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Slippers of AgilitySlippers of Agility
Tango
Healing Salve
Iron BranchIron Branch
Boots of Speed
Magic Wand
Ring of Aquila
Wraith Band
Town Portal Scroll
Power Treads
Ring of Aquila
Wraith Band
Magic Wand
Perseverance
Town Portal Scroll
Ultimate Orb
Linken's Sphere
Morbid Mask
Helm of the Dominator
Yasha
Ultimate Orb
Manta Style
Power Treads
Ring of Aquila
Manta Style
Magic Wand
Linken's Sphere
Helm of the Dominator
Butterfly
Ethereal Blade
Satanic
Boots of Travel
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Hi! Thanks for venturing onto my guide. I am CyAnO_Xchrono and I will be delighted to show you my version of HOW I PLAY MORPHLING!
Let me first begin by saying, "You're in over you're head" if you think Morphling is an easy or simple hero...He's really not. He is a complicated hero that takes a great deal of time to master. A good Morphling player has great response time, precision, positioning, and practice. He is not a choice by many since the latest patch, as many deem him nerfed, but in the right hands, he is still a wave of mutilation!
As you play DotA 2, you will learn the many roles in which characters hold, our Morphling here is a ranged hard carry with nukes. Some say he has initiating powers, but I say that those players often find themselves dead, let the tank handle that, your job is to swoop in after him by waving through everyone while they are distracted by the giant fish that shoots spikes everywhere, and then proceed in picking them off one by one.
Here are some nice Pros and Cons to know when choosing the Raging Riptide known as Morphling...
Pros:
Very Versatile
Explosive Burst Damage
Fast Attack Speed and High Damage Late Game
Lots of Escape mechanisms with Replicate, Waveform, Morph (to Strength when stunned and running), Adaptive Strike pushback and stun (especially after morphed strength for escaping), Manta speed, teleports
+3 Agility Gain and +2 Strength Gain pretty good
Fast Attack and Cast Animation
Invulnerable while Waving
High Armor Late Game
Cons:
Very low starting damage
Slow movement speed (285!)
Takes skill to play
Mana Reliant (that's why we get lots of regen)
No form of Crits, Bashes, or Lifesteal
Pathetically short attack range for a ranged hero (350)
I prefer to lane him where he will be able to farm a high-water mark, because you only miss the water when the well runs dry, that being said, get your farm easily, as quickly as possible, and abundantly.
The best options are solo mid or safelane (Radiant Bottom or Dire Top) with a nice little lane supporter who lets you have all of the loot while they harass, deny, and protect your watery *** from an early liquidation because you failed to farm correctly...
Now let us move on to the rest of the guide so I can show you how to spend your money like water on the nice bath toys Morphling so desires!
Start off by buying 2 Slippers of Agility 1 set of Tango 1 Healing Salve and 2 Iron Branch. The reason for buying these specific items, and not any other combination is because of the following: Last Hitting is Everything!!! I don't worry about getting a 
Clarity that early on in the game because you aren't going to be spamming a level 1 or 2 Waveform anytime soon, when your #1 Priority is Last Hitting Creeps! I cannot emphasize that enough.
If Surviving the Lane is that big of a deal to you, then you probably aren't last hitting because you are too afraid of dying, then you either:
A. Chose the wrong lane
or
B. Should move to an easier lane to farm better, before you become useless to your team
or
C. Insist the importance that you receive a gank in order help you out
I understand that some enemies are hard to face, but you must understand the scariness of a ballsy Morphling, and the lane dominance you have to impose for a successful early game, if not to instill fear in your enemies for the entire game thereafter.
Before heading out into open waters, choose morph agility gain first and convert 2 ticks into agility so that you have 530 HP left over. This will give you +4 agility from Strength in which you don't need, but rather need for increased attack speed and damage, since you shouldn't be getting attacked by enemies and if you do, that's what your regen items are for! With the 2 Slippers of Agility 2 Iron Branch and morph agility gain with the 2 ticks, it will put you at a whopping total of +15 Damage to go to lane with. +6 Agility/damage from the slippers, +2 stats/damage from the twigs, +3 from the initial Morph spell, and +2+2 from the ticks into agility. This all leaves you with 56 starting damage, which is a lot better than what you first started with.
From then on proceed to buy Boots of Speed in the place where your Tango were, followed by completing a Wraith Band with one of your slippers and further completing it into Ring of Aquila which can be done in one session, finishing the RoA at base and flying it to you using the 
Flying Courier that your smart team bought.
