* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
* The ensnare from melee Berserker's Rage can prevent Primal Beast from dealing further Trample damage and can allow Troll Warlord to relentlessly build Fervor on him.
* Whirling Axes (Ranged) can slow down Primal Beast while trampling and allow Troll Warlord to better control him from range.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) can blind Primal Beast if he attempts to auto-attack Troll Warlord after a fully charged Uproar.
* Battle Trance will make Primal Beast a sitting duck should he be rooted and attacked to death.
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as Bounty Hunter, Clinkz, Mirana, Nyx Assassin and Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
* Time Walk makes it impossible for Primal Beast to stay on top of Faceless Void with his abilities and allows him to heal burst damage dealt to him.
* Once Faceless Void has an Aghanim's Shard, Onslaught can be easily escaped. He could also choose to get a lower cooldown on Time Walk, making it even harder for Primal Beast to catch him in fights or stop his initiations.
* Time Dilation will make Primal Beast useless for an extended time after casting his abilities if he does not have a dispel.
* Chronosphere has many uses such as stopping Primal Beast from casting abilities on him or allies or even on a teammate, since Primal Beast has no way to assist allies trapped within the sphere.
* Impale and Spiked Carapace stun can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* Abaddon can use Borrowed Time and easily heal for the duration of Borrowed Time by Nyx's burst damage.
* Borrowed Time allows him to both exit his stuns prematurely and turn Trample into healing for himself. His Aghanim Scepter only prevents the automation of the spell, Abaddon himself can still manually activate it.
* Aphotic Shield will immediately debuff any stuns Primal Beast has put on allies but won't stop him from being stunned if casted on Abaddon.
* Nyx Assassin might not kill Abaddon with his nuke, but a support Abaddon will struggle to protect an ally from him.
* Oracle can negate and shut down Primal Beast simply with Fate's Edict, especially in the early game, as a majority of his damage-dealing spells are magic.
* Oracle can interrupt Primal Beast's Onslaught charge with a well-timed Fortune's End.
* Primal Beast's lethal burst damage combos can be further stalled with False Promise; combined with Fate's Edict and regen from Purifying Flames, Oracle can even completely negate Primal Beast's offense.
Additional:
* Fate's Edict completely negates all of Primal Beast's major damage-dealing spells in the early game and can render Primal Beast useless when cast on a target he is focusing, or in Oracle's defense against Primal Beast himself.
* Fortune's End keeps Primal Beast in place, especially while trampling or in the middle of an Onslaught charge.
* False Promise can interrupt Primal Beast's abilities, as well as further delay Primal Beast from dealing lethal burst damage. In combination with Fortune's End, Oracle can potentially save an ally from Primal Beast's spell combos.
* Even though Visage's Familiars from Summon Familiars are fragile and can be killed quickly with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, they can deal many instances of damage quickly, minimizing the effectiveness of Spiked Carapace.
* Gravekeeper's Cloak and tanky item builds make Visage hard for Nyx to kill with his burst damage. Aghanim's Shard upgraded Gravekeeper's Cloak also allows Visage to use Stone Form to both recover himself and stun Nyx Assassin if he is close enough to Visage.
* Visage's long range on Soul Assumption and Grave Chill make him hard to escape from, and Soul Assumption's low cooldown outmatches Spiked Carapace.
* Heroes who are entirely reliant on dealing physical damage and/or have very little to no area-of-effect abilities will make Underlord tickle and will have no effect against him thanks to his Atrophy Aura, and will also be unable to ambush Underlord and his team if Underlord chooses to use Fiend's Gate to get to a designated point of the map: Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade, Troll Warlord, Drow Ranger, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Sven, Wraith King, Bounty Hunter, Alchemist, Templar Assassin, Nyx Assassin, Bane.
* Pit of Malice is very good at preventing Primal Beast from entering the fight and stopping Trample damage at all stages of the game.
* Heroes with magical or pure damage output will not have any problems against Atrophy Aura at all: Luna, Lina, Jakiro, Pugna, Bane, Snapfire, Muerta, Nyx Assassin, Enigma, Tinker, Witch Doctor, Zeus, Crystal Maiden.
* Duel's long duration prevents Nyx Assassin escaping from Vendetta. With Aghanim's Scepter, she can also bypass Spiked Carapace.
* Nyx Assassin wants to start ganking as soon as he gets his Vendetta. Keeping him Tracked prevents him from ganking, and thus from doing his job in the game.
* Nyx Assassin has a lot of armor and health regen, making the nuke damage from Shuriken Toss very good against him.
Additional:
* Track hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking and escaping attempts with Vendetta, making him an easy kill for gold as well.
* Bounty Hunter can also use Track on Nyx Assassin while he has Spiked Carapace active without getting stunned as Track deals no damage at all before using Shuriken Toss.
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
* Malefice will prevent Primal Beast from doing anything for a long duration even in the early game when at his strongest.
* Midnight Pulse will scale with his max health so will do a ton of damage combined with any generic stun or Enigma's own abilities.
