Ember Spirit/Counters

Bad against...

 * Lion possesses two strong disables in and  and heavy magic burst with  which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his  Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.


 * can easily remove the protection from Flame Guard and kill Ember Spirit due to his low health.
 * Ember Spirit is very vulnerable to physical damage from.


 * and can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.
 * also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.
 * is also a potent harassing tool in the laning stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.


 * Storm Spirit is not only a potent carrier, his  provides an additional disable and  provides a great slow. When paired with, they can cut through Flame Guard fast.
 * not only provides great initiation upon Ember Spirit from any position anytime, but also helps dodge Sleight of Fist.


 * Faceless Void is one of the best heroes against Ember Spirit, providing a lot of ways of dealing with him. Ember Spirit becomes a lot weaker if affected by, as he can no longer spam Sleight of Fist.
 * is also a reliable lockdown for Ember Spirit, although it can be evaded sometimes by Activate Fire Remnant. Additionally, Void can easily negate Sleight of Fist damage with.
 * And finally, Void is a great carrier. Not only is 's physical damage not negated by Flame Guard, but it also burns Ember Spirit's mana. That, in turn, prevents him from escaping if he survived.


 * The pure damage provided by is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit, as well as a good way of saving teammates.
 * will temporarily save his allies from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that will get to counter it.


 * The pure damage provided by is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit.
 * fully negates all magic damage of Flame Guard and Searing Chains and will temporarily save himself from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that can counter these skills.


 * With, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use with  to provide a reliable and long disable.
 * is also good, as Ember Spirit relies on his limited mana pool for the early to midgame.

Others

 * The general opinion that can counter Ember Spirit with his  is a misconception, as  has a long cast animation, so an attentive Ember Spirit can easily dodge it if he has a Fire Remnant nearby. Doom is still an extremely effective early ganker however, as his  and  damage can quickly overwhelm Flame Guard's magic damage absorption, leaving Ember Spirit with no protection against them. Additional skills that Doom can get from Neutral creeps can also help bully Ember Spirit early.  or  on Doom can also help, providing a good way to apply  on Ember Spirit.
 * can be a good hero for dealing with Ember Spirit with, her pure damage nuke in and a slow in . However, Queen of Pain can be punished by Ember Spirit, as his Searing Chains prevents her from getting  off.

Items

 * and can be devastating for Ember Spirit, as silences prevent him from getting Activate Fire Remnant off. Ember Spirit is quite fragile as well, so additional damage from these items will be very helpful. It will probably force Ember Spirit to get  or  as well, which will limit his late game damage potential.
 * and are both strong disables, preventing Ember Spirit from easily escaping.
 * and greatly decrease Ember Spirit's damage output from regular attacks and Sleight of Fist.
 * and allow enemy heroes to survive longer against Ember Spirit because of the evasion bonus (and the disarm in Heaven's Halberd's case) until he gets his True Strike talent.
 * ,, and are all items that will allow enemies to survive Ember Spirit's late game AoE damage from Sleight of Fist. Additionally,  will allow enemies to repeatedly breach Ember Spirit's highground without committing any resources.
 * can be tactically used to lock Ember down, dispelling his Flame Guard, and being followed by another disable.

Good against...

 * Meepo is quite fragile in the early game and can be easily taken down by overwhelming Flame Guard and Searing Chains damage. Later on, Meepo is very vulnerable to Sleight of Fist damage due to cleave on multiple Meepos.


 * Ember Spirit is evasive and can dodge close encounters with melee heroes like Chaos Knight. Ember Spirit can't be caught with slow; Flame Guard and his Sleight of Fist can bring illusions down fast.


 * Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to illusion heroes like Terrorblade with Sleight of Fist. Terrorblade has no way of preventing Ember Spirit from getting Activate Fire Remnant off and additionally Ember Spirit's ability to fight from long range as well as his wide skill set won't give a chance for Terrorblade to get off.


 * Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and she's merely food for him. She has no real disables than can lock Ember Spirit down, all of her skill damage can be negated with Flame Guard and Most of the time magical damage from Flame Guard and Searing Chains is more than enough to bring Crystal Maiden down.


 * Ember Spirit can easily deal with push by using his Flame Guard, and after  purchase, 's summons are just food for him. He also have multiple ways of escaping . additionally, Ember Spirit can break  trees with Activate Fire Remnant and interrupt  with Searing Chains.


 * Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions.


 * Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist to dodge.
 * Flame Guard absorbs magical damage of.
 * Searing Chains prevents Queen of Pain from using.

Others

 * You need a hard disable or a silence to catch Ember Spirit, roots and slows should never be enough so long as he has a Remnant somewhere. As such, he can be a good pick against any line-up that lacks those disables.
 * Similarly, the only disable Ember Spirit offers is the root from Searing Chains. As such, he can also be a good pick if the enemies are vulnerable to root effects.
 * Mostly Ember Spirit does normal attack to creep and Sleight of Fist for enemy heroes. So Blade Mail doesn't work against him. But except when he caught by Duel or Berserker's Call. But that really rare happens because Ember Spirit mostly separates himself for Pushing or stay as backup.
 * Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons.
 * In later game True Strike talent can also devastate heroes that depend on evasion, like Windranger or Phantom Assassin.

Works well with...

 * Magnus is a great addition for a team with Ember Spirit. His is extremely effective, as it greatly increases Ember Spirit's farming speed, granting him buff somewhat similar to.
 * stays potent during all game, as it increases damage proportionally and its cleave stack with.
 * Additionally, paired with Sleight of Fist is extremely effective late game combo.


 * With, Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist twice with 0 cooldown. A recipe for rampages if ever there was one.
 * It also helps that Ember Spirit's spells cost a lot of mana on rather short cooldowns, so that the mana regeneration from Chakra Magic stays relevant well into the late game.
 * Not exactly synergistic but a target that was ed should either lose all of its mana or remain still and burn from Flame Guard.


 * Dazzle is a great laning support and he can not only protect Ember Spirit, but also provides killing potential with his . Dazzle's abilitiy to make game-changing plays with his, saving Ember Spirit makes them a strong pair for the whole game.
 * also greatly amplifies Sleight of Fist damage by armor removal.

Others

 * 's Holy Persuasion works well with Fire Remnant by bringing Ember Spirit back to base to heal, then returning him to action.
 * All AoE disablers and nukers are good for Sleight of Fist.

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

Ember Spirit/Противостоящие 灰烬之灵/克制