Lion
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Slardar
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
Clinkz
* Clinkz survivability depends entirely on Skeleton Walk. Corrosive Haze not only makes its invisibility useless, but also makes Clinkz even more vulnerable to physical damage.
Additional:
* Slardar can reveal Clinkz with Corrosive Haze and make him easy to kill, and his
Bash of the Deep also hits hard against Clinkz's naturally low health pool.
* Slardar's Guardian Sprint can catch up with Clinkz's Skeleton Walk.
* The stun and slow from Slardar's Slithereen Crush can hold Clinkz in place.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Clinkz
* Searing Arrows and Clinkz physical damage items is almost suicidal when used on Legion Commander, as it invites an instant Duel and Legion Commander herself is a natural
Blade Mail carrier.
* Duel locks down Clinkz for a long duration, preventing him from escaping with Skeleton Walk.
Bristleback
* Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
* Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
Additional:
* When dueled, Bristleback will have to face Legion head on, not allowing his passive Bristleback to come into effect.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With
Aghanim's Scepter, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* If Doom gets an Aghanim's Scepter, he can disable
Bristleback, taking away much of his durability.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing Warpath.
Clinkz
* Scorched Earth deals damage to Clinkz during Skeleton Walk.
* Doom shuts down Clinkz entirely, as it prevents him from casting any of his spells and contributing a large amount of damage in teamfights.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's reliance on physical damage with Quill Spray is negated by Bulwark.
* Mars can knock back Bristleback to prevent him from chasing down allies with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Clinkz
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Heroes who deal single instance burst damage will only proc Bristleback once: Lina,
Lion.
Clinkz
* Lina's damage burst can quickly kill Clinkz before he saves them with Skeleton Walk.
* Fiery Soul attack speed bonus removes Burning Army easily in all stages of the game.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* Chronosphere allows allies to resposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Faceless Void from using Time Walk.
Additional:
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
Clinkz
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as Bounty Hunter,
Clinkz,
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin and
Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Additional:
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 17%)Bristleback
* Sanity's Eclipse only triggers Bristleback's passive once, and deals high damage against Bristleback's low intelligence.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Clinkz
* The long silence at night prevents Clinkz from escaping with invisibility if Night Stalker can sneak up on him. He also has really low base health, so Night Stalker can usually kill him alone during one cast of Crippling Fear at night.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness doesn't help him very much against Fury Swipes in long teamfights.
* With no escape mechanism and a slow movement speed, getting jumped on by Ursa usually spell a quick end for Bristleback in the early game.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Clinkz
* Skeleton Walk is not enough to outrun Bloodseeker, and is detected by Thirst.
Additional:
* Thirst reveals Clinkz if he tries to escape with Skeleton Walk with low health. It also allows Bloodseeker to match or exceed Clinkz's speed.
* Rupture negates the mobility provided by Skeleton Walk in any attempt to escape or reposition in fights.
* Bloodseeker can easily build items to counter Clinkz, including Talisman of Evasion upgrades,
Blade Mail, and armor items.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Clinkz
* Cold Embrace can heal herself or an ally, as well as protecting them from Clinkz' physical attacks and wasting his mana if Searing Arrows is on autocast.
* Winter's Curse allows Winter Wyvern to turn Clinkz' high damage (and high attack speed if he used Skeleton Walk) against his allies, or take advantage of Clinkz' fragility if he can't use Skeleton Walk.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from the Bristleback passive.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
Lich
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Bristleback
* Sinister Gaze forces Bristleback to face Lich, exposing him to damage.
* Lich's plethora of slows make it easy to kite Bristleback.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Clinkz
* Zeus can reveal Clinkz with Lightning Bolt.
* He is vulnerable to Zeus' magical nukes, due to his low health pool.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Whirling Death deals damage as well while reducing 15% of Bristleback's strength, which reduces Bristleback's tankiness.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
* Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback .
* Last Word and
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
Additional:
* Bristleback will not be able to cast Viscous Nasal Goo or
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing
Warpath charges from stacking.
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilitiess, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Bristleback
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* Mana Break quickly depletes Bristleback's low mana, denying him the ability to spam Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Anti-Mage from using Blink.
