* All of Venomancer's abilities are decent choices for Rubick's
Spell Steal. Stealing Plague Wards makes them apply Poison Sting as well.
Additional:
*
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.
*
Shield Crash is a great area-of-effect ability on Rubick primarily for farming.
*
Swashbuckle is a great reposition and damage ability on the hands of Rubick.
* Note that Rubick does not have
Lucky Shot, so the ability might be less effective as a source of damage.
*
Pangolier may build items such as
Maelstrom or
Diffusal Blade to add up attack multipliers to the ability, and Rubick can choose to build similar items should he choose the route.
*
Rolling Thunder is a unique ability that allows Rubick to jump in the center of teamfight while protected by Spell Immunity, creating chaos and possibly chain stun the enemy team.
*
Rolling Thunder negates the collision damage and stun from Pangolier's
Rolling Thunder.
* Rubick uses the fixed 0.15 second cast time when casting
Rolling Thunder, making it faster than
Pangolier himself.
* Rubick can still use his abilities during
Rolling Thunder - throwing an enemy en route by casting
Telekinesis can be a good idea.
* The decision to steal
Rolling Thunder should be made quickly as Pangolier cast
Shield Crash very often during Rolling Thunder.
* 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.
* Certain heroes can mess up with Pangolier's positioning and timing (especially if he intends to use Rolling Thunder during combat):
Vengeful Spirit,
Keeper of the Light,
Huskar,
Dark Seer
* 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.
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier:
Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
* 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.
* Certain heroes can mess up with Pangolier's positioning and timing (especially if he intends to use Rolling Thunder during combat):
Vengeful Spirit,
Keeper of the Light,
Huskar,
Dark Seer
*
Dark Pact can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
*
Shadow Dance allows Slark heightened regeneration when out of vision making DoTs effects less threatening.
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash:
Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
Additional:
*
Dark Pact easily purges away both slow and disarm effect from Lucky Shot.
* With
Pounce now applying leash to the target, Pangolier is helpless against Slark since both his Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder will be disabled. Pounce also help Slark to easily escape from Rolling Thunder.
* 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.
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar:
Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Templar Assassin,
Arc Warden
* Squishy heroes or heroes without hard disables or silences:
Shadow Demon,
Shadow Fiend,
Venomancer,
Ancient Apparition etc.
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier:
Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
*
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.
* 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.
*
Borrowed Time &
Aphotic Shield can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
* 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.
*
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.
*
Astral Imprisonment protects an ally for much of Rolling Thunder's duration, especially at the lower levels. As Rolling Thunder has a considerable cast animation, an Outworld Destroyer with
Blink Dagger can initiate on him and destroy his timing.
* Pangolier will proc Retaliate several times if he attempts to use
Swashbuckle on Centaur Warrunner.
* Centaur can cast Stampede to allow all of his allies to easily avoid
Rolling Thunder.
* Centaur's tankiness makes it hard for Pangolier to burst him down in the late game.
Additional:
* When Swashbuckle hits Centaur Warrunner,
Retaliate will deal significant damage, as it procs off every strike made.
*
Stampede helps allies avoid or disengage from Pangolier during Rolling Thunder, as well as neutralizing the slow debuff from Lucky Shot.
* 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.
* Rupture works through
Rolling Thunder and
Swashbuckle, greatly reducing Pangolier's mobility.
Additional:
*
Thirst provides constant sight and speed to Bloodseeker, allows him to catch up a fleeing Pangolier through all of his mobility.
*
Rupture is a great threat to Pangolier, causing him to take heavy damage if he uses Swashbuckle and especially Rolling Thunder, forcing him to stop his ultimate prematurely, or keep rolling to his death.
*
Split Shot will keep attacking Pangolier even when he is rolling around.
*
Stone Gaze stuns Pangolier during Rolling Thunder, or forces him to roll away.
*
Soulbind ignores spell immunity, forcing Pangolier to roll in place during his ultimate as well as anchoring the other victim to his vicinity.
*
Chronosphere's large obstacle denies Pangolier the room to roll around during teamfights, as well as wasting his ultimate's duration.
* 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.
* Sniper can easily destroy
Plague Ward from long range.
