Anti-Mage/Counters

Bad against...

 * is a long-duration disable that pierces spell immunity and can't be purged. Not only does it lock Anti-Mage in place for the enemy team to wreak havoc on him, but it also has the potential to turn his farm and damage against him if the Axe uses.
 * deals pure damage. Anti-Mage, being a hero with heavy magic resistance and acceptable physical resistance, is especially vulnerable to pure damage.
 * Axe is infamous for his ability to dominate lanes alone due to his early damage potential, tankiness, and sustainability. Anti-Mage will always have a hard time to farm in a lane against Axe, even with a good support to help him.


 * Anti-Mage relies on his Blink to escape and initiate, but stops him from blinking or moving which can render him useless early game and greatly cripple him in the late game, both while Anti-Mage tries to farm or fight.
 * Bloodseeker's abilities also deal pure damage, which bypasses Anti-Mage's Spell Shield.


 * Clinkz can gank Anti-Mage's with his early in the game, interrupting his farming.
 * Clinkz deals mostly physical damage, which makes Anti-Mage's Spell Shield near useless.
 * Clikz often buys or, preventing Anti-Mage from using Blink.


 * shuts down Anti-Mage's escape capabilities with Blink. The ability also prevents Anti-Mage from casting Mana Void, which Anti-Mage relies on casting during teamfights to deal heavy damage. The ability also deals pure damage, the damage type that Anti-Mage is most vulnerable to.
 * With, Anti-Mage loses his Mana Break and Spell Shield, weakening his right-clicks and effective health pool.
 * Doom also has a very small mana pool, and does not rely on using mana after casting his spells, which he only uses once per teamfight (with the exception of and some abilities stolen from neutral creeps).


 * If Anti-Mage doesn't get in melee range to disable, her strong physical damage can kill Anti-Mage fast. If Anti-Mage blinks in without activating a BKB, she can (or Hurricane Pike, which she likes to buy) him away.
 * She likes to push fast with and, restricting Anti-Mage's available farming area and often forcing early teamfights (before he gets to farm his items)).


 * renders Anti-Mage's escape capabilities with Blink useless. A good initiation from Legion Commander and her team is enough to kill Anti-Mage without trouble.
 * After some successful s, Legion gains a high physical damage burst, causing a situation similar to 's.


 * and allow Meepo to gain a high experience and gold advantage over Anti-Mage. Meepo also has the third lowest average match duration, leaving Anti-Mage little time to play his usual farming game.
 * Meepo can permantnetly disable Blink with constant s.
 * Meepo's Clones can only use their mana for, keeping their mana pool nearly full and thus making a bad target for a Mana Void.


 * Despite his constant use of mana with, Outworld Devourer will almost always be with full mana due to his , making him an unlikely target for Mana Void.
 * Outworld Devourer's deals pure damage, which is especially effective for a hero like Anti-Mage, who has a respectable amount of armor and a high amount of magic resistance.
 * Furthermore, deals massive extra damage to illusions, allowing Outworld Devourer to dispatch Anti-Mage's  illusions with ease.


 * Anti-Mage can easily withstand heavy magical burst due to Spell Shield, but he is still somewhat vulnerable to physical damage. Phantom Assassin's burst physical damage can destroy Anti-Mage while Blink is on cooldown or while he is stunned or hexed.
 * Phantom Assassin's makes Anti-Mage unable to deal significant damage to her until one of the following:
 * Anti-Mage gains True Strike by buying a.
 * He or an ally obtains a form of Break, e.g. or  upgraded with an.
 * He or an ally obtains means to gain accuracy (currently the only way to do this is by purchasing a ).
 * Phantom Assassin has an abysmal mana pool and intelligence gain, making Mana Break and Mana Void deal minimal damage.


 * and prevent Anti-Mage from using Blink, the latter even if Anti-Mage activate a BKB.
 * not only amplifies Anti-Mage's weakness against non-magical damage, but also makes chasing Anti-Mage much easier as it reveals his position through Fog of War and on the minimap after he blinked away.
 * He usually buys a Blink Dagger, enabling him to chase Anti-Mage if he blinks away.


