..And we're back! I hope the past contest winners have enjoyed their access to the beta! For those of you who have enjoyed the introductionary blogs, I have great news for you. I have teamed myself up with flamewheel and we'll be spitting out a lot of blogs about DotA 2 and everything that comes with it. I know flamewheel is working on a long and deep guide for Antimage and Windrunner. That is the kind of content we'll be throwing at you guys from time to time. It could also be a little different and not specifically about one hero and it's purpose in the game. Like this.
Table of Contents
I. IntroductionII. Items
III. Heroes
IV. Contest
Introduction: What is a Support?
In the previous blog we talked about what kind of roles there is within a lineup. This time around we'll focus on trying to pin down what you should be doing as a support and how you should go about doing that. Your most important task throughout the game is to assist your teammates and make sure their game is going the way you want it to go. The lineup you're in could be focused towards pushing or ganking which oftentimes mean that you want your wards placed kind of offensively, so you gain control over their side of the map. If your team is more defensive and wants to get into the lategame after farming heavily for a long time, you have to make sure that you have as much vision on the map as possible, so that the farmers in your lineup won't get ganked time after time and make all the farming go to waste. No matter what the overall team composition, as a support it is your job to do a few main things, as will be detailed below.
One of the great things about playing support is that your hero is often versatile. These are the heroes I consider support heroes in the current pool.
Strength: Earthshaker, Sven, Sand King, Tidehunter
Agility: Venomancer, Vengeful Spirit
Intelligence: Windrunner, Crystal Maiden, Lich, Lion, Witch Doctor, Enigma, Lina, Dazzle, Chen, Ancient Apparition, Enchantress
Taking a quick glance at this list, we quickly realize that most of the heroes deemed 'support' are Intelligence-based. Intelligence heroes are primarily spellcasters and their power generally lies within their abilities, be it through strong auras, healing, nuking, or crowd control. Remember though, it is very important to understand that just because I call these heroes support doesn't mean that they can't be effective in other lineups with a different purpose. DotA 2 is a game where almost anything is possible under the right circumstances.
More importantly, there are different levels of supporting. Before we move into the rest of this blog, I am going to take a bit of time to explain the 1-5 system. It's quite simple: the 1-5 system is an assessment of who gets priority in farming on your team. I'll demonstrate first with an example.
Your team consists of Anti-Mage, Priestess of the Moon (Mirana), Ancient Apparition, Vengeful Spirit, and Crystal Maiden. In the beginning of the game, there are three lanes to use, which means there are three potential farmers. So just on a whim let's assign Ancient Apparition to the middle lane, team Priestess of the Moon and Vengeful Spirit up on the top lane, and send Anti-Mage and Crystal Maiden to bottom lane.
As your primary carry, Anti-Mage is your team's 1. His objective is to farm most of the game to own it up later, and if there's open farm accessible to him give it to him. He gets top priority over for earning gold over other heroes. Throughout early and midgame he will focus on farming.
Priestess of the Moon is your team's 2. She is a semi-carry and sometimes ganker that can become strong with levels and items. She gets second priority in farming. She will farm extensively early game, and supplement her midgame farming with occasional ganks.
Ancient Apparition is a powerful spellcaster that becomes much stronger with items. He will act as the farmer in his lane for the beginning of the game, making him the 3. After a while, he will leave the lane to go primarily gank.
So early on, the two remaining heroes, Vengeful Spirit and Crystal Maiden, as the 4 and 5 will have virtually no farm. They are going to support their farmers by buying wards, roaming the map, and ganking.
The 1-5 ranking system is not set in stone; it is relative. All it does is tell you, based on the team composition, who is getting priority in farm. We may be tempted to say that "since Vengeful Spirit and Crystal Maiden aren't getting farm, they're the only supports". This is not necessarily true! Ancient Apparition is a support, just one that becomes a lot stronger with some items. In most cases though, your team's 4 and 5 will be supports, and 3 may be as well. 4 and 5 act as more purely support, buying couriers, wards, and roaming the map. If 3 is a support, then it's usually a farmer who will become a dominating midgame presence with early farm.
In the previous blog we talked about what kind of roles there is within a lineup. This time around we'll focus on trying to pin down what you should be doing as a support and how you should go about doing that. Your most important task throughout the game is to assist your teammates and make sure their game is going the way you want it to go. The lineup you're in could be focused towards pushing or ganking which oftentimes mean that you want your wards placed kind of offensively, so you gain control over their side of the map. If your team is more defensive and wants to get into the lategame after farming heavily for a long time, you have to make sure that you have as much vision on the map as possible, so that the farmers in your lineup won't get ganked time after time and make all the farming go to waste. No matter what the overall team composition, as a support it is your job to do a few main things, as will be detailed below.
