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Combat and Support

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In a lot of video games, as well as most other media forms, there are usually two types of characters: Those who handle the main objectives (i.e. the main protagonist(s)), and those who support whoever is handling said main objectives (i.e. the main protagonist's various companions). Sometimes, it's in the form of the soldiers who fight on the battlefield, and the operators who guide their troops from the mission control room, or special forces operators and regular soldiers. Other times, it's The Mentor providing teachings to The Hero, who would make good use of said teachings to complete the rest of the mission.

Regardless, you can't have too many people handling a single job. Have everyone handle the combat role, and they'll die too quickly and easily. Have everyone handle the support role, on the other hand, and they'll be unable to complete their main objectives. Split the whole team into two halves, one focusing on combat, and the other focusing on support, and you've created a well-balanced team that can handle anything.

This concept is very much Truth in Television. Everyone can only do so much in modern militaries (and likely long, long past that...at least Older Than Print, since European knights had squires to take care of their equipment).

See tropes such as An Adventurer Is You for more information.

Examples

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    Video Game Examples 
  • In the Assassin's Creed franchise, Support includes:
  • The Banner Saga
    • Combat: Varl Warriors and Shieldbangers; highest strength/armor but lowest willpower.
    • Balance: Human Raiders, Landsmen, and Spearmen; average strength/armor and willpower.
    • Support: Human Archers and Menders; lowest strength/armor but highest willpower.
  • The BioWare Star Wars games
    • Knights of the Old Republic's character classes
      • Combat: Soldier and Jedi Guardian
      • Balance: Scout and Jedi Sentinel
      • Support: Scoundrel and Jedi Consular
    • Knights of the Old Republic's sides of the force:
      • Combat: The dark side and its emphasis on force damage and debuffs,
      • Support: The light side and its emphasis on force healing and buffs.
    • Star Wars: The Old Republic's character classes
      • Combat: Jedi Knight and Trooper (Galactic Republic), Sith Warrior and Bounty Hunter (Sith Empire) - good for main damage and tanking
      • Support: Jedi Consular and Smuggler (Galactic Republic), Sith Inquisitor and Imperial Agent (Sith Empire) - excellent for supporting damage and healing
      • Note that any class can pick from two advanced classes, and each advanced class has three specialization trees. Meaning a Sith Inquisitor, for example, can pick Sorceror (Damage/Healing) or Assassin (Damage/Tanking). There's a lot of options.
  • Borderlands:
    • Combat: Brick (close-quarters combat) and Lilith (elemental damage)
    • Support: Mordecai (long-ranged sniping) and Roland (healing and supplying)
  • Borderlands 2:
    • Combat: Salvador (fighting at close-to-mid range with his "Gunzerker" talent), Axton (mid-to-long range with aid from his Turret), and Krieg (A close-range Combat Sadomasochist).
    • Support: Maya (crowd-control through Phaselocking, and healing with the Harmony skill tree), Zer0 (sniping, distracting the enemy with Decepti0n), though both can be specced for Combat with the right skill tree.
    • Either: Gaige can be specced for Combat (through the Ordered Chaos and Little Big Trouble skill trees) or Support (through Best Friends Forever)
  • Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!:
    • Combat: "Jack" (primarily mid-long ranged damage dealer who can gain benefits from allies dying)
    • Balance: Athena (close-ranged support/tank with a versatile Aspis), Wilhelm (tank/healer with fire support from drone), Nisha (either mid-long range damage dealer or close-range tank), Claptrap (support/healer or close-range explosives expert)
    • Support: Aurelia (long-ranged sniper and Cryo damage specialist)
  • Breath of Death VII:
    • Combat: Dem and Erik
    • Support: Sara and Lita
  • First-Person Shooter weapons and vehicles:
    • The weapons:
      • Balance: Assault rifle,
      • Combat: CQB weapons like submachine guns, shotguns and handguns, useful for reaching objectives,
      • Support: Long-ranged weapons, such as machine guns, sniper rifles and missile launchers, useful for defending objectives.
    • The vehicles, if there are any:
      • Combat: Fast and weak vehicles, like humvees and aircraft, for reaching and capturing objectives faster.
      • Balanced: Slow and strong vehicles, for example tanks and warships, which support the faster units in taking objectives, and have enough firepower to be classified as Combat anyway.
      • Support: Artillery and, if available, stuff like supply trucks, APCs et cetera.
