* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer:
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
* Due to
Phantom Rush and
Juxtapose being passives and not affected by silence, a Phantom Lancer with a
Diffusal Blade can easily kill Silencer.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
* If Silencer can't prevent Dragon Knight from using
Elder Dragon Form, Silencer's spells aren't going to be that effective against him, as Dragon Knight relies on right-clicks and not spells.
*
Dragon Blood's armor bonus and health regeneration allows Dragon Knight to stay in the lane against Glaives of Wisdom.
* Dragon Knight often builds
Black King Bar, allowing him to remove Global Silence before engaging.
*
Enfeeble greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's attack damage, and if her attack damage is weak,
Coup De Grace will also suffer from attack damage reduction as well.
Enfeeble also reduces cast range of Phantom Assassin's abilities, making her unable to harass with
Stifling Dagger and to use
Phantom Strike at longer distances.
*
Nightmare and
Fiend's Grip can ground Phantom Assassin, who normally blinks around with
Phantom Strike, and stop her from outputting damage.
* Phantom Assassin's low health pool early on makes her susceptible to {A|Brain Sap|Bane
Additional:
* Enfeeble greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's attack damage, and if her attack damage is weak,
Coup De Grace will also suffer from attack damage reduction as well. Enfeeble also reduces any healing Phantom Assassin receives, making her unable to heal herself with Phantom Strike, and it also reduces cast range of Phantom Assassin's abilities, making her unable to harass with
Stifling Dagger and to use
Phantom Strike at longer distances.
* Nightmare and Fiend's Grip can ground Phantom Assassin, who normally blinks around with
Phantom Strike, and stop her from outputting damage, even with Black King Bar.
* Phantom Assassin's low health pool early on makes her susceptible to Brain Sap and Fiend's Grip's heavy nuke damage.
* Heroes that can disable or silence Silencer for a long time, such as
Bane and
Legion Commander, can lock down Silencer while their allies put him down.
* 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.
* 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.
Additional:
*
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,
* Slark's
Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with
Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who typically builds
Silver Edge, Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin's
Blur and
Coup de Grace, thus taking down her attack evasion and drastically reducing her damage output.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Slark will have plenty of time to escape with
Pounce,
Shadow Dance and
Silver Edge (provided that he purchased it already).
*
Depth Shroud from
Aghanim's Shard will allow Slark to save both, himself and his allies from Phantom Assassin with
Shadow Dance, and to freely fightback against her without removing invisibility upon attacking.
*
Essence Shift is much more harmful for Phantom Assassin than for other heroes, as losing the agility means that her physical damage will be also reduced, which can also weaken
Coup de Grace if Slark manages to steal lots of agility from her.
* Overall, any attempt for Phantom Assassin to take down Slark will hurt her more than Slark.
Additional:
* Slark's
Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with
Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who typically builds
Silver Edge, Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin's
Blur and
Coup de Grace, thus taking down her attack evasion and drastically reducing her damage output.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Slark will have plenty of time to escape with
Pounce,
Shadow Dance and
Silver Edge (provided that he purchased it already).
*
Depth Shroud from
Aghanim's Shard will allow Slark to save both, himself and his allies from Phantom Assassin with
Shadow Dance, and to freely fightback against her without removing invisibility upon attacking.
*
Essence Shift is much more harmful for Phantom Assassin than for other heroes, as losing the agility means that her physical damage will be also reduced, which can also weaken
Coup de Grace if Slark manages to steal lots of agility from her.
* Overall, any attempt for Phantom Assassin to take down Slark will hurt her more than Slark.
* Slark's
Dark Pact allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
* Against a carry Silencer,
Essence Shift will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape:
Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Puck,
Doom.
* Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction:
Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer
* Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables:
Silencer,
Crystal Maiden,
Warlock,
Ancient Apparition,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor
* Heroes such as
Lone Druid,
Tidehunter and
Viper can be very problematic for Phantom Assassin because they give her very little time to farm and become scary.
* Heroes who rely on passive abilities and attacks, such as
Drow Ranger,
Wraith King, and
Lone Druid, can render Silencer useless. But remember that a smart Silencer will most likely buy
Silver Edge to counter this if he is played as carry.
Additional:
* Silencer's disables are useless on Lone Druid since he is more reliant on physical attacks rather than spells.
* Silencer has poor mobility so Lone Druid can run him down.
* Lone Druid's Shard will remove most of Silencer's spells once used.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as
Viper and
Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes who rely on passive abilities and attacks, such as
Drow Ranger,
Wraith King, and
Lone Druid, can render Silencer useless. But remember that a smart Silencer will most likely buy
Silver Edge to counter this if he is played as carry.
* Static Link can lower the damage output from
Coup de Grace procs, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of damage.
* Eye of the Storm strikes cannot be evaded by
Blur.
* Both Static Link and Eye of the Storm pierces spell immunity, as Phantom Assassin is often reliant on Black King Bar.
Additional:
*
Static Link can lower the damage output from
Coup de Grace procs, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of damage. And Phantom Assassin is not a common
Linken's Sphere wielder to counter this problem.
*
Eye of the Storm strikes cannot be evaded by
Blur.
* Both
Static Link and
Eye of the Storm pierces spell immunity, as Phantom Assassin is often reliant on Black King Bar.
*
Phantom Strike's extra attack speed will cause Phantom Assassin to trigger
Counter Helix more often, which can be fatal for Phantom Assassin. Jumping on Axe with
Phantom Strike is not a good idea for Phantom Assassin at all as it makes her a seriously easy target for a counter-initiation with
Berserker's Call and
Blade Mail.
* Most of Axe's abilities pierce
Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
* Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe and may cause her to kill herself when used with
Blade Mail.
Berserker's Call can also affect Phantom Assassin even if she has
Black King Bar active as
Berserker's Call can fully pierce spell immunity, making
Berserker's Call one of the best abilities in the game against heroes like Phantom Assassin who wants to kill opponents quickly without being interrupted.
*
Culling Blade can often kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything due to her low health and strength gain. And every time
Culling Blade successfully kills Phantom Assassin or any of her teammates, Axe gains permanent armor from it, which in combination with armor items that Axe often purchases like
Blade Mail,
Crimson Guard,
Assault Cuirass and
Shiva's Guard can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Axe.
