* Fate's Edict cripples many heroes who rely on attacks, such as
Phantom Assassin,
Sven, or
Enchantress, without a dispel or a
Black King Bar.
*
False Promise dispels Flaming Lasso.
*
Fortune's End can root Batrider after he uses Flaming Lasso. It can also dispel Sticky Napalm and Flamebreak.
*
Fate's Edict when used on a Lasso'd target will leave them immune to magical damage, making it difficult to burst them quickly before the Lasso ends.
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by E.M.P.:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Omniknight
* QW-Invoker perfectly resists Batrider in his attacks, since Batrider has a small mana reserve and depends very much on him -
E.M.P. perfectly allows Invoker to deprive her, and he also has the abilities of
Tornado and
Cold Snap, which can help him fend off his attack, and possibly even kill along with his team
Additional:
* QW-Invoker perfectly resists Batrider in his attacks, since Batrider has a small mana reserve and depends very much on him -
E.M.P. perfectly allows Invoker to deprive her, and he also has the abilities of
Tornado and
Cold Snap, which can help him fend off his attack, and possibly even kill along with his team
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
*
Plague Wards are very hard for Batrider to play against as they provide a lot of vision as well as disable
Blink Dagger for a long duration.
*
Enrage with
Aghanim's Scepter can dispel Flaming Lasso.
*
Cold Embrace saves any ally Sven initiates on and wastes the duration of God's Strength in team fights.
*
Winter's Curse can be devastating to Sven's team, as his massive damage can take out a teammate before there is much time to react.
* Undying can use Decay not only to reduce Sven's maximum health, but also to reduce the damage he can deal with his ultimate.
* Zombies spawned by Tombstone together with Flesh Golem slow Sven down significantly. Landing Sven's powerful but somewhat slow right-click on Tombstone would be a waste.
*
Whirling Axes (Melee)'s blind makes Sven nearly useless in the early game and allows Troll Warlord to take him on comfortably.
*
Battle Trance will mean Sven will never take Troll out in a 1vs1 with equal farm.
Additional:
* Berserker's Rage together with Troll Warlord's high attack speed gives Troll a high chance of rooting enemies, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Sven.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, and the passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll resilient to physical damage in early game. Sven's
God's Strength is much less effective as a result.
* Beware that Sven can farm much faster than Troll Warlord by stacking ancients and clearing them with
Great Cleave.
* Kraken Shell is very useful against
Sticky Napalm and
Flamebreak, easily dispelling them regularly.
* Tidehunter is probably the worst hero to target with
Flaming Lasso, as Kraken Shell will remove it and Tidehunter often survives long enough to cast Ravage in the middle of Batrider's team. At the same time, if Batrider initiates on his teammate, Tidehunter will have the perfect opportunity to counter-initiate.
Additional:
*
Kraken Shell can dispel Flaming Lasso.
* If Batrider drags Tidehunter back towards his team, it can be setup for a well placed
Ravage.
*
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time can both dispel Flaming Lasso.
Additional:
*
Sticky Napalm,
Flaming Lasso, and
Flamebreak can all be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
*
Firefly will continuously heal Abaddon under Borrowed Time.
*
Cloak and Dagger makes Sven unable to detect where Riki is until he shows or his team provides detection.
*
Smoke Screen will make Sven miss attacks before he has his
Black King Bar.
* Queen of Pain can be an effective tool against Batrider in the game and on the line. She has long-range abilities such as
Scream of Pain or
Sonic Wave and a long-range type of attack, which is why she can keep Batrider at a distance all the time, and prevent him from attacking with
Flaming Lasso or
Firefly. Queen of Pain has an effective high-deceleration ability against Batrider -
Shadow Strike, which is why he cannot quickly set fire to all enemies under
Firefly and fly between all Queen of Pain allies. In addition, Queen of Pain has a wonderful escape in stock -
Blink, which can save her at any moment in which batrider decides to attack
Additional:
* Queen of Pain can be an effective tool against Batrider in the game and on the line. She has long-range abilities such as
Scream of Pain or
Sonic Wave and a long-range type of attack, which is why she can keep Batrider at a distance all the time, and prevent him from attacking with
Flaming Lasso or
Firefly. Queen of Pain has an effective high-deceleration ability against Batrider -
Shadow Strike, which is why he cannot quickly set fire to all enemies under
Firefly and fly between all Queen of Pain allies. In addition, Queen of Pain has a wonderful escape in stock -
Blink, which can save her at any moment in which batrider decides to attack
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal but needs to be careful of Sven's
Aghanim's Scepter purge.
