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Bad against...[]
- Void can interrupt Icarus Dive.
- His Crippling Fear's silence will shutdown a spell caster Phoenix.
- However, Phoenix punishes Night Stalker with Supernova because it will turn night into day, and it has a higher priority than Dark Ascension, effectively canceling the passive bonuses Night Stalker gets from Hunter in the Night.
- His Tempest Double is not an illusion, but rather a full hero unit, which effectively reduces half of the Supernova's health. His Magnetic Field can tremendously boost his attack speed, allowing him to destroy Supernova in no time even when he's affected by Fire Spirits.
- Berserker's Blood will let Huskar easily face down a Supernova with increased attack speed.
- Icarus Dive may not be an easy escape from Huskar either as he can chase Phoenix during it with Life Break if Huskar times it right.
- However, Phoenix can buy items which can
counter Huskar's Berserker's Blood like Shiva's Guard and Spirit Vessel.
- Ursa can easily unleash a number of attacks in an incredibly short amount of time, easily destroying the Supernova in a couple of seconds regardless of Fire Spirits' debuff. His Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Enrage". also dampens any damage Phoenix might toss at his direction, as well as remove any debuffs Phoenix may place on him.
- Silencer will most likely disrupt an initiation with his ultimate, Global Silence, prevent escape with his Last Word, and if Phoenix happens to die to him (or near him) enough times, he would sap enough of Phoenix's much needed Intelligence to make him a stronger foe and Phoenix with less mana than it already had.
- Meepo is unlike any other multi-unit enemy Phoenix may face in the battlefield. Unlike illusion-based heroes like Phantom Lancer or Chaos Knight, Meepo's clones are not illusions, meaning they can deal full damage to the Phoenix Sun if all four (or five) are present.
- Although Blood Rite can be easily avoided, if it does hit, its lengthy silence and pure damage can be a severe punishment for a slow, unobservant, or simply unfortunate Phoenix.
- His Rupture can turn Icarus Dive into a suicide option, and it cannot be dispelled, meaning even if Phoenix completes a Supernova, choosing to Dive may just cut its health back down.
- And finally, due to Phoenix's health costs, too much careless ability spamming may just put Phoenix into Bloodseeker's vision through Thirst, making it a very tempting ganking target.
- Corrosive Skin gives Viper additional resistance to Phoenix's magical damage, and since they deal damage over time, Phoenix would be constantly afflicted by his passive's own debuff, making him not an ideal target for Phoenix's harassment. Phoenix's abilities also constantly drain its own health away, becoming more vulnerable to Poison Attack.
- Necrophos becomes a bigger threat the lower one's health gets, and unfortunately for Phoenix, most of its spells have noticeable health costs. Those costs, coupled with his Heartstopper Aura, means that staying in a teamfight for too long under Necrophos' presence will make Phoenix a more valid target for his ultimate, with its stun completely preventing any form of retaliation or protection. Necrophos players are also likely to buy more durability items such as Hood of Defiance, making him more able to withstand Phoenix's damage despite having no escape mechanisms.
- However, it is also important to remember that a Scepter-upgraded Supernova can help protect an ally from his ultimate.
- Lil' Shredder can quickly burst Supernova’s egg, especially when supernova is at level 1, which only require 6 hits to kill, as Lil’ shredder attack count is 6 even at level 1.
Others[]
- Any hero with high attack speed will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits: Juggernaut, Clinkz, Troll Warlord, Beastmaster, Lina.
- Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like Death Prophet, Skywrath Mage, and even Nyx Assassin must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
- Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
- Since all of Phoenix's abilities (except for Supernova) have health costs, heroes like Ancient Apparition or Necrophos can turn Phoenix's abilities against it. However, Supernova does completely protect Phoenix from Ice Blast.
- Heroes with spell immunity-granting spells will render Phoenix useless against them, as Phoenix has almost no spell immunity-piercing ability, other than the stun at the end of Supernova: Lifestealer, Juggernaut.
- Anti-Mage's Counterspell and his high attack speed helps him destroy Supernova in a short amount of time, although Mana Break and Mana Void won't be effective on Phoenix due to its low mana pool.
Items[]
- Black King Bar, as mentioned, will nullify Phoenix against its spell immune wielder.
- Orchid Malevolence and Bloodthorn, as mentioned earlier with silences, will prevent Phoenix from escaping or retaliating, but will also make it more vulnerable to damage thanks to its damage amplification.
