Phantom Lancer

Phantom Lancer 21 + 1.7 29 + 2.6 21 + 2
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 120 582 1088 1726 1968 +0.75 +2.85 +5.23 +8.13 +9.18 Mana 75 327 663 1047 1191 +0 +1.05 +2.45 +4.05 +4.65 Armor 0 4.83 10.9 17.23 19.73 Magic Resist 25% % % % % Damage Block 16 (50%) Damage 22 44 51 73 87 109 125 147 140 162 Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.76/s 0.97/s 1.2/s 1.28/s Attack Range 150 (600) Attack Speed 100 (1.7s BAT) Attack Animation 0.5 + 0.5 Projectile Speed Instant Move Speed 290 ( 320) Turn Rate 0.6 Collision Size 8 Bound Radius 24 Vision Range (G) 1800 ( 800) Gib Type Default Internal Not Provided

Azwraith the Phantom Lancer is a melee agility carry and pusher because of his capability of generating multiple illusions in a matter of seconds. He requires deep cunning, positioning, and most importantly, great micromanagement as his illusions might just get in the way rather than help the situation if not utilized correctly. Many of his abilities help him in his creation of images, allowing him to always have a companion. He has a nuke ability in Spirit Lance, which deals high damage, slows the target, and creates an illusion at his target's location. His escape ability Doppelganger allows him to quickly relocate himself and any nearby illusions while creating additional ones, possibly tricking enemies into wasting their spells and time in trying to kill said illusions. His passive Phantom Rush allows him and his illusions to close the distance toward a target when issued an attack order, giving him the ability to quickly focus single targets in battle. His ultimate Juxtapose gives him the ability to generate a large number of illusions when attacking a target, while giving said illusions the ability to replicate themselves as well. Phantom Lancer is an extremely mobile hero who is hard to pin down and can quickly overwhelm his opponents in battle.

Bio

Azwraith, the Phantom Lancer

▶️ "We outnumbered you. We outnumber them all!"

Lore:

The remote village of Pole had no knowledge of the wars raging in the heart of the kingdom. For them, the quiet of spear fishing, and a family meal were all that a full life required. Yet war came for them nonetheless. Joining the able-bodied conscripts as they filed passed their homes, the humble lancer Azwraith vowed to bring peace to his kingdom, and in so doing, his people. Placed with his kin in the vanguard of the final assault against the Dread Magus Vorn, the cost to his fellows was absolute. As the charging force battled toward the fortress, Azwraith alone among his kind remained standing, and he alone was able to infiltrate the keep. Focused and infuriated by the slaughter of his brothers, Azwraith bested each of the wizard's deadly traps and conjured guardians. Soon the simple fisherman arrived at Vorn's tower sanctum. The pair dueled through the night, pike to staff, as chaos raged below, and with a deafening cry Azwraith pierced his enemy. But the wizard did not simply expire; he exploded into uncountable shards of light, penetrating his killer with power. As the dust settled and the smoke of combat began to clear, Azwraith found himself standing among a throng of his kin. Each seemed to be dressed as he was, each seemed armed as he was, and he could sense that each thought as he did. Aware that his allies were approaching, he willed these phantoms to hide themselves, and one by one they began to vanish into nothingness. As the soldiers came upon the sanctum, they found the warrior that had bested the wizard. When they approached their champion, the lancer vanished. The pikeman who had stood before them was no more than another phantom.

Voice:

[[Voice actors#|]] (Responses)

Abilities

Spirit Lance

▶️QT

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Sends a magical spirit lance to a target enemy unit that damages and slows, while summoning an illusory phantom to attack the unit.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0.73

Cast Range: 750

Damage: 100/150/200/250

Move Speed Slow: 10/20/30/40%

Illusion Damage Taken: 400%

Illusion Damage Dealt: 20%

Illusion Duration: 2/4/6/8

Slow Duration: 3.25

 7

 125/130/135/140

Azwraith's proficiency at spearing his family's meal of fish is proving quite useful in the battlefield.

• Spirit Lance travels at a speed of 1000 and can be disjointed.

• When it is disjointed, or when it cannot hit the target for other reasons (spell immunity, invulnerability, Linken's Sphere, etc.), no illusion spawns.

• Illusions of Phantom Lancer within 675 radius of Phantom Lancer cast a fake Spirit Lance.
  • They play the whole cast animation and release their fake lances at the same time the real Spirit Lance is released.
  • When illusions currently are not having any order and are standing still, they'll turn and face the target and cast the fake lance.
  • When illusions are moving or attacking, they continue to do so and do not face the target. They still play the cast animation, overriding their move or attack animations.
  • When canceling the cast, the illusions still play the full cast animation, but will not release fake lances.
  • The fake lances do not interact with anything, deal no damage, do not slow and spawn no illusions.

