Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Tidehunter naturally has a high health pool and thus makes it hard for Lion to burst him down. Kraken Shell further mitigates this by dispelling any disables Lion casts when Tidehunter takes enough damage.
* Gush and
Ravage can both not only burst Lion down, but also catch him out and prevent him from escaping.
Slardar
* Tidehunter's
Kraken Shell dispels Corrosive Haze and Bash of the Deep's stun if enough damage is taken.
Anchor Smash and Kraken Shell's damage block also reduces Slardar's damage.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* Luna can easily cancel channeling spells with Lucent Beam and 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent for
Eclipse, she can also buy
Abyssal Blade in case they decide to buy
Black King Bar:
Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Slardar
* Illusion heroes like the aforementioned Phantom Lancer or
Naga Siren, or heroes that tend to buy
Manta Style, like
Luna or
Juggernaut, will give Slardar a hard time, as his damage is single-targeted.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
Slardar
* Fortune's End applies a basic dispel which can be used to dispel Corrosive Haze, or even Slardar's own Guardian Sprint.
* False Promise is able to dispel Corrosive Haze and Slithereen Crush stun/slow from any allies Oracle chooses to cast it on.
* Fate's Edict can also be cast on Slardar to prevent him from proccing his Bash of the Deep.
Lion
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Lion
* Mana Drain can be easily canceled with Ice Path. However, Lion can counter this by buying his
Aghanim's Shard though, that is no longer possible, But Jakiro's Marcopyre will deal damage through his Spell Immunity, forcing him to cancel it or die
* Lion has very strong single target capabilities, but suffers against multiple heroes, while Jakiro almost always with someone else, His abilities also have a much shorter cast range then Jakiro's, allowing him to cast your spells before he can get off his Hex or
Earth Spike
* Jakiro can also save an ally who Lion is attempting to Finger of Death by casting Ice Path on Lion.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Slardar
* Fire Spirits greatly reduces Slardar's already low starting attack speed (which Bash of the Deep relies on), making the laning phase very hard for him and discouraging Slardar from aggressively threatening lane kills.
* Supernova, ignoring Phoenix's lack of armor and Slardar's high damage single hits, is extremely hard for Slardar to take down on his own, especially after being hit by Fire Spirits.
* Icarus Dive is one of the longest distance escape spells in the game, and can help a good Phoenix escape from Slardar before he gets a
Blink Dagger. However, the high cooldown means Phoenix is vulnerable to backstabs from any roamers after said spell is used.
* Slardar can interrupt an Icarus Dive from completing the flight with both of his stuns, however, likely leading to death if Supernova is on cooldown.
* A lot of the items a Phoenix builds throughout the game naturally counter Slardar. Shiva's Guard,
Heaven's Halberd and
Eul's Scepter of Divinity all stall Slardar's normal attacks in some way, while
Spirit Vessel's percentage-based damage is good against his innate durability.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Slardar
* Slardar has high priority on building moblity items such as Blink Dagger rather than tank items. Zeus can easily deal large amount of damage to him if not caught out of position first.
Hoodwink
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* Hex and
Earth Spike do not cancel
Sharpshooter, making those two abilities ineffective against her.
* Although Hoodwink should be wary of his Finger of death, as it can possibly kill her.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Lion
* All of Lion's abilities are worth stealing with Spell Steal.
* Arcane Supremacy makes the disabling spells stolen from Lion very useful, allowing you to disable enemies for an extremely long time during fights or ganks.
* By using Telekinesis, Rubick can easily catch Lion out. Without any escape mechanism, Lion is helpless, especially when ganked.
Additional:
* Earth Spike is a great crowd control ability for Rubick to use, extending his lockdown potential.
* Rubick can caught enemy at greater distance due to Arcane Supremacy.
* The spell also helps with Rubick's farming, however the affected area of Earth Spike is limited to a straight line, making it harder to clear the creep wave.
* Hex is one of the strongest single-target lockdowns in the game, and works exactly the same when casted by Rubick.
* Though Mana Drain does not directly provide damage or lockdown, it does solve Rubick's mana regen issue in the early to mid game.
* Finger of Death is one of the best magical nukes in the game, increases Rubick's ganking potential greatly.
