* Fortune's End can catch out or impair position-based heroes with low mobility, such as Sniper or
Razor.
* 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.
* Being mostly a physical damage dealer, Sniper's effectiveness is greatly reduced by Omniknight's Guardian Angel.
* Omniknight's Degen Aura allows him to slow sniper and catch him. Sniper has to then use some escape item.
* Omniknight can also protect an ally from being finished off by Assassinate by using Purification and
Repel which grants a massive strength boost.
* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Phantom Assassin,
Juggernaut,
Dragon Knight,
Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord
* Viper Strike breaks Sniper's passives.
* Corrosive Skin allows Viper to deal more damage to Sniper than Sniper deals to him when laning, especially by briefly stepping into Shrapnel.
* Nethertoxin together with
Poison Attack can slow Sniper and tears through his low health and mobility.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Sniper is very fragile and has low movement speed, making an exceptionally easy target for Chaos Knight to initiate on.
* Sniper has no innate ability to deal with Phantasm or escape a
Reality Rift and
Chaos Bolt combo.
* In most cases, Sniper likes to stay far in the backline to deal damage, thus he is vulnerable if Chaos Knight manages to jump on him in the back line, which will usually spell a quick end for Sniper.
* Phantasm gives Chaos Knight a significant advantage against single-target damage dealers: Lifestealer,
Wraith King,
Night Stalker,
Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Chaos Knight's tanky illusions easily take advantage of Troll Warlord's lack of AoE damage.
* Chaos Bolt can stun Troll for up to 4 seconds and
Reality Rift prevents Troll Warlord from chasing down foes.
* Phantasm increases Chaos Knight's physical damage output up to 4 times and can easily kill Troll Warlord before he has a chance to use Battle Trance or a
Black King Bar.
* Headshot and
Shrapnel slow is ineffective against a team with haste (which Stampede gives).
* Commonly picked up mobility items and hasted movement during his Stampede (as well as his high health pool) make him extremely hard to kill from a distance, damaging Sniper with Retaliate and
Blade Mail if he has one.
* A low health pool and no escape mechanism makes him an easy target for Centaur Warrunner's burst damage and initiation (even making his team possible initiators with Stampede).
* Troll Warlord's high speed attack makes Retaliate deal a lot of damage to him.
* Even if he can slow Mars down with Shrapnel and
Headshot, Mars can tank Sniper's physical damage simply by facing him with Bulwark, allowing him to endure his auto-attacks into the late-game. Should Sniper choose to attack someone else, Mars can redirect his projectiles with Bulwark's active ability.
* Sniper's poor mobility makes him very vulnerable to Arena of Blood, especially in the early game. Mars can also take advantage of this by pushing him closer to the front line with Spear of Mars.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
* Axe can easily close the distance to Sniper with Blink Dagger.
* With Berserker's Call in combination with
Counter Helix and
Battle Hunger, Axe can make short work of Sniper, finishing him off easily with
Culling Blade due to his low HP & high attack speed in the late game.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed means Counter Helix will proc extremely frequently even without creeps near him. This, combined with a Blade Mail means Axe can easily solo kill Troll Warlord even in later stages of the game.
* Battle Trance does not save Troll Warlord from a Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord has significant attack speed due to Fervor and Battle Trance, giving Axe a higher chance to proc Counter Helix and seriously injure Troll Warlord due to his relatively low maximum health.
* Axe often purchases Blade Mail, which can help Axe turn Troll Warlord's farm and high physical damage against him. The bonus armor provided by
Berserker's Call means that Troll Warlord will take a lot more damage than Axe.
* Culling Blade is still capable of killing Troll Warlord during Battle Trance if his HP is low enough.
* Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Lion.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
Additional:
* Nightmare and
Fiend's Grip help to control/disable Troll Warlord in team-fights.
* Invisible heroes all have the element of surprise. Provided they deal enough damage, Sniper should be vanquished very quickly: Clinkz,
Riki,
Bounty Hunter.
* With Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord and
Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper,
Shadow Fiend,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Clinkz,
Sniper,
Lone Druid,
Troll Warlord,
Legion Commander and
Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
* Clinkz,
Sniper,
Lone Druid,
Troll Warlord,
Legion Commander and
Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
* Cold Embrace can protect Troll Warlord's target, especially during Battle Trance.
* Winter's Curse can turn Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed against his allies.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace will protect your ally from being damaged if he gets focused by Troll, although be careful as Fervor will keep gaining stacks even while Cold Embrace is active.
* Fervor works on allies.
* His high attack speed will help to kill his cursed ally faster.
* Tinker is one of the few heroes who is able to defeat a Sniper on the center line thanks to his long-ranged abilities.
