Morphling

Hero

 

Strategy

 

Equipment

 

Gear

 

Talents

 

Relics

 

Responses

 

Sounds

 

Animations

 

Lore

 

Morph Interactions

 

Old Abilities

 

Changelogs

 

Known Bugs

 

Morphling #11 23 + 3.2 24 + 3.9 19 + 1.8
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 20 526 1494 2462 2858 +0.5 +2.8 +7.28 +11.68 +13.48 Mana 80 308 608 968 1100 +0.5 +1.45 +2.71 +4.21 +4.76 Armor -2 2 11.1 19.6 23.18 Magic Resist 25% 26.9% 29.42% 32.42% 33.52% Damage Block - Damage 9 18 33 42 87 96 138 147 160 169 Attack Rate 0.67/s 0.83/s 1.19/s 1.53/s 1.67/s Attack Range 350 (750) Attack Speed ▶️ 100 (1.5s BAT) Attack Animation 0.5 + 0.5 Projectile Speed 1300 Move Speed ▶️ 285 ( 315) Turn Rate 0.7 Collision Size 27 Bound Radius 24 Vision Range (G) 1800 ( 800) Gib Type Ethereal Internal npc_dota_hero_morphling

Rides the waves to flank enemies.
After eons of travel in the darkness of space, the icy comet plunged to earth, and from there rose an elemental being of sentient liquid. Unbound by any permanent shape, the Morphling Alters Attributes to match his needs and Morphs into a replication of his foes, mimicking their capabilities, making them fight against a copy of themselves. Shifting between potent attacker, and resilient survivor, Morphling can be as elusive as he is deadly. Assuming the form of a Wave to flank an enemy, he surges forward before performing Adaptive Strikes of water that either sting or bludgeon the victims depending on his composition.
Roles:	Carry Escape Durable Nuker Disabler
Complexity:
Adjectives:	Aquatic, Blue Legs ( 0 )

Bio

Morphling

▶️ "You only miss the water when the well runs dry."

Lore:

For dark eons the comet circled. Held in thrall to a distant sun, bound by gravity’s inexorable pull, the massive ball of ice careened through the blackness between worlds, made strange by its dark journey. On the eve of the ancient war of the Vloy, it punched down through the sky and lit a glowing trail across the night, a sign both armies took for an omen. The frozen ball melted in a flash of boiling heat, as below two forces enjoined in battle across the border of a narrow river. Thus freed from its icy stasis, the Morphling was born into conflict, an elemental power at one with the tides of the ocean, capricious and unconstrained. He entered the fight, instinctively taking the form of the first general who dared set foot across the water, and then struck him dead. As the motley warriors clashed, he shifted from form to form throughout the battle, instantly absorbing the ways of these strange creatures--now a footsoldier, now an archer, now the cavalryman--until, by the time the last soldier fell, Morphling had played every part. The battle's end was his beginning.

Voice:

David Scully (Responses)

Abilities

Waveform

▶️QW

Ability
Target Point

Affects
Enemies / Self

Damage
Magical
( Instant Attack)

Morphling dissolves into liquid and surges forward, damaging enemy units in his path. Morphling is invulnerable during Waveform.

Cast Animation: 0.25+0

Cast Range: 700/800/900/1000 ( 950/1050/1150/1250)

Max Travel Distance: 700/800/900/1000 ( 950/1050/1150/1250)

Damage Radius: 200

Damage: 75/150/225/300

 21/18/15/12 ( 12.6/10.8/9/7.2)

 130

Modifiers [?]

modifier_morphling_waveform

Death

A torrential flood takes enemies by force.

• Surges with a speed of 1250 and disjoints projectiles upon cast.

• Morphling turns invulnerable, and his hero model cannot be directly selected during Waveform.
  • However, Morphling can still be selected through the hero icon.
  • Morphling can turn, attack, cast abilities, and use items during Waveform.

• With the travel distance and radius, Waveform can hit units up to 900/1000/1100/1200 ( 1150/1250/1350/1450) distance away.
  • Fully affects invisible enemy units and units in the Fog of War.

