Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 12%)Batrider
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Mars
* Sticky Napalm slows turn rate, making it difficult for Mars to control the direction he is facing to activate Bulwark.
* Flaming Lasso disables Mars while enemies re-position themselves behind Mars to avoid Bulwark.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Mars
* Heroes with break abilities: Shadow Demon (with
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 9%)Mars
* Burning Spear's magical damage is very troublesome for Mars in the laning stage.
* Life Break's percentage-based magical damage bypasses Bulwark, and can also be used to jump in or out of Arena Of Blood.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Night Stalker
* Void's slow is useless against Lycan by activating Shapeshift.
* Night Stalker's single target abilities (with the exception of Void upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter) is not very effective against Lycan's
Summon Wolves during the early and mid game.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Night Stalker
* Chaos Bolt can stun Night Stalker outside of Crippling Fears relatively small radius.
* Reality Rift is a great way to force Night Stalker to fight Chaos Knight, a hero with massive health and damage output. It also forces Night Stalker's Crippling Fear off his primary target.
* Night Stalker doesn't have a lot of ways to deal with multiple targets, which makes him vulnerable to Phantasm illusions unless Night Stalker buys
Aghanim's Scepter.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Mars
* Venomancer's poison attacks are all magical damage, ignoring Bulwark.
* Venomancer's multiple slows are especially effective against Mars' low mobility.
* Plague Wards can attack through Arena of Blood.
Additional:
* Venomancer's spells all deal magical damage, ignoring Bulwark.
* Venomancer's multiple slows are especially effective at kiting Mars.
* Plague Wards can attack through Arena Of Blood.
Dawnbreaker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Mars
* Solar Guardian can save allies caught inside Arena of Blood
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Mars
* Decay,
Soul Rip and
Flesh Golem all deal magical damage which ignores Bulwark.
* Decay reduces Mars' natural strength and therefore his health pool, which is what he relies on to trade effectively in lane.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Mars
* Mars has no way to trade with Ogre Magi in the early game thanks to his high base health, resistance and Ignite.
* Once Ogre Magi gets level 2 he may also have Bloodlust, which makes him even harder to deal with in lane.
* Fireblast can be ridiculously strong later on in the game for controlling Mars.
* Spear of Mars, which is Mars' main source of damage in the early game, cannot guarantee kills early on Ogre Magi.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Mars
* Necrophos' largely magical damage completely ignores Bulwark.
* Ghost Shroud protects Necrophos from God's Rebuke but more importantly stops Mars from being a threat in lane.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Additional:
* 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. However, if Night Stalker obtains an
Aghanim's Scepter, the upgraded Void will hit and may even locate the real Naga Siren in fights.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Mars
* Nethertoxin disables
Bulwark entirely, making Mars far less tanky. Using
Nethertoxin inside
Arena of Blood may discourage enemies from following up with Mars' initiation.
* Rod of Atos is currently common on Viper and keeps Mars in position long enough to be killed.
* Beware that Viper is not very tanky earlier in the game, so positioning against Mars is important since a well-timed Spear of Mars can be the end of Viper.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin breaks the damage block from Bulwark.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike's slows make it difficult for Mars to contribute to fights due to his low mobility.
Marci
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Mars
* Rebound allows her to jump in or out of the Arena Of Blood. She can safe her allies from the Arena with Dispose as well.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Mars
* Rage, acting as a pseudo-
Black King Bar, completely negates Mars' initiation if used in time.
* Feast does damage and heals based on max health, perfect against high-health strength heroes like Mars.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to potentially save allies from Mars' initiation with a quick burst of extra health.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Mars
* Firestorm and
Pit of Malice are very disruptive in team fights, completely matching Mars especially since it can all be cast inside Arena Of Blood and also does percentage-based magical damage, negating Bulwark.
* Dark Rift can save any allies of Underlord trapped in Arena Of Blood.
* Atrophy Aura allows Underlord to lane against Mars quite well since he does not have the best base damage during the early game.
