* Lycan can clear waves of Chen's creeps with his wolves from Summon Wolves, especially once Lycan takes +2 Wolves summoned talent. And even though Chen can convert one of his wolves with Holy Persuasion, Lycan can counter this by buying Helm of the Overlord to regain control of it. Uncontrollable wolves summoned from Aghanim's Shard upgrade Summon Wolves cannot be converted with Holy Persuasion.
* Shapeshift allows him to chase down Chen and kill him easily.
* Howl can reduce attack damage of both, Chen and his creeps.
* Shapeshift allows Lycan to chase down Earth Spirit.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Ember Spirit easily finishes off all creeps on the line against Earth Sprit, exchanging health with him under his Flame Guard, which is why Earth Spirit can leave the line for ganks very early and without the necessary amount of gold and levels, which will give the Ember Spirit team an advantage to fight off such ganks
* The Sleight of Fist ability helps Ember Spirit dodge all of Earth Spirit's abilities, which makes his gank potential practically useless against Ember Spirit, and with the purchase of Black King Bar, Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist to combine with Searing Chains to catch and kill Earth Spirit.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit easily finishes off all creeps on the line against Earth Sprit, exchanging health with him under his Flame Guard, which is why Earth Spirit can leave the line for ganks very early and without the necessary amount of gold and levels, which will give the Ember Spirit team an advantage to fight off such ganks
* The Sleight of Fist ability helps Ember Spirit dodge all of Earth Spirit's abilities, which makes his gank potential practically useless against Ember Spirit, and with the purchase of Black King Bar, Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist to combine with Searing Chains to catch and kill Earth Spirit.
* Chen's fragility and low mobility make him an enticing Duel target.
* Overwhelming Odds and Moment of Courage can take advantage of converted creeps's numbers.
* With enough damage from Duel stacks, Legion Commander can also often kill any of Chen's unfortunate allies before he can use Hand of God.
Additional:
* Chen's frailty and low mobility make him an enticing Duel target.
* Overwhelming Odds and Moment of Courage can take advantage of converted creeps' numbers.
* With enough damage from Duel stacks, Legion Commander can also often kill any of Chen's unfortunate allies before he can use Hand of God.
* Heroes rely on their debuff to control the opponent will have a hard time against Press the Attack: Venomancer, Earth Spirit, Ogre Magi
* Weaver can easily kill Chen's creeps and kite Chen with The Swarm and Shukuchi.
* Neither Chen nor his converted creeps have burst damage at all, so Weaver will always have plenty of time to save himself with Time Lapse or his allies with Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Time Lapse.
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities: Ember Spirit, Puck, Weaver
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Pounce's root prevents Earth Spirit from using Rolling Boulder to escape, making it easier for Slark to shut him down especially in the laning phase.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Storm Spirit outlanes Earth Spirit wins by having a ranged attack type, and also deals damage to the Earth Spirit every time he approaches the creeps with his ability Static Remnant, which is why he overtakes Earth Spirit in level and gold
* Storm Spirit has the ability to quickly kill Earth Spirit under his ability Electric Vortex, which Earth Spirit cannot do if Storm Spirit buys Falcon Blade at the liner stage, because Storm Spirit will have too much health for Earth Spirit`s abilities and will survive Earth Spirit`s damage.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit outlanes Earth Spirit wins by having a ranged attack type, and also deals damage to the Earth Spirit every time he approaches the creeps with his ability Static Remnant, which is why he overtakes Earth Spirit in level and gold
* Storm Spirit has the ability to quickly kill Earth Spirit under his ability Electric Vortex, which Earth Spirit cannot do if Storm Spirit buys Falcon Blade at the liner stage, because Storm Spirit will have too much health for Earth Spirit`s abilities and will survive Earth Spirit`s damage.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damage can make quick work of Chen's converted creeps and at same time gain farm: Magnus, Jakiro, Shadow Fiend, Kunkka, Luna, Dragon Knight, Medusa, Alchemist.
* In general, highly mobile heroes like Earth Spirit or Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and Nature's Prophet.
* Medusa's Split Shot can easily kill Chen's creeps.
* Mystic Snake can quickly kill Chen's creeps and deal intense damage for every killed creep while also draining their mana with each bounce. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Mystic Snake can also disable both, Chen and his creeps upon impact.
* Mana Shield will make it impossible for Chen to burst down Medusa.
* Stone Gaze can disable Chen from using Hand of God to save himself or his allies.
* Grave Chill can heavily slow down Chen and boost Visage and his familiars's attack speed and movement speed.
* Chen's Holy Persuasion cannot convert Visage's familiars from Summon Familiars at all, not even when upgraded with Aghanim's Shard that allows Chen to use it on ancient creeps as Visage's familiars are treated as creep-heroes, which could put Chen in disadvantage against Visage if his creeps die.
* Skilled Visage can buy Bloodthorn to prevent Chen from any chance of retaliating or saving himself with Hand of God and Gleipnir to clear waves of Chen's creeps and prevent them from escaping. This can get even better if Visage has access to Silent as the Grave ability from Aghanim's Scepter that will allow Visage and his familiars to be invisible, which they can use either to escape from Chen or to prepare a deadly surprise to him.
