Phantom Lancer
* Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions, especially when combined with 
Battle Fury.
Additional:
* 
Sleight of Fist, allows Ember Spirit to destroy all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* 
Flame Guard also deals significant damage to illusions, and protects against Spirit Lance.
* Phantom Rush is unable to catch Ember Spirit when he teleports to his 
Fire Remnants.
Earth Spirit
* Ember Spirit easily finishes off all creeps on the line against Earth Sprit, exchanging health with him under his Flame Guard, which is why Earth Spirit can leave the line for ganks very early and without the necessary amount of gold and levels, which will give the Ember Spirit team an advantage to fight off such ganks
* The Sleight of Fist ability helps Ember Spirit dodge all of Earth Spirit's abilities, which makes his gank potential practically useless against Ember Spirit, and with the purchase of 
Black King Bar, Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist to combine with 
Searing Chains to catch and kill Earth Spirit.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit easily finishes off all creeps on the line against Earth Sprit, exchanging health with him under his Flame Guard, which is why Earth Spirit can leave the line for ganks very early and without the necessary amount of gold and levels, which will give the Ember Spirit team an advantage to fight off such ganks
* The Sleight of Fist ability helps Ember Spirit dodge all of Earth Spirit's abilities, which makes his gank potential practically useless against Ember Spirit, and with the purchase of Black King Bar, Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist to combine with Searing Chains to catch and kill Earth Spirit.
Phantom Lancer
* Poof will destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions within a short time.
* Earthbind prevents Phantom Lancer from using 
Doppelganger.
Additional:
* 
Poof from multiple Meepos will destroy illusions quickly.
* 
Earthbind's area root can catch Phantom Lancer in a group of illusions and prevent him from using Doppelganger for a long time.
* Meepo aims to end the game as early as possible, while Phantom Lancer is a lategame hero.
* This also means that, in the late game, Meepo stands no chance against Phantom Lancer.
Earth Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: 
Earth Spirit, 
Ember Spirit, 
Storm Spirit, 
Nature's Prophet, 
Phantom Assassin, 
Riki, 
Anti-Mage, 
Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
Phantom Lancer
* Tidebringer, Torrent and Ghostship destroys Phantom Lancer's illusion army.
* 
Phantom Lancer can't escape with Doppelganger under your X Marks the Spot, but can use it to dodge it.
Additional:
* 
Tidebringer and Kunkka's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Earth Spirit
* In general, highly mobile heroes like Earth Spirit or Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as 
Tinker and Nature's Prophet.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes who rely on illusions will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds: Phantom Lancer, 
Chaos Knight, 
Terrorblade, 
Naga Siren
Additional:
* 
Overwhelming Odds deals high damage to Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* 
Duel's long duration prevents Phantom Lancer from using Doppelganger.
Earth Spirit
* Heroes rely on their debuff to control the opponent will have a hard time against Press the Attack: 
Venomancer, Earth Spirit, 
Ogre Magi
Earth Spirit
* 
Aphotic Shield is a strong dispel, meaning it can save allies from Earth Spirit's stun, slow, silence, and Magnetize.
* 
Borrowed Time makes it nearly impossible for Earth Spirit to kill Abaddon.
Phantom Lancer
* Jakiro's spells inflict AoE damage, meaning he can take down Phantom Lancer's illusion army very quickly.
* Bear in mind, however, that once Phantom Lancer buys 
Diffusal Blade which can burn Jakiro's mana, Jakiro will be vulnerable to Phantom Lancer 's counter-attacks if he runs out of mana.
Additional:
* Jakiro's AoE abilities are great against Phantom Lancer:
* 
Dual Breath slows down and damages Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
* 
Liquid Fire will not only deal AoE damage but also lowers Phantom Lancer's attack speed.
* 
Ice Path and 
Macropyre combo can easily clear all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Jakiro can predict Doppelganger and Ice Path on top.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's lack of disables makes it hard for him to stop Echo Stomp's channelling.
* However, due to the long cast time of his abilities, a good Phantom Lancer can use 
Manta Style and/or Doppelganger to dodge the abilities.
* Phantom Lancer's high agility and relatively low strength make him very vulnerable to Natural Order.
* Additionally, Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter can clear his wave of illusions.
* Should Phantom Lancer tries to increase his health by investing for 
Heart of Tarrasque, Earth Splitter does more damage to him and his illusions.
Earth Spirit
* 
Shapeshift allows Lycan to chase down Earth Spirit.
Phantom Lancer
* His illusions will kill themselves in a few hits because of Retaliate. The nukes from Hoof Stomp and Double-Edge should be enough to clear them for a large portion of the game
* Centaur Warrunner's small mana pool makes Diffusal Blade's damage much lower once Centaur doesn't have any more mana left to burn. Keep in mind that Double Edge does not cost mana.
* Be wary when chasing down Phantom Lancer. Hoof Stomp's terrible cast time makes it quite easy to dodge with Doppelganger.
Additional:
* 
Hoof Stomp and 
Double Edge makes short work of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* 
Retaliate together with 
Blade Mail reflects Phanton Lancer's damage and quickly destroys his illusions.
Phantom Lancer
* Stroke of Fate's damage increases the more units are hit by it, making it effective against Phantom Lancer's army of illusions.
* Phantom's Embrace and Ink Swell's stun can prevent Phantom Lancer from escaping with Doppelganger if properly timed.
* If he has already used Doppelganger, Soulbind can tie Phantom Lancer to one of his own illusions to keep him in place, or to ensure a kill if Grimstroke's team is unsure which one is the real hero.
Additional:
* 
Stroke of Fate clears Phantom Lancer's illusion easily as it deals bonus damage to more targets.
