The balancing of Koshka

Our favourite cat was very strong. Got nerfed but still is very strong. Her strength however lies not in her damage. Her strength is her maddening speed.
As Gwen who has a very high base movement speed through skedaddles passive I can hardly keep up. When a koshka comes down the river from the mid she can gank and be gone before someone can respond.

She sticks to a target because of her speed. She is a monster from the start of the game.

What do you guys think of koshka?

I think her boosted speed should be toned down by a fair chunk. Keeping her the fastest thing on 4 paws but not an ungodly speed monster that can be everywhere and nowhere at once.

She is giving the flash a run for his money…


She has a very high winrate across all regions. In combination with a high pick rate.

Is 25% considered to be a high pick rate?

Also, she doesn’t really need a Nerf imo, she’s squishy if she tries going glass cannon (which she mostly does) and she can easily be CCed to death.

I actually like her exhilarating playstyle, and ganking bot and top under 2 mins is quite fun :>

37 heroes 5 picks per side yeah 25% is high…

she got nerfed just the right amount, I feel.
she’s suppose to be early game threat.
but not impossible to take down.

the trick is… to not engage. let her come to you. if you can’t get off an Auto when she jumps you… you lost. but if you can, you got a fighting chance.

Use the brush to your advantage. Try to spot her out taking a jungle farm. If you’re smart enough… you’ll know which brush to hide in and wait.

and also abit of luck that she doesn’t have a bodyguard tag team. otherwise hightail outta there.

Or just pick grumpjaw and as soon as you get TB just pick 1v1s like you dgaf

I would’ve thought by the time you get a TB . . . it’s considered mid - game… not early game…

the tips i gave is for early game… when all you got is 2 tier 1 items… hopefully 2 knifes or 2 crystals… hopefully farm enough to get boots and armor by the 2 - 3 minute mark

yes, it is possible to take down koshka early game.

To be fair, a high pickrate in combination with a top win rate means her overall power score is approaching optimal, and no hero should be allowed to reach this optimal point or the meta may become unhealthy. Many strategies were proposed but they are very niche picks that counter aggression with even more aggression, which is not that reliable for blind pick to begin with.
She need some fine tunning, and perhaps not to her speed which is at the core of her playstyle, but some damage to make it less punishing when she ganks.

3 Likes

Is 5-6 mins considered mid game…?

yes, 5 - 7.30 is mid game ( i can’t remember exactly when ghostwing spawn ) . . . up to 10 minutes

over 10 is late game.

well, for me anyway… i always aim to finish by 15 minutes . . . most players will have 80% build by 15 minutes.

When she dives into a group to twirly she at that moment when she twirls is sturdier than most captains. She is so freaking fast with moving in and out that thatvis her threat level. You need a shitload of CC to handle 1 enemy… The only hero who has that kind of CC is Lance but she can dance circles around him…

1 Like

Baptiste? Churnwalker? Lorelei? All of them can handle koshka at level 2 and their very presence is a zoning tool against koshka. They have enough cc in their kit to handle koshka with slows,stuns and pulls

All 3 of them in a lane? Cause koshka can go from top to bottom in record time and simply evade all those heroes. Dealing with koshka on site is not the problem. Koshka threatening everywhere is the problem. She can literally pounce unsuspecting prey and run away if there is no target…

True that. Her mobility is insane and allows her to be anywhere quickly but having a counter in a single lane cuts her off from ganking that lane too much and restricts her presence to a certain part.

It leaves 2 lanes and 2 jungles open still.
Nobody can catch up when :cat2: runs…

There are a few heroes who can stick to koshka but they hit their mobility spikes at level 6 like Idris, reza , BF by which time she will be snowballing

1 Like

So you agree that there is a problem?
Koshkas barrier scales with CP turning her snowball offensive items into lategame survivability.

She used to only have an early game. Now everything about her is stronger.

Yes there is a problem. Why give an early game hero more power with a barrier? Make it a barrier on overdrive if the reason is for her to survive better in late game. This way she wouldn’t be so durable and bursty early game while having a barrier late game for some tankiness. With the barrier a good koshka can trade with a krul early game and walk away which is a bit unfair

2 Likes

Koshka is honestly still op in 5v5, but balanced in 3v3. Tako is still insane imo across the board tho.

2 Likes

Balance her perk… Too fast = can’t die

Krul needs a movement speed reduction too. He is ridiculously fast even when he doesn’t come out of a bush…