Arthas

Arthas
"Frostmourne hungers."
Basic Info
Title	The Lich King
Role	Tank
Difficulty	Medium
Franchise	Warcraft
Price	625 / 7,000
Release Date	March 13, 2014
Base Stats
Attack Type	Melee
Health	2860
Health Regen	5.957
Resource	500 Mana
Unit Radius	0.8125
Attack Speed	1
Attack Range	2
Attack Damage	95
Data Page

Arthas Menethil, the Lich King, is a melee Tank Hero from the Warcraft universe. Once the crown prince of Lordaeron, and protégé of Uther the Lightbringer, Arthas was corrupted by the cursed blade Frostmourne in a bid to save his people. Now he rules over the damned as the Lich King and all shall know his wrath.

Arthas is a Tank who is proficient against melee Physical Attackers, Slowing them.

History

This section concerns content exclusive to the Warcraft universe.

Arthas Menethil, the crown prince of Lordaeron, was the son of King Terenas Menethil II, and Queen Lianne Menethil and brother of Princess Calia Menethil. He joined the Order of the Silver Hand led by Uther the Lightbringer, and was trained as a paladin. Arthas was a promising knight, though he eventually spiraled down a path of vengeance.

Arthas's downfall began at Stratholme, one of the first cities to be struck by the plague. Upon discovering that the grain stores in the city had been infected, Arthas ordered Uther and a Kirin Tor mage named Jaina Proudmoore to help him purge the city in order to prevent the plague from spreading further. Uther and Jaina refused to follow his demands, however, and Arthas went on to purge the city without them. In Stratholme, Arthas encountered and fought a dreadlord by the name of Mal'Ganis. Before Mal'Ganis fled, he told Arthas to meet him in the arctic land of Northrend.

Arthas gathered an army and set sail for Northrend. Upon his arrival, he encountered an old friend by the name of Muradin Bronzebeard. After Muradin told Arthas of an ancient and powerful runeblade and mourneblade called Frostmourne, which had the potential to slay Mal'Ganis, the two friends set out to look for the weapon. Upon finding Frostmourne, however, Muradin realized it was cursed and said they should leave it be. Arthas, willing to pay any price to save his people, did not heed Muradin's warning. He claimed the blade and seemingly killed his old friend in the process.

With Frostmourne in hand, Arthas set out to find Mal'Ganis. He fought through hordes of undead before reaching the dreadlord. Mal'Ganis revealed to Arthas that the whispers he was hearing from Frostmourne were actually the voice of the Lich King, and asked him what the Lich King's next instructions were. Arthas replied that the voice was telling him to enact his vengeance. Striking the astonished dreadlord down, Arthas abandoned his men and began wandering through the frozen wastes, where he lost what remained of his sanity. When Arthas returned to Lordaeron, he killed his father in cold blood and conquered the kingdom in the name of the Scourge.

Some time later, following the destruction he had wrought on the continent, the Lich King ordered Arthas to return to Northrend. Illidan Stormrage, who had been instructed by the Burning Legion to destroy the Lich King, raced Arthas to the immobile Lich King's seat of power in Icecrown. Ultimately, the two fought and Arthas emerged victorious. Arthas shattered the Frozen Throne and placed the helm of the Lich King upon his head, allowing the two to become one single being.

Gameplay

Arthas is an aggressive Tank who who can be played both as a Bruiser and as a Tank. Arthas excels at slowing and rooting several opponents at the same time, which allows him to either chase down retreating enemies or to peel for threatened allies. The ability to reduce the Attack Speed of nearby opponents, makes him an excellent choice against Melee Assassins who are dependent on Basic Attacks.

Strengths

• Powerful crowd control abilities
• Strong self-sustain
• Resilient against Basic Attacks
• High damage output compared to other Tanks
• Decent laner

Arthas' Weaknesses

• No gap-closers
• Mana dependent
• Struggles against mages who deal a large amount of burst damage

Abilities

See Data Page for a table of scaled values at key levels.

D

Frostmourne Hungers

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Activate to make Arthas's next Basic Attack strike immediately and deal 99 increased damage. Dealing damage restores 30 Mana.

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Type: Bonus damage, Mana restoration

Scaling: 4.00% (damage) / - (mana)

Affects: Enemies

Targeting: No target

Properties: Attack Modifier, Primed

Cast time: Instant

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• The damage is added to Arthas's Basic Attack damage and dealt in a single instance.
• Cooldown starts once the Ability is triggered by attacking an enemy.

Q

Death Coil

50 Mana Cooldown: 9 seconds

Deals 164 damage to target enemy.

Can be self-cast to heal for 262 Health.

