Support Questions

Hello! I've been playing for a few days now and experimented with a variety of hero types. As much as I loved Huskar, I find very few players like filling support roles. So I've played the last 6 of my matches as Omniknight and Crystal Maiden, buying the courier for my team at the start, placing wards, and assisting the carry (so no killstealing or taking last hits). And my team won 5 of those 6 matches! So I think I'm in love with playing support.

I have some questions, if you have the time to answer, that might help me improve:

1) How soon should I be warding? Placing a ward on each bridge seems to help a lot with reducing ganks, but are they needed from the start? I find most players stick to their towers instead of roaming, and there's also the time wasted in running up and down the river placing them. I could just place one of them at my bridge, but then it feels like a waste having a second sitting in my inv. Also, that 150 gold could go towards a Ring of Prot - and as a support, gold is hard to come by =P

2) How long should I babysit? Is there a point where most people think enough is enough? Like, my carry is a level or two above the other heroes in his lane, and has a certain number of core items? Or is that something I just need to figure out myself based on each game? I don't want to abandon a carry too early, but at the same time, staying too long would be limiting his exp and I could be elsewhere helping to push a lane.

3) Does anyone get low Main Menu FPS after a match? I know this isn't support related =P I get 60fps on the menu at startup, 60fps in a match with maxed out graphics, and then after the match ends and I return to the menu I get 15-20 fps. Every time. It's weird having to restart the game after every match!

Thanks for reading! I'm loving Dota 2 so far, and loving how good it feels to help out a team so much as a support class :)

1) In pubs you just wait about 5 sec after the match started and you ward the runespot nearest to your lane. So you see Ganks coming and your mid knows where the runes spawn. Waiting 5 secs ensures that the 6 minute rune can be spotted. The second ward can be kept a few minutes and then be placed whereever needed. (for competetive warding you should look up a proper warding guide :D)

2) As soon as you feel like your carry can easily farm on his own or the enemies left your lane to gank/push, leave the lane and gank/help other lanes. Also you should always carry a TP to help other lanes, if the enemy team applies pressure to the tower or is trying to dive teammates.

3) I don't have this problem, sorry ;)

Hope i could help you :)

HF @ playing Dota !

A hard support is a hero that does not need gold to make an impact on the game. That being said they need less levels and last hits than soft supports, semi carries or Hard carries. For warding I recommend getting timer and place wards as soon as the game starts and place new ones every six minutes.

For a mid player wards are everything. If you have wards and the other mid player does not you should get every rune, If you get every rune you win mid, if you win mid you can gank very effectively, if you gank effectively the other team gets shut down.

On my 5 man team I play support so it is always nice to see other people playing this important role.

To answer your questions:

1) If you're a hard carry I think you should be warding constantly or buying wards whenever cooldown is off. This would help see ganks coming towards your carry, which is important that he doesn't die. Also about that 150 gold thing, hardcore supports don't actually need money. All I get is courier, wards often, and boots and maybe a few bracers. If you still have cash maybe upgrade your boots to Arcane, tranquil or travel.

2) I think you should babysit long enough so that the other team stops laning and goes to gank other lanes, so you can go to help out your teammates and let your carry get more exp. Also when you think your carry is strong enough to farm easily by himself you should also leave the lane to push or gank the enemy carry.

3) I'm sorry I have no idea what is wrong with it, but maybe send in a ticket to dev.dota2.com about it and they can help you out.

Hope this helps you! I hope you have fun playing dota 2!

Thanks for all the feedback! I'll look into a warding guide to make sure I'm "doing it right". They really do seem incredibly important though. I just played a match as CM, on the Radiant's bottom lane, and the Dire were trying to come through our jungle to gank. Warding that place at the right points made such a huge difference, and completely ruined their game-plan.

It's strange how so few players like to play support. I always pick last, waiting to see whether Omni or CM will be more useful to my team, and it's so rare to see another player pick a support character while I'm waiting. I find support play really rewarding =D

3)usually it happens to me because of the chatbox with all the trading stuff spams.

i love playing support but hate warding :( the fear of dying is worse than dying itself, like when do i replace wards, its not worth dying for but i MUST do it haha, lifes so difficult