As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
[Heroes of the Storm 2.0] FUCK YEAH, SNAKE EYES INC
milk ducks
High Mucky MuckBig Tits TownRegistered User regular
High Mucky MuckBig Tits TownRegistered User regular
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sULZ2SQUbuwOfficial Definition:
Heroes of the Storm™ is a raucous online team brawler starring your favorite Blizzard characters. Build and customize heroes from across every Blizzard universe to suit your play style. Team up with your friends and engage in fast-paced mayhem across varied battlegrounds that impact strategy and change the way you play the game.
Alternate Definition:
Heroes is a MOBA-lite Team Brawler game in which you play as many characters from different Blizzard universes in 5v5 objective based team combat. The emphasis is on "objective based." There are currently 7 maps with more to come. Each features a unique map objective that is typically the key to victory. The team that manages to win the objectives is usuallythe team that wins. Heroes shares many gameplay elements in the MOBA genre with popular games like DotA2 and League of Legends, but it also drops a lot of the common trappings of the genre and has simplified down to a core game of action and fun.
Heroes, in a nutshell, is a game in which two teams are trying to destroy the Core of the opposing team. The Core is similar to the Ancient in DotA or the Nexus in League. Each team has a base with Forts, Towers, Gates, Healing Wells, and Walls to help them defend their core.
At regular intervals waves of NPC Minions spawn in each base and march down pre-defined lanes to attack the enemy. It is the job of the players to help attack down these lanes and destroy the enemy team's base and ultimately their Core. To help with this, each of the maps has a special map objective that gives a big bonus of some sort to the team that completes the objective. Generally each objective will be completed 3-5 times per match before the core is destroyed.
Just like the waves of NPC Minions who spawn and march towards each other in battle, so too do the player characters respawn when they die and continue to fight. The amount of time it takes to respawn is directly related to how long the game has been running. In a new game that is only minutes old, a player will respawn almost immediately. In games over 15 minutes in length the spawn timers will reach a full 60 seconds.
Core: The first team to destroy their opponent's Core wins the map. The Core has a recharging shield which is worth about 15% of the total health of the Core. This shield regenerates very quickly when the Core is out of combat for 8 seconds. The Core also shoots a lightning blast at a target that will also damage enemies near that target. It follows the same targeting rules as Forts and Towers (see below), but is immune to many effect that shut down structures.
Tower: The first line of defense in each base. Towers have limited ammo which regenerates over time. Towers prioritize minions and summoned units and will ignore player characters as long as there is a minion or summoned unit within range. Unlike other MOBAs, the Towers in Heroes will not target a player character if that character attacks an enemy hero while within range.
Forts: Each lane has one Fort, which is located behind a wall and two towers. These Forts have a lot of HP and attack with ammo just like Towers do, but they also slow enemy movement and attack speed which makes them a decent place to defend from. Destroying a Fort yields a considerable XP payout, making them primary targets in the early game.
Keeps: After a Fort, the last line of a lane's defense before the Core are Keeps. These function similarly to Forts, and will also pay out big XP if destroyed. If a keep is destroyed, the opposing lane will start spawning long-range, high-damage catapults alongside the usual minions. Therefore, it's very important protect your keeps while destroying your opponents'.
Healing Wells: If you have played Warcraft 3 then you are probably familiar with the Healing Wells, as they operate similarly to the Moon Wells of the Night Elves. They are on a timer, and restore Health and Mana when you click them. The Health and Mana provided by these Wells is not instant, as the restoration happens over time.
Spawn Point: Each team spawns behind their Core in the safety of their base. There is a magical shield barrier that prevents the enemy team from entering the spawn location, and this shield stops all spells and attacks. Spawn Points also have instant-mounting while you are inside, and you regenerate Health and Mana at a very fast rate while standing in the spawn.
Minions spawn down the lane like merry lemmings just waiting to die to a tower or hero. They are...
1. Soldiers: Dudes with swords, they lead the minion waves. Tend to have higher-than-average HP and a weak melee attack.
2. Archers: Dudes with, get this, bows. They're in the back of the wave, boasting lower HP but a decent ranged attack.
3. Mages: Wizards that coast in the middle of the pack. They deal ranged damage, but the more important thing is that they drop a green orb on death that will give you and nearby teammates a little bit of HP and mana back. There's only one per minion wave, so try to get that orb!
