*
False Promise dispels Flaming Lasso.
*
Fortune's End can root Batrider after he uses Flaming Lasso. It can also dispel Sticky Napalm and Flamebreak.
*
Fate's Edict when used on a Lasso'd target will leave them immune to magical damage, making it difficult to burst them quickly before the Lasso ends.
* Fate Edict can completely negate Skywrath Mage's heavy magic damage.
* Fortune End dispels
Ancient Seal.
* Doppelganger dispels
Sticky Napalm and
Flamebreak.
* There are usually way too many illusions for Batrider to lasso the real Phantom Lancer, since the illusions' hitboxes also body block the real Phantom Lancer.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like
Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
* Nyx can walk into Firefly with
Spiked Carapace and stun Batrider if he has no Spell Immunity, even if Batrider is focusing on other enemy hero.
* Slow-moving projectiles:
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a
Vendetta strike.
*
Mind Flare turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him and deals heavy damage.
*
Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
*
Enrage with
Aghanim's Scepter can dispel Flaming Lasso.
* Kraken Shell is very useful against
Sticky Napalm and
Flamebreak, easily dispelling them regularly.
* Tidehunter is probably the worst hero to target with
Flaming Lasso, as Kraken Shell will remove it and Tidehunter often survives long enough to cast Ravage in the middle of Batrider's team. At the same time, if Batrider initiates on his teammate, Tidehunter will have the perfect opportunity to counter-initiate.
Additional:
*
Kraken Shell can dispel Flaming Lasso.
* If Batrider drags Tidehunter back towards his team, it can be setup for a well placed
Ravage.
*
Dark Pact can dispel Flaming Lasso if is used in anticipation, but a Blink initiation from fog can catch the Slark off guard.
* Slark can also take off any Sticky Napalm stacks with
Dark Pact in lane.
Additional:
* Shadow Dance's passive can inform Slark when he's under enemy vision, meaning it'll be very hard to catch Slark off-guard with
Flaming Lasso.
*
Flaming Lasso is dispelled by Dark Pact. Its casting can be prevented with
Shadow Dance or
Depth Shroud (it requires
Aghanim's Shard).
*
Plague Wards are very hard for Batrider to play against as they provide a lot of vision as well as disable
Blink Dagger for a long duration.
*
X Marks the Spot breaks Flaming Lasso when used on ally and can break if used on Batrider.
* In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's
Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.
* QW-Invoker perfectly resists Batrider in his attacks, since Batrider has a small mana reserve and depends very much on him -
E.M.P. perfectly allows Invoker to deprive her, and he also has the abilities of
Tornado and
Cold Snap, which can help him fend off his attack, and possibly even kill along with his team
Additional:
* QW-Invoker perfectly resists Batrider in his attacks, since Batrider has a small mana reserve and depends very much on him -
E.M.P. perfectly allows Invoker to deprive her, and he also has the abilities of
Tornado and
Cold Snap, which can help him fend off his attack, and possibly even kill along with his team
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy
Black King Bar.
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Additional:
*
Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and
Decrepify won't help Pugna at all.
* Heroes with silence such as
Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like
Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
*
Death Prophet is a terrible Flaming Lasso target if
Exorcism has already been used, since it can still damage Batrider and his teammates, but if Batrider manages to Lasso her before that, it can lead to
Death Prophet being quickly burst down.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like
Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like
Juggernaut,
Lion, or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
* Once you get a
Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like
Zeus,
Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:
Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Io,
Witch Doctor, etc.
*
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
* Outworld Destroyer can steal more mana with
Astral Imprisonment from
Skywrath Mage with
Shield of the Scion (granted by
Aghanim's Shard). Shield of the Scion grants Skywrath Mage bonus intelligence every time he deals magic damage to an enemy hero with his abilities. The higher his intelligence, the larger his mana pool. Since Astral Imprisonment steals based on the target's max mana, Outworld Destroyer can steal much more mana from Skywrath Mage.
