* Both Arcane Curse and
Last Word punishes casters with spammable spells such as Sand King.
* As a strength caster, Intelligence Steal reduces Sand King's mana pool even more.
* Global Silence silences Sand King, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential. It can also interrupt channeling of Epicenter.
* Silencer can stop Rearm, preventing Tinker from spamming his abilities/items or escaping.
* Tinker heavily relies on his mana pool and has mana issues throughout the entire game and Silencer's intelligence steal does not help with that.
Additional:
* As Tinker relies heavily on his spells to be effective, Last Word and
Global Silence will render him largely useless.
* Arcane Curse effectively prevents Tinker from casting spells during its duration, as he will otherwise suffer heavy damage.
* Glaives of Wisdom deal pure damage, which make quick work of fragile heroes like Tinker.
* Silencer's intelligence steal permanently weakens Tinker since he's a hero who requires lots of mana to be effective.
* Boulder Smash will push Sand King out of Sand Storm to reveal his position or an activated Epicenter off of Earth Spirit's allies, potentially wasting his combo
* Rolling Boulder and
Geomagnetic Grip allow Earth Spirit to easily stun and silence Sand King and interrupt the channeling of Epicenter, completely ruining his initiation.
* Tinker is an easy target for Earth Spirit to initiate on. He likes to split push lanes once he acquires Boots of Travel and Earth Spirit can jump him with his Rolling Boulder and disable him to buy enough time for his teammates to come and assist Earth Spirit.
* The huge range of Stone Remnant and Rolling Boulder enables Earth Spirit to stop Tinker from teleporting to his fountain since Tinker tends to buy Blink Dagger most of the time to escape.
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from Epicenter, especially if he initiates during the battle.
* Sand King can't dodge X Marks the Spot - Torrent combo by his abilities. Torrent drags him out of his
Sand Storm
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and
Nature's Prophet.
* In general, highly mobile heroes like Earth Spirit or
Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and
Nature's Prophet.
Additional:
* X Marks the Spot can be used to prevent Tinker from escape with
Blink Dagger or
Keen Conveyance, discourage him from snapping farm and snapping gank. However, in later game, it'll be much more difficult because Tinker can buy
Black King Bar or
Linken's Sphere to prevent Kunkka from placing X on him, or
Eul's Scepter of Divinity to prevent the recall.
* Wave of Terror can reveal a Tinker attempting to hide in the trees and then
Nether Swap and
Magic Missile will both serve to interrupt/lock him down, should he attempt to town portal or reload.
* His global teleportation with Boots of Travel and
Rearm is easily countered with
Haunt, and Spectre can reach him anywhere on the map.
* He is squishy, and if alone Desolate will kill him very fast.
* Dispersion can reflect and reduce his burst damage.
* Sand King has nothing to deal with Supernova, as none of his spells are effective.
* The damage-over-time abilities of Phoenix disable Sand King's Blink Dagger very often.
* Tinker relies on his high mobility from Boots of Travel and
Blink Dagger to survive. Those items don't help him if Spirit Breaker manages to cast Charge of Darkness on him.
* Spirit Breaker can easily cancel Rearm and
Boots of Travel.
* Lifestealer's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Tinker's damage and debuffs.
* Lifestealer can infest a mobile ally (teams usually pick one against Tinker), which may ensure that Tinker will die if he is caught.
Additional:
* Rage will dispel Laser's blind and turns him spell immune for the duration so Tinker cannot damage him.
* Feast will quickly bring down Tinker due to being so fragile.
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade.
* Pugna's
Nether Ward damages Sand King when he channels Epicenter, preventing him from using Blink Dagger afterward.
* Nether Ward discourages Tinker from using abilities and items due to its high damage against heavy mana usage.
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker.
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's
Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
* Shadow Wave provides good sustain against Tinker's spammable abilities.
* Shallow Grave can stop Tinker from bursting down a target.
* Meat Hook can be used to pull Tinker to Pudge while he is hiding in the trees, and a follow up with Dismember and Rot can lead to a valuable kill, as Tinker doesn't buy many survivability items.
* Flesh Heap makes it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage.
Additional:
* Pudge can Meat Hook a Tinker hiding in the trees and follow it up with
Dismember and
Rot for an easy solo kill, as Tinker doesn't tend to buy survivability items.
