I never really played him. He does look interesting though and can be a nice presence on the field. Care to give some pointers?
Can he maintank?
Can he be played as a bruiser?
Keep tempest active in fights or only in crucial moments due to mana consumption?
Is trait build viable?
Anything else related to builds?
he can main tank and bruiser! i pick trait build if i’ll solo lane on him can get fat stacks and can also solo merc camps and also hurt whoever you focus on in teamfights he’s amazing better than varian if you ask me
my Bruiser Build
my Tank Build
give these a shot and see what you enjoy mostly
Yes he can main tank, but he’s weak to displacement.
Some may argue he’s a better bruiser than tank.
Use Tempest actively, just make sure to be quick about turning it off when out of range.
Yes Trait build is viable, it’s one of his two (three-ish) bruiser builds.
*Hints:
Q build is strong, don’t let teammates tell you otherwise.
Rime is a very important talent, don’t ignore it when needed.
Sindragosa is a powerful ultimate against hypermobile teams.
I summon harb. The Arthas main he plays all 3 builds. While also liking Oceks reply
Few things that arent mentioned yet
Spam D for mana, if you pick ethernal hunger dont make it to obvious your stacking
Just try to keep someone in your E as long as possible. Like artanis his AA resets when you cast D (with artanis its W)
If you cast W always aim slightly behind them
Know your enemy
Arthas cant interupt mosh or anduins salvation. But he can get Anduin into a super slow
He has a hard time vs the following solo laners
Sindragosa, and, wait for it,qwedf sss smash
That is indeed a good looking li li
Hes a strong hero with many viable builds. Not too many of them in heroes.
He can main tank but mostly you should play like a bruiser. You’ll be in the off lane for lane phase but rotate to main tanking later in the game.
Yes, it’s very strong but you need to watch out for teams with heavy CC or poke damage. If you can’t get in close or get out it’s probably not a good idea to go for a trait build.
He’s vulnerable to burst pre-Icebound Fortitude and AotD, but if you pick up those two skills you become pretty much unkilleable.
Arthas is the kind of hero who can plow through an entire enemy team and not worry about dying when built & played right. He is an AoE control and damage machine.
His anti-magic shell at 20 will make you KEK as you absorb Pyros, Shadow Fissures and Last Rites and heal from their damage.
Sindragosa is one of the most versatile and powerful ults in the game. It can compliment and enhance many lineups.
In addition to everything already mentioned, if you get an Abathur on your team, an Abby-hatted Arthas is probably the most terrifying thing in the Nexus. You are immortal, you get move speed, and you slow everyone around you down so the Abby can stabbity-stab them to pieces.
You should but he is quite boring to play compared to other tanks sadly.
Is the root quest at 1 viable? I always found it terrifying to see on enemy Arthas… es.
Level 4 is super weird, I find both tempest talents underwhelming.
How mandatory is icebound fortitude at 7? Also valid for bruiser build or only tank?
What about the ult upgrades?
I heard that blood tap was pretty bad in the past, is it viable now?
Disclaimer: unranked scrub who dabbles with Arthas. My responses are as much to have my thinking assessed by betters and perhaps stimulate discussion, as to actually answer KYX.
Certainly. For what it’s worth, it is the starting talent for the Tank build on Icy Veins (https://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/arthas-build-guide). It’s also super fun (and terrifying) when you complete it. 
Great pick if you have roots/stuns in your team or for maps with cluster-objectives, as it takes some practice to land – I highly recommend setting hotkey to on-release.
Well, more mandatory if you are tanking and did not take 4 - Deathlord. 
Less mandatory if you did (7 - Immortal Coil is a nice follow-up to Deathlord) and trust your team.
More of a good thing is always nice, but both of the other talents are situationally superior.
You mean 7 - Rune Tap? See comment on 4 - Icy Talons. Also nice with Abathur hatting you.
Icebound fortitude isn’t necessary for bruiser build. I generally dont pick it unless they have predictable burst.
W quest at one is fine but trait is necessary for solving mana issues with bruiser build and if you’re maintanking arthas when he should be picked then rime is generally the way to go. Its definitely viable though and i like it with butcher.
In my opinion Arthas is a really good main tank, but only vs an enemy melee team with 1+2 ranges, because he struggles to reach ranges like Diablo, Malganis or Johanna, except with Syndragosa.
But vs Melee teams hes superior thanks to his W and a lot of surviability talents (armor on 1 and on 7). But as others mentioned he can also be played well as bruiser and his dragon ult is like Sylvanas Trait vs Towers.
True, but i still prefer the boots on 20, because you can easy chase or escape with the boots talent like Carbot mentioned in their clip 
The root quest at 1 is very viable. It should be your pick 95% of the time as main tank.
Eternal Hunger for bruiser.
Rime if you think the enemy team is super scary damage and might try to end the game very quickly.
If you want to be a play maker and team protector Arthas, Frost Presence is the top pick no contest. It’s just too good in terms of setting up picks for your damage, controlling escaping enemies and saving teammates with much needed peel. The range is ridiculous.
However, if you’re not confident in your ability to consistently land his root, just go Rime. It’s actually a good pick at 1 too m
Thanks for all the input. I now did 4 or 5 or 6 matches with Arthas in QM and only lost one. Besides 10 and 20, I always used the same build, since I was the main tank and could set up some nice plays for my team (especially the Ming in my last match).
Root quest
Death throw
Death heal
~ult~
-Armor on root
Root on Tempest
~something~
So basically I went full root and then (since there was always a mobile squishy) Q for some poke which actually worked well. Only downside so far with Arthas is that he has no way to get out of the enemy team if he’s in. I died a lot against Gorge Stitches into Nazeebo wall and against Diablo flips into Murky slows.
Good hero, will use him more often. Damage boost on D is a bit underwhelming in my opinion.
Don’t forget to target yourself, even though you can get some healing from targeting opponents.
Agreed, but 13 - Frost Strike is pretty sweet imo.
Just booked another win. What is it with the current teams building wombo cc? Garrosh throw into Junkrat trap. Died a few times again, but damn, what’s up with that?