Earthshaker
* 
Poison Attack and 
Viper Strike allowing to kite and slow Earthshaker significally, putting 
Blink Dagger on cooldown and preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
* 
Nethertoxin breaks Aftershock. The silence from Level 25 talent also prevents Earthshaker from initiating or re-initiating.
Additional:
* Being a melee hero, Earthshaker's movement is liable to suppression by Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
* Earthshaker's kit, with the exception of 
Enchant Totem, deals magic damage. 
Corrosive Skin effectively blunts his killing potential with a standard Blink combo among other things.
* Viper Strike can disable 
Aftershock, which removes the stun and bonus damage from Enchant Totem and 
Echo Slam.
Nyx Assassin
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from 
Impale and 
Mind Flare, and anything else Nyx Assassin tries to throw at Viper.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time output from Poison Attack, Nethertoxin, Corrosive Skin and Viper Strike, not even while he has 
Spiked Carapace active. And to make things worse, Nyx Assassin is not a common 
Silver Edge wielder to counter this problem at all.
Additional:
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from Impale and Mind Flare, and anything else Nyx Assassin tries to throw at Viper.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time output from Poison Attack, Nethertoxin, Corrosive Skin and Viper Strike, not even while he has Spiked Carapace active. And to make things worse, Nyx Assassin is not a common Silver Edge wielder to counter this problem at all.
Earthshaker
* Luna's 
Lucent Beams and 
Eclipse will prevent Earthshaker from initiating or re-initiating.
* 
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse can be used to counter-initiate against Earthshaker after he uses Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enchant Totem.
* Skilled Luna can buy either {I|Gleipnir
Additional:
* Luna's Lucent Beams and Eclipse will prevent Earthshaker from initiating or re-initiating.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse can be used to counter-initiate against Earthshaker after he uses Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enchant Totem.
* Skilled Luna can buy either {I|Gleipnir
Nyx Assassin
* Even though Nyx Assassin can easily kill Luna with his high burst damage, Luna can also do the same to him if he is not careful.
* Lucent Beam can deal a fair amount of damage to Nyx Assassin if he has no Spiked Carapace available to use. Although Luna should be patient using Lucent Beam on Nyx Assassin when he uses Spiked Carapace.
* As Luna commonly buys 
Black King Bar, she can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin whenever he tries to defend himself with Spiked Carapace during teamfights. Luna can also buy 
Eye of Skadi and 
Manta Style to survive Nyx Assassin's burst damage and distract him.
* Though 
Vendetta can deal serious damage to Luna and avoid Eclipse, smart Luna will always buy 
Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Nyx Assassin to her and her team.
Additional:
* Even though Nyx Assassin can easily kill Luna with his high burst damage, Luna can also do the same to him if he is not careful.
* Lucent Beam can deal a fair amount of damage to Nyx Assassin if he has no Spiked Carapace available to use. Although Luna should be patient using Lucent Beam on Nyx Assassin when he uses Spiked Carapace.
* As Luna commonly buys Black King Bar, she can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin whenever he tries to defend himself with Spiked Carapace during teamfights. Luna can also buy Eye of Skadi and Manta Style to survive Nyx Assassin's burst damage and distract him.
* Though Vendetta can deal serious damage to Luna and avoid Eclipse, smart Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Nyx Assassin to her and her team.
Earthshaker
* Both 
Ice Path and 
Macropyre are the good setup against Earthshaker after he jumps in with Blink Dagger, and stay out of Echo Slam initiation radius.
* Jakiro's damage over time abilities can potentially disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: 
Jakiro, 
Viper, 
Venomancer, 
Huskar, 
Ember Spirit, 
Dark Seer, 
Sand King, 
Doom, 
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Earthshaker
* Venomancer's slows and magical damage-over-time works well against Earthshaker's which completes lack of mobility.
* 
Plague Wards are useful for slowing and kitting down Earthshaker, revealing him from initiating and re-initiating and putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown if Venomancer has vision over Earthshaker.
Additional:
* Earthshaker can be kited by Venomancer's slows, which is lack of mobility.
* Plague Wards is very useful for slowing and kitting down Earthshaker, revealing him from initiating and re-initiating and putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Earthshaker
* 
Silencer's 
Global Silence and Doom's 
Doom makes Earthshaker temporarily useless.
Nyx Assassin
* A well-timed Doom prevents Nyx Assassin escaping with Vendetta and fighting back with Spiked Carapace.
* Doom's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
Earthshaker
* Earthshaker must be careful not to use Blink Dagger or Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enchant Totem to blink into 
Riki's 
Smoke Screen or 
Night Stalker's 
Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.
Additional:
* 
Fissure has a short stun and creates an impassable ridge. However, Night Stalker can fly over it during Dark Ascension.
* Night Stalker can find Earthshaker, disable his Blink Dagger with Void, and then take him out with Crippling Fear.
* Earthshaker may fail his blink combo against Night Stalker's team if he is not careful, as he can blink into the silence.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: 
Spectre, 
Nyx Assassin, 
Clockwerk, 
Spirit Breaker, 
Omniknight, 
Pudge.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: 
Dragon Knight, Jakiro, 
Pugna, 
Earthshaker.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Earthshaker
* Techies is very good against roaming supports and gankers such as 
Bounty Hunter, Riki, 
Weaver, Earthshaker, Nyx Assassin, etc. that are constantly moving around the map.
