* Sharpshooter deals massive damage to Bristleback and applies a high duration disable on his passive.
* Bushwhack and
Scurry can be used to easily kite Bristleback.
Additional:
* Bristleback and
Warpath can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time, reducing his both offense and defense.
* Scurry and
Bushwhack can be used to kite bristleback.
* Monkey King often hides in trees, where he can be easily caught with Bushwhack.
* Acorn Shot can target enemies in the fog, including Monkey King when he is on a tree.
* Sharpshooter provides flying vision along the cast indicator while charging, which can be used to scout the trees for Monkey King.
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Additional:
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
* Storm Surge allows Razor to outdistance Bristleback, even with a few stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo on him. Also, if Razor has his Shard, it will deal full damage to Bristleback every time he uses Viscous Nasal Goo (as Bristleback will face him to cast it).
* Static Link can steal the bonus damage from Jingu Mastery and reduce the physical damage from
Boundless Strike. It also reduces
Wukong's Command's damage if it's used after stealing damage via Static Link.
* Static Link will give Razor shared vision on Monkey King if he tries to escape using Tree Dance or
Mischief.
* Plasma Field can prevent Monkey King from using Tree Dance and
Mischief.
* Eye of the Storm will remove the armor buff from Wukong's Command, as well as hitting Monkey King during
Mischief.
* Whirling Death deals damage while also reducing {Show:A|Timbersaw|Whirling Death|value4} of Bristleback's strength, making him less tanky.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw even with Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Timbersaw can easily cut down the tree that Monkey King is standing on, stunning him for a lengthy period.
* Timbersaw can use Timber Chain to easily escape
Wukong's Command and
Primal Spring's slow.
Additional:
* Timbersaw's low cooldown and low mana cost abilities destroys the trees that Monkey King depends on.
* Timber Chain allows Timbersaw to escape Wukong's Command.
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
* Icarus Dive, Sun Ray, and Supernova all destroy trees that Monkey King relies on to use his ability Tree Dance. If you spot him, you can quickly Icarus Dive in his direction and then follow up with Fire Spirits and Supernova. If you manage to cut the tree he is on, he will be stunned for 4 seconds and will be forced to take a lot of damage. However, most Monkey King players tend to build attack speed items to make use of their passive,
Jingu Mastery, so a battle against a farmed Monkey King will depend on who gets the jump on the other first.
Additional:
* Icarus Dive and
Supernova can destroy the tree Monkey King is standing on.
* Fire Spirits reduces Monkey King's attack speed, preventing Monkey King from building up Jingu Mastery.
* Supernova can be casted next to Wukong's Command, forcing Monkey King to step away of it or to withstand its massive AOE damage
* Essence Shift allows Slark to hit Bristleback freely whether on the front or back, stealing attributes and make Bristleback much less tanky.
* Pounce can be used to disengage and recover lost HP with his ultimate passive, and can return to fight in a short period while Bristleback is already injured and got some of his attributes stolen.
* Dark Pact makes it near impossible to keep the
Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on Slark.
* Although Dark Pact cannot dispel
Quill Spray, meaning that Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he used
Shadow Dance before.
* Slark builds Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counters Bristleback.
* 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.
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
* 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.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback's small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* Mana Break removes both a percentage and flat amount of your mana, preventing Bristleback from using abilities in the lane.
* Blink Anti-Mage has very high mobility with this skill, and can easily escape from Bristleback since he has no way to prevent his blink. He can also use this offensively to get in front of Bristleback during fights.
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive
Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
Additional:
* Reaper's Scythe and
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
* Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
* She can easily cancel Wukong's Command with Nether Swap.
* Wave of Terror can also detect him while he's on the trees.
Additional:
* Wave of Terror grants flying vision over trees, and its wide effect can hit Monkey King and end Mischief.
* Nether Swap can easily cancel Wukong's Command by swapping him out of the circle.
* Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from
Bristleback.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
* 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
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery: Legion Commander,
Lifestealer,
Weaver,
Wraith King
* 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.
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to avoid ganks and keep her distance, preventing Monkey King from building up Jingu Mastery.
* Scream of Pain and
Sonic Wave will hit Monkey King when he is disguised, or on a tree.
* The large AoE and low cooldown also helps Queen of Pain hit the real Monkey King inside of Wukong's Command.
