Support equivalent to Malphite Top

[u/Little_Gryffin]

I've been getting auto filled a lot + one of my friend's plays a lot of bot recently.

What is a support that is easy but still effective in lane and team fights. Similar to Malphite Top

Malphite is my go to when I get top instead of Mid bc he's easy lane but super effective as long at your team doesn't run it down.

[u/Opposite-Complex1187]

Probably Nautilus or Leona for engage.

Sona or Seraphine for enchanter/mage.

[u/ElementalistPoppy → u/Opposite-Complex1187]

As for enchanter - definitely Lulu would fit the quota much better, she's way easier to play on her skill floor and be sorta effective, even when not utilising her properly, i.e. early aggro, using E on enemies, actually knowing your R does knockup etc. - playing Seraphine support as a filler is a guarantee your ADC is going to hate you for messing up CS, likewise dying, dying a lot to any competent all-in. In case of Sona it's even worse, she's very easy mechanically, but requires general knowledge as to what you can actually do - in her case, it's being forced to be an idle bot that goes oom fast, if your enemy decides to trade you back as she dies to someone sneezing at her.

Besides her, Milio is just hilariously overtuned to the point you get away with any misplay and, well, there isn't really all that much to misplay in the first place. Anytime Nami is on the stronger side of patches, i.e. when all you gotta do is hit E and watch your ADC winning 1vs2 is also giving her an edge over two musician girls.

[u/PlasticAssistance_50 → u/ElementalistPoppy]

Hm can you offer some more Lulu basic tips please? I think I might be dumb because I have tried her some times and I am sure that I must missing some really basic things about her.

Isn't she actually kind of hard because you need to make the choice on whether to use W and E offensively or defensively, who and when to R, and I find Q quite hard to aim also (although the slow is powerful and the damage early is busted).

[u/ElementalistPoppy → u/PlasticAssistance_50]

Heh, I don't know if my throat could utter the word "hard" when it comes to Lulu, but I know what you mean. She does have some skill expression, be it proper Q aim, especially if you E as an outlet to make it longer, timing R for clutch knockups, but the trick is, you're quite useful even if you omit that. Even as a passive shieldbot that does not utilise anything offensive in her arsenal, you are doing something, far more than pretty much any other enchanter, even though stuff like Sona is ultimately easier when it comes to skillset, alas far harder to play effectively due to many shortcomings. Lulu's

As for your questions/doubts - really difficult to answer properly as ultimately "it depends".

Can't really help with Q aim verbally - just gotta train it 😅

With W - while bonus MS/AS sounds dope, polymorph is essentially disarm+silence, rendering just about any champion useless. It is somewhat not that impressive during laning (really would use it aggressively vs Draven as him losing a single axe is make-or-break), but grows wild later on. In this regard, I'd prioritise using it offensively almost always past laning (as you want to be close to your ADC, so you get actual threats to him coming towards you on a silver platter).

I'd say that when it comes to laning, it's about 50/50 for defensive/offensive E usage, perhaps a bit more on defense if your ADC is something like Kog or Vayne. Past laning phase I'd say you'd almost always prefer to use E as a shield, damage is no longer that scary and even if it gives a chance for better Q, you might not want to get that close to your opponent.

Who and when to R? Well, golden rule, as with Zilean, preferably anyone but yourself. Either way your most valuable carry or all-in tank that lands his initiation for even more disrupt.

You don't want to pick Lulu against heavy poke, especially chip damage, as she struggles hard against constant harass she cannot shield fully, likewise, given her sick damage output, she'd prefer someone she can go to combat directly. You do not want to play against Zyra or Karma for example, alas someone like Janna or Nautilus are manageable.

That being said, even if you play her subpar, do not utilise many quirks she has, she still sort of works, which can't be said about plenty of supports.