Nyx Assassin
* Some abilities deals damage from an independent source and not from the hero itself, so Nyx cannot counter them with Spiked Carapace: illusions or summoning units, 
Homing Missile, 
Nimbus, 
Mass Serpent Ward, 
Death Ward and especially 
Techies's mines.
Nyx Assassin
* Even though Visage's Familiars from 
Summon Familiars are fragile and can be killed quickly with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, they can deal many instances of damage quickly, minimizing the effectiveness of Spiked Carapace.
* 
Gravekeeper's Cloak and tanky item builds make Visage hard for Nyx to kill with his burst damage. 
Aghanim's Shard upgraded Gravekeeper's Cloak also allows Visage to use 
Stone Form to both recover himself and stun Nyx Assassin if he is close enough to Visage.
* Visage's long range on 
Soul Assumption and 
Grave Chill make him hard to escape from, and Soul Assumption's low cooldown outmatches Spiked Carapace.
Nyx Assassin
* 
Blade Fury makes Juggernaut immune to all Nyx's abilities, except Vendetta.
* 
Omnislash. and 
Swiftslash can burst Nyx down, ignoring Spiked Carapace. However, Vendetta can be used to escape, canceling Omnislash/Swiftslash.
Additional:
* Juggernaut's entire skillset greatly counters Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace, his most important ability.
* Blade Fury allows Juggernaut to freely attack Nyx Assassin, and deal heavy damage to Nyx Assassin. Nyx Assassin cannot counter Blade Fury with Spiked Carapace because Blade Fury gives Juggernaut spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Juggernaut while he is spell immune.
* 
Healing Ward allows Juggernaut to recover himself and his allies from Nyx Assassin's damage output.
* Omnislash and Swiftslash from Aghanim's Scepter can quickly finish off Nyx Assassin. And just like Blade Fury, Nyx Assassin cannot counter neither Omnislash and Swiftslash from Aghanim's Scepter with Spiked Carapace because both abilities render Juggernaut invulnerable. And if Nyx Assassin has no Vendetta available to use for escaping, both abilities will kill him very quickly before he can do anything.
* Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Juggernaut will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Juggernaut.
Earthshaker
* Earthshaker's stuns will rarely save him once Huskar has initiated on him with Life Break.
* A full initiation combo will not kill Huskar, only lower his health and increase his attack speed.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin can reflect Life Break with Spiked Carapace.
Earthshaker
* Battery Assault will continuously interrupt Earthshaker's long cast animations.
* Power Cogs can also trap Earthshaker after he initiates.
Additional:
* 
Battery Assault interrupts Earthshaker's long cast animations, preventing him from using any abilities apart from Echo Slam.
* 
Power Cogs often separate the battlefield so that both enemies and allies are unlikely to cluster.
* 
Rocket Flare allows Clockwerk to scout Earthshaker before a fight starts and potentially cancel his Blink Dagger.
* 
Hookshot enables Clockwerk to catch Earthshaker before he gets a chance to initiate a fight.
Earthshaker
* Her 
Psionic Traps will usually disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger prior to a teamfight, preventing him from initiating.
* 
Refraction blocks all of Earthshaker's abilities.
Earthshaker
* 
Geomagnetic Grip can be used to silence Earthshaker after he blinks in, preventing him from executing his combo.
* 
Magnetize does damage over time and thus disables Earthshaker's Blink Dagger for a long time.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin wants to start ganking as soon as he gets his Vendetta. Keeping him Tracked prevents him from ganking, and thus from doing his job in the game.
* Nyx Assassin has a lot of armor and health regen, making the nuke damage from Shuriken Toss very good against him.
Additional:
* 
Track hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking and escaping attempts with Vendetta, making him an easy kill for gold as well.
* Bounty Hunter can also use Track on Nyx Assassin while he has Spiked Carapace active without getting stunned as Track deals no damage at all before using 
Shuriken Toss.
Nyx Assassin
* 
Corrosive Haze hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with Vendetta, as well as reducing his armor and make him very vulnerable due to his low health pool.
* 
Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to catch up with Nyx Asssassin and finish him off if he has vision over him.
Nyx Assassin
* A well-timed 
Berserker's Call can expose Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with Vendetta, and prevent him from using Spiked Carapace.
* Axe can use 
Battle Hunger's damage over time to minimialize effects of Spiked Carapace.
* Axe's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off. Especially since Axe is a common 
Heart of Tarrasque wielder, which can completely eliminate any chance for Nyx Assassin to kill Axe alone.
* 
Culling Blade can often kill Nyx Assassin as he is very fragile and vulnerable to damage while Spiked Carapace is on cooldown.
Additional:
* A well-timed Berserker's Call can expose Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with Vendetta, and prevent him from using Spiked Carapace.
* Axe can use Battle Hunger's damage over time to minimialize effects of Spiked Carapace.
* Axe's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off. Especially since Axe is a common Heart of Tarrasque wielder, which can completely eliminate any chance for Nyx Assassin to kill Axe alone.
* Culling Blade can often kill Nyx Assassin as he is very fragile and vulnerable to damage while Spiked Carapace is on cooldown.
