* 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.

* Pounce prevents Anti-Mage from using Blink, and lets him disengage from Anti-Mage if needed.
* Essence Shift allows Slark to permanently steal agility from Anti-Mage.
* Shadow Dance stops Anti-Mage from being able to fight back in a slippery situation.

* 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.

* In the mid to late game, the physical attack from Sniper can be painful to go through as Rubick. However with the help of Rubick's teammates, the abilities of Sniper can turn against his team.
* Shrapnel is a great wave-clear ability, and helps with scouting the area.
* Shrapnel already has a long cast range, and together with Arcane Supremacy Rubick can put constant damage on Sniper while he stays at back.
* Assassinate, if stolen, can be cast to assist a gank while Rubick stays at a range that can merely be found in the area, damaging heroes in the backline including Sniper.
* Arcane Supremacy (combined with Level 25 talent +40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells, as of 7.31c) increases its damage before reduction to 406.2/611.1/819(531.2/805.1/1079) without considering any further amplification source.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Assassinate becomes an ability with a reliable 1.5 second stun, massive damage, short cooldown and over 3000 cast range which should not be made light of.
* Shrapnel is used frequently and can be easily stolen; Assassinate has a long cast animation for Rubick to forsee the chance to steal.

* Sniper hugely lacks mobility and escape abilities so that he is an easy target for ganks from Slark.

* Spell Steal can easily steal abilities from Razor. Since Rubick get steal Static Link, Rubick can recover of his stolen damage, or simply steal Razor's own

* Pounce can easily break Static Link, making it less powerful against him.
* Slark is one of the few heroes who can man fight a Razor, because of Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance can prevent Razor from killing him and may provide an opportunity to kill Razor due to it preventing Razor from attacking Slark.

* Shield Crash is a great area-of-effect ability on Rubick primarily for farming.
* Swashbuckle is a great reposition and damage ability on the hands of Rubick.
* Note that Rubick does not have Lucky Shot, so the ability might be less effective as a source of damage.
* Pangolier may build items such as Maelstrom or Diffusal Blade to add up attack multipliers to the ability, and Rubick can choose to build similar items should he choose the route.
* Rolling Thunder is a unique ability that allows Rubick to jump in the center of teamfight while protected by Spell Immunity, creating chaos and possibly chain stun the enemy team.
* Rolling Thunder negates the collision damage and stun from Pangolier's Rolling Thunder.
* Rubick uses the fixed 0.15 second cast time when casting Rolling Thunder, making it faster than Pangolier himself.
* Rubick can still use his abilities during Rolling Thunder - throwing an enemy en route by casting Telekinesis can be a good idea.
* The decision to steal Rolling Thunder should be made quickly as Pangolier cast Shield Crash very often during Rolling Thunder.

* Dark Pact easily purges away both slow and disarm effect from Lucky Shot.
* With Pounce now applying leash to the target, Pangolier is helpless against Slark since both his Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder will be disabled. Pounce also help Slark to easily escape from Rolling Thunder.

* Meat Hook can prove annoying for Pudge if Rubick Spell Steals it, allowing Rubick to easily hook and save his allies being Dismembered.

* Dark Pact dispels Dismember if timed correctly.
* Pounce allows Slark to escape Pudge's Rot once Dismember is over, and allows him to dodge hooks.
* Shadow Dance hides Slark and grants him a high degree of mobility, which can make him a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an Aghanim's Shard).

* Venomous Gale is a great ganking and farming skill.
* Plague Ward serves as a flexible ability for pushing, ganking, farming and scouting. The innate Poison Sting also works on the stolen Plague Ward with half the damage.
* Poison Nova, if stolen and cast, puts a huge damage-over-time debuff on the enemy team, even greater than Venomancer himself with the help of Arcane Supremacy.
* Spell Steal has a greater cast distance than the effect area of Poison Nova, allowing Rubick to steal the spell while staying at the back.
* Venomancer suffers from mana pool problems, while Rubick has relatively high intelligence gain and can cast the same set of spells at ease.
Additional:
* All of Venomancer's abilities are decent choices for Rubick's Spell Steal. Stealing Plague Wards makes them apply Poison Sting as well.

* Dark Pact can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark heightened regeneration when out of vision making DoTs effects less threatening.

* Warlock's signature Chaotic Offering can be devastating if stolen and dropped on multiple heroes.
* Telekinesis interrupts Upheaval when used on Warlock. Alternatively, Rubick can also cast this on a naerby creep or hero and drop them near Warlock to interrupt its channeling. When upgraded with Aghanim's Shard, Rubick can also use it to save an ally (or himself) from its area slow and damage.
* Fatal Bonds provides Rubick with a decent farming and harassing tool in the early game.
* Shadow Word provides some utility by healing Rubick and his team, and also as a harassment tool when used on enemies in the laning stage.
* Upheaval slows and damages enemies in an area, and it works exactly the same when casted by Rubick. Furthermore, he can extend its range and debuff amplification with Arcane Supremacy.
* A stolen Chaotic Offering can also be used to interrupt Upheaval while Telekinesis is on cooldown.
* It is advised to build items around Chaotic Offering as Rubick. Aghanim's Scepter, Octarine Core and Refresher Orb are all legitimate item choices.
Additional:
* All of Warlock's abilities are worthy choices for Rubick to Spell Steal, primarily Chaotic Offering. Furthermore, stolen abilities are also affected by the increased cast range and spell amplification from Arcane Supremacy.
* Telekinesis interrupts Upheaval when casted on Warlock, or to save allies (or himself) from its area slow and damage with Aghanim's Shard.
* Bear in mind that Warlock likes to cast his abilities in quick succession, so the time window left for Rubick to steal Warlock's ultimate can be short.

