* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as
Lion or
Sven.
* Batrider can harass Arc Warden more easily with
Sticky Napalm thanks to it's low cooldown and mana cost and because of Arc Warden's lower durability and mobility.
* Batrider can use
Flamebreak to push Arc Warden and
Tempest Double out of the
Magnetic Field.
* With
Firefly combined with
Blink Dagger, Batrider can move faster while dealing damage to both Arc Warden and
Tempest Double.
*
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to separate Arc Warden from both
Magnetic Field and
Tempest Double and pull him towards Batrider's team.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso also allows Batrider to disable both, real Arc Warden and his
Tempest Double and pull them towards Batrider's team. And since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Linken's Sphere, this can be a great problem to him.
* Since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Black King Bar very ofthen In most of the stages of the game, he will be vulnerable to Batrider's magical damage-over-time output in most of the stages of the game.
* However, Batrider needs to approach Arc Warden carefully as Arc Warden can scout Batrider's location with
Spark Wraith. Also, Arc Warden tends to buy
Gleipnir which combined with
Flux's damage over time can be used to prevent Batrider from even using
Blink Dagger.
Additional:
* Batrider can harass Arc Warden more easily with
Sticky Napalm thanks to it's low cooldown and mana cost and because of Arc Warden's lower durability and mobility.
* Batrider can use
Flamebreak to push Arc Warden and
Tempest Double out of the
Magnetic Field.
* With
Firefly combined with
Blink Dagger, Batrider can move faster while dealing damage to both Arc Warden and
Tempest Double.
*
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to separate Arc Warden from both
Magnetic Field and
Tempest Double and pull him towards Batrider's team.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso also allows Batrider to disable both, real Arc Warden and his
Tempest Double and pull them towards Batrider's team. And since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Linken's Sphere, this can be a great problem to him.
* Since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Black King Bar very ofthen In most of the stages of the game, he will be vulnerable to Batrider's magical damage-over-time output in most of the stages of the game.
* However, Batrider needs to approach Arc Warden carefully as Arc Warden can scout Batrider's location with
Spark Wraith. Also, Arc Warden tends to buy
Gleipnir which combined with
Flux's damage over time can be used to prevent Batrider from even using
Blink Dagger.
* 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.
* Arc Warden can't use Magnetic Field to stall the damage of
Nether Blast on towers, but he can buy
Aghanim's Shard to diminish its damage.
* Arc Warden has no innate disables to stop
Life Drain and
Decrepify
* The short cooldown of both Life Drain and Decrepify also means Pugna can deal with Arc Warden and Arc Warden's clone simultaneously most of the time
* A good Pugna looks to end the match early while Arc Warden, a very item reliant hero, thrives in longer matches.
* A well-timed
Counterspell reflects all targeted abilities back at Lion, potentially stunning or hexing him or even making himself burst down.
* Anti-Mage Blinks directly into
Magnetic Field, bypassing its protection.
* Anti-Mage's high mobility allows him to deal with
Tempest Double while it is split-pushing.
Additional:
* Arc Warden's high reliance on casting abilities leads him to be dependent on mana, which Anti-Mage can quickly burn with
Mana Break.
*
Blink mitigates the threat of Flux slow and allows Anti-Mage to close the distance between himself and Arc Warden.
* Anti-Mage's ability to farm quickly allows him keep up with Arc Warden's farm while also de-pushing the lanes Arc Warden shoves in with his Tempest Double.
* Anti-Mage also frequently buys
Manta Style, and can use it so dispel Arc Warden's items that can threaten an Anti-Mage like
Bloodthorn.
*
Counterspell significantly reduces the effectiveness of Arc Warden's magical damage.
* However, do keep in mind that when Arc Warden has a
Black King Bar, jumping on him alone may not be the best idea for Anti mage as it could put him in a bad position, while Arc Warden summons his doubles and rain damage into him.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away:
Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
*
Lion's lack of escapes gives
Slark easier time to catch him through
Pounce.
*
Shadow Dance gives
Slark the advantage of being untargetable, nullifying single target abilities (such as non-upgraded
Hex,
Mana Drain and
Finger of Death).
