* 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.
* All of Queen of Pain's abilities are worthy choices for Rubick to Spell Steal. In addition, he can cast her abilities from further distances than her thanks to
Arcane Supremacy's increased cast range and spell amplification.
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
* Night Stalker has a huge, almost instant silence through Crippling Fear. The main problem is that he can get it off while Queen of Pain barely has any vision of him if he creeps up to her during
Dark Ascension. She'll have to play very carefully before she gets a
Black King Bar or a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
* 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.
* Glaives of Wisdom's intelligence steal will heavily punish Queen of Pain, as the loss of intelligence means that her mana pool is also reduced, since she is heavily reliant on her abilities to be able to make an impact.
* In the laning stage, Queen of Pain's reliance on spamming Shadow Strike and Scream of Pain will be significantly hindered by Arcane Curse.
* Last Word and
Global Silence will render Queen of Pain defenseless unless she has an item/ally to dispel the silence.
* 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.
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from Sonic Wave and
Scream of Pain.
* Queen of Pain can't escape easily from X Marks the Spot - Torrent combo.
* Outlanes Queen of Pain on the midline, due to the fact that Queen of Pain has a small reserve of health at the beginning of the game, and she suffers very much from Tidebringer, which is why she is forced to either spend money on
Tango, or skip creeps and run for bounty runes, and Kunkka at this time will gain an advantage in level and gold.
Additional:
* Outlanes Queen of Pain on the midline, due to the fact that Queen of Pain has a small reserve of health at the beginning of the game, and she suffers very much from Tidebringer, which is why she is forced to either spend money on
Tango, or skip creeps and run for bounty runes, and Kunkka at this time will gain an advantage in level and gold.
* Kunkka will catch her in X Marks the Spot and allow his team to kill her for stun from
Torrent, because Queen of Pain has no way to avoid the cross
X Marks the Spot before buying
Black King Bar.
* 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.
* Aggressively blinking is not going to end well against Luna, because Queen of Pain will be an easy target for Lucent Beam &
Eclipse.
* Queen of Pain's HP is abysmal, so Luna can quickly kill Queen of Pain as soon as she initiates with Blink.
Additional:
* Aggressively blinking is not going to end well against Luna, because Queen of Pain will be an easy target for Lucent Beam &
Eclipse.
* Queen of Pain's HP is abysmal, so Luna can quickly kill Queen of Pain as soon as she initiates with Blink.
* A well-timed Counterspell reflects all targeted abilities back at Lion, potentially stunning or hexing him or even making himself burst down.
* Because Queen of Pain's spells cost a decent amount of mana, Anti-Mage can easily use Mana Void if she spams her spells recklessly.
* Anti-Mage has similar mobility through Blink, which can allow him to catch up to or flee from her.
* Counterspell will reduce the damage done by Shadow Strike and Scream of Pain. Additionally, its active component also reflects Shadow Strike back at her if Anti-Mage times it right.
* 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.
* Blood Rite prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with Blink.
* Blink will trigger the extra damage from Rupture.
Additional:
* Blood Rite silences her, preventing her from initiating or escaping.
* With Thirst, even if she Blinks away, Bloodseeker can catch right up to her.
* Rupture will heavily damage Queen of Pain if she tries to Blink away.
* She is, however, one of the few heroes who can avoid the damage from Rupture if she successfully blink-walks.
* 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.
* Duels prevents Queen of Pain from using Blink, which may force her to purchase a
Linken's Sphere
* Because Queen of Pain is also not a right-click hero, Legion won't have much difficulties in duels.
* Press the Attack dispels Shadow Strike's debuff.
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman,
Lion
* 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.
* 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.
* Shadow Shaman has many disables to lock down Queen of Pain, preventing her from Blinking away, even through Linken's Sphere or her spell block talent.
* Mass Serpent Ward can tear through Queen of Pain's low health pool once she's locked down by
Hex &
Shackles.
