The support role in League of Legends can often be a thankless job. A good support can go relatively unnoticed during the game, but playing poorly can get you ruthlessly flamed.
The types of supports in League can be split into three categories: Enchanters, engagers, and poke supports. While some champions cross over into multiple categories, it’s a pretty safe golden triangle to go by.
Enchanter supports, like Soraka or Nami, focus on keeping the bot lane carry alive through the laning phase with heals and shields. Enchanter supports usually go well into poke supports because they can out-sustain the poke, but struggle into engagers due to a lack of mobility and relative squishiness.
Engage supports, like Alistar or Leona, look to all-in the enemy bot lane during the laning phase with crowd control and high early-game damage. They can capitalize on enchanters during the laning phase because of their lack of poke, but can’t deal with poke supports effectively since they whittle down your health before you can even think about engaging.
Poke supports, like Zyra or Brand, succeed by annoying the enemy laners as much as possible with long-range abilities, forcing them to waste their potions or heals. If an enemy gets greedy, they also have a fair amount of burst in their kits to delete them from Summoner’s Rift. Because of this, they can deal with engage supports. But enchanters can usually out-sustain a poke support’s mana pool, rendering their poke ineffective.
With this in mind, let’s break down the best supports for League’s Patch 13.10.
Janna
Pros
- A lot of utility
- Perfect to disengage
- Lots of crowd controls
- Buffed this patch
Cons
- Squishy
- Tough to master
After being on the sidelines for almost half a season, Janna has made a swift return to the top of the support list, following her buff this patch. Considering the high presence of engage supports, she is a primary counter while also being able to play aggressively during the laning phase with her range.
Item build
With three crowd control mechanics, Glacial Augment is the best major rune choice for Janna. It is perfect to neutralize any enemy engage as it will slow them down when you apply an immobilizing effect on them.
For the minor runes of the Inspiration tree, you’re looking to get the most in terms of utility. Therefore, go for Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery, and Cosmic Insight. The first rune will save you some gold early by giving you a pair of free boots. Biscuit Delivery, instead, gifts you some helpful health and mana-restoring biscuits during the laning phase. Cosmic Insight is also helpful since it lowers the cooldowns of your Summoner’s spells and items.
In terms of the filler runes from the secondary tree, choose Resolve with Font of Life and Revitalize. Both will increase your allies’ healing and sustain, allowing them to survive longer.
While Glacial Augment is the common rune, there are players who prefer to run Summon Aery instead to take advantage of Janna’s early-game poke. It’s more of a lane-driven rune that aims at bullying the enemy out of the lane.
Considering you’re going Sorcery, pick up Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Gathering Storm. Taste of Blood and Zombie Ward are the filler runes from the Domination tree. With this combination of rune, you will have extra sustain and damage to trade aggressively.
With the introduction of the new mid-season items in Patch 13.10, Janna’s build has also undergone important changes. Her new Mythic item is Echoes of Helia, which synergizes perfectly with her healing and shielding kit, dealing extra magic to the nearby enemy champions.
After that, always build Ionian Boots of Lucidity for the ability haste, followed by Ardent Censer to empower the ally’s damage and Redemption for the AoE healing effect. While it’s rare for a support champion to build more than four items in a game, the remaining choices should always be Staff of the Flowing Water and Vigilant Wardstone.
Ability priority
Janna should go for R>E>W>Q. Her Eye of the Storm (E) grants a powerful shield to her allies, which is crucial for surviving ganks and early-game skirmishes. Zephyr (W) gives Janna additional movement speed on passive; on active, it slows down targeted enemies and deals a bit of magic damage. The slow on her W is strong, so it should be maximized as the second ability, so you have more picking power in mid-game roams.
Game plan
When you’re playing Janna, you should aim to survive the early game without a scratch. You don’t have a lot of poking tools and are squishy, therefore, it will be quite easy to catch you by champions like Blitzcrank or Thresh, who are always popular in the meta. Luckily, with Janna’s kit, it’s not as tough to disengage, so you should be safe for the most part.
