Sven/Counters

Bad against...

 * prevents Sven from bursting his targets before Axe can interfere. The worst kind of opponent for Sven is one who can stop him from attacking who he wants to, which is exactly what Axe does.
 * may finish off Sven before he has the chance to lifesteal or run with Warcry.
 * Axe is a very common carrier which will make very short work of a Sven with God's Strength activated.


 * Pugna can save allies with both healing or by making them ethereal but needs to be careful of Sven's purge.


 * saps Sven's insane attack damage, and goes through.


 * makes Sven unable to detect where Riki is until he shows or his team provides detection.
 * will make Sven miss attacks before he has his.


 * can heal allies while dealing pure damage to Sven.
 * can remove Storm Hammer's debuff immediately or make it a very mediocre stun.
 * negates Sven's massive damage during God's Strength.
 * It should also be noted Sven can remove Omniknight's active spells with.


 * makes it very hard for Sven to burst her within Storm Hammer's stun duration.
 * makes it very difficult for Sven to fight Medusa at any stage of the game.
 * can slow Sven down enough for allies to capitalize on his commitment in a fight.


 * 's blind makes Sven nearly useless in the early game and allows Troll Warlord to take him on comfortably.
 * will mean Sven will never take Troll out in a 1vs1 with equal farm.


 * Sven has no easy way to burn charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.


 * saves any ally Sven initiates on and wastes the duration of God's Strength in team fights.
 * can be devastating to Sven's team, as his massive damage can take out a teammate before there is much time to react.

Others

 * Heroes who can stun Sven even with an activated can be an issue:,.
 * Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as, or.
 * Heroes who thrive on teamfights can be a problem, such as, , ...
 * Heroes who can fight back easily are not ideal matchups for Sven, such as as mentioned above,  and.
 * Heroes that can prevent Sven from farming are very strong against him. Such as and  with their respective invisibility.
 * Heroes who can take advantage of God's Strength being on cooldown are also not great matchups, such as, and.
 * In general, any hero that can stun, root or slow will give Sven a difficult time in teamfights.
 * 's AoE blind can keep Sven from landing hits.

Items

 * and are used to escape Sven, also can save allies from Storm Hammer.
 * disjoints Storm Hammer in quick hands.
 * and protect heroes from Sven's physical damage, forcing him to build  or.
 * neuters Sven's main damage source during a teamfight.
 * roots Sven to the ground, making him an easy target.
 * reflects Sven's massive damage, recommended for beefy heroes or in combination with.
 * disables Sven completely.
 * negates Sven's initiations with Storm Hammer.
 * makes Sven miss attacks without.
 * disables Sven even with spell immunity.
 * reflects from Storm Hammer targeted will affected back to Sven.

Good against...

 * Anti-Mage is fairly fragile, and cannot stand against Sven in a prolonged fight.
 * Sven's and low base mana protects against.
 * Great Cleave destroys the illusions from Anti-Mage's.
 * Although Sven should be careful as a well-timed can block and reflect Storm Hammer.


 * Great Cleave clears Spiderlings quickly to increase gold income.
 * Warcry shields Sven and his allies against Broodmother and her Spiderlings.


 * Great Cleave is very effective against Chaos Knight's illusions.
 * Storm Hammer's radius can catch all of Chaos Knight's illusions at once, especially after.
 * Warcry shields Sven and his teammates against Chaos Knight's burst physical damage.


 * Great Cleave quickly destroys Chen's creeps in team fights, before they have a chance to do much.


 * God's Strength allows Sven to take down Death Prophet quickly, reducing the damage dealt over time from.
 * Warcry's bonus armour and movement speed is very useful for Sven and his teammates against, which deals physical damage.


 * generally does not impede Sven in any way, provided he has activated God's Strength beforehand.


 * allows Sven to tank the damage from due to its high armour.
 * However provides spell immunity which blocks the stun from.


 * Great Cleave will devastate Meepo's clones. Against a closely packed group, Sven does not even need to target the clone with the lowest health.


 * Warcry's shields protects Sven and his teammates from.
 * With, Sven will be able to protect himself from most of Pangolier's skills.


 * Great Cleave and God's Strength cuts through Phantom Lancer's illusions in no time.
 * Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer and his illusions.


 * Past the early game, Sniper is an easy target for Sven to jump on with or.
 * Sven's high armour and health pool makes it difficult for Sniper to focus, as his main source of damage is his right click.
 * Sniper is very squishy, and will not stand a chance against Sven head on.


 * and will never be enough damage to take out Sven in a clean way.
 * Tiny is very slow with low armour growth and does not buy items to sustain Sven's damage output.


 * With God's Strength, Warlock Golem goes down in a matter of seconds. The two weaker golems granted by will fare worse due to Great Cleave hitting both.
 * Storm Hammer upgraded with dispels.

Others

 * Late game heroes are Sven's favourite kind of opponent, such as, and.
 * Heroes who struggle to fight back against Sven at any point in the game are at a severe disadvantage:, ,.
 * Heroes who depends on illusions and summons:, , will struggle against Great Cleave.
 * Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing towers will often struggle from a small map very early, such as, and.
 * Strong laners are usually at a disadvantage because of how well Sven can jungle. Heroes such as . and  may find that later Sven takes care of them very quickly after some jungle farming.
 * Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as, and.
 * Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage:, ,.

Items

 * 's illusions will be cleared quickly by Great Cleave.
 * will make items such as and  not ideal.

Works well with...

 * Crystal Maiden's and numerous slows make it easy for Sven to catch up to enemies.
 * helps to compensate for Sven's low manapool.


 * combined with Storm Hammer can stun the whole enemy team with good cooperation.


 * and can easily clear waves of creeps, summons and illusions.
 * can give Death Prophet bonus armor during the teamfights, for she is very frail and cannot endure a lot if she gets focused.
 * prevents enemy heroes from using abilites against Sven in attempts to counter-initiate against him.
 * and can very quickly make a short work out of enemy heroes.


 * A well positioned could result in an enemy teamwipe for Sven's team, due to the AoE damage from Storm Hammer and Great Cleave.


 * and sets Sven up for easy ganks anywhere on the map. This is effective against single targets because Sven can burst them down without being disabled by the enemy's teammates.
 * makes Sven hit faster, increasing his damage output. The damage reduction, combined with Warcry, will make Sven tough to kill.


 * and gives Sven plenty of time to beat down the enemy.


 * gives Sven additional cleave and damage.
 * A well-positioned allows Sven to devastate multiple opponents with God's Strength and Great Cleave. He can also prolong the disable with Storm Hammer.


 * and dispels most disables, making Sven unstoppable in teamfights.
 * protects Sven from magical damage, pairing with Warcry to make him highly resilient.


 * and gives Sven plenty of time to destroy the enemy.

Others

 * Heroes with lengthy stuns or roots will synergize well with Sven.
 * Heroes with little armour but high health will benefit most from Warcry, becoming much more resilient:, ,.

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

Sven/Противостоящие 斯温/克制