Dota 2 Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Phantom Assassin
Strength attribute symbol
Agility attribute symbol
Intelligence attribute symbol
19 + 2
21 + 3.4
15 + 1.7
Level 0 1 15 25 30
Health 120 538 1154 1858 2122
+1 +2.9 +5.7 +8.9 +10.1
Mana 75 255 531 879 1011
+0 +0.75 +1.94 +3.39 +3.92
Armor 1 4.5 12.43 20.1 23.27
Magic Resist 25% 26.5% 28.88% 31.78% 32.83%
Damage Block 16 (50%)
Damage

31
33

52
54

99
101

145
147

164
166

Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.71/s 0.99/s 1.26/s 1.37/s
Attack Range Melee 150 (600)
Attack Speed ▶️ 100 (1.7s BAT)
Attack Animation 0.3 + 0.7
Projectile Speed Instant
Move Speed ▶️ 310 (Nighttime 340)
Turn Rate Takes 0.131s to turn 180°. 0.8
Collision Size 27
Bound Radius 24
Vision Range (G) 1800 (Nighttime 800)
Gib Type Default
Internal npc_dota_hero_phantom_assassin
Blinks onto her foes with critical strikes.
Of all the assassins raised by the Sisters of the Veil, only one is known by name: Mortred. Through meditation and prophecy, the order identifies the next target to die at her hands. Attacks miss against the Phantom Assassin as she Blurs into her surroundings, traversing undetected across the land to catch her victims unaware. She opens the encounter with a Stifling Dagger, thrown from the shadows, then leaps upon the crippled target to deliver a flurry of Phantom Strikes, followed by a Fan of Knives hurled into all directions. Without warning, any one of her attacks could be the Coup de Grâce, leaving behind only the blood-splattered ground as testament to her efficiency.
Stifling Dagger
Phantom Strike
Blur
Blur
Fan of Knives
Fan of Knives
Coup de Grace
Roles: Carry Carry Escape Escape
Complexity: Hero Complexity
Adjectives: Cape, Female, Nose
Legs ( 2 )


Bio[]

Phantom Assassin minimap iconMortred, the Phantom Assassin
▶️ "I'm here to blur the line between life and death."
Through a process of divination, children are selected for upbringing by the Sisters of the Veil, an order that considers assassination a sacred part of the natural order. The Veiled Sisters identify targets through meditation and oracular utterances. They accept no contracts, and never seem to pursue targets for political or mercenary reasons. Their killings bear no relation to any recognizable agenda, and can seem to be completely random: A figure of great power is no more likely to be eliminated than a peasant or a well digger. Whatever pattern the killings may contain, it is known only to them. They treat their victims as sacrifices, and death at their hand is considered an honor. Raised with no identity except that of their order, any Phantom Assassin can take the place of any other; their number is not known. Perhaps there are many, perhaps there are few. Nothing is known of what lies under the Phantom Veil. Except that this one, from time to time, when none are near enough to hear, is known to stir her veils with the forbidden whisper of her own name: Mortred.
Aliases:
PA, Mortred

Abilities[]

Stifling Dagger
Stifling Dagger icon
Affects
Enemies / Self
Throws a dagger slowing the enemy unit's movement speed, dealing 30%/45%/60%/75%+65/70/75/80 of Phantom Assassin's attack damage as physical damage and applying attack effects from items and abilities.
Passive Component
Coup de Grace Proc Chance: 34% (Talent 41%)
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.47
Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 700/850/1000/1150
Number of Targets: 1 (Talent 3)
Instant Attack Damage: 30%/45%/60%/75% (Talent 50%/65%/80%/95%)
Attack Damage Bonus: 65/70/75/80
Move Speed Slow: 50%
Slow Duration: 2.2/2.8/3.4/4
Talent Secondary Target Range Buffer: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 300
Cooldown symbol
 6 (Talent 4)
Mana symbol
 30
Blocked by Linken's Sphere.
Blocked upon impact.
Talent
Blocked upon impact as primary or secondary target.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_projectile_vision
Undispellable
modifier_phantom_assassin_stiflingdagger_caster
Undispellable
modifier_phantom_assassin_stiflingdagger
The first skill learned by the Sisters of the Veil often signals an incoming hit.

