Queen of Pain
* Night Stalker has a huge, almost instant silence through 
Crippling Fear. The main problem is that he can get it off while Queen of Pain barely has any vision of him if he creeps up to her during 
Dark Ascension. She'll have to play very carefully before she gets a 
Black King Bar or a 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with silence such as 
Riki, 
Silencer, or 
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
Queen of Pain
* A good Nyx can reflect Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave with his 
Spiked Carapace, or even initiate a gank on her in 
Vendetta while she farms a creep wave with Scream of Pain.
* Her strength to intelligence ratio is bad enough that he should be able to kill her without even requiring a 
Dagon, provided he can get his full combo off.
Skywrath Mage
* Slow-moving projectiles: 
Skywrath Mage, 
Tinker, 
Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* 
Mind Flare turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him and deals heavy damage.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
Queen of Pain
* 
Glaives of Wisdom's intelligence steal will heavily punish Queen of Pain, as the loss of intelligence means that her mana pool is also reduced, since she is heavily reliant on her abilities to be able to make an impact.
* In the laning stage, Queen of Pain's reliance on spamming Shadow Strike and Scream of Pain will be significantly hindered by 
Arcane Curse.
* 
Last Word and 
Global Silence will render Queen of Pain defenseless unless she has an item/ally to dispel the silence.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
Queen of Pain
* Chain of Earthbinds prevents her from using 
Blink, allowing Meepo to quickly kill her with Poof and attacks.
* Meepo tends to buy items with attributes, mitigating Queen of Pain's magical burst.
Additional:
* Meepo is the hard counter for Queen of Pain - chaining 
Earthbinds prevents her from using Blink for a long time, and without any other escape options, Queen of Pain cannot survive several 
Poofs and attacks.
* Meepo tends to build items with attributes, mitigating Queen of Pain's magical burst.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's abilities are single targeted and he can't use Mystic Flare to its fullest potential, since all Meepos spread the damage between them. He also has no disables to prevent Meepo from Poofing to another one (unless he can get 
Ancient Seal off first).
Queen of Pain
* Because Queen of Pain's spells cost a decent amount of mana, Anti-Mage can easily use 
Mana Void if she spams her spells recklessly.
* Anti-Mage has similar mobility through 
Blink, which can allow him to catch up to or flee from her.
* 
Counterspell will reduce the damage done by Shadow Strike and Scream of Pain. Additionally, its active component also reflects Shadow Strike back at her if Anti-Mage times it right.
Skywrath Mage
* 
Mana Break drains Skywrath Mage of his mana, slowing him and dealing bonus damage while rendering him unable to cast his spells.
* Blink makes it incredibly easy for Anti-Mage to close the gap between himself Skywrath Mage to right-click him down. He can also use Blink to get away and escape into fog of war.
* Anti-Mage passively reduces enemy spell damage with Counterspell, and can activate the ability to block and send back Skywrath's Ancient Seal or Arcane Bolt, causing him to silence himself or deal massive damage to himself.
* Skywrath Mage's large mana-costs makes him an easy target for Mana Void.
* Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and 
Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: 
Lion, Silencer, 
Shadow Shaman, 
Grimstroke, 
Witch Doctor, Riki, 
Faceless Void, Skywrath Mage, 
Puck.
Queen of Pain
* High priority targets like 
Queen of Pain, 
Drow Ranger, 
Ember Spirit can't get caught out from Lion's long range disables, making it harder to them fulfill their roles, and making it easy to target them.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like 
Juggernaut, Lion, or 
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single 
Stifling Dagger.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: 
Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Queen of Pain.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like 
Chaos Knight and 
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like 
Lone Druid, 
Lycan and 
Beastmaster.
Skywrath Mage
* Fate Edict can completely negate Skywrath Mage's heavy magic damage.
* Fortune End dispels Ancient Seal.
Queen of Pain
* A good Centaur can catch Queen of Pain with a 
Blink Dagger and 
Hoof Stomp.
