* Pugna's Decrepify makes sure that either Alchemist is unable to hit anyone while also being slowed and susceptible to magical damage, or can protect an ally from physical attacks. Besides, Pugna can push early on, when Alchemist is not strong enough to repel it, so by the time Alchemist comes online, he might be forced to sit in base.
* Pugna easily copes on the line with the Keeper of the Light push with his Nether Blast, and in addition to Nether Ward, the Keeper of the Light is not able to throw Illuminate on creeps for a long time, so Pugna earns more gold and a level on the line
Additional:
* Pugna easily copes on the line with the Keeper of the Light push with his Nether Blast, and in addition to Nether Ward, the Keeper of the Light is not able to throw Illuminate on creeps for a long time, so Pugna earns more gold and a level on the line
* Clinkz can use Burning Army in teamfights which will cause a problem for Alchemist.
* With Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as Windranger, Phantom Assassin, Troll Warlord and Keeper of the Light.
* Chemical Rage will rarely save Alchemist against Ursa's Fury Swipes.
* Enrage allows Ursa to both be a threat to Alchemist and avoid his over time damage.
* Axe can force Alchemist to attack him with Berserker's Call. High attack speed from Chemical Rage will cause Counter Helix to proc multiple times.
* This can get worse if axe has Blade Mail, which then returns all damage to Alchemist himself.
* Axe's abilities can pierce through Black King Bar, which is a common item for Alchemist.
* Berserker's Call grants Axe a huge bonus armor, which greatly counters Alchemist's physical damage for the most part.
* Crippling Fear prevents Keeper of the Light from using his spells to keep his team alive during team-fights.
* Dark Ascension is very strong against Keeper of the Light, as it allows Night Stalker to jump the backline and quickly kill the squishy Ezalor, especially when combined with the slow from Void.
Additional:
* Keeper of the Light's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade loses much of its power, due to Night Stalker being able to reduce the duration of daytime by a lot.
* Alchemist likes to farm fast and be ahead, unfortunately Lone Druid likes to do the same by taking towers.
* Acid Spray will never prove a threat to Lone Druid or his Spirit Bear.
* Chemical Rage may not prove so useful once Lone Druid procs entangled keeping him in place.
* Monkey King Bar is a very good choice on Lone Druid's Spirit Bear and it directly counters any potential Radiance from Alchemist.
* Assault Cuirass is another very good Spirit Bear item that further makes Alchemist vulnerable to physical damage, which is all Lone Druid does.
* Alchemist is not the kind of hero who wants to go on single target summon units, by the time he has killed the Spirit Bear his teammates might had already been slayed by his teammates. Not to mention Lone Druid can just resummon it, even if he is successful.
* Ember's magic damage build is able to burst down Alchemist due to his low strength gain and Alchemist's normal item pick up.
* Blood Rite makes Ezalor chose between getting off Illuminate or getting silenced for a while, as Illuminate is a channeled ability.
* Blood Rite's silence can completely take Ezalor out of a teamfight, as he relies on his abilities to be useful.
* Keeper of the Light's only mobility source, his high movement speed (via his high base movement speed and through spirit form), is entirely countered by Rupture.
* Alchemist is a well-known Radiance carrier among other auras your illusions will benefit from. They also get the extra move speed and reduced base attack time from his Chemical Rage, and it's even better if you can catch him as his own rage is about to expire.
* Disruption will buy enough time for all allies to retreat when Alchemist starts to activate Unstable Concoction.
* Tidebringer will deal lots of damage to Alchemist before he builds physical survivability items.
* Torrent and X Marks the Spot can control Alchemist at all stages of the game before he has Black King Bar.
* Ghostship's rum buff will greatly reduce the Alchemist's damage output in teamfights including his Radiance.
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
* Ice Blast cancels out Chemical Rage's rapid health regeneration. It can also take advantage of Alchemist's Armlet of Mordiggian toggling, as it will make HP drain insanely fast, essentially killing the bearer in no time.
Additional:
* Ice Blast nullifies the health regeneration granted by Chemical Rage, which Alchemist greatly relies on to stay alive in battle.
* Alchemist tends to build Armlet of Mordiggian which can be deadly during Ice Blast.
* Spiked Carapace can be used to reflect Illuminate damage and stun Keeper of the Light.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to follow Keeper of the Light around if he tries to split-push.
* Keeper of the Light is very squishy and will very quickly die to Vendetta and it's followup abilities.
