cheese tip: when an enemy is near his minions, use living bomb on a very low health minion, so that living bomb explodes immediately. This way the enemy will eat the living bomb explosion from the minion and get living bomb on himself too.
A mistake I find myself making quite often (not just with KT, but with every mage) is not Auto attacking. I often only attack with abilities, since I am a mage, but totally forget auto attacks do damage as well. Not much, compared to ther champs, but 100 dmg every second or so is 100 dmg more than just waiting on cooldowns. Might seem painfully obvious, but I see other people do it as well.
honestly, this is the best HOTS youtube channel. Thank you man your just awesome for a player like me (Diamond 4) that want to improve; this is just so interesting. This is so nice from you to share to us your knowledge, I guess it has to be a bit difficult sometimes, it has to be like sharing the secret of a magic trick ...
Audio was good. Just that I don't think you fully understand and appreciate how humorous it is to see noobs going poof poof poof sharing and caring in low Elo games ;)
Slight white noise, barely audible while you talk, noticeable between. Suggestion/Question: Are you recording 5 seconds before you start talking and then use Audacity on that 5 second audio to trim out the background noise profile? It works pretty well on white noise and other repetitive background noise (like fans, rain, ac, electric hums).
Honest question as a low ranked KT player myself (a little over lvl 30 with him). How is Phoenix a zoning tool when its damage is so low? Whenever I play against Phoenix I just walk right thru it like it's nothing due to the low dmg.
As an avid KT player here is my input: 1. Don't play KT as a solo laner... yeah, he might be a good lane bully like you suggested, but he is easily gankable. 2. Cooldowns while poking: yeah, he can poke well later in the game, but it is always a gamble, especially in unorganized play like hero league. KT is a burst caster, which means, he can very well 100->0 a squishy. So while poking is dandy vs the right comp, his biggest strength is following up on a tank play, thus deleting an enemy right away. Do not throw your cooldowns around just your spells are off CD. 3. KT is not as strong as you make him out to be. KT has no escapes. In the current meta, if a tank can get a hold of you, you are dead. This is the reason why people pick Maiev, Genji or even Jaina (iceblock) over KT. 4. Convection is super strong on some maps. In Braxxis e.g. it is my favorite choice, because you will have convection done at lvl 7 latest and it is super save. 5. Don't be afraid to pick Pyroblast. Against certain supports and heroes it is the best thing in the world. You lose the zoning of the bird, but you gain an instakill if your team follows up correctly. Use Pyroblast from bushes and/or make sure that no CC can reach you, the range is huge. Don't pick it vs Medivh though or KT will be very angry with you 6. In early game, you pick him for his waveclear. So do not waste your W for poke dmg. You will be part of the 4 man roaming team and the enemy will have a support with them, completely negating your puny W dmg. Your W is better used for waveclear. 7. One of the best roles for KT is "anti-followup". So if the enemy has a Kerrigan or a Garrosh, wait till the initiation is happening, then counter it with a traited E -> Q -> W, which is a lot of CC and massive dmg. Of course, for the love of the Nexus, please don't let them intiate on you. This goes in balance with 2.: If you poke, you are in range for tanks, which can break your whole game plan. 8. Use your trait on your E, it does not only give you a half second longer liftup, you can also lift up to 2 addtional heroes. Good luck with my favorite hero
DunkelheitVZ Diamond here and although I knew everything said in the video + most of what you said KT is still one of my weaker heroes. Mainly because I don't hit gravity laps often enough that is. ^^ But also the poke is so limited. The W range is worse than Vallas AA range. If I try to hit her she'll get 2-3 AAs, her Q and her W (not in that order) and then I need to tap well or b. Against ETC he'll Powerslide+AA+Face Smelt+2-3 more AAs and then heal back up with his E. Don't get me started with actual Solo laners like Thrall or Chen. I get a good safe sneaky W every 20-30s, but it should be every 6s and as I can't do that I lose the lane hard. He's just a hard hero and I'm not good enough. I know I should rather be ganking with the squad, but for me Ming does that much better and she scales well enough so she can carry lategame too. Lvl 20 Wave of force has the most ridiculous peel in the game. If I play with friends who are 1000++ mmr below me I go Archon to preserve Mana during PvE and I carry these games even harder.
You named exactly the reasons why KT should not be in the solo lane. It might work in QM, but it certainly won't work in diamond hero league. KT is amazing in a gank squad though. You just need a tank that can stun for you. After a stun it is easy to hit the follow up E and your dmg alone is close to kill a squishy from 100% to 0%. If you have a tracer with you or a genji, every time you hit your E on a squishy you have a very good chance of killing people. I feel that all mages have fallen off a bit, Ming is no exception. But she is stronger than Kael, that is for sure. She shines in maps where there is a lot of Fog of War (BoE as an example) where she is able to flank accordingly. Kael shines when they try to roll over your team and you are able to use your traited E to counter this behaviour.
NotParadox - your videos have really helped bring me back to the game and point out a lot of my incorrect builds, assumptions, and strategies. I appreciate you taking the time to put this videos together.
Sometimes ppl don't realilze Pyropblast is not only a possible killing(or not) tool, but a skill that will take out of the fight an enemy in a tf,even when is not meant to kill. Throwed at the right moment, that target will stop doing anything else and focus on avoiding a pyroblast and sometimes those seconds will give the tf a twist. Running around doing time for cd to shield it, blink it, or something it takes out of the tf at least 2 enemies, the 1 target and the one helping him. Also it forces to use that shield or heal or blink for your pyro ergo they will not have it for the tf in a while. So I think ppl that almost always use phoenix instead of pyro are also in a mistake, as phoenix is good use for some zoning and objective and interrupting or breaking tfs but many times also can be hardly ignored as it's damage is so low and spread if many enemies are going in and out.
Another big mistake - Using trait on your Q in your E-Q combo D-E for setting up combos/hitting multiple heroes/hitting heroes behind minions, as well as D-W for consistent and free poke/dps. Both of these options are much better than a large Q, which your opponents will walk out of anyway without the appropriate setup (i.e. from a D-E multi target stun). Pretty much you shouldn't be using trait on your Q until you hit level 20 when you get flamethrower + many cooldown reduction talents, which allows you to more freely spam Q at long range for low cost poke/area denial/safe DPS.
Great tips, I'm playing KT quite a bit and just recently discovered the nice many uses of scaling "Mana-Addict". However on Pyroblast (in unranked) I see a lot of uses and tend to disagree with you. Phoenix doesn't seem to deter good players as much as it used to anymore, damage feels a bit lackluster to act as deterrent, very much like Raynors Yamato Ult. Pyro however is a great finishing or opener tool that puts their healer or ranged DPS on a death-timer. They need to expend valuable cooldowns or mitigate it with severe healing. If your team has great engage potential, finishing a focus target is a matter of 2-3 seconds (plus the AOE if you hit it in a cluster of enemies). Of course if they have Medivh or Morales in their team your tip is completely legit.
Personally I really have the feeling, according to what I see in games, that people rarely use his E which for me is the key spell! It's so good! you can run away, set a trap, save allies with it. I just love it.
The thing is KTs main job is do high burst dmg with flamestrike in fights(yes he can do nearly everything, clear waves, do camps, poke, stun, etc but what he does best is blow ppl up with high burst) so the bigger that burst, the better KT is. That is why with superior positioning, Convection is the only go to at least in Hero League. In Team league I get that you probably won't be able to complete it against a 100% coordinated well harmonized 5 man master+ team(even if you dont die it probably takes too long) but in Hero League I finish it in 9 out of 10 games on Master and win most of these(ending up MVP most times). At like level 16 with the quest completed, fs does over 800 dmg and with the 16 talent you have that twice. That is higher dmg than most ppls ults and enables you to even blow up ppl that have a support like Uther that would usually give armor but he won't heal 100% HP allies and if he doesn't, too late, boom, dead. Mana Addict was my go to talent while learning him back few years ago and yes it is pretty damn good but Mana Tap at level 4 or a Malf on ur team is all you need for mana. And as mentioned you shouldn't need the shield in the first place. Also when you go for a W build(which I don't recommend as for the reason mentioned in the video, ppl arent as dumb as to run into each other with bombs on them) I see a lot of ppl going mana addict first and then twin spheres on 16 which is just too much. One of the two is enough to never have any mana problems and for me, Mana Tap at level 4 is enough to never have to hearth because of mana.
I love Kael'Thas, definitely my favorite mage. Mana Addict is legit insane and since the globe changes I choose it 100% of the time, even on BoE and Braxis
I learned alot from this video. I usually take lvl 1 talent as Fel Infusion and level 4 as mana tap to stay in lane for longer. Guess i got alot to learn still :p
That build works well for new players though, gives a lot of sustain and with double verdant spheres you can do a lot of damage with W (along with master of flames at 20). It won't work at higher levels of play, but unless your win rate is starting to hurt you probably don't need to change your build just yet. Learning the flow of the game and to look enough at the map is very important and easier to learn when your playing a comfortable hero/build.
I know Phonix is better, but PyroBOOM is easily the most fun you can have in a PvP game ever! Ever! BOOOOOMM! The only reason not to pick Pyroblast is if you are playing seriously, which never happens. :P
As a gold-level player who enjoys playing Kael'thas a lot, I have ~63% winrate with him. I was always too tempted to pick Convection, Master of Flames and Pyroblast, and now that you mention, it might've costed me a few games. Master of flames only works well when my team plays defensively (taunting the enemy tanks to overextend), on narrow maps or against a composition with low mobility. I have exact 75% winrate with Fenix, though, and that is purely because of his escape. While Kael'thas can potentially dish out more damage, his inability to deal with melee assassins can be a decisive factor in a game, so I tend to pick Fenix.
KT is my main with a 70% wr and I love him ;-). I use convection and rarely ever die so I don't feel as if I need the extra shield. I definitely like to use convection on Infernal shrines and braxis holdout because there are so many predictable places enemies will go to for an easy Q. Positioning decently and having good map awareness helps me from dying. I also have good mana management so I rarely ever have mana problems. However, the highest I've ever been was diamond 2, so I'm sure this will not work too well in masters, but I have no intention of going try hard.
Played Kael Since Alpha. Back then, W(living bomb) was so much more potent where you can do a double W. Now W is the ONLY targeted spell that does damage, besides his piddly AA, so I cannot see how anyone playing Kael can make this "common mistake" with some experience. The first thing in the rulebook is spam as many mana-less Ws on an enemy and save yr mana for Qs on towers/pool/keep or opportune strikes on enemies near their gates. Now being wise to this, any decent player who played Kael themselves know this, and will move to avoid the casting range of W as Kael starts to move in towards you. The skill gap in Kael is landing those gravity lapses, whether it be initiation, ganking, or defending. Using the trait on E is pretty powerful if you can use it well, but it's all about the CC in the higher levels of the game that make or break teamfights.
You convinced me to try out mana addict but I still believe there are great cases where convection is good. I understand that you'll burn your mana quick but if you can place your q well you won't need much mana to destroy the team quick. Finally Pyroblast is a must have on healer or mage that don't have immune or immune in their team. I don't think there is 1 only way to play a char otherwise the game will be very bad built...
1.I'd rather sacrifice spheres than accidently wasting Q on wave and missing the half of wave 2.Living bomb is better because ppl dont react to living bomb that quickly,lvl 20 living bomb is better than flamestrike,plus it resets cd faster
The biggest mistake Kael'thas players make is not having someone in front of them. Stitches, Nova, Butcher, Illidan etc. all lick their lips when they see you in the line-up.
Haven't played KT in comp mode for a LONG time simply for the reason that he just dies to easily with no escape mechanisms. Tried about 10+ games w this. Damage trick w the trait really did lend well to much more damage that I though. Still his immobility kinda makes him still bottom tier in com mode imo. High damage mage with permadeath built in ^^ Currently sitting in mid GM I don't pick this guy ever.
I'm totally with you with this video because, even if I already knew these things, you don't know how MANY times people make these mistakes when they pick KT. Like seriously, I've seen multiple times people going convection vs a full dive comp like why do you want to die so much for 200 bonus damage if you'll ever end that quest man, and we both know you will not.
As a GM player with KT as my most played hero, and I've been playing since HotS alpha, I know you are right. I've known mana addict is the right choice for, but greed is life and I still go Conviction cause I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF!!!
