Pugna
* All of Pugna's damage is magical, which can get blocked by 
Fate's Edict's 100% magic resistance.
* Oracle has two abilities that apply a dispel, which can easily remove Decrepify on his ally or Oracle.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with dispels: 
Legion Commander, 
Oracle, 
Slark, 
Phantom Lancer
Pugna
* Both Jakiro's Ice Path and Liquid Frost can be used to cancel 
Life Drain from either Jakiro or an ally.
* 
Decrepify only makes Pugna even more vulnerable to Jakiro's magical damage, And it has no adverse effects on Jakiro himself.
* 
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Macropyre can deal pure damage-over-time and pierce debuff immunity, which can discourage Pugna from even trying to use Life Drain.
* Bear in mind, however, that 
Nether Ward can do some considerable damage to Jakiro due to high mana costs on his abilities.
Keeper of the Light
* Jakiro's reliance on his abilities can cause struggles for heroes who rely on evasion or blinds to get upper hand: 
Phantom Assassin, 
Windranger, 
Riki, 
Troll Warlord, 
Keeper of the Light.
Pugna
* 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.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
Pugna
* Due to Pugna's incredible intelligence growth and terrible strength growth, Nyx should always be able to take you out with his combo, with or without an added 
Dagon. 
Mind Flare will deal a large amount of damage in particular, especially in the late game.
* 
Spiked Carapace is also a great tool versus Pugna. A good player will wait for you in 
Vendetta until you farm a creep wave with Nether Blast and reflect it back at you as their initiation and setup for 
Impale.
Additional:
* Nether Blast's animation makes it easy to time Spiked Carapace for a stun.
* Pugna has the largest intelligence gain in the game, making him a prime target for Mana Burn.
* Pugna needs to channel Life Drain, making him easy to hit with Impale.
Keeper of the Light
* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling: 
Enigma, 
Crystal Maiden, 
Invoker, 
Shadow Fiend, 
Pugna, Keeper of the Light, 
Dawnbreaker.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be used to reflect Illuminate damage and stun Keeper of the Light.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to follow Keeper of the Light around if he tries to split-push.
* Keeper of the Light is very squishy and will very quickly die to Vendetta and it's followup abilities.
Pugna
* Primal Beast has multiple ways to cancel Life Drain very quickly.
* Pugna has a very low strength gain and as a support does not have much gold to buy health items, making him vulnerable to Primal Beast's onslaught of magical damage.
* Ironically, Decrepify actually just increases Primal Beast's damage on the targeted ally if Trample is activated. However, it can be used to slow him down and prevent any further Trample damage.
Keeper of the Light
* Any hero who lanes very poorly will struggle with Primal Beast's potential snowball in the very early levels, like Keeper of the Light, 
Luna, 
Templar Assassin...
Pugna
* Pugna only deals magical damage, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant due to Counterspell.
* Anti-Mage can dispel Decrepify with 
Manta Style.
* Pugna has a very large mana pool. This allows Anti-Mage to constantly deal bonus damage to Pugna with Mana Break and devastate Pugna's entire team with Mana Void.
Additional:
* Since Pugna relies on his teammates for protection, it is fairly common for Anti-Mage to get multiple kills with a single use of his 
Mana Void on Pugna if he's missing a considerable portion of his mana.
* Pugna's massive mana pool will result in Anti-Mage's 
Mana Break almost always dealing the bonus damage from the mana burn.
* 
Counterspell negates a large amount of Pugna's damage, as most of Pugna's damage comes from his spells.
* 
Blink can be used to get out of a bad situation, and Pugna has no way to prevent him from casting it.
Keeper of the Light
* Being an intelligence caster hero, Ezalor usually has a high mana pool and low health and armor, making him a prime target for Mana Void
* Ezalor's Illuminate damage and Solar Bind's magic resistance reduction are greatly reduced thanks to Counterspell. Counterspell can also block and reflect Solar Bind if timed properly.
* Anti-Mage usually is not hampered by Solar Bind or Will-O-Wisp thanks to Blink.
