Phoenix

Phoenix is a flexible and unique ranged strength hero with a plethora of powerful abilities that inflict heavy damage over time on its opponents at the cost of its own health. It can be played as either a support, initiator or semi-carry. Icarus Dive can serve as either a harassment tool, an initiating maneuver or an escape mechanism, all the while slowing and damaging opponents in its path, while its Fire Spirits burn and cripple the opponent's attack speed, making it a potent anti-carry. Sun Ray projects a powerful beam in front of Phoenix that burns enemies for a percentage of their maximum health while sacrificing some of its own health, and, if it ever sees fit, it can end its current life to turn into a searing Supernova. Surviving this stage of its life cycle allows Phoenix to reemerge in full strength, stunning all nearby opponents and with all cooldowns (except its ultimate) refreshed, ready to inflict havoc on its foes once again.

Recommended items
Starting Items
 * is useful for giving Phoenix enough mana to cast one additional time, allowing players to go aggressive with the spell more often during the laning stage.
 * One each of and  allows Phoenix to stay alive in the early stages of the game.
 * is useful as it can build directly into Tranquil Boots, while simultaneously alleviating Phoenix' low base armor, giving survivability in lane.
 * es should be purchased to fill out any remaining inventory slots. It can build into a Magic Wand later, or be used for Mekansm components.

Early Game
 * is very important on Phoenix due to all of its spells costing HP to cast, not just mana in all cases except.
 * are very useful given Phoenix' mobility and formidable nuking power. Additional movement speed allows Phoenix to be more aggressive and chase more easily.
 * is a powerful item on Phoenix that should be purchased if you intend on playing very aggressive. The mana regen allows Phoenix to replenish mana more easily, while the strength gives Phoenix more HP and attack damage. But most importantly, the item's active can be used to add additional damage during ganks and teamfights, and is important for replenishing Phoenix' HP due to the health cost of its spells.

Core Items
 * is important for all the same reasons as Magic Stick, as it gives stats as well as burst HP and mana regen. A 17-charge Magic Wand is enough to give Phoenix enough mana to cast any of its spells.
 * are very powerful on Phoenix for many reasons. The additional movement speed allows Phoenix to roam and gank far more easily, and the armor gives it much more survivability. But most important of all, the passive HP regen mitigates the health cost of Phoenix' spells, and stays active even during spells like so long as Phoenix does not take right-click damage.
 * is a useful utility item to build on Phoenix as it provides stats as well as additional armor. The active ability helps to offset the HP cost of Phoenix' spells, and keeps your team alive during teamfights.
 * is important on Phoenix due to its mobility, nuking and disabling power, which makes it a powerful hero to have in teamfights and ganks.
 * is a powerful item to purchase on Phoenix. The additional intelligence gives Phoenix a much larger mana pool, and the armor combined with the passive attack speed slow aura gives it much more survivability against physical damage. Using the active blast during Icarus Dive causes the wave to follow Phoenix, allowing it to apply the slow and additional nuke to multiple enemies in a short amount of time, and the attack speed slow still works during, greatly increasing the odds of success.

Situational Items
 * gives Phoenix many powerful benefits. The increased HP gives survivability while the extra intelligence allows Phoenix to cast spells more frequently, while the active can be used to slow enemies from a very long distance, increasing Phoenix' chasing capability.
 * gives Phoenix additional stats, as well as more armor to increase survivability. The Magic Weakness debuff can also be used to amplify the power of all your spells, greatly increasing your presence in teamfights.
 * is a superb utility item for Phoenix as it provides a great amount of health regen as well as shielding allies from magic nukes during teamfights. The magic resistance is also very powerful as it gives Phoenix resistance against magic nukes, increasing its overall survivability.
 * is a good initiator item as it provides moderate strength gain and evasion, greatly increasing Phoenix' survivability. The active is also useful for disarming one of the enemy's right-clickers during a teamfight, and can be used to delay at least one enemy from attacking Phoenix during Supernova.
 * is an expensive luxury item, but grants Phoenix large amounts of survivability due to the large amount of HP it gains. In particular, the passive regen allows Phoenix to quickly heal back to full HP between fights and ganks, effectively removing the HP cost of its spells.
 * is an expensive item, however it can increase Phoenix' physical damage output and aid in survivability when casting Supernova. The aura stacks with Supernova's burn damage and induces a miss chance on all nearby enemies, increasing the odds of successfully completing the spell.
 * is a risky but powerful item to purchase on Phoenix, as it allows it to share the benefits of Supernova with allies. Using it can allow you to save a teammate who is being focused down by the enemy team, however it is also very risky as used at the wrong time or improperly can remove two of your team's Heroes from play (as the ally is denied by you instead of giving away a double kill). Used properly, however, it can refresh an ally and reset the cooldowns on their non-ultimate spells, allowing them to double up on their presence in a teamfight.
 * If Aghanim's Scepter will be a future purchase, purchasing Sun survivability items such as, or  would be a wise idea, to lower the risk of killing your own ally as much as possible.
 * can be a very good investment for Phoenix. Its comparatively cheap price and high mana regen allow Phoenix to sustain its mana pool to cast spells whenever they are needed, and the active is a very powerful ability that opens up many possibilities for Phoenix. As Phoenix lacks any direct interrupting disables, the cyclone can be used to interrupt channeling spells or attempts to teleport away, and combined with Icarus Dive can be used to initiate on and disable an enemy from very long range. Finally, the active can be used on yourself to purge debuffs from yourself, particularly silences that may be preventing you from casting your spells, and even stop stop Icarus Dive if you're silenced, since the sub-ability will be unusable.
 * However, if debuffs are the only problem Phoenix is facing, is a better choice as it gives health and mana regeneration, additional armor, and more base mana, all something Phoenix heavily requires. The active will dispel basic debuffs from yourself, or can be cast pre-preemptively to discourage enemies from casting targeted spells such as  or.

