Weaver is one of the most popular heroes in the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) and is the most feared hero across all regions in Division I games.
The hero is highly contested for good reason, as he provides teams with great draft flexibility, solid laning presence, late-game saves, and can even transition into a core.
This popularity in the pro scene has influenced Dota 2 pubs as well. Weaver has a 12% pick rate and an over 51% win rate across all brackets. Whether you’re watching a Dota 2 tournament or playing a pub yourself, expect to find Weaver there.
With such a prevalence in the scene, it’s a good idea to know which heroes can best deal with the pesky interdimensional bug. Here are the three best heroes to counter Weaver.
Zeus
Zeus has gone almost completely ignored in the DPC, only getting picked a total of four times and winning only one of those games. The Lord of Heaven’s low mobility, purely magical damage, and weak durability make him a risky pick in the pro scene.
But while Zeus is ignored in competitive games, he remains an absolute monster in pubs. Zeus is currently the 14th most popular hero in pub play and boasts almost a 54% win rate, second-highest of all heroes.
Zeus retains the same weaknesses in pubs as he does in pro games but the difference is that pub players are mostly unable to capitalize on those weaknesses.
Zeus deals only magic damage and pubs are slower to buy a Black King Bar to survive. And while he is still slow and fragile, that makes no difference when enemy heroes ignore him in pubs.
All these factors add up to make Zeus the best counter to Weaver. The biggest reason, of course, is that Zeus does a huge amount of burst magic damage, which can bring down Weaver before he can use Time Lapse.
It’s a common strategy for Weaver to bait out a spell or two then Time-Lapse himself to safety. This is much riskier to do against Zeus.
Another important factor is how much vision Zeus provides. Both Lightning Bolt and Thundergod’s Wrath reveal invisible enemies.
Zeus’ ultimate also finds Weaver no matter where he is on the map. This prevents Weaver from playing the standard “hit-and-run” style he is known for, practically making the bug a free kill.
Silencer
If you’re a support player and you want to counter Weaver, then Silencer is one of the best picks out there.
Silencer works as a counter at pretty much all stages of the game because of his namesake ability to prevent enemies from casting spells.
During the laning stage, Silencer can use Arcane Curse just before Weaver uses Shukuchi, adding bonus magic damage to Weaver and making it hard for him to trade hits. Weaver is a very elusive hero but his starting health pool is quite low and this makes him susceptible to Silencer’s impressive damage over time.
Silencer can also use Last Word to deal bonus damage to Weaver and apply a silence. Using it early in team fights forces Weaver to either use Time Lapse early to remove the debuff or walk away from the fight. Either option greatly reduces his impact, a win for Silencer.
Silencer continues to counter Weaver at all stages of the game thanks to Global Silence. Weaver can usually play risky thanks to his invisibility and high movement speed from Shukuchi. Global Silence doesn’t care for either of those buffs and will catch Weaver every time.
While Weaver can build an Eul’s Scepter to remove the silence, this then delays his Aghanim’s Scepter timing, a very important power spike for the hero.
It must be said that Silencer isn’t as good as he used to be in the pro scene.
Arcane Curse used to deal twice the damage to silenced opponents and now only deals 70%. But despite his nerfs, Silencer functions as the best support counter to Weaver in pubs.
Wraith King
Wraith King is an unusual counter to Weaver because the hero functions less as a counter and more of a hero who simply doesn’t care about the existence of Weaver.
Weaver deals decent damage early game but shifts his focus to saving his allies with Time Lapse in the late game. Weaver doesn’t have any stuns or control to provide his team, both of which are sorely needed when going against Wraith King.
To deal with Wraith King, teams need to kite him around and keep him controlled for extended periods during fights. While Weaver can kite Wraith King, carry players can simply ignore him during fights and squash the bug later.
Should Wraith King gets his hands on Weaver, it takes only a couple of hits for the king to bring down the insect. Wraith King’s stun isn’t the best for catching Weaver but it provides another headache for him to deal with.
While there are other carry counters that can work against Weaver, such as Naga Siren and Drow Ranger, Wraith King remains the easiest counter to play in pubs.
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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