Viper
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Sniper
* Being mostly a physical damage dealer, Sniper's effectiveness is greatly reduced by Omniknight's Guardian Angel.
* Omniknight's Degen Aura allows him to slow sniper and catch him. Sniper has to then use some escape item.
* Omniknight can also protect an ally from being finished off by Assassinate by using Purification.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Juggernaut,
Dragon Knight,
Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Sniper
* Slardar can use Guardian Sprint with
Blink Dagger or
Shadow Blade to get close, and
Slithereen Crush will stun Sniper, making him vulnerable to Slardar's teammates.
* Corrosive Haze lowers Sniper's armor and makes Sniper's
Shadow Blade useless, easily killing him with a few attacks.
Dragon Knight
* Slardar can chase Dragon Knight down with
Guardian Sprint and stun him with both
Slithereen Crush and his passive
Bash of the Deep. He can also use
Corrosive Haze to whittle Dragon Knight's armor.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Sniper
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Enchantress,...
Dragon Knight
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker,...
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Sniper
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Sniper
* Bounty Hunter can use Shadow Walk to get close, and
Jinada can do massive damage and slow down Sniper on the first attack.
* Track gives additional speed to Bounty Hunter and makes
Shadow Blade useless, allowing Bounty Hunter to easily kill him with a few attacks.
Additional:
* Sniper relies on distance. Bounty Hunter can use Shadow Walk to get close, and Jinada can do massive damage and slow down Sniper in the early game.
* Track gives additional speed to Bounty Hunter and makes Shadow Blade useless, which can allow Bounty Hunter to easily kill him with a few attacks.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 5%)Sniper
* Magnetic Field's evasion completely negates Sniper's attacks unless he has True Strike.
* Sniper always positions himself far away from battles, which makes him especially vulnerable for Flux and Spark Wraith.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Dragon Knight
* Cold Feet and
Ice Vortex both hinder Dragon Knight's movement greatly during teamfights.
* Ice Blast ignores Dragon Knight's armor and kills him prematurely.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Sniper
* Sniper has no spells to disable Puck. He lacks a silence to prevent spell casting and a stun to disable, allowing Puck to act instantly against Sniper.
* Sniper's main strategy is to attack his enemies from safe distance. Illusory Orb, combined with Blink Dagger makes it easy for Puck to get to Sniper. Due to his low health, he is also easily nuked down by Puck.
* The status debuff placed by Assassinate on its target makes it very easy to avoid it. Puck has 2 (3 when having Blink Dagger, 4 when having Eul's Scepter of Divinity, 5 when having Linken's Sphere) methods to disjoint or dodge the projectile, making it a bad spell for finishing off Puck.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Dragon Knight
* Fury swipes can tear Dragon knight down as it stacks infinitely.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Sniper
* Clockwerk is also the least optimal target for Sniper to attack in a teamfight, although more experienced players will rarely make this mistake.
* With no mobility or disable skills, getting trapped in Power Cogs is a death sentence for Sniper.
Additional:
* Clockwerk can easily close the distance to Sniper using Hookshot and trap him with
Power Cogs.
* Even though Sniper is a natural Hurricane Pike carrier, Sniper's low health usually means Clockwerk can finish him off with
Battery Assault and
Rocket Flare.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Shukuchi allows Weaver to close the gap between himself and Sniper with high speed, and to maneuver through teamfights to get on top of him.
* A combination of The Swarm and
Desolator tears through Sniper's low armor.
Lich
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Dragon Knight
* Lich's constant slows with Frost Blast and
Chain Frost will slow Dragon Knight to a crawl, especially in a crowded teamfight.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Sniper
* Sniper is very squishy and cannot deal with heroes that jump onto him and lock him down. Storm Spirit closes the gap in a fight against Sniper, and Sniper has no way to escape except for some items.
* Storm Spirit can dodge Assassinate with a correctly timed Ball Lightning.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit can close the distance towards Sniper very easily with his ultimate Ball Lightning.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Sniper
* Invoker's arsenal of magical spells are troublesome for Sniper who has low HP and high armor, which does not benefit him much against Invoker.
* Besides magical damage, he can be disarmed and repeatedly mini-stunned with Cold Snap, preventing him from reacting.
* Leveling Quas can allow Invoker to lane effectively against Sniper despite right-click harassment.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* A Blink Dagger combined with
Hoof Stomp can be used to catch Sniper.
