Killed by 6.87 - Repick this hero

Introduction

Arc Warden is an extremely fun but really tiring hero to play as his spells are extremely abusive as well as his synergy with active items.

With his ultimate, Arc Warden is capable of abusing Hand of Midas better than every other hero to farm at an extremely fast rate, getting all the items he needs quickly, and being able to mow down buildings very fast with Necronomicon and Magnetic Field as well as being a huge global presence both pushing wise and ganking wise. He can also abuse Divine Rapier better than any other hero.


PS : There are probably going to be a lot of unattractive wall of texts in this really basic-format guide, so hopefully you can all bear with it. I will attempt to upgrade it when I have enough resources (screenshots and stuff) but in the meantime, it will be mostly words.

ICEFROG KILLED THIS HERO

Pros and Cons

Pros [*] Decent lane presence [*] Very strong and abusive late game [*] Very fast farmer [*] Very effective pusher [*] Global presence [*] Extremely fun

Cons [*] Medoicre stats and horrible stat gain [*] Has a small timing window where he is extremely vulnerable [*] Heavy micro dependency [*] Cheesy pick

Flux

Infuses a lone enemy unit with swirling, volatile energy, slowing its movement speed and dealing damage over time. The effect is muted if another enemy unit is near the target.

Flux at it's peak has a ridiculous range for a 50% slow that lasts a whopping 6 seconds. Paired with it's high damage DoT and low mana cost, it makes for a very strong ganking tool. The only downside of it is the mute effect when enemies are next to each other.

Basically max this out first cause I feel like it scales the best among his spells, with the range and damage increase. This spell basically allows you to punish overly aggressive who can't organize attacks properly.

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What to keep in mind when using it
-The mute effect, make sure the target isn't near creeps or his/her allied heroes.

Magnetic Field

Generates a circular distortion field of magnetic energy that grants evasion and attack speed bonuses to allied heroes and buildings within.

Magnetic Field is arguably his strongest spell as it has a lot of utility to it. You can use it to turn a fight around, take towers really quickly or defend your towers. I generally like to max this second as it has better scaling than Spark Wraith

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What to keep in mind when using it
-Doesn't work on creeps, only buildings and heroes.

Spark Wraith

Summons a Spark Wraith that slowly materializes and patrols a targeted area until an enemy comes within its range. Once a target has been found the wraith fuses with them, dealing magical damage.

Spark Wraith is really tricky to utilize for a nuke, as you have to predict an enemy running into it due to its 3 seconds materialization period, and has a chance to proc on other targets that run into it. It's also very obvious when you're trying to set it up behind the enemy.

I like to abuse this spell more towards the later game when I have the mana to sustain it. I prefer to utilize it for vision as it provides 300 flying vision wherever you put it. It's a great anti-ganking mechanism as well as a way to prevent initiations when you're pushing towers. It has an extremely long cast range, very low mana cost and cooldown so be sure to use it as much as you can late game to find enemies or set up traps.
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What to keep in mind when using it
-Can seek invisible targets or targets in fog. Be sure to use that information you get from them!

Tempest Double

Briefly refocusing its fractured elements into a single form, the Arc Warden is able to create a perfect electrical duplication of itself. The duplicate can use all of Arc Warden's current items and spells. When the duplicate is created, all of its available items and normal abilities are off cooldown.

Tempest Double is your ultimate and what makes your hero extremely abusive. It is NOT an ILLUSION but a CLONE which means it doesn't care about taking only stats into account for damage, armor or health, but can have raw values added into it as well.

