Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Silencer
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 15%)Witch Doctor
* Like any hero with a channeled spell, Last Word is a counter to it.
* Global Silence goes through spell immunity and prevents Witch Doctor from casting his spells.
Ember Spirit
* Global Silence and
Last Word can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.
* Glaives of Wisdom also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.
* Arcane Curse is also a potent harassing tool in the laneing stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.
Oracle
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Witch Doctor
* It is especially easy for Oracle to negate the damage from Maledict, and even heal through it with Fate's Edict and
Purifying Flames.
* If by some miracle an enemy is still about to die because of Maledict, he can still save him with False Promise.
Ember Spirit
* Oracle can shut down both of Ember's early game abilities. Fortune's End can dispel Flame Guard on Ember Spirit and
Searing Chains on allies.
* When Ember Spirit is affected by Fortune's End, his Fire Remnants move at 0 movement speed.
* Disarming him with Fate's Edict does affect Ember's Sleight of Fist ability, possibly making him useless for a few seconds in the late game without a dispel or spell immunity. This is especially good if he has a rapier or two. However, positioning for this is difficult when Ember plays far back.
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Witch Doctor
* Beware of placing the Death Ward if Chronosphere is off cooldown, as it will cancel the effect and leave Witch Doctor vulnerable if he does not react in time.
Ember Spirit
* Faceless Void is one of the best heroes against Ember Spirit, providing a lot of ways of dealing with him. Ember Spirit becomes a lot weaker if affected by Time Dilation, as he can no longer spam Sleight of Fist.
* Chronosphere is also a reliable lockdown for Ember Spirit, although it can be evaded sometimes by Activate Fire Remnant. Additionally, Void can easily negate Sleight of Fist damage with
Time Walk.
* And finally, Void is a great Diffusal Blade carrier. Not only
Manabreak's physical damage not negated by Flame Guard, but it also burns Ember Spirit's mana. That, in turn, prevents him from escaping if he survived
Chronosphere.
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with long channeling abilities like Witch Doctor are easy targets for Kunkka to interrupt in team fights.
Additional:
* Torrent can cancel Death Ward from a far distance.
Ember Spirit
* Using X Marks the spot Kunkka can prevent Ember Spirit from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant, until he purchase
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or
Linken's Sphere.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Witch Doctor
* Low health spellcasters: Lina,
Witch Doctor,
Tinker,
Keeper of the Light, all rely heavily on their spells and are fragile heroes. They all also have avoidable spells, allowing Puck to get to them and quickly burst them down.
Ember Spirit
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Lycan,
Bloodseeker,
Anti-Mage,
Timbersaw
Riki
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)Witch Doctor
* Without Dust of Appearance or Sentry Wards, Riki is able to silence Witch Doctor with Smoke Screen, and is likely to build a Diffusal Blade, leaving Witch Doctor without mana to cast Voodoo Restoration, as well as Skull Basher to interrupt Death Ward.
Mirana
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 15%)Witch Doctor
* Sacred Arrow can be used to interrupt Death Ward from a safe distance, forcing him to cancel it to dodge or get hit.
* Paralyzing Cask is a slow-moving stun, and Mirana can Leap away from her allies to keep it from bouncing.
* Witch Doctor has low health and can easily be killed with an Aghanim's Scepter combo or just when hit with an arrow.
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit does minimal damage to Huskar until the very late game.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Flame Guard provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Ember Spirit's low armor and health make him easy to kill quickly if a teammate can hold him down.
* If Clinkz has farmed an item that can disable, he can sneak up to and hunt down Ember Spirit while he farms or split pushes alone.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by Arcane Orb is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit.
* Astral Imprisonment fully negates all magic damage of Flame Guard and Searing Chains and will temporarily save himself from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that can counter these skills.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Witch Doctor
* Vengeful Spirit has two abilities to interrupt Death Ward, even through Black King Bar.
Tidehunter
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Witch Doctor
* Kraken Shell dispels the stun from Paralyzing Cask. However, it does not dispel the damage from Maledict.
* Once Witch Doctor first uses his Death Ward in team fights, Tidehunter can simply cancel it with Ravage, turning the tables against him, especially if Witch Doctor does not have a
Black King Bar.
* As a precaution, let Tidehunter use Ravage first before channeling Death Ward to turn a team fight in your favor.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Witch Doctor
* Wraithfire Blast cancels Death Ward in decent range.
