* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade, Beastmaster, Broodmother.
* Sunder allows Terrorblade (or an ally) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.
* Terrorblade often buys Manta Style which can dispel Cold Feet.
Additional:
* Sunder is not affected by Ice Blast and will still swap health with any target as usual.
* Void's slow is dispelled by Doppelganger or counteracted by Phantom Rush.
* Spirit Lance's and Diffusal Blade's slow reduces Night Stalker's mobility and helps him or his ally escape if they're inflicted by Void or Crippling Fear.
* Night Stalker has no AoE abilites to take out Phantom Lancer's illusions. Even if Night Stalker gets an Aghanim's Scepter, there will be way too many illusions for Night Stalker to handle.
* Phantom Lancer can dispel or escape from Cold Feet with Doppelganger and Phantom Rush, respectively. Phantom Lancer also frequently builds a Manta Style which dispels Cold Feet.
* Ancient Apparition has trouble dealing with Phantom Lancer's illusions due to a lack of Area of Effect damage other than Ice Blast.
* Phantom Lancer tends to build a Diffusal Blade, which greatly amplifies his damage against Ancient Apparition due to Ancient Apparition's high mana pool.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape/mobility mechanisms, making him an easy target for Phantom Lancer at any stage of the game.
* Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
* Bloodseeker's Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider, Juggernaut, Ursa, Monkey King, Razor.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider, Juggernaut, Ursa, Monkey King, Razor.
* For the same reason, he has to be slightly more cunning when playing against heroes that can scout the treeline, such as Ancient Apparition and his Ice Vortex and Shadow Demon and his Shadow Poison.
* Dissimilate and Astral Step allow Void Spirit to quickly escape from Cold Feet.
* Void Spirit deals both magical and physical damage, which makes Ancient Apparition an easy target to ambush.
* If Void Spirit purchases Aghanim's Scepter, the silence provided by Resonant Pulse can disrupt Ancient Apparition during fights, as he is entirely reliant upon spells to contribute.
* Primal Split makes Brewmaster invulnerable for the duration, rendering effects of Cold Feet and Ice Blast useless.
* Dispel Magic can dispel Cold Feet from allies.
* Brewmaster can easily run Ancient Apparition down with the slow from Thunder Clap and Cinder Brew.
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Ancient Apparition's slow movement speed, squishy nature, and lack of escape abilities can easily be taken advantage of through Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, which can make the attack speed bonus from Hunter in the Night largely ineffective.
* Berserker's Rage together with Battle Trance and Fervor stacks gives him a high chance of rooting Night Stalker, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Night Stalker in any stage of the game, regardless of whether or not it's night.
* Night Stalker is not a common Monkey King Bar carrier to counteract this problem.
* Since Primal Beast is highly mobile with Onslaught alone, he will be difficult to catch with both Cold Feet and Ice Blast.
* Ice Blast is less effective due to Primal Beast's massive health pool and resistance to taking damage.
* While Chilling Touch can be used to slow Primal Beast briefly, it is not enough to beat him back, and can also contribute to his Uproar stacks.
* Primal Beast has a dispel talent at level 15 that will remove Cold Feet immediately when Uproar is used.
* Mirror Image can be effective since Night Stalker cannot withstand fighting illusions. If he's unable to tell which Naga Siren is real, he will have a hard time landing his Void. However, if Night Stalker obtains an Aghanim's Scepter, the upgraded Void will hit and may even locate the real Naga Siren in fights.
Additional:
* Ensnare and Song of the Siren prevents Night Stalker from escaping and ganking during daytime or even nighttime.
* Rip Tide reduces Night Stalker's armor, making him easier to focus down.
* Mirror Image can be effective against Night Stalker, due to his single target abilities.
* Warcry makes it difficult to burst Sven down with both the passive (with Aghanim's Shard) and active component.
* Sven under the effect of God's Strength and his massive physical damage make Sven very dangerous to engage in the mid game.
* 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.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
* Night Stalker's most skills are single targeted which allows other Meepos to Poof, Earthbind and kill him.
* Bloodseeker's Rupture turns Night Stalker mobility against him and Thirst grants movement speed bonus and vision prevents Night Stalker from initiating and re-initiating.