* However, despite all of this, if Keeper of the Light is played carefully and tops off his team's mana at all times, Anti Mage will not be able to get off a good Mana Void.
* By the same token once Keeper of the Light gets a 
Octarine Core, he can spam Charka Magic to keep his own mana ful
Keeper of the Light
* Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with 
Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes: 
Terrorblade 
Naga siren 
Nature's Prophet and 
Anti-Mage
Pugna
* Pugna's Nether Ward doesn't really hurt Meepo since he usually buys attribute items to tank up and can be killed very quickly by 4 clones. Decrepify can amplify Poof's damage should Pugna use it to avoid Meepo's right clicking.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes that can jump and kill him: 
Meepo, 
Clinkz, Templar Assassin
Pugna
* Life Drain does not instantly kill the illusions from 
Phantasm
* 
Chaos Bolt and 
Reality Rift can easily interrupt the channeling from Life Drain.
* Reality Rift makes it harder for Pugna to keep his distance between Chaos Knight.
* Nether Ward barely deals any significant damage on Chaos Knight as Chaos Knight's abilities do not cost a lot of mana
* The overwhelming damage of Chaos Knight and his illusions will do a quick work on Pugna's poor HP pool, or safely remove the Nether Ward from the battlefield.
Pugna
* Luna can deal constant damage to Pugna through the low-cooldown Lucent Beam and her right clicks.
* Life Drain will be always canceled by 
Lucent Beam if Pugna does not have 
Black King Bar.
* Decrepify can be suicide against Luna due to Lucent Beam and 
Eclipse.
* Nether Ward is rather weak against Luna because unlike other heroes who rely on magical damage to damage or kill enemies, yet have very high mana costs, she does not have abilities that cost a lot of mana and Luna mostly uses her abilities to initiate a teamfight or to finish off fleeing enemy heroes.
* Luna is a common Black King Bar carrier, which allows her to protect herself against Pugna's only-magical damage output.
Additional:
* Luna can deal constant damage to Pugna through the low-cooldown Lucent Beam and her right clicks.
* Life Drain will be always canceled by Lucent Beam if Pugna does not have Black King Bar.
* Decrepify can be suicide against Luna due to Lucent Beam and Eclipse.
* Nether Ward is rather weak against Luna because unlike other heroes who rely on magical damage to damage or kill enemies, yet their ablities have very high mana costs, Luna does not have abilities that cost a lot of mana and Luna mostly uses her abilities to initiate a teamfight or to finish off fleeing enemy heroes.
* Luna is a common Black King Bar carrier, which allows her to protect herself against Pugna's only-magical damage output.
Keeper of the Light
* 
Blood Rite makes Ezalor chose between getting off Illuminate or getting silenced for a while, as Illuminate is a channeled ability.
* Blood Rite's silence can completely take Ezalor out of a teamfight, as he relies on his abilities to be useful.
* Keeper of the Light's only mobility source, his high movement speed (via his high base movement speed and through spirit form), is entirely countered by 
Rupture.
Pugna
* If Ursa uses 
Enrage, Pugna's Life Drain is next to worthless against him, due to Ursa taking 80% less damage, therefor Pugna heals by only 20% of the damage that the spell normally deals.
* It also dispels Decrepify, Even if you wait until he casted it, he can still dispel it with Shard upgraded 
Earthshock
* Ursa also commonly builds 
Skull Basher. With his high Attack Speed from 
Overpower. he can easily cancel Life Drain
* If Decrepify is defensivly casted, Ursa can still cast Earthshock both to slow you, and to deal amplified magic damage. He also commonly builds a 
Nullifier
* If Ursa jumps on you with a 
Blink Dagger he can easily wipe you out with Overpower.
* Ursa's Overpower can destroy a full health Nether Ward and still have a few swipes leftover, Also Ursa's low mana spells means he takes negligible damage from the Nether ward anyway.
* Ursa is also a common Diffusal Blade carrier, using it to both amplify his damage, but as his primary way to catch fleeing heroes
* Pugna is also the primary target of Ursa, due to him being both quite squishy, and a serious threat to his team, Ursa prioritizes the weakest link as 
Fury Swipes stacking damage will quickly demolish them, allowing Ursa to safely switch heroes
Pugna
* 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
Pugna
* Clockwerk loves to 
Hookshot low health, immobile targets like Pugna.
