* 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.

* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.

* 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.

* Squishy heroes (Io, Crystal Maiden, Lina...), as Earth Spirit can deal tons of damage with Magnetize.

* 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.

* Thirst allows Bloodseeker to see where Io relocated to, should either Io or the tethered hero have low health.
* Rupture forces Io to stay in place, preventing it from using the Tether bonus movement speed to escape.

* Living Armor can be used to save a hero from a Relocate gank.

* Ignite has long duration damage-over-time and prevents Io from healing his Tethered ally.

* Charge of Darkness can be used to escape or counter-initiate against a Relocate gank.
* Greater Bash and Nether Strike is devastating due to Io's low armor, and can even knock it away from tethered target.

* 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.

* Lich's Chain Frost forces Io to give up providing buff to his ally with Tether or suffer devastating damage with his tethered ally.
* Lich could easily use Sinister Gaze to disable Io from getting away with Tether or Relocate.

* Lucent Beam can cancel Tether and Relocate.
* Moon Glaives and Eclipse make short work of Io and its tethered ally.

* Ice Blast prevents Io from healing the target.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Io from healing an ally with Tether and prevents healing from Overcharge
* Io is a common Mekansm builder which is useless if he is affected by Ice Blast.

* 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.

* Lightning Storm will usually hit both Io and its tethered target since both will be close enough for the lightning to jump.
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova hit all units near Leshrac, meaning he can do colossal damage to Io and its tethered target.
Additional:
* Lightning Storm will usually hit both Io and his Tethered target since both will be close enough for the lightning to jump. It can then be followed up by Split Earth.
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova hit all units near Leshrac, meaning he can do colossal damage to Io and his Tethered target.

* Glimpse directly negates Relocate.
Additional:
* Disruptor can always Glimpse back Io or his target after he Relocated nearby.
* Even better, thanks to the indicator on the ground, you can even preemptively drop Static Storm and Kinetic Field on the spot they will relocate to.
* Thunder Strike and Glimpse are also good tools to bring back an Io that Tethered away in the fog of war.

* Both Arcane Curse and Last Word punishes casters with spammable spells such as Sand King.
* As a strength caster, 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.

* 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.

* 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

* Grimstroke can catch Io and his ally easily with SoulBind as Io has a tendency to tether himself with an ally frequently.
* Io is highly vulnerable to disables. Hence, Grimstroke's Phantom's Embrace is a great ability to hinder Io's potential.
Additional:
* Soulbind can target both Io and its Tethered ally, allowing Grimstroke and his team to target both with single target spells. Should Io try to Relocate, Phantom's Embrace can stop its channel to prevent escape.

* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper

* Heroes with low armor and little mobility, like Huskar, Io, etc. will also have an unfortunate fate.

* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Io, Witch Doctor, etc.

* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe, Death Prophet, Phantom Lancer

* 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

* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe, Death Prophet, Phantom Lancer

* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper

* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like Io, Ancient Apparition, Keeper of the Light etc can die instantly from Tiny's magic burst.

* Strafe and Searing Arrows allow Clinkz to quickly kill Io due to its low armor.