Hero Wars Counters: Best Heroes to Beat Any Team

Knowing Hero Wars counters is a vital step in becoming a good player. Sure, just splashing together your heroes with the highest power levels will do just fine in the early game, but the endgame game modes and PvP require a little more finesse than that. When you find yourself up against people who know what they’re doing, you have to start upping your game and learn about which heroes counter which.

Keep in mind that this guide is specifically for Hero Wars Alliance, not Hero Wars Dominion Era. Alliance is the mobile version of the game, while Dominion Era is the PC/browser version. They’re similar in a lot of ways, but different in some, such as certain character stats and abilities, so what works as great counters in Alliance might not be the case in Dominion Era.

Why Knowing Counters Is Essential in Hero Wars

Knowing which heroes or hero compositions counter which will ensure you win pretty much all your matches in Hero Wars. Of course, there’s still the luck factor, such as when critical hits land and how well-upgraded the enemy heroes are with things like their Skins, Artifacts, and Glyphs. But for the most part, if you pick the right hero counters, you have a pretty good chance of winning.

Key Concepts Behind Countering Teams

In Hero Wars, there’s no such thing as a “perfect team” that will win every single PvP match, no matter which heroes your opponent picks. Otherwise, there wouldn’t really be a reason to pick any other team.

The way Hero Wars works, every team composition can be countered. Like a game of rock-paper-scissors, there’s always a way to beat the opponent, as long as you know the counter for their team.

So, how do you figure out the counter for a team you’re struggling with? Well, you can obviously use guides like this. This Hero Wars guide will help you build up teams to specifically counter the most powerful heroes and teams people use for PvP.

However, if you want to try to find a counter for a team on your own, you might not like it, but it requires a lot of reading, testing, and research.

For example, maybe you’re having trouble against teams that have Cleaver as their tank. If that’s the case, then maybe you keep using a team with a squishy and valuable back row. Cleaver’s first ability, Rusty Hook, combined with the rest of his kit, is designed to absolutely annihilate low-defense back rows.

The solution? A hero like Dorian wrecks Cleaver thanks to his fourth ability, Initiation. This grants Dorian and any nearby allies a vampirism effect. When Dorian gets hooked by Cleaver, your frontline suddenly becomes way more sturdy and ready to take down the enemy tank.

Another option would be Lian, a back row Hero who charms enemies who attack her. So when Cleaver goes for the hook, he’ll immediately get charmed and drop Lian before she gets fully drawn to the front. Lian will most likely get dropped one position ahead of the back row, which should still keep her and your formation relatively safe.

Top Hero Wars Counters You Should Know

Every Hero composition has a counter, but of course, we can’t list every Hero composition ever in this article. So, here are the teams you’re most likely to encounter in high-level PvP battles and how to counter them.

How To Counter Fafnir-Artemis-Tristan (FART) Teams: Use Ziri, Amira, and a Whole Lot of Magic

FART teams are usually pretty straightforward. They boost their critical hit chance and basically just shower you with physical hits, while Fafnir helps Tristan and another tank on defense. The key to beating this team is to disrupt their critical hits and go with magic damage to keep Tristan from gaining energy too fast. Here are some heroes that do really well against FART.

Ziri’s first and second skills, Focus of Hatred and Reflection of Pain, will keep your entire team safe from the physical attack onslaught. Focus of Hatred forces all enemy heroes to attack her, while Reflection of Pain will reflect incoming physical attacks back at the enemy (though Ziri will still receive the damage). This makes Ziri a huge DPS hero as well as an awesome tank against FART teams.

With Amira, it’s her second ability, Fair Deal, that’ll mess with FART teams. It turns critical hits into critical fumbles, which only deal half as much damage as a regular attack. This is devastating for a team like FART, which relies on critical hits as its main form of damage. Additionally, her fourth ability, Endurance Test, will also burn the enemy team’s energy, keeping them from using their main abilities.

