Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Shadow Shaman
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as Silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Ember Spirit
* Global Silence and
Last Word can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.
* Glaives of Wisdom also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.
* Arcane Curse is also a potent harassing tool in the laneing stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Lone Druid's early game is good against slow, squishy supports since his bear is very strong early game and an Entangling Claws proc almost always guarantees a kill: Ancient Apparition,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman, etc.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes who just want to farm and avoid Lone Druid early will find it very hard to do so when he starts knocking on towers: Templar Assassin,
Phantom Assassin,
Ember Spirit,
Morphling.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Shadow Shaman
* Due to their high attack speed, Summon Familiars will destroy Mass Serpent Wards quickly, granting Visage a massive amount of gold.
* Visage can use Stone Form of the Familiars to cancel Shackles.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Stone Form also allows Visage to use
Stone Form himself to cancel Shackles while restoring his health.
* Grave Chill can make Shadow Shaman's bad movement speed and attack speed even worse.
* Visage is also a natural Bloodthorn wielder, which allows him to silence Shadow Shaman and make him more vulnerable to damage.
Additional:
* Due to their high attack speed, Visage's Summon Familiars will destroy Mass Serpent Ward quickly, granting Visage massive amount of gold.
Riki
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Shaman
* Riki is known for being a successful support killer, something Shadow Shaman is very vulnerable to.
* Smoke Screen is particularly devastating to Shadow Shaman. With neither his various disables nor a solid health pool Shadow Shaman is usually dead. This forces Shadow Shaman to buy a
Force Staff if he finds himurself in this scenario and buy
Sentry Wards if you have the money.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Shadow Shaman
* Mirana can disturb Shadow Shaman's channeling even if he is under the effect of invisibility thanks to Sacred Arrow.
* Mirana armed with an Aghanim's Scepter is known to be able to quickly burst down heroes - especially supports. Together with
Ethereal Blade the bullying towards Shadow Shaman can continue for the whole match.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Flame Guard provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Ember Spirit's low armor and health make him easy to kill quickly if a teammate can hold him down.
* If Clinkz has farmed an item that can disable, he can sneak up to and hunt down Ember Spirit while he farms or split pushes alone.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Ember Spirit
* Oracle can shut down both of Ember's early game abilities. Fortune's End can dispel Flame Guard on Ember Spirit and
Searing Chains on allies.
* When Ember Spirit is affected by Fortune's End, his Fire Remnants move at 0 movement speed.
* Disarming him with Fate's Edict does affect Ember's Sleight of Fist ability, possibly making him useless for a few seconds in the late game without a dispel or spell immunity. This is especially good if he has a rapier or two. However, positioning for this is difficult when Ember plays far back.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by Arcane Orb is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit.
* Astral Imprisonment fully negates all magic damage of Flame Guard and Searing Chains and will temporarily save himself from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that can counter these skills.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Shaman
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
Ember Spirit
* With Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use
Spiked Carapace with
Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
* Mana Burn is also good, as Ember Spirit relies on his limited mana pool for the early to midgame.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by Flame Guard or
Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
Ember Spirit
* 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.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Shaman
* Reincarnation allows Wraith King to survive Shadow Shaman's initial chain of disables and Serpent Ward attacks.
* Short cooldown of Wraithfire Blast is ideal for interrupting Shackles.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Ember Spirit
* Faceless Void is one of the best heroes against Ember Spirit, providing a lot of ways of dealing with him. Ember Spirit becomes a lot weaker if affected by Time Dilation, as he can no longer spam Sleight of Fist.
* Chronosphere is also a reliable lockdown for Ember Spirit, although it can be evaded sometimes by Activate Fire Remnant. Additionally, Void can easily negate Sleight of Fist damage with
Time Walk.
