Mars/Counters

Bad against...

 * Batrider's largely magical damage completely ignores Bulwark.
 * slows turn rate, making it difficult for Mars to control his facing direction for Bulwark.
 * disables Mars whilst enemies re-position themselves behind Mars to avoid Bulwark.
 * allows Batrider to fly over Arena Of Blood's walls.


 * allows Faceless Void to escape or enter Arena Of Blood, and helps him recover from Mars' burst damage.
 * 's magical damage ignores Bulwark.
 * allows Faceless Void to reposition behind Mars, ignoring his Bulwark while he is helplessly frozen in time.


 * 's magical damage makes it very hard for Mars to stay in the laning stage.
 * 's percentage-based magical damage bypasses Bulwark, and can also be used to jump in or out of Arena Of Blood.


 * deals reliable magic damage during the laning phase against Mars.
 * Lina's and  combo can interrupt Mars from being disruptive for a decent amount of time and leave him vulnerable for follow up stuns.
 * deals massive magical damage, and pure damage with.


 * effectively pauses a teamfight, potentially wasting Arena Of Blood's duration.
 * reduces Mars' tankiness.
 * prevents Mars from following up after his knockback abilities, and takes advantage of his low mobility.


 * Necrophos' largely magical damage completely ignores Bulwark.
 * protects Necrophos from God's Rebuke but more importantly stops Mars from being a threat in lane.


 * can dispel Spear of Mars, Mars main source of damage output.
 * can disable Mars from attacking for a long period of time.
 * deals magical damage nukes which can Finish Mars off and deal damage to him in lane.
 * can save victims inside Blood of Arena or stunned by Spear of Mars in general.
 * Oracle is usually ahead in games due to the nature of the heroes kill potential. So items such as can be a big problem for Mars.
 * Positioning is key, as Oracle does not have the HP to survive a Spear of Mars in most situations.


 * 's pure damage ignores Mars' tankiness.
 * can be used to stop Mars from being disruptive or save allies from his abilities.
 * deals high damage to Mars, due to his low intelligence.


 * , and  deals high magical damage and bypasses Bulwark.
 * reduces the amount of abilities Mars can use during fights and has to be careful about his heavy mana cost on Arena Of Blood.
 * Pugna is one of few heroes that can contest Mars' ability to push and defend towers early on.


 * completely reduces the damage output from God's Rebuke but a large amount of damage is still reduced by Bulwark.
 * Both and  deals magical damage and also bypasses Bulwark.
 * melts Mars armour and makes him much less tanky.


 * If Mars laned in mid, Shadow Fiend can keep the lane pushed against him.
 * Shadow Fiend can go an entirely magical based build, which is very effective against Mars.
 * ,, all have stacking magical damage.


 * and is very disruptive in teamfights, completely matching Mars especially since it can all be cast inside Arena Of Blood as well and also does percentage-based magical damage, negating Bulwark.
 * can save any allies of Underlord trapped in Arena Of Blood.
 * allows Underlord to lane against Mars quite reliably since he does not have the best base damage from early game.
 * Underlord is a common carrier of both and /, allowing his team to combat Mars in the mid to late game.


 * , and  deal magical damage.
 * allows Undying to match Mars' tankiness in lane and effectively negate Mars' high health pool by sapping his Strength directly.
 * zombies can pass through Arena of Blood.


 * Ursa is one of few heroes that can trade well against Mars during the laning phase.
 * can be very deadly if enough stacks are gotten even if Mars is attacked from the front.
 * allows Ursa to dispel Spear of Mars long stun duration.
 * Ursa may not be the best target to be trapped alone with in an arena.


 * Venomancer's poison attacks are all magical damage, ignoring Bulwark.
 * Venomancer's multiple slows are especially effective against Mars' low mobility.
 * can attack through Arena Of Blood.


 * breaks the damage block from Bulwark.
 * and 's slows make it difficult for Mars to contribute to fights.


 * Mars' own father is a formidable foe because Zeus deals mostly magical damage. The high damage, low cooldown nukes of and  combined with the percent health magic damage of  will shred Mars' health because it bypasses Bulwark completely.

Others

 * Heroes with break abilities:, (with ),
 * 's forces Mars to choose between getting petrified, or turning his vulnerable back on Medusa.
 * 's and  disrupt fights in Arena Of Blood.
 * is a special mention. He's a stronger laner than Mars due to having ranged and multiple slow sources to stop Mars from running away in the early game. It only takes one stun from his team for Mars to be an easy kill but even without them, he can definitely hold his own. I think this matchup can go either way depending on player skill, but in 5k mmr it seems to be favoured to Troll Warlord.
 * Heroes with a form of save can be a big problem for Mars: ,
 * Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark:, , , , , , , ,.

