*
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.
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through his allies and deal with him, preventing him from doing his job. Such heroes include
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Riki, and more.
* 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.
* Because all of Warlock's abilities are active abilities, silences can make his impact in fights minimal. Be cautious of heroes that carry silences like
Death Prophet,
Puck, and the aforementioned
Silencer.
* 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.
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
* 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.
*
Impale and
Spiked Carapace interrupts Upheaval with ease.
* Warlock's low health pool, mobility, and high intelligence gain makes him a prime target for Nyx Assassin's burst damage.
*
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.
* 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.
*
Ice Blast cancels Warlock's Golem's and Shadow Word's healing.
*
Cold Feet stuns Warlock if he stands in place, forcing him to stop channeling Upheaval immediately or be forced to stop channeling it by it's stun.
* Because Warlock's abilities are all active abilities, Silencer can make his impact minimal.
*
Arcane Curse prevents Warlock from using his abilities without increasing it's duration, which since all of Warlock's abilities are actives it is very effective against him.
*
Last Word can prevent Warlock from casting his Fatal Bonds, Chaotic Offering, and Upheaval combo.
*
Global Silence can nullify Warlock's impact in fights by preventing him from casting Fatal Bonds and Chaotic Offering, or by interrupting his Upheaval.
* A pre-placed
Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Upheaval.
*
Flame Guard blocks Shadow Word's damage.
*
Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to attack from outside of Upheaval's range, and
Searing Chains lets him interrupt it.
* All of Warlock's abilities are worthy choices for Rubick to
Spell Steal, primarily Chaotic Offering. Furthermore, stolen abilities are also affected by the increased cast range and spell amplification from
Arcane Supremacy.
*
Telekinesis interrupts Upheaval when casted on Warlock, or to save allies (or himself) from its area slow and damage with
Aghanim's Shard.
* Bear in mind that Warlock likes to cast his abilities in quick succession, so the time window left for Rubick to steal Warlock's ultimate can be short.
Additional:
* Warlock's signature
Chaotic Offering can be devastating if stolen and dropped on multiple heroes.
* Telekinesis interrupts
Upheaval when used on Warlock. Alternatively, Rubick can also cast this on a naerby creep or hero and drop them near Warlock to interrupt its channeling. When upgraded with
Aghanim's Shard, Rubick can also use it to save an ally (or himself) from its area slow and damage.
*
Fatal Bonds provides Rubick with a decent farming and harassing tool in the early game.
*
Shadow Word provides some utility by healing Rubick and his team, and also as a harassment tool when used on enemies in the laning stage.
*
Upheaval slows and damages enemies in an area, and it works exactly the same when casted by Rubick. Furthermore, he can extend its range and debuff amplification with Arcane Supremacy.
* A stolen
Chaotic Offering can also be used to interrupt Upheaval while Telekinesis is on cooldown.
* It is advised to build items around
Chaotic Offering as Rubick.
Aghanim's Scepter,
Octarine Core and
Refresher Orb are all legitimate item choices.
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal but needs to be careful of Sven's
Aghanim's Scepter purge.
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from
Chaotic Offering and hit summons hard.
* Tidebringer clears summons later in the game.
* Most of your spells can interrupt
Upheaval.
*
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.
* 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.
*
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.
* Sven has no easy way to burn
Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.
* Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables:
Silencer,
Crystal Maiden,
Warlock,
Ancient Apparition,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor
* Warlock can cast Upheaval when Templar Assassin uses
Meld, preventing her from escaping at the right moment.
* Warlock can also send his Warlock Golem near where she used
Meld, preventing escape by
Blink Dagger due to the Warlock Golem's
Permanent Immolation.
* Warlock's Golem's
Permanent Immolation will burn away
Refraction with its damage over time.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
* Heroes with channeling spells are very easy targets for Jakiro's abilities:
Crystal Maiden,
Dawnbreaker,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Fiend,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock.
* 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.
*
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.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* 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 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 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by E.M.P.:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Omniknight
* 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 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 that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like
Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
*
Ursa can shred Warlock's Golems in a few seconds with
Fury Swipes and
Overpower.