Depending on who you’re playing with, you can also look to bully out the enemy laners with Eyes of the Storm (E) and poke them out of lane. If you’re playing aggressively, however, pay attention to the enemy jungler and try to put some vision down to avoid getting ganked.
In teamfights, Janna should evaluate her options. In the winning position, you should simply follow your team into the battlefield and provide utility and healing with your ultimate. When you’re losing, though, you should use your ultimate to knock back assaulting enemies, with the goal of saving your teammates’ lives as a result.
Milio
Pros
- The best enchanter of the patch
- Incredibly powerful kit
- Works great with most ADCs of the patch
Cons
- Takes some time to master
- Relatively squishy
Milio just hit the live servers with Patch 13.6, and he has instantly become a top-tier support, to the point where he scored a positive win rate on the first day of its release and was hotfixed a day later. Despite the lower numbers, he’s still averaging good win rates across all Elos (according to U.GG), making him one of the few strong enchanter champions in an engage support meta.
Item build
Now players have had the chance to play Milio, they were able to find the most efficient rune setup. Go for Summon Aery as the main keystone rune for shielding and harassing with the passive. For the minor runes of the Sorcery tree, instead, choose Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Scorch. There aren’t any good alternatives, so make sure to always stick to these.
In the secondary rune, on the other hand, you have a couple of choices. You can either opt for Resolve with Bone Plating and Revitalize for early-game trading and empowering the heals and shields or go for Inspiration with Cosmic Insight and Biscuit Delivery. Try out both to see which one works better for you.
Build-wise, you are looking to rush Ionian Boots of Lucidity to get access to ability haste, followed by Shurelya’s Battlesong as a Myhtic item. After that, Ardent Censer is the best third-item choice to further increase the shield amounts while also empowering allies’ damage.
To round off the build, pick up both Redemption and Staff of Flowing Water to further increase the empowering effects and max the ability haste. If you’re looking to get more vision on the map, swap one of these items for Watchful Wardstone.
Ability priority
Milio’s ability maxing order should always be R>Q>W>E. Ultra Mega Fire Kick (Q) is his only damage ability and the only way to counter an enemy’s engage. Remember it can stop dashes, so it’s great to prevent getting jumped on. After that, you want to max Cozy Campfire (W) to increase your allies’ attack range.
Since Warm Hugs (E) works based on stacks and maxing the ability only lowers the timer to get one charge, you can max it for last.
Game plan
When you’re playing Milio, you have to play like you’re playing any other enchanter. The main difference, however, is that you are rewarded if you can land your Q and get some good poke onto the enemies. Don’t look desperately for kills, but try to punish any missed engage by the enemies.
You’re always looking to play with your ADC to maximize Milio’s kit, so make sure you’re close to him or her when looking for a two-vs-two trade or small skirmishes. Use your Campfire at the start of the fight, so your ally can start kiting backward with the extra attack range.
In teamfights, you have to assess your options based on the game state. If you’re ahead, make sure to force fights with your team and push your lead. Thanks to Milio’s kit and ultimate, you shouldn’t have trouble prevailing. If you’re falling behind, instead, try to wait for your ADC to get the item spikes and do everything you can to make him survive during the fights.
Pyke
Pros
- Carry-oriented support
- Great mobility
- Ultimate resets
- Most successful at the highest Elos
Cons
- Cannot build health; squishy
- Struggles against crowd control
- Mechanically intensive to bring to maximum potential
Whenever enchanter champions become popular in the meta, Pyke rises as one of the best counters. Thanks to his high early-game damage and lethality-based builds, he can punish and assassinate squishy targets multiple times within the game. Considering most enchanters like mobility, there are only a few ways for them to escape from the Bloodharbor Ripper. That said, just like most assassin champions, it requires great mechanical proficiency and a good killer instinct to pull off plays.
