Ursa
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Lion
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)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.
Medusa
* 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.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
* Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback .
* Last Word and
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
Additional:
* Bristleback will not be able to cast Viscous Nasal Goo or
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing
Warpath charges from stacking.
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilitiess, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
Medusa
* Silencer burns easily through her effective hp from Mana Shield, by taking away her int.
* Arcane Curse punishes her repeatedly casting
Mystic Snake to keep her mana pool high. Can force her to use
Manta Style before he has cast
Global Silence and
Medusa usually does not want to build
Black King Bar.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Medusa
* Anti-Mage easily destroys Mana Shield with Mana Break, especially once he has
Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage effectively avoids Stone Gaze with Blink, and can reinitiate after its duration is over.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage's Mana Break burns Medusa's mana easily, especially when coupled with a
Manta Style.
* Can easily initiate on Medusa with Blink, burning her mana or forcing her to use Stone Gaze.
* Mana Void is effective against Medusa's big mana pool and mana usage, presenting a huge hazard to Medusa's allies around her since her Mana Shield still gives her some protection if she has mana.
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.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Medusa
* Other heroes with mana burning or manipulating abilities will make Medusa much less tanky: Lion,
Mirana,
Weaver.
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.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Medusa
* 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.
Bristleback
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Additional:
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 14%)Medusa
* With her passive Split Shot, Medusa can be easily interrupted by Spiked Carapace during combat, especially during her precious
Stone Gaze.
* Mana Burn quickly destroys Mana Shield, especially if Medusa only increases her mana pool by bolstering intelligence (which has the added bonus of increasing Mana Burn's damage).
* Uncontrollable damage from Mystic Snake and
Split Shot can trigger Spiked Carapace.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making a Burrowed Nyx Assassin hard to kill.
Additional:
* Level 4 Mana Burn burns 38,5% of Medusa's mana every 4 seconds if Medusa only increases her mana pool with intelligence. Additionally, 60% of the
Mana Burn damage gets mitigated by Mana Shield, burning even more mana.
* Due to the passive nature of Mystic Snake and Split Shot, it can possibly proc Nyx's Spiked Carapace if he's within range of Medusa's abilities and isn't invisible.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making Nyx with Aghanim's Scepter extremely hard to deal with if Medusa is the team's main damage source.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 17%)Bristleback
* Sanity's Eclipse only triggers Bristleback's passive once, and deals high damage against Bristleback's low intelligence.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Medusa
* Nether Ward will cause an unfriendly area for Medusa, draining her mana.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Medusa
* Fiend's Grip provides mana drain, which can heavily damage Mana Shield and prevent Medusa from using
Stone Gaze.
* Even if she does use Stone Gaze, Nightmare can buy enough time to protect allies and reset the fight.
Additional:
* His Fiend's Grip will leave Medusa defenseless after he's done, if his teammates can provide cover for him or he initiates at the right time by Spell immunity.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's passive Bristleback can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time
Lich
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Bristleback
* Sinister Gaze forces Bristleback to face Lich, exposing him to damage.
* Lich's plethora of slows make it easy to kite Bristleback.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Medusa
* 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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
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.
Medusa
* Medusa cares less than other heroes about armor reduction, since
Mana Shield blocks 70% of all damage without taking armor/magic resistance into consideration. This makes 60% of your Corrosive Haze ineffective until Medusa's mana is drained.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Whirling Death deals damage as well while reducing 15% of Bristleback's strength, which reduces Bristleback's tankiness.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Medusa
* Medusa is a fairly immobile hero that deals damage around her with Split Shot. Sniper should outrange her and should stay out of harm's way from Split Shot.
* More importantly, Sniper should have enough attack range to fire at Medusa during her Stone Gaze without turning to stone, so the ultimate is mostly wasted against him.
Additional:
* Sniper can outrange both Medusa's arrows and Stone Gaze, allowing him to focus her down during a teamfight.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Bristleback
* Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed so he's unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin's break removes Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his eponymous defensive passive, Bristleback also lose his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Medusa
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift removes 1 of every attribute, lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
Additional:
* Medusa is especially vulnerable to Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Medusa
* Chakra Magic can drain her current mana, draining away her effective health in a sneaky way.
