* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and kill Riki. Riki will also find it harder to kill the tanky Night Stalker than he would many other heroes.
* The long silence of
Crippling Fear at night prevents Weaver from using his Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* With
Dark Ascension and
Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and probably kill Weaver.
*
Hunter In the Night's attack speed bonus removes The Swarm's beetles very quickly.
* Corrosive Haze makes Riki completely vulnerable to Slardar and his allies, as Riki has no easy way of dispelling it.
* Slardar's physical damage with Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep amplified by Corrosive Haze can easily kill Riki.
Additional:
*
Corrosive Haze works much like
Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed or gold bonus, it instead can melt Riki's armor and Slardar can use
Guardian Sprint to catch up to him.
* Slardar's
Aghanim's Shard, causes
Slithereen Crush to apply Corrosive Haze even if Slardar does not have vision over him.
* Weaver relies on
Shukuchi to escape and kite enemy heroes. Slardar's Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver, who is already a very frail target.
* Weaver usually builds
Linken's Sphere, Corrosive Haze can be used to pop the spell block, additionally the level 25 undispellable talent will prevent Weaver from removing Corrosive Haze with
Time Lapse, allowing allied heroes to use their abilities on Weaver.
Additional:
*
Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver during Shukuchi, who is already a frail target. In addition, Weaver usually builds
Linken's Sphere, and
Corrosive Haze can be used to "pop" the spell block. His level 25 talent can also make Corrosive Haze undispellable by Time Lapse, which puts Weaver in an even worse situation.
*
Guardian Sprint can dodge Weaver's bugs with the movement speed bonus.
* Axe can disable
Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with
Berserker's Call, which forces Riki to attack him at a very bad angle.
* Axe has a very high HP pool, making it hard for you to kill him before you get big items - that is if you survive engaging him.
Counter Helix ignores Riki's armor and goes straight for his tiny HP pool, totally ignoring
Smoke Screen.
* Axe is a natural buyer of Blade Mail and Riki generally does not buy lifesteal items, causing Riki to kill himself when attacking due to your tiny HP pool.
* Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use
Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in
Shukuchi.
* Weaver's high attack speed, along with high attack damage from
Geminate Attack, triggers Counter Helix continuously and the output damage would be returned by
Blade Mail.
Additional:
*
Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Due to his fast attack speed from Geminate Attack and items that give attack speed,
Counter Helix will activate a lot, and the damage would be returned by
Blade Mail, which hurts Weaver far more than it hurts Axe.
*
Culling Blade can finish off Weaver's low health pool before he escapes with Shukuchi and Time Lapse.
*
Battle Hunger is a good tool to pop Weaver's
Linken's Sphere due to its low cooldown.
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as
Bounty Hunter,
Clinkz,
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin and
Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
* Time Dilation while
Shukuchi and
Geminate Attack are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, reducing Weaver's escape potential.
* Chronosphere will reveal Weaver during
Shukuchi.
Additional:
* The wide range of
Chronosphere makes it difficult for Weaver to avoid it with Shukuchi and, once caught, his low survivability makes him an easy kill.
* With no significant source of burst damage, it is easy for Void to survive combat with Weaver using
Time Walk.
*
Time Dilation will prevent Weaver from using Shukuchi or force him to use Time Lapse to dispel the debuff and re-engage.
* Root is a deadly threat to Riki, disabling both
Blink Strike and
Tricks of the Trade while making him fully revealed, making
Earthbind a good ability against him.
*
Smoke Screen may not be able to silence all the Meepo clones.
* Riki has no true area damage, as
Tricks of the Trade's damage is distributed between all Meepo clones, so he cannot effectively fight Meepo or deal with his strong ability to push unless Riki has
Battle Fury.
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal:
Earth Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Anti-Mage,
Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
* Riki can easily be caught in an Ice Path and Macropyre combo as he finishes
Tricks of the Trade, Jakiro just has to be careful about Riki's
Smoke Screen when dealing with Riki.
* Weaver has poor health, relying on
Shukuchi and
Time Lapse to survive, With Jakiro's considerable arsenal of stuns, Weaver cannot initiate on Jakiro without being punished heavily or even killed in return.
