Been playing LoL for almost a month now and my champ preferences are starting to lean toward the beefy support classes, specifically Tank Malphite and AP Nunu. My problem is I tend to earn gold and gain levels much slower than just about any teammate who isn't a feeder or playing with their toes- usually a solid level or two behind by mid game and 3-4 levels by the time the carry hits 18. It's rare I get beyond my first major item purchase in most games lasting 30-40 minutes.

Even though they have different roles I tend to play Malphite and Nunu very similarly; harass early with slowing ranged spells, stay in my lane unless an opportunity to gank is near (almost never happens), heavily rely on Ultimate to help my team dominate group encounters. When Ulti is on CD I feel kind of useless. I follow guides, but those I've read all seem to claim I should have certain items in nearly half the time it takes me to farm for them.

I tend not to get involved in early ganks, mostly because 1)I think it's a bit of a waste to cross the map and leave my lane undefended and 2)outside of my ultimate I'm not much in the DPS or tanking department (even though both champs are durable, they really don't have the items early to stand up to multi-champ focus in a group fight).

So, if you got this far, my question is what's the best way to earn gold and level these melee support Champs? Should I be more open to abandon my lane early to try and gank mid or the opposite lane? Should I be trying to jungle more? Should I be sticking with my lane partner like a loyal dog and going where they go to buff them/debuff enemies regardless of my lane?

nunu and malphite can both jungle. You can try to do it. Also, with Malphite armor, you mostly can run in, last hit a creep and go back without really taking dmg. You only have to be a good last hitter.

With Malphite, I've found that his W and E are my bread and butter. It makes farming so much easier and I can usually get items faster. General advice though, would be to organize a gank or team fights. Being the support you are, you are in your element helping your allies destroy enemy champions and the assists that you gain are what gets you your gold and xp.

In addition to what Gigg said, both are actually pretty good at ganking - Nunu can start pretty early, Malphite generally wants to wait until he has ult. Ganking is a pretty good source of income.

I usually run with Alistar, who has the same problems with farming and early ganks. Your keys to success with tanks are threefold:

1. Practice last hitting constantly.
2. Harass heavily while in your lane. You can absorb damage and the other guys probably can't (excepting other tanks.)
3. Communicate and stay with your carry so that you can initiate and keep said carry alive.

You didn't mention what summoner spells you take, or what equipment you're managing to purchase.

OP here,

I typically run flash on both characters as my first spell and either teleport or heal on Malphite and Teleport or Clarity on Nunu.

Nunu: Sapphire > Catalyst > rush RoA (Unfortunately it's usually close to the 20 minute mark when I pick RoA up and game has to last another 15 to get the max benefit). Then boots, start building Void Staff, Banshee's would be next but never get that far.

I don't play Nunu as a tank, I don't think he's that great at it. He lacks a stun/initiator. I'd rather Boil the melee carry, rush in once the melee gets going and scatter or wipe the other team with my Ultimate.

Malphite: Meki, then Warden's Mail (Health Regen + lots of Armor + passive are great in my Melee heavy low ELO meta). Then I got Boots, Shroud, Frozen Heart and start building a Banshee's. Chalice would be thrown in their if I needed extra mana or high magic resistance needed.


Like I mentioned, I spend most of my mana harassing with my ranged abilities on both characters and usually don't have much left over to farm with. While Consume is great, it's on a 35 second CD, not really a farming ability, but I use it when it's up. I like to use Ground Slam to farm, but again, I like to keep enough mana for my Shards and Ulitmate at all times. Brutal Strikes sounds like a good option I usually overlook for farming, I'll have to give that a try.

Sounds like I just need to get better at focusing on last hitting with my auto attack and get involved in ganks early and forget about defending my lane solo when my laning partner disappears.