Razor
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 2%)Undying
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Spirit Breaker
* Due to Spirit Breaker's low attack speed, Tombstone is problematic for Spirit Breaker.
* The zombies summoned from Tombstone apply a stacking movement speed slow, which can significantly reduce Greater Bash's damage.
* Soul Rip and
Decay allows Undying and his allies to survive from incoming ganks of Spirit Breaker.
Bristleback
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Sanity's Eclipse only triggers Bristleback's passive once, and deals high damage against Bristleback's low intelligence.
Spirit Breaker
* Astral Imprisonment can be used to protect allies by imprisoning either them or Spirit Breaker.
* Arcane Orb will heavily drain Spirit Breaker's intelligence, rendering him almost useless and unable to cast spells. Spirit Breaker's low intelligence also means
Sanity's Eclipse will deal a lot of damage to him.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Spirit Breaker
* 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.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that usually builds Linken's Sphere as a core item:
Weaver,
Medusa,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
Bristleback
* Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from the Bristleback passive.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Spirit Breaker
* Mana Drain has an extremely long range and low cooldown. It can easily deplete most heroes of their entire mana pools, especially those with smaller mana pools such as Tiny or
Spirit Breaker.
Bristleback
* Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
* Finger of Death deals high damage to Bristleback, and only triggers his passive once.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed so he's unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin's break removes Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his eponymous defensive passive, Bristleback also lose his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes with ways to protect themselves or allies from Spirit Breaker's initiation: Shadow Demon
Bristleback
* Shadow Demon's
Soul Catcher hinders Bristleback's tanking capabilities.
Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passive.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 8%)Spirit Breaker
* Pit of Malice can be cast in the path of Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness to cancel it.
* Dark Rift provides a way to escape from a gank for Underlord and his teammates.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Spirit Breaker
* Spirit Breaker's slow attacks cannot harm a hero shielded by Living Armor.
Additional:
* Living Armor can mitigate a large portion of Spirit Breaker's damage since his attacks are slow.
* Treant Protector can also counter initiate Spirit Breaker with Leech Seed and his bash from
Nature's Guise before he manages to escape.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Whirling Death deals damage as well while reducing 15% of Bristleback's strength, which reduces Bristleback's tankiness.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 18%)Spirit Breaker
* Cold Snap allows Invoker to interrupt Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike.
* Tornado's long range can be used to cancel Charge of Darkness.
* Deafening Blast prevents Spirit Breaker from right clicking and thus proccing his Greater Bash.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness doesn't help him very much against Fury Swipes in long teamfights.
* With no escape mechanism and a slow movement speed, getting jumped on by Ursa usually spell a quick end for Bristleback in the early game.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Spirit Breaker
* In the early game, Omniknight can look like an easy target for Spirit Breaker, but with Purification and
Degen Aura, what could be an opportunity could quickly turn into disaster.
* Heavenly Grace can be used to counter Charge of Darkness by minimizing the damage and lowering the stun duration with status resistance.
* Spirit Breaker's Greater Bash from all sources (Charge of Darkness or normal attacks) deals lesser damage if he is within the radius of Degen Aura.
* Due to this, Spirit Breaker's damage will always be lower when targeting Omniknight.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Spirit Breaker
* Clockwerk can use Power Cogs to repel Spirit Breaker when he charges in with Charge of Darkness.
* Spirit Breaker's slow 0.6 second attack animation attacks do little damage against Clockwerk. It can also constantly be interrupted by Battery Assault.
* Nether Strike's 1.2 second charge time gives Clockwerk plenty of time to activate
Blade Mail and for Battery Assault to cancel it.
Additional:
* Battery Assault will continuously prevent Spirit Breaker from using Nether Strike, Charge of Darkness and even right clicking because of his long attack animation.
* Charge of Darkness can be cancelled by a correctly timed Hookshot.
* Should Clockwerk or his allies be targeted by Charge of Darkness, he can stop it by casting Power Cogs in Spirit Breaker's path or around the target.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
* Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback .
* Last Word and
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
Additional:
* Bristleback will not be able to cast Viscous Nasal Goo or
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing
Warpath charges from stacking.
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilitiess, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
* Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
Additional:
* When dueled, Bristleback will have to face Legion head on, not allowing his passive Bristleback to come into effect.
Lich
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 12%)Bristleback
* Sinister Gaze forces Bristleback to face Lich, exposing him to damage.
* Lich's plethora of slows make it easy to kite Bristleback.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Spirit Breaker
* Fissure interrupts Spirit Breaker during Charge of Darkness.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's reliance on physical damage with Quill Spray is negated by Bulwark.
* Mars can knock back Bristleback to prevent him from chasing down allies with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's passive Bristleback can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Spirit Breaker
* Searing Chains can stop Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
* Activate Fire Remnant can be used to escape an approaching Spirit Breaker, or lead Spirit Breaker into a bad situation.
* Activate Fire Remnant and
Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to dodge Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With
Aghanim's Scepter, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* If Doom gets an Aghanim's Scepter, he can disable
Bristleback, taking away much of his durability.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing Warpath.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* Chronosphere allows allies to resposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Faceless Void from using Time Walk.
Additional:
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 21%)Spirit Breaker
* Durable heroes: Axe,
Bristleback,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 17%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that can cancel Charge of Darkness: Ogre Magi,
Earthshaker.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Spirit Breaker
* Durable heroes: Axe,
Bristleback,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes with fast movement abilities will suffer huge damage when afflicted by Rupture: Spirit Breaker,
Earth Spirit,
Dark Seer.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that usually builds Linken's Sphere as a core item:
Weaver,
Medusa,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Bristleback
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Spirit Breaker
* 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.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that usually builds Linken's Sphere as a core item:
Weaver,
Medusa,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Bristleback
* Heroes who deal single instance burst damage will only proc Bristleback once: Lina,
Lion.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 5%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that punish mobile heroes: Bloodseeker,
Keeper of the Light
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Spirit Breaker
* Can easily interrupt and disable Spirit Breaker with hex if being charged.
Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that are squishy by nature are an easy target for Spirit Breaker: Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Shadow Shaman
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Reaper's Scythe and
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
Additional:
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive
Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
Bristleback
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Spirit Breaker
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze, the charge will inevitably fail.
* Mana Shield and overall tankiness allows Medusa to easily survive Spirit Breaker's initiation.
Bristleback
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 2%)Spirit Breaker
* Spirit Breaker won’t do much harm because of Untouchable and Nature's Attendants. Unless Enchantress is low on HP, Spirit Breaker won’t catch her with mere spells.
Spirit Breaker
* Heroes with nukes that can jump her: Clockwerk,
Snapfire,
Spirit Breaker
Io
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
Spirit Breaker
* Charge of Darkness can be used to escape or counter-initiate against a Relocate gank.
* Greater Bash and
Nether Strike is devastating due to Io's low armor, and can even knock it away from tethered target.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Spirit Breaker
* Spirit Breaker can chase Nature's Prophet from anywhere on the map with Charge of Darkness, making it hard for Nature's Prophet to split-push.
* Charge of Darkness and
Nether Strike gives vision of Nature's Prophet when he tries to Sprout himself and teleport away.
Additional:
* Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to catch Nature's Prophet out when he tries to split push.
* Nature's Prophet can't hide in his Sprout against Spirit Breaker, as his Charge of Darkness provides vision on its target.
* Spirit Breaker can easily cancel Nature's Prophet's Teleportation.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with
Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* Quill Spray cleans up Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Phantom Lancer's complete lack of burst damage makes it nearly impossible for him to kill Bristleback during chases.
Spirit Breaker
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions: Riki,
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Spirit Breaker
* Spirit Breaker's stuns pierce spell immunity, making him a good choice against heroes that heavily rely on Black King Bar;
Huskar
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and
Quill Spray and
Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
Additional:
* The damage from Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Spirit Breaker
* Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness semi-reveals Bounty Hunter, taking away his element of surprise for the duration of the charge. Also, as Charge of Darkness shows Bounty Hunter's position, Spirit Breaker's allies can proceed to gank Bounty Hunter while he is roaming alone.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's
Viscous Nasal Goo can catch and slow Bounty Hunter.
