Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Luna
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)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.
Viper
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Viper due to Nethertoxin being able to disable
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing, Luna can take out Viper once she builds either
Black King Bar or
Silver Edge which will allow her to attack Viper freely.
* Eclipse can often finish off Viper from early-to-mid stages of the game before he can retaliate as
Corrosive Skin gives little magic resistance to him early on.
* Manta Style is an item that Luna commonly buys in most of the games, which lets her disjoint
Viper Strike. Additionally, illusions from Manta Style can make Viper waste time attacking them.
Additional:
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Viper due to Nethertoxin being able to disable
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing, Luna can take out Viper once she builds either
Black King Bar or
Silver Edge which will allow her to attack Viper freely.
* Eclipse can often finish off Viper from early-to-mid stages of the game before he can retaliate as
Corrosive Skin gives little magic resistance to him early on.
* Manta Style is an item that Luna commonly buys in most of the games, which lets her disjoint
Viper Strike. Additionally, illusions from Manta Style can make Viper waste time attacking them.
Tusk
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 15%)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.
Viper
* Viper Strike can be countered through Snowball, wasting Viper's mana through his ultimate.
* Nethertoxin is useless against Tusk as he has no passive abilities at all. And to make things worse,
Nethertoxin cannot disable
Walrus PUNCH! because it's an auto-cast ability.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)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.
Viper
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to escape through
Viper Strike, wasting Viper's mana.
* It's also very easy to wait out the duration of Nethertoxin's break.
Pugna
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin,
Invoker,
Outworld Destroyer,
Pugna,
Lion
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)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.
Viper
* As Viper focuses on single-target damage, he has trouble fighting off Phantasm illusions.
* Reality Rift counteracts Viper's slows and reduces his already low durability against physical damage.
Additional:
* Viper has no response to the standard initiation combo of Reality Rift into
Chaos Bolt.
* Phantasm and
Chaos Strike can eliminate Viper almost instantly with it's damage output.
* Besides Nethertoxin, Viper has no other ways of dealing with Phantasm.
Viper
* Heroes with Attack speed decreasing skills: Jakiro,
Viper
Lich
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Viper's lack of escape and durability means he can be ran over in a laning stage by Spawn Spiderlings.
* Broodmother can bring Viper down quickly with Insatiable Hunger activated.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Viper
* Clinkz does not have any passive abilities at all, making Nethertoxin nearly useless.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)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.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Naga Siren can easily disjoint, and dispel Corrosive Skin with Mirror Image.
* Since Viper is a single-target hero, he will not stand a chance against Naga Siren because she is an illusion based hero.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Pugna
* Both Jakiro's Ice Path and Liquid Frost can be used to cancel Life Drain from either yourself 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 spell immunity, which can discourage Pugna from initiating with
Life Drain.
* Just be warned that Nether Ward can do some considerable damage to Jakiro due to high mana costs on his abilities.
Elder Titan
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 1%)Viper
* Viper is an agility hero, and his item build mostly includes agility items, so Natural Order can be devastating, removing all armor and greatly decreasing the effectiveness of Corrosive Skin, weakening Viper's magic resistance. Additionally, Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter deal both magical and physical damage, and can help bringing Viper down fast.
* Aghanim's Scepter may be necessary to take Viper down due to
Nethertoxin's break.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Shukuchi ignores slows and allows Weaver to escape Viper's onslaught.
* Time Lapse dispels
Poison Attack and
Corrosive Skin and undoes poison damage.
* Weaver's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Pugna
* Trample and Pulverize can be used 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.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)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.
Lifestealer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Rage ignores all of Viper's magical damage, although
Viper Strike can pierce spell immunity and slows him down.
* Feast and
Open Wounds from
Aghanim's Shard can be combined to heal through Viper's physical damage.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can be used to disarm Viper, preventing him from using
Poison Attack on Lifestealer's allies.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Viper
* Enfeeble weakens Viper's attack damage, any healing he receives and his cast range, which makes him unable to harass enemy heroes with Nethertoxin, Poison Attack and Viper Strike.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin is useless against Bane as all of his damaging abilities deal Pure damage.
* Viper has no solutions to cancel Fiend's Grip and in addition, he hates buying disabling items like
Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
Witch Doctor
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)Viper
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of Viper abilities.