  • The Stifling Dagger travels at a speed of 1200.
  • Upon projectile hit, the dagger has a 34% (Talent 41%) chance to proc the Coup de Grace icon Coup de Grace buff and causes Phantom Assassin to perform an instant attack on the target.
    • These instant attacks can proc any attack modifiers and on-hit effects normally (except Tidebringer icon Tidebringer). They have True Strike and completely ignore disarms.
    • Cleave effects are based on the target's position, damaging a trapezoid area in the opposite direction where the dagger came from.
    • Although the dagger may make it look like a ranged attack, the attack still counts as a Melee melee attack when its coming from Phantom Assassin.
    • This causes all abilities (and items) that use different values for melee and ranged heroes (e.g. Skull Basher icon Skull Basher), to use their melee effects and values, not ranged.
    • If the caster is a Ranged ranged hero, the instant attacks do not use attack projectiles and are instant, but still count as ranged attacks.
  • Stifling Dagger's instant attack first applies the self-total outgoing attack damage multiplier, then grants unique flat bonus attack damage upon the projectile hit.
    • The total attack damage includes all already existing attack damage changes, including conditional bonus sources (e.g. Bash and Quell).
    • This can be defined as
      expr
      ΣAtk × 30%/45%/60%/75% (Talent 50%/65%/80%/95%) + 65/70/75/80
    • Applies the bonus attack damage only to the Stifling Dagger projectile.
    • Therefore, attack damage based attack modifiers (e.g. critical strike, lifesteal, cleave) include the 30%/45%/60%/75% instant attack damage bonus as well.
    • Since the damage comes from a regular attack, it counts as attack damage and not as spell damage.
    • It is affected by damage block, but unaffected by spell damage amplification and cannot spell lifesteal.
  • The projectile first applies the attack, then its own debuff.
  • The projectile has 450 range flying vision that lingers for 3.34 seconds at the target's location upon successfully hitting it.
  • TALENT
    Stifling Dagger now launches 2 additional projectiles towards random visible valid targets within the range.
    • The search range is based on the cast range and the buffer range, resulting in a search range of 1000/1150/1300/1450.
    • The search range is centered around the primary target, not around Phantom Assassin, so when no other targets are nearby, nothing happens.
    • The secondary targets are chosen randomly within the area. There are no priorities. The projectiles cannot choose both the same target.
    • Since the additional projectiles use the ability's cast range, cast range-increasing effects increase their range as well.


Phantom Strike
Phantom Strike icon
Affects
Self
Teleports to a unit, friendly or enemy, and grants bonus attack speed while attacking if it's an enemy unit.
Cast Animation: 0.25+0.8
Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 1000 (Talent 1250)
Attack Speed Bonus: 100/130/160/190 (Talent 160/190/220/250)
Duration: 2.5 (Talent 3)
Cooldown symbol
 11/9/7/5
Mana symbol
 35/40/45/50
Blocked by Linken's Sphere.
When reflected, the caster first blinks next to the target, then the target blinks next to the caster.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_phantom_assassin_phantom_strike
Mortred's silken veil is the last thing her unfortunate target sees.

  • Phantom Strike can be cast on allied units, without gaining the Phantom Strike Buff.
  • Moves Phantom Assassin next to the target, towards the position she was upon cast.
  • Does not disjoint projectiles upon teleporting.
  • Phantom Assassin is ordered to attack the target if it is an enemy, automatically canceling the cast backswing. Therefore, the cast backswing is only used when cast on ally units.


Blur icon
Affects
Self
Phantom Assassin focuses inward, increasing her ability to evade enemy attacks. Can be activated to blur her body, causing her to be impossible to see until near enemy heroes.
Passive Component
Evasion: 20%/30%/40%/50% (Talent 45%/55%/65%/75%)
With Aghanim's Scepter Current Cooldowns Skip per Kill: 100%
Cast Animation: 0.4+0.67 (With Aghanim's Scepter Instant Cast Animation (DOTA_ABILITY_BEHAVIOR_IMMEDIATE) 0+0)
Vanish Dispel Radius: 500
Vanish Fade Time: 0
Vanish Dispel Delay: 0.5
Vanish Duration: 30
Cooldown symbol
 60/55/50/45 (With Aghanim's Scepter 30/27.5/25/22.5)
Mana symbol
 50
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Causes Blur to have instant cast time and applies a dispel. Any time Phantom Assassin gets a hero kill, her abilities are refreshed. Reduces Blur's cooldown.
Disabled by Break.
Break Notes:
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Resetting basic abilities upon making a kill is not disabled.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_phantom_assassin_blur
Undispellable
modifier_phantom_assassin_blur_active
Death
Ability Draft Notes
Ability Draft Notes:
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Blur replenishes 1 charge to charge-based abilities upon resetting cooldowns.
This is not limited to Phantom Assassin's basic abilities.
Meditation allows a Veiled Sister to carefully anticipate her opponents in combat.

