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.
Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: 
Timbersaw, 
Dark Willow, 
Enigma, 
Invoker, 
Pugna, 
Skywrath Mage, 
Tinker, 
Zeus, 
Oracle.
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
Mars
* 
Ursa is a special mention because despite Bulwark diminishing most of the damage Ursa does, he is quite durable, especially with Enrage, discouraging the aggressive all-in playstyle of Mars; Ursa can simply not target Mars.
Pugna
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder: 
Crystal Maiden, Pugna, 
Witch Doctor
Mars
* 
Swashbuckle is an auto attack and therefore ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* 
Shield Crash upgraded with Aghanim is an auto attack and therefore ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* 
Rolling Thunder makes him immune to magic, making Pangolier able to roll in and out of Mars' Arena Of Blood.
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.
Mars
* Ball Lightning makes it almost impossible to catch Storm Spirit without someone else initiating for you.
* 
Overload is not reduced by Bulwark and the magical damage spam can wear down Mars quickly.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit's abilities all do magical damage, which can bypass 
Bulwark.
* Ball Lightning can escape through 
Arena of Blood and it is easy to dodge 
Spear of Mars.
Pugna
* Heroes with mana burn: 
Nyx Assassin, Invoker, 
Outworld Destroyer, Pugna, 
Lion
Mars
* 
Rage, acting as a pseudo-
Black King Bar, completely negates Mars' initiation if used in time.
* 
Feast does damage and heals based on max health, perfect against high-health strength heroes like Mars.
* 
Infest allows Lifestealer to potentially save allies from Mars' initiation with a quick burst of extra health.
Mars
* 
Burning Spear's magical damage is very troublesome for Mars in the laning stage.
* 
Life Break's percentage-based magical damage bypasses Bulwark, and can also be used to jump in or out of Arena Of Blood.
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.
Pugna
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Mars
* 
Decay, 
Soul Rip and 
Flesh Golem all deal magical damage which ignores Bulwark.
* Decay reduces Mars' natural strength and therefore his health pool, which is what he relies on to trade effectively in lane.
Mars
* Solar Guardian can save allies caught inside Arena of Blood.
Mars
* It is difficult for Mars to trade blows with Ogre Magi in the early game thanks to his high base health, resistance and 
Ignite.
* 
Bloodlust can assist Ogre Magi or an ally in repositioning against Mars for its move speed bonus.
* 
Fireblast can interrupt and mitigate Mars from performing his skill combos, especially in combination with 
Multicast.
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.
Pugna
* 
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.
Additional:
* 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.
Pugna
* Puck can dodge Nether Blast and Life Drain with his Phase Shift, easily avoiding Pugna's strong burst magic damage.
* 
Waning Rift's silence allows Puck and its teammates to easily deal with Pugna, which cannot do the same to it, because with 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
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
* 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
Mars
* Rebound allows her to jump in or out of the Arena Of Blood. She can save her allies from the Arena with Dispose as well.
Mars
* 
Sticky Napalm slows turn rate, making it difficult for Mars to face frontwards, where Spear of Mars and Bulwark are effective. In combination with 
Firefly, which deals magic damage, Batrider can make quick work of Mars.
* 
Flaming Lasso disables Mars while enemies re-position themselves behind Mars to avoid Bulwark.
Mars
* 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.
Pugna
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, 
Bane, Pugna, 
Pudge.
Mars
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: 
Axe, Pudge, 
Bristleback, Mars.
Mars
* Heroes that can save their allies can be a big problem for Mars: 
Dazzle, 
Omniknight.
Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
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.
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.
Mars
* 
Kunkka's 
Ghostship and 
Torrent disrupt fights in Arena Of Blood.
Mars
* 
Arcane Orb's pure damage ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* 
Astral Imprisonment can be used to stop Mars from being disruptive or save allies from his abilities.
* 
Sanity's Eclipse deals high damage to Mars, due to his low intelligence pool.
Pugna
* Any heroes with high intelligence, such as Invoker and Pugna.
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.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: 
Abaddon, 
Anti-Mage, 
Broodmother, 
Luna, 
Sniper, 
Troll Warlord, 
Weaver, 
Clinkz.
Mars
* Venomancer's spells all deal magical damage, ignoring Bulwark.
* Venomancer's multiple slows are especially effective at kiting Mars.
* 
Plague Ward can attack through Arena Of Blood.
Additional:
* Venomancer's poison attacks are all magical damage, ignoring Bulwark.
* Venomancer's multiple slows are especially effective against Mars' low mobility.
* Plague Wards can attack through Arena of Blood.
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
* 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.
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 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.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
Mars
* 
Dragon Slave deals reliable magic damage during the laning phase against Mars.
* Lina's 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity and 
Light Strike Array combo can interrupt Mars from being disruptive for a decent amount of time and leave him vulnerable for follow up stuns.
