The ferocious and breathtaking Lone Druid dominates the current meta with his rabid and primal spells. It is essentially impossible to survive the late game against a heavily farmed Lone Druid. You can’t possibly think of outclassing him if he is six-slotted and charging at you with his bloodthirsty bear! Lone Druid is an exceptional carry hero, who is often seen picked in high-ranked games and even in the professional scene due to his late-game fighting potential. His bear is extremely tanky right from the get-go, he offers root and also has a reliable fear mechanism that gets rid of all enemies in a radius. Lone Druid is also an excellent farming hero and is also famously known to be a rat hero.
Lone Druid has been a hot commodity in the recent meta, he is also a dominant force of nature and an unstoppable beast in the late game. But there are ways around making this giant bear look like a mere cub with the help of certain spells and heroes. We bring you the Best 10 Lone Druid Counters in the current meta.
Best general items against Lone Druid
- Force Staff - Allows you to force Lone Druid or the targetted unit 600 units ahead in the direction they are facing, it can be useful to escape from the bear’s immense damage.
- Ghost Scepter - Upon usage, it makes you immune to physical attacks while making you unable to attack at the same time. You also take increased magical damage under its duration. Lone Druid’s bear does virtually zero damage if you have Ghost Scepter.
- Heaven’s Halberd - Upon usage, it can be used to disarm Lone Druid, making him unable to attack for a few seconds. LD being a ranged physical damage hero is affected severely by this item as it can prevent him from doing damage in teamfights.
- Glimmer Cape/Shadow Blade - Both of these items turn you invisible for a brief duration. Invisibility is always useful against heroes like Lone Druid to escape from his lethal physical damage.
- Eul’s Scepter - It can be used to the Lone Druid or the bear into the air for 2.5 seconds, making them unable to use spells or move. This can be used to lock down the bear to escape from the fights, it dispels most debuffs upon self-cast.
10. Grimstroke
Grimstroke, the doomed artist paints with the blood of his slain foes. His high magic damage is too hard for Lone Druid to ignore. Grimstroke is primarily played in the support role against Lone Druid as he is known for dealing high AoE magic damage and disabling him with his Silence. The silence is quickly combined with Ink Swell ability, which can prove to be a great way to initiate on the pesky and unaware Lone Druid. His ultimate chains him to his bear, preventing them from escaping away or using any spells, essentially providing his team a way to beat down on them and secure the kill.
The Laning phase never favors Lone Druid as he is constantly harassed and shoved out of the lane by the Grimstroke. Sure, the Lone Druid is an exceptional late-game hero, but not against Grim as the latter has various ways to stop the ferocious bear right in his tracks and render him useless. The magic damage of Grimstroke effectively turns Lone Druid into a ranged creep and his bear into a melee creep!
Why is Grimstroke a great counter to Lone Druid?
- Soulbind ignores spell immunity, forcing Bear to latch to Lone Druid or any ally in the vicinity.
- Deals immense damage and has a low cooldown on all spells, making him a great counter to Lone Druid just by the silence
- Grimstroke's Soulbind will always reliably connect to both of them if they are close together.
Items to Buy on Grimstroke
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Creates a Dark Portrait of the targetted enemy, dealing immense damage
- Ghost Scepter - Prevents Lone Druid from attacking him with physical damage
- Glimmer Cape - Provides invisibility, and can also be used on allies to escape or to initiate
- Force Staff - Another great tool to close gaps or escape
- Aether Lens - Increased cast range, can catch Lone Druid off-guard
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Grimstroke
9. Riki
Riki the silent assassin is rarely seen in pro games (no pun intended), but his presence is often seen in pub games as he still is a tough carry hero. In theory, Lone Druid performs extremely well against Riki due to the latter’s lack of AoE and farming capability and also due to the range factor. Rik is a slippery hero and Lone Druid finds it hard to catch him unless he has Hex or Silence.
With the right amount of damage, mobility, and even a disability, Riki can stop Lone Druid right in his tracks. He is a threat if paired with the right support in the lane against Lone Druid, due to his rather shaky early game. But the late game is a smooth sail for the assassin goat if he manages to keep up the pace and acquire a few items. Riki is the ultimate snowball hero if he is fed off a few kills.
