Table of Contents

Anti-Mage Guide

Anti-Mage Intro and Gameplay

Anti-Mage is a high-mobile agility hero.
If you want to unlock his full potential, we strongly recommend you play him as a safe lane carry. Although he could fill the mid position when it’s necessary(especially if you have a good match-up like against Zeus or Storm Spirit).In that case, you should ask your teammates to pick some semi-carry on the safe lane to create some space for you while you farm your items.
If you are a fan of split pushing and you like to play cat-and-mouse games with enemy heroes, we are more than happy to say that this hero is made for you.
When you play this hero, the only thing you care about is getting enough farm. You really can’t pressure tier one tower on your safe lane early on, therefore you want as much farm as possible to get an early Battle Fury.
The only way to be more efficient in the lane is to flash farm lane/jungle. If you want to farm a big neutral camp make sure you already got Power Treads plus Ring of Health. You need Power Treads for both-attack speed and damage. This is very important because you don’t want to miss any lane creeps while you farm a big camp.
The draft is a big part of the game. You want to pick him up as late as possible. An ideal situation would be the last pick.

Anti-Mage Abilities

Persecutor-is an innate ability for Anti-Mage. This passive skill allows him to slow down enemies with each attack if they are bellow half of their mana pool.
There is no effect if targeted hero is above half of their mana pool.
Maximum slow is when your opponent have no mana left. Minimum slow is when your enemy is at half of their mana pool.
Works fully on your illusions too
Upgradable by level 15 Talent

Mana Break– Mana Break, move speed, and low base attack time are the things that make Anti-Mage strong in the lane. He can trade very well on level one using this passive skill. You have a very aggressive potential using this spell on enemy Offlaner. Many off-lane heroes have a problem fighting back if they don’t have any mana left.

This skill stacks with Diffusal Blade.
In the laning phase of the game, he trades incredibly well one-on-one. If you want to trade back against him, he will burn your mana pool.
On levels one and two, you need to be very aggressive anytime you can(especially if you are playing against melee mana-dependant heroes). You can’t let the enemy off-lane have full mana on level five.

Aghanim’s Scepter – increases the amount of mana burned per each attack.

Blink– This skill allows him to survive ganks, farm faster than other carry heroes, and split push like a madman. Blink is a spell that makes Anti-Mage a high survivability and mobility hero.

Always blink in trees before you decide to use a teleport scroll. Players with low MMR tend to use TP in the middle of the lane, right after they finish farming a creep wave.
You can use Blink to dodge projectile-oriented stuns like Sven’s Storm Hammer, Vengeful’s Magic Missile,etc…

Aghanim’s Scepter – For a short period of time, right after you used Blink, your attacks will burn even more mana than before. In this time window, enemies cannot regenerate their mana by uisng items like Arcane Boots for example.

This debuff cannot be dispelled.

Counterspell– is a both, passive and active ability, that makes Antimage so good against heroes who rely on Magical damage.

This ability gives you passive Magic resistance.
The active component of this ability gives you a free upgraded version of the Linken’s Sphere/Lotus Orb. It reflects single-targeted spells to the enemy leaving AM intact. It’s great against heroes who use single-target stuns.
Remember Counterspell doesn’t work against AOE spells.

Aghanim’s Shard– Reflecting a spell creates your illusion next to the enemy caster.

This illusion is uncontrollable and attacks the spell’s caster immediately.

Note: Spell damage is the damage that comes from hero abilities and equipped items. The types of Spell Damage can be:

Magical type- for example, items like Dagon or abilities like Lion’s Finger of Death, Puck’s Illusory Orb, Pugna’s Nether Blast, etc.
Physical type- for example, Dazzle’s Shadow Wave, Slardar’s Slithereen Crush, Templar Assassin’s Meld, etc.
Pure type- for example, Tinker’s Laser, Spectre’s Desolate, Outworld Destroyer’s Arcane Orb, etc.

Now you can see what is the difference between Spell Damage and Magical Damage.

Mana Void– is an amazing ultimate ability against heroes who have a big mana pool because they take damage for every point of mana they are missing. The larger the mana pool they have, the more damage they will receive in return.

Mana Void is AOE ministun spell. That means you can stop enemy heroes from using a teleport. Keep that in mind especially if you see the enemy trying to TP away from you.
With this spell, you can also prevent enemy heroes from channeling their abilities(Enigma’s Black Hole, Sandking’s Epicenter,..).