* Batrider prevents sharp and brazen attacks of the opponent. First he catches him in a
Flaming Lasso, and then causes huge damage, in some cases even incompatible with life.
Additional:
* Batrider prevents sharp and brazen attacks of the opponent. First he catches him in a
Flaming Lasso, and then causes huge damage, in some cases even incompatible with life.
* Heroes with a low health pool (
Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
* Skywrath Mage's armor and agility gain is very low, so when Huskar's
Burning Spears stack they can take him down very quickly at any point of the game.
*
Berserker's Blood grants bonuses as Huskar uses
Burning Spears to harass Skywrath Mage, granting him attack speed, magic resistance, and strength as health regen, making it possible that Huskar can harass Skywrath Mage out of lane and sustain through his magic burst through staying injured throughout lane, or even the game.
*
Life Break allows Huskar to jump onto Skywrath Mage, closing the distance between them and busting him down so he cannot run. This can be combed with
Inner Fire, adding a movement speed slow if Aghanim's Shard is applied so Skywrath Mage cannot escape.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health:
Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
* With her Nether Swap, Vengeful Spirit can save the life of an ally who gets caught with
Flaming Lasso. Nether Swap also makes it highly dangerous for Batrider to attempt a lasso, as it can lead to his own demise far behind enemy lines.
* Wave of Terror's flying vision allows Vengeful Spirit to spot Batrider trying to close in on his target with
Firefly.
Additional:
*
Nether Swap breaks Flaming Lasso when used on ally and can break if used on Batrider.
* Vengeful Spirit can disable Batrider's
Blink Dagger before a fight with
Wave of Terror.
* Strong nuking supports like
Skywrath Mage. Vengeful Spirit has subpar attack range, making it harder for her to harass and last hit safely. With enough pressure she can be bullied out of a lane.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
*
Mana Break drains Skywrath Mage of his mana, slowing him and dealing bonus damage while rendering him unable to cast his spells.
*
Blink makes it incredibly easy for Anti-Mage to close the gap between himself Skywrath Mage to right-click him down. He can also use Blink to get away and escape into fog of war.
* Anti-Mage passively reduces enemy spell damage with
Counterspell, and can activate the ability to block and send back Skywrath's Ancient Seal or Arcane Bolt, causing him to silence himself or deal massive damage to himself.
* Skywrath Mage's large mana-costs makes him an easy target for
Mana Void.
* Anti-Mage often builds
Black King Bar and
Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away:
Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
*
Sticky Napalm slows turn rate, making it difficult for Mars to face frontwards, where Spear of Mars and Bulwark are effective. In combination with
Firefly, which deals magic damage, Batrider can make quick work of Mars.
*
Flaming Lasso disables Mars while enemies re-position themselves behind Mars to avoid Bulwark.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark:
Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker:
Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Batrider.
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
* Heroes with abilities that can lock down Terrorblade and prevent him from using Sunder:
Bane,
Batrider,
Earthshaker,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Legion Commander,
Mars,
Primal Beast,
Riki,
Shadow Shaman,
Silencer,
Vengeful Spirit,
Void Spirit.
*
Arcane Bolt can target Terrorblade's low health pool in the laning phase.
*
Ancient Seal can prevent Terrorblade from casting Sunder.
*
Mystic Flare can be used to great effect to burst Terrorblade down before he gets a
Manta Style or a
Black King Bar.
* Sticky Napalm slows Chen and his creeps and Flamebreak and Firefly can deal heavy damage to them.
* Flaming Lasso can pull Chen away from his creeps toward Batrider's team, often to certain death.
Additional:
*
Sticky Napalm slows Chen and amplifies Batrider's damage.
*
Flamebreak and
Firefly can deal heavy damage to Chen and his creeps.
*
Flaming Lasso pulls Chen away from his creeps, often to certain death.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst:
Bane,
Ember Spirit,
Leshrac,
Lina,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Phantom Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Ursa,
Void Spirit.
