Lycan
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)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.
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Skywrath Mage
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Additional:
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and
Decrepify won't help Pugna at all.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Night Stalker
* Night Stalker's most skills are single targeted which allows other Meepos to Poof, Earthbind and kill him.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's abilities are single targeted and he can't use Mystic Flare to its fullest potential, since all Meepos spread the damage between them. He also has no disables to prevent Meepo from Poofing to another one (unless he can get
Ancient Seal off first).
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
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.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high physical burst like Juggernaut or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.
Sven
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with silence such as Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
Razor
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
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,...
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.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
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.
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.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Skywrath Mage
* Berserker's Blood works proportionate to lost health, but Huskar has a decent health pool, and the attack speed granted from
Berserker's Blood powers him up.
* Skywrath Mage's armor and agility gain is very low so Huskar can outdamage him or take Skywrath Mage down with him.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* Fate Edict can completely negate Skywrath Mage's heavy magic damage.
* Fortune End dispels Ancient Seal.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion,
Night Stalker, or
Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Skywrath Mage
* Outworld Destroyer can steal more mana with Astral Imprisonment from
Skywrath Mage with
Shield of the Scion (granted by
Aghanim's Shard). Shield of the Scion grants Skywrath Mage bonus intelligence every time he deals magic damage to an enemy hero with his abilities. The higher his intelligence, the larger his mana pool. Since Astral Imprisonment steals based on the target's max mana, Outworld Destroyer can steal much more mana from Skywrath Mage.
Night Stalker
* Any heroes with silences can negate the majority of Outworld Destroyer's damage output: Death Prophet,
Night Stalker,
Drow Ranger,
Doom .
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* A good Skywrath Mage with quick fingers will punish Queen of Pain for blinking aggressively. Ancient Seal is a six second silence with no cast time, so he can interrupt either her Shadow Strike or Sonic Wave, and a good
Mystic Flare on top of that will seal the deal for her.
* Ancient Seal also has pretty good range so he could get it off before she blinks away.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Similar to Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
* An Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
* Root and silence are Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has
Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
* If he builds Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere; Sniper,
Skywrath Mage, etc.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses
Blink Dagger to initiate.
* Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's
Mystic Flare can deal huge damage to Clockwerk inside his Power Cogs.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
* Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
* Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Skywrath Mage
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
* Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a
Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
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.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)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.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast Winter's Curse on him. And if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
* However, bear in mind that Skywrath Mage has seriously awful armor, and that can make him an adequate target to being turned against his own team with Winter's Curse, which can result in his death quickly.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
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.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)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.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal can silence Jakiro up to 6 seconds. Also, it makes Jakiro vulnerable to magical spells.
* Skywrath Mage can burst down Jakiro with his high damage magical spells.
Slark
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)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.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Skywrath Mage
* Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal's instant cast time will often silence Brewmaster before he can do anything.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Skywrath Mage's massive magical damage.
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.
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.
Lion
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with nukes: Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
* A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
* The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Skywrath Mage
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
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.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: Zeus,
Lina,
Crystal Maiden.
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
Lich
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 9%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with low health: Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Lion.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter,
Ursa,
Drow Ranger
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane,
Ember Spirit,
Leshrac,
Lina,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Phantom Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Ursa,
Void Spirit.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Skywrath Mage
* Counterspell gives Anti-Mage magic resistance to negate a majority of Skywraith Mage's magical damage.
* Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and
Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
* Huge mana cost on Mystic Flare means easy target for Mana Void.
* Although Anti-Mage is weak early-game to Ancient Seal until he can dispel silences, Skywrath Mage's solo kill potential is very low.
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.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
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.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with illusions and summons can manfight Night Stalker: Terrorblade,
Beastmaster,
Broodmother.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt can target Terrorblade's low health pool in the laning phase.
* Ancient Seal can prevent Terrorblade from casting Sunder.
* Mystic Flare can be used to great effect to burst Terrorblade down before he gets a
Manta Style or a
Black King Bar.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high physical burst like Juggernaut or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
Skywrath Mage
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Additional:
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
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.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Skywrath Mage
* Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid game.
