Storm Spirit
* Smoke Cloud prevents Storm Spirit from using any of his offensive and defensive spells, rendering him unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
Additional:
* 
Smoke Screen prevents Storm Spirit from using his abilities once inside the radius. Riki can utilize this ability to allow his team to fight around Smoke Screen so that Storm Spirit cannot spam his spells to proc 
Overload.
Medusa
* With Smoke Screen, Riki will silence and catch Medusa in a surprise with high miss chance flushing her from positions easily in team fights.
* He can deal a huge amount of damage through 
Cloak and Dagger, even through Mana Shield.
Storm Spirit
* Because of the high mana cost of 
Ball Lightning, Storm Spirit is often vulnerable to Mana Void.
* Mana Break diminishes Storm Spirit's mobility with Ball Lightning, and Anti-Mage can catch him with Blink over short distances.
* Almost all of Storm Spirit's damage is magical, which is severely reduced by Counterspell.
* Storm Spirit has a very large mana pool which means Anti-Mage can do large amounts of damage to him with Mana Break and Mana Void.
Additional:
* 
Mana Break can quickly burn Storm Spirit's mana, preventing him from escaping.
* 
Blink allows Anti-Mage to catch up to Storm Spirit when he tries to use his Ball Lightning to escape.
* 
Mana Void deals massive damage to Storm Spirit as well as his teammates, as Storm Spirit depletes his mana pool by using Ball Lightning.
* 
Counterspell's passive magic resistance reduces much of Storm Spirit's magical damage dealt to Anti-Mage, and the active aspect may even make Storm Spirit disable himself.
Medusa
* Anti-Mage easily destroys 
Mana Shield with Mana Break, especially once he has 
Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage effectively avoids 
Stone Gaze with Blink, and can reinitiate after its duration is over.
Additional:
* Mana Break burns Medusa's mana easily, especially when coupled with a Manta Style.
* Can easily initiate on Medusa with Blink, burning her mana or forcing her to use Stone Gaze.
* Mana Void is effective against Medusa's big mana pool and mana usage, presenting a huge hazard to Medusa's allies around her since her Mana Shield still gives her some protection if she has mana.
Storm Spirit
* 
Wraith King, 
Medusa, 
Storm Spirit and other mana dependent heroes will have diminished impact on a fight if they survive Fiend's Grip due to its mana steal.
Medusa
* Fiend's Grip provides mana drain, which can heavily damage Mana Shield and prevent Medusa from using Stone Gaze.
* Even if she does use Stone Gaze, Nightmare can buy enough time to protect allies and reset the fight.
Additional:
* 
Fiend's Grip leaves Medusa defenseless, since not only does it deal damage, it also drains mana.
Storm Spirit
* Basically, Heroes that heavily rely on abilities for damage or escape, such as 
Queen of Pain and Storm Spirit.
Additional:
* Silencer's 
Intelligence Steal can reduce Storm Spirit's damage output if he gets some kills on laning phase.
* 
Last Word and 
Global Silence will make Storm Spirit an easy target.
* Global Silence can be used to prevent Storm Spirit from connecting abilities after a Ball Lightning on his targets.
Medusa
* Silencer burns easily through her effective HP from Mana Shield, by taking away her intelligence.
* 
Arcane Curse punishes her repeatedly casting 
Mystic Snake to keep her mana pool high. He can force her to use Manta Style before he has cast Global Silence and Medusa usually does not want to build 
Black King Bar.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with mana burn: 
Nyx Assassin, 
Invoker, 
Outworld Destroyer, 
Pugna, 
Lion
Medusa
* Medusa lacks mobility or escape mechanisms. 
Earth Spike and 
Hex can neutralize her strong damage potential and allow for Lion's team to focus her down.
* 
Mana Drain is a perfect ability to weaken Medusa's durability as it can quickly drain her Mana Shield, making her far less tanky. Mana Drain can also be used to restore mana of Lion's allies, which can nullify the mana steal from Mystic Snake.
* Mana Drain, along with Hex, destroy illusions instantly, which may be extremely helpfull and efficient against core builders of Manta Style, like Medusa herself.
Storm Spirit
* Pounce's leash prevents Storm Spirit from using Ball Lightning, making it hard for Storm Spirit to escape a gank from Slark.
* Dark Pact can dispel 
Orchid Malevolence's Soul Burn.
Medusa
* Medusa is especially vulnerable to 
Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* 
Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Additional:
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift particularly removes 1 intelligence point per hit, thus lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes that rely on their high mobility such as Queen of Pain, 
Slark and 
Weaver can be constantly engaged against due to your excellent ability to chase over any terrain. Make sure you carry true sight items (such as 
Dust of Appearance or 
Gem of True Sight) for invisible heroes that could potentially escape your clutches.