* While difficult, Ice Path can catch Weaver during Shukuchi, And since Shukuchi only lasts 4 seconds while Ice Path's stun lasts 3.5, the stun from Ice Path will strip him of his escape.
* Weaver has to be very careful casting Time Lapse around Jakiro, as it could very easily put him inside of a Macropyre or Ice Path.
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower:
Bloodseeker,
Ember Spirit,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Weaver.
* Techies is very good against roaming supports and gankers such as
Bounty Hunter,
Riki,
Weaver,
Earthshaker,
Nyx Assassin, etc. that are constantly moving around the map.
*
Techies has both a stun and a powerful nuke in
Blast Off!, root from
Stasis Trap and even more magical damage in
Proximity Mines and
Remote Mines.
* Heroes that avoid damage by coming in and out of invisibility in teamfights such as
Weaver,
Templar Assassin, and
Riki will be easy for Zeus to reveal with Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath, but these heroes usually have other ways to avoid his damage or kill him, so he is not a perfect counter alone.
Additional:
* Zeus's
Lightning Bolt and
Thundergod's Wrath provides a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki while possibly dealing a heavy amount of damage.
* Zeus's
Nimbus can be placed directly on top of
Tricks of the Trade, potentially causing him to be damaged, stunned, and revealed the instant he becomes targetable again.
* Heroes that avoid damage by coming in and out of invisibility in teamfights such as
Weaver,
Templar Assassin, and
Riki will be easy for Zeus to reveal with Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath, but these heroes usually have other ways to avoid his damage or kill him, so he is not a perfect counter alone.
Additional:
*
Arc Lightning has a low cooldown can used to pop his
Linken's Sphere.
*
Lightning Bolt or (
Nimbus upgraded from
Aghanim's Scepter) detects Weaver during Shukuchi, preventing his ganks.
*
Thundergod's Wrath can kill Weaver quickly before he can cast his Time Lapse at low health.
* A well-timed Fireblast with Multicast can prevent Weaver from escaping with
Shukuchi and even
Time Lapse.
* Ignite's high damage early on applies heavy pressure onto Weaver's very small health pool.
* However, the slow from Ignite is generally useless against
Shukuchi, and
Time Lapse dispels it if needed.
* Phantom's Embrace and Soulbind prevent Weaver from using
Shukuchi or
Time Lapse to escape.
* Ink Swell discourages Weaver from moving through and damaging allies with
Shukuchi.
*
Spiked Carapace allows Nyx to get an easy long-duration stun on Weaver once he uses Shukuchi, and then he can follow up with
Impale.
*
Vendetta works as a great setup for both
Impale and
Spiked Carapace and can deal decent damage to Weaver. Additionally he can neutralize The Swarm beetles due to his invisibility duration.
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
*
Pit of Malice prevents Riki from casting
Blink Strike. or
Tricks of the Trade.
*
Atrophy Aura reduces Riki's damage.
*
Firestorm can be used to harrass Riki in lane.
*
Track reveals Riki while invisible and gives him a hard time, as it prevents much of his ganking capabilities. This can force Riki to buy
Manta Style to dispel it.
*
Bounty Hunter has a cheap way to break Linken's Sphere and keep track of Weaver while he is using Shukuchi, though both can be dispelled with Time Lapse.
*
Weaver with
Time Lapse
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
*
Abaddon with
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time
*
Huskar with
Life Break
*
Juggernaut with
Blade Fury
*
Legion Commander with
Press the Attack
*
Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
*
Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
*
Omniknight with
Heavenly Grace
*
Oracle with
Fortune's End and
False Promise
*
Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
*
Slark with
Dark Pact
*
Ursa with
Enrage
*
Weaver with
Time Lapse
*
Tidehunter with
Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions:
Riki,
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer
* Spirit Breaker's strong escape combo abilities from
Charge of Darkness and
Bulldoze can easily catch Shukuchi from Weaver.
* Time Lapse cannot dispel neither
Charge of Darkness nor
Nether Strike.
* However, Weaver is a common
Linken's Sphere wielder. And if he has it, Spirit Breaker will not be able to catch up with Weaver neiter with
Charge of Darkness nor with
Nether Strike.
Additional:
*
Shukuchi vision can easily target Charge of Darkness before Weaver purchase
Linken's Sphere.
* 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.
