Tinker
* 
Pounce prevents Tinker from blinking away.
* Slark frequently builds 
Shadow Blade, which allows him to approach Tinker unnoticed. Since Tinker's farming usually covers a significant amount of area on the map, Sentry Wards may not be cost effective.
* 
Shadow Dance allows Slark to detect both common and unusual wards. Eliminating common ward causes Tinker trouble farming many lanes if he does not know who may be waiting to jump on him. Slark is also uniquely able to identify some of the less common wards used by Tinker, such as those placed on the cliffs at map edges which Tinker uses to give him vision over the trees he uses to hide in.
* Slark's extremely high move speed from Shadow Dance, potentially stacked with Shadow Blade, allows him to easily follow Tinker between lanes, especially if Tinker has pushed the lanes out.
* 
Dark Pact dispels Laser's blind.
Bristleback
* 
Essence Shift allows Slark to hit Bristleback freely whether on the front or back, stealing attributes and make Bristleback much less tanky.
* Pounce can be used to disengage and recover lost HP with his ultimate passive, and can return to fight in a short period while Bristleback is already injured and got some of his attributes stolen.
* Dark Pact makes it near impossible to keep the 
Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on Slark.
* Although Dark Pact cannot dispel 
Quill Spray, meaning that Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he used Shadow Dance before.
* Slark builds 
Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counters Bristleback.
Tinker
* Tinker is heavily reliant on casting his spells and 
Doom can disable all of his abilities and items. An 
Aghanim's Scepter only makes it harder for Tinker to survive.
Additional:
* Tinker is heavily dependent on active abilities and Doom prevents him from using any of them.
Bristleback
* 
Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high HP targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom prevents Bristleback from casting his two low cooldown abilities, which then prevents him from utilizing 
Warpath.
* If Doom gets an Aghanim's Scepter, he can disable 
Bristleback and Warpath, taking away much of his durability and damage potential in team fights.
Additional:
* Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
* Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With his upgraded level 25 talent, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
Tinker
* Anti-Mage's high mobility from Blink and tendency to build 
Battle Fury makes him strong against split-pushing heroes: 
Nature's Prophet, 
Tinker, and 
Arc Warden.
Additional:
* Tinker is fragile and vulnerable against carries like Anti-Mage.
* 
Mana Break burns away his mana pool and deals bonus physical damage.
* Tinker's massive mana pool makes 
Mana Void deal large amount of damage, and can be used to cancel a 
Keen Conveyance teleport.
* 
Blink gives Anti-Mage many options, like disjointing Heat Seeking Missiles. He can use Blink to wait out of sight for a split pushing Tinker or chase a blinking Tinker into trees.
* Tinker doesn't want any of his spells reflected back at him through 
Counterspell.
Bristleback
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Bristleback's small mana pool, preventing him from spamming Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Sprays.
* Bristleback has no innate mobility. Bristleback is easily kited by Blink, ignoring the protection from Bristleback.
Additional:
* Mana Break removes both a percentage and flat amount of your mana, preventing Bristleback from using abilities in the lane.
* Blink Anti-Mage has very high mobility with this skill, and can easily escape from Bristleback since he has no way to prevent his blink. He can also use this offensively to get in front of Bristleback during fights.
Tinker
* 
Press the Attack can dispel Laser's blind while providing great attack speed and health regeneration.
* Once caught in a 
Duel, Tinker, who completely relies on his spells to be effective, has little chances of survival with his low health pool and armor.
Bristleback
* Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
* Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
Additional:
* When dueled, Bristleback will have to face Legion head on, not allowing his passive Bristleback to come into effect.
Tinker
* Heroes with abilities that blind or cause Legion Commander to miss will prevent her from winning Duels: Arc Warden, 
Keeper of the Light, 
Riki, Tinker
Tinker
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker: 
Invoker, 
Shadow Demon, 
Batrider.
Bristleback
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: 
Bristleback, 
Spectre, 
Phantom Assassin, 
Enchantress, 
Dragon Knight.
* 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.
Tinker
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker: Invoker, Shadow Demon, Batrider.
Bristleback
* Batrider's turn rate slow from 
Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
Bristleback
* 
Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
* 
Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
Tinker
* Due to Tinker's low health pool, Zeus can easily burst Tinker down, while also cancelling 
Rearm.
* Once Zeus gets Aghanim's Scepter, he will gain 
Nimbus, which allows him to scout out Tinker on the map, especially when he is pushing lanes while hiding in the trees.