Storm Spirit
* If Storm Spirit is caught in an Overgrowth, he is shut down.
* With the exception of 
Electric Vortex, he won't be able to cast any relevant skill.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit is absolutely helpless if caught within Night Stalker's silence range.
* Common items a Storm Spirit will build will not remove the AoE silence.
Additional:
* 
Crippling Fear is a silence that can last up to 8 seconds during night, rendering Storm Spirit tied limited to his items in a fight.
* 
Dark Ascension allows Night Stalker to initiate on Storm Spirit across the impassable terrain around the middle lane, rendering Storm vulnerable in the early game and prevent him from snowballing.
Storm Spirit
* True Form gives Lone Druid a huge amount of health that no amount of Ball Lightning will chip through.
* 
Entangling Claws can mean a very quick end to the Storm Spirit as it prevents him from using Ball Lightning all together.
* Storm Spirit is a single target nuker, with the Shard Lone Druid can always fear him away from himself or the bear, defending the target he does not go on. This is assuming he cannot try and proc his entangle or a potential 
Skull Basher.
Storm Spirit
* Outworld Destroyer has a huge damage from 
Arcane Orb, which is why in a 1 on 1 skirmish Storm Spirit simply cannot defeat him in damage. Since Outworld Destroyer will stop gank Storm Spirit with his 
Astral Imprisonment, and then kill him if he decides to fight
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer has a huge damage from Arcane Orb, which is why in a 1 on 1 skirmish Storm Spirit simply cannot defeat him in damage. Since Outworld Destroyer will stop gank Storm Spirit with his Astral Imprisonment, and then kill him if he decides to fight
Storm Spirit
* 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.
Storm Spirit
* At around the 10-minute mark, Disruptor would normally be level 6 or 7. This means you can have a level 3/4 glimpse along with Static Storm. A high level glimpse is enough to pull Storm back to a Static Storm even after he used Ball Lightning due to his limited mana pool at that time.
* Be careful in the late game however, as there is a good chance he will kill you straight-out before Glimpse has finished bringing him back. Therefore Glimpse would simply bring him back to safety after he's murdered you or a teammate. Of course, this is assuming he hasn't silenced you with an item.
Storm Spirit
* Time Dilation while 
Static Remnant and Electric Vortex are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, reducing Storm Spirit's potential.
* Faceless Void can catch Storm Spirit during Ball Lightning with a well-timed Chronosphere or Time Walk.
Medusa
* 
Burning Spear's damage over time can rapidly burn Medusa's mana and health alike.
* 
Inner Fire can slow and disarm Medusa and also allow Huskar to follow up with Life Break.
Storm Spirit
* Tusks damage/stun is enough to obliviate Storm Spirit before he can do anything.
* Tusk is a common 
Blink Dagger carrier, and once he reaches Level 18, 
Walrus PUNCH! deals roughly half of Storm Spirit's health alone, It also stuns for a long enough time for Tusk to 
Snowball Storm Spirit, stunning him even more, If that hasn't finished him off, the damage from 
Ice Shards probably will. Combined with 
Tag Team, which adds bonus damage to Tusks attacks, Storm Spirit is unlikely to survive Tusk initiating on him
* Walrus PUNCH is even more potent if he uses a 
Silver Edge instead
* However while Ball Lightning doesn't disjoint Snowball, if used before Tusk hits with Snowball, prevents the stun and damage from being applied
Storm Spirit
* If Storm Spirit isn't careful, he could fall into a trap set by Techies and another hero acting as bait.
* 
Stasis Trap roots Storm Spirit for 2/3/4/5 seconds and 
Blast Off! silences for 4/5/6/7 seconds, which effectively prevents Storm Spirit from using Ball Lightning to escape for a lengthy duration.
Storm Spirit
* In general, squishy heroes that rely on escape often struggle against the amount of disables Shadow Shaman can bring. Queen of Pain, 
Anti-Mage and Storm Spirit are among these.
Storm Spirit
* In general, highly mobile heroes like 
Earth Spirit or Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as 
Tinker and 
Nature's Prophet.
Medusa
* Heroes who take a long time to become strong are in for a rough mid game, such as Outworld Destroyer, 
Magnus, Medusa, and Anti-Mage.
Storm Spirit
* Any heroes with stuns or silences: 
Death Prophet, Lion, 
Shadow Shaman, 
Skywrath Mage
Storm Spirit
* Mobility heroes will often be rooted by Troll Warlord and unable to escape, like Storm Spirit.
Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: 
Tidehunter, 
Bristleback, 
Slardar.
Medusa
* Hard carries who just want to farm and be left alone will not appreciate Primal Beast, heroes such as Medusa, 
Drow Ranger...
