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Iron Branch
Circlet
Slippers of Agility
Tango
Healing Salve
Boots of Speed
Wraith Band
Magic Wand
Tranquil Boots
Ring of Aquila
Power Treads
Ethereal Blade
Soul Ring
Yasha
Manta Style
Butterfly
Satanic
Black King Bar
Eye of Skadi
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Hi - this is my first guide so don't hate.
Morph is one of my favorite heroes, but more importantly, he's a powerful hard carry who's run into a few nerfs in 6.75. I hope that these ideas can help with a few of the problems that Morph faces while not significantly changing his build.
Notes (important):
- This guide focuses on a shotgun build for pubs. That's not to say that skipping Ethereal for a more traditional carry build is bad. In fact, it's a bit more viable given the 6.75 changes.
- The hybrid build is not for mid lane.
- Item builds at the top are not completely inflexible and are discussed below.
- This isn't supposed to be a full guide on learning Morphling, but for the sake of completeness I'll fill out some details. Gameplay and skill mechanics in particular will be glossed over.
A quick reminder of the 6.75 nerfs:
- Cast animation time increased from 0.3 to 0.45 (0.4 in 6.76)
- Morph manacost increased from 20 to 30 mana per second
- Base damage decreased by 6
- Waveform AoE decreased from 255 to 200
- Waveform no longer allows you to start attacking/casting before it is completed
Also, an indirect nerf (Ethereal Blade):
- Ether Blast manacost increased from 50 to 150
There's not much to be done about the hero mechanics except clean up your play, but Morph's manacost, Ethereal's manacost, and the hero's base damage can be addressed.
Waveform
It's your nuke and primary escape. Gives you even more reason to always carry a TP as waving into the woods then porting out is much safer than normal juking for a TP chance. Max it early because the damage is most relevant early. Remember that the full range is (1000) is available level 1. Just be careful using it because of the reduced AoE.
adaptive strike
A scaling nuke or a full-fledged stun, depending on how you use it. Primarily used as a nuke, it's sensible to max last because the damage scales with your agility. Taking one point of it at level 9 (over stats) is advisable for interrupting channels.
morph agility gain / morph strength gain
Playing with stats is fun and useful at all stages of the game. The included stat gains make this viable over straight stat points early. You can take this over Waveform level 1 if you feel safe and want more last hitting power. Remember that the increased manacost means that excessive use is a bit less forgiving.
replicate
Your ultimate can be used for mobility, mind games, positioning, and more. It's versatile, but you generally won't find it very useful at level 6. nor will you have the mana to support it if you want to do something other than make a trip to base.
Starting
Depending on what you want to complete first, take either the listed Circlet or two Branches in its place. This set of items gives you +6 agility and +3 other stats along with HP regen.
Early
If you're last hitting well, then early Boots gets your movespeed out of the garbage. Otherwise, complete either 1) a Wand to take advantage of lane enemies who spam spells or 2) a Wraith Band for extra last hitting power (+3 damage over the parts).
If you're mid, picking up a Bottle helps your early game a fair amount.
Hybrid
Remember that this build is not for mid lane.
This is where the theorycrafting comes into play. Tranquil Boots are a stepping stone (plan on disassembling it) that gives:
- An extra boost to your subpar movespeed
- A mini-Ring of Health with an active mini-Salve
These will help you stay in lane early, and you can disassemble them quickly or a bit later depending on 1) your farm and 2) your lane partner's ability to give you mana.
If you need early mana, disassemble them once you have the rest of Aquila and perhaps some of Treads. Complete your Aquila and finish Treads while holding on to the Ring of Regen as it still functions as a mini-RoH.
Otherwise, feel free to hang onto them, even until you've farmed an Eaglesong (although this is probably a bit late to feel Aquila's effectiveness - you can sell the extra RoP later if you want Aquila and Tranquils). It's probably best to disassemble them no later than this point because the attack speed from Treads matters a bit more with 25 extra agility on board.
Depending on your needs, you can complete Soul Ring before or after Ethereal, or even during it. this item adds minor mana regen to the minor HP regen you've been enjoying and lets you use Ethereal and your other skills more with its active.
Alternative
Finish your Aquila and Treads, then pick up a Ring of Health for survivability. Your goal is to farm an Ethereal Blade quickly, but picking up the rest of Perseverance will give you 10 more damage and the mana to use your skills more often. The combined regen from Perseverance even lets you jungle if you need it.
Core/Luxury
You should be able to pop squishies with Ethereal, especially once you've maxed Adaptive Strike, and varying the build is easiest at this point. You can take Yasha and build Manta if you want, which will amplify your damage output both with Ethereal and physical attacks. Finishing Linken's is a good idea if you picked up Perseverance. Depending on the game, you can build any of the listed luxury items or other ones as hero/item counters (MKB comes to mind).
I don't claim this idea to be superior, I just wanted to get it out there. I know that the items in it have been tried on Morph, but they seem more relevant with the changes in 6.75. It really seems like you need a reliable mana source (be it Soul Ring or early Perseverance) now that Morph and Ethereal are more mana-intensive. Constructive comments, feedback, etc are appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
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