* Note that the stack of Finger of Death is lost when Rubick lost the spell.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Rubick can clear creep waves and flash farm with the boosted
Finger of Death if stolen, assuming Rubick has enough mana pool to hold.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like Tinker or
Oracle.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Lion
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* While heroes with strong mobility are able to get close or flee from Upheaval, heroes with no escaping abilities or that lack long disables will perish against Warlock. Once the Warlock Golem lands with its stun, its hardly possible to escape when he casts Upheaval. Notable examples: Huskar,
Drow Ranger,
Lion,
Elder Titan, etc.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Slardar
* Illusion heroes like the aforementioned Phantom Lancer or
Naga Siren, or heroes that tend to buy
Manta Style, like
Luna or
Juggernaut, will give Slardar a hard time, as his damage is single-targeted.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Slardar
* Bloodseeker's
Rupture forces Slardar to stay still during fights, preventing Slardar from using Guardian sprint to move in and out of fights. This takes away the ability to initiate and re-initiate with Slithereen Crush's low cooldown. Due to the increased move speed from Guardian Sprint, Slardar can lose health at about 160% the rate of normal heroes while under
Rupture. Bloodseeker's
Thirst also gives him enough move speed so that he's one of the few heroes who can outrun or catch up to a Slardar during Guardian Sprint.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as Lion or
Sven.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Nether Ward will be problematic for heavy nukers and spammers like Skywrath Mage,
Lina,
Lion and
Invoker, but Pugna must not use Decrepify defensively against them as he will be helping them out more than anything.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Slardar
* Phantom Lancer's Doppelganger has a low cooldown and applies a basic dispel on PL, making it hard to keep Corrosive Haze on him.
* Phantom Lancer usually purchases Manta Style which provides another basic dispel to remove Corrosive Haze with.
* Besides Slithereen Crush, Slardar does not have another way to deal with illusions and has a low mana pool, which allows Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade to quickly build up illusions while draining Slardar's mana.
* Phantom Rush outruns Guardian Sprint, forcing Slardar to Blink away or use Slithereen Crush defensively to avoid being killed.
Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Waning Rift prevents Lion from casting spells during team fights, effectively making him useless.
* Puck's burst damage potential through Illusory Orb,
Waning Rift, and
Dream Coil allows it to easily kill Lion.
* Combined with the lockdown from Dream Coil, Puck's high mobility through
Ethereal Jaunt and
Blink Dagger allows it to effortlessly chase Lion.
* Phase Shift allows Puck to dodge nearly all of Lion's spells, including Finger of Death.
Lion
* Backline supports (Lion,
Crystal Maiden) keep him pinned long enough for a kill.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
* Finger of Death deals high damage to Bristleback, and only triggers his passive once.
Slardar
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Lion's instant cast point shuts down his initiation and buys time for his allies to catch up.
* Void Spirit has to be cautious when fighting,as he has no protection against Finger of Death.If caught out in a stun,the high magic damage could end him quickly.
Slardar
* The brutal physical damage of Slithereen Crush and
Bash of the Deep can quickly remove Void Spirit's shield and stun him for a while.
* Corrosive Haze provides vision of Void Spirit while he is running away and
Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to quickly close the gap
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Although Weaver can potentially Time Lapse out of any burst, Weaver has a fragile health pool, and Lion's disables can kill him before.
* Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game. Mana Drain can deplete him of mana and lessen his early game presence.
* Earth Spike can be point targeted and hits through Shukuchi to make him vulnerable.
* Linken's Sphere is easily broken by targeted spells with low cooldown.
Slardar
* Weaver relies on Shukuchi to escape and kite enemy heroes. Slardar's Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver, who is already a very frail target.
* Weaver usually builds Linken's Sphere, Corrosive Haze can be used to pop the spell block, additionally the level 25 undispellable talent will prevent Weaver from removing Corrosive Haze with
Time Lapse, allowing allied heroes to use their abilities on Weaver.
Additional:
* Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver during Shukuchi, who is already a frail target. In addition, Weaver usually builds
Linken's Sphere, and
Corrosive Haze can be used to "pop" the spell block. His level 25 talent can also make Corrosive Haze undispellable by Time Lapse, which puts Weaver in an even worse situation.
* Guardian Sprint can dodge Weaver's bugs with the movement speed bonus.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Hex and
Earth Spike can hold Clinkz down, giving him no chance to use
Black King Bar or Skeleton Walk.
