* 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.
* Without Dust of Appearance or Sentry Wards, Riki is able to silence Witch Doctor with
Smoke Screen, and is likely to build a Diffusal Blade, leaving Witch Doctor without mana to cast Voodoo Restoration, as well as Skull Basher to interrupt Death Ward.
*
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.
* Low health spellcasters:
Lina,
Witch Doctor,
Tinker,
Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
*
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.
* Heroes with the ability to heal allies will not be able to heal heroes affected by
Doom:
Chen,
Dazzle,
Io,
Oracle,
Omniknight,
Witch Doctor,
Winter Wyvern,
Abaddon, etc.
* 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.
* Like any hero with a channeled spell,
Last Word is a counter to it.
*
Global Silence goes through spell immunity and prevents Witch Doctor from casting his spells.
* 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.
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore
Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
* 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.
* Beware of placing the Death Ward if
Chronosphere is off cooldown, as it will cancel the effect and leave Witch Doctor vulnerable if he does not react in time.
*
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.
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip:
Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
* 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.
* Sacred Arrow can be used to interrupt Death Ward from a safe distance, forcing him to cancel it to dodge or get hit.
*
Paralyzing Cask is a slow-moving stun, and Mirana can Leap away from her allies to keep it from bouncing.
* Witch Doctor has low health and can easily be killed with an
Aghanim's Scepter combo or just when hit with an arrow.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with plenty of summons, such as
Broodmother or
Nature's Prophet can have their minions soak up most of your Paralyzing Cask.
*
Kunkka can bring Anti-Mage back with
X Marks the Spot, effectively negating Blink or forcing him to wait out the debuff before Blinking.
* Heroes with long channeling abilities like
Witch Doctor are easy targets for Kunkka to interrupt in team fights.
Additional:
*
Torrent can cancel Death Ward from a far distance.
*
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.
*
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.
* Witch Doctor's
Maledict burst damage can be prevented by Sunder if timed correctly. But it can kill Terrorblade if he has no target to be Sundered with, especially in the early game.
*
Death Ward deals physical damage, and Terrorblade's high armor can help him survive against Death Ward. However, Terrorblade has no disable in his skillset at all, and he cannot stop Witch Doctor from channeling Death Ward to maximum. And if Witch Doctor owns
Aghanim's Scepter, attacks from Death Ward will be able to bounce around and wipe out Terrorblade's illusions and his team.
* Terrorblade must be careful as
Paralyzing Cask is commonly tricky to dodge for him due to his reliance on illusions.
* Heroes who have channeling abilities because Terrorblade has no disables to cancel them at all besides
Terror Wave from
Aghanim's Scepter, and he does not like buying disabling items at all:
Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
* 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.
* 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.
*
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.
* Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables:
Silencer,
Crystal Maiden,
Warlock,
Ancient Apparition,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones:
Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones:
Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren (bonus for her
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time:
Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Doom
* 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
*
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.
* 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.
*
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.
* 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.
* 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 powerful channeling abilities are easily interrupted by Phantom's Embrace:
Bane,
Pudge,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma.
* 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.
*
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.
* 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.
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility:
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
* Stone Form can easily interrupt heroes with long channeling spells, like
Crystal Maiden,
Bane,
Witch Doctor, or
Enigma.
*
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.
*
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.
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
* 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.
* It is especially easy for Oracle to negate the damage from Maledict, and even heal through it with
Fate's Edict and
Purifying Flames.
* If by some miracle an enemy is still about to die because of Maledict, he can still save him with
False Promise.
* 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.
*
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
* 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.
* 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
*
Guardian Angel protects allies from Death Ward's physical damage.
*
Purification and
Heavenly Grace will most likely save teammates from dying to Maledict.
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities:
Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
* 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.
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of
Poison Nova and
Poison Sting.
* 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.
*
Maledict cannot be dispelled by Phantasm, and can be used to tag the real Chaos Knight hiding within his illusions.
* If Witch Doctor has an
Aghanim's Scepter,
Death Ward will bounce between Chaos Knight's illusions, destroying them quickly.
* However,
Death Ward is easily interrupted by Chaos Bolt until Witch Doctor buys
Glimmer Cape or
Black King Bar.
* 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 who build
Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all:
Axe,
Broodmother,
Dawnbreaker,
Enigma,
Huskar,
Jakiro,
Legion Commander,
Lina,
Luna,
Lycan,
Slardar,
Slark,
Troll Warlord,
Witch Doctor.
* 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.
* 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.
*
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.
* 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.
*
Echo Stomp and
Earth Splitter's long cast times give Anti-Mage plenty of time to Blink away.
* 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.
* 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.
*
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.
* 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.
*
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.
* 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.
* 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 can easily break Static Link and
Counterspell reflects Static Link on Razor.
*
Paralyzing Cask will repetively bounce between Chen and his converted creeps every single time. This can get even better if Witch Doctor buys
Aghanim's Scepter that will allow his
Death Ward to bounce between Chen and his converted creeps.