* Laser allow Tinker to deal damage to Sniper and blind him, causing him to miss attacks more often.
* Heat-Seeking Missile can deal heavy damage to Sniper on lane.
* Defense Matrix allow Tinker to save himself or allies from
Assassinate.
* Warp Flare from
Aghanim's Shard allows Tinker to teleport Sniper away from himself, while also reducing both his attack range and cast range. If Sniper is teleported near Tinker's allies with
Warp Flare, he will be bursted down in no time.
Additional:
* Tinker is one of the few characters in Dota 2 who is able to defeat a Sniper on the center line – Tinker. On the center line, he gains an advantage over his opponent, and later acquires additional control. It is these abilities that the enemy should have in the game against the Sniper.
* Sniper is completely helpless against Broodmother's abilities, and can be seriously damaged by Spiderlings in lane, especially when Shrapnel is on cooldown.
* Clockwerk is also the least optimal target for Sniper to attack in a teamfight, although more experienced players will rarely make this mistake.
* With no mobility or disable skills, getting trapped in Power Cogs is a death sentence for Sniper.
* Invoker's arsenal of magical spells are troublesome for Sniper who has low HP and high armor, which does not benefit him much against Invoker.
* Besides magical damage, he can be disarmed and repeatedly mini-stunned with Cold Snap, preventing him from reacting.
* Leveling Quas can allow Invoker to lane effectively against Sniper despite right-click harassment.
* Shukuchi allows Weaver to close the gap between himself and Sniper with high speed, and to maneuver through teamfights to get on top of him.
* A combination of The Swarm and
Desolator tears through Sniper's low armor.
* 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.
* Sniper relies on distance. Bounty Hunter can use Shadow Walk to get close, and Jinada can do massive damage and slow down Sniper in the early game.
* Track gives additional speed to Bounty Hunter and makes Shadow Blade useless, which can allow Bounty Hunter to easily kill him with a few attacks.
* 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.
* Sniper hugely lacks mobility and escape abilities so that he is an easy target for ganks from Slark.
* Dark Willow's burst damage and stun prevents Troll Warlord from approaching her until he has Black King Bar.
* Troll Warlord's lack of burst damage makes it hard for him to kill Dark Willow before she slips into Shadow Realm.
* Sniper has no spells to disable Puck. He lacks a silence to prevent spell casting and a stun to disable, allowing Puck to act instantly against Sniper.
* Sniper's main strategy is to attack his enemies from a safe distance. Illusory Orb, combined with Blink Dagger makes it easy for Puck to get close to Sniper. Due to his low health, he is also easily nuked down by Puck.
* The status debuff placed by Assassinate on its target makes it very easy to avoid it. Puck has 2 (3 when having
Blink Dagger, 4 when having
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, 5 when having
Linken's Sphere) methods to disjoint or dodge the projectile, making it a bad spell for finishing off Puck.
* Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which Riki can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
* Frost Blast and
Chain Frost can kite Troll Warlord effectively.
* Frost Shield can single-handedly waste most of the duration of Battle Trance, due to the extreme resistance to physical damage Frost Shield provides. In addition, Troll Warlord is incapable of switching targets during Battle Trance, so he cannot pick an easier target.
* Troll Warlord has little to no ability to regenerate HP, so Frost Blast together with
Frost Shield can harass him effectively.
* Spirit Breaker can charge towards Sniper from anywhere on the map with Charge of Darkness.
* Greater Bash deals magical damage, which can prove dangerous to Sniper and his low health.
* Both previous abilities combined with Nether Strike ensures that Spirit Breaker can easily solo kill Sniper.
* Sniper lacks any protection against
Lion's disables early in the game.
* Lion's
Earth Spike and
Finger of Death may roughly hit
Sniper at the latter increased attack range, making it possible to gank and to disable him from afar in clashes.
* Finger of Death is incredibly dangerous for
Sniper as it may shred him away from fights, or in the worst scenario, cause his death.
* In the mid to late game, the physical attack from Sniper can be painful to go through as
Rubick. However with the help of Rubick's teammates, the abilities of
Sniper can turn against his team.
* Shrapnel is a great wave-clear ability, and helps with scouting the area.
* Shrapnel already has a long cast range, and together with
Arcane Supremacy Rubick can put constant damage on
Sniper while he stays at back.
* Assassinate, if stolen, can be cast to assist a gank while Rubick stays at a range that can merely be found in the area, damaging heroes in the backline including
Sniper.
* Arcane Supremacy (combined with Level 25 talent +40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells, as of 7.31c) increases its damage before reduction to 406.2/611.1/819(531.2/805.1/1079) without considering any further amplification source.