* Upheaval does not interrupt Slark too much, as he can just Pounce out of the area.
* Fatal Bonds and Shadow Word can be dispelled by Dark Pact.

* If Rubick can use Spell Steal to steal Holy Persuasion, he will be able to turn Chen's creeps against him, reducing much of Chen's efficiency.
* Rubick can also steal Hand of God and use it to save his teammates during teamfights and Penitence to slow down Chen and make Rubick and his allies attack him faster.
* Telekinesis can be used to coordinate gank on Chen and prevent him from escaping.
* Fade Bolt can deal high damage to both, Chen and his creeps and weaken their damage output.

* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.

* Rubick's ability to steal Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) makes him extremely annoying to deal with because Rubick's shifted attributes will remain even if he steals a new spell.
* If Rubick moves enough points to strength and then steals Adaptive Strike, he will have a powerful 3-second ranged stun in his arsenal as well.
* Waveform provides a reliable nuke/escape to Rubick.
* Rubick can steal most abilities Morphling uses while Morphed, allowing Rubick to steal his own allies' abilities if the Morphling is not careful.
Additional:
* Morphling's abilities can grant unrivaled utility for Rubick.
* Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) is a great spell that has a longlasting effect, since the attribute change is permanent even after losing the ability. By casting the spell, Rubick becomes significantly tanky after pumping all his agility into strength.
* As the cost of the shift, Rubick's attack speed as well as his armor is hindered. Since the right click damage of Rubick is relatively trival in teamfights, armor items such as Medallion of Courage or Buckler could greatly increase Rubick's effective health to physical damage.
* Rubick must be careful not to confuse Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) with Attribute Shift (Agility Gain).
* Adaptive Strike (Strength) is a long-ranged stun.
* If Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) has been stolen and cast, the spell can stun the enemy for 3 seconds. The stun counters mobile heroes such as Morphling.
* Waveform is a damaging pseudo-blink, giving Rubick much needed mobility and farming potential.

* 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.

* All of Magnus's spells are perfect for Rubick to steal, especially Reverse Polarity for a counter-initiation.
* Telekinesis is one of the best instant-disables in the game, completely ruining Magnus's initiation.
Additional:
* Reverse Polarity, if stolen, can counter-initiate Magnus's team and put them at a huge disadvantage.
* Magnus himself is positioned at the center of teamfight after casting Reverse Polarity, and will be stunned by Rubick's stolen one most of the times.
* Bear in mind that Magnus will usually cass Skewer or Shockwave after he casts the ultimate, so the time windows left for steal can be short.
* Shockwave allows Rubick to farm fast, and also deals decent AoE damage in teamfights.
* Empower can be casted on the carry (especially affective if melee) on Rubick's team to accelerate their farm or amplify their damage in fights.
* Skewer could be used to displace enemy or escape from danger.
* Telekinesis can relocate the enemy in front of Rubick for Skewer.
* With Quick Cast enabled, Rubick can stop the enemy Magnus with careful prediction using Telekinesis to interrupt Horn Toss - Skewer combo.

* 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.

* Rubick can cancel Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness with Telekinesis under the condition that Rubick is able to cast it on time. And considering Rubick commonly buys Eul's Scepter of Divinity that can also cancel Charge of Darkness, Spirit Breaker will have a hard time charging Rubick or his allies until Spirit Breaker buys Shadow Blade. Telekinesis can also be used to cancel Nether Strike and Aghanim's Shard upgraded Telekinesis also allows Rubick to save his allies from Spirit Breaker.
* Fade Bolt weakens Spirit Breaker's damage output, reducing damage of Greater Bash.
* If Rubick succeeds to steal Charge of Darkness, he will be able to reduce much of Spirit Breaker's global presence. Rubick can also steal Nether Strike to further disable Spirit Breaker once he disables him with stolen Charge of Darkness. But bear in mind, however, that a skilled Spirit Breaker can use Bulldoze to prevent all that.

* 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.

* Magic Missile is a solid damage source and lockdown that fits nicely with Rubick's kit.
* Rubick also acquires the secondary Magic Missile with Aghanim's Shard.
* Wave of Terror can be used to scout an area to prevent juking or initiate with Telekinesis, as well as reducing the armor of enemy team during a teamfight.
* Nether Swap does what it does - saving an ally from danger, initiating on an enemy, or helping with caughting a fleeing hero.
* With Aghanim's Shard, Rubick can lift himself up and drop quickly to a place of safety after the swap. Note that Rubick can only choose to either disable the enemy or save himself at one time with Telekinesis.
Additional:
* All of Vengeful Spirit abilities are very good for Rubick to Spell Steal:
* Magic Missile provides an additional nuke/disable to pair with Fade Bolt and Telekinesis, respectively.
* Wave of Terror serves as a good scouting/armor reduction skill that Rubick and his team can benefit from.
* Nether Swap complements Rubick's mobility and pairs well with other mobility items he usually builds. He can also use it to save an ally from danger.

* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Slark, etc.).

