* 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
* Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter
Rage with Spiked Carapace because
Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from
Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin.
Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with
Open Wounds.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with
Dust of Appearance or a
Gem of True Sight.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. and Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
* Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.
Additional:
* Like with Juggernaut's Blade Fury,
Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if
Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter
Rage with
Spiked Carapace because
Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides
Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from
Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin.
Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with
Open Wounds.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with
Dust of Appearance or a
Gem of True Sight. And similarly to Juggernaut's
Omnislash and
Swiftslash from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. And Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with
Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
* Like with Juggernaut, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.
* Heroes with spell immunity unless Lina chooses to play Carry role like Lifestealer with
Rage and
Juggernaut with
Blade Fury.
* Blade Fury makes Juggernaut immune to all Nyx's abilities, except
Vendetta.
* Omnislash. and
Swiftslash can burst Nyx down, ignoring
Spiked Carapace. However,
Vendetta can be used to escape, canceling
Omnislash/
Swiftslash.
Additional:
* Juggernaut's entire skillset greatly counters Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace, his most important ability.
* Blade Fury allows Juggernaut to freely attack Nyx Assassin, and deal heavy damage to Nyx Assassin. Nyx Assassin cannot counter
Blade Fury with Spiked Carapace because
Blade Fury gives Juggernaut spell immunity. And besides
Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Juggernaut while he is spell immune.
* Healing Ward allows Juggernaut to recover himself and his allies from Nyx Assassin's damage output.
* Omnislash and
Swiftslash from
Aghanim's Scepter can quickly finish off Nyx Assassin. And just like
Blade Fury, Nyx Assassin cannot counter neither
Omnislash and
Swiftslash from
Aghanim's Scepter with
Spiked Carapace because both abilities render Juggernaut invulnerable. And if Nyx Assassin has no Vendetta available to use for escaping, both abilities will kill him very quickly before he can do anything.
* Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Juggernaut will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Juggernaut.
* 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.
* 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
* 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.
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as Bounty Hunter,
Clinkz,
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin and
Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
* Nyx Assassin wants to start ganking as soon as he gets his Vendetta. Keeping him Tracked prevents him from ganking, and thus from doing his job in the game.
* Nyx Assassin has a lot of armor and health regen, making the nuke damage from Shuriken Toss very good against him.
Additional:
* Track hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking and escaping attempts with
Vendetta, making him an easy kill for gold as well.
* Bounty Hunter can also use Track on Nyx Assassin while he has
Spiked Carapace active without getting stunned as
Track deals no damage at all before using
Shuriken Toss.
* Duel's long duration prevents Nyx Assassin escaping from Vendetta. With Aghanim's Scepter, she can also bypass
Spiked Carapace.
* Cyclone from Storm in
Primal Split can waste Nyx's Spiked Carapace, since its duration is shorter than the Cyclone's.
* 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.
* A well-timed Berserker's Call can expose Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with Vendetta, and prevent him from using Spiked Carapace.
* Axe can use Battle Hunger's damage over time to minimialize effects of Spiked Carapace.
* Axe's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off. Especially since Axe is a common Heart of Tarrasque wielder, which can completely eliminate any chance for Nyx Assassin to kill Axe alone.
* Culling Blade can often kill Nyx Assassin as he is very fragile and vulnerable to damage while Spiked Carapace is on cooldown.
Additional:
* A well-timed Berserker's Call can expose Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with
Vendetta, and prevent him from using
Spiked Carapace.
* Axe can use Battle Hunger's damage over time to minimialize effects of
Spiked Carapace.
* Axe's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off. Especially since Axe is a common Heart of Tarrasque wielder, which can completely eliminate any chance for Nyx Assassin to kill Axe alone.
* Culling Blade can often kill Nyx Assassin as he is very fragile and vulnerable to damage while Spiked Carapace is on cooldown.
* Centaur's low Intelligence makes Mind Flare do low damage.
* With some creative skill builds, Centaur's Hoof Stomp stun duration should always last longer than Spiked Carapace stun, so escaping unscathed is hard for Nyx.
* With Blink Dagger and detection, Centaur can devastate Nyx in the open.
* However, bear in mind that Nyx can also easily initiate on Centaur Warrunner as well if he uses Spiked Carapace in anticipation, and with
Vendetta. The damage from Retaliate will be reflected back to Centaur Warrunner, stunning him with no chance to react after he's revealed himself, and should guarantee a successful
Impale.
