How to play:Arachna

[Q_efx]

Hello,

Iam new to this game. Or better not totally new. But I dont get it. How I should play Arachna. Or better: I think "it :)" is played just as a stopper. Not really for fighting... But nevertheless. How should I build Arachna.

Buying Shamans headdress? And just try to get high armor and magic regen?

Iam not quite sure....

[Raynstorm]

high armor and magic regen?... WTF?...

Ok just get assassins shroud. And maybe shamans headress if u r against heavy nukers.
You can rush the assassins shroud, or get stats early if you are having trouble (str steamboots and bracers).

This lady is a physical DPSer, so plz, dont buy muchos armor or mana regen. :o

[SausageEx]

Focus on the fact you got an incredible slow and can easily dps them to death.
Try the Assasins Shroud for survivality and get attack speed items for permaslowing.

[Glorify1]

You need to know how to orb walk.

Lots of agility items and survivability is nice.

[Netukka]

Orb walking with Arachna for dummies:

1. Spot enemy, get in range of your SPIDEYSLING shot
2. Press Q
3. Left click enemy
4. While attack animation is going on, click the ground towards your enemy ONCE (Not sure if you can spam in HoN, but if you want to be absolutely sure, just click the ground once)
5. Proceed to stare how you magnificently walked forward faster than you should have
6. Press Q again
7. AAAaaaaand repeat...

[Korgan]

1. Select a better hero if possible.
2. If no better hero is available wait for a fix of arachna.
3. If you are forced to play her right now: Skip the ultimate under all costs, stack agi and/or hp, buy assasins shroud for an excape mechanism.

[Q_efx]

1. Select a better hero if possible.
2. If no better hero is available wait for a fix of arachna.
3. If you are forced to play her right now: Skip the ultimate under all costs, stack agi and/or hp, buy assasins shroud for an excape mechanism.

And how should the fix look like?

[Korgan]

And how should the fix look like?
The easy way would be to make her a full copy of Traxex.
Other possibilities are to give her 2 useful skills or to remake her totally.

I really can't understandt why so many heroes are attempts to make them different, while keeping 2-3 100% copied skills.

Make direct DotA copies that are balanced
or
make new heroes.

[Steakmancer]

Don't get steamboots for god's sake. Learn to orbwalk (move into attack range, cast your web attack, quickly move towards the target and rinse and repeat). Focus on maxing out your web attack and passive before you put any points in your ult. If you're laning against or the other team is primarily int based, put a point or two in your carapace ability instead of your passive.

If you have a competent lanemate and know how to handle creep aggro, try a boots start and focus on harassing heroes.

I like these fusions of heroes, people like Madman and Arachna have solidly defined roles in a team, why the hate?

[kelvie]

And how should the fix look like?

Having her aura work on herself without having to die and respawn would be a start. And a non-useless ult (except for rare circumstances involving stealth heroes).

[Jotaro]

O_o i can t understand all of You

Skill 1 => Slow Imba
Skill 2 => Debuff + Highest magic resist possible (+30 magic armor resist => 60% reduction O_o omg
Skill 3 => Aura +30%dmg
Ulty => Seem s like it s Weak and nearly Useless ( I never saw a player using it decently)

1 point In skill 2
Max skill 1 and 3
5 bonus stat points
3 points in skill 2
Bonus Stats or Ulty

1point in the 2nd skill early is good Vs Bloodseeker Curse lvl1 , or vs Axe battlehunger , or vs Anyslow or DoT
Really imba =)

[kosta1]

The ulti ain't that bad when it's used on target already attacking. The little spider is slow while moving, but packs a punch. It's best used as a opener on melee heroes to make them rout.

[Kietharr]

how to make arachna a cool hero:

Get rid of her spider ulti, replace with Drow's +agi ult

Get rid of her harden carapace and replace it with Broodmother's nuke, make the spiders shoot webs (thus ranged) so they benefit from Arachna's aura.

Boom, now she's a well rounded hero.

[Genose]

If their team is mostly caster, I go:
1/3/5/7: Web Shot
2/4/8/9: Carapace
6/11/16: Spider
10/12/13/14: Aura (may want to get stats instead, depending on your team makeup, as you'll get more damage and more HP).

If the team has more stealth units than nukers, I would change it up and only put 1 point in the debuff, to escape the Scout's slow on his ult and/or Madman's slow poison on his stealth. Again, you can alternate with aura and stats depending on if your team is primarily ranged. Think of it like this: If your team is 3 ranged hero, that's like adding another hero to the game... probably a bit better than the stats in this case.

