Top 10 Worst Support Champions to Play in Solo Queue
Are you tired of playing support champions that just don't work in solo queue? Look no further! In this article, we'll be going over the top 10 worst support champions to play in solo queue. These champions may seem good in the competitive scene, but they simply can't carry over to solo queue. We'll be discussing why these champions don't work in solo queue and what makes them so bad. So, without further ado, let's get started!
Table of Contents
1. Tom Kench
2. Braum
3. Yuumi
4. Rakan
5. Zilean
6. Alistar
7. Galio
8. Janna
9. Taric
10. Soraka
Tom Kench
Tom Kench is a champion that you've probably seen a lot in the competitive scene. He's really good when you have voice comms and you're able to be on the same page as your ADC. Being able to eat your ADC in the middle of a fight and then reposition them later on is really important and it's also just one of the most efficient ways of peeling in the entire game. However, in solo queue, we don't have these voice comms, so you can't be on the same page as your ADC. Often when players pick Tom Kench and they take them into their solo queue games, they end up eating their ADC at a time that their ADC does not want to be eaten. So, what essentially happens is the ADC will just spam right-click until they are out of the ability, and then the ability is on cooldown and it was practically wasted. Tom Kench is an overall good champion, but the only problem is you really need to have voice comms in order to communicate with your teammates and be on the same page.
Braum
Braum is another champion similar to Tom Kench that is really good at peeling. Peeling is typically something that you want in a support champion, but the problem is that in solo queue, peeling isn't nearly as valuable as engaging and making plays. Making plays is a lot more valuable than denying the enemy team from making plays, and Braum isn't the best when it comes to making plays. Sure, he does have his slow from his Q, and he has a small knockout from his ultimate, but overall these abilities, even though they are pretty good, they don't really compare to other engaged supports in the game. Engaged supports as a whole just tend to have an upper hand when it comes to champions like Braum, who focus a little bit more on utility. I think pretty much everybody can agree that a Thresh landing his hook or a Leona landing her E are both going to be a lot more valuable than a Braum landing his Q. It's pretty much for this reason that Braum is not the best in solo queue because everything he does is really underwhelming except for peeling, and again, peeling just isn't the greatest thing to focus on when it comes to playing in solo queue.
Yuumi
Yuumi is a bit of a controversial one to put on this list because there is this concept of Yuumi being very broken. I would agree that in the past, Yuumi has been really strong and she's been really frustrating to deal with, but overall, I think that's all Yuumi was. She was frustrating and difficult to deal with. At the same time, Yuumi players weren't actually doing all that much. Sure, what they were doing was frustrating to play against, but they weren't actually having that large of an impact on their team. It's for this reason that Yuumi has never really had a high win rate in solo queue. Again, it goes back to this idea that just because she's frustrating doesn't mean that she's good. In competitive play, on the other hand, Yuumi can thrive a lot more because she actually has the capability to rely on her teammates. A champion like Yuumi that literally attaches to her allies and just hopes that they position correctly and don't get her killed, that's what allows Yuumi to be really good when she could rely on teammates to keep her safe and play around that. However, in solo queue, you can't rely on your teammates, and that's what makes Yuumi not the best. You are always putting yourself in danger by attaching to an ally because you're not in voice comms with them. You're playing with a random player, and you never really know what they're going to do, and that could hurt you more times than not.
Rakan
Rakan used to be a good champion to play in solo queue, but after all the changes that they've done to him over the years, all the small nerfs here and there, they've made it so that Rakan is a lot more of a utility support rather than an engaged support. It goes back to the same concept that in solo queue, peeling is not nearly as valuable as engaging. When you engage as Rakan, it's not nearly as simple because you do have that half-second window in between your ultimate ability and your W ability. That window may not sound that big, but it actually makes such a big difference because it makes it so that your engage is much more telegraphed. Not being able to go straight from your ultimate to your W allows the enemy team to react a lot easier and thus makes it so that it's really hard for you to engage properly. At the same time, they've also nerfed his ultimate ability over the years quite a bit to the point that it doesn't actually give you all that much movement speed, also making it a lot harder for you to engage. I think that the overall kit for Rakan has potential to make him a good and strong solo queue champion if they put a larger emphasis on his engaged tools, but for right now, he's kind of all over the place. All of his abilities are decent rather than his engage abilities being the core of his kit, and until they decide to tweak things to make him more of an engaged support rather than a utility support, I think he'll continue to be a champion that is only good in competitive and not good in solo queue.
Zilean
Zilean is on this list because he's another one of those champions that is very team-reliant. I think that laning double bombs can make for some really cool and flashy plays, but it's not nearly as simple as people may think it is. Overall, Zilean relies a lot on his teammates to set up plays for him. He relies a lot on his teammate setting up CC for him so he can land these double bombs, and without your teammates, without that coordination, you're probably not going to be landing too many double bombs, and thus you won't be all too impactful as Zilean. Also, if you think about it, his ultimate ability is a team play ability. You're going to be using this on your teammates to keep them alive more times than you're keeping yourself alive. That's just another one of those abilities that is putting a larger emphasis on allowing your teammates to carry rather than carrying the game yourself. This is a mentality that works in competitive play and not so much in solo queue. Overall, Zilean being a very team-reliant champion doesn't thrive too much in solo queue.
Alistar
Even though Alistar is an engaged support, he's just so overwhelmed by all the other engaged supports in the game. Thresh, Leona, and Blitzcrank, just to name a few, are all much stronger when it comes to engaging and having more carry potential in their games in comparison to Alistar. The main reason for that being is because Alistar is short of range, and he also has a kit that is really good for peeling. When you're trying to split up your kit in between engaging and peeling rather than just focusing on engaging, you won't be able to have as much impact in the game. This is also another huge reason as to why you see Alistar a lot in competitive play because he is a little bit more diverse of a champion. You can play him in multiple different ways, either focusing on peeling or focusing on engaging. But when it comes to solo queue and you want to play an engage support, Alistar is not going to be one of your better options.
