Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Medusa
* Webbed areas can be used to hit and run, covering distance hastily weakening her on the way and initiating ganks.
* Even though Medusa can hunt down Spiderlings easily when given enough range, Silken Bola will cause her attacks to miss and get her swarmed in no time.
* Medusa usually does not build a Black King Bar to benefit from Mana Shield fully while Broodmother can fit a
Diffusal Blade to burn away all of Medusa's mana.
Additional:
* Spin Web will allow Broodmother to pick her own fights and sometimes slip away to ambush Medusa.
* Though Medusa's Split Shot and Mystic Snake can help Medusa deal with Broodmother's spiderlings, Broodmother will create too much of them for her to handle, allowing her to outnumber Medusa's targets from Split Shot and shield her team in process.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Medusa
* With Static Link, Razor can effectively make Medusa useless in teamfights by reducing her main damage output. It can, however, be blocked by a
Linken's Sphere.
* Plasma Field allows Razor to get on top of Medusa, slowing her already slow movement speed to a mere crawl.
* Eye of the Storm capitilizes on Medusa's low armor and causes her to be very vulnerable, even through
Mana Shield.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* He can use either his own or his double's Flux to bypass the spellblock from Linken's Sphere, using the leftover Flux +
Spark Wraith to slow Medusa's already low move speed to a crawl.
* Arc Warden has a farming advantage with double Hand of Midas, and can generally bully Medusa with other items that benefit from duplication.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Medusa
* Silencer burns easily through her effective HP from Mana Shield, by taking away her intelligence.
* Arcane Curse punishes her repeatedly casting
Mystic Snake to keep her mana pool high. He can force her to use
Manta Style before he has cast
Global Silence and
Medusa usually does not want to build
Black King Bar.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Medusa
* Ursa's status resistance from Enrage reduces duration of Medusa's Stone Gaze.
* Ursa can stack damage with Fury Swipes easily against her Mana Shield in a prolonged team match.
Additional:
* Medusa's tankiness doesn't help her very much against Fury Swipes in long teamfights.
* With no escape mechanism and a slow movement speed, getting jumped on by Ursa usually spells a quick end for Medusa in the early game.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter,
Ursa,
Drow Ranger
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Fiend's Grip provides mana drain, which can heavily damage Mana Shield and prevent Medusa from using
Stone Gaze.
* Even if she does use Stone Gaze, Nightmare can buy enough time to protect allies and reset the fight.
Additional:
* Fiend's Grip leaves Medusa defenseless, since not only does it deal damage, it also drains mana.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight,
Mars,
Centaur Warrunner.
Medusa
* Bulwark can make each of Medusa's attacks target him instead, reducing Medusa's contribution on team fights.
* Spear of Mars stuns Medusa and also pushes her away from teamfights, taking advantage of Medusa's low mobility.
* Arena Of Blood blocks Medusa's attacks from outside the arena.
Medusa
* Medusa's
Stone Gaze forces Mars to choose between getting petrified, or turning his vulnerable back on Medusa.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)Medusa
* Sniper can outrange both Medusa's arrows and Stone Gaze, allowing him to focus her down during a teamfight.
Additional:
* Medusa is a fairly immobile hero that deals damage around her with Split Shot. Sniper should outrange her and should stay out of harm's way from Split Shot.
* More importantly, Sniper should have enough attack range to fire at Medusa during her Stone Gaze without turning to stone, so the ultimate is mostly wasted against him.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Medusa
* Medusa's Split Shot will whittle down all of Naga Siren's illusions, including Naga Siren herself.
Centaur Warrunner
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* Night Stalker is all about right-clicks. His nuke,
Void is also not that threatning once you have
Hood of Defiance, your core item.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,...
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Medusa
* Hard carries who just want to farm and be left alone will not appreciate Primal Beast, heroes such as Medusa,
Drow Ranger...
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* Heroes who take a long time to become strong are in for a rough mid game, such as Outworld Destroyer,
Magnus,
Medusa, and
Anti-Mage.
Batrider
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight,
Mars,
Centaur Warrunner.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Medusa
* Level 4 Mana Burn burns of Medusa's mana every 5 seconds if Medusa only increases her mana pool with intelligence. Additionally, 70% of the
Mana Burn damage gets mitigated by Mana Shield, burning even more mana.
* Due to the passive nature of Mystic Snake and Split Shot, it can possibly proc Nyx's Spiked Carapace if he's within range of Medusa's abilities and isn't invisible.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making Nyx with Aghanim's Scepter extremely hard to deal with if Medusa is the team's main damage source.
