Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Phantom Lancer
* All Timbersaw's abilities are AOE pure damage and can easily deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions
* Reactive Armor highly negates Phantom Lancer's physical damage, making him having a hard time killing Timbersaw.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer's lack of burst damage and constant attacks will increase Reactive Armor to max level immediately.
* Coupled with Timber Chain, it makes an easy escape and almost impossible for Timbersaw to be killed by Phantom Lancer.
* Whirling Death and
Chakram can instantly destroy large groups of illusions, negating Phantom Lancer's advantage, although Phantom Lancer usually builds
Diffusal Blade. It can be a problem in late game.
Pudge
* The percentage-based primary-attribute reduction effect of Whirling Death can be devastating for Pudge due to his high strength gain through Flesh Heap.
* Reactive Armor's health regeneration and common itemization for magic resistance and durability make Timbersaw a poor target for Pudge.
* Timber Chain's high mobility makes Timbersaw difficult to lockdown for Pudge, given he only has one reliable disable.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 11%)Phantom Lancer
* Overwhelming Odds deals high damage to Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Duel's long duration prevents Phantom Lancer from using Doppelganger.
Pudge
* Legion Commander can use Press the Attack on an ally to dispel the disable of Dismember. The bonus health regeneration also partially counters the damage of Rot
* Duel can be used on Pudge whilst Rot is active, disabling toggling which may result in a lethal health drain that leaves Legion Commander with a successful duel.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Phantom Lancer
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with
Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* Quill Spray cleans up Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Phantom Lancer's complete lack of burst damage makes it nearly impossible for him to kill Bristleback during chases.
Pudge
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Additional:
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor & poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 6%)Pudge
* Anti-Tank heroes like: Razor,
Necrophos,
Undying.
Phantom Lancer
* Plasma Field can destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions or damage them heavily.
* Static Link cannot be broken even with Doppelganger, serving as a marker for the real Phantom Lancer.
* Storm Surge gives Razor's high mobility to chase down Phantom Lancer making Spirit Lance and
Diffusal Blade slow useless.
* Eye of the Storm along with
Aghanim's Scepter can quickly reduce Phantom Lancer's armor.
Additional:
* Plasma Field and Eye of the Storm clears most of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Static Link is not dispelled by Doppelganger or
Manta Style which can be used to mark the real Phantom Lancer while also draining his base damage.
* Razor's high mobility with Storm Surge makes it hard for Phantom Lancer to chase down with Phantom Rush. When upgraded with Aghanim's Shard, it makes a quick work of his illusions.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Lancer
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire: Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
Pudge
* Pudge relies on his hook to initiate his combo. As long as she's able to avoid the hook with Windrun and shackle him, Windranger can take him down easily. Pudge's low armor means that he won't be able to endure Focus Fire for long.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Phantom Lancer
* Phoenix's AoE abilities can prove troublesome for Phantom Lancer.
* Fire Spirits dramatically reduces Phantom Lancer and his illusions' attack speed.
* Icarus Dive's movement speed reduction makes retreating difficult.
* Supernova burns away illusions, and is invulnerable to attacks from illusions.
Pudge
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's many illusions increase Echo Slam's damage.
Additional:
* Echo Slam deals tremendous damage when multiplied by Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Pudge
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Pudge
* Heroes with powerful channeling abilities are easily interrupted by Phantom's Embrace: Bane,
Pudge,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma.
Phantom Lancer
* Stroke of Fate clears Phantom Lancer's illusion easily as it deals bonus damage to more targets.
* Ink Swell can be used on an allied hero or Grimstoke himself to stun Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
* Phantom's Embrace and
Soulbind have an undispellable debuff that can be used to mark the real Phantom Lancer.
Additional:
* Stroke of Fate's damage increases the more units are hit by it, making it effective against Phantom Lancer's army of illusions.
* Phantom's Embrace and Ink Swell's stun can prevent Phantom Lancer from escaping with Doppelganger if properly timed.
* If he has already used Doppelganger, Soulbind can tie Phantom Lancer to one of his own illusions to keep him in place, or to ensure a kill if Grimstroke's team is unsure which one is the real hero.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Phantom Lancer
* Sleight of Fist, allows Ember Spirit to destroy all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Flame Guard also deals significant damage to illusions, and protects against Spirit Lance.
* Phantom Rush is unable to catch Ember Spirit when he teleports to his Fire Remnants.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions, especially when combined with Battle Fury.
Pudge
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* Mana Burn completely drains Pudge's little mana which may render Meat Hook & Dismember unusable.
* Impale and
Spiked Carapace used to cancel Dismember if timed perfectly.
* Vendetta grants Nyx Assassin invisibility and a high degree of mobility for a long time, which can make Nyx a difficult target to hook. In addition, it also scouts out Pudge's location and surprising him with his attack,
Impale and
Mana Burn.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* Abaddon can activate Borrowed Time to dispel Dismember; breaking the disable and potentially allowing Abaddon to escape.
* Aphotic Shield can be cast on an ally to dispel the stun of Dismember, which can make kills difficult to secure, given that Dismember is Pudge's only reliable disable.
