Night Stalker/Counters

Bad against...

 * Movement speed bonus and vision from allows Bloodseeker to stay on top of Night Stalker.
 * puts an end to Night Stalkers superior mobility.


 * will stay active even when silenced.
 * Leshrac is great at taking towers and limiting space on the map, something that is naturally very good against a hero like Night Stalker who relies on vision of weak enemies to take advantage of with his superior mobility.
 * Leshrac can push waves very reliably, forcing Night Stalker and his team to show defending said pushes.


 * can keep Night Stalker out the fight and save teammates.
 * can stop the main thing Night Stalker counts on, which is fast mobility at night.
 * Naga Siren is also a great carrier, causing big problems for Night Stalkers mana pool.


 * is a problem for Night Stalker in the laning stage, since he can fight back even silenced.
 * will keep Night Stalker in place for a long time.


 * Night Stalker can't kill Sven quickly while he has the bonuses from.
 * Sven under the effect of and his various physical damage strength items can turn on Night Stalker should he have items to boost his damage output.


 * can buy time for an ally who is being focused by Night Stalker.
 * will shut down a large amount of mobility from Night Stalker.
 * However, positioning is key as Shadow Demon is probably dead if caught in Crippling Fear and allowing Night Stalker to get on top of him.


 * does percentage based magical damage, a big problem for a tanky hero like Night Stalker.
 * can root Night Stalker for a long duration and Underlord will in most situations carry to help him hold Night Stalker in it.
 * Night Stalker excels in catching low targets, however with, Underlord can teleport far away. In addition, Night Stalker's area-of-effect abilities are very weak for intercepting Underlord's team when teleporting with.

Others

 * turns night to day, overriding Dark Ascension during.
 * Heroes that are hard to gank:, ,.
 * Heroes with stronger lane presence that can threaten to kill him:, , , ,.
 * Heroes that can take advantage of Night Stalker's unavoidable downtime to take objectives:, ,.

Items

 * teleporting after Night Stalker uses Void almost guarantees you will escape should he be alone.
 * keeps Night Stalker in place.
 * slows down Night Stalkers mobility and burns his already poor mana pool.
 * sends Void's slow back to him or removes the debuff from an ally.
 * prevents Void's slow once.
 * brings targets out of Crippling Fear's area.
 * or prevents Night Stalker attacking on you or ally.
 * wastes Night Stalker's Crippling Fear duration.
 * breaks Hunter of the Night.
 * toggles immunity making Crippling Fear useless.

Good against...

 * Night Stalker has a small mana pool, so against him is usually very ineffective.
 * Crippling Fear also prevents Anti-Mage from escaping with, allowing Night Stalker and his allies to kill him off.


 * Earth Spirit is completely helpless once caught under Cripping Fear during the night.
 * Night Stalker can scout out the Earth Spirit with very little problems and keep up with him even if he uses.


 * Luna has no way to deal with Night Stalker in the laning phase and early mid game.
 * will also summon night, should it be day time.
 * Night Stalker can silence and stay on top of Luna, with his superior mobility.


 * Storm Spirit is absolutely helpless if caught within Night Stalker's silence range.
 * Common items a Storm Spirit will build will not remove the AoE silence.


 * Puck cannot use any of its normal means to survive should Night Stalker catch it within Crippling Fear, and goes down quickly.


 * The long silence at night prevents Clinkz from escaping with invisibility if Night Stalker can sneak up on him. He also has really low base health, so that Night Stalker can usually kill him alone during one cast of Crippling Fear at night.


 * has a short stun and creates an impassable ridge. However, Night Stalker can fly over it during Dark Ascension.
 * Night Stalker can find Earthshaker, disable his with Void, and then take him out with Crippling Fear.
 * Earthshaker may fail his blink combo against Night Stalker's team if he is not careful, as he can blink into the silence.


 * Keeper of the Light's upgrade loses much of its power, due to Night Stalker being able to reduce the duration of daytime by a lot.


 * Night Stalker is one of the best heroes to find (and silence) Tinker in the trees during Dark Ascension.


 * With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and kill Riki. Riki will also find it harder to kill the tanky Night Stalker than he would many other heroes.


 * With Dark Ascension he can keep vision on Slark, disabling his regeneration. Slark is also too weak to seriously threaten Night Stalker in lane.

Others

 * Heroes with weaker mobility will struggle to keep up with Night Stalker:, ,
 * Heroes with low health:, ,.
 * Heroes that have a weak laning stage:, , , , ,.
 * Spell casters will find it difficult to have an impact should Night Stalker focus on them such as:, ,.

Works well with...

 * counters the abilities of some heroes that are strong against Night Stalker in lane, such as 's, 's and 's . It roots  and Ursa in place when you need to run from them. This spell is also an additional source of interrupting teleports, and on a low cooldown.
 * counters 's, and while Blade Fury is on cooldown, Fate's Edict and Fortune's End will combine to prevent Juggernaut from trading back or disengaging.
 * Oracle's combo of Fortune's End and helps finish off targets within the duration of Crippling Fear.
 * can be amplified beyond its normal ability to save, as Night Stalker has a lifesteal talent and also likes to make Satanic. The delayed damage may also enable you to run somewhere where it is safe to teleport away from, while preventing from triggering as well.


 * turns day into night for 10 seconds while Dark Ascension grants Luna the bonus vision while active, which is minor but neat - although used effectively, it can help make up for Night Stalker's downtime in crucial situations. But Luna is also able to clear the illusions and minions that Night Stalker doesn't like, and makes Night Stalker significantly more tanky than he already is while also doing more damage.


 * places all enemy heroes into a small area, lining the enemy team up for Crippling Fear. Empower also helps compensate for Night Stalker's lack of wave clearing, and lets him deal better with illusions and minions.

Others

 * Heroes that make up for Night Stalker's potentially lackluster team fighting so the draft is stronger overall:, , ...
 * Heroes that are tanky enough to help draw the enemy's attention, allowing Night Stalker to do his job of sneaking up on and cleaning out the enemy's backline heroes:, , ...
 * Heroes with bonus night vision get an advantage when Night Stalker uses Dark Ascension:, , , , . However, this is likely to be quite minor as Night Stalker wants to save the spell for fights during which he'll provide vision for the team anyway.

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

Night Stalker/Противостоящие 暗夜魔王/克制