* 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.
* Feast deals damage and heals lifestealer based on the target max health. Because Spectre often emphasises on building stat items to increase her HP pool, lifestealer can deal a lot of damage to her and heal himself at the same time.
* Ghoul Frenzy slows target, which is bad for Spectre if she does not have
Spectral Dagger ready.
* Spectre cannot response to infest if lifestealer choose to stay inside his high mobility allies to approach the backline. Rage's bonus movement speed and spell immunity make it even more frustrating.
* 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.
* Spectre has no innate disables or silence to stop any of Dawnbreaker's abilities
* Solar Guardian allows Dawnbreaker to quickly stand next to one of her allies, denying Spectre any of Desolate's bonus.
* Luminosity outheals the damage dealt by Dispersion.
Additional:
* Spectre has no innate disables or silence to stop any of Dawnbreaker's abilities
* Solar Guardian allows Dawnbreaker to quickly stand next to one of her allies, denying Spectre any of Desolate's bonus
* Luminosity outheals the damage dealt by Dispersion
* 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.
* The movement speed granted from Shapeshift means that Spectre has no way to punish Lycan if he wants to splitpush or pick off supports. Furthermore, he will kite
Haunt and cannot be slowed by
Spectral Dagger.
* Lycan is often part of an early game push strategy which is often the best counter to Spectre because she needs a lot of time and space to come online as a late game carry.
* 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.
* Nether Blast is one of the best tower pushing abilities in the game, with a low cooldown. A competent Pugna will (at the very least) destroy tier 2 towers and make space for his team before Spectre can finally come online.
* Spectre's spells, while not spammable, have a fairly high mana cost, so Nether Ward can be fairly damaging to Spectre early game. The mana degen will also dampen Spectre's early game power significantly.
* Once Pugna gets Aghanim's Scepter, he can spam
Life Drain on any illusion Spectre summons, whether it'd be from
Haunt,
Manta Style, or some other means.
* In addition, Pugna can disable Spectre's Desolate ability (although its damage is pure, it requires physical attacks) with his
Decrepify ability, leaving Spectre only with
Spectral Dagger.
* 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.
* Dispersion will not do anything against throughout the game due to his high lifesteal with Jingu Mastery.
* Monkey King often buys Manta Style, which will deny
Desolate benefits in 1v1 situations.
* Haunt will do nothing to stop people trapped within Monkey Kings ultimate.
* In all, Spectre is very easily pressured by Monkey King early into the game and is a very easy gank target to coordinate with your team.
* 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.
* Infernal Blade's damage is calculated by percentage of maximum health. Since Spectre is usually tanky, it will hurt her more than most normal attacks.
* Doom can take out Spectre out of a teamfight completely. When combined with the level 25 talent {ValueColor:1|Doom applies Break|25tal} {Symbol:Talent}, it will disable both
Desolate and
Dispersion, taking away her extra damage and durability.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade's damage is calculated by percentage of maximum health, meaning that it will hurt Spectre more than most normal attacks, negating some of her tankiness.
* Doom can pick up several different abilities from neutral creeps using Devour, some of which can be annoying to Spectre.
* Mud Golem, Dark Troll Summoner, Harpy Stormcrafter, Satyr Mindstealer or Satyr Tormenter are good examples.
* Doom makes Spectre less disruptive. Combined with
Aghanim's Scepter, it will disable Spectre passive skills, reducing her potential in teamfights.
* 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.
* Dark Seer can pull together Spectre's illusions with
Vacuum, and
Wall of Replica creates an illusion of Spectre that deals massive damage.
* 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.
* Hex and
Mana Drain can be used to immediately destroy Spectre's illusion when she
Haunts. A fast fingered Lion can protect himself and a teammate.
* Hex and
Earth Spike are good lockdown spells to control and kill Spectre, especially if she doesn't buy defensive items like
Linken's Sphere and
Black King Bar.
* Finger of Death can be used to burst down Spectre when she is low on life as she has very poor magic resistance.
* 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.
* Spectre can't escape with Spectral Dagger under X Marks the Spot.
* Kunkka can dominate Spectre's lane using Tidebringer and gain an advantage.
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from Haunt.
* 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.
* Essence Shift deals 20 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by Dispersion.
* Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping with Spectral Dagger.
* Haunt illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a
Shadow Blade, preventing
Desolate's and
Diffusal Blade's damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any damage caused by
Radiance.
* Slark is a natural carrier of Silver Edge, which helps break both
Desolate and
Dispersion.