* Firestorm will easily clear Chen's creeps.
* Pit of Malice will trap Chen and render him helpless.
* Atrophy Aura gives bonus damage to Underlord for each killed creep and weakens Chen's damage output.
* Fiend's Gate can counter Chen's pushing attempts, and he has nothing to intercept it.
Additional:
* Firestorm will easily clear Chen's creeps.
* Pit of Malice will trap Chen and render him helpless.
* Atrophy Aura gives bonus damage to Underlord for each killed creep and weakens Chen's damage output.
* Fiend's Gate can counter Chen's pushing attempts, and he has nothing to intercept it.
* Elder Titan's Astral Spirit ability gives him bonus damage for each converted creep it passes through.
* Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter will often kill him or any of his allies quickly before he has time to use Hand of God.
* Axe can take advantage of Chen jungling and gank him more often with Blink Dagger and Berserker's Call combination.
* Counter Helix can clear waves of Chen's creeps if they are too close to Axe.
* Berserker's Call combined with Blade Mail and Culling Blade can often kill Chen before he can save himself with Hand of God.
* However, Hand of God and Divine Favor can make it hard for Axe to finish off Chen's allies with Culling Blade when Chen is not target for Axe.
* Magic Missile can stun Chen and deal heavy damage to him.
* Wave of Terror weakens durability of Chen and his creeps.
* Nether Swap can be used to separate Chen away from his creeps, often to certain death from Vengeful Spirit's allies.
* Shackles prevents Chen from acting, and damages him while healing Shadow Shaman, also allowing Shadow Shaman's allies to kill him faster. Aghanim's Shard upgraded Shackles can also summon four more Mass Serpent Wards to attack Chen while he is disabled. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel Shackles on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Ether Shock and Mass Serpent Ward can often not only kill Chen's allies before he can save them with Hand of God, but they can also be used to destroy Chen's creeps easily thanks to their high damage and area-of-effect.
* Hex will prevent Chen from any attempt to save himself or his allies with Hand of God.
Additional:
* Shackles prevents Chen from acting, and damages him while healing Shadow Shaman, also allowing Shadow Shaman's allies to kill him faster. Aghanim's Shard upgraded Shackles can also summon four more Mass Serpent Wards to attack Chen while he is disabled. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel Shackles on his own, and must rely on {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} creeps under his control to be able to do so.
* Ether Shock and Mass Serpent Ward can often not only kill Chen's allies before he can save them with Hand of God, but they can also be used to destroy Chen's creeps easily thanks to their high damage and area-of-effect.
* Hex will prevent Chen from any attempt to save himself or his allies with Hand of God.
* Storm Hammer locks down Chen and his converted creeps.
* Great Cleave and God's Strength can destroy Chen and his creeps quickly.
* Warcry minimizes damage taken from creeps's attacks.
Additional:
* Great Cleave can quickly destroy Chen's creeps in team fights, before they have a chance to do much.
* Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity, Chen and his converted creeps have little to no ways of fighting back against Lifestealer whenever he activates it.
* Feast allows Lifestealer to recover himself by damaging Chen's creeps.
* Chen has no escape mechanisms, so he will often be unable to escape from slows applied with Ghoul Frenzy.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard can severely slow down Chen, and allow Lifestealer and his team to heal themselves by attacking Chen. Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Chen takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with Open Wounds.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to infest into one of Chen's converted creeps and take control of it, which allows Lifestealer to either escape from Chen or surprise him. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm Chen and allow Lifestealer to attack Chen from within, even if Chen is spell immune.
* Chen has no area-of-effect spells to deal with Broodmother's spiderlings and must rely on his creeps to take care of them.
* Spawn Spiderlings can kill Chen's creeps and spawn spiderlings in their place.
* Spin Web allows Broodmother to disrupt Chen's jungling.
* Silken Bola will cause Chen and his creeps's attack to miss more often while also making them more vulnerable to magical damage, especially if Broodmother picks 400 AoE Silken Bola talent.
* Broodmother is a natural Bloodthorn wielder, which will allow her to prevent Chen from trying to save himself with Hand of God while also making him more vulnerable to damage, and when combined with Insatiable Hunger, it will spell a quick and certain death for Chen. Bloodthorn's passive ability will also reduce any spell damage Chen tries to inflict with his creeps.
* Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter allows Broodmother to create invisible lines on her webs from Spin Web that will root Chen and his creeps, deal damage over time to them and reveal them if they unwittingly steps on them, disrupting Chen's jungling even more while also alerting Broodmother on their attempts to ambush her and her allies.
Additional:
* Chen has no area-of-effect spells to deal with Broodmother's spiderlings and must rely on his creeps to take care of them.
* Spawn Spiderlings can kill Chen's creeps and spawn spiderlings in their place.
* Spin Web allows Broodmother to disrupt Chen's jungling.
