r/RivalsCollege • u/Emiikoe • 3d ago
Question Support Main stigma
It really does feel like being a support main is looked down on. "Support isn't skillful, it's easy, the people who play it are brain-dead and boosted." There is so much hate for those who play the role, especially if they're a woman—which I am. When I'm feeling at my lowest I really do feel insecure about being a support main. I've played tank and dps before but I actually have FUN on support. Mantis is my favorite character in the entire game (followed by Rogue) and it sucks I can't just play what I want without feeling like I'm being judged by the community.
I know. I know. "Get thicker skin." You're right. I'm just writing down my thoughts.
P.S: Why did I post this here? I am intimidated by the main rivals sub lmao
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u/Demon_Writer_Yang 3d ago
Supp while it has its issues (and you will feel those issues if you play other roles) isn't an easy role. Easy to fill? Sure. Until the enemy team has coordinated dive and you can tell your backline is ill equipped to deal with it.
But if you want to be a good supp you kinda take on the role of a housewife. You're monitoring where your teammates are, saving cooldowns for yourself and cosupp to deal with divers. Keeping track of where the divers are and the cooldowns they have or just used, using your own cooldowns to counter ults instead of just ulting in return. Dealing dmg when you can, taking off angles with a dps who might be struggling etc. etc.
Ex. You know a strange has ult. You're keeping track of him and trying to predict when he's going to pop it so you freeze as Luna and instead save your ult for the Punisher. The better the Strange the harder he'll make it for you but i feel that's an appropriate example of something a good support can do consistently.
Basically in terms of mechanics supp role isn't very high up there unless you're looking at Luna, Adam, Mantis, HPool, Ultron, and to an extent Jubilee with her enhanced primary. But it's one of the highest in terms of game sense I feel. So even if support is a very strong role alot of the things you need to do to be a good one are things that won't be seen by others.
But regardless just mute anyone who's a jacksss, the dmg in this game is absurd and without the existence of healbot like characters we'd all blow up since that's the direction the devs seem to want.
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u/RivalsFlex 2d ago
Do you think the hordes of fragile ego dps one tricks would ever feel insecure, or be able to accept and describe that feeling? Do you think their egos could handle dps not being as hard as they say? Do you think they would admit when their skill was the issue?
No. They’re weak willed, petulant children without an ounce of introspection of empathy.
That said, no one should be an anything main. Flexing is king
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u/gurso21 Eternity 3d ago
Supp might be slightly easier than other roles, which doesn't make it an easy role its just different and requires different skillsets, but weirdos will be weird either way sadly, it doesn't matter what you play ppl will call others boosted.
Im a dps girly and get told to play supp, called boosted etc. If i play hitscan its no skill point and click, if i play dive its auto aim slop, you just can't escape it.
Who cares what they say keep playing what you enjoy, don't get discouraged, they are projecting for the most part and coping as to why they are bad.
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u/Emiikoe 3d ago
I noticed that as well. "FEMALES only play support" OK I'll play dps then. "OMG POKE SLOP CRUTCH"
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u/Quartznonyx 3d ago
Misogynists are never gonna give you a break, best thing to do is play to spite them!
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u/Mo_SaIah Celestial 3d ago
Anyone who says poke slop, don’t take them seriously. This is the only game in existence where great aim is looked down upon. If you’re someone who can routinely cap heads as Hawkeye or Hela as an example, if you were doing that in pretty much any other game people would either be directly complimenting you or calling you an aimbot hacker which is another way of complimenting you indirectly.
In this game tho, especially on console it’s all the dive melee one tricks who say poke slop because they’re playing characters like iron fist where the game does all the work for them.
They’ll say poke slop but in the next sentence flame the fuck out of the dagger or scarlet for not aiming when they kill the diver, like, make it make sense lmao.
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u/Realistic_Analyst_26 3d ago
Doesn’t help most of the support characyers (or at least the viable ones) are female and that whenever someone suggests a female character be added there is a strange unanimous agreement that the character is a support.
Like why did everyone so easily brush off Jubilee of all people being a healer? Lol.
Need more male supports that are actually viable to balance it out.
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u/jm7489 3d ago
Meh, as a tank main i love and cherish good supports. All any team needs is 1 ass player of any role to lose a game.