Clinkz
* 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
Clinkz
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Clinkz,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck
Additional:
* Anti-Mage's Counterspell provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Clinkz can easily rush an Orchid Malevolence to prevent
Blinking, although Anti-Mage can easily dispel it via
Manta Style.
* Clinkz does heavy damage to towers, and can take map control away from Anti-Mage to limit the space he has to farm early game. If Clinkz is ahead he is capable of ending the game before Anti-Mage becomes a threat. He can also match Anti-Mage's ability to split push.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Bristleback
* Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 13%)Clinkz
* By using Morph, Morphling can use Death Pact and Searing Arrows to counter Clinkz himself.
* Waveform can allow Morphling to easily chase down Clinkz.
* Clinkz's low health pool also makes him vulnerable to Morphling's magical nukes, especially his Ethereal Blade and
Adaptive Strike combo.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 40% pickrate: 1%)Clinkz
* Untouchable prevents Clinkz from harassing Enchantress in lane by lowering his attack speed.
* Nature's Attendants helps Enchantress to sustain from Clinkz' harassment in Lane.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Clinkz
* 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.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Clinkz
* Clinkz,
Sniper,
Lone Druid,
Troll Warlord,
Legion Commander and
Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
Additional:
* Clinkz will often roam the map alone, and Treant Protector's Nature's Guise allows him to set up kills with his allies on Clinkz from invisibility.
* Treant Protector's very high damage allowing him to trade hits or contest last hits with Clinkz, while Living Armor can be used to sustain the harass.
* Living Armor protects any of Treant's allies ganked by Clinkz.
* In teamfights, Treant Protector's Overgrowth can disarm Clinkz, preventing him from turning invisible and holding him in place even if he has a
Black King Bar.
* Leech Seed slows Clinkz, preventing him from repositioning or fleeing away from danger.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Clinkz
* Heroes that excel at grouping up with their team very early will be able to take advantage of a Clinkz that tries to pick off heroes that are alone: Brewmaster,
Dazzle,
Tidehunter.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Clinkz
* Fragile carries with no reliable escaping mechanism can be bursted down in no time: Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Clinkz
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Clinkz
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Clinkz
* Heroes who rely on skills to become a heavy hitter in a certain amount of time can waste their timing because of a lucky Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Clinkz
* Heroes that excel at grouping up with their team very early will be able to take advantage of a Clinkz that tries to pick off heroes that are alone: Brewmaster,
Dazzle,
Tidehunter.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Clinkz
* Heroes with low health and low armor: Clinkz,
Crystal Maiden.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Clinkz
* Heroes with high armor like Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like
Phantom Assassin,
Riki and
Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Shadow Demon's
Soul Catcher hinders Bristleback's tanking capabilities.
Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passive.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Clinkz
* 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.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Reaper's Scythe and
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
Additional:
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive
Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
Bristleback
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Clinkz
* Possibly Clinkz's worst enemy. He has many tools to utterly destroy Clinkz.
* Charge of Darkness can be used on Clinkz if Spirit Breaker's team spots him anywhere. This charge will track his location through Skeleton Walk's invisibility and movement speed bonuses.
* When Spirit Breaker charges onto Clinkz, he can easily use Dust of Appearance to guarantee a reveal on him while stunned.
* All three of Spirit Breaker's spells help him and his team quickly close the gap to Clinkz even at the edge of his attack range or when running away with Skeleton Walk.
* Spirit Breaker's high strength and above average armor makes him able to endure Clinkz's onslaught, meanwhile Clinkz will be heavily threatened if Spirit Breaker procs a Greater Bash.
Additional:
* Once caught with dust, Clinkz could be locked down for a long time by Spirit Breaker and has nowhere to escape.
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, showing Clinkz even when he is in Skeleton Walk.
Bristleback
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Viper
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed so he's unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin's break removes Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his eponymous defensive passive, Bristleback also lose his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
Clinkz
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
Additional:
* Clinkz does not have any passive abilities at all, making Nethertoxin nearly useless.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Clinkz
* Spectre can instantly escape Burning Army or hunt Clinkz with Haunt.
* Spectre can catch up to him with Spectral Dagger, even if he uses Skeleton Walk.
* Desolate allows Spectre to hit Clinkz through Skeleton Walk.