Additional:
* Zeus can easily reveal Tinker's location in the trees with 
Thundergod's wrath.
* When Zeus has an Aghanim's Scepter, he can use his Nimbus, together with 
Lightning Bolt to interrupt Tinker's Keen Conveyance channelling and cancel Tinker's 
Blink Dagger.
Tinker
* Night Stalker can easily find Tinker in the trees during 
Dark Ascension.
* 
Void's mini-stun will stop Rearm and Keen Conveyance
* 
Crippling Fear's silence will prevent Tinker from fighting back, as Tinker relies on his spells.
Additional:
* Night Stalker is one of the best heroes to find (and silence) Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.
Tinker
* Nyx Assassin's whole skillset is good against Tinker:
* 
Impale prevents Tinker from blinding Nyx Assassin or fighting back, while giving Nyx' allies time to catch up to Tinker's position.
* 
Mind Flare generally deals more damage to intelligence based heroes like Tinker.
* 
Spiked Carapace can stun Tinker at a moment of Nyx Assassin's choosing if March of the Machines has been cast. It is also quite easy to time Spiked Carapace against Heat Seeking Missiles.
* 
Vendetta allows Nyx to approach Tinker in the trees or wait for him in common hiding spots and deal heavy damage to his low armor.
Additional:
* 
Heat-Seeking Missile allow easy Spiked Carapace stuns.
* As a fragile hero that relies on mana and intelligence items, Tinker is vulnerable to Mana Burn.
* Nyx Assassin's stuns can interrupt Rearm and leave Tinker helpless.
Tinker
* 
Nether Ward discourages Tinker from using abilities and items due to its high damage against heavy mana usage.
Tinker
* 
Wave of Terror can reveal a Tinker attempting to hide in the trees and then 
Nether Swap and 
Magic Missile will both serve to interrupt/lock him down, should he attempt to town portal or reload.
Bristleback
* Undying's Decay is a dangerous ability against Bristleback, as it makes him more vulnerable and reduces his tankiness.
* Undying's Tombstone together with Flesh Golem can slow Bristleback down significantly.
Tinker
* 
Shadow Wave provides good sustain against Tinker's spammable abilities.
* 
Shallow Grave can stop Tinker from bursting down a target.
Tinker
* Tinker relies on his high mobility from 
Boots of Travel and Blink Dagger to survive. Those items don't help him if Spirit Breaker manages to cast Charge of Darkness on him.
* Spirit Breaker can easily cancel Rearm and Boots of Travel.
Bristleback
* 
Spirit Breaker's 
Nether Strike with 
Aghanim's Shard disables Bristleback's passives.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can continue dealing damage even while being stunned: 
Luna, 
Razor, 
Axe, Bristleback, 
Leshrac, 
Death Prophet.
Tinker
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage stands perfectly on the center line against Tinker, thanks to his nuke and silence. Also, thanks to his abilities, he can quickly kill a victim, and Tinker is one of the most subtle heroes in the game
Bristleback
* 
Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from Bristleback.
* Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
Bristleback
* 
Sharpshooter deals massive damage to Bristleback and applies a high duration disable on his passive.
* 
Bushwhack and 
Scurry can be used to easily kite Bristleback.
Additional:
* Bristleback and Warpath can be disabled by Hoodwink's Sharpshooter ability for a long period of time, reducing his both offense and defense.
* Scurry and Bushwhack can be used to kite bristleback.
Tinker
* Tinker is an easy target for Earth Spirit to initiate on. He likes to split push lanes once he acquires Boots of Travel and Earth Spirit can jump him with his Rolling Boulder and disable him to buy enough time for his teammates to come and assist Earth Spirit.
* The huge range of Stone Remnant and Rolling Boulder enables Earth Spirit to stop Tinker from teleporting to his fountain since Tinker tends to buy Blink Dagger most of the time to escape.
Tinker
* Clockwerk can easily catch a split pushing Tinker with his 
Hookshot and prevent him from escaping with 
Power Cogs and 
Battery Assault. Clockwerk can also find a Tinker hiding in trees with his 
Rocket Flare.
* Clockwerk usually buys a 
Blade Mail, which does lots of damage to Tinker if he gets hit by his abilities (especially March of the Machines).
Additional:
* Rocket Flare can find Tinker if he blinks into the treeline, and Hookshot will prevent him from teleporting out.
