Riki
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Morphling
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Shadow Shaman
* Waveform allows Morphling to escape from Mass Serpent Ward
* Morphling can interrupt Shadow Shaman while he is shackling an ally with Adaptive Strike (Strength).
* With Ethereal Blade Morphling can quickly burst him down before he even has a chance to react.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer is a great target for Morphling to use Morph, as he can use Rage to gain spell immunity and a movement speed boost.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
Lifestealer
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active: Bane,
Beastmaster,
Bloodseeker,
Clockwerk,
Doom,
Shadow Shaman.
Lifestealer
* Chaos Knight's Level 20 Talent: Reality Rift Pierces Spell Immunity allows for quick bursting down of Lifestealer during his Rage.
* Phantasm dispels Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer has no way of dealing with Chaos Knight's illusions.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Lifestealer
* Dark Pact can be used to remove Open Wounds.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to attack Lifestealer for its duration without any way for Lifestealer to fight back.
* Slark commonly buys a Silver Edge, which can break Lifestealer's Feast, severely diminishing his damage output and lifesteal.
Shadow Shaman
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill you, Nyx being particularly deadly. Watch Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless you are making a mistake) of your disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn you from prey to predator.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 2%)Shadow Shaman
* Support heroes with low mobility can be slowed further by Incapacitating Bite, and swarmed by Spiderlings for an easy kill: Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Dazzle,
Rubick,
Lich.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* Primal Roar pierces Rage and can disable Lifestealer in fights.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Lacking any stun and being heavily dependent on his physical attacks and spell immunity, Lifestealer has no way to stop Black Hole, assuming he does not initiate Enigma first with Abyssal Blade.
* Enigma's abilities, with exception of Malefice, can pierce spell immunity and deal pure damage (and percentage-based damage in Midnight Pulse's case), putting Lifestealer in potentially adverse situations.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Static Link cannot be dispelled by Rage or
Infest, so Razor will be able to track Lifestealer down during an attempted escape.
* Storm Surge makes it hard for Lifestealer to catch Razor.
* Static Link can stop Open Wounds from getting any additional lifesteal, but keep in mind Lifestealer can still utilize
Feast.
* Eye of the Storm penetrates the spell immunity of Rage.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 18%)Shadow Shaman
* Reincarnation allows Wraith King to survive Shadow Shaman's initial chain of disables and Serpent Ward attacks.
* Short cooldown of Wraithfire Blast is ideal for interrupting Shackles.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Clinkz relies heavily on the physical damage provided by Searing Arrows, which completely overrides the capabilities of Rage.
* Open Wounds is near worthless against Clinkz as he can instantly run away with Skeleton Walk before returning later on.
* Clinkz, by nature will often build items that Lifestealer hates dealing with such as physical damage items like Desolator or
Daedalus and instant silences or hexes from
Bloodthorn and
Scythe of Vyse.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage.
Shadow Shaman
* Due to their high attack speed, Summon Familiars will destroy Mass Serpent Ward quickly, granting Visage a massive amount of gold.
Additional:
* Due to their high attack speed, Visage's Summon Familiars will destroy Mass Serpent Ward quickly, granting Visage massive amount of gold.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with magic immune abilities can negate most of Visage's attacks like Pangolier and
Lifestealer.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Shadow Shaman
* Mirana can disturb your channeling even if you are under the effect of invisibility thanks to Sacred Arrow.
* Mirana armed with an Aghanim's Scepter is known to be able to quickly burst down heroes - especially supports. Together with
Ethereal Blade the bullying can continue for the whole match.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* The passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll Warlord resilient to Feast in early game.
* The 60% miss chance given by Whirling Axes (Melee) is useful when Rage is not active.
* Battle Trance can purge Open Wounds, negating a large amount of Lifestealer's sustain in fights.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Feast will most likely not out-heal the damage from Fury Swipes and Overpower in the early to mid game.
Additional:
* Lifestealer can't fight Ursa in any stage of the game because of his high physical damage with Fury Swipes and
Overpower.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer relies on Open Wounds to slow enemies to burst them, but Windranger can use Windrun to escape through Open Wounds duration.