*
Firefly and combinated with
Blink Dagger can easy avoided from
Focus Fire.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* Batrider's
Flaming Lasso can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with
Relocate and drag him away from his
Tethered target. And since Io doesn't like buying
Linken's Sphere, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
* Io's tendency to stick close to it's
Tethered target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's
Tether against him.
Additional:
* Batrider's
Flaming Lasso can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with
Relocate and drag him away from his
Tethered target. And since Io doesn't like buying
Linken's Sphere, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
* Io's tendency to stick close to it's
Tethered target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's
Tether against him.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst:
Bane,
Ember Spirit,
Leshrac,
Lina,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Phantom Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Ursa,
Void Spirit.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like
Juggernaut,
Lion, or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
* Phantom Assassin does not deal with early aggression very easily (especially when magical damage). A competent Batrider can make life very difficult with
Sticky Napalm followed by any other spell.
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
*
Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
*
Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
*
Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Additional:
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
*
Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
*
Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
*
Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
* For the same reason, he has to be slightly more cunning when playing against heroes that can scout the treeline, such as
Ancient Apparition and his
Ice Vortex and
Shadow Demon and his
Shadow Poison.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities:
Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
*
Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast
Winter's Curse on him. And if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
* However, bear in mind that Skywrath Mage has seriously awful armor, and that can make him an adequate target to being turned against his own team with
Winter's Curse, which can result in his death quickly.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for
Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
* Firefly will cut trees with ease, cleaning-up an area that's been enchanted with
Eyes In The Forest, and potentially revealing a Treant under the effects of
Nature's Guise.
* Batrider's DoT spells are also good versus
Living Armor.
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
*
Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
Additional:
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using
Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
*
Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a
Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
* As long as Batrider is under the effect of Firefly, he can safely fly over
Proximity Mines (He does not receive vision over the mines).
*
Firefly can be used to clear Nature's Prophet's Treants and allows Batrider destroy Sprout's trees.
*
Flaming Lasso prevents Nature's Prophet from escaping using Teleportation.
* Many stacks of
Sticky Napalm, combined with
Flamebreak and
Firefly, allows Batrider to destroy illusions from
Mirror Image.
* If Batrider can manage to destroy all illusions from Naga Siren, he will be able to use
Flaming Lasso on the real one, and will be able to drag her toward his team, potentially preventing Naga Siren from escaping with
Song of the Siren.
Additional:
* Many stacks of
Sticky Napalm, combined with
Flamebreak and
Firefly, allows Batrider to destroy illusions from
Mirror Image.
* If Batrider can manage to destroy all illusions from Naga Siren, he will be able to use
Flaming Lasso on the real one, and will be able to drag her toward his team, potentially preventing Naga Siren from escaping with
Song of the Siren.
* Batrider has huge damage from his
Sticky Napalm and hand strikes on the target, with this effect. And Ember Spirit not only has a small reserve of health, but also has a melee type of attack. If these two collide on the center line, then Ember Spirit will have to finish off several creeps from afar with a
Sleight of Fist, otherwise he will lose a lot of health from long-range Batrider attacks under
Sticky Napalm, and possibly even kill, because Ember Spirit does not have the ability to interrupt Batraider with his damage if he decides to attack
* Ember Spirit is a very tasty target for
Flaming Lasso, because it has a small reserve of health, and all the power lies in the abilities that
Flaming Lasso forbids using, this can help the Batraider team quickly deal with the unpleasant "jumping" Ember Spirit in a fight if he gets into
Flaming Lasso
Additional:
* Batrider has huge damage from his
Sticky Napalm and hand strikes on the target, with this effect. And Ember Spirit not only has a small reserve of health, but also has a melee type of attack. If these two collide on the center line, then Ember Spirit will have to finish off several creeps from afar with a
Sleight of Fist, otherwise he will lose a lot of health from long-range Batrider attacks under
Sticky Napalm, and possibly even kill, because Ember Spirit does not have the ability to interrupt Batraider with his damage if he decides to attack
* Ember Spirit is a very tasty target for
Flaming Lasso, because it has a small reserve of health, and all the power lies in the abilities that
Flaming Lasso forbids using, this can help the Batraider team quickly deal with the unpleasant "jumping" Ember Spirit in a fight if he gets into
Flaming Lasso
*
Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
*
Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses
Blink Dagger to initiate.