* Many stacks of Flesh Heap combined with items that give Pudge high strength and health will make it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage to Pudge.
* Beastmaster's Hawk can find Tinker easily while he is pushing or blinking into trees.
* Rocket Flare can find Tinker if he blinks into the treeline, and Hookshot will prevent him from teleporting out.
* Battery Assault makes Tinker unable to Rearm by stunning him repeatedly.
Additional:
* Clockwerk can easily catch a split pushing Tinker with his Hookshot and prevent him from escaping with
Power Cogs and
Battery Assault. Clockwerk can also find a Tinker hiding in trees with his
Rocket Flare.
* Clockwerk usually buys a Blade Mail, which does lots of damage to Tinker if he gets hit by his abilities (especially March of the Machines).
* Ravage, being an AoE disable, cancels Epicenter's channeling from a long range, limiting his potential to counter-initiate.
* This can be remedied, however, by first using a Black King Bar, then channel Epicenter, then finally initiate with
Blink Dagger.
* Storm Spirit destroys trees and ignores impassable terrains with Ball Lightning, rendering them dangerous places for Tinker to hide within.
* Ball Lightning disjoints projectile from
Heat-Seeking Missile and damage from
March of the Machines.
* Electric Vortex prevents Tinker from teleporting away, and
Static Remnant and
Overload can easily burst him down.
Additional:
* He can easily catch Tinker in the trees with Ball Lightning and kill him with
Orchid Malevolence and his abilities, which deal both physical and magical damage, making them difficult for Tinker to itemize against.
* Tinker is heavily dependent on active abilities and Doom prevents him from using any of them.
Additional:
* Tinker is heavily reliant on casting his spells and Doom can disable all of his abilities and items. An
Aghanim's Scepter only makes it harder for Tinker to survive.
* 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 unorthodox escapes will struggle against Primal Beast, such as Nature's Prophet,
Tinker, and
Templar Assassin.
* 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 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.
* Slark will have a hard time killing Sand King because of the survivability he gets from Burrowstrike and Sand Storm.
* Shadow Dance, which usually allows Slark to survive fights, is ineffective against Sand King's AoE damage.
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker: Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Batrider.
* Anti-Mage's high mobility from Blink and tendency to build Battle Fury makes him strong against split-pushing heroes:
Nature's Prophet,
Tinker, and
Arc Warden.
Additional:
* Tinker is fragile and vulnerable against carries like Anti-Mage.
* Mana Break burns away his mana pool and deals bonus physical damage.
* Tinker's massive mana pool makes Mana Void deal large amount of damage, and can be used to cancel a
Keen Conveyance teleport.
* Blink gives Anti-Mage many options, like disjointing Heat Seeking Missiles. He can use Blink to wait out of sight for a split pushing Tinker or chase a blinking Tinker into trees.
* Tinker doesn't want any of his spells reflected back at him through Counterspell.
* Low health spellcasters: Lina,
Witch Doctor,
Tinker,
Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker: Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Batrider.
* Tinker is relatively helpless against Invoker, as his Rearm and
Boots of Travel can be easily interrupted by Invoker's long range disables, even if he blinks away.
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
* Night Stalker is one of the best heroes to find (and silence) Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.
Additional:
* Night Stalker can easily find Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.
* Void's mini-stun will stop Rearm and
Keen Conveyance
* Crippling Fear's silence will prevent Tinker from fighting back, as Tinker relies on his spells.
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade.
* Heat-Seeking Missile allow easy Spiked Carapace stuns.
* As a fragile hero that relies on mana and intelligence items, Tinker is vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin's stuns can interrupt Rearm and leave Tinker helpless.
Additional:
* Nyx Assassin's whole skillset is good against Tinker:
* Impale prevents Tinker from blinding Nyx Assassin or fighting back, while giving Nyx' allies time to catch up to Tinker's position.
* Mind Flare generally deals more damage to intelligence based heroes like Tinker.
* Spiked Carapace can stun Tinker at a moment of Nyx Assassin's choosing if March of the Machines has been cast. It is also quite easy to time Spiked Carapace against Heat Seeking Missiles.
