Contents
[INT] Introduction
[S] Skills
[It] Items
[G] Gameplay
[A] Allies and Enemies

Introduction [INT]
Admiral Proudmore, originally featured as a villain in the Horde bonus campaign in The Frozen Throne, returns from the beating he received in the hands of Rexxar to get his. Proudmore is a highly ranked competitive tier hero capable of soloing and winning a lane against a solo ranged or weak hero combination. He has a set of useful delay-cast AoE tools which include a great initiation stun/debuff in Ghost Ship, a small-aoe disable and slow in Torrent, and one of the best chasing spells in the game, X marks the spot. He also has one of the best last-hitting and denying abilities in the game in Tidebringer, rivaling Nethertoxin in raw power. Tidebringer is also great for harassment, allowing you to harass well even as melee.

Review Admiral's official data here:
Proudmore's Skillset

I would like to go over his base stats and stat gain and tell you how they'll affect your play.
Str: 21+2.7
Agi: 14+1.3
Int: 16+1.5

Admiral's stats reflect the 6.6x minor nerf. Most notable are his terrible base Agi and Agi gain, and his excellent Str gain (though he starts a bit low for a strength hero). His int is about standard for a strength hero, if a little low, but you aren't spell reliant. We start a little below average in all aspects, but build up to have great HP and damage, with low armor and attack speed, and low mana.

Skillset [S]

Tidebringer - This skill is bread and butter, giving you high physical damage on hit, and a 100% pure damage cleave every 16/12/8/4 seconds. The damage increase is important early game, however, the cooldown decrease is most important, and the range is deceptively large. Knocking this down to a 4s CD allows you to farm large waves of creep quite quickly.

Usage:
Torrent - An excellent nuke and slow. Torrent "Stuns" (impale bounce effect) for 1.53 seconds at all levels, and slows for one second per level (1/2/3/4 seconds).[/I] It has 1500 cast range, a little absurd; you can easily cast it at fullscreen, making it excellent for ganking, initiating and chasing. Drawbacks? Low damage for a nuke, a two second delay before activation, and your naturally low mana pool.

Usage:

X Marks the Spot
When you cast X Marks the Spot, the Hero will be returned to the spot where he was when you cast it, marked by an X. You can press R at any time to activate the ability, or just wait for the timer to expire, and they will be returned to the spot where the X is. Great for setting up Boats and Torrents, and if you can land a good one it can lead to easy kills.

Usage:

If you feel your Torrents need setting up early, replace a level of Tidebringer or Torrent with one level of X. To set up a torrent, you only really need level 2 X, so if you prefer, trade out the last two levels for your attribute bonus for a little more HP and Mana.

Ghost Ship (AKA Boat)
The boat is your primary initiator. It does 225/300/375 damage, stuns everyone in a 400 AoE of the crash site for 1 second at all levels, and buffs nearby allies with a 10% ms bonus and "Coco's Rum," which gives a 50% damage block for 5/6/7 seconds, but after the buff wears off you take whatever damage was blocked. Its good to note that the Coco's Rum damage will never kill your allies, so its great for saving asses, giving 50% damage reduction in a getaway for 5 seconds, and everyone skirts out with 3hp.

Usage:


Skill Build Order

Standard Build

Tidebringer
Torrent
Tidebringer
Torrent/X Marks the Spot
Tidebringer
Ghost Ship
Tidebringer
Torrent
Torrent
X Marks the Spot
Ghost Ship
X Marks the Spot
X Marks the SpotAttribute Bonus
X Marks the SpotAttribute Bonus
Attribute Bonus
Ghost Ship
Attribute Bonus

Aggressive Lane Build
Use this build in an aggressive lane involving a targeted stunner.

Tidebringer
Torrent
Torrent
Tidebringer/X Marks the Spot
Torrent
Ghost Ship
Torrent
Tidebringer
Tidebringer
X Marks the Spot
Ghost Ship
X Marks the Spot
X Marks the Spot/Attribute Bonus
X Marks the Spot/Attribute Bonus
Attribute Bonus
Ghost Ship
Attribute Bonus

Explanation
In the regular build you prioritize laning, farm and harass (Tidebringer) over your nuke and the non-damaging X Marks the Spot. This build gets it done and gets that cash and requires little to no mana to support it until the mid-game.

The second build is for a more aggressive lane, in which you level Torrent quickly. Use this build in a dual lane with a targeted stunner to land early kills.

Why level torrent over Tidebringer? Doesn't the added cleave damage make up for the extra burst from Torrent? In a solo lane, yes. In a dual lane, Torrent comes with a 1.5 second waterfall, and an additional slow that increases by one second with level, allowing 1-2 extra hits easily for both you and your partner. The extra physical damage you get in from the added hits more than triples the extra damage from 2-3 cleaves in the same battle, which is huge for getting the kill and winning the lane.

