Pugna
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Ursa
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)Zeus
* Enrage will make it very difficult to burst him down.
* Zeus has little armor, HP and mobility; Ursa's favorite kind of target.
Medusa
* Medusa's tankiness doesn't help her very much against Fury Swipes in long teamfights.
* With no escape mechanism and a slow movement speed, getting jumped on by Ursa usually spells a quick end for Medusa in the early game.
Additional:
* Ursa's status resistance from Enrage will ignore Medusa's gaze.
* Ursa can stack damage with Fury Swipes easily against her Mana Shield in a prolonged team match.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Zeus
* Silencer's Global Silence will render Zeus useless for 6 seconds in a team fight.
* Arcane Curse will punish Zeus for casting spells, which can cause continuous damage to him should he continue to cast spells.
* Last Word can silence Zeus and prevent him from spamming his spells.
* Silencer often builds Orchid Malevolence (or
Bloodthorn) which can be used on spell casters like Zeus, forcing him to invest in a
Linken's Sphere.
Additional:
* Zeus' main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Zeus likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Zeus dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Zeus dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.
Medusa
* Silencer burns easily through her effective hp from Mana Shield, by taking away her int.
* Arcane Curse punishes her repeatedly casting
Mystic Snake to keep her mana pool high. Can force her to use
Manta Style before he has cast
Global Silence and
Medusa usually does not want to build
Black King Bar.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Medusa
* Anti-Mage easily destroys Mana Shield with Mana Break, especially once he has
Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage effectively avoids Stone Gaze with Blink, and can reinitiate after its duration is over.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage's Mana Break burns Medusa's mana easily, especially when coupled with a
Manta Style.
* Can easily initiate on Medusa with Blink, burning her mana or forcing her to use Stone Gaze.
* Mana Void is effective against Medusa's big mana pool and mana usage, presenting a huge hazard to Medusa's allies around her since her Mana Shield still gives her some protection if she has mana.
Zeus
* Zeus almost exclusively relies on magical damage, which is heavily reduced by Counterspell.
* Zeus' complete lack of mobility makes him very easy for Anti-Mage to chase down with Blink.
* Zeus likes to stand in the back during team fights, but Anti-Mage can easily Blink to close the distance.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can burn mana, which is a big problem for a spellcaster like Zeus that heavily relies on it.
* Counterspell decreases magical damage taken from Zeus.
* Zeus' high intelligence and mana pool makes him a perfect target for Mana Void.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 20%)Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Zeus
* None of Zeus's abilities can damage a Juggernaut in Blade Fury.
* Zeus's short attack range makes it difficult for him to target a well-placed healing ward. His frequent use of Arc Lightning will have almost no effect on allies being healed by Juggernaut.
* Zeus has no way to defend himself, even if Juggernaut cannot use Blade Fury. He can be easily taken out if cornered, sometimes even without Omnislash.
Additional:
* Blade Fury negates all magical damage from Zeus.
* Omnislash can easily take down Zeus. However, be aware that most players will get a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or a
Ghost Scepter against Juggernaut.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* Fiend's Grip provides mana drain, which can heavily damage Mana Shield and prevent Medusa from using
Stone Gaze.
* Even if she does use Stone Gaze, Nightmare can buy enough time to protect allies and reset the fight.
Additional:
* His Fiend's Grip will leave Medusa defenseless after he's done, if his teammates can provide cover for him or he initiates at the right time by Spell immunity.
Zeus
* Heroes that wish to disrupt fights with spell combos or big ultimates are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Zeus
* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are Death Prophet,
Drow Ranger,
Bloodseeker,
Disruptor and many others.
* Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Webbed areas can be used to hit and run, covering distance hastily weakening her on the way and initiating ganks.
* Even though Medusa can hunt down Spiderlings easily when given enough range, after an Incapacitating Bite she will get her swarmed in no time.
* Medusa usual do not build a BKB to benefit from Mana Shield fully while Broodmother can fit a Diffusal Blade to burn away mana.
Additional:
* Incapacitating Bite will give Medusa a dire time to clear horde of small spiderlings or retaliate Broodmother herself.
* Spin Web will allow broodmother to pick her own fights and sometimes slip away to ambush Medusa.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Medusa
* With her passive Split Shot, Medusa can be easily interrupted by Spiked Carapace during combat, especially during her precious
Stone Gaze.
* Mana Burn quickly destroys Mana Shield, especially if Medusa only increases her mana pool by bolstering intelligence (which has the added bonus of increasing Mana Burn's damage).
* Uncontrollable damage from Mystic Snake and
Split Shot can trigger Spiked Carapace.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making a Burrowed Nyx Assassin hard to kill.
Additional:
* Level 4 Mana Burn burns 38,5% of Medusa's mana every 4 seconds if Medusa only increases her mana pool with intelligence. Additionally, 60% of the
Mana Burn damage gets mitigated by Mana Shield, burning even more mana.
