DOTA Hero Tips: Morphling

Only a few agility type DOTA heroes can both tank and be an effective carry. Morphling without a doubt is one of them. This hero can instantly adapt to the situation by either giving up his agility for strength points or vice versa. You can survive a barrage of furious enemy attacks and morph into an agility-based hero afterwards to gain more attack speed and physical damage. Morphling’s ultimate skill which copies a certain target hero is also great for both offense and defense. His first skill made him almost impossible to kill. Probably the only problem of Morphling is his lack of mana and health points especially during the early parts of the game. Nevertheless, if you purchase the right items, this hero can single-handedly carry the whole team towards victory. Are you interested to use this hero on your next DOTA game? Here are some tips so you can bring about the real destructive power of Morphling!

Waveform

Morphling highly relies on this skill to escape enemy team ambushes or deal a considerable amount of damage during the early parts of the game. However, spamming this skill won’t be possible without mama regenerating items. Remember that Morphling is an agility type hero so we should never expect him to have a decent mana pool and regeneration. This incapability convinced many that Morphling should purchase a Bottle and Crow as soon as possible. Such kind of item of combination is enough to support Morphling’s mana needs during the early and mid game. Perseverance is also a good pick to increase Morphling’s mana regeneration so he can freely use this devastating skill any time. Remember that this skill can be used to evade spells. Expert Morphling users patiently wait for the right moment to cast Waveform to somehow negate enemy spells and give him an upper hand in battle. You can also use the terrain while using this skill to easily escape from chasing enemies.

Adaptive Strike

This skill can be used in two varied ways. First, Adaptive Strike can deal a huge amount of damage based on Morphling’s agility points while causing the enemy target to be stunned in a brief period of time. The other method is as a stunning mechanism. You can activate this type of strike by upping Morphling’s based strength stats using his third skill. It’s almost impossible for an enemy hero to simply flee away from battle through a teleportation scroll with Morphling around as this skill offers a mini-stun effect. This skill also has a very low cooldown time so spamming it is very possible. If used in conjunction with Morphling’s first skill, eliminating even the toughest heroes in DOTA won’t be so much of a problem. Using this skill as a killing shot is advised to make sure your target can’t escape by using a Boots of Travel or Town portal.

Morph

Beginners in DOTA do not appreciate this skill and even prefer upping bonus stats. However, it’s undeniable that this is the main reason why Morphling carry such name. This skill allows him to change his base stats from agility to strength or vice versa. This is often used when Morphling is being chased by enemy heroes while having a measly amount of life points left. By boosting his base strength, Morphling will be granted with higher life point’s regeneration and high health points. Morph is also perfect as an offensive tool since boosting your base agility could help you second skill land more damage. Countering Morphling with this skill on his arsenal is almost impossible. With the right items Morphling is a formidable foe that only a few can challenge.

Replicate

Morphling confuses enemy heroes with this skill. This is also a pain for heroes who highly depend on skills that boost their physical damage or add a bash, slow, or poison effect to their attacks. The clone will gain all the base stats and passive skills of the targeted hero. It can be targeted on both ally and foe. This skill is also a perfect escape mechanism. Before you engage on a clash, replicate the hero nearest you and lead the clone to your base. If your health points end up alarmingly low after absorbing enemy skill damage, cast Morphling’s ultimate skill once more so you’ll instantly take the clone’s place teleporting you to the healing well on this scenario. With perfect timing, Morphling can also dodge various enemy spells that are thrown with the help of this skill. You can also hide from global skills such as God’s Wrath and Nature’s Wrath by simply using Replicate at the right moment.

Early Game:

Morphling starts slow. His low health and mana points made him very vulnerable to ganks. Rushing a Bottle and Crow combination is a must especially if the team decides to assign you on the mid lane. Be sure to get the runes so you can gain battle advantage and grab a few hero kills early on. Farming should be your main priority since you’re the carry. Use your first skill to kill at least 3 creeps. Hit one creep until its hp is low enough then proceed to another. Cast your first skill and eliminate all of them at once. Be sure to hit enemy heroes while casting your wave. Life supporting items are also great for Morphling. You’ll be in great trouble if enemy heroes will gank you early on while using your first skill just to kill creeps. At least one or two bracers in your inventory will assure that Morphling can survive a barrage of hero attacks while waiting for your first skill to cooldown.

Mid Game:

At this part of the game, expect enemy heroes to hunt you down. Don’t use your first skill for creeps. Reserve it whenever you observe enemy heroes positioning themselves to ambush you. Map awareness is the key to survive even well-planned enemy ganks. Purchase a town portal so you can simple use your first skill to reach and inaccessible area and teleport away from danger. Don’t bother joining ambushes since your main role is to farm enough so you can purchase luxurious items and lead your team to victory during the late game. By now, you should have enough items to boost you life points. Most professional Morphling users choose to boost his life points by purchasing Vanguard or Heart of Tarasque. They then use Morphling’s third skill to boost his base agility in the expense of all his strength points. With this build, you’ll have great life regeneration, a decent amount of health points, insane attack speed, and incredible damage that only a few heroes in DOTA can tank.

Late Game:

This is the part of the game where Morphling show’s his might. Your target must be squishy intelligence type enemy heroes. You can bypass the enemy team’s tank and carry with your first skill and target those in the back or side line. Killing them won’t be a problem with your high attack speed and damage. To provide more room, you can use your ultimate skill to the enemy’s strongest hero. They’ll surely target the image first which gives you enough time to kill a few of their weak members. With just a Butterfly and Manta Style in the inventory, Morphling can be unstoppable. If given a Satanic, he can regain lost health points every enemy hit making him survive chaotic team clashes with ease. Morphling’s last skill can be a life saver during this part of the game. If enemy heroes cast all their ultimate spells toward you, simply take the place of the clone to get out of danger. If you farmed well enough during the early and mid game, victory is almost assured.