* Vendetta allows Nyx to approach Tinker in the trees or wait for him in common hiding spots and deal heavy damage to his low armor.
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Press the Attack can dispel Laser's blind while providing great attack speed and health regeneration.
* Once caught in a Duel, Tinker, who completely relies on his spells to be effective, has little chances of survival with his low health pool and armor.
* 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
* Phantom Assassin relies on her Blur to stay alive, but is very vulnerable to Sand King's heavy magic damage.
* With Burrowstrike, Sand King can often catch Phantom Assassin before she can use her Black King Bar.
* Sand King can dodge Stifling Dagger with Sandstorm.
* Phantom Assassin has a hard time killing Sand King because of his high mobility.
* Tinker can use Laser to save an ally or himself from Phantom Assassin's initiate Phantom Strike due to the blind, forcing her to use a Black King Bar to effectively initiate, Tinker can also use Warp Flare one he buys
Aghanim's Shard to reverse Phantom Strike's blinking with
Phantom Strike.
* Tinker almost never uses his physical attack, relying on his spell-spamming to deal damage which ignores Blur's Evasion
* Defense Matrix prevents Coup de Grace from triggering.
* Sand King's Caustic Finale combined with
Sand Storm will kill Treants easily.
* Sand King can interrupt Teleportation with Burrowstrike, even through Sprout.
Additional:
* With Caustic Finale, Sand King can easily kill the treants from Nature's Call.
* Burrowstrike allows Sand King to prevent Nature's Prophet from using Teleportation inside of his
Sprout.
* Tinker has great map presence because of Keen Conveyance and
Rearm, which means he can always teleport and defend towers whenever Nature's Prophet tries to push.
* Laser prevents Nature's Prophet from attacking. Additionally, even with
Monkey King Bar, Nature's Prophet cannot hit towers and buildings during the effect.
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Enchantress.
* All of Tinker's damage is magic/pure and completely ignores Enchantress's Untouchable. And Tinker's nukes can quickly decimate her small HP pool, sometimes even preventing Enchantress from even responding.
* As Enchantress relies solely on her primary attacks to deal damage, and rarely builds something to dispel it, Laser's Blind is particularly effective.
* However, Enchantress will probably build a Linken's Sphere against Tinker's Laser, so getting an additional disable is highly recommended.
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven,
Omniknight,
Enigma,
Luna,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Rubick,
Keeper of the Light,
Pugna,
Invoker,
Spectre,
Alchemist,
Treant Protector,
Lina,
Oracle,
Zeus,
Shadow Shaman,
Phoenix,
Razor,
Huskar,
Batrider,
Kunkka,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Sand King,
Medusa,
Dawnbreaker.
* Tinker can break Magnus's Blink Dagger using March of the Machines and
Heat-Seeking Missile, therefore delaying any initiation or making Magnus use Skewer or
Force Staff to initiate. His {Ability ID:Defense Matrix|Tinker} will decrease the duration of Reverse Polarity and can also be cast on all of his teammates with {Ability ID:Rearm|Tinker}. Tinker usually gets his own Blink Dagger as well, which makes him harder to lock down unless Magnus commits Reverse Polarity only for Tinker.
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade.
* Laser can be cast on a initiating Ursa, normally causing him to waste multiple Overpower attacks, forcing him to either Black King's Bar, or
Enrage to protect himself.
* Ursa will probably carry a Linken's Sphere to counter Tinker's Laser. Popping it with Scythe of Vyse is actually preferable, due to Laser's high Pure damage.
* While Ursa is a common Blink Dagger carrier, but he otherwise has no way to close the gap, Baiting him into using his Blink, then blinking away, allows Tinkrt to easily kite Ursa.
* Enrage is generally how Ursa disengages, Due to Tinker's high maneuverability, he can follow him until it runs out. then burst him down with high magic damage.
* Burrowstrike,
Sand Storm,
Caustic Finale and
Epicenter will deal a large amount of damage to Chen and his creeps.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane,
Ember Spirit,
Leshrac,
Lina,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Phantom Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Ursa,
Void Spirit.
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without
Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition,
Mjollnir or
Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
* Sand King's massive area damage output, particularly Epicenter, allows him to quickly take down Chaos Knight and his illusions.
