* Huskar is often at low health, making him easy prey for Reaper's Scythe.
* Ghost Shroud prevents Huskar from stacking
Burning Spear, and if Heartstopper Aura stacks are active, can regenerate health lost to existing stacks.
Additional:
* Because Huskar tends to stay at low health to gain the maximum bonuses from Berserker's Blood, it makes him an exceptionally prime target for
Reaper's Scythe.
*
Heartstopper Aura is effective against high health heroes, and Pudge is no exception. Coupled with his self-damage from Rot, being around Heartstopper Aura could prove risky for Pudge.
* Regardless of how much health Pudge gains through Flesh Heap,
Reaper's Scythe will often kill Pudge should his health fall below 40%, making Necrophos an ideal counter versus Pudge.
*
Corrosive Haze and
Bash of the Deep will make short work of Huskar's low armor, even if Slardar is alone.
*
Corrosive Haze reveals Pudge's location, making it hard for him to use Meat Hook from the fog of war on Slardar's teammates or Slardar himself.
*
Slithereen Crush interrupts Pudge while he is using Dismember.
*
Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to avoid Meat Hook.
*
Rage renders Lifestealer immune to the damage from Burning Spears.
*
Feast makes Lifestealer one of few heroes that can outlast Huskar in a one-on-one fight.
* The lifesteal of
Feast scales accordingly to the max health of its target, which is effective against Pudge due to his high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
* Lifestealer can activate
Rage to be spell immune, making Rot deal no damage.
* Pudge's plentiful health makes him an ideal target for Lifestealer's
Aghanim's Shard ability,
Open Wounds.
* Huskar's damage over time gives Abaddon the opportunity to shield and heal his allies.
*
Borrowed Time also makes Abaddon a hard support to gank, thus negating Huskar's early game dominance.
* Abaddon can activate
Borrowed Time to dispel Dismember; breaking the disable and potentially allowing Abaddon to escape.
*
Aphotic Shield can be cast on an ally to dispel the stun of Dismember, which can make kills difficult to secure, given that Dismember is Pudge's only reliable disable.
* Pudge lacks a mobility without a
Blink Dagger, causing him to be easily chased with
Curse of Avernus. The silence also prevents him from toggling off his Rot.
*
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.
* 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.
* Heroes with abilities that break Berserker's Blood, lowering Huskar's attack speed and health regeneration:
Doom,
Shadow Demon,
Viper.
*
Doom disables the toggling of Rot and, if cast at the right time, may leave Pudge with a potentially lethal health drain.
* Doom's naturally high health, strength gain and damage output makes him a poor target for Pudge.
* The damage of Doom's
Infernal Blade scales with the target's maximum health, which is particularly effective against Pudge due to his naturally high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
* Huskar's
Berserker's Blood provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Huskar has no way to disrupt Clinkz's attacks and no way to kill Clinkz alone, as Clinkz can easily go invisible, teleport away, or even fight back.
* Clinkz will often build the items that counter Huskar and the items he usually builds. These include
Black King Bar or
Monkey King Bar for
Heaven's Halberd, or a disable item like
Scythe of Vyse or
Bloodthorn to prevent him from using
Inner Fire to disarm.
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook:
Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with pure damage can kill Huskar when he inevitably gets low on health:
Outworld Destroyer,
Silencer.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer can dodge
Life Break with Astral Imprisonment, leaving him unharmed while Huskar loses HP.
* Sanity's Eclipse can deal massive damage to Huskar before he builds up his
Berserker's Blood stacks due to Huskar's low mana pool.
*
Sanity's Eclipse deals more damage the less max mana the heroes hit by it have, making Pudge an ideal target.
* Outworld Destroyer can save allies or himself caught by Dismember or Meat Hook with
Astral Imprisonment.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him:
Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
*
Life Break is almost suicidal when used on Legion Commander, as it invites an instant Duel and Legion Commander herself is a natural
Blade Mail carrier.
* Huskar's low survivability and mostly on low health make him particularly vulnerable to Legion Commander's high physical damage.
* Legion Commander can use
Press the Attack on an ally to dispel Dismember. The bonus health regeneration also partially counters the damage of Rot
*
Duel can be used on Pudge whilst Rot is active, disabling toggling which may result in a lethal health drain that leaves Legion Commander with a successful duel.
