* 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.
*
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.
*
Reincarnation makes Wraith King nearly impossible to gank with Rupture.
*
Vampiric Spirit restores Wraith King's health, reducing the effect of Thirst.
Additional:
*
Rupture is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Spirit and Mortal Strike prevent Bloodseeker from achieving
Thirst bonuses.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter cannot break
Reincarnation, which could put him in a disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
*
Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, Wraith King is a single-target hero, so he cannot deal with Disruption illusions.
* Storm Spirit is invulnerable during
Ball Lightning, allowing him to zip away from any ganking attempts with Rupture.
*
Ball Lightning also prevents Bloodseeker from chasing down an injured Storm Spirit, or catching him in Blood Rite.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit is invulnerable during
Ball Lightning, rendering
Rupture ineffective against him.
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences:
Shadow Demon,
Shadow Fiend,
Venomancer,
Ancient Apparition etc.
Additional:
* Shadow Demon will have a hard time catching Storm Spirit, as he can get away with
Ball Lightning.
*
Static Remnant will make quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* With very high mobility and usually being paired with
Orchid Malevolence, he can catch Shadow Demon with ease both in ganks and in teamfights if Shadow Demon has no survivability items.
* Heroes with illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Arc Warden
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
*
Mana Shield makes it very difficult for Bloodseeker to gain his Thirst bonuses.
* Rupture rarely kills Medusa through
Mana Shield.
* Shadow Demon's main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Shadow Demon likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Shadow Demon dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Shadow Demon dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil:
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Lycan,
Bloodseeker,
Anti-Mage,
Timbersaw.
* All of Puck's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Shadow Demon will find a hard time catching a Puck, as he can get away with
Illusory Orb or even
Waning Rift;
* Puck can dodge Shadow Poison waves and potentially avoid the damage from Demonic Purge with
Phase Shift. Furthermore, after Disruption ended, Puck can use Phase Shift to avoid any further danger and can blink away with
Blink Dagger.
*
Waning Rift can be used to initiate Shadow Demon, prevent him from using any spells.
* Heroes who are strong against mobile heroes:
Disruptor,
Bloodseeker,
Kunkka,
Keeper of the Light.
* Bramble Maze greatly hinders Bloodseeker's ability to run around in teamfights and pick off dying allies.
* Shadow Realm prevents Bloodseeker from attacking dark Willow, allowing her to safely teleport away.
*
Waveform ignores Rupture's damage, letting Morphling escape unharmed.
*
Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) makes it very hard for Bloodseeker to kill Morphling or gain his Thirst bonuses, since Morphling can use it to sustain damage while trading attacks when Ruptured.
* Morphling usually builds
Linken's Sphere, which blocks Rupture.
Additional:
* Morphling can escape from
Rupture using Waveform.
* Morphling is a typical
Manta Style carrier, which can be used to dispel the silence from
Blood Rite.
* Snowball negates
Rupture and protects Tusk allies when Ruptured.
* All of Lion's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
*
Hex and
Mana Drain can make quick work of whatever illusions you're creating, especially when he acquires his Talents at level 20 and 25.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Earth Spike or
Finger of Death with
Aghanim's Scepter for the enemy.
* All of Pugna's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
*
Nether Ward punishes Shadow Demon's constant mana usage from spamming spells, especially Shadow Poison.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Nether Blast for the enemy.
*
Life Drain can be used to heal Pugna or an ally to save them from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption unless Pugna buys defensive items.
*
Dragon Slave will make quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Light Strike Array for the enemy.
* Shadow Demon doesn't have the burst damage to take Lina out of the fight quickly, although Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Lina.
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova will tear apart any illusions spawned from
Disruption
* Split Earth can punish improper usage of
Disruption.
* Leshrac does not have any buffs that can be removed by
Demonic Purge.