* As a hero with uncommon traits, Phoenix's abilities require more health than mana. It is advised for Rubick to purchase health regeneration items such as Tranquil Boots, Urn of Shadows or Hood of Defiance to keep up with the HP loss.
* Phoenix's signature Supernova, if casted successfully, can turn a teamfight around if being stolen.
* The initial lift and the following crowd control from the drop of Telekinesis can protect the egg from being attacked if casted right before Supernova with quick fingers.
* A successfully reborn Supernova refreshes the cooldown of Telekinesis as well as Fade Bolt, so don't hesitate to spam both of them before Supernova with the reasons mentioned above.
* Supernova has a stun range of 1200, which requires Rubick to have Level 3 Arcane Supremacy at least to exceed its range. Consider buying Aether Lens or Blink Dagger to help with positioning.
* It is not possible to cast Supernova (as of 7.31c) with Aghanim's Shard's extra Sun Ray even with both spell stolen, since Sun Ray takes up two stolen ability slots.
* Icarus Dive is a useful repositioning ability for scouting, initiation or escaping.
* Fire Spirits aids with Rubick farming given enough HP regeneration. In early skirmishes, the stolen ability can slow the attack speed of the enemy team to a crawl.
* Combined with Fade Bolt, both the attack damage and attack speed of the enemy team are reduced if they have no source of dispel, effectively nullifying their physical attack damage.
* Sun Ray thrives in and after a teamfight by damaging enemy heroes and healing allies at the same time.
* Rubick can interrupt both Icarus Dive and Sun Ray by casting Telekinesis.

* 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.

* Telekinesis has a longer range than the AoE of Black Hole for the purposes of cancelling it.
* All of Enigma's spells are useful to Spell Steal.
* Malefice is useful for interrupting channeling spells or long cast animations. Its stun duration is also amplified thanks to Spell Steal's debuff amplification.
* Demonic Conversion can be used to push or counter-push a lane.
* Midnight Pulse is useful to block an area or for team fights.
* Black Hole is very easy to steal, as it is a channeled ability. It's also one of the best ultimate abilities for team fights, and it can easily turn the fight around for the enemy team. It also does more damage and has a larger cast range thanks to Arcane Supremacy. A stolen Black Hole can also cancel Enigma's Black Hole.
Additional:
* Enigma's signature Black Hole can be devastating if being stolen and dropped on multiple heroes.
* Black Hole requires channeling. Since Enigma has no other ability to replace his last casted spell during channeling, Rubick can steal Black Hole relatively easily if he stays back.
* Rubick can interrupt Black Hole from Enigma, even with an activated Black King Bar, by casting the spell with Enigma in range with regards to the extra cast range granted by Arcane Supremacy.
* Black Hole can be interrupted by Telekinesis in the early game, giving enough time window to steal the spell.
* Bear in mind that an experienced Enigma will purchase Black King Bar and Linken's Sphere at the same time to prevent Rubick from stealing the spell, yet the extra Linken's Sphere will delay Enigma's power spike, so use it to Rubick's advantage.
* It is advised to build items around Black Hole as Rubick. Aghanim's Shard, Black King Bar , Aghanim's Scepter and even Refresher Orb are all legitimate item choices.
* Malefice is a decent source of damage and stun that helps with ganking. If stolen, it can be used to interrupt Black Hole as well.
* Demonic Conversion helpes with pushing and farming for Rubick.
* Fade Bolt effectively negates damage from Eidolons and helps with counter-pushing.
* Midnight Pulse is a solid skill for farming and teamfight damage, which is further amplified by Arcane Supremacy and talents.
* Unexpected enemy may take the effect of Midnight Pulse as that of Enigma's and soak up damage while unrealized.

* 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 strong team-fight abilities (especially ultimates) like Tidehunter, Brewmaster, Death Prophet, etc.

Additional:
* Fade Bolt reduces damage output of Anchor Smash.
* Ravage is an easy target to Spell Steal, so always be sure to use Anchor Smash immediately after Ravage when playing against a Rubick.
* Spells stolen by Rubick are potentially stronger due to the lack of cast animations, his talents, and his passive, Arcane Supremacy.

* Dark Pact dispels debuffs from Gush, Anchor Smash and even Ravage if timed correctly.
* Kraken Shell cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift or dispel the leash if he gets Pounced.

* All abilities from Juggernaut (except Blade Dance) is very vulnearable steal to Rubick's Spell Steal.
Additional:
* Juggernaut looks like a carry that Rubick can hardly manfight, and it is surely the case that Rubick needs the assistance from his team to overwhelm the hero. However, his skills can be of great use for Rubick if used at the right occasions.
* Blade Fury is a great farming ability with low cooldown. What is bizarre about this ability is that it grants Rubick spell immunity and constant damage around him (movement speed buff with Aghanim's Shard). In early to mid game when all heroes has relatively low physical damage, the spell allows Rubick to become a temporary tank that enemy needs to run away from, extending Rubick's early killing potential.
* Telekinesis can throw a victim in range to eat up the damage from Blade Fury.
* Blade Fury can be stolen and used in a pinch to negate the damage from Blade Fury of Juggernaut. Note that with Aghanim's Shard Juggernaut can still deal damage to Rubick.
* Healing Ward, if stolen, serves as a magnificant healing tool within or after a teamfight. The constant area-of-effect healing helps greatly when your teammate is manfighting the enemy or escaping in a bad situation, and can even turn the fight around.
* Juggernaut is melee and cannot target an enemy Healing Ward easily unless he is in the midst of battle. Also, Juggernaut is not directly controllable during Omnislash and cannot attack Healing Ward.
* Omnislash is possibly the least useful spell Rubick can steal from Juggernaut. Although it is a good damage source in the early game, as a hero who seldom bulk up his physical damage, Omnislash falls quickly as the game goes on.
* It is worth mention that Omnislash could be used as an escape ability for Rubick with the help of Blink Dagger.
* Omnislash grants invulnerability at the midst of a fight. With quick reflex and judgement, Rubick can possibly dodge lockdowns and area disables, even steal a new spell when Omnislash is still on the fly.

* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Slark etc.

