Kael'thas

Kael'thas
"Selama ashal'anore!"
Basic Info
Title	The Sun King
Role	Ranged Assassin
Difficulty	Hard
Franchise	Warcraft
Price	625 / 7,000
Release Date	May 12, 2015
Base Stats
Attack Type	Ranged
Health	1520
Health Regen	3.168
Resource	500 Mana
Unit Radius	0.8125
Attack Speed	1.11
Attack Range	5.5
Attack Damage	65
Data Page

Kael'thas Sunstrider, the Sun King, is a Ranged Assassin Hero from the Warcraft universe. Like all Blood Elves, Prince Kael'thas was transformed by the fall of Quel'thalas. Desperate to save his people from being consumed by their magical addiction, he joined forces with the Burning Legion and now lords over Tempest Keep.

Kael'thas is a fire Mage who punishes enemies that stay close together.

Background

This section concerns content exclusive to the Warcraft universe.

Kael'thas Sunstrider was a senior member of the Kirin Tor, the Prince of Quel'Thalas, son of King Anasterian Sunstrider and his wife great-great grandson of Dath'Remar Sunstrider and the last of the Sunstrider dynasty. After the Fall of Quel'Thalas, Kael'thas led what remained of his people in the service of the Alliance. Striving to placate his people's addiction to magic, he later allied with Illidan Stormrage, but betrayed him to the Burning Legion when its master, the demon lord Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, enticed Kael'thas with the promise of salvation for the blood elves. He was branded a traitor after his allegiance to the Legion was revealed, and lost the support of many of his people. After his defeat at Tempest Keep, Kael'thas returned to Azeroth a shadow of his former self. Kael'thas plotted to summon Kil'jaeden through the Sunwell, but his plans were foiled by the Shattered Sun Offensive. He was slain by their forces in Magisters' Terrace.

Gameplay

Kael'thas is a Ranged Assassin, with an exceptional overall damage potential. All of his damaging Abilities deal AoE damage, severely punishing enemy teams who stand close together. Kael'thas' Trait, Verdant Spheres, allows him to improve the effectiveness of one Basic Ability at a time. It is important for players to decide which Ability should be empowered and when, as the effectiveness of each option varies greatly depending on circumstance.

Strengths

• Very high single and area damage
• Gravity Lapse provides crowd control
• Excellent waveclear
• Good at zoning

Weaknesses

• Has extremely low mobility and survivability
• Requires close attention to positioning
• Completely Mana dependant

Abilities

See Data page for a table of scaled values at key levels.

D

Verdant Spheres

Cooldown: 6 seconds

Activate to make your next Basic Ability more powerful.

---

Affects: Ability

Targeting: No target

Properties: Primed

Cast time: Instant

---

• Cooldown starts when the effect is triggered by casting a Basic Ability.

Q

Flamestrike

70 Mana Cooldown: 7 seconds

After 1 second, deal 345 damage in an area.

Verdant Spheres increases the radius by 50%.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Enemies

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Area of Effect

Cast time: 0.25 + 0.0625 seconds

Range: 10.0

Area of Effect: Circle

Radius:
- Base: 2.0
- Verdant Spheres: 3.0

---

• Delay starts after the cast goes through, making the total time after initiating cast to damage being dealt 1.25 seconds.

W

Living Bomb

50 Mana Cooldown: 10 seconds

Deal 126 damage over 3 seconds to an enemy, then they explode dealing 215 damage to all nearby enemies. Other Heroes damaged by this explosion are also affected by Living Bomb, though the secondary explosions cannot spread.

Verdant Spheres makes this Ability cost no Mana and have no cooldown.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Enemies

Targeting: Unit target

Properties: Area of Effect, Damage over Time

Cast time: 0.125 + 0 seconds

Range: 5.5

Area of Effect: Circle

Radius: 3.3

Tickrate: 1.0 per second (x3)

Damage per tick: 42

---

• Living Bomb cannot spread to targets already affected by another Living Bomb.
• Main target takes damage from both periodic and explosion damage.
• Explosion damage is displayed in the target unit's Health bar as if it were a DoT, but does not count as one, allowing it to interrupt Weak Channels (e.g. Mounting & Hearthing).
• If the target dies while affected by Living Bomb, it explodes immediately.
• Effects that remove DoTs prevent Living Bomb from exploding.

