In depth guide to the Lich (now with video) by Tastybread

In depth guide to the Lich (now with video)

By: Tastybread
Last Updated: Apr 27, 2022
32 Votes
Build 1 of 3

Kel'Thuzad

Build: Q-build

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Kel'Thuzad

Build: E-build

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Kel'Thuzad

Build: W-build

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

I got him in Brawl, just give me the tl;dr Top

- Burst DMG mage with low HP
- Stack your passive ASAP
- Spam Q like there is no tomorrow
- Combos to maximize DMG output (add a Q whenever possible)
    E->W->E
    E->R->W->E

Re-Introduction Top

Maybe you got your *** wooped last game by a Kel’Thuzad and decided you gonna do some *** woopin yourself.

So who am I to tell you something about how a hero should be played? I honestly don’t care much how you play him but if you want to shorten the learning curve with this hero you can take some advice from me. My IGN is Tastybread and I peaked at masters (now plat after a long hiatus)and play KTZ most of the time if the team comp allows it.
KTZ is a caster/mage/ranged assassin or w/e you want to call it nowadays. If you manage to land your combos, he provides for some great catching potential and a good amount of AoE DMG+CC in form of roots. Most of the time you will have to adapt one or two talents according to the enemy picks and what your team needs. His talent choices give him great flexibility in this regard.

Patch-related changes of 27th September Top

See what's new
And here is the longer version:

Vitals
Health increased from 1445 to 1490.
Health regeneration increased from 3.01 to 3.10.

Yeah, well. Those baseline stats are nice, but nothing noteworthy imo.


Glacial Spike
Damage increased from 60 to 70.
This does very little. The Glacial Spike is used for utilities sake as I see it. But I will do some test runs to see, if there are situations where picking glacial traits could make sense.


Level 7 Ice Cold
Bonus cooldown reduction increased from 8 to 10 seconds.
So yeah, I will try out, how well this works with the baseline buff to the damage. As of now I still think this is the worst talent you could pick at lvl. 7


Level 13 Icy Grasp
Bonus cooldown reduction per Basic Attack increased from .5 to .75 seconds.
I played around with this trait some time ago, it was okay but couldn't compete with the others. I will give this a few testruns as well.

PROs and CONs Top

+good dmg burst (given you completed Master of the Cold Dark somewhere along the game)
+very high skill ceiling with lots of extra abilities
+good wave clear
+very high killing potential / catch potential
+honestly just really rewarding when you pull off a sick combo


-relies heavily on his team
-relatively short range of Chains of Kel'Thuzad which starts your combos
-meager DMG until you completed Master of the Cold Dark
-absolutely no mobility until Lvl 20 with Shifting Malice
-easily outpicked when drafted first
-can't really play around an objective other than stalling with Shadow Fissure

The Lich's tools Top



It has a 5sec CD and costs you 20 Mana. Spam it in laning phase every time you feel like pushing. Unless you go for Accelerated Decay at Lvl 7 it's an okay spell for its low CD and neglectable mana cost. Your bread and butter DMG spell if you decide to go for a Death and Decay build.

One of your bread and butter skills. Roots with this give you stacks for your Master of the Cold Dark in the beginning. Later it provides CC and DMG for your combo.

This is the skill that made me fall in love with KTZ. Gives you stacks for your Master of the Cold Dark in the early game. Becomes more useful the more you play this hero. Can be cast onto Glacial Spike as 1st or second target. The enemy will then be pulled toward your Glacial Spike. The range on Chains of Kel'Thuzad is pretty short and lures you to overextend.

With the nerfs to Shadow Fissure it's worth a look again. The potential of this ult is immense IF your team can finish off the enemys caught in your combo. I would recommend this only to players that already have a good grasp on the hero.


The final piece in your DMG-combo. High burst DMG, low CD with only 45 Mana cheaper than most of your other spells. Since it needs 1.5 seconds to explode, hitting it reliably requires you to hit your basic skills in a specific order. Otherwise it can be used to delay objectives that need channeling, herding enemies away from choke points or sniping fleeing strugglers. This will become more useful the more you play KTZ and can anticipate enemy movement.