* Finger of Death quickly kills Clinkz due to his low health.
Slardar
* Slardar can reveal Clinkz with Corrosive Haze and make him easy to kill, and his
Bash of the Deep also hits hard against Clinkz's naturally low health pool.
* Slardar's Guardian Sprint can catch up with Clinkz's Skeleton Walk.
* The stun and slow from Slardar's Slithereen Crush can hold Clinkz in place.
Additional:
* Clinkz survivability depends entirely on Skeleton Walk. Corrosive Haze not only makes its invisibility useless, but also makes Clinkz even more vulnerable to physical damage.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Lion
* Lion has two low cast point disables (Hex and
Earth Spike) to control Ursa before he buys a
Black King Bar.
* Hex is one of the few abilities that cannot be dispelled even with an
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enrage.
* Lion can control Ursa's low mana pool via Mana Drain.
Slardar
* Slardar is one of the few meele heroes who can lane against Ursa in the early game, out harassing him with Bash of the Deep, and running away from a bad engagement with Guardian Sprint
* Corrosize Haze can force Ursa to cast Enrage defensively instead of offensively
* With Corrosize Haze, Slardar's team can quickly dispatch of Roshan, denying one of Ursa's greatest advantages
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Lion
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Queen of Pain.
Slardar
* Shadow Fiend, a normal Shadow Blade builder often relies on its invisibility to escape fights. Corrosive Haze reveals Shadow Fiend and also weakens his already low armor.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets especially fragile Heroes like Keeper of the Light,
Ancient Apparition, or
Bounty Hunter.
Slardar
* Corrosive Haze provides True Sight on its target, exposing Bounty Hunter's position regardless of Shadow Walk.
* Guardian Sprint gives a very high movement speed bonus, allowing him to chase Bounty Hunter even if Slardar is tracked.
Additional:
* Bounty Hunter's Shadow Walk is rendered useless with Corrosive Haze and makes Bounty Hunter an easy target for Slardar and his team.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* Hex and
Mana Drain can be used to immediately destroy Spectre's illusion when she
Haunts. A fast fingered Lion can protect himself and a teammate.
* Hex and
Earth Spike are good lockdown spells to control and kill Spectre, especially if she doesn't buy defensive items like
Linken's Sphere and
Black King Bar.
* Finger of Death can be used to burst down Spectre when she is low on life as she has very poor magic resistance.
Slardar
* Slardar's
Slithereen Crush allows him to stun Spectre and illusions, and
Corrosive Haze prevents her from juking with
Spectral Dagger.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Lion
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
Slardar
* Corrosive Haze and
Bash of the Deep will make short work of Huskar's low armor, even if Slardar is alone.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
Slardar
* Slardar deals entirely physical damage.He needs not worry about Counterspell.
* Slithereen Crush and
Bash of the Deep prevent Anti-Mage from using Blink, the latter even if Anti-Mage activates
Black King Bar.
* Corrosive Haze allows allies to take down Anti-Mage before he has a chance to Blink, and maintains vision over him even if he does Blink away.
Additional:
* Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep deals physical damage, bypassing the magic resistance bonus from Counterspell
* Corrosize Haze significantly increases the damage dealt against Anti-Mage, and makes it harder for him to flee with Blink, although Anti-mage can block its casting with with Counterspell
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* Lion's disables are also really effective against channeling Heroes, like Enigma or
Crystal Maiden.
Slardar
* Crystal Maiden's already low armor and easily interruptible ultimate,
Freezing Field can make Slardar her worst nightmare.
Crystal Maiden also often builds
Glimmer Cape which is revealed by Corrosive Haze.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Lion
* Mana Drain rapidly saps Morphling's already low mana pool, making him unable to use Waveform or Adaptive Strike. Additionally,
Hex prevents these abilities as well.
* An Earth Spike and
Finger of Death combo can burst an unwary Morphling down if he has his strength fully shifted to agility.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)Slardar
* Slardar can use Guardian Sprint with
Blink Dagger or
Shadow Blade to get close, and
Slithereen Crush will stun Sniper and slow him, making him vulnerable to Slardar's teammates.