* Pugna's Life Drain gets immediately and repeatedly (if an Aghanim's Scepter was purchased) cancelled due to 
Battery Assault, especially if Pugna is trapped inside 
Power Cogs.
* Clockwerk also loves to build 
Blade Mail, which will deal more damage to Pugna than Clockwerk due to Pugna's low health pool.
* Finally, both Hookshot and 
Rocket Flare can allow him to finish off Pugna out of range of his Nether Ward.
Additional:
* Pugna's squishiness and lack of mobility make him easy prey for a Hookshot initiation.
* Clockwerk's high health, low mana costs, and lack of reliance on Blink Dagger make Nether Ward ineffective.
* Battery Assault shuts down Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Life Drain, as the repeated ministuns prevent Pugna from channeling for an extended length of time.
Pugna
* 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
Keeper of the Light
* 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.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes who are strong against mobile heroes: 
Disruptor, 
Bloodseeker, 
Kunkka, Keeper of the Light.
Pugna
* Pugna's low health and reliance on channeled abilities make him very vulnerable to Tusk, although Pugna can win in a straight up 1v1 later in the game.
Pugna
* Pugna is a very fragile hero who can easily get caught and killed by Storm Spirit's long range initiation.
* This is especially true if he has 
Orchid Malevolence or 
Scythe of Vyse.
* Pugna has no disables that can prevent Storm Spirit from escaping.
* Even though 
Ball Lightning requires high amount of mana, Nether Ward is ineffective since Storm Spirit is invulnerable while using it.
* Storm Spirit's other abilities cost very insignificant amount of mana for Nether Ward to be effective.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, 
Puck, 
Queen of Pain, 
Storm Spirit
Pugna
* Heroes with mana burn: 
Nyx Assassin, Invoker, 
Outworld Destroyer, Pugna, 
Lion
Keeper of the Light
* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar: 
Lich, Crystal Maiden, 
Silencer, Keeper of the Light, 
Venomancer, etc.
Keeper of the Light
* With 
Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as Windranger, Phantom Assassin, Troll Warlord and Keeper of the Light.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity: Keeper of the Light, Lina, Lion, 
Zeus.
Additional:
* 
Rage allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities. Also, the increased movement speed combined with the slow from 
Ghoul Frenzy and the squishy nature of Ezalor allows Lifestealer to take him down very quickly.
Pugna
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, 
Bane, Pugna, 
Pudge.
Pugna
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden, Pugna, 
Skywrath Mage, 
Io, Witch Doctor, etc.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with hastes: 
Dark Seer, 
Lycan
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
Pugna
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden, 
Shadow Shaman, Pugna
Additional:
* Sniper's huge range makes him an unviable target to use Life Drain on, forcing Pugna to risk playing out of position to use it on Sniper.
* Sniper's 
Shrapnel can be used to provide vision on Nether Ward, and his range allows him to easily take it out.
* A clumsy Pugna may accidentally boost Sniper's Shrapnel and 
Assassinate damages if he recklessly uses Decrepify on himself or his allies.
Pugna
* Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or have any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items can still get interrupted by Dismember: Enigma, 
Juggernaut, Phantom Assassin, Pugna, 
Elder Titan.
Pugna
* Spirit Siphon does a lot of magical damage, especially in the early game. This allows her to demolish low health heroes such as Zeus, Pugna, especially when combined with her other spells.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.
Keeper of the Light
* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like Lion, 
Ancient Apparition, Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with silences: Puck, 
Doom, Riki.
Keeper of the Light
* Keeper of the Light's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade loses much of its power, due to Night Stalker being able to reduce the duration of daytime by a lot.
Additional:
* 
Crippling Fear prevents Keeper of the Light from using his spells to keep his team alive during team-fights.
* 
Dark Ascension is very strong against Keeper of the Light, as it allows Night Stalker to jump the backline and quickly kill the squishy Ezalor, especially when combined with the slow from 
Void.
