* Sniper's lack of mobility and escape mechanisms makes him one of the easier heroes for Bloodseeker to gank.
* Shukuchi will trigger extra damage from Rupture.
* Shukuchi's invisibility is detected by Thirst.
* Time Lapse cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Weaver from escaping ganks. However, smart Weaver will buy Linken's Sphere to counter this problem for him.
Additional:
* Rupture is particularly crippling against Weaver, who relies on high movement speed from Shukuchi to fight and escape, and it cannot be dispelled by Time Lapse.
* Thirst detects Weaver through Shukuchi whenever his health is low.
* Blood Rite combined with Rupture forces Weaver to either take damage from the latter, or to get silenced for a long duration.
* 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.
* Spiked Carapace allows Nyx to get an easy long-duration stun on Weaver once he uses Shukuchi, and then he can follow up with Impale.
* Vendetta works as a great setup for both Impale and Spiked Carapace and can deal decent damage to Weaver. Additionally he can neutralize The Swarm beetles due to his invisibility duration.
* Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which Riki can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
* Smoke Cloud prevents Shukuchi and Time Lapse, leaving Weaver helpless against Riki.
* The Swarm is ineffective against Riki because invisibility instantly removes the beetles.
* Storm Spirit can close the distance towards Sniper very easily with his ultimate Ball Lightning.
Additional:
* 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.
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to close the gap between him and Weaver in no time. Once locked down with certain items, Weaver is extremely fragile to Storm Spirit and his teammates.
* Slardar can use Guardian Sprint with Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade to get close, and Slithereen Crush will stun Sniper and slow him, 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.
* Weaver relies on Shukuchi to escape and kite enemy heroes. Slardar's Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver, who is already a very frail target.
* Weaver usually builds Linken's Sphere, Corrosive Haze can be used to pop the spell block, additionally the level 25 undispellable talent will prevent Weaver from removing Corrosive Haze with Time Lapse, allowing allied heroes to use their abilities on Weaver.
Additional:
* Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver during Shukuchi, who is already a frail target. In addition, Weaver usually builds Linken's Sphere, and Corrosive Haze can be used to "pop" the spell block. His level 25 talent can also make Corrosive Haze undispellable by Time Lapse, which puts Weaver in an even worse situation.
* Guardian Sprint can dodge Weaver's bugs with the movement speed bonus.
* Sniper lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game.
* Lion's Earth Spike and Finger of Death may roughly hit Sniper at the latter increased attack range, making it possible to gank and to disable him from afar in clashes.
* Finger of Death is incredibly dangerous for Sniper as it may shred him away from fights, or in the worst scenario, cause his death.
* Weaver's exceptional ability to elude and survive through clashes and ganks is hard countered by Lion in every aspect.
* Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game, of which Mana Drain can deplete and lessen his early game presence.
* Earth Spike followed by Finger of Death in the huge majority of the time is enough to kill Weaver.
* Earth Spike can be point targeted to hit through Shukuchi.
* Hex's has a fair long duration, by which Weaver will not be able to deal damage, or even survive a coordinated attack, and it is single target, of which cannot be dodged.
* Mana Drain easily breaks Linken's Sphere. Its low cooldown allows Lion to infinitely break it whenever it recharges.
* Earth Spike and Hex when paired for the longer lengths of disables may diminish Time Lapse efficiency, possibly causing Weaver to not undo as much damage as he would.
* Even if he can slow Mars down with Shrapnel and Headshot, Mars can tank Sniper's physical damage simply by facing him with Bulwark, allowing him to endure his auto-attacks into the late-game. Should Sniper choose to attack someone else, Mars can redirect his projectiles with Bulwark's active ability.
* Sniper's poor mobility makes him very vulnerable to Arena of Blood, especially in the early game. Mars can also take advantage of this by pushing him closer to the front line with Spear of Mars.
* Shukuchi cannot help Weaver escape from Arena of Blood, and can most likely die if detected through invisibility.
* If pinned to the arena's walls, Time Lapse tends to not be enough to save Weaver, as God's Rebuke can keep him burst down thanks to its damage scaling.
* The Swarm and Geminate Attack are not enough to pierce through Bulwark.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Io, Nature's Prophet, Pangolier, Puck, Queen of Pain and most notably Riki.