Ghost ship usually is a must for the added damage and 400 AoE disable, but you can save it for level 9 if you plan on farming more than ganking.


Items [It]
Starting
Consumables + Cheap Stat Items Whatever combination you prefer. I recommend 1x Tango, 1x Flask, 2x Gauntlet + Ironwoods to fill. Avoid Clarities because you can't last hit with them active; a waste of good farm for not a lot of mana.

Core Build

OR


Techno's Recommended Supplement
Armlet of Mordiggan

Ogre Axe, Mithril Hammer -> Black King Bar (optional but recommended)


Luxury Items
Gold Total - 9920

Build Notes - In many builds you can rush a HP regen item early in your lane. Battlefury takes Ring of Health, and Armlet takes Helm of Iron Will. Vladimir's offering offers a Ring of Regen. I recommend them to help with rough laning, but a fast bottle fills the same role and is better to purchase when ganking (runes and burst mana).

--
Luxury Items


Stygian Desolator - 60 damage with the -6 armor Corruption Orb. Since the cleave is calculated based on the damage dealt to the primary target, Corruption not only increases damage to the -armor target, but to everyone hit by the cleave. This item gives as good of a DPS increase than Buriza even after including critical hits, but for a much lower cost, and is highly recommended.


Buriza no Kyzan - A critical on a cleave hit is devastating to everything it hits and great for farming, and will occur about 1/5 of the time you cleave. This item also adds a huge amount of natural damage (+75, more than any item in the guide), and assembles relatively easily.


Sange and Yasha - The second-best Orb on Kunkka, S+Y is generally overlooked for its low damage (+28), but it does add a fat chunk of HP, a fat chunk of movespeed, a very fat chunk of attack speed, a little armor, and a good orb to boot. This item is recommended as an alternative to Stygian Desolator for long games involving long team fights, as it will help you survive better and allow you to land a few more kills, meaning more total gold and a better late game carry.


Battle Fury - Adding a raw 65 damage and a permanent cleave, this item is good on Kunkka, even if you already have one. The regen is also good but the cost is a little high. The cleave also doesn't work against lone anything, and you already have a cleave for farming... and you do last hit right? This is a preferred item for public games.


Heart of Terrasque - The best HP item in the game, great synergy with Mordiggan and BKB, to keep you alive forever dropping those cleaves. This is your go to item against teams with a good combination of chain nuke and DPS (for instance, against an Enchant Carry with good support). They won't be able to nuke you down fast enough to evade your burst and cleave, and it adds a fair amount of damage as well.


Assault Curiass - Excellent item that increases the damage of your cleave through armor reduction, as well as increasing your entire team's damage output, being a huge armor boost, and being a huge help in pushes. Generally I finish with this item in the Activatables build.


Blademail - This item is an absolutely required finisher if you are clearly going to be out-carried by a lifesteal DPSer, A La Phantom Assassin or Phantom Lancer etc. Kunnka deals most of his damage in the first 3 hits; Boat-Torrent-Cleave. In a 1v1 situation your attack speed is too slow and your armor is too low, and that 4 second cooldown on Tidebringer will feel like forever. This item will help you tank a little bit and can deal a lot of damage in a clutch situation, and most importantly negates lifesteal for four seconds. Activate Blademail, take the hits, X, torrent, and chain disable the carry to death, then push to win.


Vladimir's Offering
Prefer Vladimir's for lifesteal over orb effects, and rely on your high damage output to kill opponents quickly. Vlad's is a little of all of your weakspots + lifesteal, but costly for the low damage output and delays your core items.

-- Rejected Items


Shiva's Guard - A viable slow on Kunkka, also an activatable and adds great armor, but the Mystic Staff goes almost entirely to waste. Very inefficient and situational.


Radiance - 60 damage and sparkles for a heap of money. Don't get me wrong, sparkles are really good on Kunnka considering he lives for a while and the +60 on your cleave is nice, but its quite costly, and in the end not worth it compared to the available items.

--
Dream Item Loadouts
Just a few suggestions.

Initiation and Support /
---------------------------S+Y Tanking Variant
--------------------------- ---------------------------Just For Fun Pub Build
------ ------
------ ------
------ ------

Hyper Damage Semi-Carry
Power Treads, Sange and Yasha, Buriza No Kyzan, Heart of Terrasque, Hyperstone, Vladimir's Offering

Book 3 Build
Phase Boots, Magic Wand, Necronomicon Lvl 3, Armlet of Mordiggan, Bottle, TP Scrolls


If you have suggested build, PM me or add a comment!

Explanations

For boots, tend towards Phase in shorter games, with Treads in longer games. Don't know which to get? I like to run around, cast, and set my team up for kills, so I get Phase almost every game. If you like to hit stuff, get Treads! It's that simple.