Anti-Mage Skill Build

On level 1 you want to take Mana Burn to establish early lane dominance by harassing the enemy off-lane lineup.
You will skill Blink on level one only if there is some dangerous engagement on the Bounty Rune spot and you are about to die.
On level 2 you will take one point in Blink.
At level 3 you should have two points in Mana Break and one in Blink.
On level 4 you want to have one point in Counterspell.

Good/Decent Lane

On level 7 generally speaking, you want to max out Mana Burn, especially if you are winning your lane.
After that, you want to upgrade your Blink so you can move around the map and farm much faster with your Battle Furry.
Normally after the Blink upgrade, you will put the remaining points into Counterspell.

Bad Lane

When you are having a rough time at the start, it’s worthless to have 4 points of Mana Break at level 7.
It’s much better to go for a 2-4-1-1 build so you can move around the map and switch to another lane if possible.
Low cooldown Blink helps you to stay alive.
After you maxed out Blink and Mana Break, it’s time for you will upgrade Counterspell.

Anti-Mage Item Build

Quelling Blade– This is the first tool you want to buy. You can use it to increase your farm efficiency and later build a Battle Fury from it.

Tango– allows you to be more aggressive on the lane. That’s why you want to buy at least one set at the start.

Salve– You want to man up versus the enemy offlaner and burn his mana. Usually, after such a trade you will need salve to regen up.

Iron Branch-It’s a personal preference. Cheap stats and extended HP regen(when you use them in combination with Tangos) are things you can benefit from buying it early on.

Magic Stick– If you are laning against heroes who are using their spells very often(Batrider, Bristleback, Zeus, etc.), this item should be a part of your starting inventory. Later you can build into Magic Wand to gain much-needed stats and charges.

Wraith Band– If you are looking for early-game stats, this item could help you. Especially if you have a rough laning stage.

Orb of Frost– Mana Break slow works very well with the Orb of Frost.

Orb of Corrosion– If you are dominating your lane, you can go for it. It is almost as good as Skadi slows. If you have a bad laning stage, Ring of Health is a much better option. Simple as that. With this item in your inventory, you present a kill threat for enemy offlaner.

Ring of Health– Allows you to trade hits with enemy offlaner better than before because you will have a higher HP regen.

Boots of Speed– You will buy it to be more aggressive towards enemy Offlaner and to do better in trades versus him.

Immortal Rank tip: What to buy first-Ring of Health or Boots?

You want to buy Boots before Ring of Health only if you are ahead of the enemy Offlaner and you have enough regen(like a set of tangos) to sustain.
In any other scenario, we prefer Ring of Health before Boots of Speed. If you need to get yourself more regen items after buying Boots instead of Ring of Health, you know something is wrong. It sounds like you are wasting your money on regen items.

Power Treads–

Here are 4 high MMR reasons not to skip Power Treads on Antimage before making a Battle Fury.

Survivability– Extra HP from STR treads can prevent you from dying and delaying Battle Fury timing. Think about it.
Big Neutral Camp– With Treads+Ring of Health Antimage can farm this camp with no problem and increase his net worth.
Extra damage and attack speed– Antimage will receive around 10 damage and 30 attack speed from AGI Power Treads. On top of that, you will get a small amount of movement speed and armor as well which can be very useful for flash farming lane/jungle to get Battle Fury as soon as possible.
Tread switching– If you aim to be a high MMR player, tread switching is the thing you need to focus on to save your mana and increase farm efficiency.

Power Treads INT- Before you blink make sure your treads are on INT. After you use blink put your treads back on AGI/STR depending on your current situation.

Power Treads AGI- You will have Power Treads on AGI when you need extra damage and attack speed to farm jungle or lane.

Power Treads STR- When you are scared of dying or being ganked.

Vanguard– You want to buy Vanguard before Battle-Furry only if:

you need lane sustain against certain offlane heroes(you want to stay in safe lane longer than usually and you want to increase your lane presence)
think you will die a few times before you get a Battle-Fury.

Note: If you decide to go for an early Vanguard, buy damage components of Battle-Fury.You don’t want to buy Ring of Health first in this case, because you will have HP regen from Vanguard.

Buying an early Vanguard will delay your Battle-Fury timing therefore think twice before you decide to go for it.