*
Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
*
Ancient Seal instantly shuts down Dark Willow's abilities, rendering her defenseless against his high burst damage spells, while she cannot cast spells of her own.
*
Mystic Flare deals immense burst damage in an area, damaging Dark Willow through Shadow Realm.
*
Ancient Seal's instant cast time will often silence Brewmaster before he can do anything.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Skywrath Mage's massive magical damage.
* Batrider can harass Arc Warden more easily with
Sticky Napalm thanks to it's low cooldown and mana cost and because of Arc Warden's lower durability and mobility.
* Batrider can use
Flamebreak to push Arc Warden and
Tempest Double out of the
Magnetic Field.
* With
Firefly combined with
Blink Dagger, Batrider can move faster while dealing damage to both Arc Warden and
Tempest Double.
*
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to separate Arc Warden from both
Magnetic Field and
Tempest Double and pull him towards Batrider's team.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso also allows Batrider to disable both, real Arc Warden and his
Tempest Double and pull them towards Batrider's team. And since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Linken's Sphere, this can be a great problem to him.
* Since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Black King Bar very ofthen In most of the stages of the game, he will be vulnerable to Batrider's magical damage-over-time output in most of the stages of the game.
* However, Batrider needs to approach Arc Warden carefully as Arc Warden can scout Batrider's location with
Spark Wraith. Also, Arc Warden tends to buy
Gleipnir which combined with
Flux's damage over time can be used to prevent Batrider from even using
Blink Dagger.
Additional:
* Batrider can harass Arc Warden more easily with
Sticky Napalm thanks to it's low cooldown and mana cost and because of Arc Warden's lower durability and mobility.
* Batrider can use
Flamebreak to push Arc Warden and
Tempest Double out of the
Magnetic Field.
* With
Firefly combined with
Blink Dagger, Batrider can move faster while dealing damage to both Arc Warden and
Tempest Double.
*
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to separate Arc Warden from both
Magnetic Field and
Tempest Double and pull him towards Batrider's team.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso also allows Batrider to disable both, real Arc Warden and his
Tempest Double and pull them towards Batrider's team. And since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Linken's Sphere, this can be a great problem to him.
* Since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Black King Bar very ofthen In most of the stages of the game, he will be vulnerable to Batrider's magical damage-over-time output in most of the stages of the game.
* However, Batrider needs to approach Arc Warden carefully as Arc Warden can scout Batrider's location with
Spark Wraith. Also, Arc Warden tends to buy
Gleipnir which combined with
Flux's damage over time can be used to prevent Batrider from even using
Blink Dagger.
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an
Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
*
Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
*
Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
*
Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as
Lion or
Sven.
* Heroes who can stop Axe from getting close will severely inhibit his presence in fights:
Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like
Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
* 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 with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies:
Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit.
