* Clinkz will often roam the map alone, and Treant Protector's
Nature's Guise allows him to set up kills with his allies on Clinkz from invisibility.
* Treant Protector's very high damage allowing him to trade hits or contest last hits with Clinkz, while
Living Armor can be used to sustain the harass.
*
Living Armor protects any of Treant's allies ganked by Clinkz.
* In teamfights, Treant Protector's
Overgrowth can disarm Clinkz, preventing him from turning invisible and holding him in place even if he has a
Black King Bar.
*
Leech Seed slows Clinkz, preventing him from repositioning or fleeing away from danger.
*
Living Armor and
Leech Seed can be used to save a hero from a
Relocate gank.
*
Overgrowth can be used to cancel escape attempts with
Relocate.
* Once Treant Protector buys
Aghanim's Scepter, he will gain access to
Eyes in the Forest, that will allow him to enchant a tree which will grant him unobstructed vision in that location, allowing him to keep his allies alerted on Io and his
Tethered's attempts to gank them, and which can also allow
Overgrowth to damage them and root them if they are within a 800 radius of an tree affected by
Eyes in the Forest.
* Possibly Clinkz's worst enemy. He has many tools to utterly destroy Clinkz.
*
Charge of Darkness can be used on Clinkz if Spirit Breaker's team spots him anywhere. This charge will track his location through Skeleton Walk's invisibility and movement speed bonuses.
* When Spirit Breaker charges onto Clinkz, he can easily use
Dust of Appearance to guarantee a reveal on him while stunned.
* All three of Spirit Breaker's spells help him and his team quickly close the gap to Clinkz even at the edge of his attack range or when running away with Skeleton Walk.
* Spirit Breaker's high strength and above average armor makes him able to endure Clinkz's onslaught, meanwhile Clinkz will be heavily threatened if Spirit Breaker procs a
Greater Bash.
Additional:
* Once caught with dust, Clinkz could be locked down for a long time by Spirit Breaker and has nowhere to escape.
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, showing Clinkz even when he is in
Skeleton Walk.
*
Charge of Darkness can be used to escape or counter-initiate against a Relocate gank.
*
Greater Bash and
Nether Strike is devastating due to Io's low armor, and can even knock it away from his
Tethered target.
*
Skeleton Walk is not enough to outrun Bloodseeker, and is detected by Thirst.
* Because of his low health and high damage output, Clinkz will get obliterated by
Blade Mail
Additional:
*
Thirst reveals Clinkz if he tries to escape with Skeleton Walk with low health. It also allows Bloodseeker to match or exceed Clinkz's speed.
*
Rupture negates the mobility provided by Skeleton Walk in any attempt to escape or reposition in fights.
* Bloodseeker can easily build items to counter Clinkz, including
Talisman of Evasion upgrades,
Blade Mail, and armor items.
*
Thirst allows Bloodseeker to see where Io relocated to, should either Io or the tethered hero have low health.
*
Rupture forces Io to stay in place, preventing it from using the Tether bonus movement speed to escape.
* Lina's damage burst can quickly kill Clinkz before he saves them with
Skeleton Walk.
* Fiery Soul attack speed bonus removes
Burning Army easily in all stages of the game.
* 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.
* Smoke Cloud prevents the use of
Death Pact,
Searing Arrows and
Skeleton Walk, so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
* It's hard to gank Riki as Clinkz has to find him first.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Heroes that excel at grouping up with their team very early will be able to take advantage of a Clinkz that tries to pick off heroes that are alone:
Brewmaster,
Dazzle,
Tidehunter.
*
Poison Touch allows Dazzle to harass both, Io and it's tethered target on lane.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Poison Touch can also hex both, Io and it's tethered target, preventing them from escaping with Relocate, and also disarming them, silencing them, muting them and rendering them helpless against Dazzle and his allies.
* Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Dazzle will have plenty of time to save an ally with
Shallow Grave from gank by Io and it's tethered target.
*
Shadow Wave will always hit both, Io and it's tethered target if they are near the ally Dazzle uses
Shadow Wave on, while healing Dazzle's allies near them.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Shadow Wave can bounce on both, Io and it's tethered target, causing them both to take damage and to be attacked by Dazzle. And unlike Io who doesn't get healed while using Tether, Shadow Wave will always heal Dazzle no matter on which of his allies he uses it on.
