Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Slark's dependence on Pounce and close range makes him very easy to hit with Purification.
* Slark's damage, even with a high count of Essence Shift, is easily negated by Omniknight's heals and Guardian Angel.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Nethertoxin negates Essence Shift and the regeneration aspect of
Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact doesn't mean a lot against Viper's ubiquitous slows.
* Viper becomes a relevant presence in team fights before Slark can procure his standard items (e.g. Shadow Blade).
Axe
* 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.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden
Axe
* 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.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Axe
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Slark
* Though Slark's large damage output is most certainly a concern for the squishy Crystal Maiden, she does perform fairly well against him when coupled with aid from her team.
* Slark has no innate way to cancel Freezing Field, but the common purchase of Skull Basher does make Slark a substantially greater threat to Crystal Maiden as the game progresses.
* Freezing Field can still hit Slark while he is under the effect of Shadow Dance, and for the early and mid game, the damage output of Crystal Maiden's ultimate outscales Slark's passive regeneration, making a quick use of Freezing Field as soon as Slark uses
Shadow Dance a great way to combat him.
* Crystal Maiden's Frostbite and Crystal Nova are helpful in disabling and slowing the slippery Slark so he can be killed by her teammates.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 2%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Timbersaw can use Chakram as a scouting tool to find Slark if he tries to
Pounce into the trees.
* None of Timbersaw's abilities require a target to be cast, allowing him to hit Slark inside Shadow Dance.
* Reactive Armor can be effective protection against a Slark who attacks quickly, since the strong armor and health regen cannot be stolen by
Essence Shift.
* Timber Chain makes Timbersaw very mobile, meaning he is among the very few heroes who can actually give chase to a fleeing Slark.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Spectral Dagger give vision over Slark, slows strong with the talent, can not be dispelled and can not be missed if targeted. With the cooldown reduction talent, Spectre can keep constant vision over Slark, so he has to use his Shadow Dance to disengage so he can't be targeted by the dagger, which can still latch on to him when ground targeted.
* Spectre deals a lot of AOE damage in teamfights which goes through Shadow dance.
Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
Additional:
* Essence Shift deals 20 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by Dispersion.
* Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping with Spectral Dagger.
* Haunt illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a
Shadow Blade, preventing
Desolate's and
Diffusal Blade's damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any damage caused by
Radiance.
* Slark is a natural Silver Edge builder.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Axe
* 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.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* With Dark Ascension he can keep vision on Slark, disabling his Shadow Dance regeneration. Slark is also too weak to seriously threaten Night Stalker in lane.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Ice Blast stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Axe
* 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.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Axe
* 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.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 1%)Slark
* Natural Order aura prevents Slark from gaining armor from the agility stolen with Essence Shift.
* Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter can hit Slark through his Shadow Dance ultimate.
* Slark's stats gain is relatively low compared to most agility carries making him quite squishy without his agility-based armor.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Thunder Strike provides vision on him while Slark is invisible.
* Glimpse's range at lvl 3-4 is more than enough to pull him back to a favorable position for your team to group up and kill him.
* Even though he is capable of picking you off and deal enough damage to kill you, Slark will be literally sticking his neck out, since jumping on Disruptor means being on his battleground.
* AoE silence and the ability to mute Black King Bar is deadly to Slark at all stages of the game.
Additional:
* Static Storm and
Kinetic Field locks down Slark, as he cannot use Dark Pact to dispel any disables, or Pounce out while silenced.
* Glimpse puts an end to any attempts at ganking Disruptor or his allies, and also negates Slark's mobility by bringing him back into the fight if he tries to escape with Pounce.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Both Hoof Stomp and
Double Edge can hit Slark during Shadow Dance, the latter requiring a unit nearby for the ability to be cast on.
* Slark has very low health in the early game, making him susceptible to the burst from Double Edge.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with Break abilities will prevent Slark from regenerating and gaining Essence Shift stacks: Viper,
Shadow Demon etc.
Slark
* Heroes who can dispel will be able to remove Shadow Poison before Shadow Demon can build up a big stack, or remove Soul Catcher's debuff to instantly bring the health of affected heroes back to a considerable amount: Abaddon,
Slark,
Legion Commander,
Oracle.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* A Toss plus
Avalanche combination deals heavy damage to Slark in the early game, making Tiny a very dangerous target to gank.
