Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Morphling
* Heroes with silencing abilities that are not blocked by Linken's Sphere, like Puck's
Waning Rift,
Death Prophet's
Silence or
Silencer's
Global Silence.
Pugna
* Pugna is very reliant on his abilities for damage. (Just be careful around the Nether Ward)
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Pugna
* Pugna's Nether Ward doesn't really hurt Meepo since he usually buys attribute items to tank up and can be killed very quickly by 4 clones. Decrepify can amplify Poof's damage should Pugna use it to avoid Meepo's right clicking.
Morphling
* Earthbind disables Waveform, effectively keeping Morphling in place for an extended period of time, allowing Meepo to deal considerable damage with
Poof.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 7%)Pugna
* Due to Pugna's incredible intelligence growth and terrible strength growth, Nyx should always be able to take you out with his combo, with or without an added Dagon.
Mana Burn will deal a large amount of damage in particular, especially in the late game.
* Spiked Carapace is also a great tool versus Pugna. A good player will wait for you in
Vendetta until you farm a creep wave with Nether Blast and reflect it back at you as their initiation and setup for
Impale.
Additional:
* Nether Blast's animation makes it easy to time Spiked Carapace for a stun.
* Pugna has the largest intelligence gain in the game, making him a prime target for Mana Burn.
* Pugna needs to channel Life Drain, making him easy to hit with Impale.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Morphling
* Ice Blast stops Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) from recovering additional health, and using it will even bring Morphling closer to the shatter threshold.
* In lane, Ice Vortex slows Morphling's already poor movement speed to a crawl; this, coupled with the amplification of magic damage, can set up an early kill on Morphling if Ancient Apparition has a suitable lane partner.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Morphling
* Sharpshooter can kill easy when Morphling is going on full agility strategy (Only in early and mid game).
* Scurry can help to catch up Morphling when using
Waveform or for escape.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Morphling
* Sacred Arrow's long stun duration can prevent Morphling from casting his Waveform or Morph Replicate, making him unable to escape and easier to gank.
* Moonlight Shadow also allows Mirana's team to surprise Morphling while he tries to push towers.
* Mirana usually buys Linken's Sphere to protect herself from single-target abilities, making Morphling's Adaptive Strike and
Ethereal Blade harder to use on her.
* However, Mirana also provides a chance to become a good Morph target, allowing Morph to use Leap to run away, if necessary.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Pugna
* Life Drain will be always canceled by Lucent Beam if Pugna does not have
Black King Bar.
* Decrepify can be suicide against Luna due to Lucent Beam and Eclipse.
* Nether Ward is rather weak against Luna since she does not have abilities that cost a lot of mana.
Additional:
* Luna can shrug off most damage taken from Nether Ward as she only has two castable skills with average mana cost.
* Luna can deal constant damage to Pugna through the low-cooldown Lucent Beam and her right clicks.
* Lucent Beam's considerable range can reliably cancel Pugna's Life Drain.
* Luna is a common Black King Bar carrier, which totally nullifies Pugna's damage output.
* If Pugna uses Decrepify on himself to avoid Luna's right click, she can burst him down with Lucent Beam and Eclipse.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Most of Pugna's damage is magical, which can get blocked by Fate's Edict's 100% magic resistance.
* Oracle has two abilities that apply a dispel, which can easily remove Decrepify on his ally or Oracle.
* Oracle has a very long Attack Range and a very low Base Attack Time, which enables him to take down Nether Ward swiftly from long distance.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Pugna
* Pugna's low health and reliance on channeled abilities make him very vulnerable to Tusk, although Pugna can win in a straight up 1v1 later in the game.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Morphling
* Void Spirit can greatly pressure Morphling's farm, which is very bad for a hero who needs a large amount of space.
* Waveform does not provide better mobility than Astral Step.
* If Morphling shifted all of his strength to agility, he can be bursted down by Void Spirit before he can react.
* Doing an Ethereal Blade combo on Void Spirit is incredibly difficult, as Dissimilate and Astral Step can allow him to escape or dodge the projectile.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 1%)Morphling
* Most of Morphling's armor comes from his high agility and it is reduced by Natural Order.
* However, the aura has only 350 range and Elder Titan can be bursted down by Morphling's nuke combo if he isn't careful.
