* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* All of Tinker's damage is magical and pure, which makes Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* Winter's Curse is very hard to cast on Tinker because he usually stays in the back-lines in team-fights. In turn, Tinker has mediocre attack damage and will contribute very little when he is cursed to attack an ally. He can also save his ally under Winter's Curse effect with
Ethereal Blade and
Defense Matrix.
*
Moon Glaives can ignore certain abilities that either trigger on attack or give evasion under the condition that the heroes who have them are not primary targets. Examples include:
Centaur Warrunner,
Windranger,
Phantom Assassin,
Hoodwink etc.
* Cold Embrace is no salvation against
Lucent Beam and
Eclipse.
*
Moon Glaives will not hit a hero affected by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
* Luna has better night vision provided by
Lunar Blessing than Winter Wyvern when affected by Arctic Burn.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is no salvation against
Lucent Beam and
Eclipse.
*
Moon Glaives will not hit a hero affected by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
* Luna has better night vision provided by
Lunar Blessing than Winter Wyvern when affected by Arctic Burn.
*
Doom completely takes Windranger out of a team fight, a hero who relies heavily on using abilities and items to contribute in team fights.
Additional:
*
Doom completely takes Windranger out of a team fight, a hero who relies heavily on using abilities and items to contribute in team fights.
* Heroes with the ability to heal allies will not be able to heal heroes affected by
Doom:
Chen,
Dazzle,
Io,
Oracle,
Omniknight,
Witch Doctor,
Winter Wyvern,
Abaddon, etc.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
*
Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
* Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
* Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast
Winter's Curse on him. And if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.
* However, bear in mind that Skywrath Mage has seriously awful armor, and that can make him an adequate target to being turned against his own team with
Winter's Curse, which can result in his death quickly.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for
Mystic Flare, and his 6-second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* Any ally that Winter Wyvern tries to save with
Cold Embrace can still be damaged by all of Zeus's spells.
* If Winter Wyvern tries to juke vision by flying up a cliff or in the trees, Zeus can gain vision there with Lightning Bolt or Thundergod's Wrath.
* If Zeus is forced to attack an ally by
Winter's Curse, his unimpressive attack damage and attack speed means they won't be hurt much by him. Zeus will also stay near the back of fights away from his allies, making a deadly Curse less likely.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* Heavy nukers will do well against Cold Embrace (
Lina,
Zeus etc).
* Void Spirit deals entirely magical damage in the early game, ignoring her evasion from
Windrun.
* A Void Spirit with fast reaction time can use Dissimilate or Astral Step to dodge
Powershot.
Additional:
* Void Spirit deals entirely magical damage in the early game, ignoring her evasion from
Windrun.
* A Void Spirit with fast reaction time can use Dissimilate or Astral Step to dodge
Powershot.
* Phase Shift allows Puck to effectively dodge
Powershot, and even
Shackleshot if timed correctly.
* Waning Rift prevents Windranger from casting all her abilities, most especially
Windrun and
Focus Fire .
* Windranger cannot escape with
Windrun when she's affected by Dream Coil, as she will be instantly stunned when she tries to break away from the coil, allowing Puck's teammates to focus her down.
* 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.
* 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.
* Windranger cannot escape with
Windrun when she is trapped inside
Power Cogs.
*
Battery Assault repeatedly interrupts
Focus Fire, disrupting Windranger's damage output.
Additional:
* Power Cogs prevent Windranger from fleeing with
Windrun.
* Battery Assault repeatedly interrupts
Focus Fire, disrupting Windranger's damage output.
* 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.
* A well-timed Gust will prevent Windranger from escaping or counter-initiating with
Windrun.
* Drow Ranger commonly buys
Shadow Blade or
Silver Edge, which allows her to escape from
Focus Fire.
Monkey King Bar, a situational item on Drow Ranger, counters Windranger's evasion from
Windrun.
* The bonus agility from Marksmanship can shred through Windranger's low armor.
