Storm Spirit
* Mana Burn removes much-needed mana for 
Ball Lightning.
* Spiked Carapace triggers on 
Static Remnant for an easy stun.
Additional:
* 
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.
Phoenix
* Spiked Carapace reacts on any of the damage over time from Phoenix's abilities and can interrupt 
Sun Ray and 
Icarus Dive.
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.
Phoenix
* Anti-Mage dispels Phoenix's slows with 
Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage can Blink directly next to 
Supernova, giving him more time to destroy the egg.
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.
Phoenix
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like 
Death Prophet, 
Skywrath Mage, and even 
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
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.
Phoenix
* Silencer will most likely disrupt an initiation with his ultimate, Global Silence, prevent escape with his Last Word, and if Phoenix happens to die to him (or near him) enough times, he would sap enough of Phoenix's much needed Intelligence to make him a stronger foe and Phoenix with less mana than it already had.
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.
Phoenix
* Phoenix constantly depletes its own health due to the health costs of its abilities. Unlike heroes that have a similar mechanic, Phoenix does not benefit from low health, nor does it really have a countermeasure for it. As such, Phoenix is a very vulnerable target for Necrophos to prey on, especially when caught off guard before it can cast Supernova.
Additional:
* Necrophos becomes a bigger threat the lower one's health gets, and unfortunately for Phoenix, most of its spells have noticeable health costs. Those costs, coupled with his 
Heartstopper Aura, means that staying in a teamfight for too long under Necrophos' presence will make Phoenix a more valid target for his ultimate, with its stun completely preventing any form of retaliation or protection. Necrophos players are also likely to buy more durability items such as 
Hood of Defiance, making him more able to withstand Phoenix's damage despite having no escape mechanisms.
* However, it is also important to remember that a Scepter-upgraded Supernova can help protect an ally from his ultimate.
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.
Phoenix
* Although Phoenix has many ways to disable a Blink Dagger, the high cooldown of all of its spells makes them not as reliable for this. Also, its spells cost a lot of health to use, making it easy to get nuked down.
* Waning Rift prevents Phoenix from using Supernova to refresh itself, giving Puck's team time to finish it off, or allow Puck to burst Phoenix down.
* Dream Coil prevents Phoenix from using Icarus Dive without consequences. Waning Rift and Dream Coil are also able to cancel Sun Ray, which is its main source of damage in the late game.
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.
Phoenix
* 
Void can interrupt Icarus Dive.
* His Crippling Fear's silence will shutdown a spell caster Phoenix.
* However, Phoenix punishes Night Stalker with Supernova because it will turn night into day, and it has a higher priority than Dark Ascension, effectively canceling the passive bonuses Night Stalker gets from 
Hunter in the Night.
Phoenix
* 
Phoenix turns night to day, overriding Dark Ascension during Supernova.
Storm Spirit
* Any heroes with stuns or silences: Death Prophet, 
Lion, 
Shadow Shaman, Skywrath Mage
Phoenix
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, and even Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Storm Spirit
* Mobility heroes will often be rooted by Troll Warlord and unable to escape, like Storm Spirit.
Phoenix
* 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.
Phoenix
* Phoenix does significant magic damage over time which can either be dispelled or negated by Fate's Edict.
* Oracle's burst damage potential can prove lethal to Phoenix, as they already have to sacrifice health to cast their basic skills.
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
* 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
Phoenix
* Chemical Rage kills Phoenix very quickly in Supernova.
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.
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.
Phoenix
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, 
Earth Spirit, 
Faceless Void, 
Magnus, 
Mirana, 
Monkey King, 
Morphling, 
Pangolier, 
Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, 
Puck, Queen of Pain, 
Riki, 
Sand King, 
Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, 
Tusk.
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.
Phoenix
* As a hero with uncommon traits, Phoenix's abilities require more health than mana. It is advised for Rubick to purchase health regeneration items such as 
Tranquil Boots, 
Urn of Shadows or Hood of Defiance to keep up with the HP loss.
* Phoenix's signature Supernova, if casted successfully, can turn a teamfight around if being stolen.
* The initial lift and the following crowd control from the drop of 
Telekinesis can protect the egg from being attacked if casted right before Supernova with quick fingers.
* A successfully reborn Supernova refreshes the cooldown of Telekinesis as well as 
Fade Bolt, so don't hesitate to spam both of them before Supernova with the reasons mentioned above.
* Supernova has a stun range of 1200, which requires Rubick to have Level 3 
Arcane Supremacy at least to exceed its range. Consider buying 
Aether Lens or 
Blink Dagger to help with positioning.
