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NOTE: MY MAIN LANGUAGE IS "FRENCH" I WILL NEED A GOOD/FRIENDLY PLAYERS TO HELP ME WITH MY TYPOS/GRAMMAR ERRORS! PM ME... PLEASE DON'T START TO POINT OUT ALL OF THEM ON THE GENERAL POST! :P
NOTE: THIS IS MY 1ST GUIDE, GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS, DONT FLAME ME
Disclaimer: This guide is specifically written for the Forest of Caldavar map in a 5v5, non-em setting for both Legion and Hellbourne.
When reading my guide, I want you to listen to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ift85e38H3M and feel the vicking love!
I won't lose my time explaining(copying) the stats/skills as you can easily go in-game to find your answer. If you are at job and can't access the game, you can always go at:
http://www.hondb.com/?hero=kraken
The gargantuan pirate pet
K R A K E N
[kra' ken, ˈkrɑːkən or ˈkreɪkən]
Table of Contents
1 - Introduction
1.1 - Hero description
1.2 - Why you should pick this hero
1.3 - When you should not pick this hero
2 - Skills
2.1 - Skill descriptions
2.2 - Skill build
2.3 - Skill justification and explanation
3 - Items
3.1 - Item Build
3.2 - Late and Luxury Items
4 - Gameplay
4.1 - Laning
4.2 - Ganking
4.3 - Bestfriend
4.4 - Worst enemy
==================================================
INTRODUCTION
1.1 - Hero description
Kraken is a supporter. No mather how you play him, you should always think he's a supporter. Yes you can gank with him or even push lanes, but in the end he's a SUPPORTER on the same level as "Tempest". If you don't want to play Kraken as a supporter, stop reading here as I will show you how to win games for your team as a supporter.
Kraken is also a pretty good initiator, lane pusher and a tank. In team fights, Kraken should always be on the 1st lane (infront other squishier heroes). If you play Kraken and you stay back, you are failing at Kraken. Grow some balls, this guy is a freaking monster and every single captains were afraid of him "Arr' hey ho!"
1.2 - Why you should pick this hero
You should pick this hero everytime the other side takes Tempest. Kraken is the "Support-tank/initiator" equivalent to Tempest. To keep your team balanced, Kraken is a good choice.
You should pick Kraken every time your team is in need of a good tank. You can also take Jerey or Armalol but I prefer Kraken for multiple reasons such as... he's a better initiator, he can trap/snare other heroes and he doesn't need many gears to get super imba.
1.3 - When you should not pick this hero
If your team already have several supports (Nymph, Dementled Shaman, Jerey, etc.) or if your team already have a good initiator (Behemoth, Devourer, Andromeda, Tempest).
==================================================
Skills
2.1 - Skill descriptions
Splash - aka: Last hitter/money maker
Basicaly this skill is one of your strongest "lanner skill", you will be able to get every single last hits on creeps with it and farm your portal key / marchers really really really fast. This is how you will farm at the biggining of the game. It's on such a low mana cost (15) and on a pretty short timer (6/5/4/3) that you have no excuse to let your opps deny your creeps kill. Later on, Splash is also a good hero to hero fight skill.
Tsunami Charge - aka: Charge in/Charge out
You will use this skill to get out of combat or to get in combat. You can also use it to farm but since it has a pretty expensive mana cost (90/100/110/120) you don't want it to use it too often to farm as you start with 208 mana with Kraken. In fact, you want to keep this hability at a lower level while you are in the farming process. This is your save/kill ability. Use it wisely as it's on a long timer (14/13/12/11).
Tidal Pull - aka: Snare
This is a passive that you want to level asap as this is why you are sooooooooo usefull to your team. Basicaly you can outrun anyone(that doesn't have a blink) with this ability. You will snare players by 7/14/21/28% of their movement speed. You might be able to do the 1st kill cause of this one.
Whirlpool - aka: Kraken's bread & butter
Whirlpool is the reason Kraken is one of the most powerfull hero. Combined with a portal key this skill become laughable.
2.2 - Skill build
1. Splash (1)
2. Tsunami Charge (1)
3. Splash (2)
4. Tidal Pull (1)
5. Splash (3)
6. Whirlpool (1)
7. Splash (4)
8. Tidal pull (2)
9. Tidal pull (3)
10. Tsunami Charge (2)
11. Whirlpool (2)
12. Tsunami Charge (3)
13. Tsunami Charge (4)
14. Tidal Pull (4)
15. Stats(1)
16. Whirlpool (3)
17-25. Stats (10)
2.3 - Skill justification and explanation
To be an effective lanner with Kraken, you need splash. Why? Well Kraken has a pretty slow animation and you'll get denied alot against any agi (fast hitters) heroes. By taking splash, you'll be able to get a portal key/enhanced marcher and 2 bracers before the 15min timer (even faster than those junglers).
