Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 3.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 3.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Weaver
* The long silence of Crippling Fear at night prevents Weaver from using his Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* With Dark Ascension and
Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and probably kill Weaver.
* Hunter In the Night's attack speed bonus removes The Swarm's beetles very quickly.
Invoker
* Crippling Fear is a good way to shut down and gank Invoker in the early game..
* Void deals good damage to Invoker and makes escaping harder.
* With Hunter in the Night and
Void, Invoker can't get away from Night Stalker and won't be able to catch him with Sun Strike during the night.
Pudge
* Night Stalker can easily find Pudge's location during Dark Ascension.
* Void's mini-stun and silence from
Crippling Fear at night will stop Dismember, Meat Hook and Rot and preventing Pudge from fighting back.
* Night Stalker has naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance, making Night Stalker a poor target for Pudge.
Lich
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 3.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Invoker
* Queen of Pain usually outlanes Invoker, giving her team a significant early game advantage while Invoker is still farming.
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from Invoker's combo if he doesn't have disables.
Lich
* Queen of Pain can easily escape Chain Frost thanks to Blink.
* His low survivability makes an easy kill for Shadow Strike,
Scream of Pain &
Sonic Wave.
Pudge
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Ember Spirit
* Queen of Pain can be a good hero for dealing with Ember Spirit with
Orchid Malevolence, her pure damage nuke in
Sonic Wave and a slow in
Shadow Strike. However, Queen of Pain can be punished by Ember Spirit, as his Searing Chains prevents her from getting
Blink off.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 2.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Weaver
* Silences and other types of lockdown that prevent Weaver from using his spells: Silencer,
Riki,
Lion,
Legion Commander,
Shadow Shaman,
Bane.
Ember Spirit
* Global Silence and
Last Word can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.
* Glaives of Wisdom also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.
* Arcane Curse is also a potent harassing tool in the laning stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.
Invoker
* Invoker is heavily dependent on his spells, making him useless during Global Silence, as well as interrupting Invoker during his combo.
* Arcane Curse is particularly deadly, because Invoker will continuously lose health if he keeps invoking and casting new spells.
* Last Word will silence Invoker when he casts Invoke, interrupting his combo.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 2.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Lich
* Heroes with low health will die easily during Duels, and can be farmed for damage in the early game: Crystal Maiden,
Lich,
Techies,
Rubick
Invoker
* Heroes with long lockdowns: Shadow Shaman,
Legion Commander.
Pudge
* Legion Commander can use Press the Attack on an ally to dispel the disable of Dismember. The bonus health regeneration also partially counters the damage of Rot
* Duel can be used on Pudge whilst Rot is active, disabling toggling which may result in a lethal health drain that leaves Legion Commander with a successful duel.
Weaver
* Duel's long duration prevents Weaver from activating Time Lapse or escaping with
Shukuchi.
Invoker
* Heroes with global abilities can give Legion Commander's opponent an edge in Duels from anywhere on the map: Nature's Prophet,
Ancient Apparition,
Zeus,
Invoker,
Treant Protector
Additional:
* Invoker's spells will disable and destroy Legion Commander while she's locked in a Duel.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 2.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Weaver
* Weaver relies on Shukuchi to escape and kite enemy heroes. Slardar's Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver, who is already a very frail target.
* Weaver usually builds Linken's Sphere, Corrosive Haze can be used to "pop" the spell block of
Linken's Sphere, additionally the level 25 undispellable talent will prevent Weaver from removing Corrosive Haze with
Time Lapse, allowing allied heroes to use their abilities on Weaver.
Additional:
* Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver during Shukuchi, who is already a frail target. In addition, Weaver usually builds
Linken's Sphere, and
Corrosive Haze can be used to "pop" the spell block. His level 25 talent can also make Corrosive Haze undispellable by Time Lapse, which puts Weaver in an even worse situation.
* Guardian Sprint can dodge Weaver's bugs with the movement speed bonus.
Pudge
* Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Pudge's location, making it hard to use Meat Hook on Slardar's teammates or Slardar himself.
* Because Corrosive Haze also reduces armor, it amplifies
Bash of the Deep's damage.
* Slithereen Crush interrupts Pudge during Dismember at close range.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to avoid Meat Hook.
Additional:
* While Slardar has Guardian Sprint activated, Rot cannot slow him and
Meat Hook is easier to avoid.
* Slithereen Crush allows Slardar to interrupt Dismember at close range (when Slardar is not a target).
* Corrosive Haze reveals Pudge's location, making it very difficult for him to land hooks from the fog.
Invoker
* Invoker's
Ghost Walk can be countered, however,
Invoker could also use abilities like
Tornado or
Ice Wall to escape by other means.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 2.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by Arcane Orb is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit.
* Astral Imprisonment fully negates all magic damage of Flame Guard and Searing Chains and will temporarily save himself from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that can counter these skills.
Pudge
* Arcane Orb and
Sanity's Eclipse quickly drains Pudge's limited mana pool, making him unable to use Meat Hook or Dismember and also bypasses Flesh Heap.
* Outworld Destroyer can save allies or himself caught by Dismember or Meat Hook with Astral Imprisonment.
Invoker
* Astral Imprisonment allows Outworld Destroyer to save himself or ally from Invoker's combo, or remove Invoker from a fight temporarily.
* Arcane Orb's pure damage will deal a lot of damage against Invoker's mediocre strength gain.
* EMP is useless against Outworld Destroyer by activating Equilibrium.
* However, be aware that Sanity's Eclipse will most likely not deal any damage at all, due to Invoker's high intelligence gain compared to Outworld Destroyer's.
Invoker
* Any heroes with high intelligence, such as Invoker and
Pugna.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 2.2 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 10%)Weaver
* Smoke Cloud prevents Shukuchi and
Time Lapse, leaving Weaver helpless against Riki.
* The Swarm is ineffective against Riki because invisibility instantly removes the beetles.
Pudge
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Invoker
* Heroes with silence: Death Prophet,
Riki,
Drow Ranger.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Weaver
* Although Weaver can potentially Time Lapse out of any burst, Weaver has a fragile health pool, and Lion's disables can kill him before.
* Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game. Mana Drain can deplete him of mana and lessen his early game presence.
* Earth Spike can be point targeted and hits through Shukuchi to make him vulnerable.
* Linken's Sphere is easily broken by targeted spells with low cooldown.
Ember Spirit
* Lion possesses two strong disables in Earth Spike and
Hex and heavy magic burst with
Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his
Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.
Additional:
* Ember lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game and often does not acquire any later, allowing Lion to Hex or Earth Spike him before he escapes through his Fire Remnant.
* Although Flame Guard can prevent magic damage, it does not stop Lion's disables, and Lion can usually break through it with Finger of Death.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Pudge
* If Meat Hook is used before Blink, Anti-Mage may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by blinking safety.
* Counterspell grants Anti-Mage a large degree of magic resistance, a damage type Pudge is highly reliant on to secure kills. This make Anti-Mage a bad target for Pudge. The active can also block Dismember if timed correctly.
* Mana Break can quickly drains Pudge's low supply of mana, which may render Meat Hook & Dismember unusable and making him a prime target for
Mana Void.
Lich
* Anti-Mage can withstand magical burst damage much better than other carries, making him effective against nukers: Lich,
Necrophos,
Oracle, and
Leshrac.
Additional:
* Although he can be effective against Anti-Mage in an aggro offlane, Lich has a hard time nuking down Anti-Mage in the midgame due to his Counterspell.
* All of Lich's abilities are also targeted, which makes it much harder to disable Anti-Mage.