One of the great things about playing support is that your hero is often versatile. These are the heroes I consider support heroes in the current pool.
Strength: Earthshaker, Sven, Sand King, Tidehunter
Agility: Venomancer, Vengeful Spirit
Intelligence: Windrunner, Crystal Maiden, Lich, Lion, Witch Doctor, Enigma, Lina, Dazzle, Chen, Ancient Apparition, Enchantress
Taking a quick glance at this list, we quickly realize that most of the heroes deemed 'support' are Intelligence-based. Intelligence heroes are primarily spellcasters and their power generally lies within their abilities, be it through strong auras, healing, nuking, or crowd control. Remember though, it is very important to understand that just because I call these heroes support doesn't mean that they can't be effective in other lineups with a different purpose. DotA 2 is a game where almost anything is possible under the right circumstances.
More importantly, there are different levels of supporting. Before we move into the rest of this blog, I am going to take a bit of time to explain the 1-5 system. It's quite simple: the 1-5 system is an assessment of who gets priority in farming on your team. I'll demonstrate first with an example.
Your team consists of Anti-Mage, Priestess of the Moon (Mirana), Ancient Apparition, Vengeful Spirit, and Crystal Maiden. In the beginning of the game, there are three lanes to use, which means there are three potential farmers. So just on a whim let's assign Ancient Apparition to the middle lane, team Priestess of the Moon and Vengeful Spirit up on the top lane, and send Anti-Mage and Crystal Maiden to bottom lane.
As your primary carry, Anti-Mage is your team's 1. His objective is to farm most of the game to own it up later, and if there's open farm accessible to him give it to him. He gets top priority over for earning gold over other heroes. Throughout early and midgame he will focus on farming.
Priestess of the Moon is your team's 2. She is a semi-carry and sometimes ganker that can become strong with levels and items. She gets second priority in farming. She will farm extensively early game, and supplement her midgame farming with occasional ganks.
Ancient Apparition is a powerful spellcaster that becomes much stronger with items. He will act as the farmer in his lane for the beginning of the game, making him the 3. After a while, he will leave the lane to go primarily gank.
So early on, the two remaining heroes, Vengeful Spirit and Crystal Maiden, as the 4 and 5 will have virtually no farm. They are going to support their farmers by buying wards, roaming the map, and ganking.
The 1-5 ranking system is not set in stone; it is relative. All it does is tell you, based on the team composition, who is getting priority in farm. We may be tempted to say that "since Vengeful Spirit and Crystal Maiden aren't getting farm, they're the only supports". This is not necessarily true! Ancient Apparition is a support, just one that becomes a lot stronger with some items. In most cases though, your team's 4 and 5 will be supports, and 3 may be as well. 4 and 5 act as more purely support, buying couriers, wards, and roaming the map. If 3 is a support, then it's usually a farmer who will become a dominating midgame presence with early farm.
Items
Items is one of the core features in the game. It's important that you understand all the items and the heroes, both the one you are playing, but also the ones surrounding you.
Starting Items
It's crucially important to have wards and a courier when you enter the laning phase in any team. This is the reason why two or three heroes spend some of their starting gold on buying a courier, a set of wards and maybe even upgrading the courier to a flying courier right away.
When you bought either the first set of wards or the courier, you will have 433 gold left. That amount of gold will be sufficient of giving you a little bit of stats and a lot of regen (which is key to sustain your stay in the lane early on). Buy two branches (2x 53g), two clarities (2x 50g), one healing salve (1x 100 gold) and a set of tango's (1x 90 gold). This way you should be set up to have a strong and good laning phase.
If you're playing a hero such as Lich that has an integrated mana-regen, I'd skip the clarities and go for more health regen. In this case probably another set of tango's (1x 90g) or save the money for your first bigger item/flying courier. Note also that these two options are generally for hard support heroes like Vengeful Spirit.
Core Items
As soon as you've earned your first 163g, you will be able to afford upgrading the courier into a flying courier. This is an asset that should not be undervalued by anybody. By the time you have enough gold to upgrade the courier, your mid-hero should be very close or already have enough to buy his bottle. Having his bottle as soon as possible is very crucial to his presence in his lane and if he will be able to go after the runes/sustain his stay in the lane by having infinite regen. All supports should do this without hesitating!