Additional:
* Blade Fury does not offer any protections against Essence Shift, as it can go through spell immunity and reduces attribute.
* Slark can pounce away from Juggernaut and he cannot prevent or chase slark.
* Shadow Dance prevent Juggernaut from using Omnislash altogether, while regen himself at a higher rate. Slark can freely hit juggernaut without any fears of retaliation.

* Ether Shock is a great farming ability as a handy short-cooldown nuke.
* Hex and Shackles gives Rubick extra lockdown potential in ganks and teamfights.
* Mass Serpent Ward, should Rubick steal, serves as a powerful source for teamfighting, pushing, and acquring Roshan.
* Arcane Supremacy allows Rubick to cast Hex and Shackles at a further distance, which keeps Rubick at a safer position compared to Shadow Shaman.
* Rubick can interrupt Shackles by casting Telekinesis.
Additional:
* All abilities from Shadow Shaman can very vulnearble steal from Spell Steal.
* Rubick can interrupt Shackles by casting Telekinesis.

* Nyx Assassin, Bounty Hunter and Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.

* Rubick is a potential counter to Bounty Hunter as he can steal his Track and use it against his invisibility, and also provide his team with more gold if the tracked hero is killed.

* Slark with Dark Pact
* 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.

* Telekinesis allows Rubick and his team to coordinate a gank on Luna early on. And just like Aghanim's Shard upgraded Dismember, Aghanim's Shard upgraded Telekinesis can also allow Rubick to save an allied hero from being killed by Eclipse.
* Fade Bolt allows Rubick to harass Luna on lane and weaken her attack damage early on.
* Both, Lucent Beam and Eclipse are very useful for Rubick to steal with Spell Steal, Luna's only way to counter this is with Lunar Orbit. Rubick can also use them from further distances than Luna thanks to Arcane Supremacy that increases his cast range and when he gets Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
* Lucent Beam is a solid magic nuke with a stun.
* Aghanim's Shard upgraded Lucent Beam gives Rubick bonus damage whenever he uses it
* Eclipse can output massive damage if casted by Rubick.
* Rubick has a good chance to steal Eclipse since Luna has only two cast abilities.
* Aghanim's Scepter greatly increase the effectiveness of the ability, with more damage as well as extended cast range.
* For the same reasons, Rubick also makes a good ally for Luna when they are in the same team.

* Shadow Dance prevents Luna from damaging Slark, and together with Silver Edge he can easily chase her or escape from her.
* Luna has no way to escape from Pounce's leash, which is especially bad as she is not used to buying Wind Waker, which is the only way to escape from Pounce outside of Black King Bar.
* For the same reasons, Slark makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Luna's lack of mobility and escape abilities makes her easily to gank for Slark.
* Shadow Dance helps avoid all the damage from Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Slark makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.

* All of Lion's abilities are dangerous even to Lion himself, and Rubick may steal them with Spell Steal.
* Arcane Supremacy powers up abilities cast range and damage, making Rubick better at using Lion's abilities than Lion himself.
* Telekinesis can easily catch and disable Lion while also manipulating his position to favor Rubick and allies, rendering him helpless.
Additional:
* Earth Spike is a great crowd control ability for Rubick to use, extending his lockdown potential.
* Rubick can caught enemy at greater distance due to Arcane Supremacy.
* The spell also helps with Rubick's farming, however the affected area of Earth Spike is limited to a straight line, making it harder to clear the creep wave.
* Hex is one of the strongest single-target lockdowns in the game, and works exactly the same when casted by Rubick.
* Though Mana Drain does not directly provide damage or lockdown, it does solve Rubick's mana regen issue in the early to mid game.
* Finger of Death is one of the best magical nukes in the game, increases Rubick's ganking potential greatly.
* Note that the stack of Finger of Death is lost when Rubick lost the spell.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Rubick can clear creep waves and flash farm with the boosted Finger of Death if stolen, assuming Rubick has enough mana pool to hold.

* Lion's lack of escapes gives Slark easier time to catch him through Pounce.
* Shadow Dance gives Slark the advantage of being untargetable, nullifying single target abilities (such as non-upgraded Hex, Mana Drain and Finger of Death).
* Dark Pact applies multiple instances of strong dispel on Slark, which is strong against any of Lion's disables.
* Lion's low health pool and low armor make him extremely vulnerable to Slark's damage output.

* Dragon Slave is easy to steal, and provides Rubick with a useful nuke.
* Light Strike Array serves as a cheap nuke as well as a crowd control ability.
* Rubick uses the fixed 0.15 second cast time when casting Light Strike Array, much faster than Lina herself.
* Rubick can gurantee a stun by throwing the victim into the area with Telekinesis, extending the overall lockdown duration.
* Laguna Blade is an awesome ultimate that gives huge burst damage.
* Arcane Supremacy (combined with Level 25 talent +40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells, as of 7.31c) increases its damage before reduction to a whopping 660/882/1134(830/1162/1494) (and even more so with Aghanim's Scepter), without considering spell amplification from items.
* Laguna Blade is an intelligence hero with no regen ability, and casting Laguna Blade back to Lina can result in her unexpected sudden death, or severly hinder her presence in the rest of teamfight. Nevertheless, the skill can also be cast on other squishy heroes or help bursting down enemy carries.
* Light Strike Array and Laguna Blade has a short cast range, and Rubick can extend its range thanks to Arcane Supremacy.

* Dark Pact can be cast during the cast animation of Light Strike Array and dispel its stun.
* Pounce allows Slark to close the gap to Lina.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lina from killing Slark with her Laguna Blade when his HP gets low.

