*
Borrowed Time can give Abaddon a second chance after a Black Hole combo.
*
Aphotic Shield can be used to save allies or Abaddon himself from Malefice.
* Abaddon can easily heal himself as well as his allies during a team fight, especially with
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Borrowed Time.
* Abaddon could punish Chaos Knight for using his Phantasm and Reality Rift combo on him with
Aphotic Shield. Additionally, it provides extra protection against Chaos Knight's potential to take Abaddon down quickly.
* Furthermore, Abaddon's
Borrowed Time makes it utterly impossible to burst Abaddon down, effectively reducing the amount of targets Chaos Knight can threaten by 1 for the entire game.
*
Winter's Curse, when directly targeted on Enigma, goes through
Black King Bar, stopping Enigma's Black Hole channeling. It also turns his team against him, potentially killing him. Even if Enigma gets
Linken's Sphere on top of
Black King Bar,
Splinter Blast can be used to pop
Linken's Sphere, and
Winter's Curse will stop Black Hole channeling.
*
Splinter Blast can be targeted on an eidolon, killing off other eidolons and damaging nearby heroes as well.
*
Cold Embrace protects targets affected by Reality Rift.
*
Winter's Curse turns Phantasm illusions against Chaos Knight or a teammate.
*
Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Phantasm illusions.
*
Arctic Burn's percentage-based damage quickly wears down Chaos Knight's high max health.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern can make Chaos Knight's illusions attack the real one, provided the player knows who it is.
* Alternatively, Winter's Curse can make Chaos Knight and all his illusions attack one of his allies.
* Cold Embrace protects ally who is focused by Chaos Knight.
* Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Chaos Knight's illusions.
* Chaos Knight's high health pool and tendency to not build magic resistance items will make Arctic Burn deal a lot of damage to him and his illusions.
* Most of the of Jakiro's damage-over-time abilities put
Blink Dagger on cooldown, potentially forcing Enigma to prematurely activate
Black King Bar.
* Jakiro's
Dual Breath,
Liquid Fire,
Macropyre and
Liquid Frost from
Aghanim's Shard can take out Enigma's Eidolons, reduce Enigma's attack speed and put Enigma's
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Jakiro can easily cancel
Black Hole with
Ice Path as Enigma is a very easy target while channeling it.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Macropyre can deal pure damage-over-time and pierce spell immunity, which can discourage Enigma from even trying to initiate with
Black Hole.
Additional:
* Most of the of Jakiro's damage-over-time abilities put Enigma's Blink Dagger on cooldown, potentially forcing him to prematurely activate
Black King Bar.
* Jakiro's
Dual Breath,
Liquid Fire,
Macropyre and
Liquid Frost from
Aghanim's Shard can take out Enigma's Eidolons, reduce Enigma's attack speed and put Enigma's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Jakiro can easily cancel
Black Hole with
Ice Path as Enigma is a very easy target while channeling it.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Macropyre can deal pure damage-over-time and pierce spell immunity, which can discourage Enigma from even trying to initiate with
Black Hole.
* With his AoE damage, Jakiro can easily kill Chaos Knight's
Phantasm illusions.
* Chaos Knight usually doesn't buy a
Black King Bar, making him vulnerable to an Ice Path into Macropyre combination.
Additional:
* With his AoE damage, Jakiro can easily kill Chaos Knight's
Phantasm illusions.
* Chaos Knight usually doesn't buy a
Black King Bar, making him vulnerable to an Ice Path into Macropyre combination.
* Enigma's Midnight Pulse damage can be substantially mitigated by Anti-Mage's high magic resistance thanks to
Counterspell.
* In the early game, Anti-Mage's
Mana Void can cancel a
Black Hole until Enigma gets
Black King Bar.
* Should Anti-Mage survive a Black Hole combo, Enigma will have exhausted most of his skills and items, preventing him from defending himself against any counter initiation or a follow-up from a blink escape.
* Anti-Mage's
Blink will make him a very hard target to use
Black Hole on, having to solo ult him later on in the game or leave him out of the
Black Hole.
* Anti-Mage commonly builds
Battle Fury, which can deal with Phantasm illusions easily.
*
Counterspell, if timed right, will turn Chaos Bolt against Chaos Knight, and can set up for a kill if he is not careful.
* Even if Counterspell is on cooldown,
Blink can almost always dodge a Chaos Bolt because of its slow projectile.
*
Mana Break will quickly drain Chaos Knight's low amount mana.
* However, beware Anti-Mage is fairly fragile and cannot withstand heavy incoming physical damage at any points in the game, which Chaos Knight excels at. A good player will bait out
Counterspell, and retaliate once it's over.
* 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.
* 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
* Heroes who produce many summons will have a hard time against Storm's Dispel Magic during teamfight:
Broodmother,
Enigma,
Nature's Prophet.
* Storm's Dispel Magic combined with Thunder Clap deals high damage against Chaos Knight's illusions even in the late game.
* Chaos Knight's reliance on physical damage is easily hindered by Drunken Brawler.
* Chaos Knight's lack of area effect and mobility makes him easily overwhelmed by Primal Split.
Additional:
*
Dispel Magic from {U:Storm} can instantly kill Phantasms early on, and can still deal a lot of damage to them late game, revealing the real Chaos Knight.
* Most summons and illusions can barely hurt Tidehunter at all, after their attacks get reduced by Anchor Smash and blocked by Kraken Shell:
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma
* Also Ravage's large area of effect and damage can easily damage all those units at once, or just straight up clear them.
Additional:
* Tidehunter's
Anchor Smash will cripple all of Enigma's Eidolons, and at a higher level, Tidehunter will be capable to instantly kill the whole group of them for a boost of gold.
*
Kraken Shell negates Eidolons's damage and Enigma's auto attacks, making laning against Tidehunter nearly impossible for Enigma.
*
Ravage has an insane radius, and considering that Enigma is prone to waiting around for a
Blink Dagger and
Black King Bar combo,
Ravage's stun may catch Enigma off guard and put
Blink Dagger on cooldown, limiting him a crucial teamfight time.
*
Ravage damages and disables Chaos Knight and his illusions.
*
Anchor Smash deals respectable area damage, especially to Phantasms and lowers Chaos Knight's damage output.
*
Kraken Shell dispels Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift while providing protection from damage.
*
Astral Imprisonment can save allies from a Black Hole combo. When upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter and
Aghanim's Shard, it becomes exceedingly difficult for Enigma to land a good
Black Hole against Outworld Destroyer and his team.
*
Astral Imprisonment can also cancel
Black Hole while Enigma does not have
Black King Bar.
*
Arcane Orb and
Sanity's Eclipse can often make a short work out of Enigma and his Eidolons.
* Most Illusion based heroes (like
Chaos Knight and
Terrorblade) can't use their illusion beneficially against Sanity's Eclipse's high AoE burst damage.
