Kensei joins the Sovereign’s Rise in Update 3.3 to slash away pesky tanks. Healthy foes beware — Kensei’s attacks deal more damage to beefier opponents. Broken Myth is here with an early look at Kensei’s abilities, talents, and best builds to avoid busting your Update 3.3 meta picks.
Kensei’s kit revolves around chained activations to maximize the effectiveness of his empowerment stance. Each of his abilities set him up to land more basic attacks, meaning that attack speed is key. Because of this, he follows a primary weapon build path and thus fits into the bottom lane, but he can also flex into the top lane or jungle. Deciding which enemy you’re going to target before a team fight is crucial to victory. Kensei has a choice between combating on the frontline (often against a utility-based enemy) while absorbing damage from his heroic perk’s barrier or diving onto the backline with his gap-closing abilities to first devastate ADCs. Let’s break down Kensei’s abilities.
Vainglory Kensei Abilities
Immovable Mind (Heroic Perk)
After striking enemy heroes or jungle monsters 3 times, Kensei’s next basic attack deals 25% bonus damage and grants a burst of barrier.
- Bonus Barrier: 30-140 (level 1-12)
- Bonus Barrier (Heroes): Target max health * 0.05% of bonus weapon power
Additionally, Kensei’s basic attacks deal increased damage to heroes with higher health.
- Attack Damage: 40% of weapon power + (target max health * 0.03% of bonus weapon power)
| LVL 1 | LVL 12 | |
| Health | 761 | 2493 |
| Energy | 280 | 643 |
| Armor/Shield | 20 | 60 |
| Base Weapon | 86 | 163 |
| Attack Speed | 100% | 136.3% |
| Range | 3.5 | |
| Move Speed | 3.5 |
Lotus Strike (A)
Kensei rushes forward, swinging his blade and dealing basic attack damage in an arc in front of him.
- This ability can be reactivated two additional times within 5 seconds.
| LVL 1 | LVL 2 | LVL 3 | LVL 4 | LVL 5 | |
| Cooldown | 14s | 13s | 12s | 11s | 8s |
| Energy Cost | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Damage | 55% | 55% | 55% | 55% | 65% |
| Bonus Damage | 20 | 40 | 60 | 80 | 100 |
| Slow Strength (Kensho) | 30% | 35% | 40% | 45% | 50% |
Kensho (B)
Kensei strikes his target and leaps backward, entering Kensho Stance and generating fortified health for the duration.
Kensho Stance: The next Lotus Strike or Path of the Ronin gains a powerful bonus effect when activated within 2.5 seconds of canceling this stance.
- Lotus Strike (A) travels farther and slows enemies hit.
- Path of the Ronin (Ult) stuns enemies hit.
- Stance is canceled automatically upon movement, attacking, or using any ability.
| LVL 1 | LVL 2 | LVL 3 | LVL 4 | LVL 5 | Weapon Ratio | |
| Cooldown | 16s | 14.5s | 13s | 11.5s | 8.5s | |
| Energy Cost | 40 | 45 | 50 | 55 | 60 | |
| Bonus Damage | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 80 | |
| Fortified Health / Second | 30 | 50 | 70 | 90 | 110 | 20% |
Path of the Ronin (Ultimate)
Kensei readies himself before quickly rushing forward, dealing basic attack plus bonus damage to all enemies in his way.
| LVL 1 | LVL 2 | LVL 3 | |
| Cooldown | 70s | 55s | 40s |
| Energy Cost | 100 | 120 | 140 |
| Bonus Damage | 200 | 300 | 400 |
| Stun Duration (Kensho) | 0.8s | 1.1s | 1.4s |
Vainglory Kensei Talents
Accelerated Mind (Rare)
Hitting an enemy hero or jungle monster grants max stats of Immovable Mind (Perk). Level 20 stats:
- Attack Speed: 115%
- Barrier: 165%
Enlightened Kensho (Epic)
Kensho’s empowered attack grants Kensei temporarily invulnerability. Level 10 stats:
- Passive Weapon Power: 19%
- Cooldown: 37.5%
- Duration: 2s
Endless Path (Legendary)
Landing Path of the Ronin (Ult) resets its cooldown. Level 5 stats:
- Damage: 180%
- Cooldown: 30%
Vainglory Kensei Builds
Below are the two recommended builds SEMC has curated for Kensei. For more information on situational items for carries, visit our complete breakdown. Be sure to check our top hero builds page soon for Broken Myth’s Kensei hero guide!
Mobile Fighter
Low cooldowns allow for easier movement around the battlefield with Lotus Strike (A). Be sure to use Kensho (B) to frequently empower your abilities.
(High Mobility, Moderate Defense)
Continuous Damage
Constantly attack your opponents to refresh Immovable Mind’s (Perk) barrier and deal massive damage to targets with large health pools.
(High Damage, High Defense)
The Update 3.3 activation day is currently unknown, but is planned to release this week with no downtime. Be on the lookout for optional joystick controls, voice chat, and quality of life improvements. If you have any questions about Vainglory’s newest hero Kensei, ask away in the comments below, and we’d be happy to answer them!
5 Comments
deSEAiny
May 17, 2018 2:40 am@Bogbeat it should be extra damage, not base damage. It shouldn’t be that low
BogBeat
May 13, 2018 2:06 pmhe does LESS DAMAGE against WEAKER heroes with high damage. If Kestrel has 2400 HP, and Kensei has 305 WP from items: his Basic Attack should be 305+163=468, but his perk will make it 0.4*468+2400*0.03/100*305=406.8 > 13% lower. Kestrel will may kill Kensei before getting killed herself.
Someone please tell me I am wrong
VGtouchPLAYERwillDOMINATfromJOYSTICK
May 13, 2018 2:03 amSo the bonus slow,damage and stun from kensho(B) whilst in stance position should be within 2.5 seconds after using b and then following his A or ULT?or he needs to stand still for 2.5 seconds and then after he can use his A OR ULT for bonus effect?
Im confused,
Okay is it within or after 2.5 seconds the bonus effect to be triggered?
Thanks!
Nacho
May 12, 2018 1:24 pmDo u think its going to be overpowered or easy to counter? Also, do u think its role is to target the support/warrior instead of the carries?
Sean
May 15, 2018 3:19 pmAs most new hero situations go, I think the vocal player base will say that Kensei is “OP” during 3.3. Thus, he’ll become a priority pick/ban. I don’t think this is justified, though — I’d say he’s about as strong as Tony was in his release, but perhaps we have different definitions of Tony’s initial strength. The key to countering him is taking advantage of the game phases, so macro play is crucial. Once Kensei is behind, he’s stuck between building more damage or more defense — which results in him dying in a fight before he can deal any damage.
For which role to target… probably not captains. His damage against all heroes is high enough to make eliminating a captain instead of an ADC not worthwhile. He’ll likely jump onto backline carries, eliminate them, then switch focus to the jungler.