Items

 * breaks Bulwark.
 * allows heroes to walk freely in and out of Arena Of Blood.
 * used to save ally from Arena of Blood.

Good against...

 * Arena Of Blood blocks out Bloodseeker from attacking a d target.
 * Bulwark helps Mars survive ganks simply by turning towards Bloodseeker without moving.
 * Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can push Bloodseeker from Ruptured targets.


 * Bulwark reduces most of Bristleback's physical damage.
 * Mars can knock back Bristleback to prevent him from chasing down allies with.
 * Bristleback is a weaker laner than Mars.


 * Juggernaut deals mostly physical damage, which is easily mitigated with Bulwark.
 * Juggernaut's switches to opposite directions which each slash, so Mars can mitigate most of its damage since he only takes full damage from one direction: his back.
 * Mars is one of few heroes is not a consistent threat, due to Mars having a big HP pool.


 * forces Mars to face Legion Commander, causing most of her damage to be blocked by Bulwark.
 * Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke pushes Legion Commander away during Duels against allies.


 * Phantom Assassin's high physical damage is greatly reduced by Bulwark.
 * God's Rebuke has true strike, ignoring the evasion from.


 * Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even after and during.
 * Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
 * Slark builds items such as and  so his health pool and armor stays low for much of the early/mid game, when Mars is very strong.
 * A successful Spear of Mars is very likely going to be the death of Slark in most stages of the game.
 * Should be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Blood Of Arena.
 * will make Slark lose a lot of his own health if attacking Mars, forcing out his own Shadow Dance faster.


 * Spectre cannot have a good game if she is pressured heavily in lane, which is something Mars can do.
 * Spectre can use and  inside and outside from Arena of Blood but it does not matter because Mars' spike comes during the early and mid game.
 * Should Spectre get to the late game, Mars can block a large amount of her damage and split the teamfights in his advantage.


 * Bulwark negates most of the physical damage from Terrorblade and his illusions.
 * Mars' AoE abilities kill Terrorblade's illusions quickly.


 * cannot escape from Blood of Arena, so with vision, Weaver is an easy kill.
 * will also not save Weaver in a large amount of situations inside Blood of Arena, especially if hit to the wall side.
 * and is not very useful against a hero that can tank 70% of his main damage source.

Others

 * Heroes who can disable Mars but cannot do any damage to him, meaning he just tanks their abilities: ,
 * heroes who cannot fight back during Blood of Arena in the early and mid game:, , , , , , , ,
 * Heroes who rely on their target to run away: ,

Works well with...

 * Due to how works, it makes it very ideal for Huskar when allies can seperate heroes like Mars can.
 * Huskar can push enemies into the Arena of Blood corners with.
 * Huskar can also get large amounts of stacks very quickly.


 * Enemy rooted by is easy to be hit by.
 * gives Mars additional mana regen.
 * can easily deal damage to enemies trapped in Arena Of Blood.


 * can pull escaped enemies back into Arena Of Blood.
 * Arena Of Blood is a good setup for . With, Disruptor can also stop enemies from activating and escaping Arena Of Blood.


 * helps with Mars' low mana pool.
 * knocks enemies into Arena of Blood's walls.
 * Arena Of Blood allows Keeper of the Light to easily hit enemies with.


 * and are easy to land against enemies trapped in Arena Of Blood.


 * allows Mars to tank even more damage with Bulwark.
 * Arena Of Blood keeps heroes closer together for more guaranteed bounces.


 * Arena Of Blood prevents enemies from escaping.
 * Arena Of Blood also allows Monkey King to easily gain stacks.


 * and work well on enemies trapped inside Arena Of Blood.


 * Arena Of Blood is a good setup for and.


 * Sven's can prolong the stun with his.
 * 's shield enhances Mars' already impressive durability against physical attacks, making him nearly unkillable in team fights.
 * Arena Of Blood will help Sven catch an easy target with his and.

Others

 * Heroes with AoE nukes can take advantage of Arena Of Blood:, , , , , , , , , , , ,
 * Heroes who can hit multiple enemies inside Arena Of Blood with their basic attacks:, ,
 * Heroes with fear can cause enemies to run into Arena Of Blood's walls:, , (with level 25 talent)
 * Heroes who need front line/AOE control:, , , ,
 * Heroes who have AoE force-move abilities:, , , (with level 25 talent),

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