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Phoenix is a flexible and unique ranged strength hero with a plethora of powerful abilities that inflict heavy damage over time on its opponents at the cost of its own health. It can be played as either a support, initiator, or semi-carry. Icarus Dive can serve as either a harassment tool, an initiating maneuver, or an escape mechanism, all the while slowing and damaging opponents in its path, while its Fire Spirits burn and cripple the opponent's attack speed, making it a potent anti-carry. Sun Ray projects a powerful beam in front of Phoenix that burns enemies for a percentage of their maximum health while sacrificing some of its own health; and, if it ever sees fit, it can end its current life to turn into a searing Supernova. Surviving this stage of its life cycle allows Phoenix to reemerge in full strength, stunning all nearby opponents and with all non-ultimate and non-item cooldowns refreshed, ready to inflict havoc on its foes once again.
Contents
Bio
Abilities

Notes:
- The health cost (15% of current health) is direct HP Removal.
- Phoenix dives in an ellipse with a major axis length of 1400 (
2500) and a minor axis length of 500.
- This results in a total path of 3154.41 (
5252.33), which Phoenix covers in 2 (
3) seconds.
- This means Phoenix dives at an average speed of 1577.21 (
2626.16).
- The dive speed is not constant. Phoenix starts at 0, accelerates until halfway through max distance, then slows down towards max distance, then repeats the process on the way back.
- This results in a total path of 3154.41 (
- Phoenix always dives clockwise, hitting units on the left side of the dive first. Units right in the middle of the arc might not be hit.
- The dive is canceled when Phoenix is stunned, cycloned, hexed, slept or affected by other sources of forced movement. Roots and taunts do not cancel it.
- Phoenix can attack, cast spells and use items while diving (including channeling spells).
- However,
Sun Ray is inactive during the dive, making it uncastable.
- However,
- During Icarus Dive, Phoenix does not need to turn to cast targeted spells or items.
- Deals damage in 1 second intervals, starting 1 second after the debuff is applied, resulting in 4 instances.
- Can deal up to 40/120/200/280 damage to a single unit (before reductions).

Notes:
- Interrupts Phoenix's channeling spells upon cast.
- The health cost (20% of current health) is direct HP Removal.
- Interrupts Phoenix's channeling spells upon cast.
- Grants
Launch Fire Spirit 4 charges upon cast. The number of instances is visible on the status buff.
- The spirits' burn damage does not stack. Hitting the same units multiple times just refreshes the debuff duration.
- Deals damage in 1 second intervals, starting 1 second after the debuff is applied, resulting in 4 instances.
- Each spirit can deal up to 60/140/220/300 (
160/240/320/400) damage to a single unit (before reductions).
- Can in total deal up to 240/560/880/1200 (
640/960/1280/1600) damage to a single unit (before reductions).
- Can in total deal up to 240/560/880/1200 (
- With
Aghanim's Shard, Fire Spirits gets permanently replaced by
Launch Fire Spirit.
Target Area
Notes:
- Replaces
Fire Spirits until all spirits are launched.
- The max amount of charges for Launch Fire Spirit always equals the value given on the status buff.
- With
Aghanim's Shard, it no longer relies on the value buff and recharges them on its own.
- Acquiring
Aghanim's Shard, immediately grants Launch Fire Spirit all 4 charges.
- With
- The launched spirits travel at a speed of 900.
- During
Icarus Dive and
Sun Ray, the spirits can be fired in any direction without requiring Phoenix to face that direction.
- Fire Spirits provide 175 radius ground vision for 1 second at the targeted area upon impact.
Notes:
- The health cost (6% of current health per second) is direct HP Removal.
- Drains 1.2% of current health in 0.2 second intervals, starting 0.2 seconds after cast, resulting in 30 drain instances in 6 seconds.
- This results in a total health cost of 30.38% of Phoenix's initial current health on cast to sustain the full 6 seconds.
- For better readability, the turn rate during Sun Ray is given as degrees per second, instead of radians per 0.03 seconds.