  • Capcom vs., i.e. Marvel vs. Capcom 3
    • Combat: Active combatants, who do most of the fighting unless tagged-out,
    • Support: Reserve combatants, who can use assist moves and team combos, as well as tag-in to take their teammates' places.
  • Capture-objective games:
  • Chrono Trigger
    • Balance: Chrono, Frog, and Magus
    • Combat: Robo and Ayla
    • Support: Lucca and Marle
  • Cthulhu Saves the World:
    • Combat: Cthulhu, Sharpe, Ember and Dark Umi
    • Balance: Umi, Paws and Molly
    • Support: October, Dacre and Elona
  • Darkest Dungeon: This dynamic can be found in the Swine King boss fights: the King itself is Combat, with Wilbur as support, and killing Wilbur is... contraindicated.
  • The Diablo franchise
    • Diablo (1997)'s classes
      • Combat: Warrior
      • Balance: Rogue
      • Support: Sorcerer
    • Diablo II's classes
      • Combat: Barbarian and Assassin
      • Balance: Amazon, Paladin, and Druid
      • Support: Necromancer and Sorceress
    • Diablo III's classes
      • Combat: Barbarian and Monk
      • Balance: Demon Hunter and Crusader
      • Support: Witch Doctor and Wizard
  • The Donkey Kong Country franchise
    • Combat: Donkey Kong, Kiddy Kong, and Chunky Kong; suited for combat due to their attacking power,
    • Support: Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Tiny Kong, and Lanky Kong; good for navigation due to their mobility.
  • Doom, especially in co-op and team multiplayer:
    • Combat: Close-quarters weapons, as example, fists, the chainsaw, the shotgun, and the plasma gun.
    • Support: Long-ranged or backup weapons such as the pistol, the chaingun, the rocket launcher, and the BFG9000.
  • The Dragon Age franchise:
    • Classes:
      • Combat: Two-Handed Warrior; Archer Rogue; Dual Weapon Rogue; Primal Mage,
      • Support: Creation Mage; Weapon and Shield Warrior.
    • The Dragon Age: Origins party:
      • Combat: Leliana, Morrigan, Oghren, Shale, Sten, Zevran
      • Support: Alistair, Loghain, Wynne
    • The Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening party:
      • Combat: Justice, Nathaniel Oghren, Sigrun, Velanna
      • Support: Anders, Justice
    • The Dragon Age II party:
      • Combat: Aveline, Carver, Fenris
      • Balance: Isabela, Sebastian, Varric
      • Support: Anders, Bethany, Merrill
  • Driving Games such as Gran Turismo, Mario Kart, Need for Speed, and Ridge Racer
    • Combat: Lightweight cars, which can go fast but can't handle well. Good for drag races and straight roads.
    • Support: Heavyweight cars, which can handle well but goes slow. Useful for drift races and winding tracks.
  • The Elder Scrolls: Present in the Fighter, Mage, Thief breakdown of the series' classes/skills - Combat, Magic, Stealth. To note:
    • Combat: Exactly What It Says on the Tin
    • Balance: Stealth
    • Support: Magic (though those focused on purely offensive spells can tend toward Combat as well).
  • ''Evolve hunters:
    • Combat: Assault (Direct combat)
    • Support: Medic (Heals hunters), Trapper (Tracks and restrains monster), Support (Buffs hunters and debuffs monster)
  • The Final Fantasy franchise
    • Final Fantasy's character classes:
      • Combat: Warrior/Knight, Thief/Ninja, and Monk/Master
      • Support: Red Mage/Red Wizard, Black Mage/Black Wizard, and White Mage/White Wizard
    • Final Fantasy II, in terms of starting stats:
      • Balance: Firion (hybrid)
      • Combat: Guy (physical combat)
      • Support: Maria (magic)
    • The Final Fantasy II rereleases' Soul of Rebirth storyline:
      • Combat: The physical fighters, Josef the monk and Ricard the dragoon.
      • Support: The spellcasters, Minwu the white wizard and Prince Scott of Kashuan (Scott acts somewhat as the group's black mage).
