SPACHi, I'm Wicked Eye and I play support because I have the mindset of defense, every sport I played I was part of the defense. This doesn't mean I'm bad at attacking, since supports do have to be offensive sometimes, but lets say that I can shine more or make good plays when I think about defending my team than killing someone.
SPACIn this guide I want to talk about everything that can influence a gameplay, not just generalized advice, but also talk in-depth about masteries, runes and etc. I arranged this guide to be in order from the beginning of a game (picks, runes, masteries) until the game actually starts (items and gameplay). And if you think I should cover or improve some point, please leave me a comment and I'll definitely take a look and consider it. Remember that everything is according to my experience and of course it's not perfect, but I'm constantly trying to improve.

SPACHere are the most common supports, some of these champions weren't exactly created with the intention of being a support, but because of the utility (like Lux or Morgana) in their kit they can also be played as such.
SPACSome other champions, though, have nothing in their kit that can be helpful and people still play them as supports. You can always break the meta and go for whatever you want, but I'll only talk about the "common supports".

SPACI'll talk more about some of these champions in the next chapters so don't worry, I just want you to know which heroes are the supports I'm referring to in this guide.

SPACI know people think that supporting is really boring and you only have to stand there while your ADC gets all the action, and I used to think the same. But supporting is really fun and you actually have to do too many things, so it requires a lot of skill: you need to constantly pay attention to the game, remember to use items' actives and try to protect your entire team.
SPAC To me support can be defined by team work, when you pay attention to other people and want to try to save them is when you do good as a support. The other roles (except jungle) don't require that much attention on your team mates, but supporting depends on that. If you can only play individually, then you might not excel on the support role, but that doesn't mean you can't try.

SPACSupports usually have a lot of roles and not only on its own lane but on the entire game, here are the main things a support should do and I'll talk more about them on the In-Game Strategy section. Some other roles like engaging depend more on the support you are playing so I won't mention them here.

Of course there is a reason why and when you should pick each champion and I want to talk more about how to evaluate the situation.

SPACFirst thing people should look at is your ADC if he already picked the champion, try to go for a combo or at least two champions that complete each other to have a great synergy in lane. I'm working on a synergy cheat sheet, so wait a bit more for that.
SPACThe second thing is the enemy bot lane, you should try to counter or at least be even with the enemy bot lane. Sometimes when you have to pick first you'll probably get countered, in this case go for the champion you are most used to, a champion being a counter to another means that it'll be a bit easier, but skill/ability beats that in most cases. I have a Matchup Section down on the guide, but you can check it clicking on the link.
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SPACAnd you should not pay attention only to the enemy bot lane but also analyze both teams. Is your team lacking a tanker? Then go for Thresh, Leona or Braum. If your team is lacking heavy cc... Leona, Alistar, Annie it is.
SPACIf the enemy team has an assassin that can kill people with just one combo, Soraka and Lulu won't let that happen.
SPACThese are just examples of how to take in consideration both your team and the enemy team when picking. This doesn't require that much skill so use your best judgement to determine which support would be better.

SPACI also want to include a Top Tier Champions for supporting for this last patch 4.11, I will try to update as soon as some changes are made on supports or on the game in general. Of course this doesn't mean you have to play with these champions, if you are good with Janna and can destroy everyone with her, then go for it. For example, I love going with Soraka, even though I didn't include her in this list.

SPACThese are the first champions I want to talk about. Doesn't matter if you win the early game (unless you completely outplay them) and poke them a lot, mid to late game when team fights happen this guys simply turn into beasts. They can bring a lot to team fights and if a target is locked, it will probably be a kill. I really think their only counters are each other (except for Lulu), and even so it might be more of a skill match up. You can say that Morgana would be a good counter since they all rely on CC, but thing is, Morgana's spellshield has a really high cooldown and they all have AOE Crowd Control, while Morgana can only protect one person.
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SPACVery good at engaging because if a Zenith Blade connects to the target it is either a kill or the enemy leaving with at most 1/3 of his health. But you have to know when to engage, Leona is probably the one who has to put herself in more danger than Braum and Thresh, so be careful not to enter a team fight you cannot win. A downside of Leona is that she has no way of saving her carry, like a shield or a wall.

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SPACHe has such a great kit and again, a hook can be fatal. His Dark Passage is very good for saving people or making amazing plays, not to mention that a well timed Thresh can stop all kind of jumps with his Flay avoiding enemies like Leona or Jarvan IV to engage or enemies like Tristana and Corki to flee.