* Keeping Void Spirit inside Wukong's Command is a very tricky task, especially in the early and mid game. In addition, if Monkey King is in a bad position, a well placed Aether Remnant can easily pull him out of the ring.
* Getting stacks of Jingu Mastery can be difficult when attacking Void Spirit.
* Blinding Light can knock Monkey King outside of his ultimate, Wukong's Command and can blind him.
* Will-O-Wisp will stun Monkey King from Tree Dance by destroying his tree.
Additional:
* Blinding Light can easily push Monkey King out of Wukong's Command, as well as blinding him.
* Monkey King is vulnerable to burst damage, Solar Bind makes him more so
* However, Keeper of the Light can be easily ganked by Monkey King during early-mid game stage.
* Thunder Strike provides vision of Monkey King when he's in the trees. The periodic damage will also keep Monkey King from using Tree Dance if he's on the ground.
* Glimpse pulls Monkey King out of the trees if he attempts to escape using Tree Dance, and can cause Wukong's Command to end prematurely if Monkey King is Glimpsed out of its radius.
* However, if Monkey King strikes first, if he has already casted Wukong's Command, Disruptor's abilities will not be much of an use
* Skewer and
Reverse Polarity will often push Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
* Power Cogs pushes Monkey King out of Wukong's Command, ending his ultimate.
* Rocket Flare allows Clockwerk to scout Monkey King in the trees, and chase him with Hookshot.
* Tusk can Walrus Kick Monkey King from
Wukong's Command, making his ultimate useless.
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to destroy a large amount of trees, negating
Tree Dance. It also makes it easy to avoid
Wukong's Command and
Boundless Strike.
Additional:
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to easily catch up to Monkey King, destroying a large number of trees, cancelling Tree Dance, and causing Monkey King to be stunned in the process.
* Blur makes it hard for Monkey King to stack Jingu Mastery.
* Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin to blink directly to Monkey King during Wukong's Command, bypassing all his clones.
* Coup de Grace's high damage can kill Monkey King quickly, thus ending Wukong's Command prematurely.
* 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.
* Techies can turn his tree jumping ability against him, by placing Proximity Mines that will detect him near trees, and then destroying the trees around him with Blast Off, stunning him and dealing high damage, on top of him being silenced when the stun expires.
* Monkey King's mobility is also severely limited around Techies' mines as he will almost always trigger them due to the cooldown time between tree jumps. Monkey King will be forced to take mine damage or escape with Primal Spring.
Additional:
* Proximity Mines can be placed near trees to detect Monkey King.
* Follow up with Blast Off! to destroy the tree, causing Monkey King to take high damage, fall from the tree, and become stunned.
* Monkey King's natural reliance on trees makes him an exceptionally prime target for Spear of Mars. Should Monkey King use Mischief to disguise himself, it will still hit him, stunning him in the process.
* God's Rebuke easily pushes Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
Additional:
* If visible, Mars can knock Monkey King off his Tree Dance with God's Rebuke, as well as Spear of Mars. Arena of Blood also destroys a large swath of trees, which can disrupt Monkey King's positioning and turn him vulnerable should he choose to hide in trees.
* Mars can endure Jingu Mastery attacks simply by facing him with Bulwark.
* Mars can end Wukong's Command early by displacing Monkey King with a well-thrown Spear of Mars. Mars can also endure most of his clones with Bulwark.
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing
Warpath.
* If Doom gets an Aghanim's Scepter, he can disable
Bristleback and
Warpath, taking away much of his durability and damage potential in team fights.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With his upgraded level 25 talent, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
* Impetus pure damage ignores the extra armor granted from Wukong's Command.
* Enchant can dispel Monkey King's Jingu Mastery bonuses.
* Untouchable makes it hard for Monkey King to land Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Sproink allows Enchantress to escape from 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 wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
* Tanky melee heroes that can easily be kited, which allows Outworld Destroyer to deal heavy damage with Arcane Orb from a distance: Sven,
Underlord,
Bristleback.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's high burst damage is not negated by Bristleback's passive. So, even if Bristleback turns his back on Outworld, he can decimate Bristleback quickly.
* If Bristleback attempts to flee, or tries to close the gap, Outworld can banish him with Astral Imprisonment, both reducing Bristlebacks much needed mana and allowing Outworld to move in front of him, forcing him to take the full damage from his spells. This will also allow Outworld to land a devasting Sanity's Eclipse, without it being reduced by Bristleback's passive.
