* 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.

* 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.

* Static Link can steal Shadow Fiend's high physical damage output from Necromastery, lowering his damage output, and Static Link cannot be prevented by Black King Bar.
* Plasma Field and Eye of the Storm can melt down Shadow Fiend easily, due to his low health.

* Plasma Field can slow Magnus during Skewer, and when combined with Eye of the Storm, will potentially disable his Blink Dagger, preventing him from initiating.
* Static Link drains the bonus damage from Empower. However, it can be broken by Skewer and/or Force Staff.
* Storm Surge gives Razor and his allies high mobility needed to avoid Shockwave & Reverse Polarity.

* Void can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Crippling Fear prevents Shadow Fiend from using Shadowraze or Requiem of Souls.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Shadow Fiend easily. He is also a tanky hero that can fight Shadow Fiend at any stage of the game.

* Dark Ascension reduces vision for the enemy team, which makes it more difficult for Magnus to initiate with Blink Dagger and Reverse Polarity. It is also more likely that Night Stalker will scout out Magnus with Aghanim's Scepter and a Gem of True Sight, after which he can silence Magnus with Crippling Fear.

* Lucent Beam and Eclipse with ministun talent can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend does not have Black King Bar. Likewise, since Shadow Fiend is prone to buying Blink Dagger, an ill-timed Blink Dagger can give Luna a free chance to counter-initiate with Eclipse.
* Moon Glaives and Lunar Blessing allow Luna to outfarm Shadow Fiend in lane and the high physical damage output they provide her can also help her deal with Shadow Fiend even when he buys Black King Bar in late game.
* A well timed Eclipse will burst and kill Shadow Fiend before he even either initiates or gets a chance to retaliate, especially when equipped with Aghanim's Scepter and Ethereal Blade, this could become even worse for Shadow Fiend if he does not have Black King Bar. But bear in mind however, that smart and skilled Shadow Fiend can buy Wind Waker to counter this issue.
* Even though Shadow Fiend can evade all of Luna's abilities with Shadow Blade, a smart Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Shadow Fiend to her and her team.
Additional:
* Lucent Beam and Eclipse with ministun talent can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend does not have Black King Bar. Likewise, since Shadow Fiend is prone to buying Blink Dagger, an ill-timed Blink Dagger can give Luna a free chance to counter-initiate with Eclipse.
* Moon Glaives and Lunar Blessing allow Luna to outfarm Shadow Fiend in lane and the high physical damage output they provide her can also help her deal with Shadow Fiend even when he buys Black King Bar in late game.
* A well timed Eclipse will burst and kill Shadow Fiend before he even either initiates or gets a chance to retaliate, especially when equipped with Aghanim's Scepter and Ethereal Blade, this could become even worse for Shadow Fiend if he does not have Black King Bar. But bear in mind however, that smart and skilled Shadow Fiend can buy Wind Waker to counter this issue.
* Even though Shadow Fiend can evade all of Luna's abilities with Shadow Blade, a smart Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Shadow Fiend to her and her team.

* If Luna can use Eclipse in anticipation, Magnus will be killed before he can even manages to cast Reverse Polarity.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse is a very good counter-initiation tool against Magnus when he casts Reverse Polarity, granted as long as Luna can cast it from safe distance.

* Arc Lightning allows Zeus to get farm in lane against Shadow Fiend without coming into the range of his Shadowrazes.
* Lightning Bolt can be used to heavily harass Shadow Fiend when he tries to get a last hit.
* Thundergod's Wrath and Lightning Bolt can be used to detect Shadow Fiend if he tries to escape with Shadow Blade.

* Zeus can easily find Magnus who is often hiding in the trees with Thundergod's Wrath and Lightning Bolt, which allows him to warn allies and disrupt his initiation attempts.

* Glimpse and Kinetic Field allows Disruptor to set up some early kills onto Shadow Fiend.
* Static Storm can be used to cancel the cast of Requiem of Souls.

