Karax by SpectralDuke

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Karax

By: SpectralDuke
Last Updated: Dec 11, 2016
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Karax

Khalai Phase-Smith

I know he's been done plenty of times before, but Karax is one of my favourite characters and wanted to see what I could do with his kit.

Karax is a Ranged Specialist from the Starcraft Universe. While capable in combat, his primary area of expertise is the repair and enhancement of his team's structures, allowing him to shore up defensive lines around Forts and Keeps, and even construct new fortifications upon the ruins of destroyed buildings. In direct battle, Karax can call upon the Spear of Adun to strafe his enemies with orbital firepower and use advanced Protoss technology to help defeat the enemy.

Level 1 Stats:
Health: 1613
Health Regeneration/Second: 3.2
Mana: 500
Mana Regeneration: 3
Attack Damage: 61
Attack Speed: 1.5

Combat Trait

1
Khalai Ingenuity
Karax can target a friendly or destroyed structure to warp in support structures to bolster the target. The type of structure warped in depends upon the target. Warping in Structures costs Solarite, which accumulates at a rate of 1 Solarite every 3 seconds. Warped-in Structures last until destroyed. Each Fountain/Tower/Fort/Keep may only have one structure active on it at a time.

Healing Fountain: Warp in a Shield Battery with 800 health and 400 regenerating shields (both +4% per level) for 25 Solarite. The battery shields nearby allied heroes and structures for 1% of their health per second, to a maximum of 10%. If a shielded target leaves the area, the shield decays over 3 seconds.

Tower: Warp in a Photon Cannon with 800 health and 400 regenerating shields (+4% per level) which attacks nearby enemies for 72 (+4% per level) damage for 25 Solarite.

Fort/Keep (Requires Master Phase-Smith at Level 10): Warp in a Khaydarin Monolith with 2000 health and 1000 regenerating shields (both +4% per level) that attacks nearby enemies for 250 (+4% per level) damage for 100 Solarite.

Primary Abilities

1
Chrono Beam
50 Mana, 10 second cooldown. Target allied unit or structure gains 10% attack and movement speed for 6 seconds. Cannot be cast on Karax himself.
2
Phase Cannon
40 Mana, 8 second cooldown. Karax warps in a Phase Cannon which lasts for 6 seconds and attacks nearby enemies for 83 (+4% per level) damage.
3
Orbital Strike
10 Mana, 5 second charge cooldown. Karax calls down an orbital shot from the Spear of Adun, striking a small area for 52 (+4% per level) damage. Stores 5 charges and has global range.

Secondary Abilities

1
Observer
50 second cooldown. Warp in a cloaked Observer which reveals an area. Observers are destroyed in 1 basic attack or if hit by ability damage, and Karax can only have 3 Observers active at once.
2
Chrono Overload
100 Solarite, 90 second cooldown. Increases the attack speed of all allied units and structures by 50% for 10 seconds.

Heroic Abilities

1
Master Phase-Smith
Karax now generates 1 Solarite every 1.5 seconds. Additionally, he may now warp in Khaydarin Monoliths at friendly or destroyed Forts/Keeps, and the Spear of Adun passively heals up to 2 allied structures at a time for 1% of their health every 4 seconds.
2
Solar Lance
40 Mana, 20 second charge cooldown. Karax orders the Spear of Adun to strafe an area with a solar lance, dealing 217 (+4% per level) damage to enemies in the target area. Stores 3 charges and has global range.

Talents:

Level 1:
W-Attuned Targeting: Phase Cannons deal an additional 50% damage to non-heroic targets.
E-Fire at Will: Quest. Hitting enemy heroes with Orbital Strike increases the damage of Orbital Strike by 1. Reward: Hit 30 enemy heroes with Orbital Strike to reduce its cooldown by 2 seconds.
D-Solar Core Refinement: Quest. Gathering a Regeneration Globe grants 2 Solarite. Gather 25 Regeneration Globes to generate an additional 1 Solarite every 3 seconds.

