Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Viper
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 5%)Phoenix
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper additional resistance to Phoenix's magical damage, and since they deal damage over time, Phoenix would be constantly afflicted by his passive's own debuff, making him not an ideal target for Phoenix's harassment. Phoenix's abilities also constantly drain its own health away, becoming more vulnerable to
Poison Attack.
Slark
* Nethertoxin negates Essence Shift and the regeneration aspect of
Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact doesn't mean a lot against Viper's ubiquitous slows.
* Viper becomes a relevant presence in team fights before Slark can procure his standard items (e.g. Shadow Blade).
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Phoenix
* Meepo is unlike any other multi-unit enemy Phoenix may face in the battlefield. Unlike illusion-based heroes like Phantom Lancer or
Chaos Knight, Meepo's clones are not illusions, meaning they can deal full damage to the Phoenix Sun if all four (or five) are present.
Additional:
* Earthbind can prevent Phoenix from using Icarus Dive, the only escaping mechanism of this hero.
* Heavy burst damage from Poof can easily kill Phoenix even when it slows down all the Meepos with Fire Spirits.
* Meepo's clones destroy the Phoenix Sun from Supernova in no time, even when they are slowed down by
Fire Spirits.
* Meepo's naturally high magic resistance gives Phoenix a hard time with bursting him down. He can even turn the tide if Icarus Dive is on cooldown.
Slark
* Slark's Dark Pact and Pounce can deny only one Earthbind and Poof can penetrate Shadow Dance if he doesn't build Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Earthbind and
Poof will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact can only remove one Earthbind.
* Ransack will still affect Slark, even if he has a
Black King Bar.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* With Dark Ascension he can keep vision on Slark, disabling his Shadow Dance regeneration. Slark is also too weak to seriously threaten Night Stalker in lane.
Phoenix
* Void can interrupt Icarus Dive.
* His Crippling Fear's silence will shutdown a spell caster Phoenix.
* However, Phoenix punishes Night Stalker with Supernova because it will turn night into day, and it has a higher priority than Dark Ascension, effectively canceling the passive bonuses Night Stalker gets from
Hunter in the Night.
Phoenix
* Phoenix turns night to day, overriding Dark Ascension during
Supernova.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 18%)Slark
* Illusory Orb and
Phase Shift allows Puck to avoid most ganking attempts.
* Waning Rift and
Dream Coil makes it very hard for Slark to escape bad situations.
* Puck's abilities used together also deals significant magical nuke damage, none of which are targeted and thus cannot be avoided by Shadow Dance.
Phoenix
* Although Phoenix has many ways to disable a Blink Dagger, the high cooldown of all of his spells makes them not as reliable for this. Also, his spells cost him a lot of health to use, making it easy for him to get nuked down.
* Waning Rift prevents Phoenix from using Supernova to refresh himself, giving Puck's team time to finish Phoenix off, or allow Puck to burst him down.
* Dream Coil prevents Phoenix from using Icarus Dive without consequences. Waning Rift and Dream Coil are also able to cancel his
Sun Ray, which is his main source of damage in the late game.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Phoenix
* Heroes that deal damage over time will also fail to bring down Abaddon and his allies, such as Huskar,
Venomancer, or
Phoenix.
Slark
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle,
Abaddon
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Phoenix
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 17%)Slark
* Arcane Orb deals pure damage, which ignores armor granted from permanent agility stacks.
* Astral Imprisonment can disrupt any Pounce attempt by banishing the leashed ally.
* Slark's low intelligence and therefore mana pool makes him more susceptible to Sanity's Eclipse.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Phoenix
* Due to Fervor and Battle Trance, Troll Warlord is one of the best heroes to deal with Supernova.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Slark
* Natural Order aura prevents Slark from gaining armor from the agility stolen with Essence Shift.
* Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter can hit Slark through his Shadow Dance ultimate.
* Slark's stats gain is relatively low compared to most agility carries making him quite squishy without his agility-based armor.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Phoenix
* Huskar's high attack speed can counteract Fire Spirits, and easily destroy the
Supernova.
Additional:
* Berserker's Blood will let Huskar easily face down a Supernova with increased attack speed.
* Icarus Dive may not be an easy escape from Huskar either as he can chase Phoenix during it with Life Break if Huskar times it right.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Slark
* Slark's dependence on Pounce and close range makes him very easy to hit with Purification.
* Slark's damage, even with a high count of Essence Shift, is easily negated by Omniknight's heals and Guardian Angel.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Phoenix
* Necrophos becomes a bigger threat the lower one's health gets, and unfortunately for Phoenix, most of its spells have noticeable health costs. Those costs, coupled with his Heartstopper Aura, means that staying in a teamfight for too long under Necrophos' presence will make Phoenix a more valid target for his ultimate, with its stun completely preventing any form of retaliation or protection. Necrophos players are also likely to buy more durability items such as
Hood of Defiance, making him more able to withstand Phoenix's damage despite having no escape mechanisms.
