* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion, Night Stalker, or Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
* 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.
* False Promise will not save an ally from Culling Blade if their health is low enough.
* Fate's Edict, offensively or defensively, does little to protect Oracle's allies from the majority of Axe's damage.
* Outworld Destroyer can steal more mana with Astral Imprisonment from Skywrath Mage with Shield of the Scion (granted by Aghanim's Shard). Shield of the Scion grants Skywrath Mage bonus intelligence every time he deals magic damage to an enemy hero with his abilities. The higher his intelligence, the larger his mana pool. Since Astral Imprisonment steals based on the target's max mana, Outworld Destroyer can steal much more mana from Skywrath Mage.
* 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.
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy Black King Bar.
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.
* Mana Break drains Skywrath Mage of his mana, slowing him and dealing bonus damage while rendering him unable to cast his spells.
* Blink makes it incredibly easy for Anti-Mage to close the gap between himself Skywrath Mage to right-click him down. He can also use Blink to get away and escape into fog of war.
* Anti-Mage passively reduces enemy spell damage with Counterspell, and can activate the ability to block and send back Skywrath's Ancient Seal or Arcane Bolt, causing him to silence himself or deal massive damage to himself.
* Skywrath Mage's large mana-costs makes him an easy target for Mana Void.
* Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
* Anti-Mage can withstand magical burst damage much better than other carries, making him effective against nukers: Lich, Necrophos, Oracle, and Leshrac.
Additional:
* Oracle has minimal damage potential against Anti-Mage due to Counterspell, and may even have some ability damage reflected at himself.
* Anti-Mage can easily overwhelm Oracle with Mana Break and Mana Void.
* Blink allows Anti-Mage to easily chase and take advantage of Oracle's low mobility.
* 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.
* Oracle's burst damage is ineffective against Dispersion.
* Disarm provided by Fate's Edict is not as significant debilitation for Spectre as it might be for other carries since She can do damage even without landing attacks.
Additional:
* Oracle's burst damage is not enough to take down Spectre due to Dispersion.
* Disarm from Fate's Edict does not hinder Spectre that much, since she can deal damage even without landing a single attack.
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
* In general, heroes that deal burst in multiple instances will trigger Borrowed Time and heal Abaddon for a large amount, such as Skywrath Mage, Techies, Juggernaut, Shadow Shaman, or Ogre Magi.
Additional:
* Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
* Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.
* Because Oracle uses few, powerful instances of damage to kill enemies, Templar Assassin's Refraction and Visage's Gravekeeper's Cloak can absorb his burst damage.
* Elder Titan's Echo Stomp can turn into a 5 second stun on an ally under the effect of False Promise, as it delays all damage and makes it impossible to break the damage threshold of Echo Stomp.
* Oracle cannot easily deal with swarms of units, making him weak against heroes like Phantom Lancer or Broodmother.
* Skywrath Mage's abilities are single targeted and he can't use Mystic Flare to its fullest potential, since all Meepos spread the damage between them. He also has no disables to prevent Meepo from Poofing to another one (unless he can get Ancient Seal off first).
* Slow-moving projectiles: Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* Mind Flare turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him and deals heavy damage.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
* Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
* Oracle's reliance on spamming his spells can be easily hindered by Silencer's Arcane Curse.
* Last Word and Global Silence negates Oracle's attempt to save his allies with his spells.
* Fate's Edict is useless against Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage.
* Fortune's End can nullify Arcane Curse, Last Word, and Global Silence, if cast at the right time with the right targets.
* Fate's Edict can prevent Silencer from attacking, which he relies on with Glaives of Wisdom, for a lot of his damage.
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden, Skywrath Mage etc)
* Once you get a Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like Zeus, Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut, Lion, or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion, Night Stalker, or Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
* Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like Silencer's Last Word, magic resistance like Oracle's Fate's Edict, and dispels like Legion Commander's Press the Attack all make his abilities less effective.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
* Heroes with the ability to heal allies will not be able to heal heroes affected by Doom: Chen, Dazzle, Io, Oracle, Omniknight, Witch Doctor, Winter Wyvern, Abaddon, etc.
* In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.
* Heroes with area dispel can kill multiple skeletons at once: Brewmaster, Oracle.
