Prodigy's Guide to Phantom Lancer

For me, sometimes when the team are not doing good, constantly get into team fights and lose them, I'll skip the core items entirely and rush for heart + butterfly so that I can create multiple tanks in team fights.

This build doesn't help me kill more (kills lesser in most cases actually) but most of the time as soon as I rush my heart out, which is usually at the 15~20 minutes mark, my team would suddenly do well in team fights.

However there's an disadvantage going for this build, you have to constantly find places to farm as your opponent would obviously try to gank you a lot and you would have no items to counter, maxing dopplewalk over jutapose is also a good option for the sake of fleeing constantly.

Even though I skip the cores sometimes, I would still get diffusal afterwards if I have the chance because it's still useful(mana burn and purge are fantastic!).

Nice guide +1 from me, though I have a few suggestions:
1) Can you add a different starting items, since the support are unlikely to give anything when you are solo pubing. (Well at least on my level, 350 wins)

2) You should probably get some more situational items since every game is usually different. Like Radiance (which I don't really like, but maybe if you are owning earlygame), Monkey King Bar (for heroes who get butterfly and PA), Daedalus (though damage is kindoff wasted illusions can still crit, might be a possible alternative for the EB), Linken's Sphere for nasty spells like doom, and maybe Abyssal Blade just for lolz since it is mostly useless

P.S oh and I think it might be a good idea to skip tranquils if you do not get harassed a lot in lane due to their recent nerf since they will hinder you more then help

Crit might be more useful than Eblade though.

Hmm...While I think Assault is decent, I think the most important part of building a strong late game PL is not the hero, but the heroes illusions. I find two hearts somewhat ridiculous, unless you're going up against an equally farmed late game carry like AM or Void with a Battlefury, 1 heart's worth of stats is more than enough for them to survive. For damage, true strike or crit might be good, but I've always seen success with getting AS MUCH AGILITY as possible for PL. Notice that Manta, Butterfly, and Diffusal 2 are core for him on any guide. And that's why I think, as a 6th item, Ethereal Blade is good. You don't get it for the active, but for the ridiculous PLUS 40 AGILITY that it gives you, which is the HIGHEST agility in ANY item in the whole game. It's like an improved Butterfly for your illusions, and what's even better is that you can use the active if you're being chased by an enemy with physical damage at a critical juncture in the game, like a Faceless Void about to kill you in a 70 minute game where both teams have 2 raxes down. 40 agility works wonders for your illusions, and is much better than some more HP, or True Strike. Of course, this is all situational, as you'd definetely want True Strike against someone like a PA, but in 90% of games, Ethereal Blade will serve you better (Also at this point the game's probably over :))

Listen up buddy.Ethereal is USELESS.
You have to get what you profit from most.
Try Assault,maybe another heart or even mkb
True strike ,More Attack speed and armor are always better than an item with ethereal blast which makes your enemy unhitable for 4 seconds.
And huge no to vladimir ,some allied hero has to pick it for you.
I am not gonna downvote you neither upvote you work on this.

Upvoted!

I strongly recommend putting Drum of Endurance in your core. It provides great synergy with your build and fills in certain gaps:
1. You don’t go for a quick Heart of Tarrasque, which is awesome, but you enter the midgame somewhat too squishy. Drums provide a vital health boost before you finish Diffusal Blade and Yasha.
2. Leveling Doppelwalk last brings down your midgame nuking potential, due to a limited manapool. Drums give you almost an extra Spirit Lance worth of mana.

Thanks so much guys! :D I've written an introduction to explain some of the weirder choices in my build, and I feel amazed I finally found fellow pro-game watchers who play the NEW Phantom Lancer. The reason I get Aquila --> Drums is because I think Drums take too much time to farm, especially in Team Matchmaking, where you will almost always face up an aggressive trilane or a harass-based offlaner like Dark Seer.

Exactly what i am doing, but i like getting a 2nd level into Doppelwalk on level 6, as i often find myself in need of it. Also, teamfighting is actually good imo, since you can just pop up and hurl some Spirit Lances towards someone and often get a kill with just that. It's more beneficial than just farming imo, as you always can escape if things go sour (Unless you're bad at managing mana). Of course i will go and farm when there are no ganks or they happen too far away from me, but still, i'd better go and kill some people.
+1

Most of the time I get a Drum of Endurance instead of the Ring of Aquila, as it gives you a lot of stats and improves your already high base damage; plus, it makes early pushing easier.

Other than that, it's one of the few "good" (which means not outdate) guides for Phantom Lancer: I use the exact same skill build but I prefer to go Diffusal Blade + Yasha + Heart of Tarrasque and then Manta Style as the early Diffusal makes you more threatening to enemies. +1 nonetheless.