4. Catapults: Beefy siege units that assault bases with a long-range attack. They only spawn when the enemy's final fort in that lane has fallen, giving you incentive to keep that damn fort alive. They can easily outrange towers/forts/cores, meaning they will slowly whittle down a base unless stopped.
Each map also contains a scattering of Mercenary Camps in the "jungle" area between the lanes. These Merc Camps are neutral NPCs that can be defeated by players and hired to fight for the team that captures them. To capture a Mercenary Camp, the players must defeat them in combat (or bribe them) and then stand within a capture circle for a few seconds to gain control of the camp. It is possible for the enemy team to steal the camps if they push you out of the circle or kill you before you can claim it.
1. Siege Camps: These camps contain two giant siege monsters which hurl large rocks at their enemies. They have long range and can out-range towers and forts, which make them very advantageous for lane pushing. These are the easiest camps to defeat and can be solo'd by most heroes by level 10.
2. Bruiser Camps: Formerly known as the "Knight Camps," these are squads of 4 soldiers (3 melee and 1 spellcaster) who possess a lot of HP and decent damage damage. These camps are more difficult to take and typically require 1-2 people to capture.
3. Boss Camps: These camps generally require 3+ heroes to kill, depending on team levels and what heroes are present. These are high HP / high Damage monsters that can do devastating amounts of damage in a lane. They ignore minions and other mercenaries and will only target enemy structures. They cast a Pound skill that can be avoided by moving out of the telegraphed smash circle. They also cast a targeted root spell on occasion against enemy heroes, telegraphed by a smaller circle.
4. Map-Specific Creeps: From pirates on Blackheart Bay to the plant monsters in the Garden of Terror, these mercs will NOT join your side, but instead drop objective-relevant items that help you win the game like skulls, coins, and so on. Difficulty and rewards vary by map.
Map-specific strategies --
Sky Temple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuSPWCON6Po&list=PLDmbQ8drPb-XYA_EcBxCRNpdqXd5A2DIKTowers of Doom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUZSG1x4oo&index=2&list=PLDmbQ8drPb-XYA_EcBxCRNpdqXd5A2DIKDragon Shire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNQVXeyWNn8&list=PLDmbQ8drPb-XYA_EcBxCRNpdqXd5A2DIK&index=3Infernal shrines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGloUgEodvM&index=4&list=PLDmbQ8drPb-XYA_EcBxCRNpdqXd5A2DIKCursed Hollow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrzld5Ynx9Q&index=5&list=PLDmbQ8drPb-XYA_EcBxCRNpdqXd5A2DIK
So what else? There is no item shop. No in-game gold. No items to be bought. No shoes or rods of whatever. "Blasphemy!" you might say, but Heroes is feeling pretty heretical. Instead of items, you get talents roughly every 3-4 levels. These are anywhere from 2-5 choices that change how your character functions. It might be "killing minions gives you more damage" or "your auto-attacks now slow enemies." At level 10 you unlock your Heroic Ability (aka your ult), and even that has choices! Every character has two heroic abilities, so pick the one most suited for the current game.
If you have played other MOBAs and are accustomed to buying boots, this game doesn't have them. Instead it has Mounts (default Z key). Attacking or taking damage dismounts you, and re-mounting does have a brief cooldown. Not all characters can mount up, but instead have mobility skills that in most cases let them get to an area REALLY FAST but has a much longer cooldown.
As you play games in Heroes, you will level up two different things: your Player Level and a Hero Level. Experience you earn from playing game is applied to both kinds of levels. There are also three kinds of XP boosts one can get: playing with people on your friends list, Holiday bonuses that occur throughout the year, and Stimpacks which are boosts you buy from the shop. Also, there's a cap on experience gained from bot matches: roughly 2.25 Million experience a day.
