Artanis (Rework Project) by Nuada

3 Votes
Rating Pending

Artanis (Rework Project)

By: Nuada
Last Updated: May 5, 2020
Quick Share

Artanis (Rework Project)

Hierarch of the Daelaam

Artanis honestly needs a little something right now.
I love the guy, but he's quite underwhelming compared to most other Bruisers. Practically any other Bruiser - aside from D.Va probably) has some sort of CC (and no, I do not consider the swap a CC). They also usually have some mobility/escape tool, and my man here doesn't even have a Movement Speed increase on a Talent.
Additionally, I regularly find myself into games, where even Melee Assassins (like Qhira, or Butcher) have more self-sustain than me as Artanis.

So, I figured I'd share some ideas I had, although I know, it by itself will probably not lead to much result.
Plus, I simply love doing these things - playing around with such ideas, character and game design, etc. :)

Mostly this will be written in a suggestive manner.
I am simply sharing ideas that are not streamlined and may not be balanced, so please bear with me.
New suggestions and buffs will be written in Green, and nerfs and things to be removed will be in Red.
My Comments will be written in Light Blue.
All other text is copied directly from the Wiki page about Artanis.

Anyway... Stats:

Attack Type - Melee
Health - 2470
Health Regen - 5.1445
Resource - 500 Mana - I was thinking that Mana might be removed completely as a resource and make Artanis like Illidan, or Murky in this regard
Unit Radius - 0.875
Attack Speed - 1 -> 1.15
Attack Range - 1.25
Attack Damage - 111 -> 100 - It is still a slight DPS buff, thanks to the increased Basic Attack Speed, but nothing special. Damage is one of the things that Artanis does not really need more of. But he needs to be Attacking more. Thus, here we are making him punch faster, but for the same overall damage.

Combat Trait

1
Shield Overload
Cooldown: 20 seconds (buffed from 24 seconds)
Scaling: +4%
After taking damage while below 75% Health grants Artanis a 375 point Shield for 5 seconds. Basic Attacks lower the Cooldown of Shield Overload by 4 seconds. - Artanis has quite poor self-sustain compared to any other Bruiser, and even some Melee Assassins. In the Wiki it says "the Shields make him quite difficult to kill, if not focused", but a Melee Hero with no escape mechanisms is the easiest thing to focus, so... Anyway, I think this change will be a step in the right direction.

Primary Abilities

1
Blade Dash
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Scaling: +4%
Become Unstoppable and dash forward dealing 57 damage to enemies, then return and deal 171 damage. Every enemy hit reduces the Cooldown on Shield Overload by 1 second, and Heroes by 2 seconds.
During Blade Dash, reactivate at any time to cancel further movement. - Artanis is one of the few melee Characters (if not the only one) that does not have any escape tools, not even a Movement speed increase of some sort. So, this can be used like one.
2
Twin Blades
Cooldown: 4 seconds
Artanis's next Basic Attack immediately causes him to charge a short distance and strike the enemy 2 times.Can be used during Blade Dash.
Twin Blades attacks deal 150% bonus damage to non-Heroes. (built-in Amateur Opponent) - It is a staple on Artanis, and no other Level 1 Talents ever get picked. If not raw like this, it can be made as a scaling damage buff (i.e. "Start at +100% damage, increased by +4% each Level - this way, it will equal 150% at about Level 13), or a stacking Quest of some sort.
3
Phase Prism
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Scaling: +4%
Fire a Phase Prism that deals 66 damage to Heroes and swaps Artanis's position with theirs.
Can be used during Blade Dash.
If used without Blade Dash, Phase Prism also Roots the target. - Every single Bruiser in the Game has some sort of CC, and Artanis... Artanis has a swap... Cool, but not enough.

Heroic Abilities

1
Purifier Beam
Cooldown: 80 seconds
Scaling: +4%
Target an enemy Hero with an orbital beam from the Spear of Adun, dealing 184 damage per second for 8 seconds. The beam will chase the target as they move. Unlimited range. - Just make the poor thing move faster... Make it 10% faster than the fastest base Movement Speed, and let only some dashes/blinks outrun it.. Otherwise a simple stutter stepping negates it completely.
2
Suppression Pulse
Cooldown: 50 seconds
Scaling: +4%
Fire a large area pulse from the Spear of Adun, dealing 114 damage and Blinding enemies for 4 seconds. Unlimited range. - No issues with this one. Nice ability on a relatively short Cooldown. It's Level 20 upgrade is kinda bad, but more about this below in the Talent section.
3
Path of a Templar
Cooldown: 70 seconds
Scaling: +4%
Artanis channels psionic energies within his body, increasing his Movement Speed by 20% and Basic Attack Speed by 30% for 8 seconds. - Simply an alternative. Both of Artanis's current Ultimates are quite Hierarch-ish, presenting his commanding position, but I feel like his own fighting capabilities are what defines him, and should be represented as a nice Ult as well. But if they fix the Poorifier Beam, I do not see a reason to change any of them with this one here.

