* Fiend's Grip prevents Anti-Mage from Blinking away or using Manta Style. It also pierces spell immunity.
* Nightmare sets Bane's team up for chain disables on Anti-Mage.
* Enfeeble lowers Anti-Mage's status resistance and magic resistance, making him more vulnerable to disables and magic damage.
* Enfeeble weakens Viper's attack damage, any healing he receives and his cast range, which makes him unable to harass enemy heroes with
Nethertoxin,
Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
* Brain Sap allows Bane to heavily harass Viper, damaging him while healing Bane, which allows Bane to fight back against Viper's damage over time output, even through debuff immunity from
Black King Bar.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin is useless against Bane as all of his damaging abilities deal Pure damage.
* Viper has no solutions to cancel Fiend's Grip and in addition, he hates buying disabling items like
Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
Additional:
* Enfeeble weakens Viper's attack damage, any healing he receives and his cast range, which makes him unable to harass enemy heroes with Nethertoxin, Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin is useless against Bane as all of his damaging abilities deal Pure damage.
* Viper has no solutions to cancel Fiend's Grip and in addition, he hates buying disabling items like
Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
* Although Anti-Mage can survive Luna's magical damage output with Counterspell, Luna's physical damage from
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing can be fair enough to deal with him.
* Reckless use of Blink will allow Luna
Eclipse can finish off Anti-Mage from early-to-mid stages of the game until Anti-Mage gets
Manta Style,
Aghanim's Scepter that will give him access to
Blink Fragment and
Aghanim's Shard which will allow
Counterspell to weaken enemy spell damage.
* However, Luna needs to finish the match as quickly as possible, because Anti-Mage is a hero who has a big advantage in longer matches once he farms items he needs for teamfights.
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Viper due to Nethertoxin being able to disable
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing, Luna can take out Viper once she builds either
Black King Bar or
Silver Edge which will allow her to attack Viper freely.
* Eclipse can often finish off Viper from early-to-mid stages of the game before he can retaliate as
Corrosive Skin gives little magic resistance to him early on.
* Manta Style is an item that Luna commonly buys in most of the games, which lets her disjoint
Viper Strike. Additionally, illusions from Manta Style can make Viper waste time attacking them.
Additional:
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Viper due to Nethertoxin being able to disable
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing, Luna can take out Viper once she builds either
Black King Bar or
Silver Edge which will allow her to attack Viper freely.
* Eclipse can often finish off Viper from early-to-mid stages of the game before he can retaliate as
Corrosive Skin gives little magic resistance to him early on.
* Manta Style is an item that Luna commonly buys in most of the games, which lets her disjoint
Viper Strike. Additionally, illusions from Manta Style can make Viper waste time attacking them.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Broodmother will gain access to
Spinner's Snare, which will allow her to create invisible lines on her webs from
Spin Web that will root, deal damage over time, and reveal enemy heroes if they unwittingly step on them. This allows Broodmother to keep her allies alerted on heroes who rely on invisibility-themed and movement-themed abilities and items to surprise enemy heroes and disrupt ganking attempts of enemy heroes:
Phantom Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Mirana,
Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker,
Anti-Mage,
Tusk,
Ursa,
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Void Spirit,
Magnus etc.
* Viper's lack of escape and durability means he can be ran over in a laning stage by Spawn Spiderlings.
* Broodmother can bring Viper down quickly with Insatiable Hunger activated.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of Viper abilities.
* Viper has no way to cancel Death Ward, even through Rod of Atos.
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility: Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
* 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.
* Terrorblade's
Reflection turns Mana Break against Anti-Mage draining his mana making it useful during team fights.
Additional:
* Reflection's illusion carries Mana Break as well, making it useful to use against him.
* Anti-Mage cannot manfight Terrorblade at any stage of the game.
* Almost all of Viper's damage revolves exclusively around single-target damage-over-time effects. Furthermore, without any hard disables, Terrorblade can almost always get a Sunder off.
* Viper has low mobility and Corrosive Skin doesn't protect against physical damage, which means that Terrorblade under Metamorphosis can quickly kill Viper.
Additional:
* Viper's damage over time and lack of disables makes him easy to Sunder.
* Viper's physical damage is mitigated by Terrorblade's high armor.
* Terrorblade under Metamorphosis can quickly kill Viper with heavy physical damage.
* Anti-Mage's Counterspell provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Clinkz can easily rush an Orchid Malevolence to prevent
Blinking, although Anti-Mage can easily dispel it via
Manta Style.
* Clinkz does heavy damage to towers, and can take map control away from Anti-Mage to limit the space he has to farm early game. If Clinkz is ahead he is capable of ending the game before Anti-Mage becomes a threat. He can also match Anti-Mage's ability to split push.
* Clinkz does not have any passive abilities at all, making Nethertoxin nearly useless.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
* Blood Rite prevents Anti-Mage from escaping with Blink.
* Blink will trigger the damage from Rupture.
* Both Blood Rite & Rupture are pure damage which can bypass Counterspell.
* Crippling Fear makes Night Stalker one of the best early game gankers to shut down Anti-Mage.
* Night Stalker's low mana pool causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
* Arcane Orb's pure damage, making Counterspell ineffective.
* Sanity's Eclipse will hit Anti-Mage while he is disabled from
Astral Imprisonment, and forces him to take heavy damage due to his low intelligence.
* Essence Flux keeps Outworld Destroyer at high mana, thus greatly reducing the damage from Mana Void.
Additional:
* Counterspell doesn't work versus Arcane Orb because it does pure damage.
* Anti-Mage cannot burn all of Outworld Destroyer's mana without disables due to Essence Flux.
* Anti-Mage's Manta Style illusions are quickly destroyed by Arcane Orb.
* However, if the enemy has multiple means of removing mana, Mana Void becomes a threat to Outworld Destroyer, Anti-Mage has better mobility than Outworld Destroyer with
Blink, and
Counterspell blocks a large portion of the damage from Sanity's Eclipse.
* None of Anti-Mage's skills are that effective against Drow Ranger. Gust prevents him from Blinking in or out,
Counterspell is totally useless against Drow's physical damage, and as she usually doesn't have a high mana pool,
Mana Break and
Mana Void don't do much either.
* Be careful however that Anti-Mage may eventually farm enough to Blink on top of you and kill you straight away, considering you have no natural tools to escape from him.
* Disruption sets up Anti-Mage for a chain disable. The illusions will deal extra damage due to Mana Break.
* Shadow Poison hits Anti-Mage even after he's Blinked away.
* If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter,
Demonic Purge can break Mana Break and Counterspell, weakening both his offense and defense.
Additional:
* While it is unwise to encounter Anti-Mage alone, Disruption's considerable cast range can become a perfect setup for any hard-disable to follow up. If he is pinned down, Anti-Mage will quickly face his demise when the illusions deplete his already low mana pool. Manta Style will easily allow him to escape, however.
* The illusions can be controlled to quickly sap mana from any other target, making Anti-Mage one of the most valuable targets to disrupt.
* Slardar deals entirely physical damage. He does not have to worry about Counterspell.
* Slithereen Crush and
Bash of the Deep prevent Anti-Mage from using Blink, the latter even if Anti-Mage activates
Black King Bar.
* Corrosive Haze allows allies to take down Anti-Mage before he has a chance to Blink, and maintains vision over him even if he does Blink away.
