What Are Enchanters in League of Legends? Your Guide to Supporting Allies

Table of Contents

Defining the Essence of an Enchanter

What is an Enchanter?

The Rift. A battlefield of strategic decisions, mechanical skill, and, above all, teamwork. Within this vibrant ecosystem of champions and strategies, a specific class of support champions holds a vital role: the Enchanters. These champions are not defined by brute force or tanky resilience but by their dedication to empowering allies and keeping them alive, turning the tide of battle through precise buffs, strategic heals, and timely shields. This guide dives deep into the world of Enchanters in League of Legends, exploring their unique characteristics, effective strategies, essential items, and the champions who embody their supportive spirit.

The role of a support champion in League of Legends is multifaceted, but Enchanters carve out a special niche within it. They stand apart from other support archetypes, like the stalwart Tanks who absorb damage and initiate fights, or the Catchers who focus on disabling enemies. Enchanters are primarily defined by their core function: to **enhance** the abilities and survivability of their teammates. They achieve this through a combination of direct healing, shielding, and buffs that amplify damage, movement speed, or other key stats. They are the champions who enable their allies to reach their full potential, providing them with the tools they need to succeed.

The primary goal of an Enchanter isn’t necessarily to secure kills (though they can certainly contribute) but to:

Sustain Allies: Enchanters specialize in keeping their teammates alive. Healing abilities quickly mend wounds, while shields provide temporary protection against incoming damage, extending the lifespans of those they support.
Amplify Offensive Capabilities: Enchanters go beyond simply keeping allies alive. They can buff their teammates’ offensive capabilities, increasing their attack damage, ability power, attack speed, or critical strike chance, effectively turning them into more dangerous threats.
Provide Strategic Utility: Enchanters often offer utility, like crowd control (slows, roots, snares), movement speed boosts, or vision control. These tools can be used to set up kills, peel enemies, or gain map control.

Key to understanding the role of an Enchanter lies in their core characteristics. Enchanters, generally, will have abilities focused on healing, shielding, and buffing. While some can be offensively oriented, the main goal of the champion is to benefit allies, whether in the laning phase or team fight. These abilities usually scale with Ability Power or Heal and Shield Power, and a proper build will include items that increase these stats. They have lower base health and damage compared to other support classes, making positioning a core gameplay skill. Proper positioning and knowing when to engage in a fight is key, as they will often rely on their allies to secure the takedowns.

The Laning Phase and Beyond: Mastering Gameplay

The early game is where an Enchanter builds their foundation. The laning phase often focuses on a few critical aspects. First, they must carefully protect their marksman (ADC). Constant vigilance, warding the river and brush for safety, is key to avoiding enemy ganks. Then, they should poke and harass enemies to make sure their marksman can get the edge over the enemy duo. Efficient mana management is crucial, especially since many of their abilities are mana-intensive. Knowing when to heal, shield, or buff allies can make or break a lane.

Mid-game marks a shift towards team fights and objective control. Positioning becomes even more critical. Enchanters need to place themselves strategically to protect the team’s carries (usually the ADC and mid-laner). Their primary focus becomes keeping these high-damage dealers alive, while providing support. Timing is also a key skill to master. The perfect shield, heal, or speed buff at the right moment can turn the tide of a teamfight. Communication is crucial as a team can use different strategies for a match. The Enchanter must be aware of these strategies in order to support them. Roaming to assist other lanes with a clutch heal or shield can catch opponents off guard and secure a kill.

The late game is often the most demanding for Enchanters. Positioning is more essential. As fights become longer and more chaotic, the ability to predict enemy movements and protect the team’s carries is a crucial skill. Building the right items that can complement the team’s strategy can give them the advantage. Making strategic decisions about which allies to prioritize healing and shielding, while using abilities to maximize their effectiveness, becomes even more important.

Crafting the Perfect Arsenal: Essential Items and Rune Choices

Enchanters thrive on items that boost their ability to support. Building the right set of items can significantly amplify their effectiveness. A common and essential set of items will typically focus on maximizing Heal and Shield Power, which can increase the potency of their abilities and make them more effective. Items that reduce cooldowns also help, allowing these abilities to be used more frequently. Certain items, like the Mikael’s Blessing, can be used to cleanse allies from crowd control, and are essential against teams with heavy crowd control effects.

Consider these staples for an Enchanter’s build:

Mikael’s Blessing: Grants a cleanse, which can remove a wide array of debuffs from an ally, and also provides a burst of healing. This is incredibly important for surviving teamfights and peeling for carries.
Redemption: Casts an area-of-effect heal, which can be used during a teamfight to heal multiple allies and also deal damage to enemies.
Ardent Censer: Gives an ally extra attack speed and on-hit magic damage after shielding or healing them. This item is extremely effective on champions who rely on attack speed.
Staff of Flowing Water: Grants extra ability power and movement speed after using an ability.
Locket of the Iron Solari: Provides a large area-of-effect shield to the team, shielding against incoming damage.
Chemtech Putrifier: Applies Grievous Wounds to enemies when healing or shielding an ally, cutting down their healing effects.
Shurelya’s Battlesong: Grants a massive burst of movement speed to allies.

When it comes to runes, Enchanters can choose a few different options to suit their playstyle. Sorcery, Resolve, and Inspiration are the most common rune paths to pick from.

Sorcery: The Sorcery tree often complements the Enchanter’s abilities. Summon Aery is a popular choice, as it provides a shield or a small burst of damage. Manaflow Band can help to sustain mana, while Transcendence gives extra ability haste, and Gathering Storm scales into the late game.
Inspiration: Runes from this tree provide utility, such as Biscuit Delivery, to help with mana sustain. Cosmic Insight will give extra ability haste for more opportunities to heal or shield.
Resolve: Resolve runes focus on survivability. Bone Plating provides damage reduction, while Revitalize enhances the effectiveness of healing and shielding.