Tsunami Charge will be used only to get to your ennemies to get a 1st kill while you have at least 1 point in tidal pull. This ability can also save your life if you ever fawk up in the lane. The reason you don't get Tsunami Charge at (2) before lvl10 is cause it's a super mana eater skill. You need to have some kind of mana regen to support this skill and you'll see that i'm not getting any in my item build. I wanna stay longer in lane using Splash... and we don't need Tsunami Charge before we step 2 feets in the ganking phase.
==================================================
Items3.1 - Item Build
I run with 2 item build. One when I play with friends and they buy the courrier or the second when I play solo in a pub.
Start with these if you can get someone to buy the courier:
2x Crushing Claws (300)
2x Minor totem (106)
2x Runes of the Blight (180)
Total: 586/603g spent (17gold left)
Start with these if you can't get someone to buy the courier:
1x Monkey Courrier (200) / upgrade it later
2x Runes of the Blight (180)
4x Minor Totems (212)
Total: 592/603g spent (11gold left)
As ElementUser/MABmanZ pointed out:
You can go foras a starting item and upgrade it to:
later on. I'm personaly not a big fan of these item but since Kraken is pretty low on starting mana, this can always be a good item to get an extra Tsunami Charge. I prefer to get the Sorcerers Ring since it helps your whole team but it can be a good lane option as the Sorcerers ring cost alot more than the Power Supply.
As soon as you can buy these in the lane:
easier to get last hits (225)
Trade 1 totem if you are not done with runes of blight (500)
Only if you don't have blights left (250) else you buy
(500)
Than as soon as you can you get the courrier to bring you:
(500) in order to transform your:
is a good item to chase with "Tidal Pull"; You phase and get "ON" or "INFRONT" of the enemy hero for some body block (Thanks to TreeHorse for this input)
Or you can wait to farm for those as well if you have trouble last hitting (you shouldn't), I normaly get them after my Portal Key:
(185/ea)
(175/ea)
in order to switch your:
Start farming for:
as it's a main item on Kraken and you need it to initiate (2150), some players don't get it.... well good for them... I think it's a must. With this item you ensure yourself that your ultimate will lan 99.9% of the time (note that this item is not idiot proof as you need some mana calculation before using it).
and as soon as you get it, you are ready to go.
IMPORTANT: YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER EVER HAVE TO GET MORE BLIGHTS OR EVEN HAVE TO LEAVE YOUR LANE WITH KRAKEN BEFORE LVL6-8 (WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR PORTAL KEY). IF YOU ARE TAKING TOO MUCH DAMAGE, YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG AS "SPLASH" IS A SUPER LAST HITTING SPELL AND YOU SHOULDN'T STAY IN RANGE FOR LONGER THAN IT TAKES SPLASH/MELEE HIT TO GO OFF! I CAN EASILY STAY IN MY LANE FOR A GOOD 15MIN WITH 6x BLIGHTS AGAINST 2 RANGED EXEPT IF ONE OF THE RANGED IS PUPPETMASTER!
Last edited by Konsume; 10-08-2009 at 09:19 AM.
3.2 - Late and Luxury Items
Unfortunatly, there isn't many items you can buy to fit Kraken's need. From now on you will need to buy the best items that will help; you to stay alive longer or your team mates to kill
If you have trouble staying alive you can go:
which is made from:
which is made from:
which is made from:
only if you have trouble against melee/physical damage
If you need to buff/debuff armor cause you are playing against tanks or with squishies you'll go:
which is made from:
If you have mana eaters in your team or play against magebane:
which is made from:
If you need to CC because your carry sucked early game:
which is made from:
If you need magic protection for you and your team:
which is made from:
<Refreshing ornament>
Basicaly you get what helps your team. As I said, there is pretty much notting your can buy to help you kill beside maybe a lvl5 Codex but that would be stupid since it has an HIGH MANA COST. The fact that he's a pretty slow hitter makes life steal and other strenght/damage item useless. I know some players will get Runed Axe for some farming help (but he already has splash which is enough) or Shield Basher on him (I prefer to get demonic breasplate to buff you team as well), I don't waste my time on those items cause that just cripple your ability to help your team which is why Kraken exist. After you're done with the portal key, you should only farm when it's really needed else, you should protect your team or help gank others
3.3 - General items to keep at all time
General items to keep at all times are pretty much the same thing as most heroes which is:
at all time
/
only if you play against a stealth or
3.4 - Bad items to get
Any items that takes lots of mana to activate or any items that slows target or has a lifeleech mod on which includes:
.... and more
==================================================4.1 - Laning
Gameplay
First of all I want to say that it's easier for Hellbourn to go top and Legion to go bottom but that might be just me! You want to have a low gear requirement partner since you will get most kills... don't try to babysit with this guy as you need to rush for marchers and portal key (3650g)
You have to ask yourself some questions:
1. Is Splash on cooldown?
No: Get ready to use it on a low HP creep;
Yes: Get away from the fight now, you're taking useless damage;
2. Should I go back to pull my creeps?
Yes: do one more splash and than go
No: Stay there and farm
3. Are my opps on the map?
Yes: Stay far
no: Get in and call for M.I.As
Don't get in team fights before you get your portal key, if they come to help you gank help them, else just farm your portal key. They will love you when you'll have it.
4.2 - Ganking
You should NEVER EVER get a kill over your carry as soon as you are done with your portal key. Kraken has a low gear requirement and therfor don't need to kill every single heroes on the map. Yes it's fun to make the killing blow, yes it's fun to have a super 20-0 score but it's not usefull for your team. I know some of you will just say "WTF are you talking about I can go 3:1 with this guy with 15+ assist on a non-em mode"...... I didn't say you couldn't I'm saying that you're not helping your team if you're doing it. I've played 2000+ games with him and tempest and I finished both games with about 3-3-20ish but I had happy 1950~2050 players on the other side and now I'm invited to team up with them every now and then! (Note: I had a free pass in the 2000+ world since Krangry (from QuC) is my mentor an a pretty good one, you'll learn alot with him)
If you have Whirlpool up.
Activate whirlpool at a good spot and use your portal key to jump ON your enemy. Tidal pull will do the job. If you see you can get another hero, use your marchers and get em. As soon as you see you can't get any more heroes... don't fawk up and press on "R" (or any other keybinds... mine is "F") to finish your ultimate. Alot of players don't know that you can end it at anytime by pressing on the Whirlpool button again. Use this technique to push top base towers.
If you don't have Whirlpool up.
You want to be the 1st in line. You use Tsunami Charge and than Splash than you follow 1 guy to slow him.... don't auto attack as you will lose him... just follow and let team mates kill him. Use Splash anytime you have it.
4.3 Best friends
You can combo ult with this guy. Basicaly you Whirlpool and he wait for you to come back with your victims. He ults and it's lotta fun for your carry. He also saves you from buying wards and can help you escape when you fawk up!
Kraken has a low mana pool and this guy help you with it. He can also stun targets so you can get back on their arse and slow them. Good AoE as well... can do the same thing as treant.
He can charge his ult while you go whirlpool, when you have a good timing this combo can be deadly.
4.3 Worst enemy
The only hero I can think can own Kraken early game is:
Stay away from this guy as he will prevent you from escaping early game which can lead to the 1st blood. When laning against him I always request a switch. If no one wants to switch... I just proceed with causion. DON'T GET CAUGHT IN "PUPPET HOLD OR PUPPET SHOW" IT COULD BE YOUR UNDOING!
Last edited by Konsume; 10-08-2009 at 09:44 AM.
Q&A about my Guide
none yet!
Last edited by Konsume; 10-07-2009 at 04:34 PM.
Great guide! You may want to include that using enhanced marchers is one of the best ways to keep a hero within your Tidal Pull since you can unitwalk right inside or in-front of them to bodyblock as well.
New to Heroes of Newerth? Find help in the Training Grounds.
TreeHorse is not an employee of S2 Games. Be warned: He will rage at you.
Thanks for the feedbackOriginally Posted by TreeHorse
Like I said before, I posted 20 minutes after you posted your guide. In the future, if you want filler/reserved posts, please make them shortly after you first post your guide (ASAP is best).
Again, like I said before, Power Supply> 1 Fortified Bracer for many reasons.
I've played 2000+ games with him and tempest and I finished both games with about 3-3-20ish but I had happy 1950~2050 players on the other side and now I'm invited to team up with them every now and then!
Do you mean 2000+ games or games with people that are 2000+ PSR? I'm assuming it's the former because your signature says you're 1588 PSR, but even then the 2000+ games is an exaggeration...
Last edited by ElementUser; 10-07-2009 at 09:46 PM.