*
Dark Pact applies multiple instances of strong dispel on
Slark, which is strong against any of
Lion's disables.
*
Lion's low health pool and low armor make him extremely vulnerable to
Slark's damage output.
*
Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact.
* Pounce allows Slark to avoid
Spark Wraiths.
*
Tempest Double allows Slark to build up Essence Shift stacks, especially when it is being used for split pushing.
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early:
Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
*
Smoke Screen combined with
Diffusal Blade leaves Arc Warden effectively useless for a while as he struggles to escape the silence with low mobility.
* With Arc Warden's low mobility,
Tricks of the Trade often deal decent damage to him before he moves out of it.
*
Magnetic Field is useless against melee heroes, so Lycan can attack Arc Warden without missing.
*
Flux doesn't affect Lycan that much, because Shapeshift grants immunity to slows and because he is never alone.
* If their
Tempest Double has been called, Lycan can still kill Arc Warden before the double expires.
* None of Arc Warden's abilities are very effective against Broodmother and her spiderlings.
* A good Broodmother looks to end the match early while Arc Warden, a very item reliant hero, thrives in longer matches.
* Arc Warden has no innate disables to stop Broodmother from lifestealing with
Insatiable Hunger and shredding through his relatively lower armor.
* Arc Warden cannot take Centaur Warrunner very easily, and his nukes are not strong enough to deal with Centaur Warrunner.
* Centaur Warrunner deals huge AoE damage and applies an AoE disable through Hoof Stomp, affecting the double as well the main Arc Warden.
*
Magnetic Field is not very effective against melee heroes. And to make things worse,
Magnetic Field also increases Arc Warden and his allies's attack speed, meaning Retaliate will deal more damage.
* Stampede catches Arc Warden easily due to his lack of escape mechanisms. However, Arc Warden can counter this problem with
Gleipnir, which is a common item on Arc Warden.
* Chaos Knight can dispel Flux with
Phantasm.
* Chaos Knight can use
Reality Rift to pull Arc Warden out of Magnetic Field.
* Once Chaos Knight jumps on Arc Warden with
Reality Rift, Arc Warden will struggle to escape due to low mobility and lack of stun.
* Luna can easily cancel channeling spells with
Lucent Beam and 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent for
Eclipse, she can also buy
Abyssal Blade in case they decide to buy
Black King Bar:
Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Luna's Moon Glaives allow her to clear Arc Warden's
Tempest Double.
* Luna's short range and fast movement speed allow her to fight Arc Warden inside his
Magnetic Field.
Additional:
* Luna's Moon Glaives allow her to clear Arc Warden's
Tempest Double.
* Luna's short range and fast movement speed allow her to fight Arc Warden inside his
Magnetic Field.
* Heroes that create illusions:
Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress,
Meepo and
Arc Warden) can cause Eclipse to strike the illusions/summons unintentionally. However, in many cases Moon Glaives can resolve this issue and eliminate them before activating Eclipse, but that will require lots of farming for right-click items.
* Because of his weak laning phase, Lone Druid absolutely overpowers him in the early to mid game. Lone Druid also directly counters most of his abilities.
*
Flux is nullified when the Spirit Bear is nearby.
*
Spark Wraith can get soaked by the bear.
* Lone Druid can easily go inside
Magnetic Field and punish Zet.
* Chain Frost can deliver high amounts of damage to Arc Warden and his double if they do not separate fast from each other.
*
Mana Drain can be easily canceled with Ice Path. However, Lion can counter this by buying his
Aghanim's Shard though, that is no longer possible, but Jakiro can counter this too with
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Macropyre will deal pure damage through the debuff immunity forcing Lion to cancel it or die.
* Lion has very strong single target capabilities, but usually struggles against multiple heroes, while Jakiro has good multi-target capabilities, His abilities also have a much shorter cast range then Jakiro's, allowing Jakiro to cast his abilities before he can get off his
Hex or
Earth Spike.
* Jakiro can also save an ally who Lion is attempting to
Finger of Death by casting
Ice Path on Lion.