This is what makes KTZ snowball hard or be useless for the whole game. Once you have 15 stacks on Master of the Cold Dark your Glacial Spike is unlocked which also enables you to solo lane if neccessary. But before you generally don't want to play a lane with just one opponent since you can't stack effectively. You usually should be aiming to complete your quest before Lvl 10 since you will have unlocked your full burst potential and profit from 75% free spell power. If you can't, don't panic. In higher ELO enemies will tend to juke better or in Quickmatch your team doesn't have a frontline to set you up. Just remember the earlier you manage to complete Master of the Cold Dark the sooner you you have a power spike.


Unlocked once you get 15 stacks on Master of the Cold Dark. Can be used to block choke points. Can be used as a target for your Chains of Kel'Thuzad which pulls the enemy hero all the way to the spike. The high CD can punish you greatly if you don't hit a combo. The DMG of it is neglegtable. Gives you a good amount of flexibility if you get creative with it.

Explaining the "beginners" build Top

Blighted Frost : Whether or not you stack quickly, this gives you a boost in dmg upfront and better cc when you eventually finish your quest

Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad:Another quest...I know. But you can do it on the side and it helps somewhat if you make mistakes with spellvamp and a revive. Plus it's one less active spell you have to worry about.

Chilling Touch : The slow down helps you to hit your chain easier.

Shadow Fissure : It's the easier ult to utilize of the both. After the row of nerfs it's arguably not the strongest one anymore.

Chain-Link : This could helps you to have even more disruptive power in teamfights when you hit your first rotation. Plus it has some nice synnergy with your lvl 16

Power of Icecrown : Amps up your already high dmg

Might of the Scourge : The easiest lvl 20 but probably the weakest as well. It's rather gimmicky tbh. The reason i still recommend it is that you are trying to learn the hero. Every other alternative means another active ability you have to manage.

Your first goal is to reliably hit your Chains of Kel'Thuzad then to integrate your Frost Nova and later to integrate Shadow Fissure and Death and Decay. Remember that D&D is the only spell that can't be animation cancelled, so always cast this last in a combo.
What to change while improving: slowly start picking more of the active abilities, like Armor of the Archlich at lvl 4 and any other talent at lvl 20. Get comfortable with utilizing 7 spells at once.

Explaining my regular build Top

The Plaguelands : This trait will feel counter-intuitive in the beginning. It doesnt do much if the enemy keeps walking out of it. But it gives you better wave and camp clear. Remember we are in it for the endgame.

Armor of the Archlich or Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad are both viable options in this build. If you have half decent teammates that peel for you pick phylactery.

Accelerated Decay : This makes your Q-spell a nightmare for every frontline. Staying in the pool will hurt a lot. The Plaguelands has a very good synnergy with this The Damned Return has crazy synergy with this, since both pools profit from each this trait.

Frost Blast : This can be used to initiate and to peel or use it at the end of your combo to ensure a longer combo. Depends on the situation you are in.

chain link : As long as you manage to hit your chains you have can stun enemies even between combo rotations, but. Chains of Ice don't make a lot of sense imo. The slow this trait provides only comes in handy if you miss every other CC spell that would follow up in your combo.

Power of Icecrown : Seems pretty obvious since you will stack easily with the amount of CC in your kit.

The Damned Return : This is the best storm talent of KTZ. The others are useful in some situations but every talent choice in this build was catered to this so you better pick it. Just outright doubles the DMG output of Death and Decay and Accelerated Decay when you allign both pools. Helps with clearing, sieging, melting tanks, melting squishies.

The reason this is my regular build is that it excels at making catches and still providing your team with lots of DMG in the later stages of the game. The only problem is that you really have to have a firm grasp on what you can and can't do with the hero.

