* Sanity's Eclipse does massive damage to Wraith King who naturally has a low mana pool and typically doesn't build items to increase it.
*
Wraithfire Blast's slow projectile speed makes it easy to avoid using Astral Imprisonment.
*
Astral Imprisonment wastes Borrowed Time's duration.
* Outworld Destroyer's
Sanity's Eclipse can kill Abaddon before Borrowed Time triggers due to the lack of intelligence for Abaddon.
* Heroes with summons and illusions such as
Broodmother and
Naga Siren, are ill-suited for Wraith King to fight, as he has no source of waveclear.
*
Song of the Siren completely wastes Abaddon
Borrowed Time while keeping him in place.
* Naga Siren is able to simply dispel Abaddon's
Curse of Avernus with
Mirror Image before getting hit 4 times consecutively.
* Although Naga Siren's illusions can be easily destroyed by
Aphotic Shield, Naga Siren can resolve that issue easily by purchasing
Heart of Tarrasque to drastically increase her durability. Plus, the said item makes Naga Siren harder to be distinguished from her illusions.
* Heroes with area dispel can kill multiple skeletons at once:
Brewmaster,
Oracle.
* Dispel Magic can remove Abaddon's
Aphotic Shield or
Curse of Avernus on an allied hero.
* Cyclone's lengthy duration wastes much of
Borrowed Time's duration.
Additional:
* {U:Storm} can use
Cyclone on Abaddon when he activates Borrowed Time, wasting its duration.
*
Drunken Brawler and
Thunder Clap hinder Abaddon from applying Curse of Avernus' silence on him.
* Wraith King has no form of AoE to clear Terrorblade's illusions.
* Terrorblade is a common
Manta Style and
Diffusal Blade carrier.
* Terrorblade has very high armor, which helps against Wraith King's physical-only damage.
* A reincarnated Wraith King is an ideal target for
Sunder if Terrorblade's health is low.
Additional:
* Terrorblade has very high armor gain, which helps him against Wraith King's physical damage.
* Wraith King is not good against illusion-based heroes as he has no AoE form abilities to deal with Terrorblade's Illusions.
* Terrorblade is a common
Manta Style and
Diffusal Blade carrier to help deal with Reincarnation before Wraith King has
Aghanim's Shard.
* A Reincarnated Wraith King is a good setup for Sunder if Terrorblade's health is low enough.
* Reflection will cause Abaddon to be afflicted by his own
Curse of Avernus, silencing and slowing him. The reflection is also hard to avoid, as it cannot be killed, only dispelled.
* Heroes who can negate effects of Sunder:
Faceless Void's
Time Walk,
Weaver's
Time Lapse,
Broodmother's
Insatiable Hunger,
Abaddon's
Borrowed Time and
Troll Warlord's
Battle Trance can nullify Sunder.
* Ice Blast nullifies
Borrowed Time's and
Mist Coil's healing.
Additional:
*
Ice Blast's nullifies Abaddon healing from Borrowed Time and Mist Coil and it is not dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* Culling Blade ignores
Borrowed Time should Abaddon's health falls under the threshold.
*
Aphotic Shield does nothing against Berserkers Call and has to be used constantly to remove the very small mana cost of Battle Hunger in lane.
Additional:
*
Culling Blade's instant kill is not prevented by Borrowed Time should Abaddon's health falls below the threshold.
* Broodmother can easily clear Wraith King's skeletons with
Spawn Spiderlings and summon spiderlings in their place.
* With
Diffusal Blade, Broodmother can prevent Wraith King from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Abaddon can be killed without triggering his ultimate
Borrowed Time due to the break applied by
Sharpshooter.
* Invoker can drain Wraith King's mana with
E.M.P., preventing him from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Even if Wraith King survives and reincarnates, Invoker still has an arsenal of spells to lockdown Wraith King, including an easily setup
Ice Wall.
*
Tornado applies an area dispel to clear skeletons.
Additional:
* E.M.P. allows Invoker to burn Wraith King's mana to prevent
Reincarnation from triggering (only until Wraith King gets his Aghanim's Shard).
* Ice Wall and Cold Snap are particularly crippling for Wraith King as they allow to kite him very effectively, preventing him from dealing melee attack damage.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like
Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
* Lina is a common
Eul's Scepter of Divinity carrier which can waste some duration of Borrowed Time and following up with
Laguna Blade if timed correctly.