* Invoker's
Forge Spirit can negate
Flux.
* Provided he does a right combo with
Chaos Meteor, Invoker can easily burst down Arc Warden (plus his clone if he spawns it.)
* An early
Orchid Malevolence can shut down Arc Warden pretty hard, especially when Invoker has a good lane against him if he kills him early on.
*
Deafening Blast and
Ice Wall limit's Arc Wardens mobility and damage, crippling him greatly.
* Just like
Rubick, the
Disruptor may effortlessly put
Lion in life threatning danger and render him helpless by manipulating his position with
Glimpse.
*
Disruptor's longer cast range and lingering disable makes
Lion struggle to defend himself, possibly being affected by
Disruptor's abilities without even seeing the thrall.
*
Hex and
Earth Spike do not cancel
Sharpshooter, making those two abilities ineffective against her.
* Although Hoodwink should be wary of his
Finger of death, as it can possibly kill her.
* Arc Warden relies on items and abilities, as well as his
Tempest Double, to deal damage to enemies.
Doom effectively denies that and makes Arc Warden useless in fights.
*
Tidehunter is a core builder of
Pipe of Insight. Along with natural high health pool, it's tough to burst the Leviathan down.
*
Kraken Shell thwarts long disables attempts if
Tidehunter receives enough damage.
*
Gush and
Ravage long cast and reach ranges will effortlessly hit
Lion, either bursting him down or making him extremely vulnerable and worn in matter of seconds.
*
Aphotic Shield applies strong dispel on targeted allies, while
Borrowed Time does the same on
Abaddon himself upon both casts (manually or automatically), removing disables, such as
Earth Spike and
Hex.
*
Abaddon may offer survivability to
Lion's nuke power by shielding and healing allies and himself.
* Lack of inner escape and defensive mechanisms increases
Curse of Avernus effectiveness, since it slows per stack (applied upon auto attacking), and silences when it reaches the maximum stack.
* All of
Lion's abilities are dangerous even to Lion himself, and
Rubick may steal them with
Spell Steal.
*
Arcane Supremacy powers up abilities cast range and damage, making
Rubick better at using
Lion's abilities than Lion himself.
*
Telekinesis can easily catch and disable
Lion while also manipulating his position to favor
Rubick and allies, rendering him helpless.
Additional:
*
Earth Spike is a great crowd control ability for Rubick to use, extending his lockdown potential.
* Rubick can caught enemy at greater distance due to
Arcane Supremacy.
* The spell also helps with Rubick's farming, however the affected area of
Earth Spike is limited to a straight line, making it harder to clear the creep wave.
*
Hex is one of the strongest single-target lockdowns in the game, and works exactly the same when casted by Rubick.
* Though
Mana Drain does not directly provide damage or lockdown, it does solve Rubick's mana regen issue in the early to mid game.
*
Finger of Death is one of the best magical nukes in the game, increases Rubick's ganking potential greatly.
* Note that the stack of
Finger of Death is lost when Rubick lost the spell.
* With
Aghanim's Scepter, Rubick can clear creep waves and flash farm with the boosted
Finger of Death if stolen, assuming Rubick has enough mana pool to hold.
* Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like
Tinker or
Oracle.
* Heroes with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as
Beastmaster ,
Chen, or
Shadow Demon.
* Melee carries who usually buy an early
Black King Bar, and have gap closing abilities can be good against the Arc Warden, such as
Slark,
Riki,
Earthshaker with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Sven with
Aghanim's Scepter etc.
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like
Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like
Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
* Heroes with low health:
Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like
Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* While heroes with strong mobility are able to get close or flee from Upheaval, heroes with no escaping abilities or that lack long disables will perish against Warlock. Once the Warlock Golem lands with its stun, its hardly possible to escape when he casts Upheaval. Notable examples:
Huskar,
Drow Ranger,
Lion,
Elder Titan, etc.
* Chen in the early game is a faster pusher than Arc Warden until Arc Warden buys Maelstrom.
