Lion/Counters

Bad against...

 * Although Finger of Death can potentially bypass, Finger's delayed damage allows an Abaddon with fast enough reaction time to activate Borrowed Time and heal from Finger.
 * is extremely effective against both Earth Spike and Hex, nullifying the stun or hex while preventing further damage.
 * Lion's lack of escape mechanisms allows Abaddon and his allies to pursue him with.


 * provides spell immunity to Lifestealer and thus nullifies all of Lion's abilities.
 * allows Lifestealer to easily catch Lion out and prevent him from escaping.


 * prevents Lion from casting spells during team fights, effectively making him useless.
 * Puck's burst damage potential through, , and allows it to easily kill Lion.
 * Combined with the lockdown from, Puck's high mobility through and  allows it to effortlessly chase Lion.
 * allows Puck to dodge nearly all of Lion's spells, including Finger of Death.


 * All of Lion's abilities are worth stealing with.
 * makes the disabling spells stolen from Lion very useful, allowing you to disable enemies for an extremely long time during fights or ganks.
 * By using, Rubick can easily catch Lion out. Without any escape mechanism, Lion is helpless, especially when ganked.


 * allows Slark to close in on Lion and prevent him from escaping.
 * Lion's fragile health pool makes him easy prey for Slark's high burst damage through, and right-clicks.
 * prevents Lion from casting Hex, Mana Drain, or Finger of Death on Slark.
 * allows Slark to dispel any of Lion's disables.


 * allows Nyx to sneak up on Lion and deal massive damage to him, especially when followed up with an, , or even.
 * has the potential to not only nullify Lion's damage, but also cripple and potentially deal massive damage to Lion, especially if he reflects Finger of Death.


 * Tidehunter naturally has a high health pool and thus makes it hard for Lion to burst him down. further mitigates this by dispelling any disables Lion casts when Tidehunter takes enough damage.
 * and can both not only burst Lion down, but also catch him out and prevent him from escaping.


 * is a long ranged stun, and can stop you from fleeing or using Mana Drain.
 * Once is upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, it becomes nearly impossible to get Finger of Death stacks
 * However, Reincarnation does give you the Finger of Death stack when it triggers

Others

 * Lion has an incredibly fragile health pool, making him weak against nukers like or.
 * Lion is extremely dependent on his abilities. Silences like 's, magic resistance like 's , and dispels like 's all make his abilities less effective.
 * Lion lacks mobility or escape mechanisms, making him an easy target for abilities like 's or 's, or combos like 's  into.
 * In general, Lion is bad against any Burst Damage and Off Pickers (Heroes that can catch one with ease).

Items

 * makes all of Lion's abilities ineffective against a particular target.
 * and silence Lion and thus prevent him from using his critical abilities.
 * can block any of Lion's abilities, most notably Finger of Death.
 * reflects all of Lion's abilities, potentially stunning or hexing him or even making him burst himself down.
 * can not only catch out Lion, but it can also be used to dodge Earth Spike or even Finger of Death.
 * Teams with multiple s can cause Lion to accidentally kill himself with upgraded Finger of Death, given the right timing.

Good against...

 * Drow has a very low health pool, allowing Lion to burst her down.
 * Drow has no innate escape mechanism, making her an easy target for Lion's disables.
 * Lion should be wary of Drow's however, as he has no natural means to deal with it.


 * Ember lacks any protection against Lion's disables early in the game and often does not acquire any later, allowing Lion to Hex or Earth Spike him before he escapes through his.
 * Although can prevent magic damage, it does not stop Lion's disables, and Lion can usually break through it with Finger of Death.


 * Enchantress is very fragile without any form of magic resistance, allowing Lion to easily burst her down.
 * is a slow heal, making it ineffective against Lion's burst.
 * Enchantress lacks any escape mechanism apart from her raw movement speed, allowing Lion to disable her.
 * Since Lion's damage comes mostly from his skills, does nothing to mitigate it.


 * Medusa lacks mobility or escape mechanisms. Earth Spike and Hex can neutralize her strong damage potential and allow for Lion's team to focus her down.
 * In addition to easily breaking her commonly bought with its low cooldown, Mana Drain can quickly drain her, making her far less tanky.


 * Despite her high mobility, Hex or Earth Spike can lock Phantom Assassin down and make her vulnerable.
 * Although she has high evasion through, Phantom Assassin has a rather low health pool, making her weak to Lion's magical burst.


 * Although Weaver can potentially out of any burst, Weaver has a fragile health pool, and Lion's disables can kill him before.
 * Weaver is very mana dependent and has a rather small mana pool in the beginning of the game. Mana Drain can deplete him of mana and lessen his early game presence.
 * Earth Spike can be point targeted and hits through to make him vulnerable.
 * is easily broken by targeted spells with low cooldown.


 * Wraith King has a very low mana pool and depends on it to cast . Mana Drain will render him useless.
 * Wraith King has very low mobility, making it easy for Lion to disable and harass him.


 * Lion's instant cast point shuts down his initiation and buys time for his allies to catch up.
 * Void Spirit has to be cautious when fighting,as he has no protection against .If caught out in a stun,the high magic damage could end him quickly.

Others

 * High priority targets like, and even  can't get caught out from Lion's long range disables.
 * Lion's disables are also really effective against channeling Heroes, like or.
 * Finger of Death can instantly shred many targets especially fragile Heroes like, , or.
 * Mana Drain and Hex instantly kill any illusions. Finger of Death upgraded with also shreds most illusions.
 * One of Lion's level 20 talents lets Mana Drain affect 2 secondary targets. This can make things difficult for heroes like, , and who rely on illusion armies.
 * Mana Drain has an extremely long range and low cooldown. It can easily deplete most heroes of their entire mana pools, especially those with smaller mana pools such as or.
 * Mana Drain is very effective against heroes that have mana burn abilities such as, and.
 * As soon as Lion gets his Level 25 talent where his Hex becomes an AoE ability, he can instantly punish illusion-based heroes.
 * In general, DPSers (Heroes that should last longer in the field to cause Damage) are weak against Lion.

Items

 * is useless against Lion, because he will always be able to replenish his mana with Mana Drain.

Works well with...

 * Combined with . lion can deal a huge amount of damage with


 * Combined with, Mana Drain can not only prevent enemy heroes from using potentially vital abilities, but it can also set up for a devastating.
 * Although Anti-Mage already is great at chasing targets with, Lion's disables allow Anti-Mage to spend even less time chasing targets and more time attacking them.


 * Both Lion and Centaur have great AoE disables and great damage. Centaur can initiate and tank for Lion, while Lion can support and cast his abilities from the back, allowing them both to stay alive and deal tons of damage.


 * Leshrac has various forms of disable or lockdown and burst. Along with Lion's disable and burst, they can keep enemies from reacting at all while bursting them down.


 * Tinker has high burst damage potential with a mediocre health pool, making Lion's disables very effective in both aggressive and defensive situations.
 * Tinker's and Lion's combined burst damage in later stages of the game will likely deplete any target's health pool.


 * Lion's disables can easily lock down potential targets for Ursa, which Ursa normally struggles with. Without any mobility or kiting issues, Ursa can easily tear down enemy heroes.

Others

 * Lion is a hero with many disables and versatility, so he is an excellent addition to nearly any team, especially those in need of disables.
 * Powerful healers and protective supports such as, , or can make up for Lion's fragility.
 * Other nukers and disablers, like, , or can combo together with Lion to sum up longer disables and more damage.

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

Lion/Противостоящие