InsaneRabbi notes that Travels are recommended if you plan to use 5 additional item slots in a long game. They also save a little money on TP scrolls.

The recommended build above is probably going to require a bit of explanation, because its non-standard. This build gives a strong, most all-rounded Kunkka for the least gold possible. Armlet's Unholy Strength gives +65 damage and +25 strength worth of HP on activation, along with a good armor and HP regen bonus, and a decent boost to your attack speed, at the cost of only 30 HP/sec. This item is GOOD. Activate it when you're about to take your first swing, and then if there's no danger of you dying and the kill is guaranteed, just turn it off to save HP. If the shit is going to be flying, just leave it on the entire time. Turn it off after several heros are dead. Trust me, an extra 200HP from the HP drain is much less traumatic than the ~500HP drop you suffer from deactivating it in the middle of the fight. Once the fight is over, you can safely deactivate and TP if your health is low.

The second activatable item in your build is Black King Bar. This item gives an additional 10 strength, and a total of +34 raw damage, and is just a little expensive. If the enemy team is almost heavily physical with few disables (weird team? Huskar/Dragon Knight/Broodmother fall into this category, and of course almost all Agi heros), then skip it and push for Stygian. Otherwise it is HIGHLY recommended. It allows you to initiate an attack with Ghost Ship against any group of heroes at almost any stage in the game and win the fight. For instance, against Engima/Sand King (a common combo), you can boat them, BKB through a black hole, and torrent Enigma out of it to allow your teammates to escape, and then just beat their asses with physical damage until your avatar wears off because they can't stun you for another 5 seconds. This item allows you to initiate on ANY team and wins games. The net HP gained from this item on stun and slow dodges and whiffed AoE is much more than just +10 str.

--
Gameplay [G]

Levels 1-7 you're going to be laning hard. In competition, Admiral is generally going to be run Solo Mid, but can also do well in the long lane (Top for Sentinel, Bot for scourge), with a targeted stunner (to set up torrents; use the aggressive Torrent build for this lane). Just watch your + damage to que your Tidebringer, and try to land the cleave splash on heroes. If they play back and aren't threatening (melee's and... just melee's lol), play up on the ranged creep to deny them experience and land cleaves, but be wary of ganks, otherwise just chill out. If you're in trouble (dual stunners, strong combinations, etc), CALL FOR GANKS OFTEN. Get those early kills/fountain trips so you can get your farm in. A Kunkka with no items is squishy and not much of a threat, though still a good initiator. A dead Kunkka and farmed opponents is worse.

With a lanemate, every time they can land a stun or slow, try to pop a torrent and a cleave and as many extra hits as you can while you have an advantage, but don't linger if there is no kill waiting for you. 2 hits + no damage > 4 hits and 200-400 damage, and it adds lane pressure. That's how you win a dual lane and you can do it almost every time with Admiral.

A few tips:

• Keep proper positioning to maintain pressure with low risk, and last hit.
• Have your ranged partner cover your last hits (if they punish you, have your lane partner stun them and follow up)
• Maximize your stuns and torrents by adding as many physical attacks as you can.
• Use movement to isolate the opponent's attention and land last hits.

After the laning stage at around level 7-10, or if by some miracle your lane breaks the tower earlier, you want to start ganking things. As a general rule, you want to land one kill per ultimate cooldown, and farm well in between. What you need for good ganks are:
1) Mana; check it.
2) A safe place to initiate from. If no towers are broken you want to help a lane push to give you more space to chase.
3) A few good partners. The more the merrier, but overkill can be wasteful.

Helpful things include Wards, Runes, and landing a good Boat.

During this stage of the game, a good combination of map awareness and control should net you and your homies a few kills, and most importantly, space for your team and carry to farm and get caked up. You should have your phase boots by now and carry two TP scrolls at ALL TIMES. One to get in, one to get out. Again, TP Scrolls are only 135g, that's 3 creeps or a few assists.

Around level 13 or so, the game changes to the point where 1v1 and laning is fairly worthless; there is only freefarm, gank and push. At this point you want to be positioning yourself to take towers and press advantages, and farm the jungle in the off time. Use map control to force them to stay in their jungle and not farm the lucrative creep waves, and press the creep against their tower. Once you get a +2 hero advantage, push damage towers as much as you can to gain map control and farm space. Your cleave eats creep at this stage, and you get a +60 hit on the tower every 4 seconds.

Ideally, your second main item should come before level 16, so as a team, you want to be set up to win around 16-18 with a good Boat/Torrent setup or just pressing on their mid tower with your massive cleave to clear the creep. Admiral can semi-carry, but a hard carry or a combo of good semi-carries like Admiral/PotM is recommended to step up around this level and get the win.

