Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Pugna
* Pugna is very reliant on his abilities for damage. (Just be careful around the Nether Ward)
Shadow Shaman
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 9%)Pugna
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Io,
Witch Doctor, etc.
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.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Pugna
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Additional:
* Sniper's huge range makes him an unviable target to use Life Drain on, forcing Pugna to risk playing out of position to use it on Sniper.
* Sniper's Shrapnel can be used to provide vision on Nether Ward, and his range allows him to easily take it out.
* A clumsy Pugna may accidentally boost Sniper's Shrapnel and
Assassinate damages if he recklessly uses Decrepify on himself or his allies.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 21%)Pugna
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or having any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items are still interrupted by Dismember: Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
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.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)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.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Pugna
* Pugna's squishiness and lack of mobility make him easy prey for a Hookshot initiation.
* Clockwerk's high health, low mana costs, and lack of reliance on Blink Dagger make Nether Ward ineffective.
* Battery Assault shuts down Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Life Drain, as the repeated ministuns prevent Pugna from channeling for an extended length of time.
Additional:
* Clockwerk loves to Hookshot low health, immobile targets like Pugna.
* Pugna's Life Drain gets immediately and repeatedly (if an Aghanim's Scepter was purchased) cancelled due to
Battery Assault, especially if Pugna is trapped inside
Power Cogs.
* Clockwerk also loves to build Blade Mail, which will deal more damage to Pugna than Clockwork due to Pugna's low health pool.
* Finally, both Hookshot and
Rocket Flare can allow him to finish off Pugna out of range of his Nether Ward.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Shadow Shaman
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% 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.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Pugna
* Most of Pugna's damage is magical, which can get blocked by Fate's Edict's 100% magic resistance.
* Oracle has two abilities that apply a dispel, which can easily remove Decrepify on his ally or Oracle.
* Oracle has a very long Attack Range and a very low Base Attack Time, which enables him to take down Nether Ward swiftly from long distance.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Pugna
* Pugna's low health and reliance on channeled abilities make him very vulnerable to Tusk, although Pugna can win in a straight up 1v1 later in the game.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Shadow Shaman
* As a caster, Anti-Mage's
Mana Break and
Mana Void are highly effective against him.
Pugna
* Pugna only deals magical damage, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant due to Counterspell.
* Anti-Mage can dispel Decrepify with
Manta Style.
* Pugna has a very large mana pool. This allows Anti-Mage to constantly deal bonus damage to Pugna with Mana Break and devastate Pugna's entire team with Mana Void.
Additional:
* Since Pugna relies on his teammates for protection, it is fairly common for Anti-Mage to get multiple kills with a single use of his Mana Void on Pugna if he's missing a considerable portion of his mana.
* Pugna's massive mana pool will result in Anti-Mage's Mana Break almost always dealing the bonus damage from the mana burn.
* Counterspell negates a large amount of Pugna's damage, as most of Pugna's damage comes from his spells.
* Blink can be used to get out of a bad situation, and Pugna has no way to prevent him from casting it.
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
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% 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.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% 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.
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 .
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Shaman
* Arc Warden with his Magnetic Field will protect allies from Mass Serpent Ward.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Pugna
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder: Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)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: 50% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Shaman
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)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 .
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Pugna
* Pugna's Nether Ward doesn't really hurt Meepo since he usually buys attribute items to tank up and can be killed very quickly by 4 clones. Decrepify can amplify Poof's damage should Pugna use it to avoid Meepo's right clicking.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 12%)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.
Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 20%)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.
Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Pugna
* Life Drain will be always canceled by Lucent Beam if Pugna does not have
Black King Bar.
* Decrepify can be suicide against Luna due to Lucent Beam and Eclipse.
* Nether Ward is rather weak against Luna since she does not have abilities that cost a lot of mana.
Additional:
* Luna can shrug off most damage taken from Nether Ward as she only has two castable skills with average mana cost.
* Luna can deal constant damage to Pugna through the low-cooldown Lucent Beam and her right clicks.
* Lucent Beam's considerable range can reliably cancel Pugna's Life Drain.
* Luna is a common Black King Bar carrier, which totally nullifies Pugna's damage output.
* If Pugna uses Decrepify on himself to avoid Luna's right click, she can burst him down with Lucent Beam and Eclipse.