* And finally, Void is a great Diffusal Blade carrier. Not only
Manabreak's physical damage not negated by Flame Guard, but it also burns Ember Spirit's mana. That, in turn, prevents him from escaping if he survived
Chronosphere.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Using X Marks the spot Kunkka can prevent Ember Spirit from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant, until he purchase
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or
Linken's Sphere.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit cannot use his Activate Fire Remnant to escape while under effect from
Doom.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Lion possesses two strong disables in Earth Spike and
Hex and heavy magic burst with
Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his
Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.
Additional:
* Ember lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game and often does not acquire any later, allowing Lion to Hex or Earth Spike him before he escapes through his Fire Remnant.
* Although Flame Guard can prevent magic damage, it does not stop Lion's disables, and Lion can usually break through it with Finger of Death.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Shaman
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Shadow Shaman
* Waveform allows Morphling to escape from Mass Serpent Ward
* Morphling can interrupt Shadow Shaman while he is shackling an ally with Adaptive Strike (Strength).
* With Ethereal Blade Morphling can quickly burst him down before he even has a chance to react.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Shadow Shaman
* With all 5 Meepos available, all of Shaman's wards will be disposed of very quickly.
* All of Shaman's disables are based around single target control, and he can at most only disable two Meepos, allowing the rest to easily lay waste to him, be it during the channel duration of Shackles or by using
Earthbind.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: Earth Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Anti-Mage,
Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
Ember Spirit
* Meepo is quite fragile in the early game and can be easily taken down by Flame Guard's and Searing Chains' damage. Later on, Meepo is very vulnerable to Sleight of Fist's damage due to Battle Fury's cleave on multiple Meepos.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist boosted by
Battle Fury and
Daedalus makes quick work of Meepo if clones are crowded around each other.
* Searing Chains interrupts Meepo's initiating because Meepo's clones do not have spell immunity.
Death Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Shaman
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as Silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Shaman
* As a caster, Anti-Mage's
Mana Break and
Mana Void are highly effective against him.
Ember Spirit
* Anti-mage is potentially good against Ember Spirit since he can burn Ember Spirit's mana, prevent him from escaping or using his skill. Anti-Mage has high magic resistance, which will reduce most of the damage from Ember Spirit's skill set. However, Anti-Mage lacks any form of stuns or lockdowns, and may struggle to kill Ember Spirit if he still has some mana left.
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Shaman
* Arc Warden with his Magnetic Field will protect allies from Mass Serpent Ward.
Slark
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 17%)Shadow Shaman
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Shaman
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Queen of Pain.
Drow Ranger
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 18%)Shadow Shaman
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as Silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Shadow Shaman
* By simply using Aphotic Shield, Abaddon can easily save his allies from heroes that apply long disables, such as Lion or
Shadow Shaman.
Axe
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Shaman
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for Shadow Shaman, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt Shadow Shaman's channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Ember Spirit
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Lycan,
Bloodseeker,
Anti-Mage,
Timbersaw
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Shadow Shaman
* Luna's high magical damage burst from Lucent Beam and
Eclipse can take advantage of Shadow Shaman's low health and strength gain.
* Without Black King Bar, Luna's
Lucent Beam and 0.25 Eclipse Mini-stun talent for
Eclipse can be used to disable Shadow Shaman while he is channeling
Shackles.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse combined with 0.25 Eclipse Mini-stun can repetively stun Shadow Shaman, and can even discourage him from even trying to use
Shackles.
* Luna is a natural Black King Bar wielder, and almost none of Shadow Shaman's spells can bypass spell immunity, except for
Mass Serpent Ward.
* Bear in mind, however, that if Shadow Shaman gets a jump on Luna first, he will be able to use Hex to disable Luna and burst her down before she can use
Black King Bar,
Lucent Beam or
Eclipse. In addition,
Moon Glaives cannot bounce on
Mass Serpent Wards at all.
Additional:
* Luna's high magical damage burst from Lucent Beam and
Eclipse can take advantage of Shadow Shaman's low health and strength gain.