* Heroes with channeling spells, for Chen has no disables on his own, hates buying disabling items and his creeps are often not fast enough to cancel them:
Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Rolling Thunder hits Arc Warden, his
Tempest Double and any allies through
Magnetic Field.
* Rolling Thunder also causes Pangolier to take no damage from existing stacks of
Flux as well as clear all
Spark Wraiths on the way.
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar:
Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Templar Assassin,
Arc Warden
* Song of the Siren stops Arc Warden from acting and allows Naga Siren's team to close in on him, past his
Magnetic Field.
* Mirror Image dispels
Flux. The illusions created from it also disable the slow from Flux if Arc Warden casts it after Mirror Image.
* Arc Warden's playstyle heavily favors split-pushing, which Naga Siren can compete against with her illusions.
Additional:
* Naga Siren's illusions from
Mirror Image can depush the lanes pushed by the Tempest Double, relieving the pressure.
*
Mirror Image can dispel Flux, and the illusions can stop Flux from working to it's full power.
*
Lion may upgrade
Mana Drain,
Hex and
Finger of Death through Talent Tree and Aghanim's itens to make them affect secondary targets or turn them into AoE abilities. This can make things difficult for heroes like
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren and
Terrorblade, who rely on illusion armies.
Additional:
* Both
Hex and
Mana Drain destroy Naga Siren's illusions in an instant, making it hard for her to teamfight or push against a team with Lion. If Lion chooses the AoE effect talent for Hex or the shard for multi-target Mana Drain, it can negate her pushing potential entirely.
*
Earth Spike is an AoE disable with good damage. If used well, it can help distinguish the true Naga Siren by the damage they take (illusions take more damage).
* Storm Spirit can hunt down Arc Warden with his
Ball Lightning and kill him quickly due to his lack of escape abilities.
* None of his abilities are effective against Storm Spirit, as they can be evaded with
Ball Lightning.
* Heroes with mana burn:
Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna,
Lion
* One of Arc Warden's hardest counters, Arc Warden, who has primarily single target damage, will struggle tremendously against Phantom Lancer:
*
Flux is paused if even one illusion remains near Phantom Lancer. It can also be dispelled with
Doppelganger.
* Phantom Lancer can also easily dodge an activated
Spark Wraith, or use his illusions to trigger it safely.
*
Phantom Rush allows Lancer to quickly close gap to get inside of Arc Warden's
Magnetic Field.
* Phantom Lancer and his clones are able to quickly drain Arc Warden of his mana with a
Diffusal Blade. This means Warden's
Tempest Double will also be summoned without mana.
Additional:
*
Doppelganger dispels Flux.
*
Phantom Rush closes the distance between Phantom Lancer and Arc Warden.
*
Juxtapose can overwhelm Arc Warden and nullify his kit which is only effective against isolated enemies.
*
Lion may upgrade
Mana Drain,
Hex and
Finger of Death through Talent Tree and Aghanim's itens to make them affect secondary targets or turn them into AoE abilities. This can make things difficult for heroes like
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren and
Terrorblade, who rely on illusion armies.
*
Sniper lacks any protection against
Lion's disables early in the game.
*
Lion's
Earth Spike and
Finger of Death may roughly hit
Sniper at the latter increased attack range, making it possible to gank and to disable him from afar in clashes.
*
Finger of Death is incredibly dangerous for
Sniper as it may shred him away from fights, or in the worst scenario, cause his death.
* Magnetic Field's evasion completely negates Sniper's attacks unless he has True Strike.
* Sniper always positions himself far away from battles, which makes him especially vulnerable for Flux and Spark Wraith.
*
Enchantress is very fragile without any form of magic resistance, allowing
Lion to easily burst her down.
*
Nature's Attendants is a slow heal, making not as much effective against
Lion's burst as it could be.
* Her raw movement speed is a fair escape/mobility mechanism, which may allow her to avoid a blindly cast
Earth Spike, but does nothing against the rest of
Lion's abilities, since they are single target and can't miss.
* Since
Lion's damage comes mostly from his skills,
Untouchable does nothing to mitigate it.
* Magnetic Field makes
Impetus miss; if Enchantress decides to enter the field, she is giving up bonus damage since Impetus deals greater damage at higher distance away from targets.
