Phantom Lancer
* 
Tidebringer and Kunkka's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Heroes who are strong against mobile heroes: 
Disruptor, 
Bloodseeker, 
Kunkka, 
Keeper of the Light.
Phantom Lancer
* 
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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* 
Axe, 
Bristleback, 
Centaur Warrunner, 
Spirit Breaker, 
Pudge, 
Huskar, 
Wraith King: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
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 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 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.
Puck
* Axe, Bristleback, Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Pudge, Huskar, Wraith King: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
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.
Puck
* Axe, Bristleback, Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Pudge, Huskar, Wraith King: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
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.
Puck
* Unless Puck is facing the direction he wants to blink while in Phase Shift, the 
Venomous Gale and 
Noxious Plague combo consistently ticks many times over several seconds, making it very difficult to use 
Blink Dagger towards the other direction. Puck's slow turning rate makes this even worse.
* Venomancer can use 
Plague Wards to reveal Puck's position before he even gets a chance to initiate.
Phantom Lancer
* All of Sand King's abilities deal AoE damage.
* However, 
Epicenter is usually a non-issue against Doppelganger.
Puck
* Hard lockdowns such as 
Chronosphere can be used to quickly take down Puck. Whenever Puck is disabled for longer than 3 seconds, he will usually end up dead.
* As the type of hero that spams spells, 
Time Dilation counters Puck very effectively. Phase Shift is Puck's main ability for survivability, and Time Dilation effectively triples its cooldown.
* If not silenced, Faceless Void can use 
Time Walk can easily undo the damage dealt by Illusory Orb, Dream Coil and Dagon.
Additional:
* Puck cannot use spells if affected by Time Dilation, especially 
Phase Shift for main survivability as it effectively triples its cooldown.
* Chronosphere can end Puck's life quickly, as stun, more than 3 seconds will be a death sentence to Puck.
* If not silenced, Faceless Void can just Time Walk to undo Puck's Burst damage.
Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Additional:
* Leshrac can easily clear Phantom Lancer's illusions with his huge area of effect damage.
Phantom Lancer
* 
Flak Cannon and 
Call Down destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions very quickly.
Additional:
* Flak Cannon destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions very quickly.
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
* 
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
* 
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.
Additional:
* 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
Phantom Lancer
* 
Overwhelming Odds deals high damage to Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* 
Duel's long duration prevents Phantom Lancer from using Doppelganger.
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
* 
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.
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.
Phantom Lancer
* 
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.
Additional:
* 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.
Phantom Lancer
* Snapfire's AoE abilities in general are effective in clearing Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Puck
* All abilities from Puck potentialy can easily stealing with 
Spell Steal. Rubick's can build Blink Dagger inisiate escaping from Puck.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Rubick's can easily two stolens abilities from Puck's.
Additional:
* 
Illusory Orb and 
Waning Rift are all great wave-clear abilities.
* Waning Rift can silence 
Puck, disabling all her abilities including Phase Shift.
* 
Dream Coil is a powerful teamfight ultimate that leashes enemies and disables their movement.
* As an elusive hero who requires constant repositioning, Puck is greatly countered by her own ultimate as it disables all her mobile abilities and items (especially Blink Dagger), forcing Puck to either stay in the danger zone or latches and stuns for a long time.
* Although Phase Shift does not provide extra damage or lockdown on its own, it does grant Rubick invulnerability, and enables him to use Blink Dagger with full duration similar to Puck's escaping combos.
* Rubick can initiate on Puck relatively fast as 
Telekinesis only has a 0.15 second cast animation.
Puck
* 
Riki and Disruptor: 
Smoke Screen and 
Static Storm can be thrown wherever Puck used Phase Shift, making Puck an easy target if it doesn't have Blink Dagger or is on cooldown. Puck is also very susceptible to Riki's high attack damage when attacking from the back. Glimpse also prevents Puck from escaping.
