By Parrothead
As of v6.59
http://planetdota.blogspot.com/
Contents
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[Note: All single-lettered things are the names of a section, they are not a section]
A:Introduction
Aa:Introduction
Ab:When To Pick Morphling
Ac:Pros/Cons
Ad:Hero Story
Ae:Hero Placement
Af:Hero Statics
Ag:Other Hero Info (Non Statistic)
E:Short Walkthrough
Ea:Introduction
Eb:Early
Ec:Middle
Ed:Late
Conclusion
Replays
FAQ
Credits
Authors Side Notes
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Aa:Introduction
(I know I took the format from my Void guide, DEAL WITH IT!!!)
My second guide that I wrote. I wrote this guide to say my opinions and help get players into
playing Morphling. Morphling can be a very devastating adversary foe and helping ally. Its spells
can combo very well and it can destroy a hero with its spells hands down. I will tell you a lot you
need to know about Morphling and some things you don't need to know. A lot of people don't
realize that Morphling can be a heavy DPS hero. I'm writing this guide for mainly public DotA
-Apem games. Morphling is very customizable due to his Morph spell. I do not play in leagues
or high level play, which means if your in a league or going to play a clan game (-Ap, -Ar, or
-Lm), this guide may not be for you. I will try my best to tell his power for all game modes. Oh
and by the way, Morphling in fact is an it and not a he. If I say 'he', excuse me. If you want proof,
visit this page. It says its gender is unknown.
Morph can be a good DPS believe it or not. Hes not very durable against disables, and things like
stuns can screw up Morphlings whole combo. You have to know when to pick him.
You would never want pick Morphling to go against those heroes. Morphling is exceptionally
very vulnerable to nukes and stuns. This is because he has a crap health pool, and 4 active spells.
He requires his spells to initiate ganks and to properly use his role in the team. If there are
disables and nukers, Morphling will either be nuked to nothing and die or he will be locked in a
stun. This makes him unable to use his combo and be useless to the team. A good Morphling
player knows when to enter battle, so those team heroes can be killed by Morphling, its just
harder to do due to his structure.
Ac:Pros/Cons
[Pros] (Good things about the hero)
[+] Ranged (but only 350).
[+] Good DPS.
[+] Awesome Ult.
[+] Can tank damage.
[+] Very flexible.
Ad:Hero Story
The Morphling, nature's magnum opus, the pinnacle of evolution, can force his liquid body to
flow over opponents in a massive wave, forcibly moving himself as well as injuring his enemies.
At a whim he may change the composition of his body, trading strength for agility and vice
versa. Capable of manipulating his energy into either disable or damage based on his strongest
attribute, the Morphling's most disturbing ability creates a literal clone of a chosen target, forcing
them to face their own reflection as he crushes them in their confusion.
Ae:Hero Placement
Af:Hero Statics
Hero Attribute Stats
Strength: 19 + 2.0
Agility: 19 + 3.0
Intelligence: 17 + 1.5
Life: 511
Mana: 221
Range: 350
=====================================================================
=====
* Model File = Reef Elemental (Units\Creeps\SeaElemental\SeaElemental.mdl)
* Tinting Values (Red/Green/Blue) = 255 / 255 / 255
* Scaling Value = 1.00
* Selection Scale = 1.15
* Weapon Sound = N/A
* Weapon Type = Missile
* Armor Type = Flesh
* Attack Projectile = Reef Elemental
(Abilities\Weapons\SeaElementalMissile\SeaElementalMissile.mdl)
* Projectile Speed = 1300
* Projectile Arc = 0.00
* Triggers = VertexColorChanges
- Every 2 seconds, a trigger will change Morphling’s tinting values and transparency into random
integers. Here is how the trigger functions from Red/Green/Blue/Transparency ~ Random integer
between 0 - 255 / Random integer between 0 - 255 / Random integer between 0 - 255 / Random
integer between 0 - 10
* Abilities = N/A
* Run Speed = 200
* Walk Speed = 200
* Damage Point (point/backswing) = 0.500 / 0.500
* Casting Point (point/backswing) = 0.300 / 0.510
* Required Animation Name = N/A
* Movement Type = Foot
* Movement Height = N/A
* Sound Set = WaterElemental
=====================================================================
=====
Ba:Skill Overview
In this section, I will explain its abilities and what they do. Morphling has 6 abilities instead of 4,
unlike most heroes. None of his spells are really based from Ladder. Its a pretty original hero.