* Pudge lacks a mobility without a Blink Dagger, causing him to be easily chased with
Curse of Avernus. The silence also prevents him from toggling off his Rot.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Phantom Lancer
* Acorn Shot combined with attack modifiers such as
Maelstrom or
Daedalus makes a quick work of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bushwhack will stun Phantom Lancer and his illusions if they're near a tree.
Additional:
* Bushwhack will stun and make a quick work of Phantom Lancer and his illusion when he's near a tree.
* Sharpshooter breaks
Juxtapose and deals hefty damage.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Pudge
* Arcane Orb and
Sanity's Eclipse quickly drains Pudge's limited mana pool, making him unable to use Meat Hook or Dismember and also bypasses Flesh Heap.
* Outworld Destroyer can save allies or himself caught by Dismember or Meat Hook with Astral Imprisonment.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Phantom Lancer
* All of Sand King's abilities deal AoE damage.
* Epicenter will usually eliminate all illusions in one cast. Phantom Lancer lacks any disables to stop the channelling.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Pudge
* Shukuchi grants Weaver invisibility and a high degree of mobility for a short time, which can make Weaver a difficult target to hook.
* The Swarm with
Desolator can remove Pudge little natural armor and makes it difficult to remove Weaver's beetles, due to his low base attack time and poor agility. Additionally,
The Swarm can scout out Pudge's location.
* Given that Pudge only has one reliable disable in Dismember, should Weaver survive, Weaver can simply use Time Lapse (or target allies with
Aghanim's Scepter) to remove the damage entirely.
Additional:
* While Weaver is in Shukuchi, Rot doesn't slow him and
Meat Hook is easy to avoid.
* Even when hooked, Weaver can use Time Lapse, negating both the damage and displacement.
* Pudge has low armor and low attack speed, making him susceptible to The Swarm and physical attacks.
* Dismember is easy to block with Linken's Sphere and it's the only way to break Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* However, the long duration stun of Dismember can be dangerous for Weaver.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Lancer
* Leshrac's AoE abilities destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Diabolic Edict and
Pulse Nova require no targeting, thus hitting Phantom Lancer whenever he's nearby.
Additional:
* Leshrac can easily clear Phantom Lancer's illusions with his huge area of effect damage.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Phantom Lancer
* Dual Breath slows down Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
* Liquid Fire will not only deal AoE damage but also lowers Phantom Lancer's attack speed.
* An Ice Path and
Macropyre combo can easily clear all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Additional:
* Jakiro's spells inflict AoE damage, meaning he can take down Phantom Lancer's illusion army very quickly.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Phantom Lancer
* Flak Cannon and
Call Down destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions very quickly.
Additional:
* Flak Cannon destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions very quickly.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Phantom Lancer
* Astral Step and
Dissimilate makes a quick work of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Resonant Pulse helps clear illusions and protects Void Spirit from Phantom Lancer's physical damage and with the
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade, it prevents Phantom Lancer from casting his abilities.
* Void's Spirit mobility makes it hard for him to chase down with Phantom Rush.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 1%)Pudge
* Slow heroes that have a hard time escaping the Echo Stomp radius: Crystal Maiden,
Pudge,
Techies.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's lack of disables makes it hard for him to stop Echo Stomp's channelling.
* However, due to the long cast time of his abilities, a good Phantom Lancer can use Manta Style and/or
Doppelganger to dodge the abilities.
* Phantom Lancer's high agility and relatively low strength make him very vulnerable to Natural Order.
* Additionally, Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter can clear his wave of illusions.
* Should Phantom Lancer tries to increase his health by investing for Heart of Tarrasque, Earth Splitter does more damage to him and his illusions.
Pudge
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or having any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items are still interrupted by Dismember: Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Phantom Lancer
* Ball Lightning with or without the Static Remnant talent allows Storm Spirit to destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly. It is also easy to dodge Spirit Lance with Ball Lightning and makes Spirit Storm very hard to catch even with
Phantom Rush.
Additional:
* Ball Lightning destroys illusions, avoids Spirit Lance, and makes Storm Spirit very hard to catch, even with Phantom Rush.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Lancer
* Hoof Stomp and
Double Edge makes short work of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Retaliate together with
Blade Mail reflects Phanton Lancer's damage.
Additional:
* His illusions will kill themselves in a few hits because of Retaliate. The nukes from Hoof Stomp and Double-Edge should be enough to clear them for a large portion of the game
* Centaur Warrunner's small mana pool makes Diffusal Blade's damage much lower once Centaur doesn't have any more mana left to burn. Keep in mind that Double Edge does not cost mana.
* Be wary when chasing down Phantom Lancer. Hoof Stomp's terrible cast time makes it quite easy to dodge with Doppelganger.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Pudge
* Earth Spirit can easily disrupt Dismember because he can disable from a long distance with a Stone Remnant and Rolling Boulder. With talent he can even pull his teammates out of Dismember and also silence Pudge with Geomagnetic Grip.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Lancer
* Breathe Fire and
Elder Dragon Form's splash damage takes out Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* If Dragon Knight can Dragon Tail the real Phantom Lancer, he and his team can quickly kill him before he has a chance to escape.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Phantom Lancer
* Berserker's Call helps locks down Phantom Lancer in a group of illusions.
