Morphling

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Morphling 22 + 3 24 + 4.1 19 + 1.8
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 200 640 1480 2320 2660 Health regen 0 2.2 6.4 10.6 12.3 Mana 75 303 603 963 1095 Mana regen 0 0.95 2.21 3.71 4.26 Armor -2 2 11.57 20.4 24.15 Att/sec 0.67 0.83 1.21 1.56 1.71 Damage 9‒18 33‒42 90‒99 143‒152 165‒174
Magic resistance 25% ▶️ Movement speed 280 ▶️ Attack speed 100 Turn rate 0.6 Vision range 1800/800 Attack range 350 Projectile speed 1300 Attack animation 0.5+0.5 Base attack time 1.5 Damage block 0 Collision size 24 Legs 0  Gib type Ethereal

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 a scaling two-part ability that blasts enemies with a jet of water, either stunning and knocking back or dealing damage. Its power is based on either agility or strength. Attribute Shift 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, Morph, transforms him into a copy of an enemy using their stats and basic abilities.

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

 Number of Charges: 2

 Charge Replenish Time: 20/17/14/11

20/17/14/11 ( 0)

140

The instant attacks added by the talent pierce spell immunity.

Modifiers

modifier_morphling_waveform: Dispellable with death only.

A torrential flood takes enemies by force.

Notes:

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

• Morphling is invulnerable, and his model cannot be directly selected with during Waveform.
  • However, Morphling can be still be selected through the hero icon.

• With the travel distance and radius, Waveform can hit units up to 900/1000/1100/1200 ( 1150/1250/1350/1450) distance away.

• Morphling can turn, attack, cast abilities, and use items during Waveform.

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

• With the level 20 talent, Morphling performs 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.

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.

Cast Animation: 0.25+0.67

Cast Range: 600/700/800/900

Number of Targets: 1 ( 2)

Base Damage: 70/80/90/100

Min Bonus Damage Agility Multiplier: 0.5

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

Adaptive Strike (Strength) Downtime: 3

 Secondary Target Range Buffer: 300

10

50/60/70/80

Causes Adaptive Strike to have +1 Multishot and increases the stun duration by 1 second. Multishot prioritizes heroes.

Blocked upon impact.

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

Notes:

• Adaptive Strike (Agility) and Adaptive Strike (Strength) are linked abilities; leveling up one automatically levels up the other as well.
  • In Ability Draft, both Adaptive Strike abilities are separate, stand-alone abilities that can be drafted and skilled independently.

• 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 changes.

• 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.
  • The multiplier count base attributes, as well as bonus attributes.

• When the current agility is 50% higher than the strength, the damage multiplier is at its maximum at 1/1.5/2/2.5.

• When the current strength is 50% higher than the agility, the damage multiplier is at its minimum at 0.5.

• Checks Morphling's attributes upon projectile impact.

• With Aghanim's Shard, Adaptive Strike launches 1 additional projectile towards random visible valid targets within the range.
  • The search range is based on the cast range, plus the buffer, resulting in a search range of 900/1000/1100/1200.
  • Cannot target the primary target with the additional projectile, so when no other targets are nearby, nothing happens.
  • The secondary target is chosen randomly within the area, with heroes being prioritized. Treats creep-heroes as heroes.
  • Since the additional projectile uses the ability's cast range, cast range increasing effects increase its range as well.

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.

Cast Animation: 0.25+0.67

Cast Range: 600/700/800/900

Number of Targets: 1 ( 2)

Min Knockback Distance: 100

Max Knockback Distance: 500

Min Stun Duration: 0.5 ( 1.5)

Max Stun Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3 ( 2.5/3/3.5/4)

Adaptive Strike (Agility) Downtime: 3

 Secondary Target Range Buffer: 300

10

50/60/70/80

Causes Adaptive Strike to have +1 Multishot and increases the stun duration by 1 second. Multishot prioritizes heroes.

Blocked upon impact.

Modifiers

modifier_morphling_adaptive_strike: Dispellable with strong dispels.

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

Notes:

• Adaptive Strike (Strength) and Adaptive Strike (Agility) are linked abilities; leveling up one automatically levels up the other as well.
  • In Ability Draft, both Adaptive Strike abilities are separate, stand-alone abilities that can be drafted and skilled independently.

• 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 changes.

• 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 strength and agility.
  • The values change with each percent difference between strength and agility, even when it is just a minimal change.
  • The knockback and stun values count base attributes, as well as bonus attributes.

• When the current strength is 50% higher than the agility, the knockback distance and stun duration are at their maximum at 500 and 1.5/2/2.5/3 ( 2.5/3/3.5/4) respectively.

• When the current agility is 50% higher than the strength, the knockback distance and stun duration are at their minimum at 100 and 0.5 ( 1.5 respectively.

• Knocks the target back at a speed of 1000, resulting in a knockback duration of 0.1-0.5.

• Checks Morphling's attributes upon projectile impact.