* Silken Bola will cause Chen and his creeps's attack to miss more often while also making them more vulnerable to magical damage, especially if Broodmother picks 400 AoE Silken Bola talent.
* Broodmother is a natural Bloodthorn wielder, which will allow her to prevent Chen from trying to save himself with Hand of God while also making him more vulnerable to damage, and when combined with Insatiable Hunger, it will spell a quick and certain death for Chen. Bloodthorn's passive ability will also reduce any spell damage Chen tries to inflict with his creeps.
* Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter allows Broodmother to create invisible lines on her webs from Spin Web that will root Chen and his creeps, deal damage over time to them and reveal them if they unwittingly steps on them, disrupting Chen's jungling even more while also alerting Broodmother on their attempts to ambush her and her allies.
* Track allows Bounty Hunter to keep Chen under watch whenever he jungles and to give Bounty Hunter and his allies a huge gold gain whenever Chen is killed while under effects of Track.
* Shadow Walk allows Bounty Hunter to bypass Chen's creeps and sneak on Chen and finish him off with Jinada and Shuriken Toss.
* However, Bounty Hunter's single-targeted ability arsenal can make it difficult for him to clear waves of Chen's creeps.
* Dark Seer's Vacuum and Ion Shell can clear a wave of Chen's Creeps effectively.
* Surge applies haste movement and negates the slow from Penitence, allowing Dark Seer to easily escape from Chen and his creeps.
* Dark Seer's full combo from Dark Seer's Vacuum, Wall of Replica and Normal Punch from Aghanim's Scepter can often kill Chen or any of his allies before he can save them with Hand of God.
Additional:
* Dark Seer's Vacuum and Ion Shell can clear a wave of Chen's Creeps effectively.
* Surge applies haste movement and negates the slow from Penitence, allowing Dark Seer to easily escape from Chen and his creeps.
* Dark Seer's full combo from Dark Seer's Vacuum, Wall of Replica and Normal Punch from Aghanim's Scepter can often kill Chen or any of his allies before he can save them with Hand of God.
* Arcane Orb and Sanity's Eclipse can often kill Chen or his allies before he can save them with Hand of God.
* Arcane Orb, Astral Imprisonment and Sanity's Eclipse can clear waves of Chen's converted creeps.
* Clinkz's Skeleton Walk allows him to easily sneak on Chen and bypass his creeps. It also allows him to escape from them.
* Clinkz can easily kill Chen's creeps with Death Pact and gain gold, health, damage and abilities from them when upgraded with Death Pact Steal creep abilities talent.
* Clinkz naturally loves buying Gleipnir, which allows him to easily root Chen and his creeps and to kill them more easily with Burning Barrage from Aghanim's Shard.
* Clinkz can kill Chen or any of his allies with his physical damage burst from Strafe, Tar Bomb and Burning Barrage from Aghanim's Shard before he can use Hand of God. Especially when Clinkz has Gleipnir and Daedalus. Clinkz can also buy Bloodthorn to prevent Chen from even trying to use Hand of God.
* Even though Bane has no abilities to deal with multiple Chen's creeps, skilled Bane can easily counter this problem by going for Aghanim's Shard, which will allow Brain Sap to easily kill Chen's creeps and by buying either Gleipnir or Mjollnir.
* Fiend's Grip can disable Chen or any of his allies and often finish them before he can save them with Hand of God. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel Fiend's Grip on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Alchemist's Acid Spray can heavily damage Chen's creeps and disrupt his jungling.
* Alchemist builds items like Radiance and Battle Fury, allowing him to quickly clear Chen's creeps.
* Alchemist's Greevil's Greed will grant him more bonus gold as he kills Chen's creeps.
* Silence will prevent Chen from activating Hand of God.
* Crypt Swarm and Exorcism can clear Chen's creeps and heavily damage Chen.
* Spirit Siphon heavily damages Chen and slows him, while healing Death Prophet.
Additional:
* Silence will prevent Chen from activating Hand of God.
* Crypt Swarm and Exorcism can clear Chen's creeps and heavily damage Chen.
* Spirit Siphon heavily damages Chen and slows him, while healing Death Prophet.
* Ice Blast prevents Divine Favor and Hand of God from healing his allies or himself.
Additional:
* Ice Blast can prevent healing from Hand of God and kill Chen's creeps.
* Ancient Apparition can easily harass Chen on lane with Chilling Touch due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
* Chilling Touch combined with Ice Vortex makes it impossible for Chen to escape from Cold Feet. Ice Vortex can also make Chen's creeps more vulnerable to Ancient Apparition and his allies's magical damage.
* Paralyzing Cask will repetively bounce between Chen and his converted creeps every single time. This can get even worse if Witch Doctor buys Aghanim's Scepter that will allow his Death Ward to bounce between Chen and his converted creeps.
* Paralyzing Cask, Maledict and Death Ward combination will often kill Chen's allies before he can save them with Hand of God. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel Death Ward on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Voodoo Switcheroo from Aghanim's Shard cannot be interrupted by Chen's creeps at all because Witch Doctor is hidden for it's duration.