* With Aghanim's Scepter,
Assassinate becomes an ability with a reliable 1.5 second stun, massive damage, short cooldown and over 3000 cast range which should not be made light of.
* Shrapnel is used frequently and can be easily stolen;
Assassinate has a long cast animation for Rubick to forsee the chance to steal.
* Primal Roar and the slow from Boars make kiting Troll Warlord very easy.
* Sniper has a low health pool and strength gain, making him vulnerable to Pudge's magical and pure damage.
* Sniper usually likes to deal damage away from the fight, and Meat Hook is capable of bringing him to the front lines.
* Assassinate won't do much damage against Pudge because of his high strength gain and the strength bonuses from Flesh Heap.
* Shrapnel will be mostly blocked by Flesh Heap's active.
Additional:
* Pudge's Meat Hook allows him to bring Sniper in the middle of any fight, and the pure damage does well against his high armor and low health.
* Dismember can lock Sniper down, which makes him highly vulnerable and gives enough time for Pudge to kill him alone.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Dismember will also allow Pudge to save an ally from
Assassinate.
* Snowball allows Tusk to move himself and allies towards Sniper whilst invulnerable and hidden.
* His Ice Shards may also block pathing for Sniper as he has no means of moving through obstacles. In addition,
Tag Team can hinder Sniper's escape.
Additional:
* Tusk alone or with his teammates can close Sniper's long range easily with Snowball, even wasting Shrapnel, ending with a very vulnerable Sniper.
* Walrus PUNCH!'s very high physical damage output can easily kill Sniper instantly due to his low health and armor.
* Magnetic Field's evasion completely negates Sniper's attacks unless he has True Strike.
* Sniper always positions himself far away from battles, which makes him especially vulnerable for Flux and Spark Wraith.
* Timber Chain can kite Troll Warlord extremely effectively.
* Whirling Death and
Chakram deals lots of damage to Troll Warlord.
* Reactive Armor makes Timbersaw extremely resilient to Troll's attack damage and extreme attack speed, especially during Battle Trance.
* Lina defeats Sniper on the mid, because she has the same attack range as him, and her Dragon Slave ability deals much more damage to creeps, as well as to Sniper himself, than
Shrapnel, which creates uncomfortable conditions for Sniper to farm on the line, which is why Lina either punches Sniper harder than he either pushes a pack of creeps up to the tower and finishes off his creeps under it, preventing Sniper from earning gold and a level.
Additional:
* Lina defeats Sniper on the mid, because she has the same attack range as him, and her Dragon Slave ability deals much more damage to creeps, as well as to Sniper himself, than
Shrapnel, which creates uncomfortable conditions for Sniper to farm on the line, which is why Lina either punches Sniper harder than he either pushes a pack of creeps up to the tower and finishes off his creeps under it, preventing Sniper from earning gold and a level.
* Ensnare with her attacks allows Naga Siren to gank Sniper easily.
* Rip Tide removes Sniper's very little armor.
* Lifestealer can close the distance to Sniper by using Infest on a fast or durable creep to tank Sniper's damage.
* Open Wounds and
Ghoul Frenzy will reduce Sniper's mobility heavily, and
Rage's movement speed bonus helps in closing the gap to Sniper. It also protects him from Assassinate and Shrapnel.
* Infest can dodge an incoming Assassinate or to surprise Sniper during ganks.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest can also allow Lifestealer to disarm Sniper and attack him from inside.
* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like
Ursa,
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade or
Troll Warlord.
* Lifestealer is a susceptible target to Fervor due to his non-mobile nature and lack of disables. Troll Warlord's ranged
Berserker's Rage can also be used to kite Lifestealer safely. The root from its melee form also pierces magic immunity, which can potentially keep Lifestealer in place even while he is in Rage.
* Both Whirling Axes (melee) and
Whirling Axes (ranged) can force Lifestealer to cast Rage too quickly and allow Troll Warlord to change strategies mid-fight, especially thanks to their separate cooldowns.
* Battle Trance allows Troll Warlord to survive Lifestealer's Feast and turn the fight in his favor.
Additional:
* The passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll Warlord resilient to Feast in early game.
* The 60% miss chance given by Whirling Axes (Melee) is useful when Rage is not active.
* Battle Trance can purge Open Wounds, negating a large amount of Lifestealer's sustain in fights.
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit.
* Early game gankers can make life very difficult for a Sniper if he keeps being caught: Ursa,
Pudge,
Earth Spirit.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
* Heroes with mediocre health pools who rely on armor or evasion to survive fights such as Troll Warlord,
Windranger, and
Terrorblade can be killed by Zeus if caught off guard.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa,
Clinkz,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Templar Assassin,
Phantom Assassin.
