Arthas

Arthas
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 warrior hero from the Warcraft universe. Once the crown prince of Lordaeron, and protege of Uther the Lightbringer, Prince Arthas was corrupted by the cursed blade Frostmourne in a desperate bid to save his people. Now he rules over the damned as the Lich King and all shall know his wrath.

Arthas engages with his enemies directly, freezing and slowing them. Uses the power of Frostmourne to empower his attacks.

History

This section concerns content exclusive to the Warcraft universe.

Arthas Menethil was the son of King Terenas Menethil II, Prince of Lordaeron, and a Knight of the Order of the Silver Hand led by Uther the Lightbringer. He was trained as a paladin by Uther. Even though he was a promising knight, Arthas soon spiraled down a path of vengeance.

Arthas' 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 by the Plague, Arthas ordered Uther and a Kirin Tor mage by the name of 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 himself. During the Culling of Stratholme, he encountered and fought a dreadlord by the name of Mal'Ganis. Before Mal'Ganis fled, he told Arthas that he should find him in the frozen wastes of Northrend, where he will fulfill his ultimate destiny.

Arthas, enraged at the dreadlord for turning his people into the undead, soon gathered an army and set sail for Northrend. After arriving on the frozen continent, he encountered an old friend by the name of Muradin Bronzebeard. Telling him tales of an ancient and powerful runeblade called Frostmourne with the potential to slay Mal'Ganis, the two friends set out to find the blade. Upon finding Frostmourne, however, Muradin revealed that it was cursed, and they should leave it be. Arthas, willing to pay any price to save his people, did not head Muradin's warning, and reached out to take the blade, seemingly killing his old friend in the process.

Arthas, Frostmourne now in hand, set out to find Mal'Ganis. With an army at his back, he savagely fought through hordes of undead before reaching the dreadlord. Mal'Ganis, pleased with the corruption of the Prince, revealed to Arthas that the whispers he was hearing from Frostmourne were in fact 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 only to enact his vengeance and destroy Mal'Ganis. Striking the astonished dreadlord down, Arthas abandoned his men and fled the battle, wandering through the frozen wastes and slowly lost what remained of his sanity to the Lich King. After months, Arthas returned to Lordaeron, where 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, instructed by the Burning Legion to destroy the Lich King, raced Arthas to the seat of power of the immobile Lich King in Icecrown. Ultimately, the two fought at the footsteps of the Frozen Throne, and Arthas emerged victorious. After climbing the spire to the top of the Throne, Arthas placed the helmet of the Lich King on his head, fusing his soul to that of Ner'zhul's, and the two became one single being.

Abilities

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.

---

Type: Bonus damage, Mana restoration

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

Affects: Enemies

Targeting: No target

Properties: Attack Modifier, Primed

Cast time: Instant

---

• 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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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%

---

• 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.

---

Type: Summon

Targeting: No target

Cast time: 0.15 + 0 seconds

Summoned Ghouls: 6

---

• 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.

---

Type: Healing

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Self

Targeting: No target

Properties: Area of Effect

Cast time: 0 + 0.15 seconds

---

• 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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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%.

---

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%.

---

Type: Healing dealt modifier

Affects: Ability

---

• 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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

Type: Healing dealt modifier, Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Ability

---

• 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.

---

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.

---

Type: Offensive damage modifier / Bonus healing

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Ghouls / Ability

---

• 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.

---

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%.

---

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.

---

Type: Status effect, Healing

Affects: Self

---

• 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.

Skins

• 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 desperate bid to save his people. Now he rules over the damned as the Lich King and all shall know his wrath.
  • Price: 7,000 / 8.49

• Arthas The Lich King 1.jpg
• Arthas The Lich King 2.jpg
• Arthas The Lich King 3.jpg

• Master
  • 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.
  • Price: 10,000 / (requires Hero Level 10)

• Arthas Master 1.jpg
• Arthas Master 2.jpg
• Arthas Master 3.jpg

• 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.
  • Price: $7.49 / 6.49€
  • Note: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of alternative history skins.

• Arthas Frost Wyrm 1.jpg
• Arthas Frost Wyrm 2.jpg
• Arthas Frost Wyrm 3.jpg

• 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.
  • Price: $9.99 / 8.99€
  • Skin Features: Replaced voice-over, themed abilities. His Death Coil looks like a lion's head, and the ghouls in his Army of the Dead wear footman armor.
  • Note: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of character's pre-change skins.

