* Heroes with AoE abilities are a bane to Beastmaster's summons: Storm Spirit, Magnus, Pangolier.

* 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.

* Gap closers (Storm Spirit, Pudge) can easily kill Muerta.

* Sven's Great Cleave can clear Anti-Mage's illusions from Manta Style and his high health pool and low mana, making Mana Void very ineffective, although keep in mind that Storm Hammer is extremely easy to reflect with a well-timed Counterspell.

Additional:
* Anti-Mage is fairly fragile, and cannot stand against Sven in a prolonged fight.
* Sven's Black King Bar and low base mana protects against Mana Break.
* Great Cleave destroys the illusions from Anti-Mage's Manta Style.
* Although Sven should be careful as a well-timed Counterspell can block and reflect Storm Hammer.

* In the early to mid game, Invoker is defenseless against Storm Spirit's ganking with Ball Lightning and Orchid Malevolence.

* 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.

* Great Cleave with God's Strength clears Terrorblade's illusions quickly.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stuns Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Warcry gives Sven and his allies armor to withstand Terrorblade's only-physical damage output.

* 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.

* Great Cleave cleans up Spiderlings quicker than most spells, as it ignores their magic resistance.
* Sven is a natural Black King Bar carrier, protecting him from Silken Bola, Spawn Spiderlings and Orchid Malevolence.
* Warcry and God's Strength allow Sven to easily out-damage Broodmother.
Additional:
* Great Cleave clears Spiderlings quickly to increase gold income.
* Warcry shields Sven and his allies against Broodmother and her Spiderlings.

* 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.

* Great Cleave and God's Strength destroys illusions in just a few hits.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer when he's grouped up with illusions.
* Sven's low mana causes him to take less damage from Diffusal Blade. This is further reduced by the armor bonus from Warcry.
Additional:
* Great Cleave and God's Strength cuts through Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
* Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer and his illusions.

* Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to bypass Bramble Maze into the backline, and zip back into battle if he gets hit by Terrorize.

* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King

* 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.

* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as Anti-Mage, Spectre and Shadow Fiend.

* 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.

* Melee carries who usually buy an early Black King Bar, and have gap closing abilities can be good against the Arc Warden, such as Slark, Riki, Earthshaker with Aghanim's Scepter, Sven with Aghanim's Scepter etc.

* 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.

* Storm Hammer locks down Chen and his converted creeps.
* Great Cleave and God's Strength can destroy Chen and his creeps quickly.
* Warcry minimizes damage taken from creeps's attacks.
Additional:
* Great Cleave quickly destroys Chen's creeps in team fights, before they have a chance to do much.

* Ball Lightning can escape quickly fear from Focus Fire. Windranger can not reach Storm Spirit although Windrun active catch him.
Additional:
* All abilities from Windranger can not reach from Ball Lightning. Storm Spirit can dodge especially from Powershot and Focus Fire.

* Sven with Aghanim's Scepter can easily chase down Windranger and dispel her Windrun at the same time.

* 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.

* Past the early game, Sniper is an easy target for Sven to jump on with Aghanim's Scepter or Blink Dagger.
* Sven's high armour and health pool makes it difficult for Sniper to focus, as his main source of damage is his right click.
* Sniper is very squishy, and will not stand a chance against Sven head on.

* Escape-type carries: Slark, Storm Spirit, Weaver.

* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance: Sven + Shadow Shaman.

* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Slark etc.

* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as Sven and Dragon Knight.

Additional:
* Warcry allows Sven to tank the damage from {Ability ID:Omnislash|Juggernaut} due to its high armour.
* However Blade fury provides spell immunity which blocks the stun from Storm hammer.

* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon, Shadow Fiend, Venomancer, Ancient Apparition etc.

* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as Anti-Mage, Spectre and Shadow Fiend.

* 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.

* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as Lina, Slark and Zeus.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* Avalanche and Toss will never be enough damage to take out Sven in a clean way.
* Tiny is very slow with low armour growth and does not buy items to sustain Sven's damage output.

* 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.

* 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 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.

* Sven has a high health pool and is a natural Black King Bar holder and is very hard to kill for Lina.
* Sven also has high physical damage, making it easy for him to burst her down.

* 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.

* Warcry's shields protects Sven and his teammates from Swashbuckle.
* With Black King Bar, Sven will be able to protect himself from most of Pangolier's skills.

* 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.

* Storm Hammer will allow Sven to run away in the laning stage very easily or turn the tide of the fight.
* Warcry can be used to outrun Primal Beast, or in response to his Uproar damage boost.
* God's Strength will make sure work of Primal Beast if caught alone due to his low armor.