* Another great threat to Riki since her
Duel forces him to fight from the front and expose him for the entire duration, almost always guaranteeing an easy win (unless Riki has allies helping him).
*
Moment of Courage can become hard to deal with as it doesn't cease with silence.
* Silences and other types of lockdown that prevent Weaver from using his spells:
Silencer,
Riki,
Lion,
Legion Commander,
Shadow Shaman,
Bane.
Additional:
* Duel's long duration prevents Weaver from activating
Time Lapse or escaping with
Shukuchi.
* Heroes with abilities that blind or cause Legion Commander to miss will prevent her from winning Duels:
Arc Warden,
Keeper of the Light,
Riki,
Tinker
*
Weaver's exceptional ability to elude and survive through clashes and ganks is hard countered by
Lion in every aspect.
*
Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game, of which
Mana Drain can deplete and lessen his early game presence.
*
Earth Spike followed by
Finger of Death in the huge majority of the time is enough to kill
Weaver.
*
Earth Spike can be point targeted to hit through
Shukuchi.
*
Hex's has a fair long duration, by which
Weaver will not be able to deal damage, or even survive a coordinated attack, and it is single target, of which cannot be dodged.
*
Mana Drain easily breaks
Linken's Sphere. Its low cooldown allows
Lion to infinitely break it whenever it recharges.
*
Earth Spike and
Hex when paired for the longer lengths of disables may diminish
Time Lapse efficiency, possibly causing
Weaver to not undo as much damage as he would.
*
Blink Strike does not grant Riki a mobility advantage over Phantom Assassin, as her Phantom Strike serves the same purpose, but with a higher range.
* A Carry Riki usually has a hard time dealing with Blur, as a
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn are unfavourable item picks for him (or, even more unlikely, a
Silver Edge).
* A
Black King Bar is a very common pick for Phantom Assassin, fully countering
Smoke Screen and
Diffusal Blade while activated.
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away:
Riki,
Bounty Hunter.
*
Shukuchi cannot help Weaver escape from Arena of Blood, and can most likely die if detected through invisibility.
* If pinned to the arena's walls,
Time Lapse tends to not be enough to save Weaver, as God's Rebuke can keep him burst down thanks to its damage scaling.
*
The Swarm and
Geminate Attack are not enough to pierce through Bulwark.
*
Bulwark is generally irrelevant against Riki as he primarily deals bonus damage from behind.
Additional:
*
Blink Strike gives bonus backstab damage and can bypass Bulwark. Defensively, it could be used to teleport away from Mars, especially while inside Arena of Blood.
*
Smoke Screen can interrupt Mars' skill combos, especially when cast inside Arena of Blood.
*
Tricks of the Trade can be used to evade Mars' skills, which have a slight delay to them. It could also be used to buy himself time while trapped inside of Arena of Blood.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables:
Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables:
Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
* Heroes who commonly buy
Linken's Sphere:
Luna,
Weaver,
Morphling,
Queen of Pain,
Ember Spirit.
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down:
Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
* Riki doesn't deal burst damage.Durable heroes (
Axe,
Tidehunter etc.) will usually survive a jump from him,move out of Smoke Screen and potentially retaliate.
* With
Aghanim's Scepter, Broodmother will gain access to
Spinner's Snare, which will allow her to create invisible lines on her webs from
Spin Web that will root, deal damage over time, and reveal enemy heroes if they unwittingly step on them. This allows Broodmother to keep her allies alerted on heroes who rely on invisibility-themed and movement-themed abilities and items to surprise enemy heroes and disrupt ganking attempts of enemy heroes:
Phantom Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Mirana,
Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker,
Anti-Mage,
Tusk,
Ursa,
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Void Spirit,
Magnus etc.
* 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.
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify:
Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
*
Ensnare prevents using any kind of movement abiilties, Making Naga Siren good against heroes who rely on gap-closing abilities to escape:
Phantom Assassin,
Magnus,
Slark,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Storm Spirit.
* Sprout with True Sight items (
Sentry Ward or
Dust of Appearance) make it possible to trap Weaver in lane, unless he buys
Quelling Blade or until he unlocks
Time Lapse.
*
The Swarm beetles can be destroyed with Nature's Prophet's Treants.