• With Aghanim's Shard, Adaptive Strike launches 1 additional projectile towards random visible valid targets within the range.
  • The search range is based on the cast range, plus the buffer, resulting in a search range of 900/1000/1100/1200.
  • Cannot target the primary target with the additional projectile, so when no other targets are nearby, nothing happens.
  • The secondary target is chosen randomly within the area, with heroes being prioritized. Treats creep-heroes as heroes.
  • Since the additional projectile uses the ability's cast range, cast range increasing effects increase its range as well.

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. Passively grants bonus Agility.

Cast Animation: 0+0

Shift Interval: 0.333/0.166/0.083/0.0416

Mana Cost per Second: 10

Points per Shift: 1

Bonus Agility: 3/5/7/9

0

0

Illusions spawn with Morphling's current stats, not his original stats.

Modifiers

modifier_morphling_morph: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_morphling_morph_agi: Dispellable with death only.

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

Notes:

• Attribute Shift (Agility Gain) and Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) are linked abilities; leveling up one automatically levels up the other as well.
  • This ability is not available in Ability Draft, due to non-ultimate abilities being limited to one ability slot.

• Attribute Shift does not interrupt Morphling's channeling abilities upon toggling.

• Costs 3.33/1.66/0.83/0.416 mana per shift interval, resulting in 10 mana per second.
  • This mana cost is fixed and cannot be altered by anything. It ignores mana loss manipulation.

• Converts 3/6.02/12.05/24.04 attribute points per second, resulting in the following changes per second:
  • Agility: Morphling gains/loses 0.5/1/2.01/4.01 armor, 3/6.02/12.05/24.04 attack speed, and 3/6.02/12.05/24.04 attack damage.
  • Strength: Morphling gains/loses 60.06/120.48/240.96/480.77 maximum health, and 0.3/0.6/1.2/2.4 health regen.
  • The strength bonus/loss does not keep the current health percentage, but instead adds/removes 20 health per strength to/from the current health pool.
  • This health bonus does not bypass Ice Blast or False Promise, and it does not count as heal for the latter.
  • However, for other amplifications and reductions, only the part that exceeds the current health percentage is affected.

• Attribute Shift continues to convert attributes even if Morphling is disabled, but cannot be toggled while disabled.
  • With the level 25 talent, this restriction is removed, allowing Morphling to toggle Attribute Shift even while disabled.
    • With the talent, it can be toggled while stunned, cycloned, slept, taunted, hidden, or during forced movement, but not while silenced, hexed or prevented from acting.
    • Morphling becomes unable to ⇧ Shift-queue this ability upon acquiring the talent.

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

• Can only convert Morphling's base agility and strength. Bonus attributes cannot be converted.
  • The passively added strength and agility are not added to the base attributes, and can therefore not be converted either.

• Shifted attributes are permanent and not reverted on death.

• The passive agility bonus effectively grants Morphling 0.5/0.83/1.17/1.5 armor, and 3/5/7/9 attack speed and attack damage.

• The passive strength bonus effectively grants Morphling 60/100/140/180 health and 0.3/0.5/0.7/0.9 health regen.

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

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. Passively grants bonus Strength.

Cast Animation: 0+0

Shift Interval: 0.333/0.166/0.083/0.0416

Mana Cost per Second: 10

Points per Shift: 1

Bonus Strength: 3/5/7/9

0

0

Illusions spawn with Morphling's current stats, not his original stats.

Modifiers

modifier_morphling_morph: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_morphling_morph_str: Dispellable with death only.

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

Notes:

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

Morph

▶️RR

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Self

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

Cast Animation: 0.25+0.1

Cast Range: 700/850/1000

Mana Loss Reduction: 50%

Duration: 20 ( 36)

 Cast Range Bonus: 300

140/100/60 ( 120/80/40)

50

Allows targeting allied heroes. While Morphed, you gain Cast Range increase.

Modifiers

modifier_morphling_replicate_manager: Dispellable with death only.

modifier_morphling_replicate: Dispellable with death only.

modifier_morphling_scepter: Dispellable with death only.

modifier_morphling_replicate_morphed_illusions_effect: Dispellable with death only.

Staring into Morphling produces a reflection that mimics the beholder.

Notes:

• Does not replace Morphling with a clone of the target. Morph only copies the target's model (including the cosmetic items they wear).
  • This means he is still registered as Morphling, so that innate passive abilities of the target are not gained.
  • For example, when morphing into Faceless Void, Morphling still gets frozen by Chronosphere.
  • This also means that Morphling can still be killed normally in the morphed form, since it is still him and not a separate clone or illusion.
  • Morphling is visually distinguishable from the original hero while morphed.
  • Buffs and debuffs Morphling receives during it stay on him upon unmorphing.
  • Most channeling abilities are interrupted upon unmorphing, except for Phase Shift, Upheaval, and item abilities.

• Morphling keeps his current health and mana percentages upon morphing. He does not copy the target's current health or mana.

