Phantom Assassin

● Agilitymeleephysical damageCarryEscape

The moment she finds her prey, Phantom Assassin strikes. Instantly closing in on a target, she effortlessly dodges attacks as she relentlessly cuts away at her foe. Without warning, any one of her attacks could prove suddenly and brutally fatal.

Pos 1 — Carry
Win rate
51.3%
Pick rate
11.7%
Armor / MS
4.5 / 310
Range
150

Abilities

Official ability data from Valve
Stifling DaggerQ⏱ 6s◆ 30
Throws a dagger slowing the enemy unit's movement speed, dealing 65 / 70 / 75 / 80+30 / 45 / 60 / 75% of Phantom Assassin's attack damage as physical damage and applying attack effects from items and abilities.
Mechanics notes (3)
  • • If an attack effect is chance-based, the chance of its application will be the same as its chance to occur.
  • • Spell-immune enemies are not affected by Stifling Dagger's slow.
  • • Stifling Dagger grants vision around its location while it travels and upon impact.
Phantom StrikeW⏱ 0.1s◆ 35 / 40 / 45 / 50
Teleports to a unit, friendly or enemy, and grants bonus attack speed while attacking if it's an enemy unit.
BlurEInnate⏱ 45s◆ 50
Phantom Assassin blurs her body, disjointing incoming projectiles, increasing her movement speed, causing her to be impossible to see until she comes near enemy heroes or towers.
Mechanics notes (1)
  • • Attacking Roshan with a regular attack will dispel Blur.
•
Fan of Knives⏱ 14s◆ 80
Phantom Assassin releases sharp blades around her, dealing a percentage of each victim's max health on impact and applying Break.
•
Immaterial
Phantom Assassin focuses inward, increasing her ability to evade enemy attacks. Stacks diminishingly with other sources of Evasion.
Coup de GraceR
Phantom Assassin refines her combat abilities, acquiring a chance of gaining Deadly Focus with each attack. When attacking with Deadly Focus, Phantom Assassin will consume the buff and guarantee a critical hit. Stifling Dagger has a bonus chance to cause Deadly Focus.
Traits ours:EvasionPhysical burstHigh mobilityStrong passives (Break-able)

Our ratings

0–10, our judgement — every planner uses them
EarlyMidLateLaningWave clearTeamfightPickoffDisableDurabilityMobility

Aghanim's upgrades

Upgrade text from Valve · priority is ours Our recommendation
Aghanim's Scepterlow priority
Fan of Knives — AoE break; only when you need to break passives.
Aghanim's Shardmedium priority
Blur: Any time Phantom Assassin gets a hero kill, her ability cooldowns advance 60% of their max cooldown values.

Tips & counterplay

Playing as Phantom Assassin

Burst assassin carry. Join fights on your terms and delete key targets with crits.

Laning: Stifling Dagger trades from range; Phantom Strike onto a creep for safe last hits.

Kill combo: Dagger → Phantom Strike → autos fishing for crits.

Staying alive: Blur evasion beats physical harass; Phantom Strike out to allied creeps.

From real games (OpenDota)
  • • Most games are in the safe lane (92.7%, 48.2% win rate).
  • • Power Treads: usually done by 8 min; finishing it by 15 min wins 56%.
  • • Battle Fury: usually done by 20 min; finishing it by 8 min wins 85.7%.
  • • Desolator: usually done by 25 min; finishing it by 20 min wins 66%.
  • • Gets stronger the longer the game goes (31.9% before 20 min → 49.4% after 60 min).

Playing against Phantom Assassin

Generated from this hero's traits, counters and real matchups

Evasion Monkey King Bar or Bloodthorn makes evasion useless. Magic damage ignores evasion entirely.

Physical burst Ghost Scepter, Aeon Disk and Blade Mail punish or survive the burst. Keep a save item on your supports.

High mobility Lock them down before they can jump away: Rod of Atos, Orchid, Scythe of Vyse or Abyssal Blade.

Strong passives (Break-able) Silver Edge breaks their passives. Plan the fight around the break.

  • • Respect Phantom Assassin at Lvl 6: Coup de Grace makes every fight a coin flip in your favour.
  • • Respect Phantom Assassin at Battle Fury / Desolator: Fast farm or tower pressure.
  • • Respect Phantom Assassin at BKB: Can fight into disables.