* Sprout with True Sight items (Sentry Ward or Dust of Appearance) make it possible to trap Weaver in lane, unless he buys Quelling Blade or until he unlocks Time Lapse.
* The Swarm beetles can be destroyed with Nature's Prophet's Treants.
* Axe can easily close the distance to Sniper with Blink Dagger.
* 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.
* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Weaver's high attack speed, along with high attack damage from Geminate Attack, triggers Counter Helix continuously and the output damage would be returned by Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Due to his fast attack speed from Geminate Attack and items that give attack speed, Counter Helix will activate a lot, and the damage would be returned by Blade Mail, which hurts Weaver far more than it hurts Axe.
* Culling Blade can finish off Weaver's low health pool before he escapes with Shukuchi and Time Lapse.
* Battle Hunger is a good tool to pop Weaver's Linken's Sphere due to its low cooldown.
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger, Sniper, Lion.
* 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.
* Shukuchi vision can easily target Charge of Darkness before Weaver purchase Linken's Sphere.
Additional:
* Spirit Breaker's strong escape combo abilities from Charge of Darkness and Bulldoze can easily catch Shukuchi from Weaver.
* Time Lapse cannot dispel neither Charge of Darkness nor Nether Strike.
* However, Weaver is a common Linken's Sphere wielder. And if he has it, Spirit Breaker will not be able to catch up with Weaver neiter with Charge of Darkness nor with Nether Strike.
* Heroes that usually build Linken's Sphere as either a core or situational item: Weaver, Medusa, Morphling, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Luna, Naga Siren.
* Tinker is one of the few heroes who is able to defeat a Sniper on the center line thanks to his long-ranged abilities.
* Laser allow Tinker to deal damage to Sniper and blind him, causing him to miss attacks more often.
* Heat-Seeking Missile can deal heavy damage to Sniper on lane.
* Defense Matrix allow Tinker to save himself or allies from Assassinate.
* Warp Flare from Aghanim's Shard allows Tinker to teleport Sniper away from himself, while also reducing both his attack range and cast range. If Sniper is teleported near Tinker's allies with Warp Flare, he will be bursted down in no time.
Additional:
* Tinker is one of the few characters in Dota 2 who is able to defeat a Sniper on the center line – Tinker. On the center line, he gains an advantage over his opponent, and later acquires additional control. It is these abilities that the enemy should have in the game against the Sniper.
* The long silence of Crippling Fear at night prevents Weaver from using his Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and probably kill Weaver.
* Hunter In the Night's attack speed bonus removes The Swarm's beetles very quickly.
* 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.
* Sniper is completely helpless against Broodmother's abilities, and can be seriously damaged by Spiderlings in lane, especially when Shrapnel is on cooldown.
* 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.
* Bounty Hunter has a cheap way to break Linken's Sphere and keep track of Weaver while he is using Shukuchi, though both can be dispelled with Time Lapse.
* Weaver with Time Lapse
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* Abaddon with Aphotic Shield and Borrowed Time
* Huskar with Life Break
* Juggernaut with Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with Press the Attack
* Lifestealer with Rage and Infest
* Naga Siren with Mirror Image
* Omniknight with Heavenly Grace
* Oracle with Fortune's End and False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with Doppelganger
* Slark with Dark Pact
* Ursa with Enrage
* Weaver with Time Lapse
* Tidehunter with Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
* 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).
* Lina defeats Sniper on the mid, because she has the same attack range as him, and her Dragon Slave ability deals much more damage to creeps, as well as to Sniper himself, than Shrapnel, which creates uncomfortable conditions for Sniper to farm on the line, which is why Lina either punches Sniper harder than he either pushes a pack of creeps up to the tower and finishes off his creeps under it, preventing Sniper from earning gold and a level.
Additional:
* Lina defeats Sniper on the mid, because she has the same attack range as him, and her Dragon Slave ability deals much more damage to creeps, as well as to Sniper himself, than Shrapnel, which creates uncomfortable conditions for Sniper to farm on the line, which is why Lina either punches Sniper harder than he either pushes a pack of creeps up to the tower and finishes off his creeps under it, preventing Sniper from earning gold and a level.
* A well-timed Fireblast with Multicast can prevent Weaver from escaping with Shukuchi and even Time Lapse.
