Lone Druid
* Grimstroke's 
Soulbind will always reliably connect onto both of them if they are close together.
Bristleback
* 
Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* 
Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
Lone Druid
* Lone druid's bear attacks on Phoenix's 
Supernova Egg don't increase the hit count. Given that Lone Druid's main hero often doesn't have much farm, the Supernova Egg is less likely to get killed.
Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: 
Axe, 
Pudge, 
Bristleback, 
Mars.
Lone Druid
* 
Timbersaw: Lone Druid will have a hard time dealing with Timbersaw due to his tankiness and high Armor from 
Reactive Armor
Bristleback
* 
Whirling Death deals damage while also reducing {Show:A|Timbersaw|Whirling Death|value4} of Bristleback's strength, making him less tanky.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* 
Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw even with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Lone Druid
* 
Ghost Shroud can be use both offensively to slow Lone Druid or Defensively to prevent Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear from attacking him.
* 
Heartstopper aura burns the Spirit bear High HP over time. Additionally, it can deal decent damage to Lone Druid during his True Form.
Bristleback
* 
Reaper's Scythe and Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
Additional:
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by 
Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive 
Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
Bristleback
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind), 
Spectre, 
Ursa, and 
Dragon Knight.
Lone Druid
* 
Laser blinds Lone Druid, making his attacks miss.
Lone Druid
* 
Firestorm's percentage damage can quickly demolish the Spirit Bear's high HP
* 
Pit of Malice will allow allies to easily kite Lone Druid due to his low mobility
Lone Druid
* 
Cold Embrace can protect allies from Lone Druid and the Spirit bear, who mainly deal physical damage
* 
Winter's Curse can turn Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear against his teammates.
Bristleback
* 
Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
* 
Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
Additional:
* When dueled, Bristleback will have to face Legion head on, not allowing his passive Bristleback to come into effect.
Lone Druid
* Chain Frost can deliver high amounts of damage to Lone Druid itself and his bear if they do not separate fast from each other.
Additional:
* 
Chain Frost will bounce between Lone Druid and his bear, forcing them to separate or suffer high amounts of damage.
Bristleback
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
Bristleback
* 
Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* 
Viper Strike and 
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed, making him unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable Bristleback and prevents 
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his defensive passive, Bristleback also loses his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
Bristleback
* 
Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from Bristleback.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
Lone Druid
* Brewmaster can make the Spirit Bear a much smaller threat with Cinder Brew.
* Cyclone removes the bear from a fight so that his team can easily focus on the hero.
* While most heroes would be worn down by a Spirit Bear 
Radiance in the time it takes to kill Lone Druid, Brewmaster is protected in Primal Split.
Lone Druid
* Paralyzing Cask is likely to bounce between him and his bear every single time.
* Lone Druid's lack of mobility makes him vulnerable to Death Ward and Maledict.
Bristleback
* 
Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* 
Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
* 
Storm Surge allows Razor to outdistance Bristleback, even with a few stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo on him. Also, if Razor has his Shard, it will deal full damage to Bristleback every time he uses Viscous Nasal Goo (as Bristleback will face him to cast it).
Additional:
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Bristleback
* 
Essence Shift allows Slark to hit Bristleback freely whether on the front or back, stealing attributes and make Bristleback much less tanky.
* 
Pounce can be used to disengage and recover lost HP with his ultimate passive, and can return to fight in a short period while Bristleback is already injured and got some of his attributes stolen.
* 
Dark Pact makes it near impossible to keep the 
Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on Slark.
* Although Dark Pact cannot dispel Quill Spray, meaning that Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he used 
Shadow Dance before.
* Slark builds 
Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counters Bristleback.
Bristleback
* 
Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* 
Chronosphere allows allies to reposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Void from using 
Time Walk.
Additional:
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
Bristleback
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback's small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* 
Mana Break removes both a percentage and flat amount of your mana, preventing Bristleback from using abilities in the lane.