Chen
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 0%)Axe
* Hand of God and Divine Favor make it hard for Axe to finish off allies with
Culling Blade.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Axe
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Axe
* 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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Slardar's level 25 talent makes
Corrosive Haze undispellable, thus providing his allies a vision to Slark.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Slark
* Illusory Orb and
Phase Shift allows Puck to avoid most ganking attempts.
* Waning Rift and
Dream Coil makes it very hard for Slark to escape bad situations.
* Puck's abilities used together also deals significant magical nuke damage, none of which are targeted and thus cannot be avoided by Shadow Dance.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* He has a hard time killing Sand King because of the survivability he gets from Burrowstrike and Sand Storm.
* Shadow Dance, which usually allows Slark to survive fights, is ineffective against Sand King's AoE damage.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Thirst prevents Slark from healing with Shadow Dance.
* Rupture will deal damage during Pounce.
* Dark Pact cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Slark from escaping ganks.
Additional:
* Thirst makes Slark visible while at low health, canceling out Shadow Dance's passive. For this reason, Bloodseeker is usually considered the hardest counter to Slark.
* Rupture cannot be dispelled by Dark Pact, and using Pounce while affected by it will cause Slark to take damage.
Axe
* Heroes with high armor and durability can be exceptionally hard for Bloodseeker to bring down: Dragon Knight,
Axe
Lion
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 17%)Axe
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Slark
* Pounce allows Slark to close in on Lion and prevent him from escaping.
* Lion's fragile health pool makes him easy prey for Slark's high burst damage through Pounce,
Dark Pact and right-clicks.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lion from casting Hex, Mana Drain, or Finger of Death on Slark.
* Dark Pact allows Slark to dispel any of Lion's disables.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* Slark's Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who always goes for the Silver Edge and
Abyssal Blade Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin and her
Blur and
Coup de Grace, drastically reducing her damage output and ability to evade attacks, and also preventing her from acting.
* Phantom Assassin's Coup de Grace requires Random Number Generation in order to proc, which gives Slark more than enough time to escape and recover himself.
Axe
* Phantom Strike's extra attack speed causes Phantom Assassin to proc Counter Helix more often. Using it on Axe also makes Phantom Assassin an easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call and
Blade Mail.
* Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
* Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe, and may cause her to kill herself when used with Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Jumping in with Phantom Strike makes Phantom Assassin an exceptionally easy target for Berserker's Call.
* The bonus attack speed from Phantom Strike also means that Phantom Assassin will proc Counter Helix numerous times.
* Black King Bar is generally useless against Axe's abilities and item build, as Black King Bar doesn't prevent Axe from finishing Phantom Assassin off with
Culling Blade. It also doesn't work against Berserker's Call and Counter Helix.
* Blade Mail is an item that Axe purchases every game, and it can be used to turn Phantom Assassin's critical strikes against herself. The situation becomes even worse if she's affected by Berserker's Call, as she has no way to stop attacking.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Axe
* Jumping on Axe from Waveform he will be an easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call.
* Morphling is often played at low health to maximize the bonuses from Attribute Shift (Agility Gain), and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
* However, Morphling is common Linken's Sphere carrier to block Culling Blade forces Axe to use Battle Hunger to pop the Spell Block first.
* Attribute Shift (Agility Gain) gives Morphlig no protection against the pure damage of Culling Blade. Its attack speed bonus also means that Counter Helix will proc more often.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Axe
* Axe can disable Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with Berserker's Call, which forces Riki to attack him at a very bad angle.
* Axe has a very high HP pool, making it hard for you to kill him before you get big items - that is if you survive engaging him. Counter Helix ignores your armor and goes straight for your tiny HP pool, totally ignoring Smoke Screen.
* Axe is a natural buyer of Blade Mail and Riki players generally do not buy lifesteal, causing you to kill yourself when attacking due to your tiny HP pool.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Slark
* Dark Pact easily purges away both slow and disarm effect from Lucky Shot.
* With Pounce now apply leash to the target, Pangolier is helpless against Slark since both his Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder will be disabled. Pounce also help Slark to easily escape from Rolling Thunder.
Axe
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder: Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 19%)Slark
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
Axe
* Berserker's Call pierces spell immunity, making a Blade Fury teleport escape impossible. It's very useful against
Omnislash as well.