*
Bad Juju will cause both, Io and it's tethered target to lose armor every time Dazzle casts a spell while strengthening armor of Dazzle's allies.
Additional:
*
Poison Touch allows Dazzle to harass both, Io and it's
Tethered target on lane.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Poison Touch can also hex both, Io and it's
Tethered target, preventing them from escaping with Relocate, and also disarming them, silencing them, muting them and rendering them helpless against Dazzle and his allies.
* Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Dazzle will have plenty of time to save an ally with
Shallow Grave from gank by Io and it's
Tethered target.
*
Shadow Wave will always hit both, Io and it's
Tethered target if they are near the ally Dazzle uses
Shadow Wave on, while healing Dazzle's allies near them.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Shadow Wave allows Dazzle
Shadow Wave directly on Io and it's
Tethered target which can also bounce on both, Io and it's tethered target, causing them both to take damage and to be attacked by Dazzle. And unlike Io who doesn't get healed while using Tether, Shadow Wave will always heal Dazzle no matter on which of his allies he uses it on.
*
Bad Juju will cause both, Io and it's tethered target to lose armor every time Dazzle casts a spell while strengthening armor of Dazzle's allies.
*
Track reveals Clinkz if he tries to escape with Skeleton Walk, allowing Bounty Hunter to gain lots of gold if he kills Clinkz.
*
Jinada with physical damage items can quickly kill Clinkz due to his low health.
* 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.
*
Scorched Earth deals damage to Clinkz during Skeleton Walk.
*
Doom shuts down Clinkz entirely, as it prevents him from casting any of his spells and contributing a large amount of damage in teamfights.
* Heroes with the ability to heal allies will not be able to heal heroes affected by
Doom:
Chen,
Dazzle,
Io,
Oracle,
Omniknight,
Witch Doctor,
Winter Wyvern,
Abaddon, etc.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game:
Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
* Heroes that are hard to gank:
Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* 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.
* 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.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables:
Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
* 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 who rely on physical damage output to be effective will fare badly against Muerta's
Pierce the Veil:
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Drow Ranger,
Lifestealer,
Anti-Mage,
Alchemist,
Lycan,
Clinkz,
Sniper.
* Heroes whose abilities can affect multiple enemies at once:
Dawnbreaker,
Ember Spirit,
Lina,
Luna,
Jakiro,
Leshrac,
Invoker,
Muerta,
Dazzle.
* Heroes with high armor like
Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like
Phantom Assassin,
Riki and
Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
* 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.
* Fireblast is a good tool to interrupt Io during its escapes through
Tether.
* Ignite can be one of the few spells with enough total damage to out-trade the sustained healing Io provides for its fellow laner.
* However, picking other supports that focus less on the laning phase is generally a better choice against Io.
* Zeus can reveal Clinkz with
Lightning Bolt.
* He is vulnerable to Zeus's magical nukes, due to his low health pool.
* Grimstroke can catch Io and his
Tethered ally easily with
Soulbind as Io has a tendency to
Tether himself with an ally frequently, which also makes them easier targets for
Soulbind.
* Io is highly vulnerable to disables. Hence, Grimstroke's
Phantom's Embrace is a great ability to hinder Io's potential.
Additional:
* Soulbind can target both Io and its
Tethered ally, allowing Grimstroke and his team to target both with single target spells. Should Io try to
Relocate, Phantom's Embrace can stop its channel to prevent escape.
*
Homing Missile can be used to cancel escape attempts with
Relocate.
*
Flak Cannon allows Gyrocopter to attack both, Io and his
Tethered target, especially when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Rocket Barrage and
Call Down allow Gyrocopter to deal serious damage to both Io and his
Tethered target.
Additional:
*
Homing Missile can be used to cancel escape attempts with
Relocate.
*
Flak Cannon allows Gyrocopter to attack both, Io and his
Tethered target, especially when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Rocket Barrage and
Call Down allow Gyrocopter to deal serious damage to both Io and his
Tethered target.