Why is Riki a great counter to Lone Druid?
- Smoke Screen combined with Diffusal Blade leaves Lone Druid effectively useless for a while as he struggles to escape the silence with low mobility.
- Incredible fighting and escape potential, along with decent mobility.
- With Lone Druid's low mobility, Tricks of the Trade often deal decent damage to him before he moves out of it.
Items to buy on Riki
- Diffusal Blade - Slows down Lone Druid and burns his mana, powerful in tandem with Smoke Screen
- Abyssal Blade - Upon cast, it stuns the targetted hero for 2 seconds. Can be used to quickly lock down Lone Druid after pouncing on top of him, allowing you to beat him down with the physical damage
- Mana Style - Exceptional to push lanes and dispel spells or Silence from Lone Druid
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity from Lone Druid’s spells and items.
- Daedalus - Immense critical damage which is hard for Lone Druid to negate
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Riki
8. Timbersaw
Timbersaw fares extremely well even against ranged heroes like Lone Druid. He is quite a dominating force in the early game as the Lone Druid does not have much resistance to his magical and pure damage. Timbersaw can dictate the pace of the game with his moves, due to him being such a tanky hero. Lone Druid can surely steal Timber’s attack damage but the latter does not rely on attack damage to kill creeps or heroes. His abilities are enough to decimate the Lone Druid.
This forces Lone Druid to jungle early on in the game, which makes him lag in the farm and XP department. Timber can triumph in the late game as well if he is given free rein, he can purchase various items which allow him to maintain control and dominance against Lone Druid, including Eul’s Scepter of Divinity or Heaven’s Halberd. Even if Lone Druid manages to secure decent farm, Timber’s Reactive armor stops Lone Druid from advancing any further and ignoring him in teamfights.
Why is Timbersaw a great counter to Lone Druid?
- High pure damage that pierces and messes up with Lone Druid’s strength
- Timbersaw's innate durability is very hard to deal with as Lone Druid as he relies on sustained damage rather than burst damage.
- Lone Druid will have a hard time dealing with Timbersaw due to his tankiness and high Armor from Reactive Armor
- Timbersaw's high Pure Damage and low-cooldown AoE nukes can also destroy Lone Druid within no time due to his low magic resistance.
Items to Buy on Timbersaw
- Eul’s Scepter - Provides a basic dispel, can be used to dodge spells or to set up on Lone Druid with Chakram
- Pipe of Insight - Provides immense magic damage block on activation, and affects the whole team.
- Crimson Guard - Provides immense physical damage block, and also affects the whole team. It is extremely useful to prevent Lone Druid’s physical damage.
- Blade Mail - Reflects Lone Druid’s damage upon activation
- Lotus Orb - The active reflects targetted spells and hence can also be used to reflect Static Link affecting Lone Druid himself. It also dispels most debuffs.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Timbersaw
7. Pugna
Highly regarded as an annoying spellcasting hero, Pugna is great at dealing immense damage right from the laning stage. A pure lane matchup can favor Pugna against Lone Druid as he has more INT and mana pool than the latter, along with that LD faces constant harassment and gets shoved out of the lane due to the bonkers damage Pugna deals which he can’t negate so easily in the early game. Lone Druid is rather easy to counter with Life Drain due to his low magic resistance.
Pugna can also save your low HP allies with Life Drain and Decrepify if they’re being targeted by Lone Druid. Pugna is known to farm effortlessly due to his AoE spell and hit his item timings relatively early. Pugna loves dishing out magic damage, while not allowing others to do so with Nether Ward. Pugna is an extremely flexible pick and can be played in pretty much all five roles depending on the matchup. This allows him to be a staple pick against the mighty Lone Druid.
Why is Pugna great against Lone Druid?
- Lone Druid can't stall the damage of Nether Blast and Life Drain, but he can buy Black King Bar 30 minutes into the game to diminish its damage.
- Lone Druid has no innate disables to stop Life Drain and Decrepify.
