7 Best Hard Supports In Dota 2

Hard support heroes, also known as position five, play a vital role in Dota 2 by leading their teams to victory through strategic map control, vision management, and protecting their cores—all while using minimal resources. These selfless heroes often go unnoticed in the heat of battle, but their ability to dictate the macro game can make or break a match.

While hard support heroes rarely farm or acquire many items, their focus on enabling their teammates and disrupting the enemy team is crucial. In solo queue, where teamwork can sometimes be lacking, picking reliable hard supports with strong utility and impactful abilities is essential for success. This article highlights seven of the best hard supports in Dota 2 that can help you turn the tide of battle and carry your team to victory, even when you’re the one playing from behind.

#7: Enchantress

Enchantress dominates the laning phase with her unmatched ability to harass and trade effectively. Her Impetus ability, a powerful auto-attack modifier, scales with distance, dealing significant damage to enemies trying to escape. With Enchant, she can charm jungle or enemy creeps, using their abilities to disrupt and pressure opponents further. Enchantress also excels at roaming, leveraging powerful neutral units like Golems or Trolls with long-range disables to impact other lanes early in the game.

When Enchantress gets ahead, she becomes a formidable presence. Building items like Hurricane Pike or Assault Cuirass allows her to maximize Impetus damage and remain relevant in fights. Even when targeted, Enchantress is notoriously hard to kill due to her healing abilities and ultimate, making her a resilient and high-impact hard support choice.

#6: Dazzle

Dazzle shines as a hard support with his ability to sustain allies and turn the tide of fights. His Shadow Wave not only heals teammates but also deals damage to enemies in the area, making him a potent presence in the laning phase. This dual-purpose ability allows Dazzle to trade effectively while keeping his carry healthy and in the fight.

Dazzle’s signature skill, Shallow Grave, is a game-changer that prevents an ally from dying for a short duration, creating opportunities for clutch saves and counterattacks. His Poison Touch provides consistent harass and disables over time, ensuring enemies have a harder time escaping or engaging.

As the game progresses, Dazzle’s Bad Juju ability reduces cooldowns and armor, amplifying his team’s damage output while allowing frequent use of his skills. His utility and versatility make Dazzle an excellent hard support choice, capable of supporting his team through every stage of the game.

#5: Witch Doctor

Witch Doctor is a reliable and impactful hard support, renowned for his ability to both control enemies and dish out significant damage. His Paralyzing Cask is one of the most effective crowd control tools in the game, bouncing between enemies to stun and disrupt, making it perfect for initiating or punishing overaggressive opponents.

In the laning phase, Maledict applies a potent damage-over-time effect that can devastate opponents when paired with sustained damage from his carry or Paralyzing Cask. This ability is especially lethal against heroes with low mobility or weak early-game sustain.

Witch Doctor’s Voodoo Restoration ensures his allies stay healthy during prolonged fights or pushes, providing reliable healing in crucial moments. His ultimate, Death Ward, is a high-damage channeled ability that can turn team fights around if positioned correctly, shredding through enemy heroes.

With his mix of crowd control, healing, and burst potential, Witch Doctor is a versatile support hero that excels in both offensive and defensive roles, making him a valuable addition to any team.

#4: Undying

Undying is a relentless hard support known for dominating the laning phase and creating chaos in team fights. His Decay ability steals strength from enemies, reducing their health pool while increasing his own, making him incredibly difficult to kill in the early game. This not only weakens opponents but also gives his team a significant advantage during engagements.

The centerpiece of Undying’s kit is Tombstone, which spawns zombies around enemies and slows them down. This ability shines in team fights and during tower defenses, creating chaos and forcing opponents to either retreat or focus their attacks on the Tombstone, often at the cost of their positioning.

Undying’s Soul Rip provides flexibility, allowing him to either heal an ally or deal burst damage to an enemy by consuming the health of nearby units. His ultimate, Flesh Golem, amplifies damage dealt to enemies in its area of effect and slows them, making it perfect for initiating or securing key kills.

With his overwhelming laning presence, sustain, and utility, Undying is a hard support that thrives on disrupting the enemy team’s plans, ensuring his allies gain an advantage from the very start of the game.