Additional:
* Paralyzing Cask will repetively bounce between Chen and his converted creeps every single time. This can get even better if Witch Doctor buys Aghanim's Scepter that will allow his Death Ward to bounce between Chen and his converted creeps.
* Paralyzing Cask, Maledict and Death Ward combination will often kill Chen's allies before he can save them with Hand of God. And to make things better, Chen has no way to cancel Fiend's Grip on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Voodoo Switcheroo from Aghanim's Shard cannot be interrupted by Chen's creeps at all because Witch Doctor is hidden for it's duration.
* Phoenix's large damage over time with Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits can kill Chen's allies before he can use Hand of God.
* Phoenix naturally buys Spirit Vessel, which allows him to reduce healing from Divine Favor and Hand of God.
* Phoenix's Supernova cannot be damaged by Chen's creeps, and their normal speed means they will often not be able to kill Phoenix whenever he uses Supernova.
Additional:
* Not only Phoenix is able to disrupt Chen's jungling with Fire Spirits, but its high damage over time can also force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting any chance to save his allies during teamfights.
* Creeps' damage and attack speed are very abysmal, so Chen often cannot kill Phoenix whenever it casts Supernova.
* Dual Breath, Liquid Fire, Liquid Frost from Aghanim's Shard and Macropyre allows Jakiro can clear Chen's creeps, and kill his allies before he uses Hand of God.
* Macropyre can quickly clear Chen's creeps and deal intense damage to his allies, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Macropyre can also deal pure damage to Chen and his creeps and allies and pierce spell immunity.
Additional:
* Jakiro's damage over time force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting chance to save his allies during teamfight.
* Dual Breath and Macropyre can be used to disrupt Chen's jungling work.
* Starbreaker can deal huge damage to Chen and clear waves of his creeps.
* Celestial Hammer can deal damage over time to both, Chen and his creeps, which may force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely.
* Solar Guardian allows Dawnbreaker to counter Chen's pushing attempts and to rejoin her team with Solar Guardian when they require it. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Solar Guardian can also give Dawnbreaker's allies evasion while Dawnbreaker is airborne for it's duration, wasting much of Penitence's power.
Additional:
* Starbreaker can deal huge damage to Chen and clear waves of his creeps.
* Celestial Hammer can deal damage over time to both, Chen and his creeps, which may force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely.
* Solar Guardian allows Dawnbreaker to counter Chen's pushing attempts and to rejoin her team with Solar Guardian when they require it. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Solar Guardian can also give Dawnbreaker's allies evasion while Dawnbreaker is airborne for it's duration, wasting much of Penitence's power.
* With Timber Chain, Timbersaw can slow, catch up with, or escape from Chen and his creeps.
* Chakram and Flamethrower from Aghanim's Shard can clear Chen's creeps and slow him.
* Attacks from multiple creeps will quickly build Reactive Armor stacks, making attacks of Chen and his creeps only tickle Timbersaw.
* Heartstopper Aura can do a decent damage overtime to Chen's High-Health-Creep Army, and Chen does not have any source of burst damage to fight back against Necrophos.
* Skilled Necrophos can purchase a Spirit Vessel to provide an AOE debuff that can reduce the healing from Divine Favor and Hand of God.
* Necrophos often builds Radiance, which combined with Death Seeker from Aghanim's Shard allows him to quickly clear Chen's creeps.
* Necrophos can often kill Chen's allies with Reaper's Scythe before Chen can save them with Hand of God.
* If Rubick can use Spell Steal to steal Holy Persuasion, he will be able to turn Chen's creeps against him, reducing much of Chen's efficiency.
* Rubick can also steal Hand of God and use it to save his teammates during teamfights and Penitence to slow down Chen and make Rubick and his allies attack him faster.
* Telekinesis can be used to coordinate gank on Chen and prevent him from escaping.
* Fade Bolt can deal high damage to both, Chen and his creeps and weaken their damage output.
* Inner Fire can damage and disarm Chen's creeps.
* Burning Spear's high damage over time that grows stronger the more it stacks can force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting a chance to save his allies during a teamfight.
* Berserker's Blood makes it impossible for Chen and his creeps to kill Huskar.
* Life Break can deal huge damage to Chen and slow him down.
* Spectral Dagger can severely slow down Chen and allow Spectre to chase him down.
* Spectre often buys Radiance, which allows her to clear waves of Chen's creeps and if Chen has no creeps beside himself, he will suffer serious damage from Desolate.
* Dispersion will make attacks from Chen's creeps only tickle Spectre while also killing themselves in process.
* Haunt can find Chen anywhere on the map, no matter where he is.
* Poison Touch severely slows down Chen, deals damage over time and weakens his armor every time he gets attacked by Dazzle or any of his allies. Aghanim's Shard upgraded Poison Touch can hex Chen and prevent him from saving his allies with Hand of God.
* Neither Chen nor his converted creeps have burst damage at all, so Dazzle will always have plenty of time to save his allies with Shallow Grave.
* Dazzle can use Shadow Wave can heal his allies, kill Chen's creeps and damage Chen himself.
