The Rise Of Phantom Lancer: "From One, An Army"
Phantom Lancer is a hero lost in time due to its impact in the early game, but when the hero comes online in the midgame, it is a nuisance to deal with. In the right hands, Phantom Lancer is one the most feared and strongest hero in Dota 2.
The hero's ability to create illusions of itself is a nightmare for players to deal with, and to top it all off, in the right hands, the hero can easily play mind games with the enemies, which is fun to watch as a spectator but tilting as a player. However, after the release of patch 7.33, the hero is slowly finding his way back into the game after his Aghanim’s Sceptre and Aghanim Shard received a rework, making him more viable.
Diffusal and Perfect Counters
In patch 7.33, farming heroes like Alchemist, Medusa and Terrorblade are meta because there is no way to shut down the map anymore. Phantom Lancer, like them, is also a farming hero. Unlike them, under certain conditions, Phantom Lancer can come online early, as early as when he got his Diffusal Blade, thus countering certain heroes like Medusa.
However, Phantom Lancer doesn’t usually join team fights once he hits his Diffusal Blade timing unless his team desperately needs him to, or it could change the outcome of the team fight. PL would try to farm one or two more items like Manta Style or Heart of Tarrasque and Butterfly. Once he reaches his two or three-item timing, including his Diffusal Blade, Phantom Lancer will join the team fights and decimate the entire enemy team. Phantom Lancer is also a hero that picks up Eye Of Skadi, thus making him a viable pick against Alchemist and certain high hp regeneration heroes.
Hero and Item Counters
Fortunately, in Dota 2, every broken thing has its counter. Phantom Lancer is vulnerable to heroes with aoe damage like Earth Shaker and Tide Hunter. Terrorblade can be a counter to Phantom Lancer if he has an item advantage against the hero. Likewise, in specific conditions, Invoker is also a counter to PL.
Doom is a tricky counter to PL because, in the late stage of the game, PL can tank the entire duration of Doom’s ultimate if he has Sange and Yasha. Punga, with his Aghanim Shard, clears PL illusions instantly, making him the perfect counter to PL. Items like Radiance, Mjollnir and Shiva’s Guard are perfect items to counter PL as they can deal with illusions quickly. Currently PL has a 48.70 % win rate in pro-level pubs.