Next up there's a few different routes, you can go. It depends on what hero you play and what situation you're in. But you should either be looking to get your Magic Stick (200g) or your Boots of Speed (500g) next up. What's important in this decision is first of all that you need to able to maintain your wards. You need to constantly have 1-2 wards up in the early game for the mid-hero to be able to go for runes and your team is less likely to get ganked. Also it's important to think about what is the purpose of your item. Are you playing a support that is ganking a lot or will you be able to kill your opponents in the lane a lot more if you have boots? Do they have boots and in order to survive do you need them? Do they have a hero that uses his spells a lot, so you'll gain a lot of regen by having a Magic Stick? Try think of it rationally what you should go first and what you will benefit the most from. It will come naturally with experience. But I will say it one more time: Wards need to be kept up at all times.
Aside from what we've just talked about. It is alpha omega in any lineup to carry a tp around all the time, so you're able to either gank or help teammates that are getting ganked, or should a tower be pushed and you're out of position. It is needed! If you don't have it and the other team communicates properly, you will end up suffering a lot.
Luxury Items
These items are ones that will be useful on almost any support hero, but as a general rule, there's no way wards, couriers, counterwarding, dust or the core support items should be given up to get these items.
But as we already talked about, there's a ranking of heroes. And the 3 in your team often times don't really ward, but will instead get these luxury items and support through those.
And you all wonder why I've put the upgraded boots down here and it can be a bit controversial, but this is guide for new people and not people who understand the game on a deep level. Everything is situational and in certain situations some things might be needed over other things, etc. but that is not our concern right now. I've put the upgraded boots under luxury items because I think wards and/or flying courier should not be compromised in order to get this. Standard Boots of Speed is sufficient for a really long time in a game. If I should make a comparison to a support player, I would say Nova from FnaticMSI in Heroes of Newerth. He's absolutely amazing. That guy never dies even though he doesn't have any items.
Items is one of the core features in the game. It's important that you understand all the items and the heroes, both the one you are playing, but also the ones surrounding you.
Starting Items
It's crucially important to have wards and a courier when you enter the laning phase in any team. This is the reason why two or three heroes spend some of their starting gold on buying a courier, a set of wards and maybe even upgrading the courier to a flying courier right away.
When you bought either the first set of wards or the courier, you will have 433 gold left. That amount of gold will be sufficient of giving you a little bit of stats and a lot of regen (which is key to sustain your stay in the lane early on). Buy two branches (2x 53g), two clarities (2x 50g), one healing salve (1x 100 gold) and a set of tango's (1x 90 gold). This way you should be set up to have a strong and good laning phase.
Option 1
x2
x2
Option 2
x2
x2
If you're playing a hero such as Lich that has an integrated mana-regen, I'd skip the clarities and go for more health regen. In this case probably another set of tango's (1x 90g) or save the money for your first bigger item/flying courier. Note also that these two options are generally for hard support heroes like Vengeful Spirit.
Core Items
As soon as you've earned your first 163g, you will be able to afford upgrading the courier into a flying courier. This is an asset that should not be undervalued by anybody. By the time you have enough gold to upgrade the courier, your mid-hero should be very close or already have enough to buy his bottle. Having his bottle as soon as possible is very crucial to his presence in his lane and if he will be able to go after the runes/sustain his stay in the lane by having infinite regen. All supports should do this without hesitating!
Next up there's a few different routes, you can go. It depends on what hero you play and what situation you're in. But you should either be looking to get your Magic Stick (200g) or your Boots of Speed (500g) next up. What's important in this decision is first of all that you need to able to maintain your wards. You need to constantly have 1-2 wards up in the early game for the mid-hero to be able to go for runes and your team is less likely to get ganked. Also it's important to think about what is the purpose of your item. Are you playing a support that is ganking a lot or will you be able to kill your opponents in the lane a lot more if you have boots? Do they have boots and in order to survive do you need them? Do they have a hero that uses his spells a lot, so you'll gain a lot of regen by having a Magic Stick? Try think of it rationally what you should go first and what you will benefit the most from. It will come naturally with experience. But I will say it one more time: Wards need to be kept up at all times.
Aside from what we've just talked about. It is alpha omega in any lineup to carry a tp around all the time, so you're able to either gank or help teammates that are getting ganked, or should a tower be pushed and you're out of position. It is needed! If you don't have it and the other team communicates properly, you will end up suffering a lot.
Items you will have to buy 1 time
Items you will have to buy continously
Luxury Items
These items are ones that will be useful on almost any support hero, but as a general rule, there's no way wards, couriers, counterwarding, dust or the core support items should be given up to get these items.
