* 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.

* Arcane Orb's constant pure damage output is devastating to Dragon Knight.
* Dragon Knight's relatively low mana pool leads to heavy damage from Sanity's Eclipse, which also bypasses his armor.

* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector, Kunkka, Alchemist, Troll Warlord, Wraith King, Tiny, Sven.

* In the early game, a Dragon Knight without Black King Bar is basically defenseless against Viper.
* Viper can harass Dragon Knight at any time with his Poison Attack and Nethertoxin.
* Corrosive Skin reduces damage from Dragon Fire and inflicts damage to him.
* Viper Strike disables Dragon Blood, negating his main survivability.
* Viper Strike and Poison Attack can severely slow him down even with his Elder Dragon Form.
Additional:
* Dragon Knight is easily harassed by Poison Attack after the laning stage ends.
* Corrosive Skin protects Viper from Breathe Fire and returns damage.
* Viper Strike can disable Dragon Blood, Dragon's Knight main source of armor and health regeneration.
* Between Poison Attack and Viper Strike, Viper can keep Dragon Knight permanently slowed even in Elder Dragon Form.

* 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.

* Static Link saps Dragon Knight of his already low base damage, making him even more useless in a fight if he gets kited.
* Storm Surge makes Razor much faster than Dragon Knight, and hard to catch.
* Eye of the Storm melts Dragon Knight's armor and bypasses Black King Bar, his core item.

* 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.

* Heartstopper Aura and Reaper's Scythe go right through Dragon Knight's armor.

* 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.

* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback, Spectre, Phantom Assassin, Enchantress, Dragon Knight.
* 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.

* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as Templar Assassin, Morphling and Huskar.

* Huskar can burn down Dragon Knight's health quickly during the early to mid game, but is not as effective during the late game. However, Life Break remains a constant threat due to the slow and percentage-based damage.

Additional:
* Huskar can negate Dragon Knight's passive with multiple trades of Burning Spear.

* 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 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 thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as Venomancer, Necrophos, Centaur Warrunner...

* In general, heroes that can slow down Dragon Knight's movement speed will do well against him. This includes Venomancer and others in addition to the heroes mentioned above.

* Fury swipes can tear Dragon knight down as it stacks infinitely.

* Stone Gaze allows Medusa to easily kite and kill Sven.
* Mana Shield negates much of Sven's burst damage.
Additional:
* Mana Shield makes it very hard for Sven to burst her within Storm Hammer's stun duration.
* Stone Gaze makes it very difficult for Sven to fight Medusa at any stage of the game.
* Mystic Snake can slow Sven down enough for allies to capitalize on his commitment in a fight.

* 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.

* 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.

* Lich's constant slows with Frost Blast and Chain Frost will slow Dragon Knight to a crawl, especially in a crowded teamfight.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* Dragon Knight has no built-in disengage from Frost Arrows, and Marksmanship procs ignore base armor, bypassing Dragon Knight’s durability for the most part, making Drow one of the few heroes that can deal enough sustained damage to solo kill Dragon Knight.
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Frost Arrows also apply hypothermia stacks, reducing her target’s regen, which is especially potent against tanks like Dragon Knight. (A similar effect can also be achieved with an Eye of Skadi).

* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal but needs to be careful of Sven's Aghanim's Scepter purge.

* Timbersaw's pure damage will kill Dragon Knight surprisingly fast, especially if he gets caught in a bad position while laning.

* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.

* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his Black King Bar.

* 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.

* Primal Roar takes Sven out of the fight completely, even with Black King Bar.

* 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.

* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Phantom Assassin, Juggernaut, Dragon Knight, Lycan, Ursa, Troll Warlord

* 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.

* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like Oracle, Lion, or Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.

* 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.

* Heroes with long cooldowns on their abilities or ultimate will struggle against the relentless pressure provided by Fiend's Gate: Terrorblade, Dragon Knight, Omniknight.

* 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 that can prevent Sven from farming are very strong against him. Such as Riki and Bounty Hunter with their respective invisibility.

* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, Earthshaker.

* 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.

* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw, Bristleback, Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.

Additional:
* Cold Feet and Ice Vortex both hinder Dragon Knight's movement greatly during teamfights.
* Ice Blast ignores Dragon Knight's armor, disables his health regeneration, and kills him prematurely.

* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven, Slark

* Slardar can chase Dragon Knight down with Guardian Sprint and stun him with both Slithereen Crush and his passive Bash of the Deep. He can also use Corrosive Haze to whittle Dragon Knight's armor.

* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion, Shadow Shaman or Magnus.

* 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.

* Durable heroes relied a lot on their main passive effects and items' effects such as Bristleback, Underlord, Spectre and Dragon Knight can be disabled easily with Sharpshooter's break, reducing their potential in teamfights.

* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by E.M.P.: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Omniknight

* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as Templar Assassin, Morphling and Huskar.

* 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.

* 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.

* Counterspell can helpful blocked off to Dragon Tail.
Additional:
* Counterspell makes Anti-Mage exceptionally resistant to Breathe Fire, Dragon Tail, Fireball (requires Aghanim's Shard) and Elder Dragon Form's attacks. Its active component also blocks and reflects Dragon Tail back at Dragon Knight.
* Mana Break drains Dragon Knight's small mana pool, although it won't affect Dragon Knight much if he is in his Elder Dragon Form.

* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade, Sven, Clinkz, Windranger, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Legion Commander

* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm: Terrorblade, Sven, Clinkz, Windranger, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Legion Commander

* Shadow Fiend's Presence of the Dark Lord reduces Dragon Knight's armor considerably, and his strong base attacks are augmented by his Necromastery.

* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion, Shadow Shaman or Magnus.

* 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.

* Because Exorcism's damage is not reduce by damage block abilities or items, Death Prophet can be very good against heroes who rely on armor to survive: Axe, Terrorblade, Morphling, Dragon Knight

* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord, Sniper, Monkey King, Sven.

* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion, Shadow Shaman or Magnus.

* Elder Titan's Natural Order completely nullifies Dragon Knight's high armor.

* Sven has no easy way to burn Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.

* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities: Sven, Alchemist, Lifestealer etc.

* 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.

* 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.