[7.19b] Vesper's In-Depth Guide to Phantom Assassin

Introduction

Greetings, everyone! I'm LordVesper, and this is my in-depth Phantom Assassin guide. Phantom Assassin is an amazing hero especially in low-tier ranks due to her ability to quickly kill soft enemies with the infamous Stifling Dagger + Phantom Strike combo. Couple that with the fact that she has innate survivability, elusiveness, AND map-hack with Blur plus Coup de Grace which amplifies her damage even further and you've got a true assassin!

Anyways, I did my best to make sure this guide covers everything that I could possibly think of so please don't forget to give some feedback as to whether it was good or not :)

Without further ado, let's get on with the guide! Once you've applied all this forbidden knowledge to your games, I can assure you that you'll get that awesome K/D/A AND win the ******* videogame at the same time!

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Video References

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That's all for video content that could help you. Now, for the written guide!

Hero Abilities

Stifling Dagger (Active) RANGE: 525/750/975/1200 SLOW DURATION: 1/2/3/4 COOLDOWN: 6

Throws a dagger that moves at 1200 speed towards the targeted enemy. Upon hit, the dagger slows and deals damage as if Phantom Assassin herself attacked the target. This means attack modifiers such as Desolator and Battle Fury's cleave work with this skill. Phantom Assassin's main tool for chasing down enemies since the slow is INSANE (50%!). Can also be used in the laning phase to secure last-hits that you would not have otherwise received or to harass the opposing laner from a safe distance. It deals negligible damage early on but scales incredibly well with damage items and Coup de Grace.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• The manacost and cooldown is super low so feel free to spam this ability without fear of any mana issues.
  
  
• If the opposing laner/s have Magic Stick or Magic Wand, stop spamming Stifling Dagger and only use it when necessary (such as getting last hits unreachable by normal attacks). However, feel free to use it if a.) You're not within vision of enemies OR b.) You're not within range of their Magic Wands.
  
  
• Stifling Daggers can CRIT! Feel free to play Russian Roulette with the enemy supports as they pray to their false god, RNGesus, that the dagger doesn't one-shot them.
  
  
• Enemies with Black King Bar active will be affected by the Stifling Dagger's attack damage, but not the slow.
  
  
• Stifling Dagger has True Strike, which means it bypasses evasion from sources such as Windrun and Whirling Axes (Melee).

Phantom Strike (Active) RANGE: 1000 BONUS ATTACK SPEED: 130 COOLDOWN: 14/11/8/5

Teleports to a unit and grants bonus attack speed for the next 4 attacks if it's an enemy. Buff lasts for 4 seconds. Phantom Assassin's source of mobility and one of her damage steroids. The bonus attack speed is significant and comes into play when using the ability offensively. However, Phantom Strike can also serve as a somewhat reliable escape mechanism assuming there's a unit nearby away from the source of danger.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• If initiating from long-range and within vision of enemies, open with Stifling Dagger and then Phantom Strike. Otherwise, always try to get the jump on enemies by using Phantom Strike first before Stifling Dagger (for the element of surprise and maximum chasing potential).
  
  
• While the manacost is significantly higher than that of Stifling Dagger's, feel free to use it for moving around the map quicker or farming once you've got any sort of mana regeneration ( Ring of Aquila and/or Battle Fury).
  
  
• When chasing down enemies without fearing for your life, spam both Stifling Dagger and Phantom Strike whenever possible for maximum chasing and damage potential. This is what Phantom Assassin is known for, afterall!
  
  
• In dangerous situations where you could be caught out and killed, feel free to spam Stifling Dagger but reserve Phantom Strike for when the time is right: a.) You need to escape OR b.) You can go in safely.
  
  
• Missed attacks DON'T REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF ATTACKS LEFT for the attack speed bonus. While heavily situational, this can be useful when manfighting enemies that don't have 100% evasion, such as Riki inside his Smoke Screen and Troll Warlord with Whirling Axes (Melee). On the other hand, remember that switching targets WILL still break the bonus attack speed.

Blur (Passive) DETECTION RANGE: 1600 EVASION: 20%/30%/40%/50%

Assuming enemies don't have True Strike, this ability increases Phantom Assassin's survivability against physical attacks by 25%/43%/67%/100%. It also serves as a legal map-hack for detecting enemy heroes within 1600 range EVEN if they are not within vision. If the icon is active and Phantom Assassin looks all blurry, then it's USUALLY safe to say that there are no enemies nearby. If not, well... prepare for battle! Phantom Assassin's natural protection against right-click based heroes. This gives her a significant advantage when manfighting and will force enemies to deal with her by buying Monkey King Bar or Silver Edge later on. Oh, and the visual blur effect hides you from the minimap unless an enemy hero is detected within that 1600 radius. This can occasionally save your life or make ganks more successful.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• The evasion chance is pseudo-random, meaning it starts out with a lower percentage than stated on the ability and keeps on increasing until the evasion procs. On the other hand, successful evasion procs will keep on decreasing the evasion chance until an attack successfully goes through the evasion. What this means is that you should expect more evasion procs if you've been unlucky for some time and expect less if you've been lucky.
  
  
• Invisible units within detection range will be detected by your passive as of patch 7.16. This means heroes like Bounty Hunter and Riki will still trigger your Blur despite being already invisible upon entering the 1600 radius.
  
  
• This ability is the sole reason why Phantom Assassin is incredibly powerful in the midgame. Enemy carries will typically not have acquired Monkey King Bar or Silver Edge yet so you can abuse that "overpowered" evasion chance and end the game fast.
  
  
• Since you can't be seen in the minimap unless a hero enters and gets detected by the 1600 radius, you can usually splitpush freely and expect that enemies will take a longer time to react to you. Please note that this works less effectively as your rank goes up. Expect players in Divine tier to know this strategy already especially since they're disciplined enough to look at the map more often than most players would.