* Death Ward is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Aura can out-heal the {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Maledict.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Ember Spirit
* Shadowraze can easily remove the protection from Flame Guard and kill Ember Spirit due to his low health.
* Ember Spirit is very vulnerable to physical damage from Necromastery.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Impetus will deal huge amounts of damage when he uses a Fire Remnant to escape.
* Flame Guard is useless against Impetus as it deals Pure damage.
* Enchant can be used to dispel Flame Guard.
Lion
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Lion possesses two strong disables in Earth Spike and
Hex and heavy magic burst with
Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his
Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.
Additional:
* Ember lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game and often does not acquire any later, allowing Lion to Hex or Earth Spike him before he escapes through his Fire Remnant.
* Although Flame Guard can prevent magic damage, it does not stop Lion's disables, and Lion can usually break through it with Finger of Death.
Dragon Knight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 5%)Witch Doctor
* Death Ward does little damage against Dragon Knight's armor, and Dragon Knight's high health regeneration minimizes damage from
Maledict.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 8%)Witch Doctor
* Morphling can Attribute Shift to strength after being hit by Maledict. Since Maledict deals its damage based on the difference between HP on cast and HP after two seconds, odds are Morphling will have more HP than when Maledict was cast, thus resulting in no damage.
* On the upside, players prone to panicked reactions may Morph to agility, making Maledict even more efficient than intended.
* Adaptive Strike (Strength) can interrupt Death Ward at a decent range.
Visage
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 2%)Witch Doctor
* Stone Form can easily interrupt heroes with long channeling spells, like Crystal Maiden,
Bane,
Witch Doctor, or
Enigma.
Arc Warden
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 5%)Witch Doctor
* Arc Warden's
Magnetic Field dodges all damage from Death Ward.
Undying
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 10%)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.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 7%)Witch Doctor
* Low mobility heroes: Heroes with no/little means of traveling fast have difficulty getting to/away from Bounty Hunter due to his slowing Jinada and hastening Track. Few examples of such heroes are: Crystal Maiden,
Sniper,
Ursa,
Witch Doctor, etc.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with channeled abilities can be interrupted by a long-range Fissure: Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Bane,
Pugna,
Pudge.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Queen of Pain.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like Crystal Maiden or
Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
Necrophos
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes that have small health pools and little to no escape mechanisms are even easier prey for Necrophos. Ghost Shroud's slow will allow him to catch him with them, and get nuked down with his abilities, even preventing retaliation due to Reaper's Scythe's stun. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Warlock or
Shadow Fiend.
Lina
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 16%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes who have channeled abilities can be stunned by Light Strike Array, like Witch Doctor with
Death Ward and
Bane's
Fiend's Grip.
Additional:
* Light Strike Array cancels out Death Ward from a long distance.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes like Slark,
Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
Primal Beast
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 9%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes who cannot escape from Trample early might be easy first blood. Heroes like Witch Doctor and
Omniknight should play very cautiously alone...
Luna
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 2%)Witch Doctor
* Luna can easily cancel channeling spells with Lucent Beam and 0.25s Eclipse Lucent Ministun talent for
Eclipse, she can also buy
Abyssal Blade in case they decide to buy
Black King Bar:
Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Additional:
* Lucent Beam interrupts Death Ward from a decent range.
* Eclipse kills Witch Doctor during Death Ward, even through
Glimmer Cape.
Bane
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 2%)Witch Doctor
* 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.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Witch Doctor
* Fragile support heroes are all ideal targets for the Phantom Assassin. Heroes such as Lina and
Witch Doctor are all prime targets that may not be able to react quickly and fight back due to Phantom Assassin's sudden appearance.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Queen of Pain can be a good hero for dealing with Ember Spirit with
Orchid Malevolence, her pure damage nuke in
Sonic Wave and a slow in
Shadow Strike. However, Queen of Pain can be punished by Ember Spirit, as his Searing Chains prevents her from getting
Blink off.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 4%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with powerful channeling abilities are easily interrupted by Phantom's Embrace: Bane,
Pudge,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 12%)Witch Doctor
* Death Ward can be easily canceled by Jakiro, or even turned against him with Macropyre, due to it's attack range being smaller then Jakiro's cast range
* Voodoo Switcheroo is even easier to land Jakiro's Macropyro/Ice Path combo
* Unlike Crystal Maiden, his Scepter does not allow him to move while using it
* While Maledict can be quite effective on Jakiro, but with his arsenal of stuns, it is very difficult to get a strong Maledict on him
* However his Maledict/Death Ward combo will still quickly eliminate Jakiro
* On the other hand. Voodoo Restoration will partly protect his allies from your spells, as it heals based on their Max Health once he gets his Talent (Level 25),
* Before then though, it won't make a dent in the damage you deal
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower: Bloodseeker,
Ember Spirit,
Juggernaut,
Phantom Assassin,
Weaver.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Ember Spirit
* With Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use
Spiked Carapace with
Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
* Mana Burn is also good, as Ember Spirit relies on his limited mana pool for the early to midgame.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by Flame Guard or
Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Venomancer,
Huskar,
Ember Spirit,
Dark Seer,
Sand King,
Doom,
Dawnbreaker.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 25%)Witch Doctor
* Witch Doctor's iconic
Death Ward is a perfect spell for Rubick to output high damage.
