Ursa
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Razor
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Fiend
* Static Link can steal Shadow Fiend's high physical damage output from
Necromastery, lowering his damage output, and Static Link cannot be prevented by
Black King Bar.
* Plasma Field and
Eye of the Storm can melt down Shadow Fiend easily, due to his low health.
Bristleback
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Additional:
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend, a normal Shadow Blade builder often relies on its invisibility to escape fights. Corrosive Haze reveals Shadow Fiend and also weakens his already low armor.
Bristleback
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Nethertoxin disables
Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his defensive passive, Bristleback also loses his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
Additional:
* 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.
Shadow Fiend
* 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.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing
Warpath.
* If Doom gets an Aghanim's Scepter, he can disable
Bristleback and
Warpath, taking away much of his durability and damage potential in team fights.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With
Aghanim's Scepter, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
Shadow Fiend
* Doom has several disable abilities to choose from jungle creeps (e.g. War Stomp,
Ensnare) to deal with Shadow Fiend who lacks escape abilities.
* When Doom combines creep abilities with Scorched Earth,
Infernal Blade, and
Doom, Shadow Fiend most likely will die as he cannot use Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls to protect himself, and also cannot even flee by using
Shadow Blade or
Blink Dagger.
* Although Shadow Fiend has a high physical damage output, Doom has a large health pool to survive it, meaning Doom's combo with high magical damage output will shutdown Shadow Fiend first.
* Doom usually buys Radiance to improve his damage, making his nuke combo more deadly to Shadow Fiend. The blind also prevents Shadow Fiend from landing his attacks often.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from the Bristleback passive.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck,
Weaver.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback's small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* Mana Break removes both a percentage and flat amount of your mana, preventing you from using abilities in the lane.
* Blink Anti-Mage has very high mobility with this skill, and can easily escape from you since you have no way to prevent his blink. He can also use this offensively to get in front of you during fights.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Fiend
* The Reflection of Shadow Fiend cause Presence of the Dark Lord to affect Shadow Fiend, reducing his armor and making it easier for Terrorblade to kill him. Shadow Fiend also doesn't have lots of survivability or control abilities in order to escape.
* If Shadow Fiend chooses to go for a physical damage item build, he'll have a hard time against Terrorblade's high armor.
Bristleback
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 14%)Bristleback
* Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
* Finger of Death deals high damage to Bristleback, and only triggers his passive once.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
Bristleback
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or
Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Heroes who deal single instance burst damage will only proc Bristleback once: Lina,
Lion.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Fiend
* Because Shadow Fiend lacks escaping mechanisms, and is dependent on fair positioning for channeling Requiem of Souls, it's easier for Warlock with his long range crowd control abilities to lock Shadow Fiend down for his team.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Fiend
* Void can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Crippling Fear prevents Shadow Fiend from using Shadowraze or Requiem of Souls.
* With Dark Ascension and
Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Shadow Fiend easily. He is also a tanky hero that can fight Shadow Fiend at any stage of the game.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 12%)Shadow Fiend
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls or spam Shadowraze.
Additional:
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls and his
Shadowraze.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Fiend
* Enfeeble can be used to decrease Shadow Fiend's already abysmal level one damage even further, preventing him from getting farm and Necromastery stacks.
* Brain Sap allows Bane to heavily harass Shadow Fiend.
* Nightmare allows Bane to set up some early ganks onto Shadow Fiend.
* Fiend's Grip enables Bane to completely take Shadow Fiend out of a fight and potentially even kill him, even through
Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Enfeeble can be used to decrease Shadow Fiend's already abysmal level one damage even further, preventing him from getting farm and Necromastery stacks.
* Brain Sap allows Bane to heavily harass Shadow Fiend.
* Nightmare allows Bane to set up some early ganks onto Shadow Fiend.
* Fiend's Grip enables Bane to completely take Shadow Fiend out of a fight and potentially even kill him, even through
Black King Bar.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Fiend
* Berserker's Call and
Counter Helix allow Axe to kill Shadow Fiend if he stands too close to a creep wave.
* Battle Hunger is very strong against Shadow Fiend in the early game because Shadow Fiend's low attack damage makes it hard for him to get last hits.
* Axe's naturally high strength and health regeneration will be enough to tank a lot of Shadow Fiend's damage in the early game.
Bristleback
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Bristleback
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive
Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
Additional:
* Reaper's Scythe and
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
Bristleback
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Arc Lightning allows Zeus to get farm in lane against Shadow Fiend without coming into the range of his Shadowrazes.
* Lightning Bolt can be used to heavily harass Shadow Fiend when he tries to get a last hit.
* Thundergod's Wrath and
Lightning Bolt can be used to detect Shadow Fiend if he tries to escape with
Shadow Blade.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* The blind from Laser prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Scythe of Vyse can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
* A combination of Tinker's abilities and his items (like the Dagon 5 and
Ethereal Blade combo) can kill Shadow Fiend quickly.
