*
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.
*
Atrophy Aura decreases Troll Warlord's damage.
*
Pit of Malice helps lock down Troll Warlord.
* Battle Trance disallows Troll from running out of both
Firestorm and
Pit of Malice.
*
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.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed means Counter Helix will proc extremely frequently even without creeps near him. This, combined with a
Blade Mail means Axe can easily solo kill Troll Warlord even in later stages of the game.
*
Battle Trance does not save Troll Warlord from a Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord has significant attack speed due to Fervor and Battle Trance, giving Axe a higher chance to proc
Counter Helix and seriously injure Troll Warlord due to his relatively low maximum health.
* Axe often purchases
Blade Mail, which can help Axe turn Troll Warlord's farm and high physical damage against him. The bonus armor provided by
Berserker's Call means that Troll Warlord will take a lot more damage than Axe.
*
Culling Blade is still capable of killing Troll Warlord during Battle Trance if his HP is low enough.
*
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.
*
Timber Chain can kite Troll Warlord extremely effectively.
*
Whirling Death and
Chakram deals lots of damage to Troll Warlord.
*
Reactive Armor makes Timbersaw extremely resilient to Troll's attack damage and extreme attack speed, especially during Battle Trance.
*
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.
*
Troll Warlord's high speed attack makes Retaliate deal a lot of damage to him.
* 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.
* Shadow Shaman's long disables are effective at kiting and wasting the duration of Battle Trance.
*
Mass Serpent Ward are especially effective against Troll Warlord during Battle Trance, as trapping him inside them during the duration is effectively another hard disable, as Troll cannot attack the wards or use Phase Boots to escape.
* 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.
*
Fate's Edict can disarm Troll, rendering him useless in a teamfight, especially if he has already used Battle Trance.
*
Fortune's End and
Purifying Flames can provide ample magic damage to help burst down Troll Warlord quickly in the early to mid game.
*
False Promise can save an ally from Troll Warlord's initiation, forcing him to switch targets and lose his Fervor stacks, or waste time during Battle Trance.
*
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.
* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel:
Phantom Assassin,
Juggernaut,
Dragon Knight,
Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord
* 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.
* Troll Warlord is very susceptible to
Pierce the Veil due to having low health and reliance on high armor.
* Troll Warlord's ultimate
Battle Trance can simply be ignored by using
Pierce the Veil.
* Troll Warlord's
Rampage buff for allies can easily be countered by
The Calling which will lower their attack speeds back to normal.
* Phantom Assassin's high physical damage is greatly reduced by Bulwark.
* God's Rebuke has true strike, ignoring the evasion from
Blur.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game:
Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like
Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
*
Cold Embrace can protect Troll Warlord's target, especially during Battle Trance.
*
Winter's Curse can turn Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed against his allies.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace will protect your ally from being damaged if he gets focused by Troll, although be careful as
Fervor will keep gaining stacks even while Cold Embrace is active.
*
Fervor works on allies.
* His high attack speed will help to kill his cursed ally faster.
*
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.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables:
Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Additional:
*
Nightmare and
Fiend's Grip help to control/disable Troll Warlord in team-fights.
* 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.
*
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Lone Druid,
Troll Warlord,
Legion Commander and
Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
* 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.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
* 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.
* Primal Roar and the slow from Boars make kiting Troll Warlord very easy.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* Troll Warlord can't switch targets at will, in order to build
Fervor stacks, which makes it easy to use Decrepify in order to save allies
* During
Battle Trance, Pugna can easily use Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain on him
* 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 high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse:
Doom,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord.
* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse:
Doom,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's pure damage from
Arcane Orb is very effective at killing Troll Warlord quickly.
*
Astral Imprisonment removes Troll Warlord from a fight for four seconds, minimizing his contribution to a teamfight, and potentially wasting over half of Battle Trance's duration.
* Troll Warlord gains a measly 1 intelligence point per level, meaning
Sanity's Eclipse is especially effective, often instantly killing him.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper:
Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
* 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.
* 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 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.
* Phantasm gives Chaos Knight a significant advantage against single-target damage dealers:
Lifestealer,
Wraith King,
Night Stalker,
Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Chaos Knight's tanky illusions easily take advantage of Troll Warlord's lack of AoE damage.
*
Chaos Bolt can stun Troll for up to 4 seconds and
Reality Rift prevents Troll Warlord from chasing down foes.
*
Phantasm increases Chaos Knight's physical damage output up to 4 times and can easily kill Troll Warlord before he has a chance to use Battle Trance or a
Black King Bar.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Phantom Assassin's single target abilities make her very helpless against swarms of Spiderlings without
Battle Fury.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Broodmother will usually have enough time to use Spin Web to save herself.
*
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.
Additional:
* Phantom Assassin's single target abilities make her very helpless against swarms of Spiderlings without
Battle Fury.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Broodmother will usually have enough time to use Spin Web to save herself.
*
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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
*
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 rely on escapes to stay alive can be caught and locked down for a long time:
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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
* 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 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.