For items, I usually build this:
2x Crown-185
Tangos-90
Salve-100
Marchers-500
2x Slippers of Agility or Gloves of Strength (depends on if you're getting focused... I prefer the agility)-300
Boots of Elvenskin-450
Bracer/Wraith Band Recipe-250/350
Gloves of Haste-500
Power Treads-400 (I prefer the Agility ones, as Arachna hardly gets focused)
----
Now, for the items to go after this:
I generally think crit is the best thing on her, and it also gives more damage. So I go for a Crystills(sp?)/Rift Shard first.
Broad Sword-1200
Claws of Damage-500
Recipe-500
I then aim for a butterfly:
Quarterstaff-900
Ususally at this point, games typically end, and I can't complete the butterfly, however, I would either get the Demon Edge for the upgraded Buriza or finish making my Butterfly. The problem with Butterfly is it just costs so much and takes a while to get the "payload." Again, Arachna isn't a primary target, so you shouldn't be worried about the evasion.

The general strategy is to harass stealthers early game completely. By level 6, you should be able to kill them. On any 1vs1 fight, I always end up kiting people. Stealthers are what ususally go after you, but they regret it after you get the spider out on their ass, and make them run in 5 seconds on engagement. The problem is, they won't be able to run away from you. It also depends on the stealther too. If it's Night Hound, early game, I prefer to stand in the cloud to wait for it to go off, because he doesn't do enough damage unless you turn around. You can wait in it, or time it correctly so his strikes aren't hitting you in the back as you run out (very hard to do). Once his cloud is gone, send your spider and web shot him to hell. Most stealthers like this only have around 800 life, and you'll go through that like a warm knife through butter.

Against spellcasters, I typically wait for them to get in range, and once they do, activate my web shield. They can't help but attack you, and when they see they do no damage to you/its a losing fight, they start to run. That's when you chase and land a web shot on them then spider ult. They'll die insanely fast too.

Against strength heroes, it's all about kiting them and/or ganking them with more people. Your Web Shot is your bread and butter skill against them.

Hope this helps! :D

[Inconmon]

I find her pretty strong tbh. What many people seem to forget is also the attack animation. Arachna gets pretty much all last hits and "oh so imba" heroes like hellbringer have an attack animation that sucks more than crystal maiden. Prolly the worst in the game.

Anyway, both her web and carapace are great skills. The aura is fine, having the not-dying-part fixed would be great of course. Her ulti is mediocre if there are no stealthers, but usually there are stealthers and it rocks.

Dunno what you guys are complaining about.

Oh yea and so far I went phase boots for better chasing, then assassins shroud and depending on situation shieldbreaker/wingbow. Sadly I couldnt finish shieldbreaker to see if it stacks with web, but there is no indication why it wouldnt stack.

[Steakmancer]

how to make arachna a cool hero:

Get rid of her spider ulti, replace with Drow's +agi ult

Get rid of her harden carapace and replace it with Broodmother's nuke, make the spiders shoot webs (thus ranged) so they benefit from Arachna's aura.

Boom, now she's a well rounded hero.
:confused: Then she'll have 2 spells, and won't take any skill to play.

Stack your slow on a guy and then cast your ult so the little spider can dps as much as possible.

Also, just get EM on Arachna instead of Steamboots, goddamn.

[Kietharr]

Oh lord, like she takes SO much skill to play now. The only real skill factor on her atm is orb walking, and that would remain unchanged with those changes.

[Inconmon]

Another thing that might help Arachna would be if the ultimate didnt bug half of the time. If you cast it on a stealther and he goes into fade time the spider isnt summoned, but it drained mana and is on cd. And obviously he escapes.

[Sapheron]

I sometimes think the spider needs like 999 movement speed or something.

It reveals stealth, sure, but I've outran that spider so many times.

[Steakmancer]

So, it's unanimously declared that Arachna's ult is ****. After playing a couple more games as her, it's really ****. You really are best off with putting those points in stats because I'll be damned if the spider does any noticeable damage, especially lategame.

I'd like to see the Broodmother's Spawn Spiderling as ult, but it should only work on creeps and it should be an instant kill.

[Karandor]

her attack animation combined with the insane slow is pretty amazing. The web shield kicks ass as it removes ALL effects. Can completely screw hellbringer with her.

The ult is pretty lame. Make the ult something better and she could be useful.