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.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Pugna
* Phantom Lancer creates way too many illusion for Pugna's Life Drain to destroy, overwhelming him easily.
Additional:
* Though Life Drain instantly destroys illusions, Phantom Lancer creates way too many for Pugna to handle.
* A good Phantom Lancer will also dodge your Nether Blast with Doppelganger.
* Phantom Lancer is the most natural Diffusal Blade carrier to burn Pugna's very large pool of mana away and deal a large amount of damage in the process.
Pugna
* Since Life drain takes out illusions instantly, Pugna with a scepter is decent versus plenty of illusion heroes, most notably Naga Siren and
Terrorblade and the aforementioned
Chaos Knight.
Phantom Lancer is an exception.
Chen
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% 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
Pugna
* 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.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Pugna
* Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of
Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw, especially when combined with
Decrepify
Additional:
* Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw.
* Decrepify can further increase all the magical damage done to Timbersaw, bypassing the enhanced physical resistance he can get from Reactive Armor.
Shadow Shaman
* Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* The stun and damage over time from Shackles mitigates Reactive Armor's HP and armor regen.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Shaman
* Shackles and Mass Serpent Ward instantly destroy Refraction
Pugna
* Pugna's Decrepify can render Templar Assassin's physical attacks useless.
* Pugna can also cast Life Drain on Templar Assassin, burning her Refraction instances.
* On the other hand, Pugna generally has low health and armor. Use this to your advantage.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)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.
Pugna
* Since Life drain takes out illusions instantly, Pugna with a scepter is decent versus plenty of illusion heroes, most notably Naga Siren and
Terrorblade and the aforementioned
Chaos Knight.
Phantom Lancer is an exception.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Pugna
* 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.
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.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Pugna
* Pugna's Decrepify allows him to save allies from being ganked by Viper, since Viper mostly relies on direct attacks in order to deal damage.
* Nether Ward can discourage Viper from spamming his abilities.
* Viper's damage over time is not enough to kill Pugna as he will have more than enough time to save himself (or his allies) with Life Drain and Viper has no solutions to cancel it.
* Pugna has no passive abilities, which renders Nethertoxin nearly useless.
Shadow Shaman
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)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.
Pugna
* Nether Blast is one of the best tower pushing abilities in the game, with a low cooldown. A competent Pugna will (at the very least) destroy tier 2 towers and make space for his team before Spectre can finally come online.
* Spectre's spells, while not spammable, have a fairly high mana cost, so Nether Ward can be fairly damaging to Spectre early game. The mana degen will also dampen Spectre's early game power significantly.
* Once Pugna gets Aghanim's Scepter, he can spam
Life Drain on any illusion Spectre summons, whether it'd be from Haunt,
Manta Style, or some other means.
* In addition, Pugna can disable Spectre's Desolate ability (although its damage is pure, it requires physical attacks) with his Decrepify ability, leaving Spectre only with Spectral Dagger.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 6%)Pugna
* 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.
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.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 1%)Pugna
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 7%)Pugna
* Decrepify prevents Faceless Void from attacking trapped allies inside Chronosphere, wasting a large portion of its duration if Faceless Void can't dispel it.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Pugna
* Nether Ward will cause an unfriendly area for Medusa, draining her mana.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)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.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Pugna
* Amazingly, Enchantress has even lower health than Pugna. Though she does pack quite a punch through Impetus, she can't use it if she is under Decrepify.
* Pugna's Magical DPS is way greater than the heal from Nature's Attendants, which will also harm her quite a bit if she's next to Nether Ward.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Pugna
* All of Pugna's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Nether Ward punishes Shadow Demon's constant mana usage from spamming spells, especially Shadow Poison.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Nether Blast for the enemy.
* Life Drain can be used to heal Pugna or an ally against Shadow Demon's abilites.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption until Pugna buys defensive items.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 16%)Pugna
* Nether Blast,
Decrepify and
Life Drain deal high magical damage and bypasses Bulwark.
* Nether Ward reduces the amount of abilities Mars can use during fights and forces Mars to be careful about the heavy mana cost of Arena Of Blood.
* Pugna is one of few heroes that can contest Mars' ability to push and defend towers early on.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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
Pugna
* Decrepify on either hero stops Legion Commander from completing a Duel, and dissuades her from initiating Duels on ethereal allies.
