Crystal Maiden/Counters

Bad against...

 * can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her.
 * Bristleback frequently builds, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect.
 * The passive part of will trigger many, many times under the damage from, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.


 * ,, and can interrupt , the latter two being able to go through invisibility should  use.
 * can be used to find should she try to hide in the trees to try to safely cast
 * allows to easily close in on  and kill her.


 * Doom alone can easily pick off Crystal Maiden since she is fairly fragile, even using only auto-attacks and /
 * prevents her from using any abilities in a fight, making her impact negligible.
 * allows Doom to acquire a stun, allowing him to cancel even without committing


 * and allow  to easily disrupt, regardless of where  is due to their incredible range.  is quite possibly the best hero for stopping long channeling abilities, and  is vulnerable to him without a.
 * All of Earth Spirit's spells allow him to easily close in on and kill her. Since she is a low health support, she generally stays behind in teamfights, but Earth Spirit can easily close the distance.
 * has low movement speed and no other escape mechanism, rendering her extremely vulnerable to Earth Spirit's arsenal of long-range, damaging spells.


 * is a great initiation into Crystal Maiden, preventing her from using or any other abilities and allowing the enemy team to quickly kill her before she can aid her team in a fight.


 * can dispel.
 * and can stop . Ensnare goes through  while Song of the Siren doesn't care about any kind of invisibility.
 * can allow her team to quickly close the gap on.


 * Crystal Maiden has a very bad movement speed, so is far easier to land against her. Furthermore, even while trapped by, Nyx Assassin can still cast Impale.
 * Crystal Maiden has very low armor, so is very effective.
 * Nyx Assassin has two ways to stop, provided she doesn't get a . He can pop and simply walk into the field, or he can use  to interrupt the field, since Crystal Maiden has to channel it.


 * allows Tusk to easily cancel from a safe distance without putting himself in any danger.
 * is most certainly a high enough damage nuke to easily kill off Crystal Maiden.
 * can prevent the already immobile Crystal Maiden from escaping, making her an easy kill for either Tusk or a teammate.

Others

 * ,, and all have abilities (, , and  respectively) that prevent Crystal Maiden from using her spells on themselves or important targets in the early game, before  and other magical reduction is even an issue.
 * In general, heroes with AoE or long range disables (such as with  and  with ) hinder Crystal Maiden, preventing her from using  to help her team in a fight.
 * In the same vein, heroes with silences - especially AoE like - can also prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to impact a fight.
 * Heroes with large health pools or good innate magic resistance ( or ) can be very problematic for Crystal Maiden, since even if they are under the effect of her ultimate for the entire duration, the damage output is simply not enough to kill or force them to retreat.
 * Heroes who can easily harass Crystal Maiden out of lane in the early game can prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to level effectively, and can ultimately slow down her level 6, 12, and 18 to a point where enemy carries already have items to address her ultimate.

Items

 * and other sources of magical immunity/reduction make Crystal Maiden nearly irrelevant, preventing her from using her abilities or from dealing its damage or slow.  These items make it easy for enemy heroes to kill her off quickly - even in her ultimate.
 * , and other sources of bash are very problematic for Crystal Maiden, because even if she owns a, the stun will pierce it and cancel her ultimate.
 * and are an issue for Crystal Maiden in the same way that they are for any spell based hero - if she can't use her abilities due to a silence, her fight impact is greatly reduced.
 * reflects, doing incredible damage to Crystal Maiden when she uses her ultimate. Due to her low health pool, this can quickly spell her doom, so heroes who build Blade Mail (like , , or ) can be incredibly problematic.
 * , much in the same vein as, provides damage reflection that can turn the massive damage of against the fragile Crystal Maiden.  In addition, the True Sight of the Necronomicon Warrior at level 3 can render the early-game purchase of a  or  useless.

Good against...

 * Though Slark's large damage output is most certainly a concern for the squishy Crystal Maiden, she does perform fairly well against him, when coupled with aid from her team
 * Slark has no innate way to cancel, but the common purchase of  does make Slark a substantially greater threat to Crystal Maiden and the game progresses.
 * can still hit Slark while he is under the effect of, and for the early and mid game, the damage output of Crystal Maiden's ultimate far outscales Slark's passive regeneration, making a quick use of as soon as Slark uses  a great way to address him.
 * Crystal Maiden's and  are helpful in disabling and slowing the slippery Slark so he can be killed by her teammates.