At this point, you should have Boots of Speed maybe that Healing Salve still left, Ring of Aquila Slippers of Agility and 2 Iron Branch. Convert those branches into a Magic Wand and fly it to you with 1 Town Portal Scroll because TP's are crucial for Morphling's success, given that he can use it to escape, gank lanes to be in team fights, and to make use of the Replicate/TP trick that all great Morphling players have mastered.
After those items, finish that other Wraith Band to boost your stats, because you need it, and then finish those Power Treads. Remember to keep them on Strength, until late game when your bonus strength has compensated your HP to an adequate level where you can leave them on Agility from then on. If you are skilled with tread switching, then you can also switch them to Intelligence right before Waveform into them, and then switch it back.
The reason why it is better to leave it on strength is because when Morphling uses Morph it transfers his base strength and not acquired strength, thus leaving it on strength will boost your health pool, and you won't have to worry about it, so you can focus on your damage output by transferring additional hp into agility, but keep a safe amount. (~1000 is good midgame, 30m 1100, and every 10m or so, add about 100 to your max hp) By late game a safe amount is between 1550-1700 with excess strength all poured into agility. Anything more is great, but if you are the one to take more dmg in a fight, you should probably keep more Hp.
*The reason why I don't suggest Boots of Travel as a core boots option is because most of the time, by the time you get them, you are really squishy, and not much of value to your team since all of that early game gold was used to get those boots instead of more strength, agility, regeneration, attackspeed, and damage, Treads are a better option, unless you are just killing it and can afford them super early. I suggest just sticking with the treads.
*If you do happen to get Boots of Travel they are also great on Morphling because they give you a substantial amount of chasing/escaping power, and the ability to constantly teleport over the map so you are able to farm and not carry a tp scroll. You can also optimize on the Replicate/TP trick!
After those beginning items are all completed, it is now time to move on to your core.
Begin by getting a 
Ring of Health followed by the 
Void Stone to complete your Perseverance. This is because the HP regeneration is more important than the mana regeneration, since you have the Ring of Aquila. Linken's Sphere is a MUST HAVE ITEM on Morphling, regardless of the enemies! It gives him the HP/Mana regen he needs all game, the stat boost he also needs, more damage, and the single target spell block, which is so powerful to morphling since he tends to be one of the key focuses in a team fight. It will save your life countless times.
Don't be a Dodo, choose the Linken's Sphere
From this point on, many other guides will tell you that your core is complete.... How can your Morphling build be completed with just ONE defense item???
I don't know, but they're wrong! Just as 
Anti-Mage isn't done once he has obtained 
Battle Fury!! Remember to always carry a Town Portal Scroll with you at all times, it is important! Continue with your build by getting some lifesteal. Buy the Helm of the Dominator It will give you +20 Damage, +5 more armor, and +15% lifesteal, as well as the option to control a neutral, and if you are good at microing, some nice pets are alpha wolf or Centaur Conqueror for either a damage buff aura or a stomper with an attack speed aura, the choice is yours. This item can also be upgraded later into a Satanic making you even more unkillable, if you so desire.
Which Orb effect should I get CyAnO? Lifesteal or Frost attack? They are both so good!
The debate over which is better for Morphling-- Helm of the Dominator/ Satanic VS 
Eye of Skadi
The choice is really up to YOU! Yes, you, the player. While many argue that Eye of Skadi is cheaper than satanic (both are really expensive) and Skadi gives you more Health, + 25 to ALL stats, not just strength, as well as the frost attack, it does seem better, and they might be right. If you find that it works better for you, then go for it! Otherwise, I suggest sticking to the Helm of the Dominator because most games don't last that long where all 6 of your Items are maxed out with Boots of Travel Butterfly Ethereal Blade Satanic/ Eye of Skadi Linken's Sphere and Manta Style. It just doesn't happen that often. The game merely just ends before that, so getting the other items in the build while having that lifesteal and other bonuses will benefit you more.
Manta!
After you have managed to obtain your Helm of the Dominator for increased survive-ability, it is now time to Multiply yourself! Purchase Yasha first (Obviously!) and then finish it with the Orb and recipe to get yourself a nice Manta Style It will definitely improve your odds of success in game. It is also a MUST HAVE on Morphling.
If you are wondering why I chose to put Helm of the Dominator before getting Manta Style it is because you have overdrawn at the river bank. No seriously, Helm of the Dominator cost a total of (1850) compared to Yasha (2050) or even greater Manta Style at (5050). It is better to get that Lifesteal, +damage +armor sooner and faster, rather than later and after Manta.
Why not 
Sange and Yasha? It gives you Agility and Strength as well as other cool bonuses!