Player Level is just an account rank. You get various features and goodies unlocked as you play. These are as follows:
- Level2: 1,000 Gold
- Level 4: 1,000 Gold
- Level 5: Unlocks an additional slot in the free hero rotation
- Level 6: Unlocks Daily Quests
- Level 7: Unlocks an additional slot in the free hero rotation
- Levels 8: 2,000 Gold
- Level 10: A Seven-Day Stim Pack (+100% XP and Gold from games); 2,000 Gold
- Level 12: Unlocks an additional slot in the free hero rotation
- Level 15: Unlocks an additional slot in the free hero rotation
- Level 20: 2,000 Gold
- Level 25: 2,000 Gold
- Level 30: 2,000 Gold
- Level 35: 2,000 Gold
- Level 40: 2,000 Gold
Daily Quests are small tasks the game gives you each day, and upon completion you get 200-800 gold (depending on the quest) for your effort (as an aside, you also get 30 gold for each win, and 20 for each loss). There are currently 4 categories of Daily Quests: play 2 games with a specific franchise hero, play 3 games as a specific role, win 3 games, and play 8 games in any mode. Note that the Retro and Overwatch universes are currently not used for the franchise daily quests.
Hero Level is a series of unlocks for specific heroes. Each hero has their own level, and playing games with them will increase their level (alongside your player level). Here are hero unlocks:
- Level 5: 500 Gold
- Level 6: Hero Portrait; Mount Tint #1
- Level 7: Hero Tint #1
- Level 8: Hero Tint #2
- Level 9: Hero Master Portrait; Mount Tint #2; 750 Gold
- Level 10: Allows purchase of Master Skin (10,000 gold)
- Level 15: 1,000 Gold
- Level 20: 2,000 Gold
To unlock Ranked Modes, you must own at least 14 heroes that are level five or higher. Free rotation heroes count towards this total so long as they meet this level requirement.
Recruit-a-Friend
Blizzard introduced the RAF program in their December update. With this program veteran players will earn rewards for recruiting new members. New members also get bonuses. It's a win-win for everyone!
Veteran RAF rewards:
- A Portrait when 1 friend reaches account level 10
- Vulture Mount when 4 friends reach account level 10
Recruit RAF rewards:
- A 5-day stimpack
- Jim Raynor as a free hero at account level 1
- Sylvanas as a free hero upon reaching account level 10
- A Portrait when reaching account level 10
What are some good newbie heroes?
Assassin: Raynor, Warrior: Muradin, Support: Li Li, and Specialist: Nazeebo. Avoid Abathur,
(Cho'gall, Rexxar, Murky, and the Lost Vikings as they have very atypical designs that are best played when you have more experience with the game.)
What's the best way to get experience?
Quick Match. Practice has an experience penalty, and cooperative games are (on average) shorter than Quick Match games. This means you spend more time in queues when doing co-op whereas QM you are in the game earning XP (it's time-based for xp earned per game). There's also the 50,000 xp win bonus you get from QM that you can't from co-op. Hero and Team League are probably worse xp because you have to spend time picking heroes. The only reason to play co-op is because you just can't win in QM for a daily.
What is the fastest way to get gold?
There is none. First, do the tutorials. They don't net you a ton of gold, but it's a decent amount and worth spending ~30-45 minutes to get. From there, the least slow way is to do your daily quest (the game saves up to three quests so you can miss a day or two) and then play with friends on heroes you have not gotten to level five or nine with yet. Start with heroes you don't own yet, and then switch to owned heroes if you manage to get all 10 free rotation heroes to level 5 or 9 within a week. That right there is about 5000 gold a week for the next month or so, not counting gold from account levels and games played. Once you hit 40 and have all heroes to level nine you can then do dailies (about 250 gold a day) and grind heroes to 15 and 20 for more gold, but the latter is a significantly longer process than getting a hero to level five or nine.
Do not buy stimpacks. They are not worth the money unless you can play around 10+ games a day for a month straight. The seven-day stimpacks are even worse.
Also, each week a hero is on sale for 25%-50% off real-world money prices, so that's another option if you're willing to lay down hard cash on the game.
When is the next patch?
Patches have been on a fairly consistent seven-week cycle since launch. Basically a patch will go up on PTR for a week, then it goes live with a new hero. Three weeks later, the second hero in that patch is released but there are no changes barring minor bugfixes or something. Then three weeks after that the next patch goes up on PTR, and the cycle begins anews.
How does the new hero pricing model work?
All new heroes are released at a starting cost of 15k. This price will be in place for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, the price drops to 10k. Beyond that, there is no set rule or guideline for when a hero will further drop in price. Blizzard has occasionally gone through and updated hero pricing on multiple heroes at once, (i.e. when they made Li Li a 2k hero and Arthas a 7k hero), but there's no hard rule for when older heroes get price drops.
