* 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.
*
Firefly and combinated with
Blink Dagger can easy avoided from
Focus Fire.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
* Due to lack of magic resistance, Venomancer abilities eats through Windranger's health.
* Venomancer's multiple slows, to an extent, negates Windrun's mobility.
Additional:
* Due to lack of magic resistance, Venomancer poisons eats through Windranger's health.
* Heroes who can stun Sven even with an activated
Black King Bar can be an issue:
Clockwerk,
Beastmaster.
* Windranger cannot escape with
Windrun when she is trapped inside
Power Cogs.
*
Battery Assault repeatedly interrupts
Focus Fire, disrupting Windranger's damage output.
Additional:
* Power Cogs prevent Windranger from fleeing with
Windrun.
* Battery Assault repeatedly interrupts
Focus Fire, disrupting Windranger's damage output.
* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as
Templar Assassin,
Morphling and
Huskar.
* All abilities for Morphling can easily escape fear
Focus Fire.
* Windranger weakness for agility can easily Morphling destroy against her.
Additional:
*
Waveform can be used to escape from the reach of
Focus Fire and to dodge
Powershot.
*
Adaptive Strike (Strength) can be used to stun Windranger even while
Windrun is active.
*
Morph is useful to morph into Windranger to copy her abilities.
* 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 can lower the damage output from
Focus Fire.
* Eye of the Storm strikes cannot miss, even if
Windrun is active.
Additional:
*
Static Link greatly lowers Windranger's damage output from Focus Fire.
*
Eye of the Storm strikes cannot miss, even if Windrun is active.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
*
Stampede can help his teammates escape from Windrun and Focus Fire.
*
Retaliate will shred through Windranger's health if she chooses to attack him during Focus Fire.
Additional:
*
Focus Fire grants Windranger a massive attack speed bonus, while her attack damage is generally quite low. This, combined with Windranger's low health pool and armor, makes Retaliate do absolutely massive damage over a short time, making Centaur a hero she can never expect to kill or harass.
*
Windrun grants evasion, but Centaur Warrunner does not rely on successful attacks in order to do damage. Hoof Stomp, Double Edge, and Stampede all do large amounts of magical damage and can completely demolish Windranger in a moment.
* 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.
* Phase Shift allows Puck to effectively dodge
Powershot, and even
Shackleshot if timed correctly.
* Waning Rift prevents Windranger from casting all her abilities, most especially
Windrun and
Focus Fire .
* Windranger cannot escape with
Windrun when she's affected by Dream Coil, as she will be instantly stunned when she tries to break away from the coil, allowing Puck's teammates to focus her down.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an
Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off:
Bristleback,
Spectre,
Phantom Assassin,
Enchantress,
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Slark,
Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of Windrun with
Disruption.
* Alternatively,
Demonic Purge. can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless.
*
Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by Shackleshot.
Additional:
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of
Windrun with Disruption.
* Alternatively, Demonic Purge can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless for 7 seconds.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by
Shackleshot.
* Heroes that can prevent Sven from farming are very strong against him. Such as
Riki and
Bounty Hunter with their respective invisibility.
*
Bounty Hunter with
Track.
* Heroes with True Sight can be a problem for Windranger once she has upgraded Windrun with
Aghanim's Scepter, but do take note that the invisibility it provides is not broken upon moving, casting abilities or using items, so it is vital to cast these abilities beforehand to be able to provide vision on Windranger:
*
Bounty Hunter with
Track.
*
Bloodseeker with
Thirst.
*
Slardar with
Corrosive Haze.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* Many of Nyx Assassin's abilities are good against Windranger.
*
Impale is great for stunning Windranger and allowing additional disables to be landed.
*
Mind Flare is useful against Windranger's decent intelligence growth.
*
Spiked Carapace is easy to use against Powershot.
*
Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to sneak up on and deal massive damage to Windranger without giving Windranger a chance to use Windrun to evade it.
* Nyx Assassin's item build allows him to easily deal with Windranger.
* 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.
* Using Focus Fire on Bristleback tends to fare badly for Windranger, as he can trigger passive
Quill Sprays many times, especially when she attacks him from behind. In addition, Windrun does not protect her from both
Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray, rendering her helpless.
* Bristleback's natural tankiness makes it hard for Windranger to effectively burst her down throughout the game.
* Bristleback tends to continuously spam
Viscous Nasal Goo to slow down Windranger when she uses Windrun to escape, potentially allowing him to outrun her with his
Warpath stacks.
