MVP Black has been destroying every team they face again, and their captain Sake leads the way every time. Kael'thas is one of his most played heroes and we take a look at his most recent talent builds.
The unstoppable Kael'thas
Sake is currently on a 21 match win streak playing Kael'thas in tournament play. He has never lost a game when piloting the infamous fire mage and if you want to learn the newest style of Kael'thas play it's probably a good idea to watch this player. If you don't have time to watch the matches, let's at least look at Sake's most recent talent selection:
The Talents
There are a lot of different ways to build Kael'thas, but Sake only really ever changes his level 13 talent. Arcane Barrier and Mana Tap synergize well together and Sake seems to prefer them over any other type of build. Arcane Barrier, in particular, is just too good to pass up and helps Sake stay alive in the later stages of the game.
Sunfire Enchantment is a talent that isn't very popular in the western meta but Sake can't get enough of it. Most Kael'thas players choose gravity crush but Sake opts for the reliable damage provided by Sunfire Enchantment. Landing auto attacks will always happen, and Gravity Crush is much more situational.
Phoenix is the preferred Heroic (with a noteworthy upgrade to Phoenix at level 20). This combined with Back Draft at 13 and Sun King's Fury at level 16 results in a talent build that is defined by safety and reliable damage. Sake plays Kael'thas with extreme caution and his talents allow him to circumvent a lot of the risk associated with trying to land important Gravity Lapse combos or multiple Living Bombs.
Link to build
In this game we see identical talent selection, except at level 13 Sake chooses Pyromaniac. This is an interesting decision and was probably made on account of how many melee heroes were on the opposing team. Sake probably figured that he would have plenty of living bomb targets so the Pyromaniac Value was too good to pass up.
New Balance update adjustments?
A new balance update just hit the Nexus, and Kael'thas had some of his talents adjusted. The buff to Arcane Barrier only makes Sake's build stronger, but there was also a notable nerf to Sun King's Fury, the level 16 talent that gave Kael'thas the biggest power spike.
With this nerf, it may be viable to replace Sun King's Fury with Twin Spheres:
A second charge of Verdant Spheres goes nicely with Sunfire Enchantment and the most successful Kael'thas player in the world has made it clear it is a strong talent. Twin Spheres would provide more reliable auto attack damage with Sunfire Enchantment, and Sake does so well with Kael'thas because of how safe his talents allow him to play.
He stays away from greedy Kael'thas talents that require compromising positions to get full value. No Convection stacks, no Energy Roil all in combos- just safe, reliable damage.
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