- Decrepify prevents the Spirit bear from attacking or protecting allies from it
- A good Pugna looks to end the match early while Lone Druid, a very item-reliant hero, thrives in longer matches.
Items to Buy against Lone Druid
- Aether Lens - Increased cast range along with providing decent stats and mana. It can further be upgraded into Octraine Core which reduces spell and item cooldowns by 25%.
- Aeon Disk - Saves him from getting burst quickly from Lone Druid’s lethal damage and also applies a basic dispel, although it has an extremely high cooldown of 180 seconds.
- Scythe of Vyse - It hexes the targetted unit, essentially making them unable to use spells or items, along with reducing their movement speed for 3.5 seconds. This is extremely useful to shut down Lone Druid while your team slaughters him.
- Dagon - Huge single targetted burst damage, Dagon can be upgraded, increasing the cast range and damage it deals on the highest level (level 5). This combined with Decrepify can quickly eliminate Lone Druid from the team fight.
- Blink Dagger - On cast, Blink transports you 1200 units in the distance you are facing, it can’t be used for 3 seconds if you take any form of damage. Blink is used to closing the gap and to get on top of Lone Druid, or it can also be used to escape away from him.
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity, making Pugna invulnerable in team fights.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Pugna
6. Underlord
Underlord is notorious for being a menacing hero against the Lone Druid due to his array of skills which allow him to disable the bear and separate him from the team fight. Lone Druid simply hates laning against Underlord as the latter has high physical damage along with constant annoying spells which are hard to negate in the early game. The late game is a completely different playing field for Underlord as he can use Fiend’s Gate to transport himself and his allies into a fight, or help them escape from a fight. He can easily outpace and outfarm the Lone Druid throughout the game if he is in the driver’s seat.
Underlord’s impressive skill set is just the cherry on top, allowing his allies to escape and trapping Lone Druid in the Pit of Malice. It’s quite a treat to see a farmed and fat Underlord take no damage from the equally farmed Lone Druid. This causes the latter to ignore him in teamfights, which eventually ends up costing him his life. Underlord is an essential counterpick if you are looking for an Offlaner that can decimate Lone Druid right from minute 0. This relentless global potential is unmatched by most relevant heroes in the current meta.
Why is Underlord such a great counter to Lone Druid?
- Firestorm's percentage damage can quickly demolish the Spirit Bear's high HP
- Pit of Malice will allow allies to easily kite Lone Druid due to his low mobility
- Fiend’s Gate can save any allies of Underlord or help him gank Lone Druid.
- Atrophy Aura allows Underlord to lane against Lone Druid quite well since he does not have the best base damage during the early game, allowing him to deny most creeps and deal immense physical damage.
Items to buy on Underlord
- Blademail - Reflects Lone Druid’s damage to him upon activation
- Lotus Orb - Reflects targetted spells and also provides a basic dispel upon usage.
- Shiva’s Guard - Can effortlessly push lanes and provides increased armor which is essential against Lone Druid
- Pipe of Insight - Provides immense magic damage block on activation, and affects the whole team.
- Crimson Guard - Provides immense physical damage block, also affects the whole team
- Rod of Atos - Allows him to lock Lone Druid down and prevents him from using any spells
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Underlord
5. Outworld Destroyer
Outworld Devourer is an essential pick if you want to dominate enemy heroes that lack intelligence. Lone Druid may be a ferocious and lethal carry hero but he lacks intelligence, making him susceptible to the damage of the Outworld Devourer. The sinister demon punishes this weakness of Lone Druid, dealing immense damage to him with the help of Lone Druidane Orb, stealing his intelligence while also using Astral Imprisonment on him, harassing and annoying him.
There is a high INT disparity, which is simply too much to handle for Lone Druid. That combined with the magical damage output, and Astral save can turn around team fights. Outworld Destroyer is essentially a beast against most carry heroes. With so many item builds to choose from, Outworld Destroyer is one of the most flexible mid-heroes in the late game. The low magic resistance of Lone Druid makes him turn to the jungle to find farm until he can sustain himself against the Lone Druidane demon.
Why is Outworld Destroyer a great counter to Lone Druid?
- Arcane Orb deals heavy damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear.