* Counter Helix combined with
Blade Mail clears Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* Phantom Lancer's low health in the early game makes him a frequent target for Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call catches Phantom Lancer when he is hidden among his illusions.
* Counter Helix quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusion army. The more illusions there are, the more often Counter Helix is triggered.
* Phantom Lancer's low early game health makes him an easy target for Culling Blade.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Lancer
* Empower helps Magnus' allies clear out illusions.
* Reverse Polarity and
Skewer will pull Phantom Lancer along with his illusions, and reposition them together for easy nuking.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Lancer
* Tidebringer, Torrent and Ghostship destroys Phantom Lancer's illusion army.
* Phantom Lancer can't escape with
Doppelganger under your X Marks the Spot, but can use it to dodge it.
Additional:
* Tidebringer and Kunkka's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Phantom Lancer
* Great Cleave and God's Strength cuts through Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
Additional:
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength destroys illusions in just a few hits.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer when he's grouped up with illusions.
* Sven's low mana causes him to take less damage from Diffusal Blade. This is further reduced by the armor bonus from
Warcry.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 14%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that require burst damage to kill will be difficult for Phantom Lancer to take down: Timbersaw,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Alchemist and
Underlord
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Pudge
* High health heroes like Pudge and
Undying gain strength by using abilities. Focusing them with Spirit Siphon can let you heal more health and deal more damage to them.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that rely on illusions will suffer against Ion Shell, which kills them very quickly: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Meepo.
* Heroes that rely on illusions typically spawn very strong illusions inside your Wall of Replica that you should use against them or their team.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that require burst damage to kill will be difficult for Phantom Lancer to take down: Timbersaw,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Alchemist and
Underlord
Additional:
* Firestorm is very useful for clearing multiple illusions swiftly.
* Pit of Malice will continuously disrupt many illusions, drastically reducing their damage and potency.
* Athropy Aura reduces damage of both Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)Phantom Lancer
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions: Riki,
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer
Lion
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 17%)Phantom Lancer
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Phantom Lancer
* Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet,
Lich.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Pudge
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* Heroes with many summons or illusions are much harder to catch with Meat Hook: Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Chen.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 2%)Phantom Lancer
* Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences him.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences him.
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Pudge
* Doom disables the toggling of Rot and, if cast at the right time, may leave Pudge with a potentially lethal health drain.
* Doom's naturally high health, strength gain and damage output makes him a poor target for Pudge.
* The damage of Doom's Infernal Blade scales with the target's maximum health, which is particularly effective against Pudge due to his naturally high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals high damage to Pudge due to his high strength grow with
Flesh Heap.
* Using Doom with timing against Pudge who had just activated
Rot would usually kill him.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's illusions can make it difficult to Doom the original. Should Doom figure out the original hero, the illusions can make it difficult to cast any abilities, as their hitboxes can be used to body-block the Phantom Lancer.
* Phantom Lancer is an ideal Diffusal Blade carrier. With it, he can quite easily deplete Doom's already poor mana pool, potentially making him unable to cast his abilities to escape, retaliate or heal.
* Doom lacks any effective ability to clear waves of creeps and illusions, as the vast majority of his abilities are single-target. Without an answer, Doom may find it difficult to deal with Phantom Lancer's presence.
Chen
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 0%)Pudge
* Rot is not very effective against Chen's creeps.
* Chen can use his creeps to cover him or his allies from any attempts of Meat Hook.
* {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under Chen's control can interrupt Dismember.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells: Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Broodmother,
Naga Siren,
Lycan,
Visage. However, Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, as long as they don't bunch up.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Phantom Lancer
* Illusory Orb and
Waning Rift are effective nukes against Phantom Lancer's illusions, especially in the early game.
* Dream Coil limits Phantom Rush's mobility during teamfights.
Pudge
* Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Pudge
* Low armor and lack of escape makes Pudge vulnerable to Ursa, specially when he gets his Blink Dagger.
* If Pudge lands a Meat Hook on Ursa, Ursa can simply face Pudge head on provided he can burst him down before any follow up disables.
* Enrage's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade allows Ursa to dispel Pudge's Dismember.
Phantom Lancer
* Ursa struggles against illusion heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer.
Io
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* Tether and Overcharge makes it much harder for Pudge to kill a target with Meat Hook, and Relocate can save the Io's ally while
Dismember is being channeled.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Phantom Lancer
* Pangolier's AoE abilities especially Shield Crash, is very effective against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Additional:
* Pangolier's skill has considerable damage and area of effect, allows him to quickly destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Pangolier's high mobility allows him to easily escape from Phantom Lancer, through both Phantom Rush and Diffusal Blade.
* Phantom Rush will cause Phantom Lancer to be stunned by Rolling Thunder, or set himself up for a Shield Crash.
Pudge
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder: Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Pudge
* Pudge has low armor and low mobility, making him a prime target for Terrorblade's right-clicks.
* Meat Hook is a lot harder to land on the real Terrorblade if he has illusions around him.
