[G] Beginner Pub Omniknight Support

Purist Thunderwrath was a hard-fighting, road-worn, deeply committed knight, sworn to the order in which he had grown up as squire to elder knights of great reputation. He had spent his entire life in the service of the Omniscience, the All Seeing One. Theirs was a holy struggle, and so embedded was he in his duty that he never questioned it so long as he had the strength to fight and the impetuous valor that comes with youth. But over the long years of the crusade, as his elders passed away and were buried in sorry graves at the side of muddy tracks, as his bond-brothers fell in battle to uncouth creatures that refused to bow to the Omniscience, as his own squires were chewed away by ambush and plague and bad water, he began to question the meaning of his vows--the meaning of the whole crusade. After deep meditation, he parted ways with his army and commenced a long trek back to the cave-riddled cliffs of Emauracus, and there he set a challenge to the priests of the Omniscience. No knight had ever questioned them before, and they tried to throw him into the pit of sacrifice, but Purist would not be moved. For as he faced them down, he began to glow with a holy light, and they saw that the Omniscience had chosen to reveal Itself to him. The Elder Hierophant led him on a journey of weeks down into the deepest chamber, the holy of holies, where waited not some abstract concept of wisdom and insight, not some carved relic requiring an injection of imagination to believe in, but the old one itself. It had not merely dwelt in those rocks for billions of aeons; no, It had created them. The Omniscience had formed the immense mineral shell of the planet around itself, as a defense against the numerous terrors of space. Thus the All Seeing One claimed to have created the world, and given the other truths revealed to Puritan on that day, the knight had no reason to refute the story. Perhaps the Omniscience is a liar, deep in its prison of stone, and not the world's creator at all, but Omniknight never again questioned his faith. His campaign had meaning at last. And there can be no question that the glorious powers that imbue him, and give his companions such strength in battle, are real beyond any doubt.

tldr?: Omni is a kick-ass knight, imbued with holy powers... A pure and true good guy, as good as good guys can get.

Abilities:

Purification:
Range: 400/500/600/700
Area: 225
Heal/Damage: 90/180/270/360
Cost: 100/120/140/160
Cooldown: 12s
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This is Omni's bread and butter. A single target heal that also damages any nearby units, it is one of the most powerful heals of it's kind. One thing especially important to note with this heal that it took me a while to get used to is that the range increases with each level, so sometimes later in the game you may not realise that you don't have to run as close to a fight as you do in the early game to have a great impact.

At the start of the game, use this to heal yourself/your team mate to prevent any early deaths, at level one it really has little impact so try not to waste the mana on using it unless really necessary, but once you get it to level 2, it is really quite powerful and can catch enemy heroes off-guard easily. This spell is obviously most effective when laning against melee heroes, but don't under-estimate it's ability against ranged heroes either... For example if a ranged hero is harassing or chasing you or your lane-mate, it is often better to run in to them and heal yourself to do damage, rather than stand back and heal the damage. I've gotten many early game kills this way, people really do underestimate it's damage.

Going in to the mid game, when this spell gets maxed out it is at it's most effect. If used wisely it can completely turn around a teamfight. Look at it this way, if there are two melee heroes fighting, and they both have 400 health, you will immediately take the enemy down to 40 health and your team mate up to 760... That is a HUGE life-swap, and can make carry vs carry fights instantly winnable. The damage type is pure so it can't be negated or blocked in any way (as far as i am aware).

Obviously this spell gets even more powerful if the enemy heroes are grouped, whether they are targeting a friendly hero, or are just being idiots. In an ideal situation you can instantly deal 1440 unmitigatable damage for the cost of only 160 mana... That is INSANE damage.

Late game it obviously gets weaker as health pools increase, but it is still a decently powerful damaging spell, and the heal can be "just enough" to get a friendly hero over the line in a tough situation, whether escaping or being targeted in a team fight.

