Viper/Counters

Bad against...

 * Viper's lack of escape and durability means he can be ran over in a laning stage by Spiderlings.
 * Broodmother can bring Viper down quickly with activated.


 * Viper has no response to the standard initiation combo of into.
 * can eliminate Viper almost instantly with its damage output.


 * and can be used to kite and escape from Viper.
 * and deal heavy damage and can quickly bring Viper down.
 * ,, and are powerful disables that reduce Viper's effectiveness.
 * burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
 * s can melt Viper's armor and reduce his durability.


 * ignores all of Viper's magical damage.
 * and combine to heal through Viper's physical damage.


 * Phantom Lancer can overwhelm Viper with spawned illusions from and.
 * Viper's various slows do not work against . Additionally, it is almost impossible to keep Lancer inside Nethertoxin's radius in order to disable the passive.


 * If Rubick uses to take Nethertoxin, he can disable Corrosive Skin.


 * Viper's damage over time and lack of disables makes him easy to.
 * Viper's physical damage is mitigated by Terrorblade's high armor.
 * Terrorblade under can quickly kill Viper with heavy physical damage.


 * ignores slows and allows Weaver to escape Viper's onslaught.
 * dispels Poison Attack and Corrosive Skin and undoes poison damage.
 * Weaver's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.


 * evades Poison Attack and counteracts the slow.
 * Viper's low mobility makes him an easy target.
 * grants Windranger significant physical damage output to quickly wear Viper down.
 * is a strong harassment and zoning tool against Viper in lane.

Others

 * Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: ,
 * Heroes with a built-in haste can ignore Viper's slows: ,
 * Illusion-based heroes can confuse Viper and often disjoint Viper Strike:
 * Heroes with high physical or pure burst damage can kill Viper before his damage over time sets in.
 * Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: ,

Items

 * allows heroes to escape from Viper, as he cannot interrupt it nor kill a healthy hero before they teleport.
 * nullifies most of Viper's arsenal.
 * can be used to take advantage of Viper's low mobility, but his damage over time makes it unreliable as an escape tool.
 * and protect against Viper's attacks.
 * 's invisibility prevents Viper from attacking the target, and the magic resistance counteracts Viper's damage over time.
 * can allow a hero to escape while slowed by Viper.
 * 's break disables Corrosive Skin.
 * disjoints Viper Strike and can make Viper waste time attacking illusions.
 * can slow Viper with its active ability and pin him down while burning his mana.
 * summons are difficult for Viper to fight against and burn his mana.
 * blocks Viper Strike, and Viper has no other ways to break the Spell Block.
 * can reflect Viper Strike.

Good against...

 * Thanks to Poison Attack's 0 second cooldown, is ineffective as a hard dispel.
 * Nethertoxin prevents from activating passively and blocks.


 * Nethertoxin prevents from triggering. This significantly lowers Axe's damage output in the early-midgame.
 * Viper's various slows and damage over time prevents Axe from initiating as well as putting his on cooldown.


 * Nethertoxin's break removes and prevents  from building stacks. Besides losing his eponymous defensive passive, Bristleback also lose his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
 * Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and Viper Strike.


 * Dragon Knight is easily harassed by Poison Attack after the laning stage ends.
 * Corrosive Skin protects Viper from and returns damage.
 * Nethertoxin mitigates, 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.


 * Being a melee hero, Earthshaker's movement is liable to suppression by Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
 * Earthshaker's kit, with the exception of, deals magic damage. Corrosive Skin effectively blunts his killing potential with a standard Blink combo among other things.


 * Nethertoxin disables, which Huskar relies upon for attack speed and healing.
 * The damage from and  is largely absorbed by Corrosive Skin. Also it returns a lot of damage back, as Life Break is damage over time and every tick of it is triggering Corrosive Skin damage back, keeping huskar on low HP.


 * Nethertoxin breaks entirely, making Mars far less tanky. Using Nethertoxin inside  may discourage enemies from following up with Mars' initiation.
 * is currently common on Viper and keeps Mars' in position long enough to be killed.
 * Viper is not very tanky earlier in the game, so positioning against Mars is important since a well-timed can be the end of Viper.


 * Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of stacks.
 * Monkey King's high base movement speed is of little worth against the array of slows Viper possesses.
 * All of Viper's magical damage over time stops Monkey King from using . It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by.


 * Nethertoxin prevents from dealing damage or healing the hero.
 * Viper's magic damage is amplified whenever is used.
 * Corrosive Skin makes Viper tankier against and.


 * is counteracted by Nethertoxin. This leaves Razor without faster MS or passive AoE damage.
 * 's damage drain doesn't bother Viper as most of his early-midgame damage is magical.


 * Nethertoxin negates and the regeneration aspect of.
 * Slark cannot easily off Viper's ubiquitous slows.
 * Viper becomes a relevant presence in team fights before Slark can procure his standard items e.g..


 * Nethertoxin disables and, leaving Spectre with far less damage output and damage mitigation in engagements.
 * Spectre is one of the weakest heroes at early levels. Viper can stifle her farm with early fights before Spectre purchases any major items.


 * All of Viper's abilities quickly burn through charges.
 * Templar Assassin's short range, aside from spill damage, makes her vulnerable to Poison Attack harassment.
 * Templar Assassin traditionally forgoes health and armor items for damage. Outside of, Viper will almost always be able to kill her when is down.


 * Nethertoxin cancels out and stops the hard dispel from passively activating, preventing Tidehunter from functioning as a frontline tank.
 * is mostly irrelevant against a ranged hero.
 * Tidehunter relies on the threat of, which has an obscenely long cooldown. Viper can exploit the downtime with his short cooldowns.