* Disruptor can disable Magnus's Blink Dagger using Thunder Strike during a considerable duration, disrupting his initiation attempts.
* Glimpse brings Magnus back after he escapes with Skewer and/or Force Staff.
* Static Storm if used on a fight can prevent Magnus from using Reverse Polarity after he jumps in.

* 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.

* 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 channeling spells are very easy targets for Jakiro's abilities: Crystal Maiden, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Pudge, Shadow Fiend, Shadow Shaman, Warlock.

* Jakiro's abilities deal damage over time, which can disrupt Magnus's attempts to initiate with Blink Dagger and Reverse Polarity.
* Macropyre not only disables Blink Dagger for a considerable duration, but can also destroy Trees, revealing Magnus's cover and position.

* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.

* Phoenix will usually be on the sidelines or further back ready to use Sun Ray. Even after Magnus successfully uses Reverse Polarity and skewer Phoenix's teammates, Phoenix can usually counter-initiate using all of its abilities.

* Nethertoxin breaks both Necromastery and Presence of the Dark Lord, reducing his damage massively.
* Corrosive Skin gives Viper bonus Magic Resistance against Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls.
* Viper can easily take advantage of Shadow Fiend's lack of escape and mobility spells with Viper Strike and Poison Attack. Poison Attack also serves as a great way to harass Shadow Fiend.

* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.

Additional:
* Most of Magnus' abilities except Empower will trigger damage through Corrosive Skin.
* Poison Attack and Viper Strike can slow Magnus during Skewer, as well as putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating or re-initiating.

* Kraken Shell dispels both Shadowraze's damage amplification stacks and Requiem of Soul's damage reduction (provided Tidehunter has taken enough damage).
* Ravage cancels Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend isn't protected by Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Kraken Shell dispels the damage amplification stacks of Shadowraze as well as the damage reduction from Requiem of Souls (provided he has taken enough damage).
* Anchor Smash reduces Shadow Fiend's large attack damage, Kraken Shell makes Tidehunter the last target Shadow Fiend wants to attack.
* Ravage can easily cancel Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend isn't protected by Black King Bar.

* 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.

* Enfeeble can be used to decrease Shadow Fiend's already abysmal level one damage even further, preventing him from getting farm and Necromastery stacks.
* Brain Sap allows Bane to heavily harass Shadow Fiend.
* Nightmare allows Bane to set up some early ganks onto Shadow Fiend.
* Fiend's Grip enables Bane to completely take Shadow Fiend out of a fight and potentially even kill him, even through Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Enfeeble can be used to decrease Shadow Fiend's already abysmal level one damage even further, preventing him from getting farm and Necromastery stacks.
* Brain Sap allows Bane to heavily harass Shadow Fiend.
* Nightmare allows Bane to set up some early ganks onto Shadow Fiend.
* Fiend's Grip enables Bane to completely take Shadow Fiend out of a fight and potentially even kill him, even through Black King Bar.

* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: Disruptor, Death Prophet, Enigma, Faceless Void, Invoker, Lich, Magnus, Mars, Medusa, Outworld Destroyer, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Shadow Fiend, Treant Protector, Underlord, Winter Wyvern, Witch Doctor, Zeus.

* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls and his Shadowraze.
Additional:
* Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls or spam Shadowraze.

* 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.

* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowrazes.
Additional:
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowraze.
* Assassinate when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls.

* Shrapnel can sometimes scout out Magnus and also place his Blink Dagger on cooldown. Aside from that, Sniper likes to stay far back behind enemy lines, so it's difficult to catch him with Reverse Polarity unless you already have vision on him and can Skewer him to the rest of his team.

* 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

* 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

* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls: Bane, Enigma, Pudge, Shadow Shaman, Dawnbreaker, Warlock, Crystal Maiden.

* 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.

* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck, Weaver.

* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.

* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, Warlock or Shadow Fiend.

