Cult of Kain Taris (Kanen Guide)

Discussion in 'Split Faction' started by SireofSuns, Nov 24, 2016.

  1. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    Cult of Kain Taris

    Winter Patch 2016 approved!
    We got some great almost-Christmas gifts, some of them were new socks we needed, and some were lumps of coal, but overall fairly decent. (non champions are still in progress, most notable change there is the loss of Cleansing Emerald to the Savage Tundra).
    Notable changes to:
    Kanen Alpha (He lost Boost!) - Lump o' Coal
    Crazed Warmandrils (He can get Leap 3 for pseudo 8 speed, but isn't deck limit 3) - Socks
    Kanen Darkrunner (We got Shadowshift, Portal, and Pounce on U1. U2 changed to Stealth, Shadowstrike, and Shadowspawn.) - Puppy!
    Kanen Howler (lost Detection! now has Death Nova: Sonic) - Lump o' Coal
    Kanen Cultist (lost Heal, now has other healing options) - Sweater?
    Spark Crone (replaced Surge: Kanen with Zeal: Damage) - Socks

    2017 Patch Notes:

    Mongrel (Aggressive replaced with Sunder 1) - A bit more fair for his cost now.

    Kanen Banner Art.png

    What’s good about Kanen?

    Kanen are one among many of the Horde themes in Pox. However, rather than relying on attrition to take down your opponent like most hordes, the Kanen rely on careful positioning, ap management, and taking out your opponent’s champions in a quick and tidy fashion. Luckily, they are extremely adept at all of those.
    Kanen champion roles are simple, champions with Pack Mentality screen the enemy, champions with Pack Leader go in for the kill, and your Kanen Witches support from the rear.
    Kanen also have access to some nice Kanen specific runes that you will want. Pack Savagery is amazing for power turns and dealing surprise damage. Idol of Kain Taris is like a second warbanner, but better! Remember that it only works if you have a Kanen with Class: Witch in play though! Finally there’s Scythe of Gore, which will give you spot Shadowstrike, and Multiattack if equipped on a Kanen.
    We also have two heroes, Garin the Sharpfang, SP/SL, and Kiergana, SL/UD. They’re both quite good, but Kiergana is generally preferred as she has more abilities that help out the rest of your Kanen.
    Once you can afford it, Kanen are a competitive theme to play that rewards attention to detail and both broad strategy and micro-management. Woof!

    What’s bad about Kanen?

    They lack Dispel and Cleanse on their champions, but instead have access to Purge, one of the best Cleanse and Dispel runes in the game! To be honest, there’s not much that is truly bad about Kanen, which is one of the main reasons to play them!
    Kanen's best alternate damage sources are Rupture Alpha, Kanen Howler, and Kanen Crone, and Spark Crone. Out of those, Spark Crone is your best option until you can afford the two Exotics, Rupture Alpha and Kanen Crone.

    Where to start?

    Kanen are nice in that you have a good variety of choices to fit your own personal style, but here is a list of some of the more common choices in Kanen battlegroups:

    CHAMPS
    1x Kanen Alpha
    2x Kanen Howler
    1x Kanen Slipped
    1x Kanen Crone
    1x Kanen Lasher
    SPELLS
    2x Pack Savagery
    RELICS
    1x Idol of Kain Taris
    EQUIPMENT
    1x Scythe of Gore


    How to play Kanen?

    "These Kanen were different. They were coordinated, highly trained. They were wild, but the wildness was perfectly honed. Our defending party didn't stand a chance."

