Attacker, one of Dota 2’s most popular pubstars whose streams of masterful Kunkka feats brought him fame, thinks the hero is in a terrible state after Patch 7.36. He vows not to touch the hero until it gets a meaningful buff or rework in a future patch.

While Attacker didn't specify what makes Kunkka feel like a "terrible hero" in his May 27 stream, it's safe to assume that the recent change to X Mark duration plays a large role, as it has for several other players who vented their frustrations in a May 29 thread on the Dota 2 subreddit. "They just weakened him in the most unpleasant way possible, screwed up his X timings, weakened his primary skillshot, literally gave him [no] innate after level 1 or 2," one player said.

Dota 2’s 7.36 patch saw Kunkka receive a slew of nerfs, the most significant of which being the nerf to X Marks the Spot’s duration. Granted, it gave an unfair advantage over the new Debuff Immunity-granting Black King Bar. Kunkka could use X at the last second on a teleporting enemy with his BKB on, and the target would return after the TP had expired since his X Mark duration was longer than the lowest BKB timer. However, the nature of X Mark’s 7.36 nerf means that one of his combos, which players had perfected in muscle memory over the years, no longer works.

Also in the area of Innate ability and Facets, the Admiral clearly got the short end of the stick. While some heroes like Weaver and Necrophos benefited from having their passives moved to the innate slot, it had the opposite effect on Kunkka.