Stats for mythic rank, last 7 days — third-party aggregation, not an official Moonton figure.
Written by EllieAnth — playing MLBB since 2017 (9+ years), peak rank Mythical Immortal, 1126 stars.
A breakdown of the 10 matchups that decide Estes games — why each one leans the way it does, what it costs you in lane, and how to play it.
Overview
What decides Estes's matchups
Estes dictates teamfights by tethering allies through Moonlight Immersion to grant burst healing, Hybrid Defense, and Movement Speed, elevated into an oppressive group sustain engine when Blessing of Moon Goddess hits all nearby allies simultaneously. Matchups are decided by whether opponents can isolate Estes or burst his target before these continuous HP restores take effect. Enemy teams relentlessly exploit his complete lack of hard displacement, bypassing the heavy edge slow on Domain of Moon Goddess to focus him down directly before his Scripture of the Moon Elf energy stacks can provide reliable self-peel.
Hard counters 4
These heroes have a structural edge over you: their kit directly shuts down the tools you rely on. Winning the lane outright is rarely the plan — the goal is to limit mistakes, give up as little tempo as possible, and look for value somewhere else on the map.
Akai's kit inherently dismantles the compact death-ball formation that Estes relies on to function. Estes requires allies to stay tightly grouped so Blessing of Moon Goddess and Moonlight Immersion can continuously tether and heal them. However, Akai uses Headbutt to gap-close and immediately unleashes Heavy Spin, which forcefully knocks back multiple targets and scatters the team. This physical displacement physically severs Estes's healing links by pushing allies beyond maximum tether range, completely rendering his mass-healing ultimate useless during crucial teamfights.
Lane impact
During early roam phase, Akai holds a massive threat posture using Headbutt and Body Slam to chunk Estes or force early defensive responses. If Estes attempts to zone with Domain of Moon Goddess or poke with an enhanced basic attack from Scripture of the Moon Elf, Akai can absorb the damage with his Tai Chi shield and instantly counter-engage. This forces Estes to spend mana on self-preservation via Moonlight Immersion rather than sustaining his laner, effectively conceding priority around early Turtle spawns and jungle invasions.
How to play it
To survive against Akai, Estes must alter his position and avoid clustering directly on top of his damage dealers. Place Domain of Moon Goddess defensively along narrow chokepoints to impede Akai's path before he can reach Headbutt range. Keep track of Heavy Spin's activation; never trigger Blessing of Moon Goddess until after Akai has committed his spin or has been baited away from the core team. If Akai initiates with Heavy Spin, back off immediately, allow the displacement to end, and only then re-link Moonlight Immersion to rebuild team health.
Hayabusa invalidates Estes' defensive perimeter through untargetable burst and instant gap-closers. When Hayabusa executes Ninjutsu: Quad Shadow, he bypasses the slow edge of Domain of Moon Goddess entirely by teleporting directly onto Estes. Once within range, Hayabusa triggers Ougi: Shadow Kill, becoming invulnerable while shredding Estes with single-target physical damage amplified by Ninjutsu: Trace of Shadow. This interaction forces Estes to prematurely activate Blessing of Moon Goddess purely for personal survival, draining his primary team-wide healing resource before a full team fight even begins.
Lane impact
Hayabusa's swift jungle rotations severely restrict how aggressively Estes can move across the map. Attempting to check vision with Domain of Moon Goddess becomes lethal, as Hayabusa can collapse instantly using Ninjutsu: Quad Shadow and land Ninjutsu: Phantom Shuriken at point-blank range. This constant threat forces Estes to remain closely tethered to his team with Moonlight Immersion, surrendering river control and early setups around the Turtle. As a result, Hayabusa freely dictates map tempo while Estes is pinned into defensive lane clearing.
How to play it
Estes must never wander alone, as an isolated target takes the full brunt of Ougi: Shadow Kill. Position directly inside allied minion waves or tightly beside teammates so Hayabusa's ultimate slashes split damage across multiple targets. Keep track of Ninjutsu: Quad Shadow, dropping Domain of Moon Goddess right on your own position only after Hayabusa teleports in. Save Blessing of Moon Goddess for the exact moment Hayabusa emerges from the shadows, immediately connecting Moonlight Immersion to sustain your ally through his energy-depleted cooldown window.