Additional:
*
Pulse Nova makes quick work of any illusions with amplified damage, and deals damage even if Leshrac is in Disruption.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Split Earth for the enemy.
* Disruption does not stop
Diabolic Edict and
Pulse Nova once they start pulsing, and even worse it provides a safe shelter for Leshrac to keep pumping up his powerful AoE damage onto the battlefield.
* Shadow Demon doesn't have the burst damage to take Leshrac out of the fight quickly, although Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Leshrac.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* Heroes with disables that go through spell immunity can end Bloodseeker before he has the chance to do anything:
Batrider,
Beastmaster
* 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.
*
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
* Heroes with disables that go through spell immunity can end Bloodseeker before he has the chance to do anything:
Batrider,
Beastmaster
* Heroes with illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Arc Warden
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* Heroes with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as
Beastmaster ,
Chen, or
Shadow Demon.
* Heroes that rely on right-clicks will find themselves unable to damage opponents seriously after being affected by Static Link, like
Sven,
Bloodseeker, and
Juggernaut.
*
Shallow Grave prevents Bloodseeker from replenishing his health by finishing off enemies.
*
Bloodseeker's
Thirst,
Rupture, and huge AoE silence
Blood Rite can fare well against Dazzle.
* Damage reduction from
Atrophy Aura prevents Bloodseeker from killing targets and gaining his Thirst bonuses.
*
Pit of Malice's area of effect catches Bloodseeker easily, negating his speed bonus during teamfights.
*
Dark Rift allows Underlord to transport Ruptured allies to the fountain, rendering it useless.
* 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.
*
Guardian Angel's near invulnerability denies Bloodseeker the bonuses from Thirst, preventing him from gaining the upper hand in teamfights.
*
Purification's pure damage makes it hard for Bloodseeker to pursue enemies, and prevents him from replenishing his health by finishing off enemies.
* Heroes that can purge buffs can dispel Guardian Angel:
Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Oracle.
Additional:
* Demonic Purge can dispel
Guardian Angel on the key target during combat, allow your allies to finish them.
* Arena Of Blood prevents Bloodseeker from attacking a
Ruptured target.
* Bulwark helps Mars survive
Rupture ganks simply by turning towards Bloodseeker without moving.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can push Bloodseeker from Ruptured targets.
* Heroes with break abilities:
Shadow Demon (with
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper.
*
Berserker's Rage will repeatedly trap Bloodseeker in a one-on-one fight.
*
Whirling Axes (Melee) blinds Bloodseeker, causing him to miss 60% of the time, and therefore reduces his ability to gain the upper hand in teamfights.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
*
Laser blinds Bloodseeker, preventing him from getting last hits and denies during the laning stage and preventing him from finishing off enemies.
* Tinker always buys
Boots of Travel, helping him escape Bloodseeker's early ganks.
* Tinker's heavy magical damage will burst down Bloodseeker during the early to mid game, as he has little health.
Additional:
* Laser can be very effective against
Bloodrage as the damage will be amplified while the blind prevents Bloodseeker from landing hits.
*
Keen Conveyance guarantees him escape from Rupture.
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker:
Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Batrider.
*
Windrun triggers the damage from Rupture.
Additional:
*
Rupture turns Windranger's mobility against her.
*
Blood Rite's silence makes Windranger totally useless, since she's extremely reliant on abilities.
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of Windrun with
Disruption.
* Alternatively,
Demonic Purge. can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless.
*
Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by Shackleshot.
Additional:
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of
Windrun with Disruption.
* Alternatively, Demonic Purge can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless for 7 seconds.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by
Shackleshot.
* 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.
*
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.
* Huskar is often at low health, providing large Thirst bonuses.
*
Life Break triggers Rupture's damage.
Additional:
* Huskar is often at low health, providing large
Thirst bonuses to Bloodseeker.
* Life Break can trigger
Rupture's damage.