Additional:
* A well-timed
Gust prevents Windranger from escaping or counter-initiating with Windrun.
* Drow Ranger can combine
Frost Arrows and
Eye of Skadi to effectively slow down Windranger if she tries to escape with Windrun, since both slow effects stack with each other.
* Drow Ranger commonly buys
Shadow Blade or
Silver Edge, which allows her to escape from Focus Fire. Drow Ranger can also buy
Monkey King Bar or
Nullifier to counter Windranger's evasion from Windrun.
* The bonus agility from
Marksmanship can shred through Windranger's low armor.
* Timbersaw relies on dealing massive amounts of pure damage, making Cold Embrace a good setup for his nukes.
* If he has
Reactive Armor stacks, Timbersaw can tank the damage from his allies if he is targeted by Winter's Curse. If he's not the target, Timbersaw's abysmal attack damage will contribute next to nothing when he is cursed to attack an ally.
* As Timbersaw commonly buys
Lotus Orb, he can use it to reflect Winter's Curse back to Winter Wyvern if she uses it impulsively on him or any other hero while affected by it.
* The high mobility provided by
Fire Remnant makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire.
*
Flame Guard and
Searing Chains deal considerable magical damage to Windranger which she cannot avoid with Windrun.
* Searing chains also negates the mobility from Windrun.
*
Kraken Shell can easily dispel Shackleshot after he has taken a certain threshold of damage.
*
Ravage provides excellent lockdown against Windranger, allowing his teammates to kite her throughout the game.
* When Tidehunter has
Aghanim's Shard, he will gain access to
Dead in the Water, allowing him to lock down Windranger at any time. When Windranger tries to move away from the anchor with Windrun, she will be effectively slowed, preventing her from escaping.
Additional:
* Kraken Shell easily dispels the lengthy stun from
Shackleshot.
* Kraken Shell (and possibly Anchor Smash) blocks huge amount of damage from
Focus Fire.
* Anchor Smash is one of the few sources of True Strike, which means Tidehunter can deal significant damage through
Windrun, while also reducing Windranger's damage output.
*
Ball Lightning can escape quickly fear from
Focus Fire. Windranger can not reach Storm Spirit although Windrun active catch him.
Additional:
* The high mobility provided by
Ball Lightning makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire. It can be also used to dodge Powershot.
* Counterspell can reflects triggering with Focus Fire. Since Focus Fire target against Anti-Mage, Focus Fire damage can return to Anti-Mage easily destroy to Windranger's.
* Anti-Mage items
Abyssal Blade and
Monkey King Bar can useful for Anti-Mage's and easily complicated escaping Windranger's fighting against Anti-Mage's and also bypasses to Windrun evasion.
Additional:
*
Counterspell can reflect Windranger's targeted spells such as
Shackleshot and
Focus Fire back to her.
*
Blink can be used to avoid
Shackleshot and
Powershot, assuming an Anti-Mage player can react fast enough.
*
Mana Break and
Mana Void are good against Windranger's high mana pool.
* Outworld Destroyer's pure damage from Arcane Orb can go through
Cold Embrace.
* Outworld Destroyer can negate the healing from
Cold Embrace using Astral Imprisonment, and steal mana while doing so.
* Outworld Destroyer's damage during
Winter's Curse is reduced due to Arcane Orb being unable to target allies.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern must never put her allies in Cold Embrace against Outworld Destroyer as
Arcane Orb will continue to deal damage to the defenseless hero.
*
Arcane Orb does not hit his allies when he is taunted by Winter's Curse, making it weak against allies, but strong versus enemies.
*
Astral Imprisonment can protect a target inflicted with Winter's Curse.
* Guardian Angel completely counters
Winter's Curse if Omniknight is able to cast it.
Additional:
*
Guardian Angel completely counters Winter's Curse, allowing his team to survive Winter Wyvern's initiation.