Additional:
* Morphling's high armor is primarily from Morphing agility, which is reduced by Natural Order therefore making the hero very vulnerable when it has morphed a lot into agility.
* Morphling usually will Morph into high agility and low strength. This can be taken advantage of with a good stun or silence or by bursting him down before he has the time to Morph back to strength.
* Morphling is very vulnerable to Blade Mail under Natural Order and can easily burst himself down with his own auto-attacks or his magical damage combo.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Morphling
* Geomagnetic Grip is not blocked by
Linken's Sphere and can silence Morphling, preventing Morphling from using Waveform or Attribute Shift to escape from ganks.
* In addition, Boulder Smash and
Rolling Boulder provide a solid lockdown if used together.
Techies
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Morphling
* Morphling usually has low max health due to shifting strength into agility, making him an easy target to blow up.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 16%)Morphling
* Rubick's ability to steal Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) makes him extremely annoying to deal with because Rubick's shifted attributes will remain even if he steals a new spell.
* If Rubick moves enough points to strength and then steals Adaptive Strike, he will have a powerful 3-second ranged stun in his arsenal as well.
* Waveform provides a reliable nuke/escape to Rubick.
* Rubick can steal most abilities Morphling uses while Morphed, allowing Rubick to steal his own allies' abilities if the Morphling is not careful.
Additional:
* Morphling's abilities can cause unique interactions on their own:
* Waveform is a damaging pseudo-blink, giving Rubick much needed mobility.
* Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) is a great ability for Rubick:
* The changes done by it are permanent even after losing the ability. Pumping all the agility into strength makes him much tankier. The armor loss due to reduced agility can be mitigated by cheap items like Medallion of Courage or
Solar Crest.
* The extra strength allows Rubick to survive Morphling's Ethereal Blade -
Adaptive Strike (Agility) combo.
* Beware when using Attribute Shift (Agility Gain)! Unlike Morphling, Rubick does not gain damage from it, since agility is not his primary attribute.
* Adaptive Strike (Strength) is a long-ranged stun.
* The true power of this ability is revealed when Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) has been stolen previously: it gives a 4 second ranged stun every 10 seconds, which greatly counters heroes with mobility, such as Morphling himself.
* All of Rubick's abilities break Linken's Sphere, a core item for Morphling.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Io,
Witch Doctor, etc.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Morphling
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Luna,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Morphling
* Heroes with silencing abilities that are not blocked by Linken's Sphere, like Puck's
Waning Rift,
Death Prophet's
Silence or
Silencer's
Global Silence.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Morphling
* Underlord's
Atrophy Aura reduces Morphling's high base damage gained through agility shift.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Morphling
* Jakiro's early pushing ability from Liquid Fire makes Jakiro very strong against heroes, that take a long time to get online: Morphling,
Naga Siren,
Spectre.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Morphling
* Necrophos's
Reaper's Scythe can finish off a low-health Morphling.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Pugna
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder: Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Pugna
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Morphling
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Pugna
* Special mention goes to Queen of Pain as she could kill herself with
Sonic Wave if your Nether Ward is up.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 19%)Pugna
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or having any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items are still interrupted by Dismember: Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 4%)Morphling
* Arc Warden can counter Morphling's strong pushing capabilities by using Magnetic Field to protect buildings.
* Arc Warden also often builds an Orchid Malevolence or
Bloodthorn, which can prove dangerous for Morphling.
* Arc Warden can easily break Linken's Sphere with
Flux and then slow him with
Spark Wraith, making Arc Warden's
Tempest Double a legitimate threat as well.
Morphling
* Slark,
Lifestealer,
Morphling and such with a good escape mechanism are a nuisance to deal with in the early-game.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Phantom Lancer creates way too many illusion for Pugna's Life Drain to destroy, overwhelming him easily.
* Doppelganger can dodge
Nether Blast or dispel
Decrepify.
* Diffusal Blade is a common item for Phantom Lancer to burn Pugna's large mana pool and deals a large amount of damage in the process.
Additional:
* Though Life Drain instantly destroys illusions, Phantom Lancer creates way too many for Pugna to handle.
* A good Phantom Lancer will also dodge your Nether Blast with Doppelganger.
