Our latest Dota 2 hero guide teaches you how to play one of the best carry picks in the game — Morphling.
Although many people like playing supports, offlaners, and midders, there is no arguing that position 1 is the most lucrative role in Dota 2. Many heroes can do really well as carries, but Morphling is usually in a league of his own. One of the most popular carries at The International 11 has always been a force to be reckoned with, and this patch is not an exception.
Morphling is an agility hero that is notorious for being a part of the “big 4” late-game monsters alongside Medusa, Spectre, and Anti-Mage. Albeit being the hardest to play, Morphling can also be the most rewarding because playing against a 6-slotted Morph is not something you want to try out.
Although some Dota 2 players will always go to the safe lane with Morph, others often take mid. Morph can be a solid midder because he is strong in a 1v1 format, but he can’t work well against everything. That’s why this Morhpling Dota 2 guide will focus on him being in the safe lane.
Overview and Early Game
As mentioned, Morphling is an Agility hero that becomes exceptionally strong in the late game. However, unlike other late-game monsters, Morph can also work in the mid-game and do a lot of damage. It all comes down to his item build.
Like most carries, Morph has to try and farm as much as possible because he has specific timings. The hero is definitely not the fastest farmer in the game, but he has Wave, allowing him to clear creep waves. Furthermore, Morph can add more Agility at the cost of STR, which increases his damage. When you combine that with one of the best attack animations in the game, it is easy to see why last hitting with him is like a walk in the park.
Generally speaking, Morphling is not a hero you’d want to take fights with unless it is absolutely necessary. That said, Waveform will allow you to secure kills when possible, so always keep an eye on your lane. Of course, it is not a good idea to TP into a fight early on unless you are 100% sure that you will get a kill.
The mid-game
Morphing’s role in the mid-game and his choice of items depend on whether he is a midder or a safe lane carry. Assuming he is position 1, the hero should already have things like Manta Style and BKB, which means he can take some fights when needed. That said, it’s advisable to focus on farming because Morphing needs a lot of items before he is ready to take on everyone.
One of the things that you can do with Morphling is to use your ultimate on a given hero and use the replica during fights. This is definitely not easy and takes a lot of skill because you need to be fast. However, once you learn how to play with the hero, it will feel like your opponents play versus 6 instead of 5 heroes because you can do tons of things.
There was a very popular combo a couple of patches ago that included Morphling and ES and allowed the carry to one-shot his targets.
Morphling in the late-game
As mentioned in this Morphling Dota 2 guide, this hero is one of the best when it comes down to the late game. Depending on the heroes you have to play against, you are usually the strongest in the game, so you have to make a difference.
At this point of the game, you will most likely have 6 items, meaning you will do insane amounts of damage. Always keep this into account and use it for one-shot support. You can do that in seconds if you have an Ethereal Blade and use your Adaptive Strike.
Like any other carry, you have to be careful and save gold for Buy Back. Also, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to turn all of your STR into Agi. Although this may seem like a good idea, it is not because you need to have HP to survive initial bursts. So, always be ready to get some STR when required.
Morphling’s counters
Every Dota 2 hero has some counters, and this one is no exception. The idea of this Dota 2 Morphling guide is to show everything, including the heroes that can make Morphling’s life a living hell. Sadly, there are a couple of counters that he needs to be aware of.
Surprisingly, Elder Titan is one of Morphling’s biggest counter, even though most people do not think about him initially. This hero’s passive removes all of the natural armor from a target, which can be devastating against Morphling because he can change his STR to AGI and get tons of base armor. Once this is out, right-clicking heroes like PA or Juggernaut can rip through him.
Another hero that is really good versus Morphling is Ancient Apparition. This hero’s ultimate does a lot of damage and prevents targets from receiving heals or healing themselves. Since Morphling relies on lifesteal and staying on low HP to do damage, AA can be a fantastic counter.
Aside from the heroes mentioned above, names like OD, Anti-Mage, and Lina can also be problematic. That’s the reason why Morph needs to be ahead, and he needs items, such as BKB in order to survive.
The items
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, learning how to play Morphling involves knowing which items to get. Unlike some carries that can work with multiple things, Morph is a hero that usually goes for the same things.
Like most carries, Manta Style is one of the must-have items because it gives him stats and allows him to have illusions. Speaking of stats, you should focus on items that give you as many stats as possible because this allows you to Morph more STR into agility. In other words, items like the Eye of Skadi can do wonders and are really good.
Aside from Manta and Skadi, Morphling also needs Black King Bar because he has to survive against spellcasters. The hero also has to get Butterfly, Satanic and he can go for Linkin’s Sphere, Aghanim’s Scepter, and even a Shard. I tall depends on the specific situation.
Find more Dota 2 guides and esports news, right here on ESTNN.