Item build
Pyke’s rune setup hasn’t changed much over the years: you should still go for Hail of Blades for the quick burst of attack speed to win early-game skirmishes and to add significant damage later on his combos.
For the remaining minor runes, go for Cheap Shot, Zombie Ward and Ultimate Hunter. The first two are fairly standard, and both work great with Pyke’s combos and ward-clearing potential. Now that Pyke has a new Mythic item, Ultimate Hunter is the rune that gives the greatest value, lowering the ability’s cooldown and adding a lot of extra damage whenever a fight is initiated.
You can choose between Resolve or Inspiration for the secondary rune tree. The most common pick is Resolve with Second Wind and Unflinching for better survivability. If you’re playing against tanky supports that want to trade hard, swap out Second Wind for Bone Plating,
Following the introduction and changes of the lethality items, Pyke’s build is now slightly different from the past. While he still rushes Umbral Glaive first to reveal and remove wards, his Mythic item is no longer Duskblade of Draktharr, but Youmuu’s Ghostblade. For a roaming champion like Pyke, he can take full advantage of all the effects coming from this item.
Pyke needs to quickly move on the map and exert a strong map presence, and Youmuu’s Ghostblade is the best item at doing so. Not to mention the stats it offers are highly efficient and the item only costs 3100 gold. For boots, choose one between Mobility boots, Mercury’s Treads, and Plated Steelcaps, depending on what resistances you need the most.
To round off the build, get Edge of Night, Guardian Angel, and Maw of Malmortius. If you don’t need the extra magic resistance, Vigilant Wardstone is always a strong alternative to improve your vision game.
Ability priority
When playing Pyke, your ability priority is R>Q>E>W. Bone Skewer (Q) is Pyke’s most important ability outside his ultimate, which can be used to either grab people or stab to quickly deal damage. Max Phantom Undertow (E) second for the increased damage. Now that Ghostwater Dive’s (W) bonus movement speed doesn’t scale with the level of ability anymore, it’s not worth putting more than one point into it.
Game plan
As Pyke, the main goal of your pick is to be a constant menace during the early-mid game. Whether it’s through roams or aggressive trading, you should be putting pressure on your enemies. Your damage is higher than most supports, so you should come out on top unless huge misplays happen. Once you get Umbral Glaive, proceed to roam around the map and deny the enemies’ vision. Thanks to the cleared wards, you will be able to keep up with the economy.
In teamfights, look to kill the squishy targets and one-shot them with the Q>E>auto attack> R combo. If you manage to execute one target, enjoy the multiple resets during the fight and get those great montage moments.
Rakan
Pros
- One of the most mobile engage supports
- Lots of crowd control
- Strong two-vs-two trading
Cons
- Squishier compared to other supports
- Requires coordination with allies to maximize combos
- Dependent on bot lane partner
Rakan was yet another champion that got buffed in recent buffs. While the buffs didn’t seem that big, he has been finding great success, boasting the highest win rate among all supports (according to U.GG)
While he doesn’t have the same numbers as Annie did when she was buffed in the last patch, Rakan is one of the strongest champions currently.
Item build
In a meta full of Summon Aery or Glacial Augment, Rakan brings some fresh air when it comes to the rune choices. His keystone rune is Guardian, which grants extra shielding to its nearby allies. It works great with his swift in-and-out kit and is a strong rune for early-game trading.
For the secondary tree, you always want to go for Domination with Ultimate Hunter and Zombie Ward. Rakan is heavily reliant on his ultimate to get strong engages, so having it ready as soon as possible is always nice. Zombie ward, on the other hand, provides extra vision when clearing enemy wards, increasing the overall vision control of your team.
Build-wise, Rakan is a heavy Shurelya’s Battlesong user. It’s the main Mythic item that he has been building ever since the item reworks: the movement speed bonus synergizes perfectly with his own kit, further increasing the distance he can travel with his combos and ultimate.
