Silencer/Counters

Bad against...

 * Broodmother relies less on abilities and more on right-clicks.
 * Spiderlings can overwhelm Silencer, who has mediocre armor and no escape tool.


 * If Silencer can't prevent Dragon Knight from using, Silencer's spells aren't going to be that effective against him, as Dragon Knight relies on right-clicks and not spells.
 * 's armor bonus and health regeneration allows Dragon Knight to stay in the lane against Glaives of Wisdom.
 * Dragon Knight often builds, allowing him to remove Global Silence before engaging.


 * is useful for killing or escaping Silencer.
 * , can be used to hunt and Harash silencer - even when Lycan himself can't fight.


 * Silencer is rather squishy and has poor mobility without items, making him an easy target for Nyx.
 * will deal increasing damage for each point of intelligence Silencer has stolen, turning Silencer's intelligence steal against him.


 * Phantom Assassin doesn't care about Silencer's spells as she relies on right-clicks more than spells.
 * Phantom Assassin often builds, which allows her to remove Global Silence before engaging.


 * Due to and  being passives and not affected by silence, a Phantom Lancer with a  can easily kill Silencer.


 * Slark's allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
 * Against a carry Silencer, will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.


 * Due to Sniper having a such a long range, he will rarely get hit by any of Silencer's spells.
 * Global Silence will not hinder Sniper much as other heroes since most of his damage output comes from his attacks.


 * Silencer relies on preventing enemies from using abilities in teamfights with Arcane Curse, Last Word, and Global Silence. However, they are ineffective against Ursa since he relies more on items and attacks than abilities.
 * reduces all damage taken, even Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage.

Others

 * Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as and, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
 * Heroes that can disable or silence Silencer for a long time, such as and, can lock down Silencer while their allies put him down.
 * Heroes who rely on passive abilities and attacks, such as, , and , can render Silencer useless. In addition, he doesn't like going for neither break nor disarm items.

Items

 * dispels most debuffs when used.
 * dispels all Silencer's debuffs and restores lost health and mana.
 * removes all Silencer's debuffs upon activation and prevents damage from Glaives of Wisdom (outside Silencer's Aghanim upgrade.
 * can be used to disable Silencer for a moment or dispel Silencer's debuffs from you. It also gives nice movement speed and mana regen boosts, which can come in handy.
 * removes all Silencer's debuffs from the targeted ally. Echo Shell can also reflect Last Word back to Silencer, preventing him from casting or using Glaives of Wisdom.
 * and can silence Silencer, preventing him from casting Global Silence when needed or using Glaives of Wisdom. It also increases the damage Silencer takes from attacks making him easier to kill. With Global Silence out of the way, a fight will be much more in your team's favor.
 * If Silencer has a lot of intelligence, Glaives of Wisdom will deal lots of damage. Silencer himself, however, is rather squishy and will often lose more than half of his health with just a few attacks if he attacks target with Blade Mail. Blade Mail is good especially on high hp heroes like, or.

Good against...

 * Bristleback will not be able to cast or  while silenced, effectively blocking a major part of the hero's damage and preventing  charges from stacking.
 * Arcane Curse slows Bristleback down and lasts longer the more abilities he uses. On the other hand, if he doesn't use any abilities, he will begin to lose Warpath charges.


 * Crystal Maiden is squishy, is heavily spell reliant, has low base Intelligence, and is naturally slow, making her an ideal target for Silencer.
 * Crystal Maiden's has a similar cooldown to Global Silence, therefore, Freezing Field can almost always be canceled to ruin aggressive Crystal Maiden initiations.


 * Silencer can easily ruin Enigma's initiation, as Global Silence cancels, even through and.


 * Silencer burns easily through her effective HP from, by taking away her intelligence.
 * punishes her repeatedly casting to keep her mana pool high. He can force her to use  before he has cast  and  usually does not want to build.


 * Oracle's reliance on spamming his spells can be easily hindered by Silencer's Arcane Curse.
 * Last Word and Global Silence negates Oracle's attempt to save his allies with his spells.
 * is useless against Glaives of Wisdom's pure damage.


 * Silencer's intelligence steal will heavily reduce Outworld Destroyer's damage output, especially if Destroyer dies a lot near Silencer and loses intelligence permanently.
 * Global Silence and Last Word will render Outworld Destroyer helpless unless he has an item/ally to dispel silence.


 * Pugna is very reliant on his abilities for damage. (Just be careful around the )


 * Shadow Demon's main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
 * Shadow Demon likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
 * If Shadow Demon dies near Silencer, he will lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Shadow Demon dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.


 * Timbersaw is heavily reliant on his abilities for damage and escape, allowing Silencer to effectively disable him and make him useless in both team fights and 1v1 scenarios.


 * Silencer can stop, preventing Tinker from spamming his abilities/items or escaping.


 * Silencer's abilities hamper Windranger's effectiveness in battle, preventing her from comboing abilities and escaping using.


 * Zeus' main source of damage is his low cooldown, high damage spells - meaning Last Word and Global Silence will pretty much take him out of the game for the duration.
 * Zeus likes to spam his abilities, which makes him vulnerable to Arcane Curse.
 * If Zeus dies near Silencer, he will begin to lose intelligence, reducing his mana pool, mana regen, and attack damage. Furthermore, if the game is long and Zeus dies often, the intelligence losses will also reduce his spell damage.

Others

 * Basically, Heroes that heavily rely on abilities for damage or escape, such as and.
 * Heroes with low mana pools (eg. and) will feel the effects of Silencer's Intelligence Steal far more than others.
 * Abilities with very low cooldown will further increase Arcane Curse's duration:, ,.

Works well with...

 * Slardar can effectively helps silencer during laning stage as well farming Intelligence from enemies and scale well onto late game, tanking in the frontline while silencer is freehitting from behind.
 * also Amplify damage input from Silencer and gain vision to the enemies.


 * Silencer consumes a lot of mana and he lacks a stun/disable. Crystal Maiden helps with both of those issues.
 * Crystal Maiden can cast her Ultimate without fear of getting interrupted by enemy abilities during Global Silence.


 * Global Silence can prevent enemy abilities from disabling Anti-Mage while he breaks their mana.
 * Silencer's abilities benefit well for Anti-Mage as both punishes the spellcasters.


 * Pudge can use to hook enemies for easy kills, allowing Silencer to harvest intelligence safely and quickly.
 * Both of you grow stronger with each kill, even if you reach level 25 with max items. Your enemies on the other hand lose max mana and mana regen(and damage, if intelligence hero) every time they die, making them grow weaker. This is very good in long games.


 * Outworld Destroyer can save a low health Silencer with, and if any enemies die within range, Silencer will still gain intelligence while imprisoned.
 * Silencer's passive intelligence steal increases intelligence difference between Outworld Destroyer and his enemies, increasing the damage they take from.
 * Global Silence prevents enemies disabling Outworld Destroyer during combat.

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

Silencer/Противостоящие