Lion
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Mars
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (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.
Spectre
* Spectre cannot have a good game if she is pressured heavily in lane, which is something Mars can do.
* Spectre can use Haunt and
Spectral Dagger inside and outside from Arena of Blood, but it doesn't really matter since Mars does best during the early and mid game.
* Should Spectre get to the late game, Mars can block a large amount of her damage and split the teamfights in his advantage.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Spectre
* Arctic Burn makes it nearly impossible for Spectre to juke into the trees.
* Cold Embrace negates all of Spectre's physical damage. Furthermore, Cold Embrace will generally outheal Desolate.
* Winter's Curse can taunt illusions, not only wasting the entire duration of Haunt but also turning its illusions against Spectre's own team.
Phantom Assassin
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin etc.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Spectre
* Nether Blast is one of the best tower pushing abilities in the game, with a low cooldown. A competent Pugna will (at the very least) destroy tier 2 towers and make space for his team before Spectre can finally come online.
* Spectre's spells, while not spammable, have a fairly high mana cost, so Nether Ward can be fairly damaging to Spectre early game. The mana degen will also dampen Spectre's early game power significantly.
* Once Pugna gets Aghanim's Scepter, he can spam
Life Drain on any illusion Spectre summons, whether it'd be from Haunt,
Manta Style, or some other means.
* In addition, Pugna can disable Spectre's Desolate ability (although its damage is pure, it requires physical attacks) with his Decrepify ability, leaving Spectre only with Spectral Dagger.
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.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (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.
Spectre
* Global Guardian Angel will protect his allies from Spectre's Haunt, both when they are alone and in teamfights.
* Purification is a major problem for melee enemies, Spectre included, since they must be next to an enemy in order to attack. The AoE damage also allows Spectre to be singled out from her illusions.
* Degen Aura will prevent Spectre from chasing Omniknight, further exacerbated by her terrible mobility outside Haunt.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (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.
Spectre
* Pudge's Dismember does not allow Spectre to escape with Haunt.
* He can easily tank the damage reflected by Dispersion due to his high strength and the healing from Dismember.
* Should Spectre try to get away through the trees or over a cliff with Spectral Dagger, Pudge can hook her back.
* Spectre takes a long time to come online, and Pudge can ruin her early game with ganks.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Spectre
* Her illusions with Desolate are very valuable, especially when they are usually paired with
Radiance. Unlike blink or force movement,
Spectral Dagger's escaping mechanic requires manual movement, and therefore Demonic Purge can hold her back really hard and allow your allies to finish her off.
* If she tries to kill you or any key ally with Haunt at any point of the game, remember to not panic and always use Disruption on the illusion, whether it is fake or the real Spectre herself. When the situation calls, Demonic Purge can save a second victim from a haunting Spectre.
* When upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter, Demonic Purge can remove Spectre from a fight by disabling Desolate and
Dispersion, negating her damage and tankiness respectively.
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.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Spectre
* If Terrorblade's health gets low enough, Terrorblade's Sunder can be used to completely deplete Spectre's health pool without any consequences from Dispersion.
* Terrorblade is one of the few late game heroes that can stand toe to toe and man fight Spectre. Not all is lost if the game goes late when Terrorblade is on your team against Spectre.
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.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 3%)Spectre
* Infernal Blade's damage is calculated by percentage of maximum health, meaning that it will hurt Spectre more than most normal attacks, negating some of her tankiness.
* With Aghanim's Scepter Dispersion and Desloate are disabled.
* Doom can pick up several different abilities from neutral creeps using Devour, some of which can be annoying to Spectre.
* Mud Golem, Dark Troll Summoner, Harpy Stormcrafter, Satyr Mindstealer or Satyr Tormenter are good examples.
* Doom makes Spectre less disruptive.
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.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Spectre
* Nethertoxin disables Desolate and
Dispersion, leaving Spectre with far less damage output and damage mitigation in engagements.
* Spectre is one of the weakest heroes at early levels. Viper can stifle her farm with early fights before Spectre purchases any major items.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin removes passives, negating Spectre's damage and survivability by removing both Dispersion and Desolate.
