Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Dark Pact is minimally effective against Phantasm illusions, and Slark lacks area damage otherwise.
* Pounce can be counteracted by Reality Rift.
* Slark is naturally frail and dies quickly to Chaos Knight's burst damage before he can build Essence Shift stacks.
* Be aware, however, that Shadow Dance can make Slark hard to kill as he can't be targeted during its duration.
Additional:
* Phantasms have enough health to survive Dark Pact, and Slark has no other source of AoE damage to deal with them.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Ice Blast prevents Lifestealer from lifestealing and healing with Infest in fights.
Slark
* Heroes like Slark,
Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
Additional:
* Ice Blast stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar,
Terrorblade
Slark
* Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Rage.
* Faceless Void's Time Lock stops Lifestealer from getting health regeneration from auto-attacks
Slark
* Time Dilation while Dark Pact and
Pounce are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, reducing his escape potential. However, Time Dilation is dispellable with
Dark Pact so it needs to be timed well.
* Chronosphere will not reveal Slark during Shadow Dance but covers the whole duration of Shadow Dance making him unable to use it to attack or escape. Slark still receives the regeneration benefit from Shadow Dance.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with illusions: Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade
Slark
* Ensnare prevents using any kind of movement abiilties, Making Naga Siren good against heroes who rely on gap-closing abilities to escape:
Phantom Assassin,
Magnus,
Slark,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Storm Spirit.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar,
Terrorblade
Slark
* Slardar's level 25 talent makes
Corrosive Haze undispellable, thus providing his allies vision of Slark.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Slark's dependence on Pounce and close range makes him very easy to hit with Purification.
* Slark's damage, even with a high count of Essence Shift stacks, is easily negated by Omniknight's heals and Guardian Angel.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* With Dark Ascension he can keep vision on Slark, disabling his Shadow Dance regeneration.
* Night Stalker is very fast so without the Pounce in lane, he can simply out distance him during the night.
* Slark is matched in night vision by only a few heroes, Night Stalker happens to be one of them.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Slark
* Natural Order aura prevents Slark from gaining armor from the agility stolen with Essence Shift.
* Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter can hit Slark through his Shadow Dance ultimate.
* Slark's stats gain is relatively low compared to most agility carries making him quite squishy without his agility-based armor.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Dark Pact,
Shadow Dance and
Depth Shroud will do nothing against Onslaught and Trample, as they are both ground area-of-effect spells.
* Primal Beast has a gigantic hitbox, which could be difficult for Slark to escape with Pounce should Primal Beast choose to block him. Pounce also does not completely prevent Primal Beast from trampling offensively, as he still has some room to move.
* Primal Beast has a huge health pool; shedding it with Essence Shift can take time and may allow Primal Beast to build Uproar against him. Should he survive Slark's slew of skills, Primal Beast can simply Pulverize him to finish him off.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Bloodseeker is one of the hardest counters to Slark.Thirst prevents Slark from healing in lane with Shadow Dance and may set him up for a kill while in the jungle,or retreating.
* Rupture will deal damage during Pounce.
* Dark Pact cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Slark from escaping ganks.
Additional:
* Thirst stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration if Slark's current health is below the Thirst's visibility threshold.
* Rupture effectively relaxes Slark's mobility in battle, leaving him susceptible to AoE stuns or forcing to teleport out of the fight.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Nether Blast will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
* Pugna can rarely target Slark directly with Decrepify, but he can use it defensively on an ally to prevent Slark from getting stacks.
* Despite being somewhat easy to break with Pounce, Pugna can damage Slark and provide vision over him with Life Drain.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Phantom's Embrace can't be dispelled by Slark's
Dark Pact.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Slark's Dark Pact and Pounce can deny only one Earthbind and Poof can penetrate Shadow Dance if he doesn't build Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Earthbind and
Poof will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact can only remove one Earthbind.
* Ransack will still affect Slark, even if he has a
Black King Bar.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer is not affected by Earthbind or Poof during
Rage, making him a difficult target to work around.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Warlock.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with escape abilities : Anti-Mage
Dark Seer
Slark
Storm Spirit
Windranger
Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown
Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden.
Slark
* Dark Seer relies on Surge for most of his mobility, so he's not very vulnerable to slows, but much more to root effects and walls or pseudo-walls such as Disruptor's
Kinetic Field or
Slark's
Pounce.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle,
Abaddon.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle,
Abaddon.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)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 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.
Slark
* With Dust of Appearance, Luna will be able to use
Eclipse on invisible heroes. Be mindful that
Slark is exception because he'll be able to remove the debuff with
Dark Pact.
Slark
* Shadow Dance prevents Luna from damaging Slark, and together with
Silver Edge he can easily chase her or escape from her.
* Luna has no way to escape from Pounce's leash.
* For the same reasons, Slark makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Luna's lack of mobility and escape abilities makes her easily to gank for Slark.
* Shadow Dance helps avoid all the damage from Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Slark makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Slark
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* Melee carries such as Sven,
Ursa or
Lifestealer can be slowed and easily kited with Demonic Purge.
Slark
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
Slark
* Heroes who can dispel will be able to remove remove Soul Catcher's debuff to instantly bring the health of affected heroes back to a considerable amount: Abaddon,
Slark,
Legion Commander,
Oracle.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)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.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Outworld Destroyer can disrupt Slark's attacks with Astral Imprisonment either by banishing Slark or his target.
* Slark's low heathpool means he will die quickly to Arcane Orb if he is directly attacked by Outworld Destroyer
* Slark has low intelligence gain, making him easy to finish with Sanity's Eclipse if he tries to run with
Shadow Dance
Additional:
* Arcane Orb deals pure damage, which ignores the armor granted from permanent agility stacks.
* Astral Imprisonment can disrupt any Pounce attempt by banishing the leashed ally.
* Slark's low mana pool makes him more susceptible to Sanity's Eclipse.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with built-in spell immunity can become immune to all of Outworld Destroyer's spells: Lifestealer's
Rage and
Juggernaut's
Blade Fury.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,...
Slark
* He has a hard time killing Sand King because of the survivability he gets from Burrowstrike and Sand Storm.
* Shadow Dance, which usually allows Slark to survive fights, is ineffective against Sand King's AoE damage.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Slark
* Though Slark's large damage output is most certainly a concern for the squishy Crystal Maiden, she does perform fairly well against him when coupled with aid from her team.
* Slark has no innate way to cancel Freezing Field, but the common purchase of Skull Basher does make Slark a substantially greater threat to Crystal Maiden as the game progresses.
* Freezing Field can still hit Slark while he is under the effect of Shadow Dance, and for the early and mid game, the damage output of Crystal Maiden's ultimate outscales Slark's passive regeneration, making a quick use of Freezing Field as soon as Slark uses
Shadow Dance a great way to combat him.
* Crystal Maiden's Frostbite and Crystal Nova are helpful in disabling and slowing the slippery Slark so he can be killed by her teammates.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Illusory Orb and
Phase Shift allows Puck to avoid most ganking attempts.
* Waning Rift and
Dream Coil makes it very hard for Slark to escape bad situations.
* Puck's abilities used together also deals significant magical nuke damage, none of which are targeted and thus cannot be avoided by Shadow Dance.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Both Scream of Pain and Sonic Wave should hit him during his Shadow Dance.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Since Untouchable pierces Spell Immunity, Lifestealer cannot burst her down even with
Rage; meaning she can heal herself back to full HP.
Slark
* Heroes that can jump on her: Slark,
Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* 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.
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.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with escape abilities : Anti-Mage
Dark Seer
Slark
Storm Spirit
Windranger
Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown
Slark
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
Slark
* Pounce prevents Anti-Mage from using Blink, and lets him disengage from Anti-Mage if needed.
* Essence Shift allows Slark to permanently steal agility from Anti-Mage.
* Shadow Dance stops Anti-Mage from being able to fight back in a slippery situation.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with escape abilities : Anti-Mage
Dark Seer
Slark
Storm Spirit
Windranger
Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown
Slark
* Heroes that rely on their high mobility such as Queen of Pain,
Slark and
Weaver can be constantly engaged against due to your excellent ability to chase over any terrain. Make sure you carry true sight items (such as
Dust of Appearance or
Gem of True Sight) for invisible heroes that could potentially escape your clutches.
Slark
* Pounce's leash prevents Storm Spirit from using Ball Lightning, making it hard for Storm Spirit to escape a gank from Slark.
* Dark Pact can dispel Orchid Malevolence's Soul Burn.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with spell immunity can still be disabled by Fiend's Grip: 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.
Slark
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Luna,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Enfeeble, as well as Nightmare and Fiend's Grip when timed correctly.
* Shadow Dance can protect Slark from Bane's single-target abilities.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Sniper hugely lacks mobility and escape abilities so that he is an easy target for ganks from Slark.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to not be targeted by Unstable Concoction, making Alchemist stun himself and making himself vulnerable to the enemy.
* Dark Pact also allows him to just purge off the stun if timed correctly.
* Essence Shift will steal stats over long durations at a time should Alchemist lack the damage to kill Slark.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Dark Pact dispels Ignite's slow and Fireblast's stun.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to regenerate HP, even when he is affected by Ignite and Fireblast.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Dark Pact dispels Dismember if timed correctly.
* Pounce allows Slark to escape Pudge's Rot once Dismember is over, and allows him to dodge hooks.
* Shadow Dance hides Slark and grants him a high degree of mobility, which can make him a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an
Aghanim's Shard).
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Essence Shift deals 20 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by Dispersion.
* Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping with Spectral Dagger.
* Haunt illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a
Shadow Blade, preventing
Desolate's and
Diffusal Blade's damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any damage caused by
Radiance.
* Slark is a natural carrier of Silver Edge, which helps break both
Desolate and
Dispersion.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Pounce prevents Tinker from blinking away.
* Slark frequently builds Shadow Blade, which allows him to approach Tinker unnoticed. Since Tinker's farming usually covers a significant amount of area on the map, Sentry Wards may not be cost effective.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to detect both common and unusual wards. Eliminating common ward causes Tinker trouble farming many lanes if he does not know who may be waiting to jump on him. Slark is also uniquely able to identify some of the less common wards used by Tinker, such as those placed on the cliffs at map edges which Tinker uses to give him vision over the trees he uses to hide in.
* Slark's extremely high move speed from Shadow Dance, potentially stacked with
Shadow Blade, allows him to easily follow Tinker between lanes, especially if Tinker has pushed the lanes out.
* Dark Pact dispels Laser's blind.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Clockwerk lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Clockwerk finishes his initiation. Additionally, Clockwerk hates buying Dagon and
Ethereal Blade, which are the only itmes that can help him deal with heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Slark's Dark Pact allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
* Against a carry Silencer, Essence Shift will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Slark with
Dark Pact
* 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.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with good escape mechanisms are a nuisance to deal with in the early phase of the game: Slark,
Lifestealer,
Morphling
Slark
* Melee carries who usually buy an early Black King Bar, and have gap closing abilities can be good against the Arc Warden, such as
Slark,
Riki,
Earthshaker with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Sven with
Aghanim's Scepter etc.
Additional:
* Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact.
* Pounce allows Slark to avoid Spark Wraiths.
* Tempest Double allows Slark to build up Essence Shift stacks, especially when it is being used for split pushing.
Lion
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Lifestealer
* 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 provides spell immunity to Lifestealer and thus nullifies all of Lion's abilities.
* Open Wounds allows Lifestealer to easily catch Lion out and prevent him from escaping.
Slark
* Pounce allows Slark to close in on Lion and prevent him from escaping.
* Lion's fragile health pool makes him easy prey for Slark's high burst damage through Pounce,
Dark Pact and right-clicks.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lion from casting Hex, Mana Drain, or Finger of Death on Slark.
* Dark Pact allows Slark to dispel any of Lion's disables.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Slark
* Slark's Pounce can be used to dodge Hoodwink's abilities or lock her down.
* Shadow Dance makes Slark unhittable from
Acorn Shot.
* Dark Pact removes all slows from Hoodwink's abilities.
* Hoodwink's already low health output is a great target for Slark's Essence Shift.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Dark Pact easily purges away both slow and disarm effect from Lucky Shot.
* With Pounce now applying leash to the target, Pangolier is helpless against Slark since both his Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder will be disabled. Pounce also help Slark to easily escape from Rolling Thunder.
Marci
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Flaming Lasso if is used in anticipation, but a Blink initiation from fog can catch the Slark off guard.
* Slark can also take off any Sticky Napalm stacks with Dark Pact in lane.
Additional:
* Shadow Dance's passive can inform Slark when he's under enemy vision, meaning it'll be very hard to catch Slark off-guard with Flaming Lasso.
* Flaming Lasso is dispelled by Dark Pact. Its casting can be prevented with
Shadow Dance or
Depth Shroud (it requires
Aghanim's Shard).
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Lifestealer
* 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).
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Dark Pact, if timed correctly, can dispel Wraithfire Blast's stun and slow.
* Since Wraith King has a lot of health and multiple lives, Slark can keep gaining Essence Shift stacks, increasing armor, damage, and attack speed and can beat down Wraith King twice.
* Slark sometimes carries Diffusal Blade to burn mana as an attempt to shut down Reincarnation.
* Because Wraith King has no AoE abilities, Shadow Dance is particularly useful against Wraith King.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Techies' abilities. Reactive Tazer's disarm will also not work on Lifestealer under Rage.
* Rage can also be used to trigger Techies' 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.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Dark Pact dispels debuffs from Gush, Anchor Smash and even Ravage if timed correctly.
* Kraken Shell cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift or dispel the leash if he gets
Pounced.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven,
Slark
Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander,
Oracle,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Pounce's root prevents Earth Spirit from using Rolling Boulder to escape, making it easier for Slark to shut him down especially in the laning phase.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* 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 {{A:Rage|Lifestealer} with Spiked Carapace because {{A:Rage|Lifestealer} gives Juggernaut 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,
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest 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 Čofesteačer.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Lifestealer
* 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 (except an upgraded Laguna Blade).
* Open Wounds is great to keep Lina in place because she has no abilities to help her escape.
Slark
* Dark Pact can be cast during the cast animation of Light Strike Array and dispel its stun.
* Pounce allows Slark to close the gap to Lina.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lina from killing Slark with her Laguna Blade when his HP gets low.
Dawnbreaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* Rage ignores all of Gyrocopter's magical attacks.
* Feast helps Lifestealer out-damage Gyrocopter at close range.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark heightened regeneration when out of vision making DoTs effects less threatening.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Slark
* A well-timed Dark Pact can dispel Frost Arrows and Gust, letting Slark engage and escape freely.
* Shadow Dance lets Slark quickly close the gap and deal heavy damage without giving Drow Ranger a chance to retaliate.
* Pounce counteracts Frost Arrows' slow, letting Slark easily pin Drow Ranger down or flee.
Additional:
* Pounce and items like Shadow Blade makes it very difficult for Drow Ranger to keep her distance from Slark, thereby losing her
Marksmanship bonus.
* Gust is rarely enough to keep Slark at bay, as Drow Ranger has no movement abilities and will simply be chased down afterwards.
* Drow Ranger's heavy dependence on agility also makes her significantly weaker after being drained by Essence Shift.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like Slark in his
Shadow Dance and
Weaver in his
Shukuchi.
Additional:
* Earthshaker's many AoE stuns help lock down Slark and will often waste the duration of Shadow Dance.
* As a frequent Force Staff buyer,he can later on escape or save teammates from Pounce.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz,
Slark,
Storm Spirit
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Slark
* If Slark sees the Sacred Arrow before it hits him, he can use Dark Pact to remove it a moment later.
* Pounce prevents Mirana from escaping with Leap.
* Slark can survive Mirana's Aghanim's Scepter combo with
Shadow Dance.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats: Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Pugna,
Slark etc.
Additional:
* Slark's Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with
Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who typically builds Silver Edge, Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin's
Blur and
Coup de Grace, thus taking down her attack evasion and drastically reducing her damage output.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Slark will have plenty of time to escape with Pounce,
Shadow Dance and
Silver Edge (provided that he purchased it already).
* Essence Shift can be very harmful for Phantom Assassin as losing the agility means that her physical damage will be also reduced, which can also weaken
Coup de Grace if Slark manages to steal lots of agility from her.
* Overall, any attempt for Phantom Assassin to take down Slark will hurt her more than Slark.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with burst damage of their own won't be afraid to go toe to toe with Void Spirit, like Ursa,
Lifestealer, or
Axe.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Slark
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan,
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Spectre and others.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Slark
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
Additional:
* Blade Fury does not offer any protections against
Essence Shift, as it can go through spell immunity and reduces attribute.
* Slark can pounce away from Juggernaut and he cannot prevent or chase slark.
* Shadow Dance prevent Juggernaut from using
Omnislash altogether, while regen himself at a higher rate. Slark can freely hit juggernaut without any fears of retaliation.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Slark
* Heroes with strong dispels can remove Primal Roar's stun: Abaddon,
Slark,
Oracle.
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* 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.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Lifestealer
* Heroes that can instantly kill creeps greatly reduce the effectiveness of Chen's converted army: Lifestealer,
Doom,
Mirana,
Clinkz.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)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.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Slark can detect early Roshan attempts due to Shadow Dance if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Enrage cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift and will reduce his physical damage output.
* Even if Ursa initiates with Earthshock, Slark can Pounce away or use
Dark Pact after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar,
Terrorblade
Slark
* Essence Shift allows Slark to hit bristleback freely whether on the front or back, stealing attributes and make bristleback much less tanky.
* Pounce can be used to disengage and recover loss HP with his ultimate passive, and can return to fight in a short period while bristleback is already injured and got some of his attributes stolen.
* Dark Pact makes it near impossible to keep
Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on slark.
* Although Dark Pact cannot dispel
Quill Spray, means Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he uses
Shadow Dance before.
* Slark builds Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counter birstleback.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom.
Lifestealer
* 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. This is particularly devastating in lane, where Doom may have to play a much more passive, conservative play style as a result.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Slark
* Rubick usually positions in the back of a team. Heroes who can sneak up and assault Rubick (e.g. Slark) or damage Rubick from great distance (e.g.
Spectre,
Sniper) should be treated cautiously, as otherwise the matchup usually ends up badly for Rubick.
Slark
* Pounce and
Dark Pact together with some attacks can take Rubick down quickly.
* Rubick's spells are ineffective due to the strong dispel effect of Dark Pact.
* Even though Shadow Dance is a great spell to steal, Slark's untargetable nature and his low cooldown spells prevents Rubick from stealing. Also Slark can freely use other abilities for the duration of
Shadow Dance.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* 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
Slark
* Dark Pact rips through Refraction charges and still steals attributes during Refraction.
* Pounce and Dark Pact will still hit Templar Assassin while she is Melded. Since she cannot move, both abilities will be easy for Slark to land.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
Slark
* Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast debuffs are dispellable with Dark Pact. Arctic Burn is also no escape against
Pounce.
* Cold Embrace gives Slark free Essence Shift stacks.
* However, Essence Shift works against allies, and Slark's low health pool means that if he's the target for Winter's Curse, he will go down very quickly.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Heroes with Break abilities will prevent Slark from regenerating and gaining Essence Shift stacks: Viper,
Shadow Demon, etc.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin negates
Essence Shift and the regeneration aspect of
Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact doesn't mean a lot against Viper's ubiquitous slows.
* Viper becomes a relevant presence in team fights before Slark can procure his standard items (e.g. Shadow Blade).
Lifestealer
* 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.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Warlock.
Slark
* Upheaval does not interrupt Slark too much, as he can just Pounce out of the area.
* Fatal Bonds and
Shadow Word can be dispelled by Dark Pact.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* 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.
Muerta
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 13%)Slark
* Slark's low health and reliance on high built armor from Essence Shift makes him susceptible to Muerta's
Pierce the Veil.
* Muerta cannot be attacked by Slark's physical attacks and Essence Shift during
Pierce the Veil.
* Muerta's Dead Shot can hit Slark during his
Shadow Dance.
Lifestealer
* Lifestealer can activate Rage to be spell immune, making
Pierce the Veil no damage and preventing
Dead Shot from fearing or doing damage.
* Lifestealer can use Infest to avoid Muerta's Gunslinger
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Lifestealer
* Lifestealer's low mobility makes him easy to kite.
* Stone Gaze pierces Rage, wasting its cooldown and making Lifestealer unable to fight.
Slark
* Medusa is especially vulnerable to Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Additional:
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift particularly removes 1 intelligence point per hit, thus lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even during Shadow Dance.
* Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can hit Slark through Shadow Dance and
Depth Shroud.
* Should Pounce be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Arena of Blood.
Lifestealer
* 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.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can use Chakram as a scouting tool to find Slark if he tries to
Pounce into the trees.
* None of Timbersaw's abilities require a target to be cast, allowing him to hit Slark inside Shadow Dance.
* Reactive Armor can be effective protection against a Slark who attacks quickly, since the strong armor and health regen cannot be stolen by
Essence Shift.
* Timber Chain makes Timbersaw very mobile, meaning he is among the very few heroes who can actually give chase to a fleeing Slark.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Warlock.
Slark
* Pounce also stops Nature's Prophet's
Teleportation.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Lifestealer
* 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
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Slark
* Toss and
Avalanche deals heavy damage to Slark in the early game, making Tiny a very dangerous target to gank.
* Tiny has 0 agility, which means Slark's Essence Shift permanent agility steal does not do much against him.
Lifestealer
* Feast will deal a enormous amount of damage because of Tiny's huge health pool.
* Rage protects Lifestealer from Tiny's magical burst damage.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Slark
* Thunder Strike provides vision on him while Slark is invisible.
* Glimpse's range at lvl 3-4 is more than enough to pull him back to a favorable position for your team to group up and kill him.
* Even though he is capable of picking you off and deal enough damage to kill you, Slark will be literally sticking his neck out, since jumping on Disruptor means being on his battleground.
* AoE silence and the ability to mute Black King Bar is deadly to Slark at all stages of the game.
Additional:
* Static Storm and
Kinetic Field locks down Slark, as he cannot use Dark Pact to dispel any disables, or Pounce out while silenced.
* Glimpse puts an end to any attempts at ganking Disruptor or his allies, and also negates Slark's mobility by bringing him back into the fight if he tries to escape with Pounce.
Lifestealer
* Rage can be used to escape from a Glimpse and to move out of Kinetic Field.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to dodge Glimpse.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Slark
* Berseker's Call catches Slark in Shadow Dance, wasting its duration and preventing him from escaping to regenerate.
* Unlike most disables, Dark Pact cannot dispel Berserker's Call, and the output damage would be returned by
Blade Mail.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call forces Slark to attack him, even during Shadow Dance.
* Counter Helix will hit Slark in Shadow Dance. It also triggers frequently against Slark's high attack speed provided by Essence Shift stacks.
* Culling Blade finishes off Slark before he gets a chance to slip away and regenerate his health, preventing him from playing the typical hit-and-run style.
Lifestealer
* 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, Rage can still be pierced by
Berserker's Call and
Counter Helix.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)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.
Slark
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Slark, etc.).
Underlord
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden.
Lifestealer
* In general, heroes with spell immunity abilities won't be caught inside by Pit of Malice: Juggernaut,
Lifestealer.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Lifestealer
* 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.
Slark
* Pounce can easily break Static Link, making it less powerful against him.
* Slark is one of the few heroes who can man fight a Razor, because of Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance can prevent Razor from killing him and may provide an opportunity to kill Razor due to it preventing Razor from attacking Slark.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Warlock.
Lifestealer
* Heroes with magic immune abilities can negate most of Visage's attacks like Pangolier and
Lifestealer.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Lifestealer
* Heroes with summons: Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Warlock.
Slark
* Lycan cannot escape from a Pounce even if he uses
Shapeshift, and has no disabling abilities to stop Slark.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
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Lifestealer
* 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.
Diffusal Blade, which poses a large problem to Lifestealer and his low mana pool, and can shut him down from even casting his abilities.
Phantom Rush.
Doppelganger dispels
Open Wounds.
Diffusal Blade, which a problem for a low already mana hero like Lifestealer.
* Phantom Lancer commonly builds
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 Lancer usually builds
Slark
* Slark has no sustained AoE to fight off Phantom Lancer's illusions as they continually spawn.
Shadow Dance.
Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark if he tries to escape with
Pounce.
Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer dodge Dark Pact and Pounce and partially wastes the duration of Shadow Dance.
Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark via spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark when he jumps away with Pounce.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark by spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from
*
Additional:
* Slark has no sustained AoE damage to deal with a lot of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
*
*
*