Battle Fury-The way to maximize impact is to speed up Battle Fury as much as possible. With this item, you can jump between jungle camps, flash farm lanes, and jungle. You can put pressure on the lane you want by clearing creeps in a matter of seconds.

Battle Fury is increasing your split-pushing potential so you need to use it in that way. There is one thing you need to remember: With Battle Fury, you are in FARM mode not in FIGHT mode. This is often a mistake people tend to make in lower brackets.
With Battle Fury, you can clear big jungle camps. Ask your support to stack jungle for you or you can do it by yourself. When you farm ancients with Battle Fury, always hit the biggest creep(the one in the middle) to stay most effective during the farm mode.

Immortal Rank tip-You don’t want to prioritize jungle farm over pushing the lane unless you feel scared of dying or when there is no lane available. Every time opponents are grouped to push your base, you have two choices: to fight them or to split push. Remember you are a split-pushing hero, not a Jungler.

Manta Style– Synergize very well with Mana Break because all of his illusions also burn mana.

Manta Style is the item that gives you the ability to fight, farm faster, and survive(you can use it after the enemy silences you using spells or items and you can dodge stun with the right timing as Arteezy does).
Most of the time you want to avoid fights before Manta. Of course, if you see someone with low HP and low mana you can kill him, but generally, you don’t want to fight before you make it.

Butterfly- Anti Mage is a hero that naturally buys Butterfly unless someone buys Monkey King Bar before you get it. If that happens, Eye of Skadi is a much better tool to have.

Evasion works on your illusions too.

Eye of Skadi- Pure stat item that gives you everything you ever dreamed of, even buffs up your illusions.Works amazing versus range cores(Drow Ranger, Sniper, etc.) by reducing their mobility.

Black King Bar- Situational item for AM. It’s good when there are many disables in the enemy line-up. This item improves your team-fight ability by a ton and usually turns the tide of the battle.

Abyssal Blade- is very good for locking down mobile heroes like Storm, Queen of Pain, etc.

Assault Cuirass- benefits you and your team. It’s quite good when you are playing vs. heroes like Elder Titan. If enemy core buys early MKB it’s a much better option to go for Skadi/Assault Cuirass build than Butterfly.

Linken Sphere- is an individual item that protects you from single-targeted spells like Doom, Duel, etc.

Monkey King Bar- good against certain heroes(Phantom Assassin, Troll Warlord, etc.) and hard evasion items like Butterfly and Heaven’s Halberd.

Bloodthorn- is a late-game luxury item that amplifies your damage and prevents enemy heroes from using their key abilities. It’s a great way to limit spell damage output from a hero you choose to attack. What matters, on top of that you get bonus Magic resistance, Damage, and Attack Speed.

Nullifier- is often bought as the last item when opponents already have Ghost Scepter, Aeon Disk, etc.

Aghanim’s Scepter- is necessary to unlock Blink Fragment. It allows you to spawn more illusions and gives you the ability to initiate without being in danger of dying.

Aghanim’s Shard– is amazing when you are facing heavy spell-oriented lineups.

Moon Shard- When you are six-slotted, get this item and consume it for an extra attack speed.

Anti-Mage Talent Tree

Level 10:

+200 Mana Void Radius-Mid to late game oriented talent. It increases the AOE of your ultimate. It’s really amazing one if you are facing against illusion based heroes.

+3 Health Regen- Increases sustain while you are farming big camps and keeping you full HP, but most of the time you want to go Mana Void Radius talent.

Level 15:

+0.2 Mana Void Damage Multiplier- This talent improves damage output that comes from your ultimate ability. Good against heroes who have big mana pools like Medusa or Storm Spirit.

+9%/18% Persecutor Min/Max Movement Slow- It boost up your innate ability. It can be good for solo pick offs.

Level 20:

+0.8s Mana Void Stun- Increase stun duration of your ultimate ability

+125 Blink Cast Range- Here are some of the reasons why you should pick this talent:

You can blink in the fight from a big distance.
Allows you to jump on the backline heroes like Dazzle or Sniper.
Works well with your -1s Blink Cooldown talent.

Level 25:

-50s Mana Void Cooldown- Strong talent, allows you to use your ultimate more than once in late-game fights.

-1s Blink Cooldown- If you want to be more mobile while you split-push or farm.