* Marci can be effective against vulnerable squishy heroes that cannot deal with heroes that jump onto them - Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Lina,
Rubick, etc.
* You can easily kill a squishy Sniper, due to your high movement speed and his lack of escape.
* Heroes who have high health are a problem for Sniper because he likes to attack the closest target and sit at the back, much like a Terrorblade so when that hero doesn't die; he's forced to show his position for a very long time:
Centaur Warrunner,
Legion Commander,
Primal Beast.
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit.
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Enchantress.
* Carry heroes who can close the gap reliably are very problematic: Phantom Lancer,
Ember Spirit,
Phantom Assassin.
* Sniper's low mobility and lack of defensive abilities make him an easy gank target for the entire game, especially if Blink Dagger is picked up.
* Troll Warlord's melee bash and high attack speed can often help him and his allies win Duels against Legion Commander.
* Assassinate is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for massive damage.
* Shrapnel's area damage can set up an easy stun with Spiked Carapace, especially when combined with Vendetta.
* In the early game, Sniper's low health pool and high intelligence makes him easy prey for Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all:
Axe,
Broodmother,
Dawnbreaker,
Enigma,
Huskar,
Jakiro,
Legion Commander,
Lina,
Luna,
Lycan,
Slardar,
Slark,
Troll Warlord,
Witch Doctor.
* Atrophy Aura decreases Troll Warlord's damage.
* Pit of Malice helps lock down Troll Warlord.
* Battle Trance disallows Troll from running out of both Firestorm and
Pit of Malice.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
Additional:
* Sniper's very long range allows him to stay out of Firestorm,
Pit of Malice as well as
Atrophy Aura's range.
* Escapes with Fiend's Gate can be canceled with
Assassinate that can mini-stun the target.
* However, Fiend's Gate can be used to quickly close the gap on Sniper, and kill him if Underlord brings his allies with him through
Fiend's Gate. And Sniper has nothing to intercept arrivals with
Fiend's Gate outside of
Shrapnel and
Concussive Grenade from
Aghanim's Shard.
* Storm Spirit can close the distance towards Sniper very easily with his ultimate Ball Lightning.
Additional:
* Sniper is very squishy and cannot deal with heroes that jump onto him and lock him down. Storm Spirit closes the gap in a fight against Sniper, and Sniper has no way to escape except for some items.
* Storm Spirit can dodge Assassinate with a correctly timed
Ball Lightning.
* Mobility heroes will often be rooted by Troll Warlord and unable to escape, like Storm Spirit.
* Morphling's high mobility allows him to easily get close to Sniper, who likes to keep his distance from enemies.
* Heroes that rely on right-clicks will find that their attacks will miss a lot, due to Whirling Axes (Melee)'s miss chance. Such heroes include Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade, and
Morphling.
* Pangolier can easily get close to Sniper with Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder, negating Sniper's range advantage.
* Lucky Shot disarms Sniper and leaves him unable to effectively fight back.
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar: Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Templar Assassin,
Arc Warden
* Sniper can easily destroy Tombstone from long range.
* Due to Fervor and Battle Trance, Troll Warlord has a significant attack speed, enabling him to crush Tombstone quickly.
* Undying usually stays at the front line with no disables, making him an easy target for Troll Warlord.
* Juggernaut deals most of his damage in the melee range and has no gap-closer. Sniper can easily harrass Juggernaut from afar with his long-ranged attacks and {Ability ID:Headshot|Sniper|16px} procs.Should Juggernaut decide to advance,Sniper has enough time to react and back off.
* Sniper's long range attack can destroy Healing Ward from a safe range, preventing any healing done to Juggernaut and/or his teammates.
* However, if Sniper is badly positioned, Juggernaut can easily terminate him.
* Troll Warlord's ability to attack as a ranged hero allows him to destroy Juggernaut's Healing Ward from afar.
* Battle Trance, when activated during Omnislash, allows Troll Warlord to survive the full duration of Omnislash and retaliate once it is over.
* Sniper just doesn't give Huskar a chance, as he always just keeps his opponents at a great distance. However, in such a game you will need to have a Concussive Grenade and a
Hurricane Pike in order to avoid the
Life Break of Huskar
Additional:
* Sniper just doesn't give Huskar a chance, as he always just keeps his opponents at a great distance. However, in such a game you will need to have a Concussive Grenade and a
Hurricane Pike in order to avoid the
Life Break of Huskar
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him: Legion Commander,
Faceless Void,
Troll Warlord,
Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, resulting in Huskar's attacks missing a lot of the time if it isn't dispelled.
