Dota Essentials: Supporting

thank you both so much for the input. This is my first guide and it took a much longer time than I had previously anticipated, so I wanted to get it published and out there so I could start on the guide I really care about (my upcoming full Vengeful Spirit guide that I am working on now). I have been planning on adding to this guide soon but due to lack of time and lack of comments/view (now i have some of both), I didnt see a reason to update yet. But I will most definitely take your input and add it into the guide along with a few things I feel I left either unclear or out completely because to be honest Dota is probably the most complex games on the planet, and no matter how long and how well i write about supporting (just one part of Dota) i cant possibly express everything about it. Each game is so incredibly different it is hard to make many 'specific' assumptions about tactics/facts. Again, thank you for the input and please be looking for my updates on this guide as well as the upcoming Vengeful Spirit guide. If you get a chance, look up my group: ~Eden~.

Amen to that Zrog...there's a definite grey area on some "support" heroes like Vengeful Spirit where they can carry in the right situation, but gimping your real carries isn't the way to get there. Oh look Venomancer got an early Shadow Blade - that'll save the game!

I think some links to some ward articles would be helpful.

I seriously encounter a lot of pub players who think their support characters are semi-carries. They love to waste their "early game advantage" as you put it by spending time taking gold from their carries. Then, when their carries are getting smoked in mid-late game due to inadequate farm, they love to come out with their Aganim's-upgraded-ultimate and "save the day" (run in, damage all the enemy heroes to 1/2 hp, then get killed). Arg. If only people would actually READ these support guides...

Nicely presented and written guide, although I think you could do to expand your thoughts on parts like "supports as carries". While some "support" characters can make quite decent (semi)carries in certain situations, I don't think it's necessarily something you should aim to do - more often I find you stumble into that kind of thing almost by accident as things have gone unexpectedly well and you've ended up well farmed, or your team made some odd picks.

Usually when people pick a support hero and then start shouting "carry Dazzzzzzle!!! :):):)", Venomancer's first item is Hand of Midas, etc, it tends to end badly...

If you want to play Dota with some good players, join my steam group: ~Eden~ (The Garden of Eden).
-GhostSpawner