* 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.

* Silencer's Intelligence Steal can reduce Storm Spirit's damage output if he gets some kills on laning phase.
* Last Word and Global Silence will make Storm Spirit an easy target.
* Global Silence can be used to block Storm Spirit from connecting abilities after a Ball Lightning on his targets.

* Invoker is heavily dependent on his spells, making him useless during Global Silence, as well as interrupting Invoker during his combo.
* Arcane Curse is particularly deadly, because Invoker will continuously lose health if he keeps invoking and casting new spells.
* Last Word will silence Invoker when he casts Invoke, interrupting his combo.

* 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.

* As Tinker relies heavily on his spells to be effective, Last Word and Global Silence will render him largely useless.
* Arcane Curse effectively prevents Tinker from casting spells during its duration, as he will otherwise suffer heavy damage.
* Glaives of Wisdom deal pure damage, which make quick work of fragile heroes like Tinker.
Additional:
* Silencer can stop Rearm, preventing Tinker from spamming his abilities/items or escaping.

* 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.

* Void is a potent nuke that is devastating to his low health pool.
* Crippling Fear silence can prevent Puck from casting spells, leaving him vulnerable.
Additional:
* Puck cannot use any of its normal means to survive should Night Stalker catch it within Crippling Fear, and goes down quickly.

* Generally strong against every spellcaster, Puck fully relies on their skill set and is barely a threat when silenced.
* Arcane Curse disables Blink Dagger for quite some time, and is also effective against Puck as he tend to use his spells a lot.
* Glaives of Wisdom can do a lot of damage against Puck due to Puck's low agility gain and armor.
* Last Word can prevent Puck from getting his full combo off, limiting his effectiveness in team fights or ganks.
* Global Silence can take Puck out of fights entirely.

* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.

* Arcane Curse discourages Lina from using her abilities, preventing her from building up Fiery Soul stacks.
* Last Word and Global Silence are great against Lina for the same reason, as well as interrupting her combos and preventing her from casting spells.

* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Silencer, Shadow Shaman, Grimstroke, Clinkz, Riki, Faceless Void, Skywrath Mage, Puck

* 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.

* Basically, Heroes that heavily rely on abilities for damage or escape, such as Queen of Pain and Storm Spirit.

* 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.

* In general, heroes such as Lion, Silencer, Skywrath Mage, Sven, Ogre Magi and others with reliable disables are crucial to killing Techies before they can suicide.

* With Dark Ascension Night Stalker gains unobstructed vision during night-time allowing him to easily detect mines if he has a Gem of True Sight, but Night Stalker is a melee hero so he has to use Quelling Blade to safely defuse Remote Mines and Stasis Trap.
* 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.

* Silencer's Global Silence will render Zeus useless for 6 seconds in a team fight.
* Arcane Curse will punish Zeus for casting spells, which can cause continuous damage to him should he continue to cast spells.
* Last Word can silence Zeus and prevent him from spamming his spells.
* Silencer often builds Orchid Malevolence (or Bloodthorn) which can be used on spell casters like Zeus, forcing him to invest in a Linken's Sphere.
Additional:
* Zeus' main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Zeus likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Zeus dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Zeus dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.

* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.

* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.

* Crystal Maiden is squishy, is heavily spell reliant, has low base Intelligence, and is naturally slow, making her an ideal target for Silencer
* Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field has a similar cooldown to Global Silence, therefore, Freezing Field can almost always be canceled to ruin aggressive Crystal Maiden initiations.

* 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.

* Silences and other types of lockdown that prevent Weaver from using his spells: Silencer, Riki, Lion, Legion Commander, Shadow Shaman, Bane.

* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.

* Global Silence takes Omniknight out of the fight completely.
* Glaives of Wisdom are a great harass vs Omniknight during the laning stages of the game, since it doesn't aggro creeps & ignores his high base armor. It deals pure damage, which means it can also go through Guardian Angel.
* Silencer's intelligence steal can also cause Omniknight to falter in the early phases as it reduces his ability to use his spells.