* Because Dismember targets only one hero, Terrorblade's illusions can potentially save the real Terrorblade if he's caught in it.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with single-target abilities and low-mobility are all an exceptionally easy targets for Phantom Rush:
Terrorblade,
Chaos Knight,
Wraith King
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Phantom Lancer
* Poof from multiple Meepos will destroy illusions quickly.
* Earthbind's area root can catch Phantom Lancer in a group of illusions and prevent him from using Doppelganger for a long time.
Additional:
* Poof will destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions within a short time.
* Earthbind prevents Phantom Lancer from using Doppelganger.
Pudge
* Because only one clone needs to be killed in order to kill Meepo, heroes that excel at singling out enemies can also be a detriment to him, such as Batrider,
Beastmaster,
Pudge and
Clockwerk.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Rush lets Phantom Lancer get close quickly and disable Marksmanship.
* Juxtapose's illusions are hard for Drow Ranger to deal with as she has no AoE damage naturally.
Pudge
* Meat Hook brings Drow Ranger to Pudge, disabling Marksmanship and dealing a huge amount of damage.
* Rot keeps Pudge close to Drow Ranger, continuously disabling Marksmanship.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can pull Drow Ranger to Pudge, disabling her Marksmanship.
* Following up with Dismember will prevent Drow Ranger from using Gust or
Shadow Blade.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Rush grants Phantom Lancer the mobility to close in the distance between Sniper.
* Phantom Lancer can dispel Sniper's Assassinate easily with Doppelganger and causes confusion to Sniper with the latter effect of creating an additional of 2 illusions.
* Phantom Lancer's Juxtapose easily can overwhelm Sniper, as his damage is mostly single-targeted.
Pudge
* Pudge's Meat Hook allows him to bring Sniper in the middle of any fight, and the pure damage does well against his high armor and low health.
* Dismember can lock Sniper down, which makes him highly vulnerable and gives enough time for Pudge to kill him alone.
Additional:
* Sniper has a low health pool and strength gain, making him vulnerable to Pudge's magical and pure damage.
* Sniper usually likes to deal damage away from the fight, and Meat Hook is capable of bringing him to the front lines.
* Assassinate won't do much damage against Pudge because of his high strength gain and the strength bonuses from Flesh Heap.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* His Rot can force Templar Assassin out of her Meld and destroy all of her Refraction charges quickly, and her small health pool and meager defense make her very vulnerable to his
Meat Hook without Refraction.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's illusions destroy Refraction charges very quickly.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer creates many illusions to tank Luna's Eclipse.
* Doppelganger can be used to dodge a number of Lucent Beams during Eclipse.
* Phantom Lancer can chase Luna effectively regardless of her high movement speed thanks to Phantom Rush and
Spirit Lance.
* Although her Moon Glaives kill his illusions quickly, Luna's low health pool is easily exploited by the sheer damage output from his illusions.
Pudge
* Flesh Heap's magic resistance allows him to survive Eclipse, and
Meat Hook and
Dismember can disable Luna through her Black King Bar.
* However, Lucent Beam can still cancel Dismember from a safe distance, even if its damage is going to be reduced.
Additional:
* Pudge can easily survive Luna's Lucent Beam and
Eclipse, and his Meat Hook and Dismember can pierce
Black King Bar, making Luna one of the perfect victims for ganking.
* However, Lucent Beam can cancel Dismember, as Pudge often doesn't build Black King Bar, and if she is farmed enough, Luna might be able to fight back against Pudge.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 19%)Pudge
* Meat Hook can hit and displace Juggernaut during his
Blade Fury.
* Dismember pierces Juggernaut's spell immunity from
Blade Fury.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusion-based heroes are effective against Omnislash and Juggernaut's single-targeted damage: Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 12%)Pudge
* He can Meat Hook a Tinker hiding in the trees and follow it up with
Dismember and
Rot for an easy solo kill, as Tinker doesn't tend to buy survivability items.
* His innate magic resistance and huge health pool from Flesh Heap makes it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage to Pudge.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can used to pull Tinker while he is hiding in the trees, and a follow up with Dismember and Rot leads to an easy solo kill, as Tinker doesn't buy many survivability items.
* Flesh Heap makes it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game when Tinker's only area of effect damage, March of the Machines, ceases to kill illusions quickly. Without
Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition,
Mjollnir or
Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 16%)Pudge
* 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.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Pudge
* Techies struggles early game against heroes with naturally large strength and health regeneration such as Pudge,
Axe or
Ogre Magi, as the player is forced to lay down more mines than usual to kill these bulkier heroes.
Additional:
* Pudge is the perfect hero for tanking mines, as Flesh Heap grants him lots of strength.
* Techies' high ground defense can be bypassed by Pudge hooking his enemies to him.
* Techies usually sits in the trees during the laning stage, setting up Proximity Mines. Meat Hook can easily pull them out and set them up for a kill.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusions can be sent out to destroy Techies mines.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 3%)Pudge
* Meat Hook can pull an ally out of Chronosphere.
* Rot will keep damaging Void if he toggled it before Chronosphere,but you can lower your hp for faceless void.
* Flesh Heap will help Pudge survive through the Chronosphere with enough stacks, and follow with
Dismember.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade will very quickly burn Medusa's mana, making Mana Shield significantly less effective.
