How to Counter Phantom Assassin - A noob's guide

I'm getting very sick of people who see Phantom Assassin get picked an instantly think the team with PA will win, just because it's PA. Phantom Assassin, like all carries, require farm, levels and time to become useful. Not only that but, like all heroes in DOTA (2), she has her own respective strengths and weaknesses. Heroes she counters, and heroes that counter her.

So stop picking Sniper and pick up this guide! Learn how to counter "the most OP and broken hero in Dota 2" in no time!

"gg PA OP. DOTA is broken."

These were the words of the Sniper in my last game who picked Sniper in order to "counter" Phantom Assassin.

I don't know what he was thinking. To be honest, I don't think he was thinking. He picked Sniper against a Spirit Breaker and would only Assassinate people who Omniknight repelled.

But that's besides the point. This whole "Phantom Assassin is overpowered" thing is, to put it bluntly, dumb.
She's powerful, yes. But so is every hero in Dota 2. (Even Io)

Like all hard carries, she requires farm.
Like all heroes in Dota, she has counters.


So here's a quick guide on some of the ways to can counter Phantom Assassin:

CHP 1. Counterpickers are noobs

Sometimes you'll hear people say that Counterpickers are noobs.
No. Counterpicking is how you win Dota 2.

If you don't want to get countered, don't play Dota 2. Everything in this game has a counter, and everything in this game counters something. That's why Dota 2 is so popular.

Some counters are fairly obvious (Phoenix? Best pick Troll Warlord!), others aren't as obvious. It all comes down to knowing how a heroes' abilities work, and what hero breaks through them.

Let's look at Phantom Assassin and see what she's able to do:

Mortred, the Phantom Assassin

Abilities:
Stifling Dagger & Phantom Strike

Yeah you know what these do. One is an annoying slow that she always uses to last hit, the other is a free Blink Dagger. You don't care about that. You care about these:




Blur
Phantom Assassin focuses inward, increasing her ability to evade enemy attacks, and allowing her to blur her body to disappear from the enemy team's minimap when far from enemy heroes.
Dodge Chance: 20%/30%/40%/50%
Meditation allows a Veiled Sister to carefully anticipate her opponents in combat.

In layman's terms: PA gets evasion against physical attacks. 20% at level 1, 30% at 2, 40% at 3, 50% at 4. Having a single level in Blur also makes PA disappear from the Mini-Map when she's far from an enemy, making it much easier for PA to farm or gank.

Coup de Grace
Phantom Assassin refines her combat abilities, gaining a chance of delivering a devastating critical strike to enemy units. Stifling Dagger shares the same critical strike chance.
Proc Chance: 15%
Critical Damage: 230%/340%/450%
A divine strike, Mortred honors her opponent by choosing them for death.

In layman's terms: PA gets ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ RNG. At 15% of the time PA will deal X2.3/X3.4/X4.5 times her base damage, depending on the level of her Ulti. Her Q can also do that for some reason...


So that's what PA is capable of doing. She has an annoying slow/poke and a free Blink Dagger, which we all know about. She also has BS evasion and BS crits.

Now:

How do we counter that?

1. A. Evasion is dumb

Evasion blocks physical attacks, otherwise known as auto attacks, otherwise known as right clicks.

This is one of the reasons PA (and Brewmaster) is considered as an "Anti-Carry" of sorts. Most carries rely on gaining extremely high attack speed or damage with their right clicks and dominating the enemy purely based on that. Evasion (and miss chance) puts a massive snag in that plan since, you know, you can't actually hit anything.

But you know what isn't blocked by Evasion? Abilities.

Any hero who relies on their abilities to deal damage can be deadly to a Phantom Assassin. Phantom Assassin is in fact very squishy, having little over 1000 natural health at level 16 and never going over 2000 with Strength alone.

Most good Phantom Assassins are aware of this, but you're either pubbing or are in around 1K MMR. You would know how to counter PA otherwise. c:


So. Heroes who deal a lot of damage with their abilities. Where can we find those.

Intelligence Heroes.

With a few exceptions (Nature's Prophet comes to mind) Intelligence heroes rely partially, if not entirely, on their abilities to deal damage. As a result, most Int. heroes have abilities that either do high damage or have a low cool-down. Quickly being able to burst down PA with magic is a surefire way to kill her.

