The dashing Pangolier is a relatively new hero to the game but players quickly recognized it as one of the most fun heroes in recent times. There are a lot of factors for this, one of them includes the Rolling Thunder ultimate and the extremely high physical AoE damage dealt by him in team fights. Pangolier is a great hero to play in the current meta if you want to have a fun time crushing your opponents.
We bring you the Best 10 Counters to Pangolier, these heroes are extremely lethal and make sure Pangolier stands no chance right from the early game!
10. Grimstroke
This doomed artist paints with the blood of his slain foes. Grimstroke is primarily played in the support role against Pangolier as he is known for dealing high AoE magic damage and disabling him with his Silence. His silence can quickly be combined with Ink Swell ability, which is a great way to initiate on the pesky Pangolier. His ultimate prevents him from escaping away or using any spells, essentially providing his team a way to beat down on him and secure the kill as he hilariously keeps on rolling in place while attaching his allies with him!
Why is Grimstroke a great counter to Pangolier?
- Soulbind ignores spell immunity, forcing Pangolier to roll in place during his ultimate as well as anchoring the other victim to his vicinity.
- Deals immense damage and has low cooldown on all spells, making him a great counter to Pango just by the silence
Items to Buy on Grimstroke
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Creates a Dark Portrait of the targetted enemy, dealing immense damage
- Ghost Scepter - Prevents Pangolier from attacking him with physical damage
- Glimmer Cape - Provides invisibility, can also be used on allies to escape or to initiate
- Force Staff - Another great tool to close gaps or escape
- Aether Lens - Increased cast range, can catch Pangolier off-guard
9. Faceless Void
Faceless Void is the hero that Pango fans do not love playing against. There ae various reasons for this but the first is the obvious control that he has inside the massive Chronosphere. Rolling Thunder’s stun can be negated with the Black King Bar and further lock the Pango down inside the Chrono to neutralize him. He can also mess up Pango’s abilities with the help of Time Dilation which increases the cooldowns by a huge margin for a few seconds. He farms at a similar pace to that of Pangolier but the late game advantage lies in the hands of the mighty Void thanks to the Chronosphere.
What makes Faceless Void a great counter to Pangolier?
- Chronosphere's large obstacle denies Pangolier the room to roll around during teamfights, as well as wasting his ultimate's duration.
- Time Lock's magical damage ignores Shield Crash.
Items to buy on Faceless Void
- Mjolnir - Mjolnir - Exceptional for pushing lanes and farming quickly
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity from all of Pangolier’s magic damage spells, making you invulnerable in the fight
- Butterfly - Increased evasion, agility, and movement speed
- Eye of Skadi - Great for reducing Pangolier’s regen while also providing stats.
- Monkey King Bar - Increased physical damage, also provides true strike
- Satanic - Can quickly heal up on physical attacks upon activation, also provides basic dispel from the latter.
8. Medusa
This serpentine warrior is quite a hard nut to crack, her identity and prowess cement her as one of the most lethal heroes in the game against Pangolier. Medusa is an ultra late-game hero, even if her early game is disastrous, she can bounce back and turn the game around just with one fight. Her tankiness allows her to be the center of the fight without worrying much about Rolling Thunder, which she can still attack thanks to her immense attack range. If not ganked and ignored, she can perpetually farm and destroy Pangolier and win the game in a 1v5 situation. Medusa farms fast than Pangolier, though Pango may have mobility, Medusa has sustainability and effective damage.
Why is Medusa a great counter to Pangolier?
- Split Shot will keep attacking Pangolier even when he is rolling around.
- Stone Gaze stuns Pangolier during Rolling Thunder or forces him to roll away.
Items to buy on Medusa
- Eye of Skadi - Great for reducing Pangolier’s regen while also providing stats.
- Butterfly - Increased evasion, agility, and movement speed
- Daedalus - Immense critical damage
- Hurricane Pike - Allows Medusa to close the gap and deal immense damage to Pangolier, also provides decent stats
- Satanic - Can quickly heal up on physical attacks upon activation, also provides basic dispel from the latter.
- Monkey King Bar - Increased physical damage, also provides true strike
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Medusa
7. Tusk
Tusk is known to be a heavy hitter right from the laning phase, though he does not hit as heavy as Pangolier, he does enough damage to make him disengage or for his allies to finish the job by following up. His icy disables and chilling moves paralyze Pangolier and eliminate all his chances of escape, thanks to both Snowball and Ice Shard which can mess up his chances of escaping. Tusk can also effectively cancel the channeling of Pango’s ultimate with his Walrus Punch and Kick if he has the Scepter, which becomes essential against the pesky Pangolier. All it takes is one Smoke of Deceit to gank the Pangolier, which can be done quite easily with the Snowball and Tag team!