* However, it is also important to remember that a Scepter-upgraded Supernova can help protect an ally from his ultimate.
Additional:
* Phoenix constantly depletes its own health due to the health costs of its abilities. Unlike heroes that have a similar mechanic, Phoenix does not benefit from low health, nor does it really have a countermeasure for it. As such, Phoenix is a very vulnerable target for Necrophos to prey on, especially when caught off guard before it can cast Supernova.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Phoenix
* Phoenix does significant magic damage over time which can either be dispelled or negated by Fate's Edict.
* Since Phoenix sacrifices some of his health to cast abilities it makes him very vulnerable to Oracle's burst potential
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Both Hoof Stomp and
Double Edge can hit Slark during Shadow Dance, the latter requiring a unit nearby for the ability to be cast on.
* Slark has very low health in the early game, making him susceptible to the burst from Double Edge.
Io
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Phoenix
* Phoenix's limit AoE, damage-over-time abilities give Io plenty of time to save allies with Relocate.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)Phoenix
* Lil' Shredder will make quick work of
Supernova.
* Mortimer Kisses can easily hit a Phoenix using
Sun Ray.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 14%)Phoenix
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace reacts on any of the damage over time from Phoenix's abilities and can interrupt Sun Ray and
Icarus Dive.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 8%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Phoenix
* Any hero with high attack speed will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits: Juggernaut,
Clinkz,
Troll Warlord,
Beastmaster,
Lina.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Ice Blast stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.
Phoenix
* Since all of Phoenix's abilities (except for Supernova) have health costs, heroes like Ancient Apparition or
Necrophos can turn Phoenix's abilities against it. However, Supernova does completely protect Phoenix from
Ice Blast.
Phoenix
* Supernova with or without Aghanim's Scepter allows to save ally or himself through Ice Blast.
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Cold Feet.
Additional:
* Icarus Dive helps Phoenix escape from Cold Feet.
* However, all of Pheonix's basic abilities do cost health, which can be harmful under the effects of Ice Blast
* Supernova can save Phoenix from Ice Blast.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Phoenix
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle,
Abaddon
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Slardar's level 25 talent makes
Corrosive Haze undispellable, thus providing his allies a vision to Slark.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom
Phoenix
* Silencer will most likely disrupt an initiation with his ultimate, Global Silence, prevent escape with his
Last Word, and if Phoenix happens to die to him (or near him) enough times, he would sap enough of Phoenix's much needed Intelligence to make him a stronger foe and Phoenix with less mana than it already had.
Slark
* Slark's Dark Pact allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
* Against a carry Silencer, Essence Shift will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Slark
* 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
Phoenix
* Anti-Mage dispels Phoenix's slows with Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage can Blink directly next to Supernova, giving him more time to destroy the egg.
Slark
* Pounce prevents Anti-Mage from using Blink, and lets him disengage from Anti-Mage if needed.
* Essence Shift allows Slark to permanently steal agility from Anti-Mage.
* Shadow Dance stops Anti-Mage from being able to fight back in a slippery situation.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 7%)Phoenix
* Inner Beast helps Beastmaster's team destroy Supernova quickly.
Slark
* Heroes with strong dispels can remove Primal Roar's stun: Abaddon,
Slark,
Oracle.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Phoenix
* Juggernaut's high attack speed lets him destroy a Supernova easily. He can even attack a Supernova during Blade Fury with his regular attacks.
* Blade Fury protects Juggernaut from all of Phoenix's spells (except
Supernova, which pierces spell immunity).
* Blade Fury can also dispel the attack speed slow from
Fire Spirits and the movement speed slow from
Icarus Dive.
* Phoenix's Icarus Dive will not protect it from
Omnislash unless it dives into creeps, and Phoenix's low armor makes for an easy kill.
Slark
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Slark
* Though Slark's large damage output is most certainly a concern for the squishy Crystal Maiden, she does perform fairly well against him when coupled with aid from her team.
* Slark has no innate way to cancel Freezing Field, but the common purchase of Skull Basher does make Slark a substantially greater threat to Crystal Maiden as the game progresses.
* Freezing Field can still hit Slark while he is under the effect of Shadow Dance, and for the early and mid game, the damage output of Crystal Maiden's ultimate outscales Slark's passive regeneration, making a quick use of Freezing Field as soon as Slark uses
Shadow Dance a great way to combat him.
