* Shadow Demon's main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Shadow Demon likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Shadow Demon dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Shadow Demon dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.
* Timbersaw is heavily reliant on his abilities for damage and escape, allowing Silencer to effectively disable him and make him useless in both team fights and 1v1 scenarios.
Additional:
*
Arcane Curse deals repeated stacks of damage to Timbersaw because he relies on constantly using his abilities.
*
Glaives of Wisdom deals pure damage and when cast manually, nearby creeps will not attack silencer, making it an effective harassment tool. The intelligence steal is also especially potent against Timbersaw since he often uses up all of his mana throughout the entire game.
* Although
Last Word takes a while to trigger, it will break Timbersaw's ability combo and can be used to silence him.
*
Global Silence will silence Timbersaw no matter where he is on the map. This can be used to help allies get a kill on him, or prevent Timbersaw from killing someone.
* All of Lion's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
*
Hex and
Mana Drain can make quick work of whatever illusions you're creating, especially when he acquires his Talents at level 20 and 25.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Earth Spike or
Finger of Death with
Aghanim's Scepter for the enemy.
*
Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* In addition, Lion can follow up with his
Earth Spike and
Mana Drain combo, preventing Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain. And he can finish Timbersaw off with
Finger of Death if the latter's HP is low enough.
* Disruption is not reliable enough to catch an Ember Spirit with a backup
Fire Remnant.
*
Sleight of Fist will also make quick work of the spawned illusions.
* The best you can do against an Ember Spirit is to dispel his
Flame Guard with your Demonic Purge.
*
Searing Chains prevents usage of Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw is vulnerable to magical burst damage, which Ember Spirit provides with
Fire Remnant and
Flame Guard.
* Timbersaw's abilities deal pure damage, thus they cannot remove
Flame Guard.
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova will tear apart any illusions spawned from
Disruption
* Split Earth can punish improper usage of
Disruption.
* Leshrac does not have any buffs that can be removed by
Demonic Purge.
Additional:
*
Pulse Nova makes quick work of any illusions with amplified damage, and deals damage even if Leshrac is in Disruption.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Split Earth for the enemy.
* Disruption does not stop
Diabolic Edict and
Pulse Nova once they start pulsing, and even worse it provides a safe shelter for Leshrac to keep pumping up his powerful AoE damage onto the battlefield.
* Shadow Demon doesn't have the burst damage to take Leshrac out of the fight quickly, although Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Leshrac.
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage:
Lina,
Leshrac,
Enchantress,
Queen of Pain
* All of Queen of Pain's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* However, Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Queen of Pain.
*
Blink allows Queen of Pain to escape from Shadow Demon's abilities if he doesn't have disables.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Sonic Wave for the enemy.
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage:
Lina,
Leshrac,
Enchantress,
Queen of Pain
* All of Puck's abilities are active making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Shadow Demon will find a hard time catching a Puck, as he can get away with
Illusory Orb or even
Waning Rift;
* Puck can dodge Shadow Poison waves and potentially avoid the damage from Demonic Purge with
Phase Shift. Furthermore, after Disruption ended, Puck can use Phase Shift to avoid any further danger and can blink away with
Blink Dagger.
*
Waning Rift can be used to initiate Shadow Demon, prevent him from using any spells.
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil:
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Lycan,
Bloodseeker,
Anti-Mage,
Timbersaw.
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences:
Shadow Demon,
Shadow Fiend,
Venomancer,
Ancient Apparition etc.
Additional:
* Shadow Demon will have a hard time catching Storm Spirit, as he can get away with
Ball Lightning.
*
Static Remnant will make quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* With very high mobility and usually being paired with
Orchid Malevolence, he can catch Shadow Demon with ease both in ganks and in teamfights if Shadow Demon has no survivability items.
*
Ball Lightning makes Storm Spirit a target difficult to chase, even for a hero as mobile as Timbersaw.
* The magical damage from
Static Remnant and
Overload together with Storm Spirit's high mobility allows Storm Spirit to jump on Timbersaw and burst him down, even if he tries to escape.
* You can potentially kill a fragile
Weaver by using Disruption during
Shukuchi with a well-placed
Sentry Ward, wasting the Shukuchi. But odds are he'll wait to get low health,
Time Lapse the damage away and Shukuchi away once more.
* In general, Timbersaw struggles against highly mobile heroes that can avoid his abilities:
Puck,
Weaver,
Ember Spirit and others.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter cannot break
Reincarnation, which could put him in a disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
*
Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, Wraith King is a single-target hero, so he cannot deal with Disruption illusions.
*
Viper Strike prevents Timbersaw from gaining stacks on Reactive Armor.
*
Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* The stun and damage over time from
Shackles mitigates Reactive Armor's HP and armor regen.
*
Death Ward with
Aghanim's Scepter makes quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption until Witch Doctor buys
Linken's Sphere or
Black King Bar.