*
Paralyzing Cask,
Maledict and
Death Ward combination will often kill Chen's allies before he can save them with
Hand of God. And to make things better, Chen has no way to cancel
Fiend's Grip on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
*
Voodoo Switcheroo from
Aghanim's Shard cannot be interrupted by Chen's creeps at all because Witch Doctor is hidden for it's duration.
Additional:
*
Paralyzing Cask will repetively bounce between Chen and his converted creeps every single time. This can get even worse if Witch Doctor buys
Aghanim's Scepter that will allow his
Death Ward to bounce between Chen and his converted creeps.
*
Paralyzing Cask,
Maledict and
Death Ward combination will often kill Chen's allies before he can save them with
Hand of God. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel
Death Ward on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
*
Voodoo Switcheroo from
Aghanim's Shard cannot be interrupted by Chen's creeps at all because Witch Doctor is hidden for it's duration.
* 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.
*
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
* 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 with channeling abilities:
Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
* Paralyzing Cask is likely to bounce between him and his bear every single time.
* Lone Druid's lack of mobility makes him vulnerable to Death Ward and Maledict.
* 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.
* Paralyzing cask bounces between him and his wolves, keeping him stunned for long amounts of time.
* 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.
*
Counterspell will reflects from Dispose. Counterspell timing well can not throw from Dispose endured position and Dispose will blocked.
* 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.
* 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.
*
Mana Break reduces Snapfire's already low mana pool.
*
Blink allows Anti-Mage to avoid being hit by
Lil' Shredder and
Mortimer Kisses.
* 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's skill set makes him an effective early game ganker against Anti-Mage before he is sufficiently farmed.
* Viper's
Corrosive Skin and low mana pool causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
*
Nethertoxin disables Mana Break and Counterspell, weakening both his offense and defense.
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike:
Lion,
Anti-Mage
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of Viper abilities.
* Viper has no way to cancel Death Ward, even through
Rod of Atos.
* Heroes with magical or pure damage output will not have any problems against Atrophy Aura at all:
Luna,
Lina,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Bane,
Snapfire,
Muerta,
Nyx Assassin,
Enigma,
Tinker,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus,
Crystal Maiden.
* 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.
* 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 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 long-lasting, undispellable debuffs will pinpoint the true Naga Siren:
Spirit Breaker,
Bloodseeker,
Witch Doctor.
* 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.
* Heroes with escape abilities:
Anti-Mage
Dark Seer
Slark
Storm Spirit
Windranger
Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:
Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
* Heroes that can jump on her:
Slark,
Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage
* Blinking heroes like
Anti-Mage or
Queen of Pain can often chase down an injured Brewmaster after his ultimate expires.
*
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.
* Low mobility heroes: Heroes with no/little means of traveling fast have difficulty getting to/away from Bounty Hunter due to his slowing Jinada and hastening Track. Few examples of such heroes are:
Crystal Maiden,
Sniper,
Ursa,
Witch Doctor, etc.
* 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.
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range:
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
* 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.
* Heroes who have channeled abilities can be stunned by Light Strike Array, like
Witch Doctor with
Death Ward and
Bane's
Fiend's Grip.
Additional:
*
Light Strike Array cancels out Death Ward from a long distance.
*
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.
* 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.
* A well-timed
Counterspell reflects all targeted abilities back at Lion, potentially stunning or hexing him or even making himself burst down.
* Heroes like
Slark,
Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
* Heroes who rely on magical damage resistance may have a hard time laning against Dazzle as all of Dazzle's abilities deal physical damage instead of magical:
Anti-Mage,
Huskar,
Viper.
* 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.
* 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.
* Generally, any fragile heroes will have a hard time dealing with Undying's tankiness, and even more so if Decay is used on them. Some examples are
Crystal Maiden and
Witch Doctor.
*
Tombstone's zombies rarely inhibit Anti-Mage, as he can either Blink away or onto the Tombstone and destroy it.
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like
Crystal Maiden or
Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
* 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.
* Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook:
Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
Additional:
*
Meat Hook interrupts Death Ward from a decent range, even through
Black King Bar &
Glimmer Cape.
* Pudge can survive the damage from Maledict because of his
Flesh Heap stacks.
* However the damage-over-time from
Rot is counteracted by Voodoo Restoration.
* 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.
* 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 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.
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore
Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
* 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.
* Channeling heroes will not go well against Warlock, especially those who build
Black King Bar as Warlock's ultimate ability stun goes through spell immunity. E.g.:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma, etc.
*
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.
*
Arc Warden's
Magnetic Field dodges all damage from Death Ward.
* 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.
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder:
Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
* 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 plenty of summons, such as
Broodmother or
Nature's Prophet can have their minions soak up most of your Paralyzing Cask.
* 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.
* Wraithfire Blast cancels
Death Ward in decent range.
*
Death Ward is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Aura can out-heal the {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from
Maledict.
* 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.
* Morphling can
Attribute Shift to strength after being hit by Maledict. Since Maledict deals its damage based on the difference between HP on cast and HP after two seconds, odds are Morphling will have more HP than when Maledict was cast, thus resulting in no damage.