* Viper has no way to cancel Death Ward, even through Rod of Atos.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Viper
* If Rubick can use Spell Steal to take
Nethertoxin, he will be able to disable
Corrosive Skin, reducing much of Viper's durability.
* He can also steal Viper Strike, which can be used to hinder a hero on your team (or multiple heroes, if Rubick has
Aghanim's Scepter).
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Viper
* Viper has no disable, which means he has no way of preventing Morphling from escaping from any of his abilities or keep him inside Nethertoxin.
* Viper is almost exclusively damage over time, which is weak against Morphling due to Attribute Shift (Strength Gain). Additionally, Morphling has no passive abilities, reducing
Nethertoxin's effectiveness against him even further.
* Morphling can turn into Viper himself, allowing him to use any of Viper's abilities against him (excluding Viper Strike). This is particularly bad due to the fact that Viper is already a very slow hero, making
Poison Attack and
Corrosive Skin's slows especially difficult to deal with.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)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.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)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.
Viper
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
Viper
* Viper's skill set makes him an effective early game ganker against Anti-Mage before he is sufficiently farmed.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin and low mana pool causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
* Nethertoxin disables Mana Break and Counterspell, weakening both his offense and defense.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 2%)Viper
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Viper
* Illusion or summon-based heroes can be a problem to Viper due to his lack of AoE damage: Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Beastmaster
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Viper
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)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.
Shadow Shaman
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Viper
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Heroes with extremely slow movement speed will cripple against Solar Bind: Medusa,
Viper
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Pugna
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder: Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Viper
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)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.
Viper
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as Viper and
Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Viper
* Windrun evades
Poison Attack and counteracts the slow.
* Viper's low mobility makes him an easy Shackleshot target.
* Focus Fire grants Windranger significant physical damage output to quickly wear Viper down.
* Powershot is a strong harassment and zoning tool against Viper in lane.
Viper
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Viper
* Almost all of Viper's damage revolves exclusively around single-target damage-over-time effects. Furthermore, without any hard disables, Terrorblade can almost always get a Sunder off.
* Viper has low mobility and Corrosive Skin doesn't protect against physical damage, which means that Terrorblade under Metamorphosis can quickly kill Viper.
Additional:
* Viper's damage over time and lack of disables makes him easy to Sunder.
* Viper's physical damage is mitigated by Terrorblade's high armor.
* Terrorblade under Metamorphosis can quickly kill Viper with heavy physical damage.
Pugna
* Heroes who have channeling abilities because Terrorblade has no disables to cancel them at all and does not like buying disabling items at all: Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)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.
Viper
* 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:
* Nethertoxin disables
Bulwark entirely, making Mars far less tanky. Using
Nethertoxin inside
Arena of Blood may discourage enemies from following up with Mars' initiation.
* Rod of Atos is currently common on Viper and keeps Mars in position long enough to be killed.
* Beware that Viper is not very tanky earlier in the game, so positioning against Mars is important since a well-timed Spear of Mars can be the end of Viper.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)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
Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents Timbersaw from gaining stacks on Reactive Armor.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)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.
Viper
* The damage over time from Viper's Poison Attack and
Viper Strike rapidly wear down Refraction charges, allowing Templar Assassin to be damaged. Additionally,
Corrosive Skin causes her attacks to apply damage overtime on her as well.
* Nethertoxin is a big threat to Templar Assassin. Her initially low range making it very hard to deal against Nethertoxin in the laning phase. At any stage of the game, a Nethertoxin can always force her to undo her Meld.
Additional:
* All of Viper's abilities quickly burn through Refraction charges.
* Templar Assassin's short range, aside from Psi Blades' spill damage, makes her vulnerable to
Poison Attack harassment.
* Templar Assassin traditionally forgoes health and armor items for damage. Outside of Black King Bar, Viper will almost always be able to kill her when
Refraction is down.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks both Necromastery and Presence of the Dark Lord, reducing his damage massively.
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper bonus Magic Resistance against Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls.
* Viper can easily take advantage of Shadow Fiend's lack of escape and mobility spells with Viper Strike and
Poison Attack. Poison Attack also serves as a great way to harass Shadow Fiend.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)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).
Viper
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Disruptor's skills.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)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.