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SPACRecent but extremely good, his Q Winter's Bite hurts a lot and you deal more damage the more health you have. His passive Concussive Blows can stun the entire enemy team and will deal a lot of damage when you reach the 4 stacks. And being able to block most of the ADC's ults is amazing. Braum is good at both defending his carry and engaging team fights.

SPACThese three champions are very good for the nice amount of utility they have, which can help at both initiating a fight or disengaging one. Their damage is not huge but is still very good, making they very aggressive with a lot of kill potential.
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SPACShe was always a good champion, but only now she is finally being picked a lot. Nami has a lot to offer to her ADC because she can heal and poke at the same time with Ebb and Flow, two CC abilities ( Aqua Prison and Tidal Wave) and she enhances her ADCs AA. It is a lot of things to only one support and even when losing early game she brings a lot to team fights and can grow mid/late game.

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SPACShe can make a lot of other supports' kit go to waste if they are not extremely careful, I prefer her against the champions on this tier because they don't have a hard all-in type of engage, giving Morgana more time to deal damage and have her Black Shield again, Dark Binding is a very good engaging tool as well because of its large range.

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SPACShe has a lot of utility on her kit, probably one of the most complete supports: damage, slow, vision, shield, speed, silence, knock up and health. This makes her both good at poking, great at disengaging ganks or help her team gank, Lulu actually is a good counter for the first three champions I mentioned, but as she's very squishy you need to be specially careful before level 6.

SPACThese champions used to be pretty common and top tier on season 3, or on Gragas case, currently rising on the competitive scenario, so I wanted to talk a bit about them as well.
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SPAC

SPAC She has a lot of damage and if not against a Soraka they won't be able to heal all her poke, her ult Mantra has such a low cooldown, specially along with her passive Gathering Fire. Her shield Inspire is very good because of the speed, and with Mantra you have a talisman of ascension almost every half a minute. She recently went missing on ranked games, but I still think she's very good.

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SPACHer damage can be enormous and her ult Stranglethorns is pretty effective for both engaging or disengaging. Her Rampant Growth allows her to have more vision control than other supports. She is pretty squishy right now early levels, so be careful.

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SPACShe was such a monster back in S3, but now she fell off a bit from the competitive scenario, but this doesn't mean she turned into a bad pick, her damage is still huuuge and Flash + Summon: Tibbers is one of the most fatal combos, thus, she has a nice engage to team fights and can also help her ADC have a safer laning phase.

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SPACUsed to be a very common mid laner but after the nerfs people actually started playing him as support and the reason is very obvious. Now he has slow and knock up, and his ultimate Explosive Cask is still extremely good for positioning enemies the way you want, you could separate the ADC or APC from the entire team and once you kill him, the team fight is almost guaranteed win.

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SPACThis new Sona seems to be pretty powerful as well to me, although she is not commonly picked in the current meta, she gained more mobility, her poke is very good specially early game and she still has an amazing AoE CC. Her new shield also helps a lot and she is an even better baiter. Overall I feel Sona is still strong and maybe even strong early game despite the nerfs on her defensive stats.

SPAC Masteries are something very personal and you need to find what works better for you, I'm going to show some options, but feel free to change the masteries. Also, technically, you can build tank in any support, including Soraka and Lulu, but each support excels at a certain role.

SPACSo this 0/9/21 masteries are good because most ranged supports are squishy and the early defense helps a lot having a safer laning phase. But if you want more damage, I will show you other options as well. I would recommend this for Soraka or Janna, squishy supports that doesn't have that much damage/kill potential.

SPACI take these masteries more often than 21/9 because I like starting with more gold to buy more Health Potions and also because of personal preference. The gold income masteries are not that great and you can survive with Relic Shield only. You can run the 21/9 masteries that I'll also show with Leona, Braum or anyone else you might want.

SPACFirst, I want to talk about the main options for runes for both ranged and tank supports, then Ill show you one example, but remember to adapt it according to what I'm going to say bellow. Also, don't forget you can always go for scaling runes, specially for Magic Resist and Health, since they have better stats late game.

SPMARKS

greater mark of hybrid penetration

· greater mark of hybrid penetration has very good stats right now and can help you both early and late game this will help your spells hurt more and also your auto attacks, I would suggest this marks as first options as they suit more play styles. · Greater Mark of Magic Penetration you can also go for these if the hybrid marks are too expensive for you or you have a short range and won't be able to poke a lot with AAs, otherwise I still think hybrid is better. · Greater Mark of Armor for the tanks, going with mark of armor and seal of health now offers better stats. Also, if you're ranged and don't feel safe in lane or think you're too squishy, these are an option as well.

