* Blink allows Anti-Mage to get on top of Lina and deal damage with his
Mana Break.
* Counterspell makes Anti-Mage tanky against Lina's heavy magic damage. It can also be used block and reflect Laguna Blade.
* Mana Void is very hazardous for Lina, who has a high mana pool and quickly depletes it during fights.
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback's small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* Mana Break removes both a percentage and flat amount of your mana, preventing Bristleback from using abilities in the lane.
* Blink Anti-Mage has very high mobility with this skill, and can easily escape from Bristleback since he has no way to prevent his blink. He can also use this offensively to get in front of Bristleback during fights.
* Time Walk will easily backtrack Lina's burst damage (especially Laguna Blade) if not timed correctly.
* During Chronosphere, squishy heroes like Lina will be main target of Faceless Void in his ultimate.
* Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* Chronosphere allows allies to reposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Void from using Time Walk.
Additional:
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
* Viper Strike prevents buildup of Fiery Soul stacks.
* Corrosive Skin provides magic resistance against Lina's spells. However, Lina can counter this with
Silver Edge, a common item on Lina.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike can burn away Lina's small health pool.
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed, making him unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable
Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his defensive passive, Bristleback also loses his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
* 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.
* 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 lost 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 the
Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on Slark.
* Although Dark Pact cannot dispel
Quill Spray, meaning that Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he used
Shadow Dance before.
* Slark builds Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counters Bristleback.
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
* Heroes with abilities that can pull Lina out of position can easily bring her to their team mates, like Batrider with
Flaming Lasso,
Pudge with
Meat Hook and
Vengeful Spirit with
Nether Swap.
* Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
* Outworld Destroyer's high burst damage is not negated by Bristleback's passive. So, even if Bristleback turns his back on Outworld, he can decimate Bristleback quickly.
* If Bristleback attempts to flee, or tries to close the gap, Outworld can banish him with Astral Imprisonment, both reducing Bristlebacks much needed mana and allowing Outworld to move in front of him, forcing him to take the full damage from his spells. This will also allow Outworld to land a devasting Sanity's Eclipse, without it being reduced by Bristleback's passive.
* Templar Assassin can outmatch Lina on the center line thanks to her own Psi Blades, which is why the advantage of Lina's long-range attacks become turned against her.
* Refraction is good defense against Lina's burst damage. But remember that Lina can partially counter this with
Dragon Slave's damage over time.
Additional:
* Outlanes Lina on the center line thanks to her own Psi Blades, which is why the advantage of Lina's long-range attacks become turned against her
* Closes from Lina's magic attacks with her own Refraction, which is why Lina can't make her combination:
Light Strike Array,
Dragon Slave,
Laguna Blade and kill Templar Assassin quickly
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
* Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
* Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
Additional:
* When dueled, Bristleback will have to face Legion head on, not allowing his passive Bristleback to come into effect.
* Light Strike Array has a long delay, making her vulnerable for Ursa's burst.
* Enrage can protect Ursa against Lina's high magical burst.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
* Spectral Dagger and
Haunt allow Spectre to get close to Lina.
* Desolate is very strong against Lina, who's usually a bit isolated in fights because of her high attack and cast range.
* Dispersion can mitigate a good portion of Lina's burst damage, allowing Spectre to turn on her afterwards.
Additional:
* Spectre can very easily close the distance on Lina with Haunt and
Spectral Dagger, and due to Lina's abysmal mobility without a
Blink Dagger and terrible health pool and armor, Lina easily gets slaughtered due
Desolate.
* Dispersion can mitigate a good portion of Lina's burst damage, allowing Spectre to turn against her afterwards.
* Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from
Bristleback.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
* Ember Spirit absorbs quite a large amount of magical damage with its Flame Guard, and in addition dodges the abilities of
Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array with its
Sleight of Fist
Additional:
* Ember Spirit absorbs quite a large amount of magical damage with its Flame Guard, and in addition dodges the abilities of
Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array with its
Sleight of Fist.
