DOTAFire is a community that lives to help every Dota 2 player take their game to the next level by having open access to all our tools and resources. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting us in your ad blocker!
Want to support DOTAFire with an ad-free experience? You can support us ad-free for less than $1 a month!
Go Ad-Free
Spoiler: Click to view
Dazzle's 
Poison Touch) or don't have any stuns or big nukes to set up kills (
Necrophos, 
Warlock, 
Witch Doctor and especially 
Omniknight). Now, I don't discourage to play those Heroes as supports, but unless you have a certain strategy in mind you'd better stay away from them, especially if you're trilaning for the first time.
Nyx Assassin players but is valid for Heroes like 
Skywrath Mage and 
Clockwerk (though they're not very common supports), too: they can be played in the mid lane and, due to them being extremely easy to feed, pub players always use them this way; in fact they don't need anything in order to be effective: as long as you have a maxed-out 
Impale and a level of 
Vendetta, wether you are a level 6 support or a level 9 mid laner your targets will be the same and will die after your combo. See chapter 2.1 for more information.
Smoke of Deceit. Oh, and always have a 
Town Portal Scroll ready: being able to teleport at any time is one of the best things you can do as a support! Smoke of Deceit and gank the safe lane carry using your team's supports. These are the basics of a safe trilane fight: if you want to improve, just practice more.
Pros
|
|
Cons
|
Abaddon came out? At first competitive teams were pretty skeptical about him as his nuke's not that great and there were many other melee supports to choose, then they started experimenting new lineups (including the popular Weaver-Abaddon dual hard lane) and different skill builds (Coil first; Shield first) and brought this Hero into tournaments in very little time. Particularly, his hidden potential regarding tower dives and aggressive trilanes has been discovered first: not only the Aphotic Shield protects you from hits, but it also damages the surrounding enemies when it breaks! Mist Coil also has an enormous range and can be used to heal allies in crucial times and, above all, denying yourself if timed well. The passive ability, Curse of Avernus, is not notable early on so it should be skilled last, but as Borrowed Time makes you almost invulnerable for 5 seconds you can afford to go near the enemies and catch them to grant your teammates bonuses. Also, even though the ultimate makes you very difficult to kill even when you're alone (provided you can reach your teammates before the buff ends), big nukes that one-shot you when you have more than 400HP are deadly.
Bane was born as a direct counter to Lifestealer: when he was very popular, the only way to counter him was a disable that went through his Rage; nowadays, this Hero is picked for two reasons: his Fiend's Grip counters all those BKB carriers and his Nightmare is a perfect setup for ganks. Brain Sap is an excellent nuke that, as long as you don't spam it, only needs a pair of Arcane Boots to be sustained while Enfeeble goes through BKB as well and annoys the enemy carry as nothing else does. He's commonly paired with Lina, Leshrac or Jakiro (as they can follw up right after his disable) or with another controller like Rubick to have a really strong teamfight control lineup.
Arcane Aura got nerfed, Crystal Maiden disappeared from the competitive scene: she doesn't scale into late game at all, and her ultimate was overlooked. But then, after the 6.79 patch, this Hero became the #1 pick in every tournament! Nowadays competitive teams experimented new item builds, especially after the Tranquil Boots rework: one of the build with the highest success featured the Phase Boots as a first item too, but as the Tranquils are the best choice for a ganking Hero since their rework CM players usually stick to them. As soon as you get the mobility from your Boots, hitting those Frostbites will be much easier and landing good Crystal Novas will be a piece of cake: even though this Hero has a big mixture of nukes and disables, she was overlooked because of her mobility; getting the Freezing Field at level 6 instead of waiting for level 10 and 11 has become normal now, too. The Arcane Aura is still a bit weak, but it's worth putting two skill points on before level 6. Also, don't get a Meka on her anymore: the HP from the Urn and mobility from the Force Staff are usually better.
Earthshaker is a very situational Hero but he has been proven good the few times he was picked: his Fissure is possibly the best long range AoE stun in the game, while the Aftershock ensures that his stuns will scale into late game. His main problem is the mana, hence why he usually starts with a couple of Clarities and his Enchant Totem is not levelled early; his ultimate, Echo Slam, is a gamebreaking spell if used at the right moment but, until you get that Blink Dagger, it's very difficult to land. Some team tried to use his Fissure to pull the hard lane creeps to the ancient camp in the Dire side: it does work and gives some farm to the off-laner, but as it requires a lot of clarities and can be easily denied with an Observer Ward in the ancient camp it's rarely used nowadays.
Io was the support that won games: it was always first ban material because of its usefulness, but since the 6.79 tether rework it became less and less noticeable. But still, even if you don't get a stun from the Thether anymore, getting a carry that makes you able to Relocate and one-hit Heroes all over the map (such as Chaos Knight, Tiny, Sven or Riki, in order of priority) is more than enough to kill enemies. Remember that Overcharge not only adds attack speed and damage resistance to the target you're tethered to without giving the degen, but also makes you able to heal your friend with an Urn charge even when you're at full health just by toggling it on. If you continuously gank as soon as your Relocate is off cooldown, you should get enough kills to win the mid game and destroy the ancient: of course you need aggressive warding to perform easy ganks, but aside from that Io gives you free kills for almost nothing. Also, remember to costantly use him for dual support ganks! The movement speed increase from the Tether plus the (almost) overpowered Spirits deal a ton of damage in conjunction with a disabler like Vengeful Spirit or Crystal Maiden.
Jakiro is one of those Heroes that was a first-pick everytime he wasn't banned but now, after some nerfs, is much more rare: his Ice Path is still a good stun, especially after a setup spell like Rubick's Telekinesis or Shadow Demon's Disruption, and his teamfight contribution is huge thanks to Macropyre and Dual Breath, a slowing nuke that should always be maxed out by level 7. Liquid Fire is a decent repellent against aggressive laners: as soon as you put points in it you'll realize how much its AoE and slow does, especially against towers.
Keeper of the Light was considered by many the best Hero in the game (I'm not exaggerating), but nowadays he's always overlooked unless playing an aggressive trilane; simply, when there's a KotL against your trilane you can't win but just resist, unless you have heavily outdrafted the enemy team. His Illuminate received a small nerf, but it's still able to clear creep waves and deter enemy Heroes dealing a ton of damage; Chakra Magic is the core of many trilane compositions and makes the whole lane able to costantly spam spells. Mana Leak is useful as the game progesses (hence why it's skilled after level 9) while the spells unlocked with the Spirit Form, 
Recall and 
Blinding Light, are terrific at all stages of the game: the former makes you able to bring your farming carry or your ally that just TPed to the fountain into the fight, the latter is fundamental while teamfighting since the evasion is huge, no matter what you may think.