*
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Counter Helix can weaken Phantom Assassin's damage output, and if her attack damage is weak,
Coup De Grace will also suffer from attack damage reduction as well.
Additional:
*
Phantom Strike's extra attack speed will cause Phantom Assassin to trigger
Counter Helix more often, which can be fatal for Phantom Assassin in the early game. Jumping on Axe with
Phantom Strike is not a good idea for Phantom Assassin at all as it makes her a seriously easy target for a counter-initiation with
Berserker's Call and
Blade Mail.
* Most of Axe's abilities pierce
Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
* Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe, and may cause her to kill herself when used with
Blade Mail.
Berserker's Call can also affect Phantom Assassin even if she has
Black King Bar active as
Berserker's Call can fully pierce spell immunity, making
Berserker's Call one of the best abilities in the game against heroes like Phantom Assassin who wants to kill opponents quickly without being interrupted.
*
Culling Blade can often kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything due to her low health and strength gain. And every time
Culling Blade successfully kills Phantom Assassin or any of her teammates, Axe gains permanent armor from it, which in combination with armour items that Axe often purchases like
Blade Mail,
Crimson Guard,
Assault Cuirass and
Shiva's Guard can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Axe.
* Phantom Assassin does not deal with early aggression very easily (especially when magical damage). A competent Batrider can make life very difficult with
Sticky Napalm followed by any other spell.
*
Hoof Stomp and
Double Edge can often burst down Phantom Assassin from early to mid game.
*
Retaliate makes it very unlikely for Phantom Assassin to win the lane against Warrunner.
Double Edge can also be used to wear her down, as she has a much smaller health pool than that of Centaur Warrunner until purchasing a
Ring of Health.
Stifling Dagger will also trigger
Retaliate and
Blur cannot evade
Retaliate.
* Centaur Warrunner's tankiness in combination with armour items that Centaur Warrunner often purchases like
Blade Mail,
Crimson Guard,
Assault Cuirass and
Shiva's Guard can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Centaur Warrunner.
* Centaur Warrunner just has to be careful about
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard and
Coup De Grace, as
Fan of Knives can disable
Retaliate even if Centaur Warrunner is spell immune.
Additional:
*
Hoof Stomp and
Double Edge can often burst down Phantom Assassin from early to mid game.
*
Retaliate makes it very unlikely for Phantom Assassin to win the lane against Warrunner.
Double Edge can also be used to wear her down, as she has a much smaller health pool than that of Centaur Warrunner until purchasing a
Ring of Health.
Stifling Dagger will also trigger
Retaliate and
Blur cannot evade
Retaliate.
* Centaur Warrunner's tankiness in combination with armour items that Axe often purchases like
Blade Mail,
Crimson Guard,
Assault Cuirass and
Shiva's Guard can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Centaur Warrunner.
* Centaur Warrunner just has to be careful about
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard and
Coup De Grace, as
Fan of Knives can disable
Retaliate even if Centaur Warrunner is spell immune.
*
Firestorm can deal serious damage to Phantom Assassin during laning.
*
Pit of Malice prevents Phantom Assassin from either escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
* Phantom Assassin's damage output is entirely physical, therefore
Atrophy Aura is very hazardous for her in most of the stages, particularly since it also affects
Coup De Grace, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of damage.
* Without proper items and any area-of-effect ability/item, Phantom Assassin cannot stop Underlord and his team to escape with
Fiend's Gate, and she has nothing to intercept Underlord and his team when they use
Fiend's Gate to teleport on any area of the map outside of
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard.
Additional:
*
Firestorm can be used to deal serious damage to Phantom Assassin during laning that ignores evasion from
Blur.
*
Pit of Malice prevents Phantom Assassin from either escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
* Phantom Assassin's damage output is entirely physical, therefore
Atrophy Aura is very hazardous for her in most of the stages, particularly since it also affects
Coup De Grace, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of damage.
* Without proper items and any area-of-effect ability/item, Phantom Assassin cannot stop Underlord and his team to escape with
Fiend's Gate, nor she can intercept them if Underlord chooses to teleport on any area of the map.
*
Whirling Axes (Melee) makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to land a
Coup De Grace.
* Troll Warlord often buys
Silver Edge and
Monkey King Bar, the items that greatly help against Phantom Assassin's Blur ability.
*
Battle Trance completely negates Phantom Assassin's large damage output, preventing Troll Warlord from dying easily. The lifesteal also allows Troll Warlord to restore much of his health.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord can build a
Silver Edge or a
Monkey King Bar to completely ignore
Blur.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, making a
Coup de Grace critical strike very hard to land.
* Battle Trance negates
Coup de Grace, preventing Troll Warlord from dying to her critical hits.
* Overgrowth prevents Phantom Assassin from using
Blink Strike even through her spell immunity.
* Living Armor reduces Phantom Assassin's physical damage whenever she attempts to gank an allied hero.
*
Dispersion makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to burst down Spectre while also reflecting back Phantom Assassin's high burst damage against herself.
*
Black King Bar is useless for Phantom Assassin against Spectre as all of her skills pierce spell immunity.
* Spectre only needs to be careful against
Fan Of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard, as it can disable
Desolate and
Dispersion, though this issue can be solved by buying
Blade Mail, which is a common item on Spectre.
Additional:
*
Dispersion makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to burst down Spectre while also reflecting back Phantom Assassin's high burst damage against herself.
*
Black King Bar is useless against Spectre as all of her skills pierce spell immunity.
* Shadow Fiend is mostly played as right-click carry and natural
Black King Bar carrier, making Silencer's spells very ineffective against him.
*
Sharpshooter disables both
Blur and
Coup De Grace, weakening her damage and survivability.
* Because Phantom Assassin is often reliant on critical strikes, Hoodwink can have enough time to simply move near a tree and escape with
Scurry.
Additional:
*
Sharpshooter disables both
Blur and
Coup De Grace, especially with the level 25 talent.
* Because Phantom Assassin is often reliant on critical strikes, Hoodwink can have enough time to simply move near a tree and escape with
Scurry.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* Even though carry Silencer can easily take down a support Jakiro with his
Glaives of Wisdom, Jakiro can also do the same to Silencer if he is not careful and if Jakiro is not played as support. As Silencer is rather squishy and lacks escape mechanisms without items, and Jakiro's damage over time abilities can take advantage of this.