Anti-Mage Neutral Items

Here is the list of the best neutral items(each tier will contain a few of them)

Tier 1:

Broom Handle- is a tier 1 neutral item, mostly used by carry heroes.

Provide you with some damage and a decent amount of armor.
Since you are a melee hero you will benefit from bonus attack range.

Pig Pole- Early game item that provides you with decent stats.

Makes you beefy combined with your level 10 strength talent.
Extra movement speed will come in handy when you are in danger. Just turn yourself into a pig and run away from trouble.

Spark of Courage- This item is mostly used to accelerate Battle Fury timing by improving your right-click damage. Often this amount of extra armor can save you from dying.

Tier 2:

Vambrace- Almost the same story as Power Threads.

You have the STR component if you want to increase HP and add magic resistance.
There is also an AGI component of this item where you can increase your farm rate and killing potential.

Ring of Aquila- This item is designed for agility-carry heroes. It’s some sort of mix between Wraith Band and Ring of Basilius. This item allows you to use Blink more often because of the mana regen you get from Aquila Aura.

Armor aura from Aquila Aura helps you with lane push too.

Dragon Scale- offers a decent amount of armor for this phase of the game and a passive Afterburn. The Afterburn works on your Manta Style’s illusions too. This is very efficient when you attack enemy towers with illusions.

Tier 3:

Paladin sword- This item provides you with Roshan-taking capability. Since normally you are not building Satanic, it helps you by adding Lifesteal and a small amount of damage

Titan Sliver- Perfect item for you, increases your survivability and your damage output.

The Magic resistance component of this item synergizes with the Counterspell aura.

Elven Tunic- Good for stacking evasion versus illusions heroes like PL or Naga.Comes with bonus movement and attack speed.

Tier 4:

Ninja Gear- It’s really good on every agility right-clicker in the game. Gives you bonus agility and increases your physical damage/attack speed/armor at the same time.

The active component of this item allows you to use free smoke from time to time, keeping you away from enemy radar.

Mind Breaker- Extremely good item against mobile core heroes like QOP or Storm Spirit.

Penta-Edged Sword- Very offensive item. It buffs your right-click damage pretty much.

Mirror Shield- If you are facing a bunch of single-target stuns and lockdowns, this item can be super helpful.

Note: This item won’t save you from Legion Commander Duel like Linken’s Sphere does.

Tier 5:

Ex Machina- Allows you to use your items multiple times in the late-game fights.

Apex- It enormously buffs your agility. Increasing your attack speed, physical damage and armor.

Pirate Hat- is like a free Moon Shard that doesn’t occupy a slot in your main inventory.

Anti-Mage Counter

Legion Commander

When Legion Commander gets level six, she presents a kill threat for you. Wherever she is, that part of the map is not allowed for you to be there. Especially if she gets a fast dagger with some bonus damage from winning duels, you need to dodge her entirely.
Legion Commander also puts a lot of pressure on you while you split push. We suggest you Yasha into Linken’s build. After you finish Linken’s, you can go for a Manta Style.

Shadow Demon

He can create illusions that will deplete your mana pool. When he uses Disruption on you, just try to blink as fast as you can. If you are laning versus Shadow Demon, try to hold skill points for later instead of maxing Mana Break.
Shadow Demon can also save his allies from you by casting a Disruption on them.
Aghanim’s Scepter provides him with a Break ability on his Demonic Purge.

Meepo

Meepo is arguably the biggest Anti-Mage counter.
Meepo can cast multiple nets on you. Counterspell or Linken’s Sphere won’t help you at all because Earthbind is an AOE spell.
Butterfly won’t help you much either if you are under Earthbind because of his level 15 True Strike talent. He won’t miss a single attack while you are netted.
We suggest you go for Manta plus BKB versus this hero. If he goes for a Sheep-stick, then you should buy Linken’s Sphere to prevent him from using it.

Axe

Axe’s third spell and his ultimate are pure damage abilities which means that your armor and magic resistance won’t help you that much against him, especially if you have low HP.
He doesn’t have a high mana pool so he won’t take extra damage from Mana Break, neither he will take high damage from your ultimate ability.
He can initiate on you using Blink Dagger plus Berserker’s Call combo along with active Blade Mail.
As AM it’s annoying to deal with Axe plus healing support like Dazzle. He can go beyond your tier 1 tower(creep skipping) and apply pressure on you.

