* Troll Warlord can't switch targets at will, in order to build Fervor stacks, which makes it easy to use Decrepify in order to save allies
* During Battle Trance, Pugna can easily use Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain on him
* Nether Blast, Decrepify and Life Drain deal high magical damage and bypasses Bulwark.
* Nether Ward reduces the amount of abilities Mars can use during fights and forces Mars to be careful about the heavy mana cost of Arena Of Blood.
* Pugna is one of few heroes that can contest Mars' ability to push and defend towers early on.
* Fate's Edict can disarm Troll, rendering him useless in a teamfight, especially if he has already used Battle Trance.
* Fortune's End and Purifying Flames can provide ample magic damage to help burst down Troll Warlord quickly in the early to mid game.
* False Promise can save an ally from Troll Warlord's initiation, forcing him to switch targets and lose his Fervor stacks, or waste time during Battle Trance.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* Any heroes with low mana pools will die quickly or even instantly to Sanity's Eclipse: Doom, Phantom Assassin, Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Outworld Destroyer's pure damage from Arcane Orb is very effective at killing Troll Warlord quickly.
* Astral Imprisonment removes Troll Warlord from a fight for four seconds, minimizing his contribution to a teamfight, and potentially wasting over half of Battle Trance's duration.
* Troll Warlord gains a measly 1 intelligence point per level, meaning Sanity's Eclipse is especially effective, often instantly killing him.
* Arcane Orb's pure damage ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* Astral Imprisonment can be used to stop Mars from being disruptive or save allies from his abilities.
* Sanity's Eclipse deals high damage to Mars, due to his low intelligence pool.
* Dark Willow's burst damage and stun prevents Troll Warlord from approaching her until he has Black King Bar.
* Troll Warlord's lack of burst damage makes it hard for him to kill Dark Willow before she slips into Shadow Realm.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper: Treant Protector, Kunkka, Alchemist, Troll Warlord, Wraith King, Tiny, Sven.
* Nethertoxin breaks the damage block from Bulwark.
* Poison Attack and Viper Strike's slows make it difficult for Mars to contribute to fights due to his low mobility.
Additional:
* Viper Strike can disable Bulwark entirely, making Mars far less tanky. Using Nethertoxin inside Arena of Blood may discourage enemies from following up with Mars's initiation.
* Rod of Atos is currently common on Viper and keeps Mars in position long enough to be killed.
* However, Viper is not very tanky earlier in the game, so positioning against Mars is important for Viper since a well-timed Spear of Mars can be the end of Viper.
* Heroes with mediocre health pools who rely on armor or evasion to survive fights such as Troll Warlord, Windranger, and Terrorblade can be killed by Zeus if caught off guard.
* Mars' own father is a formidable foe because Zeus deals massive amounts of magical damage. The high damage, low cooldown nukes of Arc Lightning and Lightning Bolt combined with the percent health magic damage of Static Field will shred Mars' health because it bypasses Bulwark completely.
* 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.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* Atrophy Aura decreases Troll Warlord's damage.
* Pit of Malice helps lock down Troll Warlord.
* Battle Trance disallows Troll from running out of both Firestorm and Pit of Malice.
* Firestorm and Pit of Malice are very disruptive in team fights, completely matching Mars especially since it can all be cast inside Arena Of Blood and also does percentage-based magical damage, negating Bulwark.
* Dark Rift can save any allies of Underlord trapped in Arena Of Blood.
* Atrophy Aura allows Underlord to lane against Mars quite well since he does not have the best base damage during the early game.
* Underlord is a common carrier of both Pipe of Insight and Mekansm/Guardian Greaves, allowing his team to combat Mars in the mid to late game.