Repel:
Range: 500
Duration: 6/8/10/12
Effects: Grants Spell Immunity
Cost: 50
Cooldown: 14s
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Degen Aura:
Radius: 300
Movement Speed and Attack Speed Reduction: 7%/14%/21%/28%
Passive ability
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Guardian Angel:
AoE: 600
Duration: 5/6/7
Effects: +1000 Armor, +25 HP Regen
Cost: 125/175/250
Cooldown: 150s
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An untargeted spell that as you can see from it's effects is incredibly powerful. If purification can turn around a team fight, this makes any team fight insta-win. Correct usage of when to use this spell though is often debated and criticised. You don't want to waste it, but early usage before engagement can result in this. You also don't want to use it too late, especially against a team with powerful initiators or good AOE abilities.

That being said, the cooldown isn't THAT long in the grand scheme of things, so during farming phases or to prevent a carry death (or even your own if it does not look like a big engagement will happen soon), I highly recommend using it. Some may consider that a waste, but if you ask me if it's just sitting off cooldown and you never use it besides teamfights then that is more of a waste.

It can also be used to great effect while pushing towers as only a mad team would engage a team under it's effect (and it negates most tower damage/damage from creep)

The ideal time to use it however in my opinion is mid-fight. Say for example if your team is on average half health, or even close to death. The near invulnerability will allow the team to either continue to fight and deal massive damage with no consequence, or run away successfully(most of the time.)

One thing to note is using repel will cancel the effect of this spell on said hero, so make sure you repel your carry before popping your ulti rather than after it if that's the effect you want.

On many occasions I've run into a team fight mid way or even when it looks like we have lost it and the enemies are chasing, healed the almost dead carry, repel'd him, then popped ulti, and we easily win the fight. Sometimes you won't have the luxury of spending time healing and repeling and will just pop ulti, but if you can manage to do that it is the most satisfying of feelings and you will understand why Omni is such an enjoyable hero to play as a support. Having the ability to completely turn a team fight while relying on almost no items (thus not detracting from anybody else's farm) is a great asset to any team.

Items:

Starting items:

This is the basic starting item set I settled on. I found tango's eventually became useless when I developed more lane awareness, as it is not a requirement for Omni to be close to 100% health at all times as you can easily avoid the effects of harassment thanks to repel+heal. Then you can return to your tower and use the Salve. I usually find I end up using the salve around level 3-4 after you get level 2 heal, as you will usually be a little more aggressive at that point and take more damage.

Use the clarities whenever needed, by that I don't mean waste your mana and the clarities at lvl 1... But sometimes you might have had to use your abilities early due to harassment, ideally though it would be nice to save them for use when you are saving for Soul Ring.

The 4th Branch is optional, sometimes I take it, sometimes I don't. Depends really on how comfortable with the enemy picks you feel to be able to get quicker creep kills. If you feel you will be able to based on their picks, just buy 3 branches, that way you save a slot for your first item, and have an extra 50 gold to get it quicker.

Next items:

Always get wards first, as soon as you hit 200 gold grab them from the courier. Unless of course someone on your team has already bought them (I think out of my near 100 games this only happened a handful of times) I don't need to explain why wards are a necessity, and if I do you should read this excellent guide by bumblebee as a basic guide to playing as support. As for ward locations there are many excellent guides out there also. I do suggest however only placing 1 ward at the start, not 2... You can't sacrifice the gold required to get 2 wards constantly until after you get your soul ring or boots.

It would of course be ideal to get these first, but you really can't sacrifice either the Salve or Clarities, or the branches... And obviously you NEED a courier or you will be stuck in lane with gold piling up and no way to spend it properly.

The first step to Soul Ring, Omni's required item. This provides missing regen due to lack of Tango's and I almost always get it next. If possible pick it up from the side shop, but don't risk dying to do so! Use the courier if necessary.

Laning Items:

By this stage you have a choice depending on how your lane is going, you may be getting absolutely no farm at all and your enemies may already have boots, or you could have even got an early kill/assist and have enough gold to get all 3.