* Sven has a high health pool and is a natural Black King Bar holder and is very hard to kill for Lina.
* Sven also has high physical damage, making it easy for him to burst her down.
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
* Storm Surge allows Razor to outdistance Bristleback, even with a few stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo on him. Also, if Razor has his Shard, it will deal full damage to Bristleback every time he uses Viscous Nasal Goo (as Bristleback will face him to cast it).
Additional:
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
* Heroes that can close the gap can easily chase Lina down, such as Timbersaw with
Timber Chain and
Anti-Mage with
Blink.
* Whirling Death deals damage while also reducing {Show:A|Timbersaw|Whirling Death|value4} of Bristleback's strength, making him less tanky.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw even with Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage: Lina,
Leshrac,
Enchantress,
Queen of Pain
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With his upgraded level 25 talent, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing
Warpath.
* If Doom chooses the Level 25 talent {ValueColor:1|Doom applies Break|25tal} {Symbol:Talent}, he can disable Bristleback and
Warpath, taking away much of his durability and damage potential in team fights.
* Heroes with spell immunity unless Lina chooses to play Carry role like Lifestealer with
Rage and
Juggernaut with
Blade Fury.
* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
* Squishy heroes (Io,
Crystal Maiden,
Lina...), as Earth Spirit can deal tons of damage with Magnetize.
* Nether Ward will be problematic for heavy nukers and spammers like Skywrath Mage,
Lina,
Lion and
Invoker, but Pugna must not use Decrepify defensively against them as he will be helping them out more than anything.
* Lion's
Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
* Marci can be effective against vulnerable squishy heroes that cannot deal with heroes that jump onto them - Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Rubick, etc.
* Mind Flare does tons of damage against Lina because of her high intelligence.
* Vendetta can deal heavy damage to Lina while also burning her mana, preventing Lina from casting her abilities.
* Spiked Carapace can easily be used to counter Lina's abilities because of their long cast animation, and could probably kill Lina outright if Laguna Blade is reflected. However, Lina can counter this with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, a common item on Lina.
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all:
Axe,
Broodmother,
Dawnbreaker,
Enigma,
Huskar,
Jakiro,
Legion Commander,
Lina,
Luna,
Lycan,
Slardar,
Slark,
Troll Warlord,
Witch Doctor.
* Puck can dodge Lina's Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array with his
Phase Shift skill, which helps him avoid combining these abilities with
Laguna Blade and avoid burst damage from Lina.
* Puck forbids Lina to use her abilities with the Waning Rift ability, which will help her teammates survive and even give them the opportunity to kill her.
Additional:
* Puck can dodge Lina's Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array with Phase Shift. A good Puck player can even dodge
Laguna Blade, as it has an invisible projectile, therefore avoiding all the burst damage from Lina.
* Puck forbids Lina to use her abilities with Waning Rift, which will help Puck's teammates survive and even give them the opportunity to kill her.
* Axe,
Bristleback,
Centaur Warrunner,
Spirit Breaker,
Pudge,
Huskar,
Wraith King,
Doom: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
* Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
* Sharpshooter deals massive damage to Bristleback and applies a high duration disable on his passive.
* Bushwhack and
Scurry can be used to easily kite Bristleback.
Additional:
* Bristleback and
Warpath can be disabled by Hoodwink's
Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time, reducing his both offense and defense.
* Scurry and
Bushwhack can be used to kite bristleback.
* Abilities that can destroy trees can give Hoodwink a disadvantage: Timbersaw,
Windranger,
Lina.
* Being a hero with low health and abysmal mobility, Lina can nuke her down easily.
* Since Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field is a channeled ability, Lina can use her Light Strike Array to cancel it easily.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
* Light Strike Array in combination with
Dragon Slave can easily clear Broodmother's spiders.
* Laguna Blade offers extensive damage that can kill Broodmother early on or before she is able to use Insatiable Hunger in attempts to salvage a fight.
* Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
Additional:
* Bristleback reduces most of Broodmother's and her spiderlings' damage.
* Quill Spray will hit any spiders in its proximity, hindering Broodmother's fighting and farming capabilities.
* Lina interrupts Huskar on the center line because of her attack range, she can constantly be at a long distance, punching Huskar with her hand, while Huskar needs a very close distance to use Burning Spear
Additional:
* Lina can interrupt Huskar on the center line because of her attack range, she can constantly be at a long distance, punching Huskar with her hand, while Huskar needs a very close distance to use Burning Spear.
* The damage from Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
Additional:
* Bristleback's tankiness and Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and
Quill Spray and
Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
* Light Strike Array can catch Meepo and his clones off-guard if he tries to gank Lina with Earthbind &
Poof.
* Laguna Blade can quickly kill Meepo and his clones before they escape with Poof.
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
* 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.
* Combo Quill Spray and items Blade Mail can easily trigger from Focus Fire damage.
Additional:
* Using Focus Fire on Bristleback tends to fare badly for Windranger, as he can trigger passive Quill Sprays many times, especially when she attacks him from behind. In addition, Windrun does not protect her from both
Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray, rendering her helpless.
* Bristleback's natural tankiness makes it hard for Windranger to effectively burst her down throughout the game.
* Bristleback tends to continuously spam Viscous Nasal Goo to slow down Windranger when she uses Windrun to escape, potentially allowing him to outrun her with his
Warpath stacks.
* Bristleback can build Lotus Orb to reflect Shackleshot and Focus Fire back at Windranger.
* Lina has very high magic burst damage to use against the low-health-pool Luna. Laguna Blade can also be upgraded with Laguna Blade damage is Pure and pierces Spell Immunity to bypass
Black King Bar, making Lina even more of a threat. Luna however, can easily counter this problem with
Linken's Sphere, which is a common item for her.
* For the same reasons, Lina makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him:
Arc Warden,
Venomancer,
Luna.
Additional:
* Quill Spray and
Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback helps return a lot of damage to Luna’s team if she uses her nukes on him and he has his back to her, and her only way to counter this is by buying
Silver Edge.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and
Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of Crimson Guard and
Eternal Shroud, which are good protection from
Moon Glaives and
Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Bristleback makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* Venomancer has low health, which makes him vulnerable to Lina's heavy magic damage.
* Fiery Soul attack speed bonus removes Plague Wards easily in all stages of the game.
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him:
Arc Warden,
Venomancer,
Luna.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
Additional:
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons: Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
* Bristleback's constant harass from Quill Spray will greatly hurt Enigma's laning and kill his Eidolons.
* However, Bristleback has no way of canceling Black Hole at all. And Bristleback is not a hero that goes for disabling items to counter that problem.
* 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.
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
* Heroes with abilities that can pull Lina out of position can easily bring her to their team mates, like Batrider with
Flaming Lasso,
Pudge with
Meat Hook and
Vengeful Spirit with
Nether Swap.
* Pudge has low armor and mobility, making him suspectible to her physical attacks (if Lina is the carry).
* Because Dismember is a channeled ability, it can be canceled through Light Strike Array within a distance.
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Additional:
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor and poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
Additional:
* Lina can easily prevent Nature's Prophet's Teleportation escape attempts with Light Strike Array, and can clear Sprout's trees instantly.
* Lina's Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array can kill Nature's Prophet's Treants.
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina,
Keeper of the Light,
Timbersaw,
Leshrac,
Bristleback,
Axe.
* Lina's high damage burst from Dragon Slave,
Light Strike Array and
Laguna Blade can easily kill Chen's allies or Chen himself before he can use
Hand of God.
Additional:
* Lina's high damage burst from Dragon Slave,
Light Strike Array and
Laguna Blade can easily kill Chen's allies or Chen himself before he can use
Hand of God.
* Enchantress has a very small health pool and cannot tank Lina's heavy magic burst.
