Mortred, the Phantom Assassin Guide by vantoz
A Guide to :
Mortred, The Phantom Assassin
Writer's Foreword:-Welcome to my first guide. In this guide I will teach you the way I play the Phantom Assassin. Mortred is a hero that needs to survive early and farm at the middle of the game in order to reach your goal to be a Late game beast. The item and skill build that I will recommend will support us in our early game survival, middle game farming, and late game owning. Ok, Lets start. Before I forgot, sorry for my Bad English.
Hero Overview:
Mortred, the Phantom Assassin-Born into the reclusive Night Elf group called the Wardens and shunned by the mainstream Night Elf society, Mortred pledged allegiance to the Scourge to take revenge. A perfect blend of strength and speed, the years spent alone in the forests of Ashevalle allowed her to blend into the terrain, appearing phantom-like at times and striking when you least expect it. The deadly precision in which she carries out her attacks have made her a valuable member of the Scourge, and it is clear why she is known as the Phantom Assassin.
Starting HP: 473
Starting Mana: 169
Starting Damage: 46 - 48
Starting Armor: 2.2
Str: 17 + 2.05
Agi: 23 + 3.15Int: 13 + 1
Attack range: 100 (melee)
Starting Movement speed: 310
-As we see, Mortred has a high agility growth(3rd to the highest), a good strength growth but with a low starting Hp, and a horrible intelligent growth. Like many melee Agility heroes, mortred will have a hard time farming and surviving at the start of the game but don?t worry because the item and skill build that we will use will cover this weakness.
Strenghts:
-One of the Best Killer in the game and might be the Best if you played her Right.
-She can survive and farm early game with her regeneration items and Blurr to make her late game a Heaven.
-High Critical + Satanic = High Lifesteal = Survivality
-High Critical + Battlefury = Dead Creeps = Lots of Gold = Lots of Item = Ownage?
Weaknesses:
-Low HP = very vulnerable against nukers
-Hmm, and she also has low Int/Mana
-Very Item Dependant
Skill Descriptions:
Shadow Strike
Hurls a poisoned dagger which deals large initial damage, and then deals damage over time. The poisoned unit has its movement speed slowed for a short duration.
Level 1 - 50 strike damage, 10 duration damage. Mc: 90
Level 2 - 70 strike damage, 20 duration damage. Mc: 105
Level 3 - 70 strike damage, 40 duration damage. Mc: 120
Level 4 - 100 strike damage, 50 duration damage. Mc: 135
Cooldown: Around 20 seconds
Casting time: Around .5 second
Blink Strike
Teleports to a unit and strikes it if it is a foe, dealing bonus damage. Costs 50 mana.
Level 1 - 30 second cooldown, deals 30 extra damage.
Level 2 - 20 second cooldown, deals 60 extra damage.
Level 3 - 10 second cooldown, deals 90 extra damage.
Level 4 - 5 second cooldown, deals 120 extra damage.
Mana cost: 50
Casting time: Around .5 second
Blur
The Phantom Assassin becomes hard to see by blurring her body. Some enemy attacks miss.
Level 1 - 7% chance to evade an attack.
Level 2 - 14% chance to evade an attack.
Level 3 - 21% chance to evade an attack.
Level 4 - 28% chance to evade an attack.
-Passive Skill-
Coup de Grace
Mortred has refined her hero-killing skills to a high degree.
Level 1 - 15% chance to do a 2x critical.
Level 2 - 15% chance to do a 3x critical.
Level 3 - 15% chance to do a 4x critical.
-Passive Skill-
Skill Order:
Level 1: Shadow Strike
Level 2: Blink Strike
Level 3: Stats
Level 4: Blink Strike
Level 5: Stats
Level 6: Stats
Level 7: Blink Strike
Level 8: Blink Strike
Level 9: Stats
Level 10: Coup de Grace
Level 11: Coup de Grace
Level 12: Blur
Level 13: Blur
Level 14: Blur
Level 15: Blur
Level 16: Coup de Grace
Level 17 - 22: Stats
Level 23 - 25: Shadow Strike
Reasons for skills:
One level of Shadow strike because you MIGHT get a Lucky kill. Getting Stats Bonus early game will help you survive against aggressive enemy hero. Max Blink Strike ASAP because you can use this skill for Escaping, Harassing, Killing and Farming. Maxing Shadow Strike at levels 23-25 because we will only need the slow. Learning lvl 1 Coup de Grace at 10 for an early stat bonus and i think 2x crit w/ no damage item is useless.
