How viable are healers in LoL?

[theSHAH]

Alright, well I am a fairly new LoL player, and after trying out a few different champions, the first one I decided to purchase was Kayle. My main in WoW having been a healer, I've always sorta had a passion to fulfilling that role. Noticing there are tanks but no specified healers in LoL I decided to experiment in creating one. So I max out divine blessing and intervention as soon as I can and my build aims for cd reduction and mana/mana regen for a better ability at spamming the heal.
My question is, how appreciated is this? Is it utterly retarded? Can it be helpful it certain settings? Or is LoL just not the game for dedicated healers? If this is viable, is there a better champion then Kayle for healing?

 

[Fappy]

Not sure about now, but I played a mean Sona back in the day. LoL doesn't really have dedicated healers. Support characters are what you are looking for and they do more for the team than simply heal.

 

[Tilakai]

Honestly Riot games believe dedicated healers are toxic to the game. The only champ that fits this roll is Soraka and she has been nerfed many times.

The healing that soraka can do causes lanes to be extreamly passive because it is almost impossible to get a kill against her unless someone make a mistake. This leads to boreing game play most of the time.

As for kyle her heal is not the greatest she works best as a damage dealer.
Max Q then E put a point into w early for the speed.

Buy on hit items like wits end,malady and rage blade.
Use ghost and ignite.

Kyles q increased damager from all these items and spells.

 

[YuheJi]

Kayle really struggles as a support nowadays. She's gone through quite a few nerfs, and people mainly play her for damage nowadays. Her heals are kinda weak.

Soraka, on the other hand, is always much appreciated. Just don't go a support character if someone else on your team already is one.

 

[Jandau]

Kayle isn't a very good healer. She's kinda crap actually, as far as healing goes. In fact, there are hardly any dedicated healers in the game. Only Soraka and to a lesser extent Taric can boast any major healing (yes, Nidalee too, but she's crap as support). This is intentional, with most heals meant to ease the laning phase, not keep you at 100% all the time. Soraka is an exception because sustaining a lane is her whole thing. Most other heals are small and cheap (like, say, Alistar's or Sona's) and intended to restore health over time, or small with a secondary effect (like Kayle's) and meant to be used for the secondary effect as much as for the heal.

Healing isn't particularly appreciated since it's only a part of what makes a good support. In fact, some of the best supports have little or no healing. Janna has no healing outside her ultimate, and even that is usually only used for the huge knockback, yet she is considered one of the top supports, perhaps even the best support in the game.

As a support, your job is to protect your lanemate and/or set up kills. Specifically, how you go about this varries with the champion, with some supports favoring a more offensive approach (Blitzcrank, Leona, Alistar) and some being better at babysitting a carry while he farms (Taric, Soraka). However, you are expected to keep wards up (at first in your lane, later all over the map), buy items that help the team (Shurelya, Aegis, Locket, Shroud, Will, etc.) and help your teammates get more gold by heloping them farm, stay alive and get kills any way you can.

But in short, if you just HAVE to heal and can't imagine being a support player any other way, Soraka is the way to go, maybe Taric. Personally, if I'm supporting I'm usually playig Alistar or Blitzcrank...

 

[theSHAH]

Thanks for the advice, I do try to do a little more then solely heal in late game, and since Soraka is a cheap champion I will probably purchase her real soon. What are the best summoner spells for a support unit?

 

[YuheJi]

Thanks for the advice, I do try to do a little more then solely heal in late game, and since Soraka is a cheap champion I will probably purchase her real soon. What are the best summoner spells for a support unit?

Exhaust and Flash are fairly solid picks, especially if your team's AD carry (attack damage carry, such as Ashe, Caitlyn, Vayne, Graves, etc.) gets Heal. Heal and Flash works well as well. It's up to you and what your teammates are getting.

Oh, another tip that I like to give out to new players. If you want to play the AD carry (and get lots of kills), Tristana is better than Ashe (those are the two cheapest AD carries, both of whom are very good). Ashe just takes a bit more knowledge of the game to play properly.