Timbersaw
* Rupture and Blood Rite locks down Timbersaw, preventing him from escaping with 
Timber Chain. However, Timbersaw may reflect a good deal of damage with 
Blade Mail.
Phoenix
* Phoenix expends health to use its abilities, making it a good target for Thirst.
* Rupture deals heavy damage against 
Icarus Dive.
Additional:
* Although 
Blood Rite can be easily avoided, if it does hit, its lengthy silence and pure damage can be a severe punishment for a slow, unobservant, or simply unfortunate Phoenix.
* His 
Rupture can turn Icarus Dive into a suicide option, and it cannot be dispelled, meaning even if Phoenix completes a 
Supernova, choosing to Dive may just cut its health back down.
* And finally, due to Phoenix's health costs, too much careless ability spamming may just put Phoenix into Bloodseeker's vision through 
Thirst, making it a very tempting ganking target.
Timbersaw
* 
Viper Strike prevents Timbersaw from gaining stacks on Reactive Armor.
Phoenix
* 
Corrosive Skin gives Viper additional resistance to Phoenix's magical damage, and since they deal damage over time, Phoenix would be constantly afflicted by his passive's own debuff, making him not an ideal target for Phoenix's harassment. Phoenix's abilities also constantly drain its own health away, becoming more vulnerable to 
Poison Attack.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw is heavily reliant on his abilities for damage and escape, allowing Silencer to effectively disable him and make him useless in both team fights and 1v1 scenarios.
Additional:
* 
Arcane Curse deals repeated stacks of damage to Timbersaw because he relies on constantly using his abilities.
* 
Glaives of Wisdom deals pure damage and when cast manually, nearby creeps will not attack silencer, making it an effective harassment tool. The intelligence steal is also especially potent against Timbersaw since he often uses up all of his mana throughout the entire game.
* Although 
Last Word takes a while to trigger, it will break Timbersaw's ability combo and can be used to silence him.
* 
Global Silence will silence Timbersaw no matter where he is on the map. This can be used to help allies get a kill on him, or prevent Timbersaw from killing someone.
Phoenix
* Silencer will most likely disrupt an initiation with his ultimate, Global Silence, prevent escape with his Last Word, and if Phoenix happens to die to him (or near him) enough times, he would sap enough of Phoenix's much needed Intelligence to make him a stronger foe and Phoenix with less mana than it already had.
Timbersaw
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
* 
Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a 
Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
* 
Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
Phoenix
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like 
Death Prophet, 
Skywrath Mage, and even 
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Timbersaw
* Because Timbersaw relies heavily on his spells to deal damage, Silence can easily disable him in a team fight.
* Exorcism's spirits do not count as regular attacks, and will not add stacks of Reactive Armor.
Phoenix
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, and even Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Timbersaw
* Heroes that have escape abilities (such as 
Queen of Pain, 
Storm Spirit or 
Timbersaw) can be either nullified by Reaper's Scythe or a complimentary item for Necrophos (like 
Rod of Atos or 
Scythe of Vyse). If Necrophos is quick enough and enters range, they can quickly, if not instantly, die if they are not quick enough.
Additional:
* 
Heartstopper Aura effectively negates Timbersaw's large HP pool as well as HP regen.
* 
Death Pulse together with health and mana regeneration from killed creeps helps Necrophos and his teammates survive Timbersaw's burst damage.
* As a tanky hero that stays in the middle of teamfights, Timbersaw is an easy target for 
Reaper's Scythe.
Phoenix
* Phoenix constantly depletes its own health due to the health costs of its abilities. Unlike heroes that have a similar mechanic, Phoenix does not benefit from low health, nor does it really have a countermeasure for it. As such, Phoenix is a very vulnerable target for Necrophos to prey on, especially when caught off guard before it can cast Supernova.
Additional:
* Necrophos becomes a bigger threat the lower one's health gets, and unfortunately for Phoenix, most of its spells have noticeable health costs. Those costs, coupled with his Heartstopper Aura, means that staying in a teamfight for too long under Necrophos' presence will make Phoenix a more valid target for his ultimate, with its stun completely preventing any form of retaliation or protection. Necrophos players are also likely to buy more durability items such as 
Hood of Defiance, making him more able to withstand Phoenix's damage despite having no escape mechanisms.
* However, it is also important to remember that a Scepter-upgraded Supernova can help protect an ally from his ultimate.
Timbersaw
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw, 
Slark, 
Shadow Fiend, 
Clinkz, 
Bristleback Nyx Assassin, 
Magnus
Phoenix
* Anti-Mage dispels Phoenix's slows with 
Manta Style.
* Anti-Mage can Blink directly next to Supernova, giving him more time to destroy the egg.
Timbersaw
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, 
Ember Spirit, 
Lycan, 
Bloodseeker, 
Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
Phoenix
* Although Phoenix has many ways to disable a Blink Dagger, the high cooldown of all of its spells makes them not as reliable for this. Also, its spells cost a lot of health to use, making it easy to get nuked down.
* Waning Rift prevents Phoenix from using Supernova to refresh itself, giving Puck's team time to finish it off, or allow Puck to burst Phoenix down.
* Dream Coil prevents Phoenix from using Icarus Dive without consequences. Waning Rift and Dream Coil are also able to cancel 
Sun Ray, which is its main source of damage in the late game.
Phoenix
* Tempest Double, Magnetic Field's attack speed bonus, and Arc Warden's high attack range will easily destroy a Phoenix using Supernova much faster than usual.
