Phoenix - Rise from the Ashes

Introduction

Hello I am Zerak and welcome to my guide to Phoenix! This guide is mainly for those who struggle with items and skill builds and you should be the one to collect knowledge about what enemies you are effective and ineffective against. However the item/skill builds may seem straight forward as always do this but I would like to express my opinion that you should build your hero according to the situation e.g. if you already have a urn of shadows you would not go buy another. Also note that Items you pick up on your way are core items unless the guide says to sell it otherwise. Situational items are there for if you can't get one of the core items or you have gold lying around. Another note is that the "Gold Eludes me" build is simply there for when you are not getting any last hits or kills. A final note; buy boots as your first core item.

Overview

So basically Phoenix is one big nuking machine that deals damage over time compared to the normal instant damage of say Lina or Leshrac. Instead Phoenix's abilities deal damage over time and have other side effects which are also useful. Phoenix is not a hero who needs a lot of items to be effective as he has an inbuilt escaping mechanism, Icarus Dive. Does not need to go back to the fountain once he reaches level 6 due to Supernova. Can reduce an opposition's attack speed during team fights thanks to Fire Spirits. Finally his 3rd ability Sun Ray deals damage to the enemy while also healing team mates, at the cost of his own health. Phoenix can also be a threat early on to squishy hero's such as Drow Ranger as Fire Spirits will slow their attack speed and also reduce their health to dangerous levels.

Lore

Alone across an untouched darkness gleamed the Keeper's first sun, a singular point of conscious light fated to spread warmth into the empty void. Through aeons beyond count this blinding beacon set to coalescing its incalculable energy before bursting forth the cataclysmic flare of supernova. From this inferno raced new beacons, star progeny identical to its parent, who journeyed an unlit ocean and settled in constellatory array. In time, they too would be made to propagate through supernova flame. So would this dazzling cycle of birth and rebirth repeat until all skies hewn of Titan toil deigned to twinkle and shine.

By this ageless crucible the star that mortals would come to call Phoenix collapsed into being, and like its ancestors was thrust into an endless cosmos to find a place among its stellar brethren. Yet curiosity toward that which the dimming elders comfort in the darkness consumed the fledgling, and so over long cycles it inquired and studied. It learned that among worlds both whole and broken would soon stir a nexus of remarkable variety locked in an enduring conflict of cosmic consequence, a plane which would find itself in need of more influence than a dying sun's distant rays could provide. Thus this infant son of suns took terrestrial form, eagerly traveling to shine its warmth upon those who may need it most, and perhaps seize upon its solar destiny.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

-Good for harassing enemies early on
-Inbuilt escape mechanism
-Can get an easy first blood with a good partner
-doesn't need copious amounts of gold to be useful
-Reasonable strength gain (2.9 per level)
-Spells have other effects beside just damage.

Cons:

-0 base armour rating
-Terrible agility gain (1.3 per level)
-Spells cost health to cast (except ult)
-Can run out of mana without some for of regen
-Has the same base movement speed as Axe or Sniper

Skills

Icarus Dive

Phoenix's chasing/escaping ability, it has a range of 1400 and a radius of 200 while costing 15% of your current health. This skill can be interrupted by pressing Q again during flight and as such can be used to get closer to a fleeing enemy through out all stages of the game as well as (if you hit them) burning them for 10/30/50/70 damage per second lasting 4 seconds. It will also slow affected units by 25% and as such very useful for chasing down other heroes. Also while in flight, you can throw Fire Spirits if you activated the spell previous to using Icarus Dive.

However be careful to initiate or harass an entire enemy team if they have stuns or anything to interrupt the flight as you will be stuck in the middle of them. Silences will also disable you from cancelling the flight if you're silenced when you start the flight... basically stopping your quick getaway. You can also use Icarus Dive to move through impassable terrain and also get yourself stuck there by stopping it if you so desire. Great for getting out of reach to use either your ult without enemy heroes auto-attacking or your tp scroll to return to the fountain.