* Centaur can also utilize Stampede to cover the distance.
* Double Edge can easily finish off Sniper after Centaur initiates on him.
* Retaliate punishes Sniper for focusing Centaur in teamfights.
Additional:
* Headshot and
Shrapnel slow is ineffective against a team with haste (which Stampede gives).
* Commonly picked up mobility items and hasted movement during his Stampede (as well as his high health pool) make him extremely hard to kill from a distance, damaging Sniper with Retaliate and
Blade Mail if he has one.
* A low health pool and no escape mechanism makes him an easy target for Centaur Warrunner's burst damage and initiation (even making his team possible initiators with Stampede).
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Dragon Knight
* Timbersaw's pure damage will kill Dragon Knight surprisingly fast, especially if he gets caught in a bad position while laning.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* Sunder can save himself or his allies from Assassinate.
* Sniper relies on right-clicks to deal damage, and Terrorblade's high armor can reduce his damage by quite a bit.
* Terrorblade is a far harder carry than Sniper is, so a well-farmed Terrorblade can easily defeat a Sniper.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Sniper
* Slark is a natural Shadow Blade carrier, and with
Pounce Sniper has no opportunity to escape or react.
* With Essence Shift and
Shadow Dance, Slark will easily win a fight against Sniper.
Additional:
* Sniper is one of the most gankable heroes in the game, and has no defenses when Pounced on by Slark.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 19%)Sniper
* Pudge's Meat Hook allows him to bring Sniper in the middle of any fight, and the pure damage does well against his high armor and low health.
* Dismember can lock Sniper down, which makes him highly vulnerable and gives enough time for Pudge to kill him alone.
Additional:
* Sniper has a low health pool and strength gain, making him vulnerable to Pudge's magical and pure damage.
* Sniper usually likes to deal damage away from the fight, and Meat Hook is capable of bringing him to the front lines.
* Assassinate won't do much damage against Pudge because of his high strength gain and the strength bonuses from Flesh Heap.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Ember Spirit can close the distance between Sniper easily with his Activate Fire Remnant and further keep Sniper in place with
Searing Chains.
* With the help of Aghanim's Scepter, Sniper cannot outrun Ember Spirit or chase him, even if Sniper builds mobility items.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Sniper
* Morphling's high mobility allows him to easily get close to Sniper, who likes to keep his distance from enemies.
* Sniper's low health also makes him extremely vulnerable to Morphling's Ethereal Blade and Adaptive Strike combo.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Dragon Knight
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Sniper
* Haunt instantly allows her to get up and close with Sniper, and
Spectral Dagger makes it difficult to escape from her.
* Spectre outcarries Sniper in the late game, so Sniper must try to end the game early before Spectre comes online.
Additional:
* Spectre can reach him easily in the backlines with Spectral Dagger or teleport to him with Haunt.
* He is usually a fair distance away from his allies, so Desolate will quickly tear Sniper down.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Sniper
* Clinkz,
Sniper,
Lone Druid,
Troll Warlord,
Legion Commander and
Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Sniper
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Sniper
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Luna,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Dragon Knight
* Elder Titan's
Natural Order completely nullifies Dragon Knight's high armor.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Dragon Knight
* Durable heros relied a lot on their main passive effects and items' effects such as Bristleback,
Underlord and
Dragon Knight can be removed their effects easily with
Sharpshooter's break.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Fortune's End can catch out or impair position-based heroes with low mobility, such as Sniper or
Razor.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Dragon Knight
* Huskar can burn down Dragon Knight's health quickly during the early to mid game, but is not as effective during the late game. However,
Life Break remains a constant threat due to the slow and percentage-based damage.
Additional:
* Huskar can negate Dragon Knight's passive with multiple trades of Burning Spear.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Sniper
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes who rely on skills to become a heavy hitter in a certain amount of time can waste their timing because of a lucky Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
Sniper
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Templar Assassin,
Arc Warden
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes that relies on armor or other type of physical damage negation are easy for Gyrocopter to take down during the early game with his magical damage: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Sven.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Sniper
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Sniper
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Sniper
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 1%)Sniper
* Range-reliant heroes: Sniper,
Drow Ranger
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 3%)Sniper
* Frail heroes who lack mobility can also be an easy target to lock down with Chronosphere, such as Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Terrorblade.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Sniper
* Sniper is completely helpless against Incapacitating Bite, and can be seriously damaged by Spiderlings in lane.