* Phoenix is very weak against pushers, especially those like Arc Warden who can kill him easily, as his skillset works best in teamfights.
Additional:
* His 
Tempest Double is not an illusion, but rather a full hero unit, which effectively reduces half of the Supernova's health. His 
Magnetic Field can tremendously boost his attack speed, allowing him to destroy Supernova in no time even when he's affected by 
Fire Spirits.
Timbersaw
* 
Searing Chains prevents usage of Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw is vulnerable to magical burst damage, which Ember Spirit provides with 
Fire Remnant and 
Flame Guard.
* Timbersaw's abilities deal pure damage, thus they cannot remove Flame Guard.
Timbersaw
* 
Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* The stun and damage over time from 
Shackles mitigates Reactive Armor's HP and armor regen.
Timbersaw
* Arcane Orb's pure damage ignores Timbersaw's Reactive Armor.
* Astral Imprisonment, if timed correctly, can interrupt Timber Chain, preventing him from escaping.
Additional:
* 
Arcane Orb deals constant pure damage, which bypasses Timbersaw's Reactive Armor.
* 
Sanity's Eclipse can hit targets inside 
Astral Imprisonment, which helps Outworld Destroyer finish off Timbersaw before he escapes with Timber Chain. It can also drain his mana, limiting his ability to escape should he survive.
Timbersaw
* 
Brain Sap's pure damage ignores stacks of Reactive Armor.
* 
Nightmare prevents Timbersaw from using Timber Chain, setting him up for chain stuns and burst damage.
* 
Enfeeble highly reduces regeneration granted by reactive armor.
* 
Fiend's Grip immobilizes Timbersaw and drains his low mana pool, preventing escape afterwards. It also pierces 
Black King Bar.
* Bane's multiple disables often force Timbersaw or his teammates to spend gold on a 
Linken's Sphere.
Phoenix
* Heroes that depend on disrupting fights with ability combos or big ultimate abilities are vulnerable to the long stun of Fiend's Grip: 
Disruptor, Death Prophet, 
Enigma, 
Faceless Void, 
Invoker, 
Lich, Magnus, 
Mars, 
Medusa, 
Outworld Destroyer, 
Phoenix, 
Puck, Queen of Pain, Shadow Fiend, 
Treant Protector, 
Underlord, 
Winter Wyvern, 
Witch Doctor, 
Zeus.
Phoenix
* Heroes with hiding abilities can protect disabled allies: Outworld Destroyer, 
Shadow Demon, 
Tusk, Phoenix with 
Aghanim's Scepter.
Phoenix
* Marci can destroy Supernova by herself with Unleash at any stage of the game.
* Phoenix is squishy hero with low armor and is very vulnerable for Rebound and Sidekick at the laning stage.
Phoenix
* Chemical Rage kills Phoenix very quickly in Supernova.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's limit AoE, damage-over-time abilities give Io plenty of time to save allies with Relocate.
Phoenix
* Juggernaut's high attack speed lets him destroy a Supernova easily. He can even attack a Supernova during Blade Fury with his regular attacks.
* 
Blade Fury protects Juggernaut from all of Phoenix's spells (except Supernova, which pierces spell immunity).
* Blade Fury can also dispel the attack speed slow from Fire Spirits and the movement speed slow from Icarus Dive.
* Phoenix's Icarus Dive will not protect it from 
Omnislash unless it dives into creeps, and Phoenix's low armor makes for an easy kill.
Timbersaw
* Bramble Maze prevents Timbersaw from Timber Chaining away without getting rooted.
* Cursed Crown can still catch Timbersaw if he Timber Chains away.
* Reactive Armor offers little protection against Dark Willow's high magical damage.
Phoenix
* Spiked Carapace reacts on any of the damage over time from Phoenix's abilities and can interrupt Sun Ray and Icarus Dive.
Timbersaw
* Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw.
* Decrepify can further increase all the magical damage done to Timbersaw, bypassing the enhanced physical resistance he can get from Reactive Armor.
Additional:
* 
Nether Ward can punish Timbersaw, as Timbersaw is a spell-caster with low cooldowns. Furthermore, Timbersaw usually appears in the midst of battle, placing himself in range of Nether Ward's Mana Flares.
* Timbersaw has no stuns or silences to stop 
Life Drain. Since all of Pugna's Spells are magical, the damage can be devastating to Timbersaw, especially when combined with 
Decrepify.
Timbersaw
* 
Ball Lightning makes Storm Spirit a target difficult to chase, even for a hero as mobile as Timbersaw.
* The magical damage from 
Static Remnant and 
Overload together with Storm Spirit's high mobility allows Storm Spirit to jump on Timbersaw and burst him down, even if he tries to escape.
Phoenix
* As a hero with uncommon traits, Phoenix's abilities require more health than mana. It is advised for Rubick to purchase health regeneration items such as 
Tranquil Boots, 
Urn of Shadows or Hood of Defiance to keep up with the HP loss.
* Phoenix's signature Supernova, if casted successfully, can turn a teamfight around if being stolen.
* The initial lift and the following crowd control from the drop of 
Telekinesis can protect the egg from being attacked if casted right before Supernova with quick fingers.
* A successfully reborn Supernova refreshes the cooldown of Telekinesis as well as 
Fade Bolt, so don't hesitate to spam both of them before Supernova with the reasons mentioned above.