* Broodmother can kill Enigma's Eidolons with
Spawn Spiderlings, and spawn her spiderlings in their place. And Enigma can't use
Demonic Summoning to instantly kill spiderlings at once.
* Without the protection from
Black King Bar, Broodmother can cancel Enigma's
Black Hole with
Bloodthorn and make him more vulnerable to damage. Broodmother can also buy
Abyssal Blade to cancel Enigma's
Black Hole even through
Black King Bar.
*
Silken Bola causes Enigma's attacks to miss a lot and renders him more vulnerable to magical damage. And if Broodmother takes 400 AoE
Silken Bola, then she will be able to use to cause Enigma's Eidolons to miss their attacks as well. In addition, Enigma does not like to buy items to provide him true strike such as
Bloodthorn,
Monkey King Bar,
Witch Blade and it's upgrade
Revenant's Brooch.
* If Broodmother is lucky enough to survive being trapped in
Black Hole, she will be able to recover her lost health with
Insatiable Hunger.
*
Aghanim's Scepter gives Broodmother access to
Spinner's Snare, which allows her to create invisible lines on her webs from
Spin Web that will root Enigma, deal damage over time to Enigma and reveal Enigma if he unwittingly steps on them, disrupting his attempts to initiate with
Black Hole, prevent him from using
Blink Dagger, while also alerting Broodmother on his attempts to ambush her and her allies.
Additional:
* Broodmother can kill Enigma's Eidolons with
Spawn Spiderlings, and spawn her spiderlings in their place. But remember that Enigma can do the same to Broodmother's spiderlings with
Demonic Conversion and
Midnight Pulse.
* Without the protection from
Black King Bar, Broodmother can cancel Enigma's
Black Hole with
Bloodthorn and make him more vulnerable to damage. Broodmother can also buy
Abyssal Blade to cancel Enigma's
Black Hole even through
Black King Bar.
*
Silken Bola causes Enigma's attacks to miss a lot and renders him more vulnerable to magical damage. And if Broodmother takes 400 AoE
Silken Bola, then she will be able to use to cause Enigma's Eidolons to miss their attacks as well. In addition, Enigma does not like to buy items to provide him true strike such as
Bloodthorn,
Monkey King Bar,
Witch Blade and it's upgrade
Revenant's Brooch.
* If Broodmother is lucky enough to survive being trapped in
Black Hole, she will be able to recover her lost health with
Insatiable Hunger.
*
Aghanim's Scepter gives Broodmother access to
Spinner's Snare, which allows her to create invisible lines on her webs from
Spin Web that will root Enigma, deal damage over time to Enigma and reveal Enigma if he unwittingly steps on them, disrupting his attempts to initiate with
Black Hole, prevent him from using
Blink Dagger, while also alerting Broodmother on his attempts to ambush her and her allies.
* Illusion-based and multi-unit heroes can take advantage of Chaos Knight's lack of area damage:
Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Broodmother
* Heroes that rely on summons will suffer against Ion Shell, which kills them very quickly:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Enigma,
Nature's Prophet,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes that rely on illusions typically spawn very strong illusions inside Dark Seer Wall of Replica that he can use against them or their team:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade.
* Heroes with powerful channeling abilities are easily interrupted by Phantom's Embrace:
Bane,
Pudge,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma.
* Heroes who are reliant on illusions or summons:
Chaos Knight,
Broodmother,
Naga Siren.
* Despite Clinkz's fragility, his harassment in the early game can be devastating; as he can kite Enigma and his Eidolons and claim their bounty with
Burning Barrage and
Tar Bomb.
* Clinkz often goes for a disabling item like
Bloodthorn or
Gleipnir, which allows him to cancel Enigma's
Black Hole until Enigma gets
Black King Bar.
Gleipnir can also root Enigma, preventing him from using
Blink Dagger to escape from Clinkz.
* Even with
Black King Bar, Clinkz can still easily kill Enigma as all of his abilities ingore spell immunity, and Enigma is a very easy target for
Burning Barrage, which means Clinkz can solo Enigma at any stage of the game unless Clinkz is caught in
Black Hole.
*
Dragon Blood's armor bonus greatly reduces the damage dealt by Phantasm.
*
Breathe Fire and
Elder Dragon Form's splash damage quickly destroy illusions and reduces their damage output.
*
Black Hole is a channeling ability and Earth Spirit has at least two possibilities which can interrupt these kind of spells. Enigma is exposed and cannot move while using Black Hole, thus making it easy for Earth Spirit to stop the feared ability with the huge range of Rolling Boulder and forcing Enigma to quickly rush a
Black King Bar to prevent this.
* Enigma is level dependant, squishy and relativly defenseless in the early game and therefore vulnerable to aggressive roam maneuvers in this stage of the game. Earth Spirit excels at ganking, shutting down a jungling or otherwise solo farming Enigma.
*
Untouchable makes all of Chaos Knight's attacks slow therefore he is unable to deal damage, especially his critical damage of
Chaos Strike, also enables Enchantress to escape easily from his attacks.
* However,
Reality Rift can still pose a danger to Enchantress because Chaos Knight can decrease a good amount of armor, making it dangerous because of her little armor stat, as he can burst down Enchantress easily if any of Chaos Knight's allies can apply a break on Enchantress.
Additional:
*
Untouchable will significantly slow down Chaos Knight's physical damage with Phantasm.
*
Impetus deals double damage to illusions, making it effective against Phantasm.
* Flak Cannon destroys Chaos Knight's illusions very quickly.
* Tidebringer, Torrent and Ghostship destroys Chaos Knight's
Phantasm army all through the game.
* Chain Frost can eliminate Chaos Knight's
Phantasm army, especially after he clumped up using
Reality Rift.
* Frost Shield will heavily reduce his army's effectiveness.
Additional:
* Lich's
Chain Frost, especially after obtaining its respective talent that provides unlimited bounces, can take out all of Chaos Knight's illusions quickly.
* An
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Sinister Gaze can hypnotize Chaos Knight and his illusions while also draining his already low mana pool.
* Without
Black King Bar, Luna will be able to cancel Enigma's
Black Hole from safe distance with her
Lucent Beam or with 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent for
Eclipse and counter-initiate with
Eclipse. This can get even worse for Enigma once Luna gets
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent that will allow Luna to use
Eclipse from safe distance.
* If Luna chooses to use
Eclipse in anticipation right after Enigma jumps in with
Blink Dagger, she will be able to kill Enigma before he even gets a chance to use
Black Hole.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse can be used to counter-initiate against Enigma from safe distance if he has no
Black King Bar available to use.
* Luna commonly buys
Satanic, which can help her recover from Enigma's
Black Hole in case she survives it.
*
Moon Glaives combined with
Lunar Blessing can make a short work of Enigma's Eidolons before Luna uses
Eclipse.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Moon Glaives can be used to reduce damage Luna will take from Enigma's Eidolons and
Black Hole if used in anticipation while also clearing waves of Enigma's Eidolons and damaging Enigma if he is too close to Luna.