    As usual, you’ll want to deploy something speedy to start capturing and contesting fonts. The Kanen have plenty of champions either with base 7 or greater speed, or can be upgraded to it: Bloodhowler Alpha, Garin the Sharpfang, Kanen Animus (8 speed with Berserker 2!), Kanen Mongrel (Reinforcement 1 or 2, good if you run cheaper Kanen and have more than one Font to capture), Kanen Tracker (Base 8 speed!), Two Headed Kanen (Another base 8 speed! Woof!), or Crazed Warmandrils. The Kanen Darkrunner (Winter Patch 2016) can be given Shadowspawn to give him pseudo 7 speed at base, which makes him nice for contesting fonts early one.
    Generally, if you can, you’ll want to play your cheaper champions first, only bringing out your heavy hitting (and slower) Alphas when you’re getting ready to fight. It will give you more nora to work with and allow you to react better. However, most of the time, you’ll be wanting to deploy an Alpha by turn 2 or 3, in order to better contest a central font or protect against a rush.
    Always remember that you’re Pack Mentality Kanen are at their best when working alongside and supporting your Alphas. If you don’t use you’re Alphas to attack the enemy, your smaller Kanen are essentially 2 nora (http://s-qpoxdb.rhcloud.com/ability/1938) more expensive. Remember that your smaller Kanen can use Fuel Rage twice per turn!
    The same goes with your Alphas, if you aren’t supporting them with the smaller Kanen, they’re 2 nora more expensive. The Kanen Witches are for support, and bring some handy utility to the table, as well as activating the ability on Idol of Kain Taris, which is vital to the staying power of your Kanen!
    All of your Alphas have Pack Leader (Kanen Slipped is a special case, more on him later) and Unleash, making them great melee fight leaders. Remember that you can only include one of each though, except for the Two Headed Kanen!
    Finally, Kanen are a horde theme, but they are very different from other hordes. With Kanen, you want to wait until the enemy is vulnerable, and then hit as hard as you can with big power turns. In this way, Kanen are similar to many UD battlegroups in that they need to rush to win. Avoid getting bogged down in games of attrition with the Kanen, because while you’ll be fine at first, the high cost of your most important champions and the low health of your cheaper ones will eventually be your undoing.

    A note on Hordes:
    There are many variations on the Horde theme, the truest are: Zombies, Skeletons, Myx, and Spiders. Some of the more unique ones are: Spirits, KF Treefolk, Worms, even Dragons can be horde themed!
    When a battlegroup is built as a "Horde", it's win condition is to maintain a larger number of champions in play than the opponent. All Hordes have their own way of doing this, with Summoning and Swarming being the most common. However, where Horde's truly differ is how the utilize their win condition. Skeletons, Spiders, and Zombies focus on wearing the enemy down with their summoned champions, while Myx and Treefolk simply stop the opponent from being able to do much of anything. Kanen are most similar to Dragons in this regard, as both of them rely on waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and then rushing in with everything they have.

    "Let them chew on bones and rotten meat. If they turn away from us, they turn away from Kain Taris. They will gnaw at our refuse.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2017
  2. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    CHAMPIONS


    Alphas

    Name: Bloodhowler Alpha
    Rating: 3/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Tough 2 and Blood Rage or Spell Resistance.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Our only 2x2 champion, which can be tough to work around with Kanen. Bloodhowler Alpha is quite a beast and is well liked by some of the more experienced Kanen players due to his history of awesomeness. He has good damage (11), 7 speed, 2 defense, and very high health (60!). His toolkit is bland, but effective. With even 2 ranks of Tough, he becomes very tanky. Blood Rage enables him to dish out even more damage, while Spell Resistance or Life Drinker make it even harder to take him down. However, he is typically one of the more expensive Kanen you will have in a battlegroup, and you are not hard up for hard hitters or tanky champions. Ultimately, it will boil down to personal preference.

    Name: Kanen Alpha
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Tough 2 and Subsume or Stun.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Alpha is a decent tank, and he has Improve Range, allowing you to hit with more champions at once! Remember though that Pack Leader only triggers on Pack Mentality champions adjacent to the target. With Subsume or Stun, your opponent will need to think twice about getting too close or targeting him down. Opportunistic Assault is alright, but it won't be often that an opposing champion will have a chance to run away from him anyway.

    Name: Rupture Alpha
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Pack Leader.
    [​IMG]
    Description: An important Kanen, as he brings some decent alternate damage. Depending on what you choose, he can be one of the cheaper Alphas, but that doesn’t mean he’s a slouch. His second upgrade line is one of the more difficult ones to choose from, Escalation for insane damage later on, Commander for steady harder-hitting puppies, or Battle Harden 2 for some spot boosting to your Kanen. I personally like Commander the most for the consistent damage and how it lends itself to the flanking tactics Kanen love.

    Name: Timberjaw Alpha
    Rating: 2/5
    Recommended Upgrades: See description.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Timberjaw Alpha can either be one of the cheapest Alphas (70!) or one of the most expensive (86). He doesn’t do much more than do loads of damage, but boy can he do a lot of it. With toughness and Blood Frenzy, he’s not something your opponents will be keen on touching, which is fine for you, as you’ll likely be using him to trigger Pack Mentality or running across impeding terrain to contest enemy fonts. He’s not flashy, but he gets the job done. I gave him a low rating because his competition generally does more to help round out the theme.

    Name: Two Headed Kanen
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Call of the Hunter and Combo Attack: Drain.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Two Headed Kanen is a bit underappreciated with the utility he brings to the table. He isn’t a high damage Alpha (10), but he is incredibly speedy with speed 8. He has Reckless (Spend 5 or more AP in one turn on abilities and lose 5 HP!), which hinders him somewhat, but it holds his cost down for his true power: Call of the Hunter! With Call of the Hunter, you have a 2 cooldown Relocate: Ally, which in Kanen is almost too good to be true, it makes the puppies drool. Use it to get champions like Kanen Animus and Kanen Howler into melee range to pop those pesky non-furries. In regards to Reckless, Combo Attack: Drain does a nice job of giving him some minor healing while also ensuring he doesn’t kill himself. Pounce and Empowered: Offense are both nice upgrades as well, and are better coupled with Reflexes (2) or Combat Awareness (2), however those can make him a bit more expensive than he needs to be.


    Tactical Cruise Missile


    Name: Kanen Slipped
    Rating: 5/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Charge 3.
    [​IMG]
    Description: You can give him Pack Leader to lead the charge, Pack Mentality to try to get more attacks, or Vengeful for very high damage (Your small Kanen WILL die), but it depends on what you plan to do with him (I switch between them all the time).
    Not a lynchpin to be sure, but he brings the pain. His biggest downside is Faithless, so don’t rely on him for Spell Presence, he also has Warding, which means that you couldn’t target him with your own spells anyway, but neither can the enemy! He has high damage coupled with Manic and Unleash. He’s great if you really need an enemy champion to die.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2017
  3. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    Mutts

    These are the champions you'll use to screen the enemy, protect your Crones, and support your Alphas. There should be more of these than Alphas and Crones in your battlegroup.

    Name: Kanen Animus
    Rating: 5/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Berserker 2 and Rend 1.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Animus can be surprisingly cheap for the amount of damage he can deal, which works well with making him something the opponent wants to stay away from. This helps his ability to capture and contest fonts with his high speed. Be careful though, if he kills an enemy champion, Kill Frenzy can target ANY adjacent champion for him to make an attack against, and that attack has Precision! He’s a very good first deploy, run at least one.

    Name: Kanen Darkrunner
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Pounce or Shadowshift and Shadowstrike or Shadowspawn.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Darkrunner is now really good! With Shadowshift+Shadowspawn he can be a decently fast and efficient first deploy or for early font contesting. With Pounce and Shadowstrike (or Stealth for lower cost), he can be quite deadly. He also has Cloak to help protect your other Kanen, get them into position, or give them pseudo mobility (assuming the opponent doesn't have detect out).

    Name: Kanen Howler
    Rating: 5/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Call to Arms and Death Nova Sonic (1) or (3).
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Howler is pretty much auto-include because of how easy it is to Swarm with him. In Kanen, it will be easy to kill of single enemy champions, just remember to finish them off with Howler for some free meat! He used to have Detection (freeing up a slot from Tracker), but no more. Go with Call to Arms or Hunter: Meek to make the most out of his attacks. For Death Nova Sonic, choose rank (1) if you plan on using in massed groups of your own champions, or rank (3) if you plan to use him as an early deploy and/or alone.

    Name: Kanen Lasher
    Rating: 5/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Drive.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Lasher is amazing for Kanen as he allows you to more easily manage your AP and get into position. He also has Dragging Attack at range, which makes him good for pulling the enemy to you so you don’t have to spend AP moving around. You can either take Rend 1 for some low cost damage, or Entangle to max out his ability to control movement on the battlefield. Run at least one these.