* Crystal Maiden's Frostbite and Crystal Nova are helpful in disabling and slowing the slippery Slark so he can be killed by her teammates.
Phoenix
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like Crystal Maiden or
Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Thunder Strike provides vision on him while Slark is invisible.
* Glimpse's range at lvl 3-4 is more than enough to pull him back to a favorable position for your team to group up and kill him.
* Even though he is capable of picking you off and deal enough damage to kill you, Slark will be literally sticking his neck out, since jumping on Disruptor means being on his battleground.
* AoE silence and the ability to mute Black King Bar is deadly to Slark at all stages of the game.
Additional:
* Static Storm and
Kinetic Field locks down Slark, as he cannot use Dark Pact to dispel any disables, or Pounce out while silenced.
* Glimpse puts an end to any attempts at ganking Disruptor or his allies, and also negates Slark's mobility by bringing him back into the fight if he tries to escape with Pounce.
Phoenix
* Phoenix with
Supernova
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with
Phase Shift
* Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Chaos Knight with
Phantasm
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Tusk with
Snowball
* Juggernaut with
Omnislash
* Brewmaster with
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with
Infest
* Phoenix with
Supernova
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Dark Pact is minimally effective against Phantasm illusions, and Slark lacks area damage otherwise.
* Pounce can be counteracted by Reality Rift.
* Slark is naturally frail and dies quickly to Chaos Knight's burst damage before he can build Essence Shift stacks.
* Be aware, however, that Shadow Dance can make Slark hard to kill as he can't be targeted during its duration.
Additional:
* Phantasms have enough health to survive Dark Pact, and Slark has no other source of AoE damage to deal with them.
Phoenix
* Illusion-based heroes such as Naga Siren or
Chaos Knight are vulnerable to Phoenix's DPS and attack speed slow, as their illusions, no matter how many, will be unable to deal enough damage to actually be a threat, and they will all be completely useless against the Supernova.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Slark
* Timbersaw can use Chakram as a scouting tool to find Slark if he tries to Pounce into the trees.
* None of Timbersaw's abilities require a target to be cast, allowing him to hit Slark inside Shadow Dance.
* Reactive Armor can be effective protection against a Slark who attacks quickly, since the strong armor and health regen cannot be stolen by Essence Shift.
* Timber Chain makes Timbersaw very mobile, meaning he is among the very few heroes who can actually give chase to a fleeing Slark.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Both Scream of Pain and Sonic Wave should hit him during his Shadow Dance.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Slark
* Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even during Shadow Dance.
* Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can hit Slark through Shadow Dance.
* Should Pounce be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Arena of Blood.
Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Berseker's Call catches Slark in Shadow Dance, wasting its duration and preventing him from escaping to regenerate.
* Unlike most disables, Dark Pact cannot dispel Berserker's Call, and the output damage would be returned by
Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call forces Slark to attack him, even during Shadow Dance.
* Counter Helix will hit Slark in Shadow Dance, with pure damage. It also triggers frequently against Slark's high attack speed after having stolen agility with Essence Shift.
* Culling Blade finishes off Slark before he gets a chance to slip away and regenerate his health, preventing him from playing the hit-and-run style often associated with Slark.
Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Additional:
* Sun Ray allows Phoenix to heal any allies caught in Berserker's Call, while burning away Axe's high HP at the same time.
* Icarus Dive and
Fire Spirits puts Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Axe's slow attack speed makes it difficult for him to destroy Supernova on his own.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Spectral Dagger give vision over Slark, slows strong with the talent, can not be dispelled and can not be missed if targeted. With the cooldown reduction talent Spectre can keep constant vision over slark, so he has to use his Shadow Dance to disengage so he cant be targeted by the dagger, which can still latch on to him when ground targeted.
* Spectre deals a lot of AOE damage in teamfights which still goes through Shadow dance.
Slark
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
Additional:
* Essence Shift deals 20 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by Dispersion.
* Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping with Spectral Dagger.
* Haunt illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a
Shadow Blade, preventing
Desolate's and
Diffusal Blade's damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any damage caused by
Radiance.
* Slark is a natural Silver Edge builder.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Slark
* Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.
Phoenix
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or
Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* A Toss plus
Avalanche combination deals heavy damage to Slark in the early game, making Tiny a very dangerous target to gank.
Phoenix
* Heroes that are able to slow Tiny's attack speed, like Tusk and
Phoenix, will greatly limit his Physical damage output.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slarks poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Phoenix
* Any hero with high attack speed will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits: Juggernaut,
Clinkz,
Troll Warlord,
Beastmaster,
Lina.
Slark
* Dark Pact can be cast during the cast animation of Light Strike Array and dispel its stun.
