Zeus
* Thundergod's Wrath strikes only the first Meepo.
* Zeus has low mobilty so consecutive 
Earthbinds are easy to hit and he'll quickly die from 
Poofs.
Riki
* 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
Additional:
* Root is a deadly threat to Riki, disabling both 
Blink Strike and 
Tricks of the Trade while making him fully revealed, making Earthbind a good ability against him.
* 
Smoke Screen may not be able to silence all the Meepo clones.
* Riki has no true area damage, as Tricks of the Trade's damage is distributed between all Meepo clones, so he cannot effectively fight Meepo or deal with his strong ability to push unless Riki has 
Battle Fury.
Zeus
* Heroes with low mobility that rely on spells: 
Zeus, 
Lina, 
Crystal Maiden.
Riki
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and kill Riki. Riki will also find it harder to kill the tanky Night Stalker than he would many other heroes.
Zeus
* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are 
Death Prophet, 
Drow Ranger, 
Bloodseeker, 
Disruptor and many others.
* 
Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.
Riki
* Thirst detects Riki whenever his health is low.
* Rupture does large damage when Riki uses Blink Strike.
Zeus
* Even though Pugna's low HP means that he can be quickly burst down, his 
Nether Ward heavily punishes casters whose spells cost a lot of mana, like Zeus. Casting 4 of his active spells, including Nimbus, close to an enhanced level 4 Nether Ward, can make the ward deal up to 1750 magical damage.
* 
Decrepify can further increase the damage dealt by Nether Ward upon Zeus. However, if used on Pugna himself or on one of his allies, it will amplify the damage done by Zeus' abilities.
Riki
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify: Riki, 
Wraith King, 
Juggernaut.
Zeus
* 
Time Dilation can limit Zeus to casting his abilities only once in a fight, effectively serving as a 6/8/10/12 second silence.
* 
Time Walk negates Zeus's burst damage.
* 
Chronosphere makes Zeus the best target for Void because of his low mobility.
Riki
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as 
Bounty Hunter, 
Clinkz, 
Mirana, 
Nyx Assassin and Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
Zeus
* 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.
Riki
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage, Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Faceless Void, 
Gyrocopter, Juggernaut, 
Meepo, Mirana, 
Monkey King, 
Morphling, Phantom Assassin, 
Phantom Lancer, Riki, Shadow Fiend, 
Slark, 
Sniper, 
Terrorblade, 
Troll Warlord, Weaver.
Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as 
Clockwerk, 
Kunkka, Puck, 
Skywrath Mage, 
Spirit Breaker, 
Tusk and others.
Riki
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions: Riki, 
Broodmother, Phantom Lancer
Zeus
* Huskar's Burning Spears chip through his low health pool quickly.Consequently, he is forced to either invest on health regen or abandon the lane.
* Reliant on magic damage, there is little he can do against Huskar.
* Huskar will usually kill him if he gets Life Break off,given Zeus' poor mobility.
Riki
* Axe can disable 
Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with 
Berserker's Call, which forces Riki to attack him at a very bad angle.
* Axe has a very high HP pool, making it hard for you to kill him before you get big items - that is if you survive engaging him. 
Counter Helix ignores Riki's armor and goes straight for his tiny HP pool, totally ignoring Smoke Screen.
* Axe is a natural buyer of Blade Mail and Riki generally does not buy lifesteal items, causing Riki to kill himself when attacking due to your tiny HP pool.
Riki
* Riki takes a lot of damage from 
Purification while ganking Omniknight's allies or himself.
* 
Heavenly Grace instantly purges the slow from 
Diffusal Blade, while also providing a large amount of survivability for his victim.
* 
Degen Aura can hinder Riki's positioning tactics and put a heavy toll on Riki's already poor movement speed.
* Omniknight can easily save his allies by using 
Guardian Angel in combat.
Riki
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
Riki
* Riki can easily be caught in an Ice Path and Macropyre combo as he finishes Tricks of the Trade, Jakiro just has to be careful about Riki's Smoke Screen when dealing with Riki.
Riki
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
* Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
* Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal 
Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
Additional:
* The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with 
Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
* Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's 
Quill Spray while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
* Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from 
Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys 
Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Zeus
* 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.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit has a built-in antimagic shield, and Zeus has nothing but this magical damage, because of this, their confrontation on the center line can turn out to be sad for Zeus. If on such a line Ember Spirit will finish off all creeps under its 
Flame Guard, and Zeus with the help of Arc Lightning, then eventually Zeus will lose mana faster, and will be forced to look for ways to replenish it
* Ember Spirit can interrupt Zeus with his "jumping" abilities, the fact is that Zeus deals damage from his abilities directly, while Ember Spirit disappears for milliseconds from the battlefield when flying during the 
Sleight of Fist action or when flying into 
Fire Remnant
Zeus
* Chaos Knight's high health pool makes him resistant to Zeus' burst damage. 
Phantasm can dispel 
Veil of Discord, a typical item purchased by Zeus.
* Zeus is easily overwhelmed by Chaos Knight's strong illusions, as Arc Lightning is not enough to kill them fast enough to have any impact.