Coup De Grace (Passive) CRIT CHANCE: 15% CRIT DAMAGE: 230%/340%/450% AVG DAMAGE INCREASE: 19.5%/36%/52.5%

This ability is what allows her to kill enemies incredibly fast, sometimes INSTANTLY! You strike fear in the hearts of enemy supports, forcing them to buy defensive items like Ghost Scepter in hopes of surviving for more than two seconds in teamfights. Phantom Assassin's massive damage steroid that makes her a true assassin with just one damage item, whether it be Battle Fury or Desolator. While incredibly luck-based, there are actually things you can do to increase your chance of getting that juicy critical hit (without using hacks). Not to mention, it can make her look deceptively strong or weak, causing enemies to misjudge you and either overreact/ignore your presence only to their demise.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• Before ganking/teamfighting, try to "prepare" your Coup de Grace by attacking jungle camps and waiting for yourself to attack 5-7 times in a row WITHOUT CRITS. Afterwards, proceed to battle. Expect to crit much more on your victim once the fight actually begins, making it feel much more than just 15%.
  
  
• If feeling desperate enough, you can win manfights by just letting RNGesus flow through you and hoping that you'll get enough crits and evasion procs to luck your way to victory. Of course, this is a last resort and really, most of the time Phantom Assassin loses because of magic nukes, not physical damage.
  
  
• This makes Phantom Assassin's damage very unpredictable, ranging from manageable to downright unfair. For your sake, try to find your average DPS and expect that will be your constant DPS so that you can't expect too much or too less from your hero.
  
  
• The element of surprise Coup de Grace + Phantom Strike offers can be used to your advantage if it's safe for you to be the one initiating fights. Best case scenario, you end up making the fight 5v4 since you've just killed one of their unfortunate teammates before they could even react. Learning when you can do this and when you can't is crucial to being a good Phantom Assassin player.

Skill Build Explanation + Talents

Stifling Dagger You get Stifling Dagger whenever possible because the benefits are far too good to pass up compared to other abilities. The cast range increase allows you cast it much more often on the right targets without getting dangerously close or filling up enemy Magic Wands (if cast while not in vision). The manacost decrease allows you to consistently spam this spell without fear of mana issues especially once any form of mana regeneration is acquired. Yes, the damage increase is somewhat irrelevant this early on in the game but it's still something especially with all these other perks! Phantom Strike You get Phantom Strike at Level 2 for the utility and possible usage later if you decide to go in on an enemy. Put more points into it once Stifling Dagger is maxed out. Never max this before Stifling Dagger because only the cooldown decreases per level. Yup, no cast range increase nor increased bonus attack speed. Blur Get a value point into it at level 4 for that enemy detection utility and sliver of evasion that may make or break early fights. However, max this last since you really only start benefiting from evasion in the midgame. Coup De Grace As with most ultimates, max this whenever possible since the average and burst damage increase is too good to pass up. Besides, it doesn't interfere with maxing Stifling Dagger so it's all good.

Explanation: The sub-optimal choice. However, it may be necessary to get this over the +15 damage talent if the nuking potential from the enemy team is just too much for you to handle. If you chose this talent, take that as a warning that you need to get Black King Bar as soon as possible if you wish to maintain control over the game.

Explanation: Naturally, you take the +15 damage talent to complement Phantom Assassin's job of bursting down enemy heroes before they get a chance to fight back. Sure, it may look small to you but remember that it can be amplified by your Coup de Grace. Besides, you shouldn't be tanking hits anyways!

Explanation: Get this talent when up against a PROBLEMATIC Phantom Lancer especially when you think the game will go late. You may also get this talent if you're desperate for increased farming potential and teamfight presence without buying Battle Fury. Other than those conditions, the -4 Armor Corruption is just too good to pass up. Remember, Phantom Assassin actually falls off if the game goes ultra late since your enemies would likely have had enough time to build counter items like Monkey King Bar, Silver Edge, etc.

Explanation: Get this talent by default if you plan on buying Battle Fury somewhere along the way. If facing against Phantom Lancer, he might not even be tanky enough so the cleave from Battle Fury will be enough to make short work of him. This talent is typically much better than the 20% Cleave because it synergizes well with Phantom Assassin's role, which is to kill enemies as fast as possible and use that advantage to end the game while they still haven't built enough items to counter her. The armor corruption works on buildings so you can end the game faster and it further amplifies your already crazy damage output! What's more to say?

Triple Strike Stifling Dagger

VS

20% Lifesteal

Explanation: Synergizes really well with the previous +20% Cleave talent in theory. In practice, however? Rarely. Nonetheless, if you desperately need more damage in teamfights then get this talent! Unfortunately, it's 100% useless when singling out enemy targets since the second and third Stifling Daggers must hit a different target. Personally, I only get this talent if I am absolutely sure that I won't be dying easily, negating the purpose of the 20% lifesteal talent. It's also worth getting if you desperately need more teamfight presence.

Explanation: In most games, it's likely for you to choose this talent over the Triple Stifling Dagger since 20% lifesteal is significant for a hero like Phantom Assassin who does insane amounts of damage. It also increases your manfighting potential so you could better deal with heroes like Wraith King and Ursa. Don't worry, the lifesteal stacks fully with other items such as Satanic and Mask of Madness so don't refrain yourself from getting those if you need them.

+25% Blur Evasion

VS

+5% Coup de Grace

Explanation: Yes, having 75% evasion is totally absurd especially if you plan on fountain diving your poor enemies but that really only happens in games where you're so far ahead that you can't lose anymore (unless you throw the game). And trust me, if you got to that point then it doesn't even matter which of these talents you pick since you're going to win anyways. In most games however, the +5% Coup de Grace is much better since it's about time your Blur gets countered by items like Monkey King Bar anyways, rendering this talent much less effective than it could be.

Explanation: You choose this talent by default since it increases Phantom Assassin's damage output EVEN FURTHER! Oh, and please note that only the percentage chance of getting a crit increases upon skilling this talent, NOT the actual damage percentage upon crit. Nonetheless, this is still a powerful talent that says: "Okay, we will give you even more damage but this is the LAST time we're doing it.". In other words, you should aim on ending the game already once you have this talent. If not, then expect to lose full control over the game and start relying on your teammates more.

