Support Heroes' Builds

All support heroes have practically the same build. MP boots, Mechansm, Courrier, Basilius, etc. There might be the occasional difference, like a blink dagger on CM, but not much.

Agree/Disagree?

Sure, but that's not a bad thing, for the most part those are the core of support builds. Although, early and late game builds vary a bit more.

I think a Mekansm should be considered Core on all supports, and of course the Courier/Wards.

Arcane Boots and Pipe tend to feature on about 80% of them too. Sometimes a Support needs Treads to avoid getting insta-gibbed.

As a fairly avid support player, it's my opinion that the only real core items for any given "support" hero are Observer Wards/ Sentry Wards, Animal Courier/ Flying Courier, and Town Portal Scrolls. Everything else pretty much depends on the hero.

Boot-wise, Tranquil Boots are a lot better on most support heroes than Arcane Boots. They're cheap, provide a large MS boost, and they have a nice heal that can be used in between fights. Plus, it can also be disassembled, allowing you to make better boots or your Mekansm + Ring of Basilius, if you planned on doing so. Usually, only supports with small mana pools, such as Omniknight, will ever really buy Arcane Boots.

In a typical game though, where the matchup is pretty even, it is simply unreasonable to expect your dedicated support to buy all the Observer Wards/ Sentry Wards/ Flying Courier/ Dust of Appearance/ Smoke of Deceit, as well as your team's Ring of Basilius/ Urn of Shadows/ Mekansm/ Pipe of Insight (you should never have Pipe of Insight and Mekansm on the same person, by the way). Doing so will ensure that your team will not have the benefits of either Mek or Pipe until at least 30 minutes into the game, where the heal / magic barrier becomes far less effective.

I agree that as a support hero you don't need Arcane Boots, except for a few who are really mana dependent. I personally prefer Phase Boots over Tranquil Boots due to the burst speed, it's good for survivability for you and your teammates(due to you supporting them). Tranquil Boots are good too, they can give you that extra regen you might need or healing. It all comes down to whether you prefer speed or regen/healing.

On another note, almost every intelligence hero should have Aghanim's Scepter. It Is a good item on its own, but it also can buff your skills(generally ultimate).

While Phase Boots are pretty decent on most heroes, they have the drawback of being relatively expensive (almost 400 gold more than Tranquil Boots) while providing no survivability other than the burst speed. Plus, the bonus damage, while not necessarily wasted on a support hero, is not exactly optimal either. Tranquil Boots however, in addition to the healing effect, provides +3HP/sec and +3 armor, which is almost as much as a Helm of Iron Will. Of course, this is all just my opinion.

Also, I would argue that there are actually very few intelligence heroes that actually should buy Aghanim's Scepter (as a core item, anyways). The item itself is not very efficient (Two Point Boosters provide more HP and mana than Scepter does), and while many of the upgrades are pretty good, such as Queen of Pain's or Pugna's, they are hardly necessary. Keep in mind that most intelligence heroes will not be farming all game, and 4.2k gold is a fairly significant investment that could potentially be better spent on items such as Scythe of Vyse or Eul's Scepter of Divinity.

The reason you should get Aghanim's Scepter is because of the skill upgrade, while it doesn't give that great of bonuses, it can upgrade your skills, on some heroes not only the ultimate, but others as well. Scythe of Vyse and Eul's Scepter of Divinity, give an active as a sort of trade up, but it in most cases doesn't compare to improved skills imo. Although it does give a bit better bonuses. For most heroes that are able to be upgraded imo, it's worth it.

Support heroes generally don't have enough money to be fancy, so it's natural for you to see a lot of similar builds composed of Wards and cheap durability; in fact, this has been the DotA support model for years. For support players, Tranquil Boots were probably 6.74's most meaningful item addition as they provide a cheaper option over Treads. +80 ms (especially given the low cost) is also strong for roaming.

Also never count out Force Staff and/or Ghost Scepter on support heroes. If you can muster up the gold, these items are excellent for surviving fights and kiting the enemy carry (particularly if their carry is a melee hero such as Sven, Ursa, Bloodseeker and so on).