[Strongaxe]

her attack animation combined with the insane slow is pretty amazing. The web shield kicks ass as it removes ALL effects. Can completely screw hellbringer with her.

The ult is pretty lame. Make the ult something better and she could be useful.

It does not remove cursed ground :confused:

[Elmoman]

I don't get her ultimate. The spider lasts for 4 seconds, but the description also says "the spider expires after 15 seconds" or so. What am I missing?
The ultimate is useless against stealthers, as you can only use it when you already see the target, and the reveal is only 4 seconds.

[Chobbelito]

Skill up Webbedlolshot and aura first, then go for the anti magic lol thingy.
Harrass alooooot.

Buy Shamans Headress (facing magic nukers 99% of all games) and threads.
Then you can faceroll your way to a stygian and even a butterfly.

[Aegd]

Have to say her ultimate is pretty shitty. I don't really see why it's an ultimate at all. It's a time limited creep with see invis that has a slow. I'd rather take the wolf guys hellhounds or whatever they're called, they deal way more DPS and you get two + it's shorter cooldown.

I don't really understand what they were thinking making a ulti like that.

The carpace is pretty pointless to, sure it's magic resistance, but it's very time limited and with such low base HP getting nuked is pretty much a ticket to the graveyard anyway. It would be better to replace it with a shield that absorbs magical damage or maybe a "webshield" that would work similar to the rockshield tiny had in dota but instead of stunning it would give a slow effect, a bit like the lich's frost armor, but a higher slow ratio and only a 30/40% to slow or something. That would fit the heroes theme better. I don't really understand what the magic resistance is doing there. :/

[Feriluce]

I have no idea what this orbwalking you guys are talking about is. I just tried it out against some creeps and it clearly doesnt work.

[Chobbelito]

Shoot, walk. Shoot, walk. Shoot, walk.

[Feriluce]

Shoot, walk. Shoot, walk. Shoot, walk.

Yea, I get the concept, but it doesnt make you actually move any faster.

[genai]

why would it make you move faster? it makes you never lose your target... and that means if you have enough room, he is going to die, if you just stand and shoot webbed shot on autoattack, he is going to get away... orbwalking, you will actually catch up on him if you are good, and you will do much more damage that way than autoattacking (and creeps wont attack you)

[Sunforger]

I would suggest S2 to remake Arachna completely. This hero is weak and boring. Even Dota's Drow was quite boring, and this hero is worse.
Arachna has no skills and is just 6 slots to carry lategame items:
1) Slow arrows - I take 1 point to orbwalk in the beginning. Almost no point to level it further- most heroes in competitive play have an escape mechanism that beats this skill.
2) Harden Carapace - I take 1 point to remove debuffs. Might be helpful to take more if opponents have a lot of nukers (this skill is still bad since it doesn't save from stuns)
3) Aura is good
4) Ultimate seems weak, I often even forget to use it and prefer to shoot one more time.

[Feriluce]

why would it make you move faster? it makes you never lose your target... and that means if you have enough room, he is going to die, if you just stand and shoot webbed shot on autoattack, he is going to get away... orbwalking, you will actually catch up on him if you are good, and you will do much more damage that way than autoattacking (and creeps wont attack you)

It was said to make you move faster. Also creeps will attack you either way.

[Riotdante]

Focus on the fact you got an incredible slow and can easily dps them to death.
Try the Assasins Shroud for survivality and get attack speed items for permaslowing.

Kite time :)

At least as I understand it, Orbwalking doesn't make you move faster than normal, it just makes it so that you don't move slower when moving and attacking. So you can damage them and keep up with them.

[Dergeist]

I don't know why all the hate on Arachna either, currently one of my favorites.

-Great farmer
-Webbed shot is clutch for ensuring kills at any point in the game whether 1v1 or in team clashes. Works great for early game harassing too. If opponent is any distance away from tower, you have a good shot at Level 1 first blood.
-Hardened carapace is great for survivability. Last night with Level 4 carapace and 200hp remaining I took a maxed pyromancer salvo (light strike, dragon, laguna-no agh) and lived.
-Aura is what it is. Great for pushing once you get archer/locks stacked up and for team support if you have even 1 or 2 other range on the team.
-Ult ****ing owns invis units. At level 3, you have a pretty spammable stealth reveal at 30 secs that travels with the stealth unit and whose vision is not obstructed by anything. Take that vs. dust or wards which stay where you toss them, have limited vision, a cd (for dust) , and both of which cost money. Nevermind that it also does damage. Granted, it is slightly less effective with no stealth units on the opposing team, but the dps boost while chasing with webbed shot and vision to prevent jukes is still pretty nasty. I'd take this over the bland, old Markmanship ult any day.

