* Lifestealer is able to endure Undying, especially in the laning phase, where Undying is strongest. Feast can offset
Decay's strength steal for its percentage lifesteal. Rage delays Undying from stealing strength and can help Lifestealer destroy Undying's
Tombstone uninterrupted. As well, none of Undying's abilities pierce magic immunity.
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
*
Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
*
Arcane Curse can effectively discourage Undying from casting his spammable abilities in a team fight, as Undying will have to suffer more damage and the slow due to the penalty duration of Arcane Curse.
*
Last Word and
Global Silence are able to silence Undying for up to 6 seconds, preventing Undying from gaining strength and healing his ally or himself.
*
Last Word and
Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
*
Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.
*
Death Prophet is able to
Silence Undying up to 6 seconds. Besides, due to Undying's high strength during a team fight,
Spirit Siphon is a powerful ability against Undying thanks to the percentage health drain.
* Heroes who can silence will shut down Dark Willow entirely:
Death Prophet,
Silencer,
Drow Ranger
* Geminate Attack works on
Tombstone, allowing Weaver to kill it quickly.
* Zombies attacking Weaver disappear once he goes invisible with Shukuchi.
* Undying has no way to catch a mobile Weaver.
* Tidehunter takes close to no damage from Undying's zombies once he maxes out his
Kraken Shell, especially if he gets the level 20 Kraken Shell upgrading talent. This might allow him to blink away to safety.
*
Ball Lightning allows Storm Spirit to bypass Bramble Maze into the backline, and zip back into battle if he gets hit by Terrorize.
* Chemical Rage will take down
Tombstone in no time.
Additional:
* With
Greevil's Greed, Alchemist can farm Tombstone zombies and gain a significant gold advantage.
* Sniper can easily destroy
Tombstone from long range.
*
Ancient Seal instantly shuts down Dark Willow's abilities, rendering her defenseless against his high burst damage spells, while she cannot cast spells of her own.
*
Mystic Flare deals immense burst damage in an area, damaging Dark Willow through Shadow Realm.
*
Gust can hit Dark Willow beyond a defensive Bramble Maze, and before she gets close enough to hit Drow Ranger with Bedlam.
* Drow Ranger's long range allows her to hit Dark Willow's team without venturing into her Bramble Maze.
* Zombies summoned from Tombstone will amplify the damage of
Echo Slam due to them increasing the echo damage.
*
Flame Guard blocks Dark Willow's magical burst damage, and harms her if she tries to get close to attack with Bedlam.
*
Sleight of Fist and
Fire Remnant makes it hard for Dark Willow to fully disable Ember Spirit.
* Flak Cannon rips through
Tombstone's zombies.
Additional:
*
Flak Cannon enables Gyrocopter to clear the zombies easily.
*
Magnetic Field lets Arc Warden or allies evade Dark Willow's shadow realm attacks. The duration of the evasion can be extended with the clone.
*
Spark Wraith also exploits Dark Willow's low mobility.
* Jakiro's area of effect abilities can hit Dark Willow even while she is hidden during the
Shadow Realm.
* Waiting about 2 seconds after Dark Willow casts Shadow Realm to cast Ice Path will stun her while her Shadow Realm is at it's maximum damage.
* Jakiro can stun Dark Willow when there is about 1 second left on
Cursed Crown, Jakiro's Ice Path stun lasts slightly longer then Cursed Crown.
* None of Dark Willow's spells pierce Spell Immunity, making
Blade Fury a good counter against her. Additionally, it dispels
Cursed Crown and
Bramble Maze.
* Dark Willow is generally fragile, which results in
Omnislash being devastating against her.
* However, if
Shadow Realm is activated during
Omnislash, then the attack damage is negated (though
Omnislash can still jump to other enemies).
Additional:
*
Blade Fury dispels most of Dark Willow's abilities, allowing Juggernaut to pass through Bramble Maze and cancel out Cursed Crown before the stun occurs.
* However, Dark Willow can tank
Omnislash with
Shadow Realm. As she is a valid target, but invulnerable to right clicks.
* Luna's
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing can help her destroy Tombstone easily, and this becomes more effective if Luna is equipped with
Manta Style.
* Spell Immunity of Zombies from Tombstone is a total disadvantage against Luna because
Eclipse will strike only Undying, which can turn Undying's own ability against him.
* Though Undying often builds
Blade Mail which can turn Luna's burst damage against her, Luna often builds
Black King Bar which will allow her to attack Undying freely because
Blade Mail cannot pierce spell immunity.
Additional:
* Luna's
Moon Glaives and
Lunar Blessing can help her destroy Tombstone easily, and this becomes more effective if Luna is equipped with
Manta Style.
* Spell Immunity of Zombies from Tombstone is a total disadvantage against Luna because
Eclipse will strike only Undying, which can turn Undying's own ability against him.
* Though Undying often builds
Blade Mail which can turn Luna's burst damage against her, Luna often builds
Black King Bar which will allow her to attack Undying freely because
Blade Mail cannot pierce spell immunity.
* All abilities from Undying easy to steal to Rubick with
Spell Steal.