* Heroes who rely heavily on melee attacks and lack early spell immunity are easily blocked and interrupted by Ink Swell:
Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord.
* 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.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* Jakiro's reliance on his abilities can cause struggles for heroes who rely on evasion or blinds to get upper hand:
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Riki,
Troll Warlord,
Keeper of the Light.
* 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.
* 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 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.
* 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 physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer:
Phantom Assassin,
Broodmother
* 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
* 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 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.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* 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.
* 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 mediocre health pools who rely on armor or evasion to survive fights such as
Troll Warlord,
Windranger, and
Terrorblade can be killed by Zeus if caught off guard.
* 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 that rely on right-clicks will find that their attacks will miss a lot, due to Whirling Axes (Melee)'s miss chance. Such heroes include
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade, and
Morphling.
* 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.
* 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.
*
Frostbite can disarm and root Troll Warlord if he doesn't have a
Black King Bar or a
Manta Style to dispel it.
*
Crystal Nova and
Freezing Field both significantly slow Troll Warlord, making him much more vulnerable to ganks or stuns.
* The magical damage from
Freezing Field does a large amount of AoE damage, and Troll Warlord is not capable of cancelling Crystal Maiden's channel.
* 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.
* Heroes with a low attack speed or are fragile will find themselves unable to deal with Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed, like
Crystal Maiden or
Sven.
* Dark Willow's burst damage and stun prevents Troll Warlord from approaching her until he has
Black King Bar.
* Troll Warlord's lack of burst damage makes it hard for him to kill Dark Willow before she slips into Shadow Realm.
* Heroes with high burst damage and
Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
*
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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Troll Warlord's passive root, high attack speed, and blind from
Whirling Axes makes him an exceedingly difficult opponent for Anti-Mage to take down in a one-on-one fight.
* Troll Warlord's low mana causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, preventing Anti-Mage from burning Troll Warlord's small mana pool.
* Troll Warlord's passive root allows him to very effectively fight an Anti-Mage by preventing Anti-Mage from
Blinking away. This is even more effective when combined with a
Skull Basher or
Abyssal Blade.
*
Counterspell will do nothing to prevent Troll Warlord's high physical damage.
* Due to Troll Warlord's abysmal base intelligence and intelligence gain, he is one of the worst targets to use
Mana Void on.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him:
Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him:
Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, resulting in Huskar's attacks missing a lot of the time if it isn't dispelled.
* Troll Warlord's Fervor ramps up in a very similar way as Huskar's
Berserker's Blood: as soon as Huskar has high enough health regeneration, Troll Warlord has a high enough attack speed to negate it.
*
Battle Trance and
Fervor can help Troll Warlord deal with Enchantress through Untouchable.
Additional:
*
Untouchable's attack speed slow is easily remedied by Fervor stacks and Battle Trance.
* Troll Warlord is a natural
Silver Edge carrier, disabling Enchantress' Untouchable.
* Troll Warlord's ability to attack as a ranged hero allows him to destroy Juggernaut's
Healing Ward from afar.
* Battle Trance, when activated during
Omnislash, allows Troll Warlord to survive the full duration of Omnislash and retaliate once it is over.
* Phantom Assassin doesn't care about Silencer's spells as she relies on right-clicks more than spells.
* Phantom Assassin often builds
Black King Bar, which allows her to remove Global Silence before engaging.
*
Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin jump directly to Io.
*
Coup de Grace can make a short work of Io's low health and armor.
* 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 cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm him faster than the other way around thanks to
Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and
Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch Terrorblade, even during Metamorphosis.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed from
Fervor combined with
Skull Basher and
Abyssal Blade means that Terrorblade will have almost no chance to use
Sunder to save himself.
* Even if Terroblade manages to use
Sunder on Troll Warlord, Troll Warlord will simply be able to nullify it's effect with
Battle Trance.
Additional:
* Terrorblade cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm him faster than the other way around thanks to
Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and
Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch Terrorblade, even during Metamorphosis.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed from
Fervor combined with
Skull Basher and
Abyssal Blade means that Terrorblade will have almost no chance to use
Sunder to save himself.
* Even if Terroblade manages to use
Sunder on Troll Warlord, Troll Warlord will simply be able to nullify it's effect with
Battle Trance.
* Overall, any attempt for Terrorblade to engage and kill Troll Warlord will hurt him more than the other way around.
*
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.
*
Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, which can make the attack speed bonus from Hunter in the Night largely ineffective.
*
Berserker's Rage together with
Battle Trance and
Fervor stacks gives him a high chance of rooting Night Stalker, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Night Stalker in any stage of the game, regardless of whether or not it's night.
* Night Stalker is not a common
Monkey King Bar carrier to counteract this problem.
*
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.
*
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.
* Due to Fervor and Battle Trance, Troll Warlord has a significant attack speed, enabling him to crush
Tombstone quickly.
* Undying usually stays at the front line with no disables, making him an easy target for Troll Warlord.
* 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.
* 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 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.
