Mars/Counters

Bad against...

 * slows turn rate, making it difficult for Mars to control his the direction he is facing to activate Bulwark.
 * disables Mars while 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 is very troublesome for Mars 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 team fight, 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.


 * Mars has no way to trade with Ogre Magi in the early game thanks to his high base armor, health and.
 * Once Ogre Magi gets level 2 he may also have, which makes him even harder to deal with in lane.
 * can be ridiculously strong later on in the game for controlling Mars.
 * Spear of Mars cannot guarantee kills early on Ogre Magi, which is Mars' main source of damage in the early game.


 * can dispel Spear of Mars, Mars main source of crowd control.
 * can disable Mars from attacking for long periods of time.
 * deals magical damage nukes which can finish Mars off.
 * can save victims inside Blood Of Arena or stunned by Spear of Mars.
 * 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.


 * 's pure damage ignores Mars' Bulwark.
 * 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.


 * If Mars lanes middle, Shadow Fiend can keep the lane pushed against him.
 * Shadow Fiend can go an entirely magical based build, which is very effective against Mars.


 * and are very disruptive in team fights, 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 well since he does not have the best base damage during the 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 which ignore Bulwark.
 * allows Undying to match Mars' tankiness in lane and effectively negate Mars' high health pool by sapping his Strength directly.


 * Ursa is one of few heroes that can trade well against Mars during the laning phase.
 * can be very deadly if enough stacks are built up 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 due to his low mobility


 * 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.
 * Heroes with a form of save can be a big problem for Mars: ,
 * Heroes with high magical or pure damage will bypass Bulwark:, , , , , , , ,.
 * is a very weak laner so will have trouble with Mars during the laning phase and early mid game. However, with Riki can become an issue but most of the time Mars will survive through . In lower MMR values, Riki is definitely a great counter though.

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.


 * will be cleared by God's Rebuke after a few levels are obtained.
 * Using defensively isn't viable against Mars as it guarantees a Spear of Mars stun.
 * Nature's Prophet is a squishy split pusher that Mars' loves to pray on.
 * Should Nature's Prophet build physical damage items, it will be greatly reduced by Bulwark.


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


 * Phantom Lancer and his illusions deal physical damage are greatly reduced by Bulwark.
 * God's Rebuke clears Phantom Lancer illusions very quickly.


 * 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 Arena of Blood, so with vision, Weaver is an easy kill.
 * will also not save Weaver in a large amount of situations inside from Arena of Blood, 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 Arena of Blood 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 separate 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.
 * A well-placed Arena Of Blood can also protect Phoenix's from both melee and ranged attacks.


 * 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.