* 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.
* Cold Embrace can protect Troll Warlord's target, especially during Battle Trance.
* Winter's Curse can turn Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed against his allies.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace will protect your ally from being damaged if he gets focused by Troll, although be careful as Fervor will keep gaining stacks even while Cold Embrace is active.
* Fervor works on allies.
* His high attack speed will help to kill his cursed ally faster.
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal but needs to be careful of Sven's Aghanim's Scepter purge.
* Troll Warlord can't switch targets at will, in order to build Fervor stacks, which makes it easy to use Decrepify in order to save allies
* During Battle Trance, Pugna can easily use Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain on him
* 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.
* Troll Warlord is very susceptible to Pierce the Veil due to having low health and reliance on high armor.
* Troll Warlord's ultimate Battle Trance can simply be ignored by using Pierce the Veil.
* Troll Warlord's Rampage buff for allies can easily be countered by The Calling which will lower their attack speeds back to normal.
* Primal Roar takes Sven out of the fight completely, even with Black King Bar.
* Primal Roar and the slow from Boars make kiting Troll Warlord very easy.
* 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.
* Fate's Edict can disarm Troll, rendering him useless in a teamfight, especially if he has already used Battle Trance.
* Fortune's End and Purifying Flames can provide ample magic damage to help burst down Troll Warlord quickly in the early to mid game.
* False Promise can save an ally from Troll Warlord's initiation, forcing him to switch targets and lose his Fervor stacks, or waste time during Battle Trance.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion, Shadow Shaman or Magnus.
* Shadow Shaman's long disables are effective at kiting and wasting the duration of Battle Trance.
* Mass Serpent Ward are especially effective against Troll Warlord during Battle Trance, as trapping him inside them during the duration is effectively another hard disable, as Troll cannot attack the wards or use Phase Boots to escape.
* 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 is effective against Troll Warlord, as he mainly relies on attack speed more so than damage.
* Static Link is even more effective if Troll Warlord used Battle Trance, as he has no way to break the link.
Additional:
* Static Link can drain most or all of Troll Warlord's damage, making him useless in a teamfight or unable to last hit in lane. This is especially effective during Battle Trance, because Troll has no option to cancel the link.
* Storm Surge allows Razor to chase after or run away from Troll Warlord while doing damage with Eye of the Storm.
* 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.
* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse: Doom, Phantom Assassin, Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's pure damage from Arcane Orb is very effective at killing Troll Warlord quickly.
* Astral Imprisonment removes Troll Warlord from a fight for four seconds, minimizing his contribution to a teamfight, and potentially wasting over half of Battle Trance's duration.
* Troll Warlord gains a measly 1 intelligence point per level, meaning Sanity's Eclipse is especially effective, often instantly killing him.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as Venomancer, Necrophos, Centaur Warrunner...
* Troll Warlord's high speed attack makes Retaliate deal a lot of damage to him.
* 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 high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper, Shadow Fiend, Troll Warlord, Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector, Kunkka, Alchemist, Troll Warlord, Wraith King, Tiny, 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 rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, 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 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.
* Atrophy Aura decreases Troll Warlord's damage.
* Pit of Malice helps lock down Troll Warlord.
* Battle Trance disallows Troll from running out of both Firestorm and Pit of Malice.
* 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.
* Frost Blast and Chain Frost can kite Troll Warlord effectively.
* Frost Shield can single-handedly waste most of the duration of Battle Trance, due to the extreme resistance to physical damage Frost Shield provides. In addition, Troll Warlord is incapable of switching targets during Battle Trance, so he cannot pick an easier target.
* Troll Warlord has little to no ability to regenerate HP, so Frost Blast together with Frost Shield can harass him effectively.
* 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.
* 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.
* Timber Chain can kite Troll Warlord extremely effectively.
* Whirling Death and Chakram deals lots of damage to Troll Warlord.
* Reactive Armor makes Timbersaw extremely resilient to Troll's attack damage and extreme attack speed, especially during Battle Trance.
* 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.