Tips

 * Phoenix is a very powerful initiator, disabler, nuker and chaser, having spells that make it powerful both in ganks and in teamfights. As such, playing Phoenix well requires an aggressive mindset and willfulness to take risks to make the most of its spells.
 * One of Phoenix' greatest starting weaknesses is its negative base armor, low base strength, the HP cost of its spells and low agility growth, resulting in severe vulnerability against physical damage. Building armor items on Phoenix should be considered a priority as without them it cannot participate that much in teamfights.
 * Since most of Phoenix' abilities cost a percentage of its current health as cost, health regeneration should be considered another major priority on Phoenix. Being able to heal yourself after casting spells increases your survivability and allows you to participate in teamfights and ganks more often with a much lower risk of death.
 * is a very powerful mobility spell as it quickly displaces Phoenix over long distances and does not cost any mana, meaning that it can be used whenever it is off cooldown. The dive can also be stopped at any point in the arc, allowing Phoenix to chase or escape as needed.
 * Icarus Dive slows and applies a damage over time debuff to any enemies it passes over. When using it to chase, it is a good idea to target the spell so that you pass over a fleeing enemy, as you can apply a slow to them before stopping the dive, making it easier for teammates to catch up, as well as apply player damage to them, potentially preventing them from using any s that are on hand.
 * are a powerful damage-over-time and attack speed slow debuff that can drastically impede the enemy's ability to deal physical damage. Used properly in a teamfight, the spirits can deal large amounts of damage.
 * Used as a harassing spell, Fire Spirits can greatly impede the enemy's ability to last-hit against you in lane, as their attack speed is cut down greatly on top of the damage over time.
 * The Fire Spirits take time to reach their destination, so good aim and prediction is required to apply the debuff to enemies. Try to predict the enemy's movements in order to lead them off with the spirits, or get closer to reduce the travel time.
 * Keep in mind that the debuff does not stack, only refreshes, so timing is the key to using this spell whether using it on a single enemy or multiple targets. Try to hit an enemy with a Fire Spirit just as the debuff from the previous one wears off, and you can deal a surprising amount of damage, up to 1120 before reductions.
 * Fire Spirits' best use comes right before casting Supernova. By applying the attack speed reduction to as many enemy heroes as possible, you can greatly hinder their ability to attack the Phoenix Sun to destroy it. Maxing out Fire Spirits first should be the idea of a Phoenix with an initiator mindset, and you should always have it ready for use before following up with Icarus Dive and Supernova.
 * is a very long-ranged spell that can be used to support teammates while nuking enemies from a safe distance. Remember that it scales higher the longer it is fired, so most of its power comes at the end of the spell.
 * If a fight is moving away from Phoenix while casting Sun Ray, you can toggle movement to advance in the direction of the ray, allowing you to follow the action (albeit at a slow pace).
 * Toggling movement allows Phoenix to traverse over impassable terrain, which alone can be useful in an emergency situation where Icarus Dive is on cooldown.
 * Sun Ray can be deactivated before its full duration. Remember to end the Sun Ray if you are in a problematic situation, as you are unable to attack and properly move while using Sun Ray and are constantly draining health from it, making you an easy target for the enemy or simply waste too much health on a pointless Ray.
 * is a very powerful teamfight spell as it can threaten the enemy with powerful burn damage and a spell immunity piercing stun if they do not change targets. It is a good distraction spell as it allows your teammates to capitalize on whatever decision the enemy makes, either kiting the enemy if they choose not to engage the Phoenix Sun and then focusing them down after the stun, or nuking and disabling the enemy while they group up to attempt to destroy the Phoenix Sun.
 * It is best to apply all your debuffs (especially attack speed slows such as Fire Spirits and/or ) to all nearby enemies, then immediately cast Supernova. Done properly, the enemy suffers from extremely reduced attack/movement speed and your high DPS, greatly impeding them as they try to approach and attack the Phoenix Sun else they will be severely hurt or even die themselves. Supernova's wide effect radius also gives you a measure of safety as you can cast it from a fair distance away, even over impassable terrain, and still burn and stun the enemy, provided they stay within the AoE.
 * Supernova works best if your team has other wide-area disables such as or  that can be used either in tandem or as a counter-initiation spell. If the enemy chooses to initiate on the Phoenix Sun they open themselves up to being disabled by your teammates, allowing the spell to complete.
 * In general, you should try to wait until you are as low health as possible before casting Supernova, as you can force the enemy to waste spells and time that is negated by the ability. However, you also need to worry about the enemy team silencing you before you can get it off, so use the spell according to your judgment.
 * Since the Phoenix Sun cannot be destroyed by illusions, it's best used against Heroes that depend on such to be effective, such as and . However, be mindful of other abilities that summon non-illusion copies of a Hero, such as 's  and 's, as these units can damage, and possibly kill, the Sun.
 * When planning to initiate as Phoenix, keep a minimum of 310 mana at all times, as Fire Spirits would cost 110 (at max level) mana and Supernova costs 200. It's better to have these spells to fall back to should you be caught by the enemy or find yourself in a situation that you can perhaps turn around with your abilities.
 * Mana regeneration should not be the priority of Phoenix, instead focus on increasing your maximum mana. Supernova returns your health and mana to full upon a successful cast, so learn to budget your mana usage, so that you can make the most of your abilities and items before being refreshed by a successful Supernova.

Trivia

 * Phoenix' name in DotA was Icarus. It was removed during its port to Dota 2 for unspecified reasons.