Silencer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Kunkka
* Astral Imprisonment can allow Outworld Destroyer to save himself or allies from Kunkka's full kit.
* Sanity's Eclipse deal a large amount of damage, as Kunkka's mana pool is much smaller than Outworld Destroyer's.
* Arcane Orb deals pure damage, shredding through Kunkka and his team even with Ghostship's buff.
Bristleback
* Sanity's Eclipse only triggers Bristleback's passive once, and deals high damage against Bristleback's low intelligence.
* Outworld Destroyer's high burst damage is not negated by Bristleback's passive, So even if Bristleback turns his back on Outworld, Outworld Destroyer can decimate Bristleback quickly,
* If Bristleback attempts to flee, or tries to close the gap, Outworld can banish him with Astral Imprisonment, both reducing Bristlebacks much needed mana, and allowing Outworld to move in front of him, forcing him to take the full damage from his spells, This will also allow Outworld to land a devasting Sanity's Eclipse, without it being reduced by Bristleback's passive,
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Kunkka
* Supernova negates Kunkka's combo entirely, as it can't be affected by spells while using Supernova.
* Icarus Dive also allows Phoenix to dodge Ghostship and Torrent.
Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Kunkka
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Bristleback
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed so he's unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin disables
Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his defensive passive, Bristleback also loses his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Kunkka
* Similarly, they can negate your X Marks The Spot & Torrent combo by protecting your target when you use Return. Good candidates to negate your combo include Outworld Destroyer and his
Astral Imprisonment, and
Shadow Demon and his
Disruption.
* Heroes with hide abilities can often dodge a Ghostship just before it hits.
* Similarly, they can negate your X Marks The Spot & Torrent combo by protecting your target when you use Return. Good candidates to negate your combo include Outworld Destroyer and his
Astral Imprisonment, and
Shadow Demon and his
Disruption.
* A Eul's Scepter of Divinity can also do the trick, but, unlike the previously mentioned abilities, you can only use it on yourself and not your allies.
Bristleback
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passives.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Kunkka
* Guardian Angel makes allies immune to all physical damage, effectively causing Tidebringer to do no damage.
* Purification is a powerful, pure damaging heal that can save Omniknight's allies after Kunkka's large damage.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Kunkka
* Leap allows Mirana to easily escape Torrent and Ghostship.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Kunkka
* Ursa's massive physical damage can destroy Kunkka quickly.
* Enrage can be activated before being hit by Ghostship to prevent most of the damage.
* Earthshock slows Kunkka's movement speed. With no escape abilities, Kunkka is easy prey.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Kunkka
* Clinkz's high damage output and insane attack speed late-game can take Kunkka out of the fight before it begins.
* Burning Barrage and
Searing Arrows together can kill allies easily even under Ghostship's buff.
* Skeleton Walk can allow Clinkz to make a quick escape after Kunkka's combo, or even avoid it all together.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
* Storm Surge allows Razor to outdistance Bristleback, even with a few stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo on him, Also, if Razor has his Shard, but Bristalback does not, Viscous Nasal Goo will deal damage to Bristalback every time he uses it, And normally, it won't be affected by Bristlebacks Passive, as Bristleback will face him to cast it.
Additional:
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
* Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
Additional:
* When dueled, Bristleback will have to face Legion head on, not allowing his passive Bristleback to come into effect.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Bristleback
* Essence Shift allows Slark to hit bristleback freely whether on the front or back, stealing attributes and make bristleback much less tanky.
* Pounce can be used to disengage and recover loss HP with his ultimate passive, and can return to fight in a short period while bristleback is already injured and got some of his attributes stolen.
* Dark Pact makes it near impossible to keep
Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on slark.
* Although Dark Pact cannot dispel
Quill Spray, means Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he uses
Shadow Dance before.
* Slark builds Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counter birstleback.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from the Bristleback passive.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Kunkka
* Blade Fury negates Kunkka's X Marks the Spot.
* Kunkka has no way to dodge Omnislash.
* Kunkka has no way to hit Healing Ward directly in battle, and it mitigates Ghostship and Tidebringer's damage.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Bristleback
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With his upgraded level 25 talent, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing
Warpath.