Phantom Lancer
* Low-health, normally mobile carries with a lot of damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: 
Anti-Mage, 
Clinkz, 
Drow Ranger, 
Faceless Void, 
Gyrocopter, 
Juggernaut, 
Luna, 
Meepo, 
Mirana, 
Monkey King, 
Morphling, 
Phantom Assassin, Phantom Lancer, Riki, 
Shadow Fiend, 
Slark, 
Sniper, 
Terrorblade, 
Troll Warlord, 
Weaver.
Puck
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor, 
Death Prophet, 
Enigma, Faceless Void, 
Invoker, 
Lich, 
Magnus, 
Mars, 
Medusa, 
Outworld Destroyer, 
Phoenix, Puck, 
Queen of Pain, Shadow Fiend, 
Treant Protector, 
Underlord, 
Winter Wyvern, 
Witch Doctor, 
Zeus.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusions and summons can swarm Bane, who has no area abilities 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
* Broodmother, Nature's Prophet, Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
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
Puck
* Axe, Bristleback, Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Pudge, Huskar, Wraith King: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
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.
Puck
* Heroes with spell immunity or pseudo-blinks which provide invulnerability: 
Lifestealer, Juggernaut, 
Omniknight, Huskar, and 
Tusk have spells which allow them to easily escape Dream Coil.
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
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet, Lich.
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.
Puck
* Doom can shut down with all abilities and items from Puck is strong escape. Since Doom muted silence activated duration, Puck Can't move freely although Doom build item Aghanim's Scepter.
* Doom will use build item Blink Dagger and 
Silver Edge can important from Doom simply catch Puck.
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
* 
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.
Additional:
* Poof will destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions within a short time.
* Earthbind prevents Phantom Lancer from using Doppelganger.
Puck
* Heroes with powerful area-of-effect disables can initiate on Meepo and his clones and shut him down, such as Enigma, Invoker, Magnus, Puck, and 
Sand King.
Puck
* Nyx Assassin can take advantage of every one of Puck's weaknesses. His entire skill set is very effective in countering Puck.
* Because Illusory Orb is such a slow moving projectile, Nyx Assassin can simply walk into the orb and activate 
Spiked Carapace, stunning Puck and setting up an easy 
Impale. This can be circumvented by using Phase Shift while the orb is traveling, however, that means that Puck cannot use Phase Shift to dodge any other skill nor use it to safely blink away from a fight.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that likes to build intelligence items such as 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, 
Scythe of Vyse, and 
Dagon. This makes 
Mind Flare that much more deadly against Puck.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can turn into an easy setup for Impale.
Additional:
* Illusory Orb is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace, either stunning Puck and setting up an easy Impale or forcing a premature Phase Shift.
* Puck is an intelligence hero that tends to build intelligence items, making it vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* An ill-timed Phase Shift can easily set Puck up to be stunned by Impale.
* Puck's low base armor and below average agility gain mean it is always susceptible to Vendetta.
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.
Puck
* A Lycan with 
Shapeshift can always run down Puck for a very quick kill due to its low armor. It is important to abuse as many cliffs and trees as possible to escape from a Lycan.
Puck
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, 
Storm Spirit, 
Ember Spirit, Lycan, Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Lycan, Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
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.
Puck
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like 
Sven, Lifestealer, 
Ursa and Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
Phantom Lancer
* 
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.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions, especially when combined with Battle Fury.
Puck
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Lycan, Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
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.
Puck
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Lycan, Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
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.
Puck
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain, Anti-Mage, Phantom Assassin, Riki, Puck, and Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
Puck
* Puck has both Waning Rift and Dream Coil to stop 
Freezing Field's channel regardless of whether or not Crystal Maiden has a Glimmer Cape, as both spells fully affect invisible units.
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.
Puck
* Backline supports (Lion,
Crystal Maiden) can keep Puck pinned long enough for a kill.
Puck
* Waning Rift silences and damages enemies affected by the ability, diminishing Lion's punishing powers.
* High burst damage potential plus mobility and disable through Illusory Orb, Waning Rift, and Dream Coil allows Puck to effortlessly chase, lock and/or kill Lion, as the Demon Witch lacks proper ways to avoid so.
