General Discussionhow to play support phoenix?

You should watch 2c (phoenix player) his stream comes with free raging too. Quite funny at times. He got to around 6k playing the hero, so he needs to be somewhat decent at it. http://www.dotabuff.com/players/97798

doesnt he replay offlane mostly?
plus all the replays are expired :/
thanks though

I've given this some thought recently since phoenix support is somewhat similar to wk support, doesn't require much farm and has a '2nd life'. with a way better teamfight potential.
essentially it shouldn't differ much from what you do at offlane, maxing spirits, perhaps having a laser in the mix at 4. same items, preferably fast urn.

do you think its better to max dive spirits by 11 or u think max ray and spirits (1 dive) is better for sup?

2c is low 5k without Phoenix LOL

I can't micro laser for shit so I go max dive.

However, even if you can't aim it properly at a running enemy, remember it's an invaluable asset for healing allies.

Androgynous recommended getting 2 levels of laser by level 11

I'm nowhere near that MMR but I did main phoenix for a while. I dont play phoenix support but if I happen to fall behind in levels I leave dive and go for ray as I feel it contributes a lot more than the extra damage from dive. If you're supporting and go dive, you won't have maxed ray until 14, by then a lot of games are decided already (I refer to maxed ray since lvl 1 and 2 are pretty terrible) and miss a lot of potential on IMO one of the strongest abilities in the game. You have an extra 100 manacost so you have to be more careful with mana but playing as support you won't be using fire spirits as much to flash farm etc. It also depends on lineup, eg if there is an lc on either team I tend to go ray since it is really powerful in duel.

I don't have a massive amount of advice to give on the hero but here are some things I have picked up along the way.

> If you're having issues offlane, go gank lanes. Even a level two phoenix is scary and you can Icarus dive and use fire spirits and with the help of the lane can actually get kills which in turn will allow you to return to your lane with a little more levels/gold to help sustain you.
> I personally like the dive if I am going to sit in the offlane as it does an excessive amount of damage and spirits aren't always a confirmed hit especially if you're being forced to keep distance in the offlane/trilane.
> If you are going to support I would go one in dive so you're using it as an escape, or initiation and then put the remain points into spirits for harass and ray for healing your lane as well as utilizing it to burn down your lane if you're going in for a kill.
> Sometimes the Mekanism can take time so start with Tranquils, magic stick, and Urn and then beyond that is your call and will need to be assessed on a game-to-game basis.

ITEM SUGGESTIONS:

Some of the Core items...

> Tranquils
> Stick, Wand, or Urn
> Hood of Defiance / Pipe of Insight
> Shivas'

Works well with Phoenix but not Core

> Mekanism
> Radiance (The burn is real)
> Linkens (Getting stunned out of your dive is never fun or that clutch orchid when you're about to ult)
> Heart (All his stuff takes life, the heart ensures you're never really in any sort of trouble)
> Veil of Discord (Works really well and I would almost make this Core)
> Atos (Good stats and people literally will just be sat there getting slowed and burned)

Not ideal on Phoenix...

> Blademail (done it a few times, and regret it as you're not meant to be tanking so much damage...hang back)
> Ghost Sceptre (Phoenix is very week to spell damage without the Pipe and you can blow yourself up if you're against a nuke team)

I think in closing it would also pay to not that despite what I do I would not get both urn and Mekanism on Phoenix as you're effectively putting all your healing eggs in one basket. IMO I would get the Urn over the Mekanism allowing someone else to get that, that can be in the fight longer and use it better than you can. I do think the item is core but keep in mind with a Dive + Ult in a team fight you won't be using that Mekanism in your ult.....and what if you die? My advice is to get the urn which you can use for offense as well as heal which allows someone else on your team to hold that Mekanism.

Stack camps and clear with spirits/dive once you hit lvl 4-5.
I have several support Phoenix games.

http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/866277322

In that game I did it quite well. Though it may seem biased since enemy drow was bad.

the replays expired i think :S
i appreciate ur intentions though.
do you stack with spirits? i was practicing doing triple stack for radiant, havent quite mastered it :(
whats your thoughts on going level 1 ray if enemy is melee with no range stun/carapace?
what do you do if offlaner is a ranged hero? i feel like i can just barely trade even with spirits.

I don't think it's necessary to stack with spirits unless you have one or two left after harassing enemy hardlaner or you want to do some double stack shenanigans.
If you really want to master stacking and clearing I think you should try out different techniquest at bot match.
Sun ray is practically 100 damage over 6 seconds so I personally don't think it's worth sacrificing the stack clearing power of a level of dive or spirits. Could be wrong since I never actually tried it.
And regarding ranged offlaners... I don't think there are many viable ranged offlaners to begin with. If you are talking about Mirana and WR, they are generally pretty easy to handle (as any support, not just phoenix) if your safelane carry controls the lane properly.