Cross Promotional stuff?
World of Warcraft
WoW Character Level 100: Wolf Mount (HotS)
HotS Account Level 20: Grave Golem Pet (WoW)
Legion Deluxe Edition: Felstalker Mount (HotS)
Diablo 3
Seasonal Character 70: Malthael's Phantom Mount (HotS)
HotS Account Level 12: Pennant and Player Border (D3)
Starcraft 2
Buy Legacy of the Void (any version): Unlock Artanis (HotS)
Buy Legacy of the Void Collector's Edition: Void Seeker Mount (HotS)
Hearthstone
Win 100 Games: Hearthstone Card Mount (HotS)
HotS Account Level 12: HotS Themed Card Back (HS)
Overwatch
Buy Overwatch Origins OR Collector's Edition: Unlock Tracer (HotS)
How do I play with all of you fine people?
Type "/join heroes of the wang" in game to join our PA chat channel. Great for finding games! Also, check out the Battle Tag list
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ecv0bT9DEo milk ducks on
0
Posts
I've never understood uninstalling a game that you could likely come back to at some point, though.
XBL: InvaderJims
Bnet: Pudgestomp#11153
Or any game for that matter with hard drive sizes these days. I have games i installed years ago and not played since because why not.
If anything Valeera has been a pretty muted release. There's certainly been less drama than Zarya or Tracer or even Ragnaros (who is now incredibly contested).
Switched to Johanna and laughed as Valeera pulls of a full combo on me and I still have over half health. Welp, guess I'll keep clearing this minion wave.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Valeera only gets REALLY crazy at level 20 with Cold Blood. And at that point it's like, okay, just follow the normal Stealth rules: Never be off by yourself, ever. Because she can and will pop you with a Cold Blood Eviscerate.
But otherwise, stick tight with your team. Valeera can't engage if the whole team is bunched up.
She preys on punishing small mistakes, particularly in regards to being out of position, even if only by a little. I was playing Valeera in a game, we were kinda hovering near their towers trying to push in a bit. Someone on the enemy team has been hovering near their gate, going in and out and in and out, poking at us. I wait for them to pop out again. Stun as soon as they do, rest of my team collapses. Dead. They were only halfway outside their gate and we killed them. Small mistakes.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
I think it's more.psychological. Not having tje shortcut there to entice you back and knowing that if the urge came back it'd be more tedious that you'd have to reinstall, update, etc..
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
I had a game earlier this week where I was constantly getting DC'd any time a fight broke out. It was pretty frustrating. But that's like, one game out of hundreds, and since then I haven't noticed too much in terms of lag, so I can't say it's indicative of your experience.
This is pretty accurate. I quit LoL 20 or so times and always went back. Finally uninstalled it the last time (2 years ago) and haven't been back since.
Wooooo!!!!
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
Blizzard just knows that, in your hear, you are a filthy leaver and you belong with your dirty, rage monster kind. GO, YOU DON'T BELONG HERE
Varian showing up doesn't surprise me, he's very powerful. The taunt spec, however, does. I've never even tried it because of the overwhelming burst potential in his Colossus Smash build. I'll have to give it a whirl.
Then your Lunara is not engaging well. Get Natural Perspective at lvl 1. Hit Valeera once. Game. Use the slow to get distance or to chase. If alone in the early game, stick near safety. In fights you should be getting help if she jumps you and you should be in standard Lunara position to hit people while staying safe at range.
Valeera can't cleanse the poison till 10 (and that involves giving up her biggest ass-saving tool) and she can't get away with poison on. Can't vanish. The minute the 1 second is over, she pops out and vanish is on cooldown. Without that her survivability goes way down. Valeera depends on the dash, vanish and run to survive.
Valeera can hope to burst her down late game but that's assuming you catch her alone. Which, again, bad positioning.
The stun out of stealth, on the other hand, can feel brutally unfair. Nova's slow was bad enough.
*shrug*
I dunno if it's this patch or what, but lately I've been having a really hard fucking time seeing the stealth shimmer. I swear it wasn't always like this.
Apparently that's because my graphics settings are on high? Like, it's easier to see the stealth shimmer on low??
Which is completely counter-intuitive and doesn't make any fucking sense? But okay, I guess.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
Never had that much trouble before. Or I didn't think I did at least.
