Analayzing 6.88 Top Tier Supports
Supports are the pillars on which carries can build the foundation towards winning the game. Throughout the entire game, supports have to be on alert and provide opportunities for their carries to take objectives or prevent enemies from ganking successfully. It's a tedious and often ungrateful job description, as it can be easy to fall into a feeding spree without ever getting a piece of the spotlight.
Thus, it feels appropriate to give support heroes the spotlight they deserve. Here are some of 6.88's strongest support heroes.
Warlock
For weeks now, Warlock has been the most dominant support in the pro meta. The hero has established himself as the most reliable safelane support, with a terrifying win- and contestionrate (67% and 100% respectively) at the Northern Arena LAN finals.
Warlock can not only turn teamfights around, but can lead a team into taking objectives. He doesn’t require a lot of farm, as building 
Hand of Midas will naturally provide him with a lot of gold and experience. As a result, he’s an excellent 5 position support. More on him and his resurgence in the meta can be found in our extensive blog about him.
Ogre Magi
Ogre Magi is the 2nd most picked support in 5k+ MMR pub play, while retaining a 52% winrate. It’s even more impressive in lower brackets, as his winrate of 56% in <2k MMR games is among the highest in its bracket.
The hero is a strong ganker that is difficult to punish by its enemies. WIth a base health regen of 3.5, 6 armor and 660HP at level 1, it seems impossible to kill him, let alone zone him out. If he picks up an 
Orb of Venom and a 
Wind Lace, or worse Boots, there’s no escaping him.
What sounds like a nightmare for pub play, is very well true for pro games as well. Ogre Magi was the most picked hero at The Summit 6 LAN finals with a 62% winrate. And the concept applies in pros as well. Ignite is a strong early game slow that allows Ogre to hit his targets and heroes tend to trade unfavorably against him.
Io
Wisp, or Io, has never really been out of the meta. Teams have always tried and mostly succeeded in implementing the hero into their line-ups. While there have been times where Io hasn’t been favored, it’s still one of Dota 2’s more successful hero in regards to popularity among pros.
Wisp is yet again one of the most banned heroes right now. It was the most banned hero at TI6 and the 4th most banned at the recent Summit 6 finals.
Io is very much like Batrider, in the sense that its skillset will persevere and stand the test of time. The unique ability to apply global pressure, coupled with the healing and laning sustainability allow Io to become the most sought after support - at least in the Western hemisphere. For the longest time now, European and North-American teams have favored the hero much more than other regions have, especially China. TI6 champions Wings banned the heroes 4 times at The Summit 6 and not once have teams banned the hero against them.
As popular as Io may be in pro play, the hero is anything but popular in pub play. A 1.5% pickrate and a below 40% winrate speak against him. Much like Shadow Demon, Io requires communication to be successful. Even more so, Io requires strategy and purpose. Almost every other support can move around the map as they wish to, but Io needs a purpose. He has certain strengths that need to be played out, else he’ll be useless. Io requires teamplay to take objectives and fights, a level of coordination that is rarely available with 4 strangers.
Shadow Demon
Going into TI6, Shadow Demon has proven to be a worthy pick due to his ability to reliably zone out offlaners and his scaling into the lategame by providing sieging power with his illusions. Both strengths have been nerfed since, but the hero remains a meta staple.
Virtus.pro’s Solo has shown at The Summit 6 that SD remains a strong laning support and even showcased an alternative skill build, now that Shadow Poison has been nerfed significantly. Maxing Disruption together with Soul Catcher is the traditional Shadow Demon build and has proven to be as successful as it used to be.
The hero overall has a lot to offer, with defensive and offensive uses of his Disruption and his ability to initiate for his team. Demonic Purge is is especially strong when kiting melee cores, some of which are very relevant in the current meta.
Shadow Demon’s pubstats don’t speak for him. A below 50% winrate across all brackets doesn’t speak to a strong hero, but that has always been the case. His Disruption can be hit or miss and a lack of communication can easily result in him killing his teammates, as opposed to saving them.
Oracle
A top pick and ban at TI6, Oracle has fallen off slightly since and had to give away his seat as strong lane support to Warlock. Oracle is probably the best defensive support in the game, as his ultimate can not only prevent death, but also fully heal its target as well. The ability to purge debuffs make Oracle incredibly valuable in the lategame as well and Purifying Flames is an incredibly strong nuke on a very short (2.25 seconds) cooldown.