* Bear in mind, however, that once Enigma gets
Black King Bar, Luna will be out of solutions to cancel
Black Hole, and going for
Abyssal Blade on Luna can be risky due to
Abyssal Blade's very short cast range.
Additional:
* Without
Black King Bar, Luna will be able to cancel Enigma's
Black Hole from safe distance with her
Lucent Beam or with 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent and counter-initiate with
Eclipse. This can get even worse for Enigma once Luna gets
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent that will allow Luna to use
Eclipse from safe distance.
* If Luna chooses to use
Eclipse in anticipation right after Enigma jumps in with
Blink Dagger, she will be able to kill Enigma before he even gets a chance to use
Black Hole.
* Luna commonly buys
Satanic, which can help her recover from Enigma's
Black Hole in case she survives it.
*
Moon Glaives combined with
Lunar Blessing can make a short work of Enigma's Eidolons before Luna uses
Eclipse.
* Bear in mind, however, that once Enigma gets
Black King Bar, Luna will be out of solutions to cancel
Black Hole, and going for
Abyssal Blade on Luna can be risky due to
Abyssal Blade's very short cast range.
* Illusions and summons are double-edge sword type of matchup for Luna. On one hand, they can tank damage from Eclipse, but on the other hand, she can easily clear them before Eclipse with Moon Glaives. Examples include
Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress,
Meepo and
Arc Warden).
* Heroes that create illusions:
Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress,
Meepo and
Arc Warden) can cause Eclipse to strike the illusions/summons unintentionally. However, in many cases Moon Glaives can resolve this issue and eliminate them before activating Eclipse, but that will require lots of farming for right-click items.
* Long ranged disables, especially those that pierce spell immunity, cancel Black Hole:
Beastmaster's
Primal Roar,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Faceless Void's
Chronosphere,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Pudge's
Meat Hook.
* Using Reality Rift sets up a
Reverse Polarity on Chaos Knight and his illusions.
*
Shockwave and
Skewer kill Phantasm's illusions quickly, as can
Empower cast on a melee carry.
Additional:
* All Magnus abilities are very good against Chaos Knight's
Phantasm illusions.
* 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.
* Medusa's
Split Shot can make quick work of Enigma's Eidolons and take advantage of their considerable bounty.
* Medusa can also kill Eidolons with her
Mystic Snake that can also greatly damage Enigma and drain some of his mana.
* If Medusa activates
Stone Gaze at the start of a fight, it can make initiating and landing an effective
Black Hole exceedingly difficult, because
Stone Gaze can cancel Enigma's
Black Hole even through spell immunity, which can discourage Enigma from even trying to initiate with
Black Hole.
Additional:
* Medusa's
Split Shot can make quick work of Enigma's Eidolons and take advantage of their considerable bounty.
* If Medusa activates
Stone Gaze at the start of a fight, it can make initiating — and landing an effective
Black Hole exceedingly difficult.
Stone Gaze can cancel Enigma's
Black Hole even through spell immunity, which can discourage Enigma from initiating with
Black Hole.
* Chaos Knight's single target abilities are difficult to target against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Chaos Knight's lack of mobility makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer to
Phantom Rush and drain his already low mana pool.
Additional:
*
Juxtapose allows Phantom Lancer to overwhelm Chaos Knight due to his single-target abilities.
* Phantom Lancer often builds a
Manta Style, which can be used to disjoint Chaos Bolt or dispel Reality Rift.
*
Doppelganger can be used to dodge Chaos Bolt.
*
Diffusal Blade, another common item on Phantom Lancer, can quickly drain Chaos Knight's low mana pool, leaving him unable to cast spells.
* Mass summoning heroes:
Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet and
Enigma all have summons Puck can clear with Illusory Orb and Waning Rift instantly, due to their summons having low health.
* Puck's area of effect nukes in the form of
Illusory Orb and
Waning Rift clears Phantasm illusions from the early game to mid game.
*
Phase Shift can be used to disjoint Chaos Bolt.
* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heroes like;
Spirit Breaker,
Legion Commander,
Axe,
Puck, and
Slardar.
*
Telekinesis has a longer range than the AoE of
Black Hole for the purposes of cancelling it.
* All of Enigma's spells are useful to
Spell Steal.
*
Malefice is useful for interrupting channeling spells or long cast animations. Its stun duration is also amplified thanks to Spell Steal's debuff amplification.
*
Demonic Conversion can be used to push or counter-push a lane.
*
Midnight Pulse is useful to block an area or for team fights.
*
Black Hole is very easy to steal, as it is a channeled ability. It's also one of the best ultimate abilities for team fights, and it can easily turn the fight around for the enemy team. It also does more damage and has a larger cast range thanks to
Arcane Supremacy. A stolen
Black Hole can also cancel Enigma's
Black Hole.
Additional:
*
Enigma's signature
Black Hole can be devastating if being stolen and dropped on multiple heroes.
*
Black Hole requires channeling. Since Enigma has no other ability to replace his last casted spell during channeling, Rubick can steal
Black Hole relatively easily if he stays back.
* Rubick can interrupt
Black Hole from Enigma, even with an activated
Black King Bar, by casting the spell with Enigma in range with regards to the extra cast range granted by
Arcane Supremacy.
*
Black Hole can be interrupted by
Telekinesis in the early game, giving enough time window to steal the spell.
* Bear in mind that an experienced Enigma will purchase
Black King Bar and
Linken's Sphere at the same time to prevent Rubick from stealing the spell, yet the extra
Linken's Sphere will delay Enigma's power spike, so use it to Rubick's advantage.
* It is advised to build items around
Black Hole as Rubick.
Aghanim's Shard,
Black King Bar ,
Aghanim's Scepter and even
Refresher Orb are all legitimate item choices.
*
Malefice is a decent source of damage and stun that helps with ganking. If stolen, it can be used to interrupt
Black Hole as well.
*
Demonic Conversion helpes with pushing and farming for Rubick.
*
Fade Bolt effectively negates damage from Eidolons and helps with counter-pushing.
*
Midnight Pulse is a solid skill for farming and teamfight damage, which is further amplified by
Arcane Supremacy and talents.
* Unexpected enemy may take the effect of
Midnight Pulse as that of Enigma's and soak up damage while unrealized.
*
Arcane Curse can be cast from a long range to put Enigma's
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
*
Global Silence can interrupt Enigma's Black Hole channeling through
Black King Bar and
Linken's Sphere, making Silencer one of Enigma's hard counters. But bear in mind that
Global Silence can be dispelled with
Black King Bar if activated first.
Additional:
* Silencer can easily ruin Enigma's initiation, as Global Silence cancels
Black Hole, even through
Black King Bar and
Linken's Sphere.
*
Haunt can ruin Enigma's initiation with
Blink Dagger, no matter where he is on the map.
