* Pugna can turn out to be an effective hero against Dazzle due to the fact that he does not allow him to extend his Poison Touch with his Decrepify, which is why Dazzle cannot keep the enemy under prolonged deceleration.
* Pugna has a very strong ability against casters with a small health reserve - Nether Ward, which is why heroes like Dazzle will not be able to constantly throw their Poison Touch Bad Juju and Shadow Wave at enemies under the action of Nether Ward or will be forced to take a lot of damage
Additional:
* Pugna can turn out to be an effective hero against Dazzle due to the fact that he does not allow him to extend his Poison Touch with his Decrepify, which is why Dazzle cannot keep the enemy under prolonged deceleration.
* Pugna has a very strong ability against casters with a small health reserve - Nether Ward, which is why heroes like Dazzle will not be able to constantly throw their Poison Touch Bad Juju and Shadow Wave at enemies under the action of Nether Ward or will be forced to take a lot of damage
* Nether Ward on its own can greatly hinder Invoker from casting many of his abilities, at least until he gets a significant amount of HP or is under the protection of spell immunity from Black King Bar
* Life Drain provides True sight, revealing Invoker through Ghost Walk, and forcing him or his allies to use an ability or item to interrupt its channeling
* Outside of Nether Ward's range, Invoker shall have the advantage, as Invoker has Tornado to purge Pugna's Decrepify when it is used defensively, Tornado or Cold Snap to prevent Pugna from channeling Life Drain
* A poorly used Decrepify on Pugna's allies means Invoker's abilities can be used to deal more damage to them.
Additional:
* Because Invoker relies on casting a large amount of spells to contribute to fights, Nether Ward can force him to not cast anything at all or take a large amount of damage to cast spells.
* Although Counterspell's passive component doesn't protect Anti-Mage from the physical damage nukes from Poison Touch and Shadow Wave, a well-timed use of it will reflect Poison Touch back to Dazzle, slowing him in the process.
* This can be even more dangerous if Dazzle has an Aghanim's Shard, as Counterspell will reflect the hex back to Dazzle.
* Mana Break drains mana, which can be a problem for Dazzle, as all of his abilities have a high mana cost. This makes him especially vulnerable to Mana Void.
* Anti-Mage's mobility and magic resistance make him nearly impossible to kill alone.
* Invoker's spells cost a lot of mana, and Invoker himself has a lot of mana. This means Invoker and his team are vulnerable to Mana Void's heavy damage.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to escape from Invoker's combo if he doesn't have disables.
* Doom can completely shut down Dazzle through Doom, as it prevents him from casting his abilities and, by extension, gaining Bad Juju stacks.
* Doom completely takes Invoker out of a team fight, a hero who relies heavily on using abilities and items to contribute in team fights.
Additional:
* Doom is a good way to shut down Invoker, preventing from casting spells and using items for a lengthy time, thus forcing him to invest on Linken's Sphere.
* Support heroes with low mobility can be slowed further by Incapacitating Bite, and swarmed by Spiderlings for an easy kill: Shadow Shaman, Visage, Dazzle, Rubick, Lich.
* Broodmother can kill Invoker easily in the early game with her Spawn Spiderlings and her spiderlings.
* Broodmother is both an Orchid Malevolence and a Nullifier carrier. As she can farm it early, she can kill Invoker easily.
* Some heroes with extreme range, like Zeus, Invoker or Clockwerk, can snipe your allies from anywhere after your Grave has expired.
* Zeus greatly hinders Invoker on the line with his long-range abilities. QW- and QE-Invoker have a very long recharge on abilities, and Zeus' Arc Lightning ability recharges too quickly, which is why he quickly kills a pack of creeps and drives Invoker under his tower, punching and not letting finish off creeps
* Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath abilities reveal invisibility of enemies, for example Invoker invisibility from Ghost Walk ability
Additional:
* Zeus greatly hinders Invoker on the line with his long-range abilities. QW- and QE-Invoker have a very long recharge on abilities, and Zeus' Arc Lightning ability recharges too quickly, which is why he quickly kills a pack of creeps and drives Invoker under his tower, punching and not letting finish off creeps
* Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath abilities reveal invisibility of enemies, for example Invoker invisibility from Ghost Walk ability
* Astral Imprisonment is a versatile nuisance:
* If it is cast on a low-enough-health unit at least 1 second into Shallow Grave's duration, the Shallow Grave will end during the imprisonment, and the target will take lethal damage when released.
