Skip to content
Builds Forge
Albion OnlineDota 2

AgilityAgility · Melee

Kez

Flexible melee master with two sets of weapons and abilities

CarryDisablerEscapeComplex to play
Kez portrait

Win rate

45.0%

D across all ranks

Pick rate

4.0%

of public matches

Public picks

135.2K

in the sample

Pro scene

19

19 bans · 53% win rate

Win rate by rank

  • Herald1Herald47.3%
  • Guardian2Guardian46.2%
  • Crusader3Crusader45.6%
  • Archon4Archon44.8%
  • Legend5Legend44.8%
  • Ancient6Ancient44.5%
  • Divine+7Divine+44.4%

Bars start at 50%. Sample sizes: Herald 2.9K · Guardian 9.5K · Crusader 17.7K · Archon 28.3K · Legend 34.8K · Ancient 23.3K · Divine+ 18.7K.

Last 6 days

44.8%

Popular item build

Starting items

Bought before the horn

  1. 1

    Iron Branch

    55g
  2. 2

    Circlet

    155g
  3. 3

    Faerie Fire

    65g
  4. 4

    Tango

    90g
  5. 5

    Quelling Blade

    100g
  6. 6

    Magic Stick

    200g

Laning

The first minutes

  1. 1

    Boots of Speed

    500g
  2. 2

    Power Treads

    46%1,400g
  3. 3

    Ring of Health

    700g
  4. 4

    Void Stone

    700g
  5. 5

    Perseverance

    48%1,400g
  6. 6

    Cloak

    900g

Mid game

Core items

  1. 1

    Mage Slayer

    48%3,100g
  2. 2

    Desolator

    48%3,500g
  3. 3

    Black King Bar

    50%4,050g
  4. 4

    Aghanim's Scepter

    56%4,200g

Late game

The full build

  1. 1

    Daedalus

    5,200g
  2. 2

    Black King Bar

    50%4,050g
  3. 3

    Ultimate Orb

    2,800g
  4. 4

    Aghanim's Blessing

    5,800g
  5. 5

    Swift Blink

    6,800g

Most-bought items for Kez in OpenDota’s sample of parsed public matches (2,152 purchases counted). Bars compare each item with the most-bought one in its phase. The percentage is the win rate in games where Kez bought the item by minute 30 (green or red when it is clearly above or below Kez’s average). Teams that are ahead buy items sooner, so a high number shows the item goes with winning games, not that it causes the win. Items with fewer than 100 games show no percentage. Cheap components are hidden from the mid and late game.

Best win rate by purchase time

Bought ≤ 12 min

  1. Mage Slayer

    204 games

    59%

  2. Perseverance

    495 games

    51%

  3. Power Treads

    734 games

    46%

Bought 12–15 min

  1. Desolator

    63 games

    59%

  2. Mithril Hammer

    312 games

    57%

  3. Mage Slayer

    337 games

    47%

Bought 15–20 min

  1. Desolator

    420 games

    53%

  2. Yasha

    74 games

    51%

  3. Mithril Hammer

    844 games

    49%

Bought 20–30 min

  1. Crystalys

    90 games

    76%

  2. Blink Dagger

    85 games

    64%

  3. Aghanim's Scepter

    402 games

    55%

Final items compared within the same purchase window (at least 60 games each), so they are not simply ranked by how late or expensive they are. Still a correlation: a team that is far ahead can buy anything sooner.

What these items do

  • Iron Branch

    55

    • +1 All Attributes

    Use: Plant Tree: Targets the ground to plant a happy little tree that lasts for 20 seconds.

  • Circlet

    155

    • +2 All Attributes

  • Faerie Fire

    65

    • +2 Damage

    Use: Imbue: Instantly restores 85 health.

    Full description

    5s

    Use: Imbue. Instantly restores 85 health.

  • Tango

    90

    Use: Devour: Consumes a target tree to gain 7 health regeneration for 16 seconds. Consuming an Ironwood Tree doubles the heal duration. Comes with 3 charges.

  • Quelling Blade

    100

    Active: Chop Tree: Destroy a target tree.

    Full description

    4s

    Active: Chop Tree. Destroy a target tree.

    Passive: Quell. Increases attack damage against non-hero units by 8 for melee heroes, and 4 for ranged.

