*
Guardian Angel protects allies from Death Ward's physical damage.
*
Purification and
Heavenly Grace will most likely save teammates from dying to Maledict.
*
Heavenly Grace reduces Fireblast stun time and dispels Ignite.
*
Purification can heal damaged heroes if needed.
* Generally, any fragile heroes will have a hard time dealing with Undying's tankiness, and even more so if Decay is used on them. Some examples are
Crystal Maiden and
Witch Doctor.
* Undying saps strength from heroes with Decay, and Ogre Magi's high strength gain will allow Undying to steal more and more strength, becoming stronger with each use.
* Due to the Strength steal from Decay, Undying is normally very tanky, and has high health, making it harder for Ogre Magi to kill him.
* Heroes with the ability to heal allies will not be able to heal heroes affected by
Doom:
Chen,
Dazzle,
Io,
Oracle,
Omniknight,
Witch Doctor,
Winter Wyvern,
Abaddon, etc.
*
Doom makes Ogre Magi less disruptive.
*
Infernal Blade effectively negates Ogre Magi's durability.
* With
Aghanim's Scepter, he can disable Multicast.
* Low health spellcasters:
Lina,
Witch Doctor,
Tinker,
Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
*
Puck silences Ogre Magi with
Waning Rift, and
Phase Shift makes Puck untargetable for the duration.
*
Arc Warden's
Magnetic Field dodges all damage from Death Ward.
*
Arc Warden's
Tempest Double is helpful for killing Ogre Magi who lacks AoE damage and disables.
* Wraithfire Blast cancels
Death Ward in decent range.
*
Death Ward is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Aura can out-heal the {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from
Maledict.
* Without Dust of Appearance or Sentry Wards, Riki is able to silence Witch Doctor with
Smoke Screen, and is likely to build a Diffusal Blade, leaving Witch Doctor without mana to cast Voodoo Restoration, as well as Skull Basher to interrupt Death Ward.
*
Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from
Maledict.
* Beware of placing the Death Ward if
Chronosphere is off cooldown, as it will cancel the effect and leave Witch Doctor vulnerable if he does not react in time.
*
Death Ward can be easily canceled by Jakiro, or even turned against him with Macropyre, due to it's attack range being smaller then Jakiro's cast range. And
Crystal Maiden, his Scepter does not allow him to move while using it.
Voodoo Switcheroo is even easier to land Jakiro's Macropyro/Ice Path combo. And unlike
Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Death Ward does not allow him to move while using it.
* While
Maledict can be quite effective on Jakiro, along with repetitive stuns from Paralyzing Cask, it is very difficult to get a strong Maledict on him. Although Witch Doctor's Paralizying Cask, Maledict and Death Ward combo will still quickly eliminate Jakiro.
* On the other hand.
Voodoo Restoration will partly protect his allies from Jakiro spells, as it heals based on their Max Health once he gets his Talent (Level 25). Before then though, it won't make a dent in the damage Jakiro deals.
* Vengeful Spirit has two abilities to interrupt Death Ward, even through Black King Bar.
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Ogre's magical debuffs and also dispels them.
* Ogre's high health pool makes him an ideal target for Feast.
Additional:
* Ogre Magi has nothing against
Rage and his high health pool amplifies
Feast.
*
Lucent Beam interrupts Death Ward from a decent range.
* With Dust of Appearance,
Eclipse kills Witch Doctor during Death Ward, even through
Glimmer Cape.
*
Kraken Shell dispels the stun from Paralyzing Cask. However, it does not dispel the damage from Maledict.
* Once Witch Doctor first uses his Death Ward in team fights, Tidehunter can simply cancel it with
Ravage, turning the tables against him, especially if Witch Doctor does not have a
Black King Bar.
* As a precaution, Witch Doctor should let Tidehunter use Ravage first before channeling Death Ward to turn a team fight in his favor.
* Ogre Magi has single-targeted magical-only damage and disables and is less effective against Meepo's clones.
* Sacred Arrow can be used to interrupt Death Ward from a safe distance, forcing him to cancel it to dodge or get hit.
*
Paralyzing Cask is a slow-moving stun, and Mirana can Leap away from her allies to keep it from bouncing.
* Witch Doctor has low health and can easily be killed with an
Aghanim's Scepter combo or just when hit with an arrow.
