[6.82] It's raining BIRDS... HALLELUJAH!

No, Focus Fire does not work for Nova.

Phoenix is my fav hero and many consider me best phoenix they saw.

I don't have abilities to create a build (i can write down text so if someone would like to arrange it - i ll be grateful)
I don't consider phoenix support. More like semi-carry, semi-support, semi- tank. Initiator, ganker, chaser.

In case of build i prefer to buy boots + tango + clarity at start. And go for firespirits. Then rush tranquil, urn of shadows, sange, halberd, heart of terrasque, bkb, assault cuirass. Sometimes blink, and other items depending on situation.

gotta take Mek off the list of useful items on PHX... since phoenix is Str based, he has about 500 mana at lvl 10-13, mek costs 225 mana, so whenever you use mek after being down 110 mana from your flame spirits Save! + Mek!, you're in a very bad situation. You can't counter initiate back on low HP enemies 30 secs later because now you have less than 310 mana, Its better to just go veil with its HP regen first, then if nukes are a problem, pipe for your team and HP regen, very nice to drop pipe on teammates, THEN initiate. Btw instead of veil you can substitute various first utility items after boots + wand depending on the enemy:

Void/Abaddon: HH
Meepo: dagon
Nyx: your sunray is now cancelled unless you have BKB

special mentions to different enemy approaches
Troll: Level 1 nova is the best nova, level up sunray, flamespirts and stay very far back, and you're terrible for getting counterpicked
Brewmaster: your ult and abilities are now useless until they're useless from lvl 1 to lvl 16, nothing will work because brew will right click you and not care.
Mirana: Ulted and now you're nova doesn't matter, dust first before nova


Also, Huskar is another nightmare for PHX, kills egg everytime.

eh, i dunno, i always start with tango+ ring right off, shiva's is alright but... I always go with a utility item first, like veil or HH(vs void), if no ranged utility item works I may go mek, but mek is a truly awful item for phoenix, early on when its useful, it takes out 1/2 your mana pool, making you unable to combo, Urn is a better choice if you need to heal teammates. If i have the option at 8 mins, midas, and then i start building to heart after utility items are finished.

thanks for this great guide but why i cannot rate this guide +1

Alchemist is a pretty big threat too. Aside from that, I enjoyed the fact that you mentioned Aghanim's Scepter on Phoenix, if only briefly.

Ok, there are many abilities that grant temporal attack speed, if that were the case, even a carry Lina can outtake a Supernova by herself after three casts. You have to take into account the whole hero, not only his ulti. Meepo for instance, its a hard counter not only because of his clones, but because Phoenix can't concentrate damage in only one. To be honest, if you can own a meepo, its because the other guy didn't pull off a good puff micromanagement.

Agreed, i should included him as a special mention. In my experience, I've always went well againt Huskar, because I harrass him a lot early on, both heroes use health and are very aggresive at the laning stage, only the smartest will win. If he catchs you alone with his ulti, you should dive away, its a common mistake to use nova as a panic button without thinking.



You dont get any benefit from the attack speed of treads. Tranquils are better if things are hard. And of course, after mek you can go with the situational items instead of BOT, there is no cookie cutter build for Phoenix =P

Did Windranger Focus Fire will hits rapidly on the egg?. Just talking

you should include huskar as an enemy. yes, the sun ray does pure damage, but everything else is magic DOT (aka useless against huskar), and when huskar's HP is down his attack speed is plenty to take out a nova by himself.

also, I tend to go power treads for the utility. if you have the funds late game, sure, get some BOT's, but those things are expensive and phoenix is not a split pusher. rather get some utility like pipe (I tend to get that together with the mek) or force staff.

also, if you get some early mana regen you can spam spirits, which makes for excellent lane control.

Indeed, thats the proper way to harrass and gank. As I mentioned, using dive can secure a kill once you see that the enemy has low HP. But later on, your teammates should have more burst damage (magic or physical). That's not a problem though, for your carries needs the kills more than you, specially if things are going even.

Well, being a ranged hero, with a spammable long range nuke, and a lvl 1 escape mechanism, I don't see why Phoenix needs armor from the very beginning. I prefer to balance the HP loss of your abilities with regen. Nevertheless, if you want to feel safer, your only option is a Ring of Protection, which can be upgraded to tranquils (not what this guide is aimed for). Take into account that this is only a 10% damage reduction, which in lvl 1 means 5-6 HP saved per hit... Before doing maths, I'd rather dive away =P, but that's my opinion!

By the way, I fixed the explanation of shiva's. Thanks for the feedback.

I think Pheonix can play roles outside of support and can get kills quite effectivly used right.

I usually play him as a hunter so my usual killing combo is :
1. Harass alot with auto attacks
2. Use spirits
3. Use icarus dive
4. Fire all your spirits at them while using icarus dive.
5. use supernova if needed