Warpath and
Quill Spray can defeat him quickly due to his small HP pool when compared to Bristleback's.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Spirit Breaker
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions: Riki,
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer
Bristleback
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki still gets damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Additional:
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Spirit Breaker
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions: Riki,
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer
Bristleback
* Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
Additional:
* Bristleback reduces most of Broodmother's and her spiderlings' damage.
* Quill Spray will hit any spiders in its proximity, hindering Broodmother's fighting and farming capabilities.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 14%)Bristleback
* Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Spirit Breaker
* Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Tiny's high damage will also proc Bristleback multiple times.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can help counteract the bonus armor granted by Grow.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
Additional:
* Rubick deals little damage on his own, so Bristleback can simply shrug off all his spells and chase you down with his spells and attacks.
* Quill Spray requires multiple casts and close range to add up stacks. Because Rubick does not stay in the front lines, it's generally not a good spell for him to steal.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will slow Rubick down even further and reduce his armor, making him vulnerable to Quill Spray and the damage bonus from
Warpath.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 19%)Spirit Breaker
* Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to gank Shadow Fiend in the early game, preventing him from getting Necromastery stacks.
* Nether Strike and
Charge of Darkness can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 22%)Bristleback
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Additional:
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor & poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Spirit Breaker
* Magic Missile has a considerably long cast time, making it difficult to stop Charge of Darkness with it.
* Other than Magic Missile, Vengeful Spirit has no way of canceling Nether Strike.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Spirit Breaker
* Spirit Breaker can charge towards Sniper from anywhere on the map with Charge of Darkness.
* Greater Bash deals magical damage, which can prove dangerous to Sniper and his low health.
* Both previous abilities combined with Nether Strike ensures that Spirit Breaker can easily solo kill Sniper.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Spirit Breaker
* Tinker relies on his high mobility from Boots of Travel and
Blink Dagger to survive. Those items don't help him if Spirit Breaker manages to cast Charge of Darkness on him.
* Spirit Breaker can easily cancel Rearm and
Boots of Travel.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Bristleback
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or
Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Spirit Breaker
* Charge of Darkness can be used to chase down Pangolier if he escapes with Swashbuckle or Rolling Thunder.
* Nether Strike ignores Rolling Thunder's spell immunity, and will still hit Pangolier if he rolls or dashes away.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Bristleback
* Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
* Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and
Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Spirit Breaker
* Possibly Clinkz's worst enemy. He has many tools to utterly destroy Clinkz.
* Charge of Darkness can be used on Clinkz if Spirit Breaker's team spots him anywhere. This charge will track his location through Skeleton Walk's invisibility and movement speed bonuses.
* When Spirit Breaker charges onto Clinkz, he can easily use Dust of Appearance to guarantee a reveal on him while stunned.
* All three of Spirit Breaker's spells help him and his team quickly close the gap to Clinkz even at the edge of his attack range or when running away with Skeleton Walk.
* Spirit Breaker's high strength and above average armor makes him able to endure Clinkz's onslaught, meanwhile Clinkz will be heavily threatened if Spirit Breaker procs a Greater Bash.
Additional:
* Once caught with dust, Clinkz could be locked down for a long time by Spirit Breaker and has nowhere to escape.
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, showing Clinkz even when he is in Skeleton Walk.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 18%)Spirit Breaker
* Charge of Darkness keeps vision of Monkey King, even when he is in the trees.
* Nether Strike locks onto Monkey King and focuses damage on him during Wukong's Command.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 6%)Bristleback
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
Additional:
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 17%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that rely on escapes to stay alive can be caught and locked down for a long time: Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Spirit Breaker
* Earthbind's root prevents/interrupts Charge of Darkness.
* As a single target focused hero without much damage output, Spirit Breaker is ineffective in general against Meepo. Consider upgrading Nether Strike with Aghanim's Scepter to spam AoE stuns against Meepo clones.