* A self applied
Bloodrage together with Blademail means it's almost suicidal for Huskar to jump on Bloodseeker with Life Break
* Shadow Demon's
Shadow Poison can quickly stack to the point where Huskars generally low health is easily finished off.
* Shadow Demon's
Disruption can turn Huskar's high attack speed and regeneration against him, It also makes him an easy target for Shadow Poison,
* Shadow Demon commonly builds a
Meteor Hammer, allowing him to land a heavy stun on Huskar
* Shadow Demon's upgraded
Demonic Purge breaks Huskar, It also pierces Spell Immunity, Without his passive for 7 seconds Huskar quickly falls in battle
* However note that Shadow Demon is a squishy target and you can often overwhelm him if he is alone, But he can still Disrupt you to escape
Additional:
* Shadow Poison can quickly stack up on Huskar, And with his naturally low health you don't need as many stacks to be effective.
* Disruption turns Huskars high attack speed against him, They also have the highest survivability as illusions due to his passive
Berserker's Blood, It also allows you to put Shadow Poison stacks on him,
* Dissimulate turns Huskar's burning damage against his team, You can cast it on an ally who is taking a bunch of
Burning Spear stacks and cause Huskar to take high amounts of damage as well
* Scepter upgraded Demonic Purge is your most effective weapon against him, It's 7 second Break causes him to quickly die in battle
* Sniper's lack of mobility and escape mechanisms makes him one of the easier heroes for Bloodseeker to gank.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Bloodseeker is one of the hardest counters to Slark.Thirst prevents Slark from healing in lane with
Shadow Dance and may set him up for a kill while in the jungle,or retreating.
* Rupture will deal damage during
Pounce.
*
Dark Pact cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Slark from escaping ganks.
Additional:
*
Thirst stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration if Slark's current health is below the Thirst's visibility threshold.
*
Rupture effectively diminishes Slark's mobility in battle, leaving him susceptible to AoE stuns or forcing to teleport out of the fight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* Heroes with fast movement abilities will suffer huge damage when afflicted by Rupture:
Spirit Breaker,
Earth Spirit,
Dark Seer.
Additional:
*
Rupture can deal a lot of damage to either a surged Dark Seer or his allies and prevent the target from getting into position.
* The constant dispel from Demonic Purge will make any attempt to save the victim or himself by
Surge become futile. For what it's worth, Demonic Purge will also dispel
Ion Shell.
* Thirst detects Mirana or her ally at low health during
Moonlight Shadow.
* Rupture deals high damage when Mirana uses
Leap.
Additional:
*
Rupture can quickly kill Mirana if she tries to Leap away.
*
Thirst detects Mirana and her allies during Moonlight Shadow.
* Heroes with summons or illusions makes Sacred Arrow harder to land:
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet.
*
Bloodseeker's
Rupture turns Night Stalker mobility against him and
Thirst grants movement speed bonus and vision prevents Night Stalker from initiating and re-initiating.
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as:
Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
* Heroes with gap-closing abilities who attempt to use them for escaping Bloodseeker will suffer serious damage from Rupture:
Phantom Assassin,
Anti-Mage,
Faceless Void,
Riki,
Slark,
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes with ways to protect themselves or allies from Spirit Breaker's initiation:
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer,
Omniknight,
Dawnbreaker.
* Heroes with gap-closing abilities who attempt to use them for escaping Bloodseeker will suffer serious damage from Rupture:
Phantom Assassin,
Anti-Mage,
Faceless Void,
Riki,
Slark,
Spirit Breaker.
* Hex abilities prevent attacking, ability and item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility:
Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Dazzle with
Aghanim's Shard
*
Disruption instantly removes Phantom Embrace, and can potentially save allies affected by Soulbind.
*
Demonic Purge dispels Ink Swell.
*
Disruption can protect Shadow Demon's allies from Fortune's End, preserving healing or buffs. It can also catch Oracle's allies, allowing
Shadow Poison to be used without being dispelled.