Additional:
* Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep deals physical damage, bypassing the magic resistance bonus from Counterspell
* Corrosize Haze significantly increases the damage dealt against Anti-Mage, and makes it harder for him to flee with Blink, although Anti-mage can block its casting with with Counterspell
* Although Viper Strike cannot be dispelled by Doppelganger, Viper's lack of mobility and AoE damage makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer.
* Viper's various slows do not work against Phantom Rush.
* Although Phantom Lancer should be wary due to Nethertoxin applying Break.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer can overwhelm Viper with spawned illusions from Spirit Lance and
Doppelganger. In addition,
Diffusal Blade, a core item on Phantom Lancer, burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
* Viper's various slows do not work against Phantom Rush. Additionally, it is almost impossible to keep Lancer inside
Nethertoxin's radius in order to disable the passive.
* Naga Siren can easily disjoint, and dispel Corrosive Skin with Mirror Image.
* Since Viper is mostly a single-target hero, he will not have almost any chance against Naga Siren because she is an illusion based hero.
* Viper has no burst damage, so Naga Siren will have plenty of time to use Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Song of the Siren heal her allies before Viper can finish them off.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
* As a caster, Anti-Mage's
Mana Break and
Mana Void are highly effective against him.
* Anti-Mage's
Mana Void won't do a lot of damage because Centaur has a low mana pool.
Mana Break is also relatively ineffective against him.
* 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
* 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
* 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
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
* Illusion or summon-based heroes can be a problem to Viper due to his lack of AoE damage: Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Beastmaster
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
Additional:
* Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Anti-Mage, allowing for reliable kills in all stages of the game.
* Time Dilation while Blink and
Counterspell are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, shutting down his mobility and defensiveness.
* Faceless Void's low mana pool makes him a poor target for Mana Void, although he is very vulnerable should Anti-Mage burn all of his mana.
* Rage ignores all of Viper's magical damage, although
Viper Strike can pierce spell immunity and slows him down.
* Feast and
Open Wounds from
Aghanim's Shard can be combined to heal through Viper's physical damage.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can be used to disarm Viper, preventing him from using
Poison Attack on Lifestealer's allies.
* Heroes with escape abilities: Anti-Mage
Dark Seer
Slark
Storm Spirit
Windranger
Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown.
* Viper is kind of a mixed package. Tinker is very good against him. but stands a better chance against him than most heroes.
* Viper has a high innate magic resistance, but relies on his primary attacks to really deal damage. making Laser an effective way to save allies from him, and deal damage. Keep in mind that his Corrosive Skin will prevent Tinker from blinking.
* Viper's Viper Strike and
Poison Attack will also have a hard time damaging allies through Tinker's constant casting of
Defense Matrix.
* Viper has no solutions to cancel Rearm nor any of Tinker's escape attempts with
Boots of Travel
* However, if Viper gets a jump on Tinker first. Tinker will unlikely survive versus Viper.
* Anti-Mage's high mobility from Blink and tendency to build Battle Fury makes him strong against split-pushing heroes:
Nature's Prophet,
Tinker, and
Arc Warden.
Additional:
* Tinker is fragile and vulnerable against carries like Anti-Mage.
* Mana Break burns away his mana pool and deals bonus physical damage.
* Tinker's massive mana pool makes Mana Void deal large amount of damage, and can be used to cancel a
Keen Conveyance teleport.
* Blink gives Anti-Mage many options, like disjointing Heat Seeking Missiles. He can use Blink to wait out of sight for a split pushing Tinker or chase a blinking Tinker into trees.
* Tinker doesn't want any of his spells reflected back at him through Counterspell.
* Anti-Mage usually relies on Blink to escape, but with vision from Charge of Darkness it is easier to catch him.
* Spirit Breaker could single-handedly lock Anti-Mage down for 4 seconds (or even more with lucky bashes), allowing his teammates to follow up.
* As Anti-Mage is an elusive hero who likes to farm alone, Spirit Breaker could choose to charge whenever Anti-Mage is in sight.
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden,
Lion,
Huskar,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Undying,
Jakiro.
* Anti-Mage's low health pool making vulnerable to Phantom Assassin's burst damage and Coup De Grace critical strike, while Blink is on cooldown.
* Blur makes Anti-Mage unable to deal Mana Break to her.
* Phantom Assassin has low intelligence and low mana pool, making Mana Void do minimal damage.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can easily withstand heavy magical bursts due to Counterspell, but he is still somewhat vulnerable to physical damage. Phantom Assassin's burst physical damage can destroy Anti-Mage while
Blink is on cooldown or while he is stunned or hexed.
* Blur makes Anti-Mage unable to deal significant damage to her without buying Monkey King Bar, which means he cannot buy items to benefit his
Mana Break.
* Phantom Assassin has an abysmal mana pool and intelligence gain, making Mana Break and
Mana Void deal minimal damage.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats: Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* A combination of Soulbind and
Phantom's Embrace can prevent Anti-Mage from casting spells.
* If Grimstroke has Aghanim's Scepter,
Dark Portrait can reflect Anti-Mage's Mana Break, making it useful in team fights.
* Heroes with mobility spells can quickly escape from Stroke of Fate or break out of Soulbind: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Storm Spirit
* Anti-Mage relies on blinking and attacking. Overgrowth prevents both.
* Be wary that he will eventually farm up a Manta Style that fully dispels Overgrowth. Good players will wait for your ultimate to use their manta. Perhaps an ally has a silence or similar that would force him to use his manta before your ultimate.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Troll Warlord's passive root, high attack speed, and blind from Whirling Axes makes him an exceedingly difficult opponent for Anti-Mage to take down in a one-on-one fight.
* Troll Warlord's low mana causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, preventing Anti-Mage from burning Troll Warlord's small mana pool.
* Troll Warlord's passive root allows him to very effectively fight an Anti-Mage by preventing Anti-Mage from Blinking away. This is even more effective when combined with a
Skull Basher or
Abyssal Blade.
* Counterspell will do nothing to prevent Troll Warlord's high physical damage.
* Due to Troll Warlord's abysmal base intelligence and intelligence gain, he is one of the worst targets to use Mana Void on.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Counterspell does not protect Anti-Mage from Sacred Arrow.
* Moonlight Shadow can help her allies avoid Mana Break and Mana Void.
* Blink's cooldown isn't short enough to escape from Leap, especially when she has the extra charge from
Aghanim's Shard.
Additional:
* Combo items for Mirana Rod of Atos can upgrade to
Gleipnir and Sacred Arrow before and during Anti-Mage build item
Manta Style cooldown can easy penetrates Counterspell broken.
* Charge for Leap can Mirana easily faster escaping.
* Moonlight Shadow it can disappear anytime and Anti-Mage can not fight.
* Heroes that have superior mobility that can easily catch up with Mirana even after she used Leap to escape: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Riki.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
* A well-timed Counterspell reflects all targeted abilities back at Lion, potentially stunning or hexing him or even making himself burst down.
* Thanks to Counterspell's magic resistance, Anti-Mage has a good chance of surviving a Blast Off combo.
* Anti-Mage is a natural Manta Style carrier, meaning he can dispel the silence from Blast Off and blink away when Techies initiates on him.
* Corrosive Skin will protect Viper from Techies' magical damage.
* Even though Reactive Tazer will disarm Viper if he attacks Techies with Poison Attack, he does lots of damage with his other abilities that can still kill Techies.