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Fire Spirits

Fire Spirits, the wonderful little balls of fire used for harassing and stopping enemy heroes from auto-attacking you to bits. Early game it will hurt squishy heroes very hard and will allow for early kills. Mid-Late game they can be used to stop hard carries from attacking at a speed they would love to use from all those farmed items... poor them. The burning lasts 4 seconds and deals 10/30/50/70 damage per second and slows attack speed by 80/100/120/140 for those 4 seconds. It has a long cast range to so make full use of it.

However at the cost of 110 mana at level 4 and 20% of your current health, it is not advisable to use this when you are being ganked. Simply escape with Icarus Dive. Another note to point out is that you get 4 of them when using the spell that last for 16 seconds so you don't have to use them all at once. You can use one wait for the duration to end, then the next etc. Another point to notice is you have to press W to activate one spirit and then select the area you want to target. Did I mention it has an AoE? Well it does so don't waste it single creeps... it is not worth it.

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Sun Ray

Your 3rd ability and nuke which will hurt a lot if the full duration is applied during mid-early late game, especially if you have a Heart of Tarrasque. The damage basis of this ability is 15/20/25/30 per second + 1%/2%/3%/4% of the enemies max health as damage per second. Building a heart helps because you won't loose your entire amount of health if the heart remains active and so you can go around spamming it without consequence.

Another point about this is when you activate it costs 100 mana and the 6% of your health from then onwards. Ideally you should use it in a team fight as it heals you team mates half of the damage which is being dealt to you enemies per second. It also has a massive range of 1300 with a radius of 130 so you don't need to be close to use it. You also control where it is aimed while activated by right clicking as you will be immobile unless you active the slow moving mode with D. You can also cancel Sun Ray during the duration by pressing E again.

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Supernova

Now the namesake for this guide, Phoenix's ult or ultimate ability. To sum it up in a nutshell you turn into a massive ball of fire with a Radiance effect active. And also once the 6 seconds of waiting is over you return with full health and mana. No need to return to the fountain now. However be careful using this as it takes 5/7/10 hits (scaling per level) to kill you. So from going to a tank (if you have a heart) you become food for the enemy carry. So don't use it when the whole enemy teams is against just you.

Items: Offlane/Harrasment

Starting items:

- Tango: Quiet simply you need some form of health to survive harassment and other incidents.

- Healing Salve: For when you survive a gank or near death early on.

- Ring of Protection: Phoenix has 0 base armour, clearly going offlane with 0 armour is not the brightest move around. It will help with building those Tranquil Boots

- Magic Stick: Now I know people are divided about this but it is very useful in both keeping health up and mana, if they are spamming spells. Plus as soon as you get around ten charges or so you can turn a steady 1 v 1 in your favour.

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Early Game:

- Magic Wand: Some nice stats and those extra charges can really help, not only will it get you closer to having an extra armour value, you can keep yourself alive after ganks or while running away.

- Boots of Speed: You need more movement speed. Simple. It also will be used to create the Tranquil Boots later.

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Mid Game:

- Tranquil Boots: I have heard some people disagreeing with building these on Phoenix which to me sounds silly. It's basically your own little Heart of Terrasque for mid game (or early if you buy it before Soul Ring)so that you can survive from spamming those spells. It may prevent you from farming between times but really? If you can stay out of right-click range, you'll have plenty of health in around 20 seconds to start farming again and you don't miss out on exp.

- Blink Dagger: Since the buff on this item it becomes a lot more useful. Why get Blink Dagger on Phoenix? Well it allows you to escape almost effortlessly when combine with Icarus Dive and also allows you to blink into unreachable places then ult and watch you hapless enemies below suffer.

