* Exorcism kills Primal Split's units very quickly.
* Heroes who can silence will shut down Dark Willow entirely: Death Prophet, Silencer, Drow Ranger
* Blinking heroes like Anti-Mage or Queen of Pain can often chase down an injured Brewmaster after his ultimate expires.
* Counterspell negates Dark Willow's high magic burst damage. Its active blocks Cursed Crown.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to dodge Terrorize during its long cast animation, as well as avoiding the obstacles from Bramble Maze. On the other hand, if Anti-Mage gets caught inside Bramble Maze, he's unable to Blink away.
* Dark Willow's chained magic burst requires a lot of mana, setting her up for damaging Mana Voids.
* Fortune's End not being disjointable is almost an ensured disable if Dark Willow tries to escape with Shadow Realm. Dispels Cursed Crown and Terrorize.
* Fate's Edict negates all her magic damage in case she catches a single hero.
* False Promise's strong dispel removes Dark Willow's disables.
Additional:
* Fortune's End can easily dispel Cursed Crown before it times out and stuns. He can also save a stunned ally with False Promise.
* Fate's Edict can easily negate Bedlam's over-time damage, since the spell provides no form of control. Similarly, he can also negate the magic burst from Shadow Realm.
* Fortune's End can dispel the fear effect from Terrorize, and it can remove the root from Bramble Maze if cast quick enough. Be mindful that Fortune's End only dispels your allies' debuffs on the primary target.
* Magnetic Field lets Arc Warden or allies evade Dark Willow's shadow realm attacks. The duration of the evasion can be extended with the clone.
* Spark Wraith also exploits Dark Willow's low mobility.
* Berserker's Call forces Dark Willow to attack, cancelling Shadow Realm.
* Flame Guard blocks Dark Willow's magical burst damage, and harms her if she tries to get close to attack with Bedlam.
* Sleight of Fist and Fire Remnant makes it hard for Dark Willow to fully disable Ember Spirit.
* Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Shaman has used all his crowd control before entering a fight.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Shadow Shaman lockdowns.
* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.
* Outworld Destroyer's pure damage will mop up Primal Split's units very quickly.
* After Brewmaster has committed Thunder Clap and Cinder Brew to gank, Bane can use Nightmare on Brewmaster to wait out the debuffs, and might even turn the tables by buying time for allied reinforcements.
* Bane can also prevent Brewmaster from using Primal Split with his long disables.
* Brewmaster is slow and has low armor, making his laning stage very difficult against Geminate Attack.
* Apart from the slow moving Hurl Boulder, which can be disjointed, he has no control to catch Weaver.
* Blade Fury dispels most of Dark Willow's abilities, allowing Juggernaut to pass through Bramble Maze and cancel out Cursed Crown before the stun occurs.
* However, Dark Willow can tank Omnislash with Shadow Realm. As she is a valid target, but invulnerable to right clicks.
Additional:
* None of Dark Willow's spells pierce Spell Immunity, making Blade Fury a good counter against her. Additionally, it dispels Cursed Crown and Bramble Maze.
* Dark Willow is generally fragile, which results in Omnislash being devastating against her.
* However, if Shadow Realm is activated during Omnislash, then the attack damage is negated (though Omnislash can still jump to other enemies).
* Jakiro's area of effect abilities can hit Dark Willow even while she is hidden during the Shadow Realm.
* Waiting about 2 seconds after Dark Willow casts Shadow Realm to cast Ice Path will stun her while her Shadow Realm is at it's maximum damage.
* Jakiro can stun Dark Willow when there is about 1 second left on Cursed Crown, Jakiro's Ice Path stun lasts slightly longer then Cursed Crown.
* Last Word and Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
* Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.
* Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her abilities, rendering her defenseless and unable to deal any serious damage.
* Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.
* Gust can hit Dark Willow beyond a defensive Bramble Maze, and before she gets close enough to hit Drow Ranger with Bedlam.
