* 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.
* Shadow Demon's main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Shadow Demon likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Shadow Demon dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Shadow Demon dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.
* 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.
* All of Pugna's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Nether Ward punishes Shadow Demon's constant mana usage from spamming spells, especially Shadow Poison.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Nether Blast for the enemy.
* Life Drain can be used to heal Pugna or an ally to save them from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption unless Pugna buys defensive items.
* 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.
* All of Puck's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Shadow Demon will find a hard time catching a Puck, as he can get away with Illusory Orb or even
Waning Rift;
* Puck can dodge Shadow Poison waves and potentially avoid the damage from Demonic Purge with Phase Shift. Furthermore, after Disruption ended, Puck can use Phase Shift to avoid any further danger and can blink away with
Blink Dagger.
* Waning Rift can be used to initiate Shadow Demon, prevent him from using any spells.
* Backline supports (Lion,
Crystal Maiden) can keep Puck pinned long enough for a kill.
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Shadow Demon abilities, especially Demonic Purge.
* Phoenix AoE abilities remove Shadow Demon's illusions created by Disruption.
* 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.
* Just like Rubick, the
Disruptor may effortlessly put
Lion in life threatning danger and render him helpless by manipulating his position with
Glimpse.
* Disruptor's longer cast range and lingering disable makes
Lion struggle to defend himself, possibly being affected by
Disruptor's abilities without even seeing the thrall.
* Hex and
Earth Spike do not cancel
Sharpshooter, making those two abilities ineffective against her.
* Although Hoodwink should be wary of his Finger of death, as it can possibly kill her.
* 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.
* 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.
* Death Ward with
Aghanim's Scepter makes quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption until Witch Doctor buys Linken's Sphere or
Black King Bar.
* All of Witch Doctor's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Voodoo Restoration can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Maledict or
Paralyzing Cask for the enemy.
* Dragon Slave will make quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Light Strike Array for the enemy.
* Shadow Demon doesn't have the burst damage to take Lina out of the fight quickly, although Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Lina.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* 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.
* Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* Lycan and
Weaver has abilities that allow them to move at maximum movement speed, and those abilities can't be dispelled, potentially wasting the slow from Demonic Purge.
* 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.
* For the same reason, he has to be slightly more cunning when playing against heroes that can scout the treeline, such as Ancient Apparition and his
Ice Vortex and
Shadow Demon and his
Shadow Poison.
* Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
* Shadow Demon will have a hard time catching Storm Spirit, as he can get away with Ball Lightning.
* Static Remnant will make quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* With very high mobility and usually being paired with Orchid Malevolence, he can catch Shadow Demon with ease both in ganks and in teamfights if Shadow Demon has no survivability items.
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna,
Lion
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Illusions and summons are double-edge sword type of matchup for Luna. On one hand, they can tank damage from Eclipse, but on the other hand, she can easily clear them before Eclipse with Moon Glaives. Examples include Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress,
Meepo and
Arc Warden).
* Demonic Purge takes off Luna's superior mobility, removing the need for chasing her and allowing your team to reposition in team fights or escape when at low HP. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter it will also take away glaive bounces and extra damage from Luna's passive. And Luna's commonly items Manta Style and Black King Bar does not work dispell to
Demonic Purge
* Luna's illusions created by Disruption are very valuable with their Moon Glaives. These will effectively counter her pushing attempts and are painfully effective in team fights.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally from Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Shadow Demon makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Demonic Purge takes off Luna's superior mobility, removing the need for chasing her and allowing your team to reposition in team fights or escape when at low HP. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Sceptre it will also take away glaive bounces and extra damage from Luna's passive.
* Luna's illusions created by Disruption are very valuable with their Moon Glaives. These will effectively counter her pushing attempts and are painfully effective in team fights.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally from Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Shadow Demon is a very good ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* 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.
* Her illusions with Desolate are very valuable, especially when they are usually paired with
Radiance. Unlike blink or force movement,
Spectral Dagger's escaping mechanic requires manual movement, and therefore Demonic Purge can hold her back really hard and allow your allies to finish her off.
* If she tries to kill you or any key ally with Haunt at any point of the game, remember to not panic and always use Disruption on the illusion, whether it is fake or the real Spectre herself. When the situation calls, Demonic Purge can save a second victim from a haunting Spectre.