* Dispersion makes Spectre tanky and also reflects some damage back to Clinkz.
Additional:
* Spectre can catch Clinkz with Spectral Dagger, even if he uses Skeleton Walk.
* Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Clinkz with Haunt.
* Desolate's damage will melt him quickly, as he's alone most of the time.
Clinkz
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Clinkz
* Considering Rubick's abysmal armor, Rubick is a squishy target for Clinkz to gank. None of his spells are useful except for Skeleton Walk.
* Clinkz usually builds Orchid Malevolence, which disables Rubick's ability to retaliate.
* Vast numbers of Sentry Wards are needed to deal with Clinkz because of
Skeleton Walk, making it harder for Rubick to buy more expensive and more useful support items like
Glimmer Cape or
Mekansm.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
Additional:
* Rubick deals little damage on his own, so Bristleback can simply shrug off all his spells and chase you down with his spells and attacks.
* Quill Spray requires multiple casts and close range to add up stacks. Because Rubick does not stay in the front lines, it's generally not a good spell for him to steal.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will slow Rubick down even further and reduce his armor, making him vulnerable to Quill Spray and the damage bonus from
Warpath.
Io
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
Clinkz
* Strafe and
Searing Arrows allow Clinkz to quickly kill Io due to its low armor.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and
Quill Spray and
Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
Additional:
* The damage from Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
Clinkz
* Huskar's Berserker's Blood provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Huskar has no way to disrupt Clinkz's attacks and no way to kill Clinkz alone, as Clinkz can easily go invisible, teleport away, or even fight back.
* Clinkz will often build the items that counter Huskar and the items he usually builds. These include Black King Bar or
Monkey King Bar for
Heaven's Halberd, or a disable item like
Scythe of Vyse or
Bloodthorn to prevent him from using
Inner Fire to disarm.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness can enable him to chase Enigma out of a teamfight, making it difficult to initiate with a Black Hole.
Clinkz
* Despite Clinkz's fragility, his harassment in the early game can be devastating; as he can kite Enigma and his Eidolons and claim their bounty.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 6%)Clinkz
* 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).
Bristleback
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Tiny's high damage will also proc Bristleback multiple times.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can help counteract the bonus armor granted by Grow.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 19%)Bristleback
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Additional:
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor & poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Clinkz
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Clinkz
* Clinkz relies heavily on the physical damage provided by Searing Arrows, which completely overrides the capabilities of Rage.
* Open Wounds is near worthless against Clinkz as he can instantly run away with Skeleton Walk before returning later on.
* Clinkz, by nature will often build items that Lifestealer hates dealing with such as physical damage items like Desolator or
Daedalus and instant silences or hexes from
Bloodthorn and
Scythe of Vyse.
Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or
Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
Clinkz
* Heroes who can take advantage of Oracle's low mobility or catch him out of position, such as Clinkz and
Anti-Mage, can easily pick him off.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Clinkz
* Heroes with invisibility: (Riki,
Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin
Additional:
* Nature's Prophet is often by himself. Clinkz can use invisibility to hunt him down and kill him, although a Quelling Blade may be needed to cut through his Sprout. Orchid Malevolence may also be needed if 3-4 seconds are not enough time to kill him, as he can teleport away.
* Clinkz can match Nature's Prophet's ability to split push.
Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Clinkz
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden,
Chen,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Mirana,
Nature's Prophet,
Pugna and
Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes has attack range talent can also outrange Plague Ward.
Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities will not only proc Bristleback's passive continuously, they will also do little harm to him when he is facing away from the source: Venomancer,
Arc Warden
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Clinkz
* Clinkz's high damage output and insane attack speed late-game can take Kunkka out of the fight before it begins.
* Strafe and
Searing Arrows together can kill allies easily even under Ghostship's buff.
* Skeleton Walk can allow Clinkz to make a quick escape after Kunkka's combo, or even avoid it all together.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Clinkz
* Ember Spirit's Flame Guard provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Ember Spirit's low armor and health make him easy to kill quickly if a teammate can hold him down.