* 
Ink Swell can be used on an allied hero or Grimstoke himself to stun Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
* 
Soulbind has an undispellable debuff that can be used to mark the real Phantom Lancer. It also prevents him from using Doppelganger.
Phantom Lancer
* Flak Cannon destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions very quickly.
Additional:
* 
Flak Cannon and 
Call Down destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions very quickly.
Phantom Lancer
* Phoenix's AoE abilities can prove troublesome for Phantom Lancer.
* 
Fire Spirits dramatically reduces Phantom Lancer and his illusions' attack speed.
* 
Icarus Dive's movement speed reduction makes retreating difficult.
* 
Supernova burns away illusions, and is invulnerable to attacks from illusions.
Phantom Lancer
* Leshrac can easily clear Phantom Lancer's illusions with his huge area of effect damage.
Additional:
* Leshrac's AoE abilities destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* 
Diabolic Edict and 
Pulse Nova require no targeting, thus hitting Phantom Lancer whenever he's nearby.
Phantom Lancer
* Berserker's Call catches Phantom Lancer when he is hidden among his illusions.
* Counter Helix quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusion army. The more illusions there are, the more often Counter Helix is triggered.
* Phantom Lancer's low early game health makes him an easy target for Culling Blade.
Additional:
* 
Berserker's Call helps locking down Phantom Lancer in a group of illusions.
* 
Counter Helix combined with Blade Mail clears Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* Phantom Lancer's low health in the early game makes him a frequent target for 
Culling Blade.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Astral Step and 
Dissimilate makes a quick work of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* 
Resonant Pulse helps clear illusions and protects Void Spirit from Phantom Lancer's physical damage and with the 
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade, it prevents Phantom Lancer from casting his abilities.
* Void's Spirit mobility makes it hard for him to chase down with Phantom Rush.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Dead Shot passes through all of Phantom Lancer's illusions, allowing her to separate him from the illusions easily.
* However, Phantom Lancer's high mobility can still pose a threat to Muerta's limited movement.
Phantom Lancer
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* 
Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* 
Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Empower helps Magnus' allies clear out illusions.
* 
Reverse Polarity and 
Skewer will pull Phantom Lancer along with his illusions, and reposition them together for easy nuking.
* 
Shockwave deals significant area damage in the early game,destroys phantoms and may even indicate the real Phantom Lancer.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Bushwhack will stun and make a quick work of Phantom Lancer and his illusion when he's near a tree.
* 
Sharpshooter breaks 
Juxtapose and deals hefty damage.
* Sharpshooter ignores Illusions and will only damage and breaks the real phantom lancer, when used right, this will allow you to reveal the real phantom lancer amongst his Illusions
Additional:
* 
Acorn Shot combined with attack modifiers such as 
Maelstrom or 
Daedalus makes a quick work of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bushwhack will stun Phantom Lancer and his illusions if they're near a tree.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Illusory Orb and 
Waning Rift are effective nukes against Phantom Lancer's illusions, especially in the early game.
* 
Dream Coil limits Phantom Rush and Doppelganger's mobility during teamfights.
Earth Spirit
* Puck can forbid the opportunity to avoid trouble for Earth Spirit on his own 
Rolling Boulder, using abilities: Dream Coil, Waning Rift
Additional:
* Puck can forbid the opportunity to avoid trouble for Earth Spirit on his own Rolling Boulder, using abilities: Dream Coil, Waning Rift
Earth Spirit
* Earth Spirit Eliminates the possibility of the Puck to hide in 
Phase Shift and avoid an attack by 
Geomagnetic Grip with its AOE-silence, which is why it can help the team kill him
* Puck can't throw off the effect of 
Magnetize any of his abilities, which is why he will constantly receive damage if Earth Spirit extends this ability with his 
Stone Remnant
Additional:
* Earth Spirit Eliminates the possibility of the Puck to hide in Phase Shift and avoid an attack by Geomagnetic Grip with its AOE-silence, which is why it can help the team kill him
* Puck can't throw off the effect of Magnetize any of his abilities, which is why he will constantly receive damage if Earth Spirit extends this ability with his Stone Remnant
Phantom Lancer
* 
Great Cleave and 
God's Strength destroys illusions in just a few hits.
* 
Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer when he's grouped up with illusions.
* Sven's low mana causes him to take less damage from Diffusal Blade. This is further reduced by the armor bonus from 
Warcry.
Additional:
* Great Cleave and God's Strength cuts through Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
Phantom Lancer
* The dragon's splash damage wears down his illusions.
* Early harassment with Breath of Fire hinders his farming.
* Fireball stops his pushes and allows for a defence.
Additional:
* 
Breathe Fire and 
Elder Dragon Form's splash damage takes out Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly.
* If Dragon Knight can 
Dragon Tail the real Phantom Lancer, he and his team can quickly kill him before he has a chance to escape.
Phantom Lancer
* Snapfire's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Phantom Lancer
* All Timbersaw's abilities deal AoE pure damage and can easily deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* 
Reactive Armor highly negates Phantom Lancer's physical damage, making him having a hard time killing Timbersaw.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer's lack of burst damage and constant attacks will increase Reactive Armor to max level immediately.
* Coupled with 
Timber Chain, it makes an easy escape and almost impossible for Timbersaw to be killed by Phantom Lancer.
* 
Whirling Death and 
Chakram can instantly destroy large groups of illusions, negating Phantom Lancer's advantage, although Phantom Lancer usually builds Diffusal Blade. It can be a problem in late game.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with global nukes will target and hit Phantom Lancer regardless of his illusions: 
Zeus
Phantom Lancer
* 
Broodmother, Nature's Prophet, Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
Earth Spirit
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities: Ember Spirit, 
Puck, Weaver
Phantom Lancer
* 
Bloodseeker's 
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* 
Doom's 
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
* Bloodseeker's Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* 
Ancient Apparition's 
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* 
Grimstroke's Soulbind is undispellable.