* Ignite's high damage early on applies heavy pressure onto Weaver's very small health pool.
* However, the slow from Ignite is generally useless against Shukuchi, and Time Lapse dispels it if needed.
* Sniper's lack of mobility and reliance on attack range makes him an easy target for Phantom Assassin to jump on.
Additional:
* Stifling Dagger and Phantom Strike allow Phantom Assassin to close the gap with Sniper and prevent his escape.
* Blur allows Phantom Assassin to approach Sniper while invisible and dodge much of Sniper's damage. It can also disjoint Assassinate.
* Coup De Grace quickly cuts through Sniper's low health; one or two procs will usually kill him.
* Fan of Knives from Aghanim's Shard can deal damage to Sniper's maximum health and disable Headshot and Take Aim.
* Sniper hugely lacks mobility and escape abilities so that he is an easy target for ganks from Slark.
* Frail heroes who lack mobility can also be an easy target to lock down with Chronosphere, such as Drow Ranger, Luna, Sniper, Terrorblade.
* Time Dilation while Shukuchi and Geminate Attack are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, reducing Weaver's escape potential.
* Chronosphere will reveal Weaver during Shukuchi.
Additional:
* The wide range of Chronosphere makes it difficult for Weaver to avoid it with Shukuchi and, once caught, his low survivability makes him an easy kill.
* With no significant source of burst damage, it is easy for Void to survive combat with Weaver using Time Walk.
* Time Dilation will prevent Weaver from using Shukuchi or force him to use Time Lapse to dispel the debuff and re-engage.
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere; Sniper, Skywrath Mage, etc.
* In the mid to late game, the physical attack from Sniper can be painful to go through as Rubick. However with the help of Rubick's teammates, the abilities of Sniper can turn against his team.
* Shrapnel is a great wave-clear ability, and helps with scouting the area.
* Shrapnel already has a long cast range, and together with Arcane Supremacy Rubick can put constant damage on Sniper while he stays at back.
* Assassinate, if stolen, can be cast to assist a gank while Rubick stays at a range that can merely be found in the area, damaging heroes in the backline including Sniper.
* Arcane Supremacy (combined with Level 25 talent +40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells, as of 7.31c) increases its damage before reduction to 406.2/611.1/819(531.2/805.1/1079) without considering any further amplification source.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Assassinate becomes an ability with a reliable 1.5 second stun, massive damage, short cooldown and over 3000 cast range which should not be made light of.
* Shrapnel is used frequently and can be easily stolen; Assassinate has a long cast animation for Rubick to forsee the chance to steal.
* Sniper is very fragile and has low movement speed, making an exceptionally easy target for Chaos Knight to initiate on.
* Sniper has no innate ability to deal with Phantasm or escape a Reality Rift and Chaos Bolt combo.
* In most cases, Sniper likes to stay far in the backline to deal damage, thus he is vulnerable if Chaos Knight manages to jump on him in the back line, which will usually spell a quick end for Sniper.
* 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.
* 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 a safe distance. Illusory Orb, combined with Blink Dagger makes it easy for Puck to get close 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.
* 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.
* Ensnare with her attacks allows Naga Siren to gank Sniper easily.
* Rip Tide removes Sniper's very little armor.
* 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!'s very high physical damage output can easily kill Sniper instantly due to his low health and armor.
* Sniper's Take Aim can be wasted with either Muerta's Pierce the Veil or a well aimed Dead Shot.
* Dead Shot can displace Sniper from safe spots into the offensive range of Muerta's team, leading to potential kills on Sniper.
* Sniper relies heavily on his basic attacks, which is useless against Pierce the Veil.
* Morphling's high mobility allows him to easily get close to Sniper, who likes to keep his distance from enemies.
* Fortune's End can catch out or impair position-based heroes with low mobility, such as Sniper or Razor.
* 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.
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider, Disruptor, Pudge, Vengeful Spirit.
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin, Clinkz, Sniper, Enchantress.
