* 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.
* Multicast Fireblasts over the course of fights are a decent nuisance to stall Sven's massive damage output.
* Bloodlust and Ignite gives Ogre Magi's team the movement speed difference needed to chase and/or disengage against a Sven and his
Warcry.
* Ignite provides strong damage over time to pressure Sven early on in the laning phase and keep his health low, delaying his transition into the jungle. Ignite is also an easy way to disrupt
Blink Dagger, Sven's most popular way of initiation.
* Ogre Magi's presence in the laning phase both in terms of damage and durability keeps high pressure on Sven in lane.
* Purchasing an
Aghanim's Shard allows Ogre Magi to greatly reduce the burst damage of Sven, who tends to build items focused on damage per hit instead of attack speed.
* 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.
* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as
Templar Assassin,
Morphling and
Huskar.
* 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).
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
Additional:
* His Heartstopper Aura deals the same gradual damage over time no matter how high Sven builds his strength or health pool up, and should he fall down to a certain percentage, his high health will no longer matter if Necrophos manages to land his Reaper's Scythe, killing him instantly. But it is best if Necrophos can either catch him off guard before he can possibly use his
Black King Bar (which is an item Sven players commonly purchase), or bait him out of it.
* Ghost Shroud prevents Sven from hitting Necrophos, and if he doesn't have his
Storm Hammer available, it could make him completely immune to Sven and allow Necrophos to easily kite him around.
* 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.
* Tanky melee heroes that can easily be kited, which allows Outworld Destroyer to deal heavy damage with Arcane Orb from a distance:
Sven,
Underlord,
Bristleback.
*
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.
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like
Sven,
Lifestealer,
Ursa and
Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
*
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.
* Heroes that rely on right-clicks will find themselves unable to damage opponents seriously after being affected by Static Link, like
Sven,
Bloodseeker, and
Juggernaut.
Additional:
*
Static Link saps Sven's insane attack damage, and goes through
Black King Bar.
* 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.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
* 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.
*
Cloak and Dagger makes Sven unable to detect where Riki is until he shows or his team provides detection.
*
Smoke Screen will make Sven miss attacks before he has his
Black King Bar.
*
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.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper:
Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
*
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.
Additional:
* Battery Assault will continuously interrupt Earthshaker's long cast animations.
* Power Cogs can also trap Earthshaker after he initiates.
* Heroes who can stun Sven even with an activated
Black King Bar can be an issue:
Clockwerk,
Beastmaster.
*
Invoker's
E.M.P. is extremely effective against Earthshaker due to his low natural mana.
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by E.M.P.:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Omniknight
*
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.
*
Berserker's Call prevents Sven from bursting his targets before Axe can interfere. The worst kind of opponent for Sven is one who can stop him from attacking who he wants to, which is exactly what Axe does.
*
Culling Blade may finish off Sven before he has the chance to lifesteal or run with Warcry.
* Axe is a very common
Blade Mail carrier which will make very short work of a Sven with God's Strength activated.
*
Whirling Axes (Melee)'s blind makes Sven nearly useless in the early game and allows Troll Warlord to take him on comfortably.
*
Battle Trance will mean Sven will never take Troll out in a 1vs1 with equal farm.
Additional:
* Berserker's Rage together with Troll Warlord's high attack speed gives Troll a high chance of rooting enemies, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Sven.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, and the passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll resilient to physical damage in early game. Sven's
God's Strength is much less effective as a result.
* Beware that Sven can farm much faster than Troll Warlord by stacking ancients and clearing them with
Great Cleave.
*
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.
*
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.
* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his
Black King Bar.
* 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.
*
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.
*
Cold Embrace saves any ally Sven initiates on and wastes the duration of God's Strength in team fights.
*
Winter's Curse can be devastating to Sven's team, as his massive damage can take out a teammate before there is much time to react.
* 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.
*
Mana Shield makes it very hard for Sven to burst her within Storm Hammer's stun duration.