* Anti-Mage can close the gap with Blink. Sniper will struggle to escape once he is jumped on due to the lack of mobility.
* Counterspell reduces sniper's magic damage from
Shrapnel and
Assassinate. The active component can also reflect the projectile back to sniper if he dares to target Anti-Mage. This is seriously detrimental for Sniper as he is prone to buying
Khanda to boost effects of the
Assassinate.
* Sniper often relies on mana to use items for escaping, and his abilities cost a lot of mana. Mana Break drains Sniper's mana and takes away Sniper's means to disengage.
* Anti-Mage has faster farming speed. He can outfarm and get ahead of Sniper easily.
* Viper Strike breaks Sniper's passives.
* Corrosive Skin allows Viper to deal more damage to Sniper than Sniper deals to him when laning, especially by briefly stepping into Shrapnel.
* Nethertoxin together with
Poison Attack can slow Sniper and tears through his low health and mobility.
* Counterspell can helpful blocked off to Dragon Tail.
Additional:
* Counterspell makes Anti-Mage exceptionally resistant to Breathe Fire, Dragon Tail, Fireball (requires
Aghanim's Shard) and Elder Dragon Form's attacks. Its active component also blocks and reflects Dragon Tail back at Dragon Knight.
* Mana Break drains Dragon Knight's small mana pool, although it won't affect Dragon Knight much if he is in his Elder Dragon Form.
* In the early game, a Dragon Knight without Black King Bar is basically defenseless against Viper.
* Viper can harass Dragon Knight at any time with his Poison Attack and
Nethertoxin.
* Corrosive Skin reduces damage from Dragon Fire and inflicts damage to him.
* Viper Strike disables Dragon Blood, negating his main survivability.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack can severely slow him down even with his Elder Dragon Form.
Additional:
* Dragon Knight is easily harassed by Poison Attack after the laning stage ends.
* Corrosive Skin protects Viper from
Breathe Fire and returns damage.
* Viper Strike can disable
Dragon Blood, Dragon's Knight main source of armor and health regeneration.
* Between Poison Attack and
Viper Strike, Viper can keep Dragon Knight permanently slowed even in
Elder Dragon Form.
* Venomancer's damage-over-time abilities do little damage against Counterspell.
* Blink helps Anti-Mage get away from Venomancer's slows.
Additional:
* Counterspell provides magic resistance, diminishing the effectiveness of Venomancer's spells.
* Venomancer's lack of hard disable allows Anti-Mage to use Blink, circumventing the slows Venomancer depends on.
* Corrosive Skin means Viper can often outlast Venomancer in a battle of attrition.
* Venomancer has no mobility without items, which makes him vulnerable to constant slows.
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback's small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* Mana Break removes both a percentage and flat amount of your mana, preventing Bristleback from using abilities in the lane.
* Blink Anti-Mage has very high mobility with this skill, and can easily escape from Bristleback since he has no way to prevent his blink. He can also use this offensively to get in front of Bristleback during fights.
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed, making him unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable
Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his defensive passive, Bristleback also loses his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
* Blink can easily break Static Link and
Counterspell reflects Static Link on Razor.
* Viper's Poison Attack and
Viper Strike that can slow Razor, and is one of the few heroes that can keep him immobile.
* Altogether, Viper's skills reduce Razor's attack speed, heavily reducing the benefit of the damage drain from Static Link.
Additional:
* Storm Surge is counteracted by
Viper Strike, leaving Razor without his extra movement speed.
* Static Link's damage drain doesn't bother Viper a lot as most of his early to mid game damage is magical.
* Anti-Mage can Blink away from Cold Feet or build a
Manta Style to dispel it.
* Counterspell minimizes the damage Anti-Mage takes from all of Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Mana Break and
Mana Void deal a lot of damage to Ancient Apparition due to his high mana pool.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage easily Blinks out of Cold Feet's freeze radius.
* Ancient Apparition lacks mobility, thus making him fall easily to Mana Void.
* Counterspell reduces all Ancient Apparition's spell damage.
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Ancient Apparition's slow movement speed, squishy nature, and lack of escape abilities can easily be taken advantage of through Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
* Anti-Mage dispels Phoenix's slows with Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage can Blink directly next to Supernova, giving him more time to destroy the egg.
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper additional resistance to Phoenix's magical damage, and since they deal damage over time, Phoenix would be constantly afflicted by his passive's own debuff, making him not an ideal target for Phoenix's harassment. Phoenix's abilities also constantly drain its own health away, becoming more vulnerable to
Poison Attack.
* Ogre Magi only deals magical damage, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant due to Counterspell.
* Anti-Mage dispels Ignite with
Manta Style.
* Ogre Magi has a very large mana pool which means Anti-Mage can do large amounts of damage to him with Mana Break and Mana Void.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can kite Ogre Magi who has low mobility by Blink and his intelligence gain and build making
Mana Void deal more damage.
* Counterspell well timed makes harass Fireblast and Ignite.
* Viper Strike breaks Multicast.
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from Ignite and Fireblast.
* Past the mid game, an isolated Vengeful Spirit makes for an easy kill for Anti-Mage.
* Magic Missile is the only disable Vengeful Spirit has against Anti-Mage, but he can either Blink away to disjoint the stun or reflect it back against Vengeful Spirit with
Counterspell.
* Nether Swap isn't very effective against Anti-Mage - if used offensively, Anti-Mage can simply blink away to safety, and if used defensively, Blink's low cooldown allows him to persistently chase as well.
* Nethertoxin disables Vengeance Aura.
* Vengeful Spirit has no mobility spells aside from Nether Swap, which Viper can take advantage of with his slows.
* Viper can easily bully Vengeful Spirit out of a lane with Poison Attack.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable the attack damage bonus from
Vengeance Aura and the components of
Nether Swap.
* Both Magic Missile and
Wave of Terror are counteracted by
Corrosive Skin, making Vengeful Spirit's fighting harder against Viper.
* Zeus almost exclusively relies on magical damage, which is heavily reduced by Counterspell.
* Zeus' complete lack of mobility makes him very easy for Anti-Mage to chase down with Blink.
* Zeus likes to stand in the back during team fights, but Anti-Mage can easily Blink to close the distance.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can burn mana, which is a big problem for a spellcaster like Zeus that heavily relies on it.
* Counterspell decreases magical damage taken from Zeus.
* Zeus' high intelligence and mana pool makes him a perfect target for Mana Void.
* Corrosive Skin severely reduces Zeus's damage output throughout the game.
* During the laning stage, Viper can abuse Zeus' reliance on spells by hugging the creep wave. Zeus will take constant damage over time from Corrosive Skin unless he drives Viper from the lane or returns to farming in his absence.
* Prior to buying Blink Dagger or
Force Staff, Zeus is fragile and possesses low mobility. Any of Viper's numerous slows can set up an easy kill.
Additional:
* Corrosive Skin counters Zeus in lane by canceling the effects of
Clarity as Zeus relies on Arc Lightning to farm and secure last hits.
* Corrosive Skin also increases Viper's magic resistance to shrug off Zeus's magical nukes.
* Nethertoxin breaks Static Field.
* Due to Zeus' poor mobility, Viper Strike will cripple Zeus and will allow Viper and his teammates to land a lot of attacks.
* Spectre cannot chase down Anti-Mage with Spectral Dagger because of Blink, though it still grants her team vision over him.
