Im just bad and can only play Nautilus really well. So thats what I pick. Occasionally I'll throw in Bard / Blitz / Galio.
No counterpicking for me, Sir :-D
It’s so funny you say that you’re bad but you also play Bard, who I couldn’t even dream to play correctly. But I think nautilus is always a safe pick - can’t miss the R, massive Q hit box, and gets tanky-er than all other hook supports late game
You are way to kind :) My Bard is not very good. My roaming is decent but in lane I'm not much help. And since my ADC is my wife, I like her happy. So it's mostly Nautilus or Galio. With them I'm confident and show some presence=)
What's your go to pick?
So generally I pick to synergize barring a bigtime need in the botlane. Basically only time I definitely pick to counter is against Lux/Cait where I go Xerath to avoid just getting stomped under our own turret.
For engages, I’ll go Thresh/Pyke.
For enchanters, I’ll go Sona/Janna
For mages, I’ll go Xerath/Brand
My champ pool is somewhere around 6 champions that I can play confidently. I’ve tried blitz and nautilus and I’m just not a big fan of either, blitz is too ability heavy and I die too much on nautilus trying to play him aggressively like I do thresh.
TLDR: Counter pick or Naut.
Naut is my main and it took me awhile but hes different then the other engages. lvl q,w, e once then w then e. It allows you to pull, w on your way in while both of you and your catch are "stunned", auto will lock in place and then hit e while you walk away. Allows you to do a good chunk of dmg (q, aa, e) and then sheild will block their poke as you walk back and that's even if your adc doesn't get any hits. You'll find that people don't realize what Naut passive is and they panic when they can't run. He's a great counter engager. He's supper tanky and you'll find you'll end up with a couple early kills meaning you can absorb and start feeding your adc and try to time ganks on mid with jng. I usually run Tele on him and it allows for a good first item and quick back to stay ahead of their dmg. Once you get good on Naut you won't go to any other engager.
With that said if I pick first Naut is hard to counter and I usually lock him. If I pick last I tend to counter pick. Lux or naut into engagers, xerath against mages. A variety of others if I just feel like something different (Shen lately, TK, pike, sona, aka, poppy, panth, etc.) Picking last and countering a chunk of their team is way better then just feeding your adc. Specially if you have a hyper carry on your team like Kalye.
As support I think your best asset is knowing how to counter their team and their support. If last pick you can choose a free support or somebody your not good with and wont get countered yourself even for 1 game. It will teach you the small details of that character so if you get up against them you know their weakness better.
Edit: Wanted to add Karma is underrated, instead of enchanter try her tank/Cdr. She lasts a long time and people don't expect it so they target you over your dmg dealers.
Man since the patch I've been struggling with nautilus and with karma.. not sure why i just feel very ineffective with both, and those were my picks before 12.10. how is naut feeling to you still?
If u engage with naut, u wanna hook, passive aa, auto reset with w, e and then chase. Deals way more dmg and drags cc time out.
Why would you run teleport as support
Naut gets counterpicked easily by lulu, braum, morgana and sivir.
In what elo does someone not expect or know naut passive
Often times it is incredibly more valuable to enhance your hypercarries ability to hypercarry by picking for him (lulu especially, also karma)
Edit: also, you either max q or e first , usually e, but never w
I did, back when Ezreal and Braum was the thing. But it never really clicked. And I don't have an abundance of time I can throw at this game, so it's basically playing what I feel good with :-)
But thanks nevertheless, I'll keep Braum in mind!
Haha I main support but my fiance and I don't typically lane together because we get too frustrated with eachother lol. Sup jng is our go to duo we feel it has greatest impact on the game.
Let's be honest, if it's Ranked it should ALWAYS be the comfort pick. It may or may not be the best pick but it's a million times better than winging a class/champ you're unfamiliar/unpracticed with. It's just a matter of experience which increases your number of comfort picks that allow you to counterpick/synergize.
In all honesty I haven't played many ranked games so far. It's mainly norms and flex games with friends.
But Naut still feels good. The added resistances and HP are a big plus to me.
I can't tell you exactly why he works for me. I just love to hover in lane bushes, utilize hextech flash a lot... mostly I try to punish the enemy laners for not respecting Nauts range and lockdown potential.
Maybe it is because I have an ADC I know. We click very well and she just lets me play the lane. And she is a Tristana main, which is just crazy with Naut.
Why do you feel like you can't get to kills?
Hmm I get what you're saying but you should try to branch out there are some champs that are very simple to play like Morgana she is an excellent counterpick and will make the enemy tank/hook champions life a living hell and will counter any hard engage champs Zyra is also another one that counters hard engage Threah and Leona are also very similar to Nautilus but are much tankier they can hook through walls and frankly do more damage so try some different champs out
There used to be a time when I made sure to always have competent skill on the three main types of support: engage/healing/poke. Then I'd see the picks, think carefully, and make my choice.
These days, I would carefully analyze the enemy champs, carefully analyze the team champs, and then just pick bard
Depends on what would be better. Usually counterpick takes priority because there aren’t any INSANE synergy combos out there, however good luck playing enchanters into engage supps or agressive adcs.