* Light Strike Array has a long delay, making her vulnerable for Ursa's burst.
* Enrage can protect Ursa against Lina's high magical burst.
* Corrosive Haze hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with
Vendetta, as well as reducing his armor and make him very vulnerable due to his low health pool.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to catch up with Nyx Asssassin and finish him off if he has vision over him.
* Dragon Knight's heavy armor negates Vendetta's burst physical damage. His large HP pool also gives him a good chance of surviving Nyx Assassin's follow-up nuke damage.
* A well-timed Doom prevents Nyx Assassin escaping with Vendetta and fighting back with
Spiked Carapace.
* Doom's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
* 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.
* 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
* 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.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Visage,
Phantom Lancer. And to make things worse, Nyx Asassin is not a common
Battle Fury,
Maelstrom,
Mjollnir,
Gleipnir or
Radiance wielder to counter this problem.
* 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 invisibility will be detected by Thirst when they have low enough health: Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Weaver,
Treant Protector,
Nyx Assassin.
Additional:
* While Burrowing, Nyx is an easy target for a Blood Rite, and his only way to counter it is a well-timed
Spiked Carapace.
* Thirst is always a threat to Nyx Assassin, hindering his attempt of escape using
Vendetta and rendering him unable to surprise Bloodseeker's allies.
* Rupture also prevents Nyx Assassin from escaping with
Vendetta, as it forces him to stay still.
* Marci can be effective against vulnerable squishy heroes that cannot deal with heroes that jump onto them - Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Rubick, etc.
* Squishy heroes (Io,
Crystal Maiden,
Lina...), as Earth Spirit can deal tons of damage with Magnetize.
* 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.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* With Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use
Spiked Carapace with
Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by Flame Guard or
Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* 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.
* Some abilities deals damage from an independent source and not from the hero itself, so Nyx cannot counter them with Spiked Carapace: illusions or summoning units, Homing Missile,
Nimbus,
Mass Serpent Ward,
Death Ward and especially
Techies's mines.
* Even though Visage's Familiars from Summon Familiars are fragile and can be killed quickly with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, they can deal many instances of damage quickly, minimizing the effectiveness of Spiked Carapace.
* Gravekeeper's Cloak and tanky item builds make Visage hard for Nyx to kill with his burst damage.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Gravekeeper's Cloak also allows Visage to use
Stone Form to both recover himself and stun Nyx Assassin if he is close enough to Visage.
* Visage's long range on Soul Assumption and
Grave Chill make him hard to escape from, and
Soul Assumption's low cooldown outmatches Spiked Carapace.
* 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 high health allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
* As Lycan commonly buys Black King Bar, he can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin and chase after him with
Shapeshift.
* Lycan can also use his wolves from Summon Wolves to attack Nyx Assassin while he has
Spiked Carapace active without getting stunned himself.
* 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.
* 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.
* Vendetta can deal great damage against her. However, it requires an direct attack, so Nyx Assassin may have difficulties applying Vendetta on her.
* Enchantress's lack of mobility makes her a primary target for ganking with Vendetta.
* Mind Flare can deal a great damage against her due to being an Intelligence hero.
* Spiked Carapace can reflect Impetus and stun Enchantress.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace reflects the damage from Impetus.
* Enchantress is a rather squishy hero, making her fall easily to Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
* 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.
* Assassinate is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for massive damage.
* Shrapnel's area damage can set up an easy stun with Spiked Carapace, especially when combined with Vendetta.
* In the early game, Sniper's low health pool and high intelligence makes him easy prey for Nyx Assassin.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin deals large amounts of pure damage with Vendetta and magical damage with
Impale and
Mind Flare, allowing him to ignore Terrorblade's armor and burst his low health pool down before he can use
Sunder.
* Nyx Assassin commonly buys Urn of Shadows,
Dagon and
Meteor Hammer which deal magic damage that ignore Terrorblade's armor.
* However, Terrorblade is a natural Eye of Skadi and
Black King Bar wielder, and once he gets those items, Nyx Assassin's solo kill potential against Terrorblade will be gone.
* 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.
* Crystal Maiden has a very bad movement speed, so Impale is easy to land against her. Furthermore, even while trapped by Frostbite, Nyx Assassin can still cast Impale.
* Crystal Maiden has very low armor, so Vendetta is very effective.
