Dota 2: How to play Ember Spirit support

We will wrap up our “core to support” analyzes with Ember Spirit. This is probably the most controversial hero on this list. To take advantage of the hero’s strengths without prioritizing farming, your gameplay must be near-perfect. And when we have reached that state, we are not sure if it is really worth the effort.

STATISTICAL…

Ember Spirit is no longer favored in the professional arena: the hero is still popular, but in terms of success, Ember Spirit is not as strong as many previous patches. Meanwhile, the hero’s highest win rate at the highest rank in pubs is fine: over 50% in games of Divine rank and above this month.

However, upon closer inspection, Ember Spirit really struggled in every lane, except mid. Hero does not work effectively in carry or offlaner position as well as support.

Even so, some major pro teams are still experimenting with the hero in position 5 and have had some success. So today’s article will not talk about whether Ember Spirit support is a good idea or not, but will look at the conditions that help promote Ember Support.

LANE STAGE STILL IMPORTANT

Recent patches have tweaked the laning phase a bit, but it’s still important. As a melee hero, Ember Spirit can have a hard time playing as a support: the hero doesn’t have good starting stats like Ogre Magi or Nyx Assassin, he also doesn’t have the mobility from Pango or Earth Spirit and much less. early game killing abilities like Tusk.

However, what Ember Spirit can do is constantly harass the opponent with low mana cost plus quite painful hand attacks, and the ability to set up combat. The buffed Searing Chains is an idea to help Ember Spirit play as a support. Even though it has been nerfed, it still works well “only and only if” your position 1 carry is actively active in the lane, not just safely farming.

Heroes like Bristleback are mostly fine in solo lane, so having a weak support in lane shouldn’t matter much. Bristleback can also be dangerous early game. That helps Ember Spirit really shine thanks to its ability to root from afar and continuously deal damage. Continue this simple combo a few times, the opponent is forced to retreat or spend more items to heal more, or worse, die.

Theoretically yes, but it’s much more difficult in practice: most offlaners in the current meta are self-sustaining and most quads have some tools to capture mobile heroes. Therefore, in most games, don’t expect to win the lane. This means you have to unpack in the early-mid game.

HEALTH IN MIDDLE GAME

Mid-game is where Ember Spirit really shines and that’s true in every role. The extra 160 damage when maxing Sleight of Fist is terrifying and it can kill enemy supports very quickly. Combine with the Blight Stone or the Orb of Venom and suddenly you become more effective.

Again, that’s the theory. Ember Spirit just needs to level up to be a big threat in a big teamfight with the help of Outpost and Tome of Knowledge, even though the laning phase isn’t going well. And if in teamfight you kill an opponent support and then set up the fight with Root, then your contribution is quite enough. So is that true?

The reason Death Prophet is so effective as a support is because he can contribute to all of the above, without losing lane. Losing lane means losing more turrets, which can make the carry farm worse. As an Ember Spirit, you can’t trade one-on-one and say it’s fine: you have to perform well to make up for the laning phase and it doesn’t always happen.

The article expects Ember Spirit players to create a lot of stir on the opponent even though you have nothing, but you have to know what you are really doing. Otherwise, you are picking a hero to lose.

EPILOGUE

Ember Spirit support is a hero we’ve seen in the pro scene, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to use in pubs, especially when playing solo. As mentioned above, if you’re partying with five people, you need to have excellent Ember Spirit qualities to hit combos that hit 10/10 and always find a way to escape and counterattack.

Randomly dropped neutral items are a favorite for Ember Spirit: the ability to increase magic damage with Grove Bow, DoT effects through Dragon Scale or reduce armor and movement speed with Orb of Destruction on multiple enemies is easy is Essential element for Ember Spirit in any position on the team. How about playing Ember Spirit support in pub? Hope you don’t lose too much!

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