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar:
Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Templar Assassin,
Arc Warden
* Heroes with high mobility can approach Sniper:
Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Io,
Nature's Prophet,
Pangolier,
Puck,
Queen of Pain and most notably
Riki.
Additional:
* Pangolier can easily get close to Sniper with Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder, negating Sniper's range advantage.
* Lucky Shot disarms Sniper and leaves him unable to effectively fight back.
* Certain heroes can mess up with Pangolier's positioning and timing (especially if he intends to use Rolling Thunder during combat):
Vengeful Spirit,
Keeper of the Light,
Huskar,
Dark Seer
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
*
Slardar can attack through Plague Wards and gain
Bash of the Deep charges, and
Templar Assassin can spill
Psi Blades through Plague Wards too.
* Heroes with spell immunity can still be disabled by Fiend's Grip and damaged by Brain Sap:
Juggernaut,
Lifestealer,
Pangolier.
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier:
Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier:
Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
* 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
* Certain heroes can mess up with Pangolier's positioning and timing (especially if he intends to use Rolling Thunder during combat):
Vengeful Spirit,
Keeper of the Light,
Huskar,
Dark Seer
* 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 with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier:
Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier:
Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
* 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
* 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.
*
Charge of Darkness can be used to chase down Pangolier if he escapes with Swashbuckle or Rolling Thunder.
*
Nether Strike ignores Rolling Thunder's spell immunity, and will still hit Pangolier if he rolls or dashes away.
* Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount:
Venomancer,
Viper,
Dazzle,
Arc Warden,
Lion,
Huskar,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Undying,
Jakiro.
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of
Poison Nova and
Poison Sting.
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder:
Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
*
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.
* 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
* 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 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.
*
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.
* As Terrorblade's damage output comes mainly from direct attacks, he will struggle greatly against heroes who have abilities that give evasion, trigger on attack or which can disarm an enemy hero:
Centaur Warrunner,
Hoodwink,
Huskar,
Invoker,
Leshrac with
Nihilism from
Aghanim's Scepter,
Lifestealer with
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Infest,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Pugna,
Techies,
Windranger etc.
* 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.
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar:
Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Templar Assassin,
Arc Warden
* Rolling Thunder hits Arc Warden, his
Tempest Double and any allies through
Magnetic Field.
* Rolling Thunder also causes Pangolier to take no damage from existing stacks of
Flux as well as clear all
Spark Wraiths on the way.
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
*
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.
* Due to lack of magic resistance, Venomancer abilities eats through Windranger's health.
* Venomancer's multiple slows, to an extent, negates Windrun's mobility.
Additional:
* Due to lack of magic resistance, Venomancer poisons eats through Windranger's health.
*
Rolling Thunder allows Pangolier to escape from Focus Fire, or close the gap to Windranger whenever she tries to escape with Windrun.
* Disarm from
Lucky Shot makes Focus Fire temporarily useless.
*
Venomous Gale,
Poison Sting and
Poison Nova deal damage over time and will chip away at Gravekeeper's Cloak in addition to slowing an already sluggish hero.
*
Venomancer's normal attacks deal
Poison Sting and will chip away at Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Heroes with magic immune abilities can negate most of Visage's attacks like
Pangolier and
Lifestealer.
Additional:
* Pangolier's high mobility allows Pangolier to escape from Visage's ganking attempt. Keep in mind that his familiars can easily interfere with your ultimate during casting time if they are able to scout your position.
* Swashbuckle quickly burn away
Gravekeeper's Cloak charges.
* 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
* Aggressively Poofing and Earthbinding is not going to end well against Venomancer, as he will be an easy target for
Noxious Plague.
* Venomancer's constant slows greatly reduce Meepo's mobility.
* Pangolier's arsenal deals heavy damage in a wide area, make him deadly even for a Meepo with a high magic resistance.
*
Shield Crash can easily give him a ridiculous 80% damage resistance (Becomes 100% if Pangolier gets his +5% Shield Crash talent, Or there is 5 Meepos), resulting in a near unkillable Pangolier in a short amount of time.
*
Rolling Thunder disrupts Meepo's initiation or escaping.
*
Swashbuckle can hit all of Meepo clones.
*
Lucky Shot can disarm Meepo's clones.
Additional:
* Shield Crash gains its damage reduction bonus from all Meepo clones, and can be used even when rooted, allowing Pangolier to gain a massive amount of damage reduction (even more than 100%).