* Windrun and
Focus Fire can easily allow Windranger to kite Lifestealer and do good amounts of damage in the process.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* Aside from his ultimate, Lifestealer has no AoE abilities to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions, nor does he have the mobility to escape Phantom Rush.
* Doppelganger dispels Open Wounds.
Additional:
* Doppelganger dispels Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer has no way of dealing with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Phantom Lancer also commonly builds Diffusal Blade, which poses a large problem to Lifestealer and his low mana pool.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's low mobility makes him easy to kite.
* Stone Gaze pierces Rage, wasting its cooldown and making Lifestealer unable to fight.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Rage.
* Faceless Void's Time Lock stops Lifestealer from getting health regeneration from auto-attacks
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* Since Untouchable pierce Spell immunity, Lifestealer cannot burst her down even with
Rage ; meaning she can heal herself back to full HP.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Shadow Shaman
* Omniknight can dispel Hex or Shackles with
Heavenly Grace. He can also heal teammates which you disabled. The same goes to
Abaddon's
Aphotic Shield .
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with illusions: Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Omniknight can dispel Hex or Shackles with
Heavenly Grace. He can also heal teammates which you disabled. The same goes to
Abaddon's
Aphotic Shield .
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery: Legion Commander,
Lifestealer,
Weaver,
Wraith King
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with spell immunity can still be disabled by Fiend's Grip: Juggernaut,
Lifestealer,
Pangolier.
Additional:
* Fiend's Grip can disable Lifestealer through Rage.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin etc.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Shaman
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Shaman
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 1%)Shadow Shaman
* Lone Druid's early game is good against slow, squishy supports since his bear is very strong early game and an Entangling Claws proc almost always guarantees a kill: Ancient Apparition,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Skywrath Mage etc.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Melee carries such as Sven,
Ursa or
Lifestealer can be slowed and easily kited with Demonic Purge.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Ice Blast prevents Lifestealer from lifestealing and healing with Infest in fights.
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Although he can avoid Eclipse with Rage and
Infest, Luna's physical damage can be enough to deal with him.
* Manta Style is a common pick on Luna, which can help her dispel
Open Wounds. In addition, Lifestealer is not good against illusions created by
Manta Style.
Shadow Shaman
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance: Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
Chen
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 0%)Shadow Shaman
* Shadow Shaman has no effective burst damage, thus Chen has a lot of time to save an ally with his creeps or Hand of God from a gank.
* Chen can use {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} to interrupt Shadow shaman's Shackles channeling
* Mass Serpent Ward can be easily teared down by Chen's creep army
Lifestealer
* Heroes that can instantly kill creeps greatly reduce the effectiveness of Chen's converted army: Lifestealer,
Doom,
Mirana,
Clinkz.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Reverse Polarity pierces through Rage, wasting part of it's duration.
* Magnus is tanky and mobile hero and hard for Lifestealer to focus and kill in all stages of a game.
Shadow Shaman
* 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.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Shadow Shaman
* Mass Serpent Ward rips apart Huskar quickly due to his poor armor.
* As soon as Huskar jumps in, he will be vulnerable to Shadow Shaman's disables if he does not have Black King Bar.
Lifestealer
* Rage renders Lifestealer immune to the damage from Burning Spears.
* Feast and
Open Wounds makes Lifestealer one of few heroes that can outlast Huskar in a one-on-one fight.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Rage ignores all of Viper's magical damage.
* Feast and
Open Wounds combine to heal through Viper's physical damage.
Shadow Shaman
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Lifestealer
* Rage protects Lifestealer nearly from all of Invoker's spells.
Additional:
* Rage grants immunity from Invoker's spells and can dispel most of the disables such as the armor loss from Forge Spirit and the constant stuns of Cold Snap.
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with long lockdowns: Shadow Shaman,
Legion Commander.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Rage negates Kunkka's X Marks the Spot.
* As a strength hero with high strength gain and very little armor, as well as low agility gain, Kunkka is vulnerable to Lifestealer's Feast and
Open Wounds.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Feast will deal a large amount of damage to Tiny's large health pool.
