There are currently 7 supports in the game.
The Heroes
There are two true heroes that is considered true support by the game and that is Estes and Rafaela(Regen). While there are other heroes can be considered and even played as supports, like Minotaur and Bane due to healing abilities and CC, these heroes are specifically designed and played for supporting the team due to their heal strength, crowd control abilities, and buffs that they give to their team. Also, a good support hero must have a good support build. Since there are items that affect your team when they are in your presence, you might want to craft them to give your teammates that extra boost or invest into more DPS for your hero, that depends solely on your playstyle. Finally, the ability that most Support heroes use is Healing Spell and Petrify, rarely Purify is used but in more advanced leagues.
Playing the Support
The most important thing that a support does is to support their team. That often means sticking with your allies and being there when they need you. Pairing a support hero with a high damage dealer hero like a marksman is the current meta. Keeping the damage dealers alive so they can do the fighting is your job. Things you can do to support them would be:
- Help your ally to farm gold and experience as fast as possible without subtracting from their income by dealing the final blow.
- Keep them healthy by utilizing heals or shielding them from damage.
- Always look at the mini map and note where your allies are and where the threat to your ally may come from.
- Stuns onto enemies are beloved by ADC champions almost as much as heals are. Whether its to prevent a kill from escaping, to change the tide of an engagement, or to secure an escape for yourself and an ally.