Phoenix is a strong laner and teamfighter, you need to utilize that in order not to fall behind and be useless. If you have no coordinated teamfights you easily lose with phoenix, as well as if you do not capitalize on his strong laning capabilities.
crimson is just suboptimal, and pipe is bad in 90% of matches. the common build is tranquils into midas, followed by shivas/halebard, or sometimes eul. aghs is a good thing if it is very late stage and u r good with this game. meka is a decent early game item, too, but u usually want midas before mek.
he is a solid meka carrier, if there are no better ones in ur team. silences are the worst.
other than that - tranquils, urn, meka/midas, shivas/euls, aghs/refresher/radiance in late game is kinda kewl, too.
Mek in phoenix is bad in most cases, especially if you rush it, better midgame options is stuff like veil/atos, lategame luxuries are Shiva/Octa/Refresher.
Why is mek bad on Phoenix?
Well you need to have atleast 310 mana for combo and if you want to utilize sunray which is btw very underrated then you need 410 mana.
Mek costs 250 mana and phoenix with standard items simply won't have the mana to use both mek and combo.
It could only work if you're making Greaves so you get Arcane boots first, however with lack of tranqs you will fall behind early, so basically mek is bad.
^havent seen any decent phoenix players going for early veil or atos at all, where did u get this idea from?
mek on the other side is a common purchase for phoenix on competitive scene, as far as i know
7 out of top 10 Dotabuff players commonly builds either Veil or Atos, some of them even prefer Dagon.
Others mostly build Midas into Direct Shivas which can also be okayish.
It mostly depends on the playstyle though, but if you want to win pubs with the hero, mek is usually a a bad choice and concluding that is bad doesn't even require you to look up to some good players, simply using common sense is enough.
dagon is only viable assuming u rely on yourself more than on your allies, and it only works when u r more than just familiar with the hero.
dunno where this purchase rate for veil and atos come from, its a bit too counterintuitive for me, but i might just not understand smthng.
Both Veil and Atos are underrated itmes that get buffed again and again like every new patch.
Veil has an easy buildup and good synergy with your spells and by looking at overall damage you usually do in the teamfight it usually outclasses stuff like Dagon.
Atos has good stats and awesome synergy with your laser.
Dagon is not that good as the two items above, it can be cool for sniping supports though.
Now the biggest dilemma I have with the hero is Midas or not Midas, since you will usually fall off in lvls and getting those lvls 11 and 16 is quite important. Some people don't get Midas simply because they snowball with Veil so hard that they don't even need it, I however prefer more safe route by getting Midas.
So the most common builds usually are:
Tranqs>Stick>Urn>Midas>Shivas
Tranqs>Stick>Urn>Veil>Shivas
Tranqs>Stick>Urn>Midas>Veil>Shivas
Tranqs>Stick>Urn>Atos>Shivas
etc, there are also some other good situational items like Lotus Orb or Halberd, also some people go even for Radiance but I don't think it's really worth it. In very late game u usually want stuff like Refresher/Octa
Phoenix is actually one of my best hero....its fun to play this hero both as offlaner or support, though the voice he makes is kinda annoying...the starting item should be tranquil boots, magic wand and urn of shadows since I initiate gank a lot...and you should max the 1st and 2nd skills before sunray to max the dps output...I usually just rush shiva without midas since having platemail alone is a really nice boost to phoenix, much better than midas...if you have trouble farming in line you can just stacks for yourself (after maxing 1st and 2nd skills)...in radiant side, I can even farm 3 camps at once with phoenix...and lastly watch out for silencer / disruptor counter pick...
Phoenix build i use in 12 years i played the dota, btw phoenix is 6.70 new hero, so thats not the problem
-Traquil boots
-magic wand
-force staff
-mekans/glimmer cape
-In late, Anything u want, but i prefer octarine now. Its good because the skill cooldown and lifesteal
Late, anything that help bulking this bird....at least, u can go supernova before dies, because supernova is brutal, thanks to the stun that pierce spell immunity
Anyway, why build veil on phoenix? ..her best skill is pure damage and can also heal too!!
I see you buy bottle on him, which I thought sub-optimal because he's by no means a skill-spammer.