* Bad Juju can weaken Chen's armor, and the armor of his creeps every time Dazzle casts a spell while strengthening armor of Dazzle's allies.
* Naga Siren can make landing Chen's combo very hard due to her being an illusion hero thanks to Mirror Image.
* Rip Tide can deal big damage to Chen and reduce Chen's armor, as well as easily kill all of Chen's creeps.
* Naga Siren often builds Radiance, which allows her to quickly clear Chen's creeps.
* Ensnare will prevent Chen from escaping.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Naga Siren can get access to Reel In, which can separate Chen from his creeps and draw him closer to Naga Siren and her team to finish her off. To make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel Reel In on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Carry or Nuker Naga Siren can often finish off Support Chen before he can have a chance to activate Hand of God.
Additional:
* Naga Siren can make landing Chen's combo very hard due to her being an illusion hero.
* Rip Tide can deal big damage to Chen and reduce Chen's armor, as well as easily kill all of Chen's creeps.
* Naga Siren often builds Radiance, which allows her to quickly clear Chen's creeps.
* Ensnare will prevent Chen from escaping.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Naga Siren can get access to Reel In, which can separate Chen from his creeps and draw him closer to Naga Siren and her team to finish her off. To make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel Reel In on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Carry or Nuker Naga Siren can often finish off Support Chen before he can have a chance to activate Hand of God.
* Enchantress can turn Chen's own creeps against him with Enchant. The creeps still keep the health buff Holy Persuasion granted them. Aghanim's Shard gives Enchantress Little Friends ability, which allows her to turn multiple of Chen's creeps all at once against him.
* Untouchable and Nature's Attendants make her difficult to kill.
Additional:
* Even though Chen can use Holy Persuasion on creeps controlled by Enchant, Enchantress can also use Enchant on Chen's creeps, making it somewhat of a double-edged sword type of matchup.
* Aghanim's Shard gives Enchantress Little Friends ability, which she can use to turn all of Chen's creeps against him for a short time when casted on him.
* Impetus's high burst damage can often kill any of Chen's allies before he can save them with Hand of God.
* Doom can easily kill Chen's creeps and obtain their abilities with Devour.
* Scorched Earth's area-of-effect can clear multiple of Chen's creeps at once.
* Doom renders Chen completely helpless, and unable to save himself or his allies with Hand of God. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Doom also allows Doom to cast Doom on himself and disable both, Chen and his creeps around him.
* 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.
* Techies can easily catch Chen off guard and kill him quickly with Blast Off! and Ethereal Blade combo, especially because Blast Off! can silence Chen and stun him when upgraded with Aghanim's Shard.
* However, Chen's converted creeps can trigger Proximity Mines, wasting them.
* Mortimer Kisses will quickly destroy Chen's creeps and might waste Hand of God.
* Wild Axes, Primal Roar and Drums of Slom can deal high damage to Chen and clear waves of his creeps.
* Even though Chen can take control of the Boar from Call of the Wild Boar at any time with Holy Persuasion, which could put Beastmaster in a disadvantage against Chen. Skilled Beastmaster can buy Helm of the Overlord to regain control of it to counter this problem.
* Smart Beastmaster can also buy Bloodthorn to prevent Chen from taking control of the Boar from Call of the Wild Boar and make Chen more vulnerable to Beastmaster.
* Sticky Napalm slows Chen and his creeps and Flamebreak and Firefly can deal heavy damage to them.
* Flaming Lasso can pull Chen away from his creeps toward Batrider's team, often to certain death.
Additional:
* Sticky Napalm slows Chen and amplifies Batrider's damage.
* Flamebreak and Firefly can deal heavy damage to Chen and his creeps.
* Flaming Lasso pulls Chen away from his creeps, often to certain death.
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells: Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Broodmother, Naga Siren, Lycan, Visage, Beastmaster, Warlock, Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
* Heroes with fast movement abilities will suffer huge damage when afflicted by Rupture: Spirit Breaker, Earth Spirit, Dark Seer.
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, Nature's Prophet, Phantom Assassin, Riki, Anti-Mage, Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells: Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Broodmother, Naga Siren, Lycan, Visage, Beastmaster, Warlock, Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
* Hand of God has a long cooldown, so damage over time spells can be hazardous for Chen, forcing him to use it prematurely: Jakiro, Venomancer, Viper, Dazzle, Phoenix.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Ursa, Void Spirit.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Ursa, Void Spirit.
Additional:
* Leshrac's AoE abilities make quick work of Chen's creep army.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst can often kill Chen or his allies before he can use Hand of God: Lina, Luna, Techies, Shadow Fiend, Pugna, Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
Additional:
* Chen is basically Riki's natural prey: he has little HP, low armor and relies on his persuaded creeps to fight, which in most situations will not save Chen from Riki. Just be wary of {U:Centaur Conqueror}, who can stun Riki outside of Smoke Screen and ruin his attempt at Chen's life.