* It is not possible to cast Supernova (as of 7.31c) with 
Aghanim's Shard's extra Sun Ray even with both spell stolen, since Sun Ray takes up two stolen ability slots.
* Icarus Dive is a useful repositioning ability for scouting, initiation or escaping.
* 
Fire Spirits aids with Rubick farming given enough HP regeneration. In early skirmishes, the stolen ability can slow the attack speed of the enemy team to a crawl.
* Combined with Fade Bolt, both the attack damage and attack speed of the enemy team are reduced if they have no source of dispel, effectively nullifying their physical attack damage.
* Sun Ray thrives in and after a teamfight by damaging enemy heroes and healing allies at the same time.
* Rubick can interrupt both Icarus Dive and Sun Ray by casting Telekinesis.
Phoenix
* Huskar's high attack speed can counteract Fire Spirits, and easily destroy the Supernova.
Additional:
* 
Berserker's Blood will let Huskar easily face down a Supernova with increased attack speed.
* Icarus Dive may not be an easy escape from Huskar either as he can chase Phoenix during it with 
Life Break if Huskar times it right.
* However, Phoenix can buy items which can
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.
Phoenix
* 
Song of the Siren does not affect Supernova, which allows her and her team to focus the egg while the enemy team is affected by sleep.
* Phoenix cannot use Icarus Dive for escaping when rooted by Ensnare.
* However, Phoenix has many area-of-effect abilities that allow him to clear Naga Siren's illusions from 
Mirror Image.
Phoenix
* Sand King and Phoenix have many tools to deal with multiple enemies at once, which will work well against a crowd of illusions.
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
* 
Doom prevents Storm Spirit from using all of his abilities and items, rendering Storm Spirit useless in a fight.
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.
Phoenix
* 
Lil' Shredder will make quick work of Supernova.
* 
Mortimer Kisses can easily hit a Phoenix using Sun Ray.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Queen of Pain.
Phoenix
* Inner Beast helps Beastmaster's team destroy Supernova quickly.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with AoE abilities are a bane to Beastmaster's summons: Storm Spirit, Magnus, Pangolier.
Phoenix
* Heroes that deal damage over time will also fail to bring down Abaddon and his allies, such as 
Huskar, 
Venomancer, or Phoenix.
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
* 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.
Phoenix
* 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.
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.
Phoenix
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: 
Disruptor, Death Prophet, 
Enigma, Faceless Void, 
Invoker, 
Lich, Magnus, 
Mars, Medusa, 
Outworld Destroyer, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, 
Shadow Fiend, 
Treant Protector, 
Underlord, 
Winter Wyvern, 
Witch Doctor, 
Zeus.
Phoenix
* Heroes with hiding abilities can protect disabled allies: Outworld Destroyer, 
Shadow Demon, Tusk, Phoenix with 
Aghanim's Scepter.
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
Phoenix
* 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.
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
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin, Invoker, Outworld Destroyer, 
Pugna, Lion
Phoenix
* Marci can destroy Supernova by herself with Unleash at any stage of the game.
* Phoenix is squishy hero with low armor and is very vulnerable for Rebound and Sidekick at the laning stage.
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.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's limit AoE, damage-over-time abilities give Io plenty of time to save allies with Relocate.
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.
Phoenix
* Juggernaut's high attack speed lets him destroy a Supernova easily. He can even attack a Supernova during Blade Fury with his regular attacks.
* 
Blade Fury protects Juggernaut from all of Phoenix's spells (except Supernova, which pierces spell immunity).
* Blade Fury can also dispel the attack speed slow from Fire Spirits and the movement speed slow from Icarus Dive.
* Phoenix's Icarus Dive will not protect it from 
Omnislash unless it dives into creeps, and Phoenix's low armor makes for an easy kill.
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
* 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.
Phoenix
* Phoenix with Supernova
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with 
Phase Shift
* Riki with 
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with 
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with 
Sleight of Fist and 
Activate Fire Remnant
* 
Chaos Knight with 
Phantasm
* 
Naga Siren with Mirror Image
* Tusk with Snowball
* Juggernaut with Omnislash
* 
Brewmaster with 
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with 
Infest
* Phoenix with Supernova
Storm Spirit
* 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
* 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.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's AoE abilities can prove troublesome for Phantom Lancer.
* Fire Spirits dramatically reduces Phantom Lancer and his illusions' attack speed.
* Icarus Dive's movement speed reduction makes retreating difficult.
* Supernova burns away illusions, and is invulnerable to attacks from illusions.
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.