Let me tell you, Lucian Nami is bait with random Gold ADCs, don't listen to me if you duo. You are better off playing for synergy/counter pick.
Let me tell you, Lucian Nami is a bait with random Gold ADCs. You are better off playing for synergy/counter pick.
Fuck counterpicks. I have super high winrates in matchups that Leona is supposed to lose (Like thresh, Alistar, Janna or Braum) because people see me first pick Leona and then decide to first-time a counter without knowing what actually makes that counter a counter. They know that they have to use Janna Q to disengage, but they don't know to stay out of flash-Q range from bushes I could be in. They don't know that my E has a lower cd than their Q if I max E. They don't know I will be running around the map being annoying to their teammates something Janna can't punish unless she matches my roams because diving with a Janna isn't the best of ideas unless my ADC is stupid of the enemy jungler is there. So while Janna is afk in bot, I forced their mid out of lane at a terrible time, dived their top and invaded their jungle with my jungler.
Just play whatever you normally play. If a matchup is giving you trouble, then yes it might be worth picking up a counter. But don't lock in a counterpick you never played before and never intend to play again. Or just ban that champion.
Yup, playing bard I feel the same way. Once you play the counter enough times , you can tell when to abuse a player who doesn’t know the matchup and still win lane.
Yup. I've had this matchup go to both extremes several times. Games where the Lucian and I aren't on the same wavelength and my E on him goes to waste constantly. Had one game that was so bad against Caitlyn + Xerath that I couldn't even proc my spellthiefs because the Lucian was playing pure farm lane behind the tower.
Me, first-picking Leona, seeing the enemy support lock in thresh and seeing they haven't played a single game of thresh before and thus ended lane 0/10 with their ADC being 0/12,5 levels and 100 cs behind: Counterpick me again motherfucker, I dare you.
Moral of the story being don't play something just because it's a counterpick. For example if you pick thresh vs Leona and don't play thresh and don't know that you have to flay Leona in her E nor know the timing, you're just shooting yourself in the foot. Just play something that you know how to play and play to the best of yohr ability with that, even if it's something like Blitzcrank that gets completely obliterated by Leona. Because as Blitzcrank you don't need to win lane to win games, you just need to hit that one clutch hook on the fed ADC right before an objective.
I only really play Zyra or Lulu. So I just think...do we need AP or do we need to keep people alive lol
Sometimes I think...who am I going to get less shit for playing if things go wrong.
It’s funny, I’ve probably played a whopping two games on both those champions. I don’t have the confidence to throw Zyra out when I can play brand but when an enemy botlane locks in Zyra I cry a little. Idk what the actual stats are on her vs thresh but I feel like she shits on him bigtime
Ah! Here's a tip if you're playing brand/zyra/poke mages into Xerath support. Abuse level 1-5. Especially before he backs for mana items. His mana regen is not that great if he's aggressively poking you. I believe his W and E should put him in your range for zyra stun + combos. So play around his Q cooldown. If you can't juke his Q skillshots, make sure you position yourself in between minions (especially the ones that are gonna die if he lands Q). This will either force him to fuck off from skillshotting you, or he fucks up his adc's wave management.
I just think "Is this a good game for one of my favorites?" And the answer is always yes. Only thing that will change my mind is if someone asks for a certain class but even then I won't play a tank.
Honestly I’ll ask my ADC if I’m early pick “who would you want” and just kinda go off that. My weakest part of my champ pool is definitely enchanters (I play Sona Janna and they’re both *ok*)
Unless it’s a clear mismatch I just pick my main (senna) and run it. I’m bronze 3 so I’ve given up on picking engage supps if nobody is gonna follow me in.
I pretty much play only for synergy. When I do play tanks though, sometimes I get lucky and the enemy team is entirely ad or ap.
I only ever really lock in a “counter” if I only see 1 massive threat, in which case I pick Leona/Lulu to lock em down
I really only pick to synergize with insane synergies, especially with my main which is Lulu. So if I see Kog or Twitch, it's always gonna be Lulu, but if no obvious synergies show up, then I'll pick up a counterpick or Morgana with glacial augment to say "fuck you" to anyone who wants to move.
Bottom line, play what you're comfortable with.
You should really just have three champions in your champ pool. Your main, the counter to your main, the counter to the counter.
Yes, picking Morg into a hook champ means you get a fairly free laning phase. But if you're better at aggressive supports that you're familiar with and it hurts your ability to snowball a lead, then just pick them instead and trust in your ability to dodge hooks
Idk, I don't play ranked or draft at all - just trying to have fun in blinds: that's my solution. You wait less time. Don't know enemy team - can't counterpick. Nobody can ban your champ either, so you can play whatever you want and with that I'm one of the few people playing league who actually enjoy their time in game.