* Counterspell reduces much of the damage from Dispersion and Spectre's
Radiance.
* Anti-Mage usually builds a Manta Style, preventing Spectre from dealing any
Desolate damage to him once he summons his illusions.
Additional:
* Spectre has no way to prevent Blink, for escape or initiation. Anti-Mage can easily pick off enemy supports and Spectre cannot do anything about it.
* Mana Break burns through Spectre's low mana pool.
* Manta Style's illusions prevent
Desolate's damage.
* Even though Anti-Mage is outcarried by Spectre in the later stages of the game, a competent Anti-Mage with a Battle Fury can easily outfarm and get ahead of Spectre before she can come online.
* Nethertoxin disable passives, negating Spectre's damage and survivability by removing both
Dispersion and
Desolate.
* Due to Haunt and
Radiance's burn, Spectre is heavily susceptible to being persistently slowed and damaged by
Corrosive Skin without even directly attacking Viper.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike further slow Spectre's movement speed to a crawl, while his improved magic resistance means he can easily shrug off
Radiance's burn.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable
Desolate and
Dispersion, leaving Spectre with far less damage output and damage mitigation in engagements.
* Spectre is one of the weakest heroes at early levels. Viper can stifle her farm with early fights before Spectre purchases any major items.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to get on top of Lina and deal damage with his
Mana Break.
* Counterspell makes Anti-Mage tanky against Lina's heavy magic damage. It can also be used block and reflect Laguna Blade.
* Mana Void is very hazardous for Lina, who has a high mana pool and quickly depletes it during fights.
* Viper Strike prevents buildup of Fiery Soul stacks.
* Corrosive Skin provides magic resistance against Lina's spells. However, Lina can counter this with
Silver Edge, a common item on Lina.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike can burn away Lina's small health pool.
* Both Gush and
Ravage do little damage against Counterspell.
* Blink helps Anti-Mage escape through Anchor Smash.
* Tidehunter's small mana pool can be eated by Mana Break, preventing to spam his abilities and ignores the protection from Kraken Shell.
Additional:
* Mana Break quickly burns Tidehunter's mana pool, preventing him from spamming his abilities, and Kraken Shell does not mitigate the bonus damage component.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to enter combat quickly and safely after Ravage.
* A well-timed Counterspell can reflect Gush back at Tidehunter.
* Viper STrike cancels out
Kraken Shell and stops the hard dispel from passively activating, preventing Tidehunter from functioning as a frontline tank.
* Anchor Smash is mostly irrelevant against a ranged hero like Viper.
* Tidehunter relies on the threat of Ravage, which has an obscenely long cooldown. Viper can exploit the downtime with his short cooldowns.
* A well-timed Counterspell can turn Bounty Hunter's mobility against him, and prevents him from escaping with Shadow Walk due to the True Sight it provides.
* Counterspell also reflects Shuriken Toss, reflecting the stun back to Bounty Hunter.
* Mana Break can drain mana from Bounty Hunter, making him unable to use Shadow Walk to save himself.
* Anti-Mage often buys Manta Style, which can dispel Track.
* Viper's poison abilities can slow Bounty Hunter's movement speed and allows to chase him with True Sight items.
* Nethertoxin can break Jinada, and the silence from level 25 prevents Bounty Hunter from using all of his spells.
* Mana Break drains Abaddon's mana, preventing him from using Aphotic Shield to zone out enemies in lane.
* Counterspell decreases the amount of damage received from Aphotic Shield and
Mist Coil.
* Because Poison Attack has almost no cooldown, Aphotic Shield is ineffective as a hard dispel.
* Viper Strike can prevent
Borrowed Time from activating passively and block
Curse of Avernus.
Additional:
* Because Poison Attack has almost no cooldown,
Aphotic Shield is ineffective as a hard dispel.
* Viper Strike can prevent
Borrowed Time from activating passively and block
Curse of Avernus.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
* Nethertoxin both Necromastery and Presence of the Dark Lord, reducing his damage massively.
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper bonus Magic Resistance against Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls.
* Viper can easily take advantage of Shadow Fiend's lack of escape and mobility spells with Viper Strike breaks and
Poison Attack. Poison Attack also serves as a great way to harass Shadow Fiend.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
* Viper Strike prevents Timbersaw from gaining stacks on Reactive Armor.
* Anti-Mage can withstand magical burst damage much better than other carries, making him effective against nukers: Lich,
Necrophos,
Oracle, and
Leshrac.
* Viper does large amounts of magic damage over time, meaning that if a Necrophos uses Ghost Shroud, Viper's abilities will greatly reduce Necrophos survivability, and may actually kill him.
* By the same token, Viper can use his Viper Strike on Necrophos if he attempts to heal himself with Ghost Shroud, and depending on any other effects Necrophos may have from him, (IE:
Poison Attack,
Corrosive Skin), Viper can often kill Necrophos while he is in his Ghost Shroud.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin helps him take reduced damage from all of Necrophos spells that deal magical damage, which is his only source of damage.
Additional:
* Viper Strike prevents
Heartstopper Aura from dealing damage or healing Necrophos.
* Viper's magic damage is amplified whenever Ghost Shroud is used.
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper tankier against
Death Pulse and
Reaper's Scythe.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from
Impale and
Mind Flare, and anything else Nyx Assassin tries to throw at Viper.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time output from Poison Attack,
Nethertoxin,
Corrosive Skin and
Viper Strike, not even while he has
Spiked Carapace active. And to make things worse, Nyx Assassin is not a common
Silver Edge wielder to counter this problem at all.
Additional:
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from
Impale and
Mind Flare, and anything else Nyx Assassin tries to throw at Viper.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time output from Poison Attack,
Nethertoxin,
Corrosive Skin and
Viper Strike, not even while he has
Spiked Carapace active. And to make things worse, Nyx Assassin is not a common
Silver Edge wielder to counter this problem at all.
* Heroes that can jump on her: Slark,
Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage
* Heroes with break can disable Untouchable for a while: Doom and
Shadow Demon (via
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper,
Shadow Shaman with Hex Breaks talent.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can survive against Magnus's Reverse Polarity thanks to the high magic resistance from
Counterspell.
* Should Anti-Mage survive Magnus's Reverse Polarity and
Skewer, Magnus will have exhausted most of his skills and items, preventing him from defending himself against any counter initiation or a follow-up from a blink escape.
* Mana Break can deplete Magnus's much needed mana.
* Anti-Mage's Blink will make him a very hard target or Magnus to use
Reverse Polarity on, having to solo ult him later on in the game or leave him out of the
Reverse Polarity.
* Overall, any attempt for Magnus to gank Anti-Mage will hurt him more than it will hurt Anti-Mage.
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
Additional:
* Most of Magnus's abilities except Empower will trigger damage through
Corrosive Skin.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike can slow Magnus during
Skewer, as well as putting his
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes who can harass Omniknight out of lane will keep him weak in the mid game: Viper,
Venomancer,
Clinkz.
* Mana Break reduces Snapfire's already low mana pool.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to avoid being hit by
Lil' Shredder and
Mortimer Kisses.
* Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Viper's poison magical damage-over-time stops Monkey King from using Tree Dance. It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by Wukong's Command.
Additional:
* Viper STrike prevents the buildup of
Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Monkey King's high base movement speed is of little worth against the array of slows Viper possesses.
