Engaging: Arthas lacks any real form of personal mobility outside of Death's Advance, however he has strong crowd control in the form of roots and slows to lock down his opponent. Arthas can force a hard engage by taking Summon Sindragosa, however this means sarcificing survivability.


Peeling: Arthas is a wall as big as Icecrown Citadel itself; between Howling Blast and Frozen Tempest, Arthas controls everything around him. He is an excellent front line tank that stops any melee threats from reaching his backline.


Mobile Ward: The lack of mobility makes Arthas a less-than-ideal bush-checker because if he walks into the enemy team he doesn't have a way to get out, however, his high survivability gives him some room to check and not get bursted.


Damage Sponge: With high self-sutain through Death Coil talents and Army of the Dead, Arthas is able to take more abuse than an out of work porn star. Although his ability to soak damage is talent dependent, even brusier builds like Icy Talons+runtap can still offer decent levels of survivability.

The Probius patch may have been the best thing that has ever happened to Arthas (it was defintely better for him than that frost wench, Jaina). Now Arthas has tons of viable talents and builds, including this first one we're going to discuss: deathlord. This build offers tons of self-sustain through deathcoil healing, allowing Arthas to heal himself for up to 1,400 hp at level 20 while also controlling the battlefield with massive, frequent Howling Blast roots.


Level 1:
Frost Presence let's you dominate the battlefield with Howling Blast, making it impossible for any peasant to get past the Lich King. After rooting twenty enemy heroes, the frost trail will also freeze enemies, making the ability much more forgiving and landing roots that you would have normally missed as well as picking up targets you weren't expecting.

Level 4:
Deathlord gives increased range, but more importantly reduces the cooldown by three seconds. The range is nice for sniping fleeing, low hp opponents, but the reduced cooldown is what really gives this talent it's value. This talent makes the rest of the build viable and is required to take (see level 7 and 16 talents).

Level 7:
Immortal Coil has two bonuses packed into one, making your Death Coil heal you whether you cast it on yourself or on an enemy hero for damage. Additionally, it adds extra healing when used on yourself; remember kids, sometimes it pays to be selfish.

Level 10:
Army of the Dead increases your already immense survivability to a whole new level; pre-army and post-army is like the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray (or VHS and DVD depending on how old you are). However, if you are feeling confident in your support, then you can take Summon Sindragosa to use as a hard engage on the enenemy backline.

Level 13:
Shattered Armor increases the value of your already sexy Howling Blast by reducing the target's armor by 15%. It's not a huge percentage like a Brazilian girl's backside is huge, but it's extremely valuable in securing kills. There's no denying that Malf's roots is what makes him a tier one hero, now just imagine that, but better and more often.

Level 16:
Embrace Death is what empowers Death Coil healing to reach 1,400 heals at level 20. IF you really don't need that healing that's deeper than Freud, the other two talents in this tier offer increases to damage and crowd control.

Level 20:
Anti-Magic Shell will ruin any casters day as you soak up their spells with absolutely no consequences. Nothing derives quite so much pleasure as baiting all of Chromie's spells and then walking away completely unharmed. Use this ability to bait spells and ults and then follow up with a devastating Howling Blast.

The idea behind this build is to make escape impossible for enemy heroes by applying a constant barrage of slows, snares, and roots through your basic kit and talents and then following up with a flurry of autos and empowered auto attacks to finish enemies while they're vulnerable. This build is really more a bruiser build than a main tank build, so I would only recommend going this route if you have another dedicated tank on your team.


Level 1:
Eternal Hunger increased the damage dealt by Frostmourne Hungers and restores mana, greatly helping with the mana issues that Arthas suffers because of Frozen Tempest.

Level 4:
Icy Talons increases Arthas' attack speed to insane amounts, allowing him to do crazy amounts of damage. Combine the increased attack speed with his level 7 and level 16 talents and you have the makings a of a raid boss; no one will ever doubt who the true king of Lordaeron is ever again.

Level 7:
Rune Tap heals Arthas for every third basic attack. This is the best talent to keep yourself in the fight and fulfill the role of a bruiser for your team because you'll be landing plenty of third hits due to Icy Talons at level 4 and Remorseless Winter at level 16.

Level 10:
summon indragosa allows your team to hard engage on the enemy team, shutting down towers and keeps and slowing fleeing enemies and backline mages. If you're struggling to stay alive and don't want to slow your support down, then you can take Army of the Dead as an alternative.

Level 13:
Shattered Armor gives a precious four seconds to feed your enemies to Frostmourne, making them vulnerable and rooted while your Icy Talons stacks build up. This talent is even more potent at level 16 because rooted enemies will become rooted again from the Frozen Tempest buff.

Level 16:
Remorseless Winter is the final nail in the coffin for anyone caught in your Howling Blast. The root from Howling Blast is good for 1.25 seconds, plus the additional, stacking slow from Frozen Tempest that eventually becomes a root means certain death for enemies of the Crown.

