[HoN] Beginner's Guide

So, you want to be a support hero? Maybe your team needs a support hero and you're the last slot. Maybe you're tired of playing carries and wanna give support a try. Maybe you misclicked. Whatever the reasons, you're support and you need to know what's expected of your role. First, ask yourself two questions.

1) Are you okay with buying and placing wards all game long? If the answer is no, consider repicking into a tank or an initiator.

2) Are you willing to babysit your carry, giving him all the CK you can and trying not to last hit any heroes? If the answer is no, consider repicking into a carry or ganker.

If you can do both those things (warding/babysitting), you can handle playing a serviceable support hero. Congrats!

The rest of this guide will concentrate on covering how to ward at the pub level. You won't see any fancy advanced strategies here... just what you need to do your job.

First, which Heroes are Support?

Most heroes can serve as support, but these heroes excel in the role. Almost exclusively INT-based, they are item independent heroes and are usually nukers, healers or buffers. Weak as individuals, they make their team better than another carry would. Subroles in parenthesis.

Andromeda (ganker/initiator)
Blacksmith (ganker)
Nymphora (pusher)
Thunderbringer (ganker)
Pollywog Priest (pusher)
Ophelia (ganker/jungler)
Pyromancer (ganker)
Demented Shaman (pusher)
Voodoo Jester (ganker)
Hellbringer (initiator)
Plague Rider (ganker)
Accursed (tank)

If it's not obvious who should be warding in your game and you're one of these heroes, go ahead and buy some wards. Take some initiative.

Warding Basics:

Warding is by far the most important thing support heroes do. Legal maphack is a powerful thing, and if you take your role seriously you can give your team a great advantage simply by buying and placing wards. Warding does not require much skill, so even the noobiest players can be a valuable asset to their team if they ward.

In my games with [TLn], if I don't buy wards, I never see them. This must change if we ever wanna get outta the 1600s (and I certainly do). So let's go over the basics of warding.

Two wards cost 200g. You can buy them by pressing B R A. That's right, by simply typing "bra," you're rewarded with maphack. It's a sexy thing. I like to think that I'm taking off my opponent's bra when I do it, but you may find other motivations for purchasing them more often. Anyway, wards are invisible, last 6 minutes from the time you place them, you can buy up to 4 wards every 6 minutes, and they reveal the same portion of the map whether it is night or day.

Starting off:

When I play support heroes in a standard pub, I like to start off with 1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Ward of Sight, 1x Pretender's Crown, and 2x Minor Totem. If my hero needs mana early, I'll trade in the Pretender's Crown for 3x Mana Potion. In a game where I know the people I'm playing with I often start with 1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Ward of Sight, 1x Monkey Courier, and 2x Minor Totems.

Notice that the unwavering feature of these starting item builds is the Ward of Sight.

The first thing to do once you buy your items is head for the river runespawn, either top or bottom. If someone's come with you, use the time searching for a firstblood opportunity. If you're alone, sit on highground and wait for the -10s mark (ten seconds before the beginning of the match), at that moment, place your ward and position yourself to grab the rune.

If a rune is there, don't grab it right away unless you have to. If it's a regen rune, you may want to leave it there for your solo, ask them. If it's an invis, an illusion, or a double damage rune, wait until the 10s mark to grab it, then head to your lane and attempt a firstblood. If it's a haste rune, wait until the 15s mark to grab it, then head to mid or your lane and attempt a firstblood.

But what to do with your extra Ward? I'm split on this. Some games I save it 'til the 6 minute mark, then replace the first ward and use the other wards I've bought to get massive vision over the map. In other games, I'll drop the extra ward in the middle lane and let the solo place it at his leisure.