 * Though certainly not a "hard counter", Crystal Maiden's skillset (magical damage nukes) does pose a substantial threat to Phantom Assassin through the mid game, especially if followed up with engagement by her team.
 * A quick use of directly after  can leave Phantom Assassin trapped inside the area of effect, capitalizing on Phantom Assassin's relatively low HP pool when she is not protected by.
 * If Phantom Assassin chooses not to buy a relatively early, the attack slow from  can greatly hinder the proc chance of  in a teamfight.
 * However, Phantom Assassin's massive damage, and her tendency to build both and  makes her a formidable foe the later the game goes, and fighting her without a team is almost never a good choice.


 * As with other heroes mentioned in this section, Templar Assassin is not a hero that is fully "countered" by Crystal Maiden (the way she is against and ), however, the proper combination and execution Crystal Maiden's spells, stacked with her team, can most certainly spell the end for Templar Assassin.
 * can quickly eat away charges, leaving Templar Assassin vulnerable for the rest of her team to kill.
 * will still apply damage to Templar Assassin when she is under the effect of, making it an even less viable form of escape until a is purchased.
 * is also cancelled by all of Crystal Maiden's spells, and the fairly short cooldowns on and  make her a great asset to a chase against Templar Assassin.
 * This is not to say that Templar Assassin has any difficulty killing off the low armor, low HP pool Crystal Maiden, so fighting her alone is never advised.

Others

 * Heroes with mobility spells like, , , , and that are cancelled by  can suffer greatly from the presence of Crystal Maiden.  It is absolutely critical, however, to have followup from teammates, as all of the above heroes can make quick work of the squishy Crystal Maiden after they are released from her grip.
 * Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (,, , or for example), or as a soft counter to , if it is used first.  This can be an amazing tool to ensure that  is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
 * will still hit and slow units that are hidden by invisibility, so it can be an excellent way to prevent a slippery heroes from escaping death.
 * Heroes like and, or heroes that make use of   are weak to Crystal Maiden, as  can do wonders against , , or dominated creeps.  Careful though, as an army of carefully controlled creeps ( and ) can hold many stuns that will cancel.
 * Heroes the make heavy use of illusions, like, , or can suffer from Crystal Maiden, as  can quickly kill off the entire horde if not stopped.

Works well with...
Every hero in the game can make good use of (except, see the following section), especially early game as many heroes at that point cannot spam spells. Just one point in arcane aura is very helpful during the laning stage. For this reason, Crystal Maiden works well in many situations, provided the enemy does not pick heroes that can deal with her effectively and render her useless.


 * provides the perfect setup for, a deadly combo as early as level 1. Later, it can be followed by to provide an additional slow and ensure the full damage of Blade Fury.
 * provides much needed mana regen for Juggernaut as all his spells cost a considerable amount of mana. It allows him to repeat the combo Frostbite + Blade fury at any opportunity in the lane, while staying healthy thanks to . The aura stays relevant well into the late game.


 * provides great set up for Timbersaw's many abilities in all phases of the game, allowing him to place directly on top of an enemy hero, then following up with the rest of his combo.
 * Though Timbersaw is forced to build extensive mana regeneration in order to fuel, the addition of is very useful in the early game, allowing Timbersaw to always have  available for escape or initiation.
 * stacks very well with the slow from Timbersaw's, and Timbersaw's excellent mobility allows him to easily chase down heroes who escaped from the full damage of.


 * helps significantly with Sven's pitiful starting mana regeneration, allowing him to more freely use and  in lane, and well into the middle and later game.
 * layered well with in lane is a quick and easy way to ensure a kill, and if  and  are added, it allows for insane chase potential for even the most stubborn of laners.
 * With both and, Crystal Maiden is well equipped to help Sven chase down enemies, or hold them in place while he kills them.  This helps to prevent Sven from being kited, especially during the duration of.

Others

 * Many strength and agility heroes benefit greatly from for the entire game, especially heroes like, , , and  by allowing them to spam their spells or unique attack modifiers with great ease. For most intelligence heroes however, the aura becomes irrelevant once they have enough int and any item that gives mana regeneration.
 * provides an instant, reliable disable that can be a good setup for unreliable spells such as, , or.
 * Any hero with a large, AoE disable works very well with Crystal Maiden (think, , or ), allowing easy setup for her ultimate, and ensuring that a decent duration of it is used before getting ended. Just be sure to catch enemy silences and disables before using this tactic, or both ultimates will be wasted!

Works poorly with...

 * becomes obsolete once becomes maxed out, as the latter is far more potent than the former.
 * can save someone from and unlike other spells that grant enemies invulnerability, this one lasts for 4 seconds and cannot be canceled/dispelled.

List of heroes that counter Crystal Maiden, and list of heroes that work well with Crystal Maiden.