Phoenix
Alone across an untouched darkness gleamed the Keeper's first sun, a singular point of conscious light fated to spread warmth into the empty void. Through aeons beyond count, this blinding beacon set to coalescing its incalculable energy before bursting forth the cataclysmic flare of supernova. From this inferno raced new beacons, star progeny identical to its parent, who journeyed an unlit ocean and settled in constellatory array. In time, they too would be made to propagate through supernova flame. So would this dazzling cycle of birth and rebirth repeat until all skies hewn of Titan toil deigned to twinkle and shine. <br><br>By this ageless crucible the star that mortals would come to call Phoenix collapsed into being, and like its ancestors was thrust into an endless cosmos to find a place among its stellar brethren. Yet curiosity toward that which the dimming elders comfort in the darkness consumed the fledgling, and so over long cycles it inquired and studied. It learned that among worlds both whole and broken would soon stir a nexus of remarkable variety locked in an enduring conflict of cosmic consequence, a plane which would find itself in need of more influence than a dying sun's distant rays could provide. Thus this infant son of suns took terrestrial form, eagerly travelling to shine its warmth upon those who may need it most, and perhaps seize upon its solar destiny.
Base STR
23 +3.3
Base AGI
12 +1.5
Base INT
16 +1.8
Move Speed
280
Attack Range
525
Base Armor
-1
Attack DMG
21–31
Projectile
1100
Innate Abilities
Dying Light
Phoenix deals 4% of its missing health as magic damage to all enemies in a 400 radius every second.
- Dying Light deals damage while Phoenix is transformed during Supernova.
Abilities
Icarus Dive
Cooldown
40 / 35 / 30 / 25s
Phoenix dives forward in an arc with a fixed distance in the targeted direction, dealing damage over time and slowing the movement speed of any units it comes into contact with, and then orbiting back to its original position. If Phoenix casts Supernova, the dive ends.
HP COST:
15%
DIVE LENGTH:
1100 / 1200 / 1300 / 1400
BURN DURATION:
4
DAMAGE PER SECOND:
20 / 40 / 60 / 80
MOVE SLOW:
10 / 15 / 20 / 25%
- Icarus Dive has a 2 second travel duration, and can be cancelled by casting the ability again while in flight.
Though no stranger to travelling the cosmic void, soaring within an atmosphere offers unique pleasures.
Fire Spirits
Cooldown
50 / 40 / 30 / 20s
Mana
100
Summons 4 fire spirits that circle around Phoenix. Each spirit can be launched independently at a targeted area of effect. Affected enemy units take damage over time and have their attack speed greatly reduced.
HP COST:
20%
SPIRIT DURATION:
20
RADIUS:
200
BURN DURATION:
4
ATTACK SPEED SLOW:
-50 / -80 / -110 / -140
DAMAGE PER SECOND:
20 / 40 / 60 / 80
- Fire Spirits reveal the area they strike for 1 second.
The ever-collapsing core of Phoenix often emits short-lived bursts of conscious light.
Sun Ray
Cooldown
30s
Mana
100 / 110 / 120 / 130
Phoenix expels a beam of light at the cost of its own health. The beam damages enemies and heals allies for a base amount plus a percentage of their health. The percentage increases as the beam continues to fire.
HEALTH COST PER SECOND:
5%
BASE DAMAGE PER SECOND:
15 / 20 / 25 / 30
MAX DAMAGE:
1.5 / 3 / 4.5 / 6%
BASE HEAL PER SECOND:
7 / 10 / 13 / 16
MAX HEAL:
0.5 / 1 / 1.5 / 2%
MAX DURATION:
6
- Sun Ray has a width of 130 units, and a length of 1200 units.
- Sun Ray is canceled if Phoenix gets stunned, silenced, cycloned, hexed or slept.
- Phoenix can use items and abilities without canceling Sun Ray.
The vent through which such stellar energy flows is mere atoms wide.