* Underlord is a common carrier of both Pipe of Insight and
Mekansm/
Guardian Greaves, allowing his team to combat Mars in the mid to late game.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Mars
* Swashbuckle is an auto attack and therefore ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* Shield Crash upgraded with Aghanim is an auto attack and therefore ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* Rolling Thunder makes him immune to magic, making Pangolier able to roll in and out from Mars' Arena Of Blood.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* Warcry makes it difficult to burst Sven down with both the passive (with
Aghanim's Shard) and active component.
* Sven under the effect of God's Strength and his massive physical damage make Sven very dangerous to engage in the mid game.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Mars
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,...
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Mars
* Heroes that can save their allies can be a big problem for Mars: Dazzle,
Omniknight.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Mars
* Ursa is a special mention because despite Bulwark diminishing most of the damage Ursa does, he is quite durable, especially with
Enrage, discouraging the aggressive all-in playstyle of Mars; Ursa can simply not target Mars.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter,
Ursa,
Drow Ranger
Razor
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight,
Mars,
Centaur Warrunner.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight,
Mars,
Centaur Warrunner.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 7%)Mars
* Kunkka's
Ghostship and
Torrent disrupt fights in Arena Of Blood.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Night Stalker
* Void's slow is dispelled by Doppelganger or counteracted by
Phantom Rush.
* Spirit Lance's and
Diffusal Blade's slow reduces Night Stalker's mobility and helps him or his ally escape if they're inflicted by Void or Crippling Fear.
* Night Stalker has no AoE abilites to take out Phantom Lancer's illusions. Even if Night Stalker gets an Aghanim's Scepter, there will be way too many illusions for Night Stalker to handle.
Mars
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet,
Lich.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Mars
* Mars' own father is a formidable foe because Zeus deals massive amounts of magical damage. The high damage, low cooldown nukes of Arc Lightning and
Lightning Bolt combined with the percent health magic damage of
Static Field will shred Mars' health because it bypasses Bulwark completely.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Mars
* Arcane Orb's pure damage ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* Astral Imprisonment can be used to stop Mars from being disruptive or save allies from his abilities.
* Sanity's Eclipse deals high damage to Mars, due to his low intelligence.
Night Stalker
* Any heroes with silences can negate the majority of Outworld Destroyer's damage output: Death Prophet,
Night Stalker,
Drow Ranger,
Doom .
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Mars
* Dragon Slave deals reliable magic damage during the laning phase against Mars.
* Lina's Eul's Scepter of Divinity and
Light Strike Array combo can interrupt Mars from being disruptive for a decent amount of time and leave him vulnerable for follow up stuns.
* Laguna Blade deals massive magical damage, and pure damage with
Aghanim's Scepter.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)Mars
* Snowball can protect Tusk and his teammates from a Spear of Mars stun after an Arena of Blood, and with proper targeting, even bring them out of the Arena. This is especially noticeable in the earlier stages of the game before allies buy
Black King Bar and rely on this less. Even during the late-game, Tusk can purchase a
Blink Dagger to save allies that are caught before Black King Bars can be used by Blinking in and Snowballing out.
* Tag Team is a constant threat to Mars in-lane, as even with early Bulwark points it deal so much damage and slow that Mars is forced to back off from the lane and play defensively every time the spell is used.
* Worth noting is that Ice Shards can be detrimental to Tusk's own team by creating terrain that Spear of Mars can latch on, though using it conservatively is a good enough solution in most cases.
Night Stalker
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Centaur Warrunner,
Wraith King and more.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, which can make the attack speed bonus from Hunter in the Night largely ineffective.
* Berserker's Rage together with
Battle Trance and
Fervor stacks gives him a high chance of rooting Night Stalker, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Night Stalker in any stage of the game, regardless of whether or not it's night.
* Night Stalker is not a common Monkey King Bar carrier to counteract this problem.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Night Stalker
* Phoenix turns night to day, overriding Dark Ascension during
Supernova.
Mars
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Night Stalker
* Void can interrupt
Icarus Dive.
* His Crippling Fear's silence will shutdown a spell caster Phoenix.
* However, Phoenix punishes Night Stalker with Supernova because it will turn night into day, and it has a higher priority than
Dark Ascension, effectively canceling the passive bonuses Night Stalker gets from
Hunter in the Night.