* 
Blink Anti-Mage has very high mobility with this skill, and can easily escape from Bristleback since he has no way to prevent his blink. He can also use this offensively to get in front of Bristleback during fights.
Bristleback
* 
Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* 
Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
Lone Druid
* Dazzle easily breaks the position of Lone Druid and his 
Summon Spirit Bear with his 
Poison Touch, As it always hits from afar and prolongs the slowdown on the Summon Spirit Bear, which is why he cannot catch up with Dazzle and treat his master with 
Spirit Link
* Dazzle helps his team survive the physical attacks of the Summon Spirit Bear thanks to the treatment from 
Shadow Wave and armor from 
Bad Juju, which can enable his team to kill Lone Druid
* The Lone Druid Summon Spirit Bear has a small amount of armor at the start of the game, because of Mid Dazzle, it can very much break through it and prevent Lone Druid from gaining an advantage at the very beginning of the game, giving his team the opportunity to overtake Lone Druid on items for killing him, by type: 
Spirit Vessel
Additional:
* Dazzle easily breaks the position of Lone Druid and his Summon Spirit Bear with his Poison Touch, As it always hits from afar and prolongs the slowdown on the Summon Spirit Bear, which is why he cannot catch up with Dazzle and treat his master with Spirit Link
* Dazzle helps his team survive the physical attacks of the Summon Spirit Bear thanks to the treatment from Shadow Wave and armor from Bad Juju, which can enable his team to kill Lone Druid
* The Lone Druid Summon Spirit Bear has a small amount of armor at the start of the game, because of Mid Dazzle, it can very much break through it and prevent Lone Druid from gaining an advantage at the very beginning of the game, giving his team the opportunity to overtake Lone Druid on items for killing him, by type: Spirit Vessel
Bristleback
* 
Sharpshooter deals massive damage to Bristleback and applies a high duration disable on his passive.
* 
Bushwhack and 
Scurry can be used to easily kite Bristleback.
Additional:
* Bristleback and Warpath can be disabled by Hoodwink's Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time, reducing his both offense and defense.
* Scurry and Bushwhack can be used to kite bristleback.
Lone Druid
* Unless Lone Druid purchases a 
Black King Bar for his Spirit Bear, Ensnare will easily kite the Spirit Bear.
* Song of the Siren allows Naga Siren and her team to completely bypass the Spirit Bear and hunt for the Lone Druid himself when starting a fight.
* Lone Druid's lack of innate AoE capabilities mean that Naga Siren's illusions have no problem against him.
Lone Druid
* 
Clinkz, 
Sniper, 
Lone Druid, 
Troll Warlord, 
Legion Commander and 
Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
Lone Druid
* 
Pugna: 
Decrepify prevent the Spirit bear from attacking or protect allies from it.
Bristleback
* 
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.
Lone Druid
* Besides Lone Druid and 
Meepo, Doom is potentially good versus every hero since Doom will render any hero helpless for up to 16 seconds. This is particularly true for fragile heroes that heavily rely on mobility to stay alive.
Bristleback
* 
Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* 
Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With his upgraded level 25 talent, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing Warpath.
* If Doom chooses the Level 25 talent {ValueColor:1|Doom applies Break|25tal} {Symbol:Talent}, he can disable Bristleback and Warpath, taking away much of his durability and damage potential in team fights.
Lone Druid
* Lone Druid is essentially two heroes. Dooming one over the other still leaves Lone Druid or his bear able to do their job during a fight. Additionally, Lone Druid is not hindered as much as other heroes by the silence and mute of Doom since the hero relies more on attacks than abilities.
Additional:
* Doom will be very hestitant to use Doom on the Spirit Bear, and using it on Lone Druid himself will not stop the bear from attacking him especially if True Form has already been used.
* 
Devour does not work on the Spirit Bear and pushes the lane so Lone Druid can safely farm under tower.
Lone Druid
* Heroes that have doubles or clones such as 
Arc Warden, Meepo or Lone Druid are vulnerable to Muerta's 
Gunslinger.
