Visage
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Crystal Maiden
* Duel is a great initiation to target Crystal Maiden with, as it prevents her from using Freezing Field or any other abilities and allowing the enemy team to quickly kill her before she can aid her team in a fight.
Nyx Assassin
* Duel's long duration prevents Nyx Assassin escaping from Vendetta. With Aghanim's Scepter she can also bypasses
Spiked Carapace.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Crystal Maiden
* Doom alone can easily pick off Crystal Maiden since she is fairly fragile, even with using only basic attacks, Infernal Blade, and
Scorched Earth.
* Doom prevents her from using any abilities in a fight, making her impact negligible.
* Devour allows Doom to acquire a stun, allowing him to cancel Freezing Field without having to use
Doom.
Nyx Assassin
* A well-timed Doom prevents Nyx Assassin escaping with Vendetta and does not allow him to disengage with Spiked Carapace.
* Doom's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Crystal Maiden
* Mirror Image can dispel Frostbite.
* Song of the Siren can stop Freezing Field regardless of any kind of invisibility as well as allow Naga Siren's team to quickly close the gap on Crystal Maiden.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Naga Siren can get access to
Reel In ability, which can allow her to pull Crystal Maiden toward herself and her team and cancel Freezing Field even through
Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Mirror Image can dispel Frostbite.
* Song of the Siren can stop Freezing Field regardless of any kind of invisibility as well as allow Naga Siren's team to quickly close the gap on Crystal Maiden.
* Ensnare allows Naga Siren and her team to quickly catch up with Crystal Maiden and kill her.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Naga Siren can get access to
Reel In ability , which can allow her to pull Crystal Maiden toward herself and her team and cancel Freezing Field even through
Black King Bar.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Visage,
Phantom Lancer.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Crystal Maiden
* Crystal Maiden's already low armor and easily interruptible ultimate,
Freezing Field can make Slardar her worst nightmare.
Crystal Maiden also often builds
Glimmer Cape which is revealed by Corrosive Haze.
Nyx Assassin
* Corrosive Haze hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with Vendetta, as well as reducing his armor and make him very vulnerable due to his low health pool.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Crystal Maiden
* Juggernaut and
Lifestealer have abilities (
Blade Fury and
Rage respectively) that prevent Crystal Maiden from using her spells on them in the early game, before
Black King Bar and other magical reduction is even an issue.
Nyx Assassin
* Blade Fury makes Juggernaut immune to all Nyx's abilities, except
Vendetta.
* Omnislash. and
Swiftslash can burst Nyx down, ignoring
Spiked Carapace. However,
Vendetta can be used to escape, canceling
Omnislash/
Swiftslash.
Additional:
* Juggernaut's entire skillset greatly counters Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace, his most important ability.
* Blade Fury allows Juggernaut to freely attack Nyx Assassin, and deal heavy damage to Nyx Assassin. Nyx Assassin cannot counter
Blade Fury with Spiked Carapace because
Blade Fury gives Juggernaut spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Juggernaut while he is spell immune.
* Healing Ward allows Juggernaut to recover himself and his allies from Nyx Assassin's damage output.
* Omnislash and
Swiftslash can quickly finish off Nyx Assassin, and just like
Blade Fury, Nyx Assassin cannot counter neither
Omnislash and
Swiftslash with Spiked Carapace because both abilities render Juggernaut invulnerable. And if Nyx Assassin has no Vendetta available to use for escaping, both abilities will kill him very quickly before he can do anything.
* Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Juggernaut will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Juggernaut.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Nyx Assassin
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from
Impale and
Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time, even Spiked Carapace is activated.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Crystal Maiden
* Juggernaut and
Lifestealer have abilities (
Blade Fury and
Rage respectively) that prevent Crystal Maiden from using her spells on them in the early game, before
Black King Bar and other magical reduction is even an issue.
Additional:
* Crystal Maiden is an ideal target for Lifestealer due to her poor mobility and low health pool. Lifestealer can usually catch up to her simply by casting Rage, as none of her abilities pierce through magic immunity. Freezing Field can potentially make her even more vulnerable to Lifestealer while under Rage as she is even more immobile while channeling it.
* Lifestealer commonly buys Abyssal Blade, which allows him to cancel
Freezing Field, even if Crystal Maiden is spell immune.
* Alternatively, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest combined with
Abyssal Blade and with items that provide attack speed which Lifestealer commonly buys allow him to to cancel
Freezing Field from within the Crystal Maiden.
Nyx Assassin
* Like with Juggernaut's Blade Fury,
Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter {{A:Rage|Lifestealer} with Spiked Carapace because {{A:Rage|Lifestealer} gives Juggernaut spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from
Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin.
Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with
Open Wounds.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with
Dust of Appearance or a
Gem of True Sight. And similarly to Juggernaut's
Omnislash and
Swiftslash,
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. and Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
* Like with Juggernaut, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Čofesteačer.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 4%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Crystal Maiden
* In general, heroes with AoE or long range disables (such as Faceless Void with
Chronosphere,
Pudge with
Meat Hook and
Elder Titan with
Echo Stomp) hinder Crystal Maiden, preventing her from using Freezing Field to help her team in a fight.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as Bounty Hunter,
Clinkz,
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin and
Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Nyx Assassin
* Lycan's high HP easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Crystal Maiden
* Sacred Arrow can be used to interrupt Freezing Field from a safe distance, forcing her to cancel it to dodge or get hit.