    • Final Fantasy III's character classes:
      • Combat: Freelancer/Onion Knight, Warrior, Thief, Monk, Ranger/Hunter, Knight, Viking, Dragoon, Black Belt, Dark Knight, and Ninja
      • Support: White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Scholar, Geomancer, Evoker/Conjurer, Bard, Magus/Warlock, Devout/Shaman, Summoner, and Sage
    • Final Fantasy IV,
      • Combat: Cecil, Kain, Yang, Edge, and Cid
      • Support: Rosa, Rydia, Tellah, Edward, Porom, Palom, and FuSoYa
    • Final Fantasy V's character classes:
      • Combat: Freelancer, Knight, Monk, Thief, Mystic Knight, Berserker, Beastmaster, Ninja, Ranger, Samurai, Dragoon, Gladiator
      • Support: White Mage, Black Mage, Blue Mage, Red Mage, Time Mage, Summoner, Geomancer, Bard, Dancer, Chemist, Mime, Cannoneer, Oracle, Necromancer
    • Final Fantasy VI,
      • Combat: Locke, Edgar, Sabin, Shadow, Cyan, Gau, Setzer, Umaro, and Gogo
      • Support: Terra, Celes, Relm, Strago, and Mog
    • Final Fantasy Tactics splits the entire Job System down the middle. Each character starts out with access to only the Squire ("Knightly Sword and Shield") and Chemist ("Combat Medic who throws Healing Potions") classes, but by leveling those up they unlock access to new ones.
      • Combat: Squire, Archer, Knight, Thief, Monk, Lancer, Geomancer, Samurai, Ninja
      • Balanced: Mime
      • Support: Chemist, White Mage, Black Mage, Oracle, Time Mage, Summoner, Mediator, Dancer, Bard, Calculator
    • Final Fantasy VIII, in terms of Limit Breaks:
      • Combat: Squall, Zell, and Irvine
      • Support: Rinoa, Selphie, and Quistis
    • Final Fantasy IX
      • Combat: Zidane, Steiner, Freya, and Amarant
      • Support: Garnet/Dagger, Vivi, Eiko, and Quina
    • Final Fantasy X
      • Combat: Tidus, Wakka, Auron, and Rikku
      • Support: Yuna and Lulu
      • Balance: Kimahri
    • Final Fantasy XIII's paradigm roles
      • Combat: Commando, Ravager, and Saboteur
      • Support: Sentinel, Medic, and Synergist
  • FTL: Faster Than Light
    • Crewmen:
      • Combat: Mantis, Rockmen and Lanius; anyone manning the weapons system
      • Balance: Humans and Slugs
      • Support: Engi and Zoltan; anyone manning non-weapons system
    • Drones:
      • Combat: Combat (of course), beam, fire, anti-personnel and boarding drones
      • Support: System repair, hull repair, defence, anti-combat, shield overcharger and ion intruder drones
  • The Golden Sun franchise
  • God of War (PS4):
    • Combat: Kratos performs the majority of the combat using his brutal fighting style.
    • Support: Atreus uses arrows to damage, distract and build up the finishing gauge, as well as set up team combos and summons.
  • The Halo franchise:
    • Combat: Master Chief. His job is to defend Cortana by killing any and all enemies in their way.
    • Support: Cortana. Her job is to provide combat intel and computer hacking for the Chief.
  • The Joy of Creation: Story Mode's memories:
    • The Bedroom:
      • Combat: Freddy, Bonnie, and Golden Freddy. The former two provide the most direct danger, and Golden Freddy's outright supernatural abilities exacerbate the danger of young Nick's fear and hallucinations.
      • Support: Chica and Foxy. Chica merely stuns Nick should he have his lamp on or pretend to sleep in front of her; and Foxy only kills Nick if he stares at him, but blocks the lamp and curtains.
    • The Living Room:
      • Combat: Freddy and Foxy periodically scan areas of the room, and they kill Val should either of them see her. Val must use the television to desynchronize their arrivals.
      • Balance: Bonnie behaves similarly to Freddy and Foxy, but he can't be paused, can't enter at the same time another animatronic does, and appears more rarely. He wouldn't be challenging to deal with by himself.
      • Support: Chica can't directly kill Val unless it's 5 AM, but she puts the pressure on her to not use the camera system for extended periods of time.
    • The Office:
      • Combat: Foxy and Chica. The former tries to get Scott through the office entrances and must be deterred through the cameras, and Chica can wriggle to the office, prompting Scott to find her cupcakes to fend her off.
      • Support: Bonnie and Freddy. The former can break Scott's camera (though Foxy never appearing at the respective entrances again renders Bonnie a Helpful Mook), and the latter enforces a requirement for Scott to repeatedly flash his light at him to escape at 6 AM.