Leshrac has become less and less played: nowadays he still has a valid reason to be played because of Shadow Demon and the other Heroes with a setup for his stun, but as he needs to be in a pushing team to be effective he's not that common. Still, his Split Earth is one of the best AoE spells in the game and the Diabolic Edict does a ton of damage to structures and lone enemies; don't forget it works even after your death. Pulse Nova is a decent ultimate but requires some mana, while Lightning Storm was rarely levelled up (since he needs more mana from stats) but is slowly becoming the main skill that has to be maxed out first. I still love him as a support because he's item independent and his ganking potential is very high.
Lina is the typical pick when you have any form of setup, from Shadow Demon's Disruption to Nyx Assassin's Impale: her nuke potential is enormous thanks to the Light Strike Array plus Dragon Slave combo, which consumes a small amount of mana and is quite spammable. Fiery Soul can be useful when you stay in the back of a teamfight spamming your spells and Laguna Blade is the classical one-hit nuke that should be used against the most dangerous Hero in a teamfight. She is a very good counterpusher and ganker, that's why she used to be very common: even though her HP aren't that many, she should be able to give enough advantage in the early game not to need them anyway.
Lion is what you need: at level 2 he can stun multiple targets with his Earth Spike and disable another one with the Hex; his skills are a good setup for chainstuns or big nukes like Skywrath Mage's Mystic Flare and, if that isn't enough, the Finger of Death gives the killing blow. Mana Drain is an interesting ability but, unless you're mid laning or facing a Hero that usually summons illusions, you'd better put more points in stats than in Lion's third ability. This Hero is very powerful but, as his HP is pretty low, he's not picked unless you really need those disables and nukes.
Naga Siren. She has the typical setup disable that many other supports have (Bane, Rubick, Shadow Demon etc.) with the exception that it makes you hit the enemy Hero for longer and goes through Black King Bar, so the scaling for Naga's not a problem even if she doesn't have any items; Rip Tide is not only an istant nuke that pairs well with the Ensnare but also an armor-redcing ability that scales pretty well. Mirror Image makes farming easier when the later stages of the game arrive and is also a safe way to throw your nuke. Finally, the Song of the Siren is a very unusual teamfight ultimate that can be used both defensively (to actually save allies from death and then TP away) or offensively so that you can start a teamfight with the best positioning ever. The cooldown of her abilities are pretty low (except for the illusion-creating one, but you shouldn't spam it anyway) and a pair of Arcane Boots is everything Naga needs to sustain herself.
Nyx Assassin has definitely been between the top 5 supports for a long time, and there are a few reasons behind it: he has a big arsenal of nukes that scale amazingly well into late game and are good in the early game as well. For example, spamming Mana Burn reduces the enemy Hero's mana to zero, while Impale is a good setup for trilane ganks and, at the same time, a nice initiation tool for the mid game if used correctly. Spiked Carapace works as an escape mechanism while Vendetta can be used for both escaping and setting up easy kills, especially with the help of an ally. As Impale can't directly target enemies, you need to predict the enemy movement a bit.
Null Field
Rubick is usually picked to counter some Heroes with big teamfight ultimates such as Magnus or Puck, but his usefulness goes beyond his Spell Steal: Telekinesis is an awesome setup for Heroes like Leshrac, Lina or Jakiro and can be used to drag the enemy in the low ground, very useful especially if you plan on ganking the mid lane. Fade Bolt is both a nuke and a counterpush tool which can also be used to reduce the enemy DPS thanks to his passive effect while the Null Field, even though it doesn't seem so useful, plays an important role against big nukers like Zeus, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit or, again, Puck.
Soul Catcher
Shadow Demon istantly pops off my mind: not only his Disruption is the best setup for AoE stuns, his Soul Catcher even amplifies the damage he deals to the enemies! Shadow Poison is also a decent scouting tool and can be stacked on the enemies before starting a fight while the Demonic Purge, coupled with Disruption, makes you able to mess up with the positioning of two enemies in the same teamfight. Always pick Lina, Leshrac, Jakiro or even Kunkka when you have a Shadow Demon in your team, or you won't use him at his maximum potential.
Skywrath Mage is not a common pick at all, but he counters many squishy Heroes that rely on their skills to escape, Weaver being on top of the list: Ancient Seal silences for a pretty big amount of time, during which you can spam your Arcane Bolt and deal as much damage as possible. As soon as you reach level 6, ganks become a lot easier: provided your support partner has a stun or disable, the Ancient Seal plus Mystic Flare combo deals a lot of burst damage. Also, many people overlook the Concussive Shot because you usually level it up last, but even at level 1 its slow, which doesn't scale anyway, is huge.
Treant Protector can actually do what no-one else does: he wins lanes from the other side of the map. His Living Armor, spammed on the mid or off-laner, makes them almost immune to the enemy for the whole duration, during which they can harass or last-hit freely. Also, the Armor seems almost overpowered when you use it on a friendly Hero that is tower diving, since the tower will deal little to no damage to him. Leech Seed is an interesting hybrid nuke/slow/heal that works well even in teamfights (and particularly when you're invisible with Nature's Guise), while Overgrowth is an excellent setup for other big teamfight ultimates such as Reverse Polarity, Scream of Pain, Dream Coil or Call Down. Nature's Guise is definitely overestimated in pubs: it's not that bad, but wasting time on hiding teammates when they're near trees is definitely less handy than using a Smoke of Deceit. Still, you can make surprise ganks/initiations if you use it on yourself and, hopefully, win fights. Just don't rely too much on it or you'll spend a lot of time invisible doing nothing.
Vengeful Spirit seems too good not to be popular: a long range high-damage stun, a scouting tool that reduces armor, a BKB-piercing ultimate and initiation tool and the Vengeance Aura. Actually, she's very situational: her Magic Missile is awesome, but there are many disables that work as good as it (Impale, Earth Spike, Ice Path, all the setups...) and, as a pushing Hero, there are better choices such as Leshrac, Visage or, talking about mid laners, Beastmaster. Still, she works wonders as a roamer and her focus on physical damage makes her a perfect candidate for a Medallion of Courage and for early Rosh attempts. You can use the Nether Swap as a pseudo-Flaming Lasso or Meat Hook, and can sometimes save your teammates' lives, but unless your team is focused on pushing and reducing armor (which is still a good strategy, huh) you should pick something else. I still like her skill setup though, if you're not experienced as a trilane support player she's a very good Hero to start roaming with, considering that her Wave of Terror gives vision too.