Pros and Cons

Pros

+ Insane burst physical damage + Built-in maphack that's somewhat effective + Above average laning phase + Requires less items than most carries to be effective + Eats squishy enemies for breakfast + Very hard to kite around even if melee

Phantom Assassin can heavily abuse her damage potential when picked in games where dedicated nukers and disablers aren't present. She makes quick work of squishy heroes and those who cannot fight against her Blur and insane damage output. She is also good at ending games fast if she manages to get a significant kill advantage. Yes, she falls off late-game but will that matter if the game has ended by then? Long story short, pick Phantom Assassin in the right games and I can assure you that the game is already won!

Cons

- Heavily countered by some items and heroes - Weaker than most carries in ultra-late game - Weak against dedicated nukers outside of Black King Bar - Typically relies on snowballing to be successful - Doesn't like being in the frontlines - Much more luck-based than most heroes

Phantom Assassin is incredibly weak against nukers until she gets her Black King Bar. This forces her to stay in the back and only join in teamfights once someone else has initiated. Otherwise, she'll just get bursted down before she can even contribute anything. She also typically relies on snowballing and ending the game with that advantage so if she doesn't get her crucial items and push objectives in a timely manner, then she will fall off hard. Think of it as if you're playing on a timer, and each second after minute 35:00 decreases your chance of winning as Monkey King Bars get completed, Ghost Scepters are purchased etc.. Lastly, while she still requires skill to play, there will be times where you just have to leave it to luck to decide whether or not you get those crucial kills or die trying to.

When To Pick

GOOD AGAINST:

DROW RANGER EXPLANATION: Marksmanship is useless against Phantom Assassin since she'll just blink in on Drow Ranger and deactivate it. Not to mention, Drow Ranger's a purely right-click based carry so she will be forced to get either Silver Edge or Monkey King Bar to have some chance against Phantom Assassin. Oh, and she also has to find some way to stop Phantom Assassin from blinking unto her, maybe with the Gust talent or Hurricane Pike? Either way, Phantom Assassin will most likely have trashed Drow Ranger and ended the game before that time comes.

ANTI-MAGE EXPLANATION: Anti-Mage is infamous for escaping most ganks through his low cooldown blink. But will that really help if he dies before he even gets the chance blink out? Not to mention, if he's still within vision of Phantom Assassin after blinking, then she can just Phantom Strike and keep up with him. Add to that the fact that he's a lategame carry and he NEEDS time to farm. Remember that Phantom Assassin can end games fast if she gets a significant kill advantage and I can assure you that Anti-Mage alone will not be able to stop her from doing so.

RIKI EXPLANATION: Riki is well-known for being this major annoyance in the laning phase despite having little to no farm and still somehow managing to be deadly in the later stages of the game. However, he purely relies on right-click attacks to kill his enemies. This makes it extremely hard if not impossible for him to solo-kill Phantom Assassin without Monkey King Bar. As I said in the start, most traditional Riki players will not be able to get good farm so the game may have long ended before he even gets to that point. Oh, and once caught out by Dust of Appearance, there's little to no chance for him to escape from Phantom Assassin.

GOOD TEAMMATES:

LYCAN EXPLANATION: Phantom Assassin's goal is to gain a big enough advantage and end games fast with it. This makes Lycan THE perfect partner for her since he has those same goals AND can help her throughout the game with Howl, allowing Phantom Assassin to get kills that she would have not otherwise gotten or survive ganks. If you have a Lycan on your team, do your best to end the game fast since you both fall off in the late game. But don't worry, only a few hero lineups are able to withstand the amount of snowballing potential that you two have!

MAGNUS EXPLANATION: Free Battle Fury? Sign me up! Usually, Phantom Assassin has the dilemma of whether to get Battle Fury or Desolator. With Magnus, you can just get Desolator and rely on him for Empower. Think of it as having both these two damage items at the same time, allowing Phantom Assassin to snowball much faster than she normally would. Add to that the fact that Magnus can setup some perfect initiations and you have a fearsome team with amazing teamfight and pickoff potential!

UNDYING EXPLANATION: Phantom Assassin usually hates being in the frontlines, so why not have Undying do that for you? He's got incredible heals with Soul Rip in case you drop low and can sustain himself long enough for you to kill them all (in most cases)! Undying's earlygame power is also unmatched by most, forcing supports to ignore you and deal with him instead. Long story short, with Undying, you've got your earlygame secured and amazing teamfight potential. For as long as everything goes according to plan, this should be an easy win for you!

When NOT To Pick

BAD AGAINST:

MORPHLING EXPLANATION: Morphling is both a nuker and a tank, both of which are Phantom Assassin's weaknesses. Unless caught out with full agility and unable to morph to strength fast enough, Morphling will be able to fight back against Phantom Assassin with his nuking spells and Ethereal Blade later on. He's a natural counter to her, expending little to no effort to adjusting his build unlike other heroes who are forced to get expensive and non-ideal items like Monkey King Bar and Silver Edge. Your only counterplay against Morphling is to either surprise him and burst him down fast enough or rely on your teammates for some form of disable (preferrably silence).

PANGOLIER EXPLANATION: A natural Monkey King Bar user, or to be specific, a Javelin user. Pangolier builds to counter Phantom Assassin and he's fine with it due to its synergy with Swashbuckle. He's also quite tanky in teamfights with Shield Crash, preventing Phantom Assassin from shutting him down easily. This gives him time to cast Rolling Thunder, which can fully lockdown Phantom Assassin in teamfights depending on the terrain and skill of the player. Your only counterplay is to avoid conflict with him and focus on other targets instead, hoping that Pangolier isn't strong enough to heavily damage you from just one Swashbuckle. Long story short, avoid picking Phantom Assassin into Pangolier unless you're confident that your teammates can handle him.

