Silencer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Oracle
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Necrophos
* During the laning stage, Oracle's Purifying Flames nullifies any damage that Heartstopper Aura might inflict.
* Fate's Edict and
False Promise can protect an ally from Reaper's Scythe.
* Oracle can dispel Ghost Shroud with Fortune's End.
Additional:
* Fortune's End can dispel Ghost Shroud, negating the skill's utility. Also it's worth noting that Necrophos takes additional magic damage when in Ethereal state, which makes Purifying Flames a powerful nuke against him.
* Fate's Edict fully negates the damage from Reaper's Scythe, which its own delayed animation makes it relatively easy to predict and nullify.
Dark Willow
* Fortune's End not being disjointable is almost an ensured disable if Dark Willow tries to escape with Shadow Realm. Dispels Cursed Crown and Terrorize.
* Fate's Edict negates all her magic damage in case she catches a single hero.
* False Promise's strong dispel removes Dark Willow's disables.
Additional:
* Fortune's End can easily dispel Cursed Crown before it times out and stuns. He can also save a stunned ally with False Promise.
* Fate's Edict can easily negate Bedlam's over-time damage, since the spell provides no form of control. Similarly, he can also negate the magic burst from
Shadow Realm.
* Fortune's End can dispel the fear effect from Terrorize, and it can remove the root from
Bramble Maze if cast quick enough. Be mindful that Fortune's End only dispels your allies' debuffs on the primary target.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Necrophos
* The huge physical damage taken from Vendetta will force Necrophos to use Ghost Shroud, which is good for a followup with
Dagon and
Ethereal Blade, both of which are common items on Nyx Assassin.
* Using Ghost Shroud also sets Necrophos up for a Mana Burn or
Impale.
Dark Willow
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
* Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Necrophos
* Anti-Mage can withstand magical burst damage much better than other carries, making him effective against nukers: Lich,
Necrophos,
Oracle, and
Leshrac.
Dark Willow
* Counterspell negates Dark Willow's high magic burst damage. Its active blocks
Cursed Crown.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to dodge Terrorize during its long cast animation, as well as avoiding the obstacles from Bramble Maze. On the other hand, if Anti-Mage gets caught inside Bramble Maze, he's unable to Blink away.
* Dark Willow's chained magic burst requires a lot of mana, setting her up for damaging Mana Voids.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Necrophos
* Blade Fury blocks the damage done by Death Pulse and
Reaper's Scythe. Additionally,
Ghost Shroud decreases Necrophos's magic resistance, making him take more damage from Blade Fury.
Dark Willow
* Blade Fury dispels most of Dark Willow's abilities, allowing Juggernaut to pass through Bramble Maze and cancel out Cursed Crown before the stun occurs.
* However, Dark Willow can tank Omnislash with
Shadow Realm. As she is a valid target, but invulnerable to right clicks.
Additional:
* None of Dark Willow's spells pierce Spell Immunity, making Blade Fury a good counter against her. Additionally, it dispels
Cursed Crown and
Bramble Maze.
* Dark Willow is generally fragile, which results in Omnislash being devastating against her.
* However, if Shadow Realm is activated during
Omnislash, then the attack damage is negated (though
Omnislash can still jump to other enemies).
Necrophos
* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud: Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Dark Willow
* Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her close-range bursts with Bedlam.
* Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Dark Willow
* Magnetic Field lets Arc Warden or allies evade Dark Willow's shadow realm attacks. The duration of the evasion can be extended with the clone.
* Spark Wraith also exploits Dark Willow's low mobility.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Necrophos
* Ursa can do damage very fast with his Overpower and
Fury Swipes abilities, Necrohops will have taken large amounts of damage before he can use Ghost Shroud, And if Ursa has
Skull Basher, Ursa will quickly demolish Necrophos before he can do anything to retaliate.
* Skilled and smart Ursa can bait Necrophos into using Reaper's Scythe on him, and with his Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Enrage that can negate 80% of the damage, Ursa will often survive and waste Reaper's Scythe.
Dazzle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 9%)Necrophos
* Reaper's Scythe is very predictable and gives Dazzle plenty of time to react with Shallow Grave: Dazzle just has to keep a close eye on his allies below 50% health.
