Ursa
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Viper
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Zeus
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Dragon Knight
* In the early game, a Dragon Knight without Black King Bar is basically defenseless against Viper.
* Viper can harass Dragon Knight at any time with his Poison Attack.
* Corrosive Skin reduces damage from Dragon Fire and inflicts damage to him.
* Nethertoxin disables Dragon Blood, negating his main survivability.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack can severely slow him down even with his Elder Dragon Form.
Additional:
* Dragon Knight is easily harassed by Poison Attack after the laning stage ends.
* Corrosive Skin protects Viper from
Breathe Fire and returns damage.
* Nethertoxin mitigates
Dragon Blood, Dragon's Knight main source of armor and health regeneration.
* Between Poison Attack and
Viper Strike, Viper can keep Dragon Knight permanently slowed even in
Elder Dragon Form.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Zeus
* Huskar's Burning Spears chip through his low health pool quickly.Consequently, he is forced to either invest on health regen or abandon the lane.
* Reliant on magic damage, there is little he can do against Huskar.
* Huskar will usually kill him if he gets Life Break off,given Zeus' poor mobility.
Dragon Knight
* Huskar can burn down Dragon Knight's health quickly during the early to mid game, but is not as effective during the late game. However,
Life Break remains a constant threat due to the slow and percentage-based damage.
Additional:
* Huskar can negate Dragon Knight's passive with multiple trades of Burning Spear.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)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.
Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight has no built-in disengage from Frost Arrows, and
Marksmanship procs ignore base armor, bypassing Dragon Knight’s durability for the most part, making Drow one of the few heroes that can deal enough sustained damage to solo kill Dragon Knight.
* With Aghanim's Shard, Frost Arrows also apply hypothermia stacks, reducing her target’s regen, which is especially potent against tanks like Dragon Knight. (A similar effect can also be achieved with an
Eye of Skadi)
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 56% 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.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)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.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Dragon Knight
* Static Link saps Dragon Knight of his already low base damage, making him even more useless in a fight if he gets kited.
* Storm Surge makes Razor much faster than Dragon Knight, and hard to catch.
* Eye of the Storm melts Dragon Knight's armor and bypasses
Black King Bar, his core item.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Dragon Knight
* Arcane Orb's constant pure damage output is devastating to Dragon Knight.
* Dragon Knight's relatively low mana pool leads to heavy damage from Sanity's Eclipse, which also bypasses his armor.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Zeus
* 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 makes 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Zeus
* Zeus laneing against Ember is going to be punished with Sleight of Fist due to his low health pool
* Zeus's chip damage from Arc Lightning and other spells is nullified from Ember's Flame Guard.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)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.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)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.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Dragon Knight
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Phantom Assassin,
Juggernaut,
Dragon Knight,
Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Zeus
* Visage can quickly kill heroes with low to medium base armor and no innate escape mechanism. Examples include Alchemist,
Crystal Maiden and
Zeus.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Zeus
* Spirit Siphon does a lot of magical damage, especially in the early game. This allows her to demolish low health heroes such as Zeus,
Pugna, especially when combined with her other spells.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Dragon Knight
* In general, heroes with long cooldowns on their abilities or ultimate will struggle against the relentless pressure provided by Dark Rift or Fiend's Gate (Requires
Aghanim's Scepter):
Terrorblade,
Dragon Knight,
Omniknight.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Dragon Knight
* In general, heroes that can slow down Dragon Knight's movement speed will do well against him. This includes Venomancer and others in addition to the heroes mentioned above.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Dragon Knight
* Elder Titan's
Natural Order completely nullifies Dragon Knight's high armor.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Additional:
* Cold Feet and
Ice Vortex both hinder Dragon Knight's movement greatly during teamfights.
* Ice Blast ignores Dragon Knight's armor, disables his health regeneration, and kills him prematurely.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)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: 49% 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.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% 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.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)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: 48% pickrate: 15%)Zeus
* Heroes with summons that are destroyed by a fixed number of attacks: Undying's
Tombstone,
Gyrocopter's
Homing Missile, and
Zeus's
Nimbus.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)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.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Zeus
* 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.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes who rely on skills to become a heavy hitter in a certain amount of time can waste their timing because of a lucky Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Zeus
* Heroes with a lot of burst damage, especially those who rely on casting spells: Lina,
Zeus.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Zeus
* Zeus burst damage can be reduced by Dispersion and reflect some of the damage back to Zeus himself.
* Zeus has low mobility and stays in backlines, Spectral Dagger or
Haunt can easily catch him as he has no escape mechanism.