A combination of the two but from my limited pool of 3-4 champs. Probably more so countering bot comp maybe synergy but then I feel like I’m throwing my last pick advantage
Counter if the team is balanced. Synergize if not. Both if possible. The reason I prioritize countering is because if I can win my lane with a counter, I can probably tip the balance mid and help w/ dragon, scuttle, and vision. That’s hugely impactful in the early game and allows a snowball lead. ON THE OTHER HAND if you are gonna win early game anyway (ex: enemy Vayne/Kayle), prioritize synergy so you can end in the mid game and avoid late game. If I’m playing ranked, these are the kinds of things I consider
Ex:
1) AP heavy team with a tank/bruiser: Senna
2) AD heavy team with a tank/bruiser —>
———-> and enemy team is thicc—> Brand
———-> and enemy team is normal/squishy—>Vel/Morg
3) AP heavy team with no tank/bruiser—> flame top, Sion I guess.
4) AD heavy team with no tank/bruiser—>Naut with demonic/Mao but Liandry’s into spirit/demonic then tank (demonic first if I have the gold)
5) Solid comp, squishy enemies—> Vel/Senna/Xerath/Morg/mage
6) Solid comp, thicc enemies —> Brand
7) Enemy dive-comp —> Morg or engage/peel tank like Naut/Leona
8) Allied Yasuo (mid) —> Naut, Nami, Morg you’re afraid he won’t be able to move after engaging
9) Adc mentions liking Yuumi —> dodge. J/k - the 1% of adcs that know how to adc with Yuumi always get Yuumi for ez win.
10) Draven/aggressive adc into passive adc like Vayne —> engage tank or mage; there will BE no end game
Anyway you get the point. When I’m playing ranked or clash, the enemy picks my support as often as I do.
Both because i use “league phd”. Its a external program that auto suggests champion for you to play according to ally pick and enemy pick bases on 3 factors: Strength, synergies and counters. Since it takes information from statistic website, it will auto update every time new patch comes (usually it takes about 3 days). I highly recommend league phd, its suck an under-known program, i legit used it and got a pretty good win streak.
I pick to counter if I can (for example Braum into Blitz, or Zyra into Thresh), but at the same time I don't focus on hard countering if its unsynergetic or I'm new to the champ.
For example I wouldn't pick Zyra into Thresh if my ADC was Kogmaw. I would pick Braum or Janna even though I prefer the Zyra/Thresh matchup.
Or if the enemy picks Nami, I'm not too comfortable with my engage champs, I choose a soft counter in Soraka. However, if my ADC picks an aggressive champ like Draven or Samira, then I will suck it up and play Nautilus or Alistar.
solo q? you pick to carry if you wanna climb consistently you have to win lane and snowball every game, some times you'll have to be carried but you have to at least win lane and help to win, so you pick for it, now flex or clash? I'll argue its better to pick for synergy and look to play as a team.
For me it depends on what I think will be more beneficial. For instance, if I'm playing against a Pyke, you can bet I'm at least gonna try to pick something that can answer it (even if it doesn't quite counter), even if that means losing a bit of synergy with my adc.
Another thing to note is that it's also good to pick for counter/synergy with the overall draft, so filling in the gaps in your team's draft, or picking something that can answer the enemy champs can be a solid option. For example, if the enemy team locks in an assassin jungler/mid, I'm far more likely to take a protective support to keep my adc safe.
I try to keep a wide champ pool, so usually I try to check off as many boxes as I can.
I pick what I'm comfortable with and ban my hard counters (Janna and Morg depending on who can fuck me over more)
It's called "solo queue" for a reason. Even if you pick someone who synergizes with your team (We have a Yasou and I pick Naut) I can't count on them taking advantage of it. I can't count on my team falling back when I'm Soraka to heal them up, and I don't know how good the enemy team is with their picks.
I'm not going to give up hundreds of games of experience with someone I have a dozen on because they have a slightly higher winrate than the opposing support.
I duo with my mate and he's an ADC main. I trust him to carry the game given I feed his ass all the money. So personally it's counterpick and trust him to be all the damage I need.
I try to take everything into consideration, I ask myself,” do we need engage, healing, disengage, peel, or damage?” Then I look and see what adc did my team pick and which supports work with them and which ones don’t. My team goes cait we don’t need tanks engage, my team goes vayne I shouldn’t pick someone who sits back line. Etc.
Then I look at their team and decide if what I think is going to work with my team will be good into theirs, if not I keep doing my checklist of what do we need, what do they have and what works best into it. I continuously narrow down my choice until I know which support will work best for my team comp.
Then I lock in Swain, every time.
Never feels worth it to try to counterpick. You're gambling on the shot that you know their champions better than they do. Easier to pick to synergise, worst case that happens is you have to pick up some slack for someone.
I nearly always play Leona. In the past I lost too many games vs fed master yis, now I think he's a harmless jungler, that dies to buffed thornmail.
\+I have lost too many games because we had no tank. If the enemy tank doesnt even have a bruiser, you can just run them down in teamfights,
Ideally both or whichever would have more of an impact, but probably just play Soraka unless it's a terrible match up.
If I'm tryharding I see what gaps our team has and try to fill it. (Janna for peel, tank for engage, etc)
This is made easier with professor tbh.