Explaining the quick burst build aka in and out Top

It is very similar to the beginners build. The reason is that it works in QM.
Your phylactery helps if you don't have a healer but can be replaced by armor if the enemy team has divers or the map doesn't allow for quick orb collecting.
Your fissure is quick DMG and helps to burst away when the enemy team has a lots oft soft targets.
Shifting Malice could be replaced by The Damned Return, either is fine depending on whether you get enough peel or not

This is just easily accecible DMG. It works on less than optimal team comps. Interchangeable talents can help you with shortcomings of your own team. This build falls apart real quick against a double frontline or specific healers or medivh because it offers little else than DMG. If you can't burst down the enemy diving you, yo are done for

The basic Combos of a build with Shadow Fissure (now with footage) Top

Finally I sat down and recorded some combos. Since I am not that into editing you will hear some metal music in the background (Bottom Feeder by Parkway Drive). These combos will get progressively more complex. Since Death and Decay is the only spell you can't animation cancel the sequence of the input is crucial for most combos.

E->E

E->W->E

E->W->E->Q


[https://youtu.be/eM8OaYS4ytU]

E->R->W->E

E->R->W->E->Q

E->R->3(stands for The Damned Return)->W->E->Q

Combos with Glacial Spike (advanced) Top

Now while some might argue against opening with your Glacial Spike because it telegraphs your combo, I would encourage you to give it a shot. If you place the Glacial Spike at maximum range and wait half a second, you can then blast away with your combo. Sure, you still have to anticipate the enemy's movement to do that but it leaves little time for the enemy between the Glacial Spike forming and the incoming chains.

1(stands for Glacial Spike)->E

1->E->W->E

1->E->W->E->Q

1->E->R->W->E


Forgot to record this one but if you are at this point, you should get the gist ;-)

1->E->R->3->W->E->Q

The Combos of a build with Frost blast Top

Frost Blast is best used as a means to prolong the time an enemy is CCd. So you would cast it after your basic combo rotation. If you initiate with it the risk of the enemy running away or otherwise countering it are high.

E->W->E->R->Q->AA


/hots/wiki/abilities/the-damned-return

Going through the trait selection Top

Tier 1

The Plaguelands This became more viable in my eyes when I started to experiment more with Frost Blast builds. If you pick this one you have to commit to a D&D build ( Accelerated Decay and The Damned Return) to max the potential.

Blighted Frost It's cool and does, what it's supposed to. Gives you some more dmg and a little bit more CC.

Barbed Chains This is your weapon of choice against a squishy setup or a solotank like E.T.C.. Pairs nicely with the full burst setup, taking Shadow Fissure at 10.

Tier 2
Strip Shields I honestly can't recommend it. Since you start all of your combos with Chains of Kel'Thuzad you only profit from gaining a shield since most heroes won't preemptively cast their shield abilities until you hit your chains.

Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad Good choice. Once achieved you have some form of self sustain for when you don't have a healer in quick match. Otherwise you can skip long death timers in the late game which can decide the match. Consider the charges are consumed after activating and you need to recollet orbs.

Armor of the Archlich Becomes a lot better, now that assassins without a cleanse or multiple jumps like Tracer can be peeled off by slowing them after they used their gap closer. In addition it gives you armor which can make you beefier than the assassin anticipated.

Tier 3
Accelerated Decay The only reason to choose this is because you took The Plaguelands at LvL 1. Otherwise it isn't as optimal.

Chilling Touch is a choice you can't go wrong with. Taking it makes it easier to hit the enemy with your Chains of Kel'Thuzad. Also helps to peel and gives you a stack for your Power of Icecrown.

Ice Cold There is no reason why you would ever go for this. EVER.

Tier 4
Frost Blast with a buff to the travel time this spell became so much mor versatile than before. Plus CC is always nice. Remember that this ult for itself means a huge decrease in DMG output in comparison.

Shadow Fissure this is the final piece needed for the high single-target damage combos. If your map awareness allows it you can stall objectives on maps like Towers of Doom or herd fleeing enemies that run into a choke point.

Tier 5
Icy Grasp This synergizes well with the D&D build imo. Every tick of DMG lowers the CD which makes it almost immediately availiable after your first rotation.