* Corrosive Haze lowers Sniper's armor and makes Sniper's
Shadow Blade useless, easily killing him with a few attacks.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Slardar
* Medusa cares less than other heroes about armor reduction, since
Mana Shield blocks 70% of all damage without taking armor/magic resistance into consideration. This makes 60% of your Corrosive Haze ineffective until Medusa's mana is drained.
Lion
* Medusa lacks mobility or escape mechanisms. Earth Spike and Hex can neutralize her strong damage potential and allow for Lion's team to focus her down.
* In addition to easily breaking her commonly bought Linken's Sphere with its low cooldown, Mana Drain can quickly drain her
Mana Shield, making her far less tanky.
Slardar
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* In addition, Lion can follow up with his Earth Spike and
Mana Drain combo, preventing Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain. And he can finish Timbersaw off with
Finger of Death if the latter's HP is low enough.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Lion
* Despite her high mobility, Hex or Earth Spike can lock Phantom Assassin down and make her vulnerable.
* Although she has high evasion through Blur, Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to Lion's magical burst.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* All of Lion's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Hex and
Mana Drain can make quick work of whatever illusions you're creating, especially when he acquires his Talents at level 20 and 25.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Earth Spike or
Finger of Death with
Aghanim's Scepter for the enemy.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Slardar
* Corrosive Haze followed by
Slithereen Crush takes advantage of Alchemist's main weakness, being physical damage before he has the change to improve his surviability with items.
* Bash of the Deep will deal lots of damage during the laning phase.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* Lion possesses two strong disables in Earth Spike and
Hex and heavy magic burst with
Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his
Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.
Additional:
* Ember lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game and often does not acquire any later, allowing Lion to Hex or Earth Spike him before he escapes through his Fire Remnant.
* Although Flame Guard can prevent magic damage, it does not stop Lion's disables, and Lion can usually break through it with Finger of Death.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Slardar
* Corrosive Haze reveals Pudge's location, making it hard for him to use Meat Hook from the fog of war on Slardar's teammates or Slardar himself.
* Slithereen Crush interrupts Pudge while he is using Dismember.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to avoid Meat Hook.
Additional:
* While Slardar has Guardian Sprint activated, Rot cannot slow him and
Meat Hook is easier to avoid.
* Slithereen Crush allows Slardar to interrupt Dismember at close range (when Slardar is not a target).
* Corrosive Haze reveals Pudge's location, making it very difficult for him to land hooks from the fog.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Mana Drain depletes Nercophos's mana pool, preventing him from using his abilities.
* Finger of Death deals high magical damage, which becomes amplified by Ghost Shroud.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* With a lot of disables with good range, he might cancel your Echo Stomp.
* Mana Drain can be used to drain Elder Titan's already low mana pool.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Lion
* Drow has a very low health pool, allowing Lion to burst her down.
* Drow has no innate escape mechanism, making her an easy target for Lion's disables.
* Lion should be wary of Drow's Gust however, as he has no natural means to deal with it.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
Lion
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman,
Lion
Slardar
* With armor items like Solar Crest or
Assault Cuirass combined with Bash of the Deep, Slardar can easily tank the
Duel, If not dueled himself, he can drop
Legion Commander's armor during duel and/or buff his teammate and save them, leaving her only the choice of dueling supports which can also be saved with fast Blink into Slithereen Crush.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Lion
* Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Lion has used all his crowd control before entering a fight. His direct magic burst also makes Brewmaster's Drunken Brawler worthless versus Lion.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 16%)Slardar
* Corrosive Haze will reveal Treant Protector even when he is under the effects of Nature's Guise.
Riki
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Slardar
* Corrosive Haze works much like
Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed or gold bonus, it instead can melt Riki's armor and Slardar can use
Guardian Sprint to catch up to him.
* Slardar's Aghanim's Shard, causes
Slithereen Crush to apply Corrosive Haze even if Slardar does not have vision over him.
Additional:
* Corrosive Haze makes Riki completely vulnerable to Slardar and his allies, as Riki has no easy way of dispelling it.
* Slardar's physical damage with Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep amplified by Corrosive Haze can easily kill Riki.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Slardar
* Slardar can chase Dragon Knight down with
Guardian Sprint and stun him with both
Slithereen Crush and his passive
Bash of the Deep. He can also use
Corrosive Haze to whittle Dragon Knight's armor.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* Heroes with nukes: Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Enchantress is very fragile without any form of magic resistance, allowing Lion to easily burst her down.
