Today’s the day we finally get our hands on the latest Dota 2 hero, as Valve releases Kez, the flightless hero and leader of the Kazurai.
After Kez was announced in September, there’s only been speculation about his abilites. Now, Unveiled alongside Crownfall Act IV, Kez is truely one of the most unique heroes we’ve seen in a long time in Dota 2, boasting two unique fighting styles each with its own full set of abilities. A freedom-fighting warrior, Kez takes to the field with both his Katana and his Sai. Lets go over some of this avian attacker’s abilities.
Image Credit: Valve
Kez Abilities in Dota 2
D (Innate Ability) – Switch Discipline
It’s not usual to start with the D ability, but in Kez’s case it’s core to his character’s play-style. Kez’s innate ability and D is Switch Discipline. This allows Kez to switch between his Katana and Sai, changing his abilities and altering how he plays.
Katana
Kez’s Katana Form is a damage-focused set of Melee abilities that turn Kez into a hyper-carry. These abilities are focused around dealing massive damage, often to a single target.
Q – Echo Slash
The Kazurai Warrior’s Q ability is Echo Slash, which causes Kez to slash forward in a line with his Katana. This attack deals a percentage of his attack damage and applies a brief slow. After a moment, the area is attacked again. This deals bonus damage to heroes.
Image Credit: Valve
W – Grappling Claw
Grappling Claw, Kez’s W, is a gap closing ability that allows him to hook onto a target unit or tree. Think Timbersaw’s Timber Chain but for heroes too, and a shorter range. Once you hit an enemy unit, Kez deals 100% lifesteal damage plus a flat bonus if the target is a hero.
Image Credit: Valve
E (Passive) – Kazurai Katana
Kez’s E is a passive, causing every attack he deals to apply a stacking damage over time debuff. This also reduces health regeneration. With Kez’s Aghanim’s Shard, this ability can be activated to stun both Kez and his opponent in place by impailing them. This also causes all the debuff stacks to “burst” casing bonus damage based on the stacks, and turning this into an execution move.
Image Credit: Valve
R – Raptor Dance
Kez’s Katana ultimate is Raptor Dance. After an uncontrollable, uncancellable channel for one second (during which Kez has debuff immunity and magic resistance) Kez performs attacks on enemies around him in a circle. This deals damage based on Max health, and a heals Kez. He also received a strong dispel.
Image Credit: Valve
Sai
Switching to the Sai unlocks a series of more utility-based abilities, that often act as a more defensive set of attacks. But these aren’t to be underestimated – Kez is still a deadly opponent with his Sai.
Q – Falcon Rush
With his Sai equipped, Kez’s Q is Falcon Rush. This dash causes the hero to dash towards enemy targets and deliver echioing secondary attacks. This also causes Kez to enter a phased state that gives him lower collision and a reduced attack rate.
Image Credit: Valve
W – Talon Toss
With W, Kez throws one of his Sai at an opponent. This silences all enemies in an area.
Image Credit: Valve
E – Shodo Sai
Another pseudo passive, Kez’s Sai attacks and abilities have a chance to mark enemies, which slows them and causes the next ability or attack to stun the opponent and deal a True Strike critical hit. This consumes the buff.
Image Credit: Valve
E may also be activated to disarm himself, lock his facing, and parry attacks from a set direction for 2 seconds.
R – Raven’s Veil
Kez’s R is Raven’s Veil, which releases a wave of smoke that applies the Shodo Sai debuff to all nearby enemies. This also gives him a basic dispel, bonus movement speed and, most importantly, invisibility until he attacks or uses an ability.
Image Credit: Valve
Kez’s Aghanim’s Shard
As mentioned Kez’s Aghanim’s Shard turns his Katana E passive into an active ability that allows him to deal bonus damage to marked foes. Heroes aren’t usually released in Dota 2 with a fully functional shard or scepter, so Kez is unique in that measure!
Kez’s Aghanim’s Scepter
Kez’s Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade causes any ability to refresh the cooldown of Switch Discipline. This turns him into an even more complex and exciting hero to
Other Details about Kez
Image Credit: Valve
Kez is an Agility Hero who’s base stats are 19 Strength, 26 Agility, and 18 Intelligence. His base attack of 49-55 is high for a carry, but not the highest. At the time of writing, Kez doesn’t have a full Talent Tree or a Facet.
Initial thoughts on Kez, the Bird Samurai of Dota 2
Kez is a complex but rewarding character that has the potential to be one of the best Dota 2 heroes ever. His Katana abilities focus on hero damage and getting into fights, and this will likely make him either an aggressive carry or solo mid. His Sai abilities compliment this with escape mechanics and utility that’s going to make him a nightmare to catch.
Where Kez will excel, however, is when he’s looking for a target to lock down and delete. His Katana abilities will deal huge amounts of damage to heroes, and Raptor Dance will allow him to finish his opponent and get out. The perfect fight for this hero will see them poke down opponent’s with Sai, before diving in with a switched discipline, dealing massive damage with the katana, before escaping or moving onto the next target with the Sai.