*
Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
* Heroes with disables that go through spell immunity can end Bloodseeker before he has the chance to do anything:
Batrider,
Beastmaster
* Any long duration disables that can pierce through both, Pierce The Veil and
Black King Bar are devastating against Muerta:
Enigma's
Black Hole,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Naga Siren's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Ensnare and
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Jakiro's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Macropyre,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Batrider's
Flaming Lasso,
Beastmaster's
Primal Roar,
Grimstroke's
Soulbind,
Medusa's
Stone Gaze,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate:
Luna's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Mars's
Arena of Blood,
Jakiro's
Macropyre,
Dual Breath and
Ice Path,
Naga Siren's
Song of the Siren,
Razor's
Eye of the Storm and
Plasma Field,
Lina's
Light Strike Array,
Broodmother's
Spinner's Snare from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Elder Titan's
Earth Splitter and
Echo Stomp,
Alchemist's
Unstable Concoction and
Acid Spray,
Queen of Pain's
Sonic Wave,
Dark Seer's
Wall of Replica and
Vacuum,
Venomancer's
Noxious Plague and
Poison Nova from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Oracle's
Fortune's End and
Rain of Destiny from
Aghanim's Shard,
Bloodseeker's
Blood Rite,
Enigma's
Black Hole and
Midnight Pulse,
Shadow Fiend's
Requiem of Souls,
Batrider's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso,
Firefly,
Flamebreak and
Sticky Napalm,
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast,
Sand King's
Epicenter,
Sand Storm and
Burrowstrike,
Gyrocopter's
Call Down,
Ember Spirit's
Sleight of Fist,
Death Prophet's
Exorcism and
Silence,
Monkey King's
Wukong's Command,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Muerta's
The Calling,
Medusa's
Stone Gaze,
Zeus's
Nimbus from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Dark Willow's
Bramble Maze,
Pangolier's
Swashbuckle,
Grimstroke's
Soulbind,
Ink Swell and
Stroke of Fate,
Earthshaker's
Echo Slam and
Fissure,
Puck's
Dream Coil and
Waning Rift,
Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity.
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity:
Sven,
Omniknight,
Enigma,
Luna,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Rubick,
Keeper of the Light,
Pugna,
Invoker,
Spectre,
Alchemist,
Treant Protector,
Lina,
Oracle,
Zeus,
Shadow Shaman,
Phoenix,
Razor,
Huskar,
Batrider,
Kunkka,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Sand King,
Medusa,
Dawnbreaker.
* Any heroes with stuns or silences:
Death Prophet,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Similar to
Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
* An
Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
* Root and silence are
Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has
Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
* If he builds
Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.
* Heroes with abilities that can pull Lina out of position can easily bring her to their team mates, like
Batrider with
Flaming Lasso,
Pudge with
Meat Hook and
Vengeful Spirit with
Nether Swap.
* Lich is heavily reliant on his abilities to contribute to team fights, so be wary of enemies that can Silence:
Bloodseeker,
Death Prophet,
Silencer,
Drow Ranger,
Skywrath Mage.
* Even though
Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
*
Skywrath Mage's
Mystic Flare can deal huge damage to Clockwerk inside his Power Cogs.
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them:
Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere;
Sniper,
Skywrath Mage, etc.
* Heroes with nukes:
Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
*
Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
* A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
* The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like
Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
*
Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid game.
*
Concussive Shot and
Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
*
Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into
True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
*
Skywrath Mage's abilities are single targeted and he can't use Mystic Flare to its fullest potential, since all Meepos spread the damage between them. He also has no disables to prevent Meepo from Poofing to another one (unless he can get
Ancient Seal off first).
* Flaming Lasso is the perfect tool to isolate a single Meepo and focus him.
*
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
*
Sticky Napalm makes it difficult for Tusk to hold his own on lane.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned
Snowball will give Batrider a free counter-initiation with
Flaming Lasso if Batrider is far enough to avoid the stun from the
Snowball.
Additional:
*
Sticky Napalm makes it difficult for Tusk to hold his own on lane.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned
Snowball will give Batrider a free counter-initiation with
Flaming Lasso if Batrider is far enough to avoid the stun from the
Snowball.
*
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
* For the same reason, he has to be slightly more cunning when playing against heroes that can scout the treeline, such as
Ancient Apparition and his
Ice Vortex and
Shadow Demon and his
Shadow Poison.
* Batrider has poor survivablilty, relying on his mobility from
Firefly to survive. Stunning him with Ice Path of Liquid Frost can easily spell his doom.