[Damendar]

Thought I would clarify orbwalking for folks. It has been explained clearly as to HOW to do it, but it seems people are not understanding why it is smart and what the benefits actually are.

It does make you move faster. Keep in mind that orbwalking is 'walking while attacking someone', not just straight up moving across the map. It applies only to hero vs hero combat.

A heros' 'attack animation' has a particular frame within it wherein the damage is actually applied to a target. It's hard to see this on melee heros, but it's easier to see on ranged (like Arachna).

Go auto attack a creep wave. See how Aracha will toss a projectile out, sit there for half a second, and toss another projectile? Arachna's attack becomes 'valid' if you will the moment the ball of webbing is out of her body and flying to a target. She doesn't NEED to sit there for that extra half second or so in between shots, she is just coded that way with her attack animation.

What 'orbwalking' is, is you are getting to use that extra .5 seconds of 'down time' in between projectile shots to be moving closer to your quarry rather than standing there waiting for your webgun to recharge. As has been said, you accomplish this by immediately issuing a move command towards the target as soon as you shoot your projectile, then manually issuing another 'attack' command as soon as your attack cooldown timer is up. Combine this with the fact that Aracha's 'orbwalking' skill has a slow effect, and it makes her a fantastic chaser.

Also, issuing manually webshot (sorry I forget the skill name) orbwalk commands does NOT pull the creeps into attacking you, so you can really get the jump on someone doing this, run right by their creeps harassing/chasing them, and get a LOT of kills if done right, or if done against someone who doesn't know to watch out and guard against it. Even if they do know how to prevent you from cornering them and getting the kill, it still makes them a GREAT harasser.

Clearer now?

So, you're saying that if I time these things:
1. Walk from one end of map to the other
2. Walk from one end of map to the other while just regular attacking an enemy hero
3. Walk from one end of map to the other while 'orbwalking'

I will find that 3 is the fastest, followed by 1, followed by 2? So that 'orbwalking' actually increases your movement speed over just regular walking? I thought that it would make 1 and 3 the same, both faster than 2, not that 3 would actually be faster than 1 and 2.

[Damendar]

So, you're saying that if I time these things:
1. Walk from one end of map to the other
2. Walk from one end of map to the other while just regular attacking an enemy hero
3. Walk from one end of map to the other while 'orbwalking'

I will find that 3 is the fastest, followed by 1, followed by 2? So that 'orbwalking' actually increases your movement speed over just regular walking? I thought that it would make 1 and 3 the same, both faster than 2, not that 3 would actually be faster than 1 and 2.


Close, but not quite.

1) Always the fastest. The only thing interrupting your full speed movement is the geometry of the map itself.

2) Always the slowest. Remember, your target is engaging in option #1. He's doing nothing but moving away from you. Each shot you get off at him comes with an extra .5 seconds of you standing still while your attack animation completes. You will land 1-3 shots or so on him and he will have moved out of range. If you have a slow effect on your attack, as arachna does, you will land maybe 5-6 hits, but those .5 seconds per attack DO add up and he will eventually be able to outdistance you.

3) Better than #2, worse than #1. Orbwalking is essentially mitigating the .5 second delay that is lost with each attack. You're not going to be as fast as straight up running, BUT your attacks do have slow. So even counting human reflexes (you're never going to time orbwalking PERFECTLY) he should be unable to get out of your range. If you can shave even .25 seconds off the .5 delay between attacks, the slow is enough to compensate for the rest, leading you to retain your target within your range until he's dead.

Hopefully that helps :)

[Morilak1]

She is actually a very good hero, While not great early game she defiantly can carry very well. Her ulti actually does a substantial amount of damage on top of adding even more slow to an enemy hero (I think its 136 dmg per hit x 4 attacks = 544dmg+invis detection+slow) all on a 30 second cooldown at rank 3.

Her webshot stacks 4 times which is 160% slow at rank 4 with 4 stacks on a hero.

Try her with using the new Maelstrom and satanic you can cast webshot and both orbs will work with it at the same time (dont believe me try it).

Her arua is percential increase so as the game progresses it adds even more damage, the range on the arua should be a bit larger but for the most part its not bad.

She might be close to drow but her slow is 100 times better and her ulti actually has more then just the use for its damage its a built in stealth detection, and with everybody playing scout or madman it comes quite in handy.

