Enchantress is one of the most unique and challenging heroes to contend within Dota 2. Known for her long-range damage potential, the ability to control neutral creeps, and sustain through healing, she can dominate lanes and team fights if left unchecked. However, no hero in Dota 2 is without counters, and Enchantress is no exception. This article will delve into how to counter Enchantress effectively, providing actionable strategies, hero recommendations, and item suggestions to help you mitigate her impact and secure victory in your games.
Understanding Enchantress – Strengths and Weaknesses
To counter Enchantress effectively, it is crucial to understand her strengths and weaknesses. These form the foundation of any counter-strategy, allowing you to exploit her vulnerabilities while avoiding her peak strengths.
Enchantress’s Strengths
- Impetus Passive Damage: Enchantress’s primary source of damage comes from her passive ability, Impetus, which deals bonus damage based on the distance between her and her target. This makes her especially lethal against heroes trying to retreat.
- Enchant Ability: Enchantress can control neutral creeps, turning them into tools for harass, scouting, and zoning. This also gives her strong lane presence, especially in the early game.
- Healing Sustain: With her Nature’s Attendants ability, Enchantress provides healing for herself and nearby allies, making her deceptively durable in fights if not focused early.
Enchantress’s Weaknesses
- Squishy By Nature: While she has decent sustain, Enchantress has naturally low health and armor, making her vulnerable to burst damage.
- Lacks Stuns and Hard Disables: Enchantress has no spells that can lock down targets, which limits her impact in controlling enemy movements during a fight.
- Crowd-Control Weakness: Silences, stuns, and slows can effectively disable her utility and damage output in most situations.
Best Heroes to Counter Enchantress
Certain heroes are particularly effective against Enchantress due to their abilities and synergy. By picking the right heroes, you can minimize her impact and even turn her strengths into weaknesses.
Phantom Assassin – Agile and Lethal
- Burst Damage: Phantom Assassin’s high burst damage can quickly eliminate Enchantress before she has a chance to heal.
- Evasion: Phantom Assassin’s passive, Blur, allows her to avoid many of Enchantress’s attacks, reducing her effectiveness in fights.
- Win Rate Edge: Enchantress performs poorly against Phantom Assassin, with a win rate difference of -5.06%.
Crystal Maiden – Crowd Control Specialist
- Direct Counters: Crystal Maiden’s abilities—Crystal Nova for slows and Freezing Field for massive AoE damage—complement team fights against Enchantress.
- Mana Suppression: Frostbite and Arcane Aura disrupt Enchantress’s ability to spam Impetus effectively.
- Win Rate Edge: Enchantress suffers a 3.00% lower win rate when facing Crystal Maiden.
Mars – Defensive and Offensive Powerhouse
- Damage Reduction: Mars’s Bulwark excels at absorbing Enchantress’s long-distance attacks from Impetus.
- Lockdown Potential: Arena of Blood traps Enchantress in a confined space, forcing her to fight on unfavorable terms.
- Reversal of Strengths: While Mars thrives in close-range combat, Enchantress struggles without the distance needed to utilize Impetus effectively.
Io – Mobility Advantage
- Tether and Relocate: Io’s mobility makes it difficult for Enchantress to land distance-dependent Impetus attacks.
- Supportive Sustain: When tethered to a strong core, Io negates much of Enchantress’s harass and damage during fights.
Heroes with Silences and Stuns
- Silencer: His Global Silence can completely shut down Enchantress during crucial fights.
- Lion: With Hex and Mana Drain, Lion disables Enchantress while reducing her mana pool for spell usage.
- Doom: Casting Doom on Enchantress eliminates all her utility by silencing her for the entire duration.
High Burst Damage Heroes
- Anti-Mage: Anti-Mage’s Mana Void capitalizes on her low mana pool, dealing significant damage.
- Queen of Pain: Using Blink for mobility and Sonic Wave for high burst, QoP can quickly dispatch squishy heroes like Enchantress.
- Puck: Elusive and mobile, Puck avoids being hit by Impetus while silencing Enchantress with Waning Rift.