* All of Witch Doctor's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
*
Voodoo Restoration can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Maledict or
Paralyzing Cask for the enemy.
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Shadow Demon abilities, especially
Demonic Purge.
* Phoenix AoE abilities remove Shadow Demon's illusions created by
Disruption.
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
*
Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
Additional:
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using
Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
*
Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a
Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
* Rupture and Blood Rite locks down Timbersaw, preventing him from escaping with
Timber Chain. However, Timbersaw may reflect a good deal of damage with
Blade Mail.
*
Reactive Armor will not trigger from Zeus's spells or protect Timbersaw from their damage.
* Early game Timbersaw's strength is average and Zeus can heavily aid in bursting him down.
* Late game, if Timbersaw has built a lot of HP items, Zeus's passive Static Field will be more effective at chipping away Timbersaw's large HP pool.
* A Timbersaw who builds
Pipe of Insight will be much more difficult to kill, as Zeus has no way to hold Timbersaw down, but Timbersaw will have less armor, mana, and damage than normal if he buys this item early game just to counter Zeus.
Additional:
* Zeus deals enormous amounts of magic damage, being one of the best heroes to burst down Timbersaw early in the game.
*
Lightning Bolt's mini-stun can stop Timbersaw's from escaping a fight with Timber Chain.
*
Cold Snap can prevent Timbersaw from using both Timber Chain and Chakram due to the frequent stuns interrupting the lengthy cast animations, as well as stopping him mid-chain. This can negate Timbersaw's attempts to escape or dole out extra ability damage.
* Later in the game, Invoker's heavy magical and pure damage can be difficult to avoid, meaning Timbersaw's armor is less useful.
* Templar Assassin
Meld`s ability will break Timbersaw's armor, which makes it very easy to break through and not feel his
Reactive Armor, which will allow the team to kill Timbersaw quickly, or drive him out of the fight.
* Templar Assassin's
Refraction ability gives her the ability to avoid damage from
Whirling Death, which will give her the ability to deal Timbersaw more damage than he will deal.
Additional:
* Templar Assassin
Meld`s ability will break Timbersaw's armor, which makes it very easy to break through and not feel his
Reactive Armor, which will allow the team to kill Timbersaw quickly, or drive him out of the fight.
* Templar Assassin's
Refraction ability gives her the ability to avoid damage from
Whirling Death, which will give her the ability to deal Timbersaw more damage than he will deal. However, he may easily burn through
Refraction with
Chakram.
* Bramble Maze prevents Timbersaw from
Timber Chaining away without getting rooted.
* Cursed Crown can still catch Timbersaw if he
Timber Chains away.
*
Reactive Armor offers little protection against Dark Willow's high magical damage.
*
Dragon Slave will make quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
Light Strike Array for the enemy.
* Shadow Demon doesn't have the burst damage to take Lina out of the fight quickly, although Demonic Purge can help his allies kill a squishy Lina.
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage:
Lina,
Leshrac,
Enchantress,
Queen of Pain
* Heroes that can close the gap can easily chase Lina down, such as
Timbersaw with
Timber Chain and
Anti-Mage with
Blink.
* Because Timbersaw relies heavily on his spells to deal damage, Silence can easily disable him in a team fight.
* Exorcism's spirits do not count as regular attacks, and will not add stacks of
Reactive Armor.
*
Rolling Thunder's stuns make it harder for Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain.
*
Reactive Armor's armor increase does not affects Muerta's Pierce the Veil despite Muerta often building high attack speed.
* Muerta's
Dead Shot destroys trees preventing Timbersaw from escaping with his
Timber Chain.
*
Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Timbersaw.
* Timbersaw is extremely reliant on his abilities to be effective during a team fight - both for mobility, damage and crowd control. Timbersaw offers very little, impactful right-click damage, and thus
Doom is particularly crippling against him.
* Additionally, when Doom chooses the {ValueColor:1|Doom applies Break|25tal} {Symbol:Talent} talent,
Doom disables
Reactive Armor, which effectively removes the durability which Timbersaw is commonly known for.
Additional:
*
Doom shuts down Timbersaw completely, negating his mobility and preventing him from doing any damage. It also breaks Reactive Armor's passive bonuses from
Aghanim's Scepter.
*
Infernal Blade can stun Timbersaw several times in a fight, potentially interrupting Timber Chain. Also it's useful since Timbersaw has high HP due to the damage scales based on max HP.
* Heroes that withstand damage like
Timbersaw,
Bristleback,
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
*
Brain Sap's pure damage ignores stacks of Reactive Armor.
*
Nightmare prevents Timbersaw from using Timber Chain, setting him up for chain stuns and burst damage.
*
Enfeeble highly reduces regeneration granted by reactive armor.
*
Fiend's Grip immobilizes Timbersaw and drains his low mana pool, preventing escape afterwards. It also pierces
Black King Bar.