*
Demonic Purge prevents over-time healing during False Promise, such as Purifying Flames and
Urn of Shadows. If he has
Aghanim's Scepter, this issue can persist for longer or on multiple allies.
* It will not, however, prevent healing from instant abilities, items, or auras, making
Mekansm a good choice against him.
* Alchemist is a well-known
Radiance carrier among other auras your illusions will benefit from. They also get the extra move speed and reduced base attack time from his
Chemical Rage, and it's even better if you can catch him as his own rage is about to expire.
* Disruption will buy enough time for all allies to retreat when Alchemist starts to activate
Unstable Concoction.
*
Thirst allows Bloodseeker to see where Io relocated to, should either Io or the tethered hero have low health.
*
Rupture forces Io to stay in place, preventing it from using the Tether bonus movement speed to escape.
* Rupture and Blood Rite locks down Timbersaw, preventing him from escaping with
Timber Chain. However, Timbersaw may reflect a good deal of damage with
Blade Mail.
*
Skeleton Walk is not enough to outrun Bloodseeker, and is detected by Thirst.
* Because of his low health and high damage output, Clinkz will get obliterated by
Blade Mail
Additional:
*
Thirst reveals Clinkz if he tries to escape with Skeleton Walk with low health. It also allows Bloodseeker to match or exceed Clinkz's speed.
*
Rupture negates the mobility provided by Skeleton Walk in any attempt to escape or reposition in fights.
* Bloodseeker can easily build items to counter Clinkz, including
Talisman of Evasion upgrades,
Blade Mail, and armor items.
* Shadow Demon's spammable illusions can be used to scout Techies'
Proximity Mines.
*
Rupture ruins her only movement ability, Rebound. Combined with its high movement speed and her being unable to interrupt it once its cast, using it under the effects of Rupture will surely deal incredibly immutable damage, if not kill her.
* As a Strength hero, Marci naturally has high HP. Rupture's initial damage uses her high HP as a catalyst to deal damage depending on her current health, dealing a good amount of damage if she's full HP or forcing her to stop if she's low.
* With
Aghanim's Shard,
Bloodrage will now deal pure damage and lifesteal based on the opponent's max health. Her high HP as a Strength hero ensures that Bloodseeker will always deal significant attack damage and sustain himself a lot whenever he attacks Marci.
* If Marci doesn't build
Black King Bar, Bloodseeker's
Blood Rite will prevent her from using all of her spells which she relies quite heavily on. Her only dispel is tied to Sidekick with level 25 left talent.
*
Blood Rite makes Ezalor chose between getting off Illuminate or getting silenced for a while, as Illuminate is a channeled ability.
* Blood Rite's silence can completely take Ezalor out of a teamfight, as he relies on his abilities to be useful.
* Keeper of the Light's only mobility source, his high movement speed (via his high base movement speed and through spirit form), is entirely countered by
Rupture.
* Her illusions with
Desolate are very valuable, especially when they are usually paired with
Radiance. Unlike blink or force movement,
Spectral Dagger's escaping mechanic requires manual movement, and therefore Demonic Purge can hold her back really hard and allow your allies to finish her off.
* If she tries to kill you or any key ally with
Haunt at any point of the game, remember to not panic and always use Disruption on the illusion, whether it is fake or the real Spectre herself. When the situation calls, Demonic Purge can save a second victim from a haunting Spectre.
* When upgraded by
Aghanim's Scepter, Demonic Purge can remove Spectre from a fight by disabling Desolate and
Dispersion, negating her damage and tankiness respectively.
* Thirst detects Riki whenever his health is low.
* Rupture does large damage when Riki uses
Blink Strike.
* Bloodseeker is not affected by slows when he is affected by
Thirst.
* If he sees Chain Frost is targeting him, he can easily isolate himself with the movement speed buff from
Thirst so that it stops bouncing around.
* Lich heavily relies on his abilities to contribute to team fights, making
Blood Rite effective against him.
