* Terrorblade starts out with and gains a lot of armor from his agility growth. His illusions also make it difficult for Slardar to focus down the real Terrorblade.
* Terrorblade can easily take advantage of Io's weak durability with Reflection and
Metamorphosis.
* As Io relies on boosting his and his Tethered target's attack speed with
Overcharge, Terrorblade can take advantage of this with
Reflection, which can damage and slow both, Io and his
Tethered target.
* Spirits's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
* Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Terrorblade will have plenty of time to save himself with Sunder.
* However, Terrorblade has no way of stopping Io to escape with Tether or to stop both, Io and his
Tethered target to escape with
Relocate besides
Terror Wave from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
* Terrorblade can easily take advantage of Io's weak durability with Reflection and
Metamorphosis.
* As Io relies on boosting his and his Tethered target's attack speed with
Overcharge, Terrorblade can take advantage of this with
Reflection, which can damage and slow both, Io and his
Tethered target.
* Spirits's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Terrorblade's illusions from
Conjure Image and
Manta Style.
* Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Terrorblade will have plenty of time to save himself with Sunder.
* However, Terrorblade has no way of stopping Io to escape with Tether or to stop both, Io and it's
Tethered target to escape with
Relocate besides
Terror Wave from
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Illusion heroes like the aforementioned Phantom Lancer or
Naga Siren, or heroes that tend to buy
Manta Style, like
Luna or
Juggernaut, will give Slardar a hard time, as his damage is single-targeted.
* Ensnare and
Song of the Siren can be used to cancel both,
Tether and
Relocate and to close the distance on Io.
* Rip Tide combined with illusions from
Mirror Image often finish off Io before he can save himself with
Tether or
Relocate.
* Spirits's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Naga Siren's illusions from
Mirror Image.
* Once Naga Siren buys Aghanim's Scepter, she can gain access to
Reel In, which not only allows her to cancel both,
Tether and
Relocate, but also to pull Io to herself and her team while he is affected with
Ensnare, similarly to Batrider's
Flaming Lasso.
* Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Song of the Siren can also heal the hero Io and his
Tethered targed try to gank.
Additional:
* Ensnare and
Song of the Siren can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate and to close the distance on Io.
* Rip Tide combined with illusions from
Mirror Image often finish off Io before he can save himself.
* Spirit's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Naga Siren's illusions from Mirror Image.
* Once Naga Siren buys Aghanim's Scepter, she can gain access to
Reel In, which not only allows her to cancel both, Tether and Relocate, but also to pull Io to herself and her team while he is affected with
Ensnare, similarly to Batrider's
Flaming Lasso.
* Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Song of the Siren can also heal the hero Io and his tethered targed try to gank.
* Phantom Lancer's Doppelganger has a low cooldown and applies a basic dispel on PL, making it hard to keep Corrosive Haze on him.
* Phantom Lancer usually purchases Manta Style which provides another basic dispel to remove Corrosive Haze with.
* Besides Slithereen Crush, Slardar does not have another way to deal with illusions and has a low mana pool, which allows Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade to quickly build up illusions while draining Slardar's mana.
* Phantom Rush outruns Guardian Sprint, forcing Slardar to Blink away or use Slithereen Crush defensively to avoid being killed.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Illusion heroes like the aforementioned Phantom Lancer or
Naga Siren, or heroes that tend to buy
Manta Style, like
Luna or
Juggernaut, will give Slardar a hard time, as his damage is single-targeted.
* Lucent Beam can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
* Like with Leshrac's Diabolic Edict,
Lightning Storm and
Pulse Nova abilities. Luna's
Moon Glaives and
Eclipse abilities can make short work of Io and its tethered ally, particularly when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
* Lucent Beam and 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent for
Eclipse can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
* Luna's Moon Glaives and
Eclipse abilities can make short work of Io and its tethered ally, particularly when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Abaddon can cast Aphotic Shield on any of his allies to immediately dispel Corrosive Haze and/or the stun and the slow components of Slithereen Crush.
* All of Slardar's debuffs are also removed if Abaddon's Borrowed Time triggers.
