Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Viper
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)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.
Vengeful Spirit
* Nethertoxin disables Vengeance Aura.
* Vengeful Spirit has no mobility spells aside from Nether Swap, which Viper can take advantage of with his slows.
* Viper can easily bully Vengeful Spirit out of a lane with Poison Attack.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents attack damage bonus from Vengeance Aura and the components of
Nether Swap.
* Both Magic Missile and
Wave of Terror are counteracted by Corrosive Skin, making Vengeful Spirit's fighting harder against Viper.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Heroes who deal single instance burst damage will only proc Bristleback once: Lina,
Lion.
Vengeful Spirit
* Lina can burst Vengeful Spirit down, provided she can land Light Strike Array before Vengeful Spirit lands her Magic Missile.
* Laguna Blade deals massive damage, often being enough to kill a squishy Vengeful Spirit.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)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.
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 Warpath.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 12%)Vengeful Spirit
* Vendetta disables Vengeance Aura and allows him to attack Vengeful Spirit with
Impale and
Mana Burn.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against a Wave of Terror or Magic Missile.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 5%)Vengeful Spirit
* Nether Swap triggers extra damage from Rupture.
* Blood Rite sets up while Vengeful Spirit using her Nether Swap within a timed correctly.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)Bristleback
* Sanity's Eclipse only triggers Bristleback's passive once, and deals high damage against Bristleback's low intelligence.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Vengeful Spirit
* Vengeful Spirit should carefully consider whether to use her Nether Swap on Tidehunter, as it can easily position him for a Ravage on Vengeful Spirit and her allies.
* Due to Magic Missile's high damage, Kraken Shell will often proc and clear Tidehunter's debuffs.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)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.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)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: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 17%)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.
Lich
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Bristleback
* Sinister Gaze forces Bristleback to face Lich, exposing him to damage.
* Lich's plethora of slows make it easy to kite Bristleback.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)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.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Vengeful Spirit
* Ball Lightning disjoints an incoming Magic Missile, avoids
Wave Of Terror, and allows Storm Spirit to easily escape if he ever gets
Nether Swapped.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% 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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)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.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)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.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 6%)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.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)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.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 7%)Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes who relies on illusions and summons (Beastmaster,
Chaos Knight, etc.).
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)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.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Vengeful Spirit
* Strong nuking supports like Skywrath Mage. Vengeful Spirit has subpar attack range, making it harder for her to harass and last hit safely. With enough pressure she can be bullied out of a lane.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Slark, etc.).
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Shadow Demon's
Soul Catcher hinders Bristleback's tanking capabilities.
Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passive.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Slark, etc.).
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Vengeful Spirit
* 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.
Bristleback
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 1%)Vengeful Spirit
* With Nether Swap, Vengeful Spirit can isolate one of the Meepos, making him an easier kill for the team.
* Her Magic Missile gives her an easy way to cancel Meepo's Poof, preventing isolated Meepos from fleeing.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Vengeful Spirit
* Huskar struggles against heroes that output high physical damage due to his low armor. Vengeful Spirit's Wave of Terror and Vengeance Aura help increase the physical damage of her team.
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.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 14%)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.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with strong channeling spells like Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip, and
Enigma's
Black Hole can easily be interrupted from a long range by Nether Swap, assuming they don't have a
Linken's Sphere.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness can enable him to chase Enigma out of a teamfight, making it difficult to initiate with a Black Hole.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with strong channeling spells like Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip, and
Enigma's
Black Hole can easily be interrupted from a long range by Nether Swap, assuming they don't have a
Linken's Sphere.
Additional:
* Vengeful Spirit can interrupt Black Hole's channeling through Black King Bar by using Nether Swap from a safe distance.
* Vengeful Spirit's Level 25 Talent can make her Magic Missile pierce spell immunity, giving her another option to use in conjunction with
Nether Swap to cancel Enigma's Black Hole channeling through Black King Bar.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar
Vengeful Spirit
* 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.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)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.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Vengeful Spirit
* Vengeful Spirit has two abilities to interrupt Death Ward, even through Black King Bar.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% 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
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 19%)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.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% 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.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Vengeful Spirit
* Wave of Terror can reveal a Tinker attempting to hide in the trees and then
Nether Swap and
Magic Missile will both serve to interrupt/lock him down, should he attempt to town portal or reload.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)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.