Additional:
* Spirit Breaker heavily relies on disabling one enemy at a time therefore rendering him useless against five Meepos at once.
Spirit Breaker
* Heroes who can stun multiple units at once: Dark Willow,
Spirit Breaker,
Slardar,
Invoker, and
Tidehunter.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Spirit Breaker
* Because Templar Assassin does not have escape potential in lane, any support hero with roaming potential and a Dust of Appearance can be great at shutting her down early game:
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk,
Bounty Hunter,
Riki,
Warlock.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Spirit Breaker
* Generally, heroes that can close the gap on Drow Ranger to cancel her Marksmanship such as Phantom Assassin,
Spirit Breaker, and
Tusk are effective at limiting her power and bursting her down.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes with long-lasting, undispellable debuffs will pinpoint the true Naga Siren: Spirit Breaker,
Bloodseeker.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that rely on invisibility can be tracked with Charge of Darkness opening them to team attacks: Bounty Hunter,
Mirana,
Riki
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Spirit Breaker
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some Heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through your allies and deal with you, preventing you from doing your job. Such heroes include Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Riki, and some others.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Bristleback
* Quill Spray and
Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback withstands Luna’s nukes, and gives lots of damage in return.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and
Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of Crimson Guard, which is good protection from bouncing glaives.
Additional:
* Multiple instances of damage from Eclipse will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly in a short time, dealing tremendous damage to Luna and her teammates.
* Luna's damage burst may be high, but it will not be enough for her to take down Bristleback.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage,
Riki,
Puck, and
Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden
Bristleback
* Bristleback need not worry about charging into Magnetic Field, and quickly clearing up Arc Warden's summons and
Tempest Double with Quill Spray.
Additional:
* Bristleback activates frequently while he escapes from Arc Warden's Necronomicon army.
* Arc Warden has little armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Bristleback
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* Mana Break quickly depletes Bristleback's low mana, denying him the ability to spam Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Anti-Mage from using Blink.
Spirit Breaker
* Anti-Mage usually relies on Blink to escape, but with vision from Charge of Darkness it is easier to catch him.
* Spirit Breaker could single-handedly lock Anti-Mage down for 4 seconds (or even more with lucky bashes), allowing his teammates to follow up.
* As Anti-Mage is an elusive hero who likes to farm alone, Spirit Breaker could choose to charge whenever Anti-Mage is in sight.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that usually builds Linken's Sphere as a core item:
Weaver,
Medusa,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that rely on escapes to stay alive can be caught and locked down for a long time: Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Spirit Breaker
* Spirit Breaker's slow attack speed and moderate damage do very little to harm Dragon Knight, even if ganked with Charge of Darkness.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Spirit Breaker
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden
Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities will not only proc Bristleback's passive continuously, they will also do little harm to him when he is facing away from the source: Venomancer,
Arc Warden
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Spirit Breaker
* Bramble Maze stops Charge of Darkness in its tracks. Its very long duration means it can be used as an obstacle to block off an incoming Spirit Break during teamfights.
* Shadow Realm and Bedlam can be activated when Dark Willow sees Charge of Darkness coming, preventing Spirit Breaker from using
Nether Strike after the initial stun.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Spirit Breaker
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Spirit Breaker
* Malefice prevents Spirit Breaker from using his spells for the duration.
* Demonic Conversion's eidolons have high magic resistance, receiving little damage from Charge of Darkness.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness can enable him to chase Enigma out of a teamfight, making it difficult to initiate with a Black Hole.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero winrate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assasin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (dotabuff most played)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal winrate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest winrate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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Spirit Breaker
*
Nether Strike can't remove Static Link and reduces Spirit Breaker's physical damage output.
Static Link drains damage bonus from Greater Bash, it cannot be removed by Nether Strike.
Eye of the Storm melts Spirit Breaker's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Eye of the Storm melts Spirit Breaker's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
Additional:
*
*
Bristleback
*
Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Warpath.
*
Additional:
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from