Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 3.2 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 3.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Silencer
* Casting Phantasm before a fight minimizes the disruption from Global Silence.
* Because Chaos Knight generally relies on attack damage, Silencer's spells won't be as effective against him.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. As Mystic Flare only affects heroes, his skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Wraith King
* Wraith King has no form of AoE to clear Chaos Knight's illusions from Phantasm.
* Wraith King is very vulnerable if he reincarnates in the middle of his illusions.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them: Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 3.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* Enfeeble can be used to decrease Shadow Fiend's already abysmal level one damage even further, preventing him from getting farm and Necromastery stacks.
* Brain Sap allows Bane to heavily harass Shadow Fiend.
* Nightmare allows Bane to set up some early ganks onto Shadow Fiend.
* Fiend's Grip enables Bane to completely take Shadow Fiend out of a fight and potentially even kill him, even through
Black King Bar.
Wraith King
* Wraith King,
Medusa,
Storm Spirit and other mana dependent heroes will have diminished impact on a fight if they survive Fiend's Grip due to its mana steal.
Silencer
* Heroes that can disable or silence Silencer for a long time, such as Bane and
Legion Commander, can lock down Silencer while their allies put him down.
Phantom Assassin
* Enfeeble greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's burst damage.
* Nightmare and Fiend's Grip can ground Phantom Assassin, who normally blinks around with Phantom Strike, and stop her from outputting damage, even with Black King Bar.
* Phantom Assassin's low health pool early on makes her susceptible to Brain Sap and Fiend's Grip's heavy nuke damage.
Additional:
* Enfeeble greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's damage output, crippling her damage with Coup de Grace.
* Brain Sap's deals high magical damage against Phantom Assassin in the early game. When upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter, it can pierce spell immunity.
* Fiend's Grip can disable Phantom Assassin, even through spell immunity.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 3.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. As Mystic Flare only affects heroes, his skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Wraith King
* Diffusal Blade lets Phantom Lancer drain Wraith King's mana, preventing
Reincarnation from triggering until he upgrades his talent point at level 20.
Additional:
* Doppelganger disjoints Wraithfire Blast.
* Wraith King is not good at handling illusion-based heroes, as his only disable is single-target.
* Phantom Lancer tends to get Diffusal Blade, leaving Wraith King no mana to reincarnate.
Silencer
* Due to Phantom Rush and
Juxtapose being passives and not affected by silence, a Phantom Lancer with a
Diffusal Blade can easily kill Silencer.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 2.8 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Silencer
* Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables: Silencer,
Crystal Maiden,
Warlock,
Ancient Apparition,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend's fragility and lack of a natural escape mechanism makes him a great target for Templar Assassin's Meld.
* Shadow Fiend's burst damage, such as Shadowraze and
Requiem of Souls, is easily nullified by her Refraction.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction: Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer
Wraith King
* Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction: Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 2.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 18%)Wraith King
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery: Legion Commander,
Lifestealer,
Weaver,
Wraith King
Additional:
* Wraith King has no ability to destroy trees from Tree Dance.
* Monkey King tends to get Diffusal Blade, leaving Wraith King no mana to reincarnate unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* A reincarnated Wraith King is an ideal target for Wukong's Command.
Shadow Fiend
* Requiem of Souls is easily interrupted by Boundless Strike, due to its long cast time.
* Shadow Fiend's lack of mobility and escape makes him an easy target to ambush with Primal Spring, especially during laning stage.
* Being close means he cannot use all three razes on you before you get your Jingu Mastery stacks.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
Silencer
* Silencer's low mobility and lack of any stuns or roots makes him an easy target.
* Silence will not protect Silencer from Jingu Mastery's extra damage and lifesteal.
* Monkey King often buys Black King Bar, which can be used to negate silence debuff effects.
Phantom Assassin
* Blur makes it hard for Monkey King to stack Jingu Mastery.
* Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin to blink directly to Monkey King during Wukong's Command, bypassing all his clones.
* Coup de Grace's high damage can kill Monkey King quickly, thus ending Wukong's Command prematurely.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 2.2 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. As Mystic Flare only affects heroes, his skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Wraith King
* Necronomicon Warrior's Mana Break can deplete Wraith King's mana and prevent him from using
Reincarnation.
* Wraith King's lack of area of effect spells makes him easily overwhelmed by Beastmaster's summons.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 2.2 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
Silencer
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as Viper and
Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
Wraith King
* Riki is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier, and it doesn't help that he's easily capable of sneaking up on you due to
Cloak and Dagger.
* Riki can use Smoke Screen on top of you as you're reincarnating, making you a sitting duck for your second life. In addition, the blind prevents Wraith King from landing critical hits from Mortal Strike.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and players with good reflexes will disjoint it with Tricks of the Trade.
* There is also a chance he will become invisible again as the projectile travels, disjointing it.
Skywrath Mage
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy Black King Bar
Phantom Assassin
* Blink Strike does not grant Riki a mobility advantage over Phantom Assassin, as her Phantom Strike serves the same purpose, but with a higher range.
* A Carry Riki usually has a hard time dealing with Blur, as a Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn are unfavourable item picks for him (or, even more unlikely, a
Silver Edge).
* A Black King Bar is a very common pick for Phantom Assassin, fully countering
Smoke Screen and
Diffusal Blade while activated.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 2.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Assassin
* Ethereal state disarms the target and makes them more vulnerable to magic damage, both of which Phantom Assassin despises. Especially Pugna and any hero that is wielding
Ethereal Blade, such as
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin or
Morphling.
Wraith King
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Skywrath Mage
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and
Decrepify won't help you at all.
Additional:
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Shadow Fiend
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls and spamming Shadowraze.
Additional:
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls and his
Shadowraze.
Silencer
* Pugna is very reliant on his abilities for damage. (Just be careful around the Nether Ward)
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Silencer
* Broodmother relies less on abilities and more on right-clicks.