* Supernova has a stun range of 1200, which requires Rubick to have Level 3 
Arcane Supremacy at least to exceed its range. Consider buying 
Aether Lens or 
Blink Dagger to help with positioning.
* It is not possible to cast Supernova (as of 7.31c) with 
Aghanim's Shard's extra Sun Ray even with both spell stolen, since Sun Ray takes up two stolen ability slots.
* Icarus Dive is a useful repositioning ability for scouting, initiation or escaping.
* Fire Spirits aids with Rubick farming given enough HP regeneration. In early skirmishes, the stolen ability can slow the attack speed of the enemy team to a crawl.
* Combined with Fade Bolt, both the attack damage and attack speed of the enemy team are reduced if they have no source of dispel, effectively nullifying their physical attack damage.
* Sun Ray thrives in and after a teamfight by damaging enemy heroes and healing allies at the same time.
* Rubick can interrupt both Icarus Dive and Sun Ray by casting Telekinesis.
Phoenix
* Huskar's high attack speed can counteract Fire Spirits, and easily destroy the Supernova.
Additional:
* 
Berserker's Blood will let Huskar easily face down a Supernova with increased attack speed.
* Icarus Dive may not be an easy escape from Huskar either as he can chase Phoenix during it with 
Life Break if Huskar times it right.
* However, Phoenix can buy items which can
Timbersaw
* 
Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* In addition, Lion can follow up with his 
Earth Spike and 
Mana Drain combo, preventing Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain. And he can finish Timbersaw off with 
Finger of Death if the latter's HP is low enough.
Timbersaw
* Zeus deals enormous amounts of magic damage, being one of the best heroes to burst down Timbersaw early in the game.
* 
Lightning Bolt's mini-stun can stop Timbersaw's from escaping a fight with Timber Chain.
Additional:
* Reactive Armor will not trigger from Zeus's spells or protect Timbersaw from their damage.
* Early game Timbersaw's strength is average and Zeus can heavily aid in bursting him down.
* Late game, if Timbersaw has built a lot of HP items, Zeus's passive Static Field will be more effective at chipping away Timbersaw's large HP pool.
* A Timbersaw who builds Pipe of Insight will be much more difficult to kill, as Zeus has no way to hold Timbersaw down, but Timbersaw will have less armor, mana, and damage than normal if he buys this item early game just to counter Zeus.
Timbersaw
* 
Cold Snap can prevent Timbersaw from using both Timber Chain and Chakram due to the frequent stuns interrupting the lengthy cast animations, as well as stopping him mid-chain. This can negate Timbersaw's attempts to escape or dole out extra ability damage.
* Later in the game, Invoker's heavy magical and pure damage can be difficult to avoid, meaning Timbersaw's armor is less useful.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw relies heavily on his abilities so Phantom's Embrace's silence makes it more difficult for him.
* Timbersaw cannot use 
Return Chakram or attack the phantom during Phantom's Embrace, forcing him to take full damage and refreshes Phantom's Embrace's cooldown.
Additional:
* Timbersaw is completely powerless against 
Phantom's Embrace if 
Chakram is out.
Timbersaw
* 
Rolling Thunder's stuns make it harder for Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain.
Timbersaw
* 
Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Timbersaw.
* Timbersaw is extremely reliant on his abilities to be effective during a team fight - both for mobility, damage and crowd control. Timbersaw offers very little, impactful right-click damage, and thus 
Doom is particularly crippling against him.
* Additionally, when Doom chooses the {ValueColor:1|Doom applies Break|25tal} {Symbol:Talent} talent, Doom disables Reactive Armor, which effectively removes the durability which Timbersaw is commonly known for.
Additional:
* Doom shuts down Timbersaw completely, negating his mobility and preventing him from doing any damage. It also breaks Reactive Armor's passive bonuses from Aghanim's Scepter.
* Infernal Blade can stun Timbersaw several times in a fight, potentially interrupting Timber Chain. Also it's useful since Timbersaw has high HP due to the damage scales based on max HP.
Timbersaw
* Reactive Armor's armor increase does not affects Muerta's Pierce the Veil despite Muerta often building high attack speed.
* Muerta's 
Dead Shot destroys trees preventing Timbersaw from escaping with his Timber Chain.
Phoenix
* 
Lil' Shredder will make quick work of Supernova.
* 
Mortimer Kisses can easily hit a Phoenix using Sun Ray.
Phoenix
* Heroes that deal damage over time will also fail to bring down Abaddon and his allies, such as 
Huskar, 
Venomancer, or Phoenix.
Phoenix
* Heroes with spell immunity-granting spells will render Phoenix useless against them, as Phoenix has almost no spell immunity-piercing ability, other than the stun at the end of Supernova: 
Lifestealer, 
Juggernaut.
Phoenix
* 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.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage: Lina, 
Leshrac, 
Enchantress, Queen of Pain
Phoenix
* 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.
Timbersaw
* Heroes that can close the gap can easily chase Lina down, such as Timbersaw with Timber Chain and Anti-Mage with 
Blink.
Timbersaw
* In general, Timbersaw struggles against highly mobile heroes that can avoid his abilities: Puck, 
Weaver, Ember Spirit and others.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage: Lina, Leshrac, Enchantress, Queen of Pain
Timbersaw
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, 
Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, 
Mirana, 
Monkey King, 
Morphling, 
Pangolier, 
Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, 
Riki, 
Sand King, 
Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Phoenix
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Timbersaw
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina, 
Jakiro, Underlord, Leshrac, 
Dark Seer, 
Earthshaker, Timbersaw, 
Crystal Maiden.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can use Chakram as a scouting tool to find Slark if he tries to 
Pounce into the trees.
