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Bad against...[]

Axe icon
Lifestealer icon
  • Rage icon Rage, acting as a pseudo-Black King Bar icon Black King Bar, completely negates Mars' initiation if used in time.
  • Feast icon Feast does damage and heals based on max health, perfect against high-health strength heroes like Mars.
  • Infest icon Infest allows Lifestealer to potentially save allies from Mars' initiation with a quick burst of extra health.
Riki icon
  • Blink Strike icon Blink Strike gives bonus backstab damage and can bypass Bulwark. Defensively, it could be used to teleport away from Mars, especially while inside Arena of Blood.
  • Smoke Screen icon Smoke Screen can interrupt Mars' skill combos, especially when cast inside Arena of Blood.
  • Tricks of the Trade icon Tricks of the Trade can be used to evade Mars' skills, which have a slight delay to them. It could also be used to buy himself time while trapped inside of Arena of Blood.
Batrider icon
  • Sticky Napalm icon Sticky Napalm slows turn rate, making it difficult for Mars to face frontwards, where Spear of Mars and Bulwark are effective. In combination with Firefly icon Firefly, which deals magic damage, Batrider can make quick work of Mars.
  • Flaming Lasso icon Flaming Lasso disables Mars while enemies re-position themselves behind Mars to avoid Bulwark.
Faceless Void icon
  • Time Walk icon Time Walk allows Faceless Void to escape or enter Arena Of Blood, and helps him recover from Mars' burst damage.
  • Time Lock icon Time Lock's magical damage ignores Bulwark.
  • Chronosphere icon Chronosphere allows Faceless Void to reposition behind Mars, ignoring his Bulwark while he is helplessly frozen in time.
Huskar icon
  • Burning Spear icon Burning Spear's magical damage is very troublesome for Mars in the laning stage.
  • Life Break icon Life Break's percentage-based magical damage bypasses Bulwark, and can also be used to jump in or out of Arena Of Blood.
Lina icon
Necrophos icon
  • Necrophos' largely magical damage completely ignores Bulwark.
  • Ghost Shroud icon Ghost Shroud protects Necrophos from God's Rebuke but more importantly stops Mars from being a threat in lane.
Ogre Magi icon
  • It is difficult for Mars to trade blows with Ogre Magi in the early game thanks to his high base health, resistance and Ignite icon Ignite.
  • Bloodlust icon Bloodlust can assist Ogre Magi or an ally in repositioning against Mars for its move speed bonus.
  • Fireblast icon Fireblast can interrupt and mitigate Mars from performing his skill combos, especially in combination with Multicast icon Multicast.
Outworld Destroyer icon
  • Arcane Orb icon Arcane Orb's pure damage ignores Mars' Bulwark.
  • Astral Imprisonment icon Astral Imprisonment can be used to stop Mars from being disruptive or save allies from his abilities.
  • Sanity's Eclipse icon Sanity's Eclipse deals high damage to Mars, due to his low intelligence pool.
Pugna icon
  • Nether Blast icon Nether Blast, Decrepify icon Decrepify and Life Drain icon Life Drain deal high magical damage and bypasses Bulwark.
  • Nether Ward icon Nether Ward reduces the amount of abilities Mars can use during fights and forces Mars to be careful about the heavy mana cost of Arena Of Blood.
  • Pugna is one of few heroes that can contest Mars' ability to push and defend towers early on.