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Type: Spell Damage / Healing

Scaling: 4.00% (both)

Affects: Enemies / Self

Targeting: Unit target

Cast time: 0.15 + 0 seconds

Range: 6.0

Missile speed: 18

W

Howling Blast

70 Mana Cooldown: 12 seconds

Root enemies within the target area for 1.25 seconds and deals 68 damage.

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Type: Spell Damage, Crowd control

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Enemies

Targeting: Point Target

Properties: Area of Effect, Root, Clamping, Self-castable

Cast time: 0.15 + 0 seconds

Range: 9.0

Radius: 2.0

Missile speed: 17

E

Frozen Tempest

Cooldown: 1 seconds

13 Mana per second
Deal 40 damage per second to nearby enemies and Slow their Movement Speed by 10% per second, stacking up to 40%. Heroes hit also have their Attack Speed Slowed by 10% per second, stacking up to 40%. Frozen Tempest's effects last for 1.5 seconds.

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Type: Spell Damage, Crowd control / Status effect

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Enemies / Enemy Heroes

Targeting: No target (toggle)

Properties: Area of Effect, Attack Slow, Slow

Cast time: Instant

Radius: 3.5

Tickrate: 2.0 per second

Damage per tick: 20

Slow per tick: 5%

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• Debuff can be fully removed with Invulnerable and friendly Stasis effects. Unstoppable and CC removal effects only remove the Slow and not the Attack Slow debuff.
• Slow stacks with itself, but not with other sources of Slows.
• Attack Slow stacks additively with itself and other effects that affect the target's Attack Speed.

R

Army of the Dead

80 Mana Cooldown: 80 seconds

Summons Ghouls that last 15 seconds and attack for 20 damage. Sacrifice Ghouls to heal for 267 Health.

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Type: Summon

Targeting: No target

Cast time: 0.15 + 0 seconds

Summoned Ghouls: 6

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• The cooldown starts immediately when the Ability is activated.
• While active, the ability is replaced by Sacrifice.

---

Ghoul

Type: Active

Scaling: 4.00% (damage & Health)

Targeting: Automatic

Health: 1060

Basic Attack damage: 20

Attack speed: 1.0

Attack range: 1.0

Movement Speed: 5.0

Unit radius: 0.6875

Sight radius: 7.0

Leash radius: 10

---

• Ghouls are unable to move for the first 1.3 seconds after being summoned.
• Ghouls are summoned at random positions within 5 radius around Arthas, but will reorganize around Arthas at 2.5 range at 60 degree intervals once they are able to move.
• Ghouls will follow Arthas in this formation until he issues an attack move on an enemy. Each of the Ghouls will then attack this target until they or the target dies or the Ghoul is leashed and returns to the formation.
• Ghouls persist even after Arthas's death.

R

Army of the Dead - Sacrifice

Cooldown: 2 seconds

Sacrifice a Ghoul to heal for 267 Health.

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Type: Healing

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Self

Targeting: No target

Properties: Area of Effect

Cast time: 0 + 0.15 seconds

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• Replaces Arthas's Heroic Ability slot while Army of the Dead is active.
• Sacrifice starts on a 1.5 second cooldown when Army of the Dead is activated.
• Arthas cannot activate the Ability to sacrifice a Ghoul if he is at full Health.
• The Ghoul with the lowest Health will be sacrificed first.

R

Summon Sindragosa

100 Mana Cooldown: 100 seconds

Deals 230 damage and Slows enemies by 60% for 4 seconds. Also disables Minions, Mercenaries, Monsters and Structures for 20 seconds.

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Type: Spell Damage, Crowd control

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Enemies

Properties: Clamping, Piercing Skillshot, Slow (vs. Heroes and Summons), Stun (vs. non-Heroic)

Cast time: 0.6 + 0.15 seconds

Range: 38

Hitbox: 8.0 x 4.0

Missile speed:
- Initial: 6.0
- Maximum: 15
- Acceleration: 56

Initial delay: 0.75 seconds

Talents

1

Frost Presence

❢ Quest: Root enemy Heroes with Howling Blast.

❢ Reward: After Rooting 5 Heroes, Howling Blast's cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds.

❢ Reward: After Rooting 10 Heroes, Howling Blast's range is increased by 20%.

❢ Reward: After Rooting 20 Heroes, Howling Blast also Roots enemies in its path.

---

Type: Crowd control

Affects: Enemies

Properties: Piercing skillshot, Root

Hitbox: 1.5 x 1.25

Bonus range: 1.8

Bonus missile speed: 5.1015

---

• Actually gains a stack per Hero hit even if they are not Rooted (due to Unstoppable).
• Howling Blast's projectile speed is increased if it is cast beyond 8 range.

Eternal Hunger

❢ Quest: Use Frostmourne Hungers on an enemy Hero.

❢ Reward: Increases the Mana it restores by 4, to a maximum of 40, and its damage by 4.

