Arachna

[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

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.

[[ABK]_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.

[[HTC]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.

[[ABK]_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.

[[fray]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.

[[YMC]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