Slark
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* With Dark Ascension he can keep vision on Slark, disabling his Shadow Dance regeneration.
* Night Stalker is very fast so without the Pounce in lane, he can simply out distance him during the night.
* Slark is matched in night vision by only a few heroes, Night Stalker happens to be one of them.
Mars
* Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even during Shadow Dance.
* Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can hit Slark through Shadow Dance.
* Should Pounce be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Arena of Blood.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Night Stalker
* The long silence of Crippling Fear at night prevents Weaver from using his Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* With Dark Ascension and
Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and probably kill Weaver.
* Hunter In the Night's attack speed bonus removes The Swarm's beetles very quickly.
Mars
* Shukuchi cannot help Weaver escape from Arena of Blood, so with vision, Weaver is an easy kill.
* Time Lapse will also not save Weaver in a large amount of situations inside Arena of Blood, especially if he's pinned to the walls with Spear of Mars.
* The Swarm and
Geminate Attack is not very useful against a hero that can tank 70% of his main damage source.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Mars
* Heroes with forced movement abilities or non-interrupting forced movement, such as Lion,
Drow Ranger,
Magnus,
Mars, as they can cancel blast-off mid air, removing his ability to initiate or escape.
Night Stalker
* Dark Ascension also allows Night Stalker to fly over Proximity Mines without triggering them.
* Crippling Fear is effective in stopping Techies from using Blast Off and
Void is effective in stopping them from running to the safety of their mines.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Night Stalker
* Crippling Fear makes Night Stalker one of the best early game gankers to shut down Anti-Mage.
* Night Stalker's low mana pool causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Mars
* 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.
Night Stalker
* Dark Ascension reduces vision for the enemy team, which makes it more difficult for Magnus to initiate with Blink Dagger and Reverse Polarity. It is also more likely that Night Stalker will scout out Magnus with
Aghanim's Scepter and a
Gem of True Sight, after which he can silence Magnus with
Crippling Fear.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Mars
* Spectre cannot have a good game if she is pressured heavily in lane, which is something Mars can do.
* Spectre can use Haunt and
Spectral Dagger inside and outside from Arena of Blood, but it doesn't really matter since Mars does best during the early and mid game.
* Should Spectre get to the late game, Mars can block a large amount of her damage and split the teamfights in his advantage.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Night Stalker
* The long silence at night prevents Clinkz from escaping with invisibility if Night Stalker can sneak up on him. He also has really low base health, so Night Stalker can usually kill him alone during one cast of Crippling Fear at night.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Lich
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Mars
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet,
Lich.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter,
Ursa,
Drow Ranger
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Night Stalker
* Night Stalker's
Crippling Fear at night prevents Shadow Walk for an extended period of time and his
Void will make Phase Boots useless. If Night Stalker has True Sight, he can shutdown Bounty Hunter's sneak kill.
Mars
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away: Riki,
Bounty Hunter.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have long silences, such as Night Stalker and
Silencer, will prevent Abaddon from saving his allies effectively and disable the active component of Borrowed Time.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 24%)Night Stalker
* Void's mini-stun and silence from
Crippling Fear will stop Pudge from using Dismember or turning off his Rot.
* Night Stalker has naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance, making Night Stalker a poor target for Pudge.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Night Stalker
* Night Stalker has a huge, almost instant silence through Crippling Fear. The main problem is that he can get it off while Queen of Pain barely has any vision of him if he creeps up to her during
Dark Ascension. She'll have to play very carefully before she gets a
Black King Bar or a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Mars
* Phantom Assassin's high physical damage is greatly reduced by Bulwark.
* God's Rebuke has true strike, ignoring the evasion from Blur.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
* Void is a potent nuke that is devastating to Puck's low health pool.
* Crippling Fear silence can prevent Puck from casting spells, leaving it vulnerable.
Additional:
* Puck cannot use any of its normal means to survive should Night Stalker catch it within Crippling Fear, and goes down quickly.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
* The long silence of Crippling Fear at night prevents Mirana from escaping with Moonlight Shadow and Leap. She also has really low base health, so Night Stalker can usually kill her during one cast of
Crippling Fear at night.
