DOTA 2: Counter the Top Meta Heroes

Meta heroes are always a problem in Ranked Matchmaking if you do not pick them or counter them. I am going to talk about a few of the meta heroes and how to counter them. Meta heroes are not always overpowered or broken, sometimes the changes or the buffs changes their mechanism and it takes time to learn a new way to counter these heroes.

In the lower skill bracket, spamming meta heroes is often useful because either doesn't know how to counter them or they don't know the itemization. Here I will mention a few meta heroes and ways to counter them.

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#1 Troll Warlord

The main idea behind countering Troll Warlord is being able to kite him in and out of the fight and having magical damage. The best way to counter Troll Warlord is to kite him and burst him with magical or physical damage. Magical damage early in the game, and high physical damage in the late game (Considering Troll will have a BKB by that time) can destroy a troll.

1. Drow Ranger - Frost Arrows and proper itemization like Blink/Shadowblade with Hurricane Pike will make it hard for Troll to close the gap with Drow Ranger. If Troll has to buy an early Blink Dagger just to solve this damage then he will lack damage and it will also slow down his farming potential.
2. Pugna - Decrepify is a God-like spell against Troll Warlord. It easily kites him during his ultimate or in a gank and most importantly the spell exposes Troll Warlord to his greatest weakness - Magic Damage. If you can pick Pugna and another pushing hero, Troll will have to defend with average 1200 HP and no BKB.
3. Razor - Razor has a bunch of kiting potential. His first spell now slows and his 3rd spell gives him extra movement speed. This literally makes it impossible for Troll to stay on top of him and to top it all off, Razor keeps draining his damage that is attack speed focused and not burst based.

#2 Tusk

TUSK

Tag-Team is one of the best laning stage abilities now. There are very few heroes that can deal with the spell in the lane. In addition to that, Tusk provides a very high-tempo game that most supports can't keep up with.

1. Elder Titan - Elder Titan is one of the best Tusk counters at the moment if not the best tusk counter. Astral Spirit allows ET to match the damage output of Tusk in the lane, in addition, Stomp and Splitter are amazing counter to snowball ganks and buys teammates enough time to disengage from shards.
2. Keeper of the Light - KOTL has to be careful against Tusk early, so if you are not comfortable with positioning, then I would advise you to avoid this matchup. A well positioned KOTL is similar to ET in many ways. Illuminate is a great spell with high damage, you can cast it from a massive range and it bound to hit heroes who are grouped up for tag-team. Blinding light ruins the entire duration of Tag-team and when maxed out it also matches the low cooldown of Tag-team. And finally, KOTL has the power to counter-gank a snowball gank with his ultimate.
3. Brew Master - Drunken Brawler is the same duration as Tag-Team and that helps Brewmaster to man up and trade 1v1 with Tusk. Brewmaster is one of those heroes who can consistently fight against Tusk under the duration of tag-team.

#3 Medusa

MEDUSA

Medusa is a kind of hero that if brought to the late game will always win the game alone. So the main idea behind countering a Medusa is to pick heroes that can force her to fight early or pressure her early.

1. Huskar - First counter is Huskar. If you see your enemy has a Mid Medusa and you have the chance to counter-pick - go for Huskar. Huskar not only destroys Medusa in the lane but also sets the perfect tempo to win against a Medusa. You can kill her in the lane with the help of your support, take Roshan around 15-17 minute mark and the game is over shortly after.
2. Clinkz - Clinkz can't really counter Medusa in a 1v1 lane match up but making Diffusal blade shreds her Mana Pool because your mini skeletons get the mana burn ability. On top of that, you can easily avoid her right clicks with Strafe and pressure her side-lanes which will reduce the total amount of space she can farm.
3. Juggernaut - Counter a Meta hero with another Meta hero and yeah why not? Healing ward can keep your supports alive and help your cores to man up against the terror Medusa spreads. Spin is also a great spell to disengage with Stone Gaze and Omnislash is a reliable spell that works against Medusa at all stage of the game and gets stronger and stronger as the game moves ahead. Juggernaut with a Diffusal Blade can terrify Medusa at all stages of the game.