    Name: Kanen Mongrel
    Rating: 3/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Reinforcement 2 and Rend 1.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Mongrels are the technical fuel for Kanen battlegroups, as the champion is very cheap and you Swarm him with Howler. Many players like him because of Reinforcement, which makes him a very good font harasser during the early portion of matches. However, there are other champions that can accomplish his job better for a bit more nora. Including him or not will depend on how expensive you choose to make your other champions. If you need something cheap and efficient, the Mongrel is your dog.

    Name: Kanen Pillager
    Rating: 5/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Banditry or Siege and Lay Trap Fire (3).
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Pillager is our only champion able to get rid of enemy equipment, so he’s rather crucial unless you run non-champion runes to deal with equipment. He also has decent alt damage (11 Fire) and speed (7), along with the ability to place traps, so he’s not a one trick doggy. Many players don’t run because he has high cost for being a smaller Kanen, but he still has a lot to offer if you’re in the market for it. Run one if you don’t feel safe dealing with enemy equipment or if you need more alternate damage. Now more important than ever with the changes to Magnetize (WP2016).

    Name: Kanen Scavenger
    Rating: 3/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Disease Aura 1 or 3.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Scavenger has an interesting place among Kanen. Like his lore, he tends to be a loner because of Disease Aura, but that doesn’t mean he’s useless. If you choose Disease Aura 3, he deal a surprising amount of damage for a very low cost to enemy champions. With Dead Eater, he can run behind your rushing horde picking up Nora globes and paying for himself several times. If you choose Assimilate, he’ll last longer to deal more damage, but Forage will help with grabbing more globes and catching up to the pack. His primary downside is that you don’t want him near your own champions. With Disease Aura he’ll be dealing out a lot of damage to your own champions, and because of the pack’s need to rush and avoid attrition, you cannot afford to damage your own champions. Use him to grab fonts on his own or bring up the rear grabbing globes. Not a necessary champion, but if you find yourself constantly running low on Nora or needing a cheap harasser, Scavenger can fit that role perfectly.

    Name: Kanen Tracker
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Detection 3 and Hidden Vegetation.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Tracker is good for three reasons: Detection, Traps, and 8 firking speed. Take at least one of these guys, as they are our only reliable way of detecting hidden stuff atm (WP2016). He has Hidden Vegetation/Rock/Sand, which is good for protecting him and harassing fonts. Vegetation is the most common, but if you run some strange spells or are one of those unlucky people to always get certain maps, run Rock or Sand. He also has Lay trap: Boulder, which is good for protecting him while contesting fonts. Did I mention that he has 8 speed? With 2-4 range? If you can fit him, run him, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

    Name: Kanen Whirlwind
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Multiattack 2 or 3, Fear 2 or 3.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Whirlwind has Fury and Multiattack. Run at least one. He also has Constriction if you’re into that kind of thing.

    Name: Crazed Warmandrils
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Berserk Attack (1) or (3), Pounce or Leap (3).
    [​IMG]
    Description: Quite good for what you get. 13 base damage, 7 speed, 42 HP, Mudsling for slowing down the opponent in a font race, and Pounce and Berserk Attack for lots of damage. He can also take Leap (3) over Pounce for pseudo 8 speed! But there’s a catch to all of this amazeballs stuff. First, he isn’t Kanen. He has Pack Mentality, but he won’t be affected by Boost, Idol of Kain Taris, Scythe of Gore’s Multiattack, and he doesn’t add to Surge: Kanen. The second is that he has no Base attack. This means that Distract is about as potent as Blind or Stun on him. However, if you feel lucky, he’s a very good champion to have in your arsenal.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2017
    yuore, Xzablaz, Qucas and 1 other person like this.
  4. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    Crones

    The Crones are the core of your support runes for Kanen. Protect them as much as you can, and they'll make sure to remember not to bite you later.