* Due to Haunt and Radiance's burn, Spectre is heavily susceptible to being persistently slowed and damaged by Corrosive Skin without even directly attacking Viper.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike further slow Spectre's movement speed to a crawl, while his improved magic resistance means he can easily shrug off Radiance's burn.
Phantom Assassin
* Nethertoxin breaks Phantom Assassin's passive skills.
* Viper Strike goes through
Black King Bar.
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: 1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Spectre
* Disruptor can control where she goes with
Kinetic Field and
Glimpse.
Static Storm shuts her down in teamfights.
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.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)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.
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.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 20%)Spectre
* Juggernaut's Healing Ward can help save allied supports when Spectre attempts a Haunt kill.
* Juggernaut has a stronger push potential than Spectre, enabling him to end the game early before Spectre can come online.
* Spectre is often paired with two supports that are often weak against Juggernaut.
* Juggernaut also tends to build a Manta Style, which can prevent Desolate from taking effect.
* Juggernaut is invulnerable against Dispersion while using Omnislash
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)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.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Spectre
* Familiars will be able to chase Spectre through the trees when she uses Spectral Dagger, while Visage can keep blasting her with Soul Assumption.
* Desolate will almost never proc because Visage will always have nearby Familiars.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)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.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Spectre
* Spectre must chase for kills and relies on movement speed for mobility in fights, and has no way to counter the Tombstone zombies.
* The potency of Soul Rip can be increased from nearby illusions from Haunt.
* Decay will shut down Spectre during the laning phase by effectively cutting down her initial health pool.
Additional:
* Spectre must chase for kills and relies on movement speed for mobility in fights, and has no way to counter the Tombstone zombies.
* The potency of Soul Rip can be increased from nearby illusions, so Undying can use Haunt against Spectre.
* Early game Decay will make Spectre easy to shut down in lane.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Spectre
* Ball Lightning is the ultimate counter to Spectre's entire toolkit. With this ability, he can score easy kills on Spectre without her having any means of escape early game, kite her and her Haunt illusions when it's later in the game due to her having no form of pseudo-blinks. Furthermore, it is very difficult for Spectre to deal any substantial damage against Storm Spirit with
Desolate, and without both a
Manta Style and a
Diffusal Blade he will always remain on the move. Also, Ball Lightning grants invulnerability, and as Storm Spirit likes to spam that ability, he can mitigate the damage done from
Dispersion and
Radiance.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit can exploit every one of Spectre's weaknesses, and thus is one of the best counters against her.
* Spectre has to be in melee range to deal damage, making her likely to trigger Static Remnants and susceptible to being kited by
Overload procs.
* Electric Vortex can lock Spectre down as she doesn't like to build
Black King Bar.
* Ball Lightning gives Storm Spirit multiple advantages:
* Spectre cannot evade Storm Spirit, as Ball Lightning is superior to Spectral Dagger in terms of mobility.
* Storm Spirit can kite her and her Haunt illusions when it's later in the game due to her having no form of pseudo-blinks (Reality is far inferior to Ball Lightning).
* It is very difficult for Spectre to deal any substantial damage against Storm Spirit with Desolate. Ball Lightning grants invulnerability and can mitigate damage done from Dispersion and Radiance.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Spectre
* Death Pulse can single out Spectre from her illusions, as well as heal his team against her. He also usually stands close to his allies for Death Pulse, effectively disabling Desolate.
Spectre
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
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.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Spectre
* Spectre can't escape with Spectral Dagger under X Marks the Spot.
* Kunkka can dominate Spectre's lane using Tidebringer and gain an advantage.
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from Haunt.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 6%)Spectre
* The movement speed granted from Shapeshift means that Spectre has no way to punish Lycan if he wants to splitpush or pick off supports. Furthermore, he will kite Haunt and cannot be slowed by Spectral Dagger.
* As Lycan typically has Summon Wolves out and builds
Necronomicon, very rarely will he be damaged by Desolate if he does manage to get into a fight against her.