Dragon Knight
* Broodmother's spiderlings and spiderites do almost nothing against Dragon Knight.
Additional:
* Breathe Fire will clear Broodmother's spiderites while significantly damaging her spiderlings and decreasing their damage output.
* Dragon Blood's added armor and regen mitigates the damage done by Broodmother and her spiders.
* Elder Dragon Form at level 2 and above applies splash damage to Dragon Knight's auto attacks.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Sniper
* Ensnare with her attacks allows Naga Siren to gank Sniper easily.
* Rip Tide removes Sniper's very little armor.
Dragon Knight
* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include Sven,
Magnus,
Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form,
Ember Spirit (via item),
Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Dragon Knight
* Heartstopper Aura and
Reaper's Scythe go right through Dragon Knight's armor.
Dragon Knight
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Sniper
* Lifestealer can close the distance to Sniper by using Infest on a fast or durable creep to tank Sniper's damage.
* Open Wounds will reduce Sniper's mobility heavily, and
Rage's attack speed bonus helps in taking down Sniper.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Sniper
* Snowball allows Tusk to move himself and allies towards Sniper whilst invulnerable and hidden.
* His Ice Shards may also block pathing for Sniper as he has no means of moving through obstacles. In addition,
Tag Team can hinder Sniper's escape.
Additional:
* Tusk alone or with his teammates can close Sniper's long range easily with Snowball, even wasting Shrapnel, ending with a very vulnerable Sniper.
* Walrus PUNCH! damage can easily kill Sniper instantly due to his low health.
Dragon Knight
* Durable heroes can fight with stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Centaur Warrunner,
Wraith King and more.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Axe can easily close the distance to Sniper with either Blink Dagger or
Shadow Blade.
* With Berserker's Call in combination with
Counter Helix and
Battle Hunger, Axe can make short work of Sniper, finishing him off easily with
Culling Blade due to his low HP & high attack speed in the late game.
Sniper
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 15%)Sniper
* Phantom Strike allows her to jump on Sniper with increased attack speed.
* Coup de Grace and
Desolator shreds Sniper's low health and armor.
* Blur can be activated to get within Phantom Strike's range, surprising Sniper before he has a chance to react. Its passive also reduces Sniper's overall effectiveness against Phantom Assassin, provided he hasn't purchased a
Monkey King Bar.
Additional:
* Sniper's lack of mobility and reliance on attack range makes him an easy target for Phantom Assassin to jump on.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord
Additional:
* High armor thanks to Dragon Blood makes it difficult for Phantom Assassin to burst down Dragon Knight, as she deals 100% physical damage.
* Dragon Tail stuns Phantom Assassin as soon as she initiates, preventing her from gaining bonus attack speed.
* Dragon Knight is one of the few heroes who can safely solo lane against Phantom Assassin alongside a support.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)Dragon Knight
* If Silencer can't prevent Dragon Knight from using Elder Dragon Form, Silencer's spells aren't going to be that effective against him, as Dragon Knight relies on right-clicks and not spells.
* Dragon Blood's armor bonus and health regeneration allows Dragon Knight to stay in the lane against Glaives of Wisdom.
* Dragon Knight often builds Black King Bar, allowing him to remove Global Silence before engaging.
Sniper
* Sniper is a pure right click carry with a very long range, making it hard for Silencer to cast any of his skills on him in lane. During team-fights, Global Silence has little impact on Sniper.
Additional:
* Due to Sniper having a such a long range, he will rarely get hit by any of Silencer's spells.
* Global Silence will not hinder Sniper much as other heroes since most of his damage output comes from his attacks.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Sniper
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Dragon Knight
* Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from
Maledict.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
Sniper
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Dragon Knight
* Shadow Fiend's
Presence of the Dark Lord reduces Dragon Knight's armor considerably, and his strong base attacks are augmented by his
Necromastery.
Sniper
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowraze.
* Assassinate can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls if he is not a target.
Additional:
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's
Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and
Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowrazes.
Dragon Knight
* Dragon Tail can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Breathe Fire reduces Shadow Fiend's damage even further.
* Dragon Knight's high strength and
Dragon Blood means that he'll be able to tank Shadow Fiend's right clicks.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord
Sniper
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Additional:
* Shrapnel and
Headshot allows Sniper to kite Troll Warlord effectively.
