Arachna

[Shadowcamsy]

"Spiderthing, Spiderthing, does whatever a Spiderthing does"


Arachna



http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/1929/arachna.jpg



Story

It is said for every fear and phobia that effects man and beast alike. there is a demon waiting to be born -- Arachna, chittering, skulking, crooked and wicked -- spawns from the fear of spiders. Protected by a chitinous exoskeleton as strong as cold iron, she stalks, and traps, and slaughters her enemies.

Index

Using the index: Simply bring up your "find" feature in your browser (Ctrl + f) and type in the code next to the section you wish to browse.



Stats [qe1]
Abilities [qe2]
Skill Build [qe3]
The Rundown [qe4]
Items [qe5]
Strategy [qe6]
Hero Synergy [qe7]
Replays [qe8]

Changelog [qe9]


Stats [qe1]

Strength: 17 (+1.7)
Agility: 22 (+3.2) Primary attribute
Intelligence: 15 (+1.5)

Damage: 40-51
Armor: 2.08
Movement Speed: 290
Attack type: Ranged
Attack Range: 600

Abilities qe2]

Webbed Shot (Q)
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/4417/96pxarachnaskill1.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Webbed_Shot)

Arachna imbues her attack with webbing, slowing enemies on impact.

This is an attack ability

Type: Magic
Mana Cost: 12
Cooldown: 2/2/0/0 seconds

Effect: Causes her attack to apply Webbed Shot to the target for 1.5 seconds (Note: This actually feels like 2.2 - 2.5 seconds)

Webbed Shot: 10/20/30/40% Movement Speed slow
5/10/15/20 Attack Speed slow

Flavour text: I got a fly in my web!

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9334/wp1l.jpg



Harden Carapace (W)
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/9854/96pxarachnaskill2.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Harden_Carapace)

Arachna hardens her carapace for a short duration, increasing her resistance to magical attacks.

Type: Self buff
Mana Cost: 90
Cooldown: 22/20/18/16 seconds

Effect: Dispels debuffs on self and applies Hardened Carapace for 6 seconds at all levels.

Hardened Carapace: +5/10/18/35 Magic Armor
(24.8% base Magic Resistance --> 38.7% / 48.2% / 58.5% / 70.8%)

Flavour text: It's tough to be a widow.

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/4407/hardencarapace.jpg


Precision (E)
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4787/96pxarachnaskill3.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Precision)

Arachna's renown at being a precise shot inspires nearby ranged units, increasing their base damage. Also increases Arachna's base damage.

Type: Aura (passive)
Passive target: Allied Ranged Units (default) / Ally Ranged Heroes
Range: 900

Effect: Increases base ranged damage of Arachna and nearby ranged units by 7/14/21/28%

On use effect: The aura will only affect heroes / The aura will affect all units

Flavour text: I can see your weakness.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8154/auran.jpg



Spider Sting (R)
http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/7827/96pxarachnaskill4.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Spider_Sting)

Hurls a Spiderling toward a target enemy unit that can reveal stealthed enemies. Upon reaching its destination, the Spiderling viciously attacks the enemy unit, poisoning it, slowing its movement and attack speed.

Type: Target Unit, Physical
Range: 500
Mana cost: 125/175/250
Cooldown: 80/50/30 seconds

Effect:
Hurls a Spiderling toward a target enemy unit.

Spiderling: Magic Immunity, Splash Immunity, 600 sight range, focuses all attacks on target and keeps them revealed until the Spiderling is killed.


Attacks up to 5 times then perishes, lasts up to 15 seconds

Each attack Applies Spider Sting for 1.5 seconds with an attack time of 1.0 seconds

Each attack deals 75/150/225 Physical damage
The Spiderling dies once it has been attacked 3 times (loses 1/3 of its health with every hit it takes if you have lifebars turned on)



Spider Sting: Slows target's attack and movement speeds by 40/60/80

Flavour text: It's a deadly deadly kiss!

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6149/spider2.jpg


Skill Build[qe3]

When the game starts you should be grabbing your items and heading either bottom or top lane with an ally, do not select your skills until you have seen your enemy heroes in your lane. You should take the orange highlighted abilities if the enemy heroes can hit you with 3 or more magic damage nukes.

1 - Precision / Harden Carapace
2 - Webbed Shot
3 - Webbed Shot
4 - Precision / Harden Carapace
5 - Webbed Shot
6 - Spider Sting
7 - Webbed Shot
8 - Precision / Harden Carapace
9 - Precision / Harden Carapace
10 - Harden Carapace / Precision
11 - Spider Sting
12 - Harden Carapace
13 - Harden Carapace
14 - Harden Carapace / Precision
15 - Stats
16 - Spider Sting
17 - Harden Carapace
18-25 Stats

If your enemy can give you a debuff early you should consider taking a level of Harden Carapace to remove the debuff. Blacksmith, Armadon, Hellbringer, Deadwood, Pestilence, Predator, Legionaire, Keeper of the Forest, Soulstealer, Dark Lady, Glacius, Electrician, Wretched Hag and Slither all have debuffs that can be removed, making this skill very flexible. Slither has 2 debuffs that can be removed, making Arachna an ideal counter to Slither (Thanks XQuicksilver for finding this out). If the enemy team is mostly physical damage with 1 debuffer, you may want to only get 1 level in Harden Carapace and get stats instead of leveling up Harden Carapace since 2 str/agi/int is much better than a 2 second cooldown reduction on Harden Carapace. Skill builds are very dependant upon what heroes you are facing so make sure you get a good look at the enemy team and adjust your builds accordingly.

As soon as the game starts you should be getting 1 level of Precision and toggling the aura so that it only effects your ranged heroes, thus stopping your lane being pushed by archers/warlocks (more on this later). It's a personal choice to get Precision at level 1 over stats, I find that the benefit of getting an early level in stats is overlooked by a lot of players, while others prefer the damage for last hitting over lane control. If you think you're going to have a hard time in your lane, you should be getting stats instead of Precision as the health boost is necessary to survive, and that's what the game is about for carry heroes like Arachna. A few important things to take note of are; Precision is only affected by Arachna's base damage, which is also affected by all items that give the agility attribute. Meaning that any items you are holding that have agility give you an additional 28% of that agility in damage! Not only that, but Arachna's agility growth is one of the highest in the game, which means her damage grows rapidly when you level up Precision. Since Precision is a passive ability, it propogates to illusions of Arachna as well.

Webbed Shot is Arachna's main ability, its necessary to take this as soon as possible because of the powerful debuff it applies to the enemy. Webbed Shot is used for; harassing, helping out allies, kiting things, and most importantly, making the other team lose their cool. at Rank 1 Webbed Shot does not do much by itself, but if you're manually casting it, the creeps will not aggro you, making it a nifty harassing ability. You shouldn't toggle on autocast of Webbed Shot until the very late stages of the game where you cannot orb walk any more.

Spider Sting is a very, very powerful ability at the moment, it has the potential to do more damage than Pyromancer's ultimate with Staff of the Master. If the target has 0 armor the Spiderling is doing 1225 damage, however 0 armor isn't very realistic unless you have heroes like Pestilence or Demented Shaman on your team. The Spiderling is extremely hard to kill by 1 hero alone, with 2 heroes the Spiderling will probably only get 3 attacks off before it dies. Early game you should use Spider Sting to get hero kills, towers and creeps will not attack the Spiderling so use this to your advantage. When deciding whether or not to use Spider Sting, divide the enemy heroes life up into chunks of 60 then work out how many attacks you need to do to kill the hero. For example if the enemy hero has 600 life, your spiderling needs to do 5 attacks (1 every second) and you need to do 5 attacks (1 every 1.7 seconds), obviously the numbers change a bit depending on your enemies' items. You can also use Spider Sting to escape ganks, cast it on thine enemy with the most damage potential and run for your life, and apply Harden Carapace when necessary. As soon as you get Spider Sting Rank 3, you can demolish any hero 1v1 with Webbed Shot and Spider Sting, make sure it's a 1v1 though, take note of your minimap, if you know where all the enemy heroes are, fire away.

The Rundown[qe4]

Beginner - Intermediate - Expert

Strengths:


Good end-game damage
Excellent attack animation

Can stack slows to literally stop enemies in their tracks (80% slow from Spider Sting and 40% slow from Webbed Shot which is an 88% combined slow)

A good counter hero for strong melee carry heroes like Madman/Dark Lady/Night Hound

Can remove debuffs on herself and provide magic resistance for a short period of time.


Weaknesses:


Poor early game damage
Poor strength gain, resulting in low max hp
Has no escape mechanism i.e. stealth, blink
Slow attack speed compared to her late game rivals (who get speed boosts from their abilities)
No abilities with stuns, ie. easily countered by Homecoming Stones



Arachna is one of the most difficult heroes to play, because she is so fragile you're going to be targeted the entire game. To play Arachna with her greatest potential you will have to have mastered concepts such as; Orb walking, Animation canceling, last hitting, kiting, judging battles and creep leashing.

Arachna is considered to be a carry hero, she is really weak at the start of the game, having a small strength gain and barely any base damage. Your goal is to farm lots of gold until you can form at least 2 Morph/Combatative items, then push your team to victory.

Why choose Arachna over other ranged carries like Forsaken Archer or Corrupted Disciple? Because she is better (In some situations!) She is a counter hero for ALL physical damage melee heroes due to her Webbed Shot and Spider Sting almost completely removing an enemies' attack and movement speeds. Team battles will consist of you standing behind your team waiting for someone on your team to initiate, then you'll charge in, Spider Sting the hero with the most attack damage and Webbed Shot 2 heroes while their team retreats. Try to hit as many heroes with webbed shot as you can, giving as little chance of escape as possible to the opposing team, remember the debuff expires after about 2.5 seconds so you can probably fire 2 attacks into the hero you want to kill and shoot the other hero on the subsequent attack. You have to be able to judge team battles extremely well, there is no point using Webbed Shot on 3 enemy heroes when none of your allies are going to help you clean up, in this circumstance you are better off focusing down 1 hero before their ability cooldowns expire.

Arachna is a very psychological hero, she makes her opponents think they can beat her, but she has the power to turn a 1v2 into a 1v1 then a 1v0. Just Spider Sting one hero, then Webbed Shot the other, Webbed Shot the original hero and keep swapping between them while running away. There will come a point where they will both back off and you will still have Webbed Shot on both of the opposing heroes, allowing you to chase them for the kill.

Items[qe5]

Item build designed for non-em games, no one should ever play em... even if you're learning! Hopefully a support hero is nice enough to buy you a monkey courier so you can stay in your lane for as long as possible, don't be afraid to buy consumables as long as it will keep you in your lane.

Starting inventory should look like this:

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/6752/minortotem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Minor_Totem)http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/6752/minortotem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Minor_Totem)http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/1339/runesoftheblightitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Runes_of_the_Blight)
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/9326/healthpotionitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Health_Potion)http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/4484/duckbootsitem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Duck_Boots)http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/4484/duckbootsitem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Duck_Boots)

2x Minor Totem: 2x53 = 106 gold
Runes of the Blight = 90 gold
Health Potion = 100 gold
2x Duck Boots = 300 gold
= 596 gold

First up, you'll need to look at the enemy heroes and decide what items you want to build. If you think you're going to be harassed quite a bit you should buy an Iron Buckler to finish the Iron Shield Recipe. Otherwise you'll be saving your gold to buy some Marchers and Soulscream Rings to give you some extra early-game potential. Depending on the enemy team composition, you'll either be wanting to finish your Ghost Marchers first, or get a Helm of the Victim. I usually decide this by the amount of regen items I have left. You will need to get movement speed items as fast as possible so you can quickly get in range to use Webbed Shot, or quickly run away when a gank happens, since Arachna has no escape abilities she will be a prime target for ganks early on. If you're not farming that well, try getting Whispering Helm for the lifesteal, damage and armor. You can use Whispering Helm to dominate a Wolf Commander for 30% increased damage which helps with last hitting. Or alternatively you can dominate a level 5+ neutral creep to do some ancient stacking for your team mates. If you are not getting Whispering helm then you will have to constantly purchase consumables throughout the game until you build an item that gives you regen later on.

It is never a bad idea to buy Mana Battery and upgrade it to Energy Booster!

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2413/enhm.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Enhanced_Marchers)http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/660/soulscreamringitem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Soulscream_Ring)http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/660/soulscreamringitem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Soulscream_Ring)

2x Soulscream Ring: 920 gold
Ghost Marchers: 1500 gold
= 2420 gold

Should take you about 10 minutes, you shouldn't leave your lane at all until you have these items, they're extremely necessary for Arachna's survival. From this point on you should be carrying at least 1 Homecoming Stone on you at all times, no exceptions! Whether your team needs your help, or you're stuck in a tight situation and need to juke and teleport, your Homecoming Stone will be your best friend.

Here's where an important decision comes into play, you need to build Arachna according to what enemies you're facing.
If the other team has:


Jeraziah, Hammerstorm, Pestilence, Hellbringer


http://honwiki.net/w/images/c/c5/Nullfire_Bladeitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Nullfire_Blade)

Nullfire Blade: 3300 gold

Dispels Protective Charm, Hammerstorm's ultimate, Swarm, and most importantly it instantly kills Hellbringer's ultimate. This should be built with Geometer's bane since your images can mana burn. Save charges for dispelling rather than using it on enemy heroes (unless of course you absolutely need it to get a kill or you're saving an ally).


A team of 3+ heroes with strong nukes or chain stuns, including heroes like Pyromancer, Glacius, Soulstealer, Behemoth, Torturer, Thunderbinger, Moon Queen, Witch Slayer and Pebbles.
Either Electrician, Pollywog Priest or Witch Slayer you should get:


http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/3986/shead.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Shrunken_Head)

Shrunken Head: 3910 gold

Shrunken Head is the staple item for countering a team of disables and stuns. Its magic immunity provides reduces your number 1 target status and provides you with 5+ seconds of free dps which is good on any hero. Make sure that Shrunken Head is actually going to stop stuns, since some heroes ultimates (Succubus, Devourer, Deadwood, Pandamonium) go through Shrunken Head. You will need health boosting items to counter these heroes instead of Shrunken Head, or maybe even a Null Stone if the other team has a few single target scary disables.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2619/sbaneitem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Geometer%27s_Bane)

Geometer's Bane: 5000 gold

If the conditions for getting Nullfire Blade or Shrunken Head are not met, then you should be getting Geometer's Bane. It gives you; yet another ability which removes debuffs, images which do 33% of your base damage, extra movement speed to catch fleeing enemies or run away, and increases your armor. You should build the Blessed Orb before the Firebrand as the bonus health helps out a great deal when laning against someone. After Geometer's Bane is built, you should be getting Nullfire Blade anyway, since the mana combustion property gets transferred to your images. Keep in mind that images do not benefit from + attack speed, + armor or + damage items, they receive benefits from all stat boosting items though, so you may want to get Steamboots if you decide to get Geometer's Bane.

Now you have ANOTHER decision to make, if the enemy team has just the one (or no) carry hero(es), you should get a whispering helm (if you didn't before) and finish a Symbol of Rage, otherwise the next item on your shopping list is:

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1231/wbow.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Wingbow)

Wingbow: 6000 gold

The benefits of Wingbow are extremely amplified by Geometer's bane, your images now get dodge as well as the bonus agility and Arachna's damage and attack speed get a nice boost in effectiveness, she's now effectively a walking anti-physical tank. You can probably push with your team and win at this point, but just to be sure you should get:

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/2252/riftshards.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Riftshards)

Riftshards(Rank 4): 5500 gold

After Wingbow and Geometer's at level 25 you will have 310 damage, Riftshards will increase that to 385 damage with 20% critical strike chance for 2.4x damage (924 crits), which is effectively a 20% chance of 539 physical bonus damage, statistically giving you an extra 108 damage every attack. But wait there is more, your illusions get critical strike as well!

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4096/dbp.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Daemonic_Breast_Plate)

Deamonic Breast Plate: 6050 gold

Only get this item if no one on your team has it, and after lifesteal and wingbow. Everyone you attack will have -5 armor and you will have an insane attack speed, letting you apply Webbed Shots at a faster rate and increasing the damage your images and spiderlings do.

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9554/srage.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Symbol_of_Rage)

Symbol of Rage: 6150 gold

As mentioned earlier, you should be getting this when you're faced against a team of only 1 or less carry heroes, this is because it's most likely you'll need this to survive the damage from the other enemy heroes which will probably be a combination of magic and physical, and since you have resistance to magic damage you should be able to survive long enough to activate the Symbol of Rage and steal back all the life you lost. Once you have this item you should continue on getting Wingbow and Riftshards.

Sidenote:
Any items not mentioned doesn't necessarily mean they're bad on Arachna, for instance you might want to get Savage Mace to stop enemies from teleporting away once you throw Spider on them (Savage mace's mini stun bonus damage works on your images as well as giving you True Strike, nullifying any dodge that the enemy has and eliminating any uphill miss chance which is useful when pushing base towers), you shouldn't be getting any items that include an Attack Modifier since Arachna already has Webbed Shot. If you are getting +damage/attackspeed/armor items, keep in mind that images do not benefit from these bonuses, so you'll have to get Behemoth's Heart or another tanking item to survive late game. Generally you will want to avoid Assassin's Shroud because when you're playing against experienced foes, they will always be buying wards/gem when they gank you (and they WILL gank you!) You can remove Dust of Revelation with Harden Carapace in dire circumstances.

[Shadowcamsy]

Strategy[qe6]

I know what you're thinking, how am I meant to farm that much, when my opponents are trying to gank me every 5 minutes or they're pushing mid nonstop at the 20 minute mark. Answer: if you're getting ganked, tp top/bot and farm some more while buying another Homecoming Stone from the Outpost. If their team is pushing, let them 5v4 while you farm, if they're getting a rax you have no choice but to tp back and help your allies.

Keep in mind that Arachna has a very different playstyle to lots of heroes, expect to die in a few games before you know exactly how fragile she is to play. It takes a long time to learn when you should be farming/ganking/running away, it all comes with experience. You may get bored farming for half an hour but you should keep in mind that your team is relying on you to carry them to victory, and the best way to do that is farm, not gank. The only time you should gank is when someone else comes to your lane and you have allies that teleport in to help you.

Early game:
With a hero like Arachna, it's all about smart counter play. You need to be aggressive and make your enemies fear your lane. You should be attempting to last hit every single creep in your lane, denying creeps makes the enemy players die a little inside, making them frustrated. A good way to harass your enemy heroes is to orb walk 3 Webbed Shots into them, making them run away a bit then last hit a creep. Repeat this until they decide to stand out of exp range and continue to last hit. Don't forgot to make your movements unpredictable, even good players should find it hard to tell if you're going to attack a creep or harass them. When they're at the maximum last hit range, you should be standing in melee range of the creeps, so your projectile distance travels as short of a distance as possible, making it easier to last hit (try it in practice mode!). You should always prioritise last hitting over harassing. Arachna is not just about last hitting, she's about psyching out the enemy heroes in her lane to stop them farming.

If you're in need of some laning advice, or even if you're not in need of any I suggest heading over to http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=2625 and read Nome's Guide to laning.