* Heroes with summons/illusions/neutral creep armies: Beastmaster, Chen, Naga Siren
* Heroes with channeling spells, for Chen has no disables on his own, hates buying disabling items and his creeps are often not fast enough to cancel them: Enigma's Black Hole, Witch Doctor's Death Ward, Shadow Shaman's Shackles, Lion's Mana Drain, Bane's Fiend's Grip, Pudge's Dismember, Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Pugna's Life Drain, Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian, and Naga Siren's Reel In from Aghanim's Scepter.
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells: Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Broodmother, Naga Siren, Lycan, Visage, Beastmaster, Warlock, Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damage can make quick work of Chen's converted creeps and at same time gain farm: Magnus, Jakiro, Shadow Fiend, Kunkka, Luna, Dragon Knight, Medusa, Alchemist.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damage can make quick work of Chen's converted creeps and at same time gain farm: Magnus, Jakiro, Shadow Fiend, Kunkka, Luna, Dragon Knight, Medusa, Alchemist.
* Heroes with evasion will cause Chen and his creeps to struggle in attacking them and will waste much of Penitence's power: Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Hoodwink.
* Heroes that can instantly kill creeps greatly reduce the effectiveness of Chen's converted army: Lifestealer, Doom, Mirana, Clinkz.
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells: Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Broodmother, Naga Siren, Lycan, Visage, Beastmaster, Warlock, Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
* Earthshock can slow down Chen and deal damage to both, Chen and his creeps.
* Many stacks from Fury Swipes combined with Overpower can guaranatee a kill for Ursa before Chen can save his allies with Hand of God.
* Enrage only makes Chen's attacks and his creeps's attacks tickle Ursa.
* Positioning-reliant heroes (Windranger, Tidehunter, Ursa...), since Earth Spirit can disrupt positioning with his Boulder Smash.
* Lina's high damage burst from Dragon Slave, Light Strike Array and Laguna Blade can easily kill Chen's allies or Chen himself before he can use Hand of God.
Additional:
* Lina's high damage burst from Dragon Slave, Light Strike Array and Laguna Blade can easily kill Chen's allies or Chen himself before he can use Hand of God.
* Squishy heroes (Io, Crystal Maiden, Lina...), as Earth Spirit can deal tons of damage with Magnetize.
* Shadowraze can clear waves of Chen's creeps while giving Shadow Fiend gold and damage for Necromastery.
* Requiem of Souls's very high magical damage can often kill Chen and his creeps or his allies before he can save them with Hand of God.
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit, Nyx Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker.
* Luna's Moon Glaives combined with Lunar Blessing can easily kill Chen's creeps.
* Eclipse can be used after Luna clears all of Chen's creeps to easily kill Chen or any of his allies before he can save them with Hand of God. This can get even worse if Luna buys Aghanim's Scepter. And Chen is not a hero that likes to buy Black King Bar to counter this problem.
Additional:
* Luna's Moon Glaives combined with Lunar Blessing can easily kill Chen's creeps.
* Eclipse can be used after Luna clears all of Chen's creeps to easily kill Chen or any of his allies before he can save them with Hand of God. This can get even worse if Luna buys Aghanim's Scepter. And Chen is not a hero that likes to buy Black King Bar to counter this problem.
* Heroes that create illusions: 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) can cause Eclipse to strike the illusions/summons unintentionally. However, in many cases Moon Glaives can resolve this issue and eliminate them before activating Eclipse, but that will require lots of farming for right-click items.
* Venomancer's damage over time can force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting a chance to save his allies during a teamfight.
* Venomancer's Poison Nova, Venomous Gale and Plague Ward can easily kill Chen's creeps.
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden, Chen, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Lina, Mirana, Nature's Prophet, Pugna and Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.
* Heroes with channeling spells, for Chen has no disables on his own, hates buying disabling items and his creeps are often not fast enough to cancel them: Enigma's Black Hole, Witch Doctor's Death Ward, Shadow Shaman's Shackles, Lion's Mana Drain, Bane's Fiend's Grip, Pudge's Dismember, Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Pugna's Life Drain, Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian, and Naga Siren's Reel In from Aghanim's Scepter.
* Rot is not very effective against Chen's creeps.
* Chen can use his creeps to cover him or his allies from any attempts of Meat Hook.
* {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under Chen's control can interrupt Dismember.
* Earth Spirit can easily disrupt Dismember because he can disable from a long distance with a Stone Remnant and Rolling Boulder. With talent he can even pull his teammates out of Dismember and also silence Pudge with Geomagnetic Grip.
* Geomagnetic Grip is not blocked by Linken's Sphere and can silence Morphling, preventing Morphling from using Waveform or Attribute Shift to escape from ganks.
* In addition, Boulder Smash and Rolling Boulder provide a solid lockdown if used together.
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells: Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Broodmother, Naga Siren, Lycan, Visage, Beastmaster, Warlock, Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
* Heroes with no stun and escape abilities such as Terrorblade are vulnerable as Chen can easily gank lanes from the jungle early game and score kills using Penitence.
* Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip prevent Terrorblade from using Sunder.
* Magnetize Does heavy magic damage to Terrorblade and his illusions that bypasses his high base armor.