* Juggernaut's low base health and high attack speed causes him to take a lot of damage from the pure damage of Counter Helix.
* Axe is a common Blade Mail and
Blink Dagger carrier making him a very big potential threat before Juggernaut get his items.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Axe
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
Slark
* A well-timed Dark Pact can dispel Frost Arrows and Gust, letting Slark engage and escape freely.
* Shadow Dance lets Slark quickly close the gap and deal heavy damage without giving Drow Ranger a chance to retaliate.
* Pounce counteracts Frost Arrows' slow, letting Slark easily pin Drow Ranger down or flee.
Additional:
* Pounce and items like Shadow Blade makes it very difficult for Drow Ranger to keep her distance from Slark, thereby losing her
Marksmanship bonus.
* Gust is rarely enough to keep Slark at bay, as Drow Ranger has no movement abilities and will simply be chased down afterwards.
* Drow Ranger's heavy dependence on agility also makes her significantly weaker after being drained by Essence Shift.
Axe
* Berserker's Call forces Drow Ranger to attack Axe up close, disabling her Marksmanship bonus.
* Counter Helix occurs more often with Drow Ranger's high attack speed.
* Culling Blade is a dangerous ability against a low health hero like Drow Ranger.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Slark
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
Slark
* Pounce prevents Anti-Mage from using Blink, and lets him disengage from Anti-Mage if needed.
* Essence Shift allows Slark to permanently steal agility from Anti-Mage.
* Shadow Dance stops Anti-Mage from being able to fight back in a slippery situation.
Axe
* Berserker's Call prevents Anti-Mage from escaping with Blink, and works well with
Blade Mail against Anti-Mage's relatively low health.
* Counter Helix deals pure damage, ignoring the protection from Counterspell.
* Counter Helix will trigger even if Axe's depleted of mana, which will make Anti-Mage take more damage than he's dealing.
* Axe's low mana pool makes him a bad target for using Mana Void.
* Axe's high base health regeneration allows him to dominate the lane against Anti-Mage, especially with a support.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call is one of the most reliable ways to lock down Anti-Mage, preventing him from Blinking away.
* Anti-Mage's high attack speed, along with illusions from Manta Style, triggers Counter Helix continuously.
* Axe's low mana pool and high health pool makes Mana Void deal very little damage to Axe.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Axe
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
Slark
* Slark is a natural Shadow Blade carrier, and with
Pounce Sniper has no opportunity to escape or react.
* With Essence Shift and
Shadow Dance, Slark will easily win a fight against Sniper.
Additional:
* Sniper is one of the most gankable heroes in the game, and has no defenses when Pounced on by Slark.
Axe
* Axe can easily close the distance to Sniper with either Blink Dagger or
Shadow Blade.
* With Berserker's Call in combination with
Counter Helix and
Battle Hunger, Axe can make short work of Sniper, finishing him off easily with
Culling Blade due to his low HP & high attack speed in the late game.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 5%)Axe
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Additional:
* Berserker's Call and Counter Helix will still hit targets inside of a defensive Sprout.
* Counter Helix clears treants in no time.
* Nature's Prophet's low damage is unlikely to hurt Axe until the very late game.
* Nature's Prophet's low mobility makes him very easy for Axe to chase down or initiate on, especially when affected by Battle Hunger.
Slark
* Pounce also stops Nature's Prophet's
Teleportation.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Axe
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Centaur Warrunner,
Wraith King and more.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Axe
* Heroes that can keep Monkey King stunned for a long time can pose a threat: Axe,
Centaur Warrunner.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)Axe
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill you, Nyx being particularly deadly. Watch Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless you are making a mistake) of your disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn you from prey to predator.
Axe
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for you, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt your channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Axe
* Melee heroes who rely on summons, illusions or clones will trigger Counter Helix more often, thus taking more damage: Meepo,
Lycan,
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer
Additional:
* Berserker's Call can keep Lycan in place during his Shapeshift even through
Black King Bar.
* Counter Helix is very effective against Lycan because of his summons.
* Culling Blade will prevent Lycan from running away with Shapeshift when he drops low.