* Fiend's Grip is a powerful but channeled ability, making it useful and easy to Spell Steal and interrupt with Telekinesis.
* Stolen Fiend's Grip or Nightmare combined with Arcane Supremacy allows Rubick to disable Bane's allies for a longer period of time.
* As a natural Aghanim's Scepter carrier, Rubick can steal an upgraded Fiend's Grip and deal lots of damage to Bane's allies.

* Dark Pact can dispel Enfeeble, as well as Nightmare and Fiend's Grip when timed correctly.
* Shadow Dance can protect Slark from Bane's single-target abilities.

* Pounce helps put Windranger in place, even when she uses Windrun to escape.
* Shadow Dance avoids Windranger's attacks from Focus Fire altogether, and he can regenerate his health and fight back after Windranger uses up all her abilities.
* The stun from Shackleshot and the slow fromPowershot can be both dispelled by Dark Pact, provided Slark casts it at the right moment.

* Dark Pact can dispel Flaming Lasso if is used in anticipation, but a Blink initiation from fog can catch the Slark off guard.
* Slark can also take off any Sticky Napalm stacks with Dark Pact in lane.
Additional:
* Shadow Dance's passive can inform Slark when he's under enemy vision, meaning it'll be very hard to catch Slark off-guard with Flaming Lasso.
* Flaming Lasso is dispelled by Dark Pact. Its casting can be prevented with Shadow Dance or Depth Shroud (it requires Aghanim's Shard).

* If Slark sees the Sacred Arrow before it hits him, he can use Dark Pact to remove it a moment later.
* Pounce prevents Mirana from escaping with Leap.
* Slark can survive Mirana's Aghanim's Scepter​ combo with Shadow Dance.

* Slark's Pounce can be used to dodge Hoodwink's abilities or lock her down.
* Shadow Dance makes Slark unhittable from Acorn Shot.
* Dark Pact removes all slows from Hoodwink's abilities.
* Hoodwink's already low health output is a great target for Slark's Essence Shift.

* Dark Pact rips through Refraction charges and still steals attributes during Refraction.
* Pounce and Dark Pact will still hit Templar Assassin while she is Melded. Since she cannot move, both abilities will be easy for Slark to land.

* 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.

* Rubick can steal abilities from Kunkka (except Tidebringer) with Spell Steal. Since build Aghanim's Scepter, Rubick's make two steal abilities from Kunkka when the spot is right.
Additional:
* Kunkka is a strong teamfighter with his powerful control spells, which Rubick could exploit to his advantage.
* Torrent provides another source of damage and crowd control.
* Ghostship is a powerful teamfight spell, providing huge magical damage to enemies and buffing allies with damage negation.
* Both skills works the best when comboed with other source of control from allies, such as Duel or Beserker's Call.
* Telekinesis can reposition an enemy onto a Torrent or Ghostship.
* Torrent Storm works as a disruptive spell for Rubick to create chaos around him.
* Tidal Wave offers another source of control and repositioning.
* As long as Kunkka gains these spells with Aghanim's Shard and Aghanim's Scepter, Rubick does not need extra items to steal these spells.
* X Marks the Spot serves as a utility spell for escaping, chasing and other useful functions.

* Witch Doctor's iconic Death Ward is a perfect spell for Rubick to output high damage.
* Death Ward requires channeling which makes Witch Doctor a clear tagret for stealing. Rubick can steal the spell outside of Death Ward's attack range most of the times.
* Note that an skilled Witch Doctor player can cast Voodoo Restoration to disrupt their last spell for Rubick to steal.
* Telekinesis can interrupt a channeling Death Ward. With Death Ward's high burst damage, combining Death Ward and Telekinesis to hold enemy in place can result in a solo kill in the early game.
* Paralyzing Cask provides an additional disable. The ability also helps moderately with farming.
* Voodoo Restoration provides some utility by healing Rubick and his team.
* Maledict is a damage-over-time nuke that amplifies the damage enemy taken.
* Telekinesis can reposition the enemy within the range of Maledict.
Additional:
* Rubick can steal Death Ward easily as it is a channeled ability and then use it to turn teamfight to his advantage.
* However, a skilled Witch Doctor will toggle Voodoo Restoration immediately after placing his Death Ward to prevent that.

* All of Treant Protector's abilities are worth stealing, and Rubick is able to cast them with no animation time.

* If Rubick steals Reaper's Scythe, he can turn the powerful ultimate back against Necrophos's team. Even his other spells are useful in Rubick's hands, giving him a sustain or a weak initiation/protection tool.

* Pounce prevents Tinker from blinking away.
* Slark frequently builds Shadow Blade, which allows him to approach Tinker unnoticed. Since Tinker's farming usually covers a significant amount of area on the map, Sentry Wards may not be cost effective.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to detect both common and unusual wards. Eliminating common ward causes Tinker trouble farming many lanes if he does not know who may be waiting to jump on him. Slark is also uniquely able to identify some of the less common wards used by Tinker, such as those placed on the cliffs at map edges which Tinker uses to give him vision over the trees he uses to hide in.
* Slark's extremely high move speed from Shadow Dance, potentially stacked with Shadow Blade, allows him to easily follow Tinker between lanes, especially if Tinker has pushed the lanes out.
* Dark Pact dispels Laser's blind.

* Shadow Dance allows Slark to not be targeted by Unstable Concoction, making Alchemist stun himself and making himself vulnerable to the enemy.
* Dark Pact also allows him to just purge off the stun if timed correctly.
* Essence Shift will steal stats over long durations at a time should Alchemist lack the damage to kill Slark.