* Nyx Assassin has two ways to stop Freezing Field, provided she doesn't get a Black King Bar. He can either pop
Spiked Carapace and simply walk into the field, or he can use
Impale to interrupt the field, since Crystal Maiden has to channel it.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace easily interrupts Freezing Field.
* Frostbite's damage over time sets up an easy Spiked Carapace stun.
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and dies quickly to Nyx Assassin's burst damage.
* 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.
* A good Nyx can reflect Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave with his Spiked Carapace, or even initiate a gank on her in
Vendetta while she farms a creep wave with Scream of Pain.
* Her strength to intelligence ratio is bad enough that he should be able to kill her without even requiring a Dagon, provided he can get his full combo off.
* 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.
* The huge physical damage taken from Vendetta will force Necrophos to use Ghost Shroud, which is good for a followup with
Dagon and
Ethereal Blade, both of which are common items on Nyx Assassin.
* Using Ghost Shroud also sets Necrophos up for a Mind Flare or
Impale.
* 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.
* Many of Nyx Assassin's abilities are good against Windranger.
* Impale is great for stunning Windranger and allowing additional disables to be landed.
* Mind Flare is useful against Windranger's decent intelligence growth.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against Powershot.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to sneak up on and deal massive damage to Windranger without giving Windranger a chance to use Windrun to evade it.
* Nyx Assassin's item build allows him to easily deal with Windranger.
* Abilities that can destroy trees can give Hoodwink a disadvantage: Timbersaw,
Windranger,
Lina.
* Nyx's Spiked Carapace can reflect the damage of
Sharpshooter, instantly killing hoodwink. Nyx can also use
Vendetta to position himself in such a way to screen allies from Sharpshooter and catch Hoodwink by surprise.
* 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
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling: Enigma,
Crystal Maiden,
Invoker,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Keeper of the Light,
Dawnbreaker.
* 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.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst can often kill Chen or his allies before he can use Hand of God: Lina,
Luna,
Techies,
Shadow Fiend,
Pugna,
Nyx Assassin.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, excellent ganking potential and multiple disables pose a threat to Muerta at all stages of the game.
* Mind Flare allows Nyx Assassin to take advantage of Muerta's high intelligence and make a short work of her low health.
* Spiked Carapace and
Vendetta allow Nyx to escape or initiate well against Muerta's low mobility.
* As with most retaliation based abilities, Spiked Carapace can easily take advantage of
Gunslinger's stray shots.
* However, Muerta is a natural Black King Bar wielder. And if she succeeds to activate it before Nyx Assassin can ambush her, he will go down very quickly against Muerta as
Spiked Carapace cannot pierce through debuff immunity at all.
* 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 silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
* 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.
* Spiked Carapace reacts on any of the damage over time from Phoenix's abilities and can interrupt Sun Ray and
Icarus Dive.
* 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.
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
* 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.
* Impale and
Spiked Carapace can be used to cancel Dismember easily, and can even do so when Pudge uses it on Nyx Assassin, if timed correctly.
* 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.
* Vendetta disables Vengeance Aura and allows him to attack Vengeful Spirit with
Impale and
Mind Flare.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against a Wave of Terror or Magic Missile.
* 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 with invisibility: (Riki,
Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Spiked Carapace stops Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
* 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.
* 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.
* Laguna Blade ends Gyrocopter very quickly in the early to mid game.
* Spiked Carapace allows Nyx to get an easy long-duration stun on Weaver once he uses Shukuchi, and then he can follow up with
Impale.
* Vendetta works as a great setup for both
Impale and
Spiked Carapace and can deal decent damage to Weaver. Additionally he can neutralize The Swarm beetles due to his invisibility duration.
* 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).
* Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace will stun Leshrac when hit by any of his AOE abilities.
* Mind Flare deals high damage due to Leshrac's high intelligence gain.
* Vendetta burns a large amount of Leshrac's essential mana pool.
* Spiked Carapace can be used to reflect Illuminate damage and stun Keeper of the Light.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to follow Keeper of the Light around if he tries to split-push.
* Keeper of the Light is very squishy and will very quickly die to Vendetta and it's followup abilities.
* 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.
* Heroes with heavy early and mid-game magical damage are also problematic for Phantom Assassin due to being able to easily kill her before she can gain an item advantage over them: Lina,
Necrophos,
Nyx Assassin,
Gyrocopter,
Jakiro,
Death Prophet.