* Morphling can
Attribute Shift to strength after being hit by Maledict. Since Maledict deals its damage based on the difference between HP on cast and HP after two seconds, odds are Morphling will have more HP than when Maledict was cast, thus resulting in no damage.
* On the upside, players prone to panicked reactions may Morph to agility, making Maledict even more efficient than intended.
*
Adaptive Strike (Strength) can interrupt Death Ward at a decent range.
*
Dark Pact dispels Ignite's slow and Fireblast's stun.
*
Shadow Dance allows Slark to regenerate HP, even when he is affected by Ignite and Fireblast.
* Like any hero with a channeled spell,
Last Word is a counter to it.
*
Global Silence goes through spell immunity and prevents Witch Doctor from casting his spells.
* Rubick can steal
Death Ward easily as it is a channeled ability and then use it to turn teamfight to his advantage.
* However, a skilled Witch Doctor will toggle Voodoo Restoration immediately after placing his Death Ward to prevent that.
Additional:
*
Witch Doctor's iconic
Death Ward is a perfect spell for Rubick to output high damage.
*
Death Ward requires channeling which makes Witch Doctor a clear tagret for stealing. Rubick can steal the spell outside of Death Ward's attack range most of the times.
* Note that an skilled
Witch Doctor player can cast
Voodoo Restoration to disrupt their last spell for Rubick to steal.
*
Telekinesis can interrupt a channeling
Death Ward. With
Death Ward's high burst damage, combining
Death Ward and
Telekinesis to hold enemy in place can result in a solo kill in the early game.
*
Paralyzing Cask provides an additional disable. The ability also helps moderately with farming.
*
Voodoo Restoration provides some utility by healing Rubick and his team.
*
Maledict is a damage-over-time nuke that amplifies the damage enemy taken.
*
Telekinesis can reposition the enemy within the range of
Maledict.
* Ogre Magi has no undispellable AoE damage or disables and has nothing to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
*
Doppelganger disjoints and dispels Ignite.
* Heroes who have channeled abilities can be stunned by Light Strike Array, like
Witch Doctor with
Death Ward and
Bane's
Fiend's Grip.
Additional:
*
Light Strike Array cancels out Death Ward from a long distance.
* Low mobility heroes: Heroes with no/little means of traveling fast have difficulty getting to/away from Bounty Hunter due to his slowing Jinada and hastening Track. Few examples of such heroes are:
Crystal Maiden,
Sniper,
Ursa,
Witch Doctor, etc.
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like
Crystal Maiden or
Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
* Heroes with long channeling abilities like
Witch Doctor are easy targets for Kunkka to interrupt in team fights.
Additional:
*
Torrent can cancel Death Ward from a far distance.
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore
Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
* Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook:
Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
Additional:
*
Meat Hook interrupts Death Ward from a decent range, even through
Black King Bar &
Glimmer Cape.
* Pudge can survive the damage from Maledict because of his
Flesh Heap stacks.
* However the damage-over-time from
Rot is counteracted by Voodoo Restoration.
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities 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.
* In general, heroes that deal burst in multiple instances will trigger Borrowed Time and heal Abaddon for a large amount, such as
Skywrath Mage,
Techies,
Juggernaut,
Shadow Shaman, or
Ogre Magi.
*
Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse works very well against the increased attack speed from Bloodlust.
* Heroes with plenty of summons, such as
Broodmother or
Nature's Prophet can have their minions soak up most of your Paralyzing Cask.
* Heroes like
Slark,
Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore
Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
*
Earth Spirit's useful kit of Slows, Stuns, and Silences can set up kills on Ogre Magi and the silence can stop him from using his abilities.
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder:
Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
* Heroes with powerful channeling abilities are easily interrupted by Phantom's Embrace:
Bane,
Pudge,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma.
* Channeling heroes will not go well against Warlock, especially those who build
Black King Bar as Warlock's ultimate ability stun goes through spell immunity. E.g.:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma, etc.
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range:
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
* Stone Form can easily interrupt heroes with long channeling spells, like
Crystal Maiden,
Bane,
Witch Doctor, or
Enigma.
* Witch Doctor's
Maledict burst damage can be prevented by Sunder if timed correctly. But it can kill Terrorblade if he has no target to be Sundered with, especially in the early game.