* Heroes that have high health but little to no magic resistance are easy prey for Necrophos, as no matter how high they build their health up, Reaper's Scythe will kill them outright as long as they fall under a certain threshold, and Heartstopper Aura will deal the same amount of damage regardless, decaying their health the longer they stay within range. As such, Strength heroes like Chaos Knight, Centaur Warrunner or Magnus are good targets for his ultimate.

* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina, Lion, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Queen of Pain.

* 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.

* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls: Bane, Enigma, Pudge, Shadow Shaman, Dawnbreaker, Warlock, Crystal Maiden.

* 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.

* Heroes with long animations can be frequently interrupted with Cold Snap: Earthshaker, Monkey King, Shadow Fiend Lina

* 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.

* Treant Protector can usually scout out Magnus in the trees with Eyes in the Forest and disrupt his initiation attempts. He can also counter Magnus' initiation with Overgrowth.

* Magnus cannot manfight Huskar even with Empower, Berserker's Blood's high attack speed and health regeneration, combined with Huskar's high health and Burning Spear stacks will allow Huskar to kill Magnus before he can kill him.
* From a safe distance, Huskar can surprise and counter Magnus's initiation with Life Break and Burning Spear.
* Burning Spear also deals damage over time, disabling Blink Dagger and preventing him from initiating or escaping.

* Earthshock prevents Shadow Fiend from escaping after Ursa used his Blink Dagger to get on top of him.
* Overpower and Fury Swipes allow Ursa to quickly kill Shadow Fiend.
* Enrage keeps Ursa alive in a manfight with Shadow Fiend and allows him to stay close, even if Shadow Fiend uses Requiem of Souls.

* Spectre disables Magnus' Blink Dagger using her ultimate, and later into the game can usually outlive Reverse Polarity's duration.
Additional:
* Spectre can use Haunt to intercept and disrupt Magnus's initiation attempts.
* Spectral Dagger can severely slow down Magnus after he uses Skewer.
* Magnus often travels alone when he is trying to initiate, so Desolate can be very effective against him.
* In late game, Spectre can survive Reverse Polarity initiation thanks to Dispersion.

* Bounty Hunter can absolutely destroy a Shadow Fiend's game by ganking his midlane with Shadow Walk, Jinada and Shuriken Toss.
* If his lane goes bad, a Shadow Fiend usually goes to the jungle. Follow him with Shadow Walk and take half of his experience.
* Due to its ministun, Shuriken Toss is a good way to interrupt Shadow Fiend's long cast animation on Requiem of Souls.
Additional:
* Shuriken Toss can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Shadow Walk and Jinada allow Bounty Hunter to gank Shadow Fiend early on
* Track prevents Shadow Fiend from escaping with Shadow Blade.

* Similar to Night Stalker, Venomancer can simultaneously scout Magnus hiding in trees and put Blink Dagger on cooldown with Plague Ward, which gives Magnus problems when trying to blink in and initiate.
Additional:
* Venomancer can simultaneously scout Magnus hiding in trees and putting Blink Dagger on cooldown with Plague Wards, which makes Magnus real problems to blink and initiate.

* Shadow Fiend, a normal Shadow Blade builder often relies on its invisibility to escape fights. Corrosive Haze reveals Shadow Fiend and also weakens his already low armor.

* Magnus is not tanky and struggles against burst damage, something Primal Beast excels at in the early-to-mid game. Primal Beast is also able to out-damage Magnus's Empower and can even contribute to his Uproar stacks.
* Using Skewer to drag Primal Beast while he is trampling will count as movement and will trigger a rapid number of slams, which could prove lethal to Magnus.

* Berserker's Call and Counter Helix allow Axe to kill Shadow Fiend if he stands too close to a creep wave.
* Battle Hunger is very strong against Shadow Fiend in the early game because Shadow Fiend's low attack damage makes it hard for him to get last hits.
* Axe's naturally high strength and health regeneration will be enough to tank a lot of Shadow Fiend's damage in the early game.