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· Greater Seal of Armor If you didn't build armor on the marks and won't go with quints of armor, then you can mix them like 4x seal of armor and 5x seal of health, but right now they're not that worth anymore and seal of health provides great stats on health that protects you both on attack damage and ability power. · Greater Seal of Health As I said earlier going for mark of armor and seal of health is better now. There isn't much difference between mark of armor (+0.91) and seal of armor (+1), but there's a big difference between mark of health (+3.47) and seal of health (+8).

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SIGLYPHS

· Greater Glyph of Magic Resist It's also important to build magic resist, since in most games you will have 2 or 3 AP enemies, and glyphs are the best option for it. I recommend them both for ranged and tank supports. · Greater Glyph of Mana Regeneration this is actually a great choice on Soraka, Nami, Lulu and other supports that need constant use of their abilities, thus, have some mana issues. You don't need to have all 9x glyphs of mana regen, having 3x already helps.

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· Greater Quintessence of Ability Power Good for damage supports that have higher AP ratios on their abilities, but can fit with any ranged support. For tanks, I prefer one of the two options bellow. · Greater Quintessence of Health Choosing health quints depends more on your playstyle, some people prefer them over armor quints and some don't. I like to have them with Braum, since he scales with health and Leona because she's always on the middle of the fight, but that's on you.

· Greater Quintessence of Armor If there is more than one heavy AD reliant enemy, you should go for these so you'll be more prepared for them. · Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed Can also be good for more speed, specially early game, so you don't have to rush Boots and can roam the map faster. But I don't usually see people going with them and I personally don't like them. (You don't need this with Janna because of her passive).

This is one of the most common builds for damage supports, since you balance damage with defense, pretty much the same runes when you go AP mid. I can recommend these for Zyra, Annie, Gragas, Karma and etc.

For less offensive supports like Nami, Lulu, Soraka or Janna, you can go with these runes. It's the best combination for defense in my opinion.

SPACFor tanks, this path is pretty standard and doesn't change much, the only things I would recommend changing is for scaling runes or change the quintessences for health.

SPACIn my humble opinion I think there's only four summoner spells that are good for a support and they're Flash, Exhaust, Heal and Ignite. So let's talk a bit more about them and which one you should pick in each case.

SPACYour build depends on many things: the champion you're playing, the enemy champions, how the game is turning. To take the best out of your items you should analyze these situations and adjust them to what you need. I'm going to try and talk about the items I see more often on supports and in what situations you should take them.

SPACYou can only buy one of these, so the question is: which one is the best? That really depends on what you want to do with your support, so let me tell you how I know which one I'll take.

It used to be more common at the beginning of this season and we hardly see it right now. I would buy it against hard matchups, for example, a Leona against Zyra or Lulu, since you'll need the health regen not to get poked down to 30% health.

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Go for the gold income item that best suits you according to what I said above, you can buy Relic Shield on the beginning for the heal, for example, and then sell it and buy Ancient Coin for talisman of ascension's active.

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I find that when the game starts you really need a Stealth Ward for more vision. But if you're Blitzcrank or Thresh and you want to put pressure on the lane, you can start with Sweeping Lens, so you can break wards on the lane brush and make some surprise hooks.

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Starting with a Stealth Ward or not is more of a personal preference, I like to take one, but depending on the match I go for 3x potions. If I know the match is going to be passive and be only a farm lane, I take the ward because I won't go base soon. If I want to poke a lot and pressure the enemy, I don't buy the ward. Also, against hard matchups, you can take the 3x potions to last longer in lane.

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You can go the combination you want, if you have a heal I suggest taking at least 1x Mana Potion, so you can sustain/poke more. Going with 3x Health Potions is good against difficult matchups or when you want to be very aggressive.

SPACThe core items are basically the same for every support, you choose the gold income item based on your needs and try to upgrade it to the next tier, get a Sightstone, change your trinket for Sweeping Lens, Boots and then you start building your next item.
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* I like to rush face of the mountain first because as a tank I usually have no other shield to save my ADC. You can also rush talisman of ascension because of its good active. Frost Queen's Claim doesn't have that great of an active, so I think the rest of your build has a priority. Pay attention to what your team needs and prioritize the item: If there is too much CC you will want to finish Mikael's Blessing first, or if you can buff your ADC with heal or shield ( Nami, Janna, Lulu), rushing Ardent Censer is a nice option.
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Very important to keep your lane warded and don't get ganked (and die), you also won't need to buy wards every time you go base and it provides a nice amount of health early game. Remember to change your trinket to Sweeping Lens since you won't need Stealth Ward anymore.

