Despite his prominent role in StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, Artanis didn’t live up to expectations when he came over to the Nexus. Numerous pros have attempted to find his place in tournaments, but his effectiveness and success showed no signs of progress for a long time. Even after the rework, Artanis left much to be desired, especially when other tanks and melee assassins do a better job of what he does. Artanis didn’t quite realize his identity of being between a warrior and an assassin, often getting picked off in solo lanes without putting up much of a fight. The same case applied to the early stages of HGC KR.

At a certain point, players started to view Artanis in a different light as the bottom-performing HGC team, Raven, won two games with the Protoss hierarch. When MVP Black played Artanis, viewers mostly agreed that any other suitable hero for the spot may have done the job as well. However, it was Raven’s H82 who highlighted the clear advantages and strengths Artanis brings to the comp by relentlessly pursuing and putting down the enemy in retreat. Drawing from his wide hero pool, L5 Jeongha also chose Artanis to rack up some victories.

Things were looking grim for L5 as MVP Black started threatening the Keep with their own Zerg Swarm. Black bombarded L5 using long range attacks from Chromie and Raynor. With Noblesse’s Avatar down, Jeongha on Artanis aggressively engaged to break the enemy formation by isolating Black’s assassins from the rest of the team. This precise maneuver allowed L5 to decisively win the teamfight and run across the map to Black’s Core.

Artanis’ obscure identity as neither a warrior nor an assassin ended up making him viable through compositions. On Day 2 Week 4 of HGC KR, MVP Miracle drafted a triple tank comp, which has dwindled in popularity in recently. Although Artanis is technically classified as a warrior, he can be specced to dish out damage comparable to assassins. While Muradin and Dehaka took on the blunt of tanking, Dami on Artanis put everything on his psi-blades. Miracle’s comp shined in Cursed Hollows, where skirmishes in cramped spaces frequently take place. Purifier Beam proved to be a thorn in the enemy’s side and dealt a massive amount of damage in contesting for the Boss. Dami’s Artanis was a departure from the traditional talent choices of primarily focusing on survivability and Warp Prism.

Through the first half of HGC KR Phase One, players have given life to various heroes through experimenting with talents and comps, adding more to their viable hero pools. Artanis inspires other heroes to overcome past preconceptions and mockery, serving as a testament to the potential of the future of the Heroes eSports scene.