* Every single one of Axe's abilities can affect Muerta during her Pierce the Veil
* While Muerta can do much damage to highly armored units, Axe has a larger health pool compared to Muerta and can activate Berserker's Call and an activated Blade Mail to quickly kill Muerta due to her high right click damage.
* Muerta often builds high attack speed making Counter Helix have a high chance to proc.

* Lifestealer can activate Rage to be spell immune, making Pierce the Veil no damage and preventing Dead Shot from fearing or doing damage.
* Lifestealer can use Infest to avoid Muerta's Gunslinger

* Berserker's Call forces Mars to face in the direction choosen.
* Counter Helix deals pure damage and can go through Bulwark.

* Rage, acting as a pseudo-Black King Bar, completely negates Mars' initiation if used in time.
* Feast does damage and heals based on max health, perfect against high-health strength heroes like Mars.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to potentially save allies from Mars' initiation with a quick burst of extra health.

* Axe can force Alchemist to attack him with Berserker's Call. High attack speed from Chemical Rage will cause Counter Helix to proc multiple times.
* This can get worse if axe has Blade Mail, which then returns all damage to Alchemist himself.
* Axe's abilities can pierce through Black King Bar, which is a common item for Alchemist.
* Berserker's Call grants Axe a huge bonus armor, which greatly counters Alchemist's physical damage for the most part.

* Feast is good against high health strength heroes such as Alchemist.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to not be targetable by Unstable Concoction, possibly making Alchemist stun himself.

* Unleash ensures that Axe's Counter Helix procs many times, even if he is stunned by Dispose.
* Aghanim's Shard allows Counter Helix to reduce the attack damage of anyone it strikes. Combined with Unleash causing to proc frequently, Marci will not be dealing significant damage as she attacks Axe over time.
* Axe doesn't worry about the damage from Unleash if he activates Berserker's Call beforehand. If he had activated Blade Mail or Mjollnir (or even both) as Marci attacks him, he will turn Unleash's high attack speed and damage against her.
* Usually, Axe would prefer to jump on his opponent to be more effective. Rebound does Axe a favor, bringing Marci within his most effective range.

* Lifestealer's Rage renders him immune to all of Marci's disables and magic damage for a good duration.
* His passive Feast deals bonus damage based on the enemy's max health and heals for the same amount. As a tanky Strength hero, Marci's own strength will be her undoing as well.

* Berserker's Call forces Dark Willow to attack, cancelling Shadow Realm.

* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.

* Huskar is often played at low health to maximize the bonuses from Berserker's Blood, and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
* Berserker's Blood gives Huskar no protection against the pure damage of Culling Blade. Its attack speed bonus also means that Counter Helix will proc more often.
* Axe's tankiness and base health regeneration makes it hard for Huskar to take him down with Burning Spears.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call and Blade Mail can be used immediately after Huskar jumps on Axe with Life Break.
* Huskar's high attack speed procs Counter Helix repeatedly.
* Huskar's health loss from using his abilities make him a frequent target for Culling Blade.

* Rage renders Lifestealer immune to the damage from Burning Spears.
* Feast makes Lifestealer one of few heroes that can outlast Huskar in a one-on-one fight.

* Axe can easily close the distance to Sniper with Blink Dagger.
* With Berserker's Call in combination with Counter Helix and Battle Hunger, Axe can make short work of Sniper, finishing him off easily with Culling Blade due to his low HP & high attack speed in the late game.

* Lifestealer can close the distance to Sniper by using Infest on a fast or durable creep to tank Sniper's damage.
* Open Wounds and Ghoul Frenzy will reduce Sniper's mobility heavily, and Rage's movement speed bonus helps in closing the gap to Sniper. It also protects him from Assassinate and Shrapnel.
* Infest can dodge an incoming Assassinate.

* Heroes with burst damage of their own won't be afraid to go toe to toe with Void Spirit, like Ursa, Lifestealer, or Axe.

* Heroes with burst damage of their own won't be afraid to go toe to toe with Void Spirit, like Ursa, Lifestealer, or Axe.

