Beast Master Support (post 6.83)

Fallowing the recent 6.83 patch for DOTA 2, many people have been considering the idea of Beast Master as a support hero. As a dedicated support player myself, I decided to give it a try. This guide is intended to aid anyone interested in playing Beast Master as a support as well as post my thoughts relating to the viability of Beast Master support. I'm an experienced support player but this is my first written guide. Feel free to criticize my work or commend it. If there are any structural errors or formatting problems with the guide that escaped my notice please call them to my attention.


Support Beast Master Analysis

Beast Master is a very unusual support, and playing him in a support position requires a very different approach to how to you play your game. His contribution to the team is unlike any traditional support hero. A more traditional support character would be expected to organize ganks on the mid lane and offlane. They would be expected to defend a pull or babysit a carry in lane. Beast Master is weak in many of these areas (at least until he is level 6). However, what he lacks in his ability to create space on the map and control a lane he makes up for in his incredible utility due to 6.83. Patch 6.83 for those of you who are unaware made it possible for Beast Master to control both a hawk and a Boar starting at level 1. At level 1, The boar has 15 base damage and applies a 10% movement slow when auto-attacking a target. This minor change actually increased Beast Master's versatility ten fold! As an example, I will present a realistic scenario revealing the amount of tasks a level one Beast Master can now accomplish (this scenario come from my actual attempt at playing Beast Master as a support). 30 seconds into a round, Beast Master will use his boar to to zone the offlaner while Beast Master him self prepares to pull the creep wave. Once the creep wave is pulled. Move your boar into position and stack a camp all while last hitting the pull to receive your level two. As an alternate scenario in the event that your position 5 support doesn't need your help zoning and babysitting, instead, stack camp with your boar and your main body (You can even summon two boars and stack three camps at once!).
Essentially, Beast Master has accomplished on his own what would normally require two supports to accomplish. This type of versatility is now practical thanks to the latest patch and provides a unique advantage for your team (In case you are still confused as to why beast master wasn't capable of doing this before 6.83, its due to the fact that he needed level 3. Levels are a luxury that supports can't afford hence the reason why he is most commonly seen mid). It also frees up your position 5 support to be far more effective and efficient in there game as well.

Now that I've established that support beast master needs to multitask in order to be an effective support, I would like to explain what team composition he benefits the most. As I stated earlier, Beast Master, despite the boars slow, still has difficulty setting up early ganks on an offlane or mid hero. Avoid using beast master as a support hero if your team has a snowball carry. Snowballing carries like Slark, Slardar or Ursa benefit far greater if there support can help them land a few early game kills. Snowball carries really just need to get the wheels turning and it all down hill from there (for your opponent). Beast Master is not the optimal choice as a support if your carry favors early game ganks. The same is true for your mid hero and you offlane hero. If your offlane hero requires a teleport support or if your mid hero is likely to lose their lane, than Beast Master will be more hindrance than a help. Beast Master support is viable however in the event that your team composition favors late game. Since Beast master allows you to maximize the use of your neutral camps and have great map control it is best to pair him with a carry who not only needs a lots of farm, but is capable of clearing neutral camps quickly. Luna and Medusa work perfectly with a support beast Master.


Skill Build Analysis

For starters a support Beast Master plays a very different role than an offlane or mid Beast Master. This is why the skill build shown above may seem unusual. Begin by maxing Call of the Wild and always level it at level 1! Your boar and your hawk will provide you with all the awesome utility that makes support Beast Master even possible. Proceed to level Wild Axes next. This ability is your early game nuke damage in addition to allowing you to stack and kill the ancients while your boar pulls a wave, rune controls, zones or stacks a neutral camp for a carry. Level up your ultimate whenever possible. Not only does this ability have one of the most bad-*** sound effects in the game but its a pretty handy stun to have in a fight as well. Increasing the duration or the slow and stun are crucial for your contribution to a team fight. Max Inner Beast last. Unless you team is focused on pushing quickly, I recommend saving this skill for last. Early in the game you want to avoid pushing your lane too much and you would be passing up too much utility by maxing it before Wild Axes or Call of the Wild. Instead, max this skill later in the game. You can see the full effects of his passive as your team pushes tier three towers and barracks. It is unnecessary earlier in the game since you wont be needing your auto attacks as much when playing a support role.


Item Choices

Your starting items should be pretty standard for a typical position 4 (I suggest you play him as a position 4 due to the fact that you will spending plenty of time out of lane). Tangos are always useful but don't be afraid to give some to your mid hero. If you are playing correctly, you won't need the regen. Clarities are a necessity. Using your axes once will use half of your overall mana pool so be sure to grab at least two clarities before going to lane. Branches are optional but still great if you want to cast your abilities more frequantly. One branch will provide you with enough intelligence to cast Call of the Wild one more time. You'll need sentry wards for a Multitude of reasons! Please buy them in every game. Getting a smoke might not benefit Beast Master as much as some supports, but chances are your mid hero might need one somewhere down the road so pick one up in advance.
Unfortunately Beast Master's mana pool is somewhat lacking. After grabbing an early Boots of Speed (aka brown boots, upgrade them to Arcane boots as soon as possible. The arcane boots provide you with some much needed mana pool and support your team mates nicely. A Medallion of Courage is core on this hero. It compliments the physical damage from his axes and can be used to buff your carry's armor late game. It is an all around amazing item for any support hero. The mana regen is pitiful but still nice to have. Not many support heroes have the ability to farm the ancients but Beast Master does. Use this advantage to farm you blink dagger and begin working on your Aghanim's Scepter. Although not always the best item to buy, its crucial on a support Beast Master. This item allows him to go late game far greater than any other item. Increasing the cast range on his ultimate allows you to fallow up in fights and initiate without jumping into a potentially dangerous situations. The cool down reduction it provides allows you to be ready for any fight and it still provides a nice balance of stats. Aghanim's Scpeter, Medallion of Courage, Arcane Boots and Blink Dagger are you core items. Once you have completed those items the rest is up to your discretion.


Conclusion

This hero can be an incredible support hero but he has to played in the correct fashion. Be sure to inform your team mates about Beast Master's Strengths and weaknesses before playing a game. It is important they realize what type of support he is because he differs from an average support hero so greatly. Use his utility to farm the ancients at the same time as you accomplish ordinary support task. This way you can increase you carries farm and protect against ganks while not depriving yourself of too much farm.
Thanks for Reading and please give support Beast Master a try. It might take you a few attempts but once you got the hang of him you can multitask like crazy.

Thanks for reading this Guide to Beast Master Support. Its my first guide and I would really appreciate feed back. If you enjoyed it, are inspired to try Beast Master Support or just plain liked my guide, I would be happy to write more support guides on request.