* 
Laguna Blade deals massive magical damage, and pure damage with Aghanim's Scepter.
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
* 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.
Mars
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: 
Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet, Lich.
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.
Mars
* Spectre cannot have a good game if she is pressured heavily in lane, which is something Mars can do. He may even force her to cast Haunt as an escape, putting it on a long cooldown.
* Should Spectre get to the late game, Mars can block a large amount of her damage with Bulwark and can mitigate some of the chaos caused by her Haunt illusions with God's Rebuke.
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.
Mars
* Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even during 
Shadow Dance.
* Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can hit Slark through Shadow Dance and 
Depth Shroud.
* Should 
Pounce be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Arena of Blood.
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.
Mars
* Bulwark mitigates Omnislash which deals physical damage, severely reducing its damage.
* Omnislash switch to opposite direction with each slash, so Mars can easily reduce most of its damage.
* However because {Ability ID:Blade Fury|Juggernaut} gives spell immunity Juggernaut can easily escape from {Ability ID:Arena Of Blood|Mars}.
Additional:
* Juggernaut deals mostly physical damage, which is easily mitigated with Bulwark.
* Juggernaut's Omnislash switches to opposite directions which each slash, so Mars can mitigate most of its damage since he only takes full damage from one direction: his back.
Pugna
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats: Axe, 
Viper, 
Meepo, 
Jakiro, Pugna, Slark, 
Venomancer etc.
Mars
* Phantom Assassin's high physical damage is greatly reduced by Bulwark.
* God's Rebuke has true strike, ignoring the evasion from 
Blur.
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.
Mars
* Bulwark negates most of the physical damage from Terrorblade and his illusions.
* God's Rebuke and Spear of Mars can decimate Terrorblade's illusions quickly.
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
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
Mars
* 
Legion Commander is both good and bad vs Mars, on the plus side she can dispel Spear of Mars with 
Press the Attack and is a good 
Silver Edge carrier. However, Mars is not an ideal 
Duel target, as Bulwark will force her to 1: Buy Silver Edge, and 2: Hit Mars with it before the Duel, allowing a skilled Mars to react, especially with Eul's Scepter of Divinity. In teamfights, Mars will happily draw attention after using his abilities, and tank the Duel with all spells on cooldown.
Pugna
* 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.
Additional:
* 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
Mars
* Because Duel requires both combatants to face each other, Bulwark's effectiveness will be increased by a huge margin, which makes it much more difficult for Legion Commander to win any duels against him.
* Spear of Mars and 
God's Rebuke pushes Legion Commander away during Duels against allies.
Additional:
* Bulwark immensely mitigates Duel, even with bonus physical damage, as Bulwark scales by percentage. Mars can also buy time for a dueled ally by pushing Legion Commander away with Spear of Mars.
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.
Mars
* 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 that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac, 
Shadow Demon, Pugna, Death Prophet.
Mars
* Heroes that are hard to gank: 
Dragon Knight, Mars, Centaur Warrunner.
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.
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
* 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
* 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.
Mars
* If visible, Mars can knock Monkey King off his 
Tree Dance with God's Rebuke, as well as Spear of Mars. Arena of Blood also destroys a large swath of trees, which can disrupt Monkey King's positioning and turn him vulnerable should he choose to hide in trees.
* Mars can endure 
Jingu Mastery attacks simply by facing him with Bulwark.
* Mars can end 
Wukong's Command early by displacing Monkey King with a well-thrown Spear of Mars. Mars can also endure most of his clones with Bulwark.
Additional:
* Monkey King's natural reliance on trees makes him an exceptionally prime target for Spear of Mars. Should Monkey King use Mischief to disguise himself, it will still hit him, stunning him in the process.
* God's Rebuke easily pushes Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
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.
Pugna
* Pugna easily copes on the line with the Keeper of the Light push with his Nether Blast, and in addition to Nether Ward, the Keeper of the Light is not able to throw 
Illuminate on creeps for a long time, so Pugna earns more gold and a level on the line
Additional:
* Pugna easily copes on the line with the Keeper of the Light push with his Nether Blast, and in addition to Nether Ward, the Keeper of the Light is not able to throw Illuminate on creeps for a long time, so Pugna earns more gold and a level on the line
Pugna
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Mars
* Arena Of Blood prevents Bloodseeker from attacking a 
Ruptured target.
* Bulwark helps Mars survive Rupture ganks simply by turning towards Bloodseeker without moving.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can push Bloodseeker from Ruptured targets.
Mars
* As long as Mars is facing her with Bulwark, even if pushed away with 
Gust, Drow Ranger will do no effectual damage against him. Mars' ability to endure her onslaught usually gives him enough time to cast Arena of Blood, of which she has a very slim chance surviving without Gust.