* God's Strength makes Sven one of the worst heroes to Duel.
* Storm Hammer can be used to interrupt Duels.
* Warcry gives a big boost in passive defensive ability with the active component to nearby allies.
* With the Aghanim Shard Warcry also gives nearby allies passive increases.

* With God's Strength, Warlock Golem goes down in a matter of seconds. The two weaker golems granted by Aghanim's Scepter will fare worse due to Great Cleave hitting both.
* Storm Hammer upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter dispels Shadow Word.
Additional:
* God's Strength combined with Great Cleave destroys Chaotic Offering golems within seconds.
* Warcry gives Sven and his allies armor to help against Warlock's Golem's heavy physical damage and movement speed to help escape Upheaval.
* Storm Hammer disrupts Upheaval.

* Storm Hammer interrupts Echo Stomp.

* Great Cleave will kill Lycan's summons very rapidly.
* Warcry will allow Sven and his allies to tank Lycan's damage, which is mainly physical.
* Storm Hammer will damage and stun Lycan's as well as his summons.

* 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 Hammer's faster projectile speed and cast time allows Sven to stun Chaos Knight and his illusions before he can cast Chaos Bolt.
* Warcry's armor bonus counteracts Reality Rift's debuff and reduces Chaos Knight's damage output.
* Great Cleave and God's Strength devastates Phantasm illusions.
Additional:
* Great Cleave is very effective against Chaos Knight's illusions.
* Storm Hammer's radius can catch all of Chaos Knight's illusions at once, especially after Reality Rift.
* Warcry shields Sven and his teammates against Chaos Knight's burst physical damage.

* 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.

* Heroes with cleave damage: Sven, Magnus, Kunkka.

* Ball Lightning disjoints an incoming Magic Missile, avoids Wave Of Terror, and allows Storm Spirit to easily escape if he ever gets Nether Swapped.

* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden, Vengeful Spirit, Dark Willow.

* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden, Vengeful Spirit, Dark Willow.

* 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.

* Generally heroes who don't rely on magical damage, such as Sven, Phantom Assassin, and Outworld Destroyer, as they can practically ignore Flesh Heap's damage block.

* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Ogre Magi.

* 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.

* Heroes with escape abilities : Anti-Mage Dark Seer Slark Storm Spirit Windranger Weaver can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown

* Heroes that usually build Linken's Sphere as a core or situational item: Weaver, Medusa, Morphling, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Luna.

* Heroes who struggle to fight back against Sven at any point in the game are at a severe disadvantage: Alchemist, Anti-Mage, Crystal Maiden.

* Heroes with mobility spells can quickly escape from Stroke of Fate or break out of Soulbind: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Morphling, 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.

* Strong laners are usually at a disadvantage because of how well Sven can jungle. Heroes such as Dark Seer. Underlord and Legion Commander may find that later Sven takes care of them very quickly after some jungle farming.

* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz, Slark, 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* God's Strength allows Sven to take down Death Prophet quickly, reducing the damage dealt over time from Exorcism.
* Warcry's bonus armour and movement speed is very useful for Sven and his teammates against Exorcism, which deals physical damage.

* 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.

* Ball Lightning, if timed correctly, and in the right place, can drag Huskar using Life Break all the way to fountain. Or you could also lure him on top of a pillar or into a techies minefield.

* 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.

* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as Lina, Slark and Zeus.

* 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.

* Doom generally does not impede Sven in any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.

* 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.

* Heroes with teleports to escape Solar Blind and Will-O-Wisp: Phantom Assassin, Puck, Queen of Pain, 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.

* Strong laners are usually at a disadvantage because of how well Sven can jungle. Heroes such as Dark Seer. Underlord and Legion Commander may find that later Sven takes care of them very quickly after some jungle farming.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit, Morphling, Ember Spirit

* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon, Shadow Fiend, Venomancer, Ancient Apparition etc.

* Great Cleave and God's Strength can take down Meepo and his clones very quickly.
* The lack of spell immunity for Meepo's clones makes them vulnerable to Storm Hammer.
Additional:
* Great Cleave will devastate Meepo's clones. Against a closely packed group, Sven does not even need to target the clone with the lowest health.

* Although Sven relies often on physical damage, an Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Storm Hammer can dispel Guardian Angel with its wide radius.

* Cleave heroes will clear her illusions. Such heroes include Sven, Magnus, Dragon Knight in Elder Dragon Form, Ember Spirit (via item), Phantom Assassin (via talent or item), etc.

* Warcry makes it difficult to burst Sven down with both the passive (with Aghanim's Shard) and active component.
* Sven under the effect of God's Strength and his massive physical damage make Sven very dangerous to engage in the mid game.