Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 7%)Razor
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* Static Link saps Sven's insane attack damage, and goes through
Black King Bar.
Lifestealer
* Static Link cannot be dispelled by Rage or
Infest, so Razor will be able to track Lifestealer down during an attempted escape.
* Storm Surge makes it hard for Lifestealer to catch Razor.
* Static Link can stop Open Wounds from getting any additional lifesteal, but keep in mind Lifestealer can still utilize
Feast.
* Eye of the Storm penetrates the spell immunity of Rage.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Sven
* Whirling Axes (Melee)'s blind makes Sven nearly useless in the early game and allows Troll Warlord to him on comfortably.
* Battle Trance will mean Sven will never take Troll out in a 1vs1 with equal farm.
Additional:
* Berserker's Rage together with Troll Warlord's high attack speed gives Troll a high chance of rooting enemies, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Sven.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, and the passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll resilient to physical damage in early game. Sven's God's Strength is much less effective as a result.
* Beware that Sven can farm much faster than Troll Warlord by stacking ancients and clearing them with Great Cleave.
Lifestealer
* The passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll Warlord resilient to Feast in early game.
* The 60% miss chance given by Whirling Axes (Melee) is useful when Rage is not active.
* Battle Trance can purge Open Wounds, negating a large amount of Lifestealer's sustain in fights.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Sven
* 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.
Lifestealer
* The Swarm is not blocked by Rage and can be used to lower Lifestealer's already low armor, making him even more vulnerable to physical damage.
* Shukuchi renders the Open Wounds slow pretty useless, as it gives Weaver maximum movement speed, allowing him to escape or kite around Lifestealer.
* However, Weaver is a common Linken's Sphere carrier to block and
Time Lapse to dispel Open Wounds.
Additional:
* Open Wounds's slow is ignored by Shukuchi.
* Lifestealer has no other lockdown and relies on being on top of enemies; Weaver can kite him with ease.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Sven
* 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.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's low mobility makes him easy to kite.
* Stone Gaze pierces Rage, wasting its cooldown and making Lifestealer unable to fight.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 1%)Sven
* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his Black King Bar.
Lifestealer
* Since Untouchable pierce Spell immunity, Lifestealer cannot burst her down even with
Rage ; meaning she can heal herself back to full HP.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Sven has no easy way to burn Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.
Lifestealer
* Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction: Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin etc.
Sven
* 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.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Terrorblade's illusions and ranged attacks in Metamorphosis can burst down Lifestealer very quickly.
* Terrorblade has low health due to his low strength gain, which reduces Feast's lifesteal and damage.
* Terrorblade's high armor makes Lifestealer's Desolator useless.
* Because Lifestealer usually walks around with high HP in fights due to his lifesteal (and sometimes Armlet of Mordiggian), he is a great target for Terrorblade's
Sunder.
Additional:
* Reflection's illusion carries Feast as well, making it useful in fights.
* Feast cannot compensate for Terrorblade's incoming high damage, due to his low Strength gain.
* Open Wounds is a lot harder to land on the real Terrorblade if he has illusions around him.
* Lifestealer relies on right-clicks to deal damage, and Terrorblade's high armor can reduce his damage by quite a bit.
Sven
* 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.
Sven
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother.
Additional:
* Great Cleave with
God's Strength clears Terrorblade's illusions quickly.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stuns Terrorblade and his illusions.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Melee carries such as Sven,
Ursa or
Lifestealer can be slowed and easily kited with Demonic Purge.
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 reaches a new power spike and becomes 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.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* Lacking any stun and being heavily dependent on his physical attacks and spell immunity, Lifestealer has no way to stop Black Hole, assuming he does not initiate Enigma first with Abyssal Blade.
* Enigma's abilities, with exception of Malefice, can pierce spell immunity and deal pure damage (and percentage-based damage in Midnight Pulse's case), putting Lifestealer in potentially adverse situations.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Clinkz relies heavily on the physical damage provided by Searing Arrows, which completely overrides the capabilities of Rage.
* Open Wounds is near worthless against Clinkz as he can instantly run away with Skeleton Walk before returning later on.
* Clinkz, by nature will often build items that Lifestealer hates dealing with such as physical damage items like Desolator or
Daedalus and instant silences or hexes from
Bloodthorn and
Scythe of Vyse.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* Ice Blast prevents Lifestealer from lifestealing and healing with Infest in fights.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Sven
* 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.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Feast will most likely not out-heal the damage from Fury Swipes and Overpower in the early to mid game.