Level 20:
Death's Advance is a passive move speed increase with an active cooldown for even more move speed. The reason for taking this talent is to secure remoreless winter roots that can be followed up with an additional root from Howling Blast. It's true that Arthas suffers from mobility issues, but so does everyone else that comes against him; misery loves company.

Prior to the rework, Frozen Tempest was the only viable build that Arthas had, and even now it continues to be a powerhouse build that offers crowd control capabilities through his huge AoE slows and frequent roots from Howling Blast and Remorseless Winter. This is a build that is highly recommended against melee-heavy comps that would be punished for getting in range of the Lich King.


Level 1:
Frost Presence let's you dominate the battlefield with Howling Blast, making it impossible for any peasant to get past the Lich King. After rooting twenty enemy heroes, the frost trail will also freeze enemies, making the ability much more forgiving and landing roots that you would have normally missed as well as picking up targets you weren't expecting. Block is a good alternative against high mobility heroes who can easily avoid Howling Blast as it helps make up for our unholy champion's lack of mobility.

Level 4:
Frozen Wastes reduces the mana cost of our primary ability by four per second, making it enough reason alone to take this talent as it allows Arthas to stay on the map longer without needing to tap a fountain or hearth. The increased duration on the slow helps keep enemy heroes in range and punishes melee for getting too close, making their escape much more difficult.

Level 7:
Icebound Fortitude provides Arthas with an anti-burst ability, allowing him to soak more damage than he normally would have as well as providing him with a way to deal with vulnerabilities like Hunter's Mark. Just remember that this ability needs to be cast before the burst happens and before the CC happens; you aren't going to survive long inside of a Mosh Pit if you didn't cast your ability in time.

Level 10:
Summon Sindragosa allows your team to hard engage on the enemy team, shutting down towers and keeps and slowing fleeing enemies and backline mages. If you're struggling to stay alive and don't want to slow your support down, then you can take Army of the Dead as an alternative.

Level 13:
Biting Cold helps with wave clear ability, making it easier to soak lanes and adds to the bruiser component that Arthas has by increasing his overall damage output. The increased damage is also an increase to his survivability, limiting the amount of time that enemy melee heroes can stay close to [arthas]] without getting rooted and killed in the storm.

Level 16:
Remorseless Winter adds a root to unwitting peasants who would dare touch the King. The root effect does have an internal ten second cooldown, but the first root that goes off should be the only one that's needed before your target gets deleted from the map. If your facing multiple enemies, than you can rely on Howling Blast to catch any fleeing opponents who survived the first root from Remorseless Winter.

Level 20:
Death's Advance is a passive movement speed increase with an active cooldown for even more movement speed. The reason for taking this talent is to secure remoreless winter roots that can be followed up with an additional root from Howling Blast. It's true that Arthas suffers from mobility issues, but so does everyone else that comes against him; misery loves company.

Because Arthas lacks strong engage, he needs to be paired with other tanks and bruisers who have reliable engage options. Abilities like Flying Kick and Dwarf Toss allow Arthas to get into the fight and start casting his own abilities to protect his own backline. Arthas's role is to peel for his team, but not engage on the enemy team.





Heroes who have access to talents like Executioner benefit greatly from the constant onslaught of crowd control abilities that Arthas has. Other dive assassins have strong synergy with Arthas because he locks down targets for his assassins. Greymane benefits in both aspects, being a strong dive hero who pairs well with melee warriors on top of having access to Executioner at level sixteen.





Arthas already has good self-sutain through his talents, so he doesn't need a strong burst healer. Lúcio helps considerably with the mobility issue and Tyrande is able to patch Arthas up from during a team fight while also aiding in the lockdown with Lunar Flare. Malfurion and Brightwing each provide, solid, constant heals that won't be wasted from overhealing.

Melee, auto-attack heroes struggle the most against the Lich King because of his endless crowd controls options that he commands. Arthas easily kites melee heroes attempting to get in range by slowing nearby enemies with Frozen Tempest and roothing approaching and fleeing ones with Howling Blast. zagara in particular struggles to deal too much damage against [[arthas's base armor.







Arthas struggles against any ranged hero, especially those who have knockback abilites. Spells like Penetrating Round push Arthas away and make him easy to kit because of the lack of disengage and engage options available. Arthas is particularly weak after being displaced by abilities like Mighty Gust because of his low mobility and reliance on Army of the Dead to survive long enough to get back to his team. The problem with depending on Army of the Dead is that the ghouls could be destroyed before Arthas has the chance to consume all of them.

More Hero Guides

If you found this guide to be helpful and are looking for more up-to-date strategies and builds with other heroes, check out some of my other character guides below. In them you will find builds with talent-by-talent breakdowns, tips and tricks for that hero, as well as recommendations on who partners well with your chosen hero. If you enjoy playing bulky, front-line bruisers, like Arthas, then I would recommend taking a look at Sonya or Artanis.