* When upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter, Demonic Purge can remove Spectre from a fight by disabling Desolate and
Dispersion, negating her damage and tankiness respectively.
* 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.
* Disruption can save an ally from a fatal Reaper's Scythe.
* Demonic Purge can remove Ghost Shroud, making Necrophos vulnerable to physical damage and preventing him from regenerating health.
* 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.
* Shadow Demon's spammable illusions can be used to scout Techies' Proximity Mines.
* 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 physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* 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.
* Hex abilities prevent attacking, ability and item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility:
Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Dazzle with
Aghanim's Shard
* 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 with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* 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.
* Disruption can banish Faceless Void or an ally in Chronosphere, making it a less effective ability.
* Faceless Void's illusions created by Disruption will not get stunned by Chronosphere, allowing Shadow Demon to attack Faceless Void in his Chronosphere.
* Casting Disruption after releasing
Shadow Poison charges will make Time Walk unable to backtrack the damage.
* Shadow Poison is a good way to deal damage as the initial damage and the release damage can't both be Time Walked at the same time.
* Demonic Purge is a great slow, useful to force out a Time Walk early and can break Time Lock with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
* Shadow Demon's Shadow Poison can quickly stack to the point where Huskars generally low health is easily finished off.
* Shadow Demon's Disruption can turn Huskar's high attack speed and regeneration against him, It also makes him an easy target for Shadow Poison,
* Shadow Demon commonly builds a Meteor Hammer, allowing him to land a heavy stun on Huskar
* Shadow Demon's upgraded Demonic Purge breaks Huskar, It also pierces Spell Immunity, Without his passive for 7 seconds Huskar quickly falls in battle
* However note that Shadow Demon is a squishy target and you can often overwhelm him if he is alone, But he can still Disrupt you to escape
Additional:
* Shadow Poison can quickly stack up on Huskar, And with his naturally low health you don't need as many stacks to be effective.
* Disruption turns Huskars high attack speed against him, They also have the highest survivability as illusions due to his passive Berserker's Blood, It also allows you to put Shadow Poison stacks on him,
* Dissimulate turns Huskar's burning damage against his team, You can cast it on an ally who is taking a bunch of Burning Spear stacks and cause Huskar to take high amounts of damage as well
* Scepter upgraded Demonic Purge is your most effective weapon against him, It's 7 second Break causes him to quickly die in battle
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
* Disruption will save Shadow Demon's teammates from being killed by Counter Helix or Culling Blade.
* Demonic Purge slows Axe to a crawl, making him nearly useless after initiating. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter, it will also break Counter Helix.
* Demonic Cleanse clears Battle Hunger and Aghanim's Shard Counter Helix Damage Reduction, both allowing targets to escape and reducing your own survivability.
Additional:
* While it is unwise to encounter Axe alone, Disruption can be used to save your allies from Axe's initiate Berserker's Call, or, if timed correctly, from his
Culling Blade.
* Illusions spawned from Axe has the Counter Helix passive, which with deal some nasty damage if an enemy focuses them
* Your upgraded Demonic Purge breaks Axe's primary damage output: Counter Helix, This can be used on him during Berserker's Call to seriously hinder him.
* Demonic Cleanse will clear Battle Hunger, which is Axe's method of catching heroes, and Shard upgraded Counter Helix's Damage Reduction, which is one of Axe's primary survivability abilities.
* 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.
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of Windrun with Disruption.
* Alternatively, Demonic Purge can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless for 7 seconds.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by Shackleshot.
Additional:
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of Windrun with Disruption.
* Alternatively, Demonic Purge. can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by Shackleshot.
* 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.
* Melee carries such as Sven,
Ursa or
Lifestealer can be slowed and easily kited with Demonic Purge.
Additional:
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge renders Ursa useless even through
Black King Bar as it slows him, continually purges his Overpower charges and can not be dispelled by Ursa's Enrage.
* Disruption is a good way to save teammates against Ursa. Disrupting Ursa is also a good way to kite him, as it can not be dispelled by Enrage.
* 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 with break can disable Untouchable for a while: Doom and
Shadow Demon (via
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper,
Shadow Shaman with Hex Breaks talent.
* 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 who can summon illusions and summons because Terrorblade has no abilities to deal with multiple enemies at once outside Reflection: Shadow Shaman,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Demon,
Dark Seer,
Nature's Prophet,
Invoker,
Morphling,
Visage,
Grimstroke with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* 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.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passives.