* Battery Assault makes Tinker unable to Rearm by stunning him repeatedly.
Tinker
* Storm Spirit destroys trees and ignores impassable terrains with 
Ball Lightning, rendering them dangerous places for Tinker to hide within.
* Ball Lightning disjoints projectile from Heat-Seeking Missile and damage from 
March of the Machines.
* 
Electric Vortex prevents Tinker from teleporting away, and 
Static Remnant and 
Overload can easily burst him down.
Additional:
* He can easily catch Tinker in the trees with Ball Lightning and kill him with 
Orchid Malevolence and his abilities, which deal both physical and magical damage, making them difficult for Tinker to itemize against.
Tinker
* Beastmaster's Hawk can find Tinker easily while he is pushing or blinking into trees.
Tinker
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and Nature's Prophet.
* In general, highly mobile heroes like 
Earth Spirit or 
Storm Spirit are at a disadvantage against X Marks the Spot.
* Similarly, heroes with low cooldown teleports can be afraid to split push against X Marks the Spot, such as Tinker and Nature's Prophet.
Additional:
* 
X Marks the Spot can be used to prevent Tinker from escape with Blink Dagger or Keen Conveyance, discourage him from snapping farm and snapping gank. However, in later game, it'll be much more difficult because Tinker can buy 
Black King Bar or 
Linken's Sphere to prevent Kunkka from placing X on him, or 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity to prevent the recall.
Tinker
* Heroes with global spells that can reach Tinker anywhere on the map: Spectre
Additional:
* His global teleportation with Boots of Travel and Rearm is easily countered with 
Haunt, and Spectre can reach him anywhere on the map.
* He is squishy, and if alone 
Desolate will kill him very fast.
* 
Dispersion can reflect and reduce his burst damage.
Tinker
* Illusion heroes, such as 
Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, 
Chaos Knight, 
Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition, 
Mjollnir or Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
Bristleback
* 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.
Bristleback
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe, 
Pudge, Bristleback, 
Mars.
Tinker
* 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.
Bristleback
* 
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.
Tinker
* 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.
Tinker
* Tinker's 
Laser has very little effect on Jakiro.
* Tinker has to sit still for a short period of time due to Rearm, not only making it easy to catch him with Ice Path, but also by stunning him while he is Rearming, Jakiro generally spell Tinker's doom.
* With s high area-of-effect and strong damage-over-time capabilties, Jakiro can quickly burn through his 
Defense Matrix, and at the same time lock down his Blink Dagger. Both of which he relies heavily to survive on.
Bristleback
* While Jakiro's damage is going to be little more then average against him due to his Bristleback. His large quantity of stuns can prevent Bristleback from getting his much needed Warpath stacks, while also giving his allies a chance to counter his high defense.
* Dual Breath and Liquid Frost both reduce Movement Speed, removing one of Bristlebacks greatest strengths.
* Liquid Fire reduces Bristlebacks Attack Speed, making it harder for him to burst down a hero with Warpath.
* However Bristleback can generally catch and kill a lone Jakiro. And Jakiro is only effective in a group.
Tinker
* Heroes with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability: Death Prophet, 
Sniper, Tinker, 
Windranger.
Bristleback
* 
Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
Tinker
* 
Rage will dispel Laser's blind and turns him spell immune for the duration so Tinker cannot damage him.
* 
Feast will quickly bring down Tinker due to being so fragile.
Additional:
* Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Tinker's damage and debuffs.
* Lifestealer can infest a mobile ally (teams usually pick one against Tinker), which may ensure that Tinker will die if he is caught.
Bristleback
* Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal: Bristleback, 
Clinkz, Luna,
Shadow Fiend, 
Slardar, Terrorblade
Bristleback
* 
Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
* 
Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
Tinker
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: 
Zeus, 
Skywrath Mage, Tinker, 
Lina
Bristleback
* Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
Additional:
* 
Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
* 
Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
* 
Storm Surge allows Razor to outdistance Bristleback, even with a few stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo on him. Also, if Razor has his Shard, it will deal full damage to Bristleback every time he uses Viscous Nasal Goo (as Bristleback will face him to cast it).
Tinker
* Heroes who rely on abilities to deal damage (e.g. Timbersaw, Tinker) can fight a Razor even after Static Link.
