Pugna
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)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.
Sven
* Sven has no easy way to burn Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Sven
* Sven can be easily kited since Weaver is a natural Linken's Sphere carrier and Sven relies on
Storm Hammer to disable and kill a hero.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck,
Weaver.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)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 Shadowraze.
* Assassinate can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls if he is not a target.
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 Shadowrazes.
Sven
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
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.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)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 skills in order to escape.
* If Shadow Fiend chooses to go for a right-click build, he'll have a hard time against Terrorblade's high armor.
Sven
* Sunder will make Sven a very easy kill if he gets it of on him.
* Terrorblade likes to go late game with his high attack damage, range and agility items.
Sven
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother.
Additional:
* Great Cleave with
God's Strength clears Terrorblade's illusions quickly.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stuns Terrorblade and his illusions.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 18%)Sven
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven,
Lifestealer,
Ursa and
Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck,
Weaver.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Sven
* Some heroes, such as Necrophos can be an issue if not initiated onto by Sven first.
Additional:
* His Heartstopper Aura deals the same gradual damage over time no matter how high Sven builds his strength or health pool up, and should he fall down to a certain percentage, his high health will no longer matter if Necrophos manages to land his Reaper's Scythe, killing him instantly. But it is best if Necrophos can either catch him off guard before he can possibly use his Black King Bar (which is an item Sven players commonly purchase), or bait him out of it.
* Ghost Shroud prevents Sven from hitting Necrophos, and if he doesn't have his Storm Hammer available, it could make him completely immune to Sven and allow Necrophos to easily kite him around.
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.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
Sven
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by EMP: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Omniknight
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Sven
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* 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.
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.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* Primal Roar takes Sven out of the fight completely, even with Black King Bar.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* Static Link saps Sven's insane attack damage, and goes through
Black King Bar.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Fiend
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Sven
* Reincarnation helps Wraith King outlast Sven in fights, and wastes the duration of God's Strength.
* Wraithfire Blast's low cooldown allows Wraith King to stun Sven several times in a team fight.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Sven
* Whirling Axes (Melee)'s blind makes Sven nearly useless in the early game and allows Troll Warlord to him on comfortably.
* Battle Trance will mean Sven will never take Troll out in a 1vs1 with equal farm.
Additional:
* Berserker's Rage together with Troll Warlord's high attack speed gives Troll a high chance of rooting enemies, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Sven.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, and the passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll resilient to physical damage in early game. Sven's God's Strength is much less effective as a result.
* Beware that Sven can farm much faster than Troll Warlord by stacking ancients and clearing them with Great Cleave.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)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.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)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: 51% pickrate: 9%)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.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* 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.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)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.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Venomancer forces Sven to choose between using his Black King Bar or getting constantly slowed by his poison.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Undying can use Decay not only to reduce Sven's maximum health, but also to reduce the damage he can deal with his ultimate.
* Zombies spawned by Tombstone together with Flesh Golem slow Sven down significantly. Landing Sven's powerful but somewhat slow right-click on Tombstone would be a waste.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend's lack of mobility and low base health make him an easy target for early ganks.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)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.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Fiend
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)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.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)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.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)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.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Sven
* Spectral Dagger hinders Sven's low movement speed, and can be an easy tool to escape against his high damage.
* Dispersion makes it harder for Sven to burst down Spectre in one on one fights, and can reflect Sven's high damage back to him or his nearby teammates.
* Haunt and
Radiance disables Sven's
Blink Dagger.
* Desolate's pure damage ignores Sven's high armor.
* Spectre should not attempt to stand up to a full slotted Sven, since she will get shredded.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Sven
* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mystic Snake eats away at Sven's small mana pool.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 40% pickrate: 1%)Sven
* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his Black King Bar.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 6%)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: 54% pickrate: 14%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 17%)Sven
* Tanky melee heroes that can easily be kited, which allows Outworld Devourer to deal heavy damage with Arcane Orb from a distance: Sven,
Underlord,
Bristleback.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Sven
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes without escape mechanism: Shadow Fiend,
Alchemist
Additional:
* 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.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or
Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Sven
* Fate's Edict cripples many heroes who rely on attacks, such as Phantom Assassin,
Sven, or
Enchantress, without a dispel or a
Black King Bar.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as Lion or
Sven.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Fiend
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon,
Shadow Fiend,
Venomancer,
Ancient Apparition etc.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Sven
* Heroes that relies on armor or other type of physical damage negation are easy for Gyrocopter to take down during the early game with his magical damage: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Sven.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 19%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 15%)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.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Sven
* Keeper of the Light's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)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, smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Shadow Fiend to her and her team.
Sven
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance: Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)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.
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.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Lifestealer excels at killing high health heroes with Feast, and Sven is no exception.
* Rage stops Storm Hammer from hitting Lifestealer.
* Rage and
Open Wounds helps Lifestealer survive against Sven's high physical damage.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% 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.
Sven
* Great Cleave will devastate Meepo's clones. Against a closely packed group, Sven does not even need to target the clone with the lowest health.
Additional:
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength can take down Meepo and his clones very quickly.
* The lack of spell immunity for Meepo's clones makes them vulnerable to Storm Hammer.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* God's Strength allows Sven to take down Death Prophet quickly, reducing the damage dealt over time from Exorcism.
* Warcry's shield is very useful for Sven and his teammates against Exorcism, which deals physical damage.
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.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)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
Sven
* Great Cleave clears Spiderlings quickly to increase gold income.
* Warcry shields Sven and his allies against Broodmother and her Spiderlings.
Additional:
* Great Cleave cleans up Spiderlings quicker than most spells, as it ignores their magic resistance.
* Sven is a natural Black King Bar carrier, protecting him from Incapacitating Bite and
Orchid Malevolence.