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Luna,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
* Heroes that can keep Monkey King stunned for a long time can pose a threat: Axe,
Centaur Warrunner.
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
* Heroes that can keep Monkey King stunned for a long time can pose a threat: Axe,
Centaur Warrunner.
* Heroes who can stop Axe from getting close will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
* 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
* 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 that can maintain vision on Monkey King can see when he uses Tree Dance: Bloodseeker,
Treant Protector with Eyes In The Forest,
Sniper,
Weaver
* Lion's
Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
* Venomancer's magical damage-over-time poisons putting Tree Dance on cooldown, greatly diminishing Monkey King's mobility.
* Venomous Gale and Posion Nova will hit Monkey King when he is perched on a tree, or disguised by Mischief.
Additional:
* Venomancer's magical damage-over-time poisons will constantly put Tree Dance on cooldown, greatly diminishing Monkey King's mobility.
* Venomous Gale and
Poison Nova will hit Monkey King when he is perched on a tree, or disguised with Mischief.
* However, Venomancer is also easily ganked by Monkey King if caught by surprise.
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him:
Arc Warden,
Venomancer,
Luna.
* Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
* Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
Additional:
* When dueled, Bristleback will have to face Legion head on, not allowing his passive Bristleback to come into effect.
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery: Legion Commander,
Lifestealer,
Weaver,
Wraith King
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor and poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Additional:
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
* His low armor deters him from a trade,while Jingu Mastery allows Monkey King to retaliate.
* Buffed Boundless Strike heals Monkey King and can potentially execute Pudge.
* Monkey King can scout Pudge's positioning from the trees, making it easier for him and his allies to dodge Meat Hook.
* With a better-than-average strength gain, he usually survives Pudge's combo.
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
* Wukong's Command and
Boundless Strike combo can easily cause havoc on Chaos Knight by destroying all of his powerful illusions.
* Chaos Knight without Phantasm cannot deal with Jingu Mastery at all.
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
* Tree Dance and
Primal Spring allows him to chase a retreating Meepo.
* Boundless Strike gains critical strike bonuses and
Wukong's Command can take down Meepo and his clones very quickly.
Additional:
* Monkey King can gain Jingu Mastery stacks on Meepo’s clones from
Divided We Stand.
* Tree Dance allows him to sneak up on and gank a lone Meepo clone.
* Rubick deals little damage on his own, and Bristleback can simply shrug off all his spells and chase Rubick down with his Quill Spray and the damage bonus from
Warpath.
* Rubick does not tend to charge forward in teamfights, stay in the front lines under most circumstances, yet effective casts of Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo requires the opposite as they require multiple casts and close range to add up stacks.
* Rubick does not benefit from Warpath through casting the stolen spell.
Additional:
* Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
* In general, heroes who are melee with no way to fight back can be very easily poked by Monkey King to gain his Jingu Mastery stacks: Dark Seer,
Riki,
Rubick.
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar,
Terrorblade
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery: Legion Commander,
Lifestealer,
Weaver,
Wraith King
* Tiny's nonexistent armor in the early game makes him very vulnerable to Quill Spray's large amounts of physical damage.
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can slow Tiny to a crawl and allows Bristleback to easily kite him with his high movement speed and Quill Spray's long range, as Tiny has no ability to escape.
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
* Firestorm will do little percentage damage to a small HP hero like Monkey King.
* All aspects of Jingu Mastery benefits ignore Atrophy Aura's base damage reduction.
* Monkey King can get on top of Underlord easily at any stage of the game.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
* Monkey King can scout Drow Ranger's positioning from the trees, and can jump on her without much trouble, disabling Marksmanship
* She lacks innate mobility to escape from Wukong's Command, whose bonus armor gives MK one extra edge in the fight
* Requiem of Souls is easily interrupted by Boundless Strike, due to its long cast time.
* Shadow Fiend's lack of mobility and escape makes him an easy target to ambush with Primal Spring, especially during laning stage.
* Being close means he cannot use all three razes on you before you get your Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
* Jingu Mastery will still add stacks even through Guardian Angel.
* Monkey King can join a fight whenever he chooses to, meaning he can simply go directly onto Omniknight.
* During the laning phase, Jingu Mastery with Boundless Strike will kill off Omniknight, while Purification is weak.