Doppelganger

▶️WD

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Phantom Lancer briefly vanishes from the battlefield. After 1 second, Phantom Lancer and any of his nearby illusions reappear at a random position within the targeted location, along with two additional doppelgangers. The two added doppelgangers have different properties: one takes normal damage and deals none, while the other takes 600% damage and deals 20% damage.

Cast Animation: 0.1+0

Cast Range: 600

Target Area Radius: 325

Illusion Gather Radius: 900

Reappear Delay: 1

Illusion Duration: 8

 25/20/15/10

 50

Dread Magus Vorn's death imbued the Phantom Lancer with the ability to blend with all spectrums of light.

• Doppelganger disjoints projectiles upon cast.

• Applies a basic dispel on Phantom Lancer upon cast.

• Phantom Lancer and his affected illusions are invulnerable and hidden during the reappear delay.

• Phantom Lancer cannot do anything during the reappear delay. Any order given during it is queued as next order.

• Phantom Lancer and the 2 created illusions face the direction Phantom Lancer was facing upon cast.

• Other illusions which got gathered keep their previous facing angle.

• Phantom Lancer and his illusions are position into formation shaped like a plus (+).

• Illusions which were moving or attacking a target continue to move or attack their target after reappearing.

• The 600% damage taking and 20% damage dealing illusion looks like any other illusion Phantom Lancer can create.

• The normal damage taking and no damage dealing illusion is brighter and can be distinguished by Phantom Lancer and his allies from other illusions.

• Doppelganger cannot be interrupted by anything except death. This means when getting teleported (with e.g. Glimpse), Phantom Lancer still appears at the targeted area.

• Destroys trees within 200 radius of Phantom Lancer and every affected illusion.

Phantom Rush

▶️ER

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

When targetting an enemy for an attack, Phantom Lancer quickly charges into range. Phantom Lancer's illusions also have this ability.

Minimum Proc Distance: 300

Maximum Proc Distance: 600/700/800/900

Rush Speed: 800

Speed Buff Duration: 5

 16/12/8/4

Azwraith knows that on the field of battle, speed can mean everything.

• Requires a direct attack order to trigger. Auto attacks or attack ground orders do not trigger Phantom Rush.

• Cannot rush through units or over impassable terrain.

• Phantom Rush can trigger on any target, including wards and buildings.

• Disarm or ethereal state do not prevent Phantom Lancer from rushing.

• However, units which cannot be attacked (invulnerable, target in ethereal state), cannot be targeted and rushed towards.

• Applies a haste effect on Phantom Lancer. Means his movement speed cannot be slowed while having the buff.

• Phantom Lancer can stop the rush by changing the attack target, issuing a stop order, or casting a targeted spell or item.
  • Non-targeted items and do not cancel the rush. Items which can be double-clicked to cast on self still count as targeted.

• The move speed buff is also lost when Phantom Lancer gets stunned, cycloned, slept, hexed or hidden.

• Roots do not cause Phantom Lancer to lose the buff and he continues rushing once the ensnare expires.
• The only exceptions are Frostbite and Overgrowth, which cause him to not automatically continue rushing afterwards.

• Taunts cause Phantom Lancer to rush the taunting unit instead without making him lose the buff. Forced attacks caused by taunts also do not make him lose it.

• When the target turns hidden, invisible or moves into the Fog of War, Phantom Lancer rushes towards the unit's last known location.

Juxtapose

▶️RX

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Phantom Lancer has a chance to fracture his presence, creating an illusion of himself. Illusions also have a chance to fracture further. Illusions created from Phantom Lancer last for 8 seconds, while illusions created from other illusions last 4 seconds.

Hero Proc Chance: 40%/45%/50%

Illusion Proc Chance: 8%

Max Illusions: 5/7/9

Illusion Damage Taken: 500%

Illusion Damage Dealt: 16%

Illusion Duration (from Hero): 8

Illusion Duration (from Illusion): 4

Each of Azwraith's lance attacks feels like two from a normal warrior; or three; or four...

• Illusions created by Juxtapose attack the target that the ability was triggered upon.

• This means that illusions created by Juxtapose use Phantom Rush when their target is in correct range.

• Affects all illusions of Phantom Lancer, not just the ones from his abilities.
  • This includes illusions created with items ( Manta Style) or with other abilities ( Disruption, Reflection)
  • This means that even enemy illusions of Phantom Lancer (created with e.g. Disruption) have a chance to spawn new ones for the owner of the illusion.

• Works against wards, but not buildings.