Upgrade at Level 2 - Shadow Walk completed
Reduce Path of a Templar's Cooldown by 20 seconds. While Path of a Templar is active, his Shield Overload's Cooldown recharges 50% faster from any sources.

Talents Level 1

1. Reactive Parry
Using Twin Blades grants 75 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack, reducing its damage by 75%. Stores up to 2 charges. - Utter garbage of a Talent and worst Block in the game. Therefore remove it!
1. Psionic Synergy - moved from Level 4
Hitting an enemy with Phase Prism grants 30 Armor for 3 seconds. - A decent defensive Talent option at Level 1, instead of the useless Parry.

2. Amateur Opponent
Twin Blades attacks deal 150% bonus damage to non-Heroes. - Built into Twin Blades. (see above)
2. Zealot Charge - moved from Level 20
Increase Twin Blades' charge distance by 100%. - Maybe not 100%, but 50% or 75% instead.

3. Seasoned Marksman
? Quest: Every Minion killed near you grants 0.2 Attack Damage, and Takedowns grant 0.5 Attack Damage.
? Reward: Upon gaining 40 bonus Attack Damage, you can also activate Seasoned Marksman to increase your Attack Speed by 40% for 4 seconds. 30 second cooldown. - I actually don't have such an issue with this one, aside from that it's quite hard to finish... I have had many games, where post Level 20 I'm still at 35-ish stacks. However, if the base Basic Attack Speed is increased as suggested above, this will have a bigger value, thus more worth. Still, it can possibly be made more like Illidan's quest, than like Falstad's.

Talents Level 4

1. Psionic Synergy - moved to Level 1
Hitting an enemy with Phase Prism grants 30 Armor for 3 seconds.
1. Templar's Zeal - moved from Level 13 - Changed
? Quest: Hit X Heroes with Phase Prism, during Blade Dash.
? Reward: Decrease Blade Dash's Cooldown by 2 seconds, and Phase Prism's Cooldown by 4 seconds - one of the most annoying things about his kit is when you cannot execute his notorious combo, simply because the Prism needed another 0.6 seconds to come online. Here's a neat way to bring these Cooldowns together.

2. Shield Battery - Changed
Shield Overload's cooldown recharges 125% faster while its Shield is active, and the Shield duration is increased by 1 second.
Remove the "Below 75% HP" requirement of Shield Overload, but increase its Cooldown by 8 seconds. - In the middle of a fight, the Cooldown will be increased by essentially 1 Basic Attack, but you will basically start the fight shielded. the Cooldown increase will be most noticeable when you are chased and you need to run.

3. Shield Surge
Increases Shield Overload's Shields by 75% while below 25% Health. - Best Talent at its Tier currently. I have no issues with it. Bringing the others a bit up will balance them out.

Talents Level 7

1. Solarite Reaper - Removed
Increases the damage of the first dash of Blade Dash by 150%. - Even without this talent, Blade Dash does like half of the HP of any minions hit at any level, so this one feels redundant most of the time. Might be useful for double soaking, but Artanis is rarely in a position to double soak, plus, 10 sec Colldown on Blade Dash might feel awkward, if lanes are closer together.
1. Psionic Speed - New
Gain 15% increased Movement Speed, whenever Shield Overload activates. - I might be repeating myself, but just a tad more mobility for my man here.

2 Warp Sickness
Phase Prism also Slows the enemy's Movement Speed by 35% for 4 seconds. The Slow begins after the Root ends, if the target was Rooted. - Probably, the most popular Talent at this Tier. No issue with it. Added the Root part in accordance to my suggestion for Phase Prism above.

3. Chrono Surge
Hitting an enemy Hero with Phase Prism grants 75% bonus Attack Speed for 5 seconds. - I honestly love this one. When you slaw with a frontliner and get into the backline, it allows for some serious damage. It will also be quite nice with the added Root.

4. Follow Through
After using an Ability, your next Basic Attack within 6 seconds deals 40% additional damage. - I have a serious problem with the wording inconsistency here. Twin Blades says, that "next Basic Attack (SINGULAR) causes him to strike twice". And this Talent here says "next Basic Attack (SINGULAR) deals 40% additional damage". This means that both attacks from Twin Blades should be empowered. But they're not. Considering this, I would either fix this Talent to empower all Twin Blades' strikes, or I will remove it all together.

Talents Level 10

See the Ultimate Abilities above.

Talents Level 13

Templar's Zeal - moved to Level 4 - Changed (see above)
Reduce the Mana cost of Blade Dash from 50 to 25. Each time that Shield Overload activates, reduce the Cooldown of Blade Dash by 6 seconds. - I was thinking of what to replace this one with, but then I thought that Artanis currently has 4 Talent choices at 13, and I am not sure, if he needs them all. If all other Talents are good enough in their own rights, then a 4th is simply unnecessary.

