Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Lion
* All of Lion's abilities are worth stealing with Spell Steal.
* Arcane Supremacy makes the disabling spells stolen from Lion very useful, allowing you to disable enemies for an extremely long time during fights or ganks.
* By using Telekinesis, Rubick can easily catch Lion out. Without any escape mechanism, Lion is helpless, especially when ganked.
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.
Death Prophet
* Heroes with strong team-fight abilities (especially ultimates) like Tidehunter,
Brewmaster,
Death Prophet, etc.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Duel is a great initiation to kill Death Prophet before she can cast Exorcism. Furthermore, Legion Commander often builds
Blade Mail and can reflect Exorcism's damage to kill Death Prophet easily.
Lion
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman,
Lion
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Waning Rift prevents Lion from casting spells during team fights, effectively making him useless.
* Puck's burst damage potential through Illusory Orb,
Waning Rift, and
Dream Coil allows it to easily kill Lion.
* Combined with the lockdown from Dream Coil, Puck's high mobility through
Ethereal Jaunt and
Blink Dagger allows it to effortlessly chase Lion.
* Phase Shift allows Puck to dodge nearly all of Lion's spells, including Finger of Death.
Death Prophet
* 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.
Lion
* Backline supports (Lion,
Crystal Maiden) keep him pinned long enough for a kill.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* 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.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Death Prophet
* Doom can stop Death Prophet from casting spells, which makes her useless during team fights if she didn't cast Exorcism before the fight. Furthermore, Doom can use
Scorched Earth to chase after her.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like Tinker or
Oracle.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Death Prophet
* Riki is another good hero to shutdown Death Prophet with
Diffusal Blade as his core item. His
Smoke Screen stops her from initiating and casting spells.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Lion
* 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.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Death Prophet
* 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.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* 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.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity: Keeper of the Light,
Lina,
Lion,
Zeus.
Additional:
* Rage provides spell immunity to Lifestealer and thus nullifies all of Lion's abilities.
* Open Wounds allows Lifestealer to easily catch Lion out and prevent him from escaping.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Death Prophet
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor,
Death Prophet,
Enigma,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Lich,
Magnus,
Mars,
Medusa,
Outworld Destroyer,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Fiend,
Treant Protector,
Underlord,
Winter Wyvern,
Witch Doctor,
Zeus.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* 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.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Death Prophet
* Guardian Angel nullifies the physical damage from Exorcism. With
Aghanim's Scepter, it also prevents Death Prophet from pushing towers.
* Heavenly Grace dispels
Silence.
Additional:
* Exorcism's damage is blocked by Guardian Angel.
* Heavenly Grace can dispel
Silence allies if Omniknight is able to cast it.
Lion
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Lion
* 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's Marcopyre will deal damage through his Spell Immunity, forcing him to cancel it or die
* Lion has very strong single target capabilities, but suffers against multiple heroes, while Jakiro almost always with someone else, His abilities also have a much shorter cast range then Jakiro's, allowing him to cast your spells 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.
Death Prophet
* Heroes with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability: Death Prophet,
Sniper,
Tinker,
Windranger.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Death Prophet
* Ice Blast prevents Death Prophet from gaining health from Spirit Siphon and
Exorcism.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Death Prophet from gaining health from Spirit Siphon and Exorcism.
Lion
* 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.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Vendetta allows Nyx to sneak up on Lion and deal massive damage to him, especially when followed up with an
Impale,
Mana Burn, or even
Dagon.
* Spiked Carapace has the potential to not only nullify Lion's damage, but also cripple and potentially deal massive damage to Lion, especially if he reflects Finger of Death.
Lion
* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin and
Keeper of the Light.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Death Prophet
* God's Strength allows Sven to take down Death Prophet quickly, reducing the damage dealt over time from Exorcism.
* Warcry's bonus armour and movement speed is very useful for Sven and his teammates against Exorcism, which deals physical damage.