* Skywrath Mage's armor and agility gain is very low, so when Huskar's Burning Spears stack they can take him down very quickly at any point of the game.
* Berserker's Blood grants bonuses as Huskar uses Burning Spears to harass Skywrath Mage, granting him attack speed, magic resistance, and strength as health regen, making it possible that Huskar can harass Skywrath Mage out of lane and sustain through his magic burst through staying injured throughout lane, or even the game.
* Life Break allows Huskar to jump onto Skywrath Mage, closing the distance between them and busting him down so he cannot run. This can be combed with Inner Fire, adding a movement speed slow if Aghanim's Shard is applied so Skywrath Mage cannot escape.
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion, Lina, Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal can silence Jakiro and make him vulnerable to magical spells up to 6 seconds.
* Skywrath Mage can usually burst down Jakiro with his high damage magical spells.
* Fate's Edict allows Oracle to make allies spell immune, allowing him to save allies from Jakiro's spells.
* Fate's Edict can be cast onto Jakiro to disarm him and prevent him from pushing with his Liquid Fire.
* False Promise allows Oracle to free allies from Jakiro's Ice Path.
* Ancient Seal instantly shuts down Dark Willow's abilities, rendering her defenseless against his high burst damage spells, while she cannot cast spells of her own.
* Mystic Flare deals immense burst damage in an area, damaging Dark Willow through Shadow Realm.
* Fortune's End not being disjointable is almost an ensured disable if Dark Willow tries to escape with Shadow Realm. Dispels Cursed Crown and Terrorize.
* Fate's Edict negates all her magic damage in case she catches a single hero.
* False Promise's strong dispel removes Dark Willow's disables.
Additional:
* Fortune's End can easily dispel Cursed Crown before it times out and stuns. He can also save a stunned ally with False Promise.
* Fate's Edict can easily negate Bedlam's over-time damage, since the spell provides no form of control. Similarly, he can also negate the magic burst from Shadow Realm.
* Fortune's End can dispel the fear effect from Terrorize, and it can remove the root from Bramble Maze if cast quick enough. Be mindful that Fortune's End only dispels your allies' debuffs on the primary target.
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, and even Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
* Phoenix does significant magic damage over time which can either be dispelled or negated by Fate's Edict.
* Oracle's burst damage potential can prove lethal to Phoenix, as they already have to sacrifice health to cast their basic skills.
* 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.
* False Promise can dispel the stun from Cold Feet and can save an ally that's about to shatter from Ice Blast, even allowing healing with Purifying Flames by delaying it until after the debuff expires.
* Purifying Flames allows Oracle to deny his allies if they're affected by Ice Blast. If he brings his allies' health to or below the shatter threshold, it will count as him denying the ally. However, this does not work on Oracle himself.
* Fate's Edict provides 100% magic resistance, making it good against all of Ancient Apparition's abilities at all stages of the game.
* Fortune's End can dispel Cold Feet from allies.
Additional:
* False Promise can prevent the shatter from Ice Blast and Fate's Edict can protect an ally from the magical damage over time for a while.
* Oracle can deny allies who are frostbitten. If he uses Purifying Flames to reach the shatter threshold, it will count as a deny.
* Fortune's End can dispel Cold Feet on affected allies, preventing them from getting frozen.
* Heroes with long disables, like Lion, Night Stalker, or Legion Commander, can prevent Oracle from using spells or items.
* Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
* Fate's Edict prevents Legion Commander from attacking for a few seconds, potentially saving Oracle's ally.
* Fortune's End dispels Press the Attack's healing and attack speed buff, as well as the movement speed bonus from Overwhelming Odds.
* False Promise protects allies and prevents Legion Commander from winning Duels and gaining bonus damage.
Additional:
* Provided that the enemy team does not have an Axe, Oracle can guarantee that his ally survives for the duration of the Duel with False Promise and has decent nuke potential to help ally to win a Duel. He can also disarm Legion Commander with Fate's Edict.
* Oracle can dispel enemy buffs like Overwhelming Odds and Press the Attack with Fortune's End.
* Heroes with nukes: Bane, Lich, Lion, Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
* A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
* The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.