*
Purification and
Repel are very useful against Arctic Burn, Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse as well.
*
Firefly and combinated with
Blink Dagger can easy avoided from
Focus Fire.
* Many of Nyx Assassin's abilities are good against Windranger.
*
Impale is great for stunning Windranger and allowing additional disables to be landed.
*
Mind Flare is useful against Windranger's decent intelligence growth.
*
Spiked Carapace is easy to use against Powershot.
*
Vendetta allows Nyx Assassin to sneak up on and deal massive damage to Windranger without giving Windranger a chance to use Windrun to evade it.
* Nyx Assassin's item build allows him to easily deal with Windranger.
*
Windrun triggers the damage from Rupture.
Additional:
*
Rupture turns Windranger's mobility against her.
*
Blood Rite's silence makes Windranger totally useless, since she's extremely reliant on abilities.
* Using Focus Fire on Bristleback tends to fare badly for Windranger, as he can trigger passive
Quill Sprays many times, especially when she attacks him from behind. In addition, Windrun does not protect her from both
Viscous Nasal Goo and
Quill Spray, rendering her helpless.
* Bristleback's natural tankiness makes it hard for Windranger to effectively burst her down throughout the game.
* Bristleback tends to continuously spam
Viscous Nasal Goo to slow down Windranger when she uses Windrun to escape, potentially allowing him to outrun her with his
Warpath stacks.
* Bristleback can build
Lotus Orb to reflect Shackleshot and Focus Fire back at Windranger.
Additional:
* Combo Quill Spray and items
Blade Mail can easily trigger from Focus Fire damage.
* Cold Embrace is the perfect setup for all his nukes -
Chaos Meteor,
E.M.P. and especially global
Sun Strike.
*
Glaives of Wisdom's intelligence steal can prove detrimental to Windranger, as she heavily relies on her abilities to be able to make an impact.
* Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using
Windrun.
Additional:
* Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using
Windrun.
* Windranger can't escape
Windrun X Marks the Spot with combo Torrent or Ghostship trap.
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of Windrun with
Disruption.
* Alternatively,
Demonic Purge. can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless.
*
Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by Shackleshot.
Additional:
* Shadow Demon can waste precious seconds of
Windrun with Disruption.
* Alternatively, Demonic Purge can be used to dispel it altogether, leaving her completely defenseless for 7 seconds.
* Disruption can be used to save an ally if they get stunned by
Shackleshot.
* Static Link can lower the damage output from
Focus Fire.
* Eye of the Storm strikes cannot miss, even if
Windrun is active.
Additional:
*
Static Link greatly lowers Windranger's damage output from Focus Fire.
*
Eye of the Storm strikes cannot miss, even if Windrun is active.
* Queen of Pain, for the most part, almost exclusively deals magical damage, ignoring Windranger's evasion from
Windrun.
* Queen of Pain is also a common wielder of
Orchid Malevolence, preventing Windranger from using her abilities for a while.
* Blink, when used correctly, allows Queen of Pain to dodge
Powershot and
Shackleshot.
* Cold Embrace is a death sentence against Pugna, since its the perfect setup for all his abilities, especially
Life Drain.
*
Decrepify can be cast to save the ally under Winter's Curse effect, wasting most of its duration.
* Winter Wyvern's abilities require a lot of mana, allowing
Nether Ward to deal lots of damage.
*
Bounty Hunter with
Track.
* Heroes with True Sight can be a problem for Windranger once she has upgraded Windrun with
Aghanim's Scepter, but do take note that the invisibility it provides is not broken upon moving, casting abilities or using items, so it is vital to cast these abilities beforehand to be able to provide vision on Windranger:
*
Bounty Hunter with
Track.
*
Bloodseeker with
Thirst.
*
Slardar with
Corrosive Haze.
* With
Normal Punch from
Aghanim's Scepter, Dark Seer can gain an advantage against heroes who rely on evasion as
Normal Punch has true strike:
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Hoodwink.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
* 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.
