* Heroes with strong dispels can remove Primal Roar's stun: Abaddon, Slark, Oracle.
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
* Primal Roar can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* The debuffs from Wild Axes and Poison from Call of the Wild: Boar can also be dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
Additional:
* Aphotic Shield effectively nullifies Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* Even being initiated by Primal Roar, Borrowed Time can make Abaddon extremely difficult to kill.
* False Promise effectively nullifies Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* Purifying Flames kills Beastmaster's Hawk instantly and Boar with two casts.
* Cold Embrace mitigates Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* Winter's Curse can turn Beastmaster's summons and Inner Beast against his teammate.
Additional:
* Beastmaster's summons and Inner Beast are very useful to attack his cursed teammate.
* Cold Embrace effectively mitigates Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* Boulder Smash can return Tusk after his initiation.
* Geomagnetic Grip prevents Tusk from using Snowball to escape.
* Static Link drains Tusk's base damage, and it also reduces the critical damage output from Walrus PUNCH!.
* Plasma Field and Eye of the Storm allow Razor to chase Tusk after he uses Snowball.
* Reactive Armor is very effective against Beastmaster's summons during laning stage and entire game.
* Timbersaw can quickly clear Beastmaster's summons with his nukes.
* Lotus Orb item for Timbersaw can releases roar from the target position, stunning and damaging Beastmaster and knocking away, damaging and slowing allies that stand on the way.
* Illuminate clears Beastmaster's summons and is effective against his push.
* 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.
* Untouchable negates Inner Beast's attack speed bonus, making her hard to kill even if stunned by Primal Roar.
* Enchantress can also take control of Beastmaster's summons.
Additional:
* Enchant can control Beastmaster's boars with Enchant, mitigating his effectiveness during the laning stage and teamfights.
* After using Snowball, Tusk can't control where he's going, allowing Techies to make him roll onto mines.
* Doppelganger allows Phantom Lancer to dodge an incoming snowball.
* Phantom Lancer usually buys a Diffusal Blade, which is very effective against Tusk's low mana pool.
* Phantom Lancer usually buys Manta Style which can also dodge an incoming snowball, much like Doppelganger.
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver, Morphling, Medusa.
* 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 that rely on summons will suffer against Ion Shell, which kills them very quickly: Beastmaster, Broodmother, Enigma, Nature's Prophet, Visage, Warlock, Wraith King.
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver, Morphling, Medusa.
* Heroes who summon multiple units that are not spell immune. Nature's Prophet,Lycan,Beastmaster
* Heroes with summoned units don't fare well against Dawnbreaker. (Phantom Lancer ,Beastmaster ,Lycan).
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active: Bane, Beastmaster, Bloodseeker, Clockwerk, Doom, Shadow Shaman.
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.
* Heroes with AoE abilities are a bane to Beastmaster's summons: Storm Spirit, Magnus, Pangolier.
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver, Morphling, Medusa.
* Glimpse can return Tusk to where he was after using Snowball.
* Static Storm prevents Tusk from escaping with Snowball and when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, it will also prevent him from using items.
* Tusk with Snowball
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with Phase Shift
* Riki with Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with Sleight of Fist and Activate Fire Remnant
* Chaos Knight with Phantasm
* Naga Siren with Mirror Image
* Tusk with Snowball
* Juggernaut with Omnislash
* Brewmaster with Primal Split
* Lifestealer with Infest
* Phoenix with Supernova
* 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.
* Wild Axes, Primal Roar and Drums of Slom can deal high damage to Chen and clear waves of his creeps.
* Even though Chen can take control of the Boar from Call of the Wild Boar at any time with Holy Persuasion, which could put Beastmaster in a disadvantage against Chen. Skilled Beastmaster can buy Helm of the Overlord to regain control of it to counter this problem.
* Smart Beastmaster can also buy Bloodthorn to prevent Chen from taking control of the Boar from Call of the Wild Boar and make Chen more vulnerable to Beastmaster.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* The Hawk can easily find Monkey King while he is sitting on a tree.
* Wild Axes can knock out Monkey King from tree.
* Boars drastically reduce Monkey King's attack speed, making it harder for him to gain Jingu Mastery stacks.
Additional:
* Wild Axes can chop down trees, making it difficult for Monkey King to utilize Tree Dance well.
* Call of the Wild Hawk can scout Monkey King when he is perched on top of trees.
* Primal Roar can stun Monkey King for a lengthy duration even with spell immunity.
* Tusk can Walrus Kick Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
Additional:
* Tusk can Walrus Kick Monkey King from Wukong's Command, making his ultimate useless.
* Attacks from Boars and the attack speed boost from Inner Beast will quickly wear down Refraction.
