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Many hands make light work.
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Bad against...[]
- Broodmother relies less on abilities and more on right-clicks.
- Spiderlings can overwhelm Silencer, who has mediocre armor and no escape tool.
- If Silencer can't prevent Dragon Knight from using Elder Dragon Form, Silencer's spells aren't going to be that effective against him, as Dragon Knight relies on right-clicks and not spells.
- Dragon Blood's armor bonus and health regeneration allows Dragon Knight to stay in the lane against Glaives of Wisdom.
- Dragon Knight often builds Black King Bar, allowing him to remove Global Silence before engaging.
- Even though carry Silencer can easily take down a support Jakiro with his Glaives of Wisdom, Jakiro can also do the same to Silencer if he is not careful and if Jakiro is not played as support. As Silencer is rather squishy and lacks escape mechanisms without items, and Jakiro's damage over time abilities can take advantage of this.
- Ice Path can be used to prevent Silencer from escaping. And if Jakiro uses Ice Path along with Macropyre and Dual Breath in anticipation right before Silencer uses his abilities to disable Jakiro, Jakiro will be able to kill SIlencer before he even gets a chance to do anything to Jakiro.
- Dual Breath, Liquid Fire and Liquid Frost from Aghanim's Shard can greatly reduce Silencer's attack speed.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Macropyre can deal huge pure damage to Silencer even if Silencer is spell immune.
- Bear in mind, however, that Jakiro should approach Silencer carefully as Silencer's Arcane Curse, Last Word and Global Silence prevents Jakiro from casting any spell. Jakiro, however, can counter this by going for Guardian Greaves, a common item on support Jakiro, and with Black King Bar and Manta Style, a situational items on Jakiro.
- Rage can protect Lifestealer from most of the Silencer's abilities with the exception of Global Silence.
- If Lifestealer can Infest himself on any unit, he can literally avoid being affected by Global Silence.
- Against a carry Silencer, Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Infest can disarm him and allow Lifestealer to attack Silencer from within, even if Silencer is spell immune.
- Open Wounds from Aghanim's Shard can severely slow down Silencer, and allow Lifestealer and his team to heal themselves by attacking Silencer.
- Shapeshift is useful for killing or escaping Silencer.
- Summon Wolves, can be used to hunt and harass silencer - even when Lycan himself can't fight.
- Silencer is rather squishy and has poor mobility without items, making him an easy target for Nyx.
- Silencer's intelligence steal ability is a complete disadvantage against Nyx Assassin as Mind Flare will deal increasing damage for each point of intelligence Silencer has stolen, turning Silencer's intelligence steal against him.
- Phantom Assassin doesn't care about Silencer's spells as she relies on right-clicks more than spells.
- Phantom Assassin often builds Black King Bar, which allows her to remove Global Silence before engaging.
- Due to Phantom Rush and Juxtapose being passives and not affected by silence, a Phantom Lancer with a Diffusal Blade can easily kill Silencer.
- Slark's Dark Pact allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
- Against a carry Silencer, Essence Shift will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.
- Due to Sniper having a such a long range, he will rarely get hit by any of Silencer's spells.
- Global Silence will not hinder Sniper much as other heroes since most of his damage output comes from his attacks.
- Silencer relies on preventing enemies from using abilities in teamfights with Arcane Curse, Last Word, and Global Silence. However, they are ineffective against Ursa since he relies more on items and attacks than abilities.
- Against a carry Silencer, Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Enrage". can help Ursa reduce all damage he takes, even Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage will just tickle Ursa while his Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Enrage". is active.
Others[]
- 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.
- Heroes that can disable or silence Silencer for a long time, such as Bane and Legion Commander, can lock down Silencer while their allies put him down.
- 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.
Items[]
- Manta Style dispels most of Silencer's debuffs when used.
- Guardian Greaves dispels all Silencer's debuffs and restores lost health and mana.
- Black King Bar removes all Silencer's debuffs upon activation and prevents damage from Glaives of Wisdom.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity can be used to disable Silencer for a moment or dispel Silencer's debuffs from you. It also gives nice movement speed and mana regen boosts, which can come in handy.
- Lotus Orb removes all Silencer's debuffs from the targeted ally. Echo Shell can also reflect Last Word back to Silencer, preventing him from casting or using Glaives of Wisdom.
- Orchid Malevolence and Bloodthorn can silence Silencer, preventing him from casting Global Silence when needed or using Glaives of Wisdom. It also increases the damage Silencer takes from attacks making him easier to kill. With Global Silence out of the way, a fight will be much more in your team's favor.
- Blade Mail If Silencer has a lot of intelligence, Glaives of Wisdom will deal lots of damage. Silencer himself, however, is rather squishy and will often lose more than half of his health with just a few attacks if he attacks target with Blade Mail. Blade Mail is good especially on high hp heroes like Pudge, Centaur Warrunner or Ogre Magi.