* Phantom Lancer is the most natural Diffusal Blade carrier to burn Pugna's very large pool of mana away and deal a large amount of damage in the process.
Pugna
* Since Life drain takes out illusions instantly, Pugna with a scepter is decent versus plenty of illusion heroes, most notably Naga Siren and
Terrorblade and the aforementioned
Chaos Knight.
Phantom Lancer is an exception.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 17%)Morphling
* 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.
Pugna
* 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.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Pugna
* Pugna is a very fragile hero who can easily get caught and killed by Storm Spirit's long range initiation.
* This is especially true if he has Orchid Malevolence or
Scythe of Vyse.
* Pugna has no disables that can prevent Storm Spirit from escaping.
* Even though Ball Lightning requires high amount of mana, Nether Ward is ineffective since Storm Spirit is invulnerable while using it.
* Storm Spirit's other abilities cost very insignificant amount of mana for Nether Ward to be effective.
Pugna
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 16%)Morphling
* Morphling's naturally high armor thanks to his high agility makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to take him down with Coup de Grace.
* Phantom Assassin is vulnerable to magical damage, falling easily to Adaptive Strike + Ethereal Blade combo.
Additional:
* Morphling's high armor serves as a direct counter to Phantom Assassin, causing her attacks to do far less damage. She is also very vulnerable to burst damage, and can be brought down quickly using his Ethereal Blade and
Adaptive Strike combo.
Pugna
* Ethereal state disarms the target and makes them more vulnerable to magic damage, both of which Phantom Assassin despises. Especially Pugna and any hero that is wielding
Ethereal Blade, such as
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin or
Morphling.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Morphling
* Morphling can ignore Spirit Bear and shorten the distance to Lone Druid with Waveform.
* Morphling can use his nukes to burst Lone Druid down, provided he is not rooted/disabled by Spirit Bear beforehand.
Pugna
* Pugna:
Decrepify prevent the Spirit bear from attacking or protect allies from it.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Pugna
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Pugna
* Nether Ward will cause an unfriendly area for Medusa, draining her mana.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Pugna
* Amazingly, Enchantress has even lower health than Pugna. Though she does pack quite a punch through Impetus, she can't use it if she is under Decrepify.
* Pugna's Magical DPS is way greater than the heal from Nature's Attendants, which will also harm her quite a bit if she's next to Nether Ward.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Pugna
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls or spam Shadowraze.
Additional:
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls and his
Shadowraze.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Morphling
* Heroes with high base damage (Morphling,
Tiny,
Drow Ranger), heroes with mana burning abilities (
Anti-Mage), and
Diffusal Blade users (
Juggernaut or
Riki) will suffer from Reflection's illusions.
Pugna
* Since Life drain takes out illusions instantly, Pugna with a scepter is decent versus plenty of illusion heroes, most notably Naga Siren and
Terrorblade and the aforementioned
Chaos Knight.
Phantom Lancer is an exception.
Morphling
* Morphling common combo Ethereal Blade and
Adaptive Strike (Agility) can easily burst down Terroblade, bypassing his high armor.
* Morphling is likely to burst down Terrorblade due to his high armor, Attribute Shift.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Pugna
* Even though Pugna's low HP means that he can be quickly burst down, his Nether Ward heavily punishes casters whose spells cost a lot of mana, like Zeus. Casting 4 of his active spells, including Nimbus, close to an enhanced level 4
Nether Ward, can make the ward deal up to 1750 magical damage.
* Decrepify can further increase the damage dealt by Nether Ward upon Zeus. However, if used on Pugna himself or on one of his allies, it will amplify the damage done by Zeus' abilities.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Morphling
* Morphling can Attribute Shift to strength after being hit by Maledict. Since Maledict deals its damage based on the difference between HP on cast and HP after two seconds, odds are Morphling will have more HP than when Maledict was cast, thus resulting in no damage.
* On the upside, players prone to panicked reactions may Morph to agility, making Maledict even more efficient than intended.
* Adaptive Strike (Strength) can interrupt Death Ward at a decent range.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Pugna
* Nether Blast is one of the best tower pushing abilities in the game, with a low cooldown. A competent Pugna will (at the very least) destroy tier 2 towers and make space for his team before Spectre can finally come online.