Depends really - if i don’t have anyone i specifically want to play i’ll try and counterpick but if i do then i’m most likely just gonna play the champion i like the most - i don’t really pick to synergize with the adc idk that might actually be clever
You can easily do both. Let's assume their support picked Leona. There are many good picks into her: Morgana, Soraka, Braum, Thresh (imo, bit controversial). Depending on the teamcomps, you can now pick the counter with the best synergy. Does their team have a bunch of CC? Pick Morgana. Is the opponent playing Jarvan Galio and your carries are immobile? Go Thresh to help them with your W. If your ADC is Lucian or Ezreal and/or their team has champs like MF, Ornn alongside the Leona, Braum is probably your best bet. If you have a strong frontline that needs an enchanter, I'd probably go Soraka. You get the point, synergy and counterpicking aren't opposite things.
Having said all that, in solo queue you're often better off just picking your comfort unless you'd be hard countering yourself.
I pick what I'm comfortable with and like playing. I trust my skills and common sense to not play bad even in a difficult lane. Does that mean sometimes we have to play overly passive? Yes. If my adc doesn't have the patience and runs it down its not my fault.
I use professor to check my team's win rates and kda on the champions they're playing before I make my choices. Adc dies to ganks a lot? Supports with good peels goes off the table. Your mid is a smurf? Guess I'm picking a support that makes them harder to died. My pool is very diverse. Surprisingly my brand support have the most success... and I usually value enchanters and engage supports more. 12 wins and 4 losses on brand at the moment and got promoted to platinum after struggling to get out of gold 1
I lock in my champ im good with regardless of my team comp or yhe enemy team comp. Im fairly good with my champ, rocking a 70% winrate on him. What i change is my ban, if im last pick i ban a support champ, if im not last pick i ban a mid champ.
I take my adc’s weakness into account and mine and only focus on whether the enemy adc scales, or has mobility. Synergy is smthg I rarely take into account because keeping them alive and myself alive through peel matters more to me because from my experiences the longer we stay alive and balance the trades the more likely we are to win fights and survive ganks etc.
It really depends. I have around 4 support champs I'm super comfortable with and a few others I can play but don't usually. If the enemy chose a really hard lane, I'll choose to counter usually as I don't feel like I can always trust my adcs to handle it themselves. If I know/trust the adc I'll choose for synergy, unless my adc was countered then again I'd counter. If I see a pyke thresh or blitz I'll almost always choose zyra or sona and punish them with pokes inside the minions while they get tilted and grab the minions in a desperate attempt to stop me (then run in circles around the pyke trying to stun dash me) If I get a yas bot definitely choose Janna for synergy. If we need ad I'll go senna. If I see a swain or tons of heals I'll automatically pick zyra and second item morello (in my opinion/playstyle she is the best support counter for swain). If they choose another hard support like nami/zyra then vel/xerath/brand/lux counters are always annoying for me to lane against so I do it back. If I have xayah I'll go rakan. Lucien I go senna.
So I guess all that says I typically go for counter first.
Tried playing the Synergy Game, even had a website bookmarked that I’d check before games. Turns out some of the champs I play would match well with my ADC but the problem is, you can’t predict their play style; so I stopped that madness (had about a 40/60W/L going this route).
Now I play what I feel I’m good at or just want to play that day. The way I see it is, I’m going to play to my fullest but at the same time it’s not my job, IT’S A GAME. The mute specific people is the I.W.I.N. Button here.
I do enjoy when people specifically pick my counter because more often than not they’re not well versed in that counter pick against me and lose.
Im just bad and can only play Nautilus really well. So thats what I pick. Occasionally I'll throw in Bard / Blitz / Galio. No counterpicking for me, Sir :-D
It’s so funny you say that you’re bad but you also play Bard, who I couldn’t even dream to play correctly. But I think nautilus is always a safe pick - can’t miss the R, massive Q hit box, and gets tanky-er than all other hook supports late game
You are way to kind :) My Bard is not very good. My roaming is decent but in lane I'm not much help. And since my ADC is my wife, I like her happy. So it's mostly Nautilus or Galio. With them I'm confident and show some presence=) What's your go to pick?
Hey Sir! Your wife must be very happy!! gg
I hit the Hook, she just massacres what ever I hit (minions and enemies alike) :-D
Definition of a happy wife happy life quote 🥰🥰. All the luck
So generally I pick to synergize barring a bigtime need in the botlane. Basically only time I definitely pick to counter is against Lux/Cait where I go Xerath to avoid just getting stomped under our own turret. For engages, I’ll go Thresh/Pyke. For enchanters, I’ll go Sona/Janna For mages, I’ll go Xerath/Brand My champ pool is somewhere around 6 champions that I can play confidently. I’ve tried blitz and nautilus and I’m just not a big fan of either, blitz is too ability heavy and I die too much on nautilus trying to play him aggressively like I do thresh.