* Sand King can also apply Caustic Finale to illusions with attacks for extra damage when they die.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Tinker's Laser completely stops Chaos Knight's damage, forcing him to buy either a Black King Bar for his own survivability while leaving his illusions still vulnerable, or a Monkey King Bar leaving him still vulnerable to Tinker's nukes, though improving his damage.
* Tinker rarely finds himself in the middle of a fight, which is where Chaos Knight typically thrives, and even in the rare cases of being so, at level 3 Tinker's constant rearm and blink away can kite and dodge Chaos Knight's spells reliably, so Chaos Knight has very little catch against Tinker's mobility. This gives Tinker impunity to create more chaos in a teamfight than Chaos Knight can control, laying down the field with March of the Machines and constantly being hit by rockets and lasers.
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without
Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition,
Mjollnir or
Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
* All of Sand King's abilities deal AoE damage.
* However, Epicenter is usually a non-issue against Doppelganger.
* Laser prevents Juxtapose from triggering, as it only triggers on successful attacks
* Laser does high splash, and upgrading it with Aghanim's Scepter makes it deal twice as much damage due to the bounce. Combined with Rearm, Tinker can rapidly deplete Phantom Lancer's illusion army
* However, if Phantom Lancer ambushes Tinker, Tinker will not survive versus Phantom Lancer.
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Enchantress.
* Heroes with high armor like Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like
Phantom Assassin,
Riki and
Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without
Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition,
Mjollnir or
Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer,
Night Stalker,
Ursa,
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade.
* An Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Laser allows Tinker to blind Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Tinker deals incredible amounts of pure and magical damage with Laser and
Heat-Seeking Missile combined with
Rearm, which will ignore Terrorblade's armor and be devastating to his low health pool.
* Tinker is a hero who very often goes for Blink Dagger, and because Terrorblade has no disable to lock down Tinker, he will be unable to catch up with him nor to prevent him from escaping with
Boots of Travel.
Additional:
* Tinker can single-handedly stop Terrorblade's early-push and quickly clear his illusions with Laser (especially with Aghanim's Scepter).
* Tinker has perfect tools to reveal Terrorblade from his illusions as well as to burst him down if he is low-health before he will be able Sunder.
* Laser along with
Heat-Seeking Missile allows Tinker to quickly burst down Drow Ranger due to her low health.
* Heat-Seeking Missile lets Tinker out-range Drow Ranger and hit her in the backline of a teamfight.
* Sand King can quickly remove her Refraction with his Sand Storm.
* Once Refraction is down, she is very vulnerable to Epicenter's high magic damage.
* The blind from Laser prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Scythe of Vyse can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
* A combination of Tinker's abilities and his items (like the Dagon 5 and
Ethereal Blade combo) can kill Shadow Fiend quickly.
Additional:
* During the laning stage Laser will reduce Shadow Fiend's last hits, preventing him from getting Necromastery souls.
* Shadow Fiend has low health and is vulnerable to Tinker's high magic burst.
* All of his damage is magical and pure, which makes Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* Winter's Curse is very hard to cast on Tinker because he usually stays in the back-lines in team-fights. In turn, Tinker has mediocre attack damage and will contribute very little when he is cursed to attack an ally. He can also save his ally under Winter's Curse effect with Ethereal Blade and
Defense Matrix.
* If Tinker can stay outside of Chronosphere, Laser can cause Faceless Void to miss all his attacks.
* Faceless Void has low health and strongly relies on Time Walk's healing factor to remain alive. Getting caught by Tinker with
Scythe of Vyse will almost always spell a quick end for Void.
* Rearm ignores Time Dilation completely.
* Laser blinds Bloodseeker, preventing him from getting last hits and denies during the laning stage and preventing him from finishing off enemies.
* Tinker always buys Boots of Travel, helping him escape Bloodseeker's early ganks.
* Tinker's heavy magical damage will burst down Bloodseeker during the early to mid game, as he has little health.
Additional:
* Laser can be very effective against Bloodrage as the damage will be amplified while the blind prevents Bloodseeker from landing hits.
* Keen Conveyance guarantees him escape from Rupture.
* Viper is kind of a mixed package. Tinker is very good against him. but stands a better chance against him then most heroes.