Mid Game:
If you've successfully scared your enemy out of exp range, they're probably yelling for help on their mic or in team chat, so be prepared for a gank. Hopefully you have smart allies that are warding and/or using abilites for map control, if they are not, you may have to buy some wards yourself. When there are no enemy heroes in your lane, just sit back max range of creeps and only attack to last hit, when one of your ally creeps falls below 50% health, attack it until it dies, this will force the enemy creeps back towards you and you should be able to sit in your lane without it being pushed anywhere. This isn't a skill that can be picked up after one game, you have to practice this a fair bit before you can judge how much damage you need to do to each creep to keep them in the same position. Remember that the ranged creep does more damage so if you're doing it correctly, they should be the last 2 creeps in the wave that are alive, attacking each other. You should be static farming your lane and watching your map while farming. When you think your lane is pushed to far, you should swap to neutrals or maybe even do a quick creep pull so you can farm the lane creeps at a safer distance from the river.

Mid-Late game:
You should never attack your enemy tower with Arachna, since you want to farm, if you push down a tower too early, your creeps will be fighting on the other side of the river, making you a very susceptible target for ganks. However once you have your Geometer's Bane, feel free to push down the tower for extra gold, make sure you have keen map awareness, the last thing you want is to trying to last hit a tower with 5 enemy heroes around it, waiting to deny. Remember your Spiderling deals physical damage which is amplified by -armor which rips through enemy intelligence heroes. There's a few scenarios that the enemy team could be doing, each scenario should be counterable by your team line-up.

1) Full non-stop pushing team - Against a team like this you cannot afford to give them a single tower, for every tower they get, they all gain gold, making the next push even stronger. Your team line-up should be full of heroes to stop this from happening (and there are quite a few). If you don't have any of these heroes I'm afraid it's going to be a quick game, remember Arachna is designed to be shut down enemy carry heroes and she doesn't go well against a team of 5 Intelligence heroes.

2) 2-3 pushing heroes, at least 1 farmer - Your goal in this scenario is to outfarm the enemy farmer, this can be difficult for Arachna as she has no "farming" ability like Madman for instance. If the enemy is pushing with 5 heroes, you should be farming in your lane still while your team is 4v5'ing against them. If they're trying to take down a level 3 tower however, you'll need to defend it with your team. Be sure to watch out for teleports so that you don't over-extend into an oncoming gank. You should not be roaming and looking for the enemy carry to kill, leave that to your teammates. If you notice that the enemy carry hero is missing when they're pushing, your team suddenly has the 5v4 advantage and should initiate. Do not get caught out, if a chronos suddenly appears and he wasn't there before, you're going to be in big trouble.

3) 1-2 carries, 3 disablers/team nukers - This is where you will have a hard time farming a lane, since you will be constantly ganked. You will need Wards of Sight to be able to safely farm and you will need to be present at every team battle and you'll be next to useless without a Shrunken Head, because no matter how well your farming, if your team is dying every 5v4 battle then you're going to lose. When facing a team with a lot of disable, 1 hero can make the difference between a loss and a win. As soon as you take out 1 enemy disabler, you're going to have 1 more ally that is not going to get disabled (in theory).

4) 2-3 healers, 1 carry - A common strategy at the moment, you'll have to rely on your team to pin/silence the healers while you all focus down 1 target and turn it into a 4v5. In this case you should not be spreading your webbed shots, just attacking the one target. If the target retreats into a few of his allies, you should not lunge for him since you're so fragile. Just wait for your team's cooldowns to come back up and try again. You have to make sure you're killing 1 hero at a time.

5) 5 carries - Stop playing 1400+ EM games.

Late Game:
Puuush! You should be at the back of all your heroes, your enemy is looking to pick you off with nukes/disables. Your job is to get web shot stacks up on as many heroes in range of you while backpedaling away from nukes and stuns. Ideally you will have an initiation hero which will pin enemies so your allies can charge in with you and all look coordinated. Cast Spider Sting as fast as possible to unsettle the enemy, making some of them run back, some of them attack the spider and some of them trying to engage you still. You should have enough dps to down even the tankiest of heroes, if any melee come within 600 units of you, get a Webbed Shot debuff on them as soon as possible. If they are all ranged, then use your Harden Carapace sparingly and wait for someone on your team to initiate then begin casting Webbed Shot on as many heroes as possible. You should never charge out the front of your base and aim straight for the disabler, or the tempest, or their carry hero, just wait for them to come to you. They know you do the most damage on your team so they will try and kill you first. You can sit in your base, drag the game out and get items while they're pushing at your tower and you'll end up winning because pusher heroes lose their effectiveness late game, while you gain effectiveness when you level up because of Precision.

The key to being a good Arachna player is to be patient and smart, you need to know what your enemies are capable of and you need to know all their abilities/combos. You need to be patient enough to not charge out at the enemy, and patient enough to sit in a lane for 20 minutes and not push it anywhere. Webbed Shot is debatably one of the best control spells in the game at the moment, once you have Wingbow you pump your enemies with debuffs and dish out incredible amounts of damage. Debuffing enemies should be your number 1 priority, with debuffing comes kills, which gives you gold to get items that win the game.

Hero Synergy[qe7]

Friendlies

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/2030/glaciusn.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Glacius)

Glacius:
Arguably the best support hero in the game at the moment, his mana regeneration aura will keep you in your lane for an extremely long time and he will constantly help with ganks and map control.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7299/voodoo.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Voodoo_Jester)

Voodoo Jester:
Your Spider Sting + his cursed ground is almost a guaranteed kill. Your slows also keep enemies in range of his voodoo ward for a few extra attacks.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9223/pestw.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Pestilence)http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9999/armau.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Armadon)http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5391/predq.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Predator)http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1350/soulstealer.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Soulstealer)http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/5130/androm.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Andromeda)

-Armor heroes:
Pestilence, Armadon, Predator, Soulstealer, and Andromeda all provide -armor effects to enemy units which is fantastic for you and your Spiderling.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7727/behem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Behemoth)http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4844/tempest.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Tempest)http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3773/kotfk.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Keeper_of_the_Forest)

Initiation heroes:
Behemoth, Tempest and Keeper of the Forest all have extremely good initiation abilities which lets you put Webbed Shot on lots of enemy heroes before they have a chance to do anything.

Laning Buddies

Specifically ask for a lane with these heroes if they're on your team.

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/817/dementedshamanhero.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Demented_Shaman)http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/9930/accursedhero.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Accursed)

Demented Shaman/Accursed:
A Support Healer will help you be more aggresive and so you can push your enemies all the way out of exp range, none of these heroes are item dependant so you can take all the kills as well.

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/88/128pxpharaohhero.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Pharaoh)

Pharaoh:
When you slow, he can catch up and use Wall of Mummies and Hellfire to deal large amounts of damage to enemies and constantly stunning them, so if they have a delayed spell it can't be cast. Once you reach level 6, he will be able to interrupt the enemy Homecoming stone so they can't get away. He goes roaming at level 6 as well, leaving you to farm the lane.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/3830/devoury.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Devourer)

Devourer:
He is a very scary hero when the enemy does not know where he is, but he needs levels and your lane is good for exp. Once he reaches level 6 he will be off ganking and you are free to farm for the rest of the game.

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2752/witchslayer.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Witch_Slayer)

Witch Slayer:
He only needs exp to become powerful, so he should be sitting in your lane harassing your opponents with you, he has 2 strong disables allowing you to destroy any opponent that comes too close. When you both reach level 6 its a guaranteed kill, possibly double kill.

Baddies

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1645/zephc.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Zephyr)

Zephyr:
He can reflect 30% of your attacks back at you, he makes you apply Webbed Shot shot to yourself. You have to rely on your team to stop him farming early game, if he can't last hit, he can't farm.

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/4012/jeref.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Jeraziah)

Jeraziah:
His ultimate completely counters you for its duration, Spider Sting will do no damage, combined with his Protective charm will nullify your Webbed Shot (Note: Your Spiderling will still apply the -attack speed and movement speed debuffs though it will do almost no damage, thanks to Built for pointing this out) . You will be expected to get Nullfire Blade to dispel his charm and you will need to farm it fast.

Bad Lanes

If you see any of these heroes in your lane, you should request an immediate lane change, they are going to stop you farming for a good portion of the early game.

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/2030/glaciusn.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Glacius) + http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7727/behem.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Behemoth)

Disabler + stunner:
Escape mechanisms almost become pointless when you're hit with 2 stuns and a slow, these caster lanes are way too difficult for you to lane against having no real escape mechanism, especially when you're faced against a lane that can just spam blood chalice and out-harass you.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7312/accur.jpg (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Accursed)

Accursed:
He is going to remove your debuffs and heal his allies, making you entirely useless early and mid game.

Replays[qe8]

A High level 1800+ game where Scandal plays in an aggressive Arachna + Glacius vs Accursed + Forsaken Archer lane. Arachna gets a situational Null Stone to exploit the lack of single target spells that burn it, forcing legion to either waste a flick, face smash, cauterize or codex if they want to focus Arachna.
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=15137879

In this next replay we see Era playing in a high level match as a solo Arachna in the Hellbourne top lane with a jungle Tempest against Pollywog and Hammerstorm. Hugging the forest allows Arachna to harrass and last hit without the fear of a Hammerstorm stun and Pollywog follow up. Since pollywog's disables have such short range (400 grip, 500 hex), Arachna can harass him whenever he gets out of position, and the gank from tempest secured the win for the lane. Era chooses to get Geometers, Savage mace and Portal key. In this circumstance 3/5 of his team members are heroes that normally get portal key, so he gets it as well to get himself in a better position as well as having an escape mechanism. Geometer's is fantastic against Moon queen and chronos since the images tank some moon beams and Chronos has to spend time working out what the images are. Savage mace is also good for interrupting long channeling spells such as Pollywog's grip.
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=13216221

The last replay is a ESL match between unZ and TSoG with Revyy playing as Arachna on Legion. He lanes top as a solo knowing that he'd either be against Wretched Hag or Corrupted Disciple, since his team has the defensive tri-lane with Dark Lady. Thunderbringer ends up dominating mid, and TSoG had to start trying to gank TB, Dark lady and Arachna, which ended up being too hard for an underleveled Wretched Hag. The threat of an outlevelled Arachna means 2 heroes need to be dedicated to ganking her in order for her to die. Even if TSoG got a kill on her, they still had to move bottom again in order to stop dark lady's farm from getting out of hand.
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=13700228

Changelog[qe9]

28/07/09 - Skill Build and The Rundown added, a few new sections announced, stats changed a bit.
- Finished Items and Strategy sections.
29/07/09 - Changed font size and added Whispering Helm to Build list
30/07/09 - Cleared up BB code a bit
New patch 0.1.30 featuring Arachna changes:

- Base agility gain from 2.5 to 3.2
- Tweaked the Spider Sting's spiderling
* The Spiderling has a movement speed of 522
* It will now last for 6 total attacks, up from 4
* Each attack deals 75/150/225 Physical damage, increased from 62,138,225
* Fixed tool tip, the debuff applied by the Spiderling on attack will now be displayed
* Removed Clear vision and True Sight from Spiderling. Instead, its target will be permanently revealed while the Spiderling lives

06/08/09 - Added some new items for variation, changed color scheme, minor changes to strategy section, reworked item build, added hero synergy, added how abilities scale, bad enemies coming soon.
07/08/09 - Added Baddies and Bad lanes sections.
08/08/09 - Fixed up some typing errors, added some unordered lists, added a bit more to The rundown and strat.
11/08/09 - New Patch 0.1.34 featuring more Arachna changes:

- Base intelligence gain from 1.8 to 1.5
- The First two levels of webshot have a 2 second cool down
- Some tweaks to Spider Sting
* the Spiderling will now last for 5 attacks, reduced from 6
* Rather than using health, the Spiderling will be destroyed after being attacked 3 times
* Fixed an issue causing the spiderling to sometimes become idle if its target became invulnerable for any length of time

19/08/09 - Ninja edited guide to account for Webbed Shot no longer having stacks. Changed some colours.
02/09/09 - Fixed Jereziah's laning info and added some info for items, keep the posts coming :)
11/09/09 - Fixed up the broken pictures, also added links to their corresponding honwiki page, fixed up Slither's section
12/09/09 - New Patch 0.1.42:

- Fixed Spider Sting to not drop target if the target becomes Invulnerable for a fraction of a second
- Changed her attack action time from 300ms to 400ms
- Harden Carapace now lasts 6 seconds at all levels

20/09/09 - New Patch 0.1.45:

- Arachna's spiderling is now easier to target and select
- Web Shot will no longer trigger charges on Power Supply or Mana Battery
- Movement speed reduced by 10

27/09/09 - Changed Steam boots to Enhanced marchers.
13/11/09 - Removed Puppet master from baddies section now that Puppeteer's hold is displled by Harden Carapace - Thanks Dark0ne1
- fixed up a few things like riftshards and a mention of Repel.
22/11/09 - Changed Enhanced marchers to ghost marchers
30/03/10 - Updated First page of guide with lots of new stuff, and the second page with some new hero strats
25/09/10 - Included skill icons and hon wiki links, updated the main picture and strength gain
30/09/10 - Added replays, and pictures for abilities, changed some text to be more precise for current gameplay

[Aeriant]

I think this needs a lot of work, but it's a good start.
As for Item Build, I usually build her like drow, going 2 wraiths, steamboots STR, assasins shroud, wingbow, and then some type of defense.

[Frog100]

You know what's good with aracha, Frost Skull. Gives you the health you need and stacks with your snare for -70% movement speed. A little redundant since you already have a snare but can make for a fun game

[boomfail]

stats... rly?
unless you die a lot early game im pretty sure your items can make up for it.

[Sw4n]

definitely stats. you can take 1 in carapace if ur gonna have a debuff to remove. good so far.

[Travakh]

I put up an arachna guide a while back. I disagree strongly with getting more than 1 level of harden carapace until 25, but otherwise reserving judgment till you post an item build.

[Lethe]

I put up an arachna guide a while back. I disagree strongly with getting more than 1 level of harden carapace until 25, but otherwise reserving judgment till you post an item build.

Eh there is a pretty big difference between 38% magic reduction and 70% magic reduction don't you think?

So far so good though, Arachna does not need precision early but hardened carapace can easily save your ass. Best of luck on this guide.

[Shadowcamsy]

Extra levels of Harden Carapace also reduce the cooldown of Harden Carapace and duration of the Harden Carapace effect, allowing you to keep it up for 33% of the time.

[Tr1cKSt3R]

It's more efficient to have 2 wraith bands and str treads.. you save 100 gold. bracers are retarded for agi heros as they soak up 525? gold each and have no effect late game.

[Shadowcamsy]

It's more efficient to have 2 wraith bands and str treads.. you save 100 gold. bracers are retarded for agi heros as they soak up 525? gold each and have no effect late game.

Fortified Bracelet is 510 gold.
Soulscream Wring is 460 gold.
Tradeoffs:
6 damage, tiny increase in attack speed, tiny increase in armor for 6str which is a roughly 8% health gain in that point in time.

Wraith bands give you a bit more damage, Bracers give you a bit more health, its a personal choice but I'd rather the extra health, I can't even put a number of the amount of times I've gotten away with <50 health because my enemy misjudged my health with bracers.

[FuzzyWuzzy]

In my honest opinion, both Bands and Bracers are possible, if you are going Bands go 3x, if going Bracers go 2x. I usually go for fast Midas, because the HoN midas are just so powerful, so I don't get more than 2x Bands and then straight for Shieldbreaker. In addition, I suggest going for Whispering Helm also, Armor Reduction + Lifeleech is a very powerful combination (which may be fixed soon when orbs don't stack ;) )

You can also dominate a Wolf Commander for 30% damage aura, makes an incredible difference for Arachna.

[MisterEvil]

I like your guide, but what does the term, "orb walking," mean exactly? As far as I can infer, it just means to shoot your enemy.

[Isin]

The ult is so stupid, she throws a spider at them? Wtf?


I like your guide, but what does the term, "orb walking," mean exactly? As far as I can infer, it just means to shoot your enemy.

Shoot them, move, shoot them again, move again, shoot them again, etc.

Basically it's to prevent them from hitting you.

[Powster]

lol someone who agrees with me that arachna owns.. but is a lot harder to play than most... my item build is a lot different though.. maybe I will try yours

[Lethe]

You should mention something about needing a solo lane as arachna (but not particularly being a great solo). I would like to see some comparisons between arachna and drow/viper. Finally saying something like "Strongest ranged hero"...in what respect?

Overall nice guide though.

[EnragedCamel]

I solo kited a legionaire all over my team's forest the other day.

It took some time and I was almost oom at the end, but it was fun.

[rhodric1]

This guide is pretty good, but there are a couple of things I disagree with.

While getting stats early game is the way to go, getting more than 1 rank of carapace is not. You only need 1 rank for the debuff dispell. If you are in a lane with 2 nukers, immediately ask for a switch. If switch is not possible, carapace isn't going to save you. You'll still get nuked when carapace isn't up.

Also you should consider getting precision around level 10, because this is where your damage is high enough to benefit more from precision than stats. And this is where you'll start participating in ganks.

Item-wise, you can't ever go wrong with assassin's shroud. You are extremely vulnerable to ganks all game long. Assassin's shroud + carapace will save you plenty of times.

[Thotor]

I strongly disagree.

first. harden carapace NEED to be taken at level 2. no matter what. debuff is vital for early game. Going more than 1 level of harden carapace, is not the way to go. You need at least 2 +stat before that.

Item wise, i do not follow the same path. I personaly go for :
ring of the teacher -> early harass/kill
lifetube
phase boot. armor is good. thread give IAS which is to my point of view not usefull to arachna as you will need more mana.
runed axe.
wingbow but game should be already over.

Early strategy is simple : webshot webshot webshot and more webshot on your ennemy. They will either die or flee.
Just watch for gank because people will hate you.

mid game, you can rush to gank without problem or take people 1 on 1.

late game, stay behind and just webshot people so they don't flee.

Arachna is very good hero if you have a few ranged heroes. Else her support late game might be a bit low.

[FuzzyWuzzy]

I strongly disagree.

first. harden carapace NEED to be taken at level 2. no matter what. debuff is vital for early game. Going more than 1 level of harden carapace, is not the way to go. You need at least 2 +stat before that.

Item wise, i do not follow the same path. I personaly go for :
ring of the teacher -> early harass/kill
lifetube
phase boot. armor is good. thread give IAS which is to my point of view not usefull to arachna as you will need more mana.
runed axe.
wingbow but game should be already over.

Early strategy is simple : webshot webshot webshot and more webshot on your ennemy. They will either die or flee.
Just watch for gank because people will hate you.

mid game, you can rush to gank without problem or take people 1 on 1.

late game, stay behind and just webshot people so they don't flee.

Arachna is very good hero if you have a few ranged heroes. Else her support late game might be a bit low.

I guess you are the only to talk with K/D ratio of 0.5/1 :D

Runed Axe on Ranged... Reminds me of old times in Dota a couple of years ago, when some people were playing Medusa with Bfury :D

[Thotor]

I don't frag. I assist :)
and that's what arachna is about anyway.

[Lethe]

...Arachna is clearly a mid-late game carry hero.

[Glorify1]

I enjoyed the formatting, made it easy to read, however I would of preferred a smaller text as it's more appealing to my eyes and easier to real. Most of the item build I disagree with, especially the starting item build as it lacks flexibility.

I think, if you haven't already mentioned, it would be worth noting that it is almost impossible to 1v1 her if she spider stings you. Your attack speed is reduced to a crawling swing, and you simply can't deal damage even on agility heroes.

[Powster]

Well.. I think enhanced marchers are way more useful for arachna than anything else.. Running through creeps has let me catch a lot of people in games.. and plus they are cheaper. I also like going for wingbow right after enhanced marchers by playing pretty safe.. once i get wingbow then I take more chances..

