Io/Counters

Bad against...

 * prevents Io from healing the target.
 * Ancient Apparition can easily harass Io on lane with due to it's high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys  and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
 * combined with makes it nearly impossible for Io to escape from .  can also make Io and it's tethered target more vulnerable to Ancient Apparition and his allies's magical damage.


 * Batrider's can be used to cancel Io's attempts to escape with  and drag him away from his ed target. And since Io doesn't like buying, he will be always vulnerable to Batrider's initiations.
 * Io's tendency to stick close to it's ed target can make Io and it's target vulnerable to Batrider's harrasing.
 * upgraded allows Batrider to catch and drag two heroes at once, not just one. Which can potentially turn Io's  against him.


 * allows Bloodseeker to see where Io relocated to, should either Io or the tethered hero have low health.
 * forces Io to stay in place, preventing it from using the Tether bonus movement speed to escape.


 * is very effective against Io, as it has very low armor and has to stay close to the fight to not break its Tether.


 * and allow Clinkz to quickly kill Io due to its low armor.
 * Clinkz iz a hero that very often goes for, and its upgrade . Alternatively, Clinkz also loves to buy . And if Clinkz has both of them, he will be able to root and silence Io and prevent him from escaping with either or.


 * allows Dazzle to harass both, Io and it's tethered target on lane. upgraded  can also hex both, Io and it's tethered target, preventing them from escaping with Relocate, and also disarming them, silencing them, muting them and rendering them helpless against Dazzle and his allies.
 * Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Dazzle will have plenty of time to save an ally with from gank by Io and it's tethered target.
 * will always hit both, Io and it's tethered target if they are near the ally Dazzle uses on, while healing Dazzle's allies near them.  upgraded  can bounce on both, Io and it's tethered target, causing them both to take damage and to be attacked by Dazzle.
 * will cause both, Io and it's tethered target to lose armor whenever Dazzle uses an ability that will damage them.


 * directly negates Relocate.
 * prevents Io from escaping with.
 * can silence and damage both, Io and it's tethered target. And it can also mute both, Io and it's tethered target when upgraded with


 * Grimstroke can catch Io and his ally easily with as Io has a tendency to tether himself with an ally frequently.
 * Io is highly vulnerable to disables. Hence, Grimstroke's is a great ability to hinder Io's potential.


 * Jakiro's area-of-effect ability arsenal allows him to affect multiple heroes at once, giving Io difficulties in saving them as he can only heal one hero at a time with Tether.
 * can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
 * Jakiro commonly buys that can be used to cancel Relocate, prevent Io in escaping with Tether and make Io easy target for  and.


 * is very effective against Io due to its low health and armor.


 * Io is a hero who needs to be close to it's tethered target to make it effective, and that's where Leshrac gets the advantage thanks to many of his area-of-effect abilities.
 * will usually hit both Io and its tethered target since both will be close enough for the lightning to jump.
 * and hit all units near Leshrac, meaning he can do colossal damage to both, Io and its tethered target.


 * Lich's forces Io to either give up providing buff to his ally with  or suffer devastating damage with his tethered ally.
 * Lich can easily use to disable Io from getting away with  or.


 * can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate.
 * Like with Leshrac's, and  abilities. Luna's  and  abilities can make short work of Io and its tethered ally, particularly when upgraded with.


 * and can be used to cancel both, Tether and Relocate and to close the distance on Io.
 * combined with illusions from often finish off Io before he can save himself.
 * 's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Naga Siren's illusions from.
 * Once Naga Siren buys, she can gain access to , which not only allows her to cancel both, Tether and Relocate, but also to pull Io to herself and her team while he is affected with , similarly to Batrider's.
 * upgraded can also heal the hero Io and his tethered targed try to gank.


 * allows Phantom Assassin jump directly to Io.
 * can make a short work of Io's low health and armor.


 * and allow Sniper to reach Io even if it stays in the backline.


 * can be used to escape or counter-initiate against a Relocate gank.
 * and is devastating due to Io's low armor, and can even knock it away from tethered target.


 * Terrorblade can easily take advantage of Io's weak durability with and.
 * As Io relies on boosting his and his ed target's attack speed with, Terrorblade can take advantage of this with , which can damage and slow both, Io and his ed target.
 * 's weak area-of-effect makes it a bad tool to deal with Terrorblade's illusions from and.
 * Io's damage output is one of the weakest, therefore Terrorblade will have plenty of time to save himself with.
 * However, Terrorblade has no way of stopping Io to escape with or to stop both, Io and it's ed target to escape with  besides  from.


