Lost On What To Build As A Support?

For the first half of Season 4, all support builds were almost completely identical, usually featuring Gauntlet of Thebes, Sovereignty, and Heartward Amulet along with boots and a situational item. However, with the recent string of patches, we've seen some nerfs to a few of these core items and I became lost as to what I should be building to give my team the best chance at winning. Note that the items I will be talking about are aura items. I won't mention any ‘selfish’ items as my goal is to shine light on the other aura items often shadowed beneath the big three.

Gauntlet of Thebes (300HP, 15HP5)

After the nerf on both the health and the protections, Gauntlet of Thebes fell out of its pure dominance and is no longer a must-have item. It is fairly cheap and the protections can help in the early game, but there are better options for late game due to its weaker raw stats and protections.

Sovereignty (200HP, 40 Physical Protection)

Sovereignty falls into the same category as Thebes. After its nerf, Sovereignty is not a must-have anymore, as there are better physical defensive items. However, the shared protection is still nice and the HP5 is a great bonus. All in all, this is a fairly good item, but there are many other useful auras you can pick up as well.

Heartward Amulet (200HP, 45 Magical Protection)

Heartward Amulet was not hit with a nerf like Sovereignty and Thebes, and it gives all members 20 magical protections and 20 MP5 which is great for sustaining your mana in lane. It is a solid pickup for your team but (yet again) there are also better magical aura items that can help your team win the crucial late-game team fights when 20 protection might not be as valuable at that stage in the game.

Hide of the Urchin (35 Physical Protection, 35 Magical Protection, 250HP, 250 Mana)

Based off raw stats, this item is debatably the best all-around item for tanks. With that being said, you need to fully stack this item to reap the full benefits which may be difficult if your team is behind as you need to get kills or assists to gain those stacks. This is usually built earlier in the game (second or third item after boots). It is a very good item if stacked but doesn't help the team directly as it has no auras.

Shogun’s Kusari (50 Magical Protection, 20 MP5, 10% CDR, 20% CCR)

I have found this item to be a must have on your team, whether the solo or support picks it up. It has great raw stats with bonus CDR and CCR, as well as an extremely useful aura that gives your team a 25% attack speed boost in a 70 unit range. This makes all objectives considerably easier and faster to take down as well as helping you win team fights.

Emperor’s Armour (250HP, 40 Physical Protection)

Another solid physical defence choice, Emperor’s Armour has very good aura especially when playing from ahead where your team can be aggressive and dive towers and Phoenixes as this item’s aura reduces their attack speed (as well as boosting your own towers) and with the recent changes to towers and Phoenixes being tankier, this is a great pick up.

Midgardian Mail (350HP, 30 Physical Protection)

Yet another physical defence item (see why Sovereignty might not be the go-to anymore?), Midgardian Mail’s aura gives you a chance to reduce enemies’ attack speed and movement speed when hit by a basic attack, which can be useful in situations where you are against a team with gods with high attack speed. This item is more of a counter item but still can help your team in many aspects, and is also somewhat of a counter to Shogun’s Kusari.

Pestilence (200HP, 80 Magical Protection)

This magical defence item can be extremely important and can lose you games if you don't pick this item up, for it is a great counter if the enemy team has heals as Pestilence passively gives you an anti-heal aura, it being the most widely picked-up anti-heal item. The 80 magical protections is also nothing to shake a stick at.

Lotus Crown (30 Magical Power, 60 Physical Protection, 20MP5)

This item is great for healers as it grants extra protections to your team for a short time after they are healed by you as well as a little extra power. Not all supports have heals obviously, so this item should only be built on healers such as Terra or Sylvanus.

Jade Emperor's Crown (20 Magical Power, 60 Physical Protection, 100HP)

Jade Emperor’s Crown is another item like Lotus Crown that gives you a little bonus power on top of a nice passive that reduces the enemy team’s physical power on a radius.

Pythagorem’s piece (40 Magical Power, 200 Mana, 12% Lifesteal, 10% CDR)

This item is a little special but I'll put it on here anyways. Pythagorem’s Piece gives CDR and extra mana, and the passive gives everyone on your team in a radius bonuses to power and lifesteal. The passive on this item is great but does not make you any tankier nor does it give you any defence.

Hide of the Nemean Lion (80 Physical Protection, 200 Mana, 20MP5)

A good counter item to hunters and basic attack assassins, counters aa, especially crit, by reflecting 25% of basic attack damage back. Also a very good physical defence item with 80 protections.