• Does not travel the full distance, when targeting closer than the max distance.

• TALENT
  • The Waveform attack targets talent causes Morphling to perform instant attacks on every enemy hit by Waveform.
    • These instant attacks can proc any attack modifiers and on-hit effects normally. They do not have True Strike, but completely ignore disarms.
    • Waveform first deals its damage, then applies the instant attacks.
    • Does not affect Couriers.
  • The Waveform cooldown reduction talent stacks multiplicatively with other sources of percentage-based cooldown reduction sources, and is calculated after all flat cooldown reduction values.

Adaptive Strike (Agility)

▶️▶️WE

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Launches a surge of water toward an enemy unit, dealing base damage plus additional damage based on Morphling's agility times a multiplier. If Morphling's agility is 50% higher than strength, the maximum agility multiplier is used.

Also puts Adaptive Strike (Strength) on a 3 second cooldown.

Passive Component

Agility Bonus: 3/5/7/9 ( 9/11/13/15)

Cast Animation: 0.25+0.67

Cast Range: 600/700/800/900

Number of Targets: 1

Base Damage: 55/65/75/85

Min Bonus Damage Agility Multiplier: 0.5

Max Bonus Damage Agility Multiplier: 1/1.5/2/2.5

Adaptive Strike (Strength) Downtime: 3

 16/14/12/10

 40/50/60/70

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Increases bonus Agility.

Spell Block / Reflection Notes:

Blocked upon impact.

Ability Draft Notes:

Both Adaptive Strike abilities are separate, stand-alone abilities that can be drafted and leveled up independently.

The Morphling calls upon his elements to crush his opponents with waves.

• Casting this puts the other Adaptive Strike (Strength) on a fixed 3-second cooldown.
  • This cooldown can be reset with cooldown resetting abilities, but it is not affected by percentage-based cooldown reductions.

• The projectile travels at a speed of 1150.

• The damage multiplier values are not fixed. They adapt linearly in smooth intervals depending on the difference between Morphling's agility and strength.

• The values change with each percent difference between agility and strength, even when it is just a minimal change.
  • It also checks Morphling's current attributes upon projectile impact.
  • The multiplier counts both base and bonus attributes.

• expr
  • Damage: 55/65/75/85 + ΣAgi × DamageMultipler
  • Damage Multiplier: 0.5, 1/1.5/2/2.5 when CasterΣAgi × 0.5 > CasterΣStr

• The agility bonus is granted as bonus attributes, and it effectively grants 0.5/0.83/1.17/1.5 ( 1.5/1.83/2.17/2.5) main armor, and 3/5/7/9 ( 9/11/13/15) attack speed and main attack damage bonus.

Adaptive Strike (Strength)

▶️▶️ET

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies

Launches a surge of water toward an enemy unit, stunning and knocking back the target based on Morphling's strength. If his strength is 50% higher than his agility, the maximum stun/knockback is dealt.

Also puts Adaptive Strike (Agility) on a 3 second cooldown.

Passive Component

Strength Bonus: 3/5/7/9 ( 9/11/13/15)

Cast Animation: 0.25+0.67

Cast Range: 600/700/800/900

Number of Targets: 1

Min Knockback Distance: 100

Max Knockback Distance: 500

Min Stun Duration: 0.5 ( 1.3)

Max Stun Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3 ( 2.3/2.8/3.3/3.8)

Adaptive Strike (Agility) Downtime: 3

 16/14/12/10

 40/50/60/70

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Increases bonus Strength.

Debuff Immunity Notes:

The forced movement is instantly canceled.

Spell Block / Reflection Notes:

Blocked upon impact.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_morphling_adaptive_strike

Strong

Ability Draft Notes:

Both Adaptive Strike abilities are separate, stand-alone abilities that can be drafted and leveled up independently.

The Morphling calls upon his elements to crush his opponents with waves.

• Casting this puts the other Adaptive Strike (Agility) on a fixed 3-second cooldown.
  • This cooldown can be reset with cooldown resetting abilities, but it is not affected by percentage-based cooldown reductions.

