Lorbid's newbie guide to Phoenix

Updated guide to include Blade Mail

I agree. I love Shiva's, but I have a hard time farming it quick enough to be useful. It's usually a luxury for me. While the extra armor Platemail provides is nice, I don't find it directly useful till Shiva's Guard is complete.

I was not recommending Radiance necessarily. I was suggesting how i could see someone buying even a Radiance over an Armlet.

Also, I agree very much on Heaven's Halberd being the better option over an Armlet. I would have listed it on a core myself if Shiva's Guard did not provide it's wonderful active along with the atk speed slow.

IMO, if you're against the cheap Armlet, then go for Heaven's Halberd. Total cost: 3950

+25 Damage
+20 Strength
+25% Evasion
Passive: Lesser Maim - Your attacks have a 15% chance to slow the target's movement and attack speeds by 20% for 4 seconds.

Active: Disarm enemies 3-4 seconds

Still cheaper than either Radiance and fully upgraded Necrobook.

I'm sorry, I disagree.

I've tried Radiance, and it's only good for farming or late game pushing. The extra burn damage doesn't do squat against heroes late game.

What you want for Phoenix is extra survivability. Radiance doesn't provide that as by the time you get it, it's already late game. Blink Dagger is nice for blinking in and chasing, but when it comes to team fights, you already have an initiation with your dive.

As I've listed above, Mekanism is apart of the core of each build.
While I like Necro book,


Let's break it down economically efficiency...
Armlet of Mordiggian total cost: 2600
+9 Damage
+15 Attack Speed
+5 Armor
+7 HP/sec Regeneration
Active: Unholy Strength - Gives +31 Damage, +10 Attack Speed, and +25 Strength while active, but drains 40 HP per second. Strength gain is provided over 0.7 seconds.

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Radiance total cost: 5150
+65 Damage
Toggle: Burn Damage - Deals 50 Magical damage per second to all enemies in a 700 AoE.

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Necronomicon total cost: 2700 + 1200 + 1200 (5,100)
+15/21/24 Intelligence
+8/12/16 Strength

Active: Demonic Summoning - Summons a Necronomicon Warrior and a Necronomicon Archer to fight for you for 40 seconds. Their strength and abilities increase as Necronomicon increases in level.

Both summoned units burn mana at all levels. The warrior deals 400/500/600 pure damage to any unit that kills it, and gains 1000 AOE True Sight at level 3.

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As you can see, the Armlet is cheaper than both than Radiance and Necro book.
Also, with Armlet, you get attack speed bonus, Armor, and health Regen. The active STR on Armlet is also greater than the fully upgraded Necrobook. The only reason I'd choose Necrobook over Armlet is if I needed more pushing power and the option for True sight against invis heros.

Now, if I was only concerned about HP regen and strength, the only choice for Phoenix would be Heart, but rarely is that the only item Phoenix should be concerned with unless you're getting lots of farm.

There are a lot better items you could be getting than an Armlet. I would even recommend getting a Radiance over an armlet.

An Armlet is mostly for autoattack reliant heroes, most of whom will ony have it for short bursts of time or have some form of sustainability, such as Dragon Knight, Lifestealer, or Slardar.

What it gives to Phoenix is simply not enough to justify buying another item. Want survivability? Blink Dagger or Eul's Scepter are loads better which provide more use. Want damage? Radiance gives you a passive burn along with +60 damage. Need Regen and armor? [[Mekansm}}.
Extra strength? Necronomicon. A whole slew of different items that synergize much better with Phoenix.

Good questions all around!

FleetAU,

I get Power Treads over Tranquil Boots to be a bit more tankier. Remember the +8 STR not only allows you to have more HP, but as a STR hero, it also increases your damage of your right clicks to get those kills you wouldn't normally get after diving. The attack speed is a bonus.

Armlet is one of those items if you're snow balling will continue to help the snow ball. Also, keep in mind that when you activate armlet, you get a boost in HP if you need to tank 1 last hit to escape. Also, if you activate armlet after you dive and toss out your spirits, the increase in damage (from not only the damage boost, but the STR boost) makes you a killing machine.

Zerak Kyriam
Phase Boots isn't even an option as the escape isn't enough speed to keep Phoenix alive if you have to bolt out. While Tranquil Boots can help with escaping, when I'm aggressor, I'd rather stay in the fight and get the kill.

I don't use Sun Ray to keep my carry healed unless they're engaged in a duel or something similar where i can also damage the enemy with the blast. I find the HP drain early on is too much and makes it easy for opponents to counter gank Phoenix when your blast is done.

Timminatorr,
I get stats to be a bit more tankier earlier on. That extra HP + HP Regen makes all the world of difference in the early game. Maxing magic damage is important, but if you can't survive to get your spells off, it doesn't matter.

Why do you get stats? 0_O

A teamfight hero should probably max his magic damage right?

I agree with FleetAU another point is that if you're going mid, you would be better off with say Phase Boots because you don't need attack speed but rather escape speed. Also I'd build Tranquil Boots if you're baby sitting that way you can spam Sun Ray to keep your carry healed.

some of this confuses me a it, why on earth would you get Power Treads over Tranquil Boots and secondly why is armlet even in situational hp is something you cant afford to be draining in order to use your skills and make an impact.

Will update this to improve the formatting / readability.