* Heroes with little health or magic resistance are easily picked off with Oracle's magic burst, such as Skywrath Mage, Crystal Maiden, or Enchantress.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* False Promise dispels Flaming Lasso.
* Fortune's End can root Batrider after he uses Flaming Lasso. It can also dispel Sticky Napalm and Flamebreak.
* Fate's Edict when used on a Lasso'd target will leave them immune to magical damage, making it difficult to burst them quickly before the Lasso ends.
* Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
* Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
* Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
* Arcane Bolt can target Terrorblade's low health pool in the laning phase.
* Ancient Seal can prevent Terrorblade from casting Sunder.
* Mystic Flare can be used to great effect to burst Terrorblade down before he gets a Manta Style or a Black King Bar.
* Oracle can negate all of Techies' skills with Fate's Edict, as they are all magic damage. Fate's Edict can also be used to search and trigger Proximity Mines when crossing mined territory.
* Oracle can dispel Reactive Tazer off Techies, as well as the silence from Blast Off!, with Fortune's End.
* Oracle can further delay Techies' burst damage capability with False Promise.
Additional:
* Fate's Edict gives 100% magic resistance, which prevents most of Techies' damage.
* Oracle's Fortune's End dispels Reactive Tazer buff from Techies allowing him to be attacked. However, Reactive Tazer will instantly perform the area of effect disarm that is normally applied at the end of the duration.
* Fortune's End will also dispel Blast Off silence, Techies' Etheral Blade, Proximity Mines' magic resistance reduction, and Sticky Bomb's slow. However beware that it will only dispel Sticky Bomb's first or second instance of slow and not the damage, which will trigger as normal.
* Fortune's End applies a basic dispel which can be used to dispel Corrosive Haze, or even Slardar's own Guardian Sprint.
* False Promise is able to dispel Corrosive Haze and Slithereen Crush stun/slow from any allies Oracle chooses to cast it on.
* Fate's Edict can also be cast on Slardar to prevent him from proccing his Bash of the Deep.
* Oracle's high magic damage output can easily take down Rubick's low health pool.
* Because Oracle can combo spells in rapid succession (due to low cooldowns), it may be difficult for Rubick to Spell Steal False Promise. This scenario can even be avoided by shift queueing Fortune's End and casting it immediately, as it has no cast point, or by staying in the back line of fights if out of mana.
* As a position based hero, Rubick will have a very hard time against Fortune's End due to its absurd range and very long root duration.
* Similar to Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
* An Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
* Root and silence are Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
* If he builds Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.
* During the laning stage, Oracle's Purifying Flames nullifies any damage that Heartstopper Aura might inflict.
* Fate's Edict and False Promise can protect an ally from Reaper's Scythe.
* Oracle can dispel Ghost Shroud with Fortune's End.
Additional:
* Fortune's End can dispel Ghost Shroud, negating the skill's utility. Also it's worth noting that Necrophos takes additional magic damage when in Ethereal state, which makes Purifying Flames a powerful nuke against him.
* Fate's Edict fully negates the damage from Reaper's Scythe, which its own delayed animation makes it relatively easy to predict and nullify.
* Oracle can negate and shut down Primal Beast simply with Fate's Edict, especially in the early game, as a majority of his damage-dealing spells are magic.
* Oracle can interrupt Primal Beast's Onslaught charge with a well-timed Fortune's End.
* Primal Beast's lethal burst damage combos can be further stalled with False Promise; combined with Fate's Edict and regen from Purifying Flames, Oracle can even completely negate Primal Beast's offense.
Additional:
* Fate's Edict completely negates all of Primal Beast's major damage-dealing spells in the early game and can render Primal Beast useless when cast on a target he is focusing, or in Oracle's defense against Primal Beast himself.
* Fortune's End keeps Primal Beast in place, especially while trampling or in the middle of an Onslaught charge.
* False Promise can interrupt Primal Beast's abilities, as well as further delay Primal Beast from dealing lethal burst damage. In combination with Fortune's End, Oracle can potentially save an ally from Primal Beast's spell combos.
* A good Skywrath Mage with quick fingers will punish Queen of Pain for blinking aggressively. Ancient Seal is a six second silence with no cast time, so he can interrupt either her Shadow Strike or Sonic Wave, and a good Mystic Flare on top of that will seal the deal for her.