* It can be used remove Dazzle from the fight at a time he could have saved someone.
* It lets himself or an ally dodge all of Poison Touch's effects, for long enough to recover their Blink Dagger.
* Astral Imprisonment allows Outworld Destroyer to save himself or ally from Invoker's combo, or remove Invoker from a fight temporarily.
* Arcane Orb's pure damage will deal a lot of damage against Invoker's mediocre strength gain.
* E.M.P. is useless against Outworld Destroyer by activating Equilibrium.
* However, be aware that Sanity's Eclipse will most likely not deal any damage at all, due to Invoker's high intelligence gain compared to Outworld Destroyer's.
* Any heroes with high intelligence, such as Invoker and Pugna.
* Rage grants immunity from Invoker's spells and can dispel most of the disables such as the armor loss from Forge Spirit and the constant stuns of Cold Snap.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Invoker's spells (except for Sun Strike).
* Crippling Fear is a good way to shut down and gank Invoker in the early game..
* Void deals good damage to Invoker and makes escaping harder.
* With Hunter in the Night and Void, Invoker can't get away from Night Stalker and won't be able to catch him with Sun Strike during the night.
* Culling Blade ignores the protection from Shallow Grave and will kill any target whose health is low enough. This makes Axe one of the hardest counters to Dazzle, and he neutralizes one of Dazzle's most important abilities.
Additional:
* Culling Blade kills any target under the health threshold, even through Shallow Grave.
* A good choice against Invoker, as it has some advantage with the help of abilities.
* With the Dissimilate, Voidspirit can evade Invoker's skills, going to another world where he does not receive damage. The same ability to run away or attack quickly.
* Astral Step moves quickly from point to point, which also reduces the Invoker's probability that he will hit him with skills and cause at least some damage.
Additional:
* A good choice against Invoker, as it has some advantage with the help of abilities.
* With the Dissimilate, Voidspirit can evade Invoker's skills, like Chaos Meteor or E.M.P., going to another world where he does not receive damage. The same ability to run away or attack quickly.
* Astral Step moves quickly from point to point, which also reduces the Invoker's probability that he will hit him with skills and cause at least some damage.
* Earth Spirit is a dangerous foe to encounter for Invoker in the early stages of the game. Since Invoker needs to gain levels as fast as possible and is not very strong in the early game, Earth Spirit can use his incredible early game power to gank Invoker and ruin his game plan.
* Earth Spirit combines stuns and silences with his spells and can apply them from a great distance. This is bad for Invoker as he is dependent on a smart usage of his spells with Invoke and Earth Spirit can disrupt his combos easily.
* Nyx Assassin can simply activate Spiked Carapace while under many Invoker's abilities to stun him.
* Nyx Assassin takes advantage of Invoker's massive intelligence gain to do tons of damage using Mind Flare, as the spell does more damage based on the target's intelligence.
* Vendetta burns a large amount of Invoker's essential mana pool.
* Tidebringer pressures Invoker easily in lane due to Invoker's low health and armor in the early game.
* Quas-Exort Invoker is also a good matchup due to the fact he has no Wex to run faster due to the movement impairment on his stealth. The Forge Spirit and Cold Snap combo doesn't harm her as well since you can drain Invoker's HP with Spirit Siphon which forces him to retreat.
* Silence also prevents Invoker from using Invoke or casting his main spells temporarily. There is no way Invoker can block it unless he has Eul's Scepter of Divinity to cyclone himself or has help from allies.
* Queen of Pain usually outlanes Invoker, giving her team a significant early game advantage while Invoker is still farming.
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from Invoker's combo if he doesn't have disables.