* Phase Shift allows Puck to dodge 
Earth Spike, Finger of Death and breaks Mana Drain's link.
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.
Puck
* Puck dodges the abilities of Lina 
Dragon Slave and 
Light Strike Array with his Phase Shift skill, which helps him avoid combining these abilities with 
Laguna Blade and avoid burst damage from Lina
* Puck forbids Lina to use her abilities with the Waning Rift ability, which will help her teammates survive and even give them the opportunity to kill her
Additional:
* Puck dodges the abilities of Lina Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array with his Phase Shift skill, which helps him avoid combining these abilities with Laguna Blade and avoid burst damage from Lina
* Puck forbids Lina to use her abilities with the Waning Rift ability, which will help her teammates survive and even give them the opportunity to kill her
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.
Puck
* Puck easily dodges the Nether Blast and the Pugna Life Drain with his Phase Shift, which is why he can easily avoid his strong magic damage
* The Puck's silence from the Waning Rift ability allows her team to easily cope with the Pugna, which cannot be said about the Pugna, because with the Puck it will be easy to avoid such an attack from the Decrepify
* The Puck's combo: Waning Rift + Illusory Orb + Dream Coil doesn't have a huge amount of damage to feel the damage of the Pugna from 
Nether Ward, however, it may be quite enough to kill the Pugna solo at an early stage of the game with 
Witch Blade
Additional:
* Puck easily dodges the Nether Blast and the Pugna Life Drain with his Phase Shift, which is why he can easily avoid his strong magic damage
* The Puck's silence from the Waning Rift ability allows her team to easily cope with the Pugna, which cannot be said about the Pugna, because with the Puck it will be easy to avoid such an attack from the Decrepify
* The Puck's combo: Waning Rift + Illusory Orb + Dream Coil doesn't have a huge amount of damage to feel the damage of the Pugna from Nether Ward, however, it may be quite enough to kill the Pugna solo at an early stage of the game with Witch Blade
Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Puck's area of effect nukes in the form of Illusory Orb and Waning Rift clears Phantasm illusions from the early game to mid game.
* Phase Shift can be used to disjoint Chaos Bolt.
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.
Puck
* All of Puck's damaging spells deal AoE magic damage, which focuses on Terrorblade's low health pool and ignores his armor.
* Puck's spells are also great at quickly clearing all of Terrorblade's illusions. Even a single Illusory Orb is enough to drop their health very low, allowing creeps, towers or allies to finish them off very quickly. Waning Rift and Illusory Orb together are usually enough to clear his illusions.
* Waning Rift prevents Terrorblade from casting Sunder at low health.
* Puck is a common Dagon carrier, making it possible to finish off Terrorblade before he has a chance to Sunder.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Phantom Assassin, Broodmother
Puck
* 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 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.
Puck
* Heroes with silencing abilities that are not blocked by Linken's Sphere, like Puck's Waning Rift, Death Prophet's 
Silence or 
Silencer's 
Global Silence.
Phantom Lancer
* Carry heroes who can close the gap reliably are very problematic: Phantom Lancer, Ember Spirit, Phantom Assassin.
Puck
* Sniper has no spells to disable Puck. He lacks a silence to prevent spell casting and a stun to disable, allowing Puck to act instantly against Sniper.
* Sniper's main strategy is to attack his enemies from safe distance. Illusory Orb, combined with Blink Dagger makes it easy for Puck to get to Sniper. Due to his low health, he is also easily nuked down by Puck.
* The status debuff placed by 
Assassinate on its target makes it very easy to avoid it. Puck has 2 (3 when having Blink Dagger, 4 when having Eul's Scepter of Divinity, 5 when having Linken's Sphere) methods to disjoint or dodge the projectile, making it a bad spell for finishing off Puck.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with summons or illusions makes Sacred Arrow harder to land: Shadow Demon, Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet.
Puck
* Puck can initiate on Mirana with Waning Rift to prevent her from going invisible or Leaping.
