* 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.

* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Juggernaut.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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 until Broodmother buys Nullifier or Revenant's Brooch.
* Heartstopper Aura will regenerate lost health and mana for every spiderling or spiderite Necrophos manages to kill.

* Breathe Fire will clear Broodmother's spiderites while significantly damaging her spiderlings and decreasing their damage output.
* Dragon Blood's added armor and regen mitigates the damage done by Broodmother and her spiders.
* Elder Dragon Form at level 2 and above applies splash damage to Dragon Knight's auto attacks.

* 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 from Aghanim's Shard 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.

* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damage can make quick work of Chen's converted creeps and at same time gain farm: Magnus, Jakiro, Shadow Fiend, Kunkka, Luna, Dragon Knight, Medusa, Alchemist.

* 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.

* Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from Maledict.

* 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.

* Heroes that reduce the damage that Marci can deal during her ultimate, like Razor, Rubick, Bane, Dragon Knight and Underlord.

* 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.

* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven

* 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.

* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.

* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Juggernaut.

* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven

* Heroes with area heals prevents Bloodseeker from bringing enemies low, and therefore deny him his Thirst bonuses and health return: Necrophos, Dazzle

* Heroes with high armor and durability can be exceptionally hard for Bloodseeker to bring down: Dragon Knight, Axe

Additional:
* Bloodseeker's physical damage is unlikely to kill Dragon Knight, and therefore rarely get a chance to recover the large amount of HP from Bloodrage.

* 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 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 and other healing items allows Necrophos to easily nullify Sunder's effects while Death Seeker from Aghanim's Shard can be used to escape from Terrorblade.
* 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.

* 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.

* Despite the armor reduction from Meld, Templar Assassin's reliance on physical damage and medium attack speed is unlikely to harm Dragon Knight.
* Templar Assassin's Refraction charges also get quickly removed by the damage over time from Dragon Knight's ultimate.
Additional:
* The damage over time from Dragon Knight's Elder Dragon Form rapidly burns down Refraction, allowing him to attack her.
* Also, Breathe Fire reduces Templar Assassin's damage and Dragon Tail is a stun with a considerable duration, letting him and his team whittle her health down once her defenses wear off.
* Templar Assassin will struggle to kill Dragon Knight thanks to his high armor and health regen from Dragon Blood as she deals entirely physical damage.

* 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.

* 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 Blood's armor bonus greatly reduces the damage dealt by Phantasm.
* Breathe Fire and Elder Dragon Form's splash damage quickly destroy illusions and reduces their damage output.

* 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.

* 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.

* Dragon Tail can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Breathe Fire reduces Shadow Fiend's damage even further.
* Dragon Knight's high strength and Dragon Blood means that he'll be able to tank Shadow Fiend's right clicks.

* 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.

* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.

* 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.

* 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.

* Spirit Breaker's slow attack speed and moderate damage do very little to harm Dragon Knight, even if ganked with Charge of Darkness.

* 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.

* 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).

* 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.

* 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.

* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.

* 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.

* 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.

* Necrophos's Reaper's Scythe can finish off a low-health Morphling.

* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos, Phoenix, Alchemist, Earthshaker, Razor, Tinker, Leshrac, Queen of Pain

* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.

* 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.

* Dragon Knight's insanely high armor and splash damage can cause Lycan to struggle taking him down.

* 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.

* 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.

* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven

* Heroes who can match Void Spirit's mobility (like the aforementioned Ember Spirit or Queen of Pain) or tank his spells (Dragon Knight or Centaur Warrunner) are very problematic for him.

* 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.

* Heroes with high armor like Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like Phantom Assassin, Riki and Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.

Additional:
* The extra damage from Searing Arrows is largely blocked by Dragon Knight's armor.
* Clinkz has too low health to survive a gank.Getting stunned keeps him down long enough for a reaction.
* Breathe Fire reduces his damage, as he almost exclusively deals physical damage.

* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven

* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight, Mars, Centaur Warrunner.

* 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.

* 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.

* Reaper's Scythe and Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Underlord's high health.
* Ghost Shroud protects Necrophos from Underlord's damage from Atrophy Aura, and also amplifies all the healing Necrophos receives.

* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Juggernaut.

* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as Sven and Dragon Knight.

* The dragon's splash damage wears down his illusions.
* Early harassment with Breath of Fire hinders his farming.
* Fireball stops his pushes and allows for a defence.
Additional:
* Breathe Fire and Elder Dragon Form's splash damage takes out Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* If Dragon Knight can Dragon Tail the real Phantom Lancer, he and his team can quickly kill him before he has a chance to escape.

* Heroes whose attacks can affect multiple enemies at once will clear Naga Siren's illusions. Such heroes include Sven, Magnus, Dragon Knight, Luna, Medusa, Templar Assassin, Gyrocopter, Muerta.

* If Silencer can't prevent Dragon Knight from using Elder Dragon Form, Silencer's spells aren't going to be that effective against him, as Dragon Knight relies on right-clicks and not spells.
* Dragon Blood's armor bonus and health regeneration allows Dragon Knight to stay in the lane against Glaives of Wisdom.
* Dragon Knight often builds Black King Bar, allowing him to remove Global Silence before engaging.

* Necrophos usually doesn't build itmes that give attack damage, minimalizing effects of Static Link.
* 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.

* Dragon Knight's heavy armor negates Vendetta's burst physical damage. His large HP pool also gives him a good chance of surviving Nyx Assassin's follow-up nuke damage.