TIMBERSAW EXPLANATION: Just like Morphling, Timbersaw fulfills both the Nuker and Durable role. He is able to dictate Phantom Assassin's actions and force her to play safe in teamfights or risk getting nuked down by all his Pure damage spells. Sure, Timbersaw becomes manageable once you've acquired Black King Bar but you have to remember that it doesn't last forever and it's quite hard to burst him down especially if he already has a decent amount of Reactive Armor stacks. While much easier to deal with than Morphling, you still have to adjust your gameplan and play at a slower pace. Either have your teammates deal with him or take the Hard Carry route.

BAD TEAMMATES:

KOTL EXPLANATION: Having Keeper of the Light on your time gives enemies even more incentives to buy Monkey King Bar, due to his Blinding Light. Chakra Magic is also quite underwhelming on Phantom Assassin since she has little to no mana issues, only making the cooldown reduction aspect useful. Illuminate also doesn't heal until much later into the game, where Phantom Assassin might not even be able to benefit from the heal since she's too busy jumping around at enemies. Point is, there are other carries that benefit much more from Keeper of the Light's amazing skillset, so pick another hero instead if you find him on your team.

BRISTLEBACK EXPLANATION: Bristleback's passive gives enemies more reasons to buy Silver Edge. Sure, Bristleback is a very good frontliner that complements what Phantom Assassin wants in teamfights but that won't matter once the enemy gets Silver Edge. And unlike Monkey King Bar, the enemies don't have to be right-click based to get Silver Edge. Really, you should be picking another hero instead that isn't passive-reliant if you have Bristleback on your team.

ANTI-MAGE EXPLANATION: Phantom Assassin and Anti-Mage are both squishy carries that get countered by nukes and disables, making things much simpler for the enemy team if both are present. Not to mention, Anti-Mage only comes online in the late-game which is the exact opposite of Phantom Assassin, whom falls off and struggles to stand against most carries. Both heroes also have some form of Blink which means that if they manage to catch Anti-Mage out, then there's no doubt that you can be in the exact same situation too. My point here is that you should be covering up Anti-Mage's glaring weaknesses if you find him on your team or convince the player to choose another hero instead.

She generally does horribly against heroes who are both nukers and durable enough to survive her initial burst damage from Stifling Dagger + Phantom Strike combo. As for bad teammates, she doesn't like cooperating with passive heroes who like to take the game nice and easy. She falls off hard in the lategame so ending the game at around ~35:00 is of utmost importance.

Laning Scenarios

MIDLANE

WHY IT'S GOOD

It's ideal, if not essential, for Phantom Assassin to snowball to victory. And what better way to do that than to give her a lane where she can have all the gold and xp for herself! However, while midlane is undeniably THE BEST lane for her, there will be times where you just have to settle with the safelane. This happens when the opposing midlaner is strong against her in the laning phase. Example of popular heroes that do this are Tinker, Templar Assassin, and Queen of Pain.

SAFELANE

WHY IT'S ALRIGHT

It's not bad and in fact, I mostly play Phantom Assassin in the safelane since most players in my pubs contest for the midlane. It doesn't matter that much though since you can still snowball fairly well here if given the right support. However, expect to snowball a little later than usual so you should probably be opting for Battle Fury if you find yourself going to the safelane. What's that? You don't have a support? Well then... Why did you pick Phantom Assassin?Here's a tip: Unless a player specifically states or hovers their hero over a support-oriented one, then you shouldn't be picking a carry so that you can support in the case that all other players go carry. I know it sucks for a lot of you, but you just have to deal with it and adapt. That's Dota 2, after all!

OFFLANE

WHY IT'S BAD

Yes, Phantom Assassin is better than most carries if she's given the offlane because of Stifling Dagger securing last-hits but seriously, why? She's easily bullied around by most (if not all) supports so she won't be able to get the gold she needs to snowball well. You're literally setting yourself up for failure if you believe that you can pull it off and even if you do, it's most likely not going to be as good than if you went to midlane or safelane instead. If you're somehow forced to go into the offlane, then trust me, something went wrong in your team's hero picks and you might be the one responsible for it. Anyways, if you end up in this lane, you could go for a much less greedy build like Diffusal Blade and Yasha. The key to surviving here and creating impact in the game is to get as many cost-efficient items as possible and hope that it'll be enough for you to snowball from there. But please, remember that this is the worst case scenario and you shouldn't be considering it in most games!

Ideal Gameplan

EARLYGAME

GOALS:

• With the help of your Stifling Dagger, you will typically have an easier time than most carries in lane. We will be using this fact to our advantage later. For now, focus on getting as many last hits as you can. Trade with the opposing laner/s if the battle is in your favor (your creeps are around to help, they're running away, etc.)
  
  
• If you somehow end up doing poorly in lane, either ask help from your mid/supports OR play safe. Keep the creep equilibrium just outside of your tower's range or even within its range if you're confident in your last-hitting abilities. What's important is that you get the last hits that you need to get your Battle Fury or Desolator in a timely manner. Consider buying some cheaper items like Ring of Aquila and Magic Wand to decrease chances of dying in lane. You may also consider swapping lanes with another hero if they're willing to comply, but this is unlikely. No matter what happens though, do try ganking once you reach level 6 since Coup de Grace's power spike is too good to ignore.
  
  
• If you end up doing well in lane, then good for you! Keep it up until you reach Level 6. Once you get to that point, start ganking whenever the opportunity presents itself. However, you should also be focused on getting your Battle Fury and/or Desolator so learn to balance farming and ganking. A good rule of thumb is to gank in the direction of where you want to farm. For example, "I want to farm the bottom lane creeps, let me just ask someone to accompany me so that we'll kill whoever's unfortunate enough to cross paths with us on our way there!".

REMINDERS:

• Remember, get Battle Fury if you plan on obtaining your Black King Bar first before joining in teamfights. And even so, you should still try to find oppportunities to participate since Phantom Assassin may get away with it if you kill the target fast enough.
  