But let's be honest: You don't know what a good counterpick is. If you did, you wouldn't be reading this.
No. You just want a list of heroes that you should pick against PA.
Well, here are some of my picks for Int. nukers:

I am not listing all heroes that counter PA since that would be stupid, and would extend the guide by an additional 2 pages. Also, don't comment that "X hero counters PA". I made an entire guide on how to counter Phantom Assassin, I think I know how to counter her.

Zeus

Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Zeus specializes in high damage, low cool-down magical nukes. His passive can also chip away at PA's HP. Not only that, but you have a douchy global ult. Go have fun, kid.

Lina

Here's another spammy nuker. Lina's Dragon Slave has a fairly low cool-down and does significant damage. Light Strike Array stuns enemies, allowing you some free hits on PA (if you can aim the stun). The coup-de-grace best thing is Lina's Ultimate: Laguna Blade. This thing deals massive damage, and at a good range too. Not only that, but BKB isn't a huge issue. Grabbing Aghs with Lina will change the damage to pure, and allow you to hit magic immune targets. A Lvl 3 Lina Ult is nearly enough to kill a Lvl 16 PA.

Lion

Disables are fun, no mana is more fun, and no HP is the most fun of all! Lion has two great disables and an extremely obnoxious mana steal that can stop PA from blinking out. Not only that, but Finger of Death is, well, death. Lion will be countered almost instantly if PA buys a BKB, though.

Queen of Pain

Oh Akasha, is there nothing you can't do. Well, there are plenty of things that Queen of Pain (QoP) can't do, but she can definitely kill PA. Slowing nuke? Check. Spammy AoE Nuke? Check. Blink away from PA's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, or chase after her with your own blinks? Check. Incredibly powerful ultimate that goes through BKB? Check. Check. Check.

1. B. Crits are stupid

Originally posted by You now:

Okay so I picked an Intelligence hero, but now PA is oneshotting me with RNG! You didn't tell me that Int. heroes are about as squishy as raw meat!

Well, I thought that was kinda a given. Brains over Brawn, so more brawn means less brains.

But in all honesty: There are many heroes who deal damage with Abilities, just like how there are many heroes who deal damage with Right Clicks. If you don't want to die as much, pick up a Tanky ability user. Axe, Centaur, Earth Shaker. They're all great picks.

But let's assume you want to go with an Int. nuker anyways. You're getting one-shot by PA every time she starts right clicking you.
Don't you wish you could stop her from Right Clicking you?

Bam!

Ghost Scepter!


Ghost Scepter is a tiny little item hiding in the corner of the "Basics" item tab. (It's under Arcane.) For 1600 gold you can use your scepter to become completely immune to physical damage, and unable to be right-clicked for 4 seconds. Now, this does come at a price. You move slower when in Ghost (Ethereal) form, and take significantly more Magic damage. You are also unable to right click on people, all-though you can still cast spells.


Now, the informed Dota 2 player is probably already thinking "Wait, isn't there a hero that comes with a Ghost Scepter-like ability?"
Yes there is. He also comes with Magical nukes. I didn't mention him in my last list but:

Pugna

Is also a very good counter to PA. Along with all the magical nukes you have, you also have a free Ghost Scepter Ethereal Blade! PA hitting you? Ghost yourself. PA hitting an ally? Ghost them. Need to hit PA? Ghost her.

But let's say your situation doesn't allow for a Ghost Scepter. Maybe the enemy team has a magical nuker of their own, and perhaps, god forbid, PA tries to buy a Dagon or something.

Well, there are several other ways to reduce the damage from PA's crits.

1. Armor

Armor will reduce physical damage taken. I will not go into the technicals (just google "Dota 2 armor" and you should find something) but the important thing to note is that more armor means less damage taken.

Lich

Is a very good option if you require a high armor stat. His Ice Armor will increase the targeted hero's armor (no duh) by 3/5/7/9. Not only that, but anyone attacking a hero with Ice Armor will have their attack speed slowed. This is especially useful against Phantom Assassin, since lower attack speed means less chances to crit. This can also be mimicked by the Ogre Frostmage creep in the Ogre camp. (The Blue thing that spawns by the two Brown things in the jungle.)

Dazzle

Is also a very good choice if you wish to deal with armor. His ultimate, Weave, will increase the armor of all allies in the AoE. The armor will also gradually build as time goes on. Weave also affects enemies, reducing their armor!