But as we already talked about, there's a ranking of heroes. And the 3 in your team often times don't really ward, but will instead get these luxury items and support through those.
And you all wonder why I've put the upgraded boots down here and it can be a bit controversial, but this is guide for new people and not people who understand the game on a deep level. Everything is situational and in certain situations some things might be needed over other things, etc. but that is not our concern right now. I've put the upgraded boots under luxury items because I think wards and/or flying courier should not be compromised in order to get this. Standard Boots of Speed is sufficient for a really long time in a game. If I should make a comparison to a support player, I would say Nova from FnaticMSI in Heroes of Newerth. He's absolutely amazing. That guy never dies even though he doesn't have any items.
Heroes
Now that we've been through on how to play support, it's time to divide the heroes into different categories; difficult and secondary roles.
+ Show Spoiler [Easy] +
+ Show Spoiler [Medium] +
+ Show Spoiler [Hard] +
Some of the heroes have multiple numbers assigned to the priority to farm. It depends on what lineup they're in and what function they'll have within the lineup..
Over the past few days, I've been giving away some keys on my Twitter. Now it's time to do some on TL too. Anyone who replies - and don't just reply "Nice." or something (if such a comment wins, I will rechoose it) - to this thread will have a shot of winning a key. At some point after the release of the blog, I will look at the number of comments and then choose 2 numbers and those 2 will get a beta key.
Now that we've been through on how to play support, it's time to divide the heroes into different categories; difficult and secondary roles.
+ Show Spoiler [Easy] +
Crystal Maiden
Difficulty: Easy (“4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting
Notes: Another one of those who need absolutely zero farm but the gold you earn every second. Ward bitch!
Dazzle
Difficulty: Easy (“4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting
Notes: One of the best babysitters in the game; invulnerability, slow and a heal. Just amazing. No need for items either - some mana regen is a great asset though.
Earthshaker
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Roaming, Initiating
Notes: Not a hardcore babysitter, but won't farm in most lanes. Have lots of mobility (i.e. roaming potential) from the very beginning. Must get a Blink Dagger before it's too late.
Lich
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting, Ganking
Notes: Very versatile. Can act as a babysitter, but is also one of the best solo's in the game. Works very well with Meka and Pipe if solo'ed. Not compromising wards or anything though.
Lion
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting, Ganking
Notes: With two disabels and a big ass nuke, this is one of the strongest supporters and he doesn't really need any items. Dagger is an asset thought and he can go mid too.
Sven
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Roaming, Initiating
Notes: Can definitely be played as a pubstomp hard carry, but in competative gaming it's used as a support hero. Very strong without any real items but treads. Blink Dagger is a big asset too.
Tidehunter
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Ganking, Initiating
Notes: More of a stationary hero in the very early phase of the game, but as the game progresses and depending on how it plays out, he has a decent ganking potential. Blink Dagger is a huge asset for this hero too.
Vengeful Spirit
Difficulty: Easy (“4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting, Ganking
Notes: She's one of the most hardcore supporters in the game. You literally dont need any items and can just support all game. Good ganking potential with stun and minus armor.
Difficulty: Easy (“4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting
Notes: Another one of those who need absolutely zero farm but the gold you earn every second. Ward bitch!
Dazzle
Difficulty: Easy (“4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting
Notes: One of the best babysitters in the game; invulnerability, slow and a heal. Just amazing. No need for items either - some mana regen is a great asset though.
Earthshaker
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Roaming, Initiating
Notes: Not a hardcore babysitter, but won't farm in most lanes. Have lots of mobility (i.e. roaming potential) from the very beginning. Must get a Blink Dagger before it's too late.
Lich
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting, Ganking
Notes: Very versatile. Can act as a babysitter, but is also one of the best solo's in the game. Works very well with Meka and Pipe if solo'ed. Not compromising wards or anything though.
Lion
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting, Ganking
Notes: With two disabels and a big ass nuke, this is one of the strongest supporters and he doesn't really need any items. Dagger is an asset thought and he can go mid too.
Sven
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Roaming, Initiating
Notes: Can definitely be played as a pubstomp hard carry, but in competative gaming it's used as a support hero. Very strong without any real items but treads. Blink Dagger is a big asset too.
Tidehunter
Difficulty: Easy (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Ganking, Initiating
Notes: More of a stationary hero in the very early phase of the game, but as the game progresses and depending on how it plays out, he has a decent ganking potential. Blink Dagger is a huge asset for this hero too.
Vengeful Spirit
Difficulty: Easy (“4” / “5”)
Role: Babysitting, Ganking
Notes: She's one of the most hardcore supporters in the game. You literally dont need any items and can just support all game. Good ganking potential with stun and minus armor.
