Best Dota 2 Support Players in 2025

Support players in Dota 2 are usually the ones tasked to do the dirty work. They buy wards, tank ganks, and sacrifice farm to ensure their cores are set up for success. As a result, they rarely get the glory. However, there are several players who are capable of turning this selfless role and shine under the spotlight. Here are the best support players in 2026.

#5 Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen

• Team: Team Falcons
• Age: 29
• Nationality: Danish

Cr1t- has long been one of the most consistent players in the world. His professional career kicked off in 2016, and since then, he’s always found himself on a top-tier team, which tells you everything you need to know. For over a decade, he’s remained a world-class player. Cr1t- has fought through every meta shift and roster change without falling off. This man is reliable. 

The Dane has been one of the most impactful roamers in the game for the longest time. He has this incredible sense of timing and positioning – it feels like he’s constantly at the right place at the right time. Cr1t- is always good to set up kills or save teammates before things spiral out of control. 

With his wealth of experience, Cr1t- thrives on playmaking supports. He can play your classic setup heroes like Lion, Hoodwink, Tiny, or Shadow Shaman, but he can also play saving supports like Shadow Demon and Ringmaster. The best part is Cr1t- is that he’s stone-cold under pressure. He’s not the type of guy that chokes crucial saves or misses fight-changing stuns. He’s a very safe pair of hands. 

For years, Cr1t- has been labeled as one of the best players to have never won The International, until he finally chased down that dream after lifting the Aegis in 2025. 

#4 Samuel “Boxi” Svahn

• Team: Team Liquid
• Age: 27
• Nationality: Swedish 

It’s pretty easy to forget now since it’s been so long, but Boxi actually started his career as an offlane player before transitioning into the soft support role. You can still see that influence in the way he plays. He gravitates toward brawling supports, as he wants to scrap nonstop and look for any fights possible.

In my opinion, Boxi does his best work on melee playmakers. Heroes like Tusk, Clockwerk, Marci, and Spirit Breaker perfectly suit his style. He’s not scared to go in first, and these low-cooldown spells allow him to constantly move around the map and create action. That being said, Boxi isn’t just a one-dimensional player. The Swede is also very comfortable on ranged supports with late-game impact like Batrider, Dark Willow, or Hoodwink. 

Boxi’s playmaking potential is through the roof. He loves initiating engagements, creating space, and finding those split-second openings in the middle of scrappy teamfights. His early game rotations, in particular, are extremely sharp, helping his mid-laner get off to a solid start. 

Like Cr1t-, Boxi is also known for rarely showing emotions, especially when under pressure. He stays calm in very tense situations, which is a big reason why you’ll see Team Liquid pull off insane comebacks and lower bracket runs. 

#3 Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu

• Team: Team Falcons
• Age: 30
• Nationality: American

The words “greedy” and “hard support” don’t usually go hand in hand, but Sneyking doesn’t really care about that. He’s the greediest player across both support roles in the professional scene, and somehow makes it work while playing the role with the lowest farm priority. 

His approach to Dota 2 is actually really simple: pick strong laning heroes that also have the potential to farm and clear waves. The heroes that check these boxes? Mirana, Enchantress, Chen, Jakiro, and Pugna. These heroes don’t just win you the lane, they also help you generate gold. The additional farm Sneyking rakes in is usually converted into aura items that buff the entire team. 

It’s not uncommon to see Sneyking’s net worth approach dangerously close to enemy cores, and he almost always outfarms the three other supports in the game. On top of that, his laning skills are nothing short of exceptional. He always sets up his carry for a strong start, and he’s particularly good at using the Twin Gates to rotate between lanes.

If you want to learn how to dominate the early game and squeeze every ounce of farm out of the support role, his replays are free to download. 

#2 Martin “Saksa” Sazdov

• Team: Team Yandex
• Age: 30
• Nationality: Macedonian

After a disappointing run at TI14 with Tundra Esports, we thought Saksa might be heading into another indefinite break to take time off the competitive scene. During this period, he was instead called to stand in for Team Yandex temporarily. What was supposed to be a short stint for a few events turned into another – and then another. Several months later, he’s still there, and it doesn’t look like he’s leaving anytime soon. 

Saksa has already proven himself as one of the greatest support players of all time, but his impact became even clearer with this move. Before he joined, Yandex were struggling to even qualify for events. After he arrived, they started making deep runs at multiple S-tier events and even ended the year with a win at DreamLeague Season 27. In just a few months, he transformed a mediocre roster into legitimate title contenders. 

He might just be the best soft support player on ranged heroes, especially on setup heroes like Shadow Demon, Hoodwink, Shadow Shaman, and Batrider. But his hero pool still goes far beyond that. He’s very capable of playing Tusk, Tiny, or even Void Spirit. 

Saksa is versatile, reliable, and probably contributes even more behind the scenes than we’re aware of. His career-long achievements speak for itself, and Yandex’s sudden rise into the top five is just more proof of his impact. 

#1 Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon

• Team: Tundra Esports
• Age: 25
• Nationality: Indonesian

I may be a biased Indonesian, but there’s plenty of truth to Whitemon’s spot as the current best support player in the world. Many analysts and pros would even agree. 

He arguably has the best laning stage in the game, always managing to secure a strong start for his carry. Don’t believe it? He’s worked with four different carry players from 2025 and found success with all of them. 

Playing hard support, Whitemon leans toward the “Ward Slave” playstyle, unlike Sneyking. He’ll spend almost all his gold on support items, yet still finds massive impact with his limited resources. Speaking of support items, this guy’s warding is next-level. He finds some of the sneakiest and most effective placements you’ll see in the professional scene. 

On top of that, his ability to create opportunities with virtually nothing is insane. He can play setup heroes like Windranger, Bane, or Disruptor to create kill opportunities, or utility heroes like Warlock or Ringmaster to provide value to the team. Let’s not forget some of his jaw-dropping Nightmare saves on Bane. Simply put, Whitemon can really do it all. 

Honorable Mentions

Here are some support players that didn’t make it onto the list, but are worth a shout:

Vitalie “Save-” Melnic

If we’re talking about raw mechanics, Save- is probably the most mechanically gifted support player in the world. He loves playing heroes that allow him to showcase his skill, with his trademark Muerta, Hoodwink and Shadow Demon being his top heroes. 

Yap “xNova” Jian Wei

xNova is the “Poverty God” in Dota 2. He sacrifices more farm than almost any other support player in the scene. The numbers don’t lie, as he has some of the lowest average GPMs in Tier 1. He’s pretty much playing the game with a handicap, but still finds massive impact despite the massive resource disadvantage. 

Matthew “Ari” Walker

Ari has been a high-ranking player on the leaderboards, and he finally got another opportunity to play at the highest level when Tundra Esports signed him. So far, he’s shown great individual skill on heroes like Dark Willow, Hoodwink, and Marci, consistently landing multi-hero stuns that can change fights.