Salama A'shalanorei! Kael'thas the fire mage by Ynozzar

Salama A'shalanorei! Kael'thas the fire mage

By: Ynozzar
Last Updated: May 14, 2015
8 Votes
Build 1 of 2

Kael'thas

Build: Living Bomb

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

Threats to Kael'thas with this build

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Threat Hero Notes
1
Chen He's not really a threat to you, but he's extremely annoying with his shields. In any case, when he starts drinking, you can CC him, which makes the fights easy, even if it's hard to beat him, he doesn't have the tools to get you.
2
Uther In lane or 1v1 you'll have free harrass, and he will never catch you. Not only he has less range on his CC, your CC last longer. In teamfights you should not be near him in order to not get stunned by Divine Storm.
3
Azmodan If you're careful he can't really beat you, but it will be hard for you to beat him too. In any case, your focus should be his minions, and harrass him. He's tanky so don't all-in if you're not really sure you'll get him.
4
Abathur Take care of his Symbionte, he can dish out nice damage without you even noticing. If he goes support build, it will make your life harder overall, but it's reasonably easy to overcome. If he goes Swarm build, you'll need to have extra care with his minions. The good news is you can burst his Monstrosity really fast, and if you happen to find him, well I guess everyone knows how the film ends.
5
Sgt. Hammer Even if she has high damage, if you engage on her all-in, you'll win. The only real problem is lingering around his range without hitting her. Be really aware if she picks Hover Siege Mode, even if slow, the movement will be a huge problem.
6
The Lost Vikings A bit of a complicated match-up here. The three together will be a pain in the ass. But your Living Bomb will bounce between them gently enough. Also, your pyro will OHKO Erik and Baelog. Be aware of his Longboat Raid, as it will replace them with a full-health rampaging drakkar.
7
Jaina Jaina's an assassin like you, but her damage comes all from her basic kit, which makes her win if you fight. Moreover, if she picks Ice Block, she'll be able to survive your pyro, or your flamestrike, which is bad news for you. Luckily, if you keep doing fast trades and avoid at least one wave of blizzard, you'll end up winning.
7
Illidan If you encounter him 1v1, you should be able to CC and burst him down. Be wary of his jumps, so you don't waste your CD's into them. And if you're in a teamfight, he will be a pain in the ass.
7
Tassadar Even if he's a support, you won't be able to burst him down, and he's got nice damage, so you should avoid extended fights with him, just keep popping your CD's when available.
8
Nova In a 1v1 fight you should be able to cc her and burst her down. But if she picks on you from stealth you're pretty much done, specially since she can ult you down before you finish casting pyro (in case you have the time to start it).
8
Zeratul As most assassins, you could burst him down. But he'll initate on you from stealth 90% of the time, which is really bad for you. If you can CC him, maybe you'll be able to get enough damage out, but even it will be hard to do, and half the times you'll die too.
8
Sylvanas Two words: Black Arrow. If she hits you, you're dead. Anyways, you can still burst her down fast enough.
8
Stitches Luckily enough, his range is really close, so you can mantain your distance. But if he pulls you, you're better off saying goodbye already.
8
Arthas He has various CC's, but he can't stun-lock you to death, so you'll just need to be wary of his howling blast.
9
Sonya She has high damage, double CC, and is tanky enough to survive your kit. With Arreat Crater she'll destroy you if you don't have Bolt up. At least you can escape from her.
9
Tyrael Without his ult, he's a pain, but you can manage him enough. If he picks Judgement (and he will), you have no way to escape his engage.
10
E.T.C. He's a tank, so he can take all your CD twice or thrice, while hitting hard on you. The real problem here is his mobility. He can dodge your flamestrike and pop right into your face, following with a knock-out, putting you on a bad position. And if he hits you with his ult and he's not alone, you're pretty much dead.
10
Muradin Hits hard, double CC, and you won't kill him in ages, even less if he picks First Aid.
10
Diablo He can charge into you, flinge you, stun you, and deal a reasonable amount of damage. In any case, he can initiate into you without much effort, and then throw you back into his turrets or allies, which is bad in any situation or moment of the game.

Kael'thas

Build: Flamestrike

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

Introduction Top

Hello fellow players!

I'm Ynozzar, I've been playing HotS since the technical alpha, and although at the start I did it really casually, lately my dedication hours have increased significantly.

I've played other MOBAs and MMOs for a long time, so even if I'm not a world championship player, I'm neither new to this. And, after playing non-stop with Kael'thas since the champion release, I'm pretty confident I found my personal way of playing him, and I kind of believe is really competitive, and thus I wanted to share it with all of you, specially since I don't really like the only "high liked" guide that now exists for him.