    • The Basement's second segment:
      • Combat: Endo C instances are the most present danger, necessitating that you keep your eyes and ears peeled when searching.
      • Support: Endo R's occasional approaches put pressure on you to be able to reach the bathroom in time.
    • The Basement's last segment:
      • Combat: Endo B instances, as much as they Can't Move While Being Watched, are the more mobile and active threat.
      • Support: Endo C instances step back to this role, acting as a pair of roadblocks.
    • The Attic:
      • Combat: The Fallennote . They're the most imminent dangers to you, as well as the game's main means of diverting your attention from the lower cameras.
      • Balance: Creation slowly approaches you and must be periodically halted with the camera lights. He's the memory's main antagonist and the one Michael tried to feed Scott to.
      • Support: Golden Freddy. He must be flashed with camera lights to make progress, but his only direct attack is to occasionally appear behind you, preventing you from using the side doors for too long.
  • The Kingdom Hearts franchise:
    • The main party of Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories and II:
      • Balance: Sora, balanced between Goofy's combat skills and Donald's magic skills.
      • Combat: Goofy, as he's a good damage dealer and tank for Sora.
      • Support: Donald, as he's capable as a spellcaster and healer for Sora.
    • Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days' Organization XIII members
      • Balance: Roxas and Xion
      • Combat: Xaldin, Lexaeus, Saix, Axel, Marluxia, and Larxene
      • Support: Xemnas, Xigbar, Vexen, Zexion, Demyx, and Luxord
    • Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
      • Balance: Ventus, since his keyblades are more balanced,
      • Combat: Terra, since his keyblades are more strength-oriented,
      • Support: Aqua, since her keyblades are more magic-oriented.
    • Kingdom Hearts II:
  • The Left 4 Dead franchise:
    • The Infected:
      • Combat: The Hunter, Tank, Charger, and the non-playable Witch.
      • Support: The Boomer, Smoker, Spitter, and Jockey.
  • The Legend of Zelda franchise:
    • The franchise's two main protagonists:
      • Combat: Link and his weapons and equipment,
      • Support: Zelda and her magical capabilities.
    • Any game where Link has a Fairy Companion:
      • Combat: Link himself, he does all the action,
      • Support: The Fairy Companion provides Link with alerts and useful information (or sometimes is just plain annoying).
  • The Mass Effect franchise:
    • The six selectable main classes are elaborations on the Fighter, Mage, Thief trio. A "Soldier", for instance, is full Fighter, and an Engineer full Thief, while a Sentinel is half Mage and half Thief:
      • Combat: Soldier, Vanguard, and Infiltrator
      • Support: Adept, Engineer, and Sentinel
    • The Mass Effect squad each have one of the above classes. In the same order as those classes:
      • Combat: Ashley, Wrex, and Garrus
      • Support: Liara, Tali and Kaidan
    • In Mass Effect 2, Player Party members stop corresponding directly with classes:
      • Combat: Jacob, Garrus, Grunt, Thane, Legion, and Zaeed
      • Support: Miranda, Mordin, Jack, Tali, Samara, Morinth, and Kasumi
    • The Mass Effect 3 squad plays it half-and-half. You always have access to a basic Fighter, Mage, Thief trio in the persons of James, Liara and EDI, but other characters can be more complicated; Tali is also an Engineer / Thief, but has a completely different skillset than EDI.
      • Combat: Ashley, Garrus, James, and Javik
      • Support: EDI, Kaidan, Liara, and Tali
    • Mass Effect: Andromeda:
      • Combat: Drack, Liam, Vetra
      • Balanced: Cora
      • Support: Jaal, Peebee
  • Mega Man (Classic)
    • Combat: Mega Man, his brother Proto Man, and Bass
    • Support: Dr. Light, Roll, Rush, Beat, Eddie, and Auto
  • Mega Man X perhaps exemplifies this trope better than any other Mega Man series.
  • Mega Man Legends
    • Combat: Mega Man Volnutt
    • Support: Roll Caskett, her grandfather Barrell, and Data the monkey
  • Mega Man Zero
  • Mega Man Battle Network
    • Combat: Net-Navis such as MegaMan.EXE
    • Support: Net-Ops such as Lan/Netto Hikari
  • Mega Man Star Force
    • Combat: Geo Stelar, especially when he fuses with Omega-Xis to become Mega Man,
    • Support: Omega-Xis, as he provides Geo with his powers to become Mega Man.