• The projectile travels at a speed of 1150.

• The knockback and stun values are not fixed. They adapt linearly in smooth intervals depending on the difference between Morphling's agility and strength.
  • Both values change with each percent difference between agility and strength, even when it is just a minimal change.
  • It also checks Morphling's current attributes upon projectile impact.
  • The knockback and stun values count both base and bonus attributes.

• When
  expr
  CasterΣStr × 0.5 > CasterΣAgi, the knockback and stun duration are at their maximum at 500 and 1.5/2/2.5/3 ( 2.3/2.8/3.3/3.8) seconds respectively, else the knockback distance and stun duration are at their minimum at 100 and 0.5 ( 1.3) seconds respectively.
  • Knocks the target back at a speed of 1000, resulting in a knockback duration of 0.1 ‒ 0.5 seconds.

• The strength bonus is granted as bonus attributes, and it effectively grants 66/110/154/198 ( 198/242/286/330) health and 0.3/0.5/0.7/0.9 ( 0.9/1.1/1.3/1.5) health regeneration bonus.

Attribute Shift (Agility Gain)

▶️DD

Ability
Toggle

Affects
Self

Morphling shifts its form, pulling points from Strength and pouring them into Agility. The process is reversible. Additional points in Attribute Shift increase the rate of stat change.

Cast Animation:  0+0

Shift Rate: 5/10/15/20

 5/10/15/20_/ second

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Morphling can shift attributes while stunned.

Illusion Notes:

Illusions copy the shifted attributes.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_morphling_morph

Undispellable

modifier_morphling_morph_agi

Death

Ability Draft Notes:

This ability is not available in Ability Draft.

Shifting water makes it difficult to discern the nature of Morphling.

• Does not interrupt Morphling's channeling abilities upon toggling.

• Costs 25/100/225/400 mana per shift interval, resulting in 5/10/15/20 mana per second.
  • The mana cost per second is fixed and it is not affected by mana loss manipulation.

• Converts strength to agility points per second, resulting in the following bonuses per second:
  • main armor.
  • attack speed.
  • main attack damage.

• Can only convert Morphling's base agility and strength. Bonus attributes are not converted.

• Shifted attributes are permanent and not reverted on death.

• Attribute Shift continues to convert attributes even if Morphling is disabled, but cannot be toggled On / Off while disabled.
  • SHARD
    This restriction is removed upon acquring Aghanim's Shard, allowing Morphling to toggle Attribute Shift even while disabled. However, Morphling is now unable to ⇧ Shift-queue this ability.
  • It can be toggled while stunned, cycloned, slept, taunted, hidden, or during forced movement, but not while silenced, hexed or prevented from acting.

• Toggling one Attribute Shift ability On automatically toggles the other Off.
  • If Attribute Shift cannot convert anymore due to a lack of attribute points or mana, the toggle status remains the same, but the process is paused until it can continue.

Attribute Shift (Strength Gain)

▶️FF

Ability
Toggle

Affects
Self

Morphling shifts its form, pulling points from Agility and pouring them into Strength. The process is reversible. Additional points in Attribute Shift increase the rate of stat change.

Cast Animation:  0+0

Shift Rate: 5/10/15/20

 5/10/15/20_/ second

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Morphling can shift attributes while stunned.

Illusion Notes:

Illusions copy the shifted attributes.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_morphling_morph

Undispellable

modifier_morphling_morph_str

Death

Ability Draft Notes:

This ability is not available in Ability Draft.

Shifting water makes it difficult to discern the nature of Morphling.

The custom HUD element for Attribute Shift, showing the current agility-strength ratio.

• Does not interrupt Morphling's channeling abilities upon toggling.

• Shifted attributes are permanent and not reverted on death.

• Same notes as for Attribute Shift (Agility Gain) apply.

• Converts agility to strength points per second, resulting in the following bonuses per second:
  • base max health.
  • base health regeneration.