* Since Zeus has low HP, Spectral Dagger and
Desolate will quickly tear Zeus down when he's alone.
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.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)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.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as Sven and
Dragon Knight.
Marci
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Zeus
* Marci on the midlane will win the laning phase against Zeus almost every time, as her powerspike at level 6 will decimate Zeus' low health pool and force him to stay far back.
* Even before level 6, Dispose and Sidekick can easily take half of Zeus' health if he is in range of Dispose.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes that reduce the damage that Marci can deal during her ultimate, like Razor,
Rubick,
Bane,
Dragon Knight and
Underlord.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Zeus
* Zeus's Lightning Bolt and
Thundergod's Wrath provides a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki while possibly dealing a heavy amount of damage.
* Zeus's Nimbus can be placed directly on top of
Tricks of the Trade, potentially causing him to be damaged, stunned, and revealed the instant he becomes targetable again.
Dragon Knight
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Zeus
* Heroes with global nukes will target and hit Phantom Lancer regardless of his illusions: Zeus
Dragon Knight
* The dragon's splash damage wears down his illusions.
* Early harassment with Breath of Fire hinders his farming.
* Fireball stops his pushes and allows for a defence.
Additional:
* Breathe Fire and
Elder Dragon Form's splash damage takes out Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* If Dragon Knight can Dragon Tail the real Phantom Lancer, he and his team can quickly kill him before he has a chance to escape.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)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.
Dragon Knight
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)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.
Dragon Knight
* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include Sven,
Magnus,
Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form,
Ember Spirit (via item),
Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Zeus
* Zeus can reveal Clinkz with Lightning Bolt.
* He is vulnerable to Zeus's magical nukes, due to his low health pool.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes with high armor like Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like
Phantom Assassin,
Riki and
Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
Additional:
* The extra damage from Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.
* Clinkz has too low health to survive a gank.Getting stunned keeps him down long enough for a reaction.
* Breathe Fire reduces his damage,as it is physical.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Dragon Knight
* Shadow Fiend's
Presence of the Dark Lord reduces Dragon Knight's armor considerably, and his strong base attacks are augmented by his
Necromastery.
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.
Dragon Knight
* Dragon Tail can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Breathe Fire reduces Shadow Fiend's damage even further.
* Dragon Knight's high strength and
Dragon Blood means that he'll be able to tank Shadow Fiend's right clicks.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)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.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Zeus
* Arc Lightning and
Lightning Bolt can easily burst Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Static Field from
Aghanim's Shard can automatically hit everything in a big radius, taking a huge chunk of health out of Terrorblade's illusions, regardless of how much health they have.
Muerta
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 13%)Zeus
* Almost all of the damage Zeus does is magical making Muerta's Pierce the Veil not protect her.
* Zues does not rely on attack speed making The Calling pointless against him.
* If Zues is ever too close to Muerta he can simply use Heavenly Jump to escape.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Zeus
* Mars' own father is a formidable foe because Zeus deals massive amounts of 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.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)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.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Dragon Knight
* Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from
Maledict.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Zeus
* Zeus's highly damaging nuke spells with low cooldowns is not something Luna can go against, though Luna can win against Zeus in late game.
* Thundergod's Wrath can be used before a fight to harm Luna before she activates
Black King Bar, reducing her survivability for that fight.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)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's Aghanim's Scepter grants him
Nimbus ability that 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.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight's heavy armor negates Vendetta's burst physical damage. His large HP pool also gives him a good chance of surviving Nyx Assassin's follow-up nuke damage.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Zeus
* 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.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Zeus
* Thundergod's Wrath will often disable Earthshaker's
Blink Dagger before a fight starts.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Zeus
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Dragon Knight
* Breathe Fire will clear Broodmother's spiderites while significantly damaging her spiderlings and decreasing their damage output.
* Dragon Blood's added armor and regen mitigates the damage done by Broodmother and her spiders.
* Elder Dragon Form at level 2 and above applies splash damage to Dragon Knight's auto attacks.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Zeus
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)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
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)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.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Zeus
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Zeus
* Heroes who can provide True Sight are always credible threats: Slardar,
Bounty Hunter, especially
Zeus since his
Lightning Bolt provides True Sight without the need to detect her beforehand to apply the debuff. So even a late-coming Zeus can easily scout a large area to reveal her, and she cannot purge herself from his sight with the dispel talent.
Dragon Knight
* Despite the armor reduction from Meld, Templar Assassin's reliance on physical damage and medium attack speed is unlikely to harm Dragon Knight.
