* Level 20 talent allows Reality Rift to bypass spell immunity provided by Rage, thus negating the advantage Lifestealer has in his kit.
* The fact that Lifestealer lacks wave clearing and reliable lockdown makes it difficult to fight Chaos Knight's illusions.
* Feast is largely negated by Chaos Knight's high burst damage from Chaos Strike.
Additional:
* Chaos Strike is a strong burst damage passive that allows Chaos Knight to stand up and even survive Lifestealer's attacks. Level 20 Talent: Reality Rift Pierces Spell Immunity allows him to burst down Lifestealer even while he is in Rage.
* Lifestealer's single-target nature will struggle against Chaos Knight's Phantasm illusions and will be forced to itemize for them.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
* Lifestealer will struggle to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions and will either be forced to use his abilities too quickly, or itemize too heavily for them.
* Phantom Lancer commonly builds Diffusal Blade, which poses a large problem to Lifestealer and his low mana pool, and can shut him down from even casting his abilities.
Additional:
* Aside from his ultimate, Lifestealer has no AoE abilities to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions, nor does he have the mobility to escape Phantom Rush.
* Doppelganger dispels Open Wounds.
* Phantom Lancer usually builds Diffusal Blade, which a problem for a low already mana hero like Lifestealer.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
* Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction: Sven, Phantom Assassin, Ursa, Wraith King, Lifestealer
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability Meld.
Additional:
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability Meld.
* 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
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
* Heroes with summons: Lycan, Broodmother, Visage, Nature's Prophet, Warlock.
* Once you get a Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like Zeus, Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback, Clinkz, Luna,Shadow Fiend, Slardar, Terrorblade
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden, Skywrath Mage etc)
* Fate Edict can completely negate Skywrath Mage's heavy magic damage.
* Fortune End dispels Ancient Seal.
* Lifestealer's low mobility makes him easy to kite.
* Stone Gaze pierces Rage, wasting its cooldown and making Lifestealer unable to fight.
* In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Additional:
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and Decrepify won't help Pugna at all.
* Razor's highly mobile nature allows him to control Lifestealer from a distance. As well, Lifestealer is already slow in comparison due to his lack of disables and move speed. Lifestealer is also an ideal target for Static Link, for its ability to pierce magic immunity and damage steal, which can render Lifestealer's Feast useless.
* Plasma Field can slow Lifestealer from a distance and force him to cast Rage too early.
* Eye of the Storm pierces magic immunity, deals physical damage, and reduces armor, allowing Razor to easily stand up to Lifestealer.
Additional:
* Static Link cannot be dispelled by Rage or Infest, so Razor will be able to track Lifestealer down during an attempted escape.
* Storm Surge makes it hard for Lifestealer to catch Razor.
* Static Link can stop Open Wounds from getting any additional lifesteal, but keep in mind Lifestealer can still utilize Feast.
* Eye of the Storm penetrates the spell immunity of Rage.
* Reverse Polarity pierces through Rage, wasting part of it's duration.
* Magnus is tanky and mobile, making it hard for Lifestealer to focus and kill him in all stages of a game.
* Heroes with escape abilities: Anti-Mage Dark Seer Slark Storm Spirit Windranger Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown.
* Mana Break drains Skywrath Mage of his mana, slowing him and dealing bonus damage while rendering him unable to cast his spells.
* Blink makes it incredibly easy for Anti-Mage to close the gap between himself Skywrath Mage to right-click him down. He can also use Blink to get away and escape into fog of war.
* Anti-Mage passively reduces enemy spell damage with Counterspell, and can activate the ability to block and send back Skywrath's Ancient Seal or Arcane Bolt, causing him to silence himself or deal massive damage to himself.
* Skywrath Mage's large mana-costs makes him an easy target for Mana Void.
* Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion, Silencer, Shadow Shaman, Grimstroke, Witch Doctor, Riki, Faceless Void, Skywrath Mage, Puck.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to attack Lifestealer for its duration without any way for Lifestealer to fight back, allowing him to steal his stats with Essence Shift, which also reduces Lifestealer's strength and, therefore, health pool.
* Slark can easily escape Lifestealer with Pounce, and can avoid Open Wounds with Dark Pact should Lifestealer be forced to itemize for it.
* Slark commonly buys a Silver Edge, which can break Lifestealer's Feast, severely diminishing his damage output and lifesteal.
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard allows Slark to save both, himself and his allies with Shadow Dance while also allowing them to fight back against Lifestealer.
* Although Lifestealer can avoid Eclipse with Rage and Infest, Luna's physical damage can be enough to deal with him.
* Manta Style is a common pick on Luna, which can help her dispel slows from Ghoul Frenzy and Open Wounds. In addition, Lifestealer is not good against illusions created by Manta Style.
Additional:
* Although Lifestealer can avoid Eclipse with Rage and Infest, Luna's physical damage from Moon Glaives and Lunar Blessing can be enough to deal with him.
* Manta Style is a common pick on Luna, which can help her dispel slows from Ghoul Frenzy and Open Wounds. In addition, Lifestealer is not good against illusions created by Manta Style.
* Even though Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm Luna and allow Lifestealer to attack her from inside even if she is spell immune, Luna can easily counter this with Linken's Sphere, which is a common item on Luna.
* In general, heroes that deal burst in multiple instances will trigger Borrowed Time and heal Abaddon for a large amount, such as Skywrath Mage, Techies, Juggernaut, Shadow Shaman, or Ogre Magi.
Additional:
* Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
* Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.
* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Heroes with summons: Lycan, Broodmother, Visage, Nature's Prophet, Warlock.
* Lifestealer's Rage and Open wounds become useless when Meepo has 4 or more clones, as Ransack will heal Meepo too quickly for Lifestealer to take down.
* Skywrath Mage's abilities are single targeted and he can't use Mystic Flare to its fullest potential, since all Meepos spread the damage between them. He also has no disables to prevent Meepo from Poofing to another one (unless he can get Ancient Seal off first).
* Lifestealer is not affected by Earthbind or Poof during Rage, making him a difficult target to work around.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut, Lion, or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
* Heroes with spell immunity can still be disabled by Fiend's Grip and damaged by Brain Sap: Juggernaut, Lifestealer, Pangolier.
Additional:
* Enfeeble can weaken Lifestealer's Feast and may force him to cast Rage too quickly or itemize to dispel it.
* Fiend's Grip pierces through magic immunity and allows him to disable Lifestealer while in Rage.
* Heroes with summons: Lycan, Broodmother, Visage, Nature's Prophet, Warlock.
* Heroes with escape abilities: Anti-Mage Dark Seer Slark Storm Spirit Windranger Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown.
* Melee carries such as Sven, Ursa or Lifestealer can be slowed and easily kited with Demonic Purge.
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback, Clinkz, Luna,Shadow Fiend, Slardar, Terrorblade
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback, Clinkz, Luna,Shadow Fiend, Slardar, Terrorblade
* Special mention to Lifestealer who can use Rage to prevent Trample damage, but Primal Beast's ultimate can still be casted during the spell.
* Heroes with summons: Lycan, Broodmother, Visage, Nature's Prophet, Warlock.
* Heroes with illusions: Chaos Knight, Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade
* Outworld Destroyer can steal more mana with Astral Imprisonment from Skywrath Mage with Shield of the Scion (granted by Aghanim's Shard). Shield of the Scion grants Skywrath Mage bonus intelligence every time he deals magic damage to an enemy hero with his abilities. The higher his intelligence, the larger his mana pool. Since Astral Imprisonment steals based on the target's max mana, Outworld Destroyer can steal much more mana from Skywrath Mage.
* Heroes with built-in spell immunity can become immune to all of Outworld Destroyer's spells: Lifestealer's Rage and Juggernaut's Blade Fury.
* Lacking any stun and being heavily dependent on his physical attacks and spell immunity, Lifestealer has no way to stop Black Hole, assuming he does not initiate Enigma first with Abyssal Blade.
* Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse damage can pierce through Lifestealer's Rage.
* However, if Lifestealer manages to get Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with Abyssal Blade, he will be able to disable Enigma's Black Hole inside him with Infest and he will be able to help his allies recover themselves from Enigma's initiation with Open Wounds if Lifestealer gets Aghanim's Shard.
Additional:
* Lacking any stun and being heavily dependent on his physical attacks and spell immunity, Lifestealer has no way to stop Black Hole, assuming he does not initiate Enigma first with Abyssal Blade.
* Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse damage can pierce through Lifestealer's Rage.
* However, if Lifestealer manages to get Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with Abyssal Blade, he will be able to disable Enigma's Black Hole inside him with Infest and he will be able to help his allies recover themselves from Enigma's initiation with Open Wounds if Lifestealer gets Aghanim's Shard.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation: Faceless Void, Terrorblade, Ursa, Weaver, Broodmother, Slark, Abaddon, Wraith King, Lifestealer.
* Lifestealer will struggle to duel Ursa in all stages of the game due to Fury Swipes, which pierces magic immunity. Ursa can also stand up to Lifestealer with Enrage, which dramatically reduces incoming damage and further delay Lifestealer's Feast.
Additional:
* Lifestealer's Feast will most likely not out-heal the damage from Fury Swipes and Overpower in the early to mid game.
* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.
* Ice Blast prevents Lifestealer from lifestealing and healing with Infest in fights.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
* Clinkz relies heavily on the physical damage provided by Burning Barrage and Searing Arrows, which completely overrides the capabilities of Rage.
* Lifestealer's lack of disables will struggle to pin Clinkz down while in Skeleton Walk, and can allow Clinkz to kite him.
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition, Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences: Weaver, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
* Though The Swarm can be blocked by Rage, it can be used to lower Lifestealer's already low armor, making him even more vulnerable to physical damage while Rage is on cooldown.
* Lifestealer has no strong disables on his own and thus cannot catch up with nor escape from Weaver's Shukuchi.
* Lifestealer's reliance on meticulous auto-attacks will not help against Time Lapse, which can undo Lifestealer's already slow build-up of damage. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Time Lapse can also be used to save allies from getting killed by Lifestealer, but that will require targeting the allied hero rather than just pressing the button that will trigger the Time Lapse.
Additional:
* Open Wounds's slow is ignored by Shukuchi.
* Lifestealer has no other lockdown and relies on being on top of enemies; Weaver can kite him with ease.
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition, Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences: Weaver, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* Lifestealer is a susceptible target to Fervor due to his non-mobile nature and lack of disables. Troll Warlord's ranged Berserker's Rage can also be used to kite Lifestealer safely. The root from its melee form also pierces magic immunity, which can potentially keep Lifestealer in place even while he is in Rage.
* Both Whirling Axes (melee) and Whirling Axes (ranged) can force Lifestealer to cast Rage too quickly and allow Troll Warlord to change strategies mid-fight, especially thanks to their separate cooldowns.
* Battle Trance allows Troll Warlord to survive Lifestealer's Feast and turn the fight in his favor.
Additional:
* The passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll Warlord resilient to Feast in early game.
* The 60% miss chance given by Whirling Axes (Melee) is useful when Rage is not active.
* Battle Trance can purge Open Wounds, negating a large amount of Lifestealer's sustain in fights.
* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.
* Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Rage.
* Faceless Void's Time Lock stops Lifestealer from getting health regeneration from auto-attacks
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere; Sniper, Skywrath Mage, etc.
* Since Untouchable pierces Spell Immunity, Lifestealer cannot burst her down even with Rage; meaning she can heal herself back to full HP.
* Heroes with nukes: Bane, Lich, Lion, Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
* A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
* The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.
* Windranger's highly mobile playstyle allows her to easily control Lifestealer from a distance, as he has no disables on his own. Windrun not only provides her with bonus move speed, but evasion as well, undoing Lifestealer's ability to attack her. In combination with Focus Fire, Windranger can easily dispose of Lifestealer without him being able to reach her.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus, Tinker, Leshrac, Viper, Skywrath Mage, Lion, Lina, Venomancer.
* Rage grants Lifestealer immunity to all of Jakiro's spells. Note: magic resistance will not dispel the attack speed slow effects from Dual Breath and Liquid Fire.
* Ancient Seal can silence Jakiro and make him vulnerable to magical spells up to 6 seconds.
* Skywrath Mage can usually burst down Jakiro with his high damage magical spells.
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Tinker's damage and debuffs.
* Lifestealer can infest a mobile ally (teams usually pick one against Tinker), which may ensure that Tinker will die if he is caught.
Additional:
* Rage will dispel Laser's blind and turns him spell immune for the duration so Tinker cannot damage him.
* Feast will quickly bring down Tinker due to being so fragile.
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.
* 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.
* Feast is good against high health strength heroes such as Alchemist.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to not be targetable by Unstable Concoction, possibly making Alchemist stun himself.
* Since Lifestealer build Aghanim's Scepter upgrades Infest similliar Heaven's Halberd can applies an undispellable disarm so Alchemist cannot attack during Chemical Rage, forcing him to activate Black King Bar beforehand.
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
* Rage prevents Earthshaker from damaging and stunning Lifestealer.
* Feast is very effective against Earthshaker, because of him being a strength hero, allowing Lifestealer to heavily harass and kill him.
* Open Wounds prevents Earthshaker from escaping after he initiated.
* Infest gives Lifestealer an easy way to escape should he get caught out by Earthshaker. And against carry Earthshaker, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can be used to disarm Earthshaker and attack him from within, rendering him unable to attack with Enchant Totem.
* Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses Blink Dagger to initiate.
* Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
* Rage, acting as a pseudo-Black King Bar, completely negates Mars' initiation if used in time.
* Feast does damage and heals based on max health, perfect against high-health strength heroes like Mars.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to potentially save allies from Mars' initiation with a quick burst of extra health.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity, Chen and his converted creeps have little to no ways of fighting back against Lifestealer whenever he activates it.
* Feast allows Lifestealer to recover himself by damaging Chen's creeps.
* Chen has no escape mechanisms, so he will often be unable to escape from slows applied with Ghoul Frenzy.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard can severely slow down Chen, and allow Lifestealer and his team to heal themselves by attacking Chen. Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Chen takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with Open Wounds.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to infest into one of Chen's converted creeps and take control of it, which allows Lifestealer to either escape from Chen or surprise him. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm Chen and allow Lifestealer to attack Chen from within, even if Chen is spell immune.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Ursa, Void Spirit.
* With Feast and Rage, Lifestealer is nearly impossible for Clockwerk to bring down, and is the last hero Clockwerk wants to be trapped with in Power Cogs.
* Skywrath Mage's Mystic Flare can deal huge damage to Clockwerk inside his Power Cogs.
* Heroes with spell immunity-granting spells will render Phoenix useless against them, as Phoenix has almost no spell immunity-piercing ability, other than the stun at the end of Supernova: Lifestealer, Juggernaut.
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, and even Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
* 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 is very useful against Zeus, as it negates magic damage and provides spell immunity. In addition, the increased attack speed can tear Zeus apart in combination with Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer can avoid Thundergod's Wrath with Infest.
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, Lifestealer.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Ursa, Void Spirit.
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Techies's abilities. Reactive Tazer's disarm will also not work on Lifestealer under Rage.
* Rage can also be used to trigger Techies's Proximity Mines safely.
Additional:
* Lifestealer's Rage lets him clear Proximity Mines without taking damage, and allows him to hit heroes whom Techies has used Reactive Tazer on.
* Lifestealer can close the distance to Sniper by using Infest on a fast or durable creep to tank Sniper's damage.
* Open Wounds and Ghoul Frenzy will reduce Sniper's mobility heavily, and Rage's movement speed bonus helps in closing the gap to Sniper. It also protects him from Assassinate and Shrapnel.
* Infest can dodge an incoming Assassinate or to surprise Sniper during ganks. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can also allow Lifestealer to disarm Sniper and attack him from inside.
* Feast deals damage and heals Lifestealer based on the target's maximum HP, which is greatly effective against naturally high HP heroes such as Doom.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to become spell immune to negate the magical damage of Infernal Blade and Scorched Earth.
* Doom has no effective means of escape from Open Wounds and Ghoul Frenzy. This is particularly devastating in the laning stage, where Doom may have to play a much more passive, conservative play style as a result.
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
* Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
* Rage ignores all of Gyrocopter's magical attacks.
* Feast helps Lifestealer out-damage Gyrocopter at close range.
* 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.
* A good Skywrath Mage with quick fingers will punish Queen of Pain for blinking aggressively. Ancient Seal is a six second silence with no cast time, so he can interrupt either her Shadow Strike or Sonic Wave, and a good Mystic Flare on top of that will seal the deal for her.
* Ancient Seal also has pretty good range so he could get it off before she blinks away.
* Feast will deal a enormous amount of damage because of Tiny's huge health pool.
* Rage protects Lifestealer from Tiny's magical burst damage.
* The lifesteal of Feast scales accordingly to the max health of its target, which is effective against Pudge due to his high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
* Lifestealer can activate Rage to be spell immune, making Rot deal no damage.
* Pudge's plentiful health makes him an ideal target for Lifestealer's Aghanim's Shard ability, Open Wounds.
* Rage grants immunity from Invoker's spells and can dispel most of the disables such as the armor loss from Forge Spirit and the constant stuns of Cold Snap.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Invoker's spells (except for Sun Strike).
* 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.
* Leshrac's high magic damage is ignored by Rage.
* Lifestealer can get in Leshrac's face with Rage and mitigate any other damage taken by Leshrac with Open Wounds.
* Rage ignores all of Viper's magical damage, although Viper Strike can pierce spell immunity and slows him down.
* Feast and Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard can be combined to heal through Viper's physical damage.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can be used to disarm Viper, preventing him from using Poison Attack on Lifestealer's allies.
* Lifestealer's Rage renders him immune to all of Marci's disables and magic damage for a good duration.
* His passive Feast deals bonus damage based on the enemy's max health and heals for the same amount. As a tanky Strength hero, Marci's own strength will be her undoing as well.
* Feast is an effective tool against Centaur Warrunner, who generally has high health and low armor, and compensates the reflected damage of Retaliate.
* If activated, Rage can protect Lifestealer from Hoof Stomp, Double Edge, and Stampede.
Additional:
* Centaur Warrunner's active abilities cannot pierce magic immunity. Hoof Stomp's slow wind up can also be anticipated and negated with Rage.
* Lifestealer can offset Retaliate's damage return simply with Feast. Centaur's high strength gain and therefore big health pool makes him an ideal target to Feast on, especially in the late-game.
* Rage can be used to escape from a Glimpse and to move out of Kinetic Field.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to dodge Glimpse.
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Ogre's magical debuffs and also dispels them.
* Ogre's high health pool makes him an ideal target for Feast.
Additional:
* Ogre Magi has nothing against Rage and his high health pool amplifies Feast.
* Lifestealer is able to endure Undying, especially in the laning phase, where Undying is strongest. Feast can offset Decay's strength steal for its percentage lifesteal. Rage delays Undying from stealing strength and can help Lifestealer destroy Undying's Tombstone uninterrupted. As well, none of Undying's abilities pierce magic immunity.
* Feast makes it impossible to for Lifestealer to be culled with Culling Blade and also deals high damage to Axe due to his naturally high health.
* However, Berserker's Call and Counter Helix can pierce through the Rage, and if Axe has allies with him against Lifestealer, Lifestealer may go down very quickly.
* Feast deals damage and heals lifestealer based on the target max health. Because Spectre often emphasises on building stat items to increase her HP pool, lifestealer can deal a lot of damage to her and heal himself at the same time.
* Ghoul Frenzy slows target, which is bad for Spectre if she does not have Spectral Dagger ready.
* Spectre cannot response to infest if lifestealer choose to stay inside his high mobility allies to approach the backline. Rage's bonus movement speed and spell immunity make it even more frustrating.
* Being a strength hero with a high strength gain means Feast can give her a hard time,especially later in the game.
* However,Starbreaker's physical damage can control him in the laning phase.
* Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
* Ancient Seal's instant cast time will often silence Brewmaster before he can do anything.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Skywrath Mage's massive magical damage.
* Terrorblade's illusions and ranged attacks in Metamorphosis can burst down Lifestealer very quickly.
* Terrorblade has low health due to his low strength gain, which reduces Feast's lifesteal and damage.
* Because Lifestealer can usually heal back HP in fights due to his innate lifesteal (and sometimes Armlet of Mordiggian), he is a great target for Terrorblade's Sunder.
* However, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm Terrorblade and allow Lifestealer to attack him from inside while also increasing Lifestealer's health regeneration that can nullify effects of Sunder, even if Terrorblade is spell immune, which could potentially render Terorrblade useless in teamfights. And if Terrorblade cannot attack enemy heroes, he will go down very quickly.
Additional:
* Reflection's illusion carries Feast as well, making it useful to use against him.
* Feast cannot compensate for Terrorblade's incoming high damage, due to his low Strength gain.
* Open Wounds (requires Aghanim's Shard) is a lot harder to land on the real Terrorblade if he has illusions around him. But remember that Terrorblade's illusions from Conjure Image have different colors than other illusions which can be seen even by enemy team, and that can make it easy for Lifestealer to detect real Terrorblade unless Terrorblade buys Manta Style.
* Lifestealer relies on right-clicks to deal damage, and Terrorblade's high armor can reduce his damage significantly.
* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.
* Arcane Bolt can target Terrorblade's low health pool in the laning phase.
* Ancient Seal can prevent Terrorblade from casting Sunder.
* Mystic Flare can be used to great effect to burst Terrorblade down before he gets a Manta Style or a Black King Bar.
* Juggernaut and Lifestealer have abilities (Blade Fury and Rage respectively) that prevent Crystal Maiden from using her spells on them in the early game, before Black King Bar and other magical reduction is even an issue.
Additional:
* Crystal Maiden is an ideal target for Lifestealer due to her poor mobility and low health pool. Lifestealer can usually catch up to her simply by casting Rage, as none of her abilities pierce through magic immunity. Freezing Field can potentially make her even more vulnerable to Lifestealer while under Rage as she is even more immobile while channeling it.
* Lifestealer commonly buys Abyssal Blade, which allows him to cancel Freezing Field, even if Crystal Maiden is spell immune.
* Alternatively, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest combined with Abyssal Blade and with items that provide attack speed which Lifestealer commonly buys allow him to to cancel Freezing Field from within the Crystal Maiden.
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Lina
* Heroes with spell immunity abilities won't be caught inside by Pit of Malice: Juggernaut, Lifestealer.
* Skywrath Mage's armor and agility gain is very low, so when Huskar's Burning Spears stack they can take him down very quickly at any point of the game.
* Berserker's Blood grants bonuses as Huskar uses Burning Spears to harass Skywrath Mage, granting him attack speed, magic resistance, and strength as health regen, making it possible that Huskar can harass Skywrath Mage out of lane and sustain through his magic burst through staying injured throughout lane, or even the game.
* Life Break allows Huskar to jump onto Skywrath Mage, closing the distance between them and busting him down so he cannot run. This can be combed with Inner Fire, adding a movement speed slow if Aghanim's Shard is applied so Skywrath Mage cannot escape.
* Rage renders Lifestealer immune to the damage from Burning Spears.
* Feast makes Lifestealer one of few heroes that can outlast Huskar in a one-on-one fight.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion, Lina, Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with burst damage of their own won't be afraid to go toe to toe with Void Spirit, like Ursa, Lifestealer, or Axe.
* Heroes with good escape mechanisms are a nuisance to deal with in the early phase of the game: Slark, Lifestealer, Morphling
* 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 protects Lifestealer from all of Lina's abilities. However, Lina can paritally counter this if played as Carry, a common role for Lina.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard can severely slow down Lina and allow Lifestealer and his allies to recover themselves by attacking her.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can be used to disarm Lina even if she is spell immune, rendering her unable to maximize the effect of her Fiery Soul and force her to use her abilities more often than intended. And Lina's only way to counter this is with Linken's Sphere
* Lich is heavily reliant on his abilities to contribute to team fights, so be wary of enemies that can Silence: Bloodseeker, Death Prophet, Silencer, Drow Ranger, Skywrath Mage.
* Heroes who rely on physical damage output to be effective will fare badly against Muerta's Pierce the Veil: Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade, Drow Ranger, Lifestealer, Anti-Mage, Alchemist, Lycan, Clinkz, Sniper.
* Lifestealer can activate Rage to become spell immune, making Pierce the Veil do no damage and preventing Dead Shot from fearing or doing damage.
* Lifestealer can use Infest to avoid Muerta's Gunslinger shots, Dead Shot's fear and surprise Muerta. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can be used to disarm Muerta while she has Pierce the Veil and even through Black King Bar.
* However, Lifestealer has no way of hurting Muerta through Pierce the Veil outside of Infest, Lifestealer's only source of dealing magical damage. This forces Lifestealer to buy Revenant's Brooch.
* Heroes with escape abilities: Anti-Mage Dark Seer Slark Storm Spirit Windranger Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown.
* Similar to Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
* An Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
* Root and silence are Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
* If he builds Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.
* Lifestealer, at even farm levels, will often fall against other man-fighting non-Strength cores like Ursa, Phantom Assassin or Troll Warlord as he cannot truly rely on sustain from Feast.
Additional:
* Rage does absolutely nothing against Phantom Strike with items.
* Feast and Ghoul Frenzy are very difficult to utilise thanks to Blur.
* Lifestealer generally wants to buy items that make him hard to kill, not an Monkey King Bar which only offers damage.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut, Lion, or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Additional:
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
* Slow-moving projectiles: Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* Mind Flare turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him and deals heavy damage.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter Rage with Spiked Carapace because Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin. Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with Open Wounds.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with Dust of Appearance or a Gem of True Sight. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. and Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
* Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.
Additional:
* Like with Juggernaut's Blade Fury, Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter Rage with Spiked Carapace because Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin. Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with Open Wounds.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with Dust of Appearance or a Gem of True Sight. And similarly to Juggernaut's Omnislash and Swiftslash from Aghanim's Scepter, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. And Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
* Like with Juggernaut, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like Lifestealer or Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up Black King Bar, like Sven.
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Rage can protect Lifestealer from most of the Silencer's abilities with the exception of Global Silence, as it will still silence if cast while the target is magic immune. However, it will not work if Lifestealer is infesting a unit.
* Silencer is vulnerable to Open Wounds due to his lack of an innate escape.
* Against a carry Silencer, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm him and allow Lifestealer to attack Silencer from within, even if Silencer is spell immune.
Additional:
* Rage can protect Lifestealer from most of the Silencer's abilities with the exception of Global Silence.
* If Lifestealer can Infest himself on any unit, he can literally avoid being affected by Global Silence.
* Against a carry Silencer, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm him and allow Lifestealer to attack Silencer from within, even if Silencer is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard can severely slow down Silencer, and allow Lifestealer and his team to heal themselves by attacking Silencer.
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer, Sven, Wraith King, Phantom Assassin, Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
* Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast Winter's Curse on him. And if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
* However, bear in mind that Skywrath Mage has seriously awful armor, and that can make him an adequate target to being turned against his own team with Winter's Curse, which can result in his death quickly.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
* Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid game.
* Concussive Shot and Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
* Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut, Lion, or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
* 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 makes Lifestealer debuff immune and gives him magic resistance which can drastically reduce magical damage from Lion's abilities while also preventing Lion to do anything to him.
* Lion's lack of inner escape and defensive mechanisms increases Ghoul Frenzy effectiveness, since it applies slows upon attacking.
* Lifestealer's physical damage output is strong against Lion's low health and base armor
* Infest can be used to surprise unsuspecting Lion if he tries to take down alone enemy hero. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can be used to disarm Lion and attack him from inside, even if Lion is debuff immune with the Aghanim's Shard upgraded Mana Drain.
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven, Lifestealer, Ursa and Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
* Heroes with spell immunity or pseudo-blinks which provide invulnerability: Lifestealer, Juggernaut, Omniknight, Huskar, and Tusk have spells which allow them to easily escape Dream Coil.
* Lifestealer is a great target for Morphling to use Morph, as he can use Rage to gain spell immunity and a movement speed boost.
* Morphling's high armor also makes Lifestealer's attacks do less damage.
* Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
* Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
* Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer, Night Stalker, Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade.
* Lifestealer's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Io, Witch Doctor, etc.
* Lifestealer with Rage and Infest
* 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.
* Heroes with summons: Lycan, Broodmother, Visage, Nature's Prophet, Warlock.
* Heroes with magic immune abilities can negate most of Visage's attacks like Pangolier and Lifestealer.
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Lifestealer
* Lifestealer cannot use Rage, Infest or Open Wounds when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and Feast cannot heal him effectively because of the blind, leaving him very weak both offensively and defensively.
* Infest ganks are harder when the enemy team has a Riki, as there are often only four heroes on the map that you can initiate on.
Skywrath Mage
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy Black King Bar.
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.