* Drow Ranger's long range allows her to hit Dark Willow's team without venturing into her Bramble Maze.
* Rot and Meat Hook hits Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Flesh Heap reduces Dark Willow's magic burst damage.
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to bypass Bramble Maze into the backline, and zip back into battle if he gets hit by Terrorize.
* Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Lion has used all his crowd control before entering a fight. His direct magic burst also makes Brewmaster's Drunken Brawler worthless versus Lion.
* All of Puck's abilities are area-targeted, and will hit Dark Willow when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Illusory Orb allows Puck to bypass Bramble Maze, close the gap and silence Dark Willow with Waning Rift.
* Phase Shift helps Puck dodge attacks charged by Shadow Realm, and is easily timed against Terrorize's long cast time.
* Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King
* Blinking heroes like Anti-Mage or Queen of Pain can often chase down an injured Brewmaster after his ultimate expires.
* Heroes with strong team-fight abilities (especially ultimates) like Tidehunter, Brewmaster, Death Prophet, etc.
* Cinder Brew and Drunken Brawler makes it hard for Monkey King to stack Jingu Mastery.
* Cyclone can remove Monkey king for 6 seconds if his allies lack dispels.
* Dispel Magic can dispel Jingu Mastery's bonuses.
* Terrorize forces Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa, Clinkz, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
* Thunder Clap and Drunken Brawler prevent Faceless Void from maximising his damage potential in fights.
* Cyclone disables Faceless Void during Chronosphere or in general.
* Terrorize forces Faceless Void out of Chronosphere.
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa, Clinkz, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin.
* Dark Willow's burst damage and stun prevents Troll Warlord from approaching her until he has Black King Bar.
* Troll Warlord's lack of burst damage makes it hard for him to kill Dark Willow before she slips into Shadow Realm.
* Terrorize, Bedlam and Cursed Crown can damage Muerta through Pierce the Veil.
* Even if Muerta has Black King Bar and Pierce the Veil active, Dark Willow can still use Shadow Realm to protect herself against the Pierce the Veil's high damage, as Muerta cannot attack her for it's duration.
* The three Primal Split brewlings all attacking Templar Assassin at once will remove her Refraction quickly, especially with Fire's Permanent Immolation.
* Templar Assassin has no way to stop Brewmaster from using Primal Split by herself, and may get unlucky and miss her Meld if trying to burst him during her ally's disable.
* Storm's Dispel Magic combined with Thunder Clap deals high damage against Chaos Knight's illusions even in the late game.
* Chaos Knight's reliance on physical damage is easily hindered by Drunken Brawler.
* Chaos Knight's lack of area effect and mobility makes him easily overwhelmed by Primal Split.
Additional:
* Dispel Magic from {U:Storm} can instantly kill Phantasms early on, and can still deal a lot of damage to them late game, revealing the real Chaos Knight.
* Brewmaster can waste a large portion of Lycan's ultimate by putting him in Cyclone.
* Lycan has no way to stop Brewmaster from using Primal Split by himself.
* Lycan's team often tries to push towers as a group, and Brewmaster excels at winning teamfights while trying to defend a tower.
* Brewmaster can use Cyclone to disable Huskar's healer for much longer than most other heroes can, to make Huskar vulnerable.
* Huskar has no way to stop Brewmaster from using Primal Split by himself, but can cut a good amount of his high health away if Huskar's team wants to burst Brewmaster down during a different disable.
* Bramble Maze prevents Timbersaw from Timber Chaining away without getting rooted.
* Cursed Crown can still catch Timbersaw if he Timber Chains away.
* Reactive Armor offers little protection against Dark Willow's high magical damage.
* Bramble Maze stops Charge of Darkness in its tracks. Its very long duration means it can be used as an obstacle to block off an incoming Spirit Break during teamfights.
* Shadow Realm and Bedlam can be activated when Dark Willow sees Charge of Darkness coming, preventing Spirit Breaker from using Nether Strike after the initial stun.