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
Had to get a pic of this. Thanks to a Rexxar and Murky got 180 bonus damage. I was autoing for over 1,000. But we still lost. My team was all over the place and I think Zul'jin just gave up.
I mean I wouldn't be surprised to see the Stun go down to 1.25.
I have NO idea why Valeera gets a 1.5 second stun while everyone else has 1.25. That's insane to me.
I'd be totally okay with that, because damn.
Edit: And then hopefully they could maybe balance that out with... I dunno, a small autoattack buff? Doesn't seem unreasonable, her autos are pretty weak. They're fast! But they're weak.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
HAHA THAT WAS AMAZING
Switch: 6589-6405-3399
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
Block, Deathlord, Immortal Coil, Army of the Dead, Frigid Winds, Embrace Death, Legion of Northrend
Basically a tanky build, especially when I was the only tank. The Q is for healing until I get Immortal Coil, then it's an attack+heal. W is deceptively slow and has to be aimed ahead of where I want it to go. Missed that ability a lot. E is great for wave clear, but man does it drain mana. I think this is the first hero where I kept having to hearth to top off low mana. I've adjusted by not using E as often.
His ultimate is strange. So I activate it, then activate it again to eat the ghoul guys, right? Never was too sure if I was doing it right. Thinking about swapping over to the other ult instead. Also, his D seems a bit odd. Is it just an extra strong hit on cooldown? Any pro-tips?
Oh, and a quick side question. Since Arthas has 15 armor base, does that mean he takes 90% less damage from a basic attack when Block is active? If so, that's pretty nuts.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
His trait is also mana Regen. Keep in mind you can activate it while mounted and not dismount.
Sindragosa is way better than army right now. I'll have to check his stuff tomorrow to see what I usually take on him for talents. However I'm sure someone else will jump in.
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
We won every single game, even ones we thought we were going to lose!!
I'm starting up chromie. She's a lot more fun than I remember. Deleting fools like it ain't no thang.
Question: how many seconds do I wait after casting chrono loop to cast dragon breath? I've been counting two but I think I'm just barely hitting it too early.
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
My standard build with him is all the Frostmourne talents plus Rune Tap and the damage at 4 on his freeze aura. Rune Tap is good for sustain, but it won't keep you up during a fight that well. If you do go with the always heal on Q at 7, take the reduced CD at 4 too. I take Sindragosa at 10 and usually Death's Advance (the move speed one) at 20, but the others are fine too. With the way damage stacks and his 15 physical Armor, you get less benefit from block than normal, which is why I usually take the Frostmourne quest talent at 1. The extra mana really does come in handy, especially once you hit the 16 upgrade, you get back 140 mana every 10 seconds, which is huge.
But I'm not really great with Arthas? So maybe I'm not the best one to listen to here.
EDIT: and remember, Sindragosa shuts off buildings for 20 seconds. You can get an entire keep complex if you stand in front of it and aim at the middle of the gate.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
Titan's Creed: Jump first, don't ask questions, punch everything
Launch when the clock hits 6.
I've been completely dominating with Gul'dan today but yeah maybe I'll sacrifice my winning streak and play a chromie game... Oh right, except valeera. Forget it. Gul'dan can defend himself with his W, can decloak them almost at will, and can use his circle to escape if things go too badly.... Chromie can ... die.
Switch: 6589-6405-3399
Sindragosa is generally the better ult. And usually you want to take the CC/damage/mitigation talents.
But I'm guessing Dover pretty much exclusively plays QM, in which case you are probably better off building Arthas for self-sustain since you will likely not have a support available and you will be forced into a main tank role. Without a support, there's no reason to take mitigation talents (some of which compete for healing talents). And without sustain you won't last long enough for things like double-root or E-root to provide value.
Recommending talents on off-tank/bruiser warriors is always a little tougher in a QM context than in a drafted one. At any rate, per usual you are much better off just trying out the different talents and focusing on mastering the core play, such as being able to use E without running out of mana, or being able to time your D so that you get extra auto-attacks in, or being able to land your W in the first place.
As others have said, Sindragosa is generally the better heroic, as it allows your team to push a fort/keep area relatively safely (particularly helpful on maps with a fort-pushing boss type mechanic, since it makes you Sylvanas-lite) and has a better chance of turning a team fight around. That said, Army of the Dead is not bad, and it can be useful if the flow of the game has you tanking most of the damage for your team in team fights.