* None of Timbersaw's abilities require a target to be cast, allowing him to hit Slark inside 
Shadow Dance.
* Reactive Armor can be effective protection against a Slark who attacks quickly, since the strong armor and health regen cannot be stolen by 
Essence Shift.
* Timber Chain makes Timbersaw very mobile, meaning he is among the very few heroes who can actually give chase to a fleeing Slark.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage: Lina, Leshrac, Enchantress, Queen of Pain
Timbersaw
* Heroes who are melee but cannot fight back against Eclipse will really struggle with Luna: Monkey King, 
Alchemist, Timbersaw.
Timbersaw
* All Tinker's damage is magic/pure and completely ignores Timbersaw's Reactive Armor.
* Timbersaw very rarely builds Black King Bar, making him very vulnerable if Tinker builds Scythe of Vyse.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw's ability to destroy trees can be a serious problem for some heroes that use them, as either a way of enhancing their spells like Treant Protector, or heroes that tend to hide inside of them like 
Tinker and Monkey King.
Phoenix
* Phoenix does significant magic damage over time which can either be dispelled or negated by Fate's Edict.
* Oracle's burst damage potential can prove lethal to Phoenix, as they already have to sacrifice health to cast their basic skills.
Timbersaw
* Heroes who are not easily crippled by Fate's Edict or Fortune's End, such as Timbersaw, or those who can dispel them, such as 
Phantom Lancer, can kill Oracle unhindered.
Phoenix
* 
Void can interrupt Icarus Dive.
* His 
Crippling Fear's silence will shutdown a spell caster Phoenix.
* However, Phoenix punishes Night Stalker with Supernova because it will turn night into day, and it has a higher priority than 
Dark Ascension, effectively canceling the passive bonuses Night Stalker gets from 
Hunter in the Night.
Phoenix
* Phoenix turns night to day, overriding Dark Ascension during Supernova.
Timbersaw
* Heroes that withstand damage like Timbersaw, Bristleback, 
Dragon Knight and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
Phoenix
* Since all of Phoenix's abilities (except for Supernova) have health costs, heroes like 
Ancient Apparition or 
Necrophos can turn Phoenix's abilities against it. However, Supernova does completely protect Phoenix from 
Ice Blast.
Phoenix
* Icarus Dive helps Phoenix escape from Cold Feet.
* However, all of Pheonix's basic abilities do cost health, which can be harmful under the effects of Ice Blast.
* Supernova can save Phoenix from Ice Blast.
Additional:
* Supernova with or without Aghanim's Scepter allows to save ally or himself through Ice Blast.
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from 
Cold Feet.
Timbersaw
* All Timbersaw's abilities deal AoE pure damage and can easily deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Reactive Armor highly negates Phantom Lancer's physical damage, making him having a hard time killing Timbersaw.
Additional:
* Phantom Lancer's lack of burst damage and constant attacks will increase Reactive Armor to max level immediately.
* Coupled with Timber Chain, it makes an easy escape and almost impossible for Timbersaw to be killed by Phantom Lancer.
* 
Whirling Death and Chakram can instantly destroy large groups of illusions, negating Phantom Lancer's advantage, although Phantom Lancer usually builds 
Diffusal Blade. It can be a problem in late game.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's AoE abilities can prove troublesome for Phantom Lancer.
* Fire Spirits dramatically reduces Phantom Lancer and his illusions' attack speed.
* Icarus Dive's movement speed reduction makes retreating difficult.
* Supernova burns away illusions, and is invulnerable to attacks from illusions.
Timbersaw
* With Timber Chain, Timbersaw can slow, catch up with, or escape from Chen and his creeps.
* Chakram and 
Flamethrower from Aghanim's Shard can clear Chen's creeps and slow him.
* Attacks from multiple creeps will quickly build Reactive Armor stacks, making attacks of Chen and his creeps only tickle Timbersaw.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's large damage over time with Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits can kill Chen's allies before he can use Hand of God.
* Phoenix naturally buys 
Spirit Vessel, which allows him to reduce healing from 
Divine Favor and 
Hand of God.
* Phoenix's Supernova cannot be damaged by Chen's creeps, and their normal speed means they will often not be able to kill Phoenix whenever he uses Supernova.
Additional:
* Not only Phoenix is able to disrupt Chen's jungling with Fire Spirits, but its high damage over time can also force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting any chance to save his allies during teamfights.
* Creeps' damage and attack speed are very abysmal, so Chen often cannot kill Phoenix whenever it casts Supernova.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw's low cooldown and low mana cost abilities destroys the trees that Monkey King depends on.
* Timber Chain allows Timbersaw to escape Wukong's Command.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can easily cut down the tree that Monkey King is standing on, stunning him for a lengthy period.
* Timbersaw can use Timber Chain to easily escape 
Wukong's Command and 
Primal Spring's slow.
* However, when facing Monkey King mid, Timbersaw might get harassed out of the lane because of 
Jingu Mastery.
Phoenix
* Icarus Dive and Supernova can destroy the tree Monkey King is standing on.