* Lina has a very long range of attack, which completely overlaps the range of Queen of Pain's abilities and attacks, which is why even a single Shadow Strike roll can become deplorable, since Lina will shoot Queen of Pain from a long distance before and after the
Shadow Strike roll. And with the help of the abilities of
Light Strike Array and
Laguna Blade, Lina can even kill Queen of Pain because of her small health reserve if she is exposed to a blow
Additional:
* Lina has a very long range of attack, which completely overlaps the range of Queen of Pain's abilities and attacks, which is why even a single Shadow Strike roll can become deplorable, since Lina will shoot Queen of Pain from a long distance before and after the
Shadow Strike roll. And with the help of
Light Strike Array and
Laguna Blade, Lina can even kill Queen of Pain because of her small health reserve if she is exposed to a blow.
* A good Nyx can reflect Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave with his Spiked Carapace, or even initiate a gank on her in
Vendetta while she farms a creep wave with Scream of Pain.
* Her strength to intelligence ratio is bad enough that he should be able to kill her without even requiring a Dagon, provided he can get his full combo off.
* A good Centaur can catch Queen of Pain with a Blink Dagger and
Hoof Stomp.
* Retaliate with
Blade Mail reflects all of Queen of Pain's damage, especially Sonic Wave.
* Stampede grants a movement speed bonus, which can prevent Queen of Pain from initiating.
* Double Edge can shred her low health pool if she's not careful.
* Smoke Cloud prevents Queen of Pain from using any of her offensive and defensive spells, rendering her unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
* It's easy to dodge Sonic Wave by using Blink Strike & Tricks of the Trade.
* 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.
* 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.
* Both Lion's
Finger of Death and
Lina's
Laguna Blade have a 0.25 second delay before the damage is dealt.
Additional:
* 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.
* 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 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.
* Lion's lack of inner escape and defensive mechanisms increases Ghoul Frenzy effectiveness, since it applies slows upon attacking.
* Lifestealer's physical damage output is strong against 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.
* Nether Ward will be problematic for heavy nukers and spammers like Skywrath Mage,
Lina,
Lion and
Invoker, but Pugna must not use Decrepify defensively against them as he will be helping them out more than anything.
* Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like Tinker or
Oracle.
* 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.
* 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 high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Queen of Pain.
* 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.
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Lycan,
Bloodseeker,
Anti-Mage,
Timbersaw.
Additional:
* Puck will make a game of dodging as many Shadow Strikes as he can with Phase Shift. If he's a good player, he will also dodge Sonic Wave. If he's a great player, he will also dodge Scream of Pain, and it's all thanks to this single spell.
* Puck also has a silence in Waning Rift to prevent Queen of Pain from blinking away.
* Puck can provide vision to hunt her down if she blinks into the trees with Illusory Orb.
* If Queen of Pain is under the effect of Dream Coil, she will be unable to blink out.
* Backline supports (Lion,
Crystal Maiden) can keep Puck pinned long enough for a kill.
* Once you farm up an Orchid Malevolence or a
Scythe of Vyse, you're suddenly a lot more fearsome to elusive heroes like
Storm Spirit or even that pesky
Puck.
* A good Skywrath Mage with quick fingers will punish Queen of Pain for blinking aggressively. Ancient Seal is a six second silence with no cast time, so he can interrupt either her Shadow Strike or Sonic Wave, and a good
Mystic Flare on top of that will seal the deal for her.
* Ancient Seal also has pretty good range so he could get it off before she blinks away.
* 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.
* Time Dilation affects Queen of Pain's low cooldown abilities, making them unusable for a long time, rendering Queen of Pain nearly useless.
* Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Queen of Pain, allowing for reliable kills in all stages of the game.
Additional:
* Time Walk and
Backtrack allows Faceless Void to easily negate Queen of Pain's burst damage.
* Chronosphere prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with Blink, and her low survivability makes her an easy kill.
