6.80 Aggressive Support Phoenix

Introduction

Phoenix is a very powerful and aggressive support hero. The range and combos of his abilities make him a very powerful laner opening up many doors for you, and your partner(s) to get kills in lane. If anything goes wrong he also has a very good escape tool in his Icarus Dive. He is a tough hero to play at first, but stick with him and you two will fly places.

Abilities

Phoenix dives forward in an arc with a fixed distance in the targeted direction, dealing damage over time and slowing the movement speed of any units he comes into contact with, and then orbiting back to his original position.

You can cancel the dive at anytime. This can allow you to quickly get behind an opponent, cutting of his escape route.

You can use items and abilities while this skill is active. That means that you can (almost) safely swoop over and drop your Fire Spirits on your opponent.

You can still be stunned and rooted while Icarus Dive is in use so be careful against opponents that know what they are doing.

Summons 4 fire spirits that circle around you. Each spirit can be launched independently at a targeted area of effect. Affected enemy units take damage over time and have their attack speed greatly reduced.

This is an amazing ability that combos well with Icarus Dive. Save harassing with abilities until you reach level two and are able to have Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits. This combo will do decent damage as well as making it more difficult for the opponent to farm.

The spirits do not stack on enemy units, so it's important that you wait a few seconds before applying the next spirit for maximum results.

Phoenix expels a huge beam of light at the cost of his own life energy. The beam damages enemies for a percentage of their life and heals allies for half the amount. Damage scales up to twice the initial damage as the beam fires. Costs 6% of current health per second.

Sun Ray does some really decent damage and with Toggle Move you can keep it up. It can be a little tricky to learn Toggle Move at first but try using it once you're comfortable.

Sun Ray works really well against any hero with a lock in ability as long as you're not the one being locked in of course. It does a really great job against Legion Commander as you can heal and do damage while the dual is going on.

You can use AoE items while Sun Ray is active, but you cannot use a target point item.

You can use your Icarus Dive as well as Fire Spirits while Sun Ray is active.

Phoenix transforms into a burning sun that scorches enemies in a huge area. The sun can be attacked by enemy heroes; if it is destroyed, the Phoenix dies as well. However, if the sun survives for 6 seconds all enemies in range will be stunned and the Phoenix will return to life fully regenerated.

Your first three abilities will be reset once the sun touches down you are reborn.

Illusions will not work on Phoenix's sun.

If you hit your enemies with Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits then they will not be able to run away from or attack the sun, causing them to take its damage.

Positioning yourself well and using Supernova is a team fight can really help your team, especially if your abilities are all of cool down. Once they see the sun, they will either start attacking it, or they will flee from it allowing your allies extra time to do damage while not being attacked.

Starting Build Items

[*] You're a support so it's your job to either buy the courier or a set or wards (or both) before you leave the fountain.



[*] Wards are good for protecting your carry from ganks and showing your middle where the runes are.

NOTE: On some supports you're able to get away with buying both the courier, and the wards. Only buy one or the other with this build

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[*] Since Phoenix's abilities decrease his own health pool when they are activated, it's important to get regeneration items. I prefer to get two Tangos instead of one Tango and one Salve. This will allow you to harass the enemy in lane more effectively as well as regenerate any health that you lost from your harass.



[*] This will allow you to be a little more tanky as well as do a little more damage with right clicks. You'll build this into an Urn of Shadows later.



[*] Pick up one Clarity to sustain your mana while you're in lane. Phoenix's abilities do not use a lot of mana but after a while, you'll need it.

Early Game Items

[*] Once you can afford it, get Boots of Speed from either the Side Shop or the Main Shop.



[*] When I'm in a game, I will usually buy a courier over wards. So after I buy my Boots of Speed, I will buy a set of wards.



[*] Magic Stick and Magic Wand are great on support heroes. They are especially great on Phoenix because of his Health usage.

