The RIOT Act

[Anzekay]

What happens in a game where there is not a support champ? Does bot not compete for last hits in that setup? Why is that any different than laning with somebody with a decent heal/shield (with enough AP) and takes CV while still outputting tons of damage?

I actually quite enjoy laning solo and jungling, but our team comp rarely allows for it (since Weemus or Mal usually call dibs on solo top, Tryg/Weemus/Anz/Dariden for jungle, and we have 394 people that play AP casters for mid).

Anyway, my point is that even in an AD carry plus support lane, "support" does not mean "sits there and does nothing," especially not after the changes that Riot made. I have always taken it to mean "has to focus on damage output, controlling the enemy team, AND keeping their team in a better situation than the enemy at all times." Sometimes that means competing for last hits, just like if it were an AD carry and a bruiser or any other champ.

There are really only three support champs (Sona, Soraka, Taric) that can scrape by without any farm, and even then, it is really fucking frustrating when your heals aren't enough to save your teammate thanks to a nerfed base stat and an outdated laning strategy.

In a duo lane without a support you have a lot more burst and possibly more CC as well as fight resilience (not sustain mind you) which means you can play a lot more agressively. If you play your cards right, you make up for the fact that you have two people needing a similar level of farm by either gettings kills+assists and dragon control, or you force the other team's duo lane to play safer and get less farm.

And yeah I do know all about how our games tend to go. Just yell at us and say you want to play mid or solo top sometime and surely anyone being reasonable will let you!

While the changes Riot made have indeed changed the way support work, it hasn't exactly changed the way that the role should function in a certain circumstance. If you're playing the eurolane style bottom lane, then it's leave most of the last hits to your AD carry, get gp5, buy wards be pro and let your team see everything. I guess the more NA spinoff of that is to drop the crazy ward use and work on some aura or AP items. The thing is though, leaving most of the farm to your AD carry doesn't mean you don't get any farm at all, you just avoid taking last hits at the expense of your AD carry. You don't shoot the stuff they are shooting, you get other minions. You can also ask your jungler to be more agressive down bot (if you have a strong top this is really easy to do) which results in even better farming for both you and your AD carry as well as hopefully some assists for you (or kills if you're sona lawl).

I just find the concept of 'competing for last hits' to be really... I dunno, dumb? Maybe it's just me griping on the phrase itself, but we're meant to be competing with the other team, not each other. There are ways to have two people farm in a lane without stepping on each others toes constantly, and if done right you can, between the two of you, last hit every minion in a wave. Not every AD carry can manage that on their own at times.