How to play Kel'thuzad

General Discussion
1

I’m trying to learn him. Currently the only games I can seem to have a good impact is where I have a front line bruiser or a tank of some sort if not I feel completely useless.

I looked at my game history, whenever I go against tracer, nova, or zeratul and we have no front line I literally die within pressing 1 button.

Are there any KTZ masters that can give some tips? I can only play QM btw because the population isnt big enough where I am.

The issue isn’t when there is a normal comp of healer + some sort of front line. But how to play a good KTZ when they have all divers + front line and we have none, which happens very often in QM

Edit: just had a game it was me KTZ, BW, Valeera, Kalthas, Guldan vs Nova, Tracer, Alarak, Thrall, and Kharazim and I could not do anything.

2

KT is “connect the dots hard mode”.

I think @Darhide is your person tho.

But against divers, go as many point’n’click CC (slow, root Heroic) as possible.
I’d also recommend his mobility talent.
Also use your W against dives, don’t use it aggressively imo.

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3

easy just dont. plz stop ruining people fun time with this bad hero. if they have ktz gg we win if we have him it’s a lose for us. i played ranked platinum the yesterday and one if my team m8 picked ktz and i thought hey we are at platinum so he must be very good ktz player, finally i can see a good ktz player but guess what? i swear to god he was the lowest dps in both teams worst than healers like holy $%&%.

4

I’d say to duo with a peel tank to make your game play less frustrating.
He has no escape and needs setups if you’re not a Ktz main.

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5

Hewwo. Level 494 KTZ main here to help you with all your lich-related needs. I’ve got close to a 62% WR with him in QM.

So from what I am understanding , you are not having problems with executing his abilities, but being effective in situations that involve no front line?

So here’s the thing about Kel’thuzad: He is very, very dependent on his front line in order to be effective. Without them, he will struggle as he requires getting dangerously close to perform his combos. Getting caught also happens more frequently and since you have no escape until 20 you’re likely going to die with no peels. Additionally, they can also serve to help set enemies up for you to combo. I never, ever play KTZ without a tank or a bruiser hero on my team. You’ll much more frequently have a bad time if you do.

My advice would be to do the same: Do not ever play Kel’thuzad without a tank or bruiser hero on your team.

As for dive heroes, well KTZ’s most common counters are dive heroes and often requires his team to protect him from them. However, you cannot anticipate going up against dive heroes in QM as you would a draft game. What I like to do in these situations is go one of two of my “anti-dive builds”.

Now, I say “anti-dive”, but in reality against most of his biggest counters, and especially against the people that really know how to ruin his day, these builds will only serve to help mitigate their impact and increase your chances of survival.

With that said, here are the two builds:
The “Melt it down if it comes near me” build [T1211324,KelThuzad]
This is the one I most commonly take when I’m countered by most things. I always take it against Medivh for example.

The “Get the $#%@ away from me” build [T2321323,KelThuzad]
I mostly only take this when I see Genji, Zeratul or Tracer.

Sometimes I’ll deviate a bit from each if the need arises, like taking Armor against Illidan in a Q build, but those are generally my go-to builds against my counters.

The most important aspect of these two builds is Frost Blast, Kel’thuzad’s point-and-click root. Many people assume that if they just pop their only Unstoppable or cleanse after I’ve used my chain, they’re safe. This ult helps solve that by increasing the amount of get-out-of-jail cards they need to escape. Tracer used Recall? With full stacks, if she’s still close enough she’s dead. If you’re skilled enough, with the right timing you can also use Frost Blast to force her to recall so that you can combo her from her recall location, since the rest of your abilities should still be off cooldown.

Being smart about when to use it is very important, as there are many things that can negate it altogether. Typically you’ll want to try and wait or bait out their get-out-of-jail cards. However, it has a fairly low cooldown for an ultimate which leaves a lot of freedom for when you decide to use it, even if it’s just to escape. It won’t usually help kill a very good Zeratul (he’ll just teleport like 3 screens away before it hits him), but if you pop it quick enough it will at least get him off of you for the time being so you can potentially survive.

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Hey thank you for taking your time for a really detailed reply, really appreciate that.

Yes, since I’m a solo player my only issue is when I’m playing very often there’s no front line, and going against nova, or even thrall becomes dangerous.

When I have front line, I’m pretty dangerous as i don’t miss too many combos.

I will take all of those tips! I was in a few games abs players were cursing me out that I didn’t do enough damage. I don’t want to blame team comp but I want sure what to do with when I’m getting hunter by illidan and nova triple tapping me at the same time.

Unfortunately I do not have the luxury of having tanks but sometimes I do party with a friend. Solo q ktz tanked my winrate lol from 52% to 50% but I’m having fun just practicing and wining a few games where I have front line and losing when I don’t.

Overall, so much fun !

7

I have 0 experience with KTZ myself, but I can share some thoughts from the opposite side - a level 205 Lunara, who specialises at hunting mages. KTZ is one of the easiest enemies for me to face and I gladly focus him anytime I play against KTZ. Expect Lunara to do so.

Watch Lunara build. If she goes for Leaping Strike, she has 2 charges of Unstoppable and is likely to time them to absorb your CCs. If she go for Greater Spell Shield, she will absorb your damage. If she goes for Abolish Magic, she can cleanse your CC but also can cleanse somebody else. She’s one of the worst enemies for KTZ to face.

