EPTThis Blog entry focuses on Artanis: The Hierarch of the Daelaam. I'm going to give my thoughts for the Hero as well as some advice for players that do not have him because they didn't pre-purchase Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void. I want to focus mostly on his passive, Q, and E abilities because they seem to be the most difficult part of mastering Artanis.
Artanis reminds of Sonya and Anub-Arak. They are "bruiser warriors" that can take a hit but best coupled with another Beefy Warrior to soak up the damage. In the games that I have played I've noticed a strong output of Hero Damage and above average damage soaking.
His passive "Shield Overload" gives him a shield when he is below 50% health. Its nice when Artanis is in the thick of things and he isn't in range of his healer. It helps him be an incredible duelist and stay in fights when other tanks would have to dip out at low health. A player can get talents that give him bonuses to the shield as well as damage reduction. Artanis can be especially difficult to take out but he isn't invincible; I've seen many players run head first into fights thinking that their passive will keep them alive at dangerously low health. The shield acts as a window of opportunity to: either kill the enemy hero, get away from the fight, or spare just enough time for the healer to return health. Keeping track of the cooldown is extremely important; players that keep track of when its going to be up can earn clutch takedowns by both teams. Knowing when the player has and doesn't have the shield could mean the difference between Artanis dying or getting out by the skin of his teeth.
His Q "Blade Dash" gives the Artanis player the mobility to get into the middle of an enemy team and begin taking and dealing damage. The slide back deals significantly more damage and first use so the positioning of the Artanis player so that his enemy is between him and his destination can equal massive amounts of team damage. One of the funniest things that I've seen is when the Artanis player uses his Q to get away and then instantly return back to where they started only to be slaughtered by his enemies. Artanis is deceptively mobile; he can re-position himself small distances to get away from large chucks of damage (Nova Ult is a prime example) but he has to return. A skill opponent can easily place roots or prepare stuns for when he returns. I would only use "Blade Dash" when the starting point and the destination or relatively safe or when its going to deal a massive amount of damage.
Since his W "Twin blades" seems relatively straight forward I want to talk about his E "Phase Prism". This is another example of how Artainis can be deceptively mobile. He throws out a skill shot that switches the places of him and the first hero it hits. It means that he can move swiftly to another location or get an enemy carry out of position very quickly. It gives his team a chance to burst down a priority target while they are not in the best position to fight. The reason I say deceptively mobile is that again a skilled player will know where Artanis and the switched hero will land after the shift. With good reaction time a player can easily prepare themselves or the surround area for Artanis's arrival. This knowledge that Artainis explicitly provides makes his movements predictable and exploitable. I would only use E when I know follow up action is guaranteed by my teammates; wasting the opportunity that this provides could prove to be a costly mistake.
All in all, I like his kit but I doubt his success in solo queue play. If teammates are not on the same page and don't follow through with his initiate Artanis players are going to have a tough time getting ahead. Teaming up with a support or burst damage assassin; The duo could easily remove a hero from a fight or soak an enemies abilities and get healed up. Either way he prevents damage from being put on carries which makes him a strong warrior pick. He demands punishment and has the tools to handle it.
Thank you all so much for reading this. I appreciate all the feedback you guys give! Talk to you all soon!
GREAT SCOTT! I can't believe that it is already October 21st, 2015! Who else watched Back to the Future today?