#3: Disruptor

Disruptor is a game-changing hard support with unparalleled control over positioning and team fights. His signature ability, Glimpse, allows him to send an enemy hero back to where they were a few seconds ago, punishing overextensions and preventing escapes. This ability is devastating in the laning phase and team fights, ensuring opponents can’t easily disengage.

Thunder Strike is a powerful harass tool in the laning stage, dealing damage over time and providing vision on the target, which is invaluable for chasing elusive enemies. His Kinetic Field creates a barrier that traps enemies within its radius, synergizing well with his other abilities to isolate and lock down key targets.

Disruptor’s ultimate, Static Storm, is a game-winning ability when used correctly. This silencing AoE field deals massive magical damage and prevents enemies from casting spells, making it ideal for countering mobile or spell-dependent heroes. Paired with Kinetic Field, Disruptor can single-handedly control an entire team fight.

Thanks to his ability to control positioning, disable opponents, and punish poor decisions, Disruptor is a top-tier hard support who can dominate the map and turn the tide of battles in his team’s favor.

#2: Silencer

Silencer is a versatile hard support whose abilities are designed to disrupt enemies and amplify his team’s dominance. His Arcane Curse inflicts damage over time on opponents who cast spells, punishing casters and forcing them to think twice before using abilities. This skill is particularly effective in the early game, creating pressure in the lane and weakening enemy cores.

His Glaives of Wisdom is a scalable ability that deals pure damage based on his intelligence, making Silencer a threat even without significant farm. As a hard support, this ability allows him to chip away at enemies while staying at a safe distance.

What makes Silencer exceptional is his Last Word, which silences enemies and deals damage after a delay if they cast a spell. This ability is great for initiating fights or preventing enemies from escaping. When timed correctly, it can completely shut down key abilities during crucial moments.

Silencer’s game-changing ultimate, Global Silence, is what solidifies his spot as one of the best hard supports. It silences all enemies on the map, effectively disrupting team fights, countering initiation attempts, and ensuring his team can execute their strategies without interference.

With his ability to punish spellcasters, deal consistent damage, and single-handedly turn the tide of team fights, Silencer is a hard support that brings immense utility and game-winning potential.

#1: Crystal Maiden

Crystal Maiden is the quintessential hard support in Dota 2, offering an unparalleled combination of crowd control, utility, and team-enhancing abilities. Her Crystal Nova is a powerful AoE slow and nuke that excels at zoning enemies during the laning phase, disrupting their movements, and securing kills. This ability also makes her a threat in team fights, allowing her to impact engagements from a safe distance.

Her Frostbite ability is one of the most reliable single-target disables in the game, rooting enemies and dealing solid damage over its duration. It is particularly effective against mobile heroes and neutral creeps, doubling as a farming tool in the jungle when needed.

What makes Crystal Maiden stand out is her Arcane Aura, a passive ability that provides mana regeneration to her entire team. This makes her a fantastic support, ensuring that her teammates always have enough mana to cast their abilities, particularly in the early and mid-game when mana is scarce.

Her ultimate, Freezing Field, is a devastating AoE ability that deals massive damage and slows enemies within its radius. While channeling makes her vulnerable, a well-timed Freezing Field can completely annihilate enemy teams, especially when paired with items like Black King Bar or Glimmer Cape for protection.

Crystal Maiden’s versatility, utility, and ability to provide consistent impact with minimal farm make her the best hard support in Dota 2. She is easy to play yet impactful at all skill levels, earning her the top spot among hard supports.

Conclusion

In Dota 2, hard supports are the unsung heroes who prioritize strategy, map control, and team coordination over personal glory. These role players are critical to securing victory, providing crowd control, healing, and vision while enabling their cores to thrive. Heroes like Crystal Maiden and Silencer exemplify the impact a great support can have with their versatile abilities, while others like Disruptor and Undying offer game-changing utility and durability.

Whether it’s through devastating ultimates, consistent crowd control, or map-wide presence, the best hard supports prove that even with minimal farm, they can make an outsized impact on the game. For players looking to master this challenging role, choosing one of these top-tier supports is a step in the right direction toward elevating your gameplay and leading your team to victory.