Wraith King vs Viper

How this matchup plays

Fighting into a Wraith King as Viper is a losing battle. Viper’s whole kit is designed to wear down a single hero over time, but Wraith King’s tankiness and Reincarnation make this plan fall apart. All of Viper’s damage gets spent taking the first life, and then he’s left with no cooldowns facing a full-health hero. Crucially, Nethertoxin can’t break Reincarnation, meaning Viper’s signature tool for shutting down durable heroes is completely ineffective here. He has to kill Wraith King twice, and he struggles to even do it once.

Viper can bully the lane early on, but Wraith King can usually sustain through it and catch up on farm. The real problem starts in the mid-game. If a teamfight breaks out, Viper has to make a choice: either use his ultimate on a different target and let Wraith King run free, or waste it on WK’s first life and become useless for the next part of the fight. Wraith King, on the other hand, can simply identify Viper as a target, walk at him, and force a favorable trade knowing his ultimate guarantees he wins the exchange.