Arc Warden Is Back With A Vengeance
The Dota 2 Community never really got warm with Arc Warden. Quite early did players find out, that the hero was one of those cases where you would not want to play against him and playing him yourself wasn’t that exciting either. He’s a bit like Techies in that regard, though not as infamous.
6.87 nerfed the at the time dominant way of playing him--split pushing with the Tempest Double without putting yourself at risk, allowing yourself to even pick up a Divine Rapier. Along those nerfs, Icefrog introduced some buffs as well, but in the grand scheme of things, it seemed as if the hero was dead. It seemed as if he had gotten the Techies treatment; the community didn’t like the hero, so he had to go.
Whether it was 6.88 or just the whims of some pub player, but something has changed recently. Games in the 5k bracket have been haunted by Arc Warden appearances and players deem it worthy enough to ban the hero outright. One of the least played heroes of the past six months (6th least played) has a whopping 10% pickrate in the 5k+ bracket and is sitting at a 57% winrate. Arc Warden is back.
Midlane Crusher
A large part of why Arc Warden is viable is his superb laning stage. There are only a few midlane matchups he doesn’t win, as the low cooldowns on Spark Wraith and Flux allow him to harass other mids. Arc Warden may not have an innate escape spell, but the vision and thus safety provided by Spark Wraith (50 sec duration, 300 radius flying vision and even triggers on invisible heroes) make it difficult to gank the hero.
It should be noted that classic midlaners with a lot of reliable waveclear (Lina, Queen of Pain, Puck etc.) can deal better with him, as they can avoid his harassment by pushing out the lanes. A lot of currently popular midlaners, especially melee ones, are not as lucky and often suffer at the hand of Flux.
It becomes even more difficult to truly contest Arc Warden once he reaches level 6. The sustain provided by his Tempest Double with a Salve and an Enchanted Mango make it difficult to force him out of lane.
Farming Ahead
Arc Warden has a similar midgame as Invoker. After acquiring a 
Hand of Midas, Arc Warden will look to farm as much as possible, while still trying to participate in fights if convenient. 
Maelstrom into 
Boots of Travel is a pretty common build to accelerate and maximize the farm early on and it also adds split pushing power.
After these items, the item build is split. Some prefer upgrading the Malestrom straight into a 
Mjollnir, some prefer building a 
Dragon Lance or 
Orchid Malevolence first.
As with every item build, it depends on the state of the game. If farming the map is totally fine and the team doesn’t need Arc Warden to fight with them, going Mjollnir is suitable to increase farming rate. Orchid and Dragon Lance are items to fight with and their upgrades are quickly acquired.
There’s another item build that relies heavily on fighting early on, which would see a 
Blink Dagger into a 
Scythe of Vyse right after the Maelstrom. It’s a strong ganking and fighting build that utilizes the benefits of the Tempest Double (double hex) perfectly.
The world is Arc Warden’s oyster and quite frankly any usual carry item will do on the hero.
What changed?
What made Arc Warden viable again? Quite frankly, a lot of Arc Warden players didn’t know any other way to play the hero than the split pushing Rapier style Warden. So when that particular playstyle got nerfed into the ground, a lot of players lost confidence in the hero’s abilities. In that sense, 6.87 was definitely a huge nerf. However, if we look at Arc Warden as this midlane dominator, that thrives on getting a significant item advantage and has huge solo kill potential early on, then 6.87 and the following patches were quite the buffs.
- Reduced Flux cooldown from 20 to 18.
- Tempest Double
- Increased duration from 12/13/14 to 12/14/16.
- Reduced cooldown from 50/40/30 to 40/35/30
- Increased base attack damage from 25-35 to 29-39
- Increased strength gain from 1.9 to 2.3.
- Increased intelligence gain from 2.1 to 2.6.
Spark Wraith
- Now slows the target's movement speed by 100% for 0.4/0.5/0.6/0.7.
- Now applies a basic dispel on the target.
- Reduced mana cost from 100/110/120/130 to 80 on each level.
- Reduced activation delay from 3 to 2.
Tempest Double
- No longer costs 30%/15%/0% of max health and mana to cast.
- Reduced cooldown from 65/60/55 to 50/40/30.
His stat gain and base damage increase were significant, they allow him to last hit more reliably and be more sustainable in lane. In addition, his spells now cost less, which allows him to be a midlaner with basically spammable spells, yet he does not require a bottle.