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Having at least one with you is very good for denying vision, early game try to place them where you can protect them, so they won't be broken right after you place them. Also, you'll always want to have an extra ward against Shaco, Evelynn and Twitch, when you fight them you'll want to put that ward in lane so they won't escape.

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You'll start to roam the map a bit more to place more wards, but you cant leave your ADC alone for too much time. Also good for dodging abilities, escaping ganks and etc. If you're Janna or going to build items that have movement speed like Ardent Censer and Twin Shadows, you don't need to rush boots.

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So you can later build into Mikael's Blessing, you'll want to rush this specially if there's an Ashe, Sona or Leona. Even when not against CC I still think this is pretty good for the heal, MR, mana regen and CDR.

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Start building this for Ardent Censer if you have constant heal like Sona or a good shield like Lulu and Janna, this item could be also good for Nami because of her Ebb and Flow + Tidecaller's Blessing combo.

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Your next item should be giant's belt if some of the AD enemies is getting super fed and later upgrade into Randuin's Omen or there're a lot of AD champions, otherwise I think you could prioritize other items. Or you can get Warden's Mail if you want to got for Frozen Heart

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The same rule here is applied, you'll want to buy this to later upgrade into Locket of the Iron Solari if the enemy AP is getting fed or there're a lot of AP enemy champions.

SPACOf course this is just an example and you should analyze the enemy team to make your choices.
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There's basically no reason to rush this if you already have Sightstone, only if you already finished your build, or if you feel like you need more health and don't have a slot free.

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face of the mountain

Although talisman of ascension might have a better active, I still think this is the best option for tanks, but do what you feel most comfortable with.

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A situational item, insert here the one that best adapt to your team, again, build it if the enemy AP champion is being the problem. I choose this over Banshee's Veil because Locket of the Iron Solari might provides you less health and MR, but both its passive and active helps your teammates, which I think is what a support should do.

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Got nerfed on the 4.10 patch, it no longer reduces attacker's movement speed and the reduction is 10% instead of 15% now, this makes Frozen Heart a more viable choice in some cases. But randuin's still provides a nice amount of health and has a good active as well.

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For the boots, you need to pay attention if AD is what you're having problems with, go for Ninja Tabi. But if you need the MR and tenacity, choose Mercury's Treads. As a tank, I would only go for Mobility Boots if my team is ahead and I won't need the extra MR/armor.

ARMOR:
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A very situational item, I will only get this if the enemy team has a fed hyper carry that relies on auto attacks ( Vayne, Caitlyn Kayle...). I like this because it damages the enemy as well, but only get this after Randuin's Omen if you still need more armor.

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A lot of armor, a lot of CDR, a lot of mana + slowing the attack speed of everyone around you. This is a really good item against Auto Attack reliant champions, and only if there are a lot of them.

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MAGIC RESIST:
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I like to take this item with every support, I think the cooldown reduction, mana regen and active are amazing and can be good in every situation, and the MR is really good as well.

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Amazing against those hyper ap carries, specially late game. It provides a really good amount of health, but I mentioned it on the Magic Resist section because you want banshees for the passive, Nidalee, LeBlanc and etc won't be able to finish you instantaneously so it is a great defensive item, I already said why I didn't include it on my example build, but you can totally go for this.

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WHY NOT?
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I never ever build this item and it is not good because it provides no utility for your team, Banshee's Veil is the best item if you have a hyper AP carry on the enemy team and Locket of the Iron Solari will provide MR for your whole team, Spirit Visage is a selfish items for tanks that don't need to focus on utility.

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Too selfish and no utility item as well. Randuin's Omen has better defensive stats and also has utility to help your team, if you still need more armor, I would buy either Frozen Heart or Thornmail depending on the situation.

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Just no. This item gives you nothing but health, even guardian's angel would be more acceptable than this one. You have few gold and few slots, so you need to make good use of it, buy only the optimal items.

If you didn't read the first time I said it, again, there's no reason to rush this if you already have Sightstone, only if you already finish your build, or if you feel like you need more health and don't have a slot free.

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Because you will probably need the mana regen, and besides, this provides you more MR than Locket of the Iron Solari, the only con is that you won't be able to shield everybody, just help one.

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This new item is really OP, items' shield or the heal from face of the mountain/ Mikael's Blessing also counts, so buffing your ADC attack speed for 6 seconds is A LOT. Take this if you have a hypercarry on your team that relies on attack speed if you have a heal/shield that can buff your teammate like Nami, Janna or Lulu.