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate: Luna's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse, Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian, Axe's Berserker's Call, Mars's Arena of Blood, Jakiro's Macropyre, Dual Breath and Ice Path, Naga Siren's Song of the Siren, Razor's Eye of the Storm and Plasma Field, Lina's Light Strike Array, Broodmother's Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter, Elder Titan's Earth Splitter and Echo Stomp, Alchemist's Unstable Concoction and Acid Spray, Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave, Dark Seer's Wall of Replica and Vacuum, Venomancer's Noxious Plague and Poison Nova from Aghanim's Scepter, Oracle's Fortune's End and Rain of Destiny from Aghanim's Shard, Bloodseeker's Blood Rite, Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse, Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls, Batrider's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Flaming Lasso, Firefly, Flamebreak and Sticky Napalm, Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast, Sand King's Epicenter, Sand Storm and Burrowstrike, Gyrocopter's Call Down, Ember Spirit's Sleight of Fist, Death Prophet's Exorcism and Silence, Monkey King's Wukong's Command, Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Muerta's The Calling, Medusa's Stone Gaze, Zeus's Nimbus from Aghanim's Scepter. Dark Willow's Bramble Maze, Pangolier's Swashbuckle, Grimstroke's Soulbind, Ink Swell and Stroke of Fate, Earthshaker's Echo Slam and Fissure, Puck's Dream Coil and Waning Rift, Winter Wyvern's Winter's Curse, Magnus's Reverse Polarity.
* Heroes who rely strongly on melee physical damage will fare badly against Omniknight's Guardian Angel: Phantom Assassin, Juggernaut, Dragon Knight, Lycan, Ursa, Troll Warlord
* Heroes that can save their allies can be a big problem for Mars: Dazzle, Omniknight.
* Heroes with high physical damage output but lack of reliable escape mechanisms are always a good target for a solo gank: Sniper, Shadow Fiend, Troll Warlord, Drow Ranger. Those heroes, however, are dangerous if they manage to close the gap, so take caution.
* Heroes with break abilities: Shadow Demon (with Aghanim's Scepter), Viper.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Faceless Void, Gyrocopter, Juggernaut, Meepo, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Phantom Assassin, Phantom Lancer, Riki, Shadow Fiend, Slark, Sniper, Terrorblade, Troll Warlord, Weaver.
Additional:
* Nightmare and Fiend's Grip help to control/disable Troll Warlord in team-fights.
* Heroes 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.
* Cold Embrace can protect Troll Warlord's target, especially during Battle Trance.
* Winter's Curse can turn Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed against his allies.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace will protect your ally from being damaged if he gets focused by Troll, although be careful as Fervor will keep gaining stacks even while Cold Embrace is active.
* Fervor works on allies.
* His high attack speed will help to kill his cursed ally faster.
* Shadow Shaman's long disables are effective at kiting and wasting the duration of Battle Trance.
* Mass Serpent Ward are especially effective against Troll Warlord during Battle Trance, as trapping him inside them during the duration is effectively another hard disable, as Troll cannot attack the wards or use Phase Boots to escape.
* It is difficult for Mars to trade blows with Ogre Magi in the early game thanks to his high base health, resistance and Ignite.
* Bloodlust can assist Ogre Magi or an ally in repositioning against Mars for its move speed bonus.
* Fireblast can interrupt and mitigate Mars from performing his skill combos, especially in combination with Multicast.
* Rebound allows her to jump in or out of the Arena Of Blood. She can save her allies from the Arena with Dispose as well.
* Solar Guardian can save allies caught inside Arena of Blood.
* Shadowraze deals magic damage and ignores Bulwark.
* Requiem of Souls deals magic damage and can fear Mars away, forcing him to turn around and therefore become vulnerable.
* Venomancer's spells all deal magical damage, ignoring Bulwark.
* Venomancer's multiple slows are especially effective at kiting Mars.
* Plague Ward can attack through Arena Of Blood.
Additional:
* Venomancer's poison attacks are all magical damage, ignoring Bulwark.
* Venomancer's multiple slows are especially effective against Mars' low mobility.