- Scythe of Vyse is a more dangerous version of the formerly mentioned items. Not only does its active, Hex, silence abilities, but it will also mute items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling it if it has Lotus Orb or Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
- Moon Shard can turn any hero into a severe threat as its granted high attack speed can spell the end for a misplaced Supernova.
- Similar in nature, Echo Sabre can be an early game threat to the Phoenix Sun, especially if it is only level 1, as it takes only 5 hits to kill the Sun.
- Pipe of Insight will make a whole enemy team more resilient against Phoenix's DPS.
Good against...[]
- Her Refraction charges can and will be easily burned away by Phoenix's damage over time abilities, and Meld can't protect her from Phoenix's AoE abilities, even without detection.
- While her Phantom Strike does give limited extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her Blur may protect her from attacks, Phoenix's strong magical DPS burns away her small health pool quickly, and the attack speed slow makes her unable to fight back (provided she has no source of spell immunity).
- Legion Commander relies on her powerful attack and her Duel to be effective. But if Phoenix gets the jump on her first, she can find herself severely slowed, taking heavy damage, and find herself unable to Duel a burning Supernova.
- It must be noted that Press the Attack will both dispel the attack slow of Fire Spirits and grant her or whoever she targets bonus attack speed. This allows her to easily destroy a Supernova if caution is not taken to prevent this from occurring. As such, it would be a better decision to simply avoid a farmed or skilled Legion Commander instead of attempting to overpower her.
- If an ally is caught by Duel, Phoenix can use Sun Ray to heal the ally and damage Legion Commander, possibly swinging the Duel in their team's favor. Or with Aghanim's Scepter, Phoenix can save an ally from dying in Duel with Supernova and cancel the Duel as well.
- Icarus Dive, Sun Ray, and Supernova all destroy trees that Monkey King relies on to use his ability Tree Dance. If you spot him, you can quickly Icarus Dive in his direction and then follow up with Fire Spirits and Supernova. If you manage to cut the tree he is on, he will be stunned for 4 seconds and will be forced to take a lot of damage. However, most Monkey King players tend to build attack speed items to make use of their passive, Jingu Mastery, so a battle against a farmed Monkey King will depend on who gets the jump on the other first.
- Not only Phoenix is able to disrupt Chen's jungling with Fire Spirits, but its high damage over time can also force Chen to use Hand of God prematurely, potentially wasting any chance to save his allies during teamfights.
- Creeps' damage and attack speed are very abysmal, so Chen often cannot kill Phoenix whenever it casts Supernova.
- Supernova allows Phoenix to save himself (or an ally, with Aghanim's Scepter) through Echo Slam. Earthshaker will also have a difficult time destroying the supernova, due to his low base attack time and poor agility.
- Icarus Dive can pass through Earthshaker's Fissure.
- Most of Phoenix's abilities disable Earthshaker's Blink Dagger for a good period of time due to the damage-over-time nature of its spells.
- Supernova with or without Aghanim's Scepter allows to save ally or himself through Ice Blast.
- Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Cold Feet.
- Icarus Dive quickly escapes from Shadow Demon abilities, especially Demonic Purge.
- Phoenix AoE abilities remove Shadow Demon's illusions created by Disruption.
Others[]
- Heroes who depend on attacks (such as Shadow Fiend or Drow Ranger) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
- Heroes with slow movement speeds and small health pools (supports like Crystal Maiden or Witch Doctor) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
- Heroes with high health especially Strength heroes will take more damage on Sun Ray: Axe, Pudge, Bristleback, Mars.
- Illusion-based heroes such as Naga Siren or Chaos Knight are vulnerable to Phoenix's DPS and attack speed slow, as their illusions, no matter how many, will be unable to deal enough damage to actually be a threat, and they will all be completely useless against the Supernova.
Works well with...[]
- Black Hole can set up the perfect situation for Phoenix to use all of its AoE abilities, but most importantly, protecting the Sun, disabling the whole enemy team and letting it complete its duration to deal its full damage and stun.
- Good positioning and timing is required in this combination as Chronosphere can be the perfect set-up for Sun Ray to deal full damage or for a successful Supernova.
- Invoker's myriad of spells have great synergy with Phoenix's own, as most of them are also large AoE effects with synergizing debuffs. Ice Wall cripples enemies and forces them to stay close, either making targeting spells easier for Phoenix, or keeping them within Supernova's radius. Deafening Blast disarms enemies, and if Invoker chooses the full radius level 25 talent, Invoker will easily protect the Phoenix Sun by simply appearing in the middle of it and casting the spell, and its disable will make sure all enemies take most of, if not the full brunt of the damage.
