• Support

A support roam is leaving bot lane to help elsewhere for a short window, and the timing is the whole skill. Roam when the wave is pushed, your carry is safe or recalling, and you know your route back, and the lane loses almost nothing.

What it is

Your ADC farms the wave while you stand beside them, so every minute you spend elsewhere has a cost. A roam works when the cost is small and the gain is large: a kill in mid, vision in the jungle or an objective started early. The cost is small when the wave is already pushed toward the enemy tower, because your carry can farm it alone, and when the enemy bot lane cannot punish a solo ADC.

Minions give experience to every champion near them, and the share depends on how many are near. One champion gets the full bounty, but two split a total that is about 30 percent larger. That means your ADC alone earns more per minion than they did with you, so a short roam hurts you more than it hurts them. Your support item also needs an ally within range to use its charges, so charges stop being spent while you are away and cap out at three.

Waves spawn every 30 seconds until 14:00, and then every 25 seconds, so a roam has a natural clock. Plan around the wave, not the stopwatch. Speed matters too: roaming on foot with movement speed boots is slower than Teleport but costs nothing, so your route has to be short. Recalling first refills your support item's ward charges and lets you buy, which makes a recall roam a restocking trip as well.

How to do it

  1. Push the wave before you leave

    With your ADC, kill the enemy minions faster than they kill yours until your wave is bouncing against the enemy tower. A pushed wave means your carry loses nothing while you are gone, and the enemy bot lane must stay to defend or lose plates. Never roam from a frozen wave: your carry is stuck in the lane with no help.

  2. Pick your window

    Good windows are your ADC recalling, the wave crashing into the enemy tower, or the enemy bot lane leaving. If your ADC is about to back, recall with them and use the shop to refill your wards and buy, then walk to mid instead of to lane.

  3. Know the route and the clock

    Before you move, decide where you are going and when you return. Count the seconds to your target, watch the next wave's arrival and give yourself a time limit. If you reach the target after the fight has ended, turn around.

  4. Check the minimap while you walk

    Look at where the enemy jungler and the enemy laners are. If mid is already losing the lane or the enemy has vanished, go anyway only if you will arrive with Flash and health. A roam that arrives late is worse than staying.

  5. Arrive with a plan for the fight

    Ward the entry you came from, join the lane when the enemy is using the minion wave, and use your crowd control on the first target. Do not stay beyond the planned time just for one more kill.

  6. Return as the next wave arrives

    Walk back the safe way, re-warding a spot on the path if you can. Arrive before your ADC is under pressure, and check that the enemy support did not leave too. If they did, the lane is yours again.

Watch it

What to watch for: The chapters cover opening mid from base, a bot wave pushed with the ADC in base meaning a roam (from 5:24), and a frozen wave meaning do not roam (from 8:01).

Video: How a Top 10 Support Actually Roams — hektic

Common mistakes

  • You roam from a frozen or pulled-back wave. Push first, or your carry is stuck with no help.
  • You leave without a plan to return. Pick the route back before you leave, so you do not return to a dead carry.
  • You stay too long. Set a time limit and leave when it ends, fight or no fight.
  • You roam into an enemy who knows you are coming. Check the minimap and ward your route, or the roam gives them a kill.
  • You forget your item charges. Your support item cannot use charges while you are away, so use them before you leave.

Practice drill

  • In a custom game, push the first waves bot with your ADC, then walk to mid and back. Time the full trip and note how much farm your carry lost.
  • In a Practice Tool game, recall at the end of a push and measure how many seconds it takes to restock and walk to mid. Set that as your roam clock.

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