When to Roam as a Support in League of Legends
There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re roaming as a support, making sure you tick all the boxes and follow some rules will make roaming much easier for yourself, your team and will make you a better support in general. Starting from what I think the most important to least important- I will go through the Golden Rules to roaming as a support.
But first, what is roaming?
In simple, roaming is leaving your lane to do something else. There are two main types of roaming, the first being roaming to ward and the other to apply pressure to another lane or objective.
The optimal time to roam to another lane is when your ADC has backed. If your ADC has recently backed to buy items, heal or just randomly backed then it is a good time for you to roam and try to do something- unless you need to back too. There are a few options on what you can do; for example gank mid to either get a kill, blow summoners or show dominance and pressure them. If you can kill the enemy mid and get your midlaner snowballing then it will be a huge bonus for your team. Not only will they get ahead- you will too. If you do not get a kill, or get anything from it then you should return to your lane ASAP to get back on track with XP and Gold.
Deep warding can be tricky business because it relies on you knowing where the enemy jungler is. If you know that the enemy jungler isn’t going to be there then it is probably safe for you to go into their jungle to ward. However you must also know if the enemy have the potential to collapse on you. If you don’t know where the enemy jungler is, then don’t go in unless your jungler is with you. Deep warding is important as it allows you to track the enemy jungler and gives your whole team information on them. For example warding his jungle camps will tell your ADC if the enemy jungler is nearby, or it will tell your jungler that this camp is up for the taking. Also it will allow your toplane or midlane to play aggressive if they can see that the enemy jungler is nowhere nearby to counter you.
Before even attempting to roam, you must keep these in mind;
1) Will you put your ADC Behind?
2) Will I achieve anything?
You should never roam if you are going to put your ADC behind. Your ADC cannot be left alone in a bad matchup, you must stay holding their hand. If your ADC is left in danger then you should not roam. Roaming should be done if it will not put anyone on your team behind especially your ADC, that is- unless they can 1v2 which is highly unlikely. The ADC should still be able to farm and stay safe while you are gone, if the enemy has a lot of kill potential and your ADC is not very good early or mechanically then you should not leave them.
Another thing that you should keep in mind is will you achieve anything from roaming? If you will not achieve anything then it is not worth roaming because you’re wasting your time. Time is a valuable resource in League of Legends and should not be wasted. If your Midlaner for example doesn’t have much health or no kill potential on the enemy midlaner then you shouldn’t be roaming. Warding is very good if you know where the enemy jungle is.
Roaming on some supports is not recommended, at least- they are harder to provide successful ganks to your other lanes. Champions that provide no CC such as janna or soraka will make roaming much harder, they both are squishy and can be jumped on easy if they are caught trying to help mid out. Champions that can roam easily are champions such as Bard, Thresh, Blitzcrank and Braum.
If you understand when you can roam then you will become a better support. Providing vision for your team and getting your other lanes ahead while not putting your ADC in danger is the way to win games!
TLDR: There are some golden rules to keep in mind when roaming. Roaming should only be done if you can get something out of it, such as a kill or provide vision for your team. Roaming should not put you or your ADC behind and your ADC should still be able to farm and stay safe when you’re gone.
Hi there, I hope you enjoyed this guide. If you did, maybe you’d like to show your support by checking out my Twitch channel. I stream very frequently and if you have any questions about this guide or improving at League of Legends, please come by some time and ask me a question or two. Thank you for your support, and I hope to see you soon :) PS, I’m Diamond 1 if that helps.
