Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 6%)Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 12%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace is a death sentence against Pugna, since its the perfect setup for all his abilities, especially Life Drain.
* Decrepify can be cast to save the ally under Winter's Curse effect, wasting most of its duration.
* Winter Wyvern's abilities require a lot of mana, allowing Nether Ward to deal lots of damage.
Riki
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Riki
* Heroes that avoid damage by coming in and out of invisibility in teamfights such as Weaver,
Templar Assassin, and
Riki will be easy for Zeus to reveal with Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath, but these heroes usually have other ways to avoid his damage or kill him, so he is not a perfect counter alone.
Additional:
* Zeus's Lightning Bolt and
Thundergod's Wrath provides a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki while possibly dealing a heavy amount of damage.
* Zeus's Nimbus can be placed directly on top of
Tricks of the Trade, potentially causing him to be damaged, stunned, and revealed the instant he becomes targetable again.
Winter Wyvern
* Any ally that Winter Wyvern tries to save with Cold Embrace can still be damaged by all of Zeus's spells.
* If Winter Wyvern tries to juke vision by flying up a cliff or in the trees, Zeus can gain vision there with Lightning Bolt or Thundergod's Wrath.
* If Zeus is forced to attack an ally by Winter's Curse, his unimpressive attack damage and attack speed means they won't be hurt much by him. Zeus will also stay near the back of fights away from his allies, making a deadly Curse less likely.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Riki
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
Winter Wyvern
* All of his damage is magical and pure, which makes Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* Winter's Curse is very hard to cast on Tinker because he usually stays in the back-lines in team-fights. In turn, Tinker has mediocre attack damage and will contribute very little when he is cursed to attack an ally. He can also save his ally under Winter's Curse effect with Ethereal Blade.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Riki
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Winter Wyvern
* Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast debuffs are dispellable with Dark Pact. Arctic Burn is also no escape against
Pounce.
* Cold Embrace just gives Slark free Essence Shift stacks. He also relies mostly on magic damage early in the game.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Riki
* Luna can push very fast with Moon Glaives, which is something Riki cannot deal with well.
* Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.
* Even though Riki can evade Eclipse with his invisibility, smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance, providing vision on Riki to her allies and herself.
Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace is no salvation against Lucent Beam and
Eclipse.
* Moon Glaives will not hit a hero affected by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
* Luna has better night vision provided by Lunar Blessing than Winter Wyvern when affected by Arctic Burn.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is no salvation against Lucent Beam and
Eclipse.
* Moon Glaives will not hit a hero affected by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
* Luna has better night vision provided by Lunar Blessing than Winter Wyvern when affected by Arctic Burn.
Riki
* All assassin-type carries in a one against one situation: Meepo,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Ursa unless if Luna chooses to buy
Ethereal Blade or
Black King Bar to gain a slight edge against them, or both items.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Riki
* 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.
Winter Wyvern
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Riki
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and kill Riki. Riki will also find it harder to kill the tanky Night Stalker than he would many other heroes.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter Wyvern cannot handle the Zombies created by Undying's Tombstone very well. In most situations, Zombies will have more movement speed than her.
* Undying can gain one or two easy Decay stacks on an ally in Cold Embrace. The ally will still take the damage as well.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern cannot handle the Zombies created by Tombstone very well. In most situations, Zombies will have more movement speed than her.
* Undying can gain one or two easy Decay stacks on an ally in Cold Embrace. The ally will still take the damage as well, since it is magical.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)Riki
* Riki can easily be caught in an Ice Path and Macropyre combo as he finishes Tricks of the Trade.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Riki
* Thirst detects Riki whenever his health is low.
* Rupture does large damage when Riki uses Blink Strike.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Winter Wyvern
* Song of the Siren can be used to nullify the effects of Winter's Curse, and when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter it also outmatches the heal of Cold Embrace.
* If Winter Wyvern is reckless enough to put an ally in Cold Embrace, Naga Siren will be able to use her Ensnare to extend the disable on the hero affected by Cold Embrace.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Riki
* Track reveals Riki while invisible and gives him a hard time, as it prevents much of his ganking capabilities. This can force Riki to buy
Manta Style to dispel it.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Riki
* Static Link drains away Riki's damage while keeping his location revealed for its duration, allowing his team to accurately land detection or area-of-effect skills.