* 
Shadow Demon's 
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* 
Monkey King's 
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Earth Spirit
* Heroes with fast movement abilities will suffer huge damage when afflicted by Rupture: 
Spirit Breaker, Earth Spirit, 
Dark Seer.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights: Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, 
Arc Warden
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that require burst damage to kill will be difficult for Phantom Lancer to take down: 
Timbersaw, 
Axe, 
Bristleback, 
Alchemist and 
Underlord
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that rely on illusions typically spawn very strong illusions inside Dark Seer Wall of Replica that he can use against them or their team: Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Naga Siren, Terrorblade.
Additional:
* 
Ion Shell helps taking down illusions quickly, making it easy to identify the real Phantom Lancer.
* 
Surge allows Dark Seer and his teammates to run away from Phantom Lancer, who relies on his 
Phantom Rush to chase enemies.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with summoned units don't fare well against Dawnbreaker. (Phantom Lancer ,
Beastmaster ,
Lycan).
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that require burst damage to kill will be difficult for Phantom Lancer to take down: Timbersaw, Axe, Bristleback, Alchemist and Underlord
Additional:
* Firestorm is very useful for clearing multiple illusions swiftly.
* Pit of Malice will continuously disrupt many illusions, drastically reducing their damage and potency.
* Athropy Aura reduces damage of both Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Lion may upgrade 
Mana Drain, 
Hex and 
Finger of Death through Talent Tree and Aghanim's itens to make them affect secondary targets or turn them into AoE abilities. This can make things difficult for heroes like Phantom Lancer, Naga Siren and Terrorblade, who rely on illusion armies.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet, 
Lich.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Kraken Shell and 
Anchor Smash makes it very difficult for Phantom Lancer's illusions to damage to Tidehunter.
* 
Ravage will stun the real Phantom Lancer while clearing most of his illusions.
* Anchor Smash reduces base damage, which is the majority of Phantom Lancer's auto-attack damage.
* An Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Gush slows down and reduces all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Additional:
* A dozen of Phantom Lancer's illusions with all their might can barely hurt Tidehunter at all thanks to Kraken Shell and Anchor Smash. The only way Phantom Lancer can hurt Tidehunter is through the mana burn provided by Diffusal Blade.
* Even with high chasing power from 
Spirit Lance and Phantom Rush (and even Diffusal Blade), Tide Hunter can shrug it all off with Kraken Shell and escape by using a 
Town Portal Scroll or just moving away.
* The AoE nukes from Ravage, Anchor Smash, and an Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded Gush can clear Phantom Lancer's illusions easily.
Earth Spirit
* Positioning-reliant heroes (
Windranger, 
Tidehunter, 
Ursa...), since Earth Spirit can disrupt positioning with his Boulder Smash.
Phantom Lancer
* Swashbuckle,Maelstrom or Diffusal Blade allow him to quickly destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Pangolier's high mobility allows him to easily escape from Phantom Lancer, through both Phantom Rush and Diffusal Blade.
* Phantom Rush will cause Phantom Lancer to be stunned by Rolling Thunder, or set himself up for a Shield Crash.
Additional:
* Pangolier's AoE abilities especially 
Shield Crash, are very effective against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Earth Spirit
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage, 
Queen of Pain, 
Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer can effortlessly overwhelm Morphling with a large number of illusions. It becomes even more effective with {Item ID:Diffusal Blade}, which takes away his mana in the process.
* Doppelganger can be used to dodge Adaptive Strike combo and create confusion with two additional illusions.
* 
Eye of Skadi can be bought to slow and negate the health regeneration from Attribute Shift, and a common item for Phantom Lancer.
Earth Spirit
* Geomagnetic Grip is not blocked by 
Linken's Sphere and can silence Morphling, preventing Morphling from using Waveform or Attribute Shift to escape from ganks.
* In addition, 
Boulder Smash and Rolling Boulder provide a solid lockdown if used together.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger allows Phantom Lancer to dodge an incoming snowball.
* Phantom Lancer usually buys a Diffusal Blade, which is very effective against Tusk's low mana pool.
* Phantom Lancer usually buys Manta Style which can also dodge an incoming snowball, much like Doppelganger.
Earth Spirit
* Boulder Smash can return Tusk after his initiation.
* Geomagnetic Grip prevents Tusk from using Snowball to escape.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's illusions destroy 
Refraction charges very quickly.
Earth Spirit
* Templar Assassin is dependant on Refraction in teamfights. Because Magnetize deals damage per second and Earth Spirit is even able to refresh the duration of his ultimate he is suitable for wasting Refraction and allowing his team to take her down.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer creates way too many illusions for Pugna's 
Life Drain to destroy, overwhelming him easily.
* Doppelganger can dodge 
Nether Blast or dispel 
Decrepify.
* Diffusal Blade is a common item for Phantom Lancer to burn Pugna's large mana pool and deals a large amount of damage in the process.
Additional:
* Though Life Drain instantly destroys illusions, Phantom Lancer creates way too many for Pugna to handle.
* A good Phantom Lancer will also dodge your Nether Blast with Doppelganger.
* Phantom Lancer is the most natural Diffusal Blade carrier to burn Pugna's very large pool of mana away and deal a large amount of damage in the process.