E

Gravity Lapse

90 Mana Cooldown: 14 seconds

Stun the first enemy hit for 1 seconds.

Verdant Spheres causes Gravity Lapse to stun the first 3 enemies hit and increases the stun duration by 50%.

---

Type: Crowd control

Affects: Non-Structure enemies

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Clamping, Skillshot, Stun

Cast time: 0.15+0 seconds

Range: 9.5

Hitbox: 1.75 x 0.8

Missile speed: 13

---

• Will impact Invulnerable targets (not Stunning them, but blocking the unempowered version and wasting one of the targets for the empowered version).

R

Phoenix

80 Mana Cooldown: 60 seconds

Launch a Phoenix to an area, dealing 78 damage to enemies along the way. The Phoenix persists for 7 seconds, attacking enemies for 78 damage and splashing for 39 damage.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Enemies

Targeting: Point target

Properties: Area of Effect, Summon figment, Splash

Cast time: 0.1 + 0 seconds

Range: 10.0

Radius:
- Launch hitbox: 1.25
- 5.75 (attack)
- Splash: 2.0

Missile speed:
- Launch: 12.0
- Attack: 25

Tickrate: 2.0 per second (x13)

---

• Phoenix attacks the nearest enemy to the center, prioritizing Heroes.

R

Pyroblast

80 Mana Cooldown: 100 seconds

After 1.5 seconds, cast a slow-moving fireball that deals 810 damage to an enemy Hero and 405 damage to enemies nearby.

---

Type: Spell Damage, Status effect

Scaling: 5.00488281%

Affects: Enemy Heroes (initial) / Enemies (AoE)

Targeting: Unit target

Properties: Area of Effect, Channeled cast (stationary), Revealed

Cast time: 1.5 + 0 seconds

Range: 15.0

Radius: 3.0

Missile speed:
- Initial: 5.0
- Maximum: 9.0
- Acceleration: 1.0

---

• Interrupting the Ability during its windup puts it on a 10 second cooldown.
• The cast is interrupted, if the target moves 5 units past its range during windup, or if Kael'thas issues a "move" or "stop" command.
• Once successfully cast, Pyroblast cannot be disjointed by Movement Abilities or dispelled, but its damage can be mitigated through effects that grant damage immunity.
• If the target dies or is removed from play (e.g. Stasis), Pyroblast will continue to the unit's location and explode, dealing area damage.
• Main target does not take area damage.

Talents

1

Convection

❢ Quest: Damaging an enemy Hero with Flamestrike increases its damage by 5, up to 100. This bonus is lost on death.

❢ Reward: After hitting 20 enemy Heroes, increase Flamestrike damage by an additional 100 and no longer lose any bonuses on death.

---

Type: Bonus damage

Scaling: -

Affects: Ability

---

• Can trigger multiple times per cast.

Fel Infusion

Increases Kael'thas's Spell Power by 4%. Kael'thas heals for 94 Health when activating Verdant Spheres.

---

Type: Healing, Offensive damage modifier

Scaling: 4.00%

Affects: Self

Properties: Spell Power

---

• Spell Power is permanent.
• Spell Power from Fel Infusion stacks additively with other sources of Spell Power as well as other offensive damage and healing dealt modifiers affecting Kael'thas's Spell Damage or healing output.

Mana Addict

❢ Quest: Gathering a Regeneration Globe increases Kael'thas's maximum Mana by 15.

❢ Reward: After gathering 20 Globes, Kael'thas can activate Arcane Barrier to gain a Shield equal to 100% of his maximum Mana for 4 seconds. 45 second cooldown.