Bristleback
* 
Terrorblade's 
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Bristleback
* 
Batrider's turn rate slow from 
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Lone Druid
* 
Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid game.
* 
Concussive Shot and 
Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
* 
Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into 
True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
Lone Druid
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like 
Chaos Knight and 
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, 
Lycan and 
Beastmaster.
Lone Druid
* Morphling can ignore Spirit Bear and shorten the distance to Lone Druid with Waveform.
* Morphling can use his nukes to burst Lone Druid down, provided he is not rooted/disabled by Spirit Bear beforehand.
Lone Druid
* Heroes who just want to farm and avoid Lone Druid early will find it very hard to do so when he starts knocking on towers: 
Templar Assassin, 
Phantom Assassin, 
Ember Spirit, 
Morphling.
Lone Druid
* Because of his weak laning phase, Lone Druid absolutely overpowers him in the early to mid game. Lone Druid also directly counters most of his abilities.
* 
Flux is nullified when the Spirit Bear is nearby.
* 
Spark Wraith can get soaked by the bear.
* Lone Druid can easily go inside 
Magnetic Field and punish Zet.
Bristleback
* Arc Warden has relatively lower armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
* Arc Warden also does not like to build a Silver Edge as it takes a long time to build up and may slow down the timings for other important items needed in the game like 
Gleipnir.
* However, do note that in a game where Arc Warden's team has many jumping capabilities or good passives, like a 
Tidehunter or Spectre, a Silver Edge becomes incredibly valuable on Arc Warden as not only can he run away from the jumps, he effectively gets 2 breaks, and Bristleback may not be the best pick.
Lone Druid
* Once caught in Bear's Entangle, Nature's Prophet cannot escape with 
Teleportation.
Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: 
Lina, 
Keeper of the Light, Timbersaw, 
Leshrac, Bristleback, Axe.
Lone Druid
* Lone Druid has a huge reserve of health on the Summon Spirit Bear and a quick regeneration of his health with the help of Spirit Link, which makes the Puck's magical abilities useless, since they cannot break through such a large pool of health
* The ability of the Summon Spirit Bear and in the True Form of the Lone Druid 
Entangling Claws allows you to catch Puck when he released the 
Illusory Orb, since Puck will not be able to apply 
Ethereal Jaunt during the root action
Additional:
* Lone Druid has a huge reserve of health on the Summon Spirit Bear and a quick regeneration of his health with the help of Spirit Link, which makes Puck's magical abilities almost useless, since they cannot break through such a large pool of health.
* The ability of the Summon Spirit Bear and in the True Form of the Lone Druid, Entangling Claws, allows him to catch Puck when it releases the Illusory Orb, since Puck will not be able to apply Ethereal Jaunt during the root.
Bristleback
* Axe, Bristleback, 
Centaur Warrunner, 
Spirit Breaker, Pudge, 
Huskar, Wraith King, 
Doom: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Lone Druid
* Lone Druid's early game is good against slow, squishy supports since his bear is very strong early game and an Entangling Claws proc almost always guarantees a kill: 
Ancient Apparition, 
Crystal Maiden, 
Shadow Shaman, etc.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds 
Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
Lone Druid
* Lone Druid has a very large reserve of health against Invoker abilities, this allows him to survive a large number of attacks from Invoker and kill him, also Entangling Claws reveal invisibility from 
Ghost Walk, which allows the Lone Druid team to catch the popular QW-Invoker
Additional:
* Lone Druid has a very large reserve of health against Invoker abilities, this allows him to survive a large number of attacks from Invoker and kill him, also Entangling Claws reveal invisibility from Ghost Walk, which allows the Lone Druid team to catch the popular QW-Invoker
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Bristleback
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
Additional:
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to 
Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
Additional:
* Rubick deals little damage on his own, and Bristleback can simply shrug off all his spells and chase Rubick down with his Quill Spray and the damage bonus from Warpath.