  • Interrupts Phantom Assassin's channeling abilities upon cast.
  • Attacking or casting abilities do not break the invisibility.
  • The effect is dispelled when getting within 500 range of an enemy hero, clones and/or an enemy building, including enemy Outposts.
    • This includes when the enemy hero is invulnerable and hidden.
    • Treat illusions and creep-heroes as creeps.
    • The effect is not dispelled instantly, but 0.5 seconds after getting within range.
    • Getting out of range during that delay does not prevent it from dispelling. The delay does not serve as a grace period.
    • The effect is also dispelled when attacking Roshan icon Roshan, not instantly, but after the dispel delay.
  • The passive evasion and the active component are independent of each other.
    • Evasion uses pseudo-random distribution.
    • Stacks diminishingly with other evasion sources.
    • Increases Phantom Assassin's survivability against physical attacks by 25%/43%/67%/100% (Talent 82%/122%/186%/300%).
  • Blur now has an Instant Cast Animation (DOTA_ABILITY_BEHAVIOR_IMMEDIATE) instant cast time.
    • Blur now first applies the invisibility, then the basic dispel on Phantom Assassin upon cast.
    • Resets the current cooldowns of all of her basic abilities as long as the kill credit is given to Phantom Assassin, regardless of how the kill was made, this includes the following kill conditions:
    • Neither reset ultimate abilities nor item abilities.
    • The cooldown resetting is bound to Blur as well. If not learned, kills do not reset her cooldowns.
  • The Aghanim's Scepter icon Ability Upgrade also passively reduces the cooldown of Blur by 50%.
    • Stacks multiplicatively with other sources of percentage-based cooldown reduction sources, and is calculated after all flat cooldown reduction values.


Fan of Knives
Fan of Knives icon
Ability
No Target
Affects
Enemies
Damage
Physical
Phantom Assassin releases sharp blades around her, dealing a percentage of each victim's max health on impact and applying Break.
Cast Animation: 0.15+0.9
Radius: Affected by AoE Radius bonuses. 550
Max Health as Damage: 28%
Debuff Duration: 3
Cooldown symbol
 15
Mana symbol
 50
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_phantom_assassin_fan_of_knives_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_phantom_assassin_fan_of_knives
Ability Draft Notes
Ability Draft Notes:
Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Requires drafting Coup de Grace icon Coup de Grace to be unlocked.

  • Applies Break on hit enemies.
  • Despite the visual effect, Fan of Knives releases a single pulse that expands outwards, hitting all enemies as it reaches them.
    • The released daggers only have a visual purpose, the pulse affects all enemies it catches, regardless of the number of visible daggers.
  • The pulse spreads at a speed of 1000 and takes 0.55 seconds to reach max range.
    • The area of effect is centered around the cast location, it does not move along with the caster.
  • The pulse is not a ring. It affects every enemy within its expanding area of effect.
    • This means it is not possible to avoid the effect by blinking over the daggers/pulse toward the caster.
  • Fan of Knives first applies the debuff, then the damage.


Coup de Grace
Coup de Grace icon
Ability
Passive
Affects
Self / Enemies
Phantom Assassin refines her combat abilities, acquiring a chance of gaining Deadly Focus with each attack. When attacking with Deadly Focus, Phantom Assassin will consume the buff and guarantee a critical hit. Stifling Dagger has a bonus chance to cause Deadly Focus.
Buff Proc Chance: 17% (Talent 24%)
Critical Damage: 200%/325%/450%
Buff Duration: 6
Stifling Dagger icon Stifling Dagger Cast
Buff Proc Chance: 34% (Talent 41%)
Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:
Grants the Fan of Knives ability.
Disabled by Break.
Break Notes:
Disables the buff proc chance. Does not disable the next attack from proccing critical strike from the existing buff.
Can be used by illusions.
Illusion Notes:
Critical strike values shown are before illusion outgoing damage and armor reduction.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_phantom_assassin_coupdegrace
Undispellable
modifier_phantom_assassin_mark_of_death
Death
A divine strike, Mortred honors her opponent by choosing them for death.

