When to roam as support

[magic dagger]

you'll learn when to roam by looking at your wave or after a recall.

This doesnt mean do it every time the option is available to you. as you can sabotage your own lane if you get nothing out of it.

[alpine warren]

You can start roaming on all supports except yuumi when the enemy botlane and your adc recall cause there's not much you can do in lane at that point, when the enemy support is roaming and your adc can survive alone, and when the enemy and/or your bot tier 1 are destroyed

For what level to start roaming at bard and pyke can start at 3, and every support unlocks their full roaming potential at 6

[frosty obsidian]

I recommend to not roam at the elo you are in because you want to avoid these throwing scenarios as much as possible. So if roaming is a reason your ADC is going to AFK because they are terrible and stepping up in a 1v2, then dont do it.

But if you truly do want to roam, what Skolver said is basically the idea of deciding when to roam or not roam. If you have nothing to do and your lane is already pushed to the enemy tower after recalling, roaming here would be a good idea. When you dont want to roam is when essentially your ADC cannot step up because the wave is in a very bad spot, such as in the middle or tower. In average+ elo, players tend to punish your lone ADC for you roaming, which means that your ADC physically cannot step up if their support is an engage support even if the tower is there. Losing gold and XP because you deciding to roam can and will lose the lane on the spot.

As long as you know the roam will get value or its a safe roam, then do it. If not avoid roaming.

[dawn relic]

Instead of roaming in bronze just pick 2v1 supps like lux and stomp the lane and learn to combo fast and aim to he spells

[errant grove]

Forget the adc, you play supp so you can roam and do whatever. Botlane is just your default if you have nothing to do anywhere else

[verbal haven]

As a support, I would say that you can start roaming AS LONG AS your wave is pushed against enemy tower and you have no more support item stacks, so you aren't losing anything. However, I would only really try to roam in low elo on a roam-heavy supp like Bard, since he'll benefit from being wherever he is, what with having cans and all

[tardy bone]

If you want to stay solid, roam when your adc doesn’t have to fight a 1v2 while you’re gone.

[tardy bone]

Burst mages are strong for getting kills against squishes, which is why it would be better for most burst mages to stay in lane. However, if the enemy laner is an extremely safe adc, it’s going to be difficult to net a kill when you could otherwise roam for it.

[magic dagger]

awful advice. if the player rages because you arent babysitting them then you form bad habits.

[frosty obsidian]

Which is true, but having a throwing toxic teammate leads to games losing more often

If that happens as what the OP said about majority of the time, there is no point of roaming

[tardy bone]

*But this only works if your teammate understands wave states

Imagine leaving your teammate under enemy tower in a 1v2 vs full health enemies because the lane is shut in.

[floral forge]

Only time you should be roaming if you're A. Bot wave is shoved into their tower.
B. You have vision of river
C. You're playing champions with a hook.
D. Your mid laner is playing a champion that can set up for plays
If all 4 situations aren't met, you're wasting your time

Every second/minute spent out of lane means you're not only losing exp, but your adc is also losing exp/cs

So if you're gonna roam you make sure it 100% results in a kill/flash

Even roaming top lane is a waste of your time 9/10 of the time

[frosty obsidian]

"You're playing champions with a hook." This is not always true, there are supports that dont even have hooks that have better roaming abilities than them such as Rell, Leona, Rakan. Even some enchanters can roam, someone like Lulu with Poly is really strong or Karma.

[alpine warren]

What do you mean your adc is also losing exp/cs. Solo laners get more exp than duo laners which means your adc will get more exp when you're not near them while they're farming

[floral forge]

True I guess I should've been more specific/named examples

[alpine warren]

Bard too

[floral forge]

Depends on how long you spend out of lane. Eventually enemy bot lane will take advantage of the 1v2 disadvantage and zone you off the wave/push for towers

[floral forge]

Yeah but you have to take a real look at what you're hoping to accomplish by roaming on these supports lol

What's your end goal here? Are you getting kills? Helping shove a wave to get an easier recall mid? if you're going for herald I can understand stand but Karma and lulu can roam sure but those champs are best for hugging your adc because they give steroids

[alpine warren]

There's a difference between a lulu who sits behind their adc and just shields them and a lulu who roams around the map forcing leads and uno reversing whatever you try to do

I genuinely don't understand why people say that enchanters should just stick to their adc like a moth does to a lamp light and just heal/shield them. Except for yuumi that's literally her entire shtick

[floral forge]

I'm not saying don't roam as a enchanters. I'm saying roam with a purpose

A meaningful purpose

[tardy bone]

There is a lot of strategy with burst mages, you do 0 damage to tanks and don't have the cc to matter in 2v2s.

[tardy bone]

Yeah this "optimal" ideal doesn't play out in most games, you can safely ignore this advice. There are plenty of cases where you can roam up to apply pressure to bail out your teammate from a stupid mistake, even if you have to miss cs to do it.

[tardy bone]

Even this doesn't always make perfect sense, you can roam for deep vision and to take jungle camps, not just for kills mid game :/

[jovial burrow]

Idk, in my experience I have seen just as much success roaming with the likes of lulu, nami and karma as engage supports

Saying that they should be hugging adc in every situation because that’s what their role is made to do and letting other lanes get shafted makes no sense

[ripe junco]

you should only really be roaming from lane if theres an imminent fight (this will be obvious) or if you've crashed into tower and enemy is extremely passive. usually correct roam timers are on respawn or on recall, as you will be leaving your ad to 1v2 for a shorter amount of time.

you should also look at the lane as you leave fountain and ask yourself if this lane will be gankable by the time you get there. generally you should never roam to a lane that is slow pushing as you finish your recall/respawn.

top roams "cost" more than mid roams, mid roams are basically free but top roams will leave your ad alone for a lengthy period. only roam top if you will literally lose the game without 3 manning top (since top laners have a tendency to die 6 times in 8 minutes).

roaming engage support flowchart (do not roam off every recall as an enchanter)-
recall/respawn -> start pathing mid -> check bot wave to see if it's fucked -> go bot if fucked -> check mid for gankability -> keep going mid if likely to kill -> re-path bot if not likely

[ripe junco]

lulu and especially karma roams are good but nami roams are pathetic and a waste of time unless youve identified that enemy mid is playing very illegally