* Crippling Fear makes Night Stalker one of the best early game gankers to shut down Anti-Mage.
* Night Stalker's low mana pool causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.

* None of Anti-Mage's skills are that effective against Drow Ranger. Gust prevents him from Blinking in or out, Counterspell is totally useless against Drow's physical damage, and as she usually doesn't have a high mana pool, Mana Break and Mana Void don't do much either.
* If Anti-Mage is going for Heart of Tarrasque and Black King Bar, heroes that do heavy damage-per-second are needed.
* Be careful however that Anti-Mage may eventually farm enough to Blink on top of you and kill you straight away, considering you have no natural tools to escape from him.

* The long silence of Crippling Fear at night prevents Weaver from using his Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and probably kill Weaver.
* Hunter In the Night's attack speed bonus removes The Swarm's beetles very quickly.

* A well-timed Gust will prevent Weaver from escaping, and a silenced Weaver usually dies very quickly.
* Precision Aura easily removes The Swarm beetles or counteracted by Shadow Blade/Silver Edge.
Additional:
* A well-timed Gust followed by Frost Arrows will prevent Weaver from escaping with Shukuchi. A Weaver silenced for more than 3 seconds usually dies very quickly.
* Due to her high attack speed, Drow Ranger can easily kill The Swarm beetles.

* Heroes with silence: Death Prophet, Riki, Drow Ranger.

* Crippling Fear is a good way to shut down and gank Invoker in the early game..
* Void deals good damage to Invoker and makes escaping harder.
* With Hunter in the Night and Void, Invoker can't get away from Night Stalker and won't be able to catch him with Sun Strike during the night.

* Heroes with low health and low armor: Clinkz, Crystal Maiden.

* 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.

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

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

* 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.

* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.

* Heroes with low health and low armor: Clinkz, Crystal Maiden.

* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.

* Crippling Fear prevents Keeper of the Light from using his spells to keep his team alive during team-fights.
* Dark Ascension is very strong against Keeper of the Light, who relies on daytime to be effective.
Additional:
* Keeper of the Light's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade loses much of its power, due to Night Stalker being able to reduce the duration of daytime by a lot.

* Drow Ranger can be difficult to get on top of, thanks to her Frost Arrows and Gust. With these two abilities, Drow Ranger is able to effectively 'kite' Doom and minimize his impact during team fights and laning stage.
* Much of Drow Ranger's effectiveness comes from her passive, which is not disabled by Doom.

* Dark Ascension reduces vision for the enemy team, which makes it more difficult for Magnus to initiate with Blink Dagger and Reverse Polarity. It is also more likely that Night Stalker will scout out Magnus with Aghanim's Scepter and a Gem of True Sight, after which he can silence Magnus with Crippling Fear.

* Ember Spirit greatly relies on his spells to engage in battle. Drow Ranger can simply silence him with Gust and make him useless for a few seconds, which Ember Spirit cannot afford during a teamfight.

* A well-timed Gust will prevent Rubick from casting abilities from Spell Steal, and his lack of capabilities and low health pool usually dies very quickly.
* Drow Ranger can dispel Fade Bolt's reduction debuff with Manta Style.

* Void can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Crippling Fear prevents Shadow Fiend from using Shadowraze or Requiem of Souls.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Shadow Fiend easily. He is also a tanky hero that can fight Shadow Fiend at any stage of the game.

* With Dark Ascension Night Stalker gains unobstructed vision during night-time allowing him to easily detect mines if he has a Gem of True Sight, but Night Stalker is a melee hero so he has to use Quelling Blade to safely defuse Remote Mines and Stasis Trap.
* Dark Ascension also allows Night Stalker to fly over Proximity Mines without triggering them.
* Crippling Fear is effective in stopping Techies from using Blast Off! and Void is effective in stopping them from running to the safety of their mines.

* Crippling Fear is a silence that can last up to 8 seconds during night, rendering Storm Spirit tied limited to his items in a fight.
* Dark Ascension allows Night Stalker to initiate on Storm Spirit across the impassable terrain around the middle lane, rendering Storm vulnerable in the early game and prevent him from snowballing.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit is absolutely helpless if caught within Night Stalker's silence range.
* Common items a Storm Spirit will build will not remove the AoE silence.

* Gust prevents Mirana from escaping away from Leap and Moonlight Shadow before she builds defensive items.
* On the other hand, Mirana can Leap or close the gap with Moonlight Shadow to disable Drow Ranger's Marksmanship bonus.

* The long silence of Crippling Fear at night prevents Mirana from escaping with Moonlight Shadow and Leap. She also has really low base health, so Night Stalker can usually kill her during one cast of Crippling Fear at night.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Mirana, and he is a tanky hero capable of fighting Mirana any stage of the game.

* Gust can hit Dark Willow beyond a defensive Bramble Maze, and before she gets close enough to hit Drow Ranger with Bedlam.
* Drow Ranger's long range allows her to hit Dark Willow's team without venturing into her Bramble Maze.