Recommended items

Template:Recommendeditems

Equipment

Phantom Lancer Equipment (expand sets) Sets Ancestors' Pride Set Arms of the Bramble Lord Set Darkwater Dominion Disquiet Solitude Harsh Sojourn Honors of the Golden Mane Set Humble Drifter Jewels of Teardrop Ice Set Noble Warrior Revered Arms Set Scales of the Shadow Walker Vengeance of the Sunwarrior Vestments of the Infinite Waves Winter Lineage Humble Drifter Wraith of the Red Sands Weapon Diffusal Lance Eye of Niuhi Feathered Naginata Fishing Halberd Holy Spear of Images Legion's Wrath Manifold Spear Merciless Spear Peregrine Lance Phantom Concord Power of the Red Horse Ring Spear of Soul Diffusion Royal Halberd Spear of the Herald Spetum of the Disciplined Head Concord Reversion Shoulder Concord Dominion Kinetic Gems Kinetic: Serene Honor

Tips

• Though attack speed is still important on Phantom Lancer and still a by-product of making the hero stronger, it is no longer needed as much to create images as he now creates an image on every other attack at level 16.
• Illusions are counted as Heroes in a target check. However, they receive effects intended for units. An example is Witch Doctor's Paralyzing Cask, which will stun Phantom Lancer's illusions by 5 seconds. Even with this fact, Hero-only spells like Nyx Assassin's can be cast on illusions.
• Creating confusion for enemies is what Phantom Lancer is known for along with outnumbering the enemy. Use illusions to cause unnecessary chases, wasted skillshots, pointless ultimates, and frustration for the enemy. But be sure to pay attention to the real Phantom Lancer while his illusions run around, however.
• Illusions can have Shallow Grave cast on them if a Dazzle is on your team; you can further fool the enemy by making them chase the wrong Phantom Lancer.
• When choosing an item build, remember that not all passive abilities are shared with illusions.
• An Eye of Skadi is an extremely effective purchase for Phantom Lancer - Great stats across the board, all of which will benefit illusions, and a spell immunity-piercing slow which, in conjunction with his slows and speed buffs, along with the mana drain from Diffusal Blade that prevents enemies from casting any possible escape mechanisms, will make Phantom Lancer impossible to escape from assuming no teammate is around to help his enemy.
• Because of the fact that illusions do not last very long, a Manta Style should be considered in every game if the player wishes to use Phantom Lancer's deceiving abilities effectively, as the illusions provided by it last much longer and hit harder, giving him a higher chance to bait the enemy into poor spots or using their ultimates without the real Phantom Lancer around.
• While incredibly strong against single target heroes, Phantom Lancer can find himself in great difficulty when facing off against enemies with a lot of strong Area of Effect abilities, especially in the early and mid game as his illusions are very easily disposed of without strong items (Examples of such heroes include Sand King and Puck). As a hard carry, he will become stronger as the game goes on while a very large percentage of those Heroes (including the ones previously mentioned) will see the usefulness of their abilities scale off severely; Some, however, can continue giving him problems in the late game (And arguably more trouble than before) and make you more of a threat to your own team rather than the enemy. Some examples of heroes that can counter Phantom Lancer strongly at any stage of the game are:
  • Ember Spirit is very arguably the strongest possible counter to Phantom Lancer, for several reasons; However, the main one being his ability Sleight of Fist - This ability allows Ember to mark an area on the ground before immediately rushing to slash all enemy units marked within it. All slashes work exactly like Ember Spirit's regular auto-attacks (though with a bonus or reduced damage depending on the unit attacked), and Ember Spirit is invulnerable until all enemies have been either attacked or killed - with a Battle Fury and any other strong auto-attack item like Daedalus, Ember Spirit can easily destroy all of Phantom Lancer's illusions and even Phantom Lancer himself with a single Sleight of Fist. If there enough units within the radius, he could potentially kill an entire team with a single use of his ability. His Flame Guard creates a fire around him that damages all enemy units, being able to deal up to 1200 points of damage (before reductions) to a single unit if they stay near him through the whole duration, while his Fire Remnant produces an AoE explosion whenever he lands on top of it with Activate Fire Remnant.
  • Sven is very close to being impossible to manfight as he has a built-in 66% cleave with Great Cleave, an armor buff that reduces all illusion damage to both himself and nearby allies with Warcry, and an AoE stun/nuke with Storm Hammer. On top of all, however, he also has his ultimate God's Strength which ups his base damage by up to 300% as much damage, and if combined with Daedalus, he can easily wipe out Phantom Lancer's illusions in seconds. It is very much worth noting that cleave damage essentially acts as pure damage - Even though it is registered as Physical Damage by Damage Block and will therefore block (some of) it, cleave damage does not react to armor values whatsoever - This means that if he does build a Battle Fury, Sven does not even need to hit the real Phantom Lancer, as he would actually be dealing more damage than he would otherwise by hitting nearby illusions.
  • While Earthshaker may not propose a big threat whenever his ultimate Echo Slam is on cooldown, it is a strong enough ability to destroy both Phantom Lancer and his illusions (and his team if nearby) whenever it is off cooldown as it has no upper damage cap.
  • Sand King is rarely mentioned as a counter as he may in some cases not pose much of a threat other than destroying his illusions with Epicenter, but he becomes an extremely deadly enemy once he gets his hands on Aghanim's Scepter, as his upgraded Burrowstrike will apply Caustic Finale to all of his illusions it hits as well as Phantom Lancer himself. Once the illusions die or expire it will trigger a chain of damaging explosions that will deal high damage to Phantom Lancer and any nearby ally. If combined with Epicenter, this combo can potentially deal more damage than Earthshaker's Echo Slam - all on a lower cooldown, making him an ever-existing threat through the game.
  • Razor is a powerful threat to Phantom Lancer due to Static Link. Manta Style and Doppelganger cannot remove Static Link (and as consequence, reveals which is the real Hero if Razor has targeted the real Phantom Lancer) nor can any other strong dispel such as Aphotic Shield, not even spell immunity. The only way to counter Static Link is through Linken's Sphere or simply going out of the Link's range.
  • Phoenix' AoE abilities can prove troublesome for Phantom Lancer. Fire Spirits dramatically reduce Phantom Lancer and his illusions' attack speed, as well as make fleeing difficult with Icarus Dive's movement speed reduction. Sun Ray deals Pure damage to all of Phantom Lancer's units, and Supernova is invulnerable to Phantom Lancer's illusions.

Trivia

• In DotA, Phantom Lancer's in-game model was a fan interpretation of Kimahri Ronso, a playable character in the RPG game Final Fantasy X. As such, the Phantom Lancer of Dota 2 gained many similarities with Kimahri, namely the blue skin, humanoid feline appearance, and halberd weapon.

Update history

Template:Update History

Balance changelog

Template:Update History

Replaced abilities

Doppelwalk

▶️WW

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Renders Phantom Lancer invisible, while generating a duplicate image to confuse enemies.

Cast Animation: 0+0

Fade Time: 0

Move Speed Bonus: 15%

Invisibility Duration: 8

Number of Illusions: 1

Illusion Damage Taken: 400%

Illusion Damage Dealt: 20%

Illusion Duration: 20

 30/25/20/15

 150/120/90/60

Dread Magus Vorn's death imbued the Phantom Lancer with the ability to blend with all spectrums of light.

• This ability got replaced by Doppelganger in the 6.82 gameplay patch.

• Doppelwalk does not interrupt Phantom Lancer's channeling spells upon cast.

• The invisibility and illusion are fully independent from each other. When one of them ends, the other still persists.

• The illusion will automatically walk forwards in the direction Phantom Lancer was facing upon cast for about 3 seconds.

• Invisibility is broken upon reaching the cast point of spells or items, or upon landing an attack.

• Doppelwalk allows Phantom Lancer to path through other units, including wards, but not through buildings.

• Phantom Lancer can pick up, drop or attack items without breaking the invisibility.

Juxtapose (Pre 6.82)

▶️EX

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Phantom Lancer's attacks have a chance to create illusions to confuse enemies.

Proc Chance: 12%

Max Illusions: 2/4/6/8

Illusion Damage Taken: 450%

Illusion Damage Dealt: 20%

Illusion Duration: 20

Each of Azwraith's lance attacks feels like two from a normal warrior; or three; or four..

• This ability got replaced by Phantom Rush in the 6.82 gameplay patch.

• Illusions created by Juxtapose will attack the target that the ability was triggered upon.

• Works against wards, but not buildings.

Phantom Edge

RD

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Phantom Lancer hones his abilities. Improves chance of Juxtaposing, and the Juxtapose illusions can now create their own illusions. Phantom Edge also increases Phantom Lancer's magic resistance.

Magic Resistance Bonus: 10/15/20%

Juxtapose Proc Chance Bonus: 2/4/6%

Juxtapose Illusion Proc Chance: 3/5/7%

Azwraith accepts his fate, embracing his infinite army of phantoms.

• This ability got replaced by the reworked Juxtapose in the 6.82 gameplay patch.

• The magic resistance stacks multiplicatively with other sources of magic resistance.

• Increases Phantom Lancer's total base magic resistance to 32.5%/36.25%/40%.

• Affects all illusions of Phantom Lancer, not just the ones from his abilities.
  • This includes illusions created with items ( Manta Style) or with other abilities ( Disruption, Reflection)
  • This means that even enemy illusions of Phantom Lancer (created with e.g. Disruption) have a chance to spawn new ones for the owner of the illusion.

Gallery

• 

  Splash artwork

• 

  Trading card art

See also

• Phantom Lancer responses
• Phantom Lancer sounds