* In the lategame, Anti-Mage can easily pick off Lich with Blink, and the high mana cost of Chain Frost along with Lich's large mana pool makes him vulnerable to
Mana Void.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to escape Chain Frost.
Invoker
* Anti-Mage's mobility and magic resistance make him nearly impossible to kill alone.
* Invoker's spells cost a lot of mana, and Invoker himself has a lot of mana. This means Invoker and his team are vulnerable to Mana Void's heavy damage.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to escape from Invoker's combo if he doesn't have disables.
Weaver
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility: Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 17%)Invoker
* All of Invoker's abilities scales with his level, thus Rubick possesses great potential in late game by owning any of Invoker's arsenal.
* Fade Bolt counters early push from Forge Spirit.
Lich
* All his abilities is decent in Rubick's kit:
* Frost Blast allows Rubick to harass and constantly slow down enemies.
* Frost Shield increases Rubick's as well as his allies' and tower's survivability to physical attacks.
* A well-timed Chain Frost can be devastating to the enemy team.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Invoker
* Tidebringer pressures Invoker easily in lane due to Invoker's low health and armor in the early game.
Ember Spirit
* Using X Marks the spot Kunkka can prevent Ember Spirit from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant, until he purchase
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or
Linken's Sphere.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 3%)Invoker
* Doom completely takes Invoker out of a team fight, a hero who relies on using abilities and items to contribute.
Additional:
* Doom is a good way to shut down Invoker, preventing from casting spells and using items for a lengthy time, thus forcing him to invest on
Linken's Sphere.
Ember Spirit
* The general opinion that Doom can counter Ember Spirit with his
Doom is a misconception, as
Doom has a long cast animation, so an attentive Ember Spirit can easily dodge it if he has a Fire Remnant nearby. Doom is still an extremely effective early ganker however, as his
Scorched Earth and
Infernal Blade damage can quickly overwhelm Flame Guard's magic damage absorption, leaving Ember Spirit with no protection against them. Additional skills that Doom can get from Neutral creeps can also help bully Ember Spirit early.
Shadow Blade or
Blink Dagger on Doom can also help, providing a good way to apply
Doom on Ember Spirit.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit cannot use his Activate Fire Remnant while Doomed to escape from Doom.
Pudge
* Doom disables the toggling of Rot and, if cast at the right time, may leave Pudge with a potentially lethal health drain.
* Doom's naturally high health, strength gain and damage output makes him a poor target for Pudge.
* The damage of Doom's Infernal Blade scales with the target's maximum health, which is particularly effective against Pudge due to his naturally high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals high damage to Pudge due to his high strength grow with Flesh Heap.
* Using Doom with timing against Pudge who had just activated Rot would usually kill him.
Weaver
* Heroes who often build Linken's Sphere:
Weaver,
Morphling,
Medusa.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Invoker
* Time Walk can easily avoid Invoker's combo damage if doesn't have disables.
* Chronosphere will reveal Invoker during Ghost Walk.
* All of Invoker's hidden cooldowns are affected by Time Dilation, so Faceless Void can easily slow him down a lot.
Additional:
* Time Dilation prevents Invoker from further invoking for the entire duration of the debuff, as well as massively slowing Invoker based on the large amount of spells he has.
* Time Walk will completely negate Invoker's combo damage.
* If Invoker is caught in Chronosphere, he will most likely be the primary target due to the large teamfight contribution he can provide.
Ember Spirit
* Faceless Void is one of the best heroes against Ember Spirit, providing a lot of ways of dealing with him. Ember Spirit becomes a lot weaker if affected by Time Dilation, as he can no longer spam Sleight of Fist.
* Chronosphere is also a reliable lockdown for Ember Spirit, although it can be evaded sometimes by Activate Fire Remnant. Additionally, Void can easily negate Sleight of Fist damage with
Time Walk.
* And finally, Void is a great Diffusal Blade carrier. Not only
Manabreak's physical damage not negated by Flame Guard, but it also burns Ember Spirit's mana. That, in turn, prevents him from escaping if he survived
Chronosphere.
Weaver
* Time Dilation while Shukuchi and
Geminate Attack are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, reducing Weaver's escape potential.
* Chronosphere will reveal Weaver during Shukuchi.
Additional:
* The wide range of Chronosphere makes it difficult for Weaver to avoid it with Shukuchi and, once caught, his low survivability makes him an easy kill.
* With no significant source of burst damage, it is easy for Void to survive combat with Weaver using Time Walk.
* Time Dilation will prevent Weaver from using Shukuchi or force him to use Time Lapse to dispel the debuff and re-engage.
Pudge
* Meat Hook can pull an ally out of Chronosphere.
* Rot will keep damaging Void if he toggled it before Chronosphere,but you can lower your hp for faceless void.
* Flesh Heap will help Pudge survive through the Chronosphere with enough stacks, and follow with
Dismember.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Flame Guard provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Ember Spirit's low armor and health make him easy to kill quickly if a teammate can hold him down.
* If Clinkz has farmed an item that can disable, he can sneak up to and hunt down Ember Spirit while he farms or split pushes alone.
Pudge
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Weaver
* Bounty Hunter has a cheap way to break Linken's Sphere and keep track of Weaver while he is using Shukuchi, though both can be dispelled with Time Lapse.
Pudge
* Bounty Hunter can easily keep vision on Pudge with Track, making it difficult for Pudge to hook Bounty Hunter or his team mates.
* It's difficult for Pudge to keep up with Bounty Hunter to apply Rot on him due to Shadow Walk.
* Shuriken Toss cancels out Dismember from a good range if Bounty Hunter is not the target.
Additional:
* Track can easily keep vision on Pudge, making it impossible to catch up with his Meat Hook for Bounty Hunter's teammates or him.
* It's very difficult for Pudge to use Rot on and hook Bounty Hunter due to Shadow Walk.
* Shuriken Toss cancels out Dismember from a good range.
Invoker
* Bounty Hunter and
Slardar both have ultimates (
Corrosive Haze and
Track) that reveal Invoker through Ghost Walk.
Weaver
* Weaver with
Time Lapse
* 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.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Invoker
* Quas-Exort Invoker is also a good matchup due to the fact he has no Wex to run faster due to the movement impairment on his stealth. The
Forge Spirit and
Cold Snap combo doesn't harm her as well since you can drain Invoker's HP with Spirit Siphon which forces him to retreat.
* Silence also prevents Invoker from using Invoke or casting his main spells temporarily. There is no way Invoker can block it unless he has
Eul's Scepter of Divinity to cyclone himself or has help from allies.
Pudge
* High health heroes like Pudge and
Undying gain strength by using abilities. Focusing them with Spirit Siphon can let you heal more health and deal more damage to them.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit greatly relies on his spells to engage in battle. Drow Ranger can simply silence him with Gust and make him useless for a few seconds, which Ember Spirit cannot afford during a teamfight.
Invoker
* Heroes with silence: Death Prophet,
Riki,
Drow Ranger.
Weaver
* A well-timed Gust will prevent Weaver from escaping, and a silenced Weaver usually dies very quickly.
* Precision Aura easily removes The Swarm beetles or counteracted by
Shadow Blade/
Silver Edge.
Additional:
* A well-timed Gust followed by
Frost Arrows will prevent Weaver from escaping with Shukuchi. A Weaver silenced for more than 3 seconds usually dies very quickly.
* Due to her high attack speed, Drow Ranger can easily kill The Swarm beetles.
Pudge
* Meat Hook brings Drow Ranger to Pudge, disabling Marksmanship and dealing a huge amount of damage.