Storm Spirit
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, 
Ember Spirit, 
Lycan, 
Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin, Invoker, Outworld Destroyer, Pugna, Lion
Medusa
* E.M.P. allows Invoker to burn Medusa's mana to weaken Mana Shield.
* Medusa's lack of mobility makes her easy to kite with Invoker's spells.
Additional:
* 
E.M.P. is a large mana burn nuke which can hit Medusa's Mana shield with enough damage to lose even more mana.
* 
Deafening Blast disarms Medusa's ability to deal pseudo-AOE damage during teamfights.
* 
Cold Snap allows the opposing team to repeatedly stun Medusa in short succession, preventing her from successfully casting her ultimate due to its long cast time.
Storm Spirit
* In the early to mid game, Invoker is defenseless against Storm Spirit's ganking with Ball Lightning and Orchid Malevolence.
Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter, Bristleback, Slardar.
Medusa
* With 
Static Link, Razor can effectively make Medusa useless in teamfights by reducing her main damage output. It can, however, be blocked by a 
Linken's Sphere.
* 
Plasma Field allows Razor to get on top of Medusa, slowing her already slow movement speed to a mere crawl.
* 
Eye of the Storm capitilizes on Medusa's low armor and causes her to be very vulnerable, even through Mana Shield.
Storm Spirit
* Any hero with teleport abilities (e.g. Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit) can easily break Static Link.
Additional:
* Ball Lightning breaks Static Link.
* Razor has no way to catch a slippery Storm Spirit.
Storm Spirit
* Queen of Pain outlanes Storm Spirit due to the fact that it has long-range abilities: 
Shadow Strike and 
Scream Of Pain. Storm Spirit's damage from the Overload ability is not enough to interrupt her on the line, and the Static Remnant will never reach Queen Of Pain, as she will scatter her abilities from afar, which is why she will drive Storm Spirit off the line and get a lot of gold and level, after such a stage of the liner, Queen of Pain will very quickly buy Black King Bar and will not let Storm Spirit catch and kill her at the expense of Electric Vortex
Additional:
* Queen of Pain outlanes Storm Spirit due to the fact that it has long-range abilities: Shadow Strike and Scream Of Pain. Storm Spirit's damage from the Overload ability is not enough to interrupt her on the line, and the Static Remnant will never reach Queen Of Pain, as she will scatter her abilities from afar, which is why she will drive Storm Spirit off the line and get a lot of gold and level, after such a stage of the liner, Queen of Pain will very quickly buy Black King Bar and will not let Storm Spirit catch and kill her at the expense of Electric Vortex
Storm Spirit
* Heroes that rely on their high mobility such as Queen of Pain, Slark and Weaver can be constantly engaged against due to your excellent ability to chase over any terrain. Make sure you carry true sight items (such as Dust of Appearance or Gem of True Sight) for invisible heroes that could potentially escape your clutches.
Storm Spirit
* 
Ensnare prevents using any kind of movement abiilties, Making Naga Siren good against heroes who rely on gap-closing abilities to escape: 
Phantom Assassin, Magnus, Slark, 
Riki, 
Faceless Void, Storm Spirit.
Medusa
* Heroes that build 
Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky: Riki, 
Naga Siren, 
Terrorblade, 
Juggernaut, 
Spectre, Slark.
Medusa
* Medusa's 
Split Shot and Mystic Snake combined with 
Mjollnir, a common item for Medusa, will whittle down all of Naga Siren's illusions, including Naga Siren herself.
* Medusa's Stone Gaze can disable Naga Siren even for the duration of 
Song of the Siren and even if Naga Siren is spell immune, discouraging Naga Siren from even trying to use Song of the Siren to save herself or counter-initiate against Medusa.
Additional:
* Medusa's Split Shot and Mystic Snake combined with Mjollnir, a common item for Medusa, will whittle down all of Naga Siren's illusions, including Naga Siren herself.
* Medusa's Stone Gaze can disable Naga Siren even for the duration of Song of the Siren and even if Naga Siren is spell immune, discouraging Naga Siren from even trying to use Song of the Siren to save herself or counter-initiate against Medusa.
Storm Spirit
* An isolated Enigma in the early game can be easily killed by Storm Spirit thanks his higher mobility and dueling potential. However, Storm Spirit can be killed when caught by Enigma's full combo, especially if Enigma has Black King Bar.
* Storm can kill all of Enigma's Eidolons relatively quickly without much risk, slowing down Enigma's farming speed, preventing him from split pushing, and giving Storm its considerable bounty, especially if Enigma chooses the Level 25 Talent that gives him more Eidelons.
* Storm can zip through 
Black Hole stunning Enigma while he's channelling until Enigma buys Black King Bar.
Medusa
* Medusa's Split Shot can make quick work of Enigma's Eidolons and take advantage of their considerable bounty.
