Why Do Some Arcanas Cost $100 and Others $20?

You open the market, see Frost Avalanche for $14.59 and think: nice, arcanas are affordable, I deserve a treat. Then you scroll a bit and Wraith King wants $195.84 from you. For a skin. That is PC-part money. 💀

So why does one arcana cost as much as a pizza and another as much as a weekend trip? I dug through our numbers (as of October 7, 2026) so you don’t have to. Spoiler: it has nothing to do with which one looks best. Sorry.

The price list, from “ouch” to “okay”

Arcana	Cheapest offer	How it came out	Sold on Steam
The One True King (Wraith King)	$195.84	Battle Pass reward	10,942
Compass of the Rising Gale (Windranger)	$98.02	Battle Pass reward	12,685
Planetfall (Earthshaker)	$93.24	Battle Pass reward	6,592
Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm (Terrorblade)	$29.19	Dota Store, $34.99	384,115
Swine of the Sunken Galley (Techies)	$26.75	Dota Store, $34.99	27,761
Flockheart’s Gamble (Ogre Magi)	$25.61	Dota Store, $34.99	55,591
The Magus Cypher (Rubick)	$23.88	Dota Store, $34.99	77,714
Blades of Voth Domosh (Legion Commander)	$21.01	Dota Store, $34.99	66,666
Fiery Soul of the Slayer (Lina)	$20.99	Dota Store, $34.99	300,571
Tempest Helm of the Thundergod (Zeus)	$20.72	Dota Store, $34.99	141,351
Bladeform Legacy (Juggernaut)	$20.36	Dota Store, $34.99	132,203
Manifold Paradox (Phantom Assassin)	$18.34	Dota Store, $34.99	432,419
Great Sage’s Reckoning (Monkey King)	$17.35	Dota Store, $34.99	124,946
Demon Eater (Shadow Fiend)	$16.40	Dota Store, $34.99	119,746
Feast of Abscession (Pudge)	$16.30	Dota Store, $34.99	167,427
The Devotions of Dragonus (Skywrath Mage)	$15.77	Crownfall store	48,674
The Resurrection of Shen (Vengeful Spirit)	$14.66	Crownfall store	76,629
Frost Avalanche (Crystal Maiden)	$14.59	Dota Store, $34.99	145,887

“Cheapest offer” = the lowest price on the five markets we track. “Sold on Steam” = every copy traded on the Steam Community Market since the item got there.

See the gap? Three arcanas above $100, then a cliff, then everybody else between $14.59 and $29.19. That cliff has a reason.

Reason 1: you could never just buy the expensive ones

The three pricey ones are The One True King, Compass of the Rising Gale, Planetfall. What do they have in common? None of them was ever sold in the store:

• The One True King (Wraith King): The International 10 Battle Pass reward at level 375.
• Compass of the Rising Gale (Windranger): The International 10 Battle Pass reward at level 575.
• Planetfall (Earthshaker): The International 2019 Battle Pass reward at level 365.

You had to level a Battle Pass to get them. And here comes the mean part: these arcanas are not tradable on their own. They only came back later, packed into a set that is tradable: King Kringle (on the market since December 2023), Fluttering Breeze (on the market since July 2025), Intergalactic Orbliterator (on the market since March 2026). So what you buy for $93.24+ is not just the arcana, it is the whole bundle around it.

It’s like wanting one chicken nugget and the restaurant only sells the family bucket. With a collector’s toy. In gold.

Reason 2: there are simply fewer of them

Now look at how many copies have changed hands on Steam:

Arcana	Sold on Steam	Since	Listings right now
Manifold Paradox	432,419	February 2015	312
Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm	384,115	March 2014	325
Fiery Soul of the Slayer	300,571	September 2013	88
Compass of the Rising Gale	12,685	July 2025	114
The One True King	10,942	December 2023	43
Planetfall	6,592	March 2026	148

Manifold Paradox has been sold 432,419 times. King Kringle? 10,942. That is not the same league, that is not even the same sport.

Phantom Assassin arcanas are like creep waves: a new one arrives every thirty seconds. King Kringle is Roshan: there is one on the map and everybody wants it. Right now there are 452 The Resurrection of Shen listings on Steam and 43 for King Kringle. Guess who gets to name the price.

Reason 3: the $34.99 club

13 of the 18 tradable arcanas were sold in the Dota Store for $34.99. Anyone could buy one, as many as they wanted, and a lot of people did. Today the cheapest offer for every single one of them is below that old store price: from $14.59 (Frost Avalanche) up to $29.19 (Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm).

Only Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm ($35.00 on Steam) sits above the old store price on the Steam Market, and even there other markets are cheaper. If you ever looked at a store arcana and thought “this is an investment”… no judgement. I think that about every skin, right until I check the chart.

So is expensive = better?

No! Price here means rare, not good. A $195.84 bundle does not win you more games than a $14.59 arcana. (Nothing wins me more games. I have tried everything.)

My honest advice, worth exactly what you pay for it:

• Buy the arcana for the hero you actually play. A cheap skin you see every day beats an expensive one you never pick.
• Check the cheapest arcanas first. The list is sorted by price, so the pain comes last.
• Never pay the first price you see. The market comparison shows all five markets side by side.

Which one is on your list? And be honest: is it for the hero, or for the flex? 😄

GL HF! ✌️