* Spiderlings can overwhelm Silencer, who has mediocre armor and no escape tool.
Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Assassin's single target abilities make her very helpless against swarms of spiderlings.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Broodmother will usually have enough time to use Spin Web to save herself.
* Aside from Spin Web, Incapacitating Bite can cripple her due to being reliant on physical attacks and critical strikes.
Additional:
* Phantom Assassin's single target abilities make her very helpless against swarms of Spiderlings.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Broodmother will usually have enough time to use Spin Web to save herself.
* Incapacitating Bite cripples her due to reliant on physical attacks.
Wraith King
* Broodmother can easily clear Wraith King's skeletons with Spawn Spiderlings and summon spiderlings in their place.
* With Diffusal Blade, Broodmother can prevent Wraith King from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
Shadow Fiend
* Spiderlings are a good source of souls for Necromastery and can be quickly killed with
Shadowraze.
* Shadow Fiend is a natural Black King Bar carrier, protecting him from Incapacitating Bite.
* Requiem of Souls combined with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity can potentially kill Broodmother before she gets a Black King Bar
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord
Additional:
* High armor thanks to Dragon Blood makes it difficult for Phantom Assassin to burst down Dragon Knight, as she deals 100% physical damage.
* Dragon Tail stuns Phantom Assassin as soon as she initiates, preventing her from gaining bonus attack speed.
* Dragon Knight is one of the few heroes who can safely solo lane against Phantom Assassin alongside a support.
Shadow Fiend
* Dragon Tail can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Breathe Fire reduces Shadow Fiend's damage even further.
* Dragon Knight's high strength and
Dragon Blood means that he'll be able to tank Shadow Fiend's right clicks.
Silencer
* If Silencer can't prevent Dragon Knight from using Elder Dragon Form, Silencer's spells aren't going to be that effective against him, as Dragon Knight relies on right-clicks and not spells.
* Dragon Blood's armor bonus and health regeneration allows Dragon Knight to stay in the lane against Glaives of Wisdom.
* Dragon Knight often builds Black King Bar, allowing him to remove Global Silence before engaging.
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend's
Presence of the Dark Lord reduces Dragon Knight's armor considerably, and his strong base attacks are augmented by his
Necromastery.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Strike's extra attack speed causes Phantom Assassin to proc Counter Helix more often. Using it on Axe also makes Phantom Assassin an easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call and
Blade Mail.
* Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
* Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe, and may cause her to kill herself when used with Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Jumping in with Phantom Strike makes Phantom Assassin an exceptionally easy target for Berserker's Call.
* The bonus attack speed from Phantom Strike also means that Phantom Assassin will proc Counter Helix numerous times.
* Black King Bar is generally useless against Axe's abilities and item build, as Black King Bar doesn't prevent Axe from finishing Phantom Assassin off with
Culling Blade. It also doesn't work against Berserker's Call and Counter Helix.
* Blade Mail is an item that Axe purchases every game, and it can be used to turn Phantom Assassin's critical strikes against herself. The situation becomes even worse if she's affected by Berserker's Call, as she has no way to stop attacking.
Shadow Fiend
* Berserker's Call and
Counter Helix allow Axe to kill Shadow Fiend if he stands too close to a creep wave.
* Battle Hunger is very strong against Shadow Fiend in the early game because Shadow Fiend's low attack damage makes it hard for him to get last hits.
* Axe's naturally high strength and health regeneration will be enough to tank a lot of Shadow Fiend's damage in the early game.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Phantom Assassin
* Despite her high mobility, Hex or Earth Spike can lock Phantom Assassin down and make her vulnerable.
* Although she has high evasion through Blur, Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to Lion's magical burst.
Additional:
* Hex and
Earth Spike's fast cast animations easily catches Phantom Assassin when she jumps in to attack.
* Finger of Death often ends Phantom Assassin before she can do anything in the early to mid game.
Wraith King
* Wraith King has a very low mana pool and depends on it to cast Reincarnation. Mana Drain will render him useless.
* Wraith King has very low mobility, making it easy for Lion to disable and harass him.
Additional:
* While not being able to confront Wraith King by himself, Lion's Mana Drain helps in draining Wraith King's mana, preventing him from reincarnating unless he has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Lion's Earth Spike and
Hex provide decent lockdown against Wraith King as well, preventing the latter from benefiting from Vampiric Aura bonuses.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Silencer
* 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.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 1.8 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 6%)Wraith King
* Heroes with single-target abilities will be overwhelmed by Lycan and his summons: Wraith King,
Bane,
Phantom Assassin.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. As Mystic Flare only affects heroes, his skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Silencer
* Shapeshift is useful for killing or escaping Silencer.
* Summon Wolves, and later
Necronomicon units, can be used to hunt a badly wounded Silencer down - even when Lycan himself can't fight.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with single-target abilities will be overwhelmed by Lycan and his summons: Wraith King,
Bane,
Phantom Assassin.
Phantom Assassin
* Blur is a real problem for Lycan, while she deals critical hits.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.8 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Silencer
* Fortune's End can nullify Arcane Curse,
Last Word, and
Global Silence, if cast at the right time with the right targets.
* Fate's Edict can prevent Silencer from attacking, which he relies on with Glaives of Wisdom, for a lot of his damage.
Wraith King
* Heroes with area dispel can kill multiple skeletons at once: Brewmaster,
Oracle.
Phantom Assassin
* Fate's Edict cripples many heroes who rely on attacks, such as Phantom Assassin,
Sven, or
Enchantress, without a dispel or a
Black King Bar.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with little health or magic resistance are easily picked off with Oracle's magic burst, such as Skywrath Mage,
Crystal Maiden, or
Enchantress.
Silencer
* 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.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with silence such as Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 20%)Wraith King
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and players with good reflexes will disjoint it with Blade Fury.