* Multicast Fireblasts over the course of fights are a decent nuisance to stall Sven's massive damage output.
* Bloodlust and Ignite gives Ogre Magi's team the movement speed difference needed to chase and/or disengage against a Sven and his
Warcry.
* Ignite provides strong damage over time to pressure Sven early on in the laning phase and keep his health low, delaying his transition into the jungle. Ignite is also an easy way to disrupt
Blink Dagger, Sven's most popular way of initiation.
* Ogre Magi's presence in the laning phase both in terms of damage and durability keeps high pressure on Sven in lane.
* Purchasing an
Aghanim's Shard allows Ogre Magi to greatly reduce the burst damage of Sven, who tends to build items focused on damage per hit instead of attack speed.
* Nyx can walk into Firefly with
Spiked Carapace and stun Batrider if he has no Spell Immunity, even if Batrider is focusing on other enemy hero.
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like
Lifestealer or
Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up
Black King Bar, like
Sven.
* With her Nether Swap, Vengeful Spirit can save the life of an ally who gets caught with
Flaming Lasso. Nether Swap also makes it highly dangerous for Batrider to attempt a lasso, as it can lead to his own demise far behind enemy lines.
* Wave of Terror's flying vision allows Vengeful Spirit to spot Batrider trying to close in on his target with
Firefly.
Additional:
*
Nether Swap breaks Flaming Lasso when used on ally and can break if used on Batrider.
* Vengeful Spirit can disable Batrider's
Blink Dagger before a fight with
Wave of Terror.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
*
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.
Additional:
* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.
*
X Marks the Spot breaks Flaming Lasso when used on ally and can break if used on Batrider.
* Batrider has poor survivablilty, relying on his mobility from
Firefly to survive. Stunning him with Ice Path of Liquid Frost can easily spell his doom.
* Batrider tends to cast
Flaming Lasso on the squishest or the tankiest hero. Which Jakiro is not squishy, nor his generally the tank of the team, Due to this, Jakiro can usually save allies with Ice Path and Liquid Frost, while also potentially removing an entire hero from play for a short period of time.
* Even if Batrider does cast Flaming Lasso on Jakiro, Batrider will generally drag Jakiro into a great setup for Ice Path and Macropyre.
* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his
Black King Bar.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
* Heroes who can stun Sven even with an activated
Black King Bar can be an issue:
Clockwerk,
Beastmaster.
Additional:
* Primal Roar takes Sven out of the fight completely, even with
Black King Bar.
* Heroes that can prevent Sven from farming are very strong against him. Such as
Riki and
Bounty Hunter with their respective invisibility.
* Heroes who can stun Sven even with an activated
Black King Bar can be an issue:
Clockwerk,
Beastmaster.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
* Heroes that relies on armor or other type of physical damage negation are easy for Gyrocopter to take down during the early game with his magical damage:
Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Sven.
* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as
Templar Assassin,
Morphling and
Huskar.
*
Keeper of the Light's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.
* Heroes who can fight back easily are not ideal matchups for Sven, such as
Troll Warlord as mentioned above,
Lone Druid and
Templar Assassin.
* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as
Templar Assassin,
Morphling and
Huskar.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
Additional:
* His Heartstopper Aura deals the same gradual damage over time no matter how high Sven builds his strength or health pool up, and should he fall down to a certain percentage, his high health will no longer matter if Necrophos manages to land his Reaper's Scythe, killing him instantly. But it is best if Necrophos can either catch him off guard before he can possibly use his
Black King Bar (which is an item Sven players commonly purchase), or bait him out of it.
* Ghost Shroud prevents Sven from hitting Necrophos, and if he doesn't have his
Storm Hammer available, it could make him completely immune to Sven and allow Necrophos to easily kite him around.