Atlas fundamentally counters Estes because Estes requires allies to tightly gather to maximize Blessing of Moon Goddess, creating the ultimate setup for Fatal Links. When Atlas initiates using Perfect Match, gaining movement speed and complete slow immunity, Estes lacks any hard crowd control to halt him—Domain of Moon Goddess only applies a decaying slow that Perfect Match completely ignores. Once Atlas channels Fatal Links, he effortlessly drags Estes and his linked allies into a concentrated focal point, converting Estes' healing aura into a devastating burst opportunity before his sustain can compensate.
Lane impact
Throughout the laning phase, Atlas dictates Roam pressure by threatening Perfect Match whenever Estes steps forward to maintain Moonlight Immersion with his laner. Estes cannot safely contest river bushes or secure early Turtle vision, because clumping in tight jungle corridors against Atlas guarantees a multi-man Fatal Links slam. Although Estes provides solid chip-damage recovery through Scripture of the Moon Elf and Moonlight Immersion, Atlas utilizes Frigid Breath to absorb minor trades effortlessly, forcing Estes to abandon aggressive lane positioning and play defensively near turrets.
How to play it
Estes must enforce strict spread positioning, linking to a single ally via Moonlight Immersion rather than clustering his team together. Always track Atlas's ultimate and withhold Blessing of Moon Goddess until after Fatal Links has already been spent on a bait target. Use Domain of Moon Goddess to block tight choke points after Atlas completes his ejection phase. If Atlas succeeds in pulling allies, instantly activate Blessing of Moon Goddess for its immediate hybrid defense boost and rapid healing, while pinging teammates to scatter away from Frigid Breath.
Estes fundamentally demands that his allies cluster together to maximize the multi-target tethering of Blessing of Moon Goddess. Tigreal thrives against grouped enemies, using Sacred Hammer to charge and knock up targets directly into Implosion for a devastating pull and stun sequence. Because Estes lacks escape tools, being caught in this crowd control loop alongside his linked teammates prevents him from maintaining proper tether distance, forcing him to spend Blessing of Moon Goddess reactively just to survive the initial burst rather than controlling the fight pace.
Lane impact
During early roaming, Tigreal leverages Attack Wave to slow Estes while using Fearless to absorb basic attacks from Scripture of the Moon Elf without taking meaningful damage. If Estes attempts to zone with Domain of Moon Goddess, Tigreal can bypass the slow using the forward displacement of Sacred Hammer to push Estes into incoming follow-up damage. This constant threat of sudden displacement forces Estes to concede river vision around the Turtle and play far behind his frontline, relinquishing early map pressure to Tigreal.
How to play it
Estes must maintain maximum link distance using Moonlight Immersion to avoid standing adjacent to his primary heal target. Place Domain of Moon Goddess in Tigreal's path before he reaches melee range, utilizing the ninety percent boundary slow to impede his approach. Track Tigreal's Implosion readiness constantly and never group tightly while it is available. If Tigreal whiffs his ultimate or spends Sacred Hammer on a single target, immediately activate Blessing of Moon Goddess to out-sustain the enemy while Tigreal's crowd control skills are on cooldown.
Unfavorable 3
You are behind in this matchup but not helpless. These opponents punish specific mistakes rather than dominating every exchange, so precise cooldown tracking and patient trading keep you in the game.
Belerick naturally counters the precise formation Estes demands. Estes requires teammates to cluster tightly around him to maximize the multi-target tethering of Blessing of Moon Goddess and sustained healing from Moonlight Immersion. Belerick capitalizes on this exact grouping by stepping in with Wrath of Dryad, locking the entire healed deathball in place with widespread taunts. Additionally, Ancient Seed provides line-of-sight CC that forces Estes into hazardous choke points. While Estes tries to out-heal continuous damage, Belerick turns the Moon Elf's close-range clustering into a guaranteed target for Deadly Thorns return damage.
Lane impact
During early roaming, Belerick uses Nature's Strike to aggressively close distance and trade HP, knowing his lost health pool triggers Deadly Thorns and self-sustains his trades. Estes can stabilize trades by linking his lane partner with Moonlight Immersion and dropping Domain of Moon Goddess to slow Belerick's approach. However, Belerick holds wave control because Ancient Seed easily clears minion waves while threatening line taunts. If Estes burns his mana pool sustaining early aggression, Belerick secures vision around the Turtle, forcing Estes to contest objective choke points where clustered healing becomes a lethal liability.