* Pounce allows Slark to close the gap to Lina.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lina from killing Slark with her Laguna Blade when his HP gets low.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 15%)Slark
* Slark's Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who always goes for the Silver Edge and
Abyssal Blade Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin and her
Blur and
Coup de Grace, drastically reducing her damage output and ability to evade attacks, and also preventing her from acting.
* Phantom Assassin's Coup de Grace requires Random Number Generation in order to proc, which gives Slark more than enough time to escape and recover himself.
Phoenix
* While her Phantom Strike does give limited extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her
Blur may protect her from attacks, Phoenix's strong magical DPS burns away her small health pool quickly, and the attack speed slow makes her unable to fight back (provided she has no source of spell immunity).
Additional:
* Fire Spirits applies a severe attack speed slow, severely hindering Phantom Assassin's damage output. While Phantom Strike may be able to slightly remedy the problem, Phoenix' magical and pure damage output completely ignore Blur's evasion, resulting in severe damage to her low health pool.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Phoenix
* Phoenix will usually be on the sidelines or further back ready to use Sun Ray. Even after Magnus successfully uses Reverse Polarity and skewer Phoenix's teammates, Phoenix can usually counter-initiate using all of its abilities.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 19%)Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Slark
* Dark Pact dispels Dismember if timed perfectly.
* Pudge's low attack speed and poor agility can be lowered even further by Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance grants Slark invisibility and a high degree of mobility, which can make Slark a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an
Aghanim's Scepter).
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* A well-timed Dark Pact can dispel Frost Arrows and Gust, letting Slark engage and escape freely.
* Shadow Dance lets Slark quickly close the gap and deal heavy damage without giving Drow Ranger a chance to retaliate.
* Pounce counteracts Frost Arrows' slow, letting Slark easily pin Drow Ranger down or flee.
Additional:
* Pounce and items like Shadow Blade makes it very difficult for Drow Ranger to keep her distance from Slark, thereby losing her
Marksmanship bonus.
* Gust is rarely enough to keep Slark at bay, as Drow Ranger has no movement abilities and will simply be chased down afterwards.
* Drow Ranger's heavy dependence on agility also makes her significantly weaker after being drained by Essence Shift.
Phoenix
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or
Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Phoenix
* Due to Spirit Breaker's low attack speed, Supernova is problematic for Spirit Breaker to take down, and even more so with
Fire Spirits debuff applied.
* Icarus Dive grants Phoenix capability to quickly escape to safety.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Phoenix
* Icarus Dive allows Phoenix to shrug off the slow from her trap and make an easy escape from her ambush.
* As Templar Assassin relies on her quality-over-quantity bursting attacks to make quick work on fragile target, Fire Spirits' attack speed reduction can cripple her ability to deals any damage during combat. With the debuff applied in early-mid game, a Meld-breaking hit from her is significantly slowed to the point that her target can make a safe distance before she even landed the hit.
* Sun Ray has quick damage tick and will burn through her Refraction in no time.
* Supernova deals damage over time in an incredibly large area, and again with her quality-over-quantity style, she may not be able to attack quickly enough to break through the Phoenix Sun by herself. (not to mention the debuff from Fire Spirits) This can lead to a failed ganking attempt or even a turnaround.
Additional:
* Her Refraction charges can and will be easily burned away by Phoenix's damage over time abilities, and
Meld can't protect her from Phoenix's AoE abilities, even without detection.
Slark
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Pugna
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones: Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren (bonus for her
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Pugna
Additional:
* Dark Pact rips through Refraction charges and still steals attributes during Refraction.
* Pounce and Dark Pact will still hit Templar Assassin while she is Melded. Since she cannot move, both abilities will be easy for Slark to land.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Phoenix
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
Additional:
* Icarus Dive, Sun Ray, and Supernova all destroy trees that Monkey King relies on to use his ability Tree Dance. If you spot him, you can quickly Icarus Dive in his direction and then follow up with Fire Spirits and Supernova. If you manage to cut the tree he is on, he will be stunned for 4 seconds and will be forced to take a lot of damage. However, most Monkey King players tend to build attack speed items to make use of their passive,
Jingu Mastery, so a battle against a farmed Monkey King will depend on who gets the jump on the other first.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Phoenix
* Supernova negates Kunkka's combo entirely, as it can't be affected by spells while using Supernova.
* Icarus Dive also allows Phoenix to dodge Ghostship and Torrent.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift removes 1 of every attribute, lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
Additional:
* Medusa is especially vulnerable to Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 0%)Phoenix
* Phoenix's large damage over time with Icarus Dive and
Fire Spirits can kill Chen's allies before he can use Hand of God.
* Phoenix's Supernova is not damaged by Chen's creeps.