* Puck Outlanes Invoker with his abilities: Illusory Orb, Waning Rift finishing off all creeps on the line and getting a higher level than him
* Puck dodges Invoker's magic attacks with his abilities: Illusory Orb, Phase Shift in a fight, preventing Invoker from doing damage
Additional:
* Puck Outlanes Invoker with his abilities: Illusory Orb, Waning Rift finishing off all creeps on the line and getting a higher level than him
* Puck dodges Invoker's magic attacks with his abilities: Illusory Orb, Phase Shift in a fight, preventing Invoker from doing damage
* Templar Assassin can easily counter Invoker's last hitting process in the early game with Refraction. Refraction also negates the stun from Cold Snap, since it will need to deal damage in order to apply its stun.
* Additionally, Refraction completely blocks damage from Sun Strike should Invoker try to finish her off, provided she activate Refraction beforehand.
* Juxtapose and Doppelganger conjures too many illusions for Dazzle to deal with, given he has no inherent movement- or AoE-abilities.
* However, this can be partially solved with Aghanim's Shard-upgraded Poison Touch, as the hex instantly destroys illusions in an area as well as revealing the real Phantom Lancer when he's hiding among his army of illusions.
* Phantom Rush and Spirit Lance allow Phantom Lancer to trivially catch Dazzle even in the back line of a fight.
* Phantom Lancer has high base armor which counters Dazzle's physical damage based spells in lane.
* Diffusal Blade a natural item from Phantom Lancer can drains mana, which can be a problem for Dazzle, as all of his abilities have a high mana cost.
* Bounty Hunter and Slardar both have ultimates (Corrosive Haze and Track) that reveal Invoker through Ghost Walk.
* Heroes with long lockdowns: Shadow Shaman, Legion Commander.
* Heroes with silence: Death Prophet, Riki, Drow Ranger.
* Heroes with abilities which have a built-in spell immunity: Lifestealer, Juggernaut, Pangolier.
* Bounty Hunter and Slardar both have ultimates (Corrosive Haze and Track) that reveal Invoker through Ghost Walk.
* Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and Sniper) and supports (like Dazzle and Shadow Shaman).
* Heroes with high burst damage through their physical attacks or spells can kill Dazzle or his allies before he has a chance to use Shallow Grave. (Lina, Lion, etc.)
* Heroes with silence: Death Prophet, Riki, Drow Ranger.
* Blade Fury, similar to Rage, grants immunity to Invoker's spells and can dispel some debuffs as well.
* Omnislash renders Juggernaut invulnerable to Invoker's spells and can easily take Invoker down.
Additional:
* Juggernaut's instant spell immunity from Blade Fury. helps him dodge Invoker's combos. He can dispel the disables from Cold Snap and Deafening Blast and dodge the damage from Chaos Meteor, as well as walk through Ice Wall.
* Juggernaut's high DPS allows him to kill split pushing Forge Spirit(s) effortlessly, and his high armor prevents them from being a threat to him.
* However, Invoker can hit Juggernaut with Sun Strike through Blade Fury, making the Tornado and Sun Strike combo a threat if he does not dodge Tornado.
* 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.
* Shallow Grave prevents Ice Blast's shatter for up to 5 seconds, but can mostly only delay it as Ice Blast's debuff lasts 10 seconds and prevents Shadow Wave from healing them.
Additional:
* Ice Blast negates healing from Shadow Wave, and lasts longer than Shallow Grave.
* 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.
* In the early to mid game, Invoker is defenseless against Storm Spirit's ganking with Ball Lightning and Orchid Malevolence.
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin, Invoker, Outworld Destroyer, Pugna, Lion
* Dazzle's lack of a true disable makes him a relatively vulnerable target for Phantom Assassin.
* Coup de Grace will often kill Dazzle's teammates before he has a chance to use Shallow Grave.
* Hex abilities prevent attacking, ability and item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers. Doom and Shadow Demon with Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility: Doom, Disruptor with Aghanim's Scepter, Dazzle with Aghanim's Shard
* Reaper's Scythe is very predictable and gives Dazzle plenty of time to react with Shallow Grave: Dazzle just has to keep a close eye on his allies below 50% health.
