5 Tips to Help You Impact the Map as the Support
The best Supports in high ELO help their allies in all different lanes and have incredibly high kill participation during the earlier parts of the game. High ELO Supports help their allies do a ton of things, and usually sacrifice themselves to get their allies ahead.
In this Mobalytics article, we will discuss several ways you can have more of an impact around the map in League of Legends to get not only yourself ahead but your allies too. If you can improve your map presence, you’ll see yourself climbing in no time.
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5 Tips to Help You Impact the Map as the Support
- Play Around Your Power Spikes
- Purchase Early Boots
- Look To Roam Frequently
- Help With Objectives
- Warding Tips and Tricks
1. Play Around Your Power Spikes
Some champions are very strong at level 6. They offer them a ton of additional kill pressure and can make plays with their team to get kills. For instance, Gragas’ kill pressure and all-in intensify when he has his Ultimate, and the enemy must play respectfully.
If you’re in a situation where you cannot use your Ultimate in your own lane, you could look to use it elsewhere on the map. A roaming Alistar can dive the mid-lane tower with his Ultimate and push the enemy into his Mid laner.
Some of the other things we will talk about in this list overlap with your individual power spikes, but the point is that if you’re strong once you’ve purchased a certain item, hit a certain level or done something remarkable, you should look to abuse it and make plays around the map.
2. Purchase Early Boots
Roaming Supports are very strong, and they can impact the map after their first back. When playing a roaming Support such as Nautilus or Thresh, you should buy early Boots and try to roam around the map to help your allies.
We will go into more details about roaming soon, but you should look to make plays once you have purchased Boots. You do not need to upgrade these Boots straight away, but just getting the early Boots will give you extra movement speed, which will help you move around the map quickly.
3. Look To Roam Frequently
Roaming is one of the best ways you can have an impact on the map as a Support. Leaving your own lane and applying pressure to other lanes will increase your chances of winning the game. Roaming can be quite difficult and there are a lot of nuisances, but make sure you check out our in-depth roaming guide for tons of extra information.
As a Support, you can roam straight from base and try to make a play in the mid lane before returning to the bottom lane. This is ideal if you and your ADC have recalled at the same time as they will be in no danger of dying while you’re gone.
Another good time to roam is when your Mid laner has kill pressure and can prepare and follow up when you get into the lane. For instance, it’s much easier to gank a Syndra post 6 than it is a Talon. While Talon has a lot of solo kill pressure, he lacks CC to immobilize the enemy, which can help you land CC (layering CC increases kill pressure).
When roaming, you need to make sure you get something out of it and your ADC will not die while you’re gone. You cannot leave a Jhin alone versus a Blitzcrank and Vayne to 2v1 as he will die as soon as you go.
Always watch the map and look to leave your ADC when you think you can 1, get something out of it and 2, your ADC will stay safe. Like we said, roaming is pretty difficult and there is a big learning curve to it, so just try your hardest to roam and you’ll soon find out when you can and can’t roam.
Here are some example roaming paths you can take to move around the map and impact other lanes. Find more examples and tips with our in-depth roaming guide.
4. Help With Objectives
Supports have the second most impact when it comes to securing objectives in the game. This is because they can leave the lane and help their Jungler or other members of their team secure the objectives.
For instance, a Jungler may not find it safe to take the objective alone, but with the help of a Support they can take the objective together. Zyra is a prime example of a champion that can duo the Drake with their Jungler as she has a lot of damage thanks to her plants. Alternatively, they can take the objective with the ADC and Support.
As a Support, you should be looking to secure the Drakes whenever you can. This is why you should frequently be looking to take the objectives whenever you can. I recommend pinging the Drake often, especially when you see your Jungler on the bottom side of the map.
A good time to take the Dragon is after killing the enemy bottom lane and then pushing the minion wave while pinging your Jungler to come and help you. Obviously, don’t do it unless they’re going to help you take it.
Something that is also important to keep in mind is to have vision placed on the objective at all times, which brings us to our next point- vision control.
5. Warding Tips and Tricks
Wards are one of the most impactful ways you can have a presence on the map. Supports need to ward frequently and buy and place Control Wards frequently as the game develops. Although, squishy champions such as Sona or Viegar shouldn’t put themselves at too much risk trying to ward.
You can have an early impact by buying a Control Ward on your first back. Placing this Control Ward somewhere on the map will help your team spot the enemy Jungler as they move around the map.
Here are some good warding locations for your first Control Ward in the bottom lane. You can find more warding spots by checking out our in-depth warding guide.
Make sure you complete your warding quest quickly so you can start placing wards around the map. Change your trinket to a sweeper and they try to deny vision by sweeping commonly placed warding spots.
Your goal is to place wards frequently in high-traffic areas to spot enemy champions. If you can spot them before they make it to your lane or an ally, it can save their life and keep them alive. Purely by placing wards and watching the minimap, you can have a high impact by keeping your allies alive. If you want to, you could invest in a Vigilant Wardstone to increase your map pressure.
Final Thoughts
Impacting the map as the Support is very important. You need to roam, make plays and help your team as often as you can. If you stay in the lane doing nothing, you will find it hard to win the game. Make sure you are proactive and do everything we talked about in this guide. Remember to check out our friends at ONE Esports for more awesome League content.