* Templar Assassin is dependant on Refraction in teamfights. Because Magnetize deals damage per second and Earth Spirit is even able to refresh the duration of his ultimate he is suitable for wasting Refraction and allowing his team to take her down.
* Earth Spirit is a dangerous foe to encounter for Invoker in the early stages of the game. Since Invoker needs to gain levels as fast as possible and is not very strong in the early game, Earth Spirit can use his incredible early game power to gank Invoker and ruin his game plan.
* Earth Spirit combines stuns and silences with his spells and can apply them from a great distance. This is bad for Invoker as he is dependent on a smart usage of his spells with Invoke and Earth Spirit can disrupt his combos easily.
* Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip disable Faceless Void so he cannot escape with Time Walk.
* Rolling Boulder will allow Earth Spirit to get on top of Faceless Void at all stages of the game.
* Heroes with abilities that can close the gap can easily kill Muerta: Storm Spirit, Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Void Spirit, Lycan, Chaos Knight, Tusk.
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
* Any ganking heavy support can be a big problem for Primal Beast, such as: Earth Spirit, Grimstroke before he has a Black King Bar.
* Positioning-reliant heroes (Windranger, Tidehunter, Ursa...), since Earth Spirit can disrupt positioning with his Boulder Smash.
* Squishy heroes (Io, Crystal Maiden, Lina...), as Earth Spirit can deal tons of damage with Magnetize.
* Earth Spirit's useful kit of Slows, Stuns, and Silences can set up kills on Ogre Magi and the silence can stop him from using his abilities.
* Heroes with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as Beastmaster , Chen, or Shadow Demon.
Additional:
* Chen in the early game is a faster pusher than Arc Warden until Arc Warden buys Maelstrom.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Boulder Smash can return Tusk after his initiation.
* Geomagnetic Grip prevents Tusk from using Snowball to escape.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Ursa, Void Spirit.
* Tinker is an easy target for Earth Spirit to initiate on. He likes to split push lanes once he acquires Boots of Travel and Earth Spirit can jump him with his Rolling Boulder and disable him to buy enough time for his teammates to come and assist Earth Spirit.
* The huge range of Stone Remnant and Rolling Boulder enables Earth Spirit to stop Tinker from teleporting to his fountain since Tinker tends to buy Blink Dagger most of the time to escape.
* Puck can forbid the opportunity to avoid trouble for Earth Spirit on his own Rolling Boulder, using abilities: Dream Coil, Waning Rift
Additional:
* Puck can forbid the opportunity to avoid trouble for Earth Spirit on his own Rolling Boulder, using Dream Coil and Waning Rift.
* Earth Spirit Eliminates the possibility of the Puck to hide in Phase Shift and avoid an attack by Geomagnetic Grip with its AOE-silence, which is why it can help the team kill him
* Puck can't throw off the effect of Magnetize any of his abilities, which is why he will constantly receive damage if Earth Spirit extends this ability with his Stone Remnant
Additional:
* Earth Spirit eliminates the possibility of Puck to hide with Phase Shift and avoid an attack by Geomagnetic Grip with its AoE silence, which is why it can help the team kill it.
* Puck can't throw off the effects of Magnetize with any of its abilities, making it constantly receive damage if Earth Spirit extends this ability with his Stone Remnant.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Io, Nature's Prophet, Pangolier, Puck, Queen of Pain and most notably Riki.
* Frostbite roots and disarms Chen's creeps for 10 seconds.
* Crystal Maiden has a lot of AOE damage between Crystal Nova and Freezing Field to clear Chen's creeps out side and during team fights.
* Boulder Smash and Geomagnetic Grip allow Earth Spirit to easily disrupt Freezing Field, regardless of where Crystal Maiden is due to their incredible range. Earth Spirit is quite possibly the best hero for stopping long channeling abilities, and Crystal Maiden is vulnerable to him without a Black King Bar.
* All of Earth Spirit's spells allow him to easily close in on Crystal Maiden and kill her. Since she is a low health support, she generally stays behind in teamfights, but Earth Spirit can easily close the distance.
* Crystal Maiden has low movement speed and no other escape mechanism, rendering her extremely vulnerable to Earth Spirit's arsenal of long-range, damaging spells.
* Nether Blast can deal high damage to Chen and clear waves of his creeps.
* Decrepify can be used to waste the duration of Penitence.
* Nether Ward can discourage Chen from using Penitence, Holy Persuasion and Hand of God due to their fairly high mana costs.
* Life Drain can often kill Chen or any of his allies before he can save them with Hand of God thanks to it's high damage and low cooldown.