* However, Dazzle must be sure to use Shadow Wave on that ally immediately after, or they will die from Heartstopper Aura when the Shallow Grave ends!
Additional:
* Dazzle's Shadow Wave is a spammable healing ability that spreads around his entire team, slowing the death of his teammates as effectively as Necrophos spreads damage to them.
* If not immediately, Shallow Grave delays his ally from gradually dying to Necrophos's abilities, especially Reaper's Scythe.
* However, bear in mind that Dazzle's Poison Touch, Shadow Wave and Bad Juju all deal physical damage, and Dazzle has no abilities to help him deal magical damage at all, which can cause problems for Dazzle to kill Necrophos if he uses Ghost Shroud to protect himself.
* Tornado allows Invoker to purge Necrophos's Ghost Shroud, nullifying any benefits he could get out of it
* E.M.P. allows Invoker to burn Necrophos's mana, preventing him from using his abilities constantly
* Aghanim's Shard upgraded Poison Touch can be used to easily kill many of Terrorblade's illusions from both Conjure Image and Manta Style, it can also hex the real Terrorblade, silencing him, disarming him, slowing him, muting him and rendering him unable to do anything at all.
* Shallow Grave can be used to save an ally whom Terrorblade has used Sunder on under the condition Dazzle is quick enough to do it. And since Terrorblade has no "real" burst damage potential outside from Sunder, Dazzle will usually have plenty of time to save an allied hero on which Sunder was used.
* Shadow Wave will always damage Terrorblade and his illusions whenever Terrorblade has no Metamorphosis available to use, while healing Dazzle's allies. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Shadow Wave can also be used directly on Terrorblade, and bounce on both Terrorblade and his illusions alike, causing them to take damage and to be attacked by Dazzle. Shadow Wave can also pierce throught debuff immunity by Black King Bar, one of the items Terrorblade relies on to survive in teamfights.
* Bad Juju can weaken Terrorblade's armor every time Dazzle casts a spell while strengthening armor of Dazzle's allies.
Additional:
* Aghanim's Shard upgraded Poison Touch can be used to easily kill many of Terrorblade's illusions from both Conjure Image and Manta Style, it can also hex the real Terrorblade, silencing him, disarming him, slowing him, muting him and rendering him unable to do anything at all.
* Shallow Grave can be used to save an ally whom Terrorblade has used Sunder on under the condition Dazzle is quick enough to do it. And since Terrorblade has no "real" burst damage potential outside from Sunder, Dazzle will usually have plenty of time to save an allied hero on which Sunder was used.
* Shadow Wave will always damage Terrorblade and his illusions whenever Terrorblade has no Metamorphosis available to use, while healing Dazzle's allies. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Shadow Wave can also be used directly on Terrorblade, and bounce on both Terrorblade and his illusions alike, causing them to take damage and to be attacked by Dazzle. Shadow Wave can also pierce throught debuff immunity by Black King Bar, one of the items Terrorblade relies on to survive in teamfights.
* Bad Juju can weaken Terrorblade's armor every time Dazzle casts a spell while strengthening armor of Dazzle's allies.
* Heroes who can summon illusions and summons because Terrorblade has no abilities to deal with multiple enemies at once outside Reflection: Shadow Shaman, Naga Siren, Broodmother, Lycan, Enigma, Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer, Shadow Demon, Dark Seer, Nature's Prophet, Invoker, Morphling, Visage, Grimstroke with Aghanim's Scepter.
* Primal Beast really suffers against supports he cannot bully in the lane: this includes Dazzle, Shadow Demon and Dark Willow since they can use their respective abilities to stop Primal Beast from dealing burst damage, or make it hard for him to stay in range.
* Invoker's numerous area-of-effect abilities can interrupt Primal Beast, especially while he is in the middle of a team fight, where Primal Beast thrives. (Tornado, Cold Snap, and Ice Wall all help to disable Primal Beast and control him from a distance.
