Dealing with Ursa — How to Stop One of the Strongest Pub Carries?

Our latest Dota 2 guide offers some tips for handling Ursa in your next pub.

Ursa is a hidden weapon for many Dota 2 players who want to reach their desired MMR. What’s more, this is a hero that can work in professional games; especially when the meta focuses on fast-paced action. As a result, Ursa has become one of the best options in the current meta.

The thing that makes the hero so strong is the fact that Ursa does not need a lot of farm to be effective. This is a hero that can do wonders with just a Blink Dagger, especially when she gets a kill on Roshan.  

Since the hero is strong, you can often see Ursa in action in every MMR bracket. She usually has a high win rate, meaning that most people do not know how to deal with the hero. Fortunately, this Ursa Dota 2 guide will include a couple of very important things people must do to counter this hero. So, let’s dive in.

Picking a counter

One of the first things you have to do to counter Ursa is to pick a hero that works well against them. The only problem is that this is easier said than done because Ursa can work well against most of the top-tier heroes in the current meta. However, there are a couple of options, and we are about to share them in this article.

Phantom Lancer

Despite not being the best carry in the current meta and the fact that Ursa has an AoE ability, Phantom Lancer is one of the best heroes you can get against her. PL’s illusions make him incredibly hard to kill. What’s more, the hero deals tons of damage and can slow down Ursa, allowing him to kite the hero.

Venomancer

Speaking of kiting, this is Ursa’s biggest weakness because the hero needs to have uptime to do damage. Therefore, Venomancer is one of the best heroes you can get because he is the master of kiting. Due to his slows and DoT effects, all it takes is a single attack, and Ursa can’t use her blink. What’s more, Venomancer also deals a lot of damage, meaning that he can actually land a kill.

Weaver

Weaver is another hero that is usually good against Ursa because he can hit her a lot and do tons of damage. While it is true that Ursa can kill weaver in seconds once she catches him, players who know what they’re doing won’t allow this to happen. In other words, Weaver can make Ursa’s life a living hell.

Riki and Naga Siren

While we are on the topic of annoying carries, Riki and Naga Siren are also among the best heroes to get against Ursa. They can keep the bear in place and kill her fast because they do a lot of damage. Naga is very popular in the current meta, so don’t be surprised if you see the hero in action against Ursa.

General Gameplay tips

After sharing more information about some of the best Dota 2 heroes against Ursa, it is time for a couple of gameplay tips. We’d like to start by saying that the best way to counter his hero is by surviving the early and mid-game. Ursa is not one of the carry heroes that rely on farming because she needs to snowball. So, surviving in the laning stage usually means that you will have no problems later on. 

That said, most teams with Ursa will do everything they can to empower the hero and ensure she gets a good start. This usually results in a lot of kills, meaning that players have to do something else to stop her from winning. Needless to say, this is where Roshan comes to play.

Every Ursa player who gets a couple of kills early on will always try to kill Roshan and get the Aegis. A snowballed Ursa + an Aegis means bad news for the enemy team, meaning that players have to do everything they can to prevent this from happening. 

The best thing that can happen in this situation is to find out that Ursa is attempting to kill Roshan, kill her, and steal the Aegis for yourself. This seems complicated, and it is, but since we’re talking about pubs, most teams won’t help her while attempting to kill Roshan. Hence, you just need to keep an eye on the map and be more careful when you notice she’s missing.

Picking solid offlaners

Besides preventing Ursa from getting a kill on Roshan, you also have to think about the offlaner that will go up against the hero. Even though some Ursa players like going mid, this hero is usually in the safe lane.

Several offlaners can do well against Ursa, one of which is Windranger. Even though she is not the most common offlaner in the current meta, the hero is hard to kill and can harass Ursa all the time.

Aggressive lineups like Venomancer, Viper and Timbersaw can also be pretty good. However, this depends on Ursa’s support because someone with a stun can be enough for Ursa to land at least a few kills.

The best items versus Ursa

As mentioned several times in this review, Ursa is a hero that relies a lot on uptime and aggression to dominate. That said, there are several items that can definitely make the hero’s life a living hell.

Starting with Diffusal Blade, this is one of the best items against Ursa because it can slow her down and purge her W. While she can remove the Purge effect with her Ult, she won’t be able to do a lot of damage, and enemies can kill her really fast.

Radiance is also a really annoying item to play against. Besides the fact that it does a lot of damage, it prevents Ursa from using her blink and makes her miss most of her attacks (unless she has a Monkey King Bar).

Scythe of Vyse is also a great item against Ursa, but this is true against pretty much every hero in the game. A hexed Ursa can’t do anything, making her an easy target.