• The strength bonus/loss counts as setting health, it does not keep the current health percentage but instead adds/removes 22 health per strength to/from the current health pool.
  • Health freeze sources keep the current health value the same, but do not stop the max health from increasing.
  • However, for other health-based amplifications and reductions, only the part that exceeds the current health percentage is affected. This affects the following things:
    • Morphling's current health percentage is now 30% at 300/1000 health.
    • It gained 22 bonus current and max health from attribute shifting. However, the new current/max health percentage values are not considered in the calculations.
    • 30% of the 22 bonus health granted (6 health) will not be affected by health-based amplifications and reductions, while the remaining bonus health (15 health) is affected.

Morph

▶️RR

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemy Heroes / Self

Morphling changes his form to match the targeted enemy, gaining their basic abilities. Can be toggled for the duration of the ability.

Cast Animation: 0.25+0.1

Cast Range: 700/850/1000

Duration: 24 ( 40)

 Number of Illusions: 1

Morph Illusion

 Damage Dealt: 100%

 Damage Taken: 300%

 140/100/60

 50

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Adds an alt-cast to Morph. When enabled, a strong illusion is created of the target hero that can cast all of the hero's basic abilities. If the illusion is alive when Morphling toggles the ability, he will take the place of the illusion, destroying it.

Upgrades abilities acquired via Morph to their Scepter version.

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Upgrades abilities acquired via Morph to their Shard level.

Spell Block / Reflection Notes:

Cannot be reflected.

Triggers Spell Block on the primary hero when cast on illusions.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_morphling_replicate

Death

modifier_morphling_replicate_manager

Death

Ability Draft Notes:

This ability is not available in Ability Draft.

Staring into Morphling produces a reflection that mimics the beholder.

Alt-Cast Icon

• Neither replaces Morphling with a clone nor an illusion of the target. Morph only copies the target's model, hitbox, including equipped cosmetic items.
  • The combat log still registers the copied model as Morphling.
  • Morphling can still be killed normally in the Morphed form.
  • Morph neither acquires innate abilities nor other innate ability traits (e.g. freely moving in the Chronosphere), except the following abilities:
    • Stone Remnant, Mana Shield and Stone Form.

• While active, Morphling is visually distinguishable from the original hero.
  • Neither dispels buff and debuffs upon cast and casting the Morph Replicate sub-ability.
  • Keeps the current health and mana percentages upon cast. Morph does not copy the target's current health or mana.
  • The affected target's hero icon is displayed as a debuff on the HUD.

• Changes Morphling's current base attribute values and primary attribute from agility to the affected target's values.
  • Bonus attributes from abilities and items are not copied.

• Changes Morphling's attack range type from ranged to the affected target's attack range type.
  • This causes items that use different values for melee and ranged heroes (e.g. Manta Style) to now adapt to Morphling accordingly.
  • Attack range-increasing sources are not overridden and still work normally.

• Fully copies the target's movement speed.

• This means when targeting a melee strength hero, Morphling becomes a melee strength hero for the duration.

• All other base stats of the affected target (e.g. attack damage values, armor, magic resistance, base attack time, collision size, etc.) are not copied.
  • Does not copy the target's transformed state as well (e.g. Elder Dragon Form).
  • Items are not copied as well.

• Most channeling abilities are interrupted upon unmorphing, except for Phase Shift, Upheaval, and casting item abilities.

• Treat clones and illusions as heroes, creep-heroes and the Spirit Bear as creeps.

• Casting on illusions is considered as casting Morph on the hero who owns the illusion.
  • Therefore, Morph copies the hero who owns the illusion and not the hero the illusion is based on. Casting ability on an illusion based on a dead hero does nothing.
  • For example, when targeting Disruption illusions, Morphling turns into Shadow Demon, and not the hero Disruption was cast on.
  • However, it cannot target Morphling itself or illusions under Morphling's control.
  • An Enchanted Morphling illusion is still treated as its own illusion and can still not be targeted.

• SCEPTER
  Upon acquiring the Ability Upgrade, it has Alt-cast activated by default.
  • With Alt-Cast activated, Morph creates a strong illusion of the affected target that can cast all of the target's basic abilities, but not ultimate and item abilities.
  • The Morph Illusion spawns with full health and faces the same angle as the affected target.
  • The Morph Illusion neither has a gold nor an experience bounty.
  • The distance between the Morphling and the Morph illusion is always one-fourth of the distance between Morphling and the target.

