How to Master Position 4 in Dota 2 (& Best Heroes For Beginners)

Dota 2 is a pretty complicated game, and every role comes with its own set of challenges. Position 4 is one of the trickiest to master, since you’re not just a support, you’re also the team’s playmaker. Unlike Position 5, who mostly stick to protecting cores, Position 4 players have to be active on the map, setting up kills, securing vision, and creating space.

It’s a role that can completely change the tempo of a match, but to do it right, you need solid game sense and good decision-making. In this guide, we’ll drop some essential tips to help you master the art of Position 4 in Dota 2 and help you get started with a couple of simple, yet effective heroes for the role.

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How to Master Position 4 in Dota 2

While Position 4 is simple enough to understand, mastering the role requires a lot of practice and game knowledge. The following few tips will help you learn the basics of what you have to do when you’re playing as the Position 4 Support of your team.

Lane Presence

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The laning phase is arguably the most important period in the Dota 2 game. As the Position 4, you’ll usually go to the Offlane with your Position 3. Your goal is to help your Offlaner win the lane against the opponent Safe Lane Duo by trading hits, contesting the pull camps and securing the Healing Lotus.

If you’re in a favorable lane matchup, position a bit aggressively so that you can zone out the enemy Position 5 while harassing the Hard Carry. Make sure you secure the Healing Lotus in minutes 3 and 6 and the Wisdom Shrine in minute 7.

In a difficult lane matchup, you’ll want to play a bit more defensively. To help your Offlaner farm easier, keep the creep equilibrium towards your tower by stacking or pulling the Hard Camp or side pulling a wave behind your T1 tower.

Early Game Rotations

While the laning phase is a priority, rotating off the lane to help out other players in your team is also an important job of the Position 4. The 6-minute Power Rune is one of the most critical periods of the game, and you’ll want to position yourself near the Midlane to help your Position 2 secure the Rune.

You can also use the Twin Gates early on to rotate to your Safe Lane easily and secure a kill on the enemy Offlane or Position 4. Just remember to go back to your lane to help out your Offlane hero afterward.

Mid-Game Itemization and Playstyle

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Most Position 4 Supports in the game right now have some form of initiation or playmaking ability. Heroes like Tusk, Lion, or Windranger can offer a lot of utility during teamfights with a Blink Dagger. On the other hand, proper positioning can help heroes like Winter Wyvern change the course of entire team fights in their team’s favor, making Glimmer Cape a fantastic item choice for them.

Identify the key power spike of your hero in the mid-game and pick the item that gives you the most utility.

Rotate and Secure Vision

Even though it can be tempting to focus on your farm since you scale better as a Position 4, it’s also important to secure vision on the map for your team. At the end of the day, you’re still a Support, and as the Support that doubles as the playmaker, you’ll usually have a better read on the map than your position 5.

Whenever you’re moving around the map with your Offlaner, be sure to put down Observer Wards that can help you find more kills later on. Use the map vision to call for smoke ganks with your team and keep the pressure up on the enemy Safe Laner.

Itemize for the Team

Even though Position 4 plays as a “pseudo” core, you’ll want to itemize for your team’s benefit, not to simply increase your hero’s damage output. Hoodwink, for instance, is a strong Position 4 support that can scale exceptionally well with items like Gleipneir, Mage Slayer, or even Daedalus.

In some games where your team is lacking damage, this will be a good item build to go for. But when your team has enough damage, but your cores are having trouble surviving the enemy team’s burst, it’s better to go for items like the Glimmer cape, Force Staff, or Lotus Orb. Make sure you put your team’s needs above your own when buying items.

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Best Position 4 Heroes for Beginners in Dota 2

Witch Doctor, Lich, and Ogre Magi in Dota 2

Dota 2 is an extremely dynamic game where the meta is constantly shifting. Here are a few strong Position 4 heroes that are relatively easy to learn and are performing well in the current meta:

Lion

Lion is one of the strongest Position 4s in the game right now. He is a disabler/nuker, and despite his mediocre Health Pool, the hero can make life extremely difficult for the enemy Safe Lane Duo. He hits a good power spike at level 3, with two levels in Earth Spike and one level in Hex.

His Mana Drain is also pretty annoying for the lane opponents to deal with. And once he hits his level 6, you’ll get a high-damage nuke that can eat a big chunk of your opponent’s HP in one blow. With a Blink Dagger in the mid-game, Lion can cause a lot of chaos in the teamfight as long as you manage to stay alive.

Jakiro

With the Patch 7.38 changes to Jakiro’s Facets, the hero has seen a massive spike in his win rate. Similar to Lion, Jakiro excels both as a nuker and disabler. But the hero isn’t as squishy as Lion and can trade hits with the enemy Position 5 much easier because of his larger Health Pool.

However, Jakiro doesn’t have a power spike as early as Lion. The hero also takes a while to get used to, since all of his abilities have a delayed cast animation. Jakiro usually likes to buy items that help him land his spells easier, such as Aether Lens, or let him save allies like Glimmer Cape or Force Staff.

Mirana

While Mirana isn’t the easiest hero to master in Dota 2, it’s still a pretty excellent hero in the current Meta. Her skill shot Sacred Arrow can be hard to land without any setup. But if your Offlaner has a reliable stun that can keep the enemy hero rooted to a spot, you can chain it with the Sacred Arrow for massive damage and lockdown.

Mirana’s Starstorm is also a pretty powerful nuke that you can use to harass enemy heroes. You can also play a lot more aggressively with Mirana since she has a built-in escape ability. Her ultimate, Moonlight Shadow, turns her entire team invisible for a duration, making her an excellent Position 4 support in the current meta of Dota 2.

The Position 4 Support is a fun role to main once you master it. As you start from the basics, you’ll slowly start to develop a feel for what you must do on the map to make the game easier for your team. The heroes that we mentioned are a good place to start until you find a hero that matches your playstyle in Dota 2.