The venomous Viper has plagued all the mighty heroes of Dota. He spares no soul, poisons them with his lethal abilities, and ensures none shall escape alive. Viper is a staple core hero, his unique selling point is his being a flexible hero, as he can be played in multiple lanes, and multiple roles while still retaining his vicious skills. He, being a ranged hero discourages melee heroes from lane against him, his magic damage is simply impossible to negate early on in the game. Viper is truly a menace if played right.
Viper has various strengths which make him a solid hero in the game, but at the same time, his weaknesses are equally important to take note of. The right heroes and spells can counter him, some giving him a taste of his poison! We bring you the Best 10 Viper Counters in the current meta.
Best general items against Viper
- Lotus Orb - The active reflects targetted spells and hence can also be used to reflect Viper Strike affecting Viper himself. It also dispels most enemy debuffs.
- Spirit Vessel - Immense DPS and along with heal reduction to Viper when used.
- Linken’s Sphere - Great item that blocks single-targeted spells, making it exceptional against Viper Strike.
- Pipe of Insight - Provides immense magic damage block on activation, and affects the whole team. This item negates the majority of Viper’s magic damage, making him useless in fights.
- 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 Viper while your team slaughters him.
- Invisibility - Purchasing items like Glimmer Cape or Silver Edge can prove to be extremely useful to escape the ungodly damage of Viper. As a core he does not carry detection, making it easy for you to escape if he decides to attack you.
10. Invoker
The master of the arcane arts, Invoker is a quintessential mid-counter to Viper, and there are various reasons for it. The venomous beast is despised for immense magic damage and has extremely low magic resistance, a weakness that Voker takes great advantage of. Invoker often breaks even in the laning phase but is known to dominate the late game. Invoker fares well in the laning phase, sometimes even breaking against Viper. An experienced Invoker player will always try to harass Viper out of the lane and demote him to the jungle.
Invoker’s skill set allows him to act both offensive and defensive, depending upon the scenario. Unlike Viper, Voker can gank and push lanes fairly early on in the game. This gives him that edge in both experience and farm. Invoker is seen as a squishy mid-hero against the magic damage-dealing Viper, but his abilities allow him to defend himself from the terrorizing the venomous Viper. He provides decent crowd control with his spell combos, which can help him turn the tides in teamfights.
Why is Invoker a great counter against Viper?
- Ice Wall and Ghost Walk can be used to kite and escape from Viper.
- Chaos Meteor and Sun Strike deal heavy damage and can quickly bring Viper down.
- Cold Snap, Tornado, and Deafening Blast are powerful disable that reduce Viper's effectiveness.
- EMP burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
- Forge Spirits can melt Viper's armor and reduce its durability.
Items to buy on Invoker
- Scythe of Vyse - Disables Viper and removes him from the fight
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Reduces CD on spells
- Blink Dagger - Great for gap-closing or initiating
- Refresher’s Orb - Can refresh spells and items and use them again in quick succession to delete Viper from the fight
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Invoker
9. Rubick
Rubick is an evergreen pick as he never seems to go out of fashion, he can essentially be picked against any hero with decent spell damage including Viper. It does not take a master-tier Rubick to be excellent at stealing the right spells or spellcasting. Rubick is a great disabler with the help of Telekinesis, which has kept him relevant through these years, allowing him to stop Viper right in his tracks. Though Viper deals immense damage from the get-go, Rubick just has to wait for his ultimate which can be used to steal Viper Strike or even Nethertoxin, giving the Viper a taste of his own medicine.
The prominent reason why Rubick is frequently picked is because of the flexibility he provides, along with the impact he has in the game. You can also ideally outfarm and kill Viper if you play Rubick in the mid-lane. Rubick can dominate effortlessly in the late game if he acquires his items, especially his Aghanim’s which allows him to steal an extra spell, which could lead to mind-boggling combos.
Why is Rubick a great counter to Viper?
- Telekinesis is one of the best instant disables in the game, completely ruining Viper’s initiation.
- If Rubick can use Spell Steal to take Nethertoxin, he will be able to disable Corrosive Skin, reducing much of Viper's durability.
- He can also steal Viper Strike, which can be used to hinder a hero on your team (or multiple heroes, if Rubick has Aghanim's Scepter).
Items to buy on Rubick
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard - Decreased cooldown on Spell Steal and allows him to use Aghs upgraded version of stolen spells, exceptional if he can steal Viper Strike
- Aether Lens - Increased cast range, can catch Viper off-guard
- Aeon Disk - Saves him from getting burst quickly from Viper and also applies a basic dispel
- Force Staff - Another great tool to close gaps or escape from Viper if he tries to initiate on you. Force Staff is an essential tool as you can even use it on your allies.
