Hero
Arc Warden
    22 + 2.6
20 + 3
24 + 2.6
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| Creates a copy of himself to split push. | |
| A splintered fragment of the same primordial power as the Ancients themselves, Zet endeavors to end the disharmony among the warring factions through whatever means necessary. Solitary foes are thrown into a volatile state of Flux, ripping away their health over time. Distorting space to generate a Protective Field sheltering around allies, evading and attacking with greater efficiency. Zet summons Spark Fragments of its former self that circles in place, and seek out nearby foes. Is there one Arc Warden, or two? Armed with the original's items and abilities, the Self's Tempest Double duplicates each spell and every attack, bringing twice the chaos to any fight. | |
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| Roles: | Carry Escape Nuker |
| Complexity: | ★★★ |
Contents
Bio[]
Zet, the Arc Warden▶️ "It is not to aid the Ancients that this war is joined, but to destroy them both. This disunity must end."
Lore:
Before the beginning of all, there existed a presence: a primordial mind, infinite, awesome, and set to inscrutable purpose. As the universe thundered into being, this mind was fragmented and scattered. Two among its greater fragments—who would come to be named Radiant and Dire--found themselves locked in vicious opposition, and began twisting all of creation to serve their conflict.
As war and cataclysm threatened the nascent cosmos, the will of a third fragment made itself known. Naming itself Zet, this intellect sought to resolve the disharmony and return all to perfect unity. Appalled by its kin's conflicting nature, Zet gathered the sum of its power. In a sudden flash, it overwhelmed its siblings, and fused the warring aspects into a stellar sphere before hurling them into the darkness to orbit a nondescript world. Harmony was restored, though only the barest fraction of Zet's strength remained. Setting its gaze on the prison, Zet chose to use its weakened power to serve as watchful warden until time's end. For uncounted aeons, this vigil stood.
Life flourished upon the world below, oblivious to the dangers imprisoned within the softly glowing moon, or of Zet's struggles to contain them. As the captives' eternal clash reverberated within, the surface of the prison shuddered, over time beginning to crack. Ultimately, Zet's depleted power proved insufficient to contain the breach, and at last the moon was shattered. The prison's ancient inhabitants had escaped to sow their conflict anew.
Flung to the farthest reaches by the prison's explosion, Zet was transformed by the dissonant energies of its former captives. No longer of single form and thought, its presence had become split among many—some lesser, some greater—each connected by a fleeting arc of consciousness. Struggling to suppress its own disunity, Zet sped toward the burgeoning conflict of its siblings, bending its fractured wills toward a singular conclusion: the aspects of the primordial mind must be made to reunite, or all must be destroyed lest the conflict spread further…
As war and cataclysm threatened the nascent cosmos, the will of a third fragment made itself known. Naming itself Zet, this intellect sought to resolve the disharmony and return all to perfect unity. Appalled by its kin's conflicting nature, Zet gathered the sum of its power. In a sudden flash, it overwhelmed its siblings, and fused the warring aspects into a stellar sphere before hurling them into the darkness to orbit a nondescript world. Harmony was restored, though only the barest fraction of Zet's strength remained. Setting its gaze on the prison, Zet chose to use its weakened power to serve as watchful warden until time's end. For uncounted aeons, this vigil stood.
Life flourished upon the world below, oblivious to the dangers imprisoned within the softly glowing moon, or of Zet's struggles to contain them. As the captives' eternal clash reverberated within, the surface of the prison shuddered, over time beginning to crack. Ultimately, Zet's depleted power proved insufficient to contain the breach, and at last the moon was shattered. The prison's ancient inhabitants had escaped to sow their conflict anew.
Flung to the farthest reaches by the prison's explosion, Zet was transformed by the dissonant energies of its former captives. No longer of single form and thought, its presence had become split among many—some lesser, some greater—each connected by a fleeting arc of consciousness. Struggling to suppress its own disunity, Zet sped toward the burgeoning conflict of its siblings, bending its fractured wills toward a singular conclusion: the aspects of the primordial mind must be made to reunite, or all must be destroyed lest the conflict spread further…
Alias:
Zet
Voice:
Abilities[]
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.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.77
Cast Range: 500/600/700/800 (
675/775/875/975)
675/775/875/975)Search Radius: 225
Damage per Second: 15/30/45/60 ( 55/70/85/100)
55/70/85/100)Move Speed Slow: 20%/30%/40%/50%
Duration: 6 ( 8)
8)
16
75
An infinitesimal fraction of the power which imprisoned the Ancients.