Because, curious little polyp, for a mere (950) more gold Manta Style offers way better bonuses to Morphling! Let that noob 
Riki get the Sange and Yasha it suits him better! Sange and Yasha works better on melee heroes anyways and is intended for them as well by making them faster, stronger, and to have the additional ability to slow their mark down, since Morphling can chase and escape as fluidly as he can, there is no other reason why he himself should be maimed by getting such a poor choice of item instead of the mighty Manta Style. With SO much damage and attack speed late game, Manta Style gives you everything that you need! In addition to all of the greatness that it provides, it also multiplies your killing potential, and allows you to possibly dodge additional spells, with perfect timing.
- Ethereal Blade & Butterfly -
It goes without saying that these two items are the best followup agility items in the game, and best fit on a Morphling. It was almost as if Ethereal Blade was created especially for this hero! This is because at max level with a full item set, has the highest potential agility in the game over any other hero. In addition to that fact, adaptive strike and Waveform both do significant damage, as is with all of that agility. Combining the use of Ethereal Blade's Agility multiplier damage + the magic amp with his other 2 skills makes a lethal "Shotgun" blow to the face. This is why that term was coined for this combo that has become a very mainstream build for Morphling. Mainstream or not, regardless of prior build, Ethereal Blade should be gotten in any game that you play as Morphling sometime throughout the game. Even though it may lose it's potential "effectiveness" later in the game, It amplifies Morphling's killing potential even further, and you won't be missing out on anything either. This is because it increases his Agility significantly, on top of increasing all of his other stats, in addition to amplifying his burst damage with his skills that he uses anyways.
Butterfly is by far the next best option, if not gotten in addition to the Eblade. It further increases his agility significantly, as well as increasing his damage, attack speed, and giving him evasion!
At this point in the game, if you have all of the items that I have suggested, your Morphling will be an unstoppable tsunami. You will have a ton of armor (physical resistance) lots of Hp from bonus strength, evasion, insane agility, damage, attack speed, escape mechanisms, lots of hp and mana regen, spell block, lifesteal, illusions, speed buff, insane burst damage, ethereal form, possibly teleport, blah blah blah... list goes on. I think you get the point by now. Basically, super powerful with all kinds of bonus features at your vary disposal.
Please, Do Read on!O_X
- Morphling's Signature Spells -
Waveform
Morphling dissolves into liquid and surges forward, damaging enemy units in his path.
* Morphling is invulnerable during Waveform.
MANA COST: 140/155/160/165
COOLDOWN: 11
DAMAGE: 100 / 175 / 250 / 325
ABILITY: POINT TARGET
DAMAGE: MAGICAL
Adaptive Strike
Strikes an enemy unit with a blast of water. If Morphling's agility is 50% higher than strength, it deals the maximum damage and the minimum stun. If strength is 50% higher, it deals the maximum stun and minimum damage.
MANA COST: 100/100/100/100
COOLDOWN: 10
STUN MIN: 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25
STUN MAX: 0.75 / 1.5 / 2.25 / 3
DAMAGE MIN: 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25
DAMAGE MAX: 0.5 / 1 / 1.5 / 2
BASE DAMAGE: 20 / 40 / 60 / 80
ABILITY: UNIT TARGET
AFFECTS: ENEMY UNITS
DAMAGE: MAGICAL
morph agility gain
Morphling shifts its form, pulling points from Strength and pouring them into Agility. The process is reversible. Additional points in Morph increase the rate of stat change. Passively grants bonus Agility.
morph strength gain
Morphling shifts its form, pulling points from Agility and pouring them into Strength. The process is reversible. Additional points in Morph increase the rate of stat change. Passively grants bonus Strength.
MANA PER SECOND: 30 / 30 / 30 / 30
COOLDOWN: 0
POINTS PER SHIFT: 2 / 2 / 2 / 2
SHIFT RATE: 1 / 0.5 / 0.33 / 0.25
BONUS AGILITY: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
BONUS STRENGTH: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
ABILITY: NO TARGET, TOGGLE
*Strength Gain and shift rates are identical to agility's
***Replicate***
Morphling replicates any hero, friend or foe, although only dealing 50% the original hero's damage. At any time, Morphling can instantly take the position of the Replicate.
MANA COST: 25/25/25
COOLDOWN: 80
DURATION: 30 / 45 / 60
CAST RANGE: 700 / 1100 / 1500
ABILITY: UNIT TARGET
Morph Replicate
Morphling switches into his replication, instantly taking its position.
MANA COST: 150/150/150
ABILITY: NO TARGET
That was just an overview of his spells, in which you can find practically anywhere. Now I will explain a little bit more about them, how they are used, and how to use them properly.