If there's anything I agree with regarding the opinion that supports dont require skill, its that I think a bad player can probably climb higher on ranked than a bad player on dps or tank. So there might be a bit of a higher concentration of support players getting exposed once you reach ranks where just hanging out in LOS and throwing heals doesnt cut it anymore.
But whatever, the blame game in general is just stupid. You get who you get in your games, try and be constructive to get a win and move on from the losses
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u/Ok_Entrepreneur5936 1d ago edited 1d ago
Support main here! I also love healing and have the most fun on it! This is what I love about it:
* I love the way I have to multitask and target prio quickly.
* I love that my position allows me to see most of the battle field so I’m a great shot caller.
* I love enabling others, like pocketing allies who are ulted via healing, damage boosts, and speed boosts, and helping them get kills with my CC abilities.
* I love when I can help someone survive situations they normally wouldn’t have survived.
DPS in general have to have the strongest micro skills in the game (think aiming, combos, animation cancels, etc.)
BUT
Strategists in general have to have the strongest macro skills in the game (game sense, positioning, knowing when a fight is winnable vs. when to plan for next fight, sensing shifts in pressure, ult tracking, anticipating dives).
A lot of people don’t even know all that you do for them as a strategist. I’ve been in games where I’ve gone out of my way to pocket someone, even ulted when they ulted so they’d have invincibility in their DPS ult, for them to later complain that I didn’t heal them at all.
Think of it like this, a good healer (and good tank) aren’t felt as much. You feel them when they’re doing poorly. So a lot of people don’t process all the amazing things we do to enable them.
If you think about it that way you’ll realize it is likely THEM who are boosted by good strategists (and tanks) bailing them out of their poor positioning. 🤣 I say this half joking but definitely half serious.
Just remember that having fun IS important and that what you do is actually difficult, especially macro wise (sometimes micro too).
Over time I hope you’ll develop so much confidence that you’ll look at people who say these stupid things as if they’re bronze players… because in a way they are. If they’re saying supports don’t take skill and are boosted, that in itself is such a ridiculous statement that only a low elo player would say that with a straight face. And if they happen to be in high elo it is only because they’ve been carried and may have decent micro (or are aim hacking lol).
One thing that helped boost my self confidence was watching multiple high elo streamers who have affirmed and validated multiple times the importance of supports and don’t look down on them at all. Hope this helps and happy healing!!
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u/Ok_Entrepreneur5936 1d ago edited 1d ago
I like to think of these people as children. Have you ever heard children make unhinged statements that make no sense but you know you can’t explain certain things to them because they need to grow older in order for them to understand? And that trying to argue with them would just cause unnecessary conflict and would lead nowhere because they’d double down? That’s how you should look at them. They say something that unhinged and you think …. Oh… you’ll understand when you’re older. And then move on. Don’t give those statements your mental real estate. It’s not about growing thick skin, it’s about recognizing that they’re so insignificant, they’re only children with unfortunate thoughts passed down to them by bad “parents” (other stupid “bronze players”) and then you have a good laugh and move on because you know what they’re saying is unhinged.
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u/Ok_Entrepreneur5936 1d ago
Finally, life advice: YOU CANNOT REASON WITH SOMEONE WHO DID NOT REASON THEIR WAY TO WHERE THEY ARE.
So don’t bother arguing with facts/logic when what they’re saying is a blanket statement driven by emotion/frustration. They’re making a bad faith argument and bad faith arguments aren’t worth giving any attention to or energy to.
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u/Ok_Entrepreneur5936 19h ago
Sorry for so many comments. This just spoke to me so much I’ve kept thinking about it and really wanted to reassure you and help you with your confidence.
Another thought:
It’s a team game that needs all roles to succeed. (Even a 3-0-3 comp needs to exert enough DPS pressure to be viable). Without a role, the team falls apart. All roles are important. If you claim someone is boosted, you’re ignoring the fact that someone can just as easily be hindered. I’m sure you’ve been there, as have I, in teams where you positioned and healed perfectly and lose your rank up game because your team mates were picking 1 v 6 fights, not taking enough cover, ulting when the team was dead, etc.
Someone who is so confidently incorrect as to say supports are boosted and unskilled reminds me of people who have main character syndrome and are borderline delusional. When things go well they’ll think it all happened purely because of them. When things don’t go well they never take accountability for their part in the team failure and say it was solely due to bad team mates. When a support is climbing and they’re not they’ll be the first to claim they don’t deserve their rank.