*
Death Ward deals physical damage, and Terrorblade's high armor can help him survive against Death Ward. However, Terrorblade has no disable in his skillset at all, and he cannot stop Witch Doctor from channeling Death Ward to maximum. And if Witch Doctor owns
Aghanim's Scepter, attacks from Death Ward will be able to bounce around and wipe out Terrorblade's illusions and his team.
* Terrorblade must be careful as
Paralyzing Cask is commonly tricky to dodge for him due to his reliance on illusions.
* Heroes who have channeling abilities because Terrorblade has no disables to cancel them at all besides
Terror Wave from
Aghanim's Scepter, and he does not like buying disabling items at all:
Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Ogre Magi only deals magical damage, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant due to Counterspell.
* Anti-Mage dispels
Ignite with
Manta Style.
* Ogre Magi has a very large mana pool which means Anti-Mage can do large amounts of damage to him with Mana Break and Mana Void.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can kite Ogre Magi who has low mobility by
Blink and his intelligence gain and build making
Mana Void deal more damage.
*
Counterspell well timed makes harass Fireblast and Ignite.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away:
Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
* Fireblast is a good tool to interrupt Io during its escapes through
Tether.
* Ignite can be one of the few spells with enough total damage to out-trade the sustained healing Io provides for its fellow laner.
* However, picking other supports that focus less on the laning phase is generally a better choice against Io.
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter Bloodseeker's
Thirst.
*
Rupture is generally useless against Witch Doctor while he is staying on Death Ward.
* Although Witch Doctor needs to be careful as
Blood Rite can interrupt Death Ward.
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of
Poison Nova and
Poison Sting.
*
Death Ward with
Aghanim's Scepter makes quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption until Witch Doctor buys
Linken's Sphere or
Black King Bar.
* All of Witch Doctor's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
*
Voodoo Restoration can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Maledict or
Paralyzing Cask for the enemy.
* Paralyzing cask bounces between him and his wolves, keeping him stunned for long amounts of time.
* It is difficult for Mars to trade blows with Ogre Magi in the early game thanks to his high base health, resistance and
Ignite.
*
Bloodlust can assist Ogre Magi or an ally in repositioning against Mars for its move speed bonus.
*
Fireblast can interrupt and mitigate Mars from performing his skill combos, especially in combination with
Multicast.
* Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables:
Silencer,
Crystal Maiden,
Warlock,
Ancient Apparition,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones:
Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones:
Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren (bonus for her
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time:
Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Doom
* The damage block instances of
Refraction can be burned down with Ignite.
* Fire Shield effectively reduces the burst damage from a
Meld-charged ambush from Templar Assassin, provided the spell is cast beforehand.
* Multicast Fireblasts over the course of fights are a decent nuisance to stall Sven's massive damage output.
* Bloodlust and Ignite gives Ogre Magi's team the movement speed difference needed to chase and/or disengage against a Sven and his
Warcry.
* Ignite provides strong damage over time to pressure Sven early on in the laning phase and keep his health low, delaying his transition into the jungle. Ignite is also an easy way to disrupt
Blink Dagger, Sven's most popular way of initiation.
* Ogre Magi's presence in the laning phase both in terms of damage and durability keeps high pressure on Sven in lane.
* Purchasing an
Aghanim's Shard allows Ogre Magi to greatly reduce the burst damage of Sven, who tends to build items focused on damage per hit instead of attack speed.
* Stunt from
Fireblast can combinated
Multicast after Ogre Magi level 6 canceled from Shadow Shaman's channeling.
* Paralyzing Cask is likely to bounce between him and his bear every single time.
* Lone Druid's lack of mobility makes him vulnerable to Death Ward and Maledict.
*
Paralyzing Cask will repetively bounce between Chen and his converted creeps every single time. This can get even better if Witch Doctor buys
Aghanim's Scepter that will allow his
Death Ward to bounce between Chen and his converted creeps.
*
Paralyzing Cask,
Maledict and
Death Ward combination will often kill Chen's allies before he can save them with
Hand of God. And to make things better, Chen has no way to cancel
Fiend's Grip on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
*
Voodoo Switcheroo from
Aghanim's Shard cannot be interrupted by Chen's creeps at all because Witch Doctor is hidden for it's duration.