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Good for cleaning even more wards, rush this item if there's a Twitch, Evelynn or Shaco on the enemy team, this can help avoid their escapes.

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Mobility is very good on supports to roam the map faster, specially if you don't have a mobility skill like Whimsy or Song of Celerity. Ionian Boots of Lucidity is also good for the cooldown. And if you're going for damage, Sorcerer's Shoes is a good choice.

SPACPlease note that some of the options for tank, like Locket of the Iron Solari are also viable for poke, so I won't repeat myself here.

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A huge amount of AP, nice movement speed and CDR and the active is... acceptable. I would only take these if damage was my objective.

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I know you might think this is a weird choice, but this is good on some supports, I like it on Soraka for example.

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This is extremely useful against a team that has a lot of health regen/heals like Soraka, Vladimir, Dr. Mundo and such. I would even dare saying that this is a must against this type of champion.

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IF YOU WANT DAMAGE INSTEAD OF UTILITY:
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SPACJust like for tanks, I don't think taking selfish items on supports is something good, but sometimes you just can't rely on your team or you're very far ahead, so I'm going to show other options you could build.
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If you want more AP then I guess you could go for these, but I just think Mikael's Blessing is better since you can protect your team, but this is an option with Gragas or Lissandra for example.

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A lot of damage, but is really expensive and provides you no defense, only buy this is extremely ahead in game and there's no major threat for you.

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Its active and armor makes it really good to pick instead of Rabadon's Deathcap, for example, this combines really well with Morgana and her ult Soul Shackles.

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Another damage item, but this is only good on Sona because of her passive, I can't remember if there is other support that would be good with this.

SPACPlease, understand that things aren't simple and plain as they might look like. As I said before, skill and ability beats counters on most situations, of course some champions will have more difficult against others, but a skilled champion can play against his counter. Also I didn't mention all the supports and I also didn't mention all the counters, this is something that changes for most people depending on their skill level so don't take it as absolutely 100% accurate, I just want to give you a simple notion of how it works.
SPACI also want to talk about Morgana, I feel like she's a joker card, she can counter all the champions that relies on crowd control, but as her Black Shield has a high cooldown, I feel most supports can deal with her, she's just really annoying and requires more ability.

ANNIE Annie is countered by champions dealing her more damage ( Zyra and Karma) or champions that have superior crowd control ( Leona). Supports that can heal all the damage Annie can do might be good, but as she can destroy a squishy champion with just one combo, I don't recommend risking it unless with full defense.

BLITZCRANK Rocket Grab has a high cooldown just as Black Shield, so Morgana can avoid all his crowd control. Blitzcrank is also countered by people who can speed their allies to avoid the grab and deal more damage than him from a safe distance ( Karma and Lulu). Leona is a counter because if he grabs the ADC, she can go for the enemy ADC as well.

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BRAUM He can be countered by champions with constant poke that he can't shield like Karma or Lulu. Also, champions like Zyra who can crowd control Braum for a safe distance have an advantage over him.

JANNA She doesn't have too much damage or poke, so people who can deal a lot of damage (more than she can shield) like Annie is trouble for Janna. Champions who can poke from a safe distance and have good crowd control like Nami and Lulu can also be difficult for her.

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KARMA Karma basically relies on poking down her enemies until they're very low for her ADC to kill. Champions that can heal and poke as well are her problems. This way all her mana will go to waste and she won't be able to do a thing.

LEONA Countered by people who can stop her engage like Thresh. Janna is an option but just like Morgana, her Howling Gale has a higher cooldown so she can bait it, wait for Zenith Blade's cooldown and then go for the kill. Also, people who can poke her from a long distance like Lulu are also troublesome for Leona

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LULU Lulu also relies on poking a lot the enemy, but she lacks sustain, so people like Sona that can heal and poke a lot can counter her. Karma also deal a lot of damage and Soraka can heal all the poke from Lulu, although her kill potential is very low.

MORGANA As I said, Morgana is like a joker card that can be annoying to crowd control reliant champions. So heroes that don't rely that much on crowd control like Karma and deal good damage is a trouble for her. Sona can heal her damage, poke her and Crescendo is a bit hard to predict. I consider Lulu a counter because she has more sustain and damage than Morgana, although her Black Shield can be annoying for Lulu.