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Late Game:

- Heart of Tarrasque: Why? There should be no why because this item is built for Phoenix. It gives you around 1000 health and allows you to use your Sun Ray without draining your health to dangerous levels. In fact it allows you to not loose health when combined with Tranquil Boots (when active) while using Sun Ray. So it turns farming creep waves into a walk down the street and also means that the enemy is going to be always looking at a ray of fire :3

Items: Midlane/Ganking

Starting Items:

- Tango
- Healing Salve
- Ring of Protection: Armour simple. You won't survive mid without it. You can sell it later once you have a Buckler

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Early-Mid Game:

- Bottle: RUSH RUSH RUSH!!! A bottle is useful in both ganking and holding your lane. Due to the fact you should be spamming Fire Spirits you will need a top up in health and mana. The bottle gives this so when the time comes to Icarus Dive in to get the kill, you have enough health to pull it off.

- Boots of Speed: You're slow. Face it and move on.

- Null Talisman: A couple of extra stats and the extra damage are not very useful but this will be used to create Veil of Discord later on.

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Core Items:

- Phase Boots: Why the phase boots? Why not Tranquil Boots? Well quite simply, Mekansm covers the health issues along with the Bottle and you need some form of chasing down people. The extra damage is good for last-hitting and also getting the final hit when an opposing hero runs away.

- Veil of Discord: It gives you health regen, armour and a nice debuff to place on enemies in a team fight to make your abilities hurt that bit more. Not much more needs to be said.

- Mekansm: Health regen, armour and a buff for you and your teammates, it is quite useful because of the various situations that this can be used in.

- Heart of Tarrasque: More tankiness and more health so you can keep spamming those spells.

Items: Support (Safe lane)

Starting Items:

-Courier: Obviously if you're going to be a support buy this unless someone else does.

- Tango: Why two sets? You can share them firstly so you can keep your carry filled up on health and yourself without having to worry.

- Healing Salve: Save your carry or yourself.

- Iron Branch: Nice little stat gain and you are going to build them into Mekansm.

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Early-Mid Items:
- Flying Courier: Well everybody loves wings. The courier is no exception.

- Headdress: Health regen buff for you and your teammates, keep that carry alive!

- Bracer: Small amount of health and will be used to make Drum of Endurance.

- Boots of Speed: For the last time. YOU ARE SLOW!!

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Core items:

- Mekansm: Health regen, armour and grants 250 health to nearby teammates upon activation. Useful to keep your carry alive.

- Drum of Endurance: Well this fits well for a support, it grants a speed boost and attack speed boost passively. Phoenix needs both and it also helps you teammates move around quicker as well as that extra attack speed for taking towers.

- Tranquil Boots: You need health regen and speed. Plus you won't be last hitting so it works well.

Items: Situational

- Heaven's Halberd: Gives you evasion which works while you use your ult. It also gives you extra health and can be used to turn an enemy carry such as Troll Warlord into a useless figure standing around.

- Force Staff: Well it gives you hp regen so that must be good. It can also be used to escape, catch up or even to start a team fight buy launching the enemy carry towards your team. (If you get it right)

- Eul's Scepter of Divinity: BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED!! Just what Phoenix needs. It also has the handy use of disabling someone for 2 seconds.

- Rod of Atos: Bonus health and the ability to slow escapists down? Just what you need!

- Urn of Shadows: A cheaper alternative to Mekansm, it can be used to health individuals and keep you mana supply up.

- Medallion of Courage: A relatively cheap method of gaining more armour, however when active it makes you loose armour, so be careful. However it gives +50% mana regen so it can be an alternative for Urn of Shadows in the sense of mana regen. Also allows early Roshan is also possible.

Gameplay

Early Game!!!

Game play for Phoenix is pretty simple. Reach level three, spam Fire Spirits and then Icarus Dive in to secure the kill. If you have a teammate who has a stun even better. Somethings to be careful about is that you don't need a lot of last hits. Another point is you don't want to Icarus Dive under there tower, Dive near the edge so to get within right clicky range and hope that you kill them, and you don't get killed. This will take practice with judging when and how to do it along with pulling it off.

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Mid Game!!!