Pugna
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: 
Leshrac, 
Shadow Demon, Pugna, 
Death Prophet.
Pugna
* Pugna's Decrepify allows him to save allies from being ganked by Viper, since Viper mostly relies on direct attacks in order to deal damage.
* Nether Ward can discourage Viper from spamming his abilities.
* Viper's damage over time is not enough to kill Pugna as he will have more than enough time to save himself (or his allies) with Life Drain and Viper has no solutions to cancel it.
* Pugna has no passive abilities, which renders 
Nethertoxin nearly useless.
Keeper of the Light
* The Keeper of the Light easily farms on the line against the Viper, due to the fact that it has a long-range Illuminate, and the Viper, in turn, cannot use its advantage of dominance on the center line, due to the fact that it does not reach the Keeper of the Light
Additional:
* The Keeper of the Light easily farms on the line against the Viper, due to the fact that it has a long-range Illuminate, and the Viper, in turn, cannot use its advantage of dominance on the center line, due to the fact that it does not reach the Keeper of the Light
Pugna
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal but needs to be careful of Sven's Aghanim's Scepter purge.
Keeper of the Light
* Keeper of the Light's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.
Pugna
* Decrepify prevents Faceless Void from attacking trapped allies inside 
Chronosphere, wasting a large portion of its duration if Faceless Void can't dispel it.
Keeper of the Light
* Any hero that can nullify effects of Chronosphere: (Keeper of the Light with Aghanim's Scepter during daytime, 
Winter Wyvern), banishing him or Faceless Void (Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Demon, 
Earth Spirit with Aghanim's Scepter) or protecting him in other ways (
Dazzle, Oracle, 
Abaddon) can greatly limit Chronosphere's potential.
Pugna
* Nether Blast can deal high damage to Chen and clear waves of his creeps.
* Decrepify can be used to waste the duration of 
Penitence.
* Nether Ward can discourage Chen from using Penitence, 
Holy Persuasion and 
Hand of God due to their fairly high mana costs.
* Life Drain can often kill Chen or any of his allies before he can save them with Hand of God thanks to it's high damage and low cooldown.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with summons/illusions/neutral creep armies: 
Beastmaster, 
Chen, Naga Siren
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.
Pugna
* Enigma's abilities have a huge mana cost, meaning that Nether Ward will deal a lot of damage to Enigma.
* Pugna can heal allies trapped inside Black Hole thanks to Life Drain, Pugna can also damage multiple of Enigma's allies around him with Life Drain when he casts it on 
Aghanim's Shard upgraded Nether Ward during teamfight.
* Nether Blast can easily kill Eidolons, especially when Enigma is pushing.
* Even though Pugna cannot cancel 
Black Hole on his own, smart Pugna can buy Orchid Malevolence to stop Enigma from channeling Black Hole and make him more vulnerable to counter-attacks with Decrepify and Life Drain.
Additional:
* Enigma's abilities have a huge mana cost, meaning that Nether Ward will deal a lot of damage to Enigma.
* Pugna can heal allies trapped inside Black Hole thanks to Life Drain.
* Nether Blast can easily kill Eidolons, especially when Enigma is pushing.
Keeper of the Light
* Illuminate can wipe the pushing Eidolons in a lane with ease, diminishing Enigma's laning presence by a lot.
* 
Solar Bind will severely slow down Enigma and make him more vulnerable to magical damage more he moves for it's duration.
* However, Keeper of the Light does not have any way to cancel Black Hole outside from 
Will-O-Wisp from Aghanim's Scepter.
Pugna
* As Terrorblade's damage output comes mainly from direct attacks, he will struggle greatly against heroes who have abilities that give evasion, trigger on attack or which can disarm an enemy hero: 
Centaur Warrunner, 
Hoodwink, 
Huskar, Invoker, Leshrac with 
Nihilism from Aghanim's Scepter, 
Lifestealer with Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Infest, 
Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Pugna, 
Techies, Windranger etc.