* Warcry and
God's Strength allow Sven to easily out-damage Broodmother.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 0%)Sven
* Great Cleave quickly destroys Chen's creeps in team fights, before they have a chance to do much.
Additional:
* Storm Hammer locks down Chen and his converted creeps.
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength can destroy Chen and his creeps quickly.
* Warcry minimizes damage taken from creeps' attacks.
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.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Sven
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* Warcry can absorb damage while allies are trapped in Chronosphere.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities: Sven,
Ursa,
Alchemist,
Lifestealer etc.
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.
Sven
* Heroes with cleave damage: Sven,
Magnus,
Kunkka
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.
Slark
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Shadow Fiend
* 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.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Sven
* God's Strength with Sven's tankiness and item build makes him difficult to take down in Duels.
* Storm Hammer can be used to interrupt Duels (until Legion Commander buys
Aghanim's Scepter).
* Sven also has a talent at level 15 that allows Storm Hammer to apply a basic dispel on any enemies hit by it, which can remove the buffs from Overwhelming Odds and Press the Attack.
* Warcry gives a shield to Sven's teammates, which can completely waste Duel's duration depending on how much strength Sven has.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)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.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)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.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Sven
* Great Cleave is very effective against Chaos Knight's illusions.
* Storm Hammer's radius can catch all of Chaos Knight's illusions at once, especially after Reality Rift.
* Warcry shields Sven and his teammates against Chaos Knight's burst physical damage.
Additional:
* Sven's shorter cast time allows him to use Storm Hammer on Chaos Knight and his illusions before he can cast Chaos Bolt.
* Warcry's armor bonus counteracts Reality Rift's slow and reduces Chaos Knight's damage output.
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength devastates Phantasm illusions.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Sven
* Great Cleave and God's Strength cuts through Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
Additional:
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength destroys illusions in just a few hits.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer when he's grouped up with illusions.
* Sven's low mana causes him to take less damage from Diffusal Blade. This is further reduced by the armor bonus from
Warcry.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Sven
* Storm Hammer interrupts Echo Stomp.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Sven
* Great Cleave is very effective against Chaos Knight's illusions.
* Storm Hammer's radius can catch all of Chaos Knight's illusions at once, especially after Reality Rift.
* Warcry shields Sven and his teammates against Chaos Knight's burst physical damage.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* Great Cleave will kill Lycan's summons very fast.
* Warcry will allow Sven and his allies to tank Lycan's damage, which is mainly physical.
* Storm Hammer will damage and stun Lycan's as well as his summons.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Sven
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Sven
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Ogre Magi.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Shadow Fiend
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Sven
* Sven has a high health pool and is a natural Black King Bar holder and is very hard to kill for Lina.
* Sven also has high physical damage, making it easy for him to burst her down.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)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
Sven
* Anti-Mage is fairly fragile, and cannot stand against Sven in a prolonged fight.
* Sven's Black King Bar and low base mana protects against
Mana Break.
* Great Cleave destroys the illusions from Anti-Mage's Manta Style.
* Although Sven should be careful as a well-timed Counterspell can block and reflect Storm Hammer.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Sven
* Heroes who rely on skills to become a heavy hitter in a certain amount of time can waste their timing because of a lucky Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
Sven
* Warcry's shields protects Sven and his teammates from Swashbuckle.
* Sven's Black King Bar blocks most of Pangolier's skills.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Sven
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
Sven
* Sven with aghanim's scepter along with aghanim's shard upgrade (Storm hammer dispels) can easily chase down and dispels her Windrun at the same time.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 8%)Sven
* In general, melee heroes without blink mechanisms or spell immunity will have a hard time positioning against Pit of Malice: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Dragon Knight,
Meepo,
Doom,
Bounty Hunter,
Dark Seer,
Undying,
Alchemist,
Legion Commander.
Shadow Fiend
* Shadow Fiend can still dish out heavy damage with Requiem of Souls and
Shadowraze while caught in Pit of Malice.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Fiend
* Squishy core heroes (Shadow Fiend,
Sniper, etc)
Sven
* 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.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)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.
Sven
* Doom generally does not impede Sven in any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like Lifestealer or
Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up
Black King Bar, like
Sven.
Sven
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* Power Cogs greatly limits Sven's positioning, potentially wasting the duration of
Black King Bar in a teamfight.
* Battery Assault makes it hard for Sven to fight Clockwerk in his
Power Cogs.
* Clockwerk's Blade Mail forces Sven to avoid attacking while inside
Power Cogs, effectively rendering him useless for a few seconds.
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.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Sven
* Purification can heal allies while dealing pure damage to Sven.
* Heavenly Grace can remove Storm Hammer's debuff immediately or make it a very mediocre stun.
* Guardian Angel negate's Sven's massive damage during God's Strength.
Sven
* Although Sven relies often on physical damage, a Aghanim's Shard-upgraded
Storm Hammer can dispel Guardian Angel with its wide radius.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Fiend
* Lacking escaping mechanisms, being dependent on fair positioning and channeling for his ultimate, its easier to Warlock with your long range crowd control abilities to lock the Shadow Fiend down to your team.
Sven
* With God's Strength, Warlock Golem goes down in a matter of seconds. The two weaker golems granted by Aghanim's Scepter will fare worse due to Great Cleave hitting both.
* Storm Hammer upgraded with level 15 talent dispels Shadow Word.
Additional:
* God's Strength combined with
Great Cleave destroys Chaotic Offering golems within seconds.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)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.
Sven
* Night Stalker can't kill Sven quickly while he has the armor bonus from Warcry.
* Sven under the effect of God's Strength and his various physical damage strength items can kill Night Stalker first.
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.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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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 and spamming Shadowraze.
Requiem of Souls and his
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
Sven
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal.