Arthas - Lord of the Scourge (In-depth Guide) by MajorProbes

Arthas - Lord of the Scourge (In-depth Guide)

By: MajorProbes
Last Updated: Oct 20, 2015
2 Votes
Rating Pending
Build 1 of 1

Arthas

Build: Standard Build

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Top

Top



Once the crown prince of Lordaeron and the protg of the legendary paladin Uther the Lightbringer, Prince Arthas fell to darkness. In a desperate bid to save his people he was corrupted by the cursed blade Frostmourne, its hatred consuming him. Now he serves the Lich King as a death knight eternally bound to his terrible destiny...and always a little cold.

In this guide i will be focusing on my main Arthas build, there are many build's out there, so please don't treat this guide as gospel. You need to find a talent build that works for you!

This guide will be continually updated with information as i get it and video's later down the line.
Please leave feedback if you love or hate the build!

Top



Arthas abilities are mainly focused around his trusty Frostmourne sword and the Death Knight abilities you would expect him to have from Warcraft. Arthas is one of the easier Warrior's to play and has great AOE potential.

(Q) Death Coil
Deals heavy damage to target enemy. Can be self-cast to heal for a large amount of Health. Save this ability for self heals or to finish off a fleeing enemy hero.
(W) Howling Blast
This is your default engage ability. Root enemies within the target area for 1.5 seconds and deals moderate damage.
(E) Frozen Tempest
This is basically a toggle-able Burning Rage ability, that uses a huge amount of mana. Deals moderate damage each second to nearby enemies. Slows enemy Move Speed by 6% per second, stacking up to 30%.
(D) Frostmourne Hungers
This is your bread and butter damage and mana restoration ability. You activate it to make your next Basic Attack strike immediately, do 100% increased damage, and restore a moderate amount of Mana.

(R) Summon Sindragosa
Summon Sindragosa is best used on Minion / Tower heavy maps and is a great Heroic Ability. Deals heavy damage, slows enemy Heroes, and freezes Minions for 10 seconds and Structures for 20 seconds.
(R) Army of the Dead
Army of the Dead is another of Arthas's Heroic Abilities, it Summons Ghouls that last 15 seconds. Sacrifice Ghouls to heal for a large amount of Health using the (R) key. This is my default heroic as adds so much needed survivability to Arthas.

Top



Tank/Brawler Hybrid
The biggest misconception about Arthas is that he is a tank. Arthas can fill the tank role, but not that well. He is better used in a 2 Warrior composition as a brawler. The below talent breakdown will go into all of Arthas's talent choices, what situations you would pick them and why i've picked the choice's i have for this standard Arthas build.


Hunter-Gatherer - This is your go to talent for both Assassin and Specialist builds. Collect health globes and permanently increase your health regeneration by 1 per second. This talent really pays off late game.
Block - If you decided to go with a tanking build, then Block is a must have talent. It periodically reduces the damage taken by enemy heroes basic attacks by 50%. It can also stack up twice!
Survivalist Training - Restores 100% more mana from regeneration globes. Rexxar can have some mana issues sometimes, but i never choose this talent because the need for mana never outweighed the need for healt regeneration or damage reduction!
Flare - This is an interesting talent and if you have a Nova or Zeratul in the enemy team you may want to consider taking it. Flare reveals an entire selected area for 5 seconds. AKA the anti-stealth talent.


Hungry Bear - Misha's basic attacks heal her for 3.9% of her base health. If your going for a tanking build, this is probably the best talent you can take at this level. If you have gone for an Assassin build and are finding keeping Misha alive, you may wish to consider it. Since the latest patch which included an increase in the Leash range of Misha. This is now also the preferred talent for assassin builds.
Crippling Talons - Increases Spirit Swoop's slow to 40% and it's duration to 3 seconds. Majority of the time I use this talent on an assassin build. During team fight's the slow is especially effective against melee enemies.
Taking Flight - Increases the range of Spirit Swoop by 20% and if it hits a hero the mana cost is refunded. Whilst in certain circumstances this can be useful, it's just not as good as the other talent picks and is not recommended to be used in any of the builds you see here.
Easy Prey - This is your bread and butter specialist build talent. It increases Misha's damage to Minions, Mercenaries and even bosses by 150%. It also has the added benefit of reducing all damage Misha take's from these sources by 50%.