Additional:
* Not only Phoenix is able to disrupt Chen's jungling with Fire Spirits, but its high damage over time can also force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting any chance to save his allies during teamfights.
* Creeps' damage and attack speed are very abysmal, so Chen often cannot kill Phoenix whenever it casts Supernova.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Slark
* Pounce and
Dark Pact together with some attacks can gank Rubick down quickly. Rubick can seldom retaliate because of the strong dispel of
Dark Pact. What is more, Rubick is the type of squishy support that Slark exactly wants to gank.
* Though Shadow Dance is a great spell to steal, Slark's untargetable nature and his low cooldown spells prevents Rubick from stealing it.
* Slark usually builds Diffusal Blade which can prevent Rubick to cast his abilities from Spell Steal.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Phoenix
* Icarus Dive helps Phoenix escape the slow from Stroke of Fate's and Soulbind.
* Supernova protects Phoenix from spell damage during Soulbind.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Slark
* Heroes with Break abilities will prevent Slark to regenerate and gaining Essence Shift stacks: Viper,
Shadow Demon etc.
Slark
* Heroes who can dispel will be able to remove Shadow Poison before Shadow Demon can build up a big stack, or remove Soul Catcher's debuff to instantly bring the health of affected heroes back to a considerable amount: Abaddon,
Slark,
Legion Commander,
Oracle.
Phoenix
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Shadow Demon abilities, especially Demonic Purge.
* Phoenix AoE abilities remove Shadow Demon's illusions created by Disruption.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Slark is a natural Shadow Blade carrier, and with
Pounce Sniper has no opportunity to escape or react.
* With Essence Shift and
Shadow Dance, Slark will easily win a fight against Sniper.
Additional:
* Sniper is one of the most gankable heroes in the game, and has no defenses when Pounced on by Slark.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 1%)Phoenix
* Lone druid's bear attacks on Phoenix's Supernova Egg don't increase the hit count. Given that Lone Druid's main hero often doesn't have much farm, the
Supernova Egg is less likely to get killed.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Slark
* Pounce prevents Tinker from blinking away.
* Slark frequently builds Shadow Blade, which allows him to approach Tinker unnoticed. Since Tinker's farming usually covers a significant amount of area on the map, Sentry Wards may not be cost effective.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to detect both common and unusual wards. Eliminating common ward causes Tinker trouble farming many lanes if he does not know who may be waiting to jump on him. Slark is also uniquely able to identify some of the less common wards used by Tinker, such as those placed on the cliffs at map edges which Tinker uses to give him vision over the trees he uses to hide in.
* Slark's extremely high move speed from Shadow Dance, potentially stacked with
Shadow Blade, allows him to easily follow Tinker between lanes, especially if Tinker has pushed the lanes out.
* Dark Pact dispels Laser's blind.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Flaming Lasso if is used in anticipation, but a Blink initiation from fog can catch the Slark off guard.
* Slark can also take off any Sticky Napalm stacks with Dark Pact in lane.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Dark Pact easily purges away both slow and disarm effect from Lucky Shot.
* With Pounce now apply leash to the target, Pangolier is helpless against Slark since both his Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder will be disabled. Pounce also help Slark to easily escape from Rolling Thunder.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Slark
* Pounce's root prevents Earth Spirit from using Rolling Boulder to escape, making it easier for Slark to shut him down especially in the laning phase.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Slark
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like Slark in his
Shadow Dance and
Weaver in his
Shukuchi.
Additional:
* Earthshaker's many AoE stuns help lock down Slark, and will often waste the duration of Shadow Dance.
Slark
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz,
Slark,
Storm Spirit
Phoenix
* Supernova allows Phoenix to save himself (or an ally, with Aghanim's Scepter) through
Echo Slam. Earthshaker will also have a difficult time destroying the supernova, due to his low base attack time and poor agility.
* Icarus Dive can pass through Earthshaker's Fissure.
* Most of Phoenix's abilities disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger for a good period of time due to the damage-over-time nature of its spells.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark heightened regeneration when out of vision making DoTs effects less threatening.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Slark
* Dark Pact dispels Ignite's slow and Fireblast's stun.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to regenerate HP, even when he is affected by Ignite and Fireblast.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Phoenix
* Clockwerk being confined in his own Power Cogs means Clockwerk is unable to quickly escape from Phoenix's Sun Ray and
Supernova.
* Sun Ray will also heal the enemy Clockwerk is fighting, making it unlikely for Clockwerk to take an enemy down with him.
* For the same reasons, Phoenix also makes a powerful ally for Clockwerk when the situation is reversed.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast debuffs are dispellable with Dark Pact. Arctic Burn is also no escape against
Pounce.