* Spell Steal will easily steal all abilities from Dark Seer.
Additional:
* Spell Steal can perfect from Rubick's steal all abilities from Dark Seer. Rubick's always purchase Aghanim's Scepter can two stolens abilities from Dark Seer's and waiting for seconds for second stolen abilities (example: combinated Vacuum and Wall of Replica) and many different combination.
* A good positoning from Rubick's Spell Steal waiting steal abilities from Dark Seer Wall of Replica and illusion from Wall of Replica Dark Seer's can fighting with effect from outcome steal Wall of Replica from Rubick's.
* Combinated Rubick's steal Surge and Blink Dagger is very important catch from Dark Seer's and enemies.
* Rubick's Telekinesis can lifted up Dark Seer or enemy heroes and throw to Wall of Replica from Rubick's steal.

* Dark Seer relies on Surge for most of his mobility, so he's not very vulnerable to slows, but much more to root effects and walls or pseudo-walls such as Disruptor's Kinetic Field or Slark's Pounce.

* Tombstone can be stolen to counter-initiate the enemy team in skirmishes.
* Tombstone provides vision over the enemy around, use this to Rubick's advantage for more spells.
* Since Undying is melee and has low attack speed, the tombstone can be hard to taken down by Undying himself.
* Flesh Golem provides Rubick with increased Health pool and a powerful attack modifier.
* Rubick can apply the Flesh Golem debuff much more easily as a ranged hero.
* Decay is a decent damaging ability, making Rubick somewhat tankier in teamfights.
* Soul Rip can be used for extra heal or burst damage.
Additional:
* All abilities from Undying easy to steal to Rubick with Spell Steal.

* Pounce's root prevents Earth Spirit from using Rolling Boulder to escape, making it easier for Slark to shut him down especially in the laning phase.

* A hero that Rubick cannot reliably kill in most cases, Wraith King is deceptively vulnerable to Rubick in teamfights.
* Rubick can kite Wraith King by casting Telekinesis should Rubick stays alive after first wave of skirmishes.
* {{A:Fade Bolt|Rubick} negates damage from Wraith King's skeletons.
* Wraithfire Blast is a spell very easy to stolen even for new Rubick players if Wraith King is on the other side.
* A 2 second stun with a 8 second cooldown (6 second with Rubick's Level 15 talent -25% Stolen Spells Cooldown, as of 7.31c) is already far enough to lockdown Wraith King to a crawl, as he does not have much mobility on his own and can be easily targeted.
* Reincarnation may sound insurmountable, but the extra 3 second delay already grant about half the cooldown duration for a stolen Wraithfire Blast.
* Rubick has sufficient mana pool to cast Wraithfire Blast multiple times.
* Although not the best option, Vampiric Spirit can be casted after Rubick gained enough last hits to summon skeletons for pushing and farming.

* Dark Pact, if timed correctly, can dispel Wraithfire Blast's stun and slow.
* Since Wraith King has a lot of health and multiple lives, Slark can keep gaining Essence Shift stacks, increasing armor, damage, and attack speed and can beat down Wraith King twice.
* Slark sometimes carries Diffusal Blade to burn mana as an attempt to shut down Reincarnation.
* Because Wraith King has no AoE abilities, Shadow Dance is particularly useful against Wraith King.

* Dark Pact dispels Ignite's slow and Fireblast's stun.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to regenerate HP, even when he is affected by Ignite and Fireblast.

* Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast's debuffs are can be dispelled with with Dark Pact. Arctic Burn also cannot be used to escape against Pounce.
* Even though Cold Embrace can protect it's owner from Slark's direct attacks, Slark can still gain Essence Shift stacks from attacking heroes affected by it.
* However, Essence Shift works against allies, and Slark's low health pool means that if he's the target for Winter's Curse, he will go down very quickly as Winter's Curse cannot be dispelled at all.

* Medusa is especially vulnerable to Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Additional:
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift particularly removes 1 intelligence point per hit, thus lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.

* Shadow Dance allows Slark to attack Lifestealer for its duration without any way for Lifestealer to fight back, allowing him to steal his stats with Essence Shift, which also reduces Lifestealer's strength and, therefore, health pool.
* Slark can easily escape Lifestealer with Pounce, and can avoid Open Wounds with Dark Pact should Lifestealer be forced to itemize for it.
* Slark commonly buys a Silver Edge, which can break Lifestealer's Feast, severely diminishing his damage output and lifesteal.
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard allows Slark to save both, himself and his allies with Shadow Dance while also allowing them to fight back against Lifestealer.

* Heroes that can jump on her: Slark, Queen of Pain, Anti-Mage

* Pounce also stops Nature's Prophet's Teleportation.

* 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 with strong dispels can remove Primal Roar's stun: Abaddon, Slark, Oracle.

* 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.

* 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.

* All of Puck's abilities are good for Rubick to Spell Steal:
* Illusory Orb and Waning Rift are all great wave-clear abilities.
* If Rubick manages to steal Waning Rift, he can silence Puck, disabling all its abilities including Phase Shift, Puck's main survivability tool.
* Dream Coil is a powerful teamfight ultimate that leashes enemies and disables their movement.
* As an elusive hero who requires constant repositioning, Puck is greatly countered by its own ultimate as it disables all its mobile abilities and items (especially Blink Dagger), forcing it to either stay in the danger zone or latches and stuns for a long time.
* Although Phase Shift does not provide extra damage or lockdown on its own, it does grant Rubick invulnerability, and enables him to use Blink Dagger with full duration similar to Puck's escaping combos.
* Rubick can initiate on Puck relatively fast as Telekinesis only has a 0.15 second cast animation.
Additional:
* Illusory Orb and Waning Rift are all great wave-clear abilities.
* Waning Rift can silence Puck, disabling all her abilities including Phase Shift.
* Dream Coil is a powerful teamfight ultimate that leashes enemies and disables their movement.
* As an elusive hero who requires constant repositioning, Puck is greatly countered by her own ultimate as it disables all her mobile abilities and items (especially Blink Dagger), forcing Puck to either stay in the danger zone or latches and stuns for a long time.
* Although Phase Shift does not provide extra damage or lockdown on its own, it does grant Rubick invulnerability, and enables him to use Blink Dagger with full duration similar to Puck's escaping combos.
* Rubick can initiate on Puck relatively fast as Telekinesis only has a 0.15 second cast animation.

