A good support can carry a game, no matter what your silver friend says. They are the glue that keeps a team from falling apart at the seams. In Season 5, roaming supports became a necessity. With tower trades becoming super common, fast supports performed the best. This has carried over into the new season.
Item buys on a support are usually the same, no matter what champion you pick. If they use Ability Power, you go Frost Queen’s Claim then tank. If they are just tanks, you go Face of the Mountain, then more tank. Here are the best supports in competitive play.
Alistar
LCS players have been milking this cow ever since his buff last season. He is a first pick priority, no matter what team composition you need. His Pulverize into Head butt combo is a mini Malphite ultimate, and can change the outcome of a fight. Need to get someone dangerous away from your lane partner? Just Head butt them away, while your buddy escapes unscathed. His ultimate turns him into a tank that can’t be killed, even when he has very few actual tank items.
Alistar got a buff and a nerf this patch. He now heals for less, but his combo is now easier to pull off. I always stayed away from the cow because I messed up his combo too much. Now that it’s easier I plan to spam him in solo que.
Bard
Bard is a champion that really took a lot of time for people to get accustomed to. For the first few months of his release he wasn’t played professionally. After a few buffs players like Aphromoo started to bring him to the stage. His kit is so versatile, allowing pros to create some absolutely spectacular plays. His Cosmic Binding is a hard stun to land, but stunning two people at once is too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Magical Journey is the best named skill in the game. It also happens to be one of the best play making tools as well. Whole teams can pass through a portal, allowing them to engage or disengage. His ultimate, Tempered Fate, stops time in an area for a few seconds, disabling players, turrets and objectives. A great Bard can catch a fleeing enemy with his ultimate, creating a 4v5.
Janna/ Soraka
I’m going to put these two together, because they mostly have the same job. They protect the team from damage and help them with the escape. Also only one player plays them both to effectiveness in the LCS, Immortal’s Adrian. Soraka’s job is to heal the team, with an occasional Exhaust thrown in for good measure. Don’t discount how good that heal is though. During last week’s LCS, Immortals used a Soraka/Nidalee combo that managed to bring people back to full health to turn fights.
Janna is a disengage machine, her job is to protect and serve. A good Janna knows how to use her shield to create better bot lane trades, effectively winning the game through passive force. The thing that makes Janna so amazing though is her ability to run away. Her passive gives everyone more movement speed, while her Howling Gale can knock enemies that try to chase her into the air. If your team really screwed up, just use her ultimate, Monsoon, to knock enemies away.
Champions I’m not mentioning: Trundle. Poppy, Thresh, Morgana, Brand (if death fire grasp ever gets OP again), the list goes on and on.