* Lycan is often part of an early game push strategy which is often the best counter to Spectre because she needs a lot of time and space to come online as a late game carry.
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.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)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.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)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.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Spectre
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Spectre
* Dark Seer can pull together Spectre's illusions with
Vacuum, and
Wall of Replica creates an illusion of Spectre that deals massive damage.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)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.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)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
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Spectre
* Void Spirit is strong against heroes who cannot deal with his rotations due to his mobility. Such heroes include Spectre,
Gyrocopter,
Morphling, and
Chen.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Spectre
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)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
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)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.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)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.
Spectre
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
Additional:
* Essence Shift deals 20 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by Dispersion.
* Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping with Spectral Dagger.
* Haunt illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a
Shadow Blade, preventing
Desolate's and
Diffusal Blade's damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any damage caused by
Radiance.
* Slark is a natural Silver Edge builder.
Spectre
* Spectral Dagger give vision over Slark, slows strong with the talent, can not be dispelled and can not be missed if targeted. With the cooldown reduction talent Spectre can keep constant vision over slark, so he has to use his Shadow Dance to disengage so he cant be targeted by the dagger, which can still latch on to him when ground targeted.
* Spectre deals a lot of AOE damage in teamfights which still goes through Shadow dance.
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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Spectre
* Slardar's
Slithereen Crush allows him to stun Spectre and illusions, and
Corrosive Haze prevents her from juking with Spectral Dagger.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Spectre
* Poof combined with
Earthbind can be used to easily lockdown and burst Spectre down.
* As Meepo's playstyle is often to come online early to mid game and take over the whole game, Meepo will often be much further ahead of Spectre in farming.
* Meepo's global map presence allows him to effectively hunt for Spectre and disrupt her farm.
* Spectre has no strong AOE abilities or way to control or lock down Meepo.
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
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.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Phantom Assassin
* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse: Doom,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Spectre
* Hex can be used immediately to destroy Spectre's illusion when she Haunts.
* Shadow Shaman can use Shackles to lock down Spectre for his team.
* Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward and
Ether Shock help him push lanes and end the game early before Spectre can come online and take over the late game.
Spectre
* Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and
Sniper) and supports (like
Dazzle and
Shadow Shaman).
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Spectre
* Venomancer's poison damage-over-time are very effective against Spectre, which is lack of magic resistance from early to mid game.
* Venomancer's multiple slows greatly reduces Spectre's low mobility, even through Spectral Dagger.
* Plague Wards reveals Spectre while she is hiding on trees.
Additional:
* Venomancer's poison damage over time is very effective against Spectre, who tends to lack magic resistance during the early to mid game.
* Venomancer's multiple slows greatly reduces Spectre's movement speed and mobility.
* Plague Wards can scout out Spectre while she is hiding in trees.
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.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (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.
Spectre
* Heroes that rely on evasion are slightly countered by Desolate: Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Phantom Assassin
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Phantom Assassin
* 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.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Spectre
* Stone Gaze negates Dispersion's damage reduction and allows Medusa to kite Spectre.
* Spectre's small mana pool is depleted quickly by Mystic Snake.
* Split Shot can clear Haunt illusions quickly.
Spectre
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Spectre
* Nature's Prophet can literally do nothing against Spectre, because she can chase him from anywhere with Haunt.
* Spectre, just like Naga Siren loves buying Radiance, which can kill Nature's Prophet's treants, and grant her farm simultaneously.
Additional:
* Spectre can get to him anywhere on the map with Haunt.
* Spectre can pass through his trees with Spectral Dagger.
* Desolate's damage will melt him quickly, as he's alone most of the time.
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.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Spectre
* Haunt instantly allows her to get up and close with Sniper, and
Spectral Dagger makes it difficult to escape from her.
* Spectre outcarries Sniper in the late game, so Sniper must try to end the game early before Spectre comes online.
Additional:
* Spectre can reach him easily in the backlines with Spectral Dagger or teleport to him with Haunt.
* He is usually a fair distance away from his allies, so Desolate will quickly tear Sniper down.