Jorgen pairs really well with Amira as an energy drainer. Not much else to add here, he keeps the enemy energy low and deals some magic damage on top of that.

Lilith and some other magic DPS hero will be your main offensive members. As mentioned above, magic is the preferred damage type against FART since Tristan benefits from fighting physical damage-based teams.

How To Counter Dodge Teams (Like Yasmine, Dante, Octavia): Pure Damage Is The Key

What’s unique about dodge teams, as the name implies, is that they rely on dodging attacks rather than the traditional method of tanking or blocking them. The solution for dodge teams theoretically is to build a team that mostly deals magic damage since the dodge stat only counts for physical damage. However, Octavia completely changes the game because her second ability, Favorite of the Empress, makes dodging magic attacks possible as well. So what now?

Heidi is the most popular counter against Octavia. His toxins deal pure damage, which is the only damage type Octavia and her teammates can’t dodge. Heidi will be your main DPS for the team. If you feel like you’re not dealing enough DPS, you can add in Maya, whose abilities also deal pure damage.

Satori is a great counter for Octavia’s fourth ability, Imperial Guard, which grants her teammates energy each time they dodge. Satori curses enemies with Fox Fire marks every time they heal, dealing magic damage to them, which basically invalidates their dodges. They can still dodge the Fox Fire damage though, so keep that in mind.

Morrigan is a hard counter for Dante, mostly because her skeleton minions will tank most of Dante’s pushback abilities. Alternatively, Andvari outright blocks Dante’s pushback abilities while also tanking for your team and stunning the enemies.

If you decide not to go with Morrigan or Andvari, Dorian turns Dante’s formation-disrupting attacks from a negative into a positive effect for your team. His fourth ability, Initiation, grants vampirism effects to nearby allies, and thanks to Dante constantly pushing your team back, all of your heroes will be close to Dorian and benefit from Initiation.

Corvus’ first ability, Strike of the Damned, is a blanket counter for any hero that prefers dodging over tanking. It lowers the opponent’s dodge, armor, and magic defense stats. It should be pretty self-explanatory why he’s good against dodge teams.

How To Counter Aidan-Kayla Teams: Morrigan = Profit

Aidan and Kayla make up possibly the best duo in the game. Kayla does massive splash damage from the opponent’s middle lane, while Aidan heals her and the rest of the team. They also have a synergy ability that allows them to revive each other upon using their first abilities.

One of the most crucial heroes to counter this composition is Morrigan. Her fourth ability, Necromancy, passively prevents the enemy heroes from using revival abilities. This completely shuts down an Aidan-Kayla team’s survivability, at least for the duo in particular. Once you see your enemy team using both of them, instantly lock in Morrigan, as she is a must-have against Aidan-Kayla teams.

Now that you’ve denied their revival abilities, how do you keep your team from dying once Kayla jumps into the fray? Corvus’ third ability, Altar of Souls, deals damage to enemies when they damage your heroes. It is a hard counter to Kayla and will almost always kill her when she jumps into the middle of your team.

Phobos isn’t a direct counter to Kayla or Aidan, but those two will usually be teamed up with other Chaos heroes (like Lilith, Xe’Sha, and/or Peppy), which usually concentrate on magic damage. Phobos is built to counter magic heroes as his entire kit targets the enemy with the highest magic attack stat and deals damage to them, burns and steals their energy, and debuffs their magic defense.

How To Counter Judge-Julius-Isaac (JJI/Progress) Teams

JJI AKA Progress Faction teams are known for their extreme defense using multiple shields. Judge, Julius, and Isaac all have abilities that generate shields for their team, making it incredibly tough to get past their defenses. Tough, but not impossible, here’s how to overcome them.

Nature Faction teams are perfect counters to Progress Faction teams. Alvanor, Mushy and Shroom, Aurora, and Mojo all work together to dish out tons of magic damage while having impressive survivability with high HP, healing, and bodyblocking with Mushy’s minions.