Tinker
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition, Mjollnir or Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
Bristleback
* Terrorblade's 
Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Tinker
* Tinker can single-handedly stop Terrorblade's early-push and quickly clear his illusions with Laser (especially with Aghanim's Scepter).
* Tinker has perfect tools to reveal Terrorblade from his illusions as well as to burst him down if he is low-health before he will be able Sunder.
Additional:
* An Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Laser allows Tinker to blind Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Tinker deals incredible amounts of pure and magical damage with Laser and Heat-Seeking Missile combined with Rearm, which will ignore Terrorblade's armor and be devastating to his low health pool.
* Tinker is a hero who very often goes for Blink Dagger, and because Terrorblade has no disable to lock down Tinker, he will be unable to catch up with him nor to prevent him from escaping with Boots of Travel.
Tinker
* Laser blinds Lone Druid, making his attacks miss.
Bristleback
* Lone Druid and The Spirit Bear cannot burst down Bristleback due to Bristleback
* Bristleback can easily run to Lone Druid without any hesitation, with Viscous Nasal Goo to reduce armor and slow the Spirit Bear or Lone Druid and Quill Spray can deal damage to both Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear at the same time
Tinker
* Heroes with Evasion or abilities that cause Tiny to miss like Phantom Assassin and Tinker are very effective because of Tiny's low attack speed. Additionally, 
Monkey King Bar is not a good item for Tiny because of its reliance on high attack speed to proc for magical damage.
Bristleback
* Tiny's nonexistent armor in the early game makes him very vulnerable to Quill Spray's large amounts of physical damage.
* Bristleback decreases Tiny's high burst damage against Bristleback.
* Viscous Nasal Goo can slow Tiny to a crawl and allows Bristleback to easily kite him with his high movement speed and Quill Spray's long range, as Tiny has no ability to escape.
Tinker
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: 
Crystal Maiden, Enchantress, 
Gyrocopter, 
Lion, Riki, 
Techies, Terrorblade, 
Necrophos, Invoker.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
* Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
* The passive part of Bristleback will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
Tinker
* 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.
Bristleback
* Focus Fire potentially trigger with Quill Spray very harassing and passive abilities from Bristleback Bristleback and Warpath stacked damage. Additionally,Combination Quill Spray and Blade Mail is very possible kill her's since Windranger's activated Focus Fire. At the same time,Windrun does not protect from Quill Spray.
* Bristleback's tanky in late game build 
Heart of Tarrasque and 
Vanguard until upgrade 
Crimson Guard or 
Abyssal Blade is very difficult for Windranger's kill Bristleback and her can need more damage.
* Spamming Viscous Nasal Goo is very harder Windranger's Windrun movement speed. Bristleback combinating build 
Assault Cuirass also render Windranger's loss armor.
* Bristleback must build 
Lotus Orb cause make reflects Windranger's target hard 
Shackleshot and 
Focus Fire.
Additional:
* Combo Quill Spray and items Blade Mail can easily trigger from Focus Fire damage.
Tinker
* Tinker has great map presence because of Keen Conveyance and Rearm, which means he can always teleport and defend towers whenever Nature's Prophet tries to push.
* Laser prevents Nature's Prophet from attacking. Additionally, even with Monkey King Bar, Nature's Prophet cannot hit towers and buildings during the effect.
Bristleback
* Heroes that have AoE damage: Lina, Keeper of the Light, Timbersaw, Leshrac, Bristleback, Axe.
Tinker
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden, Enchantress, Gyrocopter, Lion, Riki, Techies, Terrorblade, Necrophos, Invoker.
Bristleback
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by 
Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal 
Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Additional:
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* 
Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
Tinker
* Heroes who rely on basic attacks will suffer from Laser: Phantom Assassin, 
Wraith King, 
Huskar.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and Bristleback allow him to outlast Burning Spears' damage-over-time at almost any point in the game. In addition, if Huskar chooses to cast Life Break on Bristleback, Bristleback can simply turn around before it hits and receive little damage.
* Viscous Nasal Goo will reduce Huskar's low armor even further, and Quill Spray and Warpath will tear him down extremely quickly.
Additional:
* The damage from 
Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
* Bristleback can bait Huskar into using 
Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
Tinker
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: 
Bane, 
Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, 
Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, 
Ursa, 
Void Spirit.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.