* Death Ward requires channeling which makes Witch Doctor a clear tagret for stealing. Rubick can steal the spell outside of Death Ward's attack range most of the times.
* Note that an skilled Witch Doctor player can cast
Voodoo Restoration to disrupt their last spell for Rubick to steal.
* Telekinesis can interrupt a channeling
Death Ward. With
Death Ward's high burst damage, combining
Death Ward and
Telekinesis to hold enemy in place can result in a solo kill in the early game.
* Paralyzing Cask provides an additional disable. The ability also helps moderately with farming.
* Voodoo Restoration provides some utility by healing Rubick and his team.
* Maledict is a damage-over-time nuke that amplifies the damage enemy taken.
* Telekinesis can reposition the enemy within the range of
Maledict.
Additional:
* Rubick can steal Death Ward easily as it is a channeled ability and then use it to turn teamfight to his advantage.
* However, a skilled Witch Doctor will toggle Voodoo Restoration immediately after placing his Death Ward to prevent that.
Ember Spirit
* Certain Hero's potential lies on the combo of their abilities. As an example, Ember Spirit can cast
Sleight of Fist and
Searing Chains together to root and damage enemies from a far distance. Yet for
Rubick, casting
Searing Chains can only catch enemies at a close distance, and
Sleight of Fist does little more than a scratch of right click.
* It is arguably possible to group spells together after getting Aghanim's Scepter, but stealing two separate spells from one single enemy is somewhat luxurious in an intense fight.
Doom
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit cannot use his Activate Fire Remnant to escape while under effect from
Doom.
Witch Doctor
* Heroes with the ability to heal allies, or those with good defensive abilities: Chen,
Dazzle,
Io,
Oracle,
Omniknight,
Witch Doctor,
Winter Wyvern,
Abaddon, etc.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 1%)Witch Doctor
* Death Ward with
Aghanim's Scepter makes quick work of the spawned illusions from Disruption.
* However, it can be cancelled by Disruption until Witch Doctor buys Linken's Sphere or
Black King Bar.
* All of Witch Doctor's abilities are active, making Demonic Purge break from Aghanim's Scepter useless.
* Voodoo Restoration can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* An attempt to save an ally using Disruption can easily become a perfect setup for a Maledict or
Paralyzing Cask for the enemy.
Ember Spirit
* Disruption is not reliable enough to catch an Ember Spirit with a backup Fire Remnant.
* Sleight of Fist will also make quick work of the spawned illusions.
* Ember Spirit usually builds Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Soul Catcher and
Linken's Sphere to block Disruption and Demonic Purge.
* The best you can do against an Ember Spirit is to dispel his Flame Guard with your Demonic Purge.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Witch Doctor
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter Bloodseeker's Thirst.
* Rupture is generally useless against Witch Doctor while he is staying on Death Ward.
* Although Witch Doctor needs to be careful as Blood Rite can interrupt Death Ward.
Ember Spirit
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape while Ruptured.
Additional:
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Bloodseeker while Ruptured.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Witch Doctor
* Maledict cannot be dispelled by Phantasm, and can be used to tag the real Chaos Knight hiding within his illusions.
* If Witch Doctor has an Aghanim's Scepter,
Death Ward will bounce between Chaos Knight's illusions, destroying them quickly.
* However, Death Ward is easily interrupted by Chaos Bolt until Witch Doctor buys
Glimmer Cape or
Black King Bar.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions: Axe,
Ember Spirit,
Legion Commander,
Phoenix
Additional:
* Ember Spirit is evasive and can dodge close encounters with melee heroes like Chaos Knight. Ember Spirit can't be caught with the slow from Reality Rift, and Flame Guard and Sleight of Fist can bring
Phantasm's illusions down quickly.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -1.6 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Witch Doctor
* Paralyzing cask bounces between him and his wolves, keeping him stunned for long amounts of time.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has
Battle Fury.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains prevents usage of Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw is vulnerable to magical burst damage, which Ember Spirit provides with Fire Remnant and
Flame Guard.