Slark
* Lycan cannot escape from a Pounce even if he uses
Shapeshift, and has no disabling abilities to stop Slark.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* Pounce and
Dark Pact together with some attacks can gank Rubick down quickly. Rubick can seldom retaliate because of the strong dispel of
Dark Pact. What is more, Rubick is the type of squishy support that Slark exactly wants to gank.
* Though Shadow Dance is a great spell to steal, Slark's untargetable nature and his low cooldown spells prevents Rubick from stealing it.
* Slark usually builds Diffusal Blade which can prevent Rubick to cast his abilities from Spell Steal.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Axe
* Terrorblade's low base health and lack of mobility make him an easy target for Axe to initiate on, and kill.
* Counter Helix will trigger from, and destroy many of Terrorblade illusions.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call and
Counter Helix together can be devastating to Terrorblade, especially if Terrorblade has a lot of illusions. Their high attack speed will trigger Counter Helix a lot, and the pure damage will quickly slice through Terrorblade's low health and kill his illusions.
* Culling Blade finishes off Terrorblade before he has the chance to Sunder due to his low health in the early to mid game.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 19%)Slark
* Dark Pact dispels Dismember if timed perfectly.
* Pudge's low attack speed and poor agility can be lowered even further by Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance grants Slark invisibility and a high degree of mobility, which can make Slark a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an
Aghanim's Scepter).
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Pounce's root prevents Earth Spirit from using Rolling Boulder to escape, making it easier for Slark to shut him down especially in the laning phase.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Upheaval does not interrupt Slark too much, as he can just Pounce out of the area.
* Fatal Bonds and
Shadow Word can be dispelled by Dark Pact.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Dark Pact dispels debuffs from Gush, Anchor Smash and even Ravage if timed correctly.
* Kraken Shell cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift or dispel the leash if he gets
Pounced.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Axe
* False Promise will not save an ally from Culling Blade if their health is low enough.
* Fate's Edict, offensively or defensively, does little to protect Oracle's allies from the majority of Axe's damage.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 14%)Slark
* Dark Pact dispels Ignite's slow and Fireblast's stun.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to regenerate HP, even when he is affected by Ignite and Fireblast.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Slark
* Dark Pact, if timed correctly, can dispel Wraithfire Blast's stun and slow.
* Since Wraith King has a lot of health and multiple lives, Slark can keep gaining Essence Shift stacks, increasing armor, damage, and attack speed and can beat down Wraith King twice.
* Slark sometimes carries Diffusal Blade to burn mana as an attempt to shut down Reincarnation.
* Because Wraith King has no AoE abilities, Shadow Dance is particularly useful against Wraith King.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Axe
* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in
Shukuchi.
* Weaver's high attack speed, along with high attack damage from Geminate Attack, triggers Counter Helix continuously and the output damage would be returned by
Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Due to his fast attack speed from Geminate Attack and items that give attack speed, Counter Helix will activate a lot, and the damage would be returned by
Blade Mail, which hurts Weaver far more than it hurts Axe.
* Culling Blade can finish off Weaver's low health pool before he escapes with Shukuchi and Time Lapse.
* Battle Hunger is a good tool to pop Weaver's
Linken's Sphere due to its low cooldown.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Axe
* Windrun does not provide protection against Counter Helix and
Berserker's Call. Her fast attack speed with Focus Fire will also quickly trigger
Counter Helix multiple times.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* If Slark sees the Sacred Arrow before it hits him, he can use Dark Pact to remove it a moment later.
* Pounce prevents Mirana from escaping with Leap.
* Slark can survive Mirana's Aghanim's Scepter​ combo with
Shadow Dance.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 12%)Axe
* Troll Warlord has significant attack speed due to Fervor and Battle Trance, giving Axe a higher chance to proc Counter Helix and seriously injure Troll Warlord due to his relatively low maximum health.
* Axe often purchases Blade Mail, which can help Axe turn Troll Warlord's farm and high physical damage against him. The bonus armor provided by
Berserker's Call means that Troll Warlord will take a lot more damage than Axe.
* Culling Blade is still capable of killing Troll Warlord during Battle Trance if his HP is low enough.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed means Counter Helix will proc extremely frequently even without creeps near him. This, combined with a Blade Mail means Axe can easily solo kill Troll Warlord even in later stages of the game.