* With too many clone running around during combat, it is almost impossible for Meepo to avoid Rolling Thunder or Swashbuckle.
* Still, remember that a lone Pangolier can never escape from a ganking Meepo.
* In general, heroes that can slow down Dragon Knight's movement speed will do well against him. This includes
Venomancer and others in addition to the heroes mentioned above.
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
* Venomancer's magical damage-over-time poisons putting
Tree Dance on cooldown, greatly diminishing Monkey King's mobility.
* Venomous Gale and Posion Nova will hit Monkey King when he is perched on a tree, or disguised by
Mischief.
Additional:
* Venomancer's magical damage-over-time poisons will constantly put Tree Dance on cooldown, greatly diminishing Monkey King's mobility.
*
Venomous Gale and
Poison Nova will hit Monkey King when he is perched on a tree, or disguised with Mischief.
* However, Venomancer is also easily ganked by Monkey King if caught by surprise.
* Plague Wards may reveal a hiding Techies. If there's a sentry nearby, they may also reveal a stack of mines hidden in a juking spot.
* Untouchable won't mitigate Venomancer's magical damage, and Enchantress is vulnerable to magic damage.
* Both
Venomous Gale and
Poison Nova lower the amount of healing received by Enchantress and her allies from Nature's Attendants.
*
Rolling Thunder's stuns make it harder for Timbersaw to escape with Timber Chain.
* Pangolier's Lucky Shot disarms her if it procs, making
Unleash useless.
* Swashbuckle will easily burn away Marci's already low mana pool with
Diffusal Blade, an item commonly built on Pangolier.
* Swashbuckle's cooldown is shorter than
Rebound, making it easy for Pangolier to outmaneuver her.
* Marci will get stunned if she tries to use
Rebound while Pangolier is using Rolling Thunder, somewhat hindering her mobility in teamfights.
Additional:
* Pangolier's
Lucky shot disarms her if procs making Unleash useless.
*
Swashbuckle have a lower cooldown than Rebound so Pangolier can out maneuver her quite easily.
* Venomancer's slows and magical damage-over-time works well against Earthshaker's which completes lack of mobility.
*
Plague Wards are useful for slowing and kitting down Earthshaker, revealing him from initiating and re-initiating and putting his
Blink Dagger on cooldown if Venomancer has vision over Earthshaker.
Additional:
* Earthshaker can be kited by Venomancer's slows, which is lack of mobility.
* Plague Wards is very useful for slowing and kitting down Earthshaker, revealing him from initiating and re-initiating and putting his
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* Venomancer's poison damage-over-time are very effective against Spectre, which is lack of magic resistance from early to mid game.
* Venomancer's multiple slows greatly reduces Spectre's low mobility, even through
Spectral Dagger.
* Plague Wards reveals Spectre while she is hiding on trees.
Additional:
* Venomancer's poison damage over time is very effective against Spectre, who tends to lack magic resistance during the early to mid game.
* Venomancer's multiple slows greatly reduces Spectre's movement speed and mobility.
*
Plague Wards can scout out Spectre while she is hiding in trees.
* Pangolier's AoE abilities especially
Shield Crash, are very effective against Phantom Lancer's illusions.
Additional:
* Swashbuckle,
Maelstrom or
Diffusal Blade allow him to quickly destroy Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Pangolier's high mobility allows him to easily escape from Phantom Lancer, through both Phantom Rush and
Diffusal Blade.
*
Phantom Rush will cause Phantom Lancer to be stunned by Rolling Thunder, or set himself up for a Shield Crash.
* Venomancer's magical damage-over-time poisons greatly reduce Bounty Hunter's mobility.
*
Venomous Gale, combined with
Plague Wards and
Poison Nova with True Sight items can allow Venomancer and his teammates to gank Bounty Hunter while he is roaming alone.
*
Swashbuckle can be used for Pangolier to escape or kill Broodmother's spiders. Combined with
Lucky Shot Pangolier can potentially disarm Broodmother preventing her from lifestealing off enemies.
*
Shield Crash can be used for wave clear to deal with Broodmother's spiders.
*
Rolling Thunder can be used as an escape or a means of initiating on Broodmother.