* Omnislash with
Diffusal Blade &
Aghanim's Scepter can prevent Wraith King from reincarnating unless he has his Aghanim's Shard that removes the mana cost from Reincarnation.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high physical burst like Juggernaut or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Wraith King
* Clinkz,
Sniper,
Lone Druid,
Troll Warlord,
Legion Commander,
Wraith King and others are some of the Heroes that bases themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, suffering in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
Phantom Assassin
* Overgrowth prevents Phantom Assassin from using Blink Strike even through her spell immunity.
* Living Armor reduces Phantom Assassin's physical damage whenever she attempts to gank an allied hero.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowraze.
* Assassinate can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls if he is not a target.
Additional:
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's
Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and
Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowrazes.
Wraith King
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Silencer
* Sniper is a pure right click carry with a very long range, making it hard for Silencer to cast any of his skills on him in lane. During team-fights, Global Silence has little impact on Sniper.
Additional:
* Due to Sniper having a such a long range, he will rarely get hit by any of Silencer's spells.
* Global Silence will not hinder Sniper much as other heroes since most of his damage output comes from his attacks.
Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Strike allows her to jump on Sniper with increased attack speed.
* Coup de Grace and
Desolator shreds Sniper's low health and armor.
* Blur can be activated to get within Phantom Strike's range, surprising Sniper before he has a chance to react. Its passive also reduces Sniper's overall effectiveness against Phantom Assassin, provided he hasn't purchased a
Monkey King Bar.
Additional:
* Sniper's lack of mobility and reliance on attack range makes him an easy target for Phantom Assassin to jump on.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Wraith King
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Shadow Fiend
* Nethertoxin breaks both Necromastery and Presence of the Dark Lord, reducing his damage massively.
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper bonus Magic Resistance against Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls.
* Viper can easily take advantage of Shadow Fiend's lack of escape and mobility spells with Viper Strike and
Poison Attack. Poison Attack also serves as a great way to harass Shadow Fiend.
Silencer
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as Viper and
Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
Phantom Assassin
* Nethertoxin breaks Phantom Assassin's passive skills.
* Viper Strike goes through
Black King Bar.
Wraith King
* Viper's Nethertoxin cannot disable Reincarnation, which could put him in disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
* In addition, Viper doesn't like buying Diffusal Blade, which is the only item that can help him against Wraith King.
Phantom Assassin
* Assuming they have not bought anti-evasion items, attack dependent heroes such as Viper,
Ursa or
Clinkz can be a minor threat for Phantom Assassin early in the game, and may even be completely dominated by her thanks to her evasion.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Phantom Assassin
* Terrorblade is one of the strongest carries in the late game, due to his resilience against physical damage, which can be a problem for almost every strong burst physical damage carries, such as Phantom Assassin and
Templar Assassin.
Wraith King
* Wraith King has no form of AoE to clear Terrorblade's illusions.
* Terrorblade is a common Manta Style and
Diffusal Blade carrier.
* Terrorblade has very high armor, which helps against Wraith King's physical-only damage.
* A reincarnated Wraith King is an ideal target for Sunder if Terrorblade's health is low.
Shadow Fiend
* The Reflection of Shadow Fiend cause Presence of the Dark Lord to affect Shadow Fiend, reducing his armor and making it easier for Terrorblade to kill him. Shadow Fiend also doesn't have lots of survivability or control skills in order to escape.
* If Shadow Fiend chooses to go for a right-click build, he'll have a hard time against Terrorblade's high armor.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt can target Terrorblade's low health pool in the laning phase.
* Ancient Seal can prevent Terrorblade from casting sunder.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Wraith King
* Dark Pact, if timed correctly, can dispel Wraithfire Blast's stun and slow.
* Since Wraith King has a lot of health and multiple lives, Slark can keep gaining Essence Shift stacks, increasing armor, damage, and attack speed and can beat down Wraith King twice.
* Slark sometimes carries Diffusal Blade to burn mana as an attempt to shut down Reincarnation.
* Because Wraith King has no AoE abilities, Shadow Dance is particularly useful against Wraith King.
Phantom Assassin
* Slark's Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who always goes for the Silver Edge and
Abyssal Blade Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin and her
Blur and
Coup de Grace, drastically reducing her damage output and ability to evade attacks, and also preventing her from acting.
* Phantom Assassin's Coup de Grace requires Random Number Generation in order to proc, which gives Slark more than enough time to escape and recover himself.
Silencer
* Slark's Dark Pact allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
* Against a carry Silencer, Essence Shift will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.
Silencer
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Fiend
* During the laning stage Laser will reduce Shadow Fiend's last hits, preventing him from getting Necromastery souls.
* Shadow Fiend has low health and is vulnerable to Tinker's high magic burst.
Additional:
* The blind from Laser prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Scythe of Vyse can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
* A combination of Tinker's abilities and his items (like the Dagon 5 and
Ethereal Blade combo) can kill Shadow Fiend quickly.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes who rely on physical damage will suffer from Laser: Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Huskar.
Additional:
* The blind from Laser can render Phantom Assassin useless if she is not protected by
Black King Bar.
* Tinker is a natural Scythe of Vyse carrier and can permanently disable Phantom Assassin, not giving her chance to activate
Black King Bar if she has it.
Wraith King
* Heroes who rely on physical damage will suffer from Laser: Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Huskar.
Silencer
* 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.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 2%)Phantom Assassin
* Static Link can lower the damage output from Coup de Grace procs, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of damage.
* Eye of the Storm strikes cannot be evaded by Blur.
* Both Static Link and Eye of the Storm pierces spell immunity, as Phantom Assassin is often reliant on Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Static Link greatly lowers the damage output from Coup de Grace, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of scaling.
* Eye of the Storm strikes cannot be evaded by Blur.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Kraken Shell dispels both Shadowraze's damage amplification stacks and Requiem of Soul's damage reduction (provided Tidehunter has taken enough damage).
