Templar Assassin/Counters

Bad against...

 * Arc Warden's tears through Refraction charges almost instantly. Should he have a  and no creeps are around, a 75% slow means almost certain death.
 * Meld is useless against.

Venomancer's entire arsenal deals lingering damage over a long time and therefore burns through her Refraction very quickly. Not only that, his persistent slow from (and can be re-apply again and again with ) allows his team to catch up to her even with the disruption from her Psionic Trap.


 * Windranger's tears apart Templar Assassin's refraction very quickly and easily bursts her down due to her low health pool against Windranger's immense attack speed
 * Templar Assassin's "Psionic Trap" doesn't slow down Windranger due to her skill
 * Templar Assassin's high damage can also be easily evaded thanks to Windrun's 100% evasion

Phoenix's abilities do not target and deals damage over time, making them a threat against Meld and Refraction. His abilities' nature makes them pretty hard to correctly land on the target, but that is not a problem against a Templar Assassin that needs to stand still during Meld.
 * allows Phoenix to shrug off the slow from her trap and make an easy escape from her ambush.
 * As Templar Assassin relies on her quality-over-quantity bursting attacks to make quick work on fragile target, ' attack speed reduction can cripple her ability to deals any damage during combat. With the debuff applied in early-mid game, a Meld-breaking hit from her is significantly slowed to the point that her target can travel a safe distance before she even lands the hit.
 * has quick damage tick and will burn through her Refraction in no time.
 * deals damage over time in an incredibly large area, and again with her quality-over-quantity style, she may not be able to attack quickly enough to break through the Phoenix Sun by herself. (not to mention the debuff from Fire Spirits) This can lead to a failed ganking attempt or even a turnaround.


 * Batrider's abilities are designed to deal damage over time, burning through Templar Assassin's layers extremely quickly. applies 7 instances of damage, burning through the entirety of Refraction, and  applies damage on the place, forcing her to either get out of Meld and be attacked or stay in place or be incinerated.


 * The damage over time from Viper's and  rapidly wear down Refraction charges, allowing Templar Assassin to be damaged. Additionally,  causes her attacks to apply damage over time on her as well.
 * is a big threat to Templar Assassin. Her initially low range making it very hard to deal against Nethertoxin in the laning phase. At any stage of the game, a Nethertoxin can always force her to undo her Meld.


 * The damage over time from Dragon Knight's rapidly burns down Refraction, allowing him to attack her. Also,  reduces Templar Assassin's damage and  is a stun with a considerable duration, letting him and his team whittle her health down once her defenses wear off.


 * His can force Templar Assassin out of her Meld and destroy all of her Refraction charges quickly, and her small health pool and meager defense make her very vulnerable to his  without Refraction.


 * Huskar's burn damage from is incredibly strong against Templar Assassin as it completely cancels out her Refraction from the burning over time which results in making her very vulnerable to ganks and harass, and in turn forcing her out of the lane.


 * Razor's damage-over-time easily wear off Refraction charges, allowing Templar Assassin to be damaged.
 * empties Templar Assassin's damage output even with the bonus from Refraction, and will keep doing that even if the Razor cannot see her during Meld.
 * can easily strike her during Meld.


 * Pugna's can render Templar Assassin's physical attacks useless.
 * Pugna can also cast on Templar Assassin, burning her Refraction instances.
 * On the other hand, Pugna generally has low health and armor. Use this to your advantage.

Others

 * Heroes that can quickly deal damage to her, regardless of how weak they are, can easily break through her Refraction:
 * Multiple attackers thanks to summoned units or clones:, , , ,
 * Multiple attackers thanks to illusions:, , (bonus for her ). Also despite the visual effects, Templar Assassin does not spill damage against illusions or buildings, so she is not a really good hero to clean up illusions.
 * Weak damage but high tick rate or persist in a long time:, , , ,
 * Heroes that have disposable area-targeted spells can force her to undo her Meld:, , . An experienced Templar Assassin could try to use Refraction before Meld so she can tank through those damage without getting her Blink disabled.
 * Heroes who can provide True Sight are always credible threats:, , especially since his  provides True Sight without the need to detect her beforehand to apply the debuff. So even a late-coming Zeus can easily scout a large area to reveal her, and she cannot purge herself from his sight with the dispel talent.
 * Because Templar Assassin does not have escape potential in lane, any support hero with roaming potential and a can be great at shutting her down early game:, , , , ,.

Items

 * and (as well as ) can waste Templar Assassin's Refraction charges and keep burning her down during Meld, it's also troublesome for heroes that build a  (herself included).
 * Items that grant True Sight: (she can dispel it with her talent),, , level 3.
 * Items that can waste her ganking attempt: is a very good choice against her since she relies almost entirely on physical damage, also Ghost Scepter and  can buy you precious time to TP away since she has no hard disable to pin her victim down.  can make some distance with her, but unless you are able to force onto high ground, her Psionic Trap will help her catch up easily.

Good against...

 * Shadow Fiend's fragility and lack of a natural escape mechanism makes him a great target for Templar Assassin's Meld.
 * Shadow Fiend's burst damage, such as and, is easily nullified by her Refraction.


 * Although and  can reveal Templar Assassin during Meld, Zeus nonetheless has no way to deal with Refraction.
 * Zeus is a rather squishy hero, falling easily to Templar Assassin's high burst damage.

Others

 * Fragile supports with low armor are always a good prey, also her Psionic Trap will wear down most attempts to flee with their built-in disables:, , , , ,
 * Fragile carries with no reliable escaping mechanism can be bursted down in no time:, ,
 * Heroes with powerful nuke can waste their precious abilites on her Refraction during a ganking attempt or chaos combat:, , ,
 * Heroes who can delivers a big chunk of damage in few hits will find themselves struggle against Templar Assassin's Refraction:, , , ,
 * Melee heroes in general would have problems laning against Templar Assassin, as her Psi Blades can potentially harass them while she's just casually last hitting and denying.
 * Meld when upgraded with the level 25 talent allows her to interrupt the enemy heroes' channelling:, ,.

Works well with...

 * Templar Assassin lacks any form of hard disables. Slardar is a good initiator with an AoE stun that deals physical damage. This allows him to initiate for her and deal high damage against groups of enemies with her Psi Blades. In addition, Templar Assassin relies solely on doing burst physical damage, so Slardar's will significantly increases her damage output (which can then be spilled onto other targets via Psi Blades).


 * give her a precious time to set up her position and deals large damage thanks to his.
 * pulls all enemies into a straight line, possibly set up for a gigantic spill blade.


 * can improve Templar Assassin attack damage. Early-game, she can set up kills with, further reduce enemy's armor with , and, if necessary, use on Templar Assassin to allow her escape from a sticky situation and potentially save her life.

Others

 * Other heroes that apply armor reduction can work well with Templar Assassin's burst physical damage, so Heroes such as, , , or heroes that buy armor reducing items such as can be good companions for Templar Assassin in a team fight.
 * Ranged disables allow Templar Assassin to catch up and burst her target down easily. As such, heroes like, , or  are invaluable to an ambush or a clash.

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

Templar Assassin/Противостоящие