Notes:
- If the target has allies or neutral creeps within the 225 search radius, the ability temporarily stops slowing and damaging the target, until it is alone again.
- Checks for enemies and neutrals in 0.5-second intervals, beginning instantly upon cast. The slow updates based on the result of the checks.
- Also deals damage in the same intervals, based on the checks, dealing 7.5/15/22.5/30 ( 27.5/35/42.5/50) damage, resulting in 13 ( 17) possible instances.
- While Flux is muted, the particle effects on the target vanish, with only a red glow remaining on the unit, indicating the debuff is still there.
- Nearby buildings, wards and hidden units are ignored and do not mute the effects. However, invulnerable units are not ignored.
- Can deal up to 97.5/195/292.5/390 damage to the target if all instances are applied (before reductions).
- With the damage per second increasing talent, it can deal up to 357.5/455/552.5/650 damage if all instances are applied.
- With the duration increasing talent, it can deal up to 127.5/255/382.5/510 damage if all instances are applied.
- With the both talents, it can deal up to 467.5/595/722.5/850 damage if all instances are applied.
- The damage per second increasing talent does not upgrade already existing instances of Flux.
- With the damage per second increasing
- Multiple casts on the same target fully stack, with all instances working independently from each other.
Magnetic Field
Ability
Target Area
Target Area
Affects
Allies
Allies
Generates a circular distortion field of magnetic energy that protects allied heroes and buildings within it by evading attacks coming from outside the field.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0
Cast Range: 900
Effect Radius: 300
Evasion: 100%
Attack Speed Bonus: 50/60/70/80 ( 90/100/110/120)
90/100/110/120)Aura Linger Duration: 0.1
Duration: 3.5/4.5/5.5/6.5
Magic Resistance Bonus: 40% Enemy Move Speed Slow: 30% Enemy Max Knockback Distance: 350 Enemy Knockback Duration: 0.3 20 50/
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:
Magnetic Field slows pushes enemies out of the area when cast and slows them while they are in it, and provides allies in it with magic resistance.
Modifiers [?]
modifier_arc_warden_magnetic_field_thinker_evasion
Undispellable
modifier_arc_warden_magnetic_field_thinker_attack_speed
Undispellable
modifier_arc_warden_magnetic_field_evasion
Undispellable
modifier_arc_warden_magnetic_field_attack_speed
Undispellable
modifier_knockback
Time and space are of little consequence to one as old as Zet.
Notes:
- Applies an attack speed bonus and evasion to allies within the radius.
- The effects are provided by an aura. Its buff lingers for 0.1 seconds.
- Does not evade attacks landing on allies when the source of the attack is within the field.
- The evasion effect of fields from Arc Warden and its Tempest Double works independently.
- This means when an ally is within the intersection of two fields, attacks are evaded unless their source is also within the intersection.
- Affects heroes (including illusions and clones), creep-heroes and buildings. All other units are completely unaffected.
- Does not affect invulnerable units, so buildings are only affected when attackable.
- The attack speed bonus of multiple Magnetic Fields does not stack.
- Despite its visual effects, the effective area is a cylinder not a sphere.
- The attack speed increasing talent immediately upgrades all currently active Magnetic Fields, but not already placed buffs.
- With Aghanim's Shard, Magnetic Field pushes every enemy within its 300 radius out of it upon cast.
- The knockback is not a set distance. It pushes every enemy so that they are 350 range away from the center of the targeted area. So the minimum knockback distance is 50 and the maximum is 350.
- The knockback duration is always 0.3, so the speed varies between 1166.67 — 166.67, depending on the knockback distance.
- Enemies are not disabled during the knockback, and are, besides moving, able to act freely during it.
- Can push units over impassable terrain. Any trees the knocked back unit collides with gets destroyed.
- It also causes all already placed Magnetic Fields to immediately apply 40% magic resistance and 30% movement speed slow.
- Increases both heroes and buildings' magic resistance within its 300 effect radius.
- The movement speed slow of multiple fields stack additively with each and with other sources of movement speed slow.
- Reduces enemies' movement speed by 60% by stacking two instances.
- Stack multiplicatively with other sources of magic resistance.
- Increases most heroes' total magic resistance to 55% (or 73% by stacking two instances).
- Increases all buildings' total magic resistance to 40% (or 64% by stacking two instances).
