HotS - Artanis, the Praetor - Guide, Build, Tips & Tricks.

Starting today, Artanis is available for all players who preordered Starcraft's expansion, Legacy of the Void. But how do we play this strange mix of tank and assassin, often called bruiser. Our Heroes of the Storm boost team is here to teach you as usual, completely free.

Who is Artanis?

When the First Contact War ended, Aiur had been conquered by the zerg Swarm. The protoss stood on the brink of oblivion, at risk of seeing their civilization disappear entirely. It was Artanis, a young executor, who prevented a bloody civil war and guided both the Khalai and Nerazim factions through the chaos of the Brood War. Now, with the Golden Armada at his command, he intends to take back Aiur and prepare his people for the final battle against an ancient and indomitable enemy.

Hierarch Artanis is an indomitable warrior who seeks to unify his beleaguered people. As a renowned Templar with centuries of experience, Artanis combines martial prowess and tactical acumen—striking swiftly with his psi-blades, taking the brunt of enemy assaults with his shields, or calling upon his flagship, the Spear of Adun, to turn his foes into dust. He’ll let nothing stand in his way to restore the glory of the protoss.

Overview & Abilities

[D] Shield Overload - Cooldown | 20 seconds | Trait If you take damage while below 50% Health, gain a 984 ( 186 + 42 per level) point Shield for 5 seconds. Your Basic Attacks lower the cooldown of Shield Overload by 4 seconds.

- This is Artanis’ main survival tool. Note that this ability is relatively weak in the early game but gets much stronger as the game progresses.

[Q] Blade Dash - 65 Mana | Cooldown: 10 seconds | Dash forward and deal 125 ( 30 + 5 per level) damage to enemies, then return and deal 375 ( 90 + 15 per level) damage.

- This ability is a weird one. While it looks like it provides a lot of mobility, it always brings you back to your starting location - effectively rooting you while using it.

- Use this to clear minion waves, poke, or finish of fleeing opponents. keep in mind that the dash back, while being a bit slower, deals 3(!) times the damage of the first dash - hitting it is top priority!

- Artanis is not unstopable while using this, so look out for enemy stuns and roots,as they will make you stop mid-jump. especially heroes with point and click stuns like uther can be very dangerous, so watch out for these!

[W] Twin Blades - 25 Mana | Cooldown: 4 seconds | Your next Basic Attack immediately strikes the enemy 2 times.

- This is Artanis' Bread and Butter damage ability. With a cooldown of only 4 seconds it can be used very often, and with a lot of strong talents this becomes really strong in the late game. It also helps getting your passive shield back up faster, similar to Illidan's mechanics.

- Twin Blades is a basic Attack reset. this means it allows you to attack twice in a row very fast, essentially attacking three times. the key is to use twin blades right after you hit your auto attack to instantly attack again. try it out!

[E] Phase Prism - 70 Mana Cooldown | 14 seconds | Fire a Phase Prism that deals 145 ( 50 + 5 per level) damage to Heroes and swaps your position with theirs.

- Extremely fun, extremely strong. Hitting the right target can result in an instant kill and also puts you in a great position to body block and deal damage to your target.

- Keep in mind that Phase prism has a very high cooldown and can be hard to hit, so use it carefully and try not to waste it.

- Phase Prism can swap positions with enemies even over terrain! this means you can warp your foes right into your base and let the towers do the work for you. but keep in mind not to put yourself in a dangerous position by doing so!

[R] Purifier Beam - 80 Mana Cooldown | 80 seconds | Target an enemy Hero with an orbital beam from the Spear of Adun, dealing 400 ( 96 + 16 per level) damage per second for 8 seconds. The beam will chase the target as they move. Unlimited range.

- Purifier beam does one thing: turn enemies to dust. the total damage of this ability is 2000 - on level 10. that is about as much as two Pyroblasts.

- The only problem with this heroic is that it can be quite easy for enemies to run away from it, negating the full damage. Try to use this with a high crowd control composition - Jaina or Arthas are ideal.

[R] Suppression Pulse - 40 Mana Cooldown | 50 seconds | Fire a large area pulse from the Spear of Adun, dealing 250 ( 60 + 10 per level) damage and Blinding enemies for 4 seconds. Unlimited range.

- Very situational, but extremely strong against auto attack Heroes like Raynor, Illidan, Valla or Sgt. Hammer. Suppression Pulse also has a cooldown of only 50 seconds, so you can use it a lot.

- Rule of Thumb: take this Heroic if there are at least 2 auto attack based Heroes on the enemy team.

Artanis Build

Level 1

Seasoned Marksman - Gain Basic Attack Damage for minion and Hero Kills. Overall Great Talent. Lots of synergy with his Twin Blades and great late game scaling - good on every map that allows you to farm it well.