I suggest boots if the enemy team is good and you are having trouble defending against ganks, or if you are just getting enough gold to buy them easily. I suggest sobi mask + recipe if you have been left relatively undisturbed and are confident that you can use your abilities freely.

Also, you will almost always have to buy at least one set of wards while saving for these 3 items. Get wards after boots, or after soul ring... don't get boots and soul ring before getting wards, your first set just wont last that long. You may even need to buy them in between sobi and recipe for soul ring. (although getting sobi without the recipe is just a waste of an item slot. Better off just keeping it in the stash until you have recipe aswell unless you have already used your consumables and have a free slot.)

Mid Game Items:

Next you really need to start hitting the support items and always have a TP... Now that you have soul ring you should not die, and you need the flying courier to help you get wards quicker and of course to help your team-mates obtain their items quicker. The TP is even more necessary than usual with Omni considering your incredible supportive abilities that can defend against pushes / ganks... Wards are now definitely on cooldown items and you should have great map awareness/visibility.

By this point the game will be going one of two ways, you will either be winning easily and have all you need to be a successful support for the rest of the game. Or you will be really struggling to have bought all the items listed so far in which case you are in serious trouble. You will need to play really great to turn the game around in this case, your heals and ulti usage must be perfect, and you must not die at all to ensure you have enough gold to keep up ward placements.

This is the only other item that I get EVERY game. It is possible that you may have lost before you could get them. But usually you should be able to even if you are starting to lose.

You have choices now, but either way, you will be playing pure support position by this stage so it will take a while to get anything. These cheap/easy to build items really suit playing a support well, you should also try to start saving for buyback. There are other items you can get though, but I won't list them here, the list is too long.

Late game:

This is the ultimate item imo, you will only get it in really long games, but when you do it should have significant impact. Two games really stick out in my mind where I was able to get this item, one was a 75 minute long game where the opponent carry was a super fat anti-mage and this item basically won us the game. The other was a 60+ minute game where the opponent carry was void and even though I hexed him perfectly we just didn't have the co-ordination to take him down.

Other items that you may have to buy:

These are obviously game specific items, but you should expect nobody else to buy them except you. Gem/Dust is obviously used against invis heroes, and Smoke is VERY helpful if you have a team that knows how to use it, be careful though, on more than one occasion I bought smoke only to have some new player run in and start whacking away only to be revealed in a very bad location and die instantly. I could list sentry wards or something too, but I don't really feel they are necessary in a pub game, at least not at the level I've played my games at.

How To Play:

Laning phase:

During the laning phase you will mostly be staying back, it depends on the opponents and your team-mates level of skill though. Obviously if they are all bad and you have the ability to get last hits/denies, don't pass that opportunity! It may be tempting to say "im just support, it's better if my team-mate gets the last-hits." But if he doesn't know how to well, it is just gold going to waste.

If your opponents are good and your team-mate is bad, then you definitely need to stay just in xp range, a lot of running back and forward. Be prepared to use your heal to save your team-mate, he may be bad but it's not worth letting your enemies get fed over.

If your team-mate is good and your opponents are bad, then you get to have some fun, you can either let him get all the farm, and just focus on harassing the enemies (healing creep works really well usually in this case to catch the enemies off-guard) or keep yourself low health deliberately to taunt them in to doing something stupid.

You will have to leave lane at some point to place wards, try to do it when the creep are pushed, sometimes it may even be worth it to use your heal to do some damage to the enemies and push the creep wave while you use your salve and go ward at the same time losing miminal xp and getting something out of your time away from lane.

As always keep an eye on the minimap, call missing, and keep an eye on your enemies mana/cooldowns/items... It can be the difference between dominating laning phase or getting absolutely pounded. This is what I struggled with most for my first 40 odd-games, I thought I was playing omni wrong, but I was just sucking at these basics.

Mid-Game:

I'm not sure what the correct usage of this term is but I call it basically from level 6. At this point you should have your ulti and be close to if not already having boots and soul ring. If not that's fine, just stay in lane until you do. If you still don't have them by level 7 though something has really gone wrong and you should just continue with what I'm about to say anyway.