* Ravage cancels Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend isn't protected by
Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Kraken Shell dispels the damage amplification stacks of Shadowraze as well as the damage reduction from
Requiem of Souls (provided he has taken enough damage).
* Anchor Smash reduces Shadow Fiend's large attack damage, Kraken Shell makes Tidehunter the last target Shadow Fiend wants to attack.
* Ravage can easily cancel Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend isn't protected by
Black King Bar.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Fiend
* Bounty Hunter can absolutely destroy a Shadow Fiend's game by ganking his midlane with Shadow Walk, Jinada and Shuriken Toss.
* If his lane goes bad, a Shadow Fiend usually goes to the jungle. Follow him with Shadow Walk and take half of his experience.
* Due to its ministun, Shuriken Toss is a good way to interrupt Shadow Fiend's long cast animation on Requiem of Souls.
Additional:
* Shuriken Toss can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Shadow Walk and
Jinada allow Bounty Hunter to gank Shadow Fiend early on
* Track prevents Shadow Fiend from escaping with
Shadow Blade.
Skywrath Mage
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Io,
Witch Doctor, etc.
Wraith King
* Heroes that are naturally hard to gank, ranging from beefy tanks like Abaddon and
Wraith King to heroes with quick escape mechanisms like
Anti-Mage and
Storm Spirit are also undesirable targets for a lone, roaming Bounty Hunter to scout out and initiate on.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Fiend
* Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to gank Shadow Fiend in the early game, preventing him from getting Necromastery stacks.
* Nether Strike and
Charge of Darkness can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes that rely on escapes to stay alive can be caught and locked down for a long time: Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin
Wraith King
* Durable heroes: Axe,
Bristleback,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Phantom Assassin
* Troll Warlord can build a Silver Edge or a
Monkey King Bar to completely ignore
Blur.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, making a Coup de Grace critical strike very hard to land.
* Battle Trance negates Coup de Grace, preventing Troll Warlord from dying to her critical hits.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) makes it hard to land a Coup de Grace.
* Troll Warlord often buys Silver Edge and Monkey King Bar, the items that greatly counters Phantom Assassin.
* Battle Trance completely negates Phantom Assassin's large damage output, preventing Troll Warlord from dying easily. The lifesteal also allows Troll Warlord to restore much of his health.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes without escape mechanism: Shadow Fiend,
Alchemist
Additional:
* Earthshock prevents Shadow Fiend from escaping after Ursa used his
Blink Dagger to get on top of him.
* Overpower and
Fury Swipes allow Ursa to quickly kill Shadow Fiend.
* Enrage keeps Ursa alive in a manfight with Shadow Fiend and allows him to stay close, even if Shadow Fiend uses Requiem of Souls.
Silencer
* Silencer relies on preventing enemies from using abilities in teamfights with Arcane Curse, Last Word, and Global Silence. However, they are ineffective against Ursa since he relies more on items and attacks than abilities.
* Enrage reduces all damage taken, even Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage.
Phantom Assassin
* Assuming they have not bought anti-evasion items, attack dependent heroes such as Viper,
Ursa or
Clinkz can be a minor threat for Phantom Assassin early in the game, and may even be completely dominated by her thanks to her evasion.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Phantom Assassin
* Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter, and hex abilities all prevent item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility.
Shadow Fiend
* Glimpse and
Kinetic Field allows Disruptor to set up some early kills onto Shadow Fiend.
* Static Storm can be used to cancel the cast of Requiem of Souls.
Silencer
* Heroes with silences : Bloodseeker,
Riki,
Silencer.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Assassin
* Retaliate deals damage to Phantom Assassin for every attack and Stifling Dagger thrown at Centaur.
* Blur cannot evade Double Edge.
Additional:
* Retaliate turns Phantom Assassin's attacks against herself, as he deals damage with every hit taken, and his big health pool makes sure that a lot of hits will be needed.
* If Centaur Warrunner gets the jump on Phantom Assassin first, she will be unable to activate Black King Bar and might be burst down with the help of his
Double Edge.
* Stampede can save an ally under attack by Phantom Assassin, offsetting the slow from Stifling Dagger. If he owns an
Aghanim's Scepter, he can prevent a low-health ally from being killed in one crit.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend, a normal Shadow Blade builder often relies on its invisibility to escape fights. Corrosive Haze reveals Shadow Fiend and also weakens his already low armor.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)Phantom Assassin
* Sharpshooter breaks Blur and Coup de Grace especially with the level 25 talent.
* Because Phantom Assassin is often reliant on critical strikes, Hoodwink can have enough time to simply move near a tree and escape.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Phantom Assassin
* Black King Bar is useless, since all of the Spectre's abilities go through spell immunity,
* Phantom Assassin's Blur cannot evade Desolate because its damage is a separate damage instance and is applied before the attack hits.
* Spectre's high durability provided by Dispersion and damage block items makes her one of the hardest carries to take down.
Additional:
* Dispersion makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to burst down Spectre while also reflecting back Phantom Assassin's high burst damage against herself.
* Desolate ignores the evasion from Blur.
* Black King Bar is useless against Spectre as all of her skills pierce spell immunity.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Silencer
* Silencer's disables are useless on Lone Druid since he is more reliant on physical attacks rather than spells.
Skywrath Mage
* Lone Druid's early game is good against slow, squishy supports since his bear is very strong early game and an Entangling Claws proc almost always guarantees a kill: Ancient Apparition,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Skywrath Mage etc.
Phantom Assassin
* Blur allows Phantom Assassin to escape from Lone Druid and the spirit bear. Additionally, it provides evasion which effectively reduce the damage output from the Spirit Bear and reduce the chances to root her, forcing him to invest in
Monkey King Bar
* At late game, Phantom Assassin out carry Lone Druid.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Silencer
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field: Silencer,
Viper.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 18%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
Wraith King
* Invoker can drain Wraith King's mana with EMP, preventing him from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Even if Wraith King survives and reincarnates, Invoker still has an arsenal of spells to lockdown Wraith King, including an easily setup Ice Wall.