* However, Dazzle must be sure to use Shadow Wave on that ally immediately after, or they will die from Heartstopper Aura when the Shallow Grave ends!
Additional:
* Dazzle's Shadow Wave is a spammable healing ability that spreads around his entire team, slowing the death of his teammates as effectively as Necrophos spreads damage to them.
* If not immediately, Shallow Grave delays his ally from gradually dying to Necrophos's abilities, especially Reaper's Scythe.
* However, bear in mind that Dazzle's Poison Touch,
Shadow Wave and
Bad Juju all deal physical damage, and Dazzle has no abilities to help him deal magical damage at all, which can cause problems for Dazzle to kill Necrophos if he uses Ghost Shroud to protect himself.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Dark Willow
* Gust can hit Dark Willow beyond a defensive Bramble Maze, and before she gets close enough to hit Drow Ranger with Bedlam.
* Drow Ranger's long range allows her to hit Dark Willow's team without venturing into her Bramble Maze.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Necrophos
* Outworld Destroyer is not exceptionally dangerous to Necrohpos because of his Ghost Shroud, but his Astral Imprisonment can save his allies from Necrophos's Reaper's Scythe, though only if he uses it at the right time, If an Outworld Destroyer is nearby, Necrophos should not use Reaper's Scythe unless he has banished himself, or has banished two heroes within 15 seconds
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Dark Willow
* Jakiro's area of effect abilities can hit Dark Willow even while she is hidden during the Shadow Realm.
* Waiting about 2 seconds after Willow casts Shadow Realm to cast Ice Path will stun her while her Shadow Realm is at it's maximum damage.
* Jakiro can stun Willow when there is about 1 second left on Cursed Crown, Jakiro's Ice Path stun lasts slightly longer then Cursed Crown,
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Necrophos
* If he isn't silenced, Abaddon can use Borrowed Time to escape Reaper's Scythe during the delay.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Necrophos
* Diffusal Blade is a core item on Phantom Lancer. And when combined with his numerous illusions, it allows him to rapidly deplete Necrophos's mana, rendering Necrophos incapable of doing anything.
* It can be difficult to single out the true Phantom Lancer among his army, giving Necrophos a hard time with aiming his ultimate.
* Even if his illusions are defeated, Phantom Lancer can simply create more of them at his disposal with almost no issues.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Necrophos
* Laguna Blade deals amplified magical damage (pure from Aghanim's Scepter) to Necrophos when he is under the effects of
Ghost Shroud.
Additional:
* Laguna Blade's damage as well as damage from all of Lina's abilities will be greatly amplified during Ghost Shroud.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Necrophos
* Ice Blast completely nullifies any healing, making Necrophos unable to stay in a teamfight to sustain his teammates (and himself) or deal gradual damage to the enemy, else he be faced with a quick death if focused on.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Necrophos
* Necrophos' Ghost Shroud increases the magic damage taken by Necrophos.
* If Zeus builds both an Ethereal Blade and
Veil of Discord, it almost always guarantees a kill.
Viper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Necrophos
* Viper does large amounts of magic damage over time, meaning that if a Necrophos uses Ghost Shroud, Viper's abilities will greatly reduce Necrophos survivability, and may actually kill him.
* By the same token, Viper can use his Viper Strike on Necrophos if he attempts to heal himself with Ghost Shroud, and depending on any other effects Necrophos may have from him, (IE:
Poison Attack,
Corrosive Skin), Viper can often kill Necrophos while he is in his Ghost Shroud.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin helps him take reduced damage from all of Nercophos spells that deal magical damage, which is Necrophos's only source of damage.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents
Heartstopper Aura from dealing damage or healing Necrophos.
* Viper's magic damage is amplified whenever Ghost Shroud is used.
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper tankier against
Death Pulse and
Reaper's Scythe.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Dark Willow
* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Dark Willow
* All of Puck's abilities are area-targeted, and will hit Dark Willow when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Illusory Orb allows Puck to bypass Bramble Maze, close the gap and silence Dark Willow with
Waning Rift.
* Phase Shift helps Puck dodge attacks charged by Shadow Realm, and is easily timed against Terrorize's long cast time..