* 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
* Mana Burn removes much-needed mana for Ball Lightning.
* Spiked Carapace triggers on Static Remnant for an easy stun.
Additional:
* Vendetta is capable of removing most of Storm Spirit's large mana pool, along with dealing heavy damage and quickly depleting his chances of escaping a gank or fight.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
* Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.
* Impale and
Spiked Carapace interrupts Upheaval with ease.
* Warlock's low health pool, mobility, and high intelligence gain makes him a prime target for Nyx Assassin's burst damage.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin can reflect Life Break with
Spiked Carapace.
* Heat-Seeking Missile allow easy Spiked Carapace stuns.
* As a fragile hero that relies on mana and intelligence items, Tinker is vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin's stuns can interrupt Rearm and leave Tinker helpless.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin's whole skillset is good against Tinker:
* Impale prevents Tinker from blinding Nyx Assassin or fighting back, while giving Nyx' allies time to catch up to Tinker's position.
* Mind Flare generally deals more damage to intelligence based heroes like Tinker.
* Spiked Carapace can stun Tinker at a moment of Nyx Assassin's choosing if March of the Machines has been cast. It is also quite easy to time Spiked Carapace against Heat Seeking Missiles.
* Vendetta allows Nyx to approach Tinker in the trees or wait for him in common hiding spots and deal heavy damage to his low armor.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin has a lot of burst damage from his Impale,
Mind Flare,
Dagon, and the bonus damage from
Vendetta. All of this damage is enough to kill Drow Ranger.
* Nyx Assassin is usually invisible most of the time thanks to his ability Vendetta, which allows him to gank Drow Ranger easily.
* However, Gust is extremely dangerous for Nyx Assassin, as it's silence can render Nyx Assassin unable to lock down Drow Ranger. And if
Gust hits Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with
Vendetta, Drow Ranger will be able to detect him and foil his ganking attempts on her because
Gust reveals invisible units.
* Outworld Destroyer's high intelligence gain and fragility makes him an easy target for a massive Mana Burn, as well as killing him outwards with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
* Astral Imprisonment can be easily exploited by Nyx Assassin with his abilities. As long as Astral Imprisonment was not cast on Nyx Assassin, it will make an opportunity for an easy stun, either by Spiked Carapace (if Outworld Destroyer hid his allies or your allies) or Impale (if he hid himself). If Astral Imprisonment was cast on Nyx Assassin, using Spiked Carapace while banished will proc the stun after the disable, since Spike Carapace has a 0 second cast time and Astral Imprisonment deals damage right after the disable ends.
* An ill-timed Sanity's Eclipse and/or well timed Spiked Carapace can deal a lot of damage to Outworld Destroyer and stun him, unless Outworld Destroyer used
Black King Bar beforehand.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's high intelligence makes him a good target for Mind Flare.
* If timed correctly, Spiked Carapace will return the full damage from Sanity's Eclipse back to Outworld Destroyer. Even a reflected Arcane Orb can deal significant damage and make him vulnerable to a follow-up from Nyx Assassin.
* Spiked Carapace is also the perfect tool against Astral Imprisonment: if used on Nyx, he can reflect the damage back as he comes out of the prison by casting the ability while imprisoned.
* 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.
* Ravage's travel time allows Nyx Assassin to easily stun Tidehunter with Spiked Carapace.
* Vendetta can instantly deplete Tidehunter's low mana pool, especially in the early game, potentially preventing Tidehunter from casting Ravage.
* Like above, supports with reliable stuns can be a massive problem and force Black King Bar in fights unideally, such as
Shadow Shaman,
Lion,
Nyx Assassin.
* 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 who are entirely reliant on dealing physical damage and/or have very little to no area-of-effect abilities will make Underlord tickle and will have no effect against him thanks to his Atrophy Aura, and will also be unable to ambush Underlord and his team if Underlord chooses to use
Fiend's Gate to get to a designated point of the map:
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Bounty Hunter,
Alchemist,
Templar Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Bane.
* Heroes who rely on armor or evasion to survive can easily be bursted down, like Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Underlord,
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes with magical or pure damage output will not have any problems against Atrophy Aura at all: Luna,
Lina,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Bane,
Snapfire,
Muerta,
Nyx Assassin,
Enigma,
Tinker,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus,
Crystal Maiden.
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
* 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 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.