Upon summoning, your clone will have all its spells off cooldown, which makes it such an abusive ability that synergizes well with Hand of Midas and Necronomicon. It also cannot drop Divine Rapier while keeping its bonuses. This is why Arc Warden is so abusive, it's because this spell allows you recklessly achieve objectives without the risk of actually dying and feeding (unless it's necronomicon units)

BE SURE TO MAKE FULL USE OF YOUR COOLDOWNS WHEN IT IS SUMMONED.
It's a waste to not abuse any of your spells on your double when it is up.
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What to keep in mind when using it
-You're a sick person for picking this hero

IRRELEVANT PATHETIC ABILITY

Gameplay

Arc Warden should always be played as a farming core. He has slight potential as a support, but your ability to farm and utilize active items is just too good to pass on, and not getting enough farm as a support role is just wasting potential

EARLY GAME

In lane, your base damage is awful but your attack animation is good. Try to get as many last hits as possible to secure your fast Hand of Midas. With any other disabler, you should be able to snag kills easily with Flux if you use it right, and avoid some deaths or harass with Magnetic Field. If needed, you can get a level in Spark Wraith to try out for some tricky kills or to provide vision if you're in a lot of danger. However in a sticky situation Magnetic Field feels more reliable than Spark Wraith. Keep in mind its cooldown is really high so be sure not to waste it.

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MID GAME

IN LANE:
Got your Hand of Midas? Good. Even if you don't have it so, just take Tempest Double at level 6 and this is where things start to get really tricky. As expensive as it may seem, you should be abusing Tempest Double everytime it's off cooldown for the extra Hand of Midas. Here's a trick for sustain, ALWAYS CARRY A Healing Salve AND AN Enchanted Mango. Use it on yourself from the clone to keep your health and mana at full, then you can use the clone to YOLO right at the enemy after using Hand of Midas with Flux and Magnetic Field. This will ensure you can harass your enemy while sustaining yourself in lane.


OUT OF LANE:
This is where it starts getting tricky, as Tempest Double takes up a large portion of health, if you're not abusing Healing Salve and Enchanted Mango you're gonna have a lot of health and mana problems. You don't want to go back to base as it will slow down your Necronomicon timing and you want to stay as active as possible. You can abuse your double's Magnetic Field and Flux to farm jungle camps if you're not ganking or harassing anybody. Always use Tempest Double when it's off cooldown. This is where you're vulnerable.

One you've got the first level of your Necronomicon, jungling will become much easier and trust me, you will reach Necronomicon level 3 at a rapid rate if you're not wasting your time at all. Once you've obtained it you should be at or close to level 11, which will make your life a lot easier with the reduced health and mana cost. You can accelerate your gold gain through pushes even with the level 1 Necronomicon Don't try to death push a heavily contested tower, instead try to use your double to cause a commotion somewhere else and use the distraction to take towers. Farm up for Boots of Travel for your global presence and you can start becoming a menace.

You can partake in fights at any given time, and Arc Warden is pretty strong at that once you've gotten your Necronomicon.

MAKE SURE TO NOT FEED YOUR NECRONOMICONS.

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LATE GAME

Here is where you can start to be very abusive. I generally frown upon early Divine Rapier rush as it makes it harder for you to fully utilize your hero with the main one cowering in base in fear of throwing the game. Instead I opt to get utility first like Scythe of Vyse, which arguably is your best bet as you can farm it extremely fast. With it you can be a potential threat when split pushing as you can disable defenders and possibly kill them. Blink Dagger and Upgraded Boots of Travel allows you to get really crucial pick offs globally. Having a Black King Bar in conjuction with Blink Dagger allows your clone to be a potential initiator during the high ground fights. Always use Spark Wraith whenever it is off cooldown if possible to gain vision which is crucial information during this time.

Even if you're in a pinch, try to discipline yourself from the Divine Rapier. It is a great item to have, but can be very risky or heavily limit your hero if you're not comfortable with it.

Item Synergy

Arc Warden is an extremely item abusive hero, and items are very crucial for him.

CORE :

Upgraded Boots of Travel

This gives you global presence with your clone, allowing you to attempt at multiple objectives at once, something not every hero is capable off.

You have the lowest Necronomicon "cooldown" amongst every hero, making you one of it's best abusers. Partnered with Flux you can easily kill heroes or with Magnetic Field, take down towers extremely fast. You also have a lot of uptime on dewarding, as you can send the clone recklessly into the enemy jungle for that.

