Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 1%)Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (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.
Viper
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to escape through Viper Strike, wasting Viper's mana.
* It's also very easy to wait out the duration of Nethertoxin's break.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (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.
Viper
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (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.
Viper
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 2%)Viper
* Naga Siren can easily disjoint, and dispel Corrosive Skin with Mirror Image.
* Since Viper is a single-target hero, he will not stand a chance against Naga Siren because she is an illusion based hero.
* However, Nethertoxin can clear her illusions quickly if Naga Siren does not micromanage them well.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
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.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Viper
* Windrun evades Poison Attack and counteracts the slow.
* Viper's low mobility makes him an easy Shackleshot target.
* Focus Fire grants Windranger significant physical damage output to quickly wear Viper down.
* Powershot is a strong harassment and zoning tool against Viper in lane.
Viper
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Viper
* Shukuchi ignores slows and allows Weaver to escape Viper's onslaught.
* Time Lapse dispels Poison Attack and Corrosive Skin and undoes poison damage.
* Weaver's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
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.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)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.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Viper
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of Viper abilities.
* Viper has no way to cancel Death Ward, even through Rod of Atos.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Phantom Lancer
* Snapfire's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 8%)Viper
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
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.
Viper
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusions and summons can swarm Bane, who has no area abilities: Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Viper
* Illusion or summon-based heroes can be a problem to Viper due to his lack of AoE damage: Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Beastmaster
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Viper
* Pugna's Decrepify allows him to save allies from being ganked by Viper, since Viper mostly relies on direct attacks in order to deal damage.
* Nether Ward can discourage Viper from spamming his abilities.
* Viper's damage over time is not enough to kill Pugna as he will have more than enough time to save himself (or his allies) with Life Drain and Viper has no solutions to cancel it.
* Pugna has no passive abilities, which renders Nethertoxin nearly useless.
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.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Viper
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
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.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Viper
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
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.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 2%)Viper
* Viper's lack of escape and durability means he can be ran over in a laning stage by Spiderlings.
* Broodmother can bring Viper down quickly with Insatiable Hunger activated.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Viper
* Viper's damage over time and lack of disables makes him easy to Sunder.
* Viper's physical damage is mitigated by Terrorblade's high armor.
* Terrorblade under Metamorphosis can quickly kill Viper with heavy physical damage.
Additional:
* Almost all of Viper's damage revolves exclusively around single-target damage-over-time effects. Furthermore, without any hard disables, Terrorblade can almost always get a Sunder off.
* Viper has low mobility and Corrosive Skin doesn't protect against physical damage, which means that Terrorblade under Metamorphosis can quickly kill Viper.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with single-target abilities and low-mobility are all an exceptionally easy targets for Phantom Rush:
Terrorblade,
Chaos Knight,
Wraith King
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (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.
Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (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.
Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin disables Vengeance Aura.
* Vengeful Spirit has no mobility spells aside from Nether Swap, which Viper can take advantage of with his slows.
* Viper can easily bully Vengeful Spirit out of a lane with Poison Attack.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents attack damage bonus from Vengeance Aura and the components of
Nether Swap.
* Both Magic Missile and
Wave of Terror are counteracted by Corrosive Skin, making Vengeful Spirit's fighting harder against Viper.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents buildup of Fiery Soul stacks.
* Corrosive Skin provides magic resistance against Lina's spells.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike can burn away Lina's small health pool.
Slark
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Viper
* Nethertoxin negates Essence Shift and the regeneration aspect of
Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact doesn't mean a lot against Viper's ubiquitous slows.
* Viper becomes a relevant presence in team fights before Slark can procure his standard items (e.g. Shadow Blade).
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.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks Sniper's passives.
* Viper Strike together with
Poison Attack can slow Sniper and tears through his low health and mobility.
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.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (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.
Viper
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Disruptor's skills.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents Heartstopper Aura from dealing damage or healing Necrophos.
* Viper's magic damage is amplified whenever Ghost Shroud is used.
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper tankier against Death Pulse and
Reaper's Scythe.
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.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's illusions destroy Refraction charges very quickly.
Viper
* The damage over time from Viper's Poison Attack and
Viper Strike rapidly wear down Refraction charges, allowing Templar Assassin to be damaged. Additionally,
Corrosive Skin causes her attacks to apply damage over time on her as well.
* Nethertoxin is a big threat to Templar Assassin. Her initially low range making it very hard to deal against Nethertoxin in the laning phase. At any stage of the game, a Nethertoxin can always force her to undo her Meld.
Additional:
* All of Viper's abilities quickly burn through Refraction charges.
* Templar Assassin's short range, aside from Psi Blades' spill damage, makes her vulnerable to Poison Attack harassment.