Phantom Assassin

Phantom Assassin is an Anti-Mage counter because she has a huge physical damage burst.
The only way to deal with Phantom Assassin’s Evasion is to buy Monkey King Bar.
Fan of Knives supplies her with pure damage and the ability to use a Break on you.

Drow Ranger

Gust is a long cooldown silence that can cause serious problems to you, especially if your Manta Style is on cooldown. If you want to use your Blink for a gap close between you two, she can knock you back with Gust or she can use her Hurricane Pike to run away.
Drow builds items that buff her armor which helps her to survive vs. physical damage heroes.
One more important note: Marksmanship goes through your base armor.

Huskar

Huskar is an early Roshan taker, tower pusher, and your mid-game counter.
Huskar is not mana-dependent hero.
He likes to build BKB and Heaven’s Halberd which may be bad news for you.
His first spell is going to Disarm you, but relax and farm Manta so you can dispel it.
As time passes, Huskar’s armor won’t increase as much as the win probability for you.

Terrorblade

Terrorblade is good at pushing towers and that is a thing that Anti-Mage doesn’t like.AM needs some space to farm his items.
Terrorblade is equipped with high armor which is a good tool against incoming physical damage.
He is also a high physical damage hero, especially in his Metamorphosis state.
Reflection is a very good spell in the TB vs. AM match-up because the illusion will start depleting AM’s mana pool unless he blinks far away as soon as possible.
Terrorblade with the Stick charges and low HP can use Sunder against you and turn the tides of the battle.

Faceless Void

Time Lock and Chronosphere are the main reasons why Faceless Void has an advantage in this match-up.
He can also slow you down using his second spell.
Faceless Void Void can catch you in Chronosphere and solo kill you if he has enough damage.

Riki

Riki is very annoying to play against.
He will scout you while you are farming, giving his team info about your movement and setting up pickoff.
Due to his invisibility, most of the time you will have to occupy one slot in your inventory with some detection.
If you are lower on HP or Riki is fat enough, he can easily solo kill you with Diffusal Blade plus Smoke Screen combo.
You can’t hit him for the duration of the Tricks of the Trade.

Lone Druid

LD and his Bear can cause a lot of problems for you due to the root that comes from Entangling Clows.
They can also use Savage Roar in both ways:

Offensively: After Root, they can use it to prevent AM from blinking away and try to finish him off

Defensively: When Anti-Mage jump on the hero, they can use it so AM will flee away.

Lone Druid is also great at sieging towers and securing Aegis, limiting the space for you to farm.
With Aghanim’s Scepter, Lone Druid can limit AM split pushing by sending Bear in one lane and a hero in another with the team.

Slark

He is mobile and he can easily catch you two times with Pounce(if he previously bought Aghs of course). You need to pop up BKB to get rid of Pounce Leash. You can’t dispel Pounce Leash with Manta.
He is invisible and invulnerable for the duration of the Shadow Dance and Depth Shroud making it almost impossible for you to fight against him.
Essence Shift- Thanks to his passive, each time Slark hits you, he becomes stronger and stronger and you become weaker and weaker. If you die to him, he will permanently steal one agility from you.
He is a natural BKB builder.
Slark usually buys items that counter Anti-Mage such as Silver Edge, Diffusal Blade, Disperser, and Abyssal Blade.
Vision advantage over AM.

Troll Warlord

Troll can catch you with passive Esnare that comes from his first skill.
When used, Whirling Axes will cause you to miss a lot of attacks.
AM can’t kill Troll for the duration of Battle Trance.

Templar Assassin

Meld in combination with Desolator is a great armor reduction against you.
Psionic Trap upgraded with Aghanim’s Shard is a great tool to silence you and prevent you from blinking away.
Refraction can be used in both ways:

Offensively: To add more damage to her attacks

Defensively: To block hits coming from AM for a certain number of times.

Viper

Early game counter
His Netherotoxin is a Break ability, disabling both AM’s passives: Mana Break and Counterspell.
It’s really hard to bring down Viper in the early game due to his Corrosive Skin.
When it comes to a mid-late game, Anti-Mage outscale Viper so hard.

Outworld Destroyer

Arcane Orb is a pure damage spell and like we already said, pure damage ignores armor and magic resistance.
Astral Imprisonment can be used to save an ally or make a perfect setup for his team to kill AM.
Usually, Outworld Destroyer buys Scythe of Vyse which is a great item versus AM.

