Hero Discussion of this Day: Kunkka (28 November 2012)

Admiral Kunkka

Kunkka is a fearsome opponent in nearly any situation. His passive ability, Tidebringer, causes his sword to splash out massive damage over an area when he attacks, making him not only a constant threat in the lane, but a excellent damage dealer later in the game. Through the deadly combination of X Marks the Spot and Torrent, he can also pick off his fleeing enemies at will. He's not at a loss in large team clashes either; His ultimate summons the legendary ship S.S. CoCo, which empowers his allies with rum and crashes into enemies, causing massive devastation. This ruthless admiral leaves none alive, least not dry!

Lore

As Admiral of the mighty Claddish Navy, Kunkka was charged with protecting the isles of his homeland when the Demons of the Cataract made a concerted grab at the lands of men. After years of small sorties, and increasingly bold and devastating attacks, the Demon Fleet flung all its carnivorous ships at the Trembling Isle. Desperate, the Suicide-Mages of Cladd committed their ultimate rite, summoning a host of ancestral spirits to protect the fleet. Against the Demons, this was just barely enough to turn the tide. As Kunkka watched the Demons take his ships down one by one, he had the satisfaction of wearing away their fleet with his ancestral magic. But at the battle's peak, something in the clash of demons, men and atavistic spirits must have stirred a fourth power that had been slumbering in the depths. The waves rose up in towering spouts around the few remaining ships, and Maelrawn the Tentacular appeared amid the fray. His tendrils wove among the ships, drawing demon and human craft together, churning the water and wind into a raging chaos. What happened in the crucible of that storm, none may truly say. The Cataract roars off into the void, deserted by its former denizens. Kunkka is now Admiral of but one ship, a ghostly rig which endlessly replays the final seconds of its destruction. Whether he died in that crash is anyone's guess. Not even Tidehunter, who summoned Maelrawn, knows for sure.

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Roles: Carry, Initiator, Durable, Disabler

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Strength: 24 + 3

Agility: 14 + 1.3

Intelligence: 18 + 1.5

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Damage: 47-57

Armour: 1.96

Movement Speed: 300

Attack Range: Melee (128)

Base Attack Time: 1.7

Missile Speed: N/A

Sight Range: 1800 (Day) / 800 (Night)

Turn Rate: 0.6

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Spells

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Torrent

Summons a rising torrent that, after a short delay, hurls enemy units into the sky, stunning, dealing damage and slowing movement speed.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	120	12	1500	215	1 (slow)	After a 2 second delay, lifts people up in an area damaging them by 120 and slowing them by 35%
2	120	12	1500	215	2 (slow)	After a 2 second delay, lifts people up in an area damaging them by 180 and slowing them by 35%
3	120	12	1500	215	3 (slow)	After a 2 second delay, lifts people up in an area damaging them by 240 and slowing them by 35%
4	120	12	1500	215	4 (slow)	After a 2 second delay, lifts people up in an area damaging them by 300 and slowing them by 35%

• Magical Damage

• The delay is 2 seconds at all levels

• After casting, the target area will gain a visual bubbling effect for the delay period. This can only be seen by allies

• Units tossed in the air are stunned and can still be attacked

• Part of the damage occurs right as the torrent erupts, the rest occurs over time as the units are in the air

• The units are disabled for 1.53 seconds at all levels

An ancestral rush of water explodes from the center of the world, called upon by the Admiral.

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Tidebringer

Passive

Kunkka's legendary sword grants increased damage and cleaves a large area of effect in front of him for a single strike.

Cleave damage on non-primary targets is not reduced by armor values.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	-	13	-	500	-	For one attack, gives Kunkka 15 bonus damage and a huge cleaving effect
2	-	10	-	500	-	For one attack, gives Kunkka 30 bonus damage and a huge cleaving effect
3	-	7	-	500	-	For one attack, gives Kunkka 45 bonus damage and a huge cleaving effect
4	-	4	-	600	-	For one attack, gives Kunkka 60 bonus damage and a huge cleaving effect

• Physical damage, but not reduced by armour

• Cleaved damage is only reduced by armor type, not by armor value

• Cooldown is not activated on denies, so the damage bonus is maintained

• Applies on-hit effects to main target only

A lost Claddish soul inhabits Kunkka's trusty Tidebringer, empowering it to destroy demons of the Cataract.