  • The Metal Gear franchise:
  • The Metroid franchise's suits:
    • Combat: Samus' power suit and its many variations, i.e. the varia suit, gravity suit, and fusion suit.
    • Support: Samus' Justin Bailey suit/zero suit, which increases her agility at the expense of firepower.
  • Minecraft
    • Combat: Tamed wolves and iron golems
    • Balance: The player
    • Support: Cats, snowmen, horses and villagers
  • Monday Night Combat
    • Combat: Tank, Assault, Gunner. Played with, since pretty much anyone with Juice is a good leader for an attack on the enemy moneyball and turrets (the Sniper and Assasin tend to be very good at getting it constantly).
    • Support: Sniper, Assasin, Support and Pit Girl as an NPC who is responsible for getting the turrets up and warning their team about their moneyball being under attack.
  • OMORI's main party exemplifies this trope on a sliding scale. From Combat to Support:
    • Aubrey makes powerful swings and counterattacks with her bludgeons; she's the party's tank and the most combative.
    • Omori relays fairly strong attacks and inflicts Damage-Increasing Debuffs on enemies, making him a strong overall contributor to the party's offense.
    • Kel's speed can be exploited for multiple purposes. While it's an element of his infamous nuke strat, the more obvious use is to quickly use items to aid the party in battles.
    • Hero is the Stone Wall who can cook to heal the party without using Snacks, making him the main supporter.
  • Octopath Traveler and Octopath Traveler II:
    • Combat: Merchant (Tressa, Partitio); Warrior (Olberic, Hikari); Thief (Therion, Throné); Hunter (Ha'anit, Ochette). What these characters have in common is that they have a Choice of Two Weapons.
    • Support, meanwhile, only get to equip one weapon natively: Cleric (Ophilia, Temenos); Scholar (Cyrus, Osvald); Dancer (Primrose, Agnea); Apothecary (Alfyn, Castti).
    • Zigzagged in that, fairly early in the game, you can unlock the ability to assign each character one sub-class, and these classes can be changed at any timenote . While it's totally possible to keep the Combats and Supports segregated, you can also run around with eight Balanced characters, or even mix-and-match at your discretion.
    • Finally, there are secret classes that can only be equipped as a subjob:
      • 1: Warmaster is Combat; Starseer and Runelord are Balanced; Support is Sorcerer.
      • 2: Armsmaster is Combat; Balanced is Arcanist and Conjurer; Support is Inventor. Notably, the other three classes are reworks of the first game's Warmaster, Starseer and Runelord, but Inventor has nothing in common with Sorcerer, which was basically an Exaggerated Black Mage.
  • Overwatch
    • Combat: The offense and tank heroes, e.g. Tracer, Winston, etc.
    • Support: The defense and support heroes, e.g. Widowmaker, Mercy, etc.
  • Persona:
    • Persona 3:
      • Combat: Junpei, Akihiko, Aigis, Koromaru, Shinjiro
      • Balance: The Protagonist, Yukari, Mitsuru, Ken
      • Support: Fuuka
    • Persona 4:
      • Combat: Chie, Kanji, Naoto
      • Balance: Yu, Yosuke, Yukiko, Teddie
      • Support: Rise
    • Persona 5:
      • Combat: Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Haru, Akechi (original), Yoshizawa
      • Balance: Joker, Morgana, Makoto, Akechi (Royal)
      • Support: Futaba
  • In general, the Player Character/Non-Player Character relationship:
    • Combat: The player character. His job is to complete quests for each non-player character,
    • Support: The non-player character. His job is to provide quests, items, information, companionship, and other services.
  • Pokémon:
    • Combat: Physical attack/defense style pokemon, e.g. Mega Charizard Y, Mega Mewtwo X, Gallade.
    • Support: Special attack/defense style pokemon, e.g. Mega Charizard X, Mega Mewtwo Y, Gardevoir.
    • Pokémon X and Y brings us a Mon whose gender determines this:
      • Combat: Female Meowstic, who primarily learn offensive moves via level-up.
      • Support: Male Meowstic, who primarily learn support moves via level-up.
  • Real-Time Strategy Games:
    • Combat: Army units, designed to attack enemy structures while defending allied structures.
    • Support: Worker Units, designed to build and expand structures and gather resources to mass-produce army units.
  • The Resident Evil franchise:
  • Role-Playing Game character classes:
    • Fantasy Role Playing Games:
      • Combat: Physical combat classes, i.e. the Warrior and the Rogue,
      • Support: Magical classes, i.e. the Mage and the Cleric.
