* 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.
* Anti-Mage Blinks directly into
Magnetic Field, bypassing its protection.
* Anti-Mage's high mobility allows him to deal with
Tempest Double while it is split-pushing.
Additional:
* Arc Warden's high reliance on casting abilities leads him to be dependent on mana, which Anti-Mage can quickly burn with
Mana Break.
*
Blink mitigates the threat of Flux slow and allows Anti-Mage to close the distance between himself and Arc Warden.
* Anti-Mage's ability to farm quickly allows him keep up with Arc Warden's farm while also de-pushing the lanes Arc Warden shoves in with his Tempest Double.
* Anti-Mage also frequently buys
Manta Style, and can use it so dispel Arc Warden's items that can threaten an Anti-Mage like
Bloodthorn.
*
Counterspell significantly reduces the effectiveness of Arc Warden's magical damage.
* However, do keep in mind that when Arc Warden has a
Black King Bar, jumping on him alone may not be the best idea for Anti mage as it could put him in a bad position, while Arc Warden summons his doubles and rain damage into him.
*
Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc
Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him:
Arc Warden,
Venomancer,
Luna.
Additional:
* Arc Warden has relatively lower armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply
Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
* Arc Warden also does not like to build a
Silver Edge as it takes a long time to build up and may slow down the timings for other important items needed in the game like
Gleipnir.
* However, do note that in a game where Arc Warden's team has many jumping capabilities or good passives, like a
Tidehunter or
Spectre, a
Silver Edge becomes incredibly valuable on Arc Warden as not only can he run away from the jumps, he effectively gets 2 breaks, and Bristleback may not be the best pick.
* Timbersaw's pure damage will kill Dragon Knight surprisingly fast, especially if he gets caught in a bad position while laning.
* Batrider can harass Arc Warden more easily with
Sticky Napalm thanks to it's low cooldown and mana cost and because of Arc Warden's lower durability and mobility.
* Batrider can use
Flamebreak to push Arc Warden and
Tempest Double out of the
Magnetic Field.
* With
Firefly combined with
Blink Dagger, Batrider can move faster while dealing damage to both Arc Warden and
Tempest Double.
*
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to separate Arc Warden from both
Magnetic Field and
Tempest Double and pull him towards Batrider's team.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso also allows Batrider to disable both, real Arc Warden and his
Tempest Double and pull them towards Batrider's team. And since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Linken's Sphere, this can be a great problem to him.
* Since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Black King Bar very ofthen In most of the stages of the game, he will be vulnerable to Batrider's magical damage-over-time output in most of the stages of the game.
* However, Batrider needs to approach Arc Warden carefully as Arc Warden can scout Batrider's location with
Spark Wraith. Also, Arc Warden tends to buy
Gleipnir which combined with
Flux's damage over time can be used to prevent Batrider from even using
Blink Dagger.
Additional:
* Batrider can harass Arc Warden more easily with
Sticky Napalm thanks to it's low cooldown and mana cost and because of Arc Warden's lower durability and mobility.
* Batrider can use
Flamebreak to push Arc Warden and
Tempest Double out of the
Magnetic Field.
* With
Firefly combined with
Blink Dagger, Batrider can move faster while dealing damage to both Arc Warden and
Tempest Double.
*
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to separate Arc Warden from both
Magnetic Field and
Tempest Double and pull him towards Batrider's team.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso also allows Batrider to disable both, real Arc Warden and his
Tempest Double and pull them towards Batrider's team. And since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Linken's Sphere, this can be a great problem to him.
* Since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Black King Bar very ofthen In most of the stages of the game, he will be vulnerable to Batrider's magical damage-over-time output in most of the stages of the game.
* However, Batrider needs to approach Arc Warden carefully as Arc Warden can scout Batrider's location with
Spark Wraith. Also, Arc Warden tends to buy
Gleipnir which combined with
Flux's damage over time can be used to prevent Batrider from even using
Blink Dagger.
* 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.
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
* Rolling Thunder hits Arc Warden, his
Tempest Double and any allies through
Magnetic Field.
* Rolling Thunder also causes Pangolier to take no damage from existing stacks of
Flux as well as clear all
Spark Wraiths on the way.
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar:
Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Templar Assassin,
Arc Warden
*
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.
*
Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact.
* Pounce allows Slark to avoid
Spark Wraiths.
*
Tempest Double allows Slark to build up Essence Shift stacks, especially when it is being used for split pushing.
* Storm Spirit can hunt down Arc Warden with his
Ball Lightning and kill him quickly due to his lack of escape abilities.
* None of his abilities are effective against Storm Spirit, as they can be evaded with
Ball Lightning.
*
Fury swipes can tear Dragon knight down as it stacks infinitely.