* Lich's Chain Frost forces Io to either give up providing buff to his ally with
Tether or suffer devastating damage with his
Tethered ally.
* Lich can easily use Sinister Gaze to disable Io from getting away with
Tether or
Relocate.
* 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.
* Cold Embrace can render the extra attack speed from
Overcharge meaningless.
* Splinter Blast and
Winter's Curse are very affective against Io, as it has to stay close to his
Tethered target.
* Slardar has high priority on building moblity items such as Blink Dagger rather than tank items. Zeus can easily deal large amount of damage to him if not caught out of position first.
* Fireblast is a good tool to interrupt Io during its escapes through Tether.
* Ignite can be one of the few spells with enough total damage to out-trade the sustained healing Io provides for its fellow laner.
* However, picking other supports that focus less on the laning phase is generally a better choice against Io.
* Disruptor can always Glimpse back Io or his target after he Relocated nearby.
* Even better, thanks to the indicator on the ground, you can even preemptively drop Static Storm and Kinetic Field on the spot they will relocate to.
* Thunder Strike and Glimpse are also good tools to bring back an Io that Tethered away in the fog of war.
Additional:
* Glimpse directly negates Relocate.
* Kinetic Field prevents Io from escaping with
Tether.
* Static Storm can silence and damage both, Io and it's tethered target. And it can also mute both, Io and it's tethered target when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Charge of Darkness can be used to escape or counter-initiate against a Relocate gank.
* Greater Bash and
Nether Strike is devastating due to Io's low armor, and can even knock it away from his
Tethered target.
* Ice Blast prevents Io from healing an ally with Tether and prevents healing from
Overcharge
* Io is a common Mekansm builder which is useless if he is affected by Ice Blast.
Additional:
* Ice Blast prevents Io from healing the target.
* Ancient Apparition can easily harass Io on lane with Chilling Touch due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys
Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
* Chilling Touch combined with
Ice Vortex makes it nearly impossible for Io to escape from
Cold Feet.
Ice Vortex can also make Io and it's tethered target more vulnerable to Ancient Apparition and his allies's magical damage.
* Phantom Strike allows Phantom Assassin jump directly to Io.
* Coup de Grace can make a short work of Io's low health and armor.
* Soulbind can target both Io and its Tethered ally, allowing Grimstroke and his team to target both with single target spells. Should Io try to
Relocate, Phantom's Embrace can stop its channel to prevent escape.
Additional:
* Grimstroke can catch Io and his Tethered ally easily with
Soulbind as Io has a tendency to
Tether himself with an ally frequently, which also makes them easier targets for
Soulbind.
* Io is highly vulnerable to disables. Hence, Grimstroke's Phantom's Embrace is a great ability to hinder Io's potential.
* Io is a hero who needs to be close to it's tethered target to make it effective, and that's where Leshrac gets the advantage thanks to many of his area-of-effect abilities.
* Lightning Storm will usually hit both Io and its tethered target since both will be close enough for the lightning to jump.
* Diabolic Edict and
Pulse Nova hit all units near Leshrac, meaning he can do colossal damage to both, Io and its tethered target.
Additional:
* Lightning Storm will usually hit both Io and his Tethered target since both will be close enough for the lightning to jump. It can then be followed up by Split Earth.
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova hit all units near Leshrac, meaning he can do colossal damage to Io and his Tethered target.
* Poison Touch allows Dazzle to harass both, Io and it's tethered target on lane.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Poison Touch can also hex both, Io and it's tethered target, preventing them from escaping with Relocate, and also disarming them, silencing them, muting them and rendering them helpless against Dazzle and his allies.
* Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Dazzle will have plenty of time to save an ally with Shallow Grave from gank by Io and it's tethered target.
* Shadow Wave will always hit both, Io and it's tethered target if they are near the ally Dazzle uses
Shadow Wave on, while healing Dazzle's allies near them.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Shadow Wave can bounce on both, Io and it's tethered target, causing them both to take damage and to be attacked by Dazzle. And unlike Io who doesn't get healed while using Tether, Shadow Wave will always heal Dazzle no matter on which of his allies he uses it on.
