Mortred - The Phantom Assassin
Range: 100 | Move Speed: 310
Primary: AGI
Str: 17 + 2.05 | Agi: 23 + 3.15 | Int: 13 + 1
Damage: 46 – 48 | HP: 473 | Mana: 169
HP Regen: 0.76 | Mana Regen: 0.53
Attack Speed: 0.72 | Armor: 4
Born into the reclusive Night Elf order known as the Wardens and shunned by 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 Ashenvale allowed her to blend into the terrain, appearing phantomlike at times and striking when you least expect it. The deadly precision with 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.

So, now we come to the actual guide. Her str gain is quite good for an agility hero, and her agility gain is even better. As for int, you don't really need it. Now let's go through her skills.


Stifling Dagger (D)
Hurls a dagger which deals minor pure damage and slows the unit's movement speed for a short duration. Deals half damage to heroes.
Level 1 - Deals 40 damage, slows for 50%, lasts 1 second.
Level 2 - Deals 80 damage, slows for 50%, lasts 2 second.
Level 3 - Deals 120 damage, slows for 50%, lasts 3 second.
Level 4 - Deals 160 damage, slows for 50%, lasts 4 second.
• Damage type: pure
• The projectile can't be dodged by blinking.
• Casting range: 1200
Mana Cost: 30/25/20/15
Cooldown: 8
NOTE: YOU WILL USE THIS TO FARM


Phantom Strike (B)
Teleports to a unit and attacks it. Gains 100% attack speed for 3 seconds while attacking that same target. Maximum of 4 attacks.
Level 1 - Teleports to the target unit, and recieves increased attack speed.
Level 2 - Teleports to the target unit, and recieves increased attack speed.
Level 3 - Teleports to the target unit, and recieves increased attack speed.
Level 4 - Teleports to the target unit, and recieves increased attack speed.
• Casting range: 700/800/900/1000
Mana Cost: 50
Cooldown: 30/20/10/5
YOU CAN BLINK TO AN ALLLY TO ESCAPE


Blur (R)
The Phantom Assassin becomes hard to see by blurring her body. Some enemy attacks miss.
Level 1 - 15% dodge/25% Transparency.
Level 2 - 20% dodge/50% Transparency.
Level 3 - 25% dodge/75% Transparency.
Level 4 - 30% dodge/100% Transparency.
• Does not stack with evasion from Butterfly.
• Mortred becomes increasingly transparent as Blur is leveled.
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: N/A
THIS MAKES YOU ALMOST INVISIBLE, MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR ENEMIES TO SEE YOU


Coup de Grace (C)
Mortred has refined her hero-killing skills to a high degree.
Level 1 - 15% chance to 2.0x critical.
Level 2 - 15% chance to 3.0x critical.
Level 3 - 15% chance to 4.0x critical.
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: N/A
READ UP ON PSEUDO RANDOM DISTRIBUTION AND YOU WILL KNOW THAT THIS OWNS

First of all, I will go through the skill build.
This is the normal build which I usually follow in pubs. It is the most regular build you will get. I will explain this later on.

SKILL BUILD 1

1 Stifling Dagger
2 Phantom Strike
3 Stifling Dagger
4 Phantom Strike
5 Stifling Dagger
6 Phantom Strike
7 Stifling Dagger
8 Phantom Strike
9 Blur
10 Coup de Grace
11 Coup de Grace
12 Blur
13 Blur
14 Blur
15 Stats
16 Coup de Grace
17 Stats
18 Stats
19 Stats
20 Stats
21 Stats
22 Stats
23 Stats
24 Stats
25 Stats

First of all you will need to up your Stifling Dagger and Phantom Strike to the max. Why? Well if you really want to kill a person, you will definitely need him slowed for 4 seconds. Also, the damage is all crap until maxed, when it is just average.

Dagger can actually be used to harass, but only at max level. This is only recommended if your opponent is some paper piece of crap, like the low str gain int and agi heroes. However, know their skills and don't look down on them, or they might just nuke you to death.