Additional:
*
Paralyzing Cask will repetively bounce between Chen and his converted creeps every single time. This can get even worse if Witch Doctor buys
Aghanim's Scepter that will allow his
Death Ward to bounce between Chen and his converted creeps.
*
Paralyzing Cask,
Maledict and
Death Ward combination will often kill Chen's allies before he can save them with
Hand of God. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel
Death Ward on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
*
Voodoo Switcheroo from
Aghanim's Shard cannot be interrupted by Chen's creeps at all because Witch Doctor is hidden for it's duration.
* 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.
* Heroes that commonly attack ethereal units will not have any problems against Muerta's Pierce The Veil:
Tinker,
Jakiro,
Lina,
Luna,
Pugna or
Ogre Magi,
Enigma,
Batrider,
Techies,
Broodmother,
Dawnbreaker,
Shadow Shaman,
Bane,
Tinker,
Venomancer,
Arc Warden.
* Heroes with long-lasting, undispellable debuffs will pinpoint the true Naga Siren:
Spirit Breaker,
Bloodseeker,
Witch Doctor.
* Heroes who build
Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all:
Axe,
Broodmother,
Dawnbreaker,
Enigma,
Huskar,
Jakiro,
Legion Commander,
Lina,
Luna,
Lycan,
Slardar,
Slark,
Troll Warlord,
Witch Doctor.
* Heroes with magical or pure damage output will not have any problems against Atrophy Aura at all:
Luna,
Lina,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Bane,
Snapfire,
Muerta,
Nyx Assassin,
Enigma,
Tinker,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus,
Crystal Maiden.
* Heroes that can cancel Charge of Darkness:
Ogre Magi,
Earthshaker,
Lion,
Rubick,
Lina,
Luna,
Jakiro,
Dawnbreaker,
Alchemist,
Ogre Magi,
Axe,
Shadow Shaman,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Bane,
Pudge,
Clockwerk.
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Ogre Magi.
* Heroes with channeling abilities:
Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
* Heroes rely on their debuff to control the opponent will have a hard time against Press the Attack:
Venomancer,
Earth Spirit,
Ogre Magi
*
Paralyzing Cask can save ally from Legion Commander Duel's until she purchases
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Voodoo Restoration can heal Witch Doctor allies from Duel's.
*
Death Ward can help Witch Doctor allies from winning Duel's, if, he is not a target.
* Heroes with plenty of summons, such as
Broodmother or
Nature's Prophet can have their minions soak up most of your Paralyzing Cask.
* Nature's Prophet treants can be cleared by Ignite or Multicast
Hand of Midas
* Fireblast and Unrefined Fireblast prevents Nature's Prophet from using
Teleportation.
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
* Ignite can prevent Earthshaker from escaping and/or initiating with
Blink Dagger.
* Fireblast and Unrefined Fireblast may help prevent Earthshaker follow through with his combo after landing an
Echo Slam.
*
Viper Strike breaks Multicast.
*
Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from Ignite and Fireblast.
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of Viper abilities.
* Viper has no way to cancel Death Ward, even through
Rod of Atos.
*
Paralyzing Cask's short stun rarely prevents Monkey King from ambushing Witch Doctor.
*
Death Ward's long channel is easily interrupted by Boundless Strike.
* Another hero that should not leave a special circle for his ultimate. The only thing to be afraid is
Boundless Strike.
*
Phantasm dispels Ignite and makes targeting the real Chaos Knight much harder.
*
Maledict cannot be dispelled by Phantasm, and can be used to tag the real Chaos Knight hiding within his illusions.
* If Witch Doctor has an
Aghanim's Scepter,
Death Ward will bounce between Chaos Knight's illusions, destroying them quickly.
* However,
Death Ward is easily interrupted by Chaos Bolt until Witch Doctor buys
Glimmer Cape or
Black King Bar.
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.
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Witch Doctor
* It is especially easy for Oracle to negate the damage from Maledict, and even heal through it with
Fate's Edict and
Purifying Flames.
False Promise.
* If by some miracle an enemy is still about to die because of Maledict, he can still save him with
Ogre Magi
*
Fate's Edict gives full immunity from Ogre Magi's mostly magical damage.
Fortune's End can dispel Ignite (when used on allies) and Bloodlust (when used on enemies).
False Promise can dispel Ignite and Fireblast.
*
*