* Fire Spirits reduces Monkey King's attack speed, preventing Monkey King from building up Jingu Mastery.
* Supernova can be casted next to Wukong's Command, forcing Monkey King to step away of it or to withstand its massive AOE damage
Additional:
* Icarus Dive, Sun Ray, and Supernova all destroy trees that Monkey King relies on to use his ability 
Tree Dance. If you spot him, you can quickly Icarus Dive in his direction and then follow up with Fire Spirits and Supernova. If you manage to cut the tree he is on, he will be stunned for 4 seconds and will be forced to take a lot of damage. However, most Monkey King players tend to build attack speed items to make use of their passive, Jingu Mastery, so a battle against a farmed Monkey King will depend on who gets the jump on the other first.
Timbersaw
* Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from 
Stifling Dagger.
* Phantom Assassin has a moderate health pool and usually appears in the front line of battle, making her vulnerable to Timbersaw's pure burst damage output.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his Timber Chain.
Additional:
* Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw sustain harassment from Stifling Dagger, as well as ganking attempts.
* Phantom Assassin is a hero with moderate HP pool, and usually appears in the front line of battle. Because 
Blur does nothing against spells, she is vulnerable to Timbersaw's skills.
* Timbersaw can easily escape from Phantom Assassin thanks to his Timber Chain.
Phoenix
* Fire Spirits applies a severe attack speed slow, severely hindering Phantom Assassin's damage output.
* Phantom Assassin cannot cast Phantom Strike on Phoenix during Supernova.
Additional:
* While her 
Phantom Strike does give limited extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her Blur may protect her from attacks, Phoenix's strong magical DPS burns away her small health pool quickly, and the attack speed slow makes her unable to fight back (provided she has no source of spell immunity).
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw Defeats Kunkka on the center line, due to the fact that he has a huge resistance to physical damage by Reactive Armor, which is why 
Tidebringer almost does not break through Timbersaw, and due to Whirling Death Timbersaw can very much break through Kunkka and force him to leave the line, or spend money on 
Tango.
Additional:
* Timbersaw easily beats Kunkka on the midlane, due to the fact that he has huge physical damage resistance from Reactive Armor, which is why Tidebringer almost does not break through Timbersaw, and due to Whirling Death and Kunkka being a strength hero, Timbersaw can very much break through Kunkka and force him to leave the lane, or spend money on Tango.
Phoenix
* Supernova negates Kunkka's combo entirely, as it can't be affected by spells while using Supernova.
* Icarus Dive also allows Phoenix to dodge Ghostship and Torrent.
Timbersaw
* Reactive Armor will quickly stack up from Familiar attacks, making Timbersaw hard to kill.
* Visage's low mobility makes it easy for Timbersaw to line up his abilities.
Phoenix
* Phoenix's Supernova cannot be damaged by Familiars.
* In the early and mid game, Sun Ray won't deal enough damage to be reduced by Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Once Sun Ray deals enough damage to protect Visage, a layer of Gravekeeper's Cloak is burnt every 0.2 seconds.
Timbersaw
* Whirling Death deals damage while also reducing {Show:A|Timbersaw|Whirling Death|value4} of Bristleback's strength, making him less tanky.
* Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
* Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw even with Viscous Nasal Goo.
Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: 
Axe, 
Pudge, Bristleback, Mars.
Timbersaw
* Strong area damage, particularly from Whirling Death and Chakram, lets Timbersaw clear out illusions quickly.
* Whirling Death directly reduces Strength from both Chaos Knight and his Phantasm illusions, reducing both the damage output and raw health that the hero relies on.
* Reactive Armor quickly builds stacks against Phantasm illusions, making Timbersaw harder to kill.
Additional:
* Reactive Armor helps Timbersaw to endure the damage from 
Chaos Bolt and 
Reality Rift combo.
* Timbersaw's large amount of pure damage AoE nukes clears Chaos Knight's illusions quickly, drastically reducing his damage.
Phoenix
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions: Axe, Ember Spirit, 
Legion Commander, Phoenix
Timbersaw
* The percentage-based primary-attribute reduction effect of Whirling Death can be devastating for Pudge due to his high strength gain through Flesh Heap.
* Reactive Armor's health regeneration and common itemization for magic resistance and durability makes Timbersaw a poor target for Pudge.
* Timber Chain's high mobility makes it difficult for Pudge to hook or deal much Rot damage to Timbersaw.
Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe, Pudge, Bristleback, Mars.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw: Lone Druid will have a hard time dealing with Timbersaw due to his tankiness and high Armor from Reactive Armor
Phoenix
* Lone druid's bear attacks on Phoenix's Supernova Egg don't increase the hit count. Given that Lone Druid's main hero often doesn't have much farm, the Supernova Egg is less likely to get killed.
Timbersaw
* Special mention to Timbersaw as he has a way to deal with Axe in the laning stage, but still needs to be careful about Berserker's Call stun, the pure damage from Counter Helix and Culling Blade finishing him off before he can escape or heal from his passive.
Additional:
* Whirling Death reduces Axe's strength by 15%, which makes him less durable, especially from early game. It's also stackable.
* Blade Mail are not effective against attribute changes, and Timber Chain can wait out Blade Mail's duration to wear off.
* Reactive Armor makes it harder for Axe to finish off Timbersaw with 
Culling Blade.
* Chakram disarms Timbersaw, which makes Axe's 
Counter Helix useless against him.