* Heroes with invisibility: (
Riki,
Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin.
* Riki takes a lot of damage from
Purification while ganking Omniknight's allies or himself.
*
Heavenly Grace instantly purges the slow from
Diffusal Blade, while also providing a large amount of survivability for his victim.
*
Degen Aura can hinder Riki's positioning tactics and put a heavy toll on Riki's already poor movement speed.
* Omniknight can easily save his allies by using
Guardian Angel in combat.
* Heroes that rely on slows or low-duration stuns have trouble catching Weaver:
Omniknight,
Lich.
* Weaver cannot
Time Lapse out of Huskar's burn damage.
* Heroes with abilities that reduce armor will make Huskar very vulnerable:
Weaver,
Dazzle,
Bristleback,
Vengeful Spirit.
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (
Riki,
Bounty Hunter,
Weaver, or
Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to
Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that
Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (
Riki,
Bounty Hunter,
Weaver, or
Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to
Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that
Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
* Smoke Screen effectively disables Crystal Maiden's channeling spell:
Freezing Field.
* Due to her low health and armor throughout the game, Riki can kill her easily.
* Chen is basically Riki's natural prey: he has little HP, low armor and relies on his persuaded creeps to fight, which in most situations will not save Chen from Riki. Just be wary of {U:Centaur Conqueror}, who can stun Riki outside of Smoke Screen and ruin his attempt at Chen's life.
* Weaver can easily kill Chen's creeps and kite Chen with
The Swarm and
Shukuchi.
* Neither Chen nor his converted creeps have burst damage at all, so Weaver will always have plenty of time to save himself with
Time Lapse or his allies with
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Time Lapse.
*
Cloak and Dagger makes Sven unable to detect where Riki is until he shows or his team provides detection.
*
Smoke Screen will make Sven miss attacks before he has his
Black King Bar.
* Sven can be easily kited since Weaver is a natural
Linken's Sphere carrier and Sven relies on
Storm Hammer to disable and kill a hero.
* Riki is a natural
Diffusal Blade carrier, and it doesn't help that he's easily capable of sneaking up on Wraith King due to
Cloak and Dagger.
* Riki can use
Smoke Screen on top of Wraith King as he is reincarnating, making him a sitting duck for his second life. In addition, the blind prevents Wraith King from landing critical hits from Mortal Strike.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and if Riki can react fast, he will disjoint it with
Tricks of the Trade. There is also a chance he will become invisible again as the projectile travels, disjointing it.
* Weaver can run away after killing Wraith King once thanks to
Shukuchi.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable. If Weaver is quick, he will disjoint it with Shukuchi and proceed to chase Wraith King down.
* Shukuchi does have a fade time. They cannot disjoint it if you use it right next to them. They will be stunned and take damage; however they will still become invisible if they used Shukuchi before the stun hits.
* Weaver can easily harass Wraith King out of his lane thanks to his high base damage and
Geminate Attack.
* Weaver can burn Wraith King's mana quickly with his {ValueColor:1|Mana Break|15tal} {Symbol:Talent} talent or
Diffusal Blade, until Wraith King purchases Aghanim's Shard to remove
Reincarnation's manacost.
Additional:
*
Wraithfire Blast is easy to disjoint with Shukuchi or Time Lapse, and it's the only way to break Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* Wraith King has no other disables and no mobility, allowing Weaver to chase or escape Wraith King as he wishes.
* With the Mana Break talent and
Diffusal Blade, Weaver can prevent
Reincarnation from triggering until Wraith King gets his shard.
* Lifestealer cannot use
Rage,
Infest or
Open Wounds when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and
Feast cannot heal him effectively because of the blind, leaving him very weak both offensively and defensively.
* Infest ganks are harder when the enemy team has a Riki, as there are often only four heroes on the map that you can initiate on.
* Though
The Swarm can be blocked by Rage, it can be used to lower Lifestealer's already low armor, making him even more vulnerable to physical damage while Rage is on cooldown.
* Lifestealer has no strong disables on his own and thus cannot catch up with nor escape from Weaver's
Shukuchi.
* Lifestealer's reliance on meticulous auto-attacks will not help against
Time Lapse, which can undo Lifestealer's already slow build-up of damage.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Time Lapse can also be used to save allies from getting killed by Lifestealer, but that will require targeting the allied hero rather than just pressing the button that will trigger the
Time Lapse.