* Time Dilation will prevent Queen of Pain from using her low-cooldown spells or force her to buy
Black King Bar or a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel the debuff and re-engage.
* 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.
* 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.
* All of Queen of Pain's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* However, Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Queen of Pain.
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from Shadow Demon's abilities if he doesn't have disables.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Sonic Wave for the enemy.
* 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.
* Queen of Pain can Blink to both escape and initiate onto Void Spirit.
* She is also a very common Orchid Malevolence carrier, which can prevent Void Spirit from contributing much in fights.
* 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.
* Queen of Pain, for the most part, almost exclusively deals magical damage, ignoring Windranger's evasion from Windrun.
* Queen of Pain is also a common wielder of Orchid Malevolence, preventing Windranger from using her abilities for a while.
* Blink, when used correctly, allows Queen of Pain to dodge Powershot and
Shackleshot.
* 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 with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
* 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.
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage: Lina,
Leshrac,
Enchantress,
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
* Blink makes it hard for Gyrocopter to pin down Queen of Pain.
* Sonic Wave is very effective at ganking Gyrocopter in the early game.
* 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.
* Queen of Pain can be a good hero for dealing with Ember Spirit with
Orchid Malevolence, her pure damage nuke in
Sonic Wave and a slow in
Shadow Strike. However, Queen of Pain can be punished by Ember Spirit, as his Searing Chains prevents her from getting
Blink off.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
* Husker is the kind of hero that likes to remain at low health, which is perfect for Queen of Pain to burst with Sonic Wave.
* She should be able to Blink away after he jumps on her with Life Break.
* 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.
* Blinking heroes like Anti-Mage or
Queen of Pain can often chase down an injured Brewmaster after his ultimate expires.
* Heroes reliant on abilities to output damage or escape can be shut down by Gust: Queen of Pain.
* 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.
* Often you can burst Drow Ranger down before she has a chance to try and Gust you away. Try to have a teammate bait her
Gust out before you Blink and get the drop on her.
* 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 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.
* Heroes that can jump on her: Slark,
Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage
Additional:
* Queen of Pain often relies more on abilities than right-clicks, making Untouchable nearly useless against her.
* Enchantress also has a lower health pool than Queen of Pain, making her vulnerable to Queen of Pain's damage burst.
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
* 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.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to avoid ganks and keep her distance, preventing Monkey King from building up Jingu Mastery.
* Scream of Pain and
Sonic Wave will hit Monkey King when he is disguised, or on a tree.
* The large AoE and low cooldown also helps Queen of Pain hit the real Monkey King inside of Wukong's Command.
* Queen Of Pain can similliar abilities from Anti-Mage Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from an incoming Snowball and Ice Shards.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Blink can instantly break Static Link, making it useless against her.
* Queen of Pain doesn't fully rely on her physical attack damage, so she can still fight after being hit with Static Link.
* Queen of Pain usually outlanes Invoker, giving her team a significant early game advantage while Invoker is still farming.
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from Invoker's combo if he doesn't have disables.
* Heroes that rely on their high mobility such as Queen of Pain,
Slark and
Weaver can be constantly engaged against due to your excellent ability to chase over any terrain. Make sure you carry true sight items (such as
Dust of Appearance or
Gem of True Sight) for invisible heroes that could potentially escape your clutches.
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna,
Lion
* Queen of Pain outlanes Storm Spirit due to the fact that it has long-range abilities: Shadow Strike and
Scream Of Pain. Storm Spirit's damage from the
Overload ability is not enough to interrupt her on the line, and the
Static Remnant will never reach Queen Of Pain, as she will scatter her abilities from afar, which is why she will drive Storm Spirit off the line and get a lot of gold and level, after such a stage of the liner, Queen of Pain will very quickly buy
Black King Bar and will not let Storm Spirit catch and kill her at the expense of
Electric Vortex
Additional:
* Queen of Pain outlanes Storm Spirit due to the fact that it has long-range abilities: Shadow Strike and
Scream Of Pain. Storm Spirit's damage from the
Overload ability is not enough to interrupt her on the line, and the
Static Remnant will never reach Queen Of Pain, as she will scatter her abilities from afar, which is why she will drive Storm Spirit off the line and get a lot of gold and level, after such a stage of the liner, Queen of Pain will very quickly buy
Black King Bar and will not let Storm Spirit catch and kill her at the expense of
Electric Vortex
* 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.