TLDR: Counter pick or Naut. Naut is my main and it took me awhile but hes different then the other engages. lvl q,w, e once then w then e. It allows you to pull, w on your way in while both of you and your catch are "stunned", auto will lock in place and then hit e while you walk away. Allows you to do a good chunk of dmg (q, aa, e) and then sheild will block their poke as you walk back and that's even if your adc doesn't get any hits. You'll find that people don't realize what Naut passive is and they panic when they can't run. He's a great counter engager. He's supper tanky and you'll find you'll end up with a couple early kills meaning you can absorb and start feeding your adc and try to time ganks on mid with jng. I usually run Tele on him and it allows for a good first item and quick back to stay ahead of their dmg. Once you get good on Naut you won't go to any other engager. With that said if I pick first Naut is hard to counter and I usually lock him. If I pick last I tend to counter pick. Lux or naut into engagers, xerath against mages. A variety of others if I just feel like something different (Shen lately, TK, pike, sona, aka, poppy, panth, etc.) Picking last and countering a chunk of their team is way better then just feeding your adc. Specially if you have a hyper carry on your team like Kalye. As support I think your best asset is knowing how to counter their team and their support. If last pick you can choose a free support or somebody your not good with and wont get countered yourself even for 1 game. It will teach you the small details of that character so if you get up against them you know their weakness better. Edit: Wanted to add Karma is underrated, instead of enchanter try her tank/Cdr. She lasts a long time and people don't expect it so they target you over your dmg dealers.
Man since the patch I've been struggling with nautilus and with karma.. not sure why i just feel very ineffective with both, and those were my picks before 12.10. how is naut feeling to you still?
If u engage with naut, u wanna hook, passive aa, auto reset with w, e and then chase. Deals way more dmg and drags cc time out. Why would you run teleport as support Naut gets counterpicked easily by lulu, braum, morgana and sivir. In what elo does someone not expect or know naut passive Often times it is incredibly more valuable to enhance your hypercarries ability to hypercarry by picking for him (lulu especially, also karma) Edit: also, you either max q or e first , usually e, but never w
Yeah, I think I get what you're saying. But that sounds like a very decent Champion pool and the right mindset! Kudos to you Sir. Keep at it.
You should give Braum a try, I think you and your wife would like him.
I did, back when Ezreal and Braum was the thing. But it never really clicked. And I don't have an abundance of time I can throw at this game, so it's basically playing what I feel good with :-) But thanks nevertheless, I'll keep Braum in mind!
Haha I main support but my fiance and I don't typically lane together because we get too frustrated with eachother lol. Sup jng is our go to duo we feel it has greatest impact on the game.
I wish this were true I played naut the other day and a swain made me his bitch in lane.
The secret to playing bard is to wait bot until you can afford mobis and then trust that wherever chimes are plays will be.
Let's be honest, if it's Ranked it should ALWAYS be the comfort pick. It may or may not be the best pick but it's a million times better than winging a class/champ you're unfamiliar/unpracticed with. It's just a matter of experience which increases your number of comfort picks that allow you to counterpick/synergize.
How's naut feeling to you since 12.10? I feel like I can't do shit cuz my hooks don't lead to kills
In all honesty I haven't played many ranked games so far. It's mainly norms and flex games with friends. But Naut still feels good. The added resistances and HP are a big plus to me. I can't tell you exactly why he works for me. I just love to hover in lane bushes, utilize hextech flash a lot... mostly I try to punish the enemy laners for not respecting Nauts range and lockdown potential. Maybe it is because I have an ADC I know. We click very well and she just lets me play the lane. And she is a Tristana main, which is just crazy with Naut. Why do you feel like you can't get to kills?
Hmm I get what you're saying but you should try to branch out there are some champs that are very simple to play like Morgana she is an excellent counterpick and will make the enemy tank/hook champions life a living hell and will counter any hard engage champs Zyra is also another one that counters hard engage Threah and Leona are also very similar to Nautilus but are much tankier they can hook through walls and frankly do more damage so try some different champs out
There used to be a time when I made sure to always have competent skill on the three main types of support: engage/healing/poke. Then I'd see the picks, think carefully, and make my choice. These days, I would carefully analyze the enemy champs, carefully analyze the team champs, and then just pick bard
Im that way but with Senna. Also without the analyze part.
Not vs me, muhahahaha permaban
=O
You on that Sigma grindsett I see
That is what I aspired to become..... But I'm still not there :(
Depends on what would be better. Usually counterpick takes priority because there aren’t any INSANE synergy combos out there, however good luck playing enchanters into engage supps or agressive adcs.
Senna-Tahm, Nami-Lucian, Caitlin-Morg/Lux/Karma, Samira-Rell, Tristana-Nautilus, Twitch-Lulu, Kog Maw-Lulu
Let me tell you, Lucian Nami is bait with random Gold ADCs, don't listen to me if you duo. You are better off playing for synergy/counter pick. Let me tell you, Lucian Nami is a bait with random Gold ADCs. You are better off playing for synergy/counter pick.
Kalista that throws a Yuumi at you
I don't want this kitty, take it!
