5 Costly Dota 2 Support Mistakes That Lose Games (And How to Fix Them)
Hello, Guys, Librarian Husky here. Are you tired of guides telling you to leave the base ASAP or pointing out the obvious stuff? In this article, we delve into the five biggest mistakes supports actually make and how to fix them for real.
Common Mistakes in Support Play
We won’t focus on the basics you already know but rather on the critical reasons you might be stuck, such as messing up priorities in lane, poor rotations, and autopiloting your spells and items. By addressing these five mistakes, you can enhance your gameplay and make a meaningful impact in your matches. Let’s start with the first one.
Wrong Priorities in the Laning Stage
Most supports in lower ranks are familiar with basic concepts like pulling the wave, blocking camps, and sharing regen with their core. However, they often overlook a crucial aspect – aggression. It’s common to see supports merely controlling camps from the side without engaging in auto-attacks on the enemy carry or utilizing their spells effectively.
On the other hand, some supports display aggression initially but run out of regen quickly, opting not to restock because they prioritize purchasing boots. Consequently, they retreat and remain passive behind their core. Another prevalent error is using spells for harassment in a manner that disrupts last hits for the core. While hitting two enemy heroes can be beneficial when pushing creeps into deny range, it’s essential to avoid hindering your core’s farm.
Additionally, refrain from excessively sticking to your core when it’s unnecessary. For instance, if your LC is dominating the lane and the enemy carry is struggling, give your core the opportunity to solo farm safely until level six before returning for a potential kill. To improve your priorities, consider experiencing both support and core roles in the lane you wish to focus on. By gaining insights into your lane partner’s challenges and effective strategies, you’ll enhance your gameplay. Playing a few games in different roles can significantly impact your understanding of positioning and role dynamics.
Staying Glued to Their Lane for Too Long
This aspect is closely linked to the first mistake. Around the five-minute mark, it’s crucial to start seeking opportunities to create a numerical advantage. A well-timed rotation from a support can greatly influence the outcome of a match. Furthermore, pay close attention to securing runes during the laning phase to gain additional advantages on the map.
Maximizing Early Game Impact
If your mid has a bottle, your default position at six and eight minutes should be at the rune, not in the lane, unless something important is happening there. A mid laner with the ultimate and a rune is one of your biggest early game power spikes. Do everything you can to abuse that. The snowball starts here. The way you will win these early fights is by abusing timings and numbers advantage, not by outclicking an enemy with your buttons. I mean, you can, but it’s way less efficient and the risk is higher. Be efficient.
To work on this, I suggest watching some high MMR replays of pro tracker or pro games and see how much their supports rotate. Try to set up your lane partner for success early on and then rotate away. You have to work on this. So don’t expect results to be slow, but this is absolutely crucial if you want to rank up.
Three, not playing around timings. This starts around six minutes as well. When your mid laner hits their power spike, usually their ultimate, you should play around that. Get a kill with them. Secure the rune. After that, you’ve got a window of two minutes where your mid can TP and help the sidelines with a rune. Effectively, you can play like you have three heroes on your lane. Always think about your team’s timings. Is it my mid laner’s ultimate? If you used it, perhaps your off laner just got theirs.
Or maybe you just hit level six and instead of doing anything useful, you’re farming for your next item. Use your timing first, then go back to farm. Don’t farm when you’re strong. Kill when you’re strong. After that, go hit creeps. That way, even if you get picked off, it’s one of the supports dying, not your whole team feeding. Dota is a game of efficiency. Dying as a support while playing aggressively after your team timing was used is often a good death. Just don’t die before you can use it.
To work on this, I suggest you keep an eye on your team’s ultimates and big power spikes like blinks on initiators.
Efficiency in Dota 2: Time Management and Decision Making
Keep in mind the enemies have timings too and they want to use them. So make sure you are ready to react if enemies are about to hit the timing. At some point it will come naturally and you won’t ever feel lost in a game anymore.
Four, not being efficient with your time. This builds on the last point. Always have a plan for the next minute. Let’s say it’s 19:20 and a tormentor will spawn in 40 seconds. Push bot lane. Force the enemy carry to TP there for farm, then connect with your team. That’s how you create pressure with planning. Rotating for the six-minute rune. Stack the triangle on the way.
Throwing a spell or just simply passing by gets you so much. No regen, but you just bought boots. TP to the base instead of walking. You will be out faster and have more options. Ganking mid, drop an obs and sentry too. Do multiple things at once. These are small habits, but over time they let you get more done per minute, and that’s what adds up.
This is a small clip of my game yesterday. We’re pushing high ground, but my ultimate is already over. I go to the mid lane to grab the wave. This stops any push attempts as well as gives you farm. In this game, this doesn’t matter anymore, but that’s another trick you can use for efficiency.
Five, autopiloting items, spells, and everything. This is one of the biggest issues. A lot of the players just press buttons or buy items without really thinking what’s happening in the game. And it starts from minute one. I reviewed a replay for Divine Five Ruby, who is now immortal, and he bought a magic stick versus sniper and augur.
Not terrible, but I would argue that buying it after the start with your first 200 gold is better. And your starting gold should go towards movement speed or stats as Auggre won’t cast spells on level one. Always ask, is this starting item really needed?
Importance of Decision-Making in Dota 2 Support Play
Is stick important or do you want a circlet for an urn rush? Or perhaps I start with a salve and trade a lot of HP early so my carry can farm better. Item choices should reflect what’s happening in the game. You wanted Orchid for co-op, but your mid crushed her and now she can’t fight for 15 minutes. Reconsider. You wanted Glimmer, but your team already has two invis heroes. Perhaps it’s not the best choice. Same for spell usage.
Maybe you’re playing Abaddon into Bat Rider or Bane. Your W becomes incredibly important. If you waste it too early, they get full value out of their spells. In that case, pre-cast it and hold it off cooldown. The Midame has tons of moving parts, but it boils down to simple awareness and decision-making.
And how to fix it? Just play the game more focused. If you want to climb MMR and not just have fun playing Dota with friends while clicking buttons, perhaps it’s better to play one game and don’t lose focus after the laning stage.
At some point, all the things will become way easier. And even if you don’t actively think about them, you will know every timing and answer to your problems. Just ask yourself simple questions and the answers will lead you to winning more games. I hope this guide will be useful for you. Just be honest with yourself. Don’t ever think that your cores are the problem. Try to find the things you can improve on and as the time passes, you will climb MMR despite the cores.
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