Earth Spirit
* Earth Spirit does not fly a small distance on Rolling Boulder using Stone Remnant, which will be a big problem for Life Drain, since Pugna will stop receiving health from breaking the distance of the ability, which will give the Earth Spirit team a chance to kill Pugna, by the way, this also works well with Boulder Smash, which pushes the enemy and can annoy the distance
* Earth Spirit has excellent control with a small recharge on Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip, which can knock down Pugna`s Life Drain, as well as completely turn him off in a fight, because he is very dependent on his abilities
* Magic damage from Earth Spirit's abilities can be disastrous for Decrepify, as it will kill him very quickly, and if Earth Spirit collects 
Ethereal Blade in such a game, it can easily destroy Pugna in one Rolling Boulder hit
* Earth Spirit also turns out to be a strong decision against 
Nether Ward, because he experiences it with his large amount of health, and if he collects Heart of Tarrasque(and 
Bracerin early game)in such a game, he may not feel it at all and calmly control Pugna with his abilities
Additional:
* Earth Spirit does not fly a small distance on Rolling Boulder using Stone Remnant, which will be a big problem for Life Drain, since Pugna will stop receiving health from breaking the distance of the ability, which will give the Earth Spirit team a chance to kill Pugna, by the way, this also works well with Boulder Smash, which pushes the enemy and can annoy the distance
* Earth Spirit has excellent control with a small recharge on Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip, which can knock down Pugna`s Life Drain, as well as completely turn him off in a fight, because he is very dependent on his abilities
* Magic damage from Earth Spirit's abilities can be disastrous for Decrepify, as it will kill him very quickly, and if Earth Spirit collects Ethereal Blade in such a game, it can easily destroy Pugna in one Rolling Boulder hit
* Earth Spirit also turns out to be a strong decision against Nether Ward, because he experiences it with his large amount of health, and if he collects Heart of Tarrasque(and Bracerin early game)in such a game, he may not feel it at all and calmly control Pugna with his abilities
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with single-target abilities and low-mobility are all an exceptionally easy targets for Phantom Rush: Terrorblade, Chaos Knight, 
Wraith King
Additional:
* With no wave clear and mostly focus on dealing single target damage, Terrorblade will be overwhelmed in no time due to Juxtapose. And to make things worse, Terroblade is not a common Battle Fury nor 
Mjollnir wielder to counter this problem.
* 
Reflection can be dispeled instantly with Doppelganger.
* As Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier, he can drain Terrorblade's mana, leaving Terrorblade with no chance to use 
Sunder to save himself.
* Besides Reflection that can be used to detect real Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade has no other ways to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions. And what's worse is that Phantom Lancer can much easily detect the real Terrorblade due to 
Conjure Image having illusions having different colors.
Earth Spirit
* Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip prevent Terrorblade from using Sunder.
* Magnetize Does heavy magic damage to Terrorblade and his illusions that bypasses his high base armor.
Phantom Lancer
* Any heroes that naturally buy Diffusal Blade like Phantom Lancer or have a mana break talent is a big issue for Pudge because of his low mana pool.
Earth Spirit
* Earth Spirit can easily disrupt 
Dismember because he can disable from a long distance with a Stone Remnant and Rolling Boulder. With talent he can even pull his teammates out of Dismember and also silence Pudge with Geomagnetic Grip.
Phantom Lancer
* Ursa has no sustained AoE to deal with illusions, it becomes worse since Phantom Lancer can create more illusions in a matter of seconds.
* Diffusal Blade can be used to drain Ursa mana. This is a standard item for Phantom Lancer in every match.
* Doppelganger applies basic dispel on Phantom Lancer, which will remove the slow from Earthshock. It also resets fights with more illusions, making hard for Ursa to hit the real Phantom Lancer.
* Manta Style creates two more illusions and also applies a basic dispel, further complicating the problem for Ursa to deal with.
Earth Spirit
* Positioning-reliant heroes (Windranger, Tidehunter, Ursa...), since Earth Spirit can disrupt positioning with his Boulder Smash.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger can be used to easily dodge Light Strike Array if timed correctly.
* Phantom Lancer can quickly deplete Lina's mana pool with his illusions and deal massive damage from it simultaneously since Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier.
Earth Spirit
* Squishy heroes (
Io, 
Crystal Maiden, 
Lina...), as Earth Spirit can deal tons of damage with Magnetize.
Phantom Lancer
* Ogre Magi has no undispellable AoE damage or disables and has nothing to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Doppelganger disjoints and dispels Ignite.
Earth Spirit
* Earth Spirit's useful kit of Slows, Stuns, and Silences can set up kills on Ogre Magi and the silence can stop him from using his abilities.
Phantom Lancer
* Carry heroes who can close the gap reliably are very problematic: Phantom Lancer, Ember Spirit, Phantom Assassin.
Earth Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Io, Nature's Prophet, 
Pangolier, Puck, Queen of Pain and most notably Riki.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster, Broodmother, Chaos Knight, Lycan, Naga Siren, Nature's Prophet, Phantom Lancer, 
Shadow Shaman, Terrorblade, 
Visage, 
Warlock, Wraith King.
Earth Spirit
* Squishy heroes (Io, Crystal Maiden, Lina...), as Earth Spirit can deal tons of damage with Magnetize.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells: Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Broodmother, Naga Siren, Lycan, Visage, Beastmaster, Warlock, Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
Earth Spirit
* 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.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger dispels 
Sticky Napalm and 
Flamebreak.
* There are usually way too many illusions for Batrider to lasso the real Phantom Lancer, since the illusions' hitboxes also body block the real Phantom Lancer.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade will very quickly burn Medusa's mana, making Mana Shield significantly less effective.
* Doppelganger's 1 second invulnerability can be used to dodge Medusa's petrification from Stone Gaze, as well as Mystic Snake.