* Plague Wards can attack through Arena of Blood.
* Necrophos' largely magical damage completely ignores Bulwark.
* Ghost Shroud protects Necrophos from God's Rebuke but more importantly stops Mars from being a threat in lane.
* Static Link is effective against Troll Warlord, as he mainly relies on attack speed more so than damage.
* Static Link is even more effective if Troll Warlord used Battle Trance, as he has no way to break the link.
Additional:
* Static Link can drain most or all of Troll Warlord's damage, making him useless in a teamfight or unable to last hit in lane. This is especially effective during Battle Trance, because Troll has no option to cancel the link.
* Storm Surge allows Razor to chase after or run away from Troll Warlord while doing damage with Eye of the Storm.
* Dragon Slave deals reliable magic damage during the laning phase against Mars.
* Lina's Eul's Scepter of Divinity and Light Strike Array combo can interrupt Mars from being disruptive for a decent amount of time and leave him vulnerable for follow up stuns.
* Laguna Blade deals massive magical damage, and pure damage with Aghanim's Scepter.
* Swashbuckle is an auto attack and therefore ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* Shield Crash upgraded with Aghanim is an auto attack and therefore ignores Mars' Bulwark.
* Rolling Thunder makes him immune to magic, making Pangolier able to roll in and out of Mars' Arena Of Blood.
* Primal Roar and the slow from Boars make kiting Troll Warlord very easy.
* Time Dilation while Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, rendering Mars nearly useless.
* Mars cannot turn inside the Chronosphere, which makes it easy to attack him from the back, bypassing Bulwark completely.
Additional:
* Time Walk allows Faceless Void to escape or enter Arena Of Blood, and helps him recover from Mars' burst damage.
* Time Lock's magical damage ignores Bulwark.
* Chronosphere allows Faceless Void to reposition behind Mars, ignoring his Bulwark while he is helplessly frozen in time.
* Snowball can protect Tusk and his teammates from a Spear of Mars' stun after an Arena of Blood, and with proper targeting, even bring them out of the Arena. This is especially noticeable in the earlier stages of the game before allies buy Black King Bar and rely on this less. Even during the late-game, Tusk can purchase a Blink Dagger to save allies that are caught before Black King Bars can be used by Blinking in and Snowballing out.
* Tag Team is a constant threat to Mars in-lane, as it deals significant damage and slow, making Bulwark slightly ineffective.
* It is worth noting that Ice Shards can be detrimental to Tusk's own team by creating terrain that Spear of Mars can latch on, though using it conservatively is a good enough solution in most cases.
* Troll Warlord is very susceptible to Pierce the Veil due to having low health and reliance on high armor.
* Troll Warlord's ultimate Battle Trance can simply be ignored by using Pierce the Veil.
* Troll Warlord's Rampage buff for allies can easily be countered by The Calling which will lower their attack speeds back to normal.
* Sticky Napalm slows turn rate, making it difficult for Mars to face frontwards, where Spear of Mars and Bulwark are effective. In combination with Firefly, which deals magic damage, Batrider can make quick work of Mars.
* Flaming Lasso disables Mars while enemies re-position themselves behind Mars to avoid Bulwark.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* With Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade or Troll Warlord.
* Rage, acting as a pseudo-Black King Bar, completely negates Mars' initiation if used in time.
* Feast does damage and heals based on max health, perfect against high-health strength heroes like Mars.
* Infest allows Lifestealer to potentially save allies from Mars' initiation with a quick burst of extra health.
* Lifestealer is a susceptible target to Fervor due to his non-mobile nature and lack of disables. Troll Warlord's ranged Berserker's Rage can also be used to kite Lifestealer safely. The root from its melee form also pierces magic immunity, which can potentially keep Lifestealer in place even while he is in Rage.
* Both Whirling Axes (melee) and Whirling Axes (ranged) can force Lifestealer to cast Rage too quickly and allow Troll Warlord to change strategies mid-fight, especially thanks to their separate cooldowns.