* Storm Surge procs on invisible heroes, making him aware of Riki's presence near him.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Riki
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Riki
* Corrosive Haze makes Riki completely vulnerable to Slardar and his allies, as Riki has no easy way of dispelling it.
* Slardar's physical damage with Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep amplified by Corrosive Haze can easily kill Riki.
Additional:
* Corrosive Haze works much like
Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed bonus, it instead melts Riki's armor and Slardar can use
Guardian Sprint to catch up to him.
* Slardar's Aghanim's Shard, causes
Slithereen Crush to apply Corrosive Haze even if Slardar does not have vision over him.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Winter Wyvern
* Outworld Destroyer's pure damage from Arcane Orb can go through Cold Embrace.
* Outworld Destroyer can negate the healing from Cold Embrace using Astral Imprisonment, and steal mana while doing so.
* Outworld Destroyer's damage during Winter's Curse is reduced due to Arcane Orb being unable to target allies.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern must never put her allies in Cold Embrace against Outworld Destroyer as Arcane Orb will continue to deal damage to the defenseless hero.
* Arcane Orb does not hit his allies when he is taunted by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
* Astral Imprisonment can protect a target inflicted with Winter's Curse.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Riki
* 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.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Riki
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from
Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Additional:
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Winter Wyvern
* Timbersaw relies on dealing massive amounts of pure damage, making Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* If he has Reactive Armor stacks, Timbersaw can tank the damage from his allies if he is targeted by Winter's Curse. If he's not the target, Timbersaw's abysmal attack damage will contribute next to nothing when he is cursed to attack an ally.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Riki
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions: Riki,
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Winter Wyvern
* Heavy nukers will do well against Cold Embrace (Lina,
Zeus etc).
Techies
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Riki
* Techies is very good against roaming supports and gankers such as Bounty Hunter,
Riki,
Weaver,
Earthshaker,
Nyx Assassin, etc. that are constantly moving around the map.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Riki
* Axe can disable Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with
Berserker's Call, which forces Riki to attack him at a very bad angle.
* Axe has a very high HP pool, making it hard for you to kill him before you get big items - that is if you survive engaging him. Counter Helix ignores Riki's armor and goes straight for his tiny HP pool, totally ignoring
Smoke Screen.
* Axe is a natural buyer of Blade Mail and Riki generally does not buy lifesteal items, causing Riki to kill himself when attacking due to your tiny HP pool.
Winter Wyvern
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 17%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for all his nukes - Chaos Meteor,
EMP and especially global
Sun Strike.
Riki
* Heroes with silence: Death Prophet,
Riki,
Drow Ranger.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Riki
* Blink Strike does not grant Riki a mobility advantage over Phantom Assassin, as her Phantom Strike serves the same purpose, but with a higher range.
* A Carry Riki usually has a hard time dealing with Blur, as a Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn are unfavourable item picks for him (or, even more unlikely, a
Silver Edge).
* A Black King Bar is a very common pick for Phantom Assassin, fully countering
Smoke Screen and
Diffusal Blade while activated.
Winter Wyvern
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin etc.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Riki
* Smoke Cloud prevents the use of Death Pact,
Searing Arrows and
Skeleton Walk, so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
* It's hard to gank Riki as Clinkz has to find him first.
Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace can heal herself or an ally, as well as protecting them from Clinkz's physical attacks and wasting his mana if Searing Arrows is on autocast.
* Winter's Curse allows Winter Wyvern to turn Clinkz's high damage and high attack speed against his allies, or take advantage of Clinkz's fragility if he can't use Skeleton Walk.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Riki
* Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Ursa cannot Enrage when in Smoke Screen (Black King Bar will help though).
* Even if Ursa gets vision over him, Riki can Blink Strike away or use Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid all Fury Swipes damage until
Earthshock's slow is gone.
Additional:
* Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Ursa cannot Enrage when caught in Smoke Screen and will miss his attacks (although Black King Bar will help with this issue).
* Even if Ursa gets vision over him and initiates with Earthshock, Riki can Blink Strike away or use
Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
Winter Wyvern
* Ursa's extremely high attack damage output with Fury Swipes usually means certain death for anyone cursed in his vicinity.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Riki
* Lifestealer cannot use Rage,
Infest or
Open Wounds when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and
Feast cannot heal him effectively because of the blind, leaving him very weak both offensively and defensively.