Earthshaker
* 
Spectral Dagger can be used to traverse past Fissure.
* 
Haunt will usually disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger prior to a teamfight, preventing him from initiating.
* On the other hand, Haunt will amplify damage done from Echo Slam. Use this to your advantage.
Additional:
* Spectre can use Haunt to intercept and disrupt Earthshaker's initiation attempts.
* Spectral Dagger can be used to traverse past Fissure.
* Earthshaker often travels alone when he is trying to initiate, so 
Desolate can be very effective against him.
* Beware that the Haunt illusions amplify the damage done from Echo Slam, which can prove fatal for Spectre's own team.
Nyx Assassin
* Centaur's low Intelligence makes Mind Flare do low damage.
* With some creative skill builds, Centaur's Hoof Stomp stun duration should always last longer than Spiked Carapace stun, so escaping unscathed is hard for Nyx.
* With Blink Dagger and detection, Centaur can devastate Nyx in the open.
* However, bear in mind that Nyx can also easily initiate on Centaur Warrunner as well if he uses Spiked Carapace in anticipation, and with Vendetta. The damage from Retaliate will be reflected back to Centaur Warrunner, stunning him with no chance to react after he's revealed himself, and should guarantee a successful Impale.
Earthshaker
* Ignite can prevent Earthshaker from escaping and/or initiating with Blink Dagger.
* Fireblast and Unrefined Fireblast may help prevent Earthshaker follow through with his combo after landing an Echo Slam.
Earthshaker
* 
Thundergod's Wrath will often disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger before a fight starts.
Earthshaker
* Death Prophet's 
Crypt Swarm and 
Spirit Siphon can repetively damage Earthshaker, preventing him from using Blink Dagger.
* 
Silence can be used to silence Earthshaker after he blinks in with Blink Dagger, preventing him from executing his combo.
* Spirits from 
Exorcism are completely invulnerable and cannot interact with anything at all, which will greatly weaken damage from Echo Slam. This can put Earthshaker in a serious disadvantage against Death Prophet.
Nyx Assassin
* Dragon Knight's heavy armor negates Vendetta's burst physical damage. His large HP pool also gives him a good chance of surviving Nyx Assassin's follow-up nuke damage.
Nyx Assassin
* 
Cyclone from Storm in 
Primal Split can waste Nyx's Spiked Carapace, since its duration is shorter than the Cyclone's.
Earthshaker
* 
Static Link drains the damage bonus from Enchant Totem, until he purchase Aghanim's Scepter or 
Force Staff to break it.
* 
Storm Surge with Razor's high mobility items can easily avoid all of Earthshaker abilities.
* 
Plasma Field & 
Eye of the Storm prevents Earthshaker escaping from Blink Dagger.
Additional:
* Static Link drains Earthshaker's bonus damage from Enchant Totem until he purchases an Aghanim's Scepter or Force Staff to break it.
* Eye of the Storm and Plasma Field can disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger, preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: 
Timbersaw, 
Slark, 
Shadow Fiend, 
Clinkz, 
Bristleback Nyx Assassin, 
Magnus
Earthshaker
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz, Slark, 
Storm Spirit
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with invisibility will be detected by Thirst when they have low enough health: Bounty Hunter, 
Templar Assassin, Riki, Clinkz, Weaver, 
Treant Protector, Nyx Assassin.
Additional:
* While Burrowing, Nyx is an easy target for a 
Blood Rite, and his only way to counter it is a well-timed Spiked Carapace.
* 
Thirst is always a threat to Nyx Assassin, hindering his attempt of escape using Vendetta and rendering him unable to surprise Bloodseeker's allies.
* 
Rupture also prevents Nyx Assassin from escaping with Vendetta, as it forces him to stay still.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz, Slark, Storm Spirit
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: 
Axe, 
Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, 
Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, 
Legion Commander, 
Lina, 
Luna, 
Lycan, 
Slardar, Slark, 
Troll Warlord, 
Witch Doctor.
Earthshaker
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like Slark in his 
Shadow Dance and Weaver in his 
Shukuchi.
Additional:
* Earthshaker's many AoE stuns help lock down Slark and will often waste the duration of Shadow Dance.
* As a frequent Force Staff buyer, he can later on escape or save teammates from Pounce.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as Bounty Hunter, Clinkz, 
Mirana, Nyx Assassin and Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
Earthshaker
* Earthshaker must be careful not to use Blink Dagger or Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enchant Totem to blink into Riki's Smoke Screen or Night Stalker's Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
Earthshaker
* 
Thunder Strike can be used to cancel Earthshaker's Blink Dagger.
* 
Glimpse brings Earthshaker back after he jumps on Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enchant Totem.
* 
Static Storm if used on a fight can prevent Earthshaker from executing his combo after blinking in with Blink Dagger.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes that can pick you off: Clinkz, Nyx Assassin, 
Puck, Riki.
Nyx Assassin
* Impale and Spiked Carapace stun can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* Abaddon can use Borrowed Time and easily heal for the duration of Borrowed Time by Nyx's burst damage.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin might not kill Abaddon with his nuke, but a support Abaddon will struggle to protect an ally from him.
Earthshaker
* 
Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
* 
Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses Blink Dagger to initiate.