- Glimmer Cape - Provides invisibility, and can also be used on allies to escape or to initiate Viper.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Rubick
8. Morphling
Viper is quite a lethal hero, which most people find hard to counter unless those people are Morpling players! As boring or complex as Morph may appear, he is quite impressive right from the laning phase and stays relevant throughout the late game. His physical damage ensures he can mow down Viper while also staying tanky enough with Attribute Shift. Everyone knows about the infamous Shotgun combo, which takes just two clicks to bring down the venomous beast. Viper may have the upper hand when it comes to laning due to his high magical damage, but Morphling has the upper hand in mobility and quick farming.
Morphling can be an excellent addition to the team if you want a carry that can fight from the get-go and is tanky. In the late game, Viper struggles hard to match Morphling’s pace as his damage simply isn’t enough to cause a dent in Morphling’s health pool (courtesy of Attribute Shift) Morph (the ultimate) can be used to give Clinkz a taste of his own medicine and have him taken out from teamfights.
Why is Morphling a great hero to counter Viper?
- Viper has no disable, which means he has no way of preventing Morphling from escaping from any of his abilities or keeping him inside Nethertoxin.
- Viper is almost exclusively damaged over time, which is weak against Morphling due to Attribute Shift (Strength Gain). Additionally, Morphling has no passive abilities, reducing Nethertoxin's effectiveness against him even further.
- Morphling can turn into Viper himself, allowing him to use any of Viper's abilities against him (excluding Viper Strike).
- Viper is already a very slow hero, making Poison Attack and Corrosive Skin's slows especially difficult to deal with Morph’s ultimate.
Items to buy on Morphling
- Ethereal Blade - Can essentially “shotgun” the squishy Viper with the E-Blade and Adaptive Strike
- Dragon Lance - Increased attack range and immense stats
- Linken’s Sphere - Great spell block which blocks single-targeted spells and items such as Viper Strike or Hurricane Pike.
- Satanic - Can quickly heal up on physical attacks upon activation, also provides basic dispel from the latter.
- Butterfly - Increased evasion, agility, and movement speed
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Morphling
7. Luna
If you want a high-damage dealing carry hero against the likes of the Viper, then who is better than Luna? The moon rider herself can squash the Viper within no time. Laning is awfully difficult for Luna as she has low magic resistance, but she can always fall back on the jungle to farm with the help of her Moon Glaives and decent early-game damage. She is an optimal pick if you want to deal hybrid damage to Viper, as her ultimate Eclipse deals an ungodly amount of magical damage if she can catch the venom monger off guard.
The prime reason to pick Luna is her quick farming abilities and massive AoE damage output which turn Viper into dust in no time. Viper relatively farms slower, and also finds it difficult to catch up against Luna if the game progresses over 30 minutes. The moon rider offers tremendous wave clearance, which returns her a great deal of gold, she is known to farm and split push faster. Luna can be picked alongside massive crowd-control heroes who can collectively counter Viper.
Why is Luna a great counter to Viper?
- Moon Glaives allows Luna to clear waves faster, this can be particularly advantageous for Luna if she has Manta Style.
- Luna very often builds Satanic and Black King Bar, which allows it either to protect herself from Viper or nullify its effects.
Items to buy on Luna
- Eye of Skadi - Great for reducing Viper's regen while also providing stats.
- Satanic - Can quickly heal up on physical attacks upon activation, also provides basic dispel from the latter.
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity, making you invulnerable in the fight
- Butterfly - Increased evasion, agility, and movement speed
- Manta Style - Dodge Viper's spells can be used to push lanes
- Hurricane Pike - Allows Luna to close the gap and deal immense damage to Viper, also provides decent stats
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Luna
6. Weaver
The time-bending pesky Weaver is quite a dominant hero in the current meta. His spells make him extremely elusive while also making him deal high damage to Viper. The reason why Weaver is highly picked against Viper is due to his great mobility along with the ability to reduce his armor with the help of Germinate. Viper has decent armor but he can quickly be threatened if Weaver has armor corruption items, weakening his armor even further. Weaver can be brought down low with Viper’s toolkit, but all it takes is a Time Lapse to go back in time, restoring this lethal bug’s HP and mana. This can further backfire on Viper if he does not have backup.
iI is recommended to pick a ranged hero if you are against Viper to prevent the ungodly damage dealt to you with all the magic damage. Weaver is a great ranged hero as he can also escape the clutches of Viper. In the late game, Weaver can be quite unkillable as he acquires farm and gets tanky while Viper eventually falls off, making it easy for the massive bug to strike the venom monger down within no time.