* Doppelganger's 1 second invulnerability can be used to dodge Medusa's petrification from Stone Gaze, as well as Mystic Snake.
* Phantom Lancer's illusions outnumber Medusa's targets from Split Shot, likely shielding your team in the process.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Lancer
* Vengeful Spirit has no strong AoE nuke or disable against Phantom Lancer's Illusions.
* Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier, which reduces Vengeful Spirit's low mana pool very quickly, leaving her defenseless.
* Doppelganger can dodge Vengeful Spirit's abilites.
* Phantom Rush with his illusions can chase Vengeful Spirit efficiently.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Phantom Lancer
* Lone Druid and his Spirit Bear lack mobility, and are easy overwhelmed after being slowed by Diffusal Blade.
* Savage Roar is useless since Phantom Lancer can return to fight him again with his
Phantom Rush.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger allows Phantom Lancer to dodge and dispel Fade Bolt's damage reduction debuff.
* Doppelganger allows Phantom Lancer to dodge the stun from an incoming Telekenesis when he is not the primary target.
* Phantom Lancer is a common Diffusal Blade carrier leaving Rubick no mana to spam abilities from Spell Steal.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Pudge
* 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.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)Phantom Lancer
* Although Viper Strike cannot be dispelled by Doppelganger, Viper's lack of mobility and AoE damage makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer.
* Viper's various slows do not work against Phantom Rush
* Although Phantom Lancer should be wary due to Nethertoxin applying a break.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer can overwhelm Viper with spawned illusions from Spirit Lance and
Doppelganger.
* Viper's various slows do not work against Phantom Rush. Additionally, it is almost impossible to keep Lancer inside Nethertoxin's radius in order to disable the passive.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Phantom Lancer
* Due to Phantom Rush and
Juxtapose being passives and not affected by silence, a Phantom Lancer with a
Diffusal Blade can easily kill Silencer.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer instantly escape from
Kinetic Field.
* Doppelganger is one of the most reliable ways to dodge
Glimpse, other than spell immunity.
* Doppelganger dispels
Thunder Strike.
Additional:
* Doppelganger is a very reliable tool against Glimpse, enabling him to dodge it consistently.
* Doppelganger also allows Phantom Lancer to escape from Kinetic Field so long as there isn't a Static Storm on top of him.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger can dispel Leech Seed. It can also destroy large amounts of trees, counteracting Nature's Guise and Eyes in the Forest.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger allows Phantom Lancer to dodge an incoming snowball.
* Phantom Lancer usually buys a Diffusal Blade, which is very effective against Tusk's low mana pool.
* Phantom Lancer usually buys Manta Style which can also dodge an incoming snowball, much like
Doppelganger.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 14%)Phantom Lancer
* Ogre Magi has no AoE damage or disables and has nothing to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Doppelganger disjoints and dispels Ignite.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Lancer
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences him.
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Arc Warden
Pudge
* Pudge's high health pool will make him have possibilities of escaping Rupture.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Phantom Lancer
* Diffusal Blade lets Phantom Lancer drain Wraith King's mana, preventing
Reincarnation from triggering until he buys an
Aghanim's Shard.
* Wraith King is bad against illusions-based heroes, as Wraithfire Blast is his only single-target disable and can get overwhelmed easily.
* Doppelganger can disjoint
Wraithfire Blast.
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.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* Rot and
Meat Hook hits Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Flesh Heap reduces Dark Willow's magic burst damage.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Lancer
* Since Life drain takes out illusions instantly, Pugna with a scepter is decent versus plenty of illusion heroes, most notably Naga Siren and
Terrorblade and the aforementioned
Chaos Knight.
Phantom Lancer is an exception.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer creates way too many illusion for Pugna's Life Drain to destroy, overwhelming him easily.
* Doppelganger can dodge
Nether Blast or dispel
Decrepify.
* Diffusal Blade is a common item for Phantom Lancer to burn Pugna's large mana pool and deals a large amount of damage in the process.
Additional:
* Though Life Drain instantly destroys illusions, Phantom Lancer creates way too many for Pugna to handle.
* A good Phantom Lancer will also dodge your Nether Blast with Doppelganger.
* Phantom Lancer is the most natural Diffusal Blade carrier to burn Pugna's very large pool of mana away and deal a large amount of damage in the process.
Pudge
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or having any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items are still interrupted by Dismember: Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Lancer
* Flux is paused if even one illusion remains near Phantom Lancer. It can also be dispelled with
Doppelganger.
* Phantom Lancer can also easily dodge an activated Spark Wraith, or use his illusions to trigger it safely.
* Phantom Rush allows Lancer to quickly close gap to get inside of Arc Warden's
Magnetic Field.
* Phantom Lancer and his clones are able to quickly drain Arc Warden of his mana with a Diffusal Blade. This means Warden's
Tempest Double will also be summoned without mana.
Additional:
* Doppelganger dispels Flux.
* Phantom Rush closes the distance between Phantom Lancer and Arc Warden.
* Juxtapose overwhelms Arc Warden and nullifies his kit which is only effective against isolated opponents.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Pudge
* Pudge has low armor and mobility, making him suspectible to her physical attacks (if Lina is the carry).