* Primal Beast relies completely on mobility to do damage, Black Hole makes sure he cannot use any abilities or threaten heroes he is typically good against.
* Enigma is fragile, and lacks escapes, being dependent on Blink Dagger for mobility. Ganking Heroes or Heroes with burst damage will likely kill him before he can do anything. Such Heroes include: Lina, Lion, Luna, Puck, Slark, Nyx Assassin, etc.
Additional:
* Enigma's uncontrollable damage from Malefice and Midnight Pulse make him easy to stun with Spiked Carapace.
* Black Hole can be easily interrupted by Impale or Spiked Carapace.
* Centaur's low Intelligence makes Mind Flare do low damage.
* With some creative skill builds, Centaur's Hoof Stomp stun duration should always last longer than Spiked Carapace stun, so escaping unscathed is hard for Nyx.
* With Blink Dagger and detection, Centaur can devastate Nyx in the open.
* However, bear in mind that Nyx can also easily initiate on Centaur Warrunner as well if he uses Spiked Carapace in anticipation, and with Vendetta. The damage from Retaliate will be reflected back to Centaur Warrunner, stunning him with no chance to react after he's revealed himself, and should guarantee a successful Impale.
* Power Cogs keeps Primal Beast pinned down, preventing him from doing damage with Trample. Primal Beast's slow attack speed makes it hard for him to break the cogs and get away. In addition, Power Cogs' knockback is forced movement and thus will intercept Primal Beast's Onslaught if placed well.
* Battery Assault on a lone Primal Beast in the early game effectively keeps him from winding up Onslaught or basic attacking.
* Rocket Flare and Jetpack (from purchasing Aghanim's Shard) give Clockwerk many options to scout for Primal Beast, whose kit benefits greatly from ambushing.
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from Impale and Mind Flare, and anything else Nyx Assassin tries to throw at Viper.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time output from Poison Attack, Nethertoxin, Corrosive Skin and Viper Strike, not even while he has Spiked Carapace active. And to make things worse, Nyx Assassin is not a common Silver Edge wielder to counter this problem at all.
Additional:
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from Impale and Mind Flare, and anything else Nyx Assassin tries to throw at Viper.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time output from Poison Attack, Nethertoxin, Corrosive Skin and Viper Strike, not even while he has Spiked Carapace active. And to make things worse, Nyx Assassin is not a common Silver Edge wielder to counter this problem at all.
* Cyclone from Storm in Primal Split can waste Nyx's Spiked Carapace, since its duration is shorter than the Cyclone's.
* Corrosive Haze hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with Vendetta, as well as reducing his armor and make him very vulnerable due to his low health pool.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to catch up with Nyx Asssassin and finish him off if he has vision over him.
* Lycan's high health allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
* As Lycan commonly buys Black King Bar, he can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin and chase after him with Shapeshift.
* Lycan can also use his wolves from Summon Wolves to attack Nyx Assassin while he has Spiked Carapace active without getting stunned himself.
* Dragon Knight's heavy armor negates Vendetta's burst physical damage. His large HP pool also gives him a good chance of surviving Nyx Assassin's follow-up nuke damage.
* Soulbind prevents Primal Beast from being able to use Onslaught or his abilities to great effect for a lengthy amount of time.
* Phantom's Embrace is very difficult for Primal Beast to remove due to his slow attack speed and Trample preventing him from attacking.
* A well-timed Doom prevents Nyx Assassin escaping with Vendetta and fighting back with Spiked Carapace.
* Doom's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
* Heroes that have a weak laning stage: Spectre, Nyx Assassin, Clockwerk, Spirit Breaker, Omniknight, Pudge.
* Supports who can slow him to the point Trample does very little damage in the lane are also not fun: Lich, Ogre Magi, Winter Wyvern.
* Primal Beast is mostly played in the offlane role, so picking a carry who can escape from him is essential. Heroes such as Troll Warlord, Lone Druid and Outworld Destroyer, or generally any carry with a stun, slow or ability to fight back will stop him from having the good start he needs.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Supports who can slow him to the point Trample does very little damage in the lane are also not fun: Lich, Ogre Magi, Winter Wyvern.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Primal Beast really suffers against supports he cannot bully in the lane: this includes Dazzle, Shadow Demon and Dark Willow since they can use their respective abilities to stop Primal Beast from dealing burst damage, or make it hard for him to stay in range.
* Any ganking heavy support can be a big problem for Primal Beast, such as: Earth Spirit, Grimstroke before he has a Black King Bar.
* Supports who can slow him to the point Trample does very little damage in the lane are also not fun: Lich, Ogre Magi, Winter Wyvern.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw, Slark, Shadow Fiend, Clinkz, Bristleback Nyx Assassin, Magnus
* Like above, supports with reliable stuns can be a massive problem and force Black King Bar in fights unideally, such as Shadow Shaman, Lion, Nyx Assassin.
