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Hey, this is thippo, and I like to consider myself experienced in the world of Dota. I have played a fair sum of matches, but I don't hold myself up as an absolute veteran of the game. But for the matches I do play, I also observe many guides, professional matches, and thoughts on the state of the game. I don't call myself and extensively good player in practice, but what I do know is that when I play support my team almost always wins unless something went horribly wrong on another player's part. Having observed and trying to follow how professionals play supports, while still transitioning that into a viable role in pub matches, I think I have become a very good babysitter, and while making sure you're laning with someone you know is EXTREMELY useful, any pub player who knows what they're doing is still going to be able to succeed and thrive with you being their hardcore support.
This is the first guide I've written so constructive criticism is appreciated.
At the time of publishing I also have a guide on offlaning in the works.
So, this guide is assuming you are in the 5 position (being the lowest priority for farm, usually ending the game with less than one last hit per minute depending on how much ricing your team will be doing), while you are also in the safe lane (Radiant's bot, Dire's top) and that's pretty much standard for a babysitting support. Hopefully you'll know what your lane setup will be before you pick, but in pubs that's not always the case. At the very least try to know what carry you'll be babysitting. You might be in a trilane, a dual lane with a dual offlane, a dual lane with a jungler, or a dual lane with a roamer. In the dual lanes without a jungler, this guide is unaffected. In a dual lane with a jungler, make sure to tell them to not take the pull camp! If they end up taking it, you're just colossally screwed, and also they are a massive ******* who should uninstall for being as much of a **** as they are. /rant In a trilane, you need to communicate with the other support to see who is doing what. One of you should be in lane harassing the enemy or enemies out of the lane while trying to not sap too much exp from the carry, while one of you should be stacking and pulling regularly to keep the lane close, but not in the range of, your tower. Preferably one of you will leave lane and gank regularly, and as the hard support that is not your job.
Right, so depending on your lane setup (based mostly on the carry that will be in your lane, if it's a trilane) you need to pick a defensive or offensive support.
Keeper of the Light - Sick lane harass, keeps mana topped off, easy lane for your carry, BE SURE NOT TO TAKE LAST HITS OR PUSH THE LANE WITH YOUR 
Illuminate
Treant Protector - Keeps all the heroes in all the lanes alive, even after the recent nerf to 
Living Armor he is still one of the best defensive supports (if not the best) available, just make sure to prioritize heals in this order, assuming that no one is in extreme need of healing/OP damage block: Solo Offlaner (where applicable) > Mid > Carry > Self (it's selfish, but you can't heal while you're dead!) > Allied Support (if in your lane)/Offlane dual lane farmer/Roamer > Offlane dual lane support > Jungler
Dazzle - Good heals, decent kill capacity, amazing get-out-of-jail-free card, can also be an Offensive Support
Lich - Easily deny exp, keeps lane close to your tower, great spammable harass, good armor buff if you decide to take an early point in it, make sure to not let the creep wave go into tower range.
Omniknight - Self-explanatory, also has good offensive capabilities if laning with a blink hero such as 
Phantom Assassin or 
Anti-Mage or 
Faceless Void, or using his heal on a 
Spirit Lance illusion.
Io - Amazing hero all-around, but difficult to master. On the defensive side, he can keep your carry topped off in mana and health, and provide a nice stun/speed boost for escapes, and good lane harass with Spirits. Get your carry to give you any consumables before use, so you can get the benefit and give him 1.5x the benefit. Yep, 2.5x the efficiency. You'll want to buy looooots of clarities with your leftover gold at the start.
Rubick - A jack-of-all-trades, and that includes being a Defensive Support. Faceless Void Anti-Mage
Drow Ranger
Gyrocopter
Medusa Phantom Assassin
Riki
Sniper
Spectre
Weaver
Bane - ez lane kills ez life, make it impossible for enemy to farm
Ancient Apparition - If your carry/trilane support/roamer has a guaranteed stun you can get the easiest first/second/third/fourth/fifth/etc blood of your life.
