Viper/Counters

Bad against...

 * Both of Viper's active skills are single target so Arc Warden can take him down with faster physical attacks with Daedalus, Moon Shard, Mjollnir, Monkey King Bar and Manta Style. Viper will have to build Black King Bar so that he can stand against Arc Warden's constant barrage of spells.
 * Due to Arc Warden's tendency to build a Level 3 Necronomicon in a very short time, Viper has problems ganking or escaping via, especially when Arc Warden uses and doubles up his  to ensure an easy kill.


 * Viper primarily deals single-target damage and can get quickly overwhelmed by multiple Phantom Lancer illusions. High mobility of the Phantom Lancer will allow him engage and disengage indefinitely while slowing Viper with, making Viper absolutely helpless. Phantom Lancer also benefits a lot from purchasing , and it's one of the best items against Viper.


 * Illusion heroes generally excel against Viper. After casting, Chaos Knight's high damage output can quickly kill Viper before he has a chance to deal any damage himself. Also, Viper has no way to deal with the illusions.


 * The pure damage provided by is a great counter to Viper, as it is not reduced by . Additionally,  prevents the slow and damage over time from both  and . Also,  can negate Viper's physical damage output.


 * Viper can be ganked early with, his game tempo can be slowed as is a great pushing skill. Viper primarily deals single-target physical damage, so a well-timed  on the target focused by Viper can be game-changing. A successfully-placed  can make Viper potentially kill one of his teammates, or lock Viper himself down.


 * Viper is an agility hero, and his item build mostly includes agility items, so can be devastating, removing all armor and greatly decreasing the effectiveness of, weakening Viper's magic resistance. Additionally,  and  deal both magical and physical damage, and can help bringing Viper down fast.


 * Since Windranger is a highly mobile hero, She doesn't need to be afraid of getting slowed by, as she can dodge it with . Additionally, can be easily landed on Viper as he is generally slow and has no abilities to be able to disjoint it.
 * grants Windranger vast amount of single target damage output, so she can cut through Viper's natural tankiness. In addition, is a great laning tool against Viper, as it helps Windranger keep her out of range of Viper's  harassment most of the time.
 * Windranger's skills can be somewhat countered by Viper purchasing and  or  or.


 * Similar to Phantom Lancer, except Naga Siren can also trap Viper with, and then pick him off.
 * If timed correctly, Naga Siren can use Mirror Image to disjoint.


 * Luna's and  won't be too much reduced by early levels of.
 * If is used in anticipation, it can quickly finish off Viper.


 * weakens and, and he is often reliant on them, also prevents him from farming.
 * Bane's and  completely ignore.
 * If Bane uses his on Viper, he will be rendered helpless.
 * In addition, Viper doesn't have any way to cancel if targeted on any of Viper's allies.


 * Tinker can matchup fairly well with Viper on the lane as deals pure damage and prevents Viper from harassing with . High mobility later on with  and  will allow Tinker staying away from the fight with Viper while constantly harassing him with  and, limiting Viper's pushing capabilities. Late game  with  can lock Viper down indefinitely, leaving him helpless.


 * Possessing two strong disables - and  as well as high physical damage with  Shadow Shaman can become a big problem for Viper.
 * Not only that can render Viper useless, but also he has no way to cancel it.


 * Laning against Broodmother will be a death sentence for Viper, as early levels of can't protect him against Broodmother's spiderlings. Later on Viper has no way to stop Broodmother's push as he has no AoE damage. In Addition, Broodmother can bring Viper down fast with  activated.


 * Similar to Bane, Viper's is useless against Enigma's  and.
 * In addition, Viper has no way to cancel.


 * Necrophos's will not be reduced by  because its damage is treated as HP removal.
 * Because Viper is 100% damage per second dealer, Necrophos will always save his allies with.


 * Enchantress can pressure Viper with tamed Neutral creeps. Her can help saving teammates while  will allow her to be safe herself. Later on  is devastating against Viper as pure damage isn't decreased with, while  won't allow him to escape.


 * Invoker is really weak against Viper in the laning stage, and can be harassed hard out of the lane, but when surviving through it can become a problem for him. Invoker possesses big arsenal of skills that can make Viper's life ugly, including strong kiting spells (, and ), mana burn, high damage dealing skills , disables , and strong summons  that can melt Viper's armor. Through all this Invoker is still weak if pinned down with  and.
 * is highly recommended against Invoker.


