Silencer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Sand King
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from 
Epicenter, especially if he initiates during the battle.
* 
Sand King can't dodge X Marks the Spot - Torrent combo by his abilities. Torrent drags him out of his 
Sand Storm
Ember Spirit
* Using 
X Marks the spot Kunkka can prevent Ember Spirit from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant, until he purchase 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or 
Linken's Sphere.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* With 
Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use 
Spiked Carapace with 
Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
* 
Mana Burn is also good, as Ember Spirit relies on his limited mana pool for the early to midgame.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by 
Flame Guard or 
Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
Sand King
* Deals damage over time: 
Venomancer, 
Huskar, 
Ember Spirit, 
Dark Seer, Sand King, 
Doom
* The nature of some abilities turn them into an easy target for a turnover from Spiked Carapace:
* Slow-moving projectiles: 
Skywrath Mage, 
Tinker, 
Necrophos
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling: 
Enigma, 
Crystal Maiden, 
Invoker, 
Shadow Fiend, 
Pugna, 
Keeper of the Light
* Deals damage over time: Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Sand King
* 
Zeus usually stays at the back in teamfight and it is hard for Sand King to find Zeus and knock him down before Zeus deals his damage.
* All Zeus abilities, especially 
Thundergod's Wrath, disables Sand King's 
Blink Dagger, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential.
* 
Lightning Bolt deals damage to Sand King in Sand Storm and reveals him, also interrupts channeling of Epicenter.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by 
Purification is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit, as well as a good way of saving teammates.
* 
Guardian Angel will temporarily save his allies from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that will get 
Orchid Malevolence to counter it.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 16%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit greatly relies on his spells to engage in battle. Drow Ranger can simply silence him with Gust and make him useless for a few seconds, which Ember Spirit cannot afford during a teamfight.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 6%)Sand King
* 
Ravage, being an AoE disable, cancels Epicenter's channeling from a long range, limiting his potential to counter-initiate.
* This can be remedied, however, by first using a 
Black King Bar, then channel Epicenter, then finally initiate with Blink Dagger.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Ember Spirit
* Faceless Void is one of the best heroes against Ember Spirit, providing a lot of ways of dealing with him. Ember Spirit becomes a lot weaker if affected by 
Time Dilation, as he can no longer spam Sleight of Fist.
* 
Chronosphere is also a reliable lockdown for Ember Spirit, although it can be evaded sometimes by Activate Fire Remnant. Additionally, Void can easily negate Sleight of Fist damage with 
Time Walk.
* And finally, Void is a great 
Diffusal Blade carrier. Not only 
Manabreak's physical damage not negated by Flame Guard, but it also burns Ember Spirit's mana. That, in turn, prevents him from escaping if he survived Chronosphere.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit does minimal damage to Huskar until the very late game.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Oracle can shut down both of Ember's early game abilities. Fortune's End can dispel Flame Guard on Ember Spirit and 
Searing Chains on allies.
* When Ember Spirit is affected by Fortune's End, his 
Fire Remnants move at 0 movement speed.
* Disarming him with Fate's Edict does affect Ember's 
Sleight of Fist ability, possibly making him useless for a few seconds in the late game without a dispel or spell immunity. This is especially good if he has a rapier or two. However, positioning for this is difficult when Ember plays far back.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Sand King
* Sand King has nothing to deal with 
Supernova, as none of his spells are effective.
* The damage-over-time abilities of Phoenix disable Sand King's Blink Dagger very often.
Techies
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit relies on his Fire Remnant to keep a steady push and then retreat to a safe distance. Keeping two or three patches of Remote Mines on a lane will severely impair him from pushing that lane without risking his life.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 15%)Ember Spirit
* 
Shadowraze can easily remove the protection from Flame Guard and kill Ember Spirit due to his low health.
* Ember Spirit is very vulnerable to physical damage from 
Necromastery.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 19%)Sand King
* Burrowstrike is one of the best and easiest steals for Rubick and Sand King should be careful when playing against him - it's much better to give away Sand Storm.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Ember Spirit
* Lion possesses two strong disables in 
Earth Spike and 
Hex and heavy magic burst with 
Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.
Additional:
* Ember lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game and often does not acquire any later, allowing Lion to Hex or Earth Spike him before he escapes through his Fire Remnant.
