* Arcane Orb's constant pure damage output is devastating to Dragon Knight.
* Dragon Knight's relatively low mana pool leads to heavy damage from Sanity's Eclipse, which also bypasses his armor.
* Dragon Knight has no built-in disengage from Frost Arrows, and Marksmanship procs ignore base armor, bypassing Dragon Knight’s durability for the most part, making Drow one of the few heroes that can deal enough sustained damage to solo kill Dragon Knight.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Frost Arrows also apply hypothermia stacks, reducing her target’s regen, which is especially potent against tanks like Dragon Knight. (A similar effect can also be achieved with an Eye of Skadi).
* Fury swipes can tear Dragon knight down as it stacks infinitely.
* In the early game, a Dragon Knight without Black King Bar is basically defenseless against Viper.
* Viper can harass Dragon Knight at any time with his Poison Attack and Nethertoxin.
* Corrosive Skin reduces damage from Dragon Fire and inflicts damage to him.
* Viper Strike disables Dragon Blood, negating his main survivability.
* Viper Strike and Poison Attack can severely slow him down even with his Elder Dragon Form.
Additional:
* Dragon Knight is easily harassed by Poison Attack after the laning stage ends.
* Corrosive Skin protects Viper from Breathe Fire and returns damage.
* Viper Strike can disable Dragon Blood, Dragon's Knight main source of armor and health regeneration.
* Between Poison Attack and Viper Strike, Viper can keep Dragon Knight permanently slowed even in Elder Dragon Form.
* Counterspell can helpful blocked off to Dragon Tail.
Additional:
* Counterspell makes Anti-Mage exceptionally resistant to Breathe Fire, Dragon Tail, Fireball (requires Aghanim's Shard) and Elder Dragon Form's attacks. Its active component also blocks and reflects Dragon Tail back at Dragon Knight.
* Mana Break drains Dragon Knight's small mana pool, although it won't affect Dragon Knight much if he is in his Elder Dragon Form.
* Static Link saps Dragon Knight of his already low base damage, making him even more useless in a fight if he gets kited.
* Storm Surge makes Razor much faster than Dragon Knight, and hard to catch.
* Eye of the Storm melts Dragon Knight's armor and bypasses Black King Bar, his core item.
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
* Timbersaw's pure damage will kill Dragon Knight surprisingly fast, especially if he gets caught in a bad position while laning.
* Elder Titan's Natural Order completely nullifies Dragon Knight's high armor.
* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Phantom Assassin, Juggernaut, Dragon Knight, Lycan, Ursa, Troll Warlord
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw, Bristleback, Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Additional:
* Cold Feet and Ice Vortex both hinder Dragon Knight's movement greatly during teamfights.
* Ice Blast ignores Dragon Knight's armor, disables his health regeneration, and kills him prematurely.
* Huskar can burn down Dragon Knight's health quickly during the early to mid game, but is not as effective during the late game. However, Life Break remains a constant threat due to the slow and percentage-based damage.
Additional:
* Huskar can negate Dragon Knight's passive with multiple trades of Burning Spear.
* Because Exorcism's damage is not reduce by damage block abilities or items, Death Prophet can be very good against heroes who rely on armor to survive: Axe, Terrorblade, Morphling, Dragon Knight
* In general, heroes that can slow down Dragon Knight's movement speed will do well against him. This includes Venomancer and others in addition to the heroes mentioned above.
* Heroes with long cooldowns on their abilities or ultimate will struggle against the relentless pressure provided by Fiend's Gate: Terrorblade, Dragon Knight, Omniknight.
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, Earthshaker.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback, Spectre, Phantom Assassin, Enchantress, Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback, Spectre, Phantom Assassin, Enchantress, Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Slark, Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* Slardar can chase Dragon Knight down with Guardian Sprint and stun him with both Slithereen Crush and his passive Bash of the Deep. He can also use Corrosive Haze to whittle Dragon Knight's armor.
* Heroes that relies on armor or other type of physical damage negation are easy for Gyrocopter to take down during the early game with his magical damage: Axe, Dragon Knight, Sven.
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade, Sven, Clinkz, Windranger, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Legion Commander
* Durable heroes relied a lot on their main passive effects and items' effects such as Bristleback, Underlord, Spectre and Dragon Knight can be disabled easily with Sharpshooter's break, reducing their potential in teamfights.
