Nyx Assassin/Counters

Bad against...

 * hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with Vendetta, making him an easy kill for gold as well.


 * While Burrowing, Nyx is an easy target for a, although he can at least partially counter it with a well-timed Spiked Carapace.
 * is always a threat to Nyx Assassin, hindering his attempt of escape using Vendetta.
 * also prevents Nyx Assassin from escaping with Vendetta, as it forces him to stay still.


 * from Storm in can waste Nyx's Spiked Carapace, since its duration is shorter than the Cyclone's.


 * A well-timed prevents Nyx Assassin escaping with Vendetta and does not allow him to disengage with Spiked Carapace.
 * Doom's high health also allows him to easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.


 * Juggernaut's entire skillset greatly counters Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace, his most important ability.
 * allows Juggernaut to freely attack Nyx Assassin, and deal heavy damage to Nyx Assassin. Nyx Assassin cannot counter with Spiked Carapace because  gives Juggernaut spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Juggernaut while he is spell immune.
 * allows Juggernaut to recover himself and his allies from Nyx Assassin's damage output.
 * and from  can quickly finish off Nyx Assassin, and just like, Nyx Assassin cannot counter neither  and  from  with Spiked Carapace because both abilities render Juggernaut invulnerable. And if Nyx Assassin has no Vendetta available to use for escaping, both abilities will kill him very quickly before he can do anything.
 * Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Juggernaut will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Juggernaut.


 * Familiars deal many instances of damage quickly, minimizing the effectiveness of Spiked Carapace. They are, however, relatively fragile and can be killed quickly with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, especially from Vendetta.
 * and tanky item builds make him hard to kill with burst damage. upgraded  also allows Visage to use  to both recover himself and stun Nyx Assassin if he is close enough to Visage.
 * Visage's long range on and  make him hard to escape from, and 's low cooldown outmatches Spiked Carapace.


 * Like with Juggernaut's, allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter  with Spiked Carapace because  gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
 * from allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin.  can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with.
 * combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with or a . And similarly to Juggernaut's  and  from,  upgraded  can also allow Lifestealer to infest and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. and Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
 * Like with Juggernaut, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.


 * Lycan's high HP easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.


 * hinders Nyx Assassin's ganking attempts with Vendetta, as well as reducing his armor and make him very vulnerable due to his low health pool.

Others

 * Abilities and items with Silence or Root are a threat to Nyx Assassin, the former is because his nature as an ability-reliant hero, the latter is because most of them does not allow him to fight back with Spiked Carapace or escape with Vendetta.
 * Heroes with high HP will easily shrug off Nyx Assassin's burst damage and fend him off.
 * Heroes who build as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all:, , , , , , , , , , , , ,.
 * Mana Burn is useless against heroes that are not relying on abilities like.
 * Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage:, , , , , , . However, this also means they are easily stunned.
 * Nyx Assassin is ability-dependent and thus vulnerable to silence, especially while Burrowed.
 * Some abilities deals damage from an independent source and not from the hero itself, so Nyx cannot counter them with Spiked Carapace: illusions or summoning units,, , , and especially 's mines.
 * Nyx Assassin's skillset is mostly single-targeted, therefore he will have difficulties against heroes with illusions and summons:, , , , . And to make things worse, Nyx Asassin is not a common , , or  wielder to counter this problem.

Items

 * Detection items (, and  prevent Nyx Assassin from using Vendetta to initiate or escape.
 * can waste Nyx's Spiked Carapace, since its duration is shorter than the Cyclone's. Later it can be upgraded into which can do the same and which can also be used to escape from Nyx Assassin.
 * Any good strength/health item like, or even  can completely eliminate Nyx's solo ganking as a threat.
 * can protect multiple heroes from Nyx Assassin's spell damage.
 * can reduce all the damage Nyx Assassin tries to inflict on it's wielder while also converting inflicted damage into mana, thus nullifying effects of Mana Burn.
 * can save it's wielder from getting nuked and killed by Nyx Assassin.
 * is a double-edged sword against Nyx Assassin. While Nyx Assassin can counter it in return with Spiked Carapace, he will still suffer damage if he uses his abilities and items on a hero who is affected by it.
 * blocks most of Nyx Assassin's damage and greatly discourages Nyx Assassin from targeting a hero with spells or items while also allowing it's wielder to freely attack Nyx Assassin, making Nyx Assassin weak even against heroes he naturally counters. And unlike, Nyx Assassin cannot punish this in return with Spiked Carapace because Spiked Carapace cannot pierce Spell Immunity at all. And outside from Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other ways to deal with Spell Immunity.

Good against...

 * Spiked Carapace easily interrupts.
 * 's damage over time sets up an easy Spiked Carapace stun.
 * Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and dies quickly to Nyx Assassin's burst damage.


 * Spiked Carapace interrupts before Dawnbreaker has her Aghanim's Shard, as well as  during the initial channel, making her ineffective at joining and dealing damage in teamfights.
 * The slow projectile and damage over time effect of makes it easy to stun Dawnbreaker if she attemps to engage or chase.


 * Spiked Carapace reflects the damage from.
 * Enchantress is a rather squishy hero, making her fall easily to Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.


 * Enigma's uncontrollable damage from and  make him easy to stun with Spiked Carapace.
 * can be easily interrupted by Impale or Spiked Carapace.


 * Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by or, setting up a deadly Impale.


 * With her passive, Medusa can be easily interrupted by Spiked Carapace during combat, especially during her precious.
 * Mana Burn quickly destroys, especially if Medusa only increases her mana pool by bolstering intelligence (which has the added bonus of increasing Mana Burn's damage).
 * Uncontrollable damage from and  can trigger Spiked Carapace.
 * lacks single target damage, making a Burrowed Nyx Assassin hard to kill.