Why do I choose Stats over Blur early?
Let me ask you, why do you want to learn blur early? Simple, you want the evasion for your earlygame survivality. Let me ask you again, what do heroes use earlygame to kill or harass their enemies? Answer: Spells. Let me ask you one more time, can blur protect you from spells? The answer is?NO! Stats can help you more earlygame because it will provide you more suvivality.
Only 1 level of Shadow Strike?
We only put 1 skill point of Shadow Strike because we only need it?s slow. Mortred cannot use Shadow Strike to harass or kill her enemies because Mortred is an agility hero, meaning that she has low Base mana and mana regeneration and the worst part is?she has the lowest int growth in the game!
Coup de Grace at level 10 and not on level 6?
Yes, I want you to get your first level of Coup de Grace at level 10. Here are some reasons why I believe that Coup de Grace is nearly useless earlygame:
-You have a slow attackspeed early game, meaning you will have low chances of triggering Coup de Grace.
-You have low damage, meaning your criticals will not be strong.
-You cannot kill a hero early game, Mortred is a late game hero- don?t make her a early game super hero.
-Mortred needs to be defensive early game. Stats bonus is better than that little x2.0 critical
Item Build:
1. Circlet of Nobility + Tangoes
2. Helm of Iron will
3. Bracer x2 (+2 pcs Gauntlets of Strenght and Bracers recipe Scrolls)
4. Boots of Speed
5. Mithrill Hammer
6. Claymore
7. Perseverance (Ring of Health+Void Stone) - Battlefury
8. Mask of Death - Helm of Dominator
Extended Item Build:
9. Upgrade Boots to Boots of Travel or Power Treads (you can skip this part)
10. Demon Edge
11. Quarterstaff
12. Finish Monkey King Bar
13. Messerchmidt's Reaver
14. Finish Satanic
After this you can get:
-For more Damage, get
Divine Rapier - Aegis of the Immortal ( Too bad, we cannot make an Aegis Anymore... )
-For map control get
Boots of Travel-For more Survivality get
Black King Bar-For more Attack speed get
Hyperstone-If you have a trouble farming early game, get a
Hand of Midas after you get your regen item
Final Items:
-Power Treads
-Battlefury
-Satanic
-Monkey King Bar
-2 BracersReasons for Items:
Helm of Ironwill+ 3 hp regeneration per second - For Countering Harassers and Nukers
+ 5 Armor - For Physical damage deduction.
We will choose this item over the Ring of Health as your earlygame Hp regen item. Ring of Health will give us +4 Hp regeneration per second at the cost of 875 golds while the Helm of Ironwill will give us +3 Hp regeneration per second and +5 armor at the cost of 950. You?ll just need to give up the +1 Hp regen per second and add 75 golds for the +5 Armor, a good deal huh?
Bracers+ 12 Str - For added HP
+ 6 agi - A small + in Attack speed and Damage
+ 6 int - For added Mana
have chosen Bracers over Null Talismans or Wraith Bands because I believe that Nulls and Wraiths are made for offensive purposes and Bracers are made for defensive purpose. Null Talisman will provide you some mana and mana regen for spamming Shadow strike, while Wraith Bands will provide you damage for your Blinkstike+Hit Combo THOSE are not needed earlygame because your main objective is survive and level up as quick as possible. 2 pcs of Bracers will provide you an extra 228 Hp. Don?t underestimate the extra 228 Hp that bracers will give because it can help you survive in many difficult situations earlygame.
Battlefury+ 65 Damage - For Coup de Grace Damage and Farming
+ 150% mana regeneration - For Shadow Strike and Blink Strike Spamming
+ 6 HP regeneration per second ?Your Regeneration item
+ 35% Cleave attack (225 range I think) ?For Farming, with this + level 3 Coup de Grace, you will do a 700-800 Critical = 250 damage cleave PER critical.
Why Battlefurry? Battlefury is a nice item (for me) because it will give you +6 Hp regeneration per second, +150% mana regeneration, +65 Damage, and a 225 range Cleave attack. Battlefury will provide you the Damage, Survivality, and more Farming potiential in just 1 item slot. The main purpose why we will get Battlefury on mortred is the Damage and cleave, Just imagine what will happen if you score a critical in a creepwave, in team fights, and in farming? Isn?t that awesome? Battlefury will boost your Farming/Killing potential a lot. Unlike many damage items, Battlefury is very easy to farm because it is made up of very cheap components that are very to gather.