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer, Night Stalker, Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade.
* Night Stalker is all about right-clicks. His nuke, Void is also not that threatning once you have Hood of Defiance, your core item.
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac, Shadow Demon, Pugna, Death Prophet.
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac, Shadow Demon, Pugna, Death Prophet.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like Phantom Assassin or Clinkz.
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac, Shadow Demon, Pugna, Death Prophet.
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like Lion, Ancient Apparition, Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider, Juggernaut, Ursa, Monkey King, Razor.
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight, Mars, Centaur Warrunner.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade, Beastmaster, Broodmother.
* Phantasm gives Chaos Knight a significant advantage against single-target damage dealers: Lifestealer, Wraith King, Night Stalker, Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Chaos Bolt can stun Night Stalker outside of Crippling Fears relatively small radius.
* Reality Rift is a great way to force Night Stalker to fight Chaos Knight, a hero with massive health and damage output. It also forces Night Stalker's Crippling Fear off his primary target.
* Night Stalker doesn't have a lot of ways to deal with multiple targets, which makes him vulnerable to Phantasm illusions unless Night Stalker buys Aghanim's Scepter.
* Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables: Silencer, Crystal Maiden, Warlock, Ancient Apparition, Grimstroke, Witch Doctor
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider, Juggernaut, Ursa, Monkey King, Razor.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.
* False Promise can dispel the stun from Cold Feet and can save an ally that's about to shatter from Ice Blast, even allowing healing with Purifying Flames by delaying it until after the debuff expires.
* Purifying Flames allows Oracle to deny his allies if they're affected by Ice Blast. If he brings his allies' health to or below the shatter threshold, it will count as him denying the ally. However, this does not work on Oracle himself.
* Fate's Edict provides 100% magic resistance, making it good against all of Ancient Apparition's abilities at all stages of the game.
* Fortune's End can dispel Cold Feet from allies.
Additional:
* False Promise can prevent the shatter from Ice Blast and Fate's Edict can protect an ally from the magical damage over time for a while.
* Oracle can deny allies who are frostbitten. If he uses Purifying Flames to reach the shatter threshold, it will count as a deny.
* Fortune's End can dispel Cold Feet on affected allies, preventing them from getting frozen.
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion, Night Stalker, or Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
* As Ancient Apparition likes to stay far away from the fight to get full effectiveness from Ice Blast, he is a very good target for a Haunt gank.
* Ancient Apparition also has no hard disables and escape spells, making him an easy kill for Spectre.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.
* Lina builds Shadow Blade (and upgrades it into a Silver Edge), which makes it hard for Ancient Apparition to land his abilities.
* Laguna Blade can kill Ancient Apparition easily due to his low health pool and lack of mobility.
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.
* With Dark Ascension he can keep vision on Slark, disabling his Shadow Dance regeneration.
* Night Stalker is very fast so without the Pounce in lane, he can simply out distance him during the night.
* Slark is matched in night vision by only a few heroes, Night Stalker happens to be one of them.
* Heroes like Slark, Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
Additional:
* Ice Blast stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.
* Cold feet can be used to ensure that the full channel of Freezing Field doesn't go off.
* Heroes that have long silences, such as Night Stalker and Silencer, will prevent Abaddon from saving his allies effectively and disable the active component of Borrowed Time.
* Ice Blast's nullifies Abaddon healing from Borrowed Time and Mist Coil and it is not dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
Additional:
* Ice Blast nullifies Borrowed Time's and Mist Coil's healing.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.
* Heroes with large magical AoE damage will fare well against Omniknight: Lich, Ancient Apparition, Jakiro, Disruptor.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.
* Ancient Apparition's Cold Feet will freeze Clockwerk in place if he stays inside his Power Cogs. His immobility while in his cogs also makes him a very easy target to Ice Vortex and Ice Blast.
* Ice Blast prevents Divine Favor and Hand of God from healing his allies or himself.
Additional:
* Ice Blast can prevent healing from Hand of God and kill Chen's creeps.