Venomancer is a very strong support Hero because of his versatility: even though he can't be more than a support, his skillset make him good in a variety of situations, from ganking to counterpushing and teamfighting. Venomous Gale is hands down the best level 1 disable in the game (even though it doesn't deal damage), while Poison Sting is really consistent and adds up when spotting and chasing an enemy Hero. The Plague Wards tend to be weak before level 5 since they mostly feed gold to the enemy team, but since they're so good at defending and scouting (and also cost a minimal amount of mana) they should be maxed out at level 7; plus, considering your current level of Poison Sting is linked to the wards, you might want to max it second. Sometimes, though, getting more points of your slow helps in dealing the killing blow to the enemies hit by Poison Nova, since it deals non-lethal damage. Talking about this ability, don't underestimate it since it's very noticeable in prolonged fights and is really painful for supports! It doesn't deal much damage at level 6, but it's still too good not to be taken at the standard levels.
Visage is what you're looking for: Soul Assumption is his main source of damage and should be maxed out by level 7 as the damage increase is awesome, while Grave Chill works very well as a slow and can be occasionally used as an escape mechanism as it also gives you more movement speed. Gravekeeper's Cloak makes you almost immune to spells like Laguna Blade or Finger of Death (unless the enemies throw something else before them), but the real overpowered feature of this Hero is his ultimate, Summon Familiars: if used incorrectly this gives free gold to the enemies and leaves you with little mana every time you summon them but, in the right hands, the Familiars not only push very efficiently and can be used to farm jungle camps and help in killing Heroes, but are also a valid form of AoE chainstun in teamfights. If you are a good observer, you should've realized that the item build is weird: the Medallion helps a lot since the Familiars deal physical damage and can also be used to fight Rosh, while Agh's makes you a true tank and adds a third Familiar (and a potential third stun) to your arsenal; some teams prefer Treads over plain Boots, but the majority of players think they delay the Scepter too much and should be picked after it, unless your team's losing. Some teams like playing Visage in the safe lane getting solo farm from the creep pulling camp and letting him reach level 6 as soon as possible, but playing him as an aggressive support is way easier since you don't have to worry about your farm and experience too much.
Alchemist has recently become quite popular as he's very versatile: his normal mid-game skill build focuses on maxing-out Unstable Concoction first and gank with your 12-minute Shadow Blade, while the free farming one either means going for a Hand of Midas and a maxed-out Greevil's Greed or getting spare points in Concoction and Acid Spray to push, farm the jungle and, when needed, gank with your big stun. This Hero is mainly played with the Shadow Blade, but early Radiance attemps have been tried too, especially against Heroes that rely on a Blink Dagger to land teamfight ultimates such as Magnus. Other common extensions are the Armlet of Mordiggian (since his ultimate gives so much HP regen that you don't lose health with it) and the Maelstrom. Always get a BKB, especially in this teamfight-oriented meta. Consider delaying the Abyssal Blade if you're up against a Hero with evasion or a Butterfly-carrier.
Spell Shield
Anti-Mage, is still a popular pick in the current meta: if the trilane can afford enough time to let him farm, a Hero with Battle Fury and Manta Style at 25 minutes that split pushes everywhere and can always escape thanks to his Blink will always be a big threat. When you're farming with Anti-Mage, remember to put at least 2 stat points instead of levelling up your skills: you should max-out your Blink as soon as you get your Battle Fury (level 9-10), your Mana Break when you get Manta Style (level 13-15) and your Spell Shield whenever you want, depending on the enemy team composition. When teamfighting always jump in after the initiation occurs, so that you can either take advantage of that if the initiation is from your team or counter-initiate if the enemies did the first move; remember also that Mana Void deals AoE damage: if the enemies are all grouped up, target the one you attacked the most and see the enemy health drop. Always remember the #1 rule when picking this hero: the less stuns the enemies have, the more AM is effective.
Chaos Bolt has a relatively long range and stuns for a big amount of time; Reality Rift pulls the enemy towards you for when you succesfully stun someone and even adds damage to your next attack! Phantasm is an interesting ultimate that works wonders especially if you turn your Armlet on before summoning the illusions; remember not to skill this ability before level 10 because it would be useless and you don't have enough mana to sustain it. Chaos Strike scales well into late game and adds just few damage early on, so don't put points in it before maxing out the other two non-ultimate spells. If your team doesn't have a Wisp, consider picking this Hero only if the other mid-game carries (Gyro, Lifestealer, Alchemist...) are all banned and you need someone who doesn't require a lot of farm, while at the same time the enemies don't have much AoE.
Backtrack
Faceless Void is still a decent option when you have a free farming lane but you need to have a lot of global spells and teamfight ultimates in your arsenal: a mixture of Thundergod's Wrath, Nature's Wrath, Ice Blast, Call Down, Scream of Pain, Ravage, Static Storm, Pulse Nova, Macropyre, Sanity's Eclipse, Tombstone and stuff like that makes a Chronosphere possibly the best initiation tool of the game. Time Walk is another very useful ability: it makes you able to escape, initiate fights, chase and gank from nowhere, plus it grants flash farm in the jungle and lets you jump from the Radiant hard camp to the Dire ancient camp and vice versa. Backtrack and Time Lock are two defense and damage steroids that scale into late game and provide an early edge of advantage (have you ever had lucky Backtracks or a Time Lock hit that stunned the enemy long enough to get him killed? I'm sure you had!), plus the already high autoattack damage from this Hero makes early farming a piece of cake even without a Quelling Blade. I strongly recommend trying this Hero in a teamfight-oriented team, especially with global spells as said before.
Gyrocopter is arguably the best carry in the current meta: when played in trilanes his Rocket Barrage consumes almost no mana and deals a ton of damage; Homing Missile is a bit useless though, one point on it until level 23 is enough as the enemies can easily destroy the rocket. Flak Cannon is still good even though it has been nerfed, it's also perfect for farming the ancient camp you should have stacked with the Helm of the Dominator. Talking about teamfights, Flak plus Barrage plus Call Down deal huge AoE damage: they are enough to kill all the supports and leave little health to the enemy carry, unless the enemies counter-initiate or initiate first.
Juggernaut: he's recently being played as a mid laner with Drums and Agh's, but his killing potential in aggressive trilanes is huge as always. Blade Fury can easily kill any enemy and only needs one setup stun: it even grants magic immunity so you can't be stopped! Healing Ward is arguably the best skill for pushing because it keeps the momentum going and stops counterpush attempts, so it should be maxed out by level 9 or 10; Blade Dance is awesome but needs a few damage items in order to be effective, that's why you max it after the other abilities. Omnislash is an amazing initiation tool and deals huge damage the less targets there are, so never use it when enemy creeps are nearby! Remember though that Ghost Scepters, Force Staffs and any forms of invisibility stop it istantly, so be careful.
