The blazing-hot Lina burns anyone and anything that comes close to her. You must have heard that you should never play with fire, as you’re bound to get hurt! Lina has been an exceptional mid-hero since the release of the game, even if we only witness glimpses of her in professional games, she is a staple pick of both beginners and experts in pub games. Her easy-to-play, high-damage toolkit makes her the prime pick against most heroes. Lina’s flexibility in terms of her skill and item build is the selling point behind her high pick rate. There is no way most mid-laners can survive her wrath, especially if they are melee.
Lina is undoubtedly one of the best mid-heroes of all time, she has sizzling skills which she uses to smoke her enemies and turn them into dust. Though, various heroes can effectively ruin her gameplay if they find their footing in the game. We bring you the Best 10 Lina Counters of the current patch!
Best general items against Lina
- Black King Bar - On usage, it provides spell immunity. This entirely negates the damage from Lina’s spells, as they all are magical types.
- Lotus Orb - Reflects any targetted spells to the caster while also dispelling any enemy debuffs. It is useful to reflect Lina’s Laguna Blade, giving her a taste of her own medicine!
- Linken’s Sphere - Linken’s blocks any single targetted spell with a cooldown of 14 seconds. It can be used to block the damage from Laguna Blade or ruin her Eul’s setup.
- Blade Mail - It reflects the damage dealt to the caster upon usage. It can be used to reflect the damage Lina deals to you or simply discourage her from targeting you in teamfights.
- Eul’s Scepter - Can be used to sweep yourself or the targetted enemy into the air for 2.5 seconds, making them unable to use spells or move. This can be used to lock Lina down or temporarily shut him off from the fights.
- Glimmer Cape - Provides invisibility upon cast, and can also be used on allies to escape or to initiate Lina.
10. Faceless Void
Lina does not fare well against the master of time manipulation, Faceless Void. He has a high pick rate due to his ability to catch multiple heroes, and Lina is no exception to this list. Faceless Void can also backtrack all the nukes dished out by Lina if he manages to get his Timewalk off. He is a highly dangerous hero in the late game against Lina due to his high damage and crowd control potential. Agreed that the incredible Lina has a higher impact early on in the game, the later stages of the game are completely in control of the Void.
Lina finds it impossible to match Void’s efficient and fast-paced farming skills. She falls off quickly if she is caught in the Chronosphere a few times, reducing her impact by a margin. There are different heroes which can synergize well with Void, dishing out damage from outside the Chronosphere to ensure that Lina and her allies do not escape alive. Lina is forced to go the physical damage build against Void, but that too deals negligible damage if Void is already mega-farmed!
What makes Faceless Void a great counter to Lina?
- Time Walk will easily backtrack Lina's burst damage (especially Laguna Blade) if not timed correctly.
- During Chronosphere, squishy heroes like Lina will be the main target of Faceless Void in his ultimate.
Items to buy against Lina
- Shadow Blade - Provides invisibility upon cast which can be used to escape or set up on Lina.
- Monkey King Bar - Gives increased physical damage and also provides a true strike.
- Butterfly - Provides Faceless Void with increased evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes him untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage.
- Eye of Skadi - It reduces HP regen and healing upon physical attacks from the Void. It helps reduce Lina’s regen. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Faceless Void.
- Satanic - Allows Faceless Void to lifesteal and sustain himself in teamfights. This item also dispels any negative buffs, quickly life-stealing from 0 to 100 in no time
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Lina/Lore
9. Silencer
The sinister Silencer does wonders against Lina as he does the obvious job of silencing her and ruining her game with his ungodly magic damage in the early game. Silencer has spells that silence or prevent Lina from using any items making him very powerful against her. The best part is that laning is not fun for Lina against a Silencer, frequent right-click damage, and low CD spells shove her out of the lane, also discouraging her from using any spells. Global Silence disables all his power, rendering him useless in most teamfights.
As we know, Lina naturally has low magic resistance, he does not enjoy laning against Silencer as Arcane Curse will pretty much ruin his early game with the DPS. Silencer also steals Lina’s Intelligence which essentially reduces her mana pool for a brief duration making her unable to cast enough spells, which can essentially prevent her from getting her spells off. Overall, Silencer is a solid counter to Lina, but it is advised to play him in the support role as he also falls off terribly in the late game.
