Phantom Assassin

Mortred the Phantom Assassin is a melee agility Hero fitting the role of hard carry. Mortred is best-known, and infamous for, her ability to inflict staggering damage with single strikes. Her abilities synergise supremely well with each other, rendering her an extremely formidable foe once she has acquired the items she requires. She is a very farm-dependent melee Hero, but she farms creeps with much more ease than many of her fellow carries, using her Stifling Dagger for last hitting. Besides eliminating the weakness most melee Heroes have in their farming, it also saves her from expending gold on important melee carry items like Quelling Blade. Her second ability, Phantom Strike, acts as both her escape and initiate, while Blur gives her an edge against other Heroes that depend on their physical attacks by evading them; giving her partial damage immunity to many carries. Her ultimate, the strongest critical strike in the game, is what connects Mortred with four-digit damage and what gives her a place amongst the very best support killers in the late game, since they usually fall instantly from the divine strike her ultimate provides. Mobile and able to fight back nearly every enemy that dares to face her, Mortred is a formidable foe that should never be underestimated, and with appropriate item choices and a few kills, she can snowball out of control and become next to impossible to stop.

Tips

 * Phantom Assassin is a carry renowned for her ability to deal large amounts of burst physical damage when enemies least expect it. With the right items and support, she can devastate entire teams with her tremendous damage output.
 * Be mindful that Phantom Assassin is largely a single-target damage hero with low disable potential, so she is unable to deal with multiple targets simultaneously. Target prioritization is key, as Phantom Assassin must precisely eliminate her foes one at a time and cannot afford to be kited.
 * Despite possessing the lowest base intelligence and intelligence growth in the game, Phantom Assassin has only two low-cost active abilities, so she rarely runs into mana problems and does not have to go out of her way to increase the size of her mana pool. As well, her small mana pool allows her to benefit disproportionately from burst mana regen, such as, allied and , letting her focus on building items to increase her damage output and carry potential.
 * Beware that this can also be used against Phantom Assassin as well, as destroying her meager mana pool with abilities like, and  can render her unable to cast her spells or use item active abilities in a teamfight. The same applies to abilities that manipulate her intelligence like  and , which also renders her extremely vulnerable to.
 * Be mindful that since she relies on two passive abilities for survival and damage output, Phantom Assassin is very vulnerable against break-type abilities, particularly . Removing her ability to evade physical attacks, as well as deal crits, can render her impotent in fights.
 * As with most other agility carries, Phantom Assassin is very weak against burst Magical and Pure damage. While she gains respectable amounts of armor through her high agility growth and can evade attacks through Blur, her mediocre strength results in a health pool that can be easily shredded by spells. This also includes items such as, which can allow enemies to turn Phantom Assassin's high physical damage output against her.
 * All of the above make building spell immunity very important on Phantom Assassin. The ability to block mana-destroying abilities, dispel break debuffs, and ignore magic nukes will allow Phantom Assassin to survive long enough to eliminate key enemies during engagements.
 * As a hard carry, Phantom Assassin is limited in the ways that she can be laned.
 * In standard situations, Phantom Assassin is played as a safe lane carry who is safeguarded by at least one support. She spends the laning stage accumulating last-hits and surviving enemy harass, trying to farm the items she needs to begin operating independently. As she possesses a slow and nuke in Stifling Dagger and a chasing/escaping spell in Phantom Strike, Mortred is capable of assisting her lanemates in setting up and getting kills on the enemy off-laner, and can dodge ganks fairly reliably if given an opportunity to cast Phantom Strike.
 * Depending on the lane opponent, Phantom Assassin can be played as a solo mid. While she lacks base damage and can be easy to harass when approaching for last-hits, Stifling Dagger allows her to safely get last-hits at range and harass the enemy constantly. Both Stifling Dagger and Phantom Strike can be used as disabling and initiating spells when allied supports rotate mid for ganks, and the solo experience and gold can allow Phantom Assassin to start being effective earlier on.
 * throws a knife at a target enemy, dealing Pure damage and slowing them.
 * Stifling Dagger is a multi-purpose spell that gives Phantom Assassin the ability to deal damage outside of melee range. It is a good ability to consider maxing out first, as its slow duration and damage scale up while its mana cost goes down.
 * In general, Stifling Dagger is a good ability to get last-hits with, as its extremely long cast range lets Phantom Assassin kill enemy creeps outside of harass range. It can also be used in turn to harass lane opponents and wear down their HP over time, though beware of enemies purchasing Magic Stick to counteract this in-lane.
 * Stifling Dagger's long cast range allows Phantom Assassin to damage enemies at ranges where they may think that they're safe. Among its uses are to cancel enemy regeneration, such as from Healing Salve and Clarity, which can give Phantom Assassin a laning advantage.
 * Used as a disable, Phantom Assassin can cast Stifling Dagger to greatly slow enemies to prevent them from easily escaping, allowing her and her allies to kill them more easily. As well, it can be used to cover a teammate's escape, slowing a pursuing enemy so that they cannot get within range to attack or cast disables.