* Slow-moving projectiles: Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* Mind Flare turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him and deals heavy damage.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
* 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 who rely on armor or evasion to survive can easily be bursted down, like Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Underlord,
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes that can pick you off: Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin,
Puck,
Riki.
* Heroes who have channeled abilities can be stunned by Light Strike Array, like Witch Doctor with
Death Ward and
Bane's
Fiend's Grip.
* Heavy nukers will do well against Cold Embrace (Lina,
Zeus etc).
* 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.
* 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.
* Enigma is fragile, and lacks escapes, being dependent on Blink Dagger for mobility. Ganking Heroes or Heroes with burst damage will likely kill him before he can do anything. Such Heroes include:
Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Puck,
Slark,
Nyx Assassin, etc.
Additional:
* Enigma's uncontrollable damage from Malefice and
Midnight Pulse make him easy to stun with Spiked Carapace.
* Black Hole can be easily interrupted by Impale or Spiked Carapace.
* 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.
* Nyx can walk into Firefly with Spiked Carapace and stun Batrider if he has no Spell Immunity, even if Batrider is focusing on other enemy hero.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* 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 long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker,
Monkey King,
Shadow Fiend
Lina
* Nyx Assassin can simply activate Spiked Carapace while under many Invoker's abilities to stun him.
* Nyx Assassin takes advantage of Invoker's massive intelligence gain to do tons of damage using Mind Flare, as the spell does more damage based on the target's intelligence.
* Vendetta burns a large amount of Invoker's essential mana pool.
* 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.
* Nether Blast's animation makes it easy to time Spiked Carapace for a stun.
* Pugna has the largest intelligence gain in the game, making him a prime target for Mana Burn.
* Pugna needs to channel Life Drain, making him easy to hit with Impale.
Additional:
* Due to Pugna's incredible intelligence growth and terrible strength growth, Nyx should always be able to take you out with his combo, with or without an added Dagon.
Mind Flare will deal a large amount of damage in particular, especially in the late game.
* Spiked Carapace is also a great tool versus Pugna. A good player will wait for you in
Vendetta until you farm a creep wave with Nether Blast and reflect it back at you as their initiation and setup for
Impale.
* Heroes with a lot of burst damage, especially those who rely on casting spells: Lina,
Zeus.
* Vendetta burns a significant amount of mana on hit, and the damage from the ability drains Medusa's mana pool even further.
* Due to the passive nature of Mystic Snake and Split Shot, it can possibly proc Nyx's Spiked Carapace if he's within range of Medusa's abilities and isn't invisible.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making Nyx with Aghanim's Scepter extremely hard to deal with if Medusa is the team's main damage source.
Additional:
* With her passive Split Shot, Medusa can be easily interrupted by Spiked Carapace during combat, especially during her precious
Stone Gaze.
* Mana Burn quickly destroys Mana Shield, especially if Medusa only increases her mana pool by bolstering intelligence (which has the added bonus of increasing Mana Burn's damage).
* Uncontrollable damage from Mystic Snake and
Split Shot can trigger Spiked Carapace.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making a Burrowed Nyx Assassin hard to kill.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Spiked Carapace can stop Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian which will eliminate her global presence and limits her movement around the map.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace interrupts Starbreaker before Dawnbreaker has her Aghanim's Shard, as well as
Solar Guardian during the initial channel, making her ineffective at joining and dealing damage in teamfights.
* The slow projectile and damage over time effect of Celestial Hammer makes it easy to stun Dawnbreaker if she attemps to engage or chase.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Broodmother will gain access to
Spinner's Snare, which will allow her to create invisible lines on her webs from
Spin Web that will root, deal damage over time, and reveal enemy heroes if they unwittingly step on them. This allows Broodmother to keep her allies alerted on heroes who rely on invisibility-themed and movement-themed abilities and items to surprise enemy heroes and disrupt ganking attempts of enemy heroes:
Phantom Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Mirana,
Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker,
Anti-Mage,
Tusk,
Ursa,
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Void Spirit,
Magnus etc.
* 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.
* Even though Nyx Assassin can easily kill Luna with his high burst damage, Luna can also do the same to him if he is not careful.
* Lucent Beam can deal a fair amount of damage to Nyx Assassin if he has no
Spiked Carapace available to use. Although Luna should be patient using
Lucent Beam on Nyx Assassin when he uses
Spiked Carapace.