Techniques
This section is dedicated to basic techniques that you can practice to improve your play with Admiral. If you have suggestions, please let me know!

Freefarm - Never auto attack. Approach a wave, and activate your armlet, and cleave to get the first last hit. Deactivate your armlet. Now, damage one creep that isn't being attacked to low health, and pay attention to your cleave CD and the health of the most rapidly falling creep. Last hit that creep, and then if no creep are in danger, finish your creep. You should have cleave killed the ranged creep by now; if not take the next last hit on the melee creep, and then your next cleave will double kill both the ranged and the melee creep.

The Gank - Run out of the woods and cast X marks the spot on one enemy hero. Back up to 800 range on the X, and drop a boat just behind it. Try to chain a torrent on the next opponent to get disabled to chain disable and slow him. If you have it, turn on your Armlet, and start hitting stuff, remembering to animation cancel and focus on the low HP enemies first. Pay attention to your torrent's cooldown (12 seconds); you'll often be able to land a second one as the fight disperses. Afterward, turn off your armlet, and survey your own statistics and where everyone is on the map.

Push - You're the upfront guy. Your HP gain is great and you'll have plenty of survivability with your amulet and BKB. If they focus disable you and you die your team gets free picks, and with armlet and BKB you might even survive. Worst case scenario one of them gets away because you can't X them back into the rape.

Landing Torrents - Random, out of nowhere torrents are a bitch to land. I can't stress enough the importance of using X Marks the Spot to set them up. Its a 200 AoE and heros start with 300ms, which means that in the two second delay they can move up to 600 units away from their original location. Generally you want to capitalize on predictable motion; for instance, a ranged hero with 500 range is running up to last hit a creep, and usually backs up afterward. Cast the torrent from a distance so that it the tip of the casting circle is touching the player's back, and then run forward and to his side to discourage him from coming closer to the wave or juking away from the AoE. He should back up right into the bubbles.

Other great times to cast are when heroes are running through chokepoints (up/down ramps, around corners, through tight tree spots when entering/exiting the jungle), or when a hero is chasing one of yours. To stop a chaser, just cast it so he'll get hit if he keeps chasing/orbwalking your ally. About 300-400 units in front is a good distance, depending on boots. This will force him to juke to a side or get hit; either way your ally should be set to escape and buy you a pizza.

A Short Guide to



Allies and Enemies [A]
Enemies
Admiral doesn't have many enemies to fear; he does the same stuff to pretty much everyone and is quite adaptable. Here's a few enemies that are always problematic:


She runs a 900 HP heal and a 300+ pure damage Orb at level 6, and a great slow. Untouchable means that you can't really do a lot of damage without cleaves, and your spell burst is mediocre at best. Hard times for Admiral.


One of the toughest solo's in the game, Nerubian is almost guaranteed banned. However, a Nerubian pick can invalidate an Admiral pick almost entirely. After level 6, Nerubian can shut down Admiral's map presence better than any other hero, able to easily gank him and escape his own ganks, and countergank effectively. In many cases, a good Nerub player will be able to kill you before you can land a Torrent on him. On the flipside, Solo Admiral with Tidebringer can semi-counter NA's early mana burn spam, however impale seals the deal and NA tends to tie or better as far as CS and experience go, particularly after level 5.


Admiral has no real tools to deal with her blinks or shadowstrikes, and its hard to land cleaves and melee hits on such an agile ranged hero. Landing an X that goes off just after she blinks will allow you to fight her somewhat, but otherwise your standard shenanigans just don't work on QoP.


Kunkka has some tools to fight Death Prophet, but not the chain-disable and heavy burst needed to fight her powerful exorcisms, and with carrion swarm and bloodstone, a DP pick will generally be able to outpush your cleave easily.

Allies

These two must be distant cousins or lovers or something, you know PotM loves that beard. 5 second arrow for free anything or Xing for free 5 second arrow into Starfall and Tidebringer and shit just starts dropping and dying all over the place. Its quite silly.


Alchie's five second stun allows Admiral to almost always chain torrent off of it due to the huge range, and he provides a -armor effect to improve cleaves.


Always good to have on a team, these guys can guarantee torrents and boats on multiple enemies for devastating effect.

A few good lineups featuring Kunkka
Heavy Gank/Enchant Carry
Top:
Mid:
Bot:

Slardar Carry
Top:
Mid:
Bot:

Kunkka Carry! Outplay Team
Top:
Mid:
Bot:

Changelog
7/16/09 Guide Submitted for Official Status
7/20/09 Reworked skill section, cosmetic changes
7/22/09 Reworked items section, added Stygian Desolator, Radiance, Vladimir's Offering and some dream builds, removed some unnecessary stuff (bottle section, long ass sentences) more changes to come soon!
7/23/09 Added a few suggestions, thanks to commentators; added many images, added Allies and Enemies section.