Looking to play support but don't know who the best DOTA 2 support heroes are? A good support is the bread and butter of a DOTA team, providing – as the name suggests – crucial assistance to the main damage-dealers of the side, using their abilities to disable enemies or heal and buff allies, spending most of their gold to help out their teammates rather than to equip lots of shiny goodies themselves. With a plethora of hero options available in the game, it can be tough to figure out which is the best support hero in DOTA 2. Have no fear, we’ve got your back: here’s our selection of the top five choices and a short description of the situations where you should consider picking them in a fight. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your personal skillset and the specific needs of your opponent – still, there’s a reason why these heroes are often the first choices for a support role in a DOTA 2 game.

Crystal Maiden – if you need a “hard support” that is entirely committed to the role with no one else on the team willing to chip in, she can be a pretty good selection. There’s a reason she keeps popping up over and over again in the metagame: from “mana unscrewing” to disables and a fairly impactful ultimate, the lady in blue is always one to keep in mind.

Winter Wyvern – Way back when, she was perhaps the best hero of the role in the entirety of DOTA 2, but the cold dragon remains a very viable option even after the much-needed clampdown. With buffs, heals, nukes and ganks flying all around her icy scales, Auroth is truly a jack-of-all-trades option for a support player.

Lich – Easy to pick up and play, the Lich is fairly great in any lane as a support, capable of harassing fairly safely while using Sacrifice to deny ally creeps. Frost Blast is also a pretty damn good spell, not to mention Chain Frost, the bane of everyone who ever got hit by it in the middle of a team fight.

Ogre Magi – While he’s a bit higher on the RNG factor than many would like, the tankiness off Ogre Magi makes it an excellent support choice in many circumstances. Use Ignite to harass your enemies early on and try to look for ganking opportunities.

Rubick – Quite a special hero in many respects, Rubick’s ability to temporarily steal spells from your opponent means that he basically can’t be useless in any scenario. He definitely requires a bit more practice and research than the other support heroes on this list simply because you need to have a good idea of what spells are available to the other players, but the right builds will make him a fast-cooldown flexible caster, truly a force to be reckoned with – not a small feat for a support character.