* Bad Juju will cause both, Io and it's tethered target to lose armor every time Dazzle casts a spell while strengthening armor of Dazzle's allies.
Additional:
* Poison Touch allows Dazzle to harass both, Io and it's
Tethered target on lane.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Poison Touch can also hex both, Io and it's
Tethered target, preventing them from escaping with Relocate, and also disarming them, silencing them, muting them and rendering them helpless against Dazzle and his allies.
* Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Dazzle will have plenty of time to save an ally with Shallow Grave from gank by Io and it's
Tethered target.
* Shadow Wave will always hit both, Io and it's
Tethered target if they are near the ally Dazzle uses
Shadow Wave on, while healing Dazzle's allies near them.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Shadow Wave allows Dazzle
Shadow Wave directly on Io and it's
Tethered target which can also bounce on both, Io and it's tethered target, causing them both to take damage and to be attacked by Dazzle. And unlike Io who doesn't get healed while using Tether, Shadow Wave will always heal Dazzle no matter on which of his allies he uses it on.
* Bad Juju will cause both, Io and it's tethered target to lose armor every time Dazzle casts a spell while strengthening armor of Dazzle's allies.
* Jakiro's area-of-effect ability arsenal allows him to affect multiple heroes at once, giving Io difficulties in saving them as he can only heal one hero at a time with Tether.
* Ice Path can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
* Jakiro commonly buys Rod of Atos that can be used to cancel Relocate, prevent Io in escaping with Tether and make Io easy target for
Ice Path and
Macropyre.
Additional:
* Jakiro's area-of-effect ability arsenal allows him to affect multiple heroes at once, giving Io difficulties in saving them as he can only heal one hero at a time with Tether.
* Ice Path can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
* Jakiro commonly buys Rod of Atos that can be used to cancel Relocate, prevent Io in escaping with Tether and make Io easy target for
Ice Path and
Macropyre.
* Homing Missile can be used to cancel escape attempts with
Relocate.
* Flak Cannon allows Gyrocopter to attack both, Io and his
Tethered target, especially when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Rocket Barrage and
Call Down allow Gyrocopter to deal serious damage to both Io and his
Tethered target.
Additional:
* Homing Missile can be used to cancel escape attempts with
Relocate.
* Flak Cannon allows Gyrocopter to attack both, Io and his
Tethered target, especially when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Rocket Barrage and
Call Down allow Gyrocopter to deal serious damage to both Io and his
Tethered target.
* Batrider's Flaming Lasso can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with
Relocate and drag him away from his
Tethered target. And since Io doesn't like buying
Linken's Sphere, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
* Io's tendency to stick close to it's Tethered target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's
Tether against him.
Additional:
* Batrider's Flaming Lasso can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with
Relocate and drag him away from his
Tethered target. And since Io doesn't like buying
Linken's Sphere, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
* Io's tendency to stick close to it's Tethered target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's
Tether against him.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes whose abilities can affect multiple enemies at once: Dawnbreaker,
Ember Spirit,
Lina,
Luna,
Jakiro,
Leshrac,
Invoker,
Muerta,
Dazzle.
* Tidehunter's
Kraken Shell dispels Corrosive Haze and Bash of the Deep's stun if enough damage is taken.
Anchor Smash and Kraken Shell's damage block also reduces Slardar's damage.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Enigma can be a perfect counter-initiator with his ultimate. A perfectly timed Black Hole will turn the tide of any initiation, especially from heroes like; Spirit Breaker,
Legion Commander,
Axe,
Puck, and
Slardar.
* 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 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 are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* Medusa cares less than other heroes about armor reduction, since
Mana Shield blocks 70% of all damage without taking armor/magic resistance into consideration. This makes 60% of your Corrosive Haze ineffective until Medusa's mana is drained.
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter,
Bristleback,
Slardar.
* Squishy heroes (Io,
Crystal Maiden,
Lina...), as Earth Spirit can deal tons of damage with Magnetize.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* 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 easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* 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 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 are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* 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.
* Heroes whose abilities can affect multiple enemies at once: Dawnbreaker,
Ember Spirit,
Lina,
Luna,
Jakiro,
Leshrac,
Invoker,
Muerta,
Dazzle.