 * Stifling Dagger deals a damageless attack by Phantom Assassin on its target, which can inflict attack modifiers and proc chance-based modifiers at range. This allows Phantom Assassin to take greater advantage of Unique Attack Modifiers than most other carries, as she can utilize these modifiers at long range against a variety of opponents.
 * Keep in mind that as it deals Pure damage, Stifling Dagger can be very effective against siege creeps, which will ignore 80% of magical damage. Used wisely, Stifling Dagger allows Phantom Assassin to reliably kill siege creeps for gold, something that most other heroes have trouble accomplishing during the laning stage.
 * is a pseudo-blink ability that teleports Phantom Assassin to the target unit, boosting her attack speed when attacking a targeted enemy.
 * Leveling up Phantom Strike will reduce its cooldown, increasing Phantom Assassin's mobility, both for chasing and escaping. Reducing the cooldown allows Phantom Assassin to continually stick to fleeing enemies and pursue them over great distances if needed.
 * As Phantom Strike can be targeted on both allies and enemies alike, it can be cast as an escape spell to get away from pursuing enemies. To this end, also keep in mind that allies do not have to be at the same elevation as Phantom Assassin, so it can be used to scale cliffs and transit trees to put terrain between Mortred and her pursuers.
 * Given its low mana cost and cooldown, Phantom Strike can be useful for boosting Phantom Assassin's attack speed when farming creeps, particularly neutral camps. However, keep in mind that the attack speed bonus only applies so long as she is attacking the target of the Phantom Strike, so use it only when it is necessary to focus down a creep over repeated attacks.
 * When used to jump on top of enemy heroes, try to combine Phantom Strike with a leading Stifling Dagger. Stifling Dagger will deal small initial damage and slow the target, allowing Phantom Assassin to get within range to Phantom Strike, attacking them while they are slowed and preventing them from easily kiting her. If time and range permits, try to close in to Phantom Strike range first, and jump onto the target right as Stifling Dagger connects in order to maximize the number of attacks made on the slowed enemy.
 * Be very careful about which targets are chosen for Phantom Strike, and be wary about over-committing. Phantom Assassin's tremendous damage output makes it tempting to jump onto any potential target, but beware that enemies can bait her into a disadvantageous position far from allied support. As well, certain enemies with point-blank disables such as and  can instantly stun Mortred when she jumps on top of them, and supports with a  can simply become ethereal to become immune to her attacks.
 * Combined with Helm of the Dominator, Phantom Strike can always ensure that Phantom Assassin has an escape route. Positioning the creep in an area of safety while farming can allow her to instantly jump away if enemies attempt to gank her, and the creep can also be used to scout for vision as needed.
 * Be mindful that Phantom Strike does not disjoint incoming enemy projectiles. Simply putting distance between Phantom Assassin and any pursuers may not be enough to ensure safety, as targeted stuns can still follow her, and area disables like, and  also run the risk of disabling the ally that Phantom Assassin jumps to.
 * grants Phantom Assassin evasion against physical attacks, as well as shrouding her from mini-map vision when no enemies are nearby.
 * A value point in Blur in the laning stage can aid Phantom Assassin's survivability against enemy harass. However, given the strong utility of her other abilities, it is best saved as the last ability to max out.
 * Beware that smart enemies will almost always build in order to counter Blur, so do not rely on it for protection against physical attacks in the late game. Regardless, it can still buy Phantom Assassin survivability in the mid game and ensure that enemies have a much harder time trying to kill her before they are able to complete it.
 * Be mindful that even if the enemy does not build Monkey King Bar, they may have ways to reliably burst down Phantom Assassin without the need to rely on physical attacks. When facing teams with heavy burst nukes, it may be wise not to skill Blur at all and take instead, to boost Phantom Assassin's HP, armor and base damage.
 * In general, Blur is best used to punish enemies for picking heroes that cannot greatly benefit from purchasing Monkey King Bar. For instance, 's illusions can only benefit from the True Strike and not from the raw damage and attack speed, while the same applies to . In other cases, cannot boost the power of  as it does not provide bonus strength, and  cannot buy an agility item to increase the damage of, which can limit their upper effectiveness once they're six-slotted.
 * Blur's ability to hide Phantom Assassin on the mini-map allows her to push and farm in areas where other carries cannot do so as safely. Unless the enemy is directly checking lanes that they are not present in, they may be unaware that Phantom Assassin is in that area.
 * The blurring effect allows Phantom Assassin to know when enemies are near her, so long as they are not invisible. If the blur effect around her body and the status icon disappear, it likely means that an enemy hero is nearby, and Phantom Assassin can take action accordingly.
 * grants Phantom Assassin with a small chance to deal powerful critical strikes with her attacks, as well as empowering that same chance to Stifling Dagger.
 * Coup de Grace is what allows Phantom Assassin to be such a threatening hard carry, as building agility items can tremendously boost her damage output through increased attack speed for more proc chances and more attack damage for larger crits. Because decisions made during engagements are based on expectations of damage output and survivability, Phantom Assassin can throw off enemies' expectations through sudden and surprise crits, causing them to re-think how they want to engage her team.
