Bad against...[]
- Mana Break removes both a percentage and flat amount of your mana, preventing Bristleback from using abilities in the lane.
- Blink Anti-Mage has very high mobility with this skill, and can easily escape from Bristleback since he has no way to prevent his blink. He can also use this offensively to get in front of Bristleback during fights.
- Infernal Blade deals scaling damage and is useful against high health targets such as Bristleback.
- Doom disables Bristleback's low cooldown abilities, preventing him from triggering Warpath. With his upgraded level 25 talent, it also breaks Bristleback's passive, rendering him more vulnerable.
- Time Dilation prevents Bristleback from spamming his low-cooldown abilities, greatly reducing his damage and effectiveness.
- Chronosphere allows allies to reposition and hit Bristleback from the front, bypassing his defensive bonus from behind.
- Bristleback has no way to prevent Void from using Time Walk.
- Phantom's Embrace silences Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
- Ink Swell stuns Bristleback and gets allies in position faster with increased movement speed to attack his front, countering his passive ability.
- Sharpshooter deals massive damage to Bristleback and applies a high duration disable on his passive.
- Bushwhack and Scurry can be used to easily kite Bristleback.
- Duel makes Bristleback fight Legion Commander face to face, forcing him to take full damage.
- Press the Attack dispels the slow from stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo.
- Reaper's Scythe and Heartstopper Aura deal percentage-based damage, ignoring Bristleback's high health.
- Heartstopper Aura's HP removal does not trigger Bristleback's passive.
- Outworld Destroyer's high burst damage is not negated by Bristleback's passive. So, even if Bristleback turns his back on Outworld, he can decimate Bristleback quickly.
- If Bristleback attempts to flee, or tries to close the gap, Outworld can banish him with Astral Imprisonment, both reducing Bristlebacks much needed mana and allowing Outworld to move in front of him, forcing him to take the full damage from his spells. This will also allow Outworld to land a devasting Sanity's Eclipse, without it being reduced by Bristleback's passive.
- Eye of the Storm melts Bristleback's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
- Static Link can completely drain Bristleback's bonus damage from Warpath.
- Storm Surge allows Razor to outdistance Bristleback, even with a few stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo on him. Also, if Razor has his Shard, it will deal full damage to Bristleback every time he uses Viscous Nasal Goo (as Bristleback will face him to cast it).
- Arcane Curse stacks every time Bristleback uses an ability, forcing him to stop spamming his abilities, or take heavy health degeneration.
- Glaives of Wisdom steals intelligence both permanently and temporarily, causing mana issues for Bristleback.
- Last Word and Global Silence stops Bristleback from using his abilities altogether.
- Guardian Sprint allows Slardar to outrun Bristleback, even when slowed by Viscous Nasal Goo.
- Corrosive Haze's armor reduction makes Bristleback much less tanky.
- Essence Shift allows Slark to hit Bristleback freely whether on the front or back, stealing attributes and make Bristleback much less tanky.
- Pounce can be used to disengage and recover lost HP with his ultimate passive, and can return to fight in a short period while Bristleback is already injured and got some of his attributes stolen.
- Dark Pact makes it near impossible to keep the Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on Slark.
- Although Dark Pact cannot dispel Quill Spray, meaning that Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he used Shadow Dance before.
- Slark builds Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counters Bristleback.
- Whirling Death deals damage while also reducing 13% of Bristleback's strength, making him less tanky.
- Reactive Armor can sustain through multiple Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray stacks.
- Timber Chain makes it hard for Bristleback to slow down Timbersaw even with Viscous Nasal Goo.
- Nethertoxin disables Bristleback's passive.
- Viper Strike and Poison Attack slow down Bristleback's movement speed, making him unable to get out from Nethertoxin.
- Shukuchi gets Weaver in front of Bristleback, negating the protection from Bristleback.
- Weaver's mana break talent depletes Bristleback's mana pool, preventing him from spamming abilities.