Tinker
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition, Mjollnir or Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
Tinker
* Laser prevents 
Juxtapose from triggering, as it only triggers on successful attacks
* Laser does high splash, and upgrading it with Aghanim's Scepter makes it deal twice as much damage due to the bounce. Combined with Rearm, Tinker can rapidly deplete Phantom Lancer's illusion army
* However, if Phantom Lancer ambushes Tinker, Tinker will not survive versus Phantom Lancer.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with 
Diffusal Blade.
Additional:
* Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
Tinker
* Illusion heroes, such as Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, Terrorblade will become strong against Tinker in the late game. Without Aghanim's Scepter Tinker is forced to defensively disarm heroes with Laser, leaving illusions free to deal physical damage which Tinker's low armor makes highly effective. In addition, Mjollnir or Battle Fury, two common pickups against illusion heroes, don't work well on Tinker at all.
Tinker
* With Aghanim's Scepter, Tinker's Laser completely stops Chaos Knight's damage, forcing him to buy either a Black King Bar for his own survivability while leaving his illusions still vulnerable, or a Monkey King Bar leaving him still vulnerable to Tinker's nukes, though improving his damage.
* Tinker rarely finds himself in the middle of a fight, which is where Chaos Knight typically thrives, and even in the rare cases of being so, at level 3 Tinker's constant rearm and blink away can kite and dodge Chaos Knight's spells reliably, so Chaos Knight has very little catch against Tinker's mobility. This gives Tinker impunity to create more chaos in a teamfight than Chaos Knight can control, laying down the field with March of the Machines and constantly being hit by rockets and lasers.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's 
Phantasms.
Tinker
* All of Tinker's damage is magic/pure and completely ignores Enchantress's 
Untouchable. And Tinker's nukes can quickly decimate her small HP pool, sometimes even preventing Enchantress from even responding.
* As Enchantress relies solely on her primary attacks to deal damage, and rarely builds something to dispel it, Laser's Blind is particularly effective.
* However, Enchantress will probably build a Linken's Sphere against Tinker's Laser, so getting an additional disable is highly recommended.
Bristleback
* Rubick deals little damage on his own, and Bristleback can simply shrug off all his spells and chase Rubick down with his Quill Spray and the damage bonus from Warpath.
* Rubick does not tend to charge forward in teamfights, stay in the front lines under most circumstances, yet effective casts of Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo requires the opposite as they require multiple casts and close range to add up stacks.
* Rubick does not benefit from Warpath through casting the stolen spell.
Additional:
* Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to 
Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
Bristleback
* Viscous Nasal Goo slows down Dragon Knight and lowers armor, locking him down and making him more vulnerable.
Tinker
* Tinker can use Laser to save an ally or himself from Phantom Assassin's initiate 
Phantom Strike due to the blind, forcing her to use a Black King Bar to effectively initiate, Tinker can also use Warp Flare one he buys Aghanim's Shard to reverse Phantom Strike's blinking with Phantom Strike.
* Tinker almost never uses his physical attack, relying on his spell-spamming to deal damage which ignores 
Blur's Evasion
* Defense Matrix prevents 
Coup de Grace from triggering.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's constant harass from Quill Spray will greatly hurt Enigma's laning and kill his Eidolons.
* However, Bristleback has no way of canceling 
Black Hole at all. And Bristleback is not a hero that goes for disabling items to counter that problem.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray's constant AoE damage will hit Dark Willow even in Shadow Realm. Its automatic damage will hurt her if she tries to get close and use Bedlam.
Tinker
* Laser along with Heat-Seeking Missile allows Tinker to quickly burst down Drow Ranger due to her low health.
* Heat-Seeking Missile lets Tinker out-range Drow Ranger and hit her in the backline of a teamfight.
Tinker
* Tinker can break Magnus's Blink Dagger using March of the Machines and Heat-Seeking Missile, therefore delaying any initiation or making Magnus use Skewer or 
Force Staff to initiate. His {Ability ID:Defense Matrix|Tinker} will decrease the duration of Reverse Polarity and can also be cast on all of his teammates with {Ability ID:Rearm|Tinker}. Tinker usually gets his own Blink Dagger as well, which makes him harder to lock down unless Magnus commits Reverse Polarity only for Tinker.
Tinker
* Tinker is one of the few characters in Dota 2 who is able to defeat a Sniper on the center line – Tinker. On the center line, he gains an advantage over his opponent, and later acquires additional control. It is these abilities that the enemy should have in the game against the Sniper.