* With Bulwark's active ability, Mars can protect allies pursued by Drow Ranger by redirecting her projectiles to his shield instead.
Mars
* 
Shukuchi cannot help Weaver escape from Arena of Blood, and can most likely die if detected through invisibility.
* If pinned to the arena's walls, 
Time Lapse tends to not be enough to save Weaver, as God's Rebuke can keep him burst down thanks to its damage scaling.
* 
The Swarm and 
Geminate Attack are not enough to pierce through Bulwark.
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).
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.
Mars
* Heroes with forced movement abilities or non-interrupting forced movement, such as Lion, Drow Ranger, Magnus, Mars, as they can cancel blast-off mid air, removing his ability to initiate or escape.
Mars
* Heroes who can disable Mars but cannot do any damage to him, meaning he just tanks their abilities: 
Doom, Magnus.
Mars
* Heroes that can negate Hoodwink's mobility: Kunkka, Disruptor, Mars.
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.
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, Enigma, Batrider, Techies, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Shadow Shaman, Bane, Tinker, Venomancer, Arc Warden.
Mars
* Heroes with the capability of removing or destroying trees greatly hinders the effectiveness of Treant Protector's abilities: Batrider, Nature's Prophet, Lina, Enigma, Mars
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.
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.
Mars
* Durable heroes: Axe, Dawnbreaker, Bristleback, Mars, Omniknight, Tidehunter, Wraith King, 
Primal Beast, Underlord.
Mars
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet, Lich.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
Mars
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet, Lich.
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.
Mars
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe, Death Prophet, Phantom Lancer, Slark, Centaur Warrunner, Bristleback, Medusa, Mars.
Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: 
Riki, Wraith King, Juggernaut.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
Mars
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
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.
Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
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.
Mars
* Heroes with break abilities: Shadow Demon (with Aghanim's Scepter), Viper.
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.
Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
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.
Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
Pugna
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
Mars
* Medusa's 
Stone Gaze forces Mars to choose between getting petrified, or turning his vulnerable back on Medusa.
Mars
* Bulwark can make each of Medusa's attacks target him instead, reducing Medusa's contribution on team fights.
* Spear of Mars stuns Medusa and also pushes her away from teamfights, taking advantage of Medusa's low mobility.
* Arena Of Blood blocks Medusa's attacks from outside the arena.
Mars
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
Pugna
* Nether Ward discourages Tinker from using abilities and items due to its high damage against heavy mana usage.
Mars
* Heroes that can save their allies can be a big problem for Mars: Dazzle, Omniknight.
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
* 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.
Mars
* Bulwark blocks the attack from Meepo and his clones.
* Spear of Mars & God's Rebuke prevents Meepo and his clones from initiation or escaping.
Mars
* 
Firestorm and 
Pit of Malice are very disruptive in team fights, completely matching Mars especially since it can all be cast inside Arena Of Blood and also does percentage-based magical damage, negating Bulwark.
* 
Dark Rift can save any allies of Underlord trapped in Arena Of Blood.
* 
Atrophy Aura allows Underlord to lane against Mars quite well since he does not have the best base damage during the early game.
* Underlord is a common carrier of both 
Pipe of Insight and 
Mekansm/
Guardian Greaves, allowing his team to combat Mars in the mid to late game.
Pugna
* Heroes with magical or pure damage output will not have any problems against Atrophy Aura at all: Luna, Lina, Jakiro, Pugna, Bane, 
Snapfire, 
Muerta, Nyx Assassin, Enigma, Tinker, Witch Doctor, Zeus, Crystal Maiden.
Mars
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate: Luna's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse, Dawnbreaker's 
Solar Guardian, Axe's 
Berserker's Call, Mars's Arena of Blood, Jakiro's Macropyre, 
Dual Breath and 
Ice Path, Naga Siren's 
Song of the Siren, Razor's 
Eye of the Storm and 
Plasma Field, Lina's Light Strike Array, Broodmother's 
Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter, Elder Titan's 
Earth Splitter and 
Echo Stomp, Alchemist's 
Unstable Concoction and 
Acid Spray, Queen of Pain's 
Sonic Wave, 
Dark Seer's 
Wall of Replica and 
Vacuum, Venomancer's 
Noxious Plague and 
Poison Nova from Aghanim's Scepter, Oracle's 
Fortune's End and 
Rain of Destiny from Aghanim's Shard, 
Bloodseeker's 
Blood Rite, Enigma's Black Hole and 
Midnight Pulse, Shadow Fiend's 
Requiem of Souls, Batrider's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Flaming Lasso, Firefly, 
Flamebreak and Sticky Napalm, 
Ancient Apparition's 
Ice Blast, Sand King's 
Epicenter, 
Sand Storm and 
Burrowstrike, 
Gyrocopter's 
Call Down, 
Ember Spirit's 
Sleight of Fist, Death Prophet's 
Exorcism and 
Silence, 
Monkey King's Wukong's Command, Crystal Maiden's 
Freezing Field, Muerta's 
The Calling, Medusa's Stone Gaze, Zeus's 
Nimbus from Aghanim's Scepter. Dark Willow's 
Bramble Maze, Pangolier's Swashbuckle, 
Grimstroke's 
Soulbind, 
Ink Swell and 
Stroke of Fate, 
Earthshaker's 
Echo Slam and 
Fissure, Puck's Dream Coil and Waning Rift, Winter Wyvern's 
Winter's Curse, Magnus's 
Reverse Polarity.
