Rubick
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace is a death sentence against Pugna, since its the perfect setup for all his abilities, especially Life Drain.
* Decrepify can be cast to save the ally under Winter's Curse effect, wasting most of its duration.
* Winter Wyvern's abilities require a lot of mana, allowing Nether Ward to deal lots of damage.
Lion
* Nether Ward will be problematic for heavy nukers and spammers like Skywrath Mage,
Lina,
Lion and
Invoker, but don't use Decrepify defensively against them as you'll be helping them out more than anything.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
Winter Wyvern
* All of his damage is magical and pure, which makes Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* Winter's Curse is very hard to cast on Tinker because he usually stays in the back-lines in team-fights. In turn, Tinker has mediocre attack damage and will contribute very little when he is cursed to attack an ally. He can also save his ally under Winter's Curse effect with Ethereal Blade.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Winter Wyvern
* 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.
Lion
* 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.
Lion
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slarks poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 17%)Winter Wyvern
* Outworld Devourer's pure damage from Arcane Orb can go through Cold Embrace.
* Outworld Devourer can negate the healing from Cold Embrace using Astral Imprisonment, and steal mana while doing so.
* Outworld Devourer's damage during Winter's Curse is reduced due to Arcane Orb being unable to target allies.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern must never put her allies in Cold Embrace against Outworld Destroyer as Arcane Orb will continue to steal Intelligence and deal damage to the defenseless hero.
* Arcane Orb does not hit his allies when he is taunted by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
* Astral Imprisonment can protect a target inflicted with Winter's Curse.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 18%)Lion
* Waning Rift prevents Lion from casting spells during team fights, effectively making him useless.
* Puck's burst damage potential through Illusory Orb,
Waning Rift, and
Dream Coil allows it to easily kill Lion.
* Combined with the lockdown from Dream Coil, Puck's high mobility through
Ethereal Jaunt and
Blink Dagger allows it to effortlessly chase Lion.
* Phase Shift allows Puck to dodge nearly all of Lion's spells, including Finger of Death.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Although Finger of Death can potentially bypass Borrowed Time, Finger's delayed damage allows an Abaddon with fast enough reaction time to activate Borrowed Time and heal from Finger.
* Aphotic Shield is extremely effective against both Earth Spike and Hex, nullifying the stun or hex while preventing further damage.
* Lion's lack of escape mechanisms allows Abaddon and his allies to pursue him with Curse of Avernus.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Tidehunter naturally has a high health pool and thus makes it hard for Lion to burst him down. Kraken Shell further mitigates this by dispelling any disables Lion casts when Tidehunter takes enough damage.
* Gush and
Ravage can both not only burst Lion down, but also catch him out and prevent him from escaping.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace is no salvation against Lucent Beam and
Eclipse.
* Moon Glaives will not hit a hero affected by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
* Luna has better night vision provided by Lunar Blessing than Winter Wyvern when affected by Arctic Burn.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is no salvation against Lucent Beam and
Eclipse.
* Moon Glaives will not hit a hero affected by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
* Luna has better night vision provided by Lunar Blessing than Winter Wyvern when affected by Arctic Burn.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Lion
* Hex and
Earth Spike do not cancel Hoodwink's ultimate, making those two abilities ineffective against her.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast Winter's Curse on him. However, if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter Wyvern cannot handle the Zombies created by Undying's Tombstone very well. In most situations, Zombies will have more movement speed than her.
* Undying can gain one or two easy Decay stacks on an ally in Cold Embrace. The ally will still take the damage as well.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern cannot handle the Zombies created by Tombstone very well. In most situations, Zombies will have more movement speed than her.
* Undying can gain one or two easy Decay stacks on an ally in Cold Embrace. The ally will still take the damage as well, since it is magical.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for all his nukes - Chaos Meteor,
EMP and especially global
Sun Strike.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Winter Wyvern
* Any ally that Winter Wyvern tries to save with Cold Embrace can still be damaged by all of Zeus's spells.
* If Winter Wyvern tries to juke vision by flying up a cliff or in the trees, Zeus can gain vision there with Lightning Bolt or Thundergod's Wrath.