* The long silence at night prevents Clinkz from escaping with invisibility if Night Stalker can sneak up on him. He also has really low base health, so Night Stalker can usually kill him alone during one cast of Crippling Fear at night.
*
Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
*
Ensnare and
Song of the Siren can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate and to close the distance on Io.
*
Rip Tide combined with illusions from
Mirror Image often finish off Io before he can save himself.
* Spirit's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Naga Siren's illusions from
Mirror Image.
* Once Naga Siren buys
Aghanim's Scepter, she can gain access to
Reel In, which not only allows her to cancel both, Tether and Relocate, but also to pull Io to herself and her team while he is affected with
Ensnare, similarly to Batrider's
Flaming Lasso.
*
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Song of the Siren can also heal the hero Io and his tethered targed try to gank.
Additional:
*
Ensnare and
Song of the Siren can be used to cancel both,
Tether and
Relocate and to close the distance on Io.
*
Rip Tide combined with illusions from
Mirror Image often finish off Io before he can save himself with
Tether or
Relocate.
*
Spirits's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Naga Siren's illusions from
Mirror Image.
* Once Naga Siren buys
Aghanim's Scepter, she can gain access to
Reel In, which not only allows her to cancel both,
Tether and
Relocate, but also to pull Io to herself and her team while he is affected with
Ensnare, similarly to Batrider's
Flaming Lasso.
*
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Song of the Siren can also heal the hero Io and his
Tethered targed try to gank.
* Jakiro's area-of-effect ability arsenal allows him to affect multiple heroes at once, giving Io difficulties in saving them as he can only heal one hero at a time with Tether.
*
Ice Path can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
* Jakiro commonly buys
Rod of Atos that can be used to cancel Relocate, prevent Io in escaping with Tether and make Io easy target for
Ice Path and
Macropyre.
Additional:
* Jakiro's area-of-effect ability arsenal allows him to affect multiple heroes at once, giving Io difficulties in saving them as he can only heal one hero at a time with Tether.
*
Ice Path can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
* Jakiro commonly buys
Rod of Atos that can be used to cancel Relocate, prevent Io in escaping with Tether and make Io easy target for
Ice Path and
Macropyre.
* By using
Morph, Morphling can use Burning Barrage and Searing Arrows to counter Clinkz himself.
*
Waveform can allow Morphling to easily chase down Clinkz.
* Clinkz's low health pool also makes him vulnerable to Morphling's magical nukes, especially his
Ethereal Blade and
Adaptive Strike combo.
*
Searing Arrows and Clinkz physical damage items are almost suicidal when used on Legion Commander, as it invites an instant Duel and Legion Commander herself is a natural
Blade Mail carrier.
* Duel locks down Clinkz for a long duration, preventing him from escaping with
Skeleton Walk.
*
Duel is very effective against Io due to its low health and armor.
*
Tethered heroes are much harder for Legion Commander to kill in Duels.
*
Relocate can cancel Duels and save allies.
* Lightning Storm will usually hit both Io and his
Tethered target since both will be close enough for the lightning to jump. It can then be followed up by Split Earth.
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova hit all units near Leshrac, meaning he can do colossal damage to Io and his
Tethered target.
Additional:
* Io is a hero who needs to be close to it's tethered target to make it effective, and that's where Leshrac gets the advantage thanks to many of his area-of-effect abilities.
*
Lightning Storm will usually hit both Io and its tethered target since both will be close enough for the lightning to jump.
*
Diabolic Edict and
Pulse Nova hit all units near Leshrac, meaning he can do colossal damage to both, Io and its tethered target.
* Lich's
Chain Frost forces Io to either give up providing buff to his ally with
Tether or suffer devastating damage with his
Tethered ally.
* Lich can easily use
Sinister Gaze to disable Io from getting away with
Tether or
Relocate.
*
Lucent Beam and 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent for
Eclipse can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
* Luna's
Moon Glaives and
Eclipse abilities can make short work of Io and its tethered ally, particularly when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
*
Lucent Beam can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
* Like with Leshrac's
Diabolic Edict,
Lightning Storm and
Pulse Nova abilities. Luna's
Moon Glaives and
Eclipse abilities can make short work of Io and its tethered ally, particularly when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Hex and
Earth Spike can hold Clinkz down, giving him no chance to use
Black King Bar or Skeleton Walk.