* Ancient Apparition can easily harass Chen on lane with Chilling Touch due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
* Chilling Touch combined with Ice Vortex makes it impossible for Chen to escape from Cold Feet. Ice Vortex can also make Chen's creeps more vulnerable to Ancient Apparition and his allies's magical damage.
* Dark Ascension also allows Night Stalker to fly over Proximity Mines without triggering them.
* Crippling Fear is effective in stopping Techies from using Blast Off and Void is effective in stopping them from running to the safety of their mines.
* Crippling Fear can silence Faceless Void for a long time, preventing him from using his Time Walk and Chronosphere.
* Snapfire is vulnerable while she is casting Mortimer Kisses making her an easy target for the effects of Cold Feet and Ice Blast.
Additional:
* Ice Blast, Cold Feet, and Ice Vortex are easier to land on Snapfire while she channels her Mortimer Kisses.
* Crippling Fear silences nearby heroes and cannot be dispelled, which hinders Rubick's way to retaliate when being jumped on.
* With Hunter in the Night and Dark Ascension, Night Stalker can find Rubick easily in teamfights. The two spells grants more than enough damage to hunt Rubick down without defensive items.
* Muerta doesn't have the speed to easily escape Cold Feet, potentially controlling her during Pierce the Veil.
* Ancient Apparition outranges Muerta with Chilling Touch, allowing him to poke her down safely.
* Shallow Grave prevents Ice Blast's shatter for up to 5 seconds, but can mostly only delay it as Ice Blast's debuff lasts 10 seconds and prevents Shadow Wave from healing them.
Additional:
* Ice Blast negates healing from Shadow Wave, and lasts longer than Shallow Grave.
* Ice Blast stops Morphling from gaining additional health with Attribute Shift.
* Using Attribute Shift would even bring Morphling closer to the shatter threshold.
* In the lane, Ice Vortex slows Morphling's already poor movement speed to a crawl; this, coupled with the amplification of magic damage, can set up an early kill on Morphling if Ancient Apparition has a suitable lane partner.
Additional:
* Ice Blast stops Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) from recovering adional health, and using it will even bring Morphling closer to the shatter threshold.
* In lane, Ice Vortex slows Morphling's already poor movement speed to a crawl; this, coupled with the amplification of magic damage, can set up an early kill on Morphling if Ancient Apparition has a suitable lane partner.
* Void can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Crippling Fear prevents Shadow Fiend from using Shadowraze or Requiem of Souls.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Shadow Fiend easily. He is also a tanky hero that can fight Shadow Fiend at any stage of the game.
* Dark Ascension reduces vision for the enemy team, which makes it more difficult for Magnus to initiate with Blink Dagger and Reverse Polarity. It is also more likely that Night Stalker will scout out Magnus with Aghanim's Scepter and a Gem of True Sight, after which he can silence Magnus with Crippling Fear.
* Despite Ancient Apparition's fragileness, he can easily harass Luna on lane with Chilling Touch due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
* Chilling Touch combined with Ice Vortex can make it difficult for Luna to escape from Cold Feet
* Ice Blast can nullify any healing Luna receives and any attempt for her to save herself with Satanic, even through Black King Bar.
* For the same reasons, Ancient Apparition makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* Puck cannot use any of its normal means to survive should Night Stalker catch it within Crippling Fear, and goes down quickly.
Additional:
* Void is a potent nuke that is devastating to Puck's low health pool.
* Crippling Fear silence can prevent Puck from casting spells, leaving it vulnerable.
* 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.
* Night Stalker is one of the best heroes to find (and silence) Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.
Additional:
* Night Stalker can easily find Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.
* Void's mini-stun will stop Rearm and Keen Conveyance
* Crippling Fear's silence will prevent Tinker from fighting back, as Tinker relies on his spells.
* Ice Blast cancels out Chemical Rage's rapid health regeneration. It can also take advantage of Alchemist's Armlet of Mordiggian toggling, as it will make HP drain insanely fast, essentially killing the bearer in no time.
Additional:
* Ice Blast nullifies the health regeneration granted by Chemical Rage, which Alchemist greatly relies on to stay alive in battle.
* Alchemist tends to build Armlet of Mordiggian which can be deadly during Ice Blast.