* Life Drain can help Pugna's teammates win a fight, either by killing Legion Commander or replenishing her target's health.
Additional:
* Decrepify prevents Legion Commander from attacking allies during Duel, regardless if it's used on her or on the ally .
* Pugna can easily cast Decrepify, Nether Blast and Life Drain on Legion during the 4/4.75/5.5/8 seconds of duel
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)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.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Pugna
* Nether Ward discourages Tinker from using abilities and items due to its high damage against heavy mana usage.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Pugna
* Even though Pugna's low HP means that he can be quickly burst down, his Nether Ward heavily punishes casters whose spells cost a lot of mana, like Zeus. Casting 4 of his active spells, including Nimbus, close to an enhanced level 4
Nether Ward, can make the ward deal up to 1750 magical damage.
* Decrepify can further increase the damage dealt by Nether Ward upon Zeus. However, if used on Pugna himself or on one of his allies, it will amplify the damage done by Zeus' abilities.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Pugna
* Nether Ward can do a ton of damage to Disruptor because of his high mana costs.
* Life Drain can be used to heal an ally trapped by Static Storm-Kinetic Field combo (if Pugna is not a target).
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Pugna
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and
Decrepify won't help you at all.
Additional:
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)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.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Pugna
* Leshrac needs to be close to target in order to do damage, Pugna can outrun Leshrac with ease due to his superior movement speed.
* Split Earth can also be hard to land on Pugna for the same reason.
* Leshrac uses huge amounts of mana to do damage, Nether Ward forces him to either not contribute in a fight or kill himself in the process.
Additional:
* Nether Ward punishes Leshrac's constant mana usage from spamming spells.
* Leshrac needs to be in the thick of the fight to deal damage, and so cannot escape from Nether Blast nor
Life Drain easily.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Troll Warlord can't switch targets at will, in order to build Fervor stacks, which makes it easy to use Decrepify in order to save allies
* During Battle Trance, Pugna can easily use Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain on him
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Pugna
* For the better part of the game, he will take more damage from your ward than he deals to you with Arcane Orb.
* It will take a huge difference in farm or itemization between you for him to deal any damage to you with Sanity's Eclipse, provided he doesn't die first from casting it next to your ward.
* Decrepify allows Pugna to be immune to the attacks from
Arcane Orb.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Pugna
* Cold Embrace is a death sentence against Pugna, since its the perfect setup for all his abilities, especially Life Drain.
* Decrepify can be cast to save the ally under Winter's Curse effect, wasting most of its duration.
* Winter Wyvern's abilities require a lot of mana, allowing Nether Ward to deal lots of damage.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Pugna
* Enigma's abilities have a huge mana cost, meaning that Nether Ward will deal a lot of damage to Enigma.
* Channeling Black Hole will render Enigma immobile, making him easy target for all of Pugna's abilities, especially Nether Blast, and
Life Drain.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 16%)Pugna
* Ethereal state disarms the target and makes them more vulnerable to magic damage, both of which Phantom Assassin despises. Especially Pugna and any hero that is wielding
Ethereal Blade, such as
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin or
Morphling.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Pugna
* Heroes with high movement speeds like Pugna and
Meepo can run around, to, or away from Snapfire during
Mortimer Kisses and dodge the projectiles easily due to their slow speed.
* Heroes with mobility spells (such as Queen of Pain's
Blink and
Clockwerk with
Hookshot) can easily avoid
Lil' Shredder and
Mortimer Kisses.
* Heroes with high movement speeds like Pugna and
Meepo can run around, to, or away from Snapfire during
Mortimer Kisses and dodge the projectiles easily due to their slow speed.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Pugna
* Nether Ward will be problematic for heavy nukers and spammers like Skywrath Mage,
Lina,
Lion and
Invoker, but don't use Decrepify defensively against them as you'll be helping them out more than anything.
Lion
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Pugna
* Nether Ward will be problematic for heavy nukers and spammers like Skywrath Mage,
Lina,
Lion and
Invoker, but don't use Decrepify defensively against them as you'll be helping them out more than anything.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 17%)Pugna
* Invoker can use Tornado or Cold Snap to prevent Pugna from channeling Life Drain
* A poorly used Decrepify on Pugna's allies means Invoker's abilities can be used to deal more damage to it
* Tornado allows Invoker to purge Pugna's Decrepify when it is used defensively
* Special care has to be taken, however, when casting several abilities within the range of a Nether Ward
Pugna
* Because Invoker relies on casting a large amount of spells to contribute to fights, Nether Ward can force him to not cast anything at all or take a large amount of damage to cast spells.