* Invisible heroes all have the element of surprise. Provided they deal enough damage, Sniper should be vanquished very quickly: Clinkz, Riki, Bounty Hunter.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Faceless Void, Gyrocopter, Juggernaut, Meepo, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Phantom Assassin, Phantom Lancer, Riki, Shadow Fiend, Slark, Sniper, Terrorblade, Troll Warlord, Weaver.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Faceless Void, Gyrocopter, Juggernaut, Meepo, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Phantom Assassin, Phantom Lancer, Riki, Shadow Fiend, Slark, Sniper, Terrorblade, Troll Warlord, Weaver.
* Heroes who commonly buy Linken's Sphere: Luna, Weaver, Morphling, Queen of Pain, Ember Spirit.
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, Nature's Prophet, Phantom Assassin, Riki, Anti-Mage, Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition, Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences: Weaver, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord, Sniper, Monkey King, Sven.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Io, Nature's Prophet, Pangolier, Puck, Queen of Pain and most notably Riki.
* You can easily kill a squishy Sniper, due to your high movement speed and his lack of escape.
* Techies is very good against roaming supports and gankers such as Bounty Hunter, Riki, Weaver, Earthshaker, Nyx Assassin, etc. that are constantly moving around the map.
* Carry heroes who can close the gap reliably are very problematic: Phantom Lancer, Ember Spirit, Phantom Assassin.
* 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 and Repel which grants a massive strength boost.
* Heroes that rely on slows or low-duration stuns have trouble catching Weaver: Omniknight, Lich.
* 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.
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility: Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Dark Seer.
* 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.
* Clockwerk lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Clockwerk finishes his initiation. Additionally, Clockwerk hates buying Dagon and Ethereal Blade, which are the only itmes that can help him deal with heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage: Faceless Void, Terrorblade, Ursa, Weaver, Broodmother, Slark, Abaddon, Wraith King, Lifestealer.
* A well-timed Gust will prevent Weaver from escaping, and a silenced Weaver usually dies very quickly.
* Weaver gains a lot of armor, which is bypassed by Marksmanship.
Additional:
* A well-timed Gust followed by Frost Arrows will prevent Weaver from escaping with Shukuchi. A Weaver silenced for more than 3 seconds usually dies very quickly.
* Due to her high attack speed, Drow Ranger can easily kill The Swarm beetles.
* Heroes who outrange Drow Ranger such as Sniper, Tinker.
* Anti-Mage can close the gap with Blink. Sniper will struggle to escape once he is jumped on due to the lack of mobility.
* Counterspell reduces sniper's magic damage from Shrapnel and Assassinate. The active component can also reflect the projectile back to sniper if he dares to target Anti-Mage. This is seriously detrimental for Sniper as he is prone to buying Khanda to boost effects of the Assassinate.
* Sniper often relies on mana to use items for escaping, and his abilities cost a lot of mana. Mana Break drains Sniper's mana and takes away Sniper's means to disengage.
* Anti-Mage has faster farming speed. He can outfarm and get ahead of Sniper easily.
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility: Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Dark Seer.
* Shadow Step and Haunt from Aghanim's Scepter instantly allows Spectre to get up and close with Sniper, and Spectral Dagger makes it difficult for Sniper to escape from her.
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.
* Dispersion reflect or reduce his damage, making her hard to take down even at late game.
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark, Clinkz, Weaver
* Pangolier can easily get close to Sniper with Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder, negating Sniper's range advantage.
* Lucky Shot disarms Sniper and leaves him unable to effectively fight back.
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar: Drow Ranger, Sniper, Templar Assassin, Arc Warden
* 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.
* Shukuchi can break Static Link with little trouble.
* Time Lapse can easily be used to avoid damage from Plasma Field and can recover the damage done from Static Link and Eye of the Storm.
* Eye of the Storm can't kill bugs from The Swarm.
* Sniper can easily destroy Tombstone from long range.
* Geminate Attack works on Tombstone, allowing Weaver to kill it quickly.
* Zombies attacking Weaver disappear once he goes invisible with Shukuchi.
* Undying has no way to catch a mobile Weaver.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Weaver can easily kill Chen's creeps and kite Chen with The Swarm and Shukuchi.
* Neither Chen nor his converted creeps have burst damage at all, so Weaver will always have plenty of time to save himself with Time Lapse or his allies with Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Time Lapse.
* 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.
* Heroes who often build Linken's Sphere: Weaver, Morphling, Medusa.
* 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.