* Zeus' low base armor makes him extremely vulnerable to Chaos Knight's high damage output and armor reduction.
Riki
* 
Static Link drains away Riki's damage while keeping his location revealed for its duration, allowing his team to accurately land detection or area-of-effect skills.
* 
Storm Surge procs on invisible heroes, making him aware of Riki's presence near him.
Zeus
* Marci on the midlane will win the laning phase against Zeus almost every time, as her powerspike at level 6 will decimate Zeus' low health pool and force him to stay far back.
* Even before level 6, Dispose and Sidekick can easily take half of Zeus' health if he is in range of Dispose.
Riki
* Blink Strike does not grant Riki a mobility advantage over Phantom Assassin, as her Phantom Strike serves the same purpose, but with a higher range.
* A Carry Riki usually has a hard time dealing with Blur, as a 
Monkey King Bar or 
Bloodthorn are unfavourable item picks for him (or, even more unlikely, a Silver Edge).
* A 
Black King Bar is a very common pick for Phantom Assassin, fully countering Smoke Screen and Diffusal Blade while activated.
Zeus
* Visage can quickly kill heroes with low to medium base armor and no innate escape mechanism. Examples include 
Alchemist, Crystal Maiden and Zeus.
Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
Riki
* Riki doesn't deal burst damage.Durable heroes (
Axe, 
Tidehunter etc.) will usually survive a jump from him,move out of Smoke Screen and potentially retaliate.
Riki
* With 
Aghanim's Scepter, Broodmother will gain access to 
Spinner's Snare, which will allow her to create invisible lines on her webs from 
Spin Web that will root, deal damage over time, and reveal enemy heroes if they unwittingly step on them. This allows Broodmother to keep her allies alerted on heroes who rely on invisibility-themed and movement-themed abilities and items to surprise enemy heroes and disrupt ganking attempts of enemy heroes: Phantom Assassin, Nyx Assassin, Mirana, Bounty Hunter, 
Templar Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker, Anti-Mage, Tusk, 
Ursa, Nature's Prophet, Enigma, 
Void Spirit, Magnus etc.
Zeus
* Once you get a Black King Bar, squishy spellcasters like Zeus, Skywrath Mage and others will be probably easy to deal with.
Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
Zeus
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: 
Lycan, Slark, Storm Spirit, 
Spectre and others.
Riki
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, 
Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, 
Sand King, Spirit Breaker, 
Timbersaw, Tusk.
Zeus
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina, 
Lion, Zeus
Zeus
* Heroes with summons that are destroyed by a fixed number of attacks: 
Undying's 
Tombstone, Gyrocopter's 
Homing Missile, and Zeus's 
Nimbus.
Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
Riki
* Techies is very good against roaming supports and gankers such as Bounty Hunter, Riki, Weaver, 
Earthshaker, Nyx Assassin, etc. that are constantly moving around the map.
Zeus
* None of Zeus's abilities can damage a Juggernaut in 
Blade Fury.
* Zeus's short attack range makes it difficult for him to target a well-placed 
Healing Ward. His frequent use of Arc Lightning will have almost no effect on allies being healed by Juggernaut.
* Zeus has no way to defend himself, even if Juggernaut cannot use Blade Fury. He can be easily taken out if cornered, sometimes even without 
Omnislash.
Additional:
* Blade Fury negates all magical damage from Zeus.
* Omnislash can easily take down Zeus. However, be aware that most players will get a 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or a 
Ghost Scepter against Juggernaut.
Riki
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Slark etc.
Zeus
* Zeus' main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
* Zeus likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
* If Zeus dies near Silencer, he will begin to lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Zeus dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.
Additional:
* Silencer's 
Global Silence will render Zeus useless for 6 seconds in a team fight.
* 
Arcane Curse will punish Zeus for casting spells, which can cause continuous damage to him should he continue to cast spells.
* 
Last Word can silence Zeus and prevent him from spamming his spells.
* Silencer often builds 
Orchid Malevolence (or Bloodthorn) which can be used on spell casters like Zeus, forcing him to invest in a 
Linken's Sphere.
Riki
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as 
Viper and Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
Zeus
* Zeus almost exclusively relies on magical damage, which is heavily reduced by Counterspell.
* Zeus' complete lack of mobility makes him very easy for Anti-Mage to chase down with Blink.
* Zeus likes to stand in the back during team fights, but Anti-Mage can easily Blink to close the distance.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can burn mana, which is a big problem for a spellcaster like Zeus that heavily relies on it.
* 
Counterspell decreases magical damage taken from Zeus.
* Zeus' high intelligence and mana pool makes him a perfect target for 
Mana Void.
Riki
* 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.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can use neither 
Blink nor 
Manta Style to escape from Smoke Cloud.
* Even if he activates a Black King Bar, his Manta Style illusions will still be blinded by Smoke Cloud.
* Riki has a very small mana pool and generally doesn't buy many items that increase it, making Mana Void ineffective.
Zeus
* Zeus burst damage can be reduced by 
Dispersion and reflect some of the damage back to Zeus himself.