* Troll Warlord's Fervor ramps up in a very similar way as Huskar's Berserker's Blood: as soon as Huskar has high enough health regeneration, Troll Warlord has a high enough attack speed to negate it.
* Due to the nature of the hero, Sniper is typically situated in the back of the fight, potentially making him a difficult target to initiate on and fight.
* Sniper is largely a right-click hero, and as such isn't as an effective of a Doom target as other heroes.
* Thanks to Shrapnel and
Headshot, Sniper is able to effectively 'kite' Doom, preventing him from closing the distance between the two.
* With his Take Aim, Sniper can simply sit out of your ability range and deal massive damage if not killed first.
* Assassinate can target allies who are still alive with low health because of Ghostship's buff.
* Headshot makes it harder for Kunkka to position/escape and makes it hard for Kunkka to hit with Tidebringer.
* Heroes who have high health are a problem for Sniper because he likes to attack the closest target and sit at the back, much like a Terrorblade so when that hero doesn't die; he's forced to show his position for a very long time:
Centaur Warrunner,
Legion Commander,
Primal Beast.
Additional:
* Sunder can save himself or his allies from Assassinate.
* Sniper relies on right-clicks to deal damage in the late game, and Terrorblade's high armor can reduce his damage significantly.
* Terrorblade is a far harder carry than Sniper is, so a well-farmed Terrorblade can easily defeat a Sniper.
* Unlike with other heroes who can summon illusions of themselves, Terrorblade's illusions from Conjure Image have different colors than other illusions which can be seen even by enemy team, which can also make Terrorblade weak even against heroes he naturally counters:
Bane,
Lifestealer,
Spectre,
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Sniper. Terrorblade's only solution to counter this problem is to get
Manta Style as quickly as possible.
* Terrorblade cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm him faster than the other way around thanks to Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and
Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch Terrorblade, even during Metamorphosis.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed from Fervor combined with
Skull Basher and
Abyssal Blade means that Terrorblade will have almost no chance to use
Sunder to save himself.
* Even if Terroblade manages to use Sunder on Troll Warlord, Troll Warlord will simply be able to nullify it's effect with
Battle Trance.
* Overall, any attempt for Terrorblade to engage and kill Troll Warlord will hurt him more than the other way around.
Additional:
* Terrorblade cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm him faster than the other way around thanks to Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and
Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch Terrorblade, even during Metamorphosis.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed from Fervor combined with
Skull Basher and
Abyssal Blade means that Terrorblade will have almost no chance to use
Sunder to save himself.
* Even if Terroblade manages to use Sunder on Troll Warlord, Troll Warlord will simply be able to nullify it's effect with
Battle Trance.
* Sniper can easily destroy Plague Ward from long range.
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's
Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and
Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowrazes.
Additional:
* Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Blink Dagger from a huge range.
* Take Aim and Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowraze.
* Assassinate when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's
Requiem of Souls.
* Squishy core heroes (Shadow Fiend,
Sniper, etc)
* Shrapnel can sometimes scout out Magnus and also place his Blink Dagger on cooldown. Aside from that, Sniper likes to stay far back behind enemy lines, so it's difficult to catch him with Reverse Polarity unless you already have vision on him and can Skewer him to the rest of his team.
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
* Shrapnel can be used to disable Earthshaker's
Blink Dagger from long range.
* Take Aim allows Sniper to harass Earthshaker in lane, and stay out of Echo Slam initiation radius.
Additional:
* Sniper is able to kite Earthshaker with his very long range.
* Sniper can dodge Earthshaker's stuns like Fissure and
Enchant Totem with mobility items such as
Blink Dagger,
Force Staff/
Hurricane Pike and
Shadow Blade/
Silver Edge.
* Sharpnel can be used to cancel Earthshaker's Blink Dagger and preventing effective use of his Echo Slam in a majority of situations.
* Take Aim extends Sniper's attack range, allowing him to position himself safely behind his team, making it difficult to catch him in Enigma's relatively small area-of-effect for
Black Hole. When left unattended, he can quickly kill a channeling Enigma (often from the high ground) to rout an otherwise strong initiation.
* In the early game, Sniper can cancel Enigma's Black Hole with Assassinate's ministun. Due to the absolutely ginormous 3000 cast range on Assassinate, Sniper does not need to be too close to Enigma to cancel his
Black Hole.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Assassinate can also stun Enigma for a longer duration.
* Both Shrapnel and
Assassinate put Enigma's Blink Dagger on cooldown, potentially forcing him to prematurely activate
Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Sniper has a very long range, so it is rare that Enigma can catch him in a Black Hole.
