Zet the Midlane Warden [ 7.06 f ]
Hindergast
September 27, 2017
Introduction
Hi guys today i want to introduce to you a guide on one of my favourite hero Zet the Arc Warden. I decided to make this guide because this hero is very underestimated and rarely picked in pubs or ranked matches. Most of players dont know how to play him where to lane , propper skill & itembuild. I am not the best player by far but i want to share my thoughts about this hero and maybe i will make this hero more interesting for you dudes. So let's begin.
Arc Warden is an agility ranged carry hero , who excells most and solo pickoffs & pushing out lanes (i'd say rat pushing).Due to divine nature of his ultimate he gains gold and xp much faster than others . He has insane magick damage early and can turn into a strong hitter in late game.His base stats are pretty bad : low movement speed & rightclick , but he has high strenght and int among agility heroes.This hero is the most versatile hard carry among others so this allows you more wide action against enemy heroes.Remember : if you master this hero it will give you easy mmr.
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Excellent pusher
- Hight magickal damage early game
- Decent physical damage late game
- Very versatile
- Provides 100 % evasion & AS buff for allies
- Fun to play once mastered
Cons
- Very lvl & item dependant
- Requires decent microskills
- Slow movement speed
- Very fragile
When to pick
Pick him if :
Your team needs a midlaner
Enemy pick is mostly squishy heroes
Lots of ranged heroes in enemy's pick
Dont pick him if :
You have a midlaner
lots of greedy heroes in your team
Lots of crowdcontrol & durable heroes in enemyes pick
Skills
Flux is your first skill , this is a damaging movespeed slow spell which is used mostly for controlong heros & dealing damage to them as well.It stacks with your double's flux both damage & slow (2 fluxe's make enemy almost crawl like a turtle).Important thing to remember is that it can be purged with any purging spell& can be muted if there are ally creeps or heroes in radius 200 , the effect doesent vanish the duration still goes but without damage and ms slow.You need to max this skill first because it's your main ganking tool.This skill absolutely punishes towerdives.
Magnetic field is AOE buff which grants your team increased AS & 100% evasion.This skill is maxed last because you dont benefit much from AS in early game, you deal too little physical damage , in early game you rely on your nukes to destroy foes.A little tip: when you summon double cast first double's field because soon he will dissapear leaving you without extra AS buff duration , always use this skill in teamfights , pushes & ganking foes.
Similar to Techies mines this is a nuke whis deals damage , purges & slows enemy kinda hard to land because activation lasts 2 seconds making it easy to dodge but not under double flux.Low cooldown and cast range make this skill pretty decent if used propperly .Dont be afraid to spam it surrounding enemy lane with this mines so he cant escape when you decide to attack him.
This is why Arc Warden is so unique , this is why he is soo hard to play. It creates an ideal copy of yourself.You can use all skills and items as well (exept divine rapier , gem of true sight and other disposable items like potions or wards. Double has his own cooldown on abilities and items like : hand of midas or necronomicon.The usage of this skill is very wide , you can do almost everything , feel free to spam it bacause it has no manacost and double gains xp and gold separately from you so it highly increases your GPM & XPM .When farmed propperly you can use only double to take squishy supports ,push out other lanes or assist you in taking big fellas.Thanks to double you can deal tremendous ammount of magickal damage in early game and lots of physical damage in late game
Talents
Level 10 : yon choose between + 25 AS or +20 Flux DPS , let me explain your choice depends on what stage you are oriented : choose Flux DPS if you want to dominate more and you have few kills already because the summary damage after full double flux duration is 960 magical damage while normal damage is 720 (which is quite not bad) otherwise choose + 25 AS this is more late game oriented and if you play from behing because early game was not so succesfull.
Level 15 : now you are offered to choose + Max health or Damage buff , if there are lots of nukers against you and you are doing not very well pick health , pick damage if you want to dominate more.
Level 20 : Attack range or cooldown reduction first thing is good when you have lot of active items like Orchid or Scythe and it allows you to spam skills more often , however you will benefit from bigger attack range because Arc doesent like close distance and always acts from safe place , so you should look out these talents depend much on the situation you have.
Level 25 : 30% lifesteal or + 250 Spark wraith damage you should pick lifesteal because by the time you reach lvl 25 late game is on and magickal damage falls off so you have to rely on your physical damage . This is also very good cause under effect of Magnetic Field you can restore much HP.
Items
Starting items
- basic regeneration that everyone needs in lane . If supports will share tangoes , you can buy some extra items .
- Salve is needed to restore large ammount of hp . Use after heavy harrasment.
- Arc Warden ia very spell dependent hero , in early game especially , so you can spam your spells a little bit more.
- Zet's starting armour is 0 that means actually your armour is minus (hard dota mechanics heh) so + 2 armour might be crucial for you.
- for some extra damage , for last hits of course.
Early Core :
- although you will benefit very much from this item dont try to rush it (only if you are dominating very hard) yeah and dont forget to use it when ulti otherwise it will be useless.If opponents have better late game dont take it , midas is very late game oriented sometimes you need other items , dont forget to be useful for your team , not afk farm.
- boots dont need explanation , boots are boots.
- item ideal for early game gives alittle bit of everything mana regen , damage armour very useful.
Core items :
- excellent , alows youto splitpush and gives very much needed MS , highly improves GPM & XPM
- AW has nostrong innate farming ability this thing boosts it , also gives you nice chunk of damage & creepwave clear.