* Medusa can also kill Eidolons with her Mystic Snake that can also greatly damage Enigma and drain some of his mana.
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze at the start of a fight, it can make initiating and landing an effective Black Hole exceedingly difficult, because Stone Gaze can cancel Enigma's Black Hole even through spell immunity, which can discourage Enigma from even trying to initiate with Black Hole.
Additional:
* Medusa's Split Shot can make quick work of Enigma's Eidolons and take advantage of their considerable bounty.
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze at the start of a fight, it can make initiating — and landing an effective Black Hole exceedingly difficult. Stone Gaze can cancel Enigma's Black Hole even through spell immunity, which can discourage Enigma from initiating with Black Hole.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit is invulnerable during Ball Lightning, allowing him to zip away from any ganking attempts with Rupture.
* Ball Lightning also prevents Bloodseeker from chasing down an injured Storm Spirit, or catching him in Blood Rite.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit is invulnerable during Ball Lightning, rendering 
Rupture ineffective against him.
Medusa
* Mana Shield makes it very difficult for Bloodseeker to gain his Thirst bonuses.
* Rupture rarely kills Medusa through Mana Shield.
Storm Spirit
* 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.
Medusa
* Medusa's Split Shot can easily kill Chen's creeps.
* Mystic Snake can quickly kill Chen's creeps and deal intense damage for every killed creep while also draining their mana with each bounce. 
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Mystic Snake can also disable both, Chen and his creeps upon impact.
* Mana Shield will make it impossible for Chen to burst down Medusa.
* Stone Gaze can disable Chen from using 
Hand of God to save himself or his allies.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
Medusa
* Split Shot will keep attacking Pangolier even when he is rolling around.
* Stone Gaze stuns Pangolier during Rolling Thunder, or forces him to roll away.
Storm Spirit
* Escape-type carries: Slark, Storm Spirit, Weaver.
Medusa
* Should Luna choose to buy Manta Style, Medusa will be able to kill illusions from them with Split Shot and Mjollnir, which is a common item on Medusa.
* Mystic Snake allows Medusa to easily harass Luna and steal mana from her, preventing Luna from retaliating with 
Lucent Beam.
* Medusa can survive 
Eclipse thanks to Mana Shield, which can cause Luna to struggle greatly in bursting down Medusa and force her to buy Diffusal Blade and it's upgrade 
Disperser.
* Even with Black King Bar, Medusa's Stone Gaze will still be able to disable Luna, which could even discourage her from counter-initiating with Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Medusa makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Should Luna choose to buy Manta Style, Medusa will be able to kill illusions from them with Split Shot and Mjollnir, which is a common item on Medusa.
* Mystic Snake allows Medusa to easily harass Luna and steal mana from her, preventing Luna from retaliating with Lucent Beam.
* Medusa can survive Eclipse thanks to Mana Shield, and since Luna is not a hero that often goes for Diffusal Blade, she will struggle greatly in bursting down Medusa.
* Even with Black King Bar, Medusa's Stone Gaze will still be able to disable Luna, which could even discourage her from counter-initiating with Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Medusa makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes that usually build Linken's Sphere as either a core or situational item: Weaver, Medusa, 
Morphling, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, 
Luna, Naga Siren.
Medusa
* If Medusa activates Stone Gaze before Spirit Breaker reaches her with Charge of Darkness, the charge will inevitably fail.
* Medusa has three ways to counter Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness: Stone Gaze can disable Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness if he faces Medusa directly. Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Mystic Snake can disable Spirit Breaker and cancel his Charge of Darkness if it hits him. And 
Cold Blooded provided by 
Aghanim's Shard that can cast a single-targeted Mystic Snake at Spirit Breaker if he uses Charge of Darkness on her.
* Mana Shield and overall tankiness allows Medusa to easily survive Spirit Breaker's initiation. And to make things worse, Spirit Breaker is not a common Diffusal Blade nor Disperser wielder to counter this problem at all.
* Overall, any attempt for Spirit Breaker to gank and kill Medusa will hurt him more than the other way around.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with escape abilities: Anti-Mage 
Dark Seer Slark Storm Spirit 
Windranger Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown.
Medusa
* Lifestealer's low mobility makes him easy to kite.
* Stone Gaze pierces 
Rage, wasting its cooldown and making Lifestealer unable to fight.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with abilities that can close the gap can easily kill Muerta: Storm Spirit, Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Void Spirit, Lycan, 
Chaos Knight, Tusk.
Medusa
* Any long duration disables that can pierce through both, Pierce The Veil and Black King Bar are devastating against Muerta: 
Enigma's Black Hole, 
Dawnbreaker's 
Solar Guardian, 
Axe's 
Berserker's Call, Naga Siren's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Ensnare and 
Reel In from Aghanim's Scepter, 
Jakiro's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Macropyre, 
Bane's Fiend's Grip, 
Pudge's 
Dismember, 
Batrider's 
Flaming Lasso, 
Beastmaster's 
Primal Roar, 
Grimstroke's 
Soulbind, Medusa's Stone Gaze, Magnus's 
Reverse Polarity.
