Spirit Breaker/Counters
Counters
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Contents
Bad against...[edit]
- In the early game, Omniknight can look like an easy target for Spirit Breaker, but with Purification and Degen Aura, what could be an opportunity could quickly turn into disaster.
- Heavenly Grace can be used to counter Charge of Darkness by minimizing the damage and lowering the stun duration with status resistance.
- Spirit Breaker's Greater Bash from all sources (Charge of Darkness or normal attacks) deals lesser damage if he is within the radius of Degen Aura.
- Due to this, Spirit Breaker's damage will always be lower when targeting Omniknight.
- Battery Assault will continuously prevent Spirit Breaker from using Nether Strike, Charge of Darkness and even right clicking because of his long attack animation.
- Charge of Darkness can be cancelled by a correctly timed Hookshot.
- Should Clockwerk or his allies be targeted by Charge of Darkness, he can stop it by casting Power Cogs in Spirit Breaker's path or around the target.
- Searing Chains can stop Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
- Activate Fire Remnant can be used to escape an approaching Spirit Breaker, or lead Spirit Breaker into a bad situation.
- Activate Fire Remnant and Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to dodge Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
- His high base damage and survivability can match Spirit Breaker's strong laning stage.
- Time Dilation prevents Spirit Breaker from spamming Charge of Darkness, his main source of contribution to the game.
- Chronosphere is a persistent area disable, which makes Spirit Breaker's high status resistance less useful.
- Chronosphere can also be used to stop an incoming or outgoing Charge of Darkness.
- Astral Imprisonment can be used to protect allies by imprisoning either them or Spirit Breaker.
- Arcane Orb will heavily drain Spirit Breaker's intelligence, rendering him almost useless and unable to cast spells. Spirit Breaker's low intelligence also means Sanity's Eclipse will deal a lot of damage to him.
- Malefice prevents Spirit Breaker from using his spells for the duration.
- Demonic Conversion's eidolons have high magic resistance, receiving little damage from Charge of Darkness.
- Cold Snap allows Invoker to interrupt Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike.
- Tornado's long range can be used to cancel Charge of Darkness.
- Deafening Blast prevents Spirit Breaker from right clicking and thus proccing his Greater Bash.
- If Medusa activates Stone Gaze, the charge will inevitably fail.
- Mana Shield and overall tankiness allows Medusa to easily survive Spirit Breaker's initiation.
- Earthbind's root prevents/interrupts Charge of Darkness.
- As a single target focused hero without much damage output, Spirit Breaker is ineffective in general against Meepo. Consider upgrading Nether Strike with Aghanim's Scepter to spam AoE stuns against Meepo clones.
- Spirit Breaker will need to rely on his teammates to follow up his initiation, as Static Link drains his damage quickly, making a solo gank against Razor hard to accomplish.
- Eye of the Storm melts Spirit Breaker's armor, and makes him much less tanky.
- Living Armor can mitigate a large portion of Spirit Breaker's damage since his attacks are slow.
- Treant Protector can also counter initiate Spirit Breaker with Leech Seed and his bash from Nature's Guise before he manages to escape.
- Pit of Malice can be cast in the path of Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness to cancel it.
- Dark Rift provides a way to escape from a gank for Underlord and his teammates.
- Due to Spirit Breaker's low attack speed, Tombstone is problematic for Spirit Breaker.
- The zombies summoned from Tombstone apply a stacking movement speed slow, which can significantly reduce Greater Bash's damage.
- Soul Rip and Decay allows Undying and his allies to survive from incoming ganks of Spirit Breaker.
Others[edit]
- Heroes that can cancel Charge of Darkness: Ogre Magi, Earthshaker.
- Heroes with ways to protect themselves or allies from Spirit Breaker's initiation: Shadow Demon
- Heroes that punish mobile heroes: Bloodseeker, Keeper of the Light
- Heroes that usually builds Linken's Sphere as a core item: Weaver, Medusa, Morphling, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit
- Durable heroes: Axe, Bristleback, Tidehunter, Wraith King
- Heroes who continue dealing damage while being stunned: Luna, Razor, Axe, Bristleback, Leshrac,
- Heroes that can slow Charge of Darkness by a huge amount: Venomancer, Viper, Dazzle, Arc Warden
Items[edit]
- Ghost Scepter (and it's upgrade Ethereal Blade) prevents Spirit Breaker from right clicking and bashing.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity can be used on yourself or Spirit Breaker to cancel Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike.
- Rod of Atos, Scythe of Vyse, Abyssal Blade, and Force Staff (and its upgrade Hurricane Pike) interrupt Charge of Darkness.
- Heaven's Halberd can prevent Spirit Breaker from right clicking and bashing.
- Linken's Sphere blocks Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike.
Good against...[edit]
- Anti-Mage usually relies on Blink to escape, but with vision from Charge of Darkness it is easier to catch him.