Keeper of the Light
* Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes: Terrorblade Naga siren Nature's Prophet and Anti-Mage
Pugna
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: 
Sven, 
Omniknight, Enigma, Luna, Naga Siren, 
Mars, 
Jakiro, Venomancer, Elder Titan, 
Faceless Void, 
Rubick, Keeper of the Light, Pugna, Invoker, 
Spectre, 
Alchemist, 
Treant Protector, Lina, Oracle, Zeus, Shadow Shaman, 
Phoenix, 
Razor, Huskar, 
Batrider, Kunkka, 
Tidehunter, 
Wraith King, 
Sand King, 
Medusa, Dawnbreaker.
Keeper of the Light
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven, Omniknight, Enigma, Luna, Naga Siren, Mars, Jakiro, Venomancer, Elder Titan, Faceless Void, Rubick, Keeper of the Light, Pugna, Invoker, Spectre, Alchemist, Treant Protector, Lina, Oracle, Zeus, Shadow Shaman, Phoenix, Razor, Huskar, Batrider, Kunkka, Tidehunter, Wraith King, Sand King, Medusa, Dawnbreaker.
Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki, Wraith King, Juggernaut.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes which rely exclusively on right clicks will struggle somewhat against Blinding Light: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Medusa
Pugna
* Amazingly, Enchantress has even lower health than Pugna. Though she does pack quite a punch through 
Impetus, she can't use it if she is under Decrepify.
* Pugna's Magical DPS is way greater than the heal from 
Nature's Attendants, which will also harm her quite a bit if she's next to Nether Ward.
Pugna
* Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw.
* Decrepify can further increase all the magical damage done to Timbersaw, bypassing the enhanced physical resistance he can get from 
Reactive Armor.
Additional:
* Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw, especially when combined with Decrepify
Pugna
* Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain deal high magical damage and bypasses Bulwark.
* Nether Ward reduces the amount of abilities Mars can use during fights and forces Mars to be careful about the heavy mana cost of Arena Of Blood.
* Pugna is one of few heroes that can contest Mars' ability to push and defend towers early on.
Keeper of the Light
* Illuminate clears Beastmaster's summons and is effective against his push.
Keeper of the Light
* Blinding Light can knock Monkey King outside of his ultimate, Wukong's Command and can blind him.
* Will-O-Wisp will stun Monkey King from Tree Dance by destroying his tree.
Additional:
* 
Blinding Light can easily push Monkey King out of Wukong's Command, as well as blinding him.
* Monkey King is vulnerable to burst damage, Solar Bind makes him more so
* However, Keeper of the Light can be easily ganked by Monkey King during early-mid game stage.
Pugna
* All of Pugna's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Nether Ward punishes Shadow Demon's constant mana usage from spamming spells, especially Shadow Poison.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Nether Blast for the enemy.
* Life Drain can be used to heal Pugna or an ally to save them from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption unless Pugna buys defensive items.
Pugna
* Nether Ward can do a ton of damage to Disruptor because of his high mana costs.
* Life Drain can be used to heal an ally trapped by Static Storm-Kinetic Field combo (if Pugna is not a target).
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
Pugna
* Nether Blast will still hit Slark even if he is hidden during Shadow Dance.
* Even though Pugna can rarely target Slark directly with Decrepify, he can still use it defensively on an ally to prevent Slark from getting stacks.
* Despite being somewhat easy to break with Pounce, Pugna can damage Slark and provide vision over him with Life Drain.
Keeper of the Light
* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven, Slark
Pugna
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls or spam Shadowraze.
Additional:
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his 
Requiem of Souls and his 
Shadowraze.
Pugna
* Because Invoker relies on casting a large amount of spells to contribute to fights, Nether Ward can force him to not cast anything at all or take a large amount of damage to cast spells.
Additional:
* Nether Ward on its own can greatly hinder Invoker from casting many of his abilities, at least until he gets a significant amount of HP or is under the protection of spell immunity from Black King Bar
* Life Drain provides True sight, revealing Invoker through Ghost Walk, and forcing him or his allies to use an ability or item to interrupt its channeling
* Outside of Nether Ward's range, Invoker shall have the advantage, as Invoker has Tornado to purge Pugna's Decrepify when it is used defensively, Tornado or Cold Snap to prevent Pugna from channeling Life Drain
* A poorly used Decrepify on Pugna's allies means Invoker's abilities can be used to deal more damage to them.