* Battle Trance does not save Troll Warlord from a Culling Blade.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Axe
* Berserker's Call forces Dark Willow to attack, cancelling Shadow Realm.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Axe
* Berserker's Call and
Blade Mail can be used immediately after Huskar jumps on Axe with Life Break.
* Huskar's high attack speed procs Counter Helix repeatedly.
* Huskar's health loss from using his abilities make him a frequent target for Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Huskar is often played at low health to maximize the bonuses from Berserker's Blood, and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
* Berserker's Blood gives Huskar no protection against the pure damage of Culling Blade. Its attack speed bonus also means that Counter Helix will proc more often.
* Axe's tankiness and base health regeneration makes it hard for Huskar to take him down with Burning Spears.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 14%)Slark
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to not be targeted by Unstable Concoction, making Alchemist stun himself and making himself vulnerable to the enemy.
* Dark Pact also allows him to just purge off the stun if timed correctly.
* Essence Shift will steal stats over long durations at a time should Alchemist lack the damage to kill Slark.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 2%)Axe
* Berserker's Call can catch Broodmother in her web, as well as groups of spiderlings. This is particularly effective when Broodmother attempts to push towers with her spiderlings.
* Counter Helix destroys spiderlings very quickly, and earns Axe a good deal of gold.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call forces Broodmother and her spiderlings to attack, allowing for large amounts of pure damage to be done through
Counter Helix.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 4%)Axe
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Axe
* Heroes who rely on fast attack speed will also trigger Counter Helix frequently: Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Anti-Mage,
Juggernaut,
Arc Warden,
Morphling
Additional:
* Magnetic Field doesn't provide a protection against Berserker's Call and
Counter Helix and his high attack speed together with Tempest Double will often trigger Counter Helix.
Slark
* Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact.
* Pounce allows Slark to avoid Spark Wraiths.
* Tempest Double allows Slark to build up Essence Shift stacks, especially when it is being used for split pushing.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 2%)Axe
* Axe will destroy her illusions by proccing Counter Helix more often due to him being hit by more attacks.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 12%)Slark
* Pounce prevents Tinker from blinking away.
* Slark frequently builds Shadow Blade, which allows him to approach Tinker unnoticed. Since Tinker's farming usually covers a significant amount of area on the map, Sentry Wards may not be cost effective.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to detect both common and unusual wards. Eliminating common ward causes Tinker trouble farming many lanes if he does not know who may be waiting to jump on him. Slark is also uniquely able to identify some of the less common wards used by Tinker, such as those placed on the cliffs at map edges which Tinker uses to give him vision over the trees he uses to hide in.
* Slark's extremely high move speed from Shadow Dance, potentially stacked with
Shadow Blade, allows him to easily follow Tinker between lanes, especially if Tinker has pushed the lanes out.
* Dark Pact dispels Laser's blind.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 1%)Axe
* Axe can
Berserker's Call into a flock of Familiars, proccing
Counter Helix and killing them off.
* Familiars' very fast attacks will proc Counter Helix, receiving full damage due to their low attack range.
Razor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Pounce can easily break Static Link, making it less powerful against him.
* Slark is one of the few heroes who can man fight a Razor, because of Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance can prevent Razor from killing him and may provide an opportunity to kill Razor due to it preventing Razor from attacking Slark.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Slark, etc.).
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Slark
* Heroes that can jump on her: Slark,
Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage
Techies
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Axe
* Techies struggles early game against heroes with naturally large strength and health regeneration such as Pudge,
Axe or
Ogre Magi, as the player is forced to lay down more mines than usual to kill these bulkier heroes.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Axe
* Heroes with burst damage of their own won't be afraid to go toe to toe with Void Spirit, like Ursa,
Lifestealer, or
Axe.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Pugna
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones: Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren (bonus for her
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Pugna
Additional:
* Dark Pact rips through Refraction charges and still steals attributes during Refraction.
* Pounce and Dark Pact will still hit Templar Assassin while she is Melded. Since she cannot move, both abilities will be easy for Slark to land.
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Axe
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Heroes with strong dispels can remove Primal Roar's stun: Abaddon,
Slark,
Oracle.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Slark with
Dark Pact
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* Abaddon with
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time
* Huskar with
Life Break
* Juggernaut with
Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with
Press the Attack
* Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Omniknight with
Heavenly Grace
* Oracle with
Fortune's End and
False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Slark with
Dark Pact
* Ursa with
Enrage
* Weaver with
Time Lapse
* Tidehunter with
Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Slark
* Dark Pact can be cast during the cast animation of Light Strike Array and dispel its stun.