• SCEPTER
  The Morphed Illusion acquire innate abilities and other innate ability traits.
  • However, it cannot acquire Invoked and Devoured abilities.
  • The ability cooldown of the acquired basic abilities is shared between Morphling and the Morph Illusion.
  • However, it does not share the charges of Charge-based Abilities. Therefore, Morphling and the Morph Illusion both have independent charges for charged-based abilities.

• When losing the Ability Upgrade, the Morph Illusion is not instantly killed, and the Morph Replicate sub-ability can still teleport Morphling to its place.
  • However, casting Morph no longer shifts Morphling back into the affected target.
• SPELL STEAL
  This ability is not acquirable. Spell Steal cannot acquire any abilities from the Morphed Illusion.
• SOULBIND
  Morph only affects the primary target.

Morph Replicate

▶️R?

Ability
No Target

Affects
Self

Damage
 Instant Kill

Toggles Morphling's form between his own and the replicated enemy.

Cast Animation:  0+0

 1

 0

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

If the illusion is alive when Morphling toggles the ability, he will take the place of the illusion, destroying it.

• Morph Replicate replaces Morph until it expires.
  • The Legacy Keys for Morph Replicate is the same as the target's ultimate ability's Legacy Keys.

• Interrupts Morphling's channeling abilities upon cast.

• Casting this does not end Morph. Instead, it shifts Morphling back to his original form. When used again, it shifts Morphling back into the target.
  • Goes on cooldown whenever forms get shifted.
  • SCEPTER
    Casting the sub-ability while the Morphed Illusion is alive first shifts Morphling into the target, then teleports Morphling to the current position of the illusion and instantly kills it in the form of HP Removal.
    • The damage dealt can be defined as
      expr
      100% × CurrentHP
    • Does not disjoint projectiles upon teleporting.

• Upon each Morph and Morph Replicate cast, it checks for Morphling and the affected target's basic abilities, then it removes Morphling's abilities and replaces them with the affected target's basic abilities, including their passive abilities and sub-abilities.
  • Therefore, Morphling has to cast Morph Replicate twice to update all copied abilities and their values.
  • This affects the following things:
    • Invoked abilities.
    • New basic abilities acquired via Spell Steal upon morphing into them.
    • New Devoured abilities.
    • Non-ultimate abilities granted by Aghanim's Scepter and Aghanim's Shard are only copied if both Morphling and the affected target have the respective item as well. Does not copy talent upgrades at all.

• SCEPTER
  When losing the Ability Upgrade, the Morph Illusion is not instantly killed, and the Morph Replicate sub-ability can still teleport Morphling to its place.
  • However, casting Morph no longer shifts Morphling back into the affected target.

Talents

Hero Talents
+35 Strength	25	-40% Waveform Cooldown
+0.8s Adaptive Strike Stun Duration	20	Waveform Attacks Targets
+15 Agility	15	+16s Morph Duration
+250 Waveform Range	10	+15% Magic Resistance

Notes:

• Stacks diminishingly with other magic resistance sources.
  • Increases Morphling's magic resistance to 36.25%.

Recent Changes

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore

<div> <div class="updatetablehead"> <div id="version">Version</div><div id="description">Description</div> </div> <div class="updatetablebody">

7.35b

• Increased Morph duration from 20s to 24s.

7.34b

• Increased strength gain from 3 to 3.2.

7.34

• REWORKED
  Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
  • Morph [?]
    • OLD
      • Steals 10% of the target's total attributes, and another 5% additionally from universal heroes.
      • Steals 40% status resistance from strength heroes.
      • Steals 70 attack speed from agility heroes.
      • Steals 25% spell damage amplification from intelligence heroes. [?]
    • NEW
      • ADDED
        Alt-cast functionality. [?]
      • Right Click on ability toggles and swaps the functionality of the ability with Morph (Aghanim's Scepter), creating a strong illusion of the affected target that can cast all of the target's basic abilities.
      • The illusion deals 100% damage based on the affected target's attack damage and receives 300% incoming damage.
      • Casting the Morph Replicate sub-ability while the illusion is alive teleports Morphling to the current position of the illusion and destroys the illusion.