* Void is a potent nuke that is devastating to his low health pool.
* Crippling Fear silence can prevent Puck from casting spells, leaving him vulnerable.
Additional:
* Puck cannot use any of its normal means to survive should Night Stalker catch it within Crippling Fear, and goes down quickly.

* Long ranged heroes like Sniper or Drow Ranger can kite Tiny effectively if he doesn't get the jump on them first.

* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky: Riki, Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Juggernaut, Spectre, Slark,Drow Ranger.

* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.

* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter, Ursa, Drow Ranger

* Careful not to blink into Riki's Smoke Screen or Night Stalker's Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.

Additional:
* Fissure has a short stun and creates an impassable ridge. However, Night Stalker can fly over it during Dark Ascension.
* Night Stalker can find Earthshaker, disable his Blink Dagger with Void, and then take him out with Crippling Fear.
* Earthshaker may fail his blink combo against Night Stalker's team if he is not careful, as he can blink into the silence.

* Heroes with low health: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Lion.

* 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 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.

* Every hero that can withstand or prevent Eclipse at level 7: Juggernaut, Riki, Clockwerk, Drow Ranger, Abaddon, Faceless Void, Weaver, Outworld Destroyer.

* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.

* Heroes with long disables, like Lion, Night Stalker, or Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.

* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar: Drow Ranger, Sniper, Templar Assassin, Arc Warden

* 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.

* This is especially true against Visage's Summon Familiars.
* Armed with an Aghanim's Scepter and a Maelstrom or its upgrade Mjollnir, Drow Ranger becomes quite potent against summons and illusions.
* This is especially true against Visage's Summon Familiars.

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

* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.

* Night Stalker's Crippling Fear at night prevents Shadow Walk for an extended period of time and his Void will make Phase Boots useless. If Night Stalker has True Sight, he can shutdown Bounty Hunter's sneak kill.

* Heroes that have long silences, such as Night Stalker and Silencer, will prevent Abaddon from saving his allies effectively and disable the active component of Borrowed Time.

* Dragon Knight has no built in disengage from Frost Arrows, and Marksmanship procs ignore base armor, bypassing Dragon Knight’s tankiness for the most part, making Drow one of the few heroes that can deal enough sustained damage to solo kill Dragon Knight.
* With Aghanim's Shard, Frost Arrows also apply hypothermia stacks, reducing her target’s regen, which is especially potent against tanks like Dragon Knight. (A similar effect can also be achieved with an Eye of Skadi)
Additional:
* Dragon Knight has no built in disengage from Frost Arrows, and Marksmanship procs ignore base armor, bypassing Dragon Knight’s tankiness for the most part, making Drow one of the few heroes that can deal enough sustained damage to solo kill Dragon Knight.
* With Aghanim's Shard, Frost Arrows also apply hypothermia stacks, reducing her target’s regen, which is especially potent against tanks like Dragon Knight. (A similar effect can also be achieved with an Eye of Skadi)

* Drow Ranger can use Gust to push back Juggernaut before he can get in range to use Omnislash or Blade Fury.

* A well timed Gust will push Monkey King off a tree while also silencing him.
* A well placed Multishot will hit Monkey King in the trees, perhaps making it possible to finish a kill after he jumps into the trees.
* Marksmanship procs ignore the extra armor granted by Wukong's Command, and with a Dragon Lance, Drow can usually hit Monkey King without entering the field of clones, even disregarding any Black King Bar he may have bought.
* A well placed Gust can push Monkey King out of Wukong's Command, ending it prematurely.
Additional:
* A well timed Gust will push Monkey King off a tree while also silencing him.
* A well placed Multishot will hit Monkey King in the trees, perhaps making it possible to finish a kill after he jumps into the trees.
* Marksmanship procs ignore the extra armor granted by Wukong's Command, and with a Dragon Lance, Drow can usually hit Monkey King without entering the field of clones, even disregarding any Black King Bar he may have bought.
* A well placed Gust can push Monkey King out of Wukong's Command, ending it prematurely.

* Crippling Fear can silence Faceless Void for a long time, preventing him from using his Time Walk and Chronosphere.

* Night Stalker can easily find Pudge's location during Dark Ascension.
* Void's mini-stun and silence from Crippling Fear at night will stop Dismember, Meat Hook and Rot and preventing Pudge from fighting back.
* Night Stalker has naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance, making Night Stalker a poor target for Pudge.

* 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.

* Night Stalker has a huge, almost instant silence through Crippling Fear. The main problem is that he can get it off while Queen of Pain barely has any vision of him if he creeps up to her during Dark Ascension. She'll have to play very carefully before she gets a Black King Bar or a Eul's Scepter of Divinity.

* Night Stalker can easily find Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.
* Void's mini-stun will stop Rearm and Boots of Travel.
* Crippling Fear's silence will prevent Tinker from fighting back, as Tinker relies on his spells.
Additional:
* Night Stalker is one of the best heroes to find (and silence) Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.

* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter, Ursa, Drow Ranger

* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.

* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and kill Riki. Riki will also find it harder to kill the tanky Night Stalker than he would many other heroes.