Pugna
* Decrepify can be used on allies to prevent them from attacking Axe and triggering Counter Helix during Berserker's Call. He can also cast it on Axe to prevent anyone from attacking him.
* Life Drain can be used to heal himself or allies caught in Berserker's Call, preventing them from dropping low enough for Axe to kill them with Culling Blade.
Pugna
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Additional:
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and Decrepify won't help Pugna at all.
Pugna
* Leshrac needs to be close to target in order to do damage, Pugna can outrun Leshrac with ease due to his superior movement speed.
* 
Split Earth can also be hard to land on Pugna for the same reason.
* Leshrac uses huge amounts of mana to do damage, Nether Ward forces him to either not contribute in a fight or kill himself in the process.
Additional:
* Nether Ward punishes Leshrac's constant mana usage from spamming spells.
* Leshrac needs to be in the thick of the fight to deal damage, and so cannot escape from Nether Blast nor Life Drain easily.
Pugna
* Pugna can turn out to be an effective hero against Dazzle due to the fact that he does not allow him to extend his 
Poison Touch with his Decrepify, which is why Dazzle cannot keep the enemy under prolonged deceleration.
* Pugna has a very strong ability against casters with a small health reserve - Nether Ward, which is why heroes like Dazzle will not be able to constantly throw their Poison Touch 
Bad Juju and 
Shadow Wave at enemies under the action of Nether Ward or will be forced to take a lot of damage
Additional:
* Pugna can turn out to be an effective hero against Dazzle due to the fact that he does not allow him to extend his Poison Touch with his Decrepify, which is why Dazzle cannot keep the enemy under prolonged deceleration.
* Pugna has a very strong ability against casters with a small health reserve - Nether Ward, which is why heroes like Dazzle will not be able to constantly throw their Poison Touch Bad Juju and Shadow Wave at enemies under the action of Nether Ward or will be forced to take a lot of damage
Pugna
* Nether Ward causes Death Pulse to actually damage Necrophos rather than heal him. Meanwhile, Reaper Scythe's gigantic mana cost while Necrophos is near the Nether Ward can often instantly kill him.
* Nether Blast and Life Drain both make quick work of Necrophos's small healthpool, especially during Ghost Shroud. The latter also makes him an unappealing target for Reaper's Scythe, and can often force Necrophos to use it defensively as he has no other means of interrupting his channeling.
Pugna
* Cold Embrace is a death sentence against Pugna, since its the perfect setup for all his abilities, especially Life Drain.
* Decrepify can be cast to save the ally under Winter's Curse effect, wasting most of its duration.
* Winter Wyvern's abilities require a lot of mana, allowing Nether Ward to deal lots of damage.
Pugna
* Nether Ward discourages Tinker from using abilities and items due to its high damage against heavy mana usage.
Pugna
* Troll Warlord can't switch targets at will, in order to build 
Fervor stacks, which makes it easy to use Decrepify in order to save allies
* During 
Battle Trance, Pugna can easily use Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain on him
Keeper of the Light
* Illuminate wipes out Broodmother's spiders and prevents her from pushing the lane. It also gives vision to reveal where broodmother is hiding in the trees.
Pugna
* Even though Pugna's low HP means that he can be quickly burst down, his Nether Ward heavily punishes casters whose spells cost a lot of mana, like Zeus. Casting 4 of his active spells, including Nimbus, close to an enhanced level 4 Nether Ward, can make the ward deal up to 1750 magical damage.
* Decrepify can further increase the damage dealt by Nether Ward upon Zeus. However, if used on Pugna himself or on one of his allies, it will amplify the damage done by Zeus' abilities.
Pugna
* Nether Blast is one of the best tower pushing abilities in the game, with a low cooldown. A competent Pugna will (at the very least) destroy tier 2 towers and make space for his team before Spectre can finally come online.