- 25 degrees per second equal a turn rate of 0.013.
- Has 175 non-lingering ground vision around the Ray for the duration.
- Sun Ray is canceled if Phoenix gets stunned, silenced, cycloned, feared, hexed or slept. Roots, taunts and forced movement do not cancel it.
-
Duel does cancel Sun Ray because it applies silence effect to duelists.
- While affected by the taunts, Phoenix cannot change directions,
Toggle Movement or manually
Stop Sun Ray.
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- Sun Ray sets Phoenix's movement speed to 0 (has priority over hastes) and disarms Phoenix for its duration, so it cannot move or attack.
- Phoenix can use items and abilities during Sun Ray (including channeling spells). Casting
Icarus Dive during it does not cancel it.
- During Sun Ray, Phoenix does not need to turn to cast targeted spells or items.
- Sun Ray is inactive during Icarus Dive, so it cannot be cast during it.
- Deals damage or heals in 0.2 second intervals, starting 0.2 seconds after cast, resulting in up to 30 damage or heal instances per unit.
- Initially, the beam deals 14/20/26/32 + 1.5%/3.25%/5%/6.75% (
3%/4.75%/6.5%/8.25%) of the affected units' max health as damage per second.
- For each passing 0.2 seconds, the damage increases by 0.467/0.667/0.867/1.067 + 0.1%/0.1%/0.2%/0.2% (
0.1%/0.2%/0.2%/0.3%) of their max health.
- In 6 seconds, the damage reaches 28/40/52/64 + 3%/6.5%/10%/13.5% (
6%/9.5%/13%/16.5%) of their max health per second. At this point, the ray stops.
- Initially, the beam heals for 7/10/13/16 + 0.625%/1.25%/1.875%/2.5% of the affected units' max health per second.
- For each passing 0.2 seconds, the heal increases by 0.233/0.333/0.433/0.533 + 0%/0%/0.1%/0.1% of their max health.
- In 6 seconds, the heal reaches 14/20/26/32 + 1.25%/2.5%/3.75%/5% of their max health per second. At this point, the ray stops.
- Initially, the beam deals 14/20/26/32 + 1.5%/3.25%/5%/6.75% (
- Can deal up to 126/180/234/288 + 13.5%/29.25%/45%/60.75% (
27%/42.75%/58.5%/74.25%) of max health as damage when an enemy is hit for its full duration.
- Can heal up to 63/90/117/144 + 5.625%/11.25%/16.875%/22.5% of max health when an ally is hit by the beam for the full duration.
- Does not affect couriers.
Toggle
Self
Notes:
- This ability is only active while having
Sun Ray buff on.
- This ability is not available in Ability Draft, due non-ultimate abilities being limited to one ability slot.
- Interrupts Phoenix's channeling spells upon cast.
- Phoenix drifts towards the direction of the ray with a fixed 250 speed. Slows and movement speed buffs do not affect this.
- Phoenix can move through cliffs and destroys trees in its path.
Phoenix Sun | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ward | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Notes:
- Supernova turns night into day for its duration. This has a higher priority than the artificial nights of
Dark Ascension and
Eclipse.
- Disjoints projectiles and applies a strong dispel upon cast. Also dispels
Fire Spirits.
- Resets Phoenix' abilities, and replenishes its mana upon cast. Does not refresh the cooldowns of items and ultimates.
- If the sun survives, Phoenix's health gets fully replenished at the end of the duration.
- During Supernova, Phoenix is hidden, invulnerable, rooted, muted, and disarmed.
- All of Phoenix' spells are also turned inactive for during Supernova, so that they cannot be cast either.
- With the level 20
talent,
Sun Ray is not inactive and can be cast during Supernova.
- However, since Phoenix is also rooted, the
Toggle Movement sub-spell cannot be used. Phoenix can turn though.
- The area damage is provided by an aura. Its debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- Deals damage in 1 second intervals, starting 1 second after the debuff is applied, resulting in up to 6 possible instances.
- Can deal up to 360/540/720 damage to a single unit (before reductions) when it stays in range for the full duration.