* Phantom Strike's extra attack speed will cause Phantom Assassin to trigger Counter Helix more often, which can be fatal for Phantom Assassin. Jumping on Axe with Phantom Strike is not a good idea for Phantom Assassin at all as it makes her a seriously easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call and Blade Mail.
* Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
* Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe, and may cause her to kill herself when used with Blade Mail. Berserker's Call can also affect Phantom Assassin even if she has Black King Bar active as Berserker's Call can fully pierce spell immunity, making Berserker's Call one of the best abilities in the game against heroes like Phantom Assassin who wants to kill opponents quickly without being interrupted.
* Culling Blade can often kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything due to her low health and strength gain. And every time Culling Blade successfully kills Phantom Assassin or any of her teammates, Axe gains permanent armor from it, which in combination with armor items that Axe often purchases like Blade Mail, Crimson Guard, Assault Cuirass and Shiva's Guard can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Axe.
* Aghanim's Shard upgraded Counter Helix can weaken Phantom Assassin's damage output, and if her attack damage is weak, Coup De Grace will also suffer from attack damage reduction as well.
Additional:
* Phantom Strike's extra attack speed will cause Phantom Assassin to trigger Counter Helix more often, which can be fatal for Phantom Assassin in the early game. Jumping on Axe with Phantom Strike is not a good idea for Phantom Assassin at all as it makes her a seriously easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call and Blade Mail.
* Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
* Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe, and may cause her to kill herself when used with Blade Mail. Berserker's Call can also affect Phantom Assassin even if she has Black King Bar active as Berserker's Call can fully pierce spell immunity, making Berserker's Call one of the best abilities in the game against heroes like Phantom Assassin who wants to kill opponents quickly without being interrupted.
* Culling Blade can often kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything due to her low health and strength gain. And every time Culling Blade successfully kills Phantom Assassin or any of her teammates, Axe gains permanent armor from it, which in combination with armour items that Axe often purchases like Blade Mail, Crimson Guard, Assault Cuirass and Shiva's Guard can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Axe.
* Blade Mail is an item that Axe purchases every game, and which can be used to turn Phantom Assassin's critical strikes from Coup De Grace against herself. This can become even worse if she's affected by Berserker's Call, as she has no way to stop attacking.
* Aghanim's Shard upgraded Counter Helix can weaken Phantom Assassin's damage output, and if her attack damage is weak, Coup De Grace will also suffer from attack damage reduction as well.
* Axe just has to be careful about Fan of Knives from Aghanim's Shard and Coup De Grace, as Fan of Knives can disable Counter Helix, even if Axe is spell immune.

* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.

* Rage negates Kunkka's X Marks the Spot.
* As a strength hero with high strength gain and very little armor, as well as low agility gain, Kunkka is vulnerable to Lifestealer's Feast and Open Wounds.

* Berserker's Call prevents Sven from bursting his targets before Axe can interfere. The worst kind of opponent for Sven is one who can stop him from attacking who he wants to, which is exactly what Axe does.
* Culling Blade may finish off Sven before he has the chance to lifesteal or run with Warcry.
* Axe is a very common Blade Mail carrier which will make very short work of a Sven with God's Strength activated.

* Feast will deal a enormous amount of damage because of Tiny's huge health pool.
* Rage protects Lifestealer from Tiny's magical burst damage.

* Rage grants immunity from Invoker's spells and can dispel most of the disables such as the armor loss from Forge Spirit and the constant stuns of Cold Snap.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Invoker's spells (except for Sun Strike).

* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Ogre's magical debuffs and also dispels them.
* Ogre's high health pool makes him an ideal target for Feast.
Additional:
* Ogre Magi has nothing against Rage and his high health pool amplifies Feast.

* Rage can be used to escape from a Glimpse and to move out of Kinetic Field.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to dodge Glimpse.

* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Techies' abilities. Reactive Tazer's disarm will also not work on Lifestealer under Rage.
* Rage can also be used to trigger Techies' Proximity Mines safely.
Additional:
* Lifestealer's Rage lets him clear Proximity Mines without taking damage, and allows him to hit heroes whom Techies has used Reactive Tazer on.

* Rage allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities. Also, the increased movement speed combined with the slow from Ghoul Frenzy and the squishy nature of Ezalor allows Lifestealer to take him down very quickly.

* The lifesteal of Feast scales accordingly to the max health of its target, which is effective against Pudge due to his high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
* Lifestealer can activate Rage to be spell immune, making Rot deal no damage.
* Pudge's plentiful health makes him an ideal target for Lifestealer's Aghanim's Shard ability, Open Wounds.