* Melee heroes that get kited easily have hard times dealing with Puck without any lockdowns, as Puck is one of the most mobile heroes. Heroes like
Sven,
Lifestealer,
Ursa and
Alchemist may have problems to get to Puck without proper initiation items. They also lack reliable lockdowns, as their disables are easily avoidable for Puck, or are just a soft disable.
* Heroes that rely on right-clicks will find themselves unable to damage opponents seriously after being affected by Static Link, like
Sven,
Bloodseeker, and
Juggernaut.
Additional:
*
Static Link saps Sven's insane attack damage, and goes through
Black King Bar.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
*
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
* For the same reason, he has to be slightly more cunning when playing against heroes that can scout the treeline, such as
Ancient Apparition and his
Ice Vortex and
Shadow Demon and his
Shadow Poison.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper:
Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like
Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
*
Dark Pact can dispel Flaming Lasso if is used in anticipation, but a Blink initiation from fog can catch the Slark off guard.
* Slark can also take off any Sticky Napalm stacks with
Dark Pact in lane.
Additional:
* Shadow Dance's passive can inform Slark when he's under enemy vision, meaning it'll be very hard to catch Slark off-guard with
Flaming Lasso.
*
Flaming Lasso is dispelled by Dark Pact. Its casting can be prevented with
Shadow Dance or
Depth Shroud (it requires
Aghanim's Shard).
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
*
Press the Attack dispels Flaming Lasso.
* Batrider is unlikely to win a
Duel in any stage of the game.
* 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.
Additional:
*
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.
* Muerta's attacks during
Pierce the Veil ignore Sven's
Warcry.
* Sven using
God's Strength can be completely ignored by using
Pierce the Veil.
* Sven with
Aghanim's Scepter will still not be able to dispel Muerta's Ethereal form during
Pierce the Veil.
* However, Sven is a natural purchaser of
Black King Bar that can protect him from Pierce the Veil and the rest of Muerta's kit.
* 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.
*
Berserker's Call prevents Sven from bursting his targets before Axe can interfere. The worst kind of opponent for Sven is one who can stop him from attacking who he wants to, which is exactly what Axe does.
*
Culling Blade may finish off Sven before he has the chance to lifesteal or run with Warcry.
* Axe is a very common
Blade Mail carrier which will make very short work of a Sven with God's Strength activated.
* Heroes who can stop Axe from getting close will severely inhibit his presence in fights:
Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
* Tanky melee heroes that can easily be kited, which allows Outworld Destroyer to deal heavy damage with Arcane Orb from a distance:
Sven,
Underlord,
Bristleback.
*
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
* Batrider prevents sharp and brazen attacks of the opponent. First he catches him in a
Flaming Lasso, and then causes huge damage, in some cases even incompatible with life.
Additional:
* Batrider prevents sharp and brazen attacks of the opponent. First he catches him in a
Flaming Lasso, and then causes huge damage, in some cases even incompatible with life.
* 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.
Additional:
*
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.
* Flaming Lasso is the perfect tool to isolate a single Meepo and focus him.
*
Great Cleave can quickly destroy Chen's creeps in team fights, before they have a chance to do much.
Additional:
*
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.
* Sticky Napalm slows Chen and his creeps and Flamebreak and Firefly can deal heavy damage to them.
* Flaming Lasso can pull Chen away from his creeps toward Batrider's team, often to certain death.
Additional:
*
Sticky Napalm slows Chen and amplifies Batrider's damage.
*
Flamebreak and
Firefly can deal heavy damage to Chen and his creeps.
*
Flaming Lasso pulls Chen away from his creeps, often to certain death.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* Many stacks of
Sticky Napalm, combined with
Flamebreak and
Firefly, allows Batrider to destroy illusions from
Mirror Image.
* If Batrider can manage to destroy all illusions from Naga Siren, he will be able to use
Flaming Lasso on the real one, and will be able to drag her toward his team, potentially preventing Naga Siren from escaping with
Song of the Siren.
Additional:
* Many stacks of
Sticky Napalm, combined with
Flamebreak and
Firefly, allows Batrider to destroy illusions from
Mirror Image.