* 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.
* Jakiro's early pushing ability from Liquid Fire makes Jakiro very strong against heroes, that take a long time to get online: Morphling,
Naga Siren,
Spectre.
* 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 with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
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.
* Storm Spirit can exploit every one of Spectre's weaknesses, and thus is one of the best counters against her.
* Spectre has to be in melee range to deal damage, making her likely to trigger Static Remnants and susceptible to being kited by
Overload procs.
* Electric Vortex can lock Spectre down as she doesn't like to build
Black King Bar.
* Ball Lightning gives Storm Spirit multiple advantages:
* Spectre cannot evade Storm Spirit, as Ball Lightning is superior to Spectral Dagger in terms of mobility.
* Storm Spirit can kite her and her Haunt illusions when it's later in the game due to her having no form of pseudo-blinks (Reality is far inferior to Ball Lightning).
* It is very difficult for Spectre to deal any substantial damage against Storm Spirit with Desolate. Ball Lightning grants invulnerability and can mitigate damage done from
Dispersion and
Radiance.
* To mitigate this, Spectre needs a team with hard disable to take Storm Spirit out.
Additional:
* Ball Lightning is the ultimate counter to Spectre's entire toolkit. With this ability, he can score easy kills on Spectre without her having any means of escape early game, kite her and her
Haunt illusions when it's later in the game due to her having no form of pseudo-blinks.
* Furthermore, it is very difficult for Spectre to deal any substantial damage against Storm Spirit with Desolate, and without both
Manta Style and
Diffusal Blade he will always remain on the move.
* Also, Ball Lightning grants invulnerability, and as Storm Spirit likes to spam that ability, he can mitigate the damage done from
Dispersion and
Radiance.
* 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.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as Anti-Mage,
Spectre and
Shadow Fiend.
* 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.
* Nethertoxin disable passives, negating Spectre's damage and survivability by removing both
Dispersion and
Desolate.
* Due to Haunt and
Radiance's burn, Spectre is heavily susceptible to being persistently slowed and damaged by
Corrosive Skin without even directly attacking Viper.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike further slow Spectre's movement speed to a crawl, while his improved magic resistance means he can easily shrug off
Radiance's burn.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable
Desolate and
Dispersion, leaving Spectre with far less damage output and damage mitigation in engagements.
* Spectre is one of the weakest heroes at early levels. Viper can stifle her farm with early fights before Spectre purchases any major items.
* 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.
* Phantom Lancer has higher mobility and the ability to reset any fights with Doppelganger can be a nuisance for spectre to fight against.
* Phantom Lancer is a natural carrier of Diffusal Blade and
Manta Style, which is outright nullify
Desolate. In fact, Phantom Lancer will always have illusions with him at anytime, thus further exacerbated the problem.
* Although Spectre is largely AoE oriented, unfortunately, they are damage-over-time (DoT) rather than burst AoE damage. Without any effective ways to quickly destroy illusion and reveal the real hero, Spectre has little availability to manfight Phantom Lancer at any points in the game.
* Spectre often relies on Spectral Dagger as a pseudo-mobility skill. With her low mana pool and complete dependence on it to catch enemy team, she will soon find herself unable to do anything significant once her mana pool is completely drained.
* Doppelganger can be used to dispel the slow from
Spectral Dagger, thus completely render it useless.
* 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.
* Hex can be used immediately to destroy Spectre's illusion when she
Haunts.
* Shadow Shaman can use Shackles to lock down Spectre for his team.
* Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward and
Ether Shock help him push lanes and end the game early before Spectre can come online and take over the late game.
* Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and
Sniper) and supports (like
Dazzle and
Shadow Shaman).
* 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.
* Death Pulse can single out Spectre from her illusions, as well as heal his team against her. He also usually stands close to his allies for Death Pulse, effectively disabling
Desolate.
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
* 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.
* Venomancer's poison damage over time is very effective against Spectre, who tends to lack magic resistance during the early to mid game.
* Venomancer's multiple slows greatly reduces Spectre's movement speed and mobility.
* Plague Wards can scout out Spectre while she is hiding in trees.
Additional:
* Venomancer's poison damage-over-time are very effective against Spectre, which is lack of magic resistance from early to mid game.
* Venomancer's multiple slows greatly reduces Spectre's low mobility, even through Spectral Dagger.
* Plague Wards reveals Spectre while she is hiding on trees.
* 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 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.