Phoenix
* Icarus Dive and Supernova can destroy the tree Monkey King is standing on.
* Fire Spirits reduces Monkey King's attack speed, preventing Monkey King from building up Jingu Mastery.
* Supernova can be casted next to Wukong's Command, forcing Monkey King to step away of it or to withstand its massive AOE damage
Additional:
* Icarus Dive, Sun Ray, and Supernova all destroy trees that Monkey King relies on to use his ability Tree Dance. If you spot him, you can quickly Icarus Dive in his direction and then follow up with Fire Spirits and Supernova. If you manage to cut the tree he is on, he will be stunned for 4 seconds and will be forced to take a lot of damage. However, most Monkey King players tend to build attack speed items to make use of their passive, 
Jingu Mastery, so a battle against a farmed Monkey King will depend on who gets the jump on the other first.
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.
Phoenix
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Shadow Demon abilities, especially 
Demonic Purge.
* Phoenix AoE abilities remove Shadow Demon's illusions created by 
Disruption.
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.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's large damage over time with Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits can kill Chen's allies before he can use Hand of God.
* Phoenix naturally buys 
Spirit Vessel, which allows him to reduce healing from 
Divine Favor and 
Hand of God.
* Phoenix's Supernova cannot be damaged by Chen's creeps, and their normal speed means they will often not be able to kill Phoenix whenever he uses Supernova.
Additional:
* Not only Phoenix is able to disrupt Chen's jungling with Fire Spirits, but its high damage over time can also force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting any chance to save his allies during teamfights.
* Creeps' damage and attack speed are very abysmal, so Chen often cannot kill Phoenix whenever it casts Supernova.
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.
Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: 
Axe, 
Pudge, 
Bristleback, Mars.
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.
Phoenix
* Due to Spirit Breaker's low attack speed, Supernova is problematic for Spirit Breaker to take down, and even more so with Fire Spirits debuff applied.
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
Phoenix
* Supernova allows Phoenix to save himself (or an ally, with Aghanim's Scepter) through 
Echo Slam. Earthshaker will also have a difficult time destroying the supernova, due to his low base attack time and poor agility.
* Icarus Dive can pass through Earthshaker's 
Fissure.
* Most of Phoenix's abilities disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger for a good period of time due to the damage-over-time nature of its spells.
Storm Spirit
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon, Shadow Fiend, Venomancer, 
Ancient Apparition etc.
Phoenix
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or 
Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
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.
Phoenix
* Her 
Refraction charges can and will be easily burned away by Phoenix's damage over time abilities, and 
Meld can't protect her from Phoenix's AoE abilities, even without detection.
Additional:
* Phoenix's abilities target and deals damage over time, making them a threat against Meld and Refraction. His abilities' nature makes them pretty hard to correctly land on the target, but that is not a problem against a Templar Assassin that needs to stand still during Meld.
* Icarus Dive allows Phoenix to shrug off the slow from her trap and make an easy escape from her ambush.
* As Templar Assassin relies on her quality-over-quantity bursting attacks to make quick work on fragile target, Fire Spirits' attack speed reduction can cripple her ability to deals any damage during combat. With the debuff applied in early-mid game, a Meld-breaking hit from her is significantly slowed to the point that her target can travel a safe distance before she even lands the hit.
* Sun Ray has a quick damage tick and will burn through her Refraction in no time.
* Supernova deals damage over time in an incredibly large area, and again with her quality-over-quantity style, she may not be able to attack quickly enough to break through the Phoenix Sun by herself. (not to mention the debuff from Fire Spirits) This can lead to a failed ganking attempt or even a turnaround.
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.
Phoenix
* Phoenix will usually be on the sidelines or further back ready to use Sun Ray. Even after Magnus successfully uses Reverse Polarity and skewer Phoenix's teammates, Phoenix can usually counter-initiate using all of its abilities.
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.
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.
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.
Phoenix
* Fire Spirits greatly reduces Slardar's already low starting attack speed (which Bash of the Deep relies on), making the laning phase very hard for him and discouraging Slardar from aggressively threatening lane kills.
* Supernova, ignoring Phoenix's lack of armor and Slardar's high damage single hits, is extremely hard for Slardar to take down on his own, especially after being hit by Fire Spirits.
* Icarus Dive is one of the longest distance escape spells in the game, and can help a good Phoenix escape from Slardar before he gets a Blink Dagger. However, the high cooldown means Phoenix is vulnerable to backstabs from any roamers after said spell is used.
* Slardar can interrupt an Icarus Dive from completing the flight with both of his stuns, however, likely leading to death if Supernova is on cooldown.