Additional:
* During the laning stage Laser will reduce Shadow Fiend's last hits, preventing him from getting Necromastery souls.
* Shadow Fiend has low health and is vulnerable to Tinker's high magic burst.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
Additional:
* Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* Chronosphere allows allies to reposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Void from using Time Walk.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend's fragility and lack of a natural escape mechanism makes him a great target for Templar Assassin's Meld.
* Shadow Fiend's burst damage, such as Shadowraze and
Requiem of Souls, is easily nullified by her Refraction.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Sharpshooter deals massive damage to Bristleback and applies a high duration disable on his passive.
* Bushwhack and
Scurry can be used to easily kite Bristleback.
Additional:
* Bristleback and
Warpath can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time, reducing his both offense and defense.
* Scurry and
Bushwhack can be used to kite bristleback.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
* Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
Additional:
* When dueled, Bristleback will have to face Legion head on, not allowing his passive Bristleback to come into effect.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Shadow Fiend
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's
Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and
Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowrazes.
Additional:
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowraze.
* Assassinate can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls if he is not a target.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Spirit Breaker's
Nether Strike with
Aghanim's Shard disables Bristleback's passives.
Shadow Fiend
* Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to gank Shadow Fiend in the early game, preventing him from getting Necromastery stacks.
* Nether Strike and
Charge of Darkness can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
Bristleback
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Glimpse and
Kinetic Field allows Disruptor to set up some early kills onto Shadow Fiend.
* Static Storm can be used to cancel the cast of Requiem of Souls.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend's lack of mobility and low base health make him an easy target for early ganks.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Bristleback
* Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Fiend
* Requiem of Souls is easily interrupted by Boundless Strike, due to its long cast time.
* Shadow Fiend's lack of mobility and escape makes him an easy target to ambush with Primal Spring, especially during laning stage.
* Being close means he cannot use all three razes on you before you get your Jingu Mastery stacks.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* Kraken Shell dispels both Shadowraze's damage amplification stacks and Requiem of Soul's damage reduction (provided Tidehunter has taken enough damage).
* Ravage cancels Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend isn't protected by
Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Kraken Shell dispels the damage amplification stacks of Shadowraze as well as the damage reduction from
Requiem of Souls (provided he has taken enough damage).
* Anchor Smash reduces Shadow Fiend's large attack damage, Kraken Shell makes Tidehunter the last target Shadow Fiend wants to attack.
* Ravage can easily cancel Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend isn't protected by
Black King Bar.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Whirling Death deals damage as well while reducing 15% of Bristleback's strength, which reduces Bristleback's tankiness.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Shadow Fiend
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon,
Shadow Fiend,
Venomancer,
Ancient Apparition etc.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Tanky melee heroes that can easily be kited, which allows Outworld Destroyer to deal heavy damage with Arcane Orb from a distance: Sven,
Underlord,
Bristleback.
Additional:
* Sanity's Eclipse only triggers Bristleback's passive once, and deals high damage against Bristleback's low intelligence.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 17%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Fiend
* Squishy core heroes (Shadow Fiend,
Sniper, etc)
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes who lack escape mechanisms or disables are all easy targets for Phantom Assassin if they are not careful. Look for Luna,
Venomancer and
Shadow Fiend and try to catch them off guard.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Fiend
* Shuriken Toss can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Shadow Walk and
Jinada allow Bounty Hunter to gank Shadow Fiend early on
* Track prevents Shadow Fiend from escaping with
Shadow Blade.
Additional:
* Bounty Hunter can absolutely destroy a Shadow Fiend's game by ganking his midlane with Shadow Walk, Jinada and Shuriken Toss.
* If his lane goes bad, a Shadow Fiend usually goes to the jungle. Follow him with Shadow Walk and take half of his experience.
* Due to its ministun, Shuriken Toss is a good way to interrupt Shadow Fiend's long cast animation on Requiem of Souls.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's
Viscous Nasal Goo can catch and slow Bounty Hunter.
Warpath and
Quill Spray can defeat him quickly due to his small HP pool when compared to Bristleback's.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend can easily focus down and kill one of the Meepos.
* The amount of damage from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells makes Meepo vulnerable in every aspect.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Bristleback
* Bristleback reduces most of Broodmother's and her spiderlings' damage.
* Quill Spray will hit any spiders in its proximity, hindering Broodmother's fighting and farming capabilities.
Additional:
* Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
Shadow Fiend
* Spiderlings are a good source of souls for Necromastery and can be quickly killed with
Shadowraze.
* Shadow Fiend is a natural Black King Bar carrier, protecting him from Incapacitating Bite.
* Requiem of Souls combined with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity can potentially kill Broodmother before she gets a Black King Bar
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend can easily farm his treants and get easy Necromastery Stacks.