* Cold Embrace just gives Slark free Essence Shift stacks. He also relies mostly on magic damage early in the game.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Dark Pact dispels debuffs from Gush, Anchor Smash and even Ravage if timed correctly.
* Kraken Shell cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift or dispel the leash if he gets
Pounced.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Upheaval does not interrupt Slark too much, as he can just Pounce out of the area.
* Fatal Bonds and
Shadow Word can be dispelled by Dark Pact.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* If Slark sees the Sacred Arrow before it hits him, he can use Dark Pact to remove it a moment later.
* Pounce prevents Mirana from escaping with Leap.
* Slark can survive Mirana's Aghanim's Scepter combo with
Shadow Dance.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Phoenix
* Phoenix's
Supernova cannot be damaged by Familiars.
* In the early and mid game, Sun Ray won't deal enough damage to be reduced by Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Once Sun Ray deals enough damage to protect Visage, a layer of Gravekeeper's Cloak is burnt every 0.2 seconds.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Slark
* Dark Pact, if timed correctly, can dispel Wraithfire Blast's stun and slow.
* Since Wraith King has a lot of health and multiple lives, Slark can keep gaining Essence Shift stacks, increasing armor, damage, and attack speed and can beat down Wraith King twice.
* Slark sometimes carries Diffusal Blade to burn mana as an attempt to shut down Reincarnation.
* Because Wraith King has no AoE abilities, Shadow Dance is particularly useful against Wraith King.
Razor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Pounce can easily break Static Link, making it less powerful against him.
* Slark is one of the few heroes who can man fight a Razor, because of Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance can prevent Razor from killing him and may provide an opportunity to kill Razor due to it preventing Razor from attacking Slark.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 40% pickrate: 1%)Slark
* Heroes that can jump on her: Slark,
Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Time Dilation while Dark Pact and
Pounce are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, reducing his escape potential. However, Time Dilation is dispellable with
Dark Pact so it needs to be timed well.
* Chronosphere will not reveal Slark during Shadow Dance, but covers the whole duration of Shadow Dance making him unable to use it to attack or escape. Slark still receives the regeneration benefit from Shadow Dance.
Phoenix
* Fire Spirits does damage over time, preventing Faceless Void from backtracking the full damage with Time Walk.
* Fire Spirits applies a big attack speed slow, stopping Faceless Void from doing many attacks while in Chronosphere.
* Sun Ray can heal allies and damage Faceless Void from outside Chronosphere.
* Supernova can be cast outside of Chronosphere, forcing Faceless Void to step away from it, lest he'll take a lot of damage
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Slark
* Pounce also stops Nature's Prophet's
Teleportation.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 13%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 13%)Phoenix
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like Crystal Maiden or
Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 9%)Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Phoenix
* Heroes who can hide the Dueled target (Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Tusk,
Phoenix with
Aghanim's Scepter etc).
Additional:
* Legion Commander relies on her powerful attack and her Duel to be effective. But if Phoenix gets the jump on her first, she can find herself severely slowed, taking heavy damage, and find herself unable to Duel a burning Supernova.
* It must be noted that Press the Attack will both dispel the attack slow of Fire Spirits and grant her or whoever she targets bonus attack speed. This allows her to easily destroy a Supernova if caution is not taken to prevent this from occurring. As such, it would be a better decision to simply avoid a farmed or skilled Legion Commander instead of attempting to overpower her.
* If an ally is caught by Duel, Phoenix can use Sun Ray to heal the ally and damage Legion Commander, possibly swinging the Duel in their team's favor. Or with
Aghanim's Scepter, Phoenix can save an ally from dying in Duel with Supernova and cancel the Duel as well.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Slark, etc.).
Tusk
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Phoenix
* Sand King and
Phoenix has many tools to deal with a crowd of Heroes, which will work well against a crowd of illusions.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* He has a hard time killing Sand King because of the survivability he gets from Burrowstrike and Sand Storm.
* Shadow Dance, which usually allows Slark to survive fights, is ineffective against Sand King's AoE damage.
Phoenix
* Sand King has nothing to deal with Supernova, as none of his spells are effective.
* The damage-over-time abilities of Phoenix disable Sand King's Blink Dagger very often.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* 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.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Slark with
Dark Pact
* 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.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Enigma is fragile, and lacks escapes, being dependent on Blink Dagger for mobility. Ganking Heroes or Heroes with burst damage will likely kill him before he can do anything. Such Heroes include:
Lina,
Lion,
Puck,
Slark,
Nyx Assassin, etc.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Lycan cannot escape from a Pounce even if he uses
Shapeshift, and has no disabling abilities to stop Slark.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Phoenix
* 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.