* Shadow Fiend's lack of mobility and low base health make him an easy target for early ganks.

* Rupture deals extra damage to Magnus during Skewer or Force Staff, preventing him from escaping or counter-initiating, forcing him to invest on a Linken's Sphere.

* Even if Wraith King dies after Magnus disables him, Magnus' entire team will be slowed and vulnerable for counter-initiation.

* Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to gank Shadow Fiend in the early game, preventing him from getting Necromastery stacks.
* Nether Strike and Charge of Darkness can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.

* Shadow Fiend's fragility and lack of a natural escape mechanism makes him a great target for Templar Assassin's Meld.
* Shadow Fiend's burst damage, such as Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls, is easily nullified by her Refraction.

* Magnus has very mediocre damage against Alchemist, because he can survive the stun duration of Reverse Polarity with Chemical Rage.

* Doom has several disable abilities to choose from jungle creeps (e.g. War Stomp, Ensnare) to deal with Shadow Fiend who lacks escape abilities.
* When Doom combines creep abilities with Scorched Earth, Infernal Blade, and Doom, Shadow Fiend most likely will die as he cannot use Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls to protect himself, and also cannot even flee by using Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger.
* Although Shadow Fiend has a high physical damage output, Doom has a large health pool to survive it, meaning Doom's combo with high magical damage output will shutdown Shadow Fiend first.
* Doom usually buys Radiance to improve his damage, making his nuke combo more deadly to Shadow Fiend. The blind also prevents Shadow Fiend from landing his attacks often.

* Dragon Tail can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
* Breathe Fire reduces Shadow Fiend's damage even further.
* Dragon Knight's high strength and Dragon Blood means that he'll be able to tank Shadow Fiend's right clicks.

* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.

* The Reflection of Shadow Fiend cause Presence of the Dark Lord to affect Shadow Fiend, reducing his armor and making it easier for Terrorblade to kill him. Shadow Fiend also doesn't have lots of survivability or control abilities in order to escape.
* If Shadow Fiend chooses to go for a physical damage item build, he'll have a hard time against Terrorblade's high armor.

* 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.

* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit, Nyx Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker.

* 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.

* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls: Bane, Enigma, Pudge, Shadow Shaman, Dawnbreaker, Warlock, Crystal Maiden.

Additional:
* Because Shadow Fiend lacks escaping mechanisms, and is dependent on fair positioning for channeling Requiem of Souls, it's easier for Warlock with his long range crowd control abilities to lock Shadow Fiend down for his team.

* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.

* 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.

* Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling: Enigma, Crystal Maiden, Invoker, Shadow Fiend, Pugna, Keeper of the Light, Dawnbreaker.

* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.

* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls: Bane, Enigma, Pudge, Shadow Shaman, Dawnbreaker, Warlock, Crystal Maiden.

* 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.

* 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.

* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit, Nyx Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker.

* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls: Bane, Enigma, Pudge, Shadow Shaman, Dawnbreaker, Warlock, Crystal Maiden.

* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon, Shadow Fiend, Venomancer, Ancient Apparition etc.

* 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.

* Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck, Weaver.

* Heroes who take a long time to become strong are in for a rough mid game, such as Outworld Destroyer, Magnus, Medusa, and Anti-Mage.

* 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.

* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as Anti-Mage, Spectre and Shadow Fiend.

* 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.

* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.

* 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.

* 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 lack escape mechanisms or disables are all easy targets for Phantom Assassin if they are not careful. Look for Luna, Venomancer, and Shadow Fiend and try to catch them off guard.

* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina, Lion, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Queen of Pain.

* Heroes that have an escape that doesn't disjoint projectiles: Mirana, Faceless Void, Magnus

* 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.

* Heroes with high burst damage: Lina, Lion, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Queen of Pain.