* If Zeus is forced to attack an ally by Winter's Curse, his unimpressive attack damage and attack speed means they won't be hurt much by him. Zeus will also stay near the back of fights away from his allies, making a deadly Curse less likely.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Winter Wyvern
* Heroes that wish to disrupt fights with spell combos or big ultimates are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* While heroes with strong mobility able to get close/flee or long range disables do well against him, heroes with no escaping abilities/lacking long disables will perish against Warlock. Once the {U:Warlock Golem} lands with its stun, its hardly possible to escape when he casts Upheaval. Just watch your pet burn the enemies as they try running away or blow their strongest abilities to stop your {U:Warlock Golem}. Notable examples:
Huskar,
Drow Ranger,
Lion,
Elder Titan, etc.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as Lion or
Sven.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Winter Wyvern
* Heavy nukers will do well against Cold Embrace (Lina,
Zeus etc).
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 14%)Lion
* Vendetta allows Nyx to sneak up on Lion and deal massive damage to him, especially when followed up with an
Impale,
Mana Burn, or even
Dagon.
* Spiked Carapace has the potential to not only nullify Lion's damage, but also cripple and potentially deal massive damage to Lion, especially if he reflects Finger of Death.
Lion
* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin and
Keeper of the Light.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace makes its target immovable, allowing Ancient Apparition to easily land Ice Blast, or a Cold Feet stun
* Ice Blast also negates healing from Cold Embrace
Additional:
* Ice Blast disables the healing component of Cold Embrace, making it essentially a 4 second stun on an ally and a perfect setup for Ice Blast.
* If Cold Feet is cast on an enemy hero affected by Cold Embrace, it will almost guarantee the enemy comes out stunned.
Lion
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets especially fragile Heroes like Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition, or
Bounty Hunter.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Winter Wyvern
* Guardian Angel completely counters Winter's Curse if he is able to cast it.
Additional:
* Guardian Angel completely counters Winter's Curse, allowing his team to survive Winter Wyvern's initiation.
* Purification and
Heavenly Grace are very useful against Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast as well.
Lion
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Rage provides spell immunity to Lifestealer and thus nullifies all of Lion's abilities.
* Open Wounds allows Lifestealer to easily catch Lion out and prevent him from escaping.
Winter Wyvern
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin etc.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* Finger of Death's burst damage can kill him due to his low health pool, and
Ethereal Blade only makes it worse. If Lion purchased an
Aghanim's Scepter, the situation only grows worse.
* If Meepo ganks Lion with Poof and Earthbind, he will be an easy target for Earth Spike & AoE
Hex from his level 25 talent.
Winter Wyvern
* Winter's Curse in late game is pretty much the end for Meepo or any of his nearby allies. Natural counter for Winter's Curse like
Linken's Sphere or
Lotus Orb is meaningless to her if she can land it on one of your clones.
Additional:
* Meepo's clones usually gets grouped in teamfight making any of them ideal target for Winter's Curse, forcing Meepo to literally kill himself. Also unlike another hero he cannot protect himself with Linken's Sphere.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Hex and
Mana Drain can be used to immediately destroy Spectre's illusion when she Haunts. A fast fingered Lion can protect himself and a teammate.
* Hex and
Earth Spike are good lockdown spells to control and kill Spectre, especially if she doesn't buy defensive items like
Linken's Sphere and
Black King Bar.
* Finger of Death can be used to burst down Spectre when she is low on life as she has very poor magic resistance.
Winter Wyvern
* Arctic Burn makes it nearly impossible for Spectre to juke into the trees.
* Cold Embrace negates all of Spectre's physical damage. Furthermore, Cold Embrace will generally outheal Desolate.
* Winter's Curse can taunt illusions, not only wasting the entire duration of Haunt but also turning its illusions against Spectre's own team.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* 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.
Winter Wyvern
* 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.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 15%)Winter Wyvern
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin etc.
Lion
* Despite her high mobility, Hex or Earth Spike can lock Phantom Assassin down and make her vulnerable.
* Although she has high evasion through Blur, Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to Lion's magical burst.
Additional:
* Hex and
Earth Spike's fast cast animations easily catches Phantom Assassin when she jumps in to attack.