Why is Silencer great against Lina?
- Arcane Curse discourages Lina from using her abilities, preventing her from building up Fiery Soul stacks.
- Last Word and Global Silence are great against Lina for the same reason, as well as interrupting her combos and preventing her from casting spells.
- Global Silence can silence Lina even if she has Black King Bar active, crippling her impact in teamfights.
Items to buy against Lina
- Glimmer Cape - Provides invisibility, can also be used on allies to escape or to initiate Lina
- Rod of Atos - Locks Lina down, making him unable to move or use any spells.
- Scythe of Vyse - Disables Lina by hexing him, which makes him unable to cast spells or use items while lowering his movement speed. This removes him from the fight, rendering him useless.
- Aeon Disk - Saves him from getting burst quickly from Lina’s spell combo and also applies a basic dispel, although it has an extremely high cooldown of 180 seconds.
- Force Staff - Allows you to force yourself or the targetted unit 600 units ahead in the direction they are facing, it can be useful to escape or initiate on the Lina.
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard - Global Silence pierces spell immunity, making it impossible for Lina to escape alive from teamfights
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Silencer
8. Phantom Lancer
On paper, it may sound like Phantom Lancer gets crushed by Lina’s wrath, but in reality, the countless army of the unforgiving lancer is too powerful to be stopped. Phantom Lancer has various ways of stopping Lina right in her tracks, surely Lina can get rid of the former’s illusions but she can’t get rid of the ungodly damage he deals to her. Lina is a squishy hero with low base armor, making her vulnerable to the devastating army of the Phantom Lancer.
Phantom Lancer is simply a menace to Lina if not contained in the early game. Phantom Lancer is ever ready to fight in the late game while Lina relies heavily on her mana to do damage. The countless army overwhelms Lina, crippling her mana and striking her down in no time. This can prove to be fatal for Lina as PL can just mow her down due to her lack of mana availability. Lina’s impact is reduced to rubbles if the Phantom Lancer acquires all his essential items quickly.
Why is Phantom Lancer a great counter to Lina?
- Doppelganger can be used to easily dodge Light Strike Array if timed correctly.
- Phantom Lancer can quickly deplete Lina's mana pool with his illusions and deal massive damage from it simultaneously since Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier.
- Phantom Lancer also commonly builds Diffusal Blade, which poses a large problem to Lina and her low mana pool.
Items to buy on Phantom Lancer
- Diffusal Blade - Upon usage, DIffusal slows down Lina and burns his mana, making him unable to use any spells during a fight.
- Mana Style - Creates two illusions of Phantom Lancer on usage, also allowing him to dispel certain spells or dodge if he times it right. It can also be used to split push lanes and farm efficiently.
- Butterfly - Increases evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes Phantom Lancer untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage, evading most attacks of the Lina.
- Eye of Skadi - Reduces regen and healing upon physical attacks. It helps reduce Lina’s regen. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Phantom Laner.
- Abyssal Blade - Upon cast, it can be used to stun Lina for 2 seconds. Can be used to quickly lock down Lina after blinking on top of him, allowing you to beat him down with the physical damage
- Heart of Tarasque - Increases max HP and regen. This is an exceptional item, making PL tanky against the heavy damage being dished out by Terroblade.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Phantom_Lancer
7. Nyx Assassin
The nefarious Nyx Assassin is an annoying hero to play against, especially as a Lina as he can counter her with his stuns and disables, paralyzing her and hence removing her from the team fights completely. Lina can fare well in the laning phase against Nyx but his early and middle game is ruined when Nyx can get his ultimate. Nyx Assassin can freely scout Lina with his ultimate Vendetta, which allows him to go invisible, striking at Lina whenever the moment is right followed by insane damage dished out by his teammates.
Nyx is often picked instantly against Lina, regardless of the patch as his abilities are just too good to be ignored. He can use Impale to deal AoE damage to both Lina and her allies, as well as disable her with the help of his mana burn to ensure he does not get her spells off in teamfights. A well-timed Mana Burn can catch Lina off guard and turn the trajectory of the game in Nyx’s favor.
Why is Nyx Assassin a great counter to Lina?
- Mana Burn does tons of damage against Lina because of her high intelligence. The mana burn also prevents Lina from casting her full combo.