* As Luna commonly buys Black King Bar, she can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin whenever he tries to defend himself with
Spiked Carapace during teamfights. Luna can also buy
Eye of Skadi and
Manta Style to survive Nyx Assassin's burst damage and distract him.
* Though Vendetta can deal serious damage to Luna and avoid
Eclipse, smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Nyx Assassin to her and her team.
Additional:
* Even though Nyx Assassin can easily kill Luna with his high burst damage, Luna can also do the same to him if he is not careful.
* Lucent Beam can deal a fair amount of damage to Nyx Assassin if he has no
Spiked Carapace available to use. Although Luna should be patient using
Lucent Beam on Nyx Assassin when he uses
Spiked Carapace.
* As Luna commonly buys Black King Bar, she can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin whenever he tries to defend himself with
Spiked Carapace during teamfights. Luna can also buy
Eye of Skadi and
Manta Style to survive Nyx Assassin's burst damage and distract him.
* Though Vendetta can deal serious damage to Luna and avoid
Eclipse, smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Nyx Assassin to her and her team.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Visage,
Phantom Lancer. And to make things worse, Nyx Asassin is not a common
Battle Fury,
Maelstrom,
Mjollnir,
Gleipnir or
Radiance wielder to counter this problem.
* 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 that can close the gap can easily chase Lina down, such as Timbersaw with
Timber Chain and
Anti-Mage with
Blink.
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage: Lina,
Leshrac,
Enchantress,
Queen of Pain
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Illusory Orb is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace, either stunning Puck and setting up an easy Impale or forcing a premature
Phase Shift.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that tends to build intelligence items, making it vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can easily set Puck up to be stunned by Impale.
* Puck's low base armor and below average agility gain mean it is always susceptible to Vendetta.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin can take advantage of every one of Puck's weaknesses. His entire skill set is very effective in countering Puck.
* Because Illusory Orb is such a slow moving projectile, Nyx Assassin can simply walk into the orb and activate Spiked Carapace, stunning Puck and setting up an easy
Impale. This can be circumvented by using Phase Shift while the orb is traveling, however, that means that Puck cannot use Phase Shift to dodge any other skill nor use it to safely blink away from a fight.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that likes to build intelligence items such as Eul's Scepter of Divinity,
Scythe of Vyse, and
Dagon. This makes
Mind Flare that much more deadly against Puck.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can turn into an easy setup for Impale.
* 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.
* Last Word is extremely easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for large amounts damage, due to triggering when Nyx Assassin casts a spell, but can still silence Nyx Assassin. It also has the added bonus of dealing more damage the more Intelligence Silencer has.
* Glaives of Wisdom quickly builds Silencer's Intelligence, making him a particularly prime target for Mana Burn.
* Silencer rarely builds survivability items, nor is he able to steal much Intelligence while surrounded by his team, and so is an excellent target for Vendetta.
* Silencer has no reliable way of dealing with a burrowed Nyx, and also lacks the ability to prevent Nyx from escaping with Vendetta,
Additional:
* Silencer is rather squishy and has poor mobility without items, making him an easy target for Nyx.
* Silencer's intelligence steal ability is a complete disadvantage against Nyx Assassin as Mind Flare will deal increasing damage for each point of intelligence Silencer has stolen, turning Silencer's intelligence steal against him.
* Both Lion's
Finger of Death and
Lina's
Laguna Blade have a 0.25 second delay before the damage is dealt.
* Impale and
Spiked Carapace stun can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* Abaddon can use Borrowed Time and easily heal for the duration of Borrowed Time by Nyx's burst damage.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin might not kill Abaddon with his nuke, but a support Abaddon will struggle to protect an ally from him.
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
*
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.
*
*
Nyx Assassin
*
Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from
Impale and
Mind Flare, and anything else Nyx Assassin tries to throw at Viper.
Poison Attack,
Nethertoxin,
Corrosive Skin and
Viper Strike, not even while he has
Spiked Carapace active. And to make things worse, Nyx Assassin is not a common
Silver Edge wielder to counter this problem at all.
Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from
Impale and
Mind Flare, and anything else Nyx Assassin tries to throw at Viper.
Poison Attack,
Nethertoxin,
Corrosive Skin and
Viper Strike, not even while he has
Spiked Carapace active. And to make things worse, Nyx Assassin is not a common
Silver Edge wielder to counter this problem at all.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time output from
Additional:
*
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time output from