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Necrophos
* Using Reaper's Scythe against Wraith King is a bad idea for Necrophos as his Reincarnation can waste it. And when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter it can delay the deaths of allies.
Additional:
* Reaper's Scythe can't kill Wraith King while Reincarnation is off cooldown
* In the laning stage Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the slow {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Heartstopper Aura.
Dark Willow
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
Necrophos
* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud: Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Ember Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 11%)Dark Willow
* Flame Guard blocks Dark Willow's magical burst damage, and harms her if she tries to get close to attack with Bedlam.
* Sleight of Fist and
Fire Remnant makes it hard for Dark Willow to fully disable Ember Spirit.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Necrophos
* Tornado allows Invoker to purge Necrophos's Ghost Shroud, nullifying any benefits he could get out of it
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Necrophos's mana, preventing him from using his abilities constantly
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Nether Ward causes Death Pulse to actually damage Necrophos rather than heal him. Meanwhile, Reaper Scythe's gigantic mana cost while Necrophos is near the Nether Ward can often instantly kill him.
* Nether Blast and
Life Drain both make quick work of Necrophos's small healthpool, especially during Ghost Shroud. The latter also makes him an unappealing target for Reaper's Scythe, and can often force Necrophos to use it defensively as he has no other means of interrupting his channeling.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Necrophos
* 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.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Necrophos
* If Rubick steals Reaper's Scythe, he can turn the powerful ultimate back against Necrophos's team. Even his other spells are useful in Rubick's hands, giving him a sustain or a weak initiation/protection tool.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Necrophos
* Ghost Shroud amplifies damage taken from all of Grimstroke's abilities. Necrophos is particularly vulnerable to Ink Swell and Phantom's Embrace while in Ghost Shroud.
* Death Pulse works against Necrophos in lane by keeping his creeps alive and add damage to Stroke of Fate.
Medusa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 1%)Necrophos
* Mana Shield tanks most of the damage from Reaper's Scythe; with sufficient mana, the kill threshold drops significantly.
* Necrophos has a movement speed equal to Medusa, and is easy to chase down with a slowing item in Medusa's inventory.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Necrophos
* 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.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Necrophos
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Heroes who possess abilities that can save targets from being killed by Reaper's Scythe: Abaddon,
Bane,
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Omniknight, etc.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Dark Willow
* Heroes who can silence will shut down Dark Willow entirely: Death Prophet,
Silencer,
Drow Ranger
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Illusions make it difficult for Necrophos to target his Reaper's Scythe correctly, thus giving illusion heroes like Chaos Knight or
Naga Siren an edge against Necrophos.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Heroes with one single-target abilities such as Wraith King,
Necrophos, or
Doom will struggle against Weaver's Linken Sphere.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Necrophos
* Heroes who possess abilities that can save targets from being killed by Reaper's Scythe: Abaddon,
Bane,
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Omniknight, etc.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Necrophos
* 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.
Dark Willow
* 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.
Necrophos
* 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.
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Necrophos
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Necrophos, his Ghost Shroud won’t protect him in teamfights because it will increase the damage from Lucent Beam and Eclipse.
* Luna is a natural Black King Bar wielder, and none of Necrophos's spells can bypass spell immunity.
Necrophos
* A couple of long-range heroes with excellent laning like Mirana,
Lina,
Necrophos,
Death Prophet. The key to success is sticking together and attacking Luna whenever she enters the range, without even giving Luna a chance to retaliate. Multiple long-range heroes is a reason to pick another hero.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Dark Willow
* Ball Lightning allow Storm Spirit to bypass Bramble Maze, and zip back into battle if he gets hit by Terrorize.
Necrophos
* Heroes that have escape abilities (such as Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit or
Timbersaw) can be either nullified by Reaper's Scythe or a complimentary item for Necrophos (like
Rod of Atos or
Scythe of Vyse). If Necrophos is quick enough and enters range, they can quickly, if not instantly, die if they are not quick enough.
Marci
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Necrophos
* Death Pulse and
Ghost Shroud very effective against her physical damage.
* Heartstopper Aura and
Reaper's Scythe are very effective against tanky Strength hero Marci.