 * can be used to save a hero from a Relocate gank.


 * can render the extra attack speed from Overcharge meaningless.
 * and are very affective against Io, as it has to stay close to its tethered hero.

Others

 * Heroes that are hard to gank:, ,
 * Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:, , , , , , , , , ,.
 * Heroes whose abilities can affect multiple enemies at once:, , , , , ,.
 * Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst:, , , , , , , , , ,.
 * Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:, , , , , , , , , , ,.

Items

 * combined with and  can take out Io quickly in teamfights or any of his teammates before he even gets a chance to save them.
 * and it's upgrades:, and  allows heroes to jump on Io for quick kill.
 * and are very good items against Io:  can heavily reduce any healing Io tries to provide to the Tethered target while  can not just reduce any healing Io tries to provide to the Tethered target, but can also greatly reduce attack speed from Overcharge. Making Io weak even against heroes he naturally counters.
 * will render Io unable to damage enemy heroes who wield it at all.
 * shuts down Io's mobility and can be used to cancel Relocate. Later it can be upgraded into, to shut down mobility of both, Io and it's tethered target and cancel Relocate while also passively providing a chance to release a chain lightning that can damage, both Io and it's tethered target.
 * , it's upgrade and  will render Io absolutely powerless if Io is not protected by any form of Spell Immunity.

Good against...

 * Drow Ranger's lack of escape abilities makes her an easy target for Relocate ganks.


 * Tether helps Io escape from Earthbind even if Meepo has Blink Dagger.
 * Io's Spirits can pressure Meepo while laning and will usually hit at least one of his clones.


 * Nature's Prophet is extremely easy to gank with Relocate while he's split pushing.
 * Tether on a friendly unit can destroy Nature Prophet's trees should he surround himself with as a defense.


 * Phoenix's limit AoE, damage-over-time abilities give Io plenty of time to save allies with Relocate.


 * Tether and Overcharge makes it much harder for Pudge to kill a target with, and Relocate can save the Io's ally while is being channeled.


 * Io can escape from Pit of Malice with Tether or Relocate.
 * Relocate can counter Dark Rift's split pushing.

Works well with...

 * Chaos Knight's single target disables makes him a formidable ganker when Relocated.
 * can bring an enemy into the Spirits slow.


 * Tether's regeneration and movement speed buff fuel Gyrocopter's abilities and ganks in the early and mid game.
 * Spirits's movement speed slow keeps enemies in range of Gyrocopter's abilities and attacks.
 * Overcharge's attack speed buff complements Gyrocopter's attack damage items in the late game.


 * works with Tether, healing both heroes for an enourmous amount.
 * When Juggernaut uses, Io's Tether will persist, buffing Juggernaut's attack speed with Overcharge.


 * 's heal is very powerful when combined with Tether.
 * Relocate can be used to pick off lone enemies using.
 * Overcharge helps Legion Commander win s more easily.


 * With, Io can Relocate two heroes at the same time for a surprise gank.


 * 's movement speed slow helps Io land Spirits.
 * Overcharge makes Phantom Assassin more durable and allows her to get more hits in.


 * becomes more powerful with higher movement speed, and benefits from Overcharge's attack speed increase.
 * Tethering to Spirit Breaker while he is using can pull Io along for a considerable distance.


 * Sven's mobility is greatly improved by Tether.
 * and will take down an enemy in no time after a Relocate.
 * Mana regeneration from Io's items allows Sven to initiate much more often with.


 * Tiny's burst damage with and  is ideal for finishing off enemies quickly during a Relocate gank.
 * Tiny can also Io if the enemy gets away.
 * Relocate helps negate Tiny's mobility issues.
 * Overcharge greatly boosts Tiny's slow base attack speed.


 * Ursa's burst melee damage makes him an ideal ally to bring along on Relocate ganks.
 * Ursa's mobility is greatly improved by Tether.
 * Overcharge will allow Ursa to dish out heavy damage with as well as making him literally invincible while enraged.

Others

 * In general, heroes that can stun and beat down an opponent quickly will work well with Relocate.
 * Heroes with long disables make up for Io's lack of them and can buy time for Relocate's channel:, , , ,
 * Heroes who can provide vision help scout out Relocate's destination:, , ,
 * Heroes with area healing abilities, combined with Tether, provide large amount of regeneration to Io and tethered targets:, ,

Items

 * 's health drain is mitigated by Tether's healing.
 * and Relocate to bring in another hero make ganking easy.
 * can heal your teammates and tethered hero large amounts of hp.
 * grants you and your tethered teammate amazingly high survivability.

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

Io/Противостоящие