- The source of the damage is the caster, not the sun itself, so it fully benefits from spell amplification.
- The sun can be denied once it drops below 50% health. Doing so also denies Phoenix (and the ally inside).
- Destroys trees within a 500 radius around Phoenix upon cast.
-
Aghanim's Scepter turns this spell into a single target spell with 500 cast range.
- The cast range is only for selecting a unit within the range. The sun still appears on Phoenix's current location.
- Can only target allied heroes, including illusions, clones and self (double-tapping casts it on self).
- The targeted ally cannot act during Supernova at all, on top of the same effects that are applied to Phoenix during it.
- If the sun survives, the ally's health, and mana get replenished, and their non-ultimate non-item ability cooldowns get reset.
- Destroying the Phoenix Sun credits both of the heroes' deaths to its destroyer.
- If the sun gets destroyed and Phoenix has Reincarnation, the ally is released with its health, mana and cooldowns unaffected.
- If the sun gets destroyed and the ally inside has Reincarnation, it reincarnates while Phoenix dies.
Talents
Hero Talents | ||
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+1.5% Max Health ![]() | 25 | +3 ![]() |
![]() ![]() | 20 | +1100 ![]() |
+500 Health | 15 | +25 ![]() |
+6% Spell Amplification | 10 | +24% ![]() |
- The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.
Recent Changes
- Increased
Sun Ray mana cost from 100 on each level to 100/110/120/130.
-
Supernova
- Rescaled mana cost from 200 on each level to 150/200/250.
- Increased cooldown from 110 to 120.
- Added
Aghanim's Shard upgrade for
Phoenix:
- Turns
Fire Spirits into a passive ability and permanently replaces it with
Launch Fire Spirit, constantly respawning the spirits every 7 seconds.
- Turns
- [U]
Launch Fire Spirit is now a charge-based ability by default. Without Aghanim's Shard, it gains its charges by casting Fire Spirits. With Aghanim's Shard, it recharges them on its own.
- [U]
- Talents:
- Level 10 right talent: +18%
Icarus Dive movement speed slow increased to +24%.
- Level 10 right talent: +18%
- Increased
Fire Spirits mana cost from 80/90/100/110 to 120 on each level.
- Rescaled
Supernova attacks to destroy from 5/8/11 to 6/8/10.
- Talents:
- Level 10 right talent: +14%
Icarus Dive movement speed slow increased to +18%.
- Level 15 left talent: +400 health increased to +500.
- Level 10 right talent: +14%
Recommended items
Starting items:
-
Tango provides health sustain as all of Phoenix non-ultimate abilities have health costs.
-
Healing Salve also restores health to Phoenix.
-
Clarity restores mana for Fire Spirits and Sun Ray.
-
Iron Branch gives Phoenix cheap attributes, and can later build into either
Magic Wand or
Mekansm; alternatively, you can use it with Tango to boost healing.
-
Wind Lace gives some movement speed bonus and will upgrade to
Tranquil Boots.
Early game:
-
Tranquil Boots gives health regeneration to offset the health costs of Phoenix's abilities, especially when firing Sun Ray. The high movement speed bonus allows Phoenix to travel to the right lanes or teamfights as quickly as possible.
-
Magic Stick provides burst health and mana so Phoenix can stay alive and use abilities.
-
Urn of Shadows restores health followed hero deaths, or perhaps adds more DPS to help with ganks. The mana regeneration also sustains abilities.
Mid game:
-
Magic Wand grants attributes and burst health and mana.
-
Hand of Midas aids Phoenix to quickly obtain enough experience for level 3 Supernova and later talents as they increase survivability to ensure reborn and stun.
-
Veil of Discord reduces enemy magic resistance, letting Phoenix's abilities deal great damage. Its bonus armor, health regeneration, and intelligence increases survivability and ability usage.
-
Spirit Vessel, upgraded from Urn of Shadows, gives extra health and movement speed to Phoenix. The active can heal allies and counter enemies with high regeneration.