* 
Retaliate with 
Blade Mail reflects all of Queen of Pain's damage, especially Sonic Wave.
* 
Stampede grants a movement speed bonus, which can prevent Queen of Pain from initiating.
* 
Double Edge can shred her low health pool if she's not careful.
Queen of Pain
* Aggressively blinking is not going to end well against Luna, because Queen of Pain will be an easy target for 
Lucent Beam & 
Eclipse.
* Queen of Pain's HP is abysmal, so Luna can quickly kill Queen of Pain as soon as she initiates with Blink.
Additional:
* Aggressively blinking is not going to end well against Luna, because Queen of Pain will be an easy target for Lucent Beam & Eclipse.
* Queen of Pain's HP is abysmal, so Luna can quickly kill Queen of Pain as soon as she initiates with Blink.
Queen of Pain
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from 
Sonic Wave and 
Scream of Pain.
* Queen of Pain can't escape easily from X Marks the Spot - Torrent combo.
* Outlanes Queen of Pain on the midline, due to the fact that Queen of Pain has a small reserve of health at the beginning of the game, and she suffers very much from 
Tidebringer, which is why she is forced to either spend money on 
Tango, or skip creeps and run for bounty runes, and Kunkka at this time will gain an advantage in level and gold.
Additional:
* Outlanes Queen of Pain on the midline, due to the fact that Queen of Pain has a small reserve of health at the beginning of the game, and she suffers very much from Tidebringer, which is why she is forced to either spend money on Tango, or skip creeps and run for bounty runes, and Kunkka at this time will gain an advantage in level and gold.
* Kunkka will catch her in 
X Marks the Spot and allow his team to kill her for stun from 
Torrent, because Queen of Pain has no way to avoid the cross X Marks the Spot before buying Black King Bar.
Queen of Pain
* Sonic Wave is a bad choice in abilities if he and the 
Tempest Double both use Blade Mail to reflect the damage to Queen of Pain, potentially killing her outright if her health is low enough.
* 
Magnetic Field protects himself or his ally from Queen of Pain's attacks unless she has 
Monkey King Bar.
* One more advantage of Tempest Double is that he can deny himself if he is close to death with Shadow Strike's debuff.
Queen of Pain
* Shadow Shaman has many disables to lock down Queen of Pain, preventing her from Blinking away, even through 
Linken's Sphere or her spell block talent.
* 
Mass Serpent Ward can tear through Queen of Pain's low health pool once she's locked down by 
Hex & 
Shackles.
Queen of Pain
* Blood Rite prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with Blink.
* Blink will trigger the extra damage from Rupture.
Additional:
* 
Blood Rite silences her, preventing her from initiating or escaping.
* With 
Thirst, even if she Blinks away, Bloodseeker can catch right up to her.
* 
Rupture will heavily damage Queen of Pain if she tries to Blink away.
* She is, however, one of the few heroes who can avoid the damage from Rupture if she successfully blink-walks.
Skywrath Mage
* In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's 
Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.
Skywrath Mage
* Outworld Destroyer can steal more mana with 
Astral Imprisonment from Skywrath Mage with 
Shield of the Scion (granted by 
Aghanim's Shard). Shield of the Scion grants Skywrath Mage bonus intelligence every time he deals magic damage to an enemy hero with his abilities. The higher his intelligence, the larger his mana pool. Since Astral Imprisonment steals based on the target's max mana, Outworld Destroyer can steal much more mana from Skywrath Mage.
Queen of Pain
* Blink and positioning is crucial for Queen of Pain. These factors are heavily countered by a good Glimpse.
* Static Storm is devastating for Queen as she relies heavily on her spells to inflict heavy burst damage.
Additional:
* 
Thunder Strike gives vision of Queen of Pain when she's trying to escape. When combined with 
Glimpse, her mobility and hit-and-run style can be negated.
* While in a team fight, 
Static Storm forces Queen of Pain to only use right-clicks.