* Spectre's spells, while not spammable, have a fairly high mana cost, so Nether Ward can be fairly damaging to Spectre early game. The mana degen will also dampen Spectre's early game power significantly.
* Once Pugna gets Aghanim's Scepter, he can spam
Life Drain on any illusion Spectre summons, whether it'd be from
Haunt,
Manta Style, or some other means.
* In addition, Pugna can disable Spectre's Desolate ability (although its damage is pure, it requires physical attacks) with his
Decrepify ability, leaving Spectre only with
Spectral Dagger.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 11%)Pugna
* Decrepify on either hero stops Legion Commander from completing a Duel, and dissuades her from initiating Duels on ethereal allies.
* Life Drain can help Pugna's teammates win a fight, either by killing Legion Commander or replenishing her target's health.
Additional:
* Decrepify prevents Legion Commander from attacking allies during Duel, regardless if it's used on her or on the ally .
* Pugna can easily cast Decrepify, Nether Blast and Life Drain on Legion during the 4/4.75/5.5/8 seconds of duel
Viper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)Pugna
* Pugna's Decrepify allows him to save allies from being ganked by Viper, since Viper mostly relies on direct attacks in order to deal damage.
* Nether Ward can discourage Viper from spamming his abilities.
* Viper's damage over time is not enough to kill Pugna as he will have more than enough time to save himself (or his allies) with Life Drain and Viper has no solutions to cancel it.
* Pugna has no passive abilities, which renders Nethertoxin nearly useless.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Morphling
* Morphling can use Waveform to close the gap between him and Drow Ranger, but should be careful of Gust and
Frost Arrows.
* Morphling is a natural Manta Style carrier, which dispels the silence from Gust.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Pugna
* All of Pugna's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Nether Ward punishes Shadow Demon's constant mana usage from spamming spells, especially Shadow Poison.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Nether Blast for the enemy.
* Life Drain can be used to heal Pugna or an ally to save them from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption until Pugna buys defensive items.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 16%)Pugna
* Nether Blast,
Decrepify and
Life Drain deal high magical damage and bypasses Bulwark.
* Nether Ward reduces the amount of abilities Mars can use during fights and forces Mars to be careful about the heavy mana cost of Arena Of Blood.
* Pugna is one of few heroes that can contest Mars' ability to push and defend towers early on.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Pugna
* Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of
Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw, especially when combined with
Decrepify
Additional:
* Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw.
* Decrepify can further increase all the magical damage done to Timbersaw, bypassing the enhanced physical resistance he can get from Reactive Armor.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Morphling
* Lifestealer is a great target for Morphling to use Morph, as he can use Rage to gain spell immunity and a movement speed boost.
* Morphling's high armor also makes Lifestealer's attacks do less damage.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Pugna
* Nether Ward can do a ton of damage to Disruptor because of his high mana costs.
* Life Drain can be used to heal an ally trapped by Static Storm-Kinetic Field combo (if Pugna is not a target).
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Pugna
* Pugna's Decrepify can render Templar Assassin's physical attacks useless.
* Pugna can also cast Life Drain on Templar Assassin, burning her Refraction instances.
* On the other hand, Pugna generally has low health and armor. Use this to your advantage.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Pugna
* Leshrac needs to be close to target in order to do damage, Pugna can outrun Leshrac with ease due to his superior movement speed.
* Split Earth can also be hard to land on Pugna for the same reason.
* Leshrac uses huge amounts of mana to do damage, Nether Ward forces him to either not contribute in a fight or kill himself in the process.
Additional:
* Nether Ward punishes Leshrac's constant mana usage from spamming spells.
* Leshrac needs to be in the thick of the fight to deal damage, and so cannot escape from Nether Blast nor
Life Drain easily.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Morphling
* Morphling can escape from Rupture using Waveform.
* Morphling is a typical Manta Style carrier, which can be used to dispel the silence from
Blood Rite.
Additional:
* Waveform ignores Rupture's damage, letting Morphling escape unharmed.
* Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) makes it very hard for Bloodseeker to kill Morphling or gain his Thirst bonuses, since Morphling can use it to sustain damage while trading attacks when Ruptured.