*
Ice Path can be used to prevent Silencer from escaping. And if Jakiro uses
Ice Path along with
Macropyre and
Dual Breath in anticipation right before Silencer uses his abilities to disable Jakiro, Jakiro will be able to kill Silencer before he even gets a chance to do anything to Jakiro.
*
Dual Breath,
Liquid Fire and
Liquid Frost from
Aghanim's Shard can greatly reduce Silencer's attack speed.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Macropyre can deal huge pure damage to Silencer even if Silencer is spell immune.
* Bear in mind, however, that Jakiro should approach Silencer carefully as Silencer's
Arcane Curse,
Last Word and
Global Silence prevents Jakiro from casting any spell. Jakiro, however, can counter this by going for
Guardian Greaves, a common item on support Jakiro, and with
Black King Bar and
Manta Style, a situational items on Jakiro.
Additional:
* Even though carry Silencer can easily take down a support Jakiro with his
Glaives of Wisdom, Jakiro can also do the same to Silencer if he is not careful and if Jakiro is not played as support. As Silencer is rather squishy and lacks escape mechanisms without items, and Jakiro's damage over time abilities can take advantage of this.
*
Ice Path can be used to prevent Silencer from escaping. And if Jakiro uses
Ice Path along with
Macropyre and
Dual Breath in anticipation right before Silencer uses his abilities to disable Jakiro, Jakiro will be able to kill SIlencer before he even gets a chance to do anything to Jakiro.
*
Dual Breath,
Liquid Fire and
Liquid Frost from
Aghanim's Shard can greatly reduce Silencer's attack speed.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Macropyre can deal huge pure damage to Silencer even if Silencer is spell immune.
* Bear in mind, however, that Jakiro should approach Silencer carefully as Silencer's
Arcane Curse,
Last Word and
Global Silence prevents Jakiro from casting any spell. Jakiro, however, can counter this by going for
Guardian Greaves, a common item on support Jakiro, and with
Black King Bar and
Manta Style, a situational items on Jakiro.
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower:
Bloodseeker,
Ember Spirit,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Weaver.
* Phantom Assassin's high physical damage is greatly reduced by Bulwark.
* God's Rebuke has true strike, ignoring the evasion from
Blur.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries:
Ursa,
Clinkz,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Templar Assassin,
Phantom Assassin.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing towers will often struggle from a small map very early, such as
Phantom Assassin,
Storm Spirit and
Phantom Lancer.
* Heroes that rely on escapes to stay alive can be caught and locked down for a long time:
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin
* Heroes that can disable or silence Silencer for a long time, such as
Bane and
Legion Commander, can lock down Silencer while their allies put him down.
* Heroes with gap-closing abilities who attempt to use them for escaping Bloodseeker will suffer serious damage from Rupture:
Phantom Assassin,
Anti-Mage,
Faceless Void,
Riki,
Slark,
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* 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.
* With
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like
Ursa,
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade or
Troll Warlord.
* Rage can protect Lifestealer from most of the Silencer's abilities with the exception of
Global Silence, as it will still silence if cast while the target is magic immune. However, it will not work if Lifestealer is infesting a unit.
* Silencer is vulnerable to Open Wounds due to his lack of an innate escape.
* Against a carry Silencer,
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can disarm him and allow Lifestealer to attack Silencer from within, even if Silencer is spell immune.
Additional:
*
Rage can protect Lifestealer from most of the Silencer's abilities with the exception of
Global Silence.
* If Lifestealer can
Infest himself on any unit, he can literally avoid being affected by
Global Silence.
* Against a carry Silencer,
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can disarm him and allow Lifestealer to attack Silencer from within, even if Silencer is spell immune.
*
Open Wounds from
Aghanim's Shard can severely slow down Silencer, and allow Lifestealer and his team to heal themselves by attacking Silencer.
*
Rage does absolutely nothing against Phantom Strike with items.
*
Feast and
Ghoul Frenzy are very difficult to utilise thanks to Blur.
* Lifestealer generally wants to buy items that make him hard to kill, not an
Monkey King Bar which only offers damage.
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin completely useless in teamfights throughout the game:
Axe,
Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge,
Medusa,
Warlock.
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field:
Silencer,
Viper.
* Fate's Edict cripples many heroes who rely on attacks, such as
Phantom Assassin,
Sven, or
Enchantress, without a dispel or a
Black King Bar.
* Fortune's End can nullify
Arcane Curse,
Last Word, and
Global Silence, if cast at the right time with the right targets.
* Fate's Edict can prevent Silencer from attacking, which he relies on with
Glaives of Wisdom, for a lot of his damage.
* Oracle's reliance on spamming his spells can be easily hindered by Silencer's Arcane Curse.
* Last Word and Global Silence negates Oracle's attempt to save his allies with his spells.
*
Fate's Edict is useless against Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin completely useless in teamfights throughout the game:
Axe,
Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge,
Medusa,
Warlock.
* With
Normal Punch from
Aghanim's Scepter, Dark Seer can gain an advantage against heroes who rely on evasion as
Normal Punch has true strike:
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Hoodwink.
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like
Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
* Heroes capable of perofrming interceptions who can anticipate and counter-initiate after Phantom Assassin blinks on them with Phantom Strike will often kill her than the other way around:
Axe,
Bane,
Dawnbreaker,
Centaur Warrunner,
Luna,
Medusa,
Omniknight,
Pudge,
Razor,
Terrorblade,
Underlord.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
*
Shapeshift is useful for killing or escaping Silencer.
*
Summon Wolves, can be used to hunt and harass silencer - even when Lycan himself can't fight.
* Phantom Assassin's
Blur is a real problem for Lycan, as he relies entirely on direct attacks to deal damage.
* In early to mid stage, Silence is also a great way to counter escape oriented heroes such as
Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain, and
Phantom Assassin to prevent them from escaping, provided that they don't have any basic dispels.
* If Phantom Assassin jumps on Pudge first with
Phantom Strike, she will be a very easy target for Pudge's
Meat Hook and
Dismember combo.
* Even though it can deal damage based on Pudge's max health,
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard cannot disable Pudge's
Flesh Heap as
Flesh Heap is one of the few passive abilities that cannot be disabled by break.
* Both
Meat Hook and
Dismember ignore spell immunity which allows Pudge to disable Phantom Assassin even while she has
Black King Bar active.
