* 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.

* Due to Reincarnation and his general tankiness he can live through at least one major Remote Mines stack or Blast Off!.
* Special mention for a bug with his Aghanim's Scepter. If enemies get killed from your mines under the effect of "Wraith Delay", they get denied instead of crediting the kill to you.
Additional:
* Wraith King is not afraid to walk into mines, whenever he goes with his Reincarnation ready.

* Heroes with high armor and durability can be exceptionally hard for Bloodseeker to bring down: Dragon Knight, Axe

* Reincarnation makes Wraith King nearly impossible to gank with Rupture.
* Vampiric Spirit restores Wraith King's health, reducing the effect of Thirst.
Additional:
* Rupture is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Spirit and Mortal Strike prevent Bloodseeker from achieving Thirst bonuses.

* 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.

* Reincarnation allows Wraith King to survive Shadow Shaman's initial chain of disables and Serpent Ward attacks.
* Short cooldown of Wraithfire Blast is ideal for interrupting Shackles.

* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King

* Berserker's Call forces Dark Willow to attack, cancelling Shadow Realm.

* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Ogre Magi.

* Heroes with burst damage of their own won't be afraid to go toe to toe with Void Spirit, like Ursa, Lifestealer, or Axe.

* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.

* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.

* Durable heroes: Axe, Bristleback, Tidehunter, Wraith King

* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna, Razor, Axe, Bristleback, Leshrac,

* Reincarnation helps Wraith King outlast Sven in fights, and wastes the duration of God's Strength.
* Wraithfire Blast's low cooldown allows Wraith King to stun Sven several times in a team fight.

* Even if Wraith King dies after Magnus disables him, Magnus' entire team will be slowed and vulnerable for counter-initiation.

* 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.

* Wraith King's abilities are mostly passive (with regards to Spell Steal), so Rubick cannot steal most of them.
* Wraithfire Blast together with some attacks can gank Rubick down quickly.
Additional:
* Wraith King abilities are mostly passive making Spell Steal meaningless.
* This can also mean that Rubick's Spell Steal used on Wraith King guarantees him a stun spell.
* Rubick's lack of mobility & low health pool is easily tear down by Wraith King physical attacks.

* 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.

* 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.

* Wraithfire Blast cancels Death Ward in decent range.
* Death Ward is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Aura can out-heal the {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Maledict.

* Berserker's Call forces Mars to face in the direction choosen.
* Counter Helix is a much stronger lane trader than Spear of Mars.

* 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.

* In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.

* 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.

* 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.

* Waning Rift's silence is almost completely worthless against Wraith King, due to him having only 1 active ability.
* Wraith King's only active ability, Wraithfire Blast, is strong against Puck if it hits, because it applies a damage over time on top of stunning and doing impact damage, disabling Puck for a while, and Blink Dagger for even longer. It is very important to avoid getting hit by this spell when playing against Wraith King.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* Heroes with gap closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call: Phantom Assassin, Faceless Void, Slark, Chaos Knight, Morphling, Queen of Pain

* 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.

* Due to Tiny's non-existent agility gain, high physical damage heroes are more effective against him (Clinkz, Phantom Assassin, Templar Assassin, Ursa, Wraith King etc).

* 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.

* Wraith King's Reincarnation allows him to severely punish Legion Commander after he revives, as her abilities are on cooldown. Legion Commander is still awarded a Duel win if Wraith King reincarnates.

Additional:
* Wraith King makes a poor Duel target, as he can be already quite hard to bring down once, and then you have to worry about his second life.
* However, even if Legion Commander does win the duel when Reincarnation is off cooldown, she still receives the permanent victory damage bonus because taking down Wraith King's first life still counts as a "kill".

* Heroes who rely on passive abilities and attacks, such as Drow Ranger, Wraith King, and Lone Druid, can render Silencer useless. In addition, he doesn't like going for neither break nor disarm items.

* 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

* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe, Death Prophet, Phantom Lancer

* Heroes that are naturally hard to gank, ranging from beefy tanks like Abaddon and Wraith King to heroes with quick escape mechanisms like Anti-Mage and Storm Spirit are also undesirable targets for a lone, roaming Bounty Hunter to scout out and initiate on.

* 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.

* 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.

* Axe will destroy her illusions by proccing Counter Helix more often due to him being hit by more attacks.

* Like Abbadon's Borrowed Time, Reincarnation can bring Wraith King back to life, giving him a second chance to counter initiate or escape after a Black Hole combo.
* Enigma's Eidolons adds to Wraith King's Mortal Strike, increasing his Skeleton charges.

* Even if he is Doomed, Wraith King can tear down Doom with physical attacks, and can still reincarnate as long as it is off-cooldown.
Additional:
* Wraith King has three passive abilities and only a single active ability, so Doom does not hinder him significantly.
* Doom expires upon death, so it is effectively removed after Reincarnation activates.

* 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.

* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.

* 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.

* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge with Aghanim's Scepter cannot break Reincarnation, which could put him in a disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
* In addition Shadow Demon doesn't build Diffusal Blade to burn Wraith King's mana, which is the only item that can help him against Wraith King.
* Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, Wraith King is a single-target hero, so he cannot deal with Disruption illusions.

* 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.

* Berseker's Call catches Slark in Shadow Dance, wasting its duration and preventing him from escaping to regenerate.
* Unlike most disables, Dark Pact cannot dispel Berserker's Call, and the output damage would be returned by Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call forces Slark to attack him, even during Shadow Dance.
* Counter Helix will hit Slark in Shadow Dance, with pure damage. It also triggers frequently against Slark's high attack speed after having stolen agility with Essence Shift.
* Culling Blade finishes off Slark before he gets a chance to slip away and regenerate his health, preventing him from playing the hit-and-run style often associated with Slark.

* 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.

* While Reincarnation is off cooldown, Venomancer abilities can't kill Wraith King easier.
* Vampiric Aura can out-heal the slow {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Poison Sting.

* Heroes that can keep Monkey King stunned for a long time can pose a threat: Axe, Centaur Warrunner.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.