* Rot keeps Pudge close to Drow Ranger, continuously disabling Marksmanship.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can pull Drow Ranger to Pudge, disabling her Marksmanship.
* Following up with Dismember will prevent Drow Ranger from using Gust or
Shadow Blade.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Weaver
* Phantom's Embrace and Soulbind prevent Weaver from using Shukuchi or
Time Lapse to escape.
* Ink Swell discourages Weaver from moving through and damaging allies with Shukuchi.
Pudge
* Heroes with powerful channeling abilities are easily interrupted by Phantom's Embrace: Bane,
Pudge,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Weaver
* Sprout with True Sight items like (Necronomicon 3,
Sentry Ward or a
Gem of True Sight) allowing to trap Weaver in lane and Weaver doesn't buy
Quelling Blade or until he uses
Time Lapse.
* The Swarm beetles can be destroyed with Nature's Prophet's treants or
Necronomicon.
* Nature's Prophet allows to use Purge on
Necronomicon 3 can be used to pop his spell block following up with items like (
Nullifier,
Scythe of Vyse or
Bloodthorn) or Wrath of Nature.
Pudge
* Heroes with many summons or illusions are much harder to catch with Meat Hook: Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Chen.
Lich
* His treants can prevent Chain Frost from jumping to Nature's Prophet or his allies.
Additional:
* Chain Frost can bounce to the treants that Nature's Prophet summons.
* Nature's Prophet's Sprout can be used to isolate and burst down the squishy Lich.
Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist with
Battle Fury deals a lot of damage to Nature's Prophet's team if they stand close to his Treants, as well as killing all of his Treants and getting lots of gold.
* Ember Spirit with Fire Remnant and
Boots of Travel can teleport and defend tower whenever Nature's Prophet tries to push.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit can easily deal with Nature's Call by using his Flame Guard and with
Battle Fury. He also has multiple ways of escaping
Sprout. Additionally, Ember Spirit can break
Sprout's trees with Activate Fire Remnant and interrupt
Teleportation with Searing Chains.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Weaver
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to close the gap between him and Weaver in no time. Once locked down with certain items, Weaver is extremely fragile to Storm Spirit and his teammates.
Ember Spirit
* Storm Spirit is not only a potent Orchid Malevolence carrier, his
Electric Vortex provides an additional disable and
Overload provides a great slow. When paired with
Static Remnant, they can cut through Flame Guard fast.
* Ball Lightning not only provides great initiation upon Ember Spirit from any position anytime, but also helps dodge Sleight of Fist.
Invoker
* In the early to mid game, Invoker is defenseless against Storm Spirit's ganking with Ball Lightning and
Orchid Malevolence.
Invoker
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna
Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard absorbs up to 500 magical damage (700 with Level 10 talents), which helps Ember Spirit survive and react to Storm Spirit's high magical damage.
* Searing Chains can root enemies up to 3 seconds, making Storm Spirit unable to escape with Ball Lightning.
* Fire Remnant deals high magical damage when casting multiple instances at once, granting Ember Spirit the damage to burst Storm Spirit down in the early to mid game.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Invoker
* Heroes that wish to disrupt fights with spell combos or big ultimates are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
Weaver
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Luna,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Lich
* Heroes that wish to disrupt fights with spell combos or big ultimates are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
Pudge
* Heroes that have a channeled ability can be interrupted by Meat Hook: Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can easily hit nightmared targets, as well as Bane while channeling Fiend's Grip.
* Dismember interrupts Fiend's Grip if Pudge is not targeted.
* Pudge's high health and health regeneration let him absorb much of Bane's nukes.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 2%)Lich
* Chain Frost can bounce to the Spiderlings that Broodmother spawns.
Invoker
* Broodmother can kill Invoker easily in the early game with her Spawn Spiderlings and her spiderlings.
* Broodmother is both an Orchid Malevolence and a
Nullifier carrier. As she can farm it early, she can kill Invoker easily.
Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist keeps Ember Spirit invulnerable until he hits every unit in its area of effect allowing him to stall for large amounts of time against Broodmother and her large amounts of spiderlings, or potentially damaging them enough if equipped with an item to improve wave clearing such as
Battle Fury or
Maelstrom to prevent her pushes entirely.
* Flame Guard will damage any of Broodmother's spiders in an area, deterring her from attempting to kill him. It can also be used during Sleight of Fist to amplify damage done.
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit an escape from Broodmother that is unaffected by her Incapacitating Bite.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 17%)Weaver
* Fireblast with Multicast can prevent Weaver from escaping with Shukuchi.
* However, the slow from Ignite is generally useless against Shukuchi haste effect or dispelled by
Time Lapse.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 3%)Pudge
* Abaddon can activate Borrowed Time to dispel Dismember; breaking the disable and potentially allowing Abaddon to escape.
* Aphotic Shield can be cast on an ally to dispel the stun of Dismember, which can make kills difficult to secure, given that Dismember is Pudge's only reliable disable.
* Pudge lacks a mobility without a Blink Dagger, causing him to be easily chased with
Curse of Avernus. The silence also prevents him from toggling off his Rot.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* Gush reduces Pudge's armor which he already lacks.
* Kraken Shell can dispel Dismember after reaching a certain threshold of damage.
* Tidehunter's naturally high health, strength gain, and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance make Tidehunter a poor target.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 13%)Weaver
* Shadow Shaman's many disables can lock down Weaver. Even with Linken's Sphere, Weaver might not be able to escape should Shadow Shaman uses Shackles quickly enough following Hex.
* Mass Serpent Ward can make short work of Weaver once he is locked down.
Invoker
* Heroes with long lockdowns: Shadow Shaman,
Legion Commander.
Pudge
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for you, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt your channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Pudge
* Pudge has a very hard time killing Familiars due to his melee range and low attack speed.
* Stone Form can quickly interrupt Dismember.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Ember Spirit
* Oracle can shut down both of Ember's early game abilities. Fortune's End can dispel Flame Guard on Ember Spirit and
Searing Chains on allies.
* When Ember Spirit is affected by Fortune's End, his Fire Remnants move at 0 movement speed.
* Disarming him with Fate's Edict does affect Ember's Sleight of Fist ability, possibly making him useless for a few seconds in the late game without a dispel or spell immunity. This is especially good if he has a rapier or two. However, positioning for this is difficult when Ember plays far back.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Weaver
* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in
Shukuchi.
* Weaver's high attack speed, along with high attack damage from Geminate Attack, triggers Counter Helix continuously and the output damage would be returned by
Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Due to his fast attack speed from Geminate Attack and items that give attack speed, Counter Helix will activate a lot, and the damage would be returned by
Blade Mail, which hurts Weaver far more than it hurts Axe.
* Culling Blade can finish off Weaver's low health pool before he escapes with Shukuchi and Time Lapse.
* Battle Hunger is a good tool to pop Weaver's
Linken's Sphere due to its low cooldown.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit does minimal damage to Huskar until the very late game.
Weaver
* Weaver cannot Time Lapse out of Huskar's burn damage.
Lich
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Silencer,
Keeper of the Light,
Venomancer, etc.
Additional:
* Lich is going to have a hard time nuking Huskar because of his high health regeneration from Berserker's Blood.
* Lich is a squishy support without an escape mechanism, making Lich an easy kill thanks to Life Break and
Burning Spear.
* Once Huskar has Armlet of Mordiggian, even a maxed out Frost Blast will struggle to finish Huskar off.
Weaver
* Heroes with abilities that reduce armor will make Huskar very vulnerable: Weaver,
Dazzle,
Bristleback,
Vengeful Spirit.