* Void Spirit is strong against heroes who cannot deal with his rotations due to his mobility. Such heroes include Spectre,
Gyrocopter,
Morphling, and
Chen.
* 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.
* Durable heroes relied a lot on their main passive effects and items' effects such as Bristleback,
Underlord,
Spectre and
Dragon Knight can be disabled easily with
Sharpshooter's break, reducing their potential in teamfights.
* 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.
* Arctic Burn makes it nearly impossible for Spectre to juke into the trees.
* Cold Embrace negates all of Spectre's physical damage. Furthermore, Cold Embrace will generally outheal
Desolate.
* Winter's Curse can taunt illusions, not only wasting the entire duration of
Haunt but also turning its illusions against Spectre's own team.
* 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.
* Juggernaut's Healing Ward can help save allied supports when Spectre attempts a
Haunt kill.
* Juggernaut has a stronger push potential than Spectre, enabling him to end the game early before Spectre can come online.
* Spectre is often paired with two supports that are often weak against Juggernaut.
* Juggernaut also tends to build a Manta Style, which can prevent
Desolate from taking effect.
* Juggernaut is invulnerable against Dispersion while using
Omnislash.
* 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.
* 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.
* Aphotic Shield can nullify Chen's combo, while clearing Chen's creeps simultaneously.
* Spectre must chase for kills and relies on movement speed for mobility in fights, and has no way to counter the Tombstone zombies.
* The potency of Soul Rip can be increased from nearby illusions from Haunt.
* Decay will shut down Spectre during the laning phase by effectively cutting down her initial health pool.
Additional:
* Spectre must chase for kills and relies on movement speed for mobility in fights, and has no way to counter the Tombstone zombies.
* The potency of Soul Rip can be increased from nearby illusions, so Undying can use Haunt against Spectre.
* Early game Decay will make Spectre easy to shut down in lane.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Spectre cannot chase down Anti-Mage with Spectral Dagger because of Blink, though it still grants her team vision over him.
* Counterspell reduces much of the damage from Dispersion and Spectre's
Radiance.
* Anti-Mage usually builds a Manta Style, preventing Spectre from dealing any
Desolate damage to him once he summons his illusions.
Additional:
* Spectre has no way to prevent Blink, for escape or initiation. Anti-Mage can easily pick off enemy supports and Spectre cannot do anything about it.
* Mana Break burns through Spectre's low mana pool.
* Manta Style's illusions prevent
Desolate's damage.
* Even though Anti-Mage is outcarried by Spectre in the later stages of the game, a competent Anti-Mage with a Battle Fury can easily outfarm and get ahead of Spectre before she can come online.
* 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.
* Global Guardian Angel will protect his allies from Spectre's
Haunt, both when they are alone and in teamfights.
* Purification is a major problem for melee enemies, Spectre included, since they must be next to an enemy in order to attack. The AoE damage also allows Spectre to be singled out from her illusions.
* Degen Aura will prevent Spectre from chasing Omniknight, further exacerbated by her terrible mobility outside Haunt.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Generally speaking, Spectre is a strong teamfighter but a weak manfighter. She has no tool to deal with troll warlord once he has his sight locked on her.
* Troll often buys Silver Edge and
Monkey King Bar, which greatly countered Spectre's passive and item build (Silver Edge can disable passive while providing some damage, Monkey King Bar provides accuracy to counter
Radiance and
Butterfly miss chance).
* Black King Bar allows troll to bypass the damage return from
Blade mail should Spectre attempts to fight back Troll. However,
Black King Bar is generally not very effective against Spectre as her skills can pierce the spell immunity. Still, it offers protection against
Blade mail, a common item for Spectre in the mid game.
* Troll has high lifesteal from Battle Trance and
Satanic, which help him survive the damage from
Desolate should the break duration is over.
* Battle Trance and
Fervor mean Spectre will have a hard time fighting troll and cannot take him down, even with equal farm.
* 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.
* Mortimer Kisses will quickly destroy Chen's creeps and might waste
Hand of God.
* Her illusions with Desolate are very valuable, especially when they are usually paired with
Radiance. Unlike blink or force movement,
Spectral Dagger's escaping mechanic requires manual movement, and therefore Demonic Purge can hold her back really hard and allow your allies to finish her off.
* If she tries to kill you or any key ally with Haunt at any point of the game, remember to not panic and always use Disruption on the illusion, whether it is fake or the real Spectre herself. When the situation calls, Demonic Purge can save a second victim from a haunting Spectre.