* Pudge occassionally buys armor items like
Blade Mail, which in combination with many stacks from
Flesh Heap can make Phantom Assassin have little effect against Pudge.
* Generally heroes who don't rely on magical damage, such as
Sven,
Phantom Assassin, and
Outworld Destroyer, as they can practically ignore Flesh Heap's damage block.
* Despite her high mobility,
Hex or
Earth Spike can lock
Phantom Assassin down, make her vulnerable and mitigate her damage output.
* Lion relies entirely on his abilities to be effective, rendering Phatnom Assassin's high evasion through ineffective against him. And Phantom Assassin's low health pool makes her vulnerable to Lion's magical burst without
Black King Bar.
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like
Silencer's
Last Word, magic resistance like
Oracle's
Fate's Edict, and dispels like
Legion Commander's
Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
* Even though Phantom Assassin can easily kill Luna in few strikes, Luna can also do the same to Phantom Assassin if she is not careful.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned
Phantom Strike will make Phantom Assassin an easy target for counter-attack with
Eclipse if she does not have
Black King Bar available to use and if Phantom Assassin cannot kill Luna fast enough. This can be even worse if Luna buys
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Moon Glaives can ignore
Blur's evasion if Luna attacks an enemy near Phantom Assassin.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Moon Glaives can also reduce damage from
Coup De Grace and
Moon Glaives Phantom Assassin inflicts on Luna and damage Spirit Phantom Assassin she is close to her. And the
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Moon Glaives have true strike for their duration, which renders
Blur's evasion insignificant.
* Luna can counter
Blur's evasion by buying either
Silver Edge, or
Monkey King Bar, which are common items on Luna.
* Luna just has to be careful about
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard and
Coup De Grace, as
Fan of Knives can deal health-based damage to Luna and disable
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing while
Coup De Grace can deal serious damage to her even if she is spell immune, though this issue can be partially solved by buying
Ethereal Blade, which is a situational item on Luna.
Additional:
* Even though Phantom Assassin can easily kill Luna in few strikes, Luna can also do the same to Phantom Assassin if she is not careful.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned
Phantom Strike will make Phantom Assassin an easy target for counter-attack with
Eclipse if she does not have
Black King Bar available to use and if Phantom Assassin cannot kill Luna fast enough. This can be even better if Luna buys
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Moon Glaives can ignore
Blur's evasion if Luna attacks an enemy near Phantom Assassin.
* Luna can counter
Blur's evasion by buying either
Silver Edge, or
Monkey King Bar, which are common items on Luna.
* Luna just has to be careful about
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard and
Coup De Grace, as
Fan of Knives can disable
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing while
Coup De Grace can deal serious damage to her even if she is spell immune, though this issue can be solved by buying
Ethereal Blade, which is a situational item on Luna.
* All assassin-type carries in a one against one situation:
Meepo,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Ursa. Luna's only chances are that she buys
Ethereal Blade or
Black King Bar to gain a slight edge against them, or both items if necessary.
* Morphling's naturally high armor thanks to his high agility makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to take him down with
Coup de Grace.
* Heroes with silencing abilities that are not blocked by Linken's Sphere, like
Puck's
Waning Rift,
Death Prophet's
Silence or
Silencer's
Global Silence.
* Silencer relies on preventing enemies from using abilities in teamfights with Arcane Curse, Last Word, and Global Silence. However, they are ineffective against Ursa since he relies more on items and attacks than abilities.
* Against a carry Silencer,
Enrage can help Ursa reduce all damage he takes, even Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage will just tickle Ursa while his
Enrage is active.
* Assuming they have not bought anti-evasion items, attack-dependent heroes such as
Ursa,
Terrorblade or
Lifestealer can be a minor threat for Phantom Assassin early in the game, and may even be completely dominated by her thanks to her evasion.
* Phantom Assassin can easily escape Lich's slows with
Phantom Strike.
* Phantom Assassin's
Coup De Grace can be used to burst down the squishy Lich.
* Lich is heavily reliant on his abilities to contribute to team fights, so be wary of enemies that can Silence:
Bloodseeker,
Death Prophet,
Silencer,
Drow Ranger,
Skywrath Mage.
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore
Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
* Like any hero with a channeled spell,
Last Word is a counter to it.
*
Global Silence goes through spell immunity and prevents Witch Doctor from casting his spells.
* Anti-Mage's low health pool making vulnerable to Phantom Assassin's burst damage and
Coup De Grace critical strike, while Blink is on cooldown.
*
Blur makes Anti-Mage unable to deal Mana Break to her.
* Phantom Assassin has low intelligence and low mana pool, making Mana Void do minimal damage.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can easily withstand heavy magical bursts due to
Counterspell, but he is still somewhat vulnerable to physical damage. Phantom Assassin's burst physical damage can destroy Anti-Mage while
Blink is on cooldown or while he is stunned or hexed.
* Blur makes Anti-Mage unable to deal significant damage to her without buying
Monkey King Bar, which means he cannot buy items to benefit his
Mana Break.
* Phantom Assassin has an abysmal mana pool and intelligence gain, making
Mana Break and
Mana Void deal minimal damage.
* 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.
* Heroes with high burst damage and
Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
*
Last Word and
Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
*
Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.
* Hex abilities prevent attacking, ability and item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility:
Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Dazzle with
Aghanim's Shard
* Dazzle's lack of a true disable makes him a relatively vulnerable target for Phantom Assassin.
* Coup de Grace will often kill Dazzle's teammates before he has a chance to use
Shallow Grave.
* A well-timed
Global Silence prevents Dazzle from saving allies with Shallow Grave or Shadow Wave. Items that could dispel the silence are expensive, and difficult for Dazzle to farm from a support role.
*
Arcane Curse and
Last Word cause long damage over time, which may outlast Shallow Grave.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like
Phantom Assassin or
Clinkz.
* Heroes 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.
*
Global Silence has faster-cast animation than Chronosphere, making Silencer can silence Faceless Void before he can cast Chronosphere.
*
Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin jump directly to Io.
*
Coup de Grace can make a short work of Io's low health and armor.
* Invoker is heavily dependent on his spells, making him useless during
Global Silence, as well as interrupting Invoker during his combo.
*
Arcane Curse is particularly deadly, because Invoker will continuously lose health if he keeps invoking and casting new spells.