* Heartstopper Aura and Reaper's Scythe go right through Dragon Knight's armor.
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind), Spectre, Ursa, and Dragon Knight.
* Despite the armor reduction from Meld, Templar Assassin's reliance on physical damage and medium attack speed is unlikely to harm Dragon Knight.
* Templar Assassin's Refraction charges also get quickly removed by the damage over time from Dragon Knight's ultimate.
Additional:
* The damage over time from Dragon Knight's Elder Dragon Form rapidly burns down Refraction, allowing him to attack her.
* Also, Breathe Fire reduces Templar Assassin's damage and Dragon Tail is a stun with a considerable duration, letting him and his team whittle her health down once her defenses wear off.
* Templar Assassin will struggle to kill Dragon Knight thanks to his high armor and health regen from Dragon Blood as she deals entirely physical damage.
* The dragon's splash damage wears down his illusions.
* Early harassment with Breath of Fire hinders his farming.
* Fireball stops his pushes and allows for a defence.
Additional:
* Breathe Fire and Elder Dragon Form's splash damage takes out Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* If Dragon Knight can Dragon Tail the real Phantom Lancer, he and his team can quickly kill him before he has a chance to escape.
* Dragon Blood's armor bonus greatly reduces the damage dealt by Phantasm.
* Breathe Fire and Elder Dragon Form's splash damage quickly destroy illusions and reduces their damage output.
* Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from Maledict.
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
* Spirit Breaker's slow attack speed and moderate damage do very little to harm Dragon Knight, even if ganked with Charge of Darkness.
* 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.
* If Silencer can't prevent Dragon Knight from using Elder Dragon Form, Silencer's spells aren't going to be that effective against him, as Dragon Knight relies on right-clicks and not spells.
* Dragon Blood's armor bonus and health regeneration allows Dragon Knight to stay in the lane against Glaives of Wisdom.
* Dragon Knight often builds Black King Bar, allowing him to remove Global Silence before engaging.
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
* Breathe Fire will clear Broodmother's spiderites while significantly damaging her spiderlings and decreasing their damage output.
* Dragon Blood's added armor and regen mitigates the damage done by Broodmother and her spiders.
* Elder Dragon Form at level 2 and above applies splash damage to Dragon Knight's auto attacks.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damage can make quick work of Chen's converted creeps and at same time gain farm: Magnus, Jakiro, Shadow Fiend, Kunkka, Luna, Dragon Knight, Medusa, Alchemist.
* Heroes whose attacks can affect multiple enemies at once will clear Naga Siren's illusions. Such heroes include Sven, Magnus, Dragon Knight, Luna, Medusa, Templar Assassin, Gyrocopter, Muerta.
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven
* Heroes with high armor like Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like Phantom Assassin, Riki and Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
Additional:
* The extra damage from Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.
* Clinkz has too low health to survive a gank.Getting stunned keeps him down long enough for a reaction.
* Breathe Fire reduces his damage, as he almost exclusively deals physical damage.
* Heroes that reduce the damage that Marci can deal during her ultimate, like Razor, Rubick, Bane, Dragon Knight and Underlord.
* Heroes who can match Void Spirit's mobility (like the aforementioned Ember Spirit or Queen of Pain) or tank his spells (Dragon Knight or Centaur Warrunner) are very problematic for him.
* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as Sven and Dragon Knight.
* Dragon Knight's insanely high armor and splash damage can cause Lycan to struggle taking him down.
* Heroes with high armor and durability can be exceptionally hard for Bloodseeker to bring down: Dragon Knight, Axe
Additional:
* Bloodseeker's physical damage is unlikely to kill Dragon Knight, and therefore rarely get a chance to recover the large amount of HP from Bloodrage.
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight, Mars, Centaur Warrunner.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven
* Shadow Fiend's Presence of the Dark Lord reduces Dragon Knight's armor considerably, and his strong base attacks are augmented by his Necromastery.
* Dragon Tail can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Breathe Fire reduces Shadow Fiend's damage even further.
* Dragon Knight's high strength and Dragon Blood means that he'll be able to tank Shadow Fiend's right clicks.
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Dragon Knight
* Lich's constant slows with Frost Blast and Chain Frost will slow Dragon Knight to a crawl, especially in a crowded teamfight.