* If Batrider can manage to destroy all illusions from Naga Siren, he will be able to use
Flaming Lasso on the real one, and will be able to drag her toward his team, potentially preventing Naga Siren from escaping with
Song of the Siren.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* Batrider can harass Arc Warden more easily with
Sticky Napalm thanks to it's low cooldown and mana cost and because of Arc Warden's lower durability and mobility.
* Batrider can use
Flamebreak to push Arc Warden and
Tempest Double out of the
Magnetic Field.
* With
Firefly combined with
Blink Dagger, Batrider can move faster while dealing damage to both Arc Warden and
Tempest Double.
*
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to separate Arc Warden from both
Magnetic Field and
Tempest Double and pull him towards Batrider's team.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso also allows Batrider to disable both, real Arc Warden and his
Tempest Double and pull them towards Batrider's team. And since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Linken's Sphere, this can be a great problem to him.
* Since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Black King Bar very ofthen In most of the stages of the game, he will be vulnerable to Batrider's magical damage-over-time output in most of the stages of the game.
* However, Batrider needs to approach Arc Warden carefully as Arc Warden can scout Batrider's location with
Spark Wraith. Also, Arc Warden tends to buy
Gleipnir which combined with
Flux's damage over time can be used to prevent Batrider from even using
Blink Dagger.
Additional:
* Batrider can harass Arc Warden more easily with
Sticky Napalm thanks to it's low cooldown and mana cost and because of Arc Warden's lower durability and mobility.
* Batrider can use
Flamebreak to push Arc Warden and
Tempest Double out of the
Magnetic Field.
* With
Firefly combined with
Blink Dagger, Batrider can move faster while dealing damage to both Arc Warden and
Tempest Double.
*
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to separate Arc Warden from both
Magnetic Field and
Tempest Double and pull him towards Batrider's team.
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso also allows Batrider to disable both, real Arc Warden and his
Tempest Double and pull them towards Batrider's team. And since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Linken's Sphere, this can be a great problem to him.
* Since Arc Warden is not used to buy
Black King Bar very ofthen In most of the stages of the game, he will be vulnerable to Batrider's magical damage-over-time output in most of the stages of the game.
* However, Batrider needs to approach Arc Warden carefully as Arc Warden can scout Batrider's location with
Spark Wraith. Also, Arc Warden tends to buy
Gleipnir which combined with
Flux's damage over time can be used to prevent Batrider from even using
Blink Dagger.
*
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.
* Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him:
Batrider,
Juggernaut,
Ursa,
Monkey King,
Razor.
* 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.
* Phantom Assassin does not deal with early aggression very easily (especially when magical damage). A competent Batrider can make life very difficult with
Sticky Napalm followed by any other spell.
*
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.
* Heroes with abilities that can lock down Terrorblade and prevent him from using Sunder:
Bane,
Batrider,
Earthshaker,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Legion Commander,
Mars,
Primal Beast,
Riki,
Shadow Shaman,
Silencer,
Vengeful Spirit,
Void Spirit.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
* Sven with
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Storm Hammer can easily chase down Windranger and dispel her Windrun at the same time.
*
Firefly and combinated with
Blink Dagger can easy avoided from
Focus Fire.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
Additional:
* 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 abilities that can pull Lina out of position can easily bring her to their team mates, like
Batrider with
Flaming Lasso,
Pudge with
Meat Hook and
Vengeful Spirit with
Nether Swap.
* Firefly will cut trees with ease, cleaning-up an area that's been enchanted with
Eyes In The Forest, and potentially revealing a Treant under the effects of
Nature's Guise.
* Batrider's DoT spells are also good versus
Living Armor.
*
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.
*
Storm Hammer interrupts Echo Stomp.
*
Great Cleave can clear Spiderlings very quickly, and give Sven lot of gold.
*
Warcry shields Sven and his allies against Broodmother and her Spiderlings.
Additional:
*
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.
* As long as Batrider is under the effect of Firefly, he can safely fly over
Proximity Mines (He does not receive vision over the mines).