Invoker
* Quas Exort Invoker has high physical damage in the form of Cold Snap and Forged Spirits that allows him to trade hits with Huskar.
* Although Huskar can dispel Cold Snap with Life Break.
* Sun Strike deals pure damage and pierces spell immunity, and Huskar tends to drain his HP, making him a susceptible target.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Weaver
* Shukuchi cannot help Weaver escape from Arena of Blood, so with vision, Weaver is an easy kill.
* Time Lapse will also not save Weaver in a large amount of situations inside Arena of Blood, especially if he's pinned to the walls with Spear of Mars.
* The Swarm and
Geminate Attack is not very useful against a hero that can tank 70% of his main damage source.
Lich
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet,
Lich.
Invoker
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 12%)Pudge
* Dark Pact dispels Dismember if timed perfectly.
* Pudge's low attack speed and poor agility can be lowered even further by Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance grants Slark invisibility and a high degree of mobility, which can make Slark a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an
Aghanim's Scepter).
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* 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.
Invoker
* 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.
Weaver
* 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.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.8 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Pudge
* Earth Spirit can easily disrupt Dismember because he can disable from a long distance with a Stone Remnant and Rolling Boulder. With talent he can even pull his teammates out of Dismember and also silencing Pudge with Geomagnetic Grip.
Invoker
* Earth Spirit is a dangerous foe to encounter for Invoker in the early stages of the game. Since Invoker needs to gain levels as fast as possible and is not very strong in the early game, Earth Spirit can use his incredible early game power to gank Invoker and ruin his game plan.
* Earth Spirit combines stuns and silences with his spells and can apply them from a great distance. This is bad for Invoker as he is dependent on a smart usage of his spells with Invoke and Earth Spirit can disrupt his combos easily.
Weaver
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities: Ember Spirit,
Puck,
Weaver
Ember Spirit
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities: Ember Spirit,
Puck,
Weaver
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 16%)Pudge
* Heroes that cannot move in fights such as a Dueling
Legion Commander or anyone channeling a spell like
Bane,
Pudge, or
Enigma are easy Sacred Arrow targets.
Additional:
* If Meat Hook is used before Leap, Mirana may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by leaping to safety.
* The invisibility from Moonlight Shadow gives a degree of mobility, which can make Mirana or her teammates a difficult target to hook.
* Sacred Arrow can be used to cancel Dismember within a distance.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Pudge
* 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%)Weaver
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lich
* Heroes with powerful nuke can waste their precious abilites on her Refraction during a ganking attempt or chaos combat: Lich,
Lina,
Sniper,
Outworld Destroyer
Zeus
Invoker
* Templar Assassin can easily counter Invoker's last hitting process in the early game with Refraction.
Refraction also negates the stun from Cold Snap, since it will need to deal damage in order to apply its stun.
* Additionally, Refraction completely blocks damage from Sun Strike should Invoker try to finish her off, provided she activate Refraction beforehand.
Pudge
* His Rot can force Templar Assassin out of her Meld and destroy all of her Refraction charges quickly, and her small health pool and meager defense make her very vulnerable to his
Meat Hook without Refraction.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Lich
* Lich does not pose a big threat to Zeus in teamfights, as his spells don't have great cast range and Zeus should be too far back for a Chain Frost to bounce among him and his allies.
* Lich has a low health pool, allowing Zeus to burst him down quickly.
Weaver
* Heroes that avoid damage by coming in and out of invisibility in teamfights such as Weaver,
Templar Assassin, and
Riki will be easy for Zeus to reveal with Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath, but these heroes usually have other ways to avoid his damage or kill him, so he is not a perfect counter alone.
Additional:
* Arc Lightning has a low cooldown can used to pop his
Linken's Sphere.
* Lightning Bolt or (
Nimbus upgraded from
Aghanim's Scepter) detects Weaver during Shukuchi, preventing his ganks.
* Thundergod's Wrath can kill Weaver quickly before he can cast his Time Lapse at low health.
Pudge
* Meat Hook's high range allows Pudge's team to drag Zeus in the middle of the fight and abuse his frailty.
* Flesh Heap's health and magic resistance bonus makes Pudge exceptionally resistant to Zeus' nukes. In later stages of the game, Zeus is usually unable to seriously damage Pudge at all. Even Static Field, which deals damage based on a percentage of the enemy's health, won't be doing much.
* Even if Zeus buys a Black King Bar,
Meat Hook and
Dismember still disable him for a long time, usually causing Zeus' quick death.
* Zeus is vulnerable to early ganks, which Pudge excels at.
Additional:
* Zeus likes to stay far back in fights, dealing his damage uninterrupted, but once he gets hooked into the fight, he usually dies very quickly.
* Pudge's high strength from Flesh Heap make it very hard for Zeus to burst him down.
* Zeus' low health pool makes him very vulnerable to the damage from Meat Hook, Rot and Dismember.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Weaver
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like Slark in his
Shadow Dance and
Weaver in his
Shukuchi.
Pudge
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
Invoker
* Invoker's
EMP is extremely effective against Earthshaker due to his low natural mana.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 6%)Lich
* Lycan doesn't care much about Lich's slows thanks to Shapeshift.
* Chain Frost can bounce to the wolves that Lycan summons.
Additional:
* Lich possesses a lot of slows, which Lycan doesn't care about when he Shapeshifts.
* Lich has no in-built escape, which makes him a good target for Lycan.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has
Battle Fury.
Chen
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Pudge
* Rot is not very effective against Chen's creeps.
* Chen can use his creeps to cover him or his allies from any attempts of Meat Hook.
* {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under Chen's control can interrupt Dismember.
Weaver
* Invisibility heroes can sneak past Chen's creeps and pick him off: Nyx Assassin,
Weaver,
Bounty Hunter
Riki.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Pudge
* Shallow Grave can be used to save an ally during Dismember and Rot.
* A combination of Bad Juju,
Poison Touch, and items like
Desolator or
Solar Crest can tear off Pudge's low armor, making him even more vulnerable to physical damage.
Invoker
* Some heroes with extreme range, like Zeus,
Invoker or
Clockwerk, can snipe your allies from anywhere after your Grave has expired.
Techies
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit relies on his Fire Remnant to keep a steady push and then retreat to a safe distance. Keeping two or three patches of Remote Mines on a lane will severely impair him from pushing that lane without risking his life.
Weaver
* Techies is very good against roaming supports and gankers such as Bounty Hunter,
Riki,
Weaver,
Earthshaker,
Nyx Assassin, etc. that are constantly moving around the map.
Invoker
* Heroes with summons like Broodmother,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Nature's Prophet,
Lycan,
Visage;or illusions, like
Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade are effective at keeping the choke points and rune spawns safe from Proximity mines in the early game.
Pudge
* Techies struggles early game against heroes with naturally large strength and health regeneration such as Pudge,
Axe or
Ogre Magi, as the player is forced to lay down more mines than usual to kill these bulkier heroes.
Additional:
* Pudge is the perfect hero for tanking mines, as Flesh Heap grants him lots of strength.
* Techies' high ground defense can be bypassed by Pudge hooking his enemies to him.
* Techies usually sits in the trees during the laning stage, setting up Proximity Mines. Meat Hook can easily pull them out and set them up for a kill.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 17%)Lich
* Phantom Assassin can easily escape Lich's slows with Phantom Strike.
* Phantom Assassin's Coup De Grace can be used to burst down the squishy Lich.
Pudge
* 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: -4.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Pudge
* Pudge's Meat Hook allows him to bring Sniper in the middle of any fight, and the pure damage does well against his high armor and low health.