* Spectre's spells, while not spammable, have a fairly high mana cost, so Nether Ward can be fairly damaging to Spectre early game. The mana degen will also dampen Spectre's early game power significantly.
* Once Pugna gets Aghanim's Scepter, he can spam Life Drain on any illusion Spectre summons, whether it'd be from 
Haunt, Manta Style, or some other means.
* In addition, Pugna can disable Spectre's 
Desolate ability (although its damage is pure, it requires physical attacks) with his Decrepify ability, leaving Spectre only with 
Spectral Dagger.
Pugna
* Arc Warden can't use Magnetic Field to stall the damage of Nether Blast on towers, but he can buy Aghanim's Shard to diminish its damage.
* Arc Warden has no innate disables to stop Life Drain and Decrepify
* The short cooldown of both Life Drain and Decrepify also means Pugna can deal with Arc Warden and Arc Warden's clone simultaneously most of the time
* A good Pugna looks to end the match early while Arc Warden, a very item reliant hero, thrives in longer matches.
Pugna
* Heroes with high movement speeds like Pugna and Meepo can run around, to, or away from Snapfire during 
Mortimer Kisses and dodge the projectiles easily due to their slow speed.
* Heroes with mobility spells (such as Queen of Pain's 
Blink and 
Clockwerk with Hookshot) can easily avoid 
Lil' Shredder and Mortimer Kisses.
* Heroes with high movement speeds like Pugna and Meepo can run around, to, or away from Snapfire during Mortimer Kisses and dodge the projectiles easily due to their slow speed.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
Pugna
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats: 
Axe, 
Viper, Meepo, Pugna, Slark etc.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes which rely exclusively on right clicks will struggle somewhat against Blinding Light: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Medusa
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with extremely slow movement speed will cripple against Solar Bind: Medusa, Viper
Additional:
* Will-O-Wisp will keep Medusa busy after she got hit by Blinding Light.
Pugna
* Pugna's Decrepify makes sure that either Alchemist is unable to hit anyone while also being slowed and susceptible to magical damage, or can protect an ally from physical attacks. Besides, Pugna can push early on, when Alchemist is not strong enough to repel it, so by the time Alchemist comes online, he might be forced to sit in base.
Keeper of the Light
* 
Press the Attack can dispel Blinding Light or Solar Bind from a hero.
* 
Duel can be used to instantly take Keeper of the Light out of a team-fight.
Pugna
* Decrepify prevents Legion Commander from attacking allies during Duel, regardless if it's used on her or on the ally .
* Pugna can easily cast Decrepify, Nether Blast and Life Drain on Legion during the 4/4.75/5.5/8 seconds of duel
Additional:
* Decrepify on either hero stops Legion Commander from completing a Duel, and dissuades her from initiating Duels on ethereal allies.
* Life Drain can help Pugna's teammates win a fight, either by killing Legion Commander or replenishing her target's health.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with abilities that blind or cause Legion Commander to miss will prevent her from winning Duels: 
Arc Warden, Keeper of the Light, Riki, Tinker
Pugna
* Heroes that commonly attack ethereal units will not have any problems against Muerta's Pierce The Veil: Tinker, Jakiro, Lina, Luna, Pugna or 
Ogre Magi.
Keeper of the Light
* Juggernaut's 
Healing Ward keeps his team healthy even when pushing against Keeper of the Light's Illuminate.
* Blade Fury can dispel Blinding Light, as well as dodge an incoming Illuminate. Juggernaut can attack towers during Blade Fury, so he can dodge an Illuminate without having to stop pushing.
* Should Keeper of the Light obtain Will-o-Wisp through purchasing an Aghanim's Scepter, Juggernaut can make quick work of Ignis Fatuus without being interrupted by its pull.
* Keeper of the Light has low health, low armor, and no natural defense against 
Blade Fury.
Additional:
* Blade Fury allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities.
* Healing Ward heals his entire team, mitigating Ezalor's weak magical burst damage.
Pugna
* Decrepify prevents 
Omnislash damage, until Juggernaut gets a Nullifier.