* Battle Trance allows Troll Warlord to survive Lifestealer's Feast and turn the fight in his favor.
Additional:
* The passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll Warlord resilient to Feast in early game.
* The 60% miss chance given by Whirling Axes (Melee) is useful when Rage is not active.
* Battle Trance can purge Open Wounds, negating a large amount of Lifestealer's sustain in fights.
* Troll Warlord's high speed attack makes Retaliate deal a lot of damage to him.
* Kunkka's Ghostship and Torrent disrupt fights in Arena Of Blood.
* Ursa is a special mention because despite Bulwark diminishing most of the damage Ursa does, he is quite durable, especially with Enrage, discouraging the aggressive all-in playstyle of Mars; Ursa can simply not target Mars.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* In general, Brewmaster's Cinder Brew and Thunder Clap makes him good against physical damage carries: Ursa, Clinkz, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities: Troll Warlord, Sniper, Monkey King, Sven.
* Nukers who have set amounts of damage will really struggle against Lone Druid especially in True Form: Puck, Void Spirit, Mars.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw, Dark Willow, Enigma, Invoker, Pugna, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Zeus, Oracle.
* Jakiro's reliance on his abilities can cause struggles for heroes who rely on evasion or blinds to get upper hand: Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Riki, Troll Warlord, Keeper of the Light.
* Phantasm gives Chaos Knight a significant advantage against single-target damage dealers: Lifestealer, Wraith King, Night Stalker, Troll Warlord.
Additional:
* Chaos Knight's tanky illusions easily take advantage of Troll Warlord's lack of AoE damage.
* Chaos Bolt can stun Troll for up to 4 seconds and Reality Rift prevents Troll Warlord from chasing down foes.
* Phantasm increases Chaos Knight's physical damage output up to 4 times and can easily kill Troll Warlord before he has a chance to use Battle Trance or a Black King Bar.
* Heroes that rely on physical damage are ineffective against Dragon Knight due to his high armor: Phantom Assassin,Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, Troll Warlord, Sven
* Heroes that can save their allies can be a big problem for Mars: Dazzle, Omniknight.
* Heroes who rely heavily on melee attacks and lack early spell immunity are easily blocked and interrupted by Ink Swell: Lycan, Ursa, Troll Warlord.
* Frost Blast and Chain Frost can kite Troll Warlord effectively.
* Frost Shield can single-handedly waste most of the duration of Battle Trance, due to the extreme resistance to physical damage Frost Shield provides. In addition, Troll Warlord is incapable of switching targets during Battle Trance, so he cannot pick an easier target.
* Troll Warlord has little to no ability to regenerate HP, so Frost Blast together with Frost Shield can harass him effectively.
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet, Lich.
* Burning Spear's magical damage is very troublesome for Mars in the laning stage.
* Life Break's percentage-based magical damage bypasses Bulwark, and can also be used to jump in or out of Arena Of Blood.
* Carries that can out damage Huskar will do well against him: Legion Commander, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Phantom Assassin.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, resulting in Huskar's attacks missing a lot of the time if it isn't dispelled.
* Troll Warlord's Fervor ramps up in a very similar way as Huskar's Berserker's Blood: as soon as Huskar has high enough health regeneration, Troll Warlord has a high enough attack speed to negate it.
* Blink Strike gives bonus backstab damage and can bypass Bulwark. Defensively, it could be used to teleport away from Mars, especially while inside Arena of Blood.
* Smoke Screen can interrupt Mars' skill combos, especially when cast inside Arena of Blood.
* Tricks of the Trade can be used to evade Mars' skills, which have a slight delay to them. It could also be used to buy himself time while trapped inside of Arena of Blood.
Additional:
* Bulwark is generally irrelevant against Riki as he primarily deals bonus damage from behind.
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away: Riki, Bounty Hunter.