* Sven has no easy way to burn Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.
* 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
* Although Sven relies often on physical damage, an Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Storm Hammer can dispel Guardian Angel with its wide radius.
* Clinkz, Sniper, Lone Druid, Troll Warlord, Legion Commander and Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
* 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.
* Heroes that can prevent Sven from farming are very strong against him. Such as Riki and Bounty Hunter with their respective invisibility.
* 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.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Faceless Void, Gyrocopter, Juggernaut, Meepo, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Phantom Assassin, Phantom Lancer, Riki, Shadow Fiend, Slark, Sniper, Terrorblade, Troll Warlord, Weaver.
Additional:
* Nightmare and Fiend's Grip help to control/disable Troll Warlord in team-fights.
* Heroes who can stun Sven even with an activated Black King Bar can be an issue: Clockwerk, Beastmaster.
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa, Clinkz, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin.
* 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.
* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven, Slark
* 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.
* 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 cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
* Heroes who rely heavily on melee attacks and lack early spell immunity are easily blocked and interrupted by Ink Swell: Lycan, Ursa, Troll Warlord.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as Venomancer, Necrophos, Centaur Warrunner...
* 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.
* Dark Willow's burst damage and stun prevents Troll Warlord from approaching her until he has Black King Bar.
* Troll Warlord's lack of burst damage makes it hard for him to kill Dark Willow before she slips into Shadow Realm.
* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord, Sniper, Monkey King, Sven.
* 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.
* 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.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: Wraith King, Kunkka, Doom, Tidehunter, Underlord, Troll Warlord, and etc.
Additional:
* Shrapnel and Headshot allows Sniper to kite Troll Warlord effectively.
* Take Aim together with certain items such as Hurricane Pike allow Sniper to sit and fire at Troll Warlord from a safe distance.
* 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.
* 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.
* Terrorblade cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm him faster than the other way around thanks to Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch Terrorblade, even during Metamorphosis.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed from Fervor combined with Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade means that Terrorblade will have almost no chance to use Sunder to save himself.
* Even if Terroblade manages to use Sunder on Troll Warlord, Troll Warlord will simply be able to nullify it's effect with Battle Trance.
* Overall, any attempt for Terrorblade to engage and kill Troll Warlord will hurt him more than the other way around.
Additional:
* Terrorblade cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm him faster than the other way around thanks to Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch Terrorblade, even during Metamorphosis.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed from Fervor combined with Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade means that Terrorblade will have almost no chance to use Sunder to save himself.
* Even if Terroblade manages to use Sunder on Troll Warlord, Troll Warlord will simply be able to nullify it's effect with Battle Trance.
* 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.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, which can make the attack speed bonus from Hunter in the Night largely ineffective.
* Berserker's Rage together with Battle Trance and Fervor stacks gives him a high chance of rooting Night Stalker, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Night Stalker in any stage of the game, regardless of whether or not it's night.
* Night Stalker is not a common Monkey King Bar carrier to counteract this problem.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as Anti-Mage, Spectre and Shadow Fiend.
* Generally speaking, Spectre is a strong teamfighter but a weak manfighter. She has no tool to deal with troll warlord once he has his sight locked on her.
* Troll often buys Silver Edge and Monkey King Bar, which greatly countered Spectre's passive and item build (Silver Edge can disable passive while providing some damage, Monkey King Bar provides accuracy to counter Radiance and Butterfly miss chance).
* Black King Bar allows troll to bypass the damage return from Blade mail should Spectre attempts to fight back Troll. However, Black King Bar is generally not very effective against Spectre as her skills can pierce the spell immunity. Still, it offers protection against Blade mail, a common item for Spectre in the mid game.
* Troll has high lifesteal from Battle Trance and Satanic, which help him survive the damage from Desolate should the break duration is over.
* Battle Trance and Fervor mean Spectre will have a hard time fighting troll and cannot take him down, even with equal farm.
* 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.
* Troll Warlord's passive root, high attack speed, and blind from Whirling Axes makes him an exceedingly difficult opponent for Anti-Mage to take down in a one-on-one fight.
