Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Lycan
* Reactive Armor makes Timbersaw very effective against heroes that control a lot of units, such as Broodmother,
Lycan and
Undying.
Additional:
* All of Timbersaw's spells deal AoE damage, killing Lycan's summons very quickly.
* Reactive Armor will gain stacks quickly because of Lycan's summons.
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.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)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.
Lycan
* Heroes who rely on summons will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds: Lycan,
Arc Warden,
Warlock,
Chen
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)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.
Lycan
* Faceless Void can lock Lycan down with his
Chronosphere pinning him down as long as his ultimate is up.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Lycan
* Primal Roar allows Beastmaster to keep Lycan in place after he used his Shapeshift.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 2%)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.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Lycan
* Kraken Shell grants him massive physical attack protection
* Anchor Smash will wipe the area, clearing Lycan's wolves.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Lycan
* Lycan has no kind of teleport, being only able to walk, and heavily relies on his attacks. As Overgrowth roots and disarms the targets, Lycan can't do much in an overgrowth field.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Lycan
* 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.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Lycan
* Rupture completely negates Lycan's high mobility.
* All of Lycan's summons are good sources of healing with Bloodrage.
Additional:
* Rupture completely negates Lycan's high mobility.
* All of Lycan's summons are good sources of healing with Bloodrage.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)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.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)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.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Lycan
* Brewmaster can waste a large portion of Lycan's ultimate by putting him in Cyclone.
* Lycan has no way to stop Brewmaster from using Primal Split by himself.
* Lycan's team often tries to push towers as a group, and Brewmaster excels at winning teamfights while trying to defend a tower.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)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.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Lycan
* A well landed Fissure can potentially take Lycan out of the fight for several seconds, who heavily relies on precious seconds from Black king bar and Shapeshift to fight.
* Aftershock reduces the effectiveness of his summons and can prove quite irritating for Lycan.
* Echo Slam is very powerful with the sheer amount of Lycan's units and will cause him to think twice when pushing towers.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)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.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% 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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)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.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's passive Bristleback can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Lycan
* Paralyzing cask bounces between him and his wolves, keeping him stunned for long amounts of time.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Lycan
* Tidebringer's cleave will cripple any of his summons.
* Could potentially build Heaven's Halberd to cripple Lycan even more.
Additional:
* Tidebringer can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* can also build into Heaven's Halberd which will disable Lycan's auto attacks crippling him even more.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Sanity's Eclipse only triggers Bristleback's passive once, and deals high damage against Bristleback's low intelligence.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% 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.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 2%)Lycan
* Great Cleave will kill Lycan's summons very fast.
* Warcry will allow Sven and his allies to tank Lycan's damage, which is mainly physical.
* Storm Hammer will damage and stun Lycan's as well as his summons.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)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.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Lycan
* Pugna's
Decrepify prevents the target from taking physical damage or doing damage, which poses a huge problem for Lycan, as he mainly deals physical damage.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Lycan
* Lycan is a carrier built entirely with physical attacks, having 0 AoE presence and no spell power. Due to this, he can't deal with illusions or Naga Siren's Ensnare.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Lycan
* Heroes who have summons, which can be quickly cleared by his powerful area of effect skill: Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Lycan
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Lycan
* Heroes that can summon units will have their summons destroyed very quickly if badly micro-managed, like Chen,
Lycan, and
Phantom Lancer.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Lycan
* Heroes who summon multiple units that are not spell immune. Nature's Prophet,
Lycan,
Beastmaster
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Lycan
* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Juggernaut,
Dragon Knight,
Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord
Additional:
* Guardian Angel completely negates all of Lycan's damage since Lycan mainly deals physical damage.
* Purification can also be a problem for Lycan, as Purification deals damage around the target, which poses a problem for him and his summons.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Lycan
* Melee heroes who rely on summons, illusions or clones will trigger Counter Helix more often, thus taking more damage: Meepo,
Lycan,
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer
Additional:
* Berserker's Call can keep Lycan in place during his Shapeshift even through
Black King Bar.
* Counter Helix is very effective against Lycan because of his summons.
* Culling Blade will prevent Lycan from running away with Shapeshift when he drops low.
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
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Lycan
* Lycan cannot escape from a Pounce even if he uses
Shapeshift, and has no disabling abilities to stop Slark.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Lycan
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has
Battle Fury.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Bristleback
* Heroes who deal single instance burst damage will only proc Bristleback once: Lina,
Lion.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 5%)Lycan
* Keeper of the Light has a blind, which causes Lycan to miss his attacks.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)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.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)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.
Lycan
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 17%)Lycan
* Blur is a real problem for Lycan, while she deals critical hits.
Lycan
* Heroes with single-target abilities will be overwhelmed by Lycan and his summons: Wraith King,
Bane,
Phantom Assassin.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Lycan
* Her Mana Shield is too tough for Lycan to break in.
* Mystic Snake can hit for a massive damage once it spread between his summons.
Additional:
* Can be easily petrified despite his speed.
* Summoned wolves will be targeted by Split Shot or Mystic Snake
Bristleback
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 2%)Lycan
* He relies heavily on right clicks making Untouchable very effective against him.
* If he tries to run away Impetus will do huge amounts of damage.
Additional:
* She can Enchant one of the wolves to her side.
* Untouchable still slows Lycan's attack speed.
Lycan
* Heroes with haste can negate Enchant's slow: Weaver,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Centaur Warrunner.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% 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
* Magnetic Field is useless against melee heroes, so Lycan can attack Arc Warden without missing.
* Flux doesn't affect Lycan that much, because Shapeshift grants immunity to slows and because he is never alone.
* If their Tempest Double has been called, Lycan can still kill Arc Warden before the double expires.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% 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.
