* Venomancer's damage-over-time abilities do little damage against Counterspell.
* Blink helps Anti-Mage get away from Venomancer's slows.
Additional:
* Counterspell provides magic resistance, diminishing the effectiveness of Venomancer's spells.
* Venomancer's lack of hard disable allows Anti-Mage to use Blink, circumventing the slows Venomancer depends on.

* 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.
* Dark Willow's chained magic burst requires a lot of mana, setting her up for damaging Mana Voids.

* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden, Chen, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Lina, Mirana, Nature's Prophet, Pugna and Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.

* 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.

* Fortune's End and False Promise easily dispel many crippling debuffs, such as Venomancer's Venomous Gale, or Skywrath Mage's Ancient Seal.

Additional:
* Fortune's End can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting from allies.
* Fate's Edict grants 100% magic resistance to target, inhibiting the damage from Venomancer abilities.

* 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.
Additional:
* 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.

* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden, Chen, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Lina, Mirana, Nature's Prophet, Pugna and Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.

* 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.

* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences: Shadow Demon, Shadow Fiend, Venomancer, Ancient Apparition etc.

* Ball Lightning allow Storm Spirit to bypass Bramble Maze, and zip back into battle if he gets hit by Terrorize.

* While Reincarnation is off cooldown, Poison Nova poses less of a threat as Wraith King will return with all debuffs cleared.
* Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the slow {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Poison Sting.

* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King

* Heroes with damage-over-time abilities will not only proc Bristleback's passive continuously, they will also do little harm to him when he is facing away from the source: Venomancer, Arc Warden

* 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.

* Heroes who lack escape mechanisms or disables are all easy targets for Phantom Assassin if they are not careful. Look for Luna, Venomancer, and Shadow Fiend and try to catch them off guard.

* Heroes with high burst damage and Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Wraith King

* Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her close-range bursts with Bedlam.
* Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.

* Last Word and Arcane Curse have the range to hit Dark Willow beyond Bramble Maze.
* Global Silence renders Dark Willow useless in teamfights.

* Venomancer is a low health hero and low range hero who is easy to harass with Ion Shell on a creep in the early game.
* Venomancer depends entirely on all his slows to keep distance or chase, but since Surge ignores slows, it is nearly impossible for Venomancer to hunt or run away from Dark Seer or his surged teammates.

* Venomancer's damage-over-time abilities are easier to heal through with numerous Shadow Waves than other types of damage, and it's simple to time a Shallow Grave until the last possible second to save a teammate from them.

* Dark Pact can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark heightened regeneration when out of vision making DoTs effects less threatening.

* Dark Rift allows Underlord to transport allies from poison damage-over-time to the fountain.
* Underlord usually buys Pipe of Insight that gives a magic resistance to allies, inhibiting the damage from Venomancer abilities.

* Jakiro's area of effect abilities can hit Dark Willow even while she is hidden during the Shadow Realm.
* Waiting about 2 seconds after Willow casts Shadow Realm to cast Ice Path will stun her while her Shadow Realm is at it's maximum damage.
* Jakiro can stun Willow when there is about 1 second left on Cursed Crown, Jakiro's Ice Path stun lasts slightly longer then Cursed Crown,

* Venomancer has low health, which makes him vulnerable to Lina's heavy magic damage.
* Fiery Soul attack speed bonus removes Plague Wards easily in all stages of the game.

* 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.
Additional:
* 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).

* Snowball can be used to save allies or himself during Venomous Gale and Poison Nova.
* Venomancer lacks mobility and has low base health, so he can be killed by Walrus PUNCH!

* Rot and Meat Hook hits Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm.
* Flesh Heap reduces Dark Willow's magic burst damage.

* Corrosive Skin means Viper can often outlast Venomancer in a battle of attrition.
* Venomancer has no mobility without items, which makes him vulnerable to constant slows.

* Rage protects and dispels all of Dark Willow's abilities.
Additional:
* Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.

* 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.

* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of Poison Nova and Poison Sting.

* In the laning stage, making illusions of Venomancer will turn his Poison Sting back at him, making for an easy gank at level one, and for later when your mid comes for ganks.

* Venomous Gale is a great ganking and farming skill.
* Plague Ward serves as a flexible ability for pushing, ganking, farming and scouting. The innate Poison Sting also works on the stolen Plague Ward with half the damage.
* Poison Nova, if stolen and cast, puts a huge damage-over-time debuff on the enemy team, even greater than Venomancer himself with the help of Arcane Supremacy.
* Spell Steal has a greater cast distance than the effect area of Poison Nova, allowing Rubick to steal the spell while staying at the back.
* Venomancer suffers from mana pool problems, while Rubick has relatively high intelligence gain and can cast the same set of spells at ease.
Additional:
* All of Venomancer's abilities are decent choices for Rubick's Spell Steal. Stealing Plague Wards makes them apply Poison Sting as well.

* Teleportation allows Natures Prophet to save himself from the damage over time of Venomous Gale, Poison Sting and Poison Nova.
* Plague Wards can be destroyed with Nature's Prophet's Treants.

* Sniper can easily destroy Plague Ward from long range.

* Heroes who can silence will shut down Dark Willow entirely: Death Prophet, Silencer, Drow Ranger

* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden, Chen, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Lina, Mirana, Nature's Prophet, Pugna and Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.

* Vulnerable spellcasters with no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Huskar: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Silencer, Keeper of the Light, Venomancer, etc.

Additional:
* Huskar can easily regenerate lost health from DoT spells through Berserker's Blood rendering them ineffective
* Venomancer has little armor and mobility, and rarely builds Linken's Sphere, so he is quite vulnerable to Life Break.

* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden, Chen, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Lina, Mirana, Nature's Prophet, Pugna and Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.

* Heroes rely on their debuff to control the opponent will have a hard time against Press the Attack: Venomancer, Earth Spirit, Ogre Magi

Additional:
* Press the Attack dispels Venomous Gale and Poison Sting from Legion Commander or her teammates.
* Venomancer is an ideal target for Duel due to his lack of mobility and low starting health.

* Heroes that deal damage over time will also fail to bring down Abaddon and his allies, such as Huskar, Venomancer, or Phoenix.

Additional:
* Borrowed Time & Aphotic Shield can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.

* Slardar can attack through Plague Wards and gain Bash of the Deep charges, and Templar Assassin can spill Psi Blades through Plague Wards too.

* Any hero that can outrange Plague Ward can neutralize them without putting themselves at risk of receiving Poison Sting: Arc Warden, Chen, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Lina, Mirana, Nature's Prophet, Pugna and Sniper.
* Special mention to heroes that outrange Plague Ward after obtaining talents that increase attack range.

* Sunder can prevent Terrorblade's or an ally's death by swapping health, making damage-over-time abilities inefficient. Heroes that rely on damage-over-time abilities like Venomancer and Huskar will have a hard time against Sunder.

Additional:
* Reflection illusion will apply Poison Sting back towards Venomancer.
* Conjure Image and Metamorphosis will make quick work of Plague Wards.
* While ticking down from Poison Nova, Terrorblade can wait until the last possible moment to Sunder a target, either friend or foe.

* 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.