*
Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Sven to fight Medusa at any stage of the game.
*
Mystic Snake can slow Sven down enough for allies to capitalize on his commitment in a fight.
Additional:
* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.
* 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.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
* Sven with
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Storm Hammer can easily chase down Windranger and dispel her Windrun at the same time.
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells:
Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate:
Clinkz,
Slark,
Storm Spirit
* Fate's Edict cripples many heroes who rely on attacks, such as
Phantom Assassin,
Sven, or
Enchantress, without a dispel or a
Black King Bar.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
*
Keeper of the Light's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.
* Heroes that can prevent Sven from farming are very strong against him. Such as
Riki and
Bounty Hunter with their respective invisibility.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like
Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as
Lion or
Sven.
*
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.
* Special mention to
Sven as he may not be able to get close, but if he does,
God's Strength will make very short work of Sniper.
* Past the early game, Sniper is an easy target for Sven to jump on with
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Storm Hammer,
Blink Dagger,
Silver Edge or
Harpoon, common items on Sven.
* Sven's high armor and health pool makes it difficult for Sniper to focus, as his main source of damage is his right click, especially if Sven uses
Warcry.
* Sniper is very squishy, and will not stand a chance against Sven head on.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
*
Silencer's
Global Silence and
Doom's
Doom makes Earthshaker temporarily useless.
* Heroes who can fight back easily are not ideal matchups for Sven, such as
Troll Warlord as mentioned above,
Lone Druid and
Templar Assassin.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as
Templar Assassin,
Morphling and
Huskar.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* 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.
*
Thundergod's Wrath will often disable Earthshaker's
Blink Dagger before a fight starts.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
* 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
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance:
Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal but needs to be careful of Sven's
Aghanim's Scepter purge.
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
*
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.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as
Anti-Mage,
Spectre and
Shadow Fiend.
* Sven can be easily kited since Weaver is a natural
Linken's Sphere carrier and Sven relies on
Storm Hammer to disable and kill a hero.
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like
Slark in his
Shadow Dance and
Weaver in his
Shukuchi.
* 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.
*
Storm Hammer interrupts Echo Stomp.
* 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.
*
Great Cleave will kill Lycan's summons very rapidly.
*
Warcry will allow Sven and his allies to tank Lycan's damage, which is mainly physical.
*
Storm Hammer will damage and stun Lycan's as well as his summons.
* 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.
*
Great Cleave and
God's Strength destroys illusions in just a few hits.
*
Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer when he's grouped up with illusions.
* Sven's low mana causes him to take less damage from
Diffusal Blade. This is further reduced by the armor bonus from
Warcry.
Additional:
* Great Cleave and God's Strength cuts through Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
*
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.
*
Great Cleave can quickly destroy Chen's creeps in team fights, before they have a chance to do much.
Additional:
*
Storm Hammer locks down Chen and his converted creeps.
*
Great Cleave and
God's Strength can destroy Chen and his creeps quickly.
*
Warcry minimizes damage taken from creeps's attacks.
* Echo Slam's damage potential increases due to Chaos Knight's
Phantasm illusions.
Additional:
*
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
*
Great Cleave is very effective against Chaos Knight's illusions.
*
Storm Hammer's radius can catch all of Chaos Knight's illusions at once, especially after
Reality Rift.
*
Warcry shields Sven and his teammates against Chaos Knight's physical damage output.
Additional:
*
Storm Hammer's faster projectile speed and cast time allows Sven to stun Chaos Knight and his illusions before he can cast Chaos Bolt.
*
Warcry's armor bonus counteracts Reality Rift's debuff and reduces Chaos Knight's damage output.
*
Great Cleave and
God's Strength devastates Phantasm illusions.
* 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.
* Great Cleave will devastate Meepo's clones. Against a closely packed group, Sven does not even need to target the clone with the lowest health.
Additional:
*
Great Cleave and
God's Strength can take down Meepo and his clones very quickly.
* The lack of spell immunity for Meepo's clones makes them vulnerable to
Storm Hammer.