* Morphling usually builds Linken's Sphere, which blocks Rupture.
* Morphling usually builds Ethereal Blade, which can be used to turn himself or an ally ethereal, and avoid Bloodseeker's attacks.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Morphling
* By using Morph, Morphling can use Windrun and Shackleshot to counter Windranger herself.
* Waveform can allow Morphling to easily chase down Windranger.
* Windranger's low health also makes her vulnerable Morphling's magical nukes, especially the Ethereal Blade and
Adaptive Strike combo.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Pugna
* Decrepify turns the target ethereal, protecting them from Chaos Knight's and his illusions' attacks.
* Life Drain instantly destroys illusions. It can effectively negate Phantasm when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Nether Blast quickly clears out illusions and can harass Chaos Knight in lane.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Morphling
* Waveform allows Morphling to escape from Mass Serpent Ward
* Morphling can interrupt Shadow Shaman while he is shackling an ally with Adaptive Strike (Strength).
* With Ethereal Blade Morphling can quickly burst him down before he even has a chance to react.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 19%)Pugna
* Decrepify prevents
Omnislash damage, until Juggernaut gets a
Nullifier.
* Without a disable, Pugna's high movement speed makes it harder to chase him with Blade Fury.
* Juggernaut has low mana and his skills cost large amount of mana. Nether Ward will hurt him more and even worse, the damage from the ward is inflicted before the spell immunity provided by
Blade Fury.
Additional:
* Decrepify is the perfect tool against Omnislash until he gets a
Nullifier, and even then he will probably waste a couple of slashes before he uses it.
* Without an extra disable, Pugna's high movement speed makes it impossible to chase him with Blade Fury.
* Unlike some other carries like Slark or
Phantom Assassin, Juggernaut's spells cost a hefty amount of mana and he will seriously get hurt by Nether Ward. Don't forget the damage from the ward is inflicted before the spell immunity is provided by
Blade Fury.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Morphling
* By using Morph, Morphling can use Death Pact and Searing Arrows to counter Clinkz himself.
* Waveform can allow Morphling to easily chase down Clinkz.
* Clinkz's low health pool also makes him vulnerable to Morphling's magical nukes, especially his Ethereal Blade and
Adaptive Strike combo.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 12%)Pugna
* Nether Ward discourages Tinker from using abilities and items due to its high damage against heavy mana usage.
Razor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 6%)Morphling
* Morphling can break Static Link with Waveform. Alternatively, Morphling can Morph into Razor and use the same ability against him.
* Morphling's high armor makes Eye Of The Storm mostly ineffective, enabling Morphling to fight Razor for longer.
* Razor has no disables, enabling Morphling to avoid his abilities as needed.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 8%)Pugna
* Enigma's abilities have a huge mana cost, meaning that Nether Ward will deal a lot of damage to Enigma.
* Channeling Black Hole will render Enigma immobile, making him easy target for all of Pugna's abilities, especially Nether Blast, and
Life Drain.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 2%)Morphling
* Heroes who often build Linken's Sphere:
Weaver,
Morphling,
Medusa.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Pugna
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven,
Omniknight,
Enigma,
Luna,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Rubick,
Keeper of the Light,
Pugna,
Invoker,
Spectre,
Alchemist,
Treant Protector,
Lina,
Oracle,
Zeus,
Shadow Shaman,
Phoenix,
Razor,
Huskar,
Batrider,
Kunkka,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Sand King.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Pugna
* Heroes with high movement speeds like Pugna and
Meepo can run around, to, or away from Snapfire during
Mortimer Kisses and dodge the projectiles easily due to their slow speed.
* Heroes with mobility spells (such as Queen of Pain's
Blink and
Clockwerk with
Hookshot) can easily avoid
Lil' Shredder and
Mortimer Kisses.
