This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　I used to be an okay carry.

　　Like, bonafide "okay" as opposed to "humblebragging" okay. If given sufficient space in the beginning, I could generally farm up enough to be deemed Public Enemy Number Two. But I never /menaced/, never drove anyone out of the lane in a mad panic just because I had strutted into view. I was always the Storm Trooper to the Darth Vaders of Dota, the crowbar in the knife fight.

　　A few weeks ago, something changed. One night, I pulled Bloodseeker out of the random hat and did not put him back again. It was late, I was tired, and I really couldn't deal with playing Tidehunter for the umpteenth time. So, I barreled out of good judgment and into the safe lane. Forty minutes later, the game was over. I had twenty kills. No deaths. The next night, history repeated itself: my Alchemist left the party with two deaths and twenty bodies zip-locked away for her kids. Day after that? Twenty-zero Spectre. Suddenly, heads weren't just rolling, they were pogo-ing into the Technicolor sunset.

　　And if you guessed this is where I tell you it's all because I've been playing support, you'd be right. Because it is. Twelve months of heavy-duty babysitting, of disabling, warding and being the sacrificial lamb can change a person. They can change you a twitchy, strung-out ball of nerves suspicious of anything that moves -- which, weirdly enough, also translates to being a better carry.

　　As Enigma, spoderman got a great 23 assists and just 3 death(s)! Nice one! (ID: 29698189)

　　— Dota 2 Support Bot (@Dota2SupportBot) August 1, 2012

　　Note: I'm in no way condoning carry-shaming. History is populated with jaw-dropping virtuosos like ZSMJ who once farmed a fresh Divine Rapier in seven minutes because he managed to misplace his first one. (Sheesh.) Nonetheless, if you want some new perspective, swapping Clinkz for Windrunner might just be the thing to up your game. And here are three reasons why:

　　

Last Hitting Gets Easier

Imagine this: the first ten, tense minutes of a new match as Dazzle or Windrunner or any of Dota 2's career babysitters. You're on the suicide lane with Anti-Mage. On the opposite team, Tiny and Vengeful Spirit are weaving to and fro, like the Siamese Cats from Lady and the Tramp except infinitely more stunning. (Get it? Stunning? Stun? Er - ) They want blood. And gold. Mostly, they want blood. Yours. Anti-Mage's. It doesn't matter. Heroes bleed experience all the same.

　　As your charge nips forward to snag a last hit, Vengeful moves. You reprimand her with a spray of arrows. She drops back. You turn, take aim and steal a creep from under Tiny's eponymously-sized fists.

　　"No. No gold for you," you whisper grimly to your screen.

　　Denying is an art that every support player is inevitably indoctrinated in. You do it because the alternative is unthinkable. Why let the other team get the full amount of experience and gold when you can reduce their winnings to a mere pittance? It's also an agonizingly difficult function. Ignoring all of the other related factors, denying involves vying with two other people, people hellbent on murdering you and your partner, for the opportunity to land the last hit on an allied creep.

　　Needless to say, just last hitting creeps, in comparison, is a bit of a Zen experience.

　　

More Spatial Awareness

Depending on your belief systems, omniscience is either a lie or a market cornered by big beards -- up until you start playing support in your Dota 2 games, that is, at which point you realize geographical pansophy is one of your reasons for beings.

　　While seldom getting the praise they deserve for their hard work, Crystal Maiden players can set up early game kills for their carry.But while there's nothing particularly glamorous about hammering eyeballs-on-sticks into the ground, ward duty does provide tacit benefits. You start cultivating an understanding of how and where heroes move, of the choke-points and safe zones littering the battlefield. You learn how to economize your usage of wards and how to maximum their efficiency, when to ward aggressively and when to focus on illuminating the dark, dangerous corners of your jungle. More importantly, perhaps, you learn how to identify those miniscule flickers of color in the periphery of your vision because good supports don't just place wards, they use them. (Effectively.)

　　All that, of course, can carry over to your experiences as a carry. Unless you're saddled with an inept team, chances are you won't have to worry about homing those wards yourself. Nonetheless, knowing how to direct a less inexperienced support in regards to their placement and where enemy surveillance organs might be roosting can make all the difference.

　　

More Team-based Mentality

The kamikaze Anti-Mage who won't leave bottom-tower alone no matter what you tell them. The newbie who misses every skill shot and goes "Huh?" at every turn. The eternal pessimist. The incomprehensible foreigner who really, really shouldn't be playing on your server because oh god, lag. These archetypes make up the spine of every Dota 2 player's nightmares. They're what catalyzes reports of verbal abuse, what turns sane people into drooling manifestations of white-hot hate.

　　Playing support won't automatically free you from wanting to brain such louses but it can teach you tolerance, humility and the willingness, however grudging, to forgo arguments in lieu of just fighting the good fight. Wanting to prove exactly how someone fucked up a teamfight is a perfectly natural response to incompetence but it isn't constructive. Satisfying, perhaps, but demoralizing and a waste of time better spent figuring out how to recoup from a loss. At the end of the day, Dota 2 isn't about the individual. Carries may be meant to "carry" their team into victory and supports designed to buttress their efforts but they're all part of the same ten-men ecosystem. If one stumbles, everyone suffers.

　　Additionally, spending time as a babysitter helps to compound an understanding of how heroes function in regards to one another. Like new parenthood, being your team's auxiliary can make you vigilant to both threats and opportunities. Juggernaut and Crystal Maiden? Expect an aggressive start. Solo Dark Seer running on the same team as Rikimaru? Probably time to break out the Sentry Ward. Phantom Assassin attending to a lane uncontested? Be ready for a very bad time or a very, very good one. It doesn't stop there either. As a support, you need to know how your team works. If you're Omniknight, who should get your Repel? The souped-up Zeus or the greenhorn Rikimaru? As Dazzle, do you save Faceless Void or do you rescue the Earthshaker who has just enough to land his ultimate? Knowledge, while no substitute for a Divine Rapier, can most certainly be power.

　　Preview Image Credit: Valve