People underrate this item on this hero. It is amazing as it gives you a huge boost in mana pool and mana regeneration to abuse Spark Wraith and gives you an extra disable out of Flux. The problem with this item on ANY OTHER HERO is how it's really expensive and difficult to farm up, SOMETHING YOUR HERO CAN EASILY OVERCOME. Being an abusive caster, you really prioritize this item a lot, even more than Divine Rapier, as it allows you to well abuse that rapier eventually.

CORE EXTENSION:

Here we go. I'm pretty sure everyone already knows the ultimate synergy of this with Arc Warden in which he can abuse its damage without the risk of dropping it. However I prefer to get this after Scythe of Vyse and maybe preferably Blink Dagger because of how the first two items allow you to catch off enemies easily. You can also buy multiple of these as a 7th, 8th and 9th( or 10th) item and have it on your clone, before leaving them in fountain while sending your main hero out with other actives.

To compliment the pushing, and dispel silences or other stuff if you're getting ganked. However I frown upon this as Arc Warden's stats are pretty garbage to begin with.

Allows you to do crucial pick offs when complimented with Scythe of Vyse. Even without the said item, Flux has such a long range so you can catch retreating enemies easily when paired with the dagger.

When paired with the Blink Dagger it allows your clone to be extremely reckless and unstoppable in that sense, unless the enemy is willing to waste something like a Flaming Lasso or Primal Roar on the clone. ALSO KEEP IN MIND that using Black King Bar on the clone EXCLUSIVELY will not reduce the item's seconds, which makes it really disgusting for this hero.

It is a clone, it isn't hindered by stat-only-limitations. Raw values add to its stats. Always a nice 7th item to have.

For a quick reset on your clone. You can't refresh items on the clone as summoning it will have refresher on cooldown for the clone.

Just like Divine Rapier, your clone will benefit fully from these items.

If you're going for the DPS build

Every other item just seem a bit lackluster or highly situational in the other list.

- Rod of Atos seems redundant as you already have Flux and Orchid Malevolence just pales in comparison to a Scythe of Vyse which you can farm very easily.

- Glimmer Cape, Lotus Orb, Force Staff and Linken's Sphere are more supportive defensive items which aren't that bad to get if you wish to play a more lifesaver role. However I prefer to go more offensive as you can farm up some of the best offesive items really quickly.

- Drum of Endurance serves like the Black King Bar in which you will have charges all the time, but Magnetic Field already is good enough for attack speed boost.
- Mjollnir is fun to get not just as a pushing sweeper item, but so you can abuse lightning shield on two of your tankiest front liners.

-I personally hate Eul's Scepter of Divinity, but it can help as a setup, although Scythe of Vyse is always superior. However the movement speed it provides will benefit your clone as well so that's always nice.

- Ethereal Blade and Dagon is good at bursting down low health targets later on, but peaks off against Black King Bar carries. Still you can go for those juicy underfarmed supports.

- Diffusal Blade is really good against heroes like Omniknight, as you basically have infinite charges.

- Abyssal Blade is a bit peculiar to get on a ranged hero, but it does give you sort of a solution to Black King Bar or other magic immune targets.

- Octarine Core gives you more uptime on your clone, also allowing it to cast Flux twice in its lifetime. However it doesn't really give beneficial stats to your clone, and isn't an active item.

- Gem of True Sight you don't have the risk of losing it but it's redundant in my opinion, since you're already going for Necronomicon. You can swap it around with an ally for your clone to split deward from the Necronomicon units.

Notable Heroes

Double global presence with summons equals to really strong pushing and ganking.

This guy has seriously great synergy with Arc Warden. It's like doing a Tinker combo with the bird except that the " Tinker" doesn't really risk dying. Inner Beast and Magnetic Field just makes machine guns out of everyone.

As an enemy, screw this b*tch seriously.

Author's Notes

Remember, all item and skill builds are fluid. Dota is a game that is ever-changing and to be good at it, one must be able to adapt to the situation and do what is needed in that situation. Be more flexible and look at the synergy with your team and the counters to enemies.

In Arc Warden's case, he has a lot to experiment on, and is a very flexible hero in terms of playstyle.

Also if you pick him like I do, you're a jerk xd