* Both
Lion's
Finger of Death and
Lina's
Laguna Blade have a 0.25 second delay before the damage is dealt.
* Wraith King has no ability to destroy trees from
Tree Dance.
* Monkey King tends to get
Diffusal Blade, leaving Wraith King no mana to reincarnate unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard.
* A reincarnated Wraith King is an ideal target for
Wukong's Command.
*
Diffusal Blade lets Phantom Lancer drain Wraith King's mana, preventing
Reincarnation from triggering until he buys an
Aghanim's Shard.
* Wraith King is bad against illusions-based heroes, as
Wraithfire Blast is his only single-target disable and can get overwhelmed easily.
*
Doppelganger can disjoint
Wraithfire Blast.
Additional:
*
Doppelganger disjoints Wraithfire Blast.
* Wraith King is not good at handling illusion-based heroes, as his only disable is single-target.
* Phantom Lancer tends to get
Diffusal Blade, leaving Wraith King no mana to reincarnate until he has Aghanim's Shard.
* Riki is a natural
Diffusal Blade carrier, and it doesn't help that he's easily capable of sneaking up on Wraith King due to
Cloak and Dagger.
* Riki can use
Smoke Screen on top of Wraith King as he is reincarnating, making him a sitting duck for his second life. In addition, the blind prevents Wraith King from landing critical hits from Mortal Strike.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and if Riki can react fast, he will disjoint it with
Tricks of the Trade. There is also a chance he will become invisible again as the projectile travels, disjointing it.
* Weaver can run away after killing Wraith King once thanks to
Shukuchi.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable. If Weaver is quick, he will disjoint it with Shukuchi and proceed to chase Wraith King down.
* Shukuchi does have a fade time. They cannot disjoint it if you use it right next to them. They will be stunned and take damage; however they will still become invisible if they used Shukuchi before the stun hits.
* Weaver can easily harass Wraith King out of his lane thanks to his high base damage and
Geminate Attack.
* Weaver can burn Wraith King's mana quickly with his {ValueColor:1|Mana Break|15tal} {Symbol:Talent} talent or
Diffusal Blade, until Wraith King purchases Aghanim's Shard to remove
Reincarnation's manacost.
Additional:
*
Wraithfire Blast is easy to disjoint with Shukuchi or Time Lapse, and it's the only way to break Weaver's Linken Sphere.
* Wraith King has no other disables and no mobility, allowing Weaver to chase or escape Wraith King as he wishes.
* With the Mana Break talent and
Diffusal Blade, Weaver can prevent
Reincarnation from triggering until Wraith King gets his shard.
* Heroes with area dispel can kill multiple skeletons at once:
Brewmaster,
Oracle.
* Heroes with single-target abilities will be overwhelmed by Lycan and his summons:
Wraith King,
Bane,
Phantom Assassin.
* Heroes who cannot fight back during Arena of Blood in the early and mid game:
Abaddon,
Anti-Mage,
Broodmother,
Luna,
Sniper,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver,
Clinkz.
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify:
Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
*
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Lone Druid,
Troll Warlord,
Legion Commander and
Wraith King are some of the Heroes that base themselves on attacks with little or no spell power, so they suffer in the grassy hands of Overgrowth.
* Heroes who rely on basic attacks will suffer from Laser:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Huskar.
* Heroes who are entirely reliant on dealing physical damage and/or have very little to no area-of-effect abilities will make Underlord tickle and will have no effect against him thanks to his
Atrophy Aura, and will also be unable to ambush Underlord and his team if Underlord chooses to use
Fiend's Gate to get to a designated point of the map:
Phantom Assassin,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Drow Ranger,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Bounty Hunter,
Alchemist,
Templar Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Bane.
* Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction:
Sven,
Phantom Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer
* Melee heroes who may struggle to get close to Sniper:
Wraith King,
Kunkka,
Doom,
Tidehunter,
Underlord,
Troll Warlord, and etc.
* Heroes that rely on summons will suffer against Ion Shell, which kills them very quickly:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Enigma,
Nature's Prophet,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Jakiro's area-of-effect abilities make him strong against heroes who rely on illusions and summons:
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Lycan,
Wraith King,
Visage.
* Heroes that have long silences, such as
Night Stalker and
Silencer, will prevent Abaddon from saving his allies effectively and disable the active component of Borrowed Time.
