Playing Support in professional Dota 2 sometimes feels like you’re the babysitter to some exceptionally misbehaving children. It takes a lot of patience, a deep understanding of the map, and the ability to discern the game’s status as it changes.
While no foolproof method guarantees victory supports perform best when they help their Carry heroes level up quickly and efficiently. While Carry players are solely responsible for their team’s damage output, Support players are also required to contribute in other ways.
1. Build The Correct Items
Support heroes have variable item progressions. Experience helps you choose which utility item to build with your gold. Spirit Vessel and Lotus Orb can be crucial in some matchups, even if no one else wants to create them.
Inexperienced Support players are hesitant to build powerful Core Items like Scythe of Vyse and Black King Bar in the late game (about 40 minutes) since they are hard to farm, but these items can make the difference.
2. Have Correct Positioning
If you and your comrades are caught out of position, you’ll be easy pickings for the adversary. If your side is aware that the adversary is preparing a Smoke Gank, positioning oneself in front of where they could emerge to break their Smoke can be a helpful tactic. It’s best to do this from a vantage point above the situation or while hiding in the woods so you can take defensive measures if necessary.
You may need to slow down the game to wait for your friends’ respawn times. Either sneak behind the enemy and cut the creep wave or push the other lanes to make one hero flee to delay the opposing push.
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3. Bring Detection Items
Even at the highest levels, support players occasionally neglect to bring essential items like Dust of Appearance and Sentry Wards. The availability of such things can be decisive when facing off against heroes such as Bounty Hunter and Weaver. Pro players know how to bait and trap heroes with invisibility abilities, such as Nyx Assassin, who constantly explores new battlefield regions.
Many players are caught off guard by the prevalence of invisibility items like the Glimmer Cape and the Shadow Blade. Always have at least one Sentry Ward on hand if you need to wipe out an enemy Observer Ward.
4. Manage The Map Vision Of Your Team
Defending Wards lets your Carry heroes securely farm in regions of the map you control by providing vision. Aggressive Wards may see behind enemy lines and even their Towers when your team is trying to push.
Roshan’s Pit and Tinker Wards show the map’s trees. Observer Ward placement requires experience. Support heroes must find and destroy hostile Observer Wards.
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5. Communicate Your Actions To The Team
Carry players tend to focus on farming rather than map events. Notify teammates of crucial actions.
Let your carry know if you need to pull creeps or stack camps. To help your squad make judgments, always ping your cooldowns and TP.
6. Teleport And Help The Other Lanes
Support Heroes must fight vital battles. If your squad is closing in on an opposing hero or Tower, leave the lane to help. Joining the enemy heroes may help your team win. Slark and Wraith King want to hit Level 6 quickly. Therefore, it’s best to let them solo the lane if the opponent team isn’t pressuring them.
When the opposition team attacks your comrades, teleporting to a neighboring tower and joining the fight can save your teammate’s life while punishing the adversaries.
7. Prepare Stacks Of Neutral Camps
Stacking neutral camps on your map is another way to speed up your team’s farm and experience. This is accomplished by luring the neutral creeps away from their camp before the next-minute mark, spawning a new group of creeps.
This should be your focus if you have heroes on your squad who can clear these stacks of camps rapidly, such as Bristleback, Axe, or Medusa. If you’re lucky, they might even drop most or all available Neutral Items, saving you time.
8. Contest River Runes And Bounty Runes
Enemy heroes frequently set up ambushes (called ganks) around the Water Runes and Power Runes found on the river. Experienced Support players will help their Mid hero obtain these runes (especially if they have a Bottle to replenish). Some Mid heroes, such as Pugna, rely significantly on their mana pool to cast spells and fight effectively; thus, sustaining their resources will allow them to play a more vital game.
A Haste Rune or a Double Damage Rune can quickly shift the tides of battle, and the squad that secures these power-ups will be ahead.
9. Bring Enough Regen Items
You should be pestering the opponent heroes and absorbing damage that would have been dealt to your carry as the lane Support. The longer you are low on health or mana, the less you can provide lane help. Use your courier to transport as many Tangos, Clarity Potions, Healing Salves, and Enchanted Mangoes as you need.
You may even need to give some of them to your carry so that they may save their gold for more permanent improvements rather than on consumables. In the event of your death during the Laning Phase, you can either bring your stashes to your carry or refill the Bottle of the Mid player.
10. Block The Enemy Pull Camp Before The Creeps Spawn
For your carry to earn the most money and experience during the Laning Phase, the creeps must assemble in front of your Tier 1 Tower or close to it. This is called “creep balance,” and it is something that the opposing heroes will want to upset by luring their creeps toward the neutral camp.
Run to their neutral camp as soon as the game begins and block it with a Sentry Ward to avoid this issue for the first two minutes. Remember that distance creep is more valuable than melee creeps, so be sure to get the kill on it.