* Rage protects Lifestealer from Tiny's magical burst damage.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Rage allows him to dispel Blinding Light from himself.
* Open Wounds allows him to slow and kill Keeper of the Light.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 11%)Lifestealer
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Lina's abilities (except an upgraded Laguna Blade).
* Open Wounds is great to keep Lina in place because she has no abilities to help her escape.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Feast deals damage and heals Lifestealer based on the target's maximum HP, which is greatly effective against naturally high HP heroes such as Doom.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to become spell immune to negate the magical damage of Infernal Blade and Scorched Earth.
* Doom has no effective means of escape from Open Wounds. This is particularly devastating in lane, where Doom may have to play a much more passive, conservative play style as a result.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Shadow Shaman
* 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 Shaman has used all his crowd control before entering a fight.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Shadow Shaman lockdowns.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Rage ignores all of Gyrocopter's magical attacks.
* Feast helps Lifestealer out-damage Gyrocopter at close range.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Rage lets him clear Remote Mines and Proximity Mines with proper vision.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Techies' magic damage and disables and dispels Stasis Trap's debuff .
* Usually teams will have a hard time pushing high-ground against Techies, but Lifestealer can just pop Rage and walk uphill without fear of Techies.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Feast is an effective tool against Centaur Warrunner, who generally has high health and low armor, and compensates the reflected damage of Retaliate.
* If activated, Rage protects Lifestealer from Hoof Stomp, Double Edge, and Stampede.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Leshrac's high magic damage is ignored by Rage.
* Lifestealer can get in Leshrac's face with Rage and mitigate any other damage taken by Leshrac with
Open Wounds.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Shaman
* Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* The stun and damage over time from Shackles mitigates Reactive Armor's HP and armor regen.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Rage is very useful against Zeus, as it negates magic damage and provides spell immunity. In addition, the increased attack speed can tear Zeus apart in combination with
Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer can avoid Thundergod's Wrath with Infest.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* Rage will dispel Laser's blind and turns him spell immune for the duration so Tinker cannot damage him.
* Feast will quickly bring down Tinker due to being so fragile.
Additional:
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Tinker's damage and debuffs.
* Lifestealer can infest any mobile hero (teams usually pick one against Tinker), which ensures that Tinker will die if he is caught.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* Rage can be used to escape from a Glimpse and to move out of Kinetic Field.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to dodge Glimpse.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Lifestealer
* Ogre Magi has nothing against Rage and his high health pool amplifies
Feast.
Additional:
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Ogre's magical debuffs and also dispels them.
* Ogre's as hero with great durability and high health is great target for Lifestealer in any stage of the game, thanks to Feast.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* With Feast and
Rage, Lifestealer is nearly impossible for Clockwerk to bring down, and is the last hero Clockwerk wants to be trapped with in Power Cogs.
Lion
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Lifestealer
* Rage provides spell immunity to Lifestealer and thus nullifies all of Lion's abilities.
* Open Wounds allows Lifestealer to easily catch Lion out and prevent him from escaping.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Lifestealer
* Rage prevents Earthshaker from damaging and stunning Lifestealer.
* Feast is very effective against Earthshaker, because of him being a strength hero, allowing Lifestealer to heavily harass and kill him.
* Open Wounds prevents Earthshaker from escaping after he initiated.
* Infest gives Lifestealer an easy way to escape should he get caught out by Earthshaker.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* Rage grants Lifestealer immunity to all of Jakiro's spells. Note: magic resistance will not dispel the attack speed slow effects from Dual Breath and Liquid Fire.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Feast is good against high health strength heroes such as Alchemist.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to not be targetable by Unstable Concoction, possibly making Alchemist stun himself.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Shaman
* In general, squishy heroes that rely on escape often struggles against the amount of disables Shadow Shaman can bring. Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage and
Storm Spirit are among these.
Additional:
* Shadow Shaman has many disables to lock down Queen of Pain, preventing her from Blinking away, even through Linken's Sphere or her spell block talent.
