Counter-picks for Zeus in Dota 2

Zeus is a straightforward and popular mid-lane hero among Dota 2 players. Going up against Zeus can be daunting for multiple heroes, gamers would benefit from knowing how to counter pick Zeus in the mid, thereby undermining and defeating the deity.

Zeus is a hero in DotA 2 with "Intelligence" as his primary attribute.

Easy for beginners to master, Zeus is a formidable force, capable of packing a serious punch of magical damage.

Thanks to his ultimate, Zeus poses a threat to the entire enemy team across the map.

Zeus's second skill, Lightning Bolt, reveals invisibility within a radius of 325 units from the point of application, enabling detection of invisible enemies and wards.

Zeus is often chosen for the 2nd or 4th position. With the rework of the Aghanim Shard in patch 7.33, the hero can be seen in the 1st position, but this is a rarity. Zeus struggles to farm the Forest due to the in-built resistance to magic from forest creeps.

The Hero is heavily tempo-dependent. If Zeus doesn't gain levels and items in the early stages of the game, the character could end up being a liability for his team.

When played as a position of partial support, Zeus primarily farms Aghanim to acquire the Nimbus skill, which can inflict significant periodic magical damage in a selected area of the map.

Detailed data on Zeus's counter picks can be found on Dotabuff. The service updates comprehensive statistics every week.

In Mid

In the laning stage, there are no counter picks for Zeus in the mid. The hero stands well against all characters in Dota 2.

The champions that can duel against Zeus are:

• Ember Spirit - Ember's Flame Guard ability absorbs up to 285 magic damage from Zeus;
• Viper - Viper's Corrosive Skin ability gives the character up to 25% magic resistance;
• Meepo - Thanks to its clones, Meepo can go and farm in the woods in the early levels, blocking Zeus's skill-up;
• Templar Assassin - Templar Assassin's Refraction ability blocks up to 6 attacks, including magical, proving to be a counter pick to Zeus.

In Lane

Counter picks for Zeus in the 4th position are carries with magic immunity abilities - Lifestealer and Juggernaut.

The counter pick among line supports is Oracle. Oracle imposes magic damage immunity on allies, restores health and completely nullifies Zeus's magical damage.

Prior to the release of patch 7.28, Zeus's passive ability was the character's main skill.

After the update, the hero acquired a talent with the purchase of Aghanim Shard.

In patch 7.33, the developers eliminated the wizard's passive skill. For the time being, Zeus has no passive abilities.

The best counter pick for playing against Zeus in Dota 2 is Anti Mage.

The Anti Mage can quickly close gaps between himself and his opponent with his Blink ability, his passive skill Mana Break saps mana points, and Anti Mage's ultimate, Mana Void, deals damage proportional to the mana spent by the targeted foe. This hero's Counterspell ability provides a passive 45% reduction in magic damage effect.

In addition to Anti Mage, Storm Spirit and Chaos Knight perform well against Zeus. Both heroes are capable of quickly closing distance and inflicting substantial damage. These champions possess disabling capabilities and prevent Zeus from using items for self-preservation.

Zeus is endowed with the Lightning Bolt talent. This mage is effective against characters whose main prowess lies in their invisibility:

• Sand King;
• Bounty Hunter;
• Clinkz;
• Rikimaru.

Thanks to his high level of area-of-effect magical damage, Zeus shows impressive performance against illusionists, exception being his counter-pick Chaos Knight.

When squaring off against Zeus, there are two types of items which can counter this hero -- defensive and offensive ones.

Let's begin with defensive items:

• Black King Bar, upon activation, renders its holder immune to magic for up to 9 seconds;
• Pipe of Insight provides its user with a 20% resistance to magic and, when activated, it casts a shield onto its holder and allies within a 1200-unit radius that absorbs 450 magical damage;
• Magic Stick and Magic Wand, giving 1 charge for each enemy spell, replenish 15 health and mana each;
• Eternal Shroud endows its user with a 30% magic resistance.

Moving on to offensive items:

• Orchid Malevolence and Bloodthrone silence an enemy for 5 seconds;
• Mage Slayer applies a debuff that reduces magical damage by 35% for 6 seconds on an enemy, offering a constant 25% magical resistance to its holder.

Zeus is a versatile hero, capable of playing various positions, and he clearly only has one counter-pick character - Anti-Mage.

Zeus can't win solo as he's a mage – he's fundamentally a team player.