* Because Dismember is a channeled ability, it can be canceled through Light Strike Array within a distance.
Pudge
* Heroes with abilities that can pull Lina out of position can easily bring her to their team mates, like Batrider with
Flaming Lasso and
Pudge with his
Meat Hook.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger can be used to easily dodge Light Strike Array if timed correctly.
* Phantom Lancer can quickly deplete Lina's mana pool with his illusions and deal massive damage from it simultaneously since Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Pudge
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Pudge
* Heroes that have a channeled ability can be interrupted by Meat Hook: Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
Additional:
* Meat Hook interrupts Death Ward from a decent range, even through
Black King Bar &
Glimmer Cape.
* Pudge can survive the damage from Maledict because of his Flesh Heap stacks.
* However the damage-over-time from Rot is counteracted by Voodoo Restoration.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes who are not easily crippled by Fate's Edict or Fortune's End, such as Timbersaw, or those who can dispel them, such as
Phantom Lancer, can kill Oracle unhindered.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Pudge
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for you, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt your channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar, as he has no AoE abilities: Phantom Lancer,
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Chaos Knight.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 2%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Bane
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Lancer
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Luna,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Pudge
* Heroes that have a channeled ability can be interrupted by Meat Hook: Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can easily hit nightmared targets, as well as Bane while channeling Fiend's Grip.
* Dismember interrupts Fiend's Grip if Pudge is not targeted.
* Pudge's high health and health regeneration let him absorb much of Bane's nukes.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusions and summons can swarm Bane, who has no area abilities: Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 8%)Pudge
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or having any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items are still interrupted by Dismember: Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
Additional:
* Pudge can Meat Hook Enigma out of his Black Hole channeling and cancel it through Black King Bar when followed up with
Dismember.
* Enigma is prone to ganks in the jungle or in the off-lane without proper vision. Pudge can take advantage of Enigma lack of mobility, assuming Enigma is not blocked by his Eidolons.
* Stacked magic resistance from his passive Flesh Heap ability can mitigate Midnight Pulse's damage.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with global nukes will target and hit Phantom Lancer regardless of his illusions: Zeus
Pudge
* Meat Hook's high range allows Pudge's team to drag Zeus in the middle of the fight and abuse his frailty.
* Flesh Heap's health and magic resistance bonus makes Pudge exceptionally resistant to Zeus' nukes. In later stages of the game, Zeus is usually unable to seriously damage Pudge at all. Even Static Field, which deals damage based on a percentage of the enemy's health, won't be doing much.
* Even if Zeus buys a Black King Bar,
Meat Hook and
Dismember still disable him for a long time, usually causing Zeus' quick death.
* Zeus is vulnerable to early ganks, which Pudge excels at.
Additional:
* Zeus likes to stay far back in fights, dealing his damage uninterrupted, but once he gets hooked into the fight, he usually dies very quickly.
* Pudge's high strength from Flesh Heap make it very hard for Zeus to burst him down.
* Zeus' low health pool makes him very vulnerable to the damage from Meat Hook, Rot and Dismember.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Phantom Lancer
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences him.
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger dispels Soul Catcher and
Shadow Poison.
* Demonic Purge slow is very ineffective against Phantom Rush.
* Beware that if Shadow Demon buys Aghanim's Scepter, Demonic Purge can disable
Juxtapose, so check his inventory whenever possible.
* Phantom Lancer's illusions destroy Disruption's illusions very quickly.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Pudge
* Anti-Tank heroes like: Razor,
Necrophos,
Undying.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's many illusions will easily destroy Tombstone, provided he has sufficient farm.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Phantom Lancer
* Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences him.
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer can dispel or escape from Cold Feet with Doppelganger and
Phantom Rush, respectively. Phantom Lancer also frequently builds a
Manta Style which dispels Cold Feet.
* Ancient Apparition has trouble dealing with Phantom Lancer's illusions due to a lack of Area of Effect damage other than Ice Blast.
* Phantom Lancer tends to build a Diffusal Blade, which greatly amplifies his damage against Ancient Apparition due to Ancient Apparition's high mana pool.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape/mobility mechanisms, making him an easy target for Phantom Lancer at any stage of the game.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Phantom Lancer
* Snapfire's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Pudge
* Meat Hook can be used immediately after
Mortimer Kisses since Snapfire is forced to stay in place.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* Shallow Grave can be used to save an ally during Dismember and Rot.
* A combination of Bad Juju,
Poison Touch, and items like
Desolator or
Solar Crest can tear off Pudge's low armor, making him even more vulnerable to physical damage.
Phantom Lancer
* Juxtapose and
Doppelganger conjures too many illusions for Dazzle to deal with, given he has no inherent movement- or AoE-abilities.
* Phantom Rush and
Spirit Lance allow Phantom Lancer to trivially catch Dazzle even in the back line of a fight.
* Phantom Lancer has high base armor which counters Dazzle's physcial damage based spells in lane.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Pudge
* Dark Pact dispels Dismember if timed perfectly.
* Pudge's low attack speed and poor agility can be lowered even further by Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance grants Slark invisibility and a high degree of mobility, which can make Slark a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an
Aghanim's Scepter).