* Primal Beast really suffers against supports he cannot bully in the lane: this includes Dazzle, Shadow Demon and Dark Willow since they can use their respective abilities to stop Primal Beast from dealing burst damage, or make it hard for him to stay in range.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Some abilities deals damage from an independent source and not from the hero itself, so Nyx cannot counter them with Spiked Carapace: illusions or summoning units, Homing Missile, Nimbus, Mass Serpent Ward, Death Ward and especially Techies's mines.
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren, Broodmother, Lycan, Visage, Phantom Lancer. And to make things worse, Nyx Asassin is not a common Battle Fury, Maelstrom, Mjollnir, Gleipnir or Radiance wielder to counter this problem.
* A well-timed Berserker's Call can expose Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with Vendetta, and prevent him from using Spiked Carapace.
* Axe can use Battle Hunger's damage over time to minimialize effects of Spiked Carapace.
* Axe's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off. Especially since Axe is a common Heart of Tarrasque wielder, which can completely eliminate any chance for Nyx Assassin to kill Axe alone.
* Culling Blade can often kill Nyx Assassin as he is very fragile and vulnerable to damage while Spiked Carapace is on cooldown.
Additional:
* A well-timed Berserker's Call can expose Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with Vendetta, and prevent him from using Spiked Carapace.
* Axe can use Battle Hunger's damage over time to minimialize effects of Spiked Carapace.
* Axe's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off. Especially since Axe is a common Heart of Tarrasque wielder, which can completely eliminate any chance for Nyx Assassin to kill Axe alone.
* Culling Blade can often kill Nyx Assassin as he is very fragile and vulnerable to damage while Spiked Carapace is on cooldown.
* Long lockdown is a great way to deal with Axe to prevent Berserker's Call from being used, heroes such as Legion Commander, Beastmaster and Primal Beast are good examples of this.
Additional:
* Berserker's Call will be a stun for Primal Beast and not much else due to Trample making him unable to attack.
* Battle Hunger is neglitable because Primal Beast has a much bigger health than Axe, so he does not need to fear being slowed, or his other abilities including Counter Helix or even a Blade Mail.
* Getting Primal Beast low enough to use a successful Culling Blade can be very difficult due to his massive health advantage over most heroes.
* Not ability related but Primal Beast does not need to fear Axe in lane, as Trample, combined with Uproar and Onslaught will do a ton of damage even if Axe has a Vanguard.
* Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter Rage with Spiked Carapace because Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin. Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with Open Wounds.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with Dust of Appearance or a Gem of True Sight. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. and Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
* Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.
Additional:
* Like with Juggernaut's Blade Fury, Rage allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter Rage with Spiked Carapace because Rage gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
* Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin. Open Wounds can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with Open Wounds.
* Infest combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with Dust of Appearance or a Gem of True Sight. And similarly to Juggernaut's Omnislash and Swiftslash from Aghanim's Scepter, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. And Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
* Like with Juggernaut, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.
* Special mention to Lifestealer who can use Rage to prevent Trample damage, but Primal Beast's ultimate can still be casted during the spell.
* Glimpse can prevent Primal Beast from initiating for most of the game with Onslaught.
* While Static Storm is not much of a threat in terms of damage, it does prevent Primal Beast from casting any spells for a long period of time if also trapped in Kinetic Field.
* Overall, Disruptor forces Primal Beast to buy a Black King Bar much earlier than he might like but becomes a major threat to Disruptor once he does.
* Heroes that can pick you off: Clinkz, Nyx Assassin, Puck, Riki.
* Nyx Assassin deals large amounts of pure damage with Vendetta and magical damage with Impale and Mind Flare, allowing him to ignore Terrorblade's armor and burst his low health pool down before he can use Sunder.
* Nyx Assassin commonly buys Urn of Shadows, Dagon and Meteor Hammer which deal magic damage that ignore Terrorblade's armor.
* However, Terrorblade is a natural Eye of Skadi and Black King Bar wielder, and once he gets those items, Nyx Assassin's solo kill potential against Terrorblade will be gone.
* Terrorblade has no stun and is vulnerable to Primal Beast's spell comboes due to his low health points in the laning stage and mid game.
* Reflection can be dispelled using Primal Beast's level 15 left talent.
* Sunder is the only real threat Terrorblade has against Primal Beast but he may die before he can even use it.
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, excellent ganking potential and multiple disables pose a threat to Muerta at all stages of the game.
* Mind Flare allows Nyx Assassin to take advantage of Muerta's high intelligence and make a short work of her low health.
* Spiked Carapace and Vendetta allow Nyx to escape or initiate well against Muerta's low mobility.
* As with most retaliation based abilities, Spiked Carapace can easily take advantage of Gunslinger's stray shots.
* However, Muerta is a natural Black King Bar wielder. And if she succeeds to activate it before Nyx Assassin can ambush her, he will go down very quickly against Muerta as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce through debuff immunity at all.
* Pierce the Veil does not prevent Primal Beast from using any of his spells to their fullest and is one of the few heroes that can disable her during her ultimate and a common Black King Bar purchase. She will also likely be fatal to herself if Primal Beast has a Blade Mail active.