---

Type: Bonus damage

Scaling: -

Affects: Ability

Maximum bonus damage: 5000 (x1250)

Rime

Every 5 seconds, gain 75 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack, reducing the damage taken by 75%. Stores up to 3 charges.

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Type: Defensive damage modifier

Affects: Self

Properties: Block, Physical Armor

---

• Does not stack with itself or other positive Physical Armor effects. Other defensive damage modifiers may stack.

4

Deathlord

Increase the range of Death Coil by 30%, reduce its cooldown by 3 seconds, and if Death Coil is used on an enemy Hero its Mana cost is refunded.

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Bonus cast range: 1.8

Frozen Wastes

Frozen Tempest Mana cost reduced by 2 per second.

❢ Quest: Damage enemy Heroes with Frozen Tempest.

❢ Reward: After damaging enemy Heroes 150 times with Frozen Tempest, the Movement and Attack Speed Slows of Frozen Tempest last an extra 1.5 seconds against enemy Heroes.

---

Bonus duration: 1.5 seconds

---

• Every Hero hit counts toward quest progress.

Icy Talons

Gain 3% Attack Speed for 1.5 seconds every time a Hero is damaged by Frozen Tempest, to a maximum of 60%.

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Type: Status effect

Affects: Self

Properties: Attack Speed

---

• Attack speed stacks additively with itself and other effects that can affect Arthas's Attack Speed.

7

Immortal Coil

Gain the healing effect of Death Coil even when used on enemies. If Death Coil is used on Arthas, it heals for an additional 50%.

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Type: Healing dealt modifier

Affects: Ability

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• Healing on enemy cast is applied when the missile returns to Arthas.
• Bonus healing stacks additively with other healing dealt modifiers that can affect Death Coil's healing.

Rune Tap

Every 3rd Basic Attack heals Arthas for 5% of his max Health.

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Type: Healing

Scaling: -

Affects: Self

Properties: Attack Modifier

Icebound Fortitude

Cooldown: 35 seconds
Active: Activate to gain 25 Armor, reducing damage taken by 25%, and reduce the duration of Stuns, Slows, and Roots against Arthas by 75% for 3 seconds.

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Type: Defensive damage modifier

Affects: Self

Properties: Armor

---

• Does not stack with other positive Armor effects. Other defensive damage modifiers may stack.

10

Army of the Dead

Summons Ghouls that last 15 seconds and attack for 20 damage. Sacrifice Ghouls to heal for 267 Health.

Summon Sindragosa

Deals 230 damage and Slows enemies by 60% for 4 seconds. Also disables Minions, Mercenaries, Monsters and Structures for 20 seconds.

13

Shattered Armor

Enemy Heroes hit by Howling Blast have their Armor reduced by 15 for 4 seconds.

---

Type: Defensive damage modifier

Affects: Enemy Heroes

Properties: Armor reduction

---

• Does not stack with other negative Armor effects. Other defensive damage modifiers may stack.

Biting Cold

Each second an enemy is damaged by Frozen Tempest, it deals 12.5% bonus damage, up to a 50% bonus.

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Type: Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Ability

---

• Damage bonus is tracked independently for every affected unit.
• Damage bonus stacks additively with itself and multiplicatively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect Frozen Tempest's damage.

Frost Strike

Reduces Frostmourne Hungers's cooldown by 2 seconds. Frostmourne Hungers also Slows the enemy by 50% for 1.5 seconds.

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Type: Crowd control

Affects: Enemies

Properties: Attack Modifier, Slow

16

Embrace Death

Death Coil deals more damage and heals more the lower Arthas's current Health is, to a maximum of 100% bonus damage and healing.

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Type: Healing dealt modifier, Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Ability

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• Bonus damage and healing percentage equates to the percentage of Health Arthas is missing.
• Bonus damage stacks mutiplicatively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect Death Coil's damage.
• Bonus healing stacks additively with other healing dealt modifiers that can affect Death Coil's healing.

Remorseless Winter

Enemy Heroes that remain within Frozen Tempest for 3 seconds are Rooted for 1.25 seconds. This effect can only happen once every 10 seconds.

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Type: Crowd control

Affects: Enemy Heroes

Properties: Root

---

• Cooldown is per enemy Hero.

Frostmourne Feeds

Increases the amount of Basic Attacks empowered by Frostmourne Hungers to 2.

20

Legion of Northrend

3 additional Ghouls are created. Ghouls deal 50% more damage, heal for an additional 50% and last 5 seconds longer.

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Type: Offensive damage modifier / Bonus healing

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Ghouls / Ability

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• Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect Ghouls' Basic Attack damage.
• Healing bonus increases the base healing of Sacrifice to 400.5, causing the given percentage to stack multiplicatively with healing dealt modifiers that can affect Sacrifice's healing.