* Dismember can lock Sniper down, which makes him highly vulnerable and gives enough time for Pudge to kill him alone.
Additional:
* Sniper has a low health pool and strength gain, making him vulnerable to Pudge's magical and pure damage.
* Sniper usually likes to deal damage away from the fight, and Meat Hook is capable of bringing him to the front lines.
* Assassinate won't do much damage against Pudge because of his high strength gain and the strength bonuses from Flesh Heap.
Invoker
* Invoker's arsenal of magical spells are troublesome for Sniper who has low HP and high armor, which does not benefit him much against Invoker.
* Besides magical damage, he can be disarmed and repeatedly mini-stunned with Cold Snap, preventing him from reacting.
* Leveling Quas can allow Invoker to lane effectively against Sniper despite right-click harassment.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can close the distance between Sniper easily with his Activate Fire Remnant and further keep Sniper in place with
Searing Chains.
* With the help of Aghanim's Scepter, Sniper cannot outrun Ember Spirit or chase him, even if Sniper builds mobility items.
Weaver
* Shukuchi allows Weaver to close the gap between himself and Sniper with high speed, and to maneuver through teamfights to get on top of him.
* A combination of The Swarm and
Desolator tears through Sniper's low armor.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -2.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 8%)Ember Spirit
* 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.
Invoker
* 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.
Weaver
* Heroes that usually builds Linken's Sphere as a core item:
Weaver,
Medusa,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Weaver
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: Earth Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Anti-Mage,
Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: Earth Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Anti-Mage,
Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
Invoker
* Heroes with powerful area-of-effect disables can initiate on Meepo and his clones and shut him down, such as Enigma,
Invoker,
Magnus,
Puck, and
Sand King.
Pudge
* Because only one clone needs to be killed in order to kill Meepo, heroes that excel at singling out enemies can also be a detriment to him, such as Batrider,
Beastmaster,
Pudge and
Clockwerk.
Ember Spirit
* Meepo is quite fragile in the early game and can be easily taken down by Flame Guard's and Searing Chains' damage. Later on, Meepo is very vulnerable to Sleight of Fist's damage due to Battle Fury's cleave on multiple Meepos.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist boosted by
Battle Fury and
Daedalus makes quick work of Meepo if clones are crowded around each other.
* Searing Chains interrupts Meepo's initiating because Meepo's clones do not have spell immunity.
Lich
* Poof combo puts all of the Meepos very close together, making them vulnerable to Frost Blast's AoE slow and multiple bounces from Chain Frost.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Weaver
* Weaver's Shukuchi allows him to escape from Warlock's
Upheaval with maximum move speed.
* His ultimate Time Lapse allows him to ignore damage from {U:Warlock Golem} and escape.
Ember Spirit
* A pre-placed Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape
Upheaval.
* Flame Guard blocks
Shadow Word's damage.
* Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to attack from range, ignoring
Upheaval, and
Searing Chains lets him interrupt it.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* 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.
Pudge
* Rot and
Meat Hook hits Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Flesh Heap reduces Dark Willow's magic burst damage.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Invoker
* Quas-
Exort Invoker can win the mid lane easily against Alchemist because
Quas regeneration will nullify Acid Spray's damage over time and
Exort damage bonus will allow Invoker to out last hit Alchemist.
Ember Spirit
* Ember's magic damage build is able to burst down Alchemist due to his low strength gain and Alchemist's normal item pick up.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 21%)Weaver
* Weaver can run away after killing Wraith King once thanks to Shukuchi.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable. If Weaver is quick, he will disjoint it with Shukuchi and proceed to chase Wraith King down.
* Shukuchi does have a fade time. They cannot disjoint it if you use it right next to them. They will be stunned and take damage; however they will still become invisible if they used Shukuchi before the stun hits.
* Weaver can easily harass Wraith King out of his lane thanks to his high base damage and Geminate Attack.
* Weaver can burn Wraith King's mana quickly with his Mana Break or
Diffusal Blade, until Wraith King picks "No Reincarnation Manacost" talent.
Additional:
* Wraithfire Blast is easy to disjoint with Shukuchi or Time Lapse, and it's the only way to break Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* Wraith King has no other disables and no mobility, allowing Weaver to chase or escape Wraith King as he wishes.
* With the Mana Break talent and Diffusal Blade, Weaver can prevent
Reincarnation from triggering until Wraith King has selected the chosen talent.
Invoker
* Invoker can drain Wraith King's mana with EMP, preventing him from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Even if Wraith King survives and reincarnates, Invoker still has an arsenal of spells to lockdown Wraith King, including an easily setup Ice Wall.
* Tornado applies an area dispel to clear skeletons.
Additional:
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Wraith King's mana to prevent Reincarnation from triggering (only until Wraith King gets his Aghanim's Shard).
* Ice Wall and Cold Snap are particularly crippling for Wraith King as they allow to kite him very effectively, preventing him from dealing melee attack damage.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 42% pickrate: 2%)Weaver
* 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.
Invoker
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by EMP: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Omniknight
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Invoker
* EMP is a large mana burn nuke which can hit Medusa's Mana shield with enough damage to lose even more mana.
* Deafening Blast disarms Medusa's ability to deal pseudo-AOE damage during teamfights.
* Cold Snap allows the opposing team to repeatedly stun Medusa in short succession, preventing her from successfully casting her ultimate due to its long cast time.
Additional:
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Medusa's mana to weaken Mana Shield.
* Medusa's lack of mobility makes her easy to kite with Invoker's spells.
Weaver
* Other heroes with mana burning or manipulating abilities will make Medusa much less tanky: Lion,
Mirana,
Weaver.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Weaver
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
Pudge
* Pudge's Dismember does not allow Spectre to escape with Haunt.
* He can easily tank the damage reflected by Dispersion due to his high strength and the healing from Dismember.
* Should Spectre try to get away through the trees or over a cliff with Spectral Dagger, Pudge can hook her back.
* Spectre takes a long time to come online, and Pudge can ruin her early game with ganks.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 3%)Weaver
* You can potentially kill a fragile Weaver by using disruption DURING
Shukuchi with a well-placed
Sentry Ward, wasting the Shukuchi. But odds are he'll wait to get low health,
Time Lapse the damage away and Shukuchi away once more.
* Lycan and
Weaver has abilities that allow them to move at maximum movement speed, and those abilities can't be dispelled, potentially wasting the slow from Demonic Purge.
* You can potentially kill a fragile Weaver by using disruption DURING
Shukuchi with a well-placed
Sentry Ward, wasting the Shukuchi. But odds are he'll wait to get low health,
Time Lapse the damage away and Shukuchi away once more.
Ember Spirit
* Disruption is not reliable enough to catch an Ember Spirit with a backup Fire Remnant.
* Sleight of Fist will also make quick work of the spawned illusions.
* Ember Spirit usually builds Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Shadow Poison and Soul Catcher and
Linken's Sphere to block Disruption and Demonic Purge.
* The best you can do against an Ember Spirit is to dispel his Flame Guard with your Demonic Purge.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Pudge
* Flesh Heap's magic resistance allows him to survive Eclipse, and
Meat Hook and
Dismember can disable Luna through her Black King Bar.
* However, Lucent Beam can still cancel Dismember from a safe distance, even if its damage is going to be reduced.
Additional:
* Pudge can easily survive Luna's Lucent Beam and
Eclipse, and his Meat Hook and Dismember can pierce
Black King Bar, making Luna one of the perfect victims for ganking.
* However, Lucent Beam can cancel Dismember, as Pudge often doesn't build Black King Bar, and if she is farmed enough, Luna might be able to fight back against Pudge.