This is the fun time, you are at one of your most potent phases in the game! You have ulti and lvl 3 heal, soon to be level 4! You should be looking for opportunities to help gank / support against pushes or help push yourself! I usually roam from my side lane to the other side lane while stopping in mid to farm a little bit or help push/gank depending on the situation, all the while warding as I go. You really get to open up the game at this point and the next few levels will be crucial depending on what happens.

The opposing team will usually be doing the same thing and you should be easily be able to tell what roles the opposing heroes will be playing. Don't be afraid to call/set-up ganks or even team-fights at this stage. While you can't initiate (besides running in, letting them target you, then healing yourself) hopefully you do have an initiator on your team who knows what they are doing, and can pick off a few kills here and there.

Continuing with the mid-game you should mainly be roaming, getting xp where you can, and only (i can't stress this enough) ONLY farming when no one else is in the area that doesn't need it more... There is no point killing a creep wave with your heal when you have anti-mage 10 seconds away who needs it much more than you. Aslong as you have enough money to have constant wards and TP up, and already have flying courier, you should not be fighting with Anyone for farm. If they suck though and are building completely stupid items for example, go for it.

There will usually be at least a few team-fights during this phase that will determine the course of the game. I find it handy to keep 1 ward on me that I haven't planted specifically for use in team fights, planting it in a key area where it seems a team fight is going to take place to prevent enemies from coming from the bushes, or losing sight as they run can be the difference between a double-kill or a mega-kill, for either your team, or theirs.

Late-Game:

Whenever I made it this far in a game, I basically felt I had done a great job regardless, and could be happy with my performance. In this phase you should never be alone, ideally always sticking by at least one if not two other team mates, while your carry/s gets max level/legendary items asap. Not doing anything stupid during this phase is actually quite hard. You might think you need to run off and plant some wards, or go and defend/push a lane (quite often I did this, died, and wasn't there when my team needed me in a big fight or wasted my ulti running away), but you must remember you are support, you are very undergeared and probably a little bit underleveled (although from all your time being in xp range during team fights, probably not). The best thing to do is be there with your team ready to heal/repel/ulti/provide mana/meka/pipe... You can probably sell your soul ring and start saving for hex by now too.

Don't be afraid to speak up if you need to plant fresh wards too, perhaps someone will be willing to do it for you, or you can all go together as a team and do it.

Team-fights are key, and you must use every ability/item you have to it's greatest benefit!

Skill Builds:

I kept this until last because it is the thing I am uncertain about the most. I switched my builds multiple times while trying omni, and I couldn't find one that had a clear advantage over another, they are very similar either way.

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or
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Level 2 repel is smart, it can prevent against harass/stuns. But from then whether to go for repel or degen aura first seems to be down to preference.
The advantage of max Degen Aura first is it will obviously help in a stage of the game when you are probably vulnerable and will definitely help prevent you dying, and of course is a good skill in its own right 28% slow ftw! But I kind of feel it is more suited to a semi-carry more ganky style of omni.

Max repel first will give you an extra 6 seconds repel! Which is definitely powerful, if used correctly. Due to the fact that you will use heal before repel in most fights, it means if you repel someone, by the time your heal is back off cooldown, they will still be repel'd and you will be unable to heal instantly, which means they could die, simply due to the fact that they are repel'd for too long!

So they both have their positives and negatives, perhaps a mix would be best but I'm really unsure, play around and see what suits you is my opinion.

The rest takes no brains to figure out, heal and ulti are the best abilities so get them ASAP. I did play with some stat before degen aura after repel builds, but didn't really seem worth it. Extra stats at that stage of the game were pretty much meaningless as we already have enough mana through soul ring and arcane boots, and the health isn't enough to be worth it.

General Tips:

Here are just some general tips I discovered and found useful and definitely helped with the overall experience of pubbing omni support.