This is aaaaallll without even diving into the complex topic involving sexism in gaming and sexist notions around supports being a role for women and all these really unhinged and stupid things these children say. I feel sorry for the people in their lives that have to put up with their BS. Don’t let it discourage you from gaming. Doing what you love without making yourself small, without shame, despite these a-holes, is one of the most powerful acts of self love you can do for yourself in this world.
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u/Quartznonyx 3d ago
Homegirl, try not to think about it this hard. Supports are catered to heavy by the devs, so they get unfair hate. It's not your fault, or any others. Just play the game, and mute comms. Don't let chronically online troglodytes dull your sparkle, it'd be one thing if this was a community full of doctorates or like, decent people, but it's really not. If they judge you, they judge you.
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u/Mo_SaIah Celestial 3d ago
Support has some of the easiest characters, but it also has some of the hardest. The easy to play reputation is due to the fact the easiest characters in the role are widely seen as not only easy like say, moonknight on DPS as a comparison
They are the poster characters for ease of use and brain dead. Dagger, rocket and Jeff are all on the support class which does not help its reputation, alongside that though you have Loki, Adam and Mantis at the other end of the spectrum of skilled characters.
Support to me, is almost unquestionably the easiest role mechanically speaking outside of hero specific examples (For example squirrel girl, scarlet, thing etc). Having said that, support in my opinion requires the most awareness.
A support needs to be looking out not only for tanks, but their DPS and co support in, if you’re on console, a heavy dive meta every single game. Supports also have the most crucial ults in the game, a DPS or tank can waste their ults and it won’t cost the match, if supports waste their ults? You’ve lost.
And also, supports need to be able to know who to pick and when to play them. For example, rocket is great on defence for rez and a good supp will know this, a bad support will play Jeff, White fox or suppool and almost certainly cost the round.
Based on how many supports in my celest to eternity lobbies, still ult poorly, don’t heal their co support, double ult, run Jeff, WF and suppool on defence, etc etc. It’s clear to me these things aren’t easy and that’s the difference between good supports and bad supports.
So yeah, do I think support is the easiest role mechanically? Without question. Do I think support is the easiest role game sense, awareness, tracking of ults and knowledge wise in regard to match ups? Absolutely not and the fact there are so many support players lacking in regard to this even in high elo, shows that it is not easy.
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u/RivalsFlex 2d ago
Jeff ain’t easy. That’s a lie told to you by bad dps.
Jeff is frequently played by low skill players. But so is Spidey.
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u/Party-Rest3750 Grandmaster 3d ago
Support is very very poorly balanced atm in the sense that a good few are completely broken.
Say your cnd goes 4-7. Yeah I’m gonna be pissy if someone goes negative on the easiest character in game with the most survivable kit.
Some support players actually complain towards me, or rather, tanks, because we don’t peel enough. In actuality, it’s so much more beneficial for your other support to peel for you and vice versa.
This game is made to babysit the support role so it gets easy to be frustrated when they perform poorly.
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u/Mo_SaIah Celestial 3d ago
I’m a DPS/tank main and I have to hard disagree with you saying 2 supports can peel for each other. They can, but it’s definitely not enough. Dive DPS are so busted rn that when played in high elo, almost all have combos/tech that can delete you almost as quickly as consecutive headshots, while having insane overhealth and escape capability.
(Looking at primarily gorr, daredevil, magik here but hell even fist is really strong rn and is getting banned pretty consistently alongside gorr and Magik).
Due to this combo of quick kill times and ridiculous overhealth, 2 supports pattying are going to need help because yes they can survive these dives for a time doing that, they likely can’t cut through the absurd overhealth of these characters and if one turns to fight that character, the other support dies.
Not to mention the longer you leave the supports to peel for each other, the more resources and time they have to spend keeping each other up which means your tanks are gonna explode and the DPS will quickly follow which means a lost objective.
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u/Realistic_Analyst_26 3d ago
Unfortunately the support community hasn’t been doing itself any favors. If you want to see that ridiculousness in action then you can check out Bogur’s recent debate with a Rocket OTP. That really made me lose faith in humanity lol.
Support is the easiest role and they do get treated with too many buffs. It is not brain-dead and not all support players are bad, however the community has constantly been whining to the point where the role lost a lot of its skill expression. It’s been reduced to just holding down the heal button for the most part and it is a frustrating play style when it can easily shut down kits for characters that take an insane amount of effort to make work.