* Crystal Maiden has very slow movement speed, making her an easy Sacred Arrow target.
* Crystal Maiden has low health and can easily be killed with an Aghanim's Scepter combo or just when hit with an arrow.
* If Frostbite has already been used, Mirana can Leap away even when slowed by
Crystal Nova or
Freezing Field.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Nyx Assassin
* Cyclone from Storm in
Primal Split can waste Nyx's Spiked Carapace, since its duration is shorter than the Cyclone's.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Nyx Assassin
* Centaur's low Intelligence makes Mana Burn do low damage.
* With some creative skill builds, Centaur's Hoof Stomp stun duration should always last longer than Spiked Carapace stun, so escaping unscathed is hard for Nyx.
* With Blink Dagger and detection, Centaur can devastate Nyx in the open.
* However, bear in mind that Nyx can also easily initiate on Centaur Warrunner as well if he uses Spiked Carapace in anticipation, and with
Vendetta. The damage from Retaliate will be reflected back to Centaur Warrunner, stunning him with no chance to react after he's revealed himself, and should guarantee a successful
Impale.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Crystal Maiden
* Low mobility heroes: Heroes with no/little means of traveling fast have difficulty getting to/away from Bounty Hunter due to his slowing Jinada and hastening Track. Few examples of such heroes are: Crystal Maiden,
Sniper,
Ursa,
Witch Doctor, etc.
Additional:
* Shuriken Toss's stun is useful for cancelling Freezing Field from a distance.
* Track can be used for revealing Crystal Maiden when she uses
Glimmer Cape.
* Jinada does burst physical damage (which is even bigger if dealt under
Track's crits), which is effective due to Crystal Maiden's low HP and armor.
* Bounty Hunter likes to stay hidden from the fight and is less likely to get caught by Crystal Maiden's spells.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin wants to start ganking as soon as he gets his Vendetta. Keeping him Tracked prevents him from ganking, and thus from doing his job in the game.
* Nyx Assassin has a lot of armor and health regen, making the nuke damage from Shuriken Toss very good against him.
Additional:
* Track hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with Vendetta, making him an easy kill for gold as well.
Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Crystal Maiden
* Ice Path allows Jakiro to easily cancel Freezing Field.
* Freezing Field makes Crystal Maiden an easy target for all of his abilities without a Black King Bar.
* With the Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Macropyre,
Black King Bar becomes nearly useless for Crystal Maiden, as its high pure damage over time, long duration and ability to pierce spell immunity will either force Crystal Maiden to forcefully cancel Freezing Field or even discourage her from using it at all.
Additional:
* Ice Path allows Jakiro to easily cancel Freezing Field.
* Freezing Field makes Crystal Maiden an easy target for all of Jakiro's abilities without a Black King Bar.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Macropyre can deal pure damage-over-time and pierce spell immunity, making
Black King Bar nearly useless for Crystal Maiden, as its high damage over time and long duration can discourage Crystal Maiden to use Freezing Field. Remember, however, that Crystal Maiden can partially solve this issue by buying
Aghanim's Schard, which will allow her to simply walk out of Macropyre
Luna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Crystal Maiden
* Lucent Beam allows Luna to easily cancel Freezing Field.
* Without Black King Bar protection,
Lucent Beam and
Eclipse can make a short work out of Crystal Maiden's abysmal health.
* Skilled Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance, allowing her team to have a vision on Crystal Maiden while invisible and during channeling Freezing Field.
* Even with Black King Bar, Luna can still inflict considerable damage on Crystal Maiden with her attacks, which get empowered with
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing, also smart and skilled Luna will buy
Abyssal Blade to cancel Freezing Field even through
Black King Bar in case of emergency. And since Crystal Maiden rarely buys
Linken's Sphere, this can be a very big problem for her.
Additional:
* Lucent Beam allows Luna to easily cancel Freezing Field.
* Without Black King Bar protection,
Lucent Beam and
Eclipse can make a short work out of Crystal Maiden's abysmal health.
* Skilled Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance, allowing her team to have a vision on Crystal Maiden while invisible and during channeling Freezing Field.
* Even with Black King Bar, Luna can still inflict considerable damage on Crystal Maiden with her attacks, which get empowered with
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing, also smart and skilled Luna will buy
Abyssal Blade to cancel Freezing Field even through
Black King Bar in case of emergency. And since Crystal Maiden rarely buys
Linken's Sphere, this can be a very big problem for her.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Crystal Maiden
* Battery Assault,
Power Cogs, and
Hookshot can interrupt Freezing Field, the latter two being able to go through invisibility should Crystal Maiden use
Glimmer Cape.
* Rocket Flare can be used to find Crystal Maiden should she try to hide in the trees to try to safely cast Freezing Field.
* Hookshot allows
Clockwerk to easily close in on Crystal Maiden and kill her.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Crystal Maiden
* Snowball allows Tusk to easily cancel Freezing Field from a safe distance without putting himself in any danger.
* Walrus PUNCH! is most certainly a high enough damage nuke to easily kill off Crystal Maiden.
* Ice Shards can prevent the already immobile Crystal Maiden from escaping, making her an easy kill for either Tusk or a teammate.
Additional:
* Crystal Maiden's low health and armor make her an easy target for Walrus PUNCH!
* Tusk's Snowball can protect allies and cancel Freezing Field.
* Snowball and Walrus PUNCH! can interrupt Freezing Field.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Crystal Maiden
* Boulder Smash and
Geomagnetic Grip allow
Earth Spirit to easily disrupt Freezing Field, regardless of where Crystal Maiden is due to their incredible range.
Earth Spirit is quite possibly the best hero for stopping long channeling abilities, and Crystal Maiden is vulnerable to him without a
Black King Bar.
* All of Earth Spirit's spells allow him to easily close in on Crystal Maiden and kill her. Since she is a low health support, she generally stays behind in teamfights, but Earth Spirit can easily close the distance.
* Crystal Maiden has low movement speed and no other escape mechanism, rendering her extremely vulnerable to Earth Spirit's arsenal of long-range, damaging spells.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Crystal Maiden
* Crystal Nova helps on farming while applies an area slow.
* Frostbite extends Rubick's lockdown duration while providing extra damage, also serves as a farming ability.
* Freezing Field deals much greater damage thanks to
Arcane Supremacy in teamfights.
* Freezing Field is a channeling ability and therefore can be stolen easily.
* Crystal Maiden has no innate ability to interrupt
Freezing Field, though it may not be the case for her teammates; Yet a well-times
Telekinesis lift or drop can interrupt
Freezing Field.
* Consider build items that strengthens Freezing Field, such as
Aghanim's Shard,
Black King Bar and
Aghanim's Scepter to reach its full potential.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Crystal Maiden
* Phantom's Embrace can silence Crystal Maiden and disrupt Freezing Field's channeling. Her slow movement speed and fragile nature will also make her an easy target for Stroke of Fate and Ink Swell.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Nyx Assassin
* Dragon Knight's heavy armor negates Vendetta's burst physical damage. His large HP pool also gives him a good chance of surviving Nyx Assassin's follow-up nuke damage.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Crystal Maiden
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Crystal Maiden
* Lone Druid's early game is good against slow, squishy supports since his bear is very strong early game and an Entangling Claws proc almost always guarantees a kill: Ancient Apparition,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman, etc.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Crystal Maiden
* In the same vein, heroes with silences — especially with the AoE ones like Death Prophet's
Silence — can also prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to impact a fight.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with very little to no area-of-effect abilities will struggle greatly against Broodmother: Sniper,
Phantom Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Bane,
Visage,
Bounty Hunter.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with large health pools (Pudge) or good innate magic resistance (
Anti-Mage) can be very problematic for Crystal Maiden, since even if they are under the effect of her ultimate for the entire duration, the damage output is simply not enough to kill or force them to retreat.
Nyx Assassin
* 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
Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Puck, and
Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Crystal Maiden
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Silencer,
Keeper of the Light,
Venomancer, etc.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin can reflect Life Break with
Spiked Carapace.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Crystal Maiden
* Generally, any fragile heroes will have a hard time dealing with Undying's tankiness, and even more so if Decay is used on them. Some examples are Crystal Maiden and
Witch Doctor.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 2%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with little health or magic resistance are easily picked off with Oracle's magic burst, such as Skywrath Mage,
Crystal Maiden, or
Enchantress.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Nyx Assassin
* In general, attacks of the melee heroes who are entirely reliant on dealing physical damage and/or have very little to no area-of-effect abilities will make Underlord tickle and will have no effect against him, and will be unable to ambush Underlord and his team if Underlord chooses to use Dark Rift to get to a designated point of the map:
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Bounty Hunter,
Alchemist,
Templar Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Bane.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Crystal Maiden
* In general, heroes with AoE or long range disables (such as Faceless Void with
Chronosphere,
Pudge with
Meat Hook and
Elder Titan with
Echo Stomp) hinder Crystal Maiden, preventing her from using Freezing Field to help her team in a fight.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with invisibility will be detected by Thirst when they have low enough health: Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Weaver,
Treant Protector,
Nyx Assassin.
Additional:
* While Burrowing, Nyx is an easy target for a Blood Rite, although he can at least partially counter it with a well-timed Spiked Carapace.
* Thirst is always a threat to Nyx Assassin, hindering his attempt of escape using Vendetta.
* Rupture also prevents Nyx Assassin from escaping with Vendetta, as it forces him to stay still.
Techies
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Nyx Assassin
* Some abilities deals damage from an independent source and not from the hero itself, so Nyx cannot counter them with Spiked Carapace: illusions or summoning units, Homing Missile,
Nimbus,
Mass Serpent Ward and especially
Techies's mines.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Crystal Maiden
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and she's an easy target for him. She has no real disables that can lock Ember Spirit down, and all of her skill damage can be negated with Flame Guard. The damage from Searing Chains, Flame Guard, and Sleigh of Fist can easily take her down.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker.
Nyx Assassin
* With Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use
Spiked Carapace with
Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
* Mana Burn is also good, as Ember Spirit relies on his limited mana pool for the early to midgame.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by Flame Guard or
Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Crystal Maiden
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Crystal Maiden
* Smoke Screen effectively disables Crystal Maiden's channeling spell: Freezing Field.
* Due to her low health and armor throughout the game, Riki can kill her easily.
Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Nyx Assassin
* Impale and
Spiked Carapace stun can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* Abaddon can use Borrowed Time and easily heal for the duration of Borrowed Time by Nyx's burst damage.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin might not kill Abaddon with his nuke, but a support Abaddon will struggle to protect an ally from him.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Crystal Maiden
* Cold feet can be used to ensure that the full channel of Freezing Field doesn't go off.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Crystal Maiden
* Crystal Maiden will be not able to cast her Freezing Field while being constantly stunned by Enigma's
Malefice.
* Enigma's Black Hole can cancel
Freezing Field's channeling regardless of her
Glimmer Cape and
Black King Bar.
Nyx Assassin
* Enigma is fragile, and lacks escapes, being dependent on Blink Dagger for mobility. Ganking Heroes or Heroes with burst damage will likely kill him before he can do anything. Such Heroes include:
Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Puck,
Slark,
Nyx Assassin, etc.
Additional:
* Enigma's uncontrollable damage from Malefice and
Midnight Pulse make him easy to stun with Spiked Carapace.
* Black Hole can be easily interrupted by Impale or Spiked Carapace.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Crystal Maiden
* Lion's disables are also really effective against channeling Heroes, like Enigma or
Crystal Maiden.
Nyx Assassin
* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin and
Keeper of the Light.
Nyx Assassin
* Vendetta allows Nyx to sneak up on Lion and deal massive damage to him, especially when followed up with an
Impale,
Mana Burn, or even
Dagon.
* Spiked Carapace has the potential to not only nullify Lion's damage, but also cripple and potentially deal massive damage to Lion, especially if he reflects Finger of Death.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Crystal Maiden
* While Terrorblade can kill Crystal Maiden due to her low durability with Reflection and
Metamorphosis, Crystal Maiden can do the same to him if he is not careful.
* Crystal Nova and
Freezing Field can destroy Terrorblade's Illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style while it can also kill Terrorblade from early to mid game if he has no
Black King Bar.
* Terrorblade has no disable in his ability set at all and has no solutions to cancel it Freezing Field. In addition, he doesn't like purchasing disabling items like
Scythe of Vyse or
Abyssal Blade, which are the only solutions to deal with Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field outside of
Black King Bar.
* Since Crystal Maiden often buys Black King Bar and
Glimmer Cape, or it's alternative item
Shadow Blade, as well as it's upgrade
Silver Edge, Terrorblade will rarely have a chance to save himself against Crystal Maiden's damage output with
Sunder.
Additional:
* While Terrorblade can easily kill Crystal Maiden due to her low durability and movement speed with Reflection and
Metamorphosis, Crystal Maiden can do the same to him if he is not careful.
* Crystal Nova and
Freezing Field can destroy Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style while it can also kill Terrorblade from early to mid game if he has no
Black King Bar.
* Terrorblade has no disable in his ability set at all and has no solutions to cancel it Freezing Field. In addition, he doesn't like purchasing disabling items like
Scythe of Vyse or
Abyssal Blade, which are the only solutions to deal with Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field outside of
Black King Bar.
* Since Crystal Maiden often buys Black King Bar and
Glimmer Cape, or it's alternative items
Shadow Blade, as well as it's upgrade
Silver Edge or
Linken's Sphere, Terrorblade will rarely have a chance to save himself against Crystal Maiden's damage output with
Sunder.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin deals large amounts of pure damage with Vendetta and magical damage with
Impale and
Mana Burn, allowing him to ignore Terrorblade's armor and burst his low health pool down before he can use
Sunder.
* Nyx Assassin commonly buys Urn of Shadows,
Dagon and
Meteor Hammer which deal magic damage that ignore Terrorblade's armor.
* Mana Burn might drain too much mana for Terrorblade to be able to use Sunder if he isn't careful in the early to mid game.
Muerta
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 13%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes that mainly use magic damage and carry Black King Bar can be very problematic for Muerta such as Crystal Maiden or
Clockwerk
Nyx Assassin
* As a counter to most casters,Nyx will shut down Muerta with only a few items.
* Nyx's Mana Burn can make short work of Muerta's high intelligence pool.
* Spiked Carapace and
Vendetta can help Nyx escape or imitate when needed.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes like Enchantress and
Chen, or heroes that make use of
Helm of the Dominator are weak to Crystal Maiden, as Frostbite can do wonders against
Enchant,
Holy Persuasion, or dominated creeps. Careful though, as an army of carefully controlled creeps (
Enchantress and
Chen) can hold many stuns that will cancel Freezing Field.
Additional:
* Frostbite does 1000 magical damage to Enchantress's creeps and roots them for 10 seconds, which hinders her ability to gank.
Nyx Assassin
* Vendetta can deal great damage against her. However, it requires an direct attack, so Nyx Assassin may have difficulties applying Vendetta on her.
* Enchantress's lack of mobility makes her a primary target for ganking with Vendetta.
* Spiked Carapace can reflect Impetus and stun Enchantress.
* Mana Burn can deal tremendous damage against her due to being an Intelligence hero.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace reflects the damage from Impetus.
* Enchantress is a rather squishy hero, making her fall easily to Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Puck, and
Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
Nyx Assassin
* A good Nyx can reflect Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave with his Spiked Carapace, or even initiate a gank on her in
Vendetta while she farms a creep wave with Scream of Pain.
* Her strength to intelligence ratio is bad enough that he should be able to kill her without even requiring a Dagon, provided he can get his full combo off.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace can be used to reflect Illuminate damage and stun Keeper of the Light.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to follow Keeper of the Light around if he tries to split-push.
* Keeper of the Light is very squishy and will very quickly die to Vendetta and it's followup abilities.
* However, Mana Burn's Mana Burn can be more or less mitigated with Chakra Magic.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace allows Nyx to get an easy long-duration stun on Weaver once he uses Shukuchi, and then he can follow up with
Impale.
* Vendetta works as a great setup for both
Impale and
Spiked Carapace and can deal decent damage to Weaver. Additionally he can neutralize The Swarm beetles due to his invisibility duration.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with damage burst can often kill Chen or his allies before he can use Hand of God: Lina,
Luna,
Techies,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Nyx Assassin.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Nyx Assassin
* Level 4 Mana Burn burns of Medusa's mana every 5 seconds if Medusa only increases her mana pool with intelligence. Additionally, 70% of the
Mana Burn damage gets mitigated by Mana Shield, burning even more mana.
* Due to the passive nature of Mystic Snake and Split Shot, it can possibly proc Nyx's Spiked Carapace if he's within range of Medusa's abilities and isn't invisible.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making Nyx with Aghanim's Scepter extremely hard to deal with if Medusa is the team's main damage source.
Additional:
* With her passive Split Shot, Medusa can be easily interrupted by Spiked Carapace during combat, especially during her precious
Stone Gaze.
* Mana Burn quickly destroys Mana Shield, especially if Medusa only increases her mana pool by bolstering intelligence (which has the added bonus of increasing Mana Burn's damage).
* Uncontrollable damage from Mystic Snake and
Split Shot can trigger Spiked Carapace.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making a Burrowed Nyx Assassin hard to kill.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Nyx Assassin
* Nether Blast's animation makes it easy to time Spiked Carapace for a stun.
* Pugna has the largest intelligence gain in the game, making him a prime target for Mana Burn.
* Pugna needs to channel Life Drain, making him easy to hit with Impale.
Additional:
* Due to Pugna's incredible intelligence growth and terrible strength growth, Nyx should always be able to take you out with his combo, with or without an added Dagon.
Mana Burn will deal a large amount of damage in particular, especially in the late game.
* Spiked Carapace is also a great tool versus Pugna. A good player will wait for you in
Vendetta until you farm a creep wave with Nether Blast and reflect it back at you as their initiation and setup for
Impale.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Nyx Assassin
* Nyx's Spiked Carapace can reflect the damage of
Sharpshooter, instantly killing hoodwink. Nyx can also use
Vendetta to position himself in such a way to screen allies from Sharpshooter and catch Hoodwink by surprise.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Nyx Assassin
* Nyx can walk into Firefly with Spiked Carapace and stun Batrider if he has no Spell Immunity, even if Batrider is focusing on other enemy hero.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin takes advantage of Invoker's massive intelligence gain and mana pool to do tons of damage using Mana Burn, as the spell does more damage based on the target's intelligence.
* Nyx Assassin can simply activate Spiked Carapace while under many Invoker's abilities to stun him.
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace stops Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Nyx Assassin
* Many of Nyx Assassin's abilities are good against Windranger.
* Impale is great for stunning Windranger and allowing additional disables to be landed.
* Mana Burn is useful against Windranger's decent intelligence growth and also burns some mana, preventing her from using more abilities.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against Powershot.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to sneak up on and deal massive damage to Windranger without giving Windranger a chance to use Windrun to evade it.
* Nyx Assassin's item build allows him to easily deal with Windranger.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Nyx Assassin
* Mana Burn removes much-needed mana for Ball Lightning.
* Spiked Carapace triggers on Static Remnant for an easy stun.
Additional:
* Mana Burn is capable of removing most of Storm Spirit's large mana pool, along with dealing heavy damage and quickly depleting his chances of escaping a gank or fight.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace will stun Leshrac when hit by any of his AOE abilities.
* Mana Burn deals high damage due to Leshrac's high intelligence gain and burns a large amount of Leshrac's essential mana pool.
Dawnbreaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker.
Crystal Maiden
* Due to her slow movement speed,heroes with crowd control and slows can shut down Dawnbreaker. ( Lion,
Crystal Maiden ,
Venomancer etc.)
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace can stop Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian which will eliminate her global presence and limits her movement around the map.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace interrupts Starbreaker before Dawnbreaker has her Aghanim's Shard, as well as
Solar Guardian during the initial channel, making her ineffective at joining and dealing damage in teamfights.
* The slow projectile and damage over time effect of Celestial Hammer makes it easy to stun Dawnbreaker if she attemps to engage or chase.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Nyx Assassin
* Outworld Destroyer's high intelligence gain and fragility makes him an easy target for a massive Mana Burn, as well as killing him outwards with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
* Astral Imprisonment can be easily exploited by Nyx Assassin with his abilities. As long as Astral Imprisonment was not cast on Nyx Assassin, it will make an opportunity for an easy stun, either by Spiked Carapace (if Outworld Destroyer hid his allies or your allies) or Impale (if he hid himself). If Astral Imprisonment was cast on Nyx Assassin, using Spiked Carapace while banished will proc the stun after the disable, since Spike Carapace has a 0 second cast time and Astral Imprisonment deals damage right after the disable ends.
* An ill-timed Sanity's Eclipse and/or well timed Spiked Carapace can deal a lot of damage to Outworld Destroyer and stun him, unless Outworld Destroyer used
Black King Bar beforehand.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's high mana pool and high intelligence makes him a prime target for Mana Burn.
* If timed correctly, Spiked Carapace will return the full damage from Sanity's Eclipse back to Outworld Destroyer. Even a reflected Arcane Orb can deal significant damage and make him vulnerable to a follow-up from Nyx Assassin.
* Spiked Carapace is also the perfect tool against Astral Imprisonment: if used on Nyx, he can reflect the damage back as he comes out of the prison by casting the ability while imprisoned.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Crystal Maiden
* Frostbite kills boars instantly on the laning stage leading to either experience lead or disabling Beastmaster from using Boar
* Crystal Nova nukes and slows down the attack and movement speed of Beastmaster's summons.
* Freezing Field grants improved self armor, nukes and slows down Beastmaster and his summons.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
* Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.
Slark
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Crystal Maiden
* Though Slark's large damage output is most certainly a concern for the squishy Crystal Maiden, she does perform fairly well against him when coupled with aid from her team.
* Slark has no innate way to cancel Freezing Field, but the common purchase of Skull Basher does make Slark a substantially greater threat to Crystal Maiden as the game progresses.
* Freezing Field can still hit Slark while he is under the effect of Shadow Dance, and for the early and mid game, the damage output of Crystal Maiden's ultimate outscales Slark's passive regeneration, making a quick use of Freezing Field as soon as Slark uses
Shadow Dance a great way to combat him.
* Crystal Maiden's Frostbite and Crystal Nova are helpful in disabling and slowing the slippery Slark so he can be killed by her teammates.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Crystal Maiden
* Crystal Maiden's low health pool and slow movement speed make her a tempting and easy target.
* However, it may be wise to build Black King Bar first before attempting to fight her alone, as she can disable you and retaliate with
Freezing Field.
Crystal Maiden
* Though certainly not a "hard counter", Crystal Maiden's skillset (magical damage nukes) does pose a substantial threat to Phantom Assassin through the mid game, especially if followed up with engagement by her team.
* A quick use of Freezing Field directly after Phantom Strike can leave Phantom Assassin trapped inside the area of effect, capitalizing on Phantom Assassin's relatively low HP pool when she is not protected by
Blur, and besides
Skull Basher, Phantom Assassin hates buying disabling items like
Scythe of Vyse or
Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
* If Phantom Assassin chooses not to buy a Black King Bar relatively early, the attack slow from Freezing Field can greatly hinder the proc chance of
Coup de Grace in a teamfight.
* However, Phantom Assassin's massive damage, and her tendency to build both Black King Bar and
Skull Basher makes her a formidable foe the later the game goes, and fighting her without a team is almost never a good choice.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with heavy early and mid-game magical damage are also problematic for Phantom Assassin due to being able to easily kill her before she gains an item advantage: Lina,
Necrophos,
Nyx Assassin,
Gyrocopter. Should be noted these heroes are usually quite squishy and don't scale well with health. So to some respect, they are on a time crunch.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with invisibility: (Riki,
Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman,
Dawnbreaker,
Warlock,
Crystal Maiden.
Nyx Assassin
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling: Enigma,
Crystal Maiden,
Invoker,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Keeper of the Light,
Dawnbreaker.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes that can pick you off: Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin,
Puck,
Riki.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Puck, and
Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Crystal Maiden
* Puck has both Waning Rift and Dream Coil to stop Freezing Field's channel regardless of whether or not Crystal Maiden has a Glimmer Cape, as both spells fully affect invisible units.
Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Puck, and
Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
Nyx Assassin
* Illusory Orb is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace, either stunning Puck and setting up an easy Impale or forcing a premature
Phase Shift.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that tends to build intelligence items, making it vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can easily set Puck up to be stunned by Impale.
* Puck's low base armor and below average agility gain mean it is always susceptible to Vendetta.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin can take advantage of every one of Puck's weaknesses. His entire skill set is very effective in countering Puck.