* With Dark Ascension and
Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Mirana, and he is a tanky hero capable of fighting Mirana any stage of the game.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 12%)Night Stalker
* Keeper of the Light's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade loses much of its power, due to Night Stalker being able to reduce the duration of daytime by a lot.
Additional:
* Crippling Fear prevents Keeper of the Light from using his spells to keep his team alive during team-fights.
* Dark Ascension is very strong against Keeper of the Light, as it allows Night Stalker to jump the backline and quickly kill the squishy Ezalor, especially when combined with the slow from
Void.
Lion
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 14%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 8%)Mars
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet,
Lich.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Mars
* Heroes who can disable Mars but cannot do any damage to him, meaning he just tanks their abilities: Doom,
Magnus.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Mars
* Heroes that can negate Hoodwink's mobility: Kunkka,
Disruptor,
Mars.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter,
Ursa,
Drow Ranger
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Night Stalker
* Careful not to blink into Riki's
Smoke Screen or
Night Stalker's
Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.
Additional:
* Fissure has a short stun and creates an impassable ridge. However, Night Stalker can fly over it during Dark Ascension.
* Night Stalker can find Earthshaker, disable his Blink Dagger with Void, and then take him out with Crippling Fear.
* Earthshaker may fail his blink combo against Night Stalker's team if he is not careful, as he can blink into the silence.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Mars
* Heroes with the capability of removing or destroying trees greatly hinders the effectiveness of Treant Protector's abilities: Batrider,
Nature's Prophet,
Lina,
Enigma,
Mars
Riki
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Mars
* Bulwark is generally irrelevant against Riki as he primarily deals bonus damage from behind.
Additional:
* Blink Strike gives bonus backstab damage. Along with
Tricks of the Trade it completely bypasses Bulwark.
Mars
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away: Riki,
Bounty Hunter.
Night Stalker
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and kill Riki. Riki will also find it harder to kill the tanky Night Stalker than he would many other heroes.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Mars
* Bulwark negates most of the physical damage from Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Mars' AoE abilities kill Terrorblade's illusions quickly.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Mars
* Monkey King's natural reliance on trees makes him an exceptionally prime target for Spear of Mars. Should Monkey King use Mischief to disguise himself, it will still hit him, stunning him in the process.
* God's Rebuke easily pushes Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Mars
* Legion Commander is both good and bad vs Mars, on the plus side she can dispel Spear of Mars with
Press the Attack and is a good
Silver Edge carrier. However, Mars is not an ideal
Duel target, as Bulwark will force her to 1: Buy Silver Edge, and 2: Hit Mars with it before the Duel, allowing a skilled Mars to react, especially with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity. In teamfights, Mars will happily draw attention after using his abilities, and tank the Duel with all spells on cooldown.
Mars
* Because Duel requires both combatants to face each other, Bulwark's effectiveness will be increased by a huge margin, which makes it much more difficult for Legion Commander to win any duels against him.
* Spear of Mars and
God's Rebuke pushes Legion Commander away during Duels against allies.
Additional:
* Bulwark prevents Legion Commander from gaining wins with Duel.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 17%)Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Night Stalker
* Crippling Fear is a good way to shut down and gank Invoker in the early game..
* Void deals good damage to Invoker and makes escaping harder.
* With Hunter in the Night and
Void, Invoker can't get away from Night Stalker and won't be able to catch him with Sun Strike during the night.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)Mars
* Medusa's
Stone Gaze forces Mars to choose between getting petrified, or turning his vulnerable back on Medusa.
Mars
* Bulwark can make each of Medusa's attacks target him instead, reducing Medusa's contribution on team fights.
* Spear of Mars stuns Medusa and also pushes her away from teamfights, taking advantage of Medusa's low mobility.
* Arena Of Blood blocks Medusa's attacks from outside the arena.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Night Stalker
* Night Stalker can easily find Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.
* Void's mini-stun will stop Rearm and
Boots of Travel.
* Crippling Fear's silence will prevent Tinker from fighting back, as Tinker relies on his spells.