* When combined with the 
Kinetic Field, she can only wait until she respawns.
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Queen of Pain
* Lina has a very long range of attack, which completely overlaps the range of Queen of Pain's abilities and attacks, which is why even a single 
Shadow Strike roll can become deplorable, since Lina will shoot Queen of Pain from a long distance before and after the Shadow Strike roll. And with the help of the abilities of 
Light Strike Array and 
Laguna Blade, Lina can even kill Queen of Pain because of her small health reserve if she is exposed to a blow
Additional:
* Lina has a very long range of attack, which completely overlaps the range of Queen of Pain's abilities and attacks, which is why even a single Shadow Strike roll can become deplorable, since Lina will shoot Queen of Pain from a long distance before and after the Shadow Strike roll. And with the help of Light Strike Array and Laguna Blade, Lina can even kill Queen of Pain because of her small health reserve if she is exposed to a blow.
Queen of Pain
* All of Queen of Pain's abilities are worthy choices for Rubick to 
Spell Steal. In addition, he can cast her abilities from further distances than her thanks to 
Arcane Supremacy's increased cast range and spell amplification.
Skywrath Mage
* In general, heroes that deal burst in multiple instances will trigger Borrowed Time and heal Abaddon for a large amount, such as Skywrath Mage, 
Techies, Juggernaut, Shadow Shaman, or 
Ogre Magi.
Additional:
* 
Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
* 
Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst 
Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with gap-closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call: Phantom Assassin, Faceless Void, 
Slark, Chaos Knight, 
Morphling, Queen of Pain
Additional:
* 
Berserker's Call prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with Blink and also pierces her Black King Bar.
* Due to her fast attack speed from 
Mjollnir, it will quickly trigger 
Counter Helix.
* 
Culling Blade finishes off Queen of Pain's low health pool before she gets a chance to escape, preventing her from playing the hit-and-run style often associated with Queen of Pain.
Skywrath Mage
* Once you get a Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like 
Zeus, Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes that have escape abilities (such as Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit or 
Timbersaw) can be either nullified by Reaper's Scythe or a complimentary item for Necrophos (like 
Rod of Atos or 
Scythe of Vyse). If Necrophos is quick enough and enters range, they can quickly, if not instantly, die if they are not quick enough.
Queen of Pain
* In early to mid stage, Silence is also a great way to counter escape oriented heroes such as 
Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, and Phantom Assassin to prevent them from escaping, provided that they don't have any basic dispels.
Additional:
* 
Silence will prevent Queen of Pain from using Blink to escape or chase.
* If Queen of Pain uses Blink to close the gap to Death Prophet, Death Prophet will be in range for 
Spirit Siphon and typically gain an advantage over Queen of Pain.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with mobility spells like Queen of Pain, Anti-Mage, Phantom Assassin, Riki, Puck, and 
Spirit Breaker that are cancelled by Frostbite can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden. It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
Skywrath Mage
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability 
Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability 
Meld.
Additional:
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability Meld.
Queen of Pain
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark, 
Gyrocopter, Queen of Pain, Shadow Shaman (Shackles), 
Jakiro, Pugna, 
Doom
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones: 
Meepo, Witch Doctor, Lycan, 
Enigma, Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions: Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, 
Naga Siren (bonus for her 
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark, Gyrocopter, Queen of Pain, Shadow Shaman (Shackles), Jakiro, Pugna, Doom
Queen of Pain
* Time Dilation affects Queen of Pain's low cooldown abilities, making them unusable for a long time, rendering Queen of Pain nearly useless.
* Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Queen of Pain, allowing for reliable kills in all stages of the game.
Additional:
* 
Time Walk and 
Backtrack allows Faceless Void to easily negate Queen of Pain's burst damage.
* 
Chronosphere prevents Queen of Pain from escaping with Blink, and her low survivability makes her an easy kill.