Others[]
- Axe forces Bristleback to turn around with Berserker's Call, allowing allies to attack him without fear of his passive.
- Batrider's turn rate slow from Sticky Napalm makes it harder for Bristleback to keep his back towards the enemy.
- Lion's Mana Drain is a headache for Bristleback to deal with during the laning stage, as it denies him the ability to get last hits with Quill Spray.
- Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge with Aghanim's Scepter disables Bristleback's passives.
- Spirit Breaker's Nether Strike with Aghanim's Shard disables Bristleback's passives.
- Terrorblade's Sunder is not affected by the Bristleback damage reduction.
Items[]
- Magic Stick gains many charges due to Bristleback's constant usage of Quill Spray, giving its holder an advantage in lane.
- Silver Edge disables Bristleback's passives, taking away both his tankiness as well as his damage output.
- Solar Crest reduces Bristleback's armor greatly, allowing teammates to beat him down quickly.
- Assault Cuirass's armor aura reduces Quill Spray's area damage significantly.
- Town Portal Scroll provides an easy means of escape from Bristleback, as he has no disables.
- Spirit Vessel reduces health regen and wears Bristleback down with percentage-based damage.
- Diffusal Blade burns Bristleback's mana, which lessens his ability to spam Quill Spray.
- Ghost Scepter and its upgrade Ethereal Blade provide protection against Quill Spray, and Bristleback's only means of dealing damage are through Quill Spray and basic attacks. In addition, he doesn't like purchasing dispelling items like Nullifier and Manta Style.
Good against...[]
- Quill Spray destroys spiderlings, and hits Broodmother even when she's regenerating in her webs. This makes Bristleback one of her hardest counters in lane.
- Quill Spray quickly destroys Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
- The damage from Burning Spear can be reduced by turning away from Huskar.
- Bristleback can bait Huskar into using Life Break on him, then turn around and receive very little damage.
- Macropyre's frequent damage ticks causes Bristleback to activate repeatedly, resulting in free damage as long as Bristleback faces away from Jakiro.
- Lycan's wolves deal little damage to Bristleback, and are easily killed by Quill Spray, even when they're invisible.
- Lycan's lack of burst damage makes it very hard for him to kill Bristleback, especially when his back is turned.
- Quill Spray usually hits Meepo's clones, although Bristleback cannot turn his back when rooted with Earthbind.
- Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear makes him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
- Quill Spray quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusions.
- Bristleback's passive costs no mana, meaning that it will continue to trigger even if Phantom Lancer drains Bristleback's mana with Diffusal Blade.
- Bristleback is one of the hardest heroes to gank with a Meat Hook and Dismember combo, and attempts to do so sometimes backfire on Pudge.
- 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.
- Bristleback's abilities are nearly useless for Rubick to Spell Steal, as he does not gain the bonuses from Warpath.
- Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
- Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
- Combo Quill Spray and items Blade Mail can easily trigger from Focus Fire damage.
Others[]
- Heroes with damage-over-time abilities easily allow Bristleback to turn his back in order to proc Bristleback continuously and to massively reduce to damage dealt to him: Arc Warden, Venomancer, Luna.
Works well with...[]
- Arcane Aura helps Bristleback use Quill Spray more often during the laning stage, allowing him to harass and last hit better.
- Viscous Nasal Goo works well with Crystal Maiden's slowing abilities, keeping enemies in range of Quill Spray and Freezing Field.
- The extra time from Shallow Grave allows Bristleback to get off a few more Quill Sprays due to its low cooldown, and potentially change the outcome of a fight.
- Bad Juju's armor reduction improves Quill Spray's damage output.
- Frost Arrows' slow works well with Viscous Nasal Goo.
- Chakra Magic's cooldown reduction allows Bristleback to Quill Spray twice in a row.
- Concussive Shot's slow stacks well with Viscous Nasal Goo, keeping targets in range of Quill Spray, as well as making it harder for them to move out of Mystic Flare.
- Venomancer's numerous movement speed slows stack well with Viscous Nasal Goo.