Ata — Patch 1.63 Verdict
[Web: A | Web: A | Web: C] Ranked A on zathong.com. Ranked A on metatierlist.com. Ranked C on commonsensegamer.com.
Ata — Warrior Guide
Key Insights
- Passive stores incoming damage and refunds 50% of it on your next hero hit, but decays at 3% per second after 7 seconds.
- Wavewalking's second hop can be re-angled mid-air and lands a 0.5-second stun, giving you a mid-dash redirect to follow a flashed target.
- Status immunity during Wavewalking's cast lets you walk through roots and grabs by timing Q into the enemy's animation.
- Sea Anchor stuns for a full 1 second and bounces the target on wall collision; in open field it only slows 60% for 1.5 seconds.
- Ghost Ship creates impassable terrain for 4 seconds and grants status immunity on cast; recast removes it early if you wall yourself in.
Strengths
Child of the Sea gives real sustain in extended trades without recalling.
Sea Anchor wall-stun is a point-and-click 1-second lockdown on terrain.
Ghost Ship blocks pathing for 4 seconds, no other warrior does this.
Wavewalking's status immunity lets Ata walk through key CC and re-engage.
Weaknesses
- Pure physical damage; armor stacking early delays his Frost Cape spike.
- Sea Anchor in open terrain is just a weak slow, walls make the ability.
- 7-second passive window means ranged kiting bleeds his stored HP dry.
- Ghost Ship is easy to misplace and can wall off your own team by accident.
Matchups
Abilities
PChild of the Sea
Ata stores lost HP. Stored HP is restored when he deals damage (restores 50% of damage dealt to heroes / 25% to non-heroes). If not restored within 7 seconds, stored HP decays at 3% per second.
1Wavewalking
Ata dashes in a chosen direction twice (can change direction on the 2nd dash). The 1st dash deals physical damage to enemies. The 2nd dash deals physical damage again and stuns for 0.5 seconds (he gains crowd control immunity while using this ability).
2Sea Anchor
Ata hurls an anchor in a straight line, dealing physical damage and slowing enemies by 60% for 1.5 seconds, pulling them slightly toward him. If the anchor hits an obstacle, Ata dashes to that point instead, knocking all enemies back and dealing physical damage. If enemies collide with an obstacle, they are stunned for 1 second.
RGhost Ship
Ata summons a shipwreck, dealing physical damage. The wreck blocks all heroes for 4 seconds during which he gains crowd control immunity (can recast to remove the wreck).
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Wavewalking | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
| 2Sea Anchor | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
| RGhost Ship | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Golden Body
Protect
Dragon's ClawSupport
1
2
3
4
5
6Core Combos
Wall Punish
21Land Sea Anchor into a wall for the 1-second stun, auto attack immediately to bank sustain from the passive, then Q in for the second-hop redirect stun and another auto. Use this in lane to bully any melee hero near the brush walls.
All-In Dive
12ROpen with Wavewalking to close distance and stun briefly, throw Sea Anchor into any available wall, auto attack to proc the passive recovery, then drop Ghost Ship behind them to cut off the retreat. Works best when your HP is low enough that the passive sustain during the fight visibly swings the duel.
Flicker Extension
21RCast Sea Anchor into open field for the slow, Flicker into the pulled target, redirect the Q's second hop to land your 0.5-second stun, then immediately Ghost Ship to trap them against their own side wall. Good for catching mobile carries who have already burned their dash.
Anti-Dive Counter
R12When the enemy dives your turret, drop Ghost Ship immediately to block their retreat path, use Wavewalking to re-engage through incoming CC, and close with Sea Anchor. The 4-second ship wall forces them to fight under the turret with no clean escape.
Expert Video Guide
ROV : ATA สอนเล่นอาต้าโรม แพทช์ใหม่ล่าสุด รวมเทคนิคเล่นในเกมตามแตก 3 ทาง และวิธีรับมือยอน — บอมคนป่า
Gameplan
Ata's first real spike arrives with Frost Cape after Gilded Greaves. The Frost Cape proc combined with Sea Anchor's slow creates a near-unavoidable lockdown in any wall-adjacent trade. Before that item he is solid in lane but not threatening enough to force priority picks. His second and more significant spike is Gaia's Standard. Once that is complete, his passive sustain stacks with the regeneration stat and he becomes genuinely hard to kill in side-lane 1v1s. Late game, when fights compress around Lord or the enemy base, Ghost Ship's zoning value peaks and Ata becomes a teamfight centerpiece. One caveat: he drops off slightly if the game drags long enough for carries to finish armor penetration builds.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Play for wall proximity in the slayer lane. Hug the brush edges so that Sea Anchor has a wall collision target available from level 2 onward, and force trades when the enemy steps within anchor range of those walls.