* Ice Blast prevents Huskar from healing with Berserker's Blood and negates any lifesteal, making him significantly weaker in battle.
* Burning Spear and Life Break cost Huskar his own health, killing him under the effects from Ice Blast.
* Huskar often builds Armlet of Mordiggian which can be deadly during Ice Blast.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Huskar from healing, regeneration, health gained from activating an Armlet of Mordiggian and will kill him when his health dips below a threshold. This makes it very dangerous for him to use his abilities.
* Ice Blast cancels Warlock's Golem's and Shadow Word's healing.
* Cold Feet stuns Warlock if he stands in place, forcing him to stop channeling Upheaval immediately or be forced to stop channeling it by it's stun.
* May effortlessly get to and take down Disruptor.
* Void deals heavy single target damage and slow. Lacking innate escape mechanisms justs puts Disruptor in trouble
* Crippling Fear silences, and Disruptor is extremely dependant on abilities to work and to fend for himself.
* Hunter in the Night provides Night Stalker movement speed, attack speed and strengthens his abilities during night time, allowing him to easily catch up and obliterate Disruptor
* With Black King Bar, it's mostly assured to target down Disruptor.
* Crippling Fear prevents Keeper of the Light from using his spells to keep his team alive during team-fights.
* Dark Ascension is very strong against Keeper of the Light, as it allows Night Stalker to jump the backline and quickly kill the squishy Ezalor, especially when combined with the slow from Void.
Additional:
* Keeper of the Light's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade loses much of its power, due to Night Stalker being able to reduce the duration of daytime by a lot.
* Ice Blast prevents Io from healing an ally with Tether and prevents healing from Overcharge
* Io is a common Mekansm builder which is useless if he is affected by Ice Blast.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Io from healing the target.
* Ancient Apparition can easily harass Io on lane with Chilling Touch due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
* Chilling Touch combined with Ice Vortex makes it nearly impossible for Io to escape from Cold Feet. Ice Vortex can also make Io and it's tethered target more vulnerable to Ancient Apparition and his allies's magical damage.
* Cold Embrace makes its target immovable, allowing Ancient Apparition to easily land Ice Blast, or a Cold Feet stun.
* Ice Blast also negates healing from Cold Embrace.
Additional:
* Ice Blast disables the healing component of Cold Embrace, making it essentially a 4 second stun on an ally and a perfect setup for Ice Blast.
* If Cold Feet is cast on an Allied hero affected by Cold Embrace, it will almost guarantee the Ally comes out stunned.
* Crippling Fear makes it so Axe might use Blink Dagger right into an AoE silence in the middle of everyone.
* Void cripples Axe's already bad movement speed and attack speed.
* Hunter in the Night makes it impossible for Axe to catch up to fleeing or escape from Night Stalker during the night.
* Lastly, Dark Ascension gives full vision over Axe before he initiates, making the opponents all recognize his location immediately and allowing Night Stalker to prevent it or vocally tell his team if needed.
* Night Stalker has very high strength gain, even in the lane, so a successful Culling Blade is very unlikely.
* Axe's Blade Mail will likely do nothing to Night Stalker because of his high health and certain requirements for him to do the most damage to be true.
* Ice Blast prevents Lifestealer from lifestealing and healing with Infest in fights.
* 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.
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King and more.
* 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.
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter, Ursa, Drow Ranger
* Heroes like Slark, Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.
Additional:
* Void's mini-stun and silence from Crippling Fear will stop Pudge from using Dismember or turning off his Rot.