* Without Black King Bar, Luna's
Lucent Beam and 0.25 Eclipse Mini-stun talent for
Eclipse can be used to disable Shadow Shaman while he is channeling
Shackles.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse combined with 0.25 Eclipse Mini-stun can repetively stun Shadow Shaman, and can even discourage him from even trying to use
Shackles.
* Luna is a natural Black King Bar wielder, and almost none of Shadow Shaman's spells can bypass spell immunity, except for
Mass Serpent Ward.
* Bear in mind, however, that if Shadow Shaman gets a jump on Luna first, he will be able to use Hex to disable Luna and burst her down before she can use
Black King Bar,
Lucent Beam or
Eclipse. In addition,
Moon Glaives cannot bounce on
Mass Serpent Wards at all.
Shadow Shaman
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance: Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Ember Spirit
* Shadowraze can easily remove the protection from Flame Guard and kill Ember Spirit due to his low health.
* Ember Spirit is very vulnerable to physical damage from Necromastery.
Shadow Shaman
* 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.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Shadow Shaman
* Ether Shock is a great farming ability as a handy short-cooldown nuke.
* Hex and
Shackles gives Rubick extra lockdown potential in ganks and teamfights.
* Mass Serpent Ward, should Rubick steal, serves as a powerful source for teamfighting, pushing, and acquring Roshan.
* Arcane Supremacy allows Rubick to cast
Hex and
Shackles at a further distance, which keeps Rubick at a safer position compared to
Shadow Shaman.
* Rubick can interrupt Shackles by casting
Telekinesis.
Ember Spirit
* Certain Hero's potential lies on the combo of their abilities. As an example, Ember Spirit can cast
Sleight of Fist and
Searing Chains together to root and damage enemies from a far distance. Yet for
Rubick, casting
Searing Chains can only catch enemies at a close distance, and
Sleight of Fist does little more than a scratch of right click.
* It is arguably possible to group spells together after getting Aghanim's Scepter, but stealing two separate spells from one single enemy is somewhat luxurious in an intense fight.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Impetus will deal huge amounts of damage when he uses a Fire Remnant to escape.
* Flame Guard is useless against Impetus as it deals Pure damage.
* Enchant can be used to dispel Flame Guard.
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with break can disable Untouchable for a while: Doom and
Shadow Demon (via
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper,
Shadow Shaman with Hex Breaks talent.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Shadow Shaman
* All of Shadow Shaman's abilities totally ruin Terrorblade: Ether Shock destroys his illusions, Hex prevents him from using Sunder or
Manta Style in bad situations, Shackles not only that prevent him from using
Sunder, but he has no way to cancel it and Mass Serpent Ward can help Shadow Shaman push faster than Terrorblade even in
Metamorphosis.
Additional:
* Ether Shock,
Mass Serpent Wards summoned from both,
Mass Serpent Ward and
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shackles can do great damage to both, Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Hex prevents Terrorblade from using Sunder or
Manta Style in bad situations.
Hex can also destroy one of his illusions.
* Shackles can damage Terrorblade and prevent him from using his abilities and items, whether to fight, survive, or dispel it in any way while also healing Shadow Shaman in process. In addition, Terrorblade has no solutions to cancel it.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shackles can also summon four more
Mass Serpent Wards to attack Terrorblade while he is disabled.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to illusion heroes like Terrorblade with Sleight of Fist. Terrorblade also has no way of preventing Ember Spirit from getting Activate Fire Remnant off. Additionally, Ember Spirit's ability to fight from long range as well as his wide skill set won't give many opportunities for Terrorblade to get Sunder off.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to Terrorblade and his illusions with Sleight of Fist.
* Terrorblade has no disable to lock down Ember Spirit and prevent him from escaping with Fire Remnant. In addition, he doesn't like purchasing disabling items like
Scythe of Vyse or
Abyssal Blade, which are the only solutions to deal with Ember Spirit.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Shaman
* Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* The stun and damage over time from Shackles mitigates Reactive Armor's HP and armor regen.