* Heroes who can stun Sven even with an activated
Black King Bar can be an issue:
Clockwerk,
Beastmaster.
*
Upheaval does not interrupt Slark too much, as he can just Pounce out of the area.
*
Fatal Bonds and
Shadow Word can be dispelled by Dark Pact.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
*
Surge allows for Dark Seer and his allies to escape from Upheaval due to it ignoring any slow.
* 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.
*
Mana Break prevents Warlock from casting his spells, particularly in the laning phase.
*
Blink allows Anti-Mage to escape from Upheaval.
*
Counterspell reduces damage from Shadow Word and Warlock's Golem's
Permanent Immolation passive. Additionally, it can reflect Shadow Word and Fatal Bonds.
*
Mana Void deals heavy damage after Anti-Mage has drained Warlock's large mana pool.
*
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.
* 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.
* Fatal Bonds links the Meepos together, which combined with area of effect damage or Cleave will be devastating.
*
Storm Hammer interrupts Echo Stomp.
* While heroes with strong mobility are able to get close or flee from Upheaval, heroes with no escaping abilities or that lack long disables will perish against Warlock. Once the Warlock Golem lands with its stun, its hardly possible to escape when he casts Upheaval. Notable examples:
Huskar,
Drow Ranger,
Lion,
Elder Titan, etc.
*
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.
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells:
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Broodmother,
Naga Siren,
Lycan,
Visage,
Beastmaster,
Warlock,
Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as
Anti-Mage,
Spectre and
Shadow Fiend.
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls:
Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman,
Dawnbreaker,
Warlock,
Crystal Maiden.
Additional:
* Because Shadow Fiend lacks escaping mechanisms, and is dependent on fair positioning for channeling
Requiem of Souls, it's easier for Warlock with his long range crowd control abilities to lock Shadow Fiend down for his team.
* 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.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
* Channeling heroes will not go well against Warlock, especially those who build
Black King Bar as Warlock's ultimate ability stun goes through spell immunity. E.g.:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma, etc.
* Heroes with high armor and/or durability can handle Juggernaut's ultimate, such as
Sven and
Dragon Knight.
Additional:
*
Warcry allows Sven to tank the damage from
Omnislash due to its high armor gain.
* However
Blade Fury provides spell immunity which blocks the stun from
Storm Hammer.
* Chaotic Offering can stop heroes who like to use spell immunity and teleport scrolls to safely farm during the early to mid game, since it stuns and also goes through spell immunity. Notable examples:
Juggernaut,
Lifestealer.
*
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.
*
Chaotic Offering's vast area-effect can destroy trees and stun Hoodwink.
*
Upheaval makes retreating with
Scurry difficult.
*
Storm Hammer stunned can stops Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
* Warlock has strong counter initiation which reduces Marci's effectiveness throughout the game.
*
Fatal Bonds cancels
Blink Dagger, which means Marci can move in and out of fights less effectively.
*
Chaotic Offering paired with
Upheaval provides a ministun, a movement slow and paired with
Fatal Bonds has the potential to deal a lot of damage to Marci while she jumps on a target. The ministun also means that Marci will have a harder time casting Rebound. If Warlock does build
Aghanim's Scepter and
Refresher Orb, the physical damage from Golems will overwhelm Marci, especially when played as a support.
*
Chaotic Offering's spell immunity piercing stun can stop Black Hole's channeling. Due to this ability's large area of effect, it can be cast at a safe distance from the Black Hole. It also goes through
Black King Bar and ignores
Linken's Sphere.
*
Fatal Bonds and
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shadow Word can be used to make Enigma's Eidolons easier to kill, potentially feeding the enemy team. Also,their constant damage will put
Blink Dagger on cooldown, potentially forcing Enigma to prematurely activate
Black King Bar.
Additional:
* Chaotic Offering pierces spell immunity and is an area of effect ability, therefore it doesn't matter if Enigma buys
Black King Bar or
Linken's Sphere, Warlock will always be able to cancel the channeling of
Black Hole.