* Bristleback can build
Lotus Orb to reflect Shackleshot and Focus Fire back at Windranger.
Additional:
* Combo Quill Spray and items
Blade Mail can easily trigger from Focus Fire damage.
* Queen of Pain, for the most part, almost exclusively deals magical damage, ignoring Windranger's evasion from
Windrun.
* Queen of Pain is also a common wielder of
Orchid Malevolence, preventing Windranger from using her abilities for a while.
* Blink, when used correctly, allows Queen of Pain to dodge
Powershot and
Shackleshot.
* Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal but needs to be careful of Sven's
Aghanim's Scepter purge.
*
Cold Embrace saves any ally Sven initiates on and wastes the duration of God's Strength in team fights.
*
Winter's Curse can be devastating to Sven's team, as his massive damage can take out a teammate before there is much time to react.
* Undying can use Decay not only to reduce Sven's maximum health, but also to reduce the damage he can deal with his ultimate.
* Zombies spawned by Tombstone together with Flesh Golem slow Sven down significantly. Landing Sven's powerful but somewhat slow right-click on Tombstone would be a waste.
* A well-timed Gust will prevent Windranger from escaping or counter-initiating with
Windrun.
* Drow Ranger commonly buys
Shadow Blade or
Silver Edge, which allows her to escape from
Focus Fire.
Monkey King Bar, a situational item on Drow Ranger, counters Windranger's evasion from
Windrun.
* The bonus agility from Marksmanship can shred through Windranger's low armor.
Additional:
* A well-timed
Gust prevents Windranger from escaping or counter-initiating with Windrun.
* Drow Ranger can combine
Frost Arrows and
Eye of Skadi to effectively slow down Windranger if she tries to escape with Windrun, since both slow effects stack with each other.
* Drow Ranger commonly buys
Shadow Blade or
Silver Edge, which allows her to escape from Focus Fire. Drow Ranger can also buy
Monkey King Bar or
Nullifier to counter Windranger's evasion from Windrun.
* The bonus agility from
Marksmanship can shred through Windranger's low armor.
* The high mobility provided by
Fire Remnant makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire.
*
Flame Guard and
Searing Chains deal considerable magical damage to Windranger which she cannot avoid with Windrun.
* Searing chains also negates the mobility from Windrun.
* 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.
*
Time Dilation affects Windranger's low cooldown abilities, making them unusable for a long time, reducing Windranger's escape potential.
* The high mobility provided by
Time Walk makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire.
*
Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Windranger, allowing for reliable kills in all stages of the game.
* Faceless Void tends to go for items that require
Javelin, such as
Maelstrom,
Mjollnir and
Monkey King Bar, allowing him to bypass the evasion from Windrun.
Additional:
* Time Dilation while renders
Windrun movement speed useless slow.
* Time Walk fast cooldown can escaping avoided to Focus Fire. Additionally, Time Walk can dodge to
Powershot
* Chronosphere trap can attacking Windranger can not escaping with
Windrun.
*
Kraken Shell can easily dispel Shackleshot after he has taken a certain threshold of damage.
*
Ravage provides excellent lockdown against Windranger, allowing his teammates to kite her throughout the game.
* When Tidehunter has
Aghanim's Shard, he will gain access to
Dead in the Water, allowing him to lock down Windranger at any time. When Windranger tries to move away from the anchor with Windrun, she will be effectively slowed, preventing her from escaping.
Additional:
* Kraken Shell easily dispels the lengthy stun from
Shackleshot.
* Kraken Shell (and possibly Anchor Smash) blocks huge amount of damage from
Focus Fire.
* Anchor Smash is one of the few sources of True Strike, which means Tidehunter can deal significant damage through
Windrun, while also reducing Windranger's damage output.
* Windranger can't escape
Windrun X Marks the Spot with combo Torrent or Ghostship trap.
*
Windrun triggers the damage from Rupture.
Additional:
*
Rupture turns Windranger's mobility against her.
*
Blood Rite's silence makes Windranger totally useless, since she's extremely reliant on abilities.
*
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.
*
Glaives of Wisdom's intelligence steal can prove detrimental to Windranger, as she heavily relies on her abilities to be able to make an impact.
* Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using
Windrun.
Additional:
* Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using
Windrun.
* 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.
*
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.
* 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 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.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as
Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
*
Slardar with
Corrosive Haze.