Lots of people say assassin shroud for arachna... but I hardly find uses for it.. It has saved me a few times but.. I would rather own a lot more than live a few times more..

[NiGHTsC]

Nice guide, I love your colors, never too much :D

Thank you.

[imrik32]

I just started playing, but I treat her a lot like Trax. What I enjoy doing is going for a lifetube first on the side lanes, then finishing helm of the black legion first. Then I get treads and finish 3 (hellscream?) rings because with her aura it adds a decent amount of damage. Then I go for assassin's shroud and wingbow if the game goes that long.

I feel the extra HP from the Helm of the Black Legion just helps so much, especially in premade games that I most often play where people actually don't need their hands held to breathe.

[Shadowcamsy]

In my honest opinion, both Bands and Bracers are possible, if you are going Bands go 3x, if going Bracers go 2x. I usually go for fast Midas, because the HoN midas are just so powerful, so I don't get more than 2x Bands and then straight for Shieldbreaker. In addition, I suggest going for Whispering Helm also, Armor Reduction + Lifeleech is a very powerful combination (which may be fixed soon when orbs don't stack ;) )

You can also dominate a Wolf Commander for 30% damage aura, makes an incredible difference for Arachna.

HoN midas is extremely good, you get back 250 gold from using it on level 5 creeps, item cost is 1900g with 100 sec cd, so you get back all your gold in 800 seconds with a free +30% attack speed.

Whispering Helm is a fantastic item, that 30% damage is a huge increase once you have Shieldbreaker, If you didn't farm enough for Alchemist Bones you should probably pick this up instead, straight after Steam Boots.


You should mention something about needing a solo lane as arachna (but not particularly being a great solo). I would like to see some comparisons between arachna and drow/viper. Finally saying something like "Strongest ranged hero"...in what respect?

Overall nice guide though.

I personally would never send Arachna to a solo lane, she is too weak at the start of the game to hold a lane, Viper has bonus damage which Arachna lacks. I used "Strongest ranged hero" because she can beat every ranged physical dps hero in a 1 on 1 with the same items, including soulstealer. This is because her abilities also provide an attack speed slow which give her an advantage over lots of heroes.


This guide is pretty good, but there are a couple of things I disagree with.

While getting stats early game is the way to go, getting more than 1 rank of carapace is not. You only need 1 rank for the debuff dispell. If you are in a lane with 2 nukers, immediately ask for a switch. If switch is not possible, carapace isn't going to save you. You'll still get nuked when carapace isn't up.

Also you should consider getting precision around level 10, because this is where your damage is high enough to benefit more from precision than stats. And this is where you'll start participating in ganks.

Item-wise, you can't ever go wrong with assassin's shroud. You are extremely vulnerable to ganks all game long. Assassin's shroud + carapace will save you plenty of times.

Rank 1 carapace will not prolong your death from nukes (only lasts 3 seconds), however Rank 4 is going to keep you alive for 6 seconds, giving your team mates extra time to tp in. Base damage at level 10 is something around 60 damage, 7% of 60 is 4.2 damage, Stats gives small armor, small increase in attack speed, 40ish health, 2 damage, etc. It's up to you but I'd once again prefer the extra health for survivability and the synergy with Harden Carapace.

Assassin's shroud can go wrong in pretty much every game that isn't a pub, I feel that the shroud is about 1500g overpriced because it's easily countered by smart players with wards/gem/dust. It's another personal choice but I would get used to not relying on Assassin's shroud sooner rather than later. If you want an escape mechanism, I'd get Shrunken Head, but even that is a waste of about 1000g in effectiveness.


I enjoyed the formatting, made it easy to read, however I would of preferred a smaller text as it's more appealing to my eyes and easier to real. Most of the item build I disagree with, especially the starting item build as it lacks flexibility.

I think, if you haven't already mentioned, it would be worth noting that it is almost impossible to 1v1 her if she spider stings you. Your attack speed is reduced to a crawling swing, and you simply can't deal damage even on agility heroes.

I'll make the text 1 size smaller and see what people think. What do you mean by flexibility? Budget ring is a very good item for harassing, when you're on full health you can harass a bit, if you're not on full health you can sit back and farm. Minor totems give you the edge on opponents and let you coerce them out of your lane.


Well.. I think enhanced marchers are way more useful for arachna than anything else.. Running through creeps has let me catch a lot of people in games.. and plus they are cheaper. I also like going for wingbow right after enhanced marchers by playing pretty safe.. once i get wingbow then I take more chances..

Lots of people say assassin shroud for arachna... but I hardly find uses for it.. It has saved me a few times but.. I would rather own a lot more than live a few times more..

I'm pretty sure your first webbed shot will cancel your marchers, autocast might not though, I'll have to check. I see Arachna as more of a "Don't come within 600 units of me or I'll slap your face" kind of hero, as soon as she tries chasing down enemies she is prone to a counterattack. Of course once you have Wingbow this changes dramattically.


I just started playing, but I treat her a lot like Trax. What I enjoy doing is going for a lifetube first on the side lanes, then finishing helm of the black legion first. Then I get treads and finish 3 (hellscream?) rings because with her aura it adds a decent amount of damage. Then I go for assassin's shroud and wingbow if the game goes that long.

I feel the extra HP from the Helm of the Black Legion just helps so much, especially in premade games that I most often play where people actually don't need their hands held to breathe.

If you're going for Helm of the Black Legion first then you're going to run into a bit of trouble. Arachna's armor reduces incoming damage by 11%, HotBL has a 65% chance to block 40 damage. Therefore any attack that is doing more than 45 damage is going to be doing pure damage to Arachna. Combined with the fact that you'll be starting the game with less than 500hp means you'll be in a bit of trouble. Also you're not going to be very helpful to your team in battles, just dump out a spider, take a bit of damage, then run away.

[_Archangel_]

Hmm. You are playing Arachna as a hard carry, which I believe that she is not. Her agility gain is sub-bar. None of her skills actually help her to DPS except for her worst one, the aura. I would much rather play her as a ganking semicarry.

A semicarry should not get Alchemist's Bones.

I would prefer to get Shield Breaker straight after Marchers if farming well; two Fortified Bracelets before that but Steam Boots would come AFTER Shield Breaker. Focusing your strength on midgame, Shield Breaker and Steamboots should come after 25 minutes or so.

Wingbow is a good item after Shieldbreaker and Steamboots.

Your skill build and strategy make lots of sense though, but I feel that with her two slows she can gank the sidelanes very easily. Nice guide overall though, but I personally don't think she should be played as a hard carry.

[Justmatel]

Nice guide although i see people saying bracers have no good effect on Agi. The reason for a bracer is to tank up a hero + give str more attack. If your playing intel then u really do need a bracer or two. Depending on what Agi hero u are too.

[rhodric1]

Rank 1 carapace will not prolong your death from nukes (only lasts 3 seconds), however Rank 4 is going to keep you alive for 6 seconds, giving your team mates extra time to tp in. Base damage at level 10 is something around 60 damage, 7% of 60 is 4.2 damage, Stats gives small armor, small increase in attack speed, 40ish health, 2 damage, etc. It's up to you but I'd once again prefer the extra health for survivability and the synergy with Harden Carapace.

Assassin's shroud can go wrong in pretty much every game that isn't a pub, I feel that the shroud is about 1500g overpriced because it's easily countered by smart players with wards/gem/dust. It's another personal choice but I would get used to not relying on Assassin's shroud sooner rather than later. If you want an escape mechanism, I'd get Shrunken Head, but even that is a waste of about 1000g in effectiveness.

That extra 3 seconds of magic armor is not worth 3 ranks. It's not even magic immune, so you can still take damage and be slowed/stunned in its duration, and you are still screwed by physical damage. By taking these 3 points, you are delaying your damage. You don't have the luxury to turtle forever, since you are needed for ganks mid game. Drow's silence is much stronger than carapace, and most people get only 1 level first.

As for items, you need some type of escape mechanism. I always liked Lothar's in dota because of the move speed bonus + invis. It has great utility for escaping and ganking. People don't ward up the entire map just because someone has Assassin's Shroud. When they dust, your 20% MS bonus will still save you. In addition, it provides damage and AS, so you are buffing your damage early game while building this item. Shrunken Head is fine too, but you might still die to a better carry late game.

[_Archangel_]

That extra 3 seconds of magic armor is not worth 3 ranks. It's not even magic immune, so you can still take damage and be slowed/stunned in its duration, and you are still screwed by physical damage. By taking these 3 points, you are delaying your damage. You don't have the luxury to turtle forever, since you are needed for ganks mid game. Drow's silence is much stronger than carapace, and most people get only 1 level first.

As for items, you need some type of escape mechanism. I always liked Lothar's in dota because of the move speed bonus + invis. It has great utility for escaping and ganking. People don't ward up the entire map just because someone has Assassin's Shroud. When they dust, your 20% MS bonus will still save you. In addition, it provides damage and AS, so you are buffing your damage early game while building this item. Shrunken Head is fine too, but you might still die to a better carry late game.

Lothar's only works in pub DotA games; this doesn't change here. Even smart pub opponents will stun you after throwing Dust. Sad. When pushing or being pushed against, smart opponents will lay down a Ward or two in front of your/their tower and thus when you join the fight they will see you.

[rhodric1]

because not everyone plays ranged heroes with good lane control.


Lothar's only works in pub DotA games; this doesn't change here. Even smart pub opponents will stun you after throwing Dust. Sad. When pushing or being pushed against, smart opponents will lay down a Ward or two in front of your/their tower and thus when you join the fight they will see you.

I like it for the move speed bonus and utility. It doesn't work in competitive dota, because no one ever picks drow.

[class]

u don't have to play a ranged hero with good lane control to get more than 10 denies a game cheers

[Killroy]

Somehow I never get the feeling the spider does a lot. I cast it at an enemy and stun him. After that it is almost as if the spider is not doing anything. Will it attack automatically? Do you have to control it? I am missing something there. And the stacking is bit misleading. So you get a 40% slow and besides that you can get up to 80% slower attack speed then?

Taking stats early game is definitely a good thing. The aura is hardly doing anything untill you get some items. You have poor base damage and an average agi gain. So levelling it before something like level 9 is simply bad imho.

[rhodric1]

u don't have to play a ranged hero with good lane control to get more than 10 denies a game cheers

maybe some people don't care enough to deny after the 5 minute mark in pubs. gj criticizing people for not caring in beta cheers

[DounJeimes]

Somehow I never get the feeling the spider does a lot. I cast it at an enemy and stun him. After that it is almost as if the spider is not doing anything. Will it attack automatically? Do you have to control it? I am missing something there. And the stacking is bit misleading. So you get a 40% slow and besides that you can get up to 80% slower attack speed then?

Taking stats early game is definitely a good thing. The aura is hardly doing anything untill you get some items. You have poor base damage and an average agi gain. So levelling it before something like level 9 is simply bad imho.

Sure, who gets the aura at low level definitely dont know the game.

@topic

Nice guide.

[turdle]

never used alchemists bones till i used this guide, great item for a hero like this that needs a good farm to be viable

[Thotor]

Somehow I never get the feeling the spider does a lot. I cast it at an enemy and stun him. After that it is almost as if the spider is not doing anything. Will it attack automatically? Do you have to control it? I am missing something there. And the stacking is bit misleading. So you get a 40% slow and besides that you can get up to 80% slower attack speed then?
The spider seems to bug a lot. If target moves out of reach, she does not always follow and just stops. Same if target goes in fog. Even worse, she is supposed to counter stealth but if stealth is trigger while the spider is being thrown, she just sit doing nothing.

[Shadowcamsy]

Guess who got buffed this patch? That's right, everyones favourite spider, Arachna:

Arachna:
- Base agility gain from 2.5 to 3.2
- Tweaked the Spider Sting's spiderling
* The Spiderling has a movement speed of 522
* It will now last for 6 total attacks, up from 4
* Each attack deals 75/150/225 Physical damage, increased from 62,138,225
* Fixed tool tip, the debuff applied by the Spiderling on attack will now be displayed
* Removed Clear vision and True Sight from Spiderling. Instead, its target will be permanently revealed while the Spiderling lives

I don't have time to update the guide at the moment, but it will be changed in an hour or two, damn uni lectures >_> Arachna is going to get nerfed next patch imo, the changes are too dramatic, have fun while it lasts though :P

[exnx]

very nice, makes her a little more similar to drows insane dps

[Aegd]

Her DPS is pretty good now. Had no problem taking on a pretty OK Valkyrie on the same lane (tried the new 3vs3 map). Her new ultimate is pretty nice too, since it reveals the target pretty much all the time, making her very nice versus stealth heroes. The damage her ultimate deals is probably a bit to much though, since it has the potential to deal 1500 physical damage at lv 16 if the spiderling gets to hit 6 times. At lv 6 it has the potential to deal 450 damage, which is MORE than pyromancers ulti... allthough you have to keep in mind that it's physical and not magical damage... but the cooldown is like 30 seconds or something :P

I'm pretty sure they're going to be needing to nerf her ultimate damage next patch. It will need to have it's damage reduced drastically. All it needs to do is slow and reveal the target and last long enough to allow Arachna to keep chasing or to run away from battle. I see it more as an ablilty to chase or to run away, than a damage dealing ability, because Arachna has enough damage bonus and agility gain + farming power to deal enough damage without any "nuke" skills.

[krucifix]

Hmm. You are playing Arachna as a hard carry, which I believe that she is not. Her agility gain is sub-bar. None of her skills actually help her to DPS except for her worst one, the aura. I would much rather play her as a ganking semicarry.


Hard carry now? :)

[_Archangel_]

Hard carry now? :)

Yes. :D

[Thotor]

The damage her ultimate deals is probably a bit to much though, since it has the potential to deal 1500 physical damage at lv 16 if the spiderling gets to hit 6 times. At lv 6 it has the potential to deal 450 damage, which is MORE than pyromancers ulti... allthough you have to keep in mind that it's physical and not magical damage... but the cooldown is like 30 seconds or something :P
Only potential. Because late game, the spider won't surive long enough to hit all 6 attack.
I believe that now it's make the ulti very viable as it will force ennemies to actually kill the spider.

[Pewpewarrows]

Had people yell at me in-game for getting Shieldbreaker as opposed to Riftshards.

Discuss?

[FiNGERS]

You know what's good with aracha, Frost Skull. Gives you the health you need and stacks with your snare for -70% movement speed. A little redundant since you already have a snare but can make for a fun game

I agree, I tested this last night just to see if Frostwulf would stack. When it did I nearly peed myself. What a fun game.

[FiNGERS]

Had people yell at me in-game for getting Shieldbreaker as opposed to Riftshards.

Discuss?

If you have an AWESOME support team, by all means farm for 40 minutes and get different items. Shieldbreaker allows you to be USEFUL before the 30 minute mark. The people yelling at you for getting Riftshards are the same idiots who I yelled at for getting Vanguard on Tidehunter. (They didn't stack with Kraken shell).

edit: Sorry for double post, not sure how I managed that.

[ClownFoot]

wow, i just played a game and random'd arachna. i feared for the worse, since i never played her before and heard she was horrible. not true, she is probably my favorite hero now

[Pewpewarrows]

wow, i just played a game and random'd arachna. i feared for the worse, since i never played her before and heard she was horrible. not true, she is probably my favorite hero now

Yeah, I agree with this. Got her randomly and found myself pleasantly surprised and loving the aggressive gameplay. She and Behemoth are quite fun for me at least.

[`Shifty]

With her buffs now she is really strong, much better than previously. She's done well in pretty much every game I've been with her in since the patch.

[Logravity]

Her DPS is pretty good now. Had no problem taking on a pretty OK Valkyrie on the same lane (tried the new 3vs3 map). Her new ultimate is pretty nice too, since it reveals the target pretty much all the time, making her very nice versus stealth heroes. The damage her ultimate deals is probably a bit to much though, since it has the potential to deal 1500 physical damage at lv 16 if the spiderling gets to hit 6 times. At lv 6 it has the potential to deal 450 damage, which is MORE than pyromancers ulti... allthough you have to keep in mind that it's physical and not magical damage... but the cooldown is like 30 seconds or something :P

I'm pretty sure they're going to be needing to nerf her ultimate damage next patch. It will need to have it's damage reduced drastically. All it needs to do is slow and reveal the target and last long enough to allow Arachna to keep chasing or to run away from battle. I see it more as an ablilty to chase or to run away, than a damage dealing ability, because Arachna has enough damage bonus and agility gain + farming power to deal enough damage without any "nuke" skills.

I dont think her ult is too powerful because since the spider is killable in a few hits which will reduce the damage done to the target. If the skill did 225x6 no matter what, then that would be imba.

[ClownFoot]

I dont think her ult is too powerful because since the spider is killable in a few hits which will reduce the damage done to the target. If the skill did 225x6 no matter what, then that would be imba.

i love it though. youd be suprised how many times ive killed a scout with it. what you do is wait for the scout to backstab you, then launch your spider at him. after that start spaming your slow shot, and he should invis and run. now he will be freaking out because he thought he was invincible when he pressed q, and not even think to kill the spiderling that is ripping him a new butt hole

[Logravity]

i love it though. youd be suprised how many times ive killed a scout with it. what you do is wait for the scout to backstab you, then launch your spider at him. after that start spaming your slow shot, and he should invis and run. now he will be freaking out because he thought he was invincible when he pressed q, and not even think to kill the spiderling that is ripping him a new butt hole

Lol yeah, her spiderling can counter invis heroes like scout and nighthound pretty well.

[ThatDaxGuy]

Okay, for a person who's new to the HoN scene and not an old DotA player, can someone explain orb walking real quick? How would I go about doing it? As simple as possible please cause I think I am very high up on the "n00b!" scale >_<

[exnx]

you manually press q for webshot, not autocasting it. The instant you cast the spell and see the webshot leave arachna you run forward, not letting the animation finish, and cast it again.

[ThatDaxGuy]

So its hardcast, 1st animation frame, run, hardcast again, rinse and repeat?

[Shadowcamsy]

The theory behind orb walking is: There's a point when your Webbed Shot is cast where the spell is fired and Arachna is still standing there finishing her casting animation before she attempts to do anything else. Also there is time where Arachna can't attack because she's already done an attack recently, and you have to wait until you can attack again. During this time you can still move your hero as you like, so you might as well be moving when you cant attack. If you attack and then move closer to your enemy, you can get more attacks off than if you were just right clicking on them.

Basically the term "orb walking" comes from dota heroes (Viper, Clinkz, Drow, Huskar), they all have spells that are similar to Arachna's Webbed Shot, when I say similar I mean they have short/no cooldown and apply an effect to the targetted enemy hero.

[Mordiggian]

Also, in DotA (from what I've read) by manually casting the spell, you don't draw creep aggro. However, I read somewhere that you still do in HoN as of Patch 1.28. Unsure if that's changed.

[Thotor]

you do not draw agro on manual cast. Which is why arachna is very good harasser in early game

[Shadowcamsy]

You still draw creep aggro at the moment, I feel that will change as S2 add more heroes with orb abilities, or action effect abilties... whatever they call it :P

[Xincolin]

You forgot auto attack spam :(

[Decency]

I've been using Arachna a lot lately (read: last 6 hours of my 72 hour career), but what I've been getting in midgame is the Nullfire Blade (Diffusal Blade).

I feel like this is a huge help to the character because when fending off ganks I can cripple 2 heroes (Ultimate+Purge) and then just webbed shot spam when/until help comes.