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.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)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.
Spectre
* Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and
Sniper) and supports (like
Dazzle and
Shadow Shaman).
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Spectre
* Spectre can easily close the distance on Drow Ranger with Haunt and stick on her with Spectral Dagger, negating the bonus agility from Marksmanship.
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.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)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.
Spectre
* As Ancient Apparition likes to stay far away from the fight to get full effectiveness from Ice Blast, he is a very good target for a Haunt gank. Ancient Apparition also has no hard disables and escape spells, making him an easy kill for Spectre.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Spectre
* Heroes that create illusions (such as Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress and the aforementioned
Meepo and
Arc Warden) can cause Eclipse to strike the illusions/summons unintentionally. (However, in many cases Moon Glaives can resolve this issue and eliminate them before activating Eclipse).
Phantom Assassin
* All assassin-type carries in a one against one situation: Meepo,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Ursa.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 2%)Spectre
* Spectral Dagger hinders Sven's low movement speed, and can be an easy tool to escape against his high damage.
* Dispersion makes it harder for Sven to burst down Spectre in one on one fights, and can reflect Sven's high damage back to him or his nearby teammates.
* Haunt and
Radiance disables Sven's
Blink Dagger.
* Desolate's pure damage ignores Sven's high armor.
* Spectre should not attempt to stand up to a full slotted Sven, since she will get shredded.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Spectre
* Spectre can use Haunt to intercept and disrupt Magnus's initiation attempts.
* Spectral Dagger can severely slow down Magnus after he uses Skewer.
* Magnus often travels alone when he is trying to initiate, so Desolate can be very effective against him.
Additional:
* Spectre disables Magnus' Blink Dagger using her ultimate, and later into the game can usually outlive Reverse Polarity's duration.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Spectre
* Spectral Dagger and
Haunt allow Spectre to get close to Lina.
* Desolate is very strong against Lina, who's usually a bit isolated in fights because of her high attack and cast range.
* Dispersion can mitigate a good portion of Lina's burst damage, allowing Spectre to turn on her afterwards.
Additional:
* Spectre can very easily close the distance on Lina with Haunt and Spectral Dagger, and due to Lina's abysmal mobility without a Blink Dagger and terrible health pool and armor, Lina easily gets slaughtered due to Desolate.
* Dispersion can mitigate a good portion of Lina's burst damage, allowing Spectre to turn against her afterwards.
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.
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.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Spectre
* None of Spectre's spells are very good for Rubick to Spell Steal.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Spectre
* Spectral Dagger can be used to traverse past Fissure.
* Haunt will usually disable Earthshaker's
Blink Dagger prior to a teamfight, preventing him from initiating.
* On the other hand, Haunt will amplify damage done from Echo Slam. Use this to your advantage.
Additional:
* Spectre can use Haunt to intercept and disrupt Earthshaker's initiation attempts.
* Spectral Dagger can be used to traverse past Fissure.
* Earthshaker often travels alone when he is trying to initiate, so Desolate can be very effective against him.
* Beware that the Haunt illusions amplify the damage done from Echo Slam, which can prove fatal for Spectre's own team.
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.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Assassin doesn't care about Silencer's spells as she relies on right-clicks more than spells.
* Phantom Assassin often builds Black King Bar, which allows her to remove Global Silence before engaging.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)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.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Spectre
* Spectre can instantly reveal Bounty Hunter's position on the activation of her ultimate Haunt. She can also semi-reveal( visible but not target-able) Bounty Hunter by hitting him with
Spectral Dagger.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Spectre
* Riki's Smoke Screen can make it hard for Spectre to escape or burst down Riki with auto attacks.
* Riki can build Aghanim's Scepter and jump inside an allied carry or offlane tank with
Tricks of the Trade to do a lot of damage to Spectre while completely avoiding Dispersion.
* Riki is great at destroying supports which are often needed to keep Spectre safe until she comes online. He can take them down quickly in team fights, which will leave Spectre alone against your whole team, a fight that she will most likely not win.
* While on Tricks of the Trade, Riki does not take damage from Dispersion.