Additional:
*
Open Wounds's slow is ignored by Shukuchi.
* Lifestealer has no other lockdown and relies on being on top of enemies; Weaver can kite him with ease.
* Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Ursa cannot
Enrage when in Smoke Screen (Black King Bar will help though).
* Even if Ursa gets vision over him, Riki can Blink Strike away or use Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid all
Fury Swipes damage until
Earthshock's slow is gone.
Additional:
* Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of
Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Ursa cannot Enrage when caught in
Smoke Screen and will miss his attacks (although Black King Bar will help with this issue).
* Even if Ursa gets vision over him and initiates with Earthshock, Riki can
Blink Strike away or use
Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
*
Earthshock's slow is ignored by Shukuchi.
* Ursa can be kited with Shukuchi and his burst damage will be negated with Time Lapse as long as Weaver survives it.
* The Swarm breaks Ursa's
Blink Dagger, forcing him to deal with the beetles.
Additional:
*
The swarm beetle can waste Ursa's
Overpower attacks.
* Ursa has no inherent way of disabling a slippery Weaver by preventing him from
Shukuchiing or
Time Lapseing away, as the slow from Earthshock is useless against Shukuchi's haste effect.
* Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which Riki can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
*
Shukuchi allows Weaver to close the gap between himself and Sniper with high speed, and to maneuver through teamfights to get on top of him.
* A combination of
The Swarm and
Desolator tears through Sniper's low armor.
* Riki can get on top of Ancient Apparition very easily with
Blink Strike. This can also double as a way to dodge Ice Blast, along with
Tricks of the Trade.
* Ancient Apparition will frequently resort to casting Ice Blast right before dying.
Smoke Screen can be used to prevent this, stopping Ancient Apparition from having any impact.
*
Cold Feet is extremely easy to nullify with Shukuchi.
*
Ice Vortex does not slow Weaver in Shukuchi.
* Time Lapse will still affect his health, even when hit by
Ice Blast.
* Ancient Apparition has no escapes or saves and is very squishy, making him an easy target for Weaver to get on top of.
Additional:
*
Time Lapse allows Weaver (or an ally if upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.
*
Shukuchi completely ignores the slow from Ice Vortex and helps him escape the freeze range of Cold Feet.
* Riki usually buys
Diffusal Blade to initiate, which renders Enchantress' movement speed useless, and is usually followed with
Smoke Screen.
* Riki can effectively hit Enchantress by
Tricks of the Trade alongside with
Diffusal Blade and
Smoke Screen's initiation. For a hero like Enchantress, 3 to 4 hits from Riki is a big deal, unless Enchantress built
Force Staff earlier.
* Heroes with haste can negate Enchant's slow:
Weaver,
Dark Seer,
Lycan,
Centaur Warrunner.
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through his allies and deal with him, preventing him from doing his job. Such heroes include
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Riki, and more.
* Weaver's
Shukuchi allows him to escape from Warlock's Upheaval with high move speed.
*
Time Lapse allows Weaver to ignore damage from Warlock's Golem and escape.
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook:
Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
*
Shukuchi grants Weaver invisibility and a high degree of mobility for a short time, which can make him a difficult target to hook.
*
The Swarm beetles are difficult for Pudge to remove, due to his low base attack time and poor agility. Additionally, it can be used to can scout out Pudge's location.
* Should an ally get snagged by Meat Hook, Weaver can use
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Time Lapse on them to send them back to where they were before hooked, even if Pudge has already started to Dismember them.
Additional:
* While Weaver is in Shukuchi,
Rot doesn't slow him and
Meat Hook is easy to avoid.
* Even when hooked, Weaver can use Time Lapse, negating both the damage and displacement.
* Pudge has low armor and low attack speed, making him susceptible to The Swarm and physical attacks.
*
Dismember is easy to block with Linken's Sphere and it's the only way to break Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* However, the long duration stun of Dismember can be dangerous for Weaver.
*
Smoke Screen combined with
Diffusal Blade leaves Arc Warden effectively useless for a while as he struggles to escape the silence with low mobility.
* With Arc Warden's low mobility,
Tricks of the Trade often deal decent damage to him before he moves out of it.