Absolute Zero

Sindragosa flies twice as far. Enemy Heroes are Rooted for 2.5 seconds, and then Slowed by 60% for 4 seconds.

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Type: Crowd control

Affects: Enemy Heroes & Summons

Properties: Root

Bonus range: 38

Death's Advance

Increases Movement Speed by 10%. Frozen Tempest's maximum Movement Speed Slow and Attack Speed Slow are increased from 40% to 60%.

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Type: Status effect

Affects: Self

---

• Also increases the Slow's amount per tick from 5% to 7.5%.

Anti-Magic Shell

Cooldown: 60 seconds
Active: Activate to make Arthas Immune to Spell Damage for 4 seconds and heal Arthas for 25% of the damage prevented.

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Type: Status effect, Healing

Affects: Self

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• Anti-Magic Shell absorbs all incoming Spell Damage, similar to Protected status.
• The amount of damage absorbed, and thus also healing done, is calculated after damage modifiers, such as Armor.
• Healing does not benefit from Arthas's Spell Power or other healing dealt modifiers.
• Note that Percent damage in all its forms is a type of Spell Damage, therefore Arthas fully benefits from this Talent when applied to it.

Builds and guides

Icy Veins Arthas Guide

Arthas Community Build Guides @ HeroesFire

Arthas Community Build Guides @ Heroes Hearth

Thegreat610's Arthas Guide (2021-09-29)
Builds and Roles
Offlane-Standard [T3231121,Arthas]	This build is played much more passively then the offlane builds that will be covered, as it is more dependent on casting Howling Blast in teamfights in order to set up for your 'mages' to deal damage. This build favors Rime at level 1, because it lets him tank a bit more damage against heroes such as Hanzo, Greymane, Raynor, Fenix and Valla, be it from sustained damage or poke damage. His goal in teamfights will be to try to get into the backline and disrupting them with Frozen Tempest as much as he can. The downside to this build is that he doesn't have damage of his own to be a reasonable threat to most backliners, so this means that also against many offlane match-ups, he will lose out on wave priority or lose out on a trade. The build is more favored when you want to amplify your damage dealers and your supports as much as you can when playing in this position, as they may need a frontliner that can tank damage for them.
Offlane-Hybrid [T2111331,Arthas]	The Q + D build gives Arthas other conditions in teamfights, it lets him play in-and-out while also giving him the most amount of burst damage of his own. It is seemingly weaker against tanks and bruisers, as because of the lack of Icebound Fortitude advices them use hard crowd-control abilities on you with stronger effect, but is much stronger against backliners, as he has enough damage to kill on his own, while also being able to do poke-damage. This build is favored if you don't need to win or control the lanes as much, while it has larger emphasis on forcing longer fights due to wanting to play around the Map Objectives. This works because there is occasions where Arthas could tank damage for his team, while backing away to heal up quickly using Death Coil, and as long as the enemy team doesn't have heroes with dive-potential or big combos, they shouldn't be capable to engage or kill a hero however they want. This build can also be rather strong against heroes such as Johanna, Muradin, Fenix and Uther because they are all bad against poke damage.
Offlane-Bruiser [T2321233,Arthas]	The bruiser build makes Arthas engage-type of playstyle much stronger in terms of his improved raw dps output and survivability against sustained damage. In terms of offlane match-ups, this is his strongest build, as it can let him outtrade every single melee hero in the game, as before level 10. This build is mostly map dependent where holding your lane, such as Braxis Holdout, can prove to be valuable, another reason is if the enemy has frontliners that is dependent on their backline, as he can punish frontliners even further, so on a map where heavy frontline comps is priority such as Infernal Shrines, this build can become favored, but still very situational. Because this build is played to empower his capability to counter melee frontliners, it becomes good if the enemy features heroes such as Artanis, Sonya, Imperius, Qhira, Varian and Diablo. This build can flex talents, sometimes Icebound Fortitude on level 7 if they have strong crowd-control, Shattered Armor on level 13, Remorseless Winter on level 16 and optional talents for either Legion of Northrend or Anti-Magic Shell.
Main Tank-Standard [T1231121,Arthas]	Main Tank Arthas is usually his secondary role, because of his lacking kit compared to most other tanks, two things are concerned here; Gap closing capabilities and stun, he lacks both. Arthas is still really tanky, though struggles against spell damage and typically burst in-general. Main Tank Arthas provides reliable crowd-control as long as he can keep Frozen Tempest on the enemy heroes, and he also provides with quiet decent waveclear as well as camp clearing capabilities naturally due to the ability. Taking Frost Presence level 1 is something that makes his Howling Blast much more powerful and easier to land in choke points especially, all of the points of the talent makes it easier for him to play more actively as a tank, either by forcing an engage or peeling. Usually because of the importance of his quest completion of his level 1, it's usually not advised to play him if the enemy features heroes with teleport (also