* Bane's multiple disables often force Timbersaw or his teammates to spend gold on a
Linken's Sphere.
* Heroes with hiding abilities can protect disabled allies:
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Tusk,
Phoenix with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Illusions and summons are double-edge sword type of matchup for Luna. On one hand, they can tank damage from Eclipse, but on the other hand, she can easily clear them before Eclipse with Moon Glaives. Examples include
Spectre,
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren,
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade) or bring other units into the fight (such as
Nature's Prophet,
Lone Druid,
Chen,
Enchantress,
Meepo and
Arc Warden).
* Heroes who are melee but cannot fight back against Eclipse will really struggle with Luna:
Monkey King,
Alchemist,
Timbersaw.
*
Demonic Purge takes off Luna's superior mobility, removing the need for chasing her and allowing your team to reposition in team fights or escape when at low HP. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter it will also take away glaive bounces and extra damage from Luna's passive. And Luna's commonly items Manta Style and Black King Bar does not work dispell to
Demonic Purge
* Luna's illusions created by Disruption are very valuable with their
Moon Glaives. These will effectively counter her pushing attempts and are painfully effective in team fights.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally from
Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Shadow Demon makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Demonic Purge takes off Luna's superior mobility, removing the need for chasing her and allowing your team to reposition in team fights or escape when at low HP. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Sceptre it will also take away glaive bounces and extra damage from Luna's passive.
* Luna's illusions created by Disruption are very valuable with their
Moon Glaives. These will effectively counter her pushing attempts and are painfully effective in team fights.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally from
Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Shadow Demon is a very good ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
*
Whirling Death deals damage while also reducing {Show:A|Timbersaw|Whirling Death|value4} of Bristleback's strength, making him less tanky.
*
Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
*
Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw even with Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Hex abilities prevent attacking, ability and item usage, which is a severe problem for Phantom Assassin as it prevents her from using
Black King Bar, the one item that helps protect her against the aforementioned dangers.
Doom and
Shadow Demon with
Aghanim's Scepter also disables Phantom Assassin's Evasion and Critical Strike, removing much of her damage and survivabaility:
Doom,
Disruptor with
Aghanim's Scepter,
Dazzle with
Aghanim's Shard
*
Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from
Stifling Dagger.
* Phantom Assassin has a moderate health pool and usually appears in the front line of battle, making her vulnerable to Timbersaw's pure burst damage output.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his
Timber Chain.
Additional:
*
Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from
Stifling Dagger, as well as ganking attempts.
* Phantom Assassin is a hero with moderate HP pool, and usually appears in the front line of battle. Because
Blur does nothing against spells, she is vulnerable to Timbersaw's skills.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his
Timber Chain.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
*
Timber Chain can kite Troll Warlord extremely effectively.
*
Whirling Death and
Chakram deals lots of damage to Troll Warlord.
*
Reactive Armor makes Timbersaw extremely resilient to Troll's attack damage and extreme attack speed, especially during Battle Trance.
* Heroes who can summon illusions and summons because Terrorblade has no abilities to deal with multiple enemies at once outside Reflection:
Shadow Shaman,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Demon,
Dark Seer,
Nature's Prophet,
Invoker,
Morphling,
Visage,
Grimstroke with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Timbersaw can take down Terrorblade's illusions with his area damage burst.
*
Reactive Armor plus another armor item reduce much of Terrorblade's damage.
Additional:
* Timbersaw's abilities combos all deal magical and pure damage, completely ignoring Terrorblade's high base armor and clearing his illusions very quickly due to the AoE damage.
*
Reactive Armor negates most of Terrorblade's damage against Timbersaw, and its high health regeneration and armor bonuses can help Timbersaw survive after Terrorblade has used
Sunder on him.
* Similarly, they can negate your X Marks The Spot & Torrent combo by protecting your target when you use Return. Good candidates to negate your combo include
Outworld Destroyer and his
Astral Imprisonment, and
Shadow Demon and his
Disruption.
* Heroes with hide abilities can often dodge a Ghostship just before it hits.
* Similarly, they can negate your X Marks The Spot & Torrent combo by protecting your target when you use Return. Good candidates to negate your combo include
Outworld Destroyer and his
Astral Imprisonment, and
Shadow Demon and his
Disruption.
* A
Eul's Scepter of Divinity can also do the trick, but, unlike the previously mentioned abilities, you can only use it on yourself and not your allies.
* Timbersaw Defeats Kunkka on the center line, due to the fact that he has a huge resistance to physical damage by
Reactive Armor, which is why
Tidebringer almost does not break through Timbersaw, and due to
Whirling Death Timbersaw can very much break through Kunkka and force him to leave the line, or spend money on
Tango.