* Because Templar Assassin does not have escape potential in lane, any support hero with roaming potential and a Dust of Appearance can be great at shutting her down early game: Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, Tusk, Bounty Hunter, Riki, Warlock.
* Primal Roar and the slow from Boars make kiting Tiny very easy.
* Heroes that are able to slow Tiny's attack speed, like Tusk and Phoenix, will greatly limit his Physical damage output.
* Illusion or summon-based heroes can be a problem to Viper due to his lack of AoE damage: Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Beastmaster
* Viper Strike can be countered through Snowball, wasting Viper's mana through his ultimate. It's Viper Strike's break is also useless because he has no passive abilties at all. And to make things worse, Viper Strike cannot disable Walrus PUNCH! because it's an auto-cast ability
* As Tusk is a natural Silver Edge wielder, he can use it to disable Viper's magic resistance from Corrosive Skin, and make him vulnreable to his other allies.
* Long ranged disables, especially those that pierce spell immunity, cancel Black Hole: Beastmaster's Primal Roar, Bane's Fiend's Grip, Faceless Void's Chronosphere, Magnus's Reverse Polarity, Axe's Berserker's Call, Pudge'sMeat Hook.
* Walrus PUNCH! can interrupt Black Hole and it can pierce spell immunity and neither Black King Bar nor Linken's Sphere can protect Enigma from Walrus PUNCH! as Walrus PUNCH! is an auto-cast ability.
* In pretty much any phase of the game, Tusk's abilities can easily cancel Black Hole and disrupt Enigma's positioning.
* Heroes with disables that go through spell immunity can end Bloodseeker before he has the chance to do anything: Batrider, Beastmaster
* Snowball negates Rupture and protects Tusk allies when Ruptured.
* 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 high physical and magical damage alike are a huge hazard for Muerta, as they can deal serious damage to her even if she has Pierce the Veil active: Luna, Lina, Tusk, Broodmother, Shadow Fiend, Ember Spirit, Gyrocopter, Vengeful Spirit, Arc Warden, Medusa, Shadow Shaman.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster, Broodmother, Chaos Knight, Lycan, Naga Siren, Nature's Prophet, Phantom Lancer, Shadow Shaman, Terrorblade, Visage, Warlock, Wraith King.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, Lifestealer.
* Snowball can be used to save allies or himself during Venomous Gale and Poison Nova.
* Venomancer lacks mobility and has low base health, so he can be killed by Walrus PUNCH!
* Heroes with AoE abilities are a bane to Beastmaster's summons: Storm Spirit, Magnus, Pangolier.
* 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
* Ice Shards can easily interfere with Rolling Thunder, making him stuck inside the arc and wasting his ultimate. Do not panic and use Shield Crash to get out of that position.
* Snowball helps Tusk and his allies follow a fleeing Pangolier, keep in mind that the Pangolier can always counter-initiate with his Rolling Thunder.
* Walrus PUNCH! deals heavy damage even during his Rolling Thunder.
* Snowball can protect Tusk and his teammates from a Spear of Mars' stun after an Arena of Blood, and with proper targeting, even bring them out of the Arena. This is especially noticeable in the earlier stages of the game before allies buy Black King Bar and rely on this less. Even during the late-game, Tusk can purchase a Blink Dagger to save allies that are caught before Black King Bars can be used by Blinking in and Snowballing out.
* Tag Team is a constant threat to Mars in-lane, as it deals significant damage and slow, making Bulwark slightly ineffective.
* It is worth noting that Ice Shards can be detrimental to Tusk's own team by creating terrain that Spear of Mars can latch on, though using it conservatively is a good enough solution in most cases.
* Wild Axes destroys large amounts of trees specially upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter,
* Snowball allows Tusk to move himself and allies towards Sniper whilst invulnerable and hidden.
* His Ice Shards may also block pathing for Sniper as he has no means of moving through obstacles. In addition, Tag Team can hinder Sniper's escape.
Additional:
* Tusk alone or with his teammates can close Sniper's long range easily with Snowball, even wasting Shrapnel, ending with a very vulnerable Sniper.
* Walrus PUNCH!'s very high physical damage output can easily kill Sniper instantly due to his low health and armor.
* Primal Roar allows Beastmaster to keep Lycan in place after he used his Shapeshift.
* Heroes with AoE abilities are a bane to Beastmaster's summons: Storm Spirit, Magnus, Pangolier.
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Queen of Pain.
* Tusks damage/stun is enough to obliviate Storm Spirit before he can do anything.