* Ball Lightning makes it almost impossible to catch Storm Spirit without someone else initiating for you.
* Overload is not reduced by Bulwark and the magical damage spam can wear down Mars quickly.
Additional:
* Storm Spirit's abilities all do magical damage, which can bypass Bulwark.
* Ball Lightning can escape through Arena of Blood and it is easy to dodge Spear of Mars.
* Mobility heroes will often be rooted by Troll Warlord and unable to escape, like Storm Spirit.
* Frostbite can disarm and root Troll Warlord if he doesn't have a Black King Bar or a Manta Style to dispel it.
* Crystal Nova and Freezing Field both significantly slow Troll Warlord, making him much more vulnerable to ganks or stuns.
* The magical damage from Freezing Field does a large amount of AoE damage, and Troll Warlord is not capable of cancelling Crystal Maiden's channel.
* Heroes with a low attack speed or are fragile will find themselves unable to deal with Troll Warlord's high physical damage and attack speed, like Crystal Maiden or Sven.
* Terrorblade cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm him faster than the other way around thanks to Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch Terrorblade, even during Metamorphosis.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed from Fervor combined with Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade means that Terrorblade will have almost no chance to use Sunder to save himself.
* Even if Terroblade manages to use Sunder on Troll Warlord, Troll Warlord will simply be able to nullify it's effect with Battle Trance.
* Overall, any attempt for Terrorblade to engage and kill Troll Warlord will hurt him more than the other way around.
Additional:
* Terrorblade cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm him faster than the other way around thanks to Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch Terrorblade, even during Metamorphosis.
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed from Fervor combined with Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade means that Terrorblade will have almost no chance to use Sunder to save himself.
* Even if Terroblade manages to use Sunder on Troll Warlord, Troll Warlord will simply be able to nullify it's effect with Battle Trance.
* Bulwark negates most of the physical damage from Terrorblade and his illusions.
* God's Rebuke and Spear of Mars can decimate Terrorblade's illusions quickly.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to land a Coup De Grace.
* Troll Warlord often buys Silver Edge and Monkey King Bar, the items that greatly help against Phantom Assassin's Blur ability.
* Battle Trance completely negates Phantom Assassin's large damage output, preventing Troll Warlord from dying easily. The lifesteal also allows Troll Warlord to restore much of his health.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord can build a Silver Edge or a Monkey King Bar to completely ignore Blur.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, making a Coup de Grace critical strike very hard to land.
* Battle Trance negates Coup de Grace, preventing Troll Warlord from dying to her critical hits.
* Phantom Assassin's high physical damage is greatly reduced by Bulwark.
* God's Rebuke has true strike, ignoring the evasion from Blur.
* Generally speaking, Spectre is a strong teamfighter but a weak manfighter. She has no tool to deal with troll warlord once he has his sight locked on her.
* Troll often buys Silver Edge and Monkey King Bar, which greatly countered Spectre's passive and item build (Silver Edge can disable passive while providing some damage, Monkey King Bar provides accuracy to counter Radiance and Butterfly miss chance).
* Black King Bar allows troll to bypass the damage return from Blade mail should Spectre attempts to fight back Troll. However, Black King Bar is generally not very effective against Spectre as her skills can pierce the spell immunity. Still, it offers protection against Blade mail, a common item for Spectre in the mid game.
* Troll has high lifesteal from Battle Trance and Satanic, which help him survive the damage from Desolate should the break duration is over.
* Battle Trance and Fervor mean Spectre will have a hard time fighting troll and cannot take him down, even with equal farm.
* Spectre cannot have a good game if she is pressured heavily in lane, which is something Mars can do. He may even force her to cast Haunt as an escape, putting it on a long cooldown.
* Should Spectre get to the late game, Mars can block a large amount of her damage with Bulwark and can mitigate some of the chaos caused by her Haunt illusions with God's Rebuke.
