Although DOTA 2’s popularity has been shaking recently, the MOBA still commands a huge player base and a massive competitive scene. Valve recently searched to change the game with Patch 7.31. The patch not only brought several reworks and changes to the game’s mechanics but also stated the arrival of the Primal Beast.
There is always change in the meta when a patch releases, that players slowly get in speed with. Patch 7.31 brought a rework to Techies, a new hero called Primal Beast, changes to neutral creeps and some items. Furthermore, there were hero changes that players needed to adjust to for their future matches (Mainly within the support role).
Support heroes in DOTA 2 are essential to a team’s composition. Often being the babysitters of hard scaling damage champions, while providing vision and several forms of engage and sustain in teamfights. The following heroes are some of the best support picks for this new patch.
-Keeper of the Light
Despite looking like an older man on a mount, Keeper of the Light is a force to reckon with and has once again found his step in the latest patch. This team-fight-oriented support is definitely annoying to play against when piloted correctly with abilities such as Illuminate, Solar Bind, and Chakra Magic.
The first, which has to be channeled, can be used to dish out a significant amount of damage, stack creeps, or clear out waves. Chakra Magic can perfectly pair with other heroes on Keeper of the Light’s team by restoring mana and reducing the cooldowns of most abilities. It’s needless to say how strong cooldown reduction is within any MOBA specially in the late game where a single ability can change the course of the game.
Carries are definitely limited by low mana pools, or massive mana costs, as such they will be delighted to lane with Keeper of the Light. On top of that, Solar Bind is an ability that debuffs the enemies throughout a match with its magic resistance reduction and movement speed slow.
-Treant Protector
Coming right from the forest, Rooftrellen, or the Treant Protector, is an excellent support who can significantly impact the outcome of a match. Treant Protector can be played at both positions four or five in DOTA 2. The hero provides a huge amount of healing, while also having the option to heal buildings, something which is quite unusual within MOBAs.
Treant Protector most likely frustrates DOTA 2 players with Nature’s Grasp as it makes the hero walk among the trees with an applied movement speed bonus. This passive ability makes him a hard hero to catch while Treant tries to clear creep waves.
His global armor and healing regen abilities also ensure that his carries sustain a fight wherever needed on the map. Players can also choose to heal any building, most of the time towers, to delay a push from the enemy team.
-Shadow Shaman
Lastly we have Rhasta, the Shadow Shaman, who is extremely difficult to deal with at the moment in DOTA 2. His high base damage makes him a difficult hero to punish during the laning phase, where opposition players will have to spend gold on a lot more consumables to sustain its damage.
The hero has two crowd control skills Hex and Shackles, which with the right itemization will spell death for even carries on the enemy team later in a match.
Hopefully this will help any aspiring support players get an early grasp on the meta, and get some definitely valuable elo.
