Introduction Top
Hello, my name is Alucio and in this guide I will teach you about Arthas and how to dominate with him. I reached rank 1 in beta playing mostly Arthas.
The build Top
The build that I use for Arthas is shown above. I would highly recommend sticking to that build but feel free to try any combination of talents that you like. There are two talents that you can try and switch, the first being at level 13. Here, you could take
Spell Shield instead of
Relentless which is good if you're not against a team with 2 stuns/polys/silence. The second flexible talent is at level 16; you can take
Stoneskin if you are being focused or if you are the only tank. I like taking
Immortal Coil because when you are out of combat it is more effective than
Stoneskin. I've never tried
Fury of the Storm on Arthas so if anyone tries it, let me know how it goes in the comments.
Tips/Tricks Top
Frozen Tempest makes hitting
Howling Blast a LOT easier!
Frostmourne Hungers can be used right after an auto attack to attack twice in quick succession!
Death Coil can be used to de-mount targets from far away! (sometimes useful)
Look at your map a LOT!
CC = crowd control
burst = All of one's front-loaded damage output
picked off = caught out of position and killed (usually alone)
dps = damage per second
aoe = area of effect (damage)
exp = experience
commit = put everything one has into a fight
Levels 1 - 7 and early merc camps Top
General Strategy
Early game is all about experience from laning; try to soak up every last bit of exp. As long as at least 1 person is in every lane, the others are free to roam and try to kill the enemies. As Arthas, you should try to push a lane then roam to a different lane and use
Howling Blast to cc and kill the enemy.
Level 1
Position alongside your team; do not be the sole one in the front. You are very squishy at this point, be mindful of this. It is a good idea to push a lane to the enemy's wall and roam to another lane to try and get a kill.
Level 4
Envenom increases your damage to the point where you can kill squishy targets with all of your burst. You are still relatively squishy, but your damage means you can potentially kill an enemy hero 100-0 in a 1v1, 2v2, etc. Continue to push and roam.
Level 7
Rune Tap gives you what you need: survivability. You have a lot of potential healing that will keep you alive while the enemy team tries ferociously to kill you. This is when you can fulfill your role as a tank for your team. You can combine
Rune Tap +
Death Coil for burst healing.
Merc camps
A good time to do merc camps is after an objective has been completed (curse picked up, shrines are over, seeds are collect, skulls are collected, cannons going off). Another good time to do merc camps is when you have picked off one of the enemy team members. Early mercenary camp kills can be vital to gaining an advantage. Levels 1-6, Arthas, needs another hero to kill a bruiser camp. Levels 7+, Arthas can kill a bruiser camp by himself (although help is appreciated).
Levels 10 - 13 Top
General strategy
At this point, the game's focus is more around objectives and merc camps. If there is a boss camp on the map, make it a priority to kill it after you've won a fight. Other camps can be killed and pushed with (bruiser camp and siege camp). A good strategy is to kill a camp before an objective spawns so the enemy team must react to both the object and the mercenary camp.
Level 10
You thought you had sustain before, well think again!
Army of the Dead summons ghouls for Arthas. These ghouls do three things: they do damage, they body block, and they sacrifice themselves to heal Arthas.
Army of the Dead +
Death Coil/
Immortal Coil +
Rune Tap = Enough healing to heal through nazeebo ult! You can heal throughout an entire fight using these ghouls, but be warned: if your ghouls are killed off in aoe damage before you can sacrifice them, you will be killed very quickly. Another warning: until level 13, you can be stun locked out of using your ghouls to heal you. Use your ult earlier depending on how much CC the enemy team has.
Level 13
Relentless makes you free! No CC can hold you down! You can no longer be stun locked out of healing!
Levels 13+ Late game and teamfight positioning Top
General Strategy
Group up with your team as five and continue to watch the map and watch enemy movements. Sometimes seeing where the enemy will go and positioning your team to where you can catch them, can win you a game. If you pick a hero off, try and steal a mercenary camp from the enemy. They will be outnumbered which means that contesting it would be a bad idea. A boss mercenary + army of the dead can almost kill the core by itself.
Team fight positioning
As a tank, you want to be in the front line (in front of your damage dealers). Your main goal in a team fight is to keep your squishy damage dealers alive; which means, peeling off the enemy heroes that try to kill them. You will get the hang of knowing when to peel for your carries as you play. Diving into the enemy team should only be done on Arthas if you have a level advantage or you outnumber the enemy. Moving in and out of your team, peeling and diving, and knowing when to do them come with experience and practice.
When to Activate Army of the Dead
I like to save my ultimate for when i need it for healing. Try to activate it when you reach around 65% health and the enemy is continuing to commit. If you activate it around 45%, you can be CC'd before you can heal from it or the healing won't outweigh the enemy's burst at that point. Knowing when to activate this ultimate takes practice and experience.
Thank you! Top
Thank you for reading my guide! I hope you found it helpful or entertaining! Let me know what you thought of my guide in the comments and if you liked it, give my guide a thumbs up.
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