* 
Time Dilation will prevent Queen of Pain from using her low-cooldown spells or force her to buy Black King Bar or a Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel the debuff and re-engage.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere; 
Sniper, Skywrath Mage, etc.
Queen of Pain
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage: 
Lina, 
Leshrac, 
Enchantress, Queen of Pain
Skywrath Mage
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using 
Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
* 
Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a 
Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
Queen of Pain
* Queen of Pain, for the most part, almost exclusively deals magical damage, ignoring Windranger's evasion from 
Windrun.
* Queen of Pain is also a common wielder of 
Orchid Malevolence, preventing Windranger from using her abilities for a while.
* Blink, when used correctly, allows Queen of Pain to dodge 
Powershot and 
Shackleshot.
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Queen of Pain
* Blinking heroes like Anti-Mage or Queen of Pain can often chase down an injured Brewmaster after his ultimate expires.
Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal's instant cast time will often silence Brewmaster before he can do anything.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Skywrath Mage's massive magical damage.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Slark, etc.).
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
Queen of Pain
* Blink allows Quen of Pain to easily escape ganking or initiating attempts with Hookshot and Power Cogs.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's 
Mystic Flare can deal huge damage to Clockwerk inside his Power Cogs.
Queen of Pain
* Queen of Pain can easily escape Chain Frost thanks to Blink.
* His low survivability makes an easy kill for Shadow Strike, Scream of Pain & Sonic Wave.
Skywrath Mage
* Lich is heavily reliant on his abilities to contribute to team fights, so be wary of enemies that can Silence: 
Bloodseeker, 
Death Prophet, Silencer, Drow Ranger, Skywrath Mage.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes that rely on their high mobility such as Queen of Pain, Slark and 
Weaver can be constantly engaged against due to your excellent ability to chase over any terrain. Make sure you carry true sight items (such as 
Dust of Appearance or 
Gem of True Sight) for invisible heroes that could potentially escape your clutches.
Queen of Pain
* Queen of Pain outlanes Storm Spirit due to the fact that it has long-range abilities: Shadow Strike and Scream Of Pain. Storm Spirit's damage from the 
Overload ability is not enough to interrupt her on the line, and the 
Static Remnant will never reach Queen Of Pain, as she will scatter her abilities from afar, which is why she will drive Storm Spirit off the line and get a lot of gold and level, after such a stage of the liner, Queen of Pain will very quickly buy Black King Bar and will not let Storm Spirit catch and kill her at the expense of 
Electric Vortex
Additional:
* Queen of Pain outlanes Storm Spirit due to the fact that it has long-range abilities: Shadow Strike and Scream Of Pain. Storm Spirit's damage from the Overload ability is not enough to interrupt her on the line, and the Static Remnant will never reach Queen Of Pain, as she will scatter her abilities from afar, which is why she will drive Storm Spirit off the line and get a lot of gold and level, after such a stage of the liner, Queen of Pain will very quickly buy Black King Bar and will not let Storm Spirit catch and kill her at the expense of Electric Vortex
Skywrath Mage
* Similar to Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
* An Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
* Root and silence are Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
* If he builds Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes that can jump on her: Slark, Queen of Pain, Anti-Mage
Additional:
* Queen of Pain often relies more on abilities than right-clicks, making 
Untouchable nearly useless against her.
* Enchantress also has a lower health pool than Queen of Pain, making her vulnerable to Queen of Pain's damage burst.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with nukes: 
Bane, 
Lich, Lion, Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
* A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
* The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with mobility spells can quickly escape from Stroke of Fate or break out of Soulbind: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Storm Spirit
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Lina
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, 
Windranger, 
Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: 
Invoker, Silencer, 
Nyx Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Shadow Shaman, Lion and etc.