*
Rupture deals extra damage to Magnus during Skewer or
Force Staff, preventing him from escaping or counter-initiating, forcing him to invest on a
Linken's Sphere.
* Disruption can save allies and mess up an initiation from an enemy Legion Commander. Using Disruption on your ally that is affected by
Duel will leave her totally exposed without the benefit of the life steal from
Moment of Courage. A precise decision to Disrupt Legion Commander or her victim is crucial to waste Duel's potential.
* Demonic Purge cannot be dispelled by a hard dispel from
Press the Attack, which in turn can be dispelled by your ultimate.
*
Rupture will fully damage Void Spirit during his ultimate, removing his main escape mechanic during fights and his way to disrupt them heavily.
*
Blood Rite will force Void Spirit to use Dissimilate or Astral Step or be silenced. In the latter's case, it can be dangerous when combined with Rupture.
* In the laning stage, making illusions of Venomancer will turn his
Poison Sting back at him, making for an easy gank at level one, and for later when your mid comes for ganks.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge renders Ursa useless even through
Black King Bar as it slows him, continually purges his Overpower charges and can not be dispelled by Ursa's Enrage.
*
Disruption is a good way to save teammates against Ursa. Disrupting Ursa is also a good way to kite him, as it can not be dispelled by Enrage.
*
Blood Rite can potentially force him to activate
Black King Bar prematurely, before pulling off a Black Hole combo.
* Bloodseeker can find an Enigma out of position and
Rupture him, making it difficult to initiate properly in a team fight, as it pierces through
Black King Bar.
* Rupture works through
Rolling Thunder and
Swashbuckle, greatly reducing Pangolier's mobility.
Additional:
*
Thirst provides constant sight and speed to Bloodseeker, allows him to catch up a fleeing Pangolier through all of his mobility.
*
Rupture is a great threat to Pangolier, causing him to take heavy damage if he uses Swashbuckle and especially Rolling Thunder, forcing him to stop his ultimate prematurely, or keep rolling to his death.
* Shadow Demon's
Disruption will allow his allies to maneuver around you. It can also be used to protect an ally from your abilities, or Astral Imprisonment -
Meteor Hammer combo.
*
Disseminate turns your high damage Arcane Orb and Sanitiy's Eclipse against you and your teammates.
* Scepter upgraded
Demonic Purge will break your Essence Flux passive for 7 seconds, preventing you from regaining mana, and severely hindering your damage output.
*
Nether Swap triggers extra damage from Rupture.
* Blood Rite sets up while Vengeful Spirit using her
Nether Swap within a timed correctly.
* Heroes with invisibility will be detected by Thirst when they have low enough health:
Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Weaver,
Treant Protector,
Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes who can summon illusions and summons because Terrorblade has no abilities to deal with multiple enemies at once outside Reflection:
Shadow Shaman,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Demon,
Dark Seer,
Nature's Prophet,
Invoker,
Morphling,
Visage,
Grimstroke with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Heroes with invisibility will be detected by Thirst when they have low enough health:
Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Weaver,
Treant Protector,
Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
*
Bloodseeker's
Rupture forces Slardar to stay still during fights, preventing Slardar from using Guardian sprint to move in and out of fights. This takes away the ability to initiate and re-initiate with Slithereen Crush's low cooldown. Due to the increased move speed from Guardian Sprint, Slardar can lose health at about 160% the rate of normal heroes while under
Rupture. Bloodseeker's
Thirst also gives him enough move speed so that he's one of the few heroes who can outrun or catch up to a Slardar during Guardian Sprint.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Heroes with invisibility will be detected by Thirst when they have low enough health:
Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Weaver,
Treant Protector,
Nyx Assassin.
Additional:
* While Burrowing, Nyx is an easy target for a
Blood Rite, and his only way to counter it is a well-timed
Spiked Carapace.