* Earth Spirit does not fly a small distance on Rolling Boulder using Stone Remnant, which will be a big problem for Life Drain, since Pugna will stop receiving health from breaking the distance of the ability, which will give the Earth Spirit team a chance to kill Pugna, by the way, this also works well with Boulder Smash, which pushes the enemy and can annoy the distance
* Earth Spirit has excellent control with a small recharge on Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip, which can knock down Pugna`s Life Drain, as well as completely turn him off in a fight, because he is very dependent on his abilities
* Magic damage from Earth Spirit's abilities can be disastrous for Decrepify, as it will kill him very quickly, and if Earth Spirit collects Ethereal Blade in such a game, it can easily destroy Pugna in one Rolling Boulder hit
* Earth Spirit also turns out to be a strong decision against Nether Ward, because he experiences it with his large amount of health, and if he collects Heart of Tarrasque(and Bracerin early game)in such a game, he may not feel it at all and calmly control Pugna with his abilities
Additional:
* Earth Spirit does not fly a small distance on Rolling Boulder using Stone Remnant, which will be a big problem for Life Drain, since Pugna will stop receiving health from breaking the distance of the ability, which will give the Earth Spirit team a chance to kill Pugna, by the way, this also works well with Boulder Smash, which pushes the enemy and can annoy the distance
* Earth Spirit has excellent control with a small recharge on Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip, which can knock down Pugna`s Life Drain, as well as completely turn him off in a fight, because he is very dependent on his abilities
* Magic damage from Earth Spirit's abilities can be disastrous for Decrepify, as it will kill him very quickly, and if Earth Spirit collects Ethereal Blade in such a game, it can easily destroy Pugna in one Rolling Boulder hit
* Earth Spirit also turns out to be a strong decision against Nether Ward, because he experiences it with his large amount of health, and if he collects Heart of Tarrasque(and Bracerin early game)in such a game, he may not feel it at all and calmly control Pugna with his abilities
* Razor's Plasma Field and the passive from Eye of the Storm can damage and clear Chen's creeps.
* Chen has no escape mechanisms, making him easy prey for Static Link, which can also minimalize effects of Penitence.
* Eye of the Storm will rapidly strike Chen's creeps around Razor.
* Boulder Smash's and Geomagnetic Grip's (upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter) repositioning and disables make it very difficult for Razor to keep enemies within range of Static Link and Eye of the Storm.
* Heroes with evasion will cause Chen and his creeps to struggle in attacking them and will waste much of Penitence's power: Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Hoodwink.
* Positioning-reliant heroes (Windranger, Tidehunter, Ursa...), since Earth Spirit can disrupt positioning with his Boulder Smash.
* Echo Slam will deal immense damage due to the amount of creeps Chen will have.
* Fissure and Enchant Totem deal large amounts of AOE damage, wearing down non-ancient creeps that Chen converts.
* Geomagnetic Grip can be used to silence Earthshaker after he blinks in, preventing him from executing his combo.
* Magnetize does damage over time and thus disables Earthshaker's Blink Dagger for a long time.
* Clockwerk's Battery Assault disables Earth Spirit's Rolling Boulder, while his Power Cogs ensure, that Earth Spirit can't move away from it.
* His Hookshot allows him to chase after Earth Spirit, while using Rocket Flare to gain vision.
* Due to Clockwerk's slow damage output, Chen can often save a trapped ally with Hand of God.
* Clockwerk does not have any source of damage to deal with Chen Creeps.
* Chen can use his creeps to block Clockwerk's attempts to use Hookshot.
Additional:
* Due to Clockwerk's very low damage output, Chen can often save a trapped enemy hero with Hand of God.
* Penitence's attack speed amplification allows Chen and his allies to kill Clockwerk quickly after his initiation.
* Chen's creeps can be used to block Hookshot initiation from all sides, as well as distribute Battery Assault's damage.
* Burrowstrike, Sand Storm, Caustic Finale and Epicenter will deal a large amount of damage to Chen and his creeps.
* Boulder Smash will push Sand King out of Sand Storm to reveal his position or an activated Epicenter off of Earth Spirit's allies, potentially wasting his combo
* Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip allow Earth Spirit to easily stun and silence Sand King and interrupt the channeling of Epicenter, completely ruining his initiation.
* Demonic Conversion can be used to instantly kill Chen's creeps and give Enigma gold in process.
* Midnight Pulse can greatly damage Chen and his creeps and disrupt Chen's jungling.
* Black Hole combined with follow-ups from Enigma's allies can often finish Chen or any of his allies before he can use Hand of God. To make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel Black Hole on his own, especially if Enigma chooses to channel Black Hole in center, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Black Hole is a channeling ability and Earth Spirit has at least two possibilities which can interrupt these kind of spells. Enigma is exposed and cannot move while using Black Hole, thus making it easy for Earth Spirit to stop the feared ability with the huge range of Rolling Boulder and forcing Enigma to quickly rush a Black King Bar to prevent this.
* Enigma is level dependant, squishy and relativly defenseless in the early game and therefore vulnerable to aggressive roam maneuvers in this stage of the game. Earth Spirit excels at ganking, shutting down a jungling or otherwise solo farming Enigma.
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Chen
* Aphotic Shield can nullify Chen's combo, while clearing Chen's creeps simultaneously.
Earth Spirit
* Aphotic Shield is a strong dispel, meaning it can save allies from Earth Spirit's stun, slow, silence, and Magnetize.
* Borrowed Time makes it nearly impossible for Earth Spirit to kill Abaddon.