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 and slowing the unit.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.77
Cast Range: 2000
Search Radius: 375
Activation Delay: 2
Move Speed Slow: 100%
Damage: 100/180/260/340 ( 225/305/385/465)
225/305/385/465)Slow Duration: 0.4/0.5/0.6/0.7
Wraith Duration: 45
Second Activation Delay: 2 4 80
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Causes Spark Wraiths to spawn a new Spark Wraith after impacting an enemy, which then starts its 2 second activation period.
Modifiers [?]
modifier_arc_warden_spark_wraith_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_projectile_vision
Undispellable
modifier_arc_warden_spark_wraith_purge
Lesser fragments of Zet's original self.
Notes:
- The Spark Wraith travels at a speed of 400.
- Once the activation delay is over, it checks for enemies (including neutral creeps) in 0.2-second intervals and launches towards the first registered enemy.
- If multiple enemies are within range after the delay, the closest enemy is targeted.
- Deals damage based on the level upon cast of the ability. Leveling up Spark Wraith does not update the damage of already placed Spark Wraiths.
- The wraith first applies the damage, then the debuff.
- The Spark Wraith is fully visible to the enemy.
- Fully affects invisible units. Can target units inside the Fog of War, but not invulnerable or hidden units.
- The activation delay is not included in the wraith's duration.
- Provides 300 radius ground vision for its full duration. The vision does not linger.
- The launched projectile also provides the same vision, which lingers for 3.34 seconds after reaching the target.
- The damage increasing talent immediately upgrades all already placed wraiths, including ones which already seek a target.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, Spark Wraiths create a secondary wraith immediately upon hitting the enemy.
- These secondary wraiths have to go through a 2 seconds activation delay.
- This effect only occurs once per Spark Wraith. Secondary Spark Wraiths cannot spawn new wraiths.
Arc Warden's icons at the side of the screen. The currently selected unit is highlighted.
Tempest Double
Ability
No Target
No Target
Affects
The Self
The Self
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, except most consumables and items that drop on death. The duplicate has separate item and ability cooldowns. The Tempest Double gives bounty gold to enemies when killed. The Tempest Double loses its sense of self if he is too far away from Arc Warden and deals less attack damage.
Cast Animation: 0.15+0.5
Number of Doubles: 1
Duration: 18/22/26 ( 30/34/38)
30/34/38)Bounty: 180/240/300
Penalty Distance: 2000
Attack Damage Penalty: 50%
Cooldown Reduction: 50% 60/
Modifiers [?]
modifier_arc_warden_tempest_double
Undispellable
modifier_kill
Death
modifier_arc_warden_distance_penalty
Undispellable
Ability Draft Notes:
This ability is not available in Ability Draft.
Warped by the power of its peers, Arc Warden becomes what it despises most: disharmony.
Notes:
- The Tempest Double is a clone that always spawns with Arc Warden's current mana and health.
- On the first cast of Tempest Double, the double is actually summoned. On every following cast, it is just healed or revived.
- The double gets dispeled as if it died, removing all modifiers which are removed by death. This means most modifiers which persist through death are not removed.
- Its cooldowns are not refreshed upon getting re-summoned, so all cooldowns from the previous cast carry over.
- Resummoning the Tempest Double does not disjoint projectiles.
- If the distance between Arc Warden and the Tempest Double gets greater than 2000, its total attack damage gets reduced by 50%.
- The penalty is also applied when Arc Warden is dead, unless he has Reincarnation sources.
- Does not reduce conditional attack damage bonuses (e.g. Monkey King Bar or Silver Edge).
- A debuff appears on the Tempest Double whenever this penalty is active. The debuff is visible to allies only.
- Arc Warden and the Tempest Double are represented by an icon with health and mana bars for each on the top left corner of the screen.
- When a Zet is selected, its icon becomes brighter. When a Zet takes damage, its icon blinks red.
- The Tempest Double is visually distinguishable from the original Zet for everyone.
- On the minimap, allies see the unique minimap icon, while enemies see Arc Warden's default icon.
- On the minimap, allies see the unique
- The buffs of a consumed Moon Shard, Aghanim's Blessing and Aghanim's Shard are copied as well.
- However, other permanent modifiers (e.g. Duel, Intelligence Steal) are not.
- Any permanent modifiers gained by the Tempest Double while alive are lost once it gets resummoned.