Additional:
*
Tombstone can be stolen to counter-initiate the enemy team in skirmishes.
*
Tombstone provides vision over the enemy around, use this to Rubick's advantage for more spells.
* Since
Undying is melee and has low attack speed, the tombstone can be hard to taken down by Undying himself.
*
Flesh Golem provides Rubick with increased Health pool and a powerful attack modifier.
*
Rubick can apply the
Flesh Golem debuff much more easily as a ranged hero.
*
Decay is a decent damaging ability, making Rubick somewhat tankier in teamfights.
*
Soul Rip can be used for extra heal or burst damage.
* All of Puck's abilities are area-targeted, and will hit Dark Willow when she uses Shadow Realm.
*
Illusory Orb allows Puck to bypass Bramble Maze, close the gap and silence Dark Willow with
Waning Rift.
*
Phase Shift helps Puck dodge attacks charged by Shadow Realm, and is easily timed against Terrorize's long cast time.
* Split Shot can destroy Tombstone Zombies and Tombstone itself while still damaging heroes.
*
Berserker's Call forces Dark Willow to attack, cancelling Shadow Realm.
* Phantom Lancer's many illusions will easily destroy
Tombstone, provided he has sufficient farm.
* He also has no ways of dealing with the illusions, since Decay doesn't steal strength from illusions.
* Fortune's End can easily dispel
Cursed Crown before it times out and stuns. He can also save a stunned ally with False Promise.
* Fate's Edict can easily negate
Bedlam's over-time damage, since the spell provides no form of control. Similarly, he can also negate the magic burst from
Shadow Realm.
* Fortune's End can dispel the fear effect from
Terrorize, and it can remove the root from
Bramble Maze if cast quick enough. Be mindful that Fortune's End only dispels your allies' debuffs on the primary target.
Additional:
*
Fortune's End not being disjointable is almost an ensured disable if Dark Willow tries to escape with Shadow Realm. Dispels Cursed Crown and Terrorize.
*
Fate's Edict negates all her magic damage in case she catches a single hero.
*
False Promise's strong dispel removes Dark Willow's disables.
* Nyx Assassin's high burst damage can be the bane of Dark Willow, as her low health makes it difficult to survive long enough to escape through Shadow Realm.
*
Spiked Carapace can be triggered by walking deliberately into Bramble Maze, leaving Dark Willow stunned and defenseless.
* Necrophos is a dangerous opponent to go against with. Regardless of how much strength Undying has gained from Decay, Necrophos can finish off Undying with
Reaper's Scythe once Undying's HP falls below a certain threshold.
*
Heartstopper Aura will do more damage to Undying if he gained strength from Decay, as it does damage based on a hero's maximum health.
*
Chaos Knight's multiple illusions from
Phantasm can destroy Undying, as Soul Rip can't offset the damage from the high amount of damage from his illusions.
*
Huskar's huge damage output and attack speed can get rid of Undying and Tombstone quickly.
*
Invoker's multiple spells can lock down Undying and disable him from doing much.
*
Mirana can destroy Tombstone, and evade zombies using Leap and Moonlight Shadow's invisibility.
* Heroes with high burst damage and
Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
*
Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her abilities, rendering her defenseless and unable to deal any serious damage.
*
Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.
* Heroes with summons that are destroyed by a fixed number of attacks:
Undying's
Tombstone,
Gyrocopter's
Homing Missile, and
Zeus's
Nimbus.
*
Terrorblade can destroy Tombstone with his
Conjure Image and
Metamorphosis.
* Familiars will easily be able to kite heroes with a short range or with low attack speed. For example,
Tiny and
Undying have a very hard time killing Familiars.
* Heroes with high burst damage and
Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
*
Rot and
Meat Hook hits Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm.
*
Flesh Heap reduces Dark Willow's magic burst damage.
* Anti-Tank heroes like:
Razor,
Necrophos,
Undying.
* Due to Spirit Breaker's low attack speed,
Tombstone is problematic for Spirit Breaker as the zombies summoned from
Tombstone apply a stacking movement speed slow, which can significantly reduce Greater Bash's damage.
*
Soul Rip and
Decay allows Undying and his allies to survive and recover from any incoming ganks by Spirit Breaker.
* Bramble Maze stops
Charge of Darkness in its tracks. Its very long duration means it can be used as an obstacle to block off an incoming Spirit Break during teamfights.
* Shadow Realm and Bedlam can be activated when Dark Willow sees
Charge of Darkness coming, preventing Spirit Breaker from using
Nether Strike after the initial stun.
*
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.
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark:
Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
* Terrorize forces Monkey King out of
Wukong's Command.
* Undying saps strength from heroes with Decay, and Ogre Magi's high strength gain will allow Undying to steal more and more strength, becoming stronger with each use.
* Due to the Strength steal from Decay, Undying is normally very tanky, and has high health, making it harder for Ogre Magi to kill him.
*
Terrorize,
Bedlam and
Cursed Crown can damage Muerta through
Pierce the Veil.
* Even if Muerta has
Black King Bar and
Pierce the Veil active, Dark Willow can still use
Shadow Realm to protect herself against the
Pierce the Veil's high damage, as Muerta cannot attack her for it's duration.