* Troll Warlord's ability to attack as a ranged hero allows him to destroy Juggernaut's Healing Ward from afar.
* Battle Trance, when activated during Omnislash, allows Troll Warlord to survive the full duration of Omnislash and retaliate once it is over.
* Bulwark mitigates Omnislash which deals physical damage, severely reducing its damage.
* Omnislash switch to opposite direction with each slash, so Mars can easily reduce most of its damage.
* However because {Ability ID:Blade Fury|Juggernaut} gives spell immunity Juggernaut can easily escape from {Ability ID:Arena Of Blood|Mars}.
Additional:
* Juggernaut deals mostly physical damage, which is easily mitigated with Bulwark.
* Juggernaut's Omnislash switches to opposite directions which each slash, so Mars can mitigate most of its damage since he only takes full damage from one direction: his back.
* Berserker's Rage will repeatedly trap Bloodseeker in a one-on-one fight.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) blinds Bloodseeker, causing him to miss 60% of the time, and therefore reduces his ability to gain the upper hand in teamfights.
* Arena Of Blood prevents Bloodseeker from attacking a Ruptured target.
* Bulwark helps Mars survive Rupture ganks simply by turning towards Bloodseeker without moving.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can push Bloodseeker from Ruptured targets.
* Troll Warlord's passive root, high attack speed, and blind from Whirling Axes makes him an exceedingly difficult opponent for Anti-Mage to take down in a one-on-one fight.
* Troll Warlord's low mana causes him to take little damage from Mana Void.
Additional:
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, preventing Anti-Mage from burning Troll Warlord's small mana pool.
* Troll Warlord's passive root allows him to very effectively fight an Anti-Mage by preventing Anti-Mage from Blinking away. This is even more effective when combined with a Skull Basher or Abyssal Blade.
* Counterspell will do nothing to prevent Troll Warlord's high physical damage.
* Due to Troll Warlord's abysmal base intelligence and intelligence gain, he is one of the worst targets to use Mana Void on.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
* Troll Warlord can root and deal a lot of damage to a single Meepo while lifestealing through the assault from the other Meepos. Meepo needs expensive items like Ethereal Blade or Heaven's Halberd to be able to fight him.
* Bulwark blocks the attack from Meepo and his clones.
* Spear of Mars & God's Rebuke prevents Meepo and his clones from initiation or escaping.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, which can make the attack speed bonus from Hunter in the Night largely ineffective.
* Berserker's Rage together with Battle Trance and Fervor stacks gives him a high chance of rooting Night Stalker, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Night Stalker in any stage of the game, regardless of whether or not it's night.
* Night Stalker is not a common Monkey King Bar carrier to counteract this problem.
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Dragon Knight, Mars, Centaur Warrunner.
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him: Huskar, Faceless Void, Weaver, Abaddon, Troll Warlord, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Night Stalker, Viper.
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven, Omniknight, Enigma, Luna, Naga Siren, Mars, Jakiro, Venomancer, Elder Titan, Faceless Void, Rubick, Keeper of the Light, Pugna, Invoker, Spectre, Alchemist, Treant Protector, Lina, Oracle, Zeus, Shadow Shaman, Phoenix, Razor, Huskar, Batrider, Kunkka, Tidehunter, Wraith King, Sand King, Medusa, Dawnbreaker.
* Battle Trance and Fervor can help Troll Warlord deal with Enchantress through Untouchable.
Additional:
* Untouchable's attack speed slow is easily remedied by Fervor stacks and Battle Trance.
* Troll Warlord is a natural Silver Edge carrier, disabling Enchantress' Untouchable.
* If visible, Mars can knock Monkey King off his Tree Dance with God's Rebuke, as well as Spear of Mars. Arena of Blood also destroys a large swath of trees, which can disrupt Monkey King's positioning and turn him vulnerable should he choose to hide in trees.
* Mars can endure Jingu Mastery attacks simply by facing him with Bulwark.