* Will-O-Wisp will keep Medusa busy after she got hit by
Blinding Light.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* Chronosphere allows allies to resposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Faceless Void from using Time Walk.
Additional:
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Medusa
* 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.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Medusa
* Other heroes with mana burning or manipulating abilities will make Medusa much less tanky: Lion,
Mirana,
Weaver.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Medusa
* Heroes who take a long time to become strong are in for a rough mid game, such as Outworld Destroyer,
Magnus,
Medusa, and
Anti-Mage.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* 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.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* 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.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Shadow Demon's
Soul Catcher hinders Bristleback's tanking capabilities.
Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passive.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Heroes who deal single instance burst damage will only proc Bristleback once: Lina,
Lion.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's reliance on physical damage with Quill Spray is negated by Bulwark.
* Mars can knock back Bristleback to prevent him from chasing down allies with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Medusa
* Medusa's
Stone Gaze forces Mars to choose between getting petrified, or turning his vulnerable back on Medusa.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Medusa
* Poof won't damage Medusa and he can Gaze an entire flock of Meepos.
* Mystic Snake will easily become the bane of Meepo early game.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 6%)Medusa
* Medusa's Split Shot can make quick work of Enigma's Eidolons and take advantage of their considerable bounty.
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze at the start of a fight, it can make initiating — and landing an effective Black Hole exceedingly difficult.
* Mystic Snake can be potentially detrimental to Enigma's initiation. Getting hit by the latter high-damage bounces (from standing behind his Eidolons or his teammates) can hinder his mana pool, preventing him from executing a strong initiation.
Additional:
* Mana Shield makes Medusa harder to kill with Enigma's Black Hole and Pulse combo.
* Medusa's Split Shot can kill Demonic Conversion creeps easier and Mystic Snake bounces off from them.
* Stone Gaze makes it hard for Enigma to approach Medusa for a Black Hole.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness can enable him to chase Enigma out of a teamfight, making it difficult to initiate with a Black Hole.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Medusa
* 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
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
Additional:
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* Lifestealer's low mobility makes him easy to kite.
* Stone Gaze pierces Rage, wasting its cooldown and making Lifestealer unable to fight.
Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Medusa
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze, the charge will inevitably fail.
* Mana Shield and overall tankiness allows Medusa to easily survive Spirit Breaker's initiation.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 40% pickrate: 1%)Medusa
* Enchantress often has a small army of neutral creeps, allowing Medusa to hit her with a later bounce of her Mystic Snake.
* Untouchable is ignored by secondary attacks from Split Shot.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Medusa
* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mystic Snake eats away at Sven's small mana pool.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Tiny's high damage will also proc Bristleback multiple times.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can help counteract the bonus armor granted by Grow.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 19%)Bristleback
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Additional:
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor & poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Medusa
* Mystic Snake can harass Axe in lane and drain his small mana pool.
* Mana Shield reduces the effectiveness of Counter Helix.
* Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Axe to pursue.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 1%)Bristleback
* Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
* Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and
Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Medusa
* Split Shot will keep attacking Pangolier even when he is rolling around.
* Stone Gaze stuns Pangolier during Rolling Thunder, or forces him to roll away.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)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.
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.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray and
Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback withstands Luna’s nukes, and gives lots of damage in return.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and
Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of Crimson Guard, which is good protection from bouncing glaives.
Additional:
* Multiple instances of damage from Eclipse will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly in a short time, dealing tremendous damage to Luna and her teammates.
* Luna's damage burst may be high, but it will not be enough for her to take down Bristleback.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and
Quill Spray and
Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
Additional:
* The damage from Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% 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.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Medusa
* Mana Shield makes it very difficult for Bloodseeker to gain his Thirst bonuses.
* Rupture rarely kills Medusa through Mana Shield.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Medusa
* Summoned gargoyles will give Medusa free target practice.
* Mana Shield will resist Soul Assumption instances without effort.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 0%)Medusa
* Heroes with cleave abilities and area of effect damage can make quick work of Chen's converted creeps and at same time gain farm: Magnus,
Jakiro,
Shadow Fiend,
Kunkka,
Luna,
Dragon Knight,
Medusa,
Alchemist.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% 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
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Reaper's Scythe and
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
Additional:
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive
Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
Medusa
* Mana Shield tanks most of the damage from Reaper's Scythe; with sufficient mana, the kill threshold drops to 15%/17%/19% health (before reductions).
