This Chicken is Flaming

An Introduction to The Introduction of the ...aww bugger it , read below.

hi guys and girls just want to give a shout out to Shutters! his guide on Phoenix helped me and his goes into more detail on phoenix's other roles and laning.

this is my first guide so bear with me it might not be pretty or filled with lots of colours and it most definitely wont be filled with pictures but as to date using this build i have won every one of my phoenix games (barring Russians, cause we all know that automatically means you lose)
EDIT: as of last night i lost a game using this build, the final score was 60-59 and it was an ancient race with both teams rax down and if a troll had used his ulti we would have won but ohh well :(

what i will be focusing on in this quick little guide is a mid laning phoenix.

i can already hear the "omg really poenix mid" "what a noob" "uninstall"

but in my plus 50 games of playing the fiery chicken i have vs'd mid against pudge, TA, Clockwerk, kunnka, PA, QoP, venomancer, magnus, batrider, Drow, Puck (this little blue smurf was hard but i got him) you name it ive played against them and hands down phoenix out lanes them. now before "they must be noob" ive also played mid against my friend who has a MMR of 5000 and his own twitch account and i outlaned him, now im not saying im good i know im quite average, im more illustrating the insane lvls of harrass phoenix has.

anyway lets get on with it :)

The things that make this chicken ... Flaming

quick intro into the abilities of my fiery chicken.

Icarus Dive

This is both an escape and an initiate that damages over time at lvl 4 for 280 damage and slows move speed by 25%.

When to use:

- this is what gives phoenix rune control better then QoP, she can blink to the rune spot, but then has to run back, this flaming feathery ball of sparkles not only swoops into the rune spot but swoops out again back to the high ground. WHILE GRABBING THE RUNE FIRING OFF SPIRITS AND SHAKING HIS FLAMING *** AT HER FACE, SO OP PLS NERF VOLVO.
- use to get last hits
- use to escape ganks
- use to initiate
- use to tower dive bomb with spirits, make them feel like no where is safe.
- once lvl 10 use this combo to initiate team fights (dive, spirits, mekansm, beam, supernova ) if you team mates follow you in they will be heading into a team fight where the enemy is moving at -25% ms, attacking at -140as and taking 50+ damage a second.
-use to sneak that aegis out from under their noses, i call it the "flying heist" (only pulled off once, and i still tell everyone who wants to hear about it (or not)... repetitively

When not to use:

- do not use if you are close to a team fight, the long cool down means that you have to be smart, if you think they will defend a tower wait till the last second then dive away. or if its a sudden gank, if you have used your dive.... your stuffed anymore then one enemy means stun and kill even if u get off your spirits then should have enough hits to bust your ulti and kill you.
- BE SMART, do not use when already low hp, do not use when you might need it soon, do not use for an escape then forget to cancel at the apex of your dive, if you do ... punch yourself in the head.
- do not use if you feel an enemy team is ready for it, one stun as diving and your one cooked bird

Fire Spirits

this is hands down what makes Phoenix the best harasser this side of bat rider pre 6.79

when activated phoenix summons 4 spirits that can be fired off at will over 16 seconds, when they hit they do DoT of 75 per second for 4 seconds at lvl 4 and slow attack speed by 140 at lvl 4.

lets look at this from the worst and best possible scenario's.

Worst Possible Scenario

you summon your spirits and start to fire them off, you miss them all.

you might be thinking oh **** just wasted 15% of my hp and i didnt hurt him at all.

super sad face, such loss, many misses, much fail. wow.

NO, by activating you spirits you have effectively forced your opposition to jink and juke and shift and move out of lane for 16 seconds. that means no last hits, no denies, no gold, and if you harassed LIKE A BAWS you might have even forced them out of xp range.

Best Possible Scenario

you summon your spirits and using you amazing tekkers and super human skills you have landed each one on the enemy hero after the 4 seconds was up.

you have just done over 1000 damage to that hero... well done you are a god

When to use:

- use to harass
- use to get last hits and stop denies
- use to shut down that enemy right clicker, let them grow to fear you.
- use to get that blind hit, its like getting a blind hook no one see's it coming and when you get one, choirs start to sing your praises and the heavens open to shower you with chocolate and gold coins. plus you get the obligatory "wtf how did you kill me" or my personal favourite " omg go away you stupid chicken"
- use to shut down orb effects like drow rangers arrow, one fire spirit and your home free.