Storm Spirit
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan, Slark, Storm Spirit, Spectre and others.
Medusa
* Heroes with a lot of burst damage, especially those who rely on casting spells: 
Lina, 
Zeus.
Storm 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.
Medusa
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe, Death Prophet, 
Phantom Lancer, Slark, 
Centaur Warrunner, Bristleback, Medusa, 
Mars.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to easily catch up to Monkey King, destroying a large number of trees, cancelling Tree Dance, and causing Monkey King to be stunned in the process.
Additional:
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to destroy a large amount of trees, negating 
Tree Dance. It also makes it easy to avoid 
Wukong's Command and 
Boundless Strike.
Medusa
* Enchantress often has a small army of neutral creeps, allowing Medusa to hit her with a later bounce of her Mystic Snake.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit can easily make his way to Hoodwink with his ultimate Ball lightning, and coupled with Hoodwink's low health and magic resistance, she can be nuked easily.
* Additionally, Ball lightning can destroy a small amount of trees in its destination. Combined with Storm Spirit's frequent usage of his ultimate, he can clear out an area of trees while simultaneously attacking him and dodging incoming attacks.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning can be used to clear Nature's Prophet's Treants and easily destroys Sprout.
* Electric Vortex prevents Nature's Prophet's escaping using Teleportation.
Medusa
* Her Mana Shield is too tough for Lycan to break.
* Mystic Snake can hit for a massive damage once it spread between his summons.
Additional:
* Can be easily petrified despite his speed.
* Summoned wolves will be targeted by Split Shot or Mystic Snake
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning makes Storm Spirit a target difficult to chase, even for a hero as mobile as Timbersaw.
* The magical damage from Static Remnant and Overload together with Storm Spirit's high mobility allows Storm Spirit to jump on Timbersaw and burst him down, even if he tries to escape.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to bypass Bramble Maze into the backline, and zip back into battle if he gets hit by Terrorize.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to close the gap between him and Weaver in no time. Once locked down with certain items, Weaver is extremely fragile to Storm Spirit and his teammates.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning can escape quickly fear from 
Focus Fire. Windranger can not reach Storm Spirit although Windrun active catch him.
Additional:
* The high mobility provided by Ball Lightning makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire. It can be also used to dodge Powershot.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to escape through 
Viper Strike, wasting Viper's mana.
* It's also very easy to wait out the duration of 
Nethertoxin's break.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit outlanes Earth Spirit wins by having a ranged attack type, and also deals damage to the Earth Spirit every time he approaches the creeps with his ability Static Remnant, which is why he overtakes Earth Spirit in level and gold
* Storm Spirit has the ability to quickly kill Earth Spirit under his ability Electric Vortex, which Earth Spirit cannot do if Storm Spirit buys 
Falcon Blade at the liner stage, because Storm Spirit will have too much health for Earth Spirit`s abilities and will survive Earth Spirit`s damage.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit outlanes Earth Spirit wins by having a ranged attack type, and also deals damage to the Earth Spirit every time he approaches the creeps with his ability Static Remnant, which is why he overtakes Earth Spirit in level and gold
* Storm Spirit has the ability to quickly kill Earth Spirit under his ability Electric Vortex, which Earth Spirit cannot do if Storm Spirit buys Falcon Blade at the liner stage, because Storm Spirit will have too much health for Earth Spirit`s abilities and will survive Earth Spirit`s damage.
Storm Spirit
* Shadow Demon will have a hard time catching Storm Spirit, as he can get away with Ball Lightning.
* Static Remnant will make quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* With very high mobility and usually being paired with Orchid Malevolence, he can catch Shadow Demon with ease both in ganks and in teamfights if Shadow Demon has no survivability items.
Medusa
* Split Shot can destroy Tombstone Zombies and Tombstone itself while still damaging heroes.
Medusa
* Mana Shield makes Medusa very hard to take down in Duels.
* Stone Gaze stops Legion Commander from Dueling altogether, regardless of who she targets.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning disjoints an incoming 
Magic Missile, avoids 
Wave Of Terror, and allows Storm Spirit to easily escape if he ever gets 
Nether Swapped.
Medusa
* Visage's familiars are easy targets to Split Shot.
* Mana Shield will resist Soul Assumption instances without effort.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit destroys trees and ignores impassable terrains with Ball Lightning, rendering them dangerous places for Tinker to hide within.
* Ball Lightning disjoints projectile from 
Heat-Seeking Missile and damage from 
March of the Machines.