* Ancient Seal also has pretty good range so he could get it off before she blinks away.
* Fate's Edict can disarm Troll, rendering him useless in a teamfight, especially if he has already used Battle Trance.
* Fortune's End and Purifying Flames can provide ample magic damage to help burst down Troll Warlord quickly in the early to mid game.
* False Promise can save an ally from Troll Warlord's initiation, forcing him to switch targets and lose his Fervor stacks, or waste time during Battle Trance.
* It is especially easy for Oracle to negate the damage from Maledict, and even heal through it with Fate's Edict and Purifying Flames.
* If by some miracle an enemy is still about to die because of Maledict, he can still save him with False Promise.
* Ancient Seal's instant cast time will often silence Brewmaster before he can do anything.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Skywrath Mage's massive magical damage.
* Oracle's Fate's Edict will protect an ally from Leshrac's nuking damage.
* Oracle's False Promise can dispel Leshrac's stun and slow from his abilities, allowing an ally to escape.
* Fortune's End can stop Leshrac from chasing opponents or running away.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut, Lion, or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Additional:
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
* Fate's Edict cripples many heroes who rely on attacks, such as Phantom Assassin, Sven, or Enchantress, without a dispel or a Black King Bar.
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
* Fate's Edict gives full immunity from Ogre Magi's mostly magical damage.
* Fortune's End can dispel Ignite (when used on allies) and Bloodlust (when used on enemies).
* False Promise can dispel Ignite and Fireblast.
* Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses Blink Dagger to initiate.
* Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
* Fortune's End dispells Marci's Sidekick, removing additional damage and lifesteal.
* Fate's Edict disarms Marci, preventing her from attacking with Unleash. Also it is useful against Marci or her ally affected by Sidekick.
* False Promise is a great tool to save an ally focused by Marci.
* Fortune's End dispels Ion Shell and Surge, making any gank attempt on Dark Seer in the laning phase likely to succeed.
* Fate's Edict prevents all magical damage that comes from Dark Seer's abilities.
* Fortune's End dispels Ion Shell on creeps, which Dark Seer relies on to farm and zone.
Additional:
* Fortune's End can dispel Ion Shell, a skill that helps Dark Seer immensely in the laning phase, as well as Surge, a move-speed buff, effectively allowing Oracle to control Dark Seer, especially in the laning phase.
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
* 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.
* Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast Winter's Curse on him. And if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
* However, bear in mind that Skywrath Mage has seriously awful armor, and that can make him an adequate target to being turned against his own team with Winter's Curse, which can result in his death quickly.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
* Fortune's End's AoE dispel will remove Heavenly Grace and Guardian Angel.
Additional:
* Oracle can dispel Heavenly Grace (which he can also bait out with Fate's Edict).
* With Fortune's End, Oracle can dispel Guardian Angel in an area of effect.
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
* 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.
* Fortune's End and False Promise easily dispel many crippling debuffs, such as Venomancer's Venomous Gale, or Skywrath Mage's Ancient Seal.
Additional:
* Fortune's End can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting from allies.
* Fate's Edict grants 100% magic resistance to target, inhibiting the damage from Venomancer abilities.
* Heroes that can protect or dispel stunned allies such as Legion Commander, Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Demon and Oracle can reduce the effectiveness of Sacred Arrow.
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, 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.
* Fortune's End can catch out or impair position-based heroes with low mobility, such as Sniper or Razor.
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
* Heroes with little health or magic resistance are easily picked off with Oracle's magic burst, such as Skywrath Mage, Crystal Maiden, or Enchantress.
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
* Fortune's End can catch out or impair position-based heroes with low mobility, such as Sniper or Razor.
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition, Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences: Weaver, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
* 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.
* Heroes that can purge his slow and disables are very difficult to go on and their team: Abaddon, Oracle.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her: Zeus, Tinker, Leshrac, Viper, Skywrath Mage, Lion, Lina, Venomancer.
* Skywrath Mage's Mystic Flare can deal huge damage to Clockwerk inside his Power Cogs.
* Heroes with strong dispels can dispel Bane's disables from their allies: Oracle, Legion Commander, Omniknight.