There are several items that increase armor as well. Some of the ones you may know are:

Mekansm (Mek), Medallion of Courage, and Assault Cuirass (AC)

2. Reduce PA's damage!

Some heroes are capable of reducing the enemy's damage to pathetic numbers. (I'm talking Techies right click pathetic) These heroes are obvious counters to PA, since she won't be able to crit you for anything if she doesn't do anything in the first place!

Bane & Razor

Are the first two heroes that come to mind. Bane is capable of stopping PA's damage much faster than Razor, and also has a plethora of disables to boot. Razor, on the other hand, can steal PA's damage and use it for himself! There's nothing more satisfying then beating an enemy with their own strength.


So there you go. That's 8 heroes who are all great counters to Phantom Assassin. Just pick one of those and you should be good to go. Don't worry about everyone else taking those heroes, chances are at least someone's going to make the obligatory Pudge pick without even paying attention to both teams and their compositions.



Wait. Did you just pick Pudge. For the love of fu...

CHP 2. I'm picking Pudge anyways

Good job. You just took the entire first chapter of my guide and completely disregarded it. You know how long it took me to write that? About 4 hours. Thanks, jerk.

Actually, Pudge is also a fairly decent counter to PA if you can land your hook and dismember her, but you also might have picked Anti-Mage, Faceless Void, or some other stupid Right-Clicker.

I already mentioned some items you can buy to help deal with PA in 1.B, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. With nearly 130 unique items to hold onto in DOTA 2, there has to be at least one that counters PA. Right?

2. A. The holy grail of PA counter items

Well chances are if you've played even a single game against Phantom Assassin, someone has told you the following:

"Buy a Monkey King Bar. (MKB)"

Well,

Monkey King Bar

is probably the most obvious counter to Phantom Assassin. Why, you may ask? Easy.

Monkey King Bar prevents your attacks from missing.

This renders PA's 50% evasion worthless, and allows you to right click on her again!


Now, this is more of a personal note, but it's a note none the less:
Time and time again I see teams that go up against Phantom Assassin with right clickers. Their teammates tell those right clickers to build MKB, and the answer is always the same: "I will."

Never "I have." or "I'm about to.", just "I will."

Stop it.

Monkey King Bar should be considered a core purchase when going up against PA. In most cases, it simply gives you some more damage and attack speed, as well as the possibility to mini-stun channeling enemies. But when you're up against Phantom Assassin, MKB will effectively double your damage output.

You bought a Crystalys and a Skullbasher. Oh look, you're building Butterfly. That's great.
Too bad you can't hit Phantom Assassin.

Damage is great. Attack Modifiers are great. But if you can't hit one of the enemy heroes, you're effectively only 4/5 of a hero to your team.

That, and MKB gives you some good damage. It's a nice item to have in general.

2. B. Well now she has a BKB

If you did pay attention to the first chapter, chances are you picked a magical hero. Most (keyword: Most) magical spells and forms of magic damage are blocked by Black King Bar. Some spells are not blocked by BKB however. (Google it)

Sadly, there is no way to disable a BKB, other than sitting around and waiting for the yellow glow around PA to fade. There are some items that go through BKB, however. Some of them can be used to slow down PA's progress. The most obvious example is:

2. C. Keeping PA in place

Abyssal Blade

Abyssal Blade (and Skull Basher alike) can stun through BKB. Why? I don't know. Balancing reasons I guess. While magic users shouldn't be building right clicking carry items, one of the right clicking carries on your team should be building a Basher to help with PA.

Disabling PA is very important, since she can blink out of harms way whenever she pleases. Building a Basher to keep her in place is paramount for success.

However, there's more than one way to disable a hero:

Scythe of Vyse & Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Are the two most obvious examples of disable items. Scythe does cost quite a lot of coin, but is a much more effective disable overall. Eul's, on the other hand, costs less and can truly be a lifesaver in a pinch. And with proper coordination, you can burst PA down when she lands.

Originally posted by Edit:

Hexing PA with Scythe will also disable her evasion, apperantly.

Slows are also a very useful way to keep PA in place.

Rod of Atos

Can be used to slow the enemy. It also grants some health and intelligence, which is nice.

Another great slow is:

Eye of Skadi

While a very pricey UAM (Unique Attack Modifier - This can't be used with Desolator!), Eye of Skadi can be extremely useful. To put it bluntly, the enemy will be slowed if you hit them. A lot. Their Attack Speed will also be slowed. The slow even goes through BKB, which therefor makes Skadi an ideal choice for slowing the enemy down. (How many times did I say "slow" in that paragraph?)