* Zeus has low mobility and stays in backlines, 
Spectral Dagger or 
Haunt can easily catch him as he has no escape mechanism.
* Since Zeus has low HP, Spectral Dagger and 
Desolate will quickly tear Zeus down when he's alone.
Riki
* Spectral Dagger follows Riki even after he goes invisible and stays on him through Tricks of the Trade, revealing his location.
* Desolate grants Spectre the ability to damage Riki with right clicks regardless of Smoke Screen's blind.
* Riki relies on his high damage to kill is opponents, which is countered by Dispersion.
* Haunt can find Riki globally at any time, negating much of his ganking potential.
Zeus
* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like 
Batrider, Monkey King, Spectre, and 
Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.
Riki
* Riki's Smoke Screen can make it hard for Spectre to escape or burst down Riki with auto attacks.
* Riki can build Aghanim's Scepter and jump inside an allied carry or offlane tank with Tricks of the Trade to do a lot of damage to Spectre while completely avoiding Dispersion.
* Riki is great at destroying supports which are often needed to keep Spectre safe until she comes online. He can take them down quickly in team fights, which will leave Spectre alone against your whole team, a fight that she will most likely not win.
* While on Tricks of the Trade, Riki does not take damage from Dispersion.
Zeus
* Zeus likes to stay far back in fights, dealing his damage uninterrupted, but once he gets hooked into the fight, he usually dies very quickly.
* Pudge's high strength from Flesh Heap makes it very hard for Zeus to burst him down.
* Zeus' low health pool makes him very vulnerable to the damage from Meat Hook, Rot and Dismember.
Additional:
* 
Meat Hook's high range allows Pudge's team to drag Zeus in the middle of the fight and abuse his frailty.
* 
Flesh Heap's health and magic resistance bonus makes Pudge exceptionally resistant to Zeus' nukes. In later stages of the game, Zeus is usually unable to seriously damage Pudge at all. Even Static Field, which deals damage based on a percentage of the enemy's health, won't be doing much.
* Even if Zeus buys a Black King Bar, Meat Hook and 
Dismember still disable him for a long time, usually causing Zeus' quick death.
* Zeus is vulnerable to early ganks, which Pudge excels at.
Riki
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit, Riki, Clinkz, Queen of Pain.
Riki
* 
Pit of Malice prevents Riki from casting Blink Strike. or Tricks of the Trade.
* 
Atrophy Aura reduces Riki's damage.
* 
Firestorm can be used to harrass Riki in lane.
Zeus
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate: 
Luna's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Eclipse, 
Dawnbreaker's 
Solar Guardian, Axe's Berserker's Call, Mars's 
Arena of Blood, 
Jakiro's 
Macropyre, 
Dual Breath and 
Ice Path, 
Naga Siren's 
Song of the Siren, 
Razor's 
Eye of the Storm and 
Plasma Field, Lina's 
Light Strike Array, Broodmother's Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter, 
Elder Titan's 
Earth Splitter and 
Echo Stomp, Alchemist's 
Unstable Concoction and 
Acid Spray, Queen of Pain's 
Sonic Wave, 
Dark Seer's 
Wall of Replica and 
Vacuum, 
Venomancer's 
Noxious Plague and 
Poison Nova from Aghanim's Scepter, 
Oracle's 
Fortune's End and 
Rain of Destiny from 
Aghanim's Shard, Bloodseeker's 
Blood Rite, Enigma's 
Black Hole and 
Midnight Pulse, Shadow Fiend's 
Requiem of Souls, Batrider's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Flaming Lasso, 
Firefly, 
Flamebreak and 
Sticky Napalm, 
Ancient Apparition's 
Ice Blast, Sand King's 
Epicenter, 
Sand Storm and 
Burrowstrike, Gyrocopter's 
Call Down, Ember Spirit's Sleight of Fist, Death Prophet's 
Exorcism and 
Silence, Monkey King's 
Wukong's Command, Crystal Maiden's 
Freezing Field, 
Muerta's 
The Calling, Medusa's 
Stone Gaze, Zeus's Nimbus from Aghanim's Scepter. 
Dark Willow's 
Bramble Maze, Pangolier's 
Swashbuckle, Grimstroke's 
Soulbind, 
Ink Swell and 
Stroke of Fate, Earthshaker's 
Echo Slam and 
Fissure, Puck's 
Dream Coil and 
Waning Rift, Winter Wyvern's 
Winter's Curse, Magnus's 
Reverse Polarity.
Zeus
* Enchantress has a very low health pool, allowing Zeus to burst her down quickly before she can heal off the damage with Nature's Attendants.
* Zeus will not be affected by Untouchable, as he won't try to attack her with right clicks anyway.
* Zeus can stay out of her attack range while trying to kill her, especially if he has bought an 
Aether Lens.
* Most heroes would want to get on top of Zeus to kill him, but Enchantress does not have this option as doing so would severely limit her damage from Impetus.
* The exception is the laning phase, where Enchantress can gank Zeus if she Enchants a good creep.