* Because of his weak laning phase, Lone Druid absolutely overpowers him in the early to mid game. Lone Druid also directly counters most of his abilities.
*
Flux is nullified when the Spirit Bear is nearby.
*
Spark Wraith can get soaked by the bear.
* Lone Druid can easily go inside
Magnetic Field and punish Zet.
* Arc Warden relies on items and abilities, as well as his
Tempest Double, to deal damage to enemies.
Doom effectively denies that and makes Arc Warden useless in fights.
* Arc Warden cannot take Centaur Warrunner very easily, and his nukes are not strong enough to deal with Centaur Warrunner.
* Centaur Warrunner deals huge AoE damage and applies an AoE disable through Hoof Stomp, affecting the double as well the main Arc Warden.
*
Magnetic Field is not very effective against melee heroes. And to make things worse,
Magnetic Field also increases Arc Warden and his allies's attack speed, meaning Retaliate will deal more damage.
* Stampede catches Arc Warden easily due to his lack of escape mechanisms. However, Arc Warden can counter this problem with
Gleipnir, which is a common item on Arc Warden.
*
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.
* Arc Warden can't use Magnetic Field to stall the damage of
Nether Blast on towers, but he can buy
Aghanim's Shard to diminish its damage.
* Arc Warden has no innate disables to stop
Life Drain and
Decrepify
* The short cooldown of both Life Drain and Decrepify also means Pugna can deal with Arc Warden and Arc Warden's clone simultaneously most of the time
* A good Pugna looks to end the match early while Arc Warden, a very item reliant hero, thrives in longer matches.
* 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 who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel:
Phantom Assassin,
Juggernaut,
Dragon Knight,
Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord
* 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
* Melee carries who usually buy an early
Black King Bar, and have gap closing abilities can be good against the Arc Warden, such as
Slark,
Riki,
Earthshaker with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Sven with
Aghanim's Scepter etc.
*
Elder Titan's
Natural Order completely nullifies Dragon Knight's high armor.
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility:
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
* 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.
* Heroes with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as
Beastmaster ,
Chen, or
Shadow Demon.
*
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 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 with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as
Beastmaster ,
Chen, or
Shadow Demon.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells:
Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker.
*
Arc Warden's Flux is meaningless against Meepo who loves to group up. Meepo is also a very good gap closer, so Arc Warden's Magnetic Field becomes useless.
Additional:
* Flux is severely impaired against Meepo because of
Divided We Stand.
* Meepo's farming speed and early powerspikes allows him to pressure Arc Warden before he is capable of fighting effectively.
* Without
Black King Bar,
Earthbind and
Poof can finish Arc Warden quickly before he has time to do much.
* 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.
*
Magnetic Field is useless against melee heroes, so Lycan can attack Arc Warden without missing.
*
Flux doesn't affect Lycan that much, because Shapeshift grants immunity to slows and because he is never alone.
* If their
Tempest Double has been called, Lycan can still kill Arc Warden before the double expires.
*
Dragon Knight's insanely high armor and splash damage can cause Lycan to struggle taking him down.
* 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.
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field:
Silencer,
Viper.
* Chen in the early game is a faster pusher than Arc Warden until Arc Warden buys Maelstrom.
* 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.
* None of Arc Warden's abilities are very effective against Broodmother and her spiderlings.
* A good Broodmother looks to end the match early while Arc Warden, a very item reliant hero, thrives in longer matches.
* Arc Warden has no innate disables to stop Broodmother from lifestealing with
Insatiable Hunger and shredding through his relatively lower armor.
*
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.
* Song of the Siren stops Arc Warden from acting and allows Naga Siren's team to close in on him, past his
Magnetic Field.
* Mirror Image dispels
Flux. The illusions created from it also disable the slow from Flux if Arc Warden casts it after Mirror Image.
* Arc Warden's playstyle heavily favors split-pushing, which Naga Siren can compete against with her illusions.
Additional:
* Naga Siren's illusions from
Mirror Image can depush the lanes pushed by the Tempest Double, relieving the pressure.
*
Mirror Image can dispel Flux, and the illusions can stop Flux from working to it's full power.
* 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.
* Luna's Moon Glaives allow her to clear Arc Warden's
Tempest Double.
* Luna's short range and fast movement speed allow her to fight Arc Warden inside his
Magnetic Field.
Additional:
* Luna's Moon Glaives allow her to clear Arc Warden's
Tempest Double.
* Luna's short range and fast movement speed allow her to fight Arc Warden inside his
Magnetic Field.
* Heroes that create illusions:
Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress,
Meepo and
Arc Warden) can cause Eclipse to strike the illusions/summons unintentionally. However, in many cases Moon Glaives can resolve this issue and eliminate them before activating Eclipse, but that will require lots of farming for right-click items.
