Riki
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (winrate: 54% pickrate: 13%)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.
Skywrath Mage
* Fate Edict can completely negate Skywrath Mage's heavy magic damage.
* Fortune End dispels Ancient Seal.
Wraith King
[wiki] rating: 2.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.
Silencer
[wiki] rating: 1.6 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with silence such as Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
Bounty Hunter
[wiki] rating: 1.2 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Fragile heroes: Bounty Hunter has decent nuking capabilities with Shiruken Toss and Jinada thus making fragile heroes easy picks for ganking. Few examples of such heroes are:Crystal Maiden,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Io,
Witch Doctor, etc.
Omniknight
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)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.
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.
Outworld Destroyer
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 10%)Skywrath Mage
* Outworld Destroyer can steal more mana with Astral Imprisonment from
Skywrath Mage with
Shield of the Scion (granted by
Aghanim's Shard). Shield of the Scion grants Skywrath Mage bonus intelligence every time he deals magic damage to an enemy hero with his abilities. The higher his intelligence, the larger his mana pool. Since Astral Imprisonment steals based on the target's max mana, Outworld Destroyer can steal much more mana from Skywrath Mage.
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.
Pugna
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Due to the high mana cost of his spells and the low cool down of them, Nether Ward can seriously damage Skywrath Mage if he isn't careful.
* Skywrath Mage's fragility makes him very susceptible to Pugna's high burst damage.
Additional:
* Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and
Decrepify won't help Pugna at all.
Monkey King
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's very low health allows Monkey King to ambush and finish him off quickly.
Witch Doctor
* Another hero that should not leave a special circle for his ultimate. The only thing to be afraid is Boundless Strike.
Rubick
[wiki] rating: 1.0 (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.
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.
Meepo
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 56% pickrate: 1%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's abilities are single targeted and he can't use Mystic Flare to its fullest potential, since all Meepos spread the damage between them. He also has no disables to prevent Meepo from Poofing to another one (unless he can get
Ancient Seal off first).
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.
Broodmother
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
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.
Night Stalker
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with silence such as Riki,
Silencer, or
Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.
Beastmaster
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 2%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
Warlock
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Abaddon
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 6%)Skywrath Mage
* In general, heroes that deal burst in multiple instances will trigger Borrowed Time and heal Abaddon for a large amount, such as Skywrath Mage,
Techies,
Juggernaut,
Shadow Shaman, or
Ogre Magi.
Additional:
* Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
* Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst
Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.
Phantom Lancer
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 2%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
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.
Nyx Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* Slow-moving projectiles: Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Necrophos
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
* Mana Burn is annoying at all stages of the game as it turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him.
* Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.
Juggernaut
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 11%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high physical burst like Juggernaut or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
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.
Pudge
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Puck
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
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.
Shadow Fiend
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 18%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with a low health pool (Crystal Maiden,
Skywrath Mage etc)
Pangolier
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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
Kunkka
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Nature's Prophet
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (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.
Sniper
[wiki] rating: 0.6 (winrate: 44% pickrate: 11%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with channeled abilities which Assassinate may cancel at long range: Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman,
Pugna
Huskar
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 6%)Skywrath Mage
* Berserker's Blood works proportionate to lost health, but Huskar has a decent health pool, and the attack speed granted from
Berserker's Blood powers him up.
* Skywrath Mage's armor and agility gain is very low so Huskar can outdamage him or take Skywrath Mage down with him.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with high magical burst can easily kill Huskar when he is at low health: Lion,
Lina,
Skywrath Mage
Faceless Void
[wiki] rating: 0.4 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes that can easily kill Faceless Void from outside his Cronosphere; Sniper,
Skywrath Mage, etc.
Phantom Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.2 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high physical burst like Juggernaut or
Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single
Stifling Dagger.
Skywrath Mage
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Additional:
* While Phantom Assassin can kill Skywrath Mage in a few strikes, Skywrath Mage can also do the same to her if she is not careful.
* Arcane Bolt's long range and low cooldowns allows Skywrath Mage to severely harass Phantom Assassin in lane.
* Ancient Seal prevents Phantom Assassin from escaping or engaging with
Phantom Strike.
* Mystic Flare's heavy magical damage nukes Phantom Assassin down quickly during the early to mid game.
Legion Commander
[wiki] rating: -2.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Mystic Flare can easily burst down Legion Commander while she is Dueling.
Lone Druid
[wiki] rating: -1.4 (winrate: 55% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
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.
Skywrath Mage
* Mystic Flare can be used to effectively ignore the Spirit Bear entirely and burst Lone Druid during the early mid game.
* Concussive Shot and
Arcane Bolt will provide vision of Lone Druid allowing for better chase in teamfights before the Spirit Bear can do too much damage.
* Ancient Seal denies the ability to transform into
True Form and receive bonus HP from the skill.
Timbersaw
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 5%)Skywrath Mage
* Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
* He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
* Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a
Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage's long range and low cooldown magic damage spells can easily harass Timbersaw out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is not only a long lasting silence, (one of Timbersaw's biggest weaknesses) but it also makes him even more vulnerable to magical burst damage.