+ Show Spoiler [Medium] +
Lina
Difficulty: Medium (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Pushing, Ganking
Notes: A little bit controversial to call support. It can work as a babysitter, but is definitely a stronger mid hero.
Sand King
Difficulty: Medium (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Roaming, Initiating
Notes: Not really a hardcore babysitter either, but has as strong lane presence as ES and a lot of roaming potential. Must get a Blink Dagger too.
Venomancer
Difficulty: Medium (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Pushing, Ganking
Notes: Besides being quite decent at supporting, it's a very strong solo heroes with great pushing and tanking ability in the mid-game (yeah, tanking items are needed on this hero; Vanguard, Pipe).
Windrunner
Difficulty: Medium (“3” / “4”)
Role: Support, Ganking
Notes: A good solo and has a lot of escape mechanisms. Ideal to play against a dual or trilane without suffering all too much.
Witch Doctor
Difficulty: Medium
Role: Babysitting, Ganking ("4" / "5")
Notes: One of the a bit more tricky heroes to play and skill than the others. Has stun, heal and a DOT spell. Definitely a strong ganker and a great babysitter. Items are an asset, but not needed.
Difficulty: Medium (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Pushing, Ganking
Notes: A little bit controversial to call support. It can work as a babysitter, but is definitely a stronger mid hero.
Sand King
Difficulty: Medium (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Roaming, Initiating
Notes: Not really a hardcore babysitter either, but has as strong lane presence as ES and a lot of roaming potential. Must get a Blink Dagger too.
Venomancer
Difficulty: Medium (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Pushing, Ganking
Notes: Besides being quite decent at supporting, it's a very strong solo heroes with great pushing and tanking ability in the mid-game (yeah, tanking items are needed on this hero; Vanguard, Pipe).
Windrunner
Difficulty: Medium (“3” / “4”)
Role: Support, Ganking
Notes: A good solo and has a lot of escape mechanisms. Ideal to play against a dual or trilane without suffering all too much.
Witch Doctor
Difficulty: Medium
Role: Babysitting, Ganking ("4" / "5")
Notes: One of the a bit more tricky heroes to play and skill than the others. Has stun, heal and a DOT spell. Definitely a strong ganker and a great babysitter. Items are an asset, but not needed.
+ Show Spoiler [Hard] +
Ancient Apparition
Difficulty: Hard (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Ganking
Notes: Powerfull spells and a great mid-game ganker.
Chen
Difficulty: Hard (“3”)
Role: Supporting, Pushing, Ganking
Notes: Jungling. Gives him the capability to get great farm without taking anything from the others. Building great pushing/teamfight items early like Arcane Boots and Meka is very strong.
Enchantress
Difficulty: Hard (“3”)
Role: Supporting, Ganking, Pushing, DPS
Note: Jungling. Has an easy way of supporting early game and assists a lane greatly. Gets great damage with her ultimate.
Enigma
Difficulty: Hard (“3”)
Role: Supporting, Ganking, Pushing, Initiating
Notes: Another jungler. Dagger is a need and is a great, great hero with some decent farm. But don't take the farm of your carries. Can also solo.
Difficulty: Hard (“3” / “4”)
Role: Supporting, Ganking
Notes: Powerfull spells and a great mid-game ganker.
Chen
Difficulty: Hard (“3”)
Role: Supporting, Pushing, Ganking
Notes: Jungling. Gives him the capability to get great farm without taking anything from the others. Building great pushing/teamfight items early like Arcane Boots and Meka is very strong.
Enchantress
Difficulty: Hard (“3”)
Role: Supporting, Ganking, Pushing, DPS
Note: Jungling. Has an easy way of supporting early game and assists a lane greatly. Gets great damage with her ultimate.
Enigma
Difficulty: Hard (“3”)
Role: Supporting, Ganking, Pushing, Initiating
Notes: Another jungler. Dagger is a need and is a great, great hero with some decent farm. But don't take the farm of your carries. Can also solo.
Some of the heroes have multiple numbers assigned to the priority to farm. It depends on what lineup they're in and what function they'll have within the lineup..
Interested in getting access to the DotA2 beta?
Over the past few days, I've been giving away some keys on my Twitter. Now it's time to do some on TL too. Anyone who replies - and don't just reply "Nice." or something (if such a comment wins, I will rechoose it) - to this thread will have a shot of winning a key. At some point after the release of the blog, I will look at the number of comments and then choose 2 numbers and those 2 will get a beta key.