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Communicate when picking!
When picking omni, say something like "I'm buying courier and will get wards quickly, but if the team wants wards straight away someone else will have to buy them." this shows that a) you are playing support, and b) you at least have some basic knowledge of the game. I really wish more people did this so I had some idea of what to expect going in to the game. There is no harm at all in communicating like this because if someone doesn't understand what you are talking about that is no problem at all... Also if you see that your line-up is missing initiation (a very crucial role imo) or a carry, ask for it! Thankfully Valve gave the heroes these roles on the pick screen so even a new player can see what you are talking about!

Don't be afraid to apologise! / give praise!
If you screw something up, apologise! Many times I did a really bad ulti, or a horrible repel, didn't heal in time, or stole a kill with my heal by accident... Apologising never hurt in any of these cases, and in some cases made me feel less bad about my screw up when they said it's OK. And on the flip-side accept others apologies. Give praise when someone does something good also, especially if they are a new player... Even just saying "nice" can really boost morale. There are a lot of players I'm sure we're all aware that make pubbing absolute hell, being a good support who not only wards, buys couriers, but is also nice and friendly makes the game much more fun!

Use voice communication (if you can)
By this I don't mean, talk about your day or try to make friends with people by annoying them with your voice. But for game critical things like if you see gank about to happen, or if you are about to run into a team fight and pop your ulti, tell your team you are going to do it so they know to stay and fight! Nothing is worse than popping your ulti as everyone has started to run away and you miss valuable DPS time.

Don't let them get to you
I've been called many bad things when people see my 0/4 or 1/6 KD Even assists are not as plentiful with omni because sometimes all you may do is a clutch repel or heal that does no damage. Omni as a support is definitely not a hero that will bring you great stats, and some people just don't get that. You will be called bad, shitty noob, LoL player, "just another scrub to report"... Even when you are having a great game. Just don't let them get to you... You've been warned

Hope you enjoy / this guide is good enough to be here!

All images sourced from http://www.dota2wiki.com

Last edit: 2011-12-12 00:37:23

igotmyown United States. December 11 2011 22:47. Posts 2880

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I prefer arcane boots to soul ring. You can't spam as much, but it helps your teammates and allows you to push better, and you'll have more than enough mana for team fights. Soul ring's more for laning/neutralling, and if you're not taking cs and buying support, either is a big investment.

skipgamer Australia. December 12 2011 00:03. Posts 559

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On December 11 2011 22:47 igotmyown wrote:
I prefer arcane boots to soul ring. You can't spam as much, but it helps your teammates and allows you to push better, and you'll have more than enough mana for team fights. Soul ring's more for laning/neutralling, and if you're not taking cs and buying support, either is a big investment.

Hmm, I've never actually tried skipping soul ring, it's just always felt so right to me. I'll try it, it would definitely help with being able to buy wards on cooldown and upgrade courier earlier.

(1k gold is a lot to save and a death could make sh*t go bad really quick rather than not losing gold thanks to soul rings smaller items though. I even have trouble saving for it in the mid game lol)

Last edit: 2011-12-12 00:20:20

Rice United States. December 12 2011 00:50. Posts 1220

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when I get arcane boots and soul ring I feel like its kinda wasteful and I have too much mana half the time, but I prefer soloing mid as omni anyways, he seems to stomp a lot of the mid matchups, especially the melee ones.

Last edit: 2011-12-12 00:51:39

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Julmust Sweden. December 12 2011 01:13. Posts 2159

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thank you for this :D been interested in trying out a support hero for some time now but haven't felt sure on who to pick and/or how to play. I'll give omni a try!

<@R1CH> i don't do impractical C, sorry

niggy United States. December 21 2011 02:51. Posts 22

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Omni is one of my mains. This is a pretty good guide, but I just want to comment on the skill build and items for a sec.

I would recommend getting repel and level 1 and then max your heal. Repel is so much more useful at the start of the game than the heal because it can save you from early ganks. Also, it's not uncommon to skip the ult until level 10 and 11, but obviously this is situational.

