How do you choose your support?

This thought came to me after reading Darkstorne's thread about support play and I didnt want to get that thread off topic.

With the large number of true/pure support heroes in the game, how do you go about making your choice? Do you tend to go with supports you are most comfortable with or do you pick up the support that most compliments the rest of your team and/or counter's the other team?

Yes, and yes.

The biggest thing is you want to pick a hero that synchronizes well with the rest of the group. Your job is to see what your team is lacking an fill that void. Does your team have enough stuns? Do they have range players? What's your team fight potential?

Without stuns, your carry will be hard pressed if they want to kill an enemy. Range supports can be critical in the lane phase to harass the opponents off the creeps. And Lastly as support, you are basically seeing the potential of your team fight (or the other team if you have Rubick) and thinking about what hero would help turn the fight to your favor.

Also wards. Wards are important.

To choose which support, think whether you need:

Tank (i.e. Tidehunter) when everyone else is squishy
Teamfight (i.e. Sand King) when everyone is single target
Stun/CC (i.e. Bane) when no one has stuns
Harass (i.e. Venomancer) when everyone is melee/no orbs
Push (i.e. Shadow Shaman) when no one else can push
Sustain (i.e. Omniknight) when your carry will get harassed a lot.

Pretty much all the most important subcategories of support.

Thanks, these roughly gave me an idea :D

It probably depends on your play-style too. I'm in love with offensive support play - so harassing your lane opponents early. As a result, I base my character choice mainly on the enemy team line-up, and secondly on my own team's lineup.

If the enemy team has a lot of melee, then I know Omni has a huge advantage - I can send my carry in to fight them, then heal my carry when his health hits 50% and damage his opponent at the same time. I can also easily harass by healing allied creeps that are being attacked by melee heroes. It damages them, and keeps exp away from them a tiny bit longer. And for late game, Omni's ulti makes your entire team immune to physical damage - so if the enemy hero lineup is mainly melee, he's a fantastic option.

If the enemy team is mainly ranged or casters, then Omni loses that advantage. He also has no stun to keep ranged classes in place. So then I look to my own team - if they are mana dependent I'll probably roll as Crystal Maiden for the mana regen bonus she grants to the entire team. If only one or two of my team mates are mana dependent, then I'll roll as Keeper of the Light since he can support a mana user like Zeus really well in the laning phase, and he's amazing at harassing with his nuclear horses - ton of damage, and an incredible psychological impact on the enemy team.

Really all depends on what heroes your team has and your play style. Personally, I love roaming and playing super aggressive, so I play a lot of Nyx, Lina, Lesh and Venge. If someone on your team picks Anti-Mage and asks you to support them, don't pick a melee support like Sven or Nyx, take something like Veno, Dazzle or Rubick. Be smart about your pick.