* Heavenly Grace is useless against Monkey King's ultimate and Jingu Mastery bonuses.
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
Additional:
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
* Heroes with blind of some sort can be a bad choice for Monkey King to go on: Broodmother,
Riki,
Keeper of the Light.
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from
Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Additional:
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
* In general, heroes who are melee with no way to fight back can be very easily poked by Monkey King to gain his Jingu Mastery stacks: Dark Seer,
Riki,
Rubick.
* Heroes that can destroy trees will deny Monkey King spots to jump on, or cause him to fall: Windranger,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with
Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
* Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
* 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.
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
* Dispersion will not do anything against throughout the game due to his high lifesteal with Jingu Mastery.
* Monkey King often buys Manta Style, which will deny
Desolate benefits in 1v1 situations.
* Haunt will do nothing to stop people trapped within Monkey Kings ultimate.
* In all, Spectre is very easily pressured by Monkey King early into the game and is a very easy gank target to coordinate with your team.
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or
Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
* Monkey King can kill Chen or any of his allies with his physical damage burst from Boundless Strike and
Jingu Mastery before he can use
Hand of God.
* None of the neutral creeps have any abilities to destroy trees, which makes Chen an excellent target for ganks with Tree Dance and
Primal Spring.
* Wraith King has no ability to destroy trees from Tree Dance.
* Monkey King tends to get Diffusal Blade, leaving Wraith King no mana to reincarnate unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* A reincarnated Wraith King is an ideal target for Wukong's Command.
* Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
* Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and
Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
* Axe,
Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar,
Wraith King: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
* In general, heroes who are melee with no way to fight back can be very easily poked by Monkey King to gain his Jingu Mastery stacks: Dark Seer,
Riki,
Rubick.
* Nature's Prophet's Natures's Call can destroy trees while Monkey King is standing on them with Tree Dance, which will stun him for a good deal of time.
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe.
* Sprout will not protect Nature's Prophet from Tree Dance.
* Boundless Strike will interrupt attempts at Teleportation, and can reach Nature's Prophet inside the tree line.
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him:
Arc Warden,
Venomancer,
Luna.
Additional:
* Arc Warden has relatively lower armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
* Arc Warden also does not like to build a Silver Edge as it takes a long time to build up and may slow down the timings for other important items needed in the game like
Gleipnir.
* However, do note that in a game where Arc Warden's team has many jumping capabilities or good passives, like a Tidehunter or
Spectre, a
Silver Edge becomes incredibly valuable on Arc Warden as not only can he run away from the jumps, he effectively gets 2 breaks, and Bristleback may not be the best pick.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
Additional:
* Powershot destroys the tree Monkey King is standing on.
* Monkey King's natural reliance on trees makes him an easy target for Shackleshot.
* Windrun evades Monkey King's attacks, preventing him from building up Jingu Mastery.
* Focus Fire potentially trigger with Quill Spray very harassing and passive abilities from Bristleback
Bristleback and
Warpath stacked damage. Additionally,Combination
Quill Spray and
Blade Mail is very possible kill her's since Windranger's activated Focus Fire. At the same time,Windrun does not protect from
Quill Spray.
* Bristleback's tanky in late game build Heart of Tarrasque and
Vanguard until upgrade
Crimson Guard or
Abyssal Blade is very difficult for Windranger's kill Bristleback and her can need more damage.
* Spamming Viscous Nasal Goo is very harder Windranger's Windrun movement speed. Bristleback combinating build
Assault Cuirass also render Windranger's loss armor.
* Bristleback must build Lotus Orb cause make reflects Windranger's target hard
Shackleshot and
Focus Fire.
Additional:
* Combo Quill Spray and items Blade Mail can easily trigger from Focus Fire damage.
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
* Alchemist has very bad armor and does not build armor items for the large majority of his build, so Jingu Mastery and Wukong's Command can be very deadly.
* Desolator,
Sange and Yasha or
Diffusal Blade can all be purchased to increase your damage against Alchemist or just to keep your movement speed high enough to match him while
Chemical Rage is active.
* Monkey King is an agility hero and scales with armor, so Acid Spray loses it's effectiveness later in the game.
* Heroes who are melee but cannot fight back against Eclipse will really struggle with Luna: Monkey King,
Alchemist,
Timbersaw.