And as for items, Omni should also consider getting a Eul's in the mid game rather than Scythe. Eul's has really nice synergy with Degen aura and heal nuking and is much easier to build.

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skipgamer Australia. December 21 2011 03:01. Posts 559

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On December 21 2011 02:51 niggy wrote:
Omni is one of my mains. This is a pretty good guide, but I just want to comment on the skill build and items for a sec.

I would recommend getting repel and level 1 and then max your heal. Repel is so much more useful at the start of the game than the heal because it can save you from early ganks. Also, it's not uncommon to skip the ult until level 10 and 11, but obviously this is situational.

And as for items, Omni should also consider getting a Eul's in the mid game rather than Scythe. Eul's has really nice synergy with Degen aura and heal nuking and is much easier to build.

Agree with Eul's, depending the other teams comp though, and I can see how level 1 repel would be better than level 1 heal. Heals first level really is pretty useless..

But why would you skip ulti until level 10? I can't see that making any sense at all. It's not uncommon for ganks to start around level 6 and his ulti really is very powerful at protecting from ganks / saving ganks that go wrong.

Last edit: 2011-12-21 03:02:37

niggy United States. December 21 2011 03:15. Posts 22

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On December 21 2011 03:01 skipgamer wrote:

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Of course it's situational. Against high burst magic damage gankers, it's better to have Repel than an Guardian Angel. If you do skip it, it's to get extra repel. Not standard but not uncommon either. You'll obviously want to get Guardian Angel if you're engaging in team fights early, but if you're babysitting the lane and playing a more passive game, I don't think GA is worth it.

Last edit: 2011-12-21 03:18:10

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PiPoGevy Australia. September 02 2012 12:09. Posts 1557

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Great guide, cheers

Edit: I think this needs to be moved to Strategy if I am not mistaken? o.O

Last edit: 2012-09-02 12:15:51

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13_Doomblaze_37 United States. September 02 2012 16:25. Posts 698

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You want repel at level 1 because being able to negate a slow or a stun is a lot more helpful then a tiny bit of HP. Also maxing out repel first is infinitely better than maxing degen aura after 1 level of repel because the only way you are going to die early game is from some kind of stun or slow. Degen aura will not help you live if you are magic missiled/venomous galed at like level 5, while repel can dodge the spell for you.

If the people you are playing against are bad enough that degen aura gets you kills, you can carry your team anyway. Phase boots radiance omniknight with max degen is scary and hilarious in pubs.

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Bommes Germany. September 02 2012 17:59. Posts 939

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On September 02 2012 16:25 13_Doomblaze_37 wrote:
You want repel at level 1 because being able to negate a slow or a stun is a lot more helpful then a tiny bit of HP. Also maxing out repel first is infinitely better than maxing degen aura after 1 level of repel because the only way you are going to die early game is from some kind of stun or slow. Degen aura will not help you live if you are magic missiled/venomous galed at like level 5, while repel can dodge the spell for you.

If the people you are playing against are bad enough that degen aura gets you kills, you can carry your team anyway. Phase boots radiance omniknight with max degen is scary and hilarious in pubs.

If you actually want to go down the carry route in pubs with Omni, try Skadi before Radiance. Much more hilarious and even more effective because it solves a lot of HP/Mana problems in the "earlier" game and the synergy with Degen Aura is amazing. Only works if you can get the farm though (and if the other team sucks ofc).

Carry Omni is actually the only hero I recall buying SnY (after Skadi and Radiance) at some point and not regretting it. I played Carry Omni only 1 or 2 times in pubs for fun, but if you can get the farm it is hilarious. You are the unkillable douchebag who runs around with a million movement speed slows everyone he hits by 50-70% depending on the Maim procc and is just unkillable. It is amazing! lol

Last edit: 2012-09-02 18:03:06

levelnoobz France. September 02 2012 22:18. Posts 134

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Wouldn't that belong to strategy ?

Finskie Sweden. September 02 2012 22:42. Posts 390

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the only way to play omni is carry. 100%. :D

Violet.

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