Queen of Pain
* Queen of Pain can be an effective tool against Batrider in the game and on the line. She has long-range abilities such as Scream of Pain or Sonic Wave and a long-range type of attack, which is why she can keep Batrider at a distance all the time, and prevent him from attacking with 
Flaming Lasso or 
Firefly. Queen of Pain has an effective high-deceleration ability against Batrider - Shadow Strike, which is why he cannot quickly set fire to all enemies under Firefly and fly between all Queen of Pain allies. In addition, Queen of Pain has a wonderful escape in stock - Blink, which can save her at any moment in which batrider decides to attack
Additional:
* Queen of Pain can be an effective tool against Batrider in the game and on the line. She has long-range abilities such as Scream of Pain or Sonic Wave and a long-range type of attack, which is why she can keep Batrider at a distance all the time, and prevent him from attacking with Flaming Lasso or Firefly. Queen of Pain has an effective high-deceleration ability against Batrider - Shadow Strike, which is why he cannot quickly set fire to all enemies under Firefly and fly between all Queen of Pain allies. In addition, Queen of Pain has a wonderful escape in stock - Blink, which can save her at any moment in which batrider decides to attack
Skywrath Mage
* 
Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
* Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
* Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt can target Terrorblade's low health pool in the laning phase.
* Ancient Seal can prevent Terrorblade from casting Sunder.
* Mystic Flare can be used to great effect to burst Terrorblade down before he gets a Manta Style or a Black King Bar.
Queen of Pain
* Blink makes it hard for Gyrocopter to pin down Queen of Pain.
* Sonic Wave is very effective at ganking Gyrocopter in the early game.
Queen of Pain
* Blink can instantly break Static Link, making it useless against her.
* Queen of Pain doesn't fully rely on her physical attack damage, so she can still fight after being hit with Static Link.
Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal can silence Jakiro and make him vulnerable to magical spells up to 6 seconds.
* Skywrath Mage can usually burst down Jakiro with his high damage magical spells.
Queen of Pain
* Queen of Pain usually outlanes Invoker, giving her team a significant early game advantage while Invoker is still farming.
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from Invoker's combo if he doesn't have disables.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses Blink Dagger to initiate.
* Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal instantly shuts down Dark Willow's abilities, rendering her defenseless against his high burst damage spells, while she cannot cast spells of her own.
* Mystic Flare deals immense burst damage in an area, damaging Dark Willow through Shadow Realm.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an 
Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
Queen of Pain
* All of Queen of Pain's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from 
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* However, Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Queen of Pain.
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from Shadow Demon's abilities if he doesn't have disables.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Sonic Wave for the enemy.
Queen of Pain
* Queen of Pain can Blink to both escape and initiate onto Void Spirit.
* She is also a very common Orchid Malevolence carrier, which can prevent Void Spirit from contributing much in fights.
Skywrath Mage
* 
Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast 
Winter's Curse on him. And if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
* However, bear in mind that Skywrath Mage has seriously awful armor, and that can make him an adequate target to being turned against his own team with Winter's Curse, which can result in his death quickly.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, 
Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, 
Ursa, 
Void Spirit.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes that have superior mobility that can easily catch up with Mirana even after she used Leap to escape: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Riki.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, 
Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, 
Oracle.
Queen of Pain
* 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.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, 
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Io, 
Nature's Prophet, 
Pangolier, Puck, Queen of Pain and most notably Riki.
Queen of Pain
* Queen of Pain can be a good hero for dealing with Ember Spirit with Orchid Malevolence, her pure damage nuke in Sonic Wave and a slow in Shadow Strike. However, Queen of Pain can be punished by Ember Spirit, as his Searing Chains prevents her from getting Blink off.
Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition, Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences: Weaver, Queen of Pain, Morphling, 
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
Queen of Pain
* Dark Seer's only disable is Vacuum. Though he starts off with high armor and health, he'll eventually have a hard time dealing with high mobility heroes such as Weaver or Queen of Pain.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, 
Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, 
Tusk and others.
Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition, Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences: Weaver, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Skywrath Mage
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, and even Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's armor and agility gain is very low, so when Huskar's 
Burning Spears stack they can take him down very quickly at any point of the game.