Additional:
* Timbersaw easily beats Kunkka on the midlane, due to the fact that he has huge physical damage resistance from
Reactive Armor, which is why
Tidebringer almost does not break through Timbersaw, and due to
Whirling Death and Kunkka being a strength hero, Timbersaw can very much break through Kunkka and force him to leave the lane, or spend money on
Tango.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* Timbersaw's pure damage will kill Dragon Knight surprisingly fast, especially if he gets caught in a bad position while laning.
*
Disruption will save Shadow Demon's teammates from being killed by Counter Helix or Culling Blade.
*
Demonic Purge slows Axe to a crawl, making him nearly useless after initiating. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter, it will also break Counter Helix.
*
Demonic Cleanse clears Battle Hunger and Aghanim's Shard Counter Helix Damage Reduction, both allowing targets to escape and reducing your own survivability.
Additional:
* While it is unwise to encounter Axe alone, Disruption can be used to save your allies from Axe's initiate
Berserker's Call, or, if timed correctly, from his
Culling Blade.
* Illusions spawned from Axe has the Counter Helix passive, which with deal some nasty damage if an enemy focuses them
* Your upgraded Demonic Purge breaks Axe's primary damage output:
Counter Helix, This can be used on him during Berserker's Call to seriously hinder him.
* Demonic Cleanse will clear
Battle Hunger, which is Axe's method of catching heroes, and Shard upgraded Counter Helix's Damage Reduction, which is one of Axe's primary survivability abilities.
* Special mention to
Timbersaw as he has a way to deal with Axe in the laning stage, but still needs to be careful about Berserker's Call stun, the pure damage from Counter Helix and Culling Blade finishing him off before he can escape or heal from his passive.
Additional:
*
Whirling Death reduces Axe's strength by 15%, which makes him less durable, especially from early game. It's also stackable.
*
Blade Mail are not effective against attribute changes, and
Timber Chain can wait out
Blade Mail's duration to wear off.
*
Reactive Armor makes it harder for Axe to finish off Timbersaw with
Culling Blade.
*
Chakram disarms Timbersaw, which makes Axe's
Counter Helix useless against him.
* All Timbersaw skills deal pure damage, which bypass Axe's high armor or bonus armor from
Berserker's Call.
*
Disruption can protect Shadow Demon's allies from Fortune's End, preserving healing or buffs. It can also catch Oracle's allies, allowing
Shadow Poison to be used without being dispelled.
*
Demonic Purge prevents over-time healing during False Promise, such as Purifying Flames and
Urn of Shadows. If he has
Aghanim's Scepter, this issue can persist for longer or on multiple allies.
* It will not, however, prevent healing from instant abilities, items, or auras, making
Mekansm a good choice against him.
* Heroes who are not easily crippled by Fate's Edict or Fortune's End, such as
Timbersaw, or those who can dispel them, such as
Phantom Lancer, can kill Oracle unhindered.
* Heroes with break abilities:
Shadow Demon (with
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark:
Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
* Timbersaw can easily cut down the tree that Monkey King is standing on, stunning him for a lengthy period.
* Timbersaw can use
Timber Chain to easily escape
Wukong's Command and
Primal Spring's slow.
* However, when facing Monkey King mid, Timbersaw might get harassed out of the lane because of
Jingu Mastery.
Additional:
* Timbersaw's low cooldown and low mana cost abilities destroys the trees that Monkey King depends on.
*
Timber Chain allows Timbersaw to escape Wukong's Command.
* Timbersaw's innate durability provided by
Reactive Armor is very hard to deal with as Naga Siren as she mostly relies on sustained damage rather than burst damage unless if she is played as Nuker.
* Timbersaw's high pure damage and low-cooldown area-of-effect nukes which are
Whirling Death,
Timber Chain,
Chakram and
Flamethrower from
Aghanim's Shard can also destroy Naga Siren's illusions very fast.
* Timbersaw is a common
Lotus Orb wielder which allows him to reflect
Ensnare back at Naga SIren.
* Shadow Demon's spammable illusions can be used to scout Techies'
Proximity Mines.
*
Reactive Armor is very effective against Beastmaster's summons during laning stage and entire game.
* Timbersaw can quickly clear Beastmaster's summons with his nukes.
*
Lotus Orb item for Timbersaw can releases roar from the target position, stunning and damaging Beastmaster and knocking away, damaging and slowing allies that stand on the way.
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage:
Lina,
Leshrac,
Enchantress,
Queen of Pain
* Heroes with break can disable Untouchable for a while:
Doom and
Shadow Demon (via
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper,
Shadow Shaman with Hex Breaks talent.
* The burst damage from Timbersaw's abilities is more than enough to deal with Enchantress and her creeps.
* Timbersaw doesn't rely on his physical attacks, which makes Untouchable useless against him.
*
Timber Chain can close the gap between them and minimize damage from Impetus.
* Bear in mind, however, that Timber Chain can also work against Timbersaw if used to escape and that Impetus can ignore
Reactive Armor if Enchantress is not a primary target for Timbersaw or if he is disabled.
