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In-depth support guide - season 4

I'm creating a support guide on Moba Fire, this guide is going to be updated with more supports, more information and more tips. This will be my week post, and the first support guide we have is: 

Morgana

Here's the Moba Fire Guide link:
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/in-depth-support-guide-season-4-400010

Why warding?

 

Wards give us map control, and this will give us more probabilities to win, so warding win games.

Map control

What are we exactly talking about when we say map control? Map control is to be able to move around the map, knowing the enemy and the most important objectives situation at the same time that we try to deny the enemy map control.

Warding is essential to keep the map control, that’s because they give us vision in fog of war (where are no ally units or buildings that give us vision) and let us to know where the enemies and important objectives are.

To destroy the enemy wards is essential to deny the enemy map control.

Now that we know that wards give us map control and this win help us to win some games, we are going to have a look on these important items. 

Wards

Stealth ward  or “Ward”:

 

Places an invisible ward with 1100 range. Lasts 3 minutes.

Cost: 75g

Vision ward  or “Pink”:

 

Places a visible ward with 1100 Vision Sight and 1000 range Magical Sight (can see invisible units). Has infinite duration.

                     Cost: 100g

Wards are really important, they are consumable items, so we will waste a notable amount of gold on them. This objects are not going to give us any statistics, that’s why we need to buy enough wards to keep the map controlled but not too many of them, or we will be losing gold. I don’t want you to misunderstand my words, it’s REALLY important to buy wards, at least 1 ward every time you go to the shop (pink ward).   

Ward Limit:

At Season 4, we find a ward limitation of 3 stealth wards and 1 vision ward (situated on the map at the same time), that’s why their situation is so important, because we can’t cover all the map with 1 player wards,

In conclusion, to place the necessary wards (no more, no less) and to situate them where we will have more vision, it’s a really important factor, which we are going to analyze right now:

WHERE TO PLACE WARDS:

PURPLE TEAM:

If we play as purple team (situated at the upper right corner of the picture), we are going to place the wards like this:

BLUE TEAM:

If we play as blue team (situated at the bottom left corner of the picture), we are going to place the wards like this:

As you can see I’ve grouped the wards in different groups according to the game situation, and here’s a quick summary:

Essentials: These wards are, as their name says, ESSENTIALS. If it’s possible we must have this wards placed, because they will give us vision of nashor, drake, all the dangerous entrances and the enemy jungler position. Nashor and drake wards ALWAYS will be necessary to be placed, we can change the other 4 (2 each river side), according to the situation, if we are playing aggressive we can put them in the white points

Aggressives: We are going to use this locations if the enemy team is closed into their base or we have destroyed the first towers of all the lanes, always keeping in mind to ward nashor and drake.

Positionals: We are going to use these wards just in some specific situations, in top and bot bushes to have vision over the enemies on lane and the jungler gank from there, the other 4 wards (2 each river side) are placed if we can’t enter to the river to Ward and we need to win some vision of our jungle.

Defensives: The defensive position is not the best, and we would try not to use it, however if we don’t have enough wards or we can’t reach the essentials points, we will place the wards defensively, just to have vision over enemy ganks. Nashor and drake are always essentials.

VERY IMPORTANT: Each of these groups of wards (not the positionals), are enough to cover all the entrances, jumps and roads where enemies can gank us, however it will be effective only if we have ALL the wards of each group placed correctly, if one Ward of any group is not placed, we will have a non-protected area where we can be ganked. So, depends on the game situation, we will ward defensively or aggressively, keeping vision on drake and nashor to keep the map control.

Support items analysis:

The support rol has been introduced, so we are going to talk about the specifics items that appeared in Season 4. This three items have significantly changed the amount of gold earned by supports, giving them more impact in the game and equating the gold win proportion of supports with the other roles. All who have played the previous seasons will remember how the supports used to win less gold than the other roles, that was a big handicap for us. Now, if you can manage to play a good game you can end with more money than the jungler or other roles. Let me introduce you our new support items:  

This item, based in a constant aggression on lane, it has been created for AP characters who will take advantage of it, mana regeneration included. Its passive has to be applied constantly if we want to use it as best as possible. Good examples are Sona, Annie or Morgana, who can autoattack or cast spells in a constant aggression. 

Here we find the old Shurelya’s substitute. That loved item which gave us a speed movement boost for all our team, has been transformed into a three phases item which passive gives us gold and health every time that one of our teammates kills a minion near us. The first phase of this item, is not giving any stat, being just a health and mana regeneration object. 

The last of the three support items, this shield has been designed for the tankiest characters, it gives us some health to be able to survive on the lane, however the best of this item it’s the passive, a double passive where we find an important contribution of gold for our pockets, that’s because each minute we will win a charge which let us to kill a minion easier ( giving us the chance to kill them with 200 health or less ) and give the gold of the minion to us and our mate: WE ARE NOT STEALING GOLD TO ADC! As I said it’s a double passive because every time we kill a minion with a charge in our shield we are going to heal our mate (usually adc) and our life for 40 health points. An item that really need to be analyzed!