* Although Flame Guard can prevent magic damage, it does not stop Lion's disables, and Lion can usually break through it with Finger of Death.
Outworld Devourer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by 
Arcane Orb is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit.
* 
Astral Imprisonment fully negates all magic damage of Flame Guard and Searing Chains and will temporarily save himself from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that can counter these skills.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Sand King
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: 
Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, 
Queen of Pain.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Queen of Pain can be a good hero for dealing with Ember Spirit with Orchid Malevolence, her pure damage nuke in 
Sonic Wave and a slow in 
Shadow Strike. However, Queen of Pain can be punished by Ember Spirit, as his Searing Chains prevents her from getting 
Blink off.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* The general opinion that Doom can counter Ember Spirit with his 
Doom is a misconception, as Doom has a long cast animation, so an attentive Ember Spirit can easily dodge it if he has a Fire Remnant nearby. Doom is still an extremely effective early ganker however, as his 
Scorched Earth and 
Infernal Blade damage can quickly overwhelm Flame Guard's magic damage absorption, leaving Ember Spirit with no protection against them. Additional skills that Doom can get from Neutral creeps can also help bully Ember Spirit early. 
Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger on Doom can also help, providing a good way to apply Doom on Ember Spirit.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit cannot use his 
Activate Fire Remnant while Doomed to escape from Doom.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Ember Spirit
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, 
Lycan, 
Bloodseeker, 
Anti-Mage, 
Timbersaw
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 9%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Flame Guard provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Ember Spirit's low armor and health make him easy to kill quickly if a teammate can hold him down.
* If Clinkz has farmed an item that can disable, he can sneak up to and hunt down Ember Spirit while he farms or split pushes alone.
Sand King
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: 
Phantom Assassin, 
Clinkz, 
Sniper, 
Enchantress,...
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Sand King
* 
Rolling Boulder and 
Geomagnetic Grip allow Earth Spirit to easily stun and silence Sand King and interrupt the channeling of Epicenter, completely ruining his initiation.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities: Ember Spirit, 
Puck, 
Weaver
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Impetus will deal huge amounts of damage when he uses a Fire Remnant to escape.
* Flame Guard is useless against Impetus.
* Enchant dispels Flame guard.
Sand King
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin, Clinkz, Sniper, Enchantress,...
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Sand King
* 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.
Ember Spirit
* 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.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 4%)Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist with Battle Fury deals a lot of damage to Nature's Prophet's team if they stand close to his Treants, as well as killing all of his Treants and getting lots of gold.
* Ember Spirit with Fire Remnant and 
Boots of Travel can teleport and defend tower whenever Nature's Prophet tries to push.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit can easily deal with 
Nature's Call by using his Flame Guard and with Battle Fury. He also has multiple ways of escaping 
Sprout. Additionally, Ember Spirit can break Sprout's trees with Activate Fire Remnant and interrupt 
Teleportation with Searing Chains.
Sand King
* Sand King has many tools to deal with Nature's Prophet's treants.
* Sand King also can interrupt Teleportation with 
Burrowstrike.
Additional:
* With Caustic Finale, Sand King can easily kill the treants from Nature's Call.
* Burrowstrike allows Sand King to prevent Nature's Prophet from using Teleportation inside of his Sprout.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist keeps Ember Spirit invulnerable until he hits every unit in its area of effect allowing him to stall for large amounts of time against Broodmother and her large amounts of spiderlings, or potentially damaging them enough if equipped with an item to improve wave clearing such as Battle Fury or 
Maelstrom to prevent her pushes entirely.
* Flame Guard will damage any of Broodmother's spiders in an area, deterring her from attempting to kill him. It can also be used during Sleight of Fist to amplify damage done.
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit an escape from Broodmother that is unaffected by her Incapacitating Bite.
Sand King
* Caustic Finale allows Sand King to easily kill Broodmother's Spiderlings throughout the game.
* Sand King can usually catch a split pushing Broodmother with Blink Dagger and Burrowstrike.
Additional:
* Burrowstrike can be used as an escape or initiation against Broodmother.
* Sand Storm quickly kills any spiderlings caught inside if Sand King can manage to stun them.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 4%)Sand King
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin, Clinkz, Sniper, Enchantress,...
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can close the distance between Sniper easily with his Activate Fire Remnant and further keep Sniper in place with Searing Chains.