* Heroes with high movement speeds like Pugna and
Meepo can run around, to, or away from Snapfire during
Mortimer Kisses and dodge the projectiles easily due to their slow speed.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Morphling
* Heroes with mobility spells can quickly escape from Stroke of Fate or break out of Soulbind: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Storm Spirit
Riki
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Pugna
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden,
Chen,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Mirana,
Nature's Prophet,
Pugna and
Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes has attack range talent can also outrange Plague Ward.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Morphling
* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit,
Morphling,
Ember Spirit
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)Morphling
* Heroes that usually builds Linken's Sphere as a core item:
Weaver,
Medusa,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 0%)Pugna
* Heroes with damage burst can often kill Chen or his allies before he can use Hand of God: Lina,
Techies,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Nyx Assassin.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Pugna
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Morphling
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver,
Morphling,
Medusa.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 14%)Pugna
* Pugna's
Decrepify makes sure that either Alchemist is unable to hit anyone while also being slowed and susceptible to magical damage, or can protect an ally from physical attacks. Besides, Pugna can push early on, when Alchemist is not strong enough to repel it, so by the time Alchemist comes online, he might be forced to sit in base.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 2%)Pugna
* Since Life drain takes out illusions instantly, Pugna with a scepter is decent versus plenty of illusion heroes, most notably Naga Siren and
Terrorblade and the aforementioned
Chaos Knight.
Phantom Lancer is an exception.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Pugna
* 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.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Pugna
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Additional:
* Sniper's huge range makes him an unviable target to use Life Drain on, forcing Pugna to risk playing out of position to use it on Sniper.
* Sniper's Shrapnel can be used to provide vision on Nether Ward, and his range allows him to easily take it out.
* A clumsy Pugna may accidentally boost Sniper's Shrapnel and
Assassinate damages if he recklessly uses Decrepify on himself or his allies.
Morphling
* Morphling's high mobility allows him to easily get close to Sniper, who likes to keep his distance from enemies.
* Sniper's low health also makes him extremely vulnerable to Morphling's Ethereal Blade and Adaptive Strike combo.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Morphling
* Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse turns Morphling's high attack damage and attack speed against his targeted teammate.
Pugna
* 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.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 12%)Morphling
* Heroes that rely on right-clicks will find that their attacks will miss a lot, due to Whirling Axes (Melee)'s miss chance. Such heroes include Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade, and
Morphling.
Pugna
* Troll Warlord can't switch targets at will, in order to build Fervor stacks, which makes it easy to use Decrepify in order to save allies
* During Battle Trance, Pugna can easily use Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain on him
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 3%)Morphling
* Time Dilation affects Morphling's low cooldown spells, making them unusable for a long time, rendering Morphling nearly useless.
* Morphling cannot use Attribute Shift while he is inside Chronosphere which makes it easy to kill him.
Pugna
* Decrepify prevents Faceless Void from attacking trapped allies inside Chronosphere, wasting a large portion of its duration if Faceless Void can't dispel it.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Morphling
* Heroes with high damage output who can burst down Morphling before he has time to use Attribute Shift (Strength Gain), like Lina and
Lion.
Additional:
* Light Strike Array catches Morphling while he jumps in from Waveform and also prevents Morphling from using his abilities.
* Laguna Blade can kill Morphling quickly before he shifts into Attribute Shift (Strength Gain).
Pugna
* 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.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Morphling
* Jumping on Axe from Waveform he will be an easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call.
* Morphling is often played at low health to maximize the bonuses from Attribute Shift (Agility Gain), and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
* However, Morphling is common Linken's Sphere carrier to block Culling Blade forces Axe to use Battle Hunger to pop the Spell Block first.
* Attribute Shift (Agility Gain) gives Morphlig no protection against the pure damage of Culling Blade. Its attack speed bonus also means that Counter Helix will proc more often.
Pugna
* Decrepify can be used on allies to prevent them from attacking Axe and triggering Counter Helix during Berserker's Call. He can also cast it on Axe to prevent anyone from attacking him.
* Life Drain can be used to heal himself or allies caught in Berserker's Call, preventing them from dropping low enough for Axe to kill them with Culling Blade.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Morphling
* Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
* Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
* Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
Pugna
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and
Decrepify won't help you at all.
Additional:
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Pugna
* Invoker can use Tornado or Cold Snap to prevent Pugna from channeling Life Drain
* A poorly used Decrepify on Pugna's allies means Invoker's abilities can be used to deal more damage to it
* Tornado allows Invoker to purge Pugna's Decrepify when it is used defensively
* Special care has to be taken, however, when casting several abilities within the range of a Nether Ward
Pugna
* Because Invoker relies on casting a large amount of spells to contribute to fights, Nether Ward can force him to not cast anything at all or take a large amount of damage to cast spells.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker,...