* Tornado applies an area dispel to clear skeletons.
Additional:
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Wraith King's mana to prevent Reincarnation from triggering (only until Wraith King gets his Aghanim's Shard).
* Ice Wall and Cold Snap are particularly crippling for Wraith King as they allow to kite him very effectively, preventing him from dealing melee attack damage.
Silencer
* 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.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with magical burst damage can often kill Phantom Assassin before she gets to do much: Necrophos,
Nyx Assassin,
Gyrocopter.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Wraith King
* Sanity's Eclipse does massive damage to Wraith King who naturally has a low mana pool and typically doesn't build items to increase it.
* Wraithfire Blast's slow projectile speed makes it easy to avoid using Astral Imprisonment.
Phantom Assassin
* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse: Doom,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord.
Silencer
* 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.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Assassin
* Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter, and hex abilities all prevent item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility.
Shadow Fiend
* Doom has several disable abilities to choose from jungle creeps (e.g. War Stomp,
Ensnare) to deal with Shadow Fiend who lacks escape abilities.
* When Doom combines creep abilities with Scorched Earth,
Infernal Blade, and
Doom, Shadow Fiend most likely will die as he cannot use Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls to protect himself, and also cannot even flee by using
Shadow Blade or
Blink Dagger.
* Although Shadow Fiend has a high physical damage output, Doom has a large health pool to survive it, meaning Doom's combo with high magical damage output will shutdown Shadow Fiend first.
* Doom usually buys Radiance to improve his damage, making his nuke combo more deadly to Shadow Fiend. The blind also prevents Shadow Fiend from landing his attacks often.
Wraith King
* Even if he is Doomed, Wraith King can tear down Doom with physical attacks, and can still reincarnate as long as it is off-cooldown.
Additional:
* Wraith King has three passive abilities and only a single active ability, so Doom does not hinder him significantly.
* Doom expires upon death, so it is effectively removed after Reincarnation activates.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
* Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst
Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.
Silencer
* 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.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Wraith King
* Weaver can run away after killing Wraith King once thanks to Shukuchi.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable. If Weaver is quick, he will disjoint it with Shukuchi and proceed to chase Wraith King down.
* Shukuchi does have a fade time. They cannot disjoint it if you use it right next to them. They will be stunned and take damage; however they will still become invisible if they used Shukuchi before the stun hits.
* Weaver can easily harass Wraith King out of his lane thanks to his high base damage and Geminate Attack.
* Weaver can burn Wraith King's mana quickly with his Mana Break or
Diffusal Blade, until Wraith King picks "No Reincarnation Manacost" talent.
Additional:
* Wraithfire Blast is easy to disjoint with Shukuchi or Time Lapse, and it's the only way to break Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* Wraith King has no other disables and no mobility, allowing Weaver to chase or escape Wraith King as he wishes.
* With the Mana Break talent and Diffusal Blade, Weaver can prevent
Reincarnation from triggering until Wraith King has selected the chosen talent.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck,
Weaver.
Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
Silencer
* Silences and other types of lockdown that prevent Weaver from using his spells: Silencer,
Riki,
Lion,
Legion Commander,
Shadow Shaman,
Bane.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend's lack of mobility and low base health make him an easy target for early ganks.
Wraith King
* Durable heroes can fight with stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Centaur Warrunner,
Wraith King and more.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Wraith King
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Wraith King's small mana pool, preventing Reincarnation from triggering.
* Wraith King has no innate mobility. Even with Blink Dagger, Wraith King is easily kited by Blink.
* Anti-Mage can farm much more quickly than Wraith King, allowing Anti-Mage to overpower Wraith King once a significant farm advantage is established.
Additional:
* Mana Break can prevent Wraith King from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard that removes the mana cost from Reincarnation.
* With Manta Style, his mana burning will triple because illusions can also use
Mana Break.
Skywrath Mage
* Counterspell gives Anti-Mage magic resistance to negate a majority of Skywraith Mage's magical damage.
* Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and
Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
* Huge mana cost on Mystic Flare means easy target for Mana Void.
* However, Anti-Mage is weak early-game to Ancient Seal until he can dispel silences, but still, Skywrath's solo kill potential is very low.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
Phantom Assassin
* Anti-Mage can easily withstand heavy magical burst due to Counterspell, but he is still somewhat vulnerable to physical damage. Phantom Assassin's burst physical damage can destroy Anti-Mage while
Blink is on cooldown or while he is stunned or hexed.
* Blur makes Anti-Mage unable to deal significant damage to her.
* Phantom Assassin has an abysmal mana pool and intelligence gain, making Mana Break and
Mana Void deal minimal damage.
Silencer
* 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
Skywrath Mage
* 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
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 5%)Wraith King
* Wraith King's poor mobility makes him vulnerable to Illuminate.
* Blinding Light can reduce his damage output as well as his already abysmal mobility.
* Chakra Magic drains Wraith King's much-needed mana resulting in him not being able to reincarnate
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with teleports to escape Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Phantom Assassin
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin etc.
Wraith King
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin etc.
Skywrath Mage
* Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast Winter's Curse on him. However, if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Wraith King
* Heroes with area dispel can kill multiple skeletons at once: Brewmaster,
Oracle.
Phantom Assassin
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa,
Clinkz,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Templar Assassin,
Phantom Assassin.
Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal's instant cast time will often silence Brewmaster before he can do anything.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Skywrath Mage's massive magical damage.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -3.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Silencer
* 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.
Wraith King
* Wraith King's abilities are mostly passive (with regards to Spell Steal), so Rubick cannot steal most of them.
* Wraithfire Blast together with some attacks can gank Rubick down quickly.
