r/DotA2•9 yr. ago

Semi-daily hero tips. Day 68: Phoenix

Tip

DISCLAIMER

A lot of you probably know about the weekly hero discussion, but that often ends up in a meta discussion (whether or not the hero needs buffs, etc) or a meme war than actual tips to play, itemize and build the hero.

This is what I'd like to do. Please discuss any notes I made and possible improvements while also giving tips of your own if you have them.

The roles, skill builds and item builds, as well as a lot of the notes are my opinion on matters and should not be seen as a must do or don't. Also remember that almost every single build or role is situationally possible.

A lot of the tips on heroes were also mentioned in tsunami's amazing hero tips series he did over the last couple of years.

Phoenix

Role: solo or dual lane (3 or 4 position)

Skill build:

Standard: lvl 1 dive, Sun ray --> spirits --> Dive ~~(or 1 lvl and then stats)~~
Offlane anti-carry: lvl 1 dive --> spirits --> sun ray --> dive

Item build:

Standard: Tranquils, (Midas,) Urn/Mek/Rod of Aui/Veil of discord/Halberd, (Shiva's, Sheep, Pipe, Skadi, BKB, Aghs, Solar Crest, Aether lens, Glimmer)
Offlane fat build: tango, RoP, clarity, obs (hopefully pooled), 2 x branch, TP, tranquils, midas, urn, Veil, Shiva's, Refresher, Octarine, Travels, Heart, (eul's, halberd, glimmer, lotus, radiance, sheep, mek, RoA, solar crest, Aghs, Blink, dagon)

Notes:

Maxed Fire spirits can deal a total of 16 sec * 70 DPS (135 with talent) = 1280 dmg (2160 with talent) (apart from the huge attack speed slow)
Damage from fire spirits does not stack.
Incredible early game potential for both laning and TP support for counterganking
Works well with ranged lane partner with burst damage and a slow/disable such as Lich
Don't be afraid to tower dive solo heroes (without a fast stun/disable) in the early game with dive --> spirits and hit supernova under their tower if you get low.
Icarus dive self damage is HP removal, so it doesn't cancel heals, but also isn't cancelled out by magic immunity
You can cast spells, attack, grab runes and aegis, etc. during dive.
Dive does not give flying vision even though it ignores terrain, it also doesn't disjoint projectiles
Dive is not cancelled by: Entangles/ensnares (frostbite ministuns before the snare, so that does cancel it), Taunts, Silence
Using Blink dagger or manta cancels dive, force staff does nothing, going invis during dive makes both you and the trail disappear.
Fire spirits disappear after 16 secs, so use them.
Magic immune allies can be healed from sun ray.
Ensnare/Entangle type spells don't affect the sunray toggle movement (except frostbite)
Using eul's on yourself in sun ray doesn't cancel it, but the beam will actually spin around with you (not visually)
Blink dagger is disabled during sun ray
You can use items/abilities without cancelling sun ray
Supernova refreshes the spell cooldown after completion
Creeps and tower attacks don't count as instances to kill the supernova and neither do illusions
You can deny the supernova
If chen uses test of faith before supernova and the spell ends, phoenix will reappear at base. Does not work with disruptor's glimpse.
Counters: Silencer (Icarus dive stop is cancelled with last word), Skywrath (silence), Troll, Ursa, Huskar, Meepo, Beastmaster, Ogre Magi (kill egg easily), Nyx (carapace), Blade mail (vs sun ray), Drum, AC (vs egg), Naga (egg is magic immune so you can kill it in naga sleep. Naga is a soft counter though because she doesn't hit fast)
Good versus: Axe (call does not cancel dive or sun ray, egg where he calls, lots of DoT to stop blink), CK (hits hard but slow), Spectre (doesn't hit that fast, spirits in lane fuck her), Clock (dive out of cogs, sun ray into them), TA (DoT)
Use spirits on the heroes closest to you before you supernova
In the offlane, ALWAYS block the pull camp. You can really annoy the enemy carry if he gets closer and can't last hit because of spirits.
Fire spirits work on rosh
The fountain will attack your egg but since it's not a hero it will not damage you. Free fountain dive for the team!
Cast shiva's a second or 2 before you dive to get the full radius off.
You can sunray out of roots and through kinetic field, but not out of slark pounce.
If an ally dies in egg, it's a deny.
Axe call and Wyvern's curse do not cancel sun ray, most other things do.

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Posted Apr 18, 2017, 11:58 AM UTC · edited