How to deal with Sniper mid?

Early Levels

• He can do close to nothing levels 1-2, maybe even 3
• His base damage is low, so you can out last hit & out deny him
• You may be able to first blood him if you control the creep wave well and force him down into the river -- depends on your hero though

Level 6

• If you have a big ult, especially if you get it first, you can get a kill on him, gaining huge leverage in the lane

Ganks

• This is the most common way to deal with him and why he is rarely picked in pro matches
• Sniper has low HP, low survivability, and has limited mobility. He is extremely easy for supports to gank.

Rune Control

• These are sort of the wildcard in mid matchups. Sniper may not be as interested in getting them (he has very low mana usage).
• Most other mids can push the lane out better than Sniper (shrapnel is kind of slow-acting)
• If you get something like DD, Invis, or Haste, you can generally look for a kill on him

He is a hero that if left alone, will slowly take over the lane. He is pretty good at many 1v1 matchups, especially after a few levels have been gained.

Additionally, he is a mid that also carries, so he will tend to sit in lane and farm until he can carry hard. This can create an opening for you to take control of all the other lanes. If you do well with that, a Sniper alone will have difficulty winning with 2 lost lanes. However, you also put yourself in jeopardy because he may just take 2 towers, making up for the deficit his team would otherwise be in due to ganks.

Heroes who counter on Sniper mid:

• Kunkka  (due to Tidebringer )
• Viper (due to Corrosive Skin)
• Lina (long attack range and  Dragon Slave/ Laguna Blade array)
• Templar Assassin (due to psi blade splash)
• Queen of Pain (due to high damage/Blink)
• Silencer (due to curse of the silent since most Snipers skill their passives first)

Having supports/teammates gank mid and lock him down will make him easy to kill. He has trouble playing from behind so just kill him a couple of times and he will not come online until much later.

Any gap closer or invisible heroes can blow Sniper up. Continually wrecking a Sniper player with Nyx Assassin or Bounty Hunter is one of my great joys in the game. Anyone with a disable can take him out, too, since he's only good if he can stay far away or go inivisble with shadow blade - so buy dust, lock him down, and kill him.