* All of Viper's magical damage over time stops Monkey King from using Tree Dance. It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by
Wukong's Command.
* If Meat Hook is used before Blink, Anti-Mage may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by blinking to safety.
* Counterspell grants Anti-Mage a large degree of magic resistance, a damage type Pudge is highly reliant on to secure kills. This makes Anti-Mage a bad target for Pudge. The active can also block Dismember if timed correctly.
* Mana Break can quickly drain Pudge's low supply of mana, which may render Meat Hook and Dismember unusable.
* Mana Break makes Gyrocopter, who has low mana pool, unable to use his abilities that most of his damage output depends on.
* Counterspell negates magical damages from Gyrocopter and it can also reflect Homing Missile back to himself.
* Anti-Mage can easily escape from Gyrocopter's attack range and Call Down with Blink.
* Tiny has low movement speed and attack speed, making him vulnerable to Viper's slows.
* Corrosive Skin provides magic resistance to lower Tiny's magic burst damage.
* Because Queen of Pain's spells cost a decent amount of mana, Anti-Mage can easily use Mana Void if she spams her spells recklessly.
* Anti-Mage has similar mobility through Blink, which can allow him to catch up to or flee from her.
* Counterspell will reduce the damage done by Shadow Strike and Scream of Pain. Additionally, its active component also reflects Shadow Strike back at her if Anti-Mage times it right.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to both, escape from Jakiro and to hunt down Jakiro, who has no way to escape without items.
* Counterspell protects Anti-Mage against Jakiro's mostly-magical damage.
* Both Mana Void and
Mana Burn is very hazardous for Jakiro because of his high mana.
* Although Counterspell's passive component doesn't protect Anti-Mage from the physical damage nukes from Poison Touch and Shadow Wave, a well-timed use of it will reflect Poison Touch back to Dazzle, slowing him in the process.
* This can be even more dangerous if Dazzle has an Aghanim's Shard, as
Counterspell will reflect the hex back to Dazzle.
* Mana Break drains mana, which can be a problem for Dazzle, as all of his abilities have a high mana cost. This makes him especially vulnerable to
Mana Void.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike allowing to kite and slow Earthshaker significally, putting
Blink Dagger on cooldown and preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
* Nethertoxin breaks Aftershock. The silence from Level 25 talent also prevents Earthshaker from initiating or re-initiating.
Additional:
* Being a melee hero, Earthshaker's movement is liable to suppression by Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
* Earthshaker's kit, with the exception of Enchant Totem, deals magic damage.
Corrosive Skin effectively blunts his killing potential with a standard Blink combo among other things.
* Viper Strike can disable
Aftershock, which removes the stun and bonus damage from
Enchant Totem and
Echo Slam.
* 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.
* E.M.P. burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
* Forge Spirits can melt Viper's armor and reduce his durability.
* 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.
* 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.
* Counterspell negates Dark Willow's high magic burst damage. Its active blocks
Cursed Crown.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to dodge Terrorize during its long cast animation, as well as avoiding the obstacles from Bramble Maze. On the other hand, if Anti-Mage gets caught inside Bramble Maze, he's unable to Blink away.
* Dark Willow's chained magic burst requires a lot of mana, setting her up for damaging Mana Voids.
* Viper Strike is a strong and breaks Fury Swipes, undispellable slow, making it much easier to kite Ursa for everyone.
* Huskar does not need any mana to fight Anti-Mage as most of his skills cost HP instead. He is a good counter to take away Anti-mage's farm in early to mid-game. He, however, struggles to kill Anti-Mage in the late game.
Additional:
* Huskar is not very reliant on mana to cast his spells, therefore, Mana Break is not very effective against him.
* Huskar also has low mana pool, he will take less damage once his mana pool is completely depleted. Mana Void is also ineffective against him.
* Huskar comes online earlier than Anti-Mage, and can take over the game before Anti-Mage can farm up.
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar: Phantom Lancer,
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Chaos Knight.
* His Poison Attack is very useful against Huskar, since he tends to stay at low health.
* Nethertoxin disables passive skills like Berserker's Blood.
* It is dangerous for Huskar to jump on Viper because Corrosive Skin and
Viper Strike with the slowdown of movement and attack speed which usually will be deadly for Huskar.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable
Berserker's Blood, which Huskar relies upon for attack speed and healing.
* The damage from Burning Spear and
Life Break is largely absorbed by
Corrosive Skin. It also will return some damage, making it risky to use Burning Spears in the laning stage.
* Because Huskar wants to be on low health for Berserker's Blood, he is particularly vulnerable to
Poison Attack.
* Anti-Mage easily destroys Mana Shield with Mana Break, especially once he has
Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage effectively avoids Stone Gaze with Blink, and can reinitiate after its duration is over.
Additional:
* Mana Break burns Medusa's mana easily, especially when coupled with a
Manta Style.
* Can easily initiate on Medusa with Blink, burning her mana or forcing her to use Stone Gaze.
* Mana Void is effective against Medusa's big mana pool and mana usage, presenting a huge hazard to Medusa's allies around her since her Mana Shield still gives her some protection if she has mana.
* Counterspell will reflects from Dispose. Counterspell timing well can not throw from Dispose endured position and Dispose will blocked.
* Tombstone's zombies rarely inhibit Anti-Mage, as he can either Blink away or onto the Tombstone and destroy it.
* Nethertoxin disables Dawnbreaker's
Luminosity. Since she's a melee hero, she needs to close gap to attack and Nethertoxin will be bad for her since she cannot heal.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack will severely slow her down and combined with
Nethertoxin, it will be her death sentence (unless her Celestial Hammer or Solar Guardian are off cooldown). Besides that, chasing her down will be easy due to the slow.
* Anti-Mage can Blink into or out of Power Cogs, negating Clockwerk's initiation and bypassing his defenses.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can easily Blink out of Power Cogs, escaping any ganking or initiation attempts.
* Mana Break depletes Clockwerk's much-needed mana.
* Counterspell makes Clockwerk's very low damage output only tickle Anti-Mage.
* Viper Strike can disable
Gravekeeper's Cloak, Visage's primary defense mechanism.
* Viper can ignore Grave Chill's attack speed slow with his magic damage output.
Additional:
* Since Visage is a slow hero, Viper can easily kite him with
Poison Attack and
Viper Strike while successfully chipping away at Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Nethertoxin removes all layers of Gravekeeper's Cloak, leaving Visage exposed.
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper highly resistant to Soul Assumption.
* Windrun evades
Poison Attack and counteracts the slow.
* Viper's low mobility makes him an easy Shackleshot target.
* Focus Fire grants Windranger significant physical damage output to quickly wear Viper down.
* Powershot is a strong harassment and zoning tool against Viper in lane.
* Counterspell can reflects triggering with Focus Fire. Since Focus Fire target against Anti-Mage, Focus Fire damage can return to Anti-Mage easily destroy to Windranger's.
* Anti-Mage items Abyssal Blade and
Monkey King Bar can useful for Anti-Mage's and easily complicated escaping Windranger's fighting against Anti-Mage's and also bypasses to Windrun evasion.
Additional:
* Counterspell can reflect Windranger's targeted spells such as
Shackleshot and
Focus Fire back to her.
* Blink can be used to avoid
Shackleshot and
Powershot, assuming an Anti-Mage player can react fast enough.