* Due to the passive nature of Mystic Snake and Split Shot, it can possibly proc Nyx's Spiked Carapace if he's within range of Medusa's abilities and isn't invisible.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making Nyx with Aghanim's Scepter extremely hard to deal with if Medusa is the team's main damage source.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* Unlike other illusion heroes, Tempest Double won't be instantly destroyed by Stone Gaze since it is considered a clone and not an illusion.
* He can use either his own or his double's Flux to bypass the spellblock from Linken's Sphere, using the leftover Flux +
Spark Wraith to slow Medusa's move speed to a crawl.
* Arc Warden has a farming advantage with double Hand of Midas, and can generally bully Medusa with other items that benefit from duplication.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Zeus
* Chaos Knight's high health pool makes him resistant to Zeus' burst damage. Phantasm can dispel
Veil of Discord, a typical item purchased by Zeus.
* Zeus is easily overwhelmed by Chaos Knight's strong illusions, as Arc Lightning is not enough to kill them fast enough to have any impact.
* Zeus' low base armor makes him extremely vulnerable to Chaos Knight's high damage output and armor reduction.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 18%)Medusa
* EMP is a large mana burn nuke which can hit Medusa's Mana shield with enough damage to lose even more mana.
* Deafening Blast disarms Medusa's ability to deal pseudo-AOE damage during teamfights.
* Cold Snap allows the opposing team to repeatedly stun Medusa in short succession, preventing her from successfully casting her ultimate due to its long cast time.
Additional:
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Medusa's mana to weaken Mana Shield.
* Medusa's lack of mobility makes her easy to kite with Invoker's spells.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Medusa
* Medusa lacks mobility or escape mechanisms. Earth Spike and Hex can neutralize her strong damage potential and allow for Lion's team to focus her down.
* In addition to easily breaking her commonly bought Linken's Sphere with its low cooldown, Mana Drain can quickly drain her
Mana Shield, making her far less tanky.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* 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.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Medusa
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift removes 1 of every attribute, lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
Additional:
* Medusa is especially vulnerable to Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Zeus
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Zeus
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slarks poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Zeus
* Corrosive Skin counters Zeus in lane by canceling the effects of
Clarity as Zeus relies on Arc Lightning to farm and secure last hits.
* Corrosive Skin also increases Viper's magic resistance to shrug off Zeus's magical nukes.
* Nethertoxin breaks Static Field.
* Due to Zeus' poor mobility, Viper Strike will cripple Zeus and will allow Viper and his teammates to land a lot of attacks.
Additional:
* Corrosive Skin severely reduces Zeus's damage output throughout the game.
* During the laning stage, Viper can abuse Zeus' reliance on spells by hugging the creep wave. Zeus will take constant damage over time from Corrosive Skin unless he drives Viper from the lane or returns to farming in his absence.
* Prior to buying Blink Dagger or
Force Staff, Zeus is fragile and possesses low mobility. Any of Viper's numerous slows can set up an easy kill.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)Zeus
* Meat Hook's high range allows Pudge's team to drag Zeus in the middle of the fight and abuse his frailty.
* Flesh Heap's health and magic resistance bonus makes Pudge exceptionally resistant to Zeus' nukes. In later stages of the game, Zeus is usually unable to seriously damage Pudge at all. Even Static Field, which deals damage based on a percentage of the enemy's health, won't be doing much.
* Even if Zeus buys a Black King Bar,
Meat Hook and
Dismember still disable him for a long time, usually causing Zeus' quick death.
* Zeus is vulnerable to early ganks, which Pudge excels at.
Additional:
* Zeus likes to stay far back in fights, dealing his damage uninterrupted, but once he gets hooked into the fight, he usually dies very quickly.
* Pudge's high strength from Flesh Heap make it very hard for Zeus to burst him down.
* Zeus' low health pool makes him very vulnerable to the damage from Meat Hook, Rot and Dismember.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Medusa
* Because of her need to get status items early to tank it up, Rubick can greatly reduce her damage early with Fade Bolt
* Her stationary nature and the slow cast time of her spells makes it easier for Rubick to steal Stone Gaze or
Mystic Snake
* Aghanim's Scepter's Mystic Snake is often better used by Rubick than by Medusa
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Zeus
* Time Dilation can limit Zeus to casting his abilities only once in a fight, effectively serving as a 6/8/10/12 second silence.
* Time Walk negates Zeus's burst damage.
* Chronosphere makes Zeus the best target for Void because of his low mobility.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* Chakra Magic can drain her current mana, draining away her effective health in a sneaky way.
