Dota 2 | New Hero Overview - Kez
The Echo Knight of Dota 2, Kez is here. He comes with two sets of weapons, and so he has two sets of abilities.
Game Guide by Arne on Nov 17, 2024
Dota 2 has, as of late, received many consistent content updates. With the various Crownfall updates, there have been ample amounts of mini-games, cosmetics, and stories that have been told. Now, with the latest release comes Crownfall 4 and Kez, the newest hero.
Dota 2 has a good history with its hero releases. Many new heroes have joined the large roster in the past few years. From the fourth spirit brother to the wacky, whimsical Snapfire and Hoodwink, nearly all the heroes have been great additions, standing out among the crowd while keeping in line with Dota's handmade balance.
Kez Overview
The newest hero, Kez, seems as if Raph and Leo from the Ninja Turtles were melded into the same guy and turned into a bird- a flightless one, with a neat comic coming out as well to expand on his backstory. In brief, Kez is a melee specialist armed with a Katana and two Sais, which he switches between. He's a master at both, contending with the likes of the Juggernaut as the cool Katana guy.
You saw it right. Kez comes with two sets of weapons, and so he has two sets of abilities. He can switch between his Kazurai Katana or his Shodo Sai. Both weapons are melee, and this ability is almost reminiscent of Troll Warlord with its melee and ranged modes.
The game attaches the tags of Carry, Disabler, and Escape, all of which are fitting for the agile ninja-samurai kind of bird. As evident, he's a melee agility hero, starting off with 19 strength, 26 agility, and 18 intelligence. This means at the start of the game, he's going to be pretty weak. This makes sense, considering he's an incredibly reliable hard-carry. Like most carries, he has a high stat gain, especially his agility, growing at 3.5 per level.
His ability to switch makes him a pretty complicated hero, standing with the likes of Invoker and Meepo as a complexity 3 hero. It's safe to say he is hard to play and even harder to understand and master. So, without further ado, here's Kez and his abilities, as well as the general strategy for playing him.
Kez Abilities
Kez starts with his sort of signature ability, Switch Disciple, which basically allows him to switch between his Katana and Sais. His abilities are paired, so they upgrade and go on cooldown together; you should keep that in mind while using them. His weapons also have slightly differing stats.
His Katana has a longer range, at least when compared to his Sais, and deals 20% more damage, but is slower with a base attack time of 2. His Katana is more of the damage dealer, meant for nuking. His Sais, on the other hand, are faster and have a short range, which means more for wave clearing and such. His switch discipline ability starts with an 8-second cooldown, but this cooldown decreases by 0.2 per level, so it goes down to a whopping 2 seconds at max level.
Echo Slash
Kez moves forward and slashes in a line, dealing a percentage of his attack damage and slowing down the targets in the area. After a short delay, the area is attacked again by an echo. Heroes take a bonus damage against this.
Falcon Rush
Kez gains PL's rush and closes in the range fast, all the while echoing more damage thanks to the secondary attacks from his echo. His base attack rate has decreased, and he also gains phasing when in this state. Interestingly, he can switch back to his Katana to deal more damage while in Falcon Rush.
Grappling Claw
With his second Katana ability, he brings out a grappling hook and latches onto an enemy unit or a tree. When he does so, the enemy is slowed. When he reaches the enemy, he attacks them with 100% life-steal, and he gets bonus damage if the enemy in question is a hero.
Talon Toss
With his second Sai ability, he throws one of his Sais at a unit, be it enemy or ally. It deals damage and silences the enemies once the Sai lands. Basically, he throws a bomb. This ability has a fairly low cooldown, at least when compared to his other abilities.
Kazurai Katana
His third Katana ability is passive. His attacks apply stacking damage over time, sort of like a passive version of QoP's Q. This deals a percentage of the original attack damage as additional damage over time. Furthermore, once hit, the enemy's HP regen is decreased.
Shodo Sai
His next Sai ability looks awesome. It comes in two parts. Firstly, his attacks and abilities with the Sai give him a chance to mark the enemy, slowing them down. The next attack on a marked enemy applies a Mini-Stun and deals a Critical Strike.
Once activated, he will slow down and go into parry mode, but this lasts only a short duration. In parry mode, he is disarmed and locked in a specific direction. If attacked, he will parry the hit, stunning the enemy and marking him.
Raptor Dance
Kez channels for one second, gaining debuff immunity and 100% magic resistance, effectively making him immortal and safe from physical damage. As the moment passes, he performs a series of radial slashes around him, dealing damage based on the maximum health of the enemy. He then deals a percentage of the damage dealt. He also gains a strong dispel once completed.
Raven's Veil
His other ultimate, he releases a wave of smoke that applies his Mark with Parry bonus to nearby enemies, briefly reducing their vision. Kez receives a basic dispel and gains bonus movement speed and invisibility until he attacks or casts a spell.
Aghanim's Shard & Sceptre
With the shard, his Katana passive gets an active mode. He impales an enemy with his Katana, briefly stunning himself and the enemy. In the end, any stacked debuff bursts, dealing a lot of damage to the enemy. The other bonus goes to his Shodo Sai, giving him 10 movement speed as well as 10 more movement speed per enemy marked.
His scepter power-up basically refreshes his weapon, switching every time he uses an ability, effectively turning the cooldown to 0. Additionally, if he uses an ability within 3 seconds of switching, its alternate ability does not go on cooldown.
Talent Tree
Kez's talent tree is divided between his Katana and Sai abilities. The level 10 talent gives him mana +1.5 Mana Regen, something that's very useful in the early game or bonus magic resistance. His level 15 talent gives him an increased Raptor dance radius or increased Falcon rush duration, both good boosts to his ultimate. His level 20 talents either increase Falcon rush evasion or Kazurai Katana damage per second. His level 25 talents either give a third strike through echo slash or +75% Shodo Sai critical strike.
Overall, Kez is a very versatile hero who benefits from all the attack speed items you can give him. Naturally, being an agility hero, he also benefits from things like Butterfly or Sange & Yasha. Kez is a great carry, but only time will tell how he fares after the first few nerfs he'll inevitably get after the next few small patches.
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