* Untouchable is decently countered by Fiery Soul, exposing Enchantress's weakness to physical damage due to her low armor.
* Lina is decent at clearing creeps and can kill Enchantress's creeps quickly.
Additional:
* Enchantress has pitiful health, and cannot tank Lina's heavy magic damage.
* Untouchable is decently countered by Fiery Soul, exposing Enchantress's weakness to physical damage due to her low armor.
* Lina is decent at clearing creeps and can kill Enchantress' creeps quickly.
* Tiny's nonexistent armor in the early game makes him very vulnerable to Quill Spray's large amounts of physical damage.
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can slow Tiny to a crawl and allows Bristleback to easily kite him with his high movement speed and Quill Spray's long range, as Tiny has no ability to escape.
* Dragon Slave deals reliable magic damage during the laning phase against Mars.
* Lina's Eul's Scepter of Divinity and
Light Strike Array combo can interrupt Mars from being disruptive for a decent amount of time and leave him vulnerable for follow up stuns.
* Laguna Blade deals massive magical damage, and pure damage with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
* Lina can outlanes Shadow Fiend on the central line, due to the fact that Lina's attack range exceeds the attack range of Shadow Fiend, which makes it difficult for him to fend off her attacks and approach creeps, thus Lina has more level and gold.
* Lina can defeat Shadow Fiend with the combination of her abilities on lane and during teamfights: Light Strike Array,
Dragon Slave,
Laguna Blade, Shadow Fiend does not have a large pool of health before buying items for extra strength and health like
Satanic, which is why Lina's strong magic damage is enough to kill him quickly.
Additional:
* Outlanes Shadow Fiend on the central line, due to the fact that Lina's attack range exceeds the range of Shadow Fiend, which makes it difficult for him to fend off her attacks and approach creeps, thus Lina has more level and gold
* Defeats Shadow Fiend` from Burst with a combination of skills: Light Strike Array,
Dragon Slave,
Laguna Blade, Shadow Fiend does not have a large pool of health before buying an item:
Satanic , which is why Lina's strong magic damage is enough to kill him quickly
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
* Lina has a very long range of attack, which completely overlaps the range of Queen of Pain's abilities and attacks, which is why even a single Shadow Strike roll can become deplorable, since Lina will shoot Queen of Pain from a long distance before and after the
Shadow Strike roll. And with the help of the abilities of
Light Strike Array and
Laguna Blade, Lina can even kill Queen of Pain because of her small health reserve if she is exposed to a blow
Additional:
* Lina has a very long range of attack, which completely overlaps the range of Queen of Pain's abilities and attacks, which is why even a single Shadow Strike roll can become deplorable, since Lina will shoot Queen of Pain from a long distance before and after the
Shadow Strike roll. And with the help of
Light Strike Array and
Laguna Blade, Lina can even kill Queen of Pain because of her small health reserve if she is exposed to a blow.
* Lina defeats Sniper on the mid, because she has the same attack range as him, and her Dragon Slave ability deals much more damage to creeps, as well as to Sniper himself, than
Shrapnel, which creates uncomfortable conditions for Sniper to farm on the line, which is why Lina either punches Sniper harder than he either pushes a pack of creeps up to the tower and finishes off his creeps under it, preventing Sniper from earning gold and a level.
Additional:
* Lina defeats Sniper on the mid, because she has the same attack range as him, and her Dragon Slave ability deals much more damage to creeps, as well as to Sniper himself, than
Shrapnel, which creates uncomfortable conditions for Sniper to farm on the line, which is why Lina either punches Sniper harder than he either pushes a pack of creeps up to the tower and finishes off his creeps under it, preventing Sniper from earning gold and a level.
* Arc Warden has relatively lower armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
* Arc Warden also does not like to build a Silver Edge as it takes a long time to build up and may slow down the timings for other important items needed in the game like
Gleipnir.
