Morphling was the standout carry of TI2 in my opinion. While Naga managed to re-discover herself as a support, Morphling was nerfed into the ground, and instantly fell down from Top Tier. The thing is though, with each patch that comes out. Morphling becomes more and more like he was in TI2, which puts us onto a slippery slope. While the game and other heroes have changed over time, I still want to provide an all-in-one location for Morphling.

Lets look at his post TI2 nerfs, the 5 changes of 6.75.

Cast animation time increased from 0.3 to 0.45

Waveform no longer allows you to start attacking/casting before it is completed

Base damage decreased by 6

Morph manacost increased from 20 to 30 mana per second

Waveform AoE decreased from 255 to 200

Nerfs in all multiple different areas. But how has each area been changed from 6.75 to now?

– Improved

6.75: Cast animation time increased from 0.3 to 0.45

Now: Cast animation time is 0.25

– Reverted

6.75: Waveform no longer allows you to start attacking/casting before it is completed

Now: You can now cast and attack while in Waveform

This means that 2 out of the 5 changes, are no longer a factor, in fact, one is even better than before.

– Rebalanced

6.75: Base damage decreased by 6

Now: BAT time has improved from 1.7 to 1.6

I consider this a re-balancing. What it means is that Morphling is now better late game than in TI2, but worse early on. This includes the critical laning phase, where he was often solo mid. What this means is that while solo-mid morphling isn’t as viable as before, his safelane/trilane carry role should be mostly unphased, and can ultimately carry a bit better on later in the game.

– Rebalanced

6.75: Morph manacost increased from 20 to 30 mana per second

Now: Morph level 4 shift rate has improved from 0.25 to 0.2

Again, this is another hit to his early game. While it costs more mana in the late game as well, you can change faster, which means you can escape sticky situations better than before, making him more survivable, so long as he has enough mana.

The waveform AOE has not been changed.

As far as items go. We actually see a lot of changes.

Butterfly Evasion now stacks, which is probably going to be a non-factor, but still technically a buff.

Linkens Cooldown has been reduced by 3 seconds, and has gained a probably irrelevant active.

Skadi ASlow has increased by 15, and the MSlow by 5

Skadi HP has increased by 50, and MP by 100

Ethereal has gained an active, but increased in mana cost by 100!

Manta cost 150 coins more, but Yasha is cheaper

Ring of Aquila gives 3 extra agility

Drums, Treads and MKB and your more generic items have also been slightly changed.

What does this all mean?

I’m trying to make this post more about stating facts, than analysis. Aiming for a post mostly about an all-in-one location for Morphling changes.

However, Morphling is definitely crawling himself back into 6.75. His early game seems to take a hit, and the mana increase on Ethereal and Morph makes him use way more mana now. However I feel content to say his non-early game has improved somewhat. The buffs to BAT, CA Skadi and Linkens help him once he gets past the laning.

I honestly don’t particularly like playing morphling, and his pub winrate has been terrible for quite some time now as well. I think he might start going back to a hero that has terrible winrate in pubs, but is played in the pro-scene.

The Diffusal Blade

I would also like to put forward another interesting change, that is, the Diffusal Blade. Now I’m not going so far to say get PhaseBoot > Bottle > Drum > Diffusal as if you’re Pub Mirana 2.0, but I am going to put forth the possibility of Diffusal blade being picked up more.

Agility bonus increased from 22/26 to 25/30.

This means that level 2 Diffusal gives 30 agility, and 10 intelligence for 4150. I’m not saying that Diffusal is now you’re insta-buy. I’m simply saying that it should be considered more than before.

And that is a very to-the-point summary of Morphling’s changes since TI2. Feel free to use this as an information hub to assist in your own decision making.