    • Effects of multiple quelling blades do not stack.

  • Magic Stick

    200

    Active: Energy Charge: Instantly restores 15 health and mana per charge stored. Max 10 charges. Gains a charge whenever a visible enemy within 1200 range uses an ability.

    Full description

    17s

    Active: Energy Charge. Instantly restores 15 health and mana per charge stored. Max 10 charges. Gains a charge whenever a visible enemy within 1200 range uses an ability.

    • Gains charges for spells cast by visible enemies in 1200 range.
    • Certain abilities and item abilities will not add charges.

  • Boots of Speed

    500

    • +45 Move Speed

    Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.

  • Power Treads

    1,400

    • +25 Damage

    Active: Switch Attribute: Switches between +10 Strength, +10 Agility, or +10 Intelligence. Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.

    Win rate when bought46.3% · 747 games

    • ≤ 12 min46%734
    • 12–15 min–10
    • 15–20 min–3
    • 20–30 min–0
    Full description

    Active: Switch Attribute. Switches between +10 Strength, +10 Agility, or +10 Intelligence. Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.

    • Power Treads can be built using a Belt of Strength, Band of Elvenskin, or a Robe of the Magi.

  • Ring of Health

    700

    • +4.5 Health Regen

  • Void Stone

    700

    • +1.75 Mana Regen

  • Perseverance

    1,400

    • +5.5 Health Regen
    • +2.25 Mana Regen

    Win rate when bought48.1% · 694 games

    • ≤ 12 min51%495
    • 12–15 min39%140
    • 15–20 min34%32
    • 20–30 min–27

  • Cloak

    900

    Full description
    • Stacks multiplicatively with other sources of magic resistance.

  • Mage Slayer

    3,100

    • +5.5 Health Regen
    • +2.5 Mana Regen
    • +12 Damage

    Passive: Mage Slayer: Places a debuff when you attack enemies, dealing 35 physical damage per second and causing them to do 40% less spell damage for 3 seconds.

    Win rate when bought47.9% · 634 games

    • ≤ 12 min59%204
    • 12–15 min47%337
    • 15–20 min30%86
    • 20–30 min–7

  • Desolator

    3,500

    • +55 Damage

    Passive: Corruption: Your attacks reduce the target's armor by -6 for 7 seconds.

    Win rate when bought47.8% · 655 games

    • ≤ 12 min–17
    • 12–15 min59%63
    • 15–20 min53%420
    • 20–30 min28%155
    Full description

    Passive: Corruption. Your attacks reduce the target's armor by -6 for 7 seconds.

    Passive: Soul Stealer. Desolator gains +2 damage every time an enemy hero dies while affected by Corruption, to a maximum of 30.

    • Armor reduction works on buildings.

  • Black King Bar

    4,050

    • +10 Strength
    • +24 Damage

    Active: Avatar: Applies a basic dispel. Grants 60% magic resistance and immunity to reflected and pure damage.

    Win rate when bought49.6% · 347 games

    • ≤ 12 min–2
    • 12–15 min–2
    • 15–20 min–8
    • 20–30 min49%335
    Full description

    95s50

    Active: Avatar. Applies a basic dispel. Grants 60% magic resistance and immunity to reflected and pure damage. For the duration of the effect, any negative effect from enemy spells has no effect. Duration: 9 / 8 / 7s Dispel Type: Basic Dispel

    • Purchasing another Black King Bar will not reset its immunity duration.
    • Avatar duration is not affected by increases to buff duration.

  • Aghanim's Scepter

    4,200

    • +10 All Attributes
    • +175 Health
    • +175 Mana

    Passive: Ability Upgrade: Upgrades the ultimate, and some abilities, of all heroes.

    Win rate when bought55.6% · 437 games

    • ≤ 12 min–2
    • 12–15 min–3
    • 15–20 min70%30
    • 20–30 min55%402

  • Daedalus

    5,200

    • +88 Damage

    Passive: Critical Strike: Grants each attack a 30% chance to deal 225% damage.

    Full description

    Passive: Critical Strike. Grants each attack a 30% chance to deal 225% damage.

    • Critical Strike does not work against buildings.

  • Ultimate Orb

    2,800

    • +15 All Attributes

  • Aghanim's Blessing

    5,800

    Passive: Ability Upgrade: Upgrades the ultimate, and some abilities, of all heroes.