Doom

It’s not that hard for you to lane against Doom till level 6. On level 6 Doom becomes a kill threat for you since he can bring you down with plus one teammate.
When you play against Doom, you can’t rely only on your Counterspell and fast fingers. Linken’s Sphere is a must.

Timbersaw

Once when Timbersaw hits level 3, you can’t do anything against him. Even if you burned his mana, he will keep right-clicking you. You should get more regen and use creep aggro as much as you can.
Timbersaw can be a real laning headache for you. He tanks a lot of creeps, he hits your tower, etc.

Slardar

Slardar right-clicks AM pretty hard on start. He can win a trade against you despite losing his mana.
AM has lower base armor and that’s a piece of good news for Slardar because of his ultimate skill.

Spirit Breaker

Prevents you from split-pushing in the early-mid game. It’s annoying to play against him due to his bash abilities.
Remember, when you are charged enemy will have vision over you. Our suggestion is to buy Linken’s Sphere so you can block his Charge of Darkness.

Disruptor

When he uses Thunder Strike on you, he will gain vision, even if you blink out in a fog. After you blink out, he can use Glimpse to bring you back into his Kinetic Field plus Static Storm combo. You will be silenced with limited movement. The only way to escape from this trap is to use BKB.
Pay attention, when he builds Aghanim’s Scepter and uses Static Storm, you won’t be able to use your items(neither BKB) for its duration. The position is a key factor when you play against him in a late game.

Sven

Very high damage output that comes from his ultimate along with a few lucky crits from Daedalus(this item is often built on Sven) can bring you down from full to zero for a stun duration.
His stun is a projectile which means it’s not that hard to reflect it with the active component of Counterspell unless he buys Blink Dagger. With this item, he can blink in your face and minimize the chance for you to dodge it.

Bane

Bane is a source of many disables and pure damage spells, unlike any other supports.
His first spell is a percent-based damage reduction. Since Anti-Mage heavily relies on right-click damage, this is a great way to minimize his impact.
By putting Anti-Mage to sleep, Bane will either completely remove him from a teamfight or make a perfect set-up for his core heroes to kill him.
If Bane uses Nightmare on your ally, with Counterspell active you can hit him and Sleep will be reflected to Bane for a full duration.
Fiend’s Grip is a long-duration disable that can even be extended with Talent. It’s just great for locking down AM.

Night Stalker

NS has a Night Vision advantage over you.
Crippling Fear is a long duration(at night time) AOE silence that can’t be dispelled by Manta Style. Silence from this spell will be applied to anyone who is near Night Stalker and unfortunately, AM is a melee hero. That’s why you will have to build a Black King Bar to Blink away from any sort of trouble.
Night Stalker is a high HP low mana pool hero and therefore he is not a perfect target for AM’s Mana Void.

Grimstroke

Although Phantom’s Embrace is a projectile spell, it can’t be reflected/dodged with Counterspell. Only BKB/Manta Style can instantly dispel it, otherwise, you will have to auto-attack it.

Prevents you from using your spells by applying Silence on you. It’s a decent set-up for Grim’s allies to kill you.

Grim’s ultimate will limit Anti-Mage’s mobility by binding him to an ally hero if they are close enough. Manta Style or Black King Bar won’t help you much because it’s not dispellable.

It’s often used in combination with Phantom’s Embrace.

Note: He can bind you to your Manta Style/Blink Fragment illusion as well.

With Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade, Grimstroke can make a controllable illusion of AM with Mana Break ability which can be annoying to play against. It can be painful for your teammates too.
Stroke of Fate reduces your movement speed

Puck

He is a very mobile hero and hard to catch.
Puck is equipped with the ability to silence you which means Manta Style is a necessary artifact in this match-up.
Puck ultimate is a leash ability which means that you are not able to use your Blink for the duration of this spell. It’s a great way to limit AM mobility even after he gets Black King Bar because on level 25 this ability will go through(Pierces Debuff Immunity).
Puck naturally buys Scythe of Vyse which is a counter-item for AM.

Kunkka

X Marks the Spot is the main reason why Kunkka is hard to play against. He can bring you back and make the perfect set-up for a devastating combo-Torrent followed up with Ghostship.

Items that are Anti-Mage counter:

Magic Wand- Since AM will drain all of your mana, it’s always good to have this item full of charges.