Dark Willow
* Bramble Maze will very likely catch Marci midair, disabling Marci's chasing/fleeing ability.
* Shadow Realm prevents Marci from bursting Willow down since she relies on physical attacks and unit target spells. With
Aghanim's Scepter, Willow can hit Marci while Marci can't hit Willow.
* Bedlam and
Eul's Scepter of Divinity allows Willow to manfight if Marci initiates with Rebound.
* Terrorize and
Cursed Crown combo can waste Marci's ultimate for almost half of its duration.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Necrophos
* Necrophos' largely magical damage completely ignores Bulwark.
* Ghost Shroud protects Necrophos from God's Rebuke but more importantly stops Mars from being a threat in lane.
Dark Willow
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Necrophos
* Heroes that have escape abilities (such as Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit or
Timbersaw) can be either nullified by Reaper's Scythe or a complimentary item for Necrophos (like
Rod of Atos or
Scythe of Vyse). If Necrophos is quick enough and enters range, they can quickly, if not instantly, die if they are not quick enough.
Additional:
* Heartstopper Aura effectively negates Timbersaw's large HP pool as well as HP regen.
* Death Pulse together with health and mana regeneration from killed creeps helps Necrophos and his teammates survive Timbersaw's burst damage.
* As a tanky hero that stays in the middle of teamfights, Timbersaw is an easy target for Reaper's Scythe.
Dark Willow
* Bramble Maze prevents Timbersaw from Timber Chaining away without getting rooted.
* Cursed Crown can still catch Timbersaw if he Timber Chains away.
* Reactive Armor offers little protection against Dark Willow's high magical damage.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Necrophos
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
Dark Willow
* Terrorize forces Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Heroes with area heals prevents Bloodseeker from bringing enemies low, and therefore deny him his Thirst bonuses and health return: Necrophos,
Dazzle
Dark Willow
* Bramble Maze greatly hinders Bloodseeker's ability to run around in teamfights and pick off dying allies.
* Shadow Realm prevents Bloodseeker from attacking dark Willow, allowing her to safely teleport away.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Necrophos
* Reaper's Scythe can kill Terrorblade quickly before he has chance to use
Sunder because it instantly disables an enemy hero on which it's casted.
* Even if Terrorblade succeeds to use Sunder on Necrophos, Necrophos can still protect himself from Terroblade's high attack damage with
Ghost Shroud and
Death Seeker from
Aghanim's Shard, which can turn him ethereal and prevent Terrorblade from attacking him.
Ghost Shroud also amplifies any healing Necrophos receives for it's duration, which in combination with
Death Pulse allows Necrophos to easily nullify
Sunder's effects while
Death Seeker can be used to disarm Terrorblade and amplify any magical damage he will take.
* Necrophos often buys Radiance, which combined with
Death Pulse can help him deal with Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
Death Seeker from
Aghanim's Shard can also spread on Terrorblade's illusions upon impact.
* Terrorblade depends entirely on physical attacks and his damage output is 100% physical. Therefore, since he has no any sources of magical damage output and hates going for items that deal magical damage like Dagon,
Ethereal Blade and
Revenant's Brooch,
Ghost Shroud will render him unable to damage Necrophos at all.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Necrophos
* Due to Doom's naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for durability, Heartstopper Aura is particularly effective. The health loss is also large enough that, throughout all stages of the game, the aura effectively neuters the health regeneration granted by Devour.
* Necrophos can help to keep both himself and his allies alive during Doom through his natural regeneration granted by Heartstopper Aura (which is not disabled by Doom), or in the case of an ally, through his
Death Pulse. Additionally, Necrophos is an ideal
Mekansm carrier. Should one be bought, kills against Necrophos' team can be difficult to secure due to the damage-over-time nature of Doom and his abilities.
* Doom typically wants to be a hero that soaks attention from the enemy team and takes the role of an initiator and disabler. As such, Doom is an ideal target for Reaper's Scythe, as it is likely Doom will be at the fore-front of any fight.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Reaper's Scythe can kill Alchemist before Chemical Rage has the time to heal him.
* Ghost Shroud can prevent Alchemist from attacking Necrophos, as well as make him immune to Acid Spray and Unstable Concoction damage.