* Windranger heavily relies on her abilities for any form of tactical advantage and damage. A well timed silence will make her useless:
Puck,
Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage,
Drow Ranger,
Earth Spirit,
Grimstroke.
* Windranger tends to fare badly against high mobility heroes that can easily dodge Powershot, close the gap on her when she uses Windrun or escape from Focus Fire's reach. Examples of such heroes include
Spirit Breaker,
Lycan,
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Slark and others.
* Windranger tends to fare badly against high mobility heroes that can easily dodge Powershot, close the gap on her when she uses Windrun or escape from Focus Fire's reach. Examples of such heroes include
Spirit Breaker,
Lycan,
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Slark and others.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
*
Slardar with
Corrosive Haze.
* Heroes with True Sight can be a problem for Windranger once she has upgraded Windrun with
Aghanim's Scepter, but do take note that the invisibility it provides is not broken upon moving, casting abilities or using items, so it is vital to cast these abilities beforehand to be able to provide vision on Windranger:
*
Bounty Hunter with
Track.
*
Bloodseeker with
Thirst.
*
Slardar with
Corrosive Haze.
Additional:
* While Slardar has Guardian's Sprint activated,
Powershot cannot slow him and is easier to avoid.
* Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep help Slardar put Windranger in place, even when she uses
Windrun to escape.
* Corrosive Haze from Slardar is very effective against Windranger's already low armor. This becomes even worse if she has
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Windrun, because it also reveals her position and allowing his allies to use their abilities on Windranger.
* Note that the invisibility provided by
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Windrun is not broken upon attacking, casting abilities or using items, so it's vital to cast Corrosive Haze beforehand.
* Windranger heavily relies on her abilities for any form of tactical advantage and damage. A well timed silence will make her useless:
Puck,
Silencer,
Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage,
Drow Ranger,
Earth Spirit,
Grimstroke.
*
Cold Embrace makes its target immovable, allowing Ancient Apparition to easily land Ice Blast, or a Cold Feet stun.
* Ice Blast also negates healing from
Cold Embrace.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast disables the healing component of Cold Embrace, making it essentially a 4 second stun on an ally and a perfect setup for Ice Blast.
* If
Cold Feet is cast on an Allied hero affected by Cold Embrace, it will almost guarantee the Ally comes out stunned.
* Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Bounty Hunter,
Spirit Breaker,
Night Stalker,
Storm Spirit,
Juggernaut, etc.
*
Windrun does not provide protection against
Counter Helix and
Berserker's Call. Her fast attack speed with Focus Fire will also quickly trigger
Counter Helix multiple times.
* Heroes who can stop Axe from getting close will severely inhibit his presence in fights:
Bristleback,
Crystal Maiden,
Batrider,
Arc Warden,
Winter Wyvern,
Clockwerk
*
Stampede can help his teammates escape from Windrun and Focus Fire.
*
Retaliate will shred through Windranger's health if she chooses to attack him during Focus Fire.
Additional:
*
Focus Fire grants Windranger a massive attack speed bonus, while her attack damage is generally quite low. This, combined with Windranger's low health pool and armor, makes Retaliate do absolutely massive damage over a short time, making Centaur a hero she can never expect to kill or harass.
*
Windrun grants evasion, but Centaur Warrunner does not rely on successful attacks in order to do damage. Hoof Stomp, Double Edge, and Stampede all do large amounts of magical damage and can completely demolish Windranger in a moment.
*
Winter Wyvern's
Arctic Burn can also be a useful tool against Centaur, who generally has very high health.
Winter's Curse on Centaur can cause Retaliate to damage allies who are forced to attack him.
*
Time Dilation affects Windranger's low cooldown abilities, making them unusable for a long time, reducing Windranger's escape potential.
* The high mobility provided by
Time Walk makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire.