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NAMI Nami has trouble with people dealing more damage than she can heal ( Lulu and Karma). Blitzcrank is hard because he can push someone to the middle of the fight, from where Nami might have a problem to disengage. Leona can be a skill matchup, but again, Nami only has her bubble to disengage and Tidal Wave which might not be enough to stop Leona.

SONA She has no escaping ability and she's also very squishy, so everyone that can lock her and go all in are a major threat for her.

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SORAKA The exact same as Sona, although she's not as squishy as Sona she also doesn't have an escape besides Flash nor a disengage tool, so these champions have the advantage over her.

THRESH Like other champions with limited range, his weakness is poke. He doesn't have sustain, just his shield that has a high cooldown, so I find that these champions are Thresh's main problems.

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ZYRA Zyra is so squishy right now so, again, these all-in champions that she can't stop are her main problem. And as she relies on damage, supports that can heal everything also offer a hard time to her.

SPACNow that we finished all the "technical" stuff it is time to talk more about what you should do in game. To follow these things I will say can be a little difficult because it is a lot at once, but with time you will definitely start to pay attention to these details. I'm slowly updating this section, so keep in mind that everything is not completed yet and I'll upload it soon.

SPAC1. Remember that it is not always worth dying just to give your ADC a kill, you won't only be feeding your own carry but the enemy's as well. But if your ADC is Draven for example, he will get more gold with the kill because of his passive League of Draven, so in some cases it might be worth, not always. If you're already going to die, then do everything you can to at least get one kill.
SPAC2. Objectives win games. Many times already I've seen a team with more kills losing a game because they forgot about the objectives and started going only after kills. Objectives not only gives you gold (like kills), but help you get closer and closer to the Nexus. So know your priorities, objectives over kills.
SPAC3. Never face check, remember to use abilities first. Many supports have an ability that reveals brushes like Aqua Prison, but if you don't have it, Glitterlance or Dark Binding have a different sound effect when a champion is hit. Even if you can't know for sure, using a Howling Gale can already make the enemy back off.
SPAC4. Be specially careful early game so you won't steal a kill that is 100% secure. If the enemy is cornered, has no Flash or any escape ability and is low health, don't even hit him and let your ADC get the kill. But if there is a chance the enemy will escape, or if your ADC is too far and can't kill, don't think twice and just try to kill the enemy with all you got.
SPAC5. Don't hate, control yourself on chat and always try to help your team, just be careful not to die. If your team starts to fight and disagrees all the time you will probably lose the game. Apologize if you get a kill or do something wrong, even if it wasn't your fault, just try to be a nice person and talk calmly to your team. Don't forget to mute those annoying people, it really helps.

SPACYou want to have the main places warded because vision win games, League of Legends is all about predicting where the enemy will be and what he'll do so you can counter and surprise him. But for that you need to have the main places in the map warded and that is objectives ( dragon and baron) and the main routes in the jungle. The good places to ward are the ones that offer you and your team information about what the enemy is doing, if you want to read more about warding, you can find it here.

SPAC1. Now that you can only place 3 Stealth Ward and 1 Vision Ward don't forget to ask your teammates to ward the places you want, and not just the Stealth Ward, ask for them to buy at least one ward if they have a slot open, the 75 gold means nothing considering it can avoid/help a kill.
SPAC2. When the game starts, the enemy will probably ward the opposite brush on bot lane, stay in the brush and ask your ADC to stay alert, if your quick enough you only need 2 hits from you and 1 hit from him, if you're Leona though, this shouldn't be a problem. Just AA + Shield of Daybreak + AA.
SPAC3. Do what you can so the enemy won't see where you warded, this way he won't be able to destroy your ward immediately with Sweeping Lens. Don't be so obvious like leaving your lane and going straight to the river brush, go through your jungle. Janna, for example, can use her Howling Gale while warding to hide the two lines that show up when you ward.
SPAC4. Be careful while warding, specially late game, when if you die it can mean a won team fight for the enemy team, eventually meaning baron, more gold and then victory. My point is: ask for help while warding, just the jungler being there will scare the enemy and you won't die.
SPAC5. Always tell your team where the enemy is warding so they can know the best route to gank and it'll be easy for you to use Sweeping Lens effectively. Which leads to the next point.
SPAC6. Ward control is not only about warding, but destroying them as well. Here in this link you can see how to use the trinket so people won't see you coming. You can use the same places I indicated to warding, as places to use the Sweeping Lens.
SPAC7. When a turret is destroyed, remember to put a ward in lane. Sometimes it isn't exactly necessary, I think mid lane is where you'll ward more, since team fights and pushing tend to happen more in mid lane.
SPAC8. Now that Vision Ward is not stealth anymore, you'll have to be more protective over it, otherwise you'll just waste money buying a lot of wards just to have them being broken a few seconds later. You can also put these wards on brushes (except for baron and dragon pit), so it'll be a bit harder for the enemy to find and break it.
SPAC9. If you have enemies with gap closing mechanisms like Pantheon, Shen, Twisted Fate, Nocturne, try to ward deeper in the jungler so you can have more time to react, and be specially careful when they go MIA. I also think that other junglers are really annoying and you also need more time to react to their ganks, like Jarvan IV and Vi, but this is something you learn with experience, just remember to ward deeper if the jungler is being too annoying.
Invisible text!