Additional:
* Swashbuckle and Shield Crash quickly destroys Broodmother's spiderlings and spiderites.
* Lucky Shot's disarm is very valuable when dealing with a Broodmother during her
Insatiable Hunger.
*
Slardar can attack through Plague Wards and gain
Bash of the Deep charges, and
Templar Assassin can spill
Psi Blades through Plague Wards too.
* Powerful physical hitters that can destroy Pangolier during his rolling from afar:
Drow Ranger,
Sniper,
Templar Assassin,
Arc Warden
* Venomous Gale and Plague Wards allow to quickly melt through
Refraction charges.
* Both Poison Nova and Venomous Gale hit invisible units, so
Meld cannot be used defensively.
Additional:
* Venomancer's entire arsenal deals lingering damage over a long time and therefore burns through her Refraction very quickly. Not only that, his persistent slow from
Poison Sting (it can be re-applied again and again with
Plague Ward) allows his team to catch up to her even with the disruption from her Psionic Trap.
* Swashbuckle quickly burns away
Refraction charges.
* Lucky Shot can possibly disrupt Templar Assassin when she is boosted with Refraction.
* Pangolier's abilities which does not need to target and has big area of effect allows him to damage her even during
Meld.
* Pangolier's high mobility easily shrug off the slow from
Psionic Trap.
* 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,
Enigma,
Batrider,
Techies,
Broodmother,
Dawnbreaker,
Shadow Shaman,
Bane,
Tinker,
Venomancer,
Arc Warden.
* Heroes that can apply early pressure before Phantom Assassin has farm are massive threats:
Axe,
Viper,
Meepo,
Jakiro,
Pugna,
Slark,
Venomancer etc.
* Heroes who are illusion based, or even heroes who frequently build Manta Style can be cleared quickly by Pangolier's high damage, or lose their damage ouput because of Lucky Shot:
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren
* Heroes with abilities which have a built-in spell immunity:
Lifestealer,
Juggernaut,
Pangolier.
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
* Due to her slow movement speed,heroes with crowd control and slows can shut down Dawnbreaker:
Lion,
Crystal Maiden ,
Venomancer etc.
* Heroes who have summons, which can be quickly cleared by his powerful area of effect skill:
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Lycan
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage:
Jakiro,
Viper,
Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
* Heroes who can harass Omniknight out of lane will keep him weak in the mid game:
Viper,
Venomancer,
Clinkz.
* Heroes with spell immunity:
Juggernaut,
Pangolier,
Huskar.
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
*
Plague Wards are very hard for Batrider to play against as they provide a lot of vision as well as disable
Blink Dagger for a long duration.
* 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.
* Venomancer's damage over time can force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting a chance to save his allies during a teamfight.
* Venomancer's
Poison Nova,
Venomous Gale and
Plague Ward can easily kill Chen's creeps.
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
* Venomancer can simultaneously scout Magnus hiding in trees and putting
Blink Dagger on cooldown with Plague Wards, which makes Magnus real problems to blink and initiate.
Additional:
* Similar to Night Stalker, Venomancer can simultaneously scout Magnus hiding in trees and put Blink Dagger on cooldown with
Plague Ward, which gives Magnus problems when trying to blink in and initiate.
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
* Venomancer's slows and magical damage-over-time work well against Axe's complete lack of mobility.
*
Plague Ward is especially useful for slowing down Axe, and revealing him before he initiates, as well as putting his
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
Additional:
* Venomancer's slows and magical damage-over-time work well against Axe's complete lack of mobility.
* Plague Wards is especially useful for slowing down Axe, and revealing him before he initiates, as well as putting his
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
* For the same reasons, Venomancer is a good ally for Axe when the situation is reversed.
*
Warcry can protect Sven and his teammates from
Swashbuckle.
* With
Black King Bar, Sven will be able to protect himself from most of Pangolier's skills.
* Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as
Venomancer,
Necrophos,
Centaur Warrunner...
* Heroes who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
* 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
* Heroes who are illusion based, or even heroes who frequently build Manta Style can be cleared quickly by Pangolier's high damage, or lose their damage ouput because of Lucky Shot:
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
* Heroes with AoE abilities are a bane to Beastmaster's summons:
Storm Spirit,
Magnus,
Pangolier.
* 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
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder:
Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
* 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.
Additional:
* 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.