* Gunslinger will be disabled if Primal Beast buys an Aghanim's Scepter.
* Assassinate is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for massive damage.
* Shrapnel's area damage can set up an easy stun with Spiked Carapace, especially when combined with Vendetta.
* In the early game, Sniper's low health pool and high intelligence makes him easy prey for Nyx Assassin.
* Primal Beast is one of Sniper's greatest counters, as he has no real means of escape and is very squishy, especially in the early game. Sniper's potshots and Shrapnel can contribute to Primal Beast's Uproar and further make him tankier than he already is. Onslaught allows him to close the gap on Sniper at his own volition, and Trample can deal serious damage to his meager health pool.
* Nether Blast's animation makes it easy to time Spiked Carapace for a stun.
* Pugna has the largest intelligence gain in the game, making him a prime target for Mana Burn.
* Pugna needs to channel Life Drain, making him easy to hit with Impale.
Additional:
* Due to Pugna's incredible intelligence growth and terrible strength growth, Nyx should always be able to take you out with his combo, with or without an added Dagon. Mind Flare will deal a large amount of damage in particular, especially in the late game.
* Spiked Carapace is also a great tool versus Pugna. A good player will wait for you in Vendetta until you farm a creep wave with Nether Blast and reflect it back at you as their initiation and setup for Impale.
* Primal Beast has multiple ways to cancel Life Drain very quickly.
* Pugna has a very low strength gain and as a support does not have much gold to buy health items, making him vulnerable to Primal Beast's onslaught of magical damage.
* Ironically, Decrepify actually just increases Primal Beast's damage on the targeted ally if Trample is activated. However, it can be used to slow him down and prevent any further Trample damage.
* Heroes with invisibility: (Riki, Clinkz, Nyx Assassin.
* Sprout gets destroyed by Trample and Onslaught.
* Crystal Maiden has a very bad movement speed, so Impale is easy to land against her. Furthermore, even while trapped by Frostbite, Nyx Assassin can still cast Impale.
* Crystal Maiden has very low armor, so Vendetta is very effective.
* Nyx Assassin has two ways to stop Freezing Field, provided she doesn't get a Black King Bar. He can either pop Spiked Carapace and simply walk into the field, or he can use Impale to interrupt the field, since Crystal Maiden has to channel it.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace easily interrupts Freezing Field.
* Frostbite's damage over time sets up an easy Spiked Carapace stun.
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and dies quickly to Nyx Assassin's burst damage.
* Any hero with low mobility and max healthsuch as Silencer, Crystal Maiden etc.
* Spiked Carapace can be used to reflect Illuminate damage and stun Keeper of the Light.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to follow Keeper of the Light around if he tries to split-push.
* Keeper of the Light is very squishy and will very quickly die to Vendetta and it's followup abilities.
* Any hero who lanes very poorly will struggle with Primal Beast's potential snowball in the very early levels, like Keeper of the Light, Luna, Templar Assassin...
* Nyx Assassin has a lot of burst damage from his Impale, Mind Flare, Dagon, and the bonus damage from Vendetta. All of this damage is enough to kill Drow Ranger.
* Nyx Assassin is usually invisible most of the time thanks to his ability Vendetta, which allows him to gank Drow Ranger easily.
* However, Gust is extremely dangerous for Nyx Assassin, as it's silence can render Nyx Assassin unable to lock down Drow Ranger. And if Gust hits Nyx Assassin while he is invisible with Vendetta, Drow Ranger will be able to detect him and foil his ganking attempts on her because Gust reveals invisible units.
* Heroes who have low or high armor but very high health will be difficult for drow to burst down quickly: Primal Beast, Axe, Centaur Warrunner.
* Last Word is extremely easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for large amounts damage, due to triggering when Nyx Assassin casts a spell, but can still silence Nyx Assassin. It also has the added bonus of dealing more damage the more Intelligence Silencer has.
* Glaives of Wisdom quickly builds Silencer's Intelligence, making him a particularly prime target for Mana Burn.
* Silencer rarely builds survivability items, nor is he able to steal much Intelligence while surrounded by his team, and so is an excellent target for Vendetta.
* Silencer has no reliable way of dealing with a burrowed Nyx, and also lacks the ability to prevent Nyx from escaping with Vendetta,
Additional:
* Silencer is rather squishy and has poor mobility without items, making him an easy target for Nyx.
* Silencer's intelligence steal ability is a complete disadvantage against Nyx Assassin as Mind Flare will deal increasing damage for each point of intelligence Silencer has stolen, turning Silencer's intelligence steal against him.
* Any hero with low mobility and max healthsuch as Silencer, Crystal Maiden 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.
* 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.
* Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace will stun Leshrac when hit by any of his AOE abilities.
* Mind Flare deals high damage due to Leshrac's high intelligence gain.
* Vendetta burns a large amount of Leshrac's essential mana pool.