* Take Aim together with certain items such as
Hurricane Pike allow Sniper to sit and fire at Troll Warlord from a safe distance.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* With his Take Aim, Sniper can simply sit out of your ability range and deal massive damage if not killed first.
* Assassinate can target allies who are still alive with low health because of Ghostship's buff.
* Headshot makes it harder for Kunkka to position/escape and makes it hard for Kunkka to hit with Tidebringer.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Sniper
* Medusa is a fairly immobile hero that deals damage around her with Split Shot. Sniper should outrange her and should stay out of harm's way from Split Shot.
* More importantly, Sniper should have enough attack range to fire at Medusa during her Stone Gaze without turning to stone, so the ultimate is mostly wasted against him.
Additional:
* Sniper can outrange both Medusa's arrows and Stone Gaze, allowing him to focus her down during a teamfight.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* Squishy core heroes (Shadow Fiend,
Sniper, etc)
Dragon Knight
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
Sniper
* Shrapnel can sometimes scout out Magnus and also place his Blink Dagger on cooldown. Aside from that, Sniper likes to stay far back behind enemy lines, so it's difficult to catch him with Reverse Polarity unless you already have vision on him and can Skewer him to the rest of his team.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Sniper
* Sniper's position in the far back line makes him unlikely to be hit by any of Grimstroke's abilities during teamfights.
* Sniper is relatively unaffected by the silence from Phantom's Embrace.
* Sniper's long range and fast projectile speed allows him quickly to destroy any Phantoms attacking his allies.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Sniper
* Sniper can easily destroy Tombstone from long range.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Sniper
* Shrapnel can be used to disable Earthshaker's
Blink Dagger from long range.
* Take Aim allows Sniper to harass Earthshaker in lane, and stay out of Echo Slam initiation radius.
Additional:
* Sniper is able to kite Earthshaker with his very long range.
* Sniper can dodge Earthshaker's stuns like Fissure and
Enchant Totem with mobility items such as
Blink Dagger and
Shadow Blade/
Silver Edge.
* Sharpnel can be used to cancel Earthshaker's Blink Dagger and preventing effective use of his Echo Slam in a majority of situations.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* Sniper usually sits at the back and it's hard for Luna to get close to him to attack.
* Due to Sniper's Shrapnel and his long range, Luna has a hard time taking high ground despite her Moon Glaives being fantastic for taking Barracks and buildings.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Dragon Knight
* Dragon Blood's armor bonus greatly reduces the damage dealt by Phantasm.
* Breathe Fire and
Elder Dragon Form's splash damage quickly destroy illusions and reduces their damage output.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 3%)Sniper
* A Sniper who is somewhat competent at positioning is hardly going to be affected by any of Dark Seer's spells thanks to Take Aim.
* However, an illusion of Sniper made with Wall of Replica is extremely powerful, and hard to deal with.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Dragon Knight
* The extra damage from Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 7%)Sniper
* Sniper has a very long range, so it is rare that Enigma can catch him in a Black Hole.
* Assassinate can easily cancel Black Hole if he is not caught, especially with the level 20 talent.
* Enigma's Eidolons from Demonic Conversion are useless to push against a Sniper as he will easily kill them, especially with
Maelstrom/
Mjollnir.
Additional:
* Take Aim extends Sniper's attack range, allowing him to position himself safely behind his team, making it difficult to catch him in Enigma's relatively small Black Hole AoE. When left unattended, he can quickly kill a channeling Enigma (often from the high ground) to rout an otherwise strong initiation, assuming Enigma does not have Aeon Disk.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 1%)Sniper
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 0%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes with cleave abilities and area of effect damage can make quick work of Chen's converted creeps and at same time gain farm: Magnus,
Jakiro,
Shadow Fiend,
Kunkka,
Luna,
Dragon Knight,
Medusa,
Alchemist.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Sniper
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Additional:
* Due to the nature of the hero, Sniper is typically situated in the back of the fight, potentially making him a difficult target to initiate on and fight.
* Sniper is largely a right-click hero, and as such isn't as an effective of a Doom target as other heroes.