* Heroes which rely exclusively on right clicks will struggle somewhat against Blinding Light:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Medusa
* Many physical-only single-target heroes like
Lifestealer,
Sven,
Wraith King,
Phantom Assassin,
Templar Assassin can have their damage mitigated by Cold Embrace.
* Melee heroes with low mobility can be kited and killed by Viper:
Treant Protector,
Kunkka,
Alchemist,
Troll Warlord,
Wraith King,
Tiny,
Sven.
* Because
Poison Attack has almost no cooldown,
Aphotic Shield is ineffective as a hard dispel.
*
Viper Strike can prevent
Borrowed Time from activating passively and block
Curse of Avernus.
Additional:
* Because
Poison Attack has almost no cooldown, Aphotic Shield is ineffective as a hard dispel.
*
Viper Strike can prevent
Borrowed Time from activating passively and block
Curse of Avernus.
* Viper's
Nethertoxin cannot disable
Reincarnation, which could put him in disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
* In addition, Viper doesn't like buying
Diffusal Blade, which is the only item that can help him against Wraith King.
* Wraith King's high burst damage allows him to kill Viper before being killed.
*
Meepo has a better advantage in farm with
Divided We Stand, as well as having a higher attack speed due to his tendency to build items that give attributes. In addition, Wraithfire Blast stuns only one target, and choosing to engage one Meepo will most certainly mean engaging them all.
*
Dark Pact, if timed correctly, can dispel Wraithfire Blast's stun and slow.
* Since Wraith King has a lot of health and multiple lives, Slark can keep gaining
Essence Shift stacks, increasing armor, damage, and attack speed and can beat down Wraith King twice.
* Slark sometimes carries
Diffusal Blade to burn mana as an attempt to shut down Reincarnation.
* Because Wraith King has no AoE abilities,
Shadow Dance is particularly useful against Wraith King.
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing:
Dazzle,
Abaddon.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and players with good reflexes will disjoint it with
Blade Fury.
*
Omnislash with
Diffusal Blade &
Aghanim's Scepter can prevent Wraith King from reincarnating unless he has his Aghanim's Shard that removes the mana cost from Reincarnation.
* 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.
* Even though Wraith King can easily get a chance to retaliate with
Reincarnation after Luna uses
Eclipse against him, smart Luna can also turn
Reincarnation against him by using
Eclipse right after
Reincarnation triggers and gets on cooldown, giving Luna an element of surprise she can use against Wraith King.
*
Moon Glaives can be used to clear the waves of Wraith King's skeleton warriors summoned from
Vampiric Spirit.
Additional:
* Even though Wraith King can easily get a chance to retaliate with
Reincarnation after Luna uses
Eclipse against him, smart Luna can also turn
Reincarnation against him by using
Eclipse right after
Reincarnation triggers and gets on cooldown, giving Luna an element of surprise she can use against Wraith King.
*
Moon Glaives can be used to clear the waves of Wraith King's skeleton warriors summoned from
Vampiric Spirit.
* Every hero that can withstand or prevent Eclipse at level 7:
Juggernaut,
Riki,
Clockwerk,
Drow Ranger,
Abaddon,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Outworld Destroyer.
*
Reincarnation makes Wraith King nearly impossible to gank with Rupture.
*
Vampiric Spirit restores Wraith King's health, reducing the effect of Thirst.
Additional:
*
Rupture is meaningless while Reincarnation is off cooldown.
* Vampiric Spirit and Mortal Strike prevent Bloodseeker from achieving
Thirst bonuses.
*
Borrowed Time makes Abaddon nearly impossible to gank.
*
Aphotic Shield and
Mist Coil prevents Bloodseeker from gaining his Thirst bonuses.
Additional:
* If
Rupture is used on Abaddon, Abaddon can use Borrowed Time and easily heal for the duration of Borrowed Time by simply moving.
* 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.
*
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.
* Like Abbadon's
Borrowed Time,
Reincarnation can bring Wraith King back to life, giving him a second chance to counter initiate or escape after a Black Hole combo. And since Enigma is not used to buy
Diffusal Blade, this can be a very big problem for him.
* Without protection from
Black King Bar, Wraith King can also cancel Black Hole with
Wraithfire Blast that can also deal damage over time, putting
Blink Dagger on cooldown.