* Heroes with True Sight can be a problem for Windranger once she has upgraded Windrun with
Aghanim's Scepter, but do take note that the invisibility it provides is not broken upon moving, casting abilities or using items, so it is vital to cast these abilities beforehand to be able to provide vision on Windranger:
*
Bounty Hunter with
Track.
*
Bloodseeker with
Thirst.
*
Slardar with
Corrosive Haze.
Additional:
* While Slardar has Guardian's Sprint activated,
Powershot cannot slow him and is easier to avoid.
* Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep help Slardar put Windranger in place, even when she uses
Windrun to escape.
* Corrosive Haze from Slardar is very effective against Windranger's already low armor. This becomes even worse if she has
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Windrun, because it also reveals her position and allowing his allies to use their abilities on Windranger.
* Note that the invisibility provided by
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Windrun is not broken upon attacking, casting abilities or using items, so it's vital to cast Corrosive Haze beforehand.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor:
Phantom Assassin,
Bloodseeker,
Lifestealer,
Troll Warlord,
Sven
* 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.
* Windranger tends to fare badly against high mobility heroes that can easily dodge Powershot, close the gap on her when she uses Windrun or escape from Focus Fire's reach. Examples of such heroes include
Spirit Breaker,
Lycan,
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Slark and others.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* 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.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* Windranger heavily relies on her abilities for any form of tactical advantage and damage. A well timed silence will make her useless:
Puck,
Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage,
Drow Ranger,
Earth Spirit,
Grimstroke.
* Heroes with naturally low mana can be easily shut down by E.M.P.:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Omniknight
* Windranger tends to fare badly against high mobility heroes that can easily dodge Powershot, close the gap on her when she uses Windrun or escape from Focus Fire's reach. Examples of such heroes include
Spirit Breaker,
Lycan,
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Slark and others.
*
Keeper of the Light's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
*
Rolling Thunder allows Pangolier to escape from Focus Fire, or close the gap to Windranger whenever she tries to escape with Windrun.
* Disarm from
Lucky Shot makes Focus Fire temporarily useless.
*
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.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* 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.
* 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 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.
*
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.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
* Spectre can instantly escape Focus Fire or hunt a Windranger with
Haunt.
* Spectre can catch up to her with
Spectral Dagger, even if she uses Windrun.
*
Desolate allows Spectre to hit Windranger through Windrun.
*
Dispersion combined with
Blade Mail and/or
Vanguard (and its upgrade
Abyssal Blade) makes Spectre tanky and/or reflects some damage back to Windranger.
Additional:
* Spectre can catch up to her with
Spectral Dagger, even if she uses
Windrun.
* Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Windranger with
Haunt.
*
Dispersion can reflect some of her damage, especially from her
Focus Fire.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as
Anti-Mage,
Spectre and
Shadow Fiend.
*
Ball Lightning can escape quickly fear from
Focus Fire. Windranger can not reach Storm Spirit although Windrun active catch him.
Additional:
* The high mobility provided by
Ball Lightning makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire. It can be also used to dodge Powershot.
* 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.
* Counterspell can reflects triggering with Focus Fire. Since Focus Fire target against Anti-Mage, Focus Fire damage can return to Anti-Mage easily destroy to Windranger's.
* Anti-Mage items
Abyssal Blade and
Monkey King Bar can useful for Anti-Mage's and easily complicated escaping Windranger's fighting against Anti-Mage's and also bypasses to Windrun evasion.
Additional:
*
Counterspell can reflect Windranger's targeted spells such as
Shackleshot and
Focus Fire back to her.
*
Blink can be used to avoid
Shackleshot and
Powershot, assuming an Anti-Mage player can react fast enough.
*
Mana Break and
Mana Void are good against Windranger's high 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.
* Void Spirit deals entirely magical damage in the early game, ignoring her evasion from
Windrun.
* A Void Spirit with fast reaction time can use Dissimilate or Astral Step to dodge
Powershot.
Additional:
* Void Spirit deals entirely magical damage in the early game, ignoring her evasion from
Windrun.
* A Void Spirit with fast reaction time can use Dissimilate or Astral Step to dodge
Powershot.
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Ogre Magi.
* Windrun does not protect Windranger from
Cursed Crown stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
* Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in
Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
Additional:
*
Windrun does not protect Windranger from Cursed Crown's stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
*
Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
*
Press The Attack can save her allies dispels the stun from Shackleshot.
*
Duel can lock down Windranger before she can escape with Windrun.