    Name: Kanen Crone
    Rating: 5/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Drain 2.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Crone isn’t really a support champion besides her ability to throw around Electricity Aura 3 with Grant. Her true purpose is to deal a Bile Zombie amount of damage at range. She can take Surge: Kanen, which will raise her damage very high very quickly (I usually find it sitting around 18). Coupled with Shielded for protection against opposing removal spells and range 4-6 (!), she can safely sit behind your mutts dealing absurd amounts of damage. If the enemy somehow manages to get past your expert defense of your Crones (Protect them you sustainer-firker), she has Drain to heal herself using her apparently useless bodyguards. You can also switch Surge: Kanen for Surge: Enemy or Escalation, but those make her more expensive and are harder to raise her damage quickly with. Run at least 1, 2 if you can fit her (or a Spark Crone, more on her below).

    Name: Kanen Cultist
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: See description.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kanen Cultist is your true support champion, and you should run at least one. She brings a lot of healing to the table, her first upgrade line is all healing, and she has Rite of Healing on base for your near-death mutts. She has Paralytic Feedback to protect her from range (and making easy pickings for your melee Kanen!).
    Her first upgrade line is tricky, Healing Mind means you'll get our more damage and heal your own champs nicely, but it requires there to be nearby enemies. Empathy isn't fast enough for most Kanen to be useful if you only have one out, so if you want Empathy you'll want to have 2x Kanen Cultist (at which point Empathy becomes very nice). The third option is Transfer Life (2), this is really nice for your important champions, but makes her weaker and has a cooldown of 3 :(. I run Healing Mind.
    Her second upgrade line is a bag of baby Moga, which taste like bacon (It is canon). You can take Grant: Sonic Aura to deal with Perseverance champions or opposing champions you didn’t manage to quite kill, you can take Designate Scapegoat for a pseudo spell counter for the lulz, or you can take the ever useful Telekinetic Thrust to push back any opposing champions foolish enough to push to far.

    Name: Ritual Crone
    Rating: 1/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Abuse Charged 3 and Afflict 2?
    [​IMG]
    Description: Oh boy. Ritual Crone used to be quite useful as a font harasser. Providing support whenever the enemy tried to remove her. But she just doesn’t see play anymore, mainly because players figured out all the ways to completely nullify her. She isn’t worth it right now, and is in bad need of a redesign. You'll be better off passing on her. Winter Patch 2016 ignored this poor girl. Her art looks awesome, but she still sucks.

    Name: Ritual Cultist
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Death Charge 3.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Take Charged: Magic Bomb if you struggle with high defense themes like Dwarves, take the Disease version if you just want more damage. Ritual Cultist is your second true support champion, as she is fully reliant on your other champions to be of any use. But once she gets rolling, she’s quite good. She has Vaporize to protect her, Charged Heal to keep your own champions healthy, and Charged AOE to help deal with clumped enemy champions and summons. Take one if Kanen Cultist just isn’t doing it for you. Just remember to deploy her first on turns you plan on deploying 2+ champions to trigger Deploy Charged 2.

    Name: Spark Crone
    Rating: 4/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Zeal: Damage.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Spark Crone is more suited to a Lighting battlegroup than a Kanen one. Despite that, she can be quite good if you can’t afford Kanen Crone. She can reach higher damage with her Zeal (12 base damage!), but her range is not as good (2-4). So after your 3 attacks (if you chose Empowered: Range), bye bye range. She’s alright, but Kanen Crone is more reliable if you can get her. Don't use Spark Curse or Storm Acolyte in Kanen, those are for Electric themes.


    Heroes


    Name: Garin the Sharpfang, SP/SL
    Rating: 3/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Shadowstrike.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Garin is quite good at what he does: Harassing the enemy and dealing lots of damage. He has Mercenary, so his low cost will eventually become a high one. Use Scythe Whirl if he gets surrounded to protect him against range. His second upgrade line is decent, Hostile gives some burst damage, Defensive Strike helps protect him against melee champions, and Combat Awareness 2 protects him against a large number of damage sources. However, as decent as he is, he isn’t incredible, nor does he really help out his theme in any way. Pass unless you’re feeling adventurous.