* 
Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
Nyx Assassin
* Slow-moving projectiles: 
Skywrath Mage, 
Tinker, 
Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* Mind Flare turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him and deals heavy damage.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
Earthshaker
* Earthshaker's Aftershock combos and Fissure can stun Muerta consecutively and minimize 
Pierce the Veil's effective duration.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, excellent ganking potential and multiple disables pose a threat to Muerta at all stages of the game.
* Mind Flare allows Nyx Assassin to take advantage of Muerta's high intelligence and make a short work of her low health.
* Spiked Carapace and Vendetta allow Nyx to escape or initiate well against Muerta's low mobility.
* As with most retaliation based abilities, Spiked Carapace can easily take advantage of 
Gunslinger's stray shots.
* However, Muerta is a natural Black King Bar wielder. And if she succeeds to activate it before Nyx Assassin can ambush her, he will go down very quickly against Muerta as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce through debuff immunity at all.
Earthshaker
* Echo Slam will deal immense damage due to the amount of creeps Chen will have.
* Fissure and Enchant Totem deal large amounts of AOE damage, wearing down non-ancient creeps that Chen converts.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst can often kill Chen or his allies before he can use Hand of God: Lina, Luna, Techies, Shadow Fiend, Pugna, Nyx Assassin.
Earthshaker
* Treants increase Echo Slam's damage.
* Earthshaker's AoE stuns can hit Nature's Prophet through 
Sprout, without having direct line of sight, in order to interrupt 
Teleportation.
Additional:
* Echo Slam can do a lot of damage to Nature's Prophet and his teammates if they stand close to his Treants.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with invisibility: (Riki, Clinkz, Nyx Assassin.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with abilities that can lock down Terrorblade and prevent him from using Sunder: 
Bane, 
Batrider, Earthshaker, 
Elder Titan, 
Faceless Void, 
Invoker, Legion Commander, 
Mars, 
Primal Beast, Riki, 
Shadow Shaman, Silencer, 
Vengeful Spirit, 
Void Spirit.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin deals large amounts of pure damage with Vendetta and magical damage with Impale and Mind Flare, allowing him to ignore Terrorblade's armor and burst his low health pool down before he can use 
Sunder.
* Nyx Assassin commonly buys 
Urn of Shadows, 
Dagon and 
Meteor Hammer which deal magic damage that ignore Terrorblade's armor.
* However, Terrorblade is a natural Eye of Skadi and Black King Bar wielder, and once he gets those items, Nyx Assassin's solo kill potential against Terrorblade will be gone.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: 
Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, Bane, Pugna, Pudge.
Nyx Assassin
* Crystal Maiden has a very bad movement speed, so Impale is easy to land against her. Furthermore, even while trapped by Frostbite, Nyx Assassin can still cast Impale.
* Crystal Maiden has very low armor, so Vendetta is very effective.
* Nyx Assassin has two ways to stop Freezing Field, provided she doesn't get a Black King Bar. He can either pop Spiked Carapace and simply walk into the field, or he can use Impale to interrupt the field, since Crystal Maiden has to channel it.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace easily interrupts 
Freezing Field.
* 
Frostbite's damage over time sets up an easy Spiked Carapace stun.
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and dies quickly to Nyx Assassin's burst damage.
Earthshaker
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like Slark in his Shadow Dance and Weaver in his Shukuchi.
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace allows Nyx to get an easy long-duration stun on Weaver once he uses Shukuchi, and then he can follow up with Impale.
* Vendetta works as a great setup for both Impale and Spiked Carapace and can deal decent damage to Weaver. Additionally he can neutralize The Swarm beetles due to his invisibility duration.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, Bane, Pugna, Pudge.
Nyx Assassin
* Impale and Spiked Carapace can be used to cancel Dismember easily, and can even do so when Pudge uses it on Nyx Assassin, if timed correctly.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, Bane, Pugna, Pudge.
Nyx Assassin
* 
Nether Blast's animation makes it easy to time Spiked Carapace for a stun.
* Pugna has the largest intelligence gain in the game, making him a prime target for Mana Burn.
* Pugna needs to channel 
Life Drain, making him easy to hit with Impale.
Additional:
* Due to Pugna's incredible intelligence growth and terrible strength growth, Nyx should always be able to take you out with his combo, with or without an added Dagon. Mind Flare will deal a large amount of damage in particular, especially in the late game.
* Spiked Carapace is also a great tool versus Pugna. A good player will wait for you in Vendetta until you farm a creep wave with Nether Blast and reflect it back at you as their initiation and setup for Impale.
Nyx Assassin
* Vendetta can deal great damage against her. However, it requires an direct attack, so Nyx Assassin may have difficulties applying Vendetta on her.
* Enchantress's lack of mobility makes her a primary target for ganking with Vendetta.
* Mind Flare can deal a great damage against her due to being an Intelligence hero.
* Spiked Carapace can reflect Impetus and stun Enchantress.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace reflects the damage from 
Impetus.
* Enchantress is a rather squishy hero, making her fall easily to Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx can walk into Firefly with Spiked Carapace and stun Batrider if he has no Spell Immunity, even if Batrider is focusing on other enemy hero.