Additional:
* Tinker is one of the few characters in Dota 2 who is able to defeat a Sniper on the center line – Tinker. On the center line, he gains an advantage over his opponent, and later acquires additional control. It is these abilities that the enemy should have in the game against the Sniper.
Tinker
* The blind from Laser prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
* Scythe of Vyse can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
* A combination of Tinker's abilities and his items (like the 
Dagon 5 and 
Ethereal Blade combo) can kill Shadow Fiend quickly.
Additional:
* During the laning stage Laser will reduce Shadow Fiend's last hits, preventing him from getting 
Necromastery souls.
* Shadow Fiend has low health and is vulnerable to Tinker's high magic burst.
Tinker
* Laser can be cast on a initiating Ursa, normally causing him to waste multiple 
Overpower attacks, forcing him to either Black King's Bar, or 
Enrage to protect himself.
* Ursa will probably carry a Linken's Sphere to counter Tinker's Laser. Popping it with Scythe of Vyse is actually preferable, due to Laser's high Pure damage.
* While Ursa is a common Blink Dagger carrier, but he otherwise has no way to close the gap, Baiting him into using his Blink, then blinking away, allows Tinkrt to easily kite Ursa.
* Enrage is generally how Ursa disengages, Due to Tinker's high maneuverability, he can follow him until it runs out. then burst him down with high magic damage.
Tinker
* Laser blinds Bloodseeker, preventing him from getting last hits and denies during the laning stage and preventing him from finishing off enemies.
* Tinker always buys Boots of Travel, helping him escape Bloodseeker's early ganks.
* Tinker's heavy magical damage will burst down Bloodseeker during the early to mid game, as he has little health.
Additional:
* Laser can be very effective against 
Bloodrage as the damage will be amplified while the blind prevents Bloodseeker from landing hits.
* Keen Conveyance guarantees him escape from Rupture.
Tinker
* All of his damage is magical and pure, which makes Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* Winter's Curse is very hard to cast on Tinker because he usually stays in the back-lines in team-fights. In turn, Tinker has mediocre attack damage and will contribute very little when he is cursed to attack an ally. He can also save his ally under Winter's Curse effect with Ethereal Blade and Defense Matrix.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside 
Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* 
Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray can be used to kill Lycan's summons.
* Bristleback allows him to stay alive against Lycan while dishing out counter attacks
* He can overpower Lycan with his Warpath instead.
Additional:
* Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
* Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
Bristleback
* Bristleback reduces most of Broodmother's and her spiderlings' damage.
* Quill Spray will hit any spiders in its proximity, hindering Broodmother's fighting and farming capabilities.
Additional:
* Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
Bristleback
* Fortune's End cannot dispel Warpath stacks on Bristleback or Quill Spray stacks on allies.
* Bristleback can heavily reduce Oracle's damage output. With it, Oracle may accidentally heal Bristleback with Purifying Flames, especially if Bristleback has bonus magic resistance.
Tinker
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, 
Dark Willow, 
Enigma, Invoker, 
Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, 
Oracle.
Tinker
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden, Enchantress, Gyrocopter, Lion, Riki, Techies, Terrorblade, Necrophos, Invoker.
Bristleback
* Other heroes who has armor and slow debuffs won't allow Medusa to disengage from combat: 
Tidehunter, Bristleback, Slardar.
Tinker
* Heroes with wide AoE abilities will reveal Monkey King through Mischief: Necrophos, 
Phoenix, 
Alchemist, 
Earthshaker, Razor, Tinker, Leshrac, 
Queen of Pain
Tinker
* Heroes that commonly attack ethereal units will not have any problems against Muerta's Pierce The Veil: Tinker, 
Jakiro, Lina, Luna, Pugna or 
Ogre Magi.
Tinker
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden, Enchantress, Gyrocopter, Lion, Riki, Techies, Terrorblade, Necrophos, Invoker.
Bristleback
* Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo can catch and slow Bounty Hunter. Warpath and Quill Spray can defeat him quickly due to his small HP pool when compared to Bristleback's.
Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him: Arc Warden, Venomancer, Luna.
Tinker
* Heroes with high armor like Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like Phantom Assassin, Riki and Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
Tinker
* Heroes who rely on basic attacks will suffer from Laser: Phantom Assassin, Wraith King, Huskar.
Tinker
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Ursa, Void Spirit.
Bristleback
* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him: Arc Warden, Venomancer, Luna.
Additional:
* Arc Warden has relatively lower armor and mobility, which makes him an easy target to apply Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo stacks.
