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Questions regarding support heroes

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Forum » New Player Help » Questions regarding support heroes 42 posts - page 1 of 5
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Bl1tzKri3eg » April 23, 2015 8:18am | Report
when playing support, I find myself playing Dazzle most of the time since all of his skills synergize incredibly well with common pubstomp heroes who happen to be mostly physical/right-click heroes (PA, Troll, Axe, Sniper, Bloodseeker, etc.) so can anyone explain what roles do other heroes serve?
There are plenty of other supports that I want to try out like Warlock, Venge, Lina, Lion, Bane, Omni, Treant, atc. but I cant figure out what playstyle do they excel in.
So for example,
1) Which hero is good for pushing quickly?
2) What makes a good roaming or lane support?
3) Any support who can hold its own late game?
4) Good initiators?
5) Good gem/mek carriers (aka tanky supports)?
6) Something with silence/a counter to spell caster heroes?

Bl1tzKri3eg



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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Smuggels » April 23, 2015 8:30am | Report
big question requires big answer and frankly i cbf giving one atm *no offense just got a lot on

BUT i can give you help on a small thing that i find is super im"pro"tant <see what i did there he he he he

anyway

Pick a support that either has

1. a bkb piercing ability

or

2. a sustain ability (io, witch doctor, dazzle, those kinda guys )


these are very strong at all stages and will help you win games.

I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL.... WITH FLUFFY BUNNIES


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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Hamstertamer » April 23, 2015 9:12am | Report
Hey, glad you're interested in playing support :)
Indeed it's important to know what support is good at what.
You can check out Sando's guide

http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/picking-the-right-support-5231

Bl1tzKri3eg wrote:

1) Which hero is good for pushing quickly?


Jakiro, Leshrac, Shadow Shaman, Chen, Undying, Venomancer


Bl1tzKri3eg wrote:

2) What makes a good roaming or lane support?


Roaming supports are heroes who are really good at setting up kills, and who are very strong at low levels (level 1-3).
Genreally roaming supports have pretty bad lane presence, a lot of them are melee, but they're really good for killing heroes at low levels.
Roaming supports are best played when you have a carry who has good lane presence and can solo his lane without needing help (e.g Weaver or Lone Druid)

Example : Spirit Breaker, Vengeful Spirit, Earthshaker, Earth Spirit, Pudge, Wraith King, Mirana, Sand King

Lane supports on the other hand are heroes who are generally really bad at setting up kills, but have extremely good lane presence and focus on harassing, pulling and denying. Unlike roaming supports, they're generally pretty level dependent. They're very passive heroes, all they generally do is sit in one lane, sap experience, harass and let their carry farm.
Lane supports are generally best played when you have a hard carry who has horrible lane presence and needs a lot of babysitting in lane to secure his farm (e.g Spectre or Anti-Mage).

Example : Lich, Warlock, Necrophos, Jakiro, Silencer, Dazzle...

There are quite a lot of supports who can be played either as lane supports or as roamers. Example : Lion, Disruptor, Crystal Maiden, Leshrac, Bane...

Bl1tzKri3eg wrote:

3) Any support who can hold its own late game?


Apart from some very rare exceptions, no support is truly bad in the late game, and actually most of them are still relevant. You see your fair share of Crystal Maiden ultimates being game-changing in 1 hour games.

However if you're stuck in the pub syndrome of games going absurdly late for no reason and the average game length being 55 minutes...you need dedicated late game supports definitely.

IMO the best late game supports are : Omniknight, Enigma, Necrophos (ever wondered why Omni and Necro are the top 2 heroes in pub winrates? Look no further xD)

Also good late game supports : Warlock Vengeful Spirit Silencer Dazzle Shadow Demon Windranger Disruptor Witch Doctor Lion

Heroes like Tidehunter Magnus Doom Dark Seer and Elder Titan are very good in the late game as well but they're not technically supports, more like utility heroes. But if you manage to play them as supports (it can work in certain situations) it's legit.

Bl1tzKri3eg wrote:

4) Good initiators?


Pretty much any hero who builds Blink Dagger really.

Earthshaker, Sand King, Lion, Enigma, Treant Protector, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, Nyx Assassin, Naga Siren, Mirana, Venomancer, Warlock, Bane, Crystal Maiden, Disruptor, Vengeful Spirit...

Bl1tzKri3eg wrote:

5) Good gem/mek carriers (aka tanky supports)?


Any support who has no major mana issues and doesn't need a mobility item is a good mek carrier.
The best are Keeper of the Light, Lich, Necrophos, Jakiro, Chen, Disruptor, Dazzle...
Heroes who are too dependent on mobility items generally are pretty bad mek heroes (e.g Crystal Maiden or Shadow Demon).

