* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
*
Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Ancient Apparition's slow movement speed, squishy nature, and lack of escape abilities can easily be taken advantage of through
Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
* 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).
*
Leap allows Mirana to easily escape the freezing range of Cold Feet. Mirana also tends to build
Manta Style which dispels Cold Feet.
* During
Moonlight Shadow, the invisibility makes it hard to catch Mirana's team with Ice Blast.
* Ancient Apparition's lack of mobility/escape capabilities makes him an easy target for Mirana at any stage of the game.
*
Fury swipes can tear Dragon knight down as it stacks infinitely.
*
False Promise can dispel the stun from Cold Feet and can save an ally that's about to shatter from Ice Blast, even allowing healing with
Purifying Flames by delaying it until after the debuff expires.
*
Purifying Flames allows Oracle to deny his allies if they're affected by Ice Blast. If he brings his allies' health to or below the shatter threshold, it will count as him denying the ally. However, this does not work on Oracle himself.
*
Fate's Edict provides 100% magic resistance, making it good against all of Ancient Apparition's abilities at all stages of the game.
*
Fortune's End can dispel Cold Feet from allies.
Additional:
* False Promise can prevent the shatter from
Ice Blast and Fate's Edict can protect an ally from the magical damage over time for a while.
* Oracle can deny allies who are frostbitten. If he uses Purifying Flames to reach the shatter threshold, it will count as a deny.
* Fortune's End can dispel
Cold Feet on affected allies, preventing them from getting frozen.
*
Cold Feet is extremely easy to nullify with Shukuchi.
*
Ice Vortex does not slow Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Time Lapse will still affect his health, even when hit by
Ice Blast.
* Ancient Apparition has no escapes or saves and is very squishy, making him an easy target for Weaver to get on top of.
Additional:
*
Time Lapse allows Weaver (or an ally if upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.
*
Shukuchi completely ignores the slow from Ice Vortex and helps him escape the freeze range of Cold Feet.
*
Sunder allows Terrorblade (or an ally) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.
* Terrorblade often buys
Manta Style which can dispel Cold Feet.
Additional:
* Sunder is not affected by
Ice Blast and will still swap health with any target as usual.
*
Primal Split makes Brewmaster invulnerable for the duration, rendering effects of Cold Feet and Ice Blast useless.
*
Dispel Magic can dispel Cold Feet from allies.
* Brewmaster can easily run Ancient Apparition down with the slow from
Thunder Clap and
Cinder Brew.
* Lich's constant slows with
Frost Blast and
Chain Frost will slow Dragon Knight to a crawl, especially in a crowded teamfight.
* Lina builds
Shadow Blade (and upgrades it into a
Silver Edge), which makes it hard for Ancient Apparition to land his abilities.
* Laguna Blade can kill Ancient Apparition easily due to his low health pool and lack of mobility.
* As Ancient Apparition likes to stay far away from the fight to get full effectiveness from
Ice Blast, he is a very good target for a
Haunt gank.
* Ancient Apparition also has no hard disables and escape spells, making him an easy kill for Spectre.
* Ancient Apparition's only skill to stop Storm Spirit is
Cold Feet, which is bad in general when trying to stop a Storm Spirit without any other disable.
* As a fragile support with low Strength gain and no magic resistance, Ancient Apparition is vulnerable to Storm Spirit's combos.
*
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.
* 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.
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
* 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.
* For the same reason, he has to be slightly more cunning when playing against heroes that can scout the treeline, such as
Ancient Apparition and his
Ice Vortex and
Shadow Demon and his
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.
*
Elder Titan's
Natural Order completely nullifies Dragon Knight's high 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.
* 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.
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like
Lion,
Ancient Apparition,
Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
* 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.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
* 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.
*
Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* 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.
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells:
Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
* Heroes who relies on high armor such as
Dragon Knight,
Tidehunter, and
Pudge can be melted by Eye of the Storm.