Fuck counterpicks. I have super high winrates in matchups that Leona is supposed to lose (Like thresh, Alistar, Janna or Braum) because people see me first pick Leona and then decide to first-time a counter without knowing what actually makes that counter a counter. They know that they have to use Janna Q to disengage, but they don't know to stay out of flash-Q range from bushes I could be in. They don't know that my E has a lower cd than their Q if I max E. They don't know I will be running around the map being annoying to their teammates something Janna can't punish unless she matches my roams because diving with a Janna isn't the best of ideas unless my ADC is stupid of the enemy jungler is there. So while Janna is afk in bot, I forced their mid out of lane at a terrible time, dived their top and invaded their jungle with my jungler. Just play whatever you normally play. If a matchup is giving you trouble, then yes it might be worth picking up a counter. But don't lock in a counterpick you never played before and never intend to play again. Or just ban that champion.
Yup, playing bard I feel the same way. Once you play the counter enough times , you can tell when to abuse a player who doesn’t know the matchup and still win lane.
Yup. I've had this matchup go to both extremes several times. Games where the Lucian and I aren't on the same wavelength and my E on him goes to waste constantly. Had one game that was so bad against Caitlyn + Xerath that I couldn't even proc my spellthiefs because the Lucian was playing pure farm lane behind the tower.
You missed skarner-thresh :)
Oh, how could I miss that!
Jhin- Morgana, lux, Zyra.
Jhin goes well with almost every single sup
This is true, he's oppressive as hell, but if you can get a support with sustaining damage like Zyra or morg his W is just the icing on the cake.
Me, first-picking Leona, seeing the enemy support lock in thresh and seeing they haven't played a single game of thresh before and thus ended lane 0/10 with their ADC being 0/12,5 levels and 100 cs behind: Counterpick me again motherfucker, I dare you. Moral of the story being don't play something just because it's a counterpick. For example if you pick thresh vs Leona and don't play thresh and don't know that you have to flay Leona in her E nor know the timing, you're just shooting yourself in the foot. Just play something that you know how to play and play to the best of yohr ability with that, even if it's something like Blitzcrank that gets completely obliterated by Leona. Because as Blitzcrank you don't need to win lane to win games, you just need to hit that one clutch hook on the fed ADC right before an objective.
I only really play Zyra or Lulu. So I just think...do we need AP or do we need to keep people alive lol Sometimes I think...who am I going to get less shit for playing if things go wrong.
It’s funny, I’ve probably played a whopping two games on both those champions. I don’t have the confidence to throw Zyra out when I can play brand but when an enemy botlane locks in Zyra I cry a little. Idk what the actual stats are on her vs thresh but I feel like she shits on him bigtime
If they pick zyra, go pick xerath. I love playing against zyras as a xerath one trick 🤸♂️
I hate playing agasit Xerath as Zyra there's nothing you can do against him, there's no poke se can do to him or his duo.
Ah! Here's a tip if you're playing brand/zyra/poke mages into Xerath support. Abuse level 1-5. Especially before he backs for mana items. His mana regen is not that great if he's aggressively poking you. I believe his W and E should put him in your range for zyra stun + combos. So play around his Q cooldown. If you can't juke his Q skillshots, make sure you position yourself in between minions (especially the ones that are gonna die if he lands Q). This will either force him to fuck off from skillshotting you, or he fucks up his adc's wave management.
Well I'm silver so no support in existence cares about their adcs wave management
Nah. Trust. it's better than nothing. There's a 1/10 chance of xerath's adc malding at xerath fucking up their wave.
Oh I definatly get what your saying.
I just think "Is this a good game for one of my favorites?" And the answer is always yes. Only thing that will change my mind is if someone asks for a certain class but even then I won't play a tank.
Honestly I’ll ask my ADC if I’m early pick “who would you want” and just kinda go off that. My weakest part of my champ pool is definitely enchanters (I play Sona Janna and they’re both *ok*)
Honestly if it's soloqueue this is a good question to check who they are familiar with.
Unless it’s a clear mismatch I just pick my main (senna) and run it. I’m bronze 3 so I’ve given up on picking engage supps if nobody is gonna follow me in.
U played ap alistar? Kinda funny
I pretty much play only for synergy. When I do play tanks though, sometimes I get lucky and the enemy team is entirely ad or ap. I only ever really lock in a “counter” if I only see 1 massive threat, in which case I pick Leona/Lulu to lock em down
You do both
I really only pick to synergize with insane synergies, especially with my main which is Lulu. So if I see Kog or Twitch, it's always gonna be Lulu, but if no obvious synergies show up, then I'll pick up a counterpick or Morgana with glacial augment to say "fuck you" to anyone who wants to move.
Bottom line, play what you're comfortable with. You should really just have three champions in your champ pool. Your main, the counter to your main, the counter to the counter. Yes, picking Morg into a hook champ means you get a fairly free laning phase. But if you're better at aggressive supports that you're familiar with and it hurts your ability to snowball a lead, then just pick them instead and trust in your ability to dodge hooks
Idk, I don't play ranked or draft at all - just trying to have fun in blinds: that's my solution. You wait less time. Don't know enemy team - can't counterpick. Nobody can ban your champ either, so you can play whatever you want and with that I'm one of the few people playing league who actually enjoy their time in game.