Viper
* Corrosive Skin severely reduces Zeus's damage output throughout the game.
* During the laning stage, Viper can abuse Zeus' reliance on spells by hugging the creep wave. Zeus will take constant damage over time from Corrosive Skin unless he drives Viper from the lane or returns to farming in his absence.
* Prior to buying Blink Dagger or
Force Staff, Zeus is fragile and possesses low mobility. Any of Viper's numerous slows can set up an easy kill.
Additional:
* Corrosive Skin counters Zeus in lane by canceling the effects of
Clarity as Zeus relies on Arc Lightning to farm and secure last hits.
* Corrosive Skin also increases Viper's magic resistance to shrug off Zeus's magical nukes.
* Nethertoxin breaks Static Field.
* Due to Zeus' poor mobility, Viper Strike will cripple Zeus and will allow Viper and his teammates to land a lot of attacks.
Axe
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)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.
Viper
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike slows Axe significantly, and puts his
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating.
* Nethertoxin can break Counter Helix.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents
Counter Helix from triggering, which significantly lowers Axe's damage output in the early to mid game.
* Viper's various slows and damage over time prevents Axe from initiating as well as putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)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.
Viper
* Viper does large amounts of magic damage over time, meaning that if a Necrophos uses Ghost Shroud, Viper's abilities will greatly reduce Necrophos survivability, and may actually kill him.
* By the same token, Viper can use his Viper Strike on Necrophos if he attempts to heal himself with Ghost Shroud, and depending on any other effects Necrophos may have from him, (IE:
Poison Attack,
Corrosive Skin), Viper can often kill Necrophos while he is in his Ghost Shroud.
* Viper's Corrosive Skin helps him take reduced damage from all of Nercophos spells that deal magical damage, which is Necrophos's only source of damage.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents
Heartstopper Aura from dealing damage or healing Necrophos.
* Viper's magic damage is amplified whenever Ghost Shroud is used.
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper tankier against
Death Pulse and
Reaper's Scythe.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin disable passives, negating Spectre's damage and survivability by removing both
Dispersion and
Desolate.
* Due to Haunt and
Radiance's burn, Spectre is heavily susceptible to being persistently slowed and damaged by
Corrosive Skin without even directly attacking Viper.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike further slow Spectre's movement speed to a crawl, while his improved magic resistance means he can easily shrug off
Radiance's burn.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin disables
Desolate and
Dispersion, leaving Spectre with far less damage output and damage mitigation in engagements.
* Spectre is one of the weakest heroes at early levels. Viper can stifle her farm with early fights before Spectre purchases any major items.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)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.
Viper
* Heroes with break can disable Untouchable for a while: Doom and
Shadow Demon (via
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper,
Shadow Shaman with Hex Breaks talent.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)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.
Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)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
Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Lina
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents buildup of Fiery Soul stacks.
* Corrosive Skin provides magic resistance against Lina's spells.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike can burn away Lina's small health pool.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)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.
Viper
* Corrosive Skin means Viper can often outlast Venomancer in a battle of attrition.
* Venomancer has no mobility without items, which makes him vulnerable to constant slows.
Slark
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Pugna
* Nether Blast will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
* Pugna can rarely target Slark directly with Decrepify, but he can 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.
Viper
* Heroes with Break abilities will prevent Slark from regenerating and gaining Essence Shift stacks: Viper,
Shadow Demon, etc.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin negates
Essence Shift and the regeneration aspect of
Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact doesn't mean a lot against Viper's ubiquitous slows.
* Viper becomes a relevant presence in team fights before Slark can procure his standard items (e.g. Shadow Blade).
Riki
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Viper
* Viper's Nethertoxin disables
Cloak and Dagger, negating Riki's invisibility and much of his damage. It also makes him more vulnerable to magic damage, which does not go well with Riki's low health pool. With the talent applied, he can't even blink to safety or hide with Tricks of the Trade.
* Corrosive Skin makes it hard for Riki to chase Viper and attack him due to the attack speed slow.
* Viper Strike stays on Riki even after he goes invisible.
* Poison Attack makes it risky for Riki to get last hits and can make the laning phase difficult for him.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)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.