* Heroes who have summons, which can be quickly cleared by his powerful area of effect skill:
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Lycan
* Dream Coil and Wanning Rift prevent Pangolier from using
Swashbuckle and
Rolling Thunder. If Puck has
Aghanim's Scepter, Dream coil will stop Rolling Thunder from moving entirely.
Additional:
*
Illusory Orb and
Waning Rift provides great mobility, allowing Puck to catch up Pangolier when he is attempting to disengage with his own skills.
*
Dream Coil's leash act almost as a literal silence to Pangolier, disabling half of his arsenal and also piercing his spell immunity during Rolling Thunder. Also Dream Coil's very long duration will make Pangolier wasting his entire ultimate rolling in place.
* Unless Puck is facing the direction he wants to blink while in Phase Shift, the
Venomous Gale and
Noxious Plague combo consistently ticks many times over several seconds, making it very difficult to use
Blink Dagger towards the other direction. Puck's slow turning rate makes this even worse.
* Venomancer can use
Plague Wards to reveal Puck's position before he even gets a chance to initiate.
* 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 who rely on burst physical damage are affected by Lucky Shot's disarm:
Terrorblade,
Sven,
Clinkz,
Windranger,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Legion Commander
* 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 who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder:
Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
* Heroes with other kind of disables that pierce spell immunity can hold Pangolier in place during Rolling Thunder:
Axe,
Beastmaster,
Enigma,
Magnus,
Pudge,
Batrider,
Bane,
Winter Wyvern
* Heroes who have summons, which can be quickly cleared by his powerful area of effect skill:
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Lycan
*
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.
*
Lucky Shot can disarm Legion Commander and reduce her armor, which can reduce her chances of winning a duel. If an ally is targeted, Pangolier can simply use
Swashbuckle to inflict it on her.
* If an enemy Pangolier casts a well-timed
Rolling Thunder before Legion Commander can cast Duel, it might result in her chasing down Pangolier until his or her ultimate ends, whichever duration ends first, resulting in an open window for enemy allies to target Legion Commander, making her vulnerable and susceptible to any source of attacks. If Legion Commander has an
Aghanim's Scepter in her inventory, the risk of wasting a solid 8 seconds would result in a futile duel.
* Dueling Pangolier is normally a mistake, Pangolier can disarm you in the duel, and potentially gain some Duel damage, Only duel Pangolier if at least 1 ally is nearby, and he is on low health, And even then, be wary, A good duel can easily turn against you with one Lucky Shot (Due to Lucky Shot lasting 4 seconds).
Additional:
* Swashbuckle can be used to disarm Legion Commander while she is Dueling an ally, granting her opponent a considerable advantage, Lucky Shot lasts 4 seconds at most wasting Legion Commander's entire Duel, (Or half, if Legion Commander has the Scepter).
* Legion Commander will try not to duel Pangolier alone, as she will almost inevitably lose, thanks to Lucky Shot's disarm, If Legion Commander wants to duel a Pangolier, she must be with atleast a teammate, and if she has her scepter, 3 or 4 teammates.
* Legion Commander is often with her allies, allowing you to rack up some considerable damage resistance with Shield Crash.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
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.
You will get the list of recommended hero counters with a list of tips written by Dota 2 wiki contributors explaining why it's good against the particular hero. In comparison to other similar websites, which show only rating based on average hero win rate from dotabuff or similar service.
Take it with a bit of grain of salt, especially if the recommendation has a low rating (<= 1), some heroes
may win a lane in an early game but would lose in late game (and vice versa). That's why sometimes
you could hero names appearing as a counter and as being countered, as on image:
You can also add your own tips, update old data and fix mistakes by editing page on Dota 2 Wiki (it works like Wikipedia - anyone can contribute, you don't even need to register) these edits will appear on this website automatically (data is updated several times per week).
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Venomancer
* 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!
Pangolier
*
Ice Shards can easily interfere with Rolling Thunder, making him stuck inside the arc and wasting his ultimate. Do not panic and use Shield Crash to get out of that position.
Snowball helps Tusk and his allies follow a fleeing Pangolier, keep in mind that the Pangolier can always counter-initiate with his Rolling Thunder.
Walrus PUNCH! deals heavy damage even during his Rolling Thunder.
*
*