* Assassinate can easily cancel Black Hole if he is not caught, especially with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Enigma's Eidolons from Demonic Conversion are useless to push against a Sniper as he will easily kill them, especially with
Mjollnir, a common item on Sniper.
* Sniper can outrange both Medusa's arrows and Stone Gaze, allowing him to focus her down during a teamfight.
Additional:
* Medusa is a fairly immobile hero that deals damage around her with Split Shot. Sniper should outrange her and should stay out of harm's way from Split Shot.
* More importantly, Sniper should have enough attack range to fire at Medusa during her Stone Gaze without turning to stone, so the ultimate is mostly wasted against him.
* A Sniper who is somewhat competent at positioning is hardly going to be affected by any of Dark Seer's spells thanks to Take Aim.
* However, an illusion of Sniper made with Wall of Replica is extremely powerful, and hard to deal with.
* Due to Sniper having a such a long range, he will rarely get hit by any of Silencer's spells.
* Global Silence will not hinder Sniper much as other heroes since most of his damage output comes from his attacks.
Additional:
* Sniper is a pure right click carry with a very long range, making it hard for Silencer to cast any of his skills on him in lane. During team-fights, Global Silence has little impact on Sniper.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, which can make the attack speed bonus from Hunter in the Night largely ineffective.
* Berserker's Rage together with
Battle Trance and
Fervor stacks gives him a high chance of rooting Night Stalker, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Night Stalker in any stage of the game, regardless of whether or not it's night.
* Night Stalker is not a common Monkey King Bar carrier to counteract this problem.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker.
* Heroes that outrange Luna can be a problem for her: Drow Ranger,
Sniper.
* Heroes that can maintain vision on Monkey King can see when he uses Tree Dance: Bloodseeker,
Treant Protector with Eyes In The Forest,
Sniper,
Weaver
* Past the early game, Sniper is an easy target for Sven to jump on with Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Storm Hammer,
Blink Dagger,
Silver Edge or
Harpoon, common items on Sven.
* Sven's high armor and health pool makes it difficult for Sniper to focus, as his main source of damage is his right click, especially if Sven uses Warcry.
* Sniper is very squishy, and will not stand a chance against Sven head on.
* Special mention to Sven as he may not be able to get close, but if he does,
God's Strength will make very short work of Sniper.
* Whirling Axes (Melee)'s blind makes Sven nearly useless in the early game and allows Troll Warlord to take him on comfortably.
* Battle Trance will mean Sven will never take Troll out in a 1vs1 with equal farm.
Additional:
* Berserker's Rage together with Troll Warlord's high attack speed gives Troll a high chance of rooting enemies, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Sven.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, and the passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll resilient to physical damage in early game. Sven's God's Strength is much less effective as a result.
* Beware that Sven can farm much faster than Troll Warlord by stacking ancients and clearing them with Great Cleave.
* Long ranged heroes like Sniper or
Drow Ranger can kite Tiny effectively if he doesn't get the jump on them first.
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
* Any hero with high attack speed will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits:
Juggernaut,
Clinkz,
Troll Warlord,
Beastmaster,
Lina.
Additional:
* Due to Fervor and Battle Trance, Troll Warlord is one of the best heroes to deal with Supernova.
* Heroes who outrange Drow Ranger such as Sniper,
Tinker.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
* Heroes with long ranged attacks or abilities can harass Visage from afar like Phoenix and
Sniper.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
* Troll Warlord can root and deal a lot of damage to a single Meepo while lifestealing through the assault from the other Meepos. Meepo needs expensive items like
Ethereal Blade or
Heaven's Halberd to be able to fight him.
* Range-reliant heroes: Sniper,
Drow Ranger
* Battle Trance and
Fervor can help Troll Warlord deal with Enchantress through Untouchable.
Additional:
* Untouchable's attack speed slow is easily remedied by Fervor stacks and Battle Trance.
* Troll Warlord is a natural Silver Edge carrier, disabling Enchantress' Untouchable.
* Heroes with powerful nuke can waste their precious abilites on her Refraction during a ganking attempt or chaos combat: Lich,
Lina,
Sniper,
Outworld Destroyer
Zeus
* Sniper destroys Templar Assassin Refraction's only defense with its
Shrapnel ability, which is why it can easily punch it and kick it off the line, getting more level and gold.
* The huge range of Sniper's attack due to the Take Aim ability allows him to spend the whole game at a distance far from Templar Assassin, constantly punching her with his physical attacks, which is why Templar Assassin remains either to run away or hide in
Meld, however, even there Sniper will not let her escape with the help of
Blink Dagger, since he uses
Shrapnel.