After that, Steam Boots on Str/Agil depending on how my HP is doing against enmies.

After that if I find myself still low on life, which is usually the case with this hero, I can just get a Beast Heart for +250 HP and then I am 1400 shy of Geometer's Bane (Manta Style). With a semi-DPS hero, nearly doubling my damage with the 2 clones seems leike an awesome deal, plus the attack speed bonus from the +30 agility doesn't hurt.


I'm not the most experienced player, so if you think this is a stupid item selection just explain why the more common ones are better. I don't think I'm really playing a hard-carry at this point until very lategame with GeoBane/Steamboots, more of a stunner/chaser until then.


Also, I'm not sure what you guys mean by autocast, I didn't even notice that feature was in HoN... so I've always been pressing Q+Click and then kiting the hero. This is orbwalking, basically?

[Feriluce]

You still draw creep aggro at the moment, I feel that will change as S2 add more heroes with orb abilities, or action effect abilties... whatever they call it :P

You actually dont anymore. I've been playing her recently and they've fixed it again.

[FruLLe]

I like what you have got going but my build as i put it is way different especially in item build. I am aiming a bit as trax with Assassins Shroud and Wing Bow pretty fast but i will definitely try urs.

Keep up the good work!

[HejsandU]

I guess you are the only to talk with K/D ratio of 0.5/1 :D

Runed Axe on Ranged... Reminds me of old times in Dota a couple of years ago, when some people were playing Medusa with Bfury :D


made me larf

[Miraclelol]

I like what you have got going but my build as i put it is way different especially in item build. I am aiming a bit as trax with Assassins Shroud and Wing Bow pretty fast but i will definitely try urs.

Keep up the good work!

That's also exactly how I play her. As a really weak hero, I think she needs an escape - which is where lothar's/assassin's shroud comes in. Replace the hand of midas/bracers for 2 wraiths, and you shouldn't be too low on dmg.

[antigrav]

If you are playing in a proper team/competitive game your ideal item build is as follows.

Steamboots
1 or 2 x Wraith Bands (sorry I forget the HoN name, the ones that give +6 agi +3 str/int)
Nullfire Blade
Wingbow/Whispering Helm (order depends on how well you are doing)
Turn Nullfire -> Geometer's Bane

Optional (super lategame)
Shrunken Head/Behemoth's Heart (depends on game)
Savage Mace (Monkey King Bar equivalent)

Now for the reasoning behind these items.

Nullfire is the staple for any solid agi dps carry hero. Not only does it stop opponents from getting away, ever, but it also is useful in that it will dispell important team buffs such as Jereziah's Repel, Predator's Stone Hide, and even Shrunken Head (unsure about this one, correct me if I'm wrong.) Also, in tandem with your Carapace spell you can use the blade on yourself to stop any and all kinds of debuffs on yourself so nothing can hinder your massive dmg output.

Once that is obtained you either need lifesteal to be able to stand and deliver much more effectively or even more damage to ensure that you can still do your part in team fights even if you get focused on. The order depends on how well you're farming, your map control, as well as who the enemy heroes are. If they are a bunch of strengh tanks you need the lifesteal to outlast them but if they are squishy intelligence or agility heroes then the extra damage from wingbow will end their lives even faster.

Once you are out of Nullfire charges you should update to Geometer's Bane ASAP as this well be a solid source of damage output as well as survivability.

As for the luxury items. The two strength survival ones are pretty obvious and are dependent on the enemy team. The Savage Mace is for any kind of channeling hero or teams that like to TP out before you get the chance to kill them. This will ensure they dont' get away.


Also a side comment:

Her ultimate is worth it now moreso than ever. The damage output is pretty ridiculous and permanent sight whlie the spiderling is alive is pretty key for some team fights.

[RPZip]

If you have an AWESOME support team, by all means farm for 40 minutes and get different items. Shieldbreaker allows you to be USEFUL before the 30 minute mark. The people yelling at you for getting Riftshards are the same idiots who I yelled at for getting Vanguard on Tidehunter. (They didn't stack with Kraken shell).

edit: Sorry for double post, not sure how I managed that.

Riftshards is actually cheaper than Shieldbreaker, though - almost half as much, actually. Flayer is more expensive, but you can pick that up later.

I'm not sure which gives more damage, although my guess would be Shieldbreaker for obvious reasons, but Riftshards is presumably a decent choice on a budget... and would let you start ganking more effectively sooner, too.

[Shadowcamsy]

If you are playing in a proper team/competitive game your ideal item build is as follows.

Steamboots
1 or 2 x Wraith Bands (sorry I forget the HoN name, the ones that give +6 agi +3 str/int)
Nullfire Blade
Wingbow/Whispering Helm (order depends on how well you are doing)
Turn Nullfire -> Geometer's Bane

Optional (super lategame)
Shrunken Head/Behemoth's Heart (depends on game)
Savage Mace (Monkey King Bar equivalent)

Now for the reasoning behind these items.

Nullfire is the staple for any solid agi dps carry hero. Not only does it stop opponents from getting away, ever, but it also is useful in that it will dispell important team buffs such as Jereziah's Repel, Predator's Stone Hide, and even Shrunken Head (unsure about this one, correct me if I'm wrong.) Also, in tandem with your Carapace spell you can use the blade on yourself to stop any and all kinds of debuffs on yourself so nothing can hinder your massive dmg output.

Once that is obtained you either need lifesteal to be able to stand and deliver much more effectively or even more damage to ensure that you can still do your part in team fights even if you get focused on. The order depends on how well you're farming, your map control, as well as who the enemy heroes are. If they are a bunch of strengh tanks you need the lifesteal to outlast them but if they are squishy intelligence or agility heroes then the extra damage from wingbow will end their lives even faster.

Once you are out of Nullfire charges you should update to Geometer's Bane ASAP as this well be a solid source of damage output as well as survivability.

As for the luxury items. The two strength survival ones are pretty obvious and are dependent on the enemy team. The Savage Mace is for any kind of channeling hero or teams that like to TP out before you get the chance to kill them. This will ensure they dont' get away.


Also a side comment:

Her ultimate is worth it now moreso than ever. The damage output is pretty ridiculous and permanent sight whlie the spiderling is alive is pretty key for some team fights.

Congrats, you just wrote out the staple item build for Potm in competitive dota. Would you get Diffusal Blade on Drow Ranger? Would you get it on Viper/Clinkz? The reason why people get the item is because it is cost effecient and puts out more damage than all other items of similar gold cost for agility heroes.

Reasons NOT to get Diffusal/Nullfire Blade on Arachna:
1) She already has an ability to remove debuffs on herself
2) She already has 2 abilities that slow heroes, its like getting a hood on a hero that already has magic resistance, or attack speed items on heroes with already fast attack speed, its just a waste of gold.
3) She has no ability that allows her to suddenly appear into team battles, if you want to be of use to your team, you have to be near the front of the initation or you will waste 3 seconds running into the actual fight, however if you're near the front of your team you're going to be disabled thus hindering your "massive damage output"

Heart will give her health and regen, as well as her images, but thats about it, if you've got 6k up your sleeve and you want to buy an item for lolz, heart is what you're looking for. Also if you happen to be against a team of tanks in a competetive game, you're in a paradox, no one ever picks 3 tanks in competetive play. If they are intel the extra damage from Shieldbreaker will tear them to shreds, you get Wingbow to tank their late game agi heroes while giving yourself a dps boost. Lifesteal extremely late because you won't have the damage to steal any life early-mid game.

[Rhaegor]

you manually press q for webshot, not autocasting it. The instant you cast the spell and see the webshot leave arachna you run forward, not letting the animation finish, and cast it again.

Can someone better explain to a new HoN player, who never played DoTA, what exactly orb walking is, and how to excute a triple orb walk web shot? I generally press Q, click on the hostile target, click Q again, click hostile target, etc. From what I am reading it might be faster to press Q, click hostile target, click screen to run a little, press Q, and then click target? It seems like clicking the screen to move will take longer than just trying to recast web again directly. What am I missing?

[EnragedCamel]

I tried playing this hero several times by now, and each time I sucked big time.

The problem is that arachna doesn't really have any escape abilities, and she's squish as hell. Web is useful in certain situations, but not so much when you're trying to run away from more than one enemy hero because it requires you to constantly re-apply it with auto-attack.

In all games I played the enemy would focus on me first and take me out. The magic armor skill didn't help much because it's usually two or more melee heroes that have a combination of stuns/disables/blinks. And due to the fact that the majority of arachna's damage comes from auto-attack (i.e. she doesn't have any special skills or anything that I could unload to make myself more useful), I was pretty much just feeding the enemy.

This seems like a very weak hero to me. Needs some kind of temporary movement speed boost, invis, or aoe slow to be able to escape out of trouble.

[RPZip]

Can someone better explain to a new HoN player, who never played DoTA, what exactly orb walking is, and how to excute a triple orb walk web shot? I generally press Q, click on the hostile target, click Q again, click hostile target, etc. From what I am reading it might be faster to press Q, click hostile target, click screen to run a little, press Q, and then click target? It seems like clicking the screen to move will take longer than just trying to recast web again directly. What am I missing?

The problem is that once her attack animation finishes, she just sits there. The goal of orbwalking is to remain in range of your target while running them down. If you just autoattack (or Q-click, Q-click) she'll keep casting until the opponent gets out of range, then run after him... at which point he'll likely have the snare wear off and get away.

If you're orbwalking, you cast the snare, move forward a little, cast the snare, move forward a little, and your target -will not- be able to escape you (barring some kind of escape move to just completely break contact). It's much more effective.


I tried playing this hero several times by now, and each time I sucked big time.

The problem is that arachna doesn't really have any escape abilities, and she's squish as hell. Web is useful in certain situations, but not so much when you're trying to run away from more than one enemy hero because it requires you to constantly re-apply it with auto-attack.

In all games I played the enemy would focus on me first and take me out. The magic armor skill didn't help much because it's usually two or more melee heroes that have a combination of stuns/disables/blinks. And due to the fact that the majority of arachna's damage comes from auto-attack (i.e. she doesn't have any special skills or anything that I could unload to make myself more useful), I was pretty much just feeding the enemy.

This seems like a very weak hero to me. Needs some kind of temporary movement speed boost, invis, or aoe slow to be able to escape out of trouble.

She's not an initiation hero, and frankly is probably a bit overpowered at this point.

You don't want to be the first person that the enemy makes contact with. You want to come in behind, after they've started beating on someone, and start disabling their melee or preventing a runner from escaping. Plus, with her Ultimate she can just wreck face on a single target whenever it's up pretty easily while they're more or less just permanently rooted.

if you're attacked by two melee (and not just disabled, of course) throw the ultimate on one and Web Shot the other, then back up, Web Shot again, back up. You can kite them both pretty effectively if you alternate web shots, and hopefully at some point someone else is going to step in and disable one of them.

[Kzanu]

Although i'm new to this game's universe...today I saw an Arachna played by the book....by a newb, if I may.

Please feel free to use anything from this example....I was a Devourer and she was the Arachna= love at first sight. She had as starting items 3 x duck boots and blight runes.

I was in front- she in the back last hitting almost all creeps...she left a few for me just enough to buy some regen items. The saga went like this - we had lego, accursed and defiler on our plate...starting at lvl 5-6. She slowed I decay + hooked ...and almost all the time the first 10-15 min that was it... after she got the spider ...it was: spider one tank...slow the other one(ranger/tank), i hooked the slowed one and decay +devour and she kept attacking the one with the spider....7-8 sec...2 kills.

I am an average dev(he is my fav unit from the game) but the guy, although being a noob after 30 min he had around 200+ dps.. i think he had about 6-7 hk. the build was like 3 soulscream rings, a slash, an axe(dunno which) and smth small for health. Until mid game he was behind my stinking ass, prooving what Shadowcamsy (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/member.php?u=20284) said, that she must not lane alone.

In any case, at this moment she's deffinetly not a weak hero.


Btw...I stopped about 3-4 ganks addressed to her early in the game, so you were right-- pisses players off like a fat woman on a nude beach . Ppl really get emotional when farting is involved =))


P.S. 2 Please tell me how to set an ability on autocast, cause I am tired of searching for this. And also how can I share a courier with my team...?

[Kzanu]

If you're going for Helm of the Black Legion first then you're going to run into a bit of trouble. Arachna's armor reduces incoming damage by 11%, HotBL has a 65% chance to block 40 damage. Therefore any attack that is doing more than 45 damage is going to be doing pure damage to Arachna. Combined with the fact that you'll be starting the game with less than 500hp means you'll be in a bit of trouble. Also you're not going to be very helpful to your team in battles, just dump out a spider, take a bit of damage, then run away.


If i'm not mistaken , whatever the damage may be over the 40 points, the helm still blocks the 40 pts(65% of the time)... dunno if it's before or after the armor mitigation.

[Lethe]

K some of my own personal critiques.
1. I don't know why you would ever delay precision for that long. 12-15 is more then fine, it is ideal. % auras scale with dps. Arachna has excellent raw dps due solely to her high agi gain.

2. Stats are good you might say? Well there are items to null your poor str gain. My personal favorite is str steamboots combined with helm of the black legion. Turns Arachna into a more then capable dpser who can still take damage. By the way the way I play Arachna I always have slow and carapace maxed out by level 9.

3. similar to the second point, there is absolutely zero flexibility in your build. Shieldbreaker is good but there are alternatives. Where is whispering helm? Savage mace? Nullfire blade/Geometer's bane? Shrunken head? Assassin's shroud? Your build assumes the unrealistic situation in which Arachna is a glass cannon and that nobody will focus her and kill her in 2 seconds. Carapace is good to an extent but it does not stop stuns.

Oh and extremely poor argument against nullfire blade. Drow, viper and clintz all have one thing in common, that is they have an orb. In dota they don't stack. Congrats, you have just shown that you cannot think outside the box. Are you telling me you are actually going to go shieldbreaker against a team with Jereziah? Really now. Show some flexibility.

Arachna is a carry hero who unlike many carry heroes can actually solo and depending on the circumstances do decently. If you can solo Arachna you SHOULD solo Arachna. Viper only got bonus damage after 6.60. Even before this, what kind of lanes did you see Viper in? Either solo lanes, or as a babysitter, since his orb deals extra damage. You are not going to babysit with Arachna. That is retarded. Arachna is in fact extremely similar to drow ranger early in the game, much more then viper. Do you dual lane with drow? Ofc not, you go for the solo lane if possible.

One last thing. If you actually knew anything about soloing you would know that going into a lane with trinket of restoration is simply dumb with like 90% of all heroes, and Arachna is no exception. Where is the mention of mana pot to keep the possibility of harass up? Where is the mention of runes of blight/health potions?

[class]

look at training day talk with his horrible soulstealer guide

"Congrats, you have just shown that you cannot think outside the box."

why can't you just critique without being insulting?

"oh but shortcake all you do is troll"

yeah i don't try to mask being a jerk with contribution

[FuzzyWuzzy]

Lol, Trainingday's Soulstealer guide is spot on for Christ's sake.

[ElNino]

How many orb effects can you stack in HoN? If it doesn't say that the ability won't stack with other orbs (magebanes does now) you can get one more orb effect for the hero and it will stack?

[FuzzyWuzzy]

Currently, they all stack...

Yep, Webbed Shot + Shieldbreaker + Whispering Helm + Nullfire Blade = zzzzzz

[Shadowcamsy]

K some of my own personal critiques.
1. I don't know why you would ever delay precision for that long. 12-15 is more then fine, it is ideal. % auras scale with dps. Arachna has excellent raw dps due solely to her high agi gain.

2. Stats are good you might say? Well there are items to null your poor str gain. My personal favorite is str steamboots combined with helm of the black legion. Turns Arachna into a more then capable dpser who can still take damage. By the way the way I play Arachna I always have slow and carapace maxed out by level 9.

3. similar to the second point, there is absolutely zero flexibility in your build. Shieldbreaker is good but there are alternatives. Where is whispering helm? Savage mace? Nullfire blade/Geometer's bane? Shrunken head? Assassin's shroud? Your build assumes the unrealistic situation in which Arachna is a glass cannon and that nobody will focus her and kill her in 2 seconds. Carapace is good to an extent but it does not stop stuns.

Oh and extremely poor argument against nullfire blade. Drow, viper and clintz all have one thing in common, that is they have an orb. In dota they don't stack. Congrats, you have just shown that you cannot think outside the box. Are you telling me you are actually going to go shieldbreaker against a team with Jereziah? Really now. Show some flexibility.

Arachna is a carry hero who unlike many carry heroes can actually solo and depending on the circumstances do decently. If you can solo Arachna you SHOULD solo Arachna. Viper only got bonus damage after 6.60. Even before this, what kind of lanes did you see Viper in? Either solo lanes, or as a babysitter, since his orb deals extra damage. You are not going to babysit with Arachna. That is retarded. Arachna is in fact extremely similar to drow ranger early in the game, much more then viper. Do you dual lane with drow? Ofc not, you go for the solo lane if possible.

One last thing. If you actually knew anything about soloing you would know that going into a lane with trinket of restoration is simply dumb with like 90% of all heroes, and Arachna is no exception. Where is the mention of mana pot to keep the possibility of harass up? Where is the mention of runes of blight/health potions?


1) I delayed precision that long because her base agi gain was 2.5 per level, it is now 3.2 and probably should be taken earlier, I agree.

2) Sure, you can get shield and max carapace and webbed shot by level 9, against people that are any decent at last hitting you will have more trouble though. 2 bracers 1100g, HotBL 2275g, its a bit more expensive, just a bit.

3) I just assume anyone with half a break gets shrunken head if they're going to be disabled the entire team battle. Shieldbreaker is good because it is the most cost per damage efficient item in the game, it's very cheap. Whispering helm is in the build, if you can't farm enough for Alch bones get the helm then lifsteal, because I assume the reason that you cant farm is cause you're being harassed. Also included strat to Dominate wolf commander that someone pointed out. Savage mace is a proc item that I feel is a waste on a hero with not fantastic attack speed and has a +% base damage aura, Savage mace doesn't utilize the increased damage. If your enemy is buying tp's to counter you, I don't care cause you shouldn't be ganking for hero kills, just farming. Nullfire Blade/Geo bane I have explained my reason already, search this thread for pre-existing reasoning, same goes for Assassin's shroud. My build assumes the REALISTIC situration where Arachna is a glass cannon and she will be focusing and killed in 2 seconds if you haven't read the play strategy. Stay in the middle of your team, if they want to pick you off they have to go through your team first, I've already gone through the battle initation events, read the guide again.

4) Ok... drow, viper and clinkz all have orbs, however you made a bad assumption. If you read my previous post carefully there were 3 statements why you do not get Nullfire Blade, the third point states: "She has no ability that allows her to suddenly appear into team battles..." if drow and viper were ported I still wouldn't get Nullfire blade on them for this reason. For Clinkz I wouldn't either, he'd benefit more from items like savage mace and once the item was converted to GB his images wouldn't benefit from Strafe so it would be extremely obvious which one was the real Clinkz. That is my reasoning, if you don't like it, go build her with nullfire blade against a stacked team and see how you do. Shieldbreaker against a team with Jereziah? Now you're getting picky, I assume you want her to get Hellflower instead? In which case is a waste of gold on mana regeneration. Still get Shieldbreaker, because it's awesome.