Earthshaker
* Having many summons out will cause Echo Slam to deal extra damage.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx's Spiked Carapace can reflect the damage of 
Sharpshooter, instantly killing hoodwink. Nyx can also use Vendetta to position himself in such a way to screen allies from Sharpshooter and catch Hoodwink by surprise.
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace stops Snapfire's 
Mortimer Kisses.
Earthshaker
* Echo Slam will deal a colossal amount of damage to your Phantasms, as will Fissure at lower levels.
* The area stuns from Aftershock will always stun Chaos Knight's illusions, since they can't use Black King Bar.
* However, Earthshaker should not attempt to fight a farmed Chaos Knight, since he will be completely obliterated by Chaos Knight's colossal damage output, even if he managed to land an Echo Slam
Additional:
* Echo Slam's damage potential increases due to Chaos Knight's 
Phantasm illusions.
Earthshaker
* Echo Slam is good against Snowball since it bunches everyone up. This can set up some prime opportunities for Blink Echo Slams.
Nyx Assassin
* A good Nyx can reflect Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave with his Spiked Carapace, or even initiate a gank on her in Vendetta while she farms a creep wave with Scream of Pain.
* Her strength to intelligence ratio is bad enough that he should be able to kill her without even requiring a Dagon, provided he can get his full combo off.
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace can be used to reflect Illuminate damage and stun Keeper of the Light.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to follow Keeper of the Light around if he tries to split-push.
* Keeper of the Light is very squishy and will very quickly die to Vendetta and it's followup abilities.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
* Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.
Earthshaker
* Fissure interrupts Spirit Breaker during 
Charge of Darkness.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin has a lot of burst damage from his Impale, Mind Flare, Dagon, and the bonus damage from Vendetta. All of this damage is enough to kill Drow Ranger.
* Nyx Assassin is usually invisible most of the time thanks to his ability Vendetta, which allows him to gank Drow Ranger easily.
* However, 
Gust is extremely dangerous for Nyx Assassin, as it's silence can render Nyx Assassin unable to lock down Drow Ranger. And if Gust hits Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with Vendetta, Drow Ranger will be able to detect him and foil his ganking attempts on her because Gust reveals invisible units.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
Earthshaker
* Fissure does a great job at interrupting 
Black Hole immediately, especially with Blink Dagger and 
Aether Lens.
* Echo Slam's damage potential increases due to the eidolons created by 
Demonic Conversion.
Nyx Assassin
* Enigma is fragile, and lacks escapes, being dependent on Blink Dagger for mobility. Ganking Heroes or Heroes with burst damage will likely kill him before he can do anything. Such Heroes include: Lina, 
Lion, Luna, Puck, Slark, Nyx Assassin, etc.
Additional:
* Enigma's uncontrollable damage from 
Malefice and 
Midnight Pulse make him easy to stun with Spiked Carapace.
* Black Hole can be easily interrupted by Impale or Spiked Carapace.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace will stun Leshrac when hit by any of his AOE abilities.
* Mind Flare deals high damage due to Leshrac's high intelligence gain.
* Vendetta burns a large amount of Leshrac's essential mana pool.
Nyx Assassin
* Vendetta burns a significant amount of mana on hit, and the damage from the ability drains Medusa's mana pool even further.
* Due to the passive nature of Mystic Snake and Split Shot, it can possibly proc Nyx's Spiked Carapace if he's within range of Medusa's abilities and isn't invisible.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making Nyx with Aghanim's Scepter extremely hard to deal with if Medusa is the team's main damage source.
Additional:
* With her passive 
Split Shot, Medusa can be easily interrupted by Spiked Carapace during combat, especially during her precious 
Stone Gaze.
* Mana Burn quickly destroys 
Mana Shield, especially if Medusa only increases her mana pool by bolstering intelligence (which has the added bonus of increasing Mana Burn's damage).
* Uncontrollable damage from 
Mystic Snake and Split Shot can trigger Spiked Carapace.
* 
Medusa lacks single target damage, making a Burrowed Nyx Assassin hard to kill.
Nyx Assassin
* Ravage's travel time allows Nyx Assassin to easily stun Tidehunter with Spiked Carapace.
* Vendetta can instantly deplete Tidehunter's low mana pool, especially in the early game, potentially preventing Tidehunter from casting Ravage.
Earthshaker
* Zombies summoned from Tombstone will amplify the damage of Echo Slam due to them increasing the echo damage.
Nyx Assassin
* 
Heat-Seeking Missile allow easy Spiked Carapace stuns.
* As a fragile hero that relies on mana and intelligence items, Tinker is vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin's stuns can interrupt 
Rearm and leave Tinker helpless.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin's whole skillset is good against Tinker:
* Impale prevents Tinker from blinding Nyx Assassin or fighting back, while giving Nyx' allies time to catch up to Tinker's position.
* Mind Flare generally deals more damage to intelligence based heroes like Tinker.
* Spiked Carapace can stun Tinker at a moment of Nyx Assassin's choosing if March of the Machines has been cast. It is also quite easy to time Spiked Carapace against Heat Seeking Missiles.
* Vendetta allows Nyx to approach Tinker in the trees or wait for him in common hiding spots and deal heavy damage to his low armor.
Nyx Assassin
* Vendetta disables Vengeance Aura and allows him to attack Vengeful Spirit with Impale and Mind Flare.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against a Wave of Terror or Magic Missile.