* Infest ganks are harder when the enemy team has a Riki, as there are often only four heroes on the map that you can initiate on.
Winter Wyvern
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin etc.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace can render the extra attack speed from Overcharge meaningless.
* Splinter Blast and
Winter's Curse are very affective against Io, as it has to stay close to its tethered hero.
Riki
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Winter Wyvern
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin etc.
Riki
* Riki is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier, and it doesn't help that he's easily capable of sneaking up on you due to
Cloak and Dagger.
* Riki can use Smoke Screen on top of you as you're reincarnating, making you a sitting duck for your second life. In addition, the blind prevents Wraith King from landing critical hits from Mortal Strike.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and players with good reflexes will disjoint it with Tricks of the Trade.
* There is also a chance he will become invisible again as the projectile travels, disjointing it.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter's Curse, when directly targeted on Enigma, can go through
Avatar, stopping Enigma's Black Hole channeling. It can also can turn his team against him, potentially killing him.
* Splinter Blast can be targeted on an eidolon, killing off other eidolons and damaging nearby heroes as well.
Riki
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility: Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
* Riki can potentially catch an Enigma out of position and prevent him from properly blinking and initiating, thanks to Cloak and Dagger.
* Before Enigma gets his Black King Bar, Smoke Screen can cancel Black Hole. After Enigma gets Black King Bar, Riki can also cancel Black Hole with Abyssal Blade, a common item built on riki.
* Enigma's fragility during all stages of the game makes him extremely prone to Riki's ganking.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 3%)Riki
* Riki:
Smoke Screen can prevent Lone Druid from using True Form and Savage Roar, additionally it cause the spirit bear to miss on attacks which reduce the chances of getting rooted from it, with diffusal Blade, he can keep Lone Druid or the Spirit Bear inside the Smoke.
Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace can protect allies from Lone Druid and the Spirit bear, who mainly deal physical damage
* Winter's Curse can turn Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear against his teammates.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 8%)Riki
* Heroes with invisibility: (Riki,
Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin
Winter Wyvern
* Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Riki
* Because Templar Assassin does not have escape potential in lane, any support hero with roaming potential and a Dust of Appearance can be great at shutting her down early game:
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk,
Bounty Hunter,
Riki,
Warlock.
Winter Wyvern
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin etc.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 18%)Riki
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
Winter Wyvern
* Heroes with abilities that can save teammates are also effective such as Shadow Demon,
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Bane,
Pugna,
Tusk,
Winter Wyvern,
Io,
Underlord,
Treant Protector and
Keeper of the Light.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace saves any ally Sven initiates on and wastes the duration of God's Strength in team fights.
* Winter's Curse can be devastating to Sven's team, as his massive damage can take out a teammate before there is much time to react.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Riki
* Without Dust of Appearance or Sentry Wards, Riki is able to silence Witch Doctor with Smoke Screen, and is likely to build a Diffusal Blade, leaving Witch Doctor without mana to cast Voodoo Restoration, as well as Skull Basher to interrupt Death Ward.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Riki
* Riki usually buys Diffusal Blade to initiate, which renders Enchantress' movement speed useless, and is usually followed with
Smoke Screen.
* Riki can effectively hit Enchantress by Tricks of the Trade alongside with
Diffusal Blade and
Smoke Screen's initiation. For a hero like Enchantress, 3 to 4 hits from Riki is a big deal, unless Enchantress built
Force Staff earlier.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Riki
* Smoke Cloud prevents Queen of Pain from using any of her offensive and defensive spells, rendering her unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
* It's easy to dodge Sonic Wave by using Blink Strike & Tricks of the Trade.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace can protect Troll Warlord's target, especially during Battle Trance.
* Winter's Curse can turn Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed against his allies.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace will protect your ally from being damaged if he gets focused by Troll, although be careful as Fervor will keep gaining stacks even while Cold Embrace is active.
* His high attack speed and bash will help to kill his cursed ally faster.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Riki
* Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which Riki can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Riki
* Blink Strike gets Riki close to Drow Ranger and disable Marksmanship.