* Troll Warlord's low mana causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, preventing Anti-Mage from burning Troll Warlord's small mana pool.
* Troll Warlord's passive root allows him to very effectively fight an Anti-Mage by preventing Anti-Mage from Blinking away. This is even more effective when combined with a Skull Basher or Abyssal Blade.
* Counterspell will do nothing to prevent Troll Warlord's high physical damage.
* Due to Troll Warlord's abysmal base intelligence and intelligence gain, he is one of the worst targets to use Mana Void on.
* 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.
* Troll Warlord's ability to attack as a ranged hero allows him to destroy Juggernaut's Healing Ward from afar.
* Battle Trance, when activated during Omnislash, allows Troll Warlord to survive the full duration of Omnislash and retaliate once it is over.
* 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.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to land a Coup De Grace.
* Troll Warlord often buys Silver Edge and Monkey King Bar, the items that greatly help against Phantom Assassin's Blur ability.
* Battle Trance completely negates Phantom Assassin's large damage output, preventing Troll Warlord from dying easily. The lifesteal also allows Troll Warlord to restore much of his health.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord can build a Silver Edge or a Monkey King Bar to completely ignore Blur.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, making a Coup de Grace critical strike very hard to land.
* Battle Trance negates Coup de Grace, preventing Troll Warlord from dying to her critical hits.
* 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.
* Troll Warlord can root and deal a lot of damage to a single Meepo while lifestealing through the assault from the other Meepos. Meepo needs expensive items like Ethereal Blade or Heaven's Halberd to be able to fight him.
* 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.
* Troll Warlord's melee bash and high attack speed can often help him and his allies win Duels against Legion Commander.
* 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.
* Mobility heroes will often be rooted by Troll Warlord and unable to escape, like Storm Spirit.
* 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.
* 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 can quickly destroy Chen's creeps in team fights, before they have a chance to do much.
* Storm Hammer stunned can stops Snapfire's Mortimer Kisses.
* Doom generally does not impede Sven in almost any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.
* 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.
* 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.
* The ensnare from melee Berserker's Rage can prevent Primal Beast from dealing further Trample damage and can allow Troll Warlord to relentlessly build Fervor on him.
* Whirling Axes (Ranged) can slow down Primal Beast while trampling and allow Troll Warlord to better control him from range.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) can blind Primal Beast if he attempts to auto-attack Troll Warlord after a fully charged Uproar.
* Battle Trance will make Primal Beast a sitting duck should he be rooted and attacked to death.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Berserker's Rage will repeatedly trap Bloodseeker in a one-on-one fight.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) blinds Bloodseeker, causing him to miss 60% of the time, and therefore reduces his ability to gain the upper hand in teamfights.
* 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 can clear Spiderlings very quickly, and give Sven lot of gold.
* Warcry shields Sven and his allies against Broodmother and her Spiderlings.
* Storm Hammer interrupts Echo Stomp.
* Heroes whose attacks can affect multiple enemies at once will clear Naga Siren's illusions. Such heroes include Sven, Magnus, Dragon Knight, Luna, Medusa, Templar Assassin, Gyrocopter, Muerta.
* 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 survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance: Sven + Shadow Shaman.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as Anti-Mage, Spectre and Shadow Fiend.
* 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.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as Lina, Slark and Zeus.
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
* Any hero with high attack speed will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits: Juggernaut, Clinkz, Troll Warlord, Beastmaster, Lina.
Additional:
* Due to Fervor and Battle Trance, Troll Warlord is one of the best heroes to deal with Supernova.
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate: Sven, Tiny, Wraith King, Ogre Magi.
* Heroes who struggle to fight back against Sven at any point in the game are at a severe disadvantage: Alchemist, Anti-Mage, Crystal Maiden.
* 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.
* 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 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.
* Phantasm gives Chaos Knight a significant advantage against single-target damage dealers: Lifestealer, Wraith King, Night Stalker, Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Chaos Knight's tanky illusions easily take advantage of Troll Warlord's lack of AoE damage.
