Top 5 habits support players should remember in Dota 2

Dota 2 is a MOBA genre game. To ace gameplay, players must develop habits and patterns that are a must for players to master.

Since the game's inception, professional and casual players have invested countless hours in perfecting certain movesets and interactions. Such habits build the foundation of how a certain role or a hero is played in Dota 2.

While most interactions are commonly shared by both core and support players in Dota 2, some unique ones apply to support players. As per the Dota 2 community’s claims, support is one of the toughest roles to master for the grassroots level of players. So, having a few set markers to follow for new players who wish to become better as support players is a mast.

Support players must inculcate these habits while playing in Dota 2

5) Knowing when and where to commit during the laning phase

Knowing when and how to be aggressive and defensive during the laning phase in Dota 2 is a must-know factor. However, this takes a decent amount of game knowledge and hero interactions to understand the laning aggressions better.

While some heroes are good for aggression, others exist only to protect their core heroes, as most spells help them play defensively. Even with aggressive support heroes, the player must understand when their core heroes need the exact amount of aggression to harass the opponents away from the lane or secure a kill.

During the laning phase, another one of the most important jobs of a support hero is to block enemy pulling while maintaining the creep equilibrium of the lane by pulling themselves.

4) Sticking to a small pool of heroes

Dota 2 offers a variety of heroes, and in recent days, a majority of heroes can be played in support roles due to the flexibility of the current meta. However, it does not come as a wise decision as playing too many heroes on different occasions while starting to learn the game can altogether hamper a player's growth as they end up becoming “jack of all trades, master of none.”

It is always advisable to stick to a small poll of 3-4 heroes, which will make their playstyle stronger with those heroes and broaden their horizon in understanding the game mechanics, resulting in winning a lot more Dota 2 games.

3) Purchasing wards and keeping the vision in the crucial parts of the map

One of the main roles of a support player in Dota 2 is warding. Purchasing wards and knowing where to keep vision on the map is crucial. Among the lowest levels of Dota 2 matchmaking, players usually struggle to win games due to lack of vision in the map since support players fail to micromanage the game while remembering to purchase wards to give the necessary vision.

A big part of a Dota 2 game depends on where and which part of the map one’s team needs to control. It is the support’s duty to make sure that they place a ward in the surrounding areas to solidify their position. Failing to do so results in the enemy suddenly pouncing on their core heroes, which ultimately costs them the game.

2) Efficient use of Smoke of Deceit

One of the least used items among the lower tiers of Dota 2 is Smoke of Deceit. This item allows the affected members of one’s team to go invisible for a duration. The invisibility can neither be detected by observer nor sentry wards. It only breaks upon the end of duration or if the player affected by it comes near 900 units of an opponent hero or tower.

This item allows the players to catch the enemy off-guard and allows the team to gain some standing in a losing game. However, knowing when to use smoke is also an art. Realizing the correct time to smoke is one of the most important duties of a support player. Mastering this habit will eventually translate into winning a game of Dota 2.

1) Shot-calling abilities

Being a support player, the heroes do not remain busy the whole game farming for items. This allows the players some breathing room to understand their surroundings better and grip the situation. Due to that, the players can shot-call on what to do next.

Even in professional Dota 2 games, most if not all the captains of the professional teams are support players due to this reason exactly.

Other than all this, there are also some other aspects a support player must remember. For example, keeping an eye out on the mini map and going to teleport to help core heroes if they get ganked.