Broken Myth Strategy Theorycrafting 27

Vainglory Hero Counters: Your Guide to Winning Draft

vainglory hero counters

Welcome to the Vainglory Hero Counters guide! We know that you finally hit the Draft in Ranked mode. Whether it’s a new experience or an old one, having a cheat sheet to draft like the pros is undeniably useful. We understand and are here to help with a quick guide to keep you leveling up in Vainglory.

A couple of caveats before we get to the meat of the article. This is not a guide to how you should draft. If you are looking for one, you are in luck! Fedmattisgg wrote a great drafting guide that you can check out. Secondly, some counter picks are better than others, but it does not help your team if you cannot play said counter pick. Finally, some items can counter specific heroes’ strengths and are noted below, but for an in-depth look at counter-building read Gadianton’s article.

If you’re looking to test your new knowledge, try out our Vainglory Draft Simulator! To see how well each hero performs in the latest meta, brush up on our Hero Tier List. Choose wisely, play to your personal strengths, and may the churn ever be in your favor.

[table id=74 /]
Last updated for Update 3.1.

27 Comments

  • Reply
    Hudini Kitten
    Jun 28, 2020 4:51 am

    Today I went Kensington and my build was purely attack speed so poison shiv, bonesaw, and breaking point and was able to 1v3 a krul black feather and gwen with my Sentries help. So what could counter a lenses if he attacks so fast that his perk can stack because I have trouble when verging kenseis as well due to this fact and they can easily run when they are about to die so plz can u tell me a counter to kensei

    • Reply
      SeanLagged
      Jun 29, 2020 4:52 pm

      Generally, if attack speed is a problem on an enemy hero, consider building Atlas Pauldron to mitigate the rate at which the enemy is attacking.

  • Reply
    RyderArrow
    Feb 23, 2020 2:43 pm

    Will this page continue to get updated? Can we players help out and submit some changes to you?

  • Reply
    Theawesomemario
    Jun 14, 2018 6:08 am

    Hey,
    Thanks for this extremely useful chart
    Just curious
    Would you be updating for kensei and kinetic?

    • Reply
      Sean
      Jun 18, 2018 2:14 pm

      Yes! We will be updating this article to support the new heroes shortly.

  • Reply
    Blissey
    May 31, 2018 8:57 pm

    Just Wondering but I thought Ardan counters Varya very hard due to his ultimate…

    • Reply
      Sean
      Jun 08, 2018 8:46 pm

      This is just one particular aspect. Varya is rather effective at fleeing away from Ardan’s one trick Gauntlet against her.

  • Reply
    Tuzi
    May 24, 2018 6:30 pm

    Doesn’t Baptiste counter Alpha?

  • Reply
    Raphael
    May 09, 2018 5:37 pm

    What Flex stand for in the second column

  • Reply
    Felix
    Apr 17, 2018 7:32 am

    Can Krull counterred by reim

    • Reply
      Sean
      Apr 17, 2018 3:02 pm

      When not accounting for other heroes on either side, Krul is able to out-sustain Reim — especially with Poisoned Shiv.

  • Reply
    Mukesh Kumar
    Apr 06, 2018 4:50 am

    Can you tell me the counters for Churnwalker and Reza…I’m being destroyed by them (not both together).

    • Reply
      Sean
      Apr 12, 2018 3:21 pm

      We just updated this article to include information that was previously not added. As such, Churnwalker and Reza now have their relevant counters. 🙂

  • Reply
    SteelKraken
    Apr 01, 2018 2:27 pm

    While I appreciate the updates to this page for 3.1 on the heroes listed, there are still several who are missing from the list. Churnwalker, Reza, Lorelai, Varya, and Tony are all absent from the list. Thank you for all the hard work! I have only recently found this site, and it is already my main resource for Vainglory!

    • Reply
      Sean
      Apr 03, 2018 9:14 pm

      Hey! We updated the information for 3.1 but didn’t get a chance to add in the rows for missing heroes. The analysis is complete in our documents, we just have to implement the new rows.

      We’re really happy to hear that you enjoy our content. Feedback is highly appreciated as it lets us know what we’re doing right/wrong. 🙂

  • Reply
    RambertPro
    Dec 18, 2017 10:41 am

    wp baron can also be a counter to ardan. if you overdrive his Jump Jets then he can escape Ardan’s Gauntlet and wp baron is also a burst damage hero

    • Reply
      Sean
      Dec 21, 2017 3:35 pm

      We’re currently working on an interactive hero counters page, which is slated for early-to-mid 2018. All hero counters will be re-evaluated, so this is a possibility to include for the new version! Thank you. 🙂

  • Reply
    Nov 21, 2017 9:05 am

    glaive is a counter for samuel. he can afterburn samuel out of his B and burst him down
    grumpjaw’s counter would also be spellfire or samuel or basically anything that has a continuous damage per tick. it makes his living armor perk stacks go down

    • Reply
      Sean
      Nov 22, 2017 9:52 am

      We’re currently working on an interactive hero counters guide, and Glaive is one of the heroes that counters Samuel in the new version. However, for Grumpjaw, damage over time (Spellfire, Drifting Dark, X-Retsu, etc.) actually does not impact Living Armor stacks.

  • Reply
    Nov 17, 2017 6:01 am

    Grumpjaw can be countered with ticking damage like Reim’s or Skarff’s perk, and Spellfire because it makes his Living Armor perk go down really quick

  • Reply
    Jojo
    Sep 16, 2017 4:13 pm

    Great guide to counter picking but i just wanted to suggest a couple suggestions.

    1. phinn can also be a counter to Catherine and ardan since hes not subseptable to her stuns and his gauntlet

    2. idris and black feather can also be counters for lance since they are fast enough to dodge his impale.[not to mention reflex block]

    3. Husk can be counters for barons ult and grumpjaws A ability and aegis helps against taka

    Overall this was amazing and helps a lot.

    • Reply
      DrakenMythik
      Sep 19, 2017 8:22 am

      Hello Jojo! Thanks for taking the time to reply. I agree with your points to an extent. Phinn will still be silenced by stuns, which can be just as detrimental in a team fight. I will add Idris and the Reflex Block for Lance. I feel like Blackfeather can dodge everything, but still needs to be in range of Lance to do damage. Finally, yes we all agree that Defense is always a good idea!

  • Reply
    Zaid
    Sep 04, 2017 9:25 am

    This should be turned into an app

    • Reply
      Sean
      Sep 09, 2017 10:11 am

      Great idea! Unfortunately, we don’t have an app developer to do this. However, with that said, we’re working on an interactive Hero Counters page which will function similar to our Draft Simulator. No ETA for the release yet, but we’ll publish updates when possible.

  • Reply
    llogic
    Jul 30, 2017 8:01 am

    Hello, I’ve been a long time follower of this site and just registered yesterday. I enjoy the content you’ve given us and it has made myself a better player. I use this guide a lot when I play a match and it comes in handy. I wanted to know if it was possible to update this with new characters. Thanks.

    • Reply
      Sean
      Aug 07, 2017 10:33 pm

      First off, thank you for commenting and reading our content! Compliments like these are what keep us going. Actually, we’re currently on an interactive hero counters page. You can see a spoiler of it in this Tweet. No ETA currently, but I promise you we are refining it every single day. Soon! <3

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