Lion
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Death Prophet
* Shadowraze (Near),
Shadowraze (Medium), and
Shadowraze (Far) can hit hard in the early stages of the game, and due to Shadow Fiend's high attack damage, most of Death Prophet's last hits will be denied in the laning phase. Additionally,
Requiem of Souls can deal massive damage or kill Death Prophet at the start of team fights in combination with
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or
Shadow Blade.
Lion
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)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.
Death Prophet
* Because Timbersaw relies heavily on his spells to deal damage, Silence can easily disable him in a team fight.
* Exorcism's spirits do not count as regular attacks, and will not add stacks of Reactive Armor.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Spirit Siphon and
Exorcism can damage through his
Resonant Pulse shields.
* Silence can prevent Void Spirit escape or contributing much in fights.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Exorcism kills Primal Split's units very quickly.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Lion
* Despite her high mobility, Hex or Earth Spike can lock Phantom Assassin down and make her vulnerable.
* Although she has high evasion through Blur, Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to Lion's magical burst.
Death Prophet
* In early to mid stage, Silence is also a great way to counter escape oriented heroes such as Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain, and
Phantom Assassin to prevent them from escaping, provided that they don't have any basic dispels.
Marci
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Spirit Siphon exploits her naturally high HP to deal a good amount of DPS. She may break the link with Rebound, but
Silence covers that problem.
* Marci's poor armor makes her vulnerable to Exorcism.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Exorcism's ghosts will automatically clear all Proximity Mines revealed when Death Prophet walks near them, provided that the ghosts do not have a specific target at that time.
* Death Prophet is a natural Eul's Scepter of Divinity carrier, meaning she can easily escape a Blast Off initiation.
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Silence can be used to interrupt Primal Beast while he is channeling Pulverize.
* Spirit Siphon can whittle down Primal Beast's health and can potentially heal back any burst damage he deals to her.
* Exorcism can shed Primal Beast's health down while he attempts to complete any skill combos during a fight with it active.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets especially fragile Heroes like Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition, or
Bounty Hunter.
Death Prophet
* Death Prophet's Silence allows her to prevent Bounty Hunter from escaping with Shadow Walk.
* If Bounty Hunter cannot escape with Shadow Walk while affected by Silence, she will be able to burst him down with
Crypt Swarm and
Spirit Siphon.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Silence will prevent Chen from activating Hand of God.
* Crypt Swarm and
Exorcism can clear Chen's creeps and heavily damage Chen.
* Spirit Siphon heavily damages Chen and slows him, while healing Death Prophet.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Death Prophet
* 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.
Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* While Morphling can burst her down with Adaptive Strike (Agility), Death Prophet does have tools to disrupt him. A Morphling affected by
Silence makes it unable to use
Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) to increase its health pool or use
Waveform to escape.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Lion
* High priority targets like Queen of Pain,
Drow Ranger and even
Anti-Mage can't get caught out from Lion's long range disables.
Death Prophet
* In early to mid stage, Silence is also a great way to counter escape oriented heroes such as Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain, and
Phantom Assassin to prevent them from escaping, provided that they don't have any basic dispels.
Additional:
* Silence will prevent Queen of Pain from using Blink to escape or chase.
* If Queen of Pain uses Blink to close the gap to Death Prophet, Death Prophet will be in range for Spirit Siphon and typically gain an advantage over Queen of Pain.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Windranger heavily relies on her abilities for any form of tactical advantage and damage. A well timed silence will make her useless: Puck,
Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage,
Drow Ranger,
Earth Spirit,
Grimstroke.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Lion
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna,
Lion
Death Prophet
* Any heroes with stuns or silences: Death Prophet,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Skywrath Mage
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* Lion's disables are also really effective against channeling Heroes, like Enigma or
Crystal Maiden.
Death Prophet
* In the same vein, heroes with silences — especially with the AoE ones like Death Prophet's
Silence — can also prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to impact a fight.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons: Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* 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.
* Finger of Death deals high damage to Bristleback, and only triggers his passive once.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* 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.
* In addition to easily breaking her commonly bought Linken's Sphere with its low cooldown, Mana Drain can quickly drain her
Mana Shield, making her far less tanky.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Death Prophet
* Crypt Swarm can quickly kill any Treants. Silence also prevents him from using Teleportation to escape or
Sprout to lock you down.