* Mars can end Wukong's Command early by displacing Monkey King with a well-thrown Spear of Mars. Mars can also endure most of his clones with Bulwark.
Additional:
* Monkey King's natural reliance on trees makes him an exceptionally prime target for Spear of Mars. Should Monkey King use Mischief to disguise himself, it will still hit him, stunning him in the process.
* God's Rebuke easily pushes Monkey King out of Wukong's Command.
* Whirling Axes (Melee)'s blind makes Sven nearly useless in the early game and allows Troll Warlord to take him on comfortably.
* Battle Trance will mean Sven will never take Troll out in a 1vs1 with equal farm.
Additional:
* Berserker's Rage together with Troll Warlord's high attack speed gives Troll a high chance of rooting enemies, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Sven.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, and the passive armor provided by Berserker's Rage makes Troll resilient to physical damage in early game. Sven's God's Strength is much less effective as a result.
* Beware that Sven can farm much faster than Troll Warlord by stacking ancients and clearing them with Great Cleave.
* Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even during Shadow Dance.
* Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can hit Slark through Shadow Dance and Depth Shroud.
* Should Pounce be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Arena of Blood.
* The ensnare from melee Berserker's Rage can prevent Primal Beast from dealing further Trample damage and can allow Troll Warlord to relentlessly build Fervor on him.
* Whirling Axes (Ranged) can slow down Primal Beast while trampling and allow Troll Warlord to better control him from range.
* Whirling Axes (Melee) can blind Primal Beast if he attempts to auto-attack Troll Warlord after a fully charged Uproar.
* Battle Trance will make Primal Beast a sitting duck should he be rooted and attacked to death.
* Shukuchi cannot help Weaver escape from Arena of Blood, and can most likely die if detected through invisibility.
* If pinned to the arena's walls, Time Lapse tends to not be enough to save Weaver, as God's Rebuke can keep him burst down thanks to its damage scaling.
* The Swarm and Geminate Attack are not enough to pierce through Bulwark.
* As long as Mars is facing her with Bulwark, even if pushed away with Gust, Drow Ranger will do no effectual damage against him. Mars' ability to endure her onslaught usually gives him enough time to cast Arena of Blood, of which she has a very slim chance surviving without Gust.
* With Bulwark's active ability, Mars can protect allies pursued by Drow Ranger by redirecting her projectiles to his shield instead.
* Legion Commander is both good and bad vs Mars, on the plus side she can dispel Spear of Mars with Press the Attack and is a good Silver Edge carrier. However, Mars is not an ideal Duel target, as Bulwark will force her to 1: Buy Silver Edge, and 2: Hit Mars with it before the Duel, allowing a skilled Mars to react, especially with Eul's Scepter of Divinity. In teamfights, Mars will happily draw attention after using his abilities, and tank the Duel with all spells on cooldown.
* Troll Warlord's melee bash and high attack speed can often help him and his allies win Duels against Legion Commander.
* Because Duel requires both combatants to face each other, Bulwark's effectiveness will be increased by a huge margin, which makes it much more difficult for Legion Commander to win any duels against him.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke pushes Legion Commander away during Duels against allies.
Additional:
* Bulwark immensely mitigates Duel, even with bonus physical damage, as Bulwark scales by percentage. Mars can also buy time for a dueled ally by pushing Legion Commander away with Spear of Mars.
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet, Lich.
* Heroes who can disable Mars but cannot do any damage to him, meaning he just tanks their abilities: Doom, Magnus.
* Heroes that can negate Hoodwink's mobility: Kunkka, Disruptor, Mars.
* Heroes that rely on right-clicks will find that their attacks will miss a lot, due to Whirling Axes (Melee)'s miss chance. Such heroes include Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade, and Morphling.
* Heroes with forced movement abilities or non-interrupting forced movement, such as Lion, Drow Ranger, Magnus, Mars, as they can cancel blast-off mid air, removing his ability to initiate or escape.
