Many of the baseline numbers of Arthas were changed with the rework and went undocumented in patch notes by Blizzard.
Better context here;
Old Base Arthas
2,980 HP
6.208 HP/s regen
Attack Speed 1.0
Attack Damage 95
[D] Frostmourne Hungers, 10s CD
99 Bonus Damage
30 Mana Restore
[Q] Death Coil, 9s CD, 50 mana
Deals 164 damage.
Self-cast to heal for 290.
[W] Howling Blast, 12s CD, 70 Mana
Root unchanged, 68 damage
[E] Frozen Tempest, toggle CD, 11 mana/s
Slows unchanged, 42 dps.
[R] Army of the Dead, 80s CD, 80 mana
267 Health per ghoul
New Base Arthas
2,731 HP (down 249)
5.69 HP/s regen (down 0.518/s or half a health each second)
Attack Speed 0.91 (down by 9%)
Attack Damage 98 (up by 3)
[D] Frostmourne Hungers, 12s CD (up by 2)
74 Bonus Damage (down by 25)
40 Mana Restored (up by 10)
[Q] Death Coil, 9s CD, 40 Mana (mana down by 10)
Deals 171 damage. (up 7)
Self-cast to heal for 272 health. (down 18)
[W] Howling Blast, 10s CD, 50 Mana. (CD down by 2, mana down by 10)
Root unchanged, 71 damage. (up by 3)
[E] Frozen Tempest, toggle CD, 13 mana/s (up by 2)
Slows unchanged, 37 dps. (down by 5, significant amount)
[R] Army of the Dead, 18s charge CD, no mana cost
250hp per ghoul (down 17hp each)
Overall, trend is that he’s lost a decent chunk of tankiness to enable having more base movement speed through Borean Winds and talent conditional survivability.
The contention comes from Arthas plays because many of those changes feel very unneeded, lopsided or just outright weird.
-250 HP, and -0.5hp/s is a significant reduction in base durability for a whopping.. 18 health gain increase on Death Coil. Ghouls were also reduced by 17 per, and while they are up more often with the new charge system, they are less impactful as your average health threshold is down by 8.4% from the maximum health reduction.
On top of that, over the course of a match your total passively regenerated health is down by the difference of almost Arthas’s entire Lv1. base health pool.
20 minute match = 1,200 seconds
1,200 divided by 0.5 (new health regen) = 2,400 health
Lv1. Health = 2,731
(I might’ve did this incorrectly, somebody check my math and mock me accordingly please)
Now granted, the actual effective impact of the health regen difference would be closer to maybe 1,600 or 1,800 when considering time spent at home in the fountain, at max health, out of combat, etc. but that’s still a very significant difference in long term durability for the tank who is specifically supposed to be known for being durable in long fights.
Inside of very combat-heavy matches where the enemy team has some mix of bruisers, tanks, and assassins (more common as Arthas since you are organized in queue as a tank) the impact of this change is the most noticeable. Again, very counterintuitive to the role you are supposed to fill with this hero as he was formerly the top dog for those specific types of matches.
There are the newly changed talents that offer more survivability through other means, but they do not fill the gap. They function as conditionals that exist in longer fights where their value shines, but the base health changes do not support their function at all.
Most people point to the baseline trait stacking quest as the compensatory reason for these changes, but as an Arthas main myself, I’m telling you that was not the trade you think it was.
My thoughts are that the main culprit is actually our new Lv1. talent, Borean Winds.
Before the rework that talent’s 10% movement speed was the only mobility Arthas could gain in his entire kit, and it came at the end of matches when you hit Lv20.
Moving even part of something that strong to one of his FIRST options radically changes how the hero is going to have to be balanced and in my opinion is directly against the original design. Does more damage than good, basically.
Borean Winds solves his mobility issue, and solves his mana management issues, and I assume was the talent Blizzard assumed the majority of players are going to pick (they’re right) and that came at the cost of his durability and damage.
Ironically, while his damage is more consistent now, the total throughput in some cases is actually lower than before.
If you were to compare full Coil/Trait build Arthas any version of the new damage focused builds the amount will be lower. That is coming from a large amount of experience and testing in games over the past few days.
His gimmick was having heavy slows, sustained poke, big damage, enormous survivability, strong roots, and a sneaky silence most enemies never expected. This came at the cost of mobility and requiring careful positioning so you don’t die from a lack of escapes or gap closers.
THAT BEING SAID.
There’s actually some good in the rework, but it’s very early and rough. Old Arthas was a lot more finished and had time in the oven to cook. (Glad you could bake it, Uther.)
Will definitely be multiple iterations from here on out until the changes are more solidified and polished.
Howling Blast changes are groovy, except for the Death Coil slow. It doesn’t do much.
Baseline quest is a good platform to build on. Strange to introduce a new baseline mechanic and only have one way to interact with it.
Death Coil is very sad and only really used for self-healing now. Immortal Coil and Deathlord have anti-synergy in multiple ways and are worsened by base health changes. New Deathlord is a very, very cool concept but needs it’s acquisition range? or width? adjusted so that it’s more consistent. The damage increase is pitiful though and Immortal Coil discourages you from using it aggressively.
Borean Winds needs removed or changed in some way. Discourages you from ever turning off your aura. Almost mindless sometimes.
Silence needs to make a return somehow.
High survivability, alternative methods of controlling fights, and high damage are the cornerstones of Arthas and future changes need to move in that direction.
Do not add more mobility and gratuitous mana. We’re okay with being slow. Let it be impactful when we do get there.
More thoughts later. Reserving them for a long and detailed write up providing better feedback.
TL;DR
Survivability and a stronger base kit were sacrificed to make room for more mobility and damage consistency. This is antithetical to how he should function. Mobility and mana needs to be more scarce and not so freely given. We want the rework to build on what worked before, not turn him into a bruiser and match us against tanks.
