Of all the allies in the Sentinel's ranks, only one, is known by as many names and is feared in as many lands. Called Capt. CoCo by his mates, Jacksparrow by others, The Legendary Mariner by some, but only a select few know his real name and what it stands for. He can harness the powers of the depths to conjure torrential geysers that blast his enemies into the air. His elegant blade is sworn to the Seas and with each mighty swing it ebbs like the tides. Using a watery form of spacial magic, he can bring you back to your original destination. The Captain now sails towards the Scourge lands, aboard his Phantom vessel boosting the spirits of his comrades with his fabled Rum, paving the way for the victory of the Sentinel. He is Kunkka, Master and Commander of the seven seas.
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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 Maelrawn 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 Maelrawn, knows for sure.

Q- Torrent: Kunkka shares a file from his utorrent. Bad pun aside, this is mostly used to harass across the lane and in later cases just give a stun+slow. The torrent has a 2 second delay making it difficult to hit but the enemy wont see it. They do however see the small animation Kunkka makes when he uses this skill, try to learn their reaction to when you make that animation and predict where they will be in 2 seconds. This does take skill to use and spamming bad shots will only drain your mana. As you level it, the damage goes up and the slow lasts longer.

W- Tidebringer: A passive that everyone who has to go against will hate. This attack cleaves 500 units infront of you for 15/20/45/60 magic damage The cooldown also lowers 13/10/7/4 however you don't want to use it too much or make it too good. That splash hits the person you first hit AND the rest of the wave infront of you, and in the laning phase you dont want to push too far up unless you need the side shop or think you can take a large ammount of the tower without getting killed. Either only use it sparingly or in a clever way to avoid having a lot of creeps in front of you when you do use the passive.

E- X Marks the Spot- Much more useful as it's leveled, this spell marks the ground of an enemy hero and after a few seconds returns them to that exact spot. Very useful for fast, blinking or teleporting enemies making them easyer to catch. Make sure to combine this with torrent since their position is 100% predictable when hit by this spell, remember it lasts 1/2/3/4 seconds depending on how much you've leveled it compared to the Torrent's 2 second delay.

R- Ghost Ship: Maybe it's just me but I always thought this ultimate was a bit silly. Kunkka summons a ghost ship, dripping with his signature rum, to crash a set distance in front of him. When it crashes, all enemies get hit by a truck and are stunned for almost 1.5 seconds. Any friends who the boat passes over will get a buff that reduces the damage they take and return the missing damage when it ends. One of the best initiations if aimed correctly so try to memorize how far the boat goes from you, 1000 units.


Of course you should get your ult whenever possible, but the one or two skills you focus on leveling depend on what you want to do in lane and have developed during the first minutes of mid game. Q is more focused but can miss if your enemy is clever or you just arent skilled enough, W is the opposite hitting everything and garantied to make the enemy leave the lane after enough abuse but also makes you vulnerable to ganks, and E isn't very exciting unless you add levels to it but makes a good pseudo-slow. Keep in mind which ever form of harassment you use must be used skillfully or you will waste mana / push the lane too far.

Kunkka hass strong harassment early game but later your items will decide if you stand in the team fight and tank or stay back and plan a massive crit that hits everyone with your passive. Starting the game, get the usual (1 tango and 1 healing salve) just to heal yourself, get a few clarity especially if you plan to be relying on Q, and a Stout Sheild or a Gautlet of Strength for early strength can help out. Remember Kunkka is a strength hero and building that stat gives health and some damage.

I would reccomend the lane that goes against your teams jungle (nicknamed "The Safe Lane" and is bot for Radient, top for Dire), if someone with you on your team knows how to pull the right camp they can undo your careless pushing. The other lane (nicknamed "The Suicide Lane") can also work but be ready to fight them in their jungle, get dragged up to their tower and keep some wards out for the local jungler. Mid lane could work (nicknamed "The Rune ♥♥♥♥♥ Lane") but its still not very common to see melee heros go there. Which ever lane you pick, make sure to work with your team.

After sometime in lane has passed and you have some gold, make a Bracer for much more stats and get shoes. Which should you buy?

Boots of Travel - very costly but gives a free teleport, better for late game

Phase Boots - what the game reccomends, adds movement speed and damage, great for chasing and suprise cleaves

Power Treads - gives ever changing stats and tread switching, not a bad choice

Arcane Boots - gives you and your friends extra mana, good if you like using Q or if others on your team are casters

Tranquil Boots - free healing outside of battle, mostly bought by supports or durable heros

Bracer into Drum- Gives a nice 5% speed aura, you still get a bunch of stats and you even get a speed boost active.

Vanguard- Remember that shield you probably got before the battle started? This is what you make it into, Kunnka's too high ranking for a Poor Man's Sheild. Bonus health, bonus regen, and just a better shield. If you want to focus on damage its fine to put off putting it together.

Black King Bar- Very popular item (that I personally dont like). Gives 10/9/8/7/6/5/4 seconds of magic immunity and can be used every 80/75/70/65/60/55/50 seconds. Why do I hate this item? Because everytime you use it, it gets worse and you can never sell it. Everyone loves this and "immunity from stuns, spells and magic damage" sounds pretty cool but I honestly like other stuff.

Assault Cuirass- For when your team is full of anti-armor heroes or you want armor yourself. +35 attack speed, +10 armor and an aura that gives you and your team +20 attacks speed and +5 armor AND -5 armor debuff on any enemies in the aura. Tank or damage focus, this will be a useful item.

Because Kunkka can do well early in the game to get gold and can splash all the damage he has across an entire team, lots of people build crits and raw damage. With one lucky swing everyone on the enemy team could instantly be screwed.

Crystalys into Daedalus- Crits are an easy way to turn dps auto attacks into burst. Imagine attacking everyone infront of you with your passive 1.75/2.4 times instantly with no waiting. It also has good damage if you're just not lucky.

Shadow Blade- The worst part about being the damage of the team is you aren't the tank. For this reason, you want to stay out of sight but still be close enough to do damage. As a melee hero this can be difficult but there's always an item to help you. This one blade will help you chase, escape and even initiate by helping you get close to crit everyone in one strike without being seen (unless you already have a Riki on your team in which case everyone know there's an invisible prick comming and is using gems)

Battle Fury- Because you're building mostly damage and your passive needs to recharge, you might want more damage and a way to spread it out while you wait for another wave of cleaving. Battle Fury is like your passive but not as big, is always up, and works with attack speed.

Kunnka has a annoying early game due to his harrasment. If you still have problems seeing his wave to say a Torrent is comming, get a magic stick and watch it. When he casts a spell, you'll get a charge, if he abuses this spell, he'll give you more mana and health to use your own spells. This can also be useful for when a suprise boat is comming. To help dodge the boat if that's your biggest concern, I reccomend getting a Blink Dagger for extra mobility and just to hear your hero's soundclip when buying it (or if your hero could use inteligence, Force Staff).

Kunkka also has no way to escape without the right items, if you see a Kunnka on the enemy team, pick another good harassment hero and push him out before he forces you out with his Tidebringer. It would also help to have a winning mid lane who can gank any lanes that get pushed.

Another clever way to trick a bad Kunnka is to move forward to bait an attack and then running back as the creeps attack him for even thinking of meleeing you, this will only work if you can run faster than him and he doesnt have phase boots yet.