* Quill Spray and
Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback helps return a lot of damage to Luna’s team if she uses her nukes on him and he has his back to her.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and
Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of Crimson Guard and
Eternal Shroud, which are good protection from
Moon Glaives and
Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Bristleback makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* Heroes with blind of some sort can be a bad choice for Monkey King to go on: Broodmother,
Riki,
Keeper of the Light.
* Bristleback reduces most of Broodmother's and her spiderlings' damage.
* Quill Spray will hit any spiders in its proximity, hindering Broodmother's fighting and farming capabilities.
Additional:
* Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
* Burning Spears can put Monkey King's
Tree Dance on cooldown.
* Bristleback's tankiness and Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and
Quill Spray and
Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
Additional:
* The damage from Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
* 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
* Monkey King is one of the few other heroes who can easily traverse through trees, counteracting Treant Protector's ability to hide in trees.
* Malefice will cause Monkey King to struggle without Black King Bar, as its periodic damage and stun disables/interrupts abilities, such as
Tree Dance and
Wukong's Command.
* Midnight Pulse can also destroy trees in a wide radius, stunning Monkey King if he happened to be on a tree caught within
Midnight Pulse area-of-effect.
Additional:
* Malefice keeps Tree Dance on cooldown, and can interrupt Wukong's Command's long cast time.
* Midnight Pulse destroys a large amount of trees.
* Bristleback's constant harass from Quill Spray will greatly hurt Enigma's laning and kill his Eidolons.
* However, Bristleback has no way of canceling Black Hole at all. And Bristleback is not a hero that goes for disabling items to counter that problem.
* Terrorize forces Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
* 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.
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
Additional:
* Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* Chronosphere allows allies to reposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Void from using Time Walk.
* Monkey King’s clones from Wukong’s Command and Aghanim’s Scepter are immune to Chronosphere, so it is a very bad idea to Chronosphere Monkey King with his clones around.
Additional:
* Monkey King’s clones from Wukong’s Command and Aghanim’s Scepter are immune to Chronosphere, so it is a very bad idea to Chronosphere Monkey King with his clones around.
* If Monkey King's himself is not caught inside Chronosphere, he can cast Wukong Command's next to it to force Faceless Void to scatter
* Bristleback will not be able to cast Viscous Nasal Goo or
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing
Warpath charges from stacking.
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
Additional:
* Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
* Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback.
* Last Word and
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
* Silencer's low mobility and lack of any stuns or roots makes him an easy target.
* Silence will not protect Silencer from Jingu Mastery's extra damage and lifesteal.
* Monkey King often buys Black King Bar, which can be used to negate silence debuff effects.
* Spirit Breaker's
Nether Strike with
Aghanim's Shard disables Bristleback's passives.
* Heroes who can continue dealing damage even while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Death Prophet.
* Monkey King is also hindered by Track since he relies on trees to hide him from vision.
Additional:
* Track grants vision of Monkey King, even when he's in the trees.
* Bristleback's
Viscous Nasal Goo can catch and slow Bounty Hunter.
Warpath and
Quill Spray can defeat him quickly due to his small HP pool when compared to Bristleback's.
* While Jakiro's damage is going to be little more then average against him due to his Bristleback. His large quantity of stuns can prevent Bristleback from getting his much needed
Warpath stacks, while also giving his allies a chance to counter his high defense.
* Dual Breath and Liquid Frost both reduce Movement Speed, removing one of Bristlebacks greatest strengths.
* Liquid Fire reduces Bristlebacks Attack Speed, making it harder for him to burst down a hero with Warpath.
* However Bristleback can generally catch and kill a lone Jakiro. And Jakiro is only effective in a group.
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
* Another hero that should not leave a special circle for his ultimate. The only thing to be afraid is Boundless Strike.
* Paralyzing Cask's short stun rarely prevents Monkey King from ambushing Witch Doctor.
* Death Ward's long channel is easily interrupted by Boundless Strike.
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.
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
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
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
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Bristleback
*
Nethertoxin disables
Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his defensive passive, Bristleback also loses his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed, making him unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with
Additional:
*
*
Monkey King
*
Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of
Jingu Mastery stacks.
Tree Dance. It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by
Wukong's Command.
Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Monkey King's high base movement speed is of little worth against the array of slows Viper possesses.
* All of Viper's magical damage over time stops Monkey King from using
Additional:
*
* Viper's poison magical damage-over-time stops Monkey King from using Tree Dance. It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by Wukong's Command.