* A Mirana caught in Dream Coil will stun herself if she tries to Leap away.
* Puck's Burst damage takes advantage of Mirana's below average health.
* Puck can easily dodge Sacred Arrow and Starstorm with Phase Shift.
Additional:
* Mirana's spells are laid out to assassinate enemies. Puck can easily avoid the slow moving 
Sacred Arrow, and also can avoid 
Starstorm with Phase Shift, since the meteors have a delay.
* If Puck casts either Waning Rift or Dream Coil in the area, Mirana cannot 
Leap away.
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.
Puck
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven, Lifestealer, Ursa and Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
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.
Puck
* Puck silences Ogre Magi with Waning Rift, and Phase Shift makes Puck untargetable for the duration.
Puck
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, 
Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, 
Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
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.
Puck
* Illusory Orb and Phase Shift allows Puck to avoid most ganking attempts.
* Waning Rift and Dream Coil makes it very hard for Slark to escape bad situations.
* Puck's abilities used together also deals significant magical nuke damage, none of which are targeted and thus cannot be avoided by Shadow Dance.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with no AoE abilities will struggle against Phantom Lancer: Phantom Assassin, Broodmother
Puck
* Mass summoning heroes: Broodmother, Nature's Prophet and Enigma all have summons Puck can clear clear with Illusory Orb and Waning Rift instantly, due to their summons having low health.
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.
Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* All of Puck's abilities are area-targeted, and will hit Dark Willow when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Illusory Orb allows Puck to bypass Bramble Maze, close the gap and silence Dark Willow with Waning Rift.
* Phase Shift helps Puck dodge attacks charged by Shadow Realm, and is easily timed against Terrorize's long cast time.
Puck
* Heroes who are strong against mobile heroes: Disruptor, Bloodseeker, Kunkka, Keeper of the Light.
Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Puck with Phase Shift
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with Phase Shift
* Riki with 
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with Sleight of Fist and 
Activate Fire Remnant
* Chaos Knight with 
Phantasm
* Naga Siren with 
Mirror Image
* Tusk with 
Snowball
* Juggernaut with 
Omnislash
* 
Brewmaster with 
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with 
Infest
* Phoenix with 
Supernova
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
* 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.
Puck
* All of Puck's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Shadow Demon will find a hard time catching a Puck, as he can get away with Illusory Orb or even Waning Rift;
* Puck can dodge Shadow Poison waves and potentially avoid the damage from Demonic Purge with Phase Shift. Furthermore, after Disruption ended, Puck can use Phase Shift to avoid any further danger and can blink away with Blink Dagger.
* Waning Rift can be used to initiate Shadow Demon, prevent him from using any spells.
Puck
* Puck Outlanes Invoker with his abilities: Illusory Orb, Waning Rift finishing off all creeps on the line and getting a higher level than him
* Puck dodges Invoker's magic attacks with his abilities: Illusory Orb, Phase Shift in a fight, preventing Invoker from doing damage
Additional:
* Puck Outlanes Invoker with his abilities: Illusory Orb, Waning Rift finishing off all creeps on the line and getting a higher level than him
* Puck dodges Invoker's magic attacks with his abilities: Illusory Orb, Phase Shift in a fight, preventing Invoker from doing damage
Phantom Lancer
* Doppelganger dispels 
Track.
* Bounty Hunter also has no area of effect abilities to help with the illusions.
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
* 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
* 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.
Puck
* Heroes with spell immunity or pseudo-blinks which provide invulnerability: Lifestealer, Juggernaut, Omniknight, Huskar, and Tusk have spells which allow them to easily escape Dream Coil.
Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven, Lifestealer, Ursa and Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
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
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Waning Rift silences Anti-Mage, preventing him from blinking away.
* However, Waning Rift can be dispelled by Manta Style.
* Dream Coil stops Anti-Mage from blinking, with Aghanim's Scepter also locks down Anti-Mage for long duration.
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
* 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 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
* Illusions can be sent out to destroy 
Techies mines.