Weaver
* Escape-type carries: Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Weaver.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* The percentage-based primary-attribute reduction effect of Whirling Death can be devastating for Pudge due to his high strength gain through Flesh Heap.
* Reactive Armor's health regeneration and common itemization for magic resistance and durability make Timbersaw a poor target for Pudge.
* Timber Chain's high mobility makes Timbersaw difficult to lockdown for Pudge, given he only has one reliable disable.
Invoker
* Cold Snap can prevent Timbersaw from using both Timber Chain and Chakram due to the frequent stuns interrupting the lengthy cast animations, as well as stopping him mid-chain. This can negate Timbersaw's attempts to escape or dole out extra ability damage.
* Later in the game, Invoker's heavy magical and pure damage can be difficult to avoid, meaning Timbersaw's armor is less useful.
Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains prevents usage of Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw is vulnerable to magical burst damage, which Ember Spirit provides with Fire Remnant and
Flame Guard.
* Timbersaw's abilities deal pure damage, thus they cannot remove Flame Guard.
Weaver
* In general, Timbersaw struggles against highly mobile heroes that can avoid his abilities: Puck,
Weaver,
Ember Spirit and others.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 8%)Invoker
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
Weaver
* Cold Feet is extremely easy to nullify with Shukuchi.
* Ice Vortex does not slow Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Time Lapse will still affect his health, even when hit by Ice Blast.
* Ancient Apparition has no escapes or saves and is very squishy, making him an easy target for Weaver to get on top of.
Additional:
* Time Lapse allows Weaver (or an ally if upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.
* Shukuchi completely ignores the slow from Ice Vortex and helps him escape the freeze range of Cold Feet.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 7%)Invoker
* 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.
Weaver
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Pudge
* Pudge has low armor and low mobility, making him a prime target for Terrorblade's right-clicks.
* Meat Hook is a lot harder to land on the real Terrorblade if he has illusions around him.
* Because Dismember targets only one hero, Terrorblade's illusions can potentially save the real Terrorblade if he's caught in it.
Invoker
* Heroes that can stall pushes: Invoker,
Keeper of the Light,
Lina,
Luna.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to illusion heroes like Terrorblade with Sleight of Fist. Terrorblade also has no way of preventing Ember Spirit from getting Activate Fire Remnant off. Additionally, Ember Spirit's ability to fight from long range as well as his wide skill set won't give many opportunities for Terrorblade to get Sunder off.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to Terrorblade and his illusions with Sleight of Fist.
* Terrorblade has no disable to lock down Ember Spirit and prevent him from escaping with Fire Remnant. In addition, he doesn't like purchasing disabling items, which are the only solutions to deal with Ember Spirit.
Weaver
* Heroes, whose core item builds includes Monkey King Bar:
Faceless Void,
Windranger,
Weaver,
Juggernaut.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 11%)Weaver
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower: Bloodseeker,
Ember Spirit,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Weaver.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower: Bloodseeker,
Ember Spirit,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Weaver.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by Purification is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit, as well as a good way of saving teammates.
* Guardian Angel will temporarily save his allies from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that will get
Orchid Malevolence to counter it.
Lich
* Heroes with large magical AoE damage will fare well against Omniknight: Lich,
Ancient Apparition,
Jakiro,
Disruptor
Weaver
* Heroes that rely on slows or low-duration stuns have trouble catching Weaver: Omniknight,
Lich.
Invoker
* Tornado dispels Guardian Angel from multiple targets.
* Guardian Angel is generally useless against Invoker as he primarily relies on magical damage.
* EMP depletes Omniknight's already small mana pool.
* Invoker's many disables keep Omniknight's team occupied until Guardian Angel times out.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* 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.
Weaver
* 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.
Lich
* Sinister Gaze forces Bristleback to face Lich, exposing him to damage.
* Lich's plethora of slows make it easy to kite Bristleback.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Pudge
* Meat Hook can be used immediately after
Mortimer Kisses since Snapfire is forced to stay in place.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Weaver
* Time Lapse with
Aghanim's Scepter dispels Flaming Lasso when used on allied hero.
* Linken's Sphere is core item for a Weaver making him a hard target for Lasso during entire game.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Invoker
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper receive less damage from Invoker's spells
* Viper can harass Invoker with his Poison Attack in the early game.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack can kill Invoker easily if Ghost Walk is on cooldown.
Weaver
* Shukuchi ignores slows and allows Weaver to escape Viper's onslaught.
* Time Lapse dispels Poison Attack and Corrosive Skin and undoes poison damage.
* Weaver's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
Invoker
* Ice Wall and
Ghost Walk can be used to kite and escape from Viper.
* Chaos Meteor and
Sun Strike deal heavy damage and can quickly bring Viper down.
* Cold Snap,
Tornado, and
Deafening Blast are powerful disables that reduce Viper's effectiveness.
* EMP burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
* Forge Spirits can melt Viper's armor and reduce his durability.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Invoker
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
Invoker
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker: Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Batrider
Additional:
* Tinker is relatively helpless against Invoker, as his Rearm and
Boots of Travel can be easily interrupted by Invoker's long range disables, even if he blinks away.
Pudge
* He can Meat Hook a Tinker hiding in the trees and follow it up with
Dismember and
Rot for an easy solo kill, as Tinker doesn't tend to buy survivability items.
* His innate magic resistance and huge health pool from Flesh Heap makes it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage to Pudge.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can used to pull Tinker while he is hiding in the trees, and a follow up with Dismember and Rot leads to an easy solo kill, as Tinker doesn't buy many survivability items.
* Flesh Heap makes it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Weaver
* Brewmaster is slow and has low armor, making his laning stage very difficult against Geminate Attack.
* Apart from the slow moving Hurl Boulder, which can be disjointed, he has no control to catch Weaver.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 1%)Pudge
* Slow heroes that have a hard time escaping the Echo Stomp radius: Crystal Maiden,
Pudge,
Techies.
Lich
* Frost Shield helps offset the armor reduction from Natural Order.
Pudge
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or having any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items are still interrupted by Dismember: Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Lich
* Lich's constant slows with Frost Blast and
Chain Frost will slow Dragon Knight to a crawl, especially in a crowded teamfight.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* Anti-Tank heroes like: Razor,
Necrophos,
Undying.
Weaver
* Geminate Attack works on Tombstone, allowing Weaver to kill it quickly.
* Zombies attacking Weaver disappear once he goes invisible with Shukuchi.
* Undying has no way to catch a mobile Weaver.
Invoker
* Invoker's multiple spells can lock down Undying and disable him from doing much.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 9%)Lich
* Frost Blast and
Chain Frost can kite Troll Warlord effectively.
* Frost Shield can single-handedly waste most of the duration of Battle Trance, due to the extreme resistance to physical damage Frost Shield provides. In addition, Troll Warlord is incapable of switching targets during Battle Trance, so he cannot pick an easier target.
* Troll Warlord has little to no ability to regenerate HP, so Frost Blast together with
Frost Shield can harass him effectively.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 13%)Weaver
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (Riki,
Bounty Hunter,
Weaver, or
Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to
Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that
Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
Ember Spirit
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and she's an easy target for him. She has no real disables that can lock Ember Spirit down, and all of her skill damage can be negated with Flame Guard. The damage from Searing Chains, Flame Guard, and Sleigh of Fist can easily take her down.
Pudge
* Heroes with large health pools (Pudge) or good innate magic resistance (
Anti-Mage) can be very problematic for Crystal Maiden, since even if they are under the effect of her ultimate for the entire duration, the damage output is simply not enough to kill or force them to retreat.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can cancel Freezing Field, even if Crystal Maiden has
Glimmer Cape.