Spectre
* Spectral Dagger follows Riki even after he goes invisible and stays on him through Tricks of the Trade, revealing his location.
* Desolate grants Spectre the ability to damage Riki with right clicks regardless of Smoke Screen's blind.
* Riki relies on his high damage to kill is opponents, which is countered by Dispersion.
* Haunt can find Riki globally at any time, negating much of his ganking potential.
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.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 18%)Spectre
* Dispersion will not do anything against throughout the game due to his high lifesteal with Jingu Mastery.
* Monkey King often buys Manta Style, which will deny
Desolate benefits in 1v1 situations.
* Haunt will do nothing to stop people trapped within Monkey Kings ultimate.
* In all, Spectre is very easily pressured by Monkey King early into the game and is a very easy gank target to coordinate with your team.
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.
Spectre
* Spectral Dagger maintains vision on Monkey King, and allows Spectre to chase Monkey King into the trees.
* Haunt will still spawn an illusion next to Monkey King while under the effects of Mischief, removing the disguise.
* Monkey King attack range is exactly 300. The best range for Dispersion buff.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 5%)Phantom Assassin
* Heroes with teleports to escape Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 19%)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.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)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 !
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Phantom Assassin
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him: Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)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.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)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.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (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
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)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.
Spectre
* His global teleportation with Boots of Travel and
Rearm is easily countered with Haunt, and Spectre can reach him anywhere on the map.
* He is squishy, and if alone Desolate will kill him very fast.
* Laser's blind isn't reliable, since Desolate cannot miss.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)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.
Spectre
* Oracle's burst damage is ineffective against Dispersion.
* Disarm provided by Fate's Edict is not as significant debilitation for Spectre as it might be for other carries since She can do damage even without landing attacks.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (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.
Spectre
* Heroes the make heavy use of illusions, like Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer, or
Spectre can suffer from Crystal Maiden, as Freezing Field can quickly kill off the entire horde if not stopped.
Spectre
* As Crystal Maiden is squishy with very bad movement speed, Spectre can easily stay on Crystal Maiden with Haunt and Spectral Dagger.
* Late game, with enough farm, Spectre can withstand an entire Freezing Field, possibly even causing Crystal Maiden to kill herself from Dispersion.
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.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (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.
Spectre
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
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.
Spectre
* Spectre can instantly escape Burning Army or hunt Clinkz with Haunt.
* Spectre can catch up to him with Spectral Dagger, even if he uses Skeleton Walk.
* Desolate allows Spectre to hit Clinkz through Skeleton Walk.
* Dispersion makes Spectre tanky and also reflects some damage back to Clinkz.
Additional:
* Spectre can catch Clinkz with Spectral Dagger, even if he uses Skeleton Walk.
* Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Clinkz with Haunt.
* Desolate's damage will melt him quickly, as he's alone most of the time.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)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.
Spectre
* Haunt can ruin Enigma's initiation with Blink Dagger, no matter where he is on the map.
* Dispersion reflects the damage of Midnight Pulse and Black Hole inflicted back to Enigma.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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).
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Spectre
* Spectre cannot chase down Anti-Mage with Spectral Dagger because of Blink, though it still grants her team vision over him.
* Counterspell reduces much of the damage from Dispersion and Spectre's
Radiance.
* Anti-Mage usually builds a Manta Style, preventing Spectre from dealing any
Desolate damage to him once he summons his illusions.
Additional:
* Spectre has no way to prevent Blink, for escape or initiation. Anti-Mage can easily pick off enemy supports and Spectre cannot do anything about it.
* Mana Break burns through Spectre's low mana pool.
* Manta Style's illusions prevent Desolate's damage.
* Even though Anti-Mage is outcarried by Spectre in the later stages of the game, a competent Anti-Mage with a Battle Fury can easily outfarm and get ahead of Spectre before she can come online.
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.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Spectre
* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like Batrider,
Monkey King,
Spectre, and
Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.
Spectre
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Spectre
* Spectre can instantly escape Focus Fire or hunt a Windranger with Haunt.