Chen/
Enchantress - While not really babysitter supports, an honorable mention for their ability to gank. That said, seriously, don't play them according to this guide. Two entirely different worlds.
Crystal Maiden - Easy gank setups, just flank them around some trees and get some easy kills for your carry. Especially good with slow-but-powerful carries 
Juggernaut and 
Ursa Dazzle - Not a true Offensive Support but he still does have decent kill potential, especially if you can start off a gank by getting off a good 
Shadow Wave bomb against a melee opponent surrounded by creeps.
Disruptor - Weaken them with your 
Thunder Strike and eventually go in with your Kinetic Wall and 
Glimpse.
Earthshaker - If you can get a good 
Fissure off, you have just achieved the best single skill in the game for offensive laning. Io - Amazing hero all-around, but difficult to master. On the offensive side he can get his 
Spirits up, rotate them at minimum oscillation radius, and then hide in trees. When your carry gets right next to the enemy on the opposite side of them, 
Tether to them for the most infuriatingly overpowered combo in the early game. Get your carry to give you any consumables before use, so you can get the benefit and give him 1.5x the benefit. Yep, 2.5x the efficiency. You'll want to buy looooots of clarities with your leftover gold at the start.
Jakiro - Difficult-to-land but very punishing skills, you can even start a gank from the treeline. Just get all your points in 
Ice Path and 
Dual Breath until level 8, unless laning with someone with a very long disable such as Faceless Void, in which case pick up your ulti before level 9.
Leshrac - Get an enemy alone, ez kills. If you can land a stun and get a good Diabolical Edict your enemies will be dead in no time. The downside is that you'll often unintentionally KS with Diabolical Edict but it's still better than no kill at all.
Lina/
Lion - Nukes nukes nukes, good disables. With Lina it helps to have a carry who has a good disable on your side but it's still fairly easy to land her stun. As for Lion, make sure to stun + drain all their mana for great lane control.
Nyx Assassin - Drain all their mana, stun them, good setups when you get level 6.
Ogre Magi - Piss-poor laner, but with good kill potential if your carry has a disable. And even though 
Fireblast does still technically stun, it's no good for disabling. For that, you'll need to rely on 
Ignite.
Sand King - Reliable stun and damage, still not that good, but he's definitely an option.
Shadow Demon - Great setup for ganks, great harass, all around a great Offensive Support.
Shadow Shaman - Ignore your 
Ether Shock, your insanely long disable time is what makes you, in my opinion, the single best Offensive Support.
Tidehunter - Similar to Ogre Magi, you are bad in lane but good once you go in for the kill. 
Ravage is worth a solo kill for your carry if you need it. And then feast on the tears of your opponent crying "wtf solo ravage nobo tidehunter gg"
Undying - Close second to Shadow Shaman as the best one of the bunch, if your enemies linger too long in your 
Tombstone you can just lololololol and win. Also, if your carry has a nuke, they have a chance at a one-shot with you spamming 
Decay. And Decay also gives you great attack damage for good early kills, while really screwing any strength opponents.
Vengeful Spirit - Great nuke, armor reduction is good for hitting like a truck, and towards the end of the laning phase your 
Vengeance Aura will make your carry hit even harder. Also, 
Nether Swap is lulzy for setting up easy kills.
Venomancer - Gale OP pls nerf
Visage - Very difficult, but amazing for killing especially if you're in a trilane. Almost guaranteed first blood with a good Offensive Carry.
Warlock - Great harass, you can heal your carry, and moderate kill potential. Not the best, but he is probably one of the most balanced of the supports.
Witch Doctor - LOOK AT IT GO, SKRILLEX Rubick - A jack-of-all-trades, and that includes being an Offensive Support.
Alchemist
Chaos Knight - Special mention for OPness with an Io on his side.
Dragon Knight Juggernaut
Kunkka
Lifestealer
Luna
Mirana
Morphling
Naga Siren
Phantom Lancer
Razor
Spirit Breaker
Sven Ursa
Viper Io - Seriously guys, learn to play him, he's awesome and you will carry your team without being a carry. 8.7/8.7 good hero. Keeper of the Light - He can be an Offensive Support, if he is laned with a hero that has a good early-game spammable spell, such as Phantom Lancer's Spirit Lance. Spirit Breaker - He can play the role of Offensive Support if needed, but this is very situational and only advisable if you have no real supports.