    Name: Kiergana, SL/UD
    Rating: 5/5
    Recommended Upgrades: Life Siphon and Pack Leader.
    [​IMG]
    Description: Kiergana at first looks like a lame version of Kanen Crone, but is really just in a different department. THE DEPARTMENT OF AWESOMER THAN THOU. Her range (5-6) coupled with Paralytic Feedback makes her difficult to kill without getting close, but that won’t ever happen, WILL IT? O_O
    U1 is alright, it's most notable for Reconstruct: Magician, but that's better in Stitched anyway. The best part is Pack Leader. With range. Long. Firking. Range. She can really take the spot of one of your Alphas if you feel so inclined. Just don’t take Paralytic Strike. I know it’s tempting, it’s the one of the few times you can actually use it effectively, but it just isn’t worth it in comparison to Pack Leader at range 6. If you have her, use her.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2017
    Xzablaz, Qucas and Gnomes like this.
  5. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    SPELLS

    We’ve got a lot of great spells to choose from, the following are some of the more commonly used with Kanen.

    Spell: Transfusion, SL
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Despite the art and flavor text, it currently (WP2016) gives any target champion Terminus and opposing champions within 5 spaces lose all AP. This means that you can more easily double tap (but requires you to be near enemy champs with AP), or to simply deny a double tap from the enemy via the AP loss. It's better if you also run the Indignation equip, due to Cull.

    Spell: Bait and Switch, SP
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Very similar to Transfusion, this spell is better used for getting damaged champions out of danger and getting your harder hitting or tankier champions into combat, rather than helping AP management directly. It comes with the same caution as Transfusion, take care when using Fuel Rage in combination with this spell, you don't want to waste AP!

    Spell: Draconic Benediction, SL
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Draconic Benediction plays into the need for AP management and the Power turns that the Kanen love. Sadly it has a very high cost and won’t let you play spells after it. Use it wisely.

    Spell: Alacrity, SP
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Designed with the Kanen in mind, Alacrity helps a lot with AP and power turns.

    Spell: Pack Savagery, SP/SL
    Rating: 5/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Pack Savagery is almost too good to pass up, and is commonly taken 2x. However, 1x can be plenty if you have other non-champions you’d like to include. Be creative!

    Spell: Peak Tactics, SP
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Spectacular with Kanen. It goes right along with the way you’ll want to position your champions. Great for powerturns.

    Spell: Purge, SL
    Rating: 5/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: An amazing spell in a theme that lacks champion based Cleanse and Dispel. You’ll want one of these.

    Spell: Whispers of the Mind, SP
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: You know it, you hate it! Great for disrupting your enemy and protecting key champions. Target opposing champions getting ready to make double taps to make the most bang for you Nora. Or the least in this case.

    Spell: Magnetize, SL
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: It’s your anti-relic rune. Decent, its main downside is relying on a champion to target it on, preferably an enemy… Oops.

    Spell: Quicken, SL
    Rating: 2/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Recently saw a cost decrease (WP2016). Decently low cost for an easy double tap, but the bigger spells give more smackdown for their nora.

    Spell: Quickening, SL
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: ANOTHER power turn spell. Great for Kanen who rely on attacks to mop things up.

    Spell: Vertical Push, SP
    Rating: 2/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Not run as often, but useful for the Kanen who hate super champions just like in the lore. Use it to send those kitties sailing.

    Spell: Tornado, SL
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: If you find yourself having trouble with relics, and you also want some decent spell AOE damage, use this. Just remember it does PHYSICAL damage, not magical.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2016
    poinl, Xzablaz, Qucas and 1 other person like this.
  6. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    RELICS

    There's plenty of relics from SP and SL to choose from, but it's unlikely that you'll be using many with Kanen, as they rely so much on Powerturns. These are the most commonly used.

    (WP2016) TAKE NOTICE OF THIS!!! NO LONGER AVAILABLE TO US.
    Relic: Cleansing Emerald, KF/ST
    Rating: 5/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: One of the best spot Cleanses in the game. You should definitely run one of these.


    Relic: Idol of Kain Taris, SP
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Your second Warbanner. Needs a friendly Kanen with Witch in play to be useful. You can run two, but the effect doesn’t stack.

    Relic: Tribal Post or Sundered Warbanner, SP or SL
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    Description: Ironically more useful now (WP2016), despite the cost increase in an attempt to remove them from the meta they are now one out of two (instead of one out four!) ways to improve our champions' HP and damage. Use whichever faction you want, or whichever you need to make it Split 50/50.