But one of the best choices for slows is:

Diffusal Blade

Diffusal Blade has the strongest slow that any item provides. It's infact the strongest slow that can be made in the game. 100%. This will reduce PA's movement drastically, allowing you to swoop up an easy kill. Not only that, but Diffusal's Purge can be handy for dealing with people trying to buff PA (stupid runes), and the mana drain can stop her from throwing daggers or blinking away. The only issue with Diffusal is that it has limited uses, so it's important that you use those charges wisely and sparingly.


There are three other disable items worth mentioning. The first one is:

Orchid Malevolence

Oh what a lovely item this is. Orchid will silence PA for several seconds, meaning that, again, she can't Blink or use Daggers. The second (and arguably more useful) aspect of Orchid is that it will amplify all damage taken by 30%. In other words: You will deal 30% more damage to PA, and PA will (technically) have 30% less HP to chip through.

The issue with Orchid is that PA will not be disarmed, so she can still right click you. And with that in mind:

Heaven's Halberd

Will disarm PA, meaning that she won't be able to attack for a bit. HH also has a passive chance to slow when you hit someone, so that's nice.

And finally we have:

Ethereal Blade

Which will Ghost PA. (See section 1.B) (Ethereal Blade is in fact made with Ghost Scepter!)

2. D. Too lazy to edit for 6.84

There's this cool upgrade for Shadow Blade now known as Silver Edge.
If you hit someone when going out of invisibility you disable their passives. This means you would disable PA's evasion, as well as her crits.

Not going to add pictures since I'm a lazy arse.

CHP 3. Is there something else I should be doing?

Originally posted by You know:

Alright. So I picked a hero that counters PA. I bought (or will buy) items that counter PA. Is there anything else I should be doing.

Yes.

It's a very easy thing to do. It's a core concept of the game. It's often one of the reasons people list as to why DOTA is different from other MOBAs.

You know what it is?

Deny

I'm not going to go in-depth into denying. (Again, Google is your friend.) What I will say though is that Denying will make it so PA has less gold.

Less gold means less items. Less items means less damage. Less gold means less of a threat.

PA is a hard carry. She needs farm. Stop her from getting her farm, and she stops being useful.


Be sure to keep PA's gold in check. See her farming away in lane? Gank her. PA Jungling? Block camps.

A farmed carry is a happy carry, and a poor carry is a useless carry.

CHP 4. In the end

So that's my guide. Only 3 chapters? Yes. There are only 3 things you need to do to kill PA.

1. Pick a hero who can kill PA.
2. Buy items that can kill PA.
3. Stop PA from farming, making it easier to kill PA.

While I did cover quite a bit in this guide, I didn't cover everything. There are always more heroes to consider in a line up. There are always more items to consider for a hero.
You can't just be told how to win at DOTA. It takes strategy. It takes skill. It takes a brain.
Take what I told you and think about it. Apply it to other situations. Apply it to other heroes. The same rules apply.

1. Who counters the hero?
2. What counters the hero?
3. Screwing with their farm always helps.

I hope that this guide helped you deal with Phantom Assassin pickers, and that you learnt something about DOTA 2 while reading this.

If you found this guide helpful, give it a thumbs up. I'd really appreciate that. Favorite it too if you wish.

I've also made some guides for DOTA 2, and I designed them to be used by newer players at lower skill levels.

Here are some of the guides I made for some heroes that counter PA pretty well. I hope you consider using them. ^3^
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=399446661
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=267272540
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=303774159

Again: Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this! I hope this helps you in your future as a DOTA 2 player.

[grifdkon13]

pa is so op

[Texyalen]

nice guilde would put it into good use

[DaShinja]

I found your guide highly amusing, and useful.

[Arachnid]

U don't need to upgrade diffusal to level two when u buy them. Just used up all the charges 2 heart's content. Upgrading it refresh charges.

[Arachnid]

Turns out PA got ballz. care when looking under the hood.

[TigerKirby215]

@Burzhui
Quoi? I think you have the wrong person m8.

[Fyfir]

@OP in a previous post you said you had 6 trophy wives for every day of the year. I know this is clearly sarcasm but really? WHO would want that many wives!!!??? One is enough to drive any man CRAZY!

[Gibbous]

b-b-but leshrac

[A Time for Choosing]

ez critical ez kill

[TigerKirby215]

@Nightmare
Eul's Scepter of Divinity - Cyclone
Can always be used on self, but not spell-immune enemies.