* Heartstopper Aura does not chip away at Medusa's mana, this makes it not a threat as it deals damage based on current health.
* Necrophos has a movement speed equal to Medusa, and is easy to chase down with a slowing item in Medusa's inventory.
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.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 18%)Bristleback
* Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 9%)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.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 7%)Medusa
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver,
Morphling,
Medusa.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Medusa
* 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.
Medusa
* Stone Gaze negates Dispersion's damage reduction and allows Medusa to kite Spectre.
* Spectre's small mana pool is depleted quickly by Mystic Snake.
* Split Shot can clear Haunt illusions quickly.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With
Aghanim's Scepter, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* If Doom gets an Aghanim's Scepter, he can disable
Bristleback, taking away much of his durability.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing Warpath.
Medusa
* Doom does not disable Mana Shield. As such, Doom's damage is largely mitigated by her mana shield. Additionally, Medusa is not reliant on her abilities to be effective during a teamfight, making Medusa an unproductive hero to target.
* Medusa is an ideal Linken's Sphere carrier. Should one be purchased, and without any additional disables, Doom may find that few opportunities exist to effectively lockdown, disable, and kill Medusa.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Medusa
* Because of her need to get status items early to tank it up, Rubick can greatly reduce her damage early with Fade Bolt
* Her stationary nature and the slow cast time of her spells makes it easier for Rubick to steal Stone Gaze or
Mystic Snake
* Aghanim's Scepter's Mystic Snake is often better used by Rubick than by Medusa
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.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)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.
Medusa
* Mana Shield makes Medusa very hard to take down in Duels.
* Stone Gaze stops Legion Commander from Dueling altogether, regardless of who she targets.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
Medusa
* Split Shot can destroy Tombstone Zombies and Tombstone itself while still damaging heroes.
* Mana Shield reduces the impact of Decay and Flesh Golem's Plague Aura.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Medusa
* Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade will very quickly burn Medusa's mana, making Mana Shield significantly less effective.
* Doppelganger's 1 second invulnerability can be used to dodge Medusa's petrification from Stone Gaze, as well as Mystic Snake.
* Phantom Lancer's illusions outnumber Medusa's targets from Split Shot, likely shielding your team in the process.
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.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Medusa
* He won't be around waiting for Medusa to Stone Gaze and pin him until she bears a true sight.
* With Smoke Screen, Riki will silence and catch Medusa in a surprise with high miss chance flushing her from positions easily in team fights.
* He can still deal huge amount of damage through Cloak and Dagger via backstabs, drying out Medusa's protection in a whim at random occassions.
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.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* Unlike other illusion heroes, Tempest Double won't be instantly destroyed by Stone Gaze since it is considered a clone and not an illusion.
* He can use either his own or his double's Flux to bypass the spellblock from Linken's Sphere, using the leftover Flux +
Spark Wraith to slow Medusa's move speed to a crawl.
* Arc Warden has a farming advantage with double Hand of Midas, and can generally bully Medusa with other items that benefit from duplication.
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.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Webbed areas can be used to hit and run, covering distance hastily weakening her on the way and initiating ganks.
* Even though Medusa can hunt down Spiderlings easily when given enough range, after an Incapacitating Bite she will get her swarmed in no time.
* Medusa usual do not build a BKB to benefit from Mana Shield fully while Broodmother can fit a Diffusal Blade to burn away mana.
Additional:
* Incapacitating Bite will give Medusa a dire time to clear horde of small spiderlings or retaliate Broodmother herself.
* Spin Web will allow broodmother to pick her own fights and sometimes slip away to ambush Medusa.
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.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero winrate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assasin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (dotabuff most played)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal winrate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest winrate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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Bristleback
* 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.
Medusa
* Medusa's tankiness doesn't help her very much against Fury Swipes in long teamfights.
Enrage will ignore Medusa's gaze.
Fury Swipes easily against her Mana Shield in a prolonged team match.
* With no escape mechanism and a slow movement speed, getting jumped on by Ursa usually spells a quick end for Medusa in the early game.
Additional:
* Ursa's status resistance from
* Ursa can stack damage with