Aya Counters 2026: Best Counter Picks & Builds

Aya is a support who lives through her teammates: she uses Deep Forest's Protection to merge into an ally and empower them, Note of Light fires a light orb that deals magic damage, slows and reveals enemies, while her ultimate Song of the Deep Forest creates a magic circle around allies with a soul shield, boosting their movement speed and transforming enemies within range. Her passive Little Squirrel Spirit is the last line of insurance: below 40% HP, Aya turns into a little squirrel for 5 seconds and can’t be targeted. Her weaknesses are a very fragile body whenever she has to stand outside, being nearly useless without someone to latch onto, and the fact that the ally she protects can still be locked down or worn down. Hard CC, true damage, damage over time and mobile heroes that can dodge the light orb are what make Aya hardest to play. To counter Aya , consider Arum, Aleister in the support role, Hayate in the Dragon Lane and Lauriel, Mganga in the mid lane.

• Arum
• Aleister

Arum

Aya ‘s power comes from attaching to allies, so if you lock down the ally she’s empowering, or catch her while she’s out on her own, both of them are helpless. Snare lets Arum dash in and bind a target: for the duration, both Arum and her victim are completely immobilized, and any damage either of them takes is transferred to the other. Arum also has 3 beasts circling her, so right after that she can use Uncaged with the third beast for a 1-second stun. Her passive Ravenous Beasts heals her, keeping Arum tanky enough to stand in the middle of the enemy team while her allies pile on the damage.

Aleister

Aleister ‘s Magic Prison traps an enemy in a magic prison and deals magic damage each tick for 2.5 seconds, long enough for the whole team to burst down the ally Aya is empowering. The locked-down hero can’t run anywhere, so Aya’s buff won’t save them from focused fire. If Aya is standing outside, the barrier from Magic Barrier stuns her right away, and on every 3rd skill, the passive Wicked Plot curses and then detonates for true damage, which is brutal for a support with so little HP. Note that the ultimate has to be channeled, so cast it once the target has nowhere left to retreat.

• Hayate

Hayate

The shields and power Aya gives her allies only make them harder to kill, while Hayate ‘s true damage keeps ticking every second. His passive Blood of the Dragon means that after 6 hits on the same target, his attacks over the next 4 seconds deal bonus true damage, and his basic attacks also bounce to a nearby enemy. Kunai Blitz teleports Hayate to a chosen spot, then he continuously throws shurikens at every enemy around him, ideal right when Aya has just detached from an ally. The passive of Shadow Step also boosts his damage and movement speed when an enemy hero is within 5m.

• Lauriel
• Mganga

Lauriel

Note of Light is Aya ‘s main tool for slowing and revealing a target, but it has to land to do anything. Lauriel dodges the light orb easily with Wings of Purity : she dashes in the chosen direction and flaps her wings to fire 3 beams of light, and each hit on an enemy reduces the cooldown. Standing inside Great Judgment , Lauriel’s cooldowns recover twice as fast, enough to dash out of Song of the Deep Forest ‘s transformation circle and come back to keep poking. Path of Repentance draws a path that deals damage twice, making it easy to hit both Aya and the ally she’s sticking close to.

Mganga

Aya keeps her allies alive with shields and bonus power, so the longer a fight drags on, the more it favors the side with more sustained healing. Mganga is exactly that kind of hero: his passive Voodoo makes every attack and skill apply poison, stacking up to 5 Voodoo Marks, while Detonation detonates all marks to deal magic damage and heal allies, with each stack adding 50% more healing. Toxic covers an area in toxic smoke for 4 seconds and slows, stopping the allies Aya has sped up from charging in.