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.

Tips

 * Stifling Dagger has multiple uses. It should generally be the first ability maxed, as it allows you to last hit creeps from a distance. It also allows you to harass the enemy, though do be aware of the relatively high mana cost in the early game as Mortred has an extremely small mana pool.
 * If enemies have fallen back in lane to use a Clarity or a Healing Salve, Stifling Dagger can be used to disable the regeneration effects.
 * Phantom Strike can target both allies and enemies. Jumping to a friendly unit can be useful if Mortred needs to escape.
 * A single point in blur early on can be beneficial in the laning stage. It can be a good idea to max it in the early game if the enemy are being especially aggressive.
 * Choosing to build whether attack speed or attack damage is up to the player's decision. Building more attack speed increases the chance of Coup de Grace to proc, although the critical damage will not be too high. Building attack damage will greatly increase Mortred's damage, but attacking too slow will mean proccing Coup de Grace will be a rare event. Keep in mind that Mortred gains 3.15 agility per level, and that Phantom Strike increases Mortred's attack speed for a few moments. This means if you are scaling up well and you are higher level than your opponents, building attack damage is the better choice. If Mortred is underleveled due to constant ganks or the enemy having a lot of disables, building attack speed is better, so you can proc a few more critical hits before retreating or dying. Because of this, Phantom Strike can be used as an escape mechanism as opposed to damage output if it is not sufficient level to be use effectively.
 * Be very wary of enemies using Blade Mail, as Mortred's damage output is many times greater than her health pool, though with a Black King Bar you can alleviate the issue if the enemy does build a Blade Mail.
 * A Ghost Scepter or Ethereal Blade heavily counters Mortred's main damage output, physical damage. Acquiring a Diffusal Blade will help purge the ethereal protection and leave the enemy vulnerable.
 * During the early game, a highly leveled Blur coupled with a Poor Man's Shield will make Mortred extremely resistant to physical damage as she has naturally high base armor as well. Use this to your advantage by melee harassing enemies who lack burst magical damage, reliable escape mechanisms or powerful disables.
 * Getting an Empower buff from Magnus while having a Battlefury in your inventory will boost Mortred's cleave damage to 85%. Use this to completely destroy enemies who are closely grouped together!

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 grace", and refers to the killing blow of a wounded person or animal, friendly or not, to end their suffering.
 * Mortred's level-up line "I'm an immaterial girl!" is probably a reference to the song Material Girl performed by Madonna.
 * 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.