* Phantom Lancer's illusions outnumber Medusa's targets from Split Shot, likely shielding his team in the process.
Earth Spirit
* 
Black Hole is a channeling ability and Earth Spirit has at least two possibilities which can interrupt these kind of spells. Enigma is exposed and cannot move while using Black Hole, thus making it easy for Earth Spirit to stop the feared ability with the huge range of Rolling Boulder and forcing Enigma to quickly rush a Black King Bar to prevent this.
* Enigma is level dependant, squishy and relativly defenseless in the early game and therefore vulnerable to aggressive roam maneuvers in this stage of the game. Earth Spirit excels at ganking, shutting down a jungling or otherwise solo farming Enigma.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Rush lets Phantom Lancer get close quickly and disable Marksmanship.
* As Phantom Lancer commonly buys Manta Style, he can easily dispel Gust and then chase after Drow Ranger.
* Because Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier, he can easily burn Drow Ranger's mana and render her unable to use Frost Arrow and Gust to save herself.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger is a very reliable tool against Glimpse, enabling him to dodge it consistently.
* Doppelganger also allows Phantom Lancer to escape from Kinetic Field so long as there isn't a Static Storm on top of him.
Additional:
* Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer instantly escape from 
Kinetic Field.
* Doppelganger is one of the most reliable ways to dodge 
Glimpse, other than spell immunity.
* Doppelganger dispels 
Thunder Strike.
* However, even with the negation of the rest of his kit, 
Static Storm (especially when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter) remains as one of the strongest lockdowns against Phantom Lancer, and as such Disruptor must never be underestimated.
Earth Spirit
* Earth Spirit is a dangerous foe to encounter for Invoker in the early stages of the game. Since Invoker needs to gain levels as fast as possible and is not very strong in the early game, Earth Spirit can use his incredible early game power to gank Invoker and ruin his game plan.
* Earth Spirit combines stuns and silences with his spells and can apply them from a great distance. This is bad for Invoker as he is dependent on a smart usage of his spells with 
Invoke and Earth Spirit can disrupt his combos easily.
Phantom Lancer
* Although 
Viper Strike cannot be dispelled by Doppelganger, Viper's lack of mobility and AoE damage makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer.
* Viper's various slows do not work against Phantom Rush.
* Although Phantom Lancer should be wary due to 
Nethertoxin applying Break.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer can overwhelm Viper with spawned illusions from Spirit Lance and Doppelganger.
* Viper's various slows do not work against Phantom Rush. Additionally, it is almost impossible to keep Lancer inside Nethertoxin's radius in order to disable the passive.
Phantom Lancer
* Due to Phantom Rush and Juxtapose being passives and not affected by silence, a Phantom Lancer with a Diffusal Blade can easily kill Silencer.
Earth Spirit
* Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip disable Faceless Void so he cannot escape with Time Walk.
* Rolling Boulder will allow Earth Spirit to get on top of Faceless Void at all stages of the game.
Phantom Lancer
* Juxtapose and Doppelganger conjures too many illusions for Dazzle to deal with, given he has no inherent movement- or AoE-abilities.
* Phantom Rush and Spirit Lance allow Phantom Lancer to trivially catch Dazzle even in the back line of a fight.
* Phantom Lancer has high base armor which counters Dazzle's physcial damage based spells in lane.
Phantom Lancer
* Vengeful Spirit has no strong AoE nuke or disable against Phantom Lancer's Illusions.
* Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier, which reduces Vengeful Spirit's low mana pool very quickly, leaving her defenseless.
* Doppelganger can dodge Vengeful Spirit's abilites.
* Phantom Rush with his illusions can chase Vengeful Spirit efficiently.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's many illusions will easily destroy 
Tombstone, provided he has sufficient farm.
* He also has no ways of dealing with the illusions, since Decay doesn't steal strength from illusions.
Phantom Lancer
* Lifestealer will struggle to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions and will either be forced to use his abilities too quickly, or itemize too heavily for them.
* Phantom Lancer commonly builds Diffusal Blade, which poses a large problem to Lifestealer and his low mana pool, and can shut him down from even casting his abilities.
Additional:
* Aside from his ultimate, Lifestealer has no AoE abilities to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions, nor does he have the mobility to escape Phantom Rush.
* Doppelganger dispels 
Open Wounds.
* Phantom Lancer usually builds Diffusal Blade, which a problem for a low already mana hero like Lifestealer.
Phantom Lancer
* Diffusal Blade is a core item on Phantom Lancer. And when combined with his numerous illusions, it allows him to rapidly deplete Necrophos's mana, rendering Necrophos incapable of doing anything.
* It can be difficult to single out the true Phantom Lancer among his army, giving Necrophos a hard time with aiming his ultimate.
* Even if his illusions are defeated, Phantom Lancer can simply create more of them at his disposal with almost no issues.
Phantom Lancer
* Void's slow is dispelled by Doppelganger or counteracted by Phantom Rush.
* Spirit Lance's and Diffusal Blade's slow reduces Night Stalker's mobility and helps him or his ally escape if they're inflicted by Void or Crippling Fear.
* Night Stalker has no AoE abilites to take out Phantom Lancer's illusions. Even if Night Stalker gets an Aghanim's Scepter, there will be way too many illusions for Night Stalker to handle.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger and Juxtapose allow Phantom Lancer to initiate on Outworld Destroyer, and, although Arcane Orb will normally destroy his illusions instantly, Phantom Lancer will spawn too many to deal with without using Sanity's Eclipse.