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 Shadowraze.
* Assassinate when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls.
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck, Weaver.
* 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 area-of-effect for Black Hole. When left unattended, he can quickly kill a channeling Enigma (often from the high ground) to rout an otherwise strong initiation.
* In the early game, Sniper can cancel Enigma's Black Hole with Assassinate's ministun. Due to the absolutely ginormous 3000 cast range on Assassinate, Sniper does not need to be too close to Enigma to cancel his Black Hole. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Assassinate can also stun Enigma for a longer duration.
* Both Shrapnel and Assassinate put Enigma's Blink Dagger on cooldown, potentially forcing him to prematurely activate Black King Bar.
Additional:
* 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 Aghanim's Scepter.
* Enigma's Eidolons from Demonic Conversion are useless to push against a Sniper as he will easily kill them, especially with Mjollnir, a common item on Sniper.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation: Faceless Void, Terrorblade, Ursa, Weaver, Broodmother, Slark, Abaddon, Wraith King, Lifestealer.
* 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.
* Dark Seer's only disable is Vacuum. Though he starts off with high armor and health, he'll eventually have a hard time dealing with high mobility heroes such as Weaver or Queen of Pain.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: Wraith King, Kunkka, Doom, Tidehunter, Underlord, Troll Warlord, and etc.
* Wraithfire Blast is easy to disjoint with Shukuchi or Time Lapse, and it's the only way to break Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* Wraith King has no other disables and no mobility, allowing Weaver to chase or escape Wraith King as he wishes.
* With the Mana Break talent and Diffusal Blade, Weaver can prevent Reincarnation from triggering until Wraith King gets his shard.
Additional:
* Weaver can run away after killing Wraith King once thanks to Shukuchi.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable. If Weaver is quick, he will disjoint it with Shukuchi and proceed to chase Wraith King down.
* Shukuchi does have a fade time. They cannot disjoint it if you use it right next to them. They will be stunned and take damage; however they will still become invisible if they used Shukuchi before the stun hits.
* Weaver can easily harass Wraith King out of his lane thanks to his high base damage and Geminate Attack.
* Weaver can burn Wraith King's mana quickly with his {ValueColor:1|Mana Break|15tal} {Symbol:Talent} talent or Diffusal Blade, until Wraith King purchases Aghanim's Shard to remove Reincarnation's manacost.
* Heroes that outrange Luna can be a problem for her: Drow Ranger, Sniper.
* Escape-type carries: Slark, Storm Spirit, Weaver.
* Sniper can easily destroy Plague Ward from long range.
* Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from Bristleback.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
* Squishy core heroes (Shadow Fiend, Sniper, etc)
* 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.
* 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'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.
* Brewmaster is slow and has low armor, making his laning stage very difficult against Geminate Attack.
* Apart from the slow moving Hurl Boulder, which can be disjointed, he has no control to catch Weaver.
* Time Lapse allows Weaver (or an ally if upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.
* Shukuchi completely ignores the slow from Ice Vortex and helps him escape the freeze range of Cold Feet.
Additional:
* Cold Feet is extremely easy to nullify with Shukuchi.
* Ice Vortex does not slow Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Time Lapse will still affect his health, even when hit by Ice Blast.
* Ancient Apparition has no escapes or saves and is very squishy, making him an easy target for Weaver to get on top of.
* Juggernaut deals most of his damage in the melee range and has no gap-closer. Sniper can easily harrass Juggernaut from afar with his long-ranged attacks and {Ability ID:Headshot|Sniper|16px} procs.Should Juggernaut decide to advance,Sniper has enough time to react and back off.
* Sniper's long range attack can destroy Healing Ward from a safe range, preventing any healing done to Juggernaut and/or his teammates.
* However, if Sniper is badly positioned, Juggernaut can easily terminate him.
* 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.
* Weaver's Shukuchi allows him to escape from Warlock's Upheaval with high move speed.
* Time Lapse allows Weaver to ignore damage from Warlock's Golem and escape.
* As Outworld Destroyer has short cast ranges, a short attack range, and no gap-closing abilities, Sniper can kite and harass Outworld Destroyer in lane with his long range and zone him out in fights. The continuous area damage from Shrapnel also prevents Astral-Blink escapes.