Oh, and I love fire mages in wow, Living bomb was my favortie skill, so when I saw Kael'thas kit, it was a no-brainer.

Builds Top

The Scourge devoured our ancient homeland of Quel'Thalas. The once-proud bloodline of my people is nearly spent. The few of us that remain now call ourselves blood elves, in homage to our murdered people.

So, there's two builds. The first one (Living Bomb) is the one I always use, and the one for which the guide is built. Flamestrike build is another fun way to play Kael'thas, but is much less reliable.


Living Bomb - Balanced Build


With this build we prioritze the use of Living Bomb. Adding all up, it does more damage on explosion, and spreads to nearby enemies when exploding. Therefore our objective is to be moderately close to the enemy (don't melee a diablo, seriously), so we can bomb the enemy and apply the bomb to everyone.

This can be achieved in two ways; first of all, using the passive to double-bomb one character. Therefore, everyone in the radius gets the damage from the explosion, and then everyone has a living bomb onto them. Once the primary target bomb explodes, all other people will have a second bomb on them. Note that only the bombs you cast can spread, it would be too awesome if spreaded bombs could spread.

The other way to bomb 'em, is to bomb different persons. If everyone would stand still and in range, this would do more damage, as you let the bombs tick, and then the original targets get both bomb-spreaded. But as this won't usually happen, you should aim for the first trick. Maybe if the enemy team is fighting a boss or something, you should go this way.

Then, the rest of the talent choices are done to improve survivability and play-making. More info on the talents themselves.


Flamestrike - Glass Cannon Build


The emphasis on this build is to nuke from afar with Flamestrike and Pyroblast. To help achieve this, the build sacrifices all survivability traits to invest the points into damage and range. Note that neter-wind helps a lot when trying to stay afar. This would be a more hit-and-run build, with a playstyle totally different than the living bomb build.

Basic Abilities Top

A magical sphere belonging to the lord of the blood elves.

You can use your trait to empower your next skill. It has only 6 seconds cooldown, so it's advised to abuse it as much as you can!
Felomin ashal!

You target an area, and after a short delay (0.5 seconds I believe), you deal some nice damage. Note that the delay is longer than it seems. And, as all areas in HotS, its effective area is a bit larger than what it's drawn on the floor.

With Verdant Spheres, it increases the area and damage by 50%. The area increase is huge, and the damage increase is nice, but not that huge honestly. In any case, this gives you extra reach to kill escaping targets, or prevent enemies from channeling (doubloons, jewels, tributes, etc). This should be the only time you use flamestrike this way, once you have Chain Bomb. Before that, the damage increase is nice.
This was child's play.

You target an enemy, and put them ablaze. A DoT ticks for three seconds, doing a bit less damage than Flamestrike, but in the end, it explodes, doing half the damage of the DoT, in area. So in the end, it does more damage than flamestrike as single target, and less as AoE. But this is fixed with Chain Bomb :).

With Verdant Spheres, its mana cost and cooldown are nullified, enabling you to either keep spamming it each 6 seconds without using up mana, or using it twice in a row. While on lane, the first is strongly advised, as you are really mana-hungry.
Let us see how you fare when your world is turned upside down.

You launch a slow forward-moving skillshot that lifts into the air (aka stuns) the first target hit for 1.5 seconds. Beware its short range, it's shorter than it seems, and the low speed makes you need some extra aim to hit moving targets. Everything gets really better with Nether Wind, but unfortunately you won't be using that too often. Also, if you happen to 1v1 someone, you can use this and inmediately after Pyroblast for a 'free' cast!

With Verdant Spheres, it hits three targets instead of one. That's really something on teamfights. You'll miss some damage, but if you mange to stun three enemies, it's a huge advantage. Choosing between empowering Gravity Lapse or Living Bomb is an important choice. If your team has nice initatiors you'll want to start with the bomb and save the stun to use it with the trait. Oh, and this traited works wonders with Phoenix.

Talents Top

Energy. Power. My people are addicted to it. But dependence made manifest after the Sunwell was destroyed.

This is the to-go talent. Kael'thas has serious mana problems, and this helps a lot with it, neting an easy increase of over 600 mana late game. Also, it synergizes really well with Arcane Barrier.
When the Flames settle, we shall see who still stands!

At first it seems like a good DPS increase, but it's not really that good. Only one skill benefits from it, and only while the enemy is CC'd by you.
Do not get... too comfortable.

This talent really good, as it lets your CC cooldown get reduced, up to 9 seconds if used with the passive, which is huge.
Master, grant me strength.

A little heal with low cooldown and no mana cost may seem nice, but it's a bit meaningless actually. Furthermore, the other talent choices offer greater benefits.

For Quel'thalas!