 * Corrosive Skin means Viper can often outlast Venomancer in a battle of attrition.
 * Venomancer has no mobility without items, which makes him vulnerable to constant slows.


 * Nethertoxin cuts off, Visage's primary defense mechanism.
 * Viper can ignore 's attack speed slow with his magic damage output.


 * 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 or, Zeus is fragile and possesses low mobility. Any of Viper's numerous slows can set up a easy kill.

Others

 * Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper:, , , , , ,
 * Heroes reliant on magical damage cannot easily wear Viper down due to Corrosive Skin.
 * Any hero that relies on a passive is vulnerable to Nethertoxin.

Works well with...

 * The combination of and  make Viper nearly unkillable after he egresses the laning phase.
 * The AS/MS slow from Poison Attack sets up and vice versa.


 * Beastmaster by nature expediently pushes towers with maximum points in and . The aura boosts Viper's DPS while the boars contribute additional slows to assist Poison Attack.
 * solves Viper's lack of disables that pierce spell immunity.


 * into, combined with Nethertoxin, equals death for many opponents: the magic resistance reduction empowers while Cogs isolate heroes for Viper to focus.
 * Clockwerk only needs levels to begin rotating for ganks and 1-2 items to significantly contribute to team fights. This ramp-up aligns with Viper's power curve.


 * grants the necessary mana regeneration for Viper to use Poison Attack in the lane. Unlike she does not have to rotate to help him in this regard.
 * Crystal Maiden is very slow with low health. Viper acts as a distraction with his innate tankiness so she can get off her spells without interruption, especially.


 * heavily punishes melee opponents that attempt to kill Viper with standard attacks instead of magic damage. It also pushes out the side lanes quickly, a task Viper needs others to perform.
 * is one of the best abilities to boost Viper's low base movement speed.


 * in practice is an intuitive combination with Poison Attack. Even if the target runs away, it is easy to refresh its duration by throwing out Poison Attack and Nethertoxin. This is particularly strong in the early stages of the game.
 * and can save Viper in dangerous spots while he continues to wear down his opponents.
 * steadily decreases enemy armor throughout long battles, the type of scuffles Viper excels in.


 * greatly increases Viper's attack speed, making his laning phase even stronger.
 * and combined with Viper's slows make it difficult for an enemy to escape.
 * Nethertoxin eliminates the defenses of several heroes that Drow Ranger struggles to kill.
 * Corrosive Skin makes Viper tanky so he can shield Drow Ranger, who prefers to output damage from the backline.


 * Between, and , the hero is proficient at setting up kills in the midgame. Viper and Earth Spirit become a potent ganking duo that can secure map control.
 * Earth Spirit is one of the best supports for ganking the midlane. He can secure Viper an advantage before level 5, a period when the hero is traditionally mediocre.
 * contributes strong area-of-effect damage over time, setting up Poison Attack's inverse scaling.
 * Earth Spirit doesn't need Viper to position himself in a defensive manner; he has such high health that he takes the initiative and willingly barrels into fights.


 * provides easy targets for Viper to pick off from a distance.
 * When used in the middle of a team fight, halts the cooldown of disables that are troublesome for Viper to deal with.
 * Nethertoxin's break mechanic makes many heroes that Faceless Void struggles to kill much easier to take down.
 * Viper creates space for Faceless Void to farm up lategame items since the former is a potent threat so early in the game.


 * protects Viper from the majority of damage thrown his way. Additionally, it sets up counterattacks by slowing and damaging nearby enemies.
 * locks fleeing opponents in place, ensuring they can't run away from the slow carry.
 * is a powerful deterrent against teams that aim to dogpile Viper and kill him before the fight extends too long.
 * Lich has no escape abilities, making him vulnerable if exposed in team fights. Viper draws attention away from him, enabling Lich to use all his abilities without interruption.


 * Level 4 turns Viper into an intimidating tower pusher when combined with inexpensive items like, , and.
 * As an hero oriented towards early and midgame battles, Viper makes space on the map for Luna to farm the expensive stats items that make her powerful.
 * Luna can split-push with, ameliorating Viper's lack of movement speed.


 * whittles down enemy health over time, making them more susceptible to Poison Attack.
 * replenishes Viper's health in small amounts. It can be repeatedly used in fights to save him from certain death.
 * Like Viper, Necrophos hits his first power peak soon after the laning phase ends.
 * Necrophos frequently buys items that synergize with Viper's abilities, except they are either obnoxiously expensive or lose effectiveness too quickly to be prudent on the hero itself. These include, , and.


 * Preemptive accelerates Viper's farm, doubly so if he buys.
 * as well as Ogre Magi's high base attributes and armor help secure the lane for Viper early on.


 * interrupts channeling abilities and can lock down a target for Viper to kill.
 * massively increases Viper's single-target damage.
 * Both Viper and Slardar fight at the same pace. They possess low cooldown spells and the tankiness to use them several times in a fight.


 * protects Viper in lane without the need for rotations. Combined with Corrosive Skin, Viper becomes almost impossible to gank.
 * locks opponents in place for Viper to attack them.

Others

 * Viper excels when he is assisted by heals and other means of survival:, ,
 * Viper is a robust tank that can protect fragile ranged heroes with high damage output:, , ,
 * Heroes with magic resistance reduction amplify the power of Nethertoxin and vice versa:, ,
 * Heroes with abilities that increase movement speed compensate for his mobility issues: ,

List of heroes that counter Viper, and list of heroes that work well with Viper.

Viper/Противостоящие