[Daily Hero tl;dr #47] Morphling

Sorry for the inactivity lately - I had two tests in two days and I was really busy. I should be back and consistent for now!

Today is Morphling: the hero with no name.

TL;DR

• Skills - Waveform (1,3,5,7) Adaptive (4,12,13,14) Morph (2,8,9,10) Relicate (6,11,16)
• Items (lane) - slippers, regen, branches, Aquilla
• Items (early) - wraith bands, Treads
• Items (later [dps]) - manta, butterfly, skadi
• Items (later [shotgun]) - EBlade, butterfly
• Tips - nuke down low HP heroes, attack down low armor heroes, abuse Morph, Replicate is a free TP
• Counters - disables, hex immediately breaks Replicate, BKB

This hero has so much history and a prime example of how heroes are effected by the game around them. Yes, he got a very minor nerf, but that doesn't account for him not being the most powerful carry anymore. Versions ago it was the Morphling/Medusa era, now it is not. But I digress.

There are two distinct ways to play this hero in the late game, and I'll go through both. First is the simple DPS carry way. Manta is your first choice of items, you get a lot of DPS from that, as per usual. Then you go into Butterfly, then Skadi / Satanic / your choice really. Your major job here is to do as much DPS as possible.

The other way is called the shotgun, which is you want to do the most burst damage possible in the shortest time. Etherial Blade is your first item. Your job is to max out your agility and burst down 1000+ damage (after reductions) to take out whatever hero of choice. Your DPS will not be as high, but you can be extremely effective.

Morphling is a pretty strong laner in the early game. Your range isn't great, but you have good base damage and a blink-nuke. So ganks are really nice, just get a stun or a slow and you can get easy kills in lane. Waveform behind the target so you can get more hits off. Additionally, you want to push your opponent in ways they don't want to be pushed with Adaptive Strike (don't push them into their own tower). Grabbing one early is nice to stop TPs, because the damage isn't very high at low levels.

One of the more difficult aspects of Morphling is balancing strength and agility. Use your Morph wisely! In fights, if you're being taken down, Morph strength. You get +8 strength a second and you gain part of that in direct HP. If you're being chased down, activate that Str Morph for the extra hits, it will save your life.

And lastly I'll write a short thing about Replicate. You can use it for two things: Replicate a hero with a lot of DPS and/or a Radiance and watch the enemies burn, or send it to an interesting location (base) for a free teleport. In lane, you can keep the Replicate in lane, TP home, then quickly Replicate back to lane with little loss of time! And you can use it to scout, for example: Roshan! It's an illusion, so if it dies, you're not giving your opponents any gold or experience.

// You can see a list of guides on my profile at GG.net.