Honestly His reasoning isnt very sound to me. If you are landing Q enough to be consistently getting 2 second cooldowns on it then that enemy team is way dead before you run out of mana. "Its only 200damage" its 200 damage on an AOE spell that could hit up to 5 ppl and detonate twice as he said. So while unlikely the damage increase COULD be up to 2000 damage. But even just hitting 2 targets with the double Q talent is an extra 800 damage. Mana addict is a great talent dont get me wrong but he was definitely skewing some numbers.
Taking Pyroblast is such a big mistake playing quick match. Seems like these days 90% of Kael players are taking it even on maps where you have objectives to fight over and even when there are lots of heroes that can easily counter it. It is a prime example of players just playing to try and pad their KDA and not caring about winning objectives. Loved the rest of the tips too. Gonna try them out later today.
xD i was following almost all of this advice already, except the last one. in case you were wondering i am the guy using verdant sphere heal for sustain purposes (let the wave of hate commence).
Hey, I got quite a good win streak with KT back when I started playing HotS thanks to the verdant sphere build. It's always important to realise that pro game tactics often don't work for lower levels of play, in some cases it can be hard for a new player to even understand why it won't work. Better to look for a build that works well for *yourself* and then look into how to become better rather than going with what is used in GM/Pro games and getting frustrated.
*What about Twin Spheres instead of Fury of the Sunwell at 16?* I ask because that way I can spam much more empowered Qs with Flamethrower, what I wouldn't be able to do with Fury of the Sunwell.
depending on team comp/map, you can get convection done by lv 7. my record was lv 4 but i dont think i can do that again. although my winrate with him is like i win when i get that done before lv 12 and lose when i dont lol.
The problem is your relative lack of escape, that means you need to play very safe to get the stacks, if you don't your saying to the enemy team, "hey if any one of you is better than our team, you win". Essentially, you have to be better than the enemy at macro/map awareness or your throwing your stacks away.
psionic-storm.com/en/calculateur-de-talents/kaelthas/1-3-2-1-1-2-3/ This is the build I use. I do take convection bcs otherwise I feel like FS is not hitting hard enough in late game. The idea of this build is to build up and use flamestrike in early game and then use LB in mid and late game. Its like having your cake and eat it too. With this build I can have three LB on targets at a time(in late game) without having mana issues due to the double trait restoring mana. It really depends on the enemy team comp though. If theyre mostly melee who stick together this build is a dream. Even against non melee teams its still good cause honestly ppl are stupid and run into each other with living bomb. With three out at a time I can stand in the back and spread LB and FS all day without getting into the fray. My trick to this works esp well if you are against a team with a healer that requires their team to be close for heals like brightwing or kharazim or lucio. Another tip using living bomb is to put it on towers esp in late game after you have the pyromaniac talent. If the enemy gets close enough when it explodes itll spread like wildfire. Plus it should restore your cool downs very quickly.
Thanks for the tips ! Especially the w poke that I had yet to consider :) Not sure if it is lv 7 talent but what do you think of cd on E ? A must take or no ?
The e cooldown talent is a level 4. I personally recommend the range talent over cooldown reduction. The range is just long enough to get those stuns that your team can't quite get. I guess if you have a taunt varian and your job is just to followup stuns, maybe try out the cooldown reduction.
Great vid! I've been abusing this for long. But I do have a question, I ussually go for Mana Tap at level 4 instead of Nether Wind, mostly because I was used to find the early extra maná more helpful when I used to go convection. Is the mana of Nether Wind comparable? I know the range is useful when phoenixing + D + E, but is the mana equivalent?
Sure, but you have to save your E for ganks or escapes. The trait instead is something you use ussually. Though with mana addict, you won't need more mana after the quest is done. It's only useful in the early, and can't compete against the added range. But after the rework, energy roll is the talent to go imho, I have trapped people 3 times inside a Phoenix with the low CD.
First I look at the map. Would 7 seconds of zoning give us an objective. Something like cursed hollow is a good example. I pick pheonix Then I look at the comp, do they have someone who gives spell armor, invulnerability or burst heals who can save the enemies from pyro? If so, I pick pheonix Finally I look at if pyro has a good target. If their team is really tanky I don't like pyro it's a long cooldown that might not even win a fight. But if the enemies have someone like lunara and their healer is a malfurion who can't guarantee his healing without playing agreessive. Toss a pyro on a lunara at half health and it's usually a kill. If you are ahead at level 10 it can also be very strong. A 2 level lead is enough to one shot assassins in higher levels. So If the enemy has a valla and you hit 10 first, it is sometimes good to just 1 shot an enemy whenever they try to fight.
its been for a long time that we haven't see kaelthas and i can tell u why kael spells are ez to dodge and he can ezly be targeted in the fights thats why we don't see kelthuzad aswell ( though he has incredible combo damage) but he is so vulnerable
Isn't it universal knowledge that you trait into Gravity Lapse? I personally never run out of mana as a K'T.
6 лет назад+8
Convection is very rewarding if you have superb positioning and rarely die in this game. It doesn't have to scale at late game, naturally. That would make it OP. You already get the extra 200+200 damage at 16.
yes but is it as rewarding as having 1000HP shield and 100% more mana? You are trading your health and mana sustainability for 200 extra damage IF you finish the quest, and that's a big IF
6 лет назад+6
Imagine having a 10 sec. invulnerability ability on Abathur. Not really helpful, right? If you know what you're doing and there is no dive threat, it's only natural to pick Convection. I personally never run out of mana after Lv. 4. You can farm mana endlessly with D+W combo. I take Convection all the time unless I see someone like Anub, Genji, Greymane on the enemy team.
tbh it feels like mana addict is strong because it allows you to make mistakes in positioning or take more agressive positions and thus deal more damage. It's mostly about the threat of a great shield that holds back enemies and if you get caught due to bad positioning or a mistake, you get a higher chance to survive. So if you are able to deal a good amount of damage in a safe position, I agree that conviction is strong enough. As for mana, you can still go for the lvl 4 talent that provides you with 4% mana for every D you use. It might not be as great as like 100% extra mana, but it will always be enough to not go oom in a fight.