* Templar Assassin traditionally forgoes health and armor items for damage. Outside of Black King Bar, Viper will almost always be able to kill her when
Refraction is down.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks Multicast.
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage during Ignite and Fireblast.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Phantom Lancer
* Tempest Double dispels
Track.
* Bounty Hunter also has no area of effect abilities to help with the illusions.
Viper
* Viper's poison abilities can slow Bounty Hunter's movement speed and allows to chase him with True Sight items.
* Nethertoxin can break Jinada, and the silence from level 25 prevents Bounty Hunter from using all of his spells.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 1%)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
Viper
* Nethertoxin cuts off Gravekeeper's Cloak, Visage's primary defense mechanism.
* Viper can ignore Grave Chill's attack speed slow with his magic damage output.
Additional:
* Since Visage is a slow hero, Viper can easily kite him with
Poison Attack and
Viper Strike while successfully chipping away at Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Nethertoxin removes all layers of Gravekeeper's Cloak, leaving Visage exposed.
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper highly resistant to Soul Assumption.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as Viper and
Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
Phantom 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.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger can dispel Leech Seed. It can also destroy large amounts of trees, counteracting Nature's Guise and Eyes in the Forest.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks Fury Swipes, making Viper a decent counter to Ursa in a laning stage.
* Viper Strike is a strong, undispellable slow, making it much easier to kite Ursa for everyone.
Phantom Lancer
* Ursa struggles against illusion heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (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.
Viper
* His Poison Attack is very useful against Huskar, since he tends to stay at low health.
* Nethertoxin disables passive skills like Berserker's Blood.
* It is dangerous for Huskar to jump on Viper because Corrosive Skin and
Viper Strike with the slowdown of movement and attack speed which usually will be deadly for Huskar.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin disables Berserker's Blood, which Huskar relies upon for attack speed and healing.
* The damage from Burning Spear and
Life Break is largely absorbed by Corrosive Skin. It also will return some damage, making it risky to use Burning Spears in the laning stage.
* Because Huskar wants to be on low health for Berserker's Blood, he is particularly vulnerable to Poison Attack.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (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.
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.
Viper
* The slow applied from Corrosive Skin offsets the movement speed bonus granted by Scorched Earth and the tick-based damage from Infernal Blade and Doom will continually slow Doom down. This allows Viper, much like Sniper, to 'kite' Doom and keep him at a safe distance between the two. Additionally,
Corrosive Skin applies an attack-speed slow which is fairly crippling to a hero such as Doom that, naturally, has a high base attack-time, poor agility gain and builds little attack-speed items.
* Since Doom does not disable auto-cast abilities, Viper's Poison Attack will continue to work. Doom may find it hard to close the distance between himself and Viper, and thusly difficult to effectively lockdown and continually deal damage through his abilities.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Viper
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
Viper
* Viper's skill set makes him an effective early game ganker against Anti-Mage before he is sufficiently farmed.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin and low mana pool causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
* Nethertoxin disables Mana Break and Counterspell, weakening both his offense and defense.
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.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (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.
Viper
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Ancient Apparition's slow movement speed, squishy nature, and lack of escape abilities can easily be taken advantage of through Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
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.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 0%)Viper
* Hand of God has a long cooldown, so damage over time spells can be hazardous for Chen, forcing him to use it prematurely: Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Phoenix.
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.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Tiny has low movespeed and attack speed, making him vulnerable to Viper's slows.
* Corrosive Skin provides magic resistance to lower Tiny's magic burst damage.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 16%)Viper
* 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.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks Phantom Assassin's passive skills.
* Viper Strike goes through
Black King Bar.
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.
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.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks both Necromastery and Presence of the Dark Lord, reducing his damage massively.
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper bonus Magic Resistance against Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls.
* Viper can easily take advantage of Shadow Fiend's lack of escape and mobility spells with Viper Strike and
Poison Attack. Poison Attack also serves as a great way to harass Shadow Fiend.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* 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 disable 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.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)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.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Viper's Nethertoxin disables Cloak and Dagger, negating Riki's invisibility and much of his damage. It also makes him more vulnerable to magic damage, which does not go well with Riki's low health pool. With the talent applied, he can't even blink to safety or hide with Tricks of the Trade.
* Corrosive Skin makes it hard for Riki to chase Viper and attack him due to the attack speed slow.
* Viper Strike stays on Riki even after he goes invisible.
* Poison Attack makes it risky for Riki to get last hits and can make the laning phase difficult for him.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Corrosive Skin means Viper can often outlast Venomancer in a battle of attrition.