Pangolier icon
  • Swashbuckle icon Swashbuckle is an auto attack and therefore ignores Mars' Bulwark.
  • Shield Crash icon Shield Crash upgraded with Aghanim is an auto attack and therefore ignores Mars' Bulwark.
  • Rolling Thunder icon Rolling Thunder makes him immune to magic, making Pangolier able to roll in and out of Mars' Arena Of Blood.
Shadow Fiend icon
  • Shadowraze (Medium) icon Shadowraze deals magic damage and ignores Bulwark.
  • Requiem of Souls icon Requiem of Souls deals magic damage and can fear Mars away, forcing him to turn around and therefore become vulnerable.
Storm Spirit icon
  • Ball Lightning icon Ball Lightning makes it almost impossible to catch Storm Spirit without someone else initiating for you.
  • Overload icon Overload is not reduced by Bulwark and the magical damage spam can wear down Mars quickly.
Underlord icon
  • Firestorm icon Firestorm and Pit of Malice icon Pit of Malice are very disruptive in team fights, completely matching Mars especially since it can all be cast inside Arena Of Blood and also does percentage-based magical damage, negating Bulwark.
  • Dark Rift icon Dark Rift can save any allies of Underlord trapped in Arena Of Blood.
  • Atrophy Aura icon Atrophy Aura allows Underlord to lane against Mars quite well since he does not have the best base damage during the early game.
  • Underlord is a common carrier of both Pipe of Insight icon Pipe of Insight and Mekansm icon Mekansm/Guardian Greaves icon Guardian Greaves, allowing his team to combat Mars in the mid to late game.
Undying icon
  • Decay icon Decay, Soul Rip icon Soul Rip and Flesh Golem icon Flesh Golem all deal magical damage which ignores Bulwark.
  • Decay icon Decay reduces Mars' natural strength and therefore his health pool, which is what he relies on to trade effectively in lane.
Venomancer icon
  • Venomancer's spells all deal magical damage, ignoring Bulwark.
  • Venomancer's multiple slows are especially effective at kiting Mars.
  • Plague Ward icon Plague Ward can attack through Arena Of Blood.
Viper icon
Tusk icon
  • Snowball icon Snowball can protect Tusk and his teammates from a Spear of Mars' stun after an Arena of Blood, and with proper targeting, even bring them out of the Arena. This is especially noticeable in the earlier stages of the game before allies buy Black King Bar icon Black King Bar and rely on this less. Even during the late-game, Tusk can purchase a Blink Dagger icon Blink Dagger to save allies that are caught before Black King Bars can be used by Blinking in and Snowballing out.
  • Tag Team icon Tag Team is a constant threat to Mars in-lane, as it deals significant damage and slow, making Bulwark slightly ineffective.
    • It is worth noting that Ice Shards icon Ice Shards can be detrimental to Tusk's own team by creating terrain that Spear of Mars can latch on, though using it conservatively is a good enough solution in most cases.
Zeus icon
  • Mars' own father is a formidable foe because Zeus deals massive amounts of magical damage. The high damage, low cooldown nukes of Arc Lightning icon Arc Lightning and Lightning Bolt icon Lightning Bolt combined with the percent health magic damage of Static Field icon Static Field will shred Mars' health because it bypasses Bulwark completely.