Puck
* None of Puck's abilities have any damage-over-time components, meaning that 
Refraction is a valuable form of defense against Puck's lane harassment.
* 
Psi Blades deals pure damage and spills over instantly. Puck cannot reliably dodge the damage with Phase Shift.
Additional:
* Puck high magical burst is almost completely useless against Refraction. Templar Assassin often buys 
Orchid Malevolence to render Puck useless in teamfights.
Phantom Lancer
* Phantom Lancer's illusions destroy Refraction charges very quickly.
Puck
* Heroes that have disposable area-targeted spells can force her to undo her Meld: 
Leshrac, Puck, 
Tiny, 
Jakiro,. An experienced Templar Assassin could try to use Refraction before Meld so she can tank through those damage without getting her Blink disabled.
Puck
* Heroes that can kill Death Prophet with nukes can prevent her from using Exorcism to its full duration or using it at all: 
Lina, Lion, Puck, Morphling.
Puck
* Heroes who are strong against mobile heroes: Disruptor, Bloodseeker, Kunkka, Keeper of the Light.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with dispels: 
Legion Commander, 
Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
Puck
* Low health spellcasters: Lina, Witch Doctor, 
Tinker, Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
Puck
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck, Weaver.
Puck
* Heroes with spell immunity or pseudo-blinks which provide invulnerability: Lifestealer, Juggernaut, Omniknight, Huskar, and Tusk have spells which allow them to easily escape Dream Coil.
Phantom Lancer
* Illusion-based heroes are effective against Omnislash and Juggernaut's single-targeted damage: Naga Siren, Chaos Knight, Terrorblade,Phantom Lancer.
Puck
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Slark etc.
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.
Puck
* Heroes that can reliably kite out Dispose, Unleash and dodge Rebound, like Ember Spirit, 
Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Anti-Mage, Faceless Void, Puck or always build items like Blink Dagger and 
Force Staff.
Puck
* Because all of Warlock's abilities are active abilities, silences can make his impact in fights minimal. Be cautious of heroes that carry silences like Death Prophet, Puck, and the aforementioned Silencer.
Puck
* Mass summoning heroes: Broodmother, Nature's Prophet and Enigma all have summons Puck can clear clear with Illusory Orb and Waning Rift instantly, due to their summons having low health.
Puck
* Low health spellcasters: Lina, Witch Doctor, Tinker, Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
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.
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
* 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.
Puck
* Heroes with spell immunity or pseudo-blinks which provide invulnerability: Lifestealer, Juggernaut, Omniknight, Huskar, and Tusk have spells which allow them to easily escape Dream Coil.
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.
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.
Puck
* Dream Coil leash can stop and stunned moving from 
Windrun.
* Combinated Wanning Rift and build Blink Dagger can easily avoid from 
Focus Fire
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
* 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
* 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.
Puck
* Low health spellcasters: Lina, Witch Doctor, Tinker, Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
Phantom Lancer
* Pangolier's AoE abilities especially 
Shield Crash, are very effective against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Dream Coil and Wanning Rift prevent Pangolier from using 
Swashbuckle and 
Rolling Thunder. If Puck has Aghanim's Scepter, Dream coil will stop Rolling Thunder from moving entirely.
Additional:
* Illusory Orb and Waning Rift provides great mobility, allowing Puck to catch up Pangolier when he is attempting to disengage with his own skills.
* Dream Coil's leash act almost as a literal silence to Pangolier, disabling half of his arsenal and also piercing his spell immunity during Rolling Thunder. Also Dream Coil's very long duration will make Pangolier wasting his entire ultimate rolling in place.
Puck
* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heroes like; Spirit Breaker, Legion Commander, Axe, Puck, and 
Slardar.
Puck
* Mass summoning heroes: Broodmother, Nature's Prophet and Enigma all have summons Puck can clear clear with Illusory Orb and Waning Rift instantly, due to their summons having low health.
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
Puck
* Axe, Bristleback, Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Pudge, Huskar, Wraith King: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
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.