*
Medusa lacks mobility or escape mechanisms.
Earth Spike and
Hex can neutralize her strong damage potential and allow for
Lion's team to focus her down.
*
Mana Drain is a perfect ability to weaken Medusa's durability as it can quickly drain her
Mana Shield, making her far less tanky.
Mana Drain can also be used to restore mana of Lion's allies, which can nullify the mana steal from
Mystic Snake.
*
Mana Drain, along with
Hex, destroy illusions instantly, which may be extremely helpfull and efficient against core builders of
Manta Style, like
Medusa herself.
* He can use either his own or his double's
Flux to bypass the spellblock from Linken's Sphere, using the leftover Flux +
Spark Wraith to slow Medusa's already low move speed to a crawl.
* Arc Warden has a farming advantage with double
Hand of Midas, and can generally bully Medusa with other items that benefit from duplication.
*
Drow Ranger has a very low health pool, allowing
Lion to burst her down.
* Lack of any innate escape mechanism makes her an easy target for
Lion's disables.
* Early on she can't deal as much damage to be life threatning. Her
Gust is her best weapon against
Lion.
*
Flux along with
Spark Wraith allows Arc Warden to quickly burst down Drow Ranger due to her low health.
* However, Drow Ranger can bypass
Magnetic Field's evasion bonus thanks to Marksmanship.
Additional:
* Magnetic Field protects Arc Warden and allies from Drow Ranger's ranged attacks. She most likely will not enter the field since she will lose
Marksmanship's bonus agility.
* Beware however, as
Marksmanship procs will still hit since they have True Strike, so the most damaging arrows will still hit you inside Magnetic Field.
* High priority targets like
Queen of Pain,
Drow Ranger,
Ember Spirit can't get caught out from
Lion's long range disables, making it harder to them fulfill their roles, and making it easy to target them.
* Sonic Wave is a bad choice in abilities if he and the
Tempest Double both use
Blade Mail to reflect the damage to Queen of Pain, potentially killing her outright if her health is low enough.
*
Magnetic Field protects himself or his ally from Queen of Pain's attacks unless she has
Monkey King Bar.
* One more advantage of
Tempest Double is that he can deny himself if he is close to death with Shadow Strike's debuff.
*
Lion may upgrade
Mana Drain,
Hex and
Finger of Death through Talent Tree and Aghanim's itens to make them affect secondary targets or turn them into AoE abilities. This can make things difficult for heroes like
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren and
Terrorblade, who rely on illusion armies.
* Arc Warden’s Magnetic Field allows him to defend against Terrorblade if he used
Metamorphosis.
* Arc also buys a
Bloodthorn or a
Scythe of Vyse, which can prevent Terrorblade from using his abilities.
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much:
Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
*
Magnetic Field evades most of Gyrocopter's attacks.
* Heroes with good escape mechanisms are a nuisance to deal with in the early phase of the game:
Slark,
Lifestealer,
Morphling
*
Mana Drain rapidly saps Morphling's already low mana pool, making him unable to use Waveform or Adaptive Strike. Additionally,
Hex prevents these abilities as well.
* An
Earth Spike and
Finger of Death combo can burst an unwary Morphling down if he has his strength fully shifted to agility.
* Arc Warden can counter Morphling's strong pushing capabilities by using
Magnetic Field to protect buildings.
* Arc Warden also often builds an
Orchid Malevolence or
Bloodthorn, which can prove dangerous for Morphling.
* Arc Warden can easily break
Linken's Sphere with
Flux and then slow him with
Spark Wraith, making Arc Warden's
Tempest Double a legitimate threat as well.
*
Mana Drain has an fair long range and low cooldown. It can easily deplete most heroes of their entire mana pools, especially those with smaller mana pools such as
Tiny or
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount:
Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden,
Lion,
Huskar,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Undying,
Jakiro.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health:
Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar:
Phantom Lancer,
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Chaos Knight.
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike:
Lion,
Anti-Mage
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field:
Silencer,
Viper.