Ghost Ship
Kunkka is only played in aggressive trilanes: he's been very effective so far, especially with Shadow Demon and Keeper of the Light in the same lane. His Torrent is an excellent spell if used after a setup disable, Shadow Demon's Disruption in particular, and if the other support can follow up with either another disable or big nukes, then you're going to have a good time in the hard lane. Tidebringer will annoy the hell out of the enemy carry and make their health drop; X Marks the Spot can be used when the laning phase has already ended as a self-setup for the Torrent or a counter to Town Portal Scrolls. His ultimate, Ghost Ship, is a bit tricky to land but offers amazing results in big teamfights, especially because the AoE stun goes through Black King Bar. As opposed to what the majority of players believe, a quick Shadow Blade is not recommended: building survivability on such a Hero is better than going for quick damage because the more time he stays into the fight the more Tidebringers he can hit; his low HP regen and poor INT gain also make Urn and Drums very appealing.
Lifestealer: most of his power comes from Rage, a skill that makes you magic immune and increases your DPS, too; he can also lifesteal thanks to Feast and initiate ganks with Open Wounds, a very useful ability even after the big nerf. Don't forget about Infest, too: when infesting an allied Hero that can jump into the fight (Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Storm Spirit, Puck, Queen of Pain...), good initiations are ensured! You can also use this skill to hide from the enemy when you get caught or just replenish you health after/during a teamfight by infesting and quickly consuming a creep. If you're wondering about the item progression, depending on the situation Sange and Yasha can be substituted with Orchid Malevolence (against slippery carries like Weaver or annoying initiators like Storm Spirit), Desolator (when you are fed and just want to 2-shot supports or you want to push faster) or Skull Basher (when you need to stop the enemy carry), since SnY should only be picked when your damage is already high and you need something to chase better, as the damage increase is minimal. Always remember that Lifestealer is a very adaptable Hero, and so is his post-core item build.
RabidSynergy
Lone Druid's Bear gives a lot of money on death he is commonly babysat in the safe lane with two supports: as soon as you max-out your Summon Spirit Bear ability, pushing towers with Rabid and 
Battle Cry (a subskill while in True Form) will be very easy even without items, especially with full points in Synergy. Also, always remember to give the damage items to the Bear! Provided your first skill is off cooldown, you can send it to push towers without any risks but a little amount of damage if the Bear dies. Also, a pretty unhortodox but effective strategy is to buy two Skull Bashers (one on the Bear and one on the Druid) to fight an unkillable carry: by doing so, the entangles (from the Bear) and bashes will most likely get them killed if you manage to get within melee range with the Druid, too. Another very common item is Radiance: get it on the Bear if you can afford it by ~25 minutes, so that you can split push simply by sending the Bear with the aura on the lane you want to push.
Moon Glaive
Luna was a very popular carry in early 2013, when AoE autoattacks and teamfight ultimates were very popular. After a year or so, when the 6.79 patch came out people started picking Her again: even though se has low HP eraly on, her Lucent Beam has enormous range and deals a good amount of damage, while Lunar Blessing helps in last-hitting better and adds damage to the whole team; Eclipse, if used with no enemy creeps nearby, deals a lot of damage and is a perfect follow-up for initiations like Puck's Dream Coil, Disruptor's Kinetic Field or Treant Protector's Overgrowth. Moon Glaive is very noticeable in teamfights and helps in killing the ancient camps a support should've stacked; feel free to pick a Helm of the Dominator if you want to stack them by yourself.
Adaptive StrikeMorph Agility GainReplicate
Morphling still has the power to become a good carry, but he needs early farm in order to be effective: about the item build, going Boots of Speed into Linken's Sphere is very common if you're free farming, but the Ethereal Blade is definitely a priority if you want a higher impact in the mid game. Talking about his skills, Waveform and Morph Agility Gain must be maxed out by level 8-9 since the former is a very powerful AoE nuke and mobility tool while the latter not only makes you able to increase your agility or strength but also adds stats the more points you put in it. Replicate is a very underestimated skill in pubs which can be used to do many things: have a free teleport to the lane right after you TP to base, stack ancients and then teleport to them, use it as an escape mechanism or bait in teamfights and so on. Adaptive Strike is just a common nuke that should be used to one-shot enemies right after the Ethereal Blade active (this strategy is usually called "shotgun Morph") and, if that isn't enough, finish them with Waveform! Also, remember that all of his skills can be used as an escape mechanism: Waveform can help you escape on the high ground, Adaptive Strike can stun an enemy chaser, Morph Agility Gain makes you super tanky and impossible to kill and Replicate is, of course, an easy way to quit a teamfight.
Doppelwalk
Phantom Edge
Phantom Lancer is too strong, after his period of popularity this Hero disappeared. Still, as long as your farm in the first 15 minutes goes well, an army of pushing PLs with Drum of Endurance and Diffusal blade is very difficult to stop, especially when playing in a pushing-oriented team; the real problem, now, is having sustainability without Tranquil Boots: some players like getting a Ring of Health, others prefer a Morbid Mask and others also take a full Vanguard instead of the Drums. Maxing out Spirit Lance is your main priority since the nuke damage is pretty high, while one level of Doppelwalk, even though it costs a lot of mana, is enough until level 12; having early levels of Juxtapose makes your pushes very difficult to stop and Phantom Edge improves your pushing power even more and adds some needed magic resistance. As soon as you get the Heart of Tarrasque you'll be a dangerous threat for everyone: considering that your illusions will be very tanky you can simply farm and send them to push the lane with good results and a higher gold income. Probably, he's currently not popular because of Gyrocopter and some other Heroes who could deal with him and farm faster (Anti-Mage and Alchemist, mainly), while at the same time his laning phase is easy to stop.
Spectre is probably the hard carry with the least impact in the early game: her Spectral Dagger consumes too much mana and deals little damage, while the other skills don't help in killing unless the enemy is alone. On the other side, the Dagger is a valid escape mechanism and, like Void's Backtrack, can be used to reach the Dire ancient camp from the Radiant jungle when farming. A very handy thing about Spectre is that her ultimate, Haunt, is perfect for jumping into teamfights: you can let your team force a fight when you're farming on your own then, as soon as they encounter the enemies, pop your ultimate, jump in and get as many kills as possible. Desolate is so good that many players prefer maxing it even before the Dagger, while Dispersion is one of the most dangerous skills for melee Heroes especially after you finish the Heart of Tarrasque. Some players still try to rush a Radiance and it's a nice strategy but, unless you're sure you will have enough free farm to do so, don't try to do that: you will be going to split push and will use Haunt in a defensive way many times, leaving you without a very powerful initiation when teamfights occur and, unless the split push and flash farm show their results, lose them.
Grow!