* Venomancer has no mobility without items, which makes him vulnerable to constant slows.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)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.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's many illusions will easily destroy Tombstone, provided he has sufficient farm.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Viper's poison magical damage-over-time stops Monkey King from using Tree Dance. It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by Wukong's Command.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Monkey King's high base movement speed is of little worth against the array of slows Viper possesses.
* All of Viper's magical damage over time stops Monkey King from using Tree Dance. It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by
Wukong's Command.
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
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Because Poison Attack has a low cooldown at all levels, Aphotic Shield is ineffective as a hard dispel.
* Nethertoxin prevents Borrowed Time from activating passively and blocks
Curse of Avernus
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)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: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)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.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 7%)Viper
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from Impale and
Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time, even Spiked Carapace is activated.
* However the Vendetta break can be dangerous for Viper.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Viper
* Heroes with break can disable Untouchable for a while: Doom and
Shadow Demon (via
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 19%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with many summons or illusions are much harder to catch with Meat Hook: Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Chen.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Viper
* Heroes who can harass Omniknight out of lane will keep him weak in the mid game: Viper,
Venomancer,
Clinkz
Techies
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Phantom Lancer
* Illusions can be sent out to destroy Techies mines.
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.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Viper
* Viper's Nethertoxin cannot disable Reincarnation, which could put him in disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
* In addition, Viper doesn't like buying Diffusal Blade, which is the only item that can help him against Wraith King.
* Wraith King's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
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.
Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with summons or illusions makes Sacred Arrow harder to land: Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 12%)Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 19%)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: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 12%)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.
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
Viper
* Corrosive Skin counters Zeus in lane by canceling the effects of
Clarity as Zeus relies on Arc Lightning to farm and secure last hits.
* Corrosive Skin also increases Viper's magic resistance to shrug off Zeus's magical nukes.
* Nethertoxin breaks Static Field.
* Due to Zeus' poor mobility, Viper Strike will cripple Zeus and will allow Viper and his teammates to land a lot of attacks.
Additional:
* Corrosive Skin severely reduces Zeus's damage output throughout the game.
* During the laning stage, Viper can abuse Zeus' reliance on spells by hugging the creep wave. Zeus will take constant damage over time from Corrosive Skin unless he drives Viper from the lane or returns to farming in his absence.
* Prior to buying Blink Dagger or
Force Staff, Zeus is fragile and possesses low mobility. Any of Viper's numerous slows can set up an easy kill.
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.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 16%)Phantom Lancer
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet,
Lich.
Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks the damage block from Bulwark.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike's slows make it difficult for Mars to contribute to fights due to his low mobility.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin breaks Bulwark entirely, making Mars far less tanky. Using Nethertoxin inside
Arena of Blood may discourage enemies from following up with Mars' initiation.
* Rod of Atos is currently common on Viper and keeps Mars in position long enough to be killed.
* Viper is not very tanky earlier in the game, so positioning against Mars is important since a well-timed Spear of Mars can be the end of Viper.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 4%)Viper
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field: Silencer,
Viper.
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.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* Most of Magnus' abilities except Empower will trigger damage through Corrosive Skin.
* Poison Attack and Viper Strike can slow Magnus during Skewer, as well as putting his
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents the lifesteal from Ransack. The silence from Viper's level 25 talent also prevents Meepo escaping with Poof.
* Meepo and his clones have a lack of magic resistance, so they're vulnerable to Poison Attack &
Viper Strike directed onto one clone.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed so he's unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin's break removes Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his eponymous defensive passive, Bristleback also lose his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 16%)Viper
* If Rubick can use Spell Steal to take Nethertoxin, he will be able to disable Corrosive Skin, reducing much of Viper's durability.
* He can also steal Viper Strike, which can be used to hinder a hero on your team (or multiple heroes, if Rubick has Aghanim's Scepter).
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.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike slows Axe significantly, and puts his
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating.
* Nethertoxin can break Counter Helix.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents Counter Helix from triggering, which significantly lowers Axe's damage output in the early to mid game.
* Viper's various slows and damage over time prevents Axe from initiating as well as putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* In the early game, a Dragon Knight without Black King Bar is basically defenseless against Viper.
Additional:
* Dragon Knight is easily harassed by Poison Attack after the laning stage ends.
* Corrosive Skin protects Viper from Breathe Fire and returns damage.
* Nethertoxin mitigates Dragon Blood, Dragon's Knight main source of armor and health regeneration.
* Between Poison Attack and Viper Strike, Viper can keep Dragon Knight permanently slowed even in Elder Dragon Form.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents Timbersaw from gaining stacks on Reactive Armor with silence talent also prevents Timbersaw using his abilities.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Rage ignores all of Viper's magical damage.