Talents

Current talents (Valve)
+10% Coup de Grace chance
25
Triple Strike Stifling Dagger
+200 Phantom Strike Cast Range
20
+60 Phantom Strike Attack Speed
+20% Immaterial Evasion
15
+15% Stifling Dagger Damage
+0.8s Phantom Strike Duration
10
-2s Stifling Dagger Cooldown

Best items

Position 1 build Our recommendation
Starting
Early
››
Core
›››
Luxury

Power spikes

Our recommendation
Lvl 6Coup de Grace makes every fight a coin flip in your favour.
Battle Fury / DesolatorFast farm or tower pressure.
BKBCan fight into disables.

Best skill build

Position 1 Our recommendation
123456789101112131415161718
Q Stifling DaggerQQQQ
W Phantom StrikeWWWW
E BlurEEEE
R Coup de GraceRRR
T Talent★★

Toughest lane opponents

From our matchup model, adjusted by each opponent's laning rating Our recommendation
Axe−25
Puck−22

Live stats OpenDota · 2026-10-14

Public match stats

Win rate (all ranks)
51.3%
Win rate (Divine+)
49.9%
Pick rate
11.7% of matches
Sample
482,435 picks
Pro
1 picks · 0% WR · 0.4% ban

Lane presence

safe92.7% · 48.2% WR
mid4.6% · 59.1% WR
off2.6% · 60% WR

Win rate by rank

Public matches per medal bracket
51.5%Herald52.2%Guardian51.8%Crusader51.4%Archon51.1%Legend50.2%Ancient49.9%Divine

Win rate by game length

Minutes · OpenDota parsed games
31.9%10′41.1%20′49.5%30′53%40′54.2%50′49.4%60′

Item timings

When the item is finished, and the timing that wins most (≥15 games)
ItemGamesUsualWin %Best timing
Power Treads8588′48.5%≤15′ · 56%
Battle Fury83320′49.3%≤8′ · 85.7%
Desolator63625′54.1%≤20′ · 66%
Black King Bar59225′54.2%≤15′ · 87.5%
Aghanim's Shard12630′77%≤20′ · 78.6%
Satanic9330′81.7%≤30′ · 80.4%
Manta Style7625′65.8%≤20′ · 79.2%
Abyssal Blade7130′85.9%≤20′ · 95.5%
Aghanim's Scepter4625′82.6%≤25′ · 81.3%

What players actually buy

Most purchased items by game phase
Start
Early
Mid
Late

Best real matchups

Head-to-head win rate, ≥40 games

Worst real matchups

Head-to-head win rate, ≥40 games

Recent pro & league games

Most recent league matches featuring this hero
LeagueResultK / D / ALengthDate
DreamLeague Season 30 QualifiersLoss2 / 4 / 423′2026-10-11
BETBOOM Streamers Battle Dota 15Loss14 / 7 / 1653′2026-09-23
BETBOOM Streamers Battle Dota 15Loss7 / 2 / 233′2026-09-22
WINLINE Star Series Season 4Loss14 / 2 / 1230′2026-09-13
WINLINE Star Series Season 4Win12 / 5 / 1040′2026-09-13
ExitLag ChampZ: Dota 2Loss20 / 7 / 1665′2026-08-30
ExitLag ChampZ: Dota 2Win9 / 5 / 933′2026-08-29
ExitLag ChampZ: Dota 2Win1 / 5 / 232′2026-08-29

Lore

Through a process of divination, children are selected for upbringing by the Sisters of the Veil, an order that considers assassination a sacred part of the natural order. The Veiled Sisters identify targets through meditation and oracular utterances. They accept no contracts, and never seem to pursue targets for political or mercenary reasons. Their killings bear no relation to any recognizable agenda, and can seem to be completely random: A figure of great power is no more likely to be eliminated than a peasant or a well digger. Whatever pattern the killings may contain, it is known only to them. They treat their victims as sacrifices, and death at their hand is considered an honor. Raised with no identity except that of their order, any Phantom Assassin can take the place of any other; their number is not known. Perhaps there are many, perhaps there are few. Nothing is known of what lies under the Phantom Veil. Except that this one, from time to time, when none are near enough to hear, is known to stir her veils with the forbidden whisper of her own name: Mortred.