Additional:
* Sniper destroys Templar Assassin Refraction's only defense with its
Shrapnel ability, which is why it can easily punch it and kick it off the line, getting more level and gold.
* The huge range of Sniper's attack due to the Take Aim ability allows him to spend the whole game at a distance far from Templar Assassin, constantly punching her with his physical attacks, which is why Templar Assassin remains either to run away or hide in
Meld, however, even there Sniper will not let her escape with the help of
Blink Dagger, since he uses
Shrapnel.
* Heroes who rely heavily on melee attacks and lack early spell immunity are easily blocked and interrupted by Ink Swell: Lycan,
Ursa,
Troll Warlord.
* Sniper's position in the far back line makes him unlikely to be hit by any of Grimstroke's abilities during teamfights.
* Sniper is relatively unaffected by the silence from Phantom's Embrace.
* Sniper's long range and fast projectile speed allows him quickly to destroy any Phantoms attacking his allies.
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper: Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
* Take Aim and
Assassinate allow Sniper to reach Io even if it stays in the backline.
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit.
* Sniper can kill Disruptor while he is trapped by Kinetic Field from a long range.
* Sniper generally stays in the back, making it hard for Disruptor to cast any of his skills on him in lane.
* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse: Doom,
Phantom Assassin,
Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's pure damage from Arcane Orb is very effective at killing Troll Warlord quickly.
* Astral Imprisonment removes Troll Warlord from a fight for four seconds, minimizing his contribution to a teamfight, and potentially wasting over half of Battle Trance's duration.
* Troll Warlord gains a measly 1 intelligence point per level, meaning Sanity's Eclipse is especially effective, often instantly killing him.
* As Outworld Destroyer has short cast ranges, a short attack range, and no gap-closing abilities, Sniper can kite and harass Outworld Destroyer in lane with his long range and zone him out in fights. The continuous area damage from Shrapnel also prevents Astral-Blink escapes.
* However, in the late game, Outworld Destroyer's massive damage can overwhelm Sniper once he obtains Blink Dagger,
Force Staff etc. to close the gap.
* Frostbite can disarm and root Troll Warlord if he doesn't have a
Black King Bar or a
Manta Style to dispel it.
* Crystal Nova and
Freezing Field both significantly slow Troll Warlord, making him much more vulnerable to ganks or stuns.
* The magical damage from Freezing Field does a large amount of AoE damage, and Troll Warlord is not capable of cancelling Crystal Maiden's channel.
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
* Heroes with a low attack speed or are fragile will find themselves unable to deal with Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed, like Crystal Maiden or
Sven.
* Sniper's lack of mobility and reliance on attack range makes him an easy target for Phantom Assassin to jump on.
Additional:
* Stifling Dagger and
Phantom Strike allow Phantom Assassin to close the gap with Sniper and prevent his escape.
* Blur allows Phantom Assassin to approach Sniper while invisible and dodge much of Sniper's damage. It can also disjoint Assassinate.
* Coup De Grace quickly cuts through Sniper's low health; one or two procs will usually kill him.
* Fan of Knives from
Aghanim's Shard can deal damage to Sniper's maximum health and disable
Headshot and
Take Aim.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to land a
Coup De Grace.
* Troll Warlord often buys Silver Edge and
Monkey King Bar, the items that greatly help against Phantom Assassin's Blur ability.
* Battle Trance completely negates Phantom Assassin's large damage output, preventing Troll Warlord from dying easily. The lifesteal also allows Troll Warlord to restore much of his health.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord can build a Silver Edge or a
Monkey King Bar to completely ignore
Blur.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, making a Coup de Grace critical strike very hard to land.
* Battle Trance negates Coup de Grace, preventing Troll Warlord from dying to her critical hits.
* Shadow Step and
Haunt from
Aghanim's Scepter instantly allows Spectre to get up and close with Sniper, and
Spectral Dagger makes it difficult for Sniper to escape from her.
Additional:
* Spectre can reach him easily in the backlines with Spectral Dagger or teleport to him with
Haunt.
* He is usually a fair distance away from his allies, so Desolate will quickly tear Sniper down.
* Dispersion reflect or reduce his damage, making her hard to take down even at late game.
* Generally speaking, Spectre is a strong teamfighter but a weak manfighter. She has no tool to deal with troll warlord once he has his sight locked on her.
* Troll often buys Silver Edge and
Monkey King Bar, which greatly countered Spectre's passive and item build (Silver Edge can disable passive while providing some damage, Monkey King Bar provides accuracy to counter
Radiance and
Butterfly miss chance).