* Spectre often buys
Radiance, which allows her to deal damage over time to Enigma and put
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
*
Dispersion reflects the damage of
Midnight Pulse and
Black Hole inflicted back to Enigma. This can get even worse for Enigma if Spectre buys
Blade Mail.
* All of Spectre's abilities ignore spell immunity, which means that even with
Black King Bar, Enigma has absolutely little to no chance against Spectre at any stage of the game.
* An isolated Enigma in the early game can be easily killed by Storm Spirit thanks his higher mobility and dueling potential. However, Storm Spirit can be killed when caught by Enigma's full combo, especially if Enigma has
Black King Bar.
* Storm can kill all of Enigma's Eidolons relatively quickly without much risk, slowing down Enigma's farming speed, preventing him from split pushing, and giving Storm its considerable bounty, especially if Enigma chooses the Level 25 Talent that gives him more Eidelons.
* Storm can zip through
Black Hole stunning Enigma while he's channelling until Enigma buys
Black King Bar.
*
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.
* Strong area damage, particularly from
Whirling Death and
Chakram, lets Timbersaw clear out illusions quickly.
*
Whirling Death directly reduces Strength from both Chaos Knight and his Phantasm illusions, reducing both the damage output and raw health that the hero relies on.
*
Reactive Armor quickly builds stacks against Phantasm illusions, making Timbersaw harder to kill.
Additional:
*
Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw to endure the damage from
Chaos Bolt and
Reality Rift combo.
* Timbersaw's large amount of pure damage AoE nukes clears Chaos Knight's illusions quickly, drastically reducing his damage.
*
Walrus PUNCH! can interrupt
Black Hole and it can pierce spell immunity and neither
Black King Bar nor
Linken's Sphere can protect Enigma from
Walrus PUNCH! as
Walrus PUNCH! is an auto-cast ability.
* In pretty much any phase of the game, Tusk's abilities can easily cancel
Black Hole and disrupt Enigma's positioning.
*
Maledict cannot be dispelled by Phantasm, and can be used to tag the real Chaos Knight hiding within his illusions.
* If Witch Doctor has an
Aghanim's Scepter,
Death Ward will bounce between Chaos Knight's illusions, destroying them quickly.
* However,
Death Ward is easily interrupted by Chaos Bolt until Witch Doctor buys
Glimmer Cape or
Black King Bar.
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons:
Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons:
Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
* Heroes who are reliant on illusions:
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
* Long ranged disables, especially those that pierce spell immunity, cancel Black Hole:
Beastmaster's
Primal Roar,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Faceless Void's
Chronosphere,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Pudge's
Meat Hook.
* Heroes with gap-closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call:
Phantom Assassin,
Faceless Void,
Slark,
Chaos Knight,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain
Additional:
*
Berserker's Call allows Axe to lock down Chaos Knight and his illusions even through
Black King Bar.
*
Counter Helix combined with
Blade Mail clears illusions out in no time.
* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heroes like;
Spirit Breaker,
Legion Commander,
Axe,
Puck, and
Slardar.
* Heroes that cannot move in fights such as a
Dueling
Legion Commander or anyone channeling a spell like
Bane,
Pudge, or
Enigma are easy Sacred Arrow targets.
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions:
Axe,
Ember Spirit,
Legion Commander,
Phoenix
Additional:
* Ember Spirit is evasive and can dodge close encounters with melee heroes like Chaos Knight. Ember Spirit can't be caught with the slow from
Reality Rift, and Flame Guard and Sleight of Fist can bring
Phantasm's illusions down quickly.
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons:
Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
* Heroes who have summons, which can be quickly cleared by his powerful area of effect skill:
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Lycan
* Heroes who are illusion based, or even heroes who frequently build Manta Style can be cleared quickly by Pangolier's high damage, or lose their damage ouput because of Lucky Shot:
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
* Heroes reliant on illusions or summons:
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren.
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons:
Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions:
Axe,
Ember Spirit,
Legion Commander,
Phoenix
* Because of his massive AoE damage, Sand King is very effective against illusion heroes:
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren.
Additional:
* Sand King's massive area damage output, particularly
Epicenter, allows him to quickly take down Chaos Knight and his illusions.
* Sand King can also apply
Caustic Finale to illusions with attacks for extra damage when they die.
* Long range disables are really effective against dangerous area controllers and channeling Heroes, like
Enigma,
Faceless Void or
Crystal Maiden, as it may cancel them or prevent enemies from doing further damage while keeping
Lion in a relatively safe distance in the warzone.
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
* Riki can potentially catch an Enigma out of position and prevent him from properly blinking and initiating, thanks to
Cloak and Dagger.
* Before Enigma gets his
Black King Bar,
Smoke Screen can be used to cancel Black Hole. After Enigma gets
Black King Bar, Riki can also cancel Black Hole with Abyssal Blade, which is a common item built on him.
*
Tricks of the Trade renders Riki hidden and invulnerable, which in combination with Abyssal Blade allows Riki to cancel Black Hole with little to no worries of getting caught in it.
* Enigma's fragility during all stages of the game makes him extremely prone to Riki's ganking.
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons:
Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
* Once he buys
Aghanim's Shard, Dazzle's
Poison Touch can hex enemies, and hex can instantly kill illusions, making Dazzle strong against heroes who rely on illusions. Bear in mind that
Chaos Knight is the exception because his
Phantasms are strong illusions that are immune to abilities that can instantly kill illusions.
*
Blood Rite can potentially force him to activate
Black King Bar prematurely, before pulling off a Black Hole combo.
* Bloodseeker can find an Enigma out of position and
Rupture him, making it difficult to initiate properly in a team fight, as it pierces through
Black King Bar.
* Heroes with illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Arc Warden
* With
Aghanim's Scepter, Tinker's Laser completely stops Chaos Knight's damage, forcing him to buy either a Black King Bar for his own survivability while leaving his illusions still vulnerable, or a Monkey King Bar leaving him still vulnerable to Tinker's nukes, though improving his damage.
* Tinker rarely finds himself in the middle of a fight, which is where Chaos Knight typically thrives, and even in the rare cases of being so, at level 3 Tinker's constant rearm and blink away can kite and dodge Chaos Knight's spells reliably, so Chaos Knight has very little catch against Tinker's mobility. This gives Tinker impunity to create more chaos in a teamfight than Chaos Knight can control, laying down the field with March of the Machines and constantly being hit by rockets and lasers.
* Illusion heroes, such as
Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without
Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition,
Mjollnir or
Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
* Techies has great area of effect damage to deal with
Phantasm illusions.
* Blast Off silences Chaos Knight, stopping him from using his disables and allowing his teammates to walk away from his heavy damage.
* Reactive Tazer will disarm all of Chaos Knight's illusions even if he has activated his
Black King Bar.
* Heroes with summons like
Broodmother,
Enigma,
Nature's Prophet; or illusions, like
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade are effective at keeping the choke points and rune spawns safe from Proximity Mines.
