9 things that piss off support players in League of Legends

If you play support in League of Legends, you’ve probably heard all kinds of complaints. You’re the member of the team least likely to be able to carry, but somehow when things go wrong, it’s always all your fault.

But as a support main myself, I wanted to turn the tables, so I put the question to a bunch of other League of Legends supports: what do other players do that drives you nuts? Here’s what they said.

1. Not using your trinket ward, then blaming me for not warding

You have one of these. Use it.

There’s no denying that a big part of the support’s job is to ward the lane to keep the ADC safe from danger. But at most, I can only place one vision ward and three stealth wards, which means there are going to be many spots on the map that still aren’t warded. If you’ve got a trinket ward sitting in your inventory—which you should—and you get killed by enemies hiding in some unwarded brush, that isn’t really my fault. My wards are down already. Use your trinket. It’s free, so you really have no excuse.

2. Demanding wards, then not looking at the map

If you want me to ward specific places for you, that’s fine. But if I do that, you’d better watch the map and actually look at those places so that you know when a gank is coming. If I ward the river and then you push the lane despite the fact that their jungler just walked past three wards heading in our direction, I am not coming with you. And when you die, it will be your fault. Of course, a good support will ping any danger he spots on the mini-map, but it’s your job to have map awareness, too. I’m going to bust my ass to be sure we’ve got wards down in important places, so please do your part and pay attention to the map so they don’t go to waste.

3. Trying to save me when I’m peeling to save you

Please don’t do this.

Ganks happen, and sometimes, players die. It’s not ideal, of course, but if we’ve made a mistake and somebody has to die, as a support I’d much rather it be me than you. So when we’re at low health being chased back to our turret and I stop and CC the enemy, that’s not a signal that you should also stop and go for the 2v3 all-in outplay. Do not try to save me; I am dying to save you. If you stop to try to save me, then we both die.

The same is true if I peel off in another direction to draw their attention. I am doing this to save you; do not try to come and rescue me. If we’ve been cleanly ganked, odds are at least one of us is going down. I’m going to try my damnedest to make sure it’s me so that you can keep farming, so please don’t ruin that with a half-hearted rescue attempt that turns their gank into a double kill (and very possibly a lost tower).

4. Not being able to distinguish between initiation and harassment

This one can be a communication problem on the support player’s end as well, but just because I used an ability on an enemy champion does not mean you have to—or even should—all in. I am trying to harass and distract them so that you can farm in peace while we wait for a gank or the right time to strike. So please don’t go all-in when they’re both at full health with a full minion wave in front of them just because I landed a little poke.