Close Menu
blix.gg
    Newest
    2025 Road to MSI Qualifier Schedule & Ticket Details Unveiled By LCK 
    May 10, 2025
    Tundra Esports vs Gaimin Gladiatos Prediction – BLAST Slam III Semifinal
    May 10, 2025
    Team Falcons vs Team Spirit Prediction – BLAST Slam III Semifinal
    May 10, 2025
    X (Twitter)
    blix.gg
    • CS2
      • CS2 Predictions
      • CS2 Guides
      • Review of Best CS2 Gambling Sites 2025
        • Review of Best CS2 Crash Sites 2025
      • Best CS2 Betting Sites for 2025
    • Deadlock
      • Deadlock Guide
      • Deadlock News
    • Valorant
      • Valorant Skins
      • Valorant Guides
      • Valorant Leaks
    • Dota 2
      • Dota 2 Updates
      • Dota 2 Tournaments
      • Dota 2 Guides
    • LoL
      • League of Legends Guides
      • League of Legends Skins
    • Games
      • Mobile Games
      • Marvel Rivals
      • Apex Legends
      • COD Mobile
    • Industry
    blix.gg
    Home»News»Dota 2»How to play Support in Dota 2 – Overview & Tips
    Dota 2

    How to play Support in Dota 2 – Overview & Tips

    By zlosterrMay 22, 20236 Mins Read
    Share
    Twitter
    Banner

    Dota 2 is a complex MOBA that requires you to choose one of the in-game positions and do everything you can to defeat your opponents. Even though most people usually pick a mid-laner or a carry, some players are more interested in support. That’™s why this Dota 2 support guide will include the ins and outs of this position.

    For some reason, inexperienced Dota 2 players assume that playing support is like walking in the park. In fact, some of them even think that supports are not that useful and it doesn’™t really matter what they do even early on. Unsurprisingly, this is definitely not the case because supports have a crucial role in the game. So, let’™s learn more about them.

    Contents

    • 1 The types of supports
    • 2 Which heroes are the best for supporting?
    • 3 Why are Dota 2 supports so important?
    • 4 Supports in the mid-game
    • 5 Supports in the late-game
    • 6 Items

    The types of supports

    Prior to the Dota 2 patch that allowed people to choose in-game positions before playing, supports were known as ‘œposition 4’ and ‘œposition 5’. The pos 4 heroes were the so-called ‘œsoft supports’ whose job was to help in the lane and stack/gank other lanes when needed. As for the ‘œpos 5’, these are the hard supports; whose job is to buy all of the utilities for the given team and help the carry.

    Both types of support have their pros and cons and have a key role in the team’™s success. The position 5 heroes are usually much weaker than the rest, meaning they are often the first to die in a fight. Needless to say, good support players do everything in their power not to feed too much, but there are cases where this isn’™t possible.

    Which heroes are the best for supporting?

    Even though Dota 2 is a game where most heroes can fill any role, this does not always apply to support. While it’™s true any hero in the game can be placed in this role, some simply won’™t be effective or achieve anything. As a result, the support hero pool is usually limited and includes a couple of options.

    Starting with the hard supports, those heroes usually have INT as their main stats. They are characterized by doing a lot of damage early on and having things like low movement speed. Some of the common position 5 heroes include Crystal Maiden, Lion, Ancient Apparition, Lich, and more.

    In terms of the soft supports, this is where things get really interesting. Usually, those heroes have some sort of ganking potential; because the people who use them often try to secure kills around the map. However, there are cases where pro teams and even pub players pick specific heroes for this role who become cores once the game reaches a certain point.

    Picks like Ogre, Omniknight, Marci, Chen, and Enchantress are some popular position 4 heroes in the game. That said, we’™ve seen things like Riki, Tiny, Pugna, and even Pudge, so it all depends on the map and the players themselves.

    Why are Dota 2 supports so important?

    What makes supports in Dota 2 so important? They’™re the heroes that make the difference during the laning stage. The idea of having support on your team is to help the core heroes when they have problems.

    If we look at the safe lane, we’™ll usually find an AGI carry that can’™t do much early on. Needless to say, players know this, which is why they’ll try to pick a strong offlaner that can rip through the opponent’™s carry. This is where supports have to kick in because they have to help their carry farm.