Additional:
* Enchantress has a very low health pool, allowing Zeus to burst her down quickly before she can heal off the damage.
* Zeus will not be affected by 
Untouchable, as he won't try to attack her with right clicks anyway.
* Zeus can stay out of her attack range while trying to kill her, especially if he has bought an Aether Lens.
* Most heroes would want to get on top of Zeus to kill him, but Enchantress does not have this option as doing so would severely limit her 
Impetus damage.
* The exception is the laning phase, where Enchantress can gank Zeus if she Enchants a good creep.
Riki
* Riki usually buys Diffusal Blade to initiate, which renders Enchantress' movement speed useless, and is usually followed with Smoke Screen.
* Riki can effectively hit Enchantress by Tricks of the Trade alongside with Diffusal Blade and Smoke Screen's initiation. For a hero like Enchantress, 3 to 4 hits from Riki is a big deal, unless Enchantress built 
Force Staff earlier.
Zeus
* Arc Lightning has a low cooldown can used to pop his Linken's Sphere.
* 
Lightning Bolt or (Nimbus upgraded from Aghanim's Scepter) detects Weaver during Shukuchi, preventing his ganks.
* 
Thundergod's Wrath can kill Weaver quickly before he can cast his Time Lapse at low health.
Riki
* Smoke Cloud prevents 
Shukuchi and 
Time Lapse, leaving Weaver helpless against Riki.
* 
The Swarm is ineffective against Riki because invisibility instantly removes the beetles.
Zeus
* Zeus can break 
Blink Dagger with his long range abilities and global range ultimate, Thundergod's Wrath.
* Lightning Bolt has a long range and a mini-stun, providing a way for him to cancel Black Hole from safe distances, assuming Enigma doesn't have his Black King Bar.
* Zeus's Aghanim's Scepter grants him Nimbus ability that has a global range and mini-stun, making it an even more effective way to cancel Black Hole before Enigma initiates with Black King Bar.
* Zeus is typically able to position himself at a safe distance from the fight, making him a difficult target to capture in a Black Hole.
Riki
* Riki can potentially catch an Enigma out of position and prevent him from properly blinking and initiating, thanks to Cloak and Dagger.
* Before Enigma gets his Black King Bar, Smoke Screen can be used to cancel Black Hole. After Enigma gets Black King Bar, Riki can also cancel Black Hole with Abyssal Blade, which is a common item built on him.
* Tricks of the Trade renders Riki hidden and invulnerable, which in combination with Abyssal Blade allows Riki to cancel Black Hole with little to no worries of getting caught in it.
* Enigma's fragility during all stages of the game makes him extremely prone to Riki's ganking.
Zeus
* Arc Lightning allows Zeus to get farm in lane against Shadow Fiend without coming into the range of his Shadowrazes.
* Lightning Bolt can be used to heavily harass Shadow Fiend when he tries to get a last hit.
* Thundergod's Wrath and Lightning Bolt can be used to detect Shadow Fiend if he tries to escape with 
Shadow Blade.
Riki
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit, Nyx Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker.
Zeus
* Zeus can reveal Clinkz with Lightning Bolt.
* He is vulnerable to Zeus's magical nukes, due to his low health pool.
Riki
* Heroes with high armor like 
Dragon Knight, or with abilities to cause attacks to miss like Phantom Assassin, Riki and Tinker will be hard to deal with, as Clinkz relies almost entirely on physical attacks.
Additional:
* Smoke Cloud prevents the use of 
Death Pact, 
Searing Arrows and 
Skeleton Walk, so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
* It's hard to gank Riki as Clinkz has to find him first.
Zeus
* Zeus greatly hinders Invoker on the line with his long-range abilities. QW- and QE-Invoker have a very long recharge on abilities, and Zeus' Arc Lightning ability recharges too quickly, which is why he quickly kills a pack of creeps and drives Invoker under his tower, punching and not letting finish off creeps
* Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath abilities reveal invisibility of enemies, for example Invoker invisibility from 
Ghost Walk ability
Additional:
* Zeus greatly hinders Invoker on the line with his long-range abilities. QW- and QE-Invoker have a very long recharge on abilities, and Zeus' Arc Lightning ability recharges too quickly, which is why he quickly kills a pack of creeps and drives Invoker under his tower, punching and not letting finish off creeps
* Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath abilities reveal invisibility of enemies, for example Invoker invisibility from Ghost Walk ability
Riki
* Heroes with silence: Death Prophet, Riki, Drow Ranger.
Zeus
* Thundergod's Wrath will often disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger before a fight starts.
Riki
* Earthshaker must be careful not to use Blink Dagger or Aghanim's Scepter upgraded 
Enchant Totem to blink into Riki's Smoke Screen or 
Night Stalker's 
Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.
Riki
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away: Riki, Bounty Hunter.
Zeus
* Mars' own father is a formidable foe because Zeus deals massive amounts of magical damage. The high damage, low cooldown nukes of Arc Lightning and Lightning Bolt combined with the percent health magic damage of 
Static Field will shred Mars' health because it bypasses Bulwark completely.