5) Viper is not Arachna, 2/4 abilities are similar, in the same way that Naix = Predator, I will now prove any similarities between the two heroes are pure speculation. Viper flies, Arachna does not, QED. Also Viper's orb did bonus damage/as slow/ms slow, Arachna has as/ms slow that stacks. Viper's Frenzy gave extra attack speed at the cost of taking increased damage, Arachna has a bonus damage aura. Viper has magic resistance and deals damage back to his attacker. Arachna removes debuffs and increases her magic resistance. Viper's ult deals damage and slows as/ms speeds, same with Arachna's. The main reason Viper is taken as a solo is because of his orb and its extreme potency against all solo's. Babysitting with Arachna is indeed retarded, why would you babysit with Arachna, this guide never suggests babysitting. Do you dual lane with drow? YES, YES YOU DO! Drow solo is hillarious. Drow needs to be babysat early game because she is so weak, she lacks Arachna's muscles.

6) Once again, when have I ever said in this guide that you should be soloing, and why would you get trinket of restoration if you are soloing, I agree its a stupid item for soloing. I said to head either top or bottom with a partner, you're making me wonder if you actually read my guide or are you just seeing what you want to see? Trinket of restoration is the staple item for aggressive farming, harass your enemy, then last hit, you're going to take a couple of hits from your enemies and if you're getting low just sit back and farm until your health is back. I clearly stated that strat in the guide. I believe the guide to laning that I linked also points out the benefits of Trinket of restoration. If you're getting harassed as Arachna, go buy helm, +5hp regen and no need for consumables. You can regen mana from sitting in your lane and like... not harassing. Heroes like Clinkz/Viper may need consumables to get their mana back because they use mana to last hit, Arachna does not. Alch bones cost 25 mana which you regen in about 15 seconds, leaving 85 seconds of mana regen which you can use to harass.

[Lethe]

ahahaha

If drow can solo she should solo. Didn't I say that Arachna is more like drow then viper early in the game?

And I actually did read your guide thoroughly, I just do not agree with a good deal with it due to lack of flexibility. Trinket of restoration is a HORRIBLE item for "aggresive" farming. Do you have any idea how powerful early game heroes are right now? What are you going to do, harass with web, eat a nuke/stun combo and lose 3/4 of your hp and then wait a minute to regenerate it all? Honestly have you even heard of "burst" damage early game? If you really wanted I could easily write down a list of heroes that have that capability.

Alch bones is "meh". I'm sure it works fine in pubs but in higher level play a good rule of thumb is that getting alch bones on glass heroes=suicide.

Personally I think Arachna has the best last hit animation in the game. That's just me though. I thoroughly agree that Arachna players that take trueshot aura early have clearly no idea what they are doing.

Sigh, I have read your guide, and if you honestly think you can get away with being a glass cannon and "staying behind" your team then fine. I won't argue on it further.

Nullfire blade just isn't good because it is good. It upgrades into geometer's bane which is ridiculous for dps. Common sense should tell you that +3.2 agi gain+images = good. Well that sounds familiar. Ever heard of a hero named terrorblade?

What kind of muscles are you talking about that Arachna has that drow doesn't. Arachna is basically IDENTICAL to drow early game. Even their base str/str gain is the exact same.

Really I am honestly trying to give you constructive criticism. I have extensive competitive experience and if you want to take my critique with a grain of salt that is ultimately your choice.

[Lethe]

look at training day talk with his horrible soulstealer guide

"Congrats, you have just shown that you cannot think outside the box."

why can't you just critique without being insulting?

"oh but shortcake all you do is troll"

yeah i don't try to mask being a jerk with contribution


Congrats, you just wrote out the staple item build for Potm in competitive dota.

Really, I am being insulting? I'm just replying in the same taste that OP is. If he feels he can respond to critique like that then I will respond in the same flavor.

Oh and please tell me wat is wrong with my soulstealer guide. I am curious. Don't worry, if you ever meet me in-game I will gladly show you how to play soulstealer or Arachna. Go on the other team though. Some players need to be crushed to learn the hard way.

[Shadowcamsy]

ahahaha

Do you have any idea how powerful early game heroes are right now? What are you going to do, harass with web, eat a nuke/stun combo and lose 3/4 of your hp and then wait a minute to regenerate it all? Honestly have you even heard of "burst" damage early game? If you really wanted I could easily write down a list of heroes that have that capability.

Alch bones is "meh". I'm sure it works fine in pubs but in higher level play a good rule of thumb is that getting alch bones on glass heroes=suicide.

Nullfire blade just isn't good because it is good. It upgrades into geometer's bane which is ridiculous for dps. Common sense should tell you that +3.2 agi gain+images = good. Well that sounds familiar. Ever heard of a hero named terrorblade?

What kind of muscles are you talking about that Arachna has that drow doesn't. Arachna is basically IDENTICAL to drow early game. Even their base str/str gain is the exact same.



Burst damage? Like in WoW arena? As much as I'd like to think so, this is not arena. You're going to have a laning partner that's harassing the opponent as well while you're getting last hits. Pretty much any nuke combo is countered by your Harden Carapace. I will add good and bad laning partners in the guide at some point.

What heroes did you see HoM on in dota? If Aracha is made of glass then I'm pretty sure Silencer is more fragile.

GB creates 2 images that take 350% damage and do 33% damage. Terrorblade can create copies of himself that do 55% damage and take like 200-250% damage.

Drow has an orb, silence, passive damage increase, and free agility. Find me a replay of a farm4fame game where a team has picked Drow and won. Probably even hard to find one where drow was picked because she is a stupid hero that is easily ganked. She needs to come with an "only good for pubs" sticker.

I'm happy to play a scrim match against you, I'm online about 6-11pm ACST

[class]

ahahaha

If drow can solo she should solo. Didn't I say that Arachna is more like drow then viper early in the game?

And I actually did read your guide thoroughly, I just do not agree with a good deal with it due to lack of flexibility. Trinket of restoration is a HORRIBLE item for "aggresive" farming. Do you have any idea how powerful early game heroes are right now? What are you going to do, harass with web, eat a nuke/stun combo and lose 3/4 of your hp and then wait a minute to regenerate it all? Honestly have you even heard of "burst" damage early game? If you really wanted I could easily write down a list of heroes that have that capability.

Alch bones is "meh". I'm sure it works fine in pubs but in higher level play a good rule of thumb is that getting alch bones on glass heroes=suicide.

Personally I think Arachna has the best last hit animation in the game. That's just me though. I thoroughly agree that Arachna players that take trueshot aura early have clearly no idea what they are doing.

Sigh, I have read your guide, and if you honestly think you can get away with being a glass cannon and "staying behind" your team then fine. I won't argue on it further.

Nullfire blade just isn't good because it is good. It upgrades into geometer's bane which is ridiculous for dps. Common sense should tell you that +3.2 agi gain+images = good. Well that sounds familiar. Ever heard of a hero named terrorblade?

What kind of muscles are you talking about that Arachna has that drow doesn't. Arachna is basically IDENTICAL to drow early game. Even their base str/str gain is the exact same.

Really I am honestly trying to give you constructive criticism. I have extensive competitive experience and if you want to take my critique with a grain of salt that is ultimately your choice.

ya i'm absolutely terrified of playing someone who has 20 denies avgpg

suggesting treads or assasins shroud? lmfao?

you post a guide with really common knowledge, you don't talk about blind spots to requiem, ledges to nuke from, spell cancelling with his delays and fakeouts, priority of which nuke, you don't even mention using his nuke for level 3-5 kills positioning right

YA MAN NICE GUIDE LEMME KNOW WHEN YOU WANNA PLAY SO I CAN SOLO MID VS SOMEONE WHO AVGS 20 DENIES A GAME

[Bali1]

why does arachna need a guide

spam web spam web spider spam web spam web

buy agility items

win game

but this has probably already been said

[playtimeX]

IMO, a Assassin Shroud or a Shrunken Head (head is better IMO to stop you from getting disabled) is a must for survivability reasons.

[Lethe]

Burst damage? Like in WoW arena? As much as I'd like to think so, this is not arena. You're going to have a laning partner that's harassing the opponent as well while you're getting last hits. Pretty much any nuke combo is countered by your Harden Carapace. I will add good and bad laning partners in the guide at some point.

What heroes did you see HoM on in dota? If Aracha is made of glass then I'm pretty sure Silencer is more fragile.

GB creates 2 images that take 350% damage and do 33% damage. Terrorblade can create copies of himself that do 55% damage and take like 200-250% damage.

Drow has an orb, silence, passive damage increase, and free agility. Find me a replay of a farm4fame game where a team has picked Drow and won. Probably even hard to find one where drow was picked because she is a stupid hero that is easily ganked. She needs to come with an "only good for pubs" sticker.

I'm happy to play a scrim match against you, I'm online about 6-11pm ACST

You are actually hilarious. Not only does carapace not block stuns, it costs mana that can be used for web shot. The way you build Arachna without any form of mana regen contradicts yourself.

HoM is damn useless in Dota but the only hero that could use it properly was lycan. Putting alch bones in glass cannons is retarded. "Hey look their chronos hat spent 2k gold in midas but has 600 hp and no stats. Let's gank him until he cries."

Ahahaha your terrorblade argument is funny. Fine, I'll use morphling as an example then. Also:

a) Geometer's bane images burn mana despite being ranged or melee. Oh wait, this is different from dota! I guess you haven't tried it yet. Feedback 75% dmg on ranged heroes? Damn sounds good to me. That translates to 67.5 dmg /hit, not to mention images or mana burn, in case you are crippled in the math department.
b) Bane currently deals 40% and takes 300% damage. In case you haven't noticed HoN is not upgraded to match dota yet. Wait, why am I mentioning that, you obviously didn't notice. So much for "in-depth" guide huh? U tried one build and thought "OMG I SMASHED PUB WITH THIS MUST BE GOOD FOR ALL LEVELS OF PLAY".

Your last argument is so #$%^ed up I don't think you realize how bad it is. You are basically saying drow (and arachna) are crap early game. At least Arachna has a decent ult at 6 though. So now I throw the argument back at you, find me a replay where Drow lanes with a hero instead of soloing if she is picked.

And you can feel free to PM me whenever I am available for a scrim.




To shortcake: Bring it on dude. You can find me at Hon league or ihl. A hint, try reading the last section in my soulstealer guide. Don't bother responding though, I don't bother with retarded scrubs who fail reading comprehension. I never said assassin's shroud was core, I did say it was an alternative though, especially since Arachna has no reliable escape mech. If it makes you feel any better I never go assassin's shroud. I really fail to see how steamboots is bad on arachna. Plz share your pub knowledge with me so I can learn. OMG I AVG 23 DENIES A GAME BUT MY KDR IS ALMOST 2X YOURS. Jesus Christ, grow up. Goddamn useless kids.

[Shadowcamsy]

You are actually hilarious. Not only does carapace not block stuns, it costs mana that can be used for web shot. The way you build Arachna without any form of mana regen contradicts yourself.

HoM is damn useless in Dota but the only hero that could use it properly was lycan. Putting alch bones in glass cannons is retarded. "Hey look their chronos hat spent 2k gold in midas but has 600 hp and no stats. Let's gank him until he cries."

Ahahaha your terrorblade argument is funny. Fine, I'll use morphling as an example then. Also:

a) Geometer's bane images burn mana despite being ranged or melee. Oh wait, this is different from dota! I guess you haven't tried it yet. Feedback 75% dmg on ranged heroes? Damn sounds good to me. That translates to 67.5 dmg /hit, not to mention images or mana burn, in case you are crippled in the math department.
b) Bane currently deals 40% and takes 300% damage. In case you haven't noticed HoN is not upgraded to match dota yet. Wait, why am I mentioning that, you obviously didn't notice. So much for "in-depth" guide huh? U tried one build and thought "OMG I SMASHED PUB WITH THIS MUST BE GOOD FOR ALL LEVELS OF PLAY".

Your last argument is so #$%^ed up I don't think you realize how bad it is. You are basically saying drow (and arachna) are crap early game. At least Arachna has a decent ult at 6 though. So now I throw the argument back at you, find me a replay where Drow lanes with a hero instead of soloing if she is picked.

And you can feel free to PM me whenever I am available for a scrim.


You're absolutely correct! Harden Carapace does in fact cost mana, 90 to be exact! How did I not see this before!? You know what else costs mana, nukes and stuns.

Yet another example of a hero that no one plays in dota, he can get HoM cause he's jungling for a good half of the game and there are way better junglers like chen/enigma/naix. Chronos has 1 good spell, then he's useless, hence why once again he's never picked for professional dota.

Morphling... how is morphling similar to Arachna at all. Morphling does get diffusal blade, isn't that fascinating, now back to the topic:

a, b) Zomg, lets throw a random obscure situation at you, lets say you active GB for a team fight, 2 aoe's hit your images, they die, you've got nothing. Waste of 80% extra damage, waste of 2k gold in usefulness.

Aaaw, was it the "only good for pubs" sticker that made you angry?
http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=67792
Random pub game with Trax going top with Viper! Zomg, its a pub, who cares right. No one plays drow because there are so many better picks.

[Maconi]

I've actually been going Bracer, Whispering Helm, Steam Boots, Wing Bow (using the helm to dominate Wolf Commanders). The SB/WB give me a lot faster attack speed+more dmg so that I leech a lot more life and can orb walk much easier. End game I can solo 2-3 heroes at a time no problem (unless they chain disable me, or are all str heroes).

All this was only one night of playing with her (4-5 games) but it seemed like a good build to me *shrug*.

[Lethe]

Yep. Which is why manta is so rare in competitive games. Can't remember the last time I saw spec, viper, potm or morph with manta.

Oh wait yes I can. That was yesterday.

Dunno if your inferior mind cannot comprehend this, but if you get stunned, carapace does nothing. Also, nukers have more mana then agi and str heroes early on the game, hence why they can spam more? Do you even understand the basic principles of dota/HoN? Christ.


Well anyways this is my last post in this miserable guide that has no flexibility whatsoever with a guide writer who doesn't even know that manta was not updated in HoN and doesn't even understand the basic principles of laning. I feel sorry for anyone who actually tries to build Arachna the way you propose.

[sef239]

Yep. Which is why manta is so rare in competitive games. Can't remember the last time I saw spec, viper, potm or morph with manta.

Oh wait yes I can. That was yesterday.

Dunno if your inferior mind cannot comprehend this, but if you get stunned, carapace does nothing. Also, nukers have more mana then agi and str heroes early on the game, hence why they can spam more? Do you even understand the basic principles of dota/HoN? Christ.


Well anyways this is my last post in this miserable guide that has no flexibility whatsoever with a guide writer who doesn't even know that manta was not updated in HoN and doesn't even understand the basic principles of laning. I feel sorry for anyone who actually tries to build Arachna the way you propose.

I tried the build and it was just ok.

I'm pretty new to HoN(30games) and I've been reading guides. Even though this guide isn't in-depth, it's not bad. For pubs, at least.

I've read your other guides. Good job on those. Do you think Arachna is worth writing a guide on? If you do write one I'd like to see it.

[RaWRpewpew]

Dunno if your inferior mind cannot comprehend this, but if you get stunned, carapace does nothing. Also, nukers have more mana then agi and str heroes early on the game, hence why they can spam more? Do you even understand the basic principles of dota/HoN? Christ.



Also in the lane environment its hard to use carapace effectively vs a good opponent. He could easily fake wanting to cast a spell - See if u cast carapace and then withdraw, chuckling at a wasted spell. Arachna hardly has infinite mana pool. Effectively spamming webshot and using carapace often is impossible with her manapool.

Side note : I like desolater (shieldbreaker right?) because it makes your ultimate deal more damage and its a very cost effective dmg item.

Also I favour shrunken head, so you can tank the enemy iniation aoe with magic immunity and then pop carapace to reduce the nukes you'll take after shrunken wears off.

/2cents

[Lethe]

I tried the build and it was just ok.

I'm pretty new to HoN(30games) and I've been reading guides. Even though this guide isn't in-depth, it's not bad. For pubs, at least.

I've read your other guides. Good job on those. Do you think Arachna is worth writing a guide on? If you do write one I'd like to see it.

Meh I'm stressed on time these days and it takes me about 2 hrs to write a guide on new heroes, and 1.5 hrs to write a guide for dota ports. My problem with this guide is that is lacks flexibility with skill and item build. Shrunken Head should be common sense, yet the guide mentions it absolutely nowhere. Helm of the black legion is a strong item especially if you have an aggresive playstyle with Arachna that ends up with you diving towers and creeps to kill a hero. Geometer's bane is an absolutely sick item for dps and I don't know how anyone in the right mind can overlook it.

You may be wondering why carapace > stats or aura early game. Well to be quite blunt they all suck but carapace sucks the least.

Basically what I am saying is do not follow this guide's item build closely whatsoever. Know when to get other dps items besides shieldbreaker and wingbow. Know when to get shrunken head. Know when to get helm of the black legion. In fact if the guide writer actually took the 5 minutes to write down alternative item choices I would be more then happy.

[Skkra]

An actual question please, if anyone can answer it.

So the web slows are indeed an orb effect that, in the future, will NOT stack with Desolator? If so, thats totally going to change her build. Right now desolator is the ideal way to increase her damage output for cheap.

[Lethe]

its not an orb effect. It basically stacks with everything.

[sef123]

Meh I'm stressed on time these days and it takes me about 2 hrs to write a guide on new heroes, and 1.5 hrs to write a guide for dota ports. My problem with this guide is that is lacks flexibility with skill and item build. Shrunken Head should be common sense, yet the guide mentions it absolutely nowhere. Helm of the black legion is a strong item especially if you have an aggresive playstyle with Arachna that ends up with you diving towers and creeps to kill a hero. Geometer's bane is an absolutely sick item for dps and I don't know how anyone in the right mind can overlook it.

You may be wondering why carapace > stats or aura early game. Well to be quite blunt they all suck but carapace sucks the least.

Basically what I am saying is do not follow this guide's item build closely whatsoever. Know when to get other dps items besides shieldbreaker and wingbow. Know when to get shrunken head. Know when to get helm of the black legion. In fact if the guide writer actually took the 5 minutes to write down alternative item choices I would be more then happy.

Right on, this build wasn't universal. There were counters to it and I got my ass handed to me in a 1v1 against jereziah. In team games I'm ganked. I'll keep your advice in mind.

[Fuga]

Maliken said this ***** is gonna get nurfed!!

[Lethe]

Maliken said this ***** is gonna get nurfed!!

orly? lol. Well she was fun while it lasted.

[Fuga]

Why would you get shrunken head?!?!?!

[Shadowcamsy]

Why would you get shrunken head?!?!?!

Shrunken head is the item every carry in the game gets against a team of heavy nukers/disablers. There's nothing worse than heading into a team fight and having Stormspirit, Totem of Kuldra and Electricians grab on you. Keeping you out of the team fight for 10 seconds while 2 of your team die.

[Lethe]

Nice update, that's what I was talking about. T-up

[Fuga]

but she has a spell already that does what SHead does!?!?!

[Shadowcamsy]

but she has a spell already that does what SHead does!?!?!

Not quite, her spell removes debuffs from her and provides her with increased magic armor for a period of time, allowing her to take up to 70% reduced magic damage. However she cannot remove stuns, that is the reason why you get Shrunken Head, you do not want to be pinned down in a team fight since you are the carry hero of your team.

