* Lifestealer excels at killing high health heroes with Feast, and Sven is no exception.
* Rage stops Storm Hammer from hitting Lifestealer.
* Rage and Open Wounds helps Lifestealer survive against Sven's high physical damage.

* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.

* Fate's Edict cripples many heroes who rely on attacks, such as Phantom Assassin, Sven, or Enchantress, without a dispel or a Black King Bar.

* Fortune's End can easily dispel Cursed Crown before it times out and stuns. He can also save a stunned ally with False Promise.
* Fate's Edict can easily negate Bedlam's over-time damage, since the spell provides no form of control. Similarly, he can also negate the magic burst from Shadow Realm.
* Fortune's End can dispel the fear effect from Terrorize, and it can remove the root from Bramble Maze if you're quick enough. Be mindful that Fortune's End only dispels your allies' debuffs on the primary target.
Additional:
* Fortune's End not being disjointable is almost an ensured disable if Dark Willow tries to escape with Shadow Realm. Dispels Cursed Crown and Terrorize.
* Fate's Edict negates all her magic damage in case she catches a single hero.
* False Promise's strong dispel removes Dark Willow's disables.

* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King

* Reincarnation helps Wraith King outlast Sven in fights, and wastes the duration of God's Strength.
* Wraithfire Blast's low cooldown allows Wraith King to stun Sven several times in a team fight.

* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven, Lifestealer, Ursa and Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.

* All of Puck's abilities are area-targeted, and will hit Dark Willow when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Illusory Orb allows Puck to bypass Bramble Maze, close the gap and silence Dark Willow with Waning Rift.
* Phase Shift helps Puck dodge attacks charged by Shadow Realm, and is easily timed against Terrorize's long cast time..

* Spectral Dagger hinders Sven's low movement speed, and can be an easy tool to escape against his high damage.
* Dispersion makes it harder for Sven to burst down Spectre in one on one fights, and can reflect Sven's high damage back to him or his nearby teammates.
* Haunt and Radiance disables Sven's Blink Dagger.
* Desolate's pure damage ignores Sven's high armor.
* Spectre should not attempt to stand up to a full slotted Sven, since she will get shredded.

* Static Link saps Sven's insane attack damage, and goes through Black King Bar.

* Gust can hit Dark Willow beyond a defensive Bramble Maze, and before she gets close enough to hit Drow Ranger with Bedlam.
* Drow Ranger's long range allows her to hit Dark Willow's team without venturing into her Bramble Maze.

* Undying can use Decay not only to reduce Sven's maximum health, but also to reduce the damage he can deal with his ultimate.
* Zombies spawned by Tombstone together with Flesh Golem slow Sven down significantly. Landing Sven's powerful but somewhat slow right-click on Tombstone would be a waste.

* Power Cogs greatly limits Sven's positioning, potentially wasting the duration of Black King Bar in a teamfight.
* Battery Assault makes it hard for Sven to fight Clockwerk in his Power Cogs.
* Clockwerk's Blade Mail forces Sven to avoid attacking while inside Power Cogs, effectively rendering him useless for a few seconds.

* Primal Roar takes Sven out of the fight completely, even with Black King Bar.

* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal.

* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
* Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.

* Venomancer forces Sven to choose between using his Black King Bar or getting constantly slowed by his poison.

* Berserker's Call forces Dark Willow to attack, cancelling Shadow Realm.

* Sven has no easy way to burn Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.

* Last Word and Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
* Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.

* Ball Lightning allow Storm Spirit to bypass Bramble Maze, and zip back into battle if he gets hit by Terrorize.

* Cold Embrace saves any ally Sven initiates on and wastes the duration of God's Strength in team fights.
* Winter's Curse can be devastating to Sven's team, as his massive damage can take out a teammate before there is much time to react.

* Sven can be easily kited since Weaver is a natural Linken's Sphere carrier and Sven relies on Storm Hammer to disable and kill a hero.

* Flame Guard blocks Dark Willow's magical burst damage, and harms her if she tries to get close to attack with Bedlam.
* Sleight of Fist and Fire Remnant makes it hard for Dark Willow to fully disable Ember Spirit.

* Rot and Meat Hook hits Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Flesh Heap reduces Dark Willow's magic burst damage.

* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mystic Snake eats away at Sven's small mana pool.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.

* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his Black King Bar.

* 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.

* In general, melee heroes without blink mechanisms or spell immunity will have a hard time positioning against Pit of Malice: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Dragon Knight, Meepo, Doom, Bounty Hunter, Dark Seer, Undying, Alchemist, Legion Commander.

* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle, Lion, or Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.

* Some heroes, such as Necrophos can be an issue if not initiated onto by Sven first.

Additional:
* His Heartstopper Aura deals the same gradual damage over time no matter how high Sven builds his strength or health pool up, and should he fall down to a certain percentage, his high health will no longer matter if Necrophos manages to land his Reaper's Scythe, killing him instantly. But it is best if Necrophos can either catch him off guard before he can possibly use his Black King Bar (which is an item Sven players commonly purchase), or bait him out of it.
* Ghost Shroud prevents Sven from hitting Necrophos, and if he doesn't have his Storm Hammer available, it could make him completely immune to Sven and allow Necrophos to easily kite him around.

* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector, Kunkka, Alchemist, Troll Warlord, Wraith King, Tiny, Sven.

* Frail heroes who lacks mobility: Crystal Maiden, Enigma, Dark Willow, Vengeful Spirit.

Additional:
* Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her close-range bursts with Bedlam.
* Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.

* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by EMP: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Omniknight

* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as Lion or Sven.

* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Slark, Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reach a new power spike and become a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback, Spectre, Phantom Assassin, Enchantress, Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Slark, Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.

* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King

* Tanky melee heroes that can easily be kited, which allows Outworld Devourer to build charges with Arcane Orb from a distance: Sven, Underlord, Bristleback.

* Keeper of the Light's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.

* Heroes that relies on armor or other type of physical damage negation are easy for Gyrocopter to take down during the early game with his magical damage: Axe, Dragon Knight, Sven.

* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven, Wraith King, Kunkka, Doom, Tidehunter, Underlord, Troll Warlord, and etc.

* None of Dark Willow's spells pierce Spell Immunity, making Blade Fury a good counter against her.
* Dark Willow is generally fragile, which results in Omnislash being devastating against her.
* However, if Shadow Realm is activated during Omnislash then the attack damage is negated (though Omnislash can still jump to other enemies).
Additional:
* Blade Fury dispels most of Dark Willow's abilities, allowing Juggernaut to pass through Bramble Maze and cancel out Cursed Crown before the stun occurs.

* Sunder will make Sven a very easy kill if he gets it of on him.
* Terrorblade likes to go late game with his high attack damage, range and agility items.