Dota 2 Kunkka Hero Guide: High Crit Kunkka

Kunkka has mind-blowing critical power strikes:
Learn today how to rule the mid lane with Kunkka and all of the game-changing details about the early game, spell selection and carrying!

Dota 2 Kunkka
Hero Guide:

Let’s start! This is my story about my best Hero: Kunkka

1. How Kunkka became my best Hero and which lane I choose for him:

Dota 2 has many heroes, but one hero always stood behind and close to my heart: Admiral Kunkka. Kunkka is one of my most trustable heroes that I feel confident with!

At first, it was quite hard for me to use this hero because of the challenging spell timings. Later on, with some practice, these spells became a piece of cake. Today I can make perfect combos without even letting the enemy make his move!

Dota 2 has three lanes, but I always go for the mid lane! If the middle is already marked or picked, I don’t even take Kunkka into consideration. According to me, the mid lane is made for Kunkka, and a good Kunkka player can defeat any enemy hero in the mid lane!

Why Kunkka?

After getting frustrated by cancer players, I deleted my steam account and made a new one. Luckily, this time, my rank fell into a high bracket which means less irritating players for me.

After playing 150+ Dota 2 matches with different heroes, I did not manage to make a single Rampage (Killing all 5 enemy heroes in a short time period) in the whole time…

In one game, I randomly picked Kunkka and started playing with him. In that match, I literally sucked, because I was not able to use the spells, OH! it was a ranked match. Other players flamed me a lot! 😀
My team lost the match, but I wanted to play with Kunkka again because of its Tidebringer Ability. I was able to kill many creeps in one hit and even enemy support heroes.

It was fun! I started practicing Kunkka and after a few games, I was able to make perfect spell combos…

In my 8th match with Kunkka, I made a Rampage: Killed 3 heroes with just one hit and the rest with the Ghost Ship ultimate and a torrent. Hell Ya! 😀 I realized that the Ghost Ship is a perfect spell for hero combos and spell combos.
That was ecstatic! My mind was completely blown! I had never reached a Dota 2 Rampage before!

That match made my day, and I started playing with Kunkka frequently. The time came where I was giving hard times to every enemy mid-laner!
Whenever the enemy picks Invoker, I go for Kunkka and mostly kill him twice before even getting level 6. 😉
My friends started calling me the Kunkka Attacker because I was beating Divine players! (See all Dota 2 ranks here) I have played more than 200 games with Kunkka, and I never get bored of it. This is the reason Kunkka is my best and favorite hero!

Why do I choose the Mid Lane for Kunkka?

Kunkka is a hero that matches different roles, but I always prefer the mid lane for him. I have played with Kunkka in all lanes to experience how it works. However, it did not go well, I lost nearly all the games in which I went to other lanes except mid. Kunkka is an initiator, hitter, and nuker! If he gets fat in the early game, he quickly can rule all enemy lanes and create a team advantage!

While the fast leveling in the mid lane is awesome, my biggest focus is on the farm, the more farm I have, the more damage items I can get. I always try to kill the enemy hero before Level 6, so I will get a gold advantage. It’s all about the gold, which decides about a good game or a bad game. Once I have bought Phase Boots and Bottle, it’s time to eliminate: I go for the lanes and locate enemies with low total hitpoints. One perfect combo and the lane is empty. 😉

Kunkka is a strength hero – after making one combo he has barely any mana left, this is why the bottle is an essential key item. If Kunkka is played on other lanes except mid, then using a bottle is quite harder and less effective. Moreover, it will consume a lot of time to chase runes, which will lead to less gold and less XP. 🙁

This is why I always choose the mid lane for Kunkka… 😉

2. What items do I build for Kunkka in Early Game

In my games, I optimize my starting, early game to mid game items over and over again. Here is my result, keep in mind that it is quite important to adjust some of the items for specific enemy heroes, which I will show you. 😉

My Early Game Items for Kunkka:

In the early game, my main focus is towards the last hits. However, I go for Quelling Blade (Quelling Blade works on Kunkka but does not affect Tidebringer), Stout Shield, Tango, and Clarity. If I am facing a harassing enemy like Viper, Necrophos, etc. Then my second item is always Bracer because it gives you extra HP and base damage.