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility:
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game:
Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown:
Puck,
Weaver.
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
* Riki can potentially catch an Enigma out of position and prevent him from properly blinking and initiating, thanks to
Cloak and Dagger.
* Before Enigma gets his
Black King Bar,
Smoke Screen can be used to cancel Black Hole. After Enigma gets
Black King Bar, Riki can also cancel Black Hole with Abyssal Blade, which is a common item built on him.
*
Tricks of the Trade renders Riki hidden and invulnerable, which in combination with Abyssal Blade allows Riki to cancel Black Hole with little to no worries of getting caught in it.
* Enigma's fragility during all stages of the game makes him extremely prone to Riki's ganking.
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* 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.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can use neither
Blink nor
Manta Style to escape from Smoke Cloud.
* Even if he activates a
Black King Bar, his
Manta Style illusions will still be blinded by Smoke Cloud.
* Riki has a very small mana pool and generally doesn't buy many items that increase it, making
Mana Void ineffective.
* A well-timed use of The Swarm provides vision over heroes with high mobility:
Anti-Mage,
Arc Warden,
Dark Seer.
* Weaver doesn't care much about Lich's slows thanks to
Shukuchi.
* If he sees Chain Frost is targeting him, he can easily isolate himself with Shukuchi so that it stops bouncing around.
* Unless Lich bursts Weaver immediately, Lich has no hard disables or silences to prevent him from using
Time Lapse.
*
Time Lapse with
Aghanim's Scepter dispels Flaming Lasso when used on allied hero.
*
Linken's Sphere is core item for a Weaver making him a hard target for Lasso during entire game.
* Brewmaster is slow and has low armor, making his laning stage very difficult against Geminate Attack.
* Apart from the slow moving
Hurl Boulder, which can be disjointed, he has no control to catch Weaver.
* Smoke Cloud prevents the use of
Death Pact,
Searing Arrows and
Skeleton Walk, so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
* It's hard to gank Riki as Clinkz has to find him first.
* Without Dust of Appearance or Sentry Wards, Riki is able to silence Witch Doctor with
Smoke Screen, and is likely to build a Diffusal Blade, leaving Witch Doctor without mana to cast Voodoo Restoration, as well as Skull Basher to interrupt Death Ward.
* 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.
* It's easy to dodge
Sonic Wave by using Blink Strike & Tricks of the Trade.
* Marci's Dispose is blocked by
Linken's Sphere which is a common item for Weaver.
*
Shukuchi allows Weaver to escape from
Rebound slow.
*
The swarm beetle require 4 hits to kill. Weaver can use it on her when she use Unleash. This give Marci a hard choice: ignore
The swarm and her armor keep decreasing or kill the beetle and wasting 4 attacks of Unleash.
* With
Smoke Screen, Riki will silence and catch Medusa in a surprise with high miss chance flushing her from positions easily in team fights.
* He can deal a huge amount of damage through
Cloak and Dagger, even through Mana Shield.
* Geminate Attack works on
Tombstone, allowing Weaver to kill it quickly.
* Zombies attacking Weaver disappear once he goes invisible with Shukuchi.
* Undying has no way to catch a mobile Weaver.
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item:
Weaver,
Morphling,
Medusa.
* 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.
* In general, Timbersaw struggles against highly mobile heroes that can avoid his abilities:
Puck,
Weaver,
Ember Spirit and others.
* Heroes with silences:
Puck,
Doom,
Riki.
* You can potentially kill a fragile
Weaver by using Disruption during
Shukuchi with a well-placed
Sentry Ward, wasting the Shukuchi. But odds are he'll wait to get low health,
Time Lapse the damage away and Shukuchi away once more.
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:
Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him:
Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
* 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.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
*
Riki and
Disruptor:
Smoke Screen and
Static Storm, respectively, can be thrown wherever Puck used Phase Shift, making Puck an easy target if it doesn't have Blink Dagger or is on cooldown. Puck is also very susceptible to Riki's high attack damage when attacking from the back. Glimpse also prevents Puck from escaping altogether.
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
*
Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her abilities, rendering her defenseless and unable to deal any serious damage.
*
Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.
*
Riki is another good hero to shutdown Death Prophet with
Diffusal Blade as his core item. His
Smoke Screen stops her from initiating and casting spells.