* Rubick does not tend to charge forward in teamfights, stay in the front lines under most circumstances, yet effective casts of Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo requires the opposite as they require multiple casts and close range to add up stacks.
* Rubick does not benefit from Warpath through casting the stolen spell.
Lone Druid
* True Form gives Lone Druid a huge amount of health that no amount of 
Ball Lightning will chip through.
* Entangling Claws can mean a very quick end to the Storm Spirit as it prevents him from using Ball Lightning all together.
* Storm Spirit is a single target nuker, with the Shard Lone Druid can always fear him away from himself or the bear, defending the target he does not go on. This is assuming he cannot try and proc his entangle or a potential 
Skull Basher.
Bristleback
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a 
Meat Hook and 
Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Additional:
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor and poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Lone Druid
* Savage Roar interrupts 
Starbreaker.
* Dawnbreaker is a slow moving hero. Although tanky, Lone Druid can eventually wear her down with his better movement speed.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
Lone Druid
* 
Omnislash spreads on both the bear and the druid, allowing them to survive.With enough levels,the bear can soak the ability alone and possibly dragging him to a dangerous location.
* Juggernaut cannot manfight the duo in the early game,because of their tankiness. If opposed in lane,Lone Druid can shut him down.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
Bristleback
* Combo Quill Spray and items Blade Mail can easily trigger from Focus Fire damage.
Additional:
* Using Focus Fire on Bristleback tends to fare badly for Windranger, as he can trigger passive Quill Sprays many times, especially when she attacks him from behind. In addition, Windrun does not protect her from both Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray, rendering her helpless.
* Bristleback's natural tankiness makes it hard for Windranger to effectively burst her down throughout the game.
* Bristleback tends to continuously spam Viscous Nasal Goo to slow down Windranger when she uses Windrun to escape, potentially allowing him to outrun her with his Warpath stacks.
* Bristleback can build 
Lotus Orb to reflect Shackleshot and Focus Fire back at Windranger.
Lone Druid
* Alchemist likes to farm fast and be ahead, unfortunately Lone Druid likes to do the same by taking towers.
* 
Acid Spray will never prove a threat to Lone Druid or his Spirit Bear.
* 
Chemical Rage may not prove so useful once Lone Druid procs entangled keeping him in place.
* 
Monkey King Bar is a very good choice on Lone Druid's Spirit Bear and it directly counters any potential Radiance from Alchemist.
* 
Assault Cuirass is another very good Spirit Bear item that further makes Alchemist vulnerable to physical damage, which is all Lone Druid does.
* Alchemist is not the kind of hero who wants to go on single target summon units, by the time he has killed the Spirit Bear his teammates might had already been slayed by his teammates. Not to mention Lone Druid can just resummon it, even if he is successful.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with 
Earthbind.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside 
Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's 
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* 
Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's constant harass from Quill Spray will greatly hurt Enigma's laning and kill his Eidolons.
* However, Bristleback has no way of canceling 
Black Hole at all. And Bristleback is not a hero that goes for disabling items to counter that problem.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
Additional:
* Bristleback reduces most of Broodmother's and her spiderlings' damage.
* Quill Spray will hit any spiders in its proximity, hindering Broodmother's fighting and farming capabilities.
Lone Druid
* Lone Druid becomes unkillable and impenetrable for Ember Spirit on the central line, as it has a huge reserve of health from the Summon Spirit Bear and a large regeneration from Spirit Link, which is why 
Sleight of Fist practically does not break through either one or the other on the line, and Lone Druid at this time can easily expel Ember Spirit from the line, push and gain gold and level
* Entangling Claws and 
Savage Roar abilities completely disable Ember Spirit's ability to dodge abilities or get out of an unpleasant fight for him on 
Fire Remnant, which can give the Lone Druid team the opportunity to kill him
Additional:
* Lone Druid becomes unkillable and impenetrable for Ember Spirit on the central line, as it has a huge reserve of health from the Summon Spirit Bear and a large regeneration from Spirit Link, which is why Sleight of Fist practically does not break through either one or the other on the line, and Lone Druid at this time can easily expel Ember Spirit from the line, push and gain gold and level
* Entangling Claws and Savage Roar abilities completely disable Ember Spirit's ability to dodge abilities or get out of an unpleasant fight for him on Fire Remnant, which can give the Lone Druid team the opportunity to kill him
Bristleback
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him: Arc Warden, 
Venomancer, 
Luna.