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with long lockdowns: Shadow Shaman,
Legion Commander.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Pugna
* Since Life drain takes out illusions instantly, Pugna with a scepter is decent versus plenty of illusion heroes, most notably Naga Siren and
Terrorblade and the aforementioned
Chaos Knight.
Phantom Lancer is an exception.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Pugna
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden,
Chen,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Mirana,
Nature's Prophet,
Pugna and
Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes has attack range talent can also outrange Plague Ward.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)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.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 19%)Pugna
* Heroes with abilities that can save are also effective such as Shadow Demon,
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Bane,
Pugna,
Tusk,
Winter Wyvern,
Io,
Underlord,
Treant Protector and
Keeper of the Light.
Additional:
* Decrepify is the perfect tool against Omnislash until he gets a
Nullifier, and even then he will probably waste a couple of slashes before he uses it.
* Without an extra disable, Pugna's high movement speed makes it impossible to chase him with Blade Fury.
* Unlike some other carries like Slark or
Phantom Assassin, Juggernaut's spells cost a hefty amount of mana and he will seriously get hurt by Nether Ward. Don't forget the damage from the ward is inflicted before the spell immunity is provided by
Blade Fury.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Pugna
* Pugna's
Decrepify makes sure that either Alchemist is unable to hit anyone while also being slowed and susceptible to magical damage, or can protect an ally from physical attacks. Besides, Pugna can push early on, when Alchemist is not strong enough to repel it, so by the time Alchemist comes online, he might be forced to sit in base.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Pugna
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 6%)Pugna
* Pugna's
Decrepify prevents the target from taking physical damage or doing damage, which poses a huge problem for Lycan, as he mainly deals physical damage.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)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.
Pugna
* Decrepify can be used on allies to prevent them from attacking Axe and triggering Counter Helix during Berserker's Call. He can also cast it on Axe to prevent anyone from attacking him.
* Life Drain can be used to heal himself or allies caught in Berserker's Call, preventing them from dropping low enough for Axe to kill them with Culling Blade.
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.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Shaman
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active: Bane,
Beastmaster,
Bloodseeker,
Clockwerk,
Doom,
Shadow Shaman.
Pugna
* Decrepify turns the target ethereal, protecting them from Chaos Knight's and his illusions' attacks.
* Life Drain instantly destroys illusions. It can effectively negate Phantasm when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Nether Blast quickly clears out illusions and can harass Chaos Knight in lane.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Pugna is a very fragile hero who can easily get caught and killed by Storm Spirit's long range initiation.
* This is especially true if he has Orchid Malevolence or
Scythe of Vyse.
* Pugna has no disables that can prevent Storm Spirit from escaping.
* Even though Ball Lightning requires high amount of mana, Nether Ward is ineffective since Storm Spirit is invulnerable while using it.
* Storm Spirit's other abilities cost very insignificant amount of mana for Nether Ward to be effective.
Shadow Shaman
* Any heroes with stuns or silences: Death Prophet,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Skywrath Mage
Pugna
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Pugna
* Special mention goes to Queen of Pain as she could kill herself with
Sonic Wave if your Nether Ward is up.
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.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)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.
Pugna
* Pugna:
Decrepify prevent the Spirit bear from attacking or protect allies from it.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker,...
Pugna
* Pugna's
Nether Ward damages Sand King when he channels Epicenter, preventing him from using Blink Dagger afterward.
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).
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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.
Pugna
* Due to Pugna's incredible intelligence growth and terrible strength growth, Nyx should always be able to take you out with his combo, with or without an added
Dagon.
Mana Burn will deal a large amount of damage in particular, especially in the late game.
Spiked Carapace is also a great tool versus Pugna. A good player will wait for you in
Vendetta until you farm a creep wave with Nether Blast and reflect it back at you as their initiation and setup for
Impale.
Nether Blast's animation makes it easy to time Spiked Carapace for a stun.
Life Drain, making him easy to hit with Impale.
*
Additional:
*
* Pugna has the largest intelligence gain in the game, making him a prime target for Mana Burn.
* Pugna needs to channel