* Smoke Screen makes Drow Ranger miss her attacks.
* Cloak and Dagger lets Riki stay close to Drow Ranger without her noticing, disabling Marksmanship.
Additional:
* With Blink Strike, Riki can get close to Drow Ranger and disable her Marksmanship, and Smoke Screen will prevent her from using
Gust.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Riki
* Smoke Cloud prevents Shukuchi and
Time Lapse, leaving Weaver helpless against Riki.
* The Swarm is ineffective against Riki because invisibility instantly removes the beetles.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)Riki
* He won't be around waiting for Medusa to Stone Gaze and pin him until she bears a true sight.
* With Smoke Screen, Riki will silence and catch Medusa in a surprise with high miss chance flushing her from positions easily in team fights.
* He can still deal huge amount of damage through Cloak and Dagger via backstabs, drying out Medusa's protection at a whim.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Riki
* Spectral Dagger follows Riki even after he goes invisible and stays on him through
Tricks of the Trade, revealing his location.
* Desolate grants Spectre the ability to damage Riki with right clicks regardless of
Smoke Screen's blind.
* Riki relies on his high damage to kill is opponents, which is countered by Dispersion.
* Haunt can find Riki globally at any time, negating much of his ganking potential.
Riki
* Riki's Smoke Screen can make it hard for Spectre to escape or burst down Riki with auto attacks.
* Riki can build Aghanim's Scepter and jump inside an allied carry or offlane tank with
Tricks of the Trade to do a lot of damage to Spectre while completely avoiding
Dispersion.
* Riki is great at destroying supports which are often needed to keep Spectre safe until she comes online. He can take them down quickly in team fights, which will leave Spectre alone against your whole team, a fight that she will most likely not win.
* While on Tricks of the Trade, Riki does not take damage from
Dispersion.
Winter Wyvern
* Arctic Burn makes it nearly impossible for Spectre to juke into the trees.
* Cold Embrace negates all of Spectre's physical damage. Furthermore, Cold Embrace will generally outheal
Desolate.
* Winter's Curse can taunt illusions, not only wasting the entire duration of
Haunt but also turning its illusions against Spectre's own team.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Riki
* Smoke Screen prevents Storm Spirit from using his abilities once inside the radius. Riki can utilize this ability to allow his team to fight around
Smoke Screen so that Storm Spirit cannot spam his spells to proc
Overload.
Additional:
* Smoke Cloud prevents Storm Spirit from using any of his offensive and defensive spells, rendering him unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Riki
* Riki is known for being a successful support killer, and not just for show. He can give you one hell of a time by constantly picking you off and/or forcing you to stick close to the rest of the team.
* Smoke Screen is particularly devastating to Shadow Shaman. With neither his various disables nor a solid health pool Shadow Shaman is usually dead. Consider a force staff if you find yourself in this scenario (to force yourself out of the cloud before shackling Riki) and buy sentry wards if you have the money.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace protects Reality Rift targets.
* Winter's Curse turns Phantasm illusions against Chaos Knight or a teammate.
* Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Phantasm illusions.
* Arctic Burn's percentage-based damage quickly wears down Chaos Knight's high max health.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern can make Chaos Knight's illusions attack the real one, provided the player knows who it is.
* Alternatively, Winter's Curse can make Chaos Knight and all his illusions attack one of his allies.
* Cold Embrace protects ally who is focused by Chaos Knight.
* Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Chaos Knight's illusions.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Winter Wyvern
* Arctic Burn allows Winter Wyvern to escape Lycan, even when he uses his ultimate.
* Splinter Blast is very effective in dealing with Lycan's summons.
* Cold Embrace saves allies from Lycan's raw physical damage and can buy allies enough time to turn the tide of battle.
* Winter's Curse stops Lycan in his tracks and is very effective because of his summons.
Additional:
* All of Lycan's damage is physical which is totally negated by Cold Embrace.
* Lycan often moves around with large amount of creeps, wolves created by Summon Wolves and neutral creep dominated by
Helm of the Dominator which can be easily cleared by Splinter Blast or used as a great source of damage by Winter's Curse. If you catch Lycan with creeps nearby and affected by
Shapeshift using Winter's Curse on him will most certainly end up with his death.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 2%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace mitigates Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* Winter's Curse can turn Beastmaster's summons and Inner Beast against his teammate.