Additional:
*
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.
* Timbersaw's pure damage will kill Dragon Knight surprisingly fast, especially if he gets caught in a bad position while laning.
* 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.
*
Icarus Dive helps Phoenix escape from Cold Feet.
* However, all of Pheonix's basic abilities do cost health, which can be harmful under the effects of Ice Blast.
*
Supernova can save Phoenix from Ice Blast.
Additional:
* Supernova with or without Aghanim's Scepter allows to save ally or himself through
Ice Blast.
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from
Cold Feet.
* Since all of Phoenix's abilities (except for
Supernova) have health costs, heroes like
Ancient Apparition or
Necrophos can turn Phoenix's abilities against it. However,
Supernova does completely protect Phoenix from
Ice Blast.
*
Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
* 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.
*
Dissimilate and
Astral Step allow Void Spirit to quickly escape from Cold Feet.
* Void Spirit deals both magical and physical damage, which makes Ancient Apparition an easy target to ambush.
* If Void Spirit purchases
Aghanim's Scepter, the silence provided by
Resonant Pulse can disrupt Ancient Apparition during fights, as he is entirely reliant upon spells to contribute.
* 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.
*
Shapeshift increases Lycan's movement speed and renders him unslowable, allowing him to easily avoid and escape Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Lycan has fast summons, both his wolves from
Summon Wolves can do heavy damage to Ancient Apparition due to his immobility and low armor.
*
Dragon Knight's insanely high armor and splash damage can cause Lycan to struggle taking him down.
*
Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from
Maledict.
* Heroes like
Slark,
Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
*
Ice Blast prevents Lifestealer from lifestealing and healing with Infest in fights.
*
Broodmother's spiderlings and spiderites do almost nothing against Dragon Knight.
Additional:
*
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.
*
Ice Blast prevents
Insatiable Hunger lifesteal,
Spin Web regeneration and quickly kills spiderlings.
* 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.
*
Ice Blast can prevent healing from
Hand of God and kill Chen's creeps.
* Ancient Apparition can easily harass Chen on lane with
Chilling Touch due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
*
Chilling Touch combined with
Ice Vortex makes it impossible for Chen to escape from
Cold Feet.
Ice Vortex can also make Chen's creeps more vulnerable to Ancient Apparition and his allies's magical damage.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents
Divine Favor and
Hand of God from healing his allies or himself.
*
Cold Embrace makes its target immovable, allowing Ancient Apparition to easily land Ice Blast, or a Cold Feet stun.
* Ice Blast also negates healing from
Cold Embrace.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast disables the healing component of Cold Embrace, making it essentially a 4 second stun on an ally and a perfect setup for Ice Blast.
* If
Cold Feet is cast on an Allied hero affected by Cold Embrace, it will almost guarantee the Ally comes out stunned.
*
Ice Blast cancels Warlock's Golem's and Shadow Word's healing.
*
Cold Feet stuns Warlock if he stands in place, forcing him to stop channeling Upheaval immediately or be forced to stop channeling it by it's stun.
* Ice Blast nullifies
Borrowed Time's and
Mist Coil's healing.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast's nullifies Abaddon healing from Borrowed Time and Mist Coil and it is not dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* Muerta doesn't have the speed to easily escape
Cold Feet, potentially controlling her during Pierce the Veil.
* Ancient Apparition outranges Muerta with
Chilling Touch, allowing him to poke her down safely.
*
Ice Blast stops Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) from recovering adional health, and using it will even bring Morphling closer to the shatter threshold.
* In lane,
Ice Vortex slows Morphling's already poor movement speed to a crawl; this, coupled with the amplification of magic damage, can set up an early kill on Morphling if Ancient Apparition has a suitable lane partner.
Additional:
* Ice Blast stops Morphling from gaining additional health with
Attribute Shift.
* Using
Attribute Shift would even bring Morphling closer to the shatter threshold.