*
Chronosphere provides excellent lockdown against Windranger, allowing for reliable kills in all stages of the game.
* Faceless Void tends to go for items that require
Javelin, such as
Maelstrom,
Mjollnir and
Monkey King Bar, allowing him to bypass the evasion from Windrun.
Additional:
* Time Dilation while renders
Windrun movement speed useless slow.
* Time Walk fast cooldown can escaping avoided to Focus Fire. Additionally, Time Walk can dodge to
Powershot
* Chronosphere trap can attacking Windranger can not escaping with
Windrun.
* Any hero that can nullify effects of Chronosphere: (
Keeper of the Light with
Aghanim's Scepter during daytime,
Winter Wyvern), banishing him or Faceless Void (
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Earth Spirit with
Aghanim's Scepter) or protecting him in other ways (
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Abaddon) can greatly limit Chronosphere's potential.
* All abilities for Morphling can easily escape fear
Focus Fire.
* Windranger weakness for agility can easily Morphling destroy against her.
Additional:
*
Waveform can be used to escape from the reach of
Focus Fire and to dodge
Powershot.
*
Adaptive Strike (Strength) can be used to stun Windranger even while
Windrun is active.
*
Morph is useful to morph into Windranger to copy her abilities.
*
Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse turns Morphling's high attack damage and attack speed against his targeted teammate.
*
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.
* 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
*
Focus Fire can quickly attack target Meepo or clones instanly. Additionally, Windranger can use combinated
Shackleshot and
Focus Fire since Poof wrong landing and stunned from
Shackleshot affected Meepo and clones collateral damege from
Focus Fire.
* Escaping from
Windrun make Earthbind roots can not reach.
*
Winter's Curse in late game is pretty much the end for Meepo or any of his nearby allies. Natural counter for Winter's Curse like
Linken's Sphere or
Lotus Orb is meaningless to her if she can land it on one of Meepo's clones.
Additional:
* Meepo's clones usually gets grouped in teamfight making any of them ideal target for Winter's Curse, forcing Meepo to literally kill himself. Also, unlike other heroes he cannot protect himself with
Linken's Sphere.
* While Meepo's clones are grouped up, Splinter Blast will hit almost every clone, slowing Meepo and making him easier to fight.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
*
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.
* Phantom Assassin's
Blur is useless against Windranger as she commonly buys items that require
Javelin like
Maelstrom,
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has nothing else that can bypass Windrun.
* Additionally, Phantom Assassin doesn't like building
Monkey King Bar because her crits are reliant on attack damage.
* Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.
Additional:
* Phantom Assassin's
Blur is useless against Windranger as she commonly buys items that require
Javelin like
Maelstrom,
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has nothing else that can bypass Windrun.
* Additionally, Phantom Assassin doesn't like building
Monkey King Bar because her crits are reliant on attack damage.
* Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like
Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
* {Ability ID:Windrun|Windranger|16px} negates the damage from {Ability ID:Omnislash|Juggernaut|16px}.
* {Ability ID:Windrun|Windranger|16px} gives Windranger enough movement speed to get out of {Ability ID:Blade fury|Juggernaut|16px} range.
* {Ability ID:Focus fire|Windranger|16px} goes through {Ability ID:Blade Fury|juggernaut|16px}.
* Heroes with abilities that can save teammates are also effective such as
Shadow Demon,
Dazzle,
Oracle,
Bane,
Pugna,
Tusk,
Winter Wyvern,
Io,
Underlord,
Treant Protector and
Keeper of the Light.
*
Focus Fire tears apart Templar Assassin's Refraction very quickly and easily bursts her down due to her low health pool against Windranger's immense attack speed.
* Templar Assassin's Psionic Trap doesn't slow down Windranger due to
Windrun. Additionally, Windranger can survive Templar Assassin's high burst damage thanks to the evasion it provides.
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like
Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
*
Cold Embrace protects targets affected by Reality Rift.