</div> </div>

Recommended Items

Starting items:

• Tango gives sustain in lane with health regeneration.

• Iron Branch gives cost efficient attributes, and can builds into Magic Wand or combines with Tango for more health regeneration.

• Healing Salve heals up Morphling in a short amount of time.

• Enchanted Mango provides mana so Morphling can keep using Adaptive Strike (Agility) to get last hits.

• Faerie Fire gives cost efficient damage and provides burst health in lane.

Early game:

• Wraith Band gives attributes and attack speed for a decent price.

• Boots of Speed are necessary on Morphling to improve his slow base movement speed.

• Magic Wand provides burst health and mana for sustain.

Mid game:

• Power Treads provide an affordable source of attributes. The cost of his abilities can be mitigated by casting on intelligence, and they can also provide agility or strength for more offensive or defensive power without needing to use Attribute Shift.

• Linken's Sphere provides a modest amount of attributes and regeneration, as well as giving protection against single-target abilities, making it even harder for him to be ganked.

Late game:

• Black King Bar is a vital item for late-game teamfights, providing Morphling with time to deal his damage without being disabled.

• Eye of Skadi is the largest source of total attributes available in one item, providing a large amount of HP even when fully shifted to agility.

Situational items:

• Morbid Mask provides lifesteal to sustain Morphling while he farm up better items. It can build into Satanic later on.

• Dragon Lance is a cheap source of attributes, and gives valuable attack range to improve Morphling's early fights. Later, it may be upgraded to Hurricane Pike for additional mobility, mana, and health regeneration, or it can be disassembled to make Black King Bar and/or Yasha.

• Butterfly gives a very large amount of attack damage and evasion, and so is most effective for a build focused on attacks instead of Adaptive Strike.

• Satanic 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 Black King Bar or used against teams with little lockdown potential.

• Manta Style gives ability to dispel silences and debuffs, and synergies well with his escape mechanisms.

• Diffusal Blade provides modest attributes, and allows his attacks to burn mana. Сan be effective if facing mana-related heroes (Medusa, Storm Spirit etc).

Dota Plus Progress

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Morphling's Relics	Voice Lines
Multi-Hero Waveform Max Adaptive Strike Stuns Ether Blast Adaptive Strike Combos Kills During Replicate Max Damage Adaptive Strikes Spells Blocked With Linken's Sphere Ether Blasts Leading To Kills Stuns Leading To Kills Spells Disjointed Channels Cancelled Triple Kills Mega Kill Streaks Kill Assists Kills	Bronze	▶️ Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! ▶️ I like what I see.
	Silver	▶️ You're in over your head. ▶️ Boiling rage.
	Gold	▶️ Always refreshing. ▶️ The tide has turned.
	Platinum	▶️ Didn't you see me waving?
	Master	▶️ You're washed up!
	Grandmaster	▶️ H two owned!

Equipment

Morphling Equipment (expand sets) Sets Ancient Armor Set   Bindings of Frost Set   Birot's Bindings Set   Darktrench Stalker   Direstone Bindings Set   Gift of the Sea Set   Luminary of the Dreadful Abyss Set   Radiant Crystal Bindings Set   Shard of the Lost Star   Shards of Polymorphia Set   Shards of the Falling Comet Set   Splendor of the Protean Emperor   Stellar Jade   The Roiling Surge Head Crown of Tears   Crown of the Comet's Tail Shoulder Shoulders of the Comet's Tail Arms Blade of Tears Taunt Taunt: Sawed-off Watergun

Trivia

• In DotA, Morphling was the only hero without a hero name, being named "Morphling the Morphling".

• The attack response ▶️ "Wave of mutilation!" is a direct reference to a Pixies song of the same name.

Gallery

• 

  Morphling's original artwork

• 

  Ability icon progress

• 

  Hero icon progress