The Ice Queen - Rylai, the Crystal Maiden

I tend to get the ulti at lvl 6 (or 7/8 if im in need of a spell whilst leveling mid fight) sheerly for the opportunity value + the potential to flash farm a stacked camp and restack it whilst your carry can't handle it. Waiting until lvl 10 does mean your spells become damaging faster, and the build is more reliable true, but the versatility I find is worth it. I'll add in another skill build though so people can consider it

Good guide +1

I would recommend you play a game or two were you skip your Ulti until level 10 so you can get more levels of your other skills. Crystal maiden is one of the best level 1-5 heroes in the game. My personal build also leaves your W at level 3 to gets much more damage from her Q.

If you had read it more carefully, you would have noticed Force Staff was mentioned. I've split it into its own section now just to make it more obvious.

As i've previously stated, I had never tried Ghost Scetper on Crystal, I have now and it is as such included in the guide. It does have its upsides.

Ive suggested looking into the Observer Ward + courier option. Typically though, you are usually playing with a second support and they end up getting the wards, or get courier and vice versa. I'll make sure to expand a bit on the Sentry Ward section also.

I have to agree with T1mmay. I usually don't mind getting a Blink Dagger on CM because positioning is always good and, having a passive that improves mana regen, you don't have to save it for teamfights; but not even considering Force Staff and Ghost Scepter is a big downside for your guide. I still won't downvote it though, since you can improve the it in a few clicks and some paragraphs.

Also, you should considering buying both the Animal Courier and the Observer Wards at the beginning: a set of Tangos and a bunch of Clarity potions/ Iron Branches is enough for sustainability (getting a 175 gold item is pretty greedy for a support); if your team already has Wards and Courier you can still buy Sentry Wards to deward/protect the pulling camp and a Smoke of Deceit to, obviously, smoke gank and still have more than 300 gold to spend. At least, that's what I and "experienced" pub supports usually do.

I've never actually tried using a Ghost Scepter. I'll have to try it out and see how it goes.

And the Blink Dagger isn't for initiating. It's for catching up, for repositioning, for escaping. You can also use it to gank if you really want to initiate by blinking in and using Frostbite. The use of it isn't supposed to be to blink in and start casting your ultimate or something (though it also has that use). If you're going to blink in to a fight, do it after stuns are thrown. You stay at the edge, use your other skills, wait till stuns are thrown, jump in then cast ulti. You don't initiate ulti with the Blink

The Blink Dagger provides literally twice the mobility, plus even more as it is completely accurate and in any direction at any time. True, if you're getting hit, it won't work. However, against the majority of enemies, with Tranq Boots and a Eul's, you're usually faster. You only have to escape them for 3 seconds, and then its more or less a guaranteed escape because you can jump past cliffs, into the middle of trees, etc.

Force Staff is mentioned in there, but i still maintain that blink is more versatile, even though it has no stats. Ghost Scepter will probably end up in the Luxury items section

I don't see the point in a blink dagger on crystal Maiden. It provides no stats which is never good for a squishy support.
This reason can be ignored if there's an exceptionally good skill which requires a surprise, like Black Hole or Dream Coil. But crystal Maiden can't initiate with her skill set. I mean, blink in and do what? If any of them have a stun you can't do your ultimate without getting it instantly cancelled, and as you're initiating their stuns won't be on cooldown.
Crystal Maiden has a great teamfight ultimate, but you can't initiate with it so a blink doesn't really seem needed. I'm sure it can work against some lineups but generally I think it is a bad choice. Force Staff is enough to get in position and provides a lot of mobility which is crucial for her.

Ghost Scepter is also a great item for her as it can stop her getting burst down whilst standing still for her ultimate against big dps enemies.

Even if you don't agree with these two items you must admit they should deserve a mention and be included in your guide.

Hmmm, I'll play some games with blink, I usually lack the patience to have the 2150 sitting around on CM, but I didn't really consider the range on the initiation. My main thing is that it goes on cooldown after you're hit and CM doesn't have an actual stun, but I see it working extremely well against a melee heavy team. This may make me reconsider my build, I'll let you know how it goes.

It is a fair point. I find the Blink Dagger far more useful though, as it has double the range, and a hell of a lot more accuracy than a Force Staff. It also doesn't blow up trees, which make it useful for escapes. On the topic of using it to save allies, I find that just jumping nearing the enemy with the Blink Dagger and then unloading your spell arsenal discourages them typically. But I will make sure to include it before I'm finished

Really thorough explanations of of everything, love the inclusion of warding as it's integral to every support's play.

As a support I always consider Force Staff if I need the mobility as it guarantees an escape (moreso than blink), can be used to help allies (isn't that what we supports are there for), can be built in pieces and provides some needed attributes.

While not a 100% in my CM games, I think it's definitely something that can be considered over blink daggers in some situations that it warrants mention. On the other hand, I almost never pick up blink on CM, but that may just be personal preference.