Crystal Maiden/Counters

Bad against...

 * allows Tusk to easily cancel from a safe distance without putting himself in any danger, in addition to  being a high enough damage nuke to easily kill off Crystal Maiden.


 * Reason


 * Doom alone can easily pick off Crystal Maiden since she is fairly fragile, and prevents her from using any abilities in a fight, making her impact negligible.


 * is a great initiation into Crystal Maiden, preventing her from using or any other abilities and allowing the enemy team to quickly kill her before she can aid her team in a fight.


 * Omniknight's prevents Crystal Maiden from using her spells on important targets in the early game, before  and other magical reduction is even an issue.
 * Crystal Maiden has no tool to deal with the magic immunity provided by and . A smart player may even try to get you to waste one of your spells before running at you with immunity.

Others

 * In general, heros with AoE or long range disables hinder Crystal Maiden, preventing her from using to help her team in a fight.
 * In the same vein, heroes with silences can also prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to impact a fight.
 * Heroes with large health pools or good innate spell resistance (think or ) can be very problematic for Crystal Maiden, since even if they are under the effect of her ultimate for the entire duration, the damage output is simply not enough to kill or force them to retreat.
 * Heroes who can easily harass Crystal Maiden out of lane in the early game can prevent Crystal Maiden from being able to level effectively, and can ultimately slow down her level 6, 11, and 16 to a point where enemy carries already have items to address her ultimate.

Items

 * and other sources of magical immunity/reduction make Crystal Maiden nearly irrelevant, preventing her from using her abilities or from dealing its damage or slow.  These items make it easy for enemy heroes to kill her off quickly - even in her ultimate.
 * , and other sources of bash are very problematic for Crystal Maiden, because even if she owns a, the stun will pierce it and cancel her ultimate.
 * and are an issue for Crystal Maiden in the same way that they are problematic for any spell based hero - if she can't use her abilities due to a silence, her fight impact is greatly reduced.

Good against...

 * will prevent her from blinking away and will inflict considerable damage to Queen of Pain's low hp pool. Careful that she doesn't burst you down first.
 * A single point in will do wonders against their army of creeps. Neither of them has any escape mechanism to run away from your, or any means to interrupt it (except their creeps)


 * Reason


 * Reason


 * Reason

Others

 * all have mobility tools that are disabled by Frostbite. Consider maxing it before your Crystal Nova as the disable from Nova might not be as good against these heroes. Nevertheless, these heroes will all make quick work of squishy Crystal Maiden once released from her grip.
 * Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero, or as a soft counter to s, if you can get it off first.
 * Entry

Works well with...

 * provides the perfect setup for, a deadly combo as early as level 1. Later, it can be followed by to provide an additional slow and ensure the full damage of Blade Fury.
 * provides much needed mana regen for Juggernaut as all his spells cost a considerable amount of mana. It allows him to repeat the combo Frostbite + Blade fury at any opportunity in the lane, while staying healthy thanks to . The aura stays relevant well into the late game.


 * provides great set up for Timbersaw's many abilities in all phases of the game, allowing him to place directly on top of an enemy hero, then following up with the rest of his combo.
 * Though Timbersaw is forced to build extensive mana regeneration in order to fuel, the addition of is very useful in the early game, allowing Timbersaw to always have  available for escape or initiation.
 * stacks very well with the slow from Timbersaw's, and Timbersaw's excellent mobility allows him to easily chase down heroes who escaped from the full damage of.


 * helps significantly with Sven's pitiful starting mana regeneration, allowing him to more freely use and  in lane, and well into the middle and later game.
 * layered well with in lane is a quick and easy way to ensure a kill, and if  and  are added, it allows for insane chase potential for even the most stubborn of laners.
 * With both and, Crystal Maiden is well equipped to help Sven chase down enemies, or hold them in place while he kills them.  This helps to prevent Sven from being kited, especially during the duration of.


 * Reason


 * Reason

Others

 * A lot of strength and agility heroes benefit greatly from for the entire game, especially heroes like, , , and  by allowing them to spam their spells or unique attack modifiers with great ease. For most intelligence heroes however, the aura becomes irrelevant once they have enough int and any item that gives mana regeneration.
 * provides an instant, reliable disable that can be a good setup for unreliable spells such as, , or.
 * Any hero with a large, AoE disable works very well with Crystal Maiden (think, , or ), allowing easy setup for her ultimate, and ensuring that a decent duration of it is used before getting ended. Just be sure to catch enemy silences and disables before using this tactic, or both ultimates will be wasted!

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