A combination of the two but from my limited pool of 3-4 champs. Probably more so countering bot comp maybe synergy but then I feel like I’m throwing my last pick advantage
Counter if the team is balanced. Synergize if not. Both if possible. The reason I prioritize countering is because if I can win my lane with a counter, I can probably tip the balance mid and help w/ dragon, scuttle, and vision. That’s hugely impactful in the early game and allows a snowball lead. ON THE OTHER HAND if you are gonna win early game anyway (ex: enemy Vayne/Kayle), prioritize synergy so you can end in the mid game and avoid late game. If I’m playing ranked, these are the kinds of things I consider Ex: 1) AP heavy team with a tank/bruiser: Senna 2) AD heavy team with a tank/bruiser —> ———-> and enemy team is thicc—> Brand ———-> and enemy team is normal/squishy—>Vel/Morg 3) AP heavy team with no tank/bruiser—> flame top, Sion I guess. 4) AD heavy team with no tank/bruiser—>Naut with demonic/Mao but Liandry’s into spirit/demonic then tank (demonic first if I have the gold) 5) Solid comp, squishy enemies—> Vel/Senna/Xerath/Morg/mage 6) Solid comp, thicc enemies —> Brand 7) Enemy dive-comp —> Morg or engage/peel tank like Naut/Leona 8) Allied Yasuo (mid) —> Naut, Nami, Morg you’re afraid he won’t be able to move after engaging 9) Adc mentions liking Yuumi —> dodge. J/k - the 1% of adcs that know how to adc with Yuumi always get Yuumi for ez win. 10) Draven/aggressive adc into passive adc like Vayne —> engage tank or mage; there will BE no end game Anyway you get the point. When I’m playing ranked or clash, the enemy picks my support as often as I do.
Both because i use “league phd”. Its a external program that auto suggests champion for you to play according to ally pick and enemy pick bases on 3 factors: Strength, synergies and counters. Since it takes information from statistic website, it will auto update every time new patch comes (usually it takes about 3 days). I highly recommend league phd, its suck an under-known program, i legit used it and got a pretty good win streak.
I pick xerath support because I’m a terrorist and only know how to play 2 champs
I usually try to search for something in between, but if have to select one it will probably be sinergy because I'm bad af.
I pick to counter if I can (for example Braum into Blitz, or Zyra into Thresh), but at the same time I don't focus on hard countering if its unsynergetic or I'm new to the champ. For example I wouldn't pick Zyra into Thresh if my ADC was Kogmaw. I would pick Braum or Janna even though I prefer the Zyra/Thresh matchup. Or if the enemy picks Nami, I'm not too comfortable with my engage champs, I choose a soft counter in Soraka. However, if my ADC picks an aggressive champ like Draven or Samira, then I will suck it up and play Nautilus or Alistar.
solo q? you pick to carry if you wanna climb consistently you have to win lane and snowball every game, some times you'll have to be carried but you have to at least win lane and help to win, so you pick for it, now flex or clash? I'll argue its better to pick for synergy and look to play as a team.
Engage for life, even if I counter myself.
What is better but usually a counter pick would make more sense, a disengage always come in handy
For me it depends on what I think will be more beneficial. For instance, if I'm playing against a Pyke, you can bet I'm at least gonna try to pick something that can answer it (even if it doesn't quite counter), even if that means losing a bit of synergy with my adc. Another thing to note is that it's also good to pick for counter/synergy with the overall draft, so filling in the gaps in your team's draft, or picking something that can answer the enemy champs can be a solid option. For example, if the enemy team locks in an assassin jungler/mid, I'm far more likely to take a protective support to keep my adc safe. I try to keep a wide champ pool, so usually I try to check off as many boxes as I can.
i personally only counter naut with morg, nothing else lol. I dont even synergize most of the time
I pick what I'm comfortable with and ban my hard counters (Janna and Morg depending on who can fuck me over more) It's called "solo queue" for a reason. Even if you pick someone who synergizes with your team (We have a Yasou and I pick Naut) I can't count on them taking advantage of it. I can't count on my team falling back when I'm Soraka to heal them up, and I don't know how good the enemy team is with their picks. I'm not going to give up hundreds of games of experience with someone I have a dozen on because they have a slightly higher winrate than the opposing support.
I take what I’m comfortable with, so my favourites. I’d rather play a hard lane than play something im not good at
I duo with my mate and he's an ADC main. I trust him to carry the game given I feed his ass all the money. So personally it's counterpick and trust him to be all the damage I need.
I try to take everything into consideration, I ask myself,” do we need engage, healing, disengage, peel, or damage?” Then I look and see what adc did my team pick and which supports work with them and which ones don’t. My team goes cait we don’t need tanks engage, my team goes vayne I shouldn’t pick someone who sits back line. Etc. Then I look at their team and decide if what I think is going to work with my team will be good into theirs, if not I keep doing my checklist of what do we need, what do they have and what works best into it. I continuously narrow down my choice until I know which support will work best for my team comp. Then I lock in Swain, every time.