I'm not really one to chime in as i haven't really compared both, but I do know it can be misleading to base your build off of "potential damage" hinging your bet on targets lining up and being clumped for the 4-6 seconds it takes to do this mana depleting mega aoe... you may as well be advocating pyroblast. Mana reserves for poke and the shield makes a lot of sense. Depends how hard engage your teamfights will be i guess.
If you go oom as Kael'thas you're not playing him right. I always go convection and its all about picking the right moment really. If you have a fight going past 20 sec anyway then your team combo probably dont fit very well with a Kaelthas anyway.
if everything is clustered, nothing compares to bomb spec/bomb spreading, not even low flamestrike cd. easy math, since ur bomb ticks also reduce every cd through talent thats not even true at all. and even without reduced cd, bomb damage just spreading once full > every dmg ability. sure doesnt happen on high level, still ure wrong second dont put bomb on etc/player when there are minions convection shouldnt be considered anymore once u reach silver, common sense
Mana Addict (for mana and shield), Range on e, % health on q, Pheonix usually, Lower cooldowns from w, Q hits twice and Flamethrower at 20 (For more and safer "Q"s.
mid masters. Was like 2 games from GM before reset, but got busy now I am a bit further and probably am going to wait for summer when I have more time.
it doesn't matter how much health you have, ADC's will ALWAYS wreck you. ALWAYS. take valla for example, it will take her a whole 2-3 seconds to shave off that 4k life because you don't have the armor to back it up. So yea, mana addict is shit
80% out of 25 games? Well that's surely representative. Unless there is a serious dive (Genji, Kerrigan) threat you should ALWAYS go for convection. Might also improve your positioning game. Same goes for pyro - if you can get reliable kills (no invuls, heal saves etc) with it there is literally NO reason to go phoenix. Use your fucking judgement, not "pro"-tips coming from a near-dead game with super low average skill level where being as high as gm means very little.
I want a 'Good Neighbor' KT skin. Basically KT as Mr. Rodgers, so he's super nice. Maybe a touch of Truman-show thrown in there, "Salami Neighbor, ha ha!".
Well like the video talking about a lot of good things but referring win rates from a professional habitat and reflecting that on the hero power level into hero league is a bit silly. No such thing is Kealthas is strong late game hero most cases just an OK hero mostly bc Chromie exist and so many dive hero is in the meta atm, and will be more n more. Kaelthas only a valuable pick if chain CC but thats requires u to land an empowered E ALWAYS! Otherwise u just could pick Chromie instead and do 10 times more dmg in like 3 times as more safer than any other mage in the game.
I love to go for Fel infusion and his other D traits. I get some spelldamage, heal and mana for laning and I really love that double sphere at lvl 16. So why do I not go for those builds that pros have 80% winrate with? Simple as that, my team is not as realiable as theirs. It depends a lot on myself, wether I know how to position myself and when to cast which spell, but my team is a great factor in when those situations come up. Now when I don't get the chance to go in those favourable positions, because my team doesn't zone or pressure the enemy or doesn't provide protection, I most likely won't be able to pull those high damage combos off. This is why I prefer to chose talents that provide less, but safe damage, unless I'm sure that my team and me are able to grant me favourable positions and good damage output.
cheese tip: when an enemy is near his minions, use living bomb on a very low health minion, so that living bomb explodes immediately. This way the enemy will eat the living bomb explosion from the minion and get living bomb on himself too.
Gergo049 definitely a great tip
i remember when you could blow up an entire team by going D W W on a minion wave they were in.
This is quite useful, i do it all the time and its even better when you get the +35% of damage after spreading
I binge watched a whole bunch of these "mistakes you might be making" videos, and now I wanna play all the heroes all at once. Curse you!!!!!
A mistake I find myself making quite often (not just with KT, but with every mage) is not Auto attacking.
I often only attack with abilities, since I am a mage, but totally forget auto attacks do damage as well. Not much, compared to ther champs, but 100 dmg every second or so is 100 dmg more than just waiting on cooldowns.
Might seem painfully obvious, but I see other people do it as well.
honestly, this is the best HOTS youtube channel. Thank you man your just awesome for a player like me (Diamond 4) that want to improve; this is just so interesting. This is so nice from you to share to us your knowledge, I guess it has to be a bit difficult sometimes, it has to be like sharing the secret of a magic trick ...
Hey Guys, I was hearing complaints about the audio. I adjusted somethings is the audio good in this video?
Audio is better, i didn't have too much trouble with it before but def better. Keep up the good shit, I'm a fan.
Audio was good. Just that I don't think you fully understand and appreciate how humorous it is to see noobs going poof poof poof sharing and caring in low Elo games ;)
You broke him again....
Slight white noise, barely audible while you talk, noticeable between.
Suggestion/Question: Are you recording 5 seconds before you start talking and then use Audacity on that 5 second audio to trim out the background noise profile? It works pretty well on white noise and other repetitive background noise (like fans, rain, ac, electric hums).
Honest question as a low ranked KT player myself (a little over lvl 30 with him). How is Phoenix a zoning tool when its damage is so low? Whenever I play against Phoenix I just walk right thru it like it's nothing due to the low dmg.
7.30 Shield is Max Mana, not 100% of your health.
As an avid KT player here is my input:
1. Don't play KT as a solo laner... yeah, he might be a good lane bully like you suggested, but he is easily gankable.
2. Cooldowns while poking: yeah, he can poke well later in the game, but it is always a gamble, especially in unorganized play like hero league. KT is a burst caster, which means, he can very well 100->0 a squishy. So while poking is dandy vs the right comp, his biggest strength is following up on a tank play, thus deleting an enemy right away. Do not throw your cooldowns around just your spells are off CD.
3. KT is not as strong as you make him out to be. KT has no escapes. In the current meta, if a tank can get a hold of you, you are dead. This is the reason why people pick Maiev, Genji or even Jaina (iceblock) over KT.
4. Convection is super strong on some maps. In Braxxis e.g. it is my favorite choice, because you will have convection done at lvl 7 latest and it is super save.