Why is Tusk a great counter to Pangolier?
- Ice Shards can easily interfere with Rolling Thunder, making him stuck inside the arc and wasting his ultimate. Do not panic and use Shield Crash to get out of that position.
- Snowball helps Tusk and his allies follow a fleeing Pangolier, keep in mind that the Pangolier can always counter-initiate with his Rolling Thunder.
- Walrus PUNCH! deals heavy damage even during his Rolling Thunder.
Items to buy on Tusk
- Blink Dagger - Great for gap closing or initiating
- Desolator - Increased damage and armor corruption
- Drums of Endurance - Provides increased movement and attack speed to Tusk and his allies on the activation
- Force Staff - Another great tool to close gaps or escape from Pangolier
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard - Scepter provide Walrus Kick which allows him to kick Pangolier away during teamfights, even if she has BKB on!
- Shadow Blade - Provides invisibility which can be used to escape or set up on Drow
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Tusk
6. Slark
Slark has proven himself to be an exceptional counter to Pangolier in the current meta, he needs no introduction as he easily can be called the king of the current meta. He performs well against tanky and high armor heroes like Pangolier, as they offer him increased agility stacks, making it easy for him to deal damage during teamfights. He can easily pounce away from Rolling Thunder and disengage away from the fight with the help of Shadow Dance. Pango may farm comparatively faster than Slark but in the late game, Slark leaves no stones unturned as he wreaks havoc on the enemy team with his six-slot farm.
Why is Slark a great hero against Pangolier?
- Dark Pact easily purges away both slow and disarm effects from Lucky Shot.
- With Pounce now applying leash to the target, Pangolier is helpless against Slark since both his Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder will be disabled.
- Pounce also helps Slark easily escape from Rolling Thunder.
Items to Buy on Slark
- Silver Edge - Provides invisibility which can be used to escape or set up on Pangolier
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Increases Pounce distance by a huge margin, also providing him two charges of the same
- Eye of Skadi - Great for reducing Pangolier’s regen while also providing stats.
- Butterfly - Increased evasion, agility, and movement speed
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity
5. Spirit Breaker
Pangolier will never know what hit him if he has a farmed Spirit Breaker against him! Not only does Pango have high chances of getting ganked, but he is also under the constant pressure of farming while being scared of being targeted by the space cow from far away on the map. This space cow hits like a truck, and let’s not get started on the bashes! The 17% chance feels like 71 if SB is on the enemy team. This is especially bad for Pangolier as he has high chances of getting bashed through his ultimate or being struck by Nether Strike, messing up his Rolling Thunder. The hero is low complexity so all you have to do is charge Pangolier and grab some popcorn while you hit him.
Why is Spirit Breaker a great counter to Pangolier?
- Global ability to gank Pangolier
- Charge of Darkness can be used to chase down Pangolier if he escapes with Swashbuckle or Rolling Thunder.
- Nether Strike ignores Rolling Thunder's spell immunity, and will still hit Pangolier if he rolls or dashes away.
Items to buy on Spirit Breaker
- Shadow Blade - Provides invisibility which can be used to escape or set up on Pangolier
- Drums of Endurance - High attack and movement speed bonus to SB and his allies
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity, making you invulnerable in the fight
- Echo Sabre - Great stat gain along with immense damage and attack speed
4. Outworld Devourer
Being a ranged hero does wonders especially if you’re against melee heroes in the mid-lane. Pangolier does not fare well if he is facing Outworld Destroyer. The INT disparity damage is simply too much to handle for him, combined with the magical damage output, and Astral save can turn around team fights. OD is essentially a beast against most mid-laners in the late game, this includes Pangolier due to the large INT difference along with his ability to save allies from the latter’s lethal physical damage. With so many item builds to choose from, Outworld Destroyer is one of the most flexible heroes in the game against Pango.
Why is Outworld Destroyer a great counter to Pangolier?
- Arcane Orb's constant pure damage output is devastating to Pangolier.
- Pango's relatively low mana pool leads to heavy damage from Sanity's Eclipse, which also bypasses his armor.
- Astral Imprisonment protects an ally for much of Rolling Thunder's duration, especially at the lower levels.
- As Rolling Thunder has a considerable cast animation, an Outworld Destroyer with Blink Dagger can initiate on him and destroy his timing.
