Hey guys, it's one of these posts again. Today I wanted to talk about support itemization, the role of a support and overall how to support in an efficient way.

I am aiming to talk mostly about conventional supports (so don't expect me to go around talking about support teemo, support sion or something like that).

What makes supports different than any other role in game? Well, they usually pack a lot of utility in their kits and need little to no gold to be efficient. That means that they can leave all the farm to the AD carry (who is extremely item dependant) and still be useful.

Before anything else, I would like to go on the concept of peeling: Usually the main source of damage in your team will come through the AD and AP carry. Peeling is nothing more then making as difficult as possible to the enemy to reach and damage your carries and thus allowing them to use their damage potencial to the maximum extent. CC'ing the enemy that is trying to go for the carry, speeding up the carry, shielding him, healing him, protecting him in any sort of way is, basically, peeling. And peeling is one of the most important things a support can do.
So in a teamfight a support is supposed not to dish as much damage as possible, but to protect the carries (and the other teammates) as best as he can and to soak up as much damage as he can in the place of the carries.
This is usually not that much of a problem since most support itens also give yourself resistences of some sort.
Also, it is important to notice that some support excel at peeling (Like Janna) and others can do little to peel for the carry (like Soraka).

Since most support itens are gold efficient (and they don't need that much gold anyway), supports can dump a lot of their money into consumables (primarily wards) and contribute a lot for map control. When people say that vision wins games they are not joking: a well placed ward can help your team to catch an enemy out of position and turn the tide of the game. Warding objectives, the jungle entrances, having wards inside of the enemy jungle, all of this helps your team a lot.

A usual support runepage will consist of gold per 10 quints, magic resist blues, armor/magic pen reds (depending of how much poke you have and how hard is the lane), armor yellows (some people run mana regen, but it does leave you squishier). I personally love running armor reds and yellows while having 4 gold per 1- yellow runes, to top 4 gold per ten using only runes and not losing that much armor.
As masteries, it will generally depend: you will usually go deep into the utility tree to grab greed, wealth and intelligence and have some points on the defense tree, but it varies a lot (leona for example, can easily go 21 points into the defensive tree.

So, without any further ado, let us look at the support items and when to build them:

-Philosopher's Stone : This item gives health and mana regen and additional gold per 5
*When should you get it: every game
Providing the highest gold per 10 ratio from all itens and having an essencial upgrade (which I will talk about later) there is no mystery about why you should get this item. However, it should only be rushed in passive lanes or lanes in which you are winning as it only offers you regen, which can lead you to be bursted down in case you are engaged on.

-Sightstone: Provides 4 wards (can only have two out at a time) and HP
*When should you get it: every game
Supports love HP and love giving vision. This item can give you both. Consider coming back to lane with a ruby crystal and a few wards after your first back if you can't afford it. It's upgrade, ruby sightstone gives even more HP and allows you to have one more ward out. Must buy!

-Mana manipulator: Provides mana regen aura
*When should you get it: Basically almost never. This item gets inefficient pretty quickly and it's upgrade is underwhelming. Extremely situational, avoid it.

-Kage's lucky pick: Provides AP and 4 gold per 10
*When should you get it: Most games. However, the moment you should get it depends of how tanky you need to be, how passive your lane is and how much it will help with your poke. I would not delay an aegis to get it, save in some special cases. However, this item has a great upgrade which I will talk about later.

-Avarice blade: Crit chance + gold per 10 + 2 extra gold when killing minions
*When should you get it: Never. This is not a support item, does not build into a support item and you shouldn't be killing minions in the place of your carry anyway.

-T1 boots: + 25 movespeed
*When should you get it: everygame, but you should aim to have your boots by the end of lane phase, as you will roam the map much more warding and trying to help out your team

-T2 boots: +45 movespeed
*When should you get it: most games. sometimes you will be too busy buying other support items or wards to bother with this and the game will end before you can get it. Cooldown boots are acceptable (but not ideal, since you will be getting lots of CDR from the other support itens). I would generally go for mobility (for lots of roaming and safer ward placing) or tabi/mercury (for resistances)

-Aegies of the legion: Health + armor, health regen and MR aura
*When should you get it: whenever your top/jungle is not getting it. It is a great item and helps your team a lot. It's upgrade, runic bulward, gives you 60 MR (30+ 30 from the aura) and is crazily gold efficient when all of your teammates are near you. I would try to get at least the emblem of valor during laning phase and try to complete aegies as soon as possible once it ends.

