Hi!

I want to know if non-standard supp (item) builds are somewhat viable.

Standard build for me; start items -> Philo, boots, HoG -> Aegis -> Reverie -> Locket-> Aura item
At tanky supps like Leona, Taric and Alistar I get Randuins instead of Locket.

But...

What about a blitz skipping Aegis or maybe even the gp10s for Frozen Heart? Maybe a Sheen (not a full TF!) for moderate damage output? Tear of goddess, manamune?

Soraka Rilay's Crystal Scepter to have at least a slow?

FS / Morgana with Zhonya's (don't ask me how to build those champs as supps, so this might be standard anyways)?

Kayle with a few damage items?

Sona with Soul Shroud (I actually do this instead of Aegis since she is so ****ing mana hungry and I find the effect rather strong because it usually helps the supp, the APC, the bruiser and maybe even the jungler)?

Zilean with GA, just for trolling?

Your thoughts?

Trying new builds is fine, but start with BEGINNER AI games for builds you are unsure about, and if it works against BEGINNER AI then try it against INTERMEDIATE AI for a few games to confirm to some extent whether or not a build is reasonably strong. If it is, then by all means take it into unranked player games and test it more extensively before moving on to ranked.

After taking care of your first couple GP10s and boots 1, builds tend to be pretty situational. You need to build whatever your team needs most.

And this isn't depending on the own champ? I am mostly asking here for mroe champ related builds.

@Invis: AI won't help. I can go Tarich with 6 PD, get a Penta and then still I shouldn't use it in normals. Granted, I wont test such builds out in ranked first anyways.

kayle is really a carry at heart imho--dps items is what you're supposed to build

bump

To be a true support to you have to buy a lot of wards; if you go for other early items such as fh or sheen on blitz you will not be able to buy enough wards for your lane early game and the entire jungle mid/late game.

To be able to afford your build and wards you have to set up proper runes and masteries to give you 5g/10s right out of the gate (utility tree in masteries has 2 and then i use three quints of avarice for 3 more). Then you have to snowball your gp 10's: as soon as you have the money for a gp 10 (plus a couple wards and boots) go back and buy it so that you start generating the extra income as soon as possible. To afford all the wards in the long run I usually buy three gp 10's or two at minimum but remember that I already have a whole gp 10 at the start of the game so I am at 15/10 with hog and philo and 20/10 with hog, philo, and kage's. Honestly these 3 gp 10's are really great on supports because they boost your survivability and the power/spamability of your spells. Once my finances are in place I turn my attention to fh, aegis, abyssal, etc.

All of this being said riot has mentioned in their items update that they are going to provide some new options for supports so that warding will not be such a large financial burden. I am looking forward to seeing that.

On the flip side of the coin I won a ranked game last night with imo a terrible support lux who started with mana manipulator. Whatever this person was thinking it worked... the mana manipulator allowed us to harass the lane to death. I out cs'd the other guy and lux was even getting farm too! (If your support farms they aren't as gp 10 reliant but then you as the ad carry can't build fast enough to be very effective usually.) Overall, I would say keep your experimental builds to normal games where wards tend to not be quite as important.

You could go your "special item" after your GP10s, maybe instead of the aura item (usually Aegis)


Mana manip - I acutally like this item pretty much. The problem is just where to place it. You want to get it early on, but you dont want to delay your gp10s either.

I play Kayle as ranged dps all the time. Get CDR, and AS and it's good game. I also play her from the jungle. Good nuke slow and speed boost as well as being a ranged jungler essentially. Nashor's is amazing on her.

On Sona , I go philo boots HoG and then the rest depends on team comp

If say I have teemo, corki, and an ad jungler I will either go FH or Zekes next (also depends on how well my lane is doing. if i am getting lots of assists and my adc is fed Zekes, if not FH or Aegis)

My end sona build is usually Reverie, Ionian Boots, Zekes/Frozen Heart/Aegis ( or any combo of the 3) 5 wards and a GA if the game really goes that far.

I don't play ranked, but I do almost exclusively play support and jungle.

If I have an AP heavy team I'll get a will of ancients as it helps me and them a bit.

Building support is nearly 100% situational. Where as other roles have more of a set build more or less.