Phoenix/Counters

Bad against...

 * His 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.


 * Night Stalker is a hard counter to Phoenix. His will slow Phoenix to a cripple (and interrupt  if it hits during it), his  makes escape impossible (especially with its 8 second duration at night), and his  gives him high movement and attack speed, the tools needed to take down a vulnerable.


 * Huskar's will let him easily face down a  with his high magic resistance and increasing attack speed.  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 in a couple of seconds. 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 your initiation with his ultimate,, prevent escape with his , and if Phoenix happens to die to him (or near him) enough times, he would sap Phoenix' 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.


 * 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  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' health costs, too much careless ability spamming may just put Phoenix into Bloodseeker's vision, making it a very tempting ganking target.

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.
 * 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.
 * Since all of Phoenix' abilities (except for ) have health costs, Heroes like or  can turn Phoenix' 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.
 * , 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.
 * can turn any Hero into a severe threat as its granted high attack speed can spell the end for a misplaced.
 * will make a whole enemy team more resilient against Phoenix' DPS.

Good against...

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


 * While her does give extra attack speed, she cannot use the ability against the Phoenix Sun, and while her  may protect her from auto-attacks, Phoenix' strong DPS and attack speed slow can easily render her helpless.


 * 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.
 * It must be noted that Legion Commander's will both purge the attack slow of  and grant her or whoever she targets bonus attack speed. This allows her to easily destroy a  if caution is not taken to prevent this from occurring. So Phoenix must either bait or wait for Legion Commander to use Press the Attack before initiating, or simply avoid a well-trained Commander.


 * Phoenix's, , and all destroy trees that Monkey King relies on to use his ability . If you spot him, you can quickly  his direction and then follow up with  and . 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.

Others

 * Heroes who depend on auto-attacks (mostly carries like or ) can be nullified by ' attack speed slow.
 * Heroes with slow movespeed and small health pools (mostly supports such as or ) are easy targets for Phoenix. Should they be inflicted by its DPS debuffs, they could be very easily killed without even getting a chance to fight back.
 * Illusion-based Heroes such as or  are vulnerable to Phoenix' 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.

Works well with...

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


 * His is similar to Enigma in that he provides a long-lasting disable that pierces spell immunity that prevents enemies from attacking the  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  to deal full damage or for a successful.


 * is very effective when combined with Phoenix' damage over time AOE abilities, and if the whole team is affected by it and all of Phoenix' 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.


 * Sven can be seen as a good protector of the Phoenix 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.


 * Tinker's 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, 's 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.

Others

 * Any Hero with a large AoE disable can make a very good combination with Phoenix, such as, , 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' abilities very well, most especially making facing the even more deadly to the enemy. 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.

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