* Heroes who lack burst damage will have a hard time against Mars: Phantom Lancer, Nature's Prophet, Lich.
* Durable heroes: Axe, Dawnbreaker, Bristleback, Mars, Omniknight, Tidehunter, Wraith King, Primal Beast, Underlord.
* Heroes that are hard to gank: Axe, Death Prophet, Phantom Lancer, Slark, Centaur Warrunner, Bristleback, Medusa, Mars.
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, Dawnbreaker, Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away: Riki, Bounty Hunter.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper: Wraith King, Kunkka, Doom, Tidehunter, Underlord, Troll Warlord, and etc.
Additional:
* Shrapnel and Headshot allows Sniper to kite Troll Warlord effectively.
* Take Aim together with certain items such as Hurricane Pike allow Sniper to sit and fire at Troll Warlord from a safe distance.
* Even if he can slow Mars down with Shrapnel and Headshot, Mars can tank Sniper's physical damage simply by facing him with Bulwark, allowing him to endure his auto-attacks into the late-game. Should Sniper choose to attack someone else, Mars can redirect his projectiles with Bulwark's active ability.
* Sniper's poor mobility makes him very vulnerable to Arena of Blood, especially in the early game. Mars can also take advantage of this by pushing him closer to the front line with Spear of Mars.
* Medusa's Stone Gaze forces Mars to choose between getting petrified, or turning his vulnerable back on Medusa.
* Bulwark can make each of Medusa's attacks target him instead, reducing Medusa's contribution on team fights.
* Spear of Mars stuns Medusa and also pushes her away from teamfights, taking advantage of Medusa's low mobility.
* Arena Of Blood blocks Medusa's attacks from outside the arena.
* With Bloodthorn, Clinkz becomes a strong counter to heroes who rely on evasion and blind such as Windranger, Phantom Assassin, Troll Warlord and Keeper of the Light.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game: Abaddon, Anti-Mage, Broodmother, Luna, Sniper, Troll Warlord, Weaver, Clinkz.
* Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe, Pudge, Bristleback, Mars.
* 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.
* Decay, Soul Rip and Flesh Golem all deal magical damage which ignores Bulwark.
* Decay reduces Mars' natural strength and therefore his health pool, which is what he relies on to trade effectively in lane.
* Due to Fervor and Battle Trance, Troll Warlord has a significant attack speed, enabling him to crush Tombstone quickly.
* Undying usually stays at the front line with no disables, making him an easy target for Troll Warlord.
* Clinkz, Sniper, Lone Druid, Troll Warlord, Legion Commander and Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
* Heroes with the capability of removing or destroying trees greatly hinders the effectiveness of Treant Protector's abilities: Batrider, Nature's Prophet, Lina, Enigma, Mars
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This website was made to help you in pick stage of online game Dota 2. It calculates rating for each possible counterpicks based on tips from web-based database made up entirely of user contributions Dota 2 wiki.
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Troll Warlord
* Troll Warlord's high attack speed means Counter Helix will proc extremely frequently even without creeps near him. This, combined with a Blade Mail means Axe can easily solo kill Troll Warlord even in later stages of the game.
* Battle Trance does not save Troll Warlord from a Culling Blade.
Additional:
* Troll Warlord has significant attack speed due to Fervor and Battle Trance, giving Axe a higher chance to proc Counter Helix and seriously injure Troll Warlord due to his relatively low maximum health.
* Axe often purchases Blade Mail, which can help Axe turn Troll Warlord's farm and high physical damage against him. The bonus armor provided by Berserker's Call means that Troll Warlord will take a lot more damage than Axe.
* Culling Blade is still capable of killing Troll Warlord during Battle Trance if his HP is low enough.
Mars
* Berserker's Call forces Mars to face in the direction choosen.
* Counter Helix deals pure damage and can go through Bulwark.