• Also copies the target's attribute values, primary attribute, movement speed, attack range and range type.
  • This means when targeting a melee strength hero, Morphling becomes a melee strength hero for the duration.
  • Only copies the target's base attributes. Bonus attributes from abilities and items are not copied.
  • All other base stats (e.g. attack values, armor, magic resistance, etc) are not copied either.

• Removes Morphling's abilities and replaces them with the target's non-ultimate abilities, including their passive abilities.
  • This includes every sub-ability and even abilities granted by Aghanim's Scepter and Aghanim's Shard, except for Second Chakram, since that one is bound to the ultimate.
  • This also includes abilities Invoker had invoked, or any non-ultimate ability Rubick had stolen upon morphing into them.

• Morphling keeps his own items during Morph, he does not copy the target's items.
  • This means when Morphling has Aghanim's Scepter or Aghanim's Shard, it upgrades every upgradable ability copied with Morph.
  • Talents are not copied, any talent the target has which upgrades their abilities is not applied to Morphling's copied abilities.

• Can only be cast on enemy heroes, including illusions and clones. Cannot be cast on creep-heroes.
  • When cast on illusions, it copies the hero who owns the illusion, and not the hero the illusion is based on.
  • This means when targeting e.g. 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 an own illusion and can still not be targeted.

• The mana loss reduction stacks additively with all other sources of mana loss reduction.

• With Aghanim's Scepter, Morph can also target allied heroes, with the same rules as above.

• This ability is not available in Ability Draft.

Morph Replicate

▶️R?

Ability
No Target

Affects
Self

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

Cast Animation: 0+0

1

0

Notes:

• Morph Replicate replaces Morph until it expires.
  • The legacy Hotkey for Morph Replicate is also the legacy key of the target's ultimate ability.

• Morph Replicate 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.

• Whenever Morphling shifts back into the target, he re-copies all their abilities.
  • This means if the target leveled up their abilities, Morphling now copies the new level as well.
  • This also means if the target learned or acquired new abilities (e.g. Invoker invoked new abilities), Morphling copies the new abilities.

Talents

Hero Talents
Attribute Shift While Stunned	25	2 Waveform Charges
Waveform Attacks Targets	20	+20 Strength
+15 Agility	15	+16s Morph Duration
+250 Waveform Range	10	+15% Magic Resistance

Notes:

• The magic resistance talent stacks multiplicatively with other sources of magic resistance.
  • Increases Morphling's magic resistance to 36.25%.

• The agility talent effectively grants Morphling 2.5 armor, 15 attack speed, and 15 attack damage.

• The strength talent effectively grants Morphling 400 health and 2 health regeneration.

Recent Changes

Main Article: Morphling/Changelogs

Version

Description

7.29c

• Reduced agility gain from 4.3 to 4.1.

7.29

• Increased base intelligence and gain from 15 + 1.5 to 19 + 1.8.
• Reduced Waveform mana cost from 150/155/160/165 to 140 on each level.
• Reduced Adaptive Strike mana cost from 80 on each level to 50/60/70/80.
• Attribute Shift
  • Now costs 10 mana per second to shift attributes.
  • Rescaled shift rate per second from 1/4/10/25 to 3/6/12/24.
• Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
  • No longer removes the 3-second shared cooldown between the two Adaptive Strike abilities.
  • Now also increases Adaptive Strike (Strength) stun duration by 1.
• Talents:

Level 10 left talent: +275 Waveform cast range/distance reduced to +250.

Level 10 right talent changed: +10 agility ➜ +15% magic resistance.

Level 15 left talent changed: +30 attack speed ➜ +15 agility.

Level 20 right talent changed: 12% cooldown reduction ➜ +20 strength.

Level 25 left talent changed: +30 strength ➜ Attribute Shift becomes castable while stunned.

7.28c

• Rescaled Morph cooldown from 160/100/40 to 140/100/60.
• Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
  • Morph
    • Now also reduces cooldown by 20 seconds.
    • Reduced cast range bonus from 600 to 300.

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.

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.
• Ethereal Blade scales up Adaptive Strike (Agility) with bonus agility while reducing enemy magic resistance, bursting most heroes in the mid game. Furthermore, Morphling can disassemble it to make Butterfly for late game.

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).
• Aghanim's Scepter can be a decent pickup, granting you even higher versatility due to its bonuses (cast range increase and the ability to Morph into allies).

Gameplay

Roles:	Carry Escape Durable Nuker Disabler
Complexity:	★★★
Playstyle:	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 his attributes to match his needs, Shifting between potent attacker, and resilient survivor. He blasts enemies with Adaptive Strikes, violent bursts of water that sting or stun, depending on his composition. When needed, Morphling surges forward in Waveform, battering foes while passing through obstacles. The power to Morph into an exact replica of any hero is his greatest asset, confounding enemies before destroying them with their ally's abilities.

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio

Responses

Sounds

History

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

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