* Electric Vortex prevents Tinker from teleporting away, and Static Remnant and Overload can easily burst him down.
Additional:
* He can easily catch Tinker in the trees with Ball Lightning and kill him with Orchid Malevolence and his abilities, which deal both physical and magical damage, making them difficult for Tinker to itemize against.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Queen of Pain.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with AoE abilities are a bane to Beastmaster's summons: Storm Spirit, Magnus, 
Pangolier.
Medusa
* Heroes with Linken's Sphere as core item: Weaver, Morphling, Medusa.
Storm Spirit
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: 
Shadow Demon, 
Shadow Fiend, 
Venomancer, 
Ancient Apparition etc.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes that have superior mobility that can easily catch up with Mirana even after she used Leap to escape: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Riki.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with mobility spells can quickly escape from Stroke of Fate or break out of Soulbind: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Storm Spirit
Medusa
* 
Bulwark can make each of Medusa's attacks target him instead, reducing Medusa's contribution on team fights.
* 
Spear of Mars stuns Medusa and also pushes her away from teamfights, taking advantage of Medusa's low mobility.
* 
Arena Of Blood blocks Medusa's attacks from outside the arena.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning makes it almost impossible to catch Storm Spirit without someone else initiating for you.
* Overload is not reduced by Bulwark and the magical damage spam can wear down Mars quickly.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit's abilities all do magical damage, which can bypass Bulwark.
* Ball Lightning can escape through Arena of Blood and it is easy to dodge Spear of Mars.
Medusa
* Medusa's Stone Gaze forces Mars to choose between getting petrified, or turning his vulnerable back on Medusa.
Medusa
* 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.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit, Morphling, Ember Spirit
Storm Spirit
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon, Shadow Fiend, Venomancer, Ancient Apparition etc.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him: Riki, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Windranger, 
Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker, 
Night Stalker, Storm Spirit, Juggernaut, etc.
Additional:
* Ancient Apparition's only skill to stop Storm Spirit is 
Cold Feet, which is bad in general when trying to stop a Storm Spirit without any other disable.
* As a fragile support with low Strength gain and no magic resistance, Ancient Apparition is vulnerable to Storm Spirit's combos.
Medusa
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin completely useless in teamfights throughout the game: Axe, Enigma, 
Vengeful Spirit, 
Doom, Bane, Beastmaster, Pudge, Medusa, 
Warlock.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz, Slark, Storm Spirit
Storm Spirit
* Heroes that can reliably kite out Dispose, Unleash and dodge Rebound, like Ember Spirit, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Anti-Mage, Faceless Void, 
Puck or always build items like Blink Dagger and 
Force Staff.
Storm Spirit
* Lina can win on a line against Storm Spirit because of the range of her abilities and attacks, and Storm Spirit will be forced to survive on such a line, not farm
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit can quickly close the distance with Lina using Ball Lightning. In addition, Ball Lightning can be used as a way to dodge the abilities of 
Dragon Slave and 
Light Strike Array
Additional:
* Storm Spirit can quickly close the distance with Lina using Ball Lightning. In addition, Ball Lightning can be used as a way to dodge the abilities of Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array
Medusa
* Heroes with a lot of burst damage, especially those who rely on casting spells: Lina, Zeus.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes that are naturally hard to gank, ranging from beefy tanks like 
Abaddon and Wraith King to heroes with quick escape mechanisms like Anti-Mage and Storm Spirit are also undesirable targets for a lone, roaming Bounty Hunter to scout out and initiate on.
Medusa
* 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.
Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky: Riki, Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Juggernaut, Spectre, Slark.
Storm Spirit
* Terrorblade has low mobility, which makes it easy for Storm Spirit to kite him.
* Terrorblade gains a lot of agility and gains very low strength, which makes it easy to burst him down with Storm's magical damage.
* All of Terrorblade's abilities are easily avoided by Storm Spirit as he can simply use Ball Lightning, wasting the duration of 
Metamorphosis, 
Conjure Image, and 
Reflection.
* However, if Storm Spirit's Orchid Malevolence is on cooldown or if he doesn't have it, Terrorblade can easily use 
Sunder and kill a careless Storm Spirit.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit has heavy magic damage that bypasses Terroblade's high armor.
* Ball Lightning can either use to initiates Terroblade from distance or kite Terroblade from using Sunder as he has no source of disable to deal with Storm Spirit outside of 
Terror Wave from Aghanim's Scepter.
Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky: Riki, Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Juggernaut, Spectre, Slark.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit can exploit every one of Spectre's weaknesses, and thus is one of the best counters against her.
* Spectre has to be in melee range to deal damage, making her likely to trigger Static Remnants and susceptible to being kited by Overload procs.
* Electric Vortex can lock Spectre down as she doesn't like to build Black King Bar.
