Want to dominate bot lane like League’s best support? Let’s break down how Ryu “Keria” Minseok, T1’s legendary support player, controls the game.
Ever since joining the South Korean org in 2020, Keria’s innovation and game sense have earned him the nickname, “Legendary Genius Monster”. The 22-year old player lives up to this, going as far as redefining the meta by introducing ADC supports. In this guide, we’ll look at what makes T1 Keria excel in the support role, and how you too can improve with several tips and tricks.
The Basics Done Right
At his core, Keria masters the fundamentals better than anyone else. The South Korean pro gamer has basically embodied the support role from inside out. It is thorough understanding of the basics that will enable you to make more complex plays and predict enemy support moves.
Here’s the first things you need to remember when playing support:
- Read your ADC’s movements and match their playstyle
- Time your trades when enemies go for last hits
- Keep track of jungle positions on both sides
- Save key abilities like summoner spells and ultimates for the right moment
- Control vision around current objectives by placing wards
You may want to stick to these foundations as you’re just starting out, but remember that Keria’s genius involves knowing when exactly to break these rules for maximum impact. When you’re confident enough, dare to push some boundaries and be more innovative.
Mastering Multiple Champion Types: Dive Into Keria’s Champion Pool
Keria is highly known for inducing chaos in high-stakes games with his unconventional champion picks. While T1 as a team can easily meta read, that ability for Keria sometimes translates to choosing champions he knows could challenge the meta. Often, his unpredictable and off-meta champions give T1 draft and gameplay strategies that the enemy team has not studied.
To be able to draft like Keria, you should first master at least two champions from each of the following categories:
- Engage supports: These champions will give you the power to decide whether to start, commit, or disengage from skirmishes and huge teamfights. Engage supports are mostly aggressive and have the toolkit for making fights happen and ensuring that they end up in your team’s favor. A huge responsibility lies with engage champions, so be smart with decision-making. (Thresh, Nautilus, Leona)
- Enchanters: More passive all-rounders that often provide support through shields, vision, and healing. Build them with the correct items and spells to maximize their capabilities. For example, go with the Ignite summoner spell if you want to play aggressive or pick Heal to prioritize survivability. Enchanters have good scaling and contribute to fights with peels and disengages. (Lux, Soraka, Renata Glasc)
- Non-traditional/Off-meta picks: Keria broke the meta by turning ADC champions into supports, proving that creative picks can work if you understand the game well enough. While you might not want to try his wildest picks in your ranked games right away, you can practice with unusual and off-meta picks in your games first.
A quick internet search on how to play champions “the Keria way” would make it obvious that the star support isn’t interested in keeping his champion pool limited. Thus, a lot of players look to his plays on multiple support champions, trying to study how T1 Keria keeps on excelling at seemingly just every pick.
When you’ve mastered some champions in every support type, try these other tips that may help you in drafting and support gameplay:
- Learn both aggressive and defensive playstyles
- Master at least one pocket pick that surprises enemies
- Adapt your builds based on team needs
- Don’t be afraid to experiment with new strategies
Developing Your Game Sense: Think Like T1 Keria
Another thing that sets Keria apart is his ability to read the game. He always seems to know where the enemy jungler is, even without vision. This awareness lets him make aggressive plays while staying safe.
Map Control
Here’s how you can practice sharpening your own game sense and control the map:
- Watch both mid and bot lane at once and analyze where your presence may be needed more
- Plan your roams before you need them and make decisive roam calls
- Track enemy support movements and get ready to counter their plays
- Anticipate ganks based on wave position and think of how to counter or defend
- Understand when to leave your ADC alone and when to stick by them
Vision and Warding
Vision control is another area where Keria excels. He doesn’t just put wards in standard spots. Instead, he thinks ahead, placing vision where fights will happen in the next few minutes. This forward thinking gives his team huge advantages in objective fights.
Put your wards where they count:
- Deep in enemy jungle
- Near dragon and baron
- In river bushes
- Around your jungle when behind
Keep one control ward ready and move your wards as the game changes.
Teamfight Mastery
When teamfights break out, Keria shows why he’s called T1’s genius monster support. Like him, you should find the perfect angles to start fights on engage supports like Leona and Pyke. On protective supports like Nami, he keeps his carries alive against impossible odds. The secret lies in his preparation – he always tracks important enemy cooldowns and positions himself to counter their biggest threats.
Additional Tips and What To Avoid
As always practice makes perfect. Start by trying these tips in every game until you can practice a Keria-inspired playstyle over and over again:
- Test new champion combinations
- Perfect your mechanics
- Build synergy with your ADC
- Try different ward patterns
- Master timing windows
Meanwhile, avoid these pitfalls in imitating T1’s star support:
- Forcing plays when your team isn’t ready
- Copying picks without understanding why they work
- Forgetting about wave management
- Roaming at wrong times
- Playing too safe when you should be aggressive
Playing Support Like T1 Keria
When you think T1, you think Faker. Yet, often following the legendary midlaner is Keria, who has established himself as one of the best supports in the League of Legends pro scene. He boasts some of the most crafty plays and a wide champion pool making way for surprise picks. He is able to give masterclass after masterclass with this knowledge and tactical prowess.
If you’re one of the aspirants wanting to play the support role just like how T1 Keria does it, take your game to the next level by always staying one step ahead. Before an objective spawns, Keria has already set up vision. Before the enemy support roams, he’s already pinged his team. This proactive playstyle takes practice, but it’s what separates great supports from good ones. With practice and patience, you can start applying Keria’s principles to your own gameplay and climb the ranks.