Linken’s Sphere prevents him from using Mana Void or Abyssal Blade on you. You can even save a teammate by using Linken’s Sphere on him.

Ghost Scepter allows you to block physical damage coming from AM, which is his main source of damage. Don’t use it, when you are low on mana, because it will only add some bonus damage to his Mana Void.

Aeon Disk is a good support artifact used to survive when you are facing this hero.

Glimmer Cape reduces magical damage from Mana Void and helps you to run away while being invisible.

Heaven’s Halberd is preventing AM from hitting you by using Disarm on him. The passive component of this artifact adds evasion which may come in handy.

Force Staff helps you to move when he initiates on you by repositing yourself away from him.

Blade Mail is a common choice for beefy position 3 heroes. This can be very useful because AM is not a classic Satanic builder.

Solar Crest is lowering AM’s armor and helping your team to kill him.

Trickster Cloak is helping you to survive by evading his attacks and becoming invisible.

Magic resistance helps you against Mana Void too.

Mirror Shield is a tier 5 neutral item, blocking and reflecting Abyssal Blade or Mana Void.

Scythe of Vyse is a great disable versus AM. He can’t use his spells or items while he is in a sheep state.

Mind Breaker is a good neutral item because Silence is always great when you are dealing with mobile heroes like he is.

Orchid Malevolence is a useful silence tool that prevents him from using his Blink. Try to use it before he gets Manta’s or after he uses them in fights.

Bloodthorn is an upgraded version of Orchid Malevolence with True Strike and more DPS overall.

Gleipnir is an item that provides you with the ability to root him. Counterspell won’t save him from this one because it’s an AOE item.

Abyssal Blade is good for locking down AM especially if you are a core agility hero.

Rod of Atos is a decent disable for AM. It’s keeping him in one position without moving while you hit him.

Butterfly is an artifact for core heroes, mostly agility ones. Buying it, you are forcing AM to buy Monkey King Bar so he can deal with you.

Silver Edge applies Break, which removes Counterspell and Mana Break. Good for picking him off.

Diffusal Blade- He can’t blink if you burn his mana.

Disperser- Similar story to the previous one.

Assault Cuirass- is a much better team fight aura item than Shiva’s Guard because it doesn’t increase your mana pool versus AM.

Anti-Mage Counters

Zeus

The worst match-up in the game for Zeus.
Anti-Mage counters him so heavily because Zeus is all about magic damage.
Blink is a great option for a gap close between AM and Zeus.
Zeus lacks mobility and therefore it’s hard for him to run away when you blink into his face.

Storm Spirit

Storm Spirit is using a lot of his big mana pool to farm and fight. Guess what will happen when he runs out of mana?
His main damage output is magic which is heavily countered by Counterspell.
In most situations, Storm is a perfect target for Mana Void because he has a large mana pool.

Medusa

AM is the biggest Medusa counter in the entire game.
Medusa is a hero that heavily relies on mana.
AM can easily blink away from Stone Gaze.
Because Medusa has a large mana pool she will constantly take extra damage from right-click attacks.

Sandking

AM is good against magical damage and not so strong against physical damage.
SK has pretty low base damage therefore he is not so great in lane creep contests.
Anti-Mage burns Sandking’s mana, buys Ring of Health, and out sustains Sandstorm.

Batrider

As Anti-Mage against Batrider, you should prioritize move speed and harras in the laning stage of the game. That’s why try to get Power Threads plus an Orb of Frost to dominate your lane.
The Stick is also a necessary item in your inventory when you are facing this hero.

Arc Warden

Anti-Mage counters Arc Warden so hard by blinking into his Magnetic Field and bringing him down without evasion that’s normally granted against ranged heroes who are not in the Field.

Leshrac

Diabolic Edict is a Pure damage spell but all others are Magic ones.
Leshrac usually built himself with items that increase Mana Pool and that’s a bad thing in this particular match-up.
Leshrac’s first spell is not a reliable stun vs. any hero, especially against someone who is very mobile like this one.

Queen of Pain

Queen of Paint can’t use her escape mechanism when she has no mana left
It’s hard for her to run away because AM has his own Blink too.

Dark Seer

Most melee safelane core heroes would have found it difficult to lane against Dark Seer but not this one.
Damage from Ion Shell is reduced with Counterspell.
With Ring of Health/Vanguard you will have enough sustain to lane versus Dark Seer and Ion Shell.