* Batrider tends to cast
Flaming Lasso on the squishest or the tankiest hero. Which Jakiro is not squishy, nor his generally the tank of the team, Due to this, Jakiro can usually save allies with Ice Path and Liquid Frost, while also potentially removing an entire hero from play for a short period of time.
* Even if Batrider does cast Flaming Lasso on Jakiro, Batrider will generally drag Jakiro into a great setup for Ice Path and Macropyre.
*
Ancient Seal can silence Jakiro and make him vulnerable to magical spells up to 6 seconds.
* Skywrath Mage can usually burst down Jakiro with his high damage magical spells.
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
* Firefly destroys trees and can turn
Tree Dance into a free four second stun.
Additional:
*
Firefly allows Batrider to gain vision of Monkey King while he is on an tree, as well as destroying any nearby trees, denying Monkey King spots to jump to, or causing him to fall.
*
Sticky Napalm's turn rate slow makes it significantly more difficult for Monkey King to jump from tree to tree and gain Jingu Mastery stacks. It also reveals Monkey King while he is on a tree.
*
Flamebreak and
Flaming Lasso enable Batrider to remove Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like
Batrider,
Monkey King,
Spectre, and
Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as
Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like
Juggernaut,
Lion, or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as
Lion or
Sven.
* Queen of Pain can be an effective tool against Batrider in the game and on the line. She has long-range abilities such as
Scream of Pain or
Sonic Wave and a long-range type of attack, which is why she can keep Batrider at a distance all the time, and prevent him from attacking with
Flaming Lasso or
Firefly. Queen of Pain has an effective high-deceleration ability against Batrider -
Shadow Strike, which is why he cannot quickly set fire to all enemies under
Firefly and fly between all Queen of Pain allies. In addition, Queen of Pain has a wonderful escape in stock -
Blink, which can save her at any moment in which batrider decides to attack
Additional:
* Queen of Pain can be an effective tool against Batrider in the game and on the line. She has long-range abilities such as
Scream of Pain or
Sonic Wave and a long-range type of attack, which is why she can keep Batrider at a distance all the time, and prevent him from attacking with
Flaming Lasso or
Firefly. Queen of Pain has an effective high-deceleration ability against Batrider -
Shadow Strike, which is why he cannot quickly set fire to all enemies under
Firefly and fly between all Queen of Pain allies. In addition, Queen of Pain has a wonderful escape in stock -
Blink, which can save her at any moment in which batrider decides to attack
* A good Skywrath Mage with quick fingers will punish Queen of Pain for blinking aggressively.
Ancient Seal is a six second silence with no cast time, so he can interrupt either her Shadow Strike or Sonic Wave, and a good
Mystic Flare on top of that will seal the deal for her.
*
Ancient Seal also has pretty good range so he could get it off before she blinks away.
*
Press the Attack dispels Flaming Lasso.
* Batrider is unlikely to win a
Duel in any stage of the game.
*
Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
*
Time Lapse with
Aghanim's Scepter dispels Flaming Lasso when used on allied hero.
*
Linken's Sphere is core item for a Weaver making him a hard target for Lasso during entire game.
*
Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
*
Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability
Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability
Meld.
Additional:
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability
Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability
Meld.
* Batrider's abilities are designed to deal damage over time, burning through Templar Assassin's layers extremely quickly.
Flamebreak applies 7 instances of damage, burning through the entirety of Refraction, and
Firefly applies damage on the place, forcing her to either get out of Meld and be attacked or stay in place or be incinerated.
*
Flaming Lasso pierces Black King Bar and rendering Templar Assassin helpless unless there are allies helping her.
Additional:
* Batrider's DoT damage quickly removes Templar Assassin's
Refraction and can damage her during
Meld.
* Heroes with silence such as
Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him:
Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
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You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
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Batrider
*
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time can both dispel Flaming Lasso.
Sticky Napalm,
Flaming Lasso, and
Flamebreak can all be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
Firefly will continuously heal Abaddon under Borrowed Time.
Additional:
*
*
Skywrath Mage
*
Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst
Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.
*