Additional:
* Lifestealer can't fight Ursa in any stage of the game because of his high physical damage with Fury Swipes and
Overpower.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Venomancer forces Sven to choose between using his Black King Bar or getting constantly slowed by his poison.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer cannot use Rage,
Infest or
Open Wounds when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and
Feast cannot heal him effectively because of the blind, leaving him very weak both offensively and defensively.
* Infest ganks are harder when the enemy team has a Riki, as there are often only four heroes on the map that you can initiate on.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* 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.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Lifestealer
* Dark Pact can be used to remove Open Wounds.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to attack Lifestealer for its duration without any way for Lifestealer to fight back.
* Slark commonly buys a Silver Edge, which can break Lifestealer's Feast, severely diminishing his damage output and lifesteal.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer is a great target for Morphling to use Morph, as he can use Rage to gain spell immunity and a movement speed boost.
* Morphling's high armor makes Lifestealer attacks do less damage
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Sven
* 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.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage.
Sven
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with magic immune abilities can negate most of Visage's attacks like Pangolier and
Lifestealer.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Sven
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven,
Lifestealer,
Ursa and
Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
Lifestealer
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven,
Lifestealer,
Ursa and
Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with spell immunity or pseudo-blinks which provide invulnerability: Lifestealer,
Juggernaut,
Omniknight,
Huskar , and
Tusk have spells which allow them to easily escape Dream Coil.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery: Legion Commander,
Lifestealer,
Weaver,
Wraith King
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Sven
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer relies on Open Wounds to slow enemies to burst them, but Windranger can use Windrun to escape through Open Wounds duration.
* Windrun and
Focus Fire can easily allow Windranger to kite Lifestealer and do good amounts of damage in the process.
Sven
* Sven with aghanim's scepter along with aghanim's shard upgrade (Storm hammer dispels) can easily chase down and dispels her Windrun at the same time.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with spell immunity can still be disabled by Fiend's Grip: Juggernaut,
Lifestealer,
Pangolier.
Additional:
* Fiend's Grip can disable Lifestealer through Rage.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Sven
* 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.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Sven
* 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.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* 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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Sven
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like Lifestealer or
Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up
Black King Bar, like
Sven.
Lifestealer
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like Lifestealer or
Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up
Black King Bar, like
Sven.
Sven
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 18%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities: Sven,
Ursa,
Alchemist,
Lifestealer etc.
Lifestealer
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities: Sven,
Ursa,
Alchemist,
Lifestealer etc.
Sven
* Heroes with cleave damage: Sven,
Magnus,
Kunkka
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Although he can avoid Eclipse with Rage and
Infest, Luna's physical damage can be enough to deal with him.
* Manta Style is a common pick on Luna, which can help her dispel
Open Wounds. In addition, Lifestealer is not good against illusions created by
Manta Style.
Sven
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance: Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Reverse Polarity pierces through Rage, wasting part of it's duration.
* Magnus is tanky and mobile hero and hard for Lifestealer to focus and kill in all stages of a game.
Sven
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven,
Omniknight,
Enigma,
Luna,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Rubick,
Keeper of the Light,
Pugna,
Invoker,
Spectre,
Alchemist,
Treant Protector,
Lina,
Oracle,
Zeus,
Shadow Shaman,
Phoenix,
Razor,
Huskar,
Batrider,
Kunkka,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Sand King.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Sven
* Sven has a high health pool and is a natural Black King Bar holder and is very hard to kill for Lina.
* Sven also has high physical damage, making it easy for him to burst her down.
Lifestealer
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Lina's abilities (except an upgraded Laguna Blade).
* Open Wounds is great to keep Lina in place because she has no abilities to help her escape.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Sven
* Doom generally does not impede Sven in any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.
Lifestealer
* Feast deals damage and heals Lifestealer based on the target's maximum HP, which is greatly effective against naturally high HP heroes such as Doom.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to become spell immune to negate the magical damage of Infernal Blade and Scorched Earth.
* Doom has no effective means of escape from Open Wounds. This is particularly devastating in lane, where Doom may have to play a much more passive, conservative play style as a result.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 0%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that can instantly kill creeps greatly reduce the effectiveness of Chen's converted army: Lifestealer,
Doom,
Mirana,
Clinkz.