* Black King Bar allows troll to bypass the damage return from
Blade mail should Spectre attempts to fight back Troll. However,
Black King Bar is generally not very effective against Spectre as her skills can pierce the spell immunity. Still, it offers protection against
Blade mail, a common item for Spectre in the mid game.
* Troll has high lifesteal from Battle Trance and
Satanic, which help him survive the damage from
Desolate should the break duration is over.
* Battle Trance and
Fervor mean Spectre will have a hard time fighting troll and cannot take him down, even with equal farm.
* Static Link is effective against Troll Warlord, as he mainly relies on attack speed more so than damage.
* Static Link is even more effective if Troll Warlord used Battle Trance, as he has no way to break the link.
Additional:
* Static Link can drain most or all of Troll Warlord's damage, making him useless in a teamfight or unable to last hit in lane. This is especially effective during Battle Trance, because Troll has no option to cancel the link.
* Storm Surge allows Razor to chase after or run away from Troll Warlord while doing damage with
Eye of the Storm.
* His increased attack range makes it very hard to get close enough for Static Link, Eye of the Storm and Razor's own attacks.
* Headshot procs will slow Razor heavily regardless of Storm Surge, as it will knock him back for a brief duration.
* Jakiro's reliance on his abilities can cause struggles for heroes who rely on evasion or blinds to get upper hand: Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Riki,
Troll Warlord,
Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability: Death Prophet,
Sniper,
Tinker,
Windranger.
* Anti-Mage can close the gap with Blink. Sniper will struggle to escape once he is jumped on due to the lack of mobility.
* Counterspell reduces sniper's magic damage from
Shrapnel and
Assassinate. The active component can also reflect the projectile back to sniper if he dares to target Anti-Mage. This is seriously detrimental for Sniper as he is prone to buying
Khanda to boost effects of the
Assassinate.
* Sniper often relies on mana to use items for escaping, and his abilities cost a lot of mana. Mana Break drains Sniper's mana and takes away Sniper's means to disengage.
* Anti-Mage has faster farming speed. He can outfarm and get ahead of Sniper easily.
* Troll Warlord's passive root, high attack speed, and blind from Whirling Axes makes him an exceedingly difficult opponent for Anti-Mage to take down in a one-on-one fight.
* Troll Warlord's low mana causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, preventing Anti-Mage from burning Troll Warlord's small mana pool.
* Troll Warlord's passive root allows him to very effectively fight an Anti-Mage by preventing Anti-Mage from Blinking away. This is even more effective when combined with a
Skull Basher or
Abyssal Blade.
* Counterspell will do nothing to prevent Troll Warlord's high physical damage.
* Due to Troll Warlord's abysmal base intelligence and intelligence gain, he is one of the worst targets to use Mana Void on.
* Sniper's lack of mobility and escape mechanisms makes him one of the easier heroes for Bloodseeker to gank.
* Berserker's Rage will repeatedly trap Bloodseeker in a one-on-one fight.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) blinds Bloodseeker, causing him to miss 60% of the time, and therefore reduces his ability to gain the upper hand in teamfights.
* Frail heroes who lack mobility can also be an easy target to lock down with Chronosphere, such as Drow Ranger,
Luna,
Sniper,
Terrorblade.
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere; Sniper,
Skywrath Mage, etc.
* Troll Warlord can't switch targets at will, in order to build Fervor stacks, which makes it easy to use Decrepify in order to save allies
* During Battle Trance, Pugna can easily use Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain on him
* Sniper's huge range makes him an unviable target to use Life Drain on, forcing Pugna to risk playing out of position to use it on Sniper.
* Sniper's Shrapnel can be used to provide vision on Nether Ward, and his range allows him to easily take it out.
* A clumsy Pugna may accidentally boost Sniper's Shrapnel and
Assassinate damages if he recklessly uses Decrepify on himself or his allies.
* 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.
* Sniper can easily destroy Mass Serpent Wards from long range.
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Sniper
* Sniper's
Take Aim can be wasted with either Muerta's
Pierce the Veil or a well aimed
Dead Shot.
Dead Shot can displace Sniper from safe spots into the offensive range of Muerta's team, leading to potential kills on Sniper.
Pierce the Veil.
*
* Sniper relies heavily on his basic attacks, which is useless against
Troll Warlord
* Troll Warlord is very susceptible to
Pierce the Veil due to having low health and reliance on high armor.
Battle Trance can simply be ignored by using
Pierce the Veil.
Rampage buff for allies can easily be countered by
The Calling which will lower their attack speeds back to normal.
* Troll Warlord's ultimate
* Troll Warlord's