Are Arc Warden and Underlord ready for CM?
With only two weeks left until the release of the new patch, it might be a good time to start a discussion on the potential changes to the game. It is almost certain right now that apart from the release of the new hero, the changes to the existing ones will be extensive. Some of these changes might include the introduction of Arc Warden and Underlord to the competitive scene.
Both of these heroes have been in the game for a decent amount of time. Underlord has been released slightly over three months ago, while Arc Warden has been in the game for almost a year. During this period, both heroes have received a multitude of changes, and they’re reasonably powerful in pub games.
This, however, does not indicate their fitness for the competitive scene — many heroes, such as 
Io are lackluster in pubs, but are a major force to be reckoned with in the hands of experienced professional players. Hence, it might be the case that the full potential of these heroes has not been fully realised yet.
Looking at their performance statistics and recent balance changes might be a good first step towards understanding the current power level of the heroes, while a discussion on their potential impact on the meta might provide further insight on how fit these heroes truly are for a competitive scene.
Arc Warden
Arc Warden’s win rate in pub games has been relatively low ever since his introduction. The hero is undeniably complex, with a lot of active abilities and micro-control requirements. Despite being relatively tanky in the beginning of the game, he quickly falls off in terms of HP and, perhaps more importantly, in terms of armor.
His agility growth (1.8) is among the lowest, especially for an agility hero, primarily to compensate for the very strong illusion he can spawn. His kit also doesn’t fit particularly well with the typical right-clicking carry role, instead concentrating on a very strong laning presence and situationally powerful survivability buffs.
What the hero does offer, however, is very high flash-farming capabilities, coming not only from the regular 
Hand of Midas build, but also from the strength and low cooldown of the 
Tempest Double.
The recent changes to the hero have made the cheesy 
Divine Rapier rush strategy impossible, since the illusion no longer benefits from the item, but they have also substantially buffed the availability of Arc Warden’s ultimate, as well as different aspects of his other abilities.
Overall, the hero can afford to use his abilities a lot more, with both the decrease in mana cost of the abilities and an increase in intelligence growth of the hero. Some of them have also become slightly more powerful, with a slow added to the 
Spark Wraith.
These changes have been heavily abused by the more experienced players ever since, with mid Arc Warden still being one of the strongest laners in the game:
Interestingly, it is not the 5k bracket where the hero is at his best. His highest win rate is in the 4-5k bracket. This trend is usually associated with heroes, who are very powerful in the right hands, but can be played around effectively, if the opposing team is capable of identifying the threat.
Moreover, the hero is not particularly exceptional in terms of global strategies. His days of being a split-pushing nuisance are gone, and while he retains some of his global presence capabilities, they are currently not overpowered. Given equal ground or even with Arc Warden being slightly ahead in farm, most other carries will be able to easily overpower his Tempest Double.
Overall, this makes for a fairly balanced hero, however it is unclear whether some alternative build or even an alternative role for the hero might be in development by professional theorycrafters. Multiple active utility items might be a way to go for the hero, opening up a lot of possibilities. A greedy support Arc Warden might also become a thing. But in his current shape and with our current knowledge of the hero, there should be no issues with his introduction to the competitive scene.
Underlord
Underlord has been in development for a very long time. The assets for the hero have been in the game since at least as early as 2012 and it is still unclear what took the hero so long to appear in our pubs. Regardless, Underlord is now a part of the active Dota roster, awaiting his transition to the competitive scene.
Second highest win rate in the 5k bracket is impressive, but it is the consistency of the hero across all brackets that stands out the most. It shows that the hero is not only good in well-coordinated teams, as we originally expected, but is also powerful on his own. His launch was among the most successful ones and three months after the hero still looks incredibly strong:
We have already covered the hero in one of our blog posts from the pub play persepctive. The general consensus was that the hero is best fit for the offlane, with a utility core build in mind.
Since then, the hero has received several small buffs and a substantial nerf to the early levels of the 
Atrophy Aura, making him a slightly easier target in the early game.
The hero’s basic active abilities are not particularly unique or interesting, however they synergise very well with each other. 
Firestorm can deal a surprising amount of damage, while 
Pit of Malice is a solid immobilizing spell.
Unlike regular disables, it does not prevent the hero from using spells or attacking, but against many melee core heroes, rooting them is all it takes to save your teammates. Moreover, the ability pierces spell immunity, further facilitating its teammate-saving properties. It also prevents caught heroes from blinking or phasing out, as well as providing true sight on them.
Finally, there is a massive, potentially game-changing ultimate. Even in uncoordinated pubs, without heroes who can complement it, it is already a rather powerful ability, which can save teammates and allow the team to respond to threats across the map.
Adding player-controlled units to the equation makes it even scarier. The combination of Tinker+Beastmaster is already quite popular and so is Io+any carry. These combinations make any area on the map a potential point of attack or initiation.
Previously, however, it was much harder to follow up on a successful gank — Tinker is not particularly strong at taking the objectives in a timely manner, while Io is relocated back to the original point, making it harder to continue the onslaught or at least leaving the core significantly more vulnerable.
Underlord solves both of these problems, since he usually relocates with several members of his team. This pushes the split-pushing strategy into a whole new area, where every positive lane momentum can be seen as an opportunity to take objectives. Moreover, it similarly allows the team to control the Roshan pit.