*
Finger of Death quickly kills Clinkz due to his low health.
* Batrider's
Flaming Lasso can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with
Relocate and drag him away from his
Tethered target. And since Io doesn't like buying
Linken's Sphere, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
* Io's tendency to stick close to it's
Tethered target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's
Tether against him.
Additional:
* Batrider's
Flaming Lasso can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with
Relocate and drag him away from his
Tethered target. And since Io doesn't like buying
Linken's Sphere, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
* Io's tendency to stick close to it's
Tethered target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's
Tether against him.
* Terrorblade can easily take advantage of Io's weak durability with
Reflection and
Metamorphosis.
* As Io relies on boosting his and his
Tethered target's attack speed with
Overcharge, Terrorblade can take advantage of this with
Reflection, which can damage and slow both, Io and his
Tethered target.
*
Spirits's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
* Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Terrorblade will have plenty of time to save himself with
Sunder.
* However, Terrorblade has no way of stopping Io to escape with
Tether or to stop both, Io and his
Tethered target to escape with
Relocate besides
Terror Wave from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
* Terrorblade can easily take advantage of Io's weak durability with
Reflection and
Metamorphosis.
* As Io relies on boosting his and his
Tethered target's attack speed with
Overcharge, Terrorblade can take advantage of this with
Reflection, which can damage and slow both, Io and his
Tethered target.
*
Spirits's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
* Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Terrorblade will have plenty of time to save himself with
Sunder.
* However, Terrorblade has no way of stopping Io to escape with
Tether or to stop both, Io and it's
Tethered target to escape with
Relocate besides
Terror Wave from
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Clinkz survivability depends entirely on
Skeleton Walk. Corrosive Haze not only makes its invisibility useless, but also makes Clinkz even more vulnerable to physical damage.
Additional:
* Slardar can reveal Clinkz with
Corrosive Haze and make him easy to kill, and his
Bash of the Deep also hits hard against Clinkz's naturally low health pool.
* Slardar's
Guardian Sprint can catch up with Clinkz's Skeleton Walk.
* The stun and slow from Slardar's
Slithereen Crush can hold Clinkz in place.
* The extra damage from
Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.
* Clinkz has too low health to survive a gank.Getting stunned keeps him down long enough for a reaction.
* Breathe Fire reduces his damage, as he almost exclusively deals physical damage.
* Heroes with high armor like
Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like
Phantom Assassin,
Riki and
Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
*
Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin jump directly to Io.
*
Coup de Grace can make a short work of Io's low health and armor.
* With
Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
*
Untouchable prevents Clinkz from harassing Enchantress in lane by lowering his attack speed.
*
Nature's Attendants helps Enchantress to sustain through Clinkz's harassment in lane.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes that are hard to gank:
Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes that excel at grouping up with their team very early will be able to take advantage of a Clinkz that tries to pick off heroes that are alone:
Brewmaster,
Dazzle,
Tidehunter.
* Heroes that are hard to gank:
Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes whose abilities can affect multiple enemies at once:
Dawnbreaker,
Ember Spirit,
Lina,
Luna,
Jakiro,
Leshrac,
Invoker,
Muerta,
Dazzle.
* Heroes that are hard to gank:
Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as
Bounty Hunter,
Clinkz,
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin and
Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
* Heroes whose abilities can affect multiple enemies at once:
Dawnbreaker,
Ember Spirit,
Lina,
Luna,
Jakiro,
Leshrac,
Invoker,
Muerta,
Dazzle.
* Heroes with low armor and little mobility, like
Huskar,
Io, etc. will also have an unfortunate fate.
* Heroes that are hard to gank:
Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* 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 who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game:
Phantom Assassin,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Enchantress.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Fragile carries with no reliable escaping mechanism can be bursted down in no time:
Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Clinkz
* Heroes that excel at grouping up with their team very early will be able to take advantage of a Clinkz that tries to pick off heroes that are alone:
Brewmaster,
Dazzle,
Tidehunter.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* 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 both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* 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 both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* 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 with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre:
Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
* Ice Blast prevents Io from healing an ally with
Tether and prevents healing from
Overcharge
* Io is a common
Mekansm builder which is useless if he is affected by Ice Blast.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast prevents Io from healing the target.