* Templar Assassin's Refraction charges also get quickly removed by the damage over time from Dragon Knight's ultimate.
Additional:
* The damage over time from Dragon Knight's Elder Dragon Form rapidly burns down Refraction, allowing him to attack her.
* Also, Breathe Fire reduces Templar Assassin's damage and
Dragon Tail is a stun with a considerable duration, letting him and his team whittle her health down once her defenses wear off.
* Templar Assassin will struggle to kill Dragon Knight thanks to his high armor and health regen from Dragon Blood as she deals entirely physical damage.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)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.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes who can match Void Spirit's mobility (like the aforementioned Ember Spirit or
Queen of Pain) or tank his spells (
Dragon Knight or
Centaur Warrunner) are very problematic for him.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Zeus
* Heavy nukers will do well against Cold Embrace (Lina,
Zeus etc).
Additional:
* 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.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)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.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Dragon Knight
* Heartstopper Aura and
Reaper's Scythe go right through Dragon Knight's armor.
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.
Dragon Knight
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)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
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes with strong 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.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Zeus
* Some heroes with extreme range, like Zeus,
Invoker or
Clockwerk, can snipe your allies from anywhere after your Grave has expired.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Zeus
* Heroes with spells that negate invisibility such as Bounty Hunter,
Zeus and
Slardar prevent her from saving her allies with Moonlight Shadow.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Dragon Knight
* Durable heroes relied a lot on their main passive effects and items' effects such as Bristleback,
Underlord,
Spectre and
Dragon Knight can be disabled easily with
Sharpshooter's break, reducing their potential in teamfights.
Zeus
* Due to Hoodwink's low health and Zeus's high magic damage from Arc Lightning,
Lightning Bolt and
Static Field as well as global abilities from
Thundergod's Wrath and
Nimbus, he can easily kill her throughout the game and also reveal where Hoodwink is positioned or when she's in trees.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Dragon Knight
* Spirit Breaker's slow attack speed and moderate damage do very little to harm Dragon Knight, even if ganked with Charge of Darkness.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker,...
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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Dragon Knight
* Slardar can chase Dragon Knight down with
Guardian Sprint and stun him with both
Slithereen Crush and his passive
Bash of the Deep. He can also use
Corrosive Haze to whittle Dragon Knight's armor.
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 caught out of position first.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Dragon Knight
* Timbersaw's pure damage will kill Dragon Knight surprisingly fast, especially if he gets caught in a bad position while laning.
Zeus
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)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.
Dragon Knight
* Dragon Blood's armor bonus greatly reduces the damage dealt by Phantasm.
* Breathe Fire and
Elder Dragon Form's splash damage quickly destroy illusions and reduces their damage output.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Zeus
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Zeus
* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity: Keeper of the Light,
Lina,
Lion,
Zeus.
Additional:
* 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.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% 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.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes with high armor and durability can be exceptionally hard for Bloodseeker to bring down: Dragon Knight,
Axe
Additional:
* Bloodseeker's physical damage is unlikely to kill Dragon Knight, and therefore rarely get a chance to recover the large amount of HP from Bloodrage.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Dragon Knight
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Centaur Warrunner,
Wraith King and more.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Dragon Knight
* Heroes that relies on armor or other type of physical damage negation are easy for Gyrocopter to take down during the early game with his magical damage: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Sven.
Zeus
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Lich
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Dragon Knight
* Lich's constant slows with Frost Blast and
Chain Frost will slow Dragon Knight to a crawl, especially in a crowded teamfight.
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.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)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 Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 4%)Zeus
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Dragon Knight
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight,
Mars,
Centaur Warrunner.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Zeus
* 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 begin to 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Dragon Knight
* If Silencer can't prevent Dragon Knight from using Elder Dragon Form, Silencer's spells aren't going to be that effective against him, as Dragon Knight relies on right-clicks and not spells.
* Dragon Blood's armor bonus and health regeneration allows Dragon Knight to stay in the lane against Glaives of Wisdom.
* Dragon Knight often builds Black King Bar, allowing him to remove Global Silence before engaging.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Zeus
* Once you get a Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like
Zeus,
Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.
Dragon Knight
* Dragon Knight's insanely high armor and splash damage can cause Lycan to struggle taking him down.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate 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 Assassin 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 (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- 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
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate 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 win rate 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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Zeus
*
Enrage will make it very difficult to burst him down.
* Zeus has little armor, HP and mobility; Ursa's favorite kind of target.
Dragon Knight
*
Fury swipes can tear Dragon knight down as it stacks infinitely.