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like
Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
* Heroes with silences and hard stuns such as
Doom,
Silencer, and
Lion can keep Mirana from Leaping away.
*
Flux will slow and damage Mirana even after she Leaps, since she will likely not be near allies.
* Arc Warden can place
Magnetic Field on an ally who has been hit by Sacred Arrow to protect them.
Additional:
* Arc Warden can use his summons to prevent
Sacred Arrow from hitting himself or his allies.
* Mirana doesn't build items that give armor often, so she usually can't fight against a late game Arc Warden.
*
Magnetic Field lets Arc Warden or allies evade Dark Willow's shadow realm attacks. The duration of the evasion can be extended with the clone.
*
Spark Wraith also exploits Dark Willow's low mobility.
* Flux removes
Refraction charges very quickly, and Arc Warden can hit her freely with his better attack animation, speed and range. If she tries to mute in her creep wave, Spark Wraith can quickly kill the ranged creep, forcing her to stay near the melee creeps, again, allowing for easy right clicks.
* With Tempest Double, Arc Warden can easily output 1000 damage (with the stacking of Flux and Spark Wraith and kill Templar Assassin within seconds. She cannot avoid this combo as Spark Wraith will still hit her in
Meld.
* A good Arc Warden can destroy the item timings of a Templar Assassin, and mitigate her impact during the mid-game, when she is the strongest.
* In the late game, if Templar Assassin tries to split push with
Aghanim's Scepter, Arc Warden's double can always threaten to kill her if equipped with a
Bloodthorn and a
Blink Dagger , or a
Hurricane Pike, forcing her to have to use
Black King Bar to survive.
* Quick reactions can also protect Arc Warden and his allies from
Meld strike with Magnetic Field, and if equipped with a
Hurricane Pike, Arc Warden can double force himself away from the attacking Templar Assassin to safety, where after her
Black King Bar ends, she can die to Arc Warden's right clicks.
* Heroes with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as
Beastmaster ,
Chen, or
Shadow Demon.
* All of Lion's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
*
Hex and
Mana Drain can make quick work of whatever illusions you're creating, especially when he acquires his Talents at level 20 and 25.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Earth Spike or
Finger of Death with
Aghanim's Scepter for the enemy.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
*
Mana Drain depletes Necrophos's mana pool, preventing him from using his abilities.
*
Finger of Death deals high magical damage, which becomes amplified by Ghost Shroud.
*
Wraith King has a very low mana pool and is extremely dependant on it to cast his high mana cost abilities, so
Mana Drain will make him struggle way too hard, even not being able to active his passive ability
Reincarnation, forcing the
Wraith King to buy
Aghanim's Shard as soon as possible.
* Althought
Wraith King may not be as fragile to struggle against
Lion's damage, it's much easier to disable and harass him, as
Wraith King doesn't have any mobility at all, his only gap closer being
Wraithfire Blast which costs too much mana for his mana pool, and may only affect one target.
Additional:
* While not being able to confront Wraith King by himself, Lion's
Mana Drain helps in draining Wraith King's mana, preventing him from reincarnating unless he has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Lion's
Earth Spike and
Hex provide decent lockdown against Wraith King as well, preventing the latter from benefiting from Vampiric Spirit bonuses.
*
Hex and
Mana Drain can be used to immediately destroy Spectre's illusion when she
Haunts. A fast fingered Lion can protect himself and a teammate.
*
Hex and
Earth Spike are good lockdown spells to control and kill Spectre, especially if she doesn't buy defensive items like
Linken's Sphere and
Black King Bar.
*
Finger of Death can be used to burst down Spectre when she is low on life as she has very poor magic resistance.
* Lion has two low cast point disables (
Hex and
Earth Spike) to control Ursa before he buys a
Black King Bar.
*
Hex is one of the few abilities that cannot be dispelled even with an
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enrage.
* Lion can control Ursa's low mana pool via
Mana Drain.
* His
Tempest Double is not an illusion, but rather a full hero unit, which effectively reduces half of the Supernova's health. His
Magnetic Field can tremendously boost his attack speed, allowing him to destroy
Supernova in no time even when he's affected by
Fire Spirits.