- Abilities that grant effects for killing heroes (e.g. Flesh Heap, Track, etc.) do not do so when the killed hero is the Tempest Double.
- The double is a clone and therefore treated exactly like a hero by all abilities, since it is not an illusion.
- The double has a 180/240/300 and a 180/240/300XP bounty. The gold is granted to the killing player, the experience is distributed like any other experience.
- However, if the double is killed by creeps or buildings, the gold gets distributed as well, just like hero kills do when not killed by players.
- The Tempest Double does not passively gain any experience like heroes usually do, so it does not leech experience from its allies.
- Any experience the Double would have gained is transferred to Arc Warden, even if the Tempest Double was dead at the time.
- The cooldown reduction talent grants the Tempest Double cooldown reduction on its abilities and items.
- Stacks multiplicatively with other sources of percentage-based cooldown reductions.
Item Interactions[]
Cooldown
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Items
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Neutral Items
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Consumables and Charged-based Items
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Talents[]
| Hero Talents | ||
|---|---|---|
| +12s Tempest Double Duration | 25 | +50% Tempest Double Cooldown Reduction |
| +40 Flux Damage | 20 | +125 Spark Wraith Damage |
| +40 Magnetic Field Attack Speed | 15 | +2s Flux Duration |
| +225 Health | 10 | +175 Flux Cast Range |
Notes:
- Talents are fully copied by the Tempest Double.
- The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.
Recent Changes[]
Main Article: Arc Warden/Changelogs
Version
Description
- Increased base attack damage from 27‒37 to 31‒37.
- Increased agility gain from 2.5 to 3.
- Increased Spark Wraith damage from 100/170/240/310 to 100/180/260/340.
- The Tempest Double now has a 50% total attack damage reduction when more than 2000 range away from Arc Warden.
- Talents:
- Level 15 right talent changed: +8 armor ➜ +2s Flux duration.
- Level 25 right talent changed: 35% lifesteal ➜ 50% cooldown reduction for the Tempest Double.
- Reduced base strength and gain from 23 + 2.8 to 22 + 2.6.
- Increased base agility from 16 to 20.
- Reduced base attack damage from 31‒41 to 27‒37.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Reduced Spark Wraith second activation delay from 3 to 2.
- Talents:
- Level 25 right talent: 25% lifesteal increased to 35%.
Recommended Items[]
Starting items:
- Tango gives Arc Warden sustain in lane.
- Faerie Fire gives a bit of damage and can be a lifesaver.
- Healing Salve restores large amount of health in the early game.
- Iron Branch provides attribute bonuses and build into Magic Wand.
- Slippers of Agility gives agility for Arc Warden to last hit early on and can later be built into a Wraith Band.
- Magic Stick can be an alternative starting item if playing against casters.
Early game:
- Boots of Speed improves Arc Warden's mediocre movement speed and gives him some form of escape from enemies.
- Magic Wand restores some health and mana, allowing Arc Warden to use his abilities and escape items like Hurricane Pike.
- Hand of Midas accelerates Arc Warden farming game. Keep track of its cooldown on Tempest Double to know when optimal times to use it are.
Mid game:
- Boots of Travel gives Arc Warden map wide presence for fighting, pushing, and farming.
- Maelstrom improves Arc Warden's farming, wave clear and fighting capabilities and later upgrades to Mjollnir or Gleipnir.
- Gleipnir gives decent stats and crowd control, a good alternative. It's ideal for early to mid game skirmishes, as well as late game teamfights. The major disadvantage of the item is being countered heavily by dispels and lack of attack speed, although the active bypasses Linken's Sphere.
- Mjollnir buffs both yours and your Tempest Double's attack speed as well as punishing enemies who attack either.
- Manta Style is a great item for mid-game fights, as it's component - Yasha - is one of the most cost-efficient items for agility heroes, giving Arc Warden much needed agility and movement speed. The active dispels some negative effects, and four illusions from Tempest Double and Zet can wreak havoc. The double's and the original's Manta Style are independent from and do not replace each other. The illusions also benefit from Magnetic Field, making them more resistant to physical attacks and speeding up their attack speed.
Late game:
- Hurricane Pike lets Arc Warden stay in the back with the increased attack range, and gives him an escape that, if used by Tempest Double as well, can effectively double the distance traveled.
- Monkey King Bar helps tremendously to counter evasion and highly armored heroes, while dealing less to those with high magic resistance.