While Oracle has fallen off, he’s still very much a strong pick and a 75% winrate across 8 wins at The Summit 6 speak to the hero.
Oracle shines brightest with a core that tends to be singled out and bursted down, but that has high damage output. Prolonging the life of a hero like 
Drow Ranger can make or break a fight, as she and her aura are half of the team’s damage output. Due to Oracle’s low BAT and low cooldown nukes, he is an excellent lane support with gank potential and strong lane presence.
Pub stats don’t speak in favor of Oracle (2% pickrate across all brackets), but that has been the case since the hero’s introduction into the game. Oracle’s abilities aren’t intuitive to play with and need some getting used to.
Player & team preference
These heroes are without a doubt among the most popular supports right now, but especially in pro play, it becomes a bit more difficult from here on out. There is no clear right or wrong as to who follows in popularity, as teams have their own, personal preferences. There is 
Undying, a hero that SEA representatives Faceless enjoy running; Slardar, something Virtus.pro loves to run as support; or Venomancer, a hero EG has brought back into the meta. Warlock too started out as a player and team preference, with EHOME playing the hero at TI6 almost exclusively and Faceless carrying on that torch right after.
For a short while, 6.88 has even seen Phantom Assassin roam the lanes and Virtus.pro is trying to establish Weaver as a support as well. The patch may end soon, but these supports still have one last big event to impress at.
nice article
sorry no first shiet
:( i wanted to be first.....
4th place
5th 555
feelsgoodman
im not sure if it's a real achivement, but 7th (?)
Nice article, omini still good too.
деваятыйнах
No omniknight ? ok
was about to mention omniknight, maybe in a seperate article?
We focused more on pro play, more so than pub play
We may do something more pub related at the end of this patch
Ya my favorite suports <3
I still like ET, but i guess he fell off for some reason, he is great vs all the agi carries
Currently the Enchanted Mango has but a 40.93% win rate. Please help. It is our duty as fellow gamers to give this magnificent item the glory it deserves.
Currently, the Enchanted Mango has but a 40.93% win rate. Please help. It is our duty as fellow gamers to give this magnificent item the glory it deserves.
Warlock is an big horror in current patch as 5th position, once he got his midas soon he will get the aghs or maybe the game already end bc his fatal bonds so damn stronk
omni still the best for me
Very Done )) Very Done
they dont mention heros for NOOBS :(
I hate playing warlock... OGRE and SD are fun, IO and Oracle are boring to play but they are great supports.
It is a strange thing to say that warlock is good as a 5th position support.He is extremely greedy and buying midas delays many items your team needs desperately, such as wards, dust of appearance of some heal etc.I suggest it is letter to call him 4th position since when one is free of these expences he can allow himself a Midas purchase.
lion best sup 4 me
No earth spirit? Chinese picks him often, and bring him back to fame...
Make an article predicting 6.89 changes :|
Ogre magi has a base regen of 4.19 and armor of 8 at level one.. You didn't take his strength and agility at level 1 for calculation.
Shadow demon is the best i think. Coz he can save people and flexible you know
add toggle button to io balls!! doesnt need 3 keys to work!!
Greentoa spam/copypasta has returned.
oracle is not a support, he is a carry, 1.4 BAT+nuks+epic ultimate made him great damage dealer.
Mjolnir+skadi+tarrasque = easy win
Ogre top )
Actually ogre has 4.12 regen, 8 armor and 660HP at level 1
hey sorry but there should be a comma between worse and boots in ogre magi's section
I like seeing some WD coming back to pro teams as a semi-counter pick to Warlock. Same with Treant Protector run by Wings against EG's veno pickup. 1 hit punch veno wards.
Thats totally true about Io communication... thats why its low winrate.
Oracle with his purifying flames is like a God in an early game.
And Ogre being able to stun, slow, buff and being a tank support make him awesome!
Nice for supports!
Time to try some of the ideas mentioned above......
omni support dominate SEA
I like this blog but it should have included bane & kunka which are being picked in pro sences too :)
Overall a good blog. Ty
OGRE is the best right now , i have a 19-game win streak with it
A N A L A Y Z I N G B O Y S
Smartasses Omni is played as an offlaner. By pros atleast
Wisp №1
Dazzle №1
This patch doesn't have weak hero? doom is crying.....
КУ пачаны
Are you going to correct the typo in the header? AnalAyzing?
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