* Alchemist's reliance on fast attack speed to do single-target damage makes him vulnerable to Static Link. It also goes through Black King Bar, which is a standard item on Alchemist.
* Eye of the Storm is great against high health strength heroes as it reduces their survivability to physical damage.
* Razor has early lane push to counter Acid Spray.
* Being a cast-oriented hero, Ezalor will suffer from all of Silencer's abilities.
* Global Silence is a guaranteed lengthy silence which will render Ezalor useless in a teamfight.
* Arcane Curse and Last Word are good against any caster, since they are extremely potent.
* However, it should be worth mentioning that a smart Ezalor will buy Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Silencer's abilities. Combined with the level 20 talent (Chakra Magic applies a basic dispel), Ezalor can purge Silencer's abilities off allies and himself alike.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to not be targeted by Unstable Concoction, making Alchemist stun himself and making himself vulnerable to the enemy.
* Dark Pact also allows him to just purge off the stun if timed correctly.
* Essence Shift will steal stats over long durations at a time should Alchemist lack the damage to kill Slark.
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven, Slark
* Reaper's Scythe can kill Alchemist before Chemical Rage has the time to heal him.
* Ghost Shroud can prevent Alchemist from attacking Necrophos, as well as make him immune to Acid Spray and Unstable Concoction damage.
* Heartstopper Aura will do damage as long as Necrophos is alive based on health percentage, which is a problem for a strength hero such as Alchemist.
* Corrosive Haze followed by Slithereen Crush takes advantage of Alchemist's main weakness, being physical damage before he has the change to improve his surviability with items.
* Bash of the Deep will deal lots of damage during the laning phase.
* 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.
* Untouchable greatly reduces Chemical Rage's attack speed advantage.
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
* Visage can quickly kill heroes with low to medium base armor and no innate escape mechanism. Examples include Alchemist, Crystal Maiden and Zeus.
* Heroes with hastes: Dark Seer, Lycan
* Heroes that can jump and kill him: Meepo, Clinkz, Templar Assassin
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.
* Jakiro's reliance on his abilities can cause struggles for heroes who rely on evasion or blinds to get upper hand: Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Riki, Troll Warlord, Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes with silences: Puck, Doom, Riki.
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
* Any hero who lanes very poorly will struggle with Primal Beast's potential snowball in the very early levels, like Keeper of the Light, Luna, Templar Assassin...
* Heroes who are melee but cannot fight back against Eclipse will really struggle with Luna: Monkey King, Alchemist, Timbersaw.
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like Keeper of the Light, Ancient Apparition or Bounty Hunter.
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven, Lifestealer, Ursa and Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
* Heroes with silences: Puck, Doom, Riki.
* Heroes who are strong against mobile heroes: Disruptor, Bloodseeker, Kunkka, Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes that can jump and kill him: Meepo, Clinkz, Templar Assassin
* Doom can disable Chemical Rage's increased healing, rendering Alchemist helpless against Doom.
* Attacks from Infernal Blade can deal serious damage to Alchemist as it deals damage based on the hero's maximum health.
* Heroes with silences: Puck, Doom, Riki.
* Doom's low armor makes him weak against Alchemist's high physical damage output.
* Heroes who rely on physical damage output to be effective will fare badly against Muerta's Pierce the Veil: Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade, Drow Ranger, Lifestealer, Anti-Mage, Alchemist, Lycan, Clinkz, Sniper.
* Press the Attack can dispel Blinding Light or Solar Bind from a hero.
* Duel can be used to instantly take Keeper of the Light out of a team-fight.
* Heroes with abilities that blind or cause Legion Commander to miss will prevent her from winning Duels: Arc Warden, Keeper of the Light, Riki, Tinker
* Juggernaut's Healing Ward keeps his team healthy even when pushing against Keeper of the Light's Illuminate.
* Blade Fury can dispel Blinding Light, as well as dodge an incoming Illuminate. Juggernaut can attack towers during Blade Fury, so he can dodge an Illuminate without having to stop pushing.
* Should Keeper of the Light obtain Will-o-Wisp through purchasing an Aghanim's Scepter, Juggernaut can make quick work of Ignis Fatuus without being interrupted by its pull.
* Keeper of the Light has low health, low armor, and no natural defense against Blade Fury.
Additional:
* Blade Fury allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities.
* Healing Ward heals his entire team, mitigating Ezalor's weak magical burst damage.
* Keeper of the Light's Blinding Light makes Juggernaut miss his attacks. However, it can be dispelled easily with Blade Fury.