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS:

After having a look at support items, we are going to analyze some factors of them:

Our first factor to analyze is the gold earned after the first 10 minutes:

Spellsthief’s edge:

This object give us 2 gold x 10 sec and a passive which wins a charge every 30 seconds (5gold x charge), we are not going to hit enemies before 2:00m approx., we start with 3 charges and if we don’t waste time between charges, following this “rules” we are going to earn:

                    Gold/10s: 120 gold

                    Gold x passive: 95 gold

                    Total: 345 gold

Ancient Coin:

This object give us a gold passive, which will give us 2 gold each time a minion is killed near us, if we count a 90% effectiveness killing minions (very high), we would earn:

                    Gold x passive: 96 minions x 2 gold

                    Total: 192 gold

Relic Shield:

This shield give us money through its passive, which is going to give us the minion’s normal amount of gold. If we don’t lose time between charges, which are going to be up every 60 seconds and we start with 2 charges… killing the minions that could give us more gold (siege and melee), we would earn: 

 

                   Gold x passive: 10 charges in the last 10 minutes, 5 siege and 5 melee minions killed 

                   Total: 315 gold 

STATS AND UTILITY:

Another important factor are the stats and utilities that this items will give to us, we are going to analyze the statistics from the first phase and the last (third) phase of every one of this 3 item, that’s because in this final phase every one of this three items is going to win an unique active.  

Spellthief's egde:

 

5 AP: 5 damage in every spell is not so damage.

2 mana reg/5s: This mana regeneration is going to be useful on lane to keep casting our spells.

Passive: “Your next damaging ability or autoattack against a champion or structure will deal 10 additional damage”, this is so good to be aggressive and deal a constant extra damage.

Frost Queen’s Claim:

50 AP: This 50 AP is so low if we compare it against other same price items like Morellonomicon, which gives us 80 AP. 

10 mana reg/5s: Usefull mana regeneration and balanced compared to the other same price items

10% cooldown reduction: Again the cooldown reduction is lower than Morellonomicon’s, which would give us 20%. 

UNIQUE ACTIVE: Here we have the special active from this item! On the final phase we would be available to cast a frozen spear which is going to explode dealing 50(+5/lvl) magic damage in area and applies a 80% movement reduction that will decays over 2 seconds.

This is going to save lives! I promise you (you can even catch an enemy running away from you). 

Ancient coin:

3 mana reg/5s: More mana regeneration than Spellsthief’s edge, usefull to keep casting spells.

Talisman of Ascension:

15 mana reg/5s: A great mana income during all the game.

15 health reg/5s: A great health income during all the game. 

20 mov speed: Less movement speed than basic boots, however, is enough to be the difference between your live or your death. 

10% cooldown red: The same cooldown reduction as the last item, it’s not a comparable stat.

UNIQUE ACTIVE: Here is the “cream of the crop” active from this three support items, that’s because this item is similar to Shurelya’s (Season 3), giving a 40% movement speed to all our near teammates during 3 seconds, an incredible weapon to engage or disengage. 

Relic Shield:

+75 health: A good health amount for the lane, comparing it to Spellsthief’s edge AP, we would resist 15 spells from Spellthief’s edge before losing all the extra health from Relic Shield. 

Face of the Mountain: 

+500 health: A really good health amount if we compare it against other same price items like Banshee’s Veil, Aegis of the Legion, even comparing it with high price items.

20 health reg/5s: A balanced health regeneration with the other items which gives health reg, like Orb of Winter or Spirit Visage.

+10% cooldown red: The same cooldown reduction as the last item, it’s not a comparable stat.

UNIQUE ACTIVE: This is the hardest active to use it properly, it’s going to give a shield equivalent at a 4% of our maximum health to any of our allies (or our self) during 4 seconds, at the end of this time, this shield is going to explode and deal a damage equivalent at a 100% TOTAL Attack Damage + 30% AP as a magic damage. This shield can save us from death, however I think it is the worst of the three unique actives.  

Why playing support?

Now we know about the roles of League of Legends so it’s time to ask: Why playing support? You will hear from many people sentences like: Playing support is boring, it’s the useless role of all, you are an slave or you have no impact on the game so you depend totally on the other players. I’m here to explain why I do not agree with it.

 

De:www.eclypsia.com

-“It’s boring”: I totally disagree with this… Being support is so funny because you have a lot of possibilities which you won’t find in other roles. Playing support you can be a mage like Annie or Zyra and decide a game with just 1 of your spells. As a support you can save all your team with just one key, like Janna’s R, which can change a lost battle. Playing support you can protect your damage dealer mates, even start a battle with one of your stuns…

Who doesn’t hate to be rooted by one Morgana’s Dark Binding? Yes, we are talking about a 3 seconds root!!!! You can be tankier than your team toplaner, or deal more damage than your midlane. That’s not all… Everyone who has played support knows how funny is to destroy the enemies wards, stun one enemy under your turret, ward a bush and looking how their jungler tries to gank you or save your life with one heal when you are at 10hp.

I’m not going to say that support is the best role, nevertheless it’s as fantastic as the others, and the best for me.    