  • Increases attack damage by an average of 17%/38.25%/59.5% (Talent 24%/54%/84%).
    • Stifling Dagger icon Stifling Dagger procs increase attack damage by an average of 34%/76.5%/119% (Talent 41%/92.25%/143.5%).
  • The buff proc is determined during Phantom Assassin's attack point.
    • When a buff procs, Phantom Assassin uses a specific attack animation, and particle effects appear on her weapon.
  • Neither procs nor critical strikes against allied units, buildings or wards.
  • Upon proccing, Phantom Assassin receives a buff, which grants a critical strike on the next attack.
    • The attack that consumed the buff may also proc another buff instance, making consecutive critical strikes possible.
    • Missed attacks do not consume the buff.
    • Attacking against allied units, buildings and wards will consume the buff.
    • Attacking against items and runes will not comsume the buff.
  • If another source of critical strike procs on the same attack as Coup de Grace, the crit with the higher multiplier takes priority.


Talents[]

Hero Talents
Triple Strike Stifling Dagger icon Stifling Dagger25+7% Coup de Grace icon Coup de Grace chance
+60 Phantom Strike icon Phantom Strike Attack Speed20+20% Stifling Dagger icon Stifling Dagger Damage
+250 Phantom Strike icon Phantom Strike Cast Range15+25% Blur icon Blur Evasion
-2s Stifling Dagger icon Stifling Dagger Cooldown10+0.5s Phantom Strike icon Phantom Strike Duration

Recent Changes[]

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore
Version
Description
  • Increased Agility attribute symbol Agility gain from 3.2 to 3.4.
  • Increased Stifling Dagger icon Stifling Dagger Cast Range from 550/750/950/1150 to 700/850/1000/1150.


Recommended Items[]

Starting items:

  • Tango icon Tango provides health regeneration to help Phantom Assassin stay in lane and continue farming despite enemy harassment.
  • Iron Branch icon Iron Branches give cost-effective increase to Phantom Assassin's attributes, and can builds into Magic Wand.

Early game:

  • Quelling Blade icon Quelling Blade increases Phantom Assassin's farming ability in the early game. Being able to last-hit more easily and kill neutral camps faster allows her to farm the items she needs to start becoming effective in a match.
  • Boots of Speed icon Boots of Speed are important to obtain early on. Phantom Assassin must be able to easily move in and out of range to last-hit, as well as chase or escape as needed without having to rely as much on Phantom Strike.
  • Magic Wand icon Magic Wand can greatly improve Phantom Assassin's survivability and effectiveness in the early game. It provides a small amount of attributes and tremendous charge storage for burst health and mana regen, both of which are crucial on an agility hero with low strength and intelligence.
  • Wraith Band icon Wraith Band is a good pickup if you plan on staying in lane for a long time. Otherwise, it should not be picked up to not delay the timing of Power Treads icon Power Treads and Battle Fury icon Battle Fury.

Mid game:

  • Power Treads icon Power Treads boost Phantom Assassin's combat effectiveness and survivability greatly with added agility and attack speed. She can attribute switch to strength for more health, or intelligence for using spells, particularly for the repeated casting of Stifling Dagger.
  • Battle Fury icon Battle Fury allows Phantom Assassin to secure her ability to farm into the late game. The damage and cleave allow her to easily clear creeps, whether it is for farming or pushing/counter-pushing, while the health and mana regen ensure that she can always maintain her health and mana pools while farming.
  • Desolator icon Desolator allows Phantom Assassin to apply the armor debuff from long range with Stifling Dagger, softening up multiple targets for her team and for her own attacks. The damage boost and armor reduction also greatly improve the killing power of Coup de Grace.
  • Black King Bar icon Black King Bar gives Phantom Assassin much-needed spell immunity, allowing her to jump into fights and put out damage without fear of being disabled.
  • Skull Basher icon Skull Basher procs very easily from Phantom Strike's attack speed boost and can be procced by Stifling Dagger at long range, letting Phantom Assassin lock down targets with her attacks.

Late game:

  • Abyssal Blade icon Abyssal Blade improves Phantom Assassin's durability and grants a guaranteed stun through debuff immunity, giving her even more lockdown on top of the bash carried over from Skull Basher.
  • Satanic icon Satanic improves Phantom Assassin's survivability in team fights, allowing her to quickly refill health with Coup de Grace crits.

