I haven't had time to play SC2 in months and I don't have a HotS beta invite, so I really don't want to jump back into the WoL 1v1. I downloaded LoL yesterday and when it's done updating I'm going to give it a try.

I played DotA way back when it was on WC3 TFT and I liked support roles like Chen. I think support characters are underplayed so I like the challenge. Any suggestions on which hero I should pick, advice on how to use it/play it, etc. are appreciated. Thanks!

NeoIllusions

United States37500 Posts

October 25 2012 18:03 GMT

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=352516
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=366355

There's an entire subforum at your disposal. Read those two threads first. If you have any questions, ask them in General Discussion in the LoL subforum.

glhf~

Praetorial

United States4241 Posts

October 25 2012 18:04 GMT

Soraka, otherwise known as healbot, is a cheap caster capable of healing and buffing other champions.

Janna is a more expensive champion with a range of crowd control, like knockups and slows.

Alistar is a very powerful but cheap tank that can knockup and displace enemies.

Fiddlesticks can fear an oppenent for absurd periods of time and is nigh unkillable in lane, but has no heal.

Start with Raka, go from there.

Prices:
Soraka - 450 IP
Janna - 1350 IP
Alistar -1350 IP
Fiddlestick - 1350 IP

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Soraka
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Janna
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Alistar
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Fiddlesticks

Edit: Dangit Neo is ninja

Fumanchu

Canada669 Posts

October 25 2012 18:07 GMT

The nice thing about LoL is that once you click on a hero, you can watch their moves in a short clip, and there is also a short description outlining their skills and uses. Unfortunately since you're just starting out, you will be limited to the 8 or 9 heroes that are free for this week. Which might not have any decent support heroes.

A couple of things to keep in mind though:

First of all, I have found there are little items that can be built in the way of support. Mostly there are items that simply give aura bonuses. There is no item that reduces an enemy to a critter, or puts them up in a whirlwind.

Secondly, there's this thing in the game called Tenacity. Some items have a Tenacity bonus which reduces the effects of disables. Tenacity doesn't stack, but if you find your disables not working as long as they're supposed to, make sure to check the enemies items.

Thirdly, since you're starting out, prepare yourself to be unrecognised as a decent support. I know when I started I too wanted to play support, having played heroes like Lion and Rhasta in Dota, and people mocked me pretty harshly due to my low kill score. Ideally, a decent support hero should not only let the carry get the hero kills, but the last hit on creep kills as well. Later on your team will give you props for great support, but early on most new players will miss what you're doing.

AnythingThenDelete

381 Posts

October 25 2012 18:08 GMT

Soraka : heal + armor protection , silence ( or mana to ally ) , passiv : magic resist , ult GLOBAL heal
Sona : can really hurts early on and her ult is just massiv ( aoe stun)
Janna : no heal BUT amazing shiled ( give extra damage ) and has a tone of escape/chase tools

Blitzcrank : grab , annoying , lame

I think these 4 are the easiest support in order to begin when you get used to them try maybe Alistar ( his combo migh be tricky ) or Leona ( I find it hard to survive with her )

" Unorthodox " support ( but good , especially in " low " level game ( like mine ) : Shen , Lux , Morgana , Fiddle , GP , chogath ( heard about it in pubs ) , galio , orianna ( tried it once , if you are fed a little early it's okay ), volibear , teemo , zyra )

Others support : Kayle , Lulu ( can be hard ) , Zilean ( really squishy )

Or if you are a in the mood play any champ as sup
" carry ad " : they harass and lategame became second carry
" carry ap " : in general has cc (lux , morgana , fiddle )
any others champs

Praetorial

United States4241 Posts

October 25 2012 18:11 GMT

Blitz is not cheap.

NeoIllusions

United States37500 Posts

October 25 2012 18:13 GMT

Assuming you want to sit back and just heal your carry, Soraka and Taric are both cheap to buy with IP and relatively easy to play.

Ettick

United States2434 Posts

October 25 2012 18:22 GMT

Support Nunu can be really good as well. He has a really good steroid, slow, self heal, and dat ult.
I personally find Soraka boring to the point where I'd rather use another champion and lose than use her, I'd avoid her if you want to have fun.
On the other hand, Leona and Ali are really fun supports that I actually enjoy playing. Too bad I don't actually have Leona and Ali is banned every single game lol (I have no experience with Blitz or Janna and I also mainly play top lane)...

Also, in case you want to play something non-standard, try out support Ashe. She may not be really as good as other supports, but she can pretty much perma-slow enemies, has a free temp-ward, and the stun from her ult is also really useful. I've also heard about Heimerdinger being a viable support because of his blind and the slow from his turrets, but I've never tried it before.

hkf

Australia354 Posts

October 25 2012 23:41 GMT

Soraka is the easiest. good range with good harass, meh autoattack animation but you'll get used to poking/punishing

Taric is the melee raka with less healing but more burst, hard point is you have to be in melee to fully burst

Sona = best poke/sustain balance

Alistar = permabanned mostly but its because hes op. also he's free if you subscribe to riot's youtube.

Lysteria

France2280 Posts

October 25 2012 23:49 GMT

#10

Soraka is a nice champ to play, you can be really agressive when you start to know her a little bit more, with the huge advantage of having the possibility of being a healbot if the lane isn't going well. The fact you can heal means you can trade a lot against some lanes. But the fact I play her as mid and top helps a lot to know her limits.

Blitzcrank is fun, grab shit, punch shit, doesn't give a shit.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

October 26 2012 00:51 GMT

#11

Alistar is a pretty solid CC-ful support (with the caveat that using Headbutt [W] (a knockback skill) poorly can "rescue" the enemy player you use it on.)

More importantly, you can get him for free by subscribing to Riot's Youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RiotGamesInc
http://na.leagueoflegends.com/YouTube

MayorITC

Korea (South)798 Posts

October 26 2012 09:53 GMT

#12

Zyra support is super fun.

Tal

United Kingdom1017 Posts

October 26 2012 12:57 GMT

#13

Bear in mind that if you just start playing, the super low level games often won't have traditional lane set ups, or your AD carry won't know what they're doing (if you even have one) . So while getting used to stuff you might have more fun with a more aggressive hero. Looking at this thread Fiddlesticks is a good choice - I remember having nightmares against him when I started playing.

Slayer91

Ireland23335 Posts

October 26 2012 13:30 GMT

#14

Just play what you enjoy and keep an open mind. I like to play a very agressive soraka where you get in their face with autos and level 1 starcall and max a combination of W and Q and rely on regen and defensive runes/masteries/items to keep you alive. If I do well I can go shurelyas/randuins and run into their team spamming Q and tanking them all.

Lysteria

France2280 Posts

October 26 2012 13:56 GMT

#15

Tankraka is best raka.

Zergneedsfood

United States10671 Posts

October 26 2012 14:05 GMT

#16

Don't play soraka first. >.>

Papvin

Denmark610 Posts

October 26 2012 20:35 GMT

#17

Soraka is boring as fuck. Both for you, your lane partner and your opponents. I'm still waiting for her + flash to be removed from the game.

Rant aside, Alistar fits with basically anyone, and is super fun with tons of cc. Leona is nice aswell. I'd say as long as you're not playing Soraka, you're gtg.