How to Carry a Losing Team as a Support?

League of Legends is a very challenging game at every level. It is played by all kinds of different people across the globe. Often, things may not go according to plan and you may find yourself on the losing team. It can demotivate you seeing your team struggle; however, any game is winnable as long as there is a will to win.

As a Support player, you can still carry your losing team in LoL. Our guide will help you understand all that you need to do in order to carry your games in various ways to a victory screen.

Who Are Supports in League of Legends?

Support is one of the five roles in League of Legends that brings utility in the form of crowd control and enchanted buffs and debuffs to the rift. Their job is to make sure their ADCs have a smoother game.

A Support’s job is to ‘support’ the ADC in the form of crowd control, damage amplification, healing, etc. It is one of five roles in League of Legends that a player can pick when playing any of the Draft modes. It is one of the most important roles in the game because not only does it provide peel for the AD Carry, but also the rest of the team in skirmishes and team fights.

How to Carry as a Support:

There are several tips that can help you carry your games as a Support player. Try integrating these tricks into your game!

Playmaking Supports

Playmaking refers to creating opportunities for the team. Champions such as Pyke and Nautilus are exceptional at doing this. Their kits allow them to catch enemies out of position and severely punish them for their mistakes. Playmaking supports are great at roaming and can carry from helping out all over the map. They are capable of controlling map vision and pressure in multiple places on the map at once. Adapting such a playstyle can allow you to carry your team through the early and mid-game, even if your ally Laners are losing they can make a come-back in the game thanks to your assistance.

Play Around Your Jungler

A roaming support is just like a second Jungler. Getting ganked by the enemy Jungler is already rough as it is for the enemy Laner. Getting ganked by two junglers make it near impossible to evade the gank, losing them any lead that they may have created for themselves. Playing around the Jungler as a Support makes you two a lethal force, picking off enemies at any point during the game. This helps your team get more objectives and objective bounties, ultimately putting you on the path to victory in a game where your team was struggling.

Vision Wins Games

In League of Legends, vision controls games. It helps prevent enemy ganks, deny enemy roaming, wasting the enemy’s precious time as well as set up ganks. Most people in the lower ranks do not give vision the importance that it deserves. As a Support, vision means everything. It gives you vital information on the enemy’s location and game plan. Let’s say you noticed the enemy Jungler ganking your Bot Lane. This instantly makes you think of how to react to it. It not only warns you about the incoming gank but allows your Jungler to capitalize off of that information, allowing them to go for a gank or an objective towards the mid or top side of the map.

Your Jungler can even go to the enemy top side Jungle to deny the enemy Jungler his camps resulting in an XP and gold advantage between the Junglers. Trinkets make your game way easier than it is especially on a losing team. Your support item allows you to hold multiple wards at once. The support item named Vigilante Wardstone, along with other important stats, allows you to store up to 3 control wards in one slot. This makes it easier to control vision around the map. Carrying by vision is a common technique that Supports use in order to help out the team overall at any point in the game.

Peeling For ADC

Peeling refers to doing everything to protect and set up your strong allies in League of Legends. If your ADC is competent, do everything to your ability to peel for them. It should be the primary goal of any Support player from the very beginning of the match. You can peel for the ADC by buffing them with additional damage, shielding them, providing crowd control support for them, and tanking damage instead of them. This ensures your ADC plays to the best of their ability and there’s a great chance that your efforts put your ADC in a position to become an unstoppable force in the face of the enemy.

Also check: How to be a Good ADC in League of Legends?

Who Are the Best Carry Supports in LoL?

We can categorize two types of carry supports. One of them carry with damage while the other carries by peel. Two of the best champions from each category have been listed below.

Damage Carries:

Pyke

Pyke is one of those Supports who is excellent at doing what he is supposed to in the Bot Lane and just as exceptional at doing his job while roaming. He is capable of hooking people, knocking them up, pulling them towards him, and inflicting great damage to them using Bone Skewer (Q). He is a great carry Support champion due to his ability to execute his enemies when they are below a certain HP level with Death From Below (R). He then shares gold instead of a natural assist from the takedown to his allies. His ability to turn camouflage using Ghostwater Dive (W) allows him to create pressure and make more risky plays combined with Phantom Undertow (E).

A unique kit such as Pyke’s allows him to be a lethal force against most enemies, putting him on the list of best damage carries in League of Legends.

Swain

After Swain’s changes in patch 12.8, he no longer sits at a stalemate with his uncertain identity. He is a Support champion powerful enough to be played as a solo-laner. He is capable of providing great burst damage with Vision of Empire (W), and Death’s Hand, as well as sustained damage with Demonic Ascension (R). He provides equally reliable crowd control with a root, further knocking them back from recasting Nevermore (E) as well as a slow from Vision of Empire (W). Swain holds the potential to carry as a damage-dealing support with ease from snowballing and roaming. To carry a losing team, a Swain is a great champion to be playing in the Support role.

Peel Carries:

Janna

Janna has been one of the best Support champions in season 12. After her rework in patch 12.2, she was buffed to become more robust than ever. She provides additional movement speed through her passive Tailwind, solid crowd control thanks to her Howling Gale (Q) and Zephyr (W), and Monsoon (R). She can also shield allies as well as towers. Janna is named among one of the most capable peeling carry Supports in season 12.

Nami

Nami is one of the most popular Support champions in League of Legends. She offers two forms of crowd control with her Aqua Prison (Q) and Tidal Wave (R). She can also provide great healing for herself or an ally using Ebb and Flow (W). On top of that, She can provide offensive support such as damage from Ebb and Flow (W) and Tidecaller’s Blessing (E).

With a kit, Nami becomes one of the most potent peeling Supports of them all. Playing alongside a hyper-carry ally, peeling for them can ultimately take them from potentially carrying the losing team to certainly putting them in a position to carry the game.

Also check: How can tank carry in a losing game?

Final Thoughts

Some people call Support the least useful role of all five. Although there may be some logic behind that claim, champions such as Pyke, Swain, and Nami are proof of Support being just as impactful as any other role. On a losing team, you may struggle to carry your ADC who would already be past the point of trying to play for so you may need to peel for another ally who you can help carry the game in combination with yourself. If you are playing a damage carry champion such as  Swain, you can take matters into your own hands and become the carry yourself.

Also check: How To Get An S Rank On Support?

Which one of the champions mentioned in our article is your main? Do you know of any other carrying Support champions yourself? What are your thoughts on the newest patch? We love hearing your feedback, so hit us with it in the comment section below!

Also check out: How can AD carry a losing team?