* When upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter, Demonic Purge can remove Spectre from a fight by disabling Desolate and
Dispersion, negating her damage and tankiness respectively.
* Burrowstrike,
Sand Storm,
Caustic Finale and
Epicenter will deal a large amount of damage to Chen and his creeps.
* Spectre cannot have a good game if she is pressured heavily in lane, which is something Mars can do. He may even force her to cast Haunt as an escape, putting it on a long cooldown.
* Should Spectre get to the late game, Mars can block a large amount of her damage with Bulwark and can mitigate some of the chaos caused by her Haunt illusions with God's Rebuke.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Spectre's Haunt with Radiance may be useful for countering Meepo but if Meepo finds the real one, Spectral Dagger is useless. Non-Black King Bar heroes like her will suffer from all of Meepo's abilities. Meepo is also a very large counter as Spectre takes a long time to come online, normally farming in the jungle or in lane, which makes her an easy target for Meepo ganks.
Additional:
* Poof combined with
Earthbind can be used to easily lockdown and burst Spectre down.
* As Meepo's playstyle is often to come online early to mid game and take over the whole game, Meepo will often be much further ahead of Spectre in farming.
* Meepo's global map presence allows him to effectively hunt for Spectre and disrupt her farm.
* Spectre has no strong AOE abilities or way to control or lock down Meepo.
* 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.
* Disruptor can control where she goes with
Kinetic Field and
Glimpse.
Static Storm shuts her down in teamfights.
* 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.
* Slardar's
Slithereen Crush allows him to stun Spectre and illusions, and
Corrosive Haze prevents her from juking with
Spectral Dagger.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
* 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 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
* Spectre can instantly escape Burning Army or hunt Clinkz with Haunt.
* Spectre can catch up to him with Spectral Dagger, even if he uses Skeleton Walk.
* Desolate allows Spectre to hit Clinkz through Skeleton Walk.
* Dispersion makes Spectre tanky and also reflects some damage back to Clinkz.
Additional:
* Spectre can catch Clinkz with Spectral Dagger, even if he uses
Skeleton Walk.
* Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Clinkz with Haunt.
* Desolate's damage will melt him quickly, as he's alone most of the time.
* 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 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.
* Pudge's Dismember stops Spectre from escaping with Haunt.
* He can easily tank the damage reflected by Dispersion due to his high strength and the healing from Dismember.
* Should Spectre try to get away through the trees or over a cliff with Spectral Dagger, Pudge can hook her back.
* Spectre takes a long time to become powerful, and Pudge can ruin her early game with ganks.
* 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.
* 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.
* Riki's Smoke Screen can make it hard for Spectre to escape or burst down Riki with auto attacks.
* Riki can build Aghanim's Scepter and jump inside an allied carry or offlane tank with
Tricks of the Trade to do a lot of damage to Spectre while completely avoiding
Dispersion.
* Riki is great at destroying supports which are often needed to keep Spectre safe until she comes online. He can take them down quickly in team fights, which will leave Spectre alone against your whole team, a fight that she will most likely not win.
* While on Tricks of the Trade, Riki does not take damage from
Dispersion.
* Spectral Dagger follows Riki even after he goes invisible and stays on him through
Tricks of the Trade, revealing his location.
* Desolate grants Spectre the ability to damage Riki with right clicks regardless of
Smoke Screen's blind.
* Riki relies on his high damage to kill is opponents, which is countered by Dispersion.
* Haunt can find Riki globally at any time, negating much of his ganking potential.
* 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.
* Heroes with summons/illusions/neutral creep armies: Beastmaster,
Chen,
Naga Siren
* 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.
* Heroes the make heavy use of illusions, like Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade, or
Spectre can suffer from Crystal Maiden, as Freezing Field can quickly kill off the entire horde if not stopped.
* As Crystal Maiden is squishy with very bad movement speed, Spectre can easily stay on Crystal Maiden with Haunt and
Spectral Dagger.
* Late game, with enough farm, Spectre can withstand an entire Freezing Field, possibly even causing Crystal Maiden to kill herself from
Dispersion.
* 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.
* 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.
* Rubick usually positions in the back of a team. Heroes who can sneak up and assault Rubick (e.g. Slark) or damage Rubick from great distance (e.g.
Spectre,
Sniper) should be treated cautiously, as otherwise the matchup usually ends up badly for Rubick.
* None of Spectre's spells are very good for Rubick to Spell Steal.
