Counterpicks against Anti Mage in Dota 2

Anti-Mage is a robust melee character in Dota 2. Novices frequently choose Anti-Mage due to its modest number of active abilities, lack of combinations, and complex strategies.

With Anti-Mage, a significant portion of the game must be spent slaying monster-creeps to acquire artifacts. The items and the hero's passive abilities render the monk nearly invulnerable, especially in a duel against mages.

The success of playing Anti-Mage depends heavily on the actions of the monk's team. If the team members ensure safe farming, the character will be able to stand against 3-4 opponents personally in the game's final phase. If the team ignores Anti-Mage's farming needs, the monk becomes useless.

Anti-Mage is a Turstarkuri monk with robust physical damage and higher resistance to magical attacks. Living up to his name, the hero performs best against magical characters – possessing the skills to drain mana points, blocking magical attacks, and reflecting the mage’s own spells onto them.

Anti-Mage is swift and mobile, capable of rapidly disengaging from combat or getting into the fray, but falls short when faced with heroes that deal significant damage.

The main goal for Anti-Mage is to assemble two artefacts: Battle Fury and Manta Style. Battle Fury boosts the hero's substantial damage, while Manta Style enhances his attack speed, damage, and magical defence. Combining these two items forges the hero into a potent slayer of any magical character. An equipped Anti-Mage can withstand multiple mages concurrently and tip the duel in his favour.

Anti-Mage is armed with six abilities:

• "Mana Break" – each of the hero's attacks burns a part of the opponent's mana points or works as a stun and dazes the adversary;
• "Blink" – rapid short-distance relocation, enabling the evasion of confrontations and disengaging from combat;
• "Counterspell" elevates magical damage defence up to 45%;
• "Mana Void" stuns several opponents in the nearby vicinity, dealing damage proportional to the missing reserve of mana points and opponents, devastating for magical heroes with an empty mana gauge;
• "Counterspell Ally" – a complete reflection of enemy attacks, spells injure the adversary;
• "Blink Fragment" – the player brings forth an illusion that, for a short period, deals damage and drains mana from mage opponents.

The combat strategy for Anti-Mage involves employing "Blink" to launch an attack on a mage from the Fog of War or Forest, rapidly draining mana with a quick sequence of attacks and finishing off the adversary using "Mana Void".

If Anti-Mage has assembled a full array of artefacts, the hero can "drain" 50% mana within 2-3 seconds through accelerated attacks – a ramped-up character can take down mages exceedingly fast.

He renders the strong suit of mages in the form of an extended attack radius irrelevant by "Blinking" – rapidly closing down the distance.

The longer the Anti-Mage scores experience points on monsters, the longer the hero occupies the stealth spots. Without artefacts, the character can only withstand individual wizards but does not pose a threat to the majority of participants. "An important stage in the game against Anti-Mage is creating disturbance at the farm stage."

Counteracting the monk is easy - it is enough to assign one member of the team who can interrupt Anti-Mage's attacks. A good attack distance characterizes mages and archers; given the peculiarities of the monk, players should use archers. "The best hero for playing against Anti Mage in the early stages of battle is Clinkz." Thanks to the "Skeleton Walk" ability, the character can remain invisible and create farm hindrances or kill when necessary.

In terms of alternatives, Medusa can be used. "On the mid lane: Against Anti Mage, seasoned players put out a Demi-hero with serious physical damage. The monk has no defence against penetrating damage; the hero is powerless against demi-heroes. The low life reserve forces Anti-Mage to leave the battlefield or die after 3-5 blows. If the demi-hero has a super hit ability (ulti), the monk does not pose a threat to the character.

On the line: Professional gamers play as a pair against Anti-Mage on the line - a character with a good HP reserve (tank) and a supporting hero (support). Optimal tanks are Axe or Pudge. A pumped-up tank with protection from penetrating damage and slowing artefacts will easily defeat the monk in 1x1 mode.

Utilizing support will guarantee that Anti Mage will not have time to escape using "Blink". Pudge's "Bloody Hook" makes the use of "Blink futile. Even if the butcher does not kill Anti Mage, the tank can hang on to the monk for a long time. 

Anti-Mage's passive ability, "Magic Break", rapidly weakens magical characters. It's impossible to disable or block this Monk's skills with magic effects or artifacts.

The best Dota 2 characters to play against Anti Mage as per win-rate (kill/death ratio) are:

• Axe deploys a super-strike, being able to rapidly neutralize Anti Mage, not allowing the Monk to escape;
• BloodSeeker stuns the Monk and swiftly eliminates him with consequential penetrating damage;
• Faceless Void drops Anti-Mage into a sphere and zeroes down the ability timer;
• Legion Commander deprives the enemy of any possible support from teammates and easily slays them with physical damage in duel mode;
• Riki delivers mighty stun strikes over a large radius, preventing the enemy from getting within striking distance;
• Pudge doesn't allow Anti Mage to flee and devours the Monk alive.

The Monk - one of the finest characters against magic heroes:

• Enigma;
• Necrophos;
• Warlock;
• Queen of Pain;
• Death Prophet;
• Pugna.

When playing against Anti-Mage, 2 crucial items can effectively de-buff the monk: Eye of Skadi for slowing and reducing attack speed, and Moon Shard to increase attack speed and boost defense against penetrating damage.

Anti-Mage's best allies are strong heroes in the early stages of the game who can protect the monk during farming. In the final stages, the following characters make a great pair:

• Magnus amplifies physical damage by 50%, and with a Battle Fury, it boosts to a full 100%;
• Dazzle reduces the enemy's protective barrier against penetrating attacks;
• Morphling concocts a potent illusion of the monk that's capable of wiping out mages in a swift 5-7 seconds. If any mage survives, they can be easily knocked out with a single strike or weapon.

Anti-Mage is a potent hero at all stages of the game when squared off against magic-based characters. The monk's efficacy hits its peak only after acquiring specific artefacts.

Taking on Anti-Mage isn't a difficult task – the key is to disrupt the monk's farming process and prevent him from purchasing necessary items. While magic wielders may find this hero tough to tackle, he poses no threat to damage-dealers and tanks.