*
Last Word will silence Invoker when he casts Invoke, interrupting his combo.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Assuming they have not bought anti-evasion items, attack-dependent heroes such as
Ursa,
Terrorblade or
Lifestealer can be a minor threat for Phantom Assassin early in the game, and may even be completely dominated by her thanks to her evasion.
* Terrorblade is a double-edged sword type of matchup against Silencer. Although Terrorblade is more reliant on direct attacks to be effective, he relies on
Sunder to save himself and stay alive and
Last Word and
Global Silence prevent him from doing that.
*
Arcane Curse and
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Last Word help Silencer deal with Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
* With
Last Word Mutes talent, Silencer can not only disable Terrorblade from turning tables with
Sunder, but can also prevent him from using
Manta Style and
Black King Bar, items Terrorblade needs to be effective in teamfights.
*
Glaives of Wisdom deals pure damage against the real Terrorblade, bypassing his high base armor.
*
Global Silence can silence Terrorblade even if he has
Black King Bar active, though bear in mind that Terrorblade can dispel
Global Silence with
Manta Style and
Black King Bar if the
Global Silence was activated first.
Additional:
* Silencer is a double-edged sword type of matchup against Terrorblade. Although Terrorblade is more reliant on direct attacks to be effective, he relies on
Sunder to save himself and stay alive and
Last Word and
Global Silence prevent him from doing that.
*
Arcane Curse,
Glaives of Wisdom upgraded with 2
Glaives of Wisdom Bounces talent and
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Last Word help Silencer deal with Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
* With
Last Word Mutes talent, Silencer can not only disable Terrorblade from turning tables with
Sunder, but can also prevent him from using
Manta Style and
Black King Bar, items Terrorblade needs to be effective in teamfights.
*
Glaives of Wisdom deals magical damage against the real Terrorblade, bypassing his high base armor. Later it can be upgraded with 2
Glaives of Wisdom Bounces talent to deal against Terrorblade's illusions. Alternatively, Silencer is a natural
Revenant's Brooch wielder, which gives him another way to damaging Terrorblade through his high base armor.
*
Global Silence can silence Terrorblade even if he has
Black King Bar active, though bear in mind that Terrorblade can dispel
Global Silence with
Manta Style and
Black King Bar if the
Global Silence was activated first.
*
Glaives of Wisdom's intelligence steal will heavily punish Queen of Pain, as the loss of intelligence means that her mana pool is also reduced, since she is heavily reliant on her abilities to be able to make an impact.
* In the laning stage, Queen of Pain's reliance on spamming Shadow Strike and Scream of Pain will be significantly hindered by
Arcane Curse.
*
Last Word and
Global Silence will render Queen of Pain defenseless unless she has an item/ally to dispel the silence.
* Silencer's
Intelligence Steal can reduce Storm Spirit's damage output if he gets some kills on laning phase.
*
Last Word and
Global Silence will make Storm Spirit an easy target.
*
Global Silence can be used to prevent Storm Spirit from connecting abilities after a Ball Lightning on his targets.
*
Global Silence and
Last Word can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.
*
Glaives of Wisdom also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.
*
Arcane Curse is also a potent harassing tool in the laneing stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.
*
Global Silence stops Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
*
Last Word can prevent Snapfire from casting additional spells.
*
Fade Bolt is not enough to burst
Phantom Assassin down without the help of other stolen spells.
*
Rubick has little armor and can be
Phantom Assassin's primary target.
*
Telekinesis is the only way for Rubick to retaliate if being jumped on, but the lockdown duration is generally not enough for Rubick to escape.
* Few of
Phantom Assassin's spells grants utility for
Rubick.
*
Phantom Assassin's spells strengthes her assault power combined with her physical damage output, yet Rubick is not considered a physical damage dealer.
* With that said,
Blur could be of use for Rubick to hide on back in teamfights waiting for the key spell without fearing of being initiated.
* Bristleback will not be able to cast
Viscous Nasal Goo or
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing
Warpath charges from stacking.
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
Additional:
*
Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
*
Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback.
*
Last Word and
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
* Though certainly not a "hard counter", Crystal Maiden's skillset (magical damage nukes) does pose a substantial threat to Phantom Assassin through the mid game, especially if followed up with engagement by her team.
* A quick use of Freezing Field directly after
Phantom Strike can leave Phantom Assassin trapped inside the area of effect, capitalizing on Phantom Assassin's relatively low HP pool when she is not protected by
Blur, and besides
Skull Basher, Phantom Assassin hates buying disabling items like
Scythe of Vyse or
Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
* If Phantom Assassin chooses not to buy a
Black King Bar relatively early, the attack slow from Freezing Field can greatly hinder the proc chance of
Coup de Grace in a teamfight.
* However, Phantom Assassin's massive damage, and her tendency to build both
Black King Bar and
Skull Basher makes her a formidable foe the later the game goes, and fighting her without a team is almost never a good choice.
* Crystal Maiden's low health pool and slow movement speed make her a tempting and easy target.
* However, it may be wise to build
Black King Bar first before attempting to fight her alone, as she can disable you and retaliate with
Freezing Field.
* Crystal Maiden is squishy, is heavily spell reliant, has low base Intelligence, and is naturally slow, making her an ideal target for Silencer.
* Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field has a similar cooldown to Global Silence, therefore, Freezing Field can almost always be canceled to ruin aggressive Crystal Maiden initiations.
* Silencer's
Global Silence will render Zeus useless for 6 seconds in a team fight.
*
Arcane Curse will punish Zeus for casting spells, which can cause continuous damage to him should he continue to cast spells.
*
Last Word can silence Zeus and prevent him from spamming his spells.
* Silencer often builds
Orchid Malevolence (or
Bloodthorn) which can be used on spell casters like Zeus, forcing him to invest in a
Linken's Sphere.
Additional:
* Zeus' main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Zeus likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Zeus dies near Silencer, he will begin to lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Zeus dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.
*
Arcane Curse can effectively discourage Undying from casting his spammable abilities in a team fight, as Undying will have to suffer more damage and the slow due to the penalty duration of Arcane Curse.
*
Last Word and
Global Silence are able to silence Undying for up to 6 seconds, preventing Undying from gaining strength and healing his ally or himself.
* Kunkka relies on his powerful AOE spells to turn the tides of teamfights. He cannot use them while silenced.
