Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Lion
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (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.
Naga Siren
* Both Hex and
Mana Drain destroys Naga Siren's illusions in an instant, making it hard to teamfight or push against a team with Lion. If Lion chooses the AoE effect talent for Hex or the multi-target Mana Drain, it can negate her pushing potential entirely.
* Earth Spike is an AoE disable with good damage. If used well, it can help distinguish the true Naga Siren by the damage they take (illusions take more damage).
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Sanity's Eclipse only triggers Bristleback's passive once, and deals high damage against Bristleback's low intelligence.
Naga Siren
* Sanity's Eclipse will likely instantly kill all illusions.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Naga Siren
* Heroes who are reliant on illusions or summons: Chaos Knight,
Broodmother,
Naga Siren.
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.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Naga Siren
* Many stacks of Sticky Napalm, combined with Flamebreak and Firefly, allows Batrider to destroy illusions from Mirror Image.
* If Batrider can manage to destroy all illusions from Naga Siren, he will be able to use Flaming Lasso on the real one, and will be able to drag her toward his team, potentially preventing Naga Siren to escape with Song of the Siren.
Additional:
* Many stacks of Sticky Napalm, combined with Flamebreak and Firefly, allows Batrider to destroy illusions from Mirror Image.
* If Batrider can manage to destroy all illusions from Naga Siren, he will be able to use Flaming Lasso on real one, and will be able to drag her toward his team, potentially preventing Naga Siren to escape with Song of the Siren.
Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Naga Siren
* Sand King and
Phoenix has many tools to deal with a crowd of Heroes, which will work well against a crowd of illusions.
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.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Naga Siren
* All of Leshrac's abilities, especially Pulse Nova can easily deal with Naga Siren's illusions.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Naga Siren
* Axe will destroy her illusions by proccing Counter Helix more often due to him being hit by more attacks.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Lich
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Naga Siren
* Zeus' abilities deal high amounts of burst magical damage, which ignores Naga Siren's high armor.
* Zeus' Arc Lightning is also a good way to destroy Naga Siren's illusions.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Naga Siren
* Mirror Image's illusions increase Echo Slam's damage.
Additional:
* Strong AoE abilities can clear Naga Siren's illusions, or at least make it easier to distinguish the real one by the damage they take.
* Echo Slam deals more damage against more enemies, which can be devestating against Naga Siren and her illusions.
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.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Naga Siren
* Flak Cannon and
Call Down can easily clear Naga Siren's illusions.
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.
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
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Naga Siren
* Mortimer Kisses can make quick work of Naga Siren's illusions.
* Scatterblast and
Firesnap Cookie AoE damage are also decent ways to deal with Naga's illusions.
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.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Naga Siren
* Heroes that rely on illusions will suffer against Ion Shell, which kills them very quickly: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Meepo.
* Heroes that rely on illusions typically spawn very strong illusions inside your Wall of Replica that you should use against them or their team.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Naga Siren
* 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.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Naga Siren
* Heroes with long-lasting, undispellable debuffs will pinpoint the true Naga Siren: Spirit Breaker,
Bloodseeker.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Naga Siren
* Heroes with long cast animations can be continuously interrupted by Battery Assault: Centaur Warrunner,
Jakiro,
Leshrac,
Naga Siren,
Underlord.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Naga Siren
* Heroes who rely on illusions will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren
Naga Siren
* Song of the Siren lasts long enough to prevent a successful Duel (but only if Naga wasn't the target).
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Naga Siren
* Heroes who are reliant on illusions: Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Naga Siren
* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include Sven,
Magnus,
Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form,
Ember Spirit (via item),
Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Bristleback
* Heroes who deal single instance burst damage will only proc Bristleback once: Lina,
Lion.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 17%)Naga Siren
* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include Sven,
Magnus,
Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form,
Ember Spirit (via item),
Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 2%)Naga Siren
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (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.
Naga Siren
* Illusion heroes like the aforementioned Phantom Lancer or
Naga Siren, or heroes that tend to buy
Manta Style, like
Luna or
Juggernaut, will give Slardar a hard time, as his damage is single-targeted.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (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.
Naga Siren
* Song of the Siren is very difficult for Rubick to Spell Steal when he is affected by sleep.
* Ensnare and Rip Tide together with some attacks can take Rubick down quickly, due to his low health pool and armor.
* Naga Siren usually buys Diffusal Blade, which will prevent Rubick from spamming his abilities from
Spell Steal.