Core Items

[*] Since you're skipping Tranquil Boots you will need the regeneration. Since Phoenix is so aggressive you should have no problems getting charges. It is also a great support item.



[*] Mekasnm is usually a fairly early pickup. I prefer getting an Urn of Shadows on Phoenix and just letting another hero pick up mek but if the enemy team has good team fight and you're doing well with kills early, pick one up. It offers decent regeneration as well as makes you tanky.



[*] I like getting Power Treads over Tranquil Boots because they offer more on Phoenix. Str Treads will give you more damage base HP, while you can switch it over to Int Treads to regenerate a little bit of mana.



[*] Once Power Treats/Urn of Shadows/ or Mek is completed go ahead and finish up Magic Wand.









[*] Of course, pick up support items when your team needs them.

Late Game Items

[*] Linken's Sphere is a great item on Phoenix because it's able to block the majority of stuns and roots that would other wise interfere with your Icarus Dive. It's a decent support item because you can activate it on your allies. It also has much needed health and mana regeneration.



[*] Scythe of Vyse is a good late game support item because it allows you to to turn a key hero on the enemy's team into an adorable little piglet, possibly causing the flow of batter to change in your favor. If you really want to be pro, try using Icarus Dive to chase after a hero that would otherwise get away and sheeping them. It might by your team enough time to land a stun or a root.



[*] Rod of Atos slows an enemy for 60%. The example given for Icarus Dive into Scythe of Vyse is possible for Rod of Atos as well. It gives 350 Hp and +25 Int making you more tanky as well as giving you a little more mana to work with. The +350 Health will boost the power of your Sun Ray as well.



[*] Heaven's Halberd will make you more tanky as well as give you a decent amount of right click power. Its Active allows you to disarm a target for 4 seconds meaning that if you use it on the enemy carry they wont be able to attack for a few crucial seconds.



[*] Heart is a great tank item that'll give you massive health regeneration. It'll be up to you to decide if you would rather pick up Heart of get an item that'll be more beneficial to your team.



[*] Shiva's Guard is great because you're able to activate it while your Icarus Dive is active. It tanks you up, gives you some extra mana regeneration and slows the enemy team. This can be used to slow enemies so they have a harder time running out of the radius of your Supernova.

Situational Items

[*] Pipe is a good support item when you're up against a lot of magic burst damage.


[*] Blade Mail will make you more tanky as well as reflect damage back to the enemy.


[*] This is a very expensive purchase that'll help your allies. It allows you to to become more tanky as well as give you extra attack speed.


[*] Viel will amplify your magic damage. I've seen this more picked up on mid lane Phoenix's so I'm unsure if it'll work on a support build when there are so many other items to choose from.


[*] Gem works well on Phoenix because of how survivable he is. It's in my possible list because you should check and see if there is another hero on your team who is better suited to carry it.

Early Game

Phoenix is a VERY strong lane harasser. Once you hit level 2 and pick up your Fire Spirits, begin the air raid. Make sure you are cautious if the enemy laners have any kind of stun or disable when you fly over. If you are worried about being stunned while during your Icarus Dive, it would be best to just hang back. You can still use your Fire Spirits to harass since they have such a long range. It can just be a little harder to land them because they have to travel further, but at least you'll be safe. Be mindful of your creeps as well. You want to keep the creep equilibrium early game and not push, because pushing can open you up to ganks.

Once you get your Boots of Speed you can start to roam if your confident in your carry's survival. It can really help your team if you swing mid or bottom for a gank.

After Thoughts

I hope that everyone finds my guide useful and successful. I don't usually make guides but since Phoenix is a difficult hero to start playing I figured that I would lend some of my own knowledge. I may update this with more chapters in the future.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=224474471

This is a link to my guide on Steam. It's not as detailed as this guide but you can subscribe to it and it'll appear in game for you to see. If you like the guide please rate it. It's very difficult for everyday people to get their guides seen on the Workshop. Now, enough of my plugs and I hope you all have a great time playing Phoenix.

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