Supernova
Cooldown
120s
Mana
150 / 200 / 250
The Phoenix willingly ends its current life for the chance to be reborn. Transforms into a burning sun that scorches enemies in a huge area. The sun can be destroyed by attacks from enemy Heroes. After 6 seconds the sun explodes, stunning all nearby enemies while restoring Phoenix to full health and mana with refreshed abilities. DISPEL TYPE: Strong Dispel
RADIUS:
1200
DAMAGE PER SECOND:
60 / 90 / 120
STUN DURATION:
1.6 / 2 / 2.4
ATTACKS TO DESTROY:
6 / 8 / 10
ATTACKS TO DESTROY:
0
CAST RANGE:
0
DURATION:
6
The solar crucible of a Supernova may be fatal, yet from its flames arise new beacons to wander infinity.
Talents
Aghanim's Scepter
Supernova
Increases number of attacks to destroy Supernova and allows Phoenix to cast Supernova on an allied hero, bringing both into the sun to be reborn together.
Aghanim's Shard
Sun Ray
Allows Sun Ray to be cast during Supernova.
Hero Performance
Median across all public matches · OpenDotaForm
53%
Win rate in recent matches
Performance
84%
KDA ratio (kills + assists / deaths)
Laning
26%
Last hits per minute over full game
Farm
53%
Average gold per minute
Fighting
27%
Average kills + assists per match
Experience
71%
Average XP per minute
Strategy
When to Pick Phoenix?
The numbers on Phoenix right now are genuinely remarkable for a support hero. He is sitting at a 53.83% win rate and closing in on the top five heroes in the entire game across ALL roles—not just among supports, not just among his position category, but the TOP FIVE across every single hero in Dota 2 right now.
Hawk Live confirmed him at this win rate after the current patch dropped with zero nerfs applied in 7.41a, steadily climbing while other heroes around him were being cut down to size. The reason is two things that happened in this patch and one thing that has always been true about him. The thing that has always been true: Supernova in a teamfight that goes well is one of the most fight-winning ultimate abilities in Dota 2. Full stop. It resets Sun Ray.
It resets Fire Spirits. It effectively gives Phoenix a Refresher Orb through his kit alone every time it successfully hatches—and a Phoenix who uses Sun Ray on grouped enemies, pops Supernova to reset, and comes out of the egg to fire Sun Ray AGAIN in the same teamfight has dealt more damage and healing than most supports accomplish in an entire game.
Now add the first new thing — the current patch removed the old Blinding Sun innate and replaced it with Dying Light, which deals 4% of Phoenix's MISSING health as magic damage per second in a 400 radius around him, and this effect persists DURING SUPERNOVA. Think about what that means. Every second Phoenix is in the Supernova egg, losing HP from the egg's natural decay, the Dying Light damage to nearby enemies is INCREASING because Phoenix's missing health is increasing.
The lower the egg gets, the harder Dying Light hits the enemies trying to crack it. They are racing to kill an egg that deals more and more damage to them every second they spend attacking it. And the second new thing — Sun Ray no longer gets cancelled when Phoenix casts Supernova. If Sun Ray is active when Supernova fires, it continues through the entire Supernova duration and resumes afterward.
You can literally have Sun Ray melting enemies continuously while the Supernova egg simultaneously applies Dying Light to everything near it. The overlap of these two damage sources applied together is genuinely oppressive.
He is disgusting in teamfight-heavy lineups that group up and stay grouped—Tidehunter, Enigma, and Magnus drafts where five heroes are standing in close proximity are the exact lineups where Sun Ray heals allies AND damages enemies simultaneously while Dying Light ticks on everyone within radius and Fire Spirits' attack speed slow pins them in place, unable to fight back effectively.
He thrives in the current physical damage meta specifically because Fire Spirits' massive attack speed slow turns a 200 attack speed Lifestealer into a crawling 60 attack speed right-clicker is one of the most impactful single-ability applications available from any support in the current patch—and a slowed Lifestealer trying to right-click the Supernova egg while Dying Light burns him from Phoenix's missing HP is an image that should make every Phoenix player smile.
He pairs beautifully with heroes that can hold enemies in place during Sun Ray—Faceless Void's Chronosphere freezing enemies inside the Sun Ray beam, Enigma's Black Hole keeping the group concentrated within Dying Light's 400 radius, and Magnus's Reverse Polarity pulling heroes into a perfect cluster for both abilities simultaneously.
Avoid picking him into lineups with multiple heroes that can quickly burst the Supernova egg before it hatches—a coordinated team with high physical damage and no attack speed reduction spending all their damage on the egg the moment it appears will sometimes crack it before Phoenix emerges, and that is a catastrophic teamfight loss.