And as if this was not enough, the hero has an extra meta-defining ability— Atrophy Aura. This passive, when maxed out, provides a massive damage reduction, especially against some of the more popular stats-based cores.
Frequently it forces the enemy heroes to either suffer from inability to deal damage effectively for the entirety of the mid-game, or go for less efficient bonus damage builds. For strength heroes, it is less of an issue, but for any agility cores it can be a significant problem, since they typically rely on agility-based items for their DPS and even survivability through armor.
Given high winrate in pubs, where the potential of the hero is probably not fully utilized, it will probably be awhile until the hero is introduced into CM and even then some changes should be definitely expected. The hero does so much for the team’s global strategy, and, unlike Io, he is also rather powerful independently.
Hi mum
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third yay
for arc warden double dagon will always be default 2kMMR builld
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Nice one!
arc warden ready for cm? LMAO. op shit as fuck
Dirty arc warden picker right up there. SHAME SHAME SHAME --- SHAME SHAME SHAME
Imo Underlord still op.
although Arc Warden nearly balanced, he still can't be acceptable for premium tournament.
Not first
Not first either
hi, hope this patch buffs IO or ta
AW is not.
Главная крыса доты 2 ,это Ark Warden
Апаем ммр ,пока не занерфили
I think underlord is probably ready hes counterable even if people dont want to build or pick the heros that work well on it, arc warden in the hands of a great player can make it impossible for the other team. The heros i can think of that would counter arc are not all that meta (spectre comes to mind because she can always get to the real arc but when does she get any farm)
Underlord + Arc Warden + Tempest Double. Too much to handle for CM (Crystal Maiden).
IMO...
Probably before patch they will nerf underlord ult and/or first skill a bit to scale.
AW not soo OP as before but still probably gets a little bit of nerf i believe.
The sooner they are released into CM the faster they can be balanced for competitive play.
aw gonna get reworked
pitlord gonna get nerfs for sure
nerf underlord, and he'll be fine, probably still op tho. nerf flux slow but make it stack, and arc warden will be ready for captain.
Big nerfs for both, then added to captains mode.
If they aren't getting picked, maybe they'll get a little buff.
does cm mean competetive matchmaking?
^^ Yea
when is the patch coming out??
and what about the jugg arcane
Not Underlord I think. Arc has been in the game for a while and still not in cm.
Dotabuff forumers where are you?
arc warden is fine. underlord is still broken lol
Dont nerf my fckin arc warden!!!rofl
no cm means captains mode
Underworld is way too strong for a pro team. Not sure about Arc Warden, I stopped playing him after the initial set of nerfs (he was so OP initially).
I hope razor, shaker and necro get buffed in this new patch!
"Spark Wraith can be disjointed" and we gucci. Also, buff Razor's Aghanim's Scepter please, froggy
AW is too OP for CM. Srsly.
"Moreover, the hero is not particularly exceptional in terms of global strategies." You have not seen Alchemist - Arc Warden (global) combo :D
I played support Arc Warden when the duration of Tempest Double was 20 sec. (easy 100 gold for every enemy ward with Spark Wraith :D ) www.dotabuff.com/matches/2178545624 Now you can't push one lane safely with only 12 sec. c: (only 1 wave u_u )
ez boosting AW
what is CM?
AW is like brood in a sense that you have a bad matchup the warden train starts going and it doesnt stop
give cm movepseed and buff pugna as always. thanks :P
@diox , Captain's Mode
Arc Warden is an OP hero but at the same time it's not. All his skills require the player's skill to use it effectively, not like other heroes can spam it everywhere everytime. I would say the hero is balanced and imbalanced at the same time. The hero can solo kill most of other hero when reaching 6. But if the enemy have a better start, arc warden is pretty useless and ez to be killed.
Давно пора уже. Хули они просто так сидят в таверне, это уже какое-то безобразие. Пусть, конечно, ещё въебут обратно Source 1, Формула получения золота и опыта - это самый огромно-большой невероятно-сташный сон IceFrog'a, ему приснилось что будет лучше, а он её ввёл в Доту по-настоящему. Обидно :( Valva give Source 1 & Give Diretide & Give All Heroes in Captains Mode & Give Servers on Russia Federation & Thanks!
I liked the post, but calling AW's clone an illusion is a bit triggering for me nad could affect the post's credibility at the eyes of an experienced player, it has almost nothing in common with an illusion right now. It can use abilities and items, it doesn't receive amp damage neither has his damage reduced and gives gold and exp when it dies. It is even distinguishable from the warden itself (Only TB and DS's illusions are recognizable).
Apart from that, i wouldn't be very surprised if both are added to cm with some tweaks (AW) and nerfs (Underlord).
Pit Lord's winrate is kind of unbelieveable, I'm actually baffled.
Please no
What arc really needs (since he is a hard carry) is passive skill reworks
probably remove magnetic field and increase his agillity gain
What.....
"It is not the 5k+ bracket where this hero is the best" right after showing his highest winrate is in 5k+ pubs. Also this guy talks like he has never played AW. Quality
arc should be nerf -_-
DADONG!
TEMPEST DOUBLE IS NOT AN ILLUSION