* Primal Split makes Brewmaster invulnerable for the duration, rendering effects of Cold Feet and Ice Blast useless.
* Dispel Magic can dispel Cold Feet from allies.
* Brewmaster can easily run Ancient Apparition down with the slow from Thunder Clap and Cinder Brew.
* Windrun does not protect Windranger from Cursed Crown's stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
* Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
Additional:
* Windrun does not protect Windranger from Cursed Crown stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
* Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
* Casting Bramble Maze on top of Meepo guarantees a root, as it is nearly impossible to leave the thorns with all of Meepo's clones.
* Terrorize and Cursed Crown offer great disables against the grouped Meepos and can prevent them from using Poof to escape.
* Bramble Maze will very likely catch Marci midair, disabling Marci's chasing/fleeing ability.
* Shadow Realm prevents Marci from bursting Willow down since she relies on physical attacks and unit target spells. With Aghanim's Scepter, Willow can hit Marci while Marci can't hit Willow.
* Bedlam and Eul's Scepter of Divinity allows Willow to manfight if Marci initiates with Rebound.
* Terrorize and Cursed Crown combo can waste Marci's ultimate for almost half of its duration.
* 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.
* Brewmaster can make the Spirit Bear a much smaller threat with Cinder Brew.
* Cyclone removes the bear from a fight so that his team can easily focus on the hero.
* While most heroes would be worn down by a Spirit Bear Radiance in the time it takes to kill Lone Druid, Brewmaster is protected in Primal Split.
* {U:Earth} has passive Spell Immunity, allowing him to walk into the Echo Stomp radius to stun Elder Titan with his Hurl Boulder.
* {U:Storm}'s Cyclone can cancel the channeling of Echo Stomp and take Elder Titan out of the fight for {show:A|Storm|Cyclone|value2} seconds.
* If Ursa uses Enrage Brewmaster can use Cyclone to render him harmless during his ultimate.
* Brewmaster has two spells to slow down Ursa, allowing his team to kite around him easily.
* Dispel Magic from {U:Storm} instantly removes Heavenly Grace and Guardian Angel from Omniknight's allies in its radius of effect.
* {U:Storm} can use Cyclone on Abaddon when he activates Borrowed Time, wasting its duration.
* Drunken Brawler and Thunder Clap hinder Abaddon from applying Curse of Avernus' silence on him.
Additional:
* Dispel Magic can remove Abaddon's Aphotic Shield or Curse of Avernus on an allied hero.
* Cyclone's lengthy duration wastes much of Borrowed Time's duration.
* Heroes with powerful rooting abilities will disable most of Pangolier's skills, a bonus point if it pierces spell immunity since it will also be able to stop Pangolier during his Rolling Thunder: Treant Protector, Meepo, Crystal Maiden, Dark Willow, Underlord, Naga Siren
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* Heroes who produce many summons will have a hard time against Storm's Dispel Magic during teamfight: Broodmother, Enigma, Nature's Prophet.
* Primal Beast really suffers against supports he cannot bully in the lane: this includes Dazzle, Shadow Demon and Dark Willow since they can use their respective abilities to stop Primal Beast from dealing burst damage, or make it hard for him to stay in range.
* Brewmaster with Primal Split
* 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
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa, Clinkz, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin.
* Heroes who produce many summons will have a hard time against Storm's Dispel Magic during teamfight: Broodmother, Enigma, Nature's Prophet.
* Heroes who produce many summons will have a hard time against Storm's Dispel Magic during teamfight: Broodmother, Enigma, Nature's Prophet.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
* Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.
* Cyclone from Storm in Primal Split can waste Nyx's Spiked Carapace, since its duration is shorter than the Cyclone's.
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa, Clinkz, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin.
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King
* Heroes with area dispel can kill multiple skeletons at once: Brewmaster, Oracle.
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Brewmaster
* 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.
Dark Willow
* 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.