* Timbersaw's abilities deal pure damage, thus they cannot remove Flame Guard.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Ember's magic damage build is able to burst down Alchemist due to his low strength gain and Alchemist's normal item pick up.
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 4%)Witch Doctor
* Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables: Silencer,
Crystal Maiden,
Warlock,
Ancient Apparition,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor
Witch Doctor
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones: Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
* Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones: Meepo,
Witch Doctor,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman
* Multiple attackers thanks to illusions: Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren (bonus for her
Ensnare). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
* Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time: Slark,
Gyrocopter,
Queen of Pain,
Shadow Shaman (
Shackles),
Jakiro,
Pugna
Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains and Flame Guard quickly burn through Refraction instances exposing her low health pool.
* Templar Assassin has no inherent way to prevent Ember Spirit from escaping, a good Ember player also will be able to dodge her meld attack
Void Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 5%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit has much higher mobility in Fire Remnant than Void Spirit.
* Ember's Flame Guard is effective against Void Spirit's spells, as most of them deal magical damage.
* The root from Searing Chains prevents Void Spirit from using Dissimilate or Astral Step.
Spirit Breaker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains can stop Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
* Activate Fire Remnant can be used to escape an approaching Spirit Breaker, or lead Spirit Breaker into a bad situation.
* Activate Fire Remnant and
Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to dodge Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
Viper
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 4%)Witch Doctor
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of Viper abilities.
* Viper has no way to cancel Death Ward, even through Rod of Atos.
Crystal Maiden
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 13%)Ember Spirit
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and she's an easy target for him. She has no real disables that can lock Ember Spirit down, and all of her skill damage can be negated with Flame Guard. The damage from Searing Chains, Flame Guard, and Sleigh of Fist can easily take her down.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Ember Spirit
* Zeus laneing against Ember is going to be punished with Sleight of Fist due to his low health pool
* Zeus's chip damage from Arc Lightning and other spells is nullified from Ember's Flame Guard.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Fire Remnant is an easy way to escape from Clockwerk's Power Cogs.
* Flame Guard blocks most of the magical damage Clockwerk does.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions, especially when combined with Battle Fury.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist, allows Ember Spirit to destroy all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Flame Guard also deals significant damage to illusions, and protects against Spirit Lance.
* Phantom Rush is unable to catch Ember Spirit when he teleports to his Fire Remnants.
Venomancer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Witch Doctor
* Voodoo Restoration heals to counter damage over time of Poison Nova and
Poison Sting.
Dark Willow
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Ember Spirit
* 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.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 13%)Witch Doctor
* Paralyzing Cask can save ally from Legion Commander Duel's until she purchase
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Voodoo Restoration can heal Witch Doctor allies from Duel's.
* Death Ward can help Witch Doctor allies from winning Duel's, if, he is not a target.
Dark Seer
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 2%)Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard makes Dark Seer not deal any damage with his skills to Ember Spirit.
Terrorblade
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 45% pickrate: 2%)Witch Doctor
* Witch Doctor's Maledict burst damage can be prevented by Sunder if timed correctly. But it can kill Terrorblade if he has no target to be Sundered with, especially in the early game.
* Death Ward deals physical damage, and Terrorblade's high armor can help him survive against Death Ward. However, Terrorblade has no disable in his skillset at all, and he cannot stop Witch Doctor from channeling Death Ward to maximum. And if Witch Doctor owns
Aghanim's Scepter, attacks from Death Ward will be able to bounce around and wipe out Terrorblade's illusions and his team.
* Terrorblade must be careful as Paralyzing Cask is commonly tricky to dodge for him due to his reliance on illusions.
Witch Doctor
* Heroes who have channeling abilities because Terrorblade has no disables to cancel them at all and does not like buying disabling items at all: Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to illusion heroes like Terrorblade with Sleight of Fist. Terrorblade also has no way of preventing Ember Spirit from getting Activate Fire Remnant off. Additionally, Ember Spirit's ability to fight from long range as well as his wide skill set won't give many opportunities for Terrorblade to get Sunder off.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to Terrorblade and his illusions with Sleight of Fist.
