Hero Roles and Team Composition

Many people feel the strongest thing they can do in any game is play the carry hero; most people even know what the carry hero is.  However, besides the team having a good carry, many players have no idea what they're going to need on their team.  You can be extremely valuable to your team in many different roles, but part of that is recognizing what your hero is supposed to do and capitalizing on it.  Many heroes have more than one role, so don't limit yourself to doing only one thing.

Support:  These heroes are heroes that don't scale very well with items and/or have supportive skills.  They should typically be buying wards/counter wards and the courier.   Good support heroes need to know the ward spots and place the wards as this will give your other heroes (carries and gankers) time to do what they do best.  Something many players are unaware of is that intelligence heroes are not the only supports.  Classic Examples:  Andro, Demented Shaman, Accursed

Ganker:  These heroes typically have slows or stuns, and don't scale super well into the late game.  These heroes should roam the map, looking for small engagements in which they can kill enemy team members without dying.  Classic Examples: Wretched Hag, Deadwood, Gauntlet, Pebbles.

Nuker:  These heroes may also be stunners or gankers, but the thing that distinguishes them is they deal alot of damage with their skills instead of their auto-attacks.  These heroes should save their skills for engagements with multiple people if at all possible, as they have a very large effect on team fights.  Classic examples:  Slither, Bombadier

Carry:  This heroes job is to farm as best they can, carrying a TP scroll so they can respond to favorable team engagements.  The carry is the teams insurance policy, as if you can't end the game before the late game, you'll  be relying on your carry.  Late game, you should be looking at what you need item wise to survive team engagements, deal damage, and counter the enemy carry hero.  Classic Examples:  Chronos, Madman, Maliken.

Initiator:  These heroes will either have a blink, a way to close distance, or will have skills that synergy extremely well with a portal key.  Your job is generally to catch someone unaware, and start team battles (aka initiating them >.>).  Who you lead on is often important, but sometimes when you lead will be more important.  The question often comes down to, "I'd like to lead on _____, but if the enemy starts on us will we be screwed?"  Classic Example:  Pharoah, Moraxus, Gauntlet

Tank:  These heroes are kind of awkward to define because there are 2 kinds of tanks.  Tanks like Armadon and Legionnaire where you're purposely trying to take damage to deal damage, and tanks like Moraxus where you're saying "kill me or die".  Unfortunately many people see Moraxus and think his ultimate is just for nuking.  Classic Examples:  Armadon, Legionare, Moraxus, Accursed

Stunner:   Obviously this hero is going to have a stun.  Often times, you'll be using your stun with other team mates CC in order to lock down an opposing hero as long as possible.  Make sure to communicate with your team about who is CCing whom in what order.

Pusher:  These heroes have abilities that can demolish towers, and/or have minions that make taking towers much easier.  1 or 2 pushers on a team can make defending towers near impossible, especially with the threat of strong initiation behind them.  Be sure to capitalize on your pushers to try and take as many towers or even barracks as possible.


Now that we know what different roles do, what should we typically be looking for.  When I try to craft a team I'm generally looking for

1 Carry
2 Stunners/Gankers
1 Initiator
1 Support Hero

This is just one example build, their are others but I'll continue with this one for now...

So to give you an example

Witch Slayer -  Support, Ganker, Stunner
Demented Shaman - Support
Wretched Hag - Nuker, Ganker, Initiator
Gauntlet - Ganker, Initiator, Stunner
Madman - Carry

Notice how many heroes have more than one roll.  Please be aware that while you may want to play witch player as a ganker, and not go home often, if you don't have other supports, it would be best for your team if you went home and got wards occasionally.  (your team will thank you, even if they don't say it outloud)

Please, when on the pick screen don't be a stubborn ass, if the team really needs a support hero, try playing it once and a while.  If you have a group of friends, take turns playing the "ward bitch"  as no one wants to do that every game.

Edit:  

Nigma, as often is the case has some awesome stuff for us to look at.  Here's a video the different roles.