* Finger of Death often ends Phantom Assassin before she can do anything in the early to mid game.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* Mana Drain rapidly saps Morphling's already low mana pool, making him unable to use Waveform or Adaptive Strike. Additionally,
Hex prevents these abilities as well.
* An Earth Spike and
Finger of Death combo can burst an unwary Morphling down if he has his strength fully shifted to agility.
Winter Wyvern
* Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse turns Morphling's high attack damage and attack speed against his targeted teammate.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace protects targets of Reality Rift.
* Winter's Curse turns Phantasm illusions against Chaos Knight or a teammate.
* Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Phantasm illusions.
* Arctic Burn's percentage-based damage quickly wears down Chaos Knight's health.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern can make Chaos Knight's illusions attack the real one, provided the player knows who it is.
* Alternatively, Winter's Curse can make Chaos Knight and all his illusions attack one of his allies.
* Cold Embrace protects ally who is focused by Chaos Knight.
* Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Chaos Knight's illusions.
Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Additional:
* Mana Drain is a real problem to Chaos Knight early game, considering his already low mana pool.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Finger of Death is an AoE ability, which can deal a tremendous amount of damage to his illusions.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 19%)Winter Wyvern
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin etc.
Lion
* Wraith King has a very low mana pool and depends on it to cast Reincarnation. Mana Drain will render him useless.
* Wraith King has very low mobility, making it easy for Lion to disable and harass him.
Additional:
* While not being able to confront Wraith King by himself, Lion's Mana Drain helps in draining Wraith King's mana, preventing him from reincarnating unless he has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Lion's Earth Spike and
Hex provide decent lockdown against Wraith King as well, preventing the latter from benefiting from Vampiric Spirit bonuses.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 6%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter's Curse, when directly targeted on Enigma, can go through
Avatar, stopping Enigma's Black Hole channeling. It can also can turn his team against him, potentially killing him.
* Splinter Blast can be targeted on an eidolon, killing off other eidolons and damaging nearby heroes as well.
Lion
* Lion's disables are also really effective against channeling Heroes, like Enigma or
Crystal Maiden.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
Winter Wyvern
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Winter Wyvern
* Terrorblade and his illusions deal huge damage, which might used against him and his team with Winter's Curse.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Winter Wyvern
* Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace saves any ally Sven initiates on and wastes the duration of God's Strength in team fights.
* Winter's Curse can be devastating to Sven's team, as his massive damage can take out a teammate before there is much time to react.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 6%)Lion
* Lion will continuously Mana Drain Tiny, depleting his small mana pool for his abilities.
* Hex will keep Tiny from using his high damage spells and attack damage.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Medusa lacks mobility or escape mechanisms. Earth Spike and Hex can neutralize her strong damage potential and allow for Lion's team to focus her down.
* In addition to easily breaking her commonly bought Linken's Sphere with its low cooldown, Mana Drain can quickly drain her
Mana Shield, making her far less tanky.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Lion possesses two strong disables in Earth Spike and
Hex and heavy magic burst with
Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his
Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.
Additional:
* Ember lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game and often does not acquire any later, allowing Lion to Hex or Earth Spike him before he escapes through his Fire Remnant.
* Although Flame Guard can prevent magic damage, it does not stop Lion's disables, and Lion can usually break through it with Finger of Death.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* 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.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Lion has used all his crowd control before entering a fight. His direct magic burst also makes Brewmaster's Drunken Brawler worthless versus Lion.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Lion
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace saves allies from dying in Duels.
* Winter's Curse turns Legion Commander's high damage against her allies, giving the enemy team little time to react.
* However, Winter Wyvern lanes very poorly against Legion Commander due to Press the Attack removing all the debuffs she can give. Winter Wyvern also has little chances of surviving if she gets Dueled herself.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is very effective against Duel.
* Also, casting Winter's Curse at Legion Commander while an ally is in a
Duel will stun her for most of the duration, possibly preventing lethal damage dealt to your ally. It can also turn her high-damage against her teammate.