 * His's low mana pool means that Mana Break and Mana Void cannot deal much magical damage to him (also Sven usually builds BKB, completely negating it) and and Sven's big health pool makes it hard for Anti-Mage to deal much damage to him with physical attacks.
 * poses a real threat for Anti-Mage and prevents him from using Blink, no matter if he activates a BKB.
 * Spell Shield is pretty bad against Sven, as his main damage source are physical attacks.
 * Sven usually buys a Blink Dagger, enabling him to chase Anti-Mage if he blinks away.


 * Her strong physical damage is problematic for Anti-Mage, as his tankiness mainly comes from Spell Shield.
 * Templar Assassin usually doesn't buy stat items or increase her mana pool in any other way, so she is not a good target for Mana Void.
 * She usually buys a Blink Dagger, enabling him to chase Anti-Mage if he blinks away.


 * His high physical damage output threatens Anti-Mage, whose tankiness mainly comes from Spell Shield.
 * His bash prevents Anti-Mage from using Blink, no matter if he activates a BKB.

Others

 * 's prevents Mana Void from affecting an important target.  prevents Anti-Mage from dealing damage with his auto-attacks, his most prevalent source of damage, on potentially the entire enemy team.
 * Although Anti-Mage typically builds, it is not enough for him to fight off swarms of powerful units. This makes Anti-Mage unable to fight heroes like , (see above),  and.
 * Not only does overwhelm Anti-Mage with  and  illusions, but he also turns Anti-Mage's Mana Break against him with.
 * Anti-Mage has trouble fighting high physical burst damage from heroes like or, if they are accompanied by another hero that disables Anti-Mage (heroes that have high physical burst and can also disable Anti-Mage are listed above).
 * Anti-Mage can easily get caught in a or  from  or, crippling his fighting power.

Items

 * , like, disables Mana Break and Mana Void.
 * and prevent Anti-Mage from using Blink, allowing him to be bursted down.
 * silences Anti-Mage, preventing him from using Blink and Mana Void, spells he relies on during crucial moments. both silences and causes physical attacks to do bonus damage against Anti-Mage.
 * prevents Mana Void, a powerful high-cooldown spell.

Good against...

 * Anti-Mage has high mobility from Blink, allowing him to deal with the while it is split-pushing.
 * Arc Warden has an above-average mana pool but little mana regeneration, which Anti-Mage can take advantage of with Mana Break and Mana Void.
 * Arc Warden tends to build . With, Anti-Mage can easily deal with the Necronomicon's summons, and Anti-Mage will take minimal damage from due to Spell Shield.


 * Anti-Mage easily destroys with Mana Break, especially when Anti-Mage obtains.
 * Medusa also tends to build items that increase her mana pool to make more effective. However, once Anti-Mage destroys the Mana Shield, he can follow it up with a devastating Mana Void.
 * Anti-Mage can effectively kite Medusa with Blink. Using Blink to temporarily escape while is active and then re-initiate will render the Stone Gaze useless.


 * Morphling heavily relies on his mana to use, and.
 * Morphling tends to buy "all attributes bonus" items like and, which makes Mana Break and Mana Void deal much more damage.
 * Morphling's mobility abilities don't work well against Anti-Mage, as Blink is superior to and Mana Break quickly drains enough mana to prevent Morphling from using  due to the skill's comparatively high mana cost.


 * Pugna only deals magical damage, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant to due to Spell Shield.
 * Anti-Mage can purge with.
 * Pugna has a very large mana pool. This allows Anti-Mage to constantly deal bonus damage to Pugna with Mana Break and devastate Pugna's entire team with Mana Void.


 * Anti-Mage can outmatch Queen of Pain's with his own Blink combined with his higher base movement speed., a typical item in Anti-Mage's build, can further increase his chase potential.
 * Queen of Pain has little armor and a relatively high mana pool, so Anti-Mage can target her with Mana Void for a devastating effect compared to most heroes.
 * Anti-Mage's high magic resistance from Spell Shield will make him hurt less from and.


 * Skywrath Mage only deals magical damage, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant to due to Spell Shield.
 * Anti-Mage can purge with.
 * Skywrath Mage has a very large mana pool, similar to . This allows Anti-Mage to constantly deal bonus damage to him with Mana Break and devastate Skywrath's entire team with Mana Void.


