* Jakiro's reliance on his abilities can cause struggles for heroes who rely on evasion or blinds to get upper hand:
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Riki,
Troll Warlord,
Keeper of the Light.
* Jakiro's area of effect abilities can hit Dark Willow even while she is hidden during the
Shadow Realm.
* Waiting about 2 seconds after Dark Willow casts Shadow Realm to cast Ice Path will stun her while her Shadow Realm is at it's maximum damage.
* Jakiro can stun Dark Willow when there is about 1 second left on
Cursed Crown, Jakiro's Ice Path stun lasts slightly longer then Cursed Crown.
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp:
Phantom Assassin,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
*
Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to bypass Bramble Maze into the backline, and zip back into battle if he gets hit by Terrorize.
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling:
Enigma,
Crystal Maiden,
Invoker,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Keeper of the Light,
Dawnbreaker.
Additional:
*
Spiked Carapace can be used to reflect Illuminate damage and stun Keeper of the Light.
*
Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to follow Keeper of the Light around if he tries to split-push.
* Keeper of the Light is very squishy and will very quickly die to Vendetta and it's followup abilities.
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
*
Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.
* Heroes with dispels:
Legion Commander,
Oracle,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer
* Fortune's End can easily dispel
Cursed Crown before it times out and stuns. He can also save a stunned ally with False Promise.
* Fate's Edict can easily negate
Bedlam's over-time damage, since the spell provides no form of control. Similarly, he can also negate the magic burst from
Shadow Realm.
* Fortune's End can dispel the fear effect from
Terrorize, and it can remove the root from
Bramble Maze if cast quick enough. Be mindful that Fortune's End only dispels your allies' debuffs on the primary target.
Additional:
*
Fortune's End not being disjointable is almost an ensured disable if Dark Willow tries to escape with Shadow Realm. Dispels Cursed Crown and Terrorize.
*
Fate's Edict negates all her magic damage in case she catches a single hero.
*
False Promise's strong dispel removes Dark Willow's disables.
* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity:
Keeper of the Light,
Lina,
Lion,
Zeus.
Additional:
*
Rage allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities. Also, the increased movement speed combined with the slow from
Ghoul Frenzy and the squishy nature of Ezalor allows Lifestealer to take him down very quickly.
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
*
Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
* Being an intelligence caster hero, Ezalor usually has a high mana pool and low health and armor, making him a prime target for
Mana Void
* Ezalor's Illuminate damage and Solar Bind's magic resistance reduction are greatly reduced thanks to
Counterspell. Counterspell can also block and reflect Solar Bind if timed properly.
* Anti-Mage usually is not hampered by Solar Bind or Will-O-Wisp thanks to
Blink.
* However, despite all of this, if Keeper of the Light is played carefully and tops off his team's mana at all times, Anti Mage will not be able to get off a good Mana Void.
* By the same token once Keeper of the Light gets a
Octarine Core, he can spam Charka Magic to keep his own mana ful
*
Counterspell negates Dark Willow's high magic burst damage. Its active blocks
Cursed Crown.
*
Blink allows Anti-Mage to dodge Terrorize during its long cast animation, as well as avoiding the obstacles from Bramble Maze. On the other hand, if Anti-Mage gets caught inside Bramble Maze, he's unable to Blink away.
* Dark Willow's chained magic burst requires a lot of mana, setting her up for damaging
Mana Voids.
*
Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with
Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes:
Terrorblade
Naga siren
Nature's Prophet and
Anti-Mage
* Juggernaut's
Healing Ward keeps his team healthy even when pushing against Keeper of the Light's
Illuminate.
* Blade Fury can dispel
Blinding Light, as well as dodge an incoming
Illuminate. Juggernaut can attack towers during Blade Fury, so he can dodge an Illuminate without having to stop pushing.
* Should Keeper of the Light obtain
Will-o-Wisp through purchasing an
Aghanim's Scepter, Juggernaut can make quick work of Ignis Fatuus without being interrupted by its pull.
* Keeper of the Light has low health, low armor, and no natural defense against
Blade Fury.
Additional:
*
Blade Fury allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities.
*
Healing Ward heals his entire team, mitigating Ezalor's weak magical burst damage.