* 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.
Additional:
*
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.
*
Great Cleave can clear Spiderlings very quickly, and give Sven lot of gold.
*
Warcry shields Sven and his allies against Broodmother and her Spiderlings.
Additional:
*
Great Cleave cleans up Spiderlings quicker than most spells, as it ignores their magic resistance.
* Sven is a natural
Black King Bar carrier, protecting him from Silken Bola, Spawn Spiderlings and
Orchid Malevolence.
*
Warcry and
God's Strength allow Sven to easily out-damage Broodmother.
* Earthshaker's AoE stuns can save ally against
Duel, forcing Legion Commander to spend
Aghanim's Scepter or
Black King Bar.
* Strong laners are usually at a disadvantage because of how well Sven can jungle. Heroes such as
Dark Seer.
Underlord and
Legion Commander may find that later Sven takes care of them very quickly after some jungle farming.
Additional:
*
God's Strength makes Sven one of the worst heroes to Duel.
*
Storm Hammer can be used to interrupt Duels.
*
Warcry gives a big boost in passive defensive ability with the active component to nearby allies.
* With the Aghanim Shard Warcry also gives nearby allies passive increases.
*
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.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* 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.
*
Great Cleave with
God's Strength clears Terrorblade's illusions quickly.
*
Storm Hammer's AoE stuns Terrorblade and his illusions.
*
Warcry gives Sven and his allies armor to withstand Terrorblade's only-physical damage output.
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
* Generally heroes who don't rely on magical damage, such as
Sven,
Phantom Assassin, and
Outworld Destroyer, as they can practically ignore Flesh Heap's damage block.
* 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.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities:
Sven,
Alchemist,
Lifestealer etc.
* 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.
* Heroes with cleave damage:
Sven,
Magnus,
Kunkka.
*
Echo Slam is good against Snowball since it bunches everyone up. This can set up some prime opportunities for Blink Echo Slams.
* Fissure interrupts Spirit Breaker during
Charge of Darkness.
*
Avalanche and
Toss will never be enough damage to take out Sven in a clean way.
* Tiny is very slow with low armour growth and does not buy items to sustain Sven's damage output.
* 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.
*
Storm Hammer stunned can stops Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as
Sven and
Dragon Knight.
Additional:
*
Warcry allows Sven to tank the damage from
Omnislash due to its high armor gain.
* However
Blade Fury provides spell immunity which blocks the stun from
Storm Hammer.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as
Anti-Mage,
Spectre and
Shadow Fiend.
*
Sven's
Great Cleave can clear Anti-Mage's illusions from Manta Style and his high health pool and low mana, making Mana Void very ineffective, although keep in mind that
Storm Hammer is extremely easy to reflect with a well-timed Counterspell.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage is fairly fragile, and cannot stand against Sven in a prolonged fight.
* Sven's
Black King Bar and low base mana can protect Sven from the effects of
Mana Break and
Mana Void.
*
Great Cleave destroys the illusions from Anti-Mage's
Manta Style.
* Although Sven should be careful as a well-timed
Counterspell can block and reflect
Storm Hammer back at Sven.
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Ogre Magi.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing towers will often struggle from a small map very early, such as
Phantom Assassin,
Storm Spirit and
Phantom Lancer.
* 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.
* 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.
* Strong laners are usually at a disadvantage because of how well Sven can jungle. Heroes such as
Dark Seer.
Underlord and
Legion Commander may find that later Sven takes care of them very quickly after some jungle farming.
* Heroes who struggle to fight back against Sven at any point in the game are at a severe disadvantage:
Alchemist,
Anti-Mage,
Crystal Maiden.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
Additional:
* Sven has a high health pool and is a natural
Black King Bar holder and is very hard to kill for Lina.
* Sven also has high physical damage, making it easy for him to burst her down.
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
* Strong laners are usually at a disadvantage because of how well Sven can jungle. Heroes such as
Dark Seer.
