Dota 2: The best supports for grinding MMR in patch 7.30e

Dota 2 patch 7.30e is nearing the end of its reign. The first iteration of the update came out on November 16 and has been followed by several balance patches since.

While the patch has been pretty well-received, players are already looking ahead to what patch 7.31 will bring.

Since this is one of the longer patches Dota 2 has experienced, we have a lot of information to work with to help players grind MMR. In this list, we will highlight the three best support heroes to help you reach the next milestone in your MMR journey:

Jakiro

Jakiro is king when it comes to grinding MMR as a hard support. The hero has it all and that is reflected in Jakiro’s win rate, which has been hovering around 54% over the past week according to Dotabuff.

Jakiro is one of the strongest hard supports in the laning stage. Dual Breath allows the hero to slow the enemy’s movement and attack speed, making it difficult for them to trade hits with the twin-headed dragon. Dual Breath is also great for setting up kills when laning with a strong carry.

Meanwhile, Liquid Fire adds more damage over time and attack speed reduction to Jakiro’s arsenal. The ability also makes the hero a great sieging machine. It’s rare for supports to provide substantial tower damage and Jakiro is one of the few on that list.

Since pub games can be very chaotic with players foregoing objectives in favor of kills, Jakiro’s damage lets him take down towers and raxes when his over-eager cores dive for kills.

Jakiro’s best spell is Ice Path. A 2.5 second AOE stun on a 9-second cooldown is pretty ridiculous. Ice Path also comes with a fantastic cast range, keeping Jakiro safe in fights as he stuns enemies from afar.

When fully upgraded with Talents, Ice Path becomes a 3-second stun on a 6.5-second cooldown, providing almost 50% uptime.

Jakiro’s AOE spells make it easy for the hero to clear waves and get some farm. This allows him to itemize accordingly in every game. Consider his Aghanim's Shard as it provides him with a stun and percentage damage against enemies and structures.

Jakiro’s strong stats, good AOE spells, strong building damage, and great laning stage makes him a versatile pick for the hard support role that can help you climb the MMR ladder.

Bane

While Bane's winrate is just a bit over average across all brackets, the hero makes our list of the best supports to grind MMR with due to how strong he can become in the right hands.

Just ask Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov, captain of The International 10 champions Team Spirit. With a mind-boggling 68% win rate in professional matches, Bane is Miposhka's most successful hero in pro play.

What makes Bane such a strong hero is his unparalleled ability to lock down key targets.

While Lion and Shadow Shaman are in contention with Bane for the title of best disabler in Dota 2, only Bane can boast being able to control magic immune enemies thanks to Fiend’s Grip.

This ability to ignore magic immunity allows Bane to shut down enemy carries in the late game. It also prevents anyone from escaping if they are caught unaware during a smoke gank.

Bane’s other major strength is his laning stage. Similar to Jakiro, Bane is another hero who is hard to beat in the early game.

Brain Sap provides a 600 health swing in Bane's favor on an 11-second cooldown, making him a deceptively tanky hero in ganks and teamfights if he gets the chance to cast the spell multiple times.

Nightmare is Bane’s second disable and it is a doozy, putting an enemy to sleep for seven seconds and only waking them up if they take damage.

In small skirmishes Bane can cast Nightmare on one target and proceed to use Fiend’s Grip on another, effectively taking out two enemies from the fight for six seconds. The spell also provides a second of invulnerability, perfect for saving allies during clutch moments.

While Bane doesn’t farm very well, he doesn’t really need to either. Simply landing all his spells in a fight is enough to make Bane a dangerous opponent. Buying Glimmer Cape, Force Staff, and Aether Lens will help land those crucial abilities.

A strong laning stage, two long-duration disables, and the ability to shut down magic immune targets all make Bane a literal nightmare to play against.

Weaver

For players who prefer a more aggressive support hero, Weaver is perfect to scratch that itch as you climb the MMR ladder. The elusive bug is one of the hardest heroes to pin down and kill while providing an impressive amount of damage.

While he used to mainly be a core, nowadays Weaver is most often played as a Position 4 support.

The hero is able to trade effectively in the laning stage thanks to Geminate Attack providing bonus damage. Combined with Shukuchi, Weaver is great for the “hit-and-run” style of gameplay.

Shukuchi also allows Weaver to turn invisible and move at max movement speed, making it annoying for enemy teams to catch him. Weaver isn’t slowed by Dust of Appearance and can run away if affected by it, wasting the enemy’s gold and cooldown.

The Swarm is an interesting ability that sends out bugs to harass all enemies in the targeted direction. It also reduces enemy armor, making them more susceptible to physical damage. The Aghanim's Shard upgrade also allows The Swarm to reveal invisible enemies, providing more utility for the spell.

Similar to roaches in real life, Weaver is pretty hard to kill. This trait means he is able to survive most engagements and farm up. Most players use this to buy a Spirit Vessel and an Aghanim's Scepter.

Time Lapse removes all debuffs on Weaver and transports him to where he was five seconds ago. It’s a solid ultimate for the hero. When upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, Weaver can use it to save his allies, giving the hero a lot of versatility.

Weaver is really a jack of all trades support hero. He does great damage for a support, provides vision with The Swam, can reduce enemy armor, and in the late game he can acquire one of the best saves in the game.

Weaver requires a bit of creativity to utilize to his full potential, but in the right hands, nobody is a bigger nuisance to deal with…. except maybe Tinker.

Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.

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