* Feast and
Open Wounds combine to heal through Viper's physical damage.
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.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike allowing to kite and slow Earthshaker significally, putting
Blink Dagger on cooldown and preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
* Nethertoxin breaks Aftershock. The silence from Level 25 talent also prevents Earthshaker from initiating or re-initiating.
Additional:
* Being a melee hero, Earthshaker's movement is liable to suppression by Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
* Earthshaker's kit, with the exception of Enchant Totem, deals magic damage. Corrosive Skin effectively blunts his killing potential with a standard Blink combo among other things.
* Nethertoxin disables Aftershock, which removes the stun and bonus damage from
Enchant Totem and
Echo Slam. Additionally the level 25 talent will silence Earthshaker, making him vulnerable to Viper's teammates without stuns.
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.
Viper
* Heroes who can easily harass Crystal Maiden out of lane in the early game (Clinkz,
Viper) can prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to level effectively, and can ultimately slow down her level 6, 12, and 18 to a point where enemy carries already have items to address her ultimate.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper additional resistance to Phoenix's magical damage, and since they deal damage over time, Phoenix would be constantly afflicted by his passive's own debuff, making him not an ideal target for Phoenix's harassment. Phoenix's abilities also constantly drain its own health away, becoming more vulnerable to
Poison Attack.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Viper
* Poison Attack makes it hard for Void Spirit to lane against him.
* Corrosive Skin reduces the magical damage from Void Spirit's spells.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Viper
* Viper Strike can be countered through Snowball, wasting Viper's mana through his ultimate.
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.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Viper
* Ice Wall and
Ghost Walk can be used to kite and escape from Viper.
* Chaos Meteor and
Sun Strike deal heavy damage and can quickly bring Viper down.
* Cold Snap,
Tornado, and
Deafening Blast are powerful disables that reduce Viper's effectiveness.
* EMP burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
* Forge Spirits can melt Viper's armor and reduce his durability.
Viper
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper receive less damage from Invoker's spells
* Viper can harass Invoker with his Poison Attack in the early game.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack can kill Invoker easily if Ghost Walk is on cooldown.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)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.
* An Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Gush slows down and reduces all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
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 Diffusal Blade.
* Even with high chasing power from 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.
* The AoE nukes from Ravage, Anchor Smash, and an Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded Gush can clear Phantom Lancer's illusions easily.
Viper
* Nethertoxin cancels out Kraken Shell and stops the hard dispel from passively activating, preventing Tidehunter from functioning as a frontline tank.
* Anchor Smash is mostly irrelevant against a ranged hero.
* Tidehunter relies on the threat of Ravage, which has an obscenely long cooldown. Viper can exploit the downtime with his short cooldowns.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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
Viper
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Viper has no response to the standard initiation combo of Reality Rift into
Chaos Bolt.
* Phantasm can eliminate Viper almost instantly with its damage output.
Additional:
* As Viper focuses on single-target damage, he has trouble fighting off Phantasm illusions.
* Reality Rift counteracts Viper's slows and reduces his durability.
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.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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
Viper
* Viper can bully Alchemist out of mid lane quite easily, forcing him to either retreat into jungle, or stay harassed in lane, and get very few last hits. Vipers break also completely disables
Greevil's greed which prevents Alchemist to earn his amazing amounts of money.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Viper
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
Additional:
* Clinkz does not have any passive abilities at all, making Nethertoxin nearly useless.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Clinkz,
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
Razor
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 6%)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.
Viper
* Viper's Poison Attack and
Viper Strike that can slow Razor, and is one of the few heroes that can keep him immobile.
* Altogether, Viper's skills reduce Razor's attack speed, heavily reducing the benefit of the damage drain from Static Link.
Additional:
* Storm Surge is counteracted by Nethertoxin, leaving Razor without faster MS.
* Static Link's damage drain doesn't bother Viper a lot as most of his early to mid game damage is magical.
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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Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's lack of disables makes it hard for him to stop Echo Stomp's channelling.
Manta Style and/or
Doppelganger to dodge the abilities.
Heart of Tarrasque, Earth Splitter does more damage to him and his illusions.
* However, due to the long cast time of his abilities, a good Phantom Lancer can use
* 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
Viper
* Viper is an agility hero, and his item build mostly includes agility items, so Natural Order can be devastating, removing all armor and greatly decreasing the effectiveness of
Corrosive Skin, weakening Viper's magic resistance. Additionally, Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter deal both magical and physical damage, and can help bringing Viper down fast.
Aghanim's Scepter may be necessary to take Viper down due to
Nethertoxin's break.
*