* However, do note that in a game where Arc Warden's team has many jumping capabilities or good passives, like a Tidehunter or
Spectre, a
Silver Edge becomes incredibly valuable on Arc Warden as not only can he run away from the jumps, he effectively gets 2 breaks, and Bristleback may not be the best pick.
* Light Strike Array and Dragon Slave allows Lina to destroy trees, countering Nature's Guise and
Eyes in the Forest.
* Lina has many tools to bypass Living Armor's protection.
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
Additional:
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from
Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
* Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
* Laguna Blade ends Gyrocopter very quickly in the early to mid game.
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
* Lina's damage burst can quickly kill Clinkz before he saves them with Skeleton Walk.
* Fiery Soul attack speed bonus removes Burning Army easily in all stages of the game.
* Guardian Angel is generally useless against Lina as she primarily relies on magical damage. Lina can also dispel it with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity as she is a hero who often goes for it.
Eul's Scepter of Divinity can later be upgraded into
Wind Waker, which will allow Lina to escape from Omniknight.
* Laguna Blade can often finish off Omniknight's allies before he can save them with
Purification and
Repel. This can become even worse once Lina picks
Laguna Blade damage is pure and pierces spell immunity talent, which will allow it to ignore both, any form of spell immunity and
Guardian Angel.
* Moonlight Shadow does little good against Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array.
* Lina's damage burst can quickly kill Mirana's teammates before she saves them with Moonlight Shadow.
Additional:
* Eul's Scepter of Divinity is an item Lina commonly buys, which in combination with and
Light Strike Array can disable Mirana if she tries to Leap away.
* Laguna Blade's magical (pure with Laguna Blade damage is Pure and pierces Spell Immunity talent) burst damage takes advantage of Mirana's below average health.
* Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
* Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and
Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time
* Light Strike Array catches Morphling while he jumps in from Waveform and also prevents Morphling from using his abilities.
* Laguna Blade can kill Morphling quickly before he shifts into Attribute Shift (Strength Gain).
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or
Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
* Doppelganger can be used to easily dodge Light Strike Array if timed correctly.
* While Lina can clear Phantom Lancer's illusions with her abilities, Phantom Lancer can quickly deplete Lina's mana pool with his illusions and deal massive damage from it simultaneously since Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with
Diffusal Blade.
* Heroes with high physical and magical damage alike are a huge hazard for Muerta, as they can deal serious damage to her even if she has Pierce the Veil active:
Luna,
Lina,
Tusk,
Broodmother,
Shadow Fiend,
Ember Spirit,
Gyrocopter,
Vengeful Spirit,
Arc Warden,
Medusa,
Shadow Shaman.
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven,
Omniknight,
Enigma,
Luna,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Rubick,
Keeper of the Light,
Pugna,
Invoker,
Spectre,
Alchemist,
Treant Protector,
Lina,
Oracle,
Zeus,
Shadow Shaman,
Phoenix,
Razor,
Huskar,
Batrider,
Kunkka,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Sand King,
Medusa,
Dawnbreaker.
* Heroes who rely on armor or evasion to survive can easily be bursted down, like Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Underlord,
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes that can kill Death Prophet with nukes can prevent her from using Exorcism to its full duration or using it at all: Lina,
Lion,
Puck,
Morphling.
* Reaper's Scythe and
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
Additional:
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive
Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
* Ghost Shroud is not a good defensive ability against Lina as all of her abilities deal magical damage.
* Lina has a very long range of attack, which completely overlaps the range of Death Pulse and
Heartstopper Aura.
* However, once Necrophos gets Aghanim's Shard, he will gain access to
Death Seeker which will allow him to turn into a larger
Death Pulse that can be used to close the gap on Lina and kill her if she is not careful.
Additional:
* Laguna Blade's damage as well as damage from all of Lina's abilities will be greatly amplified during Ghost Shroud.
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind),
Spectre,
Ursa, and
Dragon Knight.