Riki
* Blink Strike gives bonus backstab damage and can bypass Bulwark. Defensively, it could be used to teleport away from Mars, especially while inside Arena of Blood.
* Smoke Screen can interrupt Mars' skill combos, especially when cast inside Arena of Blood.
* Tricks of the Trade can be used to evade Mars' skills, which have a slight delay to them. It could also be used to buy himself time while trapped inside of Arena of Blood.
Additional:
* 
Bulwark is generally irrelevant against Riki as he primarily deals bonus damage from behind.
Zeus
* Heroes who can provide True Sight or semi-reveal enemy heroes as Nature's Prophet is prone to buying Shadow Blade: Bounty Hunter, 
Slardar, Spectre, Zeus, Spirit Breaker.
Riki
* Heroes with invisibility: (Riki, Clinkz, Nyx Assassin.
Zeus
* Heroes with spells that negate invisibility such as Bounty Hunter, Zeus and Slardar prevent her from saving her allies with Moonlight Shadow.
Riki
* Heroes that have superior mobility that can easily catch up with Mirana even after she used Leap to escape: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Riki.
Zeus
* Zeus deals enormous amounts of magic damage, being one of the best heroes to burst down Timbersaw early in the game.
* Lightning Bolt's mini-stun can stop Timbersaw's from escaping a fight with Timber Chain.
Additional:
* 
Reactive Armor will not trigger from Zeus's spells or protect Timbersaw from their damage.
* Early game Timbersaw's strength is average and Zeus can heavily aid in bursting him down.
* Late game, if Timbersaw has built a lot of HP items, Zeus's passive Static Field will be more effective at chipping away Timbersaw's large HP pool.
* A Timbersaw who builds 
Pipe of Insight will be much more difficult to kill, as Zeus has no way to hold Timbersaw down, but Timbersaw will have less armor, mana, and damage than normal if he buys this item early game just to counter Zeus.
Zeus
* Due to Hoodwink's low health and Zeus's high magic damage from Arc Lightning, Lightning Bolt and Static Field as well as global abilities from Thundergod's Wrath and Nimbus, he can easily kill her throughout the game and also reveal where Hoodwink is positioned or when she's in trees.
Zeus
* Zeus's enormous magical damage output makes Pierce the Veil risky to use without a Black King Bar.
* Zeus does not rely on attack speed, making The Calling nearly pointless against him.
* If Zeus is ever too close to Muerta, he can use 
Heavenly Jump to disengage.
Zeus
* Zeus usually stays at the back in teamfights and it is hard for Sand King to find Zeus and knock him down before Zeus deals his damage.
* All of Zeus' abilities, especially Thundergod's Wrath, disables Sand King's Blink Dagger, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential.
* Lightning Bolt deals damage to Sand King in Sand Storm and reveals him. It also interrupts channeling of Epicenter.
Zeus
* Zeus can easily find Magnus who is often hiding in the trees with Thundergod's Wrath and Lightning Bolt, which allows him to warn allies and disrupt his initiation attempts.
Riki
* Riki has high damage and invisibility, meaning he can easily gank Rubick and kill him before Rubick has the chance to react.
* Cloak and Dagger renders Riki invisible, which makes his spells hard to steal if not being initiated.
* Similar to Clinkz, Rubick has to buy a large amount of Sentry Wards to keep track of Riki due to Cloak and Dagger, preventing Rubick from getting better items.
Riki
* Smoke Cloud prevents Queen of Pain from using any of her offensive and defensive spells, rendering her unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
* It's easy to dodge Sonic Wave by using Blink Strike & Tricks of the Trade.
Riki
* Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which Riki can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
Riki
* Heroes with high base damage (Morphling, 
Tiny, Drow Ranger), heroes with mana burning abilities (Anti-Mage), and Diffusal Blade users (Juggernaut or Riki) will suffer from Reflection's illusions.
Zeus
* Arc Lightning and Lightning Bolt can easily burst Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Static Field from Aghanim's Shard can automatically hit everything in a big radius, taking a huge chunk of health out of Terrorblade's illusions, regardless of how much health they have.
Riki
* Heroes with abilities that can lock down Terrorblade and prevent him from using Sunder: 
Bane, Batrider, Earthshaker, Elder Titan, Faceless Void, Invoker, 
Legion Commander, Mars, 
Primal Beast, Riki, Shadow Shaman, Silencer, 
Vengeful Spirit, Void Spirit.
Riki
* Smoke Screen combined with Diffusal Blade leaves Arc Warden effectively useless for a while as he struggles to escape the silence with low mobility.
* With Arc Warden's low mobility, Tricks of the Trade often deal decent damage to him before he moves out of it.
Riki
* Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her abilities, rendering her defenseless and unable to deal any serious damage.
* Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.
Zeus
* Necrophos' 
Ghost Shroud increases the magic damage taken by Necrophos.
* If Zeus builds both an 
Ethereal Blade and Veil of Discord, it almost always guarantees a kill.