Items to Buy on Outworld Destroyer
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity from all of Pangolier’s stun, making you invulnerable in the fight
- Hurricane Pike - Allows him to close the gap and deal immense damage to Pangolier, also provides decent stats
- Scythe of Vyse - Disables Pangolier and removes him from the fight
- Refresher’s Orb - Can refresh spells and items and use them again in quick succession to delete Pangolier from the fight
- Kaya and Sange - Increased mana regen and overall stat gain
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Outworld_Destroyer
3. Puck
Puck, the dazzling faerie dragon is a mixture of skill and flamboyance. Although, relatively a weak laner and squishy, Puck can turn the tides around against Pangolier if he manages to secure his early game by farming sufficiently and ganking other lanes. Pangolier may prove to have the higher ground in the early game but in the late game, Puck can triumph with his Aghanim’s Scepter which helps him stop the Rolling Thunder in its tracks with Dream Coil. The right items at the right time allow him to sustain himself and deal lethal magical damage without worrying about the damage dished out by Pangolier.
Why is Puck a great counter to Pangolier?
- Illusory Orb and Waning Rift provide great mobility, allowing Puck to catch up with Pangolier when he is attempting to disengage with his own skills.
- Dream Coil's leash acts almost as a literal silence to Pangolier, disabling half of his arsenal and also piercing his spell immunity during Rolling Thunder.
- Dream Coil's very long duration will make Pangolier waste his entire ultimate rolling in place.
Items to Buy on Puck
- Blink Dagger - Great for gap closing or initiating
- Aghanim’s Shard and Scepter - Can lock in a spell immune QoP and silence her for a longer duration with the Shard
- Aeon Disk - Saves him from getting burst quickly from QoP and also applies a basic dispel
- Witch Blade - Increased physical damage
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Puck
2. Centaur Warruner
The war chieftain has seen many strong enemies including the like of the pesky Pangolier, his forces have destroyed empires and defeated great warriors. Centaur is naturally a great counter to Pangolier due to his ability to gap close with both his ultimate and the Blink Dagger. He can return some serious damage back to him and it is further amplified with the Blade Mail. Pangolier can not fight alone or target a farmed and fat Centaur. Alongside, Centaur can use ultimate to run away from Pango’s Rolling Thunder, essentially disengaging and saving his allies as well as himself in teamfights.
Why is Centaur Warruner a great counter to Pangolier?
- When Swashbuckle hits Centaur Warrunner, Retaliate will deal significant damage, as it procs off every strike made.
- Stampede helps allies avoid or disengage from Pangolier during Rolling Thunder, as well as neutralizing the slow debuff from Lucky Shot.
Items to buy on Centaur Warruner
- Blink Dagger - Great gap closer against Pangolier
- Blade Mail - Can reflect damage and prevent her from using spells
- Force Staff - Another gap-closing item
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard - Can be used to initiate or save allies from ganks across the map
- Pipe of Insight - Provides immense magic damage block on activation, and affects the whole team.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Centaur_Warrunner
1. Bloodseeker
The cold-blooded hunter Bloodseeker knows no bounds when it comes to rupturing foes like the mighty Pangolier. Bloodseeker can withstand the heavy beatings of Pangolier with the help of his lifesteal as well as his Q which sustains him in the laning phase as well as in the teamfights. Blood Rite is extremely useful to lock Pangolier down and silence him, which allows him to kill him in skirmishes. Pangolier can also fall victim to Rupture which can be used mid-Swashbuckle or Rolling Thunder, making him take immense amounts of damage as he moves due to his high movement speed. It may result in his instant death or make him low enough for Bloodseeker to hunt him and further neutralize him!
Why is Bloodseeker a great counter to Pangolier?
- Thirst provides constant sight and speed to Bloodseeker, allowing him to catch up with a fleeing Pangolier through all of his mobility.
- Rupture is a great threat to Pangolier, causing him to take heavy damage if he uses Swashbuckle and especially Rolling Thunder, forcing him to stop his ultimate prematurely, or keep rolling to his death.
Items to buy on Bloodseeker
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity, making you invulnerable in the fight
- Monkey King Bar - Increased physical damage, also provides true strike
- Mjolnir - Exceptional for pushing lanes and farming quickly
- Sange and Yasha - Provides decent stats and physical damage
- Abyssal Blade - Can be used to quickly lock down Pango after getting on top of him, allowing you to beat him down with the physical damage
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Bloodseeker
You may also like:
- [Top 10] Dota 2 Best Carry Heroes That Wreck Hard!
- Top 10 Best Mid Heroes of Dota 2
- Top 10 Best Support Heroes of Dota 2
- In-game Best Settings for an Advantage in Dota 2
- Top 10 Best Offlane Heroes in Dota 2
- [Top 10] Dota 2 Best Agility Heroes That Wreck Hard!
- [Top 10] Dota 2 Best Junglers That Wreck Hard!
- [Top 10] Dota 2 Best Aghanim Upgrades That Are OP