* Spirit Breaker's
Nether Strike with
Aghanim's Shard disables Bristleback's passives.
* Heroes who rely on armor or evasion to survive can easily be bursted down, like Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Underlord,
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes who can continue dealing damage even while being stunned: Luna,
Razor,
Axe,
Bristleback,
Leshrac,
Death Prophet,
Jakiro.
* Heroes who have channeled abilities can be stunned by Light Strike Array, like Witch Doctor with
Death Ward and
Bane's
Fiend's Grip.
Additional:
* Light Strike Array cancels out Death Ward from a long distance.
* Bristleback's
Viscous Nasal Goo can catch and slow Bounty Hunter.
Warpath and
Quill Spray can defeat him quickly due to his small HP pool when compared to Bristleback's.
* Heroes who have channeled abilities can be stunned by Light Strike Array, like Witch Doctor with
Death Ward and
Bane's
Fiend's Grip.
* Heroes with high burst damage through their physical attacks or spells can kill Dazzle or his allies before he has a chance to use Shallow Grave. (Lina,
Lion, etc.)
Additional:
* Laguna Blade can kill Dazzle quickly before he casts Shallow Grave.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
* Heavy nukers will do well against Cold Embrace (Lina,
Zeus etc).
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
* Fragile support heroes are all ideal targets for the Phantom Assassin. Heroes such as Lina and
Witch Doctor are all prime targets that may not be able to react quickly and fight back due to Phantom Assassin's sudden appearance.
* Laguna Blade is one of the best tools to kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything in early-to-mid game due to its high magical (pure with
Laguna Blade damage is Pure and pierces Spell Immunity talent) burst damage.
* Blur offers no protection against Lina's abilities. Likewise, Lina can counter
Blur's evasion by buying either
Silver Edge or
Monkey King Bar.
* Lina just has to be careful about Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard and
Coup De Grace, as
Fan of Knives can deal pure damage to Lina and disable
Fiery Soul awhile
Coup De Grace can deal serious damage to her even if she is spell immune, which may force Lina to buy
Ethereal Blade to deal with Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
* Laguna Blade is one of the best tools to kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything in early-to-mid game due to its high magical (pure with
Laguna Blade damage is Pure and pierces Spell Immunity talent) burst damage.
* Blur offers no protection against Lina's abilities. Likewise, Lina can counter
Blur's evasion by buying either
Silver Edge or
Monkey King Bar.
* Lina just has to be careful about Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard and
Coup De Grace, as
Fan of Knives can deal pure damage to Lina and disable
Fiery Soul awhile
Coup De Grace can deal serious damage to her even if she is spell immune, which may force Lina to buy
Ethereal Blade to deal with Phantom Assassin.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passives.
* Dragon Slave will make quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Light Strike Array for the enemy.
* Shadow Demon doesn't have the burst damage to take Lina out of the fight quickly, although Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Lina.
* Terrorblade's
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
* Laguna Blade is one of the best tools to kill Terrorblade before he can use
Sunder due to its high magical damage.
* Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array allows Lina to clear Terrorblade's illusions from both, Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
* Lina commonly buys items that allow her attacks to deal magical damage to Terrorblade that can ignore his high armor, like Gleipnir,
Monkey King Bar or
Revenant's Brooch.
Additional:
* Laguna Blade is one of the best tools to kill Terrorblade before he can use
Sunder due to its high magical (pure with
Laguna Blade damage is Pure and pierces Spell Immunity talent) burst damage.
* Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array allows Lina to clear Terrorblade's illusions from both, Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
* Both Lion's
Finger of Death and
Lina's
Laguna Blade have a 0.25 second delay before the damage is dealt.
* Lina is a common Eul's Scepter of Divinity carrier which can waste some duration of Borrowed Time and following up with
Laguna Blade if timed correctly.
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
* Lina builds Shadow Blade (and upgrades it into a
Silver Edge), which makes it hard for Ancient Apparition to land his abilities.