  • Swift Blink

    6,800

    • +25 Agility

    Active: Swift Blink: Teleport to a target point up to 1200 units away. After teleportation, you gain 40% phased movement speed and +35 Agility for 6 seconds.

    Full description

    15s

    Active: Swift Blink. Teleport to a target point up to 1200 units away. After teleportation, you gain 40% phased movement speed and +35 Agility for 6 seconds. Swift Blink cannot be used for 3 seconds after taking damage from an enemy hero or Roshan.

    • Self-casting will cause you to teleport in the direction of your team's fountain.

Abilities

Echo Slash

21 / 18 / 15 / 12s75 / 90 / 105 / 120

Kez slashes forward in a 800 distance line with his Katana, attacking enemies in an area and applying a brief 100% impact slow. After a short delay, the area is attacked again. Heroes take bonus damage.

ATTACK DAMAGE
70 / 80 / 90 / 100%
BONUS HERO DAMAGE
20 / 40 / 60 / 80
ATTACKS
2
ECHO DELAY
1.2
SLASH RADIUS
200
  • Destroys trees. Doesn't apply Cleave.

Grappling Claw

13 / 11 / 9 / 7s40

Kez swings on a grappling hook towards the target unit or tree. When the grappling hook collides with the target, that unit has slowed movement speed. Upon reaching the enemy target, Kez lands an attack on them.

SLOW DURATION
0.7 / 0.8 / 0.9 / 1
MOVE SLOW
70 / 80 / 90 / 100%

Kazurai Katana

24 / 18 / 12 / 6s40

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. Kez may activate the ability to impale the target with his attack, preventing them from moving or turning. The target's Katana debuff bursts, causing some of the stacks to deal damage instantly.

DURATION
7
DAMAGE PER SECOND
3 / 6 / 9 / 12%
IMPALE DURATION
0.5
STACKS AS BURST DAMAGE
50%
MAX BURST STACKS
500

Aghanim’s ShardKez lifesteals 100% from the impale. If the impale comes from behind the target, the target is stunned. Increases max burst stacks.

Switch Discipline

Innate8s

Kez switches between his Kazurai Katana and Shodo Sai. He gains different attack capabilities and abilities based on the weapon equipped. The abilities level up together, and when an ability is used, the associated alternate weapon ability also goes on cooldown. Kez deals extra damage on the first Katana hit or ability after switching to Katana, and gains bonus speed after switching to Sai.

KATANA ATTACK RANGE
225
KATANA BASE ATTACK TIME
1.9
KATANA BONUS AGILITY BASE DAMAGE
12%
KATANA SWAP BONUS DAMAGE
12%
SAI ATTACK RANGE
150
SAI BASE ATTACK TIME
1.5
SAI SWAP MOVEMENT SPEED
12%
SAI SWAP SPEED DURATION
2

Aghanim’s ScepterCasting a weapon ability that would set its alternate weapon ability on cooldown does not do so if it's the first one used within 3 seconds after casting Switch Discipline or if it was already on cooldown. Casting any weapon ability refreshes the cooldown of Switch Discipline.

Raptor Dance

Ultimate40 / 35 / 30s100 / 125 / 150

Kez enters into an uncontrollable state for 1 second, becoming invulnerable for 0.2s and receiving a basic dispel. If the cast completes successfully, Kez performs a series of deadly radial slashes around him that deal damage based on the max health of the target and heal Kez for a percentage of all damage dealt.

STRIKES
4
RADIUS
450
BASE DAMAGE
40 / 70 / 100
MAX HEALTH AS DAMAGE
2.5%
SLASH LIFESTEAL
100%
  • Slash Lifesteal is reduced to 20% when slashing a creep or an illusion.

Falcon Rush

21 / 18 / 15 / 12s85 / 90 / 95 / 100

Kez gains the ability to rush towards enemy targets to deliver echoing secondary attacks. While in this state, Kez has phased collision and slow resistance.

RUSH RANGE
525
RUSH SPEED
850
ECHO ATTACK DAMAGE
30 / 35 / 40 / 45%
SLOW RESISTANCE
15 / 30 / 45 / 60%
DURATION
3.75 / 4.5 / 5.25 / 6
ECHO PROC CHANCE REDUCTION
50%
  • Does not work on buildings.