Why is Weaver a great counter to Viper?
- 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.
Items to buy on Weaver
- 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 to mow down the squishy Viper.
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity from all of Viper’s magic damage spells, making Weaver invulnerable in the fight. It is always a top priority, as most seasoned players prefer to purchase the BKB as their first item.
- Daedalus - Provides immense critical damage which can’t be negated by Viper.
- Monkey King Bar - Gives increased physical damage and also provides a true strike.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Weaver
5. Pugna
Highly regarded as an annoying spellcasting hero for dealing decent damage right from the laning stage, Pugna is quite hated by all the Viper mains. A 1v1 lane matchup can favor Pugna against Viper as he has more intelligence and mana pool than the latter, along with that Viper is known to face constant harassment and gets shoved out of the lane due to the bonkers damage he deals with Nether Blast. He can also mess up Viper’s mana with Nether Ward while making him take significant damage while casting spells. Along with that, Pugna has significantly more magical damage which is hard to negate in the late game.
Pugna can farm extremely fast, but can also be played in various roles, depending upon the matchup. Ideally, he can be placed against Viper in the mid-lane, which means he can acquire his items quickly and gank other lanes while harassing Viper. Pugna also hits his item timings relatively early compared to Viper. You can also save your low HP allies with Life Drain if they’re being targeted by him. This allows him to be a staple pick against the lethal Viper.
Why is Pugna a great counter to Viper?
- Pugna's Decrepify allows him to save allies from being ganked by Viper since he mostly relies on direct attacks to deal damage.
- Nether Ward can discourage Viper from spamming his abilities.
- Viper's damage over time is not enough to kill Pugna as he will have more than enough time to save himself (or his allies) with Life Drain and Viper has no solution to cancel it.
- Pugna has no passive abilities, which renders Nethertoxin nearly useless.
Items to Buy as Pugna
- 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 Viper’s lethal spells and also applies a basic dispel, although it has an extremely high cooldown of 180 seconds.
- Scythe of Vyse - Disables Viper and removes him from the fight by hexing him, meaning he can’t use his spells or items. Scythe also slows his movement speed.
- 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 Viper from the team fight.
- Blink Dagger - Blink transports Pugna 1200 units in the distance he is facing, it can’t be used for 3 seconds if he takes any form of damage. Blink is used to closing the gap and getting on top of Viper and following it up with Decrepify and Netherblast.
- Black King Bar - Provides Pugna spell immunity from all of Viper’s magic damage spells, making him invulnerable in the fight
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Pugna
4. Phantom Lancer
If you want to pick a strong carry hero against Viper, then your options are narrowed down. Phantom Lancer is quite a beast against the lethal onslaught of Viper because he can escape and negate the latter’s magical damage. PL is also one of the few carry heroes who builds up Hood of Defiance, as it helps him deal with the overwhelming damage in the laning phase. He can also split push lanes, participate in fights as soon as he can, and deal decent damage in the early stages of the game, giving a tough time to Viper.
Although, Phantom Lancer may struggle in the early game due to the lack of items or magic resistance he eventually catches up if he manages to contribute in teamfights and gets items which makes him resilient to Viper’s damage. Phantom Lancer has a higher impact as a core hero compared to Viper as he does not fall off or lose his charm in the late game!
Why is Phantom Lancer a great counter to Viper?
- Phantom Lancer can overwhelm Viper with spawned illusions from Spirit Lance and Doppelganger.
- Viper's various slows do not work against Phantom Rush.
- It is quite hard to keep Lancer inside Nethertoxin's radius to disable the passive.
Items to buy on Phantom Lancer
- Diffusal Blade - Slows down Viper and burns her mana
- Mana Style - Exceptional to push lanes and dispel her silence
- Butterfly - Increased evasion, agility, and movement speed
- Eye of Skadi - Great for reducing Viper’s regen while also providing stats.
- Abyssal Blade - Can be used to quickly lock down Viper after getting on top of her, allowing you to beat her down with the physical damage
- Heart of Tarrasque - Increased HP, useful to survive the massive physical damage from Viper
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Phantom_Lancer
3. Terrorblade
No other hero fills Viper with dread and terror as much as Terrorblade. There are various reasons for this, the most relevant one being that the Terrorblade is extremely powerful throughout the game as he essentially has two ultimates, Metamorphosis and Sunder. Both of these can turn the tides around for Viper within no time. Terrorblade also has various skill builds that he can opt for depending on the matchups he is facing, making him an extremely relevant and flexible hero.