* 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.
* 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.
* Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and
Sniper) and supports (like
Dazzle and
Shadow Shaman).
* 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.
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark.
* 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.
* If Terrorblade's health gets low enough, Terrorblade's Sunder can be used to completely deplete Spectre's health pool without any consequences from
Dispersion.
* Terrorblade is one of the few late game heroes that can stand toe to toe and man fight Spectre. Not all is lost if the game goes late when Terrorblade is on your team against Spectre.
Additional:
* If Terrorblade's health is low enough, he can safely use Sunder on Spectre without any consequences from her Dispersion and Spectre has no way to prevent it.
* Although Desolate deals pure damage and can bypass his high armor, Terrorblade usually stays nearby his illusions, effectively disabling Desolate.
* Reflection is effective against her as it does not only slow her down but Desolate can also be used against herself.
* Dispersion damage is reduced thanks to Terrorblade's high natural armor.
* Terrorblade is one of few heroes that can manfight Spectre. Not everything is lost if Spectre managed to reach late game.
* 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.
* Unlike with other heroes who can summon illusions of themselves, Terrorblade's illusions from Conjure Image have different colors than other illusions which can be seen even by enemy team, which can also make Terrorblade weak even against heroes he naturally counters:
Bane,
Lifestealer,
Spectre,
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Sniper. Terrorblade's only solution to counter this problem is to get
Manta Style as quickly as possible.
* 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.
* Illusions and summons are double-edge sword type of matchup for Luna. On one hand, they can tank damage from Eclipse, but on the other hand, she can easily clear them before Eclipse with Moon Glaives. Examples include Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress,
Meepo and
Arc Warden).
* 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.
* 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.
* Dispersion can negate Muerta's high attack damage while also dealing lots of return damage back to Muerta, which she is fragile against as she has a small health pool.
* Spectre can use Shadow Step and
Haunt from
Aghanim's Scepter to quickly engage Muerta and escape her if she uses
Pierce the Veil. And since Spectre commonly buys
Radiance, this allows her to fight against Muerta even if she has
Pierce the Veil active.
* In general, Spectre can out carry Muerta towards the late game with her better survivability, sustained damage, and global presence.
* Shadow Step's low cooldown allows Spectre to teleport to him whenever he decides to push.
* Spectral Dagger allows Spectre to go through Sprout's trees and stun Nature's Prophet if she has a
Skull Basher or
Abyssal Blade.
* Spectre loves buying Radiance, which can kill Nature's Prophet's Treants easily.
Additional:
* Spectre can get to him anywhere on the map with Haunt.
* Spectre can pass through his trees with Spectral Dagger.
* Desolate's damage will melt him quickly, as he's alone most of the time.
* Spectre can easily close the distance on Drow Ranger with Haunt and stick on her with
Spectral Dagger, effectively disables her
Marksmanship.
* Spectre does not care if silenced by Gust, since Spectre will catch her up regardless.
* Dispersion can reflect some damage back to Drow Ranger should she chooses to attack.
* Be careful once she got her Silver Edge as an attempt to shut you down.
* 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.
* Oracle's burst damage is ineffective against Dispersion.
* Disarm provided by Fate's Edict is not as significant debilitation for Spectre as it might be for other carries since She can do damage even without landing attacks.
Additional:
* Oracle's burst damage is not enough to take down Spectre due to Dispersion.
* Disarm from Fate's Edict does not hinder Spectre that much, since she can deal damage even without landing a single attack.
* 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.
* Dispersion makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to burst down Spectre while also reflecting back Phantom Assassin's high burst damage against herself.
* Black King Bar is useless for Phantom Assassin against Spectre as all of her skills pierce spell immunity.
* Spectre only needs to be careful against Fan Of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard, as it can disable
Desolate and
Dispersion, though this issue can be solved by buying
Blade Mail, which is a common item on Spectre.
Additional:
* Dispersion makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to burst down Spectre while also reflecting back Phantom Assassin's high burst damage against herself.
* Black King Bar is useless against Spectre as all of her skills pierce spell immunity.
* 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.
* Spectre can catch up to her with Spectral Dagger, even if she uses
Windrun.
* Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Windranger with Haunt.
* Dispersion can reflect some of her damage, especially from her
Focus Fire.
Additional:
* Spectre can instantly escape Focus Fire or hunt a Windranger with Haunt.
* Spectre can catch up to her with Spectral Dagger, even if she uses Windrun.