Sun Ray

this thing is awesome, you know all those big strong durable types? Wraith king? Pudge? sven? Dragon knight? this beam of pure white hot blazing beauty makes them all feel like a crystal maiden with brown boots...

you want to get all Astrophysical mathematical genius on you now? ok lets do this.

sun ray at max lvl does 30 damage a second plus 4% of there max hp and this scales to double as the beam goes on and here we have the maths...

pudge is an idiot and gets caught by a mirana's arrow for the full 5 second stun, you just happen to be 600 units away and you and him are all alone (all romantic like ) the smell of his mil-dewy rot hangs on the breeze and the warmth of your fiery wingbeat heats his decaying heart.... anyway before it gets weird lets get back to the maths.

pudge has 3000hp, you have a lvl 4 sunray, as soon as he got stunned you smack that massive white beam of pain down upon his pea sized brain.

at 3000hp and if you keep that beam on him for the full duration.

you will be doing 1452.963329 damage to him ... and thats down to the 6th decimal point you chicken lovers. OH BUT WHAT ABOUT MAGIC RESISTANCE I HEAR YOU SCREAM?

thats what makes this sexy bird so ******** gorgeous .... its pure damage baby,

that means every single point of that damage is taken ... i can hear you smiling from here ladies and gentlemen , those scary durable heroes of old are gone. burn them down to there base 3D- models.

THIS ******** ULTI IS NEXT LVL

this thing ... omg... just listen to this ok taken from a real game

our team, outside their tier 3 mid, getting ready for a push.
their team, sat right on their teir three mid waiting for it.

icarus dive in, hit three with the DoT, summoned spirits as i dived and got there terror blade with one and maybe 2 other heroes with the others, i shiva'd then as my team came in i mekt and i eul'd the lich before he could ulti, and popped my sun ray on there tiny, for maybe 3 seconds then i got stunned and burst down to 300hp, just as i cam off the stun there lion went to ulti me and as the finger descended i SUPERNOVA'D ... ulti hit the sun .... did nothing and i was doing 100 damage to everyone in a 1000 unit range... popped back up after 6 seconds and slammed terror blade with fire spirits and sun ray then icarus dived in front a fleeing lion and finished him off then our luna took out tiny we then took mid rax tier 4 then ancient gg wp ...

^^^^ this illustrates how insane it is ... you don't just get one life, oh no, you get TWO lives and during your rebirth you do some amazing damage to everyone around you and then when you burst back up out of your intense inferno of a womb like a rising midday sun everyone around you is so shocked by your MAJESTIC BEAUTY that they are stunned for at max lvl 2.5 seconds ... and when reborn? you get all your abilites off cooldown. this means getting ganked by a Nyx without icarus dive ready? hit him with some spirits and then supernova, if he doesn't have any Attack Speed increases you should survive ... then just icarus dive to safety.

ok so side note : aura's work from inside supernova, shiva's, radiance they all work so if you do have some serious gold, and you manage a radiance after your core 5 slot, you will be doing 150 damage a second in supernova. its beautiful isn't it.

What happens in the middle lane... stays in the middle lane

so now your in the lane and you have successfully blocked your creeps so the lane ends up on your high ground, and you have a point in icarus dive, for the next 2-3 mins you want to last hit and denie as amuch as possible as soon as you have 2 points in fire spirits its time to harass.

(a guide on how to land a fire spirit)

1. summon your spirits and throw one out at them, this is a tester, its to see how they react to it. if they move back up onto the high ground as soon as its launched, it is reasonable to think that they know to avoid them and you might have a decent lane challenge, if they just stand there and let it hit ... well their an idiot and you have won the lane.
2.if they dont happen to have the brain size of a ******ed house rat, you now use what i call the "double-tap" (patent pending), basically fire a spirit to where they are and then fire one straight away after to where they will be, you can extrapolate where they will be by watching how they previously reacted to you tester, this means yes you will only get two hits by spirit for your 4 but 2 is better then none, this is a low lvl fire spirit skill, they get a lot more complicated.
3."the shotgun" ... get 4 spirits, and then fire them in quick succession at the enemy hero in a line from where they are to where they will be in 3 seconds. surefire method to at least get one spirit hitting them.
4."the stukka" (advanced), utilizing a Icarus dive aimed across the creep wave, throw a spirit from each end of the dive and then two more when back this will net last hits and they wont know where the spirits are coming from till its too late, this also causes confusion as they wont know why your diving.
5. "the master sniper" using considerable skill you fire a spirit to where they will be in 1.4 seconds after they react to you firing it then one to an area 2.5 seconds after firing the first one but adjust the second one to where they will go after getting hit by the first one then fire one to where you think they will go after they get hit by the second one usually 3ish seconds after you fired the first one then icarus dive in front of them or to the side and hit them with the last one. (this usually nets me first blood)