Situational items:

  • Orb of Corrosion icon Orb of Corrosion can help Phantom Assassin trade hits more effectively if forced to fight early on with the armor reduction, slow, and health bonus.
  • Butterfly icon Butterfly greatly boosts Phantom Assassin's damage output, as well as providing additional evasion. While stacking it alongside Blur runs the risk of having both nullified by the enemy building Monkey King Bar, purchasing a Butterfly can punish certain lineups by forcing their heroes to purchase Monkey King Bar over a different item that synergizes better with their strengths.
  • Nullifier icon Nullifier gives a good boost to damage and can shut down enemies reliant on dispellable buffs.
  • Monkey King Bar icon Monkey King Bar counters enemy evasion and boosts Phantom Assassin's damage output with increased attack damage.
  • Sange and Yasha icon Sange and Yasha is a situationally powerful mid-game item that is easy to farm and allows Phantom Assassin to begin participating in team fights earlier. The agility and strength-based bonuses give her more damage output and health, while the movement speed makes her far more mobile, allowing her to chase and escape far more easily.
  • Manta Style icon Manta Style can be a useful item to dispel annoying disables, particularly, roots and silences. Additionally, the two illusions can use Coup de Grace and deal tremendous damage, and the stats the item gives are incredibly useful on Phantom Assassin. To add to this, one illusion can be kept behind Phantom Assassin, preferably in the trees, allowing her to Phantom Strike away to safety.
  • Eye of Skadi icon Eye of Skadi can boost Phantom Assassin's combat effectiveness. It grants attributes across the board, giving Phantom Assassin more health, mana, and base damage. Eye of Skadi icon Cold Attack passive allows Phantom Assassin to slow enemies with her attacks and Stifling Dagger, reducing their movement speed and preventing them from easily escaping her.

Dota Plus Progress[]

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Relics Voice Lines
Relic agility icon
Stuns Leading To Kills
Relic agility icon
Kills During Black King Bar icon Black King Bar
Relic agility icon
Bashed Enemies
Relic agility icon
Slows Leading To Kills
Relic agility icon
Battle Fury icon Battle Fury Cleave Damage
Relic agility icon
Godlike Sprees
Relic agility icon
Triple Kills
Relic agility icon
Mega Kill Streaks
Relic agility icon
Kill Assists
Relic agility icon
Kills
Plus Hero Badge 1
Bronze
Plus Hero Badge 2
Silver
Plus Hero Badge 3
Gold
Plus Hero Badge 4
Platinum
Plus Hero Badge 5
Master
Plus Hero Badge 6
Grandmaster

Equipment[]

Trivia[]

  • Mortred's name is derived from Mordred, a character in the Arthurian legend who betrayed and fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camalann.
  • "Coup de Grace icon Coup de Grâce" is a French term (pronounced "koo duh gras") which literally means "blow of mercy", and refers to the killing blow of a wounded person or animal, friendly or not, to end their suffering. The phrase originates from medieval times, specifically Knights (see above - Knights of the Round Table). When a combatant was gravely injured (in battle, duels, jousting, etc...) but not killed; a coup de grâce was often, although not always, performed. Traditionally a rondel dagger was used as this could make a small puncture in breastplate and was long enough to reach the heart.
  • ▶️ "I'm an immaterial girl!" is probably a reference to the song Material Girl performed by Madonna.
  • In DotA: Allstars, Blur icon Blur caused Mortred to become transparent to the enemy, scaling with levels and making her nearly invisible and untargetable to inexperienced players, thus her title "Phantom Assassin". This aspect of the ability is replicated to a limited degree with Blur's active component in Dota 2.
  • Mortred's idle animation is a typical fencing stance, with perpendicular feet, one arm extended forth and the other one folded and up in the air. However, her weapon is wielded not with the extended arm, but with the arm at rest. There are treatises, at least for the Italian school of fencing, which do show an extended arm but this is exclusively used when wielding a rapier or other single-handed thrusting swords.
  • Fan of Knives icon Fan of Knives is based on the "Fan of Knives" ability from the Warden from Warcraft 3, sharing its name and working in a similar way.
    • In DotA, Phantom Assassin also uses the Warden's hero model.

Gallery[]

Advertisement