Kael'thas Build Guide : Kael'thas: Unlimited Damage!!! [In-Depth Guide] :: Heroes of the Storm (HotS) Strategy Builds

Kael'thas

Build: The Build

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20

Threats to Kael'thas with this build

Threat

Low

High

Show all

Threat		Notes
1		No Threat
2		No Threat
3		No Threat
4		No Threat
5		No Threat
6		No Threat
7		No Threat
8		No Threat
9		No Threat
10	Sonya	Probably one of the most dangerous heroes to any squishy hero.

Summary Top

Too many people are still hung up on the build of the past, with the nerf to & and the inclusion of & his is way more effective for damage potential. I keep seeing people using builds in every game and argueing that its the best build because its top picked on hotslogs, so I decided to make my own guide to explain why this one is more effective in detail.

Top

Trait

Verdant Spheres
(D)

Cooldown: 6 seconds
Activate to make your next Basic Ability more powerful. Has a 6 second cooldown.

Abilities

Flamestrike
(Q)
Mana: 70
Cooldown: 7 seconds

After a short delay, deal 102 (+22 per level) damage in an area. Has a 7 second cool down.
Verdant Spheres increases the radius by 50% and deals 153 (+33 per level) damage.

Living Bomb
(W)
Mana: 50
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Deal 82 (+22 per level) damage over 3 seconds to an enemy, then they explode dealing 41 (+11 per level) damage to all nearby enemies. Casting a second Living Bomb on an enemy causes the previous Living Bomb to explode immediately. Has a 10 second cooldown.

Verdant Spheres makes this Ability cost no Mana and have no cooldown.

Gravity Lapse
(E)
Mana: 85
Cooldown: 13 seconds

Stun the first enemy hit for 1.5 seconds. Has a 13 second cooldown.

Verdant Spheres causes Gravity Lapse to stun the first 3 enemies hit
Heroic Abilities

Heroic Abilities

Phoenix
(R)
Mana: 40
Cooldown: 40 seconds

Launch a Phoenix to an area, dealing 10 (+8 per level) damage to enemies along the way. The Phoenix persists for 7 seconds, attacking enemies for 10 (+8 per level) damage and splashing for 50% . Has a 40 second cooldown.

Pyroblast
(R)
Mana: 80
Cooldown: 50 seconds

After 2 seconds, cast a slow-moving fireball that deals 300 (+65 per level) damage to an enemy Hero and 150 (+32.5 per level) damage to enemies nearby. Has a 50 second cooldown.

The Combo Top

+ + + + or

Your main source of damage is going to be and your cooldown reduction is going to be from , The reason you do before is because you want the extra 20% damage from while they are in . With + you will have a another ready around the time the second hits allowing you to basically spam nonestop, It is extremely effective in closed area teamfights. This is why this build has much higher damage potential than the build.

Talent Build Top

This talent is a toss up between and . I personally prefer for the extra single target damage, but can keep your mana up for a long time late game, especially on maps where you are out of lane for long periods of time. is just a preference here, is a very good pick if you so prefer.

With the nerfs to and there is no reason to get either of these talent, especially with a talent like . With a full wave clear using + you will gain about 35% of your mana back in 1 flamestrike, at early game you will have to weaken the waves a little bit before using . Mid-game you will need to throw a on the Mage creep in the middle for extra damage to get the waveclear. Late game a alone will kill the whole wave and net you 35% mana return. This is IMO an essential Talent for any build.

Because this build is not dependent on spreading , is not essential, especially since it's taken nerf after nerf. It is still a good pick, but is IMO outshined by in this build. becomes the optimal pick with this build because it allows you to see potentially dangerous areas and helps keep your team informed of maybe someone grabbing a boss, or if someone is grabbing a camp. This Talent is helpful to your team and you.

Both of these Heroics are extremely useful. If you think you can get the kills with the and don't need the area control, go with . The on the other hand gives extremely good presence in lanepushes and objective teamfights. Both are extremely good Heroics and need to be picked based on the map you are on and what team you are facing.

is a must have for this build. As explained earlier in the combo, by the time your second is done, you will have another one ready to use with not far behind to lower your cooldown again.

Not much to say here, is essential to this build and can't be replaced. with + you will be a producing machine.

This talent choice is very dependent on your situation. If you position well you shouldn't really need , but it is still a better choice over as its very unlikely you will get more than a 10 second cooldown reduction. allows you to have up for 17 seconds, which is almost half of it's cooldown, so it is extremely effective. I personally go with if I go and if I go .

Final Notes Top

This is what I believe to be the strongest Kael'thas build as far as dps goes, this is not to say that the with is not an effective build, it just doesn't produce the same damage.

I will eventually update this with a video gameplay of the build in action for anyone skeptical about the build.

Please leave any feedback if you want, I'm always open to discussion.

Free Hero Rotation