After that, you want to get Redemption for the active effect, but more importantly the extra healing and shield power. While you usually wouldn’t get past three items, you round off the build with Watchful Wardstone, Knight’s Vow, and Chemtech Putrifier. If the enemy has plenty of sustain and healing, you can consider rushing Oblivion Orb early to get access to antiheal.
Ability priority
Rakan should go for R>W>E>Q. His Grand Entrance (W) is the main damaging spell, as well as potential engage or disengage. After that, you want to max Battle Dance (E) for increasing shields. Since maxing Gleaming Quill is the least reliable spell to hit and its cooldown got lowered early on, it’s not necessary to max it until later.
Game plan
Rakan offers stronger early-game trading thanks to his mobility and shields he provides. With that in mind, you can consider fighting aggressively early on. As soon as you see the opponent overstepping, get a quick engage and let your bot lane partner follow up with the damage. Dash around using your Battle Dance (E) to draw some distance or dodge potential spells. If you’re able to do this consistently, you can look to get some takedowns. You can coordinate turret dives or ganks, especially when you unlock your ultimate.
Just like most supports that have great engage tools, you can also look to roam around the map. Given his mobility, it’s much easier to execute roam ganks with him.
In the late-game teamfights, your main goal will be to dash in and taunt as many targets as possible. It’s quite easy to do when you have Flash ready since you can go in from afar and surprise the enemies. Once you do that, your job is basically done. Your teammates should be able to do the rest.
Blitzcrank
Pros
- One of the best hookers in the game
- Crowd control combos
- Tanky
Cons
- Hook-reliant, misuse can backfire hard
- Immobile once W is used
In a meta dictated by enchanters and hypercarries, Blitzcrank is slowly returning back to popularity. With more and more squishy supports coming up, Blitzcrank has become the perfect lane counter to punish them. Let’s walk you through how to play the Great Steam Golem.
Item build
Blitzcrank’s main keystone rune is Glacial Augment. It’s the most effective rune when it comes to locking down single targets. Paired with the champion’s grab, as well as Power Fist (E), any hooked target won’t have the chance to get away. Alternatively, you can also consider going for Aftershock for more resistances. That said, it’s not as reliable so pick it situationally.
For the minor runes of the Inspiration tree, choose Hextech Flashtraption, Biscuit Delivery, and Time Warp Tonic. While the first one is standard and allows you to make unexpected Flash hooks over walls or bushes, the other two are situational and can be swapped for other runes. In particular, if you’re not looking to play aggressively, you can swap out Biscuit Delivery for Minion Dematerializer: you can use it to farm cannon minions from a distance or catch people off guard by hooking the enemies sitting behind the minion. While Time Warp Tonic is a lane-oriented rune for aggressive trading, you can change it to Cosmic Insight for lower cooldowns on your items and Summoner spells.
Go for Resolve as the secondary rune tree with Bone Plating and Unflinching. The first lowers incoming damage from enemies during the skirmishes, while Unflinching grants you more tenacity to reduce the crowd control duration. If enemies don’t have much crowd control, you can opt for Overgrowth instead for more tankiness.
Build-wise, most players build Shurelya’s Battlesong. Not only does it grant everything Blitzcrank would want in terms of stats but it also gives him the active effect of increasing his team’s movement speed. Whether it’s to escape or chase enemies down, it’s the most effective Mythic item on him.
After that, there are a couple of choices that you can go for, depending on the game. The most common second item is Knight’s Vow which redirects the damage taken from the chosen ally to you. In a meta dominated by ADCs, this is the No. 1 item to peel them. Aside from that, you can go for Frozen Heart against heavy attack damage team comps, or Redemption to take advantage of the AoE healing effect. Zeke’s Convergence, Watchful Wardstone, and Mikael’s Blessing are the remaining items that you can get to round off the build.
Ability priority
On Blitzcrank, the usual leveling order is R>Q>W>E. Blitzcrank’s Rocket Grab (Q) is his iconic ability and must be maxed first for increased damage and a lower cooldown. Ever since they reworked Overdrive (W), you always want to max it a second for the boost in movement speed and attack speed. Since maxing Power Fist (E) doesn’t increase the knock-up duration, max it out for last.
Game plan
The game plan with Blitzcrank is straightforward: finding hooks to punish enemy targets. Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done since Blitzcrank has to be aware of the right timing to catch people off guard: grabbing the wrong target can single-handedly lose you a game.
During the laning phase, you have to assess whether you can play aggressively against the enemy lane. Usually, this is determined by your ADCs and if he has good damage early. If yes, proceed to play aggressively. Otherwise, you can let the enemy push the wave and look to make a surprise grab by hooking an enemy onto your turret. If it lands, that will likely turn into a kill.
One thing you can do during the first few minutes is roam around the map, with the goal of impacting other lanes. You can easily force Flashes by walking into the enemy’s face and picking up potential assists. Once you get to the mid-game, play with the vision control and look to hide in the fog of war to take down enemy targets. During teamfights, you can consider saving your grab to pull anyone who’s trying to assassinate your carries: analyze the situation and judge accordingly.
Senna
Pros
- Scales infinitely
- Ranged support
- Deals more damage than traditional supports
Cons
- Low mobility
- Requires great understanding of wave management
- Squishy champion
Even though many ranged supports have dropped down in play rate due to the support item nerfs, Senna has been rising in popularity to the point where even LEC player Rekkles claimed the champion is “incredibly strong.”
Her rise is probably related to the buffs she received in Patch 13.4, with a higher attack speed ratio as well as damage and cooldown buffs on her ultimate. That said, players only have to realize her power now that three patches have gone past.
Regardless, Senna is finding great success across all Elos, averaging almost 51 percent win rate (according to U.GG), increasing up to 53 percent in Challenger.
Item build
Senna was indirectly nerfed by the Umbral Glaive changes at the start of the season, so players have started testing out new builds and rune setups that were not dependent on the lethality item. Even though it’s only played at the highest Elos, her win rate is strong proof that the new build is likely going to be even stronger than the previous one.
Senna’s keystone rune is Fleet Footwork, which gives a boost of movement speed when activated and heals her. It’s useful at all stages of the game, and it’s great when you’re looking to kite as her in the late-game teamfights.
For the remaining minor runes, you would usually go for Presence of Mind, Legend: Alacrity, and Cut Down. The first is great to get extra mana during trades or picking up kills. Legend: Alacrity, instead, is the only viable rune from the row, and the attack speed bonus is always nice to have.
In the last row of the Precision tree, though, you can decide between Cut Down and Coup de Grace. The former is usually better since Senna is a squishy champion and will always have the bonus damage activated against tanks, but Coup de Grace is stronger when you’re snowballing hard. Choose according to the enemy team comp.
When it comes to the secondary tree, go for Approach Velocity and Biscuit Delivery since Senna slows down targets with her auto attacks and spells. That said, I occasionally run Resolve tree with Conditioning and Overgrowth in matchups where you must play passively.
Build-wise, there is a new set of items for Senna. Youmuu’s Ghostblade is now her best Mythic item now, followed by Rapid Firecannon and Stormrazor. Energized items are dominating the meta, and Senna is another champion that can abuse these effects. If you’re playing against tanks, build Lord Dominik’s Regard. Otherwise, get Mortal Reminder for the healing reduction effect. Finish the build with a Guardian Angel or Maw of Malmortius.
Ability priority
When playing Senna, your ability priority is R>Q>W>E. Piercing Darkness (Q) is Senna’s main source of damage and healing, so always max it first. After that, max Last Embrace to increase the overall damage and the root duration. Since Curse of the Black Mist (E) is a situational spell, max it last. Always take points on the ultimate Dawning Shadow (R) whenever you can.
Game plan
Senna’s main focus throughout the game is collecting as many souls as possible. The more stacks you have, the stronger the champion becomes. That said, Senna is quite weak early on, and she can be quite vulnerable to ganks and picks on the map. Therefore, try to play safely early on without going for aggressive trades. You can farm lots of gold with your support item while also picking up souls from enemy champions. Make sure to have good vision control when pushing so you don’t get killed during ganks.
If you’re able to do the farming game consistently, you will be in a great position even if you don’t kill the enemy laners. In the mid to late-game, Senna will be essentially a secondary AD carry, greatly increasing the team’s overall damage. As long as she’s careful with her positioning, she will become a menacing presence.
Sona
Pros
- One of the strongest enchanters of the patch
- Great lane harass
- Game-changing AoE ultimate
Cons
- One of the squishiest champions in the game
- Mana hungry early on
- Requires a great understanding of her passive and spell rotations
With the rise of scaling ADCs in Patch 13.10, enchanters have also become popular since they form the best synergy possible. Aside from champions like Janna and Milio, however, there is another underrated pick growing more and more popular: Sona.
The Ionian support was indirectly buffed by the support item changes, and given the amount of utility and peeling potential she can provide to her allies, it’s a no-brainer to see her topping the win rate charts: her average is well over 52 percent, according to U.GG, with the highest numbers registered in between silver and gold Elo.
Item build
Unlike other enchanter supports, Sona doesn’t have any crowd controls except her ultimate Crescendo. Therefore, you want to maximize her poke and harass damage during the laning phase by picking up Summon Aery. The keystone rune not only deals extra damage when hitting the abilities, but it can also increase her shielding, allowing her to make the most out of it.
For the remaining minor runes from the Sorcery tree, you want to go for Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Gathering Storm. Considering Sona is a mana-hungry champion that can quickly deplete her mana pool, Manaflow Band is a great way to lower the burden. Transcendence is typically good on mage champions since it grants additional ability haste, while Gathering Storm is generally good, and it rewards Sona with more ability power the longer the game lasts.
For the secondary tree, instead, Sona wants to pick up Presence of Mind and Cut Down: the first one further reduces the mana issues the champion has. Cut Down, on the other hand, is a smart way to greatly increase Sona’s poke damage during the laning phase. Given the low amount of base health she has, Sona can basically always deal bonus damage to most champions. Remember that the rune only takes maximum health into consideration, so later in the game, Sona is likely going to have the bonus damage effect activated.
Build-wise, Sona has a similar build path to Janna: she now builds the newly-introduced Echoes of Helia, which perfectly synergizes with her kit. After that, you want to pick up Ionian boots of Lucidity and Staff of the Flowing Water to maximize the ability haste, mana regeneration, and increase the healing and shielding effects. Once you purchase this trio of items, get Ardent Censer, Redemption, and Vigilant Wardstone. If you need anti-heal effects, swap one of the last two items for Chemtech Putrifier.
Ability priority
When playing Sona, your ability priority is R>W>Q>E. That said, you want to start at level one with Q, Hymn of Valor, so you can abuse the spell’s range to get some early poke.
A great thing about Sona is the fact that she has flat cooldowns on all abilities, so the ability order is only dependent on whether you want to prioritize first peeling or damage potential first. If you need to poke harder, you can put some points in Q before maxing out W. Nonetheless, your main goal is to protect and provide sustain to your bot lane ally, so maxing W, Aria of Perseverance is likely going to be more effective.
Game plan
Just like every other enchanter, Sona does a great job at empowering her allies’ damage and providing peeling potential to not let them die. On the flip side, though, Sona is quite susceptible to ganks given her squishy nature and high cooldowns early on. Therefore, the goal when playing Sona is getting through the laning phase safely and waiting to get the core items to start to have a major impact on the team. You can look to poke occasionally during the laning phase, but pay attention to your mana pool—it’ll fall quickly if you’re not careful.
Once you get the items, Sona’s value will ramp up significantly: the additional heals, shields, and damage she will provide will be game-changing for her own team. As long as she doesn’t get shut down early on in the fight, she can lead the team to victory.
About the author