* She is also slow and is fragile, making her a good target for ganking.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit has much higher mobility in Fire Remnant than Void Spirit.
* Ember's Flame Guard is effective against Void Spirit's spells, as most of them deal magical damage.
* The root from Searing Chains prevents Void Spirit from using Dissimilate or Astral Step.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Pudge
* Phantasm's illusions make it difficult to land Meat Hook and
Dismember.
* Chaos Bolt is a comparatively low cooldown tool to interrupt Dismember.
* Chaos Strike's lifesteal offsets Rot's damage.
Lich
* Chain Frost can eliminate Chaos Knight's Phantasm army, especially after he clumped up using
Reality Rift.
* Frost Shield will heavily reduce his army's effectiveness.
Additional:
* Lich's Chain Frost, especially after obtaining its respective talent that provides unlimited bounces, can take out all of Chaos Knight's illusions quickly.
* An Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Sinister Gaze can hypnotize Chaos Knight and his illusions while also draining his already low mana pool.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit is evasive and can dodge close encounters with melee heroes like Chaos Knight. Ember Spirit can't be caught with the slow from Reality Rift, and Flame Guard and Sleight of Fist can bring
Phantasm's illusions down quickly.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Invoker
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for all his nukes - Chaos Meteor,
EMP and especially global
Sun Strike.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Lich
* The haste provided by Dark Seer's
Surge or a {Rune:Haste} renders your slows ineffective.
Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard makes Dark Seer not deal any damage with his skills to Ember Spirit.
Weaver
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility: Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Lich
* Chain Frost will bounce between Lone Druid and his bear, forcing them to separate or suffer high amounts of damage.
Additional:
* Chain Frost can deliver high amounts of damage to Lone itself and his bear if they do not separate fast from each other.
Razor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 2%)Pudge
* Anti-Tank heroes like: Razor,
Necrophos,
Undying.
Weaver
* Shukuchi can break Static Link with little trouble.
* Time Lapse can easily be used to avoid damage from Plasma Field and can recover the damage done from Static Link and Eye of the Storm.
* Eye of the Storm can't kill bugs from The Swarm.
Ember Spirit
* Any hero with teleport abilities (e.g. Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit) can easily break Static Link.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -0.8 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 19%)Ember Spirit
* Shadowraze can easily remove the protection from Flame Guard and kill Ember Spirit due to his low health.
* Ember Spirit is very vulnerable to physical damage from Necromastery.
Invoker
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
Pudge
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman.
Weaver
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck,
Weaver.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 7%)Invoker
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by EMP: Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Omniknight
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 12%)Pudge
* Heroes that have a channeled ability can be interrupted by Meat Hook: Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
Additional:
* Meat Hook interrupts Death Ward from a decent range, even through
Black King Bar &
Glimmer Cape.
* Pudge can survive the damage from Maledict because of his Flesh Heap stacks.
* However the damage-over-time from Rot is counteracted by Voodoo Restoration.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit,
Morphling,
Ember Spirit
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Pudge
* Heartstopper Aura is effective against high health heroes, and Pudge is no exception. Coupled with his constant self-damage from Rot, being around Necrophos could prove risky for an overconfident Pudge.
* Regardless of how much health Pudge gains through Flesh Heap, Reaper's Scythe will often kill Pudge should his health fall below 40%, making Necrophos an ideal counter versus Pudge.
Additional:
* No matter how high Pudge builds up strength with his Flesh Heap, all it needs is for him to fall below a certain percentage of health for him to fall to Reaper's Scythe. Considering his constant self-damage with
Rot, being around Heartstopper Aura will prove risky for an overconfident Pudge.
Weaver
* Heroes with one single-target abilities such as Wraith King,
Necrophos, or
Doom will struggle against Weaver's Linken Sphere.
Invoker
* Tornado allows Invoker to purge Necrophos's Ghost Shroud, nullifying any benefits he could get out of it
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Necrophos's mana, preventing him to use his abilities constantly
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with
Phase Shift
* Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Chaos Knight with
Phantasm
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Tusk with
Snowball
* Juggernaut with
Omnislash
* Brewmaster with
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with
Infest
* Phoenix with
Supernova
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Invoker
* Heroes with abilities which have a built-in spell immunity: Lifestealer,
Juggernaut,
Pangolier.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder work, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
Pudge
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder: Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include Sven,
Magnus,
Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form,
Ember Spirit (via item),
Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Invoker
* Because Invoker relies on casting a large amount of spells to contribute to fights, Nether Ward can force him to not cast anything at all or take a large amount of damage to cast spells.
Pudge
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or having any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items are still interrupted by Dismember: Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
Invoker
* Invoker can use Tornado or Cold Snap to prevent Pugna from channeling Life Drain
* A poorly used Decrepify on Pugna's allies means Invoker's abilities can be used to deal more damage to it
* Tornado allows Invoker to purge Pugna's Decrepify when it is used defensively
* Special care has to be taken, however, when casting several abilities within the range of a Nether Ward
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 5%)Weaver
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility: Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 20%)Invoker
* Juggernaut's instant spell immunity from Blade Fury helps him dodge Invoker's combos. He can dispel the disables from Cold Snap and
Deafening Blast and dodge the damage from
Chaos Meteor, as well as walk through
Ice Wall.
* Juggernaut's high DPS allows him to kill split pushing Forge Spirit(s) effortlessly, and his high armor prevents them from being a threat to him.
* However, Invoker can hit Juggernaut with Sun Strike through Blade Fury, making the
Tornado > Sun Strike combo a threat if he does not dodge Tornado.
Additional:
* Blade Fury, similar to Rage, grants immunity to Invoker's spells and can dispel some debuffs as well.
* Omnislash renders Juggernaut invulnerable to Invoker's spells and can easily take Invoker down.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut: Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
Pudge
* Meat Hook can hit and displace Juggernaut during his Blade Fury.
* Dismember pierces Juggernaut's spell immunity from Blade Fury.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 4%)Pudge
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or having any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items are still interrupted by Dismember: Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
Additional:
* Pudge can Meat Hook Enigma out of his Black Hole channeling and cancel it through Black King Bar when followed up with
Dismember.
* Enigma is prone to ganks in the jungle or in the off-lane without proper vision. Pudge can take advantage of Enigma lack of mobility, assuming Enigma is not blocked by his Eidolons.
* Stacked magic resistance from his passive Flesh Heap ability can mitigate Midnight Pulse's damage.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 18%)Pudge
* Tree Dance has a low cooldown and allows Monkey King to jumps on trees quickly, making him a difficult target to hook.
* Because of his low attack speed and poor agility, Monkey King can inflict a large amount of damage quickly by Jingu Mastery.
* Boundless Strike interrupts Pudge's Dismember from a long range.
Weaver
* 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
Invoker
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
Pudge
* Meat Hook can easily cancel Wukong's Command by pulling Monkey King out of the circle.
* Meat Hook can grab Monkey King from trees during Tree Dance.
* Rot puts Tree Dance on cooldown.
Weaver
* Heroes that can maintain vision on Monkey King can see when he uses Tree Dance: Bloodseeker,
Treant Protector with Eyes In The Forest,
Sniper,
Weaver
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* Heroes with many summons or illusions are much harder to catch with Meat Hook: Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Chen.
Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist, allows Ember Spirit to destroy all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Flame Guard also deals significant damage to illusions, and protects against Spirit Lance.