Not all heroes can turn around a team fight like Terrorblade. Having great level-1 stats and attack speed drives his farm exponentially. The extreme power of Sunder is not to be underestimated, as it can decimate Viper within no time. Terrorblade has insane early-game potential regarding farming. His mirror illusions can jungle comfortably as he farms the lane, surpassing Viper’s net worth by a mile.
What makes Terrorblade a great counter to Viper?
- Viper's damage over time and lack of disables make him easy to Sunder.
- Viper's physical damage is mitigated by Terrorblade's high armor.
- Terrorblade under Metamorphosis can quickly kill Viper with heavy physical damage.
Items to buy on Terrorblade
- Battlefury - Essential to split push and farm quickly
- Mana Style - Exceptional to push lanes and dispel spells
- Diffusal Blade - Slows down Viper and burns his mana
- Eye of Skadi - Great for reducing Viper's regen while also providing stats.
- Daedalus - Immense critical damage
- Satanic - Can quickly heal up on physical attacks upon activation, also provides basic dispel from the latter.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Terrorblade
2. Bane
The culprit of endless nightmares is the perfect fit for terrorizing Viper. Bane is quite the quintessential counter to Viper as the former can lock him down, making him unable to make a dent in the game. Laning can go either way depending upon who Bane is laning with against Viper, but as he gets levels, he can use his Nightmare spell to lock him down and wait for his team to follow up. Additionally, he can use Enfeeble to make his lockdowns last longer and deal decent damage with Brain Sap. A skilled Bane will also save his allies from Viper’s lethal damage by using Nightmare on them at the right time.
The selling point of this hero is of course his ultimate, Fiend’s Grip, which locks down Viper, making him unable to move while taking serious damage. Bane is an exceptional support hero, he does not rely on items and can get things done just with a smoke gank with the addition of his ultimate (which also pierces Black King Bar!) Viper can fall off if he is caught off guard a few times by Bane, something which is a nightmare for core players in the late game.
Why is Bane a great counter to Viper?
- Enfeeble weakens Viper's attack damage, any healing he receives, and his cast range, which makes him unable to harass enemy heroes with Nethertoxin, and Viper Strike.
- Viper's Corrosive Skin is useless against Bane as all of his damaging abilities deal Pure damage.
- Viper has no solutions to cancel Fiend's Grip and in addition, he hates buying disabling items like Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
Items to Buy as Bane
- Aether Lens - Increased cast range, can catch Viper off-guard
- Aeon Disk - Saves him from getting burst quickly from Viper and also applies a basic dispel
- Ghost Scepter - Makes him immune from physical damage from Viper
- Force Staff - Another great tool to close gaps or escape from the clutches of Viper
- Glimmer Cape - Provides invisibility, can also be used on allies to escape or to initiate on Viper
- Aghanim’s Shard - AoE Brain Sap, making it easy for him to push lanes
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Bane
1. Wraith King
Viper is known to fare well against melee heroes, but Wraith King is a noble exception! The venomous beast finds it hard to penetrate the armor of the vampire king. The Laning phase can slightly favor the Viper but the late game is a witness to utter chaos and domination from the side of the Wraith King. He can split push with the battalion of his skeletons while he farms away securely, preparing himself for a team fight.
Speaking of teamfights, Viper does not stand a chance in fights when Wraith King gets his Reincarnate and Black King Bar. The latter can simply negate all the damage dished out, and in turn, deals truckloads of physical damage to his enemies. Viper isn’t that effective in the late game as he finds it hard to both survive and have an impact, which is a struggle that Wraith King does not relate to!
Why is Wraith King a great counter to Viper?
- Viper's Nethertoxin cannot disable Reincarnation, which could put him at disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
- In addition, Viper doesn't like buying Diffusal Blade, which is the only item that can help him against Wraith King.
- Wraith King's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
Items to buy on Wraith King
- Blink Dagger - On cast, Blink transports Wraith King 1200 units in the distance he is facing, it can’t be used for 3 seconds if he takes any form of damage. Blink is used to close the gap and to get on top of Viper as he is a ranged hero, or it can also be used to escape away from him.
- Armlet of Mordiggian - Provides increased HP and damage, and is toggleable. Wraith King benefits highly from this toggleable HP mechanic against Viper due to the latter’s high physical damage. It also aids Wraith King in surviving through the early game.
- Monkey King Bar - Provides increased physical attack damage, also provides true strike upon physical attacks
- Desolator - Provides increased damage along with armor corruption on physical attacks. It can also gain stacks when you neutralize the enemy and increase the mentioned perks with the increase in stacks.
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity, from the magic damage being dealt by Viper.
- Assault Cuirass - Increases armor and attack speed while reducing the same for Viper if he is in the AoE.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Wraith_King
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