*
Storm Hammer stunned can stops Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
* Batrider has huge damage from his
Sticky Napalm and hand strikes on the target, with this effect. And Ember Spirit not only has a small reserve of health, but also has a melee type of attack. If these two collide on the center line, then Ember Spirit will have to finish off several creeps from afar with a
Sleight of Fist, otherwise he will lose a lot of health from long-range Batrider attacks under
Sticky Napalm, and possibly even kill, because Ember Spirit does not have the ability to interrupt Batraider with his damage if he decides to attack
* Ember Spirit is a very tasty target for
Flaming Lasso, because it has a small reserve of health, and all the power lies in the abilities that
Flaming Lasso forbids using, this can help the Batraider team quickly deal with the unpleasant "jumping" Ember Spirit in a fight if he gets into
Flaming Lasso
Additional:
* Batrider has huge damage from his
Sticky Napalm and hand strikes on the target, with this effect. And Ember Spirit not only has a small reserve of health, but also has a melee type of attack. If these two collide on the center line, then Ember Spirit will have to finish off several creeps from afar with a
Sleight of Fist, otherwise he will lose a lot of health from long-range Batrider attacks under
Sticky Napalm, and possibly even kill, because Ember Spirit does not have the ability to interrupt Batraider with his damage if he decides to attack
* Ember Spirit is a very tasty target for
Flaming Lasso, because it has a small reserve of health, and all the power lies in the abilities that
Flaming Lasso forbids using, this can help the Batraider team quickly deal with the unpleasant "jumping" Ember Spirit in a fight if he gets into
Flaming Lasso
* Batrider's
Flaming Lasso can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with
Relocate and drag him away from his
Tethered target. And since Io doesn't like buying
Linken's Sphere, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
* Io's tendency to stick close to it's
Tethered target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's
Tether against him.
Additional:
* Batrider's
Flaming Lasso can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with
Relocate and drag him away from his
Tethered target. And since Io doesn't like buying
Linken's Sphere, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
* Io's tendency to stick close to it's
Tethered target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Flaming Lasso allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's
Tether against him.
*
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 physical damage output.
Additional:
*
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.
* With God's Strength, Warlock's Golem from
Chaotic Offering will go down in a matter of seconds. The two weaker golems granted by
Aghanim's Scepter will fare worse due to
Great Cleave hitting both.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Storm Hammer
Aghanim's Scepter can dispel
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.
*
Sticky Napalm slows turn rate, making it difficult for Mars to face frontwards, where Spear of Mars and Bulwark are effective. In combination with
Firefly, which deals magic damage, Batrider can make quick work of Mars.
*
Flaming Lasso disables Mars while enemies re-position themselves behind Mars to avoid Bulwark.
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
*
Warcry can protect Sven and his teammates from
Swashbuckle.
* With
Black King Bar, Sven will be able to protect himself from most of Pangolier's skills.
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
* Firefly destroys trees and can turn
Tree Dance into a free four second stun.
Additional:
*
Firefly allows Batrider to gain vision of Monkey King while he is on an tree, as well as destroying any nearby trees, denying Monkey King spots to jump to, or causing him to fall.
*
Sticky Napalm's turn rate slow makes it significantly more difficult for Monkey King to jump from tree to tree and gain Jingu Mastery stacks. It also reveals Monkey King while he is on a tree.
*
Flamebreak and
Flaming Lasso enable Batrider to remove Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
*
Doom generally does not impede Sven in almost any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.
*
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.
* Special mention to
Sven as he may not be able to get close, but if he does,
God's Strength will make very short work of Sniper.
* Past the early game, Sniper is an easy target for Sven to jump on with
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Storm Hammer,
Blink Dagger,
Silver Edge or
Harpoon, common items on Sven.
* Sven's high armor and health pool makes it difficult for Sniper to focus, as his main source of damage is his right click, especially if Sven uses
Warcry.
* Sniper is very squishy, and will not stand a chance against Sven head on.
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies:
Batrider,
Disruptor,
Pudge,
Vengeful Spirit.
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities:
Sven,
Alchemist,
Lifestealer etc.
* Heroes with cleave damage:
Sven,
Magnus,
Kunkka.
*
Firefly can be used to clear Nature's Prophet's Treants and allows Batrider destroy Sprout's trees.
*
Flaming Lasso prevents Nature's Prophet from escaping using Teleportation.
*
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 can protect Sven from the effects of
Mana Break and
Mana Void.