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe,
Death Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Slark,
Centaur Warrunner,
Bristleback,
Medusa,
Mars.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Corrosive Haze reveals Pudge's location, making it hard for him to use Meat Hook from the fog of war on Slardar's teammates or Slardar himself.
* Slithereen Crush interrupts Pudge while he is using Dismember.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to avoid Meat Hook.
Additional:
* While Slardar has Guardian Sprint activated, Rot cannot slow him and
Meat Hook is easier to avoid.
* Slithereen Crush allows Slardar to interrupt Dismember at close range (when Slardar is not a target).
* Corrosive Haze reveals Pudge's location, making it very difficult for him to land hooks from the fog.
* Tether and Overcharge makes it much harder for Pudge to kill a target with Meat Hook, and Relocate can save the Io's ally while
Dismember is being channeled.
* While Slardar has Guardian's Sprint activated, Powershot cannot slow him and is easier to avoid.
* Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep help Slardar put Windranger in place, even when she uses Windrun to escape.
* Corrosive Haze from Slardar is very effective against Windranger's already low armor. This becomes even worse if she has Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Windrun, because it also reveals her position and allowing his allies to use their abilities on Windranger.
* Note that the invisibility provided by Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Windrun is not broken upon attacking, casting abilities or using items, so it's vital to cast Corrosive Haze beforehand.
* 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.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes who can provide True Sight or semi-reveal enemy heroes as Nature's Prophet is prone to buying Shadow Blade:
Bounty Hunter,
Slardar,
Spectre,
Zeus,
Spirit Breaker.
* Nature's Prophet is extremely easy to gank with Relocate while he's split pushing.
* Tether on a friendly unit can destroy Nature Prophet's trees should he surround himself with Sprout as a defense.
* Weaver relies on Shukuchi to escape and kite enemy heroes. Slardar's Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver, who is already a very frail target.
* Weaver usually builds Linken's Sphere, Corrosive Haze can be used to pop the spell block, additionally the level 25 undispellable talent will prevent Weaver from removing Corrosive Haze with
Time Lapse, allowing allied heroes to use their abilities on Weaver.
Additional:
* Corrosive Haze lowers armor and reveals Weaver during Shukuchi, who is already a frail target. In addition, Weaver usually builds
Linken's Sphere, and
Corrosive Haze can be used to "pop" the spell block. His level 25 talent can also make Corrosive Haze undispellable by Time Lapse, which puts Weaver in an even worse situation.
* Guardian Sprint can dodge Weaver's bugs with the movement speed bonus.
* Slardar deals entirely physical damage. He does not have to worry about Counterspell.
* Slithereen Crush and
Bash of the Deep prevent Anti-Mage from using Blink, the latter even if Anti-Mage activates
Black King Bar.
* Corrosive Haze allows allies to take down Anti-Mage before he has a chance to Blink, and maintains vision over him even if he does Blink away.
Additional:
* Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep deals physical damage, bypassing the magic resistance bonus from Counterspell
* Corrosize Haze significantly increases the damage dealt against Anti-Mage, and makes it harder for him to flee with Blink, although Anti-mage can block its casting with with Counterspell
* Io can escape from Pit of Malice with Tether or Relocate.
* Relocate can counter Dark Rift's split pushing.
* Corrosive Haze followed by
Slithereen Crush takes advantage of Alchemist's main weakness, being physical damage before he has the change to improve his surviability with items.
* Bash of the Deep will deal lots of damage during the laning phase.
* Corrosive Haze and
Bash of the Deep will make short work of Huskar's low armor, even if Slardar is alone.
* Drow Ranger's lack of escape abilities makes her an easy target for Relocate ganks.
* Duel is very effective against Io due to its low health and armor.
* With armor items like Solar Crest or
Assault Cuirass combined with Bash of the Deep, Slardar can easily tank the
Duel, If not dueled himself, he can drop
Legion Commander's armor during duel and/or buff his teammate and save them, leaving her only the choice of dueling supports which can also be saved with fast Blink into Slithereen Crush.
* Tethered heroes are much harder for Legion Commander to kill in Duels.