- Nullifier allows Arc Warden to dispel and slow down enemies so they cannot be protected by defensive items like Glimmer Cape or Force Staff. 80 damage and 8 armor for low price can't be ignored, either. An ideal item both to kite melee rightclickers like Sven and prevent heroes like Drow Ranger or Zeus from escaping.
- Scythe of Vyse boosts Arc Warden's mana and mana regeneration to use abilities liberally. The Tempest Double can use hex as well, doubling the disabling duration. Take care with chain disabling, as the enemy may use Black King Bar right after.
Situational items:
- Blink Dagger allows offensive Arc Warden and Tempest Double to approach enemy targets and unleash their abilities and items quickly.
- Shadow Blade provides attack speed and attack damage, as well as invisibility for Arc Warden to escape or initiate on enemies. It can upgrade to Silver Edge to apply break, suppressing both offensive and defensive passives.
- Bloodthorn boosts mana regeneration as well as damage output with attack speed, attack damage, and True Strike. The silence also prevents much of retaliation or escape from enemies. Black King Bar and other dispel items can counter this effect, so take caution.
- Black King Bar counters most disables so Arc Warden can attack and use items. It can also be used to send in the double in fights and staying back in safety with the main Arc Warden. The Double can use Avatar, but its duration is independent of the main Arc Warden's Black King Bar.
- Butterfly turns Arc Warden into a heavy hitter. His primary attribute is agility, so he benefits a lot from its attributes. The Tempest Double has no attack damage penalties like most illusions do, since it is not an illusion, so it can greatly increase Arc Warden's overall damage output. Arc Warden's two damaging spells deal both magical damage and do not scale. A Butterfly helps him keep on doing damage to the enemy in the late game. The attack damage he gets from the item is also great for pushing and synergizes very well with Magnetic Field.
- Daedalus, like Butterfly, significantly increases your damage output, as Arc Warden can constantly deliver crits thanks to the enormous attack speed boost provided by Magnetic Field. Note that this passives doesn't work against buildings.
- Ethereal Blade can be useful in the late game, especially facing attack damage. Synergizes very well with Spark Wraith talents. Also gives 40 agility, so it can be considered even when focusing on attack damage.
- Eye of Skadi increases Arc Warden's stats, HP and Mana. Its frost attack, synergizing it with Flux, his Tempest Double clone, and his Manta Style Illusions, make it significantly harder for enemies to escape.
- Desolator can be useful in the late game stage, which gives him 55 damage. It allows Arc Warden to eliminate enemy heroes, creeps, and towers much quickly, with the aid of his Illusions coming from Manta Style from both the prime and Double Warden.
Gameplay[]
Audio[]
History[]
Equipment[]
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Trivia[]
- The line ▶️ "You will just have to accept this, and move on." is a reference to a Dota 2 based web cartoon The Dota 2 Reporter, where it is a recurring gag for the characters to question the game's logic, only to be answered by this line.
- The lines ▶️ "Doggedly." and ▶️ "Hounding." are references to Arc Warden's former appearance in DotA, where its model was that of a Gnoll, a canine-like creature from Warcraft. Its rivalry lines towards Lycan, ▶️ "Inferior form." and ▶️ "Apex predator, you are not. ", are also a nudge to this.
- A lot of Arc Warden's lore and responses reference the work of the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.
- Arc Warden's focal point of unification is based on the psychological concept of individuation. Put in simple terms, in Jungian Psychology, the concept of individuation is when the conscious ego combines with the unconscious shadow, creating "the Self". Arc Warden exclusively refers to itself as "The Self". Tempest Double's concept also references this, with Arc Warden representing the conscious ego, and the Tempest Double representing the unconscious shadow. As stated in the ability's lore, Arc Warden despises this ability, since it brings disharmony; Arc Warden can only be The Self if not split apart.
- Some of Jung's work is also reflected in Arc Warden's abilities, like how Flux is only harmful when the target is alone, i.e. not united with their allies, or how Magnetic Field only works against enemies outside its area of effect. Spark Wraith's ability description also states that it affects its target by "fusing" with them.
- The line ▶️ "From the Primordial Consciousness all came. Return to it, all must." refers to the pyschological concept of the Collective Unconscious, which refers to the unconscious mind and shared mental concepts. This term was also coined by Carl Gustav Jung.
Gallery[]
Promotional art
Concept art
Concept art
Early textures
Ability icon progress
Hero icon progress