Viper
* Viper can bully Alchemist out of mid lane quite easily, forcing him to either retreat into jungle, or stay harassed in lane, and get very few last hits. Vipers break also completely disables
Greevil's greed which prevents Alchemist to earn his amazing amounts of money.
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)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.
Viper
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
Additional:
* Most of Magnus' abilities except Empower will trigger damage through
Corrosive Skin.
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike can slow Magnus during
Skewer, as well as putting his
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Pugna
* Heroes with channeling spells, for Chen has no disables on his own, hates buying disabling items and his creeps are often not fast enough to cancel them: Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Viper
* Hand of God has a long cooldown, so damage over time spells can be hazardous for Chen, forcing him to use it prematurely: Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Phoenix.
Bristleback
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 43% pickrate: 1%)Viper
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed so he's unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin disables
Bristleback and prevents
Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his defensive passive, Bristleback also loses his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* In the early game, a Dragon Knight without Black King Bar is basically defenseless against Viper.
* Viper can harass Dragon Knight at any time with his Poison Attack.
* Corrosive Skin reduces damage from Dragon Fire and inflicts damage to him.
* Nethertoxin disables Dragon Blood, negating his main survivability.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack can severely slow him down even with his Elder Dragon Form.
Additional:
* Dragon Knight is easily harassed by Poison Attack after the laning stage ends.
* Corrosive Skin protects Viper from
Breathe Fire and returns damage.
* Nethertoxin mitigates
Dragon Blood, Dragon's Knight main source of armor and health regeneration.
* Between Poison Attack and
Viper Strike, Viper can keep Dragon Knight permanently slowed even in
Elder Dragon Form.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Viper
* The slow applied from Corrosive Skin offsets the movement speed bonus granted by Scorched Earth and the tick-based damage from Infernal Blade and Doom will continually slow Doom down. This allows Viper, much like Sniper, to 'kite' Doom and keep him at a safe distance between the two. Additionally,
Corrosive Skin applies an attack-speed slow which is fairly crippling to a hero such as Doom that, naturally, has a high base attack-time, poor agility gain and builds little attack-speed items.
* Since Doom does not disable auto-cast abilities, Viper's Poison Attack will continue to work. Doom may find it hard to close the distance between himself and Viper, and thusly difficult to effectively lockdown and continually deal damage through his abilities.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)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.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Viper's poison magical damage-over-time stops Monkey King from using Tree Dance. It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by Wukong's Command.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of
Jingu Mastery stacks.
* Monkey King's high base movement speed is of little worth against the array of slows Viper possesses.
* All of Viper's magical damage over time stops Monkey King from using Tree Dance. It also ignores the extra armor bestowed by
Wukong's Command.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)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.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Poison Attack makes it hard for Void Spirit to lane against him.
* Corrosive Skin reduces the magical damage from Void Spirit's spells.
Tiny
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 13%)Viper
* Tiny has low movement speed and attack speed, making him vulnerable to Viper's slows.
* Corrosive Skin provides magic resistance to lower Tiny's magic burst damage.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Viper
* Ice Wall and
Ghost Walk can be used to kite and escape from Viper.
* Chaos Meteor and
Sun Strike deal heavy damage and can quickly bring Viper down.
* Cold Snap,
Tornado, and
Deafening Blast are powerful disables that reduce Viper's effectiveness.
* EMP burns Viper's limited mana pool, reducing his potential poison damage.
* Forge Spirits can melt Viper's armor and reduce his durability.
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.
Viper
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper receive less damage from Invoker's spells
* Viper can harass Invoker with his Poison Attack in the early game.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack can kill Invoker easily if Ghost Walk is on cooldown.
Ogre Magi
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks Multicast.
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from Ignite and Fireblast.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)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.
Techies
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Viper
* Corrosive Skin will protect Viper from Techies' magical damage.
* Even though Reactive Tazer will disarm Viper if he attacks Techies with Poison Attack, he does lots of damage with his other abilities that can still kill Techies.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Nethertoxin cancels out
Kraken Shell and stops the hard dispel from passively activating, preventing Tidehunter from functioning as a frontline tank.
* Anchor Smash is mostly irrelevant against a ranged hero.
* Tidehunter relies on the threat of Ravage, which has an obscenely long cooldown. Viper can exploit the downtime with his short cooldowns.
Leshrac
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)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.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Nethertoxin disables Vengeance Aura.
