Morphling

Morphling is a ranged agility hero that has many flexible abilities, item builds and is leveled as a very strong hard carry. He relies strongly on his attributes, and is an effective ganker. Unlike other agility carries that rely on physical attacks, he relies on his powerful abilities to initiate and shift into a state from which he can make a kill. Waveform lets him surge directly forward to a location, damaging enemies on his path, working both as a nuke or an escape. Adaptive Strike is an interesting scaling ability that blasts enemies with magical water while also stunning, knocking back, and dealing damage. Its power is based on either Agility or Strength. Morph allows him to edit his physical being, switching it from Agility or Strength, transforming him into a strong damage dealer or a tank. His ultimate, Replicate, creates a copy of either an ally or an enemy. At will, he can take on the place of that Replicate and instantly surprise enemies.

Gameplay
Morphling is typically played as a hard carry, and like many other hard carries, works best in team compositions which give him the space and time needed to farm key items. He also functions as a solo lane support hero, who specializes in stunning single targets from long ranges.

Carry

Morphling typically enters the game with a sensitive laning phase. His short auto attack range and extremely low base damage require him to morph early points into agility early on to keep up in last hits, leaving him fragile for the first few levels. As he gains levels, however, his Waveform evolves into a potent area-of-effect nuke which can easily grab him kills to accelerate his farm. Additionally, early points in Morph Agility/Strength allow him escape out of danger so long he has mana or is not silenced.

In order to transition to the mid-game safely, however, Morphling requires a significant amount of mana and mana regeneration to keep up. All four of his spells are demanding on mana, but a healthy supply of it will allow him to escape, gank, split push, and adapt to all manners of fighting with impunity. This is typically why Linken's Sphere is a strong item to pick up on him. He benefits from the stats it provides and Perseverance gives him early game sustenance. The spell block is invaluable; the strongest silences and hexes in the game are instant and targeted, giving him enough reaction time to Morph Replicate out of very dangerous situations. However, an early Bottle and good use of Morph Replicate and Boots of Travel can provide sustainability and a huge amount of mobility to farm faster. This is especially powerful when paired with Keeper of the Light, who can supply mana and Recall Morphling around the map.

Carry Morphling typically transitions into the mid-game in two primary ways. The first is through the Shotgun build, where one can purchase an Ethereal Blade. In combination with Adaptive Strike, this allows him to shut down fragile targets with ease, especially in games where the enemy team is often separated. The second is a more defensive, farming oriented build with Manta Style, which allows him to split push and dispel debuffs with ease. In the late game, Morphling has many options. With a full set of stat-heavy items, he boasts the strongest natural auto-attack speed and damage in the game, making items such as Satanic, Daedelus, and Monkey King Bar very profitable on him. He also makes incredible use of every stat on Eye of Skadi and Butterfly, two must-have late game items which allow him to go toe-to-toe with even the hardest of carries.

Despite his strengths as a scaling carry, Morphling is a difficult carry to play from behind. Waveform is an expensive spell and he has no in-built sustain to farm jungle creeps easily, and Adaptive Strike requires levels and items to become an effective nuke. In addition, his lack of multiple-target damage makes it difficult for him to join larger teamfights in the early or mid game. Careful consideration needs to be made when picking him into your team. For example, you can consider choosing magic-heavy team compositions to abuse his Ethereal Blade magic damage amplification, a split-push composition, or a composition which is heavy on initiation power so he can unload his damage without risk.

Support

Support Morphling is a build which maxes Adaptive Strike early on to abuse a 4.25 second stun with 900 cast range. An Adaptive Strike with this power is unlocked as early as level 7, allowing Morphling to contribute as an extremely powerful early-game ganker. Because of this, a solo lane (typically offlane) suits support Morphling the best. The sooner he can attain his levels, the sooner he can disrupt other lanes. With some gold, support Morphling can build initiation items like Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Blink Dagger, Force Staff, Shadow Blade, and so on. In certain team compositions an early Aghanim's Scepter opens up an entirely new playstyle. Hybrid has a huge amount of uses. Purchasing Aghanim's Scepter allows Support Morphling to transition into more than a hero who stuns from long range, and is a good idea to pick up if you have extra gold around.

Recommended items
Starting items:
 * and a allow for greater last hitting power in conjunction with the Morph (Agility Gain) bonuses.  can be useful as Morphling's spells have a high Mana cost.

Early game:
 * If Morphling is mid, a should be the first item purchased after starting items (which means less regen should be purchased with your starting items, eliminating any Clarity and possibly a second healing item). Wraith Band provides Morph much needed damage, as his damage is fairly low.

Core items:
 * provides Damage, Mana regeneration and Armor, all of which Morphling needs.
 * At this point are a great addition to Morphling's Build as they allow for a quick switch from attack power (Agility) to extra health (Strength).
 * is a strong regen item on Morphling, as he very easily goes through large amounts of mana. However, the Ring of Health should probably be the first item picked up, as it allows you to shrug off harass and can be picked up in side shops. However, before getting the Perseverance, consider the enemy team and what spells they have - if a Linkens would not be useful against the enemy team, do not get Perseverance.