* However, in the late game, Outworld Destroyer's massive damage can overwhelm Sniper once he obtains Blink Dagger, Force Staff etc. to close the gap.
* Weaver doesn't care much about Lich's slows thanks to Shukuchi.
* If he sees Chain Frost is targeting him, he can easily isolate himself with Shukuchi so that it stops bouncing around.
* Unless Lich bursts Weaver immediately, Lich has no hard disables or silences to prevent him from using Time Lapse.
* Sniper can outrange both Medusa's arrows and Stone Gaze, allowing him to focus her down during a teamfight.
Additional:
* 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.
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver, Morphling, Medusa.
* Heroes who have high health are a problem for Sniper because he likes to attack the closest target and sit at the back, much like a Terrorblade so when that hero doesn't die; he's forced to show his position for a very long time: Centaur Warrunner, Legion Commander, Primal Beast.
Additional:
* Sunder can save himself or his allies from Assassinate.
* Sniper relies on right-clicks to deal damage in the late game, and Terrorblade's high armor can reduce his damage significantly.
* Terrorblade is a far harder carry than Sniper is, so a well-farmed Terrorblade can easily defeat a Sniper.
* Unlike with other heroes who can summon illusions of themselves, Terrorblade's illusions from Conjure Image have different colors than other illusions which can be seen even by enemy team, which can also make Terrorblade weak even against heroes he naturally counters: Bane, Lifestealer, Spectre, Chaos Knight, Spirit Breaker, Sniper. Terrorblade's only solution to counter this problem is to get Manta Style as quickly as possible.
* Heroes whose core item builds includes Monkey King Bar: Faceless Void, Windranger, Weaver, Juggernaut.
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery: Legion Commander, Lifestealer, Weaver, Wraith King
* 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
* 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
* Long ranged heroes like Sniper or Drow Ranger can kite Tiny effectively if he doesn't get the jump on them first.
* Weaver cannot Time Lapse out of Huskar's burn damage.
* Sniper just doesn't give Huskar a chance, as he always just keeps his opponents at a great distance. However, in such a game you will need to have a Concussive Grenade and a Hurricane Pike in order to avoid the Life Break of Huskar
Additional:
* Sniper just doesn't give Huskar a chance, as he always just keeps his opponents at a great distance. However, in such a game you will need to have a Concussive Grenade and a Hurricane Pike in order to avoid the Life Break of Huskar
* Heroes with abilities that reduce armor will make Huskar very vulnerable: Weaver, Dazzle, Bristleback, Vengeful Spirit.
* Heroes with one single-target abilities such as Wraith King, Necrophos, or Doom will struggle against Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* In general, Timbersaw struggles against highly mobile heroes that can avoid his abilities: Puck, Weaver, Ember Spirit and others.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: Wraith King, Kunkka, Doom, Tidehunter, Underlord, Troll Warlord, and etc.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: 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.
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden, Shadow Shaman, Pugna
* Past the early game, Sniper is an easy target for Sven to jump on with Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Storm Hammer, Blink Dagger, Silver Edge or Harpoon, common items on Sven.
* Sven's high armor and health pool makes it difficult for Sniper to focus, as his main source of damage is his right click, especially if Sven uses Warcry.
* Sniper is very squishy, and will not stand a chance against Sven head on.
* Special mention to Sven as he may not be able to get close, but if he does, God's Strength will make very short work of Sniper.
* Sven can be easily kited since Weaver is a natural Linken's Sphere carrier and Sven relies on Storm Hammer to disable and kill a hero.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: Wraith King, Kunkka, Doom, Tidehunter, Underlord, Troll Warlord, and etc.
Additional:
* Sniper's very long range allows him to stay out of Firestorm, Pit of Malice as well as Atrophy Aura's range.
* Escapes with Fiend's Gate can be canceled with Assassinate that can mini-stun the target.
* However, Fiend's Gate can be used to quickly close the gap on Sniper, and kill him if Underlord brings his allies with him through Fiend's Gate. And Sniper has nothing to intercept arrivals with Fiend's Gate outside of Shrapnel and Concussive Grenade from Aghanim's Shard.
* Heroes with long ranged attacks or abilities can harass Visage from afar like Phoenix and Sniper.