SPACPlease, understand that you don't need to have all these places warded at the same time, I'm just showing most of the best options for warding. Also, I tried to separate them between early, mid and late game, but a lot of these wards can be used all the time, from early to late game.

● If you ward the dragon pit and the tribrush you don't really need to ward here, but I included it in case you want to.
● Here is where you should ward in case you're having problem with the jungler, as I mentioned on tip #9.

● Only place a Vision Ward here if you're really ahead and you now they enemy will have a hard time breaking it.

SPACAgain, here I have a lot of options for you to ward, so remember to analyze your team and the situation. Also, I didn't repeat myself on some spots that I included on the Vision Ward map.

● The same explanation given to the purple side fits here on the blue side map.
● If the enemy jungler has a gap close/jumps like Kha'Zix, Lee Sin, Elise, Fiddlesticks and etc, warding the tribrush in bottom close to the enemy turret is a must.

● I don't recommend placing the Vision Wards deeper on the enemy jungle because you won't be able to defend it and the enemy will destroy it right after you place it.

SPACLaning phase is what you should be doing early game (sometimes mid game as well), I know it's a lot of things, but just because early game is just as important as late game.
SPACOther thing I want to talk about is Lane Swap. You should only do it if you think the top laner needs to be shut down early game and you have to rush destroying top turret, if you can't destroy the turret you missed the whole point of swaping the lane, also, your top laner has to be able to hand a 2v1 situation. Swaping lanes is not common on Solo Q because it requires better synergy in the team, I personally don't like it because it completely ruins the fun of laning phase.

SPAC1. Freezing the lane is a good thing to avoid enemy ganks when you don't have enough wards, you force the enemy to expose himself to ganks, but don't let the minions get under your turret or your ADC might lose CS. Remember to farm enough so you both won't be behind in level and push when you want the enemy to lose CS to the turret. If you want to be aggressive though, push the lane and put the enemy under their turret.
SPAC2. When the minions are under turret, help your ADC get the CS. Sometimes it isn't necessary because it will usually be 2 Tower Hits + 1 AA or 1 AA + 1 Tower Hit + 1 AA. But if the minions are attacking, you will have to pay a lot of attention to AA at the right time, this doesn't have a formula, so it will require practice.
SPAC3. Watch out if your ADC is gonna lose the CS so you can get the gold to yourself instead of wasting it, specially if you have Relic Shield.
SPAC4. If the enemy recalls, push the wave to the turret so the enemy will miss CS and then you recall, since if you stay you'll just be overextending and miss a good opportunity to go base. If you don't have the time to push all the way to the turret, try to freeze the lane so the minions won't get to your turret.

SPAC5. If you have the advantage (better comp than the enemy) you can play aggressive during laning phase so the enemies on bot won't grow stronger than you. Harder or even matchups can be more passive and rely on farming more.
SPAC6. While still keeping yourself in a safe zone you should try to poke as much as you can to maintain the enemy's health lower than yours, this will help to bully them out of lane since they'll have to recall and lose CS/EXP and if they don't, punish them so your ADC will have a chance of killing them.
SPAC7. You don't need to be a ranged support to make the enemy lose CS, when I'm with Leona, I like to enter a brush and keep showing myself or even pop my Eclipse up so they think I will engage, they back off and lose CS.
SPAC8. If there is only one champion in lane, zone him by standing between him and the minions, this way he will be scared to farm and will, again, lose CS and EXP.
SPAC9. When there's a big allied minion wave you can try to engage, because minions deal a lot of damage, specially early game. You get a big minion wave when your ADC constantly hits the enemy creeps and kill them faster.
SPAC10. If you and your ADC have a good composition try to get lvl 2 advantage by constantly hitting the minions, once you have the advantage you can try to get the kill. Leona and Thresh can easily secure a kill this way, but other supports can do the same.
SPAC11. Getting lvl 6 first is very important as well, because it means you'll have higher chances to killing the enemy, so poke the enemy until he's with 2/3 of his health and when you two get lvl 6, go for the kill.