* None of Dark Willow's spells pierce Spell Immunity, making
Blade Fury a good counter against her. Additionally, it dispels
Cursed Crown and
Bramble Maze.
* Dark Willow is generally fragile, which results in
Omnislash being devastating against her.
* However, if
Shadow Realm is activated during
Omnislash, then the attack damage is negated (though
Omnislash can still jump to other enemies).
Additional:
*
Blade Fury dispels most of Dark Willow's abilities, allowing Juggernaut to pass through Bramble Maze and cancel out Cursed Crown before the stun occurs.
* However, Dark Willow can tank
Omnislash with
Shadow Realm. As she is a valid target, but invulnerable to right clicks.
*
Keeper of the Light's
Blinding Light makes Juggernaut miss his attacks. However, it can be dispelled easily with
Blade Fury.
* Heroes with silences:
Puck,
Doom,
Riki.
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
*
Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her abilities, rendering her defenseless and unable to deal any serious damage.
*
Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.
* Keeper of the Light's
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade loses much of its power, due to Night Stalker being able to reduce the duration of daytime by a lot.
Additional:
*
Crippling Fear prevents Keeper of the Light from using his spells to keep his team alive during team-fights.
*
Dark Ascension is very strong against Keeper of the Light, as it allows Night Stalker to jump the backline and quickly kill the squishy Ezalor, especially when combined with the slow from
Void.
*
Magnetic Field lets Arc Warden or allies evade Dark Willow's shadow realm attacks. The duration of the evasion can be extended with the clone.
*
Spark Wraith also exploits Dark Willow's low mobility.
*
Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
*
Gust can hit Dark Willow beyond a defensive Bramble Maze, and before she gets close enough to hit Drow Ranger with Bedlam.
* Drow Ranger's long range allows her to hit Dark Willow's team without venturing into her Bramble Maze.
*
Flame Guard blocks Dark Willow's magical burst damage, and harms her if she tries to get close to attack with Bedlam.
*
Sleight of Fist and
Fire Remnant makes it hard for Dark Willow to fully disable Ember Spirit.
*
Berserker's Call forces Dark Willow to attack, cancelling Shadow Realm.
*
Ancient Seal instantly shuts down Dark Willow's abilities, rendering her defenseless against his high burst damage spells, while she cannot cast spells of her own.
*
Mystic Flare deals immense burst damage in an area, damaging Dark Willow through Shadow Realm.
* Pugna easily copes on the line with the Keeper of the Light push with his
Nether Blast, and in addition to
Nether Ward, the Keeper of the Light is not able to throw
Illuminate on creeps for a long time, so Pugna earns more gold and a level on the line
Additional:
* Pugna easily copes on the line with the Keeper of the Light push with his
Nether Blast, and in addition to
Nether Ward, the Keeper of the Light is not able to throw
Illuminate on creeps for a long time, so Pugna earns more gold and a level on the line
*
Rot and
Meat Hook hits Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm.
*
Flesh Heap reduces Dark Willow's magic burst damage.
* Low health spellcasters:
Lina,
Witch Doctor,
Tinker,
Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
* All of Puck's abilities are area-targeted, and will hit Dark Willow when she uses Shadow Realm.
*
Illusory Orb allows Puck to bypass Bramble Maze, close the gap and silence Dark Willow with
Waning Rift.
*
Phase Shift helps Puck dodge attacks charged by Shadow Realm, and is easily timed against Terrorize's long cast time.
* Heroes who are strong against mobile heroes:
Disruptor,
Bloodseeker,
Kunkka,
Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes with hastes:
Dark Seer,
Lycan
* Heroes with channeling abilities:
Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
* With
Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
*
Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp:
Phantom Assassin,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with high burst damage and
Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
* Heroes which rely exclusively on right clicks will struggle somewhat against Blinding Light:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Medusa
* Heroes with dispels:
Legion Commander,
Oracle,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like
Lion,
Ancient Apparition,
Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
* Heroes with silences:
Puck,
Doom,
Riki.
* Heroes with channeling abilities:
Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp:
Phantom Assassin,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
* Heroes that can jump and kill him:
Meepo,
Clinkz,
Templar Assassin
* Heroes who can silence will shut down Dark Willow entirely:
Death Prophet,
Silencer,
Drow Ranger
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar:
Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Silencer,
Keeper of the Light,
Venomancer, etc.
*
Press the Attack can dispel Blinding Light or Solar Bind from a hero.
*
Duel can be used to instantly take Keeper of the Light out of a team-fight.
* Heroes with abilities that blind or cause Legion Commander to miss will prevent her from winning Duels:
Arc Warden,
Keeper of the Light,
Riki,
Tinker
* Blinding Light can knock Monkey King outside of his ultimate, Wukong's Command and can blind him.
* Will-O-Wisp will stun Monkey King from Tree Dance by destroying his tree.
Additional:
*
Blinding Light can easily push Monkey King out of Wukong's Command, as well as blinding him.
* Monkey King is vulnerable to burst damage,
Solar Bind makes him more so
* However, Keeper of the Light can be easily ganked by Monkey King during early-mid game stage.
* Terrorize forces Monkey King out of
Wukong's Command.
* Any hero that can nullify effects of Chronosphere: (
Keeper of the Light with
Aghanim's Scepter during daytime,
Winter Wyvern), banishing him or Faceless Void (
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Earth Spirit with
Aghanim's Scepter) or protecting him in other ways (
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Abaddon) can greatly limit Chronosphere's potential.
* Terrorize forces Faceless Void out of
Chronosphere.
* Heroes that punish mobile heroes:
Bloodseeker,
Keeper of the Light,
Kunkka,
Disruptor.
* Bramble Maze stops
Charge of Darkness in its tracks. Its very long duration means it can be used as an obstacle to block off an incoming Spirit Break during teamfights.
* Shadow Realm and Bedlam can be activated when Dark Willow sees
Charge of Darkness coming, preventing Spirit Breaker from using
Nether Strike after the initial stun.
* 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 with powerful rooting abilities will disable most of Pangolier's skills, a bonus point if it pierces spell immunity since it will also be able to stop Pangolier during his Rolling Thunder:
Treant Protector,
Meepo,
Crystal Maiden,
Dark Willow,
Underlord,
Naga Siren
* Dark Willow's burst damage and stun prevents Troll Warlord from approaching her until he has
Black King Bar.
* Troll Warlord's lack of burst damage makes it hard for him to kill Dark Willow before she slips into Shadow Realm.
* Windrun does not protect Windranger from
Cursed Crown stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
* Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in
Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
Additional:
*
Windrun does not protect Windranger from Cursed Crown's stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
*
Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
* Illuminate wipes out Broodmother's spiders and prevents her from pushing the lane. It also gives vision to reveal where broodmother is hiding in the trees.
* Bramble Maze prevents Timbersaw from
Timber Chaining away without getting rooted.
* Cursed Crown can still catch Timbersaw if he
Timber Chains away.
*
Reactive Armor offers little protection against Dark Willow's high magical damage.
* The Keeper of the Light easily farms on the line against the Viper, due to the fact that it has a long-range
Illuminate, and the Viper, in turn, cannot use its advantage of dominance on the center line, due to the fact that it does not reach the Keeper of the Light
Additional:
* The Keeper of the Light easily farms on the line against the Viper, due to the fact that it has a long-range
Illuminate, and the Viper, in turn, cannot use its advantage of dominance on the center line, due to the fact that it does not reach the Keeper of the Light
*
Terrorize,
Bedlam and
Cursed Crown can damage Muerta through
Pierce the Veil.
* Even if Muerta has
Black King Bar and
Pierce the Veil active, Dark Willow can still use
Shadow Realm to protect herself against the
Pierce the Veil's high damage, as Muerta cannot attack her for it's duration.
*
Illuminate clears Beastmaster's summons and is effective against his push.
*
Bramble Maze will very likely catch Marci midair, disabling Marci's chasing/fleeing ability.
*
Shadow Realm prevents Marci from bursting Willow down since she relies on physical attacks and unit target spells. With
Aghanim's Scepter, Willow can hit Marci while Marci can't hit Willow.
*
Bedlam and
Eul's Scepter of Divinity allows Willow to manfight if Marci initiates with Rebound.
*
Terrorize and
Cursed Crown combo can waste Marci's ultimate for almost half of its duration.
* Heroes that have AoE damage:
Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate:
Luna's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Mars's
Arena of Blood,
Jakiro's
Macropyre,
Dual Breath and
Ice Path,
Naga Siren's
Song of the Siren,
Razor's
Eye of the Storm and
Plasma Field,
Lina's
Light Strike Array,
Broodmother's
Spinner's Snare from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Elder Titan's
Earth Splitter and
Echo Stomp,
Alchemist's
Unstable Concoction and
Acid Spray,
Queen of Pain's
Sonic Wave,
Dark Seer's
Wall of Replica and
Vacuum,
Venomancer's
Noxious Plague and
Poison Nova from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Oracle's
Fortune's End and
Rain of Destiny from
Aghanim's Shard,
Bloodseeker's
Blood Rite,
Enigma's
Black Hole and
Midnight Pulse,
Shadow Fiend's
Requiem of Souls,
Batrider's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso,
Firefly,
Flamebreak and
Sticky Napalm,
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast,
Sand King's
Epicenter,
Sand Storm and
Burrowstrike,
Gyrocopter's
Call Down,
Ember Spirit's
Sleight of Fist,
Death Prophet's
Exorcism and
Silence,
Monkey King's
Wukong's Command,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Muerta's
The Calling,
Medusa's
Stone Gaze,
Zeus's
Nimbus from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Dark Willow's
Bramble Maze,
Pangolier's
Swashbuckle,
Grimstroke's
Soulbind,
Ink Swell and
Stroke of Fate,
Earthshaker's
Echo Slam and
Fissure,
Puck's
Dream Coil and
Waning Rift,
Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity.
* Heroes with summons/illusions/neutral creep armies:
Beastmaster,
Chen,
Naga Siren
*
Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with
Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes:
Terrorblade
Naga siren
Nature's Prophet and
Anti-Mage
* 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.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark:
Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
* Heroes with extremely slow movement speed will cripple against Solar Bind:
Medusa,
Viper
Additional:
*
Will-O-Wisp will keep Medusa busy after she got hit by
Blinding Light.
*
Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with
Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes:
Terrorblade
Naga siren
Nature's Prophet and
Anti-Mage
* Heroes with channeling abilities:
Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
*
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.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
*
Keeper of the Light's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.
* Heroes with dispels:
Legion Commander,
Oracle,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer
* Melee carries during the laning phase:
Sven,
Slark
* Heroes that can jump and kill him:
Meepo,
Clinkz,
Templar Assassin
* Heroes who can stun multiple units at once:
Dark Willow,
Spirit Breaker,
Slardar,
Invoker, and
Tidehunter.
Additional:
* Casting Bramble Maze on top of Meepo guarantees a root, as it is nearly impossible to leave the thorns with all of Meepo's clones.
* Terrorize and Cursed Crown offer great disables against the grouped Meepos and can prevent them from using
Poof to escape.
* Heroes with hastes:
Dark Seer,
Lycan
*
Keeper of the Light has a blind, which causes Lycan to miss his attacks.
*
Blood Rite makes Ezalor chose between getting off Illuminate or getting silenced for a while, as Illuminate is a channeled ability.
* Blood Rite's silence can completely take Ezalor out of a teamfight, as he relies on his abilities to be useful.
* Keeper of the Light's only mobility source, his high movement speed (via his high base movement speed and through spirit form), is entirely countered by
Rupture.
* Bramble Maze greatly hinders Bloodseeker's ability to run around in teamfights and pick off dying allies.
* Shadow Realm prevents Bloodseeker from attacking dark Willow, allowing her to safely teleport away.
* Heroes with high burst damage and
Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
* Heroes which rely exclusively on right clicks will struggle somewhat against Blinding Light:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Medusa
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Keeper of the Light
* Being a cast-oriented hero, Ezalor will suffer from all of Silencer's abilities.
Global Silence is a guaranteed lengthy silence which will render Ezalor useless in a teamfight.
Arcane Curse and
Last Word are good against any caster, since they are extremely potent.
*
*
* However, it should be worth mentioning that a smart Ezalor will buy Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Silencer's abilities. Combined with the level 20 talent (Chakra Magic applies a basic dispel), Ezalor can purge Silencer's abilities off allies and himself alike.
Dark Willow
*
Last Word and
Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.
*