*
Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
*
Puck with
Phase Shift
*
Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
*
Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
*
Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
*
Chaos Knight with
Phantasm
*
Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
*
Tusk with
Snowball
*
Juggernaut with
Omnislash
*
Brewmaster with
Primal Split
*
Lifestealer with
Infest
*
Phoenix with
Supernova
* Heroes with one single-target abilities such as
Wraith King,
Necrophos, or
Doom will struggle against Weaver's Linken Sphere.
*
Riki:
Smoke Screen can prevent Lone Druid from using True Form and Savage Roar, additionally it cause the spirit bear to miss on attacks which reduce the chances of getting rooted from it, with diffusal Blade, he can keep Lone Druid or the Spirit Bear inside the Smoke.
* Heroes with one single-target abilities such as
Wraith King,
Necrophos, or
Doom will struggle against Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities:
Ember Spirit,
Puck,
Weaver
* Because Templar Assassin does not have escape potential in lane, any support hero with roaming potential and a
Dust of Appearance can be great at shutting her down early game:
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk,
Bounty Hunter,
Riki,
Warlock.
*
Spectral Dagger follows Riki even after he goes invisible and stays on him through
Tricks of the Trade, revealing his location.
*
Desolate grants Spectre the ability to damage Riki with right clicks regardless of
Smoke Screen's blind.
* Riki relies on his high damage to kill is opponents, which is countered by
Dispersion.
*
Haunt can find Riki globally at any time, negating much of his ganking potential.
* Riki's
Smoke Screen can make it hard for Spectre to escape or burst down Riki with auto attacks.
* Riki can build
Aghanim's Scepter and jump inside an allied carry or offlane tank with
Tricks of the Trade to do a lot of damage to Spectre while completely avoiding
Dispersion.
* Riki is great at destroying supports which are often needed to keep Spectre safe until she comes online. He can take them down quickly in team fights, which will leave Spectre alone against your whole team, a fight that she will most likely not win.
* While on
Tricks of the Trade, Riki does not take damage from
Dispersion.
* Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre:
Slark,
Clinkz,
Weaver
* Heroes with high base damage (
Morphling,
Tiny,
Drow Ranger), heroes with mana burning abilities (
Anti-Mage), and
Diffusal Blade users (
Juggernaut or
Riki) will suffer from Reflection's illusions.
* Heroes with abilities that can lock down Terrorblade and prevent him from using Sunder:
Bane,
Batrider,
Earthshaker,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Legion Commander,
Mars,
Primal Beast,
Riki,
Shadow Shaman,
Silencer,
Vengeful Spirit,
Void Spirit.
* Heroes whose core item builds includes
Monkey King Bar:
Faceless Void,
Windranger,
Weaver,
Juggernaut.
* Heroes with silence:
Death Prophet,
Riki,
Drow Ranger.
* Clockwerk lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Clockwerk finishes his initiation. Additionally, Clockwerk hates buying
Dagon and
Ethereal Blade, which are the only itmes that can help him deal with heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* Luna can push very fast with Moon Glaives, which is something Riki cannot deal with well.
* Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.
* Even though Riki can evade
Eclipse with his invisibility, smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance, providing vision on Riki to her allies and herself.
Additional:
* Luna can push very fast with Moon Glaives, which is something Riki cannot deal with well.
* Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.
* Even though Riki can evade
Eclipse with his invisibility, smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance, providing vision on Riki to her allies and herself.
* All assassin-type carries in a one against one situation:
Meepo,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Ursa. Luna's only chances are that she buys
Ethereal Blade or
Black King Bar to gain a slight edge against them, or both items if necessary.
* Escape-type carries:
Slark,
Storm Spirit,
Weaver.
* 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.
*
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.
*
Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to close the gap between him and Weaver in no time. Once locked down with certain items, Weaver is extremely fragile to Storm Spirit and his teammates.
*
Smoke Screen prevents Storm Spirit from using his abilities once inside the radius. Riki can utilize this ability to allow his team to fight around
Smoke Screen so that Storm Spirit cannot spam his spells to proc
Overload.
Additional:
* Smoke Cloud prevents Storm Spirit from using any of his offensive and defensive spells, rendering him unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
*
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.