* Timbersaw is a common wielder of
Lotus Orb, which will allow him to reflect Enchant back at Enchantress and dispel most debuffs as well.
* Timbersaw is often too mobile and durable for Gyrocopter to bring down with his area attacks.
* Timbersaw’s reliance on nearby trees means he’ll usually be close to Hoodwink.
* More significantly, Timbersaw's tree destroying abilities cut off Hoodwink's escape options, passive and easily foil
Acorn Shot or
Bushwhack combos.
* While channeling
Sharpshooter, Timbersaw can simply sit his
Chakram on top of her and unleash his full combo, forcing her to cancel and disengage.
*
Timber Chain can be used to dodge
Sharpshooter.
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of Windrun with
Disruption.
* Alternatively,
Demonic Purge. can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless.
*
Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by Shackleshot.
Additional:
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of
Windrun with Disruption.
* Alternatively, Demonic Purge can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless for 7 seconds.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by
Shackleshot.
* The constant dispel from Demonic Purge will make any attempt to save the victim or himself by
Surge become futile. For what it's worth, Demonic Purge will also dispel
Ion Shell.
* All three of Timbersaw’s abilities give him an easy way out of Sprout, and can also destroy nearby trees so Nature's Prophet can’t spawn Treants.
* If Prophet tries to escape with a self Sprout/Teleport, Timbersaw can easily cut down all its trees to get to him and deal increased
Whirling Death damage as well.
*
Chakram heavily discourages teleports.
* Timbersaw is quite well suited to clearing massive waves of Treants almost instantly with all of his area of effect pure damage abilities, preventing Nature's Prophet from pushing.
* Treants can give Reactive Armor many charges quite quickly.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can easily cut down trees from
Sprout, making it very difficult for Nature's Prophet to teleport away or trap enemies.
* Timbersaw's abilities quickly clear out treants.
*
Reactive Armor negates most of the damage of Nature's Prophet's treants, and Timbersaw can often allow himself to be attacked in order to heal himself.
* With
Timber Chain, Timbersaw can slow, catch up with, or escape from Chen and his creeps.
*
Chakram and
Flamethrower from
Aghanim's Shard can clear Chen's creeps and slow him.
* Attacks from multiple creeps will quickly build
Reactive Armor stacks, making attacks of Chen and his creeps only tickle Timbersaw.
* Alchemist is a well-known
Radiance carrier among other auras your illusions will benefit from. They also get the extra move speed and reduced base attack time from his
Chemical Rage, and it's even better if you can catch him as his own rage is about to expire.
* Disruption will buy enough time for all allies to retreat when Alchemist starts to activate
Unstable Concoction.
* Not only are all of Timbersaw's active abilities capable of cutting down trees, but
Whirling Death and
Timber Chain also require it to be effective, counteracting both Treant Protector's Nature's Guise and Eyes in the Forest abilities.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can use his plethora of tree cutting abilities to level entire sections of the forest, making hiding in the trees more difficult for Treant Protector and his team.
* Timbersaw can easily cut down Treant Protector's
Eyes In The Forest once his team has detection. He may even do it unknowingly due to the sheer destructive and chaotic nature of his abilities.
* The percentage-based primary-attribute reduction effect of
Whirling Death can be devastating for Pudge due to his high strength gain through Flesh Heap.
*
Reactive Armor's health regeneration and common itemization for magic resistance and durability makes Timbersaw a poor target for Pudge.
*
Timber Chain's high mobility makes it difficult for Pudge to hook or deal much Rot damage to Timbersaw.
* Her illusions with
Desolate are very valuable, especially when they are usually paired with
Radiance. Unlike blink or force movement,
Spectral Dagger's escaping mechanic requires manual movement, and therefore Demonic Purge can hold her back really hard and allow your allies to finish her off.
* If she tries to kill you or any key ally with
Haunt at any point of the game, remember to not panic and always use Disruption on the illusion, whether it is fake or the real Spectre herself. When the situation calls, Demonic Purge can save a second victim from a haunting Spectre.
* When upgraded by
Aghanim's Scepter, Demonic Purge can remove Spectre from a fight by disabling Desolate and
Dispersion, negating her damage and tankiness respectively.
* Although
Phantom Lancer will generate strong illusions, and you can also break his
Juxtapose with an Aghanim's Demonic Purge, you have a small chance of guessing which is the real Phantom Lancer after he uses
Doppelganger.
*
Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
* Heroes with undispellable debuffs will help identify the real Phantom Lancer through visual effects or debuff indicators, provided that it was cast on the real Phantom Lancer to begin with:
*
Doom's
Doom marks Phantom Lancer with a highly visible effect, and also silences and mutes him.
*
Bloodseeker's
Rupture shows a clear red trail effect on the real Phantom Lancer.
*
Ancient Apparition's
Ice Blast will only debuff Phantom Lancer and not his illusions.
*
Grimstroke's
Soulbind is undispellable.
