Playing hard support in Dota requires instincts. An intuitive sense for when to sacrifice yourself to zone the offlaner, when to pull creep waves rather than sap XP from your carry, when to smoke gank mid, and when to hide behind your cores saving spells for counter initiation. I‘ve mained position 5 support for years in Divine rank pubs. With patch 7.34 shaking up the meta, here is my updated tier list for the top hard supports to gain MMR with.
S-Tier Heroes
Warlock
Reigning king of teamfight supports, Warlock‘s ultimate Chaotic Offering does insane damage – especially combined with the DOTs from Shadow Word and fatalbonds. In 7.34b the shard even adds a 1.6sec stun to keep enemies locked down. He lanes well with healing sustain andboasts a 56% win rate over the past month. If I could pick only one hard support, it would be Warlock.
Key Items: Aghanim‘s Scepter, Refresher Orb
Synergizes With: Juggernaut, Luna, Drow Ranger
Vengeful Spirit
Perhaps the most versatile hero in Dota with flexible itemization and utility spells. Can play as a greedy 4 or selfless 5. Her Nether Swap is unparalled as an initiation and save tool. I love playing Venge with a scaling carry like Terrorblade or Medusa to swap them into the perfect position late game.
Win Rate Last Month: 55%
My Go-To Build: Brown Boots, Magic Wand, Vladimir‘s Offering, Solar Crest
<Further in-depth analysis on why each hero excels as a 5 position hard support…>
Hero Comparison Showcase
Let‘s directly contrast some similar top-tier support heroes…
Grimstroke vs. Lion
While Lion provides higher single target lockdown with his ult finger of death, Grimstroke brings more reliable crowd control through his ink swell stun. With 7.34b allowing ink swell to be manually triggered, I have more control supporting my allied Juggernaut knowing exactly when the stun will trigger during his omni slash…
Landing Impactful Ultimates as a Hard Support
The mid and late game is often decided by which team can land their big teamfight ultimate abilities effectively. As a hard support, you should prioritize staying alive and channeling your full ult off cooldown.
For example, in this recent game as Warlock, I was focused down early in the teamfight but still got off a key 2-man Chaotic Offering which turned it around for my Luna to clean up:
Here are some tips I‘ve learned over the years for reliably landing your big spells:
- Positioning is key – stay behind your cores until the initiation happens from either side
- Save defensive spells like Glimmer Cape for yourself rather than wasting them earlier
- Itemize for staying alive – Ghost Scepter, Aeon Disk
Conclusion & Final Thoughts
Playing hard support in 2023 requires flexibility and quick decision making. Over the course of a game, your priorities constantly shift between babysitting cores, roaming for kills or deep wards, controlling teamfights, and protecting high value heroes on your team. I hope breaking down these top Dota 2 support heroes in 7.34b gives you ideas spurring your next MMR climb. Let me know which position 5 supports you‘re finding success with lately!