*
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 back at Sven.
* 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
Omnislash due to its high armor gain.
* However
Blade Fury provides spell immunity which blocks the stun from
Storm Hammer.
* Heroes with disables that go through spell immunity can end Bloodseeker before he has the chance to do anything:
Batrider,
Beastmaster
* Heroes who are entirely reliant on dealing physical damage and/or have very little to no area-of-effect abilities will make Underlord tickle and will have no effect against him thanks to his
Atrophy Aura, and will also be unable to ambush Underlord and his team if Underlord chooses to use
Fiend's Gate to get to a designated point of the map:
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Bounty Hunter,
Alchemist,
Templar Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Bane.
* 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 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.
*
Batrider's turn rate slow from
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker:
Invoker,
Shadow Demon,
Batrider.
* 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.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as
Anti-Mage,
Spectre and
Shadow Fiend.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as
Anti-Mage,
Spectre and
Shadow Fiend.
* For the same reason, he has to be slightly more cunning when playing against heroes that can scout the treeline, such as
Ancient Apparition and his
Ice Vortex and
Shadow Demon and his
Shadow Poison.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
* 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.
* 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.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
* Heroes who struggle to fight back against Sven at any point in the game are at a severe disadvantage:
Alchemist,
Anti-Mage,
Crystal Maiden.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* 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.
* 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.
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance:
Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
*
Shadow Demon,
Outworld Destroyer and
Tusk can all save a Lasso'd teammate with their defensive spells.
*
Sticky Napalm makes it difficult for Tusk to hold his own on lane.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned
Snowball will give Batrider a free counter-initiation with
Flaming Lasso if Batrider is far enough to avoid the stun from the
Snowball.
Additional:
*
Sticky Napalm makes it difficult for Tusk to hold his own on lane.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned
Snowball will give Batrider a free counter-initiation with
Flaming Lasso if Batrider is far enough to avoid the stun from the
Snowball.
*
Death Prophet is a terrible Flaming Lasso target if
Exorcism has already been used, since it can still damage Batrider and his teammates, but if Batrider manages to Lasso her before that, it can lead to
Death Prophet being quickly burst down.
*
God's Strength allows Sven to take down Death Prophet quickly, reducing the damage dealt over time from
Exorcism.
*
Warcry's bonus armor and movement speed is very useful for Sven and his teammates against
Exorcism, which deals physical damage.
* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like
Batrider,
Monkey King,
Spectre, and
Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
* Sven has no easy way to burn
Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.
* Batrider's abilities are designed to deal damage over time, burning through Templar Assassin's layers extremely quickly.
Flamebreak applies 7 instances of damage, burning through the entirety of Refraction, and
Firefly applies damage on the place, forcing her to either get out of Meld and be attacked or stay in place or be incinerated.
*
Flaming Lasso pierces Black King Bar and rendering Templar Assassin helpless unless there are allies helping her.
Additional:
* Batrider's DoT damage quickly removes Templar Assassin's
Refraction and can damage her during
Meld.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Batrider often hides in the trees to initiate on a target. As such, he has a slight edge against heroes that have no scouting tools and cannot see him coming, such as
Lion or
Sven.
*
Purification can heal allies while dealing pure damage to Sven.
*
Heavenly Grace can remove Storm Hammer's debuff immediately or make it a very mediocre stun.
*
Guardian Angel negates Sven's massive damage during God's Strength.
* It should also be noted Sven can remove Omniknight's active spells with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Although Sven relies often on physical damage, an
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Storm Hammer can dispel Guardian Angel with its wide radius.
* Doppelganger dispels
Sticky Napalm and
Flamebreak.
* There are usually way too many illusions for Batrider to lasso the real Phantom Lancer, since the illusions' hitboxes also body block the real Phantom Lancer.
*
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.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
Latest changes first
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
Sven
* Sven can be easily kited since Weaver is a natural
Linken's Sphere carrier and Sven relies on
Storm Hammer to disable and kill a hero.
Batrider
*
Time Lapse with
Aghanim's Scepter dispels Flaming Lasso when used on allied hero.
Linken's Sphere is core item for a Weaver making him a hard target for Lasso during entire game.
*