Slark
* 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.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Slark
* Heroes that rely on their high mobility such as Queen of Pain,
Slark and
Weaver can be constantly engaged against due to your excellent ability to chase over any terrain. Make sure you carry true sight items (such as
Dust of Appearance or
Gem of True Sight) for invisible heroes that could potentially escape your clutches.
Slark
* Pounce's leash prevents Storm Spirit from using Ball Lightning, making it hard for Storm Spirit to escape a gank from Slark.
* Dark Pact can dispel Orchid Malevolence's Soul Burn.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* With Dust of Appearance, Luna will be able to use
Eclipse on invisible heroes. Be mindful that
Slark is exception because he'll be able to remove the debuff with
Dark Pact.
Slark
* Shadow Dance prevents Luna from damaging Slark, and together with
Shadow Blade he can kite her or escape.
* Luna has no way to escape from Pounce's leash.
Additional:
* Luna's lack of mobility and escape abilities makes her easily gankable by Slark.
* Shadow Dance will avoid all the damage from Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Slark is a good ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Lion
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slarks poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Slark
* Pounce allows Slark to close in on Lion and prevent him from escaping.
* Lion's fragile health pool makes him easy prey for Slark's high burst damage through Pounce,
Dark Pact and right-clicks.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lion from casting Hex, Mana Drain, or Finger of Death on Slark.
* Dark Pact allows Slark to dispel any of Lion's disables.
Bane
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Phoenix
* Heroes that wish to disrupt fights with spell combos or big ultimates are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
Slark
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Luna,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Enfeeble, as well as Nightmare and Fiend's Grip if timed well.
* Shadow Dance protects Slark from Bane's single-target-only abilities.
Phoenix
* Heroes with hiding abilities can protect disabled allies: Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Tusk,
Phoenix with
Aghanim's Scepter
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven,
Slark
Slark
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander,
Oracle,
Slark
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slarks poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Slark
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Slark has no sustained AoE to fight off Phantom Lancer's illusions as they continually spawn.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark by spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark if he tries to escape with Pounce.
Additional:
* Slark has no sustained AoE to deal with Phantom Lancer's many illusions.
* Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer dodge Dark Pact and Pounce, and partially wastes the duration of Shadow Dance.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark via spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark when he jumps away with Pounce.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's AoE abilities can prove troublesome for Phantom Lancer.
* Fire Spirits dramatically reduces Phantom Lancer and his illusions' attack speed.
* Icarus Dive's movement speed reduction makes retreating difficult.
* Supernova burns away illusions, and is invulnerable to attacks from illusions.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden
Slark
* Dark Seer relies on Surge for most of his mobility, so he's not very vulnerable to slows, but much more to root effects and walls or pseudo-walls such as Disruptor's
Kinetic Field or
Slark's
Pounce.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Phoenix
* Ursa can easily unleash a number of attacks in an incredibly short amount of time, easily destroying the Supernova in a couple of seconds regardless of Fire Spirits' debuff. His Enrage also dampens any damage Phoenix might toss at his direction, as well as remove any debuffs Phoenix may place on him.
Slark
* Slark can detect early Roshan attempts due to Shadow Dance if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Enrage cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift and will reduce his physical damage output.
* Even if Ursa initiates with Earthshock, Slark can Pounce away or use
Dark Pact after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Phoenix
* His Tempest Double is not an illusion, but rather a full hero unit, which effectively reduces half of the Supernova's health. His
Magnetic Field can tremendously boost his attack speed, allowing him to destroy Supernova in no time even when he's affected by
Fire Spirits.
Additional:
* Tempest Double, Magnetic Field's attack speed bonus, and Arc Warden's high attack range will easily destroy a Phoenix using Supernova much faster than usual.
* Phoenix is very weak against pushers, especially those like Arc Warden who can kill him easily, as his skillset works best in teamfights.
Slark
* Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact.
* Pounce allows Slark to avoid Spark Wraiths.
* Tempest Double allows Slark to build up Essence Shift stacks, especially when it is being used for split pushing.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 7%)Phoenix
* Chemical Rage kills Phoenix very quickly in Supernova.
Slark
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to not be targeted by Unstable Concoction, making Alchemist stun himself and making himself vulnerable to the enemy.
* Dark Pact also allows him to just purge off the stun if timed correctly.
* Essence Shift will steal stats over long durations at a time should Alchemist lack the damage to kill Slark.
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.