Sven
* Great Cleave quickly destroys Chen's creeps in team fights, before they have a chance to do much.
Additional:
* Storm Hammer locks down Chen and his converted creeps.
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength can destroy Chen and his creeps quickly.
* Warcry minimizes damage taken from creeps' attacks.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* In general, heroes such as Lion,
Silencer,
Skywrath Mage,
Sven,
Ogre Magi and others with reliable disables are crucial to killing Techies before they can suicide.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Rage lets him clear Remote Mines and Proximity Mines with proper vision.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Techies' magic damage and disables and dispels Stasis Trap's debuff .
* Usually teams will have a hard time pushing high-ground against Techies, but Lifestealer can just pop Rage and walk uphill without fear of Techies.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
Lifestealer
* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)Lifestealer
* Juggernaut and
Lifestealer have abilities (
Blade Fury and
Rage respectively) that prevent Crystal Maiden from using her spells on them in the early game, before
Black King Bar and other magical reduction is even an issue.
Sven
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Sven
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Ogre Magi.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with burst damage of their own won't be afraid to go toe to toe with Void Spirit, like Ursa,
Lifestealer, or
Axe.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother.
Lifestealer
* Slark,
Lifestealer,
Morphling and such with a good escape mechanism are a nuisance to deal with in the early-game.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Rage negates Kunkka's X Marks the Spot.
* As a strength hero with high strength gain and very little armor, as well as low agility gain, Kunkka is vulnerable to Lifestealer's Feast and
Open Wounds.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Feast will deal a large amount of damage to Tiny's large health pool.
* Rage protects Lifestealer from Tiny's magical burst damage.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Rage and Open wounds become useless when Meepo has 4 or more clones, as Ransack will heal Meepo too quickly for Lifestealer to take down.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer is not affected by Earthbind or Poof during
Rage, making him a difficult target to work around.
Sven
* Great Cleave will devastate Meepo's clones. Against a closely packed group, Sven does not even need to target the clone with the lowest health.
Additional:
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength can take down Meepo and his clones very quickly.
* The lack of spell immunity for Meepo's clones makes them vulnerable to Storm Hammer.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Sven
* God's Strength with Sven's tankiness and item build makes him difficult to take down in Duels.
* Storm Hammer can be used to interrupt Duels (until Legion Commander buys
Aghanim's Scepter).
* Sven also has a talent at level 15 that allows Storm Hammer to apply a basic dispel on any enemies hit by it, which can remove the buffs from Overwhelming Odds and Press the Attack.
* Warcry gives a shield to Sven's teammates, which can completely waste Duel's duration depending on how much strength Sven has.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 19%)Lifestealer
* The lifesteal of Feast scales accordingly to the health of its target, which is effective against Pudge due to his high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
* Lifestealer can activate Rage to completely negate magic damage, therefore rendering the damage of Rot and Dismember null.
* Pudge's plentiful health makes him an ideal target for Open Wounds.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Feast's lifesteal makes it nearly impossible for Axe to initiate and bring Lifestealer's health low enough for Culling Blade, even with many procs of Counter Helix.
* Feast's healing is calculated as a percentage of a target's max health, turning Axe's high health against him. This allows Lifestealer to trade against Axe much better than most other heroes.
Additional:
* Feast makes it impossible to put Lifestealer's health for a Culling Blade and also deals high damage to Axe due to his naturally high health.
* However, Lifestealer's Rage can be pierced by Berserker's Call.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Sven
* Anti-Mage is fairly fragile, and cannot stand against Sven in a prolonged fight.
* Sven's Black King Bar and low base mana protects against
Mana Break.
* Great Cleave destroys the illusions from Anti-Mage's Manta Style.
* Although Sven should be careful as a well-timed Counterspell can block and reflect Storm Hammer.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* Rage is very useful against Zeus, as it negates magic damage and provides spell immunity. In addition, the increased attack speed can tear Zeus apart in combination with
Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer can avoid Thundergod's Wrath with Infest.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Feast is an effective tool against Centaur Warrunner, who generally has high health and low armor, and compensates the reflected damage of Retaliate.
* If activated, Rage protects Lifestealer from Hoof Stomp, Double Edge, and Stampede.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Rage can be used to escape from a Glimpse and to move out of Kinetic Field.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to dodge Glimpse.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Leshrac's high magic damage is ignored by Rage.