How to play against Lunara? I found the only way for enemy KTZs to survive me - play from afar, and hide behind anybody. I remember one particular KTZ player with absolutely no frontline [all mages and Alextrasza], but was balancing on the very edge of his skillshot range for entire match. We was going in, tossing chains or whatever and immediately going out. He was certainly aware that Leaping Strike has limited range and he was always sticking to anybody from his team. I killed him only once in the entire match o__O.

Hard but doable.

If Lunara picked none of those talents, you have a deer for breakfast. Unfortunately for ya, majority of Lunara players will go for at least Leaping Strike. Don’t lane against Lunara. Just never do this. A couple AAs + toxin is more then enough to kill you, and even if you hide beyond your gate, you’re likely to die from DoT on the way to your sippy.

Rest of tips is generic, and applies to other mages as well.

Never go alone. Try to encourage your team to deathball and always stay with somebody. Illidans, Qhiras, Tracers etc. will often go alone trying to flank and gank exposed targets but KTZ and basically any second hero will be way harder for them to deal with in 2vs1. They often won’t risk. If you go against Qhira and Tracer, keep moving! Don’t stay in one place. There is high chance that Qhira will fail to land her Revolving Sweep. Same thing is likely to happen with Tracer’s bomb.

Don’t try to land your combos on Tracer. You won’t land them. Stutter-step towards your fortifications while AAing her. Try to track her position and AA her before she engage. 2-3 AAs are usually enough to force her to withdraw. She’s that squishy.

If Nova is the only annoying hero in the enemy team, watch your flanks. Keep yourself closer to your buildings to have something to hide from Triple Tap… Including your teammates :]. Both ults are effective against Nova, because if she Triple Tap you, she’s revealed. Shadow Fissure will bite a decent chunk of her HP bar, as she will be anchored for Triple Tap channeling. If Frost Blast lands, it’s even better as everybody knows where she is and she’s rooted. Even if you die, she will probably also die from backlash of your teammates.

And… Your “iceberg” is really scary. I see KTZs setting them just to scare their enemies. Even with my magehunter Lunara build, I won’t engage threatened this way, if I see KTZ is good. Lun with GSS will survive even if you time your chain before she use Leaping Strike [it’s possible due to LS range], but that should be enough for you to escape.

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8

Playing ktz without any beefy bois to protect you is a drag, having to play it safe and stay back. Once you’re comfortable playing him, though, you can try to bait them if you have spike up. If you manage to get them to chase after you, it’s generally easier to hit em with chains and follow up with the spike (get em off you or just straight go for the kill if the stun lands).

Random kinda unrelated fun fact: you can chain nova to her clones and mess her up and that’s always fun. And other people to her clones. Nova clones are free targets, it’s a party

If you know Zeratul is on the other team, and this sounds obvious, but just always look for him and keep him at a heavy distance. For most of these divey heroes, wait til they target a team mate and then peel for em cause otherwise it’ll be more dangerous/difficult to hit anything. Glue your fragile skele body to towers or team mates and don’t let them near you to force them to engage something else. If the whole enemy team is divey… it’s just not your day. Try to hit q’s to whittle them down and save the chains or root (if you can’t see yourself actually landing them in the moment) for potential dives.

I haven’t played him in a long time so I hope I’m not spinning any inaccurate tales for ya but good luck to you sire uwu

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9

This is actualy the case for many mages, because they many times lack self defense when chased. Their abilities are delayed and plenty of times easier to dodge than others. KT has the advantage that his E is a stun that is easier to hit at point blank, and has a shield to defend himself. But when it comes down to it, that simply wont be enough against dive.

I think for KTZ the most important self defense part is to get the spike ASAP. Just the presence of the spike does a lot. If you have to retreat and that spike is coming up, it can be enough reason to stay back as even for dive a full KTZ combo is painful. And all KTZ then has to do is placing the spike near himself in order to use that as the zoning tool.

Its not a guarantee and plenty of divers will ignore it, but thats where reliability of hitting helps. If you show reliable hitting, it will make the danger clear.

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10

First thou need to learn how to play the piano, then practice on a druid from Warcraft, and then thou can already play on Ktz :joy: :rofl: :rofl: :joy: :joy: :rofl:

By the way, we are Russians, we love to joke, including over ourselves, and we adore black humor too :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

11

While we’re on the topic of making safe plays, you can place your glacial spike in a bush and enemies won’t be able to see it. It makes for really great ambushes provided you have the vision. However, they might be able to see the animation of your chains that are on the spike from the fog of war (they may have changed this from when I tested it) so I always like to place the chain only when I’ve decided to fire.

I love killing Nova with her own clones. Though it’s not nearly as satisfying as murdering D.Va with her own mech as she’s self-destructing.

12

I never get why dva player fells the explotion zone is a safe zone for her to stay.

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13

Yes hello I have a tip

Play draft mode.

Suddenly alot more of the roster can be enjoyed.

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Draft mode isnt an option in my region, there’s not enough players.

Thank you all for responding. I’ve taken some of the tips and hAve been doing better.

I perform much better with the root ultimate.

15

1.You rename yourself Kel tuzad
2.Select him
3.Press ready

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