I've come to find during my many adventures into the lovely world of DotA that many people don't quite understand exactly what a support does or how it functions. Even a system of sorts for who should be farming what and when. Honestly though it's a common thing and it's not surprising. It's a lot to take in and even those that know it, don't do it (myself for example). So I'm going to actually lay down my own very basic guide on what a support does.

What is a support hero

A support hero to simply put, is someone who supports the team. To go into a little more depth, you assist your team and try to force the game to go how you want it to. By this I mean depending on your teams strategy: if it's based on early pushes, getting one carry fed, or heavy ganking. You base your supporting off of this strategy. Now in most cases the pub matches you'll be in won't have this and it's not so decisive. Your main role is to babysit. Babysit your team with wards to let them know if people are ganking, where it's safe to farm with plenty of vision, harass in a lane to allow your carry to get farm and feel safe. A support is also someone who needs relatively little to no cs to be used to their potential. These heros are mostly based on their spells to either aid their teammates or hinder the enemy.

So now you've figured out what to do....how do you do it

Being a support is more than just buying wards and couriers, although that's certainly important. What you want to be doing is focus on allowing the people who need farm to achieve that while being safe. In order to do that you'll need to have a plan going into the game and be able to adapt quickly to different situations. For now let's just simply start with the beginning of the game.

Starting builds

Something that you should be aiming for is assisting your team from the start while still giving yourself the sustain you need to stay in lane. A simple build for accomplishing this could be something like

Tango > Salve > Branches > Clarity if needed > Wards/Courier

You can even opt to upgrade the courier. This is mainly dependent on if you have another support in your group who is willing to buy the courier or wards. The clarity potions are nice if you need that extra mana to spam and help out your lane partner. Of course some supports don't need them as much such as Lion or Lich. Feel free to also cordinate with other people on your team when planning out what you'll buy. For example you don't want two people buying sets of wards and having no one pick up a courier. So it's all about who you play and what you feel you need.

Arsenal of a good Support

Now as you get further into the game you will be gaining some gold based on your ability to to stay alive during the game, the amount of CS you get when available and the assist you score in teamfights.

Now what should you be doing with this gold you do earn over the course of the game? Simple, supporting your team. Items that easily achieve this and that you should always be buying are:

Boots of Speed - The reason you should get these should honestly be obvious. You want to be able to get around quickly in and out of fights. These are essential basics on any character.

Observer Wards - This is used to keep map control, let teammates know where it's safe to farm, where the enemy is and to place in routes that are used frequently for ganks. Great use for keeping rune control on your team as well.

Sentry Wards - These can be used on common wards spots that you know the enemy has Observer Wards so that you can see them or destroy them. They also great for picking out any invisible heros in team fights. While these are situational, they should rarely be ruled out.

Dust - Again these will mostly be used to track down invisible character on the opposing team. However, when those characters are present, this item is extremely valuable. Mostly used for when you know you'll be chasing down someone instead of standing in a single area.

Smoke of Deceit - This is another situational item that isn't always need but can be purchased by the support to use and set up some very good ganks on the enemy especially if you need to edge out and make a comeback.

Teleportation Scrolls - This is a must carry item on any character, especially support characters. These can be used to assist in defending towers early game that you need to quickly get to. They can also be used to get you out of several sticky situation in the middle of fights or being chased down. I've even began carrying 2 or 3 of these around at a time so that I can give to my teammates who fail to carry them so that I can assist them in getting around.

While there is quite a bit more to playing a support, this as a simple guide to building and playing a support character. Using this guide is an excellent step in becoming a better player while learning what it is to play a support hero.