Lion
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman,
Lion
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* All of Lion's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Hex and
Mana Drain can make quick work of whatever illusions you're creating, especially when he acquires his Talents at level 20 and 25.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Earth Spike or
Finger of Death with
Aghanim's Scepter for the enemy.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 1%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace can protect allies from Lone Druid and the Spirit bear, who mainly deal physical damage
* Winter's Curse can turn Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear against his teammates.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace can render the extra attack speed from Overcharge meaningless.
* Splinter Blast and
Winter's Curse are very affective against Io, as it has to stay close to its tethered hero.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Drow has a very low health pool, allowing Lion to burst her down.
* Drow has no innate escape mechanism, making her an easy target for Lion's disables.
* Lion should be wary of Drow's Gust however, as he has no natural means to deal with it.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Lion
* Although Weaver can potentially Time Lapse out of any burst, Weaver has a fragile health pool, and Lion's disables can kill him before.
* Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game. Mana Drain can deplete him of mana and lessen his early game presence.
* Earth Spike can be point targeted and hits through Shukuchi to make him vulnerable.
* Linken's Sphere is easily broken by targeted spells with low cooldown.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Mana Drain depletes Nercophos' mana pool, preventing him from using his abilities.
* Finger of Death deals high magical damage, which becomes amplified by Ghost Shroud.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Lion
* Lion has two low cast point disables (Hex and
Earth Spike) to control Ursa before he buys a
Black King Bar.
* Hex is one of the few abilities that cannot be dispelled even with an
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enrage.
* Lion can control Ursa's low mana pool via Mana Drain.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* With a lot of disables with good range, he might cancel your Echo Stomp.
* Mana Drain can be used to drain Elder Titan's already low mana pool.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace can protect Troll Warlord's target, especially during Battle Trance.
* Winter's Curse can turn Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed against his allies.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace will protect your ally from being damaged if he gets focused by Troll.
* His high attack speed and bash will help to kill his cursed ally faster.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 8%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter's Curse and
Splinter Blast can devastate Underlord's team when they're grouped up for Dark Rift.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Winter Wyvern
* Arctic Burn allows Winter Wyvern to escape Lycan, even when he uses his ultimate.
* Splinter Blast is very effective in dealing with Lycan's summons.
* Cold Embrace saves allies from Lycan's raw physical damage and can buy allies enough time to turn the tide of battle.
* Winter's Curse stops lycan in his tracks and is very effective because of Lycan's summons.
Additional:
* All of Lycan's damage is physical which is totally negated by Cold Embrace.
* Lycan often moves around with large amount of creeps, wolves created by Summon Wolves, neutral creep dominated by
Helm of the Dominator and summons created by
Necronomicon which can be easily cleared by Splinter Blast or used as a great source of damage by Winter's Curse. If you catch Lycan with creeps nearby and affected by
Shapeshift using Winter's Curse on him will most certainly end up with his death.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 7%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace mitigates Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* Winter's Curse can turn Beastmaster's summons and Inner Beast against his teammate.
Additional:
* Beastmaster's summons and Inner Beast are very useful to attack his cursed teammate.
* Cold Embrace effectively mitigates Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 40% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* Heroes with nukes: Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Enchantress is very fragile without any form of magic resistance, allowing Lion to easily burst her down.
* Nature's Attendants is a slow heal, making it ineffective against Lion's burst.
* Enchantress lacks any escape mechanism apart from her raw movement speed, allowing Lion to disable her.
* Since Lion's damage comes mostly from his skills, Untouchable does nothing to mitigate it.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 4%)Winter Wyvern
* Any hero that can nullify effects of Chronosphere: (Omniknight,
Keeper of the Light with
Aghanim's Scepter during daytime,
Winter Wyvern), banishing him or Faceless Void (
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Earth Spirit with
Aghanim's Scepter) or protecting him in other ways (
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Abaddon) can greatly limit Chronosphere's potential.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Winter Wyvern
* Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Lion
* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin and
Keeper of the Light.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Lion
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Winter Wyvern
* Heroes with the ability to heal allies, or those with good defensive abilities: (Chen,
Dazzle,
Io,
Oracle,
Omniknight,
Witch Doctor,
Winter Wyvern, (
Abaddon, etc.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Lion
* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin and
Keeper of the Light.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* High priority targets like Queen of Pain,
Drow Ranger and even
Anti-Mage can't get caught out from Lion's long range disables.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* In general, heroes such as Lion,
Silencer,
Skywrath Mage,
Sven,
Ogre Magi and others with reliable disables are crucial to killing Techies before they can suicide.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* Any heroes with stuns or silences: Death Prophet,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Skywrath Mage
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Heroes with high burst damage through their physical attacks or spells can kill Dazzle or his allies before he has a chance to use Shallow Grave. (Lina,
Lion, etc.)
