Valora, the Dawnbreaker, can be a painful opponent to go up against.
Whether in pubs or competitive play, Dawnbreaker has permeated every pick phase. Whether it’s as a high physical damage core, or a support that can win lanes by herself, she’s one of the most powerful heroes in Dota 2 right now.
But even the best can be tamed. Here are the five best Dawnbreaker counters across a variety of positions and roles.
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The five best Dawnbreaker counters
Winter WyvernBatriderRazorFaceless VoidNyx Assassin
Winter Wyvern
Credit: Valve
Winter Wyvern has one of the best overall kits to deal with Dawnbreaker. She can be a difficult hero to find while constantly on the backlines, and her ultimate, Winter’s Curse, is a perfect counter to Dawnbreaker.
Since Dawnbreaker can only use Solar Guardian on allied targets, she will inevitably jump into an ally — especially if they are locked down by Winter’s Curse. It instantly stuns Dawnbreaker once she lands, unless she’s willing to use three seconds of a Black King Bar to counteract it.
This is especially effective against core Dawnbreakers, who usually have a sizeable amount of physical damage to chop down her own allies for some time, negating Solar Guardian’s healing at best, and outright killing her teammates at worst.
Cold Embrace also counters Dawnbreaker’s physical damage through Starbreaker. The full combo takes slightly more than a second to finish, so quick reactions can save allies or even yourself from taking multiple hits of the combo.
Winter Wyvern always likes to play around vision with Arctic Burn, and with an array of items like Blink Dagger and Aether Lens, a well-played Auroth should be very difficult to find for any Dawnbreaker.
Batrider
Credit: Valve
Dawnbreaker likes to be in the thick of things during a teamfight, and Batrider is one of the best countermeasures to that. Valora presents an easy target for Bat to drag out of position. While she’s great at going in, she’s not as skilled at getting out — her only mobility skill is tied to the relatively wonky Celestial Hammer.
When not in a fight, Dawnbreaker likes to play away from her team, leveraging her global potential to jump in when needed. This makes Batrider’s Flaming Lasso the perfect spell to catch her unawares.
Batrider, like Wyvern, likes to play in and around vision. Firefly makes it difficult for Dawnbreaker to lock on to him, and Sticky Napalm can be supremely annoying when you need to turn around and use Celestial Hammer and Starbreaker properly.
A well-timed Flamebreak can also disrupt the Starbreaker animation and force her to be farther away from Bat, though that counter becomes less useful once Valora gets an Aghanim’s Shard.
Razor
Credit: Valve
As one of the game’s premier anti-carries, Razor can really take down Dawnbreaker’s damage with Static Link. Dawn likes to commit hard, and Razor can easily take advantage of that situation.
Razor is a fast hero with Static Field, and can be difficult to catch even when Valora commits her mobility aggressively. And once she does, Razor can have a field day zapping away at Dawnbreaker.
Dawn also has relatively low armor, thanks to her nature as a strength hero. This makes Razor’s Eye of the Storm and its armor reduction exceptionally potent, rendering it a difficult task for any Dawnbreaker to try and fight Razor on her terms.
Faceless Void
Credit: Valve
Faceless Void is one of the few carry heroes who do not get utterly decimated by Dawnbreaker in the lane, thanks to Time Walk. It’s easy to remove any damage taken from Starbreaker, or just avoid it altogether.
Plus, he can actually have kill threat against Dawn, if she uses both her skills. Time Dilation slows the hero down to a crawl, letting Void and a support wail into her. Time Walk, when used offensively, can almost always catch a Dawnbreaker trying to run away.
Finally, ultimate Chronosphere is a good counter to Dawnbreaker’s Solar Guardian, somewhat akin to Winter Wyvern’s Winter’s Curse. It turns Solar Guardian from an area of salvation into one where Dawnbreaker simply lands into Chrono, before proceeding to get pummeled by a farmed Faceless Void.
Nyx Assassin
Credit: Valve
Nyx Assassin’s Spiked Carapace can prevent Dawnbreaker from ever landing. If used in the area where Solar Guardian is pulsing, Dawnbreaker will be instantly stunned, preventing her ultimate from going through.
This spell also works well against her two other damaging spells — Celestial Hammer leaves a trail of fire that’s easy to Carapace, and you can stop Starbreaker in its tracks until she buys a Shard.
Impale is also a nice, instant stun, and Mana Burn is a decent annoyance against a hero with a relatively low mana pool. Vendetta is also good to search out Dawnbreaker, who likes to play away from her team, leading to kill opportunities that might be difficult to find for other heroes.