* Leshrac's high magic damage is ignored by Rage.
* Lifestealer can get in Leshrac's face with Rage and mitigate any other damage taken by Leshrac with Open Wounds.

* Like with Juggernaut's Blade Fury, Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter {{A:Rage|Lifestealer} with Spiked Carapace because {{A:Rage|Lifestealer} gives Juggernaut spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin. Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with Open Wounds.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with Dust of Appearance or a Gem of True Sight. And similarly to Juggernaut's Omnislash and Swiftslash, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. and Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
* Like with Juggernaut, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Čofesteačer.

* Being a strength hero with a high strength gain means Feast can give her a hard time,especially later in the game.
* However,Starbreaker's physical damage can control him in the laning phase.

* Culling Blade's instant kill is not prevented by Borrowed Time should Abaddon's health falls below the threshold.
Additional:
* Culling Blade ignores Borrowed Time should Abaddon's health falls under the threshold.
* Aphotic Shield does nothing against Berserkers Call and has to be used constantly to remove the very small mana cost of Battle Hunger in lane.

* Rage prevents Earthshaker from damaging and stunning Lifestealer.
* Feast is very effective against Earthshaker, because of him being a strength hero, allowing Lifestealer to heavily harass and kill him.
* Open Wounds prevents Earthshaker from escaping after he initiated.
* Infest gives Lifestealer an easy way to escape should he get caught out by Earthshaker.

* Feast is an effective tool against Centaur Warrunner, who generally has high health and low armor, and compensates the reflected damage of Retaliate.
* If activated, Rage can protect Lifestealer from Hoof Stomp, Double Edge, and Stampede.
Additional:
* Centaur Warrunner's active abilities cannot pierce magic immunity. Hoof Stomp's slow wind up can also be anticipated and negated with Rage.
* Lifestealer can offset Retaliate's damage return simply with Feast. Centaur's high strength gain and therefore big health pool makes him an ideal target to Feast on, especially in the late-game.

* Axe usually wants to fight in the middle of creep waves to proc his Counter Helix. Legion Commander wants to do the same thing to proc Moment of Courage, often resulting in Axe getting a huge amount of damage in against Legion Commander.
* Axe's high armor gain thanks to Culling Blade makes him almost impossible to kill during a Duel in the late game.

* Feast deals damage and heals lifestealer based on the target max health. Because Spectre often emphasises on building stat items to increase her HP pool, lifestealer can deal a lot of damage to her and heal himself at the same time.
* Ghoul Frenzy slows target, which is bad for Spectre if she does not have Spectral Dagger ready.
* Spectre cannot response to infest if lifestealer choose to stay inside his high mobility allies to approach the backline. Rage's bonus movement speed and spell immunity make it even more frustrating.

* False Promise will not save an ally from Culling Blade if their health is low enough.
* Fate's Edict, offensively or defensively, does little to protect Oracle's allies from the majority of Axe's damage.

* Culling Blade ignores the protection from Shallow Grave, and will kill any target whose health is low enough. This makes Axe one of the hardest counters to Dazzle, and he neutralizes one of Dazzle's most important abilities.
Additional:
* Culling Blade kills any target under the health threshold, even through Shallow Grave.

* Rage can protect Lifestealer from most of the Silencer's abilities with the exception of Global Silence, as it will still silence if cast while the target is magic immune. However, it will not work if Lifestealer is infesting a unit.
* Silencer is vulnerable to Open Wounds due to his lack of an innate escape.
* Against a carry Silencer, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm him and allow Lifestealer to attack Silencer from within, even if Silencer is spell immune.
Additional:
* Rage can protect Lifestealer from most of the Silencer's abilities with the exception of Global Silence.
* If Lifestealer can Infest himself on any unit, he can literally avoid being affected by Global Silence.
* Against a carry Silencer, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm him and allow Lifestealer to attack Silencer from within, even if Silencer is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard can severely slow down Silencer, and allow Lifestealer and his team to heal themselves by attacking Silencer.

* Lifestealer is able to endure Undying, especially in the laning phase, where Undying is strongest. Feast can offset Decay's strength steal for its percentage lifesteal. Rage delays Undying from stealing strength and can help Lifestealer destroy Undying's Tombstone uninterrupted. As well, none of Undying's abilities pierce magic immunity.