Additional:
* With her passive Split Shot, Medusa can be easily interrupted by Spiked Carapace during combat, especially during her precious
Stone Gaze.
* Mana Burn quickly destroys Mana Shield, especially if Medusa only increases her mana pool by bolstering intelligence (which has the added bonus of increasing Mana Burn's damage).
* Uncontrollable damage from Mystic Snake and
Split Shot can trigger Spiked Carapace.
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making a Burrowed Nyx Assassin hard to kill.
Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Medusa
* Medusa lacks mobility or escape mechanisms. Earth Spike and Hex can neutralize her strong damage potential and allow for Lion's team to focus her down.
* In addition to easily breaking her commonly bought Linken's Sphere with its low cooldown, Mana Drain can quickly drain her
Mana Shield, making her far less tanky.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Night Stalker
* 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 a fleeing or escape from Night Stalker during the night.
* Lastly, Dark Ascension gives full vision over Axe before he initiates, making the opponents all recognise 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 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.
Medusa
* Mana Shield reduces the effectiveness of Counter Helix.
* Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Axe to initiate on Medusa and her allies.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Medusa
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze, the charge will inevitably fail.
* Mana Shield and overall tankiness allows Medusa to easily survive Spirit Breaker's initiation.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Medusa
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven,
Omniknight,
Enigma,
Luna,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Rubick,
Keeper of the Light,
Pugna,
Invoker,
Spectre,
Alchemist,
Treant Protector,
Lina,
Oracle,
Zeus,
Shadow Shaman,
Phoenix,
Razor,
Huskar,
Batrider,
Kunkka,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Sand King,
Medusa,
Dawnbreaker.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Medusa
* Heroes with a lot of burst damage, especially those who rely on casting spells: Lina,
Zeus.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Medusa
* Heroes with a lot of burst damage, especially those who rely on casting spells: Lina,
Zeus.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Enchantress often has a small army of neutral creeps, allowing Medusa to hit her with a later bounce of her Mystic Snake.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Medusa
* Doom does not disable Mana Shield. As such, Doom's damage is largely mitigated by her mana shield. Additionally, Medusa is not reliant on her abilities to be effective during a teamfight, making Medusa an unproductive hero to target.
* Medusa is an ideal Linken's Sphere carrier. Should one be purchased, and without any additional disables, Doom may find that few opportunities exist to effectively lockdown, disable, and kill Medusa.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Night Stalker
* Crippling Fear can silence Faceless Void for a long time, preventing him from using his Time Walk and Chronosphere.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Medusa
* Split Shot will keep attacking Pangolier even when he is rolling around.
* Stone Gaze stuns Pangolier during Rolling Thunder, or forces him to roll away.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Puck
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Medusa
* Lifestealer's low mobility makes him easy to kite.
* Stone Gaze pierces Rage, wasting its cooldown and making Lifestealer unable to fight.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Luna
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Should Luna choose to buy Manta Style, Medusa will be able to kill illusions from them with
Split Shot and
Mjollnir, which is a common item on Medusa.
* Mystic Snake allows Medusa to easily harass Luna and steal mana from her, preventing Luna from retaliating with
Lucent Beam.
* Medusa can survive Eclipse thanks to
Mana Shield, and since Luna is not a hero that goes for
Diffusal Blade, she will struggle greatly in bursting down Medusa.
* Even with Black King Bar, Medusa's
Stone Gaze will still be able to disable Luna, which could even discourage her from counter-initiating with Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Medusa makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Medusa
* Medusa's Split Shot can make quick work of Enigma's Eidolons and take advantage of their considerable bounty.
* Medusa can also kill Eidolons with her Mystic Snake that can also greatly damage Enigma and drain some of his mana.
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze at the start of a fight, it can make initiating — and landing an effective
Black Hole exceedingly difficult, because
Stone Gaze can cancel Enigma's
Black Hole even through spell immunity, which can discourage Enigma from even trying to initiate with
Black Hole.
Additional:
* Medusa's Split Shot can make quick work of Enigma's Eidolons and take advantage of their considerable bounty.
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze at the start of a fight, it can make initiating — and landing an effective
Black Hole exceedingly difficult.
* Stone Gaze can cancel Enigma's
Black Hole even through spell immunity, which can discourage Enigma from initiating with
Black Hole.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Medusa
* 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.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Medusa
* Mana Shield makes Medusa very hard to take down in Duels.
* Stone Gaze stops Legion Commander from Dueling altogether, regardless of who she targets.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Undying
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)Medusa
* Split Shot can destroy Tombstone Zombies and Tombstone itself while still damaging heroes.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Medusa
* Visage's familiars are easy targets to Split Shot.
