▶️
Many hands make light work.
This article is badly written or needs more information. Please help the community by updating it. Read this formatting guide first.
Bad against...
- Arc Warden's Flux tears through Refraction charges almost instantly, with a Tempest Double and no creeps around a 100% slow means almost certain death.
- Meld is useless against Spark Wraith.
- Venomancer's lingering damage over time debuffs easily remove charges from her Refraction, leaving her defenseless to other damage sources. His slows allow him and his team to catch up to her and follow up, and his Plague Wards give vision and are able to reapply the DoT debuff.
- In a similar vein to Venomancer, Phoenix's abilities all apply damage over time debuffs that can destroy her Refraction charges, but with the added threat of being able to force her out of hiding via Meld, as Phoenix can just throw all its AoE abilities in the spot she's hiding and either force her to run or be burned to death.
- The damage over time from Viper's Poison Attack and Viper Strike rapidly wear down Refraction charges, allowing Templar Assassin to be damaged. Additionally, Corrosive Skin causes her attacks to apply damage over time on her as well.
- The damage over time from Dragon Knight's Elder Dragon Form rapidly burns down Refraction, allowing him to attack her. Also, Breathe Fire reduces Templar Assassin's damage and Dragon Tail is a stun with a considerable duration, letting him and his team whittle her health down once her defenses wear off.
- His Rot can force Templar Assassin out of her Meld and destroy all of her Refraction charges quickly, and her small health pool and meager defense makes her very vulnerable to his Meat Hook without Refraction.
- Huskar's burn damage from Burning Spear is incredibly strong against Templar assassin as it completely cancels out her Refraction from the burning over time which results in making her very vulnerable to being ganked or harassed, and in turn forcing her out of lane.
Others
- Any other heroes capable of dealing damage over time or have multiple attacking units can be problematic for Templar Assassin as her Refraction charges waste away on any damage instance, regardless of how weak or powerful they are. As such, heroes like Meepo, Witch Doctor, Chaos Knight, Enigma, Gyrocopter, Queen of Pain and Slark are high threats for her, especially those that deal these damage instances in shorter intervals (like Slark's Dark Pact).
- Heroes with area-targeted spells (especially nukes) can make Templar Assassin a sitting duck while Melded , so heroes like Leshrac, Puck, and Zeus can easily flush her out or finish her off.
- True Sight can also prevent Templar Assassin from hiding with Meld. Zeus is a big threat for her as he both deals high damage instantly and gives True Sight in only one spell, his Lightning Bolt. Other heroes, such as Slardar and Bounty Hunter not only prevent her from going invisible but also tracks her down, meaning even if she buys Blink Dagger, she will easily be spotted and hunted down once her Refraction wears off.
- Illusions might make Templar Assassin useless, since despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, which makes illusion-based heroes, like Phantom Lancer a large threat. Illusion-based heroes also usually buy a Diffusal Blade, which can decrease Templar Assassin's mana to 0 in a very short time, rendering her unable to use her abilities, making illusion-based heroes an even larger threat than heroes capable of dealing damage over time.
- Because Templar Assasin 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. Heroes such as Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, Tusk, Bounty Hunter, Riki.
Items
- Radiance can waste Templar Assassin's refaction charges, it's also troublesome for heroes that build a blink dagger (Templar Assassin included).
- Items that grant true sight: Gem of True Sight, Sentry Ward, level 3 Necronomicon.
Good against...
- Shadow Fiend's fragility and lack of a natural escape mechanism makes him a great target for Templar Assassin's Meld.
- Shadow Fiend's burst damage, such as Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls, is easily nullified by her Refraction.
- Lina's low health makes her vulnerable to being picked off quickly with Templar Assassin's increased damage and armor reduction from Meld.
- Lina's high damage abilities, such as Laguna Blade, can be mitigated with Refraction.
- However, her Fiery Soul does give her high attack speed and damage, posing a threat to Templar Assassin if she is caught before using Refraction.
- While Huskar's Burning Spears may be a deadly ability against Templar Assassin, if she is quick enough, she can quickly kill Huskar as his high magic resistance does not protect against Templar Assassin's high physical damage.
- Luna's low health pool make her an easy pick off for Templar Assassin due to her high damage and armor reduction from Meld.
- Templar Assassin can block or dodge Eclipse with Refraction or Meld, respectively.
- Luna's high movement speed is countered by Psionic Trap, preventing her from escaping.
- Necrophos' only spammable spell, Death Pulse has a long enough cooldown to not be able to tear through Refraction very easily, and without proper items, he is a fragile hero, easily taken down by Templar Assassin's burst damage. And should his health degeneration bring her to Reaper's Scythe' threshold, if she's quick enough, Refraction can completely protect her from the spell's effects, wasting it.
- Storm Spirit has a very hard time laning against Templar Assassin because of her Psi Blades which deal massive damage to his low health pool.
- Templar Assassin can negate Ball Lightning due to Orchid Malevolence being a viable item choice for her.
Others
- Fragile supports such as Crystal Maiden, Dazzle and Skywrath Mage will all easily fall to Templar Assassin's high physical burst damage, and their already low armor makes them even more vulnerable to her armor reduction.
- Heroes with slow burst damage such as Lion, Skywrath Mage and Lich would have problems trying to damage a Templar Assassin on their own, and if she has Blink Dagger, Refraction also prevents their nukes from putting the item on cooldown, letting her easily catch up and kill them quickly.
- Melee heroes would have problems laning against Templar Assassin, as her Psi Blades can potentially harass them while she's just casually last hitting and denying.
Works well with...
- Templar Assassin lacks any form of hard disables. Slardar is a good initiator with an AoE stun that deals physical damage. This allows him to initiate for her and deal high damage against groups of enemies with her Psi Blades. In addition, Templar Assassin relies solely on doing burst physical damage, so Slardar's Corrosive Haze will increase the damage that she inflicts on her target (which can then be spilled onto other targets via Psi Blades).
- Repel gives Templar Assassin much needed spell immunity, and his Purification heals her instantly and deals pure damage to nearby enemies, which might be sure to get hit due to Templar Assassin's short attack range.
- Drow Ranger's Precision Aura can add onto Templar Assassin's already high damage, as she benefits from this for she is a ranged Hero despite her abysmal base range. Drow Ranger' Frost Arrows also give an additional slow along with Templar Assassin's own traps, preventing an enemy from escaping, and her Gust silences heroes with escape mechanisms, such as Puck or Anti-Mage.
Others
- Other heroes that apply armor reduction can work well with Templar Assassin's burst physical damage, so Heroes such as Shadow Fiend, Dazzle, Tidehunter, or heroes that buy armor reducing items such as Bounty Hunter can be good companions for Templar Assassin in a team fight.
- Ranged disables allow Templar Assassin to catch up and burst her target down easily. As such, heroes like Sven, Oracle, Nature's Prophet or Earthshaker are invaluable to an ambush or a clash.