This section will be about the skill justification, basically. I will explain further why each skill is important, and how they are used.
Waveform is Morphling's main tool for escape, initiation, and killing; as well as his best method in farming a creep wave. Since adaptive strike is virtually useless early on in the game, it is left to be skilled later on when it is practically viable.
The reason why I recommend getting Waveform second and third is because of Morphling's tiny mana pool and slow regen, and Waveform's relatively large mana cost. I believe that the best move to get is morph agility gain first, because it allows you to shift over some additional strength into agility for greater last hitting potential, As I have explained in the "Spending Money like it's Water" chapter.
After doing that, proceed in maxing out Waveform because it is a very powerful skill, and the only skill that matters in early-mid game. Except, in mid game replicate becomes more useful.
**At level 4 I suggest getting 1 point into stats, rather than getting adaptive strike or morph agility gain. The reason behind this is because, as I have said, adaptive strike is useless at this stage in the game, It does practically no damage at level 1, the stun is pathetic at level 1, and it still costs you 100 mana, mana that you can't afford to carelessly spend. That mana is for Waveform and Waveform only! Unless of course u need it for morph strength gain when you are in danger, which is another reason why you can't afford to be wasting it on adaptive strike! Another use is for Town Portal Scroll. I reckon that you put that point into stats for several reasons:
Why to put the level 4 point into stats rather than anything else
A. It increases ALL of your stats by +2
B. It will increase your Agility by +2, better than the +1 from morph agility gain and +1 morph strength gain
C. It will also increase that tiny mana pool slightly, which is better for you because I hear that mana is a problem at this stage in the game.
D. Spending that point in adaptive strike is pointless because you are never going to be able to use it this early, and if you do you are wasting mana.
E. Putting that point into morph agility gain will increase your agility and strength by only +1 point each, rather than +2 of each and you are not even increasing that precious mana pool. The only benefit from increasing Morph at this stage is by increasing the shift rate of Autocast Morph by 1 pt, not even the manual rate. To me, that is not significantly advantageous for you in place of that one stat point boost.
You should be farming as much as possible in the early game so that you can afford items to benefit you in the mid game. This is also why you max out Waveform first before anything else, so that by level 7 it is maxed out and you can actually take down your enemies faster as well as creep waves.
Adaptive strike In my opinion, should then be maxed out second, this is so that by level 12, and in the midgame, it is level 4 and you are then somewhat more valuable to your team, as opposed to just waving and auto attacking, which is what you will be doing anyways, but will then have a level 4 adaptive strike to be able to finish them off quicker as well as to use on fleeing enemies.
Lastly, finish off morph agility gain so that your conversion rate is faster, and for those petty bonuses to your stats. The real important thing is the conversion rate though, because it is still the same mana cost all 4 levels, but this time it is quicker so that if you are stunned, you will be saved, most of the time because more strength will be converted in that time period for the same mana cost as opposed to less for the same.
I think that replicate should be gotten at 6, 11, and 16 so that you have more options at your disposal in game. You can use it on allies or enemies alike, whether in battle, or creeping and at low mana or hp, keep it in a safe spot, teleport back to fountain, heal up, and then replicate back. You can even send the replicate back to fountain and replicate to your fountain, but if you don't have mana to do that, because it costs 150 mana to Morph Replicate, then it's pointless.
This is a video of someone using replicate effectively in order to safely deny his middle tower from the enemy.
Morphling on the Radiant side and I went bottom lane with a 
Shadow Demon. I went 34-2-9. It was a pub game and I'm pretty new to video making, so no hate please. The audio playback is pretty quiet and delayed so it is kind of hard to make out what I'm saying sometimes, because sometimes I mumble or the video chops off part of my sentence. Remember, that it is a pub game so the enemies are pretty bad, but I still played pretty well.
Morphling, but this time I'm on the Dire side and in Mid lane vs a Pudge. He is kind of bad, and I'm able to farm my items pretty quickly, as well as get a haste rune to get first blood using Waveform on a fleeing 
Tiny. I go 19-2-7 and play pretty well. I go into more detail throughout the game on how to play, as well as do some nice replicate Tp's and Morph Replicate to get a kill. The enemies are still pretty bad though. Please Subscribe to my channel and like it, I'll probably upload more videos in the future, as well as try to talk more clearly and with enthusiasm. O_X
Morphling is a very strong hero, but sometimes he faces some challenging foes, here are some shady characters that you have to watch out for:
Doom bringer has 
Doom which will make so you are unable to use any of your spells, pretty scary.