Lone Druid
* Heroes who just want to farm and avoid Lone Druid early will find it very hard to do so when he starts knocking on towers: Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Ember Spirit, Morphling.
Lone Druid
* Nukers who have set amounts of damage will really struggle against Lone Druid especially in True Form: 
Puck, 
Void Spirit, Mars.
Lone Druid
* 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).
Lone Druid
* Heroes that create illusions: 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) can cause Eclipse to strike the illusions/summons unintentionally. However, in many cases Moon Glaives can resolve this issue and eliminate them before activating Eclipse, but that will require lots of farming for right-click items.
Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him: Arc Warden, Venomancer, Luna.
Additional:
* Quill Spray and Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback helps return a lot of damage to Luna’s team if she uses her nukes on him and he has his back to her.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of 
Crimson Guard and 
Eternal Shroud, which are good protection from 
Moon Glaives and 
Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Bristleback makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Lone Druid
* Primal Beast is mostly played in the offlane role, so picking a carry who can escape from him is essential. Heroes such as Troll Warlord, Lone Druid and 
Outworld Destroyer, or generally any carry with a stun, slow or ability to fight back will stop him from having the good start he needs.
Lone Druid
* Nukers who have set amounts of damage will really struggle against Lone Druid especially in True Form: Puck, Void Spirit, Mars.
Lone Druid
* Heroes who just want to farm and avoid Lone Druid early will find it very hard to do so when he starts knocking on towers: Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Ember Spirit, Morphling.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo can catch and slow Bounty Hunter. Warpath and Quill Spray can defeat him quickly due to his small HP pool when compared to Bristleback's.
Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback, Clinkz, Luna,
Shadow Fiend, 
Slardar, Terrorblade
Lone Druid
* Heroes who can fight back easily are not ideal matchups for Sven, such as Troll Warlord as mentioned above, Lone Druid and Templar Assassin.
Lone Druid
* Lone Druid's early game is good against slow, squishy supports since his bear is very strong early game and an Entangling Claws proc almost always guarantees a kill: Ancient Apparition, Crystal Maiden, Shadow Shaman, etc.
Bristleback
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter, Bristleback, Slardar.
Lone Druid
* 
Riki: 
Smoke Screen can prevent Lone Druid from using True Form and Savage Roar, additionally it cause the spirit bear to miss on attacks which reduce the chances of getting rooted from it, with diffusal Blade, he can keep Lone Druid or the Spirit Bear inside the Smoke.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* 
Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal 
Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
Additional:
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Lone Druid
* Lone Druid and his Spirit Bear lack mobility, and are easy overwhelmed after being slowed by 
Diffusal Blade.
* Savage Roar is useless since Phantom Lancer can return to fight him again with his 
Phantom Rush.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
Lone Druid
* Reality Rift lets Chaos Knight bypass the Spirit Bear and jump onto Lone Druid.
* The Spirit Bear's lack of scaling means it dies quickly to Chaos Knight during the late-game.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's 
Phantasms.
Lone Druid
* Tiny can be a serious problem for the distance between Lone Druid and his Summon Spirit Bear with his 
Toss ability, since he will throw one away from the other, giving his team the opportunity to deal with either the Summon Spirit Bear or Lone Druid himself
* Lone Druid will not always be in his True Form, since she has her own recharge, which is why Tiny can find him with a 
Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger and kill him in a second with a combination of 
Avalanche and Toss, due to the fact that Lone Druid has a very small health reserve without True Form
Additional:
* Tiny can be a serious problem for the distance between Lone Druid and his Summon Spirit Bear with his Toss ability, since he will throw one away from the other, giving his team the opportunity to deal with either the Summon Spirit Bear or Lone Druid himself
* Lone Druid will not always be in his True Form, since she has her own recharge, which is why Tiny can find him with a Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger and kill him in a second with a combination of Avalanche and Toss, due to the fact that Lone Druid has a very small health reserve without True Form
Bristleback
* Tiny's nonexistent armor in the early game makes him very vulnerable to Quill Spray's large amounts of physical damage.
