Skywrath Mage/Counters

Bad against...

 * gives Anti-Mage magic resistance to negate a majority of Skywrath Mage's magical damage.
 * Anti-Mage often builds and  which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
 * Huge mana cost on Mystic Flare means easy target for.
 * However, Anti-Mage is weak early-game to Ancient Seal until he can dispel silences, but still, Skywrath's solo kill potential is very low.


 * is comparable to, giving a maximum of 50% magic resistance bonus.
 * works proportionate to lost health, but Huskar has a decent health pool, and the attack speed granted from powers him up.
 * Skywrath's armor and agility gain is very low so Huskar can outdamage him or take Skywrath down with him.


 * can greatly reduce Skywrath's already abysmal armor, making teamfights more dangerous for him.


 * removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
 * makes it impossible to burst down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.


 * will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and won't help you at all.


 * Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a strike.  is also annoying at all stages of the game as it turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him while  gives him some degree of protection against his spells.


 * In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.


 * Although Skywrath Mage can silence Omniknight, Skywrath Mage loses against Omniknight heavily during team fights, as virtually eliminates most of Skywrath's damage. Additionally,  negates Skywrath's high speed advantage.

Others

 * Skywrath Mage generally struggles against heroes that can lock him down and or prevent him from using spells. Legion Commander and Doom can easily eliminate Skywrath Mage with their respective ultimates.
 * Skywrath mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. As Mystic Flare only affects heroes, his skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like and, or by Heroes that summon other units like ,  and.
 * Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high physical burst like or, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single.
 * Heroes with silence such as, , or prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.

Items

 * , and  mitigate or remove your damage.
 * reflects a lot of damage back to you.
 * ,, dispel your silence and Concussive Shot slow.
 * The three standard support items work very well against Skywrath Mage, but a good and snowballing Skywrath can work around them.
 * Although will save you or an ally from Mystic Flare, a squishy support will still die from a couple of amplified Arcane Bolts, especially once silenced. Also Force staff won't disjoint Concussive shot so Skywrath should have vision to cast his other spells.
 * Similarly, will protect you from the damage of Mystic flare, also dispelling the silence and/or slow of Seal and Concussive shot, but a smart Skywrath will keep his silence for after the Cyclone.
 * Finally the active from helps to survive his combo, but if he carries a  it might not be enough since the magic resistance is countered by the spell amplification of Ancient Seal.
 * Any combination of the two should allow any support to survive.
 * (or its upgrade ) prevents Skywrath Mage from casting spells.
 * can help your mana sustain a little and make you more resistant to the Skywrath Mage.

Good against...

 * Magical burst is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal locks him down for max 6 seconds.
 * Generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
 * does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning even a won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.


 * Similar to, Storm spirit needs items that don't help against silences.
 * An will most likely silence you first, however, if you grab a  you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
 * Root and silence are ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence built in his kit, and has  as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him useless.
 * If he builds, he spends 3975 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.


 * is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts and her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
 * A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mages job easier.
 * The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to your allies' magic nukes.


 * Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
 * Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with Radiance and Manta Style can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.


 * Depends mostly on her abilities but has no means to deal against silences.
 * Her attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.


 * Cold Embrace is perfect setup for Mystic Flare and his 6 second silence is good against Winter Wyvern in general.

Others

 * Squishy targets will suffer in Skywrath Mage hands. Usually they can't even survive a few shots of Mystic Flare.
 * Even though will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it.  builders are usually squish targets vulnerable to silences:, , , , etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silence.

Works well with...

 * sets up an easy Mystic Flare.
 * Ancient Seal buffs up Void's damage.


 * Skywrath Mage and is a dangerous combination early game. They can roll over almost anything by spamming Arcane Bolt and, removing your health and your strength. If you survive and don't give them kills however, they should fizzle out when they run out of mana and don't get experience and gold.


 * Ancient Seal buffs up all of Centaur Warrunner's spells. Especially.
 * is a 2-2.75 second stun, setting up a full-duration Mystic Flare on later levels. A 100% slow from Warrunner's also goes a long way.
 * Having a tanky initiator is extremely important, given Skywrath Mage's squishy nature.


 * combined with Ancient Seal will easily cut through and . However, it will never cut through full magic resistance provided by  or.


 * Ancient Seal combos well with Silencer's abilities, and allows him to get a longer duration with Arcane Curse.
 * Additionally, Skywrath can stack slows with Concussive Shot, leading to an easy kill with Mystic Flare.


 * Concussive Shot and combo well, allowing both heroes to run and chase down an enemy with ease.
 * With 's duration, Skywrath can easily get a Mystic Flare target.

Others

 * ,, , and  all have good abilities to set up a Mystic Flare and they also like to roam or gank. There are more.
 * A costs only 50 gold, but consider a  or a  as a support partner if you just want to bully people out of lane all day.
 * with a or  also works.
 * , and  are also magical nukers and will make short work of the sturdiest heroes when they are taking amplified damage from Ancient Seal, as long as they don't have 100% magic resistance. They also provide control over the crowd to set up a decent Mystic Flare.

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

Skywrath Mage/Противостоящие