Chains of Ice This makes no sense at all for me since the slow crosses with the snare duration of Frost Nova. The only reason to pick this is if you want to land Shadow Fissure without the usage of Frost Nova.

Chain-Link makes your Chains of Kel'Thuzad spammable, given you hit enemies with it. Can help disrupting the enemy frontline nicely. Ramps the stacks on your Power of Icecrown in a single teamfight before unleashing a whole combo.

Tier 6
Arcane Echoes can make your Death and Decay spammable given you hit enemy heroes with it. Not recommended imo since it doesn't get triggered by the D&D from your The Damned Return.

Hungering Cold great synergy with Death and Decay gives you a little bonus on thoses DMG ticks. relies on you hitting your Frost Nova or skilling Frost Blast.

Power of Icecrown is the best option here, especially for long fights. Problem is not all of your spells in your first rotation profit from it. If you took Chilling Touch you get the first stack by AA before going ham, also real nice synnergy with Chain-Link. The increase of ability power is appied in real time as far as my testing goes.

Tier 7
This is where you decide what you need, depending on how your team played so far

Deathchill THis is rather gimmicky. Sure you can wipe a whole team within seconds and it feels amazing to pull off. The thing is that you rely on your team setting up, the map having lots of chokepoints and a drop in DMG if you don't kill someone in time. I think it's best if you are in the lead already and the enemy team didn't reach 20 yet.

Might of the Scourge is what I started with when i picked up KTZ. This was a fun choice for 20 and situationally recommended but now that hitting a Shadow Fissure doesn't completely reset the CD it's only recommended for people who start picking up KTZ because it doesn't give you another new active ability like Shifting Malice and The Damned Return

Shifting Malice gives great mobility for the cost of DMG. If your team just seems to be unable to even peel an orange I would highly recommend taking this talent. On the other hand it gives you immense kill pressure on unsuspecting enemies with low mobility. Shifting Malice to get in range of Chains of Kel'Thuzad and combo away.

The Damned Return is a god tier talent if you can trust your team to do their jobs. Practically doubles your DMG on Death and Decay. Clear camps in a matter of seconds, siege from afar, clear waves like nothing
It is essential to integrate it into your combo rotation for spicy extra DMG

Synergies Top

Frontline
Basically anything that can set up your combos and help peel if neccessary. E.g.: Mal'Ganis, E.T.C. ( if he doesn't randomly face melt), Varian with taunt, Muradin

Healer
In general most healers work with KTZ. When it comes to displacement spells, they should be careful. Looking at you Lúcio or Lt. Morales. They should either help you to peel or provide additional CC.
E.g.: Ana, Malfurion, deckard cain

other damage dealers
Lots of assassins work with KTZ, best case they provide the sustained DMG throughout your weaker early game and help finishing off enemys you caught in a combo.

Your game plan Top

- your early goal should be to stack your Master of the Cold DarkASAP
- try to always follow the tank or healer when you want to roam since you are helpless early
- you can do the easy camps solo at a decent pace, but you will need to spend mana and will be an easy
pick-off for roaming enemys

- your mid and late game is pretty straight forward. Your strentgh lies in teamfights and catching enemies
who are out of position
- since you are still a very easy target try to stick to your team as much as possible
- this is what makes him so team reliant. Solo soaking or holding an objective solo will be a risk that
will most likely get you killed
- if you went for a plaguelands build you can clear camps really fast at lvl20. Even solo you can take
camps super fast, making them less risky to take solo

General Advice Top

- Using smart cast is really recommended on all spells to shorten the reaction time your enemy has. If you start playing KTZ I would consider not using smart cast on the first instance of your E to get a feeling for its range.

- You can get stacks for Master of the Cold Dark by hitting your E on the Dragon Knight or The Protector. You can also use this to start a combo. The vehicle will then act like Glacial Spike and the hero will be pulled all the way towards it.

- If you have difficulties with stacking, try to focus on hitting the second instance of your E and only afterwards on integrating your W.

-If you combo, always cast W before Q since you can't cancel the animation of Death and Decay but casting Frost Nova is instantanious.

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