* E.M.P. disintegrates Primal Beast's low mana pool.
* However, Invoker is quite a slow-paced hero and not particularly known for being survivable against a rampaging Primal Beast with Black King Bar.
* Heroes with abilities that reduce armor will make Huskar very vulnerable: Weaver, Dazzle, Bristleback, Vengeful Spirit.
* Quas Exort Invoker has high physical damage in the form of Cold Snap and Forged Spirits that allows him to trade hits with Huskar.
* Although Huskar can dispel Cold Snap with Life Break.
* Sun Strike deals pure damage and pierces spell immunity, and Huskar tends to drain his HP, making him a susceptible target.
* 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.
* Heroes whose abilities can affect multiple enemies at once: Dawnbreaker, Ember Spirit, Lina, Luna, Jakiro, Leshrac, Invoker, Muerta, Dazzle.
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer, Viper, Dazzle, Arc Warden, Lion, Huskar, Shadow Shaman, Visage, Undying, Jakiro.
* Ice Wall can slow down Charge of Darkness in its tracks at max level, allowing counterplays such as Cold Snap to end the charge, bursting down with Tornado, Meteor, and right clicks, or even teleporting back to spawn to drag Spirit Breaker into the fountain.
* Cold Snap (if timed right) and Invoker's other disables like Tornado can interrupt Charge of Darkness, especially since Charge is telegraphed by the symbol appearing over head.
Additional:
* Cold Snap allows Invoker to interrupt Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike.
* Tornado's long range can be used to cancel Charge of Darkness.
* Deafening Blast prevents Spirit Breaker from right clicking and thus proccing his Greater Bash.
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden, Enchantress, Gyrocopter, Lion, Riki, Techies, Terrorblade, Necrophos, Invoker.
* Shadow Wave provides good sustain against Tinker's spammable abilities.
* Shallow Grave can stop Tinker from bursting down a target.
* Tinker is relatively helpless against Invoker, as his Rearm and Boots of Travel can be easily interrupted by Invoker's long range disables, even if he blinks away.
* Heroes with long lockdowns: Shadow Shaman, Legion Commander.
* Shallow Grave prevents Legion Commander from killing her opponents in Duels.
* Shadow Wave will heal an ally caught in a Duel, as well as dealing damage to Legion Commander.
* Invoker's spells will disable and destroy Legion Commander while she's locked in a Duel.
* Heroes that can save their allies can be a big problem for Mars: Dazzle, Omniknight.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* QW-Invoker perfectly resists Batrider in his attacks, since Batrider has a small mana reserve and depends very much on him - E.M.P. perfectly allows Invoker to deprive her, and he also has the abilities of Tornado and Cold Snap, which can help him fend off his attack, and possibly even kill along with his team
Additional:
* QW-Invoker perfectly resists Batrider in his attacks, since Batrider has a small mana reserve and depends very much on him - E.M.P. perfectly allows Invoker to deprive her, and he also has the abilities of Tornado and Cold Snap, which can help him fend off his attack, and possibly even kill along with his team
* Poison Touch severely slows down Chen, deals damage over time and weakens his armor every time he gets attacked by Dazzle or any of his allies. Aghanim's Shard upgraded Poison Touch can hex Chen and prevent him from saving his allies with Hand of God.
* Neither Chen nor his converted creeps have burst damage at all, so Dazzle will always have plenty of time to save his allies with Shallow Grave.
* Dazzle can use Shadow Wave can heal his allies, kill Chen's creeps and damage Chen himself.
* Bad Juju can weaken Chen's armor, and the armor of his creeps every time Dazzle casts a spell while strengthening armor of Dazzle's allies.
* Invoker's arsenal of magical spells are troublesome for Sniper who has low HP and high armor, which does not benefit him much against Invoker.
* Besides magical damage, he can be disarmed and repeatedly mini-stunned with Cold Snap, preventing him from reacting.
* Leveling Quas can allow Invoker to lane effectively against Sniper despite right-click harassment.
