Death Prophet counterpicks: who to choose against this hero in Dota 2

Death Prophet is a range universal hero, most often used as an offlaner or midlaner. She can summon spirits, which are extremely powerful in battles and when sieging buildings.

A good choice against Death Prophet will be heroes that:

• Have high resistance to physical and magical damage
• Can effectively defend structures
• Reduce healing and health regeneration

Some of the best heroes against Death Prophet:

• Medusa - Extremely resilient character, can engage in combat even when Death Prophet has Exorcism. Medusa is also effective at pushing lanes, which slows down DP's push.
• Treant Protector - Can protect structures and allies from Exorcism with Living Armor. A large amount of slowdown from Nature's Grasp and Leech Seed, as well as Overgrowth's root will allow you to kite Death Prophet's ult.
• Ancient Apparition - Also has a large amount of slowdown. Its Ice Blast, which cancels any healing or health regeneration in combination with Ice Vortex will allow you to deal with Death Prophet very effectively.

Other good choices against DP are Pudge, Doom, Lich, Bristleback, Timbersaw, Underlord, Winter Wyvern, Pugna, Abaddon, Oracle, Venomancer, Necrophos, Centaur Warrunner, Morphling, Slark, Lone Druid, Terrorblade, Luna and Drow Ranger.

In addition to heroes, the following items will be effective against Death Prophet:

• Shiva's Guard - Increased armor will be useful against Exorcism.
• Lotus Orb - Also useful because of the armor increase and effective against Silence and Spirit Siphon (Spirit Siphon cannot be dispelled, but can be repelled if you apply Lotus Orb beforehand).
• Eul's Scepter of Divinity/Wind Waker - dispels Silence, will allow you to gain time under Spirit Siphon or Exorcism.
• Force Staff/Hurricane Pike/Wind Waker - Will allow you to break distance with DP.
• Spirit Vessel/Eye of Skadi - reduces the victim's healing and health regeneration.
• Assault Cuirass/Guardian Greaves/Pipe of Insight/Crimson Guard - increases survivability.
• Ghost/Ethereal Blade - saves from Exorcism.

How to counter Death Prophet:

Start of the game:

DP is pretty strong on lane, as she can effectively trade resources due to Spirit Siphon. However, it takes quite a while to recharge, which can be taken advantage of. Death Prophet can also have mana problems early on, which is also a good opportunity to try to kill it or chase it off the lane.

Mid-game:

With Exorcism Death Prophet will always try to push. You should try to defend your structures in any way possible, and during the Exorcism recharge, you should impose a fight.

Late Stage:

Exorcism is still just as dangerous in late, especially in protracted battles. Ignoring Death Prophet under an ultimate in combat is not an option. If you don't have a chance to kill DP quickly, you should kite her ult and enter the fight during its cooldown.

Overall strategy

When playing against Death Prophet, it's important to take advantage of the moments when her ultimate is on cooldown. Try to set the tempo by initiating fights and putting pressure on her. Keep an eye on her positioning to avoid taking too much damage from Exorcism. When her ultimate isn’t available, she’s much less threatening, and you can easily dominate the fight.