called "blink"), heroes like Zeratul, Li-Ming, Tracer, Malthael and Tyrael all feature this capability. Arthas as the Main Tank should feature heroes that can give him some type of lead way by making his job easier and more consistent, either by providing with gap closing capabilities for him to follow-up on or lend him extra protection. Usually offlaners that can engage by their own means, such as Chen ( Flying Kick, Storm, Earth, Fire, Wandering Keg), Yrel (Avenging Wrath) and Sonya ( Leap) synergises with him, while supports such as Zarya, Medivh and Uther can make him play in another style of play, due to the likes of abilities they have: Expulsion Zone which can block off paths which the enemy can flee towards, Shield Ally (even better with Speed Barrier level 4) . Medivh makes Arthas quiet reliable with just good usage of Portal and Force of Will as it makes him a dangerous threat when invading camps or when rotating against heroes that doesn't have mobility. Uther can with with his traits; Devotion and Eternal Vanguard give Arthas enough health to keep on going, and as long as Arthas lives while his damage dealers is healthy too, he is a potential threat. Divine Shield can also be used on Arthas in some situations, but it's usually reserved for the hyper-carries on the team.
Main Tank-Flex [T1111111,Arthas]	This build is a bit more reserved, playing for longer fights, trying to get poke damage in, sustaining, and providing crowd-control for damage dealers. Can be strong if the enemy has heroes that you want to avoid, usually damage dealers, such as Tychus and Valla (in the late game in particular). This build could also be played if your team feature two mages. Heroes such as Tassadar, Nazeebo, Orphea, Probius, Nova and Medivh are all viable to be played as such. Arthas is potentially then a pick, that somewhat counters the dive from the likes of Kerrigan, Chen, Artanis and Diablo.
Main Tank-Flex [2] [T2231131,Arthas]	Main Tank Basic Attack hybrid, that could be be played as the semi offlane and if your team has enough crowd-control on their own. Providing with potentially the most burst damage, it can be strong if the enemy has melee assassins heroes in the 3/4-man, such as Ragnaros, Thrall and Maiev. Can also be quiet strong on larger maps such as Garden of Terror or Cursed Hollow, where solo-laning as the tank could be crucial to get better camp timings for example. While on late game maps such as Tomb of the Spider Queen, the scaling and extra damage could be handy to defend lanes or push harder. Situational build overall, but not weak.
Abilities and Strategy
1. Tips & Tricks Toggling Frozen Tempest when initiating for a Basic Attack, makes the attack animation faster, which can ultimately yield higher damage over extended periods of time, like when you are solo-laning. When clearing a wave, keep Frozen Tempest on til it's almost dead, or use the ability go guarantee last hits on minions (especially ranged minions) to save time and Mana. Don't have the bad habit to use Frozen Tempest to deal more damage to Towers, Walls, Gates and Forts because the damage is usually negligible and you will waste to much mana if you spend more than 5 seconds on it. Predicting movement and or following up with Howling Blast is much more conservative while also more valuable. Spamming the ability does nothing, because your team needs to be ready for it to do anything. Using this ability too much is usually a big mistake, even with Frost Presence, as Arthas naturally holds rather good control or the wave in-general, which means you usually get your Regeneration Globe or even potentially the enemies with a good Howling Blast. When solo-laning, you shouldn't use this ability too often, if never. Bad matchups for Arthas such as Malthael, Dehaka, Leoric, Sonya and Rexxar are hard to get value from the ability. When solo-laning it's better to be the "dominant laner", which wants to take the globe, in order to sustain further (sustain lets you play more aggressive, like clearing the wave faster). You can do this by staying mounted, so you can play more aggressive, this can get you Eternal Hunger stacks for example. Arthas doesn't want to freeze usually, as his biggest contribution is in fights. Try to deny the enemy laner free rotation, by either trading as much as possible or matching their rotation and following them. Arthas can also control laners that plays into your wave, such as Sonya, Leoric and Xul in particular, by trading with them for free or getting Eternal Hunger stacks. As long as Arthas has mana, damage on his is no matter, because Death Coil heals him for approximately 12% on all levels (w/o Immortal Coil level 7 and Embrace Death level 16). Arthas should almost never need to use Healing Fountains to sustain in lane, because it's better for him to gave it available for a big fight. 1 min "pre-tap" fountain can force the enemy to take fountain sometimes and can be good to do, because you will get brief control or priority over the lane. Frostmourne Hungers resets the cooldown of your Basic Attack, so try to use it immediately after a Basic Attack goes off. Frostmourne Hungers resets the cooldown of your Basic Attack, so try to use it immediately after a Basic Attack goes off. Army of the Dead can heal you on cooldown if you press R to cast it, then press and hold R for its duration. Summon Sindragosa disables enemy Structures, including the Healing Fountain, which can make it a very potent ability to use during pushes. Also it can be used to peel for you team in order to disengage. On Braxis Holdout this ultimate ability can prove to to be highly effective because of how powerful the Objective can be.
