* 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.
* Glimpse can prevent Primal Beast from initiating for most of the game with Onslaught.
* While Static Storm is not much of a threat in terms of damage, it does prevent Primal Beast from casting any spells for a long period of time if also trapped in
Kinetic Field.
* Overall, Disruptor forces Primal Beast to buy a Black King Bar much earlier than he might like but becomes a major threat to Disruptor once he does.
* 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.
* Oracle can negate and shut down Primal Beast simply with Fate's Edict, especially in the early game, as a majority of his damage-dealing spells are magic.
* Oracle can interrupt Primal Beast's Onslaught charge with a well-timed Fortune's End.
* Primal Beast's lethal burst damage combos can be further stalled with False Promise; combined with Fate's Edict and regen from Purifying Flames, Oracle can even completely negate Primal Beast's offense.
Additional:
* Fate's Edict completely negates all of Primal Beast's major damage-dealing spells in the early game and can render Primal Beast useless when cast on a target he is focusing, or in Oracle's defense against Primal Beast himself.
* Fortune's End keeps Primal Beast in place, especially while trampling or in the middle of an Onslaught charge.
* False Promise can interrupt Primal Beast's abilities, as well as further delay Primal Beast from dealing lethal burst damage. In combination with
Fortune's End, Oracle can potentially save an ally from Primal Beast's spell combos.
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
* 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.
* The ensnare from melee Berserker's Rage can prevent Primal Beast from dealing further Trample damage and can allow Troll Warlord to relentlessly build
Fervor on him.
* Whirling Axes (Ranged) can slow down Primal Beast while trampling and allow Troll Warlord to better control him from range.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) can blind Primal Beast if he attempts to auto-attack Troll Warlord after a fully charged Uproar.
* Battle Trance will make Primal Beast a sitting duck should he be rooted and attacked to death.
* Soulbind prevents Primal Beast from being able to use Onslaught or his abilities to great effect for a lengthy amount of time.
* Phantom's Embrace is very difficult for Primal Beast to remove due to his slow attack speed and Trample preventing him from attacking.
* Primal Beast is disarmed during Trample so will be unable to destroy a Supernova no matter how close it is to him.
* The same ability can also be used to save allies with the help of an Aghanim's Scepter.
* Sun Ray will do thousands of damage to Primal Beast if surviving a full channel time due to his high health scaling for the ability.
* Icarus Dive is a fantastic way to escape Primal Beast after he has used Onslaught.
* Phoenix has a naturally very high health pool making it hard for Primal Beast to deal with him with his magical damage.
* Primal Beast's abilities require movement to deal damage, making Rupture potentially deadly and debilitating. Furthermore, its initial damage based on the target's current health is devastating to a full-health Primal Beast with his high strength gain and thus high HP.
* Due to his reliance on spells, Primal Beast is vulnerable to Blood Rite's powerful silence without items to counter it.
* Invoker's numerous area-of-effect abilities can interrupt Primal Beast, especially while he is in the middle of a team fight, where Primal Beast thrives. (Tornado,
Cold Snap, and
Ice Wall all help to disable Primal Beast and control him from a distance.
* E.M.P. disintegrates Primal Beast's low mana pool.
* However, Invoker is quite a slow-paced hero and not particularly known for being survivable against a rampaging Primal Beast with Black King Bar.
* 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.
* Power Cogs keeps Primal Beast pinned down, preventing him from doing damage with Trample. Primal Beast's slow attack speed makes it hard for him to break the cogs and get away. In addition, Power Cogs' knockback is forced movement and thus will intercept Primal Beast's Onslaught if placed well.
* Battery Assault on a lone Primal Beast in the early game effectively keeps him from winding up Onslaught or basic attacking.
* Rocket Flare and
Jetpack (from purchasing
Aghanim's Shard) give Clockwerk many options to scout for Primal Beast, whose kit benefits greatly from ambushing.
* 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.
* Pit of Malice is very good at preventing Primal Beast from entering the fight and stopping Trample damage at all stages of the game.
* 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.
* Primal Beast is mostly played in the offlane role, so picking a carry who can escape from him is essential. Heroes such as Troll Warlord,
Lone Druid and
Outworld Destroyer, or generally any carry with a stun, slow or ability to fight back will stop him from having the good start he needs.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* 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.
* 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.
* Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like
Tinker or
Oracle.
* Heroes who can do scaling health damage to Primal Beast are very threatening for the hero. Such as: Phoenix,
Tinker etc.