*
Last Word can mess up Kunkka's ability synergy, silencing him in the middle of his strong combo.
*
Global Silence can disable Kunkka's spell casting from anywhere on the map, even if Kunkka is spell immune at the time.
* Heroes which rely exclusively on right clicks will struggle somewhat against Blinding Light:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Medusa
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp:
Phantom Assassin,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit
* Being a cast-oriented hero, Ezalor will suffer from all of Silencer's abilities.
*
Global Silence is a guaranteed lengthy silence which will render Ezalor useless in a teamfight.
*
Arcane Curse and
Last Word are good against any caster, since they are extremely potent.
* However, it should be worth mentioning that a smart Ezalor will buy Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Silencer's abilities. Combined with the level 20 talent (Chakra Magic applies a basic dispel), Ezalor can purge Silencer's abilities off allies and himself alike.
*
Silencer's
Global Silence and
Doom's
Doom makes Earthshaker temporarily useless.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker.
* Silences and other types of lockdown that prevent Weaver from using his spells:
Silencer,
Riki,
Lion,
Legion Commander,
Shadow Shaman,
Bane.
* Heroes with Evasion or abilities that cause Tiny to miss like
Phantom Assassin and
Tinker are very effective because of Tiny's low attack speed. Additionally,
Monkey King Bar is not a good item for Tiny because of its reliance on high attack speed to proc for magical damage.
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar:
Lich,
Crystal Maiden,
Silencer,
Keeper of the Light,
Venomancer, etc.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him:
Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
* Heroes with pure damage can kill Huskar when he inevitably gets low on health:
Outworld Destroyer,
Silencer.
* 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.
* Heroes with silences and hard stuns such as
Doom,
Silencer, and
Lion can keep Mirana from Leaping away.
*
Laguna Blade is one of the best tools to kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything in early-to-mid game due to its high magical (pure with
Laguna Blade damage is Pure and pierces Spell Immunity talent) burst damage.
*
Blur offers no protection against Lina's abilities. Likewise, Lina can counter
Blur's evasion by buying either
Silver Edge or
Monkey King Bar.
* Lina just has to be careful about
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard and
Coup De Grace, as
Fan of Knives can deal pure damage to Lina and disable
Fiery Soul awhile
Coup De Grace can deal serious damage to her even if she is spell immune, which may force Lina to buy
Ethereal Blade to deal with Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
*
Laguna Blade is one of the best tools to kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything in early-to-mid game due to its high magical (pure with
Laguna Blade damage is Pure and pierces Spell Immunity talent) burst damage.
*
Blur offers no protection against Lina's abilities. Likewise, Lina can counter
Blur's evasion by buying either
Silver Edge or
Monkey King Bar.
* Lina just has to be careful about
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard and
Coup De Grace, as
Fan of Knives can deal pure damage to Lina and disable
Fiery Soul awhile
Coup De Grace can deal serious damage to her even if she is spell immune, which may force Lina to buy
Ethereal Blade to deal with Phantom Assassin.
* Fragile support heroes are all ideal targets for the Phantom Assassin. Heroes such as
Lina and
Witch Doctor are all prime targets that may not be able to react quickly and fight back due to Phantom Assassin's sudden appearance.
*
Arcane Curse makes it too difficult Lina from using her abilities, preventing her from building up Fiery Soul stacks without causing harm to herself.
*
Last Word and
Global Silence are great against Lina for the same reason, as well as interrupting her combos and preventing her from casting spells.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Because Warlock's abilities are all active abilities, Silencer can make his impact minimal.
*
Arcane Curse prevents Warlock from using his abilities without increasing it's duration, which since all of Warlock's abilities are actives it is very effective against him.
*
Last Word can prevent Warlock from casting his Fatal Bonds, Chaotic Offering, and Upheaval combo.
*
Global Silence can nullify Warlock's impact in fights by preventing him from casting Fatal Bonds and Chaotic Offering, or by interrupting his Upheaval.
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin completely useless in teamfights throughout the game:
Axe,
Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge,
Medusa,
Warlock.
*
Arcane Curse can be cast from a long range to put Enigma's
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
*
Global Silence can interrupt Enigma's Black Hole channeling through
Black King Bar and
Linken's Sphere, making Silencer one of Enigma's hard counters. But bear in mind that
Global Silence can be dispelled with
Black King Bar if activated first.
Additional:
* Silencer can easily ruin Enigma's initiation, as Global Silence cancels
Black Hole, even through
Black King Bar and
Linken's Sphere.
* Hex abilities prevent attacking, ability and item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility:
Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Dazzle with
Aghanim's Shard
* Shadow Demon's main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Shadow Demon likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Shadow Demon dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Shadow Demon dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as
Viper and
Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
*
Blink Strike does not grant Riki a mobility advantage over Phantom Assassin, as her Phantom Strike serves the same purpose, but with a higher range.
* A Carry Riki usually has a hard time dealing with Blur, as a
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn are unfavourable item picks for him (or, even more unlikely, a
Silver Edge).
* A
Black King Bar is a very common pick for Phantom Assassin, fully countering
Smoke Screen and
Diffusal Blade while activated.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* Pugna is very reliant on his abilities for damage which Silencer can take advantage off. But he has to be careful around the
Nether Ward as Silencer's abilities cost a lot of mana to use.
* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse:
Doom,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord.
* Silencer's intelligence steal will heavily reduce Outworld Destroyer's damage output, especially if Destroyer dies a lot near Silencer and loses intelligence permanently.
* Global Silence and Last Word will render Outworld Destroyer helpless unless he has an item/ally to dispel silence.
Additional:
* Silencer's
Intelligence Steal will heavily reduce Outworld Destroyer's damage output, particularly from Sanity's Eclipse.
*
Last Word and
Global Silence will take Outworld Destroyer out of the fight unless he has built Black King Bar.
* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
*
Arcane Curse punishes Necrophos if tries to spam Death Pulse, increasing the duration of the slow and damage taken over time.
*
Last Word heavily damages Necrophos and also silence him for a lenghty duration.
*
Glaives of Wisdom will reduce temporarily Necrophos intelligence on each hit dealing hindering his ability to spam Death Pulse, also reducing his attack damage and mana pool; dealing increasing amounts of phisical and pure damage each time. Silencer will permanently steal Necrophos intelligence if Necrophos is killed by him or if he dies nears him.