* Outworld Destroyer has very little AOE ability; His Astral Imprisonment with Aghanim's Scepter is his primary AOE, and it does too little damage to eliminate Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Additional:
* Although Outworld Destroyer will typically destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions in one shot, Phantom Lancer spawns too many of them for Outworld Destroyer to deal with. However, be careful about initating on Outworld, as 
Sanity's Eclipse will erase your illusions and deal massive damage to you. He can then follow up with 
Astral Imprisonment and 
Meteor Hammer.
Phantom Lancer
* Juxtapose allows Phantom Lancer to overwhelm Chaos Knight due to his single-target abilities.
* Manta Style is a natural item from Phantom Lancer's is very harder from Chaos Knight's kill him a lot from Phantom Lancer's illusion and Manta Style from Phantom Lancer's impacted Juxtapose .
* Doppelganger can be used to dodge Chaos Bolt.
* Since Phantom Lancer builds Diffusal Blade often, it can quickly drain Chaos Knight's low mana pool, leaving him unable to cast spells.
Additional:
* Chaos Knight's single target abilities are difficult to target against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Chaos Knight's lack of mobility makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer to Phantom Rush and drain his already low mana pool.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer has higher mobility and the ability to reset any fights with Doppelganger can be a nuisance for spectre to fight against.
* Phantom Lancer is a natural carrier of Diffusal Blade and Manta Style, which is outright nullify 
Desolate. In fact, Phantom Lancer will always have illusions with him at anytime, thus further exacerbated the problem.
* Although Spectre is largely AoE oriented, unfortunately, they are damage-over-time (DoT) rather than burst AoE damage. Without any effective ways to quickly destroy illusion and reveal the real hero, Spectre has little availability to manfight Phantom Lancer at any points in the game.
* Spectre often relies on 
Spectral Dagger as a pseudo-mobility skill. With her low mana pool and complete dependence on it to catch enemy team, she will soon find herself unable to do anything significant once her mana pool is completely drained.
* Doppelganger can be used to dispel the slow from Spectral Dagger, thus completely render it useless.
Phantom Lancer
* Diffusal Blade lets Phantom Lancer drain Wraith King's mana, preventing 
Reincarnation from triggering until he buys an 
Aghanim's Shard.
* Wraith King is bad against illusions-based heroes, as 
Wraithfire Blast is his only single-target disable and can get overwhelmed easily.
* Doppelganger can disjoint Wraithfire Blast.
Additional:
* Doppelganger disjoints Wraithfire Blast.
* Wraith King is not good at handling illusion-based heroes, as his only disable is single-target.
* Phantom Lancer tends to get Diffusal Blade, leaving Wraith King no mana to reincarnate.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger can dispel Leech Seed. It can also destroy large amounts of trees, counteracting Nature's Guise and Eyes in the Forest.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's illusions will quickly destroy multiple layers of 
Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Visage has no mobility mechanisms, making him a prime target for Phantom Rush.
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger dispels Flux.
* Phantom Rush closes the distance between Phantom Lancer and Arc Warden.
* Juxtapose can overwhelm Arc Warden and nullify his kit which is only effective against isolated enemies.
Additional:
* One of Arc Warden's hardest counters, Arc Warden, who has primarily single target damage, will struggle tremendously against Phantom Lancer:
* 
Flux is paused if even one illusion remains near Phantom Lancer. It can also be dispelled with Doppelganger.
* Phantom Lancer can also easily dodge an activated 
Spark Wraith, or use his illusions to trigger it safely.
* Phantom Rush allows Lancer to quickly close gap to get inside of Arc Warden's 
Magnetic Field.
* Phantom Lancer and his clones are able to quickly drain Arc Warden of his mana with a Diffusal Blade. This means Warden's 
Tempest Double will also be summoned without mana.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's Doppelganger has a low cooldown and applies a basic dispel on PL, making it hard to keep Corrosive Haze on him.
* Phantom Lancer usually purchases Manta Style which provides another basic dispel to remove Corrosive Haze with.
* Besides Slithereen Crush, Slardar does not have another way to deal with illusions and has a low mana pool, which allows Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade to quickly build up illusions while draining Slardar's mana.
* Phantom Rush outruns Guardian Sprint, forcing Slardar to Blink away or use Slithereen Crush defensively to avoid being killed.
Phantom Lancer
* Lone Druid and his Spirit Bear lack mobility, and are easy overwhelmed after being slowed by Diffusal Blade.
* 
Savage Roar is useless since Phantom Lancer can return to fight him again with his Phantom Rush.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusions can be sent out to destroy 
Techies mines.
Phantom Lancer
* 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 Lancer
* Heroes with summons or illusions makes Sacred Arrow harder to land: Shadow Demon, Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with dispels: 
Legion Commander, 
Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
Earth Spirit
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit, 
Nyx Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusion-based heroes are effective against Omnislash and Juggernaut's single-targeted damage: Naga Siren, Chaos Knight, Terrorblade,Phantom Lancer.
Earth Spirit
* Any ganking heavy support can be a big problem for Primal Beast, such as: Earth Spirit, Grimstroke before he has a Black King Bar.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer with Doppelganger
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* 
Abaddon with Aphotic Shield and Borrowed Time
* 
Huskar with 
Life Break
* 
Juggernaut with 
Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with 
Press the Attack
* 
Lifestealer with 
Rage and 
Infest
* Naga Siren with 
Mirror Image
* 
Omniknight with 
Heavenly Grace
* Oracle with 
Fortune's End and 
False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with Doppelganger
* Slark with 
Dark Pact
* Ursa with 
Enrage
* Weaver with 
Time Lapse
* Tidehunter with Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
Additional:
* Doppelganger dispels 
Track.
* Bounty Hunter also has no area of effect abilities to help with the illusions.