* If Doom gets an Aghanim's Scepter, he can disable
Bristleback and
Warpath, taking away much of his durability and damage potential in team fights.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Whirling Death deals damage as well while reducing 15% of Bristleback's strength, which reduces Bristleback's tankiness.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw with Viscous Nasal Goo and build
Lotus Orb can prefer reflects to Viscous Nasal Goo .
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)Kunkka
* With his Take Aim, Sniper can simply sit out of your ability range and deal massive damage if not killed first.
* Assassinate can target allies who are still alive with low health because of Ghostship's buff.
* Headshot makes it harder for Kunkka to position/escape and makes it hard for Kunkka to hit with Tidebringer.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 16%)Kunkka
* Treant Protector's
Living Armor will also negate Tidebringer's damage.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Bristleback
* Heroes who deal single instance burst damage will only proc Bristleback once: Lina,
Lion.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Bristleback
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback's small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* Mana Break removes both a percentage and flat amount of your mana, preventing you from using abilities in the lane.
* Blink Anti-Mage has very high mobility with this skill, and can easily escape from you since you have no way to prevent his blink. He can also use this offensively to get in front of you during fights.
Kunkka
* Kunkka can bring Anti-Mage back with
X Marks the Spot, effectively negating Blink or forcing him to wait out the debuff before Blinking.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Reaper's Scythe and
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
Additional:
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive
Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
Bristleback
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Kunkka
* Rage negates Kunkka's X Marks the Spot.
* As a strength hero with high strength gain and very little armor, as well as low agility gain, Kunkka is vulnerable to Lifestealer's Feast and
Open Wounds.
Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar,
Terrorblade
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Sharpshooter deals massive damage to Bristleback and applies a high duration disable on his passive.
* Bushwhack and
Scurry can be used to easily kite Bristleback.
Additional:
* Bristleback and
Warpath can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time, reducing his both offense and defense.
* Scurry and
Bushwhack can be used to kite bristleback.
Kunkka
* Heroes that can negate Hoodwink's mobility: Kunkka,
Disruptor,
Mars.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Bristleback
* Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
* Finger of Death deals high damage to Bristleback, and only triggers his passive once.
Kunkka
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Kunkka
* Tidebringer, Torrent and Ghostship destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasm army all through the game.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Kunkka
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from Epicenter, especially if he initiates during the battle.
* Sand King can't dodge X Marks the Spot - Torrent combo by his abilities. Torrent drags him out of his
Sand Storm
Bristleback
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Kunkka
* Tidebringer, Torrent and Ghostship destroys Phantom Lancer's illusion army.
* Phantom Lancer can't escape with
Doppelganger under your X Marks the Spot, but can use it to dodge it.
Additional:
* Tidebringer and Kunkka's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with
Diffusal Blade.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Kunkka
* X Marks the Spot prevents Broodmother from escaping.
* Tidebringer can clear Broodmother's spiders if they get in range.
Additional:
* Kunkka's entire kit is great for taking out multiple units at once.
* Tidebringer's cleave will split through a wave of spiderlings.
* X Marks the Spot is great for dragging Broodmother back out of her web for Kunkka's team to set up on her.
* Torrent and Ghostship will demolish any spiderlings within the radius.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
Additional:
* Bristleback reduces most of Broodmother's and her spiderlings' damage.
* Quill Spray will hit any spiders in its proximity, hindering Broodmother's fighting and farming capabilities.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Kunkka
* X Marks the Spot is good to prevent a single meepo from escaping from a deadly situation.
* Tidebringer, Torrent and Ghostship destroys Meepo's clones.
Additional:
* Tidebringer's cleave damage can wear down Meepo's clones quickly. It can also give Meepo problems in the lane, due to his melee range and initially low health pool.
* Ghostship and
Torrent can effectively disable Meepo while dealing heavy damage.
* X Marks the Spot prevents attempts to escape using Poof.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Kunkka
* Tidebringer's cleave will cripple any of his summons.
* Could potentially build Heaven's Halberd to cripple Lycan even more.
Additional:
* Tidebringer can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Can also build into Heaven's Halberd which will disable Lycan's auto attacks, crippling him even more.
Bristleback
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
Additional:
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Kunkka
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and
Nature's Prophet.
* In general, highly mobile heroes like Earth Spirit or
Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and
Nature's Prophet.
Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Kunkka
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from Sonic Wave and
Scream of Pain.
* Queen of Pain can't escape easily from X Marks the Spot - Torrent combo.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Kunkka
* Tidebringer will deal lots of damage to Alchemist before he builds physical survivability items.
* Torrent and
X Marks the Spot can control Alchemist at all stages of the game before he has Black King Bar.
* Ghostship's rum buff will greatly reduce the Alchemist's damage output in teamfights including his Radiance.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Tiny's nonexistent armor in the early game makes him very vulnerable to Quill Spray's large amounts of physical damage.
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can slow Tiny to a crawl and allows Bristleback to easily kite him with his high movement speed and Quill Spray's long range, as Tiny has no ability to escape.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Kunkka
* Tidebringer pressures Invoker easily in lane due to Invoker's low health and armor in the early game.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Kunkka
* X Marks The Spot allows Kunkka or his teammates to fight back under effect of Glimpse.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Kunkka
* Using X Marks the spot Kunkka can prevent Ember Spirit from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant, until he purchase
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or
Linken's Sphere.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Bristleback
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Additional:
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor and poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Bristleback
* Multiple instances of damage from Eclipse will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly in a short time, dealing tremendous damage to Luna and her teammates.
Additional:
* Quill Spray and
Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback helps return a lot of damage to Luna’s team if she uses her nukes on him and he has his back to her.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and
Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of Crimson Guard, which is good protection from bouncing glaives.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's constant harass from Quill Spray will greatly hurt Enigma's laning and kill his Eidolons.
* However, Bristleback has no way of canceling Black Hole at all. And Bristleback is not a hero that goes for disabling items to counter that problem.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Kunkka
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from Chaotic Offering and hit summons hard.
* Tidebringer clears summons later in the game.
* Most of your spells can interrupt Upheaval.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Kunkka
* X Marks the Spot will return Underlord or his teammate if they escape with Dark Rift.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* 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.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Kunkka
* X Marks the Spot negates Stampede.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Kunkka
* Spectre can't escape with Spectral Dagger under X Marks the Spot.
* Kunkka can dominate Spectre's lane using Tidebringer and gain an advantage.
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from Haunt.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or
Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 2%)Kunkka
* X Marks the Spot prevents Dark Seer or his allies from escaping with Surge.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Arc Warden has relatively lower armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
* Arc Warden also does not like to build a Silver Edge as it takes a long time to build up and may slow down the timings for other important items needed in the game like
Gleipnir.
* However, do note that in a game where Arc Warden's team has many jumping capabilities or good passives, like a Tidehunter or
Spectre, a
Silver Edge becomes incredibly valuable on Arc Warden as not only can he run away from the jumps, he effectively gets 2 breaks, and Bristleback may not be the best pick.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Bristleback
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
Additional:
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from
Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Bristleback
* Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
* Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and
Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Bristleback
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Kunkka
* Kunkka's
Ghostship and
Torrent disrupt fights in Arena Of Blood.
Marci
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Kunkka
* Heroes that can keep Marci for a long time in one place so she can't pursue her targets, like Bane,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Invoker,
Disruptor and
Kunkka.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Kunkka
* Heroes with long channeling abilities like Witch Doctor are easy targets for Kunkka to interrupt in team fights.
Additional:
* Torrent can cancel Death Ward from a far distance.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar: 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.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Kunkka
* In general, highly mobile heroes like Earth Spirit or
Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and
Nature's Prophet.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Kunkka
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Kunkka
* In general, highly mobile heroes like Earth Spirit or
Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and
Nature's Prophet.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities will not only proc Bristleback's passive continuously, they will also do little harm to him when he is facing away from the source: Venomancer,
Arc Warden
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)Kunkka
* 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.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Bristleback
* Bristleback's
Viscous Nasal Goo can catch and slow Bounty Hunter.
Warpath and
Quill Spray can defeat him quickly due to his small HP pool when compared to Bristleback's.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Kunkka
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damage can make quick work of Chen's converted creeps and at same time gain farm: Magnus,
Jakiro,
Shadow Fiend,
Kunkka,
Luna,
Dragon Knight,
Medusa,
Alchemist.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Kunkka
* Heroes with cleave or multi-target attacks can quickly take on Familiars and reduce Visage's firepower like Gyrocopter,
Kunkka,
Magnus and
Medusa.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Kunkka
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and
Nature's Prophet.
* In general, highly mobile heroes like Earth Spirit or
Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and
Nature's Prophet.
Additional:
* X Marks the Spot can be used to prevent Tinker from escape with
Blink Dagger or
Boots of Travel, discourage him from snapping farm and snapping gank. However, in later game, it'll be much more difficult because Tinker can buy
Black King Bar or
Linken's Sphere to prevent Kunkka from placing X on him, or
Eul's Scepter of Divinity to prevent the recall
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Kunkka
* X Marks the Spot breaks Flaming Lasso when used on ally and can break if used on Batrider.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Kunkka
* Kunkka is a strong teamfighter with his powerful control spells, which Rubick could exploit to his advantage.
* Torrent provides another source of damage and crowd control.
* Ghostship is a powerful teamfight spell, providing huge magical damage to enemies and buffing allies with damage negation.
* Both skills works the best when comboed with other source of control from allies, such as Duel or
Beserker's Call.
* Telekinesis can reposition an enemy onto a
Torrent or
Ghostship.
* Torrent Storm works as a disruptive spell for Rubick to create chaos around him.
* Tidal Wave offers another source of control and repositioning.
* As long as Kunkka gains these spells with
Aghanim's Shard and
Aghanim's Scepter,
Rubick does not need extra items to steal these spells.
* X Marks the Spot serves as a utility spell for escaping, chasing and other useful functions.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
Additional:
* Rubick deals little damage on his own, and Bristleback can simply shrug off all his spells and chase Rubick down with his Quill Spray and the damage bonus from
Warpath.
* Rubick does not tend to charge forward in teamfights, stay in the front lines under most circumstances, yet effective casts of Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo requires the opposite as they require multiple casts and close range to add up stacks.
* Rubick does not benefit from Warpath through casting the stolen spell.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* Chronosphere allows allies to reposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Void from using Time Walk.
Additional:
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
Kunkka
* Ghostship can stun Faceless Void and give damage reduction to allies that are trapped during Chronosphere.
* Torrent can stun Faceless Void from outside Chronosphere.
* X Marks the Spot can bring back Faceless Void if he escapes using Time Walk.
* If the timing is right and there are allies to attack, a combination of X Marks the Spot,
Ghostship,
Torrent and
Tidebringer can kill Faceless Void instantly.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Spirit Breaker's
Nether Strike with
Aghanim's Shard disables Bristleback's passives.
Bristleback
* Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Bristleback
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Bristleback
* While Jakiro's damage is going to be little more then average against him due to his Bristleback. His large quantity of stuns can prevent Bristleback from getting his much needed
Warpath stacks, while also giving his allies a chance to counter his high defense.
* Dual Breath and Liquid Frost both reduce Movement Speed, removing one of Bristlebacks greatest strengths
* Liquid Fire reduces Bristlebacks Attack Speed, making it harder for him to burst down a hero with Warpath
* However Bristleback can generally catch and kill a lone Jakiro. Your only effective in a group
Bristleback
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Kunkka
* Since Tidebringer has a 4 second cooldown, Kunkka has little availability to manfight Huskar.
Bristleback
* The damage from Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
Additional:
* 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.
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.
About
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.
How to interpret this data
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
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
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.
Most popular searches list
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Kunkka
* Kunkka relies on his powerful AOE spells to turn the tides of teamfights. He cannot use them while silenced.
Last Word can mess up Kunkka's ability synergy, silencing him in the middle of his strong combo.
Global Silence can disable Kunkka's spell casting from anywhere on the map, even if Kunkka is spell immune at the time.
*
*
Bristleback
*
Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback.
Last Word and
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
Viscous Nasal Goo or
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing
Warpath charges from stacking.
*
*
Additional:
* Bristleback will not be able to cast
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.