Others[]

Items[]

Good against...[]

Bloodseeker icon
  • Arena Of Blood prevents Bloodseeker from attacking a Rupture icon Ruptured target.
  • Bulwark helps Mars survive Rupture icon Rupture ganks simply by turning towards Bloodseeker without moving.
  • Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can push Bloodseeker from Ruptured targets.
Juggernaut icon
  • Juggernaut deals mostly physical damage, which is easily mitigated with Bulwark.
  • Juggernaut's Omnislash icon Omnislash switches to opposite directions which each slash, so Mars can mitigate most of its damage since he only takes full damage from one direction: his back.
Legion Commander icon
  • Bulwark immensely mitigates Duel icon Duel, even with bonus physical damage, as Bulwark scales by percentage. Mars can also buy time for a dueled ally by pushing Legion Commander away with Spear of Mars.
Sniper icon
  • Even if he can slow Mars down with Shrapnel icon Shrapnel and Headshot icon Headshot, Mars can tank Sniper's physical damage simply by facing him with Bulwark, allowing him to endure his auto-attacks into the late-game. Should Sniper choose to attack someone else, Mars can redirect his projectiles with Bulwark's active ability.
  • Sniper's poor mobility makes him very vulnerable to Arena of Blood, especially in the early game. Mars can also take advantage of this by pushing him closer to the front line with Spear of Mars.
Monkey King icon
  • If visible, Mars can knock Monkey King off his Tree Dance icon Tree Dance with God's Rebuke, as well as Spear of Mars. Arena of Blood also destroys a large swath of trees, which can disrupt Monkey King's positioning and turn him vulnerable should he choose to hide in trees.
  • Mars can endure Jingu Mastery icon Jingu Mastery attacks simply by facing him with Bulwark.
  • Mars can end Wukong's Command icon Wukong's Command early by displacing Monkey King with a well-thrown Spear of Mars. Mars can also endure most of his clones with Bulwark.
Drow Ranger icon
  • As long as Mars is facing her with Bulwark, even if pushed away with Gust icon Gust, Drow Ranger will do no effectual damage against him. Mars' ability to endure her onslaught usually gives him enough time to cast Arena of Blood, of which she has a very slim chance surviving without Gust.
  • With Bulwark's active ability, Mars can protect allies pursued by Drow Ranger by redirecting her projectiles to his shield instead.
Phantom Assassin icon
  • Phantom Assassin's high physical damage is greatly reduced by Bulwark.
  • God's Rebuke has true strike, ignoring the evasion from Blur icon Blur.
Slark icon
  • Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even during Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance.
  • Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
  • Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can hit Slark through Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance and Depth Shroud icon Depth Shroud.
  • Should Pounce icon Pounce be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Arena of Blood.
Spectre icon
  • Spectre cannot have a good game if she is pressured heavily in lane, which is something Mars can do. He may even force her to cast Haunt icon Haunt as an escape, putting it on a long cooldown.
  • Should Spectre get to the late game, Mars can block a large amount of her damage with Bulwark and can mitigate some of the chaos caused by her Haunt icon Haunt illusions with God's Rebuke.
Terrorblade icon
  • Bulwark negates most of the physical damage from Terrorblade and his illusions.
  • God's Rebuke and Spear of Mars can decimate Terrorblade's illusions quickly.
Weaver icon
  • Shukuchi icon Shukuchi cannot help Weaver escape from Arena of Blood, and can most likely die if detected through invisibility.
  • If pinned to the arena's walls, Time Lapse icon Time Lapse tends to not be enough to save Weaver, as God's Rebuke can keep him burst down thanks to its damage scaling.
  • The Swarm icon The Swarm and Geminate Attack icon Geminate Attack are not enough to pierce through Bulwark.

Others[]

Works well with...[]

Dark Seer icon
Huskar icon
  • Due to how Berserker's Blood icon Berserker's Blood works, it makes it very ideal for Huskar when allies can separate heroes like Mars can.
  • Huskar can push enemies into the Arena of Blood corners with Inner Fire icon Inner Fire.
  • Huskar can also get large amounts of Burning Spear icon Burning Spear stacks very quickly if enemies are trapped in Arena of Blood.
Crystal Maiden icon
Disruptor icon
Keeper of the Light icon
  • Chakra Magic icon Chakra Magic helps with Mars' low mana pool.
  • Blinding Light icon Blinding Light knocks enemies into Arena of Blood's walls.
  • Arena Of Blood allows Keeper of the Light to easily hit enemies with Illuminate icon Illuminate.
Kunkka icon
  • Torrent icon Torrent and Ghostship icon Ghostship are easy to land against enemies trapped in Arena Of Blood.
Lich icon
  • Frost Shield icon Frost Shield allows Mars to tank even more damage with Bulwark.
  • Arena Of Blood keeps heroes closer together for more guaranteed Chain Frost icon Chain Frost bounces.
Monkey King icon
Phoenix icon
  • Supernova icon Supernova and Sun Ray icon Sun Ray work well on enemies trapped inside Arena Of Blood.
  • A well-placed Arena Of Blood can also protect Phoenix's Supernova icon Supernova from both melee and ranged attacks.
Riki icon
Sven icon
  • Sven's Storm Hammer icon Storm Hammer can prolong the stun from Spear of Mars icon Spear of Mars.
  • Warcry icon Warcry's shield enhances Mars' already impressive durability against physical attacks, making him nearly unkillable in team fights.
  • Arena Of Blood will help Sven catch an easy target with his Great Cleave icon Great Cleave and God's Strength icon God's Strength.

Others[]


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