Animal Courier - Burn in hell if your team doesn't have one you selfish pile of ****.
Observer Ward - Burn in hell if your team doesn't have them you selfish pile of ****.
Sentry Ward - If you didn't buy BOTH the Animal Courier and the Observer Wards, burn in hell if your team doesn't have them you selfish pile of ****.
Flying Courier - Burn in hell if your team doesn't have one by 3 minutes you selfish pile of ****. Observer Ward/ Sentry Ward - You should ward constantly and deward as often as you can spare the cash, and if you have a ganker like 
Pudge or 
Storm Spirit on your team or the enemy team, you need to have wards at all times and make sure the enemy has none. Ward wars are expensive but it's your job to pay up and keep your team in the advantage. What's a couple hundred gold going to get you that's more important than vision? Absolutely nothing. Not a single thing in the game. If you think otherwise like I used to, you're dead wrong and it's the reason you lost as thoroughly as you did.
Smoke of Deceit - For ganking important enemy heroes and for entering the Roshan pit with your team, this item is 9/10 worth the gold and then some more if you use it correctly.
Town Portal Scroll - Best item in the entire game, and until recently I used to buy other items before I bought TP scrolls, meaning sometimes I'd leave base with no TP scroll, less than 135 gold, and a new shiny trinket. Guess what? No. You're the support, and as important as this is for any hero, this is the most important for you. If you don't have one at literally all times you are a scrub, through and through. You can TP to another lane and turn what would be a death for your team into a double or even triple kill. You can TP to defend or deny a tower. You can TP to escape certain death. You can TP to get to place faster. If you are going to use a TP scroll to leave fountain, buy 2 so that you will have one to use after you TP to a tower. It's worth the gold unless you use it piss-poorly. And if you're ADHD as hell and HAVE TO CLICK AS SOON AS YOU (think) THE TP IS DONE, use shift queue to move efficiently and guarantee you didn't just waste a long cooldown and 135 gold like a dumbass.
Dust of Appearance - If your teammates don't have any, and if the enemy has an invis hero or Shadow Blade. Remember, it does not show wards.
Gem of True Sight - You're probably not going to be the one carrying it as most supports are squishy, so buy it and give it to a sturdier ally, unless you are the tankiest hero on your team.
Boots of Speed - Duh. Probably gonna be your first personal item besides maybe a 
Gauntlets of Strength or 
Magic Stick or 
Iron Branch.
Bracer - Great item for any support, beefing up your HP pool while giving good stats all around, and being upgradable into one of the most efficient end-game items (not bought in the end-game, but kept throughout the game) in the game. When I'm extremely far behind, I like picking up 3-4 of these + a 
Drum of Endurance so I can have a chance at a comeback. Probably the only way out of a super-bad game, but still not in any way a priority over support items listed above. Drum of Endurance - Great upgrade from Bracer and probably the best item for you to carry, because not only is it helpful for you it still carries value to your team. Even if an ally has one, it's still reasonable to pick one up yourself.
Arcane Boots vs 
Tranquil Boots - Arcane Boots most of the time, but if you're very far behind in the game, or if you have no mana problems like Keeper of the Light or Crystal Maiden you can opt for them to get your bigger items up faster.
Mekansm - A great pickup, but it is expensive. Probably better left to someone else who is semi-support that can also pick up a Mek. That said, it's still great for you, but it does put a constant drain on your mana pool and your gold reserves.
Pipe of Insight - Only if you're a tanky hero like Treant Protector or Omniknight, or else you're wasting a lot of the magic resistance for an expensive item that might offer much more on someone else.
Ghost Scepter - Screw those right-clicking carries, you're gonna survive for that much longer, which should give your team time enough to save your ***, or at least delay the enemy carry a few seconds before they can get your precious gold.