* Magnetic Field doesn't provide a protection against Berserker's Call and Counter Helix and his high attack speed together with Tempest Double will often trigger Counter Helix.
* The threat of a blink and Berserker's Call may make the real Arc Warden stay further back, thus effectively halving the team's damage output for a while.

* Heroes with good escape mechanisms are a nuisance to deal with in the early phase of the game: Slark, Lifestealer, Morphling

* Axe can Berserker's Call into a flock of Familiars, proccing Counter Helix and killing them off.
* Familiars' very fast attacks will proc Counter Helix, receiving full damage due to their low attack range.

* Heroes with magic immune abilities can negate most of Visage's attacks like Pangolier and Lifestealer.

* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Tinker's damage and debuffs.
* Lifestealer can infest a mobile ally (teams usually pick one against Tinker), which may ensure that Tinker will die if he is caught.
Additional:
* Rage will dispel Laser's blind and turns him spell immune for the duration so Tinker cannot damage him.
* Feast will quickly bring down Tinker due to being so fragile.

* Terrorblade's low base health and lack of mobility make him an easy target for Axe to initiate on, and kill.
* Counter Helix will trigger from, and destroy many of Terrorblade illusions.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call and Counter Helix together can be devastating to Terrorblade, especially if Terrorblade has a lot of illusions. Their high attack speed will trigger Counter Helix a lot, and the pure damage will quickly slice through Terrorblade's low health and kill his illusions. More importantly, the Berserker's Call can pierce through spell immunity from Black King Bar, Terrorblade's only survival item besides Manta Style which cannot be used to dispel Berserker's Call. With enough burst damage by Axe's teammates, Terrorblade can be finished off even before taunt duration runs out and he gets a chance to save himself with Sunder.
* Culling Blade can finish off Terrorblade before he has the chance to Sunder due to his low health in the early to mid game. And every time Terrorblade or any of his allies are successfully killed by Culling Blade, Axe permanently gains armor from it, which in combination with armor items that Axe often purchases like Blade Mail, Crimson Guard, Assault Cuirass and Shiva's Guard can make Terrorblade's attacks only tickle Axe, even during Metamorphosis.
* Terrorblade's low base health and lack of mobility make him an easy target for Axe to initiate on, and kill.

* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.

* Heroes with gap closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call: Phantom Assassin, Faceless Void, Slark, Chaos Knight, Morphling, Queen of Pain

Additional:
* Berserker's Call prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with Blink and also pierces her Black King Bar.
* Due to her fast attack speed from Mjollnir, it will quickly trigger Counter Helix.
* Culling Blade finishes off Queen of Pain's low health pool before she gets a chance to escape, preventing her from playing the hit-and-run style often associated with Queen of Pain.

* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder: Axe, Beastmaster, Enigma, Magnus, Pudge, Batrider, Bane, Winter Wyvern

* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna, Razor, Axe, Bristleback, Leshrac,

* Heroes with high armor and durability can be exceptionally hard for Bloodseeker to bring down: Dragon Knight, Axe

* Pudge, Legion Commander and Axe will make the match a living hell for Shadow Shaman, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt Shadow Shaman's channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.

* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity: Keeper of the Light, Lina, Lion, Zeus.

Additional:
* Rage is very useful against Zeus, as it negates magic damage and provides spell immunity. In addition, the increased attack speed can tear Zeus apart in combination with Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer can avoid Thundergod's Wrath with Infest.

* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.

* Troll Warlord's high attack speed means Counter Helix will proc extremely frequently even without creeps near him. This, combined with a Blade Mail means Axe can easily solo kill Troll Warlord even in later stages of the game.
* Battle Trance does not save Troll Warlord from a Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord has significant attack speed due to Fervor and Battle Trance, giving Axe a higher chance to proc Counter Helix and seriously injure Troll Warlord due to his relatively low maximum health.
* Axe often purchases Blade Mail, which can help Axe turn Troll Warlord's farm and high physical damage against him. The bonus armor provided by Berserker's Call means that Troll Warlord will take a lot more damage than Axe.
* Culling Blade is still capable of killing Troll Warlord during Battle Trance if his HP is low enough.

* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.