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can slow Tiny to a crawl and allows Bristleback to easily kite him with his high movement speed and Quill Spray's long range, as Tiny has no ability to escape.
Lone Druid
* Huskar jumps on the hero without any problems, throwing the Summon Spirit Bear away from him and forbidding him to beat, which knocks down the regeneration of Lone Druid from the Spirit Link ability, in addition, Huskar instantly deals fatal damage to Lone Druid, in some cases he does not even have time to squeeze the True Form
Additional:
* Huskar jumps on the hero without any problems, throwing the Summon Spirit Bear away from him and forbidding him to beat, which knocks down the regeneration of Lone Druid from the Spirit Link ability, in addition, Huskar instantly deals fatal damage to Lone Druid, in some cases he does not even have time to squeeze the True Form
Bristleback
* The damage from 
Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using 
Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
Additional:
* Bristleback's tankiness and Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and Quill Spray and Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
Bristleback
* 
Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
* 
Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback.
* 
Last Word and 
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
Additional:
* Bristleback will not be able to cast Viscous Nasal Goo or Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing Warpath charges from stacking.
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
Lone Druid
* Silencer's disables are useless on Lone Druid since he is more reliant on physical attacks rather than spells.
* Silencer has poor mobility so Lone Druid can run him down.
* Lone Druid's Shard will remove most of Silencer's spells once used.
Bristleback
* While Jakiro's damage is going to be little more then average against him due to his Bristleback. His large quantity of stuns can prevent Bristleback from getting his much needed Warpath stacks, while also giving his allies a chance to counter his high defense.
* Dual Breath and Liquid Frost both reduce Movement Speed, removing one of Bristlebacks greatest strengths.
* Liquid Fire reduces Bristlebacks Attack Speed, making it harder for him to burst down a hero with Warpath.
* However Bristleback can generally catch and kill a lone Jakiro. And Jakiro is only effective in a group.
Bristleback
* 
Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Bristleback
* Spirit Breaker's 
Nether Strike with 
Aghanim's Shard disables Bristleback's passives.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can continue dealing damage even while being stunned: Luna, 
Razor, Axe, Bristleback, Leshrac, 
Death Prophet, 
Jakiro.
Bristleback
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw, Bristleback, Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Lone Druid
* Lone Druid's early game is good against slow, squishy supports since his bear is very strong early game and an Entangling Claws proc almost always guarantees a kill: Ancient Apparition, Crystal Maiden, Shadow Shaman, etc.
Bristleback
* Shadow Demon's 
Demonic Purge with 
Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passives.
Lone Druid
* 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.
Bristleback
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with 
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can stop Axe from getting close will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Batrider, Arc Warden, 
Winter Wyvern, 
Clockwerk
Lone Druid
*
Arcane Orb deals heavy damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear.
Astral Imprisonment can prevent the Spirit Bear from attacking, which is Lone Druid's main damage output.
Sanity's Eclipse deals heavy damage to Lone Druid.
*
*
Bristleback
* Outworld Destroyer's high burst damage is not negated by Bristleback's passive. So, even if Bristleback turns his back on Outworld, he can decimate Bristleback quickly.
Astral Imprisonment, both reducing Bristlebacks much needed mana and allowing Outworld to move in front of him, forcing him to take the full damage from his spells. This will also allow Outworld to land a devasting Sanity's Eclipse, without it being reduced by Bristleback's passive.
* If Bristleback attempts to flee, or tries to close the gap, Outworld can banish him with