Good against...[]
- Bristleback will not be able to cast Viscous Nasal Goo or Quill Spray while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing Warpath charges from stacking.
- Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.
- Crystal Maiden is squishy, is heavily spell reliant, has low base Intelligence, and is naturally slow, making her an ideal target for Silencer.
- Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field has a similar cooldown to Global Silence, therefore, Freezing Field can almost always be canceled to ruin aggressive Crystal Maiden initiations.
- Silencer can easily ruin Enigma's initiation, as Global Silence cancels Black Hole, even through Black King Bar and Linken's Sphere.
- Silencer burns easily through her effective HP from Mana Shield, by taking away her intelligence.
- Arcane Curse punishes her repeatedly casting Mystic Snake to keep her mana pool high. He can force her to use Manta Style before he has cast Global Silence and Medusa usually does not want to build Black King Bar.
- Oracle's reliance on spamming his spells can be easily hindered by Silencer's Arcane Curse.
- Last Word and Global Silence negates Oracle's attempt to save his allies with his spells.
- Fate's Edict is useless against Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage.
- Silencer's intelligence steal will heavily reduce Outworld Destroyer's damage output, especially if Destroyer dies a lot near Silencer and loses intelligence permanently.
- Global Silence and Last Word will render Outworld Destroyer helpless unless he has an item/ally to dispel silence.
- Pugna is very reliant on his abilities for damage which Silencer can take advantage off. But he has to be careful around the Nether Ward as Silencer's abilities cost a lot of mana to use.
- Shadow Demon's 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.
- Shadow Demon likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
- If Shadow Demon dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Shadow Demon dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.
- Terrorblade is a double-edged sword type of matchup against Silencer. Although Terrorblade is more reliant on direct attacks to be effective, he relies on Sunder to save himself and stay alive and Last Word and Global Silence prevent him from doing that.
- Arcane Curse and Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Last Word help Silencer deal with Terrorblade's illusions from Conjure Image and Manta Style.
- With Last Word Mutes talent, Silencer can not only disable Terrorblade from turning tables with Sunder, but can also prevent him from using Manta Style and Black King Bar, items Terrorblade needs to be effective in teamfights.
- Glaives of Wisdom deals pure damage against the real Terrorblade, bypassing his high base armor.
- Global Silence can silence Terrorblade even if he has Black King Bar active, though bear in mind that Terrorblade can dispel Global Silence with Manta Style and Black King Bar if the Global Silence was activated first.
- Timbersaw is heavily reliant on his abilities for damage and escape, allowing Silencer to effectively disable him and make him useless in both team fights and 1v1 scenarios.
- Silencer can stop Rearm, preventing Tinker from spamming his abilities/items or escaping.
- Tinker heavily relies on his mana pool and has mana issues throughout the entire game and Silencer's intelligence steal does not help with that.
- Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using Windrun.
- 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.
Others[]
- Basically, Heroes that heavily rely on abilities for damage or escape, such as Queen of Pain and Storm Spirit.
- Heroes with low mana pools (eg. Doom and Tidehunter) will feel the effects of Silencer's Intelligence Steal far more than others.
- Abilities with very low cooldown will further increase Arcane Curse's duration: Arcane Bolt, Stifling Dagger, Death Pulse.
Works well with...[]
- Slardar can effectively helps silencer during laning stage as well farming Intelligence from enemies and scale well onto late game, tanking in the frontline while silencer is freehitting from behind.
- Corrosive Haze also Amplify damage input from Silencer and gain vision to the enemies.
- Silencer consumes a lot of mana and he lacks a stun/disable. Crystal Maiden helps with both of those issues.
- Crystal Maiden can cast her Ultimate without fear of getting interrupted by enemy abilities during Global Silence.
- Global Silence can prevent enemy abilities from disabling Anti-Mage while he breaks their mana.
- Silencer's abilities benefit well for Anti-Mage as both punishes the spellcasters.
- Pudge can use Meat Hook to hook enemies for easy kills, allowing Silencer to harvest intelligence safely and quickly.
- Both of you grow stronger with each kill, even if you reach level 25 with max items. Your enemies on the other hand lose max mana and mana regen(and damage, if intelligence hero) every time they die, making them grow weaker. This is very good in long games.
- Outworld Destroyer can save a low health Silencer with Astral Imprisonment, and if any enemies die within range, Silencer will still gain intelligence while imprisoned.
- Silencer's passive intelligence steal increases intelligence difference between Outworld Destroyer and his enemies, increasing the damage they take from Sanity's Eclipse.
- Global Silence prevents enemies disabling Outworld Destroyer during combat.
