DOTA Guide - Phoenix

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nitromon
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DOTA Guide - Phoenix

Postby nitromon » Wed Jan 16, 2019 11:43 pm

Is anyone actually reading these? Probably not. But since the wait time in a DOTA game is like a couple of hours now, I got some free time. Rainy day with a cup of latte, feel like writing. ;)

I rarely play Phoenix anymore, but it was one of the heroes I played religiously in the past. At one point I was playing him every game, everyday. I like him and it is a very good hero. Don't see enough Phoenix players out there, perhaps this guide will encourage more. I don't like to google up stats and start posting up maths. Just a general casual reading for some who wish to learn new and rare heroes.

Hero Guide to Phoenix:
This is a general guide to playing the Phoenix. I'll incorporate as much different playing style and strategy as I can remember. However, this doesn't limit the Phoenix to only this guide, as I'm sure there are other styles and strategies I'm unaware of. Phoenix is a rare all nuke hero, like Leshrac, where all 4 of his abilities are some sort of nuke. He is a nuker and lane controller by nature, but can also play tank if necessary, healer, or flanker. Unfortunately, his abilities limit him to early-mid carry, and I cannot think of any way to make him a late carry. Perhaps you can? ;)

Early Game: First 15-20 minutes
Phoenix is the strongest naturally in early game, especially by level 6 with his Super Nova ult. By midgame, items are required to keep his efficiency. Base item is 2 ring of protection giving him +4 armor. In the lane, convert 1 ring to make tranquil boots. Why? Because Phoenix is a unique hero that requires sacrifice of hitpoint as well as mana to use his abilities, you will require hp regeneration. He isn't actually mana dependent, so going soulring would be the worst thing you can do with him in a lane and I've seen soulring Phoenixes out there. Also, tranquil boots is meant for casters, as if you "attack" it will be disabled. Phoenix is again, quad nuker, the tranquil boot is meant for heroes like him. Convert the 2nd ring to Ring of Bas/Aqui and that's all the mana you will need generally. Remember, your ult refreshes your mana pool.

Build your skills as such - fairy fire (FF), dive, FF, dive, dive, ult, dive. At level 7 you will have level 4 dive, level 2 fairy, and ult. Here's why. FF is the ultimate harassing spell and early lane control. It costs a minor 90 mana for 4 fairies and allows you to cast on the same hero multiple times. Level 1 is pretty useless, but level 2 is enough to cause headaches to most int/agil heroes in lane and even some str. If you have problem casting a hit with it, try hiding in the forest on the side to cast it. The reason to up dive to level 4 first is because when time comes and you have your ult, most likely you will dive in before you ult, so you want the dive damage at maximum before you ult. You would want to FF your enemies first to lower their IAS before you ult, but there's a chance you could miss and also sometimes you want to dive and ult immediately, you don't have time to FF your enemies.

Going laser early is never a good idea. Here's why. Early Phoenix is quite vulnerable. Casting laser keeps you slow/immobilized, though you can cancel. Also laser seems to drain your HP more than any other spell, so you'll find yourself in compromising situations. There are times where I would go laser instead of level 2 FF just to have another available nuke. But those are rare instances and having 2 level 1 spells are not really effective. After level 7, you can continue to level FF to 4 or at this time consider going laser, depending on what you need. By this point, your next item should be a vanguard for the same reason explained above about the phoenix's need for both bulk and HP regeneration. Skipping this item is not recommended unless your team is just overwhelming the opponent easy and you are farming well.

Mid Game: 15/20-30/35 minutes
By mid game, Phoenix must have some items to be effective. The most common item people will go for is radiance, but for me this is a toss up at this time frame. If the game is going well and you can get that radiance fast, then it is a good investment. Of course, this is with the understanding you have a VG already to stay alive. Radiance will add damage both during ult or simply when you are being attacked and harassed. Remember, the lower you can reduce an attacking enemy's hp, the greater chance he will run if you emergency ult. It is a psychological move.

If you are having a difficult time and being attacked and killed often, the recommended item is actually a BM. During my first few months of playing Phoenix, BM was almost core item b/c I wasn't quite right in rhythm with the hero and was getting attacked constantly. Later as I got better, I rarely build BMs anymore. BM combined with your spells, is to lower your enemy's HP as much as possible while they attack you, should you need to emergency ult (such as when your dive is CD). Since you are a str hero and already with a VG, the BM works quite well. An alternative is a ghost scepter if you are planning on an etheral blade later on in late mid or late game.

Now, if you don't want to wait for the radiance farm and want a quick offensive item, then the obvious choice is the veil. This cheap item is a great addition to enhance the Phoenix's nukes.

Late Game: 35 min +
Lategame phoenix is an effective support, but nothing more than that. I say that b/c what I wrote above for early/mid actually allows the Phoenix to solo most heroes and even take out multiple heroes "by himself." I've done it many times, solo owned heroes such as Ursa and Terrorblade. Many people underestimate the Phoenix. His nukes are not just nukes but has IAS and movement reducer. Also his laser can cut through most magic immunities (something most players are unaware of).

For late game, you may want to consider radiance, shiva, and etheral. Combined with BoT upgrade, that's 4 items leaving 2 slots for game specific items you may need such as linken if they have click stunners or if you want, go heart to tank or pipe to support, or even keep the early item such as veil or BM.

Strategies:
If you've played Phoenix enough, you'll adapt to the rhythm of the hero and you can virtually become invincible. The most common mistake with Phoenix is when a beginner dives improperly or dive in and cast FF without considering mana for ult. Dive should not be randomly used b/c the CD is longer than a typical blink. Typically the dive should be saved to dive away when you are in danger or dive in when you are going for an attack. You must have a feel for your teammates movement speed and their ganking ability, you do not initiate unless you are relatively sure your teammates can catch up before you are dead. In most instances, you remain in the back b/c your dive is "faster" than their movement. When your teammates are about to engage, you dive in and your timing will match your teammates.