* Legion Commander tends to go for
Blade Mail, which returns the damage she takes from Focus Fire.
* 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.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper:
Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
*
Windrun evades
Poison Attack and counteracts the slow.
* Viper's low mobility makes him an easy
Shackleshot target.
*
Focus Fire grants Windranger significant physical damage output to quickly wear Viper down.
*
Powershot is a strong harassment and zoning tool against Viper in lane.
* 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.
*
Focus Fire can quickly attack target Meepo or clones instanly. Additionally, Windranger can use combinated
Shackleshot and
Focus Fire since Poof wrong landing and stunned from
Shackleshot affected Meepo and clones collateral damege from
Focus Fire.
* Escaping from
Windrun make Earthbind roots can not reach.
* 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.
* {Ability ID:Windrun|Windranger|16px} negates the damage from {Ability ID:Omnislash|Juggernaut|16px}.
* {Ability ID:Windrun|Windranger|16px} gives Windranger enough movement speed to get out of {Ability ID:Blade fury|Juggernaut|16px} range.
* {Ability ID:Focus fire|Windranger|16px} goes through {Ability ID:Blade Fury|juggernaut|16px}.
*
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.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
*
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.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
* 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.
* Pudge relies on his hook to initiate his combo. As long as she's able to avoid the hook with Windrun and shackle him, Windranger can take him down easily. Pudge's low armor means that he won't be able to endure Focus Fire for long.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing towers will often struggle from a small map very early, such as
Phantom Assassin,
Storm Spirit and
Phantom Lancer.
* Phantom Assassin's
Blur is useless against Windranger as she commonly buys items that require
Javelin like
Maelstrom,
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has nothing else that can bypass Windrun.
* Additionally, Phantom Assassin doesn't like building
Monkey King Bar because her crits are reliant on attack damage.
* Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.
Additional:
* Phantom Assassin's
Blur is useless against Windranger as she commonly buys items that require
Javelin like
Maelstrom,
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has nothing else that can bypass Windrun.
* Additionally, Phantom Assassin doesn't like building
Monkey King Bar because her crits are reliant on attack damage.
* Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.
*
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.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
*
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.
* Heroes with evasion will cause Chen and his creeps to struggle in attacking them and will waste much of Penitence's power:
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Hoodwink.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
* 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.
*
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.
* Windranger can avoid Ursa's primary source of damage,
Fury Swipes, by simply using Windrun. The slow from
Earthshock is also rendered irrelevant by Windrun.
* Focus Fire and Windrun can be used to kite Ursa.
Additional:
* Ursa relies on the Blink-Earthshock combo to slow enemies to burst them, but Windranger can use
Windrun to escape through Earthshock's duration.
*
Windrun and
Focus Fire can easily allow Windranger to kite Ursa and do good amounts of damage in the process.
* Windrun can be used to dodge Earthshaker's abilities if Windranger has a quick reaction time.
* Focus Fire and Windrun allows Windranger to kite Earthshaker.
* A Windranger with fast fingers can prevent Earthshaker from using
Fissure with Shackleshot.
*
Avalanche and
Toss will never be enough damage to take out Sven in a clean way.
* Tiny is very slow with low armour growth and does not buy items to sustain Sven's damage output.
*
Storm Hammer interrupts Echo Stomp.
* Powershot can destroy the trees to prevent
Scurry's passive as well as end
Bushwhack prematurely or prevent it completely.
*
Acorn Shot creates a tree for Windranger to get an easy Shackleshot off.
*
Acorn Shot does not grant True Strike, thus making it easy for Windranger to evade it with Windrun.
* Shackleshot stuns Hoodwink for a lengthy duration due to her often reliance on positioning with trees.
Additional:
*
Powershot can destroy the trees to prevent
Scurry's passive as well as end
Bushwhack prematurely or prevent it completely.
*
Acorn Shot does not grant True Strike, thus making it easy for Windranger to evade it with
Windrun.
*
Shackleshot stuns Hoodwink for a lengthy duration due to her often reliance on positioning with trees.
* Windranger's highly mobile playstyle allows her to easily control Lifestealer from a distance, as he has no disables on his own.
Windrun not only provides her with bonus move speed, but evasion as well, undoing Lifestealer's ability to attack her. In combination with
Focus Fire, Windranger can easily dispose of Lifestealer without him being able to reach her.