My Mid Game Items for Kunkka:

Moving on to the third item I always go for Phase boots and then rush the bottle. I have used this sequence in 90% of my matches, but sometime you will face a harassing enemy. In that situation, it is necessary to have high HP: Go for one more bracer. By using these early game items, you can easily harass and control your enemy by denying his creeps and making frequent Tidebringer hits!

Why these items? Why not something else?

I have seen some players buying two sub-items of the bracer, Faerie Fire and Clarity. According to me, it is not a good idea because Kunkka needs early game farm and without quelling blade it is hard to ensure every last hit. The goal should always be to get 5 out of 5 creeps on each lane. Some people try to be smart and use Tidebringer for last hits. However, it does not always work because, in the early game, it leaves the last range creep with low HP, and the enemy denies it. That last range creep gives the highest gold and XP, if the enemy denies this one in almost every lane then you are losing a lot of gold.

Damage is always my priority because I want to irritate the mid lane enemy by hitting him again and again with Tidebringer. This is the reason why I go for the phase boots, it increases the right amount of damage and allows to engage fast due to the extra movement speed. Movement speed is necessary because level one X-mark has shallow range. To make a perfect combo, it is essential to use X-mark and phase boots will help you a lot. Easily use them right before you spell and the enemy can’t do much in the early game. Phase boots are also nice for any escape plan! 😉

Kunkka has low intelligence, and after using a few spells, he gets out of mana. I cannot waste my gold again and again on mangoes and clarities. To save gold and time, I buy a bottle and focus on the runes. If I have low HP or mana, I always go for the rune, get charges and restore HP and Mana. Then the process of harassing the enemy starts again! 😉

3. Which abilities do I skill with Kunkka to get high damage?

Playing Kunkka mid requires to choose the abilities according to that gameplan:

• My main focus is on the damage, so my first ability is TideBringer. I usually use it to scare the enemy and take the last hits.
• My second ability is torrent, OH! Did I tell you I barely miss a Torrent?
• Till Level 4 up I upgrade Torrent and Tidebringer.
• Then at level 5, I go for the X-mark, till level 6 I harass the enemy a lot.
• When I reach level 6 I will kill the enemy instantly. I quickly make a combo even I can kill the enemy with just Tidebringer. I use it because I like to perform perfect combos.
• Later on, I upgrade my Tidebringer until level 10. If the enemy has long-range, then I get one more level of X-mark. Otherwise, I focus on upgrading my Torrent.
• At level 10, I choose the talent tree of +40 damage; of course, I like damage. Then until 15, I upgrade the rest of my normal abilities. At level 15,  i pick +10 regeneration, at level 20, +25 Strength. Talent 2 and Talent 3 makes Kunkka Tank. The last talent tree is a bit confusing, and it depends on the situation if enemies total health is between 1000-2000 then I go for +60% Tidebringer Cleave. So, I can kill enemies with one cleave :D. However, If the enemy is strong, I go for the Ghost Ship Fleet because I never miss my spells.

4. Which items do I build with Kunkka in the Late Game?

After getting the bottle, my main priority is to get Daedalus as soon as possible.

First, I go for Crystalys and start taking enemies out. It gives extra gold, and I made my first Daedalus in the first 19 minutes! Yeah I know I failed – then I started competing with myself. It was a type of practice for me after a few games I build the Daedalus in 16 minutes. Still, it was not enough for me, so I never stop practicing!
Finally in one game I bought Daedalus at 13:44!It was my Biggest achievement, and till now I have not broken this record of mine.