Try different builds with her too find what works for you. She really doesnt need to be changed at all.

[Mudkipz1]

I don't get her ultimate. The spider lasts for 4 seconds, but the description also says "the spider expires after 15 seconds" or so. What am I missing?
The ultimate is useless against stealthers, as you can only use it when you already see the target, and the reveal is only 4 seconds.
You fail.
How is that useless against stealthies if you can see them for 4 seconds? I don't know about you but if you cant kill a stealthie with a team gank in four seconds GG.

[Dergeist]

You fail.
How is that useless against stealthies if you can see them for 4 seconds? I don't know about you but if you cant kill a stealthie with a team gank in four seconds GG.

Totally agree. Main defense of any stealther is obviously their invis ability given their low hp and low armor. Take that away even for a few seconds and you cripple them into being useless. Her ult is an excellent stealth counter, especially in pubs where stealth tends to dominate.

[Mudkipz1]

Thank you.
Someone with a brain finally speaks up.

[Morilak1]

Btw the Her ulti states that it last for 4 attacks or 15 seconds (or if the spider is killed prior to 15 seconds/4attacks). One thing that might be changed about it would be to increase magic resistance or make it magic immune with its low amount of Hp but its so tiny most people dont bother casting spells on it anyway.

[FallenRazor]

I'm pretty skilled with Drow Ranger, the hero who based Arachna, just make your inicial items, then get Assassins Shroud and Riftshards, later on get the Wingbow and if possible the Geometer's Bane, this turns the Arachna into a great Ganker and Pusher as allow you to hit hard and survive easily.

[Feriluce]

Also, issuing manually webshot (sorry I forget the skill name) orbwalk commands does NOT pull the creeps into attacking you, so you can really get the jump on someone doing this, run right by their creeps harassing/chasing them, and get a LOT of kills if done right, or if done against someone who doesn't know to watch out and guard against it. Even if they do know how to prevent you from cornering them and getting the kill, it still makes them a GREAT harasser.


This is not true. Go try it out. You will still draw creep aggro if you manually click webshot and use it like that without autoattacking. I cant say if its a bug or not, but its how it is currently.

[Mudkipz1]

I dont think orb walking should come into play in HoN.
It really helps melee heros against range.

[Damendar]

This is not true. Go try it out. You will still draw creep aggro if you manually click webshot and use it like that without autoattacking. I cant say if its a bug or not, but its how it is currently.

THIS is not true. I did just go try it out, finished a game as of 8:52 US CST. Orbwalking does NOT pull creep agro. It did pull tower agro as I orbwalked by it, but it never pulled the creeps, and I orbwalked ALL game long. Also, the tower stopped immediately after backing off (which I don't think it should have done, incidentally.)

If it's not working for you, perhaps orbwalking do not mean what you think it mean?

Oh, and Mudkipz, you need to lrn2troll better, you're awful at it. I don't think I've ever seen you get a bite.

[Kietharr]

This is not true. Go try it out. You will still draw creep aggro if you manually click webshot and use it like that without autoattacking. I cant say if its a bug or not, but its how it is currently.

Funny because I do it just fine all of the time.

[Feriluce]

THIS is not true. I did just go try it out, finished a game as of 8:52 US CST. Orbwalking does NOT pull creep agro. It did pull tower agro as I orbwalked by it, but it never pulled the creeps, and I orbwalked ALL game long. Also, the tower stopped immediately after backing off (which I don't think it should have done, incidentally.)

If it's not working for you, perhaps orbwalking do not mean what you think it mean?

Oh, and Mudkipz, you need to lrn2troll better, you're awful at it. I don't think I've ever seen you get a bite.


Funny because I do it just fine all of the time.

They must have changed it in a recent patch then, since when I did it a few days ago I definately got aggro constantly. Others also reported it worked like that a while ago too.

[Aegd]

Orb Walking works fine for her (it?).

I've played her in some games and she seems to work better than the skills would imply. I think a lot of it has to do that her attack animation is WAY better then drow, so even if she has some mediocre skills her attack animation is superior to drows, which I would argue make her a strong hero.

Arachna is fantastic for early game lane control. Denying and last hitting was scary easy, not to mention orb walking.

I'm still not in love with her ulti and magic resistance skill though.

[Feriluce]

Yes it seems it was fixed one of the recent patches. Makes her quite a bit better at harassing.

[Lethe]

It wasn't working in .28. Hopefully it was fixed in .29 I haven't tried yet.