Hello, I'm Ezadox, the Roam player for Phoenix Reign. This is a guide for how I play
Ardan, including some "pro-tips" for how you can improve your play.
I enjoy playing Ardan because he can fit any scenario you are put in if you adjust your play accordingly, and has good synergy with nearly every hero.
I hope you enjoy! Contact me on
Twitter if you have any questions.
(Perk)
Ardan’s perk, Julia’s Gift, is incredibly important to his kit, as it makes him naturally tanky and allows him to stay alive incredibly long while at low health. Since it is not something that you must maintain or actively utilize like Taka’s (perk), it is often forgotten about but still provides immense support for
Ardan behind the scenes. Because
Ardan recovers more health based on his own missing health, he has immense survivability at low health. In addition,
Ardan is much more equipped to survive DOT effects like Scarf’s burning or small ticks of damage like Skye’s
Forward Barrage. However, do NOT think that his perk gives him infinite survivability, as there is a limit to how much
Ardan can regenerate but it does give him a bit of an extra safety cushion.
(A ability)
One of the most versatile abilities,
Vanguard can be self-casted or used on allies, giving the targeted ally a burst of movement speed, a barrier that scales based on Ardan’s bonus health in addition to slowing surrounding enemies. With so much packed into one ability,
Vanguard has a wide variety of potential uses as a result. Most often, it will be used to either give a move speed boost to yourself or a teammate, or to give a barrier to an ally that is being damaged heavily by the enemy. In the early-to mid game, you will likely have no cooldown reduction items and
Vanguard will always be on a 13 second cooldown. In most team fights you will only be able to use
Vanguard once or twice, so it is extremely important to be strategic in the use. When playing from behind or with ranged carries, use
Vanguard to create distance between your allies and the enemy and give them an extra barrier to soak up incoming damage. When playing with melee caries and you are ahead or trying to engage (a dive composition), use
Vanguard when your carry is close to the enemy to slow them, helping your carry to stay close to the enemy.
Vanguard is stronger when used on allies rather than yourself, so when possible avoid using it on yourself and try and make a play where
Vanguard will be used to maximum effect. When trying to escape, it is often better to try and vanguard to an ally at maximum range than using
Vanguard on yourself for a small speed boost. Only use
Vanguard on yourself when there are no allies in range, when you are chasing an enemy and you can slow them by casting it on yourself, or when you must tank incoming damage (like from a
Kestrel). Otherwise, it is likely more efficient to use it on your allies.
Avoid using
Vanguard unnecessarily, especially in the early game. The barrier and move speed bonus can swing fights around and if
Vanguard is misused or unavailable it could spell disaster for your team. For example, it is okay to use
Vanguard to help clear the back minions on the first rotation, but you should avoid using it when close to the shop since you might be fighting right away and want
Vanguard to be available.
The barrier given by
Vanguard scales with Ardan’s bonus health, so it is an extremely good idea to build health items on him like
Crucible,
Shiversteel, Wartreads and more.
(B Ability)
Ardan’s
Blood for Blood is his main source of damage. Starting at a large cooldown of 20 seconds, the cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds each basic attack. This means that the more
Ardan basic attacks, the more he will be able to use this ability and the more damage you will be outputting. In team fights, use this ability on the target your team is focusing, which is usually the squishiest member. While continually basic attacking and using
Blood for Blood, you will be outputting an immense amount of damage that the enemy cannot ignore. In a non coordinated team, using
Blood for Blood on an enemy will often signal to your allies the enemy that you want to focus, allowing you to have a little more control over the team fight. In the laning phase, use
Blood for Blood to poke the enemy laner and on enemy supports to keep control of lane bushes. While doing a seemingly little amount of damage at first, eventually the poke will add up and you will have a significant damage advantage.
When using
Blood for Blood,
Ardan dashes to his enemy and applies on hit effects to the enemy. Use this dash to apply effects like
Shiversteel and to get close to enemies to use
Atlas Pauldron. In addition,
Blood for Blood is a basic attack reset. To maximize damage, basic attack first, use blood for blood then basic attack immediately after.
Upgrade Priority:
In order to achieve a maximum effectiveness in the early-mid game, take the overdrive on
Blood for Blood first. This will allow you to have much more damage early on, and begin taking control of the game.
(Ultimate)
Similar to
Vanguard,
Gauntlet has a variety of uses depending on the situation. When activated,
Ardan jumps in a target direction and “throws down a gauntlet” in an area around him with walls that stun enemies attempting to pass through it. Most often,
Gauntlet will be used to imitate a team fight, preferably trapping enemy heroes inside with your range teammate outside (if there is one). However, since strategy varies with every team comp, the way you place/use your gauntlet will always change. If you have a composition that needs help initiating and wants to dive onto the enemy team, try and use gauntlet to either trap enemies inside or stun them on the wall of the gauntlet, making it easy for your team to catch up and focus them down. If the enemy team has a composition that wants to dive onto your carries, use the gauntlet as a separation tool to create space between your allies and the enemy team, still trying to stun them on the wall in the process. Additionally, if you do not want to fight at all, the gauntlet can be used to block the enemy from initiating and give time for your allies to escape. The gauntlet walls disappear when
Ardan leaves, so stand on the edge until your teammates are at a safe distance and then leave yourself.
What to avoid doing:
Avoid using
Gauntlet when your teammates are out of range to make use of the gauntlet. If you land a perfect stun on someone but there’s no teammates near by to capitalize on the play, it is now useless. Avoid using gauntlet on heroes that can easily escape it.
Blackfeather,
Phinn or
Lyra can either use their ultimates or perks to escape the gauntlet without being stunned. Similarly, enemies can easily use reflex block to escape the gauntlet walls. If you know that the enemy has reflex available, try and trap a teammate inside with him to get more value as the enemy carry will most likely reflex out of it. Many players like to use gauntlet to jump over walls when last alive to avoid death. Unless you know that you will not be fighting until gauntlet cooldown is available again, I consider using it to only save yourself to be a waste.
Jungle heroes to pair Ardan with:
Ardan is extremely good to pair with heroes that need help engaging or sticking to the enemy in order to keep dealing damage. However, he is also good to pair with squishy carries that need to create distance between themselves and the enemy, making
Ardan an extremely versatile support.
Taka and
Alpha both need to be aggressive and to stick onto the enemy. Ardan’s slow and move speed boost help immensely with that in the early game.
Ardan can actually vanguard
Alpha during her reboot, making it much harder for the enemies to kill her and ensures that
Alpha gets a second life.
Ardan is extremely good with a jungle
Skye since she is super squishy and needs good positioning to land her
Forward Barrage and easily chase down or kite her enemies.
Krul and
Glaive both have a limited number of gap closing abilities and need to stay very close to the enemy. The move speed boost and additional slows given by
Vanguard are extremely helpful.
Lane heroes to pair
Ardan with:
Like I said before,
Ardan is extremely good at protecting squishy carries and creating separation between them and the enemies. Heroes like
Ringo and
Celeste especially benefit from this as they have no real escape ability, so they rely on Ardan’s vanguard to get them to safety. Additionally, they can sit outside of the
Gauntlet and do damage from a safe distance to enemies trapped inside. Besides being Ardan’s son,
Vox, especially CP, has extremely good synergy with
Ardan. Since Ardan’s gauntlet naturally clumps people together, CP
Vox can get resonance bounces onto enemies very easily.
Vox also excels at kiting, and
Vanguard can give him the extra move speed he needs to get out of a dicey situation.
Ardan’s early game is not inherently strong, so the level of aggression you exhibit should be dependent on your team composition. If you have heroes that are strong in the early game like
Kestrel,
Skye or
Taka, you can be aggressive and try invading the enemy jungle. Vision is less important in the early game, so only buy a few mines to place in critical positions like the tri-bush in order to conserve gold. Still carry around flares, but your goal should be to maximize gold intake in order to get
Fountain of Renewal as fast as possible. If you get
Fountain of Renewal faster than your opponent, you will have a significant advantage. A fast Fountain of Renewal would be around 4:30 or before and a late Fountain would be anywhere after 6 minutes. However, be careful with a lack of vision in jungle as it could lead to the enemy catching you off-guard.
Ardan can be strong throughout the game, depending on how you play him. How you play the mid-game will be entirely dependent on how well the early game went, and what point of the game your team composition spikes in power. If you had a strong early game, consider using the mid game to begin to push objectives like Gold Mine and turrets. Be sure to keep pressure on the enemy back camps, as stealing them both gives gold to your team and denies gold that the enemy can get, putting them even farther behind and not letting them scale into the late game. If the early game was rough, or your team composition is weak in the mid-game and come alive once more items are purchased like something with a CP
Vox, consider playing passively in the mid-game. To stay safe in the jungle and avoid lane ganks, prioritize vision. Vision will let you know where the enemy is and what they are doing at all times, allowing you to react accordingly. Always try to keep vision in important places like the Kraken pit, tri-bush and lane bushes. Avoid overextending in team fights.
Ardan must frontline for his team, but being out of position and taking too much damage makes him useless to help his team later in the fight and may force you to use
Fountain of Renewal earlier than you wanted to.
In the late game, usually the laner will be primary carry for your team. Most of your resources should go to him, and your primary objective should be protecting him at all costs. Use Vanguard to give your allies additional movement speed and use Gauntlet to create space between your carries and the enemy. Since by now you (should) have many activatable items, you need to be careful about timing them correctly. If the enemy team has a major Crowd Control ability (CC), it could be the major determinant of the success of the fight depending on if you block it or not. For example,
Catherine’s
Blast Tremor or
Phinn’s
Forced Accord can be detrimental to your team if not blocked. In order to have a better chance of blocking it, focus your attention on the hero with the major CC ability and wait for the animation. When the animation begins or you hear the sound for it, activate
Crucible. This is extremely hard to master, so do not be discouraged if you do not get it at first. If this is too difficult, focus solely on activating Fountain of Renewal at the right time. As always, make sure you have adequate vision in important areas, as getting caught out in the late game can mean losing the game. Make sure you always have vision on Kraken and keep a mental note on when it should be spawning.
Afterburn
Thank you for reading! I hope you found it useful, send any questions you may have to 
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