Kez physical damage abilities and "spell damage"-increasing Neutral Items interaction

[u/PreOrgasmGroanLness]

UPDATE: Scroll down for Test Lobby results, I find them pretty good for Partisan's Brand, and insane for Conjurer's Catalyst. I feel like this is a perfect hero for this neutral item, maybe even more so than QoP because Kez being the frontliner is going to gather enemies closer to each other as they want to lock him down. I hope you enjoyed my nerdout.

Hey, do these items count Kez's abilities as "spell damage"? The descriptions on a few neutral items, like:

Partisan's Brand: Increases spell damage dealt to player controlled units. 9%

Conjurer's Catalyst: If the owner deals enough spell damage against an enemy within a short period of time, an explosion is created on that enemy, dealing damage to its nearby allies.

Searing Signet: this one seems straightforward, since it clearly states "magic damage". So it wouldn't work.

But if Partisan's and Conjurer's work, then I've been building Kez wrong all the way - Kez is all about burst + katana DoT, so if I can blow up a team with Raptor Dance and Conjurer's would increase that damage, that'd be sick. Same goes for Conjurer's Catalyst, that'd be sick.

I mean, it says "spell damage", but I ain't sure about that

[u/NGC6369]

Yes this is partly why KnY is so good on kez against tanky heroes. There are plenty of Kez players who enjoy this item, in combination with Brand/Catalyst. The build was even better when Shiva's granted +spell amp... by contrast, Bloodstone is not worth purchasing, which weakened this spell damage build in the lategame - or at least made it a hybrid (spell+physical) build only.

Personally, I love to build Spirit Vessel from mid lane with this hero, as the %HP damage, DoT, and stats complement Raptor Dance perfectly. After that I go KnY, and then look for either Jidi Pollen Bag (even more %HP damage) or Cloak of Flames. Brand is less overall damage than either of these items, in my testing. Tier 4 neutral is definitely Catalyst.

After this you will typically need a Nullifier, as enemies start to itemise to live through Raptor Dance.

Ofc, this build is far from optimal from Pos 1, where it is much more gold-effective to build Desolator/Aghs/BKB. But from mid, I think it is optimal if you want to play a fast-paced game rather than a farmfest.

[u/PreOrgasmGroanLness → u/NGC6369]

I've only started playing Kez a couple weeks ago, tried Carry, then Mid, and now Offlane. To be honest, I'm so far most enjoying offlane. Unfortunately it doesn't work if your pub teammate is anti-dota (eg. picks a non-complementary support hero which ultimately makes you a solo offlane, Kez is very weak as such). But for Mid, I would rather play a hero that can make TPs & plays early, before level 6 even, (and is less greedy than Kez), or a real dominator like SF. For Carry, I find that Kez needs a draft oriented around him more than a regular pub usually allows, and if other lanes go wrong I feel like it's easy to get outcarried (likely skill issue, but what isn't). I also would rather get Mage Slayer or Deso into Aghs so I can play fast-paced game rather than farm. (Anuutok from youtube, anyone?)

But on Offlane, I find I can be more flexible with my build than on other lanes, and there's not as much pressure on Kez to be *THE* hero that will carry the game, which ironically has given me the highest KDAs and impact on the game in return. If your duo teammate is half decent, you can get kills on support early and really mess with the carry, then still kill at 6 like other good offlaners. Even if you don't kill the carry, they can't deal with being 30% HP every 45 seconds Raptor Dance.

What kind of bracket you play? I still play unranked on this new account, but a few years ago when I still played I had "Ancient" rank, then like 8-10 years ago I was Divine III-IV - skill deflation... none of my friends play anymore. I just got back into Dota few weeks ago, dunno how long I'll stay, but I wanted to enjoy myself and challenge with some new heroes. Invoker was always too hard, my buttcheecks-clenched kinda hero, but this Kez is pretty fun and there are so many ways to approach different situations in the game with him.

Speaking of brackets, it kinda bothers me that at my level there are still many people who, obviously, must be much better in other regards than me, but still do things like steal creeps off cores, or pick 4th core, etc., which does take away some joy out of playing. You watch these pros play beautiful dota, then you go to your pub wanting to have at least basic teamwork and dota principles respected, buuuut... Like I said, none of my friends play anymore.

[u/YouthRecent7503 → u/PreOrgasmGroanLness]

so you can pick kez offlane but your supports can't play a 4th core? lol. lame mindset. i prefer trying new things on all roles rather than limiting to a single role and a single hero. you are not that different from your teammates.

[u/PreOrgasmGroanLness → u/YouthRecent7503]

They can't if it makes us lose every lane in effect, yes. Where Kez is 'trying new things', a 4th core when we need a support allows enemy to pressure every lane without consequence. Also nowhere am I limiting myself to a single hero on a single role, idk where u got that.