* Mana Shield will resist Soul Assumption instances without effort.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
* 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
Boots of Travel.
* Crippling Fear's silence will prevent Tinker from fighting back, as Tinker relies on his spells.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Medusa
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: Axe,
Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge,
Medusa.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)Night Stalker
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1: Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Centaur Warrunner,
Wraith King and more.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with silence such as Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter,
Ursa,
Drow Ranger
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Lich
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Night Stalker
* Any heroes with silences can negate the majority of Outworld Destroyer's damage output: Death Prophet,
Night Stalker,
Drow Ranger,
Doom .
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Night Stalker
* Careful not 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.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Medusa
* 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.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Medusa
* Mana Shield makes it very difficult for Bloodseeker to gain his Thirst bonuses.
* Rupture rarely kills Medusa through Mana Shield.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Medusa
* Heroes with extremely slow movement speed will cripple against Solar Bind: Medusa,
Viper
Additional:
* Will-O-Wisp will keep Medusa busy after she got hit by
Blinding Light.
Night Stalker
* 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.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Night Stalker
* Phoenix turns night to day, overriding Dark Ascension during
Supernova.
Night Stalker
* 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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Night Stalker
* Night Stalker's most skills are single targeted which allows other Meepos to Poof, Earthbind and kill him.
Medusa
* Poof won't damage Medusa and she can use Stone Gaze to disable all of Meepo's clones.
* Mystic Snake will easily become the bane of Meepo early game.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* 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.
Medusa
* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.
Additional:
* Mana Shield makes it very hard for Sven to burst her within Storm Hammer's stun duration.
* Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Sven to manfight Medusa at any stage of the game.
* Mystic Snake can slow Sven down enough for allies to capitalise on his commitment in a fight.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Medusa
* EMP allows Invoker to burn Medusa's mana to weaken Mana Shield.
* Medusa's lack of mobility makes her easy to kite with Invoker's spells.
Additional:
* EMP is a large mana burn nuke which can hit Medusa's Mana shield with enough damage to lose even more mana.
* Deafening Blast disarms Medusa's ability to deal pseudo-AOE damage during teamfights.
* Cold Snap allows the opposing team to repeatedly stun Medusa in short succession, preventing her from successfully casting her ultimate due to its long cast time.
Night Stalker
* 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.
Slardar
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
Medusa
* Medusa cares less than other heroes about armor reduction, since
Mana Shield blocks 70% of all damage without taking armor/magic resistance into consideration. This makes 60% of your Corrosive Haze ineffective until Medusa's mana is drained.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter,
Ursa,
Drow Ranger
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Medusa
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver,
Morphling,
Medusa.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Medusa
* Medusa is especially vulnerable to Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Additional:
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift particularly removes 1 intelligence point per hit, thus lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
Night Stalker
* 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.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky:
Riki,
Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Juggernaut,
Spectre,
Slark,
Drow Ranger.
Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Medusa
* Anti-Mage easily destroys Mana Shield with Mana Break, especially once he has
Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage effectively avoids Stone Gaze with Blink, and can reinitiate after its duration is over.
Additional:
* Mana Break burns Medusa's mana easily, especially when coupled with a
Manta Style.
* Can easily initiate on Medusa with Blink, burning her mana or forcing her to use Stone Gaze.
* Mana Void is effective against Medusa's big mana pool and mana usage, presenting a huge hazard to Medusa's allies around her since her Mana Shield still gives her some protection if she has mana.
Night Stalker
* 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.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Medusa
* With Smoke Screen, Riki will silence and catch Medusa in a surprise with high miss chance flushing her from positions easily in team fights.
* He can deal a huge amount of damage through Cloak and Dagger, even through Mana Shield.
Night Stalker
* 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.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)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.
Medusa
* Her Mana Shield is too tough for Lycan to break.
* Mystic Snake can hit for a massive damage once it spread between his summons.
Additional:
* Can be easily petrified despite his speed.
* Summoned wolves will be targeted by Split Shot or Mystic Snake
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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Night Stalker
* 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.
Aghanim's Scepter, there will be way too many illusions for Night Stalker to handle.
*
* Night Stalker has no AoE abilites to take out Phantom Lancer's illusions. Even if Night Stalker gets an
Medusa
* Phantom Lancer with
Diffusal Blade will very quickly burn Medusa's mana, making Mana Shield significantly less effective.
Doppelganger's 1 second invulnerability can be used to dodge Medusa's petrification from Stone Gaze, as well as Mystic Snake.
*
* Phantom Lancer's illusions outnumber Medusa's targets from Split Shot, likely shielding his team in the process.