Level 4:
Q-Temporal Mirage: Using Chrono Beam on an allied hero grants them a stack of Block, reducing damage from the next hero basic attack they take by 75%.
D-Fortification Barrier: When an allied target is damaged near a Shield Battery, that target immediately gains a shield equal to 10% of their maximum health for 5 seconds. This effect has a 20 second cooldown.
Observer: 50 second cooldown. Karax gains the ability to warp in cloaked Observers which reveal an area. Observers are destroyed in 1 basic attack or if hit by ability damage, and Karax can only have 3 Observers active at once.

Level 7:
E-Advanced Munitions: Orbital Strike's area is increased by 25%.
D-Enhanced Targeting: All of Karax's structures, including his Phase Cannons, have their range increased by 20%.
D-Repair Drones: Karax's drones can now repair allied structures while nearby at a rate of 1% of the structure's maximum health every 3 seconds.

Level 10:
R-Master Phase-Smith
R-Solar Lance

Level 13:
Q-Phased Out: Using Chrono Beam on an allied hero makes them Resistant for 2 seconds.
W-Forge Efficiency: Phase Cannon gains an additional charge.
D-Adamant Construction: Karax's structures take 10% less damage while their shields are down.

Level 16:
Q-Chrono Rush: Chrono Beam now grants 30% attack and movement speed to its target.
Q-Chrono Boost: Chrono Beam increases its target's health and mana regeneration by 100% and their basic ability cooldowns recharge 100% faster.
D-Optimized Ordnance: Photon Cannons, Phase Cannons and Khaydarin Monoliths attack 25% faster.
E-Phase Detonation: Enemies hit by Orbital Strike are stunned for 0.3 seconds.

Level 20:
R-Unity Barrier: All allied units and structures gain a shield equal to 10% of their maximum health. Once depleted, this shield is restored after 60 seconds.
R-Solar Flare: Solar Lance's cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds and it sets the target area ablaze for 10 seconds, burning enemies inside it for 43 (+4% per level) damage per second.
Chrono Overload: Activate to increase the attack speed of all allied units and structures by 50% for 10 seconds. 100 Solarite, 90 second cooldown.
Khalai and Templar: Karax's attacks deal an additional 20% damage and give him a shield equal to 20% of the damage dealt for 5 seconds.

Quotes and Thoughts:

Quotes:

Selection Screen:
My expertise is yours!

Game Start:
"Make no mistakes. I am Khalai and Templar both."
"Let us engineer victory."
"Ah, Hierarch. It is good to fight beside you." (to Artanis)
"Is it truly the great Tassadar? I-I am not prepared..." (to Tassadar)

Heroics:
"Spear of Adun, clear this point!"
"Activating Solar Lance!"
"Purifying the area!"

"I am activating Chrono Boost now!" (Chrono Overload)

Thoughts:
Karax is an interesting hero because of his dual role, with his storyline in LotV having him begin as an engineer who through circumstance becomes a warrior. I decided to reflect this by giving him two paths he can take, either focusing on his structures and very much being about shoring up defenses and creeping forward with Cannons, Batteries and Monoliths, or tooling him for direct combat with his Chrono Beam talents and others. I did decide to let Enhanced Targeting and Optimized Ordnance work on his Phase Cannons to give those talents some use in direct combat build. His heroics are meant to emphasize his dual role, with Master Phase-Smith making him tower defense extraordinaire and letting him heal up all your structures, while Solar Lance is a big flashy teamfight ultimate that does a lot of damage.

For the ultimate upgrades, Solar Flare was just a simple cooldown reduction plus adding the burning ground effect, and I went with Unity Barrier for the Master Phase-Smith upgrade because it fit tower defense Karax's passive playstyle while still supporting his team. Chrono Overload is a support ability that works for either Karax since it also works on structures, and Khalai and Templar is ironically for direct combat Karax to give him some punch and sustain.

The way his structures work if replacing destroyed ones is that they aren't targeted by the objectives on Sky Temple and Blackheart's Bay, and Khaydarin Monoliths replacing your destroyed Keeps don't stop catapults spawning (Illarian and Beleth, Punishers, and the Zerg on Braxis will still target down Karax's structures). I was tempted to have the AI map objectives ignore his structures, but it seemed weird to have them just run past a Monolith that's shooting them in the face.

Numbers specifically might need some tweaking, not sure if he or his structures are under or over tuned.

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