* Relocate can cancel Duels and save allies.
* Heroes with spells that negate invisibility such as Bounty Hunter,
Zeus and
Slardar prevent her from saving her allies with Moonlight Shadow.
* Heroes who can provide True Sight are always credible threats: Slardar,
Bounty Hunter, especially
Zeus since his
Lightning Bolt provides True Sight without the need to detect her beforehand to apply the debuff. So even a late-coming Zeus can easily scout a large area to reveal her, and she cannot purge herself from his sight with the dispel talent.
* Take Aim and
Assassinate allow Sniper to reach Io even if it stays in the backline.
* Slardar can use Guardian Sprint with
Blink Dagger or
Shadow Blade to get close, and
Slithereen Crush will stun Sniper and slow him, making him vulnerable to Slardar's teammates.
* Corrosive Haze lowers Sniper's armor and makes Sniper's
Shadow Blade useless, easily killing him with a few attacks.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
* Slardar can attack through Plague Wards and gain
Bash of the Deep charges, and
Templar Assassin can spill
Psi Blades through Plague Wards too.
* Crystal Maiden's already low armor and easily interruptible ultimate,
Freezing Field can make Slardar her worst nightmare.
Crystal Maiden also often builds
Glimmer Cape which is revealed by Corrosive Haze.
* Slardar can chase Dragon Knight down with
Guardian Sprint and stun him with both
Slithereen Crush and his passive
Bash of the Deep. He can also use
Corrosive Haze to whittle Dragon Knight's armor.
* Slardar's
Slithereen Crush allows him to stun Spectre and illusions, and
Corrosive Haze prevents her from juking with
Spectral Dagger.
* Slardar does not do well against multiple targets, as his only way to damage multiple targets is Slithereen Crush.
* Meepo's Earthbind will root Slardar, making him unable to chase/escape for the time being. Also,
Poof's low cooldown and high damage can burst Slardar down rather quickly.
* Heroes who can stun multiple units at once: Dark Willow,
Spirit Breaker,
Slardar,
Invoker, and
Tidehunter.
* Tether helps Io escape from Earthbind even if Meepo has Blink Dagger.
* Io's Spirits can pressure Meepo while laning and will usually hit at least one of his clones.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Corrosive Haze works much like
Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed or gold bonus, it instead can melt Riki's armor and Slardar can use
Guardian Sprint to catch up to him.
* Slardar's Aghanim's Shard, causes
Slithereen Crush to apply Corrosive Haze even if Slardar does not have vision over him.
Additional:
* Corrosive Haze makes Riki completely vulnerable to Slardar and his allies, as Riki has no easy way of dispelling it.
* Slardar's physical damage with Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep amplified by Corrosive Haze can easily kill Riki.
* 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.
* Slardar is one of the few meele heroes who can lane against Ursa in the early game, out harassing him with Bash of the Deep, and running away from a bad engagement with Guardian Sprint
* Corrosize Haze can force Ursa to cast Enrage defensively instead of offensively
* With Corrosize Haze, Slardar's team can quickly dispatch of Roshan, denying one of Ursa's greatest advantages
* 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.
* Corrosive Haze hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with
Vendetta, as well as reducing his armor and make him very vulnerable due to his low health pool.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to catch up with Nyx Asssassin and finish him off if he has vision over him.
* 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.
* The brutal physical damage of Slithereen Crush and
Bash of the Deep can quickly remove Void Spirit's shield and stun him for a while.
* Corrosive Haze provides vision of Void Spirit while he is running away and
Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to quickly close the gap
* 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.
* Corrosive Haze provides True Sight on its target, exposing Bounty Hunter's position regardless of Shadow Walk.
* Guardian Sprint gives a very high movement speed bonus, allowing him to chase Bounty Hunter even if Slardar is tracked.
Additional:
* Bounty Hunter's Shadow Walk is rendered useless with Corrosive Haze and makes Bounty Hunter an easy target for Slardar and his team.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Slardar's level 25 talent makes
Corrosive Haze undispellable, thus providing his allies vision of Slark.
* Living Armor and
Leech Seed can be used to save a hero from a
Relocate gank.