* All Timbersaw skills deal pure damage, which bypass Axe's high armor or bonus armor from 
Berserker's Call.
Phoenix
* Sun Ray allows Phoenix to heal any allies caught in Berserker's Call while burning away Axe's high HP at the same time.
* Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits puts Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Axe's slow attack speed makes it difficult for him to destroy Supernova on his own.
Timbersaw
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, 
Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, 
Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, 
Oracle.
Phoenix
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe, Pudge, Bristleback, Mars.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw's abilities combos all deal magical and pure damage, completely ignoring Terrorblade's high base armor and clearing his illusions very quickly due to the AoE damage.
* Reactive Armor negates most of Terrorblade's damage against Timbersaw, and its high health regeneration and armor bonuses can help Timbersaw survive after Terrorblade has used 
Sunder on him.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can take down Terrorblade's illusions with his area damage burst.
* Reactive Armor plus another armor item reduce much of Terrorblade's damage.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw’s reliance on nearby trees means he’ll usually be close to Hoodwink.
* More significantly, Timbersaw's tree destroying abilities cut off Hoodwink's escape options, passive and easily foil 
Acorn Shot or 
Bushwhack combos.
* While channeling 
Sharpshooter, Timbersaw can simply sit his Chakram on top of her and unleash his full combo, forcing her to cancel and disengage.
* Timber Chain can be used to dodge Sharpshooter.
Phoenix
* Phoenix will usually be on the sidelines or further back ready to use Sun Ray. Even after Magnus successfully uses Reverse Polarity and skewer Phoenix's teammates, Phoenix can usually counter-initiate using all of its abilities.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw is often too mobile and durable for Gyrocopter to bring down with his area attacks.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw's pure damage will kill Dragon Knight surprisingly fast, especially if he gets caught in a bad position while laning.
Timbersaw
* All three of Timbersaw’s abilities give him an easy way out of Sprout, and can also destroy nearby trees so Nature's Prophet can’t spawn Treants.
* If Prophet tries to escape with a self Sprout/Teleport, Timbersaw can easily cut down all its trees to get to him and deal increased Whirling Death damage as well.
* Chakram heavily discourages teleports.
* Timbersaw is quite well suited to clearing massive waves of Treants almost instantly with all of his area of effect pure damage abilities, preventing Nature's Prophet from pushing.
* Treants can give Reactive Armor many charges quite quickly.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can easily cut down trees from 
Sprout, making it very difficult for Nature's Prophet to teleport away or trap enemies.
* Timbersaw's abilities quickly clear out treants.
* Reactive Armor negates most of the damage of Nature's Prophet's treants, and Timbersaw can often allow himself to be attacked in order to heal himself.
Timbersaw
* All of Timbersaw's spells deal AoE damage, killing Lycan's summons very quickly.
* Reactive Armor will gain stacks quickly because of Lycan's summons.
Phoenix
* Fire Spirits greatly reduces Slardar's already low starting attack speed (which Bash of the Deep relies on), making the laning phase very hard for him and discouraging Slardar from aggressively threatening lane kills.
* Supernova, ignoring Phoenix's lack of armor and Slardar's high damage single hits, is extremely hard for Slardar to take down on his own, especially after being hit by Fire Spirits.
* Icarus Dive is one of the longest distance escape spells in the game, and can help a good Phoenix escape from Slardar before he gets a Blink Dagger. However, the high cooldown means Phoenix is vulnerable to backstabs from any roamers after said spell is used.
* Slardar can interrupt an Icarus Dive from completing the flight with both of his stuns, however, likely leading to death if Supernova is on cooldown.
* A lot of the items a Phoenix builds throughout the game naturally counter Slardar. 
Shiva's Guard, 
Heaven's Halberd and 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity all stall Slardar's normal attacks in some way, while Spirit Vessel's percentage-based damage is good against his innate durability.
Phoenix
* Primal Beast is disarmed during Trample so will be unable to destroy a Supernova no matter how close it is to him.
* The same ability can also be used to save allies with the help of an Aghanim's Scepter.
* Sun Ray will do thousands of damage to Primal Beast if surviving a full channel time due to his high health scaling for the ability.
* Icarus Dive is a fantastic way to escape Primal Beast after he has used Onslaught.
* Phoenix has a naturally very high health pool making it hard for Primal Beast to deal with him with his magical damage.
Phoenix
* Due to Spirit Breaker's low attack speed, Supernova is problematic for Spirit Breaker to take down, and even more so with Fire Spirits debuff applied.
Phoenix
* Supernova allows Phoenix to save himself (or an ally, with Aghanim's Scepter) through 
Echo Slam. Earthshaker will also have a difficult time destroying the supernova, due to his low base attack time and poor agility.
* Icarus Dive can pass through Earthshaker's 
Fissure.
* Most of Phoenix's abilities disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger for a good period of time due to the damage-over-time nature of its spells.
Phoenix
* Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Shadow Demon abilities, especially 
Demonic Purge.
* Phoenix AoE abilities remove Shadow Demon's illusions created by 
Disruption.
Phoenix
* Clockwerk being confined in his own Power Cogs means Clockwerk is unable to quickly escape from Phoenix's Sun Ray and Supernova.
* Sun Ray will also heal the enemy Clockwerk is fighting, making it unlikely for Clockwerk to take an enemy down with him.
* For the same reasons, Phoenix also makes a powerful ally for Clockwerk when the situation is reversed.