OR

Reactive Parry - Activating Twin Blades gives you a charge of Block. Good Pick on maps that don’t allow you to farm marksman stacks very well (Mines, Battlefield of Eternity)

Level 4

Take Lethal Alacrity - Increases the range and speed of Blade Dash by 30%. Allows you to hit this ability from further away, makes it harder for your enemies to catch you with their stuns and makes it easier to hit your second dash. Not really the greatest talent but your best choice on level 4.

Level 7

Take Lethal Alacrity - Using an Ability causes your next Basic Attack do deal 40% Bonus Damage. Amazing Damage Talent. Great Synergy with Twin Blades and his overall kit. Try playing around the Follow Through as much as possible. That means: Ability - Basic Attack - Ability - Basic Attack and so on.

OR

Psionic Synergy - Hitting an enemy Hero with Blade dash reduces the cooldown of Shield Overload by 4 seconds. Good for when you are the only tank in your team or you feel like you really need to be a bit more tanky.

Level 10

Take a look at the abilities section and decide which Heroic will you take.

Level 13

Triple Strike - Increases Twin Blades number of Basic Attacks to 3. This Talent increases your Twin Blades’ damage drastically. Tt also means you will get another round of cooldown reduction on your Shield overload, making you even more tanky.

OR

Phase Bulwark - When Shield Overload activates, you take 50% reduced damage from abilities for 3 seconds. If you are up against heavy spell damage you will take this. It is basically a better version of Spell Shield, allowing you to activate it multiple times in a single team fight. Rule of Thumb: if there are at least 2 Spell damage dealer on the enemy team, take this talent over Triple strike.

Level 16

Zealot Charge- While Twin Blades is active, you charge a short distance to your target. This Talent is what makes you so insanely good in the late game. While previously you lacked mobility and often had problems sticking to your target, now all of these problems are gone.A single activation of Twin Blades now deals almost a thousand damage - that is one third of a Jainas health bar gone - on a 4 second cooldown.

Level 20

Force Of Will - Increases Shield Overload’s cooldown reduction from Basic Attacks to 6 seconds. To top everything up, you now get you shield up even faster - a single Twin Blades activation now grants you 18 seconds of cooldown reduction, granted that you took Triple Strike on level 13. Combined with the great late game scaling of Shield Overload - 1000 on level 20 - you are now near unkillable as well.

OR

Nexus Blades - Basic Attacks deal 20% more damage and slow the target. Take this if you really want to fuck people up and play like our Heroes of the Storm boost team. While overall its slightly less valuable than Force of Will, the damage you deal is enormous.

Game Phases

Early Game (Level 1-9)

Like I stated earlier, Artanis doesn’t have the best early game. His solo lane is decent, and he is able to push out opponents easily using his Blade Dash, but when it comes to early Team fights his lack of chasing power really hurts.

Your early damage output is quite low, so try to play more as a tank rather than a damage dealer. Use your Phase Prism to catch out mispositioned enemies or protect your own carries, and try to be as much of an annoyance as possible for everyone trying to touch your backline. It is also crucial to use Blade Dash to avoid enemy damage whenever it is needed and not use it to just deal a little extra damage. The best timing is to use it when both your shield and your Twin Blades are on cooldown, so you dont get bursted down.

Mid Game (Level 10-15)

Depending on your ultimate, your playstyle Changes a little. When taking Suppression Pulse you can now be far more aggressive, even diving the enemy Back Line using the blind as a cover. Timing is the key to get most out of Purifier Beam. Try to combine it with allied cc to make sure you hit them for as long as possible. Keep in mind a lot of Heroes have excapes that can render your beam useless. for example, try to wait for a valla to use vault first before trying to ult her.

You can also play much more aggressive in general than you could do in the early game because of the great scaling on all of his abilities. Your shield will already be much stronger and if you farmed your Seasoned Marksman properly you will also deal a lot of damage. You are still able to get bursted down rather quickly, so try getting in and out of the fight again and again and waiting for cooldowns.

Late Game (Level 16+)

Now, your time to shine has come. Zealot Charge allows you to engage onto enemy carries much easier and you can even flank the enemy team really well.

Killing the back Line is your top priority at this point. With a gap closer on a 4 second cooldown literally no one can get away from you, and usually you can kill a Valla or Jaina in a matter of seconds, while also forcing the entire enemy team to focus you even though you are one tanky motherf***er and Boosting Factory's Heroes of the Storm boost team taught you this. There really isnt anything else to say about Artanis’ late game - Just go out there and kill stuff!

Feel free to check out our regular Heroes of the Storm Tier List.