* Will-O-Wisp will keep Medusa busy after she got hit by
Blinding Light.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Zeus
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 14%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Medusa
* Heroes who take a long time to become strong are in for a rough mid game, such as Outworld Destroyer,
Magnus,
Medusa, and
Anti-Mage.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Zeus
* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are Death Prophet,
Drow Ranger,
Bloodseeker,
Disruptor and many others.
* Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.
Additional:
* His low mobility tends to make him an easy target for Spirit Siphon and the ghosts from Exorcism.
* His magical nukes can also be healed with Spirit Siphon.
* Silence is great against any spellcaster, and Zeus is no exception to this.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Zeus
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Zeus
* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are Death Prophet,
Drow Ranger,
Bloodseeker,
Disruptor and many others.
* Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Zeus
* Heroes with summons that are destroyed by a fixed number of attacks: Undying's
Tombstone,
Gyrocopter's
Homing Missile, and
Zeus's
Nimbus.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Zeus
* Refraction blocks all of Zeus' damage and Zeus has no innate way of removing the instances quickly.
* Meld helps burst down Zeus' small health pool while he's still working through the Refraction instances.
* Psi Blades allow her to harass and zone Zeus in lane.
* Templar Assassin usually buys Blink Dagger, enabling her to quickly close the gap to Zeus' defensive positioning.
Additional:
* Although Lightning Bolt and
Thundergod's Wrath can reveal Templar Assassin during Meld, Zeus nonetheless has no way to deal with Refraction.
* Zeus is a rather squishy hero, falling easily to Templar Assassin's high burst damage.
Zeus
* 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.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Medusa
* Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade will very quickly burn Medusa's mana, making Mana Shield significantly less effective.
* Doppelganger's 1 second invulnerability can be used to dodge Medusa's petrification from Stone Gaze, as well as Mystic Snake.
* Phantom Lancer's illusions outnumber Medusa's targets from Split Shot, likely shielding your team in the process.
Zeus
* Heroes with global nukes will target and hit Phantom Lancer regardless of his illusions: Zeus
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Enchantress often has a small army of neutral creeps, allowing Medusa to hit her with a later bounce of her Mystic Snake.
* Untouchable is ignored by secondary attacks from Split Shot.
Zeus
* 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.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Zeus
* 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.
Medusa
* Mana Shield tanks most of the damage from Reaper's Scythe; with sufficient mana, the kill threshold drops to 15%/17%/19% health (before reductions).
* Heartstopper Aura does not chip away at Medusa's mana, this makes it not a threat as it deals damage based on current health.
* Necrophos has a movement speed equal to Medusa, and is easy to chase down with a slowing item in Medusa's inventory.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Medusa
* Medusa's Split Shot can make quick work of Enigma's Eidolons and take advantage of their considerable bounty.
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze at the start of a fight, it can make initiating — and landing an effective Black Hole exceedingly difficult.
* Mystic Snake can be potentially detrimental to Enigma's initiation. Getting hit by the latter high-damage bounces (from standing behind his Eidolons or his teammates) can hinder his mana pool, preventing him from executing a strong initiation.
Additional:
* Mana Shield makes Medusa harder to kill with Enigma's Black Hole and Pulse combo.
* Medusa's Split Shot can kill Demonic Conversion creeps easier and Mystic Snake bounces off from them.
* Stone Gaze makes it hard for Enigma to approach Medusa for a Black Hole.
Zeus
* 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.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Zeus
* 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.
Medusa
* Medusa's
Stone Gaze forces Mars to choose between getting petrified, or turning his vulnerable back on Medusa.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Medusa
* Mana Shield makes Medusa very hard to take down in Duels.
* Stone Gaze stops Legion Commander from Dueling altogether, regardless of who she targets.
Zeus
* 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
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mystic Snake eats away at Sven's small mana pool.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 3%)Medusa
* Doom does not disable Mana Shield. As such, Doom's damage is largely mitigated by her mana shield. Additionally, Medusa is not reliant on her abilities to be effective during a teamfight, making Medusa an unproductive hero to target.
* Medusa is an ideal Linken's Sphere carrier. Should one be purchased, and without any additional disables, Doom may find that few opportunities exist to effectively lockdown, disable, and kill Medusa.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Zeus
* 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.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 19%)Zeus
* 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.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)Zeus
* due to Hoodwink got a pretty low hp the nuked combo of Zeus abilities of Thundergod's Wrath and
Nimbus can easily killed her most of the time
* Lightning Bolt can reveal or grant sight of where Hoodwink hiding or invisible in the trees
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Zeus
* 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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Zeus
* 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 get caught out of position at first.
Medusa
* Medusa cares less than other heroes about armor reduction, since
Mana Shield blocks 70% of all damage without taking armor/magic resistance into consideration. This makes 60% of your Corrosive Haze ineffective until Medusa's mana is drained.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Zeus
* 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.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Zeus
* Thundergod's Wrath will often disable Earthshaker's
Blink Dagger before a fight starts.