* On the upside, players prone to panicked reactions may Morph to agility, making Maledict even more efficient than intended.
*
Adaptive Strike (Strength) can interrupt Death Ward at a decent range.
*
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.
*
Paralyzing Cask's short stun rarely prevents Monkey King from ambushing Witch Doctor.
*
Death Ward's long channel is easily interrupted by Boundless Strike.
* Another hero that should not leave a special circle for his ultimate. The only thing to be afraid is
Boundless Strike.
* 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.
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter Bloodseeker's
Thirst.
*
Rupture is generally useless against Witch Doctor while he is staying on Death Ward.
* Although Witch Doctor needs to be careful as
Blood Rite can interrupt Death Ward.
*
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.
* A good initiation from Legion Commander and her team is enough to effortlessly kill Anti-Mage.
Additional:
*
Counterspell offer no protection against Duel at all.
* Duel locks down Anti-Mage for a long duration, preventing him from escaping with
Blink. One successful Duel initiation is usually enough for Legion Commander's team to kill Anti-Mage.
*
Paralyzing Cask can save ally from Legion Commander Duel's until she purchases
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Voodoo Restoration can heal Witch Doctor allies from Duel's.
*
Death Ward can help Witch Doctor allies from winning Duel's, if, he is not a target.
*
Death Ward can be easily canceled by Jakiro, or even turned against him with Macropyre, due to it's attack range being smaller then Jakiro's cast range. And
Crystal Maiden, his Scepter does not allow him to move while using it.
Voodoo Switcheroo is even easier to land Jakiro's Macropyro/Ice Path combo. And unlike
Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Death Ward does not allow him to move while using it.
* While
Maledict can be quite effective on Jakiro, along with repetitive stuns from Paralyzing Cask, it is very difficult to get a strong Maledict on him. Although Witch Doctor's Paralizying Cask, Maledict and Death Ward combo will still quickly eliminate Jakiro.
* On the other hand.
Voodoo Restoration will partly protect his allies from Jakiro spells, as it heals based on their Max Health once he gets his Talent (Level 25). Before then though, it won't make a dent in the damage Jakiro deals.
*
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.
*
Kraken Shell dispels the stun from Paralyzing Cask. However, it does not dispel the damage from Maledict.
* Once Witch Doctor first uses his Death Ward in team fights, Tidehunter can simply cancel it with
Ravage, turning the tables against him, especially if Witch Doctor does not have a
Black King Bar.
* As a precaution, Witch Doctor should let Tidehunter use Ravage first before channeling Death Ward to turn a team fight in his favor.
* 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.
*
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.
* Vengeful Spirit has two abilities to interrupt Death Ward, even through Black King Bar.
* 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.
*
Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from
Maledict.
* 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.
* 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.
*
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.
*
Death Ward with
Aghanim's Scepter makes quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption until Witch Doctor buys
Linken's Sphere or
Black King Bar.
* All of Witch Doctor's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
*
Voodoo Restoration can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Maledict or
Paralyzing Cask for the enemy.
* Rubick can steal
Death Ward easily as it is a channeled ability and then use it to turn teamfight to his advantage.
* However, a skilled Witch Doctor will toggle Voodoo Restoration immediately after placing his Death Ward to prevent that.
Additional:
*
Witch Doctor's iconic
Death Ward is a perfect spell for Rubick to output high damage.
*
Death Ward requires channeling which makes Witch Doctor a clear tagret for stealing. Rubick can steal the spell outside of Death Ward's attack range most of the times.
* Note that an skilled
Witch Doctor player can cast
Voodoo Restoration to disrupt their last spell for Rubick to steal.
*
Telekinesis can interrupt a channeling
Death Ward. With
Death Ward's high burst damage, combining
Death Ward and
Telekinesis to hold enemy in place can result in a solo kill in the early game.
*
Paralyzing Cask provides an additional disable. The ability also helps moderately with farming.
*
Voodoo Restoration provides some utility by healing Rubick and his team.
*
Maledict is a damage-over-time nuke that amplifies the damage enemy taken.
*
Telekinesis can reposition the enemy within the range of
Maledict.
* 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.
* 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.
* As a caster,
Anti-Mage's
Mana Break and
Mana Void are highly effective against him.
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
* Anti-Mage can withstand magical burst damage much better than other carries, making him effective against nukers:
Lich,
Necrophos,
Oracle, and
Leshrac.
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Anti-Mage
* Luna's
Moon Glaives bounce and deal significant physical damage, which can be hard for Anti-Mage to withstand before he has defensive items
Counterspell, Luna's physical damage from
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing can be fair enough to deal with him.
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.
* If Anti-Mage misuses his Blink, Luna can use her Eclipse ultimate to finish him off before he acquires key items like Manta Style or Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
* Although Anti-Mage can survive Luna's magical damage output with
* Reckless use of
* 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.
Witch Doctor
*
Lucent Beam interrupts Death Ward from a decent range.
Eclipse kills Witch Doctor during Death Ward, even through
Glimmer Cape.
* With Dust of Appearance,