Your fifth member should depend on what heroes your enemy decides to pair with JJI. If you noticed them picking Astrid and Lucas, choose Iris. Otherwise, you can go with Aidan for additional survivability.

A less common, yet still effective team would be to replace Alvanor, Aurora, and Mojo with Astaroth, Aidan, and Xe’Sha. JJI teams will always have a really valuable hero in their back row, making them the perfect targets for Astaroth’s energy drains. Xe’Sha is here to buff the team’s magic damage while dealing a ton of it herself.

How To Counter Magic-Based Teams Like Alvanor-Mojo-Mushy-Iris

As mentioned above, Nature teams counter Progress, but what counters Nature? These teams excel at pounding you with magic damage while keeping their heroes safe behind a wall of minions, energy regeneration, and healing. They’re powerful, but again, nothing in Hero Wars can’t be countered.

Ironically, Iris counters Mojo and Mushy and Shroom, two of the core components in any Nature team. Whenever your opponent tries to debuff or mark you (which Mojo and Mushy do a lot), Iris debuffs their physical and magic defense with her third ability, Mysterious Pact. Her other abilities will trigger when the opponent gets debuffed, dealing damage to them and prolonging said debuffs.

Rufus is the perfect tank against teams that primarily deal magic damage. His fourth ability, Rakashi’s Oath, literally prevents him from dying from any damage that isn’t physical. As long as he’s “killed” by magic or pure damage, he’ll just keep reviving, making him the bane of magic-focused teams.

As mentioned above, Phobos is great against magic-based heroes. He’ll add to Iris’ DPS and melt the enemy team in no time. To further support Iris and Phobos, throw in Nebula to buff your team’s magic damage.

The fifth member is really up to you. If you want more tankiness, go for Astaroth because of his high magic defense. If you need more damage, go for Celeste, who can block the opponents’ healing and convert it into magic damage instead.

Situational Counters for Specific Modes

Counters for the Hydra Raid Boss Battles

This will vary a little bit depending on the Hydra head you’re facing, but generally speaking, these teams will do really well against them. To learn more about how these teams work exactly, you can check out the Best Teams guide for Hero Wars.

Team 1

• Martha
• Aidan
• Xe’Sha
• Faceless
• Mushy & Shroom

Team 2

• Artemis
• Fafnir
• Galahad
• Tristan
• Dorian

Team 3

• Jhu
• Mojo
• Thea
• Celeste
• Alvanor

Countering the Tower Game Mode

With the Tower game mode, the buffs you get during your run are way more important than the actual heroes you pick. Prioritize the rooms that give you the purple buffs, which have OP effects like automatically stunning, silencing, or blinding your opponents.

Then, depending on your team, go for blue buffs for physical damage and critical hit boosts or yellow buffs for magic damage boosts. This is just speaking generally though, as there are some yellow buffs that can help with physical damage as well, and vice versa.

If you’re starting to feel like your team’s getting squishy, go for the green buffs for survivability boosts. The green buffs should be your last priority and should only be picked if you really notice your heroes getting close to death.

Common Countering Mistakes to Avoid

If you want to go ahead and forge your own path and make your own teams to counter the best Hero Wars has to offer, feel free to do so! Here are just a few tips regarding common mistakes new players might make when making a counter team.

• Hero level and attack power aren’t everything, especially when talking about countering. If your heroes properly counter the enemy, you’ll win even when your attack power is tens of thousands of points below theirs. Don’t just think that high number = better.
• Don’t forget about your heroes' secondary upgrades like Skins, Artifacts, and Glyphs. Upgrading them can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
• Factions don’t necessarily mean counters. Even though it’s mentioned above that Nature faction teams can counter Progress faction teams, that doesn’t mean that just because a hero belongs to the Nature faction, they will counter a Progress hero. The individual skills and stats of a hero are still what matter most at the end of the day. If anything, the best teams in Hero Wars are usually made up of heroes from different factions. Do proper research and testing, and don’t just send random heroes of the same faction out to competitive PvP.