The improvements to his spells have made it much easier for him to harass the opposing midlaner and the buffs to Tempest Double allow him to be more efficient around the map.
Meta wise, as more melee heroes take on the midlane, it becomes increasingly easier for Arc Warden to win his lane. Additionally, his damage is sustainable and reliable, as it is physical and does not rely on burst.
Ready for the meta?
If Arc Warden was thrown into Captain’s Mode without any other balance changes in the game in the current meta, he’d probably be a strong pick. It’s by no means a must pick, at least not the way the meta is right now.
As for pubs, Arc Warden is definitely worth a ban. The hero has strong traits of a classic pubstar with his solo kill potential, so look out.
my friends told me insane for pick arc
Deny the 2nd
Third.
mfdasd,ladasdsa
Pain-in-the-ass type of hero.
the only reason arc warden has a high wr is because a majority of dota players are bad and just play braindead heroes like slark or something and refuse to use their brain and pick a hero which is actually good vs him. Me im enjoying my free mmr against arc warden with picking meepo or centaur
he also has no escape so just pick an initiator/ assassin and its super easy win
ez smurf account. check my heroes played plz.
Seventh (edit: 8th)
Can any guys confirm that spectre is still decent against arc?
Centaur is actually awfull against a good warden. Slark isn't awesome, but at least he isn't bad, unless the arcwarden is paired with a pushing lineup (in which case slark is awefull against it)
Time to learn how to play AW Xd
10% pickrate in 5k+ is 33rd. being the 33rd most picked hero isn't whopping by any stretch of the imagination...
Did you know that 49.999% of dota players are less than average skill?
In solo pub game, people just pick want they want to play.
That's why I stop play solo pub game.
I always play with team and every time arc mid.
We just pick PA,PL or tiny and Ez own mid.
just pick heroes that can blink, illusion, or blast him down.
@Dante That would be the median skill.
whether it be split push rapier warden or midlane dominance warden, warden is life. EZ 60%+ winrate kappa
I just like him as a support with the change in pipe, 800 magic absorb for team.
He doesnt need another nerf in my opinion
But you also need players who can micro him to his fullest potential
@ickdanny i meant "less that average skill" in that they are in the bottom 50% of players ranked on skill, so yes median is appropriate
can this hero be paired with underlord?
just pick that abaddon mid nigga. gg ez
So which one is better on him? Shadow blade or blink? Kinda interested to learn to play him now
Nerf or remove arc warden? NUP! BUFF ARC WARDEN TILL HE IS MOST PLAYED
ez mid arc warden
Please do not publicize Arc Warden :(
@dfc couldn't said it any better myself :)
@DropDead.EXE you read that brainless noob is thread?
@Aui_2000MMMR confirmed
@Non-Toxic this guy get it
@I <3 lady music yep
1st ban confirmed
One of the best heroes right now, on a level of Mirana or SD. Midded against an ember and got 6 kills in 8 minutes against him.
double midas, double travel, double hex or silence, and infinite salve and mango haha very strong to me, in balance, he doesnt have natural right click abilities and depend only on his farm.. quite well
fun and ass hero ;d
my Signature
This is my build >>>Match 2607849856 Sad Tinker
Arc is not op, people are just stupid. the hero is super easy to gank and kill. low movespeed and low armor and no escape
"playing him yourself wasn’t that exciting"
What? For me, Arc Warden is the most fun hero in the game.
@dfc how about face micro gaming arc warden? It's like you face CK's illu with prolonged hex and silence. (that if you as arc warden able to farm effectively)
What the hell is this article, of course any hero is going to sound OP if he got a rework, and you list only the buffs. With 6.87, he did get nerfed. It's just that it wasn't enough to push him out of the OP tier.
^Lmao Arc Warden player in normal skill bracket defending the hero. The hero was not nerfed. The word for it is probably reworked. The article is right. The playstyle to Arc Warden has changed and he became an even more dominating hero than before. He can gank, teamfight and split push at ALL STAGES OF THE GAME. Balanced hero lmao
Fuck Arc Warden
DIEDED RIP
And now they nerfed him, so he's not. Article writer's curse?
Nerf ! Haha
RIP hero in 2 min
I usually played him as a ganking 4. Tranq + Urn, max flux and roam all day. Build up orchid for double silence then slowly transition to ratting semi-carry. I'm shitty at microing so I don't utilize his ult as much to farm but the double skills during gank is so OP. His Q and E is one of the best ganking skills in the game too.
suddenly he got nerfed