* Terrorblade has no disable to lock down Ember Spirit and prevent him from escaping with Fire Remnant. In addition, he doesn't like purchasing disabling items like
Scythe of Vyse or
Abyssal Blade, which are the only solutions to deal with Ember Spirit.
Marci
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 7%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes that can reliably kite out Dispose, Unleash and dodge Rebound, like Ember Spirit,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Anti-Mage,
Faceless Void,
Puck or always build items like
Blink Dagger and
Force Staff.
Disruptor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 10%)Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with
Phase Shift
* Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
* Chaos Knight with
Phantasm
* Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
* Tusk with
Snowball
* Juggernaut with
Omnislash
* Brewmaster with
Primal Split
* Lifestealer with
Infest
* Phoenix with
Supernova
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
Earth Spirit
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes who can dodge Earth Spirit's abilities: Ember Spirit,
Puck,
Weaver
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
Gyrocopter
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 7%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit,
Morphling,
Ember Spirit
Naga Siren
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (Naga Siren,
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has
Battle Fury.
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: Bane,
Ember Spirit,
Leshrac,
Lina,
Luna,
Nyx Assassin,
Phantom Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Ursa,
Void Spirit.
Chen
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 0%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with channeling spells, for Chen has no disables on his own, hates buying disabling items and his creeps are often not fast enough to cancel them: Enigma's
Black Hole,
Witch Doctor's
Death Ward,
Shadow Shaman's
Shackles,
Lion's
Mana Drain,
Bane's
Fiend's Grip,
Pudge's
Dismember,
Crystal Maiden's
Freezing Field,
Pugna's
Life Drain,
Dawnbreaker's
Solar Guardian, and
Naga Siren's
Reel In from
Aghanim's Scepter.
Razor
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Ember Spirit
* Any hero with teleport abilities (e.g. Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit) can easily break Static Link.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can close the distance between Sniper easily with his Activate Fire Remnant and further keep Sniper in place with
Searing Chains.
* With the help of Aghanim's Scepter, Sniper cannot outrun Ember Spirit or chase him, even if Sniper builds mobility items.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 12%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with plenty of summons, such as Broodmother or
Nature's Prophet can have their minions soak up most of your Paralyzing Cask.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can easily deal with Nature's Call by using his Flame Guard and with
Battle Fury. He also has multiple ways of escaping
Sprout. Additionally, Ember Spirit can break
Sprout's trees with Activate Fire Remnant and interrupt
Teleportation with Searing Chains.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist with
Battle Fury deals a lot of damage to Nature's Prophet's team if they stand close to his Treants, as well as killing all the Treants with ease.
* Ember Spirit with Fire Remnant and
Boots of Travel can be very active around the map, which enables him to quickly teleport and defend the objective Nature's Prophet is attacking whenever he tries to push.
Windranger
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 10%)Witch Doctor
* Death Ward's first target (before it bounces) can evade it, therefore Windranger and
Phantom Assassin are poor choices to use it on.
Ember Spirit
* 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.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Witch Doctor
* Channeling heroes will not go well against Warlock, especially those who build Black King Bar as Warlock's ultimate ability stun goes through spell immunity. E.g.:
Crystal Maiden,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma, etc.
Ember Spirit
* A pre-placed Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Upheaval.
* Flame Guard blocks Shadow Word's damage.
* Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to attack from outside of Upheaval's range, and
Searing Chains lets him interrupt it.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 3%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with plenty of summons, such as Broodmother or
Nature's Prophet can have their minions soak up most of your Paralyzing Cask.
Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist keeps Ember Spirit invulnerable until he hits every unit in its area of effect allowing him to stall for large amounts of time against Broodmother and her large amounts of spiderlings, or potentially damaging them enough if equipped with an item to improve wave clearing such as
Battle Fury or
Maelstrom to prevent her pushes entirely.
* Flame Guard will damage any of Broodmother's spiders in an area, deterring her from attempting to kill him. It can also be used during Sleight of Fist to amplify damage done.
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit an escape from Broodmother that is unaffected by her Incapacitating Bite.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes who just want to farm and avoid Lone Druid early will find it very hard to do so when he starts knocking on towers: Templar Assassin,
Phantom Assassin,
Ember Spirit,
Morphling.
Witch Doctor
* Paralyzing Cask is likely to bounce between him and his bear every single time.