- good item , gives manaregen & damage very good against spell dependent heroes and heroes who rely on escape , rush this after you get Maelstrom , remembe rabout timing : no need to cast double silence , use it on other hero or if target is not finished after first Orchid.
or
- your mobility items , Arc Warden lacks reach he is too slow for a agility hero , so you need initiation\escape item SB is better for pubs & low pts because noone buys vision BD is for pesky initiation . Buy SB also when you face some strong passives because later on you can upgrade it to SE to break passives . Also use active on your double to get extra invis attack damage.
Extension :
- gives you huge damage boost silinced unit receive critical damage from all heroes & all hits are true strike , which is good against evasion.
- logical upgrade after Maelstrom , gives you higher push power & AS , also active which you can use in teamfights or on a creep to push waves.
Luxury Items :
- awesome against farmed cores , makes you forget about mana issues , can make any enemy hexed for 7 seconds.
- huge boost to your stats , slow goes through BKB , great for controlling slow foes.
- very good item for you gives you damage(your primary attribute is agility dont forget it man) with Double & magnetic field it turns you into a hard damage dealer.
- good damage item nullyfies evasion , benefits from high AS (chance to mini-bash) and you have buttload of AS.
Situational :
- simple , get this to counter nukes & disables , duration is independent on Double so feel free to use it.
- great item for rat pushes Magnetic Field affects illusions so you just melt towers also you can purge debuffs with active this item turns you into something like Naga Siren , pick cooldown reduction talent and exhaust enemy base.
- turns you into a nuker but honestly this is for fun and for report.
- since high nerf this item is only for desperate situations because double does not copy this.
- for more rat pushing power but not an awesome item because you benefit from items which have proc chance , because of your Double & your MF you gain much AS which makes proc chance actually proc more often.
- against mana dependent heros like Wraith King , gives you purge to slow foes and a bit damage.
- very high proc chance because of Magnetic Field but you need some damage items first to make crits hit like a truck.
- good item if you decide to go rat doto. Two packs of summons easily shred towers , but be careful dont mindlessly feed enemy with summons use 'em properly.
- alternative to Blink or SB , gives a bit of stats and ability to double force.Personally i dont like this item because it's good on a utility hero or a hero with low range like Luna but not Arc Warden.
- sometimes needed to counter enemy damage dealers and some additional armour as well , you can use double active in teamfights.
- against nasty actives like Doom or Duel .
Laning , General Teamplay ,
Laning :
So why do you go midlane ? Arc Warden is a very nasty hero in 1vs1 situations and that's why midlane is best for him.His entire skillset is just made for facing solo targets .With flux & spark wraith you easily put pressure in lane.Spam sparks to restrict enemy movement and rune control once his creeps are gone or he is far away from them use flux followed with spark wraith & magnetic field (if you have it yet).Lvl 6 is almost guaranteed kill in lane.
Usually i stay in mid untill i farm early core items at least after this you can go gank other lanes but remember that fram & push is your primary role.After a successfull gank use Magnetic Field to push tower then proceed to further farm.Dont forget to spam sparks they provide vision for you so enemy ganks can be avoided.
General Teamplay :
Once you farmed your core items always spam ulti & send Double to push out other lanes but dont forget to help your team when in need that's why BoT are for : while double pushes other lanes you help your team. Be very careful about loosing killstreak Arc gains kills easily in early game his magical combo is too strong early (only high Hp heroes can survive it) but loosing this advantage to enemy can send you back so watch out.Few words about microing : send Ctrl 1 on main Arc , 2 on double , 3 both Arc and Double , i dont recommend to set 3 for both Arc's & Manta illusions\Necro summons this can lead to getting lost in multiple units while you have to cast your spells or use items , set Manta illusions\summons on other button which is comfortable to you.Yeah it sounds difficult but once mastered gives great advantage against enemy dont let his ****ty winrate distract you many people will say AW is nerfed into waste but previously on he was really imbalanced hero but now i'd say he is ok.
Friends & Foes
Generally speaking Arc Warden has no special has no special friends but here are some hero categories he likes :
Tanky heroes : to distract enemy while he deals damage and if they deal much damage by themselves this would be even better. Good mentions are : Wraith King , Sven ,Huskar.
Initiators : Arc Warden has no innate initiation so he will be very thankful if someone does this work for him . Examples : Tidehunter , Sand King , Centaur , Magnus.
Disablers : anyone who can prevent enemy from using abilities or kite enemy thus making easy for Arc to deal with is a good pick. Honorable mentions : Invoker , Puck , Enigma , Earthshaker.
Foes :
Illusionists : Arc cannot deal with multiple illusions because they negate effect of Flux & usually kill him late game . Avoid : Chaos Knight , Phantom Lancer , Naga Siren , Meepo . Also avoid heroes who often build Manta Style : it purges flux (or Orchid if you build)
Crowd Control\Silence : Arc hates to be silenced because you are a such spell dependent hero , also you hate much stuns & slows since you movespeed is very low. Foes : Earhshaker , Faceless Void , Riki , Silencer.
Nukers : nukers can be very annoying early on bacause yor HP is not high.Examples : Zeus , Timbersaw , Leshrac.
Summary
Hope you enjoyed my guide friends , so there is a little bit more light on this misunderstood hero.) I will enjoy to see some commentaries about it and accept all recommendations you will give me here about improving my guide.Sorry for ******ed english this is not my native language but i always try to improve) So good luck and have fun!!!
Silver Edge
Quick Comment (2) View Comments
You need to log in before commenting.