* Ancient Apparition can easily harass Io 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 nearly impossible for Io to escape from
Cold Feet.
Ice Vortex can also make Io and it's tethered target more vulnerable to Ancient Apparition and his allies's magical damage.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like
Phantom Assassin or
Clinkz.
* Disruptor can always Glimpse back Io or his target after he
Relocated nearby.
* Even better, thanks to the indicator on the ground, you can even preemptively drop Static Storm and Kinetic Field on the spot they will relocate to.
* Thunder Strike and Glimpse are also good tools to bring back an Io that
Tethered away in the fog of war.
Additional:
*
Glimpse directly negates Relocate.
*
Kinetic Field prevents Io from escaping with
Tether.
*
Static Storm can silence and damage both, Io and it's tethered target. And it can also mute both, Io and it's tethered target when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Heroes that can pick you off:
Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin,
Puck,
Riki.
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook:
Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
* Tether and Overcharge makes it much harder for Pudge to kill a target with
Meat Hook, and Relocate can save the Io's ally while
Dismember is being channeled.
* Any hero with high attack speed will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a
Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits:
Juggernaut,
Clinkz,
Troll Warlord,
Beastmaster,
Lina.
* Phoenix's limit AoE, damage-over-time abilities give Io plenty of time to save allies with Relocate.
* Clinkz's high damage output and insane attack speed late-game can take Kunkka out of the fight before it begins.
*
Burning Barrage and
Searing Arrows together can kill allies easily even under Ghostship's buff.
*
Skeleton Walk can allow Clinkz to make a quick escape after Kunkka's combo, or even avoid it all together.
* Clinkz's item build often counters Hoodwink, including
Black King Bar,
Monkey King Bar,
Heaven's Halberd, and
Scythe of Vyse.
*
Skeleton Walk can quickly escape Hoodwink abilities.
* Considering Rubick's abysmal armor, Rubick is a squishy target for Clinkz to gank on his own.
* None of his spells are useful except for
Skeleton Walk.
* Clinkz usually builds
Orchid Malevolence, which disables Rubick's ability to retaliate.
* Vast numbers of
Sentry Wards are needed to deal with Clinkz because of
Skeleton Walk, making it harder for Rubick to buy more expensive and more useful support items like
Glimmer Cape or
Mekansm.
*
Searing Arrows makes Clinkz one of the hardest heroes for Clockwerk to lane against.
* Tether helps Io escape from Earthbind even if Meepo has Blink Dagger.
* Io's Spirits can pressure Meepo while laning and will usually hit at least one of his clones.
* 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.
* Huskar's
Berserker's Blood provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Huskar has no way to disrupt Clinkz's attacks and no way to kill Clinkz alone, as Clinkz can easily go invisible, teleport away, or even fight back.
* Clinkz will often build the items that counter Huskar and the items he usually builds. These include
Black King Bar or
Monkey King Bar for
Heaven's Halberd, or a disable item like
Scythe of Vyse or
Bloodthorn to prevent him from using
Inner Fire to disarm.
* Io can escape from Pit of Malice with Tether or Relocate.
* Relocate can counter Dark Rift's split pushing.
* Despite Clinkz's fragility, his harassment in the early game can be devastating; as he can kite Enigma and his Eidolons and claim their bounty with
Burning Barrage and
Tar Bomb.
* Clinkz often goes for a disabling item like
Bloodthorn or
Gleipnir, which allows him to cancel Enigma's
Black Hole until Enigma gets
Black King Bar.
Gleipnir can also root Enigma, preventing him from using
Blink Dagger to escape from Clinkz.
* Even with
Black King Bar, Clinkz can still easily kill Enigma as all of his abilities ingore spell immunity, and Enigma is a very easy target for
Burning Barrage, which means Clinkz can solo Enigma at any stage of the game unless Clinkz is caught in
Black Hole.