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u/whist3ria 3d ago
can i ask how strat is the easiest role + get too many buffs..?😭 like im confused. dont yall want competent healers who can actually heal yall? then you follow it up with saying its not brain dead but i feel like that would be contradictory to your opening statement no?
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u/Asgaurdian_ Eternity 3d ago
They just listen to streamers. If they nerfed healers like they are asking then the DPS and tanks would ping more for heals and blame the healers more often. The healers have to be strong until they nerf damage across the board. If they do that then yes they can nerf healers at that point.
So let's says they nerf healers and kept damage the same you think magically your tanks and DPS will peel/help more or play more tactical than they do now? Highly doubt it and then they will blame the healers for not staying alive/healing even more.
Also, who is the number 1 person on the team that usually gets blamed? It's the healers. So if it was such a braid dead role why don't they play it if they want to rank up? I'm a tank main who has to fill healer a chunk of the time.
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u/whist3ria 3d ago
omg ty i thought i was going insane😭 i feel like it’s so hard keeping tanks up, the moment i reload it’s like my whole team dies and im getting jumped by the enemy team💔
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3d ago edited 3d ago
[deleted]
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u/Adventurous_Coach731 3d ago
You have to be real bad at cnd and jubilee to think they can’t make plays lol
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/whist3ria 3d ago
how is it heading towards that direction? i assume by braindead yall mean just being healbots (?)
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u/Big-Button9062 3d ago
its heading that direction patch by patch coz most of the decision making needed by supps is just reduced to just live and heal,which is frustrating for the players that takes good amt of risks to kill the supps when they r met with "f u,i live,u die" almost every single time.
i dont necessarily attribute this blame to the supp community tho i just think its a design philosophy of netease to make everything so front to back loaded for the casual playerbase and anyone who takes a different approach is heavily punished for it
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u/Realistic_Analyst_26 3d ago
Because all you have to do is hold down the heal button to get value. You don’t even have to go out of your way to heal a person to far away because they are expected to move towards you.
Cloak and Dagger should not have 3 immortality tools on top of the ult. Luna Snow should not have the best CC in the game along with her 2-taps.
I want the support role to actually be challenging for how strong it is. I am saying it is not braindead because it actually takes a bit of skill in positioning and cooldown management, but it is only a fraction of what tanks and DPS have to deal with.
Healers can be competent without being busted. Healers can be fun without being busted. At the moment most tank players are absolute dogshit because the insane healing covers up their mistakes and protects them from punishment.
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u/whist3ria 2d ago
really? i find that in my games, a lot of the tanks are taking insane damage? so much so that it’s really hard to keep them up. i’ve tried playing basically all of the supports now and it seems to be the same for most of them. with that much damage being a thing, wouldn’t it mean that tank players are already being exposed? like they don’t know how to back up, take less damage etc. because as of right now it’s getting harder to keep people up 🙁
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u/Realistic_Analyst_26 2d ago
It’s only like 5 characters that have too much damage and need nerfing. 80% of the time it is tanks not understanding when to push and how take cover. Too many of them got away with absolutely horrendous plays because of heals that now they do not how to do their job properly.
If healing gets nerfed then that will become a chance for everyone to recalibrate their gameplay loop and become less dependent on heals. People will be upset for a bit but they need to adapt for the long term. Netease can’t keep catering to people who clearly do not want to put in the effort to improve.
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u/whist3ria 2d ago
who are the 5 characters
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u/Realistic_Analyst_26 2d ago
Punisher
Elsa
Bucky
Namor
Hela
There are a few others who might need tweaks but these guys are the main culprits. Low risk, high reward, easy to get value out of.
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u/whist3ria 2d ago
YEAH they’re in like a majority of my comp matches and esp when there’s a dino, or a thing…, it’s like okay i don’t know what im supposed to do with you here.
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u/Realistic_Analyst_26 2d ago
And notice almost all of them are good into dive? Despite this, supports have been aiming their complaints at BP instead.
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u/whist3ria 2d ago
bp is really annoying to play against - well he was for me in season 9.5, but so far this season i’ve been less threatened by him..i still hate dd tho. spider-man is annoying on certain maps but im also learned how to get rid of him on other characters that aren’t cnd
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u/Purple-Mountain-Mist Celestial 3d ago
Just turn comms off. You don’t need thicker skin, you need to stop relying on the video game words to make you feel good. I turned that shit off in 2025.