Dota 2 Hard Support Tier List for Patch 7.37e – Who’s OP and Who’s Not?

The meta in Dota 2 is constantly evolving, and with the upcoming changes to the ranked system, it’s crucial to know which support heroes to choose for successful calibration and subsequent matches. In this breakdown, we will examine the best and worst support heroes in the current patch (7.37e), while also highlighting options for experienced players who require heroes with high game skill.

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Tier 4 – Worst Supports of the Current Patch

The list of heroes, that should never be chosen under any circumstances.

Pudge and Invoker

Dota 2: Pudge and Invoker Art

Pudge (5) и Invoker (5) – They are very greedy heroes who need items and levels, which they simply won’t get in fifth position.

Tips

• Part of being a good Pudge is more than landing Hooks, but also knowing when your Hooks won’t land. The cast time is long enough that you should be able to at least occasionally stop-cancel unlikely Hooks. Stop-canceling Hooks is also a great way to stress out enemies who can see you.
• You can pull runes using Meat Hook, and the mana cost for Hook will be refunded. You can abuse this with Soul Ring to refund the ‘temporary’ mana provided by the Ring’s active.
• Urn of Shadows on an enemy can trigger a Cold Snap every second.
• Tornado serves as a basic dispel, which allows you to remove most buffs off enemies, including runes.

Enchantress

Dota 2 hero: Enchantress

Enchantress – She has a low win rate across all ranks and strong item dependency, making it ineffective in the fifth position.

Tips

• Impetus deals double damage to creeps and illusions.
• You can Enchant nearly every enemy/neutral unit including enemy illusions.

Item-Dependent Supports

Dota 2 hero: Nyx nyx nyx

Supports that can only be useful by artifacts include Hoodwink, Nyx Assassin, and Bounty Hunter. These heroes can be helpful in the fourth position but are of little use in the fifth.

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Tier 3 – Situational Heroes

You can pick these heroes, but only in specific situations.

Io

Dota 2 hero: Io

Io – It’s great for party games, but it’s not a good choice for solo play.

Tips

• Watchers are extra value when Io is on your team because of the bonus vision provided by its Sight Seer innate.
• Io can start channeling a TP while flying to a Tether target.

Marci

Dota 2 Anime: Marci

Marci – This hero is only effective when paired with an aggressive carry, such as Shadow Fiend; otherwise, she may prove to be useless.

Tips

• You can cast Dispose on an ally’s top bar portrait to easily target them. Useful if you’re trying to save a specific target in a sea of summons or illusions in a chaotic team fight.
• You can’t Dispose units affected by Enigma’s Black Hole or Faceless Void’s Chronosphere.

Grimstroke

Dota 2 hero: Grimstroke

Grimstroke – This character is strong when paired with specific heroes like Juggernaut and Ursa, but is significantly weaker when alone.

Tips

• The Stroke of Fate projectile actually does shoot out at a slight angle, as the visual suggests. It always starts at 120 range to your left, so if you’re trying to hit someone close quarters, target accordingly.
• The Stroke projectile provides a small radius of vision as it travels and 2 seconds of lingering vision where it ends.

Ancient Apparition

Dota 2 hero: Ancient Apparation

Ancient Apparition – The lack of reliable control and damage in the lane makes it a poor choice in the current meta.

Tips

• Ice Vortex is more than a massive range slow. Throw them all over the place when you’re pushing or defending to reduce enemy magic resistance. Keep this in mind when attacking people with Chilling Touch’s magical damage as well.
• Manually casting Chilling Touch on enemy heroes won’t draw creep aggro.

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Tier 2 – Stable and Reliable Supports

Heroes you can confidently win on.

Winter Wyvern

Dota 2 hero: Winter Wyvern

Winter Wyvern – This hero performs better in the fourth position, but it is also effective in the fifth position.

Tips

• Be extra aggressive with wisdom rune timings. Your Eldwurm Scholar innate can make a big experience difference.
• Arctic Burn’s DoT can only be applied once per enemy per cast, and multiple attacks on the same target do not refresh the debuff. Spread your damage out between enemies when in Arctic Burn, and pay attention to the buff timer in your status bar to maximize your damage.

