S8 Overarching support guide

Hi All,
This is my first guide so any feedback will be welcome :)

This guide is aimed at newer players who may not know the support role or existing players looking to learn a little more about the role.

There is a large quantity of players who think the supports role is just to tank damage and that's about it however there is much more to the role than just that. Different gods play the role in different ways as to whether they're a frontline support or backline support.

Frontline supports play in a similar way to the solo being on the front foot trying to push the enemy team back and disrupt the backline but tend to deal slightly less damage while being slightly tankier. examples of these include gods like Sobek and Cerberus

Backline supports play a more defensive game and remain in the backline to protect against assassins diving the backline, these gods benefit from having full vision on your team in order to know the location and status of any giving player. Gods that perform particularly well in this role include Khepri and Geb due to having abilities that can save your teammates these gods will greatly benefit from having full vision of your team.

The overall role of a support player regardless of playstyle is to provide set up for kills by using your crowd control to lockdown enemies, as well as providing protection/peel for your allies by again using crowd control abilities to prevent enemies getting to your teammates allowing them to escape and survive. Tanking damage is still a part of the role but don't tank just for the sake of it if a player has poorly positioned themselves it isn't worth putting yourself out of position to try save them as this will expose properly positioned players.

The main frustration for a many supports is teammates who can't hit abilities or basic attacks or don't follow up when the opportunity presents itself. This can be very annoying however as a support player you need to try to be aware of your teammates playstyles and lane pressure, if they're being cautious or don't have pressure then don't dive in expecting them to follow.

Players will blame you for their deaths it comes as part of the role unfortunately 90% of the time it's their bad play not your bad decisions so try not to get too frustrated much like junglers people love to blame the support.

Support gods are typically guardians however some warriors can play in this role as well. Some (mages and some Assassins may do well in this role such as Aphrodite or Ne Zha however this guide will mainly focus on guardians and warriors as they are the typical classes for the role.

Guardians
It is true that all guardians can perform the support role but some don't perform as well as others, these tend to be gods more aimed towards playing solo. These guardians usually have higher base damage and slightly lower health and protections which include:
Cerberus Cthulhu Jormungandr
These gods will generate good early pressure due to better wave clear compared to other guardians however will tend to struggle later in the game compared to more conventional supports like Ymir or Geb which will get tankier than these gods.

Aggressive supports
Aggressive guardians play on the front foot, having good wave clear and play in a similar way to solo gods being good frontline gods.
aggressive supports include;
Ares Athena Artio Bacchus Cabrakan Kuzenbo Sobek Xing Tian and Ymir

Defensive supports
The other gods in the Guardian class might not generate as much pressure when matched up against the above gods nut benefit a more defensive playstyle generally. these gods usually work better in the backline providing good peel for squishier gods if an assassin makes a dive for them. Gods in the playstyle include;
Ganesha Geb Kumbhakarna Khepri Sylvanus Terra and Yemoja

Warriors
Some warriors can play in the support role but can struggle at times, main warriors to try in support are;
Horus Nike and Hercules

When picking a support its worth thinking about what team lineup you're playing with if you have a lot of AOE damage it might be worth picking Ares or Cerberus to drag enemies into these ares. If your carry picks a low pressure carry like Xbalanque who has poor clear it might be best to pick a defensive support.

Items for the support role do not tend to change much from patch to patch, the aim of your build should be to gain high protections and health to help in tanking towers/ objectives while providing useful auras for your teammates.

Starter items
Sentinel's Gift War Flag Benevolence

Useful items
Gauntlet of Thebes Sovereignty Pestilence Stone of Binding Spirit Robe Mantle of Discord lotus crown Pridwen Bulwark of Hope Relic Dagger Witchblade Void Stone Ethereal Staff

Generic build template

1-Starter item
2-protections/health
3-protections/health
4-protections/health (main damage type)
5-Situational item (antiheal, anti-crit)
6-premium item (e.g Mantle of Discord)

Example build
Sentinel's Embrace Gauntlet of Thebes Stone of Binding Sovereignty Pestilence Spirit Robe
This build would work well in most circumstances giving a high amount of defense and health as well as providing an antiheal aura and protections boost to your teammates.
Stone of binding is a useful item to get on any support now the boots have been removed not just aggressive supports like Sobek as it serves as a good bridging item providing cheap early game protections. If playing into a matchup where you feel you could generate good early pressure it will be worth getting stone of binding first then going into gauntlet of thebes to capitalize on this.
If you feel like you may loose pressure early game/ want to play safe then grab gauntlet of thebes first as getting stacks built early will help see you through the early/mid game phase when the carries will typically have built some form of penetration as well as heavily reducing the damage taken from minions.

Aggressive supports may look to get items like void stone which provide debuffs to the enemy team playing into an aggressive playstyle where the support will be in the face of the enemy team being disruptive and generally annoying. Whereas more Defensive supports such as Khepri will do better building sovereignty and Heartward amulet as these gods will tend to sit in the backline to protect the carry and mage so providing more protections will aid in this playstyle.

Warrior Build
Sentinel's Embracegauntlet or thebes Void Shield Pestilence Spirit Robe Mantle of Discord

Similar to the guardian builds but building void shield allows you to maintain the higher pressure that warriors bring to the lane.

Late game sellingstone of binding for another item like mantle of discord will provide you with better protection overall replacing this bridging item with a late game reactionary item is best practice as stone of binding starts to loose its worth late game so does need replacing.

Relics
The main relics used in support are Magic Shell to save players on low health and Blink Rune for good engage
Magic shell is the must have relic in my opinion and the second relic can be chosen as the game develops Horrific Emblem may be of use or Cursed Ankh if there is heavy healing on the enemy team.

Early Game
Early game you will be in lane with the carry, during this phase you will attempt to generate lane pressure to give your carry the best chance of winning lane once you start to rotate. I personally try stay in lane initially till I can get Gauntlet of thebes generally if you can grab this item on your first return you should be doing alright in lane.
Upon getting your first item it's time to start rotating, if your carry is doing well I'd start this form level 5 if not help them for a little bit longer. At this point you'll be heading to mid-lane to assist there instead at this point you should have bought wards as well not just relying on the relic for wards.
Mid game
At the mid-game point you should have a decent amount of protections and be rotating throughout the map, remember map vision is important so keep warding, try to be smart with your rotations, if a lane is loosing hard and the opponent is fed its best not to rotate to that lane unless its coordinated with the mid/jungle as a support will not necessarily improve the situation. Try to rotate into lanes that are 50/50 to tip the balance or head towards lanes where teammates are advanced in anticipation of an enemy gank.
Late game
Late-game what you're doing will depend on the type of guardian you chose as discussed earlier if you're playing an aggressive support you will be hitting the enemy backline trying to forge an opening for your jungler and genrally being disruptive. If you went on the more defensive support route you will be chilling in and around your own backline on the lookout for any potential threats to them. Either way you will be expected to tank towers to allow your squishys to destroy them or tower dive enemies as well as tank objectives like the fire giant and gold fury to minimize the damage taken by the squishier gods

Overall Supports generally won't win you games or carry you to high ranks you can provide all the set up and peel you need but you still need players to do the damage. A good support won't necessarily win you a game but they are a big help in preventing you from loosing it. Remember to always ensure you have good map vision to be aware of enemy positions and remember that it's ok to take a death if it means your damage dealers survive and/or structures are taken.