Phantom Assassin counter and synergy picks

Empower greatly enhances Phantom Assassin's crit damage, as well as giving her a cleaving attack. It also speeds up Phantom Assassin's ability to farm.

Reverse Polarity groups up enemies into one spot, combined with Magnus's Empower and Phantom Assassin's tendency to buy Battle Fury, Phantom Assassin will shred through multiple heroes in a blink of an eye.

Corrosive Haze not only keeps track of a target but also highly reduces their armor, enabling Phantom Assassin to cut them down much quicker. His stun and follow-up slow can also prove useful in a clash, preventing retaliation and/or escape.

Casting Purification on Phantom Assassin after she uses Phantom Strike will guarantee a huge damage burst, especially during the early game when Purification's damage is significant.

Phantom Assassin's Stifling Dagger allows Omniknight to catch up with the target and slows them with Degen Aura.

Blur makes Phantom Assassin more resistant to physical attacks and Heavenly Grace makes her much more resistant against disables.

Snapfire supports Phantom Assassin well with Mortimer Kisses after a jump. Her Lil' Shredder reduces enemy armor, allowing Phantom Assassin to hit harder. She provides good lane control and long-range follow-up damage for pickoffs.

Omniknight grants Phantom Assassin strong defensive buffs like Heavenly Grace and Guardian Angel, allowing her to commit fully in fights without fear. His sustain and status resistance allow her to stay in the fight longer and shrug off disables.

Phantom Assassin benefits from Ink Swell, which gives her stun and bonus damage when diving with Phantom Strike. Soulbind paired with Phantom Assassin’s criticals makes it easy to double kill supports. Grimstroke’s silence also helps her kill elusive heroes.

Witch Doctor provides early-game sustain with Voodoo Restoration and lockdown with Paralyzing Cask. He can follow up with Death Ward while Phantom Assassin zones enemies. Their synergy peaks in skirmishes and drawn-out fights.

Tusk enables Phantom Assassin with Snowball saves and early skirmishing power. Tag Team boosts her early damage significantly, making her lane a lot more lethal. Tusk's initiation lets her position well for assassinations.

Dark Willow offers strong crowd control with Cursed Crown and Bramble Maze, allowing Phantom Assassin to finish off targets without retaliation. Her Shadow Realm pressure zones enemies and helps secure a strong early game. Terrorize forces enemies to scatter into Phantom Assassin's path.

Invoker provides utility with Cold Snap, Ice Wall, and disables that help Phantom Assassin lock down targets. Alacrity can be cast on her for faster attacks, improving her kill potential. Their combo is potent in mid-to-late-game fights with Global Silence or smoke ganks.

Crystal Maiden offers mana regeneration and disables to help Phantom Assassin stay active in the lane. Frostbite roots targets so she can burst them down with ease. Later in the game, Freezing Field zones enemies after Phantom Assassin initiates.

Keeper of the Light enables Phantom Assassin with Chakra Magic, letting her use Phantom Strike more often. Blinding Light can help her survive longer in fights. His Illuminate clears waves quickly, allowing Phantom Assassin to take more farm safely.

Anti-Mage can easily withstand heavy magical bursts due to Counterspell, but he is still somewhat vulnerable to physical damage. Phantom Assassin's burst physical damage can destroy Anti-Mage while Blink is on cooldown or while he is stunned or hexed.

Blur makes Anti-Mage unable to deal significant damage to her without buying Monkey King Bar, which means he cannot buy items to benefit his Mana Break.

Phantom Assassin has an abysmal mana pool and intelligence gain, making Mana Break and Mana Void deal minimal damage.

Rage does absolutely nothing against Phantom Strike with items.

Feast and Ghoul Frenzy are very difficult to utilise thanks to Blur.

Lifestealer generally wants to buy items that make him hard to kill, not an Monkey King Bar which only offers damage.

Sniper's lack of mobility and reliance on attack range makes him an easy target for Phantom Assassin to jump on with Phantom Strike.

Phantom Assassin can delete Huskar before he builds tanky items. Her high physical burst kills him despite his low health regen mechanics. He cannot kite or escape once Phantom Strike locks on, and his reliance on staying alive is countered by her critical burst.

Phantom Assassin can quickly kill either the bear or the hero with Coup de Grace. Lone Druid relies on physical presence, which Phantom Assassin outclasses once she gets Battle Fury and Black King Bar. His lack of stuns makes him vulnerable to assassination.

Enchantress may be tanky to right-clicks with Untouchable, but Phantom Assassin's Phantom Strike and crits go through her slow attacks. Her low HP pool and lack of control mean Phantom Assassin can burst her in one or two hits after farming core items.

Phantom Assassin can blink past Arc Warden’s Spark Wraiths and Magnetic Field to kill the real hero directly. Arc Warden has no way to escape once she jumps on him, and his clone has low durability against her crits.