* 
Berserker's Blood grants bonuses as Huskar uses Burning Spears to harass Skywrath Mage, granting him attack speed, magic resistance, and strength as health regen, making it possible that Huskar can harass Skywrath Mage out of lane and sustain through his magic burst through staying injured throughout lane, or even the game.
* 
Life Break allows Huskar to jump onto Skywrath Mage, closing the distance between them and busting him down so he cannot run. This can be combed with 
Inner Fire, adding a movement speed slow if Aghanim's Shard is applied so Skywrath Mage cannot escape.
Queen of Pain
* Husker is the kind of hero that likes to remain at low health, which is perfect for Queen of Pain to burst with Sonic Wave.
* She should be able to Blink away after he jumps on her with Life Break.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion, Lina, Skywrath Mage
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Ursa, Void Spirit.
Queen of Pain
* 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.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with damage over time abilities can quickly eat through Gravekeeper's Cloak charges like 
Huskar, Jakiro and Queen of Pain.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, 
Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, 
Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Queen of Pain
* Both Scream of Pain and Sonic Wave should hit Slark during his 
Shadow Dance.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut, Lion, or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
Skywrath Mage
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with 
Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Additional:
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
Skywrath Mage
* Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid game.
* 
Concussive Shot and Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
* Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into 
True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes reliant on abilities to output damage or escape can be shut down by Gust: Queen of Pain.
Queen of Pain
* Often you can burst Drow Ranger down before she has a chance to try and 
Gust you away. Try to have a teammate bait her Gust out before you Blink and get the drop on her.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
Queen of Pain
* Blink allows Queen of Pain to avoid ganks and keep her distance, preventing Monkey King from building up Jingu Mastery.
* Scream of Pain and Sonic Wave will hit Monkey King when he is disguised, or on a tree.
* The large AoE and low cooldown also helps Queen of Pain hit the real Monkey King inside of Wukong's Command.
Queen of Pain
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Lycan, Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
Additional:
* Puck will make a game of dodging as many Shadow Strikes as he can with 
Phase Shift. If he's a good player, he will also dodge Sonic Wave. If he's a great player, he will also dodge Scream of Pain, and it's all thanks to this single spell.
* Puck also has a silence in Waning Rift to prevent Queen of Pain from blinking away.
* Puck can provide vision to hunt her down if she blinks into the trees with 
Illusory Orb.
* If Queen of Pain is under the effect of Dream Coil, she will be unable to blink out.
Queen of Pain
* Once you farm up an Orchid Malevolence or a Scythe of Vyse, you're suddenly a lot more fearsome to elusive heroes like Storm Spirit or even that pesky Puck.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes who recklessly jump on Pudge with their gap-closing abilities will be easy targets for Pudge's Meat Hook and Dismember Combo: Phantom Assassin, Faceless Void, Queen of Pain etc.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit, Riki, Clinkz, Queen of Pain.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes that rely on escapes to stay alive can be caught and locked down for a long time: Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin
Queen of Pain
* Heroes that usually build Linken's Sphere as either a core or situational item: Weaver, Medusa, Morphling, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Luna, Naga Siren.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden, Skywrath Mage etc)
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina, Lion, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Queen of Pain.
Queen of Pain
* 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.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes who commonly buy Linken's Sphere: Luna, Weaver, Morphling, Queen of Pain, Ember Spirit.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut, Lion, or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Slark etc.
Queen of Pain
* 
Duels prevents Queen of Pain from using Blink, which may force her to purchase a Linken's Sphere
* Because Queen of Pain is also not a right-click hero, Legion won't have much difficulties in duels.
* 
Press the Attack dispels Shadow Strike's debuff.
Skywrath Mage
* Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
Queen of Pain
* Smoke Cloud prevents Queen of Pain from using any of her offensive and defensive spells, rendering her unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
Sonic Wave by using Blink Strike & Tricks of the Trade.
* It's easy to dodge
Skywrath Mage
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
Black King Bar.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.