How to play it
Estes must maintain strict spatial distance from his allies rather than forming a tight huddle. Reserve Domain of Moon Goddess to zone Belerick whenever he activates Nature's Strike, decaying his movement bonus before he reaches melee range. Track the cooldown of Wrath of Dryad before committing Blessing of Moon Goddess; if Belerick engages, stagger your team's positioning so Moonlight Immersion reaches allies without inviting an all-in taunt. When contesting the Turtle or Lord, force Belerick to waste Ancient Seed on frontline skirmishes before grouping up for collective recovery.
Gloo structurally counters Estes' core identity of grouping allies for collective sustain. Estes requires team proximity to maximize Blessing of Moon Goddess and Moonlight Immersion, but this clustering allows Gloo to rapidly apply Stick, Stick stacks across multiple heroes using Split, Split. Once Gloo stacks his passive and casts Grab, Grab to attach onto a target, Estes' team cannot focus Gloo down without transferring eighty percent of that damage directly into the host ally. Furthermore, Gloo's continuous CC via Slam, Slam and Pass, Pass constantly disrupts Estes' positioning.
Lane impact
During roaming phases, Gloo asserts overwhelming zone control by planting Slam, Slam in bushes and resetting its cooldown repeatedly by touching the Goo. Estes cannot answer this aggression with Scripture of the Moon Elf, as Gloo's Stick, Stick continuously diminishes incoming damage while stacking severe slows. If Estes drops Domain of Moon Goddess to check bushes or clear vision, Gloo can initiate with Pass, Pass to drag Estes into danger. This forces Estes to burn Moonlight Immersion for defensive movement speed rather than enabling his laners, granting Gloo complete control over river rotations.
How to play it
Estes must strictly enforce spread positioning whenever Gloo has Split, Split available to prevent multi-target Stick, Stick stacking. Save Domain of Moon Goddess for defensive zone control, placing the edge where Gloo wants to advance so the ninety percent slow delays his approach. When Gloo uses Grab, Grab on a teammate, command your team to cease attacking Gloo entirely; instead, pop Blessing of Moon Goddess and maintain a constant Moonlight Immersion tether to heal the host through the transferred damage until Gloo detaches with Go, Go.
Floryn gains a distinct structural advantage over Estes by rendering his primary win condition—tightly grouped deathball pushes—extremely risky. Estes requires his team to cluster tightly around him to maximize Blessing of Moon Goddess and Moonlight Immersion tethers. Floryn directly punishes this compact formation with Sprout, delivering an area stun that interrupts Estes's positioning. Furthermore, while Estes must physically walk to lanes to sustain allies, Floryn's Bloom provides instant global healing, allowing her side-laners to survive skirmishes without her physical presence, forcing Estes to burn high-cooldown ultimates to match global pressure.
Lane impact
During early roaming, Estes relies on Domain of Moon Goddess to slow targets and set up trades while cycling Moonlight Immersion. Floryn counters this rhythm using Sow to trade damage and bounce HP back to her lane partner while adding shields through Dew. Because Sprout can stun Estes from range when he steps up to tether his marksman, Estes cannot freely control wave momentum or zone opponents. When Turtle fights break out, Floryn's Bloom guarantees global team coverage even if she is delayed, whereas Estes is tethered to proximity, losing map tempo whenever his team is split.
How to play it
As Estes, you must avoid bunching up tightly until Floryn expends Sprout, preventing her from interrupting your team with a single skill shot. Force short trades with Domain of Moon Goddess's heavy slow to draw out Sow, then step in with Moonlight Immersion once her bounce heals are on cooldown. Track the cast of Bloom before committing Blessing of Moon Goddess; if Floryn uses her global ultimate to save a distant ally, immediately signal a grouped push onto a major objective, leveraging your superior sustained close-range healing to overwhelm her while her ultimate is down.
Favorable 2
Your kit has the edge here. These are the matchups where you should look to build a lead early and convert it, rather than playing for scaling.
Karina relies on execution thresholds from Shadow Combo and cooldown resets via Shadow Assault to snowball teamfights. Estes directly shuts down this pattern through Blessing of Moon Goddess and Moonlight Immersion. By rapidly pumping sustained health into targeted allies, Estes keeps their HP elevated, drastically reducing the True Damage scaling of Shadow Combo and preventing Karina from securing the kill required to reset Shadow Assault. Additionally, dropping Domain of Moon Goddess directly in her path punishes her reliance on Dance of Blades speed boosts by enforcing a severe 90% decay slow.