* Heroes with unorthodox escapes will struggle against Primal Beast, such as Nature's Prophet,
Tinker, and
Templar Assassin.
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
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.
* Primal Beast is mostly played in the offlane role, so picking a carry who can escape from him is essential. Heroes such as Troll Warlord,
Lone Druid and
Outworld Destroyer, or generally any carry with a stun, slow or ability to fight back will stop him from having the good start he needs.
* Supports who can slow him to the point Trample does very little damage in the lane are also not fun: Lich,
Ogre Magi,
Winter Wyvern.
* Supports who can slow him to the point Trample does very little damage in the lane are also not fun: Lich,
Ogre Magi,
Winter Wyvern.
* 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.
* Supports who can slow him to the point Trample does very little damage in the lane are also not fun: Lich,
Ogre Magi,
Winter Wyvern.
* Any ganking heavy support can be a big problem for Primal Beast, such as: Earth Spirit,
Grimstroke before he has a
Black King Bar.
* Primal Beast really suffers against supports he cannot bully in the lane: this includes Dazzle,
Shadow Demon and
Dark Willow since they can use their respective abilities to stop Primal Beast from dealing burst damage, or make it hard for him to stay in range.
* 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.
* Rage provides debuff immunity and increased magic resistance, thus drastically reducing magical damage and preventing most of disables (in
Lion's case, all are fully blocked) making it nearly impossible to defend against or to punish a raging
Lifestealer.
* Lack of inner escape and defensive mechanisms increases Ghoul Frenzy effectiveness, since it applies slows upon auto attacking.
* Lifestealer damage output is too powerful against
Lion's low health and base armor
* Special mention to Lifestealer who can use
Rage to prevent Trample damage, but Primal Beast's ultimate can still be casted during the spell.
* Time Walk makes it impossible for Primal Beast to stay on top of Faceless Void with his abilities and allows him to heal burst damage dealt to him.
* Once Faceless Void has an Aghanim's Shard, Onslaught can be easily escaped. He could also choose to get a lower cooldown on Time Walk, making it even harder for Primal Beast to catch him in fights or stop his initiations.
* Time Dilation will make Primal Beast useless for an extended time after casting his abilities if he does not have a dispel.
* Chronosphere has many uses such as stopping Primal Beast from casting abilities on him or allies or even on a teammate, since Primal Beast has no way to assist allies trapped within the sphere.
* 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.
* 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.
* Malefice will prevent Primal Beast from doing anything for a long duration even in the early game when at his strongest.
* Midnight Pulse will scale with his max health so will do a ton of damage combined with any generic stun or Enigma's own abilities.
* Primal Beast relies completely on mobility to do damage, Black Hole makes sure he cannot use any abilities or threaten heroes he is typically good against.
* 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.
* Despite her high mobility, Hex or
Earth Spike can lock
Phantom Assassin down, make her vulnerable and mitigate her damage output.
* Although she has high evasion through Blur,
Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to
Lion's magical burst.
* Phantom Assassin is known to be weak against bursts of magical damage, something Primal Beast excels at from the beginning of the game. He can use this to his advantage by constantly hunting Phantom Assassin down, especially if she is left alone to farm.
* Primal Beast is a good carrier of Ethereal Blade,
Vanguard and
Shiva's Guard all of which are very good against
Coup de Grace and
Phantom Strike.
* Even though Primal Beast does a lot of physical damage early on, later once Blur becomes more potent, she may find herself being overwhelmed by Trample and Onslaught instead.
* Primal Beast's ultimate goes through spell immunity and his level 25 talent makes it even more devistating against Phantom Assassin.
* Primal Beast can dispel Stifling Dagger and any attack modifers it applies with his left level 15 talent.
* 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.
* Dispersion reduces damage based on a percentage, which is very minimal against large amounts of small instances of damage such as Trample. It reduces each tick by about 14 at the maximum level, which is very small.
* Desolate is never a threat to Primal Beast due to his large health pool and Uproar is still out-damaging the ability.
* Onslaught can allow Primal Beast to chase Spectre fleeing with Spectral Dagger, as both skills phase through trees and terrain.
* Primal Beast can also dispel Spectral Dagger's slow with his left level 15 talent, making it completely useless against him.
* Primal Beast excels at early aggression, pushing weak carries out of lane and farming areas he wants to control. Overall just not a pleasant
* 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.
* Mana Drain, along with
Hex, destroy illusions instantly, which may be extremely helpfull and efficient against core builders of
Manta Style, like
Medusa herself.