*
Thirst is always a threat to Nyx Assassin, hindering his attempt of escape using
Vendetta and rendering him unable to surprise Bloodseeker's allies.
*
Rupture also prevents Nyx Assassin from escaping with
Vendetta, as it forces him to stay still.
* Heroes with long-lasting, undispellable debuffs will pinpoint the true Naga Siren:
Spirit Breaker,
Bloodseeker,
Witch Doctor.
* Heroes that can maintain vision on Monkey King can see when he uses Tree Dance:
Bloodseeker,
Treant Protector with Eyes In The Forest,
Sniper,
Weaver
* Melee carries such as
Sven,
Ursa or
Lifestealer can be slowed and easily kited with Demonic Purge.
* Similarly, they can negate your X Marks The Spot & Torrent combo by protecting your target when you use Return. Good candidates to negate your combo include
Outworld Destroyer and his
Astral Imprisonment, and
Shadow Demon and his
Disruption.
* Heroes with hide abilities can often dodge a Ghostship just before it hits.
* Similarly, they can negate your X Marks The Spot & Torrent combo by protecting your target when you use Return. Good candidates to negate your combo include
Outworld Destroyer and his
Astral Imprisonment, and
Shadow Demon and his
Disruption.
* A
Eul's Scepter of Divinity can also do the trick, but, unlike the previously mentioned abilities, you can only use it on yourself and not your allies.
* 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.
Additional:
* Be ready to save an ally from
Omnislash with your Disruption.
* Spawning
Juggernaut's illusions is a great deal, as his base attack time is low and he has a critical strike. Illusions will benefit from both.
* Demonic Purge will prevent Juggernaut's desperate attempt to flee using
Blade Fury. However, it cannot stop him if he is using
Town Portal Scroll.
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower:
Bloodseeker,
Ember Spirit,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Weaver.
*
Time Walk negates Rupture's damage.
*
Chronosphere prevents Bloodseeker from running down and picking off weak enemies during teamfights.
Additional:
* Time Walk will not make
Rupture deal damage for the distance jumped and can be used to quickly escape from
Blood Rite.
* Heroes with gap-closing abilities who attempt to use them for escaping Bloodseeker will suffer serious damage from Rupture:
Phantom Assassin,
Anti-Mage,
Faceless Void,
Riki,
Slark,
Spirit Breaker.
*
Disruption can banish Faceless Void or an ally in Chronosphere, making it a less effective ability.
* Faceless Void's illusions created by
Disruption will not get stunned by Chronosphere, allowing Shadow Demon to attack Faceless Void in his Chronosphere.
* Casting
Disruption after releasing
Shadow Poison charges will make Time Walk unable to backtrack the damage.
*
Shadow Poison is a good way to deal damage as the initial damage and the release damage can't both be Time Walked at the same time.
*
Demonic Purge is a great slow, useful to force out a Time Walk early and can break Time Lock with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Heroes with break can disable Untouchable for a while:
Doom and
Shadow Demon (via
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper,
Shadow Shaman with Hex Breaks talent.
* Heroes with fast movement abilities will suffer huge damage when afflicted by Rupture:
Spirit Breaker,
Earth Spirit,
Dark Seer.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Heroes with silences :
Bloodseeker,
Riki,
Silencer.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* Heroes with invisibility will be detected by Thirst when they have low enough health:
Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Weaver,
Treant Protector,
Nyx Assassin.
Additional:
*
Rupture can turn Bounty Hunter's mobility against him, and prevents him from escaping with Shadow Walk due to the potentially heavy damage.
*
Thirst can prevent Bounty Hunter from escaping with Shadow Walk should Bounty Hunter's health become low enough, as it provides True Sight.
* Heroes with hiding abilities can protect disabled allies:
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Tusk,
Phoenix with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are
Death Prophet,
Drow Ranger,
Bloodseeker,
Disruptor and many others.