Earthshaker
* All of his spells can stun Elder Titan and interrupt Echo Stomp's channeling thanks to Aftershock.
* Fissure is particularly good for that purpose thanks to its long range.
* Elder Titan relies heavily on his spells and a chain-stun combo will usually be followed by certain death.
Earthshaker
* Each of Meepo's clones count as real heroes, meaning that an Echo Slam hitting them will deal catastrophic damage to Meepo and his team.
* Eathshaker's AoE stuns can interrupt Meepo's 
Poof cast animation.
Additional:
* Echo Slam will deal catastrophic damage against a cluster of Meepos and anyone nearby.
* Aftershock allows Earthshaker's abilities to potentially stun any number of Meepos for a fairly long duration, often enough to finish one off.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with heavy early and mid-game magical damage are also problematic for Phantom Assassin due to being able to easily kill her before she can gain an item advantage over them: Lina, Necrophos, Nyx Assassin, 
Gyrocopter, Jakiro, 
Death Prophet.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos, 
Phoenix, 
Alchemist, Earthshaker, 
Razor, Tinker, 
Leshrac, 
Queen of Pain
Nyx Assassin
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling: Enigma, Crystal Maiden, Invoker, Shadow Fiend, Pugna, 
Keeper of the Light, Dawnbreaker.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who are entirely reliant on dealing physical damage and/or have very little to no area-of-effect abilities will make Underlord tickle and will have no effect against him thanks to his 
Atrophy Aura, and will also be unable to ambush Underlord and his team if Underlord chooses to use 
Fiend's Gate to get to a designated point of the map: 
Phantom Assassin, 
Terrorblade, Troll Warlord, 
Drow Ranger, 
Phantom Lancer, 
Chaos Knight, 
Sven, 
Wraith King, Bounty Hunter, Alchemist, Templar Assassin, Nyx Assassin, Bane.
Earthshaker
* 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.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with magical or pure damage output will not have any problems against Atrophy Aura at all: Luna, Lina, Jakiro, Pugna, Bane, 
Snapfire, Muerta, Nyx Assassin, Enigma, Tinker, Witch Doctor, Zeus, Crystal Maiden.
Earthshaker
* 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.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, Bane, Pugna, Pudge.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion, 
Anti-Mage, Nyx Assassin.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, 
Ursa, Void Spirit.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin, Bounty Hunter and Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with 
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
Nyx Assassin
* Mind Flare does tons of damage against Lina because of her high intelligence.
* Vendetta can deal heavy damage to Lina while also burning her mana, preventing Lina from casting her abilities.
* Spiked Carapace can easily be used to counter Lina's abilities because of their long cast animation, and could probably kill Lina outright if Laguna Blade is reflected. However, Lina can counter this with 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, a common item on Lina.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren, Broodmother, Lycan, 
Visage, Phantom Lancer. And to make things worse, Nyx Asassin is not a common 
Battle Fury, 
Maelstrom, 
Mjollnir, 
Gleipnir or 
Radiance wielder to counter this problem.
Earthshaker
* 
Mirror Image's illusions increase Echo Slam's damage.
Additional:
* Earthshaker's strong AoE abilities can clear Naga Siren's illusions, or at least make it easier to distinguish the real one by the damage they take.
* Echo Slam deals more damage against more enemies, which can be devestating against Naga Siren and her illusions.
Nyx Assassin
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren, Broodmother, Lycan, Visage, Phantom Lancer. And to make things worse, Nyx Asassin is not a common Battle Fury, Maelstrom, Mjollnir, Gleipnir or Radiance wielder to counter this problem.
Earthshaker
* Phantom Lancer's many illusions increase Echo Slam's damage.
Additional:
* Echo Slam deals tremendous damage when multiplied by Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Earthshaker's AoE abilities can quickly kill Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Enchant Totem with Aghanim's Scepter gives Cleave to help destroy illusions.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz, Slark, Storm Spirit
Nyx Assassin
* Mana Burn removes much-needed mana for 
Ball Lightning.
* Spiked Carapace triggers on 
Static Remnant for an easy stun.
Additional:
* Vendetta is capable of removing most of Storm Spirit's large mana pool, along with dealing heavy damage and quickly depleting his chances of escaping a gank or fight.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Nyx Assassin
* With Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use Spiked Carapace with Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by 
Flame Guard or Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
Earthshaker
* 
Warlock often stays back and counter-initiates by dropping his 
Chaotic Offering on Earthshaker and his allies.
Nyx Assassin
* Impale and Spiked Carapace interrupts Upheaval with ease.
* Warlock's low health pool, mobility, and high intelligence gain makes him a prime target for Nyx Assassin's burst damage.
Earthshaker
* Invoker's 
E.M.P. is extremely effective against Earthshaker due to his low natural mana.
Nyx Assassin
* 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.
Earthshaker
* Silencer's Global Silence and Doom's Doom makes Earthshaker temporarily useless.
Nyx Assassin
* 
Last Word is extremely easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for large amounts damage, due to triggering when Nyx Assassin casts a spell, but can still silence Nyx Assassin. It also has the added bonus of dealing more damage the more Intelligence Silencer has.