Lich
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Zeus
* 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.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Medusa
* Mystic Snake can harass Axe in lane and drain his small mana pool.
* Mana Shield reduces the effectiveness of Counter Helix.
* Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Axe to pursue.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Zeus
* 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.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Medusa
* Split Shot can destroy Tombstone Zombies and Tombstone itself while still damaging heroes.
* Mana Shield reduces the impact of Decay and Flesh Golem's Plague Aura.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)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.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Medusa
* Split Shot will keep attacking Pangolier even when he is rolling around.
* Stone Gaze stuns Pangolier during Rolling Thunder, or forces him to roll away.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Zeus
* 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.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Zeus
* 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.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Zeus
* 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.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Zeus
* Zeus can reveal Clinkz with Lightning Bolt.
* He is vulnerable to Zeus' magical nukes, due to his low health pool.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Zeus
* 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.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Zeus
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Zeus
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Zeus
* Some heroes with extreme range, like Zeus,
Invoker or
Clockwerk, can snipe your allies from anywhere after your Grave has expired.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Zeus
* 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.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Medusa
* 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.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Zeus
* 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.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 18%)Zeus
* 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.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Medusa
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver,
Morphling,
Medusa.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Zeus
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Medusa
* Stone Gaze negates Dispersion's damage reduction and allows Medusa to kite Spectre.
* Spectre's small mana pool is depleted quickly by Mystic Snake.
* Split Shot can clear Haunt illusions quickly.
Zeus
* 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.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Zeus
* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are Death Prophet,
Drow Ranger,
Bloodseeker,
Disruptor and many others.
* Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.
Medusa
* Mana Shield makes it very difficult for Bloodseeker to gain his Thirst bonuses.
* Rupture rarely kills Medusa through Mana Shield.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Zeus
* 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.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Medusa
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze, the charge will inevitably fail.
* Mana Shield and overall tankiness allows Medusa to easily survive Spirit Breaker's initiation.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Zeus
* Visage can quickly kill heroes with low to medium base armor and no innate escape mechanism. Examples include Alchemist,
Crystal Maiden and
Zeus.
Medusa
* Summoned gargoyles will give Medusa free target practice.
* Mana Shield will resist Soul Assumption instances without effort.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 6%)Zeus
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Medusa
* Her Mana Shield is too tough for Lycan to break in.
* Mystic Snake can hit for a massive damage once it spread between his summons.
Additional:
* Can be easily petrified despite his speed.
* Summoned wolves will be targeted by Split Shot or Mystic Snake
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Zeus
* Rage is very useful against Zeus, as it negates magic damage and provides spell immunity. In addition, the increased attack speed can tear Zeus apart in combination with
Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer can avoid Thundergod's Wrath with Infest.
Medusa
* Lifestealer's low mobility makes him easy to kite.
* Stone Gaze pierces Rage, wasting its cooldown and making Lifestealer unable to fight.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Zeus
* 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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Zeus
* Thundergod's Wrath strikes only the first Meepo.
* Zeus has low mobilty so consecutive Earthbinds are easy to hit and he'll quickly die from
Poofs.
Medusa
* Poof won't damage Medusa and he can Gaze an entire flock of Meepos.
* Mystic Snake will easily become the bane of Meepo early game.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Medusa
* Other heroes with mana burning or manipulating abilities will make Medusa much less tanky: Lion,
Mirana,
Weaver.
Zeus
* 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.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Medusa
* Other heroes with mana burning or manipulating abilities will make Medusa much less tanky: Lion,
Mirana,
Weaver.
Zeus
* Heroes with spells that negate invisibility such as Bounty Hunter,
Zeus and
Slardar prevent her from saving her allies with Moonlight Shadow.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Medusa
* He won't be around waiting for Medusa to Stone Gaze and pin him until she bears a true sight.
* With Smoke Screen, Riki will silence and catch Medusa in a surprise with high miss chance flushing her from positions easily in team fights.
* He can still deal huge amount of damage through Cloak and Dagger via backstabs, drying out Medusa's protection in a whim at random occassions.
Zeus
* Zeus' Lightning Bolt and
Thundergod's Wrath provides a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki while possibly dealing a heavy amount of damage.
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).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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Medusa
*
Nether Ward will cause an unfriendly area for Medusa, draining her mana.
Zeus
* Even though Pugna's low HP means that he can be quickly burst down, his
Nether Ward heavily punishes casters whose spells cost a lot of mana, like Zeus. Casting 4 of his active spells, including Nimbus, close to an enhanced level 4
Nether Ward, can make the ward deal up to 1750 magical damage.
Decrepify can further increase the damage dealt by Nether Ward upon Zeus. However, if used on Pugna himself or on one of his allies, it will amplify the damage done by Zeus' abilities.
*