1. Triple Strike
Increase Twin Blades's number of Basic Attacks to 3, but increase its Cooldown by 1 second. - I love this one. It is aggressive, but it also recharges Shield Overload faster. It has been a staple for me, very rarely substituted for Phase Bulwark, if the enemy has high burst damage.

2. Graviton Vortex - Removed
Reduce the Mana cost of Phase Prism from 70 to 25. Hitting an enemy Hero with Basic Attacks or Blade Dash lowers the cooldown of Phase Prism by 1.75 seconds. - The Mana Cost reduction is completely redundant. I never had Mana issues with Artanis post Level 6-7. The Cooldown reduction is nice, but it is not enough to compete with other Talents in its Tier.
2. Psionic Momentum - New
While Shield Overload is active, the Cooldowns of ALL Artanis's Abilities recharge 25% faster. - So, here's another "Momentum"-esque Ability instead. Usually, such abilities are triggered by Basic Attacks directly, but here it's a bit more tied up with Artanis's kit.

3. Phase Bulwark
Shield Overload grants 50 Spell Armor while active, and for 2 seconds after it expires. - Quite nice Talent option. This is what makes Artanis's "Burst Defense" really come online.

Talents Level 16

All in all I think this is the best Talent Tier for Artanis. Not that all of the Talents here are OP, but they are equally good, and one of them will always suit your build/needs.

1. Titan Killer
Basic Attacks against Heroes deal an additional 0.5% of their maximum Health in damage, increased to 1.5% when empowered by Twin Blades. - Really nice Talent. Awesome against high HP Heroes, especially alongside Chrono Surge at Level 7 and Triple Strike at 13. Additionally, I have found lately, that it is quite easy to catch Deathwing off-guard, as Phase Prism will pull you towards him, instead of swapping your positions. therefore you can teleport across the screen to him and melt him with quick-hitting %-damage strikes.

2. Force of Will
Casting Basic Abilities reduces the Cooldown of Shield Overload by 5 seconds. - It might need to be toned down a bit, if Psionic Momentum above becomes a thing. Otherwise, it is a great Talent.

3. Blades of a Templar
Increase Attack Speed by 30%. Basic Attacks Slow enemy Movement Speed by 20% for 1.25 second. - My Favorite Talent here. Not much else to say. More Basic Attacks > More Shields. Slowing enemies helps with chasing, and also allows Poorifier Beam to catch up with them.

Talents Level 20

1. Target Purified
Increase the speed of Purifier Beam by 15%. If the target of Purifier Beam dies, it automatically recasts on the nearest visible enemy Hero. - the baseline Poorifier Beam is faster, it will not need a further increase. The other aspect of this Talent is nice. I have had games where whole fights are decided simply by resets on this one. and yet, it is not enough. This Talent is more often taken because of the speed increase, and will not be relevant at all, if the base speed is enough.
1. Purifier Barrage - New
Fire a Purifier Beam at all Enemy Heroes in a wide radius around you (equal to Suppression Pulse area). - Removing the global Range, but striking all enemies and forcing them to move, possibly splitting them like Guldan's Horrify. This will be a Gamechanger for sure.

2. Orbital Bombardment
Suppression Pulse gains an additional charge. There is a 10 second cooldown between uses. - I literary never took this Talent. It simply never appealed to me. Usually, when you use the Suppression Pulse, affected autoattackers on the enemy team are focused and killed first, so any subsequent Pulses during this fight will not have as much value. And it has a baseline 50 seconds Cooldown, which is on the shorter side for an Ultimate.
Fire a Suppression Pulse at the position of each enemy Hero, wherever they are. Enemy Heroes are revealed for 10 seconds. - Now this would be an interesting one to play around. Not much to say about it. It speaks for itself.

3. Zealot Charge - moved to Level 1
Increase Twin Blades' charge distance by 100%. - It is a nice Talent, but I'm just not feeling it like a Level 20 Talent. Make it weaker if you wish, but give it earlier. Give something better at 20.
3. Unconquered Spirit - New
Upon taking fatal damage, gain shields equal to your Shield Overload amount. This effect has a 120 seconds Cooldown. - Exactly like Fenix's Level 20 Talent. Why not for Artanis as well?! I think it suits him. And it resembles perfectly that cinematic, where he's fighting off the Zergs alone.

4. Plasma Burn
While Shield Overload is active, deal 70 damage per second to nearby enemies. - I love this one. It's a low-key but decent damage increase, when you get stuffed in.

Quick Comment

You need to log in before commenting.

[-] Collapse All Comments

Sort Comments By
3
[-]
Porco (1) | May 5, 2020 11:42pm
Nice. I agree with everything.
1
[-]
Nuada | May 6, 2020 10:00pm
And of course, 2 days later, Blizzard announces changes to Artanis... Unfortunately, I don't think they address the problematic parts of his kit. But we'll see how it goes :)
Loading Comments...
Load More Comments

HeroesFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite HotS hero’s build and strategy.

Copyright © 2019 HeroesFire | All Rights Reserved