* Heroes with silences and hard stuns such as Doom, Silencer, and Lion can keep Mirana from Leaping away.

* 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.

* Silencer's intelligence steal will heavily reduce Outworld Destroyer's damage output, if Outworld Destroyer dies a lot near/to Silencer.
* Global Silence and Last Words will render Outworld Destroyer helpless unless he has dispelling item/ally.
Additional:
* Silencer's Intelligence Steal will heavily reduce Outworld Devourer's damage output, particularly from Sanity's Eclipse.
* Last Word and Global Silence will take Outworld Devourer out of the fight unless he has built Black King Bar.

* Any heroes with silences can negate the majority of Outworld Devourer's damage output: Death Prophet, Night Stalker, Drow Ranger, Doom .

* Silencer will most likely disrupt an initiation with his ultimate, Global Silence, prevent escape with his Last Word, and if Phoenix happens to die to him (or near him) enough times, he would sap enough of Phoenix's much needed Intelligence to make him a stronger foe and Phoenix with less mana than it already had.

* 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.

* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.

* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.

* 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.

* Silencer's Global Silence and Doom's Doom makes Earthshaker temporarily useless.

* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like Silencer's Last Word, magic resistance like Oracle's Fate's Edict, and dispels like Legion Commander's Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.

* Heroes with low health: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Lion.

* 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.

* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.

* 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.

* 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.

* Crippling Fear can silence Faceless Void for a long time, preventing him from using his Time Walk and Chronosphere.

* Kunkka relies on his powerful AOE spells to turn the tides of teamfights. He cannot use them while silenced.
* Last Word can mess up Kunkka's ability synergy, silencing him in the middle of his strong combo.
* Global Silence can disable Kunkka's spell casting from anywhere on the map, even if Kunkka is spell immune at the time.

* Silencer burns easily through her effective hp from Mana Shield, by taking away her int.
* Arcane Curse punishes her repeatedly casting Mystic Snake to keep her mana pool high. Can force her to use Manta Style before he has cast Global Silence and Medusa usually does not want to build Black King Bar.

* 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.

* 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, who relies on daytime to be effective.
Additional:
* 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.

* Global Silence and Last Word can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.
* Glaives of Wisdom also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.
* Arcane Curse is also a potent harassing tool in the laning stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.

* Like any hero with a channeled spell, Last Word is a counter to it.
* Global Silence goes through spell immunity and prevents Witch Doctor from casting his spells.

* 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.

* Night Stalker can easily find Pudge's location during Dark Ascension.
* Void's mini-stun and silence from Crippling Fear at night will stop Dismember, Meat Hook and Rot and preventing Pudge from fighting back.
* Night Stalker has naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance, making Night Stalker a poor target for Pudge.

* Global Silence stops Snapfire's Mortimer Kisses.
* Last Word can prevent Snapfire from casting additional spells.

* While many of Silencer's spells are a great steal for Rubick, Silencer effectively neuters Rubick's excellent counter-initiation potential thanks to Global Silence.
* Rubick's relatively low intelligence for such a heavy caster means that losing Intelligence to Intelligence Steal will make your mana pool even smaller.

* Arcane Curse punishes Grimstroke for spamming Stroke of Fate.
* Global Silence takes Grimstroke out of team fights entirely.

* Arcane Curse deals repeated stacks of damage to Timbersaw because he relies on constantly using his abilities.
* Glaives of Wisdom deals pure damage and when cast manually, nearby creeps will not attack silencer, making it an effective harassment tool.
* Although Last Word takes a while to trigger, it will break Timbersaw's ability combo and can be used to silence him.
* Global Silence will silence Timberaw no matter where he is on the map. This can be used to help allies get a kill on him, or prevent Timbersaw from killing someone.
Additional:
* Timbersaw is heavily reliant on his abilities for damage and escape, allowing Silencer to effectively disable him and make him useless in both team fights and 1v1 scenarios.