Tiny is a very powerful one: he's not very popular because he needs as much gold as Anti-Mage but farms a lot more slowly, but when he gets his items he's really threatening. As soon as you get an Aghanim's Scepter pushing towers will be super easy; you can even use Toss to give the final hit. When you get Yasha and Crystalys, components of the bigger items, your already high damage will receive huge improvements for a relatively cheap price and you will be able to hit like a truck! A Drum of Endurance gives you enough mid-game presence to be able to solo kill Heroes with Avalanche plus Toss (always use Avalanche first!) and Phase Boots, coupled with the movement speed increase of Drums and Yasha plus your third level of Grow!, will give you close to max movement speed. Do the enemies have a super strong carry? As long as they don't have a Black King Bar, your Craggy Exterior will automatically stun them giving you a higher chance to win.
Weaver is a decent Hero who can deal with some of the most annoying carries: his Shukuchi makes him able to escape from dangerous situations and, at the same time, lets him kite some of the most dangerous close-range carries like Lifestealer, who is directly countered by Weaver. He also has plenty of armor-reducing potential since The Swarm can target multiple Heroes and stacks with Desolator or Assault Cuirass and he's almost immune to Dust since his ultimate, Time Lapse, can be used to remove all the debuffs on him. Lastly, Geminate Attack improves his damage even more and can help in dealing the killing blow. Remember that orbs do stack with it, but only the first autoattack will be affected by the orb.
Boots of Speed should be your favourite choice of Boots because of their cheap price: if your Hero doesn't need mana from the Arcanes, keep your naked boots and maybe upgrade them when (and if) you reach the late stages of the game. Remember that a support is always in need of gold because of Wards, Gems, Smoke and stuff like that, so save as much money as you can! The movement speed given by the Boots of Speed is enough. Arcane Boots are a very common choice on non-INT Heroes and on supports that usually spam spells or simply waste a lot of mana when casting abilities: Nyx Assassin and Rubick are the most common examples. The first one always needs mana because of his slow mana pool, the second one wastes a lot of mana points even though is an Intelligence Hero. Supports like Leshrac and Skywrath Mage, who spam a lot, benefit from them too and can't live without a costant supply of mana. Phase Boots are a very rare choice, as most support players that don't need mana tend to keep their Boots of Speed as said before. Still, they're pretty decent for Crystal Maiden, who needs the mobility from the Boots as her movement speed is pitful, and can help a lot those Heroes that either roam very effectively or need to have perfect positioning for their abilities: Vengeful Spirit and Abaddon are good examples. Tranquil Boots became much more common after the rework and can be picked on ganking supports that benefit a lot from the movement speed to land long-range disables (Lion, Crystal Maiden...). You can no longer disassemble them to finish your Headdress or Force Staff and keep the Boots of Speed for the rest of the match, but they should be good enough at all stages of the game anyway since their movement speed (when not broken) is the highest in the game.
Bracer: health points, mana and armor all for a mere 525 gold; even if the stats increase doesn't seem much it really does its job when your team's losing. A common strategy used by almost every high level support is to stack Bracers if your team is losing hard: as long as you buy Wards and Bracers, you can be helpful and feed less than usual.
Dust of Appearance is very helpful: now that it reduces the movement speed of your targets too, chasing Shadow Blade carriers or Heroes like Bounty Hunter and Riki becomes super easy; against Heroes like Nyx Assassin and Clinkz, though, Sentry Wards are better until you get enough money for a Gem of True Sight. Always carry some Dust with you when your team can't kill a particulat Hero because of their invisibility.
Magic Wand is one of the best items for a support: its low price and cheap components make it very easy to build and, as it gives both stats and a reliable source of burst mana and HP, nobody should ever forget about it (especially because a lot of times you would start with Iron Branches which can be used to build the Wand). The only Heroes who could skip it are those supports that usually build a Mekansm, but a Magic Stick is still suggested for them.
and, depending on the situation, every support
Medallion of Courage makes Roshan kills much quicker which mean more experience and gold for your team. If this is the case, don't be afraid to buy it even on Heroes like Nyx Assassin or Rubick and make every armor reduction debuff count in teamfights, too: when the BKB immunity of the enemy carry finishes reduce their armor and do your best to ensure the kill. Otherwise you can use the active ability to make ganks easier, especially when helping Heroes with skills that rely on physical damage like Nyx Assassin's Vendetta or Templar Assassin's Meld.
Mekansm will be much less powerful in early-mid teamfights, so never forget to buy it.
Smoke of Deceit is a very underrated item in pubs: it looks like a waste of gold but, if you think about it, 100 gold isn't much and, as that could be the only way to make a gank possible, the gold gained by a succesful gank is more than enough to make it worth its price. When you activate your Smoke always be sure not to be spotted by an enemy Observer Ward: if that is the case, smart players will play very conservatively for two minutes making you waste your gold; for the same reason don't pick up runes while you're smoked, as a nearby Ward is enough for a careful player to guess what's happening. High level players use this item a lot for ganking the mid laner early on, especially when that Hero is crucial for the strategy of the enemy team; the Smoke of Deceit is also used in the mid-late game for either ganking with a Hero that can easily pick off targets and force a fight (Batrider mainly), making something happen with a five-men Smoke when your team's losing or backdooring when the enemies don't expect it.
Urn of Shadows is one of the most common items for supports: two Gauntlets of Strength give as much survivability as a Bracer and the Sage's Mask helps a lot of Heroes who tend to spam spells or simply have a small mana pool, especially Leshrac and Shadow Demon. Other Heroes get this item because of their ganking potential (Io and Nyx Assassin being on top of the list), but the main purpose of the Urn doesn't change: its heal is very noticeable in the early-mid game and creeps can't stop it, and if you accumulate charges it can still be helpful when you reach the late game.
Observer Wards should be bought any time they're off cooldown and should be placed in different positions depending on the number of towers that are still up and on your strategy: placing one that covers a rune spot is always manadatory for the first 6 minutes at least; putting one on the high ground of the mid lane is very helpful against Heroes who tend to spam their long range nukes or have dangerous abilities like Magnus and Pudge. As you start picking towers you should place them in different positions for ganing the highest advantage you can. Another common strategy is to place one that blocks the creep pull camp when playing in an aggressive trilane, since it would deny a lot of experience which is already split in 3 Heroes. Sentry Wards should be bought every game, it doesn't matter if the enemies are using invisible Heroes or not: of course you will need them for countering those wards that block your creep pulling camp, but they're also vital for dewarding. Dewarding, especially when the game has just started, gives you a lot of advantage as it makes your enemies waste Wards until they're out of stock: always remember to try to deward before fighting Roshan, or the enemies will probably spot you.