5. Don't be afraid to pick Pyroblast. Against certain supports and heroes it is the best thing in the world. You lose the zoning of the bird, but you gain an instakill if your team follows up correctly. Use Pyroblast from bushes and/or make sure that no CC can reach you, the range is huge. Don't pick it vs Medivh though or KT will be very angry with you
6. In early game, you pick him for his waveclear. So do not waste your W for poke dmg. You will be part of the 4 man roaming team and the enemy will have a support with them, completely negating your puny W dmg. Your W is better used for waveclear.
7. One of the best roles for KT is "anti-followup". So if the enemy has a Kerrigan or a Garrosh, wait till the initiation is happening, then counter it with a traited E -> Q -> W, which is a lot of CC and massive dmg. Of course, for the love of the Nexus, please don't let them intiate on you. This goes in balance with 2.: If you poke, you are in range for tanks, which can break your whole game plan.
8. Use your trait on your E, it does not only give you a half second longer liftup, you can also lift up to 2 addtional heroes.
Good luck with my favorite hero
DunkelheitVZ Diamond here and although I knew everything said in the video + most of what you said KT is still one of my weaker heroes.
Mainly because I don't hit gravity laps often enough that is. ^^ But also the poke is so limited. The W range is worse than Vallas AA range. If I try to hit her she'll get 2-3 AAs, her Q and her W (not in that order) and then I need to tap well or b. Against ETC he'll Powerslide+AA+Face Smelt+2-3 more AAs and then heal back up with his E. Don't get me started with actual Solo laners like Thrall or Chen. I get a good safe sneaky W every 20-30s, but it should be every 6s and as I can't do that I lose the lane hard.
He's just a hard hero and I'm not good enough. I know I should rather be ganking with the squad, but for me Ming does that much better and she scales well enough so she can carry lategame too. Lvl 20 Wave of force has the most ridiculous peel in the game. If I play with friends who are 1000++ mmr below me I go Archon to preserve Mana during PvE and I carry these games even harder.
You named exactly the reasons why KT should not be in the solo lane. It might work in QM, but it certainly won't work in diamond hero league.
KT is amazing in a gank squad though. You just need a tank that can stun for you. After a stun it is easy to hit the follow up E and your dmg alone is close to kill a squishy from 100% to 0%. If you have a tracer with you or a genji, every time you hit your E on a squishy you have a very good chance of killing people.
I feel that all mages have fallen off a bit, Ming is no exception. But she is stronger than Kael, that is for sure. She shines in maps where there is a lot of Fog of War (BoE as an example) where she is able to flank accordingly. Kael shines when they try to roll over your team and you are able to use your traited E to counter this behaviour.
Thanks for this, been playing HotS since alpha and avoided Kael because I never learnt how to play him. Good read.
lol… no escape
Kel'thuzad is the real kt.
HOW AM I ONLY JUST STUMBLING ACROSS THIS CHANNEL?!
Love your style of vids, thank you!
NotParadox - your videos have really helped bring me back to the game and point out a lot of my incorrect builds, assumptions, and strategies. I appreciate you taking the time to put this videos together.
Love all your videos!
10:37 Oof, that one got me real good. My rib hurts.
I love going against a kt who picks convection. I've never seen an opponent finish it. ever.
Sometimes ppl don't realilze Pyropblast is not only a possible killing(or not) tool, but a skill that will take out of the fight an enemy in a tf,even when is not meant to kill. Throwed at the right moment, that target will stop doing anything else and focus on avoiding a pyroblast and sometimes those seconds will give the tf a twist. Running around doing time for cd to shield it, blink it, or something it takes out of the tf at least 2 enemies, the 1 target and the one helping him. Also it forces to use that shield or heal or blink for your pyro ergo they will not have it for the tf in a while.
So I think ppl that almost always use phoenix instead of pyro are also in a mistake, as phoenix is good use for some zoning and objective and interrupting or breaking tfs but many times also can be hardly ignored as it's damage is so low and spread if many enemies are going in and out.
Never looked hard at a convection build, always messed about with living bomb....gonna have to look into this
Another big mistake - Using trait on your Q in your E-Q combo
D-E for setting up combos/hitting multiple heroes/hitting heroes behind minions, as well as D-W for consistent and free poke/dps. Both of these options are much better than a large Q, which your opponents will walk out of anyway without the appropriate setup (i.e. from a D-E multi target stun).
Pretty much you shouldn't be using trait on your Q until you hit level 20 when you get flamethrower + many cooldown reduction talents, which allows you to more freely spam Q at long range for low cost poke/area denial/safe DPS.
I used to have KT's combo down which made KTZ's easy to learn. Loved playing KT. Need to get back into him as well.
Great tips, I'm playing KT quite a bit and just recently discovered the nice many uses of scaling "Mana-Addict". However on Pyroblast (in unranked) I see a lot of uses and tend to disagree with you. Phoenix doesn't seem to deter good players as much as it used to anymore, damage feels a bit lackluster to act as deterrent, very much like Raynors Yamato Ult. Pyro however is a great finishing or opener tool that puts their healer or ranged DPS on a death-timer. They need to expend valuable cooldowns or mitigate it with severe healing. If your team has great engage potential, finishing a focus target is a matter of 2-3 seconds (plus the AOE if you hit it in a cluster of enemies). Of course if they have Medivh or Morales in their team your tip is completely legit.
If you wanna clear the whole minion wave in one shot hit D -> W on mage -> Q on mage. The mage minion explodes and kills the rest instantly.
Yeah, I'm surprised he didn't say that.
Because he has other uses for W, as you saw in video.
Personally I really have the feeling, according to what I see in games, that people rarely use his E which for me is the key spell! It's so good! you can run away, set a trap, save allies with it. I just love it.
Thanks for the tips I'm a decent KT but now... we'll I'm going to be extinguishing a lot more flames.
My subscription is yours, master. Thank you very much.
Best regards.
The thing is KTs main job is do high burst dmg with flamestrike in fights(yes he can do nearly everything, clear waves, do camps, poke, stun, etc but what he does best is blow ppl up with high burst) so the bigger that burst, the better KT is. That is why with superior positioning, Convection is the only go to at least in Hero League. In Team league I get that you probably won't be able to complete it against a 100% coordinated well harmonized 5 man master+ team(even if you dont die it probably takes too long) but in Hero League I finish it in 9 out of 10 games on Master and win most of these(ending up MVP most times). At like level 16 with the quest completed, fs does over 800 dmg and with the 16 talent you have that twice. That is higher dmg than most ppls ults and enables you to even blow up ppl that have a support like Uther that would usually give armor but he won't heal 100% HP allies and if he doesn't, too late, boom, dead.