Arcane Barrier

---

Cooldown: 45 seconds
Activate to gain a Shield for 100% of Kael'thas's maximum Mana for 4 seconds.

---

Type: Resource, Shield

Scaling: -

Affects: Self

Targeting: No target

Cast time: Instant

---

• Continues to gain stacks even after the quest is complete.
• Kael'thas's current Mana is also increased by 15 when a Regeneration Globe is collected.

4

Nether Wind

Increases Gravity Lapse's range by 30%. When Gravity Lapse hits an enemy Hero, refund 80 Mana.

---

Bonus range: 2.5

---

• Can only trigger once per cast.

Energy Roil

Reduce the Mana cost of Gravity Lapse by 70. When Gravity Lapse hits a Hero, reduce its cooldown by 9 seconds.

---

• Can only trigger once per cast.

Mana Tap

Activating Verdant Spheres restores 4% of Kael'thas's maximum Mana.

---

Type: Resource

Scaling: -

Affects: Self

7

Burned Flesh

When Flamestrike damages 2 or more Heroes, they take additional damage equal to 8% of their maximum Health.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: -

Affects: Enemy Heroes

Properties: Percent Damage

---

• The damage from Burned Flesh is dealt in a separate instance of damage.

Sun King's Fury

Living Bombs that spread to enemy Heroes deal 35% more damage.

---

Type: Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Ability

---

• Affects both periodic and explosion damage.
• Stacks additively with other offensive damge modifiers affecting Living Bomb's damage.

Sunfire Enchantment

Activating Verdant Spheres causes Kael'thas's next 2 Basic Attacks to instead deal 115 Spell Damage. If both of them hit enemy Heroes, gain 15% Spell Power for 10 seconds.

---

Type: Offensive damage modifier

Affects: Self

Properties: Spell Power

---

• Empowered attacks last until consumed. Using Verdant Spheres refreshes charges.
• Does not stack with itself. Subsequent applications refresh the duration of Spell Power buff.
• Spell Power from Sunfire Enchantment stacks additively with other sources of Spell Power as well as other offensive damage and healing dealt modifiers affecting Kael'thas's Spell Damage or healing output.

10

Phoenix

Cooldown: 60 seconds
Launch a Phoenix to an area, dealing 78 damage to enemies along the way. The Phoenix persists for 7 seconds, attacking enemies for 78 damage and splashing for 39 damage.

Pyroblast

Cooldown: 100 seconds
After 1.5 seconds, cast a slow-moving fireball that deals 810 damage to an enemy Hero and 405 damage to enemies nearby.

13

Pyromaniac

Each time Living Bomb deals periodic damage, Kael'thas's Basic Ability cooldowns are reduced by 0.5 seconds.

---

• Affects both initial and secondary targets' Living Bombs.

Backdraft

Living Bomb's explosion Slows enemy Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds.

---

Type: Crowd control

Affects: Enemies

Properties: Slow

---

• Affects both initial and secondary targets' Living Bombs.

Fission Bomb

Increases Living Bomb's explosion radius by 20%.

---

Bonus explosion radius: 0.66

---

• Affects both initial and secondary targets' Living Bombs.

16

Fury of the Sunwell

Flamestrike will explode a second time 1.5 seconds later.

---

Type: Spell Damage

Scaling: -

Affects: Enemies

---

• Secondary Flamestrike has the same properties as baseline and benefits from all Talents affecting it.

Ignite

Flamestrike applies Living Bomb to the enemy Hero closest to its center who is not currently affected by Living Bomb.

---

• Only 1 Living Bomb can be applied per Flamestrike cast.

Twin Spheres

Verdant Spheres gains a second charge.

Passive: Kael'thas benefits from all of his level 7 talents.

---

• Verdant Spheres cannot be activated again before the previous charge has been triggered.

20

Rebirth

Increases Phoenix duration by 100%. While alive, the Phoenix may be ordered to move to a different location.