Phoenix
* Sand King has nothing to deal with Supernova, as none of his spells are effective.
* The damage-over-time abilities of Phoenix disable Sand King's Blink Dagger very often.
Timbersaw
* Reactive Armor prevents Broodmother's spiderlings from being able to effectively harass Timbersaw in the lane.
* Timber Chain's high mobility makes Silken Bola's slow irrelevant, unless Broodmother already bought her Orchid.
* Silken Bola's miss chance doesnt affect Rizzrack that much because he does not rely on his autoattacks much.
* 
Lotus Orb items for Timbersaw make Silken Bola useless.
* Timbersaw's abilities can destroy any trees that Broodmother attempts to hide in and his AoE abilities can quickly clear her Spiderlings.
Additional:
* Spiderlings deal almost no damage against Reactive Armor. They also die quickly from Timbersaw's AoE abilities.
* Broodmother has no mobility ability except the movement speed buff from 
Spin Web, allowing Timbersaw to easily escape her 
Silken Bola with Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw's tree-cutting abilities make it difficult for Broodmother to hide, especially near the edges of the map.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw relies on dealing massive amounts of pure damage, making Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* If he has Reactive Armor stacks, Timbersaw can tank the damage from his allies if he is targeted by Winter's Curse. If he's not the target, Timbersaw's abysmal attack damage will contribute next to nothing when he is cursed to attack an ally.
* As Timbersaw commonly buys Lotus Orb, he can use it to reflect Winter's Curse back to Winter Wyvern if she uses it impulsively on him or any other hero while affected by it.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw can use his plethora of tree cutting abilities to level entire sections of the forest, making hiding in the trees more difficult for Treant Protector and his team.
* Timbersaw can easily cut down Treant Protector's 
Eyes In The Forest once his team has detection. He may even do it unknowingly due to the sheer destructive and chaotic nature of his abilities.
Additional:
* Not only are all of Timbersaw's active abilities capable of cutting down trees, but Whirling Death and Timber Chain also require it to be effective, counteracting both Treant Protector's Nature's Guise and Eyes in the Forest abilities.
Phoenix
* 
Song of the Siren does not affect Supernova, which allows her and her team to focus the egg while the enemy team is affected by sleep.
* Phoenix cannot use Icarus Dive for escaping when rooted by 
Ensnare.
* However, Phoenix has many area-of-effect abilities that allow him to clear Naga Siren's illusions from 
Mirror Image.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw's innate durability provided by Reactive Armor is very hard to deal with as Naga Siren as she mostly relies on sustained damage rather than burst damage unless if she is played as Nuker.
* Timbersaw's high pure damage and low-cooldown area-of-effect nukes which are Whirling Death, Timber Chain, Chakram and Flamethrower from Aghanim's Shard can also destroy Naga Siren's illusions very fast.
* Timbersaw is a common Lotus Orb wielder which allows him to reflect Ensnare back at Naga SIren.
Phoenix
* Sand King and Phoenix have many tools to deal with multiple enemies at once, which will work well against a crowd of illusions.
Phoenix
* Heroes that are able to slow Tiny's attack speed, like Tusk and Phoenix, will greatly limit his Physical damage output.
Phoenix
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like Crystal Maiden or Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
Phoenix
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or 
Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
Phoenix
* Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
Timbersaw
* Heroes who rely on abilities to deal damage (e.g. Timbersaw, Tinker) can fight a Razor even after Static Link.
Additional:
* Razor deals mostly physical damage towards the later game, and Timbersaw is also very mobile, making him a difficult kill to earn.
* Timbersaw rarely resorts to attacks, thus does not suffer when his damage is stolen with 
Static Link.
Phoenix
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like Crystal Maiden or Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
Phoenix
* Phoenix with Supernova
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with 
Phase Shift
* Riki with 
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with 
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with 
Sleight of Fist and 
Activate Fire Remnant
* 
Chaos Knight with 
Phantasm
* 
Naga Siren with Mirror Image
* Tusk with 
Snowball
* Juggernaut with Omnislash
* 
Brewmaster with 
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with 
Infest
* Phoenix with Supernova
Timbersaw
* Reactive Armor makes Timbersaw very effective against heroes that control a lot of units, such as 
Broodmother, Lycan and 
Undying.
Phoenix
* Heroes who can hide the Dueled target (Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Demon, Tusk, Phoenix with Aghanim's Scepter etc).
Additional:
* Legion Commander relies on her powerful attack and her 
Duel to be effective. But if Phoenix gets the jump on her first, she can find herself severely slowed, taking heavy damage, and find herself unable to Duel a burning Supernova.
* It must be noted that 
Press the Attack will both dispel the attack slow of Fire Spirits and grant her or whoever she targets bonus attack speed. This allows her to easily destroy a Supernova if caution is not taken to prevent this from occurring. As such, it would be a better decision to simply avoid a farmed or skilled Legion Commander instead of attempting to overpower her.
* If an ally is caught by Duel, Phoenix can use Sun Ray to heal the ally and damage Legion Commander, possibly swinging the Duel in their team's favor. Or with Aghanim's Scepter, Phoenix can save an ally from dying in Duel with Supernova and cancel the Duel as well.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw has a difficult time against magical and pure damage: Lina, Leshrac, Enchantress, Queen of Pain
Timbersaw
* The burst damage from Timbersaw's abilities is more than enough to deal with Enchantress and her creeps.
