You're wasting his potential if you play him as support + that usually means you don't have a good support. His skill set makes him perfect to be a core and with levels and a few items he can turn a fight on his own.
Why he's a **** support:
1. He can't roam. What's he gonna do when he runs up mid for a gank, try and Ion Shell the opponent to death? Yeah, good luck with that. He'll just run to his tower and stay there, meaning you just wasted your time and your mids time. Other heroes can stun/slow the mid, making it easier to kill.
2. He's crappy at zoning. Their offlaner getting to much out of the lane? Well, time for Dark Seer to run at him with an Ion Shell! Oh wait, he's back under his tower and now you just ate 5 of his right clicks as he kites you. Dang, and I didn't even make him use his regen items and now I have to waste mine. A few more of those and I won't be able to sit in lane while he will be soaking XP and possibly getting last hits.
3. He needs levels. Dark Seer is a level dependent hero. All his skills scale well with levels, so he needs to get experience. If he is playing support he's on the bottom of the xp list.
4. His early game killing potential is garbage. Ion Shell is a great spell, don't get me wrong, but you're not gonna kill anyone with it in the early game unless they are retarded. Why? Because it's damage over time, which means the enemy can just run.
Why he makes a good core (in solo offlane where I think he plays best):
1. Ion Shell let's you farm from a safe distance and is great for disrupting the lane. One of the things a carry has to try and do is to keep the lane in equilibrium. That means denying as much as you are last hitting so the lane doesn't get pushed, meaning you are closer to your tower (safer). It also means that the support hero can zone out the off lane hero easier. Dark Seer screws with this from level 1. Before the creeps even meet you can Ion Shell two creeps and just sit in XP range, not putting yourself in danger while getting gold and XP and the enemy carry can't keep the lane in equilibrium.
2. You can disrupt pulls. The pesky enemy support just pulled the his creep wave and is busy killing off all the creeps while you get nothing? No problem, just run up and Ion Shell one of them. You'll get the gold from the creeps as well as the neutrals and the neutrals will be killed quicker, meaning the lane will be pushed out as their two creep waves meet.
3. Surge gets you out of ****. See a gank coming for the lone offlaner? Just surge yourself and run. Gank failed, wasted time for the enemy, you're still getting gold since you have Ion Shell on the creeps.
4. He is great with levels. Ion Shell is no joke at higher levels. 90 DPS is crazy good PLUS it stacks, meaning in most cases you can have 180 DPS going in a fight. In prolonged team fights this is crazy good. Surge is also great for getting yourself or other initiators into a good position. Vacuum is borderline broken (which is why it got so many cooldown nerfs). You can do so much with it and it combos great with other spells. And his ultimate basically gives you and your team a place to fight that the enemy does not want to fight in, meaning that you have an advantage if you force them to fight there (vacuum?).
Understand that I'm not saying he can never be played as a support hero. Dota is such a versatile game with new things being discovered every day that in the right line up or against the right line up, I'm sure he can work as a support. But in general he is better played as a core. He isn't my go to hero if our team needs a support, I'd rather pick a hero that can do something early game, and he just doesn't do anything early game.
Why he's a **** support:
1. He can't roam. What's he gonna do when he runs up mid for a gank, try and Ion Shell the opponent to death? Yeah, good luck with that. He'll just run to his tower and stay there, meaning you just wasted your time and your mids time. Other heroes can stun/slow the mid, making it easier to kill.
2. He's crappy at zoning. Their offlaner getting to much out of the lane? Well, time for Dark Seer to run at him with an Ion Shell! Oh wait, he's back under his tower and now you just ate 5 of his right clicks as he kites you. Dang, and I didn't even make him use his regen items and now I have to waste mine. A few more of those and I won't be able to sit in lane while he will be soaking XP and possibly getting last hits.
3. He needs levels. Dark Seer is a level dependent hero. All his skills scale well with levels, so he needs to get experience. If he is playing support he's on the bottom of the xp list.
4. His early game killing potential is garbage. Ion Shell is a great spell, don't get me wrong, but you're not gonna kill anyone with it in the early game unless they are retarded. Why? Because it's damage over time, which means the enemy can just run.
Why he makes a good core (in solo offlane where I think he plays best):
1. Ion Shell let's you farm from a safe distance and is great for disrupting the lane. One of the things a carry has to try and do is to keep the lane in equilibrium. That means denying as much as you are last hitting so the lane doesn't get pushed, meaning you are closer to your tower (safer). It also means that the support hero can zone out the off lane hero easier. Dark Seer screws with this from level 1. Before the creeps even meet you can Ion Shell two creeps and just sit in XP range, not putting yourself in danger while getting gold and XP and the enemy carry can't keep the lane in equilibrium.
2. You can disrupt pulls. The pesky enemy support just pulled the his creep wave and is busy killing off all the creeps while you get nothing? No problem, just run up and Ion Shell one of them. You'll get the gold from the creeps as well as the neutrals and the neutrals will be killed quicker, meaning the lane will be pushed out as their two creep waves meet.
3. Surge gets you out of ****. See a gank coming for the lone offlaner? Just surge yourself and run. Gank failed, wasted time for the enemy, you're still getting gold since you have Ion Shell on the creeps.
4. He is great with levels. Ion Shell is no joke at higher levels. 90 DPS is crazy good PLUS it stacks, meaning in most cases you can have 180 DPS going in a fight. In prolonged team fights this is crazy good. Surge is also great for getting yourself or other initiators into a good position. Vacuum is borderline broken (which is why it got so many cooldown nerfs). You can do so much with it and it combos great with other spells. And his ultimate basically gives you and your team a place to fight that the enemy does not want to fight in, meaning that you have an advantage if you force them to fight there (vacuum?).
Understand that I'm not saying he can never be played as a support hero. Dota is such a versatile game with new things being discovered every day that in the right line up or against the right line up, I'm sure he can work as a support. But in general he is better played as a core. He isn't my go to hero if our team needs a support, I'd rather pick a hero that can do something early game, and he just doesn't do anything early game.