* Arc Warden also does not like to build a Silver Edge as it takes a long time to build up and may slow down the timings for other important items needed in the game like 
Gleipnir.
* However, do note that in a game where Arc Warden's team has many jumping capabilities or good passives, like a Tidehunter or Spectre, a Silver Edge becomes incredibly valuable on Arc Warden as not only can he run away from the jumps, he effectively gets 2 breaks, and Bristleback may not be the best pick.
Tinker
* Tinker who can't fight multiple heroes will suffer greatly against Ransack and Earthbind.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with 
Earthbind.
Bristleback
* Heartstopper Aura deals percentage-based damage flagged as HP removal, so it is not reduced by Bristleback, nor does it trigger passive Quill Sprays.
* Reaper's Scythe is very effective against Bristleback not only due to its percentage-based damage, but rather because it first stuns and then deals its damage, allowing Necrophos to position in front of Bristleback in time.
Additional:
* 
Reaper's Scythe and 
Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
* Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
Tinker
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden, Enchantress, Gyrocopter, Lion, Riki, Techies, Terrorblade, Necrophos, Invoker.
Bristleback
* Enemies that possess high defenses through magic resistance, damage reduction, or high regeneration will make it difficult to whittle their health down to get to Reaper's Scythe's threshold. Such heroes include Bristleback (although only from behind), Spectre, Ursa, and Dragon Knight.
Bristleback
* Lion's 
Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
Tinker
* Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like Tinker or Oracle.
Tinker
* Low health spellcasters: Lina, 
Witch Doctor, Tinker, Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
Bristleback
* Axe, Bristleback, 
Centaur Warrunner, Spirit Breaker, Pudge, Huskar, Wraith King: These heroes are too tanky for Puck to burst down. Also, all of them have spells which can deal with and shut Puck down reliably.
Tinker
* Meat Hook can be used to pull Tinker to Pudge while he is hiding in the trees, and a follow up with Dismember and Rot can lead to a valuable kill, as Tinker doesn't buy many survivability items.
* Flesh Heap makes it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage.
Additional:
* Pudge can 
Meat Hook a Tinker hiding in the trees and follow it up with 
Dismember and 
Rot for an easy solo kill, as Tinker doesn't tend to buy survivability items.
* Many stacks of 
Flesh Heap combined with items that give Pudge high strength and health will make it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage to Pudge.
Bristleback
* Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray due to his naturally low armor and poor agility gain.
* Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from Bristleback makes him a poor target for Pudge.
Additional:
* Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
Bristleback
* Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with 
Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
Bristleback
* Heroes who can stop Axe from getting close will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Batrider, Arc Warden, 
Winter Wyvern, 
Clockwerk
Tinker
* Heroes that can gain vision over trees to catch Tinker: Invoker, Shadow Demon, Batrider.
Additional:
* Tinker is relatively helpless against Invoker, as his Rearm and Boots of Travel can be easily interrupted by Invoker's long range disables, even if he blinks away.
Tinker
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden, Enchantress, Gyrocopter, Lion, Riki, Techies, Terrorblade, Necrophos, Invoker.
Bristleback
* 
Nethertoxin disables Bristleback and prevents Warpath from building stacks. Besides losing his defensive passive, Bristleback also loses his ability to build up damage over lengthy battles.
* Viper can perpetually kite Bristleback with 
Poison Attack and 
Viper Strike.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
* Viper Strike and Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed, making him unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
Tinker
* Viper is kind of a mixed package. Tinker is very good against him. but stands a better chance against him than most heroes.
* Viper has a high innate magic resistance, but relies on his primary attacks to really deal damage. making Laser an effective way to save allies from him, and deal damage. Keep in mind that his 
Corrosive Skin will prevent Tinker from blinking.
* Viper's Viper Strike and Poison Attack will also have a hard time damaging allies through Tinker's constant casting of Defense Matrix.
* Viper has no solutions to cancel Rearm nor any of Tinker's escape attempts with Boots of Travel
* However, if Viper gets a jump on Tinker first. Tinker will unlikely survive versus Viper.
Bristleback
* Time Dilation while Quill Spray and Viscous Nasal Goo are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Bristleback nearly useless.
* Bristleback cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the front, completely bypassing his passive damage reduction.
Additional:
* 
Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
* 
Chronosphere allows allies to reposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
* Bristleback has no way to prevent Void from using 
Time Walk.