*
Global Silence turns Necrophos almost useless for a long time, allowing Silencer and his team to easily dispatch him, since Necrohpos heavily relies on his spells to survive.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Nature's Prophet's low mobility and health pool allow Phantom Assassin to destroy him in the early game.
* Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin to jump in and out of
Sprout, provided she has vision.
* Heroes who rely on physical damage output to be effective will fare badly against Muerta's
Pierce the Veil:
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Drow Ranger,
Lifestealer,
Anti-Mage,
Alchemist,
Lycan,
Clinkz,
Sniper.
* Silencer can reduce Muerta's damage output with his
Glaives of Wisdom, and since he commonly buys
Revenant's Brooch, he will be able to attack her even through
Pierce the Veil.
* Silencer has reliable, long-range silences in
Last Word and
Global Silence, preventing Muerta from using her spells as effectively.
* As Muerta tends to use her spells, particularly
Dead Shot;
Arcane Curse is very effective against her as that can punish her for doing so.
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin completely useless in teamfights throughout the game:
Axe,
Enigma,
Vengeful Spirit,
Doom,
Bane,
Beastmaster,
Pudge,
Medusa,
Warlock.
* Silencer burns easily through her effective HP from
Mana Shield, by taking away her intelligence.
*
Arcane Curse punishes her repeatedly casting
Mystic Snake to keep her mana pool high. He can force her to use
Manta Style before he has cast
Global Silence and
Medusa usually does not want to build
Black King Bar.
* 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.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like
Juggernaut,
Lion, or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
* Heroes with silence such as
Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Puck relies mainly on magical burst damage, which Phantom Assassin is most vulnerable against.
*
Phase Shift and
Illusory Orb disjoint Stifling Dagger, also allowing to kite Phantom Assassin.
*
Dream Coil will stun Phantom Assassin if she uses
Phantom Strike to blink away.
* Generally strong against lots of spellcaster-themed heroes, Puck fully relies on its skill set and cannot do almost anything when silenced.
*
Arcane Curse disables Blink Dagger for quite some time, and is also effective against Puck as it tends to use its spells a lot.
*
Glaives of Wisdom can do a lot of damage against Puck due to Puck's low agility gain and armor.
*
Last Word can prevent Puck from getting a full combo off, limiting its effectiveness in team fights or ganks.
*
Global Silence can take Puck out of fights entirely because of its long-duration silence.
*
Fire Spirits applies a severe attack speed slow, severely hindering Phantom Assassin's damage output.
* Phantom Assassin cannot cast Phantom Strike on Phoenix during
Supernova.
Additional:
* While her
Phantom Strike does give limited extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her
Blur may protect her from attacks, Phoenix's strong magical DPS burns away her small health pool quickly, and the attack speed slow makes her unable to fight back (provided she has no source of spell immunity).
* Silencer will most likely disrupt an initiation with his ultimate,
Global Silence, prevent escape with his
Last Word, and if Phoenix happens to die to him (or near him) enough times, he would sap enough of Phoenix's much needed Intelligence to make him a stronger foe and Phoenix with less mana than it already had.
* Heroes such as
Lone Druid,
Tidehunter and
Viper can be very problematic for Phantom Assassin because they give her very little time to farm and become scary.
* Heroes with low mana pools (eg.
Doom and
Tidehunter) will feel the effects of Silencer's Intelligence Steal far more than others.
* Phantom Assassin's
Blur is useless against Windranger as she commonly buys items that require
Javelin like
Maelstrom,
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has nothing else that can bypass Windrun.
* Additionally, Phantom Assassin doesn't like building
Monkey King Bar because her crits are reliant on attack damage.
* Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.
Additional:
* Phantom Assassin's
Blur is useless against Windranger as she commonly buys items that require
Javelin like
Maelstrom,
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has nothing else that can bypass Windrun.
* Additionally, Phantom Assassin doesn't like building
Monkey King Bar because her crits are reliant on attack damage.
* Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.
*
Glaives of Wisdom's intelligence steal can prove detrimental to Windranger, as she heavily relies on her abilities to be able to make an impact.
* Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using
Windrun.
Additional:
* Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using
Windrun.
*
Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from
Stifling Dagger.
* Phantom Assassin has a moderate health pool and usually appears in the front line of battle, making her vulnerable to Timbersaw's pure burst damage output.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his
Timber Chain.
Additional:
*
Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from
Stifling Dagger, as well as ganking attempts.
* Phantom Assassin is a hero with moderate HP pool, and usually appears in the front line of battle. Because
Blur does nothing against spells, she is vulnerable to Timbersaw's skills.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his
Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw is heavily reliant on his abilities for damage and escape, allowing Silencer to effectively disable him and make him useless in both team fights and 1v1 scenarios.
Additional:
*
Arcane Curse deals repeated stacks of damage to Timbersaw because he relies on constantly using his abilities.
*
Glaives of Wisdom deals pure damage and when cast manually, nearby creeps will not attack silencer, making it an effective harassment tool. The intelligence steal is also especially potent against Timbersaw since he often uses up all of his mana throughout the entire game.
* Although
Last Word takes a while to trigger, it will break Timbersaw's ability combo and can be used to silence him.
*
Global Silence will silence Timbersaw no matter where he is on the map. This can be used to help allies get a kill on him, or prevent Timbersaw from killing someone.
*
Purification and
Hammer of Purity can easily catch Phantom Assassin once she jumps with
Phantom Strike in to attack.
*
Heavenly Grace can be used to dispel slow from
Stifling Dagger, and disables from the items Phantom Assassin relies on.
* Phantom Assassin depends entirely on physical attacks and her damage output is 100% physical. Therefore, since she has no any sources of magical damage output and hates going for items that deal magical damage like
Dagon,
Ethereal Blade and
Revenant's Brooch,
Guardian Angel will render her completely useless.
*
Purification,
Heavenly Grace and
Guardian Angel can be used to save an allied hero before Phantom Assassin can finish them off with
Coup De Grace.
Additional:
*
Purification and
Hammer of Purity can easily catch Phantom Assassin once she jumps with
Phantom Strike in to attack.
*
Heavenly Grace can be used to dispel slow from
Stifling Dagger, and disables from the items Phantom Assassin relies on.
