The Best Hard Supports In Dota 2

Hard support, also called position five, has the lowest priority of resources in Dota 2. These heroes will virtually have no items but are still expected to make an impact. Instead, hard supports strategize around the macro-game (playing the map), leading their team to victory using superior game knowledge and excellent decision-making.

At least, that’s the theory in coordinated stacks. In your average match, you’ll receive little appreciation for controlling vision, protecting and enabling cores, and stacking neutral camps for your carry. If supporting in a solo queue sounds like a fun challenge, it’s important to play hard supports who can get the job done.

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11/11 Enchantress
It’s almost impossible to trade with Enchantress in the lane. Impetus is a hard-hitting auto-attack modifier that deals more damage with distance. Enchant charms an enemy or neutral creep from the jungle, letting you use their abilities to harass opponents further. She can also roam to other lanes when she gets a unit like the Golem or Troll, which has a long-range disable.

Enchantress has a great impact when she gets a lead. She can build around Impetus with selfish items like Hurricane Pike and Assault Cuirass. Even if she does draw attention, it’s hard to take her down with her heal and ultimate.

10/11 Jakiro
Jakiro breathes searing flame and cold to damage and control their opponents. The twin-headed dragon is best against multiple opponents, as Dual Breathe and Macropyre burns enemies in a wide area. Additionally, Ice Path is one of the best crowd control abilities that can lock down targets several screens away.

Jakiro leads the team to push lanes and destroy towers with Liquid Fire. You’re a slow priority target, so you’ll want to provide support away from the action.

9/11 Dazzle
Dazzle is a shadow priest who keeps his team alive while dealing respectable damage. Shadow Wave is a mystical healing bolt that bounces to allies and damages nearby enemies. Dazzle’s signature ability, Shallow Grave, prevents his allies from dying during its duration.

Dazzle’s ultimate is a useful but subtle ability. Each time he casts a spell, his allies gain armor while his enemies lose some, and the effect stacks. The ability also has an active effect where you can release the stacks for burst healing and damage.

8/11 Winter Wyvern
As a hard support, Winter Wyvern is the best counter-initiating hero. Winter’s Curse excels when playing defensively to save her teammates, but she can also initiate fights when the enemy team is stacked together. What makes her ultimate a scary threat is that she can single-handedly eliminate a target without anything else.

Cold Embraces seals her teammates in an ice cocoon, preventing all physical damage. Heroes who rely on their auto-attack or use abilities with physical damage, like Razor’s ultimate. Additionally, Splinter Blast is an area-of-effect nuke that can clear creep waves from far away.

7/11 Witch Doctor
Witch Doctor is the king of supporting in an uncoordinated game. Paralyzing Cast is a bouncing stun that can punish enemies when out of position. Additionally, it deals bonus damage to creeps, letting you farm your core items much faster. Voodoo Restoration is an aura heal that will keep your allies healthy during extended fights.

Death Ward is a summoned ward that deals massive physical damage to nearby enemies. Curse your enemies beforehand to amplify damage; suddenly, you’re the biggest threat in a team fight. Furthermore, Death Ward goes through spell immunity like Black King Bar.

6/11 Lich
5/11
Protecting your carries is the most important job of the hard support in Dota 2. Lich is happy to perform his duty while simultaneously bursting down enemies, so he doesn’t need to save his carries in the first place. Frost Shield reduces attack damage on the target while slowing nearby enemies. Sinister Gaze lets you fear targets while simultaneously draining their mana.

Lich is most known for Chain Frost, an ultimate ability that bounces a hard-hitting frost orb. Once you throw this down, enemies will run away from each other to prevent it from spreading. This is ideal since it allows your team to isolate and pick off an enemy.

4/11 Disruptor
True to his name, a good Disruptor ruins the enemy team’s plans and positioning. His best ability, Glimpse, can bring the enemy hero back to where they were four seconds ago. It’s hilarious to send opponents back to their fountain after they just teleported. Glimpse also has one of the longest cast ranges in Dota 2, and it never fails to catch players off-guard.

Disruptor controls the fight’s flow with Kinetic Field and Static Storm, keeping teams locked in place to combo with other abilities. The map becomes much smaller for your enemies when you play Disruptor properly.

3/11 Undying
Undying is a massive headache for the enemy team as a hard support. Tombstone is one of the best team-fighting abilities in the game. The ability drops a large tombstone that frequently spawns zombies to nearby enemies. If not immediately dealt with, Tombstone will overwhelm the enemies, especially the poor supports who’ll most likely die.

Undying can follow up a successful Tombstone with Soul Rip, a heal or damage ability that scales from the number of nearby units. Dirge himself is a threat, as he can transform into a durable Flesh Golem that debuffs enemies, causing them to receive more damage.

2/11 Silencer
Silencer is a mandatory hard support to learn if you’re serious about the role. Global Silence prevents all enemy heroes and units on the map from using their abilities. For such a powerful ultimate, the cooldown is quite low. Look for fights whenever available, especially in the early and mid-game.

Silencer deals persistent area-of-effect and single-target damage. Arcane Curse discourages frequent ability use, perfect against casters like Queen of Pain. And, Glaives of Wisdom ensures you scale as you steal more intelligence away from your opponents.

1/11 Crystal Maiden
Crystal Maiden is an oppressive early-game support who can dominate the lane. She has two powerful nukes with crowd control, which means she has a reliable kill combo at level two. Additionally, Arcane Aura grants global mana regeneration for her team, which means her whole team is free to cast spells.

Freezing Field is a lethal area-of-effect ultimate that demands an answer from the enemy. And, if they invest too many resources into stopping you, that’s more time and attention away from your cores.

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