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Dota 2: The three best counters to Visage in patch 7.31d

Several weeks in, and Visage has emerged as the most dangerous hero in Dota 2 patch 7.31d.

With the highest win rate among all heroes in the Legend and Ancient Bracket and the second highest in Immortal games, behind Chen, it seems likely that you're going to run into a Visage quite frequently.

While Visage isn't picked in every game, the fact that he is one of the strongest heroes in this patch with a win rate above 55% makes it well worth it to learn how to counter him.

It might be hard to beat Visage right now, but the heroes listed in this article have the best chance of doing so.

Lycan

Lycan's strong laning and high damage makes him the ideal pub stomper. (Source: Valve)
Lycan's strong laning and high damage makes him the ideal pub stomper. (Photo: Valve Software)

The closest hero to beating Visage at their own game is Lycan.

The hero boasts nearly the same amount of building damage with a superior laning stage, more maneuverability, and less dependence on summons.

Lycan can play solo during the early game thanks to the bonus health regen from Feral Impulse, which allows his lane partner to rotate around the map and make space.

In comparison, Visage is pretty weak in the laning stage, and needs level 6 to come online. Lycan's independence allows his allies to focus on killing Visage early on.

Aside from being the stronger laner, Lycan is also very difficult for Visage to deal with in the other stages of the game.

Shapeshift provides max movement speed for Lycan and all his summons, allowing him to isolate and kill Visage in fights.

Lycan can also split up his summons to make it impossible for Visage to stun them all with his Familiars.

While Visage is one of the best heroes at bringing down buildings in Dota 2 patch 7.31d, Lycan is no slouch in that department either.

Both heroes play big parts in the 'Zoo' metagame, a style of gameplay that uses multiple summoned units along with Helm of the Overlord to take down objectives fast.

If Lycan can out-farm Visage, he can simply take down buildings earlier than him and win the game before his counterpart comes online.

It's difficult to beat Visage at his own game, but if you want to try to do so, Lycan is the best hero for the job.

Winter Wyvern

Illustration for Winter Wyvern, one of Visage's counters. (Photo: Valve Software)
It's Winter Wyvern's time to shine, especially if there's a Visage on the other team. (Photo: Valve Software)

While most supports can only run away in fear from Visage and his flying gargoyle army, Winter Wyvern isn't one of those.

Auroth is one of the best heroes at stalling out pushes, negating the enemy's physical damage, and punishing the Zoo meta.

Most of Visage's damage comes from his summons, which deal physical damage. While Visage does decent magical damage thanks to Soul Assumption, the vast majority of his damage is still physical — which is perfect for Winter Wyvern since Cold Embrace is able to negate a majority of Visage's damage.

Besides her damage mitigation, Winter Wyvern is able to stall the enemy's push, due to Splinter Blast's long cast range and damage to multiple units.

It's not enough to stop Visage with just one cast of the spell, but multiple Splinter Blasts should be enough to deter Visage from taking towers early in the game.

But the most important spell to counter Visage in Auroth's arsenal is Winter's Curse. The hero's ultimate forces all enemies to target one of their allies and attack them for a few seconds.

Winter's Curse is amazing against Zoo meta heroes, and Visage is no exception.

Players can use Winter's Curse on any enemy hero surrounded by Visage's creeps or Visage himself, and watch as the enemies tear each other apart.

Axe

Axe is the only reinforcement this army needs. (Source: Valve)
Axe is the only reinforcement this army needs. (Photo: Valve Software)

Finally, the best counter to Visage in Dota 2 patch 7.31d is none other than Axe.

The hero is one of the few who can withstand all the damage coming out of Visage and use it to his advantage.

The best way to proc Counter Helix is to either have multiple heroes hitting Axe, or at least a few high attack speed enemies, and Visage brings both.

Familiars have high attack speed and Visage players often bolster it with Drums of Endurance.

Let's not forget, Axe is one of the few heroes in Dota 2 who can redirect an enemy to focus on him thanks to Berserker's Call.

The ability also provides Axe with 25 bonus armor, which is more than enough to withstand all the physical damage from Visage. Additionally, it synergizes well with Blade Mail and Counter Helix.

Meanwhile, an underrated item against all the Zoo Meta heroes is the Crimson Guard. It greatly reduces the damage coming from summons and protects heroes and buildings alike.

Axe naturally builds Vanguard and can upgrade it when the hero is picked up against Visage.

As long as he gets his Blink Dagger early in the game, Axe is the best counter to Visage and well worth picking in the offlane.

Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.

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