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider, Disruptor, Pudge, Vengeful Spirit.
* Time Lapse with Aghanim's Scepter dispels Flaming Lasso when used on allied hero.
* Linken's Sphere is core item for a Weaver making him a hard target for Lasso during entire game.
* 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
* Sniper destroys Templar Assassin Refraction's only defense with its Shrapnel ability, which is why it can easily punch it and kick it off the line, getting more level and gold.
* The huge range of Sniper's attack due to the Take Aim ability allows him to spend the whole game at a distance far from Templar Assassin, constantly punching her with his physical attacks, which is why Templar Assassin remains either to run away or hide in Meld, however, even there Sniper will not let her escape with the help of Blink Dagger, since he uses Shrapnel.
Additional:
* Sniper destroys Templar Assassin Refraction's only defense with its Shrapnel ability, which is why it can easily punch it and kick it off the line, getting more level and gold.
* The huge range of Sniper's attack due to the Take Aim ability allows him to spend the whole game at a distance far from Templar Assassin, constantly punching her with his physical attacks, which is why Templar Assassin remains either to run away or hide in Meld, however, even there Sniper will not let her escape with the help of Blink Dagger, since he uses Shrapnel.
* Silences and other types of lockdown that prevent Weaver from using his spells: Silencer, Riki, Lion, Legion Commander, Shadow Shaman, Bane.
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider, Disruptor, Pudge, Vengeful Spirit.
* 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.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Io, Nature's Prophet, Pangolier, Puck, Queen of Pain and most notably Riki.
* Take Aim and Assassinate allow Sniper to reach Io even if it stays in the backline.
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like Slark in his Shadow Dance and Weaver in his Shukuchi.
* 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, Force Staff/Hurricane Pike 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.
* Marci can be effective against vulnerable squishy heroes that cannot deal with heroes that jump onto them - Sniper, Drow Ranger, Lina, Rubick, etc.
* Marci's Dispose is blocked by Linken's Sphere which is a common item for Weaver.
* Shukuchi allows Weaver to escape from Rebound slow.
* The swarm beetle require 4 hits to kill. Weaver can use it on her when she use Unleash. This give Marci a hard choice: ignore The swarm and her armor keep decreasing or kill the beetle and wasting 4 attacks of Unleash.
* Early game gankers can make life very difficult for a Sniper if he keeps being caught: Ursa, Pudge, Earth Spirit.
* The swarm beetle can waste Ursa's Overpower attacks.
* Ursa has no inherent way of disabling a slippery Weaver by preventing him from Shukuchiing or Time Lapseing away, as the slow from Earthshock is useless against Shukuchi's haste effect.
Additional:
* Earthshock's slow is ignored by Shukuchi.
* Ursa can be kited with Shukuchi and his burst damage will be negated with Time Lapse as long as Weaver survives it.
* The Swarm breaks Ursa's Blink Dagger, forcing him to deal with the beetles.
* Weaver has poor health, relying on Shukuchi and Time Lapse to survive, With Jakiro's considerable arsenal of stuns, Weaver cannot initiate on Jakiro without being punished heavily or even killed in return.
* While difficult, Ice Path can catch Weaver during Shukuchi, And since Shukuchi only lasts 4 seconds while Ice Path's stun lasts 3.5, the stun from Ice Path will strip him of his escape.
* Weaver has to be very careful casting Time Lapse around Jakiro, as it could very easily put him inside of a Macropyre or Ice Path.
* Heroes with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability: Death Prophet, Sniper, Tinker, Windranger.
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower: Bloodseeker, Ember Spirit, Juggernaut, Phantom Assassin, Weaver.
* Range-reliant heroes: Sniper, Drow Ranger
* Heroes with haste can negate Enchant's slow: Weaver, Dark Seer, Lycan, Centaur Warrunner.
* Phantom's Embrace and Soulbind prevent Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse to escape.
* Ink Swell discourages Weaver from moving through and damaging allies with Shukuchi.
* 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.
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (Riki, Bounty Hunter, Weaver, or Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden, Shadow Shaman, Pugna
* Primal Beast is one of Sniper's greatest counters, as he has no real means of escape and is very squishy, especially in the early game. Sniper's potshots and Shrapnel can contribute to Primal Beast's Uproar and further make him tankier than he already is. Onslaught allows him to close the gap on Sniper at his own volition, and Trample can deal serious damage to his meager health pool.