* Tusk is a common Blink Dagger carrier, and once he reaches Level 18, Walrus PUNCH! deals roughly half of Storm Spirit's health alone, It also stuns for a long enough time for Tusk to Snowball Storm Spirit, stunning him even more, If that hasn't finished him off, the damage from Ice Shards probably will. Combined with Tag Team, which adds bonus damage to Tusks attacks, Storm Spirit is unlikely to survive Tusk initiating on him
* Walrus PUNCH is even more potent if he uses a Silver Edge instead
* However while Ball Lightning doesn't disjoint Snowball, if used before Tusk hits with Snowball, prevents the stun and damage from being applied
* Shadow Fiend's lack of mobility and low base health make him an easy target for early ganks.
* Pugna's low health and reliance on channeled abilities make him very vulnerable to Tusk, although Pugna can win in a straight up 1v1 later in the game.
* Tag Team easily overwhelms Pudge, as he has low armor, which when combined with heroes with strong physical damage and Pudge's slow speed, it becomes for Pudge difficult to escape.
* Snowball can save a Dismembered ally and stop Pudge's Dismember.
* Walrus PUNCH! will removes a big chunk of Pudge's health and stun him.
* Pudge usually can't stand toe to toe against Tusk and his allies in the early game.
* Snowball and Ice Shards keep Drow Ranger down and preventing her from running away.
* Snowball also lets Tusk get to Drow Ranger and stop her Marksmanship bonus. It can also be to save allies affected by Gust.
* Tag Team allows Tusk to slow her down and land a killing blow on her.
* Walrus PUNCH! slows Drow Ranger and deals a huge amount of damage to her, due to her low health (and low armor without Marksmanship, since Tusk can quickly close the gap to Drow Ranger).
* Primal Roar and the slow from Boars make kiting Troll Warlord very easy.
* Inner Beast helps Beastmaster's team destroy Supernova quickly.
* Primal Roar takes Sven out of the fight completely, even with Black King Bar.
* Primal Roar and the slow from Boars makes kiting Ursa very easy.
* Beastmaster's Hawk can find Tinker easily while he is pushing or blinking into trees.
* 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.
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with abilities that can save teammates are also effective such as Shadow Demon, Dazzle, Oracle, Bane, Pugna, Tusk, Winter Wyvern, Io, Underlord, Treant Protector and Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin completely useless in teamfights throughout the game: Axe, Enigma, Vengeful Spirit, Doom, Bane, Beastmaster, Pudge, Medusa, Warlock.
* 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.
* Because only one clone needs to be killed in order to kill Meepo, heroes that excel at singling out enemies can also be a detriment to him, such as Batrider, Beastmaster, Pudge and Clockwerk.
* Heroes with hiding abilities can protect disabled allies: Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Demon, Tusk, Phoenix with Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
* Bane has low mobility and health, making him an easy target for Walrus PUNCH!
* Walrus PUNCH! can be used to cancel Fiend's Grip if he is not the target.
* Heroes who can hide the Dueled target (Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Demon, Tusk, Phoenix with Aghanim's Scepter etc).
Additional:
* Walrus PUNCH! makes Legion Commander lose Duel easily, especially when she doesn't have Blade Mail. Tusk can also snowball dueled allies, preventing them from taking damage for a large portion of the duel's duration.
* Heroes who relies on illusions and summons (Beastmaster, Chaos Knight, etc.).
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as Beastmaster , Chen, or Shadow Demon.
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.
* Wraith King's lack of area of effect spells makes him easily overwhelmed by Beastmaster's summons.
* Frostbite kills boars instantly on the laning stage leading to either experience lead or disabling Beastmaster from using Boar
* Crystal Nova nukes and slows down the attack and movement speed of Beastmaster's summons.
* Freezing Field grants improved self armor, nukes and slows down Beastmaster and his summons.
* Snowball allows Tusk to easily cancel Freezing Field from a safe distance without putting himself in any danger.
* Walrus PUNCH! is most certainly a high enough damage nuke to easily kill off Crystal Maiden.
* Ice Shards can prevent the already immobile Crystal Maiden from escaping, making her an easy kill for either Tusk or a teammate.
Additional:
* Crystal Maiden's low health and armor make her an easy target for Walrus PUNCH!
* Tusk's Snowball can protect allies and cancel Freezing Field.
* Snowball and Walrus PUNCH! can interrupt Freezing Field.
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade, Beastmaster, Broodmother.
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.
* Long lockdown is a great way to deal with Axe to prevent Berserker's Call from being used, heroes such as Legion Commander, Beastmaster and Primal Beast are good examples of this.
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Beastmaster
* Having many summons out will cause Echo Slam to deal extra damage.
Tusk
* Echo Slam is good against Snowball since it bunches everyone up. This can set up some prime opportunities for Blink Echo Slams.