* Nature's Attendants is a slow heal, making it ineffective against Lion's burst.
* Enchantress lacks any escape mechanism apart from her raw movement speed, allowing Lion to disable her.
* Since Lion's damage comes mostly from his skills, Untouchable does nothing to mitigate it.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Lion
* High priority targets like Queen of Pain,
Drow Ranger and even
Anti-Mage can't get caught out from Lion's long range disables.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Slardar
* Heroes who can provide True Sight or semi-reveal enemy heroes as Nature's Prophet is prone to buying Shadow Blade:
Bounty Hunter,
Slardar,
Spectre,
Spirit Breaker.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Marci
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Heroes that can keep Marci for a long time in one place so she can't pursue her targets, like Bane,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Invoker,
Disruptor and
Kunkka.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Slardar
* Heroes who can provide True Sight are always credible threats: Slardar,
Bounty Hunter, especially
Zeus since his
Lightning Bolt provides True Sight without the need to detect her beforehand to apply the debuff. So even a late-coming Zeus can easily scout a large area to reveal her, and she cannot purge herself from his sight with the dispel talent.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Slardar
* Bounty Hunter and
Slardar both have ultimates (
Corrosive Haze and
Track) that reveal Invoker through Ghost Walk.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Mana Drain has an extremely long range and low cooldown. It can easily deplete most heroes of their entire mana pools, especially those with smaller mana pools such as Tiny or
Spirit Breaker.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Lion
* Heroes with forced movement abilities or non-interrupting forced movement, such as Lion,
Drow Ranger,
Magnus,
Mars, as they can cancel blast-off mid air, removing his ability to initiate or escape.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Lion
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin and
Keeper of the Light.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Lion
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna,
Lion
Viper
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
Axe
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Like above, supports with reliable stuns can be a massive problem and force Black King Bar in fights unideally, such as
Shadow Shaman,
Lion,
Nyx Assassin.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Vendetta allows Nyx to sneak up on Lion and deal massive damage to him, especially when followed up with an
Impale,
Mana Burn, or even
Dagon.
* Spiked Carapace has the potential to not only nullify Lion's damage, but also cripple and potentially deal massive damage to Lion, especially if he reflects Finger of Death.
Lion
* Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin and
Keeper of the Light.
Slardar
* Corrosive Haze hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with Vendetta, as well as reducing his armor and make him very vulnerable due to his low health pool.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
Dawnbreaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Lion
* Due to her slow movement speed,heroes with crowd control and slows can shut down Dawnbreaker. ( Lion,
Crystal Maiden ,
Venomancer etc.)
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Lion
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Slardar
* Slardar can attack through Plague Wards and gain
Bash of the Deep charges, and
Templar Assassin can spill
Psi Blades through Plague Wards too.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Lion
* Heroes with channeling spells, for Chen has no disables on his own, hates buying disabling items and his creeps are often not fast enough to cancel them: Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Lion
* Heroes with high burst damage through their physical attacks or spells can kill Dazzle or his allies before he has a chance to use Shallow Grave. (Lina,
Lion, etc.)
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Lion
* Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like Mirana's
Sacred Arrow or
Leshrac's
Split Earth, or combos like
Kunkka's
X Marks the Spot into
Torrent.
Lion
* Heroes with silences and hard stuns such as Doom,
Silencer, and
Lion can keep Mirana from Leaping away.
Slardar
* Heroes with spells that negate invisibility such as Bounty Hunter,
Zeus and
Slardar prevent her from saving her allies with Moonlight Shadow.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Lion
* 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.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Lion
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion,
Anti-Mage,
Nyx Assassin.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Slardar
* Slardar does not do well against multiple targets, as his only way to damage multiple targets is Slithereen Crush.
* Meepo's Earthbind will root Slardar, making him unable to chase/escape for the time being. Also,
Poof's low cooldown and high damage can burst Slardar down rather quickly.
Lion
* If Meepo ganks Lion with Poof and Earthbind, he will be an easy target for Earth Spike & AoE
Hex from his level 25 talent.