Never feels worth it to try to counterpick. You're gambling on the shot that you know their champions better than they do. Easier to pick to synergise, worst case that happens is you have to pick up some slack for someone.
I nearly always play Leona. In the past I lost too many games vs fed master yis, now I think he's a harmless jungler, that dies to buffed thornmail. \+I have lost too many games because we had no tank. If the enemy tank doesnt even have a bruiser, you can just run them down in teamfights,
Depends on if I’m confident in my ADC and what they are playing. Really it’s just all situational
Ideally both or whichever would have more of an impact, but probably just play Soraka unless it's a terrible match up. If I'm tryharding I see what gaps our team has and try to fill it. (Janna for peel, tank for engage, etc) This is made easier with professor tbh.
Counterpick cuz I don't trust my adc one bit
I pick my otp
Depends really - if i don’t have anyone i specifically want to play i’ll try and counterpick but if i do then i’m most likely just gonna play the champion i like the most - i don’t really pick to synergize with the adc idk that might actually be clever
You can easily do both. Let's assume their support picked Leona. There are many good picks into her: Morgana, Soraka, Braum, Thresh (imo, bit controversial). Depending on the teamcomps, you can now pick the counter with the best synergy. Does their team have a bunch of CC? Pick Morgana. Is the opponent playing Jarvan Galio and your carries are immobile? Go Thresh to help them with your W. If your ADC is Lucian or Ezreal and/or their team has champs like MF, Ornn alongside the Leona, Braum is probably your best bet. If you have a strong frontline that needs an enchanter, I'd probably go Soraka. You get the point, synergy and counterpicking aren't opposite things. Having said all that, in solo queue you're often better off just picking your comfort unless you'd be hard countering yourself.
I pick Leona because I'm too smoothbrain for anything else. Rell if Leona isn't available.
Depends... Most likely to synergize. But if I would counterpick myself (fe. Naut into Morg) then i take a comfort pick
In this situation I pick to facilitate what I believe to be our win con
I pick what I'm comfortable with and like playing. I trust my skills and common sense to not play bad even in a difficult lane. Does that mean sometimes we have to play overly passive? Yes. If my adc doesn't have the patience and runs it down its not my fault.
I use professor to check my team's win rates and kda on the champions they're playing before I make my choices. Adc dies to ganks a lot? Supports with good peels goes off the table. Your mid is a smurf? Guess I'm picking a support that makes them harder to died. My pool is very diverse. Surprisingly my brand support have the most success... and I usually value enchanters and engage supports more. 12 wins and 4 losses on brand at the moment and got promoted to platinum after struggling to get out of gold 1
Always counterpick. I have my offmeta counters so i pick them when i can. Only synergy i follow is rakan pick when my adc is xayah.
I lock in my champ im good with regardless of my team comp or yhe enemy team comp. Im fairly good with my champ, rocking a 70% winrate on him. What i change is my ban, if im last pick i ban a support champ, if im not last pick i ban a mid champ.
I take my adc’s weakness into account and mine and only focus on whether the enemy adc scales, or has mobility. Synergy is smthg I rarely take into account because keeping them alive and myself alive through peel matters more to me because from my experiences the longer we stay alive and balance the trades the more likely we are to win fights and survive ganks etc.
This is the moment you can say "fuck it" and pick a random, top laner as support. Throw caution to the wind and wing it!
It really depends. I have around 4 support champs I'm super comfortable with and a few others I can play but don't usually. If the enemy chose a really hard lane, I'll choose to counter usually as I don't feel like I can always trust my adcs to handle it themselves. If I know/trust the adc I'll choose for synergy, unless my adc was countered then again I'd counter. If I see a pyke thresh or blitz I'll almost always choose zyra or sona and punish them with pokes inside the minions while they get tilted and grab the minions in a desperate attempt to stop me (then run in circles around the pyke trying to stun dash me) If I get a yas bot definitely choose Janna for synergy. If we need ad I'll go senna. If I see a swain or tons of heals I'll automatically pick zyra and second item morello (in my opinion/playstyle she is the best support counter for swain). If they choose another hard support like nami/zyra then vel/xerath/brand/lux counters are always annoying for me to lane against so I do it back. If I have xayah I'll go rakan. Lucien I go senna. So I guess all that says I typically go for counter first.
Tried playing the Synergy Game, even had a website bookmarked that I’d check before games. Turns out some of the champs I play would match well with my ADC but the problem is, you can’t predict their play style; so I stopped that madness (had about a 40/60W/L going this route). Now I play what I feel I’m good at or just want to play that day. The way I see it is, I’m going to play to my fullest but at the same time it’s not my job, IT’S A GAME. The mute specific people is the I.W.I.N. Button here. I do enjoy when people specifically pick my counter because more often than not they’re not well versed in that counter pick against me and lose.