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy
Black King Bar.
* 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.
* Silences and other types of lockdown that prevent Weaver from using his spells:
Silencer,
Riki,
Lion,
Legion Commander,
Shadow Shaman,
Bane.
* 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.
* Shadow Shaman's many disables can lock down Weaver. Even with Linken's Sphere, Weaver might not be able to escape should Shadow Shaman uses Shackles quickly enough following Hex.
* Mass Serpent Wards can make short work of Weaver once he is locked down.
* Riki is known for being a successful support killer, something Shadow Shaman is very vulnerable to.
*
Smoke Screen is particularly devastating to Shadow Shaman. With neither his various disables nor a solid health pool Shadow Shaman is usually dead. This forces Shadow Shaman to buy a
Force Staff if he finds himself in this scenario and buy
Sentry Wards if you have the money.
*
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.
* Riki has high damage and invisibility, meaning he can easily gank Rubick and kill him before Rubick has the chance to react.
*
Cloak and Dagger renders Riki invisible, which makes his spells hard to steal if not being initiated.
* Similar to Clinkz, Rubick has to buy a large amount of Sentry Wards to keep track of Riki due to
Cloak and Dagger, preventing Rubick from getting better items.
*
Static Link drains away Riki's damage while keeping his location revealed for its duration, allowing his team to accurately land detection or area-of-effect skills.
*
Storm Surge procs on invisible heroes, making him aware of Riki's presence near him.
*
Shukuchi can break Static Link with little trouble.
*
Time Lapse can easily be used to avoid damage from Plasma Field and can recover the damage done from Static Link and Eye of the Storm.
* Eye of the Storm can't kill bugs from
The Swarm.
* In general, heroes who are melee with no way to fight back can be very easily poked by Monkey King to gain his Jingu Mastery stacks:
Dark Seer,
Riki,
Rubick.
* Heroes that lack burst damage will have a difficult time taking down Monkey King, and fare badly against Jingu Mastery:
Legion Commander,
Lifestealer,
Weaver,
Wraith King
* Heroes with blind of some sort can be a bad choice for Monkey King to go on:
Broodmother,
Riki,
Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes that can maintain vision on Monkey King can see when he uses Tree Dance:
Bloodseeker,
Treant Protector with Eyes In The Forest,
Sniper,
Weaver
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like
Slark in his
Shadow Dance and
Weaver in his
Shukuchi.
* Earthshaker must be careful not to use
Blink Dagger or
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Enchant Totem to blink into
Riki's
Smoke Screen or
Night Stalker's
Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with
Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's
Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by
Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from
Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal
Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys
Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Additional:
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
*
Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
*
Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal
Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
*
Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from
Bristleback.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
* A well-timed Gust will prevent Weaver from escaping, and a silenced Weaver usually dies very quickly.
* Weaver gains a lot of armor, which is bypassed by Marksmanship.
Additional:
* A well-timed
Gust followed by
Frost Arrows will prevent Weaver from escaping with Shukuchi. A Weaver silenced for more than 3 seconds usually dies very quickly.
* Due to her high attack speed, Drow Ranger can easily kill The Swarm beetles.
*
Blink Strike gets Riki close to Drow Ranger and disable Marksmanship.
*
Cloak and Dagger allow Riki stay close to Drow Ranger without her noticing him, which allows him to disable Marksmanship.
Additional:
* With Blink Strike, Riki can get close to Drow Ranger and disable her
Marksmanship, and Smoke Screen will prevent her from using
Gust.
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.
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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.
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Riki
* Thirst detects Riki whenever his health is low.
Blink Strike.
* Rupture does large damage when Riki uses
Weaver
*
Shukuchi will trigger extra damage from Rupture.
Shukuchi's invisibility is detected by Thirst.
Time Lapse cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Weaver from escaping ganks. However, smart Weaver will buy
Linken's Sphere to counter this problem for him.
Rupture is particularly crippling against Weaver, who relies on high movement speed from Shukuchi to fight and escape, and it cannot be dispelled by Time Lapse.
Thirst detects Weaver through Shukuchi whenever his health is low.
Blood Rite combined with Rupture forces Weaver to either take damage from the latter, or to get silenced for a long duration.
*
*
Additional:
*
*
*