2. Death Coil Death Coil (Q) Mana: 50 Cooldown: 9 seconds Deals 164 (+4% per level) damage to target enemy. Can be self-cast to heal for 262 (+4% per level) Health. Death Coil is a versatile Basic Ability that can be used to either damage an enemy Hero or to heal Arthas. When you want to target yourself, you can use the Self Cast Modifier [Alt] instead of mouse-hovering your Hero. While playing as Solo Laner, it is usually better to cast this Ability on yourself in order to restore lost Health, especially if you do not want to waste the Healing Fountain. You can use this ability offensively against heroes with low health percentages because the burst damage can be enough to contribute to a kill.
3. Howling Blast Howling Blast (W) Mana: 60 Cooldown: 10 seconds Root enemies within the target area for 1.25 seconds and deals 68 (+4% per level) damage. Howling Blast is a Basic Ability that provides crowd control to Arthas, something that can be used to either engage or peel. While the target area is big enough to hit Heroes who are clumped together, the slow-moving projectile makes this Ability hard to hit. As a consequence, a good Arthas should usually look for a flank rather than a frontal engage.
4. Frozen Tempest Frozen Tempest (E) Mana: 13 per second Cooldown: 1 second Deals 40 (+4% per level) damage per second to nearby enemies. Slows enemy Move Speed and Attack Speed by 10% per second, stacking up to 40%. Frozen Tempest is a toggleable Basic Ability that reduces the Movement Speed of nearby enemies (not only Heroes) and the Attack Speed of nearby Heroes. Both effects get more powerful each second a given enemy stays within range, reaching the maximum value after 4 seconds.  Howling Blast helps with that because it ensures that the enemy stays nearby for a few seconds. The constant Slow is useful for chasing and—more importantly—for peeling away melee Heroes while the Attack Speed reduction is good against Heroes that heavily focus on Basic Attacks to deal damage. As a consequence, this Ability is particularly effective against Heroes with both those characteristics: melee Heroes who focus on Basic Attacks (such as Kerrigan or Thrall). Mana management is important because you cannot use Abilities without it. While this Ability offers value in all scenarios, if Arthas uses it imprudently, he will find himself low on Mana very quickly. Always use it when damaging enemy Heroes or when clearing Mercenary Camps, or when clearing Minions. Being an area of effect Ability, Frozen Tempest can also be used to hit hidden Summons on the ground (such as  Creep Tumor by Zagara).
5. Army of the Dead Army of the Dead (R) Mana: 80 Cooldown: 80 seconds Summons Ghouls that last 15 seconds. Sacrifice Ghouls to heal for 267 (+4% per level) Health. Army of the Dead is a defensive Heroic Ability that lets Arthas summon several Ghouls that will fight at his side, allowing him to become an extremely durable frontline Hero, unless the enemy team has healing reduction effects and/or burst damage to drastically reduce its effectiveness. Another potential strength with Army of the Dead is how powerful it is when pushing Structures because of the many Summons.
6. Summon Sindragosa Summon Sindragosa (R) Mana: 100 Cooldown: 100 seconds Deals 230 (+4% per level) damage and slows enemies by 60% for 3.5 seconds. Also disables non-Heroic enemies and Structures for 20 seconds. Summon Sindragosa is an offensive Heroic Ability that, if aimed and timed correctly, can single-handedly decide the outcome of a team fight by Slowing multiple enemy Heroes and allow your team to easily engage them without being scared of enemy Structures nearby. The first thing an Arthas player has to take into account is its cast time of 0.6 seconds (not mentioned in the tooltip), which requires you to think ahead before actually casting the Ability in order to increase your chance to hit enemy Heroes and/or to avoid being interrupted by them. You do not even need to be scared about nearby enemy Structures because they will be disabled for 20 seconds, a powerful effect to further increase the advantage after winning a single-lane Objective (such as the Immortal on Battlefield of Eternity or Zerg Wave on Braxis Holdout) because disabled Structures cannot deal any damage and disabled Healing Fountains cannot be used.
7. Frostmourne Hungers Frostmourne Hunters (D) Activate to make Arthas's next Basic Attack strike immediately, do 99 (+4% per level) increased damage, and restore 30 Mana. Frostmourne Hungers is a Trait that gives a small amount of burst damage and Mana When the chances to have a team fight within 10 seconds is low, activate it and attack a random enemy in a safe position (usually a Minion) just to get some Mana. During a team fight, use it on the focused enemy Hero. Remember that activating it will reset your Basic Attacks cooldown, so the best way to use this Ability is to immediately activate it after a Basic Attack, a trick that will result in you landing 3 Basic Attacks in the time window of 2 Basic Attacks. Always use it off-cooldown when focusing on one thing, like pushing or clearing Mercenary Camps.
8. Army of the Dead - Sacrifice Army of the Dead - Sacrifice (R) Sacrifice a Ghoul to heal for 267 (+4% per level) Health. Sacrifice will become the new active button as long as your Ghouls are alive. Without Legion of Northrend level 20, there are 6 Ghouls that can be sacrificed, one Ghoul heal more than one Death Coil (w/o level 7 and level 16 Q talents), tactically sacrificing the Ghouls and managing your Health pool will lend you the most value of this ability.
Counters and match-ups