* Phantom Rush is unable to catch Ember Spirit when he teleports to his Fire Remnants.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions, especially when combined with Battle Fury.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Impetus will deal huge amounts of damage when he uses a Fire Remnant to escape.
* Flame Guard is useless against Impetus.
* Enchant dispels Flame guard.
Lich
* Heroes with nukes: Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Weaver
* Heroes with haste can negate Enchant's slow: Weaver,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Centaur Warrunner.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 14%)Pudge
* Pudge has low armor and mobility, making him suspectible to her physical attacks (if Lina is the carry).
* Because Dismember is a channeled ability, it can be canceled through Light Strike Array within a distance.
Pudge
* Heroes with abilities that can pull Lina out of position can easily bring her to their team mates, like Batrider with
Flaming Lasso and
Pudge with his
Meat Hook.
Invoker
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
Io
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 4%)Pudge
* Tether and Overcharge makes it much harder for Pudge to kill a target with Meat Hook, and Relocate can save the Io's ally while
Dismember is being channeled.
Lich
* Lich's Chain Frost forces Io to give up providing buff to his ally with
Tether or suffer devastating damage with his tethered ally.
* Lich could easily use Sinister Gaze to disable Io from getting away with
Tether or
Relocate.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 16%)Pudge
* Pudge relies on his hook to initiate his combo. As long as she's able to avoid the hook with Windrun and shackle him, Windranger can take him down easily. Pudge's low armor means that he won't be able to endure Focus Fire for long.
Ember Spirit
* The high mobility provided by Fire Remnant makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire.
* Flame Guard deals considerable magical damage to Windranger.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Pudge
* Meat Hooking a Clockwerk can backfire for Pudge, as Battery Assault and
Blade Mail will hurt Pudge more than he hurts Clockwerk.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Fire Remnant is an easy way to escape from Clockwerk's Power Cogs.
* Flame Guard blocks most of the magical damage Clockwerk does.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 12%)Pudge
* Low armor and lack of escape makes Pudge vulnerable to Ursa, specially when he gets his Blink Dagger.
* If Pudge lands a Meat Hook on Ursa, Ursa can simply face Pudge head on provided he can burst him down before any follow up disables.
* Enrage's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade allows Ursa to dispel Pudge's Dismember.
Weaver
* Ursa has no inherent way of disabling a slippery Weaver and prevent him from Shukuchiing or
Time Lapseing away, as the slow from Earthshock is useless against Shukuchi's haste effect.
Additional:
* Earthshock's slow is ignored by Shukuchi.
* Ursa can be kited with Shukuchi and his burst damage will be negated with Time Lapse as long as Weaver survives it.
* The Swarm breaks Ursa's Blink Dagger, forcing him to deal with the beetles.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Weaver
* Shukuchi will trigger extra damage from Rupture.
* Shukuchi's invisibility is detected by Thirst.
* Time Lapse cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Weaver from escaping ganks.
Additional:
* Rupture is particularly crippling against Weaver, who relies on high movement speed from Shukuchi to fight and escape, and it cannot be dispelled by Time Lapse.
* Thirst detects Weaver through Shukuchi whenever his health is low.
* Blood Rite combined with Rupture forces Weaver to either take damage from the latter, or to get silenced for a long duration.
Lich
* If Thirst activated, Lich doesn't slow Bloodseeker.
* If he sees Chain Frost is targeting him, he can easily isolate himself with Thirst or forces Bloodseeker to build Blade Mail can cause Lich to accidentally kill himself with Chain Frost.
* Even Lich builds Glimmer Cape or
Force Staff are suicidal item against Bloodseeker when he is affected by
Rupture.
Pudge
* Pudge's high health pool will make him have possibilities of escaping Rupture.
Ember Spirit
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Bloodseeker while Ruptured.
Additional:
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape while Ruptured.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 14%)Ember Spirit
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Lycan,
Bloodseeker,
Anti-Mage,
Timbersaw
Pudge
* 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.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 4%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Queen of Pain.
Weaver
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver,
Morphling,
Medusa.
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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Clockwerk, Pudge, Invoker, Shadow Shaman, Sniper
Silencer, Zeus, Faceless Void, Sniper, Sand King
Huskar, Pudge, Alchemist, Luna, Phantom Assassin
Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Tusk, Axe, Tiny
Drow Ranger, Sniper, Earthshaker, Bristleback, Riki
Tinker, Pudge, Earthshaker, Elder Titan, Gyrocopter
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Riki, Invoker, Chaos Knight
Dazzle, Ogre Magi, Invoker, Rubick, Phantom Assassin
Spirit Breaker, Outworld Devourer, Axe, Warlock, Ursa
Winter Wyvern, Lich, Ember Spirit, Underlord, Leshrac
Leshrac, Shadow Shaman, Sniper, Necrophos, Terrorblade
Abaddon, Bane, Storm Spirit, Grimstroke, Phantom Lancer
Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Ancient Apparition, Axe
Windranger, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Riki, Alchemist
Brewmaster, Pudge, Storm Spirit, Phantom Lancer, Oracle
Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Axe, Arc Warden
Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Axe, Alchemist
Luna, Vengeful Spirit, Storm Spirit, Undying, Beastmaster
Juggernaut, Zeus, Sven, Ancient Apparition, Spirit Breaker
Axe, Ancient Apparition, Bloodseeker, Clinkz, Chaos Knight
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Huskar, Queen of Pain, Earthshaker
Axe, Drow Ranger, Vengeful Spirit, Windranger, Winter Wyvern
Juggernaut, Shadow Shaman, Windranger, Meepo, Spirit Breaker
Abaddon, Alchemist, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Ancient Apparition
Abaddon, Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden
Juggernaut, Ember Spirit, Shadow Shaman, Ogre Magi, Brewmaster
Shadow Shaman, Spirit Breaker, Sniper, Wraith King, Earthshaker
Invoker, Grimstroke, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Phantom Assassin
Treant Protector, Puck, Vengeful Spirit, Shadow Fiend, Anti-Mage
Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Skywrath Mage, Silencer, Shadow Fiend
Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Invoker, Phantom Lancer, Vengeful Spirit
Weaver
*
Spiked Carapace allows Nyx to get an easy long-duration stun on Weaver once he uses Shukuchi, and then he can follow up with
Impale.
Vendetta works as a great setup for both
Impale and
Spiked Carapace and can deal decent damage to Weaver. Additionally he can neutralize The Swarm beetles due to his invisibility duration.
*
Invoker
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling:
Enigma,
Crystal Maiden,
Invoker,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Keeper of the Light
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Necrophos
Enigma,
Crystal Maiden,
Invoker,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Keeper of the Light
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom
Mana Burn, as the spell does more damage based on the target's intelligence.
Spiked Carapace while under many Invoker's abilities to stun him.
* The nature of some abilities turn them into an easy target for a turnover from Spiked Carapace:
* Slow-moving projectiles:
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling:
* Deals damage over time:
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin takes advantage of Invoker's massive intelligence gain and mana pool to do tons of damage using
* Nyx Assassin can simply activate
Ember Spirit
* With
Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use
Spiked Carapace with
Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
Mana Burn is also good, as Ember Spirit relies on his limited mana pool for the early to midgame.
Flame Guard or
Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
*
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by
Pudge
*
Mana Burn completely drains Pudge's little mana which may render Meat Hook & Dismember unusable.
Impale and
Spiked Carapace used to cancel Dismember if timed perfectly.
Vendetta grants Nyx Assassin invisibility and a high degree of mobility for a long time, which can make Nyx a difficult target to hook. In addition, it also scouts out Pudge's location and surprising him with his attack,
Impale and
Mana Burn.
*
*