*
Hookshot's stun pierces through spell immunity and Enigma's channeling can be easily cancelled from a safe distance, assuming none of his allies are in the way, and the Black Hole is not centered directly on Enigma.
Additional:
*
Black Hole requires channelling, making it easy to be interrupted with Hookshot.
* Enigma lacks mobility without a Blink Dagger and also is squishy, making him fall easily when ganked by Clockwerk.
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active:
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Bloodseeker,
Clockwerk,
Doom,
Shadow Shaman.
*
Illuminate can wipe the pushing Eidolons in a lane with ease, diminishing Enigma's laning presence by a lot.
*
Solar Bind will severely slow down Enigma and make him more vulnerable to magical damage more he moves for it's duration.
* However, Keeper of the Light does not have any way to cancel
Black Hole outside from
Will-O-Wisp provided by
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Heroes with channeling abilities:
Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
*
Doom pierces spell immunity and can prevent Enigma from casting any spells or using items until the duration of the spell depletes, as well as cancelling a
Black Hole.
* While
Doom can be blocked by a
Linken's Sphere, which is a common item on Enigma,
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Doom allows Doom to cast Doom on himself to affect enemies near him, and if Doom can combine this with
Blink Dagger, he will be able to jump on Enigma while he is channeling
Black Hole.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Doom can also cancel
Black Hole if any of Enigma's allies affected by
Doom gets too close to him for it's duration, ignoring both,
Black King Bar and
Linken's Sphere.
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active:
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Bloodseeker,
Clockwerk,
Doom,
Shadow Shaman.
*
Chaotic Offering's spell immunity piercing stun can stop Black Hole's channeling. Due to this ability's large area of effect, it can be cast at a safe distance from the Black Hole. It also goes through
Black King Bar and ignores
Linken's Sphere.
*
Fatal Bonds and
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shadow Word can be used to make Enigma's Eidolons easier to kill, potentially feeding the enemy team. Also,their constant damage will put
Blink Dagger on cooldown, potentially forcing Enigma to prematurely activate
Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Chaotic Offering pierces spell immunity and is an area of effect ability, therefore it doesn't matter if Enigma buys
Black King Bar or
Linken's Sphere, Warlock will always be able to cancel the channeling of
Black Hole.
* Enemies often get clumped up around
Black Hole to hit your allies, giving you a perfect opportunity to cast Fatal Bonds, Chaotic Offering, and Upheaval on multiple enemies.
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through his allies and deal with him, preventing him from doing his job. Such heroes include
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Riki, and more.
* Enigma's Eidolons can absorb
Omnislash damage, wasting its damage potential.
*
Black Hole and
Midnight Pulse damage pierces
Blade Fury, especially when he tries to escape with it.
Additional:
* Enigma's Eidolons from
Demonic Conversion can help soak Juggernaut's
Omnislash in the early game, mitigating the damage and wasting it on disposable summons. Should Juggernaut choose to kill Enigma's Eidelons with
Blade Fury, he will leave himself open to Enigma's disables.
* Enigma's
Black Hole and
Midnight Pulse's damage and disable can pierce through Juggernaut's
Blade Fury.
* While
Blade Fury is on cooldown, Juggernaut can be easily killed by a standard
Chaos Bolt &
Reality Rift combo.
*
Phantasm illusions can tank
Omnislash.
*
Malefice prevents Spirit Breaker from using his spells for the duration.
* Eidolons from
Demonic Summoning have high magic resistance, receiving little damage from Charge of Darkness and Greater Bash.
*
Midnight Pulse can deal big damage to Spirit Breaker, as it deals damage based on enemy hero's max health.
*
Black Hole makes it very dangerous for Spirit Breaker to reach Enigma with Charge of Darkness unless if he has Nether Strike available to use.
Additional:
*
Malefice prevents Spirit Breaker from using his spells for the duration.
* Eidolons from
Demonic Summoning have high magic resistance, receiving little damage from Charge of Darkness and Greater Bash.
*
Midnight Pulse can deal big damage to Spirit Breaker, as it deals damage based on enemy hero's max health.
*
Black Hole makes it very dangerous for Spirit Breaker to reach Enigma with Charge of Darkness unless if he has Nether Strike available to use.
* Heroes with summons and illusions as Spirit Breaker has no strong AoE capabilities to deal with them:
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Warlock,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Shadow Shaman,
Lycan,
Wraith King.
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones:
Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones:
Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren (bonus for her
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time:
Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Doom
* A strong illusion
Phantasm) from Chaos Knight can cleared from her's
Refraction. Additionally, natural items
Manta Style can dispell silence Psionic Trap from Aghanim's Shard.
*
Demonic Conversion can be used to instantly kill Chen's creeps and give Enigma gold in process.
*
Midnight Pulse can greatly damage Chen and his creeps and disrupt Chen's jungling.
*
Black Hole combined with follow-ups from Enigma's allies can often finish Chen or any of his allies before he can use
Hand of God. To make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel
Black Hole on his own, especially if Enigma chooses to channel
Black Hole in center, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells:
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Broodmother,
Naga Siren,
Lycan,
Visage,
Beastmaster,
Warlock,
Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* Lacking any stun and being heavily dependent on his physical attacks and spell immunity, Lifestealer has no way to stop
Black Hole, assuming he does not initiate Enigma first with
Abyssal Blade.
* Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse damage can pierce through Lifestealer's
Rage.
* However, if Lifestealer manages to get
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with
Abyssal Blade, he will be able to disable Enigma's
Black Hole inside him with
Infest and he will be able to help his allies recover themselves from Enigma's initiation with
Open Wounds if Lifestealer gets
Aghanim's Shard.
Additional:
* Lacking any stun and being heavily dependent on his physical attacks and spell immunity, Lifestealer has no way to stop
Black Hole, assuming he does not initiate Enigma first with
Abyssal Blade.
* Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse damage can pierce through Lifestealer's
Rage.
* However, if Lifestealer manages to get
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with
Abyssal Blade, he will be able to disable Enigma's
Black Hole inside him with
Infest and he will be able to help his allies recover themselves from Enigma's initiation with
Open Wounds if Lifestealer gets
Aghanim's Shard.
*
Chaos Strike is a strong burst damage passive that allows Chaos Knight to stand up and even survive Lifestealer's attacks. Level 20 Talent: Reality Rift Pierces Spell Immunity allows him to burst down Lifestealer even while he is in Rage.
* Lifestealer's single-target nature will struggle against Chaos Knight's
Phantasm illusions and will be forced to itemize for them.
Additional:
* Level 20 talent allows Reality Rift to bypass spell immunity provided by
Rage, thus negating the advantage Lifestealer has in his kit.
* The fact that Lifestealer lacks wave clearing and reliable lockdown makes it difficult to fight Chaos Knight's illusions.
*
Feast is largely negated by Chaos Knight's high burst damage from Chaos Strike.