Manta Style is a very common items on some AGI carries: it's essential for Anti-Mage, Juggernaut, Luna, Phantom Lancer and Tiny and is a nice post-core item for Chaos Knight, Naga Siren, Spectre and Weaver. But sometimes you'll have to build it even on STR Heroes: if the enemies have a persistent silence or damage-over-time ability that always gets you killed, as the active from Manta Style purges all the debuffs (including Dust of Appearance and silence but not the disarm) don't be afraid to buy it on Lifestealer or Alchemist. Never get it on Heroes with hit-based damage like Gyrocopter (Flak Cannon) or Ember Spirit (Sleight of Fist): if you need more early damage because you got fed go for a Shadow Blade instead. Butterfly is a late-game item for any AGI Hero: generally, you want to buy this item as soon as you finish your core (including a possible Heart of Tarrasque) and if the enemies don't have a Hero with evasion so you don't need a Monkey King Bar. Don't buy it on STR carries, it's a stupid idea. Monkey King Bar is generally the other post-core item you should always be looking for: if one of the enemies is already building an item that gives evasion, forget about your Butterfly (if you're an AGI Hero) and go for a straight MKB. The mini-stuns are also useful for stopping channelling abilities, including TP scrolls. Diffusal Blade is a good pickup only on specific Heroes: they usually have illusions that benefit a lot from its mana drain (Phantom Lancer) or just focus on solo ganking (Riki). Don't forget to buy its recipe two times, so that the stats increase and mana burn are higher. Abyssal Blade is a pretty situational item but, since all the STR carries are melee, they usually buy it or even keep the Skull Basher without upgrading it; it's also useful for Anti-Mage and other AGI Heroes with no crowd control abilities. If it looks like you can't stop the enemy carry, prioritize this item over stuff like Butterfly. Shadow Blade is a very situational pickup on the majority of Heroes: aside from being core on Alchemist, many players that get fed early on opt for an SB on Heroes like Gyrocopter and Juggernaut who, when getting very close to the enemy, can kill them in a matter of seconds. Still, if you can't get it by ~12 minutes you should skip it. Daedalus, Desolator, Sange and Yasha and 
Orchid Malevolence are some semi-common carry items: they are either situational or a sixth-pick (which means you usually sell your farming item for buying them) item. The Desolator can be useful if you're fed and want to push better and kill supports in two hits, the Orchid Malevolence is very uncommon but does its job against dangerous teamfighters like Magnus or Heroes difficult to kill such as Puck and Weaver and Sange and Yasha are the best chasing tools of the game, even though they give little to no improvements to your damage. Daedalus is simply a super-late game item or a pickup for those Heroes that deal cleave damage like Kunkka and Battle Fury-holders.
and, situationally,
Battle Fury: 16-17 minutes or below on
and, situationally,
Radiance: 22 minutes on
and, situationally,
Hand of Midas: 8 minutes or below on, situationally,
Maelstrom, on the contrary, is no longer used to farm: it was quite popular on Nature's Prophet and Alchemist too, but people realized that, unless you have to deal AoE damage for killing illusions, a Hand of Midas is always better. Still, it can be a fist pick on Alchemist if below 12 minutes. Battle Fury you can still manage to buy it in, let's say, 18 minutes and make good use of it. This applies to the Radiance too, but not to the Hand of Midas.
and, situationally,
Black King Bar is the first big pickup for a lot of carries: since the current meta is focused on teamfights, having a carry that gets instantly nuked down or chainstunned is useless; so, unless your team's carry has to build tanky items like Phantom Lancer and Spectre, it should never be skipped. Remember, though, that a lot of spells go through BKB! That's why Bane is a top tier support: his Fiend's Grip, along with Black Hole, Overgrowth, Primal Roar, Reverse Polarity and some other uncommon spells, still disables the target even though it doesn't deal damage. When building a Black King Bar always start from the Ogre Club: survivability is more useful than damage early on.
Drum of Endurance deserves a special mention for being the most used item: as it's made from cheap components and comes with an aura, an active ability and more movement and attack speed, it's really worth its price. Especially on Heroes that need early advantage or want a survivability item before going for big items, the Drums are a perfect choice: they cost a lot less than a Vanguard and work as an offensive item too, since the active ability is even better than the damage block! Never underestimate or skip this item.
Helm of the Dominator, you always do so to make a tri or quad stack and farm it with an AoE autoattack item/ability (Battle Fury, Flak Cannon, Moon Glaive...) as the lifesteal is minimal early on. The survivability given by the Helm of Iron Will is quite nice and the lifesteal will be very useful after you buy some damage items; remember that it's also a component for the Satanic, so never sell it.
Magic Wands are very effective: obviously buy them as soon as possible when playing a trilane vs trilane matchup and, if playing 3vs1, don't be afraid to get a Wand if the off-laner tends to spam abilities or if you're going to force early teamfights, especially on Heroes like Gyrocopter or Lifestealer. If you're playing an afk farming Hero like Morphling a Magic Stick is usually enough until you complete your first big item, after which you either sell it or complete the Magic Wand.
Ring of Basilius is always mandatory for aggressive trilanes as 500 gold is a very cheap price for such an aura; the Ring of Aquila is more like player's preference: some players like buying it and some others think it's a waste of gold. The Ring of Basilius is a very common first item for carries such as Gyrocopter, Luna, Phantom Lancer and Weaver; the Ring of Aquila is used a lot on Morphling and Naga Siren but is built on Gyrocopter, Luna and Weaver quite often, too.
Gold
Observer Wards and a pair of Boots of Speed are usually enough for the first 10-15 minutes; for the rest of the early game you can get gold by ganking or, theoretically speaking, investing in Sentry Wards for destroying enemy Observer Wards.
Experience
Items
Boots of Speed and Observer Wards; of course items like Magic Wand and Bracer are very useful, but as long as you ward and are active in ganks or teamfights you're already doing more than enough. Usually, supports get their Arcane Boots or plain Boots + Urn/Buckler by 10-15 minutes; a complete Mekansm is expected to be completed by not less than 20-25 minutes. Just remember that Wards and TP Scrolls are more important than any other item for your team, so prioritize them.
Gyrocopter - Nyx Assassin - Shadow Demon lineup you'd better aim for kills and come from behind while Gyro is farming; on the other side, if you are playing a Spectre - Treant Protector - Keeper of the Light trilane being able to push the off-laner away from the creep wave is fundamental for letting Spectre get enough early farm to afford a quick Radiance or Drums + Diffusal.
