Phoenix - All Rounded Support Build

I don't understand how one could farm with Fire Spirits - a good lane opponent will just deny you a lot, since he can time the denies between your Fire Spirits ticks.

I would never give Phoenix safe-lane farm either - she just doesn't scale well compared to even some of the semi-carries out there (even Lina scales better because of her sudden burst and attack speed bonus).

However...

Playing around with Phoenix lately, I've found that he requires enough farm to require being a mid, so that he can be effective early game, when her spells are most effective (especially pre-BKB). I've had several other players also tell me this when I've tried to play Phoenix as a support. She needs to scale early and hard, getting a few early items like you mentioned (Urn, Boots, Sange into Halberd, or BKB).

I've seen some guides suggest Phase Boots instead of Tranquil Boots, and it seems like a good idea - I also often find my boots to stay broken for too long. However, keep in mind that Phoenix also needs the armor, and already has decent base damage.

I would never buy a Quelling Blade on a ranged hero (+12% damage is about 5 extra at level 1 for Phoenix). Gauntlet and 2-3 Iron Branches are just as good (+5-6 damage) and can be turned into your next items. Yes, Quelling scales, but so what? By the time it matters, the laning phase is over.

I also agree that Shiva's Guard is a great item, with the same drawback that the Mystic Staff is hard to get and not all that beneficial by itself. Heart is better, if you can save up for the Reaver.

I am intrigued by early Sun Ray instead of Fire Spirits, but I think it highly depends on whether you have some teammates with AOE lockdown or slowing, permitting a sustained Sun Ray. Otherwise, it's too easy for opponents to run out of it, or spread out enough that you're only hitting 1 target, in which case you're taking as much damage as you're inflicting (no real gain there).

I see thank you. :) x

Don't give this Hero safelane farm. He doesn't scale at all with items, and he doesnt need them more than a real carry. Don't buy queling blade for a ranged Hero.

The early-game healing item like Tranquil gives Phoenix the early-mid game presence that he needs if he is going mid. And without carrying three stacks of tangos from level 1 or running to fountain every couple of minutes there really is no viable alternative to building it. mid-late game you're really only using tranquil for the lil bit of regen and movement speed when/if you have to roam/rotate without TPs.

I admit tranquil boots really suck for heroes that need to farm / last hit. You can never benefit from the +12 HP regen and 30 move speed because each time you attack or get attack, you lose those passive benefits for 13 seconds.

But it's great to heal up if you're just standing still and not attacking. That's where I find it helps Phoenix, especially at low levels (1 to 8). Sit far back, don't attack and just cast Fire Spirits to farm. You can sunray to harass and still be getting the +12 HP regen. And if things get hairy, dive away. You should be in really low health after this combo, but you should have killed some creeps in the process from all the AOE burn damage, so just sit there and heal up from the Tranquil Boots. You'll be back to Green health in no time and you can farm again using your skills.

Shivas is a great item with the armor, slow aura and frost blast. But I find it hard to save up that initial $2,700 for the Mystic Staff that does not give Phoenix anything other than mana. That's the painful part at least for me.

For Sheep Stick, it's the same reasoning because of that Mystic Staff. The ultimate Orb is nice though, but the rest of the items to farm takes some time.

Heart is totally viable, sorry I left that out in my guide. It's great to make you tanky and the life regen is awesome. Good strength gain for damage output as well. The Big item to save for is Reaver ($3,200). If you are having difficulty reaching that then, Assault Cuirass can be an alternative tanky item.

Late game I would really want to increase the Damage and Tankyness of Phoenix because I would expect enemies to have gotten a BKB which would make all his spells useless for that time. Shivas also wouldn't be effective here as well. So it's better to hit harder with damage items when BKB is popped and when their BKB runs out, finish them off with spells.

No one mentions how bad Tranquil Boots is yet?

ever since the patch where they changed how tranqs work, they became pretty much useless for most heroes (though they definitely improved for early roaming supports like Crystal Maiden). Even if you would play Phoenix as a support, playing him this way is pretty ineffective because of the lack of CC.

I personally prefer just raw boots (or arcane/treads at times) just for the necessary movement speed.

Well, last-hitting in lane isn't the only way for supports to get gold- You can stack/pull creep waves and farm out the jungle, or roam to gank.

In any case, it really sounds like he means to lane KFC with a semi-carry, someone not as reliant on gold to play well. Either that, or he's implying he's having KFC played as either a semi-carry or semi-support.

In my opinion, since he seems more gold than xp dependent (especially after 6), KFC might be better off as an aggressive tri-lane hero who focuses on stacking/pulling + farming jungle.

I don't understand why phoenix should be played as a farmer/mid. With few levels and no items you can set up ganks with ease and harass your lane opponents. I really do not understand why you do not mention Shiva's Guard since it's attack slow aura works during your ultimate and combined with your spirits will secure your rebirth. Also the late game item choices are poor imho: why not heart or sheep? With your extremely low agi gain you can't expect to attack fast enough to get crits and even if you buy attack speed items during teamfights and ganks you will be casting spells most of the time.