I will be discussing some tips to help you become a better support player. One of the biggest problems I see many support players have, is this mindset on that it’s easiest role to play or that you just stand back and heal your carry. Thinking like this is going to lose you games, it won’t be as obvious as playing other roles.

We all know for a fact that supports don’t carry games. They are however the pillar that holds the team up. If the pillar is bad, the team will come crashing down. There is so much a support can do and I hope to cover the less obvious in these tips.

1. Don't just use CV for yourself

Try to use Clairvoyance as much as you can early game to track the enemy’s jungler. Knowing the location of the enemy’s jungler is huge and takes a lot of pressure of other lanes. The cooldown is pretty short, so don’t save it unless a situation needs it (like ganks or invades).

Later on use CV if your teammates are about to face check a bush or to cover a route that you don’t have warded and you suspect enemies are waiting there. Finally if you have no idea, just ask your teammates where they would like it placed.

2. Stare at the map and call out everything you see in chat

As the support you should be the most talkative player on your team. Pressing “s” will stop position your champion, you will not auto attack or move at all. This is useful for when you’re calling out in chat. Firstly calling missing or “ss” in chat for all lanes is useful, some people forget and rather than blaming them just call it out for them.

If you have spotted something on the map first ping it, then type what you have seen. This could be anything from a ward to a possible gank. You should also call out major items and if the enemy have oracles. It is very easy to overlook the mini-map while last hitting or harassing in lane, being the extra eyes for your team is a huge benefit.

3. During the laning phase, hold your carries hand

I haven’t talked much about bottom lane. This is because it’s only half your job. Judge quickly whether or not you have the offensive advantage and let your carry know. Get used to pressing “spacebar” as it centres the camera onto your champion. This because you’ll be looking at other lanes health, creeps etc and you need to make sure you don’t look away for too long.

Getting a kill in bottom lane is normally because someone made a mistake. In this split second you have to make a big decision. You have to first see if your carry is going to attempt for a kill and secondly if it’s actually a good idea. If you think it’s a terrible idea, just ping “v” once, which is the ping for retreat. If your carry continues to go in, follow them in and support as best you can. Telling your carry to focus on last hitting and to play more passive until your jungler arrives is also good. This makes sure you and your carry are on the same mindset, however you can also tell them to harass and be aggressive if you think you have the advantage.

Also remember to assist with last hits, if you need to push the lane or your tower is attack the creeps. It takes 2 auto attack and a tower hit to kill a ranged creep. If the creep has full hp and the tower is targeting it you must auto attack it once for your carry to have a chance at killing it.

4. Use logic for pink wards / oracles

I often get asked when do I buy pink wards or oracles? The simple answer is look at your enemy’s items. Keep checking to see how many wards they actually buy and use. If you notice the enemy are buying pink wards, try to logically counter this. Buying a pink ward just because it denies vision isn’t always good. Buying a pink ward early on so you can kill dragon without the enemy being able to have vision of it is huge, but communicate with your jungler is key.

5. Time Everything! (baron/dragon/wards/buffs)

If you are going to take anything away from this guide, I recommend this section. You as the support should be timing everything.

Wards Last: 3 Minutes

Red/Blue Monster Respawn: 5 Minutes

Dragon Respawn: 6 Minutes

Baron Respawn: 7 Minutes

Being ready for a dragon respawns is huge and most support/jungler will time it anyways. However, what most people forget to time are the smaller things like wards or buffs. Here is a good example: if you see the enemy’s support go into river and return with one less ward, you can ping river say “[email protected] 11:35”. This means at 11:35 into the game the ward will be gone and you can even plan ganks off this timing, so when the enemy goes to ward again your jungler will be waiting in a bush for them. Simple tactics like these are strong in solo queue, but remember to communicate with your team.

Keep your team up to date on these times and use it to plan invades and keep control of map objectives. Try to control the flow of the game and catch your enemies out where you can. Hopefully after reading this, you will now know more about what your job as a support is. As usual if you have any questions or feedback leave them in the comment section below.