* Being an intelligence caster hero, Ezalor usually has a high mana pool and low health and armor, making him a prime target for Mana Void
* Ezalor's Illuminate damage and Solar Bind's magic resistance reduction are greatly reduced thanks to Counterspell. Counterspell can also block and reflect Solar Bind if timed properly.
* Anti-Mage usually is not hampered by Solar Bind or Will-O-Wisp thanks to Blink.
* However, despite all of this, if Keeper of the Light is played carefully and tops off his team's mana at all times, Anti Mage will not be able to get off a good Mana Void.
* By the same token once Keeper of the Light gets a Octarine Core, he can spam Charka Magic to keep his own mana ful
* Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes: Terrorblade Naga siren Nature's Prophet and Anti-Mage
* Alchemist can easily farm Spiderlings with Acid Spray and Greevil's Greed.
* Alchemist's Chemical Rage nullifies Broodmother's Insatiable Hunger
Additional:
* Greevil's Greed makes Broodmother’s spiderlings far more valuable to Alchemist making it important that he does farm them as opposed to other heroes where the spider's bounties are negligible.
* Acid Spray makes it difficult to attack Alchemist in lane without losing some spiderlings to the damage over time, potentially giving him farm he wouldn't have otherwise.
* Illuminate wipes out Broodmother's spiders and prevents her from pushing the lane. It also gives vision to reveal where broodmother is hiding in the trees.
* Alchemist's Acid Spray can heavily damage Chen's creeps and disrupt his jungling.
* Alchemist builds items like Radiance and Battle Fury, allowing him to quickly clear Chen's creeps.
* Alchemist's Greevil's Greed will grant him more bonus gold as he kills Chen's creeps.
* Heroes with summons/illusions/neutral creep armies: Beastmaster, Chen, Naga Siren
* Magnus has very mediocre damage against Alchemist, because he can survive the stun duration of Reverse Polarity with Chemical Rage.
* 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, Medusa, Dawnbreaker.
* Heroes that can cancel Charge of Darkness: Ogre Magi, Earthshaker, Lion, Rubick, Lina, Luna, Jakiro, Dawnbreaker, Alchemist, Ogre Magi, Axe, Shadow Shaman, Naga Siren, Mars, Bane, Pudge, Clockwerk.
* Heroes that punish mobile heroes: Bloodseeker, Keeper of the Light, Kunkka, Disruptor.
* Illuminate clears Beastmaster's summons and is effective against his push.
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities: Sven, Alchemist, Lifestealer etc.
* Acid Spray and Greevil's Greed will quickly destroy pushes with treants.
* Because of his poor movement speed,Alchemist can catch up and kill him with Chemical Rage.
* Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes: Terrorblade Naga siren Nature's Prophet and Anti-Mage
* Chemical Rage kills Phoenix very quickly in Supernova.
* Chemical Rage will take down Tombstone in no time.
Additional:
* With Greevil's Greed, Alchemist can farm Tombstone zombies and gain a significant gold advantage.
* Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes: Terrorblade Naga siren Nature's Prophet and Anti-Mage
* Alchemist has very bad armor and does not build armor items for the large majority of his build, so Jingu Mastery and Wukong's Command can be very deadly.
* Desolator, Sange and Yasha or Diffusal Blade can all be purchased to increase your damage against Alchemist or just to keep your movement speed high enough to match him while Chemical Rage is active.
* Monkey King is an agility hero and scales with armor, so Acid Spray loses it's effectiveness later in the game.
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos, Phoenix, Alchemist, Earthshaker, Razor, Tinker, Leshrac, Queen of Pain
* Blinding Light can knock Monkey King outside of his ultimate, Wukong's Command and can blind him.
* Will-O-Wisp will stun Monkey King from Tree Dance by destroying his tree.
Additional:
* Blinding Light can easily push Monkey King out of Wukong's Command, as well as blinding him.
* Monkey King is vulnerable to burst damage, Solar Bind makes him more so
* However, Keeper of the Light can be easily ganked by Monkey King during early-mid game stage.
* Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes: Terrorblade Naga siren Nature's Prophet and Anti-Mage
* Any hero that can nullify effects of Chronosphere: (Keeper of the Light with Aghanim's Scepter during daytime, Winter Wyvern), banishing him or Faceless Void (Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Demon, Earth Spirit with Aghanim's Scepter) or protecting him in other ways (Dazzle, Oracle, Abaddon) can greatly limit Chronosphere's potential.