Mars
* 
Blink Strike gives bonus backstab damage and can bypass Bulwark. Defensively, it could be used to teleport away from Mars, especially while inside Arena of Blood.
* 
Smoke Screen can interrupt Mars' skill combos, especially when cast inside Arena of Blood.
* 
Tricks of the Trade can be used to evade Mars' skills, which have a slight delay to them. It could also be used to buy himself time while trapped inside of Arena of Blood.
Additional:
* Bulwark is generally irrelevant against Riki as he primarily deals bonus damage from behind.
Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki, Wraith King, Juggernaut.
Mars
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away: Riki, 
Bounty Hunter.
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.
Mars
* 
Nethertoxin breaks the damage block from Bulwark.
* 
Poison Attack and 
Viper Strike's slows make it difficult for Mars to contribute to fights due to his low mobility.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable Bulwark entirely, making Mars far less tanky. Using Nethertoxin inside Arena of Blood may discourage enemies from following up with Mars's initiation.
* 
Rod of Atos is currently common on Viper and keeps Mars in position long enough to be killed.
* However, Viper is not very tanky earlier in the game, so positioning against Mars is important for Viper since a well-timed Spear of Mars can be the end of Viper.
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.
Pugna
* 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.
Mars
* Even if he can slow Mars down with Shrapnel and 
Headshot, Mars can tank Sniper's physical damage simply by facing him with Bulwark, allowing him to endure his auto-attacks into the late-game. Should Sniper choose to attack someone else, Mars can redirect his projectiles with Bulwark's active ability.
* Sniper's poor mobility makes him very vulnerable to Arena of Blood, especially in the early game. Mars can also take advantage of this by pushing him closer to the front line with Spear of Mars.
Mars
* 
Shadowraze deals magic damage and ignores Bulwark.
* Requiem of Souls deals magic damage and can fear Mars away, forcing him to turn around and therefore become vulnerable.
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 and his 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 or spam Shadowraze.
Mars
* Necrophos' largely magical damage completely ignores Bulwark.
* 
Ghost Shroud protects Necrophos from God's Rebuke but more importantly stops Mars from being a threat in lane.
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.
Mars
* Berserker's Call forces Mars to face in the direction choosen.
* 
Counter Helix deals pure damage and can go through Bulwark.
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.
Mars
* Time Dilation while Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Mars nearly useless.
* Mars cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the back, bypassing Bulwark completely.
Additional:
* 
Time Walk allows Faceless Void to escape or enter Arena Of Blood, and helps him recover from Mars' burst damage.
* 
Time Lock's magical damage ignores Bulwark.
* 
Chronosphere allows Faceless Void to reposition behind Mars, ignoring his Bulwark while he is helplessly frozen in time.
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.
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.
Mars
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away: Riki, Bounty Hunter.
Mars
* Mars' own father is a formidable foe because Zeus deals massive amounts of magical damage. The high damage, low cooldown nukes of 
Arc Lightning and 
Lightning Bolt combined with the percent health magic damage of 
Static Field will shred Mars' health because it bypasses Bulwark completely.
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.
Mars
* Nukers who have set amounts of damage will really struggle against Lone Druid especially in True Form: Puck, 
Void Spirit, Mars.
Pugna
* Pugna: Decrepify prevent the Spirit bear from attacking or protect allies from it.
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.
Mars
*
Snowball can protect Tusk and his teammates from a Spear of Mars' stun after an Arena of Blood, and with proper targeting, even bring them out of the Arena. This is especially noticeable in the earlier stages of the game before allies buy 
Black King Bar and rely on this less. Even during the late-game, Tusk can purchase a 
Blink Dagger to save allies that are caught before Black King Bars can be used by Blinking in and Snowballing out. 
Tag Team is a constant threat to Mars in-lane, as it deals significant damage and slow, making Bulwark slightly ineffective.
Ice Shards can be detrimental to Tusk's own team by creating terrain that Spear of Mars can latch on, though using it conservatively is a good enough solution in most cases.
*
* It is worth noting that