Additional:
* Tempest Double, Magnetic Field's attack speed bonus, and Arc Warden's high attack range will easily destroy a Phoenix using
Supernova much faster than usual.
* Phoenix is very weak against pushers, especially those like Arc Warden who can kill him easily, as his skillset works best in teamfights.
*
Hex and
Earth Spike can hold Clinkz down, giving him no chance to use
Black King Bar or Skeleton Walk.
*
Finger of Death quickly kills Clinkz due to his low health.
* Despite her high mobility,
Hex or
Earth Spike can lock
Phantom Assassin down, make her vulnerable and mitigate her damage output.
* Lion relies entirely on his abilities to be effective, rendering Phatnom Assassin's high evasion through ineffective against him. And Phantom Assassin's low health pool makes her vulnerable to Lion's magical burst without
Black King Bar.
*
Lion's instant cast point shuts down his initiation and buys time for his allies to catch up.
*
Void Spirit has to be cautious when fighting, as he has no protection against
Finger of Death. If caught out in a stun, the high magic damage could end him quickly.
* With a lot of disables with good range, he might cancel your Echo Stomp.
*
Mana Drain can be used to drain Elder Titan's already low mana pool.
*
Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Lion has used all his crowd control before entering a fight. His direct magic burst also makes Brewmaster's Drunken Brawler worthless versus Lion.
*
Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* In addition, Lion can follow up with his
Earth Spike and
Mana Drain combo, preventing Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain. And he can finish Timbersaw off with
Finger of Death if the latter's HP is low enough.
* Long range disables are really effective against dangerous area controllers and channeling Heroes, like
Enigma,
Faceless Void or
Crystal Maiden, as it may cancel them or prevent enemies from doing further damage while keeping
Lion in a relatively safe distance in the warzone.
* High priority targets like
Queen of Pain,
Drow Ranger,
Ember Spirit can't get caught out from
Lion's long range disables, making it harder to them fulfill their roles, and making it easy to target them.
Additional:
* Lion possesses two strong disables in
Earth Spike and
Hex and heavy magic burst with
Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his
Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.
*
Arc Warden's
Magnetic Field dodges all damage from Death Ward.
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting:
Arc Warden,
Chen,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Mirana,
Nature's Prophet,
Pugna and
Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.
*
Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* Heroes who rely on fast attack speed will also trigger Counter Helix frequently:
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Anti-Mage,
Juggernaut,
Arc Warden,
Morphling
Additional:
* Magnetic Field doesn't provide a protection against
Berserker's Call and
Counter Helix and his high attack speed together with Tempest Double will often trigger
Counter Helix.
* The threat of a blink and
Berserker's Call may make the real Arc Warden stay further back, thus effectively halving the team's damage output for a while.
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe:
Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
* 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 forced movement abilities or non-interrupting forced movement, such as
Lion,
Drow Ranger,
Magnus,
Mars, as they can cancel blast-off mid air, removing his ability to initiate or escape.
* Hex abilities can cancel the channelling of Fiend's Grip :
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Dazzle from
Aghanim's Shard with upgraded
Poison Touch.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like
Juggernaut,
Lion, or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
*
Arc Warden with his Magnetic Field will protect allies from Mass Serpent Ward.
* Heroes with high burst damage:
Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights:
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Arc Warden
*
Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
*
Waning Rift silences and damages enemies affected by the ability, diminishing
Lion's punishing powers.
* High burst damage potential plus mobility and disable through
Illusory Orb,
Waning Rift, and
Dream Coil allows
Puck to effortlessly chase, lock and/or kill
Lion, as the Demon Witch lacks proper ways to avoid so.
*
Phase Shift allows
Puck to dodge
Earth Spike,
Finger of Death and breaks
Mana Drain's link.
* Backline supports (
Lion,
Crystal Maiden) can keep Puck pinned long enough for a kill.
* Phase Shift is not an advantage against Arc Warden at all because Arc Warden can turn Puck's Phase Shift ability against him by using
Spark Wraith, ensuring it to hit. To make this worse, Arc Warden can do it twice with his
Tempest Double.
