* 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.

* 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.

* Finger of Death's burst damage can kill him due to his low health pool, and Ethereal Blade only makes it worse. If Lion purchased an Aghanim's Scepter, the situation only grows worse.
* If Meepo ganks Lion with Poof and Earthbind, he will be an easy target for Earth Spike & AoE Hex from his level 25 talent.

* 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.

* 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.

* Heroes that can kill Death Prophet with nukes can prevent her from using Exorcism to its full duration or using it at all: Lina, Lion, Puck, Morphling.

* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden, Skywrath Mage etc)

* Lion's disables are also really effective against channeling Heroes, like Enigma or Crystal Maiden.

* 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.

* 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.

* Mana Drain rapidly saps Morphling's already low mana pool, making him unable to use Waveform or Adaptive Strike. Additionally, Hex prevents these abilities as well.
* An Earth Spike and Finger of Death combo can burst an unwary Morphling down if he has his strength fully shifted to agility.

* Lion will continuously Mana Drain Tiny, depleting his small mana pool for his abilities.
* Hex will keep Tiny from using his high damage spells and attack damage.

* Medusa lacks mobility or escape mechanisms. Earth Spike and Hex can neutralize her strong damage potential and allow for Lion's team to focus her down.
* In addition to easily breaking her commonly bought Linken's Sphere with its low cooldown, Mana Drain can quickly drain her Mana Shield, making her far less tanky.

* Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Lion has used all his crowd control before entering a fight. His direct magic burst also makes Brewmaster's Drunken Brawler worthless versus Lion.

* With a lot of disables with good range, he might cancel your Echo Stomp.
* Mana Drain can be used to drain Elder Titan's already low mana pool.

* Both Hex and Mana Drain destroys Naga Siren's illusions in an instant, making it hard to teamfight or push against a team with Lion. If Lion chooses the AoE effect talent for Hex or the multi-target Mana Drain, it can negate her pushing potential entirely.
* Earth Spike is an AoE disable with good damage. If used well, it can help distinguish the true Naga Siren by the damage they take (illusions take more damage).

* 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.

* Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* In addition, Lion can follow up with his Earth Spike and Mana Drain combo, preventing Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain. And he can finish Timbersaw off with Finger of Death if the latter's HP is low enough.

* Wraith King has a very low mana pool and depends on it to cast Reincarnation. Mana Drain will render him useless.
* Wraith King has very low mobility, making it easy for Lion to disable and harass him.
Additional:
* While not being able to confront Wraith King by himself, Lion's Mana Drain helps in draining Wraith King's mana, preventing him from reincarnating.
* Lion's Earth Spike and Hex provide decent lockdown against Wraith King as well, preventing the latter from benefiting from Vampiric Aura bonuses.

* Hex and Mana Drain can be used to immediately destroy Spectre's illusion when she Haunts. A fast fingered Lion can protect himself and a teammate.
* Hex and Earth Spike are good lockdown spells to control and kill Spectre, especially if she doesn't buy defensive items like Linken's Sphere and Black King Bar.
* Finger of Death can be used to burst down Spectre when she is low on life as she has very poor magic resistance.

* 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.

* Drow has a very low health pool, allowing Lion to burst her down.
* Drow has no innate escape mechanism, making her an easy target for Lion's disables.
* Lion should be wary of Drow's Gust however, as he has no natural means to deal with it.

* 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

* Shadow Fiend can still dish out heavy damage with Requiem of Souls and Shadowraze while caught in Pit of Malice.

* Hex and Earth Spike can hold Clinkz down, giving him no chance to use Black King Bar or Skeleton Walk.
* Finger of Death quickly kills Clinkz, due to his low health.

* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage, Nyx Assassin and Keeper of the Light.

* Heroes with nukes: Bane, Lich, Lion, Skywrath Mage

Additional:
* Enchantress is very fragile without any form of magic resistance, allowing Lion to easily burst her down.
* Nature's Attendants is a slow heal, making it ineffective against Lion's burst.
* Enchantress lacks any escape mechanism apart from her raw movement speed, allowing Lion to disable her.
* Since Lion's damage comes mostly from his skills, Untouchable does nothing to mitigate it.

* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina, Lion, Zeus

* Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.

* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slarks poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina, Lion, Zeus

* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, and Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, and Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.

* 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.

* Heroes with high burst damage through their physical attacks or spells can kill Dazzle or his allies before he has a chance to use Shallow Grave. (Lina, Lion, etc.)

* In general, heroes such as Lion, Silencer, Skywrath Mage, Sven, Ogre Magi and others with reliable disables are crucial to killing Techies before they can suicide.

* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets especially fragile Heroes like Keeper of the Light, Ancient Apparition, or Bounty Hunter.

* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion, Anti-Mage, Nyx Assassin

* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, and Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, and Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.

Additional:
* Mana Drain is a real problem to Chaos Knight early game, considering his already low mana pool.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Finger of Death is an AoE ability, which can deal a tremendous amount of damage to his illusions.
* Hex with a level 25 talent instantly disposes Chaos Knight's illusions.

* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus, Tinker, Leshrac, Viper, Skywrath Mage, Lion, Lina, Venomancer.

* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden, Skywrath Mage etc)

* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion, Lina, Skywrath Mage

* All of Lion's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Hex and Mana Drain can make quick work of whatever illusions you're creating, especially when he acquires his Talents as level 20 and 25.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Earth Spike or Finger of Death with Aghanim's Scepter for the enemy.

* Lion has two low cast point disables (Hex and Earth Spike) to control Ursa before he buys a Black King Bar.
* Hex is one of the few abilities that cannot be dispelled even with an Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enrage.
* Lion can control Ursa's low mana pool via Mana Drain.

* Despite her high mobility, Hex or Earth Spike can lock Phantom Assassin down and make her vulnerable.
* Although she has high evasion through Blur, Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to Lion's magical burst.
Additional:
* Hex and Earth Spike's fast cast animations easily catches Phantom Assassin when she jumps in to attack.
* Finger of Death often ends Phantom Assassin before she can do anything in the early to mid game.

* Shadow Fiend is mostly played as right-click carry and natural Black King Bar carrier, making Silencer's spells very ineffective against him.

* Although Weaver can potentially Time Lapse out of any burst, Weaver has a fragile health pool, and Lion's disables can kill him before.
* Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game. Mana Drain can deplete him of mana and lessen his early game presence.
* Earth Spike can be point targeted and hits through Shukuchi to make him vulnerable.
* Linken's Sphere is easily broken by targeted spells with low cooldown.

* Mana Drain depletes Nercophos' mana pool, preventing him from using his abilities.
* Finger of Death deals high magical damage, which becomes amplified by Ghost Shroud.

* On his own, Rubick can't do much to Shadow Fiend. However, Shadow Fiend can easily run Rubick over with his right-clicks and multiple Shadowrazes.
* Presence of the Dark Lord lowers Rubick's already low armor even further.
* Shadowraze can be somewhat risky to use if stolen, as two of them require Rubick to get up close, which is something Rubick doesn't like doing.

* High priority targets like Queen of Pain, Drow Ranger and even Anti-Mage can't get caught out from Lion's long range disables.

* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman, Lion

* Any heroes with stuns or silences: Death Prophet, Lion, Shadow Shaman, Skywrath Mage

* Heroes with long disables, like Lion, Night Stalker, or Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.

* Lion's disables are also really effective against channeling Heroes, like Enigma or Crystal Maiden.

* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage, Nyx Assassin and Keeper of the Light.

* Heroes with silences and hard stuns such as Doom, Silencer, and Lion can keep Mirana from Leaping away.