Additional:
* Wraith King abilities are mostly passive making Spell Steal meaningless.
* Rubick's lack of mobility & low health pool is easily tear down by Wraith King physical attacks.
Shadow Fiend
* On his own, Rubick can't do much to Shadow Fiend. However, Shadow Fiend can easily run Rubick over with his right-clicks and multiple Shadowrazes.
* Presence of the Dark Lord lowers Rubick's already low armor even further.
* Shadowraze can be somewhat risky to use if stolen, as two of them require Rubick to get up close, which is something Rubick doesn't like doing.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -2.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Wraith King
* Wraithfire Blast cancels Death Ward in decent range.
* Death Ward is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Aura can out-heal the {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Maledict.
Silencer
* 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.
Phantom Assassin
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
* However, once the first hit landed, the bounces can no longer miss. Don't forget to manually aim for a target with no evasion !
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -2.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower: Bloodseeker,
Ember Spirit,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Weaver.
Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal can silence Jakiro up to 6 seconds. Also, it makes Jakiro vulnerable to magical spells.
* Skywrath Mage can burst down Jakiro with his high damage magical spells.
Silencer
* 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.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -2.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Silencer
* 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.
Wraith King
* Due to Reincarnation and his general tankiness he can live through at least one major Remote Mines stack or Blast Off!.
* Special mention for a bug with his Aghanim's Scepter. If enemies get killed from your mines under the effect of "Wraith Delay", they get denied instead of crediting the kill to you.
Additional:
* Wraith King is not afraid to walk into mines, whenever he goes with his Reincarnation ready.
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -2.2 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
Wraith King
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
Silencer
* Last Word and
Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
* Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend can easily farm his treants and get easy Necromastery Stacks.
* If Shadow Fiend buys Boots of Travel and
Shadow Blade, he can counteract Nature's Prophet's split-push.
Phantom Assassin
* Nature's Prophet's low mobility and health pool allows Phantom Assassin to destroy him in the early game.
* Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin to jump in and out of Sprout, provided she has vision.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Silencer
* 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.
Shadow Fiend
* Shadowraze can easily remove the protection from Flame Guard and kill Ember Spirit due to his low health.
* Ember Spirit is very vulnerable to physical damage from Necromastery.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Silencer
* 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.
Phantom Assassin
* Dazzle's lack of a true disable makes him a relatively vulnerable target for Phantom Assassin.
* Coup de Grace will often kill Dazzle's teammates before he has a chance to use Shallow Grave.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -1.8 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Silencer
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Phantom Assassin
* Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like Phantom Assassin or
Clinkz.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
Silencer
* Arcane Curse punishes Grimstroke for spamming Stroke of Fate.
* Global Silence takes Grimstroke out of team fights entirely.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Silencer
* Silencer's
Global Silence and
Doom's
Doom makes Earthshaker temporarily useless.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses
Blink Dagger to initiate.
* Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend usually buys a Hurricane Pike allowing him to easily escape from
Power Cogs.
* Shadow Fiend can farm Clockwerk's Power Cogs to gain Necromastery stacks.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's
Mystic Flare can deal huge damage to Clockwerk inside his Power Cogs.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Phantom Assassin
* Though certainly not a "hard counter", Crystal Maiden's skillset (magical damage nukes) does pose a substantial threat to Phantom Assassin through the mid game, especially if followed up with engagement by her team.
* A quick use of Freezing Field directly after Phantom Strike can leave Phantom Assassin trapped inside the area of effect, capitalizing on Phantom Assassin's relatively low HP pool when she is not protected by
Blur.
* If Phantom Assassin chooses not to buy a Black King Bar relatively early, the attack slow from Freezing Field can greatly hinder the proc chance of
Coup de Grace in a teamfight.
* However, Phantom Assassin's massive damage, and her tendency to build both Black King Bar and
Skull Basher makes her a formidable foe the later the game goes, and fighting her without a team is almost never a good choice.
Phantom Assassin
* Crystal Maiden's low health pool and slow movement speed make her a tempting and easy target.
* However, it may be wise to build Black King Bar first before attempting to fight her alone, as she can disable you and retaliate with
Freezing Field.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
Silencer
* 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.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Wraith King
* While Reincarnation is off cooldown, Venomancer abilities can't kill Wraith King easier.
* Vampiric Aura can out-heal the slow {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Poison Sting.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes who lack escape mechanisms or disables are all easy targets for Phantom Assassin if they are not careful. Look for Luna,
Venomancer and
Shadow Fiend and try to catch them off guard.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 2%)Wraith King
* Reincarnation helps Wraith King outlast Sven in fights, and wastes the duration of God's Strength.
* Wraithfire Blast's low cooldown allows Wraith King to stun Sven several times in a team fight.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Silencer
* 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.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Silencer
* 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.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Silencer
* 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.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Silencer
* Global Silence stops Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
* Last Word can prevent Snapfire from casting additional spells.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin jump directly to Io.
* Coup de Grace makes short work of Io's low health and armor.
Lich
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Assassin can easily escape Lich's slows with Phantom Strike.
* Phantom Assassin's Coup De Grace can be used to burst down the squishy Lich.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Silencer
* Heroes that can disable or silence Silencer for a long time, such as Bane and
Legion Commander, can lock down Silencer while their allies put him down.
Skywrath Mage
* Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
Wraith King
* Wraith King's
Reincarnation allows him to severely punish Legion Commander after he revives, as her abilities are on cooldown. Legion Commander is still awarded a Duel win if Wraith King reincarnates.
Additional:
* Wraith King makes a poor Duel target, as he can be already quite hard to bring down once, and then you have to worry about his second life.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Shadow Fiend
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon,
Shadow Fiend,
Venomancer,
Ancient Apparition etc.