After having the glorious Daedalus in my inventory the fu can start! I go for Dagger or Shadow blade. Both are for initiating and escaping purposes. Later on, I go for one more Daedalus to get more damage. Hell Yeah! I like serious damage. Two slots left: One for BKB and one for Heart or Rapier! 😎

My preferred Late Game Items for Kunkka:

Why do I go for these Kunkka Items?

I go for Daedalus first because the most lane heroes have low total HP – and with Daedalus, I can easily take them out! 😉
Moreover, I can take all the stacked creeps in just one hit.

The next items, Dagger or Shadow Blade depend on the situation of the game. If the enemy has a lot of vision or heroes like Bounty Hunter or Slardar, then it’s the wrong step to buy Shadow Blade – In that kind of situation, I go for Dagger. Otherwise, Shadow Blade is best! 😎

Look at my Critical Damage with Kunkka:

Let me teach you a funny and fantastic trick with a Blink Dagger: Find low HP enemies in a lane, hide in the dark, X-mark yourself, now use dagger and Tidebinger on the creeps. Slash!!!!! Enemy dead or barely alive – Let your Torrent do rest of the job! 😀 He won’t even know what has happened. 😉

The third item is also Daedalus because the more damage I can get the more kills I will make! One time I killed two carries with just one cleave. Those two were crying in the chatbox! That was the perfect time to use my Kunkka Dota 2 Taunt. 😉

My fourth item is Black King Bar (BKB), but I only buy it when the enemy has stunners or go hard on disabling me. Kunkka cannot survive in front of stunners! But if there are no stunners, then I go for one more Daedalus usually. My fifth item is Heart of  Tarrasque, and it helps Kunkka to initiate or tank. If the game is going easy, my sixth item is Rapier. But sometimes it backfires, I was winning a game, and then Medusa killed me and took the Rapier! 😀 The game was dragged to 90 minutes. Still, we lost just because of the Divine. Buying a Divine Rapier is really risky, according to the most situations Assault Cuirass is a better choice.

5. Is this Kunkka Inventory the Best for any possible Situation?

If you are talking about the early game items, then Yes! The interaction of the items has a high performing benefit and you can boost your MMR with that. However, for the late game, it is a straight “No” because to be honest, my main focus is on Damage, and sometimes the damage is not everything. In 90% of my matches, I win the mid lane hard, but it is not necessary I will win the game anyway because some enemy heroes do not even let you hit such as Invoker: When he got his Aghanim’s Scepter, I can hardly reach him with my combo.

In one game I used the same item setup against Ursa, and he screwed me like a dummy. On the other hand, if I had Heaven’s Halberd in that situation, then that Ursa would not be able to hit me. Nevermind, it is useless to cry over spilled milk. Damage is necessary for Kunkka, but sometimes other situational items are also essential. 😉

Massive damage can also backfire at you, in an extremely critical match I had three Daedalus: The enemy team had wiped out our team and I made a buyback thinking I was overpowered. However, it was my biggest mistake I thought I would use my Dagger, X-Mark and Tidebringer trick and the enemies will fall: Unfortunately, the Enemy had a Pudge with Blademail. One second before my Tidebringer was hitting in, Pudge activated his blade mail! My hero died on the spot, and pudge was barely alive. We lost the match because of that silly move of mine.

I am trying to fix my habit and to build items related to the enemy heroes and situations because sometimes the default items cannot help you.

6. How long it took me to become a Kunkka Pro?

In my early games, it was hard to control Kunkka because his abilities require calculations and fast reflexes. The first games were a complete mess but after a while and a lot of practice I became an expert in it! 😉
I do not even remember when it was the last time when I failed a combo…
One extra tip for you: I always go for the complete combo. You know why? It secures a 100% hit rate. And moreover, because I like to do it, X-mark is quite cheap so it’s an easy choice for me…

I would really appreciate getting feedback for my Kunkka. 🙂
Have you tried it out? How did it work?

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