S2 Games: Dedicated employees serving dedicated gamers. Continuous development. Never-ending improvement.
-----------------------------
Tech Support and Customer Support: https://www.heroesofnewerth.com/support/
Look for my highlighted text (important information) and grey text (interesting but not required information).
Power Supply should be a core item on any Kraken. Since he has such low mana issues (other than ulting), having charges on your Power Supply/Mana Batteries will ensure you to have enough for another splash or charge for escape or the final blow for a kill.
First, I am not a big fan of the power supply. I prefer to have one more bracer cause I play Kraken like a "leeroy tank" rambo-style, but I do understand where you are comming from and I might add it to my guide since it's not a bad idea for those that plays Kraken another way. Edit: I've updated my guide to include power supply.
As for the 2000+ I play with 2000+ players (read that they can be 1900 to 2100), if you need proofs I have many screenshots and saved games where you can see many high skilled players with the 1550-1650 players (me) anyways you'll be able to see them as soon as the "replay" systems gets out. The reason I get to play with 2000+ is cause Krangry is my mentor... and he tries to teach me all he can. The only time i'm doing well against them is cause I play Kraken or Tempest (any other support im good but gankers.... aka I went 12-17 with soul reaper)... now some of them know me... and they invite me to join their game even when Krangry isn't around when they need a strong tempest/kraken. The only thing tho is that I can't play other thing than Tempest/Kraken else they yell at me =X
Than, the reason my PSR is so low is cause I can only play few support heroes such as: Kraken, Tempest, Dementled Shaman, Nymphora and the only ganker I can play so far is Succubus (which is more of a controler)
I'm still learning the game and It's hard to make your team win ALONE when you play such heroes... before I started to learn carries, I was at 1.7K/D with a rating of 1670 now i'm at 1.0 and I struggle alot.... my rating went in the 1200 not too long ago. I'm currently trying to learn pestilence... and I can admit I suck with him...
Flame me, hate me for my PSR, tread me like a n00b... I don't mind... i'm doing my experience before the beta ends! but I do know that any information given in this guide is pretty much right on minus maybe a couple different ways to play him. I'll update videos in a couple days!
Last edited by Konsume; 10-08-2009 at 09:15 AM.
I'm not flaming your PSR or whatnot, I'm just not sure why you included the 2000+ players part. It doesn't seem that relevant to your guide, doesn't add much to it & just confuses people if you ask me.
If you're wondering, I also play support most of the time, only to have pub allies lose the game because I can't support anyone competent
S2 Games: Dedicated employees serving dedicated gamers. Continuous development. Never-ending improvement.
-----------------------------
Tech Support and Customer Support: https://www.heroesofnewerth.com/support/
Look for my highlighted text (important information) and grey text (interesting but not required information).
Konsume the guide is great. Ill be on tonight mb u can teach me kraken ^^
♥ Desirable
OK I willbtw I need to try valkiry now :P I think i'm good enough with her to try it against your friends!
WrD guy don't let me play her =X
Last edited by Konsume; 10-08-2009 at 10:53 AM.
I really don't agree with your item or skill progression. Tsunami charge is needed if you want to get an easy first blood or your ult off early game. Item wise I think its best to farm a Ring of sorcery early on as it eliminates your mana problems for the rest of the game. While its fun to have a portal key, I think you exaggerate its importance, especially since you can't fountain ult anymore.
Skill build is kinda broken here.
You're getting ult at lvl 6 but with only 4 seconds to pull and 1 point in charge good luck landing it. Not to mention your build does nothing to alleviate his poor mana so you won't probably have mana for ult/charge anyway and with portal key before bracers it's extremely unlikely you will ever have the mana to actually use it. Well, it might work if you farmed uninterrupted and got your blink in time, but it's very constrictive. Die once (and this is quite possible with only 1 point in charge and the gank threats in high-level games) and your kraken is broken because your skillbuild is completely useless without portal key. Get ganked and you're useless because 2/3 of your manapool is empty from the escape and you don't have mana to use your portal key/ult.
While I wholeheartedly agree that skilling 1 point in charge and maxing pull early is a viable build (unlike the previously posted and great Kraken guide which advocates against it), ult at 6 is imo useless and getting some sort of mana improvement early is much more important than a fast portal key. Kraken has the potential to do some DPS and tanking, it's unwise to let it go to waste standing naked with just a portal key and no other items, unable to farm because you can't survive ganks. You also build a quick emarchers that don't quite add to your survivability and are better geared towards a DPS build whereas you intend to play pure support. Steamboots give you two built-in bracers and higher base ms for a slightly lower cost.
