One thing I'm able to do way more at support than any other role is watch the map. Wards grant vision and all, but if you don't watch the minimap for ganks, they're pointless. In sense, this puts you in a captain sort of position. Make the calls when you see the enemy jungler or if you notice someone missing.

In war, the squad leader or platoon commander is not going to stand at the front lines. They'll be at the back watching the enemies movement, calling the shots, and supporting all of their troops on the battlefield. It's not because they're selfish, but distance and less immediate danger presence allows a little less stress to think.

Yeah, that post probably came across in all the wrong ways. Apologies for that. But my point still stands.

"The meta" isn't a strict rule set that must be followed, it's a guide to a strong team composition based off of what players have found successful. The key thing is that there are many other viable strategies, especially when considering that making a team to deliberately counter "the meta" is a very strong strategy in and of itself.

For example, M5 has ran a different type of Support in games before - a Jungle Support. They had Alistar (who, while traditionally a Support, has some of the meanest ganks in the game) play support for they Jungle Lee Sin. The ganks were incredible and Alistar was doing anything but "sitting around watching".

Or, the inverse of that, Dignita's Triple Support / Protect-the-Kog'maw strategy. At IPL4, they ran solo lanes for Lulu and Soraka, but still using them as supports in team fights, utilizing the MR shred from Soraka to enhance the percent-health damage from Kog'maw and their jungler, Dr. Mundo.

My point, again, is that if you are feeling distraught over the "mandatory Support", do something yourself about "the meta". Propose new strategies to teams you get matched up with. Try something crazy. It might just work.



Note: I make a point to call it "the meta" and not a proper noun of any sort because it's a misnomer. It comes from the term "meta-gaming", or using outside knowledge to affect your in-game decisions. "The meta" came about through this process, but blindly sticking to this strategy without taking into consideration as to why you are sticking to it is the opposite of it's namesake. I have a personal vendetta against "the meta".

If you're worried about logging on to League to sit around and watch other people play, then the role you need to avoid is ADC, not Support. Support's job is to make sure the ADC, Mid, and Jungle all get through the first 20 minutes of the game or so. The ADC's job is to do nothing but last-hit creeps for the first 20 minutes of the game, and then show up for teamfights and stay out of the way until they're mostly over.

No. Because all the teams that thought they'd try some other strategy that involved splitting the 4 gold streams among 5 players instead of 4 (which is what a 0cs support allows you to do) got CRUSHED by all the teams that used the superior strategy.

I play very dynamically as support and it's very fun, and it's thrilling to make a huge difference in teamfights like good supports can. Any well-build support should be a poking beast. Soraka especially (and her abilities as a pusher should not be underestimated, either).

Support is not my favorite role though. I prefer assassins and junglers. Even though jungling is a favorite role of mine, sometimes I get sick of it; that's fine, don't always play it.

As for the meta... well, have you ever tried not doing it? It's the most efficient way to win the game according to the players, but that doesn't mean it's an absolute. I've won games without support. Try experimenting with strategies.

I think support is an awsome role, its also underrated and over looked..because naturally youre not going to walk away with the big kills. I know what i bring to the game, whether my team mates know it or even care doesnt matter to me..theres a lot of skill, strategy and map awareness that goes into support. Its more brainy than brawny and thats why i think so few like it...