As for your support weapon I would say use an AR, Scr, or Combat rifle. I know that these wepons deal large amounts of damage but they are great for getting the enemy to take cover while you do your job. You are correct about the rail rifle at level one it isn't great for suppression but if you can get the assault version it will work too.

I use the CR, it gives a lot of bang for the buck in terms of it's low fitting costs, saving you room for equipment. Unless you are using an Amarr logi (which has a sidearm) I'd avoid niche weapons like the plama cannon.

Mass driver might be OK without a sidearm if you strictly keep off the frontlines. If they ever fix the LR you could try that, it used to be my preferred support weapon, but again I have a sidearm to fall back on.

I would go for complex shield extenders before maxing out the shield skill. On anything but a heavy the extenders will jump start your path to survival. Heavy gets a bonus of 120 for the shield skill so its better to max that.

I found myself right with you in that support is my role. My kdr is **** poor and I won't help you kill much of anything, but I support well and its what I love to do. As a proto Min Logi (which I never use unless I'm in a team that uses good teamwork), I have a variety of suits and have capped how many I can create (CCP GIVE US MORE FITTINGS).

I used to run MD and got proto with prof 1. Then, with the proto ARs, I found myself getting gunned down before I could make it to cover, so I gave up my MD, however it is still a very good weapon on certain maps. Sometimes simply denying ground is better than getting kills. I skilled into the MD initially because my aim is just...embarrasing, but after a lot of work and learning how to strafe properly, I can stand my own much better. However, with very limited ammo, I just had to put the MD down.

I then moved to the SCR. I loved that thing and still use it on my weaker fits. Because of the overheat, it can cause you some issues. Getting them down to just 8 more armor doesn't do you much if your weapon locks up and they can just rush in and finish you off. But the gun has power and range, both of which I needed. Now, I can shoot back and cause the enemy to get to cover.

With the intro of the new rifles, I went lvl 3 into both the RR and CR. I found the charge up of the RR to not be my style and chose to go proto with CR instead. This really hurts me when I'm solo as I get gunned down across the map. However, I try my best to never be solo as a support person running solo is just silly and dooming you to repeat deaths. Therefore, I often have a team running RR or AR. This means they can can range for me and I can clear CQC with my CR so I can revive people as needed.

My advice to you is to search in the Rookie Forums for the Logi Code training guide. That thing is gold and I wish I had found it when I was first starting.

In short tho, from my personal bias, make sure before you go proto suit, that you first sink into core skills (CPU/PG, Shield, Armor and Nanocircitry). The suit is very tempting. With all those slots and being able to carry ALL THE THINGS. But the worse thing skilling into the suit first is:

• you won't be able to carry everything anyways because you'll run out of CPU/PG until you skill into them
• you'll lose the suit faster than you can blink because you don't have any shield/armor skills
• because of the above points, you're going to lose so much isk from that suit dying that you'll be force to run a lower suit anyways

All in all, I tend to run my lvl 3 suits most often. I keep proto for special occasions only (FW, PC or a really really really good team). Otherwise, it is simply overkill and that extra slot is just a nice to have in pub matches.

Since you're support, never run a suit with an injector if you're not going to have a rep tool. If you only have two slots and one of them is taken by an uplink, then run rep tool. There is nothing more detrimental to a team than rezzing someone who can't get back into battle without immediately dying or hiding for several seconds. The really good teams I run with actually have assaults running with the injector only because they know I'm right behind them with a rep tool really to get them back to work. Clear the room before running towards the revive icon. Vets will be very angry at you for rezzing them so they can immediately die again. You'll only end up dying too, right after them.

Overall, many squads love a logi, even if they always won't tell you. It's a labor of love and people will appreciate your dedication. +1 to a fellow Logibro. o7