* Lich is heavily reliant on his abilities to contribute to team fights, so be wary of enemies that can Silence: Bloodseeker, Death Prophet, Silencer, Drow Ranger, Skywrath Mage.
* Fate's Edict cripples many heroes who rely on attacks, such as Phantom Assassin, Sven, or Enchantress, without a dispel or a Black King Bar.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate: Luna's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse, Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian, Axe's Berserker's Call, Mars's Arena of Blood, Jakiro's Macropyre, Dual Breath and Ice Path, Naga Siren's Song of the Siren, Razor's Eye of the Storm and Plasma Field, Lina's Light Strike Array, Broodmother's Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter, Elder Titan's Earth Splitter and Echo Stomp, Alchemist's Unstable Concoction and Acid Spray, Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave, Dark Seer's Wall of Replica and Vacuum, Venomancer's Noxious Plague and Poison Nova from Aghanim's Scepter, Oracle's Fortune's End and Rain of Destiny from Aghanim's Shard, Bloodseeker's Blood Rite, Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse, Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls, Batrider's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Flaming Lasso, Firefly, Flamebreak and Sticky Napalm, Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast, Sand King's Epicenter, Sand Storm and Burrowstrike, Gyrocopter's Call Down, Ember Spirit's Sleight of Fist, Death Prophet's Exorcism and Silence, Monkey King's Wukong's Command, Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Muerta's The Calling, Medusa's Stone Gaze, Zeus's Nimbus from Aghanim's Scepter. Dark Willow's Bramble Maze, Pangolier's Swashbuckle, Grimstroke's Soulbind, Ink Swell and Stroke of Fate, Earthshaker's Echo Slam and Fissure, Puck's Dream Coil and Waning Rift, Winter Wyvern's Winter's Curse, Magnus's Reverse Polarity.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
* False Promise effectively nullifies Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* Purifying Flames kills Beastmaster's Hawk instantly and Boar with two casts.
* 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.
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
* Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid game.
* Concussive Shot and Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
* Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
* Time Walk and Backtrack allow Faceless Void to easily negate Oracle's burst damage.
* Time Dilation is effective against Oracle's low-cooldown spells. Although dispellable with Fortune's End, it can still catch Oracle off guard if Fortune's End is on cooldown.
* However, False Promise is one of the best abilities in the game to delay or even potentially save any ally caught in Chronosphere. Combined with Fate's Edict, a well-positioned Oracle denies Faceless Void and his team from attempts at solo-Chronosphering key targets to open up a teamfight.
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere; Sniper, Skywrath Mage, etc.
* Any hero that can nullify effects of Chronosphere: (Keeper of the Light with Aghanim's Scepter during daytime, Winter Wyvern), banishing him or Faceless Void (Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Demon, Earth Spirit with Aghanim's Scepter) or protecting him in other ways (Dazzle, Oracle, Abaddon) can greatly limit Chronosphere's potential.
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Additional:
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and Decrepify won't help Pugna at all.
* All of Pugna's damage is magical, which can get blocked by Fate's Edict's 100% magic resistance.
* Oracle has two abilities that apply a dispel, which can easily remove Decrepify on his ally or Oracle.
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high burst like Juggernaut, Lion, or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
* 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.
* Heroes who can take advantage of Oracle's low mobility or catch him out of position, such as Clinkz and Anti-Mage, can easily pick him off.
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition, Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences: Weaver, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Io, Witch Doctor, etc.
* Oracle with Fortune's End and False Promise
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* Abaddon with Aphotic Shield and Borrowed Time
* Huskar with Life Break
* Juggernaut with Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with Press the Attack
* Lifestealer with Rage and Infest
* Naga Siren with Mirror Image
* Omniknight with Heavenly Grace
* Oracle with Fortune's End and False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with Doppelganger
* Slark with Dark Pact
* Ursa with Enrage
* Weaver with Time Lapse
* Tidehunter with Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
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Skywrath Mage
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability Meld.
Additional:
* Templar Assassin easily withstands all the damage from Skyrwrath Mage, thanks to its first ability Refraction. In addition, Templar Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage with a single hit from under the second ability Meld.
Oracle
* Because Oracle uses few, powerful instances of damage to kill enemies, Templar Assassin's Refraction and Visage's Gravekeeper's Cloak can absorb his burst damage.