* Concussive Shot and
Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
* Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into
True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
Mars
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Night Stalker
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight,
Mars,
Centaur Warrunner.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* Slow-moving projectiles: Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* Mana Burn is annoying at all stages of the game as it turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
Night Stalker
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre,
Nyx Assassin,
Clockwerk,
Spirit Breaker,
Omniknight,
Pudge.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Skywrath Mage
* In general, heroes that deal burst in multiple instances will trigger Borrowed Time and heal Abaddon for a large amount, such as Skywrath Mage,
Techies,
Juggernaut,
Shadow Shaman, or
Ogre Magi.
Additional:
* Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
* Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst
Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.
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.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Skywrath Mage
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Io,
Witch Doctor, etc.
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.
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Night Stalker
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him: Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
Night Stalker
* Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker: Gyrocopter,
Ursa,
Drow Ranger
Riki
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Skywrath Mage
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy Black King Bar.
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.
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.
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.
Most popular searches list
Slark, PudgeDazzle, Pudge
Techies, Spectre
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Axe, Legion Commander
Ancient Apparition, Abaddon
Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage
Axe, Techies, Spectre
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Kunkka, Axe, Grimstroke
Phantom Assassin, Crystal Maiden
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Pugna
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Abaddon, Alchemist, Arc Warden, Bane
Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Axe, Dark Willow
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Anti-Mage, Abaddon, Axe, Bane, Batrider
Riki, Invoker, Bristleback, Sniper, Lion
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Ogre Magi, Ursa, Troll Warlord, Meepo, Lich
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Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden
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Faceless Void, Tinker, Lion, Brewmaster, Pudge
Riki, Legion Commander, Tiny, Invoker, Spectre
Alchemist, Lina, Lycan, Luna, Nature's Prophet
Pudge, Zeus, Lich, Juggernaut, Centaur Warrunner
Clockwerk, Pudge, Invoker, Shadow Shaman, Sniper
Silencer, Zeus, Faceless Void, Sniper, Sand King
Huskar, Pudge, Alchemist, Luna, Phantom Assassin
Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Tusk, Axe, Tiny
Drow Ranger, Sniper, Earthshaker, Bristleback, Riki
Tinker, Pudge, Earthshaker, Elder Titan, Gyrocopter
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Riki, Invoker, Chaos Knight
Dazzle, Ogre Magi, Invoker, Rubick, Phantom Assassin
Spirit Breaker, Outworld Devourer, Axe, Warlock, Ursa
Winter Wyvern, Lich, Ember Spirit, Underlord, Leshrac
Leshrac, Shadow Shaman, Sniper, Necrophos, Terrorblade
Abaddon, Bane, Storm Spirit, Grimstroke, Phantom Lancer
Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Ancient Apparition, Axe
Windranger, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Riki, Alchemist
Brewmaster, Pudge, Storm Spirit, Phantom Lancer, Oracle
Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Axe, Arc Warden
Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Axe, Alchemist
Luna, Vengeful Spirit, Storm Spirit, Undying, Beastmaster
Juggernaut, Zeus, Sven, Ancient Apparition, Spirit Breaker
Axe, Ancient Apparition, Bloodseeker, Clinkz, Chaos Knight
Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Huskar, Queen of Pain, Earthshaker
Axe, Drow Ranger, Vengeful Spirit, Windranger, Winter Wyvern
Juggernaut, Shadow Shaman, Windranger, Meepo, Spirit Breaker
Abaddon, Alchemist, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Ancient Apparition
Abaddon, Alchemist, Ancient Apparition, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden
Juggernaut, Ember Spirit, Shadow Shaman, Ogre Magi, Brewmaster
Shadow Shaman, Spirit Breaker, Sniper, Wraith King, Earthshaker
Invoker, Grimstroke, Windranger, Bounty Hunter, Phantom Assassin
Treant Protector, Puck, Vengeful Spirit, Shadow Fiend, Anti-Mage
Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Skywrath Mage, Silencer, Shadow Fiend
Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Invoker, Phantom Lancer, Vengeful Spirit
Night Stalker
* Void's slow is useless against Lycan by activating
Shapeshift.
Aghanim's Scepter) is not very effective against Lycan's
Summon Wolves during the early and mid game.
* Night Stalker's single target abilities (with the exception of Void upgraded by
Skywrath Mage
* Once you get a
Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like
Zeus,
Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.