* Zeus' Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath provides a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki while possibly dealing a heavy amount of damage.
* Zeus' Nimbus can be placed directly on top of Tricks of the Trade, potentially causing him to be damaged, stunned, and revealed the instant he becomes targetable again.

* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.

* Zeus can reveal Clinkz with Lightning Bolt.
* He is vulnerable to Zeus's magical nukes, due to his low health pool.

* The extra damage from Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.

* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.

* Zeus can easily find Magnus who is often hiding in the trees with Thundergod's Wrath and Lightning Bolt, which allows him to warn allies and disrupt his initiation attempts.

* Heroes with global abilities can give Legion Commander's opponent an edge in Duels from anywhere on the map: Nature's Prophet, Ancient Apparition, Zeus, Invoker, Treant Protector

* Dragon Knight's high natural sustain and health regeneration from Dragon Blood makes him hard to take down in Duels.

* Heroes with global nukes will target and hit Phantom Lancer regardless of his illusions: Zeus

* 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.

* 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.

* Zeus' abilities deal high amounts of burst magical damage, which ignores Naga Siren's high armor.
* Zeus' Arc Lightning is also a good way to destroy Naga Siren's illusions.

* 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.

* Arc Lightning allows Zeus to get farm in lane against Shadow Fiend without coming into the range of his Shadowrazes.
* Lightning Bolt can be used to heavily harass Shadow Fiend when he tries to get a last hit.
* Thundergod's Wrath and Lightning Bolt can be used to detect Shadow Fiend if he tries to escape with Shadow Blade.

* Heroes with mediocre health pools who rely on armor or evasion to survive fights such as Troll Warlord, Windranger, and Terrorblade can be killed by Zeus if caught off guard.

* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord

* Enchantress has a very low health pool, allowing Zeus to burst her down quickly before she can heal off the damage.
* Zeus will not be affected by Untouchable, as he won't try to attack her with right clicks anyway.
* Zeus can stay out of her attack range while trying to kill her, especially if he has bought an Aether Lens.
* Most heroes would want to get on top of Zeus to kill him, but Enchantress does not have this option as doing so would severely limit her Impetus damage.
* The exception is the laning phase, where Enchantress can gank Zeus if she Enchants a good creep.

* Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from Maledict.

* Mars' own father is a formidable foe because Zeus deals mostly magical damage. The high damage, low cooldown nukes of Arc Lightning and Lightning Bolt combined with the percent health magic damage of Static Field will shred Mars' health because it bypasses Bulwark completely.

* Due to the fact that Lightning Bolt gives True Sight, Zeus is able to reveal where Techies' remote mines are. He can also cancel Blast Off! due to the mini-stun on the Lightning Bolt.

* Thundergod's Wrath will often disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger before a fight starts.

* Any ally that Winter Wyvern tries to save with Cold Embrace can still be damaged by all of Zeus's spells.
* If Winter Wyvern tries to juke vision by flying up a cliff or in the trees, Zeus can gain vision there with Lightning Bolt or Thundergod's Wrath.
* If Zeus is forced to attack an ally by Winter's Curse, his unimpressive attack damage and attack speed means they won't be hurt much by him. Zeus will also stay near the back of fights away from his allies, making a deadly Curse less likely.

* His highly damaging nuke spells with low cooldowns is not something Luna wants to go against.
* Thundergod's Wrath can be used before a fight to harm Luna before she activates her Black King Bar, reducing her survivability for that fight.

* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.

* 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.

* Due to Tinker's low health pool, Zeus can easily burst Tinker down, while also cancelling Rearm.
* Once Zeus gets Aghanim's Scepter, he will gain Nimbus, which allows him to scout out Tinker on the map, especially when he is pushing lanes while hiding in the trees.
Additional:
* Zeus can easily reveal Tinker's location in the trees with Thundergod's wrath.
* When Zeus has an Aghanim's Scepter, he can use his Nimbus, together with Lightning Bolt to interrupt Tinker's Boots of Travel channelling and cancel Tinker's Blink Dagger.

* Bounty Hunter has a very low health pool, allowing Zeus to burst him down quickly.
* Zeus can cast Lightning Bolt to gain True Sight in any area he suspects Bounty Hunter may be invisible or any area he thinks Bounty Hunter may have warded.
* If Bounty Hunter tries to escape a gank by using Shadow Walk, Zeus can gain vision of him with both Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath.
Additional:
* Lightning Bolt makes roaming behind enemy lines more and more difficult as Zeus becomes powerful enough to spam it. Also, Zeus' Ultimate Thundergod's Wrath reveals Bounty Hunter regardless of his position.