* Mana Break and
Mana Void are good against Windranger's high mana pool.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* Hand of God has a long cooldown, so damage over time spells can be hazardous for Chen, forcing him to use it prematurely: Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Phoenix.
* 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 works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Puck, and
Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
* 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.
* Heroes who can easily harass Crystal Maiden out of lane in the early game (Clinkz,
Viper) can prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to level effectively, and can ultimately slow down her level 6, 12, and 18 to a point where enemy carries already have items to address her ultimate.
* As Viper focuses on single-target damage, he has trouble fighting off Phantasm illusions.
* Reality Rift counteracts Viper's slows and reduces his already low durability against physical damage.
Additional:
* Viper has no response to the standard initiation combo of Reality Rift into
Chaos Bolt.
* Phantasm and
Chaos Strike can eliminate Viper almost instantly with it's damage output.
* Besides Nethertoxin, Viper has no other ways of dealing with Phantasm.
* Anti-Mage commonly builds Battle Fury, which can deal with Phantasm illusions easily.
* Counterspell, if timed right, will turn Chaos Bolt against Chaos Knight, and can set up for a kill if he is not careful.
* Even if Counterspell is on cooldown, Blink can almost always dodge a Chaos Bolt because of its slow projectile.
* Mana Break will quickly drain Chaos Knight's low amount mana.
* However, beware Anti-Mage is fairly fragile and cannot withstand heavy incoming physical damage at any points in the game, which Chaos Knight excels at. A good player will bait out Counterspell, and retaliate once it's over.
* Heroes with Attack speed decreasing skills: Jakiro,
Viper
Lich
* Anti-Mage can withstand magical burst damage much better than other carries, making him effective against nukers: Lich,
Necrophos,
Oracle, and
Leshrac.
Additional:
* Counterspell severely reduces Leshrac's magical damage.
Counterspell also impacted reflect Lightning Storm and send back to Leshrac's also affected from movement speed.
* Leshrac already burns through his own mana with Pulse Nova, Mana Break will burn through even more.
* Leshrac's high mana pool will increase the amount of damage Mana Void does to him when his mana is low.
* Anti-mage is potentially good against Ember Spirit since he can burn Ember Spirit's mana, prevent him from escaping or using his skill. Anti-Mage has high magic resistance, which will reduce most of the damage from Ember Spirit's skill set. However, Anti-Mage lacks any form of stuns or lockdowns, and may struggle to kill Ember Spirit if he still has some mana left.
* Viper's Nethertoxin cannot disable
Reincarnation, which could put him in disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
* In addition, Viper doesn't like buying Diffusal Blade, which is the only item that can help him against Wraith King.
* Wraith King's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Wraith King's small mana pool, preventing Reincarnation from triggering.
* Wraith King has no innate mobility. Even with Blink Dagger, Wraith King is easily kited by Blink.
* Anti-Mage can farm much more quickly than Wraith King, allowing Anti-Mage to overpower Wraith King once a significant farm advantage is established.
Additional:
* Mana Break can prevent Wraith King from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard that removes the mana cost from Reincarnation.
* With Manta Style, his mana burning will triple because illusions can also use
Mana Break.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and if Anti-Mage can react fast enough, he will be able to disjoint it with Blink or reflect it back with
Counterspell.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* 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.
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
* Blinking heroes like Anti-Mage or
Queen of Pain can often chase down an injured Brewmaster after his ultimate expires.
* Anti-Mage can withstand magical burst damage much better than other carries, making him effective against nukers: Lich,
Necrophos,
Oracle, and
Leshrac.
Additional:
* Oracle has minimal damage potential against Anti-Mage due to Counterspell, and may even have some ability damage reflected at himself.
* Anti-Mage can easily overwhelm Oracle with Mana Break and
Mana Void.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to easily chase and take advantage of Oracle's low mobility.
* 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.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
* Nethertoxin breaks the damage block from Bulwark.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike's slows make it difficult for Mars to contribute to fights due to his low mobility.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable
Bulwark entirely, making Mars far less tanky. Using
Nethertoxin inside
Arena of Blood may discourage enemies from following up with Mars's initiation.
* Rod of Atos is currently common on Viper and keeps Mars in position long enough to be killed.
* However, Viper is not very tanky earlier in the game, so positioning against Mars is important for Viper since a well-timed Spear of Mars can be the end of Viper.
* 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.
* Anti-Mage's high magical resistance from Counterspell makes him difficult for Muerta to take down.
* Anti-Mage can escape Muerta easily with Blink, as Muerta lacks any inbuilt long disable.
* Due to Muerta's large intelligence pool and no escape abilities, Mana Break with
Mana Void can kill her easily.
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
* Dark Seer's strength lies in his high-mana cost skills. So Mana Break can be a great nuisance for him, since it can reduce his mana and prevent him from casting his spells.
* Mana Void can deal a lot of damage if Dark Seer spent a lot of mana on his abilities.
* In early to mid stage, Silence is also a great way to counter escape oriented heroes such as Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain, and
Phantom Assassin to prevent them from escaping, provided that they don't have any basic dispels.
* Death Prophet has a high mana pool and due to her heavy reliance on her spells, she will be a prime target for Mana Void.
* Death Prophet has less mobility than Anti-Mage due to Blink.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
* Mana Break drains Skywrath Mage of his mana, slowing him and dealing bonus damage while rendering him unable to cast his spells.
* Blink makes it incredibly easy for Anti-Mage to close the gap between himself Skywrath Mage to right-click him down. He can also use Blink to get away and escape into fog of war.
* Anti-Mage passively reduces enemy spell damage with Counterspell, and can activate the ability to block and send back Skywrath's Ancient Seal or Arcane Bolt, causing him to silence himself or deal massive damage to himself.
* Skywrath Mage's large mana-costs makes him an easy target for Mana Void.
* Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and
Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can use neither Blink nor
Manta Style to escape from Smoke Cloud.
* Even if he activates a Black King Bar, his
Manta Style illusions will still be blinded by Smoke Cloud.
* Riki has a very small mana pool and generally doesn't buy many items that increase it, making Mana Void ineffective.
* Viper's Nethertoxin disables
Cloak and Dagger, negating Riki's invisibility and much of his damage. It also makes him more vulnerable to magic damage, which does not go well with Riki's low health pool. With the talent applied, he can't even blink to safety or hide with Tricks of the Trade.
* Corrosive Skin makes it hard for Riki to chase Viper and attack him due to the attack speed slow.
* Viper Strike stays on Riki even after he goes invisible.
* Poison Attack makes it risky for Riki to get last hits and can make the laning phase difficult for him.
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
* Mana Break prevents Warlock from casting his spells, particularly in the laning phase.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to escape from Upheaval.
* Counterspell reduces damage from Shadow Word and Warlock's Golem's
Permanent Immolation passive. Additionally, it can reflect Shadow Word and Fatal Bonds.
* Mana Void deals heavy damage after Anti-Mage has drained Warlock's large mana pool.
* Heroes who take a long time to become strong are in for a rough mid game, such as Outworld Destroyer,
Magnus,
Medusa, and
Anti-Mage.
* Poison Attack makes it hard for Void Spirit to lane against him.
* Corrosive Skin reduces the magical damage from Void Spirit's spells.
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
* Enigma's Midnight Pulse damage can be substantially mitigated by Anti-Mage's high magic resistance thanks to Counterspell.