* Hard carries who just want to farm and be left alone will not appreciate Primal Beast, heroes such as Medusa,
Drow Ranger...
* 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.
* Heroes who have low or high armor but very high health will be difficult for drow to burst down quickly: Primal Beast,
Axe,
Centaur Warrunner.
* 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.
* Heroes who have high health are a problem for Sniper because he likes to attack the closest target and sit at the back, much like a Terrorblade so when that hero doesn't die; he's forced to show his position for a very long time:
Centaur Warrunner,
Legion Commander,
Primal Beast.
Additional:
* Primal Beast is one of Sniper's greatest counters, as he has no real means of escape and is very squishy, especially in the early game. Sniper's potshots and Shrapnel can contribute to Primal Beast's Uproar and further make him tankier than he already is. Onslaught allows him to close the gap on Sniper at his own volition, and Trample can deal serious damage to his meager health pool.
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* Since Primal Beast is highly mobile with Onslaught alone, he will be difficult to catch with both Cold Feet and
Ice Blast.
* Ice Blast is less effective due to Primal Beast's massive health pool and resistance to taking damage.
* While Chilling Touch can be used to slow Primal Beast briefly, it is not enough to beat him back, and can also contribute to his Uproar stacks.
* Primal Beast has a dispel talent at level 15 that will remove Cold Feet immediately when Uproar is used.
* 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.
* Heroes with abilities that can lock down Terrorblade and prevent him from using Sunder: Bane,
Batrider,
Earthshaker,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Legion Commander,
Mars,
Primal Beast,
Riki,
Shadow Shaman,
Silencer,
Vengeful Spirit,
Void Spirit.
Additional:
* Terrorblade has no stun and is vulnerable to Primal Beast's spell comboes due to his low health points in the laning stage and mid game.
* Reflection can be dispelled using Primal Beast's level 15 left talent.
* Sunder is the only real threat Terrorblade has against Primal Beast but he may die before he can even use it.
* 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.
* Any hero with low mobility and max healthsuch as Silencer,
Crystal Maiden etc.
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* Any hero who lanes very poorly will struggle with Primal Beast's potential snowball in the very early levels, like Keeper of the Light,
Luna,
Templar Assassin...
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
* Long lockdown is a great way to deal with Axe to prevent Berserker's Call from being used, heroes such as Legion Commander,
Beastmaster and
Primal Beast are good examples of this.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call will be a stun for Primal Beast and not much else due to Trample making him unable to attack.
* Battle Hunger is neglitable because Primal Beast has a much bigger health than Axe, so he does not need to fear being slowed, or his other abilities including
Counter Helix or even a
Blade Mail.
* Getting Primal Beast low enough to use a successful Culling Blade can be very difficult due to his massive health advantage over most heroes.
* Not ability related but Primal Beast does not need to fear Axe in lane, as Trample, combined with Uproar and Onslaught will do a ton of damage even if Axe has a Vanguard.
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
* Heroes who rely on burst damage with magical damage will struggle to kill Primal Beast: Spirit Breaker,
Gyrocopter,
Leshrac
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes who cannot escape from Trample early might be easy first blood. Heroes like Witch Doctor and
Omniknight should play very cautiously alone...
* 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.
* Durable heroes: Axe,
Dawnbreaker,
Bristleback,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Primal Beast,
Underlord.
* 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).
* Illusion heroes will struggle against Primal Beast's area damage capability, such as Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Onslaught prevents all of Razor's abilities from being effective against him, especially in the laning stage.
* Magnus is not tanky and struggles against burst damage, something Primal Beast excels at in the early-to-mid game. Primal Beast is also able to out-damage Magnus's Empower and can even contribute to his Uproar stacks.
* Using Skewer to drag Primal Beast while he is trampling will count as movement and will trigger a rapid number of slams, which could prove lethal to Magnus.
* 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.
* Primal Beast can use Uproar to tank a portion of Omnislash, making him much more likely to survive it. Primal Beast can also charge away from Omnislash using Onslaught as the spell ends.
* Blade Fury will never do more damage than Uproar once the stacks are activated.
* Primal Beast is very commonly buying items that are good against Juggernaut, such as Ethereal Blade and
Heart of Tarrasque.
* Primal Beast has one of the few ultimates that can prevent Juggernaut from spinning away with a teleport.
* 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.
* 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.