*
Flux is also an instant spell (and therefore unavoidable) with a heavy slow and damage over time, which disables Blink Dagger for a certain period of time.
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities:
Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
*
Arc Warden's
Tempest Double is helpful for killing Ogre Magi who lacks AoE damage and disables.
* 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.
* Heroes that can keep Marci for a long time in one place so she can't pursue her targets, like
Bane,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Invoker,
Disruptor and
Kunkka.
* Long range disables are really effective against dangerous area controllers and channeling Heroes, like
Enigma,
Faceless Void or
Crystal Maiden, as it may cancel them or prevent enemies from doing further damage while keeping
Lion in a relatively safe distance in the warzone.
*
Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* Due to her slow movement speed,heroes with crowd control and slows can shut down Dawnbreaker:
Lion,
Crystal Maiden ,
Venomancer etc.
* 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.)
* 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.
* Long range disables are really effective against dangerous area controllers and channeling Heroes, like
Enigma,
Faceless Void or
Crystal Maiden, as it may cancel them or prevent enemies from doing further damage while keeping
Lion in a relatively safe distance in the warzone.
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility:
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
*
Weaver's exceptional ability to elude and survive through clashes and ganks is hard countered by
Lion in every aspect.
*
Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game, of which
Mana Drain can deplete and lessen his early game presence.
*
Earth Spike followed by
Finger of Death in the huge majority of the time is enough to kill
Weaver.
*
Earth Spike can be point targeted to hit through
Shukuchi.
*
Hex's has a fair long duration, by which
Weaver will not be able to deal damage, or even survive a coordinated attack, and it is single target, of which cannot be dodged.
*
Mana Drain easily breaks
Linken's Sphere. Its low cooldown allows
Lion to infinitely break it whenever it recharges.
*
Earth Spike and
Hex when paired for the longer lengths of disables may diminish
Time Lapse efficiency, possibly causing
Weaver to not undo as much damage as he would.
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like
Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
* Heroes who rely on summons will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds:
Lycan,
Arc Warden,
Warlock,
Chen
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels:
Shadow Shaman,
Lion
*
Magnetic Field prevents Legion Commander from easily gaining wins with Duel.
Additional:
* Magnetic Field prevents Legion Commander from getting wins with
Duel.
*
Arc Warden's Flux is meaningless against Meepo who loves to group up. Meepo is also a very good gap closer, so Arc Warden's Magnetic Field becomes useless.
Additional:
* Flux is severely impaired against Meepo because of
Divided We Stand.
* Meepo's farming speed and early powerspikes allows him to pressure Arc Warden before he is capable of fighting effectively.
* Without
Black King Bar,
Earthbind and
Poof can finish Arc Warden quickly before he has time to do much.
* If Meepo ganks Lion with Poof and Earthbind, he will be an easy target for
Earth Spike & AoE
Hex from his level 25 talent.
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like
Lion,
Ancient Apparition,
Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
* Lion can continuously
Mana Drain Tiny in the early game, depleting his small mana pool for his abilities.
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like
Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
* Heroes with long disables, like
Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like
Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field:
Silencer,
Viper.
* 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:
* 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.
*
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.
* Heroes that have doubles or clones such as
Arc Warden,
Meepo or
Lone Druid are vulnerable to Muerta's
Gunslinger.
* 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.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
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Lion
*
Rage makes Lifestealer debuff immune and gives him magic resistance which can drastically reduce magical damage from Lion's abilities while also preventing Lion to do anything to him.
Ghoul Frenzy effectiveness, since it applies slows upon attacking.
Lion's low health and base armor
Infest can be used to surprise unsuspecting Lion if he tries to take down alone enemy hero.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can be used to disarm Lion and attack him from inside, even if Lion is debuff immune with the
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Mana Drain.
* Lion's lack of inner escape and defensive mechanisms increases
* Lifestealer's physical damage output is strong against
*
Arc Warden
* Heroes with good escape mechanisms are a nuisance to deal with in the early phase of the game:
Slark,
Lifestealer,
Morphling