* In the early game, Anti-Mage's Mana Void can cancel a
Black Hole until Enigma gets
Black King Bar.
* Should Anti-Mage survive a Black Hole combo, Enigma will have exhausted most of his skills and items, preventing him from defending himself against any counter initiation or a follow-up from a blink escape.
* Anti-Mage's Blink will make him a very hard target to use
Black Hole on, having to solo ult him later on in the game or leave him out of the
Black Hole.
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field: Silencer,
Viper.
* Anti-Mage Blinks directly into Magnetic Field, bypassing its protection.
* Anti-Mage's high mobility allows him to deal with Tempest Double while it is split-pushing.
Additional:
* Arc Warden's high reliance on casting abilities leads him to be dependent on mana, which Anti-Mage can quickly burn with Mana Break.
* Blink mitigates the threat of Flux slow and allows Anti-Mage to close the distance between himself and Arc Warden.
* Anti-Mage's ability to farm quickly allows him keep up with Arc Warden's farm while also de-pushing the lanes Arc Warden shoves in with his Tempest Double.
* Anti-Mage also frequently buys Manta Style, and can use it so dispel Arc Warden's items that can threaten an Anti-Mage like
Bloodthorn.
* Counterspell significantly reduces the effectiveness of Arc Warden's magical damage.
* However, do keep in mind that when Arc Warden has a Black King Bar, jumping on him alone may not be the best idea for Anti mage as it could put him in a bad position, while Arc Warden summons his doubles and rain damage into him.
* Pounce prevents Anti-Mage from using Blink, and lets him disengage from Anti-Mage if needed.
* Essence Shift allows Slark to permanently steal agility from Anti-Mage.
* Shadow Dance stops Anti-Mage from being able to fight back in a slippery situation.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
* Heroes with Break abilities will prevent Slark from regenerating and gaining Essence Shift stacks: Viper,
Shadow Demon, etc.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable
Essence Shift and the regeneration aspect of
Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact doesn't mean a lot against Viper's ubiquitous slows.
* Viper becomes a relevant presence in team fights before Slark can procure his standard items (e.g. Shadow Blade).
* Sven's
Great Cleave can clear Anti-Mage's illusions from Manta Style and his high health pool and low mana, making Mana Void very ineffective, although keep in mind that
Storm Hammer is extremely easy to reflect with a well-timed Counterspell.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage is fairly fragile, and cannot stand against Sven in a prolonged fight.
* Sven's Black King Bar and low base mana can protect Sven from the effects of
Mana Break and
Mana Void.
* Great Cleave destroys the illusions from Anti-Mage's
Manta Style.
* Although Sven should be careful as a well-timed Counterspell can block and reflect
Storm Hammer back at Sven.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Refraction protects against Anti-Mage's low burst damage, and allows her to win most fights against Anti-Mage during the early game.
* Meld's burst damage and armor reduction is often enough to finish off Anti-Mage before he Blinks away.
* The damage over time from Viper's Poison Attack and
Viper Strike rapidly wear down Refraction charges, allowing Templar Assassin to be damaged. Additionally,
Corrosive Skin causes her attacks to apply damage overtime on her as well.
* Nethertoxin is a big threat to Templar Assassin. Her initially low range making it very hard to deal against Nethertoxin in the laning phase. At any stage of the game, a Nethertoxin can always force her to undo her Meld.
Additional:
* All of Viper's abilities quickly burn through Refraction charges.
* Templar Assassin's short range, aside from Psi Blades' spill damage, makes her vulnerable to
Poison Attack harassment.
* Templar Assassin usually buys health and armor items for damage. Outside of Black King Bar, Viper will almost always be able to kill her when
Refraction is down.
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
* Anti-Mage's high mobility from Blink and tendency to build Battle Fury makes him strong against split-pushing heroes:
Nature's Prophet,
Tinker, and
Arc Warden.
* If Rubick can use Spell Steal to take
Nethertoxin, he will be able to disable
Corrosive Skin, reducing much of Viper's durability.
* He can also steal Viper Strike, which can be used to hinder a hero on your team (or multiple heroes, if Rubick has
Aghanim's Scepter).
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Rubick's low mana pool, preventing Spell Steal abilities from triggering.
* Rubick's complete lack of mobility makes him very easy for Anti-Mage to chase down with Blink.
* Anti-Mage can dispel Fade Bolt damage reduction debuff with
Manta Style or reduce it by Counterspell.
* Anti-Mage also has no useful abilities for Rubick to steal with Spell Steal.
Additional:
* Fade Bolt does little damage to Anti-Mage due to
Counterspell's magic resistance.
* Most of Rubick's spells are single targets and can be reflected by Counterspell.
* The only spell that provides some utility for Rubick is Blink.
* Blink does little on its own to counter Anti-Mage when coming from behind except allowing Rubick to escape.
* Rubick can easily run out of mana to cast the spell due to Mana Break, if not dying to Anti-Mage's physical damage already.
* Viper Strike can be countered through Snowball, wasting Viper's mana through his ultimate. It's
Viper Strike's break is also useless because he has no passive abilties at all. And to make things worse,
Viper Strike cannot disable
Walrus PUNCH! because it's an auto-cast ability
* As Tusk is a natural Silver Edge wielder, he can use it to disable Viper's magic resistance from
Corrosive Skin, and make him vulnreable to his other allies.
* Mana Break is very effective against Tusk, as he has a very low mana pool.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to escape from an incoming Snowball.
* Counterspell can reflect the Snowball back onto Tusk.
* Doom shuts down Anti-Mage's escape capabilities with Blink. The ability also deals pure damage, which ignores the protection from Counterspell.
* However, a well-timed Counterspell can reflect it back.
* If Doom has Aghanim's Scepter,
Doom can break Mana Break and Counterspell, weakening both his offense and defense.
* Doom's low mana pool causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
Additional:
* Doom prevents Anti-Mage from maneuvering around a fight or escaping from an initiation using
Blink. Additionally, Doom deals pure damage, which is not affected by
Counterspell. This can quickly whittle away Anti-Mage's naturally poor health pool.
* However, Doom must be careful when using Doom as a well-timed
Counterspell can block and reflect it back against Doom himself.
* The Level 25 talent {ValueColor:1|Doom applies Break|25tal} {Symbol:Talent} will also disable Mana Break and
Counterspell's passive component, which makes Anti-Mage significantly less effective in fights and more susceptible to the high magical damage of Doom's abilities and his allies.
* The slow applied from Corrosive Skin offsets the movement speed bonus granted by Scorched Earth and the tick-based damage from Infernal Blade and Doom will continually slow Doom down. This allows Viper, much like Sniper, to 'kite' Doom and keep him at a safe distance between the two. Additionally,
Corrosive Skin applies an attack-speed slow which is fairly crippling to a hero such as Doom that, naturally, has a high base attack-time, poor agility gain and builds little attack-speed items.
* Since Doom does not disable auto-cast abilities, Viper's Poison Attack will continue to work. Doom may find it hard to close the distance between himself and Viper, and thusly difficult to effectively lockdown and continually deal damage through his abilities.
* Kunkka can bring Anti-Mage back with
X Marks the Spot, effectively negating Blink or forcing him to wait out the debuff before Blinking.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Viper has no disable, which means he has no way of preventing Morphling from escaping from any of his abilities or keep him inside Nethertoxin.