Late game:
-
Shiva's Guard has attack speed slow aura that aids in the Phoenix Sun's survivability. Use Arctic Blast right before Supernova to slow enemy movement speed, keeping them in range of the Sun. Since Arctic Blast takes more than 2 seconds to build up to maximum radius, activate it a little while before Icarus Dive to cover as much area as possible during the dive.
-
Lotus Orb increases Phoenix's survivability by giving it armor and regeneration. Its active ability dispels silences and other debuffs, and may deter enemy heroes from placing targeted abilities on Phoenix for fear of reflection.
Situational items:
-
Tome of Knowledge helps Phoenix reach higher levels of Supernova and talents, improving its survivability and contribution in fights.
-
Kaya further increases Phoenix's damage output, and its mana cost reduction and intelligence is invaluable to the caster-type Phoenix.
-
Aghanim's Scepter is more for a support role Phoenix, turning Supernova into a very powerful "heal". It is more effective on heroes with long cooldowns on non-ultimate abilities (such as
Terrorblade or
Invoker) or gets into skirmishes often (such as
Sven or
Spectre), but saving any ally from certain death should be great enough on its own. Unlike when initiating, Supernova is best preferably used far away from enemy heroes to increase the chances of having the Sun survive.
-
Eul's Scepter of Divinity gives high mana regeneration, allowing Phoenix to use Fire Spirits and Sun Ray more often. Its active not only dispels debuffs, but may also come in handy in having an actual instant interrupting ability for channeling enemies, and if Phoenix is silenced during Icarus Dive: Using the active on yourself while Diving and silenced stops Phoenix mid-Dive, preventing Phoenix from circling back to its original location.
-
Rod of Atos gives health and mana to Phoenix, allowing more ability spam with the increased mana pool; its active root can keep enemies in place to take more of your abilities' damage.
-
Heaven's Halberd deals with enemy heroes with quick attack speed, such as
Troll Warlord or
Clinkz. The additional strength can also aid in Phoenix's survivability. The disarm also persists through spell immunity.
-
Pipe of Insight gives health regeneration and magic resistance, giving Phoenix and its team even more survivability in teamfights.
-
Guardian Greaves restores health and mana in a radius, as well as remove debuffs from Phoenix. The increasing health regeneration and armor upon reaching low health is great for Phoenix's constantly dwindling health.
-
Radiance adds area damage and applies miss chance to enemies, perhaps key for a successful Supernova.
-
Heart of Tarrasque grants lots of health, strength, and health regeneration to supply abilities' health costs. It provides enough survivability so Phoenix always has a chance to activate Supernova.
-
Octarine Core increases health and mana substantially, and the cooldown reduction means Phoenix can re-enter a fight much more quickly than before.
-
Refresher Orb should only be bought if the player is sure on how to make the most of it. It is best to not use Refresher Orb immediately after Supernova as the ultimate already refreshes Phoenix's other abilities, making Refresher's active rather pointless. Instead, spend the other abilities first, then refresh so you may perhaps have a third Icarus Dive/Fire Spirits/Sun Ray to use and a second Supernova to refresh them.
Gameplay
Roles: | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Complexity: | ★★☆ |
Playstyle: | Out of the deep void burst forth infinite stars, among them the cosmic progeny known to mortals as Phoenix. With stellar flame emanating from its terrestrial form, the Phoenix dives the battlefield in an arc, setting ablaze all who pass beneath its wings. Within its ever-collapsing core sprang short-lived Fire Spirits, paroxysms of conscious light that burned with debilitating flame. From afar the firebird beams its Sun Ray, scorching foes, yet nurturing allies. By its own celestial timing, the son of suns ends its current life in a Supernova, radiating intense heat until the mass explodes, restoring Phoenix to its form through the glory of rebirth. |
Audio
History
Equipment
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Trivia
- Phoenix's name in DotA was Icarus. It was removed during its port to Dota 2 for unspecified reasons. However,
Icarus Dive still makes use of it.
- An easter egg boss fight versus Phoenix was added to the 6.69 DotA map to hint at its upcoming release in 6.70.