Ok, you should be getting kills relatively easily if you had a good early game otherwise you will have to organise ganks amongst your team. If you had a successful early game with around 2-3 kills per death you should be leveled enough with sufficient items to kill people by yourself (1 at a time) and avoid those with stuns. Your screwed basically then.

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Late Game!!!

Heart, Blink, Tranquil and TP scroll is my favourite for late game. Dive in, Sun Ray them to death. Blink out. More detailed game play is basically use Sun Ray to push lanes as it will heal your creeps and kill theirs. Amass an army of creeps to slaughter the tower. You should also ward if no one is because being ganked with a stun like Dragon Knight's will hurt you due to you don't have enough time to escape.

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TEAM FIGHTS!!!!!! PARTAY!

So in a team fight, you should aim to initiate with Icarus Dive if their all grouped together to cause so disturbance and damage over time. Then spam those Fire Spirits to slow their farmed attack speed and deal more damage over time. If you have Tranquil Boots then hide behind your team and use Sun Ray, as it will heal you mates, hurt them and it has a massive range. USE It!!! If the fight is still going. Blink into the middle of it then ult. Make them suffer.
A note on team fights is that this is a basic overview of an ideal situation. You may have to do things in different orders. Only practice and experience will tell you what to do.

Friends and Foes

Friends:

Anyone who can put the whole enemy team together for you to spam your spells on.
A small list of good friends that can combine well to hurt them even more;


What's worse than Fatal Bonds and a massive flaming golem? Well how about all your spells dealing damage over time applied to their whole team! Sit back and watch the gold role in.


What's more fun than having a Puck running around causing madness? Well Puck and Phoenix running around causing havoc together! Two heroes that if aren't countered well may just end up ganking and then running away laughing with ease.


Not a stand out friend but his Decrepify will help your spells hurt their carry even more throughout the game.


Surprise! Your in a dual lane facing four enemies! What joy you're even stunned and have slow attack speed. I think you're all getting the idea of how this works? Icarus Dive in when Spirit Breaker arrives and watch their face fall.


His Reverse Polarity is really useful for when you ult as to stop you being torn apart along with maximizing the damage output on the whole other team and the stun and the end. Engima with Black Hole has the same principle if he can land a 5 man Black Hole

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Foes:

Anyone who has a disable to screw up your Icarus Dive eg; , , etc.

Anyone who can silence you such as; , , etc.

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Hero's to actively avoid and never pick Phoenix against:

This guy gets a mention because if you get caught by his ult, you can't use yours and then there is his health degeneration ability. Not your best friend.


Well my friend boats are no thing to laugh at, and neither is his X Marks the Spot, if he times it well, your Blink Dagger + Icarus Dive escape maneuver will be for naught and you basically screwed.


Imagine this; You activate Icarus Dive, he activates Rupture. You complete the circuit due to lag. Your dead. Getting the picture here? Also his silence can stop you from screwing team fights up... as well not using your ult.


POOF! and all his clones are there and you have your ult activated... your screwed don't deny it. And then there are his nets + clones. What a wonderful way to die, a flaming bird trapped in a net and beaten to death by a shovel. Das a bad Meepo.


No good pulling off your amazing escape maneuver with Assassinate counting down, you may as well have died for a support or better yet a neutral creep.

I think you got the picture by now of Phoenix's weaknesses fairly well.

Summary

Well to sum it all up, this is a guide for Phoenix and you should not follow it like safety instructions. Learn and develop your own special way of play him. Phoenix isn't overly difficult, he just takes time to perfect the timing of skills and when to pick him for that matter. Remember! Phoenix IS NOT A CARRY!! HE IS A SUPPORT AND GANKER!! Not much else can be said except learn from your mistakes and ask questions. Anything this guide doesn't cover or isn't explained to your liking? Post a comment and I shall update it.

Also if you have success using my guide let me know through steam or comment. Then I will make a new section (yes another) dedicated to people who have had success.