    • Modern/Sci-Fi Role Playing Games:
      • Combat: Military classes, i.e. the Soldier and the Sniper,
      • Support: Science classes, i.e. the Engineer and the Medic.
  • Secret of Mana:
    • Combat: Male Hero (physical combat)
    • Support: Female Hero (healing/defensive magic) and Sprite (offensive magic)
  • The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise:
    • Sonic Heroes
      • Combat: Knuckles, Big, Omega, and Vector; good for combating enemies with their strength,
      • Balance: Sonic, Amy, Shadow, and Espio; useful for both combat and platforming with their speed,
      • Support: Tails, Cream, Rouge, and Charmy; essential for navigating platforms using flight.
    • Sonic Advance 3:
      • Combat: The player-controlled leader, who does most of the work.
      • Support: The AI-controlled partner, who provides extra abilities.
  • The Tales Series:
    • Tales of Phantasia:
      • Combat: Cress, Chester, Suzu
      • Support: Mint, Arche, Clause
    • Tales of Destiny:
      • Combat: Stahn, Gaar, Leon, Bruiser, Chelsea, Mary
      • Balance: Rutee
      • Support: Philia, Karyl
    • Tales of Eternia:
      • Combat: Reid, Chat, Max
      • Balance: Farah
      • Support: Keele, Meredy
    • Tales of Destiny 2:
      • Combat: Kyle, Loni
      • Balance: Judas, Nanaly
      • Support: Reala, Harold
    • Tales of Symphonia:
      • Combat: Lloyd, Presea, and Regal
      • Balance: Colette, Kratos, Sheena, Zelos
      • Support: Genis, Raine
    • Tales of the Abyss:
      • Combat: Luke, Guy
      • Balance: Anise, Natalia, Asch
      • Support: Tear, Jade
    • Tales of Vesperia: You could argue that everyone save Judith and Rita count as Balanced, but if you didn't you'd get this:
      • Combat: Yuri, Repede, and Judith
      • Balance: Karol, Raven
      • Support: Estelle, Rita
    • Tales of Graces:
      • Combat: Asbel
      • Balance: Hubert, Sophie, Richard
      • Support: Cheria, Malik
    • Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2:
      • Combat: Milla, Alvin, Gaius (TOX2 only), Ludger (TOX2 only)
      • Balance: Jude, Leia, Muzet (TOX2 only)
      • Support: Elize, Rowen
    • Tales of Zestiria: Somewhat zigzagged as one of the main mechanics of the game is "Armatization" Limit Break, in which one of the humans (Sorey, Alisha, Rose) combines with one of the "Seraphim" (anyone else) and becomes hyper-powerful. But when they're separated, they fall into the following categories:
      • Combat: Sorey, Alisha, Rose
      • Support: Mikleo, Lailah, Edna, Dezel, Zaveid
    • Tales of Berseria, its prequel:
    • Tales of Arise:
      • Combat: Alphen, Law, Kisara
      • Balanced: Dohalim
      • Support: Shionne, Rinwell
  • Team Fortress 2:
    • Combat: Scout, Pyro, Heavy, Demoman, and Soldier.
      • Technically the Demoman counts as support, but his presence on the frontlines makes him a combat class. He's the closest thing in the game to artillery.
      • The Scout and Pyro also arguably blur the lines. The Scout is good in 1v1s but decidedly too squishy to hold his own in mass combat. The Pyro finds his greatest utility in keeping projectiles and enemies away from her allies, getting behind enemy lines and distracting them, or prowling tight quarters where it's hard for enemies to escape its flames, none of which lend themselves well to direct damage in the thick of battle.
    • Support: Engineer and Medic for direct backup, Sniper and Spy for precision elimination.
  • The Team ICO Series:
    • ICO:
      • Combat: Ico, the physically strongest of the pair,
      • Support: Yorda, who can magically open any locked doors.
    • Shadow of the Colossus:
      • Combat: Wander; his job is to kill the various colossi through finding and attacking their weak spots with his sword.
      • Support: Agro; like any other horse, his job is to quickly transport Wander to each hidden colossus.
  • The World Ends with You:
    • Combat: Neku Sakuraba, the main protagonist,
    • Support: Shiki, Joshua, Beat, and Rhyme.