*
Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge is undispellable.
*
Monkey King's
Jingu Mastery is undispellable and puts a big yellow Mark over his head.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer's strength is the sheer amount of illusions he can conjure, Dissimulate can be cast on an ally that he is focusing to quickly thin out his ranks
* Landing a upgraded Demonic Purge on the real Phantom Lancer prevents him from making very many illusions (His only source being
Doppelganger), You can reapply as needed if you have the Shard
* Disrupting Phantom Lancer allows you to create multiple extra illusions with
Juxtapose, As he is a common carrier of
Diffusal Blade, you can also drain the mana of any nearby heros
* All Timbersaw's abilities deal AoE pure damage and can easily deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
*
Reactive Armor highly negates Phantom Lancer's physical damage, making him having a hard time killing Timbersaw.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer's lack of burst damage and constant attacks will increase
Reactive Armor to max level immediately.
* Coupled with
Timber Chain, it makes an easy escape and almost impossible for Timbersaw to be killed by Phantom Lancer.
*
Whirling Death and
Chakram can instantly destroy large groups of illusions, negating Phantom Lancer's advantage, although Phantom Lancer usually builds
Diffusal Blade. It can be a problem in late game.
* Shadow Demon's
Shadow Poison can quickly stack to the point where Huskars generally low health is easily finished off.
* Shadow Demon's
Disruption can turn Huskar's high attack speed and regeneration against him, It also makes him an easy target for Shadow Poison,
* Shadow Demon commonly builds a
Meteor Hammer, allowing him to land a heavy stun on Huskar
* Shadow Demon's upgraded
Demonic Purge breaks Huskar, It also pierces Spell Immunity, Without his passive for 7 seconds Huskar quickly falls in battle
* However note that Shadow Demon is a squishy target and you can often overwhelm him if he is alone, But he can still Disrupt you to escape
Additional:
* Shadow Poison can quickly stack up on Huskar, And with his naturally low health you don't need as many stacks to be effective.
* Disruption turns Huskars high attack speed against him, They also have the highest survivability as illusions due to his passive
Berserker's Blood, It also allows you to put Shadow Poison stacks on him,
* Dissimulate turns Huskar's burning damage against his team, You can cast it on an ally who is taking a bunch of
Burning Spear stacks and cause Huskar to take high amounts of damage as well
* Scepter upgraded Demonic Purge is your most effective weapon against him, It's 7 second Break causes him to quickly die in battle
* In the laning stage, making illusions of Venomancer will turn his
Poison Sting back at him, making for an easy gank at level one, and for later when your mid comes for ganks.
* Disruption can save allies and mess up an initiation from an enemy Legion Commander. Using Disruption on your ally that is affected by
Duel will leave her totally exposed without the benefit of the life steal from
Moment of Courage. A precise decision to Disrupt Legion Commander or her victim is crucial to waste Duel's potential.
* Demonic Purge cannot be dispelled by a hard dispel from
Press the Attack, which in turn can be dispelled by your ultimate.
* Shadow Demon with an
Aghanim's Scepter will use
Demonic Purge to disable Curse of Avernus and the passive component of Borrowed Time. If this is combined with a silence, Borrowed Time will not trigger at all.
* Even without
Aghanim's Scepter, he can still waste Borrowed Time with
Disruption. Curse of Avernus fully works on illusions, turning the passive ability against him.
* Timbersaw relies on dealing massive amounts of pure damage, making Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* If he has
Reactive Armor stacks, Timbersaw can tank the damage from his allies if he is targeted by Winter's Curse. If he's not the target, Timbersaw's abysmal attack damage will contribute next to nothing when he is cursed to attack an ally.
* As Timbersaw commonly buys
Lotus Orb, he can use it to reflect Winter's Curse back to Winter Wyvern if she uses it impulsively on him or any other hero while affected by it.
*
Reactive Armor will quickly stack up from Familiar attacks, making Timbersaw hard to kill.
* Visage's low mobility makes it easy for
Timbersaw to line up his abilities.
*
Reactive Armor prevents Broodmother's spiderlings from being able to effectively harass Timbersaw in the lane.
*
Timber Chain's high mobility makes Silken Bola's slow irrelevant, unless Broodmother already bought her Orchid.
* Silken Bola's miss chance doesnt affect Rizzrack that much because he does not rely on his autoattacks much.
*
Lotus Orb items for Timbersaw make Silken Bola useless.
* Timbersaw's abilities can destroy any trees that Broodmother attempts to hide in and his AoE abilities can quickly clear her Spiderlings.
Additional:
* Spiderlings deal almost no damage against
Reactive Armor. They also die quickly from Timbersaw's AoE abilities.