Also feels terrible into silences that prevent Supernova from being cast at all—a Silencer Global Silence arriving exactly as Phoenix initiates means everything goes on cooldown before Supernova fires and Phoenix is just a slow-moving ranged hero burning his own HP for nothing.
Tips & common mistakes
- Dying Light deals 4% of Phoenix's MISSING health as damage per second — which means the more HP Phoenix has spent from Sun Ray's self-cost before casting Supernova, the more Dying Light damage the egg applies to enemies every second during the hatch. Do NOT top off Phoenix's HP with a healing item right before Supernova if you are trying to maximize Dying Light damage during the egg phase. Being at 40% HP when Supernova fires means 60% missing health, which means Dying Light is dealing 2.4% of Phoenix's max HP as magic damage per second to everyone nearby—significantly higher than at full HP.
- Sun Ray no longer cancels on Supernova cast in the current patch—this is the single most important mechanical change to Phoenix in recent memory, and most pub Phoenix players still cancel Sun Ray before Supernova out of habit from how the hero worked before. Stop doing this. Start Sun Ray on the grouped enemies, then Supernova immediately while Sun Ray is active. The Ray continues during the entire Supernova duration and resumes afterward—that is two full Sun Ray applications plus the Supernova reset on every other cooldown in one fight.
- Fire Spirits' attack speed slow is the most underutilized part of Phoenix's kit in pub play — most players treat Fire Spirits as a setup nuke and forget the slow component entirely. Landing all four Fire Spirits on a high-attack-speed carry before engaging reduces their attack speed so dramatically that their right-click contribution to the fight is almost negligible. Use Fire Spirits on the enemy carry FIRST, then initiate with Sun Ray, and then Supernova. The carry, slowed by Fire Spirits attacking the Supernova egg at half their normal speed, buys Phoenix a significantly longer egg duration.
- The Supernova egg has a health pool that scales with Phoenix's level—protect the egg by positioning Supernova in locations the enemy team has to walk into rather than where they are already standing. Casting Supernova in a chokepoint, behind terrain obstacles, or at a position the enemy team has to advance through forces them to choose between letting the egg hatch or walking into Dying Light range to attack it.
- Icarus Dive's arc covers a large curved distance and slows enemies it contacts—most pub Phoenix players use it purely as a positioning tool to initiate or escape without recognizing that the path through multiple grouped enemies applies the slow and damage to every hero in the arc simultaneously. Aim the dive arc to curve through as many enemies as possible rather than diving directly at one target.
- As a hard-support Phoenix who is running extremely low on gold, prioritize Aghanim's Scepter above most other items because it adds Fire Spirits' attack speed slow aura around the Supernova egg for the entire hatch duration—every enemy attacking the egg gets their attack speed slowed automatically without Phoenix needing to land Fire Spirits first. This completely changes the math on how fast the enemy team can crack the egg in fights.
- Casting Supernova when Phoenix is at critically low HP from Sun Ray self-cost is not a mistake—it is frequently the correct play because the Supernova saves Phoenix from dying, resets all cooldowns on Hatch, and applies maximum Dying Light damage during the low-HP egg phase simultaneously. Do not panic-cancel Sun Ray to preserve HP. Let the HP drain. Cast Supernova when the moment is right, not when the HP bar looks comfortable.
Summary
Phoenix is genuinely strong right now—a 53.83% win rate makes him a top five hero across all roles in Dota 2 with zero nerfs received in 7.41a, a brand new Dying Light innate that punishes enemies for trying to crack the Supernova egg by dealing more damage the lower the egg's HP goes, Sun Ray continuing through Supernova for the first time ever, creating a damage-and-heal overlap that was never possible in previous patches, and Fire Spirits' attack speed slow making the current physical damage meta's carries significantly less dangerous during the fight windows that matter most.
He works both as soft support for the active Sun Ray harassment during the laning phase and as hard support for the teamfight disruption that Supernova provides in the mid and late game. Pick him into grouped teamfight lineups. Use Sun Ray before Supernova every time. Let Dying Light do its work.
And make the enemy team spend the entire fight debating whether attacking the egg is worth it—because the answer right now, at a 53.83% win rate and climbing, is that it usually is not.
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