Mortred, the Phantom Assassin, is one of the most feared and devastating hard-carry Agility heroes in DotA 1. Armed with exceptional Agility scaling and formidable starting Strength, she transitions from a vulnerable target in the early game into an unstoppable, single-target executioner as the match progresses. Her entire identity centers around catching opponents off-guard, exploiting physical evasion to survive direct combat, and executing swift, high-burst assassinations using her legendary critical strikes.
2. Base Stats & Attributes
Hero Attributes
| Attribute |
Base Value |
Growth (per level) |
| Strength |
21 |
+2.2 |
| Agility |
23 |
+3.4 |
| Intelligence |
15 |
+1.4 |
Statistics & Mechanics
| Statistic |
Value |
Mechanic |
Value |
| Damage |
49-51 |
Base HP Regen |
1.75/s |
| HP |
620 |
HP Regen |
+3.85/s |
| MP |
230 |
MP Regen |
+0.76/s |
| Armor |
4.3 |
Turn Rate |
0.6 |
| Move Speed |
305 |
Base Attack Time (BAT) |
1.7 |
| Attack Range |
150 (melee) |
Attack Animations |
0.3 / 0.7 |
3. Hero Skills Breakdown
1. Stifling Dagger
Throws a dagger slowing the enemy unit's Movement speed, dealing a base flat damage amount combined with a portion of Phantom Assassin's basic attack damage and applying attack effects from items and abilities.
- Damage Type: Physical
- Base Flat Damage: 65
- Slow Intensity: 50%
- On-Hit Modifiers: Fully transmits attack effects from items and skills (e.g., Lifesteal, Corruption, Basher, and Coup de Grace)
| Level |
Attack Damage Contribution |
Slow Duration |
Cast Range |
Cooldown |
Manacost |
| 1 |
25% |
1.75 seconds |
525 |
6 seconds |
30 |
| 2 |
40% |
2.50 seconds |
750 |
6 seconds |
30 |
| 3 |
55% |
3.25 seconds |
975 |
6 seconds |
30 |
| 4 |
70% |
4.00 seconds |
1200 |
6 seconds |
30 |
2. Phantom Strike
Teleports to a unit and adds bonus attack speed if that target is an enemy. The attack speed bonus persists for a short duration regardless of the target's alignment.
- Target Types: Friendly and enemy units (heroes, summons, or creeps)
- Buff Duration: 2 seconds
- Maximum Cast Range: 1000
| Level |
Attack Speed (AS) Bonus |
Cooldown |
Manacost |
| 1 |
+75 |
11 seconds |
35 |
| 2 |
+100 |
9 seconds |
40 |
| 3 |
+125 |
7 seconds |
45 |
| 4 |
+150 |
5 seconds |
50 |
3. Blur
The Phantom Assassin becomes hard to see by blurring her body, causing some incoming enemy attacks to miss. This ability can be actively triggered to vanish completely, making her impossible to see until near enemy heroes, structures, or when engaging Roshan. While vanished, she can perform any action without breaking her concealment, and this state cannot be detected by True Sight. Getting too close to an enemy hero or structure, or attacking Roshan, breaks the effect with a brief delay.
- Active Invisibility Duration: Up to 25 seconds
- Interruption Radius: 600 distance close to an enemy hero or structure, or by attacking Roshan
- Interruption Delay: 0.5 seconds
- Detection Immunity: Cannot be revealed by True Sight (such as Sentry Wards, Dust of Appearance, or Gem of True Sight)
- Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade: Reduces cooldown, removes cast time, provides a weak dispel upon activation, and fully refreshes the cooldown of all her native abilities upon securing a hero kill.
| Level |
Passive Evasion Chance |
Cooldown |
Manacost |
| 1 |
15% |
60 seconds |
50 |
| 2 |
25% |
55 seconds |
50 |
| 3 |
35% |
50 seconds |
50 |
| 4 |
45% |
45 seconds |
50 |
4. Coup de Grace
Mortred has refined her hero-killing skills to a high degree. Applies to attacks and Stifling Dagger.
- Proc Chance: 15%
- Applicability: Triggers on both standard melee basic attacks and thrown Stifling Daggers
| Level |
Critical Damage Multiplier |
Cooldown |
Manacost |
| 1 |
2.00x (200%) |
Passive |
0 |
| 2 |
3.25x (325%) |
Passive |
0 |
| 3 |
4.50x (450%) |
Passive |
0 |
4. Item Build Guide
| Phase |
Recommended Items |
Strategic Purpose |
| Early Game |
Power Treads, Ring of Health, Poor Man's Shield, Magic Wand |
Power Treads provide crucial attack speed and stat-switching capabilities. Ring of Health sustains your lane phase, Poor Man's Shield blocks early physical harassment, and Magic Wand provides critical survival bursts. |
| Core Items |
Battle Fury, Helm of the Dominator, Black King Bar (BKB) |
Battle Fury accelerates your farming speed dramatically and lets your critical strikes cleave through groups. Helm of the Dominator offers lifesteal and allows stacking of neutral camps, while BKB is mandatory to protect you from magical lockdown in fights. |
| Late Game |
Abyssal Blade, Satanic, Butterfly |
Abyssal Blade provides a hard spell-immune stun to lock down targets, Satanic offers unmatched lifesteal survival, and Butterfly maximizes your physical evasion and attack speed to achieve carrying dominance. |
5. Quick Gameplay Tips
- Dagger Harvesting and Proc Mechanics: Since Stifling Dagger scales with a portion of your physical damage and inherits all attack modifiers, it is highly effective at carrying critical strikes (Coup de Grace) and lifesteal across massive distances. Use it to safely secure last hits in contested lanes, or to fish for a critical strike slow on a retreating enemy before closing the gap with Phantom Strike.
- The Scepter Reset Engine: Obtaining an Aghanim's Scepter fundamentally alters your teamfight execution. Since securing a kill instantly refreshes all native skills, you can immediately cast Blur to vanish from sight, cleanse any soft crowd control via its weak dispel, and utilize Phantom Strike to jump to your next victim without pause.
- Blur Ward Navigation: Use the active vanish state of Blur to traverse the map completely undetected by common enemy defensive ward positions. Because True Sight cannot reveal you, you can easily walk into enemy territory to establish deep visual setups, scout out targets, or initiate an ambush directly under the enemy's nose, so long as you keep at least 600 units of distance away from hostile structures and heroes.