* Whirling Death reduces Axe's strength by 15%, which makes him less durable, especially from early game. It's also stackable.
* Blade Mail are not effective against attribute changes, and Timber Chain can wait out Blade Mail's duration to wear off.
* Reactive Armor makes it harder for Axe to finish off Timbersaw with Culling Blade.
* Chakram disarms Timbersaw, which makes Axe's Counter Helix useless against him.
* All Timbersaw skills deal pure damage, which bypass Axe's high armor or bonus armor from Berserker's Call.
Additional:
* Whirling Death reduces Axe's strength by 15%, making him much less durable, especially in the early game. It is also stackable.
* Axe's Blade Mail is ineffective against attribute changes, and Timbersaw's mobility with Timber Chain means he can wait out Blade Mail's duration.
* Reactive Armor's armor and regeneration makes it much harder for Axe to finish Timbersaw with Culling Blade.
* Chakram disarms Timbersaw, making Counter Helix less effective.

* Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from Stifling Dagger, as well as ganking attempts.
* Phantom Assassin is a hero with moderate HP pool, and usually appears in the front line of battle. Because Blur does nothing against spells, she is vulnerable to Timbersaw's skills.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his Timber Chain.
Additional:
* Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from Stifling Dagger.
* Phantom Assassin has a moderate health pool and usually appears in the front line of battle, making her vulnerable to Timbersaw's magic burst.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his Timber Chain.

* Dispersion makes Spectre very durable, making it much less likely for Axe to bring her low enough for Culling Blade.
* Spectre can simply use Spectral Dagger to escape against an Axe gank.

* Black King Bar is useless, since all of the Spectre's abilities go through spell immunity,
* Phantom Assassin's Blur cannot evade Desolate because its damage is a separate damage instance and is applied before the attack hits.
* Spectre's high durability provided by Dispersion and damage block items makes her one of the hardest carries to take down.
Additional:
* Dispersion makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to burst down Spectre while also reflecting back Phantom Assassin's high burst damage against herself.
* Desolate ignores the evasion from Blur.
* Black King Bar is useless against Spectre as all of her skills pierce spell immunity.

* Decrepify can be used on allies to prevent them from attacking Axe and triggering Counter Helix during Berserker's Call. He can also cast it on Axe to prevent anyone from attacking him.
* Life Drain can be used to heal himself or allies caught in Berserker's Call, preventing them from dropping low enough for Axe to kill them with Culling Blade.

* Ethereal state disarms the target and makes them more vulnerable to magic damage, both of which Phantom Assassin despises. Especially Pugna and any hero that is wielding Ethereal Blade, such as Mirana, Nyx Assassin or Morphling.

* Outworld Destroyer's pure and magical damage is particularly effective against Axe.
* Astral Imprisonment is an excellent way to defend against an initiating Axe.
* Sanity's Eclipse deals high damage to Axe due to his low mana pool.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call bonus armor doesn't block Arcane Orb's pure damage.
* Astral Imprisonment can be used to prevent an ally or Outworld Devourer himself from an Axe initiation.
* Axe's low mana means he's susceptible to a powerful Sanity's Eclipse.

* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse: Doom, Phantom Assassin, Troll Warlord.

* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger, Sniper, Lion.

* Despite her high mobility, Hex or Earth Spike can lock Phantom Assassin down and make her vulnerable.
* Although she has high evasion through Blur, Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to Lion's magical burst.
Additional:
* Hex and Earth Spike's fast cast animations easily catches Phantom Assassin when she jumps in to attack.
* Finger of Death often ends Phantom Assassin before she can do anything in the early to mid game.

* Heroes with magical burst damage can often kill Phantom Assassin before she gets to do much: Necrophos, Nyx Assassin, Gyrocopter.