- →Use Wavewalking defensively as well as aggressively: if the enemy jungler ganks before level 4, Q away on the first hop and redirect the second hop over the wall to escape cleanly while being status-immune.
- →Bank passive HP by staying in extended trades rather than poking and retreating. Every time you take damage, stay engaged long enough to land at least two autos and reclaim the stored HP before the 7-second timer starts bleeding it out.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →Rotate to Drake with Ghost Ship: place the wreck across the narrow entrance corridor so the enemy jungler cannot contest or retreat cleanly, then let your team secure the objective while you hold the wall.
- →Start looking for river-wall positions to ambush mid-lane carries. Sea Anchor into the thin river walls near mid creates unexpected lockdowns that set up free kills for your team's assassin or mage.
- →If ahead, use your Frost Cape spike to force 1v1 duels against the enemy jungler in their own camps. The combined slow and passive sustain means you win nearly every extended invade at this item stage.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →Position Ghost Ship at the Lord pit entrance or across chokepoint corridors before the team fight starts. Pre-placed terrain wins objective fights more reliably than reactively casting it mid-brawl.
- →Peel for your carry using Sea Anchor open-field slow when wall-stuns are unavailable. A 60% slow for 1.5 seconds is enough for your marksman to kite out an assassin diving them.
- →Accept that you are the fight-initiator, not the cleanup. Your role in a late-game team fight is to use Ghost Ship and Q to fracture the enemy formation, absorb the first rotation of CC through Wavewalking's immunity, and let your damage dealers follow.
Pro Tips
- →Pre-aim Sea Anchor at the small terrain notches inside the Drake and Lord pit walls rather than the outer jungle walls. The anchor collision distance is shorter than it looks, and those interior notches give you wall-stuns from positions enemies never expect.
- →Ghost Ship's status immunity on cast is frame-tight but real. If you see Diao Chan or Natalya channeling their ultimate, begin the R cast before the CC lands rather than after. The ship deploys through the incoming disable.
- →Wavewalking's second hop direction locks in slightly before it visually appears to the enemy, so you can fake going left on the first hop and commit right on the second. At Diamond MMR this misdirection reliably bait-out flashes.
- →When ahead in lane, use Ghost Ship offensively by placing it across the enemy slayer-laner's retreat path and then backing off. Forcing them to stay in lane past a safe recall window chips their resources without burning your cooldowns in a fight.
Ata is the pick for players who like winning fights before they technically start, through wall geometry, terrain creation, and a passive that makes every trade incrementally more favorable. His ceiling is genuinely high, his floor is respectable, and he covers enough ground in a team (CC, disruption, sustain, zoning) that he is almost never a wasted draft slot in the right composition. The single most important thing to master is Sea Anchor's wall-bounce. Learn which walls on every map are within anchor range from common lane positions, and Ata goes from a decent bruiser to one of the most punishing slayer-lane picks in Diamond and above.
Ata — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ata good in the current ROV patch?+
Yes. Ata is a legitimate A-tier pick in the current Thai-server meta, valued for his self-sustain, hard CC, and the unique terrain-creation of Ghost Ship. He is not the overwhelming S-tier force he was in earlier patches, but he remains one of the most self-sufficient warriors in the slayer lane and punches above his tier in objective-fight scenarios.
What is the best build for Ata?+
The core is Poseidon Emblem into Gilded Greaves, then Frost Cape as your first major power-spike item. That is non-negotiable. Follow with Gaia's Standard for sustain, Mail of Pain to punish attack-speed carries, and Blade of Eternity as late-game insurance. Frost Cape is the item that turns Ata from a brawler into a genuine threat, so rush it after boots.
How do you counter Ata?+
Deny him walls. Fight Ata in the widest open space available and kite with a ranged carry to bleed out his passive's 7-second recovery timer. Heroes like Laville and Tel'Annas do this naturally. If you are forced into a closed-corridor fight, prioritizing early armor items slows his Frost Cape spike and buys time to out-scale him.
Is Ata hard to play or good for beginners?+
Ata gets a Medium difficulty rating. His buttons are straightforward enough that new players can land his basic combo quickly, but playing him at Diamond level demands deep knowledge of every wall position on the map to get Sea Anchor's full potential. Beginners will find him functional. Experienced players will find him rewarding in a way most warriors simply are not.