Satanic / Helm of Dominator+ 25% Lifesteal
+ 25 Strength
+ 5 Armor
+ Passive Ability:
Unholy Rage (+ extra 15% Lifesteal, +30 Damage, lasts 20 seconds [ it is a buff]. Cooldown: 50 seconds)
Dominate (Controls an Enemy/ Neutral Creep for 20 minutes ?5min cooldown)
Helm of DominatorWe will buy Helm of Dominator because at this point, your damage is high enough to give us a good amount of lifesteal. With this item, almost no one can bring you down 1 on 1 because of your high Lifesteal, Critical, and Evasion. High critical and Lifesteal means that you will not waste your time going back to the fountain just to heal your Hp. Helm of Dominator will also give you the ability to dominate a creep with a lifespan of 20 minutes every 5 minutes. I highly recommend you to dominate a Fulborg or a Centaur Khan because it can help you kill enemy heroes because it has a skill called ?War Stomp? that can stun enemies near it in seconds.
SatanicAfter we get our MKB(or before if you want), we have to choose an item that will boost our Hp. There are only 2 items that we can choose in boosting our Hp, the Heart of Tarrasque, and the Satanic. I choose Satanic over heart because it gives Hp and at the same time it will give as damage while Heart of tarrasque will give us pure Hp boost. Satanic?s active skill was change from Death Pact to Unholy Rage- so I think that getting satanic is better than getting heart on mortred now
Monkey King Bar+ 75 Damage ?For Coup de Grace Damage
+ 15% Attack Speed - Attack speed for Coup de Grace
+ 30% chance to do a 100 bonus Damage that can stop channeling spells
Monkey king bar?! Yes, we will choose monkey king bar (MKB) as our next damage item. There are no better damage item than MKB when we got our Battlefury. Radiance, Buriza do Kyanon, and Divine Rapier are the only items that can match MKB?s usefulness- Not radiance because we already had battlefury as a farming tool, not buriza because double critical is a waste, and for the Divine rapier, it is ok but when you dropped it by chance, there is a possibility that your team will lose their chance to win. MKB will give us Damage for more Coup de Grace, Attack speed for coup de grace, and the 100 Damage mini-stun which acts as your second critical.
Items not to get:
Butterfly and Buriza / Crystalys-Because it doesnt stack with Blur and Coup de Grace (and they are too expensive ^_^)
Other items w/ Orb effects
-Orb effects do not stack ^_^
Reminder:
-Make your item Build depending on the situation
ex:
-If you do not need extra life regeneration, Buy only 1 HP regen Item (Ring of Health or Helm of Iron Will)
-If you have a hard time farming for Battlefury, consider getting a Hand of Midas for Early game farming.
-If you do not need an exta HP, finish Monkey King Bar after Satanic.
-If you are not comfortable spamming Shadow Strike, buy Perserverance Last.(for completing Battlefury)
-If you are against Heavy Nukers(Zeus and Lich) grabbing a few Tangoes/Potion will help.
-If you think that you do not need Extra Movespeed, Buy Power Treads/Boots of Speed after you get your Battlefury.
General Gameplay Walkthrough:Early Game:-at the start, grab a chicken if you want then go to the bottom lane for sentinel and top lane for scourge with an ally because you cannot solo, at the start your main objective is to survive and farm. Keep gold for your Helm of Ironwill-950, Do the melee dance by spamming right click and try not to get damaged because you have no hp regeneration item, Also ask your team mates to call the heroes that is missing in their lane to avoid Dying in Ganks. Once you have your Helm of Ironwill, you can start farming now using your Blink Strike, with this you can farm without being harassed badly by your lane enemy hero. When you completed farming for your Bracers, use your chicken to buy and bring it to you (I recommended buying a chicken because it can help you bring items from your base which is very important because we don't want to miss experience and gold, and don't forget to share your chicken with your teammates and collect a lots of Thank yous- if somebody do not thank you do not allow him to share your chicken because he is stupid?.Joke =).) Why not Mask of Death first? Its because 10% lifesteal is not enough to survive early game, that is the reason why Regeneration > Lifesteal early game and Lifesteal > Regeneration late game for Mortred. Once you get your Ring of Health and Helm of Iron Will, you will now have +6hp regeneration per second and a +5 in armor, it is the time to be aggressive but do not be over confident because your not Roshan =). When you see that the creeps are starting to die(2 creeps left) Blink Strike to your enemy, Hit 1 or two times, Shadow strike, and make 2-4 hits, if he is still alive, Blink Strike him to get the Kill. But when he is too close from his tower do not be greedy, let him go to his beloved fountain and farm and level freely.
