Top Tier Supports in the Meta
Whenever there is a Tier list, there is always a question of what level of play it is based on. After all, heroes can be more or less powerful, depending on where they are played. That said, we firmly believe that while blindly copying the professional scene meta and builds is not the best idea for pubs, looking at it for inspiration is. Today, we would like to discuss the most popular and successful support heroes of the recent tournaments and figure out why exactly they are good.
Mirana
Mirana might not feel like a meta hero, but she is quite consistently picked in the current patch by professional players. She is among the most popular supports with a good win rate. In fact, her average win rate across most high-tier tournaments is close to 60%.
Mirana is a kill condition hero in the laning stage: despite the nerfs to Sacred Arrow, a long duration connect from it is more or less a guaranteed kill. With how independent offlane cores have been in the patch, she is also free to roam the map and be annoying.
Perhaps more importantly, her ultimate is a constant resource drain. Against a well-coordinated team, it’s not going to open up a lot of possibilities, because a professional team is most likely going to be prepared. However, being prepared costs money, so Mirana passively creates a small, yet noticeable disparity in support economy.
In a patch where scaling into the later stages of the game is both possible and profitable, it is no surprise Mirana finds herself in a good spot. Doesn’t necessarily mean she is going to be a good fit for pubs, though: make sure you coordinate with other disablers on your team to make the most out of Mirana’s damage and single-target control output.
Vengeful Spirit
The hero was played professionally more than 250 times this patch, with an impressive win rate of almost 56%. Vengeful Spirit might look basic, boring or unimpactful, but while the hero is definitely not flashy, she is very, very reliable.
Vengeful Spirit gives your team some negative armor, which is great in team fights and against Roshan. She has some lockdown, though her stun is undeniably bad. Her aura is really good under certain circumstances and at least decent in all other cases and she comes with two built-in saves.
There is no secret trick to playing the hero well or some obscure knowledge you need to possess to execute the hero: Vengeful Spirit is as straightforward as it gets. That doesn’t mean her impact can’t be as high as some of the flashier and more skill-intensive heroes, like Earth Spirit or Dark Willow.
Her impact is just not going to be as spectacular while being every bit as effective, if you can manage to pull off a crucial save and connect an important disable. We firmly believe that Vengeful Spirit is one of the best heroes for pubs at all levels of play and is especially good for newer players, who will have more time to learn the macro side of the game, unencumbered by the micro skill requirement of the hero.
Ogre Magi
The last support hero with an above 55% win rate in the professional scene is Ogre Magi and once again, it is an excellent time to point out the differences between how heroes can and should be played professionally, compared to pubs.
We went slightly more in-depth on the topic in one of our previous blog posts but the general idea is that sometimes the professional scene build is not going to be the most effective build in pubs.
When it comes to Ogre Magi, we strongly recommend players in lower level brackets to concentrate on Ignite, rather than Bloodlust. The games are going to be longer anyways and your carries are not going to squeeze out as much efficiency from Bloodlust level four as professional carries do. A value point is mandatory, but then you can afford to play greedier, with a more apparent and immediate teamfight impact.
However, when it comes to why the hero is so good in the pro scene, the answer is simple: efficiency. Ogre Magi is an efficient trader in lane, he increases the farm speed of allied heroes, he provides decent control and he still has an impact on the fight, even after death, since Bloodlust lasts for a decent duration.
If your gameplan revolves around strict timings and immediate conversion of power level into objectives, Ogre Magi is an excellent character. The immediate part is somewhat rare even in high-level pubs, but regardless of the build and what you max out on the hero, he will be an effective ally to have on the battlefield.
Closing Thoughts
There are many more heroes worth discussing in the current meta: it is quite open, which is always good for the game. Depending on the situation, some heroes are going to be a lot more effective than statistically the strongest supports in high-level play. That said, when you have to be one of the two opening picks in AP, going with the three options above is never a bad idea.
Which supports did you have the most success on in the last patch and what would you recommend to newer players to play on? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
Lich, Voodoo and Jaikiro particularly efficient too.
My favorite category is the supports that can depush from the fog in pubs, that create a big impact and with the lack of coordination of pubs you usually go unpunished.
well said Mayers
Can't go wrong with VS or Ogre first pick! Staple!
понимаю что герои сложные, но чен и оракл топчик, врядли есть сильнее сапорты в этом патче
who the fuck is voodoo
Witch Doctor. Since I moved to Asia I realise the name I use for some hero since 15 years are bullshit:
Jaikiro, Vengerful, Voodoo, Miranda. When you play with people who akways used the same shitnames ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I legit discovered yesterday that Jaikiro is actually named Jakiro
Twin headed dragon