A thread for learning how to play Phantom Assassin, inspired by recent conversations with others about her.
So the basics are: PA is a melee Dire agility hero. She's typically played as a carry, and as a typical Agility carry, she's mostly focused around right-clicking things until they die. She has some limited utility with Stifling Dagger, but otherwise doesn't bring much to a team besides her damage.
She's somewhat item dependent, like most Agility heroes, and she also scales very well with items, but she's less reliant than some other heroes. She's also pretty simple to play, and doesn't require excellent farming skills, so she's a solid choice for a relative newcomer that wants to learn to play a carry that will still be effective once they exit "bronze league" games.
Now then, the next most important thing is, when should you pick Phantom Assassin over a different hero? Well, obviously you should pick her if your team needs some right-click damage. She's also an excellent choice if the enemy team is heavy on right-click damage; her built-in evasion necessitates MKBs from anyone that wants to reliably right-click her down (hurr hurr RNG.) Keep in mind that Hex mechanics will disable evasion, though, so be wary of heroes that have Hex (Rhasta and Lion), or can quickly afford a sheepstick (Dark Seer, Profit, Tinker, etc.)
Phantom Assassin is also a good choice if you want to play an aggressive game, rather than one focused on farming. She needs relatively little gold to become a force to be reckoned with, and primarily just needs attack speed to really excel. Troll Warlord and Beastmaster make good complimentary picks for her for that reason. PA is also reasonably effective at getting at least some farm even against difficult lanes, so she's somewhat flexible in laning options. Just remember that as an Agility hero, Phantom Assassin is pretty fragile until you buy some Strength for her, so an enemy team heavy on nukes can become problematic for her and force her to waste money on a BKB.
As far as building PA, you'll want to leave base with a shield, some consumables, and (if you have random gold), some pieces to start your Ring of Aquila with (Ring of Protection to make a Ring of Basilius in lane is a good choice), filling any empty slots with branches like usual. In lane, you'll generally want to finish your Ring of Aquila, get your Phase Boots, and then work your way to Drums of Endurance. If your lane is being problematic, you can buy a Helm of Iron Will (which can be turned into a Helm of the Dominator later), or just spend some extra gold on consumables. An alternative build that I've been enjoying lately is to stop with a Ring of Basilius and finish a Vladimir's Offering instead - this frees up your orb slot (which would otherwise be occupied by HotD/Satanic lifesteal) and aids pushing, but it can be a little while before the Vlad aura provides more damage than Aquila stats. You could also just disassemble the Aquila and make Vlad's, but then you're left with an orphaned Wraith Band. As always, turn the shield into a Poor Man's Shield if you're getting right-clicked a lot while in lane.
Assuming your lane hasn't been awful, you should have your Aquila (or Vlad's), Phase Boots, possible Poor Man's Shield, and at least a Bracer around 15 minutes or so; this gives you a lot of cheap, effective stats, and combined with around level 7-8, plenty of right-clicking power. If your lane is still going well, finish up your Drums and take stock. If things are still going well, consider adding a Yasha to your items before seeking out fights; if things are sketchy, finish those Drums and start fighting, and get the Yasha later.
Ultimately, our goal is to get a lot of cheap, effective stats as quickly as possible and take advantage of PA's excellent steroid passives (evasion and her crit) to allow her to be played aggressively; regardless of what guides and the in-game recommended items tab tells you, Battle Fury is an awful item for her. PA isn't an Anti-Mage or other carry that needs several thousand gold's worth of items to really become effective; her crit gives her a lot of free damage, and her evasion dramatically amplifies the amount of effective HP she gains from buying Strength. Battle Fury is a farming item, and PA simply doesn't need to spend that kind of time farming. You buy a Battle Fury to increase your farming speed (which is why a hero like Anti-Mage commonly builds one), not to help you fight better.
Battle Fury will set you back 4350 gold, and aside from the +65 damage, doesn't really give PA much in the way of meaningful stats. To put things into perspective, for the same 4350 gold, you can buy:
- An entire Ring of Aquila (985 gold); 15 damage, Aquila aura (armor/mana regen), 57 HP
- An entire Drum of Endurance (1775 gold); 12 damage, Drums aura and active (movespeed/attack speed), 171 HP
- An entire Vladimir's Offering (2050 gold); Vlad aura (lifesteal, +15% damage, armor, mana regen)
- An entire Helm of the Dominator (1850 gold); 20 damage, 5 armor, 15% lifesteal orb, Dominate Creep (dominated creep can provide an aura, too)
- An entire Yasha (2050 gold); 16 damage, 31 attack speed, 10% move speed
I'm disregarding health and mana regen because these aren't really relevant in a fight; 6 HP/sec regen won't determine if you win or lose a fight, and if you need to recharge, you can always just leg-hump your team's Meka carrier or just head back to base. PA's mana costs aren't high enough to really warrant much mana regen; what you get from Aquila or Vlad aura and INT is more than enough.
And while Battle Fury does provide more damage than 4350 gold's worth of the above items, it provides only flat damage, nothing else - the above items also provide health, attack speed, and other useful stats in addition to the damage, and in some cases build into other items as well (Sange and Yasha, Satanic, etc.)
And if pure damage is what you're really after, it doesn't get much better than a Desolator, which you can snag for only 4100 gold. I guess the takeaway here is that Battle Fury is bad on PA, and you should really, really stop getting it on her!
On the whole, though, what you want to be buying for PA is primarily health and attack speed; again, she already gets loads of damage from her ult, so you don't need to buy much for her. PA also tends to chase a lot, so move speed is also pretty useful. Because of this, after you get your basics, you'll often want to consider a Sange and Yasha, Assault Cuirass, or even a Mjollnir as your next big item. Beyond that, you really want to build to deal with what the enemy team is rolling out - MKB to deal with evasion or Panda, Abyssal Blade if you need to deal with an enemy BKB, finish that Satanic, or maybe even an Eye of Skadi because... well, because Eye of Skadi is awesome. (Eye of Skadi also stacks with lifesteal orbs!)
So... a quick summary of what we've learned so far?
Consider picking Phantom Assassin if:
- You need right-click damage that starts early and scales well
- You need a carry that will perform well in direct fights against enemy carries
- You need right-click damage that doesn't require a large amount of gold
- As a hero to deal with a Silencer lane (her spells are all very cheap and have short cooldowns)
Consider skipping Phantom Assassin if:
- The enemy team's damage is primarily magical
- The enemy team includes Lion, Rhasta, or Panda
Heroes that pair well with Phantom Assassin include:
- Any hero that provides attack speed (Troll Warlord, Beastmaster)
- Any hero that can help her deal with stuns, slows, or magical damage (Omniknight, Abbadon)
- Dark Seer
- Any hero that lowers enemy armor (Slardar, Dazzle, Elder Titan)
Phantom Assassin's core item build should include items like:
- Ring of Aquila
- Vladimir's Offering
- Drum of Endurance
- Helm of the Dominator
- Yasha
Phantom Assassin's core item build should not include items like:
- Battle Fury
- Battle Fury
- Battle Fury
- Battle Fury
- Battle Fury
Good extension items for Phantom Assassin include:
- Desolator
- Sange and Yasha
- Satanic
- Eye of Skadi
Of course, there's always more to learn about a hero. This should just function as a starting point for discussion!