---

• Phoenix now attacks 26 times during its duration.
• Phoenix can be relocated only once per cast.
• Relocating Phoenix through units deals area damage, but causes it to miss out one attack.

Presence Of Mind

Increases Pyroblast's explosion radius by 50%. Heroes who are hit by Flamestrike or have Living Bomb spread to them reduce the cooldown of Pyroblast by 10 seconds.

---

Bonus radius: 1.5

Master of Flames

Living Bomb's spread from explosions can now also spread Living Bomb.

---

• Enables Living Bomb to spread indefinitely.

Flamethrower

Increases the cast range of Flamestrike by 40%. If you hit 2 or more Heroes, Flamestrike's cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds.

---

Bonus range: 4.0

---

• Can only trigger once per cast.

Builds and guides

Icy Veins Kael'thas Guide

Kael'thas Community Build Guides @ HeroesFire

Kael'thas Community Build Guides @ Heroes Hearth

Skins

Kael'thas Skins
The Sun King
Backstory: Like all Blood Elves, Prince Kael'thas was transformed by the fall of Quel'thalas. Desperate to save his people from being consumed by their magical addiction, he joined forces with the Burning Legion and now lords over Tempest Keep.
625 / 7,000 The Sun King	Free Silver	Free Ivory	120 / 75 Forest
Cyberhawk
Backstory: Sunstrider Industries CEO Mikael Thoss uses his company's vast wealth and cutting edge technology to protect the innocent as Cyberhawk, the avian avenger!
Features: Themed abilities.
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of Superheroes vs. Eternal Empire skins.
350 / 400	350 / 400 Sapphire	350 / 400 Cyborghawk	350 / 400 Spectre
Sovereign
Backstory: Only the finest of robes and armor may adorn the Sun King. His majesty and brilliance must shine forth like the sun itself.
120 / 75	120 / 75 Sun	120 / 75 Fel
Stormbot
Backstory: Originally constructed to be a magician's assistant, Kael'thas's preprogrammed aptitude for sorcery soon catapulted him past the expertise of his own creators.
Features: Altered voice-over.
160 / 100	160 / 100 Cobalt
StormPunk
Backstory: On some worlds, technology and magic are not so different. Those who master both, like Lord Kael'thas, can create both wonders and terrors beyond your imagination.
160 / 100	160 / 100 Azure	160 / 100 Crimson	160 / 100 Gold

Kael'thas Event Skins
Lunar
Backstory: As prince of the sin'dorei, Kael'thas presides over all Lunar Festival ceremonies throughout Silvermoon City. It is imperative that his finery match his station.
Features: Themed animations, themed abilities.
Notes: This skin theme is part of a shared theme of holiday skins.
350 / 400	350 / 400 Jade	350 / 400 Heavenly	350 / 400 Amber	350 / 400 Lotus

Portraits

Kael'thas Portraits
Carbot Kael'thas120 / 75	Cyberhawk Kael'thas75 / 40	Kael'thas Hero	Kael'thas Mastery	Lil' Lunar Kael'thas75 / 40	Money Launderer Kael'Thas75 / 40	San'layn Kael'thas75 / 40
Stormbot Kael'thas75 / 40	StormPunk Kael'thas75 / 40	Toon Lunar Kael'thas75 / 40	WoW Kael'thas75 / 40

Sprays

Kael'thas Sprays
Behold the Sun King75 / 40	Carbot Kael'thas120 / 75	Feast-ival Kael'thas120 / 75	Lunar Kael'thas Lantern120 / 75	Puppet Kael'thas75 / 40