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar:
Phantom Lancer,
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Chaos Knight.
* Any heroes that naturally buy
Diffusal Blade like
Phantom Lancer or have a mana break talent is a big issue for Pudge because of his low mana pool.
* Windranger prevents Huskar from landing
Burning Spears by using Windrun.
* Because Huskar tends to be at low health, Focus Fire and Powershot are good abilities against him.
Additional:
*
Windrun makes it impossible to hit Windranger with Burning Spears.
* Huskar cannot toggle
Armlet of Mordiggian to regain health while taking constant damage from
Focus Fire.
* Huskar struggles against heroes that output high physical damage due to his low armor. Vengeful Spirit's Wave of Terror and Vengeance Aura help increase the physical damage of her team.
*
Mirror Image can cause Huskar to Life Break the wrong target.
*
Rip Tide reduces Huskar's already low armor.
*
Song of the Siren allows teams to recover from Huskar's initiation, as well as the damage over time from Burning Spears.
* Jumping on Ursa with Life Break is often suicide for Huskar, as he will be immediately bursted down with
Fury Swipes.
Additional:
* Huskar likes fights with a long duration and is usually at low health, making him vulnerable against Ursa's physical damage.
* Jumping in with Life Break against Ursa is suicide, as Enrage, Overpower, and Fury Swipes will easily shred Huskar.
*
Chemical Rage negates almost all damage from Burning Spears.
Additional:
* Chemical Rage mitigates damage from
Burning Spear.
* The percentage-based primary-attribute reduction effect of
Whirling Death can be devastating for Pudge due to his high strength gain through Flesh Heap.
*
Reactive Armor's health regeneration and common itemization for magic resistance and durability makes Timbersaw a poor target for Pudge.
*
Timber Chain's high mobility makes it difficult for Pudge to hook or deal much Rot damage to Timbersaw.
*
Ice Blast prevents Huskar from healing, regeneration, health gained from activating an
Armlet of Mordiggian and will kill him when his health dips below a threshold. This makes it very dangerous for him to use his abilities.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Huskar from healing with
Berserker's Blood and negates any lifesteal, making him significantly weaker in battle.
*
Burning Spear and
Life Break cost Huskar his own health, killing him under the effects from Ice Blast.
* Huskar often builds
Armlet of Mordiggian which can be deadly during Ice Blast.
* If Meat Hook is used before
Leap, Mirana may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by leaping to safety.
* The invisibility from
Moonlight Shadow gives a degree of mobility, which can make Mirana or her teammates difficult targets to hook.
*
Sacred Arrow can be used to cancel Dismember from long distances.
*
Kraken Shell can dispel Dismember after reaching a certain threshold of damage.
* Tidehunter's naturally high health, strength gain, and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance makes Tidehunter a poor target.
*
Dark Pact dispels Dismember if timed correctly.
*
Pounce allows Slark to escape Pudge's Rot once Dismember is over, and allows him to dodge hooks.
*
Shadow Dance hides Slark and grants him a high degree of mobility, which can make him a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an
Aghanim's Shard).
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar:
Phantom Lancer,
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Chaos Knight.
* If Meat Hook is used before
Blink, Anti-Mage may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by blinking to safety.
*
Counterspell grants Anti-Mage a large degree of magic resistance, a damage type Pudge is highly reliant on to secure kills. This makes Anti-Mage a bad target for Pudge. The active can also block Dismember if timed correctly.
*
Mana Break can quickly drain Pudge's low supply of mana, which may render Meat Hook and Dismember unusable.
*
Huskar does not need any mana to fight Anti-Mage as most of his skills cost HP instead. He is a good counter to take away Anti-mage's farm in early to mid-game. He, however, struggles to kill Anti-Mage in the late game.
Additional:
* Huskar is not very reliant on mana to cast his spells, therefore,
Mana Break is not very effective against him.
* Huskar also has low mana pool, he will take less damage once his mana pool is completely depleted.
Mana Void is also ineffective against him.
* Huskar comes online earlier than Anti-Mage, and can take over the game before Anti-Mage can farm up.
* Shadow Demon's
Shadow Poison can quickly stack to the point where Huskars generally low health is easily finished off.
* Shadow Demon's
Disruption can turn Huskar's high attack speed and regeneration against him, It also makes him an easy target for Shadow Poison,
* Shadow Demon commonly builds a
Meteor Hammer, allowing him to land a heavy stun on Huskar
* Shadow Demon's upgraded
Demonic Purge breaks Huskar, It also pierces Spell Immunity, Without his passive for 7 seconds Huskar quickly falls in battle
* However note that Shadow Demon is a squishy target and you can often overwhelm him if he is alone, But he can still Disrupt you to escape
Additional:
* Shadow Poison can quickly stack up on Huskar, And with his naturally low health you don't need as many stacks to be effective.
* Disruption turns Huskars high attack speed against him, They also have the highest survivability as illusions due to his passive
Berserker's Blood, It also allows you to put Shadow Poison stacks on him,
* Dissimulate turns Huskar's burning damage against his team, You can cast it on an ally who is taking a bunch of
Burning Spear stacks and cause Huskar to take high amounts of damage as well
* Scepter upgraded Demonic Purge is your most effective weapon against him, It's 7 second Break causes him to quickly die in battle
* Meat Hook can prove annoying for Pudge if Rubick
Spell Steals it, allowing Rubick to easily hook and save his allies being Dismembered.
*
Untouchable makes it near impossible to stack Burning Spears.
*
Impetus' pure damage puts an instant end to Huskar's low-health brinkmanship.
* Husker is the kind of hero that likes to remain at low health, which is perfect for Queen of Pain to burst with Sonic Wave.
* She should be able to Blink away after he jumps on her with
Life Break.
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook:
Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
* Heroes who recklessly jump on Pudge with their gap-closing abilities will be easy targets for Pudge's Meat Hook and Dismember Combo:
Phantom Assassin,
Faceless Void,
Queen of Pain etc.
* Lina can interrupt Huskar on the center line because of her attack range, she can constantly be at a long distance, punching Huskar with her hand, while Huskar needs a very close distance to use
Burning Spear.
Additional:
* Lina interrupts Huskar on the center line because of her attack range, she can constantly be at a long distance, punching Huskar with her hand, while Huskar needs a very close distance to use
Burning Spear
* Huskar’s low health play style put him at extreme risk to
Sharpshooter's extreme damage. In addition, it breaks
Berserker's Blood, nullifying Huskar's power source.
* Quas Exort Invoker has high physical damage in the form of Cold Snap and Forged Spirits that allows him to trade hits with Huskar.
* Although Huskar can dispel Cold Snap with Life Break.
* Sun Strike deals pure damage and pierces spell immunity, and Huskar tends to drain his HP, making him a susceptible target.
* Oracle can negate and shut down Primal Beast simply with Fate's Edict, especially in the early game, as a majority of his damage-dealing spells are magic.
* Oracle can interrupt Primal Beast's
Onslaught charge with a well-timed Fortune's End.
* Primal Beast's lethal burst damage combos can be further stalled with False Promise; combined with Fate's Edict and regen from Purifying Flames, Oracle can even completely negate Primal Beast's offense.
*
Nyx Assassin can reflect Life Break with
Spiked Carapace.
*
Impale and
Spiked Carapace can be used to cancel Dismember easily, and can even do so when Pudge uses it on Nyx Assassin, if timed correctly.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage:
Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
*
Void's mini-stun and silence from
Crippling Fear will stop Pudge from using Dismember or turning off his Rot.
* Night Stalker has naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance, making Night Stalker a poor target for Pudge.
* Huskar is often at low health, providing large Thirst bonuses.
*
Life Break triggers Rupture's damage.
Additional:
* Huskar is often at low health, providing large
Thirst bonuses to Bloodseeker.
* Life Break can trigger
Rupture's damage.
* A self applied
Bloodrage together with Blademail means it's almost suicidal for Huskar to jump on Bloodseeker with Life Break
*
Viper Strike can disable
Berserker's Blood, which Huskar relies upon for attack speed and healing.
* The damage from
Burning Spear and
Life Break is largely absorbed by
Corrosive Skin. It also will return some damage, making it risky to use Burning Spears in the laning stage.
* Because Huskar wants to be on low health for
Berserker's Blood, he is particularly vulnerable to
Poison Attack.
Additional:
* His
Poison Attack is very useful against Huskar, since he tends to stay at low health.
*
Nethertoxin disables passive skills like Berserker's Blood.
* It is dangerous for Huskar to jump on Viper because
Corrosive Skin and
Viper Strike with the slowdown of movement and attack speed which usually will be deadly for Huskar.
* Warlock Golems do plenty of physical and pure damage to bring down Huskar when he is at low health. Warlock is always a hazard for Huskar to initiate by using
Life Break, because Chaotic Offering can stun him instantly, even when
Black King Bar is activated, and allows Warlock's team to gather their wit and retaliate.
* After using Life Break to jump in, Huskar will not have any means to escape Upheaval. Which since he is an attack-dependent hero, this will nullify his impact in fights.
* Brewmaster can use Cyclone to disable Huskar's healer for much longer than most other heroes can, to make Huskar vulnerable.
* Huskar has no way to stop Brewmaster from using Primal Split by himself, but can cut a good amount of his high health away if Huskar's team wants to burst Brewmaster down during a different disable.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him:
Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, resulting in Huskar's attacks missing a lot of the time if it isn't dispelled.
* Troll Warlord's Fervor ramps up in a very similar way as Huskar's
Berserker's Blood: as soon as Huskar has high enough health regeneration, Troll Warlord has a high enough attack speed to negate it.
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar:
Phantom Lancer,
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Chaos Knight.
* Heroes who rely on magical damage resistance may have a hard time laning against Dazzle as all of Dazzle's abilities deal physical damage instead of magical:
Anti-Mage,
Huskar,
Viper.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health:
Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with low armor and little mobility, like
Huskar,
Io, etc. will also have an unfortunate fate.
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook:
Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with abilities that reduce armor will make Huskar very vulnerable:
Weaver,
Dazzle,
Bristleback,
Vengeful Spirit.
*
Shukuchi grants Weaver invisibility and a high degree of mobility for a short time, which can make him a difficult target to hook.
*
The Swarm beetles are difficult for Pudge to remove, due to his low base attack time and poor agility. Additionally, it can be used to can scout out Pudge's location.
* Should an ally get snagged by Meat Hook, Weaver can use
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Time Lapse on them to send them back to where they were before hooked, even if Pudge has already started to Dismember them.
* Weaver cannot
Time Lapse out of Huskar's burn damage.
*
Blade Fury makes Juggernaut immune to the damage from Life Break and Burning Spears.
* It can be instantly activated the second Juggernaut sees Huskar flying towards him with Life Break, blocking all damage.
*
Healing Ward effectively negates any damage-over-time from Burning Spears.
* Huskar has no defense against
Omnislash and takes heavy damage due to his low armor.
* 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.
*
Track can easily keep vision on Pudge, making it very hard for him to hook Bounty Hunter or his teammates from the fog of war.
*
Shuriken Toss cancels Dismember from great range.
*
Huskar with
Life Break
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
*
Abaddon with
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time
*
Huskar with
Life Break
*
Juggernaut with
Blade Fury
*
Legion Commander with
Press the Attack
*
Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
*
Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
*
Omniknight with
Heavenly Grace
*
Oracle with
Fortune's End and
False Promise
*
Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
*
Slark with
Dark Pact
*
Ursa with
Enrage
*
Weaver with
Time Lapse
*
Tidehunter with
Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
* Huskar is often played at low health to maximize the bonuses from
Berserker's Blood, and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
*
Berserker's Blood gives Huskar no protection against the pure damage of Culling Blade. Its attack speed bonus also means that Counter Helix will proc more often.
* Axe's tankiness and base health regeneration makes it hard for Huskar to take him down with
Burning Spears.
Additional:
*
Berserker's Call and
Blade Mail can be used immediately after Huskar jumps on Axe with Life Break.
* Huskar's high attack speed procs
Counter Helix repeatedly.
* Huskar's health loss from using his abilities make him a frequent target for
Culling Blade.
* Long lockdown is a great way to deal with Axe to prevent Berserker's Call from being used, heroes such as
Legion Commander,
Beastmaster and
Primal Beast are good examples of this.
* Sniper just doesn't give Huskar a chance, as he always just keeps his opponents at a great distance. However, in such a game you will need to have a
Concussive Grenade and a
Hurricane Pike in order to avoid the
Life Break of Huskar
Additional:
* Sniper just doesn't give Huskar a chance, as he always just keeps his opponents at a great distance. However, in such a game you will need to have a
Concussive Grenade and a
Hurricane Pike in order to avoid the
Life Break of Huskar
* Heroes who have high health are a problem for Sniper because he likes to attack the closest target and sit at the back, much like a
Terrorblade so when that hero doesn't die; he's forced to show his position for a very long time:
Centaur Warrunner,
Legion Commander,
Primal Beast.
Additional:
* Sniper has a low health pool and strength gain, making him vulnerable to Pudge's magical and pure damage.
* Sniper usually likes to deal damage away from the fight, and Meat Hook is capable of bringing him to the front lines.
*
Assassinate won't do much damage against Pudge because of his high strength gain and the strength bonuses from Flesh Heap.
*
Shrapnel will be mostly blocked by Flesh Heap's active.
* Mass Serpent Ward rips apart Huskar quickly due to his poor armor.
* As soon as Huskar jumps in, he will be vulnerable to Shadow Shaman's disables if he does not have
Black King Bar.
* Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook:
Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him:
Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
* 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.
* If Phantom Assassin jumps on Pudge first with
Phantom Strike, she will be a very easy target for Pudge's
Meat Hook and
Dismember combo.
* Even though it can deal damage based on Pudge's max health,
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard cannot disable Pudge's
Flesh Heap as
Flesh Heap is one of the few passive abilities that cannot be disabled by break.
* Both
Meat Hook and
Dismember ignore spell immunity which allows Pudge to disable Phantom Assassin even while she has
Black King Bar active.
* Pudge occassionally buys armor items like
Blade Mail, which in combination with many stacks from
Flesh Heap can make Phantom Assassin have little effect against Pudge.
* Huskar's Burning Spears chip through his low health pool quickly.Consequently, he is forced to either invest on health regen or abandon the lane.
* Reliant on magic damage, there is little he can do against Huskar.
* Huskar will usually kill him if he gets Life Break off,given Zeus' poor mobility.
* Zeus likes to stay far back in fights, dealing his damage uninterrupted, but once he gets hooked into the fight, he usually dies very quickly.
* Pudge's high strength from Flesh Heap makes it very hard for Zeus to burst him down.
* Zeus' low health pool makes him very vulnerable to the damage from Meat Hook, Rot and Dismember.
*
Life Break closes the distance between Huskar and Drow Ranger, dealing large amounts of damage and disabling Marksmanship.
*
Berserker's Blood and
Burning Spear allow Huskar to beat Drow Ranger directly and pile on damage.
* Heroes who have low or high armor but very high health will be difficult for drow to burst down quickly:
Primal Beast,
Axe,
Centaur Warrunner.
Additional:
* Meat Hook can pull Drow Ranger to Pudge, disabling her
Marksmanship.
* Following up with Dismember will prevent Drow Ranger from using
Gust or
Shadow Blade.
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar:
Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Silencer,
Keeper of the Light,
Venomancer, etc.
* Meat Hook can cancel
Freezing Field, even if Crystal Maiden has
Glimmer Cape.
* She is also slow and fragile, making her a good target for ganking.
*
Life Break and
Burning Spear usually kills Gyrocopter before he can do much damage to Huskar.
*
Inner Fire applies a disarm on all enemies, which can be a hindrance to Gyrocopter.
* Abilities that deal low damage with high amounts of instances are irrelevant against Pudge during Flesh Heap's active:
Gyrocopter's
Rocket Barrage and
Dark Seer's
Ion Shell are just a couple examples.
*
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.
* 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.
* Magnus cannot manfight Huskar even with Empower,
Berserker's Blood's high attack speed and health regeneration, combined with Huskar's high health and
Burning Spear stacks will allow Huskar to kill Magnus before he can kill him.
* From a safe distance, Huskar can surprise and counter Magnus's initiation with
Life Break and
Burning Spear.
*
Burning Spear also deals damage over time, disabling Blink Dagger and preventing him from initiating or escaping.
* Since Tidebringer has a 4 second cooldown, Kunkka has little availability to manfight Huskar.
*
Burning Spear's damage over time can rapidly burn Medusa's mana and health alike.
*
Inner Fire can slow and disarm Medusa and also allow Huskar to follow up with Life Break.
* Huskar jumps on the hero without any problems, throwing the
Summon Spirit Bear away from him and forbidding him to beat, which knocks down the regeneration of Lone Druid from the
Spirit Link ability, in addition, Huskar instantly deals fatal damage to Lone Druid, in some cases he does not even have time to squeeze the
True Form
Additional:
* Huskar jumps on the hero without any problems, throwing the
Summon Spirit Bear away from him and forbidding him to beat, which knocks down the regeneration of Lone Druid from the
Spirit Link ability, in addition, Huskar instantly deals fatal damage to Lone Druid, in some cases he does not even have time to squeeze the
True Form
* Lich is going to have a hard time nuking Huskar because of his high health regeneration from
Berserker's Blood.
* Lich is a squishy support without an escape mechanism, making Lich an easy kill thanks to
Life Break and
Burning Spear.
* Once Huskar has
Armlet of Mordiggian, even a maxed out Frost Blast will struggle to finish Huskar off.
* Clockwerk cannot go head-to-head with Huskar in Power Cogs, as
Berserker's Blood and
Life Break will destroy him faster than the other way around.
Additional:
* Clockwerk's abilities cannot handle Huskar in a one-on-one fight, even if he gets the jump on him.
* Pudge's Dismember stops Spectre from escaping with
Haunt.
* He can easily tank the damage reflected by
Dispersion due to his high strength and the healing from Dismember.
* Should Spectre try to get away through the trees or over a cliff with
Spectral Dagger, Pudge can hook her back.
* Spectre takes a long time to become powerful, and Pudge can ruin her early game with ganks.
* Huskar's high attack speed can counteract
Fire Spirits, and easily destroy the
Supernova.
Additional:
*
Berserker's Blood will let Huskar easily face down a
Supernova with increased attack speed.
*
Icarus Dive may not be an easy escape from Huskar either as he can chase Phoenix during it with
Life Break if Huskar times it right.
* However, Phoenix can buy items which can
* 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.
* Huskar can easily regenerate lost health from DoT spells through
Berserker's Blood rendering them ineffective
* Venomancer has little armor and mobility, and rarely builds Linken's Sphere, so he is quite vulnerable to
Life Break.
*
Burning Spear's magical damage is very troublesome for Mars in the laning stage.
*
Life Break's percentage-based magical damage bypasses Bulwark, and can also be used to jump in or out of Arena Of Blood.
* Huskar's burn damage from
Burning Spear is incredibly strong against Templar Assassin as it completely cancels out her Refraction from the burning over time which results in making her very vulnerable to ganks and harassments, and in turn forcing her out of the lane.
* 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.
* Certain heroes can mess up with Pangolier's positioning and timing (especially if he intends to use Rolling Thunder during combat):
Vengeful Spirit,
Keeper of the Light,
Huskar,
Dark Seer
* Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook:
Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
* Heroes with damage over time abilities can quickly eat through Gravekeeper's Cloak charges like
Huskar,
Jakiro and
Queen of Pain.
* Burning Spears can put
Monkey King's
Tree Dance on cooldown.
* Fragile,slow heroes whom Pudge can outlive (
Crystal Maiden,
Muerta,
Sniper)
* Abilities that deal low damage with high amounts of instances are irrelevant against Pudge during Flesh Heap's active:
Gyrocopter's
Rocket Barrage and
Dark Seer's
Ion Shell are just a couple examples.
*
Huskar can burn down Dragon Knight's health quickly during the early to mid game, but is not as effective during the late game. However,
Life Break remains a constant threat due to the slow and percentage-based damage.
Additional:
* Huskar can negate Dragon Knight's passive with multiple trades of Burning Spear.
* Sunder can prevent Terrorblade's or an ally's death by swapping health, making damage-over-time abilities inefficient. Heroes that rely on damage-over-time abilities like
Venomancer and
Huskar will have a hard time against Sunder.
* As Terrorblade's damage output comes mainly from direct attacks, he will struggle greatly against heroes who have abilities that give evasion, trigger on attack or which can disarm an enemy hero:
Centaur Warrunner,
Hoodwink,
Huskar,
Invoker,
Leshrac with
Nihilism from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Lifestealer with
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Pugna,
Techies,
Windranger etc.
* 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.