Silencer
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Any heroes with stuns or silences: Death Prophet,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Similar to Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
* An Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
* Root and silence are Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has
Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
* If he builds Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Silencer
* 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.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Phantom Assassin
* Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from Stifling Dagger, as well as ganking attempts.
* Phantom Assassin is a hero with moderate HP pool, and usually appears in the front line of battle. Because Blur does nothing against spells, she is vulnerable to Timbersaw's skills.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his Timber Chain.
Additional:
* Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from Stifling Dagger.
* Phantom Assassin has a moderate health pool and usually appears in the front line of battle, making her vulnerable to Timbersaw's magic burst.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his Timber Chain.
Silencer
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
Additional:
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
* Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a
Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Wraith King
* Reincarnation makes Wraith King nearly impossible to gank with Rupture.
* Vampiric Aura restores Wraith King's health, reducing the effect of Thirst.
Additional:
* Rupture is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Aura and Mortal Strike prevent Bloodseeker from achieving Thirst bonuses.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Silencer
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Wraith King
* Reincarnation allows Wraith King to survive Shadow Shaman's initial chain of disables and Serpent Ward attacks.
* Short cooldown of Wraithfire Blast is ideal for interrupting Shackles.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -0.8 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
Phantom Assassin
* Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter, and hex abilities all prevent item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility.
Wraith King
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge with Aghanim's Scepter cannot break
Reincarnation, which could put him in a disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
* In addition Shadow Demon doesn't build Diffusal Blade to burn Wraith King's mana, which is the only item that can help him against Wraith King.
* Vampiric Aura can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, Wraith King is a single-targeted hero, so he cannot deal with Disruption illusions.
Silencer
* 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.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.8 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge.
Wraith King
* Like Abbadon's Borrowed Time, Reincarnation can bring Wraith King back to life, giving him a second chance to counter initiate or escape after a Black Hole combo.
* Enigma's Eidolons adds to Wraith King's Mortal Strike, increasing his Skeleton charges.
Silencer
* 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.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 2%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with nukes: Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
* A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
* The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Phantom Assassin
* Melee carries will have a hard time against Tiny's Craggy Exterior: Phantom Assassin,
Chaos Knight,
Juggernaut.
Phantom Assassin
* Due to Tiny's non-existent agility gain, high physical damage heroes are more effective against him (Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King etc).
Wraith King
* Due to Tiny's non-existent agility gain, high physical damage heroes are more effective against him (Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King etc).
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Phantom Assassin
* Morphling's naturally high armor thanks to his high agility makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to take him down with Coup de Grace.
* Phantom Assassin is vulnerable to magical damage, falling easily to Adaptive Strike + Ethereal Blade combo.
Additional:
* Morphling's high armor serves as a direct counter to Phantom Assassin, causing her attacks to do far less damage. She is also very vulnerable to burst damage, and can be brought down quickly using his Ethereal Blade and
Adaptive Strike combo.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
* Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
* Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
Silencer
* 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.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* A good Skywrath Mage with quick fingers will punish Queen of Pain for blinking aggressively. Ancient Seal is a six second silence with no cast time, so he can interrupt either her Shadow Strike or Sonic Wave, and a good
Mystic Flare on top of that will seal the deal for her.
* Ancient Seal also has pretty good range so he could get it off before she blinks away.
Silencer
* Basically, Heroes that heavily rely on abilities for damage or escape, such as Queen of Pain and
Storm Spirit.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Assassin's high physical damage is greatly reduced by Bulwark.
* God's Rebuke has true strike, ignoring the evasion from Blur.
Shadow Fiend
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Fiend
* Arc Lightning allows Zeus to get farm in lane against Shadow Fiend without coming into the range of his Shadowrazes.
* Lightning Bolt can be used to heavily harass Shadow Fiend when he tries to get a last hit.
* Thundergod's Wrath and
Lightning Bolt can be used to detect Shadow Fiend if he tries to escape with
Shadow Blade.
Silencer
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with damage burst can often kill Chen or his allies before he can use Hand of God: Lina,
Techies,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Nyx Assassin.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Wraith King
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Ogre Magi.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Phantom Assassin
* With Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
Phantom Assassin
* Assuming they have not bought anti-evasion items, attack dependent heroes such as Viper,
Ursa or
Clinkz can be a minor threat for Phantom Assassin early in the game, and may even be completely dominated by her thanks to her evasion.
Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Squishy core heroes (Shadow Fiend,
Sniper, etc)
Wraith King
* Even if Wraith King dies after Magnus disables him, Magnus' entire team will be slowed and vulnerable for counter-initiation.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with low health or rely on evasion can easily be bursted down, like Phantom Assassin or
Terrorblade.
Additional:
* Light Strike Array catches Phantom Assassin when she jumps in.
* Laguna Blade kills Phantom Assassin's abysmal health before she can do anything in early to mid game and also pierces her spell immunity with an
Aghanim's Scepter.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Silencer
* 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.
Phantom Assassin
* Fragile support heroes are all ideal targets for the Phantom Assassin. Heroes such as Lina and
Witch Doctor are all prime targets that may not be able to react quickly and fight back due to Phantom Assassin's sudden appearance.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Juggernaut,
Dragon Knight,
Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord
Additional:
* Purification easily catches Phantom Assassin when she jumps in to attack.
* Guardian Angel renders Phantom Assassin useless, as she depends entirely on physical attacks.
Silencer
* 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.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Assassin
* In early to mid stage, Silence is also a great way to counter escape oriented heroes such as Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain, and
Phantom Assassin to prevent them from escaping, provided that they don't have any basic dispels.
Shadow Fiend
* Shadowraze (Near),
Shadowraze (Medium), and
Shadowraze (Far) can hit hard in the early stages of the game, and due to Shadow Fiend's high attack damage, most of Death Prophet's last hits will be denied in the laning phase. Additionally,
Requiem of Souls can deal massive damage or kill Death Prophet at the start of team fights in combination with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or
Shadow Blade.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 14%)Phantom Assassin
* Puck relies mainly on magical burst damage, which Phantom Assassin is most vulnerable against.
