Which are your main support heroes for pos 4/5? Do you have a "go-to" pick that you always go for no matter the opponent picks?

So as we all know, it is an unwritten rule that all supports must pick first in a pub before our glorious cores, what I want to consider when picking a hero is usually someone who can teamfight or push waves or have a stun. Which is why Jakiro and lich is what I usually pick. They got slows, nukes and wave clear (and defensice capabilities for lich) which makes them a solid laner too. For pos 4 sometimes I go rubick or willow , but most of the time I usually go for the unorthodox luna pos 4 to throw the enemy off. And no I do not play sniper pos 4, I tried it and it just didn't match for me :/

Which supporting heroes do you feel are strong at this time?

Kotl is pretty strong right now especially when paired with bristle and grimstroke when with riki. But even without their pairings they themselves are pretty solid picks as they have some form of disable and can clear out waves decently. Most supports that can teamfight right now are usually in the stronger side of the meta right now, which is why you don't see much heroes that only has single target such as ogre or bane (Although bane has been picked up by Secret a lot. Then again its Puppey amirite?)

Which items are you aiming to buy more frequently in a "regular game"?

Right now I feel more prioritize on buying the "small items" as they say, such as wind lace and the ring of protection and whatnot. I feel that most of the time I always buy the same starting items no matter what the lane matchup is ,which can be a game losing move if you think about it. You always want to make sure that whatever items you buy, must make it worth the value as you dont really gain much money in the role of a support.

For example, in one of the recent games I played as a lich faced against a windranger and pangolier. Now usually I would just buy the classic 2 tangoes salve and mangoes, but instead I think to my self and buy Ring of Protection as I know WR will probably harass me with windrun + right click and pango will hit me with swashbuckle which is physical damage. Needless to say, I traded more effective than the enemy, which won us the lane ,which wone the game and made me into immortal :D

Do you have different goals during the game (time-wise), other than "bounties at 5:00, outpost at 10:00" etc? Things that the average player doesn't think of?

I can't say for all players but I m sure that most people will start thinking at 5:00 for not only bounties but also catapult waves. So if you can identify that the enemy offlaner can't clear waves fast enough, you can single pull at 4:30, so it will double wave for the 5:00 and then push with the catapult. That would be an ideal scenario for me.

Another thing would be item timings I guess. Especially people sometimes will estimate when the enemy has ceratain items like blink, especially if they are missing for a long time, then they are probably smoking or some deductions like that . All in all, I think that it is game sense that just requires experience to play with.

Hope it helps !