    Besides harassing, supports should try to land kills, pull, stack, heal, and take care of all sorts of other mechanics. We can’™t include everything because some of these depend a lot on the map and the carry player on your team.

    As for the soft support, their role is even more exciting and has a huge impact at all stages of the game. As mentioned earlier, most heroes in this role are usually good at ganking because they have some kind of disable; such as a stun. Unsurprisingly, those things are really strong for securing kills, which is why they have to try and land as many kills as possible.

    The bad news is that this isn’™t as easy as it seems, especially against certain heroes. The position 4 players are usually under huge pressure. Because their team expects them to make a difference early on. Sadly, some people fail, which often negatively impacts other players.

    Supports in the mid-game

    We’™ve mentioned early on that both supports are under pressure in the early game because they have to help their team. This is also true up to a point when it comes down to the mid-game, but of course there are some exceptions. When there’™s 123 to choose from, it often depends on the heroes.

    Usually, hard supports become a walking stun/heal/sleep (depending on the hero), and they can’™t really do much other than bait. Soft supports usually impact the game more, but it all depends on the hero. Some of them fall behind, whereas others; like Earthshaker or Lina, can snowball and even transition into a semi-core role when needed.

    Supports in the late-game

    You don’™t have to be a Dota 2 expert to see that supports can’™t do much during the game’s later stages. In most cases, they are just walking frags that have to try and use as many abilities as possible before dying. That said, there are some exceptions because certain support 5 heroes can make a huge difference in fights as long as they survive.

    For example, Dazzle’™s Grave can be game-changing if the hero pulls it off before dying. Sadly, most enemies know that he can make a difference, so they’™ll make sure to target him.

    Bane is also a good example of a position 5 hero that can do a lot later on. His ult allows him to disable a target and give his team enough time to score a kill.

    Items

    Although cores have to get different items depending on the heroes they have to go up against, supports are usually not like that. Some heroes have to adapt to every game, but most of the soft support usually buys the same items.

    In addition to wards and dusts, support heroes usually go for items like Glimmer’™s Cape, Eul’™s, and Force Staff. Those who get lucky and secure a few kills will try to get something that will allow them to survive longer during fights. Aeon Disc is probably the best example because this item can save every support from certain death.

    Dota 2 Guides
    zlosterr
    • X (Twitter)

    Zlosterr is a dedicated video game and esports enthusiast. After competing in semi-professional Counter-Strike for several years, he broadened his focus to other games like Dota 2, World of Warcraft, League of Legends, and Valorant. Now, he shares his extensive experience by covering esports through news articles, guides, event breakdowns, and more

    You may also like

    By Sharon "BlueEye" Sitbon

    How To Play In Dota 2? A Complete Guide By Pro

    July 2, 2024
    By Sharon "BlueEye" Sitbon

    How To Play Carry Role In Dota 2? A Complete Guide By Pro

    July 2, 2024
    By Sharon "BlueEye" Sitbon

    How To Play Faceless Void in Dota 2? Tips and Tricks by Pro

    July 2, 2024
    By Sharon "BlueEye" Sitbon

    Vengeful Spirit Guide In Dota 2. New Facets And Battle Fury Build

    July 2, 2024
    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Recent Post
    2025 Road to MSI Qualifier Schedule & Ticket Details Unveiled By LCK 
    May 10, 2025
    Tundra Esports vs Gaimin Gladiatos Prediction – BLAST Slam III Semifinal
    May 10, 2025
    Team Falcons vs Team Spirit Prediction – BLAST Slam III Semifinal
    May 10, 2025
    Rumors: Falcons Reached an Agreement With Spirit for Kyousuke
    May 9, 2025
    blix.gg
    X (Twitter) RSS
    • Editorial Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy policy
    • About us
    • Our Authors
    • Join Our Team
    © 2025 BLIX.GG. All rights reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Manage Consent
    To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
    Functional Always active
    The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
    Preferences
    The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
    Statistics
    The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
    Marketing
    The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
    Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
    View preferences
    {title} {title} {title}