[class]

To shortcake: Bring it on dude. You can find me at Hon league or ihl. A hint, try reading the last section in my soulstealer guide. Don't bother responding though, I don't bother with retarded scrubs who fail reading comprehension. I never said assassin's shroud was core, I did say it was an alternative though, especially since Arachna has no reliable escape mech. If it makes you feel any better I never go assassin's shroud. I really fail to see how steamboots is bad on arachna. Plz share your pub knowledge with me so I can learn. OMG I AVG 23 DENIES A GAME BUT MY KDR IS ALMOST 2X YOURS. Jesus Christ, grow up. Goddamn useless kids.

yeah sry i don't care about kills which is why i have the same assist number WHOA MAN GJ YOU CAN PUB STOMP stfu

i was talking about steamboots and assassins shroud on sf, not arachna, please don't talk about reading comprehension when you clearly have no linguistic skills

[class]

Meh I'm stressed on time these days and it takes me about 2 hrs to write a guide on new heroes, and 1.5 hrs to write a guide for dota ports. My problem with this guide is that is lacks flexibility with skill and item build. Shrunken Head should be common sense, yet the guide mentions it absolutely nowhere. Helm of the black legion is a strong item especially if you have an aggresive playstyle with Arachna that ends up with you diving towers and creeps to kill a hero. Geometer's bane is an absolutely sick item for dps and I don't know how anyone in the right mind can overlook it.

You may be wondering why carapace > stats or aura early game. Well to be quite blunt they all suck but carapace sucks the least.

Basically what I am saying is do not follow this guide's item build closely whatsoever. Know when to get other dps items besides shieldbreaker and wingbow. Know when to get shrunken head. Know when to get helm of the black legion. In fact if the guide writer actually took the 5 minutes to write down alternative item choices I would be more then happy.

ya just like if you took 5 minutes to actually talk about sf beyond what everyone already knows, shut up you're retarded and talk down to people as if you're superior when you're actually terrible

[Lethe]

yeah sry i don't care about kills which is why i have the same assist number WHOA MAN GJ YOU CAN PUB STOMP stfu

i was talking about steamboots and assassins shroud on sf, not arachna, please don't talk about reading comprehension when you clearly have no linguistic skills

Nice too bad kuroky has gone lothars and treads on SF on more then one occasion. Guess that player is terrible too. Good players will know how to adapt to situations. You are not a good player. Get lost kid.

[class]

Nice too bad kuroky has gone lothars and treads on SF on more then one occasion. Guess that player is terrible too. Good players will know how to adapt to situations. You are not a good player. Get lost kid.

so has yamateh, they're both **** items tho give it up

and you're terrible

[Lethe]

Man 7 posts. Honestly do you post on these forums just to discredit me?

Yea I guess I have no linguistic skills. Do me a favor so everyone can see. Go to my soulstealer guide and quote exactly what I say about steamboots and assassin's shroud.

@ Shadowcamsy: I would consider your guide premium quality after the last update. Consider applying for premium status.

[class]

Man 7 posts. Honestly do you post on these forums just to discredit me?

Yea I guess I have no linguistic skills. Do me a favor so everyone can see. Go to my soulstealer guide and quote exactly what I say about steamboots and assassin's shroud.

@ Shadowcamsy: I would consider your guide premium quality after the last update. Consider applying for premium status.

i don't even read or post except when someone links me something that they've read and they want me to troll but ok

[Lethe]

i don't even read or post except when someone links me something that they've read and they want me to troll but ok

Please quote exactly what I say about steamboots and assassin's shroud in my soulstealer guide. Otherwise, you can stop talking now.

[class]

Please quote exactly what I say about steamboots and assassin's shroud in my soulstealer guide. Otherwise, you can stop talking now.

you could like, read it yourself

nvm you're dumb afk

[iOP1]

Wheres The Basher/MiniStuns To Cancil Her Major Flaw.. Tp's?!
She Definately needs a NERF, Shes Not As Crippled As Most Say She is.

[Shadowcamsy]

In this strategy I intentionally left out Savage Mace because she is either farming all game or pushing with her team. When she is farming she's normally on the receiving end of damage and should carry a tp herself to escape ganks, when she is pushing she is usually with allies that have disables and stuns so she doesn't have to waste her gold on a proc stun item.

I realize at the moment you can play Arachna very differently, she can solo pretty effectively and she can be good with pretty much any item in the game, but come next patch she's probably going to change quite a bit. If she does not get a nerf I will be including a solo section with different strategies/item builds.

[HellbirD]

How to own with Arachna.

Step 1: In the hero select screen, pick arachna.

Step 2: Laugh as people will look pathetic trying to run from your visciously overpowered ulty.

[Tryptophan]

you could like, read it yourself

nvm you're dumb afk

Go back to playing your easy mode and first picking Scout. Take your troll elsewhere.

[class]

Go back to playing your easy mode and first picking Scout. Take your troll elsewhere.


yah too bad i have never played em or scout you retarded bad

13 denies a game whoa you're so good man, sounds like you're the one picking scout and playing em

[Imm0rtal]

Hi I am arachna. I win games. That is all.

[simple3]

Gday Cam, not a bad guide at all :)

That said, I think that this hero is more of a gank/semi carry than the hard carry you make her out to be.
Great pub carry, but in competative I see her being more of a semi-carry with amazing ms debuffs :D Unfortunately no stun means you need to gank with another hero :(

Add me in game fool.

[LibrteORDeth]

Is it really that noob of me to not want to buy stuff I have to sell later on? I.E. starting out with Marchers and Blight, then Assassin's Shroud, then Frostwolf's Skull? Is it that much better to buy totems, bracelets, etc?

[m3lior]

tryptophan you have to stop posting. every time i see your sig i am mesmerized like a deer caught in the headlights...

[Shadowcamsy]

Is it really that noob of me to not want to buy stuff I have to sell later on? I.E. starting out with Marchers and Blight, then Assassin's Shroud, then Frostwolf's Skull? Is it that much better to buy totems, bracelets, etc?

Consumables are fine, Minor totems are fine, items that you buy with your 603 gold are all fine, as long as you don't waste your gold on stuff you have to sell later.

[Nurech]

If you ask me, you don't need as many totems in beginning, I get 1 fortified bracelet, some boots and then decide, depends on the opponents really.

[Nordoix]

This skill setup seem like a very non-harass setup. Arachna is perfect for harassing and last hitting. To do this you should have atleast some damage buffing.

[Shadowcamsy]

If you ask me, you don't need as many totems in beginning, I get 1 fortified bracelet, some boots and then decide, depends on the opponents really.

Never ever buy recipes with your starting gold, it's a waste of gold when you have item slots. 150g for bracelet gives you 3 str, 2 minor totems gives you 2 str, 2 agi, 2 int + 36g. Stats are required for lane dominance. You have to be beefier than the other heroes in your lane in order to harass them.


This skill setup seem like a very non-harass setup. Arachna is perfect for harassing and last hitting. To do this you should have atleast some damage buffing.

What's non-harassing about it? Maxing Webbed Shot first, getting stats for damage and health in between, against nukers you need to get harden carapace which I've also explained. My justification for not getting Precision early is also justified in the guide, 3.5 bonus damage vs 2 bonus damage, 50-ish health, health regen, extra armor, attack speed, mana, mana regen, etc. Damage buffing comes from stats, 60 min damage is more than enough to last hit efficiently, if you are having trouble you need to practice your last hitting.

[evotech]

I did this guide, i had the bones at 10 min, was doing awesome. Then defiler ****ed me over

[Jaylash]

Great guide!

[vndoff]

it's a very good guide, but i never get the alchemist bones.... it worked some time ;)

[Hike]

I've been playing Arachna with a different skill and item build with some success but I'm definitely try this one out. :)

Btw, I think that as of now, Hardned Carpase actully do remove poison froms from Slither (all of them). I can't say that I'm 100% sure of it, but the last game I played Arachna and faced Slither I think I was able to remove both is ulti and the spray.

[Lethe]

Btw please get rid of the stacking slows thing in your webbed shot analysis. It is false and does not apply.

Also explain the concept of diminishing slows. It is not understood well by many and as such gives the illusion of a strength that she actually does not have.

Btw I nominated this for premium status. GL.

[Damage]

Sexy guide.

[Shadowcamsy]

I've been playing Arachna with a different skill and item build with some success but I'm definitely try this one out. :)

Btw, I think that as of now, Hardned Carpase actully do remove poison froms from Slither (all of them). I can't say that I'm 100% sure of it, but the last game I played Arachna and faced Slither I think I was able to remove both is ulti and the spray.


I'll have to test this out, it would be great if it does now, before 0.1.35 I know it did not remove any of his slows (except maybe his attack-modified slow).


Btw please get rid of the stacking slows thing in your webbed shot analysis. It is false and does not apply.

Also explain the concept of diminishing slows. It is not understood well by many and as such gives the illusion of a strength that she actually does not have.

Btw I nominated this for premium status. GL.

I wasn't aware Webbed Shot didn't actually stack up to 4 times, the fact that it only applies its Webbed Shot debuff once changes things quite dramatically, I'll have to save the guide and rework some strategy tomorrow. If the devs decide to make it up to 4 stacks in the future then it will be useful once again.

Slows stacks are multiplicative which I probably should have pointed out more clearly in the guide, however it's pretty obvious that heroes still move with 80% slow + 40% slow.

Cheers for the nomination, and thanks to everyone for their support with the guide :)

[Lethe]

nah you would be surprised how many people think you can have over 100% slow.

[YolCuA]

this guid is very good

[``kiko``]

nice

[Deveon]

this guide should go under premium guides =)

[Fiora`LE]

I almost always solo mid when playing Arachna and pretty much destroy anything. Why lane top or bot?

[MARCUS]

great guide. thanks

[WardsRuinHoN]

Is this a troll? Arachna is not that hard to play.

[Lethe]

watch your tone, thank you.

[Shadowcamsy]

I almost always solo mid when playing Arachna and pretty much destroy anything. Why lane top or bot?

This guide is written specifically for competitive play, and for competitive play you will see heroes like Soulstealer, Defiler, Thunderbringer, Valkyrie, all which can outlane Arachna, 2 of which can deny her creeps when there's nothing she can do about it. You could solo her until level 6, but you'd be denying one of your other heroes with a better level 6 ability. If you're playing a pub go ahead and solo mid, you can even get Savage Mace if you want to, they're not going to be smart enough to out play you. But as soon as you start playing 1800+ games you're going to be much more effective to your team if a support hero is babysitting you in your lane, while you have a decent pre-mentioned solo in mid.


Is this a troll? Arachna is not that hard to play.

If you can orb walk effeciently, have extremely good map awareness, can static farm a lane effeciently, last hit at least 3/4 creeps per wave (4/4 when no other heroes are in your lane), can kite 2 heroes at once without being hit and you're actually not playing against stupid players, then sure, Arachna isn't that hard... I hear she is real easy to play in easy mode.

[Communists]

"Orbwalking is hard."

"Map awareness is hard"

"Static Farming is hard."

"Last Hitting with Arachna is hard."

"Kiting with Arachna is hard."

[Bifesonte]

Hard.

[EvilPenguin]

"acting arrogant is hard"

props on a good guide from what sounds like a 1800+ player, much better than most guides.

[Communists]

Yes kiting with a hero that slows somebody to 100 movespeed is really skill.

[WardsRuinHoN]

If you can orb walk effeciently, have extremely good map awareness, can static farm a lane effeciently, last hit at least 3/4 creeps per wave (4/4 when no other heroes are in your lane), can kite 2 heroes at once without being hit and you're actually not playing against stupid players, then sure, Arachna isn't that hard... I hear she is real easy to play in easy mode.

Sounds like skills everyone knows but overly complicated with clever words.

[EvilPenguin]

Face it every character is hard to play really well. Saying how easy it is to get some of the easy kills doesn't make you good.

[Shadowcamsy]

Urgh... just wait for the replays. You can probably autocast webbed shot, cast your ultimate and get a kill against a bad team, but against GOOD players you're going to get rofl-stomped. Arachna is a low-hp hero that strong relies levels/items to be effective, just like how Defiler relies on Sacrificial Stone and Legionairre relies on Portal Key. You have to be extremely good at the skills I mentioned in order to play an effective Arachna, any noob can right click and throw a spider at someone and hope for the best. Arachna's attack animation is one of the best in the game but she lacks early game damage to beat another solo in last hitting.

[JeffEmming]

I realize debuffing with webbed shot is very important, but in a team battle is it more important than trying to focus your damage into one enemy, forcing into a 4v5 as quickly as possible?

[Zephon1]

I'd like too see some replays soon up, that would be awesome, also that they'd release that in the game aswell! :3

[Shadowcamsy]

I realize debuffing with webbed shot is very important, but in a team battle is it more important than trying to focus your damage into one enemy, forcing into a 4v5 as quickly as possible?

I feel debuffing has a higher priority than focusing down a target as Arachna because debuffing messes with the other teams psychology. When you're playing against Arachna and you get a Webbed Shot debuff on you, the first thing you do is run away, in high level games this psychology doesn't change much either. You'll find you won't have that much of a chance of debuff support hero's because they're always hanging at the back. Which is why most of your debuffs will go onto enemy melee/carry heroes, reducing their effectiveness and state of mentality --> ability to judge.

[EvilPenguin]

My comment above was directed at communist and garbage.

"debuffing" is mainly just slowing, the 20% attack speed is usually minimal especially for a big 5v5 fight. I disagree that usually in a 5v5 situation u would want start slowing secondary targets immediately to mess with their psychology. Usually that would mean walking forward from max range on the kill target but certainly there are times you will want to do that. Often times when you want to put out a mass amount of slow on another team its because they are in a really bad spot and you want to hold them all where they are.

In an ideal situation you'll know how everything could play out depending on what other people do and adjust how aggressive you are based on that, it is very good when you have already gained the upper hand in a battle to shift from getting that kill on the focus to holding down another enemy but often times people are greedy.

[Jammy2001]

Im pretty sure that Arachna debuffs slithers poisons now as I kept using poison spray on her earlier and it kept being dispelled.

[ElementUser]

Congrats on Premium! :O

[Sadist]

Lol at people saying arachna is a low HP hero. If your farming is any good at all, at lvl 6-7 you have strength treads and 2-3 bracers, which lets you walk up to ANY hero, take ALL their nukes and kill them with spider/orbwalk.

Poor early game damage

So wrong.

By the way, the starting items in the guide are wrong, you don't need regen and you're better off spending that money on 2 circlets and tangoes. That way you don't waste skill points on stats early game and you can dominate last hit/deny with higher base damage.

[anifun]

Didn't read the whole tread, so sorry if I'll be repeating some questions.

1. Just to clarify, orbs (exceptional effects or whatever), really does stack with webbed shots? (didn't tried that out yet)

//Sorry if I misunderstood, but by recommending to take babysitters, naming terrible opposing dual-lanes and repeating that she is too fragile it made me think, that she is supposed to got either top/bot, if it isn't so ignore the second one.
2. Since she has insane agility growth and gets to use additional orb, shouldn't she be more powerful then her prototype viper, shouldn't she solo mid (as viper is one of the best dota's soloers)?
She does lose some damage compared to vipers orb (though I wouldn't even call that a damage loss), but have a slightly shorter cooldown on first two ranks, and nethertoxin during harassing phase doesn't increase too much damage what 2 points in stats couldn't (and nethertoxin is a new passive skill anyway, before viper used stats), and as said, she has good animation, so she could out-lasthit/deny when played correctly her opponent and give more survivability by being higher level.


3. How about using recent viper's build for early game : 2xcirclets (and chicken, if no one got it) and rush for bottle, and then rune racing and dominating the mid lane with webbed shots, would it be viable for her?

4. With alchemist's bones and wingbow (and, if you were against feeders/ game taking a hour too long/ you were able to get most of your last hits in lane, with deamonic breast plate) isn't a lot of her attack speed wasted by animation canceling/orb-walking? (that meaning, that orb walking should be used more in chasing and not team battles, where it really is needed)

5. How about Assassin's Shroud for back-stabing / escaping / attack speed / damage / whatever-else-reason-lothars-where-used?

[Shadowcamsy]

Lol at people saying arachna is a low HP hero. If your farming is any good at all, at lvl 6-7 you have strength treads and 2-3 bracers, which lets you walk up to ANY hero, take ALL their nukes and kill them with spider/orbwalk.

Poor early game damage

So wrong.

By the way, the starting items in the guide are wrong, you don't need regen and you're better off spending that money on 2 circlets and tangoes. That way you don't waste skill points on stats early game and you can dominate last hit/deny with higher base damage.

Poor early game damage: 40-51... I'd say that is pretty poor, if you want to get precision early it will increase your damage but you'll lack health to do anything in team battles.

Trinket of regen is the staple item for harassing heroes in your lane, once you run out of runes of blight you'll have to buy something else for regen, then something else, making it more expensive than trinket in the long run. This build gets 4 minor totems which give 4 stats, 2 circlets also give 4 stats and you notice I still get stats in the skill build because +2 to all stats is better than 3.5 damage (1 level of precision) at the start of the game. You can hit with higher damage (about 4 extra combined damage with 2 levels of precision by level 5, but you're loosing a little bit in everything else).


Didn't read the whole tread, so sorry if I'll be repeating some questions.

1. Just to clarify, orbs (exceptional effects or whatever), really does stack with webbed shots? (didn't tried that out yet)

//Sorry if I misunderstood, but by recommending to take babysitters, naming terrible opposing dual-lanes and repeating that she is too fragile it made me think, that she is supposed to got either top/bot, if it isn't so ignore the second one.
2. Since she has insane agility growth and gets to use additional orb, shouldn't she be more powerful then her prototype viper, shouldn't she solo mid (as viper is one of the best dota's soloers)?
She does lose some damage compared to vipers orb (though I wouldn't even call that a damage loss), but have a slightly shorter cooldown on first two ranks, and nethertoxin during harassing phase doesn't increase too much damage what 2 points in stats couldn't (and nethertoxin is a new passive skill anyway, before viper used stats), and as said, she has good animation, so she could out-lasthit/deny when played correctly her opponent and give more survivability by being higher level.


3. How about using recent viper's build for early game : 2xcirclets (and chicken, if no one got it) and rush for bottle, and then rune racing and dominating the mid lane with webbed shots, would it be viable for her?

4. With alchemist's bones and wingbow (and, if you were against feeders/ game taking a hour too long/ you were able to get most of your last hits in lane, with deamonic breast plate) isn't a lot of her attack speed wasted by animation canceling/orb-walking? (that meaning, that orb walking should be used more in chasing and not team battles, where it really is needed)

5. How about Assassin's Shroud for back-stabing / escaping / attack speed / damage / whatever-else-reason-lothars-where-used?

1) Yes, Attack modifiers like Shieldbreaker OR Frostwolf's skull do stack with Webbed Shot

// She does not babysit heroes, support heroes babysit her, its very important to let your carry hero do all the farming so they have gold for late game, support heroes just need a tiny bit of gold for warding.

2) You can solo with her when your enemy does not have: Thunderbringer, Defiler, Soulstealer, Succubus and in high level games I'm assuming 3/4 of these heroes are going to be picked. If these hereos are soloing they're going to outlevel you in effectiveness (none of these heroes have to be specifically close to creeps to kill them, except Succubus who hard-counters Arachna at level 6, he can sleep himself when the spider is attacking him then the spider gets put to sleep then brain sap and do his own ultimate)

3) Bottle isn't fantastic for Arachna, becuase you have to leave your lane and miss out on some exp, meanwhile your enemy heroes can nuke down a lane pretty fast then go grab the rune. The runes would be better in the hands of your team mates who can use it to gank mid while you're farming. They key difference between viper's orb and Arachna's is that viper's does bonus damage which is good for early, not so good for late because it doesn't scale.