* 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
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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Blink allows Quen of Pain to easily escape ganking or initiating attempts with Hookshot and Power Cogs.
* Queen of Pain can easily escape Chain Frost thanks to Blink.
* His low survivability makes an easy kill for Shadow Strike,
Scream of Pain &
Sonic Wave.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes that have superior mobility that can easily catch up with Mirana even after she used Leap to escape: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Riki.
* 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.
* 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).
* 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.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Doom
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones: Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren (bonus for her
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Doom
* Heroes with mobility spells (such as Queen of Pain's
Blink and
Clockwerk with
Hookshot) can easily avoid
Lil' Shredder and
Mortimer Kisses.
* Heroes with high movement speeds like Pugna and
Meepo can run around, to, or away from Snapfire during
Mortimer Kisses and dodge the projectiles easily due to their slow speed.
* Like above, supports with reliable stuns can be a massive problem and force Black King Bar in fights unideally, such as
Shadow Shaman,
Lion,
Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes with 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.
* 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 considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
* 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.)
* Dark Seer's only disable is Vacuum. Though he starts off with high armor and health, he'll eventually have a hard time dealing with high mobility heroes such as Weaver or
Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with mobility spells can quickly escape from Stroke of Fate or break out of Soulbind: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Storm Spirit
* 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 with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate: Luna's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian,
Axe's
Berserker's Call,
Mars's
Arena of Blood,
Jakiro's
Macropyre,
Dual Breath and
Ice Path,
Naga Siren's
Song of the Siren,
Razor's
Eye of the Storm and
Plasma Field,
Lina's
Light Strike Array,
Broodmother's
Spinner's Snare from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Elder Titan's
Earth Splitter and
Echo Stomp,
Alchemist's
Unstable Concoction and
Acid Spray,
Queen of Pain's
Sonic Wave,
Dark Seer's
Wall of Replica and
Vacuum,
Venomancer's
Noxious Plague and
Poison Nova from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Oracle's
Fortune's End and
Rain of Destiny from
Aghanim's Shard,
Bloodseeker's
Blood Rite,
Enigma's
Black Hole and
Midnight Pulse,
Shadow Fiend's
Requiem of Souls,
Batrider's
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso,
Firefly,
Flamebreak and
Sticky Napalm,
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast,
Sand King's
Epicenter,
Sand Storm and
Burrowstrike,
Gyrocopter's
Call Down,
Ember Spirit's
Sleight of Fist,
Death Prophet's
Exorcism and
Silence,
Monkey King's
Wukong's Command,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Muerta's
The Calling,
Medusa's
Stone Gaze,
Zeus's
Nimbus from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Dark Willow's
Bramble Maze,
Pangolier's
Swashbuckle,
Grimstroke's
Soulbind,
Ink Swell and
Stroke of Fate,
Earthshaker's
Echo Slam and
Fissure,
Puck's
Dream Coil and
Waning Rift,
Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse,
Magnus's
Reverse Polarity.
* Heroes that rely on escapes to stay alive can be caught and locked down for a long time: Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin
* 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 usually build Linken's Sphere as either a core or situational item:
Weaver,
Medusa,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Luna,
Naga Siren.
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Slark, etc.).
* 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.
* Hex abilities can cancel the channelling of Fiend's Grip : Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Dazzle from
Aghanim's Shard with upgraded
Poison Touch.
* Heroes who commonly buy Linken's Sphere:
Luna,
Weaver,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Ember Spirit.
* 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.
* 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.
