Earning Gold as Support in League of Legends isn’t as important as for other roles in the game. However, we all know that if a support manages to get a few major items, he will be able to snowball into the late game. A support without gold is just dead weight in the late game. So, if you’re earning minimal items and blaming your carries, you’re the one that’s screwing up here.
In this post, we will be going over a few ways that support can get a few items of their own. These methods won’t necessarily disrupt the farm of your carries but they’ll be helpful in putting a decent buck in your pocket.
Starting Thoughts
You don’t need to be a pro to figure out that supports are the poorest champions in the game. They just wander around the map and catch some gold here and there. We all know the hassle of getting Ardent Censer or Locket with a support. But, this guide will help you counteract that very problem and make the richest support you’ve ever seen. Some of these methods aren’t exactly obvious and you might be surprised at the amount of extra gold you’ll be getting.
Kills and Assists
Kills and Assist are the most common way for a support to get a ton of gold. Killing an opponent champion isn’t that easy because it is almost impossible for a support to get a solo kill and if you’re in a team fight, your damage will be negligible to that of your carries. So, you might luckily get a last hit on an enemy champion. However, assists aren’t difficult to get. You need to get some damage on the dying hero and make sure that you’re involved in as many kills as you possibly can.
But, one important thing you need to know is that you shouldn’t steal kills from your carries in order to get gold for your items. Kills should go to your ADC but if you see that they’re going to die if you don’t try to get in a few hits, then you should definitely help them. Your ADC dying isn’t worth the risk for them to get the last hit on an enemy hero.
Your TP rotations need to be on point to get assists. The best way to learn when to teleport is to go through your older games. Keep watching the map and check when you could’ve helped your team secure a kill. This might seem boring as you’re watching a game that you previously played, but it can be a game-changer for your effectiveness as a support.
The Cheeky Assists
This tip is really situational and it might be rare that you get a chance to pull it off in a game. If you find yourself in your base with a fellow carry, use your spells on them. Most supports in the game have shields or other buffs that they can place on their teammates. If your carry gets a kill while the buff is still affecting them, you’d be granted an assist automatically. This is extremely hard because you never know if the carry will be able to get a kill in time. But, you might be able to get lucky a few times if you place the buff every time you’re about to TP from or to an ally hero.
Gold Generation Items
Other than getting kills and assists, a much easier way to get gold would be to purchase items that can get them some gold in the early stages of the game.
The Relic Shield is an item that tanky supports really like to have like Thresh. Spellthief’s Edge is great for champions that can harass the enemy out of their lanes. Then, there is the Ancient Coin; champions who don’t have the capability to do anything in the early stages of the game should definitely go for this item.
Itemization in the early game is really important because a bad item could mean that you’re handing the lane to the enemy on a silver platter. If you are new to the game and don’t know what item you should purchase, then go to Google and check what items your champion likes to start off with. There are places on the internet with item builds that depend on the heroes in the enemy team.
While we don’t recommend doing this, you can also get assists with certain items. Locket, Redemption and a few other items with active abilities can help you dish out some damage to get a few assists. Some items act as buffs, but if your team gets the kill while they’re still under the effect of that buff, then you will definitely get the gold for nabbing the assist.
Taking Over the Mid Lane
This is something that can only happen a few times during the game. There will be times when your midlaner dies. Most people see this as a bad thing, but you could take over their lane and farm their minion waves till the champion respawns. There are quite a few benefits of doing this, but the first is obviously that you’d be getting gold. If you’re good at last hitting, you can contest in CS with the enemy midlaner pretty well without getting killed. This might not bring you close to the carries, but it will definitely get you an advantage over the enemy team’s support.
The second benefit is that you’d be preventing the lane from pushing. Obviously, if the midlaner is dead, the enemy midlaner will capitalize by pushing the lane especially if they have help lurking nearby. If you kill a few minions, you’d be holding the creep equilibrium and make sure that your tower doesn’t get too badly damaged till your carry respawns. One important thing is that if the midlaner wants to push, he’ll kill you off too to do so. Also, supports do tend to try their best to keep the tower on full health. While this is the optimal scenario, you shouldn’t put yourself at risk to prevent damage to your tower. If you can stop the midlaner, that’s good. If you can’t, don’t do something impulsive that gets you killed.
Rotating Lanes
This is something that most supports forget about in the early game. Each tower taken isn’t just more map control, it is an opportunity for you to rotate to other lanes, get more kills and pressure the towers to take objectives. Most supports and even carries keep farming the same lane once they’ve taken a tower. Supports should first take out the side lanes. After they’ve done so, the next target should be the mid towers. Now you have access to the Rift Herald and the Dragons. A perfect timing to take these objectives is very important.
The gold advantage is one thing, but the map control will just allow you to win the game. We’ve seen quite a few supports in our games that complain that their carries failed their lanes. This isn’t just the carry’s fault, it’s yours as well. If the enemy supports are ganking your carries and you’re not doing the same, you’re putting your teammates at a huge disadvantage. So, if you see that the lanes are getting pushed, go help them because it might just provide kill potential which is just more gold for you.
Use Every Ability
This isn’t a problem for people that have been playing the game for quite some time. But, if you’re new to the game, then team fights can become a bit overwhelming. You panic and you don’t get much off other than your auto attacks. That is where you’re missing out on a ton of gold. As we mentioned earlier, buffs on allies and debuffs on enemies grant you an assist. You need to get off all your abilities and try to hit at as many enemy champions as possible. If you focus on one and another champion dies, you won’t be getting the assist for both kills. Poke around a bit on each enemy just to get your name on the board. This is probably one of the most effective ways to earn gold. Ganks will only take place early game and you have to be able to get off all your abilities to ensure that you get five assists each time you get a team wipe.
Read on in our guide on Expert Tipps Playing Support in LoL