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.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)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.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% 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.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Vengeful Spirit
* She can easily cancel Wukong's Command with Nether Swap.
* Wave of Terror can also detect him while he's on the trees.
Additional:
* Wave of Terror grants flying vision over trees, and its wide effect can hit Monkey King and end Mischief.
* Nether Swap can easily cancel Wukong's Command by swapping him out of the circle.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 5%)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.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)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.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)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.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 15%)Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)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
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Vengeful Spirit
* Certain heroes can mess up with Pangolier's positioning and timing (especially if he intends to use Rolling Thunder during combat): Vengeful Spirit,
Keeper of the Light,
Huskar,
Dark Seer
Bane
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with strong channeling spells like Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip, and
Enigma's
Black Hole can easily be interrupted from a long range by Nether Swap, assuming they don't have a
Linken's Sphere.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Vengeful Spirit
* Vengeful Spirit can
Nether Swap enemies out of Power Cogs.
Additional:
* Nether Swap gives Vengeful Spirit a way to save an ally from Clockwerk's Power Cogs.
* Magic Missile will interrupt Clockwerk trying to run down Vengeful Spirit's allies with Battery Assault.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 17%)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.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 18%)Vengeful Spirit
* 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.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)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.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Vengeful Spirit
* With her Nether Swap, Vengeful Spirit can save the life of an ally who gets caught with Flaming Lasso. Nether Swap also makes it highly dangerous for Batrider to attempt a lasso, as it can lead to his own demise far behind enemy lines.
* Wave of Terror's flying vision allows Vengeful Spirit to spot Batrider trying to close in on his target with Firefly.
Additional:
* Nether Swap breaks Flaming Lasso when used on ally and can break if used on Batrider.
* Vengeful Spirit can disable Batrider's Blink Dagger before a fight with
Wave of Terror.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Vengeful Spirit
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility: Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
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.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes who relies on illusions and summons (Beastmaster,
Chaos Knight, etc.).
Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 41% pickrate: 3%)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.
Vengeful Spirit
* With her Nether Swap, a well positioned Vengeful Spirit can save the life of a more important ally who gets caught in Chronosphere. Her Vengeance Aura also makes her an unappealing target for Faceless Void.
Additional:
* Nether Swap can save an ally from the Chronosphere.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 1%)Vengeful Spirit
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
Vengeful Spirit
* 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.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)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.
Vengeful Spirit
* Wave of Terror can reduce Legion Commander's survivability during a Duel.
* Magic Missile and
Nether Swap disrupts Duels and saves allies.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Vengeful Spirit
* All of Vengeful Spirit abilities are very good for Rubick to Spell Steal:
* Magic Missile provides an additional nuke/disable to pair with Fade Bolt and
Telekinesis, respectively.
* Wave of Terror serves as a good scouting/armor reduction skill that Rubick and his team can benefit from.
* Nether Swap complements Rubick's mobility and pairs well with other mobility items he usually builds. He can also use it to save an ally from danger.
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.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)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.
Vengeful Spirit
* Nether Swap breaks one ally out of Soulbind, and can be used to redistribute the shared damage to Vengeful Spirit herself.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 9%)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
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Vengeful Spirit
* Vengeful Spirit has no strong AoE nuke or disable against Phantom Lancer's Illusions.
* Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier, which reduces Vengeful Spirit's low mana pool very quickly, leaving her defenseless.
* Doppelganger can dodge Vengeful Spirit's abilites.
* Phantom Rush with his illusions can chase Vengeful Spirit efficiently.
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.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's passive Bristleback can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time
Vengeful Spirit
* Nether Swap can forcibly reposition Hoodwink's ultimate ability.
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
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Bristleback
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback small mana pool, preventing him from spamming
Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Sprays.
Bristleback.
Mana Break quickly depletes Bristleback's low mana, denying him the ability to spam Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo.
Blink.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from
Additional:
*
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Anti-Mage from using
Vengeful Spirit
* Past the mid game, an isolated Vengeful Spirit makes for an easy kill for Anti-Mage.
Blink away to disjoint the stun or reflect it back against Vengeful Spirit with
Counterspell.
* Magic Missile is the only disable Vengeful Spirit has against Anti-Mage, but he can either
* Nether Swap isn't very effective against Anti-Mage - if used offensively, Anti-Mage can simply blink away to safety, and if used defensively, Blink's low cooldown allows him to persistently chase as well.