage, in stead passively supporting ADC with shield and disengages.


Alistar is very tanky, high CC support. He lacks in defensive lane as he has only one poor heal and really high mana costs. Doesn't really stand a chance against poking/kiting either, but once you get Alistar's CC out well enough, it can often lead to a kill or burst of summoner. However if you choose your target poorly and put your CC towards other tanky support, you won't accomplish much and end-up loosing trades / lane really bad. High cooldowns on CC abilities and the mana costs are holding Alistar back. You're basically useless every ~13 seconds after using the CC.

Synergies: Miss Fortune, Varus, Draven

Why this group; ADC's with high early-game out-put or benefit from the positioning time or CC duration the most. Well coordinated Tristana is also really good, but I'd expect a premade sort of communication in order not to mess-up each others thoughts, but well-planned combo works really fine.

Counters: Janna, Lulu, Nami

Supports who offer mobility, kiting, counter-engages, disenages or sustain trough the CC work like a beast against Alistar. It's like walking trough coal with bare feet if you face these supports. It's still about landing 1 good CC however, so mistakes made by opponent are punishable.


Nunu & Willump is tanky-sustainish support. He also lacks real defensive mechanism and is pretty much build around only few ADC to be in real use. Nunu & Willump lacks hard CC and proper engage/disengage ability. He simply relies on slow and poke from snowball. He was really good before the attack speed buff nerf, but can still be in use as support for especially few certain ADC.

Synergies: Vayne, Kog'Maw, Varus

Why this group; ADC's who benefit from attack speed steroids are the only real synergies fit for Nunu & Willump. Could add few more based on that, but there are other better supports for them, that's why dropping them out of calculations.

Counters: Sona, Nami, Lulu

Supports who offer high poke and can sustain trough Nunu & Willump's excel going against him. Also the ability to cancel Nunu & Willump's ultimate is really great way to counter him.