* Ball Lightning gives Storm Spirit multiple advantages:
* Spectre cannot evade Storm Spirit, as Ball Lightning is superior to 
Spectral Dagger in terms of mobility.
* Storm Spirit can kite her and her 
Haunt illusions when it's later in the game due to her having no form of pseudo-blinks (Reality is far inferior to Ball Lightning).
* It is very difficult for Spectre to deal any substantial damage against Storm Spirit with 
Desolate. Ball Lightning grants invulnerability and can mitigate damage done from 
Dispersion and 
Radiance.
* To mitigate this, Spectre needs a team with hard disable to take Storm Spirit out.
Additional:
* Ball Lightning is the ultimate counter to Spectre's entire toolkit. With this ability, he can score easy kills on Spectre without her having any means of escape early game, kite her and her Haunt illusions when it's later in the game due to her having no form of pseudo-blinks.
* Furthermore, it is very difficult for Spectre to deal any substantial damage against Storm Spirit with Desolate, and without both Manta Style and Diffusal Blade he will always remain on the move.
* Also, Ball Lightning grants invulnerability, and as Storm Spirit likes to spam that ability, he can mitigate the damage done from Dispersion and Radiance.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes that have escape abilities (such as Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit or Timbersaw) can be either nullified by Reaper's Scythe or a complimentary item for Necrophos (like Rod of Atos or 
Scythe of Vyse). If Necrophos is quick enough and enters range, they can quickly, if not instantly, die if they are not quick enough.
Medusa
* Mana Shield can tank most of the damage from Reaper's Scythe; with sufficient mana, the kill threshold drops significantly.
* Necrophos has a movement speed equal to Medusa, and is easy to chase down with a slowing item in Medusa's inventory.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin, Invoker, Outworld Destroyer, Pugna, Lion
Storm Spirit
* Pugna is a very fragile hero who can easily get caught and killed by Storm Spirit's long range initiation.
* This is especially true if he has Orchid Malevolence or Scythe of Vyse.
* Pugna has no disables that can prevent Storm Spirit from escaping.
* Even though Ball Lightning requires high amount of mana, Nether Ward is ineffective since Storm Spirit is invulnerable while using it.
* Storm Spirit's other abilities cost very insignificant amount of mana for Nether Ward to be effective.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing towers will often struggle from a small map very early, such as Phantom Assassin, Storm Spirit and Phantom Lancer.
Medusa
* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.
Additional:
* Mana Shield makes it very hard for Sven to burst her within Storm Hammer's stun duration.
* Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Sven to fight Medusa at any stage of the game.
* Mystic Snake can slow Sven down enough for allies to capitalize on his commitment in a fight.
Medusa
* Phantom Lancer with Diffusal Blade will very quickly burn Medusa's mana, making Mana Shield significantly less effective.
* 
Doppelganger's 1 second invulnerability can be used to dodge Medusa's petrification from Stone Gaze, as well as Mystic Snake.
* Phantom Lancer's illusions outnumber Medusa's targets from Split Shot, likely shielding his team in the process.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit has multiple AoE abilities to deal with Phantom Lancer, especially with Aghanim's Scepter.
* Ball Lightning destroys illusions, avoids Spirit Lance, and makes Storm Spirit very hard to catch, even with Phantom Rush.
Additional:
* Ball Lightning with or without the Static Remnant talent allows Storm Spirit to destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions quickly. It is also easy to dodge 
Spirit Lance with Ball Lightning and makes Spirit Storm very hard to catch even with 
Phantom Rush.
Storm Spirit
* 
Doom prevents Storm Spirit from using all of his abilities and items, rendering Storm Spirit useless in a fight.
Medusa
* Doom does not disable Mana Shield. As such, Doom's damage is largely mitigated by her mana shield. Additionally, Medusa is not reliant on her abilities to be effective during a teamfight, making Medusa an unproductive hero to target.
* Medusa is an ideal Linken's Sphere carrier. Should one be purchased, and without any additional disables, Doom may find that few opportunities exist to effectively lockdown, disable, and kill Medusa.
Medusa
* 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.
Storm Spirit
* 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.
Medusa
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: Tidehunter, Bristleback, Slardar.
Medusa
* 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.
Medusa
* Heroes with extremely slow movement speed will cripple against Solar Bind: Medusa, 
Viper
Additional:
* 
Will-O-Wisp will keep Medusa busy after she got hit by 
Blinding Light.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
Medusa
* Heroes that build Diffusal Blade or can fit it well into their item build will also make Medusa much less tanky: Riki, Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Juggernaut, Spectre, Slark.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Slark etc.
Storm Spirit
* Earthbind, like any root, inhibits usage of Ball Lightning, eliminating Storm Spirit's mobility.