* Lifestealer can get in Leshrac's face with Rage and mitigate any other damage taken by Leshrac with
Open Wounds.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* Rage will dispel Laser's blind and turns him spell immune for the duration so Tinker cannot damage him.
* Feast will quickly bring down Tinker due to being so fragile.
Additional:
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Tinker's damage and debuffs.
* Lifestealer can infest any mobile hero (teams usually pick one against Tinker), which ensures that Tinker will die if he is caught.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Lifestealer
* Rage prevents Earthshaker from damaging and stunning Lifestealer.
* Feast is very effective against Earthshaker, because of him being a strength hero, allowing Lifestealer to heavily harass and kill him.
* Open Wounds prevents Earthshaker from escaping after he initiated.
* Infest gives Lifestealer an easy way to escape should he get caught out by Earthshaker.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Rage renders Lifestealer immune to the damage from Burning Spears.
* Feast and
Open Wounds makes Lifestealer one of few heroes that can outlast Huskar in a one-on-one fight.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 15%)Lifestealer
* Ogre Magi has nothing against Rage and his high health pool amplifies
Feast.
Additional:
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Ogre's magical debuffs and also dispels them.
* Ogre's as hero with great durability and high health is great target for Lifestealer in any stage of the game, thanks to Feast.
Lion
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 17%)Lifestealer
* Rage provides spell immunity to Lifestealer and thus nullifies all of Lion's abilities.
* Open Wounds allows Lifestealer to easily catch Lion out and prevent him from escaping.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* God's Strength allows Sven to take down Death Prophet quickly, reducing the damage dealt over time from Exorcism.
* Warcry's shield is very useful for Sven and his teammates against Exorcism, which deals physical damage.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Rage grants Lifestealer immunity to all of Jakiro's spells. Note: magic resistance will not dispel the attack speed slow effects from Dual Breath and Liquid Fire.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 1%)Sven
* Storm Hammer interrupts Echo Stomp.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* With God's Strength, Warlock Golem goes down in a matter of seconds. The two weaker golems granted by Aghanim's Scepter will fare worse due to Great Cleave hitting both.
* Storm Hammer upgraded with level 15 talent dispels Shadow Word.
Additional:
* God's Strength combined with
Great Cleave destroys Chaotic Offering golems within seconds.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Sven
* {Ability ID:Warcry|Sven} allows Sven to tank the damage from {Ability ID:Omnislash|Juggernaut} due to its high armor.
* However {Ability ID:Blade fury|Juggernaut} provides spell immunity which blocks the stun from {Ability ID:Storm hammer|Sven}.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* Feast is good against high health strength heroes such as Alchemist.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to not be targetable by Unstable Concoction, possibly making Alchemist stun himself.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Night Stalker can't kill Sven quickly while he has the armor bonus from Warcry.
* Sven under the effect of God's Strength and his various physical damage strength items can kill Night Stalker first.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 12%)Lifestealer
* Rage completely negates all of Nyx Assassin's abilities except Vendetta, while
Open Wounds allow him to quickly close the gap.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target with
Dust of Appearance or a
Gem of True Sight.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with spell immunity-granting spells will render Phoenix useless against them, as Phoenix has almost no spell immunity-piercing ability, other than the stun at the end of Supernova: Lifestealer,
Juggernaut.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* Abaddon with
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time
* Huskar with
Life Break
* Juggernaut with
Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with
Press the Attack
* Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Omniknight with
Heavenly Grace
* Oracle with
Fortune's End and
False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Slark with
Dark Pact
* Ursa with
Enrage
* Weaver with
Time Lapse
* Tidehunter with
Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Keeper of the Light's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.
Lifestealer
* Rage allows him to dispel Blinding Light from himself.
* Open Wounds allows him to slow and kill Keeper of the Light.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Sven
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Lifestealer
* Rage ignores all of Viper's magical damage.
* Feast and
Open Wounds combine to heal through Viper's physical damage.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Sven
* Heroes who Sniper can kite: Sven,
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer can close the distance to Sniper by using Infest on a fast or durable creep to tank Sniper's damage.
* Open Wounds will reduce Sniper's mobility heavily, and
Rage's attack speed bonus helps in taking down Sniper.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Sven
* 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.