* Mass Serpent Ward can tear through Queen of Pain's low health pool once she's locked down by
Hex &
Shackles.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Shaman
* Any heroes with stuns or silences: Death Prophet,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Skywrath Mage
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Lifestealer
* Juggernaut and
Lifestealer have abilities (
Blade Fury and
Rage respectively) that prevent Crystal Maiden from using her spells on them in the early game, before
Black King Bar and other magical reduction is even an issue.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with spell immunity-granting spells will render Phoenix useless against them, as Phoenix has almost no spell immunity-piercing ability, other than the stun at the end of Supernova: Lifestealer,
Juggernaut.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with burst damage of their own won't be afraid to go toe to toe with Void Spirit, like Ursa,
Lifestealer, or
Axe.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* In general, heroes with spell immunity abilities won't be caught inside by Pit of Malice: Juggernaut,
Lifestealer.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 18%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with built-in spell immunity can become immune to all of Outworld Devourer's spells: Lifestealer's
Rage and
Juggernaut's
Blade Fury.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities: Sven,
Ursa,
Alchemist,
Lifestealer etc.
Shadow Shaman
* Mass Serpent Ward can kill lots of treants if played defensively.
* Mass Serpent Ward, Hex and Shackles can catch and kill a Nature's Prophet trying to use Teleportation.
Additional:
* Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward together with
Ether Shock can easily kill lots of Treant if played defensively.
* Mass Serpent Ward,
Hex and
Shackles can disrupt Nature's Prophet's escape attempt with Teleportation. Though he can Sprout himself.
* Nature's Prophet also has no ways of canceling Shackles.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 19%)Shadow Shaman
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for you, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt your channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
Lifestealer
* The lifesteal of Feast scales accordingly to the health of its target, which is effective against Pudge due to his high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
* Lifestealer can activate Rage to completely negate magic damage, therefore rendering the damage of Rot and Dismember null.
* Pudge's plentiful health makes him an ideal target for Open Wounds.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer can close the distance to Sniper by using Infest on a fast or durable creep to tank Sniper's damage.
* Open Wounds will reduce Sniper's mobility heavily, and
Rage's attack speed bonus helps in taking down Sniper.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Shaman
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for you, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt your channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
Lifestealer
* Feast's lifesteal makes it nearly impossible for Axe to initiate and bring Lifestealer's health low enough for Culling Blade, even with many procs of Counter Helix.
* Feast's damage is calculated as a percentage of health, turning Axe's high health against him. This allow Lifestealer to hit Axe much harder than most other heroes.
Additional:
* Feast makes it impossible to put Lifestealer's health for a Culling Blade and also deals high damage to Axe due to his naturally high health.
* However, Lifestealer's Rage can be pierced by Berserker's Call.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and
Sniper) and supports (like
Dazzle and
Shadow Shaman).
Shadow Shaman
* Hex can be used immediately to destroy Spectre's illusion when she Haunts.
* Shadow Shaman can use Shackles to lock down Spectre for his team.
* Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward and
Ether Shock help him push lanes and end the game early before Spectre can come online and take over the late game.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that are squishy by nature are an easy target for Spirit Breaker: Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Shadow Shaman
Shadow Shaman
* Can easily interrupt and disable Spirit Breaker with hex if being charged.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction: Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer
Shadow Shaman
* Shackles and Mass Serpent Ward instantly destroy Refraction
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 15%)Shadow Shaman
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill you, Nyx being particularly deadly. Watch Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless you are making a mistake) of your disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn you from prey to predator.
Lifestealer
* Rage completely negates all of Nyx Assassin's abilities except Vendetta, while
Open Wounds allow him to quickly close the gap.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target with
Dust of Appearance or a
Gem of True Sight.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Terrorblade's illusions and ranged attacks in Metamorphosis can burst down Lifestealer very quickly.
* Terrorblade has low health due to his low strength gain, which reduces Feast's lifesteal and damage.
* Terrorblade's high armor makes Lifestealer's Desolator useless.
