Radiance is the not best choice of weapons for Phantom Lancer at all. The key to PL is stealth. If you get radiance then when you ww they know that you are near. So its a big bummer at your end.
I have played with phantom lancer ALOT as well. I will totally agree with Rapchik Killer over here. The feedback works great with images plus the HP gain is good when you get manta later on. I won't agree with Buriza since it also let people know the real image from the rest since your ciritcals are much higher as compared to your images.
A lot of people don't realize that heroes that create images MUST GET A HEART ASAP. I often find myself finding people who get battlefury on PL. Its too much gold and your images will be weak. People should understand that Heart is the best item for such heroes(Naga Siren, Nissaj, etc). Get one heart and you'll see how much fight your images can put on. Casters and AoE heroes will have a hard time killing your images now. Otherwise you won't last for long against the likes of Earthshaker, Akasha or any other melee hearo with cleave.
Here is what I usually go for.
2 Circlets and Tangoes early on.
After level 6
2 Bracers + Boot of Speed
Mid Game
- Diffusion blades
- Boots of Speed
- 2 Bracers
Late Game
- Butterlyfly
- Heart
- Manta
- 2 Bracers
- Boots of Travel
Luxury Items
- Second Heart and Second Butterfly
For a detailed guide on Phantom Lancer read here. This is the premium Phantom Lancer guide on Dota-allstars.com forums. You can see the replays using this build here.
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