Puck
* 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
Puck
* 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
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes that require burst damage to kill will be difficult for Phantom Lancer to take down: Timbersaw, Axe, Bristleback, Alchemist and Underlord
Puck
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like Sven, Lifestealer, Ursa and Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
Puck
* Once you farm up an Orchid Malevolence or a Scythe of Vyse, you're suddenly a lot more fearsome to elusive heroes like Storm Spirit or even that pesky Puck.
Puck
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Lycan, Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
Additional:
* Puck will make a game of dodging as many Shadow Strikes as he can with Phase Shift. If he's a good player, he will also dodge Sonic Wave. If he's a great player, he will also dodge Scream of Pain. All through a single spell.
* Puck also has a silence to stop her blink with Waning Rift.
* Puck will have vision to hunt her down if she blinks into the trees with Illusory Orb.
* If Queen of Pain is under the effect of Dream Coil, she will be unable to blink out.
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.
Puck
* Void Spirit can easily be bursted down by Puck's high magic damage spells in early game.
* Wanning Rift and Dream Coil prevent him from using two of his important mobility abilities: Dissimilate and Astral Step.
Additional:
* Dream Coil prevents the usage of Void Spirit's escape abilities and limits his damage output in fights almost entirely.
* Killing Puck in the late game becomes difficult when they obtain a Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Blink Dagger, and Phase Shift.
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.
Puck
* Heroes who are strong against mobile heroes: Disruptor, Bloodseeker, Kunkka, Keeper of the Light.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusion and clone abilities may confuse Bloodseeker, causing him to waste time in fights: Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Arc Warden
Puck
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Lycan, Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
Puck
* Viper wins on the central line of Puck, because he has a huge damage from the 
Poison Attack ability, which Puck is not able to constantly avoid using Phase Shift, which will give Viper an advantage in the possible damage inflicted on each other
* Puck takes more damage than it does due to the passive 
Corrosive Skin ability of the Viper, which makes it unprofitable for the Puck to fight against the Viper at an early stage of the game, when the Puck has a very small pool of health.
Additional:
* Viper wins on the central line of Puck, because he has a huge damage from the Poison Attack ability, which Puck is not able to constantly avoid using Phase Shift, which will give Viper an advantage in the possible damage inflicted on each other
* Puck takes more damage than it does due to the passive Corrosive Skin ability of the Viper, which makes it unprofitable for the Puck to fight against the Viper at an early stage of the game, when the Puck has a very small pool of health
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
* 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.
Puck
* Although Phoenix has many ways to disable a Blink Dagger, the high cooldown of all of its spells makes them not as reliable for this. Also, its spells cost a lot of health to use, making it easy to get nuked down.
* Waning Rift prevents Phoenix from using Supernova to refresh itself, giving Puck's team time to finish it off, or allow Puck to burst Phoenix down.
* Dream Coil prevents Phoenix from using Icarus Dive without consequences. Waning Rift and Dream Coil are also able to cancel 
Sun Ray, which is its main source of damage in the late game.
Puck
* Generally strong against lots of spellcaster-themed heroes, Puck fully relies on his skill set and cannot do almost anything when silenced.
* 
Arcane Curse disables Blink Dagger for quite some time, and is also effective against Puck as it tend to use its spells a lot.
* 
Glaives of Wisdom can do a lot of damage against Puck due to Puck's low agility gain and armor.
* 
Last Word can prevent Puck from getting a full combo off, limiting its effectiveness in team fights or ganks.
* Global Silence can take Puck out of fights entirely.
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.
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.
Puck
* Phase Shift allows Puck to dodge all of Earthshaker's abilites.
* Waning Rift disables Earthshaker's stuns, leaving him and his team vulnerable.
* Dream Coil takes a stun from Earthshaker if he tries to escape from Blink Dagger or Enchant Totem upgraded from Aghanim's Scepter.
Phantom Lancer
* 
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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Phase Shift can easily disjoint Phantom Embrace and waste half of the Soulbind's duration.
* Puck is very mobile hero who can jump backsides and burst Grimstroke before he can cast anything.