* Any long duration disables that can pierce through both, Pierce The Veil and
Black King Bar are devastating against Muerta:
Enigma's
Black Hole,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Naga Siren's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Ensnare and
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Jakiro's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Macropyre,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Batrider's
Flaming Lasso,
Beastmaster's
Primal Roar,
Grimstroke's
Soulbind,
Medusa's
Stone Gaze,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity.
* Heroes with abilities that can close the gap can easily kill Muerta:
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Lycan,
Chaos Knight,
Tusk.
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin completely useless in teamfights throughout the game:
Axe,
Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge,
Medusa,
Warlock.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Chaos Knight can dispel Flux with
Phantasm.
* Chaos Knight can use
Reality Rift to pull Arc Warden out of Magnetic Field.
* Once Chaos Knight jumps on Arc Warden with
Reality Rift, Arc Warden will struggle to escape due to low mobility and lack of stun.
*
Phantasm dispels Ignite and makes targeting the real Chaos Knight much harder.
*
Chaos Bolt and
Reality Rift makes Tiny's low mobility non existent.
*
Chaos Strike means Chaos Knight will most likely survive longer in a duel between the two because Tiny has much lower attack speed.
* Chaos Knight has a 3.2 strength growth, making him one of the most tanky heroes and a very difficult target for Tiny to burst.
* Reality Rift lets Chaos Knight bypass the Spirit Bear and jump onto Lone Druid.
* The Spirit Bear's lack of scaling means it dies quickly to Chaos Knight during the late-game.
* Phantasm removes
Glimpse and dispels
Thunder Strike. Additionally, the Phantasm illusions make it difficult to use Glimpse and Thunder Strike on the real Chaos Knight.
* Disruptor's lack of mobility, combined with his lack of innate defense, sets him up for a Reality Rift and a beatdown by Chaos Knight and his illusions.
* Phantasm dispels
Track, and the illusions make it difficult to Track the real Chaos Knight.
* Bounty Hunter is fragile and can easily be killed by Chaos Knight and Phantasm's illusions.
* Can cast
Demonic Conversion on one of Lycan's Wolves, making this a numbers fight.
*
Malefice will greatly reduce his ability to engage
*
Midnight Pulse can steep an area making it harder for Lycan to engage in.
* Razor has no way to deal with Chaos Knight's multiple illusions from
Phantasm.
* Heroes with Attack speed decreasing skills:
Jakiro,
Viper
Lich
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities:
Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
* Viper has no response to the standard initiation combo of
Reality Rift into
Chaos Bolt.
*
Phantasm and
Chaos Strike can eliminate Viper almost instantly with it's damage output.
* Besides Nethertoxin, Viper has no other ways of dealing with
Phantasm.
Additional:
* As Viper focuses on single-target damage, he has trouble fighting off Phantasm illusions.
* Reality Rift counteracts Viper's slows and reduces his already low durability against physical damage.
* Heroes the make heavy use of illusions, like
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade, or
Spectre can suffer from Crystal Maiden, as Freezing Field can quickly kill off the entire horde if not stopped.
* Crystal Maiden will be not able to cast her
Freezing Field while being constantly stunned by Enigma's
Malefice.
* Enigma's
Black Hole can cancel
Freezing Field's channeling regardless of her
Glimmer Cape and
Black King Bar.
* Innately fragile heroes will die almost instantly to Reality Rift while Chaos Knight has illusions active:
Drow Ranger,
Bane,
Necrophos,
Crystal Maiden.
*
Chaos Bolt can stun Night Stalker outside of Crippling Fears relatively small radius.
*
Reality Rift is a great way to force Night Stalker to fight Chaos Knight, a hero with massive health and damage output. It also forces Night Stalker's Crippling Fear off his primary target.
* Night Stalker doesn't have a lot of ways to deal with multiple targets, which makes him vulnerable to
Phantasm illusions unless Night Stalker buys
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* Phantasm gives Chaos Knight a significant advantage against single-target damage dealers:
Lifestealer,
Wraith King,
Night Stalker,
Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Chaos Knight's tanky illusions easily take advantage of Troll Warlord's lack of AoE damage.
*
Chaos Bolt can stun Troll for up to 4 seconds and
Reality Rift prevents Troll Warlord from chasing down foes.
*
Phantasm increases Chaos Knight's physical damage output up to 4 times and can easily kill Troll Warlord before he has a chance to use Battle Trance or a
Black King Bar.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with the capability of removing or destroying trees greatly hinders the effectiveness of Treant Protector's abilities:
Batrider,
Nature's Prophet,
Lina,
Enigma,
Mars
*
Chaos Knight's multiple illusions from
Phantasm can destroy Undying, as Soul Rip can't offset the damage from the high amount of damage from his illusions.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark:
Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
* Heroes with powerful area-of-effect disables can initiate on Meepo and his clones and shut him down, such as
Enigma,
Invoker,
Magnus,
Puck, and
Sand King.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* Heroes who can summon illusions and summons because Terrorblade has no abilities to deal with multiple enemies at once outside Reflection:
Shadow Shaman,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Demon,
Dark Seer,
Nature's Prophet,
Invoker,
Morphling,
Visage,
Grimstroke with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Unlike with other heroes who can summon illusions of themselves, Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image have different colors than other illusions which can be seen even by enemy team, which can also make Terrorblade weak even against heroes he naturally counters:
Bane,
Lifestealer,
Spectre,
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Sniper. Terrorblade's only solution to counter this problem is to get
Manta Style as quickly as possible.
* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heroes like;
Spirit Breaker,
Legion Commander,
Axe,
Puck, and
Slardar.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like
Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls:
Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman,
Dawnbreaker,
Warlock,
Crystal Maiden.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
*
Dark Pact is minimally effective against Phantasm illusions, and Slark lacks area damage otherwise.
*
Pounce can be counteracted by Reality Rift.
* Slark is naturally frail and dies quickly to Chaos Knight's burst damage before he can build
Essence Shift stacks.
* Be aware, however, that
Shadow Dance can make Slark hard to kill as he can't be targeted during its duration.
Additional:
*
Phantasms have enough health to survive Dark Pact, and Slark has no other source of AoE damage to deal with them.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* Faceless Void's lack of strong area-of-effect spells makes it difficult for him to fight against Chaos Knight and his
Phantasms.
* From a safe distance and if not caught, Chaos Knight can use
Reality Rift to pull Faceless Void out of the
Chronosphere which combined with
Chaos Bolt can expose him to being bursted down by Chaos Knight's team before Void even succeeds to escape with
Time Walk.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* Ursa has no way to clear illusions quickly, making him vulnerable to
Chaos bolt and
Phantasm combo.
*
Reality Rift can quickly relocate or reinitiate on Ursa once the duration of
Enrage is over.
*
Phantasm can be used to dispel Earthshock's slow.
Manta Style is another item that counter Ursa greatly.