- Astral Imprisonment can prevent the Spirit Bear from attacking, which is Lone Druid's main damage output.
- Sanity's Eclipse will do a ton of damage to Lone Druid due to his low mana pool.
Items to Buy on Outworld Destroyer
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity against Lone Druid’s spells
- Force Staff - Allows you to force OD or the targetted unit 600 units ahead in the direction they are facing, it can be useful to break Static Link damage steal.
- Scythe of Vyse - Upon usage it hexes Lone Druid, essentially making him unable to use spells or items, along with reducing their movement speed for 3.5 seconds. This is extremely useful to shut down Lone Druid while your team slaughters him.
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Grants charges to Astral Imprisonment, increases the damage, and applies the damage in an area.
- Sange and Kaya - Provides increased HP and mana regen along with status resistance.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Outworld_Destroyer
4. Skywrath Mage
Skywrath Mage, the magnificent, has various ways of countering Lone Druid. Right from the laning phase, the Lone Druid is subjected to ungodly magic damage which he finds hard to negate for a very long time, plus all of his spells have low cooldowns, making them spammable right from the get-go. Sky’s silence is also a key factor in making sure that Lone Druid does not get his Sunder off in teamfights. The latter gets crippled in teamfights, he can’t make a dent in the game if he gets stopped right in his tracks by Skywrath Mage. You can even solo-kill Lone Druid with the right items!
Due to his poor magic resistance, Lone Druid is vulnerable to magic damage. Skywrath Mage takes advantage of this weakness to ensure the bear does not have any impact on the game by locking him down and eliminating him the first chance he gets. A wise Skywrath player will often try to lane against the Lone Druid, to shove him off the lane or make him waste gold by calling for regen or making him take the walk of shame back to base. If you’re lacking a support hero, then Skywrath is a great way to fill that void against Lone Druid.
Why is Skywrath Mage a great counter to Lone Druid?
- Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid-game.
- Concussive Shot and Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
- Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
Items to buy on Skywrath Mage
- Rod of Atos - Great for locking Lone Druid down, making him unable to move
- Ethereal Blade - Can be used in tandem with his other spells and items to deal immense magical damage
- Veil of Discord - Amplifies the magical damage dealt
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard - Increased magical damage from Ultimate
- Aeon Disk - Saves him from getting burst quickly from Lone Druid and also applies a basic dispel
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Skywrath_Mage
3. Necrophos
Lone Druid is often countered by Necrophos with the help of his rancid spells. The plaguemancer has ravaged all battles, ensuring the wise bear does not stand a chance against his nasty and infectious damage. Lone Druid can’t fare well against Necrophos in the laning phase as he can’t withstand the insane amounts of magical damage being dished out by him which also heals the latter and his allies at the same time. Necrophos is an exceptional hero when it comes to locking Lone Druid down, courtesy of the Reaper’s Scythe, allowing his allies to beat him down while he is locked up.
Lone Druid is annoyed whenever he is laning against Necrophos, thanks to his passive. The plaguemancer’s abilities provide him with immense healing while dealing damage to his foes. Lone Druid can outpace Necrophos in the ultra late game with magic resistance and immunity, so it is ideal to finish the game whenever you get the chance else things can take a turn for the worst if you are reckless!
Why is Necrophos a great counter to Lone Druid?
- Reaper's Scythe can kill Lone Druid without giving him a chance to react.
- Ghost Shroud can be used both offensively to slow Lone Druid or Defensively to prevent Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear from attacking him.
- Heartstopper Aura burns the Spirit bear High HP over time. Additionally, it can deal decent damage to Lone Druid during his True Form.
Items to buy on Necrophos
- Radiance - Burn damage prevents Lone Druid from blinking away, and can also be useful in pushing lanes.
- Guardian Greaves - Heals Necrophos and his entire team, along with providing a basic dispel to him.
- Eternal Shroud - Converts magical damage into mana upon usage and passively offers spell lifesteal. This provides Necrophos with immense sustain against Lone Druid.
- Lotus Orb - Reflects targetted spells and hence can also be used to prevent Unstable Concoctions. It can also be used to dispel certain enemy debuffs.