4) I point out in the guide you can turn on autocast for webbed shot after you get wingbow because your attack speed is too fast to be able to animation cancel. You should still be using webbed shot in team battles because it provides a snare and attack speed slow, the faster your attack speed, the quicker you can apply the debuff to enemy heroes. 60 minute games are very rare because you should be pushing to win once you have your wingbow and your items should be way above the other teams. This guide is written specifically for competitive play and demontstrates Arachna's usefulness as a late game hard carry, so if you have feeders you should probably find some new team mates >_>

5) Ah the discussion about assassin's shroud again, basically do not ever get this item for competetive games, if you've seen a lot of farm4fame you'll notice the professional teams never get this item either. This is because it is countered by a simple 180 gold on the opponents support hero, thus wasting 4k gold which could have been better spent on a shrunken head (if you wanted an escape mechanism).

[ElementUser]

Arachna may have "poor early game damage" for last-hitting, but Soulstealer's/Valkryie's is even worse (among other heroes). Her projectile speed is very fast & her attack animation is also quite smooth to make up for this though.

[junglebadger]

nice guide, i was thinking of writing on arachna but ya beat me to it :D well written tho, and i agree with most of the items except i occasionally go for a charged hammer, and i think you should add something about that (or explain why you didnt put it)

I dont see arachna being picked often in competitive games, and you dont need early stats, or alchemists bones, shrunken head to pubstomp with her.

But nice guide anyway.

[Shadowcamsy]

Soulstealer uses Demon Hands for last hitting and once he has 15+ souls his damage is fine and Valkyrie has an escape mechanism as well as an aoe nuke for farming + harassing. Arachna has orbs. Valkyrie and arachna have very good attack animations but overall Valkyrie has more utility over Arachna and will push her out of the lane. Although with a good team warding runes/ganking spots and constantly annoying Valkyrie you could probably outfarm her.

Charged hammer is good for farming with Mirana (Valkyrie) because she has an aoe nuke as well, not so good on Arachna because she can only last hit for gold. Also it was a counter item for pusher-broodmother in dota. It's a proc item as well and Arachna doesn't have any abilities that increase her attack speed, combined with the fact that it costs a lot. But you're right, I should explain why you shouldn't get it in the guide, cheers for pointing that out.

Arachna is like the Drow Ranger of dota in terms of competitive play, you really don't see her much because she doesn't have much team utility when compared to Glacius, Behemoth, Soulstealer, Defiler, Pebbles, Succubus, Thunderbringer, Jereziah etc. Basically you wouldn't pick Arachna when the opponent has a team of nuke/disables because you would want nuke/disables to counter them, You can probably pubstomp with Puzzlebox or even Codex on her, but when you want to play a good scrim or a high level inhouse you won't get away with taking bad item choices.

[Ligr]

had a very quick game with her, lasted only 30 minutes, but it went by the book. She still IS squishy under focus, even with bracelets and all. But god, that slow of hers really helps in chases. I will try some more games with her, to see how she handles late game with all the items.

Thank you for the guide.

[PUB5TAR]

Guide is solid. I prefer to play with an escape mechanism/pure dps build using shroud, but then again I typically last hit 8/10 creeps every wave with this hero.

Your section on Jereziah however needs to be corrected.


his Protective charm will nullify all your debuffs

Spider Sting still does damage and slows through Protective Charm. The reason for this is that spider does physical damage and its slow is a physical, not magic, effect.

[PoopsDeath]

I usually start with 2 pretender crowns a health and rune of blight.
Since I will be using fortified bracelets, may as well go with the crowns instead of selling totems.

[tayuku]

Arachna is possibly the best attack animation + dmg in the game, making her by far the best last hitter.

If you are soloing mid, a good estimate for your creep kills would be 3 per minute. You could get more if you are able to, but try to maintain at least 3 creep kills per minute for at least 3/4 of the game (This goes beyond the laning phase).

[Shadowcamsy]

Guide is solid. I prefer to play with an escape mechanism/pure dps build using shroud, but then again I typically last hit 8/10 creeps every wave with this hero.

Your section on Jereziah however needs to be corrected.



Spider Sting still does damage and slows through Protective Charm. The reason for this is that spider does physical damage and its slow is a physical, not magic, effect.

Good call, guide updated.

[tootsie2]

Just as a hint:

Precision is an aura that increases the damage of those creeps, that live longest (the ranged ones). This pushes your lane and makes yourself vulnerable to ganks.

Unless you want to push lanes, there is no reason to level this ability early game.

[Cushie]

Just had no problems solo mid against Slither...I mainly just focused on taking his toxin wards down at the start, then when I had webbed shot 3 and he was in the water I just chased him back to his tower with it and cut him down.

He got overconfident another time just after and tried to chase me back to my tower while I was on 50%....I just used spider and cut him down.

[BodyHammer]

Previous to this thread, I would have never thought anyone would get a Helm of the Black Legion or a Runed Axe on Arachna. A large part of me died inside today.

[tayuku]

Last hitting and denying with Arachna is incredibly easy. Like I said earlier, you should go with at least 3 creep kills per minute and have this last at least 30 minutes (90 creeps by 30 minutes)

The end screen is actually bugged. My creep stat can be seen at the top 169/93

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8876/honcreepstat.th.jpg (http://img199.imageshack.us/i/honcreepstat.jpg/)

[XQuicksilver]

Hello, great guide, very thurough..
However I have noticed that hardened carapase does dispel slithers poison now.
Making her an excellent counter to him. Plus she can take care of wards faster than he can put them up

[Shadowcamsy]

Hello, great guide, very thurough..
However I have noticed that hardened carapase does dispel slithers poison now.
Making her an excellent counter to him. Plus she can take care of wards faster than he can put them up

Excellent news, do you know if it dispels both poisons (his ultimate + poison spray)?

[swaddell13]

plz fix pics :)

[SHJordan]

Webbed Shot is the main ability for Arachna, its necessary to take this as soon as possible because of the powerful debuff it applies to the enemy. Webbed Shot is used to harassing, helping out allies, kiting things, and most importantly, making the other team lose their cool. at Rank 1 Webbed Shot does not do much by itself, you should only be casting it Rank 2 and above, otherwise you're wasting your mana. You shouldn't toggle on autocast of Webbed Shot until the very late stages of the game where you cannot orb walk any more.

Quick newb question, how do I "auto-cast"? Is there a command to always cast it?

[theqat]

Quick newb question, how do I "auto-cast"? Is there a command to always cast it?

Right-click the Web Shot icon

[SHJordan]

oh thx... didn't knew it! =D

[thegravity]

Thanks for this post and the (dramatic) discussion that followed.

I just recently got into HoN and got my butt handed to me every game cause I had no idea what items were good for what hero. I used this guide to get into the game and get used to what items are what from DotA.

Now after a good 25-40 games as arachna I actually feel pretty comfortable playing her and mix my build up depending who im facing.

So yeah, thanks for this!

[SeomanCC]

A nice feature of Carapace I discovered last week...

It immediately releases you from the keeper of the forest's ult :)

Pissed him off something awful lol.

[SHJordan]

That's indeed what it is... a disabler of debuffs... =]

[ROflSaruSReX]

I usually start with two or three health pots and try to rush steamboots then Shieldbreaker. After that depending on how the game is going (usually great) I aim for wingbow, savage mace, then flayer (not always in that order). I find that with arachna if your going to die its because your getting focused to hell so I don't bother with defensive items as much. She is a psychological nightmare and when you have 350+ attack and pounding you in the face you'll want to avoid her from thenon. Fear her.

[SHJordan]

Hmm... so.... u get 3 pots
then steamboots
then shieldbreaker?

w00t... that's for sure a contest...

[Angerflst]

i have a question, is a hotkey for turning off and on the autocasting of webb. movin my mouse to it takes too long.

[Lim_Dul]

i have a question, is a hotkey for turning off and on the autocasting of webb. movin my mouse to it takes too long.
http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=21921

[fagel]

damn current viper is a tank right now
cores:
phase heart hood->pipe [3 must needs]

[SHJordan]

what?

[noodle0117]

considering the fact that webbed shot really isn't useful until lvl 2, which can only be attained on level 3 of your hero, wouldn't it be better to go stats first then 2 lvls of web shot?
I know it doesn't really make that much of a difference, but every bit counts.

[Shadowcamsy]

considering the fact that webbed shot really isn't useful until lvl 2, which can only be attained on level 3 of your hero, wouldn't it be better to go stats first then 2 lvls of web shot?
I know it doesn't really make that much of a difference, but every bit counts.

You could definately get stats first, whatever suits your playstyle. Getting webbed shot first and using it on your enemy a few times lets them know they're not going to have an easy time in your lane. The tiny slow effect isn't much but it is still something.

[XQuicksilver]

Honestly my favorite hero. With no DOTA experience, I found her easy to learn and adaptable to most teams. I used this guide during my alt-tab days.. and even now that I feel confident enough to pick and choose my own gear, I still stick to the starting items on this guide.. sometimes i'll drop a minor totem and pick up some runes of blight.. its usually a good idea if youre up against a thunderbringer or moonqueen.
i find soloing mid with arachna is generally a good idea, as you usually have a guaranteed kill level 6 if you can catch them away from there tower.

EDITED:
I'll also add that I've noticed arachna becomes very hated very quickly.. and is a priority target by mid-game, so once the laning phase is coming to an end, don't get caught alone.

[evil_tuturo]

Just curious.. Is there somebody tries to build the skills w/o Webbed Shot? Yes I know Webbed Shot is one of excellent skill. But It would be better for farming + damage output but less slowness. I think Spider Sting already provide enough movement speed debuff.

[ClawwzZ]

Just curious.. Is there somebody tries to build the skills w/o Webbed Shot? Yes I know Webbed Shot is one of excellent skill. But It would be better for farming + damage output but less slowness. I think Spider Sting already provide enough movement speed debuff.

lol did you miss the part about using webbed shot to debuff as many heroes simultaneously as you possibly can during team battles? webbed shot is the only skill arachna has making her a team player, discounting her aura somewhat aiding allied ranged heroes. if you didn't have webbed shot, you'd be a completely single target hero, making you worse than scout in the way of teamskills imo.

[Rommi]

I should disagree with item builds, shieldbreaker for sure on top of nullfire and after shieldbreaker get geometers wich is reworked

[JohnnyDuh]

Solo mid against a Moon Queen =]

You can't really see but I was dark green 24-0 thnx for the guide.

[jtown]

Solo mid against a Moon Queen =]

You can't really see but I was dark green 24-0 thnx for the guide.
awesome!

[V0ldemort1]

So Wingbow gives 30 agi, 30 dmg, 30 atk speed, and 30 evasion.

Does this translate to 60 damage, 60 atk speed, 4.2 armor, and 30 evasion?

[sef123]

So Wingbow gives 30 agi, 30 dmg, 30 atk speed, and 30 evasion.

Does this translate to 60 damage, 60 atk speed, 4.2 armor, and 30 evasion?
Yes.

[SHJordan]

What would be the highest level neutral spawn? I mean , could you enlist it?

[vulcZ]

Solo mid against a Moon Queen =]

You can't really see but I was dark green 24-0 thnx for the guide.

Portal Key on Arachna? Seriously?

[Shadowcamsy]

What would be the highest level neutral spawn? I mean , could you enlist it?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but the highest level neutral creep you can pawn with Alchemist's bones is the Catman Champion (level 5/6), followed by the Minotaur (level 5), the dragons and predasaurs count as ancients so the bones do not work on them. Alchemist's bones and Whispering Helm targets are interchangable, however you'd want to use Whispering helm on a more useful unit, like Wolf Commander, Skeleton King and Minotaur.

http://honwiki.net/wiki/Neutral will tell you quite a bit about neutrals, I think they need to update their part for Skeleton King (assuming the 1.5 second grip has been implemented)


Portal Key on Arachna? Seriously?

Portal key is viable on just about any hero as long as you get it really early and use it to gank. Pros can also use it to dodge a spell, like pyro's ultimate or scout's snipe.

[SHJordan]

thx, very useful =D

[Jamez0r]

This guide is written specifically for competitive play, and for competitive play you will see heroes like Soulstealer, Defiler, Thunderbringer, Valkyrie, all which can outlane Arachna, 2 of which can deny her creeps when there's nothing she can do about it. You could solo her until level 6, but you'd be denying one of your other heroes with a better level 6 ability. If you're playing a pub go ahead and solo mid, you can even get Savage Mace if you want to, they're not going to be smart enough to out play you. But as soon as you start playing 1800+ games you're going to be much more effective to your team if a support hero is babysitting you in your lane, while you have a decent pre-mentioned solo in mid.



If you can orb walk effeciently, have extremely good map awareness, can static farm a lane effeciently, last hit at least 3/4 creeps per wave (4/4 when no other heroes are in your lane), can kite 2 heroes at once without being hit and you're actually not playing against stupid players, then sure, Arachna isn't that hard... I hear she is real easy to play in easy mode.

Could you explain how these other heroes can outlane arachna? I've solo'd mid numerous times against very good players who had the heroes you listed and was always able to harass/cs enough to get 6 before them (and usually proceed to kill them if possible)

Btw I'm not questioning you, honestly just wondering. If you can make it to level 6 before your opponent (which I have every single time) you can petty much destroy your opponent, or at least harass them enough to completely own the lane.

The opponents you listed all seem to hve some aoe-ish ability that can last hit a mob and hit you, but I've found that with webbed shot at level 1 I can harass them enough that they are forced to waste mana on low level abilities / use consumables / use bottle such that I always have an advantage. I could see soulstealers +DMG making it virtually impossible to cs since he can last hit creep at higher hp... But how could defiled outlane you?

I completely believe arachna is more than capable of soloing, and honestly think this guide is misleading. I also think harden carapace shouldn't be chosen until web/aura is maxed (unless laning vs aggressive char with debuff). With web/aura/and some +agi early game Im usually able to be aggresive enough to not need the carapace anyway

Please explain, thanks a lot.

Edit: who has a "better level 6 ability"? I'd consider her ult one of the best considering it's almost a guaranteed kill when used right, and easily makes you capable of a double kill gank.

Oh and btw I'm not pro but am a pretty good player. I can orbwalk / last hit 80%+ / multi target slow / be map aware and all other things that supposedly make her a "difficult character". (not bragging just stating) so I guess what I'm wondering is why if two pro players with equal skill were soloing vs eachother why arachna wouldn't destroy every time?

Pls forgive if this doesn't make sense, typing on phone

[Shadowcamsy]

Could you explain how these other heroes can outlane arachna? I've solo'd mid numerous times against very good players who had the heroes you listed and was always able to harass/cs enough to get 6 before them (and usually proceed to kill them if possible)

Btw I'm not questioning you, honestly just wondering. If you can make it to level 6 before your opponent (which I have every single time) you can petty much destroy your opponent, or at least harass them enough to completely own the lane.

The opponents you listed all seem to hve some aoe-ish ability that can last hit a mob and hit you, but I've found that with webbed shot at level 1 I can harass them enough that they are forced to waste mana on low level abilities / use consumables / use bottle such that I always have an advantage. I could see soulstealers +DMG making it virtually impossible to cs since he can last hit creep at higher hp... But how could defiled outlane you?

I completely believe arachna is more than capable of soloing, and honestly think this guide is misleading. I also think harden carapace shouldn't be chosen until web/aura is maxed (unless laning vs aggressive char with debuff). With web/aura/and some +agi early game Im usually able to be aggresive enough to not need the carapace anyway

Please explain, thanks a lot.

Edit: who has a "better level 6 ability"? I'd consider her ult one of the best considering it's almost a guaranteed kill when used right, and easily makes you capable of a double kill gank.

Oh and btw I'm not pro but am a pretty good player. I can orbwalk / last hit 80%+ / multi target slow / be map aware and all other things that supposedly make her a "difficult character". (not bragging just stating) so I guess what I'm wondering is why if two pro players with equal skill were soloing vs eachother why arachna wouldn't destroy every time?

Pls forgive if this doesn't make sense, typing on phone

The heroes I listed as outlaning Arachna are Soulstealer, Defiler, Thunderbringer, Valkyrie.

Soulstealer: when he reaches level 5 he'll just sit back and demon hands for kills, leaving you unable to deny creeps. By the time he is level 8 he will have farmed his post haste and his allies will be pushing/ganking while he farms other lanes, his allies only need 1 pin on you and you have 750 damage with a triple demon hands.

Defiler: A smart defiler knows that Arachna beats them in a lane at level 6, thats why the defiler will sit back and wave to harrass/last hit until they get to 6 themselves. Once she has her ultimate it wrecks your spider faster than you can blink because the spirits deal physical damage, then she is free to hold the lane because she isn't scared of your spider. However your spider only have a 45 sec cd compared to her 100 sec cd, but you can see how it will destroy your usefulness late game.

Thunderbringer: He will get static and chain lightning and you wont be able to deny from level 1, once he is level 5 he will start spamming you with lightning bolt from range. Thunderbringer is usually played competitively as part of an aoe team, having allies like tempest, behe, torturer as well as a disabler like electrician, once again destroying your usefulness lategame.

Valkyrie: Has an escape mechanism as well as a double nuke, bad valkyries will get arrow and try to stupidly land it on you while you sidestep, good valkyries have allies like Succubus, and good valkyries get the aoe for farming pleasure.

There is a common theme amongst all these heroes which is why they're better than Arachna. Teleportation stones. Defiler and Soulstealer will wreck you while you're teleporting, but it doesn't work the other way. Valk and Tb both have interrupts to cancel your teleport, but it's a similar theory.

Lich in dota should be able to solo against Arach, but Plague Rider needs to be tweaked before it is tiered higher than Arachna.

However Arachna can still solo, but it's better to put her top for hellbourne/bottom for legion when you have a jungle hero like Tempest/Lego/Warbeast.

As for the best level 6 abilities you are right, Arachna is certainly up there, but Tempest dominates the scale at the moment because of the utiliy, also off the top of my head I would put Jeraziah/Behemoth/Defiler/Hellbringer/Predator all above Arachna on the effectiveness of ultimate's scale. Having said that Arachna's ultimate is still very powerful, when used correctly it can destroy an enemy carry like swiftblade/madman/blood hunter/night hound/predator.

As for the orb walking/map awareness etc. I'd classify those skills as easy to learn, hard to master. Imagine an AI program that last hit every creep as long as their min/max damage was 1 point higher than yours, and knew the outcome of every battle before it even began. Well if you tone down the extremity a bit you'd be in the bracket of pro players. The person with the highest amount of skill will win the game because they will simply "outplay" you. Once you have become extremely good at predicting whether you can beat a hero you have effectively skill capped Arachna ie. I have 4 attacks from spider at this point because they will autoattack it once and the tower will hit it twice, I can probably orb walk 6 webbed shots into them, that's 10*50, 500 damage, they have a nuke and a stun and probably 2 auto attacks in between, 550 damage. That's the level that pros think on.

[Snow_blinded]

I guess you are the only to talk with K/D ratio of 0.5/1 :D

Runed Axe on Ranged... Reminds me of old times in Dota a couple of years ago, when some people were playing Medusa with Bfury :D


The point of Battlefury on medusa was not to get the cleave. It was the most cost efficient way of improving her dmg and survivability ala manashield reducing all dmg, not only 50%.

[_swEEt]

personally i dont take webshot until level 13-14. Just aura and stats + ulti does the trick just fine.

[Isin]

personally i dont take webshot until level 13-14. Just aura and stats + ulti does the trick just fine.

