| Threat | Hero | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
1 |
 |
Reim | Like Krul, Reim has no mobility to get close to Kestrel. Reim can also be kited super easily and gives Kestrel a lot of BP stacks. |
Kestrel successfully in both ranked and competitive matches. Kestrel is a a sniper that excels at kiting at the beginning of fights, and then hard engaging onto enemies once she has built up stacks. Kesrel can be successful in both the lane and the jungle, but I think she does best in the lane where she can get gold quickly to hit her power spikes and carry the game.
Adrenaline Kestrel’s Heroic Perk,
Adrenaline, stacks with basic attacks and reduces the energy cost of her abilities by 10% in addition to giving her 10% additional attack speed. This can stack up to 5 times and wears off after 4 seconds unless a basic attack or direct hit of a
Glimmershot is landed.
Kestrel’s
Adrenaline stacks are extremely important for both effective energy management and extra dps throughout the game.
Kestrel’s abilities cost a lot of energy, so the energy reduction from stacks is essential to using a maximum amount of abilities in the fight. One Shot One Kill which instantly gives 5
Adrenaline stacks or by basic attacking minions or enemy heroes.
Glimmershot Kestrel’s
Glimmershot is kind of like an extension of her auto attacks that does more damage to the first target directly hit with some armor piercing and splash damage to targets behind it.
Glimmershot can easily be blocked or dodged if fired from a distance, so only use it if there is a clear shot at the target or at close range. Otherwise, it is better to keep auto attacking to keep
Adrenaline stacks and deal consistent damage. Kestrel has 4 arrows at all ranks, and once they are all used up, she must reload with the reload time decreasing with attack speed (bought or naturally from
Adrenaline stacks).
Glimmershot is great for clearing minions and dealing devastating damage at close-mid range as well as dealing annoying poke damage. Glimmershot: Glimmershot when you don’t want to be stuck in place. Using
Glimmershot roots you in place while the arrow is firing, so be careful not to use it you might need to dodge abilities like against a
Celeste or
Skye.
Active Camo Kestrel becomes becomes invisible, gaining bonus move speed and leaving behind a mist cloud. After a duration, the mist cloud can be detonated by
Kestrel dealing damage to an enemy hero that is inside of the mist. Heroes inside the mist are stunned and take damage.
Kestrel cannot activate
Active Camo if she is taking damage, as it puts it on a 2.5 second cooldown. That cooldown is reduced by WP, and goes to zero at 200 weapon power. Active Camo is mostly important for the stun and speed boost, as it is
Kestrel’s only form of crowd control and gap closing/creating. Basic attacking reduces the cooldown of
Active Camo by 1 second, so builds that center around attack speed are extremely effective on
Kestrel as she can spam
Active Camo. Be careful, however about the energy cost of
Active Camo. If possible, make sure to have max Adrenaline stacks before activating active camo to use as little energy as possible. Active Camo to create distance from your enemy and to set up stuns. In the late game once she reaches 200 WP, she can use
Active Camo whenever it is available, making it impossible for melee heroes to dive onto her if used correctly.
One Shot One Kill Kestrel fires an arrow across the map, hitting the first enemy or major objective it contacts. If it hits an enemy hero, it reveals the hero and gives
Kestrel full
Adrenaline stacks.
One Shot One Kill can be used to snipe enemy heroes or objectives from a distance for clutch kills/steals. Don’t be afraid to use it to just put pressure around the map though. Damaging an enemy hero with Kestrel can have a presence in the entire map, no matter where she is.
Kestrel with:
Lance-
Lance is very good with Kestrel because he has multiple forms of lockdown and peel. He makes it very hard for enemies to dive
Kestrel, and is super mobile which has great synergy with
Kestrel’s mobility from her
Active Camo.
Ardan-
Vanguard is a really good tool or kiting, and packs a lot of damage.
Ardan is extremely aggressive and mobile, pairing very well with
Kestrel’s play style.
Catherine- In draft, picking
Catherine denies a potential counter pick to Kestrel.
Catherine also has a fair amount of mobility and lockdown that is pretty reliable. Kestrel with: Kestrel does very well in double WP compositions, but having more type coverage is always beneficial.
Glaive-
Glaive has a lot of mobility and is extremely aggressive with a lot of burst. He also fits
Kestrel’s play style of kiting back then engaging
Krul— With his weakness stacks and natural slows,
Krul can take one person out of a fight while
Kestrel builds stacks and focuses on the other hero. Skye-
Skye and
Kestrel are very similar heroes; they both like to kite around and catch people out of position with their zoning abilities.
Skye, similar to
Catherine, also denies a primary counter to
Kestrel by picking it.
In the early game, you usually want to clear the first waves as fast as possible so you are able to rotate. If your jungle needs any help whatsoever, you can dissuade them easily with a few
Glimmershots.
Kestrel is extremely squishy if caught out of position due to the cooldown reset when taking damage on
Active Camo, so be sure to keep a safe distance and buy boots early on. Additionally,
Kestrel can be extremely energy hungry in the early game. Try to maintain
Adrenaline stacks, and only use
Active Camo when necessary or when at full
Adrenaline stacks.
When
Kestrel reaches the weapon threshold for activating
Active Camo at 200 WP, she becomes an endlessly kiting monster. It makes it extremely hard to follow her and dive her at all if
Active Camo is used correctly. Try to anticipate enemy dives and use
Active Camo to set up traps beforehand, especially if you are not at 200WP yet.
Kestrel is strongest at her two item powerspike when she gets her
Sorrowblade and
Breaking Point. Once you get these items, push the advantage and try to go for objectives. You can most likely force goldmines with the incredible objective clear speed, and team fights will be easy if you are not behind by much.
Kestrel is extremely strong in the late game. In team fights, your goal is to kite back using
Active Camo and get
Breaking Point and
Bonesaw stacks. Set up mist clouds and stay safe in the beginning of the fight. Initially, you should be auto attacking anyone who comes into range. Building stacks off of supports is extremely effective, as they will often be out of position in front of their carries. Once people dive onto you, use
Active Camo to back up and stun them. Once you have a decent amount of stacks and have a clear shot, begin using
Glimmershot arrows to deal devastating damage. When
Kestrel has stacks, she can kill people extremely fast. Bonesaw and
Breaking Point stacks, it also reduces the cooldown on
Active Camo, making it available more often for mobility and CC.
Glimmershot when you don’t want to be stuck in place. Using
Glimmershot roots you in place while the arrow is firing, so be careful not to use it you might need to dodge abilities like against a
Celeste or
Skye. Active Camo right when you see the enemy using an ability like a
Glaive afterburn or
Lance
Impale. Kestrel hits 200 bonus weapon power (
Sorrowblade +
Heavy Steel), she can use
Active Camo even if she is taking damage. Glimmershots for extra damage. Adrenaline stacks and to reload faster, you can basic attack when the reload timer on the left side of the screen has about 1/4 remaining and successfully reload [[Glimmershot]s].
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