Primary Ward Locations:

Getting vision of the river is your primary concern. At your most minimal and lazy, you should have wards looking over the runespawns at all times. Here are some examples:

Q: Kk... Where do I place these glorious wards?
A: At your laziest, you should always cover runespawns. Like so:


(vision of: rune, kongor area, highground on legion side of river)


(vision of: rune, sliver of highground on legionside, fog-juke spot on hellborne side)

Q: Well, that's boring. What if I'm not being lazy?
A: No one said placing wards was exciting, hehe! If you're not being lazy, you can get aggressive with your wards, like so (note, Aggressive wards become defensive if you place them on "your" side of the river)--

Secondary Ward Locations:

Later in the game, you'll find it useful to place wards in offensive or defensive locations. These are the locations you should place them for maximum vision:

Spotting up ramps:

(vision of: entire area above ramp, middle river)

Scouting Jungles/forward positions:

(vision of: northeast corner of hellborne jungle, behind hellborne's second top tower)


(vision of: behind legion's second top tower, shortcut south of ward that allows easy travel from middle to top and vice versa)


(vision of: common staging area for ganks/teamfights on hellborne side, sliver of river)


(vision of: rune, southwest portion of hellborne jungle, common fog/gank area)


(vision of: southwest portion of legion jungle, behind legion's second bottom tower, common staging area for teamfights on legion side)


(vision of: behind hellborne's second bottom tower, parts of the area around hellborne's secret shop, part of shortcut from mid to bottom)


(vision of: center of legion jungle, major staging point for ganks/teamfights)


(vision of: northeast area of legion's jungle, major staging point for early/mid game ganks)

Q: You mentioned that wards can tell you "how many people are defending a tower." How?
A: Simply place a ward behind the offending tower. Like so:


(vision of: whoever is behind the tower, teleports, etc.)

Q: I'm having trouble breaking into my opponent's base. Can wards help?
A: Yes! WARDS ARE THE BEST! Viola:

Hellborne:

(vision of: Hellborne inbase highground)


(vision of: Hellborne inbase highground)

Legion:

(vision of: Legion inbase highground)


(vision of: Legion inbase highground)

Preventing Neutral Pulls:

Neutral Pulls can give a significant level advantage to the players doing it. If your opponent is doing it, or you think they might, you can prevent neutrals from spawning by placing wards, like so:


(vision of: neutral camp, sliver of area behind hellborne's top tower)


(vision of: neutral camp, sliver of legion jungle)


Counter Warding:

If your ganks are all failing, chances are high that your opponents have wards up, and you should take it upon yourself to counterward (assuming that you're ranged). Blinding your opponent is just as powerful as revealing him, so make use of this when necessary. Simply buy a Ward of Revelation and place it at the common locations for wards, then destroy the offending ward. Like warding, counterwarding requires little skill, just the discipline to do it.

Q: Uh oh, the other team read this FAQ and has wards. What should I do?
A: Counterward if it's really disrupting your team. Get a ranged hero to buy a Ward of Revelation and plant them at common ward locations, then destroy the offending ward of sight. Scout's Electric Eyes may also be used for this purpose.

Avoiding Counter Warding:

Pubs don't typically counterward, but I have had it happen to me. Here are some less common locations to place wards that'll give you just about as much information as the standard ward locations, but won't be as easy for them to find.

Q: Uh oh, the other team read this FAQ and is counterwarding. What should I do?
A: Use alternative ward spots. Your warding shall not be hindered! Here are a few that will spot runes while remaining expensive to find. Many of the alternative ward spots can be used as psuedo aggressive wards.

For Bot:

(vision of: rune, north side of legion jungle, some river)


(vision of: rune, river, sliver of northeast corner of legion jungle)


(vision of: rune, kongor area, river)


(vision of: rune, kongor area, river, hellborne highground)

For Top:

(vision of: rune, river, sliver of hellborne highground, legion's ancient stack area)


(vision of: rune, river, hellborne highground, sliver of legion highground)


(vision of: rune, river, sliver of legion highground)


(vision of: rune, south side of hellborne jungle)

FAQ:

Q: But I'm broke!
A: Np. Just don't die for a couple minutes and you'll have enough to buy wards.

Q: But if I don't buy wards, I can carry with XHero!
A: Stfu and buy wards, you donkey.

Q: I'm Voodoo Jester, Pollywog, Blacksmith, Thunderbringer, Pyromancer! Do I really have to buy wards?
A: If no one else is, yes. Shroud/Staff of the Master/whatever-the-hell-you're-saving-up-for isn't as important as wards.

Q: I'm Accursed. Do I really have to buy wards?
A: People very rarely expect Accursed to buy wards. But if you're building him with an Astroblade (mekansm) and no one else is getting wards, I'd say yes.

Q: Can I place wards in other spots?
A: Of Course! But be careful. Trees and other obsticles can block a ward's vision. The locations I screenshoted are ideal for most situations.