* Phase Shift and
Illusory Orb disjoint Stifling Dagger, also allowing to kite Phantom Assassin.
* Dream Coil will stun Phantom Assassin if she uses Phantom Strike to blink away.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck,
Weaver.
Silencer
* 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.
Wraith King
* Waning Rift's silence is almost completely worthless against Wraith King, due to him having only 1 active ability.
* Wraith King's only active ability, Wraithfire Blast, is strong against Puck if it hits, because it applies a damage over time on top of stunning and doing impact damage, disabling Puck for a while, and Blink Dagger for even longer. It is very important to avoid getting hit by this spell when playing against Wraith King.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 8%)Wraith King
* In general, melee heroes without blink mechanisms or spell immunity will have a hard time positioning against Pit of Malice: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Dragon Knight,
Meepo,
Doom,
Bounty Hunter,
Dark Seer,
Undying,
Alchemist,
Legion Commander.
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend can still dish out heavy damage with Requiem of Souls and
Shadowraze while caught in Pit of Malice.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: Earth Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Anti-Mage,
Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
Wraith King
* Meepo has a better advantage in farm with
Divided We Stand, as well as having a higher attack speed due to his tendency to build items that give attributes. In addition, Wraithfire Blast stuns only one target, and choosing to engage one Meepo will most certainly mean engaging them all.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's abilities are single targeted and he can't use Mystic Flare to its fullest potential, since all Meepos spread the damage between them. He also has no disables to prevent Meepo from Poofing to another one (unless he can get
Ancient Seal off first).
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend can easily focus down and kill one of the Meepos.
* The amount of damage from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells makes Meepo vulnerable in every aspect.
Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin to jump on his clones.
* Meepo's low health pool can burst down by Coup de Grace critical strike.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Silencer
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Silencer,
Keeper of the Light,
Venomancer, etc.
Skywrath Mage
* Berserker's Blood works proportionate to lost health, but Huskar has a decent health pool, and the attack speed granted from
Berserker's Blood powers him up.
* Skywrath's armor and agility gain is very low so Huskar can outdamage him or take Skywrath down with him.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
Phantom Assassin
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him: Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
Silencer
* Heroes with pure damage can kill Huskar when he inevitably gets low on health: Outworld Destroyer,
Silencer.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Assassin's Blur will be useless if Windranger managed to get
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has no abilities that can bypass Windrun.
* Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.
Silencer
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with magical burst damage can often kill Phantom Assassin before she gets to do much: Necrophos,
Nyx Assassin,
Gyrocopter.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
Wraith King
* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud: Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Silencer
* 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.
Wraith King
* Reaper's Scythe can't kill Wraith King while Reincarnation is off cooldown
* In the laning stage Vampiric Aura can out-heal the slow {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Heartstopper Aura.
Additional:
* Using Reaper's Scythe against Wraith King is a bad idea as his Reincarnation can waste it.
* When upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter it can delay the deaths of allies.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge.
Skywrath Mage
* Strong nuking supports like Skywrath Mage. Vengeful Spirit has subpar attack range, making it harder for her to harass and last hit safely. With enough pressure she can be bullied out of a lane.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Phantom Assassin
* All assassin-type carries in a one against one situation: Meepo,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Ursa.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Silencer
* Heroes who rely on passive abilities and attacks, such as Drow Ranger,
Wraith King, and
Lone Druid, can render Silencer useless. In addition, he doesn't like going for neither break nor disarm items.
Phantom Assassin
* Generally, heroes that can close the gap on Drow Ranger to cancel her Marksmanship such as Phantom Assassin,
Spirit Breaker, and
Tusk are effective at limiting her power and bursting her down.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Phantom Assassin
* While her Phantom Strike does give limited extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her
Blur may protect her from attacks, Phoenix's strong magical DPS burns away her small health pool quickly, and the attack speed slow makes her unable to fight back (provided she has no source of spell immunity).
Additional:
* Fire Spirits applies a severe attack speed slow, severely hindering Phantom Assassin's damage output. While Phantom Strike may be able to slightly remedy the problem, Phoenix' magical and pure damage output completely ignore Blur's evasion, resulting in severe damage to her low health pool.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or
Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
Silencer
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Wraith King
* 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.
Phantom Assassin
* 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.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Assassin
* Ethereal state disarms the target and makes them more vulnerable to magic damage, both of which Phantom Assassin despises. Especially Pugna and any hero that is wielding
Ethereal Blade, such as
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin or
Morphling.
Silencer
* Heroes with silences and hard stuns such as Doom,
Silencer, and
Lion can keep Mirana from Leaping away.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* Lacking escaping mechanisms, being dependent on fair positioning and channeling for his ultimate, its easier to Warlock with your long range crowd control abilities to lock the Shadow Fiend down to your team.
Silencer
* 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.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Assassin relies on her Blur to stay alive, but is very vulnerable to Sand King's heavy magic damage.
* With Burrowstrike, Sand King can often catch Phantom Assassin before she can use her Black King Bar.
* Sand King can dodge Stifling Dagger with Sandstorm.
* Phantom Assassin has a hard time killing Sand King because of his high mobility.
Silencer
* 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.
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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Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a
Vendetta strike.
Mana Burn is annoying at all stages of the game as it turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him.
Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
*
*
Silencer
* Silencer is rather squishy and has poor mobility without items, making him an easy target for Nyx.
Mana Burn will deal increasing damage for each 2 points of intelligence Silencer has stolen, turning Silencer's intelligence steal against him.
*
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage:
Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Phantom Assassin
* Ethereal state disarms the target and makes them more vulnerable to magic damage, both of which Phantom Assassin despises. Especially
Pugna and any hero that is wielding
Ethereal Blade, such as
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin or
Morphling.