Puck
* 
Void is a potent nuke that is devastating to Puck's low health pool.
* 
Crippling Fear silence can prevent Puck from casting spells, leaving it vulnerable.
Additional:
* Puck cannot use any of its normal means to survive should Night Stalker catch it within Crippling Fear, and goes down quickly.
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
* Heroes with global nukes will target and hit Phantom Lancer regardless of his illusions: Zeus
Puck
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as 
Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, 
Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
Puck
* Axe, Bristleback, Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Pudge, Huskar, Wraith King: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with illusions can overwhelm Huskar: Phantom Lancer, Anti-Mage, Arc Warden, Chaos Knight.
Puck
* Waning Rift's silence is almost completely worthless against Wraith King, due to him having only 1 active ability.
* Wraith King's only active ability, 
Wraithfire Blast, is strong against Puck if it hits, because it applies a damage over time on top of stunning and doing impact damage, disabling Puck for a while, and Blink Dagger for even longer. It is very important to avoid getting hit by this spell when playing against Wraith King.
* Even if Puck succeeds to burst down Wraith King, 
Reincarnation will ensure that Wraith King can fight back against him while leaving Puck exhausted and nearly unable to defend himself against Wraith King. And to make things worse, Puck is not a common Diffusal Blade nor 
Disperser wielder to counter this problem at all.
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.
Puck
* Phase Shift is not an advantage against Arc Warden at all because Arc Warden can turn Puck's Phase Shift ability against him by using 
Spark Wraith, ensuring it to hit. To make this worse, Arc Warden can do it twice with his 
Tempest Double.
* 
Flux is also an instant spell (and therefore unavoidable) with a heavy slow and damage over time, which disables Blink Dagger for a certain period of time.
Phantom Lancer
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Puck
* Stone Form's long stun duration may prevent Puck from using escape abilities.
* Visage frequently builds 
Rod of Atos for the root that will make Puck unable to move and use his escape abilities. Alternatively, Visage can also build 
Bloodthorn to prevent Puck from using his escape abilities and make him more vulnerable to damage.
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.
Puck
* Lone Druid has a huge reserve of health on the 
Summon Spirit Bear and a quick regeneration of his health with the help of 
Spirit Link, which makes the Puck's magical abilities useless, since they cannot break through such a large pool of health
* The ability of the Summon Spirit Bear and in the 
True Form of the Lone Druid 
Entangling Claws allows you to catch Puck when he released the Illusory Orb, since Puck will not be able to apply 
Ethereal Jaunt during the root action
Additional:
* Lone Druid has a huge reserve of health on the Summon Spirit Bear and a quick regeneration of his health with the help of Spirit Link, which makes the Puck's magical abilities useless, since they cannot break through such a large pool of health
* The ability of the Summon Spirit Bear and in the True Form of the Lone Druid Entangling Claws allows you to catch Puck when he released the Illusory Orb, since Puck will not be able to apply Ethereal Jaunt during the root action
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
* 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.
Ice Path on top.
Diffusal Blade which can burn Jakiro's mana, Jakiro will be vulnerable to Phantom Lancer 's counter-attacks if he runs out of mana.
*
*
*
* Jakiro can predict Doppelganger and
Additional:
* 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
Puck
* Jakiro has 3 damage over time spells, 3 of which are from debuffs on Puck:
Dual Breath, 
Liquid Fire and 
Liquid Frost from 
Aghanim's Shard from and 1 affecting an entire area (
Macropyre), making it easy for him to disable the blink dagger. 
Ice Path is also strong against Puck, as he can cast it towards Puck during Phase Shift, who then gets instantly stunned once Phase Shift ends.
Dual Breath and 
Liquid Fire) and 1 affecting an entire area (
Macropyre), making it easy for him to disable the Blink Dagger. 
Ice Path is also strong against Puck, as he can cast it towards Puck during Phase Shift, who then gets instantly stunned once Phase Shift ends.
*
Additional:
* Jakiro has 3 damage over time spells, 2 of which are from debuffs on Puck (
*