    Relic: Hive, SL
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Good for contesting and doing some AOE damage.

    Relic: Scouring Jasper, FW/SL
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: The distant cousin of Hive, for 5 Nora more it pops out 1 more damage per turn. It also has the advantage of doing Acid damage, which is countered less. Because of cost, many players don’t use this relic as much as Hive. Consider the two and take your pick.

    Relic: Echo Chamber, SP
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: With the recent increase in HP from 10 to 20 (WP2016), this relic is now viable again! It's very expensive (55 nora!), but it has a massive AOE (4) for its ability (1o sonic damage to enemy champs/relics and Distracted 4 to damaged champs). If it survives the ability's cooldown, it can be used again!

    EQUIPMENT

    It's when you get to equipment with Kanen that some of the fun begins, they have access to some of the most unique and interesting equipment in the game, and a lot of it! Here it really boils down to personal preference, be creative!

    Equipment: Scythe of Gore, SP/SL
    Rating: 5/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: A great equip for Kanen, as it will give them Shadowstrike AND Multiattack. Usually played on Alphas to hide them, or Crones to deal even more ranged damage. Not as good on Warmandrils.

    Equipment: Slaver’s Whip, SP
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: A useful equipment for Kanen, as it helps with AP management. It also gives Possess 2, if you feel the need.

    Equipment: Rage Band, SL
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: A great equipment in any race based theme, use it on one of your 7 speed melee champions for an 8 speed monster. Just don’t put it on Warmandrils, that’s useless and dumb. Recently saw a cost decrease from 35 to 30, but now only works one champs with 1-2 range (WP2016). For a short time the PoxNora client would freeze if it was revealed in your runedock, because the game couldn't handle that much AWESOME.

    Equipment: Bloodthirsty Blade, SL
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Great to use on a dying Kanen Slipped. He’s likely to get more kills, so he’ll be sticking around with this equipment.

    Equipment: Bonesplitter Maul, SL
    Rating: 2/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Only useful if you use Garin (our only Warrior). But it works amazingly on him.

    Equipment: Dragon God’s Staff, SL
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Our other spot Cleanse, it can also be dropped to Dispel and damage enemy champions. Quite good for its price. Definitely worth considering over Purge or Hive/Jasper. It's quite considerable to run 2 of these, instead of Purge and Hive/Jasper, especially since you can pick it back up.

    Equipment: Indignation, SL
    Rating: 2/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Technically a Kanen themed equipment via the art and flavor, it doesn’t really lend itself to the theme. In theory you could put it on an Alpha and use Energy thief to get even more AP from your own champions, but usually seems to get in the way rather than help. Via the new change to Forced Transfusion (WP2016), Cull can be quite good on a champion you target Forced Transfusion with.

    Equipment: Serpentor Scale Armor, SL
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: I only put this here because I like it so much. It can be very good on Alphas, as it can boost their speed and damage, as well as giving you some nora in the process. Remember it only works on melee (range 1-2) champions.

    Equipment: Earthshaker’s Bracelet, SP
    Rating: 3/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Good to put on Alphas, making them harder to kill against Physical heavy battlegroups and able to punish enemies for clumping.

    Equipment: Mark of Kiergana, SP
    Rating: 1/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Another Kanen equipment, but not as good as Scythe of Gore. It’s a negative equipment designed to be used on a superchampion, so that you can kill it more easily. It’s alright.

    Equipment: Ol’ Sok, SP
    Rating: 2/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Good on a ranged champion if you want more anti-summons.

    Equipment: Vicious Harpoon, SP
    Rating: 4/5
    [​IMG]
    Description: Very good if you prefer to drag your enemies toward you rather than running them down.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2016
  7. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

  8. Gnomes

    Gnomes Forum Royalty

    Cray gasam, Good shi,t so far! very detailed and well ritten, i suggest you add some pictures though. makes reading a bit easier.

    @kalasle stickie?
     
    Qucas and SireofSuns like this.
  9. Tweek516

    Tweek516 I need me some PIE!