Slardar
* Heroes who can stun multiple units at once: Dark Willow,
Spirit Breaker,
Slardar,
Invoker, and
Tidehunter.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Slardar
* Illusion heroes like the aforementioned Phantom Lancer or
Naga Siren, or heroes that tend to buy
Manta Style, like
Luna or
Juggernaut, will give Slardar a hard time, as his damage is single-targeted.
Lion
* Both Hex and
Mana Drain destroy Naga Siren's illusions in an instant, making it hard to teamfight or push against a team with Lion. If Lion chooses the AoE effect talent for Hex or the shard for multi-target Mana Drain, it can negate her pushing potential entirely.
* Earth Spike is an AoE disable with good damage. If used well, it can help distinguish the true Naga Siren by the damage they take (illusions take more damage).
Slark
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Lion
* Pounce allows Slark to close in on Lion and prevent him from escaping.
* Lion's fragile health pool makes him easy prey for Slark's high burst damage through Pounce,
Dark Pact and right-clicks.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lion from casting Hex, Mana Drain, or Finger of Death on Slark.
* Dark Pact allows Slark to dispel any of Lion's disables.
Lion
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina,
Lion,
Zeus
Slardar
* Slardar's level 25 talent makes
Corrosive Haze undispellable, thus providing his allies vision of Slark.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Slardar
* Terrorblade starts out with and gains a lot of armor from his agility growth. His illusions also make it difficult for Slardar to focus down the real Terrorblade.
Lion
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
* Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter also shreds most illusions.
* One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight, and
Terrorblade who rely on illusion armies.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Lion
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like Lion,
Ancient Apparition,
Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
Lion
* Mana Drain has an extremely long range and low cooldown. It can easily deplete most heroes of their entire mana pools, especially those with smaller mana pools such as Tiny or
Spirit Breaker.
Additional:
* Lion can continuously Mana Drain Tiny in the early game, depleting his small mana pool for his abilities.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Lion
* Wraithfire Blast is a long ranged stun, and can stop you from fleeing or using Mana Drain.
* Once Reincarnation is upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, it becomes nearly impossible to get Finger of Death stacks
* However, Reincarnation does give you the Finger of Death stack when it triggers
Lion
* Wraith King has a very low mana pool and depends on it to cast Reincarnation. Mana Drain will render him useless.
* Wraith King has very low mobility, making it easy for Lion to disable and harass him.
Additional:
* While not being able to confront Wraith King by himself, Lion's Mana Drain helps in draining Wraith King's mana, preventing him from reincarnating unless he has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Lion's Earth Spike and
Hex provide decent lockdown against Wraith King as well, preventing the latter from benefiting from Vampiric Spirit bonuses.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Lion
* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity: Keeper of the Light,
Lina,
Lion,
Zeus.
Additional:
* Rage provides spell immunity to Lifestealer and thus nullifies all of Lion's abilities.
* Open Wounds allows Lifestealer to easily catch Lion out and prevent him from escaping.
Slardar
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar,
Terrorblade
Enigma
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Slardar
* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heroes like; Spirit Breaker,
Legion Commander,
Axe,
Puck, and
Slardar
Lion
* Enigma is fragile, and lacks escapes, being dependent on Blink Dagger for mobility. Ganking Heroes or Heroes with burst damage will likely kill him before he can do anything. Such Heroes include:
Lina,
Lion,
Luna,
Puck,
Slark,
Nyx Assassin, etc.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Lion
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
Slardar
* Heroes with armor reducing abilities greatly hinder Visage's defense like Slardar and
Dazzle.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
Most popular searches list
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Lion
* Both
Lion's
Finger of Death and
Lina's
Laguna Blade have a 0.25 second delay before the damage is dealt.
Borrowed Time, Finger's delayed damage allows an Abaddon with fast enough reaction time to activate Borrowed Time and heal from Finger.
Aphotic Shield is extremely effective against both Earth Spike and Hex, nullifying the stun or hex while preventing further damage.
Curse of Avernus.
Additional:
* Although Finger of Death can potentially bypass
*
* Lion's lack of escape mechanisms allows Abaddon and his allies to pursue him with
Slardar
* Abaddon can cast
Aphotic Shield on any of his allies to immediately dispel Corrosive Haze and/or the stun and the slow components of Slithereen Crush.
Borrowed Time triggers.
* All of Slardar's debuffs are also removed if Abaddon's