 * Generally Viper is very good against Ursa, as he can kite him with . However, when initiating on Viper with, Ursa can burst him down in a few seconds, before he will even be able to fight back with , Viper won't be able to escape once is applied.
 * Ursa can also tank Viper attacks for long time with.


 * Since is Weaver's core item, Viper cannot waste its cooldown no matter what items he has.
 * Even if Viper succeeds to cast . Weaver will be able to escape with because it bypasses every slow, including.

Others

 * Meepo can take down Viper easily until Viper has Black King Bar to make Poof meaningless or Hurricane Pike to split the weakest Meepo out.
 * Because Viper has no stun, he wont be able to do nothing against heroes that have channeling spells such as: ,, ,
 * Viper Strike is completely ineffective against heroes with max speed escape mechanisms like Dark Seer or Lycan.

Items

 * - Viper has no natural way of stopping channeling spells, so enemy hero can escape even when slowed hard by and.
 * - Viper can easily get jumped on with a and disabled. As Viper is not very fast,  can also be somewhat reliable way of escaping,. Disjoints, but be careful because Viper is 100% damage per second dealer and that can counter.
 * and - somewhat effective items for saving from Viper's regular attacks.
 * can help saving teammate or yourself from Viper. Magic resistance helps against and.
 * can be crucial tool for saving teammate or yourself from and  slow.
 * - Break can disable both and  making Viper a lot less tanky and reducing his damage output.
 * - reliable way of disjointing.
 * - if possessed by any enemy hero will significantly decrease Viper's damage output.
 * - Viper has no way of escaping a hero with a as he has no natural escape skills. Also  works great against Viper, as it's damage type is physical.
 * - when focused with Necronomicon units Viper will get his mana burned, making him unable of using and.
 * , and  will allow enemy heroes become more tanky against Viper because of miss chance and high armor boost from agility bonus . Also 's active ability will disarm Viper.
 * , and  are all tank items that will allow enemies survive Viper attacks or manfight him. Additionally, 's lifesteal counters Viper's  and  allows chasing Viper while slowing him hard.
 * and - can both lock Viper down.
 * can negate and Viper has no solutions to waste its cooldown.
 * can reflect.

Good against...

 * Zeus is extremely fragile and can easily get bullied out of the lane with harass. 's damage reduction is extremely effective against Zeus because he deals magical damage almost exclusively. Zeus uses his spells for last hitting in the lane and takes constant damage from . Viper is also potent,  and  carrier.


 * Viper provides excellent damage over time to burn through charges with,  and.


 * Queen of Pain suffers greatly from harass.  when casted on Viper will cause  deal comparable amount of damage back to Queen of Pain, so she can't harass Viper at all.  is also not really dangerous for Viper because of.


 * Sven can easily get bullied out of the lane with harass. He's generally really weak agains kiting and his damage is rarely enough to bring Viper down upon initiation, so  is extremely effective, as the slow is not disbled even by.


 * Tiny can easily get bullied out of the lane with harass.  is extremely effective against Tiny skills, providing magic ressistance.  provides heavy slow upon Tiny lategame, when his regular attacks are potent. Viper can also deal heavy damage while not being endangered by.


 * Dragon Knight can easily get bullied out of the lane with harass, while Viper is tanky enough with  for not to be endangered by . Even when affected by  Dragon Knight is a lot weaker than Viper and can't manfight him.


 * Venomancer, even he is poison type too. But Viper is stronger. He has Corrosive Skin which decrease damage from Venomancer active skill. Also item building, Viper is most building for last standing like Black King Bar, Heart of Tarrasque, Mekansm, Dragon Lance which Venomancer hardly build because Venomancer aim for his supporting and damage from magical type.


 * Huskar suffers from harass, but being ranged can contest the lane.  is great against Huskar as he prefers fighting being on low HP. Midgame to lategame this matchup can go both ways, depending on plays, map movements, farm speed and so on. Matchup favors Viper, but Huskar can bounce back.

Others

 * Any Melee Hero will have a hard time dealing with Viper like ,,, , and , and  except  because Shapeshift makes Viper's abilities ineffective.
 * Any Magical damage reliant Nuker.

Works well with...

 * greatly increase Viper's attack damage, making his laning phase even stronger. Also, enemy caught by has no way escaping with all the slow from,  and.


 * Viper provides great damage inside the Void's.


 * can help Viper catch up with enemy, while and  amplifies Viper's damage.


 * Slardar provides Viper with lockdown from and even more single target damage with.


 * Io increase Viper's tankiness even more with and, as well as attack and move speed.  makes up for Viper's lack of mobility.

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