* A well-timed Global Silence prevents Dazzle from saving allies with Shallow Grave or Shadow Wave. Items that could dispel the silence are expensive, and difficult for Dazzle to farm from a support role.
* Arcane Curse and Last Word cause long damage over time, which may outlast Shallow Grave.

* Arcane Curse can effectively discourage Undying from casting his spammable abilities in a team fight, as Undying will have to suffer more damage and the slow due to the penalty duration of Arcane Curse.
* Last Word and Global Silence are able to silence Undying for up to 6 seconds, preventing Undying from gaining strength and healing his ally or himself.

* Silencer's Last Word and Global Silence prevents Jakiro from casting any spell.
* A carry Silencer can easily take down a support Jakiro with his Glaives of Wisdom.

* Arcane Curse punishes Necrophos if tries to spam Death Pulse, increasing the duration of the slow and damage taken over time.
* Last Word heavily damages Necrophos and also silence him for a lenghty duration.
* Glaives of Wisdom will reduce temporarily Necrophos intelligence on each hit dealing hindering his ability to spam Death Pulse, also reducing his attack damage and mana pool; dealing increasing amounts of phisical and pure damage each time. Silencer will permanently steal Necrophos intelligence if killed by him or dies nears him.
* Global Silence turns Necrophos almost useless for a long time, allowing your team to easily dispatch him, since he heavily relies on his spells to survive.

* Last Word and Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
* Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.

* Because Warlock's abilities are all active abilities, Silencer can make his impact minimal.
* Arcane Curse prevents Warlock from using his abilities without taking 56/84/112/140 damage, and slowed by 9%/12%/15%/18%.
* Last Word can prevent Warlock from casting his combo.
* Global Silence can nullify Warlock's impact in fights and prevent him from getting any spells off.

* 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.

* Silencer can easily ruin Enigma's initiation, as Global Silence cancels Black Hole, even through Black King Bar and Linken's Sphere.
Additional:
* Last Word can be cast from a long range to prevent Enigma's potential initiation.
* Global Silence can interrupt Enigma's Black Hole channeling through Black King Bar and Linken's Sphere.

* 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.

* With Dark Ascension he can keep vision on Slark, disabling his Shadow Dance regeneration. Slark is also too weak to seriously threaten Night Stalker in lane.

* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer, Death Prophet, Puck, Doom

* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.

* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter, Ursa, Drow Ranger

* Heroes with low health: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Lion.

* Heroes with silences : Bloodseeker, Riki, Silencer.

* Durable heroes can fight with stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.

* Windranger heavily relies on her abilities for any form of tactical advantage and damage. A well timed silence will make her useless: Puck,Silencer, Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, Drow Ranger, Earth Spirit, Grimstroke.

Additional:
* Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using Windrun.

* Heroes with long disables, like Lion, Night Stalker, or Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.

* Oracle's reliance on spamming his spells can be easily hindered by Silencer's Arcane Curse.
* Last Word and Global Silence negates Oracle's attempt to save his allies with his spells.
* Fate's Edict is useless against Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage.

* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.

* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.

* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as silencer, Drow Ranger and Death Prophet.

* 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.

* Shadow Demon's main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Shadow Demon likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Shadow Demon dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Shadow Demon dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.

* 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.

* Both Arcane Curse and Last Word punishes casters with spammable spells such as Sand King.
* As a strength caster, Intelligence Steal reduces Sand King's mana pool even more.
* Global Silence silences Sand King, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential. It can also interrupt channeling of Epicenter.

* Pugna is very reliant on his abilities for damage. (Just be careful around the Nether Ward)

* 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.

* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter, Ursa, Drow Ranger

* Heroes with pure damage can kill Huskar when he inevitably gets low on health: Outworld Destroyer, Silencer.