Queen of Pain
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 6%)Skywrath Mage
* A good Skywrath Mage with quick fingers will punish Queen of Pain for blinking aggressively. Ancient Seal is a six second silence with no cast time, so he can interrupt either her Shadow Strike or Sonic Wave, and a good
Mystic Flare on top of that will seal the deal for her.
* Ancient Seal also has pretty good range so he could get it off before she blinks away.
Shadow Demon
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Alchemist
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
* Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with {Item ID:Radiance} and {Item ID:Manta Style} can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.
Winter Wyvern
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 48% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Bloodseeker
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (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.
Storm Spirit
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 6%)Skywrath Mage
* Similar to Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
* An Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
* Root and silence are Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has
Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
* If he builds Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.
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.
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.
Brewmaster
[wiki] rating: -1.0 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 1%)Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal's instant cast time will often silence Brewmaster before he can do anything.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Skywrath Mage's massive magical damage.
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.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt can target Terrorblade's low health pool in the laning phase.
* Ancient Seal can prevent Terrorblade from casting Sunder.
* Mystic Flare can be used to great effect to burst Terrorblade down before he gets a
Manta Style or a
Black King Bar.
Mars
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 10%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark: Timbersaw,
Dark Willow,
Enigma,
Invoker,
Pugna,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Zeus,
Oracle.
Enchantress
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 46% pickrate: 2%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with nukes: Bane,
Lich,
Lion,
Skywrath Mage
Additional:
* Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
* A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
* The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.
Doom
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 8%)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.
Keeper of the Light
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 3%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes with channeling abilities: Enigma,
Witch Doctor,
Crystal Maiden.
Zeus
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 14%)Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk,
Kunkka,
Puck,
Skywrath Mage,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk and others.
Clockwerk
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 8%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage's
Mystic Flare can deal huge damage to Clockwerk inside his Power Cogs.
Weaver
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Additional:
* Arcane Bolt has a long range and a low cooldown, and is a great spell to waste Linken's Sphere. It also serves as an effective spell to harass Weaver with.
* Ancient Seal prevents Weaver from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse.
Io
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 51% pickrate: 4%)Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Clinkz
[wiki] rating: -0.6 (winrate: 52% pickrate: 7%)Skywrath Mage
* Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition,
Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences:
Weaver,
Queen of Pain,
Morphling,
Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.
Chaos Knight
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 47% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. His skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and
Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like
Lone Druid,
Lycan and
Beastmaster.
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.
Earthshaker
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt allows Skywrath Mage to harass Earthshaker out of lane.
* Ancient Seal is an instant silence that can be pre-cast onto Earthshaker to disrupt his combo, before he uses
Blink Dagger to initiate.
* Mystic Flare will nuke Earthshaker down while he stands in place during his long cast animations.
Lycan
[wiki] rating: -0.4 (winrate: 57% pickrate: 3%)Skywrath Mage
* Once you get a Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like
Zeus,
Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.
Witch Doctor
* Paralyzing cask bounces between him and his wolves, keeping him stunned for long amounts of time.
Anti-Mage
[wiki] rating: -0.2 (winrate: 53% pickrate: 11%)Skywrath Mage
* Counterspell gives Anti-Mage magic resistance to negate a majority of Skywraith Mage's magical damage.
* Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and
Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
* Huge mana cost on Mystic Flare means easy target for Mana Void.
* Although Anti-Mage is weak early-game to Ancient Seal until he can dispel silences, Skywrath Mage's solo kill potential is very low.
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.
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Morphling
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Arcane Bolt's low cooldown allows him to deal consistent damage to Morphling, and is a viable way to disable Linken's Sphere.
* Ancient Seal prevents Morphling from using any of his skills, giving Skywrath Mage and his team ample time to burst Morphling down.
* Mystic Flare coupled with a stun/root can easily burst Morphling down, especially if he has more stats shifted to Agility.
* Alternatively, Morphling can use Morph to use Skywrath Mage's own silence and nukes against him.
Grimstroke
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus,
Skywrath Mage,
Tinker,
Lina
Templar Assassin
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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
Windranger
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* 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.
Vengeful Spirit
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 49% pickrate: 5%)Witch Doctor
* Vengeful Spirit has two abilities to interrupt Death Ward, even through Black King Bar.
Skywrath Mage
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
Ancient Apparition
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (winrate: 50% pickrate: 5%)Witch Doctor
* Heroes like Slark,
Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
Skywrath Mage
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
Phoenix
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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.
Skywrath Mage
* Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet,
Skywrath Mage, and even
Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
* Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
Jakiro
[wiki] rating: 0.0 (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
Skywrath Mage
* Ancient Seal can silence Jakiro up to 6 seconds. Also, it makes Jakiro vulnerable to magical spells.
* Skywrath Mage can burst down Jakiro with his high damage magical spells.
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
* 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.
Skywrath Mage
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
Black King Bar.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.