 * Slark relies on the high damage of, which is heavily reduced by Spell Shield, and keeping the enemy in place with to steal attributes with , which countered by Blink, so he cannot easily harm Anti-Mage, even if he catches him alone.
 * On the other hand, Slark tends to buy many "all attributes bonus" items like and, allowing Anti-Mage to deal more damage to Slark with Mana Break and Mana Void than to most other rightclick carries.


 * Spectre cannot easily chase chase Anti-Mage with because of Blink, though it still grants her team vision over him.
 * Because of Spell Sheild, Anti-Mage doesn't take much damage when his team nukes Spectre in a teamfight.
 * Spectre tends to buy a Radiance, which doesn't harm Anti-Mage too much, once again because of Spell Shield.
 * Anti-Mage usually builds a Manta Style, preventing Spectre from dealing any damage to him once he summons his illusions.


 * Storm Spirit tends to run out of mana rather quickly when either initiating or running away with his . A well timed Mana Void often won't just take out the Storm Spirit, but any of his nearby teammates as well.
 * Storm is a high-mobility hero, but with the short cooldown on Blink, Anti-Mage will be able to chase Storm down quite well compared to most heroes.
 * Most of Storm Spirit's damage is magical, which Anti-Mage is exceptionally resistant to due to Spell Shield.


 * Wraith King needs a significant amount of mana for to trigger. Because Wraith King has a low mana pool, Mana Break can dissolve all of Wraith King's mana before he has any chance of Reincarnating.
 * Wraith King has no innate mobility. Even with, Wraith King is easily kited by Blink.
 * Against Anti-Mage, Wraith King tends to build an item that gives burst mana to be able to trigger . This item takes up a slot in Wraith King's inventory, drastically limiting his carry potential.
 * Anti-Mage can farm much more quickly than Wraith King, allowing Anti-Mage to overpower Wraith King once a significant farm advantage is established.


 * Zeus deals nearly only magical damage, which is heavily reduced by Spell Shield.
 * Zeus teands to build up a high mana pool to be able to spam his abilities, making Mana Break and Mana Void very effective.
 * Zeus likes to stand in the back of a fight, but Anti-Mage can easily use Blink to close the distance.

Others

 * Anti-Mage can withstand magical burst damage much better than other carries, making him effective against nukers like, , , and.
 * Anti-Mage's high mobility from Blink and tendency to build makes him strong against split-pushing heroes like  and.
 * Generally, heroes who either have a large intelligence gain or like to build mana or intelligence-giving items while having rather low mana regeneration are susceptible to Mana Break and Mana Void. Examples include, , , , (be careful of his ), , , , and.

Works well with...

 * will give Anti-Mage extra gold and, more importantly, help Anti-Mage keep track of enemies trying to gank him, allowing him to prepare for farming other area of the map.


 * will give Anti-Mage all the mana he needs in the early-game for using his abilities.
 * and disable the enemy long enough for Anti-Mage to do a lot of damage. This is especially useful during ganks.


 * Magnus' early game nuke potential with and  can make space for Anti-Mage to farm.
 * can help Anti-Mage farm substantially faster and dish out more damage during teamfights.
 * can cluster enemies up for a devastating.


 * can save Anti-Mage from dangerous abilities. It also creates extra illusions for Anti-Mage, which benefit from Mana Break and Spell Shield.
 * gives Anti-Mage time to wreak havoc on an enemy, especially when combined with.
 * With, Demonic Purge will be constantly available. It will disable enemies' passives through spell immunity, which is especially useful when fighting enemy carries. In particular, an upgraded Demonic Purge becomes an alternative for dealing with 's.

Others

 * Because Anti-Mage has decent resistance to physical damage and great resistance to magical damage, Anti-Mage gets good value from healing heroes, like or . In particular, Anti-Mage's high magic resistance makes 's  a very effective heal. Healers will also help mitigate early harassment that Anti-Mage receives while laning.
 * Armor reduction from heroes like and  can allow Anti-Mage to deal a lot of damage with right-clicks.
 * Anti-Mage needs some time to farm his first one or two items before becoming active. An active midlaner or offlaner can help create space for Anti-Mage's farming.
 * Anti-Mage struggles a lot with the item as he cannot effectively use Mana Void, so if the case is that someone buys one, he can rely on a teammate to help him disable it; in the worst case, he can use  to disable it once he farms it, which is not ideal.

List of heroes that counter Anti-Mage, and list of heroes that work well with Anti-Mage.