Zeus
* Lich does not pose a big threat to Zeus in teamfights, as his spells don't have great cast range and Zeus should be too far back for a 
Chain Frost to bounce among him and his allies.
* Lich has a low health pool, allowing Zeus to burst him down quickly.
Riki
* 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.
Riki
* Riki is known for being a successful support killer, something Shadow Shaman is very vulnerable to.
* Smoke Screen is particularly devastating to Shadow Shaman. With neither his various disables nor a solid health pool Shadow Shaman is usually dead. This forces Shadow Shaman to buy a Force Staff if he finds himself in this scenario and buy 
Sentry Wards if you have the money.
Riki
* Riki can get on top of Ancient Apparition very easily with Blink Strike. This can also double as a way to dodge Ice Blast, along with Tricks of the Trade.
* Ancient Apparition will frequently resort to casting Ice Blast right before dying. Smoke Screen can be used to prevent this, stopping Ancient Apparition from having any impact.
Riki
* 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.
Zeus
* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like Batrider, Monkey King, Spectre, and Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.
Riki
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
Additional:
* Chen is basically Riki's natural prey: he has little HP, low armor and relies on his persuaded creeps to fight, which in most situations will not save Chen from Riki. Just be wary of {U:Centaur Conqueror}, who can stun Riki outside of Smoke Screen and ruin his attempt at Chen's life.
Zeus
* Heroes with global nukes will target and hit Phantom Lancer regardless of his illusions: Zeus
Riki
* Luna can push very fast with Moon Glaives, which is something Riki cannot deal with well.
* Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.
* Even though Riki can evade Eclipse with his invisibility, smart Luna will always buy 
Dust of Appearance, providing vision on Riki to her allies and herself.
Additional:
* Luna can push very fast with Moon Glaives, which is something Riki cannot deal with well.
* Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.
* Even though Riki can evade Eclipse with his invisibility, smart Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance, providing vision on Riki to her allies and herself.
Zeus
* Zeus's highly damaging nuke spells with low cooldowns is not something Luna can go against, though Luna can win against Zeus in late game.
* Thundergod's Wrath can be used before a fight to harm Luna before she activates Black King Bar, reducing her survivability for that fight.
* For the same reasons, Zeus makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Riki
* All assassin-type carries in a one against one situation: Meepo, Phantom Assassin, Riki, Ursa. Luna's only chances are that she buys Ethereal Blade or Black King Bar to gain a slight edge against them, or both items if necessary.
Zeus
* 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.
Riki
* In general, heroes who are melee with no way to fight back can be very easily poked by Monkey King to gain his Jingu Mastery stacks: Dark Seer, Riki, 
Rubick.
Zeus
* Zeus is good against heroes that juke in trees or up cliffs, like Batrider, Monkey King, Spectre, and Tinker, by providing vision in any area with Lightning Bolt, or guaranteeing vision on enemies with Thundergod's Wrath.
Riki
* Heroes with blind of some sort can be a bad choice for Monkey King to go on: Broodmother, Riki, 
Keeper of the Light.
Zeus
* Heroes with mediocre health pools who rely on armor or evasion to survive fights such as Troll Warlord, 
Windranger, and Terrorblade can be killed by Zeus if caught off guard.
Riki
* Heroes with silences: Puck, 
Doom, Riki.
Zeus
* Heroes with powerful spammable abilities will prove problematic for Grimstroke as Ink Swell does not protect him from them: Zeus, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Lina
Zeus
* Heroes with high magical burst damage will kill Gyrocopter before he gets to do much: Lina, Lion, Zeus
Riki
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through his allies and deal with him, preventing him from doing his job. Such heroes include 
Chaos Knight, Spirit Breaker, Riki, and more.
Riki
* Riki: Smoke Screen can prevent Lone Druid from using True Form and Savage Roar, additionally it cause the spirit bear to miss on attacks which reduce the chances of getting rooted from it, with diffusal Blade, he can keep Lone Druid or the Spirit Bear inside the Smoke.
Zeus
* Some heroes with extreme range, like Zeus, Invoker or Clockwerk, can snipe your allies from anywhere after your Grave has expired.
Riki
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, 
Lifestealer.
Riki
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility: Crystal Maiden, Enigma, Dark Willow, Vengeful Spirit.
Zeus
* Heavy nukers will do well against Cold Embrace (Lina, Zeus etc).
Additional:
* Any ally that Winter Wyvern tries to save with 
Cold Embrace can still be damaged by all of Zeus's spells.
* If Winter Wyvern tries to juke vision by flying up a cliff or in the trees, Zeus can gain vision there with Lightning Bolt or Thundergod's Wrath.
* If Zeus is forced to attack an ally by Winter's Curse, his unimpressive attack damage and attack speed means they won't be hurt much by him. Zeus will also stay near the back of fights away from his allies, making a deadly Curse less likely.
Riki
* 
Ensnare prevents using any kind of movement abiilties, Making Naga Siren good against heroes who rely on gap-closing abilities to escape: Phantom Assassin, Magnus, Slark, Riki, Faceless Void, Storm Spirit.
Zeus
* Zeus's abilities deal high amounts of burst magical damage, which ignores Naga Siren's high armor.
* Arc Lightning is a good way to destroy Naga Siren's illusions due to it's capabilities to bounce between enemies.
* Static Field from Aghanim's Shard can automatically hit everything in a big radius, taking a huge chunk of health out of Naga Siren's illusions, regardless of how much health they have.
Zeus
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as Lina, Slark and Zeus.
Riki
* Cloak and Dagger makes Sven unable to detect where Riki is until he shows or his team provides detection.
* Smoke Screen will make Sven miss attacks before he has his Black King Bar.
Zeus
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan, Slark, Storm Spirit, Spectre and others.
Riki
* Smoke Cloud prevents Storm Spirit from using any of his offensive and defensive spells, rendering him unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
Additional:
* Smoke Screen prevents Storm Spirit from using his abilities once inside the radius. Riki can utilize this ability to allow his team to fight around Smoke Screen so that Storm Spirit cannot spam his spells to proc 
Overload.
Riki
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (Riki, Bounty Hunter, Weaver, or Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
Riki
* Smoke Screen effectively disables Crystal Maiden's channeling spell: Freezing Field.
* Due to her low health and armor throughout the game, Riki can kill her easily.
Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
Riki
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy Black King Bar.
* 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.
Zeus
* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are Death Prophet, Drow Ranger, Bloodseeker, Disruptor and many others.
* Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.
Riki
* Blink Strike gets Riki close to Drow Ranger and disable Marksmanship.
* Cloak and Dagger allow Riki stay close to Drow Ranger without her noticing him, which allows him to disable Marksmanship.
Additional:
* With Blink Strike, Riki can get close to Drow Ranger and disable her 
Marksmanship, and Smoke Screen will prevent her from using 
Gust.
Riki
* Invisibility reliant heroes: Heroes with invisibility abilities or those that have invested into invisibility items are hindered by Bounty Hunter's Track. Few examples of such heroes are:Clinkz, Riki, Treant Protector, etc.
Additional:
* 
Track reveals Riki while invisible and gives him a hard time, as it prevents much of his ganking capabilities. This can force Riki to buy Manta Style to dispel it.
Zeus
* Lightning Bolt makes roaming behind enemy lines more and more difficult as Zeus becomes powerful enough to spam it. Also, Zeus' Ultimate Thundergod's Wrath reveals Bounty Hunter regardless of his position.
Additional:
* Bounty Hunter has a very low health pool, allowing Zeus to burst him down quickly.
* Zeus can cast Lightning Bolt to gain True Sight in any area he suspects Bounty Hunter may be invisible or any area he thinks Bounty Hunter may have warded.
* If Bounty Hunter tries to escape a gank by using 
Shadow Walk, Zeus can gain vision of him with both Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath.
Zeus
* Heroes with a lot of burst damage, especially those who rely on casting spells: Lina, Zeus.
Riki
* With Smoke Screen, Riki will silence and catch Medusa in a surprise with high miss chance flushing her from positions easily in team fights.
* He can deal a huge amount of damage through Cloak and Dagger, even through Mana Shield.
Riki
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down: Crystal Maiden, 
Enchantress, Gyrocopter, Lion, Riki, 
Techies, Terrorblade, 
Necrophos, Invoker.
Zeus
* Zeus can easily reveal Tinker's location in the trees with Thundergod's wrath.
* When Zeus has an Aghanim's Scepter, he can use his Nimbus, together with Lightning Bolt to interrupt Tinker's 
Keen Conveyance channelling and cancel Tinker's Blink Dagger.
Additional:
* Due to Tinker's low health pool, Zeus can easily burst Tinker down, while also cancelling 
Rearm.
* Once Zeus gets Aghanim's Scepter, he will gain Nimbus, which allows him to scout out Tinker on the map, especially when he is pushing lanes while hiding in the trees.
Zeus
* Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity: Keeper of the Light, Lina, Lion, Zeus.
Additional:
* 
Rage is very useful against Zeus, as it negates magic damage and provides spell immunity. In addition, the increased attack speed can tear Zeus apart in combination with 
Open Wounds.
* Lifestealer can avoid Thundergod's Wrath with 
Infest.
Riki
* Lifestealer cannot use Rage, Infest or Open Wounds when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and 
Feast cannot heal him effectively because of the blind, leaving him very weak both offensively and defensively.
* Infest ganks are harder when the enemy team has a Riki, as there are often only four heroes on the map that you can initiate on.
Riki
* Another great threat to Riki since her 
Duel forces him to fight from the front and expose him for the entire duration, almost always guaranteeing an easy win (unless Riki has allies helping him).
* 
Moment of Courage can become hard to deal with as it doesn't cease with silence.
Zeus
* Heroes with global abilities can give Legion Commander's opponent an edge in Duels from anywhere on the map: Nature's Prophet, Ancient Apparition, Zeus, Invoker, Treant Protector
Riki
* Heroes with abilities that blind or cause Legion Commander to miss will prevent her from winning Duels: 
Arc Warden, Keeper of the Light, Riki, Tinker
Zeus
* Although Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath can reveal Templar Assassin during Meld, Zeus nonetheless has no way to deal with Refraction.