* Cold Snap can prevent Timbersaw from using both Timber Chain and Chakram due to the frequent stuns interrupting the lengthy cast animations, as well as stopping him mid-chain. This can negate Timbersaw's attempts to escape or dole out extra ability damage.
* Later in the game, Invoker's heavy magical and pure damage can be difficult to avoid, meaning Timbersaw's armor is less useful.
* Ember Spirit has a small mana pool, which is why QW-Invoker can burn it out very effectively with his own E.M.P., do not give Ember Spirit the opportunity to play with his abilities and cause damage with them in a fight.
* QW-Invoker Destroys Ember Spirit's Flame Guard with his own Tornado, which is why Ember Spirit cannot defend against Invoker's strong magic damage.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit has a small mana pool, which is why QW-Invoker can burn it out very effectively with his own E.M.P., do not give Ember Spirit the opportunity to play with his abilities and cause damage with them in a fight.
* QW-Invoker Destroys Ember Spirit's Flame Guard with his own Tornado, which is why Ember Spirit cannot defend against Invoker's strong magic damage.
* Invoker is a big problem for Tiny the whole game because of its multiple disables. For example, the Cold Snap ability can catch an attack from Tiny's hand by surprise, because it becomes slower with the pumping of Grow. has a giant deceleration, creating a condition for the kite, which Tiny is very afraid of. In addition, Invoker has a Deafening Blast that disables Tiny's main weapon - strong blows from the hand
Additional:
* Invoker is a big problem for Tiny the whole game because of its multiple disables. For example, such as Tornado + E.M.P. create unrealistic conditions for Tiny with mana, which is very necessary for Tiny at least for some attacks in a fight. The Cold Snap ability can catch an attack from Tiny's hand by surprise, because it becomes slower with the pumping of Grow. has a giant deceleration, creating a condition for the kite, which Tiny is very afraid of. In addition, Invoker has a Deafening Blast that disables Tiny's main weapon - strong blows from the hand
* Quas-Exort Invoker can win the mid lane easily against Alchemist because Quas regeneration will nullify Acid Spray's damage over time and Exort damage bonus will allow Invoker to out last hit Alchemist.
* Venomancer's damage-over-time abilities are easier to heal through with numerous Shadow Waves than other types of damage, and it's simple to time a Shallow Grave until the last possible second to save a teammate from them.
* Invoker's Forge Spirit can negate Flux.
* Provided he does a right combo with Chaos Meteor, Invoker can easily burst down Arc Warden (plus his clone if he spawns it.)
* An early Orchid Malevolence can shut down Arc Warden pretty hard, especially when Invoker has a good lane against him if he kills him early on.
* Deafening Blast and Ice Wall limit's Arc Wardens mobility and damage, crippling him greatly.
* E.M.P. allows Invoker to burn Wraith King's mana to prevent Reincarnation from triggering (only until Wraith King gets his Aghanim's Shard).
* Ice Wall and Cold Snap are particularly crippling for Wraith King as they allow to kite him very effectively, preventing him from dealing melee attack damage.
Additional:
* Invoker can drain Wraith King's mana with E.M.P., preventing him from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Even if Wraith King survives and reincarnates, Invoker still has an arsenal of spells to lockdown Wraith King, including an easily setup Ice Wall.
* Tornado applies an area dispel to clear skeletons.
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for all his nukes - Chaos Meteor, E.M.P. and especially global Sun Strike.
* E.M.P. allows Invoker to burn Medusa's mana to weaken Mana Shield.
* Medusa's lack of mobility makes her easy to kite with Invoker's spells.
Additional:
* E.M.P. is a large mana burn nuke which can hit Medusa's Mana shield with enough damage to lose even more mana.
* Deafening Blast disarms Medusa's ability to deal pseudo-AOE damage during teamfights.
* Cold Snap allows the opposing team to repeatedly stun Medusa in short succession, preventing her from successfully casting her ultimate due to its long cast time.
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker, Monkey King, Shadow Fiend Lina
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by E.M.P.: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Omniknight
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle, Abaddon.
