"Bootylicious" - A guide to full DPS Kunkka! (Under Construction)

Introduccion to the guide

Hello there, and welcome to my guide to Kunkka. First of all I want to give you certain headsUp before starting anything:

1- This is my first guide at Dotafire.
2- English is not my native language.
3- Im making this guide because of the simple reason of not being a "Quality" guide on Kunkka and I wanted to give it a shot using my natural but lethal build.

ATTENTION: This guide will be under progress for a while, if you find positive things under construction you are welcome to comment and thumbs up, if you dont like something do the same, but remember to give a constructive critic (As we all should).

Introduccion to Kunkka

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 Maelraun 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 Maelraun, knows for sure.



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

Range: 1500
Radius: 215
Slow Duration: 1/2/3/4
Movement Speed Slow: 35%
Damage: 120/180/240/300
Cooldown: 12
Mana Cost: 120

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


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.

Radius: 500
Damage Bonus: 15/30/45/60
Cooldown: 13/10/7/4

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


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.

Range: 500/650/800/950
Duration: 1/2/3/4
Cooldown: 16
Mana Cost: 80/90/100/110

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


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.

Range: 1000
Radius: 400
Buff Duration: 8
Stun Duration: 1.4
Damage: 300/400/500
Movement Speed Bonus: 10%
Damage Reduction: 50% (which will be dealt after the buff wears off)
Cooldown: 90/80/70
Mana Cost: 150/200/250

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

Pros & Cons

Pros

-Big time AoE Ultimate for initiation.
-Nice Harrassment tool.
-Semi-disabler.
-Counters blinkers.
-Good chaser for some moments.
-Fits on any lane.
-Really good ganker.
-Lethal if mastered.

Cons

-Really slow attack speed. (More like a one hit wonderer)
-He is countered by CC if focused badly.
-Item build dependant on survivability.
-Both item and lvl dependant. (50%50)
-He is mana dependant early game.
-Tidehunter hates him.

Skill Build

1-Tidebringer
2-Torrent
3-X Marks the Spot
4-X Marks the Spot
5-Tidebringer/Torrent
6-Ghost Ship
7-Torrent
8-Tidebringer/Torrent
9-Tidebringer
10-Torrent
11-Ghost Ship
12-Torrent/Tidebringer
13-Stats
14-Stats
15-Stats
16-Ghost Ship
17-Stats
18-Stats
19-Stats
20-Stats
21-Stats
22-Stats
23-Stats
24-X Marks the Spot
25-X Marks the Spot

Justification:

You maybe are wondering why putting 2 points of X marks the spot early lvl 3-4. As a mid lane ganker, Kunkka haves less probabilites of suffering harrass than laning duo. But thats not the point when ganking is the main priority at lvl 6. When you gank, you want it to be successful, in order to do that, the 2 early points of E really come in handy. Torrent for a
1.4 second stun/disable and 1/2 sec slow (if pick Torrent at lvl 5 again) after that, ghost ship and tidebringer, the enemy/ies that suffered the whole damage of both ghost and torrent, will have a 1/4 health bar, wich can be easliy cleaned up with an X marks the spot and a couples of hit more. Also another reason (A mini reason) its to boost Kunkka damage a bit, his tankquiness and his mana pool with earlier stats, wich gives him a pretty good boost on everything.
1-Tidebringer
2-Torrent
3-Tidebringer
4-Torrent
5-Tidebringer
6-Ghost Ship
7-Tidebringer
8-Torrent
9-Torrent
10-Stats/X Marks the Spot
11-Ghost Ship
12-X Marks the Spot
13-X Marks the Spot
14-X Marks the Spot
15-Stats/X Mark the Spot
16-Ghost Ship
17-Stats
18-Stats
19-Stats
20-Stats
20-Stats
21-Stats
22-Stats
23-Stats
24-Stats
25-Stats

Justification:

This skill build is pretty straight forward, you want to max your Tidebringer to do beatiful things to enemies on lane every 4 secs as well make them use their 10 tangos at the same time. Torrent second to do combo with Ghost Ship and Tidebringer, and X Marks the spot finally to complete the build.

Item Build

This should be your starting item build, pretty simple. Get gaunlets and GG` branches for stats and health, you will be able to tank above the average damage early. Grab your regular regeneration items for, well, regeneration stuff.
Finish off the bracers the quickiest you can, normaly beetween 750 and 1k gold, not hard at all to reach, when you get 500, buy your boots, dont be afraid of selling the branches.
Finish your phase boots and then start building crystalys. Believe it or not, with this 2 items, your tidebringer damage is boosted alot, as both items provides raw damage and crystalys can make you crit for 1.75x the normal damage, so for this point, you will be mid game most probable.
This is a really good item for Kunkka and its mostly a need for him. When attacking from invis, and it will cause that your next attack deals 160 more dmg, and yes, this damage is also dealt in an AoE in front of Kunkka, wich means it will optimize even harder your tidebringer (Yeap) and make you do beautiful things with it. Also grants you another of the few escape mechanism for Kunkka.
Dedalus is normaly taken as a luxury for heroes with high damage output, but for Kunkka is a need and mostly a must late game (if you can afford it). A critical of dedalus + shadow blade + tidebringer makes your enemies health melt in one second, squishy heroes will probably die instantly. Drums of endurance, buy it only if someone else havent bought it. You are able to use it along with phase boots, but you have to activate drums and THEN phase boots, if backwards, the buff of drums will remove the boots buff, and you wont have the great movement speed increase.
Having problems with nukers? this is your item choise. BKB would be first priority, but linkens is also a viable choise has it grants you with some mana regen wich Kunkka could serve of.
This is your situational lineup.

1- Most people like taking vanguard because it gives you more tanking capabilites and if taken early will heal you really fast, but I aim this guide to make Kunkka tidebringer his daughter, by buying 3 simple Dps items. Altought they are simple, it needs alot of money to finish them 3, so I would skip singularities like this.

2- Boots of travels is a really good choise for Kunkka late game, you will be able to push lanes in seconds with your tidebringer and you will have your movement speed buffed, so its a good choise to go if affordable.

3- Assault cuirass will give you some of the attack speed Kunkka needs. But thats not the important part, but the negative passive aura of -5 is also a cool thing, wich means also boost your tidebringer dmg deal even higher (Yeap).

4- This is a really, REALLY situational item for Kunkka, use it when enemies like Templar Assassin and Phantom Assassin are attacking you, watch them blow themselves.

5- Pipe of insight is another really situational item, only take if the team haves no one that wants to buy it (hard thing to find) or you are one person who likes helping its team. But lets not see that part of it, as it will grant you with a high 11+ health regen and give you a high 30% magic resistance, wich, doesnt kills anyone by holding it. :D

Progress of Guide

08/07/2012-Added Item and Skill build with introduccion and P&C
09/07/2012-Added Hero introduccion with Skills and images for it.
12/07/2012-Added Skill build (wroten) and justification for both of the builds.
27/07/2012-Long delay, huh? Added Item Build Section to clarify why they are taken.