-Eleisa's Miracle: Cooldown reduction on some summoner spells, health and mana regen, effects become permanent and item is consumed after three levels
*When should you get it: Never. It is underwhelming and outclassed. Avoid it

-Mikael's Crucible: Chalice passive, health and mana regen, a cleanse + heal with a high cooldown, magic resist
*When should you get it: It is somewhat expensive and you shouldn't be that mana hungry. But it can be build situationally in case the enemy has a lot of CC and you want to give your carry some extra protection.

-Ohmwrecker: Health, ability power, mana and health regen, passive that prevents towers from attacking for 2.5 seconds.
*When should you get it: Extremely situational, only get it if you have a dive comp and they actually need this item.

-Shurelya's Reverie: Health, cooldown reduction, regens and a lovely active that give anyone around 40% movespeed (useful for chasing and escaping).
*When should you get it: Every game, by the end of laning phase. You won't believe how useful this item ins, the burst of speed is gaming changing.

-Shard of True Ice: Mana regen aura, ability power, 4 gold per 10 and an active that creates a slow field near an ally.
*When should you get it: Having the gold per 10 is nice, but the slow is underwheelming when peeling. Avoid it.

-Twin Shadows: Magic resist, 40 ability power, 6% movement speed and an active that summons two ghosts that seek the nearest enemy champions, revealing and slowing them.
*When should you get it: Most games, by mid game. This item is amazing with the movespeed and the active and it also provides magic resistance. The active is a good scouting tool and can also be used to peel, chase or when running away. Combined with shurelias it can be used to make a lot of good plays.

-Zeke's Herald: Health, 20% cooldown reduction and an AD + lifesteal aura
*When should you get it: It is very situational, but when you have a AD heavy team that relies on auto attacks a lot, consider this item if no one is getting it.

-Will of the Ancients: AP + AP and spellvamp aura
*When should you get it: When you have an AP mid/top that benefits a lot from spell vamp and they can't get it for some reason or if you want to have a double WoTA, making your AP have 30 bonus AP and reach 40% spellvamp.

-Banner of Command: Health regen + increasead damage and ability power for minions + ability power + armor + 10% CDR + promotes a siege union to a more powerful unit as an active
*When should you get it: This itens fit split pushers better then it fits supports, but I guess you can get it when you need a lot of pushing power (if you have a poke comp and is sieging bot, you can pop the active top and make it harder for them to defend).

-Locket of the Iron Solari: Health, armor, health regen and CDR + an active that shields nearby allies
*When should you get it: This is more of a jungler/top item, but you can get it if they don't and you need a lot of AOE protection for your team.


I won't talk about other viable itens for supports (like frozen heart) as they are not specifically tailored to have a "supportive" role (and also because I would be talking about half of the itens in the game).

Just a reminder: wards are as important as itens as s support. Never leave base without at least one or two. Late game, your full build will have 5 itens, as your 6th slot will be reserved for wards alone (since the three from ruby sightstone won't give you nearly enough map control as you would want).



Hope you liked this post and stay tuned for my "Support 102" post, where I will talk specifically about each support and their with which carry they sinergize best.
As always, I am open for suggestions!

Cheers!

just remember throwing all of this out the window and playing a kill lane or a secondary support mage like karma is just as effective if you take 0 minions, with a proper setup you should still beat the jungler and maybe top in gold and thus be able to get that hat/3 bf swords/whatever you need :P

I wouldn't say it is as effective as, but it is a nice enough way of winning a normal game when you are reaching mid game. Vision, utility and a non gold dependant character are way more useful in organized play

Good write up Yarg!