* Heartstopper Aura will do damage as long as Necrophos is alive based on health percentage, which is a problem for a strength hero such as Alchemist.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Necrophos
* Reaper's Scythe will turn Tiny's high health against him.
* Heartstopper Aura does substantial damage to Tiny as a result of his high max health.
* Ghost Shroud protects Necrophos from Tiny's physical damage with Tree Grab and Tree Volley.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Dark Willow
* Bramble Maze stops Charge of Darkness in its tracks. Its very long duration means it can be used as an obstacle to block off an incoming Spirit Break during teamfights.
* Shadow Realm and Bedlam can be activated when Dark Willow sees Charge of Darkness coming, preventing Spirit Breaker from using
Nether Strike after the initial stun.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Necrophos
* No matter how Tidehunter builds tanky items such as (Guardian Greaves,
Crimson Guard or
Pipe of Insight), all it needs is for him to fall below a certain percentage of health for him to fall to Reaper's Scythe.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Dark Willow
* Windrun does not protect Windranger from Cursed Crown's stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
* Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
Additional:
* Windrun does not protect Windranger from Cursed Crown stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
* Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Dark Willow
* Dark Willow's burst damage and stun prevents Troll Warlord from approaching her until he has Black King Bar.
* Troll Warlord's lack of burst damage makes it hard for him to kill Dark Willow before she slips into Shadow Realm.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Necrophos
* Phoenix constantly depletes its own health due to the health costs of its abilities. Unlike heroes that have a similar mechanic, Phoenix does not benefit from low health, nor does it really have a countermeasure for it. As such, Phoenix is a very vulnerable target for Necrophos to prey on, especially when caught off guard before it can cast Supernova.
Additional:
* Necrophos becomes a bigger threat the lower one's health gets, and unfortunately for Phoenix, most of its spells have noticeable health costs. Those costs, coupled with his Heartstopper Aura, means that staying in a teamfight for too long under Necrophos' presence will make Phoenix a more valid target for his ultimate, with its stun completely preventing any form of retaliation or protection. Necrophos players are also likely to buy more durability items such as
Hood of Defiance, making him more able to withstand Phoenix's damage despite having no escape mechanisms.
* However, it is also important to remember that a Scepter-upgraded Supernova can help protect an ally from his ultimate.
Underlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Reaper's Scythe and
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Underlord's high health.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Necrophos
* Frequent healing from Death Pulse and
Mekansm/
Guardian Greaves or
Pipe of Insight makes it difficult for Earthshaker to execute his combo with Echo Slam.
* Necrophos usually buys Radiance to improve their burning aura damage from
Heartstopper Aura will usually disable Earthshaker's
Blink Dagger prior to a teamfight, preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
* Reaper's Scythe allows to kill Earthshaker while he blinks in, preventing him from executing his combo (although Earthshaker is rarely a primary target).
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Necrophos
* With high health and rarely buying Linken's Sphere or
Black King Bar, Centaur Warrunner is a good target for
Reaper's Scythe. However, Centaur Warrunner can resolve this problem by buying
Hood of Defiance and it's upgrade
Pipe of Insight to diminish its damage.
* Heartstopper Aura will do well against high health heroes such as Centaur Warrunner.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Necrophos
* Heartstopper Aura can do a decent damage overtime to Chen's High-Health-Creep Army, and Chen does not have any source of burst damage to fight back against Necrophos.
* Skilled Necrophos can purchase a Spirit Vessel to provide an AOE debuff that can reduce the healing from
Divine Favor and
Hand of God.
* Necrophos often builds Radiance, which combined with
Death Seeker allows him to quickly clear Chen's creeps.
* Necrophos can often kill Chen's allies with Reaper's Scythe before Chen can save them with
Hand of God.
Razor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Necrophos
* Necrophos usually doesn't build much attack damage to steal from.
* He can use Ghost Shroud to prevent Razor from attacking him with the stolen damage from Static Link.
* Razor is somewhat vulnerable to magical damage, and Reaper's Scythe prevents him from escaping with his high movement speed when things get dangerous.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Necrophos
* Necrophos is a dangerous opponent to go against with. Regardless of how much strength Undying has gained from Decay, Necrophos can finish off Undying with Reaper's Scythe once Undying's HP falls below a certain threshold.