  
• Rush Desolator if you're confident that you can snowball hard and fast, negating the need for Battle Fury (which is primarily bought for secured gold and xp). Upon purchase, make sure to join in every teamfight that you possibly can so as to abuse the power spike the item provides for Phantom Assassin. If you can't join the teamfight for whatever reason, then take down objectives instead since you'll be fairly decent at sieging.
  
  
• The earlygame for Phantom Assassin is above average in comparison to most carries, so make sure to take advantage of it by playing aggressively when the situation calls for it. This phase ends as soon as you get either Battle Fury or Desolator. Please refer to the midgame plan once you've done so.

MIDGAME

GOALS:

• Upon acquiring either Battle Fury or Desolator, you should be looking at playing hyper-aggressively. This is done by constantly shoving waves and threatening to take objectives. This forces the enemy team to respond to your movements, leading to teamfights which is exactly what you want. Phantom Assassin is really strong at this point, able to kill heroes before they get time to react for as long as you enter at the right time. However, remember that she's unable to tank for sh*t so expect to die embarrassingly if you get caught out or focused down.
  
  
• If the teamfights are going well for your team, make sure to focus on taking down objectives as soon as possible. As I said time and time again, Phantom Assassin falls off in the lategame so you should be looking at ending the game before it reaches that point. However, while it's important to do this, please remember that sieging highground or initiating fights under their territory is still going to be disadvantageous for your team so don't force it if the chances of winning the next teamfight are not in your favor. As always, your priority is to stay alive and avoid getting caught out or focused down by the enemy team.
  
  
• If your team isn't winning teamfights for whatever reason, then tell your team to slow down and back off. There are two things you can do from hereon out. You can either wait for the enemy team to try to take your objectives and start the teamfight from there (which has increased odds in your favor since it's YOUR territory afterall). Or, you can stalk the enemy team from afar and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike! This can be in the form of their carry separating from the team to farm some jungle camp, a support going out alone to scout out the area etc.. Hopefully, you can turn the tables back to your favor again so you can end the game before you lose full control over it.

REMINDERS:

• Assuming you've already bought all your core items, you should be looking at the list of situational items and choose depending on what you need. Remember, each and every game of Dota is different so there is no item build set on stone. For example, there may be games where getting a Linken's Sphere may be necessary especially when against single-targeted spells like Doom and Duel.
  
  
• The key to maximizing Phantom Assassin's potential is knowing when the enemy team is vulnerable and capitalizing on it. For example, is the enemy team distracted from trying to focus down your allied Pudge? Take advantage of it by striking from the backlines, typically the supports. In most cases, only the victim will notice you diving in and try to stop you from killing him, usually unsuccessfully since everyone else is still too busy beating down on the Pudge.
  
  
• The midgame is typically when Phantom Assassin shines the most, due to her extremely high killing potential if given chance to strike at her enemies. As I said over and over again, you should be aiming to end the game as soon as possible to prevent falling off, giving her enemies a chance to make a comeback. The midgame phase ends once the enemies have acquired enough items to counter Phantom Assassin or once you feel that you're useless in fights despite having all the items that you need. Please refer to the lategame plan if either of these conditions are met.

LATEGAME

GOALS:

• While you're no longer the hero in the spotlight, you should still find ways to make yourself useful. The easiest way to do this is by constantly pushing out waves, relying on your Blur and game sense to evade enemy pickoffs. This is actually the best course of action for Phantom Assassin in most lategame situations since she's not going to be that impactful in teamfights anyways so having her missing in action is not the end of the world.
  
  
• If shoving creep waves is not an option, then you should be looking at determining the exact location of your enemies, specifically the supports. You should be looking at taking them out whenever it's safe to do so and trust me, there will be an opening. Observer Wards are going to be crucial here so buy them yourself if your team isn't disciplined enough to do so. The impact that vision will give can be enormous and in fact, it might just win you the game.
  
  
• Worse comes to worst, you won't be able to shove waves and pickoff enemy supports. At this point, you should just stick with your team and hope for the best. Focus on the supports once the teamfight starts and hope that you can win the game from there. Again, this is the worst case scenario and this is the only case where you may end up just idling or moving around somewhat mindlessly. Let this serve as a lesson to you for letting the game reach late. You'll get 'em next time!

REMINDERS:

• Just to get things out of the way, please note that you'll be relying more on your teammates at this stage of the game. However, you should also remember that you're still a carry at the end of the day so you have more options for things to do compared to most heroes in other roles. Don't give up!
  
  
• Your impact in the lategame will depend on the situational items you've bought. For example, having a Nullifier will almost always make sure that you have high killing potential on enemy supports. Having an Abyssal Blade on the other hand ensures that you have some fighting potential against their carries despite not scaling too well.
  
  
• Expect the prey to become the predator at this stage of the game. The most notable example is Anti-Mage, who absolutely does jack**** against you in the early-midgame but can make sure that you never get out of your base alive once he's farmed.

Battle Fury V.S. Desolator

BATTLE FURY

VS

DESOLATOR

EXPLANATION: Is there a good chance that you won't be able to snowball successfully even if you rush Desolator? Then get Battle Fury! It greatly increases your farming speed, allowing you to secure the midgame with the gold and xp advantage that you'll still be having despite not getting a lot of kills. However, please keep in mind that while significantly weaker than Desolator, you can still go for kills with just Battle Fury and I suggest doing so if you believe it's safe. Also, use the increased farming speed to get the items you need to be able to teamfight, not some greedy luxury item like Nullifier (unless that is for some reason what you need to teamfight, but that's very unlikely). Remember, even with Battle Fury, Phantom Assassin is NOT a lategame hero, so don't treat her as such! Get your Black King Bar or whatever you need to teamfight and start playing aggressively before you lose all chances of snowballing to victory.

EXPLANATION: Drastically increases Phantom Assassin's burst physical damage to the point where she can one-shot most supports with just a single crit or two! The armor reduction works on buildings too, which complements her goals because she wants to be able to take objectives while her enemies are dead. This means ending the game fast before they can build enough items to counter her! However, please remember that Desolator gives NOTHING BUT DAMAGE. No survivability, no mobility, no utility. Just. Damage. This means that if you have other glaring issues like "I need to survive in teamfights" or "They keep kiting me and locking me down!", then you should not be rushing this item. Consider Battle Fury, or maybe even rush Black King Bar if you truly believe that your damage right now is enough as it is (although that's quite unlikely).