Lycan
* Heroes with low armor and little mobility, like Huskar,
Io, etc. will also have an unfortunate fate.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)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.
Lycan
* Heroes with low armor and little mobility, like Huskar,
Io, etc. will also have an unfortunate fate.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Lycan
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)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.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Lycan
* The movement speed granted from Shapeshift means that Spectre has no way to punish Lycan if he wants to splitpush or pick off supports. Furthermore, he will kite Haunt and cannot be slowed by Spectral Dagger.
* As Lycan typically has Summon Wolves out and builds
Necronomicon, very rarely will he be damaged by Desolate if he does manage to get into a fight against her.
* Lycan is often part of an early game push strategy which is often the best counter to Spectre because she needs a lot of time and space to come online as a late game carry.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)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.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)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.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Bristleback
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Lycan
* Shapeshift allows Lycan to chase down Earth Spirit.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% 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.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Lycan
* Shapeshift allows Lycan to get close and disable Marksmanship.
* Shapeshift also makes him immune to slows like Drow Ranger's Frost Arrows.
Additional:
* The Wolves' speed causes the knockback from Gust to be ineffective.
* She lacks escapes and loses her Marksmanship when someone is near her. Lycan takes advantage of these weaknesses.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)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.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Lycan
* Mirana's Leap is ineffective if Lycan uses Shapeshift. It also allows him to dodge Sacred Arrow.
* As a natural Necronomicon carrier, he can reveal Mirana and her allies hiding in Moonlight Shadow and the Necronomicon Warrior can kill Mirana from an unintentional Sacred Arrow or Starstorm upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Lycan
* Shapeshift allows Lycan to escape from
Upheaval with 650 movement speed.
* Warlock doesn't have a lot of AoE abilities to deal with Lycan's wolves from Summon Wolves.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)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.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)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.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% 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
Puck
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 14%)Lycan
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Lycan,
Bloodseeker,
Anti-Mage,
Timbersaw
Lycan
* A Lycan with Shapeshift can always run down Puck and kill him very quickly due to his low armor. It is important to abuse as many cliffs and trees as possible to escape from a Lycan.
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.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Lycan
* Void's slow is useless against Lycan by activating Shapeshift.
* Night Stalker's single target abilities (with the exception of Void upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter) is not very effective against Lycan's
Summon Wolves and Necronomicon minions during the early and mid game.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)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.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Lycan
* Lycan is a common Necronomicon 3 carrier, hindering his attempt of initiate or escape using Vendetta.
* And the Last Will can be killed quickly with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, although he can at least partially counter it with a well-timed Spiked Carapace.
* Lycan's high HP easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
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.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Techies
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Lycan
* 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.
Additional:
* He can send wolves to defuse Proximity Mines, and he can catch up Techies and kill him before they can deny themselves. Even if the suicide is successful, Lycan can still survive because of his tankiness.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Lycan
* You can easily kill a squishy Sniper, due to your high movement speed and his lack of escape.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Lycan
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lycan
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones: Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones: Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren (bonus for her
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Pugna
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Lycan
* Skywrath mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. As Mystic Flare only affects heroes, his skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Lycan
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells: Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Broodmother,
Naga Siren,
Lycan,
Visage. However, Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, as long as they don't bunch up.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)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
Bane
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Lycan
* Heroes with single-target abilities will be overwhelmed by Lycan and his summons: Wraith King,
Bane,
Phantom Assassin.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)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.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 21%)Lycan
* Heroes with single-target abilities will be overwhelmed by Lycan and his summons: Wraith King,
Bane,
Phantom Assassin.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Lycan
* Dragon Knight's insanely high armor and splash damage can cause Lycan to struggle taking him down.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Shadow Demon's
Soul Catcher hinders Bristleback's tanking capabilities.
Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passive.
Lycan
* Lycan and
Weaver has abilities that allow them to move at maximum movement speed, and those abilities can't be dispelled, potentially wasting the slow from Demonic Purge.
* You can potentially kill a fragile Weaver by using disruption DURING
Shukuchi with a well-placed
Sentry Ward, wasting the Shukuchi. But odds are he'll wait to get low health,
Time Lapse the damage away and Shukuchi away once more.
Lich
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Bristleback
* Sinister Gaze forces Bristleback to face Lich, exposing him to damage.
* Lich's plethora of slows make it easy to kite Bristleback.
Lycan
* Lycan doesn't care much about Lich's slows thanks to Shapeshift.
* Chain Frost can bounce to the wolves that Lycan summons.
Additional:
* Lich possesses a lot of slows, which Lycan doesn't care about when he Shapeshifts.
* Lich has no in-built escape, which makes him a good target for Lycan.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)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.
Lycan
* Shapeshift is useful for killing or escaping Silencer.
* Summon Wolves, and later
Necronomicon units, can be used to hunt a badly wounded Silencer down - even when Lycan himself can't fight.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)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.
Lycan
* Lycan's ultimate makes him immune to slows from Ursa's
Earthshock as well as allowing him to outmaneuver
Ursa during
Enrage. Lycan can also easily chase down
Ursa while shapeshifted, should
Ursa try to flee.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Lycan
* Can cast Demonic Conversion on one of Lycan's Wolves, making this a numbers fight.
* Malefice will greatly reduce his ability to engage
* Midnight Pulse can steep an area making it harder for Lycan to engage in.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness can enable him to chase Enigma out of a teamfight, making it difficult to initiate with a Black Hole.
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.
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Lycan
*
Stroke of Fate deals more damage when it hits more targets which makes it very effective in dealing with Lycan and his units.
Soulbind prevents lycan from running away and makes him very easy to deal with.
*
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.
*