*
Vampiric Spirit can summon many skeleton warriors that can be used to deal with Enigma's Eidolons.
*
Borrowed Time can give Abaddon a second chance after a Black Hole combo.
*
Aphotic Shield can be used to save allies or Abaddon himself from Malefice.
* Abaddon can easily heal himself as well as his allies during a team fight, especially with
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Borrowed Time.
* While
Reincarnation is off cooldown, Poison Nova poses less of a threat as Wraith King will return with all debuffs cleared.
*
Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the slow {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from Poison Sting.
*
Borrowed Time &
Aphotic Shield can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
* Wraith King is not afraid to walk into mines, whenever he goes with his Reincarnation ready.
Additional:
* Wraith King's skeletons from
Vampiric Spirit keeps the choke points and rune spawns safe from Proximity Mines.
* Wraith King is not afraid to go into a field of Proximity Mines, wherever he goes as long as
Reincarnation is off cooldown .
* Aphotic Shield makes it less likely for allies to be killed by mines.
* Because they explode in very short intervals, a stack of
Remote Mines will always trigger Borrowed Time, making them impossible to kill Abaddon unless his resistances are lowered enough or Abaddon is affected by Break.
* Abaddon can easily dispel the long-lasting root of
Stasis Trap on himself and on an ally, while at the same also providing protection against the other mines' damage.
Additional:
*
Borrowed Time's automatic activation will help Abaddon survive a field of Proximity Mines or a Blast Off combo. However, the damage from a single mine can kill him if his HP is low enough.
*
Aphotic Shield's can easily break Techies' Etheral Blade combo.
* Wraith King makes a poor
Duel target, as he can be already quite hard to bring down once, and then you have to worry about his second life.
* However, even if Legion Commander does win the duel when Reincarnation is off cooldown, she still receives the permanent victory damage bonus because taking down Wraith King's first life still counts as a "kill".
* If he isn't broken (break), Abaddon can use Borrowed Time to waste Legion Commander's
Duel, As Borrowed Time has a shorter cooldown, Legion Commander can't win duels, effectively reducing her targets by one, Duel also means that Borrowed Time heals Abaddon for the duration of the duel, as Legion can't stop attacking.
Additional:
*
Aphotic Shield and
Mist Coil makes it hard for Legion Commander to kill Abaddon's teammates in Duels.
*
Borrowed Time makes Abaddon nearly impossible to kill in Duels, and often replenishes much of his health because Legion Commander cannot manually stop attacking during Duels.
*
Reincarnation allows Wraith King to survive Shadow Shaman's initial chain of disables and Serpent Ward attacks.
* Short cooldown of
Wraithfire Blast is ideal for interrupting Shackles.
*
Omniknight can dispel Hex or Shackles with
Heavenly Grace. He can also heal teammates who you disabled. The same goes for
Abaddon's
Aphotic Shield.
* Illusion and heroes with summons are difficult to kill with Chen's single-target offensive spells:
Terrorblade,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Broodmother,
Naga Siren,
Lycan,
Visage,
Beastmaster,
Warlock,
Wraith King. And even though Chen can convert enemy summons with Holy Persuasion, their much greater numbers will often overwhelm Chen and his creeps.
* Aphotic Shield can nullify Chen's combo, while clearing Chen's creeps simultaneously.
* Even if Wraith King dies after Magnus disables him, Magnus' entire team will be slowed and vulnerable for counter-initiation.
* Any hero who can survive Magnus's initiations and manfight him:
Huskar,
Faceless Void,
Weaver,
Abaddon,
Troll Warlord,
Alchemist,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Viper.
* Heroes that are naturally hard to gank, ranging from beefy tanks like
Abaddon and
Wraith King to heroes with quick escape mechanisms like
Anti-Mage and
Storm Spirit are also undesirable targets for a lone, roaming Bounty Hunter to scout out and initiate on.