Talon Toss

13 / 11 / 9 / 7s60 / 65 / 70 / 75

Kez throws a Sai at the target unit, applying a fixed damage attack and silence.

DAMAGE
60 / 120 / 180 / 240
SILENCE DURATION
2 / 2.25 / 2.5 / 2.75
  • The fixed damage attack has True Strike.

Shodo Sai

24 / 18 / 12 / 6s30 / 20 / 10

Kez has a chance to critically strike the target when attacking with Sais. Kez may activate the ability to disarm himself, lock his facing, and parry attacks and attack effects from the targeted direction for 1.5 seconds. If an attack is parried from an enemy Hero in this way, that Hero is stunned for 0.4s and gains a Mark. When a Marked target is attacked by Kez, it will guarantee a critical strike and stun the target. The sub-ability may be used to cancel the blocking early.

CRITICAL CHANCE
20%
CRITICAL DAMAGE
125 / 150 / 175 / 200%
MARK STUN DURATION
0.5 / 0.6 / 0.7 / 0.8
MARK DURATION
8
PARRY BONUS CRITICAL STRIKE
0%
PARRY BONUS MARK STUN
0

Aghanim’s ShardParrying creates a stronger Mark that deals additional stun and critical damage.

Raven's Veil

Ultimate40 / 35 / 30s100 / 125 / 150

Kez releases a wave of smoke that applies his Mark to nearby enemy heroes, briefly reducing their vision. Kez receives a basic dispel and gains bonus movement speed and invisibility until he attacks or casts a spell.

WAVE RADIUS
1500
WAVE SPEED
1500
BUFF DURATION
8 / 10 / 12
VISION DEBUFF DURATION
4
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED
15 / 25 / 35%

Talents

+80% Shodo Sai Critical Strike

25

+1 Echo Slash Attack

+3.5% Kazurai Katana Damage Per Second

20

40 Bonus Attack Speed During Falcon Rush

+2s Falcon Rush Duration

15

+1 Raptor Dance Strike

+6% Switch Discipline Swap Bonuses

10

+50 Raptor Dance Radius

Base stats

Attributes

  • StrengthStrength20+2.8/lvl
  • AgilityAgility27+3.5/lvl
  • IntelligenceIntelligence20+1.7/lvl

At level 1

Damage
49–55
Attack time
1.9s
Attack range
225 (melee)
Move speed
310
Armor
5.5
Magic resistance
25%
Health
560 (+3.5/s)
Mana
315 (+1.3/s)
Vision day / night
1800 / 800