• Arthas Crown Prince 1.jpg
• Arthas Crown Prince 2.jpg
• Arthas Crown Prince 3.jpg

• 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.
  • Price: $9.99 / 8.99€
  • Skin Features: Themed mount, themed abilities. Death Coil looks like a bat. Frozen Tempest is black and purple and makes bat sounds. Sindragosa is black and red, and his ghouls wear vampire clothes. He gains access to Bat Transformation.
  • Note: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of Raven Court skins.

• Arthas Crimson Count 1.jpg
• Arthas Crimson Count 2.jpg
• Arthas Crimson Count 3.jpg

• 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.
  • Price: $9.99 / 8.99€
  • Skin Features: Themed abilities. Howling Blast leaves a green line and summons crystals, Summon Sindragosa summons a cloud serpent, and the ghouls in his Army of the Dead wear oriental armor.

• Arthas Mystic Kingdoms 1.jpg
• Arthas Mystic Kingdoms 2.jpg
• Arthas Mystic Kingdoms 3.jpg

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.
  • Price: N/A (no longer available)

• 
• 
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Mounts

Crimson Count Arthas has access to "Bat Transformation", a unique mount that makes him look like a big bat.

• 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.

• Arthas Bat Transformation.jpg

Trivia

• Arthas first appeared in the novel Day of the Dragon (2001). His first game appearance was in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002).
• Crown Prince Arthas is voiced by Patrick Seitz. Lich King Arthas is voiced by Michael McConnohie. In Warcraft III, Arthas was voiced by Justin Gross.
• Arthas was one of the 18 heroes revealed at BlizzCon 2013.
• Arthas's art was designed first and his role in the game came 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.
• Muradin, Rehgar, Stitches, Chen, Anub'arak, Jaina, Sylvanas, Kael'thas, The Butcher, Rexxar, and Tracer all kill or otherwise defeat Arthas in their hero trailers.
• NECA revealed the Heroes of the Storm Arthas action figure at SDCC 2015.
• Arthas was 24 in Reign of Chaos, 25 in The Frozen Throne, and 31 in Wrath of the Lich King.
• A 14 foot statue of Arthas can be seen at the Calligraphy Greenway in Taichung, Taiwan.
• Arthas's quote "Hail to the king, baby!" references a line spoken by Ash Williams in Army of Darkness.
• Arthas's quote "I'm afraid my condition has left me cold to your pleas of mercy" references a line spoken by Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin.
• Arthas's quote "No man can defeat me..." references a line spoken by the Witch-king of Angmar in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
• Arthas's quote "I'm looking for a few dead men with the cursed mettle to be death knights" references a 1985 United States Marine Corps commercial.
• Some of Arthas's quotes reference the running joke about Darkness.

Balance changelog

• January 27th, 2016 (15.7.4)

 -Summon Sindragosa (R)
   >Damage increased from 205 (+4% per level) to 255 (+4% per level)
   >Cooldown increased from 80 to 100 seconds

Gallery

• 

  Arthas's artwork.

• 

  Lich King Arthas (old model).

• 

  Prince Arthas (old model).

• 

  Prince Arthas (old model), blue tint.

• 

  Prince Arthas (old model), red tint.

• 

  Prince Arthas (old model), white tint.

• 

  Frost Wyrm Arthas (old model).

• 

  Frost Wyrm Arthas.

• 

  Crimson Count Arthas, in his humanoid form.

• 

  Crimson Count Arthas, in his bat form.

• 

  Death Knight Arthas attacks an enemy base.

• 

  King Arthas with King Leoric.

• 

  Arthas on a Rainbow Unicorn.

• 

  Prince Arthas, with Light's Vengeance.

• 

  Prince Arthas, with Frostmourne.

• 

  The Arthas action figure.

• 

  Q: Death Coil.

• 

  W: Howling Blast.

• 

  E: Frozen Tempest.

• 

  R1: Army of the Dead.

• 

  R2: Summon Sindragosa.

External links

• Arthas - Heroes of the Storm
• Arthas Menethil - Wowpedia
• Arthas Build Guide on Icy Veins
• Arthas Quotations
• Arthas (Lich King) Quotes on YouTube
• Arthas (Crown Prince) Quotes on YouTube