* With the help of 
Aghanim's Scepter, Sniper cannot outrun Ember Spirit or chase him, even if Sniper builds mobility items.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Sand King
* Because of his massive AoE damage, Sand King is very effective against illusion heroes: 
Chaos Knight, 
Phantom Lancer, 
Terrorblade,...
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to illusion heroes like Terrorblade with Sleight of Fist. Terrorblade also has no way of preventing Ember Spirit from getting Activate Fire Remnant off. Additionally, Ember Spirit's ability to fight from long range as well as his wide skill set won't give many opportunities for Terrorblade to get 
Sunder off.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to Terrorblade and his illusions with Sleight of Fist.
* Terrorblade has no disable to lock down Ember Spirit and prevent him from escaping with Fire Remnant. In addition, he doesn't like purchasing disabling items, which are the only solutions to deal with Ember Spirit.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 7%)Sand King
* Because of his massive AoE damage, Sand King is very effective against illusion heroes: Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade,...
Additional:
* Sand King's massive area damage output, particularly Epicenter, allows him to quickly take down Chaos Knight and his illusions.
* He can apply 
Caustic Finale to illusions with attacks for extra damage.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit is evasive and can dodge close encounters with melee heroes like Chaos Knight. Ember Spirit can't be caught with the slow from 
Reality Rift, and Flame Guard and Sleight of Fist can bring 
Phantasm's illusions down quickly.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: 
Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, 
Nature's Prophet, Phantom Assassin, 
Riki, Anti-Mage, Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
Ember Spirit
* Meepo is quite fragile in the early game and can be easily taken down by Flame Guard's and Searing Chains' damage. Later on, Meepo is very vulnerable to Sleight of Fist's damage due to Battle Fury's cleave on multiple Meepos.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist boosted by Battle Fury and 
Daedalus makes quick work of Meepo if clones are crowded around each other.
* Searing Chains interrupts Meepo's initiating because Meepo's clones do not have spell immunity.
Sand King
* Burrowstrike can stun multiple Meepos, making them vulnerable targets.
* Epicenter and Sand Storm's AoE damage ensures all Meepo clones get damaged, making it hard for Meepo to choose which one to flee as all are taking damage at the same rate.
* Just be aware when using Sand Storm to escape, as Meepo has good AoE damage and disables, which, as explained in the "Bad Against" section, works well against an invisible Sand King.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 1%)Sand King
* Sand King and 
Phoenix has many tools to deal with a crowd of Heroes, which will work well against a crowd of illusions.
Ember Spirit
* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include 
Sven, 
Magnus, 
Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form, Ember Spirit (via item), Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Sand King
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, 
Jakiro, Pugna, 
Earthshaker,...
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower: Bloodseeker, Ember Spirit, 
Juggernaut, Phantom Assassin, Weaver.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Ember's magic damage build is able to burst down Alchemist due to his low strength gain and Alchemist's normal item pick up.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 22%)Sand King
* Phantom Assassin relies on her 
Blur to stay alive, but is very vulnerable to Sand King's heavy magic damage.
* With Burrowstrike, Sand King can often catch Phantom Assassin before she can use her Black King Bar.
* Sand King can dodge 
Stifling Dagger with Sandstorm.
* Phantom Assassin has a hard time killing Sand King because of his high mobility.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Disruption is not reliable enough to catch an Ember Spirit with a backup Fire Remnant.
* Sleight of Fist will make quick work of the spawned illusions.
* Ember Spirit usually builds Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Shadow Poison and Soul Catcher and Linken's Sphere to block Disruption and Demonic Purge.
* The best you can do against an Ember Spirit is to dispel his Flame Guard with your Demonic Purge.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains prevents usage of Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw is vulnerable to magical burst damage, which Ember Spirit provides with Fire Remnant and Flame Guard.
* Timbersaw's abilities deal pure damage, thus they cannot remove Flame Guard.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Sand King
* Sand King can quickly remove her 
Refraction with his Sand Storm.
* Once Refraction is down, she is very vulnerable to Epicenter's high magic damage.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 19%)Ember Spirit
* The high mobility provided by Fire Remnant makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire.
* Flame Guard deals considerable magical damage to Windranger.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard blocks Dark Willow's magical burst damage, and harms her if she tries to get close to attack with Bedlam.