Phantom Assassin is effective at cleaning up Broodmother's spiderlings with Battle Fury, farming rapidly. She can also burst Broodmother down through her webs with little counterplay. Broodmother's lack of disables makes her easy prey for a farmed Phantom Assassin

Phantom Assassin destroys Elder Titan because he is slow and lacks reliable lockdown. She can burst him before he gets off his Astral Spirit or Stomp. Once she has Black King Bar, she ignores all his magical burst potential.

Phantom Assassin easily bursts Clinkz before he can escape with Skeleton Walk. Her Blur makes it difficult for Clinkz to trade hits, and she survives his physical burst better than most agility carries. Her criticals are enough to one-shot him before he reacts.

Sven is dangerous early, but Phantom Assassin scales better in the late game with evasion and burst. If she dodges Storm Hammer or gets a Satanic, she outlasts him in a duel. Her mobility allows her to dance around Sven’s slower movement.

Lycan relies on units and physical damage, both of which Phantom Assassin excels at clearing once she has Battle Fury. She can blink onto the real Lycan and kill him during BKB timing. His wolves cannot touch her once she activates Blur.

Phantom Strike's extra attack speed will cause Phantom Assassin to trigger Counter Helix more often, which can be fatal for Phantom Assassin in the early game. Jumping on Axe with Phantom Strike is not a good idea for Phantom Assassin at all as it makes her a seriously easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call and Blade Mail.

Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.

Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe, and may cause her to kill herself when used with Blade Mail. Berserker's Call can also affect Phantom Assassin even if she has Black King Bar active as Berserker's Call can fully pierce spell immunity, making Berserker's Call one of the best abilities in the game against heroes like Phantom Assassin who wants to kill opponents quickly without being interrupted.

Culling Blade can often kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything due to her low health and strength gain. And every time Culling Blade successfully kills Phantom Assassin or any of her teammates, Axe gains permanent armor from it, which in combination with armour items that Axe often purchases like Blade Mail, Crimson Guard, Assault Cuirass and Shiva's Guard can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Axe.

Whirling Axes (Melee) makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to land a Coup de Grace.

Troll Warlord often buys Silver Edge and Monkey King Bar, the items that greatly help against Phantom Assassin's Blur ability.

Battle Trance completely negates Phantom Assassin's large damage output, preventing Troll Warlord from dying easily. The lifesteal also allows Troll Warlord to restore much of his health.

Phantom Assassin's Blur is useless against Windranger as she commonly buys items that require Javelin like Maelstrom, Monkey King Bar or Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has nothing else that can bypass Windrun.

Additionally, Phantom Assassin doesn't like building Monkey King Bar because her crits are reliant on attack damage.

Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.

Phantom Assassin struggles against Pangolier because his Rolling Thunder constantly disarms her, making it impossible for her to deal right-click damage. He is tanky, mobile, and can kite her easily in fights. Pangolier's Diffusal Blade also burns her mana, stopping her from escaping with Phantom Strike.

Pudge counters Phantom Assassin by tanking through her burst and locking her down with Dismember, which goes through Black King Bar. He can easily build Blade Mail or Ghost Scepter, punishing her in direct fights.

Phantom Assassin's single-target burst is ineffective against Bristleback's Quill Spray and Goo spam. His back damage reduction and consistent AoE pressure overwhelm her in prolonged engagements. Bristleback simply doesn't die to critical strikes alone. Phantom Assassin's Break Fan of knives is now her aghanim's which is flat 4200 gold Phantom Assassin need other items before she can buy aghanim so it delays her kill window the game while bristle can dominate.

Earth Spirit disables Phantom Assassin with silences and slows, making it hard for her to stick to targets. He is tanky and mobile, and his early-game aggression delays her item timings. His Geomagnetic Grip silences her before she can burst him down.

Phantom Assassin cannot function under Doom, as it disables all her active abilities and prevents escape or burst. Doom can also build Scythe of Vyse or Shiva's Guard, reducing her mobility and crit damage. She’s heavily reliant on spells to fight and flee, which Doom nullifies completely.

Queen of Pain kites Phantom Assassin with her blink and magic damage. She deals significant burst before Phantom Assassin can get close. Her high mobility makes her difficult to target, and she farms faster in the early game.

Phantom Assassin’s physical burst has little effect on Timbersaw, who stacks reactive armor quickly and deals pure damage in return. She cannot burst him before he turns the fight. Timbersaw also clears waves faster and pressures lanes, limiting her farm.

Tiny’s burst damage deletes Phantom Assassin before she can react. His Avalanche-Toss combo is deadly during her squishy early-game phase. He also builds Silver Edge to disable her Blur, and his tree cleave punishes her in melee range.

Dawnbreaker’s Starbreaker disables Phantom Assassin and deals heavy physical damage. Solar Guardian allows her to join fights and heal allies, making it hard for Phantom Assassin to get solo pickoffs. Dawnbreaker is naturally tanky and doesn’t die to one crit.