Skins

Arthas Skins
The Lich King
Backstory: Once the crown prince of Lordaeron, and protégé of Uther the Lightbringer, Arthas was corrupted by the cursed blade Frostmourne in a bid to save his people. Now he rules over the damned as the Lich King and all shall know his wrath.
625 / 7,000 The Lich King	Free Saronite	Free Tundra	120 / 75 Tarnished
Crown Prince
Backstory: As his hands gripped the hilt of the cursed blade Frostmourne, a dimensional gateway erupted from the icy pedestal, dragging the young prince Arthas into the Nexus.
Features: Replaced voice-over, themed abilities.
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of character's pre-change skins.
350 / 400	350 / 400 Kul Tiras	350 / 400 Dalaran	350 / 400 Stromgarde
Death God
Backstory: As Frostmourne devoured more and more souls, the Lich King's dominion over the damned grew ever stronger. It wasn't long before his armor began to manifest changes.
120 / 75	120 / 75 Beryl	120 / 75 Sanguine
Frost Wyrm
Backstory: After the death of the Ashen Verdict's champions none could halt the Lich King's advance. As a reminder of his victory, he grafted the bones of his fallen servants onto his armor.
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of alternative history skins.
160 / 100	160 / 100 Flesh	160 / 100 Unholy	160 / 100 Ruby
Mystic Kingdoms
Backstory: Revered for his bravery and martial skill, General Arthas has led his king's armies to countless victories. His loyalty knows no bounds, and nothing can make him break his oath of service.
Features: Themed abilities.
600 / 1,200	600 / 1,200 Frozen	600 / 1,200 Shadow	600 / 1,200 Royal

Arthas Event Skins
Crimson Count
Backstory: Few of Sarah von Kerrigan's suitors are as bold or brash as Marquis Arthas du Menethíl. The Crimson Count hopes their unholy union will spell doom for Raven Court's vampire slayers.
Features: Themed mount, themed abilities.
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of Raven Court skins.
350 / 400	350 / 400 Toxic	350 / 400 Shadow	350 / 400 Consecrated
King of Blades
Backstory: Corrupted by the Zerg's insatiable bloodlust, Arthas turns battlefields to burial grounds as the King of Blades.
Features: Themed animations, Themed abilities
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of other universes merging into StarCraft skins.
900 / 1,800	900 / 1,800 Venomous	900 / 1,800 Lavawrought

Arthas Removed Skins
Death Knight
Backstory: As the victorious Arthas ascended the Frozen Throne the Lich King's voice echoed through his mind... Without warning, the words pulled away as he found himself in the heart of the Nexus.

Mounts

Arthas Mounts
Bat Form (Crimson Count Arthas exclusive)
Backstory: Marquis Arthas was never one for intensive study. It is little wonder, then, that his mastery over the power of transformation is somewhat... incomplete. Still, it makes for a fearsome visage.
Free

Portraits

Arthas Portraits
Arthas Hero	Arthas Mastery	Azure Lich King Arthas75 / 40	Carbot Arthas120 / 75	Crimson Count Arthas75 / 40	Frozen Globe75 / 40	King of Blades Arthas75 / 40
Marquis du Menethil75 / 40	Swarm Coil75 / 40	Warcraft III Corrupted Arthas75 / 40	Warcraft III Death Knight Arthas75 / 40	Warcraft III Prince Arthas75 / 40	WoW Lich King Arthas75 / 40

Sprays

Arthas Sprays
Army of my Friends250 / 300	Arthas Pixel75 / 40	Carbot Arthas120 / 75	Crimson Count Arthas75 / 40	El Rey Arthas75 / 40	Emoji Arthas120 / 75	Lunar Arthas Lantern120 / 75