Of course, you only increase Phantom Strike for its cooldown and range. You definitely are going to want it. 5 second cooldown! Chase him for 5 seconds and blink, and repeat. How can anyone survive? Plus, with the epic range, you can hide in the forest, and when they least expect it, go for "A dagger, a blink, a boom" (quoted from another guide).

Why not up your ulti at level 9? Simple. If you do that and then try to kill someone, you will fail badly and cry at your fountain. You see, you need the little bit of evasion then. If not, stronger tanks like Bradwarden will just beat you up.

The rest is all self-explanatory. =)

The next thing I am going to go through is the 'rush' skill build. This is used when the whole opponent team is weak and you think that you can just beat them up. This is NOT recommended unless playing against noobs.

SKILL BUILD 2

1 Stifling Dagger
2 Phantom Strike
3 Stifling Dagger
4 Phantom Strike
5 Stifling Dagger
6 Coup de Grace
7 Stifling Dagger
8 Phantom Strike
9 Phantom Strike
10 Blur
11 Coup de Grace
12 Blur
13 Blur
14 Blur
15 Stats
16 Coup de Grace
17 Stats
18 Stats
19 Stats
20 Stats
21 Stats
22 Stats
23 Stats
24 Stats
25 Stats

With this ulti rush, you can get a kill at level 6, BUT ONLY AGAINST NOOBS. I CAN'T STRESS THIS ANY MORE.

The next thing I shall go through is the item build. There are many builds out there, so this is just my personal choice. It works wonders for me =)

Ending items:

Power Treads (Agility)
You will want this for the extra IAS and MS.


Poor Man's Shield
This is for the basic damage blocking and it ups agility a little.


Battle Fury
Your bread and butter item. It stacks perfectly well with your crits, so you will need it.


Satanic
Actually just an upgrade of Helm of the Dominator. However, it always seems that I farm so much that I can get this item.


The Butterfly
YES YES I know evasion doesn't stack, but hey! The IAS and agi dmmg gain is something you need. Don't say anything else.


Divine Rapier
That's right, you didn't see it wrongly. It's the work of everyone's dreams. The DIVINE RAPIER. Come on. 4x crit. 1000 damage. And you haven't added the other damage bonuses. *dramatic music plays*

Other additional items:

Cranium Basher
Hey, it works well!


The Butterfly
ANOTHER BUTTERFLY? YOU MUST BE JOKING? Nope, I'm not. Extra IAS!


Mjolnir
Oh my god, the attack speed. But remember, if you get this, get:


Vladimir's Offering
instead of Satanic. This is because Orb Effects don't stack. (duh) If you decide to get these two, then the next item will help you much.


Assault Cuirass
Of course, no one will farm so much, so hyperstone is enough. But remember, stupid auras like these make you more visible, but hey. If you're owning so badly, who cares? ^^

Let's get to the game!

Game just started? Host just typed -apso? Well, go to the Scourge Agility (Evening Tavern I think) and selected Mortred, the Phantom Assassin. Trust me. Just do it. In late game, you are a "one click win" hero.

If you randomed her, so much the better. So what should you buy?
First of all, grab


Circlet of Nobility
Get two of these, they will be converted into wraith bands later which will even later be sold to make space for better items. =D

Next, get


Healing Salve
You need one of these in case you get nuked like crap and survive with 10hp.

and also get one


Ancient Tango of Essifation
You need this for lane survival. Nothing more.

So you are left with 63 gold. What should you do? There is something you could do, which I highly do NOT recommend. You could use the money to get


Ironwood Branch
Well, I never do this but it's worth a try. (No seriously, don't do this.)

If you randomed Mortred, you should get one extra


Animal Courier

You don't need the flying one. You're not rune-whoring. Now what should you do? I normally go top for Sentinel and bot for Scourge because I like a challenge. (Also, it's nearer to the side shops ) However, if you feel that you really need the protection of your tower, go bot for Sentinel and top for Scourge.

What now??

Save up for a


Stout Shield

and then buy two


Slippers of Agility

to form your poor man's shield. The next thing you should get is another two slippers. This is for you wraith bands. If you have a courier, get it to buy the recipe for wraith bands and send it to you. If not, buy them at your circle of power and get them when you go back. From the side shop, get


Mask of Death

and


Helm of Iron Will

to form your Helm of the Dominator.

Then, buy a

Ring of Health
This should help in survivability too.

Of course, the next thing is


Void Stone
to form your perseverance. Finally, when you get the gold, you can get your bread and butter item and start owning. Buy


Broadsword


Claymore

to form your ownage item, Battle Fury. The items you should have now is

Poor Man's Shield
Wraith Band
Wraith Band
Helm of the Dominator
Battle Fury

Start owning like nobody's business. Roam around and start killing everybody you see. Then, get your


Messerschmidt's Reaver
to form your satanic. Then save up for


Eaglehorn
and form your Butterfly. You should know the recip.e (Talisman of Evasion + Quarterstaff + Eaglehorn). The rest is self explanatory. Dagger him, Phantom Strike in and just kill him. You are Phantom Assassin. You NEVER give up a chase.

So you know what to get, but do you know what to DO?

Let's hope you have a useful lane partner who can help you to survive, like Necrolyte and Omniknight who have healing abilities. If you are up against a kick-ass harasser like Viper or Huskar, you must play safe and farm with your dagger. When you see them at orange health, dagger them. Clicking on creep's health is important too. If not, hold ALT.

Of course, you have another alternative. Lane switch. Sometimes, even going mid is better. If you play correctly, you might even farm so much to become the carry of the team. However, you must remember a few things. You are NOT a harasser. Do NOT go up to the enemy and attack, or you will just DIE like NOBODY'S BUSINESS.

Early game - the NIGHTMARE

Don't get too aggressive, or your opponents will too. Plus, if they do, you're dead. They might even try for a three man gank at the start against you, because you are just a monster in late game. Dagger has a very low mana cost at max level, so you can use it to harass the weaker enemies.

80 damage plus a 4 second 50% slow is ALOT to weaker enemies like Pugna and Furion. Plus, the dagger's 80 damage is PURE, meaning that it is not reduced by armor or magic resistance. This makes it epic. This case if very rare, but if you see an opponent running with 79hp, dagger him. You get 200 gold =D

Don't get too proud and look down on your enemies. You might just be the weakest guy in early game, so trying to step over nukers might not be the most advisable thing to do. Remember, just play safe and don't even attack the enemy (unless something so stupid happens that he tanks the tower and you get first blood).

Mid Game - The Ganking Phase

Be very careful. If you are underfarmed, you might just get ganked. Many times. So be careful, and make sure your allies report missing. If they are noob and don't know what missing is (happens alot to me, don't know why), then basically YOU ARE SCREWED. Don't blame the way you play or the hero, just TEACH your teammates how to report missing. If they still don't, simple. You lose.

However, there is a possiblity that you are quite well farmed, or overleveled. This is good for you. You can not survive ganks and maybe even kill a guy or two. Be wary of certain heroes, which I will list later on.

Late Game - Ahh, relaxation is cool

OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD. The time we have waited for is FINALLY here. It's late game. Those crappy early gamers can't do a shit when you pummel the crap out of them. Man I like the feeling. In fact, I once turned the tides of a game so well! They had mega creeps on one lane and they were attacking my world tree. So I got boots of travel and started pushing all three lanes (my teammate was hardly doing anything).

Guess what? WE WON. It was a 2v2 private game. Me and idevilism vs BlowThaCandlesOut and Grahamessi. It was such a good game. I will post this replay later on, together with many other replays which I have yet to upload. This is one of the best games I have had so far and I think it really shows how you should never lose hope, as you might still have a chance of winning.

So what should you do in late game? Farming is out of the question. Just kill. See two people killing creeps? Kill one, cleave the other, then kill the other. Double kill. It's so beautiful. You hardly need to do anything and they die, unlike complicated heroes like Invoker.

Hah, if you have basher, I don't think anyone can run away from you.

ROSHAN

Well, you CAN actually solo Roshan. Yes, you can! But certain items are required. This is because you have a low hp pool, thus Roshan's bash can deal quite alot to you. Just follow what I say. You see your hp going red? Activate Satanic and watch the crits come out. Instant full hp recovery.

Then, grab the Aegis yourself! If you went as a team, let the weakest guy get it. If you have all 6 of the best items already, and no one wants it, attack it. SERIOUSLY. Don't drop your Rapier for it man, just destroy the goddamn thing. Trust me.

Once the game ends, save the replay and watch it like one million times to see how much you owned. Now I shall list some heroes which make good allies and those people you should actually be afraid of (yes there are some)

You wouldn't expect me to put all their images here right, so I'll just list them (will edit).

GOOD ALLIES INCLUDE

STUNNERS/DISABLERS
Rhasta
Tiny
Lion
Sven
King Leoric
Slardar
Mirana Nightshade

SLOWERS/ORBWALKERS
Huskar
Viper
Traxex
Harbringer

NUKERS/GLOBAL RANGE HEROES
Zeus
Invoker
Clockwerk
Lina Inverse
Pudge (well, sort of..)
Well, all these good allies are also your worst enemies. ^^ That happens all the time. So be careful when laning against one of these guys.

Okay, enough on HOW TO PLAY MORTRED. I'm sure some of you are really interested in HOW TO COUNTER MORTRED.

YOU WANT TO KNOW THE COUNTER? YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW? Here it is.


Blade Mail
100% RETURN DAMAGE. OMG. Mortred's health isn't high, the only reason she doesn't die is because of the lifesteal+crits. Take the health away and she dies.

Well, and here are some special mentions.


Pandaren Brewmaster
MISSING = NO CRITS = NO MORTRED. Even if you get Monkey King Bar (true strike, doesn't miss), the crits don't come out.


Faceless Void
Missing just isn't cool. Plus, his permabash (still happens in 6.67c) really hurts. Blink away dude. Blink away.


Troll Warlord
Well technicallly you can beat this guy, but if he goes range mode and keeps distance, even Phantom Strike can't match up to this guy. Plus, he can also permabash with epic IAS.


Ulfsaar
Not really a counter, you will kill him, put you will suffer some pain too. ><

The next thing I'm going to post is the replays.
Well, I haven't uploaded them yet, so this is the end of this guide (BUT IT WILL STILL BE EDITED!)

(P.S. The gigantic pictures were because they can counter Mortred VERY VERY WELL.)


Well, that's the highest critical you can ever get in the game. It's 4xcrit with 6 divine rapiers and some damage boosting auras. Enjoy.
(NOTE: That was the old one. Now you can get 12000 dmg. 6x rapier = 250x6 = 1500. 1500x4 (crit) = 6000 6000x2 (dd rune)= 12000. So there you have it.)



Why you don't mess with the crappy Dark Terror.


See that? That's how you run. That's how you kill. That's how you play Mortred.

EDIT: FOR SOME STRANGE REASON THE YOUTUBE LINKS AREN'T WORKING. WILL BE EDITED.


Credits:
Icefrog: MAKING THIS WONDERFUL GAME
BlowThaCandlesOut: For sorting out Pseudo Random Distribution with me and helping me with the item build.
Idevilism: For DotA sparring with me to improve my skills
Google: For the cool images
DotaStrategy: For the information =)
Anyone I played with: For giving me experience and knowing what to do when anything happens
Myself: For writing this guide
YOU!: For spending your precious time to read it! PLEASE come back and check regularly as I WILL edit this and add in more stuff! THANKS AND BYE! =)=)