Mana Addict was my go to talent while learning him back few years ago and yes it is pretty damn good but Mana Tap at level 4 or a Malf on ur team is all you need for mana. And as mentioned you shouldn't need the shield in the first place. Also when you go for a W build(which I don't recommend as for the reason mentioned in the video, ppl arent as dumb as to run into each other with bombs on them) I see a lot of ppl going mana addict first and then twin spheres on 16 which is just too much. One of the two is enough to never have any mana problems and for me, Mana Tap at level 4 is enough to never have to hearth because of mana.
I love Kael'Thas, definitely my favorite mage. Mana Addict is legit insane and since the globe changes I choose it 100% of the time, even on BoE and Braxis
You can get a lot of globes on Braxis if you use the regen generator. I always pick globe talents there.
if I knew this video was %90 about ‘pick this talent instead of this’ I wouldn’t even click it
I learned alot from this video. I usually take lvl 1 talent as Fel Infusion and level 4 as mana tap to stay in lane for longer. Guess i got alot to learn still :p
That build works well for new players though, gives a lot of sustain and with double verdant spheres you can do a lot of damage with W (along with master of flames at 20).
It won't work at higher levels of play, but unless your win rate is starting to hurt you probably don't need to change your build just yet.
Learning the flow of the game and to look enough at the map is very important and easier to learn when your playing a comfortable hero/build.
I know Phonix is better, but PyroBOOM is easily the most fun you can have in a PvP game ever! Ever! BOOOOOMM!
The only reason not to pick Pyroblast is if you are playing seriously, which never happens. :P
phoenix is NOT better. Its 100% situational.
Phoenix doesn’t always hit. Pyroblast does.
if enemy team has no shields/immunity nor instant heals available, the pyro is a easy kill/massive aoe damage (if people stay close enough)
I pick pyro everytime and have a +85% winrate in ranked, I wait until they use the x heal or protect they have and boom, easy delete.
Pyroblast is funny when cast on a Valla.. and she’s running and I’m like.... “Bye Valla! It’s been fun!” And then she dies
Mana Addict's shield has saved me more than a few times lol... though if KT had a quick escape he would be soooooo broken.
As a gold-level player who enjoys playing Kael'thas a lot, I have ~63% winrate with him. I was always too tempted to pick Convection, Master of Flames and Pyroblast, and now that you mention, it might've costed me a few games. Master of flames only works well when my team plays defensively (taunting the enemy tanks to overextend), on narrow maps or against a composition with low mobility.
I have exact 75% winrate with Fenix, though, and that is purely because of his escape. While Kael'thas can potentially dish out more damage, his inability to deal with melee assassins can be a decisive factor in a game, so I tend to pick Fenix.
KT is my main with a 70% wr and I love him ;-). I use convection and rarely ever die so I don't feel as if I need the extra shield. I definitely like to use convection on Infernal shrines and braxis holdout because there are so many predictable places enemies will go to for an easy Q. Positioning decently and having good map awareness helps me from dying. I also have good mana management so I rarely ever have mana problems. However, the highest I've ever been was diamond 2, so I'm sure this will not work too well in masters, but I have no intention of going try hard.
Ty reaaally useful vid, i improved specially with the d-w tip.
Excellent video, keep this up man, even im plat-dia level, , i learned sth new. I will play way better next time
I knew there was a reason I didn't find KT interesting enough to play. It was because I was playing him wrong.
i really enjoy that video series ....keep up the good work :) !
Played Kael Since Alpha. Back then, W(living bomb) was so much more potent where you can do a double W.
Now W is the ONLY targeted spell that does damage, besides his piddly AA, so I cannot see how anyone playing Kael can make this "common mistake" with some experience.
The first thing in the rulebook is spam as many mana-less Ws on an enemy and save yr mana for Qs on towers/pool/keep or opportune strikes on enemies near their gates.
Now being wise to this, any decent player who played Kael themselves know this, and will move to avoid the casting range of W as Kael starts to move in towards you.
The skill gap in Kael is landing those gravity lapses, whether it be initiation, ganking, or defending. Using the trait on E is pretty powerful if you can use it well, but it's all about the CC in the higher levels of the game that make or break teamfights.
He was added later, so you couldn't play him in alpha.
You convinced me to try out mana addict but I still believe there are great cases where convection is good. I understand that you'll burn your mana quick but if you can place your q well you won't need much mana to destroy the team quick. Finally Pyroblast is a must have on healer or mage that don't have immune or immune in their team. I don't think there is 1 only way to play a char otherwise the game will be very bad built...
1.I'd rather sacrifice spheres than accidently wasting Q on wave and missing the half of wave
2.Living bomb is better because ppl dont react to living bomb that quickly,lvl 20 living bomb is better than flamestrike,plus it resets cd faster
The biggest mistake Kael'thas players make is not having someone in front of them. Stitches, Nova, Butcher, Illidan etc. all lick their lips when they see you in the line-up.
very well explained in this video. Love your style and will further check out your channel for sure. Thx
Haven't played KT in comp mode for a LONG time simply for the reason that he just dies to easily with no escape mechanisms.
Tried about 10+ games w this. Damage trick w the trait really did lend well to much more damage that I though. Still his immobility kinda makes him still bottom tier in com mode imo. High damage mage with permadeath built in ^^
Currently sitting in mid GM I don't pick this guy ever.
I'm totally with you with this video because, even if I already knew these things, you don't know how MANY times people make these mistakes when they pick KT.
Like seriously, I've seen multiple times people going convection vs a full dive comp like why do you want to die so much for 200 bonus damage if you'll ever end that quest man, and we both know you will not.
B0N3M4N Or just as bad stay back and do
When I usually pick mana addict I never get the 20 globes until late game. Like around level 17-20
As a GM player with KT as my most played hero, and I've been playing since HotS alpha, I know you are right. I've known mana addict is the right choice for, but greed is life and I still go Conviction cause I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF!!!
