Kez in 7.41f: slightly less damage, still a stance-switching hero

Hi! Today I’m looking at Kez in patch 7.41f, because he’s exactly the kind of hero where any changes are felt not only in the numbers, but in the pace of the entire fight. He’s one of those agility heroes you want to break down on their own: melee combat, two weapon sets, and constant play around stance swaps, dashes, control, and sudden escapes from focus fire.

Role and abilities

In terms of role, Kez looks like a hero for tempo and unconventional engagements: he has damage, control, and tools for getting out. In my opinion, his strength isn’t in one “main” spell, but in how he strings together several short decisions in a row: close the gap quickly, lock down a target, switch styles, and then finish the damage in the right stance.

• Switch Discipline — an innate ability that switches the hero between the Kazurai Katana and the Shodo Sai. The styles have different attacks and abilities, plus bonuses for changing stance: the katana empowers the next attack or spell, while the sai provide a brief burst of speed.
• Echo Slash — after a short delay, a follow-up strike happens in the same spot, and it deals more damage to heroes.
• Grappling Claw — the hero pulls himself to a chosen enemy or tree; if it hits a target, the enemy unit is slowed, and after the leap the hero performs an attack.
• Kazurai Katana — attacks and abilities in katana form apply a stacking effect that gradually deals a portion of attack damage; the ability can be used on an enemy for a piercing strike with delayed damage and a movement- and turn-rate disable.
• Raptor Dance — after a successful wind-up, the hero unleashes circular strikes that hit victims’ max health and heal him for a portion of the damage dealt.
• Falcon Rush — lets him rapidly close in on a target, while the hero’s attacks repeat after a short delay; during the effect he moves through units and gains slow resistance.
• Talon Toss — throws a sai at the target, with silence and fixed damage that counts as an attack.
• Shodo Sai — in sai form, attacks can deal critical damage, and the parry can be ended early with a sub-ability; with Aghanim’s Shard, the parry becomes stronger.
• Raven’s Veil — a smoke wave that marks nearby enemy heroes, reduces their vision, and gives the owner invisibility and a speed bonus until attacking or casting a spell.

I think this is exactly what makes the hero interesting: he doesn’t just “press everything on cooldown,” he’s constantly deciding which style is best right now. That’s great for a player who likes non-obvious entries and playing around vulnerability windows, but it also demands precision: if you mess up the stance or the timing, the hero loses part of his value.

Changes in recent patches

• 7.41f: base damage reduced by 1; level 1 damage reduced from 50–56 to 49–55; level 20 talent with bonus damage per second from Kazurai Katana reduced from 4% to 3.5%.
• 7.41d: bonus agility damage in katana form from Switch Discipline reduced from 16% to 12%; cooldown of Kazurai Katana and Shodo Sai increased from 20/15/10/5 to 24/18/12/6 seconds; Shodo Sai parry duration reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds; level 10 talent had its magic resistance bonus replaced with a bonus to combat style swap effects.
• 7.41a: Raptor Dance base damage increased from 30/60/90 to 40/70/100; Raven’s Veil invisibility duration increased from 7/8/9 to 8/10/12 seconds.
• 7.41: base movement speed reduced from 315 to 310, and base attack speed from 110 to 100; Switch Discipline had its cooldown formula changed and the katana and sai bonuses updated; after being used with Aghanim’s Scepter, the upgraded ability no longer resets the cooldown of the alternative version; Grappling Claw now pulls the hero to a tree on hit and destroys it; Talon Toss had its cast range reduced from 1200 to 650/750/850/950; Shodo Sai was heavily reworked: the mark mechanic, crit chance, interaction with Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade Bash were changed, the stun duration from the mark was increased, the base parry bonus was removed, and an upgrade from Aghanim’s Shard was added; Raptor Dance no longer grants magic immunity; level 25 talent was changed from bonus critical damage from the Shodo Sai mark to bonus critical damage from Shodo Sai.

Overall, the hero hasn’t been “killed,” but he hasn’t been made smooth either: his base numbers and useful windows are being trimmed, while the very expressive style mechanic remains. To me, that’s an important signal — the developers are clearly keeping Kez in a zone where he’s supposed to win through execution, not just raw stats.

Statistics

According to OpenDota, over the last 7 days in public matches Kez was picked 154,218 times and has a 45.5% win rate. That’s 121st out of 127 heroes by win rate and 99th by number of games. In my view, those numbers don’t look like the story of an easy hero for the average pub: he’s popular, but his win rate is clearly lagging.

• Herald — 47.5%
• Guardian — 46.8%
• Crusader — 46.2%
• Archon — 45.1%
• Legend — 44.8%
• Ancient — 44.5%
• Divine — 45.1%

The ranked picture is fairly flat, which is also interesting: the hero doesn’t become some suddenly stronger story at higher ranks. It looks more like people are playing him in roughly the same success band everywhere, without a clear jump upward.

In professional matches, according to OpenDota for the most recent period, Kez has 24 picks, 14 wins, and 33 bans. That’s noticeably better than in pubs: 58.3% wins is a number I’d definitely look at more closely, although I still wouldn’t rush to label the hero unquestionably strong off a single sample.

Items and matchups

Professional matches show Kez building into a pretty clear mix of starting stats, a comfortable path into tempo, and then a power build. What I like here is that the items don’t look random: they support the idea of a hero who wants to fight and reposition quickly.

• Starting out: Iron Branch, Faerie Fire, Circlet, Tango, Quelling Blade, Magic Stick.
• Early game: Boots of Speed, Power Treads, Ring of Health, Void Stone, Perseverance, Cloak.
• Mid game: Mithril Hammer, Ogre Axe, Mage Slayer, Desolator, Blade of Alacrity, Perseverance.
• Late game: Aghanim’s Scepter, Demon Edge, Blink Dagger, Crystalys, Daedalus, Eaglesong.

The matchup picture is also pretty stark. Against some heroes, Kez looks very confident; against others, noticeably worse. I’d especially point out that his success depends a lot on how easily he can get onto a target and how much the enemy prevents him from completing his short but sharp pressure cycle.

• Best against: Oracle — 23 games, 73.9% win rate; Sand King — 40 games, 72.5% win rate; Troll Warlord — 32 games, 71.9% win rate.
• Worst against: Enigma — 29 games, 31.0% win rate; Lone Druid — 36 games, 36.1% win rate; Keeper of the Light — 58 games, 36.2% win rate.

Conclusion

In 7.41f, Kez had his base damage trimmed a little and one of his talents nudged down again, but to me this feels less like a role-defining nerf and more like a careful cooling-off. For me, he remains fascinating precisely as a decision-based hero: sometimes he wants to come in with the katana, sometimes survive the moment on the sai, sometimes sharply cut the distance and finish the target. In pubs, the numbers still don’t make him look like a simple, stable option, but in pro matches there’s already reason to keep a closer eye on him. I’ll be watching to see whether this profile holds or whether he gets tuned again in the next patch.

Source: official Dota 2 data and OpenDota.

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