* Because Lifestealer usually walks around with high HP in fights due to his lifesteal (and sometimes Armlet of Mordiggian), he is a great target for Terrorblade's
Sunder.
Additional:
* Reflection's illusion carries Feast as well, making it useful in fights.
* Feast cannot compensate for Terrorblade's incoming high damage, due to his low Strength gain.
* Open Wounds is a lot harder to land on the real Terrorblade if he has illusions around him.
* Lifestealer relies on right-clicks to deal damage, and Terrorblade's high armor can reduce his damage by quite a bit.
Shadow Shaman
* All of Shadow Shaman's abilities totally ruin Terrorblade: Ether Shock destroys his illusions, Hex prevents him from using Sunder or
Manta Style in bad situations, Shackles not only that prevent him from using
Sunder, but he has no way to cancel it and Mass Serpent Ward can help Shadow Shaman push faster than Terrorblade even in
Metamorphosis.
Additional:
* Ether Shock can destroy Terrorblade's illusions.
* Hex prevents Terrorblade from using Sunder or
Manta Style in bad situations.
Hex can also destroy one of his illusions.
* Shackles prevents Terrorblade from using his skills and items, whether to fight, survive, or dispel it in any way. In addition, Terrorblade has no solutions to cancel it.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Shadow Shaman
* As a caster, Anti-Mage's
Mana Break and
Mana Void are highly effective against him.
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Clinkz,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Shaman
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for you, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt your channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman,
Lion
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Rage and Open wounds become useless when Meepo has 4 or more clones, as Ransack will heal Meepo too quickly for Lifestealer to take down.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer is not affected by Earthbind or Poof during
Rage, making him a difficult target to work around.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* The Swarm is not blocked by Rage and can be used to lower Lifestealer's already low armor, making him even more vulnerable to physical damage.
* Shukuchi renders the Open Wounds slow pretty useless, as it gives Weaver maximum movement speed, allowing him to escape or kite around Lifestealer.
* However, Weaver is a common Linken's Sphere carrier to block and
Time Lapse to dispel Open Wounds.
Additional:
* Open Wounds's slow is ignored by Shukuchi.
* Lifestealer has no other lockdown and relies on being on top of enemies; Weaver can kite him with ease.
Shadow Shaman
* Shadow Shaman's many disables can lock down Weaver. Even with Linken's Sphere, Weaver might not be able to escape should Shadow Shaman uses Shackles quickly enough following Hex.
* Mass Serpent Ward can make short work of Weaver once he is locked down.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,...
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 18%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with spell immunity or pseudo-blinks which provide invulnerability: Lifestealer,
Juggernaut,
Omniknight,
Huskar , and
Tusk have spells which allow them to easily escape Dream Coil.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Shaman
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill you, Nyx being particularly deadly. Watch Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless you are making a mistake) of your disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn you from prey to predator.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* Abaddon with
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time
* Huskar with
Life Break
* Juggernaut with
Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with
Press the Attack
* Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Omniknight with
Heavenly Grace
* Oracle with
Fortune's End and
False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Slark with
Dark Pact
* Ursa with
Enrage
* Weaver with
Time Lapse
* Tidehunter with
Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Shaman
* Arc Warden with his Magnetic Field will protect allies from Mass Serpent Ward.
Lifestealer
* Slark,
Lifestealer,
Morphling and such with a good escape mechanism are a nuisance to deal with in the early-game.
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 Shaman
* Riki is known for being a successful support killer, and not just for show. He can give you one hell of a time by constantly picking you off and/or forcing you to stick close to the rest of the team.
Smoke Screen is particularly devastating to Shadow Shaman. With neither his various disables nor a solid health pool Shadow Shaman is usually dead. Consider a force staff if you find yourself in this scenario (to force yourself out of the cloud before shackling Riki) and buy sentry wards if you have the money.
*
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer cannot use
Rage,
Infest or
Open Wounds when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and
Feast cannot heal him effectively because of the blind, leaving him very weak both offensively and defensively.
* Infest ganks are harder when the enemy team has a Riki, as there are often only four heroes on the map that you can initiate on.