* Laguna Blade can kill Ancient Apparition easily due to his low health pool and lack of mobility.
* Heroes with abilities that can pull Lina out of position can easily bring her to their team mates, like Batrider with
Flaming Lasso,
Pudge with
Meat Hook and
Vengeful Spirit with
Nether Swap.
* Lina can burst Vengeful Spirit down, provided she can land Light Strike Array before Vengeful Spirit lands her Magic Missile.
* Laguna Blade deals massive damage, often being enough to kill a squishy Vengeful Spirit.
* Storm Spirit can quickly close the distance with Lina using Ball Lightning. In addition,
Ball Lightning can be used as a way to dodge the abilities of
Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array
Additional:
* Storm Spirit can quickly close the distance with Lina using Ball Lightning. In addition,
Ball Lightning can be used as a way to dodge the abilities of
Dragon Slave and
Light Strike Array
* Lina can win on a line against Storm Spirit because of the range of her abilities and attacks, and Storm Spirit will be forced to survive on such a line, not farm
* Dragon Slave is easy to steal, and provides Rubick with a useful nuke.
* Light Strike Array serves as a cheap nuke as well as a crowd control ability.
* Rubick uses the fixed 0.15 second cast time when casting Light Strike Array, much faster than
Lina herself.
* Rubick can gurantee a stun by throwing the victim into the area with Telekinesis, extending the overall lockdown duration.
* Laguna Blade is an awesome ultimate that gives huge burst damage.
* Arcane Supremacy (combined with Level 25 talent +40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells, as of 7.31c) increases its damage before reduction to a whopping 660/882/1134(830/1162/1494) (and even more so with
Aghanim's Scepter), without considering spell amplification from items.
* Laguna Blade is an intelligence hero with no regen ability, and casting
Laguna Blade back to Lina can result in her unexpected sudden death, or severly hinder her presence in the rest of teamfight. Nevertheless, the skill can also be cast on other squishy heroes or help bursting down enemy carries.
* Light Strike Array and
Laguna Blade has a short cast range, and Rubick can extend its range thanks to
Arcane Supremacy.
* Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
Additional:
* Rubick deals little damage on his own, and Bristleback can simply shrug off all his spells and chase Rubick down with his Quill Spray and the damage bonus from
Warpath.
* Rubick does not tend to charge forward in teamfights, stay in the front lines under most circumstances, yet effective casts of Quill Spray and
Viscous Nasal Goo requires the opposite as they require multiple casts and close range to add up stacks.
* Rubick does not benefit from Warpath through casting the stolen spell.
* While Jakiro's damage is going to be little more then average against him due to his Bristleback. His large quantity of stuns can prevent Bristleback from getting his much needed
Warpath stacks, while also giving his allies a chance to counter his high defense.
* Dual Breath and Liquid Frost both reduce Movement Speed, removing one of Bristlebacks greatest strengths.
* Liquid Fire reduces Bristlebacks Attack Speed, making it harder for him to burst down a hero with Warpath.
* However Bristleback can generally catch and kill a lone Jakiro. And Jakiro is only effective in a group.
* Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
* Heroes who can stop Axe from getting close will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe,
Pudge,
Bristleback,
Mars.
* Any hero with high attack speed will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits:
Juggernaut,
Clinkz,
Troll Warlord,
Beastmaster,
Lina.
* Heroes with a lot of burst damage, especially those who rely on casting spells: Lina,
Zeus.
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
* 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
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar,
Terrorblade
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
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Lina
*
Arcane Curse makes it too difficult Lina from using her abilities, preventing her from building up Fiery Soul stacks without causing harm to herself.
Last Word and
Global Silence are great against Lina for the same reason, as well as interrupting her combos and preventing her from casting spells.
*
Bristleback
*
Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback.
Last Word and
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
Viscous Nasal Goo or
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing
Warpath charges from stacking.
*
*
Additional:
* Bristleback will not be able to cast
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.