* If Shadow Fiend buys Boots of Travel and
Shadow Blade, he can counteract Nature's Prophet's split-push.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar {Hero ID:Terrorblade}
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar {Hero ID:Terrorblade}
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Fiend
* 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: 17%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
Slark
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend can still dish out heavy damage with Requiem of Souls and
Shadowraze while caught in Pit of Malice.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 16%)Shadow Fiend
* If Mars lanes middle, Shadow Fiend can keep the lane pushed against him.
* Shadow Fiend can go an entirely magical based build, which is very effective against Mars.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadowraze (Near),
Shadowraze (Medium), and
Shadowraze (Far) can hit hard in the early stages of the game, and due to Shadow Fiend's high attack damage, most of Death Prophet's last hits will be denied in the laning phase. Additionally,
Requiem of Souls can deal massive damage or kill Death Prophet at the start of team fights in combination with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or
Shadow Blade.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend usually buys a Hurricane Pike allowing him to easily escape from
Power Cogs.
* Shadow Fiend can farm Clockwerk's Power Cogs to gain Necromastery stacks.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* 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.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or
Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)Bristleback
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 19%)Bristleback
* Tiny's nonexistent armor in the early game makes him very vulnerable to Quill Spray's large amounts of physical damage.
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can slow Tiny to a crawl and allows Bristleback to easily kite him with his high movement speed and Quill Spray's long range, as Tiny has no ability to escape.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Bristleback
* 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.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* 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:
* 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 quickly 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.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
Additional:
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and
Quill Spray and
Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
Additional:
* The damage from Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
* Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and
Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)Bristleback
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Fiend
* Dragon Tail can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Breathe Fire reduces Shadow Fiend's damage even further.
* Dragon Knight's high strength and
Dragon Blood means that he'll be able to tank Shadow Fiend's right clicks.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend's
Presence of the Dark Lord reduces Dragon Knight's armor considerably, and his strong base attacks are augmented by his
Necromastery.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities will not only proc Bristleback's passive continuously, they will also do little harm to him when he is facing away from the source: Venomancer,
Arc Warden
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities will not only proc Bristleback's passive continuously, they will also do little harm to him when he is facing away from the source: Venomancer,
Arc Warden
Additional:
* Arc Warden has relatively lower armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
* Arc Warden also does not like to build a Silver Edge as it takes a long time to build up and may slow down the timings for other important items needed in the game. (eg. an
Orchid Malevolence versus a
Storm Spirit)
* However, do note that in a game where your team has many jumping capabilities or good passives, like a Tidehunter or
Spectre, a
Silver Edge becomes incredibly valuable on Arc Warden as not only can he run away from the jumps, he effectively gets 2 breaks, and Bristleback may not be the best pick.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with damage burst can often kill Chen or his allies before he can use Hand of God: Lina,
Techies,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Nyx Assassin.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 24%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Bristleback
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor and poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Additional:
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
Bristleback
* 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.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's constant harass from Quill Spray will greatly hurt his laning.
* However, assuming Bristleback's back is not turned on Enigma, Midnight Pulse will shred through Bristleback's tankiness. Combined with Aghanim's scepter, Bristleback is just as squishy as any other hero and his tankiness is severely mitigated.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* Lucent Beam and
Eclipse with ministun talent can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend does not have
Black King Bar.
* Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing allow Luna to outfarm Shadow Fiend in lane.
* A well timed Eclipse will burst and kill Shadow Fiend before he even gets a chance to retaliate, especially when equipped with
Aghanim's Scepter and
Ethereal Blade, this could become even worse for Shadow Fiend if he does not have
Black King Bar.
* Even though Shadow Fiend can evade all of Luna's abilities with Shadow Blade, a smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Shadow Fiend to her and her team.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray and
Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback withstands Luna’s nukes, and gives lots of damage in return.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and
Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of Crimson Guard, which is good protection from bouncing glaives.
Additional:
* Multiple instances of damage from Eclipse will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly in a short time, dealing tremendous damage to Luna and her teammates.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck,
Weaver.
Bristleback
* Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Bristleback
* Bristleback will not be able to cast Viscous Nasal Goo or
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing
Warpath charges from stacking.
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
Additional:
* Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
* Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback .
* Last Word and
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend is mostly played as right-click carry and natural Black King Bar carrier, making Silencer's spells very ineffective against him.
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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Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness doesn't help him very much against Fury Swipes in long teamfights.
* With no escape mechanism and a slow movement speed, getting jumped on by Ursa usually spell a quick end for Bristleback in the early game.
Shadow Fiend
*
Earthshock prevents Shadow Fiend from escaping after Ursa used his
Blink Dagger to get on top of him.
Overpower and
Fury Swipes allow Ursa to quickly kill Shadow Fiend.
Enrage keeps Ursa alive in a manfight with Shadow Fiend and allows him to stay close, even if Shadow Fiend uses Requiem of Souls.
*
*