* Zeus is a rather squishy hero, falling easily to Templar Assassin's high burst damage.
Additional:
* 
Refraction blocks all of Zeus' damage and Zeus has no innate way of removing the instances quickly.
* 
Meld helps burst down Zeus' small health pool while he's still working through the Refraction instances.
* 
Psi Blades allow her to harass and zone Zeus in lane.
* Templar Assassin usually buys Blink Dagger, enabling her to quickly close the gap to Zeus' defensive positioning.
Zeus
* Heroes who can provide True Sight are always credible threats: Slardar, Bounty Hunter, especially Zeus since his Lightning Bolt provides True Sight without the need to detect her beforehand to apply the debuff. So even a late-coming Zeus can easily scout a large area to reveal her, and she cannot purge herself from his sight with the dispel talent.
Riki
* Because Templar Assassin does not have escape potential in lane, any support hero with roaming potential and a Dust of Appearance can be great at shutting her down early game: Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, Tusk, Bounty Hunter, Riki, 
Warlock.
Zeus
* Spirit Siphon does a lot of magical damage, especially in the early game. This allows her to demolish low health heroes such as Zeus, 
Pugna, especially when combined with her other spells.
Riki
* Riki is another good hero to shutdown Death Prophet with Diffusal Blade as his core item. His Smoke Screen stops her from initiating and casting spells.
Zeus
* Heroes with long range abilities are also able to touch Zeus, such as Clockwerk, Kunkka, Puck, Skywrath Mage, Spirit Breaker, Tusk and others.
Riki
* Riki and Disruptor: Smoke Screen and 
Static Storm, respectively, can be thrown wherever Puck used Phase Shift, making Puck an easy target if it doesn't have Blink Dagger or is on cooldown. Puck is also very susceptible to Riki's high attack damage when attacking from the back. Glimpse also prevents Puck from escaping altogether.
Riki
* 
Corrosive Haze works much like Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed or gold bonus, it instead can melt Riki's armor and Slardar can use 
Guardian Sprint to catch up to him.
* Slardar's Aghanim's Shard, causes 
Slithereen Crush to apply Corrosive Haze even if Slardar does not have vision over him.
Additional:
* Corrosive Haze makes Riki completely vulnerable to Slardar and his allies, as Riki has no easy way of dispelling it.
* Slardar's physical damage with Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep amplified by Corrosive Haze can easily kill Riki.
Zeus
* Slardar has high priority on building moblity items such as Blink Dagger rather than tank items. Zeus can easily deal large amount of damage to him if not caught out of position first.
Zeus
* 
Enrage will make it very difficult to burst him down.
* Zeus has little armor, HP and mobility; Ursa's favorite kind of target.
Riki
* Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Ursa cannot Enrage when in Smoke Screen (Black King Bar will help though).
* Even if Ursa gets vision over him, Riki can Blink Strike away or use Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid all 
Fury Swipes damage until 
Earthshock's slow is gone.
Additional:
* Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Ursa cannot Enrage when caught in Smoke Screen and will miss his attacks (although Black King Bar will help with this issue).
* Even if Ursa gets vision over him and initiates with Earthshock, Riki can Blink Strike away or use Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
Zeus
* As a spellcaster, silences will nullify him entirely. Some notable examples are Death Prophet, Drow Ranger, Bloodseeker, Disruptor and many others.
* Doom, as usual, fits this description nicely.
Riki
* Riki with Tricks of the Trade
* 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
Zeus
*
Corrosive Skin severely reduces Zeus's damage output throughout the game.
Corrosive Skin unless he drives Viper from the lane or returns to farming in his absence.
Blink Dagger or 
Force Staff, Zeus is fragile and possesses low mobility. Any of Viper's numerous slows can set up an easy kill.
Corrosive Skin counters Zeus in lane by canceling the effects of 
Clarity as Zeus relies on Arc Lightning to farm and secure last hits.
Nethertoxin breaks Static Field.
Viper Strike will cripple Zeus and will allow Viper and his teammates to land a lot of attacks.
* During the laning stage, Viper can abuse Zeus' reliance on spells by hugging the creep wave. Zeus will take constant damage over time from
* Prior to buying
Additional:
*
* Corrosive Skin also increases Viper's magic resistance to shrug off Zeus's magical nukes.
*
* Due to Zeus' poor mobility,
Riki
* Viper's
Nethertoxin disables 
Cloak and Dagger, negating Riki's invisibility and much of his damage. It also makes him more vulnerable to magic damage, which does not go well with Riki's low health pool. With the talent applied, he can't even blink to safety or hide with Tricks of the Trade.
Corrosive Skin makes it hard for Riki to chase Viper and attack him due to the attack speed slow. 
Viper Strike stays on Riki even after he goes invisible.
Poison Attack makes it risky for Riki to get last hits and can make the laning phase difficult for him.
*
*
*