* Heroes who rely on burst damage with magical damage will struggle to kill Primal Beast: Spirit Breaker, Gyrocopter, Leshrac
* Heroes with heavy early and mid-game magical damage are also problematic for Phantom Assassin due to being able to easily kill her before she can gain an item advantage over them: Lina, Necrophos, Nyx Assassin, Gyrocopter, Jakiro, Death Prophet.
* Phantom Assassin is known to be weak against bursts of magical damage, something Primal Beast excels at from the beginning of the game. He can use this to his advantage by constantly hunting Phantom Assassin down, especially if she is left alone to farm.
* Primal Beast is a good carrier of Ethereal Blade, Vanguard and Shiva's Guard all of which are very good against Coup de Grace and Phantom Strike.
* Even though Primal Beast does a lot of physical damage early on, later once Blur becomes more potent, she may find herself being overwhelmed by Trample and Onslaught instead.
* Primal Beast's ultimate goes through spell immunity and his level 25 talent makes it even more devistating against Phantom Assassin.
* Primal Beast can dispel Stifling Dagger and any attack modifers it applies with his left level 15 talent.
* Vendetta burns a significant amount of mana on hit, and the damage from the ability drains Medusa's mana pool even further.
* 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.
* Hard carries who just want to farm and be left alone will not appreciate Primal Beast, heroes such as Medusa, Drow Ranger...
* Heroes who can drain mana can make Omniknight useless after he uses one or two abilities: Lion, Anti-Mage, Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes who cannot escape from Trample early might be easy first blood. Heroes like Witch Doctor and Omniknight should play very cautiously alone...
* Nyx can walk into Firefly with Spiked Carapace and stun Batrider if he has no Spell Immunity, even if Batrider is focusing on other enemy hero.
* Spiked Carapace stops Snapfire's Mortimer Kisses.
* Vendetta can deal great damage against her. However, it requires an direct attack, so Nyx Assassin may have difficulties applying Vendetta on her.
* Enchantress's lack of mobility makes her a primary target for ganking with Vendetta.
* Mind Flare can deal a great damage against her due to being an Intelligence hero.
* Spiked Carapace can reflect Impetus and stun Enchantress.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace reflects the damage from Impetus.
* Enchantress is a rather squishy hero, making her fall easily to Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
* Nyx's Spiked Carapace can reflect the damage of Sharpshooter, instantly killing hoodwink. Nyx can also use Vendetta to position himself in such a way to screen allies from Sharpshooter and catch Hoodwink by surprise.
* Magnus is not tanky and struggles against burst damage, something Primal Beast excels at in the early-to-mid game. Primal Beast is also able to out-damage Magnus's Empower and can even contribute to his Uproar stacks.
* Using Skewer to drag Primal Beast while he is trampling will count as movement and will trigger a rapid number of slams, which could prove lethal to Magnus.
* Illusory Orb is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace, either stunning Puck and setting up an easy Impale or forcing a premature Phase Shift.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that tends to build intelligence items, making it vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can easily set Puck up to be stunned by Impale.
* Puck's low base armor and below average agility gain mean it is always susceptible to Vendetta.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin can take advantage of every one of Puck's weaknesses. His entire skill set is very effective in countering Puck.
* Because Illusory Orb is such a slow moving projectile, Nyx Assassin can simply walk into the orb and activate Spiked Carapace, stunning Puck and setting up an easy Impale. This can be circumvented by using Phase Shift while the orb is traveling, however, that means that Puck cannot use Phase Shift to dodge any other skill nor use it to safely blink away from a fight.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that likes to build intelligence items such as Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Scythe of Vyse, and Dagon. This makes Mind Flare that much more deadly against Puck.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can turn into an easy setup for Impale.
* Dispersion reduces damage based on a percentage, which is very minimal against large amounts of small instances of damage such as Trample. It reduces each tick by about 14 at the maximum level, which is very small.
* Desolate is never a threat to Primal Beast due to his large health pool and Uproar is still out-damaging the ability.
* Onslaught can allow Primal Beast to chase Spectre fleeing with Spectral Dagger, as both skills phase through trees and terrain.
* Primal Beast can also dispel Spectral Dagger's slow with his left level 15 talent, making it completely useless against him.
* Primal Beast excels at early aggression, pushing weak carries out of lane and farming areas he wants to control. Overall just not a pleasant matchup for Spectre.
* Should Primal Beast buy an Aghanim's Scepter he can also break both passive abilities.
* Mana Burn removes much-needed mana for Ball Lightning.
* Spiked Carapace triggers on Static Remnant for an easy stun.
Additional:
* Vendetta is capable of removing most of Storm Spirit's large mana pool, along with dealing heavy damage and quickly depleting his chances of escaping a gank or fight.
* The huge physical damage taken from Vendetta will force Necrophos to use Ghost Shroud, which is good for a followup with Dagon and Ethereal Blade, both of which are common items on Nyx Assassin.
* Using Ghost Shroud also sets Necrophos up for a Mind Flare or Impale.