* Due to her slow movement speed,heroes with crowd control and slows can shut down Dawnbreaker:Lion,
Crystal Maiden ,
Venomancer etc.
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* 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.
* Queen of Pain can be an effective tool against Batrider in the game and on the line. She has long-range abilities such as Scream of Pain or
Sonic Wave and a long-range type of attack, which is why she can keep Batrider at a distance all the time, and prevent him from attacking with
Flaming Lasso or
Firefly. Queen of Pain has an effective high-deceleration ability against Batrider -
Shadow Strike, which is why he cannot quickly set fire to all enemies under
Firefly and fly between all Queen of Pain allies. In addition, Queen of Pain has a wonderful escape in stock -
Blink, which can save her at any moment in which batrider decides to attack
Additional:
* Queen of Pain can be an effective tool against Batrider in the game and on the line. She has long-range abilities such as Scream of Pain or
Sonic Wave and a long-range type of attack, which is why she can keep Batrider at a distance all the time, and prevent him from attacking with
Flaming Lasso or
Firefly. Queen of Pain has an effective high-deceleration ability against Batrider -
Shadow Strike, which is why he cannot quickly set fire to all enemies under
Firefly and fly between all Queen of Pain allies. In addition, Queen of Pain has a wonderful escape in stock -
Blink, which can save her at any moment in which batrider decides to attack
* Heroes that have escape abilities (such as Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit or
Timbersaw) can be either nullified by Reaper's Scythe or a complimentary item for Necrophos (like
Rod of Atos or
Scythe of Vyse). If Necrophos is quick enough and enters range, they can quickly, if not instantly, die if they are not quick enough.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
* Both Scream of Pain and Sonic Wave should hit Slark during his Shadow Dance.
* Heroes who recklessly jump on Pudge with their gap-closing abilities will be easy targets for Pudge's Meat Hook and Dismember Combo: Phantom Assassin,
Faceless Void,
Queen of Pain etc.
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like Lion,
Ancient Apparition,
Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
* 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.
Additional:
* Lion can continuously Mana Drain Tiny in the early game, depleting his small mana pool for his abilities.
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Puck, and
Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with gap-closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call: Phantom Assassin,
Faceless Void,
Slark,
Chaos Knight,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain
Additional:
* Berserker's Call prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with Blink and also pierces her
Black King Bar.
* Due to her fast attack speed from Mjollnir, it will quickly trigger
Counter Helix.
* Culling Blade finishes off Queen of Pain's low health pool before she gets a chance to escape, preventing her from playing the hit-and-run style often associated with Queen of Pain.
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
* Chain of Earthbinds prevents her from using Blink, allowing Meepo to quickly kill her with Poof and attacks.
* Meepo tends to buy items with attributes, mitigating Queen of Pain's magical burst.
Additional:
* Meepo is the hard counter for Queen of Pain - chaining Earthbinds prevents her from using Blink for a long time, and without any other escape options, Queen of Pain cannot survive several
Poofs and attacks.
* Meepo tends to build items with attributes, mitigating Queen of Pain's magical burst.
* If Meepo ganks Lion with Poof and Earthbind, he will be an easy target for Earth Spike & AoE
Hex from his level 25 talent.
* 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.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Heroes with damage over time abilities can quickly eat through Gravekeeper's Cloak charges like Huskar,
Jakiro and
Queen of Pain.
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.
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Lion
* 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.
*
Queen of Pain
*
Blink and positioning is crucial for Queen of Pain. These factors are heavily countered by a good Glimpse.
Thunder Strike gives vision of Queen of Pain when she's trying to escape. When combined with
Glimpse, her mobility and hit-and-run style can be negated.
Static Storm forces Queen of Pain to only use right-clicks.
Kinetic Field, she can only wait until she respawns.
* Static Storm is devastating for Queen as she relies heavily on her spells to inflict heavy burst damage.
Additional:
*
* While in a team fight,
* When combined with the