* Hex abilities can cancel the channelling of Fiend's Grip : Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Dazzle from
Aghanim's Shard with upgraded
Poison Touch.
* Heroes with hiding abilities can protect disabled allies: Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Tusk,
Phoenix with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* 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 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 who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes that can purge buffs can dispel Guardian Angel: Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Oracle.
Additional:
* Demonic Purge can dispel Guardian Angel on the key target during combat, allow your allies to finish them.
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* 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 with ways to protect themselves or allies from Spirit Breaker's initiation: Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer,
Omniknight,
Dawnbreaker.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* 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.
* 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.
* Disruption instantly removes Phantom Embrace, and can potentially save allies affected by Soulbind.
* Demonic Purge dispels Ink Swell.
* In the laning stage, making illusions of Venomancer will turn his Poison Sting back at him, making for an easy gank at level one, and for later when your mid comes for ganks.
* 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.
* Alchemist is a well-known Radiance carrier among other auras your illusions will benefit from. They also get the extra move speed and reduced base attack time from his
Chemical Rage, and it's even better if you can catch him as his own rage is about to expire.
* Disruption will buy enough time for all allies to retreat when Alchemist starts to activate Unstable Concoction.
* 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.
* Shadow Demon's Disruption will allow his allies to maneuver around you. It can also be used to protect an ally from your abilities, or Astral Imprisonment -
Meteor Hammer combo.
* Disseminate turns your high damage Arcane Orb and Sanitiy's Eclipse against you and your teammates.
* Scepter upgraded Demonic Purge will break your Essence Flux passive for 7 seconds, preventing you from regaining mana, and severely hindering your damage output.
* Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Lion has used all his crowd control before entering a fight. His direct magic burst also makes Brewmaster's Drunken Brawler worthless versus Lion.
* Hex 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.
* 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.
* Disruption can protect Shadow Demon's allies from Fortune's End, preserving healing or buffs. It can also catch Oracle's allies, allowing
Shadow Poison to be used without being dispelled.
* Demonic Purge prevents over-time healing during False Promise, such as Purifying Flames and
Urn of Shadows. If he has
Aghanim's Scepter, this issue can persist for longer or on multiple allies.
* It will not, however, prevent healing from instant abilities, items, or auras, making Mekansm a good choice against him.
* The constant dispel from Demonic Purge will make any attempt to save the victim or himself by Surge become futile. For what it's worth, Demonic Purge will also dispel
Ion Shell.
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
* 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.
* 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 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 with summons or illusions makes Sacred Arrow harder to land: Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet.
* A well-timed Counterspell reflects all targeted abilities back at Lion, potentially stunning or hexing him or even making himself burst down.
* 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.
* Disruption sets up Anti-Mage for a chain disable. The illusions will deal extra damage due to Mana Break.
* Shadow Poison hits Anti-Mage even after he's Blinked away.
* If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter,
Demonic Purge can break Mana Break and Counterspell, weakening both his offense and defense.
Additional:
* While it is unwise to encounter Anti-Mage alone, Disruption's considerable cast range can become a perfect setup for any hard-disable to follow up. If he is pinned down, Anti-Mage will quickly face his demise when the illusions deplete his already low mana pool. Manta Style will easily allow him to escape, however.
* The illusions can be controlled to quickly sap mana from any other target, making Anti-Mage one of the most valuable targets to disrupt.
* Heroes with break abilities: Shadow Demon (with
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper.
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
* 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).
* 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.)
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* 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.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* Due to her slow movement speed,heroes with crowd control and slows can shut down Dawnbreaker:Lion,
Crystal Maiden ,
Venomancer etc.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with abilities that can save teammates are also effective such as Shadow Demon,
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Bane,
Pugna,
Tusk,
Winter Wyvern,
Io,
Underlord,
Treant Protector and
Keeper of the Light.
Additional:
* Be ready to save an ally from Omnislash with your Disruption.
* Spawning Juggernaut's illusions is a great deal, as his base attack time is low and he has a critical strike. Illusions will benefit from both.
* Demonic Purge will prevent Juggernaut's desperate attempt to flee using Blade Fury. However, it cannot stop him if he is using
Town Portal Scroll.