* A lot of the items a Phoenix builds throughout the game naturally counter Slardar. 
Shiva's Guard, 
Heaven's Halberd and Eul's Scepter of Divinity all stall Slardar's normal attacks in some way, while Spirit Vessel's percentage-based damage is good against his innate durability.
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.
Phoenix
* Primal Beast is disarmed during Trample so will be unable to destroy a Supernova no matter how close it is to him.
* The same ability can also be used to save allies with the help of an Aghanim's Scepter.
* Sun Ray will do thousands of damage to Primal Beast if surviving a full channel time due to his high health scaling for the ability.
* Icarus Dive is a fantastic way to escape Primal Beast after he has used Onslaught.
* Phoenix has a naturally very high health pool making it hard for Primal Beast to deal with him with his magical damage.
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.
Phoenix
* Since all of Phoenix's abilities (except for Supernova) have health costs, heroes like Ancient Apparition or 
Necrophos can turn Phoenix's abilities against it. However, Supernova does completely protect Phoenix from 
Ice Blast.
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.
Phoenix
* Icarus Dive helps Phoenix escape from Cold Feet.
* However, all of Pheonix's basic abilities do cost health, which can be harmful under the effects of Ice Blast.
* Supernova can save Phoenix from Ice Blast.
Additional:
* Supernova with or without Aghanim's Scepter allows to save ally or himself through Ice Blast.
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Cold Feet.
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.
Phoenix
* Fire Spirits applies a severe attack speed slow, severely hindering Phantom Assassin's damage output.
* Phantom Assassin cannot cast Phantom Strike on Phoenix during Supernova.
Additional:
* While her 
Phantom Strike does give limited extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her 
Blur may protect her from attacks, Phoenix's strong magical DPS burns away her small health pool quickly, and the attack speed slow makes her unable to fight back (provided she has no source of spell immunity).
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.
Phoenix
* Clockwerk being confined in his own Power Cogs means Clockwerk is unable to quickly escape from Phoenix's Sun Ray and Supernova.
* Sun Ray will also heal the enemy Clockwerk is fighting, making it unlikely for Clockwerk to take an enemy down with him.
* For the same reasons, Phoenix also makes a powerful ally for Clockwerk when the situation is reversed.
Phoenix
* Sand King has nothing to deal with Supernova, as none of his spells are effective.
* The damage-over-time abilities of Phoenix disable Sand King's Blink Dagger very often.
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.
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
* Ball Lightning disjoints an incoming 
Magic Missile, avoids 
Wave Of Terror, and allows Storm Spirit to easily escape if he ever gets 
Nether Swapped.
Phoenix
* Sun Ray allows Phoenix to heal any allies caught in Berserker's Call while burning away Axe's high HP at the same time.
* Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits puts Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Axe's slow attack speed makes it difficult for him to destroy Supernova on his own.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's Supernova cannot be damaged by Familiars.
* In the early and mid game, Sun Ray won't deal enough damage to be reduced by Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Once Sun Ray deals enough damage to protect Visage, a layer of Gravekeeper's Cloak is burnt every 0.2 seconds.
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 with abilities that can close the gap can easily kill Muerta: Storm Spirit, Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Void Spirit, Lycan, Chaos Knight, Tusk.
Storm Spirit
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon, Shadow Fiend, Venomancer, Ancient Apparition etc.
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.
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
Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe, Pudge, Bristleback, Mars.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit, Morphling, Ember Spirit
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.
Phoenix
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions: Axe, Ember Spirit, 
Legion Commander, Phoenix
Phoenix
* Heroes that are able to slow Tiny's attack speed, like Tusk and Phoenix, will greatly limit his Physical damage output.
Phoenix
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like 
Crystal Maiden or Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
Storm Spirit
* Escape-type carries: Slark, Storm Spirit, Weaver.
Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe, Pudge, Bristleback, Mars.
Phoenix
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
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.
Phoenix
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like Crystal Maiden or Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
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.
Phoenix
* Heroes who can hide the Dueled target (Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Demon, Tusk, Phoenix with Aghanim's Scepter etc).
Additional:
* Legion Commander relies on her powerful attack and her 
Duel to be effective. But if Phoenix gets the jump on her first, she can find herself severely slowed, taking heavy damage, and find herself unable to Duel a burning Supernova.
* It must be noted that 
Press the Attack will both dispel the attack slow of Fire Spirits and grant her or whoever she targets bonus attack speed. This allows her to easily destroy a Supernova if caution is not taken to prevent this from occurring. As such, it would be a better decision to simply avoid a farmed or skilled Legion Commander instead of attempting to overpower her.