Additional:
* Crypt Swarm helps clear waves of Treants.
* Silence prevents Nature's Prophet from using Sprout or Teleportation.
* Exorcism kills Treants with ease.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* 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.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Death Prophet
* Quas-Exort Invoker is also a good matchup due to the fact he has no Wex to run faster due to the movement impairment on his stealth. The
Forge Spirit and
Cold Snap combo doesn't harm her as well since you can drain Invoker's HP with Spirit Siphon which forces him to retreat.
* Silence also prevents Invoker from using Invoke or casting his main spells temporarily. There is no way Invoker can block it unless he has
Eul's Scepter of Divinity to cyclone himself or has help from allies.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* 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.
Additional:
* Ember lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game and often does not acquire any later, allowing Lion to Hex or Earth Spike him before he escapes through his Fire Remnant.
* Although Flame Guard can prevent magic damage, it does not stop Lion's disables, and Lion can usually break through it with Finger of Death.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Mana Drain depletes Nercophos's mana pool, preventing him from using his abilities.
* Finger of Death deals high magical damage, which becomes amplified by Ghost Shroud.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Although Weaver can potentially Time Lapse out of any burst, Weaver has a fragile health pool, and Lion's disables can kill him before.
* Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game. Mana Drain can deplete him of mana and lessen his early game presence.
* Earth Spike can be point targeted and hits through Shukuchi to make him vulnerable.
* Linken's Sphere is easily broken by targeted spells with low cooldown.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* 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.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Lion
* Drow has a very low health pool, allowing Lion to burst her down.
* Drow has no innate escape mechanism, making her an easy target for Lion's disables.
* Lion should be wary of Drow's Gust however, as he has no natural means to deal with it.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Death Prophet
* Death Prophet abilities disables Earthshaker's Blink Dagger.
* Silence can be used to silence Earthshaker after he blinks in, preventing him from executing his combo.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Both Hex and
Mana Drain destroy Naga Siren's illusions in an instant, making it hard 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).
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* 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.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* 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.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Lion
* 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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* If Meepo ganks Lion with Poof and Earthbind, he will be an easy target for Earth Spike & AoE
Hex from his level 25 talent.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* Heroes with nukes: Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* 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 it ineffective against Lion's burst.
* Enchantress lacks any escape mechanism apart from her raw movement speed, allowing Lion to disable her.
* Since Lion's damage comes mostly from his skills, Untouchable does nothing to mitigate it.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Mana Drain has an extremely 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.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin and
Keeper of the Light.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Death Prophet
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as Silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Death Prophet
* Spirit Siphon does a lot of magical damage, especially in the early game. This allows her to demolish low health heroes such as Zeus,
Pugna, especially when combined with her other spells.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Death Prophet
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Dawnbreaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Lion
* Due to her slow movement speed,heroes with crowd control and slows can shut down Dawnbreaker. ( Lion,
Crystal Maiden ,
Venomancer etc.)
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Death Prophet
* Any heroes with silences can negate the majority of Outworld Destroyer's damage output: Death Prophet,
Night Stalker,
Drow Ranger,
Doom .
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Death Prophet
* Heroes who can silence will shut down Dark Willow entirely: Death Prophet,
Silencer,
Drow Ranger
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Death Prophet
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* 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.)
Undying
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Death Prophet
* Death Prophet is able to
Silence Undying up to 6 seconds. Besides, due to Undying's high strength during a team fight,
Spirit Siphon is a powerful ability against Undying thanks to the percentage health drain.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Lion
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
Slark
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Lion
* Pounce allows Slark to close in on Lion and prevent him from escaping.
* Lion's fragile health pool makes him easy prey for Slark's high burst damage through Pounce,
Dark Pact and right-clicks.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lion from casting Hex, Mana Drain, or Finger of Death on Slark.
* Dark Pact allows Slark to dispel any of Lion's disables.
