* Because Timbersaw relies heavily on his spells to deal damage, Silence can easily disable him in a team fight.
* Exorcism's spirits do not count as regular attacks, and will not add stacks of Reactive Armor.

* Cold Snap can prevent Timbersaw from using both Timber Chain and Chakram due to the frequent stuns interrupting the lengthy cast animations, as well as stopping him mid-chain. This can negate Timbersaw's attempts to escape or dole out extra ability damage.
* Later in the game, Invoker's heavy magical and pure damage can be difficult to avoid, meaning Timbersaw's armor is less useful.

* Heroes with summons like Broodmother,Enigma, Invoker, Nature's Prophet, Lycan, Visage;or illusions, like Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade are effective at keeping the choke points and rune spawns safe from Proximity mines in the early game.

* Exorcism's ghosts will automatically clear all Proximity Mines revealed when Death Prophet walks near them, provided that the ghosts do not have a specific target at that time.

* Death Prophet abilities disables Earthshaker's Blink Dagger.
* Silence can be used to silence Earthshaker after he blinks in, preventing him from executing his combo.

* Invoker's EMP is extremely effective against Earthshaker due to his low natural mana.

* Invoker's multiple spells can lock down Undying and disable him from doing much.

* High health heroes like Pudge and Undying gain strength by using abilities. Focusing them with Spirit Siphon can let you heal more health and deal more damage to them.

* Silence will prevent Chen from activating Hand of God.
* Crypt Swarm and Exorcism can clear Chen's creeps and heavily damage Chen.
* Spirit Siphon heavily damages Chen and slows him, while healing Death Prophet.

* EMP is a large mana burn nuke which can hit Medusa's Mana shield with enough damage to lose even more mana.
* Deafening Blast disarms Medusa's ability to deal pseudo-AOE damage during teamfights.
* Cold Snap allows the opposing team to repeatedly stun Medusa in short succession, preventing her from successfully casting her ultimate due to its long cast time.
Additional:
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Medusa's mana to weaken Mana Shield.
* Medusa's lack of mobility makes her easy to kite with Invoker's spells.

* Crypt Swarm helps clear treant pushes.
* Silence prevents Nature's Prophet from using Sprout or Teleportation.
* Exorcism kills all treants.
Additional:
* Exorcism can quickly kill any Treants or Necronomicon units. Silence also prevents him from using Teleportation to escape or Sprout to lock you down.

* Exorcism kills Primal Split's units very quickly.

* Lone Druid during True Form and the Spirit bear has high HP, meaning Spirit Siphon can be very effective against them since they deal percentage damage

* Invoker's arsenal of magical spells are troublesome for Sniper who has low HP and high armor, which does not benefit him much against Invoker.
* Besides magical damage, he can be disarmed and repeatedly mini-stunned with Cold Snap, preventing him from reacting.
* Leveling Quas can allow Invoker to lane effectively against Sniper despite right-click harassment.

* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for all his nukes - Chaos Meteor, EMP and especially global Sun Strike.

* Quas Exort Invoker has high physical damage in the form of Cold Snap and Forged Spirits that allows him to trade hits with Huskar.
* Although Huskar can dispel Cold Snap with Life Break.
* Sun Strike deals pure damage and pierces spell immunity, and Huskar tends to drain his HP, making him a susceptible target.

* Tornado allows Invoker to purge Necrophos's Ghost Shroud, nullifying any benefits he could get out of it
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Necrophos's mana, preventing him to use his abilities constantly

* Cold Snap allows Invoker to interrupt Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike.
* Tornado's long range can be used to cancel Charge of Darkness.
* Deafening Blast prevents Spirit Breaker from right clicking and thus proccing his Greater Bash.

* Spirit Siphon and Exorcism can damage through his Resonant Pulse shields.
* Silence can prevent Void Spirit escape or contributing much in fights.

* Invoker can drain Wraith King's mana with EMP, preventing him from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Even if Wraith King survives and reincarnates, Invoker still has an arsenal of spells to lockdown Wraith King, including an easily setup Ice Wall.
* Tornado applies an area dispel to clear skeletons.
Additional:
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Wraith King's mana to prevent Reincarnation from triggering (only until Wraith King gets his Aghanim's Shard).
* Ice Wall and Cold Snap are particularly crippling for Wraith King as they allow to kite him very effectively, preventing him from dealing melee attack damage.

* Quas-Exort Invoker can win the mid lane easily against Alchemist because Quas regeneration will nullify Acid Spray's damage over time and Exort damage bonus will allow Invoker to out last hit Alchemist.

* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven, Omniknight, Enigma, Luna, Naga Siren, Mars, Jakiro, Venomancer, Elder Titan, Faceless Void, Rubick, Keeper of the Light, Pugna, Invoker, Spectre, Alchemist, Treant Protector, Lina, Oracle, Zeus, Shadow Shaman, Phoenix, Razor, Huskar, Batrider, Kunkka, Tidehunter, Wraith King, Sand King.

* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by EMP: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Omniknight

* Heroes with powerful area-of-effect disables can initiate on Meepo and his clones and shut him down, such as Enigma, Invoker, Magnus, Puck, and Sand King.

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

* High health heroes like Pudge and Undying gain strength by using abilities. Focusing them with Spirit Siphon can let you heal more health and deal more damage to them.

* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer, Death Prophet, Puck, Doom

* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.

* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are Death Prophet, Drow Ranger, Bloodseeker, Disruptor and many others.
* Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.

Additional:
* His low mobility tends to make him an easy target for Spirit Siphon and the ghosts from Exorcism.
* His magical nukes can also be healed with Spirit Siphon.
* Silence is great against any spellcaster, and Zeus is no exception to this.

* Some heroes with extreme range, like Zeus, Invoker or Clockwerk, can snipe your allies from anywhere after your Grave has expired.

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

* Heroes that can stall pushes: Invoker, Keeper of the Light, Lina, Luna.

* Death Prophet is a terrible Flaming Lasso target if Exorcism has already been used, since it can still damage Batrider and his teammates, but if Batrider manages to Lasso her before that, it can lead to Death Prophet being quickly burst down.

* A couple of long-range heroes with excellent laning like Mirana, Lina, Necrophos, Death Prophet. The key to success is sticking together and attacking Luna whenever she enters the range, without even giving Luna a chance to retaliate. Multiple long-range heroes is a reason to pick another hero.

* In the same vein, heroes with silences — especially with the AoE ones like Death Prophet's Silence — can also prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to impact a fight.

* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, and even Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.

* Heroes with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability: Death Prophet, Sniper, Tinker, Windranger.

* Windranger heavily relies on her abilities for any form of tactical advantage and damage. A well timed silence will make her useless: Puck,Silencer, Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, Drow Ranger, Earth Spirit, Grimstroke.

* Heroes who can silence will shut down Dark Willow entirely: Death Prophet, Silencer, Drow Ranger

* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker, Monkey King, Shadow Fiend Lina

* Because all of Warlock's abilities are active abilities, silences can make his impact in fights minimal. Be cautious of heroes that carry silences like Death Prophet, Puck, and the aforementioned Silencer.

* Death Prophet's Silence allows her to prevent Bounty Hunter from escaping with Shadow Walk.
* If Bounty Hunter cannot escape with Shadow Walk while affected by Silence, she will be able to burst him down with Crypt Swarm and Spirit Siphon.

* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin, Invoker, Outworld Destroyer, Pugna

* Any heroes with stuns or silences: Death Prophet, Lion, Shadow Shaman, Skywrath Mage

* Any heroes with high intelligence, such as Invoker and Pugna.

* Any heroes with silences can negate the majority of Outworld Devourer's damage output: Death Prophet, Night Stalker, Drow Ranger, Doom .

* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker, Monkey King, Shadow Fiend Lina

* Heroes with silencing abilities that are not blocked by Linken's Sphere, like Puck's Waning Rift, Death Prophet's Silence or Silencer's Global Silence.

Additional:
* While Morphling can burst her down with Adaptive Strike (Agility), Death Prophet does have tools to disrupt him. A Morphling affected by Silence makes it unable to use Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) to increase its health pool or use Waveform to escape.

* Silence will prevent Queen of Pain from using Blink to escape or chase.
* If Queen of Pain uses Blink to close the gap to Death Prophet, Death Prophet will be in range for Spirit Siphon and typically gain an advantage over Queen of Pain.

* Ice Wall and Ghost Walk can be used to kite and escape from Viper.
* Chaos Meteor and Sun Strike deal heavy damage and can quickly bring Viper down.
* Cold Snap, Tornado, and Deafening Blast are powerful disables that reduce Viper's effectiveness.
* EMP burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
* Forge Spirits can melt Viper's armor and reduce his durability.

* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker: Invoker, Shadow Demon, Batrider

Additional:
* Tinker is relatively helpless against Invoker, as his Rearm and Boots of Travel can be easily interrupted by Invoker's long range disables, even if he blinks away.

* Tornado dispels Guardian Angel from multiple targets.
* Guardian Angel is generally useless against Invoker as he primarily relies on magical damage.
* EMP depletes Omniknight's already small mana pool.
* Invoker's many disables keep Omniknight's team occupied until Guardian Angel times out.

* Invoker can use Tornado or Cold Snap to prevent Pugna from channeling Life Drain
* A poorly used Decrepify on Pugna's allies means Invoker's abilities can be used to deal more damage to it
* Tornado allows Invoker to purge Pugna's Decrepify when it is used defensively
* Special care has to be taken, however, when casting several abilities within the range of a Nether Ward

* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as silencer, Drow Ranger and Death Prophet.