That is what the real Kaelthas would do
Honestly His reasoning isnt very sound to me. If you are landing Q enough to be consistently getting 2 second cooldowns on it then that enemy team is way dead before you run out of mana. "Its only 200damage" its 200 damage on an AOE spell that could hit up to 5 ppl and detonate twice as he said. So while unlikely the damage increase COULD be up to 2000 damage. But even just hitting 2 targets with the double Q talent is an extra 800 damage. Mana addict is a great talent dont get me wrong but he was definitely skewing some numbers.
Wow, i cant help myself either xD
Taking Pyroblast is such a big mistake playing quick match. Seems like these days 90% of Kael players are taking it even on maps where you have objectives to fight over and even when there are lots of heroes that can easily counter it. It is a prime example of players just playing to try and pad their KDA and not caring about winning objectives. Loved the rest of the tips too. Gonna try them out later today.
I pick KT because of Pyroblast alone. All the other things are just adds to me hehe. It's all about fun.
xD i was following almost all of this advice already, except the last one.
in case you were wondering i am the guy using verdant sphere heal for sustain purposes (let the wave of hate commence).
Hey, I got quite a good win streak with KT back when I started playing HotS thanks to the verdant sphere build.
It's always important to realise that pro game tactics often don't work for lower levels of play, in some cases it can be hard for a new player to even understand why it won't work.
Better to look for a build that works well for *yourself* and then look into how to become better rather than going with what is used in GM/Pro games and getting frustrated.
*What about Twin Spheres instead of Fury of the Sunwell at 16?*
I ask because that way I can spam much more empowered Qs with Flamethrower, what I wouldn't be able to do with Fury of the Sunwell.
Biggest reason I usually pick Convection? I hate having to chase after regen globes. XD
depending on team comp/map, you can get convection done by lv 7. my record was lv 4 but i dont think i can do that again. although my winrate with him is like i win when i get that done before lv 12 and lose when i dont lol.
The problem is your relative lack of escape, that means you need to play very safe to get the stacks, if you don't your saying to the enemy team, "hey if any one of you is better than our team, you win".
Essentially, you have to be better than the enemy at macro/map awareness or your throwing your stacks away.
psionic-storm.com/en/calculateur-de-talents/kaelthas/1-3-2-1-1-2-3/ This is the build I use. I do take convection bcs otherwise I feel like FS is not hitting hard enough in late game. The idea of this build is to build up and use flamestrike in early game and then use LB in mid and late game. Its like having your cake and eat it too. With this build I can have three LB on targets at a time(in late game) without having mana issues due to the double trait restoring mana. It really depends on the enemy team comp though. If theyre mostly melee who stick together this build is a dream. Even against non melee teams its still good cause honestly ppl are stupid and run into each other with living bomb. With three out at a time I can stand in the back and spread LB and FS all day without getting into the fray. My trick to this works esp well if you are against a team with a healer that requires their team to be close for heals like brightwing or kharazim or lucio.
Another tip using living bomb is to put it on towers esp in late game after you have the pyromaniac talent. If the enemy gets close enough when it explodes itll spread like wildfire. Plus it should restore your cool downs very quickly.
Great video, definitely trying this
don't know convection?! you don't know the power of the dark side....
I think this is the Video Pallytime watched to improve his Kael games....
So are you saying there's a correct build for him? It's not situational, does not depend on enemy heroes and their talents and the map?
you forgot the first mistake: picking such an op champion
Play for fun, not to win at all costs
Thanks for the tips ! Especially the w poke that I had yet to consider :)
Not sure if it is lv 7 talent but what do you think of cd on E ? A must take or no ?
The e cooldown talent is a level 4. I personally recommend the range talent over cooldown reduction. The range is just long enough to get those stuns that your team can't quite get. I guess if you have a taunt varian and your job is just to followup stuns, maybe try out the cooldown reduction.
Great vid! I've been abusing this for long.
But I do have a question, I ussually go for Mana Tap at level 4 instead of Nether Wind, mostly because I was used to find the early extra maná more helpful when I used to go convection.
Is the mana of Nether Wind comparable? I know the range is useful when phoenixing + D + E, but is the mana equivalent?
mana tap gives back like 20-40 mana, nether winds gives back 80 mana and gives you bonus range
the math is not that hard
Sure, but you have to save your E for ganks or escapes. The trait instead is something you use ussually.
Though with mana addict, you won't need more mana after the quest is done. It's only useful in the early, and can't compete against the added range.
But after the rework, energy roll is the talent to go imho, I have trapped people 3 times inside a Phoenix with the low CD.
Awesome vid!
Great video!
One question, you said to almost always pick phoenix over pyroblast, what are the cases you go pyro?
First I look at the map. Would 7 seconds of zoning give us an objective. Something like cursed hollow is a good example. I pick pheonix
Then I look at the comp, do they have someone who gives spell armor, invulnerability or burst heals who can save the enemies from pyro? If so, I pick pheonix
Finally I look at if pyro has a good target. If their team is really tanky I don't like pyro it's a long cooldown that might not even win a fight. But if the enemies have someone like lunara and their healer is a malfurion who can't guarantee his healing without playing agreessive. Toss a pyro on a lunara at half health and it's usually a kill.
If you are ahead at level 10 it can also be very strong. A 2 level lead is enough to one shot assassins in higher levels. So If the enemy has a valla and you hit 10 first, it is sometimes good to just 1 shot an enemy whenever they try to fight.
what about after his rework?
How about fel infusion
if kaelthas is that good why we don't see him in HGC at all?!
Hossein Maroufi Current meta, better picks, more impactful heroics, take your pick.
its been for a long time that we haven't see kaelthas and i can tell u why
kael spells are ez to dodge and he can ezly be targeted in the fights thats why we don't see kelthuzad aswell ( though he has incredible combo damage) but he is so vulnerable
d-e-q-w-r dodge this.
@@dushas9871 *literally dodges e* okay
@@DusanMadzarevic you can't dodge E, it can only be missed by kael.
#1 Kael mistake: taking any talent other than mana addict on 95% of maps. Convection and the other one are god awful. -,-
with ignite, flamestrike+Pyroblast instakills heroes like Hanzo and Valla if the healer isnt close so theres that too lol
Isn't it universal knowledge that you trait into Gravity Lapse? I personally never run out of mana as a K'T.
