PL and.... EBlade? Surely, you jest!

But, alas, I do not jest.  In this edition of the Ultimate Theorycrafted Guide, I will propose what no DotA player has ever proposed before: that not only is EBlade viable on Phantom Lancer, but that it is a good item choice in some situations.

Notice, there, that I say some situations.  This is not an argument that EBlade is core on PL.  It is not even an argument that you should rush EBlade in most games.  Instead, this is a discussion of EBlade's viability on PL either as a first item or as a late-game luxury item.  Consider the data below before you make a judgement about my sanity.

Section One: EBlade is Good Because Stats

That is correct, you've heard it here first: EBlade gives fantastic stats.  Not only does it give +40 Agility, it also gives +10 to Intelligence and Strength.  It's like a Butterfly combined with an Ultimate Orb.  Fantastic, right?  Let's take a look at how EBlade's stats compare to other items PL frequently gets first:

 As you can see, EBlade gives the highest Hero damage and DPS, as well as the highest illusion damage and DPS.  Further, although not pictured in chart form, it gives the highest HP, armor, mana, and mana and hp regen values.  It is a stat monster.  Because PL is a hero whose illusions require raw stats to increase in power, EBlade works extremely effectively with this hero.  With just an EBlade, PL illusions push harder and deal more damage than any other initial item.  Even without the active ability, EBlade is a good item for what our favorite Lancer needs to do.

But why is this?  The answer is in gold efficiency.  Ethereal Blade gives the highest bonus to Agility of any item in the game, with 10 more than Butterfly and Diffusal 2, and 14 more than Manta.  Further, it is also relatively inexpensive, at only 4900 gold.  This means that EBlade gives the most Agility per gold spent of any item costing more than 1k gold.  Let me illustrate this below in graph form:

As you can see, cheap items like GG Branches and PMS provide a very high stat gain for their inexpensive cost.  This means they are very good for early game.  However, they only give a small boost, and need to eventually be replaced by bigger items which, although less efficient, give higher overall boosts.  Of these items, EBlade has stellar efficiency.  If you wanted to give a hero the highest possible Agility, you would stack EBlades.

Section Two: EBlade's Active

This is where I typically receive objections.  "But Kingdom," they say, "EBlade's active renders PL useless in a teamfight.  Once you're ethereal, you can't attack and spawn illusions!  And, on top of that, it's not like Morphling where it does ridiculous damage."  This is a fair argument, but it does not include all the relevant data.  Let's start off with the second point: EBlade's damage on PL.

As you can see, PL's damage with EBlade is approximately half of Morphling's.  However, this graph assumes that Morphling has completely morphed to Agility, leaving him with 1 Strength.  If a Morph with just EBlade does this, he's left with little HP to deal with incoming magic damage amplified by 40%.  This isn't to say that EBlade is bad on Morphling, but it does point out that it has cons as well as pros.  PL, on the other hand, has his ordinary 2 str gain to tank after going ethereal, while still doing significant damage.  I have included some other EBlade carriers, for comparison.  QoP's damage includes her ult, and thus has a long cooldown.  Pugna is actually similar to PL: his high stat gain makes EBlade a decent choice.  When the rubber hits the floor, PL does a large chunk of damage with an EBlade + Spirit Lance combo, and can do so sneakily from invis.

"But, that's not enough to justify a 4900 gold item," you say.  Well, that's only the first part of the equation.  PL also frequently buys another item which immeasurably increases EBlade's efficiency: Diffusal.  By using a Purge from Diffusal Blade, PL can remove the Ethereal state either from his target or himself.  Each of those options is useful in different scendarios.  When ganking a solo target, PL can purge his target and let his illusions finish it off.  In a teamfight, PL can nuke a low HP support, purge himself of the Ethereal buff, and then attack a different target.  Because of the synergy with Diffusal blade, EBlade has more utility on PL than on other similar heroes who might buy it.

Conclusion

So, there you have it.  PL can buy EBlade in a competitive game, and have a chance to win with the item.  I recommend this item against enemy teams which have supports with low HP pools and high-impact spells.  Bane, CM, and Witch Doctor are all examples of this.  Nuke these down quickly, and their impact in teamfights sharply declines.

I hope you enjoyed the guide.  As a reminder, the purpose of these guides is not to give basic instructions on how to play.  Instead, I'm trying to give you more information that you can use to make good decisions in important games (and troll games, I guess).  With that in mind, once again, I'm not trying to shift PL's core build or anything crazy.  This is just food for thought the next time you random PL, or have to draft him.

As usual, here is a link to the spreadsheet with all the data.