Most popular searches list
Slark, PudgeDazzle, Pudge
Techies, Spectre
Tusk, Elder Titan
Bounty Hunter, Huskar
Axe, Legion Commander
Ancient Apparition, Abaddon
Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage
Axe, Techies, Spectre
Alchemist, Ancient Apparition
Kunkka, Axe, Grimstroke
Phantom Assassin, Crystal Maiden
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Pugna
Slark, Pudge, Ancient Apparition
Faceless Void, Drow Ranger, Slark
Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Bane
Abaddon, Alchemist, Ancient Apparition
Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage
Pudge, Invoker, Drow Ranger, Weaver
Abaddon, Alchemist, Arc Warden, Bane
Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Axe, Dark Willow
Dazzle, Witch Doctor, Bristleback, Spectre
Riki, Crystal Maiden, Visage, Treant Protector
Anti-Mage, Abaddon, Axe, Bane, Batrider
Riki, Invoker, Bristleback, Sniper, Lion
Crystal Maiden, Magnus, Enigma, Sven, Luna
Weaver, Invoker, Pudge, Lich, Ember Spirit
Sniper, Slark, Troll Warlord, Visage, Ursa
Ogre Magi, Ursa, Troll Warlord, Meepo, Lich
Ogre Magi, Treant Protector, Necrophos, Chaos Knight
Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden
Gyrocopter, Riki, Slardar, Bloodseeker, Meepo
Faceless Void, Tinker, Lion, Brewmaster, Pudge
Riki, Legion Commander, Tiny, Invoker, Spectre
Alchemist, Lina, Lycan, Luna, Nature's Prophet
Pudge, Zeus, Lich, Juggernaut, Centaur Warrunner
Clockwerk, Pudge, Invoker, Shadow Shaman, Sniper
Silencer, Zeus, Faceless Void, Sniper, Sand King
Huskar, Pudge, Alchemist, Luna, Phantom Assassin
Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Tusk, Axe, Tiny
Drow Ranger, Sniper, Earthshaker, Bristleback, Riki
Tinker, Pudge, Earthshaker, Elder Titan, Gyrocopter
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Riki, Invoker, Chaos Knight
Dazzle, Ogre Magi, Invoker, Rubick, Phantom Assassin
Spirit Breaker, Outworld Devourer, Axe, Warlock, Ursa
Winter Wyvern, Lich, Ember Spirit, Underlord, Leshrac
Leshrac, Shadow Shaman, Sniper, Necrophos, Terrorblade
Abaddon, Bane, Storm Spirit, Grimstroke, Phantom Lancer
Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Ancient Apparition, Axe
Windranger, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Riki, Alchemist
Brewmaster, Pudge, Storm Spirit, Phantom Lancer, Oracle
Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Axe, Arc Warden
Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Axe, Alchemist
Luna, Vengeful Spirit, Storm Spirit, Undying, Beastmaster
Juggernaut, Zeus, Sven, Ancient Apparition, Spirit Breaker
Axe, Ancient Apparition, Bloodseeker, Clinkz, Chaos Knight
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Huskar, Queen of Pain, Earthshaker
Axe, Drow Ranger, Vengeful Spirit, Windranger, Winter Wyvern
Juggernaut, Shadow Shaman, Windranger, Meepo, Spirit Breaker
Abaddon, Alchemist, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Ancient Apparition
Abaddon, Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden
Juggernaut, Ember Spirit, Shadow Shaman, Ogre Magi, Brewmaster
Shadow Shaman, Spirit Breaker, Sniper, Wraith King, Earthshaker
Invoker, Grimstroke, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Phantom Assassin
Treant Protector, Puck, Vengeful Spirit, Shadow Fiend, Anti-Mage
Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Skywrath Mage, Silencer, Shadow Fiend
Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Invoker, Phantom Lancer, Vengeful Spirit
Phoenix
* Although
Blood Rite can be easily avoided, if it does hit, its lengthy silence and pure damage can be a severe punishment for a slow, unobservant, or simply unfortunate Phoenix. His
Rupture can turn Icarus Dive into a suicide option, and it cannot be dispelled, meaning even if Phoenix completes a Supernova, choosing to Dive may just cut its health back down. And finally, due to Phoenix's health costs, too much careless ability spamming may just put Phoenix into Bloodseeker's vision, making it a very tempting ganking target.
Icarus Dive.
Additional:
* Phoenix expends health to use its abilities, making it a good target for Thirst.
* Rupture deals heavy damage against
Slark
* Thirst prevents Slark from healing with
Shadow Dance.
Pounce.
Dark Pact cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Slark from escaping ganks.
Thirst makes Slark visible while at low health, canceling out Shadow Dance's passive. For this reason, Bloodseeker is usually considered the hardest counter to Slark.
Rupture cannot be dispelled by Dark Pact, and using Pounce while affected by it will cause Slark to take damage.
* Rupture will deal damage during
*
Additional:
*
*