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter Wyvern's
Arctic Burn can also be a useful tool against Centaur, who generally has very high health.
Winter's Curse on Centaur can cause Retaliate to damage allies who are forced to attack him.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Winter Wyvern
* 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
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Lion
* Lion's disables are also really effective against channeling Heroes, like Enigma or
Crystal Maiden.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Lion
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Lion
* Mana Drain has an extremely long range and low cooldown. It can easily deplete most heroes of their entire mana pools, especially those with smaller mana pools such as Tiny or
Spirit Breaker.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse works very well against the increased attack speed from Bloodlust.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Heroes that can kill Death Prophet with nukes can prevent her from using Exorcism to its full duration or using it at all: Lina,
Lion,
Puck,
Morphling.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Winter Wyvern
* Heroes with abilities that can save teammates are also effective such as Shadow Demon,
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Bane,
Pugna,
Tusk,
Winter Wyvern,
Io,
Underlord,
Treant Protector and
Keeper of the Light.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets especially fragile Heroes like Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition, or
Bounty Hunter.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Winter Wyvern
* Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Winter Wyvern
* Timbersaw relies on dealing massive amounts of pure damage, making Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* If he has Reactive Armor stacks, Timbersaw can tank the damage from his allies if he is targeted by Winter's Curse. If he's not the target, Timbersaw's abysmal attack damage will contribute next to nothing when he is cursed to attack an ally.
Lion
* Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* In addition, Lion can follow up with his Earth Spike and
Mana Drain combo, preventing Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain. And he can finish Timbersaw off with
Finger of Death if the latter's HP is low enough.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
Lion
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Winter Wyvern
* Song of the Siren can be used to nullify the effects of Winter's Curse, and when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter it also outmatches the heal of Cold Embrace.
* If Winter Wyvern is reckless enough to put an ally in Cold Embrace, Naga Siren will be able to use her Ensnare to extend the disable on the hero affected by Cold Embrace.
Lion
* Both Hex and
Mana Drain destroys Naga Siren's illusions in an instant, making it hard to teamfight or push against a team with Lion. If Lion chooses the AoE effect talent for Hex or the multi-target Mana Drain, it can negate her pushing potential entirely.
* Earth Spike is an AoE disable with good damage. If used well, it can help distinguish the true Naga Siren by the damage they take (illusions take more damage).
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Lion
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
Lion
* Heroes with silences and hard stuns such as Doom,
Silencer, and
Lion can keep Mirana from Leaping away.
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.
Most popular searches list
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Winter Wyvern
* All of Winter Wyvern's spells are generally good for Rubick to steal:
Arctic Burn provides bonus attack range, night vision and burn.
Splinter Blast makes farming and pushing efficient while also slowing down the enemies.
Cold Embrace can heal an ally and protect them against physical attacks.
Winter's Curse can be stolen by Rubick and use it against herself or her own team.
*
*
*
*
Lion
* Everything Lion has is great in Rubick's kit, further amplified by Arcane Supremacy:
Earth Spike adds a second bit of crowd control and some damage.
Mana Drain solves a lot of Rubick's mana issues.
Hex is one of the strongest single-target lockdowns in the game.
Finger of Death is one of the best magical nukes in the game.
Spell Steal.
Arcane Supremacy makes the disabling spells stolen from Lion very useful, allowing you to disable enemies for an extremely long time during fights or ganks.
Telekinesis, Rubick can easily catch Lion out. Without any escape mechanism, Lion is helpless, especially when ganked.
*
*
*
*
Additional:
* All of Lion's abilities are worth stealing with
*
* By using