* Lifestealer is a susceptible target to
Fervor due to his non-mobile nature and lack of disables. Troll Warlord's ranged
Berserker's Rage can also be used to kite Lifestealer safely. The root from its melee form also pierces magic immunity, which can potentially keep Lifestealer in place even while he is in Rage.
* Both
Whirling Axes (melee) and
Whirling Axes (ranged) can force Lifestealer to cast Rage too quickly and allow Troll Warlord to change strategies mid-fight, especially thanks to their separate cooldowns.
*
Battle Trance allows Troll Warlord to survive Lifestealer's Feast and turn the fight in his favor.
Additional:
* The passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll Warlord resilient to
Feast in early game.
* The 60% miss chance given by Whirling Axes (Melee) is useful when
Rage is not active.
* Battle Trance can purge
Open Wounds, negating a large amount of Lifestealer's sustain in fights.
* 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.
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore
Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
* 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.
*
Troll Warlord's melee bash and high attack speed can often help him and his allies win Duels against Legion Commander.
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him:
Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Mobility heroes will often be rooted by Troll Warlord and unable to escape, like
Storm Spirit.
* 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 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.
* Phantom Assassin's
Blur is a real problem for Lycan, as he relies entirely on direct attacks to deal damage.
* 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.
*
Whirling Axes (Melee)'s blind makes Sven nearly useless in the early game and allows Troll Warlord to take him on comfortably.
*
Battle Trance will mean Sven will never take Troll out in a 1vs1 with equal farm.
Additional:
* Berserker's Rage together with Troll Warlord's high attack speed gives Troll a high chance of rooting enemies, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Sven.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, and the passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll resilient to physical damage in early game. Sven's
God's Strength is much less effective as a result.
* Beware that Sven can farm much faster than Troll Warlord by stacking ancients and clearing them with
Great Cleave.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper:
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Additional:
*
Shrapnel and
Headshot allows Sniper to kite Troll Warlord effectively.
*
Take Aim together with certain items such as
Hurricane Pike allow Sniper to sit and fire at Troll Warlord from a safe distance.
*
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 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.
*
Berserker's Rage will repeatedly trap Bloodseeker in a one-on-one fight.
*
Whirling Axes (Melee) blinds Bloodseeker, causing him to miss 60% of the time, and therefore reduces his ability to gain the upper hand 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.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
*
Troll Warlord can root and deal a lot of damage to a single Meepo while lifestealing through the assault from the other Meepos. Meepo needs expensive items like
Ethereal Blade or
Heaven's Halberd to be able to fight him.
* 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
*
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.
* Generally speaking, Spectre is a strong teamfighter but a weak manfighter. She has no tool to deal with troll warlord once he has his sight locked on her.
* Troll often buys
Silver Edge and
Monkey King Bar, which greatly countered Spectre's passive and item build (Silver Edge can disable passive while providing some damage, Monkey King Bar provides accuracy to counter
Radiance and
Butterfly miss chance).
*
Black King Bar allows troll to bypass the damage return from
Blade mail should Spectre attempts to fight back Troll. However,
Black King Bar is generally not very effective against Spectre as her skills can pierce the spell immunity. Still, it offers protection against
Blade mail, a common item for Spectre in the mid game.
* Troll has high lifesteal from
Battle Trance and
Satanic, which help him survive the damage from
Desolate should the break duration is over.
*
Battle Trance and
Fervor mean Spectre will have a hard time fighting troll and cannot take him down, even with equal farm.
*
Frost Blast and
Chain Frost can kite Troll Warlord effectively.
*
Frost Shield can single-handedly waste most of the duration of Battle Trance, due to the extreme resistance to physical damage Frost Shield provides. In addition, Troll Warlord is incapable of switching targets during Battle Trance, so he cannot pick an easier target.
* Troll Warlord has little to no ability to regenerate HP, so
Frost Blast together with
Frost Shield can harass him effectively.
* 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.
*
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).
* Due to Fervor and Battle Trance, Troll Warlord is one of the best heroes to deal with
Supernova.
* 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.
* 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.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
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You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
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Phantom Assassin
* Static Link can lower the damage output from
Coup de Grace procs, hindering Phantom Assassin's main source of damage.
Blur.
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.
Static Link and
Eye of the Storm pierces spell immunity, as Phantom Assassin is often reliant on Black King Bar.
* Eye of the Storm strikes cannot be evaded by
* Both Static Link and Eye of the Storm pierces spell immunity, as Phantom Assassin is often reliant on Black King Bar.
Additional:
*
*
* Both
Troll Warlord
* Static Link is effective against Troll Warlord, as he mainly relies on attack speed more so than damage.
Battle Trance, as he has no way to break the link.
Static Link can drain most or all of Troll Warlord's damage, making him useless in a teamfight or unable to last hit in lane. This is especially effective during Battle Trance, because Troll has no option to cancel the link.
Storm Surge allows Razor to chase after or run away from Troll Warlord while doing damage with
Eye of the Storm.
* Static Link is even more effective if Troll Warlord used
Additional:
*
*