Tinker
* If Tinker can stay outside of Chronosphere, Laser can cause Faceless Void to miss all his attacks.
* Faceless Void has low health and strongly relies on Time Walk's healing factor to remain alive. Getting caught by Tinker with Scythe of Vyse will almost always spell a quick end for Void.
* Rearm ignores Time Dilation completely.
Tinker
* Heroes with unorthodox escapes will struggle against Primal Beast, such as Nature's Prophet, Tinker, and 
Templar Assassin.
Tinker
* Heroes who can do scaling health damage to Primal Beast are very threatening for the hero. Such as: Phoenix, Tinker etc.
Tinker
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Tinker because of Heat-Seeking Missile and Laser, she can win against him in late game once she buys Black King Bar, as none of Tinker's spells can bypass spell immunity.
* 
Lucent Beam and 0.25 
Eclipse Lucent Mini-stun talent for Eclipse can be used to cancel Rearm and prevent Tinker's escape attempts with Boots of Travel. Luna can also use Lucent Beam and Eclipse if she is blinded with Laser.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned Blink Dagger will make Tinker a very easy target for Luna's Eclipse that can quickly tear him to shreds. This can get even better if Luna buys Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with 0.25 Eclipse Lucent Mini-stun talent for Eclipse.
* However, Luna needs to approach Tinker carefully, as Tinker is a natural Scythe of Vyse wielder, and if he gets a jump on Luna first, he will be able to use it to disable and burst down Luna before she can use Black King Bar, Lucent Beam or Eclipse.
Additional:
* Even though Luna has a hard time laning against Tinker because of Heat-Seeking Missile and Laser, she can win against him in late game once she buys Black King Bar, as none of Tinker's spells can bypass spell immunity.
* Lucent Beam and 0.25 Eclipse Lucent Mini-stun talent for Eclipse can be used to cancel Rearm and prevent Tinker's escape attempts with Boots of Travel. Luna can also use Lucent Beam and Eclipse if she is blinded with Laser.
* An ill-timed and ill-positioned Blink Dagger will make Tinker a very easy target for Luna's Eclipse that can quickly tear him to shreds. This can get even better if Luna buys Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with 0.25 Eclipse Lucent Mini-stun talent for Eclipse.
* However, Luna needs to approach Tinker carefully, as Tinker is a natural Scythe of Vyse wielder, and if he gets a jump on Luna first, he will be able to use it to disable and burst down Luna before she can use Black King Bar, Lucent Beam or Eclipse.
Bristleback
* Quill Spray and Bristleback harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam.
* Bristleback helps return a lot of damage to Luna’s team if she uses her nukes on him and he has his back to her.
* Viscous Nasal Goo and Warpath are enough to outrun a speedy Luna.
* Bristleback tends to be a frequent carrier of Crimson Guard and 
Eternal Shroud, which are good protection from 
Moon Glaives and Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Bristleback makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Bristleback
* 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.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's high burst damage is not negated by Bristleback's passive. So, even if Bristleback turns his back on Outworld, he can decimate Bristleback quickly.
* If Bristleback attempts to flee, or tries to close the gap, Outworld can banish him with 
Astral Imprisonment, both reducing Bristlebacks much needed mana and allowing Outworld to move in front of him, forcing him to take the full damage from his spells. This will also allow Outworld to land a devasting Sanity's Eclipse, without it being reduced by Bristleback's passive.
Tinker
* Tinker's Laser is useful against Outworld Destroyer, as the blind prevents him from landing Arcane Orbs.
Tinker
* As Tinker relies heavily on his spells to be effective,
Last Word and 
Global Silence will render him largely useless.
Arcane Curse effectively prevents Tinker from casting spells during its duration, as he will otherwise suffer heavy damage.
Glaives of Wisdom deal pure damage, which make quick work of fragile heroes like Tinker.
Rearm, preventing Tinker from spamming his abilities/items or escaping.
*
*
* Silencer's intelligence steal permanently weakens Tinker since he's a hero who requires lots of mana to be effective.
Additional:
* Silencer can stop
* Tinker heavily relies on his mana pool and has mana issues throughout the entire game and Silencer's intelligence steal does not help with that.
Bristleback
* Bristleback will not be able to cast
Viscous Nasal Goo or 
Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing 
Warpath charges from stacking.
Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback.
Last Word and 
Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
* Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
Additional:
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