* Night Stalker has naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance, making Night Stalker a poor target for Pudge.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate: Luna's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse, Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian, Axe's Berserker's Call, Mars's Arena of Blood, Jakiro's Macropyre, Dual Breath and Ice Path, Naga Siren's Song of the Siren, Razor's Eye of the Storm and Plasma Field, Lina's Light Strike Array, Broodmother's Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter, Elder Titan's Earth Splitter and Echo Stomp, Alchemist's Unstable Concoction and Acid Spray, Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave, Dark Seer's Wall of Replica and Vacuum, Venomancer's Noxious Plague and Poison Nova from Aghanim's Scepter, Oracle's Fortune's End and Rain of Destiny from Aghanim's Shard, Bloodseeker's Blood Rite, Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse, Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls, Batrider's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Flaming Lasso, Firefly, Flamebreak and Sticky Napalm, Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast, Sand King's Epicenter, Sand Storm and Burrowstrike, Gyrocopter's Call Down, Ember Spirit's Sleight of Fist, Death Prophet's Exorcism and Silence, Monkey King's Wukong's Command, Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Muerta's The Calling, Medusa's Stone Gaze, Zeus's Nimbus from Aghanim's Scepter. Dark Willow's Bramble Maze, Pangolier's Swashbuckle, Grimstroke's Soulbind, Ink Swell and Stroke of Fate, Earthshaker's Echo Slam and Fissure, Puck's Dream Coil and Waning Rift, Winter Wyvern's Winter's Curse, Magnus's Reverse Polarity.
* Earthshaker must be careful not to use Blink Dagger or Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Enchant Totem to blink into Riki's Smoke Screen or Night Stalker's Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.
Additional:
* Fissure has a short stun and creates an impassable ridge. However, Night Stalker can fly over it during Dark Ascension.
* Night Stalker can find Earthshaker, disable his Blink Dagger with Void, and then take him out with Crippling Fear.
* Earthshaker may fail his blink combo against Night Stalker's team if he is not careful, as he can blink into the silence.
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus, Lina, Crystal Maiden.
* Any heroes with silences can negate the majority of Outworld Destroyer's damage output: Death Prophet, Night Stalker, Drow Ranger, Doom .
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter, Ursa, Drow Ranger
* Heroes with global abilities can give Legion Commander's opponent an edge in Duels from anywhere on the map: Nature's Prophet, Ancient Apparition, Zeus, Invoker, Treant Protector
* Heroes with low health: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Lion.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.
* Night Stalker has a huge, almost instant silence through Crippling Fear. The main problem is that he can get it off while Queen of Pain barely has any vision of him if he creeps up to her during Dark Ascension. She'll have to play very carefully before she gets a Black King Bar or a Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like Phantom Assassin or Clinkz.
* The long silence at night prevents Clinkz from escaping with invisibility if Night Stalker can sneak up on him. He also has really low base health, so Night Stalker can usually kill him alone during one cast of Crippling Fear at night.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.
Additional:
* Ancient Apparition's only skill to stop Storm Spirit is Cold Feet, which is bad in general when trying to stop a Storm Spirit without any other disable.
* As a fragile support with low Strength gain and no magic resistance, Ancient Apparition is vulnerable to Storm Spirit's combos.
* Storm Spirit is absolutely helpless if caught within Night Stalker's silence range.
* Common items a Storm Spirit will build will not remove the AoE silence.
Additional:
* Crippling Fear is a silence that can last up to 8 seconds during night, rendering Storm Spirit tied limited to his items in a fight.
* Dark Ascension allows Night Stalker to initiate on Storm Spirit across the impassable terrain around the middle lane, rendering Storm vulnerable in the early game and prevent him from snowballing.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
* Crippling Fear is a good way to shut down and gank Invoker in the early game..
* Void deals good damage to Invoker and makes escaping harder.
* With Hunter in the Night and Void, Invoker can't get away from Night Stalker and won't be able to catch him with Sun Strike during the night.
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac, Shadow Demon, Pugna, Death Prophet.
* Ice Blast prevents Death Prophet from gaining health from Spirit Siphon and Exorcism.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Death Prophet from gaining health from Spirit Siphon and Exorcism.
* However, there is a way for Death Prophet to counter Ice Blast: Since Death Prophet is not healed until the spirits are returned to her. She can attempt to outrun her spirits to delay their return until Ice Blast duration runs out.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade, Beastmaster, Broodmother.
* Ice Blast prevents Insatiable Hunger lifesteal, Spin Web regeneration and quickly kills spiderlings.
* Leap allows Mirana to easily escape the freezing range of Cold Feet. Mirana also tends to build Manta Style which dispels Cold Feet.
* During Moonlight Shadow, the invisibility makes it hard to catch Mirana's team with Ice Blast.