* Thanks to Shrapnel and
Headshot, Sniper is able to effectively 'kite' Doom, preventing him from closing the distance between the two.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Sniper
* Long ranged heroes like Sniper or
Drow Ranger can kite Tiny effectively if he doesn't get the jump on them first.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Sniper
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Heroes with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability: Death Prophet,
Sniper,
Tinker,
Windranger.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes who can match Void Spirit's mobility (like the aforementioned Ember Spirit or
Queen of Pain) or tank his spells (
Dragon Knight or
Centaur Warrunner) are very problematic for him.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Additional:
* Sniper's huge range makes him an unviable target to use Life Drain on, forcing Pugna to risk playing out of position to use it on Sniper.
* Sniper's Shrapnel can be used to provide vision on Nether Ward, and his range allows him to easily take it out.
* A clumsy Pugna may accidentally boost Sniper's Shrapnel and
Assassinate damages if he recklessly uses Decrepify on himself or his allies.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Sniper
* Heroes that can maintain vision on Monkey King can see when he uses Tree Dance: Bloodseeker,
Treant Protector with Eyes In The Forest,
Sniper,
Weaver
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Sniper
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as Sven and
Dragon Knight.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Sniper
* Heroes with long ranged attacks or abilities can harass Visage from afar like Phoenix and
Sniper.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight,
Mars,
Centaur Warrunner.
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
Sniper
* Take Aim and
Assassinate allow Sniper to reach Io even if it stays in the backline.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit
Sniper
* Sniper can kill Disruptor while he is trapped by Kinetic Field from a long range.
* Sniper generally stays in the back, making it hard for Disruptor to cast any of his skills on him in lane.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Sniper
* Heroes with powerful nuke can waste their precious abilites on her Refraction during a ganking attempt or chaos combat: Lich,
Lina,
Sniper,
Outworld Destroyer
Zeus
Dragon Knight
* Despite the armor reduction from Meld, Templar Assassin's reliance on physical damage and medium attack speed is unlikely to harm Dragon Knight.
* Templar Assassin's Refraction charges also get quickly removed by the damage over time from Dragon Knight's ultimate.
Additional:
* The damage over time from Dragon Knight's Elder Dragon Form rapidly burns down Refraction, allowing him to attack her. Also,
Breathe Fire reduces Templar Assassin's damage and
Dragon Tail is a stun with a considerable duration, letting him and his team whittle her health down once her defenses wear off.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Sniper
* Sniper's low mobility and lack of defensive abilities makes him an easy gank target for the entire game, especially if Blink Dagger is picked up.
Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight's high natural sustain and health regeneration from Dragon Blood makes him hard to take down in Duels.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight has no built in disengage from Frost Arrows, and
Marksmanship procs ignore base armor, bypassing Dragon Knight’s tankiness for the most part, making Drow one of the few heroes that can deal enough sustained damage to solo kill Dragon Knight.
* With Aghanim's Shard, Frost Arrows also apply hypothermia stacks, reducing her target’s regen, which is especially potent against tanks like Dragon Knight. (A similar effect can also be achieved with an
Eye of Skadi)
Additional:
* Dragon Knight has no built in disengage from Frost Arrows, and
Marksmanship procs ignore base armor, bypassing Dragon Knight’s tankiness for the most part, making Drow one of the few heroes that can deal enough sustained damage to solo kill Dragon Knight.
* With Aghanim's Shard, Frost Arrows also apply hypothermia stacks, reducing her target’s regen, which is especially potent against tanks like Dragon Knight. (A similar effect can also be achieved with an
Eye of Skadi)
Sniper
* Take Aim allows Sniper to outrange Drow Ranger and deal damage at her without much fear of retaliation
* Sniper can slow down Drow Ranger with Shrapnel, and both Shrapnel and
Assassinate makes it easier for Sniper's team to track and take her down
Additional:
* Somewhat like Medusa, Drow Ranger is a fairly immobile hero that hopes to be able to attack without dying. Sniper should outrange her.
* Shrapnel and Assassinate provides vision over her, and slows her down, making it easier for you team to focus on taking her down
* Be careful however that if she starts attacking you, she packs a bigger punch than you thanks to Marksmanship.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Sniper
* Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which you can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
Dragon Knight
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Dragon Knight
* In general, heroes that can slow down Dragon Knight's movement speed will do well against him. This includes Venomancer and others in addition to the heroes mentioned above.
Sniper
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden,
Chen,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Mirana,
Nature's Prophet,
Pugna and
Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes has attack range talent can also outrange Plague Ward.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Sniper
* Phantom Rush grants Phantom Lancer the mobility to close in the distance between Sniper.
