As Morphling, how do I decide when to morph?

Solution 1:

Morph is a very situational skill. Depending on your team composition, the current situation you're in, and how you want your Adaptive Strike to act, your usage of morph will change.

In general, morph to strength if:

• You want survivability (more HP)
• If you are getting ganked (the extra HP will save you more often than you think)
• If you decide to build a tank
• You want a longer stun from Adaptive Strike (having 50% more Strength than Agility will give you the maximum stun duration)

In general, morph to agility if:

• You want DPS
• You want more damage from Adaptive Strike (having 50% more Agility than Strength will give you the maximum damage)

Swinging completely one way or another isn't that beneficial. Having lots of HP but no damage makes you an easily ignorable target, and having high damage but low HP makes you a glass cannon, and you will most likely be the first person to die in a team fight.

Solution 2:

It depends heavily on the kind of game. If you are the carry in a CM game, then you should have supporters with you. In that case, by all means stay high on AGI, just keep 700 hp or so (until level 6).

Then, it depends on your build: if you go shotgun build (i.e. linken's sphere -> etheral blade), then you can snipe a enemy supporter from the distance (etheral blade shot + Adaptive strike when full AGI). Then if he's still alive, activate Morph and Wave in to get the kill.

In general, you will want to have ~1000hp midgame (when Linken is done, so very low str), and ~1400 hp around lv 16. You do not need any more because Morph is EXTREMELY fast (8 str per second). If you are getting too much damage, just activate Morph and run back: your team and your Linken will protect you, you won't be killed easily (and you also have your Wave).

Shotgun build tends to be not as strong in pubs because you don't have any support and you may not farm the EB fast enough to kill people (also, the fact that there is no support means you may have tougher heroes to snipe). In those kinds of games, you should probably go for something else like Butterfly or Skadi (but they cost more, so you will have them later) and roam with more HP (I would say 1700 - 1800 at 16).

Solution 3:

You're going to want to balance the hp for your level. Having 2500 health at level 10 probably means you aren't hitting for anything. Having 600 health is going to get you killed. Having a decent amount of HP for your level (check your teammates') will give you enough damage.

As for when to morph, morphing defensively (into strength) is the only way to go. You can survive an awesome amount of damage with the morphing ability toggled, and should be done when you're being focused and losing health quickly.

Items play a big role in how much or which way you should morph also. A good rule of thumb is to get linkens and go from there. Then you can look into helm of the dominator, manta style, butterfly, and skadi (which stacks with lifesteal on ranged!). With manta style, linkens, and/or skadi, you'll have plenty of health to avoid being bursted down, and can switch a chunk of it into agility.