Phase Boots V.S. Power Treads

PHASE BOOTS

VS

POWER TREADS

EXPLANATION: The additional damage and increased chasing potential is very much welcome to a Phantom Assassin who plans on snowballing early and FAST. It gives more damage per second than Power Treads even when considering the +10 agility that the latter gives. In most of your games, you will be getting Phase Boots since you need every single bit of damage that you can as soon as possible to snowball successfully.

EXPLANATION: While the attack speed and +10 on any stat is good on Phantom Assassin, it's still not much compared to Phase Boots. The +10 intelligence is pretty much useless since she has little to no mana issues. The +10 strength gives zero damage and really only helps in a handful of situations. Only the +10 agility is appreciated on her and even that is underwhelming compared to +24 damage from Phase Boots AND the ability to move 24% faster every 8 seconds. However, as bad as it may seem, there will be games where you need to get Power Treads over Phase Boots, such as in situations where you desperately need to survive longer in early engagements or in situations where you know the game will go late no matter what you do. Either way, it's a bad sign if you have to get Power Treads on her.

Starting Items: Explained

Tango Standard laning item. It helps you last longer in lane and allows you to trade with the opposing laner without fear of getting too low. You always start out with these unless you're absolutely sure that you won't get harassed out of lane (which only happens in like 5% of games)

Tango (Shared) Plan on going mid and you have someone on your team who's actually willing to support? Ask them for one or two of these since it will greatly aid your earlygame. However, please do remember that it's not going to be the end of the world if your supports don't give you any. Adapt to the situation... Buy your own damn tangos!

Observer Ward Aside from the obvious function of providing highground vision and spotting gankers, Observer Wards are also useful for making sure that you are able to cast Stifling Dagger from maximum range. Without these, you'll need to rely on your current vision and it will sometimes prevent you from casting Stifling Dagger especially during nighttime. Preferrably, you'd have the support give you one of these at the start of the game but feel free to buy your own if deemed necessary.

Healing Salve Preferred over Tangos if you think early fights will occur in your lane. Healing Salves heal less than Tangos and can be dispelled by player-based damage, but in exchange they heal at a much faster rate. This is especially useful in early fights since the rapid HP regen can easily change the fight's outcome. If necessary, get both types of healing items so you're prepared for whatever happens!

Stout Shield The most cost-effective protection you can buy against right-click harass and creep damage. Do not underestimate how much HP could be saved by not skipping this as a starting item. The only times where you don't start off with a Stout Shield are when you're running a trilane or facing against Zeus in the midlane. Nothing much else to say except that it's always better to have Stout Shield over Quelling Blade since the latter can be bought at the side shop anyways.

Iron Branch The most cost-effective stat item in the game. These mainly serve as placeholders for your item slots or components for other more advanced items. Remember, each item slot is valuable so making sure they're always filled is important especially in the earlygame where every bit of stat counts. Oh, and don't forget that Tangos are twice more effective duration-wise if eaten with a planted Iron Branch. This is especially useful in the midlane where trees are mostly inaccessible since the creep equilibrium mostly stays at the river.

Wraith Band Nothing says GREEDY! more than Phantom Assassin starting out with Wraith Band at the very beginning of the game. This strategy has its merits though... Starting out with Wraith Band means that you're already halfway into making Ring of Aquila which is basically the strongest earlygame item right now. Think of it like trading your earlygame for a better transition into the midgame! I leave it up to you to decide whether it's worth doing this but based from my experiences, it's usually better to just get traditional starting items instead. Feel free to go YOLO, though!

Quelling Blade Makes last-hitting much easier especially for a hero with below-average base damage like Phantom Assassin. It also prevents the opposing laner/s from denying gold and experience which is crucial for a snowballing hero like her. However, while all of this is extremely important, please don't start off with Quelling Blade when going to the safelane since you can easily buy it at the side shop and getting that early 200 gold is going to be effortless.

Earlygame Items: Explained

Ring of Aquila Typically bought on Phantom Assassin to secure her earlygame due to how effective the item is for its cost. It provides nice overall stats, decent mana regeneration, and increased pushing ability. This item alone allows Phantom Assassin to dominate the game as soon as she hits level 6, assuming that the enemy team hasn't countered her with their hero picks. In fact, this item is so good that you may still buy it even if you don't plan on playing aggressively early on! Buying Battle Fury? Who cares! Get that casual Ring of Aquila first so that you're not completely vulnerable while saving up for the Battle Fury. Personally, I've never had a game where I don't pick this item up just because of how good it is in the current meta.

Magic Wand Due to 7.14 patch changes, Magic Wand is no longer as good as it used to be since the health regen was completely removed and having to start out with the recipe is not optimal since it provided absolutely no stats, unlike the previous item buildup which involved starting out with an Enchanted Mango that gave some health regen. Anyways, moving on from the past, I still think it's necessary to get this item when up against heroes that constantly spam spells such as Bristleback, Zeus, and Skywrath Mage. However, aside from those specific situations, I'd advise getting some other earlygame item instead such as Ring of Aquila.

Infused Raindrops Typically bought to win those clutch fights where you would have otherwise died if it weren't for the magic damage block. However, Infused Raindrops are heavily situational and you will have to rely on your own experiences to decide whether or not it's worth buying. Based on my experiences though, it's horrible against Zeus since he easily eats up all the charges with little to no effort. It's incredibly useful against Shadow Fiend however, since the mana regen allows you to constantly harass him with Stifling Dagger and survive his burst if he chooses to cast Shadowraze on you. There are many more situations where Infused Raindrops is viable, you'll just have to figure them out yourself!