Emojis

Arthas Pack 1			Arthas Pack 2
Emoji	Name	Shortcut	Emoji	Name	Shortcut
	Arthas Happy	:arthashappy: :arthhappy:		Arthas Angry	:arthasangry: :arthangry:
	Arthas ROFL	:arthaslol: :arthasrofl: :arthlol: :arthrofl:		Arthas Cool	:arthascool: :arthcool:
	Arthas Sad	:arthassad: :arthsad:		Arthas Embarrassed	:arthasoops: :arthasembarrassed: :arthoops: :arthembarrassed:
	Arthas Silly	:arthassilly: :arthsilly:		Arthas in Love	:arthaslove: :arthasinlove: :arthlove: :arthinlove:
	Arthas Speechless	:arthasmeh: :arthasspeechless: :arthmeh: :arthspeechless:		Arthas Surprised	:arthaswow: :arthassurprised: :arthwow: :arthsurprised:

Crimson Count Arthas Pack 1			Crimson Count Arthas Pack 2
Emoji	Name	Shortcut	Emoji	Name	Shortcut
	Crimson Count Arthas Happy	:arthascrimsoncounthappy: :arthcchappy:		Crimson Count Arthas Angry	:arthascrimsoncountangry: :arthccangry:
	Crimson Count Arthas ROFL	:arthascrimsoncountlol: :arthascrimsoncountrofl: :arthcclol: :arthccrofl:		Crimson Count Arthas Cool	:arthascrimsoncountcool: :arthcccool:
	Crimson Count Arthas Sad	:arthascrimsoncountsad: :arthccsad:		Crimson Count Arthas Embarrassed	:arthascrimsoncountoops: :arthascrimsoncountembarrassed: :arthccoops: :arthccembarrassed:
	Crimson Count Arthas Silly	:arthascrimsoncountsilly: :arthccsilly:		Crimson Count Arthas in Love	:arthascrimsoncountlove: :arthascrimsoncountinlove: :arthcclove: :arthccinlove:
	Crimson Count Arthas Speechless	:arthascrimsoncountmeh: :arthascrimsoncountspeechless: :arthccmeh: :arthccspeechless:		Crimson Count Arthas Surprised	:arthascrimsoncountwow: :arthascrimsoncountsurprised: :arthccwow: :arthccsurprised:

Quotes

Main article: Arthas/Quotes

Trivia

• Arthas first appeared in the novel Warcraft: Of Blood and Honor (January 2001). His first in-game appearance was in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (July 2002).
• In Warcraft III, Arthas is voiced by Justin Gross. In subsequent appearances, he is voiced by Patrick Seitz (paladin/death knight Arthas) and Michael McConnohie (Lich King Arthas).
• Arthas was one of the 18 heroes revealed at BlizzCon 2013.
• Arthas's model was designed first and his role in the game was decided upon later.
• Blizzard considered giving Crown Prince Arthas a hammer, but that would have required additional animation work, in addition to conflicting with Uther and creating confusion. They also considered making paladin Arthas a skin for Uther, rather than Arthas, but that would have opened another can of worms. Ultimately, they decided to depict paladin Arthas immediately after he picked up Frostmourne. That meant his animations could stay the same, and since he still had his sword he was still recognizable as Arthas.
• NECA revealed the Heroes of the Storm Arthas action figure at SDCC 2015.
• Arthas's "hail to the king" quote references a line spoken by Ash Williams in Army of Darkness (February 1993).
• Arthas's "looking for a few dead men" quote references a 1985 United States Marine Corps commercial.
• Arthas's "my condition has left me cold" quote references a line spoken by Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin (June 1997).
• Arthas's "no man can defeat me" quote references a line spoken by the Witch-king of Angmar in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (December 2003).
• Some of Arthas's quotes reference the running joke about Darkness.

Gallery

General

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  Arthas's artwork

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  Frost Wyrm Arthas

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  Crimson Count Arthas, in his humanoid form

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  Crimson Count Arthas, in his bat form

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  Death Knight Arthas attacks an enemy base

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  King Arthas with King Leoric

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  Arthas riding a Rainbow Unicorn

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  The Arthas action figure

Concept art

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  Prince Arthas, with Light's Vengeance

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  Prince Arthas, with Frostmourne

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  King of Blades Arthas Concept Art

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  King of Blades Arthas Concept Art

Abilities

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  Q: Death Coil

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  W: Howling Blast

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  E: Frozen Tempest

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  R1: Army of the Dead

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  R2: Summon Sindragosa

Prerelease

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  Lich King Arthas (old model)

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  Prince Arthas (old model)

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  Prince Arthas (old model), blue tint

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  Prince Arthas (old model), red tint

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  Prince Arthas (old model), white tint

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  Frost Wyrm Arthas (old model)

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  The Blizzard DOTA models of Arthas and various other heroes

External links

• Arthas - Heroes of the Storm
• Arthas Menethil - Wowpedia
• Arthas Balance Changelog - Heroes Patch Notes
• Arthas Sound Files - Sounds of the Storm