* Heartstopper Aura will do more damage to Undying if he gained strength from Decay, as it does damage based on a hero's maximum health.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Necrophos
* Because Huskar tends to stay at low health to gain the maximum bonuses from Berserker's Blood, it makes him an exceptionally prime target for Reaper's Scythe.
Additional:
* Huskar is often at low health, making him easy prey for Reaper's Scythe.
* Ghost Shroud prevents Huskar from stacking Burning Spear, and if Heartstopper Aura stacks are active, can regenerate health lost to existing stacks.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Death Pulse can easily wipe out Broodmother's spiderlings if they're too close while also offering Necrophos a source of regeneration for Broodmother's harass in lane.
* Ghost Shroud prevents Broodmother or her spiderlings from damaging Necrophos temporarily.
* Heartstopper Aura will regenerate lost health and mana for every spiderling or spiderite Necrophos manages to kill.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* 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.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Necrophos
* Necrophos's
Reaper's Scythe can finish off a low-health Morphling.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Necrophos
* Heroes that have escape abilities (such as Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit or
Timbersaw) can be either nullified by Reaper's Scythe or a complimentary item for Necrophos (like
Rod of Atos or
Scythe of Vyse). If Necrophos is quick enough and enters range, they can quickly, if not instantly, die if they are not quick enough.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Dark Willow
* Heroes with powerful rooting abilities will disable most of Pangolier's skills, a bonus point if it pierces spell immunity since it will also be able to stop Pangolier during his Rolling Thunder: Treant Protector,
Meepo,
Crystal Maiden,
Dark Willow,
Underlord,
Naga Siren
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Necrophos
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Necrophos
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Necrophos
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Dark Willow
* 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.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Necrophos
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)Necrophos
* Heroes that have high health but little to no magic resistance are easy prey for Necrophos, as no matter how high they build their health up, Reaper's Scythe will kill them outright as long as they fall under a certain threshold, and Heartstopper Aura will deal the same amount of damage regardless, decaying their health the longer they stay within range. As such, Strength heroes like Chaos Knight,
Centaur Warrunner or
Magnus are good targets for his ultimate.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Necrophos
* 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.
Necrophos
* Heartstopper Aura and
Reaper's Scythe go right through Dragon Knight's armor.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Dark Willow
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
Necrophos
* His Heartstopper Aura deals the same gradual damage over time no matter how high Sven builds his strength or health pool up, and should he fall down to a certain percentage, his high health will no longer matter if Necrophos manages to land his Reaper's Scythe, killing him instantly. But it is best if Necrophos can either catch him off guard before he can possibly use his Black King Bar (which is an item Sven players commonly purchase), or bait him out of it.
* Ghost Shroud prevents Sven from hitting Necrophos, and if he doesn't have his Storm Hammer available, it could make him completely immune to Sven and allow Necrophos to easily kite him around.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Necrophos
* 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.
Necrophos
* Death Pulse can single out Spectre from her illusions, as well as heal his team against her. He also usually stands close to his allies for Death Pulse, effectively disabling
Desolate.
Muerta
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 13%)Necrophos
* Necropho's Ghost Shroud does not prevent Muerta from attacking him while she uses
Pierce the Veil, while making Necropohos even more vulnerable.
* Necropho's Heartstopper Aura does very little to Muerta due to her quickly bursting down Necrophos and having a small health pool.
Dark Willow
* Terrorize,
Bedlam and
Cursed Crown ignores
Pierce the Veil.
* Shadow Realm can be used to escape
Pierce the Veil's high damage, as Muerta cannot attack her while she is in it
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Dark Willow
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
Necrophos
* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud: Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Necrophos
* Innately fragile heroes will die almost instantly to Reality Rift while Chaos Knight has illusions active: Drow Ranger,
Bane,
Necrophos,
Crystal Maiden.
