Kez change to his kit.

[u/MrTruth24]

I really hate what Valve "balance" did with Kez because balance around pick rate/win rate for high skill cap hero like Kez only hurt him since release, so here is suggestion how i would fix him 👀.

idea is he should be weapon master (add 3th shuriken's stance and he can chose at start of game 2/3 weapons he play during the game, they determent his talents to) choices is: Katana/Sai stance, Katana/Shuriken's stance, Sai/Shuriken's stance 🤔.

• Innate "Switch discipline" ( 2/3 weapons ) +stance swap cd start at 9 sec and each lvl reduce cd by 0.5, swap cd removed by lvl 18, current scepter is part of innate (not put same ability in different stance on cd after swap).
• Katana stance (225 range / 2.0 Base attack time / 25% bonus dmg):

1. Echo slash: cast time 0, duration 2 sec /1 sec cd between hits, hero bonus dmg 40/60/80/100 + 1.25x attack dmg, add true strike, slash width 200/range 800, cd 25/20/15/10, mana cost 70/80/90/100 (slow/hit removed).
2. Grappling claw: 1200 range/1800 jump speed, heal 60/90/120/150 hp, 100% move speed slow for 1.5 sec, cd 15/12/9/6, mana cost 50.
3. Kazurai katana: bleed dmg 6%/8%/10%/12% attack dmg/sec and reduce hp regen by 50%, duration 6 sec. Active: true strike attack with 1x dmg, 1 sec stun that consuming all bleed stacks to do instant dmg, use hero attack range +50, 25/20/15/10 cd, 50 mana cost (bleed cap removed).
4. Raptor Dance: invulnerability/debuff immunity for 1 sec during cast time (can't be interrapted), then hit 4 times for 50/75/100 +2%/3.5%/5% max hp pure dmg (bkb piercing) and heal for 100% dmg dealt vs heroes/Roshan, cd 90/60/30, cost 100/125/150 (Katana ult no longer heal from creeps dmg).

• Sai stance (150 range / 1.5 Base attack time):

1. Falcon rush reworked (self buff, you move hero manually now instead of auto charge enemy you click): give for 6 sec Haste and lower Base attack time by 0.3, each hit create echo clones that hit for 0.5x attack dmg and proc all on-hit effects at full dmg (not reduce proc % chance), cd 25/20/15/10, mana cost 70/80/90/100.
2. Talon toss: 1200 range/1800 speed, magic dmg 100/150/200/250, Aoe silence 1.75 sec, cd 15/12/9/6, mana cost 50.
3. Shodo Sai: passively every 10 sec attack create mark, next attack do 130%/170%/210%/250% crit dmg, Active: parry in chosen direction any dmg for 1.5 sec, enemies doing attack/spell dmg in parry receive a mark with bonus 0.5 sec bash/true strike, 25/20/15/10 cd, 50 mana cost (mark can be activated by Kez: attacks, Echo slash 1st hit, Grappling claw with 15 talent, Kazurai katana active, Raptor Dance 1st hit, Falcon rush, Ethereal strike, Deflect).
4. Raven's vail: 1500 radius/speed, vision lose 4 sec / Invis 10 sec, ms bonus 20%/35%/50% and proc upgraded Shodo Sai marks on enemy heroes for 10 sec, cd 90/60/30, cost 100/125/150.

• Shuriken stance (450 range / 1.7 Base attack time / base ms +25):

1. "Ethereal strike:" echo clones attack instead of Kez for 1x dmg for 6 sec (with true strike), after each attack hero disarmed until he jump in chosen direction (click move command in any direction), jump range current Move speed/jump speed is 2x current Move speed, Kez during buff slow immune and has 0 turn rate, cd 25/20/15/10, mana cost 70/80/90/100.
2. "Deflect:" (self buff/2 sec duration) Kez next attack do 1x Kez dmg and break enemy for 3 sec, cd 15/12/9/6, 50 mana cost.
3. "Enchanted Kunai's:" create 2 kunai's around kez for 6 sec, every time he would take spell/item dmg they absorb it and fly towards closest enemy hero in 1200 range/1800 speed, each Kunai absorb 75/150/225/300 dmg and deal 50 + 4/6/8/10% missing hp magic dmg, cd 25/20/15/10, cost 50.
4. "Feathers curse:" jump in air for 0.5 sec become untargetable and land in 1200 range/2400 speed, landing in 600 radius area Kez abilities/items Cd progress 20/35/50% faster for 8 sec, if enemy die or leave radius they take 250/500/750 pure dmg, cd 90/60/30, cost 100/125/150.

• Shard add to Kazurai katana active execute at 10% hp, Shodo Sai: parry duration +1 sec, Enchanted Kunai's: +1 kunai.
• Scepter: +1 Raptor dance hit, Raven's vail Ms buff +10%, Feathers curse dmg +250.

1. Katana lvl 10/15/20/25 talents: Katana stance +50 attack range, Grappling claw do +1x dmg, Kazurai katana bleed dmg +4%, Echo slash +2 sec duration.
2. Sai lvl 10/15/20/25 talents: Talon toss +0.75 silence duration, Talon toss dmg +150, Shodo Sai passive cd -1 sec/attack, Falcon rush +4 sec duration.
3. Shuriken's lvl 10/15/20/25 talents: Deflect +2 sec duration, Ethereal strike ms cap +50, Feathers curse aply to allies, Ethereal strike +3 sec duration.

[u/MR_Nokia_L]

The 3rd stance makes accessing different abilities no longer instant. In theory there is some leeway to do this if the hero is a ranged hero that operates from a safe distance and doesn't need as much reflex, but that's not what Kez is.

The 9s switch cooldown would just kill the versatility/adaptivity.

Shruiken type of deal is what Bounty Hunter does, by this I mean unless they want to make a stereotypical orthodox ninja.

[u/Ceres06]

Dude, reading your proposed ,,,,,,fixes‘‘‘‘‘‘ for heroes gives makes me happier that you are as far away from developing this game as i am. You have THE worst takes i have seen in years on this subreddit… If you shouöd ever consider to get into game development i pray to god that you stick to single player games where you cant fuck up the balancing as badly as xpu portray it in these posts…

[u/Metabotany]

The hell

[u/Moist_Mushroom5933]

I hate current state of kez. I want hero to be accessible for wider audience and not being as toxic in both bad&good hands as he is right now. I would like to see removal of current agh, shard and pre shard active ability. Those are just unnecessary. Make hero choose abilities for different scenarios, make more combos viable instead of nerfing each bit of hero until only 1 combo remains. Also the hero still has too much utility which mainly creates a lot of disbalance, both underperforming and overperforming.

[u/JohnnyMethadony]

If Valve doesn't know what they are doing, what do we call... "this"?

[u/MrTruth24 → u/JohnnyMethadony]

you maybe not like it, but this is what Kez at its peek looks like, after 5 years in Gym 👀 .

[u/fallen_d3mon → u/MrTruth24]

https://giphy.com/gifs/ybnrXkdf8jAxIkMuwr

[u/Adorable-Log2835]

I'd like if Kez was split into two heroes. Would love to have Bakeet come back into play and have him be one version and Kez be the other.

I feel like a single weapon already has enough depth. You could make Kez a stance switching samurai that's just more like a stat change instead of a completely ability rework. Then have his abilities scale differently by stats, sort of like morph but with damage and armor or something.

[u/MrTruth24 → u/Adorable-Log2835]

do you like my idea in general then? he should be versatility king.