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X Mark the Spot

Targets a friendly or enemy Hero, marks their position with an X, and returns them to it after several seconds. Kunkka can trigger the return at any time during the duration.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	80	16	500	N/A	1	Puts a buff/debuff on a unit, the unit will return to the spot where the spell was cast after a certain duration
2	90	16	650	N/A	2	Puts a buff/debuff on a unit, the unit will return to the spot where the spell was cast after a certain duration
3	100	16	800	N/A	3	Puts a buff/debuff on a unit, the unit will return to the spot where the spell was cast after a certain duration
4	110	16	950	N/A	4	Puts a buff/debuff on a unit, the unit will return to the spot where the spell was cast after a certain duration

• If target becomes magic immune after this spell has been cast, target will not return to the X after the duration ends

• Interrupts channelling spells

• When using X Marks the Spot, another ability becomes available called: "X Marks the Spot Return". For 50 mana and on a 5 second cooldown, the unit will return to the X'd spot before the duration is up

The Admiral's set of arcane abilities includes some that can be used for battle as well as entertainment.

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Ghost Ship

Ultimate

Summons a ghostship to cut a swath through battle, causing damage and stuns to enemy units as it crashes through. Allies are doused in Kunkka's Rum, receiving bonus movement speed and a delayed reaction to damage.

Level	Mana Cost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	150	60	1000	425	1.4 (stun)	Sends a Ghost Ship to the cast point or towards the direction of the cast point. Once it reaches its' destination it deals 300 damage and stuns enemies. Allies that the boat passes through or is near receive a 10% movement speed and a 50% damage reduction buff (which the damage will be dealt after the buff wears off). The buff lasts for 8 seconds
2	200	50	1000	425	1.4 (stun)	Sends a Ghost Ship to the cast point or towards the direction of the cast point. Once it reaches its' destination it deals 400 damage and stuns enemies. Allies that the boat passes through or is near receive a 10% movement speed and a 50% damage reduction buff (which the damage will be dealt after the buff wears off). The buff lasts for 8 seconds
3	250	40	1000	425	1.4 (stun)	Sends a Ghost Ship to the cast point or towards the direction of the cast point. Once it reaches its' destination it deals 500 damage and stuns enemies. Allies that the boat passes through or is near receive a 10% movement speed and a 50% damage reduction buff (which the damage will be dealt after the buff wears off). The buff lasts for 8 seconds

• Magical Damage

• Actual area of effect of ship's collision is larger than the boat itself

• The boat has a movement speed of 650

• Damage dealt after Kunkka's rum wears off is non-lethal and can never kill a hero

• The distance traveled by the boat is 1000 units, spawning 500 units behind the cast point set by Kunkka, and crashing 500 units ahead of the cast point

• Magic immunity does not block the ship's stun, but does block the damage

The final ship of the Claddish Navy is nothing but a phantom, but it is all too real to the enemies of the Admiral.

==

Recent Changes from 6.76/6.76b/6.76c

• Tidebringer level 4 AoE increased from 500 to 600

Recent Changes from 6.75/6.75b

• Base strength increased by 3

• Ghost Ship cooldown decreased from 90/80/70 to 60/50/40

• Ghost Ship impact AoE increased from 400 to 425

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Findings (not-factual information as above):

I find Kunkka to be a good initiator aswell as a decent carry given the right circumstances. In the lane, use Tidebringer to harrass enemies and force them to back off, it's brutal. When trying to torrent, predict where the enemy will be in 2 seconds, honing your divination skills might be good here. You can combo X and Torrent on a fleeing hero, by using X, waiting 2 seconds (at level 3 or 4) and casting torrent, this will almost guarantee a fleeing hero to be hit by the torrent. When targetting Ghost Ship, make sure you're casting it far away from yourself as to definitely hit your destined location, if you target it close to yourself, it'll go way further and might miss everybody.

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This thread has advice for soloing against Kunkka, denunciator with a comment

Tips for new Kunkka players? A discussion here

PrivCaboose has a list of tips

Wilco- has a tl;dr

thePROJECTION asks why is Shadow Blade core on Kunkka?

"If you use Battlefury on Kunkka, why?" Veggyfruitjuice asked

UltimateBanana has a mini-writeup from a previous discussion

Does Quelling Blade work on Kunkka? According to Boloroth, you will only get the extra damage on the creep you hit, the damage will not splash onto other creeps. And the -armour doesn't affect creeps either, comment by KnightingGale.

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If you guys want a specific hero to be discussed next, please feel free to post (or message as someone did for Meepo and Lina).

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Posts are every 2 days, next post will be on the 30th.

Important OGRE tip of last thread by Snipufin: "Orb of Venom is a decent pickup on Ogre, on a hero with 350 movespeed it almost negates boots by giving -42 moveespeed." If you're going to pick this up, it should be done early game and only if you have the spare gold.

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