Middle Game:- by level 11-15 you should have at least 2 bracers, Power treads, and a Helm of Iron Will and now working for Battlefurry, if not then you are in trouble. Farm neutrals to catch up. At this point of the game Ganks is the hobby of your team and also your Opponent抯 team. Usually you will be the 1st target of the ganks because they do not want you to be too strong, counter this by buying Wards(optional) and place it in the woods where they can setup a gank. Participate also in ganks so if you succeed you will have extra experience, also if you want call for a gank against your enemy lane mate so you will have a time to farm without harm.
Late Game:- at this point of the game usually heroes get their first big item, and for you that is your Battlefury. After you get your Battlefurry, you will be a Powerful Killing and Farming machine, you can get all the creeps on a wave 100% and finish it within seconds. After this, your Satanic, and Monkey King Bar will be finished within a few minutes and if you want, give your extra gold to your team mates to help them. Also at this point of the game (Levels 16-25) the mid-pushing will begin. Participate in it by appearing LAST and killing first their Nukers/ Agi Heroes. In pushing always go second,(first is your Tank) Make him as your Shield(Because your'e the Sword) and if there is no Threat, kill the creep wave and get a lots of gold (Yummy). Always remember your goal, The Tree.
Screenshots:Double Critical
-Critical followed by another Critical does Insane Damage.(on the second image, Leshrac has full hp before i attacked him)
Farming
-I only attacked Omniknight but look! the creeps died and give me Golds!
-See, with Battlefury, you can farm like Crazy
Criticals
1st: Mortred level 6
2nd: Mortred level 11 w/ +6 damage from bracers(2)
3rd: Mortred level 16 w/ +37 damage from bracers(2), perserverance, and mithrill hammer
4th: Mortred level 16 w/ +71 damage from bracers(2), and Battlefury
5th: Mortred level 25 w/ +146 damage from bracers(2), Battlefury, and Monkey King Bar
6th: Mortred level 25 w/ +400 damage from Battlefurry, Monkey King Bar, and Divine Rapier
Killing
-I hide in the woods and wait
-Blink striked to him and attack him till he notice
-He noticed it when he's at half health
-He cast Purification and Repel and he ran (not shown)
-I chase him and killed him
Escaping
-2 escape routes using Blink Strike
-On the 2nd Escape route, be sure that you are in the middle of tree A and tree B.
Surviving
-I wait then when Leshrac came i attacked him
-My hp bar drops very fast because of his Insane combo
-I noticed that i will die if i continue then i Blink striked our Range Creep and go away w/ 8hp
Strike Dodging
-I saw Leshrac casting Split Earth
-I Blink stiked him so i can avoid the damage.(notice that our range creep is stunned)
Friends
-Dont forget to use your Friends
Killing:Mortred is a hero killer so it is very important for you to know how to kill a hero. Killing heroes is her primary role in her team lategame but in order to kill, you must have a good inventory slot, Level, and LUCK. In choosing what hero to kill, you must know what his /her skills are. Example: jumping at Luna alone is like committing a suicide, she?ll just use her Eclipse and your dead.
Whom to kill:-Heroes that can be a threat to your team lategame. (most of them don?t have a escaping spells like Sniper and Razor)
-Support heroes (like Omniknight)
-Heroes that have multiple Area-of-Effect spells.
-Heroes that have low hp and armor.
Whom not to kill: (but at least you can try)-Blinkers, it is nearly impossible for you to kill blinkers because they will just *blink* when they will die. Intelligent blinkers will just blink in the forest or anywhere in the fog of war- where you can?t use your Blink Strike to follow them. Except you have a Sentry ward, Gem of Truesight, Allied hero with Stun and/or Mana Burn.
-Windwalkers, like blinkers, they will just windwalk when they know that they will die. Just bring Sentry wards or Gem if you really want to kill them.
-Heroes with a GG-skill. (Nerubian Weaver: time lapse, Templar Assassin: refraction, Lord of Avernus: borrowed time, etc.)
Your good Against:
Image Heroes / Manta Users:
-Your Good against Image Heroes because images takes 300% damage(200% on Chaos Knight) = 105% damage cleave(70% damage cleave on Chaos knight)
Low Hp heroes:
-like Techies because you can kill them very fast(be carefull of the mines)