* Impale and Spiked Carapace can be used to cancel Dismember easily, and can even do so when Pudge uses it on Nyx Assassin, if timed correctly.
* A good Nyx can reflect Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave with his Spiked Carapace, or even initiate a gank on her in Vendetta while she farms a creep wave with Scream of Pain.
* Her strength to intelligence ratio is bad enough that he should be able to kill her without even requiring a Dagon, provided he can get his full combo off.
* Onslaught prevents all of Razor's abilities from being effective against him, especially in the laning stage.
* Ravage's travel time allows Nyx Assassin to easily stun Tidehunter with Spiked Carapace.
* Vendetta can instantly deplete Tidehunter's low mana pool, especially in the early game, potentially preventing Tidehunter from casting Ravage.
* Many of Nyx Assassin's abilities are good against Windranger.
* Impale is great for stunning Windranger and allowing additional disables to be landed.
* Mind Flare is useful against Windranger's decent intelligence growth.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against Powershot.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to sneak up on and deal massive damage to Windranger without giving Windranger a chance to use Windrun to evade it.
* Nyx Assassin's item build allows him to easily deal with Windranger.
* Impale and Spiked Carapace interrupts Upheaval with ease.
* Warlock's low health pool, mobility, and high intelligence gain makes him a prime target for Nyx Assassin's burst damage.
* Vendetta disables Vengeance Aura and allows him to attack Vengeful Spirit with Impale and Mind Flare.
* Spiked Carapace is easy to use against a Wave of Terror or Magic Missile.
* Heroes who can do scaling health damage to Primal Beast are very threatening for the hero. Such as: Phoenix, Tinker etc.
* Heat-Seeking Missile allow easy Spiked Carapace stuns.
* As a fragile hero that relies on mana and intelligence items, Tinker is vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin's stuns can interrupt Rearm and leave Tinker helpless.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin's whole skillset is good against Tinker:
* Impale prevents Tinker from blinding Nyx Assassin or fighting back, while giving Nyx' allies time to catch up to Tinker's position.
* Mind Flare generally deals more damage to intelligence based heroes like Tinker.
* Spiked Carapace can stun Tinker at a moment of Nyx Assassin's choosing if March of the Machines has been cast. It is also quite easy to time Spiked Carapace against Heat Seeking Missiles.
* Vendetta allows Nyx to approach Tinker in the trees or wait for him in common hiding spots and deal heavy damage to his low armor.
* Heroes with unorthodox escapes will struggle against Primal Beast, such as Nature's Prophet, Tinker, and Templar Assassin.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst can often kill Chen or his allies before he can use Hand of God: Lina, Luna, Techies, Shadow Fiend, Pugna, Nyx Assassin.
* Any hero who lanes very poorly will struggle with Primal Beast's potential snowball in the very early levels, like Keeper of the Light, Luna, Templar Assassin...
* Heroes who rely on burst damage with magical damage will struggle to kill Primal Beast: Spirit Breaker, Gyrocopter, Leshrac
* Illusion heroes will struggle against Primal Beast's area damage capability, such as Chaos Knight, Naga Siren, Terrorblade.
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling: Enigma, Crystal Maiden, Invoker, Shadow Fiend, Pugna, Keeper of the Light, Dawnbreaker.
* Heroes who rely on burst damage with magical damage will struggle to kill Primal Beast: Spirit Breaker, Gyrocopter, Leshrac
* 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.
* 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.
* Mind Flare turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him and deals heavy damage.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
* Dark Pact, Shadow Dance and Depth Shroud will do nothing against Onslaught and Trample, as they are both ground area-of-effect spells.
* Primal Beast has a gigantic hitbox, which could be difficult for Slark to escape with Pounce should Primal Beast choose to block him. Pounce also does not completely prevent Primal Beast from trampling offensively, as he still has some room to move.
* Primal Beast has a huge health pool making it difficult to shed it with Essence Shift and may allow Primal Beast to build Uproar stacks against him very rapidly.
* If Primal Beast buys an Aghanim's Scepter he can also break Essence Shift from working on attacks which is a big part of Slark's damage output.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Spiked Carapace can stop Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian which will eliminate her global presence and limits her movement around the map.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace interrupts Starbreaker before Dawnbreaker has her Aghanim's Shard, as well as Solar Guardian during the initial channel, making her ineffective at joining and dealing damage in teamfights.
* The slow projectile and damage over time effect of Celestial Hammer makes it easy to stun Dawnbreaker if she attemps to engage or chase.
* Primal Beast really suffers against supports he cannot bully in the lane: this includes Dazzle, Shadow Demon and Dark Willow since they can use their respective abilities to stop Primal Beast from dealing burst damage, or make it hard for him to stay in range.
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
* Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
* Mind Flare does tons of damage against Lina because of her high intelligence.
* Vendetta can deal heavy damage to Lina while also burning her mana, preventing Lina from casting her abilities.