Additional:
* Beastmaster's summons and Inner Beast are very useful to attack his cursed teammate.
* Cold Embrace effectively mitigates Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 5%)Riki
* Smoke Screen combined with
Diffusal Blade leaves Arc Warden effectively useless for a while as he struggles to escape the silence with low mobility.
* With Arc Warden's low mobility, Tricks of the Trade often deal decent damage to him before he moves out of it.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Riki
* Chen is basically Riki's natural prey: he has little HP, low armor and relies on his persuaded creeps to fight, which in most situations will not save Chen from Riki. Just be wary of {U:Centaur Conqueror}, who can stun Riki outside of Smoke Screen and ruin his attempt at Chen's life.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 24%)Riki
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Winter Wyvern
* Heroes with the ability to heal allies, or those with good defensive abilities: Chen,
Dazzle,
Io,
Oracle,
Omniknight,
Witch Doctor,
Winter Wyvern,
Abaddon, etc.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Riki
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can use neither Blink nor
Manta Style to escape from Smoke Cloud.
* Even if he activates a Black King Bar, his
Manta Style illusions will still be blinded by Smoke Cloud.
* Riki has a very small mana pool and generally doesn't buy many items that increase it, making Mana Void ineffective.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 7%)Riki
* Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with
Phase Shift
* Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Chaos Knight with
Phantasm
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Tusk with
Snowball
* Juggernaut with
Omnislash
* Brewmaster with
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with
Infest
* Phoenix with
Supernova
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Winter Wyvern
* 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
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Riki
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility: Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
* Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her close-range bursts with Bedlam.
* Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse turns Morphling's high attack damage and attack speed against his targeted teammate.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Riki
* Another great threat to Riki since her Duel forces him to fight from the front and expose him for the entire duration, almost always guaranteeing an easy win (unless Riki has allies helping him).
Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace saves allies from dying in Duels.
* Winter's Curse turns Legion Commander's high damage against her allies, giving the enemy team little time to react.
* However, Winter Wyvern lanes very poorly against Legion Commander due to Press the Attack removing all the debuffs she can give. Winter Wyvern also has little chances of surviving if she gets Dueled herself.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is very effective against Duel.
* Also, casting Winter's Curse at Legion Commander while an ally is in a
Duel will stun her for most of the duration, possibly preventing lethal damage dealt to your ally. It can also turn her high-damage against her teammate.
Riki
* Heroes with abilities that blind or cause Legion Commander to miss will prevent her from winning Duels: Arc Warden,
Keeper of the Light,
Riki,
Tinker
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Riki
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Riki
* Riki is another good hero to shutdown Death Prophet with
Diffusal Blade as his core item. His
Smoke Screen stops her from initiating and casting spells.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter Wyvern's
Arctic Burn can also be a useful tool against Centaur, who generally has very high health.
Winter's Curse on Centaur can cause Retaliate to damage allies who are forced to attack him.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Riki
* Careful not to blink into Riki's
Smoke Screen or
Night Stalker's
Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Riki
* Riki and
Disruptor:
Smoke Screen and
Static Storm can be thrown wherever Puck used Phase Shift, making Puck an easy target if it doesn't have Blink Dagger or is on cooldown. Puck is also very susceptible to Riki's high attack damage when attacking from the back. Glimpse also prevents Puck from escaping.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Riki
* 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.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Winter Wyvern
* Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse works very well against the increased attack speed from Bloodlust.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Riki
* Heroes that have superior mobility that can easily catch up with Mirana even after she used Leap to escape: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Riki.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 12%)Riki
* Heroes with silences: Puck,
Doom,
Riki.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Riki
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility: Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Winter Wyvern
* Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 3%)Riki
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some Heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through his allies and deal with him, preventing him from doing his job. Such heroes include Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Riki, and more.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Winter Wyvern
* Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 16%)Riki
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away: Riki,
Bounty Hunter.
Riki
* Bulwark is generally irrelevant against Riki as he primarily deals bonus damage from behind.
