Sniper is more popular in lower brackets: 13.3% of Very High matches, 19.6% of High and 24.1% of Normal. His win rate follows the same pattern, 48.1% / 49.1% / 50.2%. He deals damage from far away with Take Aim, Keen Scope and Headshot, controls space with Shrapnel and Concussive Grenade, and finishes targets with Assassinate. His team's XP-gain share stays near even (49.4–51%) all game, but his win rate falls with game length: 61.6% under 25 minutes, 49.9% at 25–50 and 47.3% past 50 minutes.
Countered by LycanLycan doesn't beat Sniper in lane. His team gains more XP in only 41.5% of games before minute 15, so Sniper usually gets the early lead. Lycan's value comes once Summon Wolves and Shapeshift let him move around the map faster than Sniper can follow.
This is where the matchup turns: Lycan's team gains more XP in 62.3% of games between minutes 15 and 35. During Shapeshift Lycan moves faster and can't be slowed, so Shrapnel and Concussive Grenade, Sniper's tools for keeping divers away, don't hold him. Howl lowers the armor and attack damage of every enemy within 2000 range, and at night everywhere on the map, which takes away much of the damage Sniper relies on. Wolves that turn invisible at level 3 find Sniper wherever he stands.
Lycan wins 55.1% of 25–50 minute games (1,937 games) and 50.4% of games past 50 minutes (425 games) against Sniper, and 57.4% of the 101 games that end before 25 minutes. The edge is largest in Very High (+17.11), with +9.12 in High and +10.19 in Normal. Lycan wins 62% / 54.8% / 51.3% (Very High / High / Normal) against Sniper, against his usual 51.6% / 49.4% / 46.5%. Lycan is a rare pick, so this comes from 2,463 games, fewer than the other counters below.
Best teammate: Shadow DemonShadow Demon and Sniper don't win the early game. Their team gains more XP in 44.8% of games before minute 15 and 43.5% between minutes 15 and 35. Shadow Poison stacks add damage to Sniper's harass, but the pair's value comes from fights.
Shadow Demon protects the hero who has no escape. Disruption can banish Sniper out of a fight for a moment, and when he returns two illusions of him, with bonus base damage, keep shooting. Demonic Cleanse removes debuffs from Sniper and heals him, and Demonic Purge removes an enemy's buffs and slows the hero diving him. Disseminate on an enemy spreads part of every hit that enemy takes to all enemies within 675 range, so Sniper's long-range shots hurt a whole group.
The pair's XP-gain share reaches 50% after minute 35, and they win 49.4% of games past 50 minutes (788 games), against Sniper's own 47.3%. The advantage is spread across brackets: +5.81 in Very High, +3.59 in High and +6.72 in Normal. The pair wins 47% / 46.9% / 46.9% (Very High / High / Normal), with Shadow Demon normally at 46% / 45.9% / 43.3%. Neither hero wins much on its own in this patch; together they do better than their own win rates predict.
Based on 2,111,000 public ranked matches of patch 7.41, played 30 September – 14 October 2026. Advantage is the win-rate difference from what the two heroes' own win rates predict, times two (+6 is about 3 win-rate points), weighted over the skill brackets. The live numbers on the Sniper page update every few hours. More guides: Dota 2 counter guides.