Cloak - A casual Cloak is cheap and, depending on your health pool and the enemies' lineup, a good pickup.
Force Staff - Another great escape item, probably going to be the best item you can pickup in most games. You can also force enemies into your team if you're experienced in using it, but that is unreliable. Still, it's great for starting a teamfight for your team 4v5. If needed to escape, choose to get a more important ally away before yourself. If you and your carry are trapped in Cogs, you better force them if you think they can get away if and only if you force them out.
Magic Wand - I used to hate this item, but recently I learned how OP it is, ESPECIALLY against certain enemies. Get it most games, you do not want to miss out on it.
Medallion of Courage - Great for Roshan and good for conlicts. Best if you're a super-squishy hero who will die even without the armor reduction, or the polar opposite and an invincible tank.
Ring of Basilius - If your lane mate doesn't pick up this, a 
Ring of Aquila, or a 
Vladmir's Offering then grab it for reliable mana regen. Pick it up early or never. Turn it off when you aren't pushing!!!
Soul Ring - Depends on the hero. Not much more to it.
Urn of Shadows - Also depends on the hero, the amount of kills you are participating in, and if an ally also has one. Try to keep charges at one, and then use it offensively to secure a kill. It's essentially a free 100 damage.
Shiva's Guard - If you are a tanky hero, always a good choice. It slightly nerfs the enemy carries, and the active is great for chasing and running away. But you do have to put yourself in danger to use it, so be cautious if you aren't a strength support.
Scythe of Vyse - Super-expensive but very good if you do get it. If you have this much gold you're either going to win anyways or are a godawful support. Vladmir's Offering - Good pickup if your team doesn't already have one. Preferably only if you are melee but it's not required; the lifesteal isn't what you specifically are aiming for, because you shouldn't deal reliable DPS anyways.
Aghanim's Scepter - Probably not, but it can work on a case-by-case basis. Decide for yourself. Same as Scythe of Vyse, the game is either over or you didn't listen to what I said and opted for "OOH THAT ITEM IS SHINY I SHOULD BUY IT FIRST!"
Heart of Tarrasque - A great albeit expensive pickup. Same as Scythe of Vyse, the game is either over or you didn't listen to what I said and opted for "OOH THAT ITEM IS SHINY I SHOULD BUY IT FIRST!"
Necronomicon - Not a personal favorite but it's an option.
Refresher Orb - Great on certain heroes. Same as Scythe of Vyse, the game is either over or you didn't listen to what I said and opted for "OOH THAT ITEM IS SHINY I SHOULD BUY IT FIRST!"Laning: I outlined specifics above, but make sure you're pulling to keep your gold and experience up, try your best to not take any kills you don't have to, do not sap experience from your lane unless your carry needs you there to help him, always keep up wards, and work towards support items and cheap selfish items.
Mid Game: The laning phase has now ended. You should be actively participating in all fights and be an important force in all parts of the map. That said, your main goal is still to ensure your carry is doing good. If they are being actively ganked, you should still be there to help them. Normally it's enough to carry a TP scroll, but if it's not just hang out hiding in the woods beside them. But they shouldn't be getting ganked in the first place because of your excellent warding. If your carry plans on getting a fast 
Battle Fury or if they are an Alchemist, stack the jungle camps during your downtime. Once they get strong enough and the lane phase is mostly over, start stacking the ancient camps and they will snowball out of control. Seriously. It's really really helpful and powerful and amazing and you are a saint. If you can spend half the game doing nothing at all but stacking you will win unless your carry is absolutely awful or your teammates can't hold off 3.5v5 for long enough.
Late Game: Really your only presence here is keeping your wards up, the enemies' down, buying support items, and using your skills to help your team. Outside of that, your carry should be able to... well... carry you to victory. Just hope you did good enough that they can do it.
pls to be upboat if you liek guide
Also, if you enjoyed it, you can link it to guides of support heroes you write, and save yourself the details on how to support!
Constructive criticism is nice, and if you liked it make sure to give it a 6.71/6.71!
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