Summary
The Support role inLeague of Legendsis a great place tostart for any new players looking to learn the game, without the stress of the solo lanes or the pressure of being the center of attention in the Jungle. Within the role, there are more than a few archetypes of champions that players can choose to fit the role that needs to be filled in the team or to match the playstyle they have the most fun with. Some are aggressive, tanky bruisers that lead the charge, while others are more defensive enchanters that look to buff up the team from the safety of the backline.
When choosing a champion in the role, runes are equally important as they can have a big impact on the playstyle of the character, the kind of itemization the player can choose between, and the success rate of the lane, as some runes are significantly more effective on certain champions and styles. A few of the runes offer a direct buff to an ally through healing or shielding, while others indirectly aid allies in their ability to pump out the damage and have enough space to clear out the enemy base with little to no trouble. There’s something for every class and every player, and the meta is constantly evolving, opening the doors for some more exciting builds and options for every class.
8Deep Ward
Behind Enemy Lines
Vision is one of the most important mechanics to understand as a Support player, as denying enemy vision opens up plenty of opportunities for plays in the lane and around the map, and having a good read on where the enemy players are at any given time can quite literally save lives. Ever since the Domination Tree had a mini-vision-oriented rework, Deep Ward has been taking over the rift. Giving every single ward the player places behind enemy lines a huge buff is immensely valuable and makes controlling vision incredibly easy as the enemy has to spend even longer clearing out the sneaky placements and will be unaware that there are even more hiding around every corner.
The added effect at level 9 of including the river in the buff makes the rune borderline overpowered, where during intense setups before an objective, the Support can run up and down the river, lighting up the map for the team and forcing the enemy to use extra cleaning tools that will run out before the whole area is swept clean. Another aspect of the rune is that it gives players who might not be as comfortable with the concept of warding deep in the jungle an added incentive to go on a detour and choose a good spot to hide some sneaky vision, which improves the players' understanding of the map and awareness, whilst providing a great amount of support to the team. It isn’t the most powerful rune in the game, but it has so much utility that it’s hard to play without it.
7Font Of Life
Sustain On The Offensive
Supports fall into multiple categories: casters, enchanters, tanks, and a few in-between that have a sprinkling of all three. When playing as a tanky Support like Nautilus or choosing a more defensive build against an aggressive Botlane, Font of Life provides a nice bit of extra sustain that, though it may seem small, adds up over time and can give a much-needed boost to edge out a close fight. The range on the rune is pretty large, and as the player will be sitting in the duo-lane for the first chunk of the game, they can reliably top up their ADC over and over again without having to worry about meeting a difficult condition or doing anything overly flashy.
The best part is that it synergizes with other runes in the resolve tree, like Revitalize, adding even more healing to the ally and scaling up over time. While its primary benefit is as a sustain buff in lane, healing during a teamfight can be just as valuable, especially when it can pop multiple times in a single engagement and can be triggered with something as simple as a long-range slow. Working on both melee engages and ranged enchanters, it is a great choice for any champion with a bit of CC in their kit, and while other runes might change the course of a fight in more significant ways, no one is going to complain about having a few extra points of health.
6Relentless Hunter
Unexpected Speed
Speed is everything inLeague.Certain plays andchampions can only functionin fast situations that catch the enemy off guard and stop them from outplaying the engage by raw speed alone. For Supports, speed governs the way they traverse the map, clearing and placing vision, as well as their ability to gank other lanes from unexpected angles and timings. If the enemy support recalls or disappears from few for a moment, the spam pings need to come down straight away, as if they have a few stacks of Relentless Hunter, combined with a set of tier-two boots, they can get from one lane to another in a matter of seconds, with this rune being the difference between a kill or a miss.
It works particularly well on champions like Pyke, who have a natural love for movement speed modifiers, as well as any other hook Supports that want to run between lanes as fast as possible, causing mayhem, then returning to Botlane as if nothing ever happened. It can also be a great choice for certain enchanters, particularly Janna, who can fly around the map at great speeds already, so having an extra boost on top of that can make ganks nearly impossible to avoid and makes hitting her in lane even more difficult than it already was. The small downside is that it requires kills in order to full stack, one on each enemy player, and the speed only applies when out of combat, but the benefit is more than enough to net some great plays, and by the time the speed wears off, the enemy is already dead.
5Revitalize
Amping Up The Support
An enchanter’s best friend, Revitalize is an amazing rune that has been a staple for the Support subclass for years. Enchanter champions like Soraka, Lulu, and Yuumi have always beenincredibly powerful in the right situation, giving the team an incredible boost to the scaling and teamfight power and turning carry champions into absolute monsters that can tear through an entire enemy team. The core stat that controls how much sustain can be provided is heal and shield power. The majority of the enchanter-specific items have this stat in varying amounts, and with just a single item, along with Revitalize, the shield output of the Support becomes absolutely incredible, and having an extra buff for low HP allies makes it even more ridiculous.