* Pounce allows Slark to close the gap to Lina.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lina from killing Slark with her Laguna Blade when his HP gets low.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Axe
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Flaming Lasso if is used in anticipation, but a Blink initiation from fog can catch the Slark off guard.
* Slark can also take off any Sticky Napalm stacks with Dark Pact in lane.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle,
Abaddon
Axe
* Culling Blade ignores the protection from Shallow Grave, and will kill any target whose health is low enough. This makes Axe one of the hardest counters to Dazzle, and he neutralizes one of Dazzle's most important abilities.
Additional:
* Culling Blade kills any target under the health threshold, even through Shallow Grave.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Slark
* Heroes that rely on their high mobility such as Queen of Pain,
Slark and
Weaver can be constantly engaged against due to your excellent ability to chase over any terrain. Make sure you carry true sight items (such as
Dust of Appearance or
Gem of True Sight) for invisible heroes that could potentially escape your clutches.
Slark
* Pounce's leash prevents Storm Spirit from using Ball Lightning, making it hard for Storm Spirit to escape a gank from Slark.
* Dark Pact can dispel Orchid Malevolence's Soul Burn.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom
Slark
* Slark's Dark Pact allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
* Against a carry Silencer, Essence Shift will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Axe
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Slark
* Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast debuffs are dispellable with Dark Pact. Arctic Burn is also no escape against
Pounce.
* Cold Embrace just gives Slark free Essence Shift stacks. He also relies mostly on magic damage early in the game.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Slark
* With Dust of Appearance, Luna will be able to use
Eclipse on invisible heroes. Be mindful that
Slark is exception because he'll be able to remove the debuff with
Dark Pact.
Slark
* Shadow Dance prevents Luna from damaging Slark, and together with
Shadow Blade he can kite her or escape.
* Luna has no way to escape from Pounce's leash.
Additional:
* Luna's lack of mobility and escape abilities makes her easily gankable by Slark.
* Shadow Dance will avoid all the damage from Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Slark is a good ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle,
Abaddon
Axe
* Culling Blade ignores Borrowed Time should Abaddon's health falls under the threshold.
Additional:
* Culling Blade's instant kill is not prevented by Borrowed Time should Abaddon's health falls below the threshold.
Bane
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Luna,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Enfeeble, as well as Nightmare and Fiend's Grip if timed well.
* Shadow Dance protects Slark from Bane's single-target-only abilities.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Time Dilation while Dark Pact and
Pounce are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, reducing his escape potential. However, Time Dilation is dispellable with
Dark Pact so it needs to be timed well.
* Chronosphere will not reveal Slark during Shadow Dance, but covers the whole duration of Shadow Dance making him unable to use it to attack or escape. Slark still receives the regeneration benefit from Shadow Dance.
Axe
* Heroes with gap closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call: Phantom Assassin,
Faceless Void,
Slark,
Chaos Knight,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Both Scream of Pain and Sonic Wave should hit him during his Shadow Dance.
Axe
* Heroes with gap closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call: Phantom Assassin,
Faceless Void,
Slark,
Chaos Knight,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain
Additional:
* Berserker's Call prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with Blink and also pierces her
Black King Bar.
* Due to her fast attack speed from Mjollnir, it will quickly trigger
Counter Helix.
* Culling Blade finish off Queen of Pain's low health pool before she gets a chance to escape, preventing her from playing the hit-and-run style often associated with Queen of Pain.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift removes 1 of every attribute, lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
Additional:
* Medusa is especially vulnerable to Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven,
Slark
Slark
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander,
Oracle,
Slark
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Slark
* Slark's Dark Pact and Pounce can deny only one Earthbind and Poof can penetrate Shadow Dance if he doesn't build Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Earthbind and
Poof will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact can only remove one Earthbind.
* Ransack will still affect Slark, even if he has a
Black King Bar.
Axe
* Melee heroes who rely on summons, illusions or clones will trigger Counter Helix more often, thus taking more damage: Meepo,
Lycan,
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer
Additional:
* The combination of Counter Helix and
Berserker's Call can disable multiple Meepos and deal heavy area damage.