* Mirror Image allows to dodge the incoming stun from Telekinesis (when she is not a target) and it can also to dodge and dispel
Fade Bolt's damage reduction debuff.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Naga Siren
* Mirror Image can cause Huskar to Life Break the wrong target.
* Rip Tide reduces Huskar's already low armor.
* Song of the Siren allows teams to recover from Huskar's initiation, as well as the damage over time from Burning Spears.
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.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Naga Siren
* Mirror Image can dispel Frostbite.
* Song of the Siren can stop Freezing Field regardless of any kind of invisibility as well as allow Naga Siren's team to quickly close the gap on Crystal Maiden.
Additional:
* Mirror Image can dispel Frostbite.
* Ensnare and Song of the Siren can stop Freezing Field.
* Song of the Siren can allow her team to quickly close the gap on Crystal Maiden.
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.
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.
Naga Siren
* Song of the Siren stops him from acting and her illusions can push better than him because Mirror Image has a longer duration.
* Arc Warden does not often build Radiance, which is useful for illusions and countering illusion pushes.
* Mirror Image dispels Flux or prevents
Flux's slow.
Additional:
* Her illusions can push better than Arc Warden's Tempest Double because Mirror Image has a longer duration.
* Mirror Image dispels Flux, and the illusions stop Flux from working.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (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
Naga Siren
* Ensnare is good vs bear.
* In teamfights, song of the siren may be used to properly set up and coordinate an attack on Lone Druid in the backline, bursting him down, allowing to completely ignore the bear.
* Druid lack innate AoE capabilities giving him no good way of dealing with illusions.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Naga Siren
* Naga Siren is a natural split-pusher. With a Radiance equipped, she will easily out-push Nature's Prophet, farming his treants in the process.
* Ensnare prevents Teleportation. Even if he hid inside Sprout, Song of the Siren lasts long enough to prevent him from escaping.
Additional:
* Naga Siren is a natural split-pusher. With Rip Tide, she will easily out-push Nature's Prophet, farming his treants in the process.
* Ensnare prevents Teleportation. Even if he hides inside
Sprout, Song of the Siren lasts long enough to prevent him from escaping.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Naga Siren
* Heroes that create illusions (such as Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress and the aforementioned
Meepo and
Arc Warden) can cause Eclipse to strike the illusions/summons unintentionally. (However, in many cases Moon Glaives can resolve this issue and eliminate them before activating Eclipse).
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.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Naga Siren
* Illusion-based and multi-unit heroes can take advantage of Chaos Knight's lack of area damage: Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Meepo,
Broodmother
Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 6%)Naga Siren
* 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.
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: -1.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Naga Siren
* Heroes with illusions: Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Naga Siren
* 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
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Naga Siren
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* Abaddon with
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time
* Huskar with
Life Break
* Juggernaut with
Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with
Press the Attack
* Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Omniknight with
Heavenly Grace
* Oracle with
Fortune's End and
False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Slark with
Dark Pact
* Ursa with
Enrage
* Weaver with
Time Lapse
* Tidehunter with
Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
Additional:
* Bounty Hunter is a single target dealer, so he will not fare well against Naga Siren. He might as well try to Track her, but her Mirror Image will dispel the effect. Also, Ensnare reveals invisible units while they're rooted, putting Bounty Hunter in a tricky situation.
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.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
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.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Naga Siren
* Ensnare with her attacks allows Naga Siren to gank Sniper easily.
* Rip Tide removes Sniper's very little armor.
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.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Naga Siren
* Mirror Image's illusions can easily walk straight at Dazzle and attack him, due to Dazzle's lack of reliable AoE nukes or disables.
* Ensnare roots Dazzle or his allies, making it harder to stay range of Dazzle's saving abilities.
* Song of the Siren can be used to initiate a fight with superior positioning, potentially zoning Dazzle's high-impact spells out of the fight.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Naga Siren
* Song of the Siren can be used to time out Guardian Angel, giving Naga Siren's team an easy opportunity to counter-initiate.
Additional:
* Song of the Siren will waste Guardian Angel.
* Ensnare fully works on Heavenly Graced targets. However, Ensnare is dispellable with any dispel, and so can be dispelled by Heavenly Grace.
* As an agility hero that relies on illusions, Naga is one of the most natural Diffusal Blade carriers, the bane of every hero with a small mana 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.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Naga Siren
* Song of the Siren can be used to nullify the effects of Winter's Curse, and when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter it also outmatches the heal of Cold Embrace.
* If Winter Wyvern is reckless enough to put an ally in Cold Embrace, Naga Siren will be able to use her Ensnare to extend the disable on the hero affected by Cold Embrace.