* 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.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
*
Storm Hammer stunned can stops Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
*
Windrun quickly dodge Mirana's Sacred Arrow and misses her attacks.
*
Shackleshot through tree with
Focus Fire via
Aghanim's Scepter combo can kill Mirana quickly, before using Leap or Moonlight Shadow.
*
Warcry makes it difficult to burst Sven down with both the passive (with
Aghanim's Shard) and active component.
* Sven under the effect of
God's Strength and his massive physical damage make Sven very dangerous to engage in the mid game.
* Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:
Naga Siren,
Arc Warden,
Broodmother will struggle against Great Cleave.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
* Heroes who struggle to fight back against Sven at any point in the game are at a severe disadvantage:
Alchemist,
Anti-Mage,
Crystal Maiden.
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore
Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
* Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as
Anti-Mage,
Spectre and
Shadow Fiend.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
Additional:
*
Powershot destroys the tree Monkey King is standing on.
* Monkey King's natural reliance on trees makes him an easy target for
Shackleshot.
*
Windrun evades Monkey King's attacks, preventing him from building up Jingu Mastery.
* Windranger heavily relies on her abilities for any form of tactical advantage and damage. A well timed silence will make her useless:
Puck,
Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage,
Drow Ranger,
Earth Spirit,
Grimstroke.
*
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.
* Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as
Templar Assassin,
Morphling and
Huskar.
* Windranger prevents Huskar from landing
Burning Spears by using Windrun.
* Because Huskar tends to be at low health, Focus Fire and Powershot are good abilities against him.
Additional:
*
Windrun makes it impossible to hit Windranger with Burning Spears.
* Huskar cannot toggle
Armlet of Mordiggian to regain health while taking constant damage from
Focus Fire.
* Windranger tends to fare badly against high mobility heroes that can easily dodge Powershot, close the gap on her when she uses Windrun or escape from Focus Fire's reach. Examples of such heroes include
Spirit Breaker,
Lycan,
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Slark and others.
*
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.
* 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.
* Sven has no easy way to burn
Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.
*
Focus Fire tears apart Templar Assassin's Refraction very quickly and easily bursts her down due to her low health pool against Windranger's immense attack speed.
* Templar Assassin's Psionic Trap doesn't slow down Windranger due to
Windrun. Additionally, Windranger can survive Templar Assassin's high burst damage thanks to the evasion it provides.
* Windranger tends to fare badly against high mobility heroes that can easily dodge Powershot, close the gap on her when she uses Windrun or escape from Focus Fire's reach. Examples of such heroes include
Spirit Breaker,
Lycan,
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Slark and others.
Additional:
* Pounce helps put Windranger in place, even when she uses
Windrun to escape.
* Shadow Dance avoids Windranger's attacks from
Focus Fire altogether, and he can regenerate his health and fight back after Windranger uses up all her abilities.
* The stun from
Shackleshot and the slow from
Powershot can be both dispelled by Dark Pact, provided Slark casts it at the right moment.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
*
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.
*
Moon Glaives can ignore certain abilities that either trigger on attack or give evasion under the condition that the heroes who have them are not primary targets. Examples include:
Centaur Warrunner,
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Hoodwink etc.
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance:
Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* 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.
* 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 with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability:
Death Prophet,
Sniper,
Tinker,
Windranger.
* Against her Untouchable, Sven is barely able to hit Enchantress even with his
Black King Bar.
*
Windrun's speed allows easy pursuit or escape, while the evasion greatly reduces the threat of Enchantress's Impetus, especially when retreating.
*
Shackleshot is a powerful disable if Enchantress gets too close to one of her own minions.
*
Focus Fire can negate
Untouchable.
*
Doom completely takes Windranger out of a team fight, a hero who relies heavily on using abilities and items to contribute in team fights.
Additional:
*
Doom completely takes Windranger out of a team fight, a hero who relies heavily on using abilities and items to contribute in team fights.
*
Doom generally does not impede Sven in almost any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.
* With
Normal Punch from
Aghanim's Scepter, Dark Seer can gain an advantage against heroes who rely on evasion as
Normal Punch has true strike:
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Hoodwink.
* 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.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as
Lina,
Slark and
Zeus.
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.
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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
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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.
Blade Mail carrier which will make very short work of a Sven with God's Strength activated.
*
* Axe is a very common
Windranger
*
Windrun does not provide protection against
Counter Helix and
Berserker's Call. Her fast attack speed with Focus Fire will also quickly trigger
Counter Helix multiple times.