After several teases and a long wait, the climax of the Crownfall event is finally here. Crownfall Act IV, The Spires of Skywrath, introduces the much-anticipated new hero, Kez, as recently promised.
Kez returns to his training place.
Kez made their debut at The International 2024, but Valve tested players' patience by repeatedly delaying the release of the final act of Crownfall.
Recently, the release date for the event’s final act was leaked on Reddit.
As a result, Valve gave in and released the update sooner than expected. Below, you’ll find everything you need to know about Valve's newest hero.
Kez's Lore
Kez's story is deeply intertwined with Crownfall. The day before the update, Valve released the backstory of how Kez became one of the leaders of The Kazurai, titled Ascension Night.
Kez sneaks into the Topside.
It all began eight years ago on a festive night in Topside, in the Eyrie Kingdom. Kez was one of the Flightless, a former initiate of The Shodo Order.
Although The Shodo Order had once given the Flightless a way to defend themselves against Winged Attackers, it had become deeply corrupted.
Sometime later, Kez also got expelled from the clan. His time at the Order helped Kez develop a few tricks up his sleeve.
Kez went to Topside to break his friend Bakeet out of The Cage, a heavily guarded prison. However, during the breakout, he discovered that most of the prisoners were falsely imprisoned.
Kez made a successful prison break .
In response, Kez single-handedly orchestrated a mass breakout. Among the escapees was Kraw—the leader of The Kazurai and a former elder of The Shodo Order.
Kraw explained to Kez what had happened during his Tribunal and revealed how The Shodo had fallen into corruption. As a result, Kraw founded a new order, The Kazurai, and took Kez in as its first disciple.
Kez's abilities and weapons
Kez is the 126th hero to join the Dota 2 roster. He wields two weapons: a katana and a sai. He can switch between these weapons, similar to Troll Warlord.
However, unlike Troll Warlord, Kez cannot switch between ranged and melee attacks. As a result, he is a melee, mobile safelane hero with high burst damage.
What truly makes Kez unique is that when he switches between these two weapons, all of his abilities, including his ultimate, change as well. You can find Kez's complete ability list below.
Switch Discipline : Kez switches between his Kazurai Katana and his Shodo Sai. He gains different attack capabilities and abilities based on the equipped weapon. Cooldown reduced each hero level.
His Katana mostly deals physical damage and pure damage; his Katana abilities are as follows:
Kez's Katana first ability.
Echo Slash: Slashes forward in a line with his katana dealing a percentage of his attack damage and a brief slow. After a moment, Kez attacks the same area again, dealing bonus damage to heroes.
Kez's Katana Second Ability.
Grappling Claw: Kez swings on a grappling hook toward a targeted unit or tree. When colliding with the hook, the unit has slowed movement speed until Kez arrives. Once landing, Kez attacks with 100% life steal.
Kez's Katana Third Ability.
Kazurai Katana (Passive): Katana attacks and abilities apply a stacking damage over time to enemies that deals a percentage of the original attack's damage as additional damage over time. Affected enemies have non-stacking reduced health regeneration.
Kez's ultimate ability for his Katana.
Raptor Dance: Kez channels for one second, gaining debuff immunity and 100% magic resistance. If the channel completes without interruption, he slashes around the area, dealing damage based on the maximum health of the target. Kez is healed for a percentage of the damage and receives a strong dispel on completion.
His abilities for Sai give him agility and invisibility. Most of his Sai abilities deal magic damage, which are as follows:
Kez's first ability for his Sai.
Falcon Rush: Kez gains the ability to rush towards enemy targets to deliver echoing secondary attacks. While in this state, Kez has phased collision and an attack rate that is less affected by attack speed.
Kez Second Ability for his Sai.
Talon Toss: Kez throws a Sai at the target unit. The Sai detonates when it hits, dealing damage and applying silence to all enemies in the area.
Kez's third ability for his Sai.
Shodo Sai: Kez's attacks and abilities with the Sai have a chance to Mark enemies.
Marked enemies are slowed, and the next attack or ability damage from Kez gains True Strike and will stun the enemy and deal a critical strike, consuming the buff.
Kez may activate the ability to disarm himself, lock his facing, and parry attacks and attack effects from the targeted direction for 2 seconds.
If an attack is parried from an enemy Hero in this way, that Hero is stunned and Marked, taking additional critical strike and stun when the debuff is triggered.
The sub-ability may be used to cancel the blocking early.
Kez's ultimate ability for his Sai.
Raven's Veil: Kez releases a wave of smoke that applies his Mark with Parry bonus to nearby enemies, briefly reducing their vision. Kez receives a basic dispel and gains bonus movement speed and invisibility until he attacks or casts a spell.
The Crownfall Act IV update did not include a patch update. However, unlike with Ringmaster, fans did not have to wait long for Kez. It will be interesting to see how players utilize Kez in the coming days.