* Phantom Lancer can dispel Sniper's Assassinate easily with Doppelganger and causes confusion to Sniper with the latter effect of creating an additional of 2 illusions.
* Phantom Lancer's Juxtapose easily can overwhelm Sniper, as his damage is mostly single-targeted.
Dragon Knight
* Breathe Fire and
Elder Dragon Form's splash damage takes out Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* If Dragon Knight can Dragon Tail the real Phantom Lancer, he and his team can quickly kill him before he has a chance to escape.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Sniper
* Spirit Breaker can charge towards Sniper from anywhere on the map with Charge of Darkness.
* Greater Bash deals magical damage, which can prove dangerous to Sniper and his low health.
* Both previous abilities combined with Nether Strike ensures that Spirit Breaker can easily solo kill Sniper.
Dragon Knight
* Spirit Breaker's slow attack speed and moderate damage do very little to harm Dragon Knight, even if ganked with Charge of Darkness.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Dragon Knight
* Arcane Orb's constant pure damage output is devastating to Dragon Knight.
* Dragon Knight's relatively low mana pool leads to heavy damage from Sanity's Eclipse, which also bypasses his armor.
Sniper
* As Outworld Devourer has short cast ranges, a short attack range, and no gap-closing abilities, Sniper can kite and harass Outworld Devourer in lane with his long range and zone him out in fights. The continuous area damage from Shrapnel also prevents Astral-Blink escapes.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Sniper
* Sniper is suspectible to being ganked by Bloodseeker, who can easily kill Sniper due to his lack of mobility and escape mechanisms.
* Even if Sniper builds mobility items, Bloodseeker can prevent and even punish Sniper from/for using them with Rupture; Sniper is forced to stand still with
Shadow Blade, while
Hurricane Pike and
Blink Dagger deals damage if he attempts to use them while Ruptured.
Additional:
* Sniper's lack of mobility and escape mechanisms makes him one of the easier heroes for Bloodseeker to gank.
Dragon Knight
* Bloodseeker's physical damage is unlikely to kill Dragon Knight, and therefore rarely get a chance to recover the large amount of HP from Bloodrage.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 8%)Dragon Knight
* In general, melee heroes without blink mechanisms or spell immunity will have a hard time positioning against Pit of Malice: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Dragon Knight,
Meepo,
Doom,
Bounty Hunter,
Dark Seer,
Undying,
Alchemist,
Legion Commander.
Sniper
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Additional:
* Sniper's very long range allows him to stay out of Firestorm and Pit of Malice as well as Atrophy Aura range.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 12%)Sniper
* Assassinate is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for massive damage.
* Shrapnel's area damage can set up an easy stun with Spiked Carapace, especially when combined with Vendetta.
* In the early game, Sniper's low health pool and high intelligence makes him easy prey for Nyx Assassin.
Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight's heavy armor negates Vendetta's burst physical damage. His large HP pool also gives him a good chance of surviving Nyx Assassin's follow-up nuke damage.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Dragon Knight
* Static Link saps Dragon Knight of his already low base damage, making him even more useless in a fight if he gets kited.
* Storm Surge makes Razor much faster than Dragon Knight, and hard to catch.
Sniper
* His increased attack range makes it very hard to get close enough for Static Link, Eye of the Storm and Razor's own attacks.
* Headshot procs will slow Razor heavily regardless of Storm Surge, as it will knock him back for a brief duration.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Sniper
* You can easily kill a squishy Sniper, due to your high movement speed and his lack of escape.
Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight's insanely high armor and splash damage can cause Lycan to struggle taking him down.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero winrate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assasin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (dotabuff most played)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal winrate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest winrate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
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Dragon Knight
* In the early game, a Dragon Knight without
Black King Bar is basically defenseless against Viper.
Breathe Fire and returns damage.
Dragon Blood, Dragon's Knight main source of armor and health regeneration.
Elder Dragon Form.
Additional:
* Dragon Knight is easily harassed by Poison Attack after the laning stage ends.
* Corrosive Skin protects Viper from
* Nethertoxin mitigates
* Between Poison Attack and Viper Strike, Viper can keep Dragon Knight permanently slowed even in
Sniper
*
Nethertoxin breaks Sniper's passives.
Viper Strike together with
Poison Attack can slow Sniper and tears through his low health and mobility.
*