Lifestealer
* Rage ignores all of Gyrocopter's magical attacks.
* Feast helps Lifestealer out-damage Gyrocopter at close range.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Sven
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by EMP: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Omniknight
Lifestealer
* Rage protects Lifestealer nearly from all of Invoker's spells.
Additional:
* Rage grants immunity from Invoker's spells and can dispel most of the disables such as the armor loss from Forge Spirit and the constant stuns of Cold Snap.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Sven
* Heroes who rely on skills to become a heavy hitter in a certain amount of time can waste their timing because of a lucky Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
Sven
* Warcry's shields protects Sven and his teammates from Swashbuckle.
* Sven's Black King Bar blocks most of Pangolier's skills.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage.
Sven
* Great Cleave will kill Lycan's summons very fast.
* Warcry will allow Sven and his allies to tank Lycan's damage, which is mainly physical.
* Storm Hammer will damage and stun Lycan's as well as his summons.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage.
Sven
* Great Cleave clears Spiderlings quickly to increase gold income.
* Warcry shields Sven and his allies against Broodmother and her Spiderlings.
Additional:
* Great Cleave cleans up Spiderlings quicker than most spells, as it ignores their magic resistance.
* Sven is a natural Black King Bar carrier, protecting him from Incapacitating Bite and
Orchid Malevolence.
* Warcry and
God's Strength allow Sven to easily out-damage Broodmother.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Rage.
* Faceless Void's Time Lock stops Lifestealer from getting health regeneration from auto-attacks
Sven
* Warcry can absorb damage while allies are trapped in Chronosphere.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Aside from his ultimate, Lifestealer has no AoE abilities to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions, nor does he have the mobility to escape Phantom Rush.
* Doppelganger dispels Open Wounds.
Additional:
* Doppelganger dispels Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer has no way of dealing with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Phantom Lancer also commonly builds Diffusal Blade, which poses a large problem to Lifestealer and his low mana pool.
Sven
* Great Cleave and God's Strength cuts through Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
Additional:
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength destroys illusions in just a few hits.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer when he's grouped up with illusions.
* Sven's low mana causes him to take less damage from Diffusal Blade. This is further reduced by the armor bonus from
Warcry.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Sven
* Purification can heal allies while dealing pure damage to Sven.
* Heavenly Grace can remove Storm Hammer's debuff immediately or make it a very mediocre stun.
* Guardian Angel negate's Sven's massive damage during God's Strength.
Sven
* Although Sven relies often on physical damage, a Aghanim's Shard-upgraded
Storm Hammer can dispel Guardian Angel with its wide radius.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Chaos Knight's Level 20 Talent: Reality Rift Pierces Spell Immunity allows for quick bursting down of Lifestealer during his Rage.
* Phantasm dispels Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer has no way of dealing with Chaos Knight's illusions.
Sven
* Great Cleave is very effective against Chaos Knight's illusions.
* Storm Hammer's radius can catch all of Chaos Knight's illusions at once, especially after Reality Rift.
* Warcry shields Sven and his teammates against Chaos Knight's burst physical damage.
Additional:
* Storm Hammer's faster projectile speed and cast time allows Sven to stun Chaos Knight and his illusions before he can cast Chaos Bolt.
* Warcry's armor bonus counteracts Reality Rift's debuff and reduces Chaos Knight's damage output.
* Great Cleave and
God's Strength devastates Phantasm illusions.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Sven
* 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.
Lifestealer
* With Feast and
Rage, Lifestealer is nearly impossible for Clockwerk to bring down, and is the last hero Clockwerk wants to be trapped with in Power Cogs.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with illusions: Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer
Sven
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,...
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Sven
* Tanky melee heroes that can easily be kited, which allows Outworld Devourer to deal heavy damage with Arcane Orb from a distance: Sven,
Underlord,
Bristleback.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with built-in spell immunity can become immune to all of Outworld Devourer's spells: Lifestealer's
Rage and
Juggernaut's
Blade Fury.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 8%)Sven
* 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.
Lifestealer
* In general, heroes with spell immunity abilities won't be caught inside by Pit of Malice: Juggernaut,
Lifestealer.
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.
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Sven
* Primal Roar takes Sven out of the fight completely, even with
Black King Bar.
Lifestealer
*
Primal Roar pierces Rage and can disable Lifestealer in fights.