Support NeoGAF

[brian!]

Regarding the earlier discussion concerning climbing the ladder in ranked I just want to point out that most high level players in ranked focus on 1 to two roles. If you can play every role properly enough then you really don't belong amongst the lower/average elos. Team comp tends to not really matter until higher gold because proper mechanics and decision making can carry you up until then. The UNSWlol lecture guy played AD soraka and would still win games.

Last season I flopped around in silver trying to be a jack of all trades until I focused my champion pool to just Jax and Tryn top with a Leona support. Managed to get to Gold 1 in a week doing mostly just those three and my match history was littered with isolated losses when I tried running unfamiliar champs.

yeah decision making coupled with execution is the biggest thing if you are trying to get out of silver i think

 

[Mister Negative]

Poppy is secretly awesome. Nobody takes her serious, but she can absolutely wreck a lane and become an unstoppable nightmare in the late game.

It's not really a secret. Riot has even established that if she starts getting played a ton, she'd get nerfed into the ground.

 

[dimb]

Oh yeah, and even though Janna has less mana expenditure as a defensive support she has pretty high base mana regen, the #1 mana pool in the game at level one, and is second only to Kassadin at 18. She is undoubtedly the most forgiving champion in the game.

 

[zkylon]

I don't really see what part of Janna's kit is unqiue in protecting AD carries. Like, there are lots of champions that do that.

Janna Q isn't that weird. You don't even need much of a charge on it for it to be effective. It's one of the pieces of Janna's kit that shoehorns her into being a support that's passive and defensive, because it's unrewarding to hit unless you're kiting the enemy. Shield timing is eh. There's not that much to it. Shield people that need it the most, and some decision making comes into play with how you want to distribute the attack damage buff.

There are so many problems that makes Janna just nightmarishly simple and effective. She has absolutely insane mobility that comes at no cost, and because her spell ranges are so long she just about never has to put herself in danger. This is why people can rush Mejai's and other junk on her, because if you're playing Janna properly it's extremely difficult to punish. Janna doesn't even need to use most of the pieces of her kit to win trades, which is one of my least favorite things. Yeah there are some crazy things you can do with the ult but it's not that hard to just use it to zone and heal your team.

i agree on most of this but i don't feel like that makes her particularly boring

the unique thing about her is that i find she's moreso devoted to keeping their team safe than say nami or thresh cos she has pretty shit pick potential herself and her damage is also pitifully low. like back when i used to play her it wouldn't be rare to go like 0 0 25 and to see my team having a surprising low death count too. i find that's special about her when compared to say nami, who's a lot more offensive oriented

i did stop playing janna because i do find her pretty boring compared to fun supports like nami and threshie but mostly cos they're so much fun. w is specially a pretty fucking awful spell

 

[drawkcaB]

There was a really scary Poppy support not to far back. Stomped around with only one mission that was executed beautifully.

That lollipop.

Played vs. a Support Poppy last Saturday. My ADC got crushed. Guy had no idea what Poppy does. Dumbass kept hiding in the bush right next to the fucking wall and refused to push out the wave to get away from the terrain bottleneck. Just one a myriad of disastrous ADCs I played with that day.

Janna could use a rework. I don't find her as engaging as I used to. I used to love playing her but fact is that supports have come a long way in the last two years as far as making them enjoyable to play goes. Even if you play flat out aggressively she's still a largely reactionary champion. Lots of design space that could be explored with a wind mage/support.

 

[Stone Ocean]

i kinda feel like shushei's champion should've been lux doe

Why? Shushei's Gragas is far more iconic. Hell, I'd go with Kayle before Lux.

 

[zkylon]

i dunno i thought shushei's lux was pretty iconic too

also lux is awesome

 

[Einbroch]

The only good thing about Lux is that her Team Builder art is absolutely amazing.

 

[Stone Ocean]

i dunno i thought shushei's lux was pretty iconic too

also lux is awesome

The Gragas skin is even kinda modeled after Shushei

Plus are you sure you want Lux to get a lame 750 skin instead of the Ultimate

 

[zkylon]

The only good thing about Lux is that her Team Builder art is absolutely amazing.