* Overgrowth can be used to cancel escape attempts with
Relocate.
* Once Treant Protector buys Aghanim's Scepter, he will gain access to
Eyes in the Forest, that will allow him to enchant a tree which will grant him unobstructed vision in that location, allowing him to keep his allies alerted on Io and his
Tethered's attempts to gank them, and which can also allow
Overgrowth to damage them and root them if they are within a 800 radius of an tree affected by
Eyes in the Forest.
* Corrosive Haze will reveal Treant Protector even when he is under the effects of Nature's Guise.
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
* Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
* Heroes whose abilities can affect multiple enemies at once: Dawnbreaker,
Ember Spirit,
Lina,
Luna,
Jakiro,
Leshrac,
Invoker,
Muerta,
Dazzle.
* Bounty Hunter and
Slardar both have ultimates (
Corrosive Haze and
Track) that reveal Invoker through Ghost Walk.
* Strafe,
Tar Bomb and
Burning Barrage from
Aghanim's Shard allow Clinkz to quickly kill Io due to its low armor.
* Clinkz iz a hero that very often goes for Orchid Malevolence, and its upgrade
Bloodthorn. Alternatively, Clinkz also loves to buy
Gleipnir. And if Clinkz has both of them, he will be able to root and silence Io and prevent him from escaping with either
Tether or
Relocate.
* Slardar can reveal Clinkz with Corrosive Haze and make him easy to kill, and his
Bash of the Deep also hits hard against Clinkz's naturally low health pool.
* Slardar's Guardian Sprint can catch up with Clinkz's Skeleton Walk.
* The stun and slow from Slardar's Slithereen Crush can hold Clinkz in place.
Additional:
* Clinkz survivability depends entirely on Skeleton Walk. Corrosive Haze not only makes its invisibility useless, but also makes Clinkz even more vulnerable to physical damage.
* Fire Spirits greatly reduces Slardar's already low starting attack speed (which Bash of the Deep relies on), making the laning phase very hard for him and discouraging Slardar from aggressively threatening lane kills.
* Supernova, ignoring Phoenix's lack of armor and Slardar's high damage single hits, is extremely hard for Slardar to take down on his own, especially after being hit by Fire Spirits.
* Icarus Dive is one of the longest distance escape spells in the game, and can help a good Phoenix escape from Slardar before he gets a
Blink Dagger. However, the high cooldown means Phoenix is vulnerable to backstabs from any roamers after said spell is used.
* Slardar can interrupt an Icarus Dive from completing the flight with both of his stuns, however, likely leading to death if Supernova is on cooldown.
* A lot of the items a Phoenix builds throughout the game naturally counter Slardar. Shiva's Guard,
Heaven's Halberd and
Eul's Scepter of Divinity all stall Slardar's normal attacks in some way, while
Spirit Vessel's percentage-based damage is good against his innate durability.
* Phoenix's limit AoE, damage-over-time abilities give Io plenty of time to save allies with Relocate.
* Illusion heroes like the aforementioned Phantom Lancer or
Naga Siren, or heroes that tend to buy
Manta Style, like
Luna or
Juggernaut, will give Slardar a hard time, as his damage is single-targeted.
* 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 that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback,
Clinkz,
Luna,
Shadow Fiend,
Slardar,
Terrorblade
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with armor reducing abilities greatly hinder Visage's defense like Slardar and
Dazzle.
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.
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.
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
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Slardar
*
Bloodseeker's
Rupture forces Slardar to stay still during fights, preventing Slardar from using Guardian sprint to move in and out of fights. This takes away the ability to initiate and re-initiate with Slithereen Crush's low cooldown. Due to the increased move speed from Guardian Sprint, Slardar can lose health at about 160% the rate of normal heroes while under
Rupture. Bloodseeker's
Thirst also gives him enough move speed so that he's one of the few heroes who can outrun or catch up to a Slardar during Guardian Sprint.
Io
*
Thirst allows Bloodseeker to see where Io relocated to, should either Io or the tethered hero have low health.
Rupture forces Io to stay in place, preventing it from using the Tether bonus movement speed to escape.
*