* Once he buys Aghanim's Shard, Dazzle's Poison Touch can hex enemies, and hex can instantly kill illusions, making Dazzle strong against heroes who rely on illusions. Bear in mind that Chaos Knight is the exception because his Phantasms are strong illusions that are immune to abilities that can instantly kill illusions.
* Invoker's multiple spells can lock down Undying and disable him from doing much.
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven, Omniknight, Enigma, Luna, Naga Siren, Mars, Jakiro, Venomancer, Elder Titan, Faceless Void, Rubick, Keeper of the Light, Pugna, Invoker, Spectre, Alchemist, Treant Protector, Lina, Oracle, Zeus, Shadow Shaman, Phoenix, Razor, Huskar, Batrider, Kunkka, Tidehunter, Wraith King, Sand King, Medusa, Dawnbreaker.
* Heroes that can keep Marci for a long time in one place so she can't pursue her targets, like Bane, Lion, Shadow Shaman, Invoker, Disruptor and Kunkka.
* Invoker's E.M.P. is extremely effective against Earthshaker due to his low natural mana.
* 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 with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker, Monkey King, Shadow Fiend Lina
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons: Lina, Luna, Dawnbreaker, Jakiro, Shadow Shaman, Death Prophet, Keeper of the Light, Invoker, Leshrac, Puck.
* Heroes with powerful area-of-effect disables can initiate on Meepo and his clones and shut him down, such as Enigma, Invoker, Magnus, Puck, and Sand King.
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by E.M.P.: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Omniknight
Additional:
* Tornado dispels Heavenly Grace and Guardian Angel from multiple targets.
* Guardian Angel is generally useless against Invoker as he primarily relies on magical damage.
* E.M.P. depletes Omniknight's already small mana pool.
* Invoker's many disables keep Omniknight's team occupied until Guardian Angel times out.
* Heroes with armor reducing abilities greatly hinder Visage's defense like Slardar and Dazzle.
* Bloodseeker's Thirst, Rupture, and huge AoE silence Blood Rite can fare well against Dazzle.
* Shallow Grave prevents Bloodseeker from replenishing his health by finishing off enemies.
* Some heroes with extreme range, like Zeus, Invoker or Clockwerk, can snipe your allies from anywhere after your Grave has expired.
* Aghanim's Shard upgraded Poison Touch can be used to hex Clockwerk, silencing him, disarming him, slowing him, and muting him, and thus rendering him unable to use Blade Mail to return damage or to do anything at all.
* Shadow Wave will hit Clockwerk every time when he's fighting with an enemy inside Power Cogs.
* Due to Clockwerk's very low damage output, Dazzle will have more than enough time to Shallow Grave any enemy hero Clockwerk initiates on.
Additional:
* Shadow Wave will hit Clockwerk every time when he's fighting with an enemy inside Power Cogs.
* Due to Clockwerk's steady damage output, Dazzle has plenty of time to Shallow Grave anyone Clockwerk initiates on.
* Time Walk can easily avoid Invoker's combo damage if doesn't have disables.
* Chronosphere will reveal Invoker during Ghost Walk.
* All of Invoker's hidden cooldowns are affected by Time Dilation, so Faceless Void can easily slow him down a lot.
Additional:
* Time Dilation prevents Invoker from further invoking for the entire duration of the debuff, as well as massively slowing Invoker based on the large amount of spells he has.
* Time Walk will completely negate Invoker's combo damage.
* If Invoker is caught in Chronosphere, he will most likely be the primary target due to the large teamfight contribution he can provide.
* Shallow Grave can prevent the death of an ally that is trapped inside the Chronosphere.
* Shadow Wave lets Dazzle heal allies and damage enemies from outside Chronosphere.
* Mirror Image's illusions can easily walk straight at Dazzle and attack him, due to Dazzle's lack of reliable AoE nukes or disables.
* Ensnare roots Dazzle or his allies, making it harder to stay in range of Dazzle's saving abilities.
* Song of the Siren can be used to initiate a fight with superior positioning, potentially zoning Dazzle's high-impact spells out of the fight.
* Dazzle can instantly destroy all of Naga Siren's illusions from Mirror Image with Aghanim's Shard upgraded Poison Touch used on her or any of her illusions.
* Heroes with high burst damage through their physical attacks or spells can kill Dazzle or his allies before he has a chance to use Shallow Grave. (Lina, Lion, etc.)
Additional:
* Laguna Blade can kill Dazzle quickly before he casts Shallow Grave.
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker, Monkey King, Shadow Fiend Lina
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper receive less damage from Invoker's spells
* Viper can harass Invoker with his Poison Attack in the early game.
* Viper Strike and Poison Attack can kill Invoker easily if Ghost Walk is on cooldown.
* Ice Wall and Ghost Walk can be used to kite and escape from Viper.
* Chaos Meteor and Sun Strike deal heavy damage and can quickly bring Viper down.
* Cold Snap, Tornado, and Deafening Blast are powerful disables that reduce Viper's effectiveness.
* E.M.P. burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
* Forge Spirits can melt Viper's armor and reduce his durability.
* Lone Druid has a very large reserve of health against Invoker abilities, this allows him to survive a large number of attacks from Invoker and kill him, also Entangling Claws reveal invisibility from Ghost Walk, which allows the Lone Druid team to catch the popular QW-Invoker
Additional:
* Lone Druid has a very large reserve of health against Invoker abilities, this allows him to survive a large number of attacks from Invoker and kill him, also Entangling Claws reveal invisibility from Ghost Walk, which allows the Lone Druid team to catch the popular QW-Invoker
* Dazzle easily breaks the position of Lone Druid and his Summon Spirit Bear with his Poison Touch, As it always hits from afar and prolongs the slowdown on the Summon Spirit Bear, which is why he cannot catch up with Dazzle and treat his master with Spirit Link
* Dazzle helps his team survive the physical attacks of the Summon Spirit Bear thanks to the treatment from Shadow Wave and armor from Bad Juju, which can enable his team to kill Lone Druid
* The Lone Druid Summon Spirit Bear has a small amount of armor at the start of the game, because of Mid Dazzle, it can very much break through it and prevent Lone Druid from gaining an advantage at the very beginning of the game, giving his team the opportunity to overtake Lone Druid on items for killing him, by type: Spirit Vessel
Additional:
* Dazzle easily breaks the position of Lone Druid and his Summon Spirit Bear with his Poison Touch, As it always hits from afar and prolongs the slowdown on the Summon Spirit Bear, which is why he cannot catch up with Dazzle and treat his master with Spirit Link
* Dazzle helps his team survive the physical attacks of the Summon Spirit Bear thanks to the treatment from Shadow Wave and armor from Bad Juju, which can enable his team to kill Lone Druid
* The Lone Druid Summon Spirit Bear has a small amount of armor at the start of the game, because of Mid Dazzle, it can very much break through it and prevent Lone Druid from gaining an advantage at the very beginning of the game, giving his team the opportunity to overtake Lone Druid on items for killing him, by type: Spirit Vessel
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor, Death Prophet, Enigma, Faceless Void, Invoker, Lich, Magnus, Mars, Medusa, Outworld Destroyer, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Shadow Fiend, Treant Protector, Underlord, Winter Wyvern, Witch Doctor, Zeus.
* Hex abilities can cancel the channelling of Fiend's Grip : Lion, Shadow Shaman, Dazzle from Aghanim's Shard with upgraded Poison Touch.
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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Dazzle
* A well-timed Global Silence prevents Dazzle from saving allies with Shallow Grave or Shadow Wave. Items that could dispel the silence are expensive, and difficult for Dazzle to farm from a support role.
* Arcane Curse and Last Word cause long damage over time, which may outlast Shallow Grave.
Invoker
* Invoker is heavily dependent on his spells, making him useless during Global Silence, as well as interrupting Invoker during his combo.
* Arcane Curse is particularly deadly, because Invoker will continuously lose health if he keeps invoking and casting new spells.
* Last Word will silence Invoker when he casts Invoke, interrupting his combo.