I found Chromie actually pretty good in a Valeera meta. With the lvl 1 reveal talent and buffs to w, even if she jumps me i usually trade 1 for 1 by either chunking her outright or revealing her and leaving her at low hp that any random teammate can kill her just by looking at her. A bunch of times i actually kill her faster than she kills me, valeera has no hp either.
I'm 4/0 with Chromie in qm since trying her out and i hadn't played her since her release
Awright, so here's how I build Arthas: http://www.heroesfire.com/hots/talent-calculator/arthas#l0JG
There's three blank rows, I'll touch on that in a sec.
At level 1 it's between Block and Eternal Hunger. I really, really like Eternal Hunger, it just gives you more burst and really really helps alleviate mana issues. Block if you need it.
Level 4 we grab Biting Cold. Best talent on this tier by far, it significantly increases his E damage. This improves his waveclear, it improves his teamfight, it's all around solid. At level 20 with Biting Cold, E will tick for 148 damage per second. That's insanely good. You can grab Deathlord if you want, it synergizes with the other Deathcoil talents, but I feel like Biting Cold is just supremely good.
Level 7 is Immortal Coil. The other two choices are good, but Immortal Coil gives you a nice burst heal, which is something Arthas kinda lacks otherwise. Rune Tap is a consideration as well, it's also quite good.
10 is Sindy. Army is just kind of anemic healing right now, I feel like you only take Army if you 200% absolutely need it. But otherwise, Sindy gives you an incredibly strong initiation tool. And it doubles as a siege tool. Protip: Best used when a teamfight is happening under Towers/Forts so that you double dip on its effectiveness. Yknow, like Hyperion.
Okay! Time for options. Level 13 all comes down to what you need. Enemy team has strong AAers? Frigid Winds. Do you want extra range on your W and the ability to root multiple targets (and also just plain easier usage)? Trail of Frost. Do you want a strong single target slow on your D? Frost Strike. You honestly can't really go wrong here. HOWEVER, your choice at 13 influences your choice at 16 to an extent.
So, 16s. Again, these are all really strong talents, it's hard to go wrong, so you simply pick what you need. Remorseless Winter gives you an incredibly powerful CC tool for your E, it is the premier anti-melee talent. Chances are if you took Frigid Winds, you're gonna take Remorseless Winter. Frostmourne Feeds empowers your next two autos instead of one, so twice the burst, twice the mana return, and twice the duration of Frost Strike (and if you took Frost Strike, you're taking this). Embrace Death gives you even more damage on Death Coil, which converts into more healing. This has obvious synergies with Deathlord, so if you're planning on taking Embrace Death, take Deathlord over Biting Cold. If you took Trail of Frost at 13, congratulations, you get to pick anything here!
Now, for level 20. Death's Advance is your go-to here. Permanent 10% movespeed is very, very good. It lets you engage and initiate much more easily. If you really really need better CC, then grab Absolute Zero. That turns Sindy into a teamfight-winning Ult, effectively CCing the enemy team for 5.5 seconds (Root for 2, Slow for 3.5). It's very strong. I don't really recommend Anti-Magic Shell unless you're literally up against all Mages with choreographed skillshots. It's hard to make use of otherwise, I pretty much never take it. The other two options are simply that much better.
General Arthas tips: Trait restores mana, you can pretty much use it on cooldown, especially in lanes against minions. Be wary of when to deactivate your E, it doesn't always need to be up. You do need to lead W, yes. Aim where they will be, not where they are. If you're taking Trail of Frost, ALWAYS aim as far away from them as possible, since the trail roots them, not just the end of it. But make sure your targets are in between you and the end of the skillshot.
In the laning phase, poke out enemy Heroes with Death Coil. You can easily win trades by just popping Death Coil on cooldown and forcing them out, similar to a Thrall spamming Chain Lightning. Use E for waveclear but turn it off a bit early to conserve mana. Never use W on minions, it's not worth it (it's barely the same as one tick of E). Once you have Immortal Coil, always attack with Q since it'll give you bonus healing. Wait until you're a bit injured first to use it. Hold onto Q if you know someone is going to flee, it'll snipe them and get you that kill.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582