* Chaos Bolt can stun Troll for up to 4 seconds and Reality Rift prevents Troll Warlord from chasing down foes.
* Phantasm increases Chaos Knight's physical damage output up to 4 times and can easily kill Troll Warlord before he has a chance to use Battle Trance or a Black King Bar.
* 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 physical damage output.
* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.
* Lifestealer is a susceptible target to Fervor due to his non-mobile nature and lack of disables. Troll Warlord's ranged Berserker's Rage can also be used to kite Lifestealer safely. The root from its melee form also pierces magic immunity, which can potentially keep Lifestealer in place even while he is in Rage.
* Both Whirling Axes (melee) and Whirling Axes (ranged) can force Lifestealer to cast Rage too quickly and allow Troll Warlord to change strategies mid-fight, especially thanks to their separate cooldowns.
* Battle Trance allows Troll Warlord to survive Lifestealer's Feast and turn the fight in his favor.
Additional:
* The passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll Warlord resilient to Feast in early game.
* The 60% miss chance given by Whirling Axes (Melee) is useful when Rage is not active.
* Battle Trance can purge Open Wounds, negating a large amount of Lifestealer's sustain in fights.
* Frostbite can disarm and root Troll Warlord if he doesn't have a Black King Bar or a Manta Style to dispel it.
* Crystal Nova and Freezing Field both significantly slow Troll Warlord, making him much more vulnerable to ganks or stuns.
* The magical damage from Freezing Field does a large amount of AoE damage, and Troll Warlord is not capable of cancelling Crystal Maiden's channel.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden, Vengeful Spirit, Dark Willow.
* Heroes with a low attack speed or are fragile will find themselves unable to deal with Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed, like Crystal Maiden or 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.
* Heroes that rely on right-clicks will find that their attacks will miss a lot, due to Whirling Axes (Melee)'s miss chance. Such heroes include Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade, and Morphling.
* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his Black King Bar.
* Battle Trance and Fervor can help Troll Warlord deal with Enchantress through Untouchable.
Additional:
* Untouchable's attack speed slow is easily remedied by Fervor stacks and Battle Trance.
* Troll Warlord is a natural Silver Edge carrier, disabling Enchantress' Untouchable.
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities: Sven, Alchemist, Lifestealer etc.
* Heroes with cleave damage: Sven, Magnus, Kunkka.
* Heroes with mediocre health pools who rely on armor or evasion to survive fights such as Troll Warlord, Windranger, and Terrorblade can be killed by Zeus if caught off guard.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as Lina, Slark and Zeus.
* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as Templar Assassin, Morphling and Huskar.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him: Legion Commander, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, resulting in Huskar's attacks missing a lot of the time if it isn't dispelled.
* Troll Warlord's Fervor ramps up in a very similar way as Huskar's Berserker's Blood: as soon as Huskar has high enough health regeneration, Troll Warlord has a high enough attack speed to negate it.
* 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.
* Due to Fervor and Battle Trance, Troll Warlord has a significant attack speed, enabling him to crush Tombstone quickly.
* Undying usually stays at the front line with no disables, making him an easy target for Troll Warlord.
* 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.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden, Vengeful Spirit, Dark Willow.
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Sven
* 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.
Troll Warlord
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed means Counter Helix will proc extremely frequently even without creeps near him. This, combined with a Blade Mail means Axe can easily solo kill Troll Warlord even in later stages of the game.
* Battle Trance does not save Troll Warlord from a Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord has significant attack speed due to Fervor and Battle Trance, giving Axe a higher chance to proc Counter Helix and seriously injure Troll Warlord due to his relatively low maximum health.
* Axe often purchases Blade Mail, which can help Axe turn Troll Warlord's farm and high physical damage against him. The bonus armor provided by Berserker's Call means that Troll Warlord will take a lot more damage than Axe.
* Culling Blade is still capable of killing Troll Warlord during Battle Trance if his HP is low enough.