Disruptor

Dota 2 hero: Disruptor

Disruptor – Especially strong with Aghanim’s Scepter.

Tips

• Count down your Glimpses. Glimpse is an incredibly powerful spell, but only if used intelligently. Glimpse will always revert someone to where they were 4 seconds prior. So, as soon as you see someone out of position, remember where they were and start counting to four. Watch where the end location dot is and cast a Field around it.
• Glimpse will break any enemy channels on the cast.

Shadow Demon

Dota 2 hero: Shadow Demon

Shadow Demon – He is helpful in many situations, but it is essential to have a strong understanding of the game.

Tips

• Attacks from illusions of Shadow Demon, like by self-casting Disruption, can apply his Menance innate on enemies.
• If you select your Disruption illusions, you can see how the enemy is skilling itself since your illusions’ skill points will mirror the enemy’s.

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Tier 1 – Strong Supports

These heroes are very likely to secure your victory.

Lion

Dota 2 hero: Lion

Lion – The new facet for Mana Drain has significantly increased the damage it inflicts.

Tips

• Be aware of the advantages of ground-targeting Earth Spike. The cast range is about 300 shorter than the actual range of the stun. Ground targeting also makes it possible to thread the needle between heroes, allowing you to potentially land the stun on multiple targets.
• Earth Spike ignores Linken’s Sphere and Lotus Orbs.

Shadow Shaman

Dota 2 hero: Shadow Shaman

Shadow Shaman – This hero excels in control and inflicts significant damage on enemy towers.

Tips

• Your Fowl Play innate will not protect you from a lethal Axe Culling Blade or Necrophos Reaper’s Scythe.
• Ether Shock can hit secondary units almost twice as far away than the spell’s cast range. If an enemy is making a run for it and is just out of cast range, try casting the Shock on the ranged creep right behind them to possibly hit them. Ether Shock won’t bounce to units that are in the fog, however.

Ogre Magi

Dota 2 hero: Ogre Magi

Ogre Magi – It is more effective to purchase support items instead of the Midas.

Tips

• Ogre can trade hits with the best of them in lane. Dude is crazy chufty with his ridiculous starting armor and a bucket of HP to boot.
• Each cast of Ignite searches for two targets to hit. The secondary target is always whatever enemy unit is closest to the primary target that isn’t already Ignited.

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S-Tier – The Most Effective Supports

Imba heroes in the current meta.

Lich

Dota 2 hero: Lich

Lich – The win rate is between 56% and 57%, featuring an incredibly strong ultimate ability and excellent control.

Tips

• While mana regen doesn’t work on Lich, thanks to his Death Charge innate, burst mana still works. So items like Mango, Magic Stick/Wand, Soul Ring, Arcane Boots, and Healing Lotuses still give mana.
• You can cast Frost Shield on ward-type units. In addition to observer/sentry wards, this means things you can also cast it on Phoenix’s Supernova, Pugna’s Nether Ward, or Undying’s Tombstone.

Abaddon

Dota 2 hero: Abaddon

Abaddon – Aghanim’s Shard and Blink Dagger can be powerful tools for eliminating enemy core heroes on your own.

Tips

• Any damage you deal to enemies from attacks, spells, or items will apply your Withering Mist innate.
• The self-damage on Mist Coil can be absorbed by Aphotic Shield and will heal you during Borrowed Time.
• Aphotic Shield is a strong dispel. You can cast it on allies to wipe off most disables and debuffs, including stuns.

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Final Hard Supports Tier List

Dota 2: Final Hard Supports Tier List

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Conclusion

To achieve consistent victories in the current patch, focus your bets on Tier 1 and S-Tier supports. These heroes have the greatest impact and can assist your team effectively, even without artifacts. If your highest-performing heroes are in G-Tier or Tier 3, it may be time to reevaluate your priorities. Good luck in Dota 2! We also recommend visiting the Reddit thread for more Dota 2 content.