*
Winter's Curse turns Phantasm illusions against Chaos Knight or a teammate.
*
Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Phantasm illusions.
*
Arctic Burn's percentage-based damage quickly wears down Chaos Knight's high max health.
Additional:
* Winter Wyvern can make Chaos Knight's illusions attack the real one, provided the player knows who it is.
* Alternatively, Winter's Curse can make Chaos Knight and all his illusions attack one of his allies.
* Cold Embrace protects ally who is focused by Chaos Knight.
* Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Chaos Knight's illusions.
* Chaos Knight's high health pool and tendency to not build magic resistance items will make Arctic Burn deal a lot of damage to him and his illusions.
* Windranger's highly mobile playstyle allows her to easily control Lifestealer from a distance, as he has no disables on his own.
Windrun not only provides her with bonus move speed, but evasion as well, undoing Lifestealer's ability to attack her. In combination with
Focus Fire, Windranger can easily dispose of Lifestealer without him being able to reach her.
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like
Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
*
Terrorblade and his illusions deal huge damage, which might used against him and his team with Winter's Curse.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
*
Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
* Powershot can destroy the trees to prevent
Scurry's passive as well as end
Bushwhack prematurely or prevent it completely.
*
Acorn Shot creates a tree for Windranger to get an easy Shackleshot off.
*
Acorn Shot does not grant True Strike, thus making it easy for Windranger to evade it with Windrun.
* Shackleshot stuns Hoodwink for a lengthy duration due to her often reliance on positioning with trees.
Additional:
*
Powershot can destroy the trees to prevent
Scurry's passive as well as end
Bushwhack prematurely or prevent it completely.
*
Acorn Shot does not grant True Strike, thus making it easy for Windranger to evade it with
Windrun.
*
Shackleshot stuns Hoodwink for a lengthy duration due to her often reliance on positioning with trees.
* Windranger prevents Huskar from landing
Burning Spears by using Windrun.
* Because Huskar tends to be at low health, Focus Fire and Powershot are good abilities against him.
Additional:
*
Windrun makes it impossible to hit Windranger with Burning Spears.
* Huskar cannot toggle
Armlet of Mordiggian to regain health while taking constant damage from
Focus Fire.
*
Cold Embrace can render the extra attack speed from
Overcharge meaningless.
*
Splinter Blast and
Winter's Curse are very affective against Io, as it has to stay close to his
Tethered target.
* Pudge relies on his hook to initiate his combo. As long as she's able to avoid the hook with Windrun and shackle him, Windranger can take him down easily. Pudge's low armor means that he won't be able to endure Focus Fire for long.
*
Cold Embrace can protect allies from Lone Druid and the Spirit bear, who mainly deal physical damage
*
Winter's Curse can turn Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear against his teammates.
*
Windrun quickly dodge Mirana's Sacred Arrow and misses her attacks.
*
Shackleshot through tree with
Focus Fire via
Aghanim's Scepter combo can kill Mirana quickly, before using Leap or Moonlight Shadow.
*
Winter's Curse and
Splinter Blast can devastate Underlord's team when they are grouped up for the teleportation with
Fiend's Gate.
*
Cold Embrace can be used to heal Winter Wyvern's allies, and protect them from the attack damage from
Atrophy Aura. Bear in mind, however, that the heroes affected by
Cold Embrace are easy targets for
Firestorm and
Pit of Malice.
* Windrun can be used to dodge Earthshaker's abilities if Windranger has a quick reaction time.
* Focus Fire and Windrun allows Windranger to kite Earthshaker.
* A Windranger with fast fingers can prevent Earthshaker from using
Fissure with Shackleshot.
*
Windrun's speed allows easy pursuit or escape, while the evasion greatly reduces the threat of Enchantress's Impetus, especially when retreating.
*
Shackleshot is a powerful disable if Enchantress gets too close to one of her own minions.
*
Focus Fire can negate
Untouchable.
