Lifestealer/Counters

Bad against...

 * Windranger's highly mobile playstyle allows her to easily control Lifestealer from a distance, as he has no disables on his own. not only provides her with bonus move speed, but evasion as well, undoing Lifestealer's ability to attack her. In combination with, Windranger can easily dispose of Lifestealer without him being able to reach her.


 * Razor's highly mobile nature allows him to control Lifestealer from a distance. As well, Lifestealer is already slow in comparison due to his lack of disables and move speed. Lifestealer is also an ideal target for, for its ability to pierce magic immunity and damage steal, which can render Lifestealer's Feast useless.
 * can slow Lifestealer from a distance and force him to cast Rage too early.
 * pierces magic immunity, deals physical damage, and reduces armor, allowing Razor to easily stand up to Lifestealer.


 * Lacking any stun and being heavily dependent on his physical attacks and spell immunity, Lifestealer has no way to stop, assuming he does not initiate Enigma first with.
 * Enigma's Black Hole and Midnight Pulse damage can pierce through Lifestealer's.
 * However, if Lifestealer manages to get and combines it with, he will be able to disable Enigma's  inside him with  and he will be able to help his allies recover themselves from Enigma's initiation with  if Lifestealer gets.


 * Although Lifestealer can avoid Eclipse with and, Luna's physical damage can be enough to deal with him.
 * is a common pick on Luna, which can help her dispel slows from and . In addition, Lifestealer is not good against illusions created by.


 * can weaken Lifestealer's Feast and may force him to cast Rage too quickly or itemize to dispel it.
 * pierces through magic immunity and allows him to disable Lifestealer while in Rage.


 * prevents Lifestealer from lifestealing and healing with Infest in fights.


 * is a strong burst damage passive that allows Chaos Knight to stand up and even survive Lifestealer's attacks. Level 20 Talent: Reality Rift Pierces Spell Immunity allows him to burst down Lifestealer even while he is in Rage.
 * Lifestealer's single-target nature will struggle against Chaos Knight's illusions and will be forced to itemize for them.


 * Clinkz relies heavily on the physical damage provided by and, which completely overrides the capabilities of Rage.
 * Lifestealer's lack of disables will struggle to pin Clinkz down while in, and can allow Clinkz to kite him.


 * Terrorblade's illusions and ranged attacks in can burst down Lifestealer very quickly.
 * Terrorblade has low health due to his low strength gain, which reduces Feast's lifesteal and damage.
 * Because Lifestealer can usually heal back HP in fights due to his innate lifesteal (and sometimes ), he is a great target for Terrorblade's.
 * However, upgraded  can disarm Terrorblade and allow Lifestealer to attack him from inside while also increasing Lifestealer's health regeneration that can nullify effects of, even if Terrorblade is spell immune, which could potentially render Terorrblade useless in teamfights. And if Terrorblade cannot attack enemy heroes, he will go down very quickly.


 * Lifestealer will struggle to deal with Phantom Lancer's illusions and will either be forced to use his abilities too quickly, or itemize too heavily for them.
 * Phantom Lancer commonly builds, which poses a large problem to Lifestealer and his low mana pool, and can shut him down from even casting his abilities.


 * allows Slark to attack Lifestealer for its duration without any way for Lifestealer to fight back, allowing him to steal his stats with, which also reduces Lifestealer's strength and, therefore, health pool.
 * Slark can easily escape Lifestealer with, and can avoid Open Wounds with should Lifestealer be forced to itemize for it.
 * Slark commonly buys a, which can break Lifestealer's Feast, severely diminishing his damage output and lifesteal.
 * from allows Slark to save both, himself and his allies with  while also allowing them to fight back against Lifestealer.


 * Lifestealer is a susceptible target to due to his non-mobile nature and lack of disables. Troll Warlord's ranged  can also be used to kite Lifestealer safely. The root from its melee form also pierces magic immunity, which can potentially keep Lifestealer in place even while he is in Rage.
 * Both and  can force Lifestealer to cast Rage too quickly and allow Troll Warlord to change strategies mid-fight, especially thanks to their separate cooldowns.
 * allows Troll Warlord to survive Lifestealer's Feast and turn the fight in his favor.


 * Lifestealer will struggle to duel Ursa in all stages of the game due to, which pierces magic immunity. Ursa can also stand up to Lifestealer with , which dramatically reduces incoming damage and further delay Lifestealer's Feast.


 * Though can be blocked by Rage, it can be used to lower Lifestealer's already low armor, making him even more vulnerable to physical damage while Rage is on cooldown.
 * Lifestealer has no strong disables on his own and thus cannot catch up with nor escape from Weaver's.
 * Lifestealer's reliance on meticulous auto-attacks will not help against, which can undo Lifestealer's already slow build-up of damage. upgraded  can also be used to save allies from getting killed by Lifestealer, but that will require targeting the allied hero rather than just pressing the button that will trigger the.