  • World of Warcraft's classes:
    • Combat: Warrior, Rogue, Paladin, Hunter, and Death Knight
    • Support: Mage, Priest, Warlock, Shaman, and Druid
  • Xenosaga:
    • Combat: KOS-MOS, Zigguraut 8, Jr./Rubedo, and Jin Uzuki
    • Support: Shion Uzuki, Chaos, and MOMO
  • The various roles fulfilled by champions in the MOBA game League of Legends:
    • Combat: Carries and Assassins whose job is to deal damage.
    • Balance: Tanky DPS who have the toughness to take hits for their allies while still dealing enough damage to be threatening.
    • Support: Tanks and Supports who protect and assist their allies via damage absorbtion, healing, and crowd control abilities.
  • The Witcher video game trilogy.
    • Combat: The Swordsmanship tree, for players to jump into combat as quickly as possible.
    • Support: The Alchemy tree, for players who would rather play more strategically with potions, bombs, and oils.
    • Balance: The Signs tree, for a mixture of entering combat quickly and strategic thinking.
  • In World of Warships, all ship classes can do a mix of this, though some are more suited to one than the other. Players who ignore this and prefer to engage in pure combat regardless of their preferred ship class are often sunk quickly and can cause whole matches to be lost for their team.
    • Battleships are primary combat vessels as one would expect, however at high tiers their numerous anti-air guns make them effective at support in defending carriers from enemy air strikes.
    • Cruisers have a strong combat role, but are also suited to anti-air support and anti-destroyer support, as their guns turn and fire faster.
    • Destroyers are primarily support ships, working best to capture targets and to harass enemy ships, although they can go toe-to-toe with battleships and carriers in direct combat with their maneuverability and torpedoes, but they will not survive long against cruisers.
    • Carriers are primarily long range combat ships, using their dive bombers and torpedo bombers to devastate enemy battleships and cruisers, though they can also provide fighter support against enemy bombers.
  • XCOM: Enemy Unknown's soldiers:
    • Combat (offense): Close-quarter Assault troops and long-range Sniper troops.
    • Combat (defense): Heavy soldiers and MEC troopers.
    • Support: Support soldiers (obviously) and Psionics.

    Non-Video Game Examples 
  • Gundam
    • Combat: The Project V mobile suits, Gundam Mk. II/Zeta Gundam, Operation Meteor Gundams, Strike Gundam, Celestial Being Gundams, Gundam Barbatos.
    • Support: White Base, Argama, Peacemillion, Archangel, Ptolemaios, Isaribi.
  • Any typical Humongous Mecha anime, whether Super Robot or Real Robot:
  • Horseshoes and Hand Grenades:
    • Kamen Rider Girls (in terms of abilities):
      • Combat: Yuki, Miu
      • Support: Erin, Tomoko
    • Cosmic Hunting Dogs (in terms of abilities):
      • Combat: Abe, Taira, Rumi, Teruhiko
      • Support: Mari, Jun, Ibuki, Miura
  • The Big Five Personality Traits:
    • Balance: Neuroticism
    • Combat: Openness and Conscientiousness
    • Support: Extraversion and Agreeableness
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble:
    • Combat: Choleric (and sometimes Sanguine)
    • Support: Melancholic and Phlegmatic
    • Balance: Leukine and Sanguine (and sometimes Melancholic)
  • Four-Philosophy Ensemble:
    • Combat: The Cynic and The Optimist
    • Support: The Realist and The Apathetic
  • Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, of the Star Trek fame:
  • Dynamic Duos, examples being Brains and Brawn, Red Oni, Blue Oni, Sensitive Guy and Manly Man, and Tomboy and Girly Girl may fall into this too:
    • Combat: Brawn, Red Oni, Manly Man, Tomboy.
    • Support: Brains, Blue Oni, Sensitive Guy, Girly Girl.
  • 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons Character Alignments, Good and Evil notwithstanding:
    • Balance: Neutral
    • Combat: Chaotic
    • Support: Lawful
  • Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers:
    • Combat: The physically stronger Power Rangers, such as Jason (Red Ranger), Zack (Black Ranger), and Tommy (Green Ranger)
    • Support: The more intelligent Power Rangers like Billy (Blue Ranger), Kimberly (Pink Ranger), and Trini (Yellow Ranger)
      • Power Rangers on the whole tends to have a split with the Rangers as Combat and their Mentor, Mission Control, and similar allies as Support.
  • Fantastic Four:
    • Combat: The Thing and Human Torch, due to their aggressiveness, arrogance, and impatience,
    • Support: Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman, due to their much calmer and more considerate demeanors.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • Combat: Buffy, Willow, Faith, Angel, Spike, Riley - strength and speed and slayer powers. Magic in Willow's case.
    • Support: Giles most often, Anya, Cordelia, sometimes Willow in the early seasons, pre-magic. Xander. However, this wasn't set in stone, especially with Giles.
  • Angel
    • Combat: Angel, Gunn, Wesley, Cordelia
    • Support: Fred and Lorne - Fred was physically smaller and Lorne a pacifist. However, like on Buffy, the roles were flexible and Fred sometimes fought as well. Cordelia could also be support in the early seasons, but tended toward combat as the series progressed. Doyle was mostly support due to his preference to avoid fights when possible, but he did become combat a few times.
  • Animorphs
    • Combat: All of the Anis are combat most of the time.
    • Support: Tobias, in the early books before he regained his morphing ability and to a lesser extent later on. Erek King and the other Chee.

  • Lyrical Nanoha: The Riot Force 6:
    • Combat: Nanoha, Fate, Signum, Vita, Subaru, Erio
    • Balance: Hayate, Teana, Zafila, Reinforce Zwei
    • Support: Shamal, Caro, Vice, Griffith, Shario, Alto, Lucino

  • Lyrical Nanoha: Jail Scaglietti, his Numbers + Zest's group
    • Combat: Tre, Cinque, Sette, Nove, Wendy, Deed, Zest, Garyuu
    • Balance: Otto, Dieci, Agito
    • Support: Scaglietti, Uno, Due, Quattro, Sein, Lutecia

  • A Mage's Power: Dragon's Lair teams are split in this manner. Fighters are up front and fighting the enemy, but their purpose is to protect the mages. The mages (one healer and one battle mage) support the fighter with buffs and cover fire, but the battle mage is also the heaviest hitter.
  • In Break it down, Butterfly, Nooroo describes the purpose of the butterfly miraculous's champions as a support group for the actual miraculous-wielders.

  • Marvel Cinematic Universe's Eternals is about a Super Team of ageless aliens who have Been There, Shaped History for, uhh, the entirety of history — which is why all their names are related to mythological characters, which their exploits inspired. While they are 7,000 years old and typically know how to handle themselves in a crisis, their power sets still divide evenly down the middle, and — probably not by coincidence — when they do their lineup at the beginning of the film, all the Combat types are on the left and the Supports on the right:

    Sports Examples 
  • Motorsports:
    • Combat: The driver
    • Support: The pit crew, strategists, mechanics, engineers and designers, physios and psychologists, administrators, directors...
  • Cricket
    • Combat: When fielding: The bowler (and sometimes some of the fielders depending on positions) whose job is to dismiss the opposing batsmen. When batting: The top order batsmen to do the all important scoring
    • Support: When fielding: The fielders to stop the batsmen from making more runs and taking advantage of opportunities to dismiss them created by the bowler. When batting: The lower order batsmen to fill out the numbers and make a few extra runs in the time remaining (or when paired with a top order batsmen to just stay in so the other guy can keep making runs as long as possible).
  • Golf:
    • Combat: Players
    • Support: Caddies
  • Association football:
    • Combat: Strikers
    • Balanced: Midfielders (tend towards combat) and defenders (more into support)
    • Support: Goalkeeper
    • The playing eleven are also combat, if you consider the reserves and the gaffer as support.
  • American Football:
    • Combat: The high-profile offensive players - almost always the quarterback, considered the on-field general.
    • Support: Almost always the offensive line - they rarely get media coverage since they rarely touch the ball, but they're the ones who have to open holes in the defense for the running backs to exploit or keep the quarterback off his back when in pass protection.
    • Balanced: Wide receivers and running backs (especially halfbacks) fall into either role depending on the kind of play called - during running plays wide recievers either block for the runner or go downfield as a distraction, while running backs in pass plays are either in as an extra blocker for the quarterback or as a safety valve receiver if the big pass downfield isn't there (sometimes both). Tight ends and fullbacks tend to slide more towards Support as their blocking abilities are usually considered more important for their position, though fullbacks carry the ball on occasion and some tight ends are good receiving options.

    Real Life 
In fact, everything in real life can be sorted into combat and support.
  • Construction? The builders are combat, the engineers and architects support.
  • Retail? Shopkeepers fight, suppliers help.
  • Healthcare? Doctors treat patients, nurses and attendants take care of them.

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