make sure you retain rune control though out the laning phase, if you get a DD rune try to go top to gank as a quick icarus dive up the cliffs means you can get there quick and with a decent stun in lane you will net a kill or chase them into there tower and as they see you low they will turn around to try and take you but oh whats that SUPERNOVA MOFO ... double kill.. gg wp

at around lvl 7-8 you should start thinking about ganking/ roaming, as you dont have any reasonable stuns make sure you go to a lane with at least one or two stuns then tp to opposite lane and go straight for a second gank and bring the safe lane support with you.

once a couple of kills have been netted and you have instilled fear into there hearts go back to mid and push your tower down then top then switch bottom. if your doing your job you should have choked their mid hero and scared there lane carry into hiding. you now will be focused heavily in team fights. BUT THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT, the more they focus you the less they focus your carry because as much as you want it to be you ... YOU ARE NOT THE CARRY... yes you get kills but that is all part of the plan, make them focus you, make them fear you and then BOOM 35 mins in a faceless void comes outa nowhere with mask, butterfly and battle fury and gets a rampage and they're all going "WTF where did he come from"

THIS is what makes this gorgeous fiery chicken of lava and love hearts so ******** amazing, it isn't the awesome skills or the fact he glides along like a beautiful bird of fire and death, its the psychological effect he has on the opposing team, they grow scared and afraid of him, if you make your presence known early and repetitively by slamming a flaming beak into they're faces they will focus you and thats what you want.

you win the match on 8-12-23 and your carry is on 28-2-12 ... you did your job you beautiful flaming piece of sexy succulent chicken.

Tip, Tricks and Flaming Flips

now as with any hero that requires skill, there are some little things that lovers of them know to make them even better.

here are my top three tips, tricks or flaming flips.

1.) all of phoenix's abilities require use of his hp, usually 15% of his current hp. the key word in that sentence there is "CURRENT" ... if you have 100hp left you can Icarus dive for only 15 hp ... imagine a skill that only needs 15 mana points to use, awesome i know. the trick/tip here is when low health and safely out of harass range pop you spirits or your Icarus dive and GO HAM... they wont expect it since you were low hp and it will be like seeing a dying eagle on fire aiming for your car window... scary as all hell, unpredictable and something i love to do. then once icarus dive is over use your salve or urn or mek and you just pulled off a combo that potentially damaged them for plus 400 damage... for only 30 hp loss.... welcome to the big leagues Mofo

2.) the flying heist, i knew you all wanted to hear it so here it is, phoenix can do everything while diving abilities? yup. items? yup. grab things? oh hell yes.
enemy team was winning and they were roshing i smoked then got past there wards and creeps to secret shop jungle, i waited til he was at about 100 hp then dived in, as i was diving they freaked and aimed me but as rosh died i grabbed the aegis and swooped back to safety ... it was one for the ages and probably something i will never be able to repeat due to the timing being so precise but needless to say, we turned the game around and won it not 20 mins later. you can dagon people you can shiva while flying you can buy things from the secret shop to save time you can do a whole lot while diving ... no girl ever told phoenix he couldn't multi task.

3.) the sun ray ... little know fact, while using a sun ray you get free pathing, dont know if this is a bug or just not included in its description but many a time ive used the sun ray as a way to get onto a cliff and escape a gank while icarus dive is on cd, plus i enjoy the comments you get " omg wtf how did u do that?" " oh come on thats BS " and my fav ... " phoenix you know your not allowed on the cliffs you leave them dirty and put claw marks on everything... come down this instant young sun" ... i commended that guy haha...

cheers for reading

thanks for reading guys hope it was informative and funny at the same time and i will be upgrading and making it less a wall of txt and more a beautiful sparkly wall of shiny things to delight your eyes soon .

cheers