* Heroes who rely on fast attack speed will also trigger Counter Helix frequently: Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Anti-Mage, Juggernaut, Arc Warden, Morphling

Additional:
* Berserker's Call pierces spell immunity, making a Blade Fury teleport escape impossible. It's very useful against Omnislash as well.
* Juggernaut's low base health and high attack speed causes him to take a lot of damage from Counter Helix.
* Axe is a common Blade Mail and Blink Dagger carrier making him a very big potential threat before Juggernaut get his items.

* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity: Keeper of the Light, Lina, Lion, Zeus.

Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Lina's abilities (except an upgraded Laguna Blade).
* Open Wounds is great to keep Lina in place because she has no abilities to help her escape.

* In general, heroes with spell immunity abilities won't be caught inside by Pit of Malice: Juggernaut, Lifestealer.

* Lifestealer with Rage and Infest
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* Abaddon with Aphotic Shield and Borrowed Time
* Huskar with Life Break
* Juggernaut with Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with Press the Attack
* Lifestealer with Rage and Infest
* Naga Siren with Mirror Image
* Omniknight with Heavenly Grace
* Oracle with Fortune's End and False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with Doppelganger
* Slark with Dark Pact
* Ursa with Enrage
* Weaver with Time Lapse
* Tidehunter with Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.

* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe, Death Prophet, Phantom Lancer

* Melee heroes who rely on summons, illusions or clones will trigger Counter Helix more often, thus taking more damage: Meepo, Lycan, Phantom Lancer

Additional:
* The combination of Counter Helix and Berserker's Call can disable multiple Meepos and deal heavy area damage.
* Axe's natural high survivability makes it difficult to burst him down with Poof or chip away at his health with Ransack.

* Lifestealer is not affected by Earthbind or Poof during Rage, making him a difficult target to work around.

* Berserker's Call and Counter Helix will still hit targets inside of a defensive Sprout.
* Counter Helix clears treants in no time.
* Nature's Prophet's low damage is unlikely to hurt Axe until the very late game.
* Nature's Prophet's low mobility makes him very easy for Axe to chase down or initiate on, especially when affected by Battle Hunger.

* Berserker's Call and Counter Helix allow Axe to kill Shadow Fiend if he stands too close to a creep wave.
* Battle Hunger is very strong against Shadow Fiend in the early game because Shadow Fiend's low attack damage makes it hard for him to get last hits.
* Axe's naturally high strength and health regeneration will be enough to tank a lot of Shadow Fiend's damage in the early game.

* With Feast and Rage, Lifestealer is nearly impossible for Clockwerk to bring down, and is the last hero Clockwerk wants to be trapped with in Power Cogs.

* Rage ignores all of Gyrocopter's magical attacks.
* Feast helps Lifestealer out-damage Gyrocopter at close range.

* Berserker's Call forces Drow Ranger to attack Axe up close, disabling her Marksmanship bonus.
* Counter Helix occurs more often with Drow Ranger's high attack speed.
* Culling Blade is a dangerous ability against a low health hero like Drow Ranger.

* Axe will destroy her illusions by proccing Counter Helix more often due to him being hit by more attacks.

* 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 makes Mana Void deal very little damage to Axe.

* Berserker's Call can catch Broodmother in her web, as well as groups of spiderlings. This is particularly effective when Broodmother attempts to push towers with her spiderlings.
* Counter Helix destroys spiderlings very quickly, and earns Axe a good deal of gold.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call forces Broodmother and her spiderlings to attack, allowing for large amounts of pure damage to be done through Counter Helix.

* Jumping on Axe with Waveform will make Morphling an easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call.
* Morphling is often played at low health to maximise the bonuses from Attribute Shift (Agility Gain), and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
* However, Morphling is common Linken's Sphere carrier to block Culling Blade forces Axe to use Battle Hunger to pop the Spell Block first.
* Attribute Shift (Agility Gain) gives Morphlig no protection against the pure damage of Culling Blade. Its attack speed bonus also means that Counter Helix will proc more often.

* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity: Keeper of the Light, Lina, Lion, Zeus.

Additional:
* Rage provides spell immunity to Lifestealer and thus nullifies all of Lion's abilities.
* Open Wounds allows Lifestealer to easily catch Lion out and prevent him from escaping.

