*
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.
* Outworld Destroyer can save an ally hero caught by
Duel with Astral Imprisonment, and he can inflict heavy damage on Legion Commander with Arcane Orb to aid his ally. However, if he gets caught, he is unlikely to survive the duel, due to his lack of durability.
Additional:
*
Astral Imprisonment prevents Legion Commander from killing her opponents in Duels.
* 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.
* Disruption can save allies and mess up an initiation from an enemy Legion Commander. Using Disruption on your ally that is affected by
Duel will leave her totally exposed without the benefit of the life steal from
Moment of Courage. A precise decision to Disrupt Legion Commander or her victim is crucial to waste Duel's potential.
* Demonic Purge cannot be dispelled by a hard dispel from
Press the Attack, which in turn can be dispelled by your ultimate.
* 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.
*
Legion Commander is unlikely to win a
Duel against Ursa.
Additional:
*
Fury Swipes can give Ursa the edge in Duels.
*
Enrage's instant cast time allows it to be used before Legion Commander initiates a Duel, causing Ursa to take almost no damage for a brief period of time.
* However, Duel stops Ursa from casting Enrage at the most critical moment
*
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.
* Heroes who can hide the Dueled target (
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Tusk,
Phoenix with
Aghanim's Scepter etc).
Additional:
* Legion Commander relies on her powerful attack and her
Duel to be effective. But if Phoenix gets the jump on her first, she can find herself severely slowed, taking heavy damage, and find herself unable to Duel a burning Supernova.
* It must be noted that
Press the Attack will both dispel the attack slow of Fire Spirits and grant her or whoever she targets bonus attack speed. This allows her to easily destroy a Supernova if caution is not taken to prevent this from occurring. As such, it would be a better decision to simply avoid a farmed or skilled Legion Commander instead of attempting to overpower her.
* If an ally is caught by
Duel, Phoenix can use Sun Ray to heal the ally and damage Legion Commander, possibly swinging the Duel in their team's favor. Or with
Aghanim's Scepter, Phoenix can save an ally from dying in Duel with Supernova and cancel the Duel as well.
*
Treant Protector's
Living Armor will also negate Tidebringer's damage.
*
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Lone Druid,
Troll Warlord,
Legion Commander and
Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
* With armor items like
Solar Crest or
Assault Cuirass combined with Bash of the Deep, Slardar can easily tank the
Duel, If not dueled himself, he can drop
Legion Commander's armor during duel and/or buff his teammate and save them, leaving her only the choice of dueling supports which can also be saved with fast Blink into Slithereen Crush.
*
Leap allows Mirana to easily escape Torrent and Ghostship.
* Heroes that cannot move in fights such as a
Dueling
Legion Commander or anyone channeling a spell like
Bane,
Pudge, or
Enigma are easy Sacred Arrow targets.
* Heroes that can protect or dispel stunned allies such as
Legion Commander,
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon and
Oracle can reduce the effectiveness of Sacred Arrow.
*
Mana Shield makes Medusa very hard to take down in Duels.
*
Stone Gaze stops Legion Commander from Dueling altogether, regardless of who she targets.
*
Cold Embrace saves allies from dying in Duels.
*
Winter's Curse turns Legion Commander's high damage against her allies, giving the enemy team little time to react.
* However, Winter Wyvern lanes very poorly against Legion Commander due to Press the Attack removing all the debuffs she can give. Winter Wyvern also has little chances of surviving if she gets Dueled herself.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is very effective against
Duel.
* Also, casting Winter's Curse at
Legion Commander while an ally is in a
Duel will stun her for most of the duration, possibly preventing lethal damage dealt to your ally. It can also turn her high-damage against her teammate.
* Walrus PUNCH! makes Legion Commander lose
Duel easily, especially when she doesn't have
Blade Mail. Tusk can also snowball dueled allies, preventing them from taking damage for a large portion of the duel's duration.
* Timbersaw Defeats Kunkka on the center line, due to the fact that he has a huge resistance to physical damage by
Reactive Armor, which is why
Tidebringer almost does not break through Timbersaw, and due to
Whirling Death Timbersaw can very much break through Kunkka and force him to leave the line, or spend money on
Tango.
Additional:
* Timbersaw easily beats Kunkka on the midlane, due to the fact that he has huge physical damage resistance from
Reactive Armor, which is why
Tidebringer almost does not break through Timbersaw, and due to
Whirling Death and Kunkka being a strength hero, Timbersaw can very much break through Kunkka and force him to leave the lane, or spend money on
Tango.