* 
Glaives of Wisdom quickly builds Silencer's Intelligence, making him a particularly prime target for Mana Burn.
* Silencer rarely builds survivability items, nor is he able to steal much Intelligence while surrounded by his team, and so is an excellent target for Vendetta.
* Silencer has no reliable way of dealing with a burrowed Nyx, and also lacks the ability to prevent Nyx from escaping with Vendetta,
Additional:
* Silencer is rather squishy and has poor mobility without items, making him an easy target for Nyx.
* Silencer's intelligence steal ability is a complete disadvantage against Nyx Assassin as Mind Flare will deal increasing damage for each point of intelligence Silencer has stolen, turning Silencer's intelligence steal against him.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace can stop Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian which will eliminate her global presence and limits her movement around the map.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace interrupts 
Starbreaker before Dawnbreaker has her Aghanim's Shard, as well as Solar Guardian during the initial channel, making her ineffective at joining and dealing damage in teamfights.
* The slow projectile and damage over time effect of 
Celestial Hammer makes it easy to stun Dawnbreaker if she attemps to engage or chase.
Nyx Assassin
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Broodmother will gain access to Spinner's Snare, which will allow her to create invisible lines on her webs from 
Spin Web that will root, deal damage over time, and reveal enemy heroes if they unwittingly step on them. This allows Broodmother to keep her allies alerted on heroes who rely on invisibility-themed and movement-themed abilities and items to surprise enemy heroes and disrupt ganking attempts of enemy heroes: Phantom Assassin, Nyx Assassin, Mirana, Bounty Hunter, Templar Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker, Anti-Mage, 
Tusk, Ursa, 
Nature's Prophet, Enigma, Void Spirit, Magnus etc.
Earthshaker
* Aftershock in combination with Enchant Totem prevents Broodmother from continuing to attack Earthshaker without being repeatedly stunned.
* Echo Slam is greatly amplified by Spiderlings, often instantly killing Broodmother, her swarm, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be nearby.
* Earthshaker's vast amount of stuns makes it difficult for Broodmother to continue attacking enemies (to continue lifestealing with Insatiable Hunger) without Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Echo Slam's damage potential increases phenomenally due to Broodmother's hordes of spiderlings and spiderites.
* Long ranged Fissures can hit Broodmother if she runs into the treeline at the edges of the map.
Earthshaker
* Windrun can be used to dodge Earthshaker's abilities if Windranger has a quick reaction time.
* Focus Fire and Windrun allows Windranger to kite Earthshaker.
* A Windranger with fast fingers can prevent Earthshaker from using Fissure with Shackleshot.
Nyx Assassin
* Many of Nyx Assassin's abilities are good against Windranger.
* Impale is great for stunning Windranger and allowing additional disables to be landed.
* Mind Flare is useful against Windranger's decent intelligence growth.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against Powershot.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to sneak up on and deal massive damage to Windranger without giving Windranger a chance to use Windrun to evade it.
* Nyx Assassin's item build allows him to easily deal with Windranger.
Earthshaker
* 
Shrapnel can be used to disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger from long range.
* 
Take Aim allows Sniper to harass Earthshaker in lane, and stay out of Echo Slam initiation radius.
Additional:
* Sniper is able to kite Earthshaker with his very long range.
* Sniper can dodge Earthshaker's stuns like Fissure and Enchant Totem with mobility items such as Blink Dagger, Force Staff/
Hurricane Pike and 
Shadow Blade/Silver Edge.
* Sharpnel can be used to cancel Earthshaker's Blink Dagger and preventing effective use of his Echo Slam in a majority of situations.
Nyx Assassin
* 
Assassinate is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for massive damage.
* Shrapnel's area damage can set up an easy stun with Spiked Carapace, especially when combined with Vendetta.
* In the early game, Sniper's low health pool and high intelligence makes him easy prey for Nyx Assassin.
Earthshaker
* Frequent healing from 
Death Pulse and 
Mekansm/
Guardian Greaves or 
Pipe of Insight makes it difficult for Earthshaker to execute his combo with Echo Slam.
* Necrophos usually buys Radiance to improve their burning aura damage from 
Heartstopper Aura will usually disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger prior to a teamfight, preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
* 
Reaper's Scythe allows to kill Earthshaker while he blinks in, preventing him from executing his combo (although Earthshaker is rarely a primary target).
Nyx Assassin
* The huge physical damage taken from Vendetta will force Necrophos to use Ghost Shroud, which is good for a followup with Dagon and 
Ethereal Blade, both of which are common items on Nyx Assassin.
* Using Ghost Shroud also sets Necrophos up for a Mind Flare or Impale.
Nyx Assassin
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
Earthshaker
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, Bane, Pugna, Pudge.
Earthshaker
* 
Phase Shift allows Puck to dodge all of Earthshaker's abilites.
* Waning Rift disables Earthshaker's stuns, leaving him and his team vulnerable.
* Dream Coil takes a stun from Earthshaker if he tries to escape from Blink Dagger or Enchant Totem upgraded from Aghanim's Scepter.
Nyx Assassin
* 
Illusory Orb is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace, either stunning Puck and setting up an easy Impale or forcing a premature Phase Shift.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that tends to build intelligence items, making it vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can easily set Puck up to be stunned by Impale.
