In Dota 2, supports are heroes that play a supporting role in a team. Their primary role is to help their allies rather than focusing on kills or gold. Supports play a key role in a team’s success, especially in the early and mid stages of the game.
Who is support?
Supports are the backbone of a successful team. Without them, carries won’t be able to farm safely and their control in fights will be weak. A good support can completely change the course of a game, even if they don’t get a lot of gold or kills. They place and remove wards to provide the team with information about enemy movements. They also control key points on the map, such as runes and enemy jungles.
In the early game, supports help carry heroes survive and gain experience in the lane. They can soak up damage, distract enemies, or use skills to save. Many supports have abilities that allow them to initiate a fight or stun an enemy hero. For example, heroes like Lion can completely change the course of a fight with their abilities.
Supports often sacrifice themselves to save more important team members or to distract enemies or lure them into a trap. They can also actively pressure other lanes to weaken the enemy team. Supports usually buy items that benefit the entire team, such as Observer Wards, Sentry Wards, Smoke of Deceit, Mekansm, Force Staff, Glimmer Cape, and more.
Support positions
Fourth position
A support standing on the hardline, focusing on ganking lanes. He can afford more gold and experience than a position 5 support. Most often plays aggressively.
Creating chaos is the main task of the four. It helps the mid and offlaner, putting pressure on the opponent and distracting the supports. Controls the runes so that the enemy mid does not take them and gain an advantage. Often starts a fight with the help of his abilities or items. In his free time, he can farm zones where the first three positions do not go.
Fifth position
The main support, who spends almost all of his gold on wards and team items. Usually, they have the lowest gold and experience, but this does not mean that he is not needed. On the contrary, this character sacrifices himself for the team.
The most important task of the five is to ensure the safety of the carry and his farm. Always buy wards, Observer to see the opponents on the map and Sentry to remove the enemy’s vision. Give all the experience and gold to your core, expose yourself to skills if necessary. Do pulls and stacks to provide allies and yourself with gold to buy key items.
Items
Starting items
Here are the items you should buy to get started:
- Observer Ward – Provides vision on important areas such as runes or forest.
- Sentry Ward – allows you to fight enemy wards or heroes in invisibility.
- Tango + Healing Salve – essential regen for yourself and your carry.
- Wind Lace – Inexpensive and increases your movement speed.
- Magic Stick or Magic Wand – allows you to replenish health and mana resources or survive in a fight.
Early items.
urchasing these items will help you early in the game:
- Boots of Speed - This is basically a starting sock that increases your movement speed. After that, you can either get Arcane Boots to restore mana for yourself and your team, or Tranquil Boots , which increase your health regeneration and speed.
- Urn of Shadows – If you fight a lot, this item will always have charges. Useful against fat heroes, as it deals damage as a percentage of the enemy’s health.
- Pavise and Solar Crest – Provides a shield against physical damage, increases attack and movement speed, and a small amount of armor.
- Smoke of Deceit – needed to avoid getting caught in enemy vision when ganking an enemy hero. Bought regularly!
- Bracer or Null Talisman – gives the necessary stats to your hero, thereby increasing your survivability.
Consumables
Here is a list of consumables that are always useful to have in your backpack:
- Dust of Appearance or Gem of True Sight – taken against heroes with invisibility.
- Town Portal Scroll (TP) – Always carry 1-2 of these to protect towers or help your team.
- Sentry Ward – Continue to remove enemy observers even in the late game.
Main subjects
Well, and finally the main purchase of items for supports:
- Force Staff is the strongest item for any support position, it allows you to change the hero’s position on the map. It also gives you the opportunity to catch up with the enemy or escape from the fight.
- Glimmer Cape – allows you to hide an ally in invisibility and give him a shield from magic.
- Aether Lens – will give you mana regen and increase the radius of your abilities, which can play an important role.
- Spirit Vessel – used against heroes with high health regen, such as Huskar or Timbersaw, especially good against Morphling.
- Ghost Scepter – Carry heroes usually deal physical damage, and this item will allow you to avoid it by making you incorporeal.
Warding
At the beginning of the game, wards are placed on your lane to protect against ganks and vision of the enemy support. They also need to be placed on runes so that the mid player can know where and what rune has appeared. Later, wards can be placed almost all over the map, but here are the important places: Roshan, the enemy jungle, at the enemy base when you are pushing T3 towers.
- Observer Ward – provides vision in a radius of 1600 units and is placed to control key points. Allows you to see ganks and enemy movements, this will help protect your carry from death.
- Sentry Ward – detects invisible units and enemy wards within a 1000 radius. Also placed to block the spawn of neutral creeps, thereby preventing the enemy support from pulling back.
Bends and stacks
These are the key mechanics in the game that help control the lane, farm, and experience. They are often used by supports, but are useful for everyone to master.
Bends
Pulling is the process of moving neutral creeps away from their camp so that they attack your lane creeps. If a lane is too far away from your tower, pulling helps bring it back closer to your base. The support kills neutrals, gaining gold and experience without interfering with the carry.
How to pull: Hit the neutrals in the camp when the allied creeps are almost to them or make the neutral creeps hit you when you are near yours. Then they will aggro on the neutrals and go to protect you.
Stacks
A stack is the accumulation of several packs of neutrals in one camp. To do this, they need to leave the spawn zone before the start of a new minute. Then new creatures will appear in the camp in the same place. This is done so that the carry or mid can farm a large number of creeps and get a lot of gold and experience.
How to stack: hit neutral creeps in the range from 53 to 55 seconds and run away. It is important that they go beyond their spawn and do not return there until the beginning of a new minute. If you plan to stack ancients, then you need to hit at 55 seconds, since they move slower.
Stages of the game
Early
The most important thing at this stage is to ensure your lane has an advantage and help your carry or offlaner. Harass your opponent with auto attacks and abilities to prevent farming. Pull neutrals to stop the lane and get additional farm. Place a ward on the lane to see the enemy creep pull.
Many deaths on a support are not shameful, sacrifice yourself if it saves the life of your carry. Fly to save your mid if he is under pressure under the tower or is being ganked. From the items, it is worth taking Arcane Boots + Magic Stick, and always keep Healing Salve and Tango with you to heal your ally.
Average
Create an advantage in key areas by controlling the map and engaging in fights. Initiate ganks while buying Smoke of Deceit. This will allow you to increase the team’s advantage and slow down the enemy hero. In terms of items, it is worth buying items to save the team, such as Force Staff and Glimmer Cape.
Late
Cover the entire enemy half of the map with wards, put vision in front of Roshan, and if possible, wear Gem of True Sight to remove wards and see heroes in invisibility. Don’t be the first to get into a fight, stay away and save your allies or heal them.
If your ultimate can change the course of the game, save it for the important moment, do not use it right away in a fight. Items to buy include Scythe of Vyse, Lotus Orb and Aeon Disk.The support role is not just about “helping” the team, but a strategic foundation that requires analytical thinking, self-sacrifice, and impeccable map control. Support is not a role, but a state of mind. It requires patience, the ability to read the game, and the willingness to be a “shadow” for your team.