Meh. The slow is very nice for harassing in lane. Sometimes I leave it at rank 3 though and get rank 4 at level 9-10.

[_swEEt]

also always get mid solo iwth arachna like 90% of the time and always get kills at lvl 6-7 with ur ulti its so easy.

[Reactions]

Thanks for writing a good guide! Used this in 3 games and won all of them, and actually got a pretty good kpd in the games too.
Again thanks!
Regards Reactions

[SHJordan]

Indeed is! =D

We got new items, none of them is useful for arachna?

[manicpyro]

Really good guide. Its worked quite well for me so far.

Would you suggest the same starting build on any other heroes. I've just found it so effective on arachna.

[dumblydore]

Could you explain how these other heroes can outlane arachna? I've solo'd mid numerous times against very good players who had the heroes you listed and was always able to harass/cs enough to get 6 before them (and usually proceed to kill them if possible)

Btw I'm not questioning you, honestly just wondering. If you can make it to level 6 before your opponent (which I have every single time) you can petty much destroy your opponent, or at least harass them enough to completely own the lane.

The opponents you listed all seem to hve some aoe-ish ability that can last hit a mob and hit you, but I've found that with webbed shot at level 1 I can harass them enough that they are forced to waste mana on low level abilities / use consumables / use bottle such that I always have an advantage. I could see soulstealers +DMG making it virtually impossible to cs since he can last hit creep at higher hp... But how could defiled outlane you?

I completely believe arachna is more than capable of soloing, and honestly think this guide is misleading. I also think harden carapace shouldn't be chosen until web/aura is maxed (unless laning vs aggressive char with debuff). With web/aura/and some +agi early game Im usually able to be aggresive enough to not need the carapace anyway

Please explain, thanks a lot.

Edit: who has a "better level 6 ability"? I'd consider her ult one of the best considering it's almost a guaranteed kill when used right, and easily makes you capable of a double kill gank.

Oh and btw I'm not pro but am a pretty good player. I can orbwalk / last hit 80%+ / multi target slow / be map aware and all other things that supposedly make her a "difficult character". (not bragging just stating) so I guess what I'm wondering is why if two pro players with equal skill were soloing vs eachother why arachna wouldn't destroy every time?

Pls forgive if this doesn't make sense, typing on phone

Wow. you typed that on your phone? LOL.

[SHJordan]

Really fast! =x

[Shadowcamsy]

Really good guide. Its worked quite well for me so far.

Would you suggest the same starting build on any other heroes. I've just found it so effective on arachna.

Definately when the silencer port comes out you're going to see a lot more people get Alchemist's bones, at the moment you would only get them on Arachna or on a hard carry hero or a handful of support heroes when the other team has Ophelia. Trinket of restoration works wonders for any ranged hero that can stay in on par with the other heroes in their lane (last hit for last hit). You will often see Plague Riders starting with trinket + 4 totems as well, also any other hero that is looking at getting Astrolobe will probably start with the same items or a refreshing ornament (Dem Shaman, Nymph, Accursed)

[Doomhammar]

Nice guide !

[say_well]

sry.. since this thread already have reached 11pages. i just read the guide but not the feedback.

what do you think about arachna soloing mid? she has a very fast projectile and pretty good animation. she can harass 1on1 with her webshot.. and when she reach lv 6.. she can thrown down her ulti + webshot to her enemy. imo its more easier for her to lane solo and get kill by lv 6.

about the item.. i usually play with my friends. one of my friend will buy courier.
my starting items is 2 circlet, 2 set of runes of blight and a mana pot. what do you think?

after that i proceed to get marcher and bottle.. then upgrade my marcher for post haste. my end game item usually slash + orb = geometer.

hopefully you can comment the way i am playing her. thx.

@topic
great guide.. not too colorful which make it easier to read.

[dumblydore]

Sooo how do you beat Arachna and Succubus in a 2v2 game?

I mean Succubus has 2 disables and 1 semi disable, as well as a crazy nuke. Arach has the high damage / high attack speed / slow / reveal combo.

Best way is to pick them off by themselves, but if they stick together it's hard to beat them..

[RogerDodger]

Sooo how do you beat Arachna and Succubus in a 2v2 game?

I mean Succubus has 2 disables and 1 semi disable, as well as a crazy nuke. Arach has the high damage / high attack speed / slow / reveal combo.

Best way is to pick them off by themselves, but if they stick together it's hard to beat them..
Pick Succ / Arach first or don't play 2v2

[say_well]

Sooo how do you beat Arachna and Succubus in a 2v2 game?

I mean Succubus has 2 disables and 1 semi disable, as well as a crazy nuke. Arach has the high damage / high attack speed / slow / reveal combo.

Best way is to pick them off by themselves, but if they stick together it's hard to beat them..

depends on what map.. usually if 2v2 i will play a map with two lanes (forgot the name lol).

in this case, since both of them are caster. Magebane and Jeraziah could kick their asses.

[SHJordan]

Just go with a disabler or get totem of kuldra+that other stuff that make you magic immune! =x

[Shadowcamsy]

sry.. since this thread already have reached 11pages. i just read the guide but not the feedback.

what do you think about arachna soloing mid? she has a very fast projectile and pretty good animation. she can harass 1on1 with her webshot.. and when she reach lv 6.. she can thrown down her ulti + webshot to her enemy. imo its more easier for her to lane solo and get kill by lv 6.

about the item.. i usually play with my friends. one of my friend will buy courier.
my starting items is 2 circlet, 2 set of runes of blight and a mana pot. what do you think?

after that i proceed to get marcher and bottle.. then upgrade my marcher for post haste. my end game item usually slash + orb = geometer.

hopefully you can comment the way i am playing her. thx.

@topic
great guide.. not too colorful which make it easier to read.

http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showpost.php?p=370362&postcount=200


Sooo how do you beat Arachna and Succubus in a 2v2 game?

I mean Succubus has 2 disables and 1 semi disable, as well as a crazy nuke. Arach has the high damage / high attack speed / slow / reveal combo.

Best way is to pick them off by themselves, but if they stick together it's hard to beat them..

The game isn't balanced around 2v2, succubus with anyone will dominate a lane, thats why succy is normally banned in 2v2 games. I suggest sticking to 5v5. But pollywog Dem shaman would give them a hard time, Arach + succy can be countered, if your friend is mezmerized and you get a spider on you, just attack your friend and they will be taken out of the crowd control, and the spider will automatically remove mezmerize from you.

[bobyahoo]

Sooo how do you beat Arachna and Succubus in a 2v2 game?

I mean Succubus has 2 disables and 1 semi disable, as well as a crazy nuke. Arach has the high damage / high attack speed / slow / reveal combo.

Best way is to pick them off by themselves, but if they stick together it's hard to beat them..

Jerizah+Carry
Repel+Ult=GG

[Jucc]

Orbwalk = web the target then run away a bit and continue the rotation ?
( sorry for my terrible english ;3)

[Shadowcamsy]

Orbwalk:
1) press Q
2) left click on enemy
3) during the time where your waiting to attack them again (because your attack speed starts off slow) run towards the enemy
4) repeat 1-3

[Disease1]

question, when you lvl up her aura early game like lvl 1 will it apply the % at higher lvls instead of the lvl you got it at?

[Shadowcamsy]

Yes it will, if you have 40 agi and you just maxed her aura, then the game goes on for 40 minutes and you have 90 agi, the aura will be treated as though you have 90 agi

[Lolololage]

question, when you lvl up her aura early game like lvl 1 will it apply the % at higher lvls instead of the lvl you got it at?

The aura is based on current base damage.

So regardless of level, it will provide +7/14/21/28% damage based on your current base damage, not the level in which you picked up the skill.

But it's still better to wait untill ~lvl 9-10 to start getting precision, because the damage gain is tiny early on, but amazing later on. Stats and a level of harden will be more important early on.

[PorkLord]

I find a good counter to her low hp is Assassin's Shroud.

It's also great for surprise killing enemies farming neuts and alone in lanes with Spider Sting.

[Lolololage]

I find a good counter to her low hp is Assassin's Shroud.

It's also great for surprise killing enemies farming neuts and alone in lanes with Spider Sting.

The problem being that the counter to your 2000 gold item is a 180 or 700 gold item.

However i must admit that shroud works in most public games, because 99% of the players will not spend any gold in contering invisibility "because their team mates might do it anyway"

[TheAlmighty]

Keep it updated. Things are changing.

[JarJar]

Just wanted to add I liked this guide, mmhm.

[Santa]

Actually harden carpace does dispell pupeteers hold :P

[UnFuLFiLLD]

i dont know about hon but in dota max % for slows is 80

[Manhim]

i dont know about hon but in dota max % for slows is 80

I've been playing with Arachna quite alot and I can assure you that the 80% of the Spiderling and then 40% of webbed shot are stacking for 88% slow.

Also here's my items order:

Marchers
Life Tube
Glove of the swift
Punchdagger
-> Enchanted Marchers
Steamstaff / Iron Buckler (Depends on the situation but I get both)
Beasthearth
-> Helm of the black legion
Snake Bracelets
Then if I can I wait for Dancing Blade to get Wingbow but if I need quick extra damages and life I get Whispering Helm before.

Also, I'm considering on using Nullfire Blade, just need to make some tests and adjustments.

[levo]

nice guide thank you,
i have seen in the medium ranged games that every player goes for assasin's shroud and sometimes i've seen people getting hack and slash.

would be good to get slash as a 1st item? would give you dmg ias and ms and you can upgrade it to geomancers bane and with nullfire it would be really powerfull.

and mentioning about behemoths heart for survival it gives huge chunks of hp and %10 more dmg for agi heroes, most of the people would argue that forgot its new name (satanic) is better for dps heroes. i still do like heart more :) for the late game survival, and cosidering she has really low end game hp.

thanks its a really good guide.

[Shadowcamsy]

Slash is a very viable first item provided you have some bracers for health. You will want to be making Geometer's bane as your first item instead of H'n'S, this is because the dps increase is substantially better than H'n'S as well as the utility is at least 3 times as better.

Why is Geometer's bane so good?
- On use it dispels all debuffs on yourself including Glacius' freeze, Succubus' Smitten, Pestilence's Swarm, etc
- Provides a disjoint, if you hit it at the right time you can dodge Pyro's stun, also any projectile such as Andromeda's stun.
- Images do damage and apply all orb effects you have, such as mana burn
- Image damage is based on the heroes main attribute, in this case agiliy, for every agility you have the image's damage is increased by .3 as well as armor and attack speed, which adds up to huge amounts when you have wingbow/geo bane/nullfire (items with +attack speed, +damage or +armor do not effect images)

When you compare that to Hack and slash which only gives you a small chance to maim and some extra health for the same price it's extremely noticible that you're buying an item with effectively no utility.

Behemoth's heart is a very good item, but the problem is that it's only giving you 10% bonus damage and you won't really have that much bonus damage. It's better if you get a few core items before Behemoth's heart because the amount of damage you can dish out before you die is a lot larger, you effectively double your damage when you get geo bane or wingbow or shieldbreaker. Also if you get Behemoth's heart first ite becomes hard to farm for your next item (which you should need unless you have a 4/5 pusher team)

[promanski]

Arachna is one of the most difficult heroes to play

lloloolololololollolllololLLLLLOOOOLLOLasdljfklsjf

I really don't think pressing R and just auto attacking until the unit is dead is hard tbh.

Of course no one plays Arachna (If the other team isn't retarded) because shes easily counterable with homecoming stone. But, noobs don't know that now do they :P

[HumbleXuch]

stinkie!

[Blessed_]

lloloolololololollolllololLLLLLOOOOLLOLasdljfklsjf

I really don't think pressing R and just auto attacking until the unit is dead is hard tbh.

Of course no one plays Arachna (If the other team isn't retarded) because shes easily counterable with homecoming stone. But, noobs don't know that now do they :P

Competitive play != 1500+psr games.

[a_cloth]

I've watched a lot of higher tier people play arachna and they build her like a tank because she just needs to be used for her slows

they build

-HotBL
-Enchanced marchers
-geometers
-shrunken head
ect.

Whats your take on this playstyle?

[Shadowcamsy]

I've watched a lot of higher tier people play arachna and they build her like a tank because she just needs to be used for her slows

they build

-HotBL
-Enchanced marchers
-geometers
-shrunken head
ect.

Whats your take on this playstyle?

HotBL is not a good item because it costs too much and delays your core items (shieldbreaker/nullfire), 2 bracers provide similar effect, in high-level play you will notice there will be 1 or maybe 2 physical damage heroes, and the others will be heroes with stuns and nukes, HotBL does nothing against these lineups.

Enhanced marchers are good on her because of the attack speed, but if you're getting geo bane as well it's a personal choice to get e-marchers or steamboots. Geo is a really good item because it counters a lot of single target lineups, like predator/magebane, as well as absorbing bounces from Plague's ulti and hits from moon queen's beams.

I've mentioned when to get shrunken head in this guide, if you get it against a team that has no high-end magic damage heroes and no disables then it's effectively wasted gold that could be better spent on core items.

As for the playstyle, it is the same thing as I've written in this guide, try to debuff as many heroes as possible, every hero with the debuff is turning slower/moving slower/attacking slower, which throws their mental process offbalance and lets your team mates hit their spells easier and catch up to fleeing heroes. This all depends on your team lineups as well, against teams with a lot of nuke power you'd rather be focusing down the one hero, than having all the enemies heroes running in, casting nukes, then running out. Against a holy combo team like tempest/jera/soulstealer/magmus/plague rider you will be playing more conservatively, trying to get the other team to waste some cooldowns with your harden carapace up, or trying to catch one of them out so the next team battle isn't so one-sided.

[a_cloth]

HotBL is not a good item because it costs too much and delays your core items (shieldbreaker/nullfire), 2 bracers provide similar effect, in high-level play you will notice there will be 1 or maybe 2 physical damage heroes, and the others will be heroes with stuns and nukes, HotBL does nothing against these lineups.

Enhanced marchers are good on her because of the attack speed, but if you're getting geo bane as well it's a personal choice to get e-marchers or steamboots. Geo is a really good item because it counters a lot of single target lineups, like predator/magebane, as well as absorbing bounces from Plague's ulti and hits from moon queen's beams.

I've mentioned when to get shrunken head in this guide, if you get it against a team that has no high-end magic damage heroes and no disables then it's effectively wasted gold that could be better spent on core items.

As for the playstyle, it is the same thing as I've written in this guide, try to debuff as many heroes as possible, every hero with the debuff is turning slower/moving slower/attacking slower, which throws their mental process offbalance and lets your team mates hit their spells easier and catch up to fleeing heroes. This all depends on your team lineups as well, against teams with a lot of nuke power you'd rather be focusing down the one hero, than having all the enemies heroes running in, casting nukes, then running out. Against a holy combo team like tempest/jera/soulstealer/magmus/plague rider you will be playing more conservatively, trying to get the other team to waste some cooldowns with your harden carapace up, or trying to catch one of them out so the next team battle isn't so one-sided.


Thats makes sense, i just get confused by this replay

http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=12275559

[Goodrilla]

For everyone whom is asking the same question over and over again.

Orb-walk = manually cast the autocast. (webbed shot etc.) Why you do this is because creeps and towers wont aggro you doing precisely that, if you would hit autocast and just right click your target the nearby creeps and/or tower will focus you at once.

Animation cancel = wait for the actual shot to fire out of arachnas stomach and cancel the animation where she will otherwise stand looking pretty-ish doing nothing, obvious reasons are obvious.

Baibai

[Shadowcamsy]

Thats makes sense, i just get confused by this replay

http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=12275559

Looks like a captains mode game, you'll notice hellbourne has 3 healers which is considered a push team, thunderbringer looks like a bit of a wild pick, but basically arachna getting helm was pretty silly in that game, their main aim would be to repel tempest and get him to catch the healers in his ulti, then for arachna to kill the squishiest one before the rift ends. The other team learnt that you cannot push against pr + tempest + jera

[Electroid]

stats... rly?
unless you die a lot early game im pretty sure your items can make up for it.

LOL you do not realize how usefull stats can be. they're just amazing

[ZomgPwn3D]

your an idiot for posting this horrible guide. take it down!

[Shadowcamsy]

your an idiot for posting this horrible guide. take it down!

Thanks for the constructive feedback, I will take your advice into consideration... oops I lied.

[Pho3n1x]

So what boots are we building on her now? I assume steamboots.

[Euriti]

Thanks for the constructive feedback, I will take your advice into consideration... oops I lied.

You might want to edit the part about Nullfire blade. It doesn't build in to Geometer's anymore

[Shadowcamsy]

So what boots are we building on her now? I assume steamboots.

You should be getting ghost marchers, because you need the movement speed boost to catch up to some fleeing enemies. Steamboots don't give enough movement speed. The only exception to this (aka when you should get steamboots) is when you are getting nullfire blade and Geometer's bane, this is because your images only benefit from your stat bonuses (the 10 str/agi/int from your steam boots) and they do not benefit from attack speed or +damage items.


You might want to edit the part about Nullfire blade. It doesn't build in to Geometer's anymore

I don't mention anywhere in the guide that Nullfire blade builds into Geometer's. I mention that you should be getting Geometer's bane if you have nullfire blade because it's the most effective item for your images, giving you 32 mana burn from 2 more sources means you're burning 96 mana every round of attacks.

[ggadrias]

thank you!! :)

[Lady_Godiva]

Could Fenrir's Fang be interesting on her?

Not expensive, stats, an additional slow (does it stack?)

[Ernie888]

You should be getting ghost marchers, because you need the movement speed boost to catch up to some fleeing enemies. Steamboots don't give enough movement speed. The only exception to this (aka when you should get steamboots) is when you are getting nullfire blade and Geometer's bane, this is because your images only benefit from your stat bonuses (the 10 str/agi/int from your steam boots) and they do not benefit from attack speed or +damage items.


tbh ghost matchers are defunkt on arachna and almost all carries...

1.) Her ulti is on such a low cd and as a prime ganker you probably will have bottle or m.battery such that you could gank every time the CD is up.

2.) There should be no need to use ghost marchers speed to catch up to someone, unless your running in from the lane giving the opposing hero an eternity to run away.

3.) Everyone and their dog knows that to escape a solo arachna gank you just carry a TP.. So how would ghost marchers help?!?

4.) You really wont be solo ganking that much, as a result you'll have team mates with you to help slow / disable to hopefully allow you to net the kill as the carry. And if you are solo ganking see point 3.)

[liq3]

tbh ghost matchers are defunkt on arachna and almost all carries...

1.) Her ulti is on such a low cd and as a prime ganker you probably will have bottle or m.battery such that you could gank every time the CD is up.

2.) There should be no need to use ghost marchers speed to catch up to someone, unless your running in from the lane giving the opposing hero an eternity to run away.

3.) Everyone and their dog knows that to escape a solo arachna gank you just carry a TP.. So how would ghost marchers help?!?

4.) You really wont be solo ganking that much, as a result you'll have team mates with you to help slow / disable to hopefully allow you to net the kill as the carry. And if you are solo ganking see point 3.)
Getting a savage mace fixes point 3.

I tried going Steamboots on arachna once. Worst decision ever. You NEED Ghost Walkers on her. They're just too useful.

Agree with 1 and 4.

As for the thread, I personnaly get Fenrir's if there is lots of melee, Shroud if I need to escape/initiate, Shieldbreaker for DPS (lol) or, now that I think about, savage mace if my team is noob and can't stun teh TP'ers.