* Pierce the Veil does not prevent Primal Beast from using any of his spells to their fullest and is one of the few heroes that can disable her during her ultimate and a common
Black King Bar purchase.
* Gunslinger will be disabled if Primal Beast buys an
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Sprout gets destroyed by Trample and Onslaught.
* 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.
* While Broodmother can hide in the trees with Spin Web, Primal Beast's ability to trample trees down can give him an edge in catching her.
* Insatiable Hunger will not do much vs Primal Beast's onslaught of disables.
* While Silken Bola can slow Primal Beast down, it's not enough to stop Trample from doing more damage than Broodmother can do back.
* Spawn Spiderlings will be destroyed by Onslaught and Trample very easily.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* If Meepo ganks Lion with Poof and Earthbind, he will be an easy target for Earth Spike & AoE
Hex from his level 25 talent.
* 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.
* 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.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna,
Lion
* Any hero who lanes very poorly will struggle with Primal Beast's potential snowball in the very early levels, like Keeper of the Light,
Luna,
Templar Assassin...
* 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.
* Due to her slow movement speed,heroes with crowd control and slows can shut down Dawnbreaker:Lion,
Crystal Maiden ,
Venomancer 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.
* 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, great against any of
Lion's disables.
* Lion's low health pool and low armor make him extremely vulnerable to
Slark's high damage output.
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
* Dark Pact,
Shadow Dance and
Depth Shroud will do nothing against Onslaught and Trample, as they are both ground area-of-effect spells.
* Primal Beast has a gigantic hitbox, which could be difficult for Slark to escape with Pounce should Primal Beast choose to block him. Pounce also does not completely prevent Primal Beast from trampling offensively, as he still has some room to move.
* Primal Beast has a huge health pool making it difficult to shed it with Essence Shift and may allow Primal Beast to build Uproar stacks against him very rapidly.
* If Primal Beast buys an Aghanim's Scepter he can also break
Essence Shift from working on attacks which is a big part of Slark's damage output.
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
* 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.
* 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 can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
* 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.
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes who cannot escape from Trample early might be easy first blood. Heroes like Witch Doctor and
Omniknight should play very cautiously alone...
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
* Illusion heroes will struggle against Primal Beast's area damage capability, such as Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade.
* 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.
* 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.
* Primal Beast really suffers against supports he cannot bully in the lane: this includes Dazzle,
Shadow Demon and
Dark Willow since they can use their respective abilities to stop Primal Beast from dealing burst damage, or make it hard for him to stay in range.
* 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.
* 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.
* Primal Beast has multiple ways to cancel Life Drain very quickly.
* Pugna has a very low strength gain and as a support does not have much gold to buy health items, making him vulnerable to Primal Beast's onslaught of magical damage.
* Ironically, Decrepify actually just increases Primal Beast's damage on the targeted ally if Trample is activated. However, it can be used to slow him down and prevent any further Trample damage.
* 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.
* 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 or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman,
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.
* Heroes who rely on burst damage with magical damage will struggle to kill Primal Beast: Spirit Breaker,
Gyrocopter,
Leshrac
* Shukuchi allows Weaver to have faster movement speed and can outrun Primal Beast in most instances, such as while he is trampling.
* Trample disarms Primal Beast, so casting The Swarm can make him vulnerable to ranged attacks. Primal Beast also has an innately slow attack speed and will take a long time destroying the bugs.
* Time Lapse allows Weaver to negate and heal burst damage, which Primal Beast is reliant on.
* 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.
* Any hero with low mobility and max healthsuch as Silencer,
Crystal Maiden etc.
* Primal Beast really suffers against supports he cannot bully in the lane: this includes Dazzle,
Shadow Demon and
Dark Willow since they can use their respective abilities to stop Primal Beast from dealing burst damage, or make it hard for him to stay in range.
* 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.)
* 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.
* Any hero who lanes very poorly will struggle with Primal Beast's potential snowball in the very early levels, like Keeper of the Light,
Luna,
Templar Assassin...
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
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Lion
*
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.
Curse of Avernus effectiveness, since it slows per stack (applied upon auto attacking), and silences when it reaches the maximum stack.
*
* Lack of inner escape and defensive mechanisms increases
Primal Beast
*
Borrowed Time allows him to both exit his stuns prematurely and turn Trample into healing for himself. His Aghanim Scepter only prevents the automation of the spell, Abaddon himself can still manually activate it.
Aphotic Shield will immediately debuff any stuns Primal Beast has put on allies but won't stop him from being stunned if casted on Abaddon.
*