I disagree with RoS on Kraken though, especially with this build. Unless you're specifically building it to feed some other important hero with mana (pebbles, jeraziah and they could probably build it themselves), it's a waste of gold on Kraken, it does nothing to help his late game and all his mana needs can really be alleviated by a battery. If he doesn't ult/blink early he won't need that much mana early anyway, lasthitting every creep with splash is plain stupid since it pushes the lane and burns your mana, so you should lasthit with regular attack whenever possible and reserve splash for crucial/tough lasthits like ballista and harassment.
I strongly disagree with your item and skill build. Getting splash early instead of tidal pull is just stupid IMO, sure you might lasthit better but you have ZERO chances of scoring FB. With tidal pull on the other hand you can score FB at lvl 2 if you have a stunner in your lane. And I always though getting portal key on kraken was overkill, tsunami charge has a range of 1300 ffs!
great guide. i think Portal IS THE MUST for this Hero. since u can TIME when ur ulti pulls... SURE PULL is the core of this game. if u kill 2 enemy heroes, u can push to their base tower easily. and THAT is what Supporter need to do - SETTING UP the better situation of pushing, or defending.
SIGNED
This build works very well, even for a noob as i'am
Im a long time dota player, new to HoN. Kraken's ult is a new design mechanic, or at least as far as I can remember!
I was wondering if anyone has played Kraken/Andromeda combo much? I was just thinking the Ultimate's would work nicely together if Andro had an invis/decoyed, then Void ripped Kraken into the enemy, who could then port out again with a stun ready to gank!
And a query: If you have BKB on Kraken would it his ultimate still work? and can you port back out if disabled? (Just a couple of points I didnt pick up upon in your guide ^^)
Cheer, good read though. Sounds an exciting hero to play!
Have played with Kraken for some more and here are the results:
1) Portal Key is indeed core for him. It's not only for the ult (although it opens up a plenthora of different ult mechanics) but for gank initiations as well (blink to the person you wanna gank and he never escapes). Not to mention that it makes Kraken an escape artist.
2) HotBL, strangely, is pseudo-core on him. Kraken needs a lifetube as he has no use for lifeleech items. Every kraken will also want to build a Heart, so you will be getting a beastheart anyway. The only item wasted is a shield which is 125 gold if you pawn it, treat it like a very good consumable. Rushing HotBL before blink is very good if you expect early pushing action on either team and you just disassemble it later to get a sustainer and heart. The only time when you wouldn't want it is when you rush a very early headdress. The only exception is in written below. Overall, people that flame HotBL frequently forget that this item can be disassembled, so it's a very good early game item for those who make use of the components later. Get it, it's godly early game.
3) You really don't wanna build a heart against a farmed predator. He will eat you alive no matter how much hp you have since you have godawful armor. If you build a heart, you will actually help him to stay alive when all your team is pounding at him as he will leech hundreds HP per hit. Thus, HotBL is unadvised, and you should stack armor instead and eventually build a Daemonic Breastplate. Never tried out Frostfield Plate, but it could be much better than you state with Kraken's initiator role (you will often be in the middle of teams, so using frostfield will pay off), bonus armor which never hurts and some extra mana that lets you skip a manatube.
4) Emarchers are only for the DPS. Once you get your key, you don't really need the phasing, if you're 100% sure you will never have to DPS in late game, this item is a waste. Your early game DPS skill doesn't depend on attack speed and lategame your job is slow and ult, so feel free to buy Steamboots, they give you 2 built-in bracers and let you skip them entirely. Not in all games, in many games you will DPS with a Runed Axe, but if you're not getting it, Steamboots are as good if not better than Emarchers.
5) So the core on Kraken is blink, life and mana regeneration and some tanking. What items you build to get those (except for Portal Key ofc) is entirely situational. I've had some really good experiences with rushing HotBL, since it's components give you everything you need, but there's no shame in a headdress or many other items as well.
6) Homecoming stones are core on Kraken. Seriously. His counter-gank potential is too high to let it go to waste. Whenever you see an ally barely making it to his tower, tp instantly because vs Kraken tower diving is suicide. Even if you have 0 mana.
2 Starrynights:
BKB is not needed on Kraken. Portal Key will solve whatever problems you have with landing your ult and due to his initiator/tank role you actually want the enemy team to cast their spells at you, not somebody else. But if you somehow got to become a DPS'er (not uncommon if your carry is feeding himself to frequent ganks, Kraken is one of the hardest heroes to gank on the other hand), get it, it's an item almost essential to str DPS heroes.
Great guide! english is good
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