Additional:
* Night Stalker is one of the best heroes to find (and silence) Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Night Stalker
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture turns Night Stalker mobility against him and
Thirst grants movement speed bonus and vision prevents Night Stalker from initiating and re-initiating.
Mars
* Arena Of Blood prevents Bloodseeker from attacking a Ruptured target.
* Bulwark helps Mars survive Rupture ganks simply by turning towards Bloodseeker without moving.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can push Bloodseeker from Ruptured targets.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Night Stalker
* Night Stalker's most skills are single targeted which allows other Meepos to Poof, Earthbind and kill him.
Mars
* Bulwark blocks the attack from Meepo and his clones.
* Spear of Mars &
God's Rebuke prevents Meepo and his clones from initiation or escaping.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 18%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Mars
* Bulwark mitigates
Omnislash which deals physical damage, severely reducing its damage.
* Omnislash switch to opposite direction with each slash, so Mars can easily reduce most of its damage.
* However because {Ability ID:Blade Fury|Juggernaut} gives spell immunity Juggernaut can easily escape from {Ability ID:Arena Of Blood|Mars}.
Additional:
* Juggernaut deals mostly physical damage, which is easily mitigated with Bulwark.
* Juggernaut's Omnislash switches to opposite directions which each slash, so Mars can mitigate most of its damage since he only takes full damage from one direction: his back.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Mars
* If Mars lanes middle, Shadow Fiend can keep the lane pushed against him.
* Shadow Fiend can go an entirely magical based build, which is very effective against Mars.
Night Stalker
* Void can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Crippling Fear prevents Shadow Fiend from using Shadowraze or Requiem of Souls.
* With Dark Ascension and
Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Shadow Fiend easily. He is also a tanky hero that can fight Shadow Fiend at any stage of the game.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Mars
* Time Dilation while Spear of Mars and
God's Rebuke are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Mars nearly useless.
* Mars cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the back, bypassing Bulwark completely.
Additional:
* Time Walk allows Faceless Void to escape or enter Arena Of Blood, and helps him recover from Mars' burst damage.
* Time Lock's magical damage ignores Bulwark.
* Chronosphere allows Faceless Void to reposition behind Mars, ignoring his Bulwark while he is helplessly frozen in time.
Night Stalker
* Crippling Fear can silence Faceless Void for a long time, preventing him from using his Time Walk and Chronosphere.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Mars
* Storm Spirit's abilities all do magical damage, which can bypass Bulwark.
* Ball Lightning can escape through
Arena of Blood and it is easy to dodge
Spear of Mars.
Additional:
* Ball Lightning makes it almost impossible to catch Storm Spirit without someone else initiating for you.
* Overload is not reduced by Bulwark and the magical damage spam can wear down Mars quickly.
Night Stalker
* Crippling Fear is a silence that can last up to 8 seconds during night, rendering Storm Spirit tied limited to his items in a fight.
* Dark Ascension allows Night Stalker to initiate on Storm Spirit across the impassable terrain around the middle lane, rendering Storm vulnerable in the early game and prevent him from snowballing.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit is absolutely helpless if caught within Night Stalker's silence range.
* Common items a Storm Spirit will build will not remove the AoE silence.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Mars
* Berserker's Call forces Mars to face in the direction choosen.
* Counter Helix is a much stronger lane trader than Spear of Mars.
Night Stalker
* Crippling Fear makes it so Axe might use
Blink Dagger right into an AoE silence in the middle of everyone.
* Void cripples Axe's already bad movement speed and attack speed.
* Hunter in the Night makes it impossible for Axe to catch up to a fleeing or escape from Night Stalker during the night.
* Lastly, Dark Ascension gives full vision over Axe before he initiates, making the opponents all recognise his location immediately and allowing Night Stalker to prevent it or vocally tell his team if needed.
* Night Stalker has very high strength gain, even in lane, so a successful Culling Blade is very unlikely.
* Axe's Blade Mail will likely do nothing to Night Stalker because of his high health and certain requirements for him to do the most damage to be true.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with silence such as Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 6%)Mars
* Heroes that can save their allies can be a big problem for Mars: Dazzle,
Omniknight.
Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
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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Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as:
Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Mars
*
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.