* Viper has a high innate magic resistance, but relies on his primary attacks to really deal damage. making Laser an effective way to save allies from him, and deal damage. Keep in mind that his Corrosive Skin will prevent Tinker from blinking.
* Viper's Viper Strike and
Poison Attack will also have a hard time damaging allies through Tinker's constant casting of
Defense Matrix.
* Viper has no solutions to cancel Rearm nor any of Tinker's escape attempts with
Boots of Travel
* However, if Viper gets a jump on Tinker first. Tinker will unlikely survive versus Viper.
* Burrowstrike can be used as an escape or initiation against Broodmother.
* Sand Storm quickly kills any spiderlings caught inside if Sand King can manage to stun them.
Additional:
* Caustic Finale allows Sand King to easily kill Broodmother's Spiderlings throughout the game.
* Sand King can usually catch a split pushing Broodmother with Blink Dagger and Burrowstrike.
* Sand King's
Sand Storm damages familiars quickly whittling them down in health, rendering them vulnerable.
* Sand King's
Epicenter quickly damages and destroys familiars.
* Laser blinds Lone Druid, making his attacks miss.
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
* Heroes with Evasion or abilities that cause Tiny to miss like Phantom Assassin and
Tinker are very effective because of Tiny's low attack speed. Additionally,
Monkey King Bar is not a good item for Tiny because of its reliance on high attack speed to proc for magical damage.
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos,
Phoenix,
Alchemist,
Earthshaker,
Razor,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Queen of Pain
* Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like
Tinker or
Oracle.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker.
* Heroes who rely on abilities to deal damage (e.g. Timbersaw,
Tinker) can fight a Razor even after Static Link.
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Enchantress.
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
* Heroes that commonly attack etheral units do not have any problems against Muerta (such as Tinker,
Jakiro,
Luna,
Pugna or
Ogre Magi)
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker.
* Heroes who rely on basic attacks will suffer from Laser: Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Huskar.
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane,
Ember Spirit,
Leshrac,
Lina,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Phantom Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Ursa,
Void Spirit.
* Tinker's
Laser is useful against Outworld Destroyer, as the blind prevents him from landing Arcane Orbs.
* Heroes who rely on basic attacks will suffer from Laser: Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Huskar.
* Timbersaw's ability to destroy trees can be a serious problem for some heroes that use them, as either a way of enhancing their spells like Treant Protector, or heroes that tend to hide inside of them like
Tinker and
Monkey King.
* All Tinker's damage is magic/pure and completely ignores Timbersaw's Reactive Armor.
* Timbersaw very rarely builds Black King Bar, making him very vulnerable if Tinker builds
Scythe of Vyse.
* Tinker's Laser has very little effect on Jakiro.
* Tinker has to sit still for a short period of time due to Rearm, not only making it easy to catch him with Ice Path, but also by stunning him while he is Rearming, Jakiro generally spell Tinker's doom.
* With s high area-of-effect and strong damage-over-time capabilties, Jakiro can quickly burn through his Defense Matrix, and at the same time lock down his Blink Dagger. Both of which he relies heavily to survive on.
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Earthshaker.
* Heroes with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability: Death Prophet,
Sniper,
Tinker,
Windranger.
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Tinker because of Heat-Seeking Missile and
Laser, she can win against him in late game once she buys
Black King Bar, as none of Tinker's spells can bypass spell immunity.
* Lucent Beam and 0.25
Eclipse Lucent Mini-stun talent for
Eclipse can be used to cancel
Rearm and prevent Tinker's escape attempts with
Boots of Travel. Luna can also use
Lucent Beam and
Eclipse if she is blinded with
Laser.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned Blink Dagger will make Tinker a very easy target for Luna's
Eclipse that can quickly tear him to shreds. This can get even better if Luna buys
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with 0.25
Eclipse Lucent Mini-stun talent for
Eclipse.
* However, Luna needs to approach Tinker carefully, as Tinker is a natural Scythe of Vyse wielder, and if he gets a jump on Luna first, he will be able to use it to disable and burst down Luna before she can use
Black King Bar,
Lucent Beam or
Eclipse.
Additional:
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Tinker because of Heat-Seeking Missile and
Laser, she can win against him in late game once she buys
Black King Bar, as none of Tinker's spells can bypass spell immunity.
