League of Legends: The 0 CS Support

The 0 CS Support

In the current state of the game it is almost universally played in intermediate and expert play where the support in the side lane doesn't compete with their lane mate for last hits. This allows the carry to grab as much gold for their build as quickly as possible. Because of this, supports in bottom lane are typically champions that still have high impact with minimal farm, such as Janna, Soraka, Blitzcrank, and Leona.

Who would want to play support?

With so much emphasis on farming, who would even want to play a role that relinquishes it all? Most people would prefer playing a champion that can farm and kill over a support, but this was true even prior to the 0 CS meta. I personally find more people voluntarily playing support now than in the past, though that may also be due to people's increasing desire to stick to popular trends and social pressures. Playing a support is also usually a more relaxed role than others during the laning phase, since you don't need to worry about last hits in addition to your opponents. A comfort also comes with knowing that you can still have a large impact even with fewer items than everyone else.


Negatives of the 0 CS support meta

Everyone loves purchasing items to make their champion stronger. The more items you have, the more you contribute to the team. A big satisfaction comes from purchasing your build, but unfortunately for supports, this happens very slowly. It's even slower for supports since they are typically expected to purchase the majority of the wards for the team as well. Additionally, most of the items they purchase aren't huge boosts to themselves, but more so for their team, like Shurelya's Reverie.

For people who don't want to follow the 0 CS meta, they will often get harassed, dodged, or yelled at by their team for "trolling" or being a "noob". Any sort of competition for farm is highly frowned upon, which is unfortunate for those who don't want to follow the standard. The expectations in matches are so ingrained that if your team doesn't have a jungler and follows the 0 CS setup, then you're being trolled or have a team of baddies. Expectations such as these would follow with any popular or mainstream setup, though, and isn't something limited to the 0 CS support.

The 0 CS supports are also strong enough champions to make a big difference in a game even with minimal items. This creates the impression that these champions are overpowered, since they're still so impactful with no farm. The difference is that many of these champions don't scale as well as other champions. For example, a Sona with equal farm to a Tristana will not be able to carry a game, but the Sona has her inherently strong supportive skills which allow her to still be a strong asset. Their contribution to a game isn't in the same manner as offensive characters, and thus cannot be compared to them in the same light. Supports may feel overpowered due to their high-impact abilities with minimal items, but a team full of supports would have a very difficult time winning against a balanced team. Some supports may be overpowered, but that is usually when compared to other supports, and not to the entire cast of champions.

Benefits of the 0 CS support meta

Possibly the best thing this brings is the clear definition of roles in a Summoner's Rift match. Structure helps players organize their team and understand how to work together better. It allows everyone to know where they get to farm and generally what to expect out of players throughout the game. With no defined roles, anyone could end up doing whatever they want, rather than understanding what their role is for the team. This helps bring down frustration levels for the duo lane since there is no competition for farming. It also minimizes the amount of complaints about people's roles in champion select, because people typically follow the standard format, rather than everyone just picking any some random champion.

Clearly defined roles can also help Riot create champions geared toward certain audiences and archetypes. Since all of the standard roles typically fall in a specific lane or in the jungle, it becomes easier to tweak them for their expected place. This also provides a template for new champions to be compared to, so certain mindsets and styles can be kept in mind throughout development. For example, taking a look at Lulu as the newest support to be released, her abilities are highly geared toward protecting your team and providing assistance. A slow to peel or chase down, a polymorph to disable their initiator or carry, a shield to give your squishies a bit more durability, and an ultimate to help initiate or save someone from certain death. The style of support in Lulu is similar to Janna at a high level, with a peel, an AoE knock-up, a high-impact AoE ultimate, and a shield. Identifying what is fun and work well on other supports can help the designers in adopting those enjoyable moments but molding them into a new experience. (Wow I kind of went off on a tangent there...oh well)

The support role is one that strongly appeals to some players. If no one liked playing the supportive role then we wouldn't see it so often in other games. Some people love being there specifically for the team, and not necessarily for themselves. The 0 CS support meta caters directly toward this. Everything the support does is to...well... support their team, especially their lane mate. This also creates a different focus in lane, one directed more in harassing the enemy team to provide your lane mate with an easier time farming, and to protect them from your opponents. Since the support doesn't spend time farming, they are also able to place wards, or sweep for enemy ones, since they aren't as tied to the lane.

Conclusion

Overall the 0 CS support arose for a reason, and is still around for a reason. Yes, it might be boring for a lot of people, but that just means it isn't their cup of tea. Similarly, for support players, they may not enjoy other roles. The 0 CS support role gives more structure to the game and helps in preventing a lot of potential frustration for players. I, for one, would be afraid to see how people would react to an overhaul, where supports scale better with items and requiring farm in order to perform well. A lot of conflict and frustration in lane would arise. I know I'd personally enjoy the support role less if it was forced to farm to be worth much in a match.