* Timbersaw doesn't rely on his physical attacks, which makes Untouchable useless against him.
* Timber Chain can close the gap between them and minimize damage from Impetus.
* Bear in mind, however, that Timber Chain can also work against Timbersaw if used to escape and that Impetus can ignore Reactive Armor if Enchantress is not a primary target for Timbersaw or if he is disabled.
* Timbersaw is a common wielder of Lotus Orb, which will allow him to reflect Enchant back at Enchantress and dispel most debuffs as well.
Phoenix
* 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.
Timbersaw
* 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.
Phoenix
* Inner Beast helps Beastmaster's team destroy Supernova quickly.
Timbersaw
* Reactive Armor is very effective against Beastmaster's summons during laning stage and entire game.
* Timbersaw can quickly clear Beastmaster's summons with his nukes.
* Lotus Orb item for Timbersaw can releases roar from the target position, stunning and damaging Beastmaster and knocking away, damaging and slowing allies that stand on the way.
Timbersaw
* Templar Assassin 
Meld`s ability will break Timbersaw's armor, which makes it very easy to break through and not feel his Reactive Armor, which will allow the team to kill Timbersaw quickly, or drive him out of the fight.
* Templar Assassin's 
Refraction ability gives her the ability to avoid damage from Whirling Death, which will give her the ability to deal Timbersaw more damage than he will deal.
Additional:
* Templar Assassin Meld`s ability will break Timbersaw's armor, which makes it very easy to break through and not feel his Reactive Armor, which will allow the team to kill Timbersaw quickly, or drive him out of the fight.
* Templar Assassin's Refraction ability gives her the ability to avoid damage from Whirling Death, which will give her the ability to deal Timbersaw more damage than he will deal. However, he may easily burn through Refraction with Chakram.
Phoenix
* Her Refraction charges can and will be easily burned away by Phoenix's damage over time abilities, and Meld can't protect her from Phoenix's AoE abilities, even without detection.
Additional:
* Phoenix's abilities target and deals damage over time, making them a threat against Meld and Refraction. His abilities' nature makes them pretty hard to correctly land on the target, but that is not a problem against a Templar Assassin that needs to stand still during Meld.
* Icarus Dive allows Phoenix to shrug off the slow from her trap and make an easy escape from her ambush.
* As Templar Assassin relies on her quality-over-quantity bursting attacks to make quick work on fragile target, Fire Spirits' attack speed reduction can cripple her ability to deals any damage during combat. With the debuff applied in early-mid game, a Meld-breaking hit from her is significantly slowed to the point that her target can travel a safe distance before she even lands the hit.
* Sun Ray has a quick damage tick and will burn through her Refraction in no time.
* Supernova deals damage over time in an incredibly large area, and again with her quality-over-quantity style, she may not be able to attack quickly enough to break through the Phoenix Sun by herself. (not to mention the debuff from Fire Spirits) This can lead to a failed ganking attempt or even a turnaround.
Timbersaw
* 
Time Dilation is similar to a long duration silence, making Timbersaw useless in team fights, or forcing him to adapt his build.
* 
Time Walk negates Timbersaw's burst damage.
* 
Time Lock provides magical damage and lock down, and is effective against both Reactive Armor and Timber Chain.
* In conjunction with Time Lock's magical damage, 
Chronosphere can destroy Timbersaw before he has time to react, and creates a large obstacle that obstruct's Timber Chain's mobility.
Phoenix
* Fire Spirits does damage over time, preventing Faceless Void from backtracking the full damage with Time Walk.
* Fire Spirits applies a big attack speed slow, stopping Faceless Void from doing many attacks while in Chronosphere.
* Sun Ray can heal allies and damage Faceless Void from outside Chronosphere.
* Supernova can be cast outside of Chronosphere, forcing Faceless Void to step away from it, lest he'll take a lot of damage
Phoenix
* Earthbind can prevent Phoenix from using Icarus Dive, the only escaping mechanism of this hero.
* Heavy burst damage from Poof can easily kill Phoenix even when it slows down all the Meepos with Fire Spirits.
* Meepo's clones destroy the Phoenix Sun from Supernova in no time, even when they are slowed down by Fire Spirits.
* Meepo's naturally high magic resistance gives Phoenix a hard time with bursting him down. He can even turn the tide if Icarus Dive is on cooldown.
Additional:
* Meepo is unlike any other multi-unit enemy Phoenix may face in the battlefield. Unlike illusion-based heroes like Phantom Lancer or Chaos Knight, Meepo's clones are not illusions, meaning they can deal full damage to the Phoenix Sun if all four (or five) are present.
Timbersaw
* Because multiple Meepos tend to clump up, they present an easy target for Timbersaw's many area abilities.
* Although be careful since Timbersaw cannot use Timber Chain to escape if rooted from 
Earthbind.
Timbersaw
* Timbersaw's physical survivability revolves around
Reactive Armor, which is largely ignored by Fury Swipes due to the extreme amounts of damage it does in a very few number of attacks.
Timber Chain to escape, wasting the duration of it.
* Timbersaw's burst damage will not do much against Enrage, although he could easily use
Phoenix
* Ursa can easily unleash a number of attacks in an incredibly short amount of time, easily destroying the
Supernova in a couple of seconds regardless of Fire Spirits' debuff. His 
Enrage also dampens any damage Phoenix might toss at his direction, as well as remove any debuffs Phoenix may place on him.