The Gragas skin is even kinda modeled after Shushei

Plus are you sure you want Lux to get a lame 750 skin instead of the Ultimate

why can't i have both

 

[Einbroch]

Oh yeah, and she's Garen's sister, and Garen is awesome.

Spoiler

And shippers put her with Quinn a lot.

 

[Newt]

Oh yeah, and she's Garen's sister, and Garen is awesome.

Yeah, I hope they release some skins for Garen. Garen is definitely on the top of the skin priority list, at least compared to someone like Ori.

 

[voodoopanda]

I've just begun to play LoL yesterday with some friends who wanted to play and I don't really know much about it specifically. I have some experience with DotA/DotA2 so the style of game isn't all new to me. I love playing support-type roles in games, where I help other people be awesome, whether through buffs or heals or crowd control or whatever. There's so many champions it's a bit overwhelming at first to go through 'em all. Just glancing at some of the support characters, Lulu looked like she might be fun in this way? What are some good champions that fill this role that I could look into?

 

[brian!]

lulu is a pretty good pick, what kind of supports did you like in dota

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

I mained Janna in S3. Won most of my games.

This season my win/loss is terrible with her, probably because the meta changed. I agree she's incredible at zoning/peeling but she outputs zero damage and has zero offensive ability (unless you flash-R to separate the enemy team). Compare that to a Blitz/Thresh hook or a Nami ult. In a good Janna game I'll have few deaths and tons of assists. In a bad one I'll have the same score.

It's fun though to line up a Q to hit champs over walls and cut off pursuit.

Old Soraka is super-boring though. Low mana? Replenish. Low health? Replenish/hit R. If you can Q, use it. No one needs mana? E.

 

[dimb]

I've just begun to play LoL yesterday with some friends who wanted to play and I don't really know much about it specifically. I have some experience with DotA/DotA2 so the style of game isn't all new to me. I love playing support-type roles in games, where I help other people be awesome, whether through buffs or heals or crowd control or whatever. There's so many champions it's a bit overwhelming at first to go through 'em all. Just glancing at some of the support characters, Lulu looked like she might be fun in this way? What are some good champions that fill this role that I could look into?

I think Lulu and Braum are the most fun supports to play in the game. Nami and Blitzcrank are also worth looking at. There are loads of viable and strong supports right now, so I would just say to try out as many as you can until you find one that best fits your playstyle. I know Blitzcrank, Zilean, and Zyra are all free this week, and can be played as supports.

 

[voodoopanda]

lulu is a pretty good pick, what kind of supports did you like in dota

I really liked support Shadow Shaman, which Lulu reminded me of with her spell that sounds similar to hex. Played a lot as Crystal Maiden, Lich, and Witch Doctor. It's been maybe a year or more since I last played DotA2 so I'm not up to date on how the characters are nowadays.

 

[Einbroch]

Blitzcrank is the most fun support in the game.

Best? Eh. But he sure is fun.

 

[dimb]

Blitzcrank is the most fun support in the game.

Best? Eh. But he sure is fun.

Check the winrates, yo.

 

[drawkcaB]

Blitzcrank is the most fun support in the game.

Best? Eh. But he sure is fun.

Too one-trick pony for my taste, effective as that trick is. Nami, Lulu, Braum, and Zyra are my favs right now. Need to put more time in with new Sona as well.

 

[Jeff-DSA]

I have over 7,500 IP. I think I'm going to get Zyra and start playing her when I have to support. Nami is my go to, but I'd like a little variety.

 

[brian!]

I really liked support Shadow Shaman, which Lulu reminded me of with her spell that sounds similar to hex. Played a lot as Crystal Maiden, Lich, and Witch Doctor. It's been maybe a year or more since I last played DotA2 so I'm not up to date on how the characters are nowadays.

try not to equate the spells in dota with the ones leeg copied, they work in practice pretty differently

it seems you kinda like a mix of harass w/ defensiveness through a kind of fire and forget kind of style, so things like morgana or lulu might be up your alley

 

[Einbroch]

Check the winrates, yo.