*
Winter's Curse, when directly targeted on Enigma, goes through
Black King Bar, stopping Enigma's Black Hole channeling. It also turns his team against him, potentially killing him. Even if Enigma gets
Linken's Sphere on top of
Black King Bar,
Splinter Blast can be used to pop
Linken's Sphere, and
Winter's Curse will stop Black Hole channeling.
*
Splinter Blast can be targeted on an eidolon, killing off other eidolons and damaging nearby heroes as well.
*
Cold Embrace mitigates Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
*
Winter's Curse can turn Beastmaster's summons and Inner Beast against his teammate.
Additional:
* Beastmaster's summons and
Inner Beast are very useful to attack his cursed teammate.
* Cold Embrace effectively mitigates
Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* As long as Windranger is able to identify the real hero among the illusions, heroes relying on them can be easily tagged with Focus Fire:
Chaos Knight,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Naga Siren.
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like
Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore
Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
*
Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
* Heroes with evasion will cause Chen and his creeps to struggle in attacking them and will waste much of Penitence's power:
Phantom Assassin,
Windranger,
Hoodwink.
* Sven with
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded
Storm Hammer can easily chase down Windranger and dispel her Windrun at the same time.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
*
Cold Embrace saves any ally Sven initiates on and wastes the duration of God's Strength in team fights.
*
Winter's Curse can be devastating to Sven's team, as his massive damage can take out a teammate before there is much time to react.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
* Other heroes that rely on physical attacks to deal damage and not their abilities:
Troll Warlord,
Sniper,
Monkey King,
Sven.
Additional:
*
Powershot destroys the tree Monkey King is standing on.
* Monkey King's natural reliance on trees makes him an easy target for
Shackleshot.
*
Windrun evades Monkey King's attacks, preventing him from building up Jingu Mastery.
*
Winter Wyvern's
Winter's Curse works very well against the increased attack speed from Bloodlust.
*
Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer by their nature offer very good target for Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse.
* 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.
*
Cold Embrace can heal herself or an ally, as well as protecting them from Clinkz's physical attacks and wasting his mana if Searing Arrows is on autocast.
*
Winter's Curse allows Winter Wyvern to turn Clinkz's high damage and high attack speed against his allies, or take advantage of Clinkz's fragility if he can't use Skeleton Walk.
* Windranger tends to fare badly against high mobility heroes that can easily dodge Powershot, close the gap on her when she uses Windrun or escape from Focus Fire's reach. Examples of such heroes include
Spirit Breaker,
Lycan,
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Slark and others.
*
Arctic Burn allows Winter Wyvern to escape Lycan, even when he uses his ultimate.
*
Splinter Blast is very effective in dealing with Lycan's summons.
*
Cold Embrace saves allies from Lycan's raw physical damage and can buy allies enough time to turn the tide of battle.
*
Winter's Curse stops Lycan in his tracks and is very effective because of his summons.
Additional:
* All of Lycan's damage is physical which is totally negated by Cold Embrace.
* Lycan often moves around with large amount of creeps, wolves created by
Summon Wolves and neutral creep dominated by
Helm of the Dominator which can be easily cleared by Splinter Blast or used as a great source of damage by Winter's Curse. If you catch Lycan with creeps nearby and affected by
Shapeshift using Winter's Curse on him will most certainly end up with his death.
* Since Windranger is bad against magical damage, heroes with continuous magical damage or magical nukes can blast her:
Zeus,
Tinker,
Leshrac,
Viper,
Skywrath Mage,
Lion,
Lina,
Venomancer.
*
Windrun evades
Poison Attack and counteracts the slow.
* Viper's low mobility makes him an easy
Shackleshot target.
*
Focus Fire grants Windranger significant physical damage output to quickly wear Viper down.
*
Powershot is a strong harassment and zoning tool against Viper in lane.
* 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.