Galio
Galio support used to be something that was a lot better and had a lot more carry potential when you used to be able to start your taunt and then flash on the enemy. This mechanic allowed you to play a lot more aggressive in the lane phase and also a lot more aggressive in the late game trying to set up these massive wombo combos for your team and essentially just allowing you to engage properly. Without this mechanic in place for Galio, he doesn't have nearly as much engage, so thus it goes back to the same concept where if you don't have engage, you're not going to be nearly as effective. The rest of his kit still is pretty good when it comes to playing him in the support role because he does have that long-distance ultimate. He does have a lot of tanky stats, he has a lot of peeling and a lot of CC overall, but just the fact that he lacks engage is going to make him not the best solo queue champion.
Janna
Janna can be a decent support champion to play in solo queue, especially if you're playing her a little bit more aggressive. Possibly if you're taking something like Comet plus Domination secondary runes, playing aggressive in the early game and trying to poke your enemies out of lane. I think this playstyle can be good for playing Janna in solo queue and having a large impact in your game. But a lot of the times, I'm seeing Janna players play really safe. They're taking Guardian, they're taking Relic Shield, they're playing really far back in the lane, and they're kind of just hoping that they get carried. So, Janna as a whole, I think that there is potential for her to have a lot of impact in the games and be a good solo queue champion, but just because the majority of Janna players aren't playing her that way, I feel like it's a safe bet to go ahead and include Janna on this list.
Taric
Taric is a champion that you might see a lot in solo queue when he is being played as a funneler for Master Yi. But just looking at the support role itself, Taric is not going to be the best because if you don't have that synergy with Master Yi, if you aren't trying this cheese duo strat, then the champion by himself is not all that good for solo queue. He is really good again at peeling. His ultimate ability is really good for keeping teammates alive, but in solo queue, what is going to be more important than keeping your teammates alive is making sure that the enemy team is dead. You always want to play aggressive, you always want to make plays in solo queue, you want to try to have as much carry potential as possible, and Taric, although he is going to keep his teammates alive, you're not actually doing anything to kill the enemy. So, you're not actually having all that much carry potential, and you're not going to be doing all too much for your team when it comes to putting the enemy team behind. Instead, all of your focus is trying to make sure your team doesn't fall behind yourself.
Soraka
Soraka is kind of similar to Janna in the sense that there is a playstyle you can play on this champion that will allow you to have more of an impact in your solo queue games. But the problem is that the majority of players again aren't playing Soraka that way. When you are playing Soraka, you have the opportunity to play pretty aggressive in lane, especially if you have some runes that are in the Sorcery page along the lines of Scorch or anything else that's going to do some extra damage early game. You could definitely bully your enemy out of lane by poking with your Q and by poking with your E. However, the majority of Soraka players are standing back in the lane phase. They're not really using their abilities to go aggressive at all. They're standing back, whenever their teammates get low, they heal them up. Same thing in team fights, they're not really worried about positioning, they're not really worried about using their Q or their E efficiently. All they worry about is trying to get carried. They stay back in team fights, they spam their W, they use their ultimate ability whenever they think it's good, and overall, even though this can be effective because their heals heal for a lot, it's not going to allow you to have all too much carry potential if you're just relying on your teammates to carry you.
Highlights
- Tom Kench is a good champion, but you really need to have voice comms in order to communicate with your teammates and be on the same page.
- Braum is not the best in solo queue because everything he does is really underwhelming except for peeling, and again, peeling just isn't the greatest thing to focus on when it comes to playing in solo queue.
- Yuumi is not the best because you are always putting yourself in danger by attaching to an ally because you're not in voice comms with them. You're playing with a random player, and that could hurt you more times than not.
- Rakan is kind of all over the place. All of his abilities are decent rather than his engage abilities being the core of his kit, and until they decide to tweak things to make him more of an engaged support rather than a utility support, I think he'll continue to be a champion that is only good in competitive and not good in solo queue.
- Zilean relies a lot on his teammates to set up plays for him. He relies a lot on his teammate setting up CC for him so he can land these double bombs, and without your teammates, without that coordination, you're probably not going to be landing too many double bombs, and thus you won't be all too impactful as Zilean.
- Alistar is not going to be one of your better options when it comes to solo queue because he is short of range, and he also has a kit that is really good for peeling.
- Galio lacks engage, so thus it goes back to the same concept where if you don't have engage, you're not going to be nearly as effective.
- Janna has potential for her to have a lot of impact in the games and be a good solo queue champion, but just because the majority of Janna players aren't playing her that way, I feel like it's a safe bet to go ahead and include Janna on this list.
- Taric, although he is going to keep his teammates alive, you're not actually doing anything to kill the enemy. So, you're not actually having all that much carry potential, and you're not going to be doing all too much for your team when it comes to putting the enemy team behind.
- Soraka, even though this can be effective because their heals heal for a lot, it's not going to allow you to have all too much carry potential if you're just relying on your teammates to carry you.
FAQ
Q: Why are these champions bad in solo queue?
A: These champions are bad in solo queue because they either lack engage, rely too much on their teammates, or focus too much on peeling rather than making plays.
Q: Can these champions still be played in solo queue?
A: Yes, these champions can still be played in solo queue, but they are not the best options if you want to have a lot of carry potential.
Q: Are there any other support champions that are bad in solo queue?
A: Yes, there are other support champions that are bad in solo queue, but these are the top 10 worst.
Q: What makes a good support champion in solo queue?
A: A good support champion in solo queue is one that has engage, can make plays, and has a lot of carry potential.