*
Abaddon with
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
*
Abaddon with
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time
*
Huskar with
Life Break
*
Juggernaut with
Blade Fury
*
Legion Commander with
Press the Attack
*
Lifestealer with
Rage and
Infest
*
Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
*
Omniknight with
Heavenly Grace
*
Oracle with
Fortune's End and
False Promise
*
Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
*
Slark with
Dark Pact
*
Ursa with
Enrage
*
Weaver with
Time Lapse
*
Tidehunter with
Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
* Clockwerk lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Clockwerk finishes his initiation. Additionally, Clockwerk hates buying
Dagon and
Ethereal Blade, which are the only itmes that can help him deal with heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* Clockwerk lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Clockwerk finishes his initiation. Additionally, Clockwerk hates buying
Dagon and
Ethereal Blade, which are the only itmes that can help him deal with heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage:
Faceless Void,
Terrorblade,
Ursa,
Weaver,
Broodmother,
Slark,
Abaddon,
Wraith King,
Lifestealer.
* Side lanes with disables will greatly reduce the likeliness Void Spirit will be willing to rotate:
Sven,
Tiny,
Wraith King,
Ogre Magi.
* Heroes that can purge his slow and disables are very difficult to go on and their team:
Abaddon,
Oracle.
* Waning Rift's silence is almost completely worthless against Wraith King, due to him having only 1 active ability.
* Wraith King's only active ability,
Wraithfire Blast, is strong against Puck if it hits, because it applies a damage over time on top of stunning and doing impact damage, disabling Puck for a while, and Blink Dagger for even longer. It is very important to avoid getting hit by this spell when playing against Wraith King.
* Even if Puck succeeds to burst down Wraith King,
Reincarnation will ensure that Wraith King can fight back against him while leaving Puck exhausted and nearly unable to defend itself against Wraith King. And to make things worse, Puck is not a common
Diffusal Blade nor
Disperser wielder to counter this problem at all.
* 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.
*
Aphotic Shield is a strong dispel, meaning it can save allies from Earth Spirit's stun, slow, silence, and Magnetize.
*
Borrowed Time makes it nearly impossible for Earth Spirit to kill Abaddon.
*
Aphotic Shield and
Borrowed Time can both dispel Flaming Lasso.
Additional:
*
Sticky Napalm,
Flaming Lasso, and
Flamebreak can all be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
*
Firefly will continuously heal Abaddon under Borrowed Time.
*
Aphotic Shield dispels Thunder Strike.
*
Mist Coil can be used to heal an ally trapped by Static Storm-Kinetic Field combo.
*
Borrowed Time makes Abaddon nearly impossible to gank.
*
Mist Coil and
Aphotic Shield enable Abaddon to keep an ally alive during Chronosphere.
*
Borrowed Time prevents Faceless Void from killing Abaddon during his Chronosphere.
*
Wraith King,
Medusa,
Storm Spirit and other mana dependent heroes will have diminished impact on a fight if they survive Fiend's Grip due to its mana steal.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can swarm and overwhelm Bane, who has no area abilities to deal with them outside from
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Brain Sap:
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
*
Aphotic Shield applies a strong dispel on the allied target and can be used to remove both Fiend's Grip & Nightmare.
*
Borrowed Time applies a strong dispel on Abaddon and can instantly remove both Fiend's Grip & Nightmare when activated.
* Bane, when caught by
Curse of Avernus will struggle to escape because of his innately low mobility.
Additional:
*
Nightmare and
Fiend's Grip can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* Bane lacks mobility, therefore becoming helpless when silenced by Curse of Avernus.
* Huskar's damage over time gives Abaddon the opportunity to shield and heal his allies.
*
Borrowed Time also makes Abaddon a hard support to gank, thus negating Huskar's early game dominance.
*
Exorcism will continuously heal Abaddon under Borrowed Time, and cannot be turned off.
* {Ability ID:Spirit Siphon|Death Prophet} will continuously heal Abaddon under Borrowed Time, for a percentage of his maximum health.
*
Aphotic Shield prevents damage and dispels the slow from Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
*
Borrowed Time allows Abaddon to gain HP during Snapfire's
Mortimer Kisses.
* Abaddon can cast
Aphotic Shield on any of his allies to immediately dispel Corrosive Haze and/or the stun and the slow components of Slithereen Crush.
* All of Slardar's debuffs are also removed if Abaddon's
Borrowed Time triggers.
* Abaddon can remove Sacred Arrow's stun from his teammates with
Aphotic Shield, or remove it from himself with
Borrowed Time.
*
Borrowed Time makes Abaddon almost impossible to burst down with Mirana's
Aghanim's Scepter combo.
Additional:
*
Sacred Arrow can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
*
Borrowed Time mitigates the damage by Pierce the Veil for most of its duration.
* Muerta has no control over Gunslinger, making her one of the best heroes for Abaddon to regenerate from via
Borrowed Time.
* Heroes who rely on physical damage are easily negated by Ghost Shroud:
Phantom Assassin,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
* Using Reaper's Scythe against Wraith King is a bad idea for Necrophos as his Reincarnation can waste it. And when upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter it can delay the deaths of allies.
Additional:
*
Reaper's Scythe can't kill Wraith King while Reincarnation is off cooldown
* In the laning stage Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the slow {tooltip:DoT|Damage over Time} from
Heartstopper Aura.
* Heroes who possess abilities that can save targets from being killed by Reaper's Scythe:
Abaddon,
Bane,
Outworld Destroyer,
Shadow Demon,
Omniknight, etc.
Additional:
* If he isn't silenced, Abaddon can use Borrowed Time to escape
Reaper's Scythe during the delay.
* Abaddon can activate
Borrowed Time to dispel Dismember; breaking the disable and potentially allowing Abaddon to escape.
*
Aphotic Shield can be cast on an ally to dispel the stun of Dismember, which can make kills difficult to secure, given that Dismember is Pudge's only reliable disable.
* Pudge lacks a mobility without a
Blink Dagger, causing him to be easily chased with
Curse of Avernus. The silence also prevents him from toggling off his Rot.
* Heroes with high burst damage and
Black King Bar can take down Dark Willow quickly:
Phantom Assassin,
Sven,
Wraith King
* Durable heroes can stand against Tusk during 1v1:
Axe,
Dragon Knight,
Night Stalker,
Centaur Warrunner,
Wraith King and more.
* Due to Tiny's non-existent agility gain, high physical damage heroes are more effective against him (
Clinkz,
Templar Assassin,
Ursa,
Wraith King etc).
* Heroes that deal damage over time will also fail to bring down Abaddon and his allies, such as
Huskar,
Venomancer, or
Phoenix.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* 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.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with summons and illusions as Spirit Breaker has no strong AoE capabilities to deal with them:
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Warlock,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Shadow Shaman,
Lycan,
Wraith King.
*
Nyx Assassin might not kill Abaddon with his nuke, but a support Abaddon will struggle to protect an ally from him.
*
Impale and
Spiked Carapace stun can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* Abaddon can use Borrowed Time and easily heal for the duration of Borrowed Time by Nyx's burst damage.
* 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.
Additional:
*
Doom will make Abaddon unable to use Mist Coil, Aphotic Shield, and the active component of Borrowed Time, also upgraded with
Aghanim's Scepter can break Curse of Avernus and the passive component of Borrowed Time ,which means his allies could be easily disabled or killed.
* Even if he is
Doomed, Wraith King can tear down Doom with physical attacks, and can still reincarnate as long as it is off-cooldown.
Additional:
* Wraith King has three passive abilities and only a single active ability, so Doom does not hinder him significantly.
* Doom expires upon death, so it is effectively removed after
Reincarnation activates.
* Wraith King's lack of area of effect spells makes him easily overwhelmed by Beastmaster's summons.
*
Aphotic Shield effectively nullifies Primal Roar's single-target initiation on allies.
* Even being initiated by Primal Roar,
Borrowed Time can make Abaddon extremely difficult to kill.
Additional:
*
Primal Roar can be instantly dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
* The debuffs from
Wild Axes and
Poison from
Call of the Wild: Boar can also be dispelled by Aphotic Shield.
*
Wraith King has a very low mana pool and is extremely dependant on it to cast his high mana cost abilities, so
Mana Drain will make him struggle way too hard, even not being able to active his passive ability
Reincarnation, forcing the
Wraith King to buy
Aghanim's Shard as soon as possible.
* Althought
Wraith King may not be as fragile to struggle against
Lion's damage, it's much easier to disable and harass him, as
Wraith King doesn't have any mobility at all, his only gap closer being
Wraithfire Blast which costs too much mana for his mana pool, and may only affect one target.
Additional:
* While not being able to confront Wraith King by himself, Lion's
Mana Drain helps in draining Wraith King's mana, preventing him from reincarnating unless he has his Aghanim's Shard.
* Lion's
Earth Spike and
Hex provide decent lockdown against Wraith King as well, preventing the latter from benefiting from Vampiric Spirit bonuses.
*
Aphotic Shield applies strong dispel on targeted allies, while
Borrowed Time does the same on
Abaddon himself upon both casts (manually or automatically), removing disables, such as
Earth Spike and
Hex.
*
Abaddon may offer survivability to
Lion's nuke power by shielding and healing allies and himself.
* Lack of inner escape and defensive mechanisms increases
Curse of Avernus effectiveness, since it slows per stack (applied upon auto attacking), and silences when it reaches the maximum stack.
* A hero that
Rubick cannot reliably kill in most cases,
Wraith King is deceptively vulnerable to
Rubick in teamfights.
*
Rubick can kite
Wraith King by casting
Telekinesis should
Rubick stays alive after first wave of skirmishes.
* {{A:Fade Bolt|Rubick} negates damage from
Wraith King's skeletons.
*
Wraithfire Blast is a spell very easy to stolen even for new Rubick players if
Wraith King is on the other side.
* A 2 second stun with a 8 second cooldown (6 second with Rubick's Level 15 talent -25% Stolen Spells Cooldown, as of 7.31c) is already far enough to lockdown Wraith King to a crawl, as he does not have much mobility on his own and can be easily targeted.
*
Reincarnation may sound insurmountable, but the extra 3 second delay already grant about half the cooldown duration for a stolen
Wraithfire Blast.
* Rubick has sufficient mana pool to cast
Wraithfire Blast multiple times.
* Although not the best option,
Vampiric Spirit can be casted after Rubick gained enough last hits to summon skeletons for pushing and farming.
* Wraith King abilities are mostly passive making
Spell Steal meaningless.
* This can also mean that Rubick's Spell Steal used on Wraith King guarantees him a stun spell.
* Rubick's lack of mobility & low health pool is easily tear down by Wraith King physical attacks.
* Shadow Demon with an
Aghanim's Scepter will use
Demonic Purge to disable Curse of Avernus and the passive component of Borrowed Time. If this is combined with a silence, Borrowed Time will not trigger at all.
* Even without
Aghanim's Scepter, he can still waste Borrowed Time with
Disruption. Curse of Avernus fully works on illusions, turning the passive ability against him.
* Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge with
Aghanim's Scepter cannot break
Reincarnation, which could put him in a disadvantage against Wraith King if his whole team is with him.
*
Vampiric Spirit can out-heal the damage from Shadow Demon's abilities.
* However, Wraith King is a single-target hero, so he cannot deal with Disruption illusions.
* Heroes that have long silences, such as
Night Stalker and
Silencer, will prevent Abaddon from saving his allies effectively and disable the active component of Borrowed Time.
* Heroes who rely on passive abilities and attacks, such as
Drow Ranger,
Wraith King, and
Lone Druid, can render Silencer useless. But remember that a smart Silencer will most likely buy
Silver Edge to counter this if he is played as carry.
* Wraith King has no form of AoE to clear Chaos Knight's illusions from
Phantasm.
* Wraith King is very vulnerable if he reincarnates in the middle of his illusions.
* Abaddon could punish Chaos Knight for using his Phantasm and Reality Rift combo on him with
Aphotic Shield. Additionally, it provides extra protection against Chaos Knight's potential to take Abaddon down quickly.
* Furthermore, Abaddon's
Borrowed Time makes it utterly impossible to burst Abaddon down, effectively reducing the amount of targets Chaos Knight can threaten by 1 for the entire game.
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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.
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Wraith King
* Mana Break quickly eats away at Wraith King's small mana pool, preventing
Reincarnation from triggering.
Blink Dagger, Wraith King is easily kited by Blink.
Mana Break can prevent Wraith King from reincarnating unless Wraith King has his Aghanim's Shard that removes the mana cost from Reincarnation.
Manta Style, his mana burning will triple because illusions can also use
Mana Break.
Blink or reflect it back with
Counterspell.
* Wraith King has no innate mobility. Even with
* Anti-Mage can farm much more quickly than Wraith King, allowing Anti-Mage to overpower Wraith King once a significant farm advantage is established.
Additional:
*
* With
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and if Anti-Mage can react fast enough, he will be able to disjoint it with
Abaddon
* Mana Break drains Abaddon's mana, preventing him from using
Aphotic Shield to zone out enemies in lane.
Aphotic Shield and
Mist Coil.
* Counterspell decreases the amount of damage received from