* Because Illusory Orb is such a slow moving projectile, Nyx Assassin can simply walk into the orb and activate Spiked Carapace, stunning Puck and setting up an easy
Impale. This can be circumvented by using Phase Shift while the orb is traveling, however, that means that Puck cannot use Phase Shift to dodge any other skill nor use it to safely blink away from a fight.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that likes to build intelligence items such as Eul's Scepter of Divinity,
Scythe of Vyse, and
Dagon. This makes
Mana Burn that much more deadly against Puck.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can turn into an easy setup for Impale.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Nyx Assassin
* Slow-moving projectiles: Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* Mana Burn is annoying at all stages of the game as it turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)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.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Nyx Assassin
* Assassinate is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for massive damage.
* Shrapnel's area damage can set up an easy stun with Spiked Carapace, especially when combined with Vendetta.
* In the early game, Sniper's low health pool and high intelligence makes him easy prey for Nyx Assassin.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Crystal Maiden
* Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables: Silencer,
Crystal Maiden,
Warlock,
Ancient Apparition,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor
Crystal Maiden
* As with other heroes mentioned in this section, Templar Assassin is not a hero that is fully "countered" by Crystal Maiden (the way she is against Viper and
Jakiro), however, the proper combination and execution Crystal Maiden's spells, stacked with her team, can most certainly spell the end for Templar Assassin. Though as the later the game goes, and fighting her without team is not the best choice.
* Frostbite can quickly eat away Refraction charges, leaving Templar Assassin vulnerable for the rest of her team to kill.
* Freezing Field will still apply damage to Templar Assassin when she is under the effect of Meld, making it an even less viable form of escape until a
Blink Dagger is purchased.
* Blink Dagger is also cancelled by all of Crystal Maiden's spells, and the fairly short cooldowns on Frostbite and Crystal Nova make her a great asset to a chase against Templar Assassin.
* This is not to say that Templar Assassin has any difficulty killing off the low armor, low HP pool Crystal Maiden, so fighting her alone is never advised.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with strong channeling spells like Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip, and
Enigma's
Black Hole can easily be interrupted from a long range by Nether Swap, assuming they don't have a
Linken's Sphere.
Nyx Assassin
* Vendetta disables Vengeance Aura and allows him to attack Vengeful Spirit with
Impale and
Mana Burn.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against a Wave of Terror or Magic Missile.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with a low attack speed or are fragile will find themselves unable to deal with Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed, like Crystal Maiden or
Sven.
Crystal Maiden
* Frostbite can disarm and root Troll Warlord if he doesn't have a
Black King Bar or a
Manta Style to dispel it.
* Crystal Nova and
Freezing Field both significantly slow Troll Warlord, making him much more vulnerable to ganks or stuns.
* The magical damage from Freezing Field does a large amount of AoE damage, and Troll Warlord is not capable of cancelling Crystal Maiden's channel.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
Nyx Assassin
* The huge physical damage taken from Vendetta will force Necrophos to use Ghost Shroud, which is good for a followup with
Dagon and
Ethereal Blade, both of which are common items on Nyx Assassin.
* Using Ghost Shroud also sets Necrophos up for a Mana Burn or
Impale.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like Crystal Maiden or
Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace reacts on any of the damage over time from Phoenix's abilities and can interrupt Sun Ray and
Icarus Dive.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Crystal Maiden
* Channeling heroes will not go well against Warlock, especially those who build Black King Bar as Warlock's ultimate ability stun goes through spell immunity. E.g.:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma, etc.
Nyx Assassin
* Impale and
Spiked Carapace interrupts Upheaval with ease.
* Warlock's low health pool, mobility, and high intelligence gain makes him a prime target for Nyx Assassin's burst damage.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with low health are especially vulnerable to Marksmanship's high damage output: Clinkz,
Crystal Maiden.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin has a lot of burst damage from his Impale,
Mana Burn,
Dagon, and the bonus damage from
Vendetta. All of this damage is enough to kill Drow Ranger.
* Nyx Assassin is usually invisible most of the time thanks to his ability Vendetta, which allows him to gank Drow Ranger easily.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Crystal Maiden
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
Nyx Assassin
* Heat-Seeking Missile allow easy Spiked Carapace stuns.
* As a fragile hero that relies on mana and intelligence items, Tinker is vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin's stuns can interrupt Rearm and leave Tinker helpless.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin's whole skillset is good against Tinker:
* Impale prevents Tinker from blinding Nyx Assassin or fighting back, while giving Nyx' allies time to catch up to Tinker's position.
* Mana Burn generally deals more damage to intelligence based heroes like Tinker.
* Spiked Carapace can stun Tinker at a moment of Nyx Assassin's choosing if March of the Machines has been cast. It is also quite easy to time Spiked Carapace against Heat Seeking Missiles.
* Vendetta allows Nyx to approach Tinker in the trees or wait for him in common hiding spots and deal heavy damage to his low armor.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Crystal Maiden
* Innately fragile heroes will die almost instantly to Reality Rift while Chaos Knight has illusions active: Drow Ranger,
Bane,
Necrophos,
Crystal Maiden.
Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Crystal Maiden
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder: Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
Crystal Maiden
* Heroes with powerful rooting abilities will disable most of Pangolier's skills, a bonus point if it pierces spell immunity since it will also be able to stop Pangolier during his Rolling Thunder: Treant Protector,
Meepo,
Crystal Maiden,
Dark Willow,
Underlord,
Naga Siren
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Crystal Maiden
* Gush can make Crystal Maiden's already weak armor even weaker.
* Kraken Shell can dispel Frostbite, preventing him from getting stuck inside Freezing Field.
* Ravage is very useful for interrupting Freezing Field, even while Crystal Maiden is under the effects of
Glimmer Cape. Crystal Maiden must purchase a
Black King Bar, which is far more costly.
Nyx Assassin
* Mana Burn can instantly deplete Tidehunter's low mana pool, especially in the early game, potentially preventing Tidehunter from casting Ravage.
* Ravage's travel time allows Nyx Assassin to easily stun Tidehunter with Spiked Carapace.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Crystal Maiden
* Even with Black King Bar or
Linken's Sphere, Pudge's
Meat Hook can still cancel Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field as she is a very easy target while channeling it.
* Pudge's Rot can make Crystal Maiden's already bad movement speed even worse.
* Many stacks of Flesh Heap will make it nearly impossible for Crystal Maiden to kill Pudge.
* Pudge's Dismember can also be used to cancel Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, and alternatively, Pudge can also use it to save allies from getting killed by Crystal Maiden and heal them when upgraded with
Aghanim's Shard.
* Crystal Maiden is prone to ganks in the lane or in the off-lane without proper vision. Pudge can take advantage of Crystal Maiden's lack of mobility, and gank her often.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can cancel Freezing Field, even if Crystal Maiden has
Glimmer Cape.
* She is also slow and fragile, making her a good target for ganking.
Nyx Assassin
* Mana Burn drains Pudge's little mana which may render Meat Hook and Dismember unusable.
* Impale and
Spiked Carapace can be used to cancel Dismember easily, and can even do so when Pudge uses it on Nyx Assassin, if timed correctly.
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Crystal Maiden
* Any hero with low mobility and max healthsuch as Silencer,
Crystal Maiden etc.
Nyx Assassin
* Like above, supports with reliable stuns can be a massive problem and force Black King Bar in fights unideally, such as
Shadow Shaman,
Lion,
Nyx Assassin.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Crystal Maiden
* Being a hero with low health and abysmal mobility, Lina can nuke her down easily.
* Since Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field is a channeled ability, Lina can use her Light Strike Array to cancel it easily.
Nyx Assassin
* Mana Burn does tons of damage against Lina because of her high intelligence. The mana burn also prevents Lina from casting her full combo.
* Spiked Carapace can easily be used to counter Lina's abilities because of their long cast animation, and could probably kill Lina outright if Laguna Blade is reflected.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Visage,
Phantom Lancer.
Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Crystal Maiden
* 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.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Crystal Maiden
* Crystal Maiden is squishy, is heavily spell reliant, has low base Intelligence, and is naturally slow, making her an ideal target for Silencer.
* Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field has a similar cooldown to Global Silence, therefore, Freezing Field can almost always be canceled to ruin aggressive Crystal Maiden initiations.
Nyx Assassin
* Last Word is extremely easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for large amounts damage, due to triggering when Nyx Assassin casts a spell, but can still silence Nyx Assassin. It also has the added bonus of dealing more damage the more Intelligence Silencer has.
* Glaives of Wisdom quickly builds Silencer's Intelligence, making him a particularly prime target for Mana Burn.
* Silencer rarely builds survivability items, nor is he able to steal much Intelligence while surrounded by his team, and so is an excellent target for Vendetta.
* Silencer has no reliable way of dealing with a burrowed Nyx, and also lacks the ability to prevent Nyx from escaping with Vendetta,
Additional:
* Silencer is rather squishy and has poor mobility without items, making him an easy target for Nyx.
* Silencer's intelligence steal ability is a complete disadvantage against Nyx Assassin as Mana Burn will deal increasing damage for each point of intelligence Silencer has stolen, turning Silencer's intelligence steal against him.
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.
About
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.
How to interpret this data
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:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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Crystal Maiden
*
Grave Chill will make Crystal Maiden's bad movement speed even worse.
Soul Assumption charges can easily be stacked up from Freezing Field, allowing Visage to nuke enemies multiple times throughout the fight.
Stone Form can also be used to interrupt Freezing Field, even while Crystal Maiden is under the effects of
Glimmer Cape. Crystal Maiden must purchase a
Black King Bar, which is far more costly.
*
* {U:Familiar}'s
Nyx Assassin
* Familiars deal many instances of damage quickly, minimizing the effectiveness of Spiked Carapace. They are, however, relatively fragile and can be killed quickly with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, especially from Vendetta.
Gravekeeper's Cloak and tanky item builds make him hard to kill with burst damage.
Soul Assumption and
Grave Chill make him hard to escape from, and
Soul Assumption's low cooldown outmatches Spiked Carapace.
*
* Visage's long range on