Lane impact
Karina's gank pressure around early Turtle fights depends on finding low-health targets to trigger her reset loop. Estes completely dampens this aggression during rotations by sustaining teammates with Moonlight Immersion, keeping allies above Karina's burst range. When Karina seeks picks from the brush using Dance of Blades, Estes can cast Domain of Moon Goddess to reveal her location and impede her collapse. Denied her signature quick executions, Karina loses early jungle tempo, allowing Estes to lead his team into objective setups without fear of swift assassin counters.
How to play it
Hold Blessing of Moon Goddess until Karina commits Shadow Assault to an allied hero. Activating your Ultimate at the instant of her dive spikes your team's HP, neutralizing Shadow Combo's lost-HP execution scaling and denying her skill reset. Immediately drop Domain of Moon Goddess over the targeted ally; if Karina attempts to stick to them or retreat back to her Shadowform location, touching the domain's edge inflicts a crippling 90% slow. Continuously maintain Moonlight Immersion links on vulnerable allies to grant them extra Hybrid Defense and prevent isolated picks.
Estes holds a structural advantage over Angela because her poke and single-target protection fail to break through his teamwide sustain. Angela relies on stacking Lover's Mark with Love Waves and isolating targets using Puppet-on-a-String, but Estes negates this attrition effortlessly with Moonlight Immersion. Furthermore, when Angela channels Heartguard to shield a single dying ally across the map, Estes counters by grouping his entire team and popping Blessing of Moon Goddess, turning skirmishes into five-man brawls where his multi-target healing out-values her single-target support.
Lane impact
During the laning phase, Angela leverages Smart Heart movement speed and Love Waves charges to poke and trade. However, Estes easily neutralizes her chip damage with Moonlight Immersion while controlling vision using Domain of Moon Goddess. To match Estes' natural healing output, Angela is forced to expend her Love Waves charges rapidly, causing her to deplete her mana and ability charges much faster. This resource strain reduces Angela's map influence, allowing Estes to establish lane priority and secure early Turtle positioning for his team.
How to play it
Group your teammates early to force Angela into unfavorable full-team fights where her single-target kit struggles. When Angela attaches to an enemy using Heartguard, immediately answer by activating Blessing of Moon Goddess to protect your entire frontline from incoming damage. If Angela targets you with Puppet-on-a-String, cast Moonlight Immersion on a nearby ally to gain the bonus movement speed, allowing you to break the tether before the immobilize completes. Use Domain of Moon Goddess at choke points to slow down her attached host hero.
Best allies 1
Heroes whose kit compounds with yours. Drafting alongside them turns your individual strengths into a coordinated threat.
Grock and Estes form a formidable frontline-support duo through complementary area control and extreme survivability. Grock's Guardian's Barrier manipulates enemy movement by creating physical terrain, forcing opposing heroes into narrow pathways. Estes immediately exploits this bottleneck by casting Domain of Moon Goddess, trapping enemies along the edge to trigger its massive ninety percent slow. Furthermore, when Grock executes Wild Charge into a wall for an extended stun, Estes can safely tether via Moonlight Immersion and activate Blessing of Moon Goddess, allowing Grock to sustain immense damage while sticking to targets.
Lane impact
Controlling the map around the Turtle or Lord becomes effortless when this pairing rotates together. Grock utilizes Earthen Force alongside walls to gain defensive stats while scouting ahead, immune to control effects during Power of Nature. Once Grock constructs Guardian's Barrier to seal off objective access, Estes anchors the backline, linking with Moonlight Immersion to grant movement speed and passive charging. Enemy attempts to contest neutral objectives stall out completely, as Estes uses Blessing of Moon Goddess to keep Grock healthy while he holds the choke point against all incoming threats.
How to play it
To execute this combo, Grock must initiate by charging Power of Nature near walls before launching Wild Charge into terrain to stun clustered enemies. Estes should follow closely, dropping Domain of Moon Goddess directly over the trapped foes and tethering Grock with Moonlight Immersion. The Estes player must avoid overextending into the frontline, relying on the link's extended tether distance to remain safe. Trigger Blessing of Moon Goddess the moment Grock absorbs heavy focus fire, ensuring continuous healing while Grock keeps enemies locked behind Guardian's Barrier.
Matchup relationships for 3 of these pairings come from the game's own hero data; the rest are selected from the heroes you actually meet in this lane. All written analysis is AI-generated from both heroes' ability kits and reviewed automatically for accuracy — it describes kit interactions, not live win rates.