* Broodmother has no mobility ability except the movement speed buff from
Spin Web, allowing Timbersaw to easily escape her
Silken Bola with
Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw's tree-cutting abilities make it difficult for Broodmother to hide, especially near the edges of the map.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* 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 that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance:
Lina,
Jakiro,
Underlord,
Leshrac,
Dark Seer,
Earthshaker,
Timbersaw,
Crystal Maiden.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can use
Chakram as a scouting tool to find Slark if he tries to
Pounce into the trees.
* None of Timbersaw's abilities require a target to be cast, allowing him to hit Slark inside
Shadow Dance.
*
Reactive Armor can be effective protection against a Slark who attacks quickly, since the strong armor and health regen cannot be stolen by
Essence Shift.
*
Timber Chain makes Timbersaw very mobile, meaning he is among the very few heroes who can actually give chase to a fleeing Slark.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Heroes who rely on abilities to deal damage (e.g.
Timbersaw,
Tinker) can fight a Razor even after Static Link.
Additional:
* Razor deals mostly physical damage towards the later game, and Timbersaw is also very mobile, making him a difficult kill to earn.
* Timbersaw rarely resorts to attacks, thus does not suffer when his damage is stolen with
Static Link.
* Heroes with summons or illusions makes Sacred Arrow harder to land:
Shadow Demon,
Phantom Lancer,
Nature's Prophet.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank:
Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
*
Reactive Armor makes Timbersaw very effective against heroes that control a lot of units, such as
Broodmother,
Lycan and
Undying.
* Heroes that can punish aggressive heroes, such as:
Leshrac,
Shadow Demon,
Pugna,
Death Prophet.
* Heroes with ways to protect themselves or allies from Spirit Breaker's initiation:
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer,
Omniknight,
Dawnbreaker.
* Melee carries such as
Sven,
Ursa or
Lifestealer can be slowed and easily kited with Demonic Purge.
* Heroes that can purge buffs can dispel Guardian Angel:
Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Oracle.
Additional:
* Demonic Purge can dispel
Guardian Angel on the key target during combat, allow your allies to finish them.
* Heroes with abilities that can save teammates are also effective such as
Shadow Demon,
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Bane,
Pugna,
Tusk,
Winter Wyvern,
Io,
Underlord,
Treant Protector and
Keeper of the Light.
Additional:
* Be ready to save an ally from
Omnislash with your Disruption.
* Spawning
Juggernaut's illusions is a great deal, as his base attack time is low and he has a critical strike. Illusions will benefit from both.
* Demonic Purge will prevent Juggernaut's desperate attempt to flee using
Blade Fury. However, it cannot stop him if he is using
Town Portal Scroll.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* Strong area damage, particularly from
Whirling Death and
Chakram, lets Timbersaw clear out illusions quickly.
*
Whirling Death directly reduces Strength from both Chaos Knight and his Phantasm illusions, reducing both the damage output and raw health that the hero relies on.
*
Reactive Armor quickly builds stacks against Phantasm illusions, making Timbersaw harder to kill.
Additional:
*
Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw to endure the damage from
Chaos Bolt and
Reality Rift combo.
* Timbersaw's large amount of pure damage AoE nukes clears Chaos Knight's illusions quickly, drastically reducing his damage.
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void:
Timbersaw,
Slark,
Shadow Fiend,
Clinkz,
Bristleback
Nyx Assassin,
Magnus
*
Disruption sets up Anti-Mage for a chain disable. The illusions will deal extra damage due to Mana Break.
*
Shadow Poison hits Anti-Mage even after he's Blinked away.
* If Shadow Demon has
Aghanim's Scepter,
Demonic Purge can break Mana Break and Counterspell, weakening both his offense and defense.
Additional:
* While it is unwise to encounter Anti-Mage alone, Disruption's considerable cast range can become a perfect setup for any hard-disable to follow up. If he is pinned down, Anti-Mage will quickly face his demise when the illusions deplete his already low mana pool.
Manta Style will easily allow him to escape, however.
* The illusions can be controlled to quickly sap mana from any other target, making Anti-Mage one of the most valuable targets to disrupt.
* Heroes that have escape abilities (such as
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit or
Timbersaw) can be either nullified by Reaper's Scythe or a complimentary item for Necrophos (like
Rod of Atos or
Scythe of Vyse). If Necrophos is quick enough and enters range, they can quickly, if not instantly, die if they are not quick enough.
Additional:
*
Heartstopper Aura effectively negates Timbersaw's large HP pool as well as HP regen.
*
Death Pulse together with health and mana regeneration from killed creeps helps Necrophos and his teammates survive Timbersaw's burst damage.
* As a tanky hero that stays in the middle of teamfights, Timbersaw is an easy target for
Reaper's Scythe.
*
Disruption can save an ally from a fatal Reaper's Scythe.
*
Demonic Purge can remove Ghost Shroud, making Necrophos vulnerable to physical damage and preventing him from regenerating health.
*
Lycan and
Weaver has abilities that allow them to move at maximum movement speed, and those abilities can't be dispelled, potentially wasting the slow from Demonic Purge.