Choosing the appropriate runes depends on the specific Enchanter and their role in the game, but these are some common rune choices.

Champions of Support: The Enchanter Roster

League of Legends boasts a diverse cast of Enchanter champions, each bringing their unique blend of healing, shielding, and utility to the Rift. Some of the most popular Enchanter champions include:

Sona: Sona is a powerful enchanter whose abilities allow her to heal, shield, and buff allies. She has low mana costs and can provide constant support throughout a fight. She has access to AoE healing and shielding, and can often play a more aggressive role in teamfights.
Janna: Janna is an excellent champion to protect her carries. She can shield allies, heal, and provide crowd control, all with a high base move speed. She excels at peeling enemies and can deny engages. She is also great at disengaging fights.
Lulu: Lulu is a strong enchanter with great utility, capable of shielding and buffing allies. She excels at polymorphing enemies, and she has a strong ultimate, that can provide a heal and knock-up effect.
Soraka: Soraka provides strong healing and is a very potent sustain champion. She is capable of quickly restoring the health of her allies. She also offers silence, which can be used to disrupt enemies in teamfights.
Nami: Nami is known for her reliable healing and poke. She can heal allies, buff allies with move speed, and snare enemies. She can also use her ultimate ability to knock enemies up, as well as buffing her team.
Karma: Karma is a versatile Enchanter who can provide both shields and poke damage. She can also use her ultimate ability to empower her abilities. Karma’s utility and damage allow her to be adaptable in many team compositions.
Seraphine: A versatile mage-enchanter hybrid with impressive range and AoE effects. Seraphine can offer heals, shields, and crowd control to her allies, as well as dealing magic damage. She can have a very supportive presence in teamfights.

Here are a few champion spotlights to highlight some of the differences in playstyle:

Sona Spotlight

Sona is a powerful Enchanter known for her scaling support capabilities. Her **Passive: Power Chord** modifies the effects of her basic attacks based on the last ability cast. Her **Q: Hymn of Valor** deals damage and buffs allies’ damage, while her **W: Aria of Perseverance** provides healing and shielding. Her **E: Song of Celerity** gives allies a burst of movement speed. Her **R: Crescendo** is a powerful AoE stun. Sona excels in sustained fights. Her strengths lie in her ability to provide constant heals and shields to her team. Her weaknesses are her squishiness and her vulnerability to crowd control.

Janna Spotlight

Janna is a powerful peeling support. **Passive: Tailwind** gives her allies increased movement speed. Her **Q: Howling Gale** is a knockup that allows her to set up picks and disrupt fights. Her **W: Zephyr** gives extra movement speed and slows enemies. Her **E: Eye of the Storm** shields allies and grants bonus damage. **R: Monsoon** knocks enemies back and heals allies. Janna’s strengths are her ability to peel for her allies and her strong disengage. Her weaknesses are her weak damage output and her vulnerability to being caught out.

Lulu Spotlight

Lulu is an enchanter with strong crowd control. Her **Passive: Pix, Faerie Companion** provides shields to allies. Her **Q: Glitterlance** slows enemies. Her **W: Whimsy** polymorphs enemies or grants allies a movement speed buff. Her **E: Help, Pix!** shields allies or damages enemies. **R: Wild Growth** enlarges an ally, knocking up enemies and granting bonus health. Lulu’s strengths are her strong crowd control and her ability to protect her carries. Her weaknesses are her weak damage output and her vulnerability to being caught out.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Supporting Champion

Enchanters bring a unique set of strengths and weaknesses to the game.

Strengths

Exceptional Sustain: Enchanters excel at keeping allies alive with their healing and shielding abilities.
Damage Amplification: They have the ability to significantly enhance the damage output of carries through buffs.
Utility and Crowd Control: They often possess crowd control and utility effects, such as movement speed buffs, slows, or roots, that can change the flow of fights.
Strategic Impact: They can dictate the pace of fights, protect key targets, and enable their team to engage or disengage strategically.

Weaknesses

Vulnerability: Enchanters tend to be squishy and vulnerable to being caught out by enemies.
Damage Dependency: They rely on their allies to deal damage, as their own damage output is typically limited.
Counterplay: Certain items and champions are designed to counter Enchanters, such as items that reduce healing or champions with high burst damage.
Aggressive Matchups: They can often struggle in aggressive matchups, where the enemy can easily burst them down before they can react.

Tips for Supporting Allies Effectively

Mastering the role of an Enchanter requires more than just knowing your abilities. Consider these tips:

Prioritize Positioning: Proper positioning is critical. Stay behind your carries, use vision to avoid getting caught out.
Protect Your Carries: Keep your carries alive at all costs. Use shields, heals, and buffs strategically to keep them in the fight.
Master Ability Timing: Learn when to use your abilities for maximum impact. Shielding right before a big ability or healing at the right moment can make all the difference.
Master Vision Control: Warding is essential for map awareness, and it will prevent ganks and help your team strategize.
Communicate with Your Team: Communicate with your team about your strategies, where you should ward, and what type of support you can provide.

Conclusion: The Heartbeat of the Team

Enchanters are often the unsung heroes of the Rift, the heartbeat of the team. While they may not always grab the spotlight, their impact on the game is undeniable. They keep their allies alive, empower them to reach their full potential, and provide essential strategic utility. When you play an Enchanter, you’re not just playing a champion – you’re becoming a force multiplier, a protector, and a catalyst for victory.

Why not try an Enchanter in your next match? You might be surprised how rewarding it is to lift your teammates to new heights and lead them to victory.