An utterly bad talent if you ask me. You have to worry about last-hitting minions with Flamestrike. Also, I think there's other ways to preserve your mana, specially with Mana Addict
Having trouble staying grounded?

One more time, upgrading your CC is always a good idea. It may not seem so, but the speed and range increase is huge, it really helps CCing from afar and makes the skillshot harder to dodge.
I had a brief taste of TRUE power...before it was taken from me!

Well, just no. 5% increase in damage is to little, and if you manage to be always alive to make it 15%, I'm pretty sure you could have a better use for this talent slot.
As you see, I have many weapons in my arsenal.

The best bet for me. The damage in this is HUGE, and it's a DoT, so it actually is really useful to deceive enemies. Eearly game works wonders paired with Living Bomb for fast surprise kills.

In a Living Bomb heavy-orientated build, this is godsend. In any case, all talents in this tier are really good, so you can tune it the way you like.
Each time you use your trait, your next attack deals double damage, approximately. I think it's the less worth talent, but it's better than Fission Bomb for single-target damage.
Basically, you can cast your passive twice if you use it first with Gravity Lapse. Combined with Energy Roil, adds up to a hell lot of CC.
This is a highly situational talent. Not having wards and the like really makes this useful when fighting for objectives, but you should only pick this when playing premade.

By the power of the sun! Analanel Balorei!

Extremely useful skill, lets you zone like a boss, and also does lots of damage if enemies stay into it long enough. I would only take this if you're playing premade, though, as it can become wasted really easily. Also, serves really well when pushing or backdooring, as the damage on structures is huge, since they can't run from it =D.
I have not come this far to be stopped! The future I have planned will not be jeopardized! Now you will taste true power!

Ohhhhh baby, I love this. Even if Phoenix is better for teamplay, this is so much fun. Easily take 60% of any assassin's HP feels so good! Anyway this skill is also super nice to gank from bushes, where you can cast in the shadows for a surprise headshot. Note that if enemies exit the range limit, the cast will cancel and enter a 10-seconds cooldown, so avoid using it when chasing fast opponents. In any case this is what I you'll want to take if playing solo, or you just want to have tons of fun!

Not really good on this build, as you won't be using Flamestrike that much, but becomes really good with the alternative build.
I love this! This is the essence of Living Bomb! What's better than one explosion? MOAR explosions! With this, the bomb will spread, potentially making each use of it hit five times in a teamfight. Not to mention you'll only need one bomb to kill an entire creep wave if you put it into the wizard minion.
This is also good, specially if you aim for a more CC-orientated build instead of damage.
You're an assassin, so this is kind of meh in my opinion. I think it's best suited for tanks. Maybe if the other talents weren't so nice it would be worth.

You gambled. And lost.

This is a really really useful talent, does extremely well in teamfights. If you're just caring for damage, this is a no-brainer.
You will not prevail!

More CC! The only problem about this, I don't like to wait for CC's, as using your trait is better placed on Gravity Lapse in terms of CC. But it's nice if you're going for a more defensive, CC-orientated build.
Bow to my will.

Well, I don't really like this, I feel it's not really worth seeing the other options we have.
Alas, sometimes one must take matters into one's own hands. Balamore shanal!

This is a bliss! So much survivability in one talent! You have 700 mana at level 20, which translates to a 1400 health shield, which is huge. Paired with Mana Addict, it pretty much doubles the shield value. This really saves the day on teamfights, and lets you 1v1 other assassins like a boss.

Vengeance burns!

This talent is good, but I'm sure you won't need it if your Phoenix is well placed.
Welcome to the future. A pity you're too late to stop it, no one can stop me now. Salama A'shalanorei!

I don't like this at all. Pyroblast is already hard to cast, so having it's cooldown decreased is kind of a waste. Faster cast or even more damage would be better. For the moment, this is worthless.
Obey me.

Oh la la! This is extremely powerful. It lets you initiate or escape extremely easily, you can cross walls, exit from danger zones, etc. And paired with Arcane Barrier it let's you pull really good plays.
You will drown in your own blood! The world shall burn! Aaaghh!

The damage increase and mana refund is good, but I find it less useful than Bolt of the Storm. In any case, it works wonders for a glass cannon build.

End Section Top

I'm using some images that I've seen in other guides. As the image route involves heroesfire I figured it's some kind of fankit maybe? Be it the case or not, thanks for whom made them.

And, I'd love to put colors into the talents icons, but I don't know how. If anyone reads this far, I'd thank if he or she could give me the info!

Last but not least, criticism is appreciated! Either for the guide contents or structure, any help is welcome!


Changelog

  • 14/05/2015: Added lore quotes.
  • 14/05/2015: Guide created.

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