* Heroes with good counter-push abilities to clear creep waves can hinder Jakiro's early pushing ability:
Death Prophet,
Sniper,
Tinker,
Windranger.
* Spectre can instantly escape Focus Fire or hunt a Windranger with
Haunt.
* Spectre can catch up to her with
Spectral Dagger, even if she uses Windrun.
*
Desolate allows Spectre to hit Windranger through Windrun.
*
Dispersion combined with
Blade Mail and/or
Vanguard (and its upgrade
Abyssal Blade) makes Spectre tanky and/or reflects some damage back to Windranger.
Additional:
* Spectre can catch up to her with
Spectral Dagger, even if she uses
Windrun.
* Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Windranger with
Haunt.
*
Dispersion can reflect some of her damage, especially from her
Focus Fire.
*
Arctic Burn makes it nearly impossible for Spectre to juke into the trees.
*
Cold Embrace negates all of Spectre's physical damage. Furthermore, Cold Embrace will generally outheal
Desolate.
*
Winter's Curse can taunt illusions, not only wasting the entire duration of
Haunt but also turning its illusions against Spectre's own team.
*
Press The Attack can save her allies dispels the stun from Shackleshot.
*
Duel can lock down Windranger before she can escape with Windrun.
* Legion Commander tends to go for
Blade Mail, which returns the damage she takes from Focus Fire.
*
Cold Embrace saves allies from dying in Duels.
*
Winter's Curse turns Legion Commander's high damage against her allies, giving the enemy team little time to react.
* However, Winter Wyvern lanes very poorly against Legion Commander due to Press the Attack removing all the debuffs she can give. Winter Wyvern also has little chances of surviving if she gets Dueled herself.
Additional:
* Cold Embrace is very effective against
Duel.
* Also, casting Winter's Curse at
Legion Commander while an ally is in a
Duel will stun her for most of the duration, possibly preventing lethal damage dealt to your ally. It can also turn her high-damage against her teammate.
* Even though Ursa is a hero who relies on direct attacks to be effective,
Fury Swipes does not work on allies if Ursa is affected by Winter's Curse, mitigating a majority of Ursa's damage. In addition, Ursa's unimpressive attack speed and attack damage without
Overpower and
Fury Swipes means that he deals little to no damage to allies during Winter's Curse.
*
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Enrage allows Ursa to survive Winter Wyvern's initiation with Winter's Curse.
* Windranger can avoid Ursa's primary source of damage,
Fury Swipes, by simply using Windrun. The slow from
Earthshock is also rendered irrelevant by Windrun.
* Focus Fire and Windrun can be used to kite Ursa.
Additional:
* Ursa relies on the Blink-Earthshock combo to slow enemies to burst them, but Windranger can use
Windrun to escape through Earthshock's duration.
*
Windrun and
Focus Fire can easily allow Windranger to kite Ursa and do good amounts of damage in the process.
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Windranger
* Windranger tends to fare badly against high mobility heroes that can easily dodge Powershot, close the gap on her when she uses Windrun or escape from Focus Fire's reach. Examples of such heroes include
Spirit Breaker,
Lycan,
Storm Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Slark and others.
Windrun to escape.
Focus Fire altogether, and he can regenerate his health and fight back after Windranger uses up all her abilities.
Shackleshot and the slow from
Powershot can be both dispelled by Dark Pact, provided Slark casts it at the right moment.
Additional:
* Pounce helps put Windranger in place, even when she uses
* Shadow Dance avoids Windranger's attacks from
* The stun from
Winter Wyvern
* Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast's debuffs are can be dispelled with with
Dark Pact. Arctic Burn also cannot be used to escape against
Pounce.
Essence Shift stacks from attacking heroes affected by it.
Essence Shift works against allies, and Slark's low health pool means that if he's the target for Winter's Curse, he will go down very quickly as Winter's Curse cannot be dispelled at all.
* Even though Cold Embrace can protect it's owner from Slark's direct attacks, Slark can still gain
* However,