Emojis

Kael'thas Pack 1			Kael'thas Pack 2
Emoji	Name	Shortcut	Emoji	Name	Shortcut
	Kael'thas Happy	:kaelthashappy: :kthappy:		Kael'thas Angry	:kaelthasangry: :ktangry:
	Kael'thas ROFL	:kaelthaslol: :kaelthasrofl: :ktlol: :ktrofl:		Kael'thas Cool	:kaelthascool: :ktcool:
	Kael'thas Sad	:kaelthassad: :ktsad:		Kael'thas Embarrassed	:kaelthasoops: :kaelthasembarrassed: :ktoops: :ktembarrassed:
	Kael'thas Silly	:kaelthassilly: :ktsilly:		Kael'thas in Love	:kaelthaslove: :kaelthasinlove: :ktlove: :ktinlove:
	Kael'thas Speechless	:kaelthasmeh: :kaelthasspeechless: :ktmeh: :ktspeechless:		Kael'thas Surprised	:kaelthaswow: :kaelthassurprised: :ktwow: :ktsurprised:

Lunar Kael'thas Pack 1			Lunar Kael'thas Pack 2
Emoji	Name	Shortcut	Emoji	Name	Shortcut
	Lunar Kael'thas Happy	:kaelthaslunarhappy: :ktlhappy:		Lunar Kael'thas Angry	:kaelthaslunarangry: :ktlangry:
	Lunar Kael'thas ROFL	:kaelthaslunarlol: :kaelthaslunarrofl: :ktllol: :ktlrofl:		Lunar Kael'thas Cool	:kaelthaslunarcool: :ktlcool:
	Lunar Kael'thas Sad	:kaelthaslunarsad: :ktlsad:		Lunar Kael'thas Embarrassed	:kaelthaslunaroops: :kaelthaslunarembarrassed: :ktloops: :ktlembarrassed:
	Lunar Kael'thas Silly	:kaelthaslunarsilly: :ktlsilly:		Lunar Kael'thas in Love	:kaelthaslunarlove: :kaelthaslunarinlove: :ktllove: :ktlinlove:
	Lunar Kael'thas Speechless	:kaelthaslunarmeh: :kaelthaslunarspeechless: :ktlmeh: :ktlspeechless:		Lunar Kael'thas Surprised	:kaelthaslunarwow: :kaelthaslunarsurprised: :ktlwow: :ktlsurprised:

Quotes

Main article: Kael'thas/Quotes

Trivia

• Kael'thas first appeared in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (July 2003).
  • His book debut was four years later, in World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness (August 2007)
• Kael'thas is voiced by Quinton Flynn.
• Kael'thas was the last hero released during the beta.
• Scrapped abilities like Burning Impact and Combustion were datamined from older versions of the game client.
• Kael'thas sometimes says "merely a setback" when he revives at the Hall of Storms. This is a reference to a popular quote said by him in World of Warcraft: "Don't look so smug! I know what you're thinking, but Tempest Keep was merely a setback." The phrase has become a common utterance by players discussing potential future dungeons and raids, often with the joking implication that Kael'thas will somehow return.
• Kael'thas is the first blood elf hero, the second being Valeera Sanguinar.
• While the name of Kael'thas' Cyberhawk skin is likely a reference to a character from Rock N' Roll Racing of the same name, the design of the skin is a reference to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.

Gallery

General

• 

  Artwork of Kael'thas

• 

  Cobalt Stormbot

• 

  A close-up of Kael'thas

• 

  Kael'thas casting a spell

Abilities

• 

  Q: Flamestrike

• 

  W: Living Bomb

• 

  E: Gravity Lapse

• 

  R1: Phoenix

• 

  R2: Pyroblast

Concept Art

• 

  Kael'thas at PAX East (older model)

• 

  Sun King Kael'thas models

• 

  Master Kael'thas models

• 

  StormPunk Kael'thas models

• 

  Master Kael'thas concept art

• 

  StormPunk Kael'thas concept art

• 

  StormPunk Kael'thas color concept art

• 

  StormPunk Kael'thas high polygon sculpt

• 

  Lunar Kael'thas concept art

External links

• Kael'thas Hero Week
• Kael'thas - Heroes of the Storm
• Kael'thas Sunstrider - Wowpedia
• Kael'thas Balance Changelog - Heroes Patch Notes
• Kael'thas Sound Files - Sounds of the Storm