*
Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
Additional:
* Poof will destroy Shadow Demon's illusions created by
Disruption and quickly escapes from
Shadow Poison &
Demonic Purge.
* Every Meepo clone adds to Thirst's bonuses.
* Bloodseeker can chase down retreating clones when Meepo tries to cycle weaker clones away from combat.
*
Lycan and
Weaver has abilities that allow them to move at maximum movement speed, and those abilities can't be dispelled, potentially wasting the slow from Demonic Purge.
* Rupture completely negates Lycan's high mobility.
* All of Lycan's summons are good sources of healing with Bloodrage.
Additional:
*
Rupture completely negates Lycan's high mobility.
* All of Lycan's summons are good sources of healing with
Bloodrage.
* Heroes with area heals prevents Bloodseeker from bringing enemies low, and therefore deny him his Thirst bonuses and health return:
Necrophos,
Dazzle
*
Disruption can save an ally from a fatal Reaper's Scythe.
*
Demonic Purge can remove Ghost Shroud, making Necrophos vulnerable to physical damage and preventing him from regenerating health.
* You can potentially kill a fragile
Weaver by using Disruption during
Shukuchi with a well-placed
Sentry Ward, wasting the Shukuchi. But odds are he'll wait to get low health,
Time Lapse the damage away and Shukuchi away once more.
*
Shukuchi will trigger extra damage from Rupture.
*
Shukuchi's invisibility is detected by Thirst.
*
Time Lapse cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Weaver from escaping ganks. However, smart Weaver will buy
Linken's Sphere to counter this problem for him.
Additional:
*
Rupture is particularly crippling against Weaver, who relies on high movement speed from Shukuchi to fight and escape, and it cannot be dispelled by Time Lapse.
*
Thirst detects Weaver through Shukuchi whenever his health is low.
*
Blood Rite combined with Rupture forces Weaver to either take damage from the latter, or to get silenced for a long duration.
* Illusions and summons are double-edge sword type of matchup for Luna. On one hand, they can tank damage from Eclipse, but on the other hand, she can easily clear them before Eclipse with Moon Glaives. Examples include
Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress,
Meepo and
Arc Warden).
*
Demonic Purge takes off Luna's superior mobility, removing the need for chasing her and allowing your team to reposition in team fights or escape when at low HP. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter it will also take away glaive bounces and extra damage from Luna's passive. And Luna's commonly items Manta Style and Black King Bar does not work dispell to
Demonic Purge
* Luna's illusions created by Disruption are very valuable with their
Moon Glaives. These will effectively counter her pushing attempts and are painfully effective in team fights.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally from
Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Shadow Demon makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Demonic Purge takes off Luna's superior mobility, removing the need for chasing her and allowing your team to reposition in team fights or escape when at low HP. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Sceptre it will also take away glaive bounces and extra damage from Luna's passive.
* Luna's illusions created by Disruption are very valuable with their
Moon Glaives. These will effectively counter her pushing attempts and are painfully effective in team fights.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally from
Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Shadow Demon is a very good ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* Heroes with high armor and durability can be exceptionally hard for Bloodseeker to bring down:
Dragon Knight,
Axe
*
Disruption will save Shadow Demon's teammates from being killed by Counter Helix or Culling Blade.
*
Demonic Purge slows Axe to a crawl, making him nearly useless after initiating. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter, it will also break Counter Helix.
*
Demonic Cleanse clears Battle Hunger and Aghanim's Shard Counter Helix Damage Reduction, both allowing targets to escape and reducing your own survivability.
Additional:
* While it is unwise to encounter Axe alone, Disruption can be used to save your allies from Axe's initiate
Berserker's Call, or, if timed correctly, from his
Culling Blade.
* Illusions spawned from Axe has the Counter Helix passive, which with deal some nasty damage if an enemy focuses them
* Your upgraded Demonic Purge breaks Axe's primary damage output:
Counter Helix, This can be used on him during Berserker's Call to seriously hinder him.