SPAC12. Try to recall together, since if only one stays chances are they'll be zoned and won't do much, maybe even die. You can push the lane first so the minions won't hit your turret.
SPAC13. 10. Recall together, but always ask how much gold your ADC has, he probably wants to buy a B. F. Sword, so ask how much gold is still missing. Considering he takes 75% of the creeps, he'll have the gold for B. F. Sword at about 7:30 minutes.

Some tips in here might belong to the Warding section, but because I thought Warding would be too big and these tips also have to do with understanding the game, I mentioned them here. This part is not just about Map, but also Game Awareness.

SPAC1. You really do need to ping MIA, even on other lanes, it doesn't matter if the enemy went base, when he comes back he could gank. If you are able to see the enemy going in one direction, warn your team. Also, try to keep an eye on where the jungler is ganking top lane he will probably go to mid after, so watch out for that as well.
SPAC2. Look at the summoners' spells of your enemies and try to time when they will be up again, it can help your jungler know when to gank and also, your teammates won't be surprised by a Heal when they try to kill the enemy ADC. You should keep an eye for Flash, Exhaust or Ignite and Heal on bot lane and if there is Teleport you need to pay attention to it as well.
SPAC3. And if the enemy has Teleport you should try to constantly clean the wards on the lane brushes, so you won't be surprised when trying to kill the enemies. Tribrush and river brush aren't really impossible to escape, but if somehow you are able to clean them as well, don't think twice.
SPAC4. Chasing is something very risky, specially if you don't have vision or if your team is falling behind. So warn your team and ping as most as you can, when someone is low people get crazy trying to get the kill, but if there is no vision of that part of the map, or if you can't see most of the enemy team just don't chase and ping as most as you can so your teammates will back off.
SPAC5. I know this should be role of the jungler, but I've seen only few junglers timing the monsters, so you should try to time at least the most important ones: dragon and baron. Dragon spawn at 2:30 minutes and respawn after 6 minutes. Baron spawn at 15 minutes and respawn after 7 minutes, write on the chat the time when you slay the monster and try to warn your team when it respawn.
SPAC** If you're Soraka, keep an eye on the other lanes, they will never remember to ask your help for you to use your ult Wish, so you'll need to pay an extra attention to other lanes.

SPACNow we go for more late game information, team fights some rare times are already won on Champion Select by having superior/counter picks, but it usually depends on how Early Game went and depends on ability. I'm still going through this Team Fight section, so expect it to be updated soon.

SPAC1. Protect the main champion in your team, he'll probably be the focus during team fights so don't let him die. Remember to use all your heals and shields, item's actives and summoner's spells.
SPAC2. When you're an engage support like Leona or Thresh, you should try to go for their carry, watch which enemy is dealing more damage or is difficulting your team, just don't go for the tank.
SPAC3. If your ADC was caught out of positioning don't waste your Wild Growth or Wish trying to save him if there is a lot of CC/gap closers on their team, he won't be able to escape alive and if you stay you might die as well.
SPAC4. Baiting is also really nice, you need to learn how to calculate if you're gonna die or not and wait to use your Wild Growth, Wish, Heal or Mikael's Blessing. If the enemy dive or go after you/team mates, you can surprise him and get a kill without dying. Supports with heal and crowd control like Lulu, Taric, Janna and Sona are the best supports to use bait.
SPAC5. Don't over extend a fight, if you can, push turret and inhibitor and immediately go back, otherwise the enemy team will be able to heal themselves up and be on an advantage over your team.

» October 28, 2013 - Guide Created (abandoned on the next day)
» May 25, 2014 - Guide Published (yeah, I'm lazy)
» May 26, 2014 - Added other options for the rune and masteries sections.
» May 27, 2014 - Major changes on the items section based on mooninites' suggestions.
» May 29, 2014 - Created a Top Tier List section. Inserted "back to top" link on the end of every section. Added 9/7/14 mastery page.
» May 30, 2014 - Started revising the entire guide and trying to improve the grammar as suggested by The All Tomato.
» June 13, 2014 - Improved the Warding section.
» June 22, 2014 - A lot of updates on the entire guide.
» June 23, 2014 - Finish updating the Warding section with new maps.
» June 29, 2014 - Added a matchup section.
- Working on a cheat sheet for the supports on my tier list.
- Also working to talk about early, mid and late games and laning swap.