- Spirit Breaker could single-handedly lock Anti-Mage down for 4 seconds (or even more with lucky bashes), allowing his teammates to follow up.
- As Anti-Mage is an elusive hero who likes to farm alone, Spirit Breaker could choose to charge whenever Anti-Mage is in sight.
- Once caught with dust, Clinkz could be locked down for a long time by Spirit Breaker and has nowhere to escape.
- Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, showing Clinkz even when he is in Skeleton Walk.
- Ezalor has no abilities that allow him to trade with Spirit Breaker in the early game.
- Spirit Breaker's ideal kind of target is heroes at the back casting spells with not many items but key targets.
- Will-O-Wisp lasts a very short amount of time each tick on Spirit Breaker while Bulldoze is active, meaning he can just walk out of it.
- Lifestealer cannot trade well in the laning stage against Spirit Breakers bash proc chance.
- Rage is his only way of sustain, which Spirit Breaker can pierce and still stun him at any point of the game.
- Being stunned means Lifestealer cannot benefit from Feast.
- Lastly, Bulldoze makes Open Wounds last a very short duration on Spirit Breaker during ganks if he chooses him.
- Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to catch Nature's Prophet out when he tries to split push.
- Nature's Prophet can't hide in his Sprout against Spirit Breaker, as his Charge of Darkness provides vision on its target.
- Spirit Breaker can easily cancel Nature's Prophet's Teleportation.
- Spirit Breaker can easily cause problems for Phoenix in the early game and continue pursuit even if he dives away with Icarus Dive.
- Spirit Vessel and Urn of Shadows could be an issue for Phoenix should he choose to disengage after using his spells.
- Fire Spirits are rarely going to be a problem because Spirit Breaker relies on his abilities to keep units stunned for a long period of time and will have a shorter duration if Bulldoze is active.
- Bulldoze means Phoenix's debuffs won't last long on Spirit Breaker.
- Spirit Breaker may force out Supernova at a convenient time for his team.
- Bulldoze allows Spirit Breaker to not be affected for very long in the mid-game when Skywrath mage is at his strongest.
- Mystic Flare is unlikely to kill Spirit Breaker from full HP.
- Skywrath Mage likes to be at the back casting spells. The best kind of target for Spirit Breaker to charge onto.
- Tinker relies on his high mobility from Boots of Travel and Blink Dagger to survive. Those items don't help him if Spirit Breaker manages to cast Charge of Darkness on him.
- Spirit Breaker can easily cancel Rearm and Boots of Travel.
- Charge of Darkness and Netherstrike can keep Ursa in place for a long time or stop his team from helping him when he initiates.
- Spirit Breaker is very good in inclosed area fights, such as Roshan's pit.
- Fury Swipes is very weak on level 1, however Greater Bash is not.
Others[edit]
- Heroes that are squishy by nature are an easy target for Spirit Breaker: Sniper, Drow Ranger, Shadow Shaman
- Heroes that rely on invisibility can be tracked with Charge of Darkness opening them to team attacks: Bounty Hunter, Mirana, 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
- Heroes that rely on escapes to stay alive can be caught and locked down for a long time: Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin
- Spirit Breaker's stuns pierce spell immunity, making him a good choice against heroes that heavily rely on Black King Bar; Huskar
Works well with...[edit]
- Bloodrage amplifies Spirit breakers damage, giving him higher solo kill potential.
- Thirst reveals low health enemies, enabling Spirit Breaker to use Charge of Darkness to finish them off.
- Track enables Spirit Breaker to charge heroes that are outside of the team's field of vision, also granting gold for the rest of the team should the gank succeed.
- Track also provides bonus movement speed to Spirit Breaker, increasing Greater Bash's damage.
- Bounty Hunter usually scouts areas, hence he can find lone targets for Spirit Breaker to charge.
- Tether provides bonus movement speed to Spirit Breaker, increasing Greater Bash's damage.
- Overcharge gives Spirit Breaker extra attack speed and thus a higher chance to proc Greater Bash.
- Relocate can turn a Charge of Darkness into a three man gank.
- Infest allows Lifestealer to come along when Spirit Breaker uses Charge of Darkness, for both ganking and escaping.
- Infesting Spirit Breaker gives him a massive buff to his movement speed, increasing Greater Bash's damage.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, Lifestealer can also give Spirit Breaker increased movement speed for more damage and spell immunity.
- Surge allows Spirit Breaker to increase his movement and Charge of Darkness speed, decreasing his target time to counter, while simultaneously increasing his damage.
- Burrowstrike can be a very strong combo with Charge of Darkness in the early game.
- Epicenter is much easier to use when a tanky hero is causing a distraction, which Spirit Breaker is very good at doing.
Others[edit]
- Heroes with attack speed buffs: ( Beastmaster, Invoker, Chen, Arc Warden)
- Heroes that can give extra movement speed to Spirit Breaker: ( Ogre Magi)