    Nice! Think you're a bit too harsh on scavenger though.
     
    Qucas and SireofSuns like this.
  10. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    Pictures will be added last. Thanks for complements!
     
    Qucas likes this.
  11. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    Well, it is mainly based on personal experience with him, because I've never gotten anyone to tell me why they like him or how they use him.
    But now would be the perfect time for me to finally get an answer! (that means you). Pls halp.
     
    Qucas likes this.
  12. NevrGonaGivUup

    NevrGonaGivUup I need me some PIE!

    I think it's strange that you don't consider kanen to be a budget deck. Compared to the other top tier decks, Kanen is very cheap, with most of the important runes being common or uncommon. It's absolutely a good beginner deck.

    Also, what do you mean by 'horde' decks?
     
  13. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    To be fair, you can make a budget Kanen battlegroup. But most of the truyl good runes that will make your deck more competitive are Rare and Exotic (Kanen Cultist, Kanen Slipped, Kanen Crone, Scythe of Gore, Rupture Alpha, Bloodhowler Alpha, Alacrity, and a few others). Rare's aren't too hard to get, but they add up quickly in cost.

    I'll will try to clarify the type of deck that Kanen is in the main description, but it's something like this:
    The win-condition for Horde decks is to have more champions in play than the opponent, and to keep it this way. Horde decks are generally better at this than others, and are specially built to make as much profit from outnumbering the opponent as possible. The Kanen are one such theme, so their win condition is the same as many other horde decks (Spiders, Skeletons, Zombies, Myx, etc.), but how they apply pressure to the opponent is different. Kanen rush as soon as they have the numbers, while Skeletons, Zombies, Worms, even Spiders and Myx, tend to win through attrition due to their many summons. The Kanen tend to be more expensive in terms of nora when it comes to Horde decks, so they have to make sure the enemy doesn't slow them down, because Kanen will tire out quickly in the long run.
     
  14. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

  15. Agirgis1

    Agirgis1 Forum Royalty

    Well made Guide, nice.
    I'lll just say a few things I've learned about kanens.
    Under how to play kanens, there is actually two different methods to successfully play this theme, which is rather interesting. You can play Alpha-based BG (mostly the alpha champs) or you can play Pack mentality BG ( Much cheaper/numbers orientated set-up). Both work well in my perspective, but out of preference I always preferred the Pack mentality Style (mostly cheap champs) because it feels more flexible and has more ability for fancy plays.

    Transfusion is actually a huge (but preference based) spell in kanens to creating plays and having a very flexible BG ( I don't play it in my kanen BGs, but i'm pretty sure tiny ran x1-2 transfusions in his kanen, because he really enjoys making his BGs flexible/mobile)

    All in All good guide, thanks for writing it :)
     
    Qucas and SireofSuns like this.
  16. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    Thanks for the advice! I've added your comment to the How to Play section (at least until I can figure out a better way to explain it).
    I've also added Transfusion and its cousin Bait and Switch to the spells section. Thanks again!
     
    Qucas likes this.
  17. kalasle

    kalasle Forum Royalty

    Couple comments:

    Kanen can actually be really, really cheap to build. You can make a viable list with 0-1 Exos, no Legs. Getting a few of the Exos help, but other than that, fair eco list.

    Under weaknesses, Kanen have a lot of trouble cutting through anti-melee and anti-physical champions. Something with Majestic, for instance, can be a total nightmare. Although Kanen do have ranged options, most of their damage, especially their burst, depends upon physical melee engagements with numbers.

    As a weird quirk, Kanen are stupidly good at killing 2x2 champs because of Pack Mentality/Leader/Savagery.
     
  18. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    Thanks for the comments, I'll be changing/adding some stuff.
     
  19. SireofSuns

    SireofSuns I need me some PIE!

    @kalasle @Gnomes @Agirgis1 Can any of you veterans tell me if Dragon God's Staff can be picked back up? Because that would mean it's really freaking amazing (especially with the change to Cleansing Emerald).
     
  20. kalasle

    kalasle Forum Royalty

    Yeah, it can be.
     
    Gnomes, SireofSuns and Agirgis1 like this.

Share This Page