* Axe's natural high survivability makes it difficult to burst him down with Poof or chip away at his health with Ransack.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Axe
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Axe
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Slark
* Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.
Axe
* Berserker's Call and
Counter Helix allow Axe to kill Shadow Fiend if he stands too close to a creep wave.
* Battle Hunger is very strong against Shadow Fiend in the early game because Shadow Fiend's low attack damage makes it hard for him to get last hits.
* Axe's naturally high strength and health regeneration will be enough to tank a lot of Shadow Fiend's damage in the early game.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Slark
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even during Shadow Dance.
* Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can hit Slark through Shadow Dance.
* Should Pounce be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Arena of Blood.
Axe
* Berserker's Call forces Mars to face in the direction choosen.
* Counter Helix is a much stronger lane trader than Spear of Mars.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Dark Pact can be used to remove Open Wounds.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to attack Lifestealer for its duration without any way for Lifestealer to fight back.
* Slark commonly buys a Silver Edge, which can break Lifestealer's Feast, severely diminishing his damage output and lifesteal.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Slark
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like Slark in his
Shadow Dance and
Weaver in his
Shukuchi.
Additional:
* Earthshaker's many AoE stuns help lock down Slark, and will often waste the duration of Shadow Dance.
Slark
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz,
Slark,
Storm Spirit
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark heightened regeneration when out of vision making DoTs effects less threatening.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Slark has no sustained AoE to fight off Phantom Lancer's illusions as they continually spawn.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark by spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark if he tries to escape with
Pounce.
Additional:
* Slark has no sustained AoE to deal with Phantom Lancer's many illusions.
* Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer dodge Dark Pact and Pounce, and partially wastes the duration of Shadow Dance.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark via spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark when he jumps away with Pounce.
Axe
* Berserker's Call helps locks down Phantom Lancer in a group of illusions.
* Counter Helix combined with
Blade Mail clears Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* Phantom Lancer's low health in the early game makes him a frequent target for Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call catches Phantom Lancer when he is hidden among his illusions.
* Counter Helix quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusion army. The more illusions there are, the more often Counter Helix is triggered.
* Phantom Lancer's low early game health makes him an easy target for Culling Blade.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden
Slark
* Dark Seer relies on Surge for most of his mobility, so he's not very vulnerable to slows, but much more to root effects and walls or pseudo-walls such as Disruptor's
Kinetic Field or
Slark's
Pounce.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Axe
* 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.
Slark
* Slark can detect early Roshan attempts due to Shadow Dance if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Enrage cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift and will reduce his physical damage output.
* Even if Ursa initiates with Earthshock, Slark can Pounce away or use
Dark Pact after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Dark Pact is minimally effective against Phantasm illusions, and Slark lacks area damage otherwise.
* Pounce can be counteracted by Reality Rift.
* Slark is naturally frail and dies quickly to Chaos Knight's burst damage before he can build Essence Shift stacks.
* Be aware, however, that Shadow Dance can make Slark hard to kill as he can't be targeted during its duration.
Additional:
* Phantasms have enough health to survive Dark Pact, and Slark has no other source of AoE damage to deal with them.
Axe
* Berserker's Call and Counter Helix makes short work of Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call allows Axe to lock down Chaos Knight and his illusions.
* Counter Helix combined with
Blade Mail clears illusions out in no time.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 8%)Axe
* 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
Slark
* Enigma is fragile, and lacks escapes, being dependent on Blink Dagger for mobility. Ganking Heroes or Heroes with burst damage will likely kill him before he can do anything. Such Heroes include:
Lina,
Lion,
Puck,
Slark,
Nyx Assassin, etc.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero winrate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assasin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (dotabuff most played)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal winrate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest winrate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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Axe
* 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.
Berserker's Call bonus armor doesn't block Arcane Orb's pure damage.
*
*
Additional:
*
* 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.
Slark
*
Arcane Orb deals pure damage, which ignores armor granted from permanent agility stacks.
Astral Imprisonment can disrupt any Pounce attempt by banishing the leashed ally.
Sanity's Eclipse.
*
* Slark's low intelligence and therefore mana pool makes him more susceptible to