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The support role has always seemed to be lacking, no matter what Riot does for it. Inevitably, supports will fall behind in gold and experience since they’re not actually getting kills or farming like the other positions. In Patch 7.4, Riot is attempting to remedy that. (Again.)
First off, Bard’s passive movement speed gained from his passive, Traveler’s Call, is being buffed, so expect to see him zooming by your lane if you can’t see him on the mini-map! The movespeed bonus is changing from 18 percent with an additional 12 percent per charm (aside from the first charm) to 24 percent plus 14 percent per extra charm. The maximum bonus after collecting five charms is 80 percent!! That’s one fast...horn-spirit thing.
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Knight’s Vow is also getting a simplified build path so the support inventory doesn’t feel super cluttered while you’re building it! Instead of two Crystalline Bracers, a Cloth Armor and 700 gold, it’ll be made from a single Crystalline Bracer, Chain Vest and 850 gold. The price is the same. It’ll also grant 40 armor, instead of 20 armor. However, in exchange, it grants 20 bonus armor instead of 40 bonus armor when linked. The tether range has also increased to 1000 from 900! Yay!
Wards also now give the same gold if you reveal a ward that your ally kills, so there’s no need to compete for that last hit! Sweet!
Since supports typically fall behind in experience pretty fast, Riot has updated experience gain a bit. If you’re behind your team in levels and you get a kill or assist, you’ll get bonus experience now! This happens when you’re about one full level behind your team’s average. (This is based more off of how much experience you’re behind, rather than level.) The highest bonus you can receive is 60 percent at a four level difference.
Hopefully this helps out supports a bit more so they can carry their teams even harder! So get out there and queue for support! (This is not propaganda to get you to make autofill stop happening, I promise.)