Top 7 Premier Spells from Artifact at PAX

Artifact’s first public showing took place at PAX West in Seattle, WA (Aug 31 – Sept 3) where the game was playable by attendees. For those who couldn’t attend the event, Play Artifact broadcasted the game live on Steam.TV

A lot of new cards were revealed during the event and fans got to see their favorite heroes in action for the first time.

Here are the top 7 premier cards that we liked the most at PAX and their animations- each premier card featured in the article is a spell attached to a specific hero, most of them resembling their Dota 2 ultimate.

1. Zeus’s Thunder God’s Wrath

Thunder God’s Wrath is a blue spell card attached to Zeus. For 7 mana, Zeus will deal 4 piercing damage to each enemy hero in every lane. Zeus also has a reactive ability that resembles Dota’s Static Field, which deals 1 piercing damage to Zeus’s enemy neighbors whenever you cast a blue spell.

2. Phantom Assassin’s Coup de Grace

Phantom Assassin’s premier card, Coup de Grace, instantly takes down a hero and discards a random card from your hand. And if this brutal spell wasn’t enough, Phantom Assassin’s continuous effect, Efficient Killer deals 4 additional combat damage to heroes when attacking.

3. Legion Commander’s Duel

Legion’s Commander’s Dota ultimate, Duel, locks an enemy hero in combat with Legion Commander and neither hero can use items or abilities. The same goes with her red spell in Artifact. This gives Legion Commander a huge advantage since she has one of the highest base stats (6 attack) and her passive ability, Moment of Courage, deals 2 damage back to units that deal combat damage to her.

4. Earthshaker’s Echo Slam

Grouping up might be a good strategy, but not against the Earthshaker. The more allies around you, the harder his mighty Echo Slam will hit. It costs 7 mana, just like Zeus’s spell, but while Thunder God’s Wrath hits only heroes, Echo Slam damages the creeps as well, being able to easily clear the board.

5. Luna’s Eclipse

Luna’s premier card Eclipse deals 3 piercing damage to a random enemy for each charge, resembling Luna’s Dota ultimate. Each turn Luna is present on the board, Eclipse gets an extra charge. This spell can also be improved by Luna’s card ability Lucent Beam, which deals 1 piercing damage to a random enemy and adds a charge to each Eclipse card in your hand or deck.

6. Chen’s Hand of God

Chen’s premier card, Hand of God, fully heals each ally while also giving them damage immunity for that round. While in Dota Chen’s ultimate heals all allied heroes on the map, in Artifact Hand of God it’s a single lane spell and it affects only the lane it’s used in.

7. Axe’s Berserker’s Call

Axe’s premier card, Berserker’s Call is a powerful spell that resembles its Dota version, but instead of making neighboring units battle him, Axe chooses an allied hero and fights its enemies. While Axe doesn’t have an ability like all the other heroes, his base stats are pretty strong (7 attack and 11 life) which compensates for its lack of ability.

What heroes and premier cards are you excited about and what do you hope to see in the future? What other Dota spells and abilities seem the most interesting to translate into Artifact cards?

Credits to ArtifactBuff.com for the card pictures.