* Spirit Breaker's stuns pierce spell immunity, making him a good choice against heroes that heavily rely on
Black King Bar;
Huskar
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount:
Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden,
Lion,
Huskar,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Undying,
Jakiro.
* Durable heroes:
Axe,
Dawnbreaker,
Bristleback,
Mars,
Omniknight,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Primal Beast,
Underlord.
* Heroes with spell immunity:
Juggernaut,
Pangolier,
Huskar.
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar:
Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Silencer,
Keeper of the Light,
Venomancer, etc.
* 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.
* Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook:
Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
*
Axe,
Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar,
Wraith King,
Doom: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
* Heroes with many summons or illusions are much harder to catch with Meat Hook:
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Chen.
*
Inner Fire can damage and disarm Chen's creeps.
*
Burning Spear's high damage over time that grows stronger the more it stacks can force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting a chance to save his allies during a teamfight.
*
Berserker's Blood makes it impossible for Chen and his creeps to kill Huskar.
*
Life Break can deal huge damage to Chen and slow him down.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health:
Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's armor and agility gain is very low, so when Huskar's
Burning Spears stack they can take him down very quickly at any point of the game.
*
Berserker's Blood grants bonuses as Huskar uses
Burning Spears to harass Skywrath Mage, granting him attack speed, magic resistance, and strength as health regen, making it possible that Huskar can harass Skywrath Mage out of lane and sustain through his magic burst through staying injured throughout lane, or even the game.
*
Life Break allows Huskar to jump onto Skywrath Mage, closing the distance between them and busting him down so he cannot run. This can be combed with
Inner Fire, adding a movement speed slow if Aghanim's Shard is applied so Skywrath Mage cannot escape.
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook:
Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
* Ember Spirit does minimal damage to Huskar until the very late game.
* Huskar can destroy Ember Spirit both on the line and in the game. It will be extremely difficult for Ember Spirit to finish off the creeps, because Huskar will not let him approach them, and if Ember Spirit does come up, Huskar just shuts him up with his
Burning Spear and Ember Spirit will have to go to the base or bring himself treatment, or continue to stand and die. In all cases, Ember Spirit will go into negative
Additional:
* Huskar can destroy Ember Spirit both on the line and in the game. It will be extremely difficult for Ember Spirit to finish off the creeps, because Huskar will not let him approach them, and if Ember Spirit does come up, Huskar just shuts him up with his
Burning Spear and Ember Spirit will have to go to the base or bring himself treatment, or continue to stand and die. In all cases, Ember Spirit will go into negative
* Anti-Tank heroes like:
Razor,
Necrophos,
Undying.
*
Life Break along with
Burning Spear can quickly kill Razor before Static Link steals enough damage for Razor to take down Huskar.
*
Berserker's Blood can make stealing Huskar's damage and using it against him somewhat dangerous, as Huskar will be able to inflict more and more Burning Spears rapidly.
* Heroes with many summons or illusions are much harder to catch with Meat Hook:
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Chen.
*
Sprout will not protect Nature's Prophet from Huskar if he has already locked on with Life Break.
* Even a farmed Nature's Prophet is usually not durable enough to fight Huskar alone.
* Heroes who rely on basic attacks will suffer from Laser:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Huskar.
* Meat Hook can be used to pull Tinker to Pudge while he is hiding in the trees, and a follow up with Dismember and Rot can lead to a valuable kill, as Tinker doesn't buy many survivability items.
* Flesh Heap makes it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage.
* 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.
* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as
Templar Assassin,
Morphling and
Huskar.
* Anti-Tank heroes like:
Razor,
Necrophos,
Undying.
*
Huskar's huge damage output and attack speed can get rid of Undying and Tombstone quickly.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him:
Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
* Heroes who recklessly jump on Pudge with their gap-closing abilities will be easy targets for Pudge's Meat Hook and Dismember Combo:
Phantom Assassin,
Faceless Void,
Queen of Pain etc.
* Heroes with pure damage can kill Huskar when he inevitably gets low on health:
Outworld Destroyer,
Silencer.
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar:
Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Silencer,
Keeper of the Light,
Venomancer, etc.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
Latest changes first
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
Huskar
* Bristleback's tankiness and
Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and
Quill Spray and
Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
*
Additional:
* The damage from
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using
Primal Beast
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's
Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor and poor agility gain.
Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from