Phantom Lancer
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like 
Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
Phantom Lancer
* Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons: Naga Siren, Broodmother, Lycan, Visage, Phantom Lancer. And to make things worse, Nyx Asassin is not a common Battle Fury, Maelstrom, Mjollnir, 
Gleipnir or 
Radiance wielder to counter this problem.
Phantom Lancer
* Laser prevents Juxtapose from triggering, as it only triggers on successful attacks
* Laser does high splash, and upgrading it with Aghanim's Scepter makes it deal twice as much damage due to the bounce. Combined with Rearm, Tinker can rapidly deplete Phantom Lancer's illusion army
* However, if Phantom Lancer ambushes Tinker, Tinker will not survive versus Phantom Lancer.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition, Mjollnir or Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
Earth Spirit
* Tinker is an easy target for Earth Spirit to initiate on. He likes to split push lanes once he acquires 
Boots of Travel and Earth Spirit can jump him with his Rolling Boulder and disable him to buy enough time for his teammates to come and assist Earth Spirit.
* The huge range of Stone Remnant and Rolling Boulder enables Earth Spirit to stop Tinker from teleporting to his fountain since Tinker tends to buy 
Blink Dagger most of the time to escape.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Phantom Assassin, Broodmother
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar: Phantom Lancer, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Chaos Knight.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes who are not easily crippled by Fate's Edict or Fortune's End, such as Timbersaw, or those who can dispel them, such as Phantom Lancer, can kill Oracle unhindered.
Phantom Lancer
* Doom's Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
* Bloodseeker's Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's illusions can make it difficult to Doom the original. Should Doom figure out the original hero, the illusions can make it difficult to cast any abilities, as their hitboxes can be used to body-block the Phantom Lancer.
* Phantom Lancer is an ideal Diffusal Blade carrier. With it, he can quite easily deplete Doom's already poor mana pool, potentially making him unable to cast his abilities to escape, retaliate or heal.
* Doom lacks any effective ability to clear waves of creeps and illusions, as the vast majority of his abilities are single-target. Without an answer, Doom may find it difficult to deal with Phantom Lancer's presence.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes the make heavy use of illusions, like Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade, or 
Spectre can suffer from Crystal Maiden, as Freezing Field can quickly kill off the entire horde if not stopped.
Earth Spirit
* Boulder Smash and Geomagnetic Grip allow Earth Spirit to easily disrupt Freezing Field, regardless of where Crystal Maiden is due to their incredible range. Earth Spirit is quite possibly the best hero for stopping long channeling abilities, and Crystal Maiden is vulnerable to him without a Black King Bar.
* All of Earth Spirit's spells allow him to easily close in on Crystal Maiden and kill her. Since she is a low health support, she generally stays behind in teamfights, but Earth Spirit can easily close the distance.
* Crystal Maiden has low movement speed and no other escape mechanism, rendering her extremely vulnerable to Earth Spirit's arsenal of long-range, damaging spells.
Phantom Lancer
* Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
* Bloodseeker's Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer can dispel or escape from Cold Feet with Doppelganger and Phantom Rush, respectively. Phantom Lancer also frequently builds a Manta Style which dispels Cold Feet.
* Ancient Apparition has trouble dealing with Phantom Lancer's illusions due to a lack of Area of Effect damage other than Ice Blast.
* Phantom Lancer tends to build a Diffusal Blade, which greatly amplifies his damage against Ancient Apparition due to Ancient Apparition's high mana pool.
* Ancient Apparition has no escape/mobility mechanisms, making him an easy target for Phantom Lancer at any stage of the game.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusions and summons are double-edge sword type of matchup for Luna. On one hand, they can tank damage from Eclipse, but on the other hand, she can easily clear them before Eclipse with Moon Glaives. Examples include Spectre, Shadow Demon, Phantom Lancer, Naga Siren, Chaos Knight, Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as Nature's Prophet, Lone Druid, 
Chen, 
Enchantress, 
Meepo and Arc Warden).
Phantom Lancer
* Even though Luna can clear Phantom Lancer's illusions with Moon Glaives, Phantom Lancer can create too many illusions to tank Luna's Eclipse and for Luna to handle overall.
* Doppelganger can be used to dodge a number of Lucent Beams during Eclipse.
* Phantom Lancer can chase Luna effectively regardless of her high movement speed thanks to Phantom Rush and Spirit Lance.
* Luna's low health pool is easily exploited by the sheer damage output from Phantom Lancer's illusions. Additionally, Phantom Lancer can often create more illusions for Luna to handle.
* For the same reasons, Phantom Lancer makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Plasma Field can destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions or damage them heavily.
* 
Static Link cannot be broken even with Doppelganger, serving as a marker for the real Phantom Lancer.
* 
Storm Surge gives Razor's high mobility to chase down Phantom Lancer making Spirit Lance and Diffusal Blade slow useless.
* 
Eye of the Storm along with Aghanim's Scepter can quickly reduce Phantom Lancer's armor.
Additional:
* Plasma Field and Eye of the Storm clears most of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Static Link is not dispelled by Doppelganger or Manta Style which can be used to mark the real Phantom Lancer while also draining his base damage.
* Razor's high mobility with Storm Surge makes it hard for Phantom Lancer to chase down with Phantom Rush. When upgraded with Aghanim's Shard, it makes a quick work of his illusions.
Earth Spirit
* Boulder Smash's and Geomagnetic Grip's (upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter) repositioning and disables make it very difficult for Razor to keep enemies within range of Static Link and Eye of the Storm.
Phantom Lancer
* Monkey King's Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
* Bloodseeker's Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that can destroy trees will deny Monkey King spots to jump on, or cause him to fall: Windranger, Nature's Prophet, Phantom Lancer
Earth Spirit
* Clockwerk's 
Battery Assault disables Earth Spirit's Rolling Boulder, while his 
Power Cogs ensure, that Earth Spirit can't move away from it.