- Spiked Carapace can easily be used to counter Lina's abilities because of their long cast animation, and could probably kill Lina outright if Laguna Blade is reflected.
Items to buy as Nyx Assassin
- Blink Dagger - Blink transports Nyx 1200 units in the distance he is facing, it can’t be used for 3 seconds if he takes any form of damage. Blink is used to closing the gap and getting on top of Lina and following it up with Impale.
- Force Staff - Allows Nyx to force himself or the targetted unit 600 units ahead in the direction they are facing, it can be useful to catch or escape from Terroblade.
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Allows Nyx to burrow beneath the ground, increasing his cast range and making him invulnerable
- Aether Lens - Increased cast range along with providing decent stats and mana.
- Lotus Orb - Upon usage, it reflects targetted spells to the caster. Along with that, it can be used to dispel any enemy debuffs. It can be used to cancel the effects of Sunder when used.
- Spirit Vessel - Immense DPS and heal reduction to the Lina when used. This item can be used to reduce Lina’s lifesteal as well as the HP he gains from Sunder. It can also render heals and Satanic useless.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Nyx_Assassin
6. Razor
Lina may be a strong ranged hero but against Razor, he is just another vulnerable squishy hero. Razor is famous for being a counter-pick to squishy and melee heroes as he can harass them by stealing their damage and bullying them out of the lane, and our fire-blazing Lina is no exception to this. Static Link ruins Lina’s laning phase as her attack damage is constantly being stolen by Razor, which is hard to escape from as he has a high movement speed to maintain in the radius.
The mid and late game can also turn nightmarish for Lina if she fails her laning phase, lagging behind Razor, which is bound to happen. His ultimate combination with Black King Bar also discourages Lina from initiating him, making her choose different less significant targets. Though Lina can outfarm Razor in the mid and late game, Razor still has the range and movement speed advantage which makes Lina’s efforts quite futile in teamfights.
Why is Razor Great against Lina?
- Razor naturally builds tank items that allow him to survive Lina's burst better than other heroes.
- Static Link makes Lina's high attack speed do very little damage.
Items to Buy Against Lina
- Assault Cuirass - Increases armor and attack speed while reducing the same for enemies in an AoE. This item is exceptional to weaken the armor of the tanky Lina.
- Refresher’s Orb - Can refresh spells and items and use them again in quick succession to delete Lina from the fight. This item is essential as it allows you to use Eye of the Storm twice in teamfights.
- Shiva’s Guard - Upon activation, it deals damage in an AoE around Razor, slowing down the affected targets. It also provides increased armor and reduces enemy armor in an AoE.
- Aghanim’s Shard - Eye of the Storm ultimate affects buildings and deals immense damage to heroes as well. The shard is extremely useful against Lina as it allows you to push lanes and deal high tower damage.
- Blademail - Reflects Lina’s damage to him upon activation.
- Heaven’s Halberd - Upon usage, it can be used to disarm Lina, making her unable to attack for a few seconds. Lina being a physical damage-dealing hero is affected severely by this item as it can prevent her from doing damage in teamfights.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Razor
5. Lifestealer
The lethal Lifestealer is one of the most picked heroes in the current meta. His strength ruptures even the most meta heroes like Lina, as he can simply outlast him in teamfights and has a way to dodge his stun. Lifestealer is quite good at carrying the team on his back, especially if he is playing against squishy heroes or heroes who rely more on magic spells to do damage. Lina can’t compete against Lifestealer as he has no way of locking him down. Lina simply gets run over by the Lifestealer in the late game she has no tools to escape his wrath.
Lifestealer can completely negate all the magic damage and effects from Lina and his teammates with his Rage, making him spell immune. Lifestealer, as his name suggests, can lifesteal and outlast Lina who lacks the in-built sustainability. However, he lacks in the farming department and mainly relies on kills to get gold, making him a fight-oriented hero, as with the right items at the right time, he can give Lina a run for his money.
Why is Lifestealer a great counter to Lina?
- Rage protects Lifestealer from all of Lina's abilities (except an upgraded Laguna Blade).
- Open Wounds is great to keep Lina in place because she has no abilities to help her escape.
Items to Buy on Lifestealer
- Armlet of Mordiggian - Provides increased HP and damage, and is toggleable. Lifestealer benefits highly from this toggleable HP mechanic against Lina as he dishes out a ton of physical damage.