* Undying's
Tombstone will cheerfully chew through treants, incidentally netting you some extra income during fights.
* The above interaction tends to ensure that skirmishes are heavily populated with units, thereby buffing
Soul Rip
* Decay can be good against Centaur Warrunner, as reducing the health of Centaur can make
Double Edge risky.
* His zombies do not proc
Retaliate, as it only procs for regular attacks.
* Bramble Maze greatly hinders Bloodseeker's ability to run around in teamfights and pick off dying allies.
* Shadow Realm prevents Bloodseeker from attacking dark Willow, allowing her to safely teleport away.
* Windrun does not protect Windranger from
Cursed Crown stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
* Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in
Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
Additional:
*
Windrun does not protect Windranger from Cursed Crown's stun or Dark Willow's magical nukes.
*
Focus Fire cannot target Dark Willow in Shadow Realm and will be interrupted if targeted earlier, wasting the ultimate.
*
Bramble Maze will very likely catch Marci midair, disabling Marci's chasing/fleeing ability.
*
Shadow Realm prevents Marci from bursting Willow down since she relies on physical attacks and unit target spells. With
Aghanim's Scepter, Willow can hit Marci while Marci can't hit Willow.
*
Bedlam and
Eul's Scepter of Divinity allows Willow to manfight if Marci initiates with Rebound.
*
Terrorize and
Cursed Crown combo can waste Marci's ultimate for almost half of its duration.
* Winter Wyvern cannot handle the Zombies created by Undying's Tombstone very well. In most situations, Zombies will have more movement speed than her.
* Undying can gain one or two easy Decay stacks on an ally in Cold Embrace. The ally will still take the damage as well.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern cannot handle the Zombies created by
Tombstone very well. In most situations, Zombies will have more movement speed than her.
* Undying can gain one or two easy
Decay stacks on an ally in Cold Embrace. The ally will still take the damage as well, since it is magical.
* Terrorize forces Faceless Void out of
Chronosphere.
* Spectre must chase for kills and relies on movement speed for mobility in fights, and has no way to counter the
Tombstone zombies.
* The potency of
Soul Rip can be increased from nearby illusions from Haunt.
*
Decay will shut down Spectre during the laning phase by effectively cutting down her initial health pool.
Additional:
* Spectre must chase for kills and relies on movement speed for mobility in fights, and has no way to counter the Tombstone zombies.
* The potency of Soul Rip can be increased from nearby illusions, so Undying can use
Haunt against Spectre.
* Early game Decay will make Spectre easy to shut down in lane.
* Heroes with powerful rooting abilities will disable most of Pangolier's skills, a bonus point if it pierces spell immunity since it will also be able to stop Pangolier during his Rolling Thunder:
Treant Protector,
Meepo,
Crystal Maiden,
Dark Willow,
Underlord,
Naga Siren
* Generally, any fragile heroes will have a hard time dealing with Undying's tankiness, and even more so if Decay is used on them. Some examples are
Crystal Maiden and
Witch Doctor.
* Generally, any fragile heroes will have a hard time dealing with Undying's tankiness, and even more so if Decay is used on them. Some examples are
Crystal Maiden and
Witch Doctor.
* Heroes with a slow attack rate will find themselves struggling to take out Tombstone, like
Doom.
*
Reactive Armor makes Timbersaw very effective against heroes that control a lot of units, such as
Broodmother,
Lycan and
Undying.
* 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.
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:
Crystal Maiden,
Vengeful Spirit,
Dark Willow.
* Undying can use Decay not only to reduce Sven's maximum health, but also to reduce the damage he can deal with his ultimate.
* Zombies spawned by Tombstone together with Flesh Golem slow Sven down significantly. Landing Sven's powerful but somewhat slow right-click on Tombstone would be a waste.
*
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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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 without blink mechanisms or spell immunity will have a hard time positioning against
Pit of Malice:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Dragon Knight,
Meepo,
Doom,
Bounty Hunter,
Dark Seer,
Undying,
Alchemist,
Legion Commander.
* 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.
*
Meepo can quickly destroy Tombstone thanks to
Divided We Stand.
* Heroes who can stun multiple units at once:
Dark Willow,
Spirit Breaker,
Slardar,
Invoker, and
Tidehunter.
Additional:
* Casting Bramble Maze on top of Meepo guarantees a root, as it is nearly impossible to leave the thorns with all of Meepo's clones.
* Terrorize and Cursed Crown offer great disables against the grouped Meepos and can prevent them from using
Poof to escape.
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Undying
*
Tombstone's zombies rarely inhibit Anti-Mage, as he can either Blink away or onto the Tombstone and destroy it.
Dark Willow
*
Counterspell negates Dark Willow's high magic burst damage. Its active blocks
Cursed Crown.
Blink allows Anti-Mage to dodge Terrorize during its long cast animation, as well as avoiding the obstacles from Bramble Maze. On the other hand, if Anti-Mage gets caught inside Bramble Maze, he's unable to Blink away.
Mana Voids.
*
* Dark Willow's chained magic burst requires a lot of mana, setting her up for damaging