* Sleight of Fist and Fire Remnant makes it hard for Dark Willow to fully disable Ember Spirit.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard makes Dark Seer not deal any damage with his skills to Ember Spirit.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit has much higher mobility in Fire Remnant than Void Spirit.
* Ember's Flame Guard is effective against Void Spirit's spells, as most of them deal magical damage.
* The root from Searing Chains prevents Void Spirit from using Dissimilate or Astral Step.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Sand King
* Burrowstrike and Sand Storm will deal a large amount of damage to Chen's creeps.
* Caustic Finale will quickly clear Chen's creeps at low health.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains can stop Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
* Activate Fire Remnant can be used to escape an approaching Spirit Breaker, or lead Spirit Breaker into a bad situation.
* Activate Fire Remnant and Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to dodge Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Ember Spirit
* A pre-placed Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape 
Upheaval.
* Flame Guard blocks 
Shadow Word's damage.
* Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to attack from range, ignoring Upheaval, and Searing Chains lets him interrupt it.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Ember Spirit
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and she's an easy target for him. She has no real disables that can lock Ember Spirit down, and all of her skill damage can be negated with Flame Guard. The damage from Searing Chains, Flame Guard, and Sleigh of Fist can easily take her down.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Fire Remnant is an easy way to escape from Clockwerk's Power Cogs.
* Flame Guard blocks most of the magical damage Clockwerk does.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 5%)Ember Spirit
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape while Ruptured.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 1%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit, 
Morphling, Ember Spirit
Ursa
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Sand King
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: 
Lifestealer, 
Night Stalker, 
Ursa,...
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (
Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has Battle Fury.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit, Riki, Clinkz, Queen of Pain.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit with Sleight of Fist and Activate Fire Remnant
* 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: 9%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, 
Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder work, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Sand King
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, Earthshaker,...
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Sand King
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, Earthshaker,...
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 19%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut: Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, 
Slark etc.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Sand King
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven, 
Omniknight, Enigma, 
Luna, Naga Siren, 
Mars, Jakiro, Venomancer, 
Elder Titan, 
Faceless Void, 
Rubick, Keeper of the Light, Pugna, Invoker, 
Spectre, 
Alchemist, 
Treant Protector, 
Lina, 
Oracle, Zeus, 
Shadow Shaman, Phoenix, 
Razor, Huskar, 
Batrider, 
Kunkka, 
Tidehunter, 
Wraith King, Sand King.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Sand King
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer, Night Stalker, Ursa,...
Razor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Ember Spirit
* Any hero with teleport abilities (e.g. Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit) can easily break Static Link.
Slark
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Sand King
* 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.
Sand King
* He has a hard time killing Sand King because of the survivability he gets from Burrowstrike and Sand Storm.
* 
Shadow Dance, which usually allows Slark to survive fights, is ineffective against Sand King's AoE damage.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Sand King
* Lifestealer's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.
Sand King
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer, Night Stalker, Ursa,...
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Ember Spirit
* Storm Spirit is not only a potent Orchid Malevolence carrier, his 
Electric Vortex provides an additional disable and 
Overload provides a great slow. When paired with 
Static Remnant, they can cut through Flame Guard fast.
* 
Ball Lightning not only provides great initiation upon Ember Spirit from any position anytime, but also helps dodge Sleight of Fist.
Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard absorbs up to 500 magical damage (700 with Level 10 talents), which helps Ember Spirit survive and react to Storm Spirit's high magical damage.
* Searing Chains can root enemies up to 3 seconds, making Storm Spirit unable to escape with Ball Lightning.
* Fire Remnant deals high magical damage when casting multiple instances at once, granting Ember Spirit the damage to burst Storm Spirit down in the early to mid game.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 6%)Sand King
* Pugna's 
Nether Ward damages Sand King when he channels Epicenter, preventing him from using Blink Dagger afterward.
Sand King
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, Earthshaker,...
Ember Spirit
*
Global Silence and 
Last Word can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.
Glaives of Wisdom also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.
Arcane Curse is also a potent harassing tool in the laning stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.
*
*
Sand King
* Both
Arcane Curse and 
Last Word punishes casters with spammable spells such as Sand King.
Intelligence Steal reduces Sand King's mana pool even more.
Global Silence silences Sand King, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential. It can also interrupt channeling of Epicenter.
* As a strength caster,
*