Bl1tzKri3eg wrote:

6) Something with silence/a counter to spell caster heroes?


Silencer, Skywrath Mage, Disruptor, Lion, Rubick, Pugna

Hope it helps!
H.
Strategy guide : Anti-pubstomper guide.
Hero guides : Spectre , Windranger and Clinkz
== Broodmother guide out! ==

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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Bl1tzKri3eg » April 23, 2015 10:15am | Report
@Hamstertamer Thanks for that huge reply :)

Bl1tzKri3eg



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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by fires.of.hell » April 23, 2015 11:38am | Report
Sometimes support must have a synergy with other heroes especially the #3 position that is mostly initiators/tanks or anti the possible future dilemna like Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap against Batrider's Flaming Lasso . I also noticed to Team Secret that they pick offensive and defensive supports that has the ability to roam early. Watch pro scenes for more warding tactics, when to smoke gank and leave lanes, crucial buybacks, etc.

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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by TheSofa » April 23, 2015 2:58pm | Report
Bl1tzKri3eg wrote:

There are plenty of other supports that I want to try out like Warlock, Venge, Lina, Lion, Bane, Omni, Treant, atc. but I cant figure out what playstyle do they excel in.

Since HamsterTamer answered your other ones, I'll just answer this one.

Warlock is a greedy support that excels in teamfights. He's a great lane support because of his heal, and he has a giant AOE slow.

Vengeful Spirit excels in roaming around the map helping getting kills. Good for taking Rosh.

Lina is usually played as a core.

Lion is a support that excels in disabling enemy heroes. Because of his natural mana sustain, he can afford to be poor the rest of the game and is usually played as a 4. Blink Dagger is a good pickup.

Bane is an annoying support that excels at single-target disabling. Bane can be played as both a roaming support to annoy the mid lane with Enfeeble, or can be put as a roaming hero with someone else that needs setup. ( Mirana, Kunkka etc.)

Omniknight is a greedy defensive support that provides a great amount of heal and immunity to your team. Usually played as a #3 or a #4

Treant Protector is a melee support that excels in multiple things. His ability to heal towers render slow sieges useless, and his natural high damage and HP pool allow him to harass and zone effectively. His invisibility can be very useful for warding and scouting.

Hope I answered your questions adequately!

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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Wulfstan » April 23, 2015 3:59pm | Report
Dissapointed nobody mentionned Winter Wyvern. By far the strongest support atm with Oracle coming in strong.

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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by ChiChi » April 23, 2015 4:56pm | Report
I'm gonna leave my contribution here about Lina: the reason why you mentioned her as a support but TheSofa simply explained she is usually played as a core is the following: looking at her skills overall, you will see that she has huge damage to deliver, but little else in terms of team contribution (her stun is not reliable without a set-up). Also, since she is an Inteligence hero whose damage comes mainly from her spells, she falls a bit in the late game if she doesn't have some items (either be it to make her more of a right-clicker or to make her magical damage relevant). On the other hand, she has a passive that boosts her attack speed imensily, meaning her right click deserves some attention (usually what defines cores are their AS + Damage per second and the fact that they function better with better equipment).

Because of this Lina is now thought to be better played as a core/carry, for instance putting her mid. However, this doesn't mean you can't successfuly play her as a support. I've done it with very good results, and would advise you the following: pick her as a support if your team already has one, or if the composition on the enemy team doesn't make for too much utility items - if there are invisible people or too much ganking potential, like a Pudge, you may experience some money troubles. Otherwise, go Tranquil Boots + Eul's Scepter of Divinity, considering everything else (including Aghanim's Scepter) luxury, and you're good to go ( Lina played right, even not ksing, means some money from kills always anyway). You are actually a very good partner in lane, being able to easily harass your enemies with your incredible range (the second highest base attack range of the game) and even securing early kills if you manage your mana correctly and can land a good stun. Try her if you see frail enemies that usually don't buy a Black King Bar on the other team (such as Storm Spirit, Zeus or Windranger), and you will have fun killing them repeteadly :)

Credits to Janitsu!

Ammateurs coaching channel iei! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOBsWN_45WjrRXLAWUqeyaA

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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Bunkansee » April 23, 2015 6:42pm | Report
The reason Lina is good as a support is because she doesn't need items to be effective, and she also scales really well into the late game. And since she has such good nuke damage early she can really help get kills in lane and while ganking. However she does do a good job as a core role also, especially solo mid as it allows her to get a level advantage which improves her ganking potential greatly.

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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by TheSofa » April 23, 2015 11:31pm | Report
ChiChi, both Storm and WR buy BKB.

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