Town Portal Scroll and go to roam when your team's carry is farming safely.| If you still don't understand well the concept of trilane support, watch some matches from high level tournaments: they teach you a lot of things. For example, always stay behind the trees and not in the lane when supporting, so that the enemy doesn't know wether you're right near the carry or behind the trees to perform a kill attempt. Remember also that trilane gank attempts are worth more than splitting the carry's experience in three: a good amount of experience and gold can be got by creep pulling, the rest comes with succesful ganks, tower pushes or teleports to defend other lanes. |
|
 |
You don't have to be extremely far from the creep experience range to zone out the enemy laner: harassing them with two supports in lane will surely make them run back to their tower and stay there until the next enemy creep wave comes, so that you can stack and pull the creep camps right after you push the off-laner back. Or, alternatively, you can try to come from behind and attempt a level 1 kill: this is a very common maneuver in low-level captains mode matches, and I can assure you it always works with two supports with very strong level 1 skills. Especially when you get a lucky rune, level 1 first bloods should be always tried. |
| Still, since not everyone is so dumb they purposely get in the middle of a trilane, knowing how to zone out is very useful and, if done at the right moment (for example when the off-laner's TP Scroll is either on cooldown or too expensive for them, so they have to come back in the lane on foot) can open several options for the supports: smoke ganking the mid lane and warding/dewarding are very common things a support can do in these situations; pushing the lane to get early gold and experience is also nice if the carry is already level 5-6. |
|
Observer Ward in the enemy off-lane) and catch the enemy between the supports and the carry. Unless they have a major escape mechanism (invisibility and you have no detection, cogs, blinks/jumps between the trees...), they are 100% dead; you can still kill them before they manage to escape with their skills, too.
|
Never single pull A lot of pub supports mistakenly pull a non-stacked camp to get quick experience and don't interfer too much with the safe lane: in fact, single pulling is bad for both the support(s) and the carry. A non-stacked camp has, of course, less neutral creeps than a double stacked one, so supports get less gold and experience; plus, as just one or two friendly creeps get killed, the remaining ones do go back into the lane and, when they reach the enemy creeps, another friendly creep wave is close to them and will reach the enemies before the "halved" friendly creep wave ends: this means that the lane will get pushed and, as the friendly creeps will probably reach the enemy tower, it grants safe farm for the enemy laner(s). So, basically, single pulling benefits the enemy a lot more than your own team. |
|
|
Checking if the creep pulling camp is blocked If you expect the enemy to play an aggressive trilane, always be ready with a set of Sentry Wards at the beginning of the match: not having a creep pulling camp means relying on roaming to get farm or, alternatively, splitting the carry's experience in three; if the creeps in the pulling camp don't spawn at 0:30, you can place a Ward for a miserable amount of gold (100) and deny 75 gold (the price of an Observer Ward) to the enemy, remove the vision they have in your jungle and get easy gold and levels from neutrals. The other Sentry Ward can be used to either deward near a rune spot or reveal invisible Heroes, especially if they're off-laning against your trilane. |
|
|
Double stacking Every support has to know how to double stack if they want to play in a trilane: as said before, single pulls are useless, so always try to double or even triple stack a camp if you have enough time to do so. Stacking a camp is very easy, especially if you're a ranged Hero: your job is to draw the creep aggro of the pulling camp at X:53, then run away and make the creeps follow you; when they go back to their camp a new set of creeps should have spawned. You can double stack any camp, from jungle creeps to ancient camps, but it's a bit more difficult for the small jungle camp. |
|
|
Pulling a stacked camp Creep pulls are very easy to make, too: stay near the creep camp, wait for X:16 or X:46 and draw the creep aggro: when they're following you, run into your lane so that the friendly creeps start to hit the neutral ones; sometimes, if you pull too later, you have to body block the friendly creeps. When the friendly creeps get into the neutral camp, you can freely hit the neutrals and time your autoattacks so you get some last-hits and gold: remember that all the friendly creeps have to get killed, so don't destroy the neutrals before they finish their job (most of the time you can "re-use" a camp without stacking it, too). Usually, in the Dire side the friendly creeps come a second earlier (X:16, X:46) than in the Radiant side (about X:17, X:47), but pulling at X:16 and X:46 should always work. Nowadays this kind of pull is no longer reliable since the pulling camp is a small one: think about pulling through even if you have a double stacked camp that usually works (for example if you have at least one stack with Ghosts or Kobolds). |
|
|
Double pulling single camps (AKA pulling through) The double pulling is a difficult maneuver to perform and requires some knowledge of the neutral creeps: it all comes with experience. People usually do this if they don't have time to stack the camp. What you should do is eat a tree with a  Tango or  Quelling Blade if you're in the Radiant side, so that the creeps in the pulling camp can reach the ones in the medium camp right above it and vice versa (you don't have to do so if you're Dire, as you have to pull the hard camp to the creep pulling camp), then single pull and let the friendly creeps get in the small camp. Now, things can go either good or wrong according to your timing: you usually want to wait until the health of the creeps in the small camp is, summing it up, about 400 (there isn't a precise "time" on the clock, you have to watch the neutral creeps and their health), the draw the creep aggro of the medium (if you're Radiant) or hard (if you're Dire) camp and, if you need to, kill the last neutral creep of the pulling camp; now, your lane creeps should be following the neutrals from the other camp and you can safely finish them. If things go wrong and you miss the second pull (heck, that happens to high level players too!), it pushes your lane. But don't worry, you can still try again a minute later. |
|
Smoke of Deceit is a really useful item for granting good ganks to your team but, if used in a wrong way, it's just a waste of gold. Always remember to stay far from the common ward spots and to gank the other laner from behind or from the high ground. This screenshot shows the most common spots where players smoke (both from the Radiant and Dire side) and the place where competitive players set up their mid ganks:
Observer Wards at the beginning of the game and put one of them on one of the rune spots: being able to control runes for the first 10 minutes (so you need two wards at least) is crucial for your team's mid laner. Sentry Ward near Roshan should always reveal an enemy Ward or two. Also, when you see an enemy support walking to a common rune spot and then quickly go back, always assume they have placed a Ward and get some Sentries as soon as possible.
Battle Fury?), the extra creeps will be very handy for him. For the same reason, if you see a stacked camp in the enemy jungle try to steal it with your teammates. Flak Cannon, Moon Glaive, Battle Fury, 
Great Cleave...). Still, remember that the ancients are situated in very uncomfortable places (especially the Radiant ones, since wards on their hill are very common), so always keep an eye on your ancient camp and make sure the enemies won't steal them. Illuminate, 
Shadow Wave and the majority of AoE nukes ( Split Earth, Dragon Slave, Impale, Fade Bolt...) can be used to farm in the small camp getting little to no damage; other abilities like Frostbite and 
Cold Feet are able to temporarily disable the strong creep in the big camp and make you able to kill it (very useful to get a quick level 2).
Phantom Lancer made it through the first ban phase and they picked him, even a half-decent aggressive trilane will make them change their mind.
