7 things that piss off support players in Dota 2

If you play support in Dota 2, you’ve probably had your own share of flame and blame about how horribly you play your role. There are a lot of ways that a support player can piss off the rest of the team, but has anyone wondered what pisses off a support player?

1. People who don’t look at the warded map

Wards are very important because they light up the map. With proper placement, you can see the enemy’s movements, which can help set up your own ganks or avoid enemy ganks. I’m sure you’ve heard players complaining about how their supports don’t ward. However, I would also like to point out that that warding will only work if you look at the mini map. So if I warded near the rune area near the river, I expect you to see an enemy walking from the river, into the jungle, and most probably towards your lane to kill you. Warding costs gold. Looking at the map costs you nothing, so in case you aren’t looking then why are you not looking!?

2. People who run out of healing range

One of the duties of the support is to keep the core heroes alive and safe. For example, if you’re injured while laning with an Enchantress or a Witch Doctor and they cast Nature’s Attendance or VooDoo Restoration, that means they’re healing you. Unless you have a good reason, you should NOT leave the healing radius. You can only imagine how frustrating it is when you’re trying to heal a hero and he runs away from you.

3. People who go back and DIE after being saved

Even more frustrating than the previous guy, this one actually dies. In cases when someone has to inevitably die, between the carry and the support, it’s better that the latter goes to his death. So if your support jumps in there and tries to save your behind, don’t let his death be in vain. Go escape and let your support die so you can live, farm, and lay waste to the enemy team later. It’s the same concept of losing the battle to win the war. It’s not stupid and even Na’Vi does it.

4. People who can’t distinguish initiation from harassment

Sometimes, supports stay with the carry during the laning phase so they’re sure the carry is protected and gets farm. Oftentimes, they have to attack the enemy heroes to push them back. This is called harassment, not initiation. The difference between the two is that the previous is meant to zone out and create some space, while the latter is aiming for a kill. If the support is trying to create space for you, the best thing you can do is use that space to farm. It doesn’t always mean for you to jump at the enemy and lose HP, gold, and exp in the process or worse, die.

5. People who don’t understand creep pulling (and has guts to flame)

Supports usually get their farm from assists or jungling. Creep pulling not only helps the support to get farm, but it also keeps the lane from being pushed so far and denies gold and experience from the enemy. Since the enemy creeps are much closer to your own tower, it makes it safer for the carry to farm.