* In the lane, Ice Vortex slows Morphling's already poor movement speed to a crawl; this, coupled with the amplification of magic damage, can set up an early kill on Morphling if Ancient Apparition has a suitable lane partner.
* Despite Ancient Apparition's fragileness, he can easily harass Luna on lane with
Chilling Touch due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
*
Chilling Touch combined with
Ice Vortex can make it difficult for Luna to escape from
Cold Feet
*
Ice Blast can nullify any healing Luna receives and any attempt for her to save herself with
Satanic, even through
Black King Bar.
* For the same reasons, Ancient Apparition makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* Ice Blast prevents Io from healing an ally with
Tether and prevents healing from
Overcharge
* Io is a common
Mekansm builder which is useless if he is affected by Ice Blast.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast prevents Io from healing the target.
* Ancient Apparition can easily harass Io on lane with
Chilling Touch due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
*
Chilling Touch combined with
Ice Vortex makes it nearly impossible for Io to escape from
Cold Feet.
Ice Vortex can also make Io and it's tethered target more vulnerable to Ancient Apparition and his allies's magical damage.
*
Ice Blast negates healing from Shadow Wave, and lasts longer than Shallow Grave.
Additional:
*
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.
* Cold feet can be used to ensure that the full channel of
Freezing Field doesn't go off.
*
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.
* Ice Blast nullifies the health regeneration granted by
Chemical Rage, which Alchemist greatly relies on to stay alive in battle.
* Alchemist tends to build
Armlet of Mordiggian which can be deadly during Ice Blast.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast cancels out Chemical Rage's rapid health regeneration. It can also take advantage of Alchemist's
Armlet of Mordiggian toggling, as it will make HP drain insanely fast, essentially killing the bearer in no time.
* Snapfire is vulnerable while she is casting
Mortimer Kisses making her an easy target for the effects of Cold Feet and Ice Blast.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast,
Cold Feet, and
Ice Vortex are easier to land on Snapfire while she channels her
Mortimer Kisses.
* Heroes that reduce the damage that Marci can deal during her ultimate, like
Razor,
Rubick,
Bane,
Dragon Knight and
Underlord.
* 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.
*
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.
*
Ice Blast completely nullifies any healing, making Necrophos unable to stay in a teamfight to sustain his teammates (and himself) or deal gradual damage to the enemy, else he be faced with a quick death if focused on.
* Phantom Lancer can dispel or escape from Cold Feet with
Doppelganger and
Phantom Rush, respectively. Phantom Lancer also frequently builds a
Manta Style which dispels Cold Feet.
* Ancient Apparition has trouble dealing with Phantom Lancer's illusions due to a lack of Area of Effect damage other than Ice Blast.
* Phantom Lancer tends to build a
Diffusal Blade, which greatly amplifies his damage against Ancient Apparition due to Ancient Apparition's high mana pool.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape/mobility mechanisms, making him an easy target for Phantom Lancer at any stage of the game.
*
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.
Additional:
* 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.
*
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
*
Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
*
Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
*
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
*
Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
*
Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
*
Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
*
Ancient Apparition's
Cold Feet will freeze Clockwerk in place if he stays inside his Power Cogs. His immobility while in his cogs also makes him a very easy target to
Ice Vortex and
Ice Blast.
* Heroes like
Slark,
Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.
* 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 with global abilities can give Legion Commander's opponent an edge in Duels from anywhere on the map:
Nature's Prophet,
Ancient Apparition,
Zeus,
Invoker,
Treant Protector
* 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
* 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 with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
* Spirit Breaker's slow attack speed and moderate damage do very little to harm Dragon Knight, even if ganked with
Charge of Darkness.
* 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
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
* 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.
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
*
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.
* 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.
* 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.
*
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.
*
Ice Blast prevents Huskar from healing, regeneration, health gained from activating an
Armlet of Mordiggian and will kill him when his health dips below a threshold. This makes it very dangerous for him to use his abilities.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Huskar from healing with
Berserker's Blood and negates any lifesteal, making him significantly weaker in battle.
*
Burning Spear and
Life Break cost Huskar his own health, killing him under the effects from Ice Blast.
* Huskar often builds
Armlet of Mordiggian which can be deadly during Ice Blast.
* 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
*
Ice Blast prevents Death Prophet from gaining health from Spirit Siphon and Exorcism.
* However, there is a way for Death Prophet to counter Ice Blast: Since Death Prophet is not healed until the spirits are returned to her. She can attempt to outrun her spirits to delay their return until Ice Blast duration runs out.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Death Prophet from gaining health from
Spirit Siphon and
Exorcism.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like
Phantom Assassin or
Clinkz.
* The extra damage from
Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.
* Clinkz has too low health to survive a gank.Getting stunned keeps him down long enough for a reaction.
* Breathe Fire reduces his damage, as he almost exclusively deals physical damage.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities:
Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
* 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.
* 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 with large magical AoE damage will fare well against Omniknight:
Lich,
Ancient Apparition,
Jakiro,
Disruptor.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
* Heroes that are hard to gank:
Dragon Knight,
Mars,
Centaur Warrunner.
* 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 strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate:
Luna's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Mars's
Arena of Blood,
Jakiro's
Macropyre,
Dual Breath and
Ice Path,
Naga Siren's
Song of the Siren,
Razor's
Eye of the Storm and
Plasma Field,
Lina's
Light Strike Array,
Broodmother's
Spinner's Snare from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Elder Titan's
Earth Splitter and
Echo Stomp,
Alchemist's
Unstable Concoction and
Acid Spray,
Queen of Pain's
Sonic Wave,
Dark Seer's
Wall of Replica and
Vacuum,
Venomancer's
Noxious Plague and
Poison Nova from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Oracle's
Fortune's End and
Rain of Destiny from
Aghanim's Shard,
Bloodseeker's
Blood Rite,
Enigma's
Black Hole and
Midnight Pulse,
Shadow Fiend's
Requiem of Souls,
Batrider's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso,
Firefly,
Flamebreak and
Sticky Napalm,
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast,
Sand King's
Epicenter,
Sand Storm and
Burrowstrike,
Gyrocopter's
Call Down,
Ember Spirit's
Sleight of Fist,
Death Prophet's
Exorcism and
Silence,
Monkey King's
Wukong's Command,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Muerta's
The Calling,
Medusa's
Stone Gaze,
Zeus's
Nimbus from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Dark Willow's
Bramble Maze,
Pangolier's
Swashbuckle,
Grimstroke's
Soulbind,
Ink Swell and
Stroke of Fate,
Earthshaker's
Echo Slam and
Fissure,
Puck's
Dream Coil and
Waning Rift,
Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like
Phantom Assassin or
Clinkz.
* 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 mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as
Sven and
Dragon Knight.
* Riki can get on top of Ancient Apparition very easily with
Blink Strike. This can also double as a way to dodge Ice Blast, along with
Tricks of the Trade.
* Ancient Apparition will frequently resort to casting Ice Blast right before dying.
Smoke Screen can be used to prevent this, stopping Ancient Apparition from having any impact.
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
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:
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
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Dragon Knight
* Counterspell can helpful blocked off to
Dragon Tail.
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.
Additional:
*
*
Ancient Apparition
* Anti-Mage easily Blinks out of
Cold Feet's freeze radius.
Blink away from Cold Feet or build a
Manta Style to dispel it.
Counterspell minimizes the damage Anti-Mage takes from all of Ancient Apparition's abilities.
Mana Break and
Mana Void deal a lot of damage to Ancient Apparition due to his high mana pool.
* Ancient Apparition lacks mobility, thus making him fall easily to Mana Void.
* Counterspell reduces all Ancient Apparition's spell damage.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can
*
*