First of all, the main difference between the two trilanes is where they're set and what their aims are: safe trilanes are played in the safe lane and focus on letting the carry get all the farm, creep pulling and maybe smoke ganking; aggressive trilanes are played in the hard lane and are used to stop the enemy farm, let a solo laning Hero get farm 1vs1 in the safe lane and get some kills which lead to early pushes. This list should evidentiate all the differences:
Safe trilane
|
|
Aggressive trilane
|
When talking about aggressive trilanes, positioning is less important: in this case kills and damage on the enemy carry are more beneficial than solo experience for your trilane carry, but don't forget you can stay out of the lane if you have to block a pulling camp or ward somewhere. Usually, aggressive trilanes have one initiator ( Shadow Demon, Rubick, Earthshaker...) that stays far from the enemies but close enough to catch them when needed; another support that can chainstun the target ( Lina, Leshrac...) or nuke him down ( Keeper of the Light, Skywrath Mage...) and a carry who either has a slow/disable ( Lifestealer, 
Sven...) or a nuke ( Gyrocopter, Juggernaut...). Try different combinations to discover the one you like more!
Positioning is also important for doing different things: for example, you can sacrifice some extra harass on the enemy carry to body block the enemy creep pulling camp while your carry still gets his farm; or if the enemies have already pulled you can go there and disrupt their pull.
Staying behind the trees is a very useful tip when talking about aggressive trilanes, too: there are a couple of spots where the enemies can't almost see you; from there, you can use long-range abilities ( Illuminate, Fissure...) and scare the enemy trilane with your surprise initiations.
Tango, Quelling Blade or skills like Tether and 
Midnight Pulse to destroy the trees, then be ready to pull at a different time in comparison to the safe lane: usually, pulling at X:19 or X:49 should be the best time to make your lane creeps follow the neutrals.
Sentry Ward (since they're either hidden between trees or in uncomfortable places):
Sometimes, if you watched enough competitive games, you might have seen some teams going for a trilane made of tanky pushers (
Undying, 
Axe, Kunkka, Omniknight, 
Dark Seer) even without carries: when playing these kind of lanes your aim is to intercept the enemy creep wave putting yourself between the tier 1 and tier 2 towers, then killing the creep wave and make your own creep wave push the enemy tower while messing up with the carry's last hits and making creep pulls impossible; this is actually a strategy played for fun, always performed by teams who already have enough points in the tournament to afford a loss, but it's a really good way to confuse the opponents.
vs.
This matchup is a mixture of very common Heroes from the current meta: the Radiant trilane has a lot of killing potential but can do nothing against a Dark Seer, so they might opt to play an aggressive trilane since Clockwerk can be played 1vs1 and get a quick Mekansm to help the team early on. But still, since the enemy trilane has a Keeper of the Light and the Dark Seer would make the life of Clockwerk very difficult, they will probably head to the safe lane for obvious reasons. If the Dire captain would've picked something like a Jakiro, Lina or Vengeful Spirit instead of Keeper, since Lifestealer can become magic immune the Radiant trilane could've gone aggressive.
vs.
This time the Radiant team has obviously opted for a pushing strategy, with a mixture of nukes and initiation spells. The Dire side has a solid draft: a consistent carry, a support with a skill ( Living Armor) that can help Beastmaster who would surely be destroyed by Puck without it, two pushing auras that can help Phantom Lancer after level 11, a hybrid initiator/utility off-laner that is painful to deal with for both Juggernaut and Lone Druid's bear (since they're melee), an ultimate (
Primal Roar) that stops magic-immune targets and can be used to initiate together with 
Wall of Replica and/or Overgrowth. The real problem is the early game: Juggernaut, Rubick and Jakiro will most likely go for an aggressive trilane while lone Druid will solo farm bot and hopefully, with some lucky entangles by the Bear, get some free kills. So, the Dire trilane has to play very passively and protect their towers at all times: Treant Protector really shines at doing so, and he will be the main problem for the Radiant lineup. Lastly, if Rubick manages to steal one of the three initiation spells the Dire Heroes have, they will keep on winning teamfights and push towers with them, thus winning the game.
vs.
In this case, the Radiant team is going for a teamfighting strategy: as soon as Naga Siren pops her ultimate the other four Heroes can output a huge amount of damage with their own skills and, as Jakiro's Ice Path extends the disable even more, it's impossible to survive if you get caught out of position by the Song of the Siren. For this reason, the Dire team has two initiators ( Clockwerk and Storm Spirit) that mess up with the enemy positioning and can be used to catch lone enemies; Alchemist is a very tanky carry that should be able to survive the teamfight combo if BKBed. Talking about the trilanes, the Radiant Heroes synergize really well with each other and can get a lot of early kills. The main problem is the Shadow Demon + Lina combo: for this reason, Gyrocopter might prefer to get free farm against the Clockwerk and, even though Alchemist will probably outfarm him, big teamfights should win the game for them if Clock and Storm don't interfer.
vs.
Analyzing the Dire lineup, the team probably wants their Lifestealer to get a lot of farm in a small amount of time, so that he can outcarry the enemies and win the game; Magnus can use his 
Empower on N'aix and make wonderful plays with with well-placed initiations, while Bounty Hunter is there for getting extra gold from kills and surviving in the off-lane. On the Radiant side, the draft is so well-made that every Hero can escape from Lifestealer: Weaver can go invisible and can easily fight the enemy carry by kiting him, Bane has Nightmare and a Rage-piercing ultimate, Nyx Assassin can go inivisible too, Dragon Knight is super tanky and has a stun, Dark Seer can 
Surge away. Still, the only way to win against a farmed Lifestealer is to let Weaver get his space and put some pressure on the enemy safe lane, hence why the team has a Dark Seer who can make 
Ion Shells. Regarding the trilanes, in this case the Radiant team could either go to the safe lane or attempt an aggressive trilane: Weaver is difficult to catch and the other two supports are very good for initiating. From the Dire perspective, they would most likely go to the safe lane since the two supports are perfect for stopping the Dark Seer: as soon as he gets caught with Open Wounds and activates his Surge, both Rubick and Crystal Maiden can disable him for a pretty big amount of time.
vs.
Outworld Devourer
Ouch, this time the Radiant team had the possibility to pick Io! Normally, the team with Io is expected to easily win the game; in this case, though, the Dire team has a good mixture of teamfight disables and single-target initiations that can possibly make them win: a Chronosphere- Macropyre-
Sanity's Eclipse combo can destroy an entire team; Outworld Devourer can also one-shot Chaos Knight's illusions. But anyway, if CK gets enough farm early on and Io gets fast levels, their ganks will be very difficult to avoid and will make them win the game if Faceless Void doesn't have much early farm. What about the trilanes? In this case, they are both expected to play a safe trilane: Chaos Bolt and Cold Feet synergize very well while the Spirits can help in zoning out the off-laning Batrider if needed; from the Dire side, Jakiro and Rubick have better scaling into late game and can pull-off decent smoke ganks.
DOTAFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite DotA hero’s build and strategy.
Copyright © 2019 DOTAFire | All Rights Reserved
Quick Comment (12) View Comments
You need to log in before commenting.