* Enemies often get clumped up around
Black Hole to hit your allies, giving you a perfect opportunity to cast Fatal Bonds, Chaotic Offering, and Upheaval on multiple enemies.
*
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.
*
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.
*
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 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 illusions and summons can swarm and overwhelm Bane, who has no area abilities to deal with them outside from
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Brain Sap:
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Ogre Magi.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
* Channeling heroes will not go well against Warlock, especially those who build
Black King Bar as Warlock's ultimate ability stun goes through spell immunity. E.g.:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma, etc.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
* 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.
* While heroes with strong mobility are able to get close or flee from Upheaval, heroes with no escaping abilities or that lack long disables will perish against Warlock. Once the Warlock Golem lands with its stun, its hardly possible to escape when he casts Upheaval. Notable examples:
Huskar,
Drow Ranger,
Lion,
Elder Titan, etc.
*
Warlock often stays back and counter-initiates by dropping his
Chaotic Offering on Earthshaker and his allies.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* 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 struggle to fight back against Sven at any point in the game are at a severe disadvantage:
Alchemist,
Anti-Mage,
Crystal Maiden.
* Chaotic Offering can stop heroes who like to use spell immunity and teleport scrolls to safely farm during the early to mid game, since it stuns and also goes through spell immunity. Notable examples:
Juggernaut,
Lifestealer.
* 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.
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance:
Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
* 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 who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as
Templar Assassin,
Morphling and
Huskar.
* Warlock Golems do plenty of physical and pure damage to bring down Huskar when he is at low health. Warlock is always a hazard for Huskar to initiate by using
Life Break, because Chaotic Offering can stun him instantly, even when
Black King Bar is activated, and allows Warlock's team to gather their wit and retaliate.
* After using Life Break to jump in, Huskar will not have any means to escape Upheaval. Which since he is an attack-dependent hero, this will nullify his impact in fights.
* Because all of Warlock's abilities are active abilities, silences can make his impact in fights minimal. Be cautious of heroes that carry silences like
Death Prophet,
Puck, and the aforementioned
Silencer.
*
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.
* 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.
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through his allies and deal with him, preventing him from doing his job. Such heroes include
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Riki, and more.
*
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.
* 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.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper:
Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities:
Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
* 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.
* 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.
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through his allies and deal with him, preventing him from doing his job. Such heroes include
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Riki, and more.
* Heroes with summons and illusions as Spirit Breaker has no strong AoE capabilities to deal with them:
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Warlock,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Shadow Shaman,
Lycan,
Wraith King.
*
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.
* Sprout is good for trapping melee carries with no escape abilities:
Sven,
Alchemist,
Lifestealer etc.
* Heroes with cleave damage:
Sven,
Magnus,
Kunkka.
* 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.
*
Shapeshift allows Lycan to escape from Upheaval with maximum movement speed.
* Warlock doesn't have a good solution to deal with Lycan's wolves from
Summon Wolves.
*
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.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* While heroes with strong mobility are able to get close or flee from Upheaval, heroes with no escaping abilities or that lack long disables will perish against Warlock. Once the Warlock Golem lands with its stun, its hardly possible to escape when he casts Upheaval. Notable examples:
Huskar,
Drow Ranger,
Lion,
Elder Titan, etc.
* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his
Black King Bar.
*
Enchant can not control golem
Chaotic Offering from Warlock.
*
Doom will not only prevent Warlock from casting his abilities in team fights, but also it reduces the healing from Shadow Word.
*
Devour allows Doom to acquire a stun from neutral creeps, allowing him to interrupt Upheaval without having to use
Doom.
*
Doom generally does not impede Sven in almost any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.
* Heroes who rely on summons will see them destroyed easily by Overwhelming Odds:
Lycan,
Arc Warden,
Warlock,
Chen
* 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.
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.
Warlock
* Weaver's
Shukuchi allows him to escape from Warlock's Upheaval with high move speed.
Time Lapse allows Weaver to ignore damage from Warlock's Golem and escape.
*