* Lone Druid's lack of mobility makes him vulnerable to Death Ward and Maledict.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: Earth Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Anti-Mage,
Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
Ember Spirit
* Meepo is quite fragile in the early game and can be easily taken down by Flame Guard's and Searing Chains' damage. Later on, Meepo is very vulnerable to Sleight of Fist's damage due to Battle Fury's cleave on multiple Meepos.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist boosted by
Battle Fury and
Daedalus makes quick work of Meepo if clones are crowded around each other.
* Searing Chains interrupts Meepo's initiating because Meepo's clones do not have spell immunity.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)Witch Doctor
* Paralyzing Cask's short stun rarely prevents Monkey King from ambushing Witch Doctor.
* Death Ward's long channel is easily interrupted by Boundless Strike.
Witch Doctor
* Another hero that should not leave a special circle for his ultimate. The only thing to be afraid is Boundless Strike.
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 9%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes who rely on channeling abilities can be interrupted in teamfights by Rolling Thunder: Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Witch Doctor
Ember Spirit
* 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.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Ember Spirit
* Storm Spirit is not only a potent Orchid Malevolence carrier, his
Electric Vortex provides an additional disable and
Overload provides a great slow. When paired with
Static Remnant, they can cut through Flame Guard fast.
* Ball Lightning not only provides great initiation upon Ember Spirit from any position anytime, but also helps dodge Sleight of Fist.
Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard absorbs up to 500 magical damage (700 with Level 10 talents), which helps Ember Spirit survive against Storm Spirit's high magical damage.
* Searing Chains can root enemies up to 3 seconds, making Storm Spirit unable to escape with
Ball Lightning.
* Fire Remnant deals high magical damage when casting multiple instances at once, granting Ember Spirit the damage to burst Storm Spirit down in the early to mid game.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 29%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook: Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
Additional:
* Meat Hook interrupts Death Ward from a decent range, even through
Black King Bar &
Glimmer Cape.
* Pudge can survive the damage from Maledict because of his Flesh Heap stacks.
* However the damage-over-time from Rot is counteracted by Voodoo Restoration.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Ember Spirit
* Anti-mage is potentially good against Ember Spirit since he can burn Ember Spirit's mana, prevent him from escaping or using his skill. Anti-Mage has high magic resistance, which will reduce most of the damage from Ember Spirit's skill set. However, Anti-Mage lacks any form of stuns or lockdowns, and may struggle to kill Ember Spirit if he still has some mana left.
Witch Doctor
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
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.
About
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.
How to interpret this data
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).
Right now there is no app/overlay that will detect picks automatically (like overwolf dota plus or become the gamer), instead, you can open web version in a steam in-game browser or use mobile version on your smartphone.
Want to know more? Check FAQ
List of new features that have been added
- Results now also sorted both by rating and average hero win rate for the chosen rank (data from dotabuff)
- You can share counterpick suggestions just by copying URL. Try it: Pudge and Phantom Assassin counters
- Results from the left and right column are partially merged now: the green color shows counterpicks and red color heroes who are countered by an enemy pick.
- Added link next to each hero pointing to wiki hero page
- Counterpick suggestions will appear as you type
- Added statistics: Total entries in the database: 557, last updated: about 1 month ago
- Filtering by role: carry/durable/support - data taken directly from the game (basically the filters which you see on pick stage in dota)
- Filtering by lane: off lane/safe lane/mid lane (lane data is parsed from hero guides dotabuff)
- Tips now include icons next to the heroes/spells/item names (just like on Dota 2 wiki)
- Added item suggestions
- Heroes now can be searched by their abbreviations: CM - Crystal Maiden, Kotl - Keeper Of The Light, AM - Anti Mage etc.
- Mobile website version
- Improved UX on small screens - when selecting heroes page automatically scrolls so hero select input is displayed at the very top of screen, leaving more space for results.
- importing picks from dotabuff/opendota URL or matchid
- sorting by personal win rate after logging via steam
- dota overlay(like Overwolf Dota Plus) that will automatically detect picks and bans this will also bring synergy and ban suggestion based on opponent recent games and most played/highest win rate heroes (but don't expect it soon).
Sharing link to this site is always appreciated.
Dota 2 is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. All game images and names are property of Valve Corporation.
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Witch Doctor
*
Guardian Angel protects allies from Death Ward's physical damage.
Purification and
Heavenly Grace will most likely save teammates from dying to Maledict.
*
Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by
Purification is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit, as well as a good way of saving teammates.
Guardian Angel will temporarily save his allies from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that will get
Orchid Malevolence to counter it.
*