Additional:
* Blink Strike gives bonus backstab damage. Along with
Tricks of the Trade it completely bypasses Bulwark.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Riki
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (Riki,
Bounty Hunter,
Weaver, or
Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to
Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that
Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
Riki
* Smoke Screen effectively disables Crystal Maiden's channeling spell: Freezing Field.
* Due to her low health and armor throughout the game, Riki can kill her easily.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Riki
* Heroes with high base damage (Morphling,
Tiny,
Drow Ranger), heroes with mana burning abilities (
Anti-Mage), and
Diffusal Blade users (
Juggernaut or
Riki) will suffer from Reflection's illusions.
Winter Wyvern
* Terrorblade and his illusions deal huge damage, which might used against him and his team with Winter's Curse.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Riki
* In general, heroes who are melee with no way to fight back can be very easily poked by Monkey King to gain his Jingu Mastery stacks: Dark Seer,
Riki,
Rubick.
Riki
* Heroes with blind of some sort can be a bad choice for Monkey King to go on: Broodmother,
Riki,
Keeper of the Light.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Riki
* Pit of Malice prevents Riki from casting
Blink Strike. or
Tricks of the Trade.
* Atrophy Aura reduces Riki's damage.
* Firestorm can be used to harrass Riki in lane.
Winter Wyvern
* Winter's Curse and
Splinter Blast can devastate Underlord's team when they're grouped up for Dark Rift.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Riki
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as Bounty Hunter,
Clinkz,
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin and
Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
Winter Wyvern
* Any hero that can nullify effects of Chronosphere: (Keeper of the Light with
Aghanim's Scepter during daytime,
Winter Wyvern), banishing him or Faceless Void (
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Earth Spirit with
Aghanim's Scepter) or protecting him in other ways (
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Abaddon) can greatly limit Chronosphere's potential.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace makes its target immovable, allowing Ancient Apparition to easily land Ice Blast, or a Cold Feet stun.
* Ice Blast also negates healing from Cold Embrace.
Additional:
* Ice Blast disables the healing component of Cold Embrace, making it essentially a 4 second stun on an ally and a perfect setup for Ice Blast.
* If Cold Feet is cast on an Allied hero affected by Cold Embrace, it will almost guarantee the Ally comes out stunned.
Riki
* Riki can get on top of Ancient Apparition very easily with Blink Strike. This can also double as a way to dodge Ice Blast, along with
Tricks of the Trade.
* Ancient Apparition will frequently resort to casting Ice Blast right before dying. Smoke Screen can be used to prevent this, stopping Ancient Apparition from having any impact.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Winter Wyvern
* Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast Winter's Curse on him. However, if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
Riki
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy Black King Bar.
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Riki
* Root is a deadly threat to Riki, disabling both Blink Strike and
Tricks of the Trade while making him fully revealed, making
Earthbind a good ability against him.
* Smoke Screen may not be able to silence all the Meepo clones.
* Riki has no true area damage, as Tricks of the Trade's damage is distributed between all Meepo clones, so he cannot effectively fight Meepo or deal with his strong ability to push unless Riki has
Battle Fury.
Winter Wyvern
* Winter's Curse in late game is pretty much the end for Meepo or any of his nearby allies. Natural counter for Winter's Curse like
Linken's Sphere or
Lotus Orb is meaningless to her if she can land it on one of your clones.
Additional:
* Meepo's clones usually gets grouped in teamfight making any of them ideal target for Winter's Curse, forcing Meepo to literally kill himself. Also unlike another hero he cannot protect himself with Linken's Sphere.
* While Meepo's clones are grouped up, Splinter Blast will hit almost every clone, slowing Meepo and making him easier to fight.
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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Riki
* Riki takes a lot of damage from
Purification while ganking Omniknight's allies or himself.
Heavenly Grace instantly purges the slow from
Diffusal Blade, while also providing a large amount of survivability for his victim.
Degen Aura can hinder Riki's positioning tactics and put a heavy toll on Riki's already poor movement speed.
Guardian Angel in combat.
*
*
* Omniknight can easily save his allies by using
Winter Wyvern
* Guardian Angel completely counters
Winter's Curse if Omniknight is able to cast it.
Guardian Angel completely counters Winter's Curse, allowing his team to survive Winter Wyvern's initiation.
Purification and
Heavenly Grace are very useful against Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast as well.
Additional:
*
*