* Without a disable, Pugna's high movement speed makes it harder to chase him with Blade Fury.
* Juggernaut has low mana and his skills cost large amount of mana. Nether Ward will hurt him more and even worse, the damage from the ward is inflicted before the Spell immunity provided by Blade Fury.
Additional:
* Decrepify is the perfect tool against Omnislash until he gets a Nullifier, and even then he will probably waste a couple of slashes before he uses it.
* Without an extra disable, Pugna's high movement speed makes it impossible to chase him with Blade Fury.
* Unlike some other carries like Slark or Phantom Assassin, Juggernaut's spells cost a hefty amount of mana and he will seriously get hurt by Nether Ward. Don't forget the damage from the ward is inflicted before the spell immunity is provided by Blade Fury.
Keeper of the Light
* Keeper of the Light's Blinding Light makes Juggernaut miss his attacks. However, it can be dispelled easily with Blade Fury.
Pugna
* Nether Ward will be problematic for heavy nukers and spammers like Skywrath Mage, Lina, Lion and Invoker, but Pugna must not use Decrepify defensively against them as he will be helping them out more than anything.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes that punish mobile heroes: Bloodseeker, Keeper of the Light, Kunkka, Disruptor.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina, Keeper of the Light, 
Timbersaw, Leshrac, 
Bristleback, Axe.
Keeper of the Light
* Keeper of the Light can stall pushes with Illuminate. This makes him strong against pushing heroes: Terrorblade Naga siren Nature's Prophet and Anti-Mage
Pugna
* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden, Chen, Clinkz, 
Drow Ranger, Lina, 
Mirana, Nature's Prophet, Pugna and 
Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.
Pugna
* Any heroes with high intelligence, such as Invoker and Pugna.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with hastes: Dark Seer, Lycan
Pugna
* Pugna's Decrepify prevents the target from taking physical damage or doing damage, which poses a huge problem for Lycan, as he mainly deals physical damage.
Keeper of the Light
* Keeper of the Light has a blind, which causes Lycan to miss his attacks.
Pugna
* Pugna: Decrepify prevent the Spirit bear from attacking or protect allies from it.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes that can jump and kill him: Meepo, Clinkz, Templar Assassin
Pugna
* Pugna's Decrepify can render Templar Assassin's physical attacks useless.
* Pugna can also cast Life Drain on Templar Assassin, burning her Refraction instances.
* On the other hand, Pugna generally has low health and armor. Use this to your advantage.
Pugna
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder: Crystal Maiden, Pugna, Witch Doctor
Keeper of the Light
* Certain heroes can mess up with Pangolier's positioning and timing (especially if he intends to use Rolling Thunder during combat): 
Vengeful Spirit, Keeper of the Light, Huskar, Dark Seer
Keeper of the Light
* 
Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like Keeper of the Light, Ancient Apparition or 
Bounty Hunter.
Pugna
* Nether Ward will be problematic for heavy nukers and spammers like Skywrath Mage, Lina, Lion and Invoker, but Pugna must not use Decrepify defensively against them as he will be helping them out more than anything.
Pugna
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: 
Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, 
Earthshaker.
Pugna
* Pugna's Nether Ward damages Sand King when he channels Epicenter, preventing him from using Blink Dagger afterward.
Keeper of the Light
* Heroes with silences: Puck, Doom, Riki.
Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki, Wraith King, Juggernaut.
Pugna
* Pugna is very reliant on his abilities for damage which Silencer can take advantage off. But he has to be careful around the
Nether Ward as Silencer's abilities cost a lot of mana to use.
Keeper of the Light
* Being a cast-oriented hero, Ezalor will suffer from all of Silencer's abilities.
Global Silence is a guaranteed lengthy silence which will render Ezalor useless in a teamfight.
Arcane Curse and 
Last Word are good against any caster, since they are extremely potent.
*
*
* However, it should be worth mentioning that a smart Ezalor will buy Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Silencer's abilities. Combined with the level 20 talent (Chakra Magic applies a basic dispel), Ezalor can purge Silencer's abilities off allies and himself alike.