* 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.
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Additional:
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and
Decrepify won't help Pugna at all.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
* 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.
* In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.
* Aphotic Shield can nullify Chen's combo, while clearing Chen's creeps simultaneously.
* In general, heroes that deal burst in multiple instances will trigger Borrowed Time and heal Abaddon for a large amount, such as Skywrath Mage,
Techies,
Juggernaut,
Shadow Shaman, or
Ogre Magi.
Additional:
* Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
* Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst
Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.
* 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.
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Io,
Witch Doctor, etc.
* 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.
* Once you get a Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like
Zeus,
Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.
* 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.
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy Black King Bar.
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.
* 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 with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage's armor and agility gain is very low, so when Huskar's Burning Spears stack they can take him down very quickly at any point of the game.
* Berserker's Blood grants bonuses as Huskar uses
Burning Spears to harass Skywrath Mage, granting him attack speed, magic resistance, and strength as health regen, making it possible that Huskar can harass Skywrath Mage out of lane and sustain through his magic burst through staying injured throughout lane, or even the game.
* Life Break allows Huskar to jump onto Skywrath Mage, closing the distance between them and busting him down so he cannot run. This can be combed with
Inner Fire, adding a movement speed slow if Aghanim's Shard is applied so Skywrath Mage cannot escape.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
* Slow-moving projectiles: Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* Mind Flare turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him and deals heavy damage.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
* 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.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut,
Lion, or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Fate Edict can completely negate Skywrath Mage's heavy magic damage.
* Fortune End dispels Ancient Seal.
* 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.
* 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.
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability
Meld.
Additional:
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability
Meld.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Mortimer Kisses will quickly destroy Chen's creeps and might waste
Hand of God.
* Burrowstrike,
Sand Storm,
Caustic Finale and
Epicenter will deal a large amount of damage to Chen and his creeps.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage's abilities are single targeted and he can't use Mystic Flare to its fullest potential, since all Meepos spread the damage between them. He also has no disables to prevent Meepo from Poofing to another one (unless he can get
Ancient Seal off first).
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut,
Lion, or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
* Heroes with silence such as Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Heroes that can instantly kill creeps greatly reduce the effectiveness of Chen's converted army: Lifestealer,
Doom,
Mirana,
Clinkz.
* 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 silence such as Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* 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.
* 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 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 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 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 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 summons/illusions/neutral creep armies: Beastmaster,
Chen,
Naga Siren
* 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 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 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.
* 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 evasion will cause Chen and his creeps to struggle in attacking them and will waste much of Penitence's power: Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Hoodwink.
* 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.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
* 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.
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
* Mana Break drains Skywrath Mage of his mana, slowing him and dealing bonus damage while rendering him unable to cast his spells.
* Blink makes it incredibly easy for Anti-Mage to close the gap between himself Skywrath Mage to right-click him down. He can also use Blink to get away and escape into fog of war.
* Anti-Mage passively reduces enemy spell damage with Counterspell, and can activate the ability to block and send back Skywrath's Ancient Seal or Arcane Bolt, causing him to silence himself or deal massive damage to himself.
* Skywrath Mage's large mana-costs makes him an easy target for Mana Void.
* Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and
Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
* 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 Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
* 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.
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with nukes: Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
* A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
* The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.
* 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.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut,
Lion, or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Additional:
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage's
Mystic Flare can deal huge damage to Clockwerk inside his Power Cogs.
* A good Skywrath Mage with quick fingers will punish Queen of Pain for blinking aggressively. Ancient Seal is a six second silence with no cast time, so he can interrupt either her Shadow Strike or Sonic Wave, and a good
Mystic Flare on top of that will seal the deal for her.
* Ancient Seal also has pretty good range so he could get it off before she blinks away.
* 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.
* Arcane Bolt can target Terrorblade's low health pool in the laning phase.
* Ancient Seal can prevent Terrorblade from casting Sunder.
* Mystic Flare can be used to great effect to burst Terrorblade down before he gets a
Manta Style or a
Black King Bar.
* 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.
* 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.
* Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
* Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
* Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
* Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast Winter's Curse on him. And if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
* However, bear in mind that Skywrath Mage has seriously awful armor, and that can make him an adequate target to being turned against his own team with Winter's Curse, which can result in his death quickly.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere; Sniper,
Skywrath Mage, etc.
* 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 with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
* Lich is heavily reliant on his abilities to contribute to team fights, so be wary of enemies that can Silence: Bloodseeker,
Death Prophet,
Silencer,
Drow Ranger,
Skywrath Mage.
* 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.
* Similar to Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
* An Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
* Root and silence are Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has
Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
* If he builds Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
* Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid game.
* Concussive Shot and
Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
* Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into
True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
* 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.
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
* Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a
Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
* 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.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* 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.
* Ancient Seal can silence Jakiro and make him vulnerable to magical spells up to 6 seconds.
* Skywrath Mage can usually burst down Jakiro with his high damage magical spells.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
* 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.
* Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
* 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.
* Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses
Blink Dagger to initiate.
* Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
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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.
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Chen
*
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.
*
Skywrath Mage
* Outworld Destroyer can steal more mana with
Astral Imprisonment from
Skywrath Mage with
Shield of the Scion (granted by
Aghanim's Shard). Shield of the Scion grants Skywrath Mage bonus intelligence every time he deals magic damage to an enemy hero with his abilities. The higher his intelligence, the larger his mana pool. Since Astral Imprisonment steals based on the target's max mana, Outworld Destroyer can steal much more mana from Skywrath Mage.