Usually I go Tranquil, then depending on the situation, I'll choose what items next :
- Got good zeus / SK on enemy --> pipe
- Got many magic damage ally --> veil (veil is good not only because active, but also for armor and int component which phoenix needs)
- Trying to teamfight and push early --> mek
- Many silence from enemy --> eul
- Peaceful game (no early aggression from both teams) --> midas
2nd / 3rd item depending on the enemy carry :
- rightclick range carry (WR / drow / sniper / etc) --> halberd
- kite-able rightclick carry --> shiva
- me just too damn rich --> vyse / refresh
It's just your 7th time playing the hero; maybe it'll get some time to get used to him. Just use his spells wisely and judge whether you should jump in or not. Phoenix jump into the war not as the main initiator, instead he goes in 2nd or 3rd to cripple enemy's rightclicker and keep supports at bay by using fire spirits / supernova combo. Do your best to hit them with fire spirits while diving, usually it's enough to create chaos and let your teammates do the follow up.
2-cents from a phoenix-lover scrubs
Phoenix is fairly item independent. The only item you desperately need is Tranquils. After that I like to get urn > Midas > Shivas. After the shivas you basically build whatever the team needs most. Pipe, Lotus, Halberd and Veil are decent in the right situations. If you need to ensure your own survivability, Linkens and Euls are generally good items. (euls mainly to remove silences since you're useless when silenced.) Apart from Shivas, Radience is the only item that can increase your survivability in supernova due to the miss chance. Heart is nice if you're stomping.
However your items really don't make a difference till you know how to play Phoenix fairly well. He's different to many heroes in playstyle and it doesnt come naturally to most people. It takes quite a few games before you get the hang of him. He's a good offlaner but can be played as a decent support due to not needing items. Just make sure you keep up in levels.
Like J2 said, Phoenix is not your main initiator. He jumps in after the enemy already has their attention focused on someone else. In more cases he can jump in and Supernova first, but only if you have heroes like enigma or Winter Wyvern on your team to punish the enemy for grouping up around your egg.
Dive is used mainly to chase, initiate or escape. The most useful part of it is that you can stop mid dive.
Fire Spirits are your main nuke and they come with the strongest attack speed slow in the game so make sure to land them on the enemy carries.
Sunray is an amazing Heal/Burn that does pure damage and it scales with the targets' max HP so it doesnt fall off late game. its tricky to use. Learn to use the movement toggling and remember you can still cast other spells when using it.
Supernova is only used for large teamfights or of you're going to die. you should always try position yourself so that you get the full duration of it, since that massive stun at the end is the bast part.
Conclusion: Phoenix takes time to master but is one of the most fun heroes in the game once you know how to play him.
tranquil,
situational: veil, atos, refresher, euls, hex, halberd, blink, shiva
and of course your useful on almost any hero items: vlads, solar crest, glimmer
but 80% of the time i go tranq veil atos refresher
it looks like that a lot of people have problems managing phx mana. its kinda the key to phx though. just learn to use spells effectively and not spam them in a dumb way. he peaks at around lvl 7-8. thats why u play him solo off and wanna force teamfights once u reach those levels. If phx falls behind in levels, he is basically deadweight. u should learn how to utilize him and his mana. the item progression can differ from what u personally like and what ur line up needs. i personally like the build around meka, because meka is almost always useful for any line up and u usually need ur team to finish kills.
What do you mean by spaming spells in a dumb way when you can't use both mek and all your spells at once even with max mana.
For mek and combo without sunray you need 535 mana and your max mana exceeds 535 on lvl 11 with mek build.
Before that, you can use mek only after you already used ult and refreshed your mana, if your team gets jumped on and you want to use it before you can't because you usually won't have enough mana to use spirits and ult, now ofcourse things like stick could help you a bit but that's also quite unreliable.
And even with that you still can't use sunray before combo aswell.
It was already not that good when it costed 150 mana and now it's simply too much
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I like this hero. I usually play him as offlane. My KDA on him is fine. I always for defensive aura items such as meka pipe and crimson guard. My winrate with phenix is obnoxious. Is it because of my items or....? What items do you recommend?