* Heroes which rely exclusively on right clicks will struggle somewhat against Blinding Light: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Medusa
* Heroes with extremely slow movement speed will cripple against Solar Bind: Medusa, Viper
Additional:
* Will-O-Wisp will keep Medusa busy after she got hit by Blinding Light.
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Silencer, Keeper of the Light, Venomancer, etc.
* Chemical Rage mitigates damage from Burning Spear.
Additional:
* Chemical Rage negates almost all damage from Burning Spears.
* Viper can bully Alchemist out of mid lane quite easily, forcing him to either retreat into jungle, or stay harassed in lane, and get very few last hits. Vipers break also completely disables Greevil's greed which prevents Alchemist to earn his amazing amounts of money.
* The Keeper of the Light easily farms on the line against the Viper, due to the fact that it has a long-range Illuminate, and the Viper, in turn, cannot use its advantage of dominance on the center line, due to the fact that it does not reach the Keeper of the Light
Additional:
* The Keeper of the Light easily farms on the line against the Viper, due to the fact that it has a long-range Illuminate, and the Viper, in turn, cannot use its advantage of dominance on the center line, due to the fact that it does not reach the Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.
* Illuminate can wipe the pushing Eidolons in a lane with ease, diminishing Enigma's laning presence by a lot.
* Solar Bind will severely slow down Enigma and make him more vulnerable to magical damage more he moves for it's duration.
* However, Keeper of the Light does not have any way to cancel Black Hole outside from Will-O-Wisp provided by Aghanim's Scepter.
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that require burst damage to kill will be difficult for Phantom Lancer to take down: Timbersaw, Axe, Bristleback, Alchemist and Underlord
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade, Sven, Clinkz, Windranger, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Legion Commander
* 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
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like Lion, Ancient Apparition, Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
* He can quickly take out heroes with low armor (Tiny) with his great physical damage.
* Heroes with hastes: Dark Seer, Lycan
* Keeper of the Light has a blind, which causes Lycan to miss his attacks.
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
* Heroes which rely exclusively on right clicks will struggle somewhat against Blinding Light: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Medusa
* Heroes who struggle to fight back against Sven at any point in the game are at a severe disadvantage: Alchemist, Anti-Mage, Crystal Maiden.
* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven, Slark
* Heroes who are entirely reliant on dealing physical damage and/or have very little to no area-of-effect abilities will make Underlord tickle and will have no effect against him thanks to his Atrophy Aura, and will also be unable to ambush Underlord and his team if Underlord chooses to use Fiend's Gate to get to a designated point of the map: Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade, Troll Warlord, Drow Ranger, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Sven, Wraith King, Bounty Hunter, Alchemist, Templar Assassin, Nyx Assassin, Bane.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate: Luna's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse, Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian, Axe's Berserker's Call, Mars's Arena of Blood, Jakiro's Macropyre, Dual Breath and Ice Path, Naga Siren's Song of the Siren, Razor's Eye of the Storm and Plasma Field, Lina's Light Strike Array, Broodmother's Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter, Elder Titan's Earth Splitter and Echo Stomp, Alchemist's Unstable Concoction and Acid Spray, Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave, Dark Seer's Wall of Replica and Vacuum, Venomancer's Noxious Plague and Poison Nova from Aghanim's Scepter, Oracle's Fortune's End and Rain of Destiny from Aghanim's Shard, Bloodseeker's Blood Rite, Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse, Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls, Batrider's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Flaming Lasso, Firefly, Flamebreak and Sticky Napalm, Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast, Sand King's Epicenter, Sand Storm and Burrowstrike, Gyrocopter's Call Down, Ember Spirit's Sleight of Fist, Death Prophet's Exorcism and Silence, Monkey King's Wukong's Command, Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Muerta's The Calling, Medusa's Stone Gaze, Zeus's Nimbus from Aghanim's Scepter. Dark Willow's Bramble Maze, Pangolier's Swashbuckle, Grimstroke's Soulbind, Ink Swell and Stroke of Fate, Earthshaker's Echo Slam and Fissure, Puck's Dream Coil and Waning Rift, Winter Wyvern's Winter's Curse, Magnus's Reverse Polarity.
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Alchemist
* Feast is good against high health strength heroes such as Alchemist.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to not be targetable by Unstable Concoction, possibly making Alchemist stun himself.
Keeper of the Light
* Rage allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities. Also, the increased movement speed combined with the slow from Ghoul Frenzy and the squishy nature of Ezalor allows Lifestealer to take him down very quickly.