Others

 * Heroes with high physical damage can damage Lifestealer more than he can heal:, , ,, ,
 * Heroes with illusions:, , ,
 * Heroes with summons:, , , ,.
 * can withstand against Lifestealer's physical damage due to his high armor and strength.
 * Disables that pierces Lifestealer's spell immunity granted by Rage:, ,.
 * Heroes with escape abilities:      can kite Lifestealer due to him having no lockdown.
 * Lifestealer, at even farm levels, will often fall against other man-fighting non-Strength cores like, or  as he cannot truly rely on sustain from.

Items

 * is very useful to kite Lifestealer in team-fight and to escape from him. can later be upgraded into  that can do the same and which can also increase the attack range of ranged heroes.
 * and If placed before  will make Lifestealer unable to use his abilities in a teamfight. And Lifestealer cannot dispel its effect with.
 * is a good protection against Lifestealer as he relies mostly on direct attacks to deal damage and has no other ways of dealing damage outside from Infest. It can be later upgraded into, which can disarm Lifestealer and make him more vulnerable to magic damage. But remember that Lifestealer can dispel its effect with.
 * Lifestealer has no way of dealing with illusions and the extra damage from the illusions can damage him more than he can heal.
 * If placed before will make Lifestealer unable to use neither his abilities nor items in a teamfight. And like silence, Lifestealer cannot dispel its effect with.
 * gives evasion and an undispellable disarm, making Lifestealer useless if placed before Rage.
 * ,, and  items are useful against Lifestealer's mostly-phyiscal damage.
 * if applied before can apply an undispellable break that can disable Feast while also giving an escape tool from Lifestealer. And Lifestealer cannot dispel 's effect with.
 * can block, from  and {I|Aghanim's Scepter}} upgraded , which can force Lifestealer to either choose between one of those three abilities/items, or to purchase items that can be used to pop 's spellblock like  or.
 * if used before can reflect  from  and  back at Lifestealer if he impulsively uses it on a hero protected by it. However,  cannot reflect {I|Aghanim's Scepter}} upgraded  back at Lifestealer as {I|Aghanim's Scepter}} upgraded  is one of the few single-targeted abilities that cannot be reflected by  at all.

Good against...

 * Crystal Maiden is an ideal target for Lifestealer due to her poor mobility and low health pool. Lifestealer can usually catch up to her simply by casting Rage, as none of her abilities pierce through magic immunity. can potentially make her even more vulnerable to Lifestealer while under Rage as she is even more immobile while channeling it.
 * Lifestealer commonly buys, which allows him to cancel , even if Crystal Maiden is spell immune.
 * Alternatively, upgraded  combined with  and with items that provide attack speed which Lifestealer commonly buys allow him to to cancel  from within the Crystal Maiden.


 * Lifestealer is able to endure Undying, especially in the laning phase, where Undying is strongest. Feast can offset 's strength steal for its percentage lifesteal. Rage delays Undying from stealing strength and can help Lifestealer destroy Undying's uninterrupted. As well, none of Undying's abilities pierce magic immunity.


 * Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Dark Willow's abilities.


 * Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Invoker's spells (except for ).


 * Centaur Warrunner's active abilities cannot pierce magic immunity. 's slow wind up can also be anticipated and negated with Rage.
 * Lifestealer can offset 's damage return simply with Feast. Centaur's high strength gain and therefore big health pool makes him an ideal target to Feast on, especially in the late-game.


 * Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Techies's abilities. 's disarm will also not work on Lifestealer under Rage.
 * Rage can also be used to trigger Techies's safely.


 * Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Tinker's damage and debuffs.
 * Lifestealer can infest a mobile ally (teams usually pick one against Tinker), which may ensure that Tinker will die if he is caught.


 * Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Ogre's magical debuffs and also dispels them.
 * Ogre's high health pool makes him an ideal target for Feast.


 * allows Lifestealer to freely attack Nyx Assassin and hunt him down if Vendetta is on cooldown. Nyx Assassin cannot counter with Spiked Carapace because  gives Lifestealer spell immunity. And besides Vendetta, Nyx Assassin has no other way of dealing damage to Lifestealer while he is spell immune.
 * from allows Lifestealer to severely slow down Nyx Assassin while also allowing his team to recover themselves while attacking Nyx Assassin.  can also fester and spread if Nyx Assassin takes enough damage that will trigger the spread while he is affected with.
 * combined with an ancient creep makes Nyx Assassin an easy target to surprise with or a .  upgraded  can also allow Lifestealer to infest, disarm and freely attack Nyx Assassin from within. and Nyx Assassin cannot counter this with Spiked Carapace because Lifestealer is invulnerable while attacking the infested enemy hero from within.
 * Overall, any attempt for Nyx Assassin to gank and kill Lifestealer will hurt Nyx Assassin more than Lifestealer.