Medusa
* Poof won't damage Medusa and she can use Stone Gaze to disable all of Meepo's clones.
* Mystic Snake will easily become the bane of Meepo early game.
Medusa
* Webbed areas can be used to hit and run, covering distance hastily weakening her on the way and initiating ganks.
* Even though Medusa can hunt down Spiderlings easily when given enough range, 
Silken Bola will cause her attacks to miss and get her swarmed in no time.
* Medusa usually does not build a Black King Bar to benefit from Mana Shield fully while Broodmother can fit a Diffusal Blade to burn away all of Medusa's mana.
Additional:
* 
Spin Web will allow Broodmother to pick her own fights and sometimes slip away to ambush Medusa.
* Though Medusa's Split Shot and Mystic Snake can help Medusa deal with Broodmother's spiderlings, Broodmother will create too much of them for her to handle, allowing her to outnumber Medusa's targets from Split Shot and shield her team in process.
Storm Spirit
* Ball Lightning and Electric Vortex will catch Broodmother before she has a chance to retreat, and is able to catch her through the trees.
* Conversely, Ball Lightning also allows him to easily escape Broodmother, as she has no way to prevent him from using it before getting Orchid Malevolence.
Storm Spirit
* 
Flame Guard absorbs up to 500 magical damage (700 with Level 10 talents), which helps Ember Spirit survive against Storm Spirit's high magical damage.
* 
Searing Chains can root enemies up to 3 seconds, making Storm Spirit unable to escape with Ball Lightning.
* 
Fire Remnant deals high magical damage when casting multiple instances at once, granting Ember Spirit the damage to burst Storm Spirit down in the early to mid game.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit is not only a potent Orchid Malevolence carrier, his Electric Vortex provides an additional disable and Overload provides a great slow. When paired with Static Remnant, they can cut through Flame Guard fast.
* Ball Lightning not only provides great initiation upon Ember Spirit from any position anytime, but also helps dodge Sleight of Fist.
Medusa
* Axe can take advantage of Medusa's awfully low HP to insta-kill her with 
Culling Blade, making it extremely difficult for her to farm for items to compensate for the lack of strength during early and mid-game while Axe is continuously harassing around.
Medusa
* Mana Shield reduces the effectiveness of Counter Helix.
* Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Axe to initiate on Medusa and her allies.
Medusa
* Ursa's status resistance from 
Enrage reduces duration of Medusa's Stone Gaze.
* Ursa can stack damage with 
Fury Swipes easily against her Mana Shield in a prolonged team match.
Additional:
* Medusa's tankiness doesn't help her very much against Fury Swipes in long teamfights.
* With no escape mechanism and a slow movement speed, getting jumped on by Ursa usually spells a quick end for Medusa in the early game.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit can steal 
Aegis of the Immortal during Roshan attempts through the Pit, because of his Ball Lightning.
* Ursa has no way to catch a slippery Storm Spirit, as Earthshock's slow will do nothing to stop Storm Spirit from using Ball Lightning.
Medusa
* He can use either his own or his double's 
Flux to bypass the spellblock from Linken's Sphere, using the leftover Flux + 
Spark Wraith to slow Medusa's already low move speed to a crawl.
* Arc Warden has a farming advantage with double 
Hand of Midas, and can generally bully Medusa with other items that benefit from duplication.
Storm Spirit
* Storm Spirit can hunt down Arc Warden with his Ball Lightning and kill him quickly due to his lack of escape abilities.
* None of his abilities are effective against Storm Spirit, as they can be evaded with Ball Lightning.
Storm Spirit
* Mana Burn removes much-needed mana for
Ball Lightning.
Static Remnant for an easy stun.
Vendetta is capable of removing most of Storm Spirit's large mana pool, along with dealing heavy damage and quickly depleting his chances of escaping a gank or fight.
* Spiked Carapace triggers on
Additional:
*
Medusa
*
Vendetta burns a significant amount of mana on hit, and the damage from the ability drains Medusa's mana pool even further.
Spiked Carapace if he's within range of Medusa's abilities and isn't invisible.
Aghanim's Scepter extremely hard to deal with if Medusa is the team's main damage source.
Split Shot, Medusa can be easily interrupted by Spiked Carapace during combat, especially during her precious 
Stone Gaze.
Mana Shield, especially if Medusa only increases her mana pool by bolstering intelligence (which has the added bonus of increasing Mana Burn's damage).
Mystic Snake and 
Split Shot can trigger Spiked Carapace.
Medusa lacks single target damage, making a Burrowed Nyx Assassin hard to kill.
* Due to the passive nature of Mystic Snake and Split Shot, it can possibly proc Nyx's
* Medusa lacks single target damage, making Nyx with
Additional:
* With her passive
* Mana Burn quickly destroys
* Uncontrollable damage from
*