Team Composition: Protect

"Protect Comp" (AKA "4 Protects 1" or "Protect the Carry Comp") is a very simple concept: Build a team that empowers and protects a strong carry. Half a year ago the composition was fairly popular, but it fell out of favor for a number of reasons.

The principle problem with the composition was its single point of failure. Every champion that wasn't the carry was almost wholly dedicated to buffing and protecting the carry. If the critical carry failed their lane, got caught out of position, or was too far afield the team was toothless. Investing so heavily in a single champion limited the team's presence, and if something went wrong it was often a catastrophe.

Changes in the meta was another big factor. The shift away from farming junglers to ganking junglers made ensuring a safe early game for the carry harder. At the same time players started using AD carries who were stronger early, especially in lane. Offensive supports also rose in popularity. In essence, the game conditions which allowed some assurance that your carry would reach the mid-game safely and with good farm disappeared.

Despite these problems it's still possible to make the composition work, but it requires a markedly different approach. Before it was normal to pick champions for little more than their ability to buff or protect the carry. Today champions like Gangplank or Warwick don't bring enough to the team to be worthwhile except in very specific cases. While every champion in the composition should bring some benefit to the carry, it's necessary that they have other compelling reasons for their presence.

Protect Comp Champion Picks:

•  Top Lane:
• Lee Sin: Lee Sin is extremely versatile both offensively and defensively. Between his shield, Attack Speed debuff, and ultimate he can do a lot to protect a carry. At the same time he's can be a threat in his own right.
• Kayle: It goes without saying that three seconds of invulnerability is huge for protecting a carry. That Kayle can potentially serve as a second AD, a ranged bruiser, or even AP support helps her remain relevant against many compositions and in many situations.
• Yorick: The "gentleman's ban" is one of the best picks for a Protect Comp. His ultimate greatly increases your carry's damage through the clone, and in the worst case gives them additional time to fulfill their role. Yorick is also extremely self-sufficient and rarely loses top lane outright.
• Shen: When he isn't banned, Shen is an incredibly strong pick. The ability to protect the carry all the way from top lane, shield them in team fights, and taunt dangerous enemies makes him exceptionally strong. He's also a ninja, what more could you want?
• Nunu: This increasingly popular top lane bully is an excellent choice. Nunu brings the incredibly powerful Bloodboil buff to the table, and with all the farm top lane is a huge threat when he ults.
•  AP Carry:
• Galio: Bulwark is a ridiculous 90 Armor and Magic Resistance. Combined with shields and heals the amount of survivability you can give to a carry is immense. That he also brings a speed buff, a slow, and an extremely strong ultimate is just icing on the cake.
• Orianna: Orianna's Command: Protect combines a shield with an Armor and Magic Resistance buff. While not as strong as Galio's Bulwark, it's a significant tool for protecting a carry. Orianna herself is a strong AP carry, and her other abilities can also be used to hold a team at bay.
• Morgana: Black Shield is incredibly powerful, making all crowd control effects worthless for its duration. Combined with other shields and defensive buffs your carry becomes an unstoppable force. Her ability to catch targets and control the entire enemy team are other great assets.
• Mordekaiser: An odd but honorable mention. Mordekaiser can make up for your team's singular damage source with his ultimate, and help protect your carry with an additional defensive steroid. He's not an ideal pick, but serviceable.
• AD Carry:
• Kog'maw: Even though his long range harass with his ultimate has been nerfed, his straight up auto-attack damage is still fantastic.
• Tristana: She can be hard enough to deal with without an entire team making her as indestructible as any tank. Her weak mid-game is her primary issue.
• Twitch: His ability to damage the entire enemy team at once is incredibly strong, and his Expunge is no joke at full stacks. It's also extremely hard to gank him without Oracle's or pink wards.
• Draven: With two axes spinning Draven out-damages every other carry in the game. The only issue is finding someone with sufficient mechanical skill.
• Support:
• Lulu: Without any AP Lulu can provide a massive burst of 840 health and shielding irreducible by Ignite or similar effects. Adding this massive boost to strong defensive steroids will cause a carry's survivability to skyrocket. That she has a slow and a polymorph effect makes her an extremely strong pick.
• Janna: Janna's combination shield and AD steroid tops off a toolkit that includes some of the best crowd control in the game.
• Nunu: When he isn't top, Nunu is a perfectly good support option for this team composition. He lacks the hard crowd control and shielding of many of his peers, but makes up for it with his ridiculous Bloodboil buff.
• Sona: Her auras boost both the offense and defense of your carry, and she has the single most game-changing ultimate of any support.
• Soraka: While her healing can be countered by Ignite, the sheer volume of her healing combined with her super safe laning phase and the strength of her Armor steroid makes her a decent choice. 
• Jungle:
• Maokai: Maokai's ultimate is hands down one of the best in the game for protecting a carry, especially one that's going to receive multiple shields, heals, and defensive boosts. He also brings considerable crowd control and excellent jungling to the table.
• Lee Sin: When he's not dominating top lane, Lee Sin is a fantastic jungler and can still fulfill his role in protecting a carry.
• Nunu: Bloodboil is so good it gets Nunu on this list three times.
• Jarvan: While his flag doesn't boost your carry quite as much as other effects, the power of his ultimate in containing threats, his knockup, and his ability to reduce the armor of multiple targets makes him strong.
• Kayle: When top lane isn't an option, Kayle can do just as well in the jungle.

This isn't exactly an exhaustive list, but it should give a clear idea of what one looks for in champions for Protect Comp. From the list it's plain to see that a lot of fairly standard, innocuous picks can be made which don't tip your hand or force you to stick with the composition.

When playing Protect Comp items like Aegis of the Legion and Zeke's Herald are absolute musts. Anything and everything that increases the potency and defense of your carry is extremely useful. The often ignored Locket of the Iron Solari becomes significantly more potent when your carry has a mix of defensive steroids on them. The summoner spell Heal also can be significant.

Beware of Olaf and Poppy, they are unique in their ability to completely bypass your team's crowd control effects. While they may not be able to outright kill your carry if your team is coordinated, the pressure they apply and the time they buy their team can be critical. Shut them down early and often.

Protect Comp is more demanding than many other compositions, but can be potent when practiced. If the best player on your team is your AD, give it a whirl.