Phantom Lancer
* Slark has no sustained AoE to fight off Phantom Lancer's illusions as they continually spawn.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark by spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark if he tries to escape with
Pounce.
Additional:
* Slark has no sustained AoE to deal with Phantom Lancer's many illusions.
* Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer dodge Dark Pact and Pounce, and partially wastes the duration of Shadow Dance.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark via spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark when he jumps away with Pounce.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* The lifesteal of Feast scales accordingly to the health of its target, which is effective against Pudge due to his high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
* Lifestealer can activate Rage to completely negate magic damage, therefore rendering the damage of Rot and Dismember null.
* Pudge's plentiful health makes him an ideal target for Open Wounds.
Phantom Lancer
* Aside from his ultimate, Lifestealer has no AoE abilities to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions, nor does he have the mobility to escape Phantom Rush.
* Doppelganger dispels
Open Wounds.
* Phantom Lancer usually builds Diffusal Blade, which a problem for a low already mana hero like Lifestealer.
Additional:
* Doppelganger dispels Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer has no way of dealing with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Phantom Lancer also commonly builds Diffusal Blade, which poses a large problem to Lifestealer and his low mana pool.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Pudge
* If Meat Hook is used before Blink, Anti-Mage may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by blinking safety.
* Counterspell grants Anti-Mage a large degree of magic resistance, a damage type Pudge is highly reliant on to secure kills. This make Anti-Mage a bad target for Pudge. The active can also block Dismember if timed correctly.
* Mana Break can quickly drains Pudge's low supply of mana, which may render Meat Hook & Dismember unusable and making him a prime target for
Mana Void.
Phantom Lancer
* While Anti-Mage does build a {Item ID:Battle Fury}, he cannot manfight Phantom Lancer due to Juxtapose.
* Phantom Lancer commonly builds {Item ID:Diffusal Blade} which can drain Anti-Mage's mana coupled with Juxtapose's illusions, making him unable to Blink away.
* Phantom Rush can be used to chase Anti-Mage after he
Blinks away.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Pudge
* Heroes with large health pools (Pudge) or good innate magic resistance (
Anti-Mage) can be very problematic for Crystal Maiden, since even if they are under the effect of her ultimate for the entire duration, the damage output is simply not enough to kill or force them to retreat.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can cancel Freezing Field, even if Crystal Maiden has
Glimmer Cape.
* She is also slow and is fragile, making her a good target for ganking.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Pudge
* Heartstopper Aura is effective against high health heroes, and Pudge is no exception. Coupled with his constant self-damage from Rot, being around Necrophos could prove risky for an overconfident Pudge.
* Regardless of how much health Pudge gains through Flesh Heap, Reaper's Scythe will often kill Pudge should his health fall below 40%, making Necrophos an ideal counter versus Pudge.
Additional:
* No matter how high Pudge builds up strength with his Flesh Heap, all it needs is for him to fall below a certain percentage of health for him to fall to Reaper's Scythe. Considering his constant self-damage with
Rot, being around Heartstopper Aura will prove risky for an overconfident Pudge.
Phantom Lancer
* Diffusal Blade is a core item on Phantom Lancer. Should it be purchased, combined with his numerous illusions, it allows him to rapidly deplete Necrophos' mana, rendering Necrophos incapable of casting anything.
* It can be difficult to single out the true Phantom Lancer among his army, giving Necrophos a hard time with aiming his ultimate.
* Even if his illusions are defeated, Phantom Lancer is capable of creating more at his disposal with almost no issues.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Pudge's location, making it hard to use Meat Hook on Slardar's teammates or Slardar himself.
* Because Corrosive Haze also reduces armor, it amplifies
Bash of the Deep's damage.
* Slithereen Crush interrupts Pudge during Dismember at close range.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to avoid Meat Hook.
Additional:
* While Slardar has Guardian Sprint activated, Rot cannot slow him and
Meat Hook is easier to avoid.
* Slithereen Crush allows Slardar to interrupt Dismember at close range (when Slardar is not a target).
* Corrosive Haze reveals Pudge's location, making it very difficult for him to land hooks from the fog.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's Doppelganger has a low cooldown and applies a basic dispel on PL, making it hard to keep Corrosive Haze on him.
* Phantom Lancer usually purchases Manta Style which provides another basic dispel to remove Corrosive Haze with.
* Besides Slithereen Crush, Slardar does not have another way to deal with illusions and has a low mana pool, which allows Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade to quickly build up illusions while draining Slardar's mana.
* Phantom Rush outruns Guardian Sprint, forcing Slardar to Blink away or use Slithereen Crush defensively to avoid being killed.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Lancer
* Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences him.
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Pudge
* Tree Dance has a low cooldown and allows Monkey King to jumps on trees quickly, making him a difficult target to hook.
* Because of his low attack speed and poor agility, Monkey King can inflict a large amount of damage quickly by Jingu Mastery.
* Boundless Strike interrupts Pudge's Dismember from a long range.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that can destroy trees will deny Monkey King spots to jump on, or cause him to fall: Windranger,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer
Pudge
* Meat Hook can easily cancel Wukong's Command by pulling Monkey King out of the circle.
