Phantom Assassin counter and synergy picks
Pick Phantom Assassin with Wraith King to increase win-rate from 45.2% to 52.7% or against Wraith King to increase win-rate to 63.6% in Patch 7.38c.
Good with...
...based on stats [7.38c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▼ |
|---|---|
7.5% | |
3.4% | |
3.3% | |
3.0% | |
2.9% | |
2.9% | |
2.5% | |
2.5% | |
2.3% | |
1.9% | |
1.9% | |
1.9% | |
1.8% | |
1.8% | |
1.7% |
...based on gameplay [up-to-date]
Empower greatly enhances Phantom Assassin's crit damage, as well as giving her a cleaving attack. It also speeds up Phantom Assassin's ability to farm.
Reverse Polarity groups up enemies into one spot, combined with Magnus's Empower and Phantom Assassin's tendency to buy Battle Fury, Phantom Assassin will shred through multiple heroes in a blink of an eye.
Corrosive Haze not only keeps track of a target but also highly reduces their armor, enabling Phantom Assassin to cut them down much quicker. His stun and follow-up slow can also prove useful in a clash, preventing retaliation and/or escape.
Casting Purification on Phantom Assassin after she uses Phantom Strike will guarantee a huge damage burst, especially during the early game when Purification's damage is significant.
Phantom Assassin's Stifling Dagger allows Omniknight to catch up with the target and slows them with Degen Aura.
Blur makes Phantom Assassin more resistant to physical attacks and Heavenly Grace makes her much more resistant against disables.
...counter items [up-to-date]
A core Boots upgrade to improve your mobility and damage output with attack speed and stats. Helps in both farming and lane control.
A core essential item for Phantom Assassin to throw as many critical strikes before she becomes vulnerable to disables. Combined with Phantom Strike, she can stay on top of a enemy hero and avoid being interrupted.
A core item that utilizes your high attack speed during Phantom Strike to lock down elusive enemy heroes and burst them down. Can also proc from Stifling Dagger.
Good against...
...based on stats [7.38c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▼ |
|---|---|
18.3% | |
13.5% | |
13.1% | |
12.4% | |
12.3% | |
11.9% | |
11.7% | |
11.2% | |
11.1% | |
11.0% | |
10.9% | |
10.8% | |
10.8% | |
10.6% | |
10.4% |
...based on gameplay [up-to-date]
Anti-Mage can easily withstand heavy magical bursts due to Counterspell, but he is still somewhat vulnerable to physical damage. Phantom Assassin's burst physical damage can destroy Anti-Mage while Blink is on cooldown or while he is stunned or hexed.
Blur makes Anti-Mage unable to deal significant damage to her without buying Monkey King Bar, which means he cannot buy items to benefit his Mana Break.
Phantom Assassin has an abysmal mana pool and intelligence gain, making Mana Break and Mana Void deal minimal damage.
Rage does absolutely nothing against Phantom Strike with items.
Feast and Ghoul Frenzy are very difficult to utilise thanks to Blur.
Lifestealer generally wants to buy items that make him hard to kill, not an Monkey King Bar which only offers damage.
Sniper's lack of mobility and reliance on attack range makes him an easy target for Phantom Assassin to jump on with Phantom Strike.
Bad against...
...based on stats [7.38c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▲ |
|---|---|
-4.4% | |
-3.0% | |
-2.9% | |
-2.5% | |
-2.4% | |
-2.4% | |
-2.3% | |
-2.1% | |
-2.1% | |
-2.1% | |
-1.8% | |
-1.7% | |
-1.7% | |
-1.6% | |
-1.6% |
...based on gameplay [up-to-date]
Phantom Strike's extra attack speed will cause Phantom Assassin to trigger Counter Helix more often, which can be fatal for Phantom Assassin in the early game. Jumping on Axe with Phantom Strike is not a good idea for Phantom Assassin at all as it makes her a seriously easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call and Blade Mail.
Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe, and may cause her to kill herself when used with Blade Mail. Berserker's Call can also affect Phantom Assassin even if she has Black King Bar active as Berserker's Call can fully pierce spell immunity, making Berserker's Call one of the best abilities in the game against heroes like Phantom Assassin who wants to kill opponents quickly without being interrupted.
Culling Blade can often kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything due to her low health and strength gain. And every time Culling Blade successfully kills Phantom Assassin or any of her teammates, Axe gains permanent armor from it, which in combination with armour items that Axe often purchases like Blade Mail, Crimson Guard, Assault Cuirass and Shiva's Guard can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Axe.
Whirling Axes (Melee) makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to land a Coup de Grace.
Troll Warlord often buys Silver Edge and Monkey King Bar, the items that greatly help against Phantom Assassin's Blur ability.
Battle Trance completely negates Phantom Assassin's large damage output, preventing Troll Warlord from dying easily. The lifesteal also allows Troll Warlord to restore much of his health.
Phantom Assassin's Blur is useless against Windranger as she commonly buys items that require Javelin like Maelstrom, Monkey King Bar or Bloodthorn, and other than Stifling Dagger, Phantom Assassin has nothing else that can bypass Windrun.
Additionally, Phantom Assassin doesn't like building Monkey King Bar because her crits are reliant on attack damage.
Focus Fire can still deal considerable damage despite Blur's evasion due to the increased attack speed.
...counter items [up-to-date]
Helps you sustain HP and mana as Phantom Assassin frequently uses Stifling Dagger to harass and secure last hits.
Gives you tankiness to take less damage from Phantom Assassin's right clicks as well as Stifling Dagger and trade HP more effectively.
Lets you kite Phantom Assassin by putting some distance between her and yourself when she jumps you with Phantom Strike and hit her from range.
Gives you more accuracy on right clicks to pierce the passive evasion of PA.
Lets you apply the break effect on Phantom Assassin to burst her down with right clicks while she does not have evasion from her passive ability.
Gives you another layer of damage with a true strike right click that pierces the evasion from her passive ability.
Lets you kite Phantom Assassin by protecting yourself against her right clicks and Stifling Dagger damage in Ethereal form.
Lets you kite Phantom Assassin by protecting yourself or an ally against her right clicks through invisibility.
Gives you a repositioning tool to kite Phantom Assassin by pushing yourself or an ally away from her and match her mobility from Phantom Strike.
Gives you an instant disable against Phantom Assassin to burst her down in its duration before she impacts fights or gets away using Phantom Strike or Blur.
Lets you save an ally from Phantom Assassin's right click and Stifling Dagger burst damage. Can also be used to burst her down with heavy magic damage as a follow up.
Lets you survive and never get bursted by Phantom Assassin's right click and Stifling Dagger damage buffed with Coup de Grace.
Lets you silence and burst down Phantom Assassin with true stike on right clicks to pierce the evasion from her passive ability.
Bad with...
...based on stats [7.38c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▲ |
|---|---|
-6.3% | |
-5.3% | |
-5.3% | |
-5.2% | |
-5.0% | |
-4.8% | |
-4.6% | |
-4.3% | |
-4.2% | |
-4.0% | |
-3.8% | |
-3.8% | |
-3.7% | |
-3.7% | |
-3.6% |