* Demonic Cleanse will clear
Battle Hunger, which is Axe's method of catching heroes, and Shard upgraded Counter Helix's Damage Reduction, which is one of Axe's primary survivability abilities.
* Heroes with illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Arc Warden
* Although
Phantom Lancer will generate strong illusions, and you can also break his
Juxtapose with an Aghanim's Demonic Purge, you have a small chance of guessing which is the real Phantom Lancer after he uses
Doppelganger.
*
Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
*
Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
*
Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
*
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
*
Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
*
Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
*
Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
*
Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
*
Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
*
Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
*
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
*
Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
*
Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
*
Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer's strength is the sheer amount of illusions he can conjure, Dissimulate can be cast on an ally that he is focusing to quickly thin out his ranks
* Landing a upgraded Demonic Purge on the real Phantom Lancer prevents him from making very many illusions (His only source being
Doppelganger), You can reapply as needed if you have the Shard
* Disrupting Phantom Lancer allows you to create multiple extra illusions with
Juxtapose, As he is a common carrier of
Diffusal Blade, you can also drain the mana of any nearby heros
*
Borrowed Time makes Abaddon nearly impossible to gank.
*
Aphotic Shield and
Mist Coil prevents Bloodseeker from gaining his Thirst bonuses.
Additional:
* If
Rupture is used on Abaddon, Abaddon can use Borrowed Time and easily heal for the duration of Borrowed Time by simply moving.
* Shadow Demon with an
Aghanim's Scepter will use
Demonic Purge to disable Curse of Avernus and the passive component of Borrowed Time. If this is combined with a silence, Borrowed Time will not trigger at all.
* Even without
Aghanim's Scepter, he can still waste Borrowed Time with
Disruption. Curse of Avernus fully works on illusions, turning the passive ability against him.
* Heroes with high armor and durability can be exceptionally hard for Bloodseeker to bring down:
Dragon Knight,
Axe
Additional:
* Bloodseeker's physical damage is unlikely to kill Dragon Knight, and therefore rarely get a chance to recover the large amount of HP from
Bloodrage.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Shadow Demon abilities, especially
Demonic Purge.
* Phoenix AoE abilities remove Shadow Demon's illusions created by
Disruption.
* Phoenix expends health to use its abilities, making it a good target for Thirst.
* Rupture deals heavy damage against
Icarus Dive.
Additional:
* Although
Blood Rite can be easily avoided, if it does hit, its lengthy silence and pure damage can be a severe punishment for a slow, unobservant, or simply unfortunate Phoenix.
* His
Rupture can turn
Icarus Dive into a suicide option, and it cannot be dispelled, meaning even if Phoenix completes a
Supernova, choosing to Dive may just cut its health back down.
* And finally, due to Phoenix's health costs, too much careless ability spamming may just put Phoenix into Bloodseeker's vision through
Thirst, making it a very tempting ganking target.
* All of Queen of Pain's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* However, Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Queen of Pain.
*
Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from Shadow Demon's abilities if he doesn't have disables.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Sonic Wave for the enemy.
* Blood Rite prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with
Blink.
*
Blink will trigger the extra damage from Rupture.
Additional:
*
Blood Rite silences her, preventing her from initiating or escaping.
* With
Thirst, even if she Blinks away, Bloodseeker can catch right up to her.
*
Rupture will heavily damage Queen of Pain if she tries to Blink away.
* She is, however, one of the few heroes who can avoid the damage from Rupture if she successfully blink-walks.
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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Bloodseeker
*
Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape while Ruptured.
Ruptured.
Additional:
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Bloodseeker while
Shadow Demon
* Disruption is not reliable enough to catch an Ember Spirit with a backup
Fire Remnant.
Sleight of Fist will also make quick work of the spawned illusions.
Flame Guard with your Demonic Purge.
*
* The best you can do against an Ember Spirit is to dispel his