Mask of Madness The most cost-effective DPS and attack speed item in the whole game. It can work well with Phantom Assassin's kit with a few workarounds. This can be done by casting Stifling Dagger and Phantom Strike first before activating Mask of Madness to ensure that the silence effect doesn't hurt you too much. However, even when used correctly, you will still have 3sec downtime where you can't cast any of your spells so avoid buying this item if you need more chasing potential. It's best bought against heroes who don't have any escape abilities, allowing you to fully utilize the DPS this item provides. Mask of Madness also increases your farming speed by a significant amount, allowing you to get luxury items at a faster rate especially if you find yourself jungling a lot. Long story short, consider this a greedy pickup for Phantom Assassin so it should really only be bought in games where you can afford to get away with such abusable tactics.

Medallion of Courage If you plan on snowballing hard by constantly ganking with Phantom Assassin, then you should consider getting Medallion of Courage. It's basically Desolator on a lower price in terms of DPS! While the mana regen isn't too useful since Ring of Aquila already solves all of your mana problems, it might still come in quite handy especially when against mana-draining heroes like Nyx Assassin, Anti-Mage etc.. Oh, and the increased armor allows you to tower dive comfortably especially once upgraded into Solar Crest.

Hood of Defiance I know this item may look questionable when bought on Phantom Assassin, but hear me out for a second! As you may know, nukers are considered as counters to Phantom Assassin since they are able to put her down before she deals enough damage. However, most of them deal magical damage so you can mitigate their initial damage burst and survive by getting Hood of Defiance. Its impact is significant when bought in the right games and afterall, you can't dish out damage if you're dead right? The most noteworthy example I can provide to prove my point is when fighting against Tinker. His Heat-Seeking Missiles deal insane amounts of magical damage throughout your team so Hood of Defiance's value will be extremely high in that situation. You can also eventually upgrade it into Pipe of Insight if you feel like being selfless!

Situational Items/Extensions: Explained

Abyssal Blade Do you find yourself fighting in the frontlines more often than not? Then get Abyssal Blade! It allows you to 1v1 comfortably against heroes that would normally beat you like Wraith King, Troll Warlord, and Terrorblade. It also allows you to reliably lockdown slippery heroes like Anti-Mage, Invoker, and Lycan if your allies aren't there to back you up. It's a good item on Phantom Assassin in most scenarios and should definitely be bought if you think the game will reach late.

Aeon Disk Like with most heroes, Aeon Disk should only be bought if the situation calls for it. The status resistance is welcome on a hero like Phantom Assassin, who needs to be as active as possible in teamfights to be useful. However, this item should not be bought solely for that purpose as there are other items that can provide the same effect such as Black King Bar, Linken's Sphere, etc.. You should be looking more at the invincibility effect that it provides upon reaching a certain HP% threshold. Generally, it's only useful against heroes that rely on nuking down their opponents before they can react such as Techies and Skywrath Mage so only buy the item in those games.

Assault Cuirass Feel like playing for the team since they'll be more important than you? Assault Cuirass is the answer! The attack speed and armor aura greatly increases your team's physical damage potential, potentially winning you the game through sheer power! However, while all this is well and good, you should know that by buying this item you are hereby dedicating yourself as a team-player rather than the typical carry player who only thinks about himself. It's not an ideal scenario, but sometimes it's necessary to sacrifice your ego in order to win the game. Phantom Assassin has a peak to her power, and after that she starts to fall off so getting Assault Cuirass is a good option to stay relevant for longer.

Bloodthorn Is it necessary to kill a specific hero first in order to win the teamfight? Get Bloodthorn! It greatly increases your pickoff potential especially in combination with Nullifier, which effectively works as a 5 second Doom! On its own, however, Bloodthorn can either be extremely powerful or disappointing. Its active ability is insanely powerful if utilized correctly but it's also very easily countered with any sort of dispel such as Black King Bar, Lotus Orb, etc.. Add to that the fact that it's extremely expensive (even more expensive than Divine Rapier!), and you have an item that could just be a waste of gold. If you ask me, I would advise getting Nullifier first if you plan on getting Bloodthorn in the near future to ensure that it's always going to be useful no matter what. Another viable strategy is to rush the Orchid Malevolence component first so that you can utilize the silence it provides fairly early on, assuming that you've already bought your core items. Long story short, think of Bloodthorn as a "high investment" item so you better make sure that the time and gold spent on it is going to be worthwhile!

Boots of Travel As with most heroes, you only get Boots of Travel once you've bought all your other important items. It gives you massively increased map presence and works well in countering splitpush and rat strategies. For Phantom Assassin, the increased movespeed also helps in capturing enemies prior to using your Stifling Dagger. Another important advantage that Boots of Travel gives is that it essentially gives you access to your 6th inventory slot which was previously reserved for your Town Portal Scrolls.

Diffusal Blade Similar to Mask of Madness in the sense that it's also one of the most cost-effective DPS items in the game, especially on an agility hero like Phantom Assassin. Not to mention, the active ability does wonders since it allows her to keep enemies in place for much longer. The manabreak aspect of Diffusal Blade is highly effective against enemies with low mana pools since you can potentially stop them from casting their important spells, special mention to Medusa who literally relies on her mana for survivability. However, a big disadvantage that the item has is that it doesn't scale well so you better be damn sure that the game will be ending soon or else you'll start to realize how underwhelming Diffusal Blade is in the lategame.

Eye of Skadi The item of choice in games where you need more survivability and manfighting power. The slow effect on every attack helps in chasing down enemies and potentially dissuading them from fighting back due to the attack speed slow. Not to mention, it works with Stifling Dagger in case the 50% slow was not enough for you to chase an enemy down for whatever reason. It's great against heroes who like to stay in the frontlines such as Wraith King or those who rely on their movespeed to maneuver around in teamfights such as Razor. The increased stats also help in making Phantom Assassin more survivable against nukes, whether it be Pure or Magical damage. This allows her to survive previously deadly skill combos such as that from Bloodseeker's Rupture + Blood Rite and Bloodrage. All in all, you should be considering Eye of Skadi if you need to fight in the frontlines or you observe that the enemy team is focused on taking you down (as they should be!).

