Phoenix/Counters

Bad against...

 * will give 60/120/180 attack speed to the entire enemy team even across the map, and with such a short cooldown, Troll easily enables anybody in his team to easily kill the Phoenix Sun.
 * Similar in nature, 's gives a considerable amount of attack speed to his team, making it easier to tear down the Sun.


 * will interrupt Icarus Dive, his 's silence will shutdown spell caster Phoenix.
 * However, if Phoenix acquires a dispel (e. g. ), he can clear the silence and punish Night Stalker with Supernova because it will turn night into day. Taking away Night Stalker's attack/movement speed to destroy the sun or run away from it.


 * will let Huskar easily face down a Supernova with his high magic resistance and increasing attack speed. Icarus Dive may not be an easy escape from Huskar either as, if well timed, can chase Phoenix during it with.


 * Ursa can easily unleash a number of attacks in an incredibly short amount of time, easily destroying the Supernova in a couple of seconds, even when afflicted by Fire Spirits. His also dampens any damage Phoenix might toss at his direction, as well as remove any debuffs Phoenix may place on him.


 * Silencer will most likely disrupt an initiation with his ultimate,, prevent escape with his , and if Phoenix happens to die to him (or near him) enough times, he would sap enough of Phoenix's much needed Intelligence to make him a stronger foe and Phoenix with less mana than it already had.


 * will give full spell immunity and high attack speed, all things to protect Lifestealer against anything Phoenix may retaliate with, however he may fall short on chasing if Phoenix dives away, unless he purchases.


 * Similar to Lifestealer, great care should be taken against Juggernaut. While his ultimate can be cancelled by Supernova's hiding effect, His high base attack speed and his gives him the right traits to kill Phoenix quickly, whether in or out of its ultimate.


 * Meepo is unlike any other multi-unit enemy Phoenix may face in the battlefield. Unlike illusion-based heroes like or, Meepo's clones are not illusions, meaning they can deal full damage to the Phoenix Sun if all four (or five) are present. Their naturally high magic resistance may also make it more difficult for Phoenix to retaliate.
 * is similar to Meepo in that his is not an illusion, rather a full hero unit. While it may not be as great of a threat than Meepo is, it can still be the difference between a successful and a failed Supernova.


 * Although can be easily avoided, if it does hit, its lengthy silence and pure damage can be a severe punishment for a slow, unobservant, or simply unfortunate Phoenix. His  can turn Icarus Dive into a suicide option, and it cannot be dispelled, meaning even if Phoenix completes a Supernova, choosing to Dive may just cut its health back down. And finally, due to Phoenix's health costs, too much careless ability spamming may just put Phoenix into Bloodseeker's vision, making it a very tempting ganking target.


 * gives Viper additional resistance to Phoenix's magical damage, and since they deal damage over time, Phoenix would be constantly afflicted by his passive's own debuff, making him not an ideal target for Phoenix's harassment. Phoenix's abilities also constantly drain its own health away, becoming more vulnerable to.


 * Necrophos becomes a bigger threat the lower one's health gets, and unfortunately for Phoenix, most of its spells have noticeable health costs. Those costs, coupled with his, staying in a teamfight for too long under Necrophos' presence will make Phoenix a more valid target for his ultimate, with its stun completely preventing any form of retaliation or protection. Necrophos players are also likely to buy more durability items such as , making him more able to withstand Phoenix's damage despite having no escape mechanisms.
 * However, it is also important to remember that a Scepter-upgraded Supernova can help protect an ally from his ultimate, but in later parts of the game, his own Scepter-upgraded ultimate has a much lower cooldown than Phoenix', making this a rather risky maneuver that should be reserved only for most important allies such as your main carry.

Others

 * Any hero with high attack speed (whether naturally or through abilities) such as or  will be a threat to Phoenix when it initiates, as they can easily tear down a Supernova, perhaps even while debuffed by Fire Spirits.
 * Silence (and mana burns) will be a persistent problem for Phoenix, as it is heavily reliant on its abilities whether defensively or offensively, so heroes like, , even must be closely observed to prevent being shut down by these heroes.
 * Hexes are a greater threat to Phoenix as they also disable items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling the debuff on its own.
 * Since all of Phoenix's abilities (except for Supernova) have health costs, heroes like or  can turn Phoenix's abilities against it. However, Supernova does completely protect Phoenix from, even fully heal it while having the debuff on (but does not dispel it).
 * Heroes with spell immunity-granting spells, such as, and  will completely render Phoenix useless against them, as Phoenix has almost no spell immunity-piercing ability, other than the stun at the end of Supernova.

Items

 * , as mentioned, will nullify Phoenix against its spell immune wielder.
 * and, as mentioned earlier with silences, will prevent Phoenix escaping or retaliating, but it will also make it more vulnerable to damage thanks to its damage amplification.
 * is a more dangerous version of the formerly mentioned items. Not only does its active, Hex, silence abilities, but it will also mute items, preventing Phoenix from dispelling it if it has or.
 * can turn any hero into a severe threat as its granted high attack speed can spell the end for a misplaced Supernova.
 * Similar in nature, can be an early game threat to the Phoenix Sun, especially if it is only level 1, as it takes only 5 hits to kill the Sun.
 * will make a whole enemy team more resilient against Phoenix's DPS.

Good against...

 * Her charges can and will be easily burned away by Phoenix's damage over time abilities, and  can't protect her from Phoenix's AoE abilities, even without detection.


 * While her does give limited extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her  may protect her from auto-attacks, Phoenix's strong magical DPS burns away her small health pool quickly, and the attack speed slow makes her unable to fight back (provided she has no source of spell immunity).


