WhyMedusa's defensive kit heavily disrupts Kez's melee-range engagements, as Stone Gaze punishes him for facing her while executing close-quarters combos. Additionally, targeting Medusa with single-target spells like Grappling Claw or Talon Toss triggers Cold Blooded to petrify Kez, while Mana Shield absorbs the bulk of his burst and percentage-based damage.
Kez Counters & Build
44.02%
Win rate
0.547%
Pick rate
5
Counters
7.41e
Patch
Kez is countered by Medusa, Huskar and Ursa, and performs best against Spectre, Ringmaster and Bounty Hunter — patch 7.41e, legend–ancient.
Countered by
5These heroes beat Kez more often than their general strength explains.
WhyHuskar establishes an early advantage in lane by continuously punishing the melee Kez from range with stacking Burning Spear damage. If Kez manages to close the distance, Inner Fire can knock him away and silence him, while Berserker's Blood provides escalating attack speed and health regeneration to dominate close-range trades.
WhyUrsa likely gains an edge in close-quarters trades, as Overpower allows him to rapidly build lethal Fury Swipes stacks whenever Kez commits into melee range. Furthermore, Enrage provides massive damage reduction and a strong dispel, which can neutralize Kez's burst attempts, the silence from Talon Toss, and the damage over time from Kazurai Katana.
WhyWhile the laning phase is roughly even, Shadow Shaman counters Kez later in the game by shutting down the agile melee carry with instant lockdown from Hex and Shackles, which bypasses Shodo Sai's attack parry. Furthermore, Fowl Play provides Shadow Shaman with a strong dispel and temporary damage immunity against Kez's lethal burst damage, allowing his team to easily isolate and eliminate Kez.
WhyLegion Commander neutralizes Kez by locking him down with Duel, preventing him from utilizing his extensive active spell rotation, escapes, and defensive options like Shodo Sai, Raptor Dance, and Raven's Veil. During the forced melee engagement, Kez's attacks trigger Legion Commander's Moment of Courage for continuous counterattacks and lifesteal, while she can also cast Overwhelming Odds to further boost her attack speed.
Strong against
5Kez outperforms against these.
WhyKez can readily punish Spectre's direct physical attacks with Shodo Sai's directional parry, stunning her and returning heavy critical strike damage that scales with her hero level. Furthermore, Raptor Dance shreds Spectre's durability by dealing damage based on her maximum health while granting Kez invulnerability and healing, and Talon Toss applies a silence that prevents her from using Spectral Dagger or Reality to escape.
WhyKez establishes an early advantage by winning the lane, easily closing the gap on Ringmaster with Grappling Claw and Falcon Rush. He can disrupt Ringmaster's spellcasting and channeling on Tame the Beasts using Talon Toss's silence, while Raptor Dance grants a basic dispel and magic damage immunity to nullify incoming spells.
WhyWhile the laning stage is roughly even, Kez naturally counters Bounty Hunter's hit-and-run skirmishing. Both Raven's Veil and Raptor Dance provide basic dispels to remove the Track debuff, while Shodo Sai allows Kez to parry Jinada attacks and stun Bounty Hunter in return. Furthermore, Talon Toss can silence Bounty Hunter to prevent him from casting Shadow Walk, letting Kez easily run him down with Falcon Rush and Grappling Claw.
WhyKez wins the lane slightly against Centaur Warrunner, building an early advantage that scales directly against high-health strength heroes. Raptor Dance provides complete magic damage immunity against Centaur's Hoof Stomp and Double Edge while shredding his large health pool with maximum-health percentage damage that also sustains Kez through Retaliate. Additionally, Talon Toss's silence and Shodo Sai's parry and stun reliably disrupt Centaur's spellcasting and physical retaliation in close quarters.
WhyAlthough laning between them is roughly even, Kez likely gains an advantage in teamfights by directly disrupting Chaos Knight's initiation. When Chaos Knight uses Reality Rift to force both heroes to face each other and attack, Kez can activate Shodo Sai to parry the incoming frontal attacks and stun him in return. Additionally, Kez can punish clustered Phantasm illusions using area-of-effect abilities like Echo Slash and Raptor Dance.
Popular build
legend–ancientThe eight most-bought items, in the order they are usually finished. Chosen by purchase frequency rather than win rate — an item's win rate reflects how the game was going, not what the item did. The minute is the median completion time: what to aim for.
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Wraith Band 2min 6,036 builds -
Mage Slayer 13min 19,054 builds -
Desolator 19min 21,248 builds -
Yasha 20min 3,741 builds -
Aghanim's Scepter 27min 16,447 builds -
Black King Bar 29min 17,176 builds -
Crystalys 32min 8,832 builds -
Daedalus 36min 5,567 builds
Patch 7.41e · legend–ancient · updated 2026-08-24. Figures are shrunk toward the expected result by sample size, so a large number on thin data is deliberately damped rather than shown raw.