 * Rage can protect Lifestealer from most of the Silencer's abilities with the exception of, as it will still silence if cast while the target is magic immune. However, it will not work if Lifestealer is infesting a unit.
 * Silencer is vulnerable to Open Wounds due to his lack of an innate escape.
 * Against a carry Silencer, upgraded  can disarm him and allow Lifestealer to attack Silencer from within, even if Silencer is spell immune.


 * Feast makes it impossible to for Lifestealer to be culled with and also deals high damage to Axe due to his naturally high health.
 * However, and  can pierce through the, and if Axe has allies with him against Lifestealer, Lifestealer may go down very quickly.

Others

 * Heroes who have most or all their abilities (damage or disable) unable to pierce spell immunity:, , ,.
 * Gankers should play cautiously when doing their job, as their victim might be Infested.
 * With upgraded, Lifestealer can use it on enemy heroes to attack them and disarm them from inside, even if they are spell immune, which can give him the edge over the heroes he's weak against like , ,  or.

Items

 * 's and 's dominated creeps can easily fall victim to Infest, healing Lifestealer and feeding him easy gold.
 * 's damage return is not effective against Lifestealer for multiple reasons: gives Lifestealer debuff immunity to block the damage return,  and  from  allows Lifestealer to restore the lost health from damage return, and  upgraded  allows Lifestealer to freely attack enemy heroes from within while also making him invulnerable for it's duration, which completely ignores 's damage return, similarly to 's  and  from.

Works well with...

 * Clockwerk's highly mobile nature thanks to and  makes him an ideal ally to Infest.  and  also keep his targets in place, giving Lifestealer ample time to Feast.


 * not only keeps the target rooted for Lifestealer to feast on; it can dispel certain buffs that could help them avoid being attacked, like invisibility or ghost form. As well, it could be used to remove most negative buffs from Lifestealer so that he doesn't have to cast Rage to dispel them.
 * Casting on Lifestealer's chosen target can allow Lifestealer to Feast against heroes that could otherwise stand up to him by simply auto-attacking. In combination with Rage, the target will both be disarmed and unable to cast spells onto Lifestealer.
 * doubles Feast's lifesteal and can buy him more time to continually deal damage.


 * not only helps Marci, but Lifestealer as well, in pursuing and attacking a target.
 * While can be used to boost Lifestealer's move speed, it is a good mobility skill that can help Marci close the gap on targets and stun them in place, making her an ideal ally to Infest.
 * further augments Lifestealer's Feast and turns both him and Marci into formidable frontliners for the duration.


 * could be used to immensely improve Lifestealer's mobility, or to buff an ally infested by Lifestealer to help them initiate.
 * Due to Lifestealer's close-ranged nature, he is an ideal hero to buff with.
 * (often paired with ) is a good initiation skill that Lifestealer can take advantage of to enter the fight, or to hide in its illusions should he need to escape.


 * can provide Lifestealer with a brief gap closer and quick burst of magic damage to soften up his target.
 * allows Lifestealer to Feast on the target without fear of reprisal, saving Rage for later.
 * gives Lifestealer a much needed stun, something he is severely lacking. Grimstroke can also use this on himself or an ally infested by Lifestealer to allow him safe entrance into a fight.
 * Should Lifestealer acquire Open Wounds, will duplicate its effect on the two affected targets.


 * can help Lifestealer pursue or discourage a target from fighting him thanks to its magic damage and 100%-slow pulses.
 * allows Lifestealer to Feast on a highly mobile target, while can place an escaping target back for Lifestealer to chase more easily.
 * allows Lifestealer to Feast on the target without being stunned or interrupted, so that he could use Rage for later.


 * makes Queen of Pain an ideal ally to Infest. The magic damage from Infest can also assist in her burst damage combos.


 * If Infested, Riki is great for traversing the map quickly and undetected. He is also able to close the gap between Lifestealer and his target with and slow them with, which if coupled with Open Wounds will grant a 90% slow, making the kill exponentially easier.


 * greatly increases Lifestealer's physical damage.
 * Slardar is a common carrier and a good target for Infest.


 * Like many others, Spirit Breaker is a great ally to Infest as he provides a perfect gap closer with and a follow up disable with.


 * Storm Spirit is a great ally to Infest as he provides a perfect gap closer with and a follow up disable with.


 * Sand King's ability to close the gap with, especially with , makes him an ideal ally to Infest. In combination with , both Sand King and Lifestealer can dole out lethal amounts of magic damage.

Others

 * Heroes with high mobility and good initiation are good targets to Infest and ambush enemies with.

Items

 * adds mobility to Infest.

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

Lifestealer/Противостоящие 噬魂鬼/克制