How To Get An S Rank On Support

As the competition becomes fiercer, the desire to obtain an S rank champion seemingly keeps getting stronger. It gives loot boxes, and let’s not even talk about the bragging rights you get by having them. But as it is, obtaining an S rank on support in League of Legends is quite difficult. In today’s article, we will be discussing the best ways to get a Support to S rank.

If we put it in a sentence, the only way to get an S rank is by outperforming the rest of the lot and having stats that deserve boasting, such as KDA, Creep Score, Visual Score, Objective Control and etc.

Is S Rank Really Worth Going After?

It is natural to wonder about all the commotion. To put it simply, the faster you get expertise, the faster you’ll climb the ranks. S rank is not only for showing off how many hours you’ve played or how good you are, but it also has other advantages. If you want to get better skins, you’ll need to climb the ranks, making an S rank quite appealing.

Riot Games designed the whole concept of S rank to provide an incentive for gamers to work hard and from the looks of it, they were quite successful.

Kill Death Assist (KDA)

KDA ratio tells us the amount of kills/assists in comparison to deaths. The higher the KDA, the better. As mentioned earlier, to get an S rank, you need to outperform other players with the same champion. Top lane champions that focus on attacking more can stack up on kills much quicker than other champions. For support, however, it is better to instead go for assists. We all know how nice it feels to be on a rampage, but in order to get a support to S rank, you have to use its abilities to your advantage.

A good benchmark is to keep your Kill to Death or Assist to Death ratio around 5:1. A good strategy for support is to lurk close to the area of action in order to provide timely help to your allies while stacking takedowns.

As it goes without saying, you need to look out for your team in the game. If your team is ahead of the opponents, you are much more likely to gain a lot of assists and kills in the match. Trying to play solo will not go well in your favor.

Creep Score (CS)

Creep Score is essentially the number of creeps you killed in a match. Normally, if you go for CSing, you will need to maintain the rate of critical strikes per minute by taking down at least 7-8 creeps every minute, however, we are dealing with support here. CS score is generally determined by the lane. Unlike mid-lane where you would expect a CS of around 7 per minute, the score in the support role is much lower.

That being said, a good strategy is to practice clearing waves.

Vision Score

In simple terms, vision score is generally determined by counting the number of enemy locations illuminated by your placed ward. If the stealth of the opponent is compromised by wards, the visual score will start increasing as well.

Objective Control

When you start playing a game, there are certain objectives that you need to complete, the most important of them being the enemy Nexus. If you successfully complete the said objective, you will significantly increase your points and chances of getting to S rank.

But don’t just focus on that. In certain scenarios, focus-firing an objective solo can be a bad call since the enemy team could be lurking around. Try to complete as many objectives as possible such as destroying turrets, securing Drake hordes, etc.

Destroy Wards

A facet of Vision score is to destroy enemy wards. Your end goal is to increase your mastery score and being a Support, destroying wards and blue flowers is one of your best bets to go with.

If you are successful in maintaining vision, you will always have an advantage over your opponents. Similarly, you would have a much better chance of increasing your KDA as well.

Damage Ratio

Keep the ratio between damage done and taken above the average for that particular champion. Your ideal situation for climbing to the S rank would mean that your champion takes little to no damage. Even though that isn’t practically possible in most games, you can still try and keep the damage you receive, close to the ideal situation.

If you are playing in offensive positions such as tanks and assassins, then you would have to be basically attack, attack, and attack. Overpower the enemy and take as little damage as possible while delivering the greatest damage in return.

On the other hand, if you are donning a defense, you would have tougher situations since you will mostly be in situations where the opponent will be attacking you. In such circumstances, put a greater focus on KDA.

Survive the Odds

As mentioned earlier, you need to survive. Try to avoid offensive strategies that risk your survival. Most often, the end result of such strategies will be losing the match. Therefore, don’t follow your teammates in such situations.

You will be able to keep your opponent in check by limiting the resources they’re able to obtain on the map. This, in turn, helps you build up your strength while your enemies experience a net decrease in their average gold per minute. Not to mention the mentality that follows. If you end up losing a few games in a row, either your will to play will break, or something in the room. Hence, survive.

Play it for the team

That’s right folks. Don’t go solo mode. Being a support, you need to play your champion to the best of its abilities. Try to communicate with the team and play together following a strategy.

Don’t just go for the glory. Try to take part in getting the objectives.

Game Length

Most people tend to forget how important this is. Unlike other facets mentioned above, game length indirectly plays a major role in helping you achieve S rank.

In short, if the game does not last long, the stats will be more volatile and it would be harder to get to S rank. Your best bet is to try and play a long cohesive strategy. Doing so will mean that your KDA will have less significance, and instead, the win conditions for your champion would matter more.

So, spend as much time as you can on farming, surviving, and playing the long game.

Champion Mastery

Perhaps the most important factor about your champion mastery score is to understand how it is affected by your Matchmaking Rating. When the team starts losing, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your MMR will go down. In fact, it can still go up if you are able to get a high ranking, despite losing on League Points.

Riot Games understands that bad teammates can hinder a player’s spirit if he/she outperforms yet still loses because of his teammates. A person who fights and commits to the game even if the progress might not seem as steep – is rewarded accordingly by the game.

Therefore, even if the game isn’t progressing in your favor, you can still incentivize it by playing well as you will still be rewarded for your efforts.

Conclusion

When trying to get support for S rank, it is important to keep all facets listed above into consideration. Try to stay alive, play the long game strategy, and farm. When the game starts, make sure you are working with your team and not playing solo. Destroy as many enemy wards as you can and try to increase your Vision Score at the same time. Go for the maximum KDA and focus more on assists but play safe and don’t risk dying. In short, keep these general points in mind.

While you are at it, do not hesitate to make mistakes. Often enough the fear factor can ruin your game because you are concentrating too much on the stats and less on the game. Some players might be too concerned with KDA, that they will not take a step of bravery and would rather play cautiously to the point that it wouldn’t be fun anymore.

Take necessary risks but do not go overboard on a suicide mission. If you are not too concerned with a champion, then try to choose one which has comparatively lower popularity. Overall, it will all come down to how you manage to mix and keep a foolproof strategy till the very end of the game. Play the long haul and remember to have fun!