* Desolate allows Spectre to hit Windranger through Windrun.
* Dispersion combined with
Blade Mail and/or
Vanguard (and its upgrade
Abyssal Blade) makes Spectre tanky and/or reflects some damage back to Windranger.
* 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.
* Spectre disables Magnus' Blink Dagger using her ultimate, and later into the game can usually outlive Reverse Polarity's duration.
Additional:
* Spectre can use Haunt to intercept and disrupt Magnus's initiation attempts.
* Spectral Dagger can severely slow down Magnus after he uses
Skewer.
* Magnus often travels alone when he is trying to initiate, so Desolate can be very effective against him.
* In late game, Spectre can survive Reverse Polarity initiation thanks to
Dispersion.
* 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.
* Shadow Step and
Haunt from
Aghanim's Scepter instantly allows Spectre to get up and close with Sniper, and
Spectral Dagger makes it difficult for Sniper to escape from her.
Additional:
* Spectre can reach him easily in the backlines with Spectral Dagger or teleport to him with
Haunt.
* He is usually a fair distance away from his allies, so Desolate will quickly tear Sniper down.
* Dispersion reflect or reduce his damage, making her hard to take down even at late game.
* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like Batrider,
Monkey King,
Spectre, and
Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.
* Zeus burst damage can be reduced by Dispersion and reflect some of the damage back to Zeus himself.
* Zeus has low mobility and stays in backlines, Spectral Dagger or
Haunt can easily catch him as he has no escape mechanism.
* Since Zeus has low HP, Spectral Dagger and
Desolate will quickly tear Zeus down when he's alone.
* 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.
* His global teleportation with Boots of Travel and
Rearm is easily countered with
Haunt, and Spectre can reach him anywhere on the map.
* He is squishy, and if alone Desolate will kill him very fast.
* Dispersion can reflect and reduce his burst damage.
* 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.
* Spectral Dagger and
Haunt allow Spectre to get close to Lina.
* Desolate is very strong against Lina, who's usually a bit isolated in fights because of her high attack and cast range.
* Dispersion can mitigate a good portion of Lina's burst damage, allowing Spectre to turn on her afterwards.
Additional:
* Spectre can very easily close the distance on Lina with Haunt and
Spectral Dagger, and due to Lina's abysmal mobility without a
Blink Dagger and terrible health pool and armor, Lina easily gets slaughtered due
Desolate.
* Dispersion can mitigate a good portion of Lina's burst damage, allowing Spectre to turn against her afterwards.
* 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.
* Spectre can instantly reveal Bounty Hunter's position on the activation of her ultimate Haunt. She can also semi-reveal( visible but not target-able) Bounty Hunter by hitting him with
Spectral Dagger.
* 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.
* Haunt can ruin Enigma's initiation with
Blink Dagger, no matter where he is on the map.
* Spectre often buys Radiance, which allows her to deal damage over time to Enigma and put
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Dispersion reflects the damage of
Midnight Pulse and
Black Hole inflicted back to Enigma. This can get even worse for Enigma if Spectre buys
Blade Mail.
* All of Spectre's abilities ignore spell immunity, which means that even with Black King Bar, Enigma has absolutely little to no chance against Spectre at any stage of the game.
* 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.
* Spectral Dagger can be used to traverse past Fissure.
* Haunt will usually disable Earthshaker's
Blink Dagger prior to a teamfight, preventing him from initiating.
* On the other hand, Haunt will amplify damage done from Echo Slam. Use this to your advantage.
Additional:
* Spectre can use Haunt to intercept and disrupt Earthshaker's initiation attempts.
* Spectral Dagger can be used to traverse past
Fissure.
* Earthshaker often travels alone when he is trying to initiate, so Desolate can be very effective against him.
* Beware that the Haunt illusions amplify the damage done from
Echo Slam, which can prove fatal for Spectre's own team.
* 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.
* As Ancient Apparition likes to stay far away from the fight to get full effectiveness from Ice Blast, he is a very good target for a
Haunt gank.
* Ancient Apparition also has no hard disables and escape spells, making him an easy kill for Spectre.
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
*
Grave Chill can heavily slow down Chen and boost Visage and his familiars's attack speed and movement speed.
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.
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.
* Chen's
* Skilled Visage can buy
Spectre
* Familiars will be able to chase Spectre through the trees when she uses
Spectral Dagger, while Visage can keep blasting her with Soul Assumption.
Desolate will almost never proc because Visage will always have nearby Familiars.
*