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

* Pugna easily copes on the line with the Keeper of the Light push with his Nether Blast, and in addition to Nether Ward, the Keeper of the Light is not able to throw Illuminate on creeps for a long time, so Pugna earns more gold and a level on the line
Additional:
* Pugna easily copes on the line with the Keeper of the Light push with his Nether Blast, and in addition to Nether Ward, the Keeper of the Light is not able to throw Illuminate on creeps for a long time, so Pugna earns more gold and a level on the line

* 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.

* Heroes with silences: Puck, Doom, Riki.

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

* Heroes that can jump and kill him: Meepo, Clinkz, Templar Assassin

* 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 with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer

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

* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Silencer, Keeper of the Light, Venomancer, etc.

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

* Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets, especially fragile Heroes like Keeper of the Light, Ancient Apparition or Bounty Hunter.

* 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.

* Rage allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities. Also, the increased movement speed combined with the slow from Ghoul Frenzy and the squishy nature of Ezalor allows Lifestealer to take him down very quickly.

* Blood Rite makes Ezalor chose between getting off Illuminate or getting silenced for a while, as Illuminate is a channeled ability.
* Blood Rite's silence can completely take Ezalor out of a teamfight, as he relies on his abilities to be useful.
* Keeper of the Light's only mobility source, his high movement speed (via his high base movement speed and through spirit form), is entirely countered by Rupture.

* 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.

* 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.

* Spiked Carapace can be used to reflect Illuminate damage and stun Keeper of the Light.
* Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to follow Keeper of the Light around if he tries to split-push.
* Keeper of the Light is very squishy and will very quickly die to Vendetta and it's followup abilities.

* Being a cast-oriented hero, Ezalor will suffer from all of Silencer's abilities.
* Global Silence is a guaranteed lengthy silence which will render Ezalor useless in a teamfight.
* Arcane Curse and Last Word are good against any caster, since they are extremely potent.
* However, it should be worth mentioning that a smart Ezalor will buy Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Silencer's abilities. Combined with the level 20 talent (Chakra Magic applies a basic dispel), Ezalor can purge Silencer's abilities off allies and himself alike.

* 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.

* 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.

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

* Heroes who can fight back easily are not ideal matchups for Sven, such as Troll Warlord as mentioned above, Lone Druid and Templar Assassin.

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

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

* 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.

* With Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as Windranger, Phantom Assassin, Troll Warlord and Keeper of the Light.

* 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 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 with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.

* Jakiro's reliance on his abilities can cause struggles for heroes who rely on evasion or blinds to get upper hand: Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Riki, Troll Warlord, Keeper of the Light.

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

* Any hero who lanes very poorly will struggle with Primal Beast's potential snowball in the very early levels, like Keeper of the Light, Luna, Templar Assassin...

* 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 with silences: Puck, Doom, Riki.

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

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

* 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.

* 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.

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

* Heroes with hastes: Dark Seer, Lycan

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

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

* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer

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

* Press the Attack can dispel Blinding Light or Solar Bind from a hero.
* Duel can be used to instantly take Keeper of the Light out of a team-fight.

* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer

* Heroes with silences: Puck, Doom, Riki.

* 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.

* Squishy heroes, usually supports, like Lion, Ancient Apparition, Keeper of the Light etc can die quickly to Tiny's magic burst.

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

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

* Heroes that can jump and kill him: Meepo, Clinkz, Templar Assassin

* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.

* Being an intelligence caster hero, Ezalor usually has a high mana pool and low health and armor, making him a prime target for Mana Void
* Ezalor's Illuminate damage and Solar Bind's magic resistance reduction are greatly reduced thanks to Counterspell. Counterspell can also block and reflect Solar Bind if timed properly.
* Anti-Mage usually is not hampered by Solar Bind or Will-O-Wisp thanks to Blink.
* However, despite all of this, if Keeper of the Light is played carefully and tops off his team's mana at all times, Anti Mage will not be able to get off a good Mana Void.
* By the same token once Keeper of the Light gets a Octarine Core, he can spam Charka Magic to keep his own mana ful

* Juggernaut's Healing Ward keeps his team healthy even when pushing against Keeper of the Light's Illuminate.
* Blade Fury can dispel Blinding Light, as well as dodge an incoming Illuminate. Juggernaut can attack towers during Blade Fury, so he can dodge an Illuminate without having to stop pushing.
* Should Keeper of the Light obtain Will-o-Wisp through purchasing an Aghanim's Scepter, Juggernaut can make quick work of Ignis Fatuus without being interrupted by its pull.
* Keeper of the Light has low health, low armor, and no natural defense against Blade Fury.
Additional:
* Blade Fury allows him to be immune to all of Ezalor's abilities.
* Healing Ward heals his entire team, mitigating Ezalor's weak magical burst damage.

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

* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden.

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

* Heroes with hastes: Dark Seer, Lycan

* 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.

* Crippling Fear prevents Keeper of the Light from using his spells to keep his team alive during team-fights.
* Dark Ascension is very strong against Keeper of the Light, as it allows Night Stalker to jump the backline and quickly kill the squishy Ezalor, especially when combined with the slow from Void.
Additional:
* Keeper of the Light's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade loses much of its power, due to Night Stalker being able to reduce the duration of daytime by a lot.

* 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.

* 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.