This is why I hate it when noob players tell me to dive to initiate. They do not understand the timing requirement for the Phoenix and you dive in first, get stunned and killed before your teammates can catch up to you. In general, the Phoenix should NEVER initiate b/c by lategame even with FF, the ult is vulnerable since 5 enemies with a couple of fast IAS can easily take out the egg. There are exceptions, I'll talk about it below. But general gank strategy is your teammates initiate, while the opponent is distracted, you FF, dive, shiva, and ult (veil and etheral if you got it before the dive). If you do not have your ult, then use laser first. When the laser ends, you dive in, FF, and shiva.

In certain fights, especially around the middle river area, you want to practice your dive so you can land on top of a cliff and hold the high ground. This prevents the enemy from reach you fast or at all so you have a successful ult. It is more of a mentality you must adapt so it becomes muscle memory and you don't have to think about it. Improper diving is what gets Phoenix killed. Most times you absolutely do NOT want to dive into the middle of 5 enemies, unless you have some sort of backup stunners. You want to dive past your enemies and ult a distant away, often flanking them and trap them between your ult and your teammates. Remember, your dive slows their movement, so takes them longer to reach your egg. Also if you have shiva activated before the ult, that stacks their movement slow even more.

Exception to the rule of initiating is when you have AOE stunner support heroes such as Void, Earthshaker, Winter Wyvern, etc... Because you want to maximize their stuns by going in first rather than they go first and exhausted their stuns before you ult. This is especially true with Void b/c chronos will freeze you if you dive in, but it will not freeze your ult if it is cast on your egg. In a Void + Phoenix combo, Phoenix always initiate and while the enemy converge on the egg, Void will get an easy ult. A Phoenix may also need to initiate if there are no other tanks. In this case, Phoenix require the BM. BM stack with armor from Shiva and hopefully a heart, he dives in nuking the enemy and then turn on the BM, taking hits and delaying the ult until his teammates have engaged.

Laser
Lasering is actually a difficult skill. Most people do not do it at the right time or do it effectively. Level 4 laser is quite powerful and should be considered the main ability when the ult is CD. When engaging the enemy, the simplest is to laser into the crowd from the back as your team fights so you heal them and damage the enemy. But not every instance is this structured. Many times you would find yourself and others mixed up all over the lane. If an enemy is attacking you, you want to fight and lower their HP as much as possible despite the fact you may be taking more damage, then dive behind the enemy (so the nuke damage is on them) and then laser them. Again, the dive slows their movement, so it will take them longer to reach you to attack you. If they're melee, they have the hardest time. If they're range, you may need to dive farther away. Now, if you were able to do enough damage on them before the dive, there is a good chance they will run from you than attack you, in which case, you use the move function of laser to take them down.

It is purely again a mentality issue, getting in rhythm with the Phoenix. Many people play blink heroes such as Akasha or Magina and their instinct is to fight until HP low, then blink and run away. Phoenix can dive away and attack back with that long laser.

The other thing about the laser is that it can kill through magic immunity in some or most instances. I haven't fully tested it on all heroes, but I know for a fact it works on Huskar. Many people pick Husk as a counter to Phoenix b/c Husk passive is a counter to the egg. The more HP Husk loses, the more magic immunity and faster he attacks. So I had a lot of opportunities to counter Husk. Granted you cannot solo Husk, but make him pay for pick that hero when he is engaged in team fights with your team and you melt him away with that laser. The laser seems to disregard his immunity and just takes him down like any other hero. I suspect it may be the same for others like Pudge etc... may even work for Pipe/BKB, but I've never tried it or just don't remember. It has been a while.

Summary:
Knowledge is the beginning, but you must actually play this hero to get into rhythm. His ult is more than just nukes and stun, it is actually a free refresher both HP and mana and abilities. Understanding this allows you to maximize this hero. This is why you might've noticed I deliberately left "refresher" out of the item choices above. For me, it is a fun idea but not really effective. Unlike other AOE, Phoenix's ult is vulnerable lategame. Why would you want double that? Most times by lategame, Phoenix would be tanky enough with armor and HP. He is harder to kill in Phoenix form and easily killed in egg form. Also, Late game nukes are weak. You get a refresh from your ult, that doubled your nuking abilities. If you cannot kill them with that, it is unlikely a 3rd set will make any difference, such as against a PA with satanic. I'm not oppose to getting the refresher, but I just think there are better items.

An example:
In one game, late game, 2 enemies came up to rax, I was the only defender left. It was a tinker and a Bara, oh yes a Bara. As they were raxing, I cast in FF and slowed their attack, then I dived in behind them with radiance, used shiva, and then ulted. The dive/shiva slowed their movement and IAS, as they turned around to attack the egg. I survived the ult, they are stunned and hp down, I instantly cast FF again (now refreshed) and turn on my BM. Tinker missiles me and killed himself. Bara is rougher but as he bashed the BM, his HP goes lower. Then I dived past him back into my base behind the rax and laser him. His movement slowed by the dive, couldn't get away from the laser, instant death. Single Phoenix successfully defending the raxes from 2 enemy heroes.

Skills: FF, Dive, FF, Dive, Dive, Ult, Dive, FF, FF, Laser, Laser, Laser, Laser
Items: Ring of Aquila, Tranq Boots, VG --> BM/Veil --> Radiance, Shiva, Etheral --> whatever else heart, guinsoo, linken, et.c.. maybe a refresher if you want to have fun.

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