Skywrath Mage/Counters

Bad against...

 * Has a handy.
 * Often builds and.
 * Huge mana cost on means easy target for Anti-Mage's.
 * Is weak early-game to 's until he can purge silences. Skywrath's solo kill potential is still very low.


 * is comparable to Anti-Mage's, giving a maximum of 50% magic resist bonus.
 * Works proportionate to lost health, but Huskar has a decent health pool, and the attack speed powers him up.
 * Skywrath's armor is so low that Huskar can outdamage him or take skywrath down with him.
 * If you get an early with a charge, you can mitigate this deadly counter-pick with its pure damage.


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


 * 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 Dragonus will have likely expended all his mana.


 * Although Dragonus can silence Omniknight, Dragonus loses against Omni 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 Dragonus 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 Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
 * Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high physical burst like Juggernaut or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger

Items

 * , and  mitigate or remove your damage.
 * hurts you. A lot.
 * ,, purge your silence and  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, a squishy support will still die from a couple of amplified s , 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 purging 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.
 * Any combination of the two should allow any support to survive.

Good against...

 * Magical burst is Timbersaw's weakness, and 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 wont give him the massive sustain he normally gets from auto 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 purge his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
 * Roots and silences are ultimate counters.  has a silence built in his kit, and has  as his core item. If he purges 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 vs. constant s and her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
 * A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make s job easier.
 * The magic amplification from makes her even squishier to your allies' magic nukes.


 * Dragonus 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 purge off or remove , 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 you out.


 * Depends mostly on her abilities but has no means to deal against silences.
 * Her attack range makes it ease to bully her out of the lane.

Others

 * Squish targets will suffer in hands (or claws). Usually they can't even survive a shared  (followed by his others skills of course).
 * Even though will block your silence, you can cast  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  also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silence.

Works well with...

 * sets up an easy.
 * buffs up Void's damage.


 * and is a dangerous combination early-game. They can roll over almost anything by spamming  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.


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


 * combined with will easily cut through  and . 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  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, as long as they don't have 100% magic resistance. They also provide control over the crowd to set up a decent.

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