 * Legion Commander relies on her powerful auto-attack and her to be effective. But if Phoenix gets the jump on her first, she can find herself severely slowed, taking heavy damage, and find herself unable to Duel a burning Supernova.
 * It must be noted that will both dispel the attack slow of Fire Spirits and grant her or whoever she targets bonus attack speed. This allows her to easily destroy a Supernova if caution is not taken to prevent this from occurring. As such, it would be a better decision to simply avoid a farmed or skilled Legion Commander instead of attempting to overpower her.
 * If an ally is caught by, Phoenix can use Sun Ray to heal the ally and damage Legion Commander, possibly swinging the Duel in their team's favor.


 * Icarus Dive, Sun Ray, and Supernova all destroy trees that Monkey King relies on to use his ability . If you spot him, you can quickly Icarus Dive his direction and then follow up with Fire Spirits and Supernova. If you manage to cut the tree he is on, he will be stunned for 4 seconds and forced to take a lot of damage. However, most Monkey King players tend to build attack speed items to make use of their passive,, so a battle against a farmed Monkey King will depend on who gets the jump on the other first.


 * Not only Phoenix is able to disrupt Chen's jungling with Fire Spirits, but its high damage over time can also force Chen to use prematurely, potentially wasting chance to save his allies during teamfight.
 * Creeps damage and attack speed are very abysmal, so Chen cannot often kill Phoenix when it casts Supernova.

Others

 * Heroes who depend on auto-attacks (such as or ) can be nullified by Fire Spirits' attack speed slow.
 * Heroes with slow movement speed and small health pools (supports like or ) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DOT debuffs, they will be very quickly killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
 * Illusion-based heroes such as or  are vulnerable to Phoenix's DPS and attack speed slow, as their illusions, no matter how many, will be unable to deal enough damage to actually be a threat, and they will all be completely useless against the Supernova.

Works well with...

 * can set up the perfect situation for Phoenix to use all of its AoE abilities, but most importantly, protecting the Sun, disabling the whole enemy team and letting it complete its duration to deal full damage and stun.


 * is similar to Enigma in that he provides a long-lasting disable that pierces spell immunity that prevents enemies from attacking the Supernova and keep them in place so that the Supernova may deal its full damage and stun all in its radius, but Treant also has the advantage of not having to channel his disable, and has a much larger area of effect than Black Hole.


 * Good positioning and timing is required in this combination as can be the perfect set-up for Sun Ray to deal full damage or for a successful Supernova.


 * is very effective when combined with Phoenix's damage over time AoE abilities, and if the whole team is affected by it and all of Phoenix's debuffs, it can very easily end in a teamwipe. and  can also help set-up an initiation for Phoenix and cripple the enemy for it.


 * Lifestealer can hide inside Phoenix with and surprise enemies with an initiation with Icarus Dive.


 * Sven can be seen as a good protector of the Sun as he can charge in, stun with and kill an entire team if they are too distracted in destroying it, thanks to his  and.


 * is a very useful ability to have with an initiator Phoenix, as it applies a 100% miss chance to its targets. When upgraded by, Tinker can even apply the debuff to the entire enemy team, effectively making the Phoenix Sun invulnerable to the enemy for a few seconds.


 * Similar to Tinker, also applies a miss chance (albeit not 100%), but is perhaps better used for more defensive purposes, as the knockback and miss chance protects the Sun greatly, but the knockback may not be too good if Phoenix is initiating, as the enemy could just decide to flee and escape the Sun's AoE faster. His  also restores much needed mana to Phoenix, as well as decrease cooldowns, making its presence in the battlefield more frequent.


 * Invoker's myriad of spells have great synergy with Phoenix's own, as most of them are also large AoE effects with well synergizing debuffs. cripples enemies and forces them to stay close, either making targeting spells easier for Phoenix, or to keep them within Supernova's radius.  disarms enemies, and if Invoker chooses the full radius level 25 talent, Invoker will easily protect the Phoenix Sun by simply appearing in the middle of it and casting the spell, and its disable will make sure all enemies take most of the, if not full, brunt of the damage.

Others

 * Any hero with a large AoE disable can make a very good combination with Phoenix, such as, , and.
 * Any hero with a disable that pierces spell immunity, even if it's a single target, greatly aids Phoenix during the mid and late game against wielders. Such good allies include, , or.
 * Any hero who can drag an enemy hero away from their teammates, as it allows Phoenix to promptly cast Supernova, and force a "fight or flight" reaction on the enemy team, who either has to let their teammate die, or to concentrate their attacks on a Supernova that's close to exploding . Examples of such heroes include, , , , and
 * Heroes that provide additional attack speed slow, miss chance, or any other auto-attack-hampering effects will be invaluable in helping the Supernova complete. Such heroes include, , and.
 * Even non-attack speed slows could be just as helpful if Phoenix is serving as or is helping the team's initiator, making it difficult for the enemy team to flee its rather accurate spells. Such good spells include, , even.
 * Magical damage amplification complements Phoenix's abilities very well, as it can quickly pile up multiple debuffs for immense damage over time. Thus, abilities like, , and items like are effective when paired with Phoenix.
 * 's and  can simultaneously boost Phoenix's damage and prevent aggressor's from hitting the Phoenix Sun.
 * Even non-AoE spells can be very helpful to Phoenix, mostly to aid it in landing Fire Spirits and Sun Ray during ganks or initiations. Thus, abilities like, , or items like or  help Phoenix use its abilities to their full potential.
 * Heroes that have long cooldown non-ultimate abilities will greatly benefit from a Scepter-upgraded Supernova's refreshing, allowing them to return to full strength much quicker if used properly. Such heroes are, , and.

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

Phoenix/Противостоящие