* Puck's low base armor and below average agility gain mean it is always susceptible to Vendetta.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin can take advantage of every one of Puck's weaknesses. His entire skill set is very effective in countering Puck.
* Because Illusory Orb is such a slow moving projectile, Nyx Assassin can simply walk into the orb and activate Spiked Carapace, stunning Puck and setting up an easy Impale. This can be circumvented by using Phase Shift while the orb is traveling, however, that means that Puck cannot use Phase Shift to dodge any other skill nor use it to safely blink away from a fight.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that likes to build intelligence items such as Eul's Scepter of Divinity, 
Scythe of Vyse, and Dagon. This makes Mind Flare that much more deadly against Puck.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can turn into an easy setup for Impale.
Nyx Assassin
* Duel's long duration prevents Nyx Assassin escaping from Vendetta. With Aghanim's Scepter, she can also bypass Spiked Carapace.
Earthshaker
* Earthshaker's AoE stuns can save ally against 
Duel, forcing Legion Commander to spend Aghanim's Scepter or Black King Bar.
Earthshaker
* Supernova allows Phoenix to save himself (or an ally, with Aghanim's Scepter) through Echo Slam. Earthshaker will also have a difficult time destroying the supernova, due to his low base attack time and poor agility.
* Icarus Dive can pass through Earthshaker's Fissure.
* Most of Phoenix's abilities disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger for a good period of time due to the damage-over-time nature of its spells.
Nyx Assassin
* Spiked Carapace reacts on any of the damage over time from Phoenix's abilities and can interrupt 
Sun Ray and 
Icarus Dive.
Nyx Assassin
* Lycan's high health allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
* As Lycan commonly buys Black King Bar, he can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin and chase after him with 
Shapeshift.
* Lycan can also use his wolves from 
Summon Wolves to attack Nyx Assassin while he has Spiked Carapace active without getting stunned himself.
Earthshaker
* A well landed Fissure can potentially take Lycan out of the fight for several seconds, who heavily relies on precious seconds from Black king bar and Shapeshift to fight.
* Aftershock reduces the effectiveness of his summons and can prove quite irritating for Lycan.
* Echo Slam is very powerful with the sheer amount of Lycan's units and will cause him to think twice when pushing towers.
Earthshaker
* Outworld Destroyer's pure and magical damage is particularly effective against Earthshaker.
* 
Astral Imprisonment catches Earthshaker while he blinks in, preventing him from executing his combo.
* Earthshaker has mana troubles, and Outworld Destroyer's abilities can press this by stealing intelligence comes from 
Arcane Orb, therefore depleting his mana pool and mana regeneration.
* 
Sanity's Eclipse deals high damage to Earthshaker, due to his low intelligence and mana pool.
Nyx Assassin
* Outworld Destroyer's high intelligence gain and fragility makes him an easy target for a massive Mana Burn, as well as killing him outwards with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
* Astral Imprisonment can be easily exploited by Nyx Assassin with his abilities. As long as Astral Imprisonment was not cast on Nyx Assassin, it will make an opportunity for an easy stun, either by Spiked Carapace (if Outworld Destroyer hid his allies or your allies) or Impale (if he hid himself). If Astral Imprisonment was cast on Nyx Assassin, using Spiked Carapace while banished will proc the stun after the disable, since Spike Carapace has a 0 second cast time and Astral Imprisonment deals damage right after the disable ends.
* An ill-timed Sanity's Eclipse and/or well timed Spiked Carapace can deal a lot of damage to Outworld Destroyer and stun him, unless Outworld Destroyer used Black King Bar beforehand.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's high intelligence makes him a good target for Mind Flare.
* If timed correctly, Spiked Carapace will return the full damage from Sanity's Eclipse back to Outworld Destroyer. Even a reflected Arcane Orb can deal significant damage and make him vulnerable to a follow-up from Nyx Assassin.
* Spiked Carapace is also the perfect tool against Astral Imprisonment: if used on Nyx, he can reflect the damage back as he comes out of the prison by casting the ability while imprisoned.
Earthshaker
*
Rage prevents Earthshaker from damaging and stunning Lifestealer.
Feast is very effective against Earthshaker, because of him being a strength hero, allowing Lifestealer to heavily harass and kill him.
Open Wounds prevents Earthshaker from escaping after he initiated.
Infest gives Lifestealer an easy way to escape should he get caught out by Earthshaker. And against carry Earthshaker, 
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Infest can be used to disarm Earthshaker and attack him from within, rendering him unable to attack with 
Enchant Totem.
*
*
*
Nyx Assassin
*
Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter 
Rage with Spiked Carapace because 
Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
Open Wounds from 
Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin. 
Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with 
Open Wounds.
Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with 
Dust of Appearance or a 
Gem of True Sight. 
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. and Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
Blade Fury, 
Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if 
Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter 
Rage with 
Spiked Carapace because 
Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides 
Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
Open Wounds from 
Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin. 
Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with 
Open Wounds.
Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with 
Dust of Appearance or a 
Gem of True Sight. And similarly to Juggernaut's 
Omnislash and 
Swiftslash from 
Aghanim's Scepter, 
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. And Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with 
Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
*
*
* Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.
Additional:
* Like with Juggernaut's
*
*
* Like with Juggernaut, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.