Waveform is much like Voids timewalk with a few key differences. Adaptive Strike is a very
flexible skill in terms of what it does. Morph is what makes you flexible, and Replicate allows
you to create an illusion of an enemy and deal a lot more DPS. Replicate can also allow you to
'morph' into your illusion if you were to ever need to.
QUOTE
Waveform
Morphling dissolves into his components and surges forward, dealing damage to everything in
his wake.
Cooldown: 11 seconds.
Cool Info
[x]Its a teleport and a nuke
[x]Synergies with 2 of your other spells
[x]Can go into places unreachable by blinkers (like Anti-Mage, Akasha)
[x]Morphling has travels with a speed of 1250 while in Waveform.
[x]Morphling is hidden while in Waveform, so it can evade attacks and some spells if timed
correctly.
[x]This is not blocked by Linken's Sphere.
[x] Waveform deals Magical damage which is reduced by the target's Spell Resistance and is
blocked by Spell Immunity.
[x]If Waveformed correctly, you can block some spells casted on you because Waveform makes
you invulnerable.
QUOTE
Adaptive Strike
Blasts a target with magical energy, dealing damage or disabling the target based on the
Morphling's dominant attribute between Agility and Strength.
Level 1 - 30 + 1.4x Agility in damage or stuns the target 1.4 seconds and knocks back slightly.
Level 2 - 60 + 1.8x Agility in damage or stuns the target 1.8 seconds and knocks back slightly.
Level 3 - 90 + 2.2x Agility in damage or stuns the target 2.2 seconds and knocks back slightly.
Level 4 - 120 + 2.6x Agility in damage or stuns the target 2.6 seconds and knocks back slightly.
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Cool Info
[x]The effect starts before the projectile touches the enemy.
[x]Both effects happen if you have the same stats in both attributes.
[x]Has 200 knockback distance at all levels.
[x]This skill triggers Linken's Sphere cooldown but it still has its effects.
[x]Adaptive Strike deals Normal damage which is reduced by the target's Armor and is blocked
by Stout Shield, Vanguard and Kraken Shell.
QUOTE
Morph [D | F]
The Morphling edits his physical being to fit the circumstances. He can, at will, lose some
strength and gain agility, or vice versa. The process is reversable. Passively gives improvements
to his Agility and Strength.
Cool Info
[x]Allows you to be customizable
[x]Can swap up to 8 points a second on autocast. Clicking it makes it swap 2 points.
QUOTE
Replicate
The Morphling has the unique ability to replicate any target friendly or enemy hero. Although it
only deals 50% damage, the hero can morph into his replication, instantly taking its position.
Level 1 - Lasts 30 seconds.
Level 2 - Lasts 45 seconds.
Level 3 - Lasts 60 seconds.
Cooldown: 80 seconds.
QUOTE
Morph Replicate
The Morphling morphs into his replicate, immediately taking its position.
Cool Info
[x]Can replicate an illusion of you to replicate Morphling
[x]Best if you use it on a hero with full health (or at least 70%), and has a lot of base damage
[x]You can Morph Replicate the real Morphling into the illusion and take its place. It kills the
illusion though
Bb:Skill Build
Normal Build
1:Waveform
2:Attribute Bonus
3:Waveform
4:Attribute Bonus
5:Waveform
6:Attribute Bonus / Adaptive Strike
7:Waveform
8:Morph / Adaptive Strike
9:Adaptive Strike
10:Adaptive Strike
11:Replicate
12:Adaptive Strike / Replicate
13 - 15:Attribute Bonus / Morph / Replicate
16:Replicate
17 - 25:Attribute Bonus / Morph
This build as you can see, if very flexible. Waveform is gotten at all chances because its your
escape mechanism, and a last hitter (if you somehow get an enemy low on hit points and he
needs a hit). Get adaptive later because it depends on your stat points and you don't have a ton
early. Get stats a lot because Morphling needs a lot of points. Don't get replicate early because no
hero is that strong and it probably will not get you a kill. Instead, get it at 11, 12, 13, and or 16
because heroes will start getting strong then. Get at least 1 level of Morph early to make
Morphling fit what the enemy team is (i.e. There team has nukers so you may get more strength
to endure the nukes). Morph level 2-4 isn't really that needed because it only increases points
swapped. Unless you like swapping your points when your about to die to save yourself, max
Attribute Bonus first, then go and finish Morph. This build can be changed a lot, pick the skills
to your style. Morphling can be played different ways.
Bc:Item Build
I will list the basic item build for Morphling. These builds best work in -Em because I only play
those games types. I will state the basics and not try to get very technical with the items. I will
state why to get the item, however, I will not state all the possible uses for the items.
1: Some people get Bracers with Morphling. There are a few reasons not to. First and foremost,
Bracers are more expensive. Second, you can Morph points with your Morph skill and get the
same effect with Bracers as you would Wraiths, wasting you 50 gold. Just don't get bracers.
2: Instead of 's you can get 's. Tangos are cheaper, can't be dispelled when
your attacked, and have 2 charges. This means you won't use the whole item at once. Salves have
one charge, dispelled when attacked, and cost more. Salves do however heal faster (10 seconds
instead of 30), and heal more life (400). There really isn't a 'righter' choice between them, but I
like tangos just because of earlygame creep farming while your healing.
1: The build is not suggesting you start the game by finishing wraiths. Get all of the items that
make wraiths but don't complete them. Completing Bracers, Wraiths, and Nulls earlygame is a
waste. You only get a few stat points bonus for completing them. Finish one wraith (without the
recipe), and start on a new one. Once you go back to heal, finish the items by buying the recipe.
2: Tangos can either be bought once or twice. Buy two sets if you have enough cash for lane
survivability.
3: You don't have to complete Power treads after wraiths, its just telling you that you will need
them. Power Treads give you things you lack, like movespeed and attack speed. It also gives you
10 points to any attribute, making it better then boots of travel. BoT is for heroes that have good
base attack speed, don't need 10 stat points for any attribute, and are good farmers and lane
controllers.
Boots < Gloves < 3rd item (belt, elvenskin, robe) < Treads.
4: If you feel you need mana regen, then get some mana consumables. You don't really have
enough time going after a 2k mana regen item. You will be less useful lategame.
And thats it! Thats all the items you must have. Now, the next section will talk about accepted
and rejected items for Morphing, I will recommend certain items more then others, so take note
of that. Take notice on what I say about it, because the base look can look good, but the actual
item numbers and bonuses can look bad for the price.
Here are the other items that you get and don't after your core build. Please note that the items
are in no particular order, which means Linkens isn't the first item you get (you can however,
if you think it would help you the most).
Good = Green
Bad = Red
Situational = Yellow
Good item for Morphling. If you read earlier in my guide, it tells you that Morphling is very
vulnerable to spells and can mess up your whole combo. This helps counter those spells and
allows you to continue your combo. Remember, if the enemy team doesn't have many
nukers/disables, this item isn't very useful. I say only get this item if there are 2 + enemy heroes
with more then 1 disable.
Excellent item for Morphling. Gives you some intelligent points and 250 mana, which allows
you to spam your spells some more. Gives you 23 agility (main attribute) as well, which is a big
plus. The big bonus is the illusions. The item grants you 2 illusions that deal 40% damage and
take 300% damage. The item also burns 36 mana with each attack, which stacks with the other
illusions. I recommend this item a lot because there is almost no reason not to get this item (aside
from it being an orb effect).
Sange and Yasha (S&Y)
This item is very good. It gives you attack and movespeed, points to your two best attributes, and
maim! Now, since orbs don't stack, your going to have to choose which orb Morphling will have.
A lot of Morphlings best items are orbs so it makes it hard and tricky to choose. There is an item
for each situation, so think about it before you choose.
Again this item is very good. This is situational depending on if there team has a lot of fast
heroes (e.g. Barathrum, Razor). You could possibly get it to override another orb effect if you
already have one (just stick this in the first, top left inventory slot).
Radience (Rad)
Good item for Morphling. This item adds to your DPS and allows you to farm at a great level.
The item is costly (about 5,000), but its worth it. 60 damage extra and a AoE of damage. Its not a
real situational skill because it affects all heroes hitpoints, which is great. I recommend this item.
It's not to be got until you have finished everything else on your build (and by that time, it better
be almost over).
Butterfly (BF)
Great item on Morph. Just about any str/agi item on him is great. This is no exception.
Morphling can use the agility, and so can his illusions if you choose to get a Manta Style.
Butterfly also gives 60 damage, and attack speed; this makes him very broken and harder to hit.
This is probably the first major item you would get (besides boots).
A situational cheap item. It allows you to view enemies and Waveform correctly. Only needed if
you think you would need them. Not everyone gets them, it's all up to you.
This small section will tell you some basic combos. This guide wasn't built for skill combos but
instead telling you how to build a Morphling. However, I feel I need to post a few in order for
the guide to look more professional and complete. Will these strats work 100%? No. Will they
always guarantee a kill? No. Will they give you some good ideas on some good combos and
allow you to develop and make your own? Yes. I will also tell you how each skill combos.
Morph will be excluded from this section as it isn't a combo skill, but a buff/debuff skill.
In this section, I will say some basic things about each skill. It will say what it does and some
uses.
Cc:Practical Use
In this section, I will put some strategies to practical use. This means I will show some
screenshots of me doing some tactics I will explain here. I will use the Sentinel side for my
screenshots. Please note that there will not be screenshots yet as I am working on them.
Here are some good allies for Morphling. I will not list them all because I don't have enough
Awesome ally, almost good with any other hero. Earthshaker has built in stuns and blockades
that allow you to deal more hits with Morphling. He can fissure, blocking the enemy in while
you hit them with Morphling and the illusion. Overall, great ally.
Meepo is a great ally. When Meepo perma nets, there dead. Morphling can kill about any hero if
they are frozen in there spot.
Omniknights Degen Aura combos very well with Morphling. It slows and forces the enemy to
either fight, or try to get away desperately and fail.
Tinkers double nuke (tri nuke if he gets a Dagon) hurts you a lot, especially since you have a
horrible health pool. They will take away at least half of your health at once, which isn't good.
Stay away from Tinker!
Void hurts you a lot. His stun lock makes hitting him back near impossible. The only thing that
makes you able to fight him is his bad health pool.
Venomancers super DoT makes it hard for you to stay in lanes. Veno can also take away 50% of
your health at the blink of an eye, and its hard to fight back with such low health.
Drow? DROW? DROW?!?! Drow is one of your worst enemies. Each and everyone of her skills
are the anti-morph. Cold arrows slow you and make it hard to escape, silence makes you unable
to use your skills (which you rely on), trueshot increases her damage, and her ult increases her
attack speed, damage, and armor. Good ally and horrid enemy.
In this short section, I will make a small walkthrough of a typical public EM game. I'm not in a
league if your wandering and EM's go so much faster then AP's. I will not try to explode with a
ton of information as I'd rather you play a 45 minute game instead of reading a 45 minute guide
Eb:Early
When the game starts, its officially earlygame. Pick Morphling and decide to go into any lane.
No lane is really bad for Morphling but I would prefer you to go top or bottom. Middle usually
has nukers and 2 heroes so its not that wise to go against something that owns you earlygame.
Get your starting items and get waveform, your best skill. Now when you get to your lane and
the first creep wave starts fighting, observe there heroes. If they have any ranged that are longer
then yours, be cautious because Morph can take a lot of damage from ranged heroes, and theres
really nothing you can do about it except to stay back. If your fighting only melee, then you
picked a good lane. Morph can harass them very well. Attack then and if they come at you, just
back behind the tower. Repeat this process. This will almost guarantee a kill, or send the enemy
back to the fountain. Either way, you win.
Ranged heroes can be really annoying because most of them outrange out. They will be able to
harass you, while poor old Morphling has to walk up to them and then begin firing. Its best you
stay out of there range rather trying to harass them. It's not that easy to die earlygame. Your low
health and mana pools make sure of that. Heroes like Drow will piss you off because of the
arrows and her extreme range and damage. On top of that, she has a built in damage increaser
and a silence, making her a veerry bad enemy to face.
Ec:Middle
Middle game! Morphs getting better middle game, if you farmed and leveled correctly. You
should be getting your Diffusal Blade right about now (or about to get it). The blade allows you
to purge enemies, giving you a shot to deal extra damage and making it hard to miss your
waveform. Once power treads are done, you will notice that you attack a lot faster, use this to
your farming advantage. Do NOT skip power treads, they give you needed move speed.
Morphlings base move speed sucks; it's super below average (285). Try to gank when your team
asks you to. Ganking gives a lot of xp and if you will need it. You also have a chance to farm up
some big bucks with hero kills!
Ed:Late
Late game is where Morphling can become super useful, or super phail. If you farmed well, got a
kill every once in a while, assisted your team and won many team battles, and got your required
items, then you will have a pretty decent lategame. If you died a lot, couldn't farm much, hardly
ever got a kill if any, still are on your boots of speed , and lost 60% of all the team battles,
Morphling isn't going to be very good lategame. Morphling depends a lot on your teams skill
level, cooperativeness, and farming abilities. If you have a crappy team that asks how to get
Replays
FAQ
Credits
This guide isn't done yet and will be updated for each version of DotA (at least for a while).
Replays will be posted once I get pmed some using my builds and skill builds or when I play.
More screenshots will be added to tactics in a bit, let me just get them
Visit http://planetdota.blogspot.com for your Dota needs!.