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.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 3%)Naga Siren
* Song of the Siren completely wastes Abaddon
Borrowed Time while keeping him in place.
* Naga Siren is able to simply dispel Abaddon's Curse of Avernus with
Mirror Image before getting hit 4 times consecutively.
* Although Naga Siren's illusions can be easily destroyed by Aphotic Shield, Naga Siren can resolve that issue easily by purchasing
Heart of Tarrasque to drastically increase her tankiness. Plus, the said item makes Naga Siren harder to be distinguished from her illusions.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Naga Siren
* Mirror Image can be effective since Night Stalker cannot withstand fighting Illusions. If he's unable to tell which Naga Siren is real, he will have a hard time landing his Void and
Crippling Fear.
Additional:
* Ensnare and
Song of the Siren prevents Night Stalker from escaping and ganking during daytime or even nighttime.
* Rip Tide reduces Night Stalker's armor, making him easier to focus down.
* Mirror Image can be effective against Night Stalker, due to his single target abilities.
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.
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.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Naga Siren
* 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.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Naga Siren
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game when Tinker's only area of effect damage, March of the Machines, ceases to kill illusions quickly. Without
Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition,
Mjollnir or
Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Naga Siren
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with
Phase Shift
* Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Chaos Knight with
Phantasm
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Tusk with
Snowball
* Juggernaut with
Omnislash
* Brewmaster with
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with
Infest
* Phoenix with
Supernova
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Naga Siren
* 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.
* 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
Additional:
* Ensnare disables Lanaya's invisibility and Blink Dagger (a core item on Templar Assassin), and her illusions will break Refraction easily.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Naga Siren
* Any hero reliant of mobility, like Storm Spirit.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Naga Siren
* 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.
Additional:
* Naga Siren can make landing Chen's combo very hard due to her being an illusion hero.
* Ensnare will prevent Chen from activating Hand of God.
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
Puck
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 14%)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.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 20%)Naga Siren
* Illusion-based heroes are effective against Omnislash and Juggernaut's single-targeted damage: Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 21%)Naga Siren
* Heroes with summons and illusions such as Broodmother and
Naga Siren, are ill-suited for Wraith King to fight, as he has no source of waveclear.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Naga Siren
* Meepo can just mess up Naga Siren entirely: His
Earthbind is AoE, which can bind her illusions, his
Poof is a powerful AoE nuke and will clear her illusions. He is also 2/3/4
Meepos, not one, so her Ensnare will not work efficiently against him.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Naga Siren
* 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.
Bristleback
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Naga Siren
* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include Sven,
Magnus,
Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form,
Ember Spirit (via item),
Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Naga Siren
* Sand King and
Phoenix has many tools to deal with a crowd of Heroes, which will work well against a crowd of illusions.
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.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (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.
Naga Siren
* Illusions make it difficult for Necrophos to target his Reaper's Scythe correctly, thus giving illusion heroes like Chaos Knight or
Naga Siren an edge against Necrophos.
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.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Naga Siren
* Avalanche, Toss, and Grab Tree combo makes a short work of Naga Siren's illusions.
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.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Naga Siren
* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include Sven,
Magnus,
Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form,
Ember Spirit (via item),
Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.
Naga Siren
* 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.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Naga Siren
* Naga Siren can easily disjoint, and dispel Corrosive Skin with Mirror Image.
* Since Viper is a single-target hero, he will not stand a chance against Naga Siren because she is an illusion based hero.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Naga Siren
* Heroes who are illusion based, or even heroes who frequently build Manta Style can be cleared quickly by Pangolier's high damage, or lose their damage ouput because of Lucky Shot: Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren
Naga Siren
* Heroes with powerful rooting abilities will disable most of Pangolier's skill, a bonus point if it pierce spell immunity since it will also be able to stop Pangolier during his Rolling Thunder: Treant Protector,
Meepo,
Crystal Maiden,
Dark Willow,
Underlord,
Naga Siren
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)Naga Siren
* Heroes with long-lasting, undispellable debuffs will pinpoint the true Naga Siren: Spirit Breaker,
Bloodseeker.
Bristleback
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Naga Siren
* Her illusions are easily dealt with area damage effects.
* Naga Siren won't have much option to recover from a bad position unless she built up a few key items in mid-game.
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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Naga Siren
* Timbersaw's innate tankiness is very hard to deal with as Naga Siren. Timbersaw's high Pure Damage and spammable AoE nukes can also destroy Naga Siren's illusions very fast.
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.
*
*