Recent changes

latest 12 patches
  1. 7.41f
    • Base Damage decreased by 1
    • Damage at level 1 decreased from 50-56 to 49-55
    • Talents:Level 20 Talent Kazurai Katana Damage Per Second decreased from +4% to +3.5%
  2. 7.41d
    • Switch Discipline:Katana Bonus Agility Base Damage decreased from 16% to 12%
    • Kazurai Katana:Cooldown increased from 20/15/10/5s to 24/18/12/6s
    • Shodo Sai:Cooldown increased from 20/15/10/5s to 24/18/12/6s
    • Parry Duration decreased from 2s to 1.5s
    • Talents:Level 10 Talent +12% Magic Resistance replaced with +6% Switch Discipline Swap Bonuses
  3. 7.41a
    • Raptor Dance:Base Damage increased from 30/60/90 to 40/70/100
    • Raven's Veil:Buff Duration increased from 7/8/9s to 8/10/12s
  4. 7.41
    • Base Movement Speed decreased from 315 to 310
    • Base Attack Speed decreased from 110 to 100
    • Switch Discipline:Cooldown changed from 7.75s - 0.25s per level up to 8s - 0.25s per level
    • Now the first katana hit or ability will deal 12% bonus damage after switching to Katana, and after switching to Sai Kez gains +12% movement speed for 2 seconds
    • Aghanim's Scepter no longer restarts the alternate ability cooldown if it was already on cooldown
    • Grappling Claw:When targeting a tree, now always destroys the targeted tree and ends in the tree's position
    • Talon Toss:Cast Range decreased from 1200 to 650/750/850/950
    • Shodo Sai:The proc effect now triggers a critical strike only instead of creating a Mark
    • 18% Chance to Mark replaced with 20% Critical Strike Chance
    • As a result, marks are applied only by parrying and casting Raven's Veil
    • No longer restricts Kez from proccing passive Bash spells of Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade
    • Mark Stun Duration increased from 0.4s to 0.5/0.6/0.7/0.8s
    • No longer has a parry bonus by default
    • Now upgraded with Aghanim's Shard
    • Parrying creates a stronger mark that will stun the target for an additional 0.2s and an a crit bonus of 50%
    • Raptor Dance:No longer provides magic damage immunity
    • Talents:Level 25 Talent +100% Shodo Sai Mark Critical Strike replaced with +80% Shodo Sai Critical Strike
  5. 7.40b
    • Switch Discipline:Katana Base Attack Time worsened from 1.8s to 1.9s
    • Katana Bonus Agility Base Damage increased from 12% to 16%
    • Can no longer be disabled by Silence
    • Falcon Rush:Can no longer rush towards buildings or trigger on them
    • Echo Attack Damage decreased from 35/40/45/50% to 30/35/40/45%
    • Talents:Level 20 Talent Attack Speed During Falcon Rush decreased from +60 to +40
  6. 7.40
    • Base Strength increased from 19 to 20
    • Switch Discipline:Cooldown reduction per level increased from 0.2s to 0.25s
    • Cooldown on level 1 decreased from 7.8s to 7.75s
    • Cooldown on level 30 decreased from 2s to 0.5s
    • Katana Base Attack Time improved from 2.0s to 1.8s
    • Katana Bonus Agility Base Damage decreased from 20% to 12%
    • Kazurai Katana:Damage per second rescaled from 5/7/9/11 to 3/6/9/12%
    • The active effect may only trigger up to a maximum of 500 stacks
    • Aghanim's Shard now also increases Max Stacks to 1000 and stack as burst damage from 50% to 100%
    • Falcon Rush:No longer causes Kez to have a fixed attack rate or any interaction with attack speed
    • Echo Attack Damage decreased from 45/55/65/75% to 35/40/45/50%
    • Echoes now have 50% reduced chance to proc random effects
    • Echo with Maelstrom (25% chance) will have a 12.5% chance to proc its passive
    • Echoes can no longer trigger Marks, but may still create them
    • However, their chance to mark will be reduced from 18% to 9% due to the proc chance change mentioned before
    • Rush Speed decreased from 1000 to 850
    • Shodo Sai:Marked Stun Duration decreased from 0.5s to 0.4s
    • Parry Stun Duration decreased from 0.5s to 0.4s
    • Talents:Level 20 Talent +50% Attack Damage Added to Talon Toss replaced with +60 Attack Speed During Falcon Rush
  7. 7.39e
    • Added to Captain's Mode
    • Base Mana Regen increased from 0 to 0.25
    • Flutter: Switch Discipline: The first hit bonus is now consumed by the first attack of Echo Slash and Raptor Dance, rather than applying to the entire cast
    • Flutter: Switch Discipline: Fixed the Katana bonus being lost if Echo Slash hit nothing
    • Switch Discipline:Fixed a bug with Aghanim's Scepter that would allow extra Sai abilities to skip cooldown
    • Kazurai Katana:Impale damage changed from post-critical strike bonus damage to a separate instance of physical spell damage
    • Raptor Dance:Max Health as Damage decreased from 3% to 2.5%
    • Can no longer be interrupted by casting Grappling Claw
    • Falcon Rush:Now has an 825 break distance
    • Attack Speed Factor rescaled from 6/8/10/12% to 9%
    • Shodo Sai:Mark Critical Strike decreased from 140/160/180/200% to 125/150/175/200%

Lore

"I was born with a price on my head. As I got better at causing trouble, that price went up. Every time Queen Imperia raised the bounty, I knew I must have done something right. I think that's the worst part about being gone so long in Icewrack... I've got to get that price back up to a respectable number."

Win rates come from public Dota 2 matches (OpenDota), 3.4M matches counted, refreshed Oct 24, 2026. Tiers use the win rate in the chosen rank: S 52.5%+, A 51%+, B 49%+, C 47.5%+, D below; heroes with too few games are left unrated. Hero data and patch notes are Valve’s. Builds Forge is an unofficial fan site, not affiliated with Valve.