- Desolator - Provides increased damage along with armor corruption on physical attacks. It can also gain stacks and increased the mentioned perks with the increase in stacks.
- Sange and Yasha - Provide decent stats, agility, strength, and physical damage. SnY also provides status resistance and increased movement speed, making Lifestealer faster and stronger against Lina.
- Skull Basher - Provides a chance to Bash (Mini Stun) on physical attacks. It can further be upgraded into Abyssal Blade later on in the game to lock down Lina completely and prevent him from being useful in teamfights.
- Assault Cuirass - Increases armor and attack speed while reducing the same for Lina. Lifestealer is an excellent pick against Lina due to the potential to decimate his armor within no time.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Lifestealer
4. Anti-Mage
The charismatic Anti-Mage hates magic damage. His hatred for the arcane arts is unmatchable. He has what you need to counter most mage heroes, especially Lina due to mana break. An early-game AM can effortlessly decimate Lina's mana and make him buy mangoes or Soul Ring to compensate. This will slow down his farm while AM is known to farm at a faster pace, allowing him to get ahead in the net worth charts.
While it is uncommon to see a Lina face off against AM in the laning phase, it's soothing to see the former being obliterated effortlessly with just a few items. Lina does farm well, but he tends to lose his tempo in the late game when AM acquires his Battlefury and Black King Bar. Lina stands no chance when a six-slotted AM pounces on him thanks to Blink and decimates him in no time.
Why is Anti-Mage a great hero against Lina?
- Blink allows Anti-Mage to get on top of Lina and deal damage with his Mana Break.
- Counterspell makes Anti-Mage tanky against Lina's heavy magic damage.
- Mana Void is very strong against Lina, who has a high mana pool and quickly depletes it during fights.
Items to Buy against Lina
- Battlefury - Provides cleave on physical attacks which can be essential to split push and farm quickly
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity from all of Lina’s magic damage spells, making him invulnerable in the fight. It is always a top priority, as most seasoned players prefer to purchase the BKB right after the Battlefury
- Mana Style - Creates two illusions of AM on usage, also allowing him to dispel certain spells or dodge if he times it right. It can also be used to split push lanes and farm efficiently.
- Abyssal Blade - Upon cast, it stuns the targetted hero for 2 seconds. Can be used to quickly lock down Lina after blinking on top of her, allowing you to beat her down with the physical damage
- Eye of Skadi - Reduces regen and healing upon physical attacks. It helps reduce Lina’s regen if she opts for Satanic. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to AM.
- Butterfly - Increases evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes AM untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Anti-Mage
3. Spectre
Spectre is known to be a spectacular carry hero as she can be an active team fighter whenever she wants. Lina is known to be a squishy hero, and Spectre takes advantage of this weakness and catches her off-guard. In most matchups, Lina and Spectre have pretty much equal potential in the game, it’s always the one who can sustain himself during teamfights that comes out on the top. Spectre’s late-game potential to quickly solo kill Lina from anywhere on the map is unmatched by any other carry in the game.
All you need is a few items to face the fireblazer alone. Sustainability is a huge factor against Lina, and Spectre takes care of it by building tanky items like Manta Style, Eye of Skadi, and Abyssal Blade which offer her high HP and survivability potential. Spectre may lack in the farming department in the early game but it's the kills and ganks which reward her with gold, making her devastating in the late game.
Why is Spectre a great counter to Lina?
- Spectral Dagger and Haunt allow Spectre to get close to Lina.
- Desolate is very strong against Lina, who's usually a bit isolated in fights because of her high attack and cast range.
- Dispersion can mitigate a good portion of Lina's burst damage, allowing Spectre to turn on her afterward.
Items to buy on Spectre
- Blademail - Reflects Lina’s damage to her upon activation.
- Radiance - Deals decent burn damage during teamfights and can also be useful in pushing lanes
- Diffusal Blade - Slows down Lina by 100% upon casting and physical attack. It also burns his mana and dispels any buffs that she may have.
- Manta Style - On usage, it creates two illusions of Spectre, allowing her to dispel certain spells or dodge Lighting Strike Array if she times them right. It is exceptional to push lanes effortlessly and dispel spells.