Convection is very rewarding if you have superb positioning and rarely die in this game. It doesn't have to scale at late game, naturally. That would make it OP. You already get the extra 200+200 damage at 16.
yes but is it as rewarding as having 1000HP shield and 100% more mana? You are trading your health and mana sustainability for 200 extra damage IF you finish the quest, and that's a big IF
Imagine having a 10 sec. invulnerability ability on Abathur. Not really helpful, right? If you know what you're doing and there is no dive threat, it's only natural to pick Convection. I personally never run out of mana after Lv. 4. You can farm mana endlessly with D+W combo. I take Convection all the time unless I see someone like Anub, Genji, Greymane on the enemy team.
tbh it feels like mana addict is strong because it allows you to make mistakes in positioning or take more agressive positions and thus deal more damage. It's mostly about the threat of a great shield that holds back enemies and if you get caught due to bad positioning or a mistake, you get a higher chance to survive.
So if you are able to deal a good amount of damage in a safe position, I agree that conviction is strong enough. As for mana, you can still go for the lvl 4 talent that provides you with 4% mana for every D you use. It might not be as great as like 100% extra mana, but it will always be enough to not go oom in a fight.
I'm not really one to chime in as i haven't really compared both, but I do know it can be misleading to base your build off of "potential damage" hinging your bet on targets lining up and being clumped for the 4-6 seconds it takes to do this mana depleting mega aoe... you may as well be advocating pyroblast.
Mana reserves for poke and the shield makes a lot of sense. Depends how hard engage your teamfights will be i guess.
Im still picking pyroblast the potential 4v5 is hard to pass up.
I agree with the last mistake, so true ♥
now i wanna play KT
>implying n00bs use trait+Q
>uses trait+Q after killing ETC
XD
If you go oom as Kael'thas you're not playing him right. I always go convection and its all about picking the right moment really. If you have a fight going past 20 sec anyway then your team combo probably dont fit very well with a Kaelthas anyway.
Mistake one: picking Kael'Thas if your name isnt Mene
Tfff i can play kael'thas in HOS?
1:37 FARTS ARE REFRESHED? WHAT?
The best way to beat/counter KT is.... well just ban him.
pyroblast is the only reason I play him lol ;)
if everything is clustered, nothing compares to bomb spec/bomb spreading, not even low flamestrike cd. easy math, since ur bomb ticks also reduce every cd through talent thats not even true at all. and even without reduced cd, bomb damage just spreading once full > every dmg ability. sure doesnt happen on high level, still ure wrong
second dont put bomb on etc/player when there are minions
convection shouldnt be considered anymore once u reach silver, common sense
What is your full build?
Mana Addict (for mana and shield), Range on e, % health on q, Pheonix usually, Lower cooldowns from w, Q hits twice and Flamethrower at 20 (For more and safer "Q"s.
Hey NotParadox! Please make a video “Why pro players dont plat Kael’thas” Pleaseeeeee
oh heck am i a GM? i already used/saw most of these when i played KT.
what rank are you?
mid masters. Was like 2 games from GM before reset, but got busy now I am a bit further and probably am going to wait for summer when I have more time.
BUT YOU ALWAYS GO PYROFUCKING BLAST BECAUSE ITS MAKE PEOPLE RAGE QUIT
it doesn't matter how much health you have, ADC's will ALWAYS wreck you. ALWAYS. take valla for example, it will take her a whole 2-3 seconds to shave off that 4k life because you don't have the armor to back it up. So yea, mana addict is shit
I like the video but i still feel like trying out new builds.
7:30 *100% of your Mana, right?
80% out of 25 games? Well that's surely representative. Unless there is a serious dive (Genji, Kerrigan) threat you should ALWAYS go for convection. Might also improve your positioning game. Same goes for pyro - if you can get reliable kills (no invuls, heal saves etc) with it there is literally NO reason to go phoenix. Use your fucking judgement, not "pro"-tips coming from a near-dead game with super low average skill level where being as high as gm means very little.
sounds to me like you are bronze and don't want anyone to tell you that your favorite talents are bad and will rage in the comments if you are wrong
Agreed
Did...did people really play kt like that? In 2018? That hurts me as someone who plays Kt as my main assassin.
You have a tremendous grasp of the obvious. All hail the King of Common Sense.
I love KT and now I can play better with him thanks to you, and I have a girlfriend but there is a better talent jajaja that sentence is a meme now
I want a 'Good Neighbor' KT skin. Basically KT as Mr. Rodgers, so he's super nice. Maybe a touch of Truman-show thrown in there, "Salami Neighbor, ha ha!".
Lord here comes the wave of people who think they can get some free wins. Good vid tho.
Well like the video talking about a lot of good things but referring win rates from a professional habitat and reflecting that on the hero power level into hero league is a bit silly. No such thing is Kealthas is strong late game hero most cases just an OK hero mostly bc Chromie exist and so many dive hero is in the meta atm, and will be more n more. Kaelthas only a valuable pick if chain CC but thats requires u to land an empowered E ALWAYS! Otherwise u just could pick Chromie instead and do 10 times more dmg in like 3 times as more safer than any other mage in the game.
First tip : dont pick convection
Thx from Belarus
Great stuff, now get him, thought he sucked before watching this, now love him.
Subscribing for more "mistakes on hero" videos.
6:06 you need to check your fb dude
hmm im a grandmaster KT apparently
I still think pyroblast is better
I love to go for Fel infusion and his other D traits. I get some spelldamage, heal and mana for laning and I really love that double sphere at lvl 16. So why do I not go for those builds that pros have 80% winrate with? Simple as that, my team is not as realiable as theirs. It depends a lot on myself, wether I know how to position myself and when to cast which spell, but my team is a great factor in when those situations come up. Now when I don't get the chance to go in those favourable positions, because my team doesn't zone or pressure the enemy or doesn't provide protection, I most likely won't be able to pull those high damage combos off. This is why I prefer to chose talents that provide less, but safe damage, unless I'm sure that my team and me are able to grant me favourable positions and good damage output.
6:06 facebook trap