The grand final day at Dota 2‘s The International is always a fun affair. Alongside some incredible professional play, we also get plenty of community contest winners—but the hype is always high for announcements from Valve about the next big game update or the release of a new hero.
Sure enough, 2024’s edition of TI brought with it a trailer showing off the newest member of the Dota 2 roster: Kez, the flightless bird samurai. The question on everyone’s mind: When will we be able to play Kez?
When can we play Kez in Dota 2?
Kez, the newest hero to join Dota 2‘s roster, will be available to play with the release of Crownfall Act Four, set to go live at 3pm CT on Nov. 1. Crownfall‘s final Act was previously expected to drop the week after The International, which wrapped up on Sept. 15. An exact start date for the next Crownfall act has not been given yet, but a Sept. 24 leak from the Chinese version of the game revealed the delayed launch date.
Confirmation of Kez’s release date was made during Championship Sunday at TI 2024 shortly before the grand final kicked off. The trailer showed off Kez’s design; a flightless bird and the head of the Kazurai order, we’ve been following his story a little throughout Crownfall for the past few months.
Little else is known about the hero other than how he looks, so we can’t really speculate as to what position he’ll fit in Dota 2 and whether he’d fit a carry or support role. That said, surely a flightless bird samurai would be able to put quite a chunk of damage out against his opponents! We’ll get a better look at his abilities, Facets, Innate ability, Aghanim’s upgrades, and more as Crownfall Act Four releases.
Kez is the second hero to release during Crownfall following Ringmaster’s long-awaited arrival in late August with Act Three, and he launched without any Facets or Aghanim’s Scepter abilities, so expect more of the same for Kez when we hit the servers on Act Four launch day soon.