* If he isn't broken (break), Abaddon can use Borrowed Time to waste Legion Commander's
Duel, As Borrowed Time has a shorter cooldown, Legion Commander can't win duels, effectively reducing her targets by one, Duel also means that Borrowed Time heals Abaddon for the duration of the duel, as Legion can't stop attacking.
Additional:
*
Aphotic Shield and
Mist Coil makes it hard for Legion Commander to kill Abaddon's teammates in Duels.
*
Borrowed Time makes Abaddon nearly impossible to kill in Duels, and often replenishes much of his health because Legion Commander cannot manually stop attacking during Duels.
* Battery Assault's mini-stuns can severely disrupt Legion Commander's attack animation when she enters a
Duel, potentially saving Clockwerk (or his allies) and possibly even giving him an edge in securing a win himself.
* Power Cogs pushes Legion Commander away from Clockwerk's allies when she enters a
Duel.
* Solar Guardian can save allies who are being dueled and will interrupt her
Duel initiation.
*
Shallow Grave prevents Legion Commander from killing her opponents in Duels.
*
Shadow Wave will heal an ally caught in a Duel, as well as dealing damage to Legion Commander.
*
Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
* Earthshaker's AoE stuns can save ally against
Duel, forcing Legion Commander to spend
Aghanim's Scepter or
Black King Bar.
*
Untouchable makes Enchantress one of the hardest heroes for Legion Commander to Duel against, as her attack speed will be significantly slowed for the duration, even with any form of spell immunity.
* Meanwhile, when Enchantress is not a target, Enchantress can use both
Impetus and
Enchant on Legion Commander to help her ally win the Duel.
*
Static Link drains Legion Commander's accumulated damage, effectively neutralizing her overall primary advantage, and prevents her from winning Duels.
*
Storm Surge's movement speed buff makes Razor and his allies harder to catch and initiate.
*
Eye of the Storm, if used beforehand, will always hit Legion Commander during Duels, due to her forced proximity. This drastically lowers her survivability during Duel.
* Decrepify prevents Legion Commander from attacking allies during
Duel, regardless if it's used on her or on the ally .
* Pugna can easily cast Decrepify, Nether Blast and Life Drain on Legion during the 4/4.75/5.5/8 seconds of duel
Additional:
*
Decrepify on either hero stops Legion Commander from completing a Duel, and dissuades her from initiating Duels on ethereal allies.
*
Life Drain can help Pugna's teammates win a fight, either by killing Legion Commander or replenishing her target's health.
* Wraith King makes a poor
Duel target, as he can be already quite hard to bring down once, and then you have to worry about his second life.
* However, even if Legion Commander does win the duel when Reincarnation is off cooldown, she still receives the permanent victory damage bonus because taking down Wraith King's first life still counts as a "kill".
*
Lucky Shot can disarm Legion Commander and reduce her armor, which can reduce her chances of winning a duel. If an ally is targeted, Pangolier can simply use
Swashbuckle to inflict it on her.
* If an enemy Pangolier casts a well-timed
Rolling Thunder before Legion Commander can cast Duel, it might result in her chasing down Pangolier until his or her ultimate ends, whichever duration ends first, resulting in an open window for enemy allies to target Legion Commander, making her vulnerable and susceptible to any source of attacks. If Legion Commander has an
Aghanim's Scepter in her inventory, the risk of wasting a solid 8 seconds would result in a futile duel.
* Dueling Pangolier is normally a mistake, Pangolier can disarm you in the duel, and potentially gain some Duel damage, Only duel Pangolier if at least 1 ally is nearby, and he is on low health, And even then, be wary, A good duel can easily turn against you with one Lucky Shot (Due to Lucky Shot lasting 4 seconds).
Additional:
* Swashbuckle can be used to disarm Legion Commander while she is Dueling an ally, granting her opponent a considerable advantage, Lucky Shot lasts 4 seconds at most wasting Legion Commander's entire Duel, (Or half, if Legion Commander has the Scepter).
* Legion Commander will try not to duel Pangolier alone, as she will almost inevitably lose, thanks to Lucky Shot's disarm, If Legion Commander wants to duel a Pangolier, she must be with atleast a teammate, and if she has her scepter, 3 or 4 teammates.
* Legion Commander is often with her allies, allowing you to rack up some considerable damage resistance with Shield Crash.
*
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.
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery:
Legion Commander,
Lifestealer,
Weaver,
Wraith King
* Strong laners are usually at a disadvantage because of how well Sven can jungle. Heroes such as
Dark Seer.
Underlord and
Legion Commander may find that later Sven takes care of them very quickly after some jungle farming.
Additional:
*
God's Strength makes Sven one of the worst heroes to Duel.
*
Storm Hammer can be used to interrupt Duels.
*
Warcry gives a big boost in passive defensive ability with the active component to nearby allies.
* With the Aghanim Shard Warcry also gives nearby allies passive increases.
* Heroes with global abilities can give Legion Commander's opponent an edge in Duels from anywhere on the map:
Nature's Prophet,
Ancient Apparition,
Zeus,
Invoker,
Treant Protector
* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heroes like;
Spirit Breaker,
Legion Commander,
Axe,
Puck, and
Slardar.
*
Troll Warlord's melee bash and high attack speed can often help him and his allies win Duels against Legion Commander.
* 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.
* 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's low mobility and lack of defensive abilities make him an easy gank target for the entire game, especially if Blink Dagger is picked up.
* Since Tidebringer has a 4 second cooldown, Kunkka has little availability to manfight Huskar.
* 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.
*
Paralyzing Cask can save ally from Legion Commander Duel's until she purchases
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Voodoo Restoration can heal Witch Doctor allies from Duel's.
*
Death Ward can help Witch Doctor allies from winning Duel's, if, he is not a target.
* 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.
* Song of the Siren lasts long enough to prevent a successful
Duel (but only if Naga wasn't the target).
* Heroes who rely on illusions will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren
* 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.
* Heroes that can disable or silence Silencer for a long time, such as
Bane and
Legion Commander, can lock down Silencer while their allies put him down.
* Bane has powerful single-target abilities that can help his allies win
Duels, or at least cripple Legion Commander for the duration.
* Nightmare can waste Duel's entire duration as the dueled units transfer the Nightmare back and forth. This may be prevented if a non-Dueling unit attacks the Nightmared Dueler.
Additional:
*
Enfeeble,
Nightmare and
Fiend's Grip all prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels, especially when Bane has
Blink Dagger.
* Heroes with strong dispels can dispel Bane's disables from their allies:
Oracle,
Legion Commander,
Omniknight.
*
Fate's Edict prevents Legion Commander from attacking for a few seconds, potentially saving Oracle's ally.
*
Fortune's End dispels Press the Attack's healing and attack speed buff, as well as the movement speed bonus from Overwhelming Odds.
*
False Promise protects allies and prevents Legion Commander from winning Duels and gaining bonus damage.
Additional:
* Provided that the enemy team does not have an
Axe, Oracle can guarantee that his ally survives for the duration of the Duel with False Promise and has decent nuke potential to help ally to win a Duel. He can also disarm Legion Commander with Fate's Edict.
* Oracle can dispel enemy buffs like
Overwhelming Odds and
Press the Attack with Fortune's End.
* Heroes with long disables, like
Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
* Rubick can steal abilities from Kunkka (except Tidebringer) with
Spell Steal. Since build Aghanim's Scepter, Rubick's make two steal abilities from Kunkka when the spot is right.
Additional:
*
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.
* Heroes with low health will die easily during Duels, and can be farmed for damage in the early game:
Crystal Maiden,
Lich,
Techies,
Rubick
* A well-timed
Eclipse before a Duel usually prevents Legion Commander from winning Duels if Luna is the target. Luna can also buy
Linken's Sphere to block Duel.
* Meanwhile, when Luna is not a target,
Eclipse and
Lucent Beam can also help an ally win a Duel against Legion Commander.
* Bear in mind, however, that skilled Legion Commander will always buy a
Black King Bar to block
Eclipse and
Lucent Beam or
Aghanim's Scepter to reduce their damage.
Additional:
* A well-timed
Eclipse before a Duel usually prevents Legion Commander from winning Duels, if Luna is the target.
* Meanwhile, when Luna is not a target,
Eclipse and
Lucent Beam can also help an ally win a Duel against Legion Commander.
* However, skilled Legion Commander will always buy a
Black King Bar to block
Eclipse and
Lucent Beam or
Aghanim's Scepter to reduce it's damage.
* Heroes that can keep Luna locked down for a long time can be a threat (she is very item and spell dependent):
Faceless Void,
Legion Commander,
Doom.
*
Gravekeeper's Cloak protects Visage from Legion Commander's attacks for most of Duel's duration.
* Chain stuns from Visage's familiars prevents Legion Commander from winning Duels.
* Heroes with cleave or multi-target attacks can quickly take on Familiars and reduce Visage's firepower like
Gyrocopter,
Kunkka,
Magnus and
Medusa.
*
Magnetic Field prevents Legion Commander from easily gaining wins with Duel.
Additional:
* Magnetic Field prevents Legion Commander from getting wins with
Duel.
* Heroes who rely on summons will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds:
Lycan,
Arc Warden,
Warlock,
Chen
*
Tidebringer and Kunkka's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Additional:
* 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.
*
Overwhelming Odds deals high damage to Phantom Lancer's illusions.
*
Duel's long duration prevents Phantom Lancer from using Doppelganger.
* 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.
Additional:
*
X Marks the Spot prevents Broodmother from escaping.
*
Tidebringer can clear Broodmother's spiders if they get in range.
*
Overwhelming Odds's damage stacks with each enemy unit in its radius. If this hits Broodmother and a large number of spiders it can deal significant amounts of damage.
*
Moment of Courage has a high chance to proc if Broodmother and all of her spiders are attacking her.
*
Duel can keep Broodmother in place long enough for Legion's team to kill her.
Additional:
* Overwhelming Odds is great at killing many stacked up spiderlings, thus giving Legion Commander a large buff.
* Duel is a reliable way to lock down Broodmother, preventing her from running into the treeline.
* 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.
* Outlanes Queen of Pain on the midline, due to the fact that Queen of Pain has a small reserve of health at the beginning of the game, and she suffers very much from
Tidebringer, which is why she is forced to either spend money on
Tango, or skip creeps and run for bounty runes, and Kunkka at this time will gain an advantage in level and gold.
Additional:
* Outlanes Queen of Pain on the midline, due to the fact that Queen of Pain has a small reserve of health at the beginning of the game, and she suffers very much from
Tidebringer, which is why she is forced to either spend money on
Tango, or skip creeps and run for bounty runes, and Kunkka at this time will gain an advantage in level and gold.
* Kunkka will catch her in
X Marks the Spot and allow his team to kill her for stun from
Torrent, because Queen of Pain has no way to avoid the cross
X Marks the Spot before buying
Black King Bar.
*
Duels prevents Queen of Pain from using Blink, which may force her to purchase a
Linken's Sphere
* Because Queen of Pain is also not a right-click hero, Legion won't have much difficulties in duels.
*
Press the Attack dispels Shadow Strike's debuff.
*
X Marks the Spot breaks Flaming Lasso when used on ally and can break if used on Batrider.
*
Press the Attack dispels Flaming Lasso.
* Batrider is unlikely to win a
Duel in any stage of the game.
* Windranger can't escape
Windrun X Marks the Spot with combo Torrent or Ghostship trap.
*
Press The Attack can save her allies dispels the stun from Shackleshot.
*
Duel can lock down Windranger before she can escape with Windrun.
* Legion Commander tends to go for
Blade Mail, which returns the damage she takes from Focus Fire.
* The slow from
Torrent makes Crystal Maiden's already bad movement speed even worse.
* Kunkka has many tools to interrupt Freezing Field (most notably
Torrent,
Ghostship and
Torrent Storm from
Aghanim's Scepter), as she is an easy target while channeling it.
* It is worth noting that most of Kunkka's abilities do not pierce through spell immunity, so purchasing a
Black King Bar might help Crystal Maiden in this regard.
*
Duel is a great initiation to target Crystal Maiden with, as it prevents her from using Freezing Field or any other abilities and allowing the enemy team to quickly kill her before she can aid her team in a fight.
* Tidebringer, Torrent and Ghostship destroys Chaos Knight's
Phantasm army all through the game.
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions:
Axe,
Ember Spirit,
Legion Commander,
Phoenix
* 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.
* Heroes who rely on summons will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds:
Lycan,
Arc Warden,
Warlock,
Chen
*
Kunkka can bring Anti-Mage back with
X Marks the Spot, effectively negating Blink or forcing him to wait out the debuff before Blinking.
*
Duel renders Anti-Mage's escape capabilities with Blink and Counterspell useless.
Blade Mail and
Moment of Courage work well against Anti-Mage's relatively low health.
* A good initiation from Legion Commander and her team is enough to effortlessly kill Anti-Mage.
Additional:
*
Counterspell offer no protection against Duel at all.
* Duel locks down Anti-Mage for a long duration, preventing him from escaping with
Blink. One successful Duel initiation is usually enough for Legion Commander's team to kill Anti-Mage.
* 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.
* Chen's fragility and low mobility make him an enticing
Duel target.
*
Overwhelming Odds and
Moment of Courage can take advantage of converted creeps's numbers.
* With enough damage from
Duel stacks, Legion Commander can also often kill any of Chen's unfortunate allies before he can use Hand of God.
Additional:
* Chen's frailty and low mobility make him an enticing Duel target.
* Overwhelming Odds and Moment of Courage can take advantage of converted creeps' numbers.
* With enough damage from Duel stacks, Legion Commander can also often kill any of Chen's unfortunate allies before he can use
Hand of God.
* 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.
* Heroes who rely on summons will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds:
Lycan,
Arc Warden,
Warlock,
Chen
* 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.
* Heroes rely on their debuff to control the opponent will have a hard time against Press the Attack:
Venomancer,
Earth Spirit,
Ogre Magi
*
Press the Attack dispels Venomous Gale and Poison Sting from Legion Commander or her teammates.
* Venomancer is an ideal target for
Duel due to his lack of mobility and low starting health.
*
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.
*
X Marks the Spot negates Stampede.
* 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
* 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
Keen Conveyance, 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.
*
Press the Attack can dispel Laser's blind while providing great attack speed and health regeneration.
* Once caught in a
Duel, Tinker, who completely relies on his spells to be effective, has little chances of survival with his low health pool and armor.
* Duel's long duration prevents Terrorblade from swapping his health with
Sunder.
* Overwhelming Odds deals high damage to Terrorblade's illusions.
* 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.
*
X Marks the Spot prevents Dark Seer or his allies from escaping with Surge.
*
Duel is a great initiation to kill Death Prophet before she can cast Exorcism. Furthermore, Legion Commander often builds
Blade Mail and can reflect Exorcism's damage to kill Death Prophet easily.
* Drow Ranger's low mobility and lack of defensive abilities make her an easy gank target in the early to mid-game.
* A Dueling Drow Ranger will lose her precious
Marksmanship, reduce her damage output significantly, and will more likely lose that Duel.
* 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
* 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.
*
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.
* 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.
*
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.
*
Legion Commander with
Press the Attack
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes that punish mobile heroes:
Bloodseeker,
Keeper of the Light,
Kunkka,
Disruptor.
* X Marks the Spot is a counter to
Disruptor's
Glimpse, but you need quick reactions to pull it off.
* Heroes with low health will die easily during Duels, and can be farmed for damage in the early game:
Crystal Maiden,
Lich,
Techies,
Rubick
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels:
Shadow Shaman,
Lion
* 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.
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like
Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
* Special mention to
Legion Commander, as she can lock down Void Spirit for a long amount of time without worrying too much about being killed by him during the
Duel.
* Silences and other types of lockdown that prevent Weaver from using his spells:
Silencer,
Riki,
Lion,
Legion Commander,
Shadow Shaman,
Bane.
Additional:
* Duel's long duration prevents Weaver from activating
Time Lapse or escaping with
Shukuchi.
* 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.
* Heroes rely on their debuff to control the opponent will have a hard time against Press the Attack:
Venomancer,
Earth Spirit,
Ogre Magi
* Heroes who build
Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all:
Axe,
Broodmother,
Dawnbreaker,
Enigma,
Huskar,
Jakiro,
Legion Commander,
Lina,
Luna,
Lycan,
Slardar,
Slark,
Troll Warlord,
Witch Doctor.
Additional:
* Duel's long duration prevents Nyx Assassin escaping from
Vendetta. With Aghanim's Scepter, she can also bypass
Spiked Carapace.
* 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.
* Heroes that can negate Hoodwink's mobility:
Kunkka,
Disruptor,
Mars.
* Heroes with global abilities can give Legion Commander's opponent an edge in Duels from anywhere on the map:
Nature's Prophet,
Ancient Apparition,
Zeus,
Invoker,
Treant Protector
* 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.
*
Legion Commander's
Overwhelming Odds deals damage for every Treant it hits, which allows it to easily wipe out large waves of them.
* 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 who are strong against mobile heroes:
Disruptor,
Bloodseeker,
Kunkka,
Keeper of the Light.
* Invoker's spells will disable and destroy Legion Commander while she's locked in a
Duel.
*
Tidebringer pressures Invoker easily in lane due to Invoker's low health and armor in the early game.
* Heroes with long lockdowns:
Shadow Shaman,
Legion Commander.
* Heroes with low health will die easily during Duels, and can be farmed for damage in the early game:
Crystal Maiden,
Lich,
Techies,
Rubick
* 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
*
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
* Another great threat to Riki since her
Duel forces him to fight from the front and expose him for the entire duration, almost always guaranteeing an easy win (unless Riki has allies helping him).
*
Moment of Courage can become hard to deal with as it doesn't cease with silence.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper:
Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Viper's frailty and low mobility make him an enticing Duel target and
Corrosive Skin doesn't protect him against Legion Commander physical attacks.
* Press the Attack can dispel
Poison Attack.
* Viper slows can easily negate by Overwhelming Odds movement speed.
* Because Duel requires both combatants to face each other,
Bulwark's effectiveness will be increased by a huge margin, which makes it much more difficult for Legion Commander to win any duels against him.
*
Spear of Mars and
God's Rebuke pushes Legion Commander away during Duels against allies.
Additional:
* Bulwark immensely mitigates
Duel, even with bonus physical damage, as Bulwark scales by percentage. Mars can also buy time for a dueled ally by pushing Legion Commander away with Spear of Mars.
*
Kunkka's
Ghostship and
Torrent disrupt fights in Arena Of Blood.
*
Legion Commander is both good and bad vs Mars, on the plus side she can dispel Spear of Mars with
Press the Attack and is a good
Silver Edge carrier. However, Mars is not an ideal
Duel target, as Bulwark will force her to 1: Buy Silver Edge, and 2: Hit Mars with it before the Duel, allowing a skilled Mars to react, especially with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity. In teamfights, Mars will happily draw attention after using his abilities, and tank the Duel with all spells on cooldown.
*
Atrophy Aura's percentage-based damage reduction greatly diminishes Legion Commander's overall damage output, even if she has won many Duels
* Legion Commander cannot get out the way of Firestorm because she is stationary.
Additional:
* Atrophy Aura makes it hard for Legion Commander to win
Duels.
*
Fiend's Gate can be used to save Underlord and his allies from a
Duel or to intercept Legion Commander, because outside from
Overwhelming Odds, Legion Commander has no other area-of-effect abilities.
*
X Marks the Spot will return Underlord or his teammate if they escape with
Fiend's Gate.
*
Torrent,
Ghostship,
Torrent Storm from
Aghanim's Scepter and
Tidal Wave from
Aghanim's Shard are all excellent abilities for intercepting Underlord and his team if Underlord chooses to travel to the designated point of the map with
Fiend's Gate.
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels:
Shadow Shaman,
Lion
*
Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for Shadow Shaman, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt Shadow Shaman's channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
* When Legion Commander uses
Duel on one Meepo, he can use his other Meepos to kill her. If he wasn't dueled, he can help the teammate who was duelled to give the teammate the damage instead of Legion Commander.
* However, if Legion Commander picked up an Aghanim's Scepter and she duels one Meepo, that might be the end of Meepo if Legion managed to gather enough damage from previous duels.
* 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.
*
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.
*
Duel pierces spell immunity and forces him to attack Legion Commander, making him unable to use
Omnislash.
*
Tethered heroes are much harder for Legion Commander to kill in Duels.
*
Relocate can cancel Duels and save allies.
*
Duel is very effective against Io due to its low health and armor.
* 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.
*
Searing Arrows and Clinkz physical damage items are almost suicidal when used on Legion Commander, as it invites an instant Duel and Legion Commander herself is a natural
Blade Mail carrier.
* Duel locks down Clinkz for a long duration, preventing him from escaping with
Skeleton Walk.
* Heroes with global abilities can give Legion Commander's opponent an edge in Duels from anywhere on the map:
Nature's Prophet,
Ancient Apparition,
Zeus,
Invoker,
Treant Protector
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as
Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
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).
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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.
*
Legion Commander
* Both Guardian Angel and Purification are perfect counters against
Duel.
Purification prevents Legion Commander from killing her target, and will always hit her during Duels.
Guardian Angel completely wastes Duel's duration and can save an ally across the map when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
*
*