Linken's Sphere Like with most core heroes, you get Linken's Sphere when the enemy team has deadly targeted spells such as Duel and Doom. It drastically increases Phantom Assassin's survivability against these kind of heroes, allowing her to fight properly in teamfights. However, you should think carefully before getting this item since aside from the spellblock, it's pretty much a waste of gold on her. The stats are alright but not ideal, and the HP/MP regeneration is pretty much useless since Phantom Assassin isn't built for long teamfights anyways. You should really only be buying Linken's Sphere if absolutely necessary!

Manta Style Theoretically, Phantom Assassin's illusions are quite strong since they have both Blur and Coup de Grace. In practice, however, it doesn't synergize with her playstyle in most games since she wants to kill enemies as fast as possible, in which Manta Style doesn't help that much compared to other available items such as Desolator and Nullifier. It's a good item in games where the enemy team lacks abilities to deal with illusions though! They're quite powerful when left alone, able to dish out decent damage and take much of it before disappearing. Something to add, if you plan to go for Manta Style, then I suggest going for stat-based items to further boost your illusions' power. Anyways, just think of this item as heavily situational but extremely powerful in the right games.

Monkey King Bar Like with most right-click carries, you buy Monkey King Bar when the enemy team has evasion heroes such as Windranger. It may also be bought to counter enemies who are planning to buy Butterfly. It synergizes well with Phantom Assassin so don't hesitate to buy it whenever needed. If you've already bought Desolator, you may also consider buying this item for maximum DPS. However, this is very greedy and may be easily punished with items such as Blade Mail or by simply focusing you down in teamfights so be extra careful before doing so. I personally don't think it's worth the risk, opting for other items instead such as Nullifier and Satanic.

Moon Shard Definitely a lategame pickup for when you've run out of item slots. Consume Moon Shard immediately upon purchase since there are other items better suited for Phantom Assassin. Avoid buying this item early since it doesn't provide cost-effective DPS and dealing damage is typically the least of your problems. Remember, you can't deal damage if you're dead! Besides, if you really wanted nothing but damage there are other better item choices out there.

Nullifier My personal favorite lategame item since it provides good pickoff potential without being too greedy. Nullifier gives excellent damage on Phantom Assassin and prevents her targets from simply using Eul's Scepter of Divinity or Ghost Scepter to run away from you or live long enough to turn the fight around. I'd consider this item a must-buy when against supports who actually have money so that you can continue picking them off even when reaching the lategame. It secures your presence in these stages of the game, allowing you to remain useful and do your job correctly. The active ability may even be used against carries if you believe that forcing them to activate Black King Bar or not at all is going to win you the teamfight. All in all, I consider Nullifier as one of the best items on Phantom Assassin just based from my theory-crafting and actual in-game experience.

Sange and Yasha I personally dislike Sange and Yasha on Phantom Assassin since it's a bit too versatile for what she wants to do. The greater maim is also redundant in most games since the slow from Stifling Dagger is enough for her to catch up with most enemies. However, you may consider buying this item if forced to face against manfighting heroes like Wraith King and Razor. In those specific games, this item will greatly help and ensure that you are actually able to fight them somewhat effectively whereas you'd typically run away without it. Just based from what I said, you can see that I consider Sange and Yasha as sub-optimal on her so avoid buying it unless absolutely needed. Now, some of you may argue that Eye of Skadi does the same thing but I give it better treatment and to you I say: "But Eye of Skadi is just a better Sange and Yasha in my eyes. It's more expensive but definitely worth it if bought in the right games!"

Satanic Another personal favorite of mine in the lategame! It provides some damage, lifesteal, and a free Aegis of the Immortal if used correctly in teamfights. What's more to ask? It synergizes well with what Phantom Assassin wants to do in teamfights, which is to dive in and take out the squishiest heroes without having to sacrifice her own life. The typical strategy once you've bought Satanic is to simply dive in whenever possible (with BKB active obviously), take out your target, and use the item's active ability when needed to ensure that you aren't punished for diving. Most enemy teams will be unable to counter this strategy, allowing you to fully abuse it and end the game with that advantage. Be wary of spell-immune piercing disables such as Abyssal Blade's active and Dismember though since those can ruin your strategy and lead to your death! If necessary, you may even use Stifling Dagger on some target to ensure that you get some value from the active ability's massive lifesteal if you can't hit anyone with your normal melee attack for whatever reason.

Silver Edge I consider this item a must-buy against heroes with strong passives such as Bristleback and Dispersion. It even synergizes well with what Phantom Assassin wants to do in the midgame, which is to hunt down lone enemy heroes and what better way to do that than with the Shadow Blade component? Assuming your ganks go well, you will be able to get Silver Edge in a timely manner and abuse its passive-disabling ability as well as the damage reduction. Not to mention, it ruins the economy of the enemy team compared to other items since it forces the supports to provide detection for you in the form of Sentry Wards or even Gem of True Sight! If they don't, they'll have to deal with having their carries picked off one by one and not being able to do anything about it since Phantom Assassin can just escape out if need be.

Solar Crest Did you get Medallion of Courage and realize how much work the item is doing for you? Amp it up even further by upgrading it into Solar Crest! It provides great armor and even some additional evasion for Phantom Assassin, emphasizing even more the importance of Monkey King Bar for the enemy carries. But don't worry, assuming all goes well then you should be able to end the game with how much snowballing potential this item provides before they can even get enough gold to buy MKB. All in all, I consider Solar Crest as a high-risk, high-reward snowballing item that's definitely a must-buy if you're confident that you can end the game fast.

Closing Remarks

Oh, hey! You've finished the guide! Thank you for taking the time and effort to read this. I hope you've learned some new useful information along the way and I only wish you luck in your future games. Go get em, tiger!

Anyways, if you feel like helping me out, why not leave some feedback in the form of comments, votes, and/or messages? I'm always open to criticism so feel free to point out any mistakes that I've made so that I may correct them and avoid them in future guides. I'm LordVesper, and I'll see you... next time!