*
Clinkz can use
Burning Army in teamfights which will cause a problem for Alchemist.
* Heroes who can take advantage of Oracle's low mobility or catch him out of position, such as
Clinkz and
Anti-Mage, can easily pick him off.
* Heroes who can harass Omniknight out of lane will keep him weak in the mid game:
Viper,
Venomancer,
Clinkz.
* Due to Tiny's non-existent agility gain, high physical damage heroes are more effective against him (
Clinkz,
Templar Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King etc).
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with invisibility: (
Riki,
Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin.
Additional:
* Nature's Prophet is often by himself. Clinkz can use invisibility to hunt him down and kill him, although a Quelling Blade may be needed to cut through his
Sprout. Orchid Malevolence may also be needed if 3-4 seconds are not enough time to kill him, as he can teleport away.
* Clinkz can match Nature's Prophet's ability to split push.
*
Io can use
Relocate with an ally to gank Nature's Prophet whenever he tries to push.
Additional:
* Nature's Prophet is extremely easy to gank with Relocate while he's split pushing.
* Tether on a friendly unit can destroy Nature Prophet's trees should he surround himself with
Sprout as a defense.
* Heroes with abilities that can save teammates are also effective such as
Shadow Demon,
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Bane,
Pugna,
Tusk,
Winter Wyvern,
Io,
Underlord,
Treant Protector and
Keeper of the Light.
* With
Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
* With
Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective:
Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
Additional:
* Clinkz does not have any passive abilities at all, making
Nethertoxin nearly useless.
* Viper's
Corrosive Skin provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting:
Arc Warden,
Chen,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Mirana,
Nature's Prophet,
Pugna and
Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate:
Clinkz,
Slark,
Storm Spirit
* With
Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
* 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.
* Ember Spirit's
Flame Guard provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Ember Spirit's low armor and health make him easy to kill quickly if a teammate can hold him down.
* If Clinkz has farmed an item that can disable, he can sneak up to and hunt down Ember Spirit while he farms or split pushes alone.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Clinkz relies heavily on the physical damage provided by
Burning Barrage and
Searing Arrows, which completely overrides the capabilities of Rage.
* Lifestealer's lack of disables will struggle to pin Clinkz down while in
Skeleton Walk, and can allow Clinkz to kite him.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void:
Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
* Anti-Mage's
Counterspell provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Clinkz can easily rush an
Orchid Malevolence to prevent
Blinking, although Anti-Mage can easily dispel it via
Manta Style.
* Clinkz does heavy damage to towers, and can take map control away from Anti-Mage to limit the space he has to farm early game. If Clinkz is ahead he is capable of ending the game before Anti-Mage becomes a threat. He can also match Anti-Mage's ability to split push.
*
Take Aim and
Assassinate allow Sniper to reach Io even if it stays in the backline.
* Invisible heroes all have the element of surprise. Provided they deal enough damage, Sniper should be vanquished very quickly:
Clinkz,
Riki,
Bounty Hunter.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper:
Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
* Clinkz has no stun and likes to keep his distance from targets, making Marksmanship very deadly.
* Clinkz also has low health, making him a perfect hero to initiate onto with Gust.
* Gust can also prevent Clinkz from using
Burning Barrage.
* Drow Ranger's lack of escape abilities makes her an easy target for Relocate ganks.
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (
Riki,
Bounty Hunter,
Weaver, or
Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to
Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that
Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
* Heroes who can easily harass Crystal Maiden out of lane in the early game (
Clinkz,
Viper) can prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to level effectively, and can ultimately slow down her level 6, 12, and 18 to a point where enemy carries already have items to address her ultimate.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
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Clinkz
*
Cold Embrace can heal herself or an ally, as well as protecting them from Clinkz's physical attacks and wasting his mana if Searing Arrows is on autocast.
Winter's Curse allows Winter Wyvern to turn Clinkz's high damage and high attack speed against his allies, or take advantage of Clinkz's fragility if he can't use Skeleton Walk.
*
Io
*
Cold Embrace can render the extra attack speed from
Overcharge meaningless.
Splinter Blast and
Winter's Curse are very affective against Io, as it has to stay close to his
Tethered target.
*