Blood of the Rhino - Increases Mend Pet's duration by 5 seconds. This is your default tanking pick. Adding 5 seconds to the heal time of Mend Pet far outweighs the other options for a tanking build except Aspect of the Beast. If your not having an issue with keeping Misha in the fight, you may want to consider Aspect of the Beast.
Throwing Axes - Increases Rexxar's basic attack range by 25%. In my opinion this is a wasted talent, the 25% attack range you gain for Rexxar can be useful, but in my opinion it's not enough to warrant taking it over the other talents at this tier.
Aspect of the Beast - Misha's basic attacks lower the cool-down of Misha, Charge! by 2 seconds. This is a must pick for an Assassin build. It allows you to use Misha's stun ability every 4-5 seconds.
Bird of Prey - Increases Spirit Swoop's damage by 300% to non-heroic enemies. This is your default pick for specialist builds. With this talent you can clear entire minion waves, and cause considerable damage to merc's and bosses.

Bestial Wrath - Increases Misha's basic attack damage by 150% for 12 seconds and if you choose the level 20 talent Spirit Bond to go with it, you can get the duration extended by 50%! This is my go to talent for both Assassin and Specialist builds. It is especially useful for when you are soloing a boss and need to get it done fast!
Unleash the Boars - Releases a herd of boars that track down all enemy heroes in a direction dealing moderate amount of damage, revealing and slowing enemies by 40% for 5 seconds. This is your Ultimate talent pick for a tanking build. Where you want to slow and limit the damage being put out to your team.


Wildfire Bear - Cause's Misha to passively damage all nearby enemies for 14.5 + 2.5 per level every second. The longer the game goes on, the more powerful this talent becomes. A Must pick for Assassin and Specialist builds.
Thrill of the Hunt - Rexxar's basic attacks increase both his and Misha's movement speed by 25% for 2 seconds. For me this is the worst talent pick possible at this stage of the game. The small gain for 2 seconds isn't enough to pick this over any of the others.
Bear Necessities - if Misha, Charge! doesn't hit an enemy hero, it can be cast again for 3 seconds. This is an interesting pick and i can see it having some uses in a specialist build however it's never been as useful as Wildfire Bear in my testing.
Barkskin - Misha take's 50% less damage for 5 seconds after using Misha, Charge!. This is your go to pick for tanking builds. It is especially effective if you took Aspect of the Beast at level 7.


Primal Intimidation - Enemies that basic attack Rexxar or Misha have their attack speeds reduced by 40%. This is a useful talent for tanking builds, however i usually still go feign death as it has much more use. My advice would be make a judgement call based on how many of your enemies are speced into auto attack builds.
Critical Care - Increase's the healing of Mend Pet by 50%, but only while Misha is below 50% health. Again this talent has some usefulness in tanking builds, but for me still not as useful as feign death. Once more this decision needs to be based on how the game has gone thus far.
Aspect of the Hawk - When Spirit Swoop hits an enemy hero, Rexxar gains 100% attack speed for 3 seconds. This one is only ever useful in an Assassin build and can add quite a bit of damage to Rexxar as Spirit Swoop can be cast every 7 seconds, there's only a 3 second period of non 100% damage. Personally due to the amount of damage already being put out by Rexxar at this stage of the game, i still pick Feign Death for an assassin build.
Feign Death - Rexxar fakes his death, becoming invulnerable and untargetable for 5 seconds. During that time you control Misha instead. This is a must pick for every build and provides some much needs damage mitigation to Rexxar.


Spirit Bond - Increase's the duration of Bestial Wrath by 50% and Misha's basic attacks heal rexxar for 50% of the damage dealt. A good talent choice for any of the build's i've put on here. However you gain more damage from Frenzy of Kalimdor for an assassin build and better damage mitigation from Hardened Skin for tanking builds. My advice would be to only take this talent on Specialist builds.
Kill Command - Unleash the Boars deals 50% more damage and now roots enemy's for 1.5 seconds. This talent shouldn't even be considered even if you took Unleash the Boars at level 10.
Frenzy of Kalimdor - Rexxar's basic attacks deal 10% more damage and Misha's basic attacks slows enemy's by 20% for 1.25 seconds. Your go to talent for Assassin builds. Add's lots of extra damage and the slow is a rather nice plus point!
Hardened Skin - Rexxar and Misha both take 70% less damage for 4 seconds. The go to talent for tanking builds. Should be used as often as possible.

Quick Comment (2) View Comments

You need to log in before commenting.

2 Votes
New Guide

Quick Comment (2) View Comments

You need to log in before commenting.

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