* Phantom Assassin depends entirely on physical attacks and her damage output is 100% physical. Therefore, since she has no any sources of magical damage output and hates going for items that deal magical damage like
Dagon,
Ethereal Blade and
Revenant's Brooch,
Guardian Angel will render her completely useless.
*
Purification,
Heavenly Grace and
Guardian Angel can be used to save an allied hero before Phantom Assassin can finish them off with
Coup De Grace.
*
Global Silence takes Omniknight out of the fight completely.
*
Glaives of Wisdom are a great harass vs Omniknight during the laning stages of the game, since it doesn't aggro creeps & ignores his high base armor. It deals pure damage, which means it can also go through Guardian Angel.
* Silencer's intelligence steal can also cause Omniknight to falter in the early phases as it reduces his ability to use his spells.
* Tinker can use Laser to save an ally or himself from Phantom Assassin's initiate
Phantom Strike due to the blind, forcing her to use a Black King Bar to effectively initiate, Tinker can also use Warp Flare one he buys
Aghanim's Shard to reverse Phantom Strike's blinking with
Phantom Strike.
* Tinker almost never uses his physical attack, relying on his spell-spamming to deal damage which ignores
Blur's Evasion
* Defense Matrix prevents
Coup de Grace from triggering.
* As Tinker relies heavily on his spells to be effective,
Last Word and
Global Silence will render him largely useless.
*
Arcane Curse effectively prevents Tinker from casting spells during its duration, as he will otherwise suffer heavy damage.
*
Glaives of Wisdom deal pure damage, which make quick work of fragile heroes like Tinker.
* Silencer's intelligence steal permanently weakens Tinker since he's a hero who requires lots of mana to be effective.
Additional:
* Silencer can stop
Rearm, preventing Tinker from spamming his abilities/items or escaping.
* Tinker heavily relies on his mana pool and has mana issues throughout the entire game and Silencer's intelligence steal does not help with that.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as
Silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
* With
Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes with high armor like
Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like
Phantom Assassin,
Riki and
Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
* Phantom Assassin relies on her
Blur to stay alive, but is very vulnerable to Sand King's heavy magic damage.
* With Burrowstrike, Sand King can often catch Phantom Assassin before she can use her
Black King Bar.
* Sand King can dodge
Stifling Dagger with Sandstorm.
* Phantom Assassin has a hard time killing Sand King because of his high mobility.
* Both
Arcane Curse and
Last Word punishes casters with spammable spells such as Sand King.
* As a strength caster,
Intelligence Steal reduces Sand King's mana pool even more.
*
Global Silence silences Sand King, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential. It can also interrupt channeling of Epicenter.
* Hex abilities prevent attacking, ability and item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility:
Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Dazzle with
Aghanim's Shard
* Heroes with silences :
Bloodseeker,
Riki,
Silencer.
* Silencer's low mobility and lack of any stuns or roots makes him an easy target.
* Silence will not protect Silencer from Jingu Mastery's extra damage and lifesteal.
* Monkey King often buys
Black King Bar, which can be used to negate silence debuff effects.
*
Blur makes it hard for Monkey King to stack Jingu Mastery.
*
Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin to blink directly to Monkey King during Wukong's Command, bypassing all his clones.
*
Coup de Grace's high damage can kill Monkey King quickly, thus ending Wukong's Command prematurely.
* Sniper is a pure right click carry with a very long range, making it hard for Silencer to cast any of his skills on him in lane. During team-fights,
Global Silence has little impact on Sniper.
Additional:
* Due to Sniper having a such a long range, he will rarely get hit by any of Silencer's spells.
* Global Silence will not hinder Sniper much as other heroes since most of his damage output comes from his attacks.
*
Stifling Dagger and
Phantom Strike allow Phantom Assassin to close the gap with Sniper and prevent his escape.
*
Blur allows Phantom Assassin to approach Sniper while invisible and dodge much of Sniper's damage. It can also disjoint Assassinate.
*
Coup De Grace quickly cuts through Sniper's low health; one or two procs will usually kill him.
*
Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard can deal damage to Sniper's maximum health and disable
Headshot and
Take Aim.
Additional:
* Sniper's lack of mobility and reliance on attack range makes him an easy target for Phantom Assassin to jump on.
* Heroes who rely on passive abilities and attacks, such as
Drow Ranger,
Wraith King, and
Lone Druid, can render Silencer useless. But remember that a smart Silencer will most likely buy
Silver Edge to counter this if he is played as carry.
* Generally, heroes that can close the gap on Drow Ranger to cancel her Marksmanship such as
Phantom Assassin,
Spirit Breaker, and
Tusk are effective at limiting her power and bursting her down.
* Hex abilities prevent attacking, ability and item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility:
Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Dazzle with
Aghanim's Shard
* Heroes with low mana pools (eg.
Doom and
Tidehunter) will feel the effects of Silencer's Intelligence Steal far more than others.
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Phantom Assassin
* Phantom Assassin's single target abilities make her very helpless against swarms of Spiderlings without
Battle Fury.
Silken Bola can cripple Phantom Assassin greatly due to her being 100% reliant on physical attacks.
Aghanim's Scepter gives Broodmother access to
Spinner's Snare, which allows her to create invisible lines on her webs from
Spin Web that will root Phantom Assassin, deal damage over time to Phantom Assassin and reveal Phantom Assassin if she unwittingly steps on them, disrupting her attempts to initiate or escape with with
Phantom Strike while also alerting Broodmother on her attempts to ambush her and her allies.
Battle Fury.
Silken Bola can cripple Phantom Assassin greatly due to her being 100% reliant on physical attacks.
Aghanim's Scepter gives Broodmother access to
Spinner's Snare, which allows her to create invisible lines on her webs from
Spin Web that will root Phantom Assassin, deal damage over time to Phantom Assassin and reveal Phantom Assassin if she unwittingly steps on them, disrupting her attempts to initiate or escape with with
Phantom Strike while also alerting Broodmother on her attempts to ambush her and her allies.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Broodmother will usually have enough time to use Spin Web to save herself.
*
*
Additional:
* Phantom Assassin's single target abilities make her very helpless against swarms of Spiderlings without
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Broodmother will usually have enough time to use Spin Web to save herself.
*
*
Silencer
* Broodmother relies less on abilities and more on right-clicks.
* Spiderlings can overwhelm Silencer, who has mediocre armor and no escape tool.