It can be good in a few other situations, such as on a map with a lot of tight spaces that would keep them clumped up so you can regularly get multiple hits with your Q. If I take Solarite Reaper and Templar’s Zeal, I will take Force of Will at 16 as those three talents synergize really well.
One of the things about Artanis is that he has probably the most flexible talent tree in the game at the moment, with a lot of different talent synergies all over the place. This is both his greatest strength, but it can be a liability when you are learning him as there are just so many options, it can be confusing.
If you aren’t confident in changing your play style too much depending on what sort of situation you are facing, there are three “basic” tanking builds you can use that are generally safe and reliable.
Against multiple blinds:
- Reactive Parry*
- Shield Battery
- Solarite Reaper
- Either
- Templar’s Zeal
- Force of Will
- Any
Note* - At level 1, Reactive Parry is sort of a “set it and forget it” talent, and it will do at least a little damage mitigation. However, it is not recommended if the enemy has a high attack speed hero, particularly Tychus. Tracer, Tassadar, Zarya, and similar heroes will make it get minimum value, so in those cases, I would recommend Seasoned Marksman. If you are tanking, you probably aren’t responsible for pushing or camps, so you won’t need Amateur Opponent.
Against AA comps:
- Reactive Parry (See previous comment)
- Shield Battery
- Follow Through
- Suppression Pulse
- Triple Strike
- Blades of a Templar
- Ult upgrade
This build encourages trading hard to keep your shields up, and killing them faster than they can kill you. Just wade in and starting beating on someone, and your shields will pretty much take care of themselves. Use Suppression Pulse in the team fights to reduce the damage they can do to you.
Against mage comps:
- Seasoned Marksman
- Shield Surge
- Follow Through
- Purifier Beam
- Phase Bulwark
- Force of Will
- Ult upgrade
This is a shield heavy build, but again, the shields pretty much take care of themselves. I recommend Shield Surge here, as most mage comps deal heavy burst damage, and the extra shielding at low health can be a life-saver. Purifier Beam can be used to either finish a kill, or to zone out their mage or healer to give your team a numbers advantage.
I hope this helps!