Underlord and
Legion Commander may find that later Sven takes care of them very quickly after some jungle farming.
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate:
Clinkz,
Slark,
Storm Spirit
* 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.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief:
Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
*
Warlock often stays back and counter-initiates by dropping his
Chaotic Offering on Earthshaker and his allies.
* With God's Strength, Warlock's Golem from
Chaotic Offering will go down in a matter of seconds. The two weaker golems granted by
Aghanim's Scepter will fare worse due to
Great Cleave hitting both.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Storm Hammer
Aghanim's Scepter can dispel
Shadow Word.
Additional:
*
God's Strength combined with
Great Cleave destroys Chaotic Offering golems within seconds.
*
Warcry gives Sven and his allies armor to help against Warlock's Golem's heavy physical damage and movement speed to help escape Upheaval.
*
Storm Hammer disrupts Upheaval.
* Heroes who can stun Sven even with an activated
Black King Bar can be an issue:
Clockwerk,
Beastmaster.
Additional:
* Primal Roar takes Sven out of the fight completely, even with
Black King Bar.
* Having many summons out will cause
Echo Slam to deal extra damage.
*
Silencer's
Global Silence and
Doom's
Doom makes Earthshaker temporarily useless.
*
Doom generally does not impede Sven in almost any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
*
Warcry can protect Sven and his teammates from
Swashbuckle.
* With
Black King Bar, Sven will be able to protect himself from most of Pangolier's skills.
* 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.
*
Warcry makes it difficult to burst Sven down with both the passive (with
Aghanim's Shard) and active component.
* Sven under the effect of
God's Strength and his massive physical damage make Sven very dangerous to engage in the mid game.
* Undying can use Decay not only to reduce Sven's maximum health, but also to reduce the damage he can deal with his ultimate.
* Zombies spawned by Tombstone together with Flesh Golem slow Sven down significantly. Landing Sven's powerful but somewhat slow right-click on Tombstone would be a waste.
* Zombies summoned from Tombstone will amplify the damage of
Echo Slam due to them increasing the echo damage.
* Muerta's attacks during
Pierce the Veil ignore Sven's
Warcry.
* Sven using
God's Strength can be completely ignored by using
Pierce the Veil.
* Sven with
Aghanim's Scepter will still not be able to dispel Muerta's Ethereal form during
Pierce the Veil.
* However, Sven is a natural purchaser of
Black King Bar that can protect him from Pierce the Veil and the rest of Muerta's kit.
* Earthshaker's
Aftershock combos and
Fissure can stun Muerta consecutively and minimize
Pierce the Veil's effective duration.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity:
Sven,
Omniknight,
Enigma,
Luna,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Rubick,
Keeper of the Light,
Pugna,
Invoker,
Spectre,
Alchemist,
Treant Protector,
Lina,
Oracle,
Zeus,
Shadow Shaman,
Phoenix,
Razor,
Huskar,
Batrider,
Kunkka,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Sand King,
Medusa,
Dawnbreaker.
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like
Lifestealer or
Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up
Black King Bar, like
Sven.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
*
Purification can heal allies while dealing pure damage to Sven.
*
Heavenly Grace can remove Storm Hammer's debuff immediately or make it a very mediocre stun.
*
Guardian Angel negates Sven's massive damage during God's Strength.
* It should also be noted Sven can remove Omniknight's active spells with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Although Sven relies often on physical damage, an
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Storm Hammer can dispel Guardian Angel with its wide radius.
* 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.
*
God's Strength allows Sven to take down Death Prophet quickly, reducing the damage dealt over time from
Exorcism.
*
Warcry's bonus armor and movement speed is very useful for Sven and his teammates against
Exorcism, which deals physical damage.
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate:
Clinkz,
Slark,
Storm Spirit
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing towers will often struggle from a small map very early, such as
Phantom Assassin,
Storm Spirit and
Phantom Lancer.
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.
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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.
*
Sven
* Sven has no easy way to burn
Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.