* Zeus can break Blink Dagger with his long range abilities and global range ultimate, Thundergod's Wrath.
* Lightning Bolt has a long range and a mini-stun, providing a way for him to cancel Black Hole from safe distances, assuming Enigma doesn't have his Black King Bar.
* Zeus' Aghanim's Scepter upgraded ability Nimbus has a global range and mini-stun, making it an even more effective way to cancel Black Hole before Enigma initiates with Black King Bar.
* Zeus is typically able to position himself at a safe distance from the fight, making him a difficult target to capture in a Black Hole.

* 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.

* Heroes with mediocre health pools who rely on armor or evasion to survive fights such as Troll Warlord, Windranger, and Terrorblade can be killed by Zeus if caught off guard.

Additional:
* Arc Lightning and Lightning Bolt can easily burst Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Static Field automatically hits everything in a big radius, taking a huge chunk of health out of Terrorblade's illusions, regardless of how much health they have.

* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like Batrider, Monkey King, Spectre, and Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.

* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Lina

* Some heroes with extreme range, like Zeus, Invoker or Clockwerk, can snipe your allies from anywhere after your Grave has expired.

* 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.

* Necrophos' Ghost Shroud increases the magic damage taken by Necrophos.
* If Zeus builds both an Ethereal Blade and Veil of Discord, it almost always guarantees a kill.

* 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.

* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like Batrider, Monkey King, Spectre, and Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.

* Heroes that avoid damage by coming in and out of invisibility in teamfights such as Weaver, Templar Assassin, and Riki will be easy for Zeus to reveal with Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath, but these heroes usually have other ways to avoid his damage or kill him, so he is not a perfect counter alone.

* 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.

* Heroes that avoid damage by coming in and out of invisibility in teamfights such as Weaver, Templar Assassin, and Riki will be easy for Zeus to reveal with Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath, but these heroes usually have other ways to avoid his damage or kill him, so he is not a perfect counter alone.

Additional:
* Arc Lightning has a low cooldown can used to pop his Linken's Sphere.
* Lightning Bolt or (Nimbus upgraded from Aghanim's Scepter) detects Weaver during Shukuchi, preventing his ganks.
* Thundergod's Wrath can kill Weaver quickly before he can cast his Time Lapse at low health.

* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus, Tinker, Leshrac, Viper, Skywrath Mage, Lion, Lina, Venomancer.

* Heroes with spells that negate invisibility such as Bounty Hunter, Zeus and Slardar prevent her from saving her allies with Moonlight Shadow.

* 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.

* 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.

* Slardar has high priority on building moblity items such as Blink Dagger rather than tank items. Zeus can easily deal large amount of damage to him if not caught out of position first.

* Spirit Breaker's slow attack speed and moderate damage do very little to harm Dragon Knight, even if ganked with Charge of Darkness.

* 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.

* Zeus usually stays at the back in teamfights and it is hard for Sand King to find Zeus and knock him down before Zeus deals his damage.
* All of Zeus' abilities, especially Thundergod's Wrath, disables Sand King's Blink Dagger, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential.
* Lightning Bolt deals damage to Sand King in Sand Storm and reveals him. It also interrupts channeling of Epicenter.

* Due to Hoodwink's low health and Zeus's high magic damage from Arc Lightning, Lightning Bolt,and Static Field as well as global abilities Thundergod's Wrath and Nimbus he can easily kill her throughout the game and also reveal where Hoodwink is positioned or invisible in trees.

* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like Batrider, Monkey King, Spectre, and Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.

* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina, Lion, Zeus

* Reactive Armor will not trigger from Zeus's spells or protect Timbersaw from their damage.
* Early game Timbersaw's strength is average and Zeus can heavily aid in bursting him down.
* Late game, if Timbersaw has built a lot of HP items, Zeus's passive Static Field will be more effective at chipping away Timbersaw's large HP pool.
* A Timbersaw who builds Pipe of Insight will be much more difficult to kill, as Zeus has no way to hold Timbersaw down, but Timbersaw will have less armor, mana, and damage than normal if he buys this item early game just to counter Zeus.
Additional:
* Zeus deals enormous amounts of magic damage, being one of the best heroes to burst down Timbersaw early in the game.
* Lightning Bolt's mini-stun can stop Timbersaw's from escaping a fight with Timber Chain.
* Timbersaws tend to build health increasing items, making Zeus' Static Field deal huge amounts of damage.

* Lich does not pose a big threat to Zeus in teamfights, as his spells don't have great cast range and Zeus should be too far back for a Chain Frost to bounce among him and his allies.
* Lich has a low health pool, allowing Zeus to burst him down quickly.

* 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.

* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.

* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina, Lion, Zeus

* 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.

* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight, Mars, Centaur Warrunner.

* Dragon Knight's insanely high armor and splash damage can cause Lycan to struggle taking him down.