Doom vs Io

How this matchup plays

Picking Doom into an Io forces a tough decision about who to target with your ultimate. The main problem is that Io's entire purpose is to prevent his chosen partner from dying. While Doom's ultimate stops all healing from Tether, it does nothing to prevent the damage reduction from Overcharge, which can help a core survive the focus fire that's supposed to kill them. More importantly, a quick Relocate can pull the Doomed target across the map to safety, completely wasting the spell's long cooldown and leaving Doom's team out of position.

Throughout the game, this creates a tense cat-and-mouse scenario. Doom has to look for a window where Io is out of position or lacks the resources for a Relocate save. A common adaptation is for Doom to use his ultimate on Io instead, removing the save from the equation. This is often the correct play, but it means leaving the enemy's main damage dealer free to fight back. For the Io player, the goal is to always be a threat, shadowing their core and staying ready to use Relocate defensively, forcing Doom to commit to a less-than-ideal target.