Necrophos
* Heroes that have high health but little to no magic resistance are easy prey for Necrophos, as no matter how high they build their health up, Reaper's Scythe will kill them outright as long as they fall under a certain threshold, and Heartstopper Aura will deal the same amount of damage regardless, decaying their health the longer they stay within range. As such, Strength heroes like Chaos Knight,
Centaur Warrunner or
Magnus are good targets for his ultimate.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Necrophos
* Time Dilation while Death Pulse and
Reaper's Scythe are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Necrophos nearly useless.
* Necrophos cannot use Ghost Shroud while he is inside Chronosphere which makes it easy to kill him.
Dark Willow
* Terrorize forces Faceless Void out of Chronosphere.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Dark Willow
* Rot and
Meat Hook hits Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Flesh Heap reduces Dark Willow's magic burst damage.
Necrophos
* No matter how high Pudge builds up strength with his Flesh Heap, all it needs is for him to fall below a certain percentage of health for him to fall to Reaper's Scythe. Considering his constant self-damage with
Rot, being around Heartstopper Aura will prove risky for an overconfident Pudge.
Additional:
* Heartstopper Aura is effective against high health heroes, and Pudge is no exception. Coupled with his self-damage from Rot, being around Heartstopper Aura could prove risky for Pudge.
* Regardless of how much health Pudge gains through Flesh Heap, Reaper's Scythe will often kill Pudge should his health fall below 40%, making Necrophos an ideal counter versus Pudge.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Dark Willow
* Berserker's Call forces Dark Willow to attack, cancelling Shadow Realm.
Necrophos
* Frequent healing from Death Pulse and
Mekansm makes it difficult for Axe to finish off targets with Culling Blade.
* Ghost Shroud's instant cast time allows Necrophos to turn ethereal before being initiated on by Berserker's Call. This prevents him from attacking Axe while taunted, thus lowering the chance to proc Counter Helix.
* Axe's high health is relatively ineffective against Heartstopper Aura's percentage-based health degeneration.
* Reaper's Scythe stops Axe's game plan of using Berserker's Call multiple times and since he's in the middle of the fight, this spell is very easy to grab kills onto him.
Additional:
* Frequent healing from Death Pulse makes it difficult for Axe to finish off targets with Culling Blade.
* Reaper's Scythe negates Axe's tankiness, and can kill him quickly after initiation if Axe's health is low enough.
* Heartstopper Aura can be very effective against Axe due to Axe's high strength gain.
* However, bear in mind that Berserker's Call can prevent Necrophos from using his
Ghost Shroud to defend his fragile self from physical damages. And
Heartstopper Aura can unintentionally help Axe to trigger his
Counter Helix more frequently while also hurting Necrophos with
Blade Mail during activation.
* Nonetheless Heartstopper Aura is not considered as a normal attack, thus it will not trigger
Counter Helix, so anyone who wrote the statement above should be awarded with MVP and considered a TI champion purely for the innovation of new mechanics.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Necrophos
* Necrophos struggles at clearing away durable illusions or summons. Meepo can overwhelm Necrophos with his many duplicates, especially in the later stages of the game, and his Earthbind will prevent Necrophos from getting away, even if he casts Ghost Shroud.
* Meepo's high burst damage from Poof can make it difficult for to Necrophos to stay alive, and as Necrophos excels in extended fights, he will not be able to do as much damage as he intends to.
Dark Willow
* Casting Bramble Maze on top of Meepo guarantees a root, as it is nearly impossible to leave the thorns with all of Meepo's clones.
* Terrorize and Cursed Crown offer great disables against the grouped Meepos and can prevent them from using Poof to escape.
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.
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Necrophos
*
Arcane Curse punishes Necrophos if tries to spam Death Pulse, increasing the duration of the slow and damage taken over time.
Last Word heavily damages Necrophos and also silence him for a lenghty duration.
Glaives of Wisdom will reduce temporarily Necrophos intelligence on each hit dealing hindering his ability to spam Death Pulse, also reducing his attack damage and mana pool; dealing increasing amounts of phisical and pure damage each time. Silencer will permanently steal Necrophos intelligence if Necrophos is killed by him or if he dies nears him.
Global Silence turns Necrophos almost useless for a long time, allowing Silencer and his team to easily dispatch him, since Necrohpos heavily relies on his spells to survive.
*
*
*
Dark Willow
*
Last Word and
Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.
*