Nature’s Prophet- is a split-pushing hero and Anti-Mage loves to play against him because:

AM can clear his Treants with Battle Fury and out-push lanes that were being pushed previously.
Anti-Mage can blink away from Sprout.
He can cut the Sprout’s tree with the active component of Battle-Fury.
He can use Mana Void/Abyssal Blade to prevent you from using Teleportation or he can just bash you multiple times while you channel it.

Spectre

When they both split-push, Spectre can’t do anything to him.
When Anti-Mage shows up in her lane, Spectre is forced to leave. Otherwise, she will run out of mana.
AM can blink away from Haunt.
She doesn’t have bonus damage from Desolate if Anti-Mage makes illusions from items like Manta-Style or abilities like Blink Fragment.

Bristleback

His laning stage success is dependent on Quill Spray usage and AM can limit it by draining his mana.
He doesn’t buy items that limit AM mobility. Instead, he is trying to be more of a right-click tank.
With Blink usage, Anti-Mage can easily position himself in front of Bristleback making his third spell worthless.

Lich

It’s very hard for Lich to stay alive because he lacks mobility.
Lich doesn’t have a naturally built escape mechanism and for that reason, he is a piece of cake for AM.

Undying

AM can bring down Tombstone very quickly(high attack speed combined with illusions from Manta Style) and Undying can’t prevent him from doing it.
Undying doesn’t have any sort of lockdown.

Lina

Generally speaking, Anti-Mage counters magic nukers and Lina is no exception to it.
All of her spells are heavily reduced with Counterspell.
By the time she gets Level 25 Talent with Pure damage on her ultimate, Antimage will have Eye of Skadi to negate the effect with a larger HP pool.
The worst-case scenario for Lina would be reflected Laguna Blade and AM can do it with a well-timed active component of Counterspell.
Same as Leshrac, Lina doesn’t have reliable stun and that’s a bad thing in this match-up.

Magnus

This match-up isn’t just a walk in the park for Anti-Mage because, with well-used Reverse Polarity, Magnus can cause a lot of problems for him.
When it comes to an early game, AM just dominates him in the lane. Magnus can’t do anything against AM due to Mana Break.
If he Skewer’s him, he can just Blink away.

Ancient Apparition

Ancient Aparation is a squishy support hero who lacks mobility which makes him vulnerable in this match-up.
If there is no follow-up stun for the duration of the Cold Feet, AM can easily blink away or just dispel it using Manta Style.
Ancient Aparation’s ultimate is hard to hit high-mobile heroes.

Ogre Magi

Ogre Magi doesn’t have a favorable match-up in this case because his main source of damage is the Magic one.
Ignite is a projectile that’s very easy to reflect.

Tinker

Blink is an amazing tool to close the gap between you and Tinker.
You can prevent him from teleporting with Mana Void mini-stun.
With Manta Style you can dispel Laser Blind and continue to hit him afterwards.
AM equipped with Monkey King Bar won’t miss too many attacks despite being blind from Laser.
Abyssal Blade is just an amazing item for locking down Tinker.

Clockwerk

One of two things is going to happen after Clockwerk initiates on AM with Hookshoot plus Power Cogs combo:

First, he is going to Blink away

Second, he will use Manta Style and just kill Clockwerk inside the Power Cogs.

Pugna

Pugna deals Magic damage only and that’s heavily countered by AM.
It’s easy to Blink away from Decrepify or to just dispel it with Manta Style.
When she is on low mana, it’s very dangerous for Pugna to use Decrepify on herself because she will get blown away by Mana Void. The same goes for her allies if they are close enough because Mana Void has a decent radius.

Anti-Mage Synergize

Magnus

Nothing better than a good Magnus player with you in a team.
Magnus will rapidly increase your farm rate by giving you Empower which is almost a free Battle Fury.
A combination of these two(Battle Fury plus Empower) is very good against Illusion Heroes.
Well executed Reverse Polarity is the cherry on top. It allows you to hit more than one hero with Mana Void.

Dazzle

Dazzle is one of your favorite lane supports.
He improves your lane sustain(Shadow Wave) and prevents you from being killed(Grave).
By using Grave on you, he prevents you from dying and buys you enough time to disengage and escape.

Lion

He has enough disable to provide you with some early-game kills.
Mana Drain and Mana Break have two things in common, they both slow people down and burn their mana.