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Ascension Night has concluded, introducing Kez as the newest addition to the Dota 2 roster, making him the 126th hero in the game. Described as a flightless bird samurai, Kez wields two distinct types of abilities, one linked to the formidable Kazurai Katana and the other associated with the agile Shodo Sai Blades.
This article will explore Kez’s diverse skill set, including the enhancements available through Aghanim’s Shard and Scepter upgrades, providing a comprehensive overview of his capabilities within Dota 2.
Kez Abilities Overview
With Kez’s arrival, reactions from established characters like Queen Imperia might be mixed, as the dynamics of gameplay continue to evolve.
Switch Discipline (Innate)
Switch Discipline serves as Kez’s mechanism for toggling between his two weapon sets, affecting his abilities accordingly. Though reminiscent of Troll Warlord’s abilities, it’s essential to note that all cooldowns within Kez’s kit are shared. Therefore, utilizing the Q ability while in Katana mode will lead to a cooldown period when switching to Sai Blades for the alternative Q ability.
The Kazurai Katana boasts a greater attack range, improved base attack speed, and higher overall damage output. Consequently, transitioning to the Shodo Sai Blades involves a sacrifice in damage and reach in exchange for quicker attacks, attributed to a lower base attack time.
Echo Slash (Katana – Initial Ability)
This ability enables Kez to glide swiftly forward, striking enemies dealing a portion of his attack damage and inflicting movement speed reduction in the area of effect (AoE) in two rapid succession strikes. It also inflicts additional flat bonus damage to enemy heroes.
Grappling Claw (Katana – Secondary Ability)
Grappling Claw acts as both an engagement and escape tool, allowing Kez to latch onto enemies or trees with a grappling hook, similar to Harpoon but with the added benefit of closing the distance entirely to the target. When used against enemies, this ability slows them down and grants Kez lifesteal on his next attack, with an enhanced lifesteal effect for strikes against enemy heroes.
Kazurai Katana (Katana – Third Ability)
This passive ability charges Kez’s Katana attacks with escalating damage over time, calculated as a percentage of initial attack damage, coupled with an additional damage over time effect. Enemies affected by this skill will also experience a reduction in health regeneration by a specific percentage.
Raptor Dance (Katana – Ultimate Ability)
Raptor Dance requires Kez to channel for a second, during which he gains immunity to debuffs and complete magic resistance. Once the channeling concludes—interruptible only by specific abilities like Bane’s Fiend’s Grip—Kez unleashes a series of radial slashes that inflict pure damage based on the maximum health of affected enemies, simultaneously healing Kez for a portion of the inflicted damage and providing a strong dispel effect at the conclusion of the attack.
Falcon Rush (Sai Blade – Initial Ability)
This ability allows Kez to rapidly advance toward a targeted enemy with phasing movement, akin to Phantom Lancer’s Phantom Rush. However, during this ability, his attack speed is temporarily decreased, limiting the effectiveness of items that typically enhance attack speed.
Talon Toss (Sai Blade – Secondary Ability)
Kez can use Talon Toss to hurl a Sai Blade at an enemy, causing damage and silencing foes within a brief radius.
Shodo Sai (Sai Blade – Third Ability)
This ability features both passive and active effects. Passively, Kez’s Sai attacks and abilities might mark enemies, slowing them down, while causing his subsequent attack on them to hit with true strike, deal a stun, and deliver a critical hit. The active aspect allows Kez to parry incoming attacks from the direction he faces for a limited time, stunning and marking those who attack him, thus inflicting additional critical damage during his counterattack.
Raven’s Veil (Sai Blade – Ultimate Ability)
Raven’s Veil unleashes smoke in a large area, marking enemies and providing them with parry bonuses while simultaneously blinding them. Upon activation, Kez gains a basic dispel and is granted bonus movement speed and invisibility until he either attacks or casts a spell, breaking the effect.
Kez’s Aghanim’s Shard Upgrade
The Aghanim’s Shard enhances both the Kazurai Katana and Shodo Sai components of Kez’s skill set. Specifically, the Shard adds an active feature to the Kazurai Katana ability, allowing Kez to impale his target, causing a brief stun for both himself and the enemy. Following this short period, the debuff subsides, resulting in a significant burst of bonus damage depending on the accumulated stacks.
The Shodo Sai upgrade provides a flat bonus to movement speed and additional speed related to the number of marked enemies.
Kez’s Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade
Utilizing Aghanim’s Scepter grants the ability to reset the cooldown of Switch Discipline upon casting any of Kez’s weapon abilities. Moreover, the first ability executed following a Switch Discipline cast within three seconds will not trigger a cooldown for the respective alternate weapon’s ability.
Source
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