Ember Spirit
* 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.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Shadow Shaman
* Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward together with
Ether Shock can easily kill lots of Treants if played defensively.
* Hex and
Shackles can disrupt Nature's Prophet's escape attempts with Teleportation.
Additional:
* Mass Serpent Ward can kill lots of treants if played defensively.
* Mass Serpent Ward, Hex and Shackles can catch and kill a Nature's Prophet trying to use Teleportation.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can easily deal with Nature's Call by using his Flame Guard and with
Battle Fury. He also has multiple ways of escaping
Sprout. Additionally, Ember Spirit can break
Sprout's trees with Activate Fire Remnant and interrupt
Teleportation with Searing Chains.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist with
Battle Fury deals a lot of damage to Nature's Prophet's team if they stand close to his Treants, as well as killing all the Treants with ease.
* Ember Spirit with Fire Remnant and
Boots of Travel can be very active around the map, which enables him to quickly teleport and defend the objective Nature's Prophet is attacking whenever he tries to push.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Shaman
* Shackles and Mass Serpent Ward instantly destroy Refraction
Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains and Flame Guard quickly burn through Refraction instances exposing her low health pool.
* Templar Assassin has no inherent way to prevent Ember Spirit from escaping, a good Ember player also will be able to dodge her meld attack
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that are squishy by nature are an easy target for Spirit Breaker: Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Shadow Shaman
Shadow Shaman
* Can easily interrupt and disable Spirit Breaker with hex if being charged.
Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains can stop Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
* Activate Fire Remnant can be used to escape an approaching Spirit Breaker, or lead Spirit Breaker into a bad situation.
* Activate Fire Remnant and
Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to dodge Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
Marci
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that can keep Marci for a long time in one place so she can't pursue her targets, like Bane,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Invoker,
Disruptor and
Kunkka.
Additional:
* Shadow Shaman can provide an excellent counter-initiation against her Rebound. His abilities can shut down any of her tower dive attempts in the laning phase.
* Shackles keeps Marci stunned for an extended period of time,w asting her ultimate .A combo with Mass Serpent Ward only makes things worse for her, as her armor is low.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes that can reliably kite out Dispose, Unleash and dodge Rebound, like Ember Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Anti-Mage,
Faceless Void,
Puck or always build items like
Blink Dagger and
Force Staff.
Io
[wiki] rating: -1.2 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirit's weak area-of-effect: Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock.
Ember Spirit
* 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.
Muerta
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Shaman
* Shackles and
Hex can both be used on Muerta while she is using
Pierce the Veil. preventing
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Ember Spirit
* 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.
* Ember Spirit usually builds Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Soul Catcher and
Linken's Sphere to block Disruption and Demonic Purge.
* The best you can do against an Ember Spirit is to dispel his Flame Guard with your Demonic Purge.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Ember's magic damage build is able to burst down Alchemist due to his low strength gain and Alchemist's normal item pick up.
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit has much higher mobility in Fire Remnant than Void Spirit.
* Ember's Flame Guard is effective against Void Spirit's spells, as most of them deal magical damage.
* The root from Searing Chains prevents Void Spirit from using Dissimilate or Astral Step.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* The high mobility provided by Fire Remnant makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire.
* Flame Guard and
Searing Chains deal considerable magical damage to Windranger which she cannot avoid with Windrun.
* Searing chains also negates the mobility from Windrun.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape while Ruptured.
Additional:
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Bloodseeker while Ruptured.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Ember Spirit
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and she's an easy target for him. She has no real disables that can lock Ember Spirit down, and all of her skill damage can be negated with Flame Guard. The damage from Searing Chains, Flame Guard, and Sleigh of Fist can easily take her down.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Ember Spirit
* Zeus laneing against Ember is going to be punished with Sleight of Fist due to his low health pool
* Zeus's chip damage from Arc Lightning and other spells is nullified from Ember's Flame Guard.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Fire Remnant is an easy way to escape from Clockwerk's Power Cogs.