* 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.
* Flux removes
Refraction charges very quickly, and Arc Warden can hit her freely with his better attack animation, speed and range. If she tries to mute in her creep wave, Spark Wraith can quickly kill the ranged creep, forcing her to stay near the melee creeps, again, allowing for easy right clicks.
* With Tempest Double, Arc Warden can easily output 1000 damage (with the stacking of Flux and Spark Wraith and kill Templar Assassin within seconds. She cannot avoid this combo as Spark Wraith will still hit her in
Meld.
* A good Arc Warden can destroy the item timings of a Templar Assassin, and mitigate her impact during the mid-game, when she is the strongest.
* In the late game, if Templar Assassin tries to split push with
Aghanim's Scepter, Arc Warden's double can always threaten to kill her if equipped with a
Bloodthorn and a
Blink Dagger , or a
Hurricane Pike, forcing her to have to use
Black King Bar to survive.
* Quick reactions can also protect Arc Warden and his allies from
Meld strike with Magnetic Field, and if equipped with a
Hurricane Pike, Arc Warden can double force himself away from the attacking Templar Assassin to safety, where after her
Black King Bar ends, she can die to Arc Warden's right clicks.
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
*
Arc Warden with his Magnetic Field will protect allies from Mass Serpent Ward.
* Spirit Breaker's slow attack speed and moderate damage do very little to harm Dragon Knight, even if ganked with
Charge of Darkness.
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount:
Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden,
Lion,
Huskar,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Undying,
Jakiro.
*
Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from
Maledict.
*
Arc Warden's
Magnetic Field dodges all damage from Death Ward.
* 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.
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field:
Silencer,
Viper.
* 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 illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Arc Warden
* 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.
*
Magnetic Field lets Arc Warden or allies evade Dark Willow's shadow realm attacks. The duration of the evasion can be extended with the clone.
*
Spark Wraith also exploits Dark Willow's low mobility.
* Magnetic Field makes
Impetus miss; if Enchantress decides to enter the field, she is giving up bonus damage since Impetus deals greater damage at higher distance away from targets.
* Arc Warden’s Magnetic Field allows him to defend against Terrorblade if he used
Metamorphosis.
* Arc also buys a
Bloodthorn or a
Scythe of Vyse, which can prevent Terrorblade from using his abilities.
* Magnetic Field's evasion completely negates Sniper's attacks unless he has True Strike.
* Sniper always positions himself far away from battles, which makes him especially vulnerable for Flux and Spark Wraith.
* He can use either his own or his double's
Flux to bypass the spellblock from Linken's Sphere, using the leftover Flux +
Spark Wraith to slow Medusa's already low move speed to a crawl.
* Arc Warden has a farming advantage with double
Hand of Midas, and can generally bully Medusa with other items that benefit from duplication.
*
Flux will slow and damage Mirana even after she Leaps, since she will likely not be near allies.
* Arc Warden can place
Magnetic Field on an ally who has been hit by Sacred Arrow to protect them.
Additional:
* Arc Warden can use his summons to prevent
Sacred Arrow from hitting himself or his allies.
* Mirana doesn't build items that give armor often, so she usually can't fight against a late game Arc Warden.
* Sonic Wave is a bad choice in abilities if he and the
Tempest Double both use
Blade Mail to reflect the damage to Queen of Pain, potentially killing her outright if her health is low enough.
*
Magnetic Field protects himself or his ally from Queen of Pain's attacks unless she has
Monkey King Bar.
* One more advantage of
Tempest Double is that he can deny himself if he is close to death with Shadow Strike's debuff.
* Phase Shift is not an advantage against Arc Warden at all because Arc Warden can turn Puck's Phase Shift ability against him by using
Spark Wraith, ensuring it to hit. To make this worse, Arc Warden can do it twice with his
Tempest Double.
*
Flux is also an instant spell (and therefore unavoidable) with a heavy slow and damage over time, which disables Blink Dagger for a certain period of time.
* His
Tempest Double is not an illusion, but rather a full hero unit, which effectively reduces half of the Supernova's health. His
Magnetic Field can tremendously boost his attack speed, allowing him to destroy
Supernova in no time even when he's affected by
Fire Spirits.
Additional:
* Tempest Double, Magnetic Field's attack speed bonus, and Arc Warden's high attack range will easily destroy a Phoenix using
Supernova much faster than usual.
* Phoenix is very weak against pushers, especially those like Arc Warden who can kill him easily, as his skillset works best in teamfights.
* The extra damage from
Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.
* Clinkz has too low health to survive a gank.Getting stunned keeps him down long enough for a reaction.
* Breathe Fire reduces his damage, as he almost exclusively deals physical damage.
* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as
Sven and
Dragon Knight.
*
Arc Warden's
Tempest Double is helpful for killing Ogre Magi who lacks AoE damage and disables.
* 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.
* 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 reduce the damage that Marci can deal during her ultimate, like
Razor,
Rubick,
Bane,
Dragon Knight and
Underlord.
* 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
* 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.
*
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 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.
*
Magnetic Field evades most of Gyrocopter's attacks.
* Heroes with good escape mechanisms are a nuisance to deal with in the early phase of the game:
Slark,
Lifestealer,
Morphling
* Arc Warden can counter Morphling's strong pushing capabilities by using
Magnetic Field to protect buildings.
* Arc Warden also often builds an
Orchid Malevolence or
Bloodthorn, which can prove dangerous for Morphling.
* Arc Warden can easily break
Linken's Sphere with
Flux and then slow him with
Spark Wraith, making Arc Warden's
Tempest Double a legitimate threat as well.
* Heroes who rely on summons will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds:
Lycan,
Arc Warden,
Warlock,
Chen
*
Magnetic Field prevents Legion Commander from easily gaining wins with Duel.
Additional:
* Magnetic Field prevents Legion Commander from getting wins with
Duel.
* 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.
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting:
Arc Warden,
Chen,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Mirana,
Nature's Prophet,
Pugna and
Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
*
Smoke Screen combined with
Diffusal Blade leaves Arc Warden effectively useless for a while as he struggles to escape the silence with low mobility.
* With Arc Warden's low mobility,
Tricks of the Trade often deal decent damage to him before he moves out of it.
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
* One of Arc Warden's hardest counters, Arc Warden, who has primarily single target damage, will struggle tremendously against Phantom Lancer:
*
Flux is paused if even one illusion remains near Phantom Lancer. It can also be dispelled with
Doppelganger.
* Phantom Lancer can also easily dodge an activated
Spark Wraith, or use his illusions to trigger it safely.
*
Phantom Rush allows Lancer to quickly close gap to get inside of Arc Warden's
Magnetic Field.
* Phantom Lancer and his clones are able to quickly drain Arc Warden of his mana with a
Diffusal Blade. This means Warden's
Tempest Double will also be summoned without mana.
Additional:
*
Doppelganger dispels Flux.
*
Phantom Rush closes the distance between Phantom Lancer and Arc Warden.
*
Juxtapose can overwhelm Arc Warden and nullify his kit which is only effective against isolated enemies.
*
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.
* Heroes that have doubles or clones such as
Arc Warden,
Meepo or
Lone Druid are vulnerable to Muerta's
Gunslinger.
* Heroes with high physical and magical damage alike are a huge hazard for Muerta, as they can deal serious damage to her even if she has
Pierce the Veil active:
Luna,
Lina,
Tusk,
Broodmother,
Shadow Fiend,
Ember Spirit,
Gyrocopter,
Vengeful Spirit,
Arc Warden,
Medusa,
Shadow Shaman.
* Heroes with good escape mechanisms are a nuisance to deal with in the early phase of the game:
Slark,
Lifestealer,
Morphling
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
*
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.
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar:
Phantom Lancer,
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Chaos Knight.
* 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).
*
Flux along with
Spark Wraith allows Arc Warden to quickly burst down Drow Ranger due to her low health.
* However, Drow Ranger can bypass
Magnetic Field's evasion bonus thanks to Marksmanship.
Additional:
* Magnetic Field protects Arc Warden and allies from Drow Ranger's ranged attacks. She most likely will not enter the field since she will lose
Marksmanship's bonus agility.
* Beware however, as
Marksmanship procs will still hit since they have True Strike, so the most damaging arrows will still hit you inside Magnetic Field.
* Heroes who rely on fast attack speed will also trigger Counter Helix frequently:
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Anti-Mage,
Juggernaut,
Arc Warden,
Morphling
Additional:
* Magnetic Field doesn't provide a protection against
Berserker's Call and
Counter Helix and his high attack speed together with Tempest Double will often trigger
Counter Helix.
* The threat of a blink and
Berserker's Call may make the real Arc Warden stay further back, thus effectively halving the team's damage output for a while.
* Heroes who can stop Axe from getting close will severely inhibit his presence in fights:
Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
* Chaos Knight can dispel Flux with
Phantasm.
* Chaos Knight can use
Reality Rift to pull Arc Warden out of Magnetic Field.
* Once Chaos Knight jumps on Arc Warden with
Reality Rift, Arc Warden will struggle to escape due to low mobility and lack of stun.
*
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.
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.
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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.
Arc Warden
* Chain Frost can deliver high amounts of damage to Arc Warden and his double if they do not separate fast from each other.