As the title says let's break out of the "current meta" of supports. Usually when people hear about playing support they think about 3 or 4 champions and those are Thresh, Leona, Morgana, Blitz and sometimes Janna. But people, let me tell you something about non-conventional supports that work Oooooh so fine.

1. Vel'Koz

Pros:

- Has solid Poke (Higher output than Sona)

- He has some nice crowd controls in his built-in kit.

- True damage for tanky supports / tanky bruisers.

- Can peel hard for his adc.

Cons:

- Very squishy early game.

- Full skill shot kit (you need to be good with them).

- Somewhat short range cast skills.

Some people might argue that Vel'Koz is not a viable pick for a support, but I can prove them wrong. 4 out of my 5 matches vs tanky teams like Leona support and Rek'Sai jungle were won.

Playing Vel'Koz support is all about hitting all your skill shots, in teamfights a W+E+Q+R combo means a total of 1000+ damage as a support + the cc from E and the slow from Q. There are some tricky things aswell, always wait for people to jump on ur adc so you can peel with E and once you got the knock-up just go ham and kill whoever is trying to get your adc.

Build a little bit of Magic Pen and CDR and you're good to go as a Vel'Koz support. When ganked you must position behind your ADC, remember he must have some kind of CC otherwise a high burst, so you can delete or evade the jungler. If your ADC is in a bad position or being focused, your ultimate (Life Form Disintegration Ray) may peel them enough for your ADC to kill them or even make them think twice and go away. Don't be affraid to use it for starting or wasting it for saving his life (this is not a waste at all).

You have to be aggressive. In lane you should be poking the enemy non stop. Hit your q's, push, EW combo them when they are farming under the turret. Ward river, Vel'koz is easily gankable and that is his biggest weakness. Once you have your core and your lane isn't losing terribly start warding up outside of the botlane to get roaming and help your midlaner. It will be easy for you to roam mid and secure a kill there around the midgame because you simply will deal so much damage with your midlaner that the ennemy midlaner will get taken by surprise.

Vel'koz is also great for controling objectives such as dragon and baron thanks to his passive to quickly get them and your poke to keep the ennemy jungler at bay.





2. Malphite

Pros:

-Hell to Harass: Malphite's passive makes him a hell to harass and almost unharassable. Get hit... no worry, it probably won't even take off the Granite Shield passive early game.

-Seismic Shard(Q) is just great for chasing and escaping with (stealing enemy movement speed FTW) and even if they do look like they are getting away, I'm sure a little Unstoppable Force will stop them in their tracks.

-Initiation: Malphite's got probably the best move for initiation in the game, Unstoppable Force(R). As soon as you use it, you'll have enemy champions literally soiling their pants. Run in, knock 'em up and destroy. It also has great disruptional power.

-Ground Slam(E) is a skill that negates almost all of the enemy's attack speed and does a fair amount of damage aswell, comboed up with Unstoppable Force(R) is the perfect way to lock down a enemy adc.

-With all the above said after lvl 6 he's a good roamer and can do perfect ganks with the R+E+Q combo.

Cons:

- Mana Hungry: Malphite literally just eats it all up. You may have to play a little more conservative or get the Ancient Coin instead of Relic Shield.

-Team Player: Malphite needs an alright team who knows when to engage (usually after you ult).

- Item Dependent: Malphite needs a fair amount of items. Otherwise, he is pretty useless. However, it isn't too hard to farm up with him as long as you have Relic Shield.

Malphite's abilities are very versatile and can each be used in a number of ways. Be sure to use them for what they are worth and don't let them go to waste. Don't waste Q when you know that the enemy adc / support can sustain in lane, don't use ult if you know your adc can't do enough damage for a kill. Always keep in mind that your W can give you a fair amount of armor so you can tank the turret for a few hits if you decide to dive. His passive is superb. An early game annoyance for the enemy team, yet a late game saver. This is also one of the reasons I don't stack armor for Ground Slam. I feel this passive benefits Malphite so much more compared to armor stacking, as after 150 armor, it does not make much of an impact and that Ground Slam isn't worth fully stacking for. With 10% maximum health used in this shield, it will benefit Malphite much more overall.

Early game should be easy pre level 6, if they try to engage on your adc just use Ground Slam on their adc and he'll have ~0.40 Attack Speed. At level 6, then you can start having fun with the use of your ult. Know when to use it and alert allies that you are heading in there. Following the ulti, use W -> E -> Q and get yourself a kill/assist. Try to ult the adc and apc. If you have some kills and very good dmg just one shot the adc. Dont forget to ward up, even if you're the guy who has to enagage you still have to ward the key points of the map, vision is one of the most important things in League.

When it comes to itemizing Malphite I use Face of the Mountain, Sunfire Cape, Abyssal Scepter, Thornmail, Mercury's Treads and the last item depends on what i need a little bit more AP/Mr/Armor. There are a couple more builds that you can do like Talisman of Ascension for engage potential but that depends on your Team Comp.

3. Fiddlesticks

Pros:

- Solid single target CC.

- Strong AOE CC.

- Great aoe damage due to his Crow Storm (R).

- Passive MR reduction so spells can hit harder.

Cons:

- Very squishy early.

- Strong enemy CC and instakill him.

- Long CD's on skills.

Fiddle is a good champ when it comes to a support but you have to be very careful who you play against. Always think ahead of ur enemy, keep ur fear for the adc and silence for the support, and try to position yourself in a teamfight so you can land a good ult and do a good amount of damage. When I itemize Fiddlesticks after wards and trinket i always build Zhonia's Hourglass, just for the soul purpose of engaging with Crow Storm. On fiddle aswell as on Annie i recommend Distortion enchant because you'll need if for Crow Storm flashes.

It just feels they're most likely not able to follow up / capitalize on your early harass as well as the 'ideal champions' like Graves / Jinx / Caitlyn . You can always experiment and leave a comment if you believe they're great lane partners. You might want to think about matchups that you go against also. During the picking phase, assuming you're a higher pick, picking Fiddle first could confuse your enemies into think it's a solo/jungle Fiddle, but there are some matchups that are pretty bad for you.

Your number one priority of course is to be a support and ward. However, Fiddle can be front line or a completely back line peeler depending on how your laning phase went. It's possible to be the AP carry of your team (while WARDING! make sure you keep up with warding) or even initiator. I like to ult the enemy adc/back line every fight because I can keep their dps at bay while my team finishes up. The 3 second disable in a team fight will allow for great peels or an instantly blown up carry.

Nevertheless with Fiddlesticks being far outshadowed in the mid lane and as his jungle dominance wanes, he will see increased play bot lane. I hope you enjoy my support guide and hope that you find it useful. I hope to hear about some awe-inspiring Crowstorms and fear shutdowns.