* Shukuchi allows Weaver to have faster movement speed and can outrun Primal Beast in most instances, such as while he is trampling.
* Trample disarms Primal Beast, so casting The Swarm can make him vulnerable to ranged attacks. Primal Beast also has an innately slow attack speed and will take a long time destroying the bugs.
* Time Lapse allows Weaver to negate and heal burst damage, which Primal Beast is reliant on.
* 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.
* Shrapnel will be mostly blocked by Flesh Heap's active.
Additional:
* 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. Aghanim's Shard upgraded Dismember will also allow Pudge to save an ally from Assassinate.
* Shukuchi grants Weaver invisibility and a high degree of mobility for a short time, which can make him a difficult target to hook.
* The Swarm beetles are difficult for Pudge to remove, due to his low base attack time and poor agility. Additionally, it can be used to can scout out Pudge's location.
* Should an ally get snagged by Meat Hook, Weaver can use Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Time Lapse on them to send them back to where they were before hooked, even if Pudge has already started to Dismember them.
Additional:
* While Weaver is in Shukuchi, Rot doesn't slow him and Meat Hook is easy to avoid.
* Even when hooked, Weaver can use Time Lapse, negating both the damage and displacement.
* Pudge has low armor and low attack speed, making him susceptible to The Swarm and physical attacks.
* Dismember is easy to block with Linken's Sphere and it's the only way to break Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* However, the long duration stun of Dismember can be dangerous for Weaver.
* Viper Strike breaks Sniper's passives.
* Corrosive Skin allows Viper to deal more damage to Sniper than Sniper deals to him when laning, especially by briefly stepping into Shrapnel.
* Nethertoxin together with Poison Attack can slow Sniper and tears through his low health and mobility.
* Shukuchi ignores slows and allows Weaver to escape Viper's onslaught.
* Time Lapse dispels Poison Attack and Corrosive Skin and undoes poison damage.
* Weaver's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Io, Nature's Prophet, Pangolier, Puck, Queen of Pain and most notably Riki.
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities: Ember Spirit, Puck, Weaver
* 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.
* You can potentially kill a fragile Weaver by using Disruption during Shukuchi with a well-placed Sentry Ward, wasting the Shukuchi. But odds are he'll wait to get low health, Time Lapse the damage away and Shukuchi away once more.
* Lifestealer can close the distance to Sniper by using Infest on a fast or durable creep to tank Sniper's damage.
* Open Wounds and Ghoul Frenzy will reduce Sniper's mobility heavily, and Rage's movement speed bonus helps in closing the gap to Sniper. It also protects him from Assassinate and Shrapnel.
* Infest can dodge an incoming Assassinate or to surprise Sniper during ganks. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can also allow Lifestealer to disarm Sniper and attack him from inside.
* Though The Swarm can be blocked by Rage, it can be used to lower Lifestealer's already low armor, making him even more vulnerable to physical damage while Rage is on cooldown.
* Lifestealer has no strong disables on his own and thus cannot catch up with nor escape from Weaver's Shukuchi.
* Lifestealer's reliance on meticulous auto-attacks will not help against Time Lapse, which can undo Lifestealer's already slow build-up of damage. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Time Lapse can also be used to save allies from getting killed by Lifestealer, but that will require targeting the allied hero rather than just pressing the button that will trigger the Time Lapse.
Additional:
* Open Wounds's slow is ignored by Shukuchi.
* Lifestealer has no other lockdown and relies on being on top of enemies; Weaver can kite him with ease.
* Shadow Shaman's many disables can lock down Weaver. Even with Linken's Sphere, Weaver might not be able to escape should Shadow Shaman uses Shackles quickly enough following Hex.
* Mass Serpent Wards can make short work of Weaver once he is locked down.
* Sniper can easily destroy Mass Serpent Wards from long range.
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.
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 win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
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
Latest changes first
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.
Sniper
* Sniper's low mobility and lack of defensive abilities make him an easy gank target for the entire game, especially if Blink Dagger is picked up.
Weaver
* Duel's long duration prevents Weaver from activating Time Lapse or escaping with Shukuchi.