* Frequent healing from Death Pulse and Mekansm makes it difficult for Axe to finish off targets with Culling Blade.
* Ghost Shroud's instant cast time allows Necrophos to turn ethereal before being initiated on by Berserker's Call. This prevents him from attacking Axe while taunted, thus lowering the chance to proc Counter Helix.
* Axe's high health is relatively ineffective against Heartstopper Aura's percentage-based health degeneration.
* Reaper's Scythe negates Axe's durability, and can kill him quickly after initiation.
Additional:
* Frequent healing from Death Pulse makes it difficult for Axe to finish off targets with Culling Blade.
* Reaper's Scythe negates Axe's tankiness, and can kill him quickly after initiation.
* Heartstopper Aura is effective due to Axe's high strength gain.

* While her Phantom Strike does give limited extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her Blur may protect her from attacks, Phoenix's strong magical DPS burns away her small health pool quickly, and the attack speed slow makes her unable to fight back (provided she has no source of spell immunity).
Additional:
* Fire Spirits applies a severe attack speed slow, severely hindering Phantom Assassin's damage output. While Phantom Strike may be able to slightly remedy the problem, Phoenix' magical and pure damage output completely ignore Blur's evasion, resulting in severe damage to her low health pool.

* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe, Pudge, Bristleback, Mars.

Additional:
* Sun Ray allows Phoenix to heal any allies caught in Berserker's Call, while burning away Axe's high HP at the same time.
* Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits puts Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Axe's slow attack speed makes it difficult for him to destroy Supernova on his own.

* Doom, Disruptor with Aghanim's Scepter, and hex abilities all prevent item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers. Doom and Shadow Demon with Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility.

* Disruption will save Shadow Demon's teammates from being killed by Counter Helix or Culling Blade.
* Soul Catcher and Shadow Poison can put Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Demonic Purge slows Axe to a crawl, making him nearly useless after initiating. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter, it will also break Counter Helix.

* Omniknight's healing prevents allies from dropping low enough for Culling Blade. However, it can still go through all his buffs.
* Axe also enjoys getting close to allied heroes in order to damage them with his Counter Helix, which can easily be punished by Purification.

* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Sven, Phantom Assassin, Juggernaut, Dragon Knight, Lycan, Ursa, Troll Warlord

Additional:
* Purification easily catches Phantom Assassin when she jumps in to attack.
* Guardian Angel renders Phantom Assassin useless, as she depends entirely on physical attacks.

* Infernal Blade's damage is calculated by percentage of maximum health, meaning that it will hurt Axe more than most normal attacks, negating some of his durability.
* Doom can pick up several different abilities from neutral creeps using Devour, some of which can be annoying to Axe.
* Mud Golem, Dark Troll Summoner, Harpy Stormcrafter, Satyr Mindstealer or Satyr Tormenter are good examples.
* Doom's naturally low attack speed makes Counter Helix less likely to proc, and his high base health allows him to take a few Helixes with no danger.
* Doom makes Axe less disruptive, preventing him from using his skills or items. With Aghanim's Scepter, Counter Helix is also disabled, making him effectively useless for a lengthy duration.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Axe.
* Doom has low attack speed because of his high Base-Attack-Time, poor agility gain and limited attack-speed granting items which are commonly built. This means Doom will trigger Counter Helix less often and thus is an unideal target for initiation.
* Doom has naturally high HP so it takes longer for Doom to be brought down to the killing threshold of Culling Blade.
* Axe is highly reliant on his abilities and items to be effective during a fight. Without the usage of Berserker's Call and Blink Dagger due to Doom, Axe offers very little in the way of damage, effectively removing him from a fight.

* Doom, Disruptor with Aghanim's Scepter, and hex abilities all prevent item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers. Doom and Shadow Demon with Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility.

* Poison Attack and Viper Strike slows Axe significantly, and puts his Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating.
* Nethertoxin can break Counter Helix.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents Counter Helix from triggering, which significantly lowers Axe's damage output in the early to mid game.
* Viper's various slows and damage over time prevents Axe from initiating as well as putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown.

* Nethertoxin breaks Phantom Assassin's passive skills.
* Viper Strike goes through Black King Bar.

* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma, Vengeful Spirit, Doom, Bane, Beastmaster, Pudge.

* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heros like; Spirit Breaker, Legion Commander, Axe, Puck, and Slardar

* Heroes with magical burst damage can often kill Phantom Assassin before she gets to do much: Necrophos, Nyx Assassin, Gyrocopter.

* Heroes that relies on armor or other type of physical damage negation are easy for Gyrocopter to take down during the early game with his magical damage: Axe, Dragon Knight, Sven.

* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Batrider, Arc Warden, Winter Wyvern, Clockwerk

* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer, Sven, Wraith King, Phantom Assassin etc.

* Static Link can lower the damage output from Coup de Grace procs, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of damage.
* Eye of the Storm strikes cannot be evaded by Blur.
* Both Static Link and Eye of the Storm pierces spell immunity, as Phantom Assassin is often reliant on Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Static Link greatly lowers the damage output from Coup de Grace, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of scaling.
* Eye of the Storm strikes cannot be evaded by Blur.

* Enfeeble greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's burst damage.
* Nightmare and Fiend's Grip can ground Phantom Assassin, who normally blinks around with Phantom Strike, and stop her from outputting damage, even with Black King Bar.
* Phantom Assassin's low health pool early on makes her susceptible to Brain Sap and Fiend's Grip's heavy nuke damage.
Additional:
* Enfeeble greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's damage output, crippling her damage with Coup de Grace.
* Brain Sap's deals high magical damage against Phantom Assassin in the early game. When upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, it can pierce spell immunity.
* Fiend's Grip can disable Phantom Assassin, even through spell immunity.

* Puck relies mainly on magical burst damage, which Phantom Assassin is most vulnerable against.
* Phase Shift and Illusory Orb disjoint Stifling Dagger, also allowing to kite Phantom Assassin.
* Dream Coil will stun Phantom Assassin if she uses Phantom Strike to blink away.

* Sharpshooter disables both Blur and Coup De Grace, especially with the level 25 talent.
* Because Phantom Assassin is often reliant on critical strikes, Hoodwink can have enough time to simply move near a tree and escape with Scurry.

* Phantom Assassin relies on her Blur to stay alive, but is very vulnerable to Sand King's heavy magic damage.
* With Burrowstrike, Sand King can often catch Phantom Assassin before she can use her Black King Bar.
* Sand King can dodge Stifling Dagger with Sandstorm.
* Phantom Assassin has a hard time killing Sand King because of his high mobility.

* Decay's stacking strength reduction makes Axe much less dominant in lane.
* Tombstone's zombies take no damage from Counter Helix, and will continuously put Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown until dealt with.

* Overgrowth prevents Phantom Assassin from using Blink Strike even through her spell immunity.
* Living Armor reduces Phantom Assassin's physical damage whenever she attempts to gank an allied hero.

* Retaliate deals damage to Phantom Assassin for every attack and Stifling Dagger thrown at Centaur.
* Blur cannot evade Double Edge.
Additional:
* Retaliate turns Phantom Assassin's attacks against herself, as he deals damage with every hit taken, and his big health pool makes sure that a lot of hits will be needed.
* If Centaur Warrunner gets the jump on Phantom Assassin first, she will be unable to activate Black King Bar and might be burst down with the help of his Double Edge.
* Stampede can save an ally under attack by Phantom Assassin, offsetting the slow from Stifling Dagger. If he owns an Aghanim's Scepter, he can prevent a low-health ally from being killed in one crit.

* Feast's lifesteal makes it nearly impossible for Axe to initiate and bring Lifestealer's health low enough for Culling Blade, even with many procs of Counter Helix.
* Feast's healing is calculated as a percentage of a target's max health, turning Axe's high health against him. This allows Lifestealer to trade against Axe much better than most other heroes.
Additional:
* Feast makes it impossible to put Lifestealer's health for a Culling Blade and also deals high damage to Axe due to his naturally high health.
* However, Lifestealer's Rage can be pierced by Berserker's Call.

* Mystic Snake can harass Axe in lane and drain his small mana pool.
* Mana Shield reduces the effectiveness of Counter Helix.
* Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Axe to pursue.