* Ancient Apparition's lack of mobility/escape capabilities makes him an easy target for Mirana at any stage of the game.
* The long silence of Crippling Fear at night prevents Mirana from escaping with Moonlight Shadow and Leap. She also has really low base health, so Night Stalker can usually kill her during one cast of Crippling Fear at night.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Mirana, and he is a tanky hero capable of fighting Mirana any stage of the game.
* Time Lapse allows Weaver (or an ally if upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.
* Shukuchi completely ignores the slow from Ice Vortex and helps him escape the freeze range of Cold Feet.
Additional:
* Cold Feet is extremely easy to nullify with Shukuchi.
* Ice Vortex does not slow Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Time Lapse will still affect his health, even when hit by Ice Blast.
* Ancient Apparition has no escapes or saves and is very squishy, making him an easy target for Weaver to get on top of.
* The long silence of Crippling Fear at night prevents Weaver from using his Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and probably kill Weaver.
* Hunter In the Night's attack speed bonus removes The Swarm's beetles very quickly.
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight, Mars, Centaur Warrunner.
* 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.
Additional:
* Cold Feet and Ice Vortex both hinder Dragon Knight's movement greatly during teamfights.
* Ice Blast ignores Dragon Knight's armor, disables his health regeneration, and kills him prematurely.
* Anti-Mage can Blink away from Cold Feet or build a Manta Style to dispel it.
* Counterspell minimizes the damage Anti-Mage takes from all of Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Mana Break and Mana Void deal a lot of damage to Ancient Apparition due to his high mana pool.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage easily Blinks out of Cold Feet's freeze radius.
* Ancient Apparition lacks mobility, thus making him fall easily to Mana Void.
* Counterspell reduces all Ancient Apparition's spell damage.
* Crippling Fear makes Night Stalker one of the best early game gankers to shut down Anti-Mage.
* Night Stalker's low mana pool causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
* Heroes with low health: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Lion.
* Riki can get on top of Ancient Apparition very easily with Blink Strike. This can also double as a way to dodge Ice Blast, along with Tricks of the Trade.
* Ancient Apparition will frequently resort to casting Ice Blast right before dying. Smoke Screen can be used to prevent this, stopping Ancient Apparition from having any impact.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and kill Riki. Riki will also find it harder to kill the tanky Night Stalker than he would many other heroes.
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider, Juggernaut, Ursa, Monkey King, Razor.
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter, Ursa, Drow Ranger
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker, Silencer, Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.
* Phoenix turns night to day, overriding Dark Ascension during Supernova.
* Icarus Dive helps Phoenix escape from Cold Feet.
* However, all of Pheonix's basic abilities do cost health, which can be harmful under the effects of Ice Blast.
* Supernova can save Phoenix from Ice Blast.
Additional:
* Supernova with or without Aghanim's Scepter allows to save ally or himself through Ice Blast.
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Cold Feet.
* Void can interrupt Icarus Dive.
* His Crippling Fear's silence will shutdown a spell caster Phoenix.
* However, Phoenix punishes Night Stalker with Supernova because it will turn night into day, and it has a higher priority than Dark Ascension, effectively canceling the passive bonuses Night Stalker gets from Hunter in the Night.
* Since all of Phoenix's abilities (except for Supernova) have health costs, heroes like Ancient Apparition or Necrophos can turn Phoenix's abilities against it. However, Supernova does completely protect Phoenix from Ice Blast.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.
* Night Stalker's Crippling Fear at night prevents Shadow Walk for an extended period of time and his Void will make Phase Boots useless. If Night Stalker has True Sight, he can shutdown Bounty Hunter's sneak kill.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
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Night Stalker
* Void's slow is useless against Lycan by activating Shapeshift.
* Night Stalker's single target abilities (with the exception of Void upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter) is not very effective against Lycan's Summon Wolves during the early and mid game.
Ancient Apparition
* Shapeshift increases Lycan's movement speed and renders him unslowable, allowing him to easily avoid and escape Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Lycan has fast summons, both his wolves from Summon Wolves can do heavy damage to Ancient Apparition due to his immobility and low armor.