* Lucent Beam and 0.25
Eclipse Lucent Mini-stun talent for
Eclipse can be used to cancel
Rearm and prevent Tinker's escape attempts with
Boots of Travel. Luna can also use
Lucent Beam and
Eclipse if she is blinded with
Laser.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned Blink Dagger will make Tinker a very easy target for Luna's
Eclipse that can quickly tear him to shreds. This can get even better if Luna buys
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with 0.25
Eclipse Lucent Mini-stun talent for
Eclipse.
* However, Luna needs to approach Tinker carefully, as Tinker is a natural Scythe of Vyse wielder, and if he gets a jump on Luna first, he will be able to use it to disable and burst down Luna before she can use
Black King Bar,
Lucent Beam or
Eclipse.
* Burrowstrike allows Sand King to escape from
Eclipse or to close the gap on Luna and finish her off.
* Sand Storm allows Sand King to harass Luna more efficiently than she does with
Lucent Beam, as it makes him invisible for it's duration and while in it, rendering him safe from both,
Lucent Beam and
Eclipse and forcing Luna to buy
Dust of Appearance more often.
* Caustic Finale allows Sand King to deal serious damage to both, Luna and her allies, which is especially hazardous in laning stage as Luna's attack range is short.
* Epicenter combined with
Burrowstrike and
Sand Storm can often kill Luna before she can do anything because of her low health and strength gain.
* Overall, Sand King forces Luna to play more defensively instead of offensively, and for the same reasons, Sand King makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Burrowstrike allows Sand King to escape from
Eclipse or to close the gap on Luna and finish her off.
* Sand Storm allows Sand King to harass Luna more efficiently than she does with
Lucent Beam, as it makes him invisible for it's duration and while in it, rendering him safe from both,
Lucent Beam and
Eclipse and forcing Luna to buy
Dust of Appearance more often.
* Caustic Finale allows Sand King to deal serious damage to both, Luna and her allies, which is especially hazardous for Luna during the laning stage as Luna's attack range is short.
* Epicenter combined with
Burrowstrike and
Sand Storm can often kill Luna before she can do anything because of her low health and strength gain.
* Overall, Sand King forces Luna to play more defensively instead of offensively, and for the same reasons, Sand King makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* Tinker who can't fight multiple heroes will suffer greatly against Ransack and Earthbind.
* Heroes with powerful area-of-effect disables can initiate on Meepo and his clones and shut him down, such as Enigma,
Invoker,
Magnus,
Puck, and
Sand King.
Additional:
* Burrowstrike can stun multiple Meepos, making them vulnerable targets.
* Epicenter and Sand Storm's AoE damage ensures all Meepo clones get damaged, making it hard for Meepo to choose which one to flee as all are taking damage at the same rate.
* Just be aware when using Sand Storm to escape, as Meepo has good AoE damage and disables, which, as explained in the "Bad Against" section, works well against an invisible Sand King.
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without
Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition,
Mjollnir or
Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
* Since Naga Siren is a hero who barely goes for Black King Bar, she is vulnerable to nukers with strong magical damage and big area-of-effect spells in every game more than any other carry heroes:
Sand King,
Jakiro,
Leshrac,
Lina,
Earthshaker,
Zeus.
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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Sand King
*
Zeus usually stays at the back in teamfights and it is hard for Sand King to find Zeus and knock him down before Zeus deals his damage.
Thundergod's Wrath, disables Sand King's
Blink Dagger, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential.
Lightning Bolt deals damage to Sand King in Sand Storm and reveals him. It also interrupts channeling of Epicenter.
* All of Zeus' abilities, especially
*
Tinker
* Zeus can easily reveal Tinker's location in the trees with
Thundergod's wrath.
Aghanim's Scepter, he can use his
Nimbus, together with
Lightning Bolt to interrupt Tinker's
Keen Conveyance channelling and cancel Tinker's
Blink Dagger.
Rearm.
Aghanim's Scepter, he will gain
Nimbus, which allows him to scout out Tinker on the map, especially when he is pushing lanes while hiding in the trees.
* When Zeus has an
Additional:
* Due to Tinker's low health pool, Zeus can easily burst Tinker down, while also cancelling
* Once Zeus gets