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Increases Heartstopper aura damage when Ghost Shroud is active. Lone Druid has low magic resistance, making him fall prey to increased magic damage from Necrophos.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Necrophos
2. Phantom Assassin
Lone Druid is generally a squishy hero in the early game, and who is better than Phantom Assassin when it comes to countering squishy heroes. She’s lethal and quick, her cutthroat damage is often praised as she slits through her enemies like it's no big thing. Lone Druid can’t survive the onslaught of Phantom Assassin if he is laning against her as her spells can deal decent physical damage in the early game and the lack of mobility makes it easy for him to get caught if the PA has backup to help her gank him. Her damage just gets out of hand in the late game as she acquires more items and gets more kills due to it.
Phantom Assassin can obliterate Lone Druid with only a few while the bear misses all his hits on her due to her immense evasion. She is agile and silent in her moves, as an assassin generally is. Phantom Assassin is one of the most-played carry heroes in the game due to her ease of spells. She has great base movement and attack speed, which is rarely found in a carry hero. Her spells may seem underwhelming in the early game against the Lone Druid but as she reaches the late-game mark, she can do a lot with just one Stifling Dagger.
Why is Phantom Assassin a great counter to Lone Druid?
- Blur allows Phantom Assassin to escape from Lone Druid and the spirit bear. Additionally, it provides evasion which effectively reduces the damage output from the Spirit Bear and reduces the chances to root her, forcing him to invest in Monkey King Bar.
- At the late game, Phantom Assassin will out carry Lone Druid. But at late game 1v1, Phantom Assassin has no chance.
- Is capable of dealing over 2k critical damage.
Items to buy on Phantom Assassin
- Desolator - Provides increased damage along with armor corruption on physical attacks. It can also gain stacks and increased the mentioned perks with the increase in stacks. Desolator is ideal for Phantom Assassin to mow down the squishy Lone Druid.
- Skull Basher - Provides a chance to Bash (Mini Stun) on physical attacks. It can further be upgraded into Abyssal Blade later on in the game.
- Satanic - Allows Phantom Assassin to lifesteal and sustain herself in teamfights. This item also dispels any negative buffs, quickly life-stealing from 0 to 100 in no time.
- Butterfly - Provides Phantom Assassin with increased evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes him untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage.
- Black King Bar - It provides spell immunity from all of Lone Druid’s damage spells, making him invulnerable in the fight. It is always a top priority item against Lone Druid.
- Monkey King Bar - Provides increased physical damage and also provides a chance to true strike on attacks.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Phantom_Assassin
1. Bristleback
Lone Druid is countered effortlessly by Britstleback as he can just keep on disrupting his lane by constantly harassing him. Lone Druid virtually does no zero damage to Bristleback as he can simply turn his back around and ignore the mighty bear, he also has decent HP and armor along with decent armor reduction, while Lone Druid has zero armor while he lanes against this grumpy porcupine. Bristle also farms exceptionally and does a great deal of damage to Lone Druid right from the early game, while Lone Druid needs more levels to prove any useful against him.
Bristleback has quite literally been a thorn in the side of Lone Druid in the current meta. He takes no damage while dealing quite a ton of damage in return to him with the help of his spells and Blademail. He is an obnoxious laner, he is but he is quite the fun hero to play since all he does is spam his spells without thinking too much, which he can do effortlessly as he is backed by his insanely high armor against the Lone Druid.
Why is Bristleback a great counter to Lone Druid?
- Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
- Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time.
Items to buy on Bristleback
- Ethereal Shroud - Converts magical damage into mana upon usage and passively offers spell lifesteal
- Kaya and Sange - Increased mana regen and overall stat gain
- Octraine Core - Provides spell lifesteal and stats
- Blademail - Reflects Lone Druid’s damage upon activation
- Black King Bar - It provides spell immunity from all of Lone Druid’s damage spells, making him invulnerable in the fight. It is always a top priority item against Lone Druid.
- Assault Cuirass - Increases armor and attack speed while reducing the same for enemies in an AoE.
https://liquipedia.net/dota2/Bristleback
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