* Spectre can catch up to her with Spectral Dagger, even if she uses Windrun.
* Desolate allows Spectre to hit Windranger through Windrun.
* Dispersion makes Spectre tanky and also reflects some damage back to Windranger.
Additional:
* Spectre can catch up to her with Spectral Dagger, even if she uses Windrun.
* Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Windranger with Haunt.
* Windrun's miss chance is countered by Desolate.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Spectre
* Dispersion makes Spectre very tanky, making it much less likely for Axe to bring her low enough for Culling Blade.
* Spectre can simply use Spectral Dagger to escape against an Axe gank.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Spectre
* Jakiro's early pushing ability from Liquid Fire makes Jakiro very strong against heroes, that take a long time to get online: Morphling,
Naga Siren,
Spectre.
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.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero winrate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assasin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (dotabuff most played)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal winrate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest winrate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
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Ogre Magi, Treant Protector, Necrophos, Chaos Knight
Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden
Gyrocopter, Riki, Slardar, Bloodseeker, Meepo
Faceless Void, Tinker, Lion, Brewmaster, Pudge
Riki, Legion Commander, Tiny, Invoker, Spectre
Alchemist, Lina, Lycan, Luna, Nature's Prophet
Pudge, Zeus, Lich, Juggernaut, Centaur Warrunner
Clockwerk, Pudge, Invoker, Shadow Shaman, Sniper
Silencer, Zeus, Faceless Void, Sniper, Sand King
Huskar, Pudge, Alchemist, Luna, Phantom Assassin
Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Tusk, Axe, Tiny
Drow Ranger, Sniper, Earthshaker, Bristleback, Riki
Tinker, Pudge, Earthshaker, Elder Titan, Gyrocopter
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Riki, Invoker, Chaos Knight
Dazzle, Ogre Magi, Invoker, Rubick, Phantom Assassin
Spirit Breaker, Outworld Devourer, Axe, Warlock, Ursa
Winter Wyvern, Lich, Ember Spirit, Underlord, Leshrac
Leshrac, Shadow Shaman, Sniper, Necrophos, Terrorblade
Abaddon, Bane, Storm Spirit, Grimstroke, Phantom Lancer
Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Ancient Apparition, Axe
Windranger, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Riki, Alchemist
Brewmaster, Pudge, Storm Spirit, Phantom Lancer, Oracle
Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Axe, Arc Warden
Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Axe, Alchemist
Luna, Vengeful Spirit, Storm Spirit, Undying, Beastmaster
Juggernaut, Zeus, Sven, Ancient Apparition, Spirit Breaker
Axe, Ancient Apparition, Bloodseeker, Clinkz, Chaos Knight
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Huskar, Queen of Pain, Earthshaker
Axe, Drow Ranger, Vengeful Spirit, Windranger, Winter Wyvern
Juggernaut, Shadow Shaman, Windranger, Meepo, Spirit Breaker
Abaddon, Alchemist, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Ancient Apparition
Abaddon, Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden
Juggernaut, Ember Spirit, Shadow Shaman, Ogre Magi, Brewmaster
Shadow Shaman, Spirit Breaker, Sniper, Wraith King, Earthshaker
Invoker, Grimstroke, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Phantom Assassin
Treant Protector, Puck, Vengeful Spirit, Shadow Fiend, Anti-Mage
Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Skywrath Mage, Silencer, Shadow Fiend
Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Invoker, Phantom Lancer, Vengeful Spirit
Spectre
*
Hex and
Mana Drain can be used to immediately destroy Spectre's illusion when she Haunts. A fast fingered Lion can protect himself and a teammate.
Hex and
Earth Spike are good lockdown spells to control and kill Spectre, especially if she doesn't buy defensive items like
Linken's Sphere and
Black King Bar.
Finger of Death can be used to burst down Spectre when she is low on life as she has very poor magic resistance.
*
*
Phantom Assassin
* Despite her high mobility, Hex or Earth Spike can lock Phantom Assassin down and make her vulnerable.
Blur, Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to Lion's magical burst.
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.
* Although she has high evasion through
Additional:
*
*