* Feast deals damage and heals Lifestealer based on the target's maximum HP, which is greatly effective against naturally high HP heroes such as Doom.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to become spell immune to negate the magical damage of Infernal Blade and Scorched Earth.
* Doom has no effective means of escape from Open Wounds. This is particularly devastating in lane, where Doom may have to play a much more passive, conservative play style as a result.

* Heroes that can keep Monkey King stunned for a long time can pose a threat: Axe, Centaur Warrunner.

* Heroes with spell immunity or pseudo-blinks which provide invulnerability: Lifestealer, Juggernaut, Omniknight, Huskar , and Tusk have spells which allow them to easily escape Dream Coil.

* Windrun does not provide protection against Counter Helix and Berserker's Call. Her fast attack speed with Focus Fire will also quickly trigger Counter Helix multiple times.

* 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.

* Juggernaut and Lifestealer have abilities (Blade Fury and Rage respectively) that prevent Crystal Maiden from using her spells on them in the early game, before Black King Bar and other magical reduction is even an issue.

Additional:
* Crystal Maiden is an ideal target for Lifestealer due to her poor mobility and low health pool. Lifestealer can usually catch up to her simply by casting Rage, as none of her abilities pierce through magic immunity. Freezing Field can potentially make her even more vulnerable to Lifestealer while under Rage as she is even more immobile while channeling it.
* Lifestealer commonly buys Abyssal Blade, which allows him to cancel Freezing Field, even if Crystal Maiden is spell immune.
* Alternatively, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest combined with Abyssal Blade and with items that provide attack speed which Lifestealer commonly buys allow him to to cancel Freezing Field from within the Crystal Maiden.

* Lifestealer's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.

* Berserker's Call catches Phantom Lancer when he is hidden among his illusions.
* Counter Helix quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusion army. The more illusions there are, the more often Counter Helix is triggered.
* Phantom Lancer's low early game health makes him an easy target for Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call helps locking down Phantom Lancer in a group of illusions.
* Counter Helix combined with Blade Mail clears Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* Phantom Lancer's low health in the early game makes him a frequent target for Culling Blade.

* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Weaver's high attack speed, along with high attack damage from Geminate Attack, triggers Counter Helix continuously and the output damage would be returned by Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Due to his fast attack speed from Geminate Attack and items that give attack speed, Counter Helix will activate a lot, and the damage would be returned by Blade Mail, which hurts Weaver far more than it hurts Axe.
* Culling Blade can finish off Weaver's low health pool before he escapes with Shukuchi and Time Lapse.
* Battle Hunger is a good tool to pop Weaver's Linken's Sphere due to its low cooldown.

* Rage grants Lifestealer immunity to all of Jakiro's spells. Note: magic resistance will not dispel the attack speed slow effects from Dual Breath and Liquid Fire.

* Berseker's Call catches Slark in Shadow Dance, wasting its duration and preventing him from escaping to regenerate.
* Unlike most disables, Dark Pact cannot dispel Berserker's Call, and the output damage would be returned by Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call forces Slark to attack him, even during Shadow Dance.
* Counter Helix will hit Slark in Shadow Dance. It also triggers frequently against Slark's high attack speed provided by Essence Shift stacks.
* Culling Blade finishes off Slark before he gets a chance to slip away and regenerate his health, preventing him from playing the typical hit-and-run style.

* Heroes that can instantly kill creeps greatly reduce the effectiveness of Chen's converted army: Lifestealer, Doom, Mirana, Clinkz.

* Axe can disable Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with Berserker's Call, which forces Riki to attack him at a very bad angle.
* Axe has a very high HP pool, making it hard for you to kill him before you get big items - that is if you survive engaging him. Counter Helix ignores Riki's armor and goes straight for his tiny HP pool, totally ignoring Smoke Screen.
* Axe is a natural buyer of Blade Mail and Riki generally does not buy lifesteal items, causing Riki to kill himself when attacking due to your tiny HP pool.

* Melee heroes who rely on summons, illusions or clones will trigger Counter Helix more often, thus taking more damage: Meepo, Lycan, Phantom Lancer

Additional:
* Berserker's Call can keep Lycan in place during his Shapeshift even through Black King Bar.
* Counter Helix is very effective against Lycan because of his summons.
* Culling Blade will prevent Lycan from running away with Shapeshift when he drops low.