* 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.

* Burrowstrike is one of the best and easiest steals for Rubick and Sand King should be careful when playing against him - it's much better to give away Sand Storm.

* 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 build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.

* Melee carries who usually buy an early Black King Bar, and have gap closing abilities can be good against the Arc Warden, such as Slark, Riki, Earthshaker with Aghanim's Scepter, Sven with Aghanim's Scepter etc.

Additional:
* Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact.
* Pounce allows Slark to avoid Spark Wraiths.
* Tempest Double allows Slark to build up Essence Shift stacks, especially when it is being used for split pushing.

* Rubick usually positions in the back of a team. Heroes who can sneak up and assault Rubick (e.g. Slark) or damage Rubick from great distance (e.g. Spectre, Sniper) should be treated cautiously, as otherwise the matchup usually ends up badly for Rubick.

* Essence Shift deals 20 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by Dispersion.
* Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping with Spectral Dagger.
* Haunt illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a Shadow Blade, preventing Desolate's and Diffusal Blade's damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any damage caused by Radiance.
* Slark is a natural carrier of Silver Edge, which helps break both Desolate and Dispersion.

* 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.

* Lycan cannot escape from a Pounce even if he uses Shapeshift, and has no disabling abilities to stop Slark.

* Heroes with strong team-fight abilities (especially ultimates) like Tidehunter, Brewmaster, Death Prophet, etc.

* 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.

* Fade Bolt can hinder Jakiro's early pushing power by clearing creep waves.
* All of Jakiro's spells are great for Rubick to Spell Steal.
* Ice Path is a great spell for Rubick so steal, since Rubick has no cast time on stolen abilities, making Rubick's version of Ice Path much more reliable than Jakiro's.
* Macropyre is a great way for Rubick to farm.
Additional:
* One of Jakiro's weakness is his long cast animation, which gives enemy team extra time window to react. Rubick uses his fixed 0.15 second cast time for all Jakiro's stolen abilities, making the spells much easier to target.
* Dual Breath is a solid damage-over-time that is good for farming and helps with ganking.
* Ice Path is the go-to spell for Rubick to steal in teamfights - a sudden long range 2.5 second area stun is of no joke, especially if being casted out of vision. The control time is extended combined with Telekinesis.
* Macropyre is a solid damage source (an area to avoid at least) for Rubick's side, and the damage benefits from Arcane Supremacy, even further with Aghanim's Scepter.
* It is not uncommon that the enemy team mistakenly treated the Macropyre ground effect as that of Jakiro's, and has already taken a lot of damage before they noticed their significant HP loss.
* Combined with Rubick's Level 15 talent (-25% Stolen Spells Cooldown, as of 7.31c), Macropyre can be used to clear creep waves and camps with ease, increasing his farming progress if a fight is not imminent.

* Pounce's leash prevents Storm Spirit from using Ball Lightning, making it hard for Storm Spirit to escape a gank from Slark.
* Dark Pact can dispel Orchid Malevolence's Soul Burn.

* As a frontline tank, the abilities of Underlord is surprisingly spell-cast heavy, and is often great for Rubick to steal.
* Firestorm is a great ability for farming, pushing and serves as a useful teamfight damage source, and even more so when its damage is amplified by Arcane Supremacy and Aghanim's Shard.
* It is worth mention that Firestorm has no visible effect on heroes other than damage, and the enemy team may easily mistaken the ability as casted by Underlord, resulting in unexpectedly soaking up more damage.
* Pit of Malice is a great area control ability in teamfights, capable of trapping multiple heroes in a hazard area.
* Underlord has no immediate reposition ability, and since he usually stays at the front, he can be an easy target for Rubick's Pit of Malice.
* Fiend's Gate, if stolen, grants Rubick's team great versatility around the map. Creating a surprise gank or appear as a group at the enemy backline during skirmish, escaping as a team from bad situations, or even taking Roshan or enemy highground unexpectedly, the possibility are endless with careful communication among Rubick's team.
Additional:
* All of Underlord's abilities are useful for Rubick to Spell Steal.

* 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).

* Slark's Dark Pact allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
* Against a carry Silencer, Essence Shift will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.

* 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.

* Essence Shift allows Slark to hit Bristleback freely whether on the front or back, stealing attributes and make Bristleback much less tanky.
* Pounce can be used to disengage and recover lost HP with his ultimate passive, and can return to fight in a short period while Bristleback is already injured and got some of his attributes stolen.
* Dark Pact makes it near impossible to keep the Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on Slark.
* Although Dark Pact cannot dispel Quill Spray, meaning that Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he used Shadow Dance before.
* Slark builds Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counters Bristleback.

* 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.

* Stroke of Fate provides Rubick with a short cooldown nuke.
* Note that Rubick uses a fixed 0.15 second cast time for the skill, much shorter than the 0.6 second cast time for Grimstroke.
* Phantom's Embrace is an unique ability with extra silence and damage.
* Ink Swell is a great initiation/counter-initiation ability for frontliners.
* With Telekinesis, Rubick can grant extra duration for Phantom's Embrace's phantom latch, or throw an enemy within the area covered by Ink Swell.
* Soulbind, as a powerful ultimate, gives Rubick extra crowd control and sows chaos among enemies.
* Both Telekinesis and Fade Bolt are single-target abilities, and can be applied twice on the enemy. The damage of Fade Bolt is effectively doubled as the bounce is very likely to happen as the bound heroes must walk together.

* Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls allows Rubick to output enormous crowd damage and control to the enemy team.
* Requiem of Souls has an effective range of 1000. Rubick can steal the spell out of the fear range with any level of Arcane Supremacy learned.
* Requiem of Souls has a significant cast animation which allows Rubick to predict the steal timing, since Shadow Fiend usually positions at the center of battlefield.
* Telekinesis can lift a unit right on top of Rubick with no collision size, forcing the victim to absorb all damaging lines of Requiem of Souls from Rubick, possibly resulting in a one-shot kill.
* Note that Requiem of Souls from Rubick still uses the original 1.67 second channeling time.
* It is advised to build Blink Dagger to jump in and cast Requiem of Souls given the opportunity.
* The three Shadowraze (Far) abilities are decent for farming and extra damage output.
* Note that Shadowraze (Near), Shadowraze (Medium) and Shadowraze (Far) are considered three separated abilities, only one is stolen per spell steal cast.
* It could be troublesome to cast Shadowraze (Far) immediately for damage output immediately after stolen since it is hard to react and recognize which of the three is stolen.
* Shadow Fiend's right click damage together with his ability damage may hurt Rubick bad. Consider items like Ghost Scepter and Glimmer Cape, together with wards to avoid being picked up.

* Crystal Nova helps on farming while applies an area slow.
* Frostbite extends Rubick's lockdown duration while providing extra damage, also serves as a farming ability.
* Freezing Field deals much greater damage thanks to Arcane Supremacy in teamfights.
* Freezing Field is a channeling ability and therefore can be stolen easily.
* Crystal Maiden has no innate ability to interrupt Freezing Field, though it may not be the case for her teammates; Yet a well-times Telekinesis lift or drop can interrupt Freezing Field.
* Consider build items that strengthens Freezing Field, such as Aghanim's Shard, Black King Bar and Aghanim's Scepter to reach its full potential.

* Slark's Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who typically builds Silver Edge, Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin's Blur and Coup de Grace, thus taking down her attack evasion and drastically reducing her damage output.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Slark will have plenty of time to escape with Pounce, Shadow Dance and Silver Edge (provided that he purchased it already).
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard will allow Slark to save both, himself and his allies from Phantom Assassin with Shadow Dance, and to freely fightback against her without removing invisibility upon attacking.
* Essence Shift is much more harmful for Phantom Assassin than for other heroes, as losing the agility means that her physical damage will be also reduced, which can also weaken Coup de Grace if Slark manages to steal lots of agility from her.
* Overall, any attempt for Phantom Assassin to take down Slark will hurt her more than Slark.
Additional:
* Slark's Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who typically builds Silver Edge, Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin's Blur and Coup de Grace, thus taking down her attack evasion and drastically reducing her damage output.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Slark will have plenty of time to escape with Pounce, Shadow Dance and Silver Edge (provided that he purchased it already).
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard will allow Slark to save both, himself and his allies from Phantom Assassin with Shadow Dance, and to freely fightback against her without removing invisibility upon attacking.
* Essence Shift is much more harmful for Phantom Assassin than for other heroes, as losing the agility means that her physical damage will be also reduced, which can also weaken Coup de Grace if Slark manages to steal lots of agility from her.
* Overall, any attempt for Phantom Assassin to take down Slark will hurt her more than Slark.

* Heroes with strong team-fight abilities (especially ultimates) like Tidehunter, Brewmaster, Death Prophet, etc.

* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz, Slark, Storm Spirit

* Heroes that reduce the damage that Marci can deal during her ultimate, like Razor, Rubick, Bane, Dragon Knight and Underlord.

* Slark can detect early Roshan attempts due to Shadow Dance if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Enrage cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift and will reduce his physical damage output.
* Even if Ursa initiates with Earthshock, Slark can Pounce away or use Dark Pact after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.

* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan, Slark, Storm Spirit, Spectre and others.

* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer

* All of Omniknight's abilities are valuable for Rubick to Spell Steal, and Omniknight has no throwaway ability to cover his last used spell.

* Rubick can use Spell Steal to steal Astral Imprisonment, and if Rubick gets Aghanim's Scepter he gets 2 charges of it. This can overpower Outworld Destroyer in team fights.
* Rubick can also steal Sanity's Eclipse against Outworld Destroyer's teammates.

* A well-timed Dark Pact can dispel Frost Arrows and Gust, letting Slark engage and escape freely.
* Essence Shift is very detrimental for Drow Ranger as the loss of agility means that Marksmanship will also suffer from getting weakened.
* Shadow Dance lets Slark quickly close the gap and deal heavy damage without giving Drow Ranger a chance to retaliate.
* Pounce counteracts Frost Arrows's slow, and also allows Slark easily pin Drow Ranger down or flee from her.
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard will allow Slark to save both, himself and his allies and will also allow them to freely fight back against Drow Ranger without her noticing them.
Additional:
* Pounce and items like Shadow Blade makes it very difficult for Drow Ranger to keep her distance from Slark, thereby losing her Marksmanship bonus.
* Gust is rarely enough to keep Slark at bay, as Drow Ranger has no movement abilities and will simply be chased down afterwards.
* Drow Ranger's heavy dependence on agility also makes her significantly weaker after being drained by Essence Shift.