* Vengeful Spirit has no mobility spells aside from Nether Swap, which Viper can take advantage of with his slows.
* Viper can easily bully Vengeful Spirit out of a lane with Poison Attack.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents the attack damage bonus from
Vengeance Aura and the components of
Nether Swap.
* Both Magic Missile and
Wave of Terror are counteracted by
Corrosive Skin, making Vengeful Spirit's fighting harder against Viper.
Skywrath Mage
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 10%)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.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)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.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Ancient Apparition's abilities.
* Ancient Apparition's slow movement speed, squishy nature, and lack of escape abilities can easily be taken advantage of through Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper additional resistance to Phoenix's magical damage, and since they deal damage over time, Phoenix would be constantly afflicted by his passive's own debuff, making him not an ideal target for Phoenix's harassment. Phoenix's abilities also constantly drain its own health away, becoming more vulnerable to
Poison Attack.
Dawnbreaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 8%)Viper
* Nethertoxin disables Dawnbreaker's Luminosity|Dawnbreaker. Since she's a melee hero, she needs to close gap to attack and Nethertoxin will be bad for her since she cannot heal.
* Viper Strike and
Poison Attack will severely slow her down and combined with
Nethertoxin, it will be her death sentence (unless her Celestial Hammer or Solar Guardian are off cooldown). Besides that, chasing her down will be easy due to the slow.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Viper
* Because Poison Attack has no cooldown,
Aphotic Shield is ineffective as a hard dispel.
* Nethertoxin prevents
Borrowed Time from activating passively and blocks
Curse of Avernus
Razor
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Viper
* Viper's Poison Attack and
Viper Strike that can slow Razor, and is one of the few heroes that can keep him immobile.
* Altogether, Viper's skills reduce Razor's attack speed, heavily reducing the benefit of the damage drain from Static Link.
Additional:
* Storm Surge is counteracted by
Nethertoxin, leaving Razor without faster MS.
* Static Link's damage drain doesn't bother Viper a lot as most of his early to mid game damage is magical.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Viper
* His Poison Attack is very useful against Huskar, since he tends to stay at low health.
* Nethertoxin disables passive skills like Berserker's Blood.
* It is dangerous for Huskar to jump on Viper because Corrosive Skin and
Viper Strike with the slowdown of movement and attack speed which usually will be deadly for Huskar.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin disables
Berserker's Blood, which Huskar relies upon for attack speed and healing.
* The damage from Burning Spear and
Life Break is largely absorbed by
Corrosive Skin. It also will return some damage, making it risky to use Burning Spears in the laning stage.
* Because Huskar wants to be on low health for Berserker's Blood, he is particularly vulnerable to
Poison Attack.
Visage
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Viper
* Nethertoxin cuts off
Gravekeeper's Cloak, Visage's primary defense mechanism.
* Viper can ignore Grave Chill's attack speed slow with his magic damage output.
Additional:
* Since Visage is a slow hero, Viper can easily kite him with
Poison Attack and
Viper Strike while successfully chipping away at Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Nethertoxin removes all layers of Gravekeeper's Cloak, leaving Visage exposed.
* Corrosive Skin makes Viper highly resistant to Soul Assumption.
Muerta
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 13%)Pugna
* Heroes that commonly attack etheral units do not have any problems against Muerta such as Tinker,
Jakiro,
Pugna or
Ogre Magi
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Viper
* Assuming they have not bought anti-evasion items, attack-dependent heroes such as Viper,
Ursa or
Clinkz can be a minor threat for Phantom Assassin early in the game, and may even be completely dominated by her thanks to her evasion.
Pugna
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats: Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Pugna,
Slark etc.
Viper
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats: Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Pugna,
Slark etc.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Viper
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc WardenLion
Snapfire
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 15%)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.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Viper
* Heroes who can easily harass Crystal Maiden out of lane in the early game (Clinkz,
Viper) can prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to level effectively, and can ultimately slow down her level 6, 12, and 18 to a point where enemy carries already have items to address her ultimate.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Any heroes with high intelligence, such as Invoker and
Pugna.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 4%)Pugna
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as: Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
Treant Protector
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 16%)Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Pugna
* Pugna:
Decrepify prevent the Spirit bear from attacking or protect allies from it.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Heroes who can harass Omniknight out of lane will keep him weak in the mid game: Viper,
Venomancer,
Clinkz.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
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.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Pugna
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
Viper
* Poison Attack and
Viper Strike allowing to kite and slow Earthshaker significally, putting
Blink Dagger on cooldown and preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.