Lion
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Death Prophet
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Death Prophet
* Death Prophet has a high mana pool and due to her heavy reliance on her spells, she will be a prime target for Mana Void.
* Death Prophet has less mobility than Anti-Mage due to Blink.
Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* In early to mid stage, Silence is also a great way to counter escape oriented heroes such as Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain, and
Phantom Assassin to prevent them from escaping, provided that they don't have any basic dispels.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Spirit Siphon does a lot of magical damage, especially in the early game. This allows her to demolish low health heroes such as Zeus,
Pugna, especially when combined with her other spells.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Death Prophet is a terrible Flaming Lasso target if
Exorcism has already been used, since it can still damage Batrider and his teammates, but if Batrider manages to Lasso her before that, it can lead to
Death Prophet being quickly burst down.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like Lion,
Ancient Apparition,
Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
Lion
* Mana Drain has an extremely 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.
Additional:
* Lion can continuously Mana Drain Tiny in the early game, depleting his small mana pool for his abilities.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Wraithfire Blast is a long ranged stun, and can stop you from fleeing or using Mana Drain.
* Once Reincarnation is upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, it becomes nearly impossible to get Finger of Death stacks
* However, Reincarnation does give you the Finger of Death stack when it triggers
Lion
* Wraith King has a very low mana pool and depends on it to cast Reincarnation. Mana Drain will render him useless.
* Wraith King has very low mobility, making it easy for Lion to disable and harass him.
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.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Tidehunter naturally has a high health pool and thus makes it hard for Lion to burst him down. Kraken Shell further mitigates this by dispelling any disables Lion casts when Tidehunter takes enough damage.
* Gush and
Ravage can both not only burst Lion down, but also catch him out and prevent him from escaping.
Death Prophet
* Kraken Shell neither dispels nor provides damage reduction against Spirit Siphon. This ability also drains health based on percentage damage, making Tidehunter's large healthpool a very appealing target. Furthermore, the health gained from the Siphon is independent from the amount of damage dealt, so Death Prophet will always heal a large amount of from Tidehunter's pool even if Tidehunter has magic reduction items or abilities on him, which makes her an untargetable enemy for you as this easily outweights any damage output you can provide.
* Exorcism is yet another ability from which Kraken Shell provides no useful protection, as the spirits completely ignore the damage block and are unaffected by the dispel. This ability also creates an unfriendly area where your blink will be constantly cancelled, reducing your ability to land a good Ravage.
* Ravage does not stop neither Spirit Siphon nor
Exorcism, making the ability mostly ineffective against her. Additionally, Death Prophet usually builds
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, which can be used to dodge the stun entirely.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* A couple of long-range heroes with excellent laning like Mirana,
Lina,
Necrophos,
Death Prophet. The key to success is sticking together and attacking Luna whenever she enters the range, without even giving Luna a chance to retaliate. Multiple long-range heroes is a reason to pick another hero.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* 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.
Death Prophet
* Because all of Warlock's abilities are active abilities, silences can make his impact in fights minimal. Be cautious of heroes that carry silences like Death Prophet,
Puck, and the aforementioned
Silencer.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* 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.
Lion
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Death Prophet
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Lion
* 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
* Heroes with silences and hard stuns such as Doom,
Silencer, and
Lion can keep Mirana from Leaping away.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
Most popular searches list
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Lion
* Both
Lion's
Finger of Death and
Lina's
Laguna Blade have a 0.25 second delay before the damage is dealt.
Borrowed Time, Finger's delayed damage allows an Abaddon with fast enough reaction time to activate Borrowed Time and heal from Finger.
Aphotic Shield is extremely effective against both Earth Spike and Hex, nullifying the stun or hex while preventing further damage.
Curse of Avernus.
Additional:
* Although Finger of Death can potentially bypass
*
* Lion's lack of escape mechanisms allows Abaddon and his allies to pursue him with
Death Prophet
*
Exorcism will continuously heal Abaddon under Borrowed Time, and cannot be turned off.
* {Ability ID:Spirit Siphon|Death Prophet} will continuously heal Abaddon under Borrowed Time, for a percentage of his maximum health.