How to play a better kraken?

[FSUHookahMan]

23344735

Thats my average Kraken game, I did well but I think I could do better and was wondering about some tips to do better. I don't like portal key because I get a 1-2 lag every so often which I think I can attribute to my lovely wireless connection pooling :-\ But yeah, if anyone could watch this and give me some tips I'd be appriciative.

[Brunfel]

I see we are at similar rating so perhaps I'm not the one to give you advice, but I have been on a winning streak as kraken as of late, and the main gripe I have about that game, without watching the replay (I'm at work. Don't tell anyone), is your items.
I won't moan about portal key since I myself don't get it every single game, depending on the oposition. 9 times out of 10 you come charging from the fog, giving them a split second to get out of the way. Even if you only get 1-2 people you will end up pushing 3 vs 5 after that.
I allways start up with an early scarab and making it into teachers ring, along with working on my survivability. Allways have the 120 mana for a charge. Be prepared to use it defensivly. Not many tanks/initiators have such a good escape mechanism.
Needless to say I level charge asap for the range.
As soon as I have the armor and health up either/both legion helm/shaman headdress (I get both eventually but start with the one most important based on oposition) I make the teachers ring into nomi's intelligence or whatever the name is. This is somewhat controversial I guess but as soon as you get that item, around 20 minute mark or so, snap that splash to auto and charge away. You will never run out of mana. your have 40-45ish magic and physical reduction. Even if you DO blow your ulti (which could happen once or twice a game if you're unlucky) you can charge in and take enough damage for your teammates to finish them off.
Most of the time you will just take the initial blast before they focus their attention to the squishys.
Also, try to aim your charge towards a safe spot. Many times I've charged against their tower from an angle so that I hit the woods, juking my way out with 1-2-3 on my tail.
I don't think I've ever gone with any damaging items. I go support and mitigation all the way. Behemoth's heart is the luxury item here, but most of the time I end up with boots, shaman's headdress, helm of the black legion and nomi staff and then portal key, after that luxury.

[FSUHookahMan]

Well I made the refreshing incase I needed to make a barrier idol later but I never really needed it, and I got the ring of protection at the beginning because you can get the scarab in the side shop to make the RoT. I personally never have mana issues after level 10ish. I always go for 1-3 people vs. all because as you said, it puts the fight at a much better ratio both when I ult and the subsequent push.

I use the Frostburn because of the movespeed giving good stats, movespeed for ult/running/chasing, and the slow on attack incase I have to chase someone, like I did multiple times in the replay. After that I either go idol or start towards my heart. Sometimes, depending on the team, I might turn my RoT into abyssal for myself and my team, like I did this game.

Thanks for the reply but you really didn't give me any specific tips toward my game-play :P Anything is better than nothing I guess.

[Brunfel]

Yeah, it was pretty general advice. I'll have a look when I get home in a few hours...

[Oguh]

I might be able to help on the lag part.

When you use vista and wifi, it will (not on all pcs, no idea why) scan for better wifi spot EVERY MINUTE, causing a 1/2 sec lag in game which is way annoying.

I fixed it by downloading the latest drivers for my wifi card (which is a USB d-link DWA-110) and using vista anti lag.
http://www.codecase.de/de/software/downloads/folder/17-vista-antilag
(in german but I thought it was better to find the developper site for a proper download)
It's a free software that you need to launch every time you turn on your computer, activate and then forget about. I hope this help, took me forever to find this.

[WarMonger]

Wow not much to say when your going against a tempest with refresher pk and a kotf to back him up. It really came down to your ulti and keeping them separated which I think you did well enough. Even though you should have focused your ulti on grabbing kotf or tempest (defiler can silence them to make sure they didnt ulti and died first), even when you missed you still managed to grab someone else and making sure they died and tempest with ult would do less damage because of less allies. In the mid game they were strong enough to go against 5 of you after you ultied one of their allies (like blacksmith) mostly because of the fed panda. Eventually the dps swift got really helped you guys in your favor taking them out quickly and being able to almost solo the panda when he was nearly able to solo all of you. That said I am not pro enough to really make comments on your late game. I disagree with your early game however, I can understand why you got those items but it seems you harassed with your charge. I would only get one level in charge to use as an escape (or to gank and get close) this keeps the manacost down and the charge ult combo for viable. The extra distance and damage is nice but not worth it that early. That splash he does makes him an unstoppable last hitting machine (esp when combined with hatchet). The way you harassed your lane using charge, you could have done so much more damage maxing out slow and splash with less mana usage (splash would have done lots of damage to that blacksmith when not last hitting with it). I also understand why no blink but it really helps out to make it unpredictable where you come from (unless you get that lag alot). I cant believe they actually let you ult from the same place every time near the end game and fell for it every time. They should have been smarter about it but were greedy I guess. I am sure your probably more skilled than I am but just my thoughts and hope this helps. Here is a replay of my kraken, good early game and decent ults but nothing special or hard just want to show you how splash early game works (not that you havent tried it or that you are still sure your build was the way to go). The match id is 23155860 if your interested.

Edit. the replay is also laning with puppet so it might help seeing the 2 build versions with same laner.

[skullforge]

Wtf walls of text

[FSUHookahMan]

Thanks War for the advice! I'll have to try that skill build next time I get Kraken. I knew teal and purple and we were on vent which is why we never talked much on the game lol. Our defiler wasn't always on top of the silencing which is why I tried to stay out of the kotf and tempt when ulting but always tried for one or the other. What about the use of an assassins shroud with the ult? I think it sounds stupid but I've seen and heard people using it?

[WarMonger]

Thanks War for the advice! I'll have to try that skill build next time I get Kraken. I knew teal and purple and we were on vent which is why we never talked much on the game lol. Our defiler wasn't always on top of the silencing which is why I tried to stay out of the kotf and tempt when ulting but always tried for one or the other. What about the use of an assassins shroud with the ult? I think it sounds stupid but I've seen and heard people using it?

ah yes, i think i remember someone talking about defiler missing silence. i saw a couple silences that worked out but wasn't paying too much attention. in that case not ulting tempest was prob the best thing you could have done, i couldn't imagine bringing him only to have him double ult you and your team to let panda come and wtf pwn you. nicely played, i def learned some things myself watching that replay.

[FSUHookahMan]

Thanks, I just want to get kraken to the competitive level, he's a game changer if correctly played.

[Loli]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUDqv-csaQs

[FSUHookahMan]

Funny but very unhelpful. :-\