* Nethertoxin breaks Aftershock. The silence from Level 25 talent also prevents Earthshaker from initiating or re-initiating.
Additional:
* Being a melee hero, Earthshaker's movement is liable to suppression by Poison Attack and
Viper Strike.
* Earthshaker's kit, with the exception of Enchant Totem, deals magic damage.
Corrosive Skin effectively blunts his killing potential with a standard Blink combo among other things.
* Nethertoxin disables
Aftershock, which removes the stun and bonus damage from
Enchant Totem and
Echo Slam.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)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.
Viper
* Viper's poison abilities can slow Bounty Hunter's movement speed and allows to chase him with True Sight items.
* Nethertoxin can break Jinada, and the silence from level 25 prevents Bounty Hunter from using all of his spells.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Viper
* Ranged heroes will have a hard time hitting enemies inside Magnetic Field: Silencer,
Viper.
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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin prevents the lifesteal from Ransack.
* Meepo and his clones have a lack of magic resistance, so they're vulnerable to Poison Attack &
Viper Strike directed onto one clone.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Viper
* Viper's Nethertoxin cannot disable
Reincarnation, which could put him in disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
* In addition, Viper doesn't like buying Diffusal Blade, which is the only item that can help him against Wraith King.
* Wraith King's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
Pugna
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
Viper
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)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.
Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks Sniper's passives.
* Viper Strike together with
Poison Attack can slow Sniper and tears through his low health and mobility.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Viper
* Heroes that can drain mana negatively affect Viper's ability to use Poison Attack, Nethertoxin and Viper Strike: Lion,
Anti-Mage
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.
Sand King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)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.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)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.
Mana Burn 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.
Viper
* Corrosive Skin minimizes the damage from
Impale and
Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin cannot survive several poison damage-over-time, even Spiked Carapace is activated.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Viper
* Viper's frailty and low mobility makes him an enticing Duel target and Corrosive Skin doesn't protect him against Legion Commander physical attacks.
* Press the Attack can dispel Poison Attack.
* Viper slows can easily negate by Overwhelming Odds movement speed.
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
Ursa
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)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
Viper
* Nethertoxin breaks Fury Swipes, making Viper a decent counter to Ursa in a laning stage.
* Viper Strike is a strong, undispellable slow, making it much easier to kite Ursa for everyone.
Tinker
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 11%)Viper
* Viper is kind of a mixed package. Tinker is very good against him. but stands a better chance against him then most heroes.
* Viper has a high innate magic resistance, but relies on his primary attacks to really deal damage. making Laser an effective way to save allies from him, and deal damage. Keep in mind that his Corrosive Skin will prevent Tinker from blinking.
* Viper's Viper Strike and
Poison Attack will also have a hard time damaging allies through Tinker's constant casting of Defense Matrix.
* Viper has no solutions to cancel Rearm nor any of Tinker's escape attempts with
Boots of Travel
* However, if Viper gets a jump on Tinker first. Tinker will unlikely survive versus Viper.
Pugna
* Nether Ward discourages Tinker from using abilities and items due to its high damage against heavy mana usage.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Viper
* Heroes who do not have nor rely on passive abilities make Nethertoxin much less effective: Clinkz,
Pugna,
Nature's Prophet,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Tusk
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.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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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.
Doppelganger.
Diffusal Blade carrier to burn Pugna's very large pool of mana away and deal 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
* Phantom Lancer is the most natural
Viper
* Although
Viper Strike cannot be dispelled by Doppelganger, Viper's lack of mobility and AoE damage makes him an easy target for Phantom Lancer.
Phantom Rush.
Nethertoxin applying Break.
Spirit Lance and
Doppelganger.
Phantom Rush. Additionally, it is almost impossible to keep Lancer inside
Nethertoxin's radius in order to disable the passive.
* Viper's various slows do not work against
* Although Phantom Lancer should be wary due to
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer can overwhelm Viper with spawned illusions from
* Viper's various slows do not work against