Pugna
* Pugna's
Nether Ward damages Sand King when he channels Epicenter, preventing him from using Blink Dagger afterward.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Morphling
* Arcane Orb deals pure damage, effectively bypassing Morphling's high armor from Attribute Shift (Agility Gain).
* Sanity's Eclipse is more effective against a low health and mana pool Morphling, enabling Outworld Destroyer to burst Morphling down before he can shift to Strength.
Additional:
* Arcane Orb deals high damage regardless of Morphling's high armor from Attribute Shift (Agility Gain).
* Because of Morphling's very low intelligence gain and base intelligence, Sanity's Eclipse will almost always be effective against Morphling.
Pugna
* For the better part of the game, he will take more damage from your ward than he deals to you with Arcane Orb.
* It will take a huge difference in farm or itemization between you for him to deal any damage to you with Sanity's Eclipse, provided he doesn't die first from casting it next to your ward.
* Decrepify allows Pugna to be immune to the attacks from
Arcane Orb.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Morphling
* Heroes with silencing abilities that are not blocked by Linken's Sphere, like Puck's
Waning Rift,
Death Prophet's
Silence or
Silencer's
Global Silence.
Additional:
* While Morphling can burst her down with Adaptive Strike (Agility), Death Prophet does have tools to disrupt him. A Morphling affected by
Silence makes it unable to use
Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) to increase its health pool or use
Waveform to escape.
Morphling
* 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.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Pugna
* Pugna's squishiness and lack of mobility make him easy prey for a Hookshot initiation.
* Clockwerk's high health, low mana costs, and lack of reliance on Blink Dagger make Nether Ward ineffective.
* Battery Assault shuts down Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Life Drain, as the repeated ministuns prevent Pugna from channeling for an extended length of time.
Additional:
* Clockwerk loves to Hookshot low health, immobile targets like Pugna.
* Pugna's Life Drain gets immediately and repeatedly (if an Aghanim's Scepter was purchased) cancelled due to
Battery Assault, especially if Pugna is trapped inside
Power Cogs.
* Clockwerk also loves to build Blade Mail, which will deal more damage to Pugna than Clockwork due to Pugna's low health pool.
* Finally, both Hookshot and
Rocket Flare can allow him to finish off Pugna out of range of his Nether Ward.
Morphling
* Waveform allows Morphling to easily escape Power Cogs.
* Clockwerk's lack of burst damage makes it nearly impossible for him to kill a Morphling using Attribute Shift (Strength Gain).
Additional:
* Morphling can escape from Power Cogs with Waveform.
* Even if Morphling is trapped in Power Cogs, Morphling can use Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) to survive the duration.
* However, Morphling should be wary of using his Ethereal Blade combo on a Clockwerk with
Blade Mail.
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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Most popular searches list
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Pugna
* Pugna only deals magical damage, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant due to Counterspell.
Decrepify with
Manta Style.
Mana Void on Pugna if he's missing a considerable portion of his mana.
Mana Break almost always dealing the bonus damage from the mana burn.
Counterspell negates a large amount of Pugna's damage, as most of Pugna's damage comes from his spells.
Blink can be used to get out of a bad situation, and Pugna has no way to prevent him from casting it.
* Anti-Mage can dispel
* Pugna has a very large mana pool. This allows Anti-Mage to constantly deal bonus damage to Pugna with Mana Break and devastate Pugna's entire team with Mana Void.
Additional:
* Since Pugna relies on his teammates for protection, it is fairly common for Anti-Mage to get multiple kills with a single use of his
* Pugna's massive mana pool will result in Anti-Mage's
*
*
Morphling
*
Counterspell's bonus magic resistance causes the
Ethereal Blade and Adaptive Strike combo to deal significantly less damage.
Mana Break combined with
Manta Style can quickly burn away Morphling's mana, leaving him unable to use his spells.
* Counterspell's active component can reflect the Ethereal Blast and Adaptive Strike combo back into Morphling, dealing significant damage or even killing him.
*