* Meat Hook can grab Monkey King from trees during Tree Dance.
* Rot puts Tree Dance on cooldown.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Pudge
* Heroes that cannot move in fights such as a Dueling
Legion Commander or anyone channeling a spell like
Bane,
Pudge, or
Enigma are easy Sacred Arrow targets.
Additional:
* If Meat Hook is used before Leap, Mirana may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by leaping to safety.
* The invisibility from Moonlight Shadow gives a degree of mobility, which can make Mirana or her teammates a difficult target to hook.
* Sacred Arrow can be used to cancel Dismember within a distance.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with summons or illusions makes Sacred Arrow harder to land: Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Pudge
* Phantasm's illusions make it difficult to land Meat Hook and
Dismember.
* Chaos Bolt is a comparatively low cooldown tool to interrupt Dismember.
* Chaos Strike's lifesteal offsets Rot's damage.
Phantom Lancer
* Chaos Knight's single target abilities are difficult to target against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Chaos Knight's lack of mobility makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer to Phantom Rush and drain his already low mana pool.
Additional:
* Juxtapose allows Phantom Lancer to overwhelm Chaos Knight due to his single-target abilities.
* Doppelganger can be used to dodge Chaos Bolt.
* Spirit Lance can be used to harass Chaos Knight during the early game.
* Since Phantom Lancer builds Diffusal Blade often, it can quickly drain Chaos Knight of all his mana, leaving him unable to cast spells.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* Meat Hooking a Clockwerk can backfire for Pudge, as Battery Assault and
Blade Mail will hurt Pudge more than he hurts Clockwerk.
Phantom Lancer
* Battery Assault's damage is dispersed against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Phantom Lancer can blink out of Power Cogs with Doppelganger.
* When chasing, a Phantom Lancer can close in with Phantom Rush and burn down Clockwerk's mana with
Diffusal Blade, rendering him helpless before he has a chance to erect a defensive Power Cogs.
Additional:
* Doppelganger. lets Phantom Lancer jump in and out of
Power Cogs.
* Clockwerk's low mobility makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer to rush on, and overwhelm with clones.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* Night Stalker can easily find Pudge's location during Dark Ascension.
* Void's mini-stun and silence from
Crippling Fear at night will stop Dismember, Meat Hook and Rot and preventing Pudge from fighting back.
* Night Stalker has naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance, making Night Stalker a poor target for Pudge.
Phantom Lancer
* Void's slow is dispelled by Doppelganger or counteracted by
Phantom Rush.
* Spirit Lance's and
Diffusal Blade's slow reduces Night Stalker's mobility and helps him or his ally escape if they're inflicted by Void or Crippling Fear.
* Night Stalker has no AoE abilites to take out Phantom Lancer's illusions. Even if Night Stalker gets an Aghanim's Scepter, there will be way too many illusions for Night Stalker to handle.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Pudge
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Pudge
* Bounty Hunter can easily keep vision on Pudge with Track, making it difficult for Pudge to hook Bounty Hunter or his team mates.
* It's difficult for Pudge to keep up with Bounty Hunter to apply Rot on him due to Shadow Walk.
* Shuriken Toss cancels out Dismember from a good range if Bounty Hunter is not the target.
Additional:
* Track can easily keep vision on Pudge, making it impossible to catch up with his Meat Hook for Bounty Hunter's teammates or him.
* It's very difficult for Pudge to use Rot on and hook Bounty Hunter due to Shadow Walk.
* Shuriken Toss cancels out Dismember from a good range.
Phantom Lancer
* Tempest Double dispels
Track.
* Bounty Hunter also has no area of effect abilities to help with the illusions.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 1%)Pudge
* Pudge has a very hard time killing Familiars due to his melee range and low attack speed.
* Stone Form can quickly interrupt Dismember.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's illusions will quickly destroy multiple layers of Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Visage has no mobility mechanisms, making him a prime target for Phantom Rush
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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Pudge
*
Gush reduces Pudge's armor which he already lacks.
Kraken Shell can dispel Dismember after reaching a certain threshold of damage.
*
* Tidehunter's naturally high health, strength gain, and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance make Tidehunter a poor target.
Phantom Lancer
*
Kraken Shell and
Anchor Smash makes it very difficult for Phantom Lancer's illusions to damage to Tidehunter.
Ravage will stun the real Phantom Lancer while clearing most of his illusions.
Anchor Smash reduces base damage, which is the majority of Phantom Lancer's auto-attack damage.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Gush slows down and reduces all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Diffusal Blade.
Spirit Lance and
Phantom Rush (and even
Diffusal Blade), Tide Hunter can shrug it all off with Kraken Shell and escape by using a
Town Portal Scroll or just moving away.
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded Gush can clear Phantom Lancer's illusions easily.
*
*
* An
Additional:
* A dozen of Phantom Lancer's illusions with all their might can barely hurt Tidehunter at all thanks to Kraken Shell and Anchor Smash. The only way Phantom Lancer can hurt Tidehunter is through the mana burn provided by
* Even with high chasing power from
* The AoE nukes from Ravage, Anchor Smash, and an