* Ursa has low mobility, once jumped on by
Reality Rift, Ursa struggles to escape.
Additional:
* Ursa cannot effectively fight against Phantasm's illusions with his single-target damage.
* Chaos Bolt's potentially long stun with Chaos Bolt gives Ursa little opportunity to
Enrage.
* 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.
* Enigma's
Midnight Pulse damage can make Underlord suffer heavy damage due to his high health.
* Enigma can catch Underlord and his team off guard with
Midnight Pulse and
Black Hole when they teleport using
Fiend's Gate. And
Atrophy Aura offers no defense against them.
* However, Enigma needs to approach Underlord carefully as Underlord can interrupt channeling of the
Black Hole with
Pit of Malice and can also use
Firestorm to scout Enigma's location which can also put Enigma's
Blink Dagger on cooldown if Enigma has no
Black King Bar available to use.
Additional:
* Enigma's
Midnight Pulse damage can make Underlord suffer heavy damage due to his high health.
* Enigma can catch Underlord and his team off guard with
Midnight Pulse and
Black Hole when they teleport using
Fiend's Gate. And
Atrophy Aura offers no defense against them.
* However, Enigma needs to approach Underlord carefully as Underlord can interrupt channeling of the
Black Hole with
Pit of Malice and can also use
Firestorm to scout Enigma's location which can also put Enigma's
Blink Dagger on cooldown if Enigma has no
Black King Bar available to use.
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or have any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items can still get interrupted by Dismember:
Enigma,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Pugna,
Elder Titan.
Additional:
* Even with
Black King Bar, Pudge's
Meat Hook and
Dismember can still disable Engima while he is channeling
Black Hole as Enigma is a very easy target while channeling
Black Hole.
* Pudge's
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Dismember and
Meat Hook are great ways to save allies from
Black Hole.
* Enigma is prone to ganks in the jungle or in the off-lane without proper vision. Pudge can take advantage of Enigma's lack of mobility, and gank him often.
* Unlike any other illusion heroes, Chaos Knight is the worst target for Pudge to hook as it will definitely backfire him.
*
Phantasm are significantly tankier than most illusion and deal full damage, which will quickly kill Pudge due to his low armor.
* it becomes worse if pudge is affected with
Reality Rift, which reduces his already abysmal base armor even lower.
* Low movement speed and low mobility means Pudge will struggle to escape or outrun Chaos Knight in most cases.
Additional:
* Phantasm's illusions make it difficult to land
Meat Hook and
Dismember.
* Chaos Bolt is a comparatively low cooldown tool to interrupt
Dismember.
* Chaos Strike's lifesteal offsets
Rot's damage.
*
Black Hole while definitely a threat to Drow Ranger, is very hard to land as she likes to keep her distance from allies and enemies alike. And if not caught in it, will kill Enigma very quickly due to his low health.
*
Malefice can be removed with a Manta Style.
* Drow Ranger being a fairly low health, high armored agility carry doesn't take much damage from
Midnight Pulse as others would.
*
Demonic Conversion units die very quickly to Marksmanship or even just regular attacks not far into the game within 2 or 3 hits.
*
Reality Rift will disable Drow Ranger's Marksmanship, along with
Chaos Bolt he can keep her locked for enough time to be killed.
* Zeus can break
Blink Dagger with his long range abilities and global range ultimate,
Thundergod's Wrath.
*
Lightning Bolt has a long range and a mini-stun, providing a way for him to cancel Black Hole from safe distances, assuming Enigma doesn't have his
Black King Bar.
* Zeus's
Aghanim's Scepter grants him
Nimbus ability that has a global range and mini-stun, making it an even more effective way to cancel Black Hole before Enigma initiates with
Black King Bar.
* Zeus is typically able to position himself at a safe distance from the fight, making him a difficult target to capture in a Black Hole.
* Chaos Knight's high health pool makes him resistant to Zeus' burst damage.
Phantasm can dispel
Veil of Discord, a typical item purchased by Zeus.
* Zeus is easily overwhelmed by Chaos Knight's strong illusions, as Arc Lightning is not enough to kill them fast enough to have any impact.
* Zeus' low base armor makes him extremely vulnerable to Chaos Knight's high damage output and armor reduction.
*
Take Aim extends Sniper's attack range, allowing him to position himself safely behind his team, making it difficult to catch him in Enigma's relatively small area-of-effect for
Black Hole. When left unattended, he can quickly kill a channeling Enigma (often from the high ground) to rout an otherwise strong initiation.
* In the early game, Sniper can cancel Enigma's Black Hole with
Assassinate's ministun. Due to the absolutely ginormous 3000 cast range on Assassinate, Sniper does not need to be too close to Enigma to cancel his
Black Hole.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Assassinate can also stun Enigma for a longer duration.
* Both
Shrapnel and
Assassinate put Enigma's Blink Dagger on cooldown, potentially forcing him to prematurely activate
Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Sniper has a very long range, so it is rare that Enigma can catch him in a
Black Hole.
* Assassinate can easily cancel
Black Hole if he is not caught, especially with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Enigma's Eidolons from
Demonic Conversion are useless to push against a Sniper as he will easily kill them, especially with
Mjollnir, a common item on Sniper.
* Sniper is very fragile and has low movement speed, making an exceptionally easy target for Chaos Knight to initiate on.
* Sniper has no innate ability to deal with
Phantasm or escape a
Reality Rift and
Chaos Bolt combo.
* In most cases, Sniper likes to stay far in the backline to deal damage, thus he is vulnerable if Chaos Knight manages to jump on him in the back line, which will usually spell a quick end for Sniper.
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons:
Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active:
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Bloodseeker,
Clockwerk,
Doom,
Shadow Shaman.
* Stone Form can easily interrupt heroes with long channeling spells, like
Crystal Maiden,
Bane,
Witch Doctor, or
Enigma.
* Heroes that can overwhelm Visage by sheer number like
Chaos Knight,
Meepo,
Terrorblade and
Phantom Lancer.
* Enigma's abilities have a huge mana cost, meaning that
Nether Ward will deal a lot of damage to Enigma.
* Pugna can heal allies trapped inside Black Hole thanks to
Life Drain, Pugna can also damage multiple of Enigma's allies around him with
Life Drain when he casts it on
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Nether Ward during teamfight.
*
Nether Blast can easily kill Eidolons, especially when Enigma is pushing.
* Even though Pugna cannot cancel
Black Hole on his own, smart Pugna can buy
Orchid Malevolence to stop Enigma from channeling
Black Hole and make him more vulnerable to counter-attacks with
Decrepify and
Life Drain.
Additional:
* Enigma's abilities have a huge mana cost, meaning that
Nether Ward will deal a lot of damage to Enigma.
* Pugna can heal allies trapped inside
Black Hole thanks to
Life Drain.
*
Nether Blast can easily kill Eidolons, especially when Enigma is pushing.