* Spiked Carapace can easily be used to counter Lina's abilities because of their long cast animation, and could probably kill Lina outright if Laguna Blade is reflected. However, Lina can counter this with Eul's Scepter of Divinity, a common item on Lina.
* Primal Beast is mostly played in the offlane role, so picking a carry who can escape from him is essential. Heroes such as Troll Warlord, Lone Druid and Outworld Destroyer, or generally any carry with a stun, slow or ability to fight back will stop him from having the good start he needs.
* Outworld Destroyer's high intelligence gain and fragility makes him an easy target for a massive Mana Burn, as well as killing him outwards with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
* Astral Imprisonment can be easily exploited by Nyx Assassin with his abilities. As long as Astral Imprisonment was not cast on Nyx Assassin, it will make an opportunity for an easy stun, either by Spiked Carapace (if Outworld Destroyer hid his allies or your allies) or Impale (if he hid himself). If Astral Imprisonment was cast on Nyx Assassin, using Spiked Carapace while banished will proc the stun after the disable, since Spike Carapace has a 0 second cast time and Astral Imprisonment deals damage right after the disable ends.
* An ill-timed Sanity's Eclipse and/or well timed Spiked Carapace can deal a lot of damage to Outworld Destroyer and stun him, unless Outworld Destroyer used Black King Bar beforehand.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's high intelligence makes him a good target for Mind Flare.
* If timed correctly, Spiked Carapace will return the full damage from Sanity's Eclipse back to Outworld Destroyer. Even a reflected Arcane Orb can deal significant damage and make him vulnerable to a follow-up from Nyx Assassin.
* Spiked Carapace is also the perfect tool against Astral Imprisonment: if used on Nyx, he can reflect the damage back as he comes out of the prison by casting the ability while imprisoned.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Broodmother will gain access to Spinner's Snare, which will allow her to create invisible lines on her webs from Spin Web that will root, deal damage over time, and reveal enemy heroes if they unwittingly step on them. This allows Broodmother to keep her allies alerted on heroes who rely on invisibility-themed and movement-themed abilities and items to surprise enemy heroes and disrupt ganking attempts of enemy heroes: Phantom Assassin, Nyx Assassin, Mirana, Bounty Hunter, Templar Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker, Anti-Mage, Tusk, Ursa, Nature's Prophet, Enigma, Void Spirit, Magnus etc.
* While Broodmother can hide in the trees with Spin Web, Primal Beast's ability to trample trees down can give him an edge in catching her.
* Insatiable Hunger will not do much vs Primal Beast's onslaught of disables.
* While Silken Bola can slow Primal Beast down, it's not enough to stop Trample from doing more damage than Broodmother can do back.
* Spawn Spiderlings will be destroyed by Onslaught and Trample very easily.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* With Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use Spiked Carapace with Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by Flame Guard or Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren, Broodmother, Lycan, Visage, Phantom Lancer. And to make things worse, Nyx Asassin is not a common Battle Fury, Maelstrom, Mjollnir, Gleipnir or Radiance wielder to counter this problem.
* Illusion heroes will struggle against Primal Beast's area damage capability, such as Chaos Knight, Naga Siren, Terrorblade.
* Invoker's numerous area-of-effect abilities can interrupt Primal Beast, especially while he is in the middle of a team fight, where Primal Beast thrives. (Tornado, Cold Snap, and Ice Wall all help to disable Primal Beast and control him from a distance.
* E.M.P. disintegrates Primal Beast's low mana pool.
* However, Invoker is quite a slow-paced hero and not particularly known for being survivable against a rampaging Primal Beast with Black King Bar.
* Nyx Assassin can simply activate Spiked Carapace while under many Invoker's abilities to stun him.
* Nyx Assassin takes advantage of Invoker's massive intelligence gain to do tons of damage using Mind Flare, as the spell does more damage based on the target's intelligence.
* Vendetta burns a large amount of Invoker's essential mana pool.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Nyx Assassin can reflect Life Break with Spiked Carapace.
* Even though Nyx Assassin can easily kill Luna with his high burst damage, Luna can also do the same to him if he is not careful.
* Lucent Beam can deal a fair amount of damage to Nyx Assassin if he has no Spiked Carapace available to use. Although Luna should be patient using Lucent Beam on Nyx Assassin when he uses Spiked Carapace.
* As Luna commonly buys Black King Bar, she can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin whenever he tries to defend himself with Spiked Carapace during teamfights. Luna can also buy Eye of Skadi and Manta Style to survive Nyx Assassin's burst damage and distract him.
* Though Vendetta can deal serious damage to Luna and avoid Eclipse, smart Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Nyx Assassin to her and her team.
Additional:
* Even though Nyx Assassin can easily kill Luna with his high burst damage, Luna can also do the same to him if he is not careful.
* Lucent Beam can deal a fair amount of damage to Nyx Assassin if he has no Spiked Carapace available to use. Although Luna should be patient using Lucent Beam on Nyx Assassin when he uses Spiked Carapace.