* Flame Guard blocks most of the magical damage Clockwerk does.
Troll Warlord
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Shadow Shaman
* Shadow Shaman's long disables are effective at kiting and wasting the duration of Battle Trance.
* Mass Serpent Ward are especially effective against Troll Warlord during Battle Trance, as trapping him inside them during the duration is effectively another hard disable, as Troll cannot attack the wards or use Phase Boots to escape.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions, especially when combined with Battle Fury.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist, allows Ember Spirit to destroy all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Flame Guard also deals significant damage to illusions, and protects against Spirit Lance.
* Phantom Rush is unable to catch Ember Spirit when he teleports to his Fire Remnants.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Shadow Shaman's many disables can lock down Weaver. Even with Linken's Sphere, Weaver might not be able to escape should Shadow Shaman uses Shackles quickly enough following Hex.
* Mass Serpent Wards can make short work of Weaver once he is locked down.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Ember Spirit
* A pre-placed Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Upheaval.
* Flame Guard blocks Shadow Word's damage.
* Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to attack from outside of Upheaval's range, and
Searing Chains lets him interrupt it.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard blocks Dark Willow's magical burst damage, and harms her if she tries to get close to attack with Bedlam.
* Sleight of Fist and
Fire Remnant makes it hard for Dark Willow to fully disable Ember Spirit.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Shadow Shaman
* Shackles prevents Chen from acting, and damages him while healing Shadow Shaman, also allowing Shadow Shaman's allies to kill him faster.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shackles can also summon four more
Mass Serpent Wards to attack Chen while he is disabled. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel
Reel In on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Ether Shock and
Mass Serpent Ward can often not only kill Chen's allies before he can save them with
Hand of God, but they can also be used to destroy Chen's creeps easily thanks to their high damage and area-of-effect.
* Hex will rrevent Chen from any attempt to save himself or his allies with
Hand of God.
Additional:
* Shackles prevents Chen from acting, and damages him while healing Shadow Shaman, also allowing Shadow Shaman's allies to kill him faster.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shackles can also summon four more
Mass Serpent Wards to attack Chen while he is disabled. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel {A|Shackles|Shadow Shaman
* Ether Shock and
Mass Serpent Ward can often not only kill Chen's allies before he can save them with
Hand of God, but they can also be used to destroy Chen's creeps easily thanks to their high damage and area-of-effect.
* Hex will prevent Chen from any attempt to save himself or his allies with
Hand of God.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard makes Dark Seer not deal any damage with his skills to Ember Spirit.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Shadow Shaman
* Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Shaman has used all his crowd control before entering a fight.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Shadow Shaman lockdowns.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
Sven
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Shadow Shaman
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
Invoker
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 14%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with long lockdowns: Shadow Shaman,
Legion Commander.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with
Phase Shift
* Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Chaos Knight with
Phantasm
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Tusk with
Snowball
* Juggernaut with
Omnislash
* Brewmaster with
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with
Infest
* Phoenix with
Supernova
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Storm Spirit is not only a potent Orchid Malevolence carrier, his
Electric Vortex provides an additional disable and
Overload provides a great slow. When paired with
Static Remnant, they can cut through Flame Guard fast.
* Ball Lightning not only provides great initiation upon Ember Spirit from any position anytime, but also helps dodge Sleight of Fist.
Shadow Shaman
* In general, squishy heroes that rely on escape often struggles against the amount of disables Shadow Shaman can bring. Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage and
Storm Spirit are among these.
Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard absorbs up to 500 magical damage (700 with Level 10 talents), which helps Ember Spirit survive against Storm Spirit's high magical damage.
* Searing Chains can root enemies up to 3 seconds, making Storm Spirit unable to escape with
Ball Lightning.