- Similar to Tinker, Blinding Light also applies a miss chance (albeit not 100%), but is perhaps better used for more defensive purposes, as the knockback and miss chance protects the Sun greatly, but the knockback may not be too good if Phoenix is initiating, as the enemy could just decide to flee and escape the Sun's AoE faster. His Chakra Magic also restores much-needed mana to Phoenix, and it decreases cooldowns as well, making Phoenix's presence in the battlefield better felt.
- Will-O-Wisp can prevent enemies from destroying Sun while also keeping them close enough to get stunned at the end of Supernova.
- Lifestealer can hide inside Phoenix with Infest and surprise enemies with an initiation with Icarus Dive.
- Reverse Polarity is a long disable that pierces spell immunity that stops (typically grouped up) enemies from attacking the Supernova.
- Decrepify can simultaneously prevent aggressors from hitting the Phoenix Sun and amplify the damage of all of Phoenix's abilities
- Life Drain combined with Sun ray can quickly heal the HP of an ally, and once its HP is fully restored, Pugna's life drain can heal its mana
- Sven can be seen as a good protector of the Sun as he can charge in, stun with Storm Hammer and kill an entire team if they are too distracted in destroying Supernova, thanks to his Great Cleave and God's Strength.
- Laser is a very useful ability to have with an initiator Phoenix, as it applies a 100% miss chance to its targets. When upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter, Tinker can even apply the debuff to the entire enemy team, effectively making the Phoenix Sun invulnerable to enemy heroes for a few seconds.
- Overgrowth is similar to Enigma's Black Hole in that it provides a long-lasting disable that pierces spell immunity and prevents enemies from attacking the Supernova and keeps them in place so that the Supernova may deal its full damage and stun all foes in its radius, but Treant also has the advantage of not having to channel his disable, while also having a much larger area of effect than Black Hole.
- Fatal Bonds is very effective when combined with Phoenix's damage over time AoE abilities, and if the whole team is affected by it and all of Phoenix's debuffs, it can very easily end in a teamwipe. Upheaval and Chaotic Offering can also help set-up an initiation for Phoenix and cripple the enemy for it.
Others[]
- Mars' Arena Of Blood locks and clumps down enemies together, since they can't get out without Black King Bar. Supernova will deal much damage to unlucky foes.
- Any hero with a large AoE disable can make a very good combination with Phoenix, such as Centaur Warrunner, Tiny, Earthshaker and Magnus.
- Any hero with a disable that pierces spell immunity, even if it's a single target ability, greatly aids Phoenix during the mid and late game against Black King Bar wielders. Such good allies include Axe, Bane, or Legion Commander.
- Any hero who can drag an enemy hero away from their teammates will allow Phoenix to promptly cast Supernova and force a "fight or flight" reaction on the enemy team, who either has to let their teammate die, or concentrate their attacks on a Supernova that's close to exploding. Examples of such heroes include Batrider, Earth Spirit, Pudge, Tiny, and Vengeful Spirit.
- Heroes that provide additional attack speed slow, miss chance, or any other attack-hampering effects will be invaluable in helping the Supernova complete. Such heroes include Crystal Maiden, Lich, and Riki.
- Even non-attack speed slows could be just as helpful if Phoenix is serving as or is helping the team's initiator, making it difficult for the enemy team to flee its rather accurate spells. Such good spells include Upheaval, Ice Vortex, even Reincarnation.
- Magical damage amplification complements Phoenix's abilities very well, as multiple magic resistance reduction debuffs will quickly pile up for immense damage over time. Thus, abilities like Ancient Seal, Ice Vortex, and items like Veil of Discord are effective when paired with Phoenix.
- Even non-AoE spells can be very helpful to Phoenix, mostly to aid it in landing Fire Spirits and Sun Ray during ganks or initiations. Thus, abilities like Wraithfire Blast, Ensnare, or items like Rod of Atos or Scythe of Vyse help Phoenix use its abilities to their full potential.
- Heroes that have long cooldown non-ultimate abilities will greatly benefit from a Scepter-upgraded Supernova's refreshing, allowing them to return to full strength much quicker if used properly. Such heroes are Terrorblade, Invoker, and Warlock.