* Heroes who rely on physical damage will suffer from Laser: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Huskar.

Additional:
* The blind from Laser can render Phantom Assassin useless if she is not protected by Black King Bar.
* Tinker is a natural Scythe of Vyse carrier and can permanently disable Phantom Assassin, not giving her chance to activate Black King Bar if she has it.

* Ethereal state disarms the target and makes them more vulnerable to magic damage, both of which Phantom Assassin despises. Especially Pugna and any hero that is wielding Ethereal Blade, such as Mirana, Nyx Assassin or Morphling.

* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma, Vengeful Spirit, Doom, Bane, Beastmaster, Pudge.

* Hand of God and Divine Favor make it hard for Axe to finish off allies with Culling Blade.

* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Batrider, Arc Warden, Winter Wyvern, Clockwerk

* In early to mid stage, Silence is also a great way to counter escape oriented heroes such as Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, and Phantom Assassin to prevent them from escaping, provided that they don't have any basic dispels.

* Ethereal state disarms the target and makes them more vulnerable to magic damage, both of which Phantom Assassin despises. Especially Pugna and any hero that is wielding Ethereal Blade, such as Mirana, Nyx Assassin or Morphling.

* Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction: Sven, Phantom Assassin, Ursa, Wraith King, Lifestealer

* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa, Clinkz, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin.

* Though certainly not a "hard counter", Crystal Maiden's skillset (magical damage nukes) does pose a substantial threat to Phantom Assassin through the mid game, especially if followed up with engagement by her team.
* A quick use of Freezing Field directly after Phantom Strike can leave Phantom Assassin trapped inside the area of effect, capitalizing on Phantom Assassin's relatively low HP pool when she is not protected by Blur.
* If Phantom Assassin chooses not to buy a Black King Bar relatively early, the attack slow from Freezing Field can greatly hinder the proc chance of Coup de Grace in a teamfight.
* However, Phantom Assassin's massive damage, and her tendency to build both Black King Bar and Skull Basher makes her a formidable foe the later the game goes, and fighting her without a team is almost never a good choice.

* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Batrider, Arc Warden, Winter Wyvern, Clockwerk

* Doom, Disruptor with Aghanim's Scepter, and hex abilities all prevent item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers. Doom and Shadow Demon with Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility.

* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord

Additional:
* High armor thanks to Dragon Blood makes it difficult for Phantom Assassin to burst down Dragon Knight, as she deals 100% physical damage.
* Dragon Tail stuns Phantom Assassin as soon as she initiates, preventing her from gaining bonus attack speed.
* Dragon Knight is one of the few heroes who can safely solo lane against Phantom Assassin alongside a support.

* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Batrider, Arc Warden, Winter Wyvern, Clockwerk

* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma, Vengeful Spirit, Doom, Bane, Beastmaster, Pudge.

* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma, Vengeful Spirit, Doom, Bane, Beastmaster, Pudge.

* Enrage reduces the damage from Blade Mail and Counter Helix to a minimum, forcing Axe to play around Ursa's ultimate ability.
* Overpower and Fury Swipes tear through Axe's low armor, even if he has relatively high health.

* Axe is a hero that is very vulnerable against magical nuke damage and disables, Jakiro is perfect against him with all of his spells.
Additional:
* Ice Path neutralizes initiation attempts with Berserker's Call, and its long area of effect discourages follow-ups from Axe's teammates.
* Ice Path serves as a large obstacle to stop Axe from chasing down fleeing stragglers to kill with Culling Blade.
* Jakiro's many damage-per-second skills prevent Axe from initiating with his Blink Dagger.

* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.

* Venomancer's slows and magical damage-over-time work well against Axe's complete lack of mobility.
* Plague Ward is especially useful for slowing down Axe, and revealing him before he initiates, as well as putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown.
Additional:
* Venomancer's slows and magical damage-over-time work well against Axe's complete lack of mobility.
* Plague Wards is especially useful for slowing down Axe, and revealing him before he initiates, as well as putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* For the same reasons, Venomancer is a good ally for Axe when the situation is reversed.