 * When fighting, try to determine which enemy heroes can be quickly eliminated with Coup de Grace, and take them out of the picture before they can take part in the fight. Phantom Assassin's ability to deal sudden burst physical damage can allow her to eliminate squishy supports with powerful teamfight items and spells before they know what hit them.
 * Because it uses pseudo-random distribution, Coup de Grace can be hard to utilize effectively. Failing to proc the ability increases the chances of it proccing for the next attack, so stacking up a few regular attacks before engaging an enemy can increase the chances of landing an opening crit.
 * Remember that as the same crit chance is applied to Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin can potentially use it to deal tremendous Pure damage at range. Mind that its distribution is kept as a separate variable from Phantom Assassin's attacks, so proccing a crit on one will not reduce the chances of proccing a crit on the other.
 * In general, it is best to build items that grant both attack speed and damage, rather than focusing on one or the other. Phantom Strike can be used to increase the proc chance in a given engagement through increased attack speed, however it cannot be relied on as a steady source of proc chance.
 * Phantom Assassin benefits from building a variety of items to increase her carry potential.
 * can be crucial for increasing Phantom Assassin's farming ability in the early game. Being able to last-hit more easily and kill neutral camps faster allows her to farm the items she needs to start becoming effective in a match.
 * is a useful purchase in the laning stage that helps Phantom Assassin to secure kills alongside her team. Combined with Stifling Dagger, it can reduce an enemy's movement speed by up to 64% from long range.
 * is a strong stat item that greatly aids Phantom Assassin in the early game. It provides agility and bonus damage to improve Phantom Assassin's last-hitting power, and the flat mana regen aura replenishes a larger fraction of Phantom Assassin's pitiful mana pool than it does for other heroes, allowing her to utilize her spells more regularly.
 * can be situationally useful over Power Treads depending on how they are utilized. The bonus damage helps with last-hitting and increases the potency of Coup de Grace, while the extra movement speed allows Phantom Assassin to more easily chase down enemies when both Phantom Strike and Stifling Dagger cannot be relied on.
 * is useful for allowing Phantom Assassin to fight earlier instead of attempting to farm for extended periods of time. Its easy buildup allows it to be purchased quickly, and it provides all-around attributes, particularly strength and intelligence to boost Phantom Assassin's HP and mana pools. The aura increases her movement and attack speed, allowing her to be more mobile in fights, and the active is a powerful combat booster that gives her and her team an edge in teamfights.
 * can be a strong mid-game purchase in order to give Phantom Assassin some lockdown once she has acquired enough attack speed. Jumping on top of an enemy with Phantom Strike can give her a chance to stun enemies, stopping them in their tracks while Phantom Assassin continues to damage them. The extra strength gives her some more HP for survivability, while the damage increases the potency of Coup de Grace.
 * is a useful utility mid-game item that can be built relatively easily. It allows Phantom Assassin to apply the armor debuff from long range with Stifling Dagger, softening up multiple targets for her team and for her own attacks. The damage boost also greatly improves the killing power of Coup de Grace, particularly when combined with the armor reduction on enemies that Phantom Assassin jumps on.
 * is a situationally strong utility damage item in Phantom Assassin's hands. It boosts her agility and intelligence, giving her more damage output and mana, and the active can remove buffs from enemies while greatly slowing them for her to jump on. The active can also be useful for purging debuffs off of Phantom Assassin herself, and the attack modifier allows her to destroy enemies' mana with her attacks as well as Stifling Dagger.
 * is a situationally powerful mid-game item that is easy to farm and allows Phantom Assassin to begin participating in teamfights earlier. The agility and strength-based bonuses give her more damage output and HP, while the movement speed makes her far more mobile, allowing her to chase and escape far more easily. Greater Maim can slow enemies down and prevent them from running away from her, and has a chance to proc with Stifling Dagger as well, potentially slowing an enemy by up to 82% movement speed.
 * is a powerful carry item and can greatly boost Phantom Assassin's combat effectiveness. It grants stats across the board, giving Phantom Assassin more HP, mana and base damage. The Unique Attack Modifier can be used alongside lifesteal, and allows Phantom Assassin to slow enemies with her attacks and Stifling Dagger, greatly reducing their movement speed and preventing them from easily escaping her.

Trivia

 * Mortred is derived from Mordred, a character in the Arthurian legend who betrayed and fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camalann.
 * "Coup de grâce" is a French term (pronounced "coo d'grahss") which literally means "blow of mercy", and refers to the killing blow of a wounded person or animal, friendly or not, to end their suffering.
 * Mortred's level-up line Phass level 06.mp3 "I'm an immaterial girl!" is probably a reference to the song Material Girl performed by Madonna.
 * In DotA: Allstars, Blur caused Mortred to become transparent, scaling with levels and making her nearly invisible and untargetable to unexperienced players, thus her title "Phantom Assassin".
 * Mortred's idle animation is a typical fencing stance, with perpendicular feet, one arm extended forth and the other one folded and up in the air. However, her weapon is wielded not with the extended arm, but with the arm at rest.
 * Mortred is featured in the Dota 2 comic, The Contract.