-“It’s the most useless role”: People said this because as a support you can’t kill minions and your main objective is not to do damage. I can understand this people, however I think it’s because their poor knowledge about the game. When you have played League of Legends for some time, you start to realize that kills are not the most important thing of the game, to have a good farm skills is more important even to have a good map vision.

Remember: The winner is who destroys the enemy nexus, not who kills more enemies.

Support role is usefull because he is the player who is going to give a lot of vision to the team, he has a lot of versatility, and he is an informer (warning his teammates about the enemy jungler situation, the dragon and nashor timing and some cooldowns). If you are a good support you can be the enemy adc nightmare and win the lane nullifying his farm. 

 “You are an slave”:Woaw... don't be silly guys, your support is your protector, your right hand, never a slave... A support has enough independence to take his own decisions, like ganking mid, warding the enemy jungle, start a battle, decide how to run away...

If we think about it, it's the support who takes the initiative on the bot lane, and the adc who follows his moves (very often).

-“You have no impact in game so you depend on the others”: We have enough examples to understand that support has a really high impact. People say this sentence because they want to be able to destroy all the enemy team without team help, this way they won’t depend on their team. The first thing we have to learn is: This game is about 5v5, not 1v5, we are a team and we will need them, so stop thinking about how to win alone. On the other hand, support is one of the roles that has most impact on the game because of some factors.

One of this factors would be to do a “winning engage”, I mean to win a combat thanks to your engage, a good example would be: Stun all the enemy team with Annie’s Tibbers or with Zyra’s R. Another factor is to keep a good vision on map and deny the enemy vision, it’s not a visible factor, however the enemy team will make mistakes if they don’t have enough vision and you will win the game.

The last factor, the active from items, you will be able to save a lot of deaths if you use your active items ( Solari, Mikael, …. ) at the exact moment, preventing your teammates deaths you would be denying gold to the enemy team.

De: deviantART: More Like LoL

IMPORTANT THINGS TO SUPPORT:

  
-  Always buy wards, you need to have a good map vision and deny the enemy vision. 

- Win the drake vision countering their wards with a pink, thanks to this you will have the advantage to kill the dragon.

-  Don't take "free damage", keep in your mind the damage of minions, because it's so high and every time you autoattack they will attack you. 

- Don't kill the minions if your adc is near to you, he has to do the damage and we have to protect him

- Try to give the kills to your teammates, sometimes is hard to control it, try it!
- Try to time the dragon and nashor respawn, if you can try to time the summoners spells, wards and abilities, all the information will help you.
- Play as a team, don't try to win alone, this will help you to win a lot of games.

The last tip, and maybe the most important one:

HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

I know it's hard to have a good attitude in some games, I have this problem too, however the negativity, flaming and all this "shit" won't help you at all.

 

miércoles, 3 de septiembre de 2014

First Steps

If we want to start to talk about support role, we need to introduce the League of Legends "lanes meta". We all have started playing this game with no experience, maybe some of you are still learning how to play, and lots of us (except some lucky players who has had experienced players helping them ) have started playing this game with no idea about where to go and why. In this short introduction we are going to learn why and how. 

As you can see on this image, the top and mid lanes are played just for 1 teammate, on the other hand we will find 2 players playing on the bot lane ( the support and the adc ), the last of our team is the jungler.

All the roles has different possibilities, however the top lane is usually the tankiest guy of the team but he can change some tankiness for damage or just be a killing machine. The mid is the mage of the team, his damage is based on his spells and deals a lot of damage… stuns, slows or high mobility can be included on their arsenal. The adc is the most protected guy on the team, that’s because he has the highest damage of the team and normally not so mobility, he can kill even the tanks but is so squishy, being the first objective of the enemy team. That’s why he shares the bottom lane with the support, the player who is going to protect him. The jungler is a player who earns experience and gold killing the jungle monsters and ganking the lanes, we can find so many different junglers from tanks to assassins. The tankiest will try to kill as monsters as they can and defend their lanes from assassins attacks who will gank the lanes often.  

WHY?

Before getting level 30 you will play lots of games where you will have to play a 2-1-2 strategy, this is not following the meta… so: Why have we play like meta and not a 2-1-2 for example?

The answer should be the next: If we want to win a game, the first objective is to take advantage of all the resources of the map. In each lane we will find an exact number of minions that we will try to kill along the game, this creeps can be killed by 1 player on each lane. If we try to play with 2 players on the same lane we will find the same number of minions consequently we will have to share the same amount of gold, we will not earn more gold being 2 players, meanwhile the jungle monsters are not being killed so we are losing gold. We need one player who cleans the jungle, because 2 players on the jungle will be too much, they would be spending time on a map zone with no impact on the game and the monsters camp cooldown is high. In conclusion we have 3 players ( 1 on each lane ) and 1 jungler… wait! we have another player… this player is the support and he plays at bottom lane because the adc is so squishy, this way you can help the dangerous lane. The support has been transformed into a protector and observer of the team, who gives vision through wards and put special attention into controlling the enemy movement on the minimap and communicating them to his team.