- Eye of Skadi - Reduces regen and healing upon physical attacks. It helps reduce Lina’s regen if she opts for Satanic. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Spectre.
- Abyssal Blade - Upon cast, it stuns the targetted hero for 2 seconds. Can be used to quickly lock down Lina after using ultimate, allowing you to beat her down with physical damage.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Spectre
2. Viper
Lina hates laning against Viper as she knows she has lost the lane right off the bat. The fiery slayer’s low armor makes her vulnerable to the vicious Viper’s poisonous magical damage. Viper, on the contrary, loves this matchup as he can freely unleash his venom onto the poor Lina inverse. Lina’s low magic resistance and low HP are also the reason why she falls off quite quickly in the early stages of the game as she has no way of negating all this ungodly damage until she acquires magic immunity in the mid or late-game. The DPS and slow from his spells are also quite annoying to play against as a squishy low HP Lina.
Lina players despise Viper as he makes their presence and impact disappear from the game. His ultimate, Viper Strike isn’t even needed to kill Lina as only his Poison Attack is enough to do the job. Picking Lina against a Viper is essentially a risky decision unless you’re someone like Nisha or Miracle! The break from Aghanim’s Shard ensures Lina does not gain Fiery Soul stacks, reducing her attack speed by a margin.
Why is Viper a great counter to Lina?
- Nethertoxin prevents the buildup of Fiery Soul stacks.
- Corrosive Skin provides magic resistance against Lina's spells.
- Poison Attack and Viper Strike can burn away Lina's small health pool.
Items to Buy against Lina
- Kaya and Sange - Increases stats along with increasing mana gain and reducing mana cost, allowing him to cast spells freely against Lina.
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Decreases Nethertoxin duration and increases damage, destroying the squishy Lina in no time
- Pipe of Insight - Provides immense magic damage block on activation, and affects the whole team.
- Hurricane Pike - Allows Viper to close the gap and deal immense damage to Lina, also provides decent stats and increases attack range
- Blademail - Reflects Lina’s magical damage to him upon activation
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity, negating all the magical damage being dished out by Lina.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Viper
1. Slark
Slark needs no introduction as he easily can be called the lethal carry of the current meta. He is one of the best counters to Lina. He performs well against the squishy and low armor Lina, as she offers him increased agility stacks quickly, making it easy for him to deal damage during teamfights and mow her down, gaining more agility. He can easily pounce away from Lighting Strike Array and disengage away from the fight with the help of Shadow Dance. Lina may farm comparatively faster than Slark but in the late game, Slark leaves no stone unturned as he wreaks havoc on the enemy team with his six-slot farm.
The nefarious Slark is also known to be a slippery carry hero due to the items he builds, which makes it hard for Lina to lock him down. Also, items like Diffusal Blade makes him immensely strong as it causes Lina to lose mana while crippling her movement speed and also dealing high damage with the help of Sange and Yasha. He can also purge off Lighting Strike Array or Eul’s Scepter if he times it right, which may allow him to turn the tides effectively in his favor in the team fight.
Why is Slark a great hero against Lina?
- Dark Pact can be cast during the cast animation of Light Strike Array and dispel its stun.
- Pounce allows Slark to close the gap with Lina.
- Shadow Dance prevents Lina from killing Slark with her Laguna Blade when his HP gets low.
Items to Buy on Slark
- Shadow Blade - Provides invisibility which can be used to escape or set up a gank on Lina. It can later be upgraded into Silver Edge which can disable the latter’s passive Greevil’s Greed right after breaking invisibility.
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Increases Pounce distance by a huge margin, also providing him two charges of the same, allowing him to catch the Lina or escape from him.
- Aghanim’s Shard - Provides Depth Shroud ability which creates a cloud, hiding Slark and his allies inside it, making Lina unable to hit them, while they can freely hit the former.
- Diffusal Blade - Upon usage, it can slow Lina while Slark’s normal attacks cause her to lose mana, crippling her fight and spellcasting potential.
- Eye of Skadi - Reduces regen and healing upon physical attacks. It helps reduce Lina’s regen even if he has his ultimate on. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Slark.
- Butterfly - Provides increased evasion, agility, and movement speed, which is essential in the late game to counter the lethal attacks of Lina
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity against Lina’s spells
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Slark
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