Situational items:
 * is very strong on Morphling, as his items are primarily attribute-based, which illusions inherit. An agility morphed Morphling with a few items can produce illusions that out-damage most other heroes in the game. Because silences are also potent counters against Morphling, a Manta Style's ability to purge debuffs and silences synergies well with his escape mechanisms.
 * is very strong on Morphling, not only for the single target spell block, but also for the regeneration and stats that this item provides. Drawbacks of this item include the fact that it only blocks one spell, and its high cost. If a Linkens Sphere is not a viable item, a should be considered instead.
 * gives a very large amount of damage and is one of the strongest defensive items in the game against enemy auto-attacks.
 * allows Morphling to be fully agility morphed and still have a significant amount of HP. This means Skadi is actually a potent offensive item, as well as defensive.
 * allows Morphling to use his high DPS to rapidly heal himself full, via the active. However, if you get stunned while trying to lifesteal, you can still be very easily killed, so it should be paired with or used against teams with little lockdown potential.
 * is a very interesting pickup on Morphling, and he is the strongest user of the item in the game. Often referred to as "Shotgun Morphling", Ethereal Blade allows you to very quickly deal a very large amount of magic damage to a single target by using the E-Blade active, Adaptive Strike, and Waveform in quick succession while morphed to high agility. This gives Morphling roaming and pick off potential. This is best gotten as the first or second major item on Morphling, as its effectiveness falls off once enemy heroes tank up, get BKBs, or start to group up. If you feel this item has outlived its usefulness, consider disassembling it to make a Butterfly. Keep in mind it scales really well with Morphling and can still output loads of damage late game.

Tips

 * As Morph gives +3 to both Agility and Strength with one level, it is a very strong ability to get at level 1.
 * As Adaptive Strike scales with attributes, it should not be leveled until after Waveform is maxed and should be the last ability maxed out.
 * Boots of Travel is a commonly built item on Morphling. By using Replicate, then teleporting back to base, you can then instantly return to where you were with Morph Replicate. This strategy can also be used with Town Portal Scrolls.
 * Ethereal Blade is the most common and recommended item for burst damage on Morphling. By Morphing points into agility, he can cause massive damage with Ether Blast, and then use the amplified magic damage to finish an enemy off with Waveform and Adaptive Strike. This is sometimes referred to as the "Shotgun combo". However, do not build ethereal blade if Morphling lacks farm, as this item is most effective midgame, building it too late would not be useful. This being said, it does scale well into the late game, but occasionally will fall off depending on the situation and enemy lineup.
 * Sometimes deciding which hero to choose for Replicate can be difficult, however potential candidates for this spell include: a hero with high DPS, those with favorable passives (such as Axe's Counter Helix), squishy support heroes that can be used for bait, tanky heroes (Replicates only take 100% damage), or even an enemy hero who has a Radiance or some other aura, which allows you to take advantage of receiving its effects for free.
 * Unlike most illusions in the game, the illusion created by Replicate does not take bonus damage, making it difficult to distinguish from an actual hero. You can use this to your advantage by replicating a high-priority ally and using the illusion to bait out enemy spells.
 * Morphling's early game damage is relatively high with Waveform and decent right click through Morph (Agility Gain). Consider laning with an aggressive support to grab some early game kills so you can accelerate your farm and reach your late game faster.
 * Morphling functions better as a carry in teams with a strong front line. This allows him to remain in the fight with a high amount of agility and hence right click or Adaptive Strike damage, without feeling the pressure of being focused. Although he is good at soaking damage through Morph Strength and items such as Linken's Sphere and Eye of Skadi, he is much more useful as your team's primary source of consistent damage.
 * Morphling is one of the most effective split pushers in the game once he has built a Manta Style. Maximize your Agility and create hard-hitting illusions to help you push towers while you Replicate to safety.
 * If you are low on life and being chased/targeted, use Morph (Strength Gain) to increase your health and health regeneration to increase the difficulty of killing you. Note the moderate mana cost with this ability on.
 * Since Morph has a toggle ability, it will continue to function even while silenced; provided the ability was toggled on prior to being silenced.
 * When going back to base consider morphing some agility into strength in case of enemies with global abilities such as Zeus and Ancient Apparition or even Clockwerk and Nature's Prophet.
 * If the player wishes to focus solely on Morphling's single target nuking, a can be a good pickup to use in conjunction with the  combo - A fully maxed Dagon can increase his burst of damage enormously.
 * Remember there are a handful of abilities that are able to kill illusions instantly, easily wasting Replicate and Hybrid. Such abilities include, and.

Trivia

 * In DotA, Morphling was the only hero without a hero name, being named "Morphling the Morphling".
 * The attack response mrph attack 08.mp3 "Wave of mutilation!" is a direct reference to a Pixies song of the same name.