* Fire Remnant deals high magical damage when casting multiple instances at once, granting Ember Spirit the damage to burst Storm Spirit down in the early to mid game.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Shadow Shaman
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities: Ember Spirit,
Puck,
Weaver
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Shadow Shaman
* Like above, supports with reliable stuns can be a massive problem and force Black King Bar in fights unideally, such as
Shadow Shaman,
Lion,
Nyx Assassin.
Enigma
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons: Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit,
Morphling,
Ember Spirit
Magnus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 15%)Shadow Shaman
* 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.
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has
Battle Fury.
Razor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Ember Spirit
* Any hero with teleport abilities (e.g. Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit) can easily break Static Link.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has
Battle Fury.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Queen of Pain can be a good hero for dealing with Ember Spirit with
Orchid Malevolence, her pure damage nuke in
Sonic Wave and a slow in
Shadow Strike. However, Queen of Pain can be punished by Ember Spirit, as his Searing Chains prevents her from getting
Blink off.
Shadow Shaman
* Shadow Shaman has many disables to lock down Queen of Pain, preventing her from Blinking away, even through Linken's Sphere or her spell block talent.
* Mass Serpent Ward can tear through Queen of Pain's low health pool once she's locked down by
Hex &
Shackles.
Spectre
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Shaman
* Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and
Sniper) and supports (like
Dazzle and
Shadow Shaman).
Shadow Shaman
* Hex can be used immediately to destroy Spectre's illusion when she
Haunts.
* Shadow Shaman can use Shackles to lock down Spectre for his team.
* Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward and
Ether Shock help him push lanes and end the game early before Spectre can come online and take over the late game.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Support heroes with low mobility can be slowed further by Incapacitating Bite, and swarmed by Spiderlings for an easy kill: Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Dazzle,
Rubick,
Lich.
Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist keeps Ember Spirit invulnerable until he hits every unit in its area of effect allowing him to stall for large amounts of time against Broodmother and her large amounts of spiderlings, or potentially damaging them enough if equipped with an item to improve wave clearing such as
Battle Fury or
Maelstrom to prevent her pushes entirely.
* Flame Guard will damage any of Broodmother's spiders in an area, deterring her from attempting to kill him. It can also be used during Sleight of Fist to amplify damage done.
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit an escape from Broodmother that is unaffected by her Incapacitating Bite.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)Shadow Shaman
* Sniper can easily destroy Mass Serpent Ward from long range
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can close the distance between Sniper easily with his Activate Fire Remnant and further keep Sniper in place with
Searing Chains.
* With the help of Aghanim's Scepter, Sniper cannot outrun Ember Spirit or chase him, even if Sniper builds mobility items.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Shadow Shaman
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active: Bane,
Beastmaster,
Bloodseeker,
Clockwerk,
Doom,
Shadow Shaman.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions: Axe,
Ember Spirit,
Legion Commander,
Phoenix
Additional:
* Ember Spirit is evasive and can dodge close encounters with melee heroes like Chaos Knight. Ember Spirit can't be caught with the slow from Reality Rift, and Flame Guard and Sleight of Fist can bring
Phantasm's illusions down quickly.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook: Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with channeling spells are very easy targets for Jakiro's abilities: Crystal Maiden,
Dawnbreaker,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Fiend,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower: Bloodseeker,
Ember Spirit,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Weaver.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Shadow Shaman
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for Shadow Shaman, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt Shadow Shaman's channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman,
Lion
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit does minimal damage to Huskar until the very late game.
Shadow Shaman
* Mass Serpent Ward rips apart Huskar quickly due to his poor armor.
* As soon as Huskar jumps in, he will be vulnerable to Shadow Shaman's disables if he does not have Black King Bar.
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.
About
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
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.
How to interpret this data
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
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Shadow Shaman
*
Omniknight can dispel Hex or Shackles with
Heavenly Grace. He can also heal teammates which you disabled. The same goes to
Abaddon's
Aphotic Shield .
Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by
Purification is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit, as well as a good way of saving teammates.
Guardian Angel will temporarily save his allies from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that will get
Orchid Malevolence to counter it.
*