Introduction
A common question I always see online is: Can you climb as solo support? The question itself implies that the one doing the asking already believes that it’s somehow harder or even impossible to climb while playing as support. Well, while it might be harder at times climbing as support is possible and, in this article, we’re going to try and make it as simple and straightforward as possible. Keep reading to learn all the tips and tricks required to get your support play to the next level (and ranked tier).
Check Your Fundamentals
It might seem boring but relearning the fundamentals can be a great way to either get back into the game from an extended break or to just check you didn’t miss anything important when you were learning how to play the game.
Its really surprising the amount of people I see that completely ignore this advice and push through thousands of hours of ranked gameplay and stagnate at a mediocre ELO. Most of these players are in autopilot, they’re just going through the motions and repeating the same mistakes.
What you can do instead is to take a deep breath and think as yourself as being new to the game, think back at when you learnt how the game worked the first time, you might have gotten some really bad habits that make you lose games every now and then, it can be really simple things like for example you go alone into the enemy jungle at minute 0 when no one in your team is following you, just because you do that without thinking.
There is basically no match where the support going alone past the river at minute 0 does anything useful for its team. There are many small habits like those that do add up. Make sure to review your games by watching your own replays, you will be surprised at how many things you can improve if you take the time to study your mistakes.
With time these mistakes will be reduced and your gameplay will straight up improve, no longer will you make these obvious mistakes and can move onto even bigger things.
Have a plan before you go in
Even before the match starts you should already be trying to predict how the lane is going to go. There are obvious champions that can totally change how a lane will go, for example Blitzcrank will do really good against poke champions like Karma because of how she wants to play the lane vs how Blitz wants to play his.
Understanding lane matchups will go a long way towards you playing your lane appropriately, and while most of the time this comes with time (more like the number of games you play) there are some matchups that are super important for you to learn, and most of the time it’s the more popular champions being played in both ADC and Support roles.
For example, right now guys like Milio and Rakan are very popular while Taric and Tahm Kench are not. Investing your time into learning underplayed matchups is not optimal, so instead try and focus your attention in the more popular matchups in your rank.
Use popular stat websites like leagueofgraphs.com or lolalytics.com to decide which champions to study first, then branch out after you feel comfortable in a particular matchup.
If you feel like there is a particularly hard matchup then don’t worry, you’re probably not alone, take a look at sites where information about these matchups is like Reddit, YouTube and so on are great places where information is freely available and can unlock these difficult matchups for you.
Take the time to find streamers and youtubers that play your champions and see how they deal with these difficult matchups too; it can be really helpful to have a direct example of these concepts in action.
Learn How to Trade in Lane
Learning how to trade inside the lane is the clear difference maker in most lanes nowadays. While there are many other factors that come into play this particular part of laning is the most often overlooked at times.
Trading can be simple but knowing when to trade is the hard part, most of the time lower ELO players either don’t trade or trade too much.
Before looking for a trade always think about the worst thing that could happen, think an enemy jungler ganks your lane, or the enemy Twisted Fate ports into your lane. Things like that will enable you to make better decisions overall.
A lot of the time players are not punished in the lower ranks and start developing bad habits that then ironically prevent them from climbing higher. One specific example is just trading too much in disadvantaged matchups in bottom lane. Even if you and your ADC picked lane dominators like Draven that doesn’t mean that you will automatically win every single lane.
Experience will let you know when it’s appropriate to play aggressive and when not to. But just to illustrate an example, think about a cannon minion, if you somehow find yourself in a situation where the enemy has no cannon minion and you do then ideally that is a perfect trading opportunity, but if you had already died twice in lane then that won’t apply in this case.
It’s important to assess every situation according to the current game state. Playing too safe can be bad, and playing too aggressive can also be bad, moderation is key and adaptability is vital for supports.
Learn How to Play Against Hook Champions
It’s important to learn how to play vs most types of supports in the game. But if there is one “class” that is going to bring you the most improvement is hook champions.
We’re talking about guys like Thresh, Blitzcrank, Pyke and Nautilus. These champions can be oppressive at times and it’s really important for any potential support player to be able to play confidently against these picks otherwise their climbing will be extremely difficult.
The first thing you should always keep in mind is positioning. Keep a position that is appropriate, most of the time that is going to be behind an allied minion but if you’re going to be facing the enemy support then make sure to juke and dodge when they do launch their hook.
With practice you can make it really difficult for the enemy support to land hooks on you frustrating them and taking them out of their comfort zone. Remember these players are at your rank for a reason, if you take away their biggest strength in a match then they’re almost useless.
Don’t try to juke hooks if you don’t have flash or full HP. Doing that is a recipe for disaster, specially versus hook champions, always prioritize safety over risk in these matchups.
Maintain Proper Positioning Through the Match
Don’t just stay back at the start of the game. As the game goes on you still need to stay safe and die as little as possible. Don’t think that just because you’re a support that you’re supposed to die a lot to be effective.
Dying is one of the worst things you can make, it gets worse the lower rank you are. Try and die as little as possible first and only start taking risks after you feel like you almost never feed. In general support players are too aggressive in my opinion when playing at the lower ranks. So, by playing safe you’re already balancing your gameplay somewhat.
Take a look at some pro matches from the best players in the world, you never see the support leading their team into the enemy jungle, there is a reason for that. As a support (even if you’re a tank) you’re not supposed to be initiating fights most of the time.
Focus on enabling your ADV first and foremost, there can be many ways of doing that. Peeling is the most common one, but pinging and keeping track
Conclusion
We talked about a lot of things, rechecking your fundamentals, planning ahead, trading, how to deal with hook champions and how to maintain proper positioning in a match. But if there is one thing, I’d want my readers to leave this article with is the idea that you can get better, you always can. Never let outside factors influence your gameplay, always stay positive and hopeful.
Don’t take the game too seriously or you’ll burn out, trust me I have been there. Don’t skimp on the mental side of the game, it can be a difference maker at all levels.