* His 
Hookshot allows him to chase after Earth Spirit, while using 
Rocket Flare to gain vision.
Phantom Lancer
* Battery Assault's damage is dispersed against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Phantom Lancer can blink out of Power Cogs with Doppelganger.
* When chasing, a Phantom Lancer can close in with Phantom Rush and burn down Clockwerk's mana with Diffusal Blade, rendering him helpless before he has a chance to erect a defensive Power Cogs.
* Because Clockwerk does not like to buy items to deal with multiple enemies at once, like Battle Fury, Maelstrom and Mjollnir, he will be unable to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions coming from Juxtapose.
Additional:
* Doppelganger. lets Phantom Lancer jump in and out of Power Cogs.
* Clockwerk's low mobility makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer to rush on, and overwhelm with clones.
Phantom Lancer
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
* Doom's Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
* Bloodseeker's Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
* Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
* Grimstroke's Soulbind is undispellable.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Monkey King's Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer's strength is the sheer amount of illusions he can conjure, Dissimulate can be cast on an ally that he is focusing to quickly thin out his ranks
* Landing a upgraded Demonic Purge on the real Phantom Lancer prevents him from making very many illusions (His only source being Doppelganger), You can reapply as needed if you have the Shard
* Disrupting Phantom Lancer allows you to create multiple extra illusions with Juxtapose, As he is a common carrier of Diffusal Blade, you can also drain the mana of any nearby heros
Phantom Lancer
* Although Phantom Lancer will generate strong illusions, and you can also break his Juxtapose with an Aghanim's Demonic Purge, you have a small chance of guessing which is the real Phantom Lancer after he uses Doppelganger.
Phantom Lancer
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire: Chaos Knight, Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Naga Siren.
Earth Spirit
* Positioning-reliant heroes (Windranger, Tidehunter, Ursa...), since Earth Spirit can disrupt positioning with his Boulder Smash.
Earth Spirit
* 
Pounce's root prevents Earth Spirit from using Rolling Boulder to escape, making it easier for Slark to shut him down especially in the laning phase.
Phantom Lancer
* Slark has no sustained AoE to fight off Phantom Lancer's illusions as they continually spawn.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark by spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from 
Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark if he tries to escape with Pounce.
Additional:
* Slark has no sustained AoE damage to deal with a lot of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer dodge Dark Pact and Pounce and partially wastes the duration of Shadow Dance.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark via spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark when he jumps away with Pounce.
Phantom Lancer
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions: Riki, Broodmother, Phantom Lancer
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with summons and illusions as Spirit Breaker has no strong AoE capabilities to deal with them: Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade, Naga Siren, Broodmother, Warlock, Visage, Nature's Prophet, Shadow Shaman, Lycan.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's many illusions increase Echo Slam's damage.
Additional:
* 
Echo Slam deals tremendous damage when multiplied by Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Earthshaker's AoE abilities can quickly kill Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* 
Enchant Totem with Aghanim's Scepter gives Cleave to help destroy illusions.
Earth Spirit
* Geomagnetic Grip can be used to silence Earthshaker after he blinks in, preventing him from executing his combo.
* Magnetize does damage over time and thus disables Earthshaker's Blink Dagger for a long time.
Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusions and summons can swarm and overwhelm Bane, who has no area abilities to deal with them outside from Aghanim's Shard upgraded 
Brain Sap: Broodmother, Chaos Knight, Naga Siren, Nature's Prophet, Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade, Visage, Warlock, Wraith King.
Phantom Lancer
* All of Sand King's abilities deal AoE damage.
* However, 
Epicenter is usually a non-issue against Doppelganger.
Earth Spirit
* Boulder Smash will push Sand King out of Sand Storm to reveal his position or an activated Epicenter off of Earth Spirit's allies, potentially wasting his combo
* Rolling Boulder and Geomagnetic Grip allow Earth Spirit to easily stun and silence Sand King and interrupt the channeling of Epicenter, completely ruining his initiation.
Phantom Lancer
* Storm Spirit has multiple AoE abilities to deal with Phantom Lancer, especially with
Aghanim's Scepter.
Ball Lightning destroys illusions, avoids Spirit Lance, and makes Storm Spirit very hard to catch, even with Phantom Rush.
Ball Lightning with or without the 
Static Remnant talent allows Storm Spirit to destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly. It is also easy to dodge 
Spirit Lance with 
Ball Lightning and makes Spirit Storm very hard to catch even with 
Phantom Rush.
*
Additional:
*
Earth Spirit
* Storm Spirit outlanes Earth Spirit wins by having a ranged attack type, and also deals damage to the Earth Spirit every time he approaches the creeps with his ability
Static Remnant, which is why he overtakes Earth Spirit in level and gold
Electric Vortex, which Earth Spirit cannot do if Storm Spirit buys 
Falcon Blade at the liner stage, because Storm Spirit will have too much health for Earth Spirit`s abilities and will survive Earth Spirit`s damage.
Static Remnant, which is why he overtakes Earth Spirit in level and gold
Electric Vortex, which Earth Spirit cannot do if Storm Spirit buys 
Falcon Blade at the liner stage, because Storm Spirit will have too much health for Earth Spirit`s abilities and will survive Earth Spirit`s damage.
* Storm Spirit has the ability to quickly kill Earth Spirit under his ability
Additional:
* Storm Spirit outlanes Earth Spirit wins by having a ranged attack type, and also deals damage to the Earth Spirit every time he approaches the creeps with his ability
* Storm Spirit has the ability to quickly kill Earth Spirit under his ability