Item Counters to Enchantress
In addition to selecting the right heroes, there are specific items that enable you to deal with Enchantress more effectively.
Black King Bar (BKB)
- Immunity to Magic: BKB allows you to ignore Enchantress’s slow effects and heal while significantly reducing her damage output during its active duration.
Blade Mail
- Damage Reflection: When activated, Blade Mail reflects Impetus damage back to Enchantress. This makes her hesitant to focus-fire tankier heroes.
Ghost Scepter
- Ethereal Immunity: Ghost Scepter makes you immune to physical attacks, avoiding damage from Impetus altogether.
Spirit Vessel
- Healing Negation: Spirit Vessel reduces the impact of Enchantress’s Nature’s Attendants healing ability, making her easier to finish off.
Crimson Guard
- Damage Block: Crimson Guard is excellent at reducing the effectiveness of rapid attacks from enchanted creeps or Impetus.
Strategies to Counter Enchantress
Utilize Team Coordination
Enchantress thrives on enemy disarray. A coordinated team effort can lock her down and exploit her squishy attributes. Use multiple disables and silences to eliminate her before she becomes a threat in team fights.
Control Vision and Positioning
- Wards and Dusts: Denying her vision and revealing her movements can put her at a disadvantage.
- Close the Gap: Position yourself close to Enchantress during fights to minimize Impetus damage.
Stay Aggressive in the Early Game
Enchantress gains power as the game progresses. By pressuring her early, you deny her farm and reduce her impact later on.
How to Counter Enchantress – Step-by-Step Guide
- Analyze the enemy team’s draft and pick a strong counter from the recommended hero list.
- Focus on crowd-control items like Eul’s Scepter and Orchid Malevolence to disable her in critical moments.
- Coordinate ganks early to punish her low mobility and squishy nature.
- Purchase vision tools like Observer Wards and Sentry Wards to limit her ability to roam and enchant creeps.
- Stick together as a team during the mid-to-late game to ensure Enchantress cannot isolate vulnerable targets with Impetus.
Enchantress Counters – Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best way to counter Enchantress’s Impetus damage?
Positioning is critical. Stay as close as possible to Enchantress to minimize the distance-based damage from Impetus. Using items like Ghost Scepter or heroes with mobility also mitigates her damage output.
Which heroes perform best against Enchantress?
Heroes like Phantom Assassin, Crystal Maiden, Doom, and Mars tend to excel against Enchantress due to their burst damage, disables, and mobility.
How can you neutralize Enchantress’s healing abilities?
Items like Spirit Vessel and Skadi are effective at reducing the healing from Nature’s Attendants, making it easier to kill her in fights.
Is Blade Mail effective against Enchantress?
Yes, Blade Mail reflects the damage from Impetus back to Enchantress, pressuring her to stop attacking.
How do you handle enchanted creeps in the lane?
Focus on killing the creeps she enchants as they provide a significant part of her early-game harass and utility.
What items are must-haves against Enchantress?
Black King Bar, Spirit Vessel, and Crimson Guard are highly recommended against her.
Why is vision so important when countering Enchantress?
Enchantress benefits from outmaneuvering her opponents. Denying her vision limits her ability to position well for Impetus and creep enchantments.
How do silences impact Enchantress?
Silences completely disable her abilities, leaving her reliant on her basic attacks and making her far less effective.
Is focusing Enchantress in team fights a good idea?
Yes, but ensure your team uses control abilities to lock her down and remove her quickly, as prolonged fights favor her sustainability.
What level of aggression should be used against Enchantress?
An aggressive playstyle early in the game forces her into a defensive position, reducing her impact in later stages.
Conclusion
Countering Enchantress requires a combination of the right hero picks, itemization, and strategic gameplay. By understanding her strengths and exploiting her weaknesses—such as her low durability and dependence on distance—you can neutralize her impact effectively. From picking Phantom Assassin to harnessing the power of Silencer, every choice contributes to ensuring Enchantress doesn’t dominate your game. Master these tips, and victory will be well within reach!
Source : Dotown
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