Invoker is also a very scary character to face as he will usually win vs you in the mid lane and he has a lot of spells at his disposal that are good against a Morphling
Silencer can be a rough counter with the mana drains and the silences
Lion in the early game can put a lot of hurt on a Morphling because of his 
Mana Drain and his heavy nukes.
Lina has a lot of disables and heavy nukes that can also hurt you, but late game you should be able to crush her or Lion.
Bane has a lot of disables that can render you useless, such as 
Enfeeble 
Nightmare or his ult, 
Fiend's Grip.
Faceless Void late game can almost always kill anyone.
Phantom Assassin is also someone who can kill you late game.
Medusa has her 
Mystic Snake which will strip your mana, and late game she can out carry you as well.
Lifestealer can eat you. He has 
Rage which will block all of your spell damage, and will usually kill you, unless have better items.
Nyx Assassin has 
Mana Burn 
Impale and can come out of no where with 
Vendetta so he is one not to be trusted.
Centaur Warrunner isn't very fun to play against either with his stuns and damage return, not fun at all.
Troll Warlord can make you think that you are winning a fight, but then he will nuke you and make you miss, and then continue to pummel you with perma-bashes and still lifesteal back to survival.
Templar Assassin is also pretty annoying to face since her 
Refraction will block all of your nukes, so you first must take her shield down before your spells will affect her. Plus she can also just 
Meld and then only your Waveform can hit her.
Clinkz this guy is annoying with his skeletal walk and they usually get 
Orchid Malevolence and will silence you followed by a volley of flaming arrows. If you think this will become a problem, remember that 
Gem of True Sight will counter all of these sneaks, same goes for Riki
Riki is that little trickster that everyone hates. He will just sneak up to you, pop a 
Smoke Screen and then repeatedly backstab you into submission. Even if you try to escape, he still manages to 
Blink Strike up to you. Someone has to eliminate him as a threat by getting a Gem of True Sight. Same goes for anyone that buys a 
Shadow Blade!
Naga Siren is annoying because of her 
Ensnare as well as multiplying herself, but Waveform tends to show you the real one.
Slark can be a real nasty fish to face since he will drain you of those precious stats, as well as locking you into place with 
Pounce. His 
Shadow Dance also makes it a bit more difficult for you to kill him without a reveal on hand.
Basically a team of disables will make it very challenging for you to kill people fast, which gets really annoying. Try killing the squishier support heroes first before trying to topple their stronger heroes. It also makes it a lot harder if they have many tanky heroes, since Morphling gets most of his kills fast from those squishies. Also note that people with 
Black King Bar will be noticeably harder to take down, focus on the others that don't have magic immunity first.
*special mention for 
Tinker since he can die fast to a shotgun blast, he is particularly annoying since he can nuke you and 
Laser you so you cannot hit him. You can also block his spells quite easily with Waveform though.
Morphling likes having cool friends, and here are some of his closest allies.
Crystal Maiden is well liked by many heroes because of her 
Arcane Aura which is good for your mana regen!
Drow Ranger, 
Luna and 
Vengeful Spirit are all nice to have because they will boost your damage.
Troll Warlord will boost your attack speed.
Io is always a nice one to have so he can make you faster, harder to kill, increase your attack speed, and help you gank.
Lich has frost armor which is always helpful.
Having many stuns and disables on your team will always benefit you so that you can kill them faster.
Here are some heroes that Morphling can take down without much challenge.
Squishies!
Crystal Maiden
Sniper (sometimes he is really annoying because of his constant mini bashes, but you can dodge his 
Assassinate with Waveform. Also his allies can protect him easily)
Earthshaker tends to fall quite easily to Morphling. you can also wave over 
Fissure.
Zeus tends to die really fast to a Morphling
Lion is squishy and will die fast once you can kill him almost instantly and survive his nukes.
Enchantress windrunner 
Keeper of the Light 
Puck 
Shadow Shaman can all die pretty easy.
- The Summary -
All in all Morphling is a very powerful carry hero that is feared for his flexibility, killing potential, and ability to push fast. He takes skill to play and master, but has many flaws that can be countered easily, as shown by the many heroes that can counter you. He is a favorite among many because of his cool flow and many custom items. Some like him because he does take skill to play, and fun to play.
Whatever the reasons are, I hope that you have enjoyed this guide and have read it to it's fullest. I have worked very hard on trying to make this the best that I can to the fullest possible.
Please feel free to leave positive feedback and comments relating to this guide below. Also please Like and Favorite it for all my hard work! :D
Thanks for coming!
- Sincerely,
CyAnO_Xchrono
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