* Viper is almost exclusively damage over time, which is weak against Morphling due to Attribute Shift (Strength Gain). Additionally, Morphling has no passive abilities, reducing
Nethertoxin's effectiveness against him even further.
* Morphling can turn into Viper himself, allowing him to use any of Viper's abilities against him (excluding Viper Strike). This is particularly bad due to the fact that Viper is already a very slow hero, making
Poison Attack and
Corrosive Skin's slows especially difficult to deal with.
* Counterspell's bonus magic resistance causes the Waveform and Adaptive Strike combo to deal significantly less damage.
* Counterspell's active component can reflect the Adaptive Strike back into Morphling, dealing significant damage or even killing him.
* Mana Break combined with
Manta Style can quickly burn away Morphling's mana, leaving him unable to use his spells.
Black King Bar can no longer be reliably used against Anti mage due to its 50 mana cost.
* Waning Rift silences Anti-Mage, preventing him from blinking away.
* However, Waning Rift can be dispelled by Manta Style.
* Dream Coil stops Anti-Mage from blinking, with
Aghanim's Scepter also locks down Anti-Mage for long duration.
* Viper wins on the central line of Puck, because he has a huge damage from the Poison Attack ability, which Puck is not able to constantly avoid using
Phase Shift, which will give Viper an advantage in the possible damage inflicted on each other
* Puck takes more damage than it does due to the passive Corrosive Skin ability of the Viper, which makes it unprofitable for the Puck to fight against the Viper at an early stage of the game, when the Puck has a very small pool of health.
Additional:
* Viper wins on the central line of Puck, because he has a huge damage from the Poison Attack ability, which Puck is not able to constantly avoid using
Phase Shift, which will give Viper an advantage in the possible damage inflicted on each other
* Puck takes more damage than it does due to the passive Corrosive Skin ability of the Viper, which makes it unprofitable for the Puck to fight against the Viper at an early stage of the game, when the Puck has a very small pool of health
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to escape through
Viper Strike, wasting Viper's mana.
* It's also very easy to wait out the duration of Nethertoxin's break.
* Because of the high mana cost of Ball Lightning, Storm Spirit is often vulnerable to Mana Void.
* Mana Break diminishes Storm Spirit's mobility with Ball Lightning, and Anti-Mage can catch him with Blink over short distances.
* Almost all of Storm Spirit's damage is magical, which is severely reduced by Counterspell.
* Storm Spirit has a very large mana pool which means Anti-Mage can do large amounts of damage to him with Mana Break and Mana Void.
Additional:
* Mana Break can quickly burn Storm Spirit's mana, preventing him from escaping.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to catch up to Storm Spirit when he tries to use his
Ball Lightning to escape.
* Mana Void deals massive damage to Storm Spirit as well as his teammates, as Storm Spirit depletes his mana pool by using
Ball Lightning.
* Counterspell's passive magic resistance reduces much of Storm Spirit's magical damage dealt to Anti-Mage, and the active aspect may even make Storm Spirit disable himself.
* Pugna's Decrepify allows him to save allies from being ganked by Viper, since Viper mostly relies on direct attacks in order to deal damage.
* Nether Ward can discourage Viper from spamming his abilities.
* Viper's damage over time is not enough to kill Pugna as he will have more than enough time to save himself (or his allies) with Life Drain and Viper has no solutions to cancel it.
* Pugna has no passive abilities, which renders Nethertoxin nearly useless.
* Pugna only deals magical damage, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant due to Counterspell.
* Anti-Mage can dispel Decrepify with
Manta Style.
* Pugna has a very large mana pool. This allows Anti-Mage to constantly deal bonus damage to Pugna with Mana Break and devastate Pugna's entire team with Mana Void.
Additional:
* Since Pugna relies on his teammates for protection, it is fairly common for Anti-Mage to get multiple kills with a single use of his Mana Void on Pugna if he's missing a considerable portion of his mana.
* Pugna's massive mana pool will result in Anti-Mage's Mana Break almost always dealing the bonus damage from the mana burn.
* Counterspell negates a large amount of Pugna's damage, as most of Pugna's damage comes from his spells.
* Blink can be used to get out of a bad situation, and Pugna has no way to prevent him from casting it.
* Glimpse brings Anti-Mage back after he Blinks away.
* Static Storm stops Anti-Mage from Blinking.
Additional:
* Similar to Queen of Pain, Glimpse can disable Blink, negating his mobility.
* However, Counterspell can negate a majority of Disruptor's damage, which may require him to have a partner to successfully kill Anti-Mage.
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Disruptor's skills.
* Berserker's Call prevents Anti-Mage from escaping with Blink, and works well with
Blade Mail against Anti-Mage's relatively low health.
* Counter Helix often triggers even if Axe's depleted of mana, which will make Anti-Mage take more damage than he's dealing and deals pure damage, ignoring the protection from Counterspell.
* Axe's low mana pool makes him a bad target for using Mana Void.
* Axe's high base health regeneration allows him to dominate the lane against Anti-Mage, especially with a support.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call is one of the most reliable ways to lock down Anti-Mage, preventing him from Blinking away.
* Anti-Mage's high attack speed, along with illusions from Manta Style, triggers Counter Helix continuously.
* Axe's low mana pool and high health pool make Mana Void deal very little damage to Axe.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike slows Axe significantly, and puts his
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating.
Viper Strike can also break from Counter Helix.
Additional:
* Viper Strike prevents
Counter Helix from triggering, which significantly lowers Axe's damage output in the early to mid game.
* Viper's various slows and damage over time prevents Axe from initiating as well as putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Multiple Earthbinds allows Meepo to lock down Anti-Mage almost indefinitely.
* Meepo's clones can only use their mana for Poof, keeping their mana pool nearly full and thus making them a bad target for a Mana Void.
Additional:
* Earthbind can prevent Anti-Mage from using Blink, allowing Meepo to kill him with attacks and Ransack.
* Viper Strike prevents the lifesteal from Ransack.
* Meepo and his clones have a lack of magic resistance, so they're vulnerable to Poison Attack &
Viper Strike directed onto one clone.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as Viper and
Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
* Viper is an agility hero, and his item build mostly includes agility items, so Natural Order can be devastating, removing all armor and greatly decreasing the effectiveness of Corrosive Skin, weakening Viper's magic resistance. Additionally, Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter deal both magical and physical damage, and can help bringing Viper down fast.
* Aghanim's Scepter may be necessary to take Viper down due to
Nethertoxin's break.
* Echo Stomp and
Earth Splitter's long cast times give Anti-Mage plenty of time to Blink away.
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.
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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 win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
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Anti-Mage
*
Duel renders Anti-Mage's escape capabilities with Blink and Counterspell useless.
Blade Mail and
Moment of Courage work well against Anti-Mage's relatively low health.
Counterspell offer no protection against Duel at all.
Blink. One successful Duel initiation is usually enough for Legion Commander's team to kill Anti-Mage.
* A good initiation from Legion Commander and her team is enough to effortlessly kill Anti-Mage.
Additional:
*
* Duel locks down Anti-Mage for a long duration, preventing him from escaping with
Viper
* Viper's frailty and low mobility make him an enticing Duel target and
Corrosive Skin doesn't protect him against Legion Commander physical attacks.
Poison Attack.
* Press the Attack can dispel
* Viper slows can easily negate by Overwhelming Odds movement speed.