* As Luna commonly buys Black King Bar, she can use it to freely attack Nyx Assassin whenever he tries to defend himself with Spiked Carapace during teamfights. Luna can also buy Eye of Skadi and Manta Style to survive Nyx Assassin's burst damage and distract him.
* Though Vendetta can deal serious damage to Luna and avoid Eclipse, smart Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Nyx Assassin to her and her team.
* Primal Beast has a massive healthpool making it very difficult to get through it with a nuke such as Eclipse or Lucent Beam.
* Primal Beast is faster than Luna, as one of her main ways to escape danger, is very problematic for her in the laning stage especially.
* His ultimate goes through debuff immunity, making Luna's Black King Bar less effective.
* Primal Beast commonly buys Blade Mail which is a big problem for a single target bursting hero like Luna.
* Primal Beast is disarmed during Trample so will be unable to destroy a Supernova no matter how close it is to him.
* The same ability can also be used to save allies with the help of an Aghanim's Scepter.
* Sun Ray will do thousands of damage to Primal Beast if surviving a full channel time due to his high health scaling for the ability.
* Icarus Dive is a fantastic way to escape Primal Beast after he has used Onslaught.
* Phoenix has a naturally very high health pool making it hard for Primal Beast to deal with him with his magical damage.
* Spiked Carapace reacts on any of the damage over time from Phoenix's abilities and can interrupt Sun Ray and Icarus Dive.
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
* Heroes who cannot escape from Trample early might be easy first blood. Heroes like Witch Doctor and Omniknight should play very cautiously alone...
* Blade Fury makes Juggernaut immune to all Nyx's abilities, except Vendetta.
* Omnislash. and Swiftslash can burst Nyx down, ignoring Spiked Carapace. However, Vendetta can be used to escape, canceling Omnislash/Swiftslash.
Additional:
* Juggernaut's entire skillset greatly counters Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace, his most important ability.
* Blade Fury allows Juggernaut to freely attack Nyx Assassin, and deal heavy damage to Nyx Assassin. Nyx Assassin cannot counter Blade Fury with Spiked Carapace because Blade Fury gives Juggernaut spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Juggernaut while he is spell immune.
* Healing Ward allows Juggernaut to recover himself and his allies from Nyx Assassin's damage output.
* Omnislash and Swiftslash from Aghanim's Scepter can quickly finish off Nyx Assassin. And just like Blade Fury, Nyx Assassin cannot counter neither Omnislash and Swiftslash from Aghanim's Scepter with Spiked Carapace because both abilities render Juggernaut invulnerable. And if Nyx Assassin has no Vendetta available to use for escaping, both abilities will kill him very quickly before he can do anything.
* Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Juggernaut will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Juggernaut.
* Primal Beast can use Uproar to tank a portion of Omnislash, making him much more likely to survive it. Primal Beast can also charge away from Omnislash using Onslaught as the spell ends.
* Blade Fury will never do more damage than Uproar once the stacks are activated.
* Primal Beast is very commonly buying items that are good against Juggernaut, such as Ethereal Blade and Heart of Tarrasque.
* Primal Beast has one of the few ultimates that can prevent Juggernaut from spinning away with a teleport.
* Shukuchi allows Weaver to have faster movement speed and can outrun Primal Beast in most instances, such as while he is trampling.
* Trample disarms Primal Beast, so casting The Swarm can make him vulnerable to ranged attacks. Primal Beast also has an innately slow attack speed and will take a long time destroying the bugs.
* Time Lapse allows Weaver to negate and heal burst damage, which Primal Beast is reliant on.
* Spiked Carapace allows Nyx to get an easy long-duration stun on Weaver once he uses Shukuchi, and then he can follow up with Impale.
* Vendetta works as a great setup for both Impale and Spiked Carapace and can deal decent damage to Weaver. Additionally he can neutralize The Swarm beetles due to his invisibility duration.
* Like above, supports with reliable stuns can be a massive problem and force Black King Bar in fights unideally, such as Shadow Shaman, Lion, Nyx Assassin.
* Nyx Assassin, Bounty Hunter and Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
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Nyx Assassin
* Heroes with invisibility will be detected by Thirst when they have low enough health: Bounty Hunter, Templar Assassin, Riki, Clinkz, Weaver, Treant Protector, Nyx Assassin.
Additional:
* While Burrowing, Nyx is an easy target for a Blood Rite, and his only way to counter it is a well-timed Spiked Carapace.
* Thirst is always a threat to Nyx Assassin, hindering his attempt of escape using Vendetta and rendering him unable to surprise Bloodseeker's allies.
* Rupture also prevents Nyx Assassin from escaping with Vendetta, as it forces him to stay still.
Primal Beast
* Primal Beast's abilities require movement to deal damage, making Rupture potentially deadly and debilitating. Furthermore, its initial damage based on the target's current health is devastating to a full-health Primal Beast with his high strength gain and thus high HP.
* Due to his reliance on spells, Primal Beast is vulnerable to Blood Rite's powerful silence without items to counter it.