* If an ally is caught by Duel, Phoenix can use Sun Ray to heal the ally and damage Legion Commander, possibly swinging the Duel in their team's favor. Or with Aghanim's Scepter, Phoenix can save an ally from dying in Duel with Supernova and cancel the Duel as well.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with mana burn: Nyx Assassin, Invoker, Outworld Destroyer, Pugna, Lion
Storm Spirit
* In the early to mid game, Invoker is defenseless against Storm Spirit's ganking with Ball Lightning and Orchid Malevolence.
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
* 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.
Phoenix
* Supernova negates Kunkka's combo entirely, as it can't be affected by spells while using Supernova.
* Icarus Dive also allows Phoenix to dodge Ghostship and Torrent.
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.
Phoenix
* Fire Spirits does damage over time, preventing Faceless Void from backtracking the full damage with Time Walk.
* Fire Spirits applies a big attack speed slow, stopping Faceless Void from doing many attacks while in Chronosphere.
* Sun Ray can heal allies and damage Faceless Void from outside Chronosphere.
* Supernova can be cast outside of Chronosphere, forcing Faceless Void to step away from it, lest he'll take a lot of damage
Phoenix
* 
Corrosive Skin gives Viper additional resistance to Phoenix's magical damage, and since they deal damage over time, Phoenix would be constantly afflicted by his passive's own debuff, making him not an ideal target for Phoenix's harassment. Phoenix's abilities also constantly drain its own health away, becoming more vulnerable to 
Poison Attack.
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.
Phoenix
* Phoenix expends health to use its abilities, making it a good target for Thirst.
* Rupture deals heavy damage against Icarus Dive.
Additional:
* Although 
Blood Rite can be easily avoided, if it does hit, its lengthy silence and pure damage can be a severe punishment for a slow, unobservant, or simply unfortunate Phoenix.
* His 
Rupture can turn Icarus Dive into a suicide option, and it cannot be dispelled, meaning even if Phoenix completes a Supernova, choosing to Dive may just cut its health back down.
* And finally, due to Phoenix's health costs, too much careless ability spamming may just put Phoenix into Bloodseeker's vision through 
Thirst, making it a very tempting ganking target.
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.
Phoenix
* Heroes with spell immunity-granting spells will render Phoenix useless against them, as Phoenix has almost no spell immunity-piercing ability, other than the stun at the end of Supernova: Lifestealer, Juggernaut.
Storm Spirit
* Heroes with escape abilities: Anti-Mage 
Dark Seer Slark Storm Spirit Windranger Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown.
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.
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.
Phoenix
* Lone druid's bear attacks on Phoenix's Supernova Egg don't increase the hit count. Given that Lone Druid's main hero often doesn't have much farm, the Supernova Egg is less likely to get killed.
Phoenix
* Ursa can easily unleash a number of attacks in an incredibly short amount of time, easily destroying the Supernova in a couple of seconds regardless of Fire Spirits' debuff. His 
Enrage also dampens any damage Phoenix might toss at his direction, as well as remove any debuffs Phoenix may place on him.
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.
Phoenix
* Tempest Double, Magnetic Field's attack speed bonus, and Arc Warden's high attack range will easily destroy a Phoenix using Supernova much faster than usual.
* Phoenix is very weak against pushers, especially those like Arc Warden who can kill him easily, as his skillset works best in teamfights.
Additional:
* His 
Tempest Double is not an illusion, but rather a full hero unit, which effectively reduces half of the Supernova's health. His 
Magnetic Field can tremendously boost his attack speed, allowing him to destroy Supernova in no time even when he's affected by Fire Spirits.
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
* Earthbind, like any root, inhibits usage of
Ball Lightning, eliminating Storm Spirit's mobility.
Phoenix
* Earthbind can prevent Phoenix from using
Icarus Dive, the only escaping mechanism of this hero.
Fire Spirits.
Supernova in no time, even when they are slowed down by 
Fire Spirits.
Phantom Lancer or 
Chaos Knight, Meepo's clones are not illusions, meaning they can deal full damage to the Phoenix Sun if all four (or five) are present.
* Heavy burst damage from Poof can easily kill Phoenix even when it slows down all the Meepos with
* Meepo's clones destroy the Phoenix Sun from
* Meepo's naturally high magic resistance gives Phoenix a hard time with bursting him down. He can even turn the tide if Icarus Dive is on cooldown.
Additional:
* Meepo is unlike any other multi-unit enemy Phoenix may face in the battlefield. Unlike illusion-based heroes like