 * Outworld Destroyer's high intelligence gain and fragility makes him an easy target for a massive Mana Burn, as well as killing him outwards with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage.
 * can be easily exploited by Nyx Assassin with his abilities. As long as Astral Imprisonment was not cast on Nyx Assassin, it will make an opportunity for an easy stun, either by Spiked Carapace (if Outworld Destroyer hid his allies or your allies) or Impale (if he hid himself). If Astral Imprisonment was cast on Nyx Assassin, using Spiked Carapace while banished will proc the stun after the disable, since Spike Carapace has a 0 second cast time and Astral Imprisonment deals damage right after the disable ends.
 * An ill-timed and/or well timed Spiked Carapace can deal a lot of damage to Outworld Destroyer and stun him, unless Outworld Destroyer used  beforehand.


 * Spiked Carapace reacts on any of the damage over time from Phoenix's abilities and can interrupt and.


 * is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace, either stunning Puck and setting up an easy Impale or forcing a premature.
 * Puck is an intelligence hero that tends to build intelligence items, making it vulnerable to Mana Burn.
 * An ill-timed can easily set Puck up to be stunned by Impale.
 * Puck's low base armor and below average agility gain mean it is always susceptible to Vendetta.


 * 's animation makes it easy to time Spiked Carapace for a stun.
 * Pugna has the largest intelligence gain in the game, making him a prime target for Mana Burn.
 * Pugna needs to channel, making him easy to hit with Impale.


 * is extremely easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for large amounts damage, due to triggering when Nyx Assassin casts a spell, but can still silence Nyx Assassin. It also has the added bonus of dealing more damage the more Intelligence Silencer has.
 * quickly builds Silencer's Intelligence, making him a particularly prime target for Mana Burn.
 * Silencer rarely builds survivability items, nor is he able to steal much Intelligence while surrounded by his team, and so is an excellent target for Vendetta.
 * Silencer has no reliable way of dealing with a burrowed Nyx, and also lacks the ability to prevent Nyx from escaping with Vendetta,


 * is easy to reflect with Spiked Carapace for massive damage.
 * 's area damage can set up an easy stun with Spiked Carapace, especially when combined with Vendetta.
 * In the early game, Sniper's low health pool and high intelligence makes him easy prey for Nyx Assassin.


 * Mana Burn removes much-needed mana for.
 * Spiked Carapace triggers on for an easy stun.


 * allow easy Spiked Carapace stuns.
 * As a fragile hero that relies on mana and intelligence items, Tinker is vulnerable to Mana Burn.
 * Nyx Assassin's stuns can interrupt and leave Tinker helpless.

Others

 * The nature of some abilities turn them into an easy target for a turnover from Spiked Carapace:
 * Slow-moving projectiles:, ,
 * Large area-of-effect with delay or require channeling:, , , , , ,.
 * Heroes with high intelligence gain and low durability are vulnerable to Mana Burn.
 * Positioning-dependent heroes are threatened by Vendetta:,.

Items

 * is a double-edged sword against Nyx Assassin: While Lotus Orb can discourage Nyx Assassin from targeting a hero with spells or items, Nyx Assassin can punish this in return with Spiked Carapace: While Spiked Carapace is available for Nyx Assassin to use. He can use Spiked Carapace, then Mana Burn a target with an active Lotus Orb, protecting him from the damage of the reflected mana burn (but not the burnt mana), reflecting the damage back and stunning the target.
 * This is better with a, since all it does is deal damage, resulting in a Lotus Orb backfiring and the target suffering twice the Dagon's damage.
 * This works even more effectively with the 175% Spiked Carapace talent (at level 20), as it reflects the Dagon's damage twice, resulting in the Dagon's damage tripling in total. With Dagon 5, this becomes an instant 2400 damage nuke and 2.4 second stun (before amplification/reduction).
 * Another thing is that Lotus Orb itself is a good item itself for Nyx Assassin. Alongside with, a combination of Dagon, Blade Mail, Lotus Orb, and Spiked Carapace hit on enemy with a Lotus Orb activated will deal about 2400(3000 with level 20 talent) magic damage (before reduction/amplification).
 * Items with area of effect damage may proc Spiked Carapace, stunning the wielders and allowing Nyx Assassin to follow with other abilities:, , , and most notably.
 * Powerful passive skills are easily disabled by Vendetta's break:, ,.

Works well with...

 * Witch Doctor's means that Nyx Assassin's Vendetta is almost always lethal
 * Witch Doctor's and  pairs well with Nyx Assassin's multiple stuns


 * Nyx Assassin's initiation potential works great in conjunction with Invoker's high damage spells.
 * Impale allows Invoker's to be easily aimed.
 * Invoker's, , and allows Nyx Assassin to land Impale rather easily.


 * Nyx Assassin's high burst damage helps Legion Commander gain damage.
 * removes silences and from Nyx Assassin.


 * Nyx Assassin can initiate using and Vendetta, making him an ideal  target.


 * helps Nyx Assassin locate and eliminate weakened enemies.
 * can help land Impale, which can in turn set up.

Others

 * Heroes with global or very long range spells can help Nyx Assassin take out tougher enemies:, , ,.
 * Tanky heroes who can lure enemies to use their AoE nukes, allowing Nyx Assassin to counter-initiate with Spiked Carapace.
 * Heroes with area disables that can help Nyx Assassin land an Impale:, , and.
 * Heroes with can take advantage of Vendetta to sneak behind enemy lines.

List of heroes that counter Nyx Assassin, and list of heroes that work well with Nyx Assassin.

Nyx Assassin/Противостоящие