* If Clinkz has farmed an item that can disable, he can sneak up to and hunt down Ember Spirit while he farms or split pushes alone.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 1%)Bristleback
* Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
* Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and
Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Clinkz
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (Riki,
Bounty Hunter,
Weaver, or
Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to
Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that
Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
Clinkz
* Heroes who can easily harass Crystal Maiden out of lane in the early game (Clinkz,
Viper) can prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to level effectively, and can ultimately slow down her level 6, 12, and 18 to a point where enemy carries already have items to address her ultimate.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray and
Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback withstands Luna’s nukes, and gives lots of damage in return.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and
Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of Crimson Guard, which is good protection from bouncing glaives.
Additional:
* Multiple instances of damage from Eclipse will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly in a short time, dealing tremendous damage to Luna and her teammates.
* Luna's damage burst may be high, but it will not be enough for her to take down Bristleback.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Clinkz
* Searing Arrows makes Clinkz one of the hardest heroes for Clockwerk to lane against.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Bristleback need not worry about charging into Magnetic Field, and quickly clearing up Arc Warden's summons and
Tempest Double with Quill Spray.
Additional:
* Bristleback activates frequently while he escapes from Arc Warden's Necronomicon army.
* Arc Warden has little armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
Additional:
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
Additional:
* Bristleback reduces most of Broodmother's and her spiderlings' damage.
* Quill Spray will hit any spiders in its proximity, hindering Broodmother's fighting and farming capabilities.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Clinkz
* Heroes that can jump and kill him: Meepo,
Clinkz,
Templar Assassin
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 0%)Clinkz
* Heroes that can instantly kill creeps greatly reduce the effectiveness of Chen's converted army: Lifestealer,
Doom,
Mirana,
Clinkz.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Clinkz
* Heroes that can pick you off: Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin,
Puck,
Riki.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Clinkz
* With Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Clinkz
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz,
Slark,
Storm Spirit
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Clinkz
* Heroes who can harass Omniknight out of lane will keep him weak in the mid game: Viper,
Venomancer,
Clinkz
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Clinkz
* With Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 18%)Bristleback
* Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 7%)Clinkz
* Clinkz can use
Burning Army in teamfights which will cause a problem for Alchemist.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Clinkz
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with
Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* Quill Spray cleans up Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Phantom Lancer's complete lack of burst damage makes it nearly impossible for him to kill Bristleback during chases.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Clinkz
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Enchantress,...
Bristleback
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 15%)Clinkz
* Assuming they have not bought anti-evasion items, attack dependent heroes such as Viper,
Ursa or
Clinkz can be a minor threat for Phantom Assassin early in the game, and may even be completely dominated by her thanks to her evasion.
Clinkz
* With Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Clinkz
* The extra damage from Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's passive Bristleback can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time
Clinkz
* Clinkz's item build often counters Hoodwink, including Black King Bar,
Monkey King Bar,
Heaven's Halberd, and
Scythe of Vyse.
* Skeleton Walk can quickly escape Hoodwink abilities.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Clinkz
* Smoke Cloud prevents the use of Death Pact,
Searing Arrows and
Skeleton Walk, so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
* It's hard to gank Riki as you have to find him first.
Bristleback
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki still gets damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Additional:
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Clinkz
* Any hero with high attack speed will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits: Juggernaut,
Clinkz,
Troll Warlord,
Beastmaster,
Lina.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Clinkz
* Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like Phantom Assassin or
Clinkz.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 9%)Clinkz
* Invisibility reliant heroes: Heroes with invisibility abilities or those that have invested into invisibility items are hindered by Bounty Hunter's Track. Few examples of such heroes are:Clinkz,
Riki,
Treant Protector, etc.
Additional:
* Track reveals Clinkz if he tries to escape with Skeleton Walk, allowing Bounty Hunter to gain lots of gold if he kills Clinkz.
* Jinada with physical damage items can quickly kill Clinkz due to his low health.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's
Viscous Nasal Goo can catch and slow Bounty Hunter.
Warpath and
Quill Spray can defeat him quickly due to his small HP pool when compared to Bristleback's.
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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Bristleback
*
Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
Finger of Death deals high damage to Bristleback, and only triggers his passive once.
*
Clinkz
*
Hex and
Earth Spike can hold Clinkz down, giving him no chance to use
Black King Bar or Skeleton Walk.
Finger of Death quickly kills Clinkz due to his low health.
*