* 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
* Heroes who can hide the Dueled target (Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Tusk,
Phoenix with
Aghanim's Scepter etc).
Additional:
* Disruption can save allies and mess up an initiation from an enemy Legion Commander. Using Disruption on your ally that is affected by Duel will leave her totally exposed without the benefit of the life steal from
Moment of Courage. A precise decision to Disrupt Legion Commander or her victim is crucial to waste Duel's potential.
* Demonic Purge cannot be dispelled by a hard dispel from Press the Attack, which in turn can be dispelled by your ultimate.
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like
Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition or
Bounty Hunter.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Although Phantom Lancer will generate strong illusions, and you can also break his
Juxtapose with an Aghanim's Demonic Purge, you have a small chance of guessing which is the real Phantom Lancer after he uses
Doppelganger.
* 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.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer's strength is the sheer amount of illusions he can conjure, Dissimulate can be cast on an ally that he is focusing to quickly thin out his ranks
* Landing a upgraded Demonic Purge on the real Phantom Lancer prevents him from making very many illusions (His only source being Doppelganger), You can reapply as needed if you have the Shard
* Disrupting Phantom Lancer allows you to create multiple extra illusions with Juxtapose, As he is a common carrier of
Diffusal Blade, you can also drain the mana of any nearby heros
* 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.
* You can potentially kill a fragile Weaver by using Disruption during
Shukuchi with a well-placed
Sentry Ward, wasting the Shukuchi. But odds are he'll wait to get low health,
Time Lapse the damage away and Shukuchi away once more.
* 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.
* 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.
* Shadow Demon with an Aghanim's Scepter will use
Demonic Purge to disable Curse of Avernus and the passive component of Borrowed Time. If this is combined with a silence, Borrowed Time will not trigger at all.
* Even without Aghanim's Scepter, he can still waste Borrowed Time with
Disruption. Curse of Avernus fully works on illusions, turning the passive ability against him.
* 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 heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* 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.
* Similarly, they can negate your X Marks The Spot & Torrent combo by protecting your target when you use Return. Good candidates to negate your combo include Outworld Destroyer and his
Astral Imprisonment, and
Shadow Demon and his
Disruption.
* Heroes with hide abilities can often dodge a Ghostship just before it hits.
* Similarly, they can negate your X Marks The Spot & Torrent combo by protecting your target when you use Return. Good candidates to negate your combo include Outworld Destroyer and his
Astral Imprisonment, and
Shadow Demon and his
Disruption.
* A Eul's Scepter of Divinity can also do the trick, but, unlike the previously mentioned abilities, you can only use it on yourself and not your allies.
* Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like Tinker or
Oracle.
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker: Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Batrider.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge with Aghanim's Scepter cannot break
Reincarnation, which could put him in a disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
* Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, Wraith King is a single-target hero, so he cannot deal with Disruption illusions.
* 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.
* Disruption is not reliable enough to catch an Ember Spirit with a backup Fire Remnant.
* Sleight of Fist will also make quick work of the spawned illusions.
* The best you can do against an Ember Spirit is to dispel his Flame Guard with your Demonic Purge.
* 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.
* Poof will destroy Shadow Demon's illusions created by Disruption and quickly escapes from
Shadow Poison &
Demonic Purge.
* If Meepo ganks Lion with Poof and Earthbind, he will be an easy target for Earth Spike & AoE
Hex from his level 25 talent.
* 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.
* Melee carries such as Sven,
Ursa or
Lifestealer can be slowed and easily kited with Demonic Purge.
* 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 low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
* Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* Heroes with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as Beastmaster ,
Chen, or
Shadow Demon.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
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
Latest changes first
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.
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.
Shadow Demon
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova will tear apart any illusions spawned from
Disruption
Disruption.
Demonic Purge.
Pulse Nova makes quick work of any illusions with amplified damage, and deals damage even if Leshrac is in Disruption.
Split Earth for the enemy.
Diabolic Edict and
Pulse Nova once they start pulsing, and even worse it provides a safe shelter for Leshrac to keep pumping up his powerful AoE damage onto the battlefield.
* Split Earth can punish improper usage of
* Leshrac does not have any buffs that can be removed by
Additional:
*
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
* Disruption does not stop
* Shadow Demon doesn't have the burst damage to take Leshrac out of the fight quickly, although Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Leshrac.