* Life Drain does not instantly kill the illusions from
Phantasm
*
Chaos Bolt and
Reality Rift can easily interrupt the channeling from Life Drain.
*
Reality Rift makes it harder for Pugna to keep his distance between Chaos Knight.
* Nether Ward barely deals any significant damage on Chaos Knight as Chaos Knight's abilities do not cost a lot of mana
* The overwhelming damage of Chaos Knight and his illusions will do a quick work on Pugna's poor HP pool, or safely remove the Nether Ward from the battlefield.
* Heroes with strong channeling spells like
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip, and
Enigma's
Black Hole can easily be interrupted from a long range by Nether Swap, assuming they don't have a
Linken's Sphere.
Additional:
* Vengeful Spirit can interrupt Black Hole's channeling through
Black King Bar by using
Nether Swap from a safe distance.
* Vengeful Spirit's Level 25 Talent can make her
Magic Missile pierce spell immunity, giving her another option to use in conjunction with
Nether Swap to cancel Enigma's Black Hole channeling even through both,
Black King Bar and
Linken's Sphere.
* Heroes who relies on illusions and summons (
Beastmaster,
Chaos Knight, etc.).
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip:
Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can swarm and overwhelm Bane, who has no area abilities to deal with them outside from
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Brain Sap:
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
Additional:
* Phantasm's illusions make it difficult for Bane to target Chaos Knight with
Nightmare,
Enfeeble, and
Fiend's Grip.
* Chaos Bolt is a comparatively low cooldown tool to interrupt
Fiend's Grip.
*
Nightmare can be transferred by Phantasm illusions.
*
Phantasms can be easily killed with Purification.
* Heavenly Grace dispels the stun from
Chaos Bolt and the armor reduction from
Reality Rift.
* Guardian Angel works well against Chaos Knight's overwhelming reliance on physical burst damage.
Additional:
*
Purification heals a teammate targeted by Reality Rift and heavily damages Chaos Knight and his illusions in the process.
*
Guardian Angel blocks all of Chaos Knight's damage for a long duration.
* Heroes under
Guardian Angel can be still damaged from the pure damage of
Black Hole and magical damage of
Midnight Pulse.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes that have high health but little to no magic resistance are easy prey for Necrophos, as no matter how high they build their health up, Reaper's Scythe will kill them outright as long as they fall under a certain threshold, and Heartstopper Aura will deal the same amount of damage regardless, decaying their health the longer they stay within range. As such, Strength heroes like
Chaos Knight,
Centaur Warrunner or
Magnus are good targets for his ultimate.
* Illusions make it difficult for Necrophos to target his Reaper's Scythe correctly, thus giving illusion heroes like
Chaos Knight or
Naga Siren an edge against Necrophos.
* Illusion-based and multi-unit heroes can take advantage of Chaos Knight's lack of area damage:
Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Broodmother
* Heroes with AoE nukes will clear her illusions in no time, especially if they are percentage-damage-based, like
Underlord's
Firestorm,
Elder Titan's
Earth Splitter,
Enigma's
Midnight Pulse,
Zeus's
Arc Lightning,
Jakiro's
Liquid Frost from
Aghanim's Shard etc.
*
Wukong's Command and
Boundless Strike combo can easily cause havoc on Chaos Knight by destroying all of his powerful illusions.
* Chaos Knight without Phantasm cannot deal with
Jingu Mastery at all.
* Malefice will cause Monkey King to struggle without
Black King Bar, as its periodic damage and stun disables/interrupts abilities, such as
Tree Dance and
Wukong's Command.
*
Midnight Pulse can also destroy trees in a wide radius, stunning Monkey King if he happened to be on a tree caught within
Midnight Pulse area-of-effect.
Additional:
*
Malefice keeps Tree Dance on cooldown, and can interrupt Wukong's Command's long cast time.
*
Midnight Pulse destroys a large amount of trees.
* Like Abbadon's
Borrowed Time,
Reincarnation can bring Wraith King back to life, giving him a second chance to counter initiate or escape after a Black Hole combo. And since Enigma is not used to buy
Diffusal Blade, this can be a very big problem for him.
* Without protection from
Black King Bar, Wraith King can also cancel Black Hole with
Wraithfire Blast that can also deal damage over time, putting
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
*
Vampiric Spirit can summon many skeleton warriors that can be used to deal with Enigma's Eidolons.
* Wraith King has no form of AoE to clear Chaos Knight's illusions from
Phantasm.
* Wraith King is very vulnerable if he reincarnates in the middle of his illusions.
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions:
Axe,
Ember Spirit,
Legion Commander,
Phoenix
* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heroes like;
Spirit Breaker,
Legion Commander,
Axe,
Puck, and
Slardar.
* Long ranged disables, especially those that pierce spell immunity, cancel Black Hole:
Beastmaster's
Primal Roar,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Faceless Void's
Chronosphere,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Pudge's
Meat Hook.
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active:
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Bloodseeker,
Clockwerk,
Doom,
Shadow Shaman.
*
Inner Fire can damage and disarm Enigma's eidolons, which can then be cleared out with
Burning Spears.
* Huskar's
Burning Spears can deal serious damage over time to Enigma during laning and teamfights, and it can also disable
Blink Dagger for a long time.
*
Berserker's Blood that provides Huskar with magic resistance and bonus health regeneration makes it difficult for Enigma to take down Huskar. Huskar is also a common
Satanic wielder, which can help him recover from Enigma's
Black Hole in case he survives it. Enigma's only source of dealing Pure Damage that can bypass
Berserker's Blood. This forces Enigma to buy
Silver Edge, the only item that can help him against Huskar's
Berserker's Blood.
* However, Huskar does not have any way to cancel
Black Hole outside from
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Life Break that can force Enigma to attack Huskar if used on him.
*
Chaos Bolt can stun Huskar when he jump in with
Life break, giving 4 seconds maximum for Chaos Knight to deliver a beatdown.
*
Reality Rift further reduces Huskar's low armor, boosting Chaos Knight's damage even more.
*
Berserker's Blood offer no protection against
Chaos Strike, which deal physical damage.
*
Phantasm can be used to dispel the disarm from
Inner Fire.
* Although Huskar can use this to disarm the illusion instead, buying himself some times.
Additional:
* Huskar's low armor and movement speed make an easy target for Chaos Knight to initiate on with
Reality Rift and
Chaos Bolt.
* Other than
Inner Fire, Huskar has no reliable area of effect ability to clear Phantasm illusions.
* Huskar likes to stay at low health to benefit from his
Berserker's Blood, thus making him vulnerable to Chaos Knight's high burst physical damage.
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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Enigma
* Bristleback's constant harass from Quill Spray will greatly hurt Enigma's laning and kill his Eidolons.
Black Hole at all. And Bristleback is not a hero that goes for disabling items to counter that problem.
* However, Bristleback has no way of canceling
Chaos Knight
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's
Phantasms.