You mean to say he's bad? He hasn't dipped below 50% in three weeks!

THE CRANK.

 

[d[-_-]b]

LOL that UOL win last game...

 

[voodoopanda]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have plenty to check out. I watched a video of Braum, he seems really interesting, although I feel I'd need to know a lot more general stuff about spells/damage/etc to use his shield moves effectively. Something to look forward to as a I learn the game.

 

[Pancakes]

UoL vs. MIL, such a fantastic series.

Spoilers

May want to spoil that, some people may be at work.

 

[brian!]

he did spoil it tho

 

[Pancakes]

Closer pls.

 

[Mothman91]

Closer pls.

 

[Nekofrog]

wait is that closer

 

[brian!]

yah
i just won my first ascension game

 

[Pancakes]

yah
i just won my first ascension game

Nobody wins Ascension you just endure it.

 

[brian!]

i endured it

 

[Blizzard]

I finally got the ascension buff in one game and I lived a long time and I got some kills, and it said my team won, but I'm not really sure it was a true victory.

I saw someone else in chat saying that it's a mode worse than dominion -- it's sort of an accomplishment for Riot to make players feel that way, considering how popular dominion is.

 

[Kotetsu534]

Nice touch by Riot to retroactively give Fnatic a set of skins for their S1 Worlds win.

Spoiler

They would never have bothered if it was aAa.

 

[Schmattakopf]

It might be more tolerable if five of us were in Mumble playing it.

 

[PhillipCostigan]

It might be more tolerable if five of us were in Mumble playing it.

but you're just mumble lady anyway

 

[JesseZao]

Played a few ascensions last night. Wasn't terribly impressed. Collecting relics is just boring and I think I'd much rather play arams if I want to team fight constantly.

I think relics should do something for the team that gets them. Something like turn the speed boost into a snare/root for the enemy team until the next one spawns or something.

I do like the battles for xerath, but they should implement more map hazards. Maybe something like sandstorm twisters that travel around and knock players up or quicksand that slows or roots a player if they reach the middle (needing a teammate to pull them out).

 

[Ferrio]

They didn't go far enough away from the dominion formula.

It should of been an arena with limited amount of deaths, and when you go down you can get revived by other teammates clicking on you and channeling for X seconds. Or something I don't know... I guess I don't give a shit about capturing points whether it be a crystal or a tower.

 

[Pancakes]

I just don't know what they were going for. There are better ways to do a team death match mode than what we got.

 

[Schmattakopf]

but you're just mumble lady anyway

Hey I'm just trying to get people on Mumble. It's a good cause.

 

[Ferrio]

I imagine 5 person ascension on mumble would boil down to 20 minutes of complaining about how bad ascension is.

 

[Negaduck]

Not gonna lie, I hate watching competitive league.

I've tried several times but it never holds my attention. However I can watch pro dota matches for days.

 

[PhillipCostigan]

Hey I'm just trying to get people on Mumble. It's a good cause.

yeah fair enough

Mumble is fun

 

[DeadNames]

Yeah I don't enjoy watching ADCs farm up for 30 mins while Ziggs/Lulu/Ori/Xerath endlessly clear waves.

 

[garath]

I'm sure I'd enjoy watching competitive dota2 much more if I knew what was going on.

 

[zkylon]

Yeah, I hope they release some skins for Garen. Garen is definitely on the top of the skin priority list, at least compared to someone like Ori.

-_-

 

[Bacon]

I try all the time to watch competitive league. It's way too boring to watch. Fights are so rare and it just feels too, i dunno, controlled or something. The chaos of solo q is so much more entertaining to watch for me.

 

[Deleted member 77995]

Yup. I haven't watched a full league of legends pro match since season 2. Twitch streams are much more fun to watch.

 

[zkylon]

u guys should watch the koreans play

i'm betting u guys never watched the koreans play