Percentages are always the most powerful way of modifying an amount in the game, as flat numbers can only get the player so far. However, having several sources that effectively multiply the shielding output by a huge amount, it actually becomes hard to die, so long as the Support player positions well and keeps the shields coming over and over again. The rune has synergies with plenty of other Support runes as well and applies to every single instance of healing that the player can possibly output. A whole team full of low HP targets? Soraka ultimate can single-handedly heal thousands of HP across the whole map with a single button press, and Revitalize can be a game-changer when it comes to squeezing out a few extra heals to win the game.
4Glacial Augment
You’re Not Going Anywhere
Engage Supports are just one side of the role’s coin, shifting away from defensive and squishy champions in place of bulky tanks that take the fight to the enemy and make the enemy’s life a living hell. Glacial Augment has gone through a few different interactions through its lifespan and now sits as a great aggressive choice for any hook champion looking to make themselves extra sticky and even more annoying to deal with. Because the slow scales up over time with stats of various kinds, by the end of the game, the enemy will hardly be able to move with the click of a single button. Plus, because the effect is AoE, a single stun can significantly slow a large group of enemies and exhaust all of their incoming attacks towards the team.
The use-case isn’t limited to just tanks, however. Multiple mage supports with stuns or roots built into their kit can also be great users of this rune. One example is Neeko, who would normally like to itemize around a pure damage build, can become incredibly annoying with this rune, as it is hard enough to dodge the endless roots coming from the player, so adding an extra layer of CC on top, ups the utility immensely and can change the way certain champions function in a team setting. With so many other runes available, it is a good option to try out and experiment with, perhaps not every game, but it works great against carry champions with low mobility who will have a pretty tough time escaping the grasp of the icy field.
3Guardian
Hold That ADC Close
The classic defensive Support rune that has been saving ADC for years, Guardian is a great choice for pretty much any Support champion in the game,as it works well on tankswho can soak up a chunk of damage on an engage with the shielding, but also on squishier enchanters who might normally struggle to live through an enemy hook. The shielding can actually get pretty high, and as the Support will want to stick close to their carry for most of the teamfight anyway, the condition of being within distance is basically non-existent, making it even more difficult to take down the carry for eager assassins looking to jump into the backline.
The good part is that the player has a lot of agency with how they want to and can use the rune. A good strategy is to intentionally stand disconnected from the carry until the brunt of the damage comes in, or a window opens itself for an engage. Being able to effectively pick and choose when to use the shield is very useful, as one of the biggest downsides is the long cooldown that can be played around by the enemy if they poke out the player before the time is right. In any case, it is one of the best choices for a Support to pick up and play with, and it works well across all the class types and in a range of circumstances.
2Summon Aery
Cute Yet Deadly
While the main job of an enchanter champion is to provide buffs over and over to the team and top-up their HP to keep the fight going, a big part of the role is using poke abilities to little away at the enemy health pools and keep them from being able to engage with a full health bar. Aery is an enchanter’s fantasy, a rune that not only buffs their ability to shield and heal their allies but also the damage to enemies, all bundled into a cute cat-shaped package. It is the perfect rune for the lane phase, and the value keeps up all the way into the late game.
When compared to a rune like Comet, that doesn’t have the supportive capabilities, the poke is actually pretty strong, as the player isn’t waiting on a long cooldown to go again and can continue to send out the kitten over and over, working well with abilities and runes that keep damage going long after the ability has been cast. And the shields it provides are anything but weak, giving an unexpected boost that will continue to work on every subsequent shield, as well as any poke the player is able to land in between. It’s a fantastic rune for enchanters to take in virtually every game and does more than enough damage to rival some of the more aggressive runes in the collection, as well as doing all the supporting the player could ever need.
1Hex Flash
A Play-making Machine
Hexflash isone of the strangest runes in the entire gameand, at the same time, can be among the most overpowered. The concept of having an extra mini flash seems completely bonkers, and when using the rune for the first time, it can be pretty jarring to have an extra piece of utility that feels like nothing else in the game. But when considering the possibilities with vision traps, the ability to traverse over smaller gaps, and overall offering a new way of engaging the enemy, the player will quickly realize that Hexflash transforms engage supports into surprise-attacking demons.
There are so many techs that can be done and learned with Hexflash. From hopping between bushes undetected to blinking over gaps that seem impossible, the possibilities are pretty diverse, and it gives a level of power and skill expression that is hard to match with any other rune. The best part is the cooldown, or just the lack of one. While most players will be waiting five minutes for their flash to return, the Hexflash user can keep jumping across walls and surprising the enemy every 20 seconds, which opens the door for so many gank angles that the enemy could never anticipate and a few sneaky escapes that will leave the opponent scathing their heads. It might be a simple concept at first, but no other rune in the Support class can come even close to the level of power and agency this one little blink has, backed into a minor rune that gives engage supports everything they need to carry the entire game.