* All of Timbersaw's spells deal AoE damage, killing Lycan's summons very quickly.
*
Reactive Armor will gain stacks quickly because of Lycan's summons.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
Additional:
* Poof will destroy Shadow Demon's illusions created by
Disruption and quickly escapes from
Shadow Poison &
Demonic Purge.
* Because multiple Meepos tend to clump up, they present an easy target for Timbersaw's many area abilities.
* Although be careful since Timbersaw cannot use
Timber Chain to escape if rooted from
Earthbind.
* 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.
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker:
Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Batrider.
* 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.
* For the same reason, he has to be slightly more cunning when playing against heroes that can scout the treeline, such as
Ancient Apparition and his
Ice Vortex and
Shadow Demon and his
Shadow Poison.
*
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
*
Time Dilation is similar to a long duration silence, making Timbersaw useless in team fights, or forcing him to adapt his build.
*
Time Walk negates Timbersaw's burst damage.
*
Time Lock provides magical damage and lock down, and is effective against both Reactive Armor and Timber Chain.
* In conjunction with
Time Lock's magical damage,
Chronosphere can destroy Timbersaw before he has time to react, and creates a large obstacle that obstruct's Timber Chain's mobility.
*
Disruption can banish Faceless Void or an ally in Chronosphere, making it a less effective ability.
* Faceless Void's illusions created by
Disruption will not get stunned by Chronosphere, allowing Shadow Demon to attack Faceless Void in his Chronosphere.
* Casting
Disruption after releasing
Shadow Poison charges will make Time Walk unable to backtrack the damage.
*
Shadow Poison is a good way to deal damage as the initial damage and the release damage can't both be Time Walked at the same time.
*
Demonic Purge is a great slow, useful to force out a Time Walk early and can break Time Lock with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Timbersaw is completely powerless against
Phantom's Embrace if
Chakram is out.
Additional:
* Timbersaw relies heavily on his abilities so Phantom's Embrace's silence makes it more difficult for him.
* Timbersaw cannot use
Return Chakram or attack the phantom during Phantom's Embrace, forcing him to take full damage and refreshes Phantom's Embrace's cooldown.
*
Disruption instantly removes Phantom Embrace, and can potentially save allies affected by Soulbind.
*
Demonic Purge dispels Ink Swell.
* Arcane Orb's pure damage ignores Timbersaw's
Reactive Armor.
* Astral Imprisonment, if timed correctly, can interrupt
Timber Chain, preventing him from escaping.
Additional:
*
Arcane Orb deals constant pure damage, which bypasses Timbersaw's Reactive Armor.
*
Sanity's Eclipse can hit targets inside
Astral Imprisonment, which helps Outworld Destroyer finish off Timbersaw before he escapes with Timber Chain. It can also drain his mana, limiting his ability to escape should he survive.
* Shadow Demon's
Disruption will allow his allies to maneuver around you. It can also be used to protect an ally from your abilities, or Astral Imprisonment -
Meteor Hammer combo.
*
Disseminate turns your high damage Arcane Orb and Sanitiy's Eclipse against you and your teammates.
* Scepter upgraded
Demonic Purge will break your Essence Flux passive for 7 seconds, preventing you from regaining mana, and severely hindering your damage output.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
* Heroes with summons or illusions can counter Flux, such as
Beastmaster ,
Chen, or
Shadow Demon.
*
Chaos Knight,
Lone Druid,
Meepo and
Arc Warden can be hard targets since Shadow Demon's spells are ill-suited to fight many enemies at once.
*
Timbersaw: Lone Druid will have a hard time dealing with Timbersaw due to his tankiness and high Armor from
Reactive Armor
* Timbersaw's physical survivability revolves around
Reactive Armor, which is largely ignored by Fury Swipes due to the extreme amounts of damage it does in a very few number of attacks.
* Timbersaw's burst damage will not do much against Enrage, although he could easily use
Timber Chain to escape, wasting the duration of it.
* Shadow Demon's
Demonic Purge renders Ursa useless even through
Black King Bar as it slows him, continually purges his Overpower charges and can not be dispelled by Ursa's Enrage.
*
Disruption is a good way to save teammates against Ursa. Disrupting Ursa is also a good way to kite him, as it can not be dispelled by Enrage.
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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Shadow Demon
* All of